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I finished 13 books this month! That's the best indication of all as to how much time I spent actually doing things other than computer work this month. This is a real mixed bag of book but there is one theme. An excessive number of these books involve jumping time to tell the story and, frankly, only one did it well. Most of these were purchased through the Audible Daily Deal and that's always a crap shoot. Some are big winners and some, not so much. These reviews are my opinion so take them with a grain of salt. If you've read any of them I'd love to see your opinions in the comments. Also tell me any good books that you have read lately!  A Sunless Sea By Anne Perry This is the 18th book in the William Monk series. The books are set in Victorian England and WIlliam Monk (by this book) is commander of the River Police. This one opens with a mutilated body of a woman on Limehouse Pier. Clearly I enjoy this series. If you like mysteries and stories set in Victorian England I think you will like it too.  TBlack Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin The best thing about this book is that is was relatively short. Tessa was one of the "black-eyed Susans" left for dead in a field when she was 16. She survived and it's 20 years later when a group of people are trying to get the convicted person off death row. Tessa is completely unbelievable. She's psychologically messed up but also an incredible designer who supports herself and her daughter custom sewing dance costumes and designing staircases from vintage auto parts. You know, because those things are related. Ridiculous! The story is weak, the characters not particularly interesting, the political overtones are completely one-sided and the ending is interesting but unbelievable. The most annoying part is the constant flipping back and forty in time.....seemingly every 3 paragraphs. The narrators are really good though!  The Sound of Glass by Karen White Karen White knows how to tell a Southern story! I love her character development and the Southern culture in her stories. This is the publisher's summary: It has been two years since the death of Merritt Heyward's husband, Cal, when she receives unexpected news - Cal's family home in Beaufort, South Carolina, bequeathed by Cal's reclusive grandmother, now belongs to Merritt. Charting the course of an uncertain life - and feeling guilt from her husband's tragic death - Merritt travels from her home in Maine to Beaufort, where the secrets of Cal's unspoken-of past reside among the pluff mud and jasmine of the ancestral Heyward home on the Bluff. This unknown legacy, now Merritt's, will change and define her as she navigates her new life - a new life complicated by the arrival of her too-young stepmother and 10-year-old half brother. Merritt's step-mother is the best character in this book and I dare you not to love her and want her to be in your family too.  The Wild Inside by Christime Carbo With this book we moved the mystery to Glacier National Park. When Ted Systead was young a grizzly attacked and killed his father when they were on a camping trip together. Now he works for the Department of the Interior as an investigator and is sent to Glacier to investigate another grizzly attack. Nice book, good characters that I'd like to read about again, good story and the great outdoors. But if gruesome scenes disturb you don't read this one.  Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich Bull Mountain in Georgia has been the home of the Burroughs family for generations and they have survived mostly through illegal activities from moonshine to marijuana to gun running. One of the brothers has gone "good" by becoming the local sheriff. Now a federal agent has come into town with a plan to shut down the mountain business. This was a surprisingly good story with a very interesting twist as we learn who the federal agent really is. Julia Heaberlin (see Black-Eyed Susans above) should read this book to see how transitions between times are done well. The flashbacks in this book are appropriately timed, perfectly relevant and contribute to the storyline at just the right times.
 The Ghost War by Alex Berenson I started this series last month and was happy to be on another John Wells adventure. He's like Mitch Rapp 2.0 and George Guidall is one of my favorite narrators.  Why We Make Things and Why It Matters by Peter Korn I got this book as one of the Audible Daily Deals so the 2 best things about it are that it was inexpensive and it was short. It's an autobiography and not really about "why we make things". But if you are interested in how one person has turned his "craft/art" into a career you might enjoy this.  You are Not so Smart by David McRaney If you are looking for a fun non-fiction book this is it. The publisher's summary says it all: An entertaining illumination of the stupid beliefs that make us feel wise. You believe you are a rational, logical being who sees the world as it really is, but journalist David McRaney is here to tell you that you're as deluded as the rest of us. But that's OK - delusions keep us sane. You Are Not So Smart is a celebration of self-delusion. It's like a psychology class, with all the boring parts taken out, and with no homework. Based on the popular blog of the same name, You Are Not So Smart collects more than 46 of the lies we tell ourselves everyday.  Endangered by CJ Box Joe Pickett is a Wyoming game warden and this is the 15th book in the Pickett series. If you like Craig Johnson's Longmire series I think you will like these books. Somehow I jumped for the 1st to the 15th so now I need to go back and catch up.  A God In Ruins by Kate Atkinson Oh, where to begin. Here's another example of a book that has rave reviews and, personally, I just don't see it. The story is about the life Teddy Todd. He was a bomber pilot in WWII, married his childhood sweetheart and had an obnoxiously self-centered daughter and 2 grandchildren. Aside for the war years, that's a pretty dull story line and it took over 2 hours to get into it. Once again this month I get to jump back and forth in time with no pause or warning. I can't tell you how many times I had to stop the recording and rewind to figure out what happened. That's part of the reason it was hard to like in the beginning. But I stuck with it, eventually understood what was going on and enjoyed the flashbacks into Teddy's WWII career. In between we had Teddy's plodding and docile life. It was fine but it was not great literature. It all fell apart with the Dallas-esque (TV show) ending. Do you remember that show? I'm not talking about "Who killed JR", I'm talking about the big opening scene one season. At the ending this became a cheap, cliché book in ruins. Great literature? I don't think so. I think she just has some great PR people to post reviews all over the internet. There are many better books about people's lives during WWII so I wouldn't recommend wasting time on this one. PS After writing this review I had drinks with friends and we started talking about books. One of my friends read this one and totally agreed with me. I feel validated.  It's A Long Story by Willie Nelson What a breath of fresh air this book was after the last one. You know Willie Nelson can tell a good story just by listening to the hundreds of songs he's written. Did you know that he wrote Crazy, the song made famous by Patsy Cline? I learned that and a whole lot more about his singly focused life. He's one of those people who has music just flowing out of him every minute of every day. Oh, and pot. He is totally obsessed with legalizing weed. I loved this book!  Cold Cold Heart
by Tami Hoag My last book of May is about Dana Nolan, a TV reporter who survived being abducted by a serial killer. The book opens with her escape from "Doc Holloway" and the start of her recovery from traumatic brain injury. She is take home to recover with her mother and step-father. While there she becomes interested in investigating the disappearance of her high school best friend 7 years before. I've ready one other Tami Hoag book and I think the comments that I made in my book spreadsheet also applies to this book: very predictable. I knew who did it as soon as the character was introduced and I'm not usually very good at that. It's a fine story but it's not exceptional. There are characters (her new therapist, the retired detective, the dog) that could play an interesting role int he story but they are really just left hanging and it makes you wonder why the author bothered to introduce them at all. There are a couple of other story lines that are introduced (her father's death, the weird relationship with her step-father) that could have added more interest and story line twists but they never really go anywhere meaningful. Additionally her brain injury isn't consistent. Sometimes she's confused but when dealing with the case she's as alert as anyone. According to Audible this is the 5th in the Kovac and Liska series but neither character appears in this one so I'm not sure what that's all about. I think I'd only read another if it, like this one, was an Audible Daily Deal and cost less than $4.
Kristin F
5/31/2016 12:33:27 pm
Thank you for your book reviews - I always enjoy reading them!
Kristin F
5/31/2016 12:37:28 pm
P.P.S. Will you have a 'Book Reviews' category on your new site? I'd love to be able to peruse them when I'm looking for a new book to read. 5/31/2016 03:37:00 pm
I am SO glad you turned me on to audiobooks! Now that I'm totally up to date on the Michael Robotham books and The Expanse (which is Sci Fi, which I think you said you don't care for...) I was anxious to find a good new series with a good narrator, the Peter Grant series by Aaronovitch fits the bill! Current day London constable meets magic, I'm really enjoying the first one and am happy there are several more in the cue!!!!
Cheryl Kotecki
6/1/2016 08:24:13 am
I love your reviews and put the ones that sound good to me on my wishlist, so thank you for taking time to write them. I read a lot of non-fiction and recently finished Catherine the Great and was fascinated by most of the story (it was not as compelling after she took power) but overall, I was totally amazed at how much detail was available for the author to use in describing events inside the Russian royal household in the 19th century. On the other hand, although In the Garden of Beasts seemed like it should have been a little better than it was, I'm glad I read it for the portrayal of Germany from the point of view of the Ambassador and his daughter. I think the book would have been easier to read if they were just a little closer to likeable, but still, it is a fascinating chapter of history.
Cheryl Kotecki
6/1/2016 08:25:26 am
Of course, Catherine the Great was 18th Century! silly mistake!!
Sylvia Anderson
6/1/2016 08:46:14 am
Thanks Vicki for the reviews. Like you, I listen to many books over a month's time, due to the fact that there are so many activities that allow one to listen as they work. Gardening, cooking, sewing, baking, cleaning, walking, driving, etc., are all activities which allow me to listen to books, something I really enjoy doing. I totally agree with you about The Black Eyed Susans and about half way through it gave up and took it back to the library. We are fortunate to have a library system that is online and draws from about 250 surrounding libraries, so the list of available books is extremely large. I just order what I would like, usually mysteries and thrillers, but some others as well and put in a request. I always have about 12 books on order, in case there is a waiting list for the new releases, and the books are delivered to our library in town. We get the books for 3 weeks and that's usually more than enough time to get through them, even if I get about 6 at a time. I like this feature of your blog and appreciate your reviews. It will allow me to listen to books I may initially thought I wouldn't enjoy, like the Willie Nelson book. George Guidall is also one of my favorite narrators and feel that the narrator can make or break a book.
Michelle
6/1/2016 09:38:56 am
re: A Life in Ruins--my friends and I were having the same discussion. The first friend read it, wanting to toss it across the room several times, but finally getting into it, then gave it to the second friend (because she wanted to talk to someone about it) , who found it hard to get into and complained about it a lot, but then gave it to me when she was finished. As you can imagine, I didn't start it right away, but then the day came when I wasn't reading anything else and I picked it up and a few weeks later I picked it up again.. I actually enjoyed it, but also called it a Dallas ending.....and then said I strangely want to read Ursula's story--and lo and behold, the first friend has bought that one too, so I'll be reading it in due course. Thanks for these Vicki - I always enjoy your book reviews and have taken note of a couple that I will check our library for. I'm currently reading yet another book on organization (what other person do you know that loves reading organizational books?!!). Great read, but you'd think I should be the most organized person on the planet for the sheer numbers I've read. Well...not so much.
jinnie robisson
7/23/2016 07:54:06 am
My reaction to 'A life in ruins' was totally different, but maybe that was because I read 'Life after Life', which is about his sister Ursula, first. I didn't find the ending to be Dallas-esque as it ties in with the other book. I thought it was beautifully written and was gripped from the beginning. However, maybe it's a good job that we don't all like the same things though, as the world would be a dull place! Comments are closed.
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In Bloglovin you need to search "Colorways By Vicki Welsh" to find the blog. About Vicki
I'm Vicki Welsh and I've been making things as long as I can remember. I used to be a garment maker but transitioned to quilts about 20 years ago. Currently I'm into fabric dyeing, quilting, Zentangle, fabric postcards, fused glass and mosaic. I document my adventures here. Categories
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