Book Nook Cafe discussion

Share with us what you read in August 2016!


Please provide:

~ A GoodReads link
~ A few sentences telling us how you felt about the book.
~ How would you rate the book

I read just one book in August. It was our Group Read selection.
The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
Rate 3/5
Non-fiction
I enjoyed this bio of the Wright Brothers. They had an incredible determination to succeed.

I hope to finish this tonight, Alias. It'll be close....either my last August book or my first September book. :D

I'm really enjoying it and am glad that it was chosen as a group read, otherwise it may not have crossed my radar.

Glad to hear you are enjoying it, Petra. :)

Here are the books that I read in August:

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (4 star) - I really enjoyed this. Harry's son goes to Hogwarts and has trouble fitting in. He makes friends with Lucius' son, Scorpius. This is written in play format and is not written by J.K. Rowlings, so some people may be disappointed. I think the "HP #8" is misleading, as this is really HP Play #1 and very different from the books. Very enjoyable.

Outwitting Ants: 101 Truly Ingenious Methods and Proven Techniques to Prevent Ants from Devouring Your Garden and Destroying Your Home (2 star) - not a bad book with some details on ant species/varieties. I was looking to get rid of ants that had burrowed under the patio; most of this book is about getting ants out of the house.

Letters from Wanderlust (3 star) - a Giveaway win. Not well written but a personal journey to finding one's spiritual (peace) way after hard times. It's about finding what's important in Life.

We're All in This Together (3 star) - another Giveaway win (when it rains, it pours). This is a nice story of a family with many stresses and their way through them. Nice, easy read; good story.

The City of Mirrors (3 star; audio) - the final part of The Passage trilogy. I liked this ending. This book, though, is too long and drawn out. That brought it down a star in rating. The entire trilogy is very good.

Judas: The troubling history of the renegade apostle (5star) - really fascinating. The book starts by looking at the gospels for anything related to Judas to try to find an inkling of who the man was. Then it went through the ages showing how Judas' image was twisted & changed as the specific needs of the Church changed and as the people became more educated.

The Wright Brothers (5 star; part audio/part print) - the story of the Wright brothers from about 1900-1912. A really warm, interesting look at their lives and their family.

Petra, the ant book sounded like a good idea. Sorry it didn't work for you. Ants are pesty li'l bugs.

I had a bumper August for reading, although too many were mysteries, but i wanted to "catch up" in one mystery series i've enjoyed.

Donna Andrews has a cute series about a blacksmith who lives in Virginia. Frankly, i like her occupation, which is what first drew me to her stories. And i really love Virginia. Most of her titles play with words, using birds in the titles. This month i caught up with all but the last. They are as follows:
Six Geese A-Slaying
Lord of the Wings
The Penguin Who Knew Too Much
Cockatiels at Seven
Swan for the Money

While i like her extended family, her middle books were a bit of a mixed bag. But reading some from the middle (i'm not sure how i missed those, as i usually read in order) and the end has me seeing the development in her character better. It's nice to see that in contrast to other mystery series.

OTHER "shorties", as in probably read with 24 hours are the following:
Death by Coffee by Alex Erickson. Clearly i was in the mood for light reading & mysteries. So much so, i tried a new series. Can we say P-U? She couldn't even keep simple actions straight. Her character is co-owner of a coffee shop/bookstore in a new-to-her small town. She is such a busybody, all the self-questioning became annoying.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin is mostly set in a bookstore. This was one i could love. It was a quick reading experience because i didn't want to put it down.

Chronicle of a Blood Merchant by Yu Hua. This story follows the life of one man in China from mid-40s to turn of the century or so. I learned in the afterword that selling their blood was how some farmers & others kept their families alive during the Great Leap Forward (as well as other times), when food was scarce. Another good story even though there was some pretty awful behavior in it.

Other books i read. (Not sure it's fair to separate my reading this way but i'm trying to figure out how i managed to read 16 books in one month.) ANYway...
The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley. Yes, yet another book seller. This main character i met in an earlier short novel, Parnasus On Wheels by Morley. The book talk, the true love of literature, be it large or small, the sweetness of the story and more entertained me. A good classic, imo. The haunting, which is gorgeously expressed is, "Haunted by the ghosts of the books I haven’t read. Poor uneasy spirits, they walk and walk around me. There’s only one way to lay the ghost of a book, and that is to read it.”

Cleopatra's Needles: The Lost Obelisks of Egypt by Bob Brier grabbed me in a curious way. It wasn't on my TBR but when i saw it i knew i had to read it. Which i did. I guess it's that i like obelisks. This one began with the history of Egyptian obelisks, moving on to how many were moved to other countries--Italy by the ancient Romans, France, England & the US. The last three stories were almost adventure novels as one felt each wave as they moved the stone. I liked it!

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammer drew me in, partly because i was not familiar with the books, materials and illuminated manuscripts from African writers and artists. Amazing. Sadly, there was only one photo example in the e-version i read. And silly me was surprised at how much of the book was about Islamic jihadists who were causing the trials of those bad-ass librarians. Winner!

The Wright Brothers by David McCullough. Another good bio from McCullough. It was hard not to fall in love with this family! Nice history, well-written and the research was good, as it included excerpts from so many personal letters.

Freckles by Gene Stratton-Porter. Someone on this board mentioned this book years ago. I finally read it. Set in Indiana, the story is about a 20 or so year old one-handed young man who begins work as a sort of guard of the most valuable trees in a forest which is being harvested for wood. Written about the turn of the last century. At times it's over-flowery but that's part of the story. There is a sequel, A Girl of the Limberlost, which i intend to read someday.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, recommended by my aunt who lived in Alaska for several decades. An older childless couple who moved to Alaska after a stillborn birth builds a snowchild. The next day they see a child dressed in the mittens they put on the snow creature. Is she real? Rather long but nice story.

Un Souvenir de Solférino by Henri Dunant. I read it in English. This is basically the story of what inspired Dunant to create the Red Cross. Indeed, my copy was subtitled The Origin of the Red Cross: A Souvenir of Solferino. It's somewhat graphic and incredibly sad to read of how lonesome and in what misery post-battle soldiers were. He well presented the case for what a good organization could do. He won (along with another man) the first Nobel Prize. However, some pacifists were against him because they felt the ugliness of war was the only way to persuade countries to negotiate, not wage war.

President James Buchanan: A Biography by Philip Shriver Klein. Chronologically presented, i liked the book very much. It was written in 1960, which means it is deeper than those written today. However, it also presented material which is probably unfamiliar to most students today. As usual, i learned much...and fell in love with JB, as i came to call him. :-)

Good month. We'll be on the road the next 3 months, so i have no idea how much i'll be reading. Maybe that's why i read so much...storing book memories the way squirrels store nuts.

Petra wrote:
Outwitting Ants: 101 Truly Ingenious Methods and Proven Techniques to Prevent Ants from Devouring Your Garden and Destroying Your Home (2 star) - not a bad book with some details on ant species/varieties. I was looking to get rid of ants that had burrowed under the patio; most of this book is about getting ants out of the house. .."

Thank you for participating in the group read ! I'm glad you enjoyed the book.

Did the ant book give any tips on getting rid of ants if you have small children crawling about and can't put anything poisonous around? My niece has this issue. Thanks !

madrano wrote: "Petra, the ant book sounded like a good idea. Sorry it didn't work for you. Ants are pesty li'l bugs.

I had a bumper August for reading, although too many were mysteries, but i wanted to "catch up..."

Wow ! Amazing reading month, deb !

I, too, enjoyed The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry & The Haunted Bookshop .

The book on the Red Cross sounds interesting. My niece used to work in one of their offices. I had no idea the first Nobel went to the creators of the RC. Nice.

Congrats on the JB book and being able to cross another one of your Presidential Challenge !

Alias, I skimmed the indoor ant problem solutions. The majority of it was along the lines that the ants are only coming into the house because they found a food source and that keeping a house "food source" free was nie to impossible. Ants can sense the tiniest amount of food.
The idea is to find the ingress site and stop it. If they are getting in through a window, cut down the branch or whatever they are climbing to reach the sill. If they climb the outer wall, use an ant strip so that they can't get beyond it (until they can crawl over the bodies of their comrades and cross....then replace the strip). If they are getting in through a crack, seal it.
That sort of thing. I don't recall a "substance", poisonous or not, being used in the indoors.
The tip I got for the outside(beside using borax) was that they do not like cayenne pepper and will often leave their homes if it's around their point of entries. Maybe that would work for the indoors as well?

Petra, I enjoyed Cronin's trilogy too. :)

Madrano, I get into series too. It's fun to keep with the characters as the author develops them.

I had a pretty good month, all in all. Here 'tis.

Vanished
Vanished (a Nick Heller novel) by Joseph Finder 3.5/5
Vanished (a Nick Heller Novel) by Joseph Finder 3.5/5

Kidnapping (or is it?), suspense, double crosses, and family values. When Nick Heller's nephew makes a frantic call for help, telling him that his father has been kidnapped and his mother inured during the kidnapping, Nick swings into action. Doesn't matter that he has hardly seen his brother in years......he's family. Nick's Special Forces skills will all come into play to get to the bottom of this rather convoluted happening.

This is a promising first entry of what appears to be an action filled series.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch 4/5

Dark Matter
Suppose you were attacked on the street, beaten, then woke up in a world that looked like yours, where people knew who and what you were.......but it wasn't your world. Jason Dessen is in just that position. Has he lost his mind? Has everyone else? How is it he being hailed for the discovery of a lifetime, but has no clue as to what it is?

Identity and how we hold onto just who and what we are is at the crux of this novel. It's one exciting ride. Oh, the possibilities!

Highly recommended.

btw, Crouch is the author of the Wayward Pines books. Just sayin'............

The Man Who Would Not Be Washington by Jonathan Horn 4/5
The Man Who Would Not Be Washington: Robert E. Lee's Civil War and His Decision That Changed American History

It's the story of General Robert E. Lee, he was the Confederate General that (reluctantly) fought in the American Civil War. His wife was the Great-Granddaughter of George Washington, and his father was closely tied to Washington. This book covers all the intricacies of the familial relationships.....which frankly became a bit tiresome. The various battles of the War were chronicled, but not so closely so as to become tedious.

For me the best part was the telling of Lee's struggles with himself, and his struggles to do the right thing. It was finally up to him to execute the wills of Washington & family......the freeing of the slaves that had been held by the Washington family. Money was always a problem as Lee's father was rather a spendthrift and wasted lots more than he'd had. Lee's military career and postings (way before the Civil War) so far away from home conflicted with those duties.

It's an excellent portrait of a complicated man, and an even more complicated and terrible time in our history.

Highly Recommended.

Blood on Snow by Jo Nesbo 4/5
Blood on Snow

Hit man falls in love with the boss's wife. Hmmmm, not the healthiest of life routes to traverse. But, obviously safety is not one of Olav's highest priorities in life.

He is a dreamer, and to some extent lives through his fantasies and imagination. He is the most unreliable of narrators, almost completely in denial of his true feelings. It isn't until the very last pages of the book that we truly understand what drives him.

Nesbo is able to create a completely different voice to his other books, and series. Seemingly simple, but oh, so complex.

Recommended.


The Outlaw Album by Daniel Woodrell 5/5
The Outlaw Album: Stories

A compilation of 12 short stories, Woodrell's characters have extremely diverse voices. All of a "backwoods" sort, but oh, so different. Anything from what one might call a "Cracker", to a loquacious, educated loner. A Vietnam War survivor with PTSD to a Quantrill Raider* survivor. From a cold blooded killer to an innocent.

I couldn't stop reading.....had to go all the way through in one sitting.

Highly Recommended.

* https://en.wikipedia...trill's_Ra...

Havana Nocturne by T. English
Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba & Then Lost it to the Revolution

Havana Nocturne was a book I'd started months ago, left in the middle, and finally finished. Phew! It's an interesting, but sometimes too drawn out account of history of the Mafia in Havana, Cuba. Of course when Fidel Castro ousted Batista, that was it for the Mafia. English gives lots of history on the various mob figures and who was in charge when, and how they got along, or didn't. While extremely interesting, the book was a bit repetitive, and could have used a good editor.

Damage by Felix Francis 3/5
Dick Francis's Damage

Kind of a disappointing entry in the series. I loved Dick Francis's books, and his son's books are a continuation of same. However there is a flatness to them now that has discouraged me from following that series any longer.


The Return by Hakan Nesser 4/5
The Return

The Return (An Inspector Van Veeteren Mystery) by Hakan Nesser is the third in this series. I love the character of Van Veeteren. He has an abrupt manner about him that gels along with the others of his unit. His "sixth sense" about crimes and criminals is unerringly accurate and almost spooky in it's aspect. But without a hint of hocus-pocus, or unreality. He is just plain intuitive. Beautifully so.

In this installment, he is admitted to the hospital for surgery, and practically solves the case from his bed, reading reports from his second. Three murders are involved, and the guilt or innocence of the alleged culprit is not written in stone. VV's solution is both elegant and chilling.

Recommended.

SPQR by Mary Beard 3/5
SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome

/sigh/ Rather disappointing in the end. I'd read about a third of it some months ago, then last week sped through most of the rest and last night finished off the last 40ish pages. Beard is, I'm sure, a fine historian. This book is supposed to be a sort of introduction, overall picture of how Rome began. I've not formally studied Roman history, but have read quite a lot, especially the times of the Caesars. Beard begins with Cicero, and then views Roman history from that vantage point. Interesting concept, it's true.

However a very large percentage of what she writes is speculation, which is frustrating. She states "facts", then turns around and says....well.......it could have been this other way. Which considering the scarcity of real, or hardly any records of the far back times is logical. But it's the way she goes about it that is so irritating. She throws in some concrete factoids, taken from tombs of those times that have survived, but most of what she puts down is at least half speculation.

When I was a kid, I read all of the Mythology, and have forgotten most of the details, only retaining the outlines and images. But it seemed to me that Beard incorporated a great deal of that in her telling. Frankly, Edith Hamilton was lots more interesting!

Petra wrote: "Alias, I skimmed the indoor ant problem solutions. The majority of it was along the lines that the ants are only coming into the house because they found a food source and that keeping a house "foo..."

Thanks. Years ago when I had a few ants coming in my window I use Combat Ant traps and that worked very well. My niece with a 1 year old that is crawling and putting things in his mouth can't do that. I'll mention looking for where they are entering and trying to seal it and also the pepper. Thanks !

Cateline wrote: SPQR by Mary Beard 3/5

[b..."

Great month, Cateline ! I enjoyed reading your reviews.

I have SPQR on hold at the library. Sorry to hear it wasn't the best. Since it's a library book and not one I purchased I'll give it a shot and see if it speaks to me. I don't now much of anything about the topic.

The Outlaw Album sounds interesting. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I'll check it out.

About ant problems indoors. In Maryland we had 4 different ingress sites and we never managed to keep any sealed. One problem was that our house was on four levels (half-stairs inbetween, if that makes sense, it wasn't 4 floors) and inbetween the layers was one ingress point. Impossible to control there & that wall shared the kitchen.

I had some success spreading chalk dust along the places where they entered. It was a short-lived victory but i don't know why it ceased functioning. Good luck to anyone with ants in the house! Actually, outdoors, too. We had fire-ants in Oklahoma, right in the middle of our garden, which we discovered too late to replant. Ouch!

Thanks for the comments about my reading month, as well as series reading. That is an up & down idea--sometimes i'm in the mood, other times i just can't take it.

Cateline, what a good reading month you had. I checked my TBR because i thought i had Dark Matter on it, as it sounds like something i'd latch onto. However, it wasn't there. 'Tis now!

I'm also pleased to read that the Lee bio was good. I'll put that on my "Famous Americans TBR" list. Yes, i have such a list.

My husband read SPQR on our month-long cruise. I think the sort of "enforced" reading helped him. I really like mythology with Greek and Roman being the ones i know best. Your comment about Edith Hamilton rang true, as she was my introduction to them. I really hope to someday tackle SPQR but will keep your comment in mind.

Alias Reader wrote: "Cateline wrote: SPQR by Mary Beard 3/5

[b..."

Great month, Cateline ! I enjoyed reading your reviews.

I have SPQR on hold at the library. Sorry to hear it wasn't the best. Since it's a library b..."

Thanks AR. :)
I hope you find the Beard book informative.

I really enjoy [author:Daniel Woodrell|65135]'s writing. His The Bayou Trilogy: Under the Bright Lights, Muscle for the Wing, and The Ones You Do is really great reading.

madrano wrote: "Thanks for the comments about my reading month, as well as series reading. That is an up & down idea--sometimes i'm in the mood, other times i just can't take it.

Cateline, what a good reading mon..."

Me too, re Greek and Roman myths. I really want to go back and refresh/reread. I know I've forgotten more than I remember.

Same here, Cateline. I was pleased, however, to realize when we went to Greece that my brain cells kicked in & remembered more than i thought i would recall. Hurrah! I actually know Greek mythology better but cannot really explain why, as i don't remember concentrating on it.

Thanks for the reviews. They are always interesting and informative. I think I may have mentioned reading Bearskins and Heat & Light last month, as I was very late doing my reviews for July. If not, I gave them both 4 stars.

This month I read some real stinkers.
Another Brooklyn Coming of age story about a young African American girl in NYC. Written by the author of children's books. Nothing to it. 1 star for me, though I feel bad about it.

A Hundred Thousand Worlds Show business and comic books make a good backdrop for a novel, but this one was a yawn due to a blah story and bad ending. 1 star

The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency
Really good. DARPA is a mixed bag for sure, but what impressed me is that they have made so many incredible and world-changing discoveries, with the internet, and lasers being the only two I can now remember, but if you read my review, you will see the others. That's why I write them as I read the books!! Scary when you think where they might go next, though. 4 stars

Rush Home Road A book club read that was never going to be my cup of tea. A fantasy, sort of, but not well done though I can't believe how many predicaments the saintly main character found herself in. 2 stars for imagination, but maybe if you like heartwarming....

The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain Bill Bryson is just barely an American any more, having lived in Britain for his adult life, but he still has dual citizenship. I like his history books, but this travelogue was repetitive and only occasionally interesting. 3 stars

Oh well. It has to get better next month, right?

Michele

Michele wrote:The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain Bill Bryson is just barely an American any more, having lived in Britain for his adult life, but he still has dual citizenship. I like his history books, but this travelogue was repetitive and only occasionally interesting. 3 stars"

Sorry to hear this one wasn't a winner. I do enjoy his books.

The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency sounds fascinating. I've never heard of DARPA

I was probably more negative about Road to Little Dribbling than I ought to have been. There are plenty of curmudgeonly observations about paving over green spaces and how Americans are wrong. It was just that I thought he would have been better off just writing essays rather than hanging them on this framework.

Michele wrote: "I was probably more negative about Road to Little Dribbling than I ought to have been. There are plenty of curmudgeonly observations about paving over green spaces and how Americans are wrong. It w..."

I did enjoy Notes from a Small Island the book he wrote about 20 years ago about his first jaunt around Britain. Since this is sort of a sequel to Notes from a Small Island I guess that is why he kept the same framework and did not do essays.

Speaking of travel books, a friend of mine loves them and keeps insisting that I read Paul Theroux. I know that he is a best selling author. I do plan on reading him one day. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. My understanding is he is also sort of a curmudgeon. Though I don't think he is a humor writer like Bryson.

madrano wrote: "About ant problems indoors. ..."

I've had some success with those bait stations (the type that say "kills the nest!"). Basically, trace the ant trail as close to the nest as you can, and place the bait stations there. They'll go for the closer food source. You can speed things up by using (dish) soap and water to remove the chemical trail that they're all following.

I thought I was going to have the record low this month, but Alias beat me to that.

Leaving out the copious technical material and the three novels I've been reading for weeks now, I only have two books to show for August.

Shakespeare's Planet by Clifford Simak. One of those thousand-year starships leaves Earth with its frozen crew, lands on an earth-like planet a thousand or so years later, with only one crew member successfully woken from cryo-sleep. The planet has a single, alien inhabitant, who is still in mourning for the last human that lived on the planet. This one just gets weirder and weirder, and I loved every minute of it. Simak has the touch. Four stars.

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics by Tim Marshall. A very good overview of geopolitics. Maps of various world regions are provided, with a discussion about how the terrain determines foreign policy : these rivers are good for trade, those have too may waterfalls; these mountains are steep and pointy and make for a good defensive wall, those are topped by a plateau and allow invaders to swoop down on you. Four stars, also.

Mkfs wrote: "madrano wrote: "About ant problems indoors. ..."

I've had some success with those bait stations (the type that say "kills the nest!"). Basically, trace the ant trail as close to the nest as you ca..."

Thanks ! My niece's home is big with lots of land around it. So I don't think she will be able to find the source. Maybe with winter coming that will help. I'll mention the dish soap. Maybe putting that around outside might help.

Mkfs wrote: "I thought I was going to have the record low this month, but Alias beat me to that.

Leaving out the copious technical material and the three novels I've been reading for weeks now, I only have two..."

LOL. One book is pretty pathetic. However, I did do a two week stint with my niece who had a knee replacement. Other than that... no excuse. I hope Sept. will be better. I've already read one, so it's bound to be better than August ! :)

Mods: loved your choices this month. Will definitely try both of them

Aargh. Spell check fail. Of course I meant Mkfs. There. I think I foiled it this time

madrano wrote: "About ant problems indoors. In Maryland we had 4 different ingress sites and we never managed to keep any sealed. One problem was that our house was on four levels (half-stairs inbetween, if that m..."

Try placing whole cloves on the counter tops and window ledges. Natural ant repellent...google it and try it out.

PSXtreme wrote: Try placing whole cloves on the counter tops and window ledges. Natural ant repellent...google it and try it out. .."

Thanks ! I'll pass this along to my niece.

Both the DARPA book and the one about maps sound intriguing and are going on my list. Good tips about ant control here, too.

I'm afraid the movie Mosquito Coast, based on his The Mosquito Coast, turned me off Paul Theroux before i even got started reading his work.

madrano wrote: "I'm afraid the movie Mosquito Coast, based on his The Mosquito Coast, turned me off Paul Theroux before i even got started reading his work. ."

She is a fan of his non fiction travel books.

madrano wrote: "I'm afraid the movie Mosquito Coast, based on his The Mosquito Coast, turned me off Paul Theroux before i even got started reading his work."

I read his O-Zone. Didn't find it all that interesting either. ** Rating

Thanks for the clarification, Alias.

PSX, i recall hearing negative comments on that one in particular, although not the why's of it.