Little Thoughts About Books and Stuff

These last few months I've done readings for four different book discussion groups. The only one I've done each month is the reading for the group at my local library.  I'll be taking over the group in 2020!  I'm so excited. We're currently going through our selection process to pick the books we'll be reading next year. 

July

Title: Woman in Cabin 10 Author: Ruth Ware Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Group: MCLS Tuesday Book Club (Facebook Group)
Review: It was a bit slow moving for me at first, but then it started to pick up and I found myself really pulled into the story.  In the discussion, since this was the kick off to the library system's online discussion group, it was mostly staff and as such we all had interesting takes.  One being for such a high end ship it's WiFi was pretty crappy!
Title: Saga, Vol. 1
Author: Brian K. Vaughan Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Group: SLSG Book Club (Facebook Group)
Review: This graphic novel series had been on my TBR list for awhile so I was e…

Currently Reading:

Title: Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit
Author: John E. Douglas
Date Started: November 4
Goodreads Summary: 
During his twenty-five-year career with the Investigative Support Unit, Special Agent John Douglas became a legendary figure in law enforcement, pursuing some of the most notorious and sadistic serial killers of our time: the man who hunted prostitutes for sport in the woods of Alaska, the Atlanta child murderer, and Seattle's Green River killer, the case that nearly cost Douglas his life.

As the model for Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs, Douglas has confronted, interviewed, adn studied scores of serial killers and assassins, including Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, and Ed Gein, who dressed himself in his victims' peeled skin. Now, in chilling detail, the legendary Mindhunter takes us behind the scenes of some of his most gruesome, fascinating, and challenging cases -- and into the darkest recesses of our worst nightmares.



Ch…

Book Beginnings on Friday from Rose City Reader The Friday 56 with Freda's Voice.

This week I'm reading: Beartown by Fredrik Backman




It Begins: 1 Late one evening toward the end of March, a teenager picked up a double-barreled shotgun, walked into the forest, put the gun to someone else's forehead, and pulled the trigger.

This is the story of how we got there.

On Page 56: When Peter got his contract with the NHL and was about to move to Canada, his dad told him in no uncertain terms not to think he was "anything special."

Verdict: This is a book club selection, I'm only a few chapters in doing an audiobook. So far I like it, and the description of the town and the importance of hockey reminds me the movie Mystery, Alaska.

Currently Reading:

Title: Beartown
Author: Fredrik Backman
Date Started: November
Goodreads Summary: 
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove returns with a dazzling, profound novel about a small town with a big dream—and the price required to make it come true.

People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.

Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl tr…

Book Beginnings on Friday from Rose City Reader The Friday 56 with Freda's Voice.

This week I'm reading: The Library at the Edge of the Worldby Felicity Hayes-McCoy




It Begins: The turquoise sky reflected the color of the ocean. There was a stone slab for a doorstep and beyond it a scrubby field sloped to the cliff's edge, where a stone wall marked the boundary. Beyond that was nothing more than a grassy ledge clustered with sea pinks and a sheer drop to the churning waves below. The little house stood at the top of a narrow field with its back to the road and its door opening to the ocean.

On Page 56: There was a pause. Despite what she had just said about them getting on each other's nerves, Hanna had always seen herself as the sensitive one and her mother as too thick-skinned to be hurt. Now Mary looked at her shrewdly. "I'm not a fool, girl, even if I reared one, and I can do without my own daughter looking down on me day and night."

Verdict: I don't…

Currently Reading:

Title: The Library at the Edge of the World
Author: Felicity Hayes-McCoy
Date Started: Oct. 24
Goodreads Summary: 
As she drives her mobile library van between villages of Ireland’s West Coast, Hanna Casey tries not to think about a lot of things. Like the sophisticated lifestyle she abandoned after finding her English barrister husband in bed with another woman. Or that she’s back in Lissbeg, the rural Irish town she walked away from in her teens, living in the back bedroom of her overbearing mother’s retirement bungalow. Or, worse yet, her nagging fear that, as the local librarian and a prominent figure in the community, her failed marriage and ignominious return have made her a focus of gossip.

With her teenage daughter, Jazz, off travelling the world and her relationship with her own mother growing increasingly tense, Hanna is determined to reclaim her independence by restoring a derelict cottage left to her by her great-aunt. But when the threatened closure of the…