Tori's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 24 Apr 2025 09:29:00 -0700 60 Tori's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders, #1)]]> 228177199 A brand new series. An iconic new detective duo. And a puzzling new murder to solve...

Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers his familiar habits and routines: the pub quiz, his favorite bench, his cat waiting for him when he comes home. His days of adventure are over: adrenaline is daughter-in-law Amy’s business now.

Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul. As a private security officer, she doesn’t stay still long enough for habits or routines. She’s currently on a remote island keeping world-famous author Rosie D’Antonio alive. Which was meant to be an easy job...

Then a dead body, a bag of money, and a killer with their sights on Amy have her sending an SOS to the only person she trusts. A breakneck race around the world begins, but can Amy and Steve stay one step ahead of a lethal enemy?]]> 400 Richard Osman 0593653246 Tori 0 to-read 4.25 2024 We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders, #1)
author: Richard Osman
name: Tori
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lincoln's Ghost: Houdini's War on Spiritualism and the Dark Conspiracy Against the American Presidency]]> 222377143 The incredible untold story of how the world's greatest magician, Harry Houdini, waged war upon Spiritualism, uncovering unknown magic, political conspiracies, and surprising secrets along the way.

You won’t live forever, Houdini. You’ve got to DIE. I put a curse on you . . .

During a séance in 1924, Houdini—the greatest entertainer in the world—was cursed by a vengeful spirit, who said his days were numbered. Houdini laughed. He believed talking to the dead was impossible.

By 1926, Houdini was dead.

This is the untold story of the last performance of Harry Houdini, who after becoming inspired by his hero Abraham Lincoln, devotes himself full-time to a personal crusade against Spiritualism, the practice of speaking to the dead. In a spellbinding journey across Jazz Age America, haunted by the aftermath of the Great War and a deadly pandemic, Houdini encounters all the modern forms of haunted houses, warlocks, and monsters, and uncovers a shocking conspiracy that stretches all the way back to Lincoln himself.

In a compelling dual-timeline narrative alternating between Houdini’s 1926 dramatic courtroom testimony before Congress and the last otherworldly cases he takes on that lead him there, Lincoln's Ghost is a powerful examination of deception, love, politics, the afterlife, and the very nature of magic itself.]]> 320 Brad Ricca 1250338905 Tori 0 to-read 0.0 Lincoln's Ghost: Houdini's War on Spiritualism and the Dark Conspiracy Against the American Presidency
author: Brad Ricca
name: Tori
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Fagin the Thief 228727101
Striking out on his own, Jacob familiarizes himself with London's highest value neighborhoods while forging his own path in the shadows. But everything changes when he adopts an aspiring teenage thief named Bill Sikes, whose mercurial temper poses a danger to himself and anyone foolish enough to cross him. Along the way, Jacob’s found family expands to include his closest friend, Nancy, and his greatest protégé, the Artful Dodger. But as Bill’s ambition soars and a major robbery goes awry, Jacob is forced to decide what he really stands for—and what a life is worth.

Colorfully written and wickedly funny, Allison Epstein breathes fresh life into the teeming streets of Dickensian London—reclaiming one of Victorian literature’s most notorious villains in an unforgettable new adventure.]]> Allison Epstein Tori 2 audio 3.67 2025 Fagin the Thief
author: Allison Epstein
name: Tori
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2025
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/16
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves: audio
review:
I understand the author found herself faced with task of rewriting a character originally steeped in racism, but I think that in removing much of the evil, sly, and selfish shortcomings that Fagin originally has, she's removed a lot about what was enjoyable as a character. He's fun to read about because of those traits, because of the way he's a villain in the story. What's left is an okay tale of a man ground down by the life of historical underclass Britain and being hated just because he's a Jew. And that's a good story to tell, but it's not the villain origin story most are signing up for when they pick up this book. There's cameos of some of our favorite Dicken's characters, but they do often feel like cameos and not characters fleshed out in their own right in this story. I frankly think that this would be better without the Dicken's connection and if it was crafted to stand on it's own, to try to tell it's own morality tale and build it's characters into real interesting and deep people instead of trying to dismantle some of the most iconic in literature. But then, of course, you can't market it quite as well.
]]> The Club of Queer Trades 35694958 Equally well-known for his sophisticated philosophy tracts and his top-notch detective fiction, G.K. Chesterton was himself something of a literary jack-of-all-trades. This beloved collection of detective stories and mysteries is based on a club that is only open to those who rely on unusual or extraordinary lines of work as their main source of income. A fast-paced, purely enjoyable collection that is sure to tickle the fancy of classic detective fiction fans.

]]> G.K. Chesterton 1620120194 Tori 0 currently-reading 0.0 1905 The Club of Queer Trades
author: G.K. Chesterton
name: Tori
average rating: 0.0
book published: 1905
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener (Agatha Raisin, #3)]]> 25007760 5 M.C. Beaton 1482983699 Tori 4 audio, mysteries 3.56 1993 Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener (Agatha Raisin, #3)
author: M.C. Beaton
name: Tori
average rating: 3.56
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/16
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves: audio, mysteries
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike, #1)]]> 18306593 16 Robert Galbraith Tori 0 currently-reading 3.86 2013 The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike, #1)
author: Robert Galbraith
name: Tori
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Rather Dastardly Death: A 1920s Murder Mystery (The Mr. Quayle Mysteries)]]> 123858628 354 Anthony Slayton Tori 3 mysteries, audio 4.15 2023 A Rather Dastardly Death: A 1920s Murder Mystery (The Mr. Quayle Mysteries)
author: Anthony Slayton
name: Tori
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/11
date added: 2025/04/11
shelves: mysteries, audio
review:
There's not really anything bad about this mystery (except, perhaps, it goes too heavy on the accents in the audiobook for my taste), but it's not done enough to set itself apart from a very crowded genre, and is therefore forgettable. In support of this, I find myself with little recollection of the first book in this series, even though according to ŷ I did like it.
]]> A Pocket Full of Rye 10603604 A Pocket Full of Rye, in which the bizarre death of a financial tycoon has Miss Marple investigating a very odd case of crime by rhyme.
]]> 2 Michael Bakewell 1408484838 Tori 3 audio, mysteries 3.58 A Pocket Full of Rye
author: Michael Bakewell
name: Tori
average rating: 3.58
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2022/04/06
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: audio, mysteries
review:
A well done Radio Drama, though I didn't like this format for the book. It involved a lot of shortening of the story, and removes a lot of the whodunnit element because you don't have time to really build it all up.
]]> <![CDATA[Rembrandt is in the Wind: Learning to Love Art through the Eyes of Faith]]> 58429156 Rembrandt is in the Wind, by Russ Ramsey, is an invitation to discover some of the world's most celebrated artists and works, through which we can witness the gospel of Christ in a way that speaks to the struggles and longings common to the human experience.

This book is part art history, part biblical study, part philosophy, and part analysis of the human experience—but it's all story. The lives of the artists in this book illustrate the struggle of living in this world and point to the beauty of the redemption available to us in Christ. Each story is different. Some conclude with resounding triumph, while others end in struggle. But all of them raise important questions about humanity's hunger and capacity for glory, and they all teach us to see and love beauty.]]> 256 Russ Ramsey 0310129729 Tori 0 to-read 4.51 2022 Rembrandt is in the Wind: Learning to Love Art through the Eyes of Faith
author: Russ Ramsey
name: Tori
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> ʱԲé 28966932 The seventeenth-century philosopher and mathematician’s influential treatise in support of religion. Blaise Pascal was not a gambler, but he posited one of the most famous wagers of all Every man’s life is a bet against God. It is a wager that any man can win, however. Sacrifice earthly pleasures—drink, lust, sin, etc.—and a lifetime of happiness awaits, in this world or the next. Live every day as if God exists, and you can’t lose. Pascal devised his wager in the seventeenth century, but the lessons written by this brilliant man ring true today. In this collection of fragments intended as a defense of Christianity, everything is up for debate. From the nature of love to the relationship between scientific inquiry and religious faith, Pascal shows that skepticism and devotion go hand in hand.]]> 440 Blaise Pascal Tori 1
Sure, there's lots of quotes one can lift from this book and use. But it's basically a book of short quotes. There's not much cohesion in the ideas Pascal throws at the page. And why is Pascal considered an authority worthy of classic status? At times it felt like the equivalent of reading a modern theology blog when you don't know anything about the author. Sure, there might be some quotable and good ideas in there, but is the guy behind it even know what he's talking about? The citations told me he wasn't even quoting scripture right some of the time.

And I thought the citations would be there to help me with the voluminous Latin and sometimes even Greek (and I think, once, another language entirely?) sections, but alas, they would just tell the source, and sometimes, point out how it differed from a similar, yet still untranslated, phrase. Thankfully I had an ebook and a quick translate shortcut.

Maybe if I had any sort of historical context for why this has any importance I might see it differently. As it is, I'd recommend you just enjoy whatever quotes of Pascal's you stumble across.]]> 3.72 1670 ʱԲé
author: Blaise Pascal
name: Tori
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1670
rating: 1
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: non-fiction, ebook, i-love-long-books, biblical, classics
review:
"It's a classic" I no doubt told myself when I added this to my TBR list years ago. And I reminded myself several times as I read it that certainly this has some classic merit and therefore was worthy of my time. Though I think I might have been lying to myself to make myself finish.

Sure, there's lots of quotes one can lift from this book and use. But it's basically a book of short quotes. There's not much cohesion in the ideas Pascal throws at the page. And why is Pascal considered an authority worthy of classic status? At times it felt like the equivalent of reading a modern theology blog when you don't know anything about the author. Sure, there might be some quotable and good ideas in there, but is the guy behind it even know what he's talking about? The citations told me he wasn't even quoting scripture right some of the time.

And I thought the citations would be there to help me with the voluminous Latin and sometimes even Greek (and I think, once, another language entirely?) sections, but alas, they would just tell the source, and sometimes, point out how it differed from a similar, yet still untranslated, phrase. Thankfully I had an ebook and a quick translate shortcut.

Maybe if I had any sort of historical context for why this has any importance I might see it differently. As it is, I'd recommend you just enjoy whatever quotes of Pascal's you stumble across.
]]> <![CDATA[In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (Movie Tie-in)]]> 35844143
In the Heart of the Sea brings to new life the incredible story of the wreck of the whaleship Essex - an event as mythic in its own century as the Titanic disaster in ours, and the inspiration for the climax of Moby-Dick. In a harrowing page-turner, Nathaniel Philbrick restores this epic story to its rightful place in American history.

In 1820, the 240-ton Essex set sail from Nantucket on a routine voyage for whales. Fifteen months later, in the farthest reaches of the South Pacific, it was repeatedly rammed and sunk by an eighty-ton bull sperm whale. Its twenty-man crew, fearing cannibals on the islands to the west, made for the 3,000-mile-distant coast of South America in three tiny boats. During ninety days at sea under horrendous conditions, the survivors clung to life as one by one, they succumbed to hunger, thirst, disease, and fear.

Philbrick interweaves his account of this extraordinary ordeal of ordinary men with a wealth of whale lore and with a brilliantly detailed portrait of the lost, unique community of Nantucket whalers. Impeccably researched and beautifully told, the book delivers the ultimate portrait of man against nature, drawing on a remarkable range of archival and modern sources, including a long-lost account by the ship's cabin boy.

At once a literary companion and a page-turner that speaks to the same issues of class, race, and man's relationship to nature that permeate the works of Melville, In the Heart of the Sea will endure as a vital work of American history.]]> 10 Nathaniel Philbrick 1101887915 Tori 4 audio, non-fiction 3.91 2000 In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (Movie Tie-in)
author: Nathaniel Philbrick
name: Tori
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: audio, non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Jim Bridger: Trailblazer of the American West]]> 195473829 0 Jerry Enzler Tori 3 3.75 2021 Jim Bridger: Trailblazer of the American West
author: Jerry Enzler
name: Tori
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: audio, biographies, non-fiction
review:
As someone who grew up in an area with Jim Bridger Days, I was glad to learn more of this figure in history. The book itself can struggle to find enough content to justify its length (I'm sure a mountain man doesn't exactly have piles of source documents to pull information from) and while the extra historical context could be interesting, it did slow the book down.
]]> The Anthropocene Reviewed 57062743 A deeply moving and insightful collection of personal essays from #1 bestselling author John Green, adapted from his critically acclaimed podcast.


The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his groundbreaking podcast, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet--from the QWERTY keyboard and Staphylococcus aureus to the Taco Bell breakfast menu--on a five-star scale.

Complex and rich with detail, the Anthropocene's reviews have been praised as "observations that double as exercises in memoiristic empathy." John Green's gift for storytelling shines throughout this artfully curated collection that includes both beloved essays and all-new pieces exclusive to the book.

Narrated by the author.]]> 10 John Green 0593408535 Tori 3 audio, non-fiction 4.42 2021 The Anthropocene Reviewed
author: John Green
name: Tori
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2022/05/23
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: audio, non-fiction
review:

]]> Oblomov 254308 586 Ivan Goncharov 1933480092 Tori 0 to-read 4.09 1859 Oblomov
author: Ivan Goncharov
name: Tori
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1859
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Cold Comfort Farm 92780 233 Stella Gibbons 0143039598 Tori 0 to-read, amy-told-me-to 3.89 1932 Cold Comfort Farm
author: Stella Gibbons
name: Tori
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1932
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: to-read, amy-told-me-to
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Save Our Souls: The True Story of a Castaway Family, Treachery, and Murder]]> 217951048
When the castaways awoke the next morning, they discovered they had been washed ashore—on an island inhabited by a large but ragged and emaciated man who introduced himself as Hans. Hans appeared to have been there for a while and could quickly educate the Walkers and their crew on the island’s resources. But Hans had a secret . . . and as the Walker family gradually came to learn more, what seemed like a stroke of luck to have the mysterious man’s assistance became something ominous, something darker.

Like David Grann and Stacy Schiff, Matthew Pearl unveils one of the most incredible yet little-known historical true stories, and the only known instance in history of an actual family of castaways. Save Our Souls asks us to consider who we might become if we found ourselves trapped on a deserted island.]]> 1 Matthew Pearl Tori 3 non-fiction 3.33 2025 Save Our Souls: The True Story of a Castaway Family, Treachery, and Murder
author: Matthew Pearl
name: Tori
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/27
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves: non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Scorpion's Tail (Nora Kelly, #2)]]> 52933779 #1 bestselling authors Preston & Child return with the next book in a series featuring archaeologist Nora Kelly and FBI Agent Corrie Swanson.

Following OLD BONES, the second "happily anticipated" new thriller in Preston & Child's new series will once again feature Nora Kelly, archaeologist at the Santa Fe Archeological Institute, and FBI Agent Corrie Swanson investigating a new case that requires both their skills (Booklist).

After a shoot-out Swanson is involved in leaves a senior FBI agent gravely wounded, Corrie finds herself under investigation. Her supervisor assures her she's not to blame and the black mark on her record will be cleared in short order. But Corrie finds herself shake her overwhelming guilt.

As a distraction, she takes on a new case involving a fifty-year-old, mummified corpse discovered in a hidden enclave at High Lonesome, a long-abandoned New Mexico ghost town. Quickly out of her depth, she quickly realizes she needs the help of her foe-turned-ally, archaeologist Nora Kelly, who soon uncovers a startling truth: the deceased had been poisoned, and died clutching a priceless artifact from outside High Lonesome.]]> 401 Douglas Preston 1538747278 Tori 0 to-read 4.05 2021 The Scorpion's Tail (Nora Kelly, #2)
author: Douglas Preston
name: Tori
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Old Bones 52372559 The first in the groundbreaking Nora Kelly series from #1 bestselling authors Preston & Child blends the legend of the Donner party with a riveting suspense tale, taking the dynamic duo's work to new heights.

Nora Kelly, a young but successful curator with a series of important excavations already under her belt, is approached by the handsome Historian, Guy Porter, to lead an expedition unlike any other. Guy tells his story--one involving the ill-fated Donner Party, who became permanently lodged in the American consciousness in the winter of 1847, when the first skeletonized survivors of the party stumbled out of the California mountains, replete with tales of courage, resourcefulness, bad luck, murder, barbarism--and, finally, starvation and cannibalism.

Captivated by the Donner Party, Nora agrees and they venture into the Sierra Nevada in search of the camp. Quickly, they learn that the discovery of the missing starvation camp is just the tip of the iceberg--and that the real truth behind those long-dead pioneers is not only far more complex and surprising than they could have imagined...but it is one that puts them both in mortal danger from a very real, present-day threat in which the search for the lost party, and its fabled fortune in gold, are merely means to a horrifying end.]]> 11 Douglas Preston 1549181777 Tori 4 audio, modern 3.70 2019 Old Bones
author: Douglas Preston
name: Tori
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/27
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves: audio, modern
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Seal Your Own Fate (Castle Knoll Files, #2)]]> 216970887
Present day: Annie Adams is just settling into life in Castle Knoll when local fortune teller Peony Lane crosses her path and shares a cryptic message. When Peony Lane is found dead only hours later inside the locked Gravesdown Estate, Annie quickly realizes that someone is out to make her look guilty while silencing Peony at the same time. Annie has no choice but to delve into the dark secrets of Castle Knoll in order to find out just what Peony Lane was trying to warn her about, before the new life she’s just begun to build comes crashing down around her.

1967: A year has passed since her friend Emily disappeared, and teenage Frances Adams finds herself caught between two men. Ford Gravesdown is one of the only remaining members of a family known for its wealth and dubious uses of power. Archie Foyle is a local who can’t hold down a job and lives above the village pub. But when Frances teams up with Archie to investigate the car crash that claimed the lives of Ford’s family, it quickly becomes clear that this was no accident—hints of cover-ups, lies, and betrayals abound. The question is, just how far does the blackness creep through the heart of Castle Knoll? When Frances uncovers secrets kept by both Ford and Archie, she starts to wonder: What exactly has she gotten herself into?]]> 320 Kristen Perrin 059347404X Tori 0 to-read 3.95 2025 How to Seal Your Own Fate (Castle Knoll Files, #2)
author: Kristen Perrin
name: Tori
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Hemlock & Silver 217388302 DELUXE EDITION—a gorgeous hardcover edition featuring bright green sprayed edges, a foil stamp on the casing, and custom endpapers illustrated by the author.

From New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes Hemlock & Silver, a dark reimagining of “Snow White� steeped in poison, intrigue, and treason of the most magical kind

Healer Anja regularly drinks poison.

Not to die, but to save—seeking cures for those everyone else has given up on.

But a summons from the King interrupts her quiet, herb-obsessed life. His daughter, Snow, is dying, and he hopes Anja’s unorthodox methods can save her.

Aided by a taciturn guard, a narcissistic cat, and a passion for the scientific method, Anja rushes to treat Snow, but nothing seems to work. That is, until she finds a secret world, hidden inside a magic mirror. This dark realm may hold the key to what is making Snow sick.

Or it might be the thing that kills them all.]]> 368 T. Kingfisher 1250342031 Tori 0 to-read 4.31 2025 Hemlock & Silver
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Tori
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Strange Practice (Dr. Greta Helsing, #1)]]> 36443272 Meet Greta Helsing, fast-talking doctor to the undead. Keeping the supernatural community not-alive and well in London has been her family's specialty for generations.

Greta Helsing inherited the family's highly specialized, and highly peculiar, medical practice. In her consulting rooms, Dr. Helsing treats the undead for a host of ills - vocal strain in banshees, arthritis in barrow-wights, and entropy in mummies. Although barely making ends meet, this is just the quiet, supernatural-adjacent life Greta's been groomed for since childhood.

Until a sect of murderous monks emerges, killing human and undead Londoners alike. As terror takes hold of the city, Greta must use her unusual skills to stop the cult if she hopes to save her practice, and her life.]]> Vivian Shaw 1478989165 Tori 2 audio, fantasy ]]> 3.74 2017 Strange Practice (Dr. Greta Helsing, #1)
author: Vivian Shaw
name: Tori
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2017
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/25
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: audio, fantasy
review:
Doesn't live up to the potential. The characters need some fleshing out to make them interesting, the setting is more confusing to me than not, and the doctor element underutilized.

]]> <![CDATA[The Raven Scholar (Eternal Path Trilogy, #1)]]> 217182392 From an electrifying new voice in epic fantasy comes The Raven Scholar, a masterfully woven and playfully inventive tale of imperial intrigue, cutthroat competition, and one scholar’s quest to uncover the truth.

Let us fly now to the empire of Orrun, where after twenty-four years of peace, Bersun the Brusque must end his reign. In the dizzying heat of mid-summer, seven contenders compete to replace him. They are exceptional warriors, thinkers, strategists—the best of the best.

Then one of them is murdered.

It falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor’s brilliant, idiosyncratic High Scholar, to find the killer before the trials end. To do so, she must untangle a web of deadly secrets that stretches back generations, all while competing against six warriors with their own dark histories and fierce ambitions. Neema believes she is alone. But we are here to help; all she has to do is let us in.

If she succeeds, she will win the throne. If she fails, death awaits her. But we won’t let that happen.

We are the Raven, and we are magnificent.]]> 672 Antonia Hodgson 0316577227 Tori 0 to-read 4.57 2025 The Raven Scholar (Eternal Path Trilogy, #1)
author: Antonia Hodgson
name: Tori
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Walking with God through Pain and Suffering]]> 24845509
Walking with God through Pain and Suffering is the definitive Christian book on why bad things happen and how we should respond to them. The question of why there is pain and suffering in the world has confounded every generation; yet there has not been a major book from a Christian perspective exploring why they exist for many years.

The two classics in this area are When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Rabbi Harold S. Kushner, which was published more than thirty years ago, and C. S. Lewis’s The Problem of Pain, published more than seventy years ago. The great secular book on the subject, Elisabeth Ku¨bler-Ross’s On Death and Dying, was first published in 1969. It’s time for a new understanding and perspective, and who better to tackle this complex subject than Timothy Keller?

As the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, Timothy Keller is known for the unique insights he shares, and his series of books has guided countless readers in their spiritual journeys. Walking with God through Pain and Suffering will bring a much-needed, fresh viewpoint on this important issue.]]> 14 Timothy J. Keller Tori 5 audio, biblical, non-fiction 4.33 2013 Walking with God through Pain and Suffering
author: Timothy J. Keller
name: Tori
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/20
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: audio, biblical, non-fiction
review:

]]> The Wild Robot 26033644 Can a robot survive in the wilderness?
When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is alone on a remote, wild island. She has no idea how she got there or what her purpose is--but she knows she needs to survive. After battling a fierce storm and escaping a vicious bear attack, she realizes that her only hope for survival is to adapt to her surroundings and learn from the island's unwelcoming animal inhabitants.
As Roz slowly befriends the animals, the island starts to feel like home--until, one day, the robot's mysterious past comes back to haunt her.

From bestselling and award-winning author and illustrator Peter Brown comes a heartwarming and action-packed novel about what happens when nature and technology collide.
]]> 5 Peter Brown 1478909005 Tori 0 audio, childrens 3.97 2016 The Wild Robot
author: Peter Brown
name: Tori
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/18
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves: audio, childrens
review:
Cute, though frankly the movie elevates the story and into something better.
]]> <![CDATA[The Three Hostages (Richard Hannay #4)]]> 59419770 The Thirty-Nine Steps. This is the fourth in the series of adventures of the books' hero, Richard Hannay.]]> 338 John Buchan Tori 2 i-own 2.00 1924 The Three Hostages (Richard Hannay #4)
author: John Buchan
name: Tori
average rating: 2.00
book published: 1924
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/18
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves: i-own
review:
This is the sort of book that can be a fun read when one wants some mindless action espionage, full of coincidence and unrealistic plot elements (hypnotism is a major factor of this story). That being said, the racism against basically any group that isn't English is jarring, and a drawn out, illogical ending (how many geographical terms do you know for the Scottish landscape? Not enough to easily follow that chapter) highlights that the pacing lags too much for the genre.
]]> Light in August 40910764 Light in August, a novel that contrasts stark tragedy with hopeful perseverance in the face of mortality, features some of Faulkner’s most memorable characters: guileless, dauntless Lena Grove, in search of the father of her unborn child; Reverend Gail Hightower, a lonely outcast haunted by visions of Confederate glory; and Joe Christmas, a desperate, enigmatic drifter consumed by his mixed ancestry.]]> 18 William Faulkner 0739345400 Tori 3 audio, classics, american-lit 3.56 1932 Light in August
author: William Faulkner
name: Tori
average rating: 3.56
book published: 1932
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/14
date added: 2025/03/14
shelves: audio, classics, american-lit
review:
I think Faulkner is undeniably a good writer, but I also think his undriven and wordy storytelling had me more lost than invested in his premise. Maybe if I hadn't listened to it it would have worked better for me.
]]> <![CDATA[Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should and Shouldn't Cook from Scratch - Over 120 Recipes for the Best Homemade Foods]]> 11510733
With its fresh voice and delightful humor, Make the Bread, Buy the Butter gives 120 recipes with eminently practical yet deliciously fun "Make or buy" recommendations. Reese is relentlessly entertaining as she relates her food and animal husbandry adventures, which amuse and perplex as well as nourish and sustain her family. Her tales include living with a backyard full of cheerful chickens, muttering ducks, and adorable baby goats; countertops laden with lacto-fermenting pickles; and closets full of mellowing cheeses. Here's the full picture of what is involved in a truly homemade life -- with the good news that you shouldn't try to make everything yourself -- and how to get the most out of your time in the kitchen.]]> 296 Jennifer Reese 1451605870 Tori 1 ebook, non-fiction Putting at the top where people will see this, I don't think Reese is a safe source for preserving recipes. Details below.

I don't typically read cookbooks (does anyone, technically?) but I was really interested in a book that delved into the concept of where to put the effort into a dish and where to cut corners.

I guess my mistake was thinking there would be some expert advice here, instead of it all based on the vibes of an inexperienced and often unprepared hobbyist. And so she'll tell you to always make croissants, even though they're one of the most technical pastries, and maybe only sometimes make your own danishes, even though I'm fairly certain they're basically the same process. She'll tell you to neither make nor buy chutney, because she personally finds it underwhelming in all forms. She'll tell you can't make rice pudding as good as the tubbed stuff in the store, but that you should absolutely make your own Oreos instead of buying them. That canned cranberry sauce is just as legitimate as homemade if that's what you like (Which, like, true for all things she's giving instructions for? ). That you should be a cheese maker and try preserving meats in your cellar. That she has a personal vendetta against Costco lasagna because.... who knows why, but try this mac and cheese recipe instead (as if that's the same thing). She'll tell you not to make steak tartar at home, because she personally found it unappetizing to cut up the raw meat.

The price comparison might be nice, but it certainly hasn't aged well in the few years since this has been in print, so it's useless now. More concerning is her process is very flimsy. She tries to compare an overnight waffle recipe to eggos, and says if you have the time make the waffles, but certainly there's a lot of middle ground in recipes that don't take 12 hours to prepare. She tells you lemonade or applesauce are really inexpensive, if you have your own trees. That backyard chickens are insanely expensive, because she had to re-fence her entire yard to have them and calculates that in the price.

I took specific annoyance at her talk of trying to recreate maraschino cherries. She tried three different recipes, called out the original authors, and hated on all of them. She admitted to substituting rinsed off tinned pie cherries! in one because that's what she had available. I have actually very successfully made canned maraschino cherries before, so I know it's possible.

Very very importantly, she's not a safe guide through preserving. "there's a risk in everything we do and eat" she says, while trying to convince you to hang raw meat in your basement. I specifically noticed missing information in the canning section. I don't do it myself, but my mom did, and was very careful to follow all the rules to keep the family safe. So I know that recipes require certain amounts of air space between the food and the lid, but none of that info was found in this section.

There are some amusing anecdotes here, but they mostly center on Reese diving into something without any consideration to her family or neighbors. Many of her stories are often to the detriment of the living creatures she impulse buys.

And while I'd hesitate to rate a cookbook without trying any of the recipes, she seems to have stolen the majority of them from other sources, so they're not hers to worry about.]]> 3.87 2011 Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should and Shouldn't Cook from Scratch - Over 120 Recipes for the Best Homemade Foods
author: Jennifer Reese
name: Tori
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2011
rating: 1
read at: 2025/03/13
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: ebook, non-fiction
review:
Putting at the top where people will see this, I don't think Reese is a safe source for preserving recipes. Details below.

I don't typically read cookbooks (does anyone, technically?) but I was really interested in a book that delved into the concept of where to put the effort into a dish and where to cut corners.

I guess my mistake was thinking there would be some expert advice here, instead of it all based on the vibes of an inexperienced and often unprepared hobbyist. And so she'll tell you to always make croissants, even though they're one of the most technical pastries, and maybe only sometimes make your own danishes, even though I'm fairly certain they're basically the same process. She'll tell you to neither make nor buy chutney, because she personally finds it underwhelming in all forms. She'll tell you can't make rice pudding as good as the tubbed stuff in the store, but that you should absolutely make your own Oreos instead of buying them. That canned cranberry sauce is just as legitimate as homemade if that's what you like (Which, like, true for all things she's giving instructions for? ). That you should be a cheese maker and try preserving meats in your cellar. That she has a personal vendetta against Costco lasagna because.... who knows why, but try this mac and cheese recipe instead (as if that's the same thing). She'll tell you not to make steak tartar at home, because she personally found it unappetizing to cut up the raw meat.

The price comparison might be nice, but it certainly hasn't aged well in the few years since this has been in print, so it's useless now. More concerning is her process is very flimsy. She tries to compare an overnight waffle recipe to eggos, and says if you have the time make the waffles, but certainly there's a lot of middle ground in recipes that don't take 12 hours to prepare. She tells you lemonade or applesauce are really inexpensive, if you have your own trees. That backyard chickens are insanely expensive, because she had to re-fence her entire yard to have them and calculates that in the price.

I took specific annoyance at her talk of trying to recreate maraschino cherries. She tried three different recipes, called out the original authors, and hated on all of them. She admitted to substituting rinsed off tinned pie cherries! in one because that's what she had available. I have actually very successfully made canned maraschino cherries before, so I know it's possible.

Very very importantly, she's not a safe guide through preserving. "there's a risk in everything we do and eat" she says, while trying to convince you to hang raw meat in your basement. I specifically noticed missing information in the canning section. I don't do it myself, but my mom did, and was very careful to follow all the rules to keep the family safe. So I know that recipes require certain amounts of air space between the food and the lid, but none of that info was found in this section.

There are some amusing anecdotes here, but they mostly center on Reese diving into something without any consideration to her family or neighbors. Many of her stories are often to the detriment of the living creatures she impulse buys.

And while I'd hesitate to rate a cookbook without trying any of the recipes, she seems to have stolen the majority of them from other sources, so they're not hers to worry about.
]]> Vampires of El Norte 195503290 Vampires and vaqueros face off on the Texas-Mexico border in this supernatural western from the author of The Hacienda.

As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead.

Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago.

Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since, moving from ranch to ranch working as a vaquero. But no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth; no woman can erase his childhood sweetheart from his mind.

When the United States attacks Mexico in 1846, the two are brought abruptly together on the road to war: Nena as a curandera, a healer striving to prove her worth to her father so that he does not marry her off to a stranger, and Néstor as a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros. But the shock of their reunion—and Nena’s rage at Néstor for seemingly abandoning her long ago—is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh.

And unless Nena and Néstor work through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn.]]> Isabel Cañas 0593684281 Tori 2 audio
This is really a romance with a few supernatural elements. I didn't buy the lead's chemistry, and I'm not a romance girl in general. I was here for gothic vampires, and unfortunately even if the monsters here count, there was very little of them to be found.]]> 3.69 2023 Vampires of El Norte
author: Isabel Cañas
name: Tori
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/10
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: audio
review:
I really thought this would be more gothic and, well, vampiric. But it tries to tackle way too much. The romance, class divide, colonization, supernatural monsters (that really don't have much similarity with traditional vampires. Which is fine, I get why, I picked up the book for the title. But if you want the title you might need to earn it a bit more. And I know people will say that they're a metaphor for the colonizers, but do you need a metaphor if you have the actual colonizers figuring as a villain? It loses the potency).

This is really a romance with a few supernatural elements. I didn't buy the lead's chemistry, and I'm not a romance girl in general. I was here for gothic vampires, and unfortunately even if the monsters here count, there was very little of them to be found.
]]> The Sound and the Fury 10975 366 William Faulkner Tori 0 to-read 3.86 1929 The Sound and the Fury
author: William Faulkner
name: Tori
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1929
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> As I Lay Dying 77013 As I Lay Dying is Faulkner’s harrowing account of the Bundren family’s odyssey across the Mississippi countryside to bury Addie, their wife and mother. Narrated in turn by each of the family members -- including Addie herself -- as well as others; the novel ranges in mood, from dark comedy to the deepest pathos. Considered one of the most influential novels in American fiction in structure, style, and drama, As I Lay Dying is a true 20th-century classic.

This edition reproduces the corrected text of As I Lay Dying as established in 1985 by Noel Polk.]]> 288 William Faulkner Tori 0 to-read 3.71 1930 As I Lay Dying
author: William Faulkner
name: Tori
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1930
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> You Are Fatally Invited 223849138 And Then There Were None meets The Sanatorium by way of Eight Detectives in this twisty, up-all-night love letter to mystery thrillers.

When legendary author J. R. Alastor hires struggling events coordinator Mila del Angél to host a murder mystery writer’s retreat on his private island, she jumps at the chance. On the guest list are six thriller writers, and Alastor has told them to expect a week of party games, trope-fuelled riddles and maybe a jump-scare or two. But when one of the guests turns up dead, it seems Alastor’s real plan for the week is much more sinister.

With a storm cutting off the island and the body count rising, Mila must work out how to escape a killer who knows literally every trick in the book…]]> Ande Pliego Tori 3 audio, mysteries
The first half tries to build mystery but having several First Person Perspective narrators who ponder their pasts but carefully only ever "think" with vague "you, who I'm going to carefully not actually name, know exactly what you did, such thing I'm also not going to think about concretely" thoughts. I'm not sure you can use this with first person well, it's not a smooth way of keeping information from the reader and just removes me from the story.

No one was set up as a sympathetic character to root for or follow. Minor/Early [spoilers removed]]]> 3.49 2025 You Are Fatally Invited
author: Ande Pliego
name: Tori
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/06
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: audio, mysteries
review:
A pile of fun ideas, but I think the way it's woven together was more irritating that enticing.

The first half tries to build mystery but having several First Person Perspective narrators who ponder their pasts but carefully only ever "think" with vague "you, who I'm going to carefully not actually name, know exactly what you did, such thing I'm also not going to think about concretely" thoughts. I'm not sure you can use this with first person well, it's not a smooth way of keeping information from the reader and just removes me from the story.

No one was set up as a sympathetic character to root for or follow. Minor/Early [spoilers removed]
]]> Swordheart 218624103 448 T. Kingfisher 1250400228 Tori 0 to-read 4.08 2018 Swordheart
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Tori
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tarzan of the Apes (Tarzan, #1)]]> 3607595 0 Edgar Rice Burroughs 1598958038 Tori 2 audio, classics 3.10 1912 Tarzan of the Apes (Tarzan, #1)
author: Edgar Rice Burroughs
name: Tori
average rating: 3.10
book published: 1912
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/04
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: audio, classics
review:
In some ways surprisingly not as bad as I thought it would be, but in many ways this simply doesn't age well. A few engaging scenes, but the overall plot they fit into is much too underdeveloped and all over the place. [spoilers removed]
]]> <![CDATA[The World's Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant]]> 220239079 A great detective's young assistant yearns for glory, but first they have learn to get along in this delightful feel good mystery.

Olivia Blunt doesn't want to be an assistant detective for the rest of her life. She's determined to learn everything she can from her mentor and renowned investigator, Aubrey Merritt, but the latter is no easy grader.

After weeks of fielding phone calls from parties desperate for the world-renowned detective’s help, a case comes across Olivia’s desk that just might be worthy of Merritt’s skills. On the evening of her sixty-fifth birthday party, Victoria Summersworth somehow fell over her balcony railing to her death on the rocky shore of Lake Champlain. She was a happy woman—rich, beloved, in love, and matriarch of the preeminent Summersworth family. The police have ruled it a suicide, but her daughter Haley thinks it was murder.

Merritt is ever the skeptic, but Olivia believes Haley. Plus, she’s desperate to prove her investigative skills to her aloof boss. But the Summersworth family drama is a complicated web.

Olivia realizes she might be in over her head with this whole detective thing... or she might be unravelling a mystery even bigger than the one she’d started with.]]> 400 Liza Tully 0593816773 Tori 0 to-read 3.67 2025 The World's Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant
author: Liza Tully
name: Tori
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sweep In Peace [Dramatized Adaptation] (Innkeeper Chronicles #2)]]> 62990666 7 Ilona Andrews Tori 3 audio, radio-drama, fantasy 4.53 Sweep In Peace [Dramatized Adaptation] (Innkeeper Chronicles #2)
author: Ilona Andrews
name: Tori
average rating: 4.53
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2022/12/20
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: audio, radio-drama, fantasy
review:
It took me a while to get used to the dramatized adaptation, and honestly I often found the sound effects and background music more distracting that helpful. But the different voices in this was fun, and I forgot how different and fun the worldbuilding in this series is.
]]> <![CDATA[A Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching a Killer (S.C.Y.T.H.E. Mystery, #1)]]> 218437167
Sometimes it takes working with the dead to start living.

Kathy Valence is forty-two, mid-divorce, and pregnant with her ex's baby. She's also a modern-day grim reaper employed by S.C.Y.T.H.E. (Secure Collection, Yielding, and Transportation of Human Essences), but frankly that's the easiest part of her life right now. Or at least it was, until her latest client's soul goes missing.

When she finally tracks down seventeen-year-old Conner Ortiz, he angrily denies he died of natural causes, despite what his file says. He insists that someone at S.C.Y.T.H.E. murdered him, and he demands Kathy find out who and why.

Kathy has only forty-five days to figure out what happened to Conner and help him move on before the boy's soul is doomed to roam the Earth as a ghost forever. She’s forced to rely on the help of her retired mentor, her almost ex-husband—and some sneaky moves by Conner himself. This is the wildest case of her career. . .and one wrong move could cost Kathy her job, not to mention her life.]]> 10 Maxie Dara 0593913914 Tori 4 audio, fantasy, mysteries 3.82 2024 A Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching a Killer (S.C.Y.T.H.E. Mystery, #1)
author: Maxie Dara
name: Tori
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/28
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves: audio, fantasy, mysteries
review:
Does all the right things of the cozy mystery genre, with none of the downsides that often plague the genre (Though I do hate the trope of a couple who are breaking up not because they don't love each other but because one decides it would be better for them since [insert never sufficient enough reason here]. Ugh).
]]> The Other People 214152106 A group of strangers gathered at a mysterious country house are in a race against time to stop a serial killer in this twisty, high-concept thriller that combines Agatha Christie with Shutter Island.

Ten strangers.

An old dark house.

A killer picking them off one by one.

And a missing girl who’s running out of time�

And then there was one.

Ten strangers wake up inside an old, locked house. They have no recollection of how they got there. In order to escape, they have to solve the disappearance of a young woman. But a killer also stalks the halls of the house and soon the body count starts to rise. Who are these strangers? Why were they chosen? Why would someone want to kill them? And who—or what—lurks in the cellar?

Forget what you think you know.

Because while you can trust yourself, can you really trust The Other People?]]> 320 C.B. Everett 1668058308 Tori 0 to-read 3.30 2025 The Other People
author: C.B. Everett
name: Tori
average rating: 3.30
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell 16163985
Proceeding to London, he raises a beautiful woman from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French. Yet the cautious, fussy Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician: the brilliant novice Jonathan Strange.

Young, handsome and daring, Strange is the very antithesis of Norrell. So begins a dangerous battle between these two great men which overwhelms that between England and France. And their own obsessions and secret dabblings with the dark arts are going to cause more trouble than they can imagine.]]> 33 Susanna Clarke Tori 3 audio, fantasy 3.77 2004 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
author: Susanna Clarke
name: Tori
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/27
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: audio, fantasy
review:
I think I zoned out for huge chunks of this, but it didn't matter, because nothing was missed in those gaps.
]]> <![CDATA[The Grace of Kings (The Dandelion Dynasty, #1)]]> 18952341 640 Ken Liu 1481424270 Tori 0 to-read 3.77 2015 The Grace of Kings (The Dandelion Dynasty, #1)
author: Ken Liu
name: Tori
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[High Country (Anna Pigeon, #12)]]> 7669506 320 Nevada Barr 0786558709 Tori 4 ebook, mysteries 3.25 2004 High Country (Anna Pigeon, #12)
author: Nevada Barr
name: Tori
average rating: 3.25
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/24
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves: ebook, mysteries
review:
Even though Anna acted very very stupid sometimes, and even though many elements of this book feel dated, this still feels like it has a lot of the best elements that this series is so good for. Beautiful descriptions of the park, peeks behind the curtain of how operations are run, edge of your seat action scenes. This actually felt like a noticeably darker entry in the series, I'll be interested to see if future books keep that energy.
]]> Strangers in Time 217182446 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Calamity of Souls comes David Baldacci’s newest novel, set in London in 1944, about a bereaved book shop owner and two teenagers scarred by the second world war, and the healing and hope they find in one another.

Fourteen-year-old Charlie Matters is up to no good, but for a very good reason. Without parents, peerage, or merit, ducking school but barred from actual work, he steals what he needs, living day-to-day until he’s old enough to enlist to fight the Germans. After barely surviving the Blitz, Charlie knows there’s no telling when a falling bomb might end his life.

Fifteen-year-old Molly Wakefield has just returned to a nearly unrecognizable London. One of millions of people to have been evacuated to the countryside via “Operation Pied Piper,� Molly has been away from her parents—from her home—for nearly five years. Her return, however, is not the homecoming she’d hoped for as she’s confronted by a devastating reality: both her parents are gone.

Without guardians and stability, Charlie and Molly find an unexpected ally and protector in Ignatius Oliver, and solace at his book shop, The Book Keep, where A book a day keeps the bombs away. Mourning the recent loss of his wife, Ignatius forms a kinship with both children, and in each other—over the course of the greatest armed conflict the world had ever seen—they rediscover the spirit of family each has lost.

But Charlie’s escapades in the city have not gone unnoticed, and someone’s been following Molly since she returned to London. And Ignatius is still reeling from a secret Imogen long kept from him while she was alive—something so shocking it resulted in her death, and his life being turned upside down.

As bombs continue to bear down on the city, Charlie, Molly, and Ignatius learn that while the perils of war rage on, their coming together and trusting one another may be the only way for them to survive.]]> 448 David Baldacci 1538742055 Tori 0 to-read 4.10 2025 Strangers in Time
author: David Baldacci
name: Tori
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Searching for the Lost Tombs of Egypt]]> 38495946

Archeologist Chris Naunton examines the famous pharaohs, their achievements, the bling they might have been buried with, the circumstances in which they were buried, and why those circumstances may have prevented archeologists from finding these tombs.


In Searching for the Lost Tombs of Egypt, Naunton sheds light on the lives of these ancient Egyptians and makes an exciting case for the potential discovery of these lost tombs.]]> 288 Chris Naunton 0500051992 Tori 0 to-read 4.13 2018 Searching for the Lost Tombs of Egypt
author: Chris Naunton
name: Tori
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life]]> 213282422
In the 18th century, two men dedicated their lives to the same daunting task: identifying and describing all life on Earth. Their approaches could not have been more different. Carl Linnaeus, a pious Swedish doctor with a huckster's flair, believed that life belonged in tidy, static categories. Georges-Louis de Buffon, an aristocratic polymath and keeper of France's royal garden, viewed life as a dynamic swirl of complexities. Both began believing their work to be difficult, but not impossible—how could the planet possibly hold more than a few thousand species? Stunned by life's diversity, both fell far short of their goal. But in the process they articulated starkly divergent views on nature, on humanity's role in shaping the fate of our planet and on humanity itself.

The rivalry between these two unique, driven individuals created reverberations that still echo today. Linnaeus, with the help of acolyte explorers he called "apostles" (only half of whom returned alive), gave the world such concepts as mammal, primate and homo sapiens—but he also denied species change and promulgated racist pseudo-science. Buffon coined the term reproduction, formulated early prototypes of evolution and genetics, and argued passionately against prejudice. It was a clash that, during their lifetimes, Buffon seemed to be winning. But their posthumous fates would take a very different turn.

With elegant, propulsive prose grounded in more than a decade of research, featuring appearances by Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin and Charles Darwin, bestselling author Jason Roberts tells an unforgettable true-life tale of intertwined lives and enduring legacies, tracing an arc of insight and discovery that extends across three centuries into the present day.]]> 14 Jason Roberts Tori 2 audio, non-fiction 3.88 2024 Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life
author: Jason Roberts
name: Tori
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/19
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: audio, non-fiction
review:
Much more technical then the merely curious reader will appreciate. The details of classification, past and present, overshadow any of the human story here.
]]> <![CDATA[The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right]]> 209721570 When a young woman trades places with her noble cousin, their innocent ruse leads to true love in this sparkling new Regency-era romantic comedy of manners from the author of Mr. Malcolm’s List.

When Arabella Grant’s wicked aunt dies suddenly, both Arabella and her cousin Lady Isabelle cannot help but feel relieved. She’d made their lives miserable, and now Lady Issie is free to read to her heart’s content, and Bella is free from taunts about her ignoble birth.

Their newfound freedom is threatened, however, when Issie’s great-aunt commands her to travel to London for a come-out Issie has never wanted. Issie, who is in poor health, is convinced she’ll drop dead like her mother did if she drops into a curtsy before the queen. So when her great-aunt turns out to be nearsighted and can’t tell the noble Lady Isabelle from her commoner cousin Arabella, Issie convinces Bella to take her place. Bella can attend all the exclusive entertainments that her lower birth would typically exclude her from, and Issie can stay in bed, her nose in a book.

Bella agrees to the scheme for her cousin’s sake, but matters turn complicated when she meets the irresistible Lord Brooke. He begins courting her while under the impression she’s the rich and aristocratic Lady Isabelle, who, unlike Bella, is a suitable bride for an eligible young earl. And Bella, who is convinced that she has met “Lord Right,� worries what will happen when she reveals that he’s actually fallen for�the wrong lady.]]> 271 Suzanne Allain 0593549678 Tori 0 to-read 3.84 2024 The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right
author: Suzanne Allain
name: Tori
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Empty Grave (Lockwood & Co., #5)]]> 36675110 13 Jonathan Stroud 0525500693 Tori 3 audio, young-adult, fantasy 4.31 2017 The Empty Grave (Lockwood & Co., #5)
author: Jonathan Stroud
name: Tori
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/14
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves: audio, young-adult, fantasy
review:
A decent end to the series, though one which felt a bit rushed and unweighty. I'm mostly glad to see the irrational hatred of Holly has finally gone away
]]> <![CDATA[Boar Island (Anna Pigeon, #19)]]> 26114418
While they try to deal with the fragile state of affairs---and find the person behind the harassment---the three adults decide the best thing to do is to remove Elizabeth from the situation. Since Anna is about to start her new post as Acting Chief Ranger at Acadia National Park in Maine, the three will join her and stay at a house on the cliff of a small island near the park, Boar Island.

But the move east doesn't solve the problem. The stalker has followed them east. And Heath (a paraplegic) and Elizabeth aren't alone on the otherwise deserted island. At the same time, Anna has barely arrived at Acadia before a brutal murder is committed by a killer uncomfortably close to her.

BOAR ISLAND is a brilliant intertwining of past and present, of victims and killers, in a compelling novel that only Nevada Barr could write.]]> 374 Nevada Barr 1250064694 Tori 0 to-read 3.49 2016 Boar Island (Anna Pigeon, #19)
author: Nevada Barr
name: Tori
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Destroyer Angel (Anna Pigeon, #18)]]> 17934372
On their second night out, Anna goes off on her own for a solo evening float on the Fox River. When she comes back, she finds that four thugs, armed with rifles, pistols, and knives, have taken the two women and their teenaged daughters captive. With limited resources and no access to the outside world, Anna has only two days to rescue them before her friends are either killed or flown out of the country.]]> 342 Nevada Barr 0312614586 Tori 0 to-read 3.76 2014 Destroyer Angel (Anna Pigeon, #18)
author: Nevada Barr
name: Tori
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Rope (Anna Pigeon, #17) 12127718
As she slowly pieces together her memory, it soon becomes clear that someone has trapped her there, in an inescapable prison, and no one knows that she is even missing. Plunged into a landscape and a plot she is unfit and untrained to handle, Anna Pigeon must muster the courage, determination and will to live that she didn’t even know she still possessed to survive, outwit and triumph.

For those legions of readers who have been entranced over the years by Park Ranger Anna Pigeon’s strength and determination and those who are new to Nevada Barr’s captivating, compelling novels, this is where it all starts.]]> 357 Nevada Barr 0312614578 Tori 0 to-read 3.84 2012 The Rope (Anna Pigeon, #17)
author: Nevada Barr
name: Tori
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Burn (Anna Pigeon, #16) 7757579 378 Nevada Barr 031261456X Tori 0 to-read 3.61 2010 Burn (Anna Pigeon, #16)
author: Nevada Barr
name: Tori
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Borderline (Anna Pigeon, #15) 5460711
Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, she is on administrative leave, per her superintendent's urging. Anna wonders if the leave might not be permanent, either by her own choice or that of the National Park Service. The one bright spot in Anna's life is Paul, her husband of less than a year. Hoping the warmth and the adventure of a raft trip in Big Bend National Park will lift her spirits, Paul takes Anna to southwest Texas, where the sun is hot and the Rio Grande is running high. The sheer beauty of the Chihuahuan Desert and the power of the river work their magic--until the raft is lost in the rapids and a young college student falls overboard, resulting in an even more grisly discovery. Caught in a strainer between two boulders and more dead than alive, is a pregnant woman, hair and arms tangled in the downed branches. Instead of the soul-soothing experience they'd longed for, Anna and Paul find themselves sucked into a labyrinth of intrigue that leads from the Mexican desert to the steps of the Governor's Mansion in Austin, Texas.]]> 399 Nevada Barr 0399155694 Tori 0 to-read 3.88 2009 Borderline (Anna Pigeon, #15)
author: Nevada Barr
name: Tori
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Winter Study (Anna Pigeon, #14)]]> 2039223 370 Nevada Barr 0399154582 Tori 0 to-read 3.83 2008 Winter Study (Anna Pigeon, #14)
author: Nevada Barr
name: Tori
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Hard Truth (Anna Pigeon, #13) 86440
When two of three children who'd gone missing from a religious retreat reappear, Anna's investigation brings her face-to-face with a paranoid sect--and with a villain so evil, he'll make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.]]> 322 Nevada Barr 0425208419 Tori 0 to-read 3.79 2005 Hard Truth (Anna Pigeon, #13)
author: Nevada Barr
name: Tori
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night]]> 57741175
The harrowing true survival story of an early polar expedition that went terribly awry--with the ship frozen in ice and the crew trapped inside for the entire sunless, Antarctic winter

“Deserves a place beside Alfred Lansing’s immortal classic Endurance.”—Nathaniel Philbrick
“A riveting tale, splendidly told . . . Madhouse at the End of the Earth has it all.”—Stacy Schiff
“Julian Sancton has deftly rescued this forgotten saga from the deep freeze.”—Hampton Sides

In August 1897, thirty-one-year-old commandant Adrien de Gerlache set sail aboard the Belgica, fueled by a profound sense of adventure and dreams of claiming glory for his native Belgium. His destination was the uncharted end of the earth: the icy continent of Antarctica. But the commandant's plans for a three-year expedition to reach the magnetic South Pole would be thwarted at each turn. Before the ship cleared South America, it had already broken down, run aground, and lost several key crew members, leaving behind a group with dubious experience for such an ambitious voyage.

As the ship progressed into the freezing waters, the captain had to make a choice: turn back and spare his men the potentially devastating consequences of getting stuck, or recklessly sail deeper into the ice pack to chase glory and fame. He sailed on, and the Belgica soon found itself stuck fast in the icy hold of the Antarctic continent. The ship would winter on the ice. Plagued by a mysterious, debilitating illness and besieged by the monotony of their days, the crew deteriorated as their confinement in suffocating close quarters wore on and their hope of escape dwindled daily. As winter approached the days grew shorter, until the sun set on the magnificent polar landscape one last time, condemning the ship's occupants to months of quarantine in an endless night.

Forged in fire and carved by ice, Antarctica proved a formidable opponent for the motley crew. Among them was Frederick Cook, an American doctor--part scientist, part adventurer, part P.T. Barnum--whose unorthodox methods delivered many of the crew from the gruesome symptoms of scurvy and whose relentless optimism buoyed their spirits through the long, dark polar night. Then there was Roald Amundsen, a young Norwegian who went on to become a storied polar explorer in his own right, exceeding de Gerlache's wildest dreams by leading the first expeditions to traverse the Northwest Passage and reach the South Pole.

Drawing on firsthand accounts of the Belgica's voyage and exclusive access to the ship's logbook, Sancton tells the tale of its long, isolated imprisonment on the ice--a story that NASA studies today in its research on isolation for missions to Mars. In vivid, hair-raising prose, Sancton recounts the myriad forces that drove these men right up to and over the brink of madness.]]> Julian Sancton Tori 4 audio, non-fiction 3.81 2021 Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night
author: Julian Sancton
name: Tori
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/12
date added: 2025/02/12
shelves: audio, non-fiction
review:
Endlessly fascinated by the men who thought doing these dangerous, frigid mission for nothing but fame was a good idea.
]]> <![CDATA[Hook's Tale: Being the Account of an Unjustly Villainized Pirate Written by Himself]]> 34324775
Long defamed as a vicious pirate, Captain James Cook (a.k.a Hook) was in fact a dazzling wordsmith who left behind a vibrant, wildly entertaining, and entirely truthful memoir. His chronicle offers a counter narrative to the works of J.M. Barrie, a “dour Scotsman� whose spurious accounts got it all wrong. Now, award-winning playwright John Pielmeier is proud to present this crucial historic artifact in its entirety for the first time.

Cook’s story begins in London, where he lives with his widowed mother. At thirteen, he runs away from home, but is kidnapped and pressed into naval service as an unlikely cabin boy. Soon he discovers a treasure map that leads to a mysterious archipelago called the “Never-Isles� from which there appears to be no escape. In the course of his adventures he meets the pirates Smee and Starkey, falls in love with the enchanting Tiger Lily, adopts an oddly affectionate crocodile, and befriends a charming boy named Peter—who teaches him to fly. He battles monsters, fights in mutinies, swims with mermaids, and eventually learns both the sad and terrible tale of his mother’s life and the true story of his father’s disappearance.

Like Gregory Maguire’s Wicked, Hook’s Tale offers a radical new version of a classic story, bringing readers into a much richer, darker, and enchanting version of Neverland than ever before. The characters that our hero meets—including the terrible Doctor Uriah Slinque and a little girl named Wendy—lead him to the most difficult decision of his life: whether to submit to the temptation of eternal youth, or to embrace the responsibilities of maturity and the inevitability of his own mortality. His choice, like his story, is not what you might expect.]]> 288 John Leonard Pielmeier 1501161075 Tori 2 dark, fairy-tale, ebook
I think what this book is trying to do is maintain the feel of the original story as it was written. The original could be shockingly grim, but was obviously still trying to be a whimsical and simple children's story. This retelling is attempting to be a darker, adult, more character driven tale. But in keeping to the original simple writing style and zipping story beats, it looses the depth and also feels tonally inconsistent.

Here we have the censored "d--m" being used, but also a weirdly large amount of descriptions of the female mermaids and their attractive anatomy, the appearance of Jack the Ripper and talk of vivisections, and things that put this firmly out of being a children's novel.

The quick narrative style where we're jumping from one action to the next means that none of the emotions hit home. It makes Hook feel so calloused, which ironically makes him feel like the villain this book is trying to disprove him as.

Speaking of this angle for the book, I don't think its working here. I think most adults who read Peter Pan understand the darkness behind the character. (He culled the lost boys when they grew up, after all). I don't think this book does anything to make him more villainous. And Hook is supposed to be the good guy, but:
1. He inadvertently kills his Grandfather, and runs away with seemingly zero remorse or consequences.
2. He is consistently motivated by revenge, and there doesn't seem to be a point where he lets go of that.
3. He purposely ages up his father to the point of senility (again, out of revenge). While this doesn't kill him, his father does fall to his death out of the crows nest not long after directly because of it. Hook doesn't seem to care either way so...
4. Tries to murder Peter out of revenge as well.
5. Is directly responsible for the Darling kids kidnapping (and all the other lost boys) because of his revenge plots.

Hook really is still the villain here, just maybe a bit more of a sympathetic one.
]]> 3.85 2017 Hook's Tale: Being the Account of an Unjustly Villainized Pirate Written by Himself
author: John Leonard Pielmeier
name: Tori
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2017
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/10
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: dark, fairy-tale, ebook
review:
I am confused.

I think what this book is trying to do is maintain the feel of the original story as it was written. The original could be shockingly grim, but was obviously still trying to be a whimsical and simple children's story. This retelling is attempting to be a darker, adult, more character driven tale. But in keeping to the original simple writing style and zipping story beats, it looses the depth and also feels tonally inconsistent.

Here we have the censored "d--m" being used, but also a weirdly large amount of descriptions of the female mermaids and their attractive anatomy, the appearance of Jack the Ripper and talk of vivisections, and things that put this firmly out of being a children's novel.

The quick narrative style where we're jumping from one action to the next means that none of the emotions hit home. It makes Hook feel so calloused, which ironically makes him feel like the villain this book is trying to disprove him as.

Speaking of this angle for the book, I don't think its working here. I think most adults who read Peter Pan understand the darkness behind the character. (He culled the lost boys when they grew up, after all). I don't think this book does anything to make him more villainous. And Hook is supposed to be the good guy, but:
1. He inadvertently kills his Grandfather, and runs away with seemingly zero remorse or consequences.
2. He is consistently motivated by revenge, and there doesn't seem to be a point where he lets go of that.
3. He purposely ages up his father to the point of senility (again, out of revenge). While this doesn't kill him, his father does fall to his death out of the crows nest not long after directly because of it. Hook doesn't seem to care either way so...
4. Tries to murder Peter out of revenge as well.
5. Is directly responsible for the Darling kids kidnapping (and all the other lost boys) because of his revenge plots.

Hook really is still the villain here, just maybe a bit more of a sympathetic one.

]]> <![CDATA[Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit]]> 6515834 167 Francis Chan 1434767957 Tori 2 biblical, ebook, non-fiction Johnathan Rodebaugh's review, that a book based more on Chan's experiences than on the Bible tends to make me more skeptical than not.]]> 4.12 2009 Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit
author: Francis Chan
name: Tori
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2009
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/10
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: biblical, ebook, non-fiction
review:
Chan is often emotionally convicting, but lacking on the scripturally convicting level. I very much agreed with Johnathan Rodebaugh's review, that a book based more on Chan's experiences than on the Bible tends to make me more skeptical than not.
]]> Written on the Dark 218153843 From the internationally bestselling author of Tigana, All the Seas of the World, and A Brightness Long Ago comes a majestic new novel of love and war that brilliantly evokes the drama and turbulence of medieval France.

Thierry Villar is a well-known--even notorious-- tavern poet, familiar with the rogues and shadows of that world, but not at all with courts and power. He is an unlikely person, despite his quickness, to be caught up in the deadly contests of ambitious royals, assassins, and invading armies.

But he is indeed drawn into all these things on a savagely cold night in his beloved city of Orane. And so Thierry must use all the intelligence and charm he can muster as political struggles merge with a decades-long war to bring his country to the brink of destruction.

As he does, he meets his poetic equal in an aristocratic woman and is drawn to more than one unsettling person with a connection to the world beyond this one. He also crosses paths with an extraordinary young woman driven by voices within to try to heal the ailing king--and help his forces in war. A wide and varied set of people from all walks of life take their places in the rich tapestry of this story.

A new masterwork from the internationally bestselling author of All the Seas of the World, A Brightness Long Ago, and Tigana, Written on the Dark is an elegant tour de force about power and ambition playing out amid the intense human need for art and beauty, and memories to be left behind.]]> 320 Guy Gavriel Kay 0593953983 Tori 0 to-read 4.47 2025 Written on the Dark
author: Guy Gavriel Kay
name: Tori
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Children of Gods and Fighting Men (Gael Song #1)]]> 200776749
They think they've killed the last of us...

981 AD. The Viking King of Dublin is dead. His young widow, Gormflaith, has ambitions for her son � and herself � but Ireland is a dangerous place and kings tend not to stay kings for long. Gormflaith also has a secret. She is one of the Fomorians, an immortal race who can do fire-magic. She has kept her powers hidden at all costs, for there are other immortals in this world � like the Tuatha Dé Danann, a race of warriors who are sworn to kill Fomorians.

Fódla is one of the Tuatha Dé Danann with the gift of healing. Her kind dwell hidden in a fortress, forbidden to live amongst the mortals. Fódla agrees to help her kin by going to spy on Brian Boru, a powerful man who aims to be High King of Ireland. She finds a land on the brink of war � a war she is desperate to stop. However, preventing the loss of mortal lives is not easy with Ireland in turmoil and the Fomorians now on the rise...]]> Shauna Lawless Tori 3 audio, fantasy 3.82 2022 The Children of Gods and Fighting Men (Gael Song #1)
author: Shauna Lawless
name: Tori
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/07
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves: audio, fantasy
review:
Long and meandering. There's some interesting worldbuilding here, but no characters who I felt sympathetic to.
]]> A Far Better Thing 217388276 I feared this was the best of times; I hoped it could not get any worse.

The fairies stole Sydney Carton as a child, and made him a mortal servant of the Faerie Realm. Now, he has a rare opportunity for revenge against the fae and Charles Darnay, the changeling left in his stead.

It will take magic and cunning—cold iron and Realm silver—to hide his intentions from humans and fae and bring his plans to fruition.

Shuttling between London and Paris during the Reign of Terror, generations of violence-begetting-violence lead him to a heartbreaking choice in the shadow of the guillotine.]]> 416 H.G. Parry 1250334187 Tori 0 to-read 4.18 2025 A Far Better Thing
author: H.G. Parry
name: Tori
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Vicious Vet (Agatha Raisin, #2)]]> 9299481 Beloved author M.C. Beaton has delighted readers and fans alike with her Agatha Raisin mysteries. Now here is the second novel in the series that started it all…The Vicious Vet.

A PURR-FECT CRIME IN THE COTSWOLDS
Former London PR agent, Agatha Raisin still hasn't adjusted to village life where the only prospect for a hot evening out is a meeting of the Ladies Society. And since her overtures toward James Lacey—the retired military man next door—have failed, Agatha jumps at the chance to visit the new vet, who's single and good-looking. Although Agatha's tabby hasn't a thing wrong with him, Hodge endures having a thermometer shoved up his bum in the name of romance. Unfortunately his sacrifice is all for naught when the vet is soon found dead next to a high-strung horse.

The police call the vet's demise a freak accident, but Agatha convinces the hard-to-get James Lacey, who's also bored in the Cotswolds, that playing amateur detective might be fun. Unfortunately, just like curiosity killed the cat, Agatha's inept snooping is soon a motivation for murder...]]> 224 M.C. Beaton 1429901543 Tori 4 audio, mysteries 4.04 1993 The Vicious Vet (Agatha Raisin, #2)
author: M.C. Beaton
name: Tori
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/04
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves: audio, mysteries
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It (The Siege, #2)]]> 49089789
The City may be under siege, but everyone still has to make a living. Take Notker, the acclaimed playwright, actor and impresario. Nobody works harder, even when he's not working. Thankfully, the good citizens of Classis appreciate an evening at the theatre even when there are large rocks falling out of the sky.

But Notker is a man of many talents, and all the world is, apparently, a stage. It seems that the Empire needs him - or someone who looks a lot like him - for a role that will call for the performance of a lifetime. At least it will guarantee fame, fortune and immortality. If it doesn't kill him first.

]]> K.J. Parker 1549157868 Tori 2 audio 3.73 2020 How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It (The Siege, #2)
author: K.J. Parker
name: Tori
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/04
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves: audio
review:
There are moments of this that are somewhat amusing, but the characters are all rather insufferable. The humor was not quite enough to carry the book on it's own. The worldbuilding/politics too simple to lend anything deep. It could be trying to take a satirical bent, but it doesn't seem to be saying enough to make that work either.
]]> <![CDATA[The Sibyl in Her Grave: A Novel (Hilary Tamar)]]> 182484364
“Sarah Caudwell is one of my very favorite mystery writers.”—A. J. Finn, New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

Julia Larwood’s Aunt Regina needs help. She and two friends pooled their modest resources and invested in equities. Now the tax man demands his due, but they’ve already spent the money. How can they dig themselves out of the tax hole? Even more to the Can the sin of capital gains trigger corporeal loss?

That's a question for the sibyl, psychic counselor Isabella del Comino, who has offended Aunt Regina and her friends by moving into the rectory, plowing under a cherished garden, and establishing an aviary of ravens. When Isabella is found dead, all clues point to death by fiscal misadventure.

So Julia calls in an old friend and Oxford fellow, Professor Hilary Tamar, to follow a money trail that connects Aunt Regina to what appears to be capital fraud—and capital crime. The two women couldn't have a better champion than the erudite Hilary. Once again Sarah Caudwell sweeps us into the scene of the crime, leaving us to ponder the greatest mystery of Hilary themself.

Don’t miss any of Sarah Caudwell’s riveting Hilary Tamar
THUS WAS ADONIS MURDERED •THE SHORTEST WAY TO HADES •THE SIRENS SANG OF MURDER •THE SIBYL IN HER GRAVE]]> 336 Sarah Caudwell 0593725999 Tori 5 i-own, mysteries, favorites 4.22 2000 The Sibyl in Her Grave: A Novel (Hilary Tamar)
author: Sarah Caudwell
name: Tori
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/03
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: i-own, mysteries, favorites
review:
Perhaps not the strongest mystery novel, but a delightful cast and overall story. Not my most favorite of the four Hilary Tamar, but still a strong entry in the series, and I'm very sorry to see this be the end of it.
]]> <![CDATA[Cellar Rat: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly]]> 215748655 What happens when a career you love doesn’t love you back?

As Hannah Selinger will tell you, to be a good restaurant employee is to be invisible. At the height of her career as a server and then sommelier at some of New York’s most famed dining institutions, Selinger was the hand that folded your napkin while you were in the bathroom, the employee silently slipping into the night through a side door after serving meals worth more than her rent.

During her tenure, Selinger rubbed shoulders with David Chang, Bobby Flay, Johnny Iuzzini, and countless other food celebrities of the early 2000’s.Her position allowed her access to a life she never expected; the lavish parties, the tasting courses, the wildly expensive wines � the rare world we see romanticized in countless movies and television shows. But the thing about being invisible is that people forget you’re there, and most act differently when they think no one is looking.

In Cellar Rat, Selinger chronicles her rise and fall in the restaurant business, beginning with the gritty hometown pub where she fell in love with the industry and ending with her final post serving celebrities at the Hampton’s classic Nick & Tony’s. In between, readers will join Selinger on her emotional journey as she learns the joys of fine fine dining, the allure and danger of power, and what it takes to walk away from a career you love when it no longer serves you.]]> 304 Hannah Selinger 031657077X Tori 0 to-read 3.59 2025 Cellar Rat: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly
author: Hannah Selinger
name: Tori
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Magician of Tiger Castle 220999061 The beloved author of Holes presents his first adult novel, a modern fantasy classic of forbidden love, a crumbling kingdom, and the unexpected magic all around us.

Long ago and far away (and somewhere south of France) lies the kingdom of Esquaveta. There, Princess Tullia is in nearly as much peril as her struggling kingdom. Esquaveta desperately needs to forge an alliance, and to that end, Tullia's father has arranged a marriage between her and an odious prince. However, one month before the "wedding of the century," Tullia falls in love with a lowly apprentice scribe.

The king turns to Anatole, his much-maligned magician. Seventeen years earlier, when Anatole first came to the castle, he was regarded as something of a prodigy. But after a long series of failures—the latest being an attempt to transform sand into gold—he has become the object of contempt and ridicule. The only one who still believes in him is the princess.

When the king orders Anatole to brew a potion that will ensure Tullia agrees to the wedding, Anatole is faced with an impossible choice. With one chance to save the marriage, the kingdom, and, of most importance to him, his reputation, will he betray the princess—or risk ruin?]]> 320 Louis Sachar 0593952308 Tori 0 to-read 4.10 2025 The Magician of Tiger Castle
author: Louis Sachar
name: Tori
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler's Defeat]]> 34533307 Six gentlemen, one goal: the destruction of Hitler's war machine

In the spring of 1939, a top-secret organization was founded in London: its purpose was to plot the destruction of Hitler's war machine through spectacular acts of sabotage.

The guerrilla campaign that followed was every bit as extraordinary as the six men who directed it. One of them, Cecil Clarke, was a maverick engineer who had spent the 1930s inventing futuristic caravans. Now, his talents were put to more devious use: he built the dirty bomb used to assassinate Hitler's favorite, Reinhard Heydrich. Another, William Fairbairn, was a portly pensioner with an unusual passion: he was the world's leading expert in silent killing, hired to train the guerrillas being parachuted behind enemy lines. Led by dapper Scotsman Colin Gubbins, these men—along with three others—formed a secret inner circle that, aided by a group of formidable ladies, single-handedly changed the course Second World War: a cohort hand-picked by Winston Churchill, whom he called his Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

Giles Milton's Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is a gripping and vivid narrative of adventure and derring-do that is also, perhaps, the last great untold story of the Second World War.

]]> 13 Giles Milton 1427284873 Tori 4 4.15 2016 Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler's Defeat
author: Giles Milton
name: Tori
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/30
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves: audio, historical, non-fiction
review:

]]> We Are the Fire 72350712
Pran dreams of one day rebelling against their oppressors and destroying the empire; Oksana only dreams of returning home and creating a peaceful life for them both.

When they discover the emperor has a new, more terrible mission than ever for their kind, Pran and Oksana vow to escape his tyranny once and for all. But their methods and ideals differ drastically, driving a wedge between them. Worse still, they both soon find that the only way to defeat the monsters that subjugated them may be to become monsters themselves.]]> 0 Sam Taylor 1662068433 Tori 2 audio, fantasy, young-adult 2.33 2021 We Are the Fire
author: Sam Taylor
name: Tori
average rating: 2.33
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/27
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: audio, fantasy, young-adult
review:
I can't really place my finger on why this book feels so forgettable and unexciting. There's nothing that shouts as being particularly bad. Everything just feels a little bland and underdeveloped. A pace too slow to be action focused, but fairly basic characters that don't let it be character driven, but not enough world building or politics to make this interesting in that way either...
]]> <![CDATA[The Raven Scholar (Eternal Path Trilogy, #1)]]> 217218367 From an electrifying new voice in epic fantasy comes The Raven Scholar, a masterfully woven and playfully inventive tale of imperial intrigue, cutthroat competition, and one scholar’s quest to uncover the truth.

Let us fly now to the empire of Orrun, where after twenty-four years of peace, Bersun the Brusque must end his reign.In the dizzying heat of mid-summer, seven contenders compete to replace him. They are exceptional warriors, thinkers, strategists—the best of the best.

Then one of them is murdered. We know who did it. We saw it happen. No one else did.

It falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor’s brilliant, idiosyncratic High Scholar, to find the killer before the trials end. To do so,she must untanglea web of deadly secrets that stretches back generations, all while competing against six warriors with their own dark histories and fierce ambitions. Neema believes she is alone. But we are here to help; all she has to do is let us in.

If she succeeds, she will win the throne. If she fails, death awaits her. But we won’t let that happen.

We are the Raven, and we are magnificent.]]> 667 Antonia Hodgson 0316577235 Tori 0 to-read 4.59 2025 The Raven Scholar (Eternal Path Trilogy, #1)
author: Antonia Hodgson
name: Tori
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Big Dumb Eyes: Stories from a Simpler Mind]]> 219838010 One of the hottest stand-ups working today, Nate Bargatze brings his everyman comedy to the page in this hilarious collection of personal stories, opinions, and confessions.

Nate Bargatze used to be a genius. That is, until the summer after seventh grade when he slipped, fell off a cliff, hit his head on a rock, and “my brain got, like, dented or something.� Before this accident, he dreamed of being “an electric engineer, or a brain doctor, or maybe a math person who does like, math things for a living.� Afterwards, a voice in his head told him, “It’s okay. You’re dumb now. All you got is standup.�* But the “math things� industry’s loss is our gain because Nate went on to become one of today’s top-grossing comedians who breaks both attendance and streaming records.

In his highly-anticipated first book, Nate talks about life as a non-genius. From stories about his first car (named Old Blue, a clunky Mazda with a tennis ball for a stick shift), life as a Southerner (Northerners constantly ask him things like, do you believe in dinosaurs?), and his first apartment where a rat chewed a hole right through the wall to how his wife keeps him in line and so much more. He also reflects on such topics as Vandy football and the origins of sushi (how can a Philadelphia roll be from old-time Japan?).

Nate’s book is full of heart and it will make readers laugh out loud and nod in recognition, but it probably won’t make them think too much.


*Nate’s family disputes this entire story]]> 240 Nate Bargatze 1538768461 Tori 0 to-read 3.87 Big Dumb Eyes: Stories from a Simpler Mind
author: Nate Bargatze
name: Tori
average rating: 3.87
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Mort (Discworld, #4) 6469251
Death, having delegated much of his work to Mort, is displaying disturbingly human characteristics: drinking, dice-playing and becoming curious about the nature of fun. Mort, meanwhile, is becoming much less cheery and showing a worrying tendency to
SPEAK IN HOLLOW CAPITALS...]]> 244 Terry Pratchett 0061367656 Tori 4 ebook, fantasy 4.11 1987 Mort (Discworld, #4)
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Tori
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1987
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/23
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: ebook, fantasy
review:

]]> One Yellow Eye 220160134 In this heartrending spin on the zombie mythos, a brilliant scientist desperately searches for a cure after a devastating epidemic while also hiding a monumental secret—her undead husband.

Having always preferred the company of microbes, British scientist Kesta Shelley has spent her life peering through a microscope rather than cultivating personal relationships. That changed when Kesta met Tim—her cheerleader, her best friend, her absolute everything. So when he was one of the last people in London to be infected with a perplexing virus that left the city ravaged, Kesta went into triage mode.

Although the government rounded up and disposed of all the infected, Kesta is able to keep her husband (un)alive—and hidden—with resources from the hospital where she works. She spends her days reviewing biopsy slides and her evenings caring for him, but he’s clearly declining. The sedatives aren’t working like they used to, and his violent outbursts are becoming more frequent. As Kesta races against the clock, her colleagues start noticing changes in her behavior and appearance. Her care for Tim has spiraled into absolute obsession. Whispers circulate that a top-secret lab is working on a cure, and Kesta clings to the possibility of being recruited, but can she save her husband before he is discovered?]]> 352 Leigh Radford 1668081210 Tori 0 to-read 3.82 2025 One Yellow Eye
author: Leigh Radford
name: Tori
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Long After Midnight 17948318 - The Blue Bottle (1950) story
- One Timeless Spring (1946) story
- The Parrot Who Met Papa (1972) story
- The Burning Man (1976) story
- A Piece of Wood (1952) story
- The Messiah (1971) story
- G.B.S.-Mark V (1976) story
- The Utterly Perfect Murder (1971) story
- Punishment Without Crime (1950) story
- Getting Through Sunday Somehow (1962) story
- Drink Entire: Against the Madness of Crowds (1976) story
- Interval in Sunlight (1954) novelette
- A Story of Love (1976) story
- The Wish (1973) story
- Forever & the Earth (1950) story
- The Better Part of Wisdom (1976) story
- Darling Adolf (1976) story
- The Miracles of Jamie (1946) story
- The October Game (1948) story
- The Pumpernickel (1951) story
- Long After Midnight (1963) story
- Have I Got a Chocolate Bar for You! (1973) story

]]> Ray Bradbury 1400198208 Tori 3 audio, short 3.86 1976 Long After Midnight
author: Ray Bradbury
name: Tori
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1976
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves: audio, short
review:
This isn't Bradbury's strongest collection of short stories, but there's still some fun to be had here.
]]> <![CDATA[The Alloy of Law (Mistborn, #4)]]> 13361776
Kelsier, Vin, Elend, Sazed, Spook, and the rest are now part of history—or religion. Yet even as science and technology are reaching new heights, the old magics of Allomancy and Feruchemy continue to play a role in this reborn world. Out in the frontier lands known as the Roughs, they are crucial tools for the brave men and women attempting to establish order and justice.

One such is Waxillium Ladrian, a rare Twinborn who can Push on metals with his Allomancy and use Feruchemy to become lighter or heavier at will.

After twenty years in the Roughs, Wax has been forced by family tragedy to return to the metropolis of Elendel. Now he must reluctantly put away his guns and assume the duties and dignity incumbent upon the head of a noble house. Or so he thinks, until he learns the hard way that the mansions and elegant tree-lined streets of the city can be even more dangerous than the dusty plains of the Roughs.]]> Brandon Sanderson 1427221049 Tori 4 audio, fantasy 4.10 2011 The Alloy of Law (Mistborn, #4)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Tori
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves: audio, fantasy
review:
This world always had a cool magic system. Exploring it in a more Wild West setting is a fun change
]]> The Catcher in the Rye 8096714
The novel was included on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923, and it was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. It has been frequently challenged in the United States and other countries for its liberal use of profanity and portrayal of sexuality and teenage angst. It also deals with complex issues of identity, belonging, connection, and alienation.]]> 225 J.D. Salinger Tori 3 classics, american-lit 3.36 1951 The Catcher in the Rye
author: J.D. Salinger
name: Tori
average rating: 3.36
book published: 1951
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves: classics, american-lit
review:
I managed to avoid this book in school because my mom hated it and wasn't going to make me read it. I'm rather glad she did, because I don't think I would have understood the themes here without a little more life experience. A lot of reviews talk of it in relation to teenage angst, but I think that ignores the obvious themes about grief and trauma, which feel significantly more universal and important. I know the feeling of thinking "I should do X" and then instantly loosing motivation for it as it approached. I know the feeling of thinking I'll call someone and then giving up before I dial. Holden is a broken, sad kid without the support he needs. I get the appeal as a classic and I appreciate what this book is trying to do, it did just meander it's long way there.
]]> <![CDATA[Sourcery (Discworld, #5; Rincewind, #3)]]> 34499 276 Terry Pratchett 0061020672 Tori 0 to-read 3.90 1988 Sourcery (Discworld, #5; Rincewind, #3)
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Tori
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Nero (The Nero Trilogy) 221080486
PRE-ORDER the legendary first instalment of master storyteller Conn Iggulden's BRAND-NEW NERO TRILOGY and travel to the heart of a Roman dynasty drenched in danger and intrigue . . .

-------

ANCIENT ROME, AD 37
It begins with a man’s hand curled around another’s throat.
Emperor Tiberius first dispatches a traitor.
Then his whole family.
Next all his friends. It is as if he never existed.
THIS IS ROMAN JUSTICE.
Into this fevered forum, a child is born.
His mother is Agrippina, granddaughter of Emperor Augustus. But their imperial blood is no protection. The closer you are to the heart of the empire, the closer you are to power, intrigue, and danger.
She faces soldiers, senators, rivals, silver-tongued pretenders, each vying for position. One mistake risks exile, incarceration, execution. Or, worst of all, the loss of her infant son.
For Agrippina knows that opportunity waits, even in your darkest moments. Her son is everything. She can make this boy, shape him into Rome itself � the one all must kneel before.
BUT FIRST, THEY MUST SURVIVE . . .

------

PRAISE FOR CONN IGGULDEN

'A gripping read from the master historical storyteller . This swords-and-sandals epic brings the clash of empires between Greece and Persia to life' DAILY EXPRESS

'Pacy and propulsive, cracking with energy, violence and stirring speeches, Iggulden chronicles power struggles , political machinations and the bloodthirsty ravages of up-close combat ' DAILY MAIL

'Iggulden tells an absolutely cracking story . . . The pace is nail-biting and the set dressing magnificent' THE TIMES]]> Conn Iggulden Tori 3 audio, historical 4.00 2024 Nero (The Nero Trilogy)
author: Conn Iggulden
name: Tori
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/16
date added: 2025/01/16
shelves: audio, historical
review:
There's a rich historical narrative that really brings to life elements of ancient Rome. Many of which are very dark, grim, and horrible. A lack of narrative and a story that feels like it needs to be together in one book instead of a part one prelude means that it's going to be easy to forget.
]]> The Homemade God 219520756 Family is everything, even when it falls apart.

After the sudden death of a renowned artist, his four adult children travel to Italy to sort out his affairs with his much-younger wife, in this moving novel from the bestselling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.

World-famous artist Vic Kemp has relied on his four children ever since their mother died when they were young. Netta, the oldest, is a litigator who often serves as co-parent to her siblings; Susan, a housewife who cooks and cleans for both her husband and her father; Goose's own thwarted artistic ambitions have left him resigned to a job in Vic's studio; and Iris, the baby, drops everything the moment her father calls.

When Vic summons the siblings with the promise of big news, they hope their father is about to tell them he has finished the mysterious masterpiece he claims will be the capstone to his career. Instead, he announces he’s getting remarried.Bella-Mae, his wife to be,is apparently beautiful, a fellow artist—and twenty-seven to his seventy-six years. When his children dare to express concern, Vic decamps with Bella-Mae to his summer home in Italy. Six weeks later, he is found dead. There is no sign of his will, or his promised final painting.

Netta, Susan, Goose, and Iris gather at the house on Lake Orta to piece together what happened and prepare to bring their father’s body home. They spend the summer in a waiting game, living under the same roof as Bella-Mae, and forced to confront Vic's legacy and the buried wounds they have incurred as his children. So who is Bella-Mae? Is she the woman their father believed her to be? Or is she the force that will destroy the family for good? How long can their old bonds hold?

With sparkling wit, compassion and tender insight, The Homemade God explores memory, identity, grief, healing, and the bonds of siblinghood—what happens when they splinter, and what it might take to find a new way forward.]]> 336 Rachel Joyce 0593448294 Tori 0 to-read 3.98 The Homemade God
author: Rachel Joyce
name: Tori
average rating: 3.98
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Ink Ribbon Red 217388378 Knives Out meets Saltburn in this wickedly plotted thriller where a group of friends play a deadly game that unwraps a motive for murder, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and Alex Michaelides.

Anatol invites five of his oldest friends to his family home in the Wiltshire countryside to celebrate his thirtieth birthday. At his request, they play a game of his invention: Motive Method Death. The rules are simple: everyone chooses two players at random and imagines a scenario where one kills the other, then writes it down as a short story.

Points are given for making the murders feel real, as Anatol explains to the group. Of course, when given this assignment, it’s only natural to use what you know. Secrets. Grudges. Affairs. But once you’ve put it in a story, that secret is out. It’s not long before the game has reawakened old resentments and brought private matters into the light of day. So with each fictional murder, someone new gets a very real motive.

Ink Ribbon Red ultimately asks: When a real murder is headed your way, will you be able to spot it in time?]]> 320 Alex Pavesi 1250755956 Tori 0 to-read 3.09 Ink Ribbon Red
author: Alex Pavesi
name: Tori
average rating: 3.09
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man]]> 33866802 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a novel of sexual awakening, religious rebellion and the essential search for voice and meaning that every nascent artist must face in order to fully come into themselves.]]> James Joyce Tori 2 audio, classics 2.88 1916 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
author: James Joyce
name: Tori
average rating: 2.88
book published: 1916
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/10
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves: audio, classics
review:

]]> The Bletchley Riddle 221358423 This middle grade historical adventure follows two siblings at Bletchley Park, the home of WWII codebreakers, as they try to unravel a mystery surrounding their mother’s death.

Remember, you are bound by the Official Secrets Act�

Summer, 1940. Nineteen-year-old Jakob Novis and his quirky younger sister Lizzie share a love of riddles and puzzles. And now they’re living inside of one. The quarrelsome siblings find themselves amidst one of the greatest secrets of World War II—Britain’s eccentric codebreaking factory at Bletchley Park. As Jakob joins Bletchley’s top minds to crack the Nazi's Enigma cipher, fourteen-year-old Lizzie embarks on a mission to solve the mysterious disappearance of their mother.

The Battle of Britain rages and Hitler’s invasion creeps closer. And at the same time, baffling messages and codes arrive on their doorstep while a menacing inspector lurks outside the gates of the Bletchley mansion. Are the messages truly for them, or are they a trap? Could the riddles of Enigma and their mother's disappearance be somehow connected? Jakob and Lizzie must find a way to work together as they race to decipher clues which unravel a shocking puzzle that presents the ultimate challenge: How long must a secret be kept?]]> Ruta Sepetys 0593945786 Tori 4 4.05 2024 The Bletchley Riddle
author: Ruta Sepetys
name: Tori
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/08
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: audio, young-adult, historical
review:
Maybe it's that Sepetys focused here on a piece of history I was more familiar with, but this book felt more predictable than I expected. The characters were enjoyable even if a bit less developed then they could have been. I loved the sibling dynamic and the dual audio narration was a lot of fun.
]]> Notes from a Dead House 22474925
The inticate procedure whereby the men strip for the bath without removing their ten-pound leg-fetters is an extraordinary tour de force, compared by Turgenev to passages from Dante's Inferno.

Terror and resignation - the rampages of a pyschopath, the brief serence interlude of Christmas Day - are evoked by Dostoevsky, writing several years after his release, with a strikingly uncharacteristic detachment. For this reason, House of the Dead is certainly the least Dostoevskian of his works, yet, paradoxically, it ranks among his great masterpieces.]]> 336 Fyodor Dostoevsky 0307959597 Tori 0 to-read 4.01 1861 Notes from a Dead House
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Tori
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1861
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Closing Time (Catch-22, #2) 223737 A darkly comic and ambitious sequel to the American classic Catch-22.

In Closing Time, Joseph Heller returns to the characters of Catch-22, now coming to the end of their lives and the century, as is the entire generation that fought in World War II: Yossarian and Milo Minderbinder, the chaplain, and such newcomers as little Sammy Singer and giant Lew, all linked, in an uneasy peace and old age, fighting not the Germans this time, but The End. Closing Time deftly satirizes the realities and the myths of America in the half century since WWII: the absurdity of our politics, the decline of our society and our great cities, the greed and hypocrisy of our business and culture -- with the same ferocious humor as Catch-22.

Closing Time is outrageously funny and totally serious, and as brilliant and successful as Catch-22 itself, a fun-house mirror that captures, at once grotesquely and accurately, the truth about ourselves.

]]> 462 Joseph Heller 0684804506 Tori 0 to-read 3.07 1994 Closing Time (Catch-22, #2)
author: Joseph Heller
name: Tori
average rating: 3.07
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Fury of the Gods (The Bloodsworn Saga, #3)]]> 219580763 John Gwynne Tori 3 audio, fantasy 4.25 2024 The Fury of the Gods (The Bloodsworn Saga, #3)
author: John Gwynne
name: Tori
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/06
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves: audio, fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Diamond Solitaire (Peter Diamond, #2)]]> 214617 The second Peter Diamond investigation

Fired from the police force for insubordination, Peter Diamond is reduced to working as a security guard at Harrod’s. Turns out he can’t even hold that job—he gets fired after finding an abandoned Japanese girl in the store after closing. “Naomi,� as he calls her, exhibits strong signs of autism, and he devotes himself to communicating with her in order to glean her identity and return her to her rightful home. Weeks later, a Japanese woman appears out of the blue to claim the little girl, and it appears as though Diamond’s job is done. If only that were true. Armed only with only Naomi’s drawings as clues, Diamond races to track down her kidnappers and save her life.]]> 327 Peter Lovesey 1569472920 Tori 2 ebook, mysteries
There's a related (though not til close to the end) storyline about a pharmaceutical company and it's corporate struggles, but it's not woven in very smoothly.]]> 3.78 1992 Diamond Solitaire (Peter Diamond, #2)
author: Peter Lovesey
name: Tori
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1992
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/06
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves: ebook, mysteries
review:
Diamond can be a fun detective to follow, but the amount of suspension of disbelief was too strong to make this mystery work. A dishonorably fired inspector (for allegedly hitting a child, I believe) takes special interest in a girl who's family can't be found. The school who keeps her is totally fine with him coming in and getting time with her to sort out the mysteries. Even with him taking her to a tv studio to put her story on the air. While on tv a very rich sumo wrestler summons Diamond just to give him a blank check to investigate the matter, just because he was moved by the situation. Just in time because the girl is kidnapped! A women walked into the school, showed she had a picture of the girl, and the school took that as enough proof to let her literally drag the child away with her. So off to New York Diamond chases them, where he can easily bluff his way into getting the TSA working with him, and charm the New York Police Department to let him take over their office and run around on all their leads with. Even though, again, he's no longer an inspector. Because he was fired for shoving a child.

There's a related (though not til close to the end) storyline about a pharmaceutical company and it's corporate struggles, but it's not woven in very smoothly.
]]> <![CDATA[Combat Monsters: Untold Tales of World War II]]> 215003776 Combat Monsters brings together twenty award-winning and bestselling speculative fiction authors who each bring their own spin on an alternate history of World War II.

New research has uncovered deeply buried military secrets—both the Allied and Axis special operations during World War II included monsters. Did the Soviets use a dragon to win the Battle of Kursk? Did a vampire fight for the Canadians in Holland? Did the US drop the second atomic bomb on a kaiju?

This collection takes real events from World War II and injects them with fantastical creatures that mirror the “unreality� of war itself. Each story—and two poems—feature mythical, mystical, and otherwise unexplainable beings that change the course of history. Dragons rise and fall, witches cast deadly spells, mermaids reroute torpedoes, and all manner of “monsters� intervene for better or worse in the global turmoil of World War II.

Together, Combat Monsters challenge the very definition of monstrous, with the brutality of war as a sobering backdrop.]]> 384 Henry Herz Tori 0 to-read 3.96 2025 Combat Monsters: Untold Tales of World War II
author: Henry Herz
name: Tori
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Buccaneers 16169319 Edith Wharton Tori 3 audio, american-lit 3.60 1938 The Buccaneers
author: Edith Wharton
name: Tori
average rating: 3.60
book published: 1938
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: audio, american-lit
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Big Two-Hearted River: The Centennial Edition]]> 62591256 A gorgeous new centennial edition of Ernest Hemingway’s landmark short story of returning veteran Nick Adams’s solo fishing trip in Michigan’s rugged Upper Peninsula, illustrated with specially commissioned artwork by master engraver Chris Wormell and featuring a revelatory foreword by John N. Maclean.

"The finest story of the outdoors in American literature." � Sports Illustrated

A century since its publication in the collectionIn Our Time, “Big Two-Hearted River� has helped shape language and literature in America and across the globe, and its magnetic pull continues to draw readers, writers, and critics. The story is the best early example of Ernest Hemingway’s now-familiar writing short sentences, punchy nouns and verbs, few adjectives and adverbs, and a seductive cadence. Easy to imitate, difficult to match. The subject matter of the story has inspired generations of writers to believe that fly fishing can be literature. More than any of his stories, it depends on his ‘iceberg theory� of literature, the notion that leaving essential parts of a story unsaid, the underwater portion of the iceberg, adds to its power. Taken in context with his other work, it marks Hemingway’s passage from boyish writer to accomplished nothing big came before it, novels and stories poured out after it. —from the foreword by John N. Maclean]]> 112 Ernest Hemingway 0063297515 Tori 2
Story itself is classic Hemingway, which is to say, not much happens. ]]> 4.14 1925 Big Two-Hearted River: The Centennial Edition
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Tori
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1925
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/28
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves: short, audio, classics, american-lit
review:
The forward, which is at least a third of the book, basically says "oh what a story rich in metaphor to be discovered and searched for meaning. Anyway here's everything that happens and what it means."

Story itself is classic Hemingway, which is to say, not much happens.
]]> <![CDATA[Shōgun (Asian Saga: Chronological Order, #1)]]> 36063739 A bold English adventurer. An invincible Japanese warlord. A beautiful woman torn between two ways of life. All brought together in an extraordinary saga aflame with passion, conflict, ambition, and the struggle for power.

Here is the world-famous novel of Japan that is the earliest book in James Clavell’s masterly Asian saga. Set in the year 1600, it tells the story of a bold English pilot whose ship was blown ashore in Japan, where he encountered two people who were to change his life: a warlord with his own quest for power, and a beautiful interpreter torn between two ways of life and two ways of love.

The principal figures are John Blackthorne, whose dream it is to be the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe, to wrest control of the trade between Japan and China from Portuguese, and to return home a man of wealth and position; Toranaga, the most powerful feudal lord in Japan, who strives and schemes to seize ultimate power by becoming Shogun—the Supreme Military Dictator—and to unite the warring samurai fiefdoms under his own masterly and farsighted leadership; and the Lady Mariko, a Catholic convert whose conflicting loyalties to the Church and her country are compounded when she falls in love with Blackthorne, the barbarian intruder.

In dramatizing how a Westerner, the representative man of his time, comes to be altered by his exposure to an alien culture, Mr. Clavell provides a spellbinding depiction of a nation seething with violence and intrigue as it moves from the medieval world to the modern.]]> 54 James Clavell Tori 2
I can't speak to the historical accuracy this may or may not have, but Clavell does write a deep and interesting setting to be explored here. It just feels so unnecessarily long, with no characters that really engaged my interest.]]> 4.14 1975 Shōgun (Asian Saga: Chronological Order, #1)
author: James Clavell
name: Tori
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1975
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/20
date added: 2024/12/20
shelves: never-finished, i-love-long-books, historical
review:
Went to renew my loan on the library app only to find out my library no longer had the license, so calling it quits at about 50%, and I'm really not sad about it.

I can't speak to the historical accuracy this may or may not have, but Clavell does write a deep and interesting setting to be explored here. It just feels so unnecessarily long, with no characters that really engaged my interest.
]]> Death on the Island 216594940 Trapped on a remote island by a howling storm, nine people sit down to dinner.

One of them is about to die.

A group of international players has gathered in a tiny village off the coast of Iceland for a diplomatic dinner. There's Kristján, the mayor reeling from a personal tragedy. Graeme, the ambassador with an agenda to push. Jane, his wife, along for the ride on another one of her husband's many business trips. And several others, from Iceland and from abroad, each with their own reason for being there, their own loyalties and grievances. By the end of the night, one of them will be dead. And it will be up to the ambassador's wife, Jane, to figure out how—and why.

What Jane soon comes to realize is that small communities can be the most dangerous of them all� and no one in their group is safe. With secrets around every corner and violent weather trapping the finite list of suspects together on the island, this locked-room mystery by internationally bestselling author Eliza Reid brings Agatha Christie and Nordic noir together in a brand-new twist.]]> 336 Eliza Reid 1728292417 Tori 0 to-read 3.40 2025 Death on the Island
author: Eliza Reid
name: Tori
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret (Ernest Cunningham, #3)]]> 206005312
My name’s Ernest Cunningham. I used to be a fan of reading Golden Age murder mysteries, until I found myself with a haphazard career getting stuck in the middle of real-life ones. I’d hoped, this Christmas, that any self-respecting murderer would kick their feet up and take it easy over the holidays. I was wrong.

So here I am, backstage at the show of world-famous magician Rylan Blaze, whose benefactor has just been murdered. My suspects are all professional tricksters: masters of the art of misdirection.

THE MAGICIAN

THE ASSISTANT

THE EXECUTIVE

THE HYPNOTIST

THE IDENTICAL TWIN

THE COUNSELLOR

THE TECH

My clues are even more abstract: A suspect covered in blood, without a memory of how it got there. A murder committed without setting foot inside the room where it happens. And an advent calendar. Because, you know, it’s Christmas.

If I can see through the illusions, I know I can solve it.

After all, a good murder is just like a magic trick, isn’t it?]]> 175 Benjamin Stevenson 0063412861 Tori 4 audio, mysteries 3.70 2024 Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret (Ernest Cunningham, #3)
author: Benjamin Stevenson
name: Tori
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/18
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves: audio, mysteries
review:
A great little novella to add to the series. I love the idea of being able to read this as a little advent adventure, though of course I binged it and didn't let myself experience it that way.
]]> <![CDATA[Fire Touched (Mercy Thompson, #9)]]> 25752072 Mercy Thompson has been hailed as “a heroine who...always remains true to herself� (Library Journal). Now she’s back, and she’ll soon discover that when the fae stalk the human world, it’s the children who suffer...

Tensions between the fae and humans are coming to a head. And when coyote shapeshifter Mercy and her Alpha werewolf mate, Adam, are called upon to stop a rampaging troll, they find themselves with something that could be used to make the fae back down and forestall out-and-out war: a human child stolen long ago by the fae.

Defying the most powerful werewolf in the country, the humans, and the fae, Mercy, Adam, and their pack choose to protect the boy no matter what the cost. But who will protect them from a boy who is fire touched?
]]> 350 Patricia Briggs 0698180917 Tori 3
But it’s still a Mercy Thompson novel, and I still enjoyed it.]]> 4.55 2016 Fire Touched (Mercy Thompson, #9)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Tori
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/17
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves:
review:
This plot felt more scattered and less engaging then some of the past books. It feels a bit like a setup for future things, and less a cohesive book in its own right. The growing list of characters is starting to feel more token cameo and less well-developed side characters. Even the cover has more to do with the last book than this one.

But it’s still a Mercy Thompson novel, and I still enjoyed it.
]]> A Streetcar Named Desire 12222 Death of a Salesman and The Crucible), and Williams� essay “The World I Live In.�

It is a very short list of 20th-century American plays that continue to have the same power and impact as when they first appeared�57 years after its Broadway premiere, Tennessee Williams� A Streetcar Named Desireis one of those plays. The story famously recounts how the faded and promiscuous Blanche DuBois is pushed over the edge by her sexy and brutal brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Streetcar launched the careers of Marlon Brando, Jessica Tandy, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden, and solidified the position of Tennessee Williams as one of the most important young playwrights of his generation, as well as that of Elia Kazan as the greatest American stage director of the �40s and �50s.]]> 192 Tennessee Williams 0811216020 Tori 4 3.93 1947 A Streetcar Named Desire
author: Tennessee Williams
name: Tori
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1947
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/12
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves: play, short, i-own, classics, american-lit
review:

]]> The Road Back 6058 352 Erich Maria Remarque 1931541744 Tori 0 to-read 4.28 1931 The Road Back
author: Erich Maria Remarque
name: Tori
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1931
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Listeners 56988057
January 1942. The Avallon Hotel & Spa has always offered elegant luxury in the wilds of West Virginia, its mountain sweetwater washing away all of high society’s troubles.

Local girl-turned-general manager June Porter Hudson has guided the Avallon skillfully through the first pangs of war. The Gilfoyles, the hotel’s aristocratic owners, have trained her well. But when the family heir makes a secret deal with the State Department to fill the hotel with captured Axis diplomats, June must persuade her staff—many of whom have sons and husbands heading to the front lines—to offer luxury to Nazis. With a smile.

Meanwhile FBI Agent Tucker Minnick, whose coal tattoo hints at an Appalachian past, presses his ears to the hotel’s walls, listening for the diplomats� secrets. He has one of his own, which is how he knows that June’s balancing act can have dangerous consequences: the sweetwater beneath the hotel can threaten as well as heal.

June has never met a guest she couldn’t delight, but the diplomats are different. Without firing a single shot, they have brought the war directly to her. As clashing loyalties crack the Avallon’s polished veneer, June must calculate the true cost of luxury.]]> 400 Maggie Stiefvater 0593655508 Tori 0 to-read 4.03 2025 The Listeners
author: Maggie Stiefvater
name: Tori
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)]]> 60556912
Every day I clean the Winchesters� beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.

I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out� and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.

But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.

They don’t know what I’m capable of�

An unbelievably twisty read that will have you glued to the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves The Woman in the Window, The Wife Between Us and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to put this down!]]> 329 Freida McFadden 1803144378 Tori 0 to-read 4.31 2022 The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)
author: Freida McFadden
name: Tori
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Wrath Becomes Her 199032758
Lithuania, 1943. A father drowns in the all-consuming grief of a daughter killed by the Nazis. He can’t bring Chaya back from the dead, but he can use kishuf � an ancient and profane magic � to create a golem in her image. A Nazi killer, to avenge her death.

When Vera awakens, she can feel her violent purpose thrumming within her. But she can also feel glimpses of a human life lived, of stolen kisses amidst the tragedy, and of a grisly death. And when she meets Akiva, she recognizes the boy with soft lips that gave warm kisses. But these memories aren’t hers, and Vera doesn’t know if she gets—or deserves —to have a life beyond what she was made for.

Vera’s strength feels limitless—until she learns that there are others who would channel kishuf for means far less noble than avenging a daughter’s death. As she confronts the very basest of humanity, Vera will need more than what her creator gave Not just a reason to fight, but a reason to live.
]]> Aden Polydoros Tori 0 never-finished, audio 4.00 2023 Wrath Becomes Her
author: Aden Polydoros
name: Tori
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/26
shelves: never-finished, audio
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Silence Fallen (Mercy Thompson, #10)]]> 30687916 Mercy Thompson has found her voice in the werewolf pack. But when Mercy’s bond with the pack—and her mate—is broken, she’ll learn what it truly means to be alone...

Attacked and abducted in her home territory, Mercy finds herself in the clutches of the most powerful vampire in the world, taken as a weapon to use against alpha werewolf Adam and the ruler of the Tri-Cities vampires. In coyote form, Mercy escapes—only to find herself without money, without clothing, and alone in the heart of Europe...

Unable to contact Adam and the rest of the pack, Mercy has allies to find and enemies to fight, and she needs to figure out which is which. Ancient powers stir, and Mercy must be her agile best to avoid causing a war between vampires and werewolves, and between werewolves and werewolves. And in the heart of the ancient city of Prague, old ghosts rise...]]> 371 Patricia Briggs 0425281272 Tori 0 to-read 4.34 2017 Silence Fallen (Mercy Thompson, #10)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Tori
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan #1)]]> 205656382
A Holmes and Watson-style detective duo take the stage in this fantasy with a mystery twist, from the Edgar-winning, multiple Hugo-nominated Robert Jackson Bennett

In Daretana’s greatest mansion, a high imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree erupted from his body. Even here at the Empire’s borders, where contagions abound and the blood of the leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death both terrifying and impossible.

Assigned to investigate is Ana Dolabra, a detective whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities. Rumor has it that she wears a blindfold at all times, and that she can solve impossible cases without even stepping outside the walls of her home.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol, magically altered in ways that make him the perfect aide to Ana’s brilliance. Din is at turns scandalized, perplexed, and utterly infuriated by his new superior—but as the case unfolds and he watches Ana’s mind leap from one startling deduction to the next, he must admit that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.

By an “endlessly inventive� (Vulture) author with a “wicked sense of humor� (NPR), The Tainted Cup mixes the charms of detective fiction with brilliant world-building to deliver a fiendishly clever mystery that’s at once instantly recognizable and thrillingly new.]]> 14 Robert Jackson Bennett Tori 3 fantasy, mysteries 4.17 2024 The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan #1)
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Tori
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/25
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves: fantasy, mysteries
review:
This is one of the better fantasy mysteries I've read. It worked hard to build internal rules that let the mystery still be solved. I just think I wasn't in love with the world it was trying to sell me on.
]]> <![CDATA[Poe: Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) by Edgar Allan Poe (1995-10-31)]]> 129241436 0 Edgar Allan Poe Tori 2 short, polish, classics
The latter 1/3 of this book or so is not poems but essays or other writings, and I'm not sure they have much place for the casual reader. Two are forwards to two books of poetry, but as I don't know what poetry they go with they don't offer insight into the works. One was a very long discourse on poetry that was so technical it would only be of use to someone who's in college level poetry classes. The one that details his process for writing The Raven was the only one that I found interesting.]]> 3.50 Poe: Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) by Edgar Allan Poe (1995-10-31)
author: Edgar Allan Poe
name: Tori
average rating: 3.50
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2024/11/25
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves: short, polish, classics
review:
The Raven is by far my favorite, which maybe is familiarity, but it IS the one that's endured culturally.

The latter 1/3 of this book or so is not poems but essays or other writings, and I'm not sure they have much place for the casual reader. Two are forwards to two books of poetry, but as I don't know what poetry they go with they don't offer insight into the works. One was a very long discourse on poetry that was so technical it would only be of use to someone who's in college level poetry classes. The one that details his process for writing The Raven was the only one that I found interesting.
]]> A Most Novel Revenge 29839657 0 Ashley Weaver 152001905X Tori 4 audio, mysteries 3.60 2016 A Most Novel Revenge
author: Ashley Weaver
name: Tori
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/25
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves: audio, mysteries
review:

]]> Project Hail Mary 58465748 An impossible mission.
An ally he never imagined.

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it's up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery-and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he's got to do it all alone.

Or does he?]]> Andy Weir Tori 3 audio, sci-fi 4.51 2021 Project Hail Mary
author: Andy Weir
name: Tori
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/22
date added: 2024/11/22
shelves: audio, sci-fi
review:
I don't think the heavy science info-dumping and slow pace of this is for me, though I can see where this would appeal to others. I also struggled to find the main character believable.
]]> <![CDATA[The Creeping Shadow (Lockwood & Co., #4)]]> 32974044 13 Jonathan Stroud 1524751626 Tori 3 audio, young-adult, fantasy 4.18 2016 The Creeping Shadow (Lockwood & Co., #4)
author: Jonathan Stroud
name: Tori
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/18
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: audio, young-adult, fantasy
review:
While I enjoyed the worldbuilding implications of this book, too much was still devoted to Lucy's petty dislike of Holly for no reason other than she's another girl in the Lockwood gang. It also didn't take much time to undo the division that came up at the end of the last book and just go back to status quo.
]]>