OK, Here We Go...

Brad Gushue

Totally devastated at how easily the Blue Jays got knocked out of the baseball play-offs. They need to see what they want to do to improve for next year. At least Brad Gushue won the Pinty Curling Tournament this week.

We've been having unseasonable warm weather. Hard to believe it's October.

Since my last update, I've read 3 books. I'll provide my reviews as well as the synopses of those books I'm now reading. I've also got a few new books so I'll provide the synopses of those as well. And here we go.

Just Finished

1. Goth Girl and the Pirate Queen by Chris Riddell (Goth Girl #2.5). This was an interim book for International Book Day. It's such a cute series with wonderful drawings.

"Goth Girl and the Pirate Queen by Chris Riddell was written for World Book Day 8 March 2015. In this cute tale, Ada Goth goes to Brighton with Lady George and her three dalmatians to attend the World Frock Day Ball. Her father, Lord Goth, gives her a cheque for 20 guineas to buy a frock so she can enter the contest, but she loses the cheque. How will Ada get a frock for the ball? Who will win?

It's an entertaining story and half the fun is the wonderful artwork within. Riddell provides wonderful drawings throughout this short but lovely story that adds to the richness and texture of the story itself. Don't expect deep, thoughtfulness. It's a young adult adventure with neat characters and lots of fun packed into 80 short pages. You'll meet fashion designers like Lady Vivienne Dashwood and Jean-Paul Goatee and see all sorts of weird and wonderful fashion creations. Lots of fun and a quick, entertaining read. I love this series. (3 stars)"

2. A Second Chance by Jodi Taylor (Chronicles of St Mary's #3). An excellent time travel series.

"A Second Chance by Jodi Taylor is the 3rd book in the Chronicles of St Mary's time travel series. Each one seems a bit better than the previous book. So far anyway.

In this story, Max, head of the History department of St Mary's travels with her teams to Troy, a cheese rolling competition and the battle of Agincourt. Oh yes, she will meet up with arch-enemy Ronan again too. Her relationship with head engineer Leon is up and down and there will be tragedy and historical arguments (shocking and scary). Max is considering her retirement; will Troy be her last visit into the past?

The Chronicles are gritty and realistic and when necessary, hold back no punches. Troy is a violent and shocking battle. The way it is portrayed and how the team prepares for observing the events is very interesting. Taylor presents a fascinating representation of the events at Troy. It's a very dark time, quite scary. 

The story is so well-crafted, moving from the time traveling to relationships. The cast of characters are all excellent and fleshed out. Jodi Taylor deals with the space-time conundrum, sometimes ignoring but it's always present.  The ending is surprising and makes you want to move along to the next book. RIGHT AWAY! So entertaining and 'enjoyable'. Just don't expect light fluff. I look forward to continuing the series and also trying the Connie Willis time travel series to compare the two. (4.0 stars)"

3. I Know This To Be True by Ruth Bader Ginsburg (2020). A quick read.

"I Know This to Be True: Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Ruth Bader Ginsburg is one of a series of books published in collaboration with the Nelson Mandela foundation. The series consisted of 12 interviews a year (6 women and 6 men) over a period of five years; leaders who believed in and fought for social justice. I have ordered the book featuring NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as well. 

This is a small quick book which discusses Ruth Bader Ginsburg's life in brief, her beliefs, her activities and also has an interview with Geoff Blackwell. I have another book about RBG's life and this one provided a nice teaser that will hopefully get me into that one soon. This book focuses on RBG's activism, started at an early age. She was one of nine women in a class of 500 at Harvard Law School, this being 14 months after the birth of her daughter, Jane.

Throughout her life, she focused on women's issues. She co-founded the 1st US law journal that dealt with women's legal issues. She co-founded the Women's Rights Project at the ACLU and became a lead council there. She was a fascinating woman. She talks about a case she took, let's see. When a husband dies, the wife is entitled to benefits to help her support herself and children. But as she said, this was not the case when the wife / mother died as the husband was not entitled to similar benefits. As RBG described it, "And it stemmed from dividing the world into separate spheres; women and children go together, men work outside the home. We were trying to change that way of thinking so that men - if they were parents - would have the same benefits as women. And women who wanted to be whatever - a doctor or a lawyer, police officer or pilot - that would be fine." I liked that way of looking at the whole perspective.

The two females who inspired her when she was growing up were Amelia Earhart, who was flying planes when women were kept out of such jobs and also Nancy Drew, a girl who led her boyfriend around while she solved crimes. 

What RBG found strange was that women were restricted from doing certain jobs and men considered it as protecting them. Women couldn't be prosecutors because they couldn't deal with tough criminal types. But women were already legal aid and representing these tough criminal types. She says that Supreme Court Justice Brennan had put it so well, 'the woman was not, in fact, on a pedestal, she was, instead in a cage. A cage that confined her'

Throughout this short interview, RBG said how encouraged she was about the changes that had been wrought to give women so much more equality, inclusivity. As I read it, I couldn't help but wonder what she would think about what has happened since her death; the most recent Supreme Court ruling about Roe v Wade, how it is women governors and federal representatives (not just women, mind you) who are fighting to take away women's rights to choose what they do and what happens to their bodies. I'm sure she'd be leading the charge to fight these restrictions if she were still alive.

Anyway, this is a review, not me venting. To get a perspective on the Notorious RBG, this is an excellent starting point. Check it out. (3.5 stars)"

Currently Reading

1. The Detective's Daughter by Lesley Thomson (Detective's Daughter #1).

"Kate Rokesmith's decision to go to the river changed the lives of many.

Her murder shocked the nation. Her husband, never charged, moved abroad under a cloud of suspicion. Her son, just four years old, grew up in a loveless boarding school. And Detective Inspector Darnell, vowing to leave no stone unturned in the search for her killer, began to lose his only daughter. The young Stella Darnell grew to resent the dead Kate Rokesmith.

Now, thirty years later, Stella is dutifully sorting through her father's attic after his sudden death. The Rokesmith case papers are in a corner, gathering dust: DI Darnell must have copied them when he retired from the force. Stella knows she should destroy them. Instead, she opens the box, and starts to read..."

2. Lair by James Herbert (The Rats #2). Second book in the Rats trilogy. The first was pretty intense.

"The mutant white rat had grown and mated, creating offspring in its own image. They dominated the others, the dark-furred ones, who foraged for food and brought it back to The Lair. Now the dark rats were restless, tormented by a craving they could not satisfy. But the white slug-like thing that ruled them knew. Its two heads weaved to and fro and a stickiness drooled from its mouth as it remembered the taste of human flesh."

New Books

1. Lifeblood by P.N. Elrod (Vampire Files #1). I've read three or four books in this series, a combo of horror and noir mystery, and it's nice to finally get the 1st.

"Jack Fleming was an investigative journalist in Prohibition-era Chicago until he got shot by an unknown assassin, bitten by his vampire girlfriend, and became one of the undead. Now, this nice guy nosferatu has a bunch of crazy vampire hunters on his trail armed with crosses, silver bullets, and sharp wooden stakes. He doesn't know how they found out about him or why they are "out for his blood," but it's not a problem for this streetwise gumshoe, until someone starts shooting. Jack himself may be bulletproof, but his friends are not. And Jack is determined to get some answers, even if it kills him-again. It's a case of the living versus the undead. But who's hunting whom?"

2. The Doll's House by Neil Gaiman (The Sandman #2). I enjoyed the first graphic novel in this series.

"A being who has existed since the beginning of the universe, Dream of the Endless rules over the realm of dreams. In The Doll's House, after a decades-long imprisonment, the Sandman has returned to find that a few dreams and nightmares have escaped to reality. Looking to recapture his lost possessions, Morpheus ventures to the human plane only to learn that a woman named Rose Walker has inadvertently become a dream vortex and threatens to rip apart his world. Now as Morpheus takes on the last escaped nightmare at a serial killers convention, the Lord of Dreams must mercilessly murder Rose or risk the destruction of his entire kingdom."

3. A Forgery of Roses by Jessica S. Olson (2022). A new author for me.

"Myra Whitlock has a gift. One many would kill for.

She’s an artist whose portraits alter people’s real-life bodies, a talent she must hide from those who would kidnap, blackmail, and worse in order to control it. Guarding that secret is the only way to keep her younger sister safe now that their parents are gone.

But one frigid night, the governor’s wife discovers the truth and threatens to expose Myra if she does not complete a special portrait that would resurrect the governor's dead son. Desperate, Myra ventures to his legendary stone mansion.

Once she arrives, however, it becomes clear the boy’s death was no accident. Someone dangerous lurks within these glittering halls. Someone harboring a disturbing obsession with portrait magic.

Myra cannot do the painting until she knows what really happened, so she turns to the governor’s older son, a captivating redheaded poet. Together, they delve into the family’s most shadowed affairs, racing to uncover the truth before the secret Myra spent her life concealing makes her the killer’s next victim."

4. Into the Black Nowhere by Meg Gardiner (UNSUB #2). I've enjoyed books in the other two thriller series by Gardiner. She does know action.

"In southern Texas, on Saturday nights, women are disappearing. One vanishes from a movie theater. Another, from her car at a stoplight. A mother is ripped from her home while checking on her baby. Rookie FBI agent Caitlin Hendrix, newly assigned to the FBI's elite Behavioral Analysis Unit, fears that a serial killer is roaming the dark roads outside Austin.

Caitlin's unit discovers the first victim's body in the woods, laid out in a bloodstained white baby-doll nightgown. A second victim in a white nightie lies deeper in the forest's darkness. Around the bodies, Polaroid photos are stuck in the earth like headstones, picturing other women with their wrists slashed. The women in the woods are not the killer's first victims, nor are they likely to be his last.

To track the UNSUB, Caitlin must get inside his mind; he is a confident, meticulous killer, capable of charming his victim until their guard is down, snatching them in plain sight. He then plays out a twisted fantasy--turning them into dolls for him to possess, control, and ultimately destroy. Caitlin's profile leads the FBI to focus on one man: a charismatic, successful professional who easily gains people's trust. But can they apprehend him before it's too late? As Saturday night approaches, Caitlin and the FBI enter a desperate game of cat and mouse, racing to capture the cunning predator before he claims his next victim."

5. The Orphan Choir by Sophie Hannah (2013). Hannah has written an updated Hercule Poirot series but this is one of her standalone novels.

"A mother with an empty nest is being haunted by a ghostly children's choir. Are they giving her an important message that only she can hear, or are their motives more sinister?

Louise Beeston is being haunted.

Louise has no reason left to stay in the city. She can't see her son, Joseph, who is away at boarding school, where he performs in a prestigious boys' choir. Her troublesome neighbor has begun blasting choral music at all hours of the night—and to make matters worse, she's the only one who can hear it.

Hoping to find some peace, Louise convinces her husband, Stuart, to buy them a country house in an idyllic, sun-dappled gated community called Swallowfield. But it seems that the haunting melodies of the choir have followed her there. Could it be that her city neighbor has trailed her to Swallowfield, just to play an elaborate, malicious prank? Is there really a ghostly chorus playing outside her door? And why won't they stop? Growing desperate, she begins to worry about her mental health.

Against the pleas and growing disquiet of her husband, Louise starts to suspect that this sinister choir is not only real but a warning. But of what? And how can it be, when no one else can hear it?"

I should really continue with my ongoing look at women authors whose works I'm enjoying but it's almost teatime and the puppies are giving me owly looks. Enjoy your week. Read a good book.