It's 10 pm on a starry Friday night. The puppies and I just had a nice walk around the neighborhood. I think I'll do an update before I head off to beddy bye.
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| Clarissa, portrayed by Liz Carr on Silent Witness |
I'll provide the reviews of the 3 books I completed since my last update and also the synopses of the books I've started since. I'll also provide the synopses of 3 new books I've added to my bookshelf.
Just Finished
"I needed something light with which to start off my morning and Ottoline Goes to School, the 2nd Ottoline YA story, by Chris Riddell was perfect. Ottoline lives in The City, basically on her own, cared for by her companion Mr. Munroe, while her parents are off exploring. She is cared for by a group of people, food preparers, door knob shiners, pillow plumpers, etc. She lives in the Pepperpot building, called thusly because it looks like a Pepperpot.
In this story, Ottoline and Munroe meet a young girl Cecily Forbes-Lawrence III an her Patagonian pony, while the duo are visiting the Pettigrew Park and Ornamental Gardens to feed the turtles. Ottoline is instantly enthralled with Cecily (who doesn't seem all that nice to Munroe) and when Cecily tells her that she will be attending the Alice B. Smith school Ottoline sends a letter to her parents asking that she be permitted to attend as well.
Thus begins Ottoline and Munroe's adventure at the Alice B. Smith School for the Differently Gifted and, of course, there is a mystery as well. Who is stealing objects from people and who is making the mysterious clomping noises? And who seems to be getting Munroe into trouble and why does Cecily think he's a dog!
It's all well written, excellently drawn (great pictures and sneaky little inserts) and just a fun story and you know it'll all end up ending pleasantly and satisfactorily. Most enjoyable. Thanks for starting off my day so happily. (3.5 stars) And now to get Ottoline at Sea!"
"In the past few years, I've read a few of Rudyard Kipling's; Captains Courageous, Puck of Pook's Hill and Just So Stories, all of which displayed the depth and breadth of his writing. The Man Who Would Be King: and Other Stories is a collection of short stories set in India during the time of the Raj. Kipling was born and raised in India and he tells stories from his experience.
This collection contains 14 stories, some dealing with adults, some with children (my favorites I think) and some with soldiers. The setting of Simla is a frequent one. Simla was the summer capital of the Raj, where the British rulers spent their summers in the coolness of the mountains. There seem to have been a lot of extramarital relationships taking place there.
Let's try and rank the stories. My least favorite for the most part were the initial ones set in Simla as they didn't really resonate with me, in fact, I didn't really get some of them. In the middle are some neat little ghost-like stories; The Phantom Rickshaw, My Own True Ghost Story and The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes (very creepy). The Man Who Would be King (turned into a movie starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine) was very interesting, a story told to a newspaper reporter by one of the men who took over a country. Wee Willie Winkie, Baa Baa Black Sheep and His Majesty the King all feature children put in difficult positions but showing great strength and character, even heroism. The last story is a bit of a throw-in and not necessarily a favorite.
It's definitely a nice mix of short stories, some much better than the others but it's worth reading to get a feel of their lives in India, not a complete picture because it's very one-sided, but still a picture. It's worth trying just to get a feel for Kipling's story-telling and writing skill. (3.5 stars)"
"The Innocent: A Vanessa Michael Munroe Novel is the 2nd book in the Vanessa 'Michael' Munroe thriller series by Taylor Stevens. The story starts off in Morocco where Munroe has been living with lover, Noah, trying to deal with her inner struggles; nightmares where she relives acts of violence (making her a danger to others). She tries to solve the issue by drugging herself before going to sleep.
Her business partner Miles Bradford and another friend, Logan, arrive with a proposition. Logan and friends need her help. Logan was raised in a cult, The Chosen. As a young man he left, along with others, but now they need to find a young girl, Hannah. Hannah is the daughter of Noah (although she believes her father to be another man) and Charity. Hannah was abducted by David from Charity and taken back to the Chosen. Logan and his friends have recently discovered that Hannah is at Haven hideouts located in Buenos Aires Argentina. They want to hire Munroe to go and get her back. With Miles and three of the ex-Chosen, Logan, Heidi and Gideon, heads to Buenos Aires to try and get Hannah back. This story is that effort; as Munroe battles her demons and at the same time tries to discover the whereabouts of the Haven hideaways and infiltrate to discover Hannah's location.
It's an exciting book and provides an excellent portrait of Munroe, her inner struggles, her expertise with weapons, and her information-gathering skills. Miles brings along other skills and is an interesting character, faithful and dedicated to Munroe, worried about her issues and mental stability, but providing a core strength to her. The story is stark and grim but as it progresses, there is reason to hope; both for the success of the mission and for Munroe's mental health. I have #3 The Doll sitting on my bookshelf awaiting my attention. (3.5 stars)"
Currently Reading
"It has a dark past--one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself “Murderbot." But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more. Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don’t want to know what the “A” stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue. What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks."
"Gentleman thief Raffles is daring, debonair, devilishly handsome-and a first-rate cricketer. In these eight stories, the master burglar indulges his passion for cricket and crime: stealing jewels from a country house, outwitting the law, pilfering from the nouveau riche, and, of course, bowling like a demon-all with the assistance of his plucky sidekick, Bunny. Encouraged by his brother-in-law, Arthur Conan Doyle, to write a series about a public school villain, and influenced by his own experiences at Uppingham, E. W. Hornung created a unique form of crime story, where, in stealing as in sport, it is playing the game that counts, and there is always honor among thieves."
New Books
"Haunted by a life of violence and as proficient with languages as she is with knives, Vanessa Michael Munroe, chameleon and hunter, has built her life on a reputation for getting things done—dangerous and often not-quite-legal things. Born to missionary parents in lawless Africa, taken under the tutelage of gunrunners, and tortured by one of the jungle’s most brutal men, Munroe was forced to do whatever it took to stay alive.
The ability to survive, fight, adapt, and blend has since taken her across the globe on behalf of corporations, heads of state, and the few private clients who can afford her unique brand of expertise, and these abilities have made her enemies.On a busy Dallas street, Munroe is kidnapped by an unseen opponent and thrust into an underground world where women and girls are merchandise and a shadowy figure known as The Doll Maker controls her every move. While trusted friends race to unravel where she is and why she was taken, everything pivots on one simple choice: Munroe must use her unique set of skills to deliver a high-profile young woman into the same nightmare that she once endured, or condemn to torture and certain death the one person she loves above all else.
Driven by the violence that has made her what she is, cut off from help, and with attempts to escape predicted and prevented, Munroe will hunt for openings, for solutions, and a way to strike back at a man who holds all the cards. Because only one thing is certain: she cannot save everyone.
In this high-octane thriller for fans of Lee Child, Stieg Larsson, and Robert Ludlum's Bourne trilogy, Vanessa Michael Munroe will have to fight fast, smart and furiously to overcome a dangerous nemesis and deliver her trademark brand of justice."
But by their fifth year of existence, Rappler had gone from being lauded for its ideas to being targeted by the new Philippine government, and made Ressa an enemy of her country's most powerful man: President Duterte. Still, she did not let up, tracking government seeded disinformation networks which spread lies to its own citizens laced with anger and hate. Hounded by the state and its allies using the legal system to silence her, accused of numerous crimes, and charged with cyberlibel for which she was found guilty, Ressa faces years in prison and thousands in fines.
There is another adversary Ressa is battling. How to Stand Up to a Dictator is also the story of how the creep towards authoritarianism, in the Philippines and around the world, has been aided and abetted by the social media companies. Ressa exposes how they have allowed their platforms to spread a virus of lies that infect each of us, pitting us against one another, igniting, even creating, our fears, anger, and hate, and how this has accelerated the rise of authoritarians and dictators around the world. She maps a network of disinformation--a heinous web of cause and effect--that has netted the globe: from Duterte's drug wars to America's Capitol Hill; Britain's Brexit to Russian and Chinese cyber-warfare; Facebook and Silicon Valley to our own clicks and votes.
Democracy is fragile. How to Stand Up to a Dictator is an urgent cry for Western readers to recognize and understand the dangers to our freedoms before it is too late. It is a book for anyone who might take democracy for granted, written by someone who never would. And in telling her dramatic and turbulent and courageous story, Ressa forces readers to ask themselves the same question she and her colleagues ask every day: What are you willing to sacrifice for the truth?"
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