Toss Me That Book

The latest title in the author's Inspector Gamache series follows Armand, his colleagues, friends and family as they hunt for a killer while dealing with large scale flooding that threatens the province and beloved village of Three Pines.  Despite the tension in the communities and lives of our characters, the book also felt surprisingly calming, reassuring us that where abrupt change happens, there is also room for new growth.  Because, quite literally, the Gamache Squad is growing.  Growing in numbers.  Growing in distance.  Growing in emotional awareness.  And lastly (and worst of all when in happens to me in real life) personal growth.  In this case, I'm not altogether certain that our characters' personal growth is necessarily good.  Gamache himself even plumbs the darker depths of his soul while grappling with that all-too-terrible-yet-wonderful parental emotion of letting go.  It is the worst and the best. Louise Penny is abso...

Format:  Kindle Date Started:  June 26, 2019 Date Finished:  July 7, 2019 What I liked about this book was that it gave us a little more insight into Constance's personality.  As she travels throughout the NJ/NY area, her actions and thoughts show us what she wants to become - a modern, independent woman.  Cue Destiny's Child. What I didn't like about this book was that it seemed like we all spent a lot of time traveling and thinking and not having any action.   The antagonist was absolutely a bad dude, but I feel like he wasn't as fleshed out and real as the bad guys in Book 1. I also missed Norma & Fleurette.

Format:  Kindle Date Started:  June 23, 2019 Date Finished:  June 24, 2019 It had all the right pieces -- an unreliable narrator, an atmospheric location, and disappearances -- but it didn't come together for me.  The narrator, who had lost a daughter, was justifiably distraught and probably not paying attention to anything but her loss, but she must have been some special kind of dumb not to figure out what was really going on and who was the actual perpetrator.  This was not a good one for me.

Format:  Kindle Date Started:  June 21, 2019 Date Finished:  June 23, 2019 Guts and grit - two modern day words that get thrown around a lot.  Two qualities that my favorite real-life heroines - including both of my grandmothers - and my fictional favorite ladies - now including Constance, Norma, and Fleurette Kopp - have in spades! I'm thrilled and delighted to have met the Kopp sisters, and I'm even happier that they have a series, so I don't have to leave them behind after only one adventures.  What I especially like is that even though the series is set in 1914, all of these women feel incredibly modern to me in their attitudes and their opinions. 

Format:  Kindle Date Started:  June 23, 2019 Date Finished:  June 24, 2019 As previously stated, my genre of choice is dark and preferably involving a body count.  However, thanks to some self-diagnosed post-partum anxiety, anything that happens to children hits way, way, way too close to home. Thus, I began "Descent," the story of an abduction and its aftermath, and I was 100% ready to close the book in the event that it was just TOO MUCH.  To my great surprise, it wasn't.  While part of me was relieved/disappointed - it's a delicate balance for me - that we didn't get to know much about Caitlin's disappearance and captor, I was really fascinated by the way the author explored the aftermath of her abduction in the lives of her family.  

Format:  Hardback (First Edition - woot!) Date Started:  June 20, 2019 Date Finished:  June 21, 2019 I am a Murderino.  I blame my parents who let me read whatever I wanted.  I was probably in 6th grade when I stumbled onto the author Lois Duncan and quickly plowed through all of her scary/thriller books for pre-teens.  Browsing the bookstore with my dad one afternoon, I found her book, "Who Killed My Daughter," which is the true story of her own daughter's unsolved murder.  I must have read that book over a dozen times, and I'm dying to read it again...after I re-buy a copy because mine was donated to the library in the early 2000s.  Thanks, Mom. I feel like Georgia & Karen have similar origin stories as to how their interest in true crime developed.  And while I was originally extremely nervous to read this book -- it was billed as a memoir, so I thought I'd have to hear in detail about their formative years -- I LOVED IT....

Format: Audiobook Date Started: June 12, 2019 Date Abandoned: June 13, 2019 I knew that I was going to hate this book even as I was checking it out from the library.  But for some reason, the fact that this book had landed on a "Great Summer Mysteries" list trumped the fact that I cannot stand Mary Higgins Clark's books.  They are the completely predictable murder-y cousin of romance novels.  I don't know what I was thinking.  But, I'm pretty sure that my inner monologue went something like this:  "If it made a list, surely it must be pretty good.  I mean, it's not like this list is straight from the publisher.  (Spoiler alert:  It totally was.)  Maybe I'm being a snob?  After all she is a popular author.  (Double spoiler: Lots of people like terrible books.)  I'll give it a whirl." Approximately one hour into the audiobook, the inner dialogue shifted. "I literally cannot.  There are about seven million charac...

Format:  Hardback Date Started:  May 2, 2019 Date Finished:  May 13, 2019 Flavia is growing up.  I can see it in the way that her emotions, which she ever tries to keep at bay, begin to creep into her investigations.  And, it makes a nice change to see her struggle with having conflicting emotions that she has to grapple with.  For example, while she's delighted to be rid of her sister, Feely, following Feely's wedding, Flavia's surprised to find herself overcome with sadness when she catches a glimpse of Feely's empty chair at the breakfast table.  I'm also delighted by Dogger's advancement from indispensable character of the edges of the action to center stage.  Our friend Dogger is a dark horse, and I'm looking forward to seeing how Bradley uses him in the upcoming stories.  I think he would make an excellent surrogate father for Flavia, but I don't think Flavia is ready to deal with the loss of her actual father. 

Format:  Hardback Date Started:  April 18, 2019 Date Finished:  May 2, 2019 I love going to Three Pines.  I like to experience winter vicariously, and I like to explore how it's residents care for each other. While I loved this installment, it left me feeling sad because, of course, these are real people who are really my friends.  Right?  Let's just all agree to this, please, for my sake.  I'm looking forward to the opportunities for growth in Amelia, Jean-Guy, and Armand.  I just really wish that they didn't have to experience trauma and heartbreak to start it.  I've already pre-ordered my copy of the next installment which should be published in August-ish?  And, it will make a wonderful antidote to the 100+ degree temperatures I'll be living in.  A tout a l'heure, Three Pines!

*Note - I tried my hand at scheduling the publication of posts with limited success.  That's why book 12 of the year is out of order. Format: Kindle Date Started:  March 6, 2019 Date Finished:  March 12, 2019 While I liked the premise of this book, which is based on the true story of the Greenbrier Ghost, the way the story was put together didn't work for me.  In the beginning, our narrator, Mary Jane, is the mother of the girl, named Zona, who will go on to become the Greenbrier Ghost.  Excellent, I thought, and I was interested in her story.  I found that the author did a good job of capturing the realities of her life on a West Virginia farm through MJ's sparse, plain speech patterns.  I'm here for authentic voices as a way to enhance setting 100%. Our second narrator is one of the lawyers representing the murderer - Trout.  Side note - that's a killer's name if I've ever heard one, and I didn't need a ghost to point it out.  ...

Format:  Kindle Date Started:  February 15, 2019 Date Finished:  February 25, 2019 When I first started this series, I didn't have very high expectations.  While I LOVED Harry Potter, The Casual Vacancy fell flat, and I didn't finish it.  However, J.K. Rowling can do no wrong in my book, so I set out cautiously and optimistically with Cormoran Strike. What I like about this fourth book in the series is the convergence of Robin and Strike's personal lives with the actual case.  Instead of having Robin set aside her marriage issues and mental health issues to work on the case, Galbraith weaves them into the story.  To me, this feels much more realistic.  I mean, if I've had a rough patch at home, it absolutely affects my day at work.  And, I'm not even solving crime and fighting off bad guys.   I love the interpersonal dynamic of Strike and Robin as well.  Having spent the last 16 years working in various kinds of...