Month: April 2023

Book Review: One False Note

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One False Note
The 39 Clues #2
by Gordon Korman

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Children’s mystery, adventure

Through the canals of Venice Amy and Dan Cahill race to find the next of the 39 clues that lead to untold power—and to stay alive. The Cahills may be the most powerful, influential family in history, but they’re also the most deadly.

I enjoyed this book a little more than the previous. It’s probably mostly due to the story already being in progress, whereas the previous one had to start the train going. I feel like there’s a little less cut-and-dry logic to some of what they’re solving and the clues they get, which kind of bothers the escape room enthusiast in me. But I’m liking the series so far and looking forward to continuing it.

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If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

Book Review: Death Masks

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Death Masks
The Dresden Files #5
by Jim Butcher
read by James Marsters

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Paranormal mystery

Professional wizard Harry Dresden is still dealing with the backlash of his crimes against the Red Court and now has to try to track down the missing Shroud of Turin.

I’ll be honest—I never really cared about Harry’s relationship with Susan. She was just kind of there, and suddenly they were a couple. Then she was gone, and he was devastated in a way I didn’t really understand, given what we’d seen of their relationship. So when she comes back in this book…I still don’t really care. Besides, the sex scene was far more graphic when I prefer, so it just made me all the more glad she’s not around more.

The rest of the book was sufficiently interesting. The duel hanging over Harry’s head while he tries to solve the mystery of the missing shroud makes it all the more intense, though of course we know he’s going to make it out okay somehow, since he’s the start of the series and by now we know several more have been written after this. So the outcome of the duel wasn’t a huge surprise, but I didn’t know how it would come about, and it all comes together pretty well. I was super excited in general to see Michael again in this book, though his wife, while I can understand how she feels, is starting to annoy me. I really hope that at some point, Butcher will include female characters for more than sex appeal (though Murphy is the exception to that), but so far, I plan to continue the series. If you’re interested in these books, I highly recommend the narration by James Marsters.

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If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

March in Review

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I read 7 books last month and reviewed not a single one of them. This is pretty unusual for me, as I normally don’t like to go more than a week after finishing a book before I review it (less than that is even more preferred).

I know the main reason that I didn’t write any is because I just didn’t feel like it. When I’ve had free time in the last couple of months, I’d rather play games or watch a show. The amount of reading I did was pretty low too. It took me a while to realize and then accept that it’s okay that my mom’s death at the beginning of February has been affecting me in subtle ways, including just not caring about being productive lately. It involves much more than my reading and book reviewing. I feel like I’m just starting to kind of come out of that fog, which is good, but I’m already struggling to remember details about the earlier books from the month. I suppose I’ll need to do some skimming to remember enough to write the reviews. And the further behind I get, the more I don’t want to do it. My reviews will probably be abbreviated for a while.

Here are the books I read in March:

Dresden 5
39 2
Little House 5
Beezus and Ramona
TCW 16
Jeeves 2
Red Fern
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Death Masks by Jim Butcher
One False Note by Gordon Korman
By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary
The Cat Who Came to Breakfast by Lilian Jackson Braun
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

This list includes 1 re-read. My favorite book from March was One False Note. I started 2 series, continued 4 series, and finished 0 series. My ever-changing short list of to-be-reads, as well as a flag for the book I’m currently reading and an ongoing list of those I’ve read and posted about can be found here.

I’m also keeping my Goodreads page updated with a more extensive list of to-be-reads. Despite my almost too-long TBR list, I’m always looking for more to add. Feel free to offer suggestions of your favorites or just recent reads you enjoyed.