Ramona Quimby, Age 8 Ramona Quimby #6 by Beverly Cleary Read by Stockard Channing
My rating: 4 / 5 Genre: Children’s classic
I really felt for Ramona in this book. When her teacher calls her a show-off and uses the word “nuisance,” I literally gasped out loud and just felt so bad for the poor girl! Though, as an adult, I immediately began thinking through why the teacher would say that, but I can imagine kids reading this and thinking that is just a terrible teacher. Adding to that, it was almost too painful to see Ramona having so much responsibility put on her to make things work at the Kemps’ so her dad can keep going to school and her mom can keep working. That’s not even something Ramona blows up in her mind—it’s basically what her parents tell her. But the indignity of Mrs. Kemp being paid while Ramona entertains her granddaughter gets under my skin a bit. That really just shows how connected I’ve gotten to this little girl, though. I’ve been enjoying Stockard Channing’s narration throughout the series, too, and I recommend it for anyone who might be interested, young or old.
Thank You, Jeeves Jeeves #5 by P.G. Wodehouse Read by Jonathan Cecil
My rating: 4 / 5 Genre: Classic British humor
The short story collections I’ve read in this series so far do usually have some connection between some of the short stories. But this is a whole different feel, being the first full novel in the series. I mostly enjoyed that format, but I will say that some of the storyline went on a bit too long for me. But the continuity throughout and the setting being the same the whole time, did give the author room to expand on the humor, and he did a great job. It’s definitely something of a farce, complete with constables coming across random men in sheds and garages, Bertie being snuck off a yacht by Jeeves, and many other outlandish scenarios. And to start things off, Jeeves actually leaves Bertie’s employment because he can’t stand his boss’s playing of a banjolele. While I didn’t truly expect that situation to last, that does not mean the overall story was predictable. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Jonathan Cecil, who did a great job, and I’m really looking forward to continuing!
In an attempt to help Draycos, the dragon-like symbiont that uses him for a host, track down who killed his people, Jack enlists as an indentured soldier for a mercenary group. After meager training, he’s placed into a perilous situation, along with other soldier children, and must stay alive while also trying to find the information Draycos needs.
The unlikely duo of the boy trying to overcome his con-artist upbringing and the noble poet-warrior of a morally superior race is one of my favorite things about this series so far. But the plot in this book, though I didn’t think I’d care much for the soldier aspect, was also intriguing. When it became evident that there was more going on than met the eye, I speculated about what might be going on. In the end, it might not have been quite as exciting as I expected, but there were a couple of revelations that still made for a great ending and left me with a desire to read more.
I appreciate Zahn’s writing style worldbuilding, maybe more so because it’s meant for teens, so it’s not too dry or serious. The overarching story set up in the first book and continuing in this one definitely makes me want to know what’s going on. I look forward to continuing this series!
The Woman from Lydia The Emissaries #1 by Angela Hunt
My rating: 5 / 5 Genre: Biblical fiction
When Euodia, a Christ-follower in AD 51, sees a young slave girl being treated terribly by her master, she buys the slave to free her. But though the slave no longer brought a profit for her masters after a Jewish rabbi had robbed her of her “gift” of divination, one of her masters claims the sale was not done legally. He takes the girl back and travels to find someone who can restore her gift so she can continue to earn money for him. Euodia and her servants follow the master and slave in the hopes of rescuing the girl who should rightfully be free.
Hunt takes a couple of passages from the book of Acts and weaves them into a rich, heart-filled story that I absolutely loved! The bulk of the story is the journey east from Philippi, Euodia trailing behind Hector Hostilius, hoping to catch up to him before he manages to restore the slave girl’s gift with an unclean spirit or sells her for being worthless to him. Even before that, though, and throughout, I was caught up in the setting, from the work Euodia does making purple clothing to the travel on the Via Egnatia and so many other things. A warning for those who might be bothered by this kind of thing—Hunt doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities of life during this time period—violence, idol worship, sexual immorality, etc.
Euodia’s faith in Christ came from an encounter with the apostle Paul, who is also the rabbi that “cursed” the slave girl Sabina by casting a demon out of her (these are both of the parts that came from Acts). While most of us don’t face the kind of situation Euodia is in here, trying to literally free a girl in captivity, I mentally cheered her resolve and wholehearted trust in God. I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see how it was all going to play out. The book goes back and forth between Euodia and Hector for much of the book, and I’ll admit that that led me to expect a far different outcome to the book than it has. An unpredictable plot is a good thing, though, and there was not one thing about the plot or the ending that I would have changed. Well, maybe one thing, but it’s small and would be a spoiler to explain. And I did notice a few weird name discrepancies, wherein a slave was first given one name then later referred to by another and Hector’s business partner had 2 slightly different spellings for his last name. If either of these things was intentional, I didn’t pick up on it.
There is some romance in the story, but it also was not what I expected from early in the book, and it was my favorite kind—subtle and sweet. I appreciate that Hunt didn’t give us more than necessary in the way of physical interaction between the two involved, which I feel happens far too often in Christian fiction. Overall, I earnestly recommend this book for those who enjoy biblical fiction, especially from the time after Christ.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bethany House for providing me a copy of this book to review.
His Last Bow Sherlock Holmes #8 by Arthur Conan Doyle Read by David Clarke
My rating: 3 / 5 Genre: Classic mystery
This collection of short stories did not impress me overall. Based on synopses I’d read, I expected there to be more in the way of Holmes helping the British government during wartime than the one story, but there was only one. Most of the stories in the collection were either not particularly interesting to me or just felt too similar to many of the other Holmes stories I’ve read. However, the last two in the collection—”The Adventures of the Devil’s Foot” and the one for which the collection is named—were much more engaging and enjoyable. For those alone, I would probably have given the book 5 stars. The final one in particular, though I struggled to follow it early on, was quite different, being told in 3rd person and not really being a mystery.
All I have left to read in the entire series now is The Hound of the Baskerville, and I will feel quite accomplished having finally read this well-known series in its entirety. Whether I will re-visit any of the Holmes stories in the future…I probably will, but not all of them.
Regarding the audiobook, I started listening to the narration of Frederick Davidson, but it reminded me too much of Cary Elwes’s impression of Winston Churchill in Robin Hood Men in Tights, and I couldn’t take it seriously. So I switched to David Clarke, and it was much better.
It’s time for another Top Ten list from That Artsy Reader Girl, and today’s topic is a genre freebie. To come up with an idea for my post, I started by looking at the list of shelves on my Goodreads page, since mine is almost exclusively genres, hoping for inspiration. What stood out to me was how many audiobooks I’ve read, when a few years ago, I didn’t think I’d really like listening to audiobooks. Of course, “audiobook” isn’t a genre, but that did get me thinking about some of the more special audiobooks I’ve listened to—those that are narrated by the author or narrated by a notable actor. Sometimes, when I see a narrator like that for an audiobook, I decide to listen to it even if I didn’t otherwise have much interest in the book.
For example, I only listened to A Series of Unfortunate Events because Tim Curry narrated them (except 3 narrated by the author). It turns out I’m not a fan. And though I didn’t like The Great Gatsby when I read it in high school, the narration by Sean Astin compelled me to give it another try.
For the books in my list, though, I picked books for 2 specific reasons: 1.) The book is narrated by the author. 2.) The book is narrated by an actor in a movie or TV show related to the book.
As You Wish by Cary Elwes with Joe Layden (read by the author) What’s better than reading about Cary Elwes’s experience on the set of The Princess Bride? Hearing him tell about them himself! See my review here.
And on a related note, if you’re a fan of The Princess Bride and one of the “An Inconceivable Evening with Cary Elwes” events, where the audience watches the movie on a theater screen (quoting along with the movie) and Cary Elwes answers questions submitted by the audience in advance, is anywhere near you, consider going! It was so much fun!
I Can Only Imagine by Bart Millard with Robert Noland (read by the author) The story of Bart Millard’s relationship with his abusive dad and his dad’s transformation shortly before his death is emotional enough, but hearing it from his own mouth makes it so much more real. See my review here.
The Office BFFs by Jenna Fischer & Angela Kinsey (read by the authors) For fans of The Office, the audiobook is the best way to experience this behind-the-scenes look at the show. People like Rainn Wilson and Creed Bratton even make appearances. Though there’s something to be said for the text version, too, since there are pictures all throughout it. See my review here.
Keep Moving by Dick Van Dyke (read by the author) I have long been a fan of Dick Van Dyke, and I appreciate how much energy he has, even in his 90s. Though I’m not the target audience for this book, I still enjoyed hearing him talk about his life and growing old. See my review here.
The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson (read by the author) Andrew Peterson is ridiculously talented! Not only are these books amazing, but he does the most fun and engaging character voices when he narrates them. He started out reading the first book live on Facebook during the quarantine, a few chapters a week, and eventually went on to read them all. Though the pictures in the books are worth seeing too, the audiobooks are great! See my reviews here.
The Veritas Project series by Frank E. Peretti (read by the author) Full disclosure—I haven’t listened to these yet. I didn’t know he narrated them until today. I have, however, listened to his narration of some kids books he wrote. Peretti is my all-time favorite author, and I also really appreciate him in the various movie and kids’ show roles he’s done, so it’s not a surprise that I enjoyed his narration. I had tried to find versions of some of his adult books that I know he narrated in the past but didn’t have easy access to them. This series of young adult books are amongst my absolute favorites of his, so now that I know he narrated them and that I have access to them through my library, they’re near the top of my “to listen” list. See my reviews of the (print) books here.
The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot (read by Anne Hathaway) I like the movie but never cared to read the books. But somehow, finding out that the first are narrated by by Anne Hathaway made me give them a try. I didn’t decide to continue past those 3, but they were fun to listen to. See my reviews here.
The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas & Jennifer Graham (read by Kristen Bell) I love Veronica Mars, so it was an easy choice to listen to this book when I heard about it and that it’s narrated by Veronica herself. She does a pretty good job imitating her fellow actors/characters from the show, too. It’s just too bad that the 2nd book wasn’t narrated by her too. See my review here.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (read by Andy Serkis) From my review: It’s no surprise that Andy Serkis does a great job with the different voices for different characters. Though I’ve only seen the movies based on this book a small handful of times, it seemed to me that some of his characters sounded similar to how they did in those movies. It may have been a coincidence (excepting, of course, for his portrayal of Gollum, which is just how you would expect), but Thorin sure did sound like Richard Armitage. Considering that this audiobook came out several years after the movies, I did go into it wondering how much from the movies might seep into it, and since my favorite thing about the movies (which were otherwise just kinda okay, to me) is the music, I was thrilled to hear a few familiar melodies in Serkis’s narration. See the rest of my review here.
Have you read any of these? What’s on your list this week?
The Cat Who Smelled a Rat Book #23 by Lilian Jackson Braun
My rating: 4.5 / 5 Genre: Cozy mystery
When a series of brush fires threaten the safety of everyone in Moose County, is it due to drought conditions? Or is it arson? Then there’s an explosion in town and a pair of deaths, some of which could have been accidents, but former crime reporter Jim Qwilleran begins to look for threads between all of these events.
After the last couple of books seeming to have less and less of Qwilleran doing any real investigating, he shows us here what he’s capable of, digging into matters, asking questions, and getting to the truth of the various calamities. Though this book brings yet another weather extremity, it doesn’t affect the residents of Moose County as much as some of the previous ones did and adds suspense to the story in a way I enjoyed. And it’s always more interesting when one of the locals is heavily involved in the mystery, especially as the culprit! I felt like this one was a long time coming, though I won’t say any more to avoid spoilers.
What baffles me, though, is that there is a series of haikus included in the book, and not only do none of them follow the 5 syllables-7 syllables-5 syllables pattern, they don’t even have 17 syllables in any format! I guess Braun is better at prose than she is at poetry, though it’s certainly majorly out of character for Qwilleran to not make note of this or for Polly and the other judges to choose winners that aren’t correct at all. Still, that’s a minor quibble in the grand scheme of things. I can’t believe I’m down to 6 books left in the series! I hope to find some more gems in those final books!
Fall of Hades Michael Vey #6 by Richard Paul Evans
My rating: 4 / 5 Genre: YA sci-fi adventure
Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, starting with The Prisoner of Cell 25.
Along the way to trying to cripple Hatch and the Elgen’s, Michael Vey and most of the rest of the Electroclan are sent on not one, but two rescue missions.
I am absolutely baffled by my own reaction to this book, and to a greater degree, to this series. I struggle so much with some of the writing—the teen drama, the dialogue, the over-attention to food details, and the overabundance of facts that we’re supposed to believe are all in one kid’s head—and yet, I generally have enjoyed the series and want to know what’s going to happen in the next (but no longer final) installment. I do appreciate that this book has more forward motion than the previous, and it also has a killer ending.
On the other hand, how on earth has Hatch not already been overthrown by his people when he leads like he does? He basically “makes an example” of everyone who looks at him the wrong way. I’m not sure it would be as easy as it’s portrayed here to keep the loyalty of as many subordinates as Hatch does. But I’ve said since book #2 that Evans has made his villain so over-the-top evil that it’s a little disturbing, and that hasn’t lessened…only worsened, really. On top of that, these “good guy” kids are starting to get way too cavalier about killing anyone that does them wrong in the slightest bit, which bugs me a little, especially in a YA series. There’s also an over-abundance of random thug-type characters (gang members, elk hunters) that are way too quick to jump to violence and even murder as well.
I think that what I’m realizing is that I’m just not a fan of Evans’s writing, and I will most likely never re-read this series, yet there is enough intrigue in the overall plot that I want to see it through. So that’s something, even though I usually have more complaints than compliments. And though this review may not seem like a 4-star review, I felt like even 3.5 was just too low for what I thought of the book in the end. It’s the highest rated book in the series, which I suspect has something to do with the ending.
Trille and Lena are neighbors in a small, close-knit coastal town in Norway. Through summer and into the school year around the time they’re both 9 years old, they have adventures, get in trouble, and deal with tragedy.
For the first several chapters of this book, I wasn’t quite sure what the overarcing plot was, or if there even was one. And really, much of the book is a series of adventures that these two kids get up to in this otherwise-sleepy Norwegian cove. But there is a thread that runs through it, in which Trille, who thinks of Lena as his best friend, isn’t sure whether he is her best friend. And it’s not really surprising, since she is quite an outspoken, antagonistic girl, while Trille is more meek. My own daughter has gone through something similar, more than once, so Trille’s plight hit close to home for me.
As an entire year passes, a few bigger side plots emerge, and more than one of them caused me to tear up a little. Though it’s true that Trille and Lena don’t obey their parents very well and face some consequences for their disobedience (though not always are those consequences very severe), there is quite a bit of heart in this book, and that’s what I was left with at the end. This would be a great book to read together with kids, recommended for 7-10-year-olds.
The Cat Who Robbed a Bank Book #22 by Lilian Jackson Braun
My rating: 3 / 5 Genre: Cozy mystery
When a jewel dealer from Down Below visits, it has the attention of all of Pickax City 400 miles north of everywhere. Then the jewel dealer is murdered, and former crime reporter Jim Qwilleran pays extra attention.
Sometimes it can seem that Qwilleran rarely solves the mysteries in these books—that answers simply fall into his lap. But usually, much of the book is spent with him making connections, asking just the right questions, and sort of lining things up to work out so that he gets to the solution in the end. Not so in this book. He truly didn’t solve much of anything. Speculations early in the mystery turned out to be correct with little in the way of deviation. Yes, he was kind of caught up in the climax, but it was really only because of a friendship that he’d been cultivating for a while, nothing to do with his suspicions about the case. The community surrounding the mystery wasn’t as interesting as it has been in other books, maybe because it was more disjointed.
There was one interesting development. Anyone who has read many of these books knows that Qwilleran is basically devoid of all family and does tend to long for a connection. This was dangled in front of him—and us—in this book, and I’m not really sure how I feel about the way that turned out. Maybe it would have seemed to fake if it had gone a different way, but I really hope to see more in this line in the future. Overall, though, I’m hoping the next book is better.
A Journey of Words 