Month: March 2024

Weekly Writing Update: 3/31

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I continued reading book #3 (“Power”) out loud this past week, managing to get 20 minutes in every day. It continues to be a huge benefit—necessity, even—as I wait for my sisters to read it and give me their feedback as well. Hopefully this will be the last intensive revision the book needs before it’s ready to be published, but we’ll see what they say when they get through it too.

While I work on continuing the series, if you’re interested in reading where it all starts, Pithea is available on Amazon in multiple formats (e-book, paperback, and now in hardcover) as well as Kindle Unlimited.

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Book Review: Nazi Architects of the Holocaust

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Nazi Architects of the Holocaust
by Corona Brezina

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Middle grade nonfiction

I read this book to fulfill a nonfiction requirement for a reading challenge at my local library. It’s meant to give kids an understanding of the Nazi party’s rise to power in Germany and how the camps evolved to be part of the “final solution.”  Complete with pictures that shed some light on the situation without being too graphic for younger readers, one of the things that struck me as I read, as is also mentioned in the text, is how normal these men looked. Hitler, who has become the face of the Holocaust for many of us, brings to mind thoughts of darkness and evil. But other men who were just as much a part of the murder of millions wouldn’t be easily recognizable to me as being part of this atrocity. They’re just men, though their names bring to mind giants and monsters, at least in my mind.

As an adult, there is not a lot of information here I didn’t already know, but there are details given I’ve probably forgotten over the years and maybe some I didn’t know. I don’t know for sure the exact age group this is meant for, but I’d guess around 10-12. Though some of the information can be difficult to follow, and in general it would probably be good for a parent to be on hand to discuss some of the information in the book, I think it could be a good book for kids to learn some facts about this time in history. It’s also part of a series of other books related to the Holocaust, so they could all be worth checking out.

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Book Review: Fortunately, the Milk

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Fortunately, the Milk
by Neil Gaiman
Read by the author

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Children’s fantasy

I’ve always been intimidated by Neil Gaiman, and at this point, I’m pretty sure I’ll never read any of his adult books. But when I heard about a children’s book written by this famous author, I thought it would at least give me a chance to see what all the fuss is about. Though it’s a bit chaotic and I listened to the audiobook, thus forgoing the pictures almost entirely, I appreciated the cleverness of the story. For one thing, I always like it when time travel is done well and connections are made at different parts of the story where the time traveler(s) interact with themselves in big or small ways. For such a short story, this happens a few times, and I think it’s a great introduction to well-done time travel stories for kids. I also enjoyed the running joke from the title, with the innocuous breakfast milk playing such a large role in the story. It’s a ridiculous, goofy “dad story” through and through, and I appreciated Gaiman’s narration. Though I’m sure kids would be much better off seeing the pictures and perhaps hearing their own dad (or other parent) read it to them.

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Book Review: Al Capone Does My Shirts

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Al Capone Does My Shirts
Tales from Alcatraz #1
by Gennifer Choldenko

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Middle grade historical fiction

Moose Flanagan’s family moves to Alcatraz in 1935, where his dad will be working as a prison guard. Now Moose has to get used to a new school, keep his sister out of trouble, and deal with strict rules imposed by the prison warden, whose own daughter does whatever she can to break them.

I’d heard of this book and seen it around for a long time before deciding to read it. I expected something pretty light, maybe a little goofy or immature. And while it’s not exactly heavy, it’s definitely deeper than I expected. Moose’s sister, who is a few years older than him, is autistic, in the days before it had a name and when kids with autism were given a lot of different diagnoses. She tends to live in her own world, and sometimes that means fits of anger that can’t be controlled. Moose is left with Natalie now and then, and eventually his mother asks him to take her everywhere he goes. On top of that, his mother grasps at every possibly cure for Natalie that she hears about, in a way that is detrimental to her own mental health.

The author did a great job of making me feel connected to the characters in such a way that I felt a lot of emotions while reading the book. I was annoyed with the warden’s daughter, her schemes, and her dad’s refusal to see the truth about her. I both felt for the mom who didn’t know how to deal with having a daughter with mental issues and wanted to give her a stern talking to sometimes. And Moose himself is just trying to be a kid in very unusual circumstances. Though Al Capone is kind of obsessed over throughout the book, it seemed like he was to be more of an abstract figure than anything. But without giving any spoilers, he actually does have a more active part by the end, in a moment that actually made me let out a gasp and made me really intrigued about the next book. I’ve already recommended this book to my 13-year-old daughter, who might be on the top end of the age group for it, but I think she’ll like it. I also recommend it for other pre-teens and young teens as well as any adults who enjoy younger-audience books.

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Book Review: The Secret of the Old Clock

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The Secret of the Old Clock
Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #1
by Carolyn Keene
read by Laura Linney

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic mystery

Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys were household names in my house growing up, though for some reason, I didn’t read much of them. Maybe they felt dated to me even then, but now I’m ready to see what I missed. While, yes, Nancy’s life is shown to be a bit too perfect in this series opener, it somehow feels about right for the time period. I also don’t think I really ever realized that these books were intended for pre-teens, 9-12-year-olds, rather than older teens or young adults like I assumed, considering the age of the main character. In that light, the not-terribly-deep mystery makes a little more sense. I do like that Nancy’s desire to find the missing will is driven by her compassion for those who are in need and had been promised part of the inheritance, but it also seems to me like she just can’t help but want to solve the puzzle. I can understand why Nancy was a role-model for young girls for decades, why the series lasted for so long, and why it even inspired a lengthy series of video games (many of which I’ve played). Laura Linney was a great choice for narrator, as she brings the smart, young, wholesome young woman to life quite well. I don’t know that I’ll have the endurance for 100 books, but I do plan to continue the series.

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Book Review: Butterflies in the Storm

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Butterflies in the Storm
by Gary Warner

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: Fantasy

When Melissa Jones is invited to a funeral for a girl she doesn’t remember knowing, the last thing she expects is to be whisked away from the funeral by a woman claiming her life is in danger. She’s taken to a place where she’s told she’ll be safe from a threat she never knew existed that all started hundreds of years in the past at a place called Brathy Beck.

Though the synopsis for this book was very vague, I was intrigued enough to give it a try. And the book starts off with a bang, with Melissa’s escape from unknown danger and flight to the secretive sanctuary in some nebulous location. (It took me a long time to realize this book is set in England, as I don’t remember any location names being given until quite a ways in.) But as Melissa tries to get her bearings in this complex full of women, she’s given nothing but vague answers by everyone she encounters. I’m annoyed for her, since supposedly she’s not a prisoner and this is all for her benefit, so the only reason I can see for all the secrecy is that the author wants to add suspense for the reader. As the answers begin to unfold, though, they take the form of the different women at the sanctuary telling their own story of how they came to be there. And for the most part, all of the stories are the same. Names and locations are different and the initial situation for each woman is different, but they all become a fight to free the woman from the men who are trying to catch or kill her and a flight to the sanctuary. After a few of these stories, I started to skim through them.

The fantasy element comes with the explanation, which, since it’s kept a secret for so long, feels like a spoiler to explain completely. But I will at least say that the fantasy element is also vague and could definitely have been expanded on some. By the last quarter or so of the book, the plot has devolved into a “who will end up with who” pseudo-romance, in which apparently all of these women are lesbians, who apparently marry men they care nothing about for the sole purpose of reproduction. Since this is not my preference in reading and wasn’t indicated anywhere in any of the locations this book is advertised, I can easily say that I am not the right audience for this book, which of course influences my rating and review.

In the end, the premise of the book was interesting and started off good, which is the main reason for 2 stars. But it simply became too repetitious and then took a left turn from the sort of suspenseful tone that was set up to focus on relationships. The ending was anti-climactic. Also, though the book was self-published, I didn’t notice a lot of line-editing issues that I often do with self-published books (typos, grammar issues, etc.). There are some weird formatting issues that might just be an issue with the ebook, but I didn’t factor them into my rating. Still, though, while I can’t say I’d recommend this book to anyone, I’m sure it has an audience that just doesn’t include me. Please do check it out at the link below if you’re interested.

I received a free review copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest unedited feedback.

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Weekly Writing Update: 3/24

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After an entire week of no writing (3/11-3/17) due to extra work demands and an urgent deadline for VBS prep, I picked it up a bit last week. Though I still didn’t write 20 minutes every day, I did extra some days to at least be able to average it out to 20 minutes every day. I’m continuing with reading book #3 (“Power”) out loud, which helps me notice dialog that is awkward, prose that could use adjusting, or even errors and typos that I had missed. It’s turning out that I missed a lot on what I thought was a really comprehensive revision, which is awkward, since I printed a copy before this read-through for one of my sisters to read and give me feedback. And now I know that there are a lot of mistakes or clumsy-sounding areas…

While I work on continuing the series, if you’re interested in reading where it all starts, Pithea is available on Amazon in multiple formats (e-book, paperback, and now in hardcover) as well as Kindle Unlimited.

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Book Review: Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Circus Clown

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Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Circus Clown
by David A. Adler

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

My now-adult son read some of the Cam Jansen books when he was young, and I remember him quite liking them. I had never read any, so this was my first Cam Jansen book. I have to say, I understand the appeal. Though this is written for kids, the mystery is engaging—not too easy or too hard. And Cam Jansen herself is an interesting character, with her quirk of making a camera sound whenever she wants to store or recall a memory (hence her nickname: “Cam,” short for “Camera”). Set against the backdrop of a circus, this illustrated book would definitely be a fun early mystery for young readers.

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Book Review: A Noble Scheme

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A Noble Scheme
The Imposters #2
by Roseanna M. White

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Christian historical mystery

Gemma Parks keeps to the shadows in her capacity as newspaper columnist writing about high-society functions, which is also useful for the investigative team she’s part of, the Imposters. The Imposters normally work for the wealthy, charging a lot of money for their services, but when a working man begs their help to find his kidnapped son, they can’t refuse. Unfortunately, this case puts Gemma in close proximity with Graham Wharton, one of the other Imposters, with whom she used to have a relationship before something went terribly wrong, and she’s been avoiding for almost a year since. Graham, for his part, hopes that this case will end both with a return of the boy to his parents and a return of Gemma to his side.

I loved this second book as much as the first, with the focus turning from Marigold and Merritt to Graham and Gemma. Marigold’s brother Yates, leader of the Imposters, again provides the third POV for the book, and I was happy to continue seeing his side of things. In the first book, we’re given allusions to something causing a rift between Graham and Gemma, but no details. I knew that would be brought out in this book, then, and I was a little annoyed when the “why” was danced around for over 1/4 of the book. Little hints were dropped, maybe even big ones, but I definitely missed the big picture until it was plainly stated (actually, I was spoiled by a review on Goodreads, so be careful what you read). When I did realize the full story, I understood completely why it was held back for so long. It broke my heart and made the journey for these two so much more than I imagined (I suppose what I imagined was an almost humorous tiff that just needed a quiet moment together to put to rights). The progression of their story brought tears to my eyes more than once, and I love the way their views of God were just as big a part of it as were their feelings for each other. Rather than a twisted idea that Graham’s reunion with God was somehow dependent on him (re)gaining the love of a good woman, which I’ve sadly seen in other Christian books, I felt this book had its priorities straight. That’s all the more I’ll say on this subject to avoid spoilers.

Like in the previous book, the case the Imposters work on isn’t a huge mystery, at least in regards to the culprit(s) involved. However, there were certainly facets to the villainy that were kept back and revealed at moments that allowed for suspense and even more emotion. The climax maybe got a little over-dramatic for my taste, but not even enough for me to lower my rating, because of how much I loved the book as a whole. I’m excited to see the next book in the series has already been announced; I love the synopsis so much, and I think that giving us little glimpses of Yates on the way to “his” book really heightens the anticipation of that third book. I highly recommend this book for fans of Christian historical mystery (this is set during the Edwardian era in London).

Thank you to Netgalley and Bethany House for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: World of Warcraft, Vol. 1

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World of Warcraft, Vol. 1
written by Walter Simonson
illustrated by Ludo Lullabi

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Fantasy graphic novel

I have not played the MMORPG World of Warcraft in a while, but for many years, I played it a ton. One early quest line I’ve always remembered was “The Missing Diplomat,” which (spoiler alert) ended up being a search for clues about the missing king of Stormwind! I also remembered that it didn’t really have a satisfying ending, though it may have continued at a later time that I somehow missed. Of course, King Varian Wrynn is eventually reinstated and plays a role in later expansions, but I only ever heard bits of what happened to him while he was missing. Then we found a series of graphic novels at a library sale that tells that entire story. I’m not normally a graphic-novel reader (I struggle to follow the action), nor do I normally want to dive very deep into the lore of WoW that takes place outside of the game. But some of the storylines involved in quests in the game have intrigued me in the past, and this is one of the biggest ones, so I gave it a go.

All of that being said, I enjoyed my time reading this graphic novel. This is only part of the story, 1 of 4 volumes, and the mystery of why Varian is in this situation (far from home with a lost memory) is barely touched on in this volume. However, the end promised more to come. I think a lot of why I liked the book, though, is because of the references to and images of people and locations that I remember from my days playing the game. Though I’m an Alliance player and this was mostly on the Horde side, it still brought up a lot of nostalia. There are quite a few fight scenes that were difficult to follow (though based on other reviews, that might have been an issue with the book, not me), so I generally scanned until the end to see who won, who lost, and who was injured. And while I know this is common for this genre/game, that doesn’t mean I don’t still dislike the way females are portrayed (seriously, the harpies are practically naked).

Overall, though I can’t say whether anyone who hasn’t played WoW as much as me would appreciate this graphic novel at all, for those who do or have played the game, especially back in vanilla days, this might be worth checking out.

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