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Love reading challenges? Check out my other blog:

2021 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona (1)
- Arkansas
- California (4)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut (1)
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii (1)
- Idaho
- Illinois (4)
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine
- Maryland (1)
- Massachusetts
- Michigan (1)
- Minnesota (1)
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska (1)
- Nevada (1)
- New Hampshire (1)
- New Jersey (1)
- New Mexico
- New York (3)
- North Carolina (1)
- North Dakota
- Ohio (6)
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania (1)
- Rhode Island (1)
- South Carolina (1)
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah (1)
- Vermont (2)
- Virginia (3)
- Washington (2)
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming (1)
- *Washington, D.C.

International:
Australia (2)
Canada (3)
England (5)
France (1)
Ireland (1)
Switzerland (1)
The Philippines (1)
Wales (1)

My Progress:


25 / 51 states. 49% done!

2021 Fall Into Reading Challenge

2021 Fall Into Reading Challenge

My Progress:


0 / 24 books. 0% done!

2021 Children's Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

2021 Children's Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
(Hosted by Yours Truly!)

My Progress:


6 / 25 books. 24% done!

2021 Popsugar Reading Challenge

2021 Popsugar Reading Challenge

My Progress:


32 / 50 books. 64% done!

Booklist Queen's 2021 Reading Challenge

Booklist Queen's 2021 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


35 / 52 books. 67% done!

2021 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

2021 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

2021 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

2021 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

The 52 Club's 2021 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


34 / 52 books. 65% done!
Friday, September 03, 2021

Overhyped Dog Novel Just Doesn't Resonate With Me

8:58 PM

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

At ten years old, Enzo knows his life is coming to an end.  He doesn't mind.  As a dog whose soul is "very human," he's pretty sure he's going to be reincarnated as a man, a prospect he's very much looking forward to.  After all, Enzo has been studying humans his whole life.  Not only has he watched a considerable amount of educational television, but he's also been observing his owner, Denny Swift, ever since the race car driver brought him home as a puppy.  With all the wisdom he's gathered, Enzo knows he'll make a stellar human.

As Enzo ruminates over what he's learned from a canine life well lived, he tells the story of Denny's life—from his career as a pro race car driver, to his marriage to Eve, to the birth of their daughter, Zoë, to how everything changed when Denny began to lose all of them.  Like all faithful companions, Enzo is there through it all to mourn with his best friend, cheer him on, and lick his wounds (sometimes literally).  Along the way, he learns some great lessons about what it means to be human.  

I'm not a big fan of stories narrated by animals, so I have given The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein a wide berth for a long time, in spite of the many rave reviews it's gotten.  I only decided to take it on because I needed a new audiobook to listen to and my library seemed to have nothing else that was immediately available.  Although it started as a reluctant listen, I ended up finding the novel compelling enough to finish.  Did I love it?  Can't say that I did.  Do I understand why it's so overhyped?  I do not.  The story moves at a glacial pace for much of the book, although it does pick up after the Big Event happens.  Problem is, I hated the direction the tale took at that point.  It wasn't what I expected or wanted.  Thus, the read just felt sad, depressing, and...ugh.  I did finish the book, like I said, but I found The Art of Racing in the Rain to be an average read at best.  Part of the problem, I'm sure, is that I don't love animal books and I have no interest in car racing; a lot of my issues, though, stemmed from a story that just didn't resonate with me.  Bummer.

(Readalikes:  Hm, I can't think of anything.  You?)

Grade:


If this were a movie, it would be rated:


for language (a dozen or so F-bombs, plus milder expletives), sexual content, violence, and disturbing subject matter

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find

Labels:,,,,,,,, | 0 bookworm(s) said...

Fall Into Reading Challenge 2021

10:24 AM

I'm not a BookTuber or a Bookstagrammer (I do have an Instagram account for Bloggin' 'bout Books, but I don't post there very often).  To be honest, I sort of forget these mediums exist even though they revolve around my favorite subject: books.  Thank goodness for the lovely Nicole over at Bookwyrm Knits who posted about a fun Fall reading challenge that was announced a couple weeks ago on BookTube (just FYI: her links go to the 2020 challenge).  The Fall Into Reading Challenge is a prompt-based challenge that is hosted by four YouTubers:  Tia at Tia and All the Books, Kelly at Cozy Reader Kelly, Angie at Literary Labors, and Rainey at Rainey Day Reads.  Because the prompts are very general, I'm going to do the harder 24-square level:


I'm not going to pre-plan any reading for the challenge since the books I'm already tentatively "planning" to read in the next few months fit these categories pretty well.  We'll see what I end up doing.  You can track my progress with this challenge—and all the others I'm participating in—by checking out the left sidebar of my blog.  For more details, like which books I'm using for which challenges, click on the "Reading Challenges" tab in my blog header.

Also, you may not know or may not remember that I started Ready for a Reading Challenge? at the end of 2019 to act as a database for all the reading challenges going on around the Internet.  While there's not a lot going on over there at this time of year, pretty soon it will be hopping with lots of announcements about new challenges for 2022.  If you are hosting a challenge in the new year or if you see one announced, please let me know so I can add it to the database.  Free advertising!  

Labels:,, | 0 bookworm(s) said...
Thursday, September 02, 2021

Mormon Mentions: Jon Billman

1:05 AM

If you haven't got a clue what a Mormon is, let alone a Mormon Mention, allow me to explain: When I see a reference to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (nickname: Mormons) in a book which was not written by a member of the Church, I post it here. With commentary from Yours Truly.  I'm no theologian, but I try to explain doctrinal issues as well as debunk myths and clear up misconceptions.  Speaking of, I should probably make this crystal clear: My dad only has one wife. As does my husband.  And, yes, people really have asked me those questions.  (I've also been asked if I have horns.  Of course I do!  I just keep them hidden under my hair.  Duh.)  Just FYI: mainstream Mormons haven't practiced polygamy for more than 120 years.

Everybody got that? Great. Let's move on...


In The Cold Vanish, Jon Billman talks about the search for a man named Troy James Knapp, a survivalist who lived off the spoils he acquired from breaking into cabins in Southern Utah for seven years before he was caught and jailed in 2013.  

  • Of Southern Utah's arid landscape, Billman says:  "It was drier than a Mormon wedding." (205)
Ha ha.  This reference made me laugh out loud!  If you know anything about my church it's that its members abide by a health code known as The Word of Wisdom.  It stipulates that we abstain from drinking alcohol, hot beverages (coffee and tea), using tobacco, and ingesting other substances that are harmful to the body.  Thus, alcoholic beverages are not consumed by Latter-day Saints and not served at Mormon wedding receptions.  In fact, I was shocked when, at a recent reception, I was handed an empty glass for a later toast to the bride and groom.  Toasts are not traditionally part of Mormon receptions.  This one—of course—was done with Martinelli's sparkling apple cider!

  • About Knapp:  "At times he appeared angry at Latter[sic]D[sic]ay Saints—he shot holes in a portrait of Joseph Smith and ripped up the Book of Mormon." (200)
I don't know anything about Knapp's religious background.  Perhaps he is a disgruntled former member of the Church.  Or he just likes to be destructive.  Morality is obviously not the man's strong suit.  Desecrating religious paintings and sacred books, especially while in the act of ransacking a stranger's cabin, are simply not the actions of a good man (although the owners probably forgave him since both Joseph Smith's [the Church's first prophet and president] teachings and the Book of Mormon preach forgiveness for all). 

Labels:,,,,, | 11 bookworm(s) said...

Haunting and Memorable, The Cold Vanish Explores Alarming Number of Missing Persons Lost in North America's National Lands

1:00 AM

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Did you know that each year in the United States about 600,000 people go missing?  Most vanish in populated places.  The majority of them are found alive and in a short amount of time.  While these statistics are comforting in a way, the one Jon Billman is concerned about is this—around 1600 people are currently missing from North America's public lands (including national parks, national forests, and BLM land).  And this, Billman says, is likely a vast understatement.  For various reasons, hundreds go missing on federal land every year; many are never found.  

In The Cold Vanish, the writer uses the story of Jacob Gray (link contains spoilers)—a 22-year-old from California who disappeared in Washington's Olympic Peninsula while on a solo bicycling trip—as a springboard to explore these disappearing acts.  Who is most likely to vanish on public land?  Why?  And what is being done to locate the missing?  Billman discusses obstacles to finding people in the wild (vast acreage, inclement weather, difficult terrain, bureaucratic red tape, etc.) as well as the lengths that volunteers (including a group of dedicated Bigfoot hunters) have gone to to find missing hikers, bicyclers, and explorers.  Since so many of the circumstances surrounding these disappearances are strange, even inexplicable, Billman also talks about the more out-there explanations embraced by some: aliens, Sasquatch, and other otherworldly explanations.  The levity of this discussion is over-balanced, however, by those about how a missing persons investigation affects the family and friends who are left behind with no answers and no closure.  It's heartbreaking. 

Although there has apparently been a bit of a hubbub over Billman's portrayal of Jacob Gray, including some "facts" of the case that Billman may have gotten wrong, I found his coverage of Jacob's case to be both sensitive and absorbing.  On the whole, The Cold Vanish is very informative, compulsively readable, and highly compelling.  Also, sad and disturbing.  Although I read the book quickly, what I learned has stayed with me.  Haunted me.  My biggest takeaway: always maintain a healthy respect for Mother Nature, which will kill you just as soon as cradle you.  When exploring, stay on established paths, don't venture out alone, take a cell phone, and always—always—be prepared with emergency supplies.  Not doing any one of these, as Billman so clearly points out, can be deadly.

*Thanks to Lark for recommending this book to me.  You can see her excellent review of The Cold Vanish here.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of books by Jon Krakauer, especially Into the Wild, as well as Carried by Michelle Schmidt and Angie Taylor)

Grade:


If this were a movie, it would be rated:


for language (a dozen or so F-bombs, plus milder expletives), violence, blood/gore, and disturbing subject matter

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find

Labels:,,,,,,,,, | 5 bookworm(s) said...
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<i>Reading</i>
The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown

Listening

<i>Listening</i>
A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny



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