Monday, June 30, 2014

Review: Captain Courage and the World's Most Shocking Secret Book 2


Captain Courage and the World's Most Shocking Secret Book 2
Captain Courage and the World's Most Shocking Secret Book 2 by Stacey a Marshall

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Children's stories tend to have two main elements - to entertain and to teach. I thought this one was too much in the direction of teaching the lesson, without enough entertaining. Granted, I didn't read this one with a child, so perhaps they'd be more amused by it than I was. Still, I really enjoy children's literature and this one didn't do much for me. Just as the Goodreads rating suggests, this one was just ok.



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Review: The Deja Vu Experiment


The Deja Vu Experiment
The Deja Vu Experiment by J.G. Renato

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Wait, what? WTF did I just read? First off, Diana is the most impressive sounding waitress from Iowa who ever existed. Who knew waitresses from Iowa had all the answers to how to live your life? Secondly, is this New Age mumbo-jumbo wrapped in science or...? Yeah, that wasn't what I was expecting, in the least. And I'm probably the worst possible reader for it, seeing as spirituality is really not my thing.



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Sunday, June 29, 2014

Review: Let's Tell This Story Properly


Let's Tell This Story Properly
Let's Tell This Story Properly by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Winner of the 2014 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, this short story tells the tale of Nnam, whose husband was hiding a second family in Uganda.



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Review: The Foot Soldier, a novella


The Foot Soldier, a novella
The Foot Soldier, a novella by Mark Rubinstein

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I got this for free from Netgalley. It was a well written novella about Vietnam. I enjoyed how the ending and the title come together.



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Review: Diary of a Wimpy Kid


Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I didn't expect the kid to be such an asshole. I wish I'd read this with some students, because I'm curious about how they'd respond to him - would they see that he's quite a bully, while himself worrying about being bullied?



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Saturday, June 28, 2014

Review: The Story of the Red Cross


The Story of the Red Cross
The Story of the Red Cross by Krishna Satyanand

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Sometimes I download random books - I'm not even sure where this came from or why. Now that I'm choosing my next book at random (Wyatt picks a page, I read the shortest book on my Kindle list on that page), it's getting, well, interesting.

This is clearly a children's book, but I won't lie, I learned things from it. I'm going to poke around and see if I can find Dunant's A Memory of Solferino, because I think that would be quite an interesting read.



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Review: Dirty Cop


Dirty Cop
Dirty Cop by Kyle Adams

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This was an amazon freebie. I get an email that alerts me to deals and based on whatever the blurb was, I downloaded this. Turns out it's MM erotica -not what I was expecting, but it was a decently written short story.



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Friday, June 27, 2014

Review: Where There's Smoke


Where There's Smoke
Where There's Smoke by Jodi Picoult

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



That was quick and fun, though I wouldn't normally be all that interested in psychics.



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Review: Swift as Desire


Swift as Desire
Swift as Desire by Laura Esquivel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I really enjoyed this..an interesting look at Mexico and a sweet love story.



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Saturday, June 21, 2014

Review: The Vampyre: A Tale


The Vampyre: A Tale
The Vampyre: A Tale by John William Polidori

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Now that was fun. Also short, which is what I'm going for right now. Pregnancy seems to have left me with little reading focus - or focus of any kind, actually. Right now I pick a number at random, go to that page on my Kindle list of books and read the shortest thing on the page.



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Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Review: Fairy Tales from the Arabian Nights


Fairy Tales from the Arabian Nights
Fairy Tales from the Arabian Nights by Anonymous

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



The tales were fantastic and aside from Sinbad, I'd never even heard of any of them. I'll have to read the rest one day.



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Monday, June 09, 2014

Review: A Fatal Grace


A Fatal Grace
A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Loved it. The characters of Three Pines are so much fun, as are all of the detectives. It feels like the kind of town I'd like to live in, in spite of my general dislike of small towns. The mystery was fun, in that there were parts I guessed well in advance, but the over all answers escaped me. It was slightly odd to read such a winter book in the summer though.



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Review: Menace


Menace
Menace by Gary Fry

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I clicked on this randomly while scrolling through my Kindle book list. I really quite enjoyed it, although I found the ending disappointed. The suspense had built up quite nicely, only to hit an anti-climatic end.



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