Friday, April 30, 2021

The Light of Days

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Title:  The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos

Author: Judy Batalion

Publisher: HarperAudio
 
ISBN:
n/a
 
Thoughts: Uplifting true stories of female Jewish resistance fighters, but it was hard to keep all of them straight, which may have been easier with a print copy.

Rating: 3/5

The Art of Living

 680297

Title:  The Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness

Author: Epictetus & Sharon Lebell

Publisher: HarperOne
 
ISBN:
9780061286056
 
Thoughts: Interesting and approachable introduction to stoicism.

Rating: 3/5

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Slavery by Another Name

 3993756

Title:  Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americas from the Civil War to World War II

Author: Douglas A. Blackmon

Publisher: Anchor
 
ISBN:
9780385722704
 
Thoughts: Blackmon starts the book by saying it is the story of Green Cottingham, but it is a lot more than that and overly dense with information.

Rating: 3/5

Monday, April 26, 2021

Billy Miller Makes a Wish

 54427174

Title:  Billy Miller Makes a Wish

Author: Kevin Henkes

Publisher: Greenwillow
 
ISBN:
9780063042797
 
Thoughts: Things happen, but still not as exciting as some books I remember reading when I was younger.

Rating: 3/5

Friday, April 23, 2021

Call Down the Hawk

 31373184

Title:  Call Down the Hawk

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Publisher: Scholastic
 
ISBN:
9781338188325
 
Thoughts: So deep with so many moving parts, but they all come together in a magical way.

Rating: 5/5

Thursday, April 22, 2021

Girls with Bright Futures

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Title:  Girls with Bright Futures

Author: Tracy Dobmeier & Wendy Katzman

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
 
ISBN:
9781728216461
 
Thoughts: Fun, fast-paced, and often shocking story that cannot be put down.

Rating: 5/5

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Ivy + Bean Get to Work!

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Title:  Ivy + Bean Get to Work!

Author: Annie Burrows

Publisher: Chronicle
 
ISBN: 9781797205106
 
Thoughts: Fast-paced chapter book that does allow young readers to draw some of their own connections.

Rating: 3/5

Rodham

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Title:  Rodham

Author: Curtis Sittenfeld

Publisher: Penguin Random House
 
ISBN: 9780525527848
 
Thoughts: This starts very realistic, but some absurdness creeps in as the altered history gets further from its deviation point, making for a fun read.

Rating: 3/5

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Final Justice

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Title:  Final Justice

Author: Fern Michaels

Publisher: Zebra
 
ISBN: 9781420101881
 
Thoughts: I know this was the 12th of a series, but at so many points, I had absolutely no clue what was going on or why, even when it was part of the plot of just this installment.

Rating: 1/5

Monday, April 19, 2021

The One and Only Ivan

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Title:  The One and Only Ivan

Author: Katherine Applegate

Publisher: HarperCollins
 
ISBN: 9780061992254
 
Thoughts: An approachable look at animal captivity and abuse for younger readers wrapped in a highly engaging story.

Rating: 4/5

King of Scars

 39804936

Title:  King of Scars

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Publisher: Imprint
 
ISBN: 9781250142283
 
Thoughts: Amazingly well-thought fantasy world, and while this does reference back to previous GrishaVerse novels, it can definitely be an entry point into the world.

Rating: 4/5

The Book of Koli

 51285749

Title:  The Book of Koli

Author: M. R. Carey

Publisher: Orbit
 
ISBN: 9780316477536
 
Thoughts: This takes a little bit to get into because of the minor but logical language changes Carey imagines in this future, but it is so worth it as this is one of the best dystopians I have read in a long while.

Rating: 5/5

Friday, April 16, 2021

The Boys King Arthur

 

Title:  The Boys King Arthur

Author: Sidney Lanier

Publisher: Createspace
 
ISBN: 9781523813025
 
Thoughts: This story of King Arthur was pared down for children, but it was still complicated and, frankly, boring, plus riddled with typos that could have easily been fixed with a good proofing.

Rating: 1/5

Monday, April 12, 2021

Circe

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Title:  Circe

Author: Madeline Miller

Publisher: Hachette
 
ISBN: n/a
 
Thoughts:  Seems like it is best for a true mythology lover - must at least have some knowledge of mythology to appreciate.

Rating: 3/5

Saturday, April 10, 2021

Stacking the Shelves: 4/4-4/10


 Bought from Scholastic:

52437692. sy475

The Palace of Secrets by Rhona Cleary, Agnese Innocente, Gaia Urbinati, & Ilaria Cardinali

35924717. sy475

Unicorn of Many Hats by Dana Simpson

32573184. sy475

The Sand Warrior by Mark Siegel, Alexis Siegel, Xanthe Bouma, Matt Rockefeller, & Boya Sun

City of a Thousand Gates

 53327887

Title:  City of a Thousand Gates

Author: Rebecca Sacks

Publisher: Harper
 
ISBN: 9780063011472
 
Thoughts:  Beautiful weaving of the stories of various fictional Israelis and Palestinians taking the conflict from news to heart.

Rating: 5/5

Monday or Tuesday

 97864

Title:  Monday or Tuesday: Eight Stories

Author: Virginia Woolf

Publisher: Dover
 
ISBN: 9780486294537
 
Thoughts:  Well-written, mainly stream-of-conscious stories; especially liked "A Society".

Rating: 3/5

Friday, April 9, 2021

Simon B. Rhymin'

 54424566

Title:  Simon B. Rhymin'

Author: Dwayne Reed

Publisher: Little, Brown
 
ISBN: 9780316538978
 
Thoughts:  Very positive story about finding your voice and helping your community, although there seemed to be some plot jumps.

Rating: 3/5

Thursday, April 8, 2021

Royal Scandal

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Title:  Royal Scandal

Author: Marquita Valentine

Publisher: Loveswept
 
ISBN: n/a
 
Thoughts:  If this had stayed sweet like it wanted, it would have been a perfect read, but the spicy bits just did not seem to fit with the characters and through me out of the story.

Rating: 3/5

Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Icebound

 127824

Title:  G.I. Joe Frontline: Icebound

Author: Dan Jolley & Drew Johnson

Publisher: Devil's Due
 
ISBN: 1932796142
 
Thoughts:  I have never read G.I. Joe before, so I had no clue it was going to be not just action but sci-fi as well.

Rating: 3/5

Monday, April 5, 2021

The Rib King

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Title:  The Rib King

Author: Laddee Hubbard

Publisher: Amistad
 
ISBN: 97810062979063
 
Thoughts:  I have no clue how to describe this - just read it!

Rating: 5/5

Big Summer

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Title:  Big Summer

Author: Jennifer Weiner

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
 
ISBN: n/a
 
Thoughts:  I was expecting a good beach read, but this was so much more.

Rating: 5/5

Saturday, April 3, 2021