Still Life, Inspector Gamache #1, Loise Penny

This was for the 2016 Challenge "Murder Mystery". One of my FB friends recommended it (said the community reminded her of Stars Hallow and I was hooked).

Lucky for me it was also available right away on Overdrive for my kindle.

I really enjoyed this! It's been awhile since I read it, so it's not fresh in my mind anymore, but I remember being quite impressed with Inspector Gamache and his intuition and observation skills. I also found some incredibly profound thoughts about life through some of the other characters. For instance, the idea that "life is loss" and once we accept that, loss doesn't debilitate us as much. I highlighted a ton of stuff, but since my kindle updated I haven't figured out where all of my "clips" are....

Anyhow, one of the only TV shows I've gotten into since Gilmore Girls is Castle and it just ended last spring. Castle is a murder mystery writer who ends up finding his muse in one of NYPD's finest female homicide detectives after being brought on to consult on a case with a copycat murder from one of his books and since it gives the PD really good PR, Castle is granted permission to tag along indefinitely. So pretty much every episode is a murder that needs to be solved. We got better at figuring out how to pin the guilty one day as the seasons progressed. But I always loved how they planted seeds of doubt about nearly everyone involved. This was the case with Still Life. I had hunches, many of them, but Penny keeps you guessing by giving you only just enough information until the big reveal. And I loved having that process again. Sometimes I get worried with murder mysteries because they can get gruesome, but this book didn't get gory or anything. It was perfect comfort level, which characters you care about outside of their role in the story line.

The one girl...what was her name...the greenie helper detective, her last name was Nichole...anyway she was the WORST. I don't think you can get a person more dense than her. There are more books with Inspector Gamache, and while they don't need to be read in order, each one can be a stand alone book, I understand there is a character development arc that would be noticed if you read them in order. So I wonder what will happen with this particular character. I can't believe that Penny would introduce someone so antagonistic in the first book and then abandon her all together, especially when she went through all the trouble to give her backstory and tidbits of information even the character doesn't know.

The one thing that was a little confusing is that sometimes characters (detective primarily) would be referred to their last name, but in other instances referred to by their first names, so sometimes I got confused about who was who because I hadn't linked first and last names together very solidly.

I gave this one 4 solid stars.

Sisi, Empress on Her Own, Allison Pataki

I won this book on a Goodreads Giveaway! I don't usually win on drawings, but it's never stopped me from trying and entering and I finally won! Anyhow here is my review: 4.5 stars (Goodreads, we NEED half stars!!) Reviews on Goodreads Giveaway's are encouraged but not required.

First off, while I don't have a personal knowledge of historical accounts of Sisi prior to reading the first novel about her, I've read a lot of criticism about how people are not a fan of Sisi (the person) or how incredibly selfish she was. HOWEVER, I feel that it is incredibly important that we not judge people of the past by today's standards. By today's standards, yes, she was selfish. But when you take into account the world in which she lived-not just the time period, but the constraints of tradition-you may take a different view. How would YOU feel if your children were snatch from you at birth, not being allowed to name them, feed them, or do anything of the sort to bond with them? What if YOU had a person who was hell bent on making sure you didn't ruin those children and as a result, you never got to be a part of their lives? What kind of crazy and/or 'selfish' things would that push you to do? What if you found out that your husband had several trysts with who knows how many women and that it had all been arranged for him because it was expected, accepted, and he was ENTITLED to those things and there was NOTHING you could do to stop it and you were forbidden to mention it and it was implied that you ought to accept it too? This is the kind of stuff that pushed Sisi over the edge and I can hardly blame her.

So I think the key to appreciating this story is to keep your perception in context of the time period and expectations she was held to.

I think I liked this one even better than the first. I think that Sisi's character took on much more depth and a better perception of the world in which she had to live. I feel that Sisi really mellowed out in this account. As she accepted certain things as just "what is" and found ways in which she could cope in her own way. Right or wrong, she did remarkably well reining in her mental struggles-I doubt anyone in Society would have pegged her with a depressive disorder prior to her son's death, whereas others in her family were openly criticized for their mental shortcomings (Rudolf, Ludwig, her father).

This book swirls with emotion; but not that of an adolescent bride forced into a world of protocol and restraints that she does not believe in (and that doesn't believe in her), like the first one this emotion is far more deep. There is deep depression among several. In a world that viewed such conditions as a weakness or selfish choice, depression was rampant in Vienna, nicknamed at one point as the suicide capital of the world. I'm SO glad I live in an age where it is more understood.

The more I read about the imperial family and their relatives, the more it seems like they have their own version of the "Kennedy Curse" or "Romanov Curse"so much tragic death in such a relatively short time. The things that Franz Joseph saw come to pass during his lifetime and how with his life's end came the end of an era of monarchal rule. The whole world shifted away from monarchy's by WWI, and there are few left alive who could remember the days when those in charge ruled by "divine right". How people would balk at such an idea today!

Sisi was a deeply disturbed individual and lacked any of the tools we have in modern society to combat things that plagued her. The inability she had to rear her older children, and no way to reconcile those relationships, her insistence that she not interfere with Rudolf and Stephanie's relationship-but to a fault because such personal matters were not to be discussed, even when it might be to someone's benefit to have the information! How would Rudolf be able to cope with his apparent bi-polar disorder if he knew that his mother suffered from a similar malady? Could Sisi have proven to be a wonderful mother-in-law to Stephanie if she had injected just a friendly conversation here and there instead of the hands off approach. How could things be different if Sisi understood her feelings of restlessness and need to escape had a deeper meaning that maybe she could confront? What if the times were different and she could actually discuss with her husband how his actions made her FEEL and that could have maybe repaired things? Her cousin Ludwig suffered from some degree of mania; though more recent research leads us to believe he was less afflicted than reports wanted you to believe. Rudolf had problems that were exacerbated by the fact that his tutor abused him.

I liked the treatment of Sisi and her supposed affairs. Nothing confirms that she was ever unfaithful physically to her husband. Though, I suppose an emotional affair with Andrassy and/or Bay are definitely plausible, in that time, an emotional affair wasn't anything worth dissolving a marriage over. I like that Pataki kept her physically loyal to her place as wife to Franz Joseph, even if they were never again intimate with each other after the conception of Valerie.

Franz Joseph's motto, from his mother, was "I do not change". And in some ways that served him well, but in others, most certainly served to help ultimately end the era of monarchy.

SO much to think about! I really would like to learn more about Sisi. I feel that in cases like that, that it is a lesson in not judging too harshly. Especially those who seem to "have it all" when we lack. I always have very little sympathy for celebrities or other high profile individuals, because I feel those people sought that life out; they chose that path, they live with the consequences. But in Sisi's case, she only became Empress because of who she was born to. Otherwise, she never would have been an option. So I try not to judge the second generation, people born into a certain situation who really didn't ask to be there. And I try not to judge the others too harshly, because, maybe they DID seek it, but maybe, like Sisi, they didn't truly know what they were getting themselves into.

Comparing Sisi's endeavor's and travels, etc, to that of current political leaders, I can most certainly say I would have been among her critics. Why should she get to spend millions on things and travel when there are citizens in need of anything? From the outside, I 100% get the political criticism she got. I don't approve of the gossip that was unfairly heaped upon her. I rarely give the gossip of political leaders a glance. Given the circumstances of her time, I sympathize with Sisi because she had no other way to cope and "keep up face". But in today's world, there is no excuse to hide depression in spending, and travelling to outrun anything. Although, I don't suspect that to be the reason for any current political figure's personal spending habits in the last 2 decades.

But I think what I loved most was the evident love-so deep and true-that Franz and Sisi had for each other. It was not the infatuation of their youth, and they did not share a physical relationship (as stated earlier), but as the years wore on, they did feel affection towards one another, admiration, respect, and something that is deep, beyond your basic romance. It's good to be reminded that love has many faces, and even though they had their differences, they did love each other. Franz' infidelity was probably not malicious-it was what was done, it was his right, his privilege as Emperor to have certain....pleasures....made available to him, and it probably never crossed his mind that it was truly wrong or that he might offend Sisi. Sisi had probably not been warned past the fact that Franz would not come to their wedding bed a virgin and she should not expect it, because such things were a certain way. Had Franz and Sisi been born a generation later, the idea that a man is entitled to numerous affairs would be less accepted or expected. But I don't blame Sisi for closing off that part of the relationship-she had already been made extremely ill from a sexually transmitted disease. I wouldn't want to chance any more of that-not to mention the emotional issues!

Anyhow, there is so much to this book and to Sisi and her life, it's so complex, and no one will ever REALLY know everything that happened and the inner thoughts of anyone-beyond what they wrote in their journals. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I also loved reading about all the factual accounts that were part of the novel-I'm the kind of person who wouldn't have minded a chapter note with every chapter detailing exactly which parts were fact :-)

Amulet, The Stone Keeper, Kazu Kibuishi

I read this for the 2016 Challenge "Read a Graphic Novel" and my 11 year old owns them all (that are currently published, there is a new, highly anticipated one coming out later this year, I think).

Overall, I think I'd give it 3 stars. I was surprised by how powerful the emotions were, especially for a book geared towards younger readers. Part of me enjoyed being able to whiz through pages just by taking in images and minimal text. Part of me missed being able to decide for myself what the characters and things looked like. It was also kind of science fiction-y in a way that isn't instantly appealing to me.

HOWEVER, I recently was made aware of a condition that exists for some people who absolutely CANNOT think in images. I never knew this wasn't universal to the human race. So for all those kids who have a terrible time reading-and think it's more work than it's worth-maybe they have this inability to transform a description into a vivid as life image in their minds. Especially for that group of people, I think graphic novels serve a really great purpose.

I might explore graphic novels more in the future, just for a change of pace every now and again. I'll probably peruse through the rest of the Amulet series simply so I know what my kids are reading.

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Rebecca Wells

At first, I picked this book because of its blue cover...and it's on the Rory Gilmore List...But THEN I discovered that in the split narrative, part of it takes place in my home state! And I had been having trouble finding one in that category for the 2016 Reading Challenge. So this is my home state book. The part that takes place in WA.

So split narrative, between Sidda (Siddalee) who is nearing 40, a successful woman in the theater business writing/directing, and split with her mother Vivi, in Cenla (Central Louisiana). Vivi's portions are split between her childhood, teenage years, and current mother to 40 year old Sidda.

I give this 3.5 stars (3 on Goodreads) because it was gripping, entertaining, I have a STRONG urge to start using y'all in my everyday vocabulary (something I haven't done since hanging out with my friend Carolyn in middle/high school-she had transplanted from Texas in the 8th grade), it was poignant, beautiful, tragic, and vivid. BUT it did have quite a bit of language. It had a few too many scenes where Wells kept reminding you that the character was naked (I didn't need that THIRD reminder), and the naked parts didn't make sense. Seriously, would a 40 yr old woman wander around naked in a garden at a hotel in the middle of the night??

So anyhow, Vivi has disowned Sidda because in an interview in the New York Times, Sidda mentioned some of the less wonderful things about her mother, and her mother gets called "A tap dancing child abuser." Vivi has 3 best friends, Teensy, Niece, and Caro, who have been friends since their earliest days and call themselves the Ya-Yas. They grew up together, had kids at the same time, called all their kids the Petites Ya-Yas and it was like one big extended family. Vivi's mother, called Buggy, was a staunch Catholic with no sense of humor at all. I have to say I prefered EVERYTHING written from Vivi's point of view to Sidda's. I'm not sure why, but it just resonated more with me. I felt like Sidda was missing something (which she was). Sidda begged her mom to share with her some of the "divine secrets" of the Ya Yas. How was it that her mother had 3 best friends who were better than sisters, and Sidda didn't have any close girlfriends? Vivi eventually sends her a scrapbook with a bunch of stuff, newspaper clippings, photographs, letters. And Sidda unravels her mother's past and gains the insight and understanding she needs to truly love her mother.

I can't write a lot more without too many spoilers, but I can tell you that I was SO heartbroken to read about a time when women and depression/anxiety were not well treatable. The medication they had access to did more harm than good, and it was a condition not even understood at all. Having experienced post partum depression and anxiety I am so grateful it happened to me in a time when societal norms were starting to shift and it was becoming less of a shame to have it and to be able to be understood and TREATED.

This book also made me think about WHY in the DEVIL do we insist on hiding things from others? From the people we love? Experiences that IF we were to know about and understand could HELP those relationships to be what I'm sure both parties really want it to be? If Sidda knew what her mother had gone through in childhood, in her teen years (especially when her mother sent her away to that God forsaken Catholic boarding school that nearly killed her), the grief and despair she had be privy to, just knowing that her mother had had a mental hurdle to overcome, she could have UNDERSTOOD and none of the crazy bad stuff in their relationship would have happened.

I also liked how this novel showed that in order for reconciliation to occur, BOTH parties need to make an effort. The one who had done the wrong needed to repeatedly apologize and show in both written/spoken words and actions her penance. And the other side needed to accept it (eventually).

And finally, I think the loveliest of lessons: Yes, there were some real bad things. Yes, Vivi did some horrible wrong things. But she did some right things too. And Sidda had spent too long focusing only on the things that had been done wrong. And I know I'm guilty of that too. I feel like sometimes the negative things a person has done outweigh the things they do right. Something about the weight of certain wrong things seem more of an issue. But I can see that I really ought not do that. EVERYONE has things they do wrong, and EVERYONE has things they do right. And I want people to give me grace and not focus on those wrong things, and if I want that, I need to extend that same grace to others, especially to family. It's definitely something I'm going to be working on.

In this book I laughed, I cried (oh how I cried!!), I cringed, I was appalled, heart broken, thinking constantly in a southern drawl. I would definitely recommend this book to others if you can skim over the language and a few scenes. I'm grateful for the lessons I learned. And I wish I could meet the Ya-Yas!

Looking up the picture for this post, I found out it's a movie! (And only PG-13), so I'll see if it's at the library so I can watch it :-)

Birthmarked, Caragh M O'Brien

Some ladies in my neighborhood started a book club and this was the first book. Luckily it also fit into my 2016 Challenge as a Dystopia.

I give this 3.5 stars, rounded up in Goodreads to 4 because it was entertaining and captivating. I read it in just a few days.

This one doesn't have a whole lot of back story about how the world became what it currently is, but it takes place near what used to be one of the great lakes that is now dried up and referred to as the "unlake". There is a society built inside a wall and people who live outside the wall. Reminiscent of 'Divergent' there are genetic problems-for the people inside the wall, it was starting with a too small population and the genetic fall out of inbreeding. So in exchange for meager supplies for survival outside the wall, there is a quota of babies born each month that are forced into being given up for adoption by citizens within the wall. Gaia, our protagonist, is an assistant midwife to her mother, who is the midwife to citizens outside the wall. All is as it should be until Gaia's parents are arrested and then of course, everything she thought she knew about the "system" is shattered and the adventure ensues.

While not terribly original, there's no love triangle, there were some twists and turns that I wasn't expecting. And while Gaia is incredibly naive, it's fairly believable, given her circumstances. I still don't get this society though. For instance, on genetic fall out is that hemophilia is surfacing at an epidemic rate and several children die from bleeding out. However, the doctors in the society are forbidden to keep a blood bank or anything that could save them, because that would take too many resources and they can't focus on the "one" because they have to think for the good of "all". One Dr. gets arrested because she is attempting to find a way to treat it, because of that ideology. But doesn't helping one help all? I mean, if they DID find a cure by trying things out on one, couldn't they reproduce it on a large scale for all? So far, it seems that the governing body only sees a solution in increasing the gene pool's diversity by increasing the baby quota instead of just opening up their city to everyone and doing away with the wall. There is a fun little code to crack, but it's much simpler than the one, say in, "Gregor the Overlander" series. This one was obvious to me quite quickly, whereas the other one had me guessing for awhile.

I didn't realize this was a series until I got near the end and realized that there was no way there could be a solid ending. But I guess there are 3 books and 2 novellas. Luckily for me, they're all published so I won't have to wait. I'm definitely interested enough to see what happens, but I'm not chomping at the bit to get them. I'm going to finish the other two books I have going first. And the one on hold at the library that'll be coming soon (the last Selection one, the sequel to The Heir). Then I'll come back to these maybe in between books for the annual challenge and the Rory Gilmore challenge.

Tiger's Curse, Colleen Houck

This book fit into the category of a "book that takes place over the summer". It also takes place partially in Oregon in places I've been (since I grew up in WA on the OR border) and it's always fun to hear places I've been to being described in a book :-)

A neighbor loaned me this book and it's gotten really great reviews and a lot of people I know really liked it. That being said, I really struggled with this book. It was clean, the plot was interesting, I enjoyed learning more about Indian myths, but Kelsey was just not very believable for me. The way she talked, the way she described things, just didn't jive with my idea of a typical 18 year old. Have you heard your average 18 year old use the word "diaphanous"? Kelsey does. I kept trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, I mean, maybe she really WAS just that nerdy. But we don't have enough backstory, she doesn't have any friends, and it was hard for me to connect with her. So it took me MUCH longer to finish this book than it should have. It also took me awhile to get used to the author's writing style. I appreciated the wordy descriptions of scenery, but felt they went overboard when describing details of surroundings and clothing. I think there's a magic level of imagery to be used where the reader has just enough to form a picture, but not quite down to every detail. I feel like I need to go back and read Harry Potter to get a feel for what that perfect level is, because my imagination was going crazy reading those books creating pictures! Now I'm curious to see just how much information my brain was supplied with to begin with. The other thing that got in the way of authenticity for me is that there was only one instance where I felt suspenseful, but I KNEW she wasn't going to kill off a main character because it's a SERIES. So it was a little predictable. I just realized another thing-there needs to be more minor, supporting characters. The other part that bothered me was that when Kelsey returns to Oregon from the summer adventure that her foster family thinks was a summer internship job for an archeologist, her payment includes: a HOUSE, a PORSCHE, her school PAID for, her BOOKS paid for, and a continued summer job each year. And her foster parents think it's super cool! They don't bat an eye. If MY daughter was "paid" in that fashion, I'd be hiring investigators to look into the legitimacy of this employer. Mr. Kadim was very careful to call her foster parents every few days to update them on what Kelsey was "doing" to keep the cover story going, but shouldn't they have been more careful about being a little more discreet or sensible with her "payment"?? Like a honda civic for a car and say that the home belongs to the business and they are allowing her to live there while she goes to school?

I'm not usually very critical of writing because I am *not* a writer. However, in all the reading I've been doing, I've come to expect certain things, I guess. In some ways, it was reminiscent of Percy Jackson, because he has yet to kill off a main character, just a few of the minor supporting cast and you know they are going to get out of every impossible-to-get-out-of situation (however, he builds a lot of suspense into those scenes that make you wonder if just maybe, this one time, he's actually going to off one of the mains). But with Percy Jackson, it made more sense to me, because the original intent of the stories was to be an epic bedtime story told by a dad, and it's exactly that.

I give this a 2.5 star rating (rounding up to be generous on Goodreads because it did pick up and get more interesting towards the end). There are more books in this series and I haven't decided if I want to read them or not....Tiger's Curse was the debut novel for the author, so it is possible that her writing will evolve to something that's more to my taste as she goes.

I just don't understand how a book like this can be a debut novel and make the NY Times Best Seller's list and my friend Renee Collins' book "Until We Meet Again" which was WAY more readable and WAY more authentic characters didn't. Oh well, she just sold another book, so there's another shot!

Apparently, it is becoming a movie as well, and I'm going to be honest that I think I'm going to enjoy it on the screen far more than I did the book.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Mary Roach

I listened to this as an audio book and is part of the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge. I couldn't find a way to fit it into the 2016 Reading Challenge, but oh well....

I think I give this book a 3 star rating. Morbidly fascinating. There were definitely times when it made me squirm and feel sick. I could have done without the chapter on cannibalism entirely. I felt like it was just thrown in for shock value and didn't really add to the material in the rest of the book. But I couldn't stop listening. I learned a LOT. There was quite a bit of history about medicine and surgery and all sorts of things. I learned a new alternative to burial vs. cremation, for which I would definitely be inclined to, were my religious beliefs different. So this "new" method (as of early 2000's) is to have the body dipped in liquid nitrogen, completely eliminated of all water content, the bones broken down into smaller pieces (nearly ash-like), and placed in a bio-degradable cornstarch box that can be planted with a memorial tree or shrubbery and will provide nourishment (in a compost like manner) to the memorial plant. I like that idea much better than liquifying inside a coffin, or being cremated. The pros to this newer method are that it's cheaper and more environmentally friendly in numerous ways: no air pollutants (including mercury from the deceased's dental fillings) did you know that crematoriums are not regulated like any other factory that releases pollutants and regulated by the EPA? They release really harmful chemicals, but to be regulated by the EPA, they'd have to be classified as solid waste disposal plants, and no one wants human remains be classified (and thus undignified) as solid waste. I did not know this. It's more cost effective ($20 vs $80) when you cost analyze the main ingredient for disposal. And then the idea is to have a memorial park instead of graveyard, which puts more plants on the earth. I'm not an environmentalist by any stretch of the imagination. But I do kind of like the slightly romanticized notion of returning to the dust of the earth in such a literal way. I'm pretty sure I don't want to donate my remains for science. Mostly because you cannot specify what you want to be used for. You could be used as a cadaver crash test dummy, or anatomy labs, or something entirely different. I am certainly an organ donor, and up to now, I have excluded my eyes from this, however I'm starting to wonder if I ought to reconsider since nothing-even embalming-lasts close to forever.

Anyhow, it was quite enlightening and made me think. Which I do like. The narrator's voice was just sardonic enough to make it really work. However, I think I might have been more comfortable with a written copy so I could gloss over certain sections that I didn't really care to know about in such detail.