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Book Review: Carthage Must be Destroyed by Richard Miles
I fell in love with Greek mythology in the 4th grade, or at least that’s when I remember doing my first book report on a book of Greek mythology. From that naturally followed an interest in Roman mythology, and eventually, the actual histories of Ancient Greece and Rome. That means that for many years, I’ve had a passing knowledge of Carthage, the same as I did of Persia. (For an in-depth history of Persia, I highly recommend Persians: The Age of Great Kings by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones.) Recently, I came across both Carthage Must be Destroyed by Richard Miles (2012) and the Fall of Civilizations podcast episode on Carthage and the…
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Book Review: The Goodnight Agency by Tyler Tork
Tyler Tork is another author I have been blessed to meet through Narrativity. Just based on the amazing cover, I was excited to read The Goodnight Agency, and it did not disappoint. Ever since her parents went to prison, Ruby Park has bounced around among her aunts, looking for a place to call home. But Ruby is not interested in being the kind of girl her aunts expect her to be, and finally, she is sent to live with her Uncle Simon. Simon Goodnight tells people he is a financial advisor, but in reality, he helps his clients with whatever they need. That in and of itself is not strange. It…
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100 Word Book Review: A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney
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Looking for the Good
I don’t know if I am a natural optimist or not. What I do know is I am not a born pessimist, and sometimes that’s the same as being an optimist. There have been some pretty stressful things happening in the lives of people I care about recently, and to help make it through, I have found myself looking for the good, even in the midst of the bad and the hard. Because being able to do that has been one of the keys to surviving the really awful. What does that look like? Well, here are three situations difficult situations my family has been dealing with lately and what…
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100 Word Book Review: Index, a History of the – A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age by Dennis Duncan
The first index was devised to let a busy ruler know what parts of a book he could skip. Later, indexes were used to provide snarky commentary (“Let no damned Tory index my history”). And throughout, just like with every new technology, people were afraid it would turn the youth into lazy, less serious citizens of the world. If any of this sounds interesting to you, I highly recommend Index, a History of the by Dennis Duncan. I will, however, suggest reading the book versus listening to the audiobook. Index entries do not always make for the most interesting listening.
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Wordless Wednesday – Office Dogs
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100 Word Book Review: The Lost City of the Monkey God- a true story by Douglas Preston
I have watched the Lost City of the Monkey God documentary, but I wanted to read the book. This is an account of an expedition to find a “lost” city in Honduras. Some of the controversy around the “discovery” is about exactly how lost the city was. (Slightly more lost than many, from what the evidence suggests.) If you are interested in archeological discovery, especially in the jungle, I highly recommend this book. It goes into more detail about the people involved, the controversy surrounding the expedition, and the aftermath – including health issues for people involved, than the documentary does.
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Wordless Wednesday
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100 Word Book Review: The Man Who Loved Books Too Much – the True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession by Allison Hoover Bartlett
I love books, am fascinated by rare books. I would likely never pay college textbook prices (or more) for any book again, now that I don’t have to buy college textbooks, but that doesn’t stop me from loving beautiful, old books. So The Man Who Loved Books Too Much seemed right up my alley. I loved the information about rare books, but the main story was simply about a con man, a credit card fraudster, who just happened to fixate on rare books. And in the end, I just didn’t find the book as interesting as I hoped I would.
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Book Review: The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
Back in February, I listened to and loved Xiran Jay Zhao’s Iron Widow (my review linked). The last book I finished this year is The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna, also in audiobook format. These books, along with others like Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone (which I loved, but haven’t written any reviews of), are part of a new trend in science fiction and fantasy where the main characters are non-western girls. Let me be clear that I am here for this trend. As a GenX girl who loved science fiction and fantasy books, I grew up mostly reading about the adventures of young, implied western, boys. So…
