★★½
GENRE: General Fiction
SUBJECT: loss of a child
Setting: Enon
CHARACTERS: Charlie Crosby, Susan Crosby, Kate Crosby
DATE READ: July 29 - July 31
NO. OF PAGES: 256
Off the Shelf (pre-2013)? Source?: yes, ARC from Random House
PLOT:...............................................2.50
CHARACTERIZATION:..................2.50
TOPICS:...........................................2.00
STYLE:.............................................2.50
ORIGINALITY:..................................2.50
ADDICTIVENESS:.........................2.50
OWNERSHIP:.................................2.50
Threshold Quality............................3.00
Average................................................................2.50
13 year old Kate is killed while bicycling home from the beach. The reader follows the downward spiral of her father's life after this event.
I guess I was hoping that this would be an uplifting story of a father's love for a child lost too early in life. But, I only found a whiny character and a depressing story.
★★★
GENRE: General Fiction
SUBJECT: Holocaust survival
Setting: Westerbrook, NH, Auschwitz, Poland
CHARACTERS: Sage Singer, Leo Stein, Minka, Josef Weber
DATE READ: July 23 - July 29
NO. OF PAGES: 460
Off the Shelf (pre-2013)? Source?: no, Public library
PLOT:.........................................3.00
CHARACTERIZATION:............3.00
TOPICS:.....................................4.00
STYLE:.......................................3.00
ORIGINALITY:............................3.00
ADDICTIVENESS:....................2.50
OWNERSHIP:............................2.50
Threshold Quality.......................3.00
Average..............................................................3.00
Sage Singer, an atheist of Jewish descent, works at a religious bakery. Having been scarred, she hides in the back and works during the night. One day she is introduced to an old man and they become friends. But here is where the story gets weird. Josef informs Sage that he was a Nazi SS officer and that wants her to kill him.
The story is also that of Sage's grandmother and her survival during the Holocaust as well as a story that her grandmother wrote during her youth and incarceration at Auschwitz.
At times, the stories were difficult to follow because they kept jumping back and forth.
The ladies in my book club rave about Jodi Picoult so we selected this one for July. I had read My Sister's Keeper but was not impressed so I was hoping that this one would be better. The story was okay but I felt that the characters were a bit stereotypical and lacked originality.
★★★½
GENRE: Fantasy
SUBJECT: ancient society, warring clans
Setting:
CHARACTERS: Eddard Stark, Catelyn Stark, Robert Baratheon, Cersei Lanister
DATE READ: May 14 - July 28
NO. OF PAGES: 694
Off the Shelf (pre-2013)? Source?: yes, audio stockpile
PLOT:............................................3.50
CHARACTERIZATION:...............4.00
TOPICS:.......................................4.00
STYLE:.........................................3.50
ORIGINALITY:..............................3.50
ADDICTIVENESS:.....................3.00
OWNERSHIP:.............................3.00
Threshold Quality........................3.50
Average........................................................................3.50
Since there are over 500 reviews at LT for this tome, I won't take the time to recap the plot. Suffice it to say, the storyline was extremely involved and wandered from several viewpoints and areas of the "realm".
I'd heard so much about this series, especially with the HBO adaption, that I guess I was a bit disappointed, maybe not because of the book itself but because it was so long and a bit hard to follow with all the strange names. I'm not going to dive into the next one right away, but I will read the next one sometime soon.
★★½
GENRE: History
SUBJECT: revenge, greed, immortality, loyality
Setting: Washington, DC
CHARACTERS: Van Buren, WH Harrison, Tyler, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Arthur, Cleveland, B Harrison, Taft, Coolidge, Carter
DATE READ: July 5 - July 19
NO. OF PAGES: 336
Off the Shelf (pre-2013)? Source?: Kindle, NetGalley
PLOT:................................................3.00
CHARACTERIZATION:...................3.00
TOPICS:............................................2.00
STYLE:..............................................2.00
ORIGINALITY:....................................2.50
ADDICTIVENESS:...........................2.50
OWNERSHIP:...................................2.50
Threshold Quality...............................2.50
Average......................................................................2.50
Yes, there are Presidents that are better known than others, while these "forgotten" ones made contributions to the benefit of their successors. It might have been more interesting with a bit more editing.
★★★
GENRE: Historical Fiction
SUBJECT: revenge, greed, immortality, loyality
Setting: Portus Tarras, Atlantis
CHARACTERS: Calista, Pyp, Olympia, Claudius, Hadrian, Avaritus, Thetis, Evadne
DATE READ: July 8 - July 11
NO. OF PAGES: 679
Off the Shelf (pre-2013)? Source?: NOOK
PLOT:..............................................3.00
CHARACTERIZATION:.................3.00
TOPICS:..........................................3.00
STYLE:............................................3.00
ORIGINALITY:.................................3.00
ADDICTIVENESS:........................3.00
OWNERSHIP:................................3.00
Threshold Quality...........................3.00
Average.........................................................................3.00
Calista, the daughter of the Proconsul in Portus Tarras, (a Roman territory) has always been pampered by her parents and is startled when they tell her that they have agreed that she will marry a man, Avaritus, that she has met and dislikes. Before the marriage takes place, however, Avaritus stages a coup and her father is murdered and she and her mother and brother are taken hostage. Executing a plan for their escape, Calista is lost in a storm at sea but her family manages to return to Portus Tarras.
But here is where the story diverges from the typical, because Calista is rescued and awakens in Atlantis. All the unique mythological attributes and personalities are there to welcome Calista but she is determined to rescue her family.
This was a very entertaining story bringing Atlantis into the forefront as well as the Roman gods and goddesses.
★★★½
GENRE: Cozy Mystery
SUBJECT: romantic rivals, inheritance divisions, traumatic injury recoveries
Setting: Lake Eden, MN
CHARACTERS: Hannah Swensen, Norman Rhodes, Mike Kingston, Barbara Donnelly, Roger Dalsworth, Bev Thorndike
DATE READ: July 5 - July 7
NO. OF PAGES: 328
Off the Shelf (pre-2013)? Source?: No, Public Library
PLOT:..........................................3.50
CHARACTERIZATION:.............3.50
TOPICS:......................................3.50
STYLE:........................................3.50
ORIGINALITY:.............................3.00
ADDICTIVENESS:....................4.00
OWNERSHIP:............................3.50
Threshold Quality........................3.50
Average..............................................................3.50
This latest in the Hannah Swensen series pretty much goes along the usually guidelines - Hannah has Norman and Mike wooing her, she's baking for special events, and she's the one that finds the body. What is different this time around is that Hannah is actually a suspect in the murder because who dies - none other than Norman's former fiancée, Doctor Bev.
The story was a bunch of fun, as usual, and the recipes sounded delicious - yes, the romantic rivalry can be a bit of wanting Hannah to make up her mind, but what woman doesn't want two great guys vying for her attentions.
Looking for the next one in 2014.
★★¾
GENRE: Historical Fiction
SUBJECT: natural resources, water for electric power
Setting: Niagara Falls,
CHARACTERS: Bess Heath, Tom Cole, Isabel Heath, Edward Atwell, Jesse Cole, Mrs Andrews
DATE READ: July 1 - July 5
NO. OF PAGES: 298
Off the Shelf (pre-2013)? Source?: Yes, loan from Tina
PLOT:...............................................2.50
CHARACTERIZATION:..................2.50
TOPICS:...........................................3.00
STYLE:.............................................3.00
ORIGINALITY:..................................3.00
ADDICTIVENESS:..........................2.50
OWNERSHIP:..................................3.00
Threshold Quality.............................2.50
Average..............................................................2.75
What I was expecting to be an historical account of a time period when Niagara Falls was frozen and its effects on the neighboring population and economy turned out to be a somewhat lackluster turn of the century romance between a young woman from a well-to-do family hitting hard times and a boy from the wrong side of the tracks. The title was extremely misleading especially since there was only one small portion about a time when the river/falls froze.
I kept hoping that the story would pick up, but IMHO, it fell flat.
★★★
GENRE: History
SUBJECT: Statue of Liberty
Setting: France, New York City
CHARACTERS: Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, Édoudard René deLaboulaye, Joseph Pulitizer
DATE READ: July 3
NO. OF PAGES: 40
Off the Shelf (pre-2013)? Source?: No, public library
PLOT:..............................................3.00
CHARACTERIZATION:.................3.00
TOPICS:..........................................3.00
STYLE:............................................3.00
ORIGINALITY:.................................3.00
ADDICTIVENESS:........................3.00
OWNERSHIP:................................3.00
Threshold Quality...........................3.00
Average................................................................3.00
A crisp little children's book which tells the story of how the French people gave the Statue of Liberty to America. A great read for the 4th of July.
★★★
GENRE: Fiction
SUBJECT: speedy marriages; soldier return homes
Setting: Toccoa, GA
CHARACTERS: Lily Davis Woodward, Jake Russo, Walter Davis, Honey Davis
DATE READ: June 30 - July 1
NO. OF PAGES: 260
Off the Shelf (pre-2013)? Source?: Yes, loan from Tina
PLOT:.............................................3.00
CHARACTERIZATION:................3.00
TOPICS:.........................................3.00
STYLE:...........................................3.00
ORIGINALITY:................................3.00
ADDICTIVENESS:.......................3.00
OWNERSHIP:...............................3.00
Threshold Quality...........................3.00
Average.....................................................................3.00
Nothing really special in this little story about a young woman who falls in love with a fireworks maker while waiting for her husband to return from the war. She remains in love with him but does her duty to the man she married when a child.
