PostChristian: A Review
The premise sounded interesting but the condescension of the author was unbearable. Pointing out problems doesn’t do any good if you don’t provide solutions. Basically lots of finger pointing and then smug condescension that the author is getting it right.
Never recommending
Alias Hook: a Review
What if the story of Peter Pan wasn’t the whole story? What if Captain Hook wasn’t the villain you thought he was? And what if Peter Pan wasn’t the innocent lost not you thought he was?
This was one book I had been looking got. Reading had become dull and I had picked this up from the new book shelf at the library. The story of Peter Pan told from the point of view of Captain Hook. And what if he wasn’t the nasty mean villain he was portrayed to be? The character development was stupendous. I needed this. I was constantly engaged especially in watching how Hook went from man to pirate to man who learned to love. The characters alone make this book worth reading.
It was interesting to not only read Hook’s insight into himself but also in how he viewed Pan and his cruelty. We think children are innocent and free of pain when in reality they can be some of the cruelest people.
I also appreciate how the love story between Hook and Stella wasn’t about sex but about sacrifice and growing up.
A definite recommend
Once We Were Brothers: A Review
A survivor of the Holocaust in Poland has accused a famous Chicago philanthropist of being a Nazi traitor. These two men had grown up together in Poland but one became a Nazi and hurt his Jewish friends.
This book needed some serious editing. Once you get into Ben’s story, it’s okay but it takes too many pages too get into it. The premise was interesting but the actual story was mediocre. There was a lot of telling and very little showing. Being very familiar with the Holocaust and WWII allowed me to see some things better, to understand some things but readers who don’t know much about either the book fails in providing a good glimpse into an important part of history.
Not recommending
The Farm: A Review
Two different calls from his parents leave Daniel bewildered. And lost. His parents had retired to Sweden but those phone calls suggest that everything is not as it seems. His mother shows up with a story that seems terrifying and unbelievable. A story that involves a major conspiracy in a small Swedish town and the alleged murder of a teenage girl. But while truth may be stranger than fiction, the story told seems a lot more fiction than truth.
While this story was advertised as a thriller, it wasn’t one to me. However, it was very engaging and kept you wondering. You certainly want to believe the mother but eventually her story becomes a but too fantastical. Her son searching for the truth helped to unravel the fiction and find out what really happened to the teenage girl.
My biggest issue was the sexual orientation of Daniel. It felt a bit contrived and out of place. It seemed unrealistic and in some ways unnecessary to the plot. But overall, a good read.
A definite recommend
Red Winter: A Review
Russia. November 1920. The Red Terror. Nikolai Levitsky has returned to his home town to find it empty. The men have been tortured and killed and the women and children are missing. He finds himself on the trail of Korschei the Deathless One, a story told to children that has come to life. But Nikolai is not alone on his search and there are others on his trail.
While I didn’t consider the book very suspenseful, there were moments of heightened emotion. The writing was good and the description of the cold and bleak landscape left you feeling as if you were really there. Good characterization.
A definite recommend
One of Us: A Review
Danny Boyle was the son of a mine worker and a mentally I’ll mother that had been convicted of killing her one week old daughter. He left that mining town in Pennsylvania. That mining town also had a dark, famous history involving the Nellies who were executed by hanging. Danny goes back to that town to check on his grandfather who had been sick.
Walker Dawes owns the mine and the original Walker Dawes was the one to have the Nellies executed. His daughter Scarlett shows up and murder happens in that small mine town. Eventually, the truth about what really happened to Danny’s baby sister comes out.
The only problem I had was the switching between Scarlett and Danny’s point of view though it was necessary. It wasn’t thriller quality to me but it was very engaging and the characters believable though some very superficial and seemed to exist as means of moving the plot.
A recommend
The Witch’s Boy: A Review
When I saw this on Good Reads, I thought it sounded interesting. However, I didn’t know it was written for middle school age kids, which didn’t detract. However, the story just dragged from the beginning and the characters were superficial. At one point, I thought I was going to be dealing with an anti-religious screws when a character went on about magic and how even songs about magic weren’t even allowed to be sing in the house. But the story just dragged and I gave up about eighty pages in.
Not recommending
Midnight at the Pera Palace: A Review
Istanbul. Constantinople. Byzantium. East Rome.
Some of the many names of the historic and exotic city that has captured our imagination. The author starts just after World War One with the occupation of the city. It goes from there covering people and places with a small focus on the Pera Palace, a major hotel close to the American and British embassies. You learn about how the shift to a secular country affects a city like Istanbul while still being very Muslim. The author covers up through the 1960s but it isn’t truly chronological.
It’s an interesting read. I just wish certain parts had been fleshed out more. More pictures as well but history and the nature of photographs limits how well they survive.
Overall, a fair read.
A recommend
The Library Made Me Do It 