Things were dire this month, my friends. Dire. But don't worry. I just went to the library and took out a bunch of books, so I expect next month to be better.
Timecaster by Jack Kilborn and J.A. Konrath - If you like books with incredibly undeveloped characters where you can figure out the plot "twist" the first time you meet the villain, then you'll like this book.
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell - I struggle with books that discuss characters struggling with religion because religion is a non-starter in my own life. But I thought this book handled it well, especially with the token atheist character thrown in (I always hate it when the atheists stop their skepticism, though, and just fall in line with the inevitable religious line, but that's my own issue, clearly.) But I think that Speaker for the Dead did it better. They are both good, though, so don't feel like can't read them both!!
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed - I have actually obtained this book from the library on three separate occasions, but could not, just could not, work up the motivation to read it past the first two "woe is me" chapters, but I persevered because so many women I know and love kept recommending it to me. I have seriously dislike for memoir. It basically presumes that your life is actually worth people paying money to read about how exciting or worthy it is. Strayed does no research, walks around in the woods feeling sorry for herself, and writes a bestseller for her trouble. There is nothing wrong with doing no research or feeling sorry for yourself when life is hard, but I just couldn't figure out why anyone would want to read about Strayed perpetuating stereotypes of womankind, let alone read about her sex life and drug use. Anyway, this book did nothing to make me change my mind about memoirs. I love Bill Bryson and I loved A Walk in the Woods. It was way better than this nonsense.
Dune by Frank Herbert - I'm definitely in the minority on this one. I don't see this book as particularly groundbreaking or riveting. I was disappointed. I know it a classic of the sci-fi genre, but I just didn't feel it.
Calculated in Death by J.D. Robb - I think the publisher is just fooling with us now with the In Death series. This was just a basic whodunit procedural with no character development and no interesting villains or victims. Seriously, something needs to shake this series up. Maybe the death of a character (Mr. Mira seems pretty convenient - Eve has a crush on him, but he's not a major, major character and we could watch Dr. Mira and Eve sort through their feelings about it) or Peabody/Eve gets pregnant or Tibble/Whitney retires or something. Anything, really. These books are getting tired.
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