Mer Barr

Holy crap! I'd forgotten how scary and creepy King could write in the 90s. Thank goodness I'm an adult and no longer jump from the doorway to the bed--after turning off the lights--to avoid something sinister under my bed.

This is a bit confusing due to the number of characters involved and all the jumping back and forth across the different storylines (both backstory and present). However, there is no wandering down non-relevant rabbit holes, stalling the forward motion with too much or non-relevant information, or alot of extraneous words; all things I don't like in a story.

Good for storytelling some dark night around the campfire with adult friends and family.

A strange read for me; it was good enough for me to get well past the 25% mark where I will drop a book that's just not grabbed my attention and yet I'm not sad that I'll be returning the book to the library before getting to the 50% mark.

It's a huge book! 13 hours, and I'm not even halfway in. Based on the storyline so far, alot of books would be at the back side of the highpoint and winding down to the finish by now. What the heck more does this author intend to present?

I will say the storytelling is really good, very creative environments and characters, but these characters aren't really drawing me in and this is the main reason I'm not sad about not completing this book.

You have to get the audio with the author narrating. Turn this on after you've crawled into bed and listen to Stephen Fry read you to sleep. For adults only; adult themes come up now and again.

The trials and tribulations of many of the demi-gods of Greece, with lots of facts and ties to our times today.

A bit depressing but the storytelling is good, the interactions between characters is great, the timeline jumps aren't too jarring, and lots of unexpected twists.

The author does a good job of focusing on other topics than the blow-by-blow of the fights. And the technologies are new to me so very intriguing. The characters are interesting.

I'll read the next in the series.

Sort of funny but definitely not laugh out loud. It actually makes my head ache, trying to keep up with the jumping back and forth between stories and time periods and the science (or science fiction).

This is the type of science fiction and young adult that I enjoy; alot of technology and not alot of young adult angst. It also has a plot that moves along, no side tracking for topics that aren't relevant or pausing for too long, and characters that have some depth to them.

A rare form of parallel and intersecting stories <spoiler> where the stories don't merge into one story </spoiler>. And a bit disconcerting as the stories move back and forth through time to before, during, and after the two main events. But once you relax into it, it's really quite an enjoyable story, excluding the two main events of course; with interesting takes on how people react to their trauma.

I'd be curious to see how the world and people continue.

I read this almost ten years ago, thinking it was about folks working on the Manhattan Project. I remember feeling a bit confused but didn't remember why. Today I understand why.

This book is 2/3rds biography of the author's family, an uncle's science fiction book that was based on top secret work he was involved in, and 1/3rd about the science his uncle, relatives, and their coworkers were creating. Sciences like radar, radiation, microwave, and cyclotrons to name a few.

I don't really have a desire to revisit my teen years so I'm not fond of listening to that age-based anxiety in my books. It's not the majority of the book so I was able to wait through these parts to enjoy the rest of the story.

One of the better Robin Cook books because not alot of time is spent on describing the technology / biology. Though, I wish there wasn't a requirement to visit the incredibly darker side of some people, to have a good mystery.

Just a cameo from Mr. Cook's medical examiner's team.

Amazing read! The author is also the narrator and he has a great speaking voice; his timing and modulation keep your focus well.

The material is broken into chapters that designed for relatively short reads over a seris of days. And I like that he's interspersed some of his own story into the telling.

I highly recommend this for folks wanting to get a new take on US history.

A very quick read; not the author's usual big books. Her usual, interesting stories, pictures big enough you can see some of the detail and an interesting logic to the sequence of the images.

One of the books the 2022 streaming series is loosely based on. Still an exploration of the Joe Leaphorn character, which I think is great.

Good pace and a pretty complex mystery make for a good story

The main characters are here, some of the supporting cast briefly and all the funniness and sweetness of their relationships is here.

The storyline is a bit drawn out but the mystery is maintained for a nice length of time.

Overall a nice holiday book and being it's fairly short a nice 'stocking stuffer' to meet your reading goal, if you include novellas.

Focused on three male characters, Luke, Corwin and Merlin. It's been a long time since I read the series but it sounds like these are all towards the end of both series.

I'm not a fan of short stories but I give 3 stars as the stories give you enough information to know who the main character is and their blood relationship, at least, to the other characters.

This book reminds me alot of Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. A heavy dose of science, an interesting storyline, and characters you can take an interest in for the entire book.

I took off 1 star because I found the explanation of the sciences would drag the story down alot of the time but that's just me. If I were worked in the world of science I might enjoy this level of detail.

I do know enough science to recognize the name Jim Green in the acknowledgments. I used to listen to his podcasts (Gravity Assist) and was sad when he shut it down but hey, what a way to move on to other pastures!

2.5 stars only because the younger end of the YA spectrum is too young for my taste. The writing and interplay between the characters is great.

The author does a great job of blending her family's part in the story she tells with the story of the tribes relocated to Oklahoma and the challenges of working thru the legal system to correct sovereign boundaries.

Sometimes pretty creepy and gruesome but always fascinating dives into the sciences involved in forensics, across many decades of application.

Considering the age of the book, the science involved is not that well known yet, which is amazing. However the storyline hasn't age well for me.

Another great story in the Dortmunder series, https://hardcover.app/series/dortmunder. This is my favor humor and fiction series! And if you like Elmore Leanord you might like this series as well. https://hardcover.app/authors/elmore-leonard

In this one, the O. J. Bar and Grill becomes a character in the Dortmunder universe, not just the Regulars and Rollo.

You don't really need to read any of the previous books to follow the story and understand the characters, as each is redescribed upon introduction and their unique qualities are just a fleshed out in this as in any other of the series. However, you will miss alot of their backstories including their introduction to the Dortmunder universe, their unique skillsets, and inter-relationships between the various characters.

I was Very surprised to find this was pretty much a different story than the movie. I was happy to have some gaps in the movie's world building, filled in; especially regarding animals and the origami.

Still not sure what the title has to do with the plot, sounds like a throw of word magnets at a fridge door.

Light-hearted, intriguing characters, lots of interesting interactions between characters, intriguing growth in most characters, interesting twists, and a mystery that stretches out for quite some time.

The only drawback is alot of the above is drawn out overly, creating alot of 'keep it moving' hand gestures on my part.

I was really looking forward to some humor but there wasn't much of it in the first quarter of the book, nor did the storyline really peak my interest; alot of prose and not much action.