Shannon

Legendborn has a vivid world and characters. The fantasy elements were exciting, and it kept me guessing how everything would fit together. It turned out to be an even better retelling of the Once and Future King story than I could have imagined, with really satisfying allusions to the story of Arthur. 

I enjoy Arthurian legend, and Legendborn started off seeming like it was going to be a fantasy adventure in the vein of Percy Jackson or The Mortal Instruments, with a character discovering a new magical reality. It was those things, but it got much more personal and complex than I was expecting. 

I bought this book a while ago. I think I had even preordered it because I was following the author on Twitter. One of the reasons I put off starting Legendborn more recently was that I saw that the second book is releasing in November. I told myself that I might as well wait until a little closer the next book. Now I've got a few months of anticipation. I'm ready. Bring on Book 2!

I found this to be a fun read. I was familiar with enough Greek mythology to recognize characters and guess at some of the story and I thought that some of the ways the old Greek characters were integrated into a modern setting were very clever. It seemed like a good start of the series, and I hope to enjoy the next one as well.

Love triangles/rhombus. Delicious tropes. Dramatic irony.

Ends like there's one more book.

Three months later, I'm still thinking about this immersive, haunting story.

This was a wonderfully presented graphic novel that told George Takei's personal story of his experiences at Japanese internment camps during WWII. It was also a memoir of George Takei's life after the war. The story from young George's perspective was really affective. As a parent with young children, it was especially impactful to read about how the children viewed the experiences with innocence, many times thinking things were fun adventures. And how much the parents worked to keep it that way.

This is a subject that's really underrepresented in US history. In my high school classes in the late 1990's in California, it wasn't hidden or ignored completely, but it was kind of a side note. I remember one conversation about it in class. We asked our teacher why they would do this to Japanese Americans, but not German Americans. I've been told a family story that my 2x Great Grandfather was German, never learned to read English and received the newspaper in German. He lived in Iowa. During WWII he had to register as a “resident alien”, but that was it. No one labeled him an enemy or relocated his family.

These recent-history stories are so important, and the personal memoir is so impactful. They Called Us Enemy continued past World War II, and included stories from George Takei's life including meeting and marching with Martin Luther King Jr, and being cast on Star Trek.

The No-Show was different and wonderful. The book is told from the perspectives of three different women; Siobhan, Miranda, and Jane. At the beginning of the The No-Show, I was most interested in the stories and backgrounds of the three women. Even when I wasn't sure what to think about each woman's interactions with “No-Show” Joseph Carter, I was invested in finding out more about the female characters.

The way in which everything was connected was so different from what I was expecting. I was enthralled. The characters were well developed with depths that I was excited to uncover. I did not predict what was going on in this book, and it was so much better than what I would have guessed.

After reading Beth O'Leary's The Flatshare, I had been wanting to read another of her books. I couldn't decide between The Switch and The Road Trip. When The No-Show came out recently, I decided to go right for her newest release.

I also consumed this book entirely through audiobook, because I had a backlog of Audible credits and I saw that one of the narrators is Evanna Lynch, who played Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter movies. They used a different narrator for each woman and it was really well done.

Spoiler
I was expecting the three women to run into each other and the man to be caught, or for there to be some mystery that they would solve surrounding his missing day. Maybe the man was a spy or had multiple personality disorder or something. That was nothing like what was actually in The No-Show.

I was ready for all of the characters to all come together at the New Years Eve party when it was revealed that they were all in different years! 

The way all of the characters' stories connected was really amazing. At some point before the end, I realized that something terrible was probably going to happen to Siobhan. It wouldn't really make sense otherwise. That was pretty sad. But the way Joseph Carter and Jane's stories were intertwined so that they ended up together was pretty cool. They both had so much trauma, they were able to be each other's second chances. 

The different years twist really reframed the whole first half of the book! I'm still going over things in my head and realizing how they fit together. The mysteries were explained in really satisfying ways that enriched the story rather than taking away from it. 

This book is the opposite of Lost.

So, I guess I finished this book yesterday, and I was lying awake at night, imagining what I thought of it.

First impressions, this book is longer than, I think, any of the other Shadowhunter books. I noticed in particular because I'd actually ordered the hardcover edition, and it seemed huge! I guess that's a point in favor of the Kindle edition. It didn't really drag, though. The pacing was pretty consistent.

I liked all of the “new” characters, though of course we kind of met most of them in City of Heavenly Fire. I loved the Blackthorn family motto, a bad law is no law. A nice contrast to the usual Shadowhunter creed.

I liked the way Malcolm was introduced. At first I thought he seemed like he was going to be too much like Magnus, and I think that was deliberate misdirection because when he showed up with his shirt half unbuttoned I thought that he was going to be show-offy like Magnus. Then he said he'd just forgotten to finish buttoning it. And he'd tied his shoelaces together.

I liked the tie-in to the children's story.

I did not predict the ending at all. I was very sad to learn that Malcolm was the enemy.
At my MOPS group somewhat recently, we had a speaker on the topic of protecting your children from sexual predators. A lot of the things that Malcolm did reminded me of the predatory “grooming” that she talked about. He got the family to trust him, he watched movies and ate pizza with them. He played with Tavvy and gave him toys. This actually made the scenario much more believable for me.

I was interested in the tie-in of the Edgar Allen Poe poem. I was half expecting to read that Malcolm was really Edgar Allen Poe or something. It was pretty awful what happened to Annabel, and it's sad that Malcolm thought that everyone had lied to him about her. I was glad to learn that they didn't know either.

Emma/Julian - That's going to be a problem. All of the main ships in these series has had big obstacles, but I can't see how this one could be overcome.

A lost Herondale! Great surprise near the end. I thought that perhaps Kit would be selected to go to the academy and try to ascend or something. I didn't expect him to be Christopher Herondale.

How awesome are Tessa and Jem?

This book actually wrapped things up more than I am used to for something that I knew would be the first in a series. I appreciate that. The main plot of the book was pretty much ended, and it wasn't really cliffhangery.

I was wondering what would be left for the next book until the reveal of Christopher Herondale, the parabatai curse, and... Annabel waking up.

I read and loved Alechia Dow's The Sound of Stars, and The Kindred takes place in the same “world”, but it seems to happen earlier chronologically. I say “world”, because The Kindred is a sci-fi fantasy with other planets, galaxies, and alien species.

I waited too long to finish my review, and here's what I had written:
I liked that the cheerleaders weren't mean girls, they were real friends.

To add to that, The Kindred was a creative book with great characters and great sci-fi/fantasy elements, plus some political drama.

A Boy Called Christmas was a delightful fantasy story. It really had a Roald Dahl feel to it. The beginning especially felt very Matilda/Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

I liked that it wasn't one of those Santa stories about “saving Christmas”. Christmas is already a thing, and the main character loves it despite coming from a poor family and rarely getting presents. The story didn't suggest that he was connected to the historical figure of Saint Nicholas either. It was a very British style Father Christmas, despite the main character being from Finland.

A Boy Called Christmas was just a great, magical fantasy story with a unique fantasy origin for “Father Christmas” with elves, reindeer, and lots of heart.

I needed something with an audio version to listen to while I drove to do a store pickup, and also while I wrapped presents. As I looked at the choices, I noticed A Boy Called Christmas. I had seen this book around a little bit, but didn't know a whole lot about it. I saw that the audiobook was read by Stephen Fry. It's hard to go wrong with an audiobook read by Stephen Fry!

A Boy Called Christmas was a wonderful story, and the audiobook was a fantastic listen. And I really did finish this book on Christmas Day! I finished the last ten minutes or so in the early morning when I woke up before my kids.

Jingle Bell Pop is worth the short listen if you're interested in the origins of Christmas songs and “behind the scenes” of how some of the “modern” era songs were written and recorded.

This is a fun short listen about the history of Christmas and Holiday music. It starts with Silent Night, and includes explanations for songs like Jingle Bells. It has some really interesting interviews with songwriters of songs like Santa Baby and All I Want For Christmas Is You. They try to answer the question of why some songs “stick” and come back every year. They don't really have a definitive answer of course, but there are some interesting theories.

I loved If The Fates Allow by Rainbow Rowell. This wonderful little story really spoke to me. It was such a relatable tale of our times. It took place during Christmas 2020. If the Fates Allow captured so accurately the struggle of having holidays and managing family during the pandemic. Another unexpected point of this story that I really connected to was the Nebraska grandfather. I was born and raised in California, but my grandfather was from Nebraska. He died about ten years ago, and while he was pretty different from Reagan's grandfather, there were some things that reminded me of him.

When I read the line “He started carving the turkey with an electric knife that was probably older than she was.” I definitely had an emotional response.

I loved this short story so much. It really resonated with me and my pandemic response. I highlighted so many bits. My family was definitely Reagan for the last, like, 20 months or however long it's been. I really identified with the struggle to keep my own family, plus the extended family, safe. I read it before Thanksgiving, which was my first family gathering since the pandemic started. I a little nervous, and reading If the Fates Allow felt too close and raw at first, but in the end it was very cathartic.

Did you know that Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas was a wartime song about not being together on Christmas? The original Judy Garland lyrics are

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
Next year all our troubles will be out of sight

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the Yuletide gay
Next year all our troubles will be miles away

Once again as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who were dear to us
Will be near to us once more

Someday soon we all will be together
If the fates allow
Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now

This is a re-read, because I originally read these as shorts when they were first released in 2015. But it's also my first time reading these stories together in one book.

This book/series was one of my favorites when it was released. I love the character of Simon, and the Shadowhunter Academy setting was really fun. I also enjoyed all of the “flashback” stories. The stories feel more tied together than the Bane Chronicles(I liked those too, but they felt more standalone). It was also nice reading about young Julian and Emma now that I've read their series as well. The cast of additional characters felt more cohesive to me on this reading.

I read this as part of my “chronological-ish” reread of Shadowhunter books. I had just finished reading The Mortal Instruments. One very important thing happens in Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy that didn't happen much in all of The Mortal Instruments books. Time passes. That's right. School years go by and the characters age! It's just really satisfying, after reading a six book series over the span of years which all took place within the span of three months. Simon turned 19? How did that happen? Time passed, characters developed, and it was amazing.

Rereading this story for my Chronological-ish reread of Shadowhunter books, I found it too exciting to fall asleep by. It was surprisingly funny at parts, it almost became a family sitcom in the middle. And as a parent, I relate.

While reading the History Smashers book about The Mayflower, I remembered this Baby-Sitters Club book that I read as a kid. In Claudia and the First Thanksgiving, they put on a Thanksgiving play at the elementary school. They do lots of research to make it more historically accurate, but then parents get mad and make them change it to a “traditional” Thanksgiving story. They stealthily write “Censored” on all the posters.

That's what I remembered from my childhood reading of this book. But I couldn't remember what they did in the play that made people mad. I didn't have my childhood copy, so I looked up the book and downloaded the Kindle edition.

Claudia and the First Thanksgiving felt surprisingly relevant to 2021. When I was a kid, I remember wondering why adults would censor and protest a Thanksgiving play with more historical accuracy. I'm now an adult with kids, and I definitely recognized those parents who are protesting more historically accurate critiques of those who came before us. 25 years later, we're still having the same problems.

As far as what enraged parents and some faculty about their Thanksgiving play? They brought up women's rights. They also stated that not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving and Native Americans observe a day of mourning. They pointed out differences between then and now. They got to keep the more accurate costumes and foods. I guess those didn't anger the parents.

I'm actually looking at the book cover right now, and wondering if the cover artist read it. Lol.

I hadn't read a Baby-sitters Club book since middle school, and didn't have super high expectations for Claudia and the First Thanksgiving to hold up for an adult, but this book was kind of amazing. I remembered a surprising amount of weird details, like when Claudia decides to stir marmalade into her oatmeal, but also considers the option of grape jelly.

One thing that surprised me a little bit was the release date. Claudia and the First Thanksgiving was published in November of 1995, when I would have been in 7th grade. I'm guessing that I must have read this book very soon after its release. I think I started reading BSC books in 4th grade and kept reading them through 8th grade, so this was relatively late in my Baby-sitters Club reading era. I had definitely read at least one hundred Baby-sitters Club books in my life by age 14. I definitely learned about lots of things from BSC books, including diabetes and autism. Re-reading this book reminded me of the idea that maybe we could understand each other better if only everyone read more books.

I'm a confirmed descendant of Mayflower Pilgrims William Bradford and William Brewster. I've been to Plymouth and seen the museums and the Mayflower 2. There wasn't really that much in this book that I didn't already know about the Mayflower Pilgrims, but it still kind of messed with my head.

I appreciated learning more about the Wampanoag than I had previously learned, and I thought this History Smashers book told a more complete story than may be familiar to many Americans.

I think the biggest revelation for me is that the very idea of the Pilgrim's feast in 1621 being the “first Thanksgiving” is the most fictional part of all. Neither the Pilgrims, nor the Native people in attendance ever referred to it as a thanksgiving. Both groups did have thanksgiving celebrations and this was not one of them.

The idea of this mythologized “Thanksgiving” was brought out with a nostalgic lens during times of struggle and war, I guess with the hopes of increased unity. I can imagine them suggesting that if the Pilgrims and the Indians could get along and give thanks together, we can all get along too! This is, of course, presented without additional historical context and completely ignoring how things turned out in the years to follow.

I'd like to quote The O.C. now. Possible spoilers for The O.C. Season 2.
Ryan: Alright, look. Luke Skywalker was happy to find his dad, right? Even if he turned out to be Darth Vader.
Lindsay: Ryan, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader fought each other with light sabers until one of them died.

I was greatly anticipating this new book from Rick Riordan. I was part of a touring show adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea in college, so I felt that I was familiar with the source material and was curious about what he would do with it.

You don't need to have experience with the original story to enjoy Daughter of the Deep, though. This is kind of the Percy Jackson treatment for Captain Nemo(not the cartoon fish). It was nice to recognize some characters and events from the original story, but the book gave you everything you needed.

I enjoyed the female main character and the diverse group of supporting characters. The world of their training was really interesting, with Dolphins, Sharks, Orcas, and Cephalopods, each representing a house that had different strengths and talents.

There was a point at which I was expecting a character to, like, turn out to be a dolphin or something. Then I realized that wasn't happening because this is sci-fi! I've watched lots of Star Trek, but I haven't read that much sci-fi, compared to the amount of fantasy I've read.

Despite the action early on, the story felt like it built a bit slower than other Rick Riordan books that I've read, but it definitely picked up. I was riveted to the page by the end. I loved the “alt-tech”.

If there is a sequel, I'll definitely read it. I'm not sure if there will be or not. This book definitely works as a stand-alone, but I think the door is open for more stories in this world.

Pumpkinheads is a sweet story about two friends spending their last Halloween in a pumpkin patch. This really must be the world's best pumpkin patch, based on all of the different food stands and attractions that were shown or mentioned. It was the Disneyland of pumpkin patches.

Pumpkinheads was my first graphic novel. I bought the Kindle version of this book by Rainbow Rowell two years ago, but had not read past the first couple of pages. So this review is a response to reading a graphic novel in general just as much as it is a review of Pumpkinheads as a story. Possibly more. This is different for me. I'm very auditory, and to me, books are about words.

Reading Pumpkinheads, a graphic novel, was a little confusing at first. I had to read the word bubbles in the right order. I had to really look at the pictures to see what was going on in the story. These might seem like silly or obvious things to point out, but these were the little differences that were, for some reason, hurdles to the very idea of my reading a graphic novel.

I got used to the different format pretty quickly, and soon stopped noticing that I was looking at pictures at the same time that I was reading words. To me it felt a little bit like watching a movie with subtitles. Since all of the text is dialogue, I could also compare it to reading a play. But with pictures. It was also pretty fast to read. Much faster than a traditional novel, because of course there is far fewer text on each page.

Fun fact; I started reading this while watching Star Trek: The Next Generation with my husband. At the end of the book, in the acknowledgments, the authors talk about bonding over their love of Star Trek: The Next Generation. True story.

A bit crass, but funny.

I live in Orange County and got a few laughs from it.

It's pretty short and I think I read it in a few minutes.

Thanks to Kindle highlights for reminding me that I read this.

Yes

I think I highlighted about half of this book. Anyone who follows Jesus or grew up in church should read this.

I read this all in one day and it looks like I never even marked it as “currently reading”. I was hooked, and couldn't put it down! If it hadn't been 3:30am I would've started the next one immediately. I'm waiting to find out that Jace and Clary aren't proper siblings for some reason and I have several theories on the matter. I noticed that they both have star shaped scars on their shoulder blades. Something different runs through Jace's veins according to the fairy queen. The inquisitor knew something was up, but in dramatic information teasing fasion, died before we could find out. Valentine was, I'm sure, about to say “I didn't mean Jace” when he told Clary about her mother's first child. I could complain that these tactics are a bit contrived but they're working on me and I'm anxious to read the next book in the series.

I loved this book. It was a great end to the “trilogy” and I think I like The Infernal Devices more than The Mortal Instruments series, though of course they are somewhat intertwined.

I definitely liked this one better than the Clockwork Angel, though I seemed to have forgotten I hadn't read it yet and it and I went on to the fourth book in the Mortal Instruments series when I should've read this first. The characters were great and I was riveted and in agony with them. I can't wait for the next installment!

This was a wonderful book. It had magic, other worlds, and twists that genuinely surprised me! When I started describing this book to my husband at one point, he said “Wait, there's another book inside your book?”

Yes, friends, this book is like two books in one.

I decided to read this book because my daughter was reading it for school. She's a third grader, and this is the first time that I'm aware of that she's read a novel at school. I was excited!

This is a truly wonderful book. It's often quite sad, but the best books, the ones that really touch you, usually are. It really feels like it's written from the perspective of the gorilla. If I thought that gorillas could actually talk and write, I would believe that this was the gorilla's actual journal. I found myself briefly wondering how the author learned this story from the gorilla before I reminded myself that gorillas can't actually talk, and this gorilla's internal dialogue is a fantasy.

It's also written in such a way that it seems outside of time. The story is probably intended to have taken place in the recent past, but it never hints at a time period and feels very timeless.

I saw quotes saying that this book was a great animal book in the tradition of Charlotte's Web. It exceeded expectations.

Fun Read

All of these Jane books are creative and funny. This one didn't disappoint. I also loved the Annie Oakley character. There could be a spinoff series of books about people named Anne!