Camp So-and-So by Mary McCoy

I could NOT get into this.  I tried and tried, reading through the first "act".  It felt like a hodge-podge of Caraval and Illuminae. And it didn't work. 

I pretty much disliked every character and the basic premise up to that point. 

Sorry, not much nice to say at all!

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All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.

Boundaries by Sally M. Walker

If you've followed this blog a while, you know I'm a fan of American history, especially the Civil War.  The tagline on the cover of this book? How the Mason-Dixon Line settled a family feud and divided a nation.  If you aren't familiar with the Mason-Dixon Line, read up on it before proceeding!  However, much of this book was devoted to HOW to Mason-Dixon Line was drawn by two surveyors.  I just happened to be married to a surveyor.  We ended up looking at many of the charts, illustrations and photos together.  This was a really nifty look at how these two surveyors worked.  Today's surveying is nothing like it.  This is a particular niche that won't hold everyone's interest, but those curious about our nation's history in the colonial period and the Civil War era, as well as those considering careers in boundaries/drafting/surveying will definitely like it.

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All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.

Deception Point by Dan Brown

This was recommended and donated by Mrs. Treacy.  Although this is a Dan Brown novel, it is not part of the Langdon series.  I liked Digital Fortress by Brown, so when Mrs. Treacy said she liked it, I took it out after it was added into the collection. 

This is a political mystery/thriller.  The current president is lagging in the polls behind a senator.  Said senator has made the dismantling of NASA one of his top priorities.  It just so happens NASA has made a HUGE discovery--a meteorite deep in the Arctic ice containing fossils of creatures not found on Earth. 

The senator's daughter, who works in intelligence, is recruited to make the announcement, along with several civilian scientists with expertise in meteorites/geology/chemistry/etc. 

But someone isn't telling the whole truth. 

I don't want to spoil too much, but this is a guessing game as to who is tricking whom and about what.  It definitely kept me guessing.

This will be back on the shelf later today if you are interested.

I'll be on hiatus from reviewing here for a bit as the holidays approach and I have an SLJ assignment.  Look for my next blog post after the new year!

All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.

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Boston's Massacre by Eric Hinderaker

You know from reading this blog I like history and love Boston.  I am absolutely in love with Ben Barnes, who most recently portrayed revolutionary Samuel Adams.  You are aware I am culling the collection (my most recent weed based upon age--if it's older than me, it's not coming to the new library).  So, naturally, when I saw this on a recommended list for American History students, I put it on the wish list.  Once it finished its run as a "new book", I took it home.

It irks me that my students begin their sophomore year study of American History in the 1800s.  In my opinion (just that, mine and an opinion), their 8th grade minds are not able to understand the complexities of the American Revolution (nor do their 5th grade minds grasp European exploitation, er, exploration of North America, but I digress).

I bet, though, my sophomores could tell you who Crispus Attucks was.  Think they can name the other 4 men killed that night?  Not likely.  And therein lies part of the lesson in learning about March 5, 1770.  What we choose to retell in the narrative of history makes a lasting impact on those we teach.  Past propaganda, the then-press and current media, human memory, race/gender/age bias, personal lens, and collective purpose all impact what appears in our textbooks and what we want to see on the screen.  One aspect that is central to this retelling is making connections to more recent events, such as Kent State.  Conclusions can be drawn to Black Lives Matter.

This isn't light, mindless reading.  There are many quotes of 1700s English, which is tough to read.  There are many dates and names.  Since you might not remember a whole lot from 8th grade history, it might be useful to do some Googling of the key players, locations, and dates before delving into something this heavy.

This will be back on the shelf come Monday if you're interested.

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Amity by Micol Ostow

Plagiarism: taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own.

Changing the setting from New York to New Hampshire or Northern Massachusetts and changing the killers from fathers to eldest brothers but using every other detail from an actual event which was then made into a movie...AND NOT EVEN SAYING "HEY THANKS" BUT INSTEAD CLAIMING YOU CAME UP WITH THE STORY AFTER VISITING A HAUNTED HOUSE?????????????

THIS IS 100% PLAGIARIZED!

I am considering removing this from our collection.  I'm mad I even ordered it.  

Please Google Amityville Horror and read the NUMEROUS sources about this real murder, possessed home, and adaptations.  I THOUGHT that's what I'd be reading: an updated version of the story for my kids' age (cell phones, TV, the internet...), but instead found the slight changes to the story annoying.  Imagine then reading the author's acknowledgements and finding her claim this is an ORIGINAL STORY!  That's a flat out lie.

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All opinions expressed on this blog solely those of Mrs. W. 

The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alexander

Several students are absolutely obsessed with Alexander's Bad Girls series. This is another of her books that I pulled for our Haunted Halloween display.  I decided to read it based on my students' recommendation.

I hate to say I didn't really care for it.

Delia inherits a house from her great-aunt, also named Delia.  Her parents intend to fix it up and sell it.  She learns the home was once an insane asylum for women and has a dark history of patient death.  Not long after arriving, Delia apparently commits suicide by jumping out a window.  Delia spends the next few years meeting the assorted female ghosts while her sister Jane researches the home and its history.  I won't spoil the climax when Jane returns to avenge her sister's death.

There are several stories/movies/books of houses with souls (mostly evil ones): The Haunting, A Haunting in Connecticut, Amityville and all its incarnations (one of which I plan to read later....).  There are also numerous tales of those trying to avenge the death of a sibling and the new generation being the only ones who can vanquish the evil old.  There was nothing really new about this; it felt like a hodge-podge of already used story lines.

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Sleeping Beauties by Stephen and Owen King

I love Stephen King and have read every single one of his books. I think somewhere, beneath the Trump bashing (which I'm OK with) and gun-owner hate (which I'm NOT OK with), there is a good story here.  But I'm too turned off to actually search for it.

One day all the women of the world fail to wake from their sleep.  They become enshrouded in a web-like material the instant they fall asleep.  Many women try to stay awake as long as possible, but very few will be able to stay awake through the ordeal.

The setting is a rural town where everybody knows everybody else.  A woman's prison lies on the outskirts and is the employer for many of the characters (most others being inmates or local police).  It seems there is a wide range of economic status in the town, from homelessness to affluence.  A woman arrives to town just as the sleeping sickness, dubbed Aurora after Disney's Sleeping Beauty, arrives.  She calls herself Evie and immediately murders two meth dealers. 

Taken to the women's prison, she never forms a cocoon when she falls asleep.  She also seems to have other superpowers, including being able to talk to the prison rats.  Not long after all the other women of the world are asleep, two factions form.  Those who would start burning women in their sleep and seizing Evie and those who will protect both.

Meanwhile the sleeping women are transported to another world, similar to their old one in setting, though nature has retaken much of it.  There are no men, except the male babies who are being born.

Spoiler Alert: in the end, the women must decide whether to stay in Utopia or go back to a world of (Trump loving, gun toting, violent, etc.) men.

I'd like to state, for the record, that all men are not bad.  I'm married to a good one.  And not all of us gun owners are bad.  I promise you that. 

If this was the first book I'd ever read by King, I'd never read another.

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All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.