The Spite House by Johnny Compton

Continuing my plan to read a new book starting each Tuesday, this was recommended to me by Amazon.  I have a love hate relationship with Amazon.  I love how fast they send me books, I hate how much I spend there.

Anyway, this was sold to me as a haunted house/horror story.  It was. Very much so.

However, it was WAY WAY WAY too much like The Haunting of Hill House (the novel, the movie, the movie remake, and the Netflix series) with a dash of The/A Haunting in Connecticut (the TV episode and the movie--fun fact, my late Golden Savannah was from the real neighborhood where that supposedly took place).  Family in crisis meets haunted house in need of caretaker.    

A very quick read (it's quite a short book) that held my interest.  I guess I was hoping there would be something that didn't sound recycled, but alas.  If you've never read/watched the aforementioned titles, you will absolutely love it.  If you have though, it will not be as scary a read.

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

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

First an apology on being late with my review.  Crazy times with NGSS, Union meeting, St. Patrick's Parade, etc.!

Alright, so...

I recently learned all of Taylor Jenkins Reid's books have "Easter Eggs"--references to her other books.  You can read about her world here: https://www.jenryland.com/the-fictional-world-of-taylor-jenkins-reid In this book, Carrie Soto has an affair with the son-in-law of one of Evelyn Hugo's ex-husbands, Mick Riva.  It's fascinating how she has concocted this world and although the books are not sequels/prequels, they are interconnected like the old daytime soap operas.  

I absolutely loved The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and I had big expectations for this.  My feelings are mixed.  Carrie Soto was a phenomenal tennis player, winning a record Grand Slam titles.  Now, at 37, a new player, Nicki Chan, has tied her record.  Soto decides to come out of retirement, at what is considered a geriatric age in sports, to try to win back her statistic.  

We flash backwards to how Carrie got to this moment.  And these parts I really liked, as they give a true picture of how women, specifically WINNING women were treated in the sports media (and in some ways still are).  Because Carrie wasn't interested in being friends with competition or being jolly with the press, she is called names.  Because she exploits weakness in her opponents, there is one particular B word used often.  

Once we get back to the present, I kinda lost interest.  I played tennis in high school, so I know how the scoring works and the terminology, etc.  It just got boring, and I did have to skip some of the play by play.

I will not spoil the ending when Soto and Chan face each other in the final.

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

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Hello there!  March 6th already.  Mrs. Paredes sent out the tentative end of year event calendar to teachers for review. This year is flying by!

This is the next book in my Teachers and Friends Book Club.  Since there is a cooking element, we are having a cook-off hosted by Mrs. Tirollo in two weeks.  

I thought this was going to be laugh out loud funny.  I did smile big a couple times, but I did not find it hilarious.  So just know my particular brand of humor didn't match up to Amazon's description.  Instead, I found this to be quite a statement about women's history in America, the history of entertainment and women in the television industry, the role of women in the 50s and 60s, the lack of women in sciences (or at least being credited for their work, and the place of the mother in the American family.  

Elizabeth is a brilliant chemist seeking her PhD when she is assaulted by her advisor.  The police and university take his side, and she is thrown out of the program.  She ends up working in a lab, but never being viewed as "smart enough".  Still trying to work on her theories, she steals equipment from legendary chemist Calvin Evans.  They fall in love, but refuse to marry, causing a scandal when they live together.  They adopt a stray dog and name him Six Thirty.  Calvin and Six Thirty are hit by a car, and Calvin is killed.  Elizabeth learns she is pregnant and is terminated from her employment.  

Years later, barely scraping by, Elizabeth's daughter Madeline gets into trouble at school when Mad had her lunch stolen by classmate Amanda.  Amanda's father is a local television producer, and after having Elizabeth's dinner, realizes she'd be perfect for a cooking show to fill a new empty time slot.  Elizabeth takes her chemistry background and applies it to food, while preaching women's education and life beyond the kitchen.  She becomes an icon.  You can imagine how the (male) television execs react. 

I will say Six Thirty is the absolute best character, and his internal monologue is fascinating.  Every year he ages I was afraid we'd be reading about his passing, but he lives through the end of the book (a fact I had to share with Ms. Marcella, as I knew she'd have the same fear!).  So do not despair animal lovers.

I'll be adding this to our collection momentarily (I'm sitting in the library listening to the BOE meeting going on downstairs via YouTube while directing lost parents at Parent Visiting Night), and it will be on the Book Club hold shelf until after our meeting.

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

Mad Honey by Picoult & Finney Boylan

A big thank you to Mrs. Suraci, retired WHHS art teacher, for donating this to our Library and putting it on my to-read list for New Title Tuesday!

I hate to say I did not like it.  

The story is told in alternating viewpoints.  First is Olivia.  She is a single mom who fled an abusive marriage with her young son who is now a senior.  She lives in her former childhood home and took over her father's bee/honey business. Her side of the story is in the present going forward.  Second is Lily.  Also a senior, and girlfriend of Olivia's son Ash, her story goes backwards from the day of her murder.  Ash is the primary suspect.  

As we go back and forth between past and present, we see Ash wants to reconcile with his own father and for Lily to reconcile with hers.  He seems to want a "big happy family", which is clearly impossible due to theirs and their mothers trauma.  The novel becomes a court room drama.  

I don't want to spoil too much, since this is a murder mystery, but I did not like how we are actually told the truth before the book is over.  There's too much potato and not enough meat.  And this was definitely written as a cross over appeal between Mom Murder Mystery and YA Romance.  I felt the story was confuzzled about which it really wanted to be.  Could be a L&O SVU episode for sure. I think though what bothered me most, as the Mom of a teenage boy, was that everyone in town assumed Ash's guilt automatically.

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

Exiles by Jane Harper

This is book #2 of the 18 I've planned through the end of the school year.  I just added it to our collection.

Amazon recommends a lot of varied genres, authors, styles, and topics to me; and I suppose rightfully so.  I read a LOT of different stuff.  Lately though, its AI has decided to list murder mysteries, and that is what this novel is.  In addition, it's another story set in Australia.  I'm going to need to check that before I purchase any more.  Nothing against Australia, but it's really not an interest for me in terms of setting.  Being such a unique place, there are colloquialisms and cultural nuances that I find difficult and often need to supplement my own Googling to understand fully. 

I will say the story held my interest, but I had correct suspicions early on as to whodunit.  Kim Gillespie is happily married to Rohan with an infant, Zoe.  She's stayed on friendly terms with her ex-husband Charlie, who has custody of their teen, Zara.  On the opening night of the local carnival, Kim parks Zoe's stroller at the ferris wheel, escapes out the back exit, and either jumps or falls into the adjacent lake.  Her body isn't recovered, but a shoe with a specific marking is found.  A year later, Zara has not given up the search for her mother.  She insists there is no way Kim would've left her baby sister nor her to kill herself and foul play must be involved.  She claims Sheriff Dwyer is incompetent, using his failure to solve a hit and run that killed a local accountant on a jog the previous year as well as an example.  Zara's uncle Raco and his friend Falk, an Australian equivalent of FBI agent in town for Raco's baby's christening, try to shed new light on Kim's case.

Like I said, I had it figured out pretty early.  I also think this will likely be book #1 in a series with Falk as the lead investigator on other crimes.  But, a good story.

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

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

My next reading challenge for myself is going to be #titletuesday!  Each Tuesday I will start a new book til the end of the school year.  Any books I purchase will be donated to the WHHS Library after I review them here.  If my math is correct, that's 18 new books!

So, this was suggested to me by Amazon.  Guessing because I am a Stephen King fan?  The description indicated ghost story/horror and dry humor.  I'm intrigued.

But. The. Dolls. And. Puppets.

OMG.  I will have nightmares for days after reading this.

I don't scare easily, but this CREEPED ME OUT.  

My great-aunt has a house full of dolls.  I am terrified of them.  This story is exactly why.

This was Annabell, Chucky, and Megan and King's "Battleground" toy army all rolled into one.  

Oh, and an invisible Cujo-like Spider-Dog who ends up saving the humans. 

So, so, so scary.

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

Once a Wolf by Bryan Sykes

 

Well, I did not meet my goal of 31 books in 31 days.  But, 23 isn't so bad a total!  I saved this one for last so that my new assistant Shyne could pose with the book.  She'd rather eat it.  Wolf indeed.

I have really wanted to update our collection's holdings in math and science.  It's been difficult in that things are moving so quickly, by the time I'm able to get something on our wish list, wait for ordering to roll around in May, for the order to be placed in July, for the shipment to arrive in September, whatever I saw that piqued my interest is probably already obsolete!  So instead I've been looking for non-science and math lead topics that incorporate them.  

Oh, and I love dogs.

So how did two completely opposite species, who at one time were likely fighting over the same food sources, become best friends?  How did the vicious wolf end up watching Animal Planet on human couches?  In what ways has our DNA changed and stayed the same over our evolutionary paths?

This was really amusing and makes the science easy to understand.  I liked it so much I put another of the author's works on our wish list.

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