Books I Read and Other Assorted Oddities

 OK, this was our book club book this month. It's another middle grade kind of book. Tiph is new in town. Her parents (well her dad and step-mom) are occupied with her two younger siblings. While on a walk, Tiph comes across an elderly woman who seems to be struggling to walk her dog. Offering to help, Tiph discovers that the woman is alone and recovering from an operation. Tiph helps her, and finds herself with a job working for the old woman. Tiph loves dolls and has been eyeing one in a shop in the town (incidentally, where she also came across the old woman). The shop owner doesn't like kids much, and Tiph isn't allowed in his shop on account of being suspected of stealing a clock from the shop some months before. When she accompanies her new friend, Néni (Aunt) Szilvia, she steals a doll she has been eyeing for some time. Will this theft change her relationship with everyone? OK, this summary doesn't really do the book justice. There are a lot of moving parts in th...

 Since I finished the Psychology of Zelda , I need to roll for another audiobook. I rolled a percentile and a D10 and got: But, bad news... 59 doesn't appear on my sheet. So I re-rolled and got 28! This time that's on my sheet. 28 is The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece  by Tom Hanks. I think I originally thought this was nonfiction, but as I'm looking at it now, it's definitely fiction. I still think it'll be really interesting, and I'm excited to read it. It is a bit longer (almost 16 hours) than some of my last reads, so it'll take a bit for me to get through.

My husband really enjoys The Legend of Zelda games, and I've liked watching him play them, though I'm not as interested in them as he is. I found this book on Audible (I think it was included with membership) and thought that it sounded really interesting. The Psychology of Zelda  is a collection of essays from various people (mostly with doctorate degrees in psychology and related fields) about how The Legend of Zelda  games are impacted by psychology. From topics ranging from projection to the stages of grief, this book picks apart the games, the music, the characters, and the players to show why the games are so impactful and popular. This book was interesting, and was generally easy to follow. I didn't fully know what I was getting into when I bought the book, so I didn't realize that it was a collection of essays. Still, that didn't overly bother me, except that it made the audiobook version a little hard to follow. I couldn't keep track the author biograp...

 OK, I finished Sunreach , so now it's time for another dice roll.  I again rolled a percentile for the tens place and D10 for the ones place. I use 00 as nothing in the tens place, so this roll is 8. On my list, this corresponds to: The Psychology of Zelda . It's a collection of essays diving into why The Legend of Zelda  games are so satisfying.

 This was a result of my roll for audiobook. The audiobooks split the novellas into separate works, but I also have the book in which these novellas are included. Sunreach  follows the story of FM, Rig, and Jorgen on Detritus while Spensa is off exploring her Cytonic powers. FM is the viewpoint character, and after the battle where the Delver appears, becomes the keeper of the slugs - the little creatures like Spensa's Doomslug. They quickly discover that these creatures are the secret to hyperjumping and long range communication. Can they gain allies against the Superiority with this new knowledge? I personally really liked this novella. I thought it was short and sweet, and was purposeful in continuing the Skyward  storyline. I liked FM as a viewpoint character and how she was contrasted against Spensa (who I also love as a character). This is particularly seen as the novella explores FM's budding relationship with Rig. That little hint of a romance was cute, and I like...

 I... DNF'd this after an hour. I'm not going to bother summarizing this book, because I didn't get very far. I have read Treasure Island  before, back when I was in college and took an entire class on the author. Of his books, this is probably the best one. I picked up this Audible Original because it was free and a classic. I didn't realize that it was a dramatization and not a faithful reading of the book. I felt like this isn't really what I'm looking for in an Audiobook. There were a couple of issues with it besides the fact that it was a dramatization. I didn't love the accents (though probably pretty realistic). They were hard to follow. Sometimes the dialogue got lost in the background stuff, and it just didn't feel like a book. I have nothing against this style of adaptation, but they're not for me. I will definitely be avoiding these in the future if possible. I gave this a ⭐ and did not finish at 21%.

 OK, since I finished The Women , I need to roll for a new book to read. I rolled a percentile dice and a D10 to get my answer. I originally rolled 80 on the percentile and ended up rerolling and getting 50. On this die, the face is the "0," so I read this as 50. On my list that corresponds to Treasure Island  by Robert Louis Stevenson. I read this a long time ago in college, but have it in my audiobook collection. We'll see haha. Hopefully I'll get through this one fast too.

 I've heard a lot of good things about this book, so I picked it up on Audible before I'd finished The Nightingale . This is what I rolled last time for an audiobook. I finished it really pretty quick for as long of a book as it is. The Women  follows the story of Frankie McGrath as she fights for her parents' approval. It starts with her father's "heroes wall" in his office: a wall of pictures depicting men in service of their country, and women getting married. When Frankie's brother leaves for war, his friend tells her "women can be heroes too." This sparks something in Frankie, and she joins the army as a nurse. She ships out to Vietnam shortly after learning of her brother's death. There, she serves in two evac hospitals, treating wounded soldiers as a surgical nurse. Frankie serves two tours in Vietnam, then returns home to find a country unwilling to recognize the service of any Vietnam vets, and especially the women. First of all, I d...

 OK, as stated before, audiobooks will be rolled out of sequence of everything else. I just finished The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , so now I need to roll again for audiobooks. I used a D6 for the tens place, and a 10 sided for the ones place. I rolled 29 which corresponds on my sheet to The Women  by Kristin Hannah. That will be what I start for audio.

 I've read this book before when I was in junior high, and while I remember most of it, I read it before I started this blog. So, here I am, rereading it. Arthur Dent is a regular guy with an unremarkable life. He finds himself one morning, with bulldozers on his front lawn to knock his house down in order to construct a byway. As he's protesting this action by laying down in the mud in front of the truck, his friend Ford, shows up to take him to the pub. Ford tells Arthur that Earth is about to be destroyed and that he should drink as much alcohol as he can. They then hitchhike onto a Vogon destructor ship, and away their galactic adventure goes. This book is utterly absurd. I hadn't really picked up on that when I was in junior high - I always thought it was funny, but the absurdity was lost on my developing brain. I still very much enjoyed this book, and laughed at the ridiculous side notes from Adams as the narrator and the Hitchhiker's Guide .  The characters in th...

 OK, so since I finished Three Dark Crowns , I need to roll for another audiobook to listen to. I'm going to roll these out of sequence from my physical books because I treat audiobooks differently. I don't listen to audiobooks in sequence with the physical books. I usually listen to audio while driving or while cleaning, so I like to have one at least downloaded and started.  I rolled: I'm calling this 1 (nothing in the tens place and 1 in the ones place). That happened to be The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. So, once I'm finished with it, I'll change that book on my sci-fi list to be book 2. I have actually read this book before, but it was a long, long time ago. I'm excited for another chance to visit it and write some reviews!

 This one was really popular in YA several years ago. I know... I'm always reading older books. But I was fascinated by the dark cover and spooky vibes. I picked this up as an audiobook and started it a couple of months ago. Lately, I've been really good and listening to books on my way home from work and while cleaning. Three sisters, divided as children. Each with a different power. Kat is a poisoner, capable of mixing power potions designed to bring death upon any enemy. Arsinoe is a naturalist, who can make plants bloom and summon an animal familiar. Mirabella is an elemental with the power to control the weather and fire. Two of the sisters are incredibly weak, and one very strong. After Beltane, comes the Year of Ascension, where two sisters must die, and one will become queen. Who will prove strong enough to survive? I had no expectations going into this book. I had no idea what it was about, or anything. I just knew that it was popular. I was hooked pretty much from the...

 I thought the synopsis of this book sounded interesting, and I picked it up on Audible years and years ago. I finally got around to listening to it. It's short, and easy to get through. I realized when I started it that it is geared towards upper elementary/middle school readers. The Golden Orchard  by Flora Ahn follows the story of Maya. Maya's grandmother has come to live with her and her mother. Maya's grandmother has dementia, and struggles to remember where she is, and other details. However, she does remember recipes, and begins teaching Maya traditional Korean recipes. These cooking sessions have a twist: Maya realizes her grandmother can take her back in time to witness her memories. What will Maya learn from her grandmother? In general, I liked this book. I liked the characters, and the plot was sufficiently complex to keep my interest, and the characters were interesting. I liked what the author included and explained about Korean culture and food. I felt that th...

 I've wanted to read this book since it came out. Yes, I know that was a long time ago. Dr. Ryland Grace wakes up on a spaceship. He has no idea who he is, how he got there, or why he's there. All he knows is that he's alone. Two other members of his crew didn't survive the trip. Slowly, we learn that Grace is a scientist, sent on a suicide mission to save Earth from Astrophage, a lifeform whose invasion has made the sun dimmer. In a desperate bid to save humanity, a ship was launched to the Telceti system, the only star apparently unaffected. The hiccup? The Hail Mary isn't alone. I LOVED this book. I can't stop thinking about how much I loved this book. I know I didn't love Artemis (I liked it, but felt it had issues), but this book was totally different. I loved the non-linear / flashback method of the storytelling. We gradually find out small nuggets about Dr. Grace, his background as a teacher, his mission, what's happened back on Earth before he le...

 I've been following this case since 2020, when officers pleaded with Lori to return her children to Idaho. Since then, I've paid careful attention to new developments in the case. I also read Leah Sotille's book: When the Moon Turns to Blood . You can see my review for that HERE . This book was recommended to me on Audible, and I picked it up to see if it had any new insights on the case. Doomsday Mother  gives a pretty thorough background on both Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell. Lori grew up in California to well-off (but anti-government) parents. They were supposedly devout members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Lori's marriages ended in disaster. Chad grew up in Springville, Utah. He served a mission for the Church and then worked at the Springville cemetery, where he met Tami. The two were eventually married and started their family. After a near-death experience, Chad began writing about it and the end times. He ultimately claimed to be h...

It was summer 2023. I remember coming across breaking news headlines about two children who were found in Ivins, Utah, in deplorable condition. These two children had been abused by their mother, Ruby Franke, and her friend, Jodi Hildebrant. The children were malnourished and had been forced to do horrible punishments, outside in the stifling Utah desert heat in the summer. This has been one of the major child abuse cases to come out of Utah in recent years, a string of others not far behind. It's a case that I remember distinctly following. One of my coworkers recommended this book to me, and I'll admit, I was hesitant at first. Sometimes people who experience this kind of abuse and trauma become extremely anti, and I just wasn't sure I wanted to read about that. However, as I dove into Shari Franke's book, I found her to be the opposite. That impressed me, and just added to what I liked about this book. In The House of My Mother , Shari Franke (Ruby Franke's oldes...

 I picked this book up on Audible because it sounded interesting and didn't disappoint. A Woman of No Importance  describes the incredible true story of Virginia Hall, an American woman who served as an SOE spy during World War II. Virginia, rejecting her family's expectations of a highly advantageous marriage, pursued a career in the State Department. She dreamed of serving her country as an ambassador or in other roles high within the department. Blocked at every turn because of her gender, and then later, as a result of her amputated leg, she left the State Department at the start of World War II. She served as an ambulance driver as the German army advanced across the Maginot Line and into France. From there, Virginia was recruited to SOE - the Special Operations Executive. This secret branch of the British government was formed to conduct clandestine operations in Nazi-controlled territory. Virginia was sent to France as a journalist and spy. She made contacts in the Vich...

 I feel a little like I read this out of order a bit. I picked up The Hobbit  after I started The Lord of the Rings  trilogy because I didn't realize that it too had been recorded by Andy Serkis. I thoroughly enjoyed his reading of the novel. I had never read The Hobbit . I had only seen the Peter Jackson films. While I loved The Lord of the Rings , I found myself loving The Hobbit  films less. From the community reactions to those films when they came out, I knew that Jackson had embellished the story. I finally dug into the novel to find out how much. Bilbo Baggins is a Hobbit: respectable, normal, and non-adventerous. Gandalf is a wizard who decides to change all of that. After meeting Bilbo in the Shire one morning, Gandalf secretly invites 12 dwarves to come to Bilbo's house. Once there, they discuss plans to reclaim their ancestral home: The Lonely Mountain. The Mountain is now home to Smaug, the dragon, and they need a burgler to help them find the dragon's we...

 I finally finished The Lord of the Rings  trilogy! I listened to this one as an audiobook as well, and loved Andy Serkis as the narrator for this novel. The Return of the King  finishes the story of the One Ring. Frodo and Sam continue their perilous journey to Mordor. Gollum leads them into the lair of Shelob, the ancient, giant spider. There, Sam narrowly escapes, while Frodo is pierced by her venom. Thinking him dead, Sam vows to continue Frodo's mission on his own. He takes some of Frodo's belongings, including the Ring. He watches as Frodo is taken further into Mordor by Orcs who proclaim that he isn't dead. Sam rescues Frodo, and they proceed on through Mordor. They reach the volcano, where the ring is destroyed. Meanwhile, their other friends are defending Middle Earth from the onslaught of Mordor. Minas Tirith is attacked, and Gandalf works to protect it. He is joined by Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli with the army from Rohan. Once the Ring is destroyed and Mordor c...

 To continue my reading of The Lord of the Rings , I listened to this one on Audible. I listened to the Andy Serkis recording which was AMAZING! He is such a good narrator and voice actor. I enjoyed his narration thoroughly. The Two Towers  picks up the story of the fellowship of the ring (now divided) practically where it left off. Frodo and Sam are desperately headed toward Mordor to dispose of the One Ring, while Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas pursue the Orc army who took Merry and Pippin toward Isengard. Frodo and Sam meet an unlikely guide, Gollum, the wretched creature who once possessed The Ring. Gollum agrees to lead Frodo to Mordor, and having no one else to guide them or trust, Frodo and Sam follow him through the dangerous lands leading to Mordor. Meanwhile, Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas hunt down the orc army in Rohan, eventually finding that the men of Rohan have already decimated the army for them. Merry and Pippin have escaped, and the trio meets a familiar friend: G...