January 2021 Watches

So another goal I’ve set for myself, aside from reading, is movies. I am not a big movie watcher. I prefer TV since I like sticking with characters and ongoing stories (probably because I’m a big reader of series books). So I’ve set a goal to watch at least 52 new movies this year – one per week. I’ve got everything from Star Wars (I’ve only seen the original 3 and over 20 years ago) to documentaries to Disney films.

So for January, this is what I’ve watched:

Tangled
I was never sure about new Disney digital animation until I saw Frozen and loved it. While I didn’t enjoy the animation in this as much, I really enjoyed the movie. I love the voice actress for Mother Gothel, the songs were great, and I’m a HUGE fan of humour in the modern Disney animated films. I get a lot more enjoyment out of them than the older stuff, where it relies on nostalgia for me now.

Mulan
This is the animated version. I had never seen this one, as most of the Disney Renaissance films came out when I was an adult and I didn’t have much interest. I liked the story, and I appreciated how many Asian voice actors were involved. I found Chi Fu’s look as extremely stereotyped. But I think it’s my favourite of the Disney Renaissance outside of Beauty and the Beast.

Pocahontas
I really wanted to like this, but knowing the story of Pocahontas in life versus this film, I feel like they got so much wrong it’s hard to like the film. I did appreciate that the Europeans were shown as coming specifically to kill the Indians and take the land. They didn’t mince words much with that. Overall I just didn’t really feel much of anything for this film.

The Lion King
I think I get the most flack for never having seen the Lion King. I enjoyed this one, I really saw why it was so popular when it was released and why kids loved it. I enjoyed it, but my favourite parts were all the early scenes with the cubs.

Step
This is a documentary about a step group at a Baltimore school for girls where the goal is to have every girl graduate and attend college. We follow three of the teammates through their senior year with the team, their home lives and the outcome of their high school careers. I enjoyed this a lot, mostly because the stepping was highly entertaining. I found myself completely into the college application process – here I had to do everything on my own with no counselor, so I found the focus here really cool. Overall I enjoyed it, but don’t go in thinking it’s a documentary about stepping specifically, because it’s more about the girls.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt 2
I had seen all of the previous ones, but for some reason, stopped and never finished. I do this a lot with series, it’s weird. Anyway, I spent the weekend rewatching the other movies to prime me for this. I was a bit underwhelmed. I think in general Hunger Games was good, but Katniss is such an internal character you lose a lot with an expository format like film.

Insurgent
Another series where I hadn’t seen all the available films. I’d see DIvergent, but not the rest. Knowing the series never finished probably impacted my decision. I honestly remembered nothing from the books after Divergent so I have no idea if the film followed them or not. I wasn’t very interested in it.

The Princess and the Frog
I was really eager to see this and luckily it came back on Disney+. I really liked seeing more hand drawn animation (although I’ve enjoyed the digital stuff more than I thought I would). I really loved the New Orleans setting and vibe and I can’t wait for them to re-imagine Splash Mountain with this film. Splash is right next door to the Haunted Mansion and New Orleans Square so it’ll be a perfect match. I really enjoyed the voice acting, the songs.  I remember how many little black girls were dressed as Tiana the last time I was at Disneyland–Tiana makes a huge impact on little girls who want a princess who looks like them.

Charlie’s Angels (2019)
I had this on my watch list for Jonathan Tucker, who I’m not sure utters a word in this film. I watched the 70s show, never saw the reboot, but I appreciate that this film continues on in a way that doesn’t erase any of the previous iterations and actually builds on it. I haven’t really seen Kristen Stewart in anything before and I felt that she really stood out. I enjoyed Banks’ direction. The plot was a bit meh, but I find for a lot of campy genre films that’s standard.

9/52 completed

Only two of the films I watched were directed by women (Step and Charlie’s Angels).

January 2021 Reads

New year, new Goodreads challenge. I’ve set my goal at 52 again (1 book per week).

Fiction  

Archangel Fallen (Spectre, #3) (C.W. Lemoine)
Book 3 in the Spectre series, it begins where the last book ended. We follow Cal as he’s pursued by the police and government and trying to uncover why members of his team are being killed. This book doesn’t have a cliffhanger ending, although it does lead into the next book. I’m a little military thriller worn out now, so I found it a good place to pause this series for now.

Lazarus (Potomac University, #1) (Rashid Darden)
This book is a re-read for me, as Darden is hosting a book club to read his works. This is the first book we’re tackling. It follows Adrian, a sophomore at Potomac who is navigating his life as a black gay man on a predominantly white campus. His involvement with a Greek organization is a primary plot point and how it affects his relationship with poet Savion.

Non Fiction

Solutions and Other Problems (Allie Brosh)
I really wish I liked this book more because I loved her previous one. Some stories were hilarious (Richard, Becky and her sister), but most fell flat. I always felt that recounting her childhood was the best of her work. The present day or recent present stuff felt forced, and considering the personal issues Brosh was suffering from (health problems, depression, the suicide of her sister), it makes sense that they didn’t have the same hilarity and joy as her previous work.

Goodreads Reading Challenge – 3/52

I’m behind by two books so far.

 

Sin City series free in Kindle Unlimited

If you have Kindle Unlimited, you can now read the Sin City series for free.

Sin City (Sin City, #1)
This link should direct you to the proper Amazon link for your country.

The Dead Woman (Sin City, #2)

Bayou Bound (Sin City, #3)

You can also read Tilt (Sin City, #1.5) for free.

If you’d like to read Piece of Work (Sin City, #0.5), a short prequel, visit the Freebies page. And if you’re in the mood for a Christmas short, Neon and Tinsel (Sin City, #2.5) is only 99 cents on all platforms.

The Sin City series takes place in 1960s Las Vegas. Tim Kelly is a petty criminal with a chip on his shoulder, and Ruby Gordon is new in town and intrigued by him. Jake Wheeler is determined to ruin everything.

2020 Roundup

So 2020 was a sucky year for all.

For my writing, it was a so-so year. First, I have to thank everyone who bought my books. I had a great year of sales after the initial pandemic slow down, and that alone kept me motivated when I wasn’t. Thank you so much for your reviews and comments as well. I appreciate it so much.

For me, writing took a backseat the past year. Not because of the pandemic, but because of personal health problems. I was diagnosed with both myalgic encephalomyelitis and fibromyalgia this year. It had been years of searching for answers, doctors appointments, medical tests etc. To finally have answers was great, even if those answers sucked (and quite honestly I still struggle with the ME/CFS diagnosis, because that one precludes me from ever donating blood again).

One of the biggest symptoms of fibro is brain fog. I experienceit enough that it made writing difficult. I also experienced a lot of pain and fatigue. Although things haven’t changed much in the symptom arena, I’m better at managing it, so I’m hoping I can get back to a regular schedule.

I did manage to do most of the editing for Book 1 of my YA series. I say most because as I edit Book 2 I think of little changes for Book 1. But I’m at a place where the major and minor storylines are set and it’s just tiny corrections/mentions at this point.

So 2021 is focused on finishing the edit of Book 2 and moving on to continue to write Book 3, which is about 50K at this point. I also have set a goal to plot a bunch of new novels, whatever comes into my head. I’d love to get back to Sin City, but I’ve hit a plotting wall in terms of trying to get from Point A to Point B but needing to come up with a solution that makes that happen.

The Sin City series is now available for Kindle Unlimited. If you have a subscription you can read for free!

I also have the goal of reading 52 books again this year. I have made mini goals to read all of Jane Austen and as much Sherlock Holmes as possible.

So here’s to a better 2021!

 

December 2020 Reads

I’m up to 91 books as of November. On we go …

Fiction  

In A Holidaze (Christina Lauren)
I wanted something for the holidays and saw this on the bestseller list and took the plunge. I say that because I don’t usually read romance (usually my romance is part of another genre like mystery/thriller etc).  Mae is reliving the same Christmas holiday over and over until she figures out what makes her happy – and she thinks it’s her family friend Andrew. I really enjoyed the emotion in this. I think what turns me off romance is the “tie it all up happy ending epilogue”. I am weirdly not a fan of that for some reason, which may explain my romance aversion. But I did enjoy the story, the characters and the romance in this book. Definitely pick it up for a holiday read. 

Spectre Rising (Spectre, #1) (C.W. Lemoine)
I’ve been a fan of C.W. “Mover” Lemoine’s YouTube Channel for a long time – I’m a huge F-16 nerd, and he flew them for the Air Force. This novel focuses on Cal “Spectre” Martin, a former F-16 pilot, who investigates when his F-16 pilot fiancée goes missing on a routine training mission. He stumbles on an international conspiracy that threatens national security. The flying sections are my favourite – his real-life expertise comes through beautifully. I’m not usually a military thriller/espionage reader, but I enjoyed the plot and the characters.

Pascal (Dark Nation, #3.2) (Rashid Darden)
This is a short story in the Dark Nation series and connects to Children of Fury. We meet the antagonist, Pascal, as a six-year-old boy and see how he is developing after his, uh, unique start in life.

Avoid. Negotiate. Kill. (Spectre, #2) (C.W. Lemoine)
This is book 2 in the Spectre series. I enjoyed it more than book 1, despite less F-16 lol. I think it’s because the story continued and deepened in intrigue. Be aware, this isn’t a book to read if you hate endings that continue on, as this book leads directly into book 3. I really enjoy Lemoine’s way of bringing Cal’s flying into each novel despite him not being active duty military. There’s a lot of use of flashback dreams which explain past missions and influence Spectre’s feelings on what’s currently happening. I’m looking forward to seeing how this entire series comes to an end with this particular storyline.

Non Fiction

Self Publisher’s Legal Handbook (Helen Sedwick)
I came across this book by chance. It’s directed to Americans, so that alone meant much didn’t apply to me. In the end, most of this information was stuff I already knew because I’ve been self publishing so long. I’d recommend it to Americans new to self publishing.

Everything You Need To Know About Birds (D.K. Publishing)
I thought this book was going to be one of those guides to different bird species, but it was more about bird facts and directed toward younger readers and was only 80 pages. The pictures were nice and the book was fine, but just not what I was looking for.

Goodreads Reading Challenge – 97/52

So far this is the best year I’ve ever had for reading. I was hoping to make it to 100, but I didn’t get a lot of reading done over Christmas. I blame that on House and Bones marathons.

November 2020 Reads

So I hit 87 books read in October and I finished the Shakespeare 2020 project early.

Fiction

I didn’t read any this month. I set a goal to read at least 25 non fiction and 25 fiction books this year. Thanks to Shakespeare the fiction part was easy, but I was a few books short of non fic, so I focused on that this month.

Non Fiction

Fraternity: An Inside Look at a Year of College Boys Becoming Men (Alexandra Robbins)
Since I read her sorority book, Pledged, I thought I may as well try the other side. The title leaves much to be desired because I don’t think any men were formed in this book, but the book held my interest. I found Pledged to have a lot of ridiculous claims (bulimia and plumbing … visit Snopes maybe? lol), but overall showed some negative sides of sorority life that don’t get talked about. Since I can’t speak to accuracy about fraternity life, I am assuming it’s similar to the previous book as far as accuracy goes. I liked that we followed a small number of characters so it wasn’t confusing.

Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Crystals, Gems, and Metal Magic (Scott Cunningham)
This was a great overview of  crystals, gems and metals and their use in magic. There’s a lot of information on each type of gem and photos of them as well. Overall, I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to read more of Cunningham’s books.

Encyclopedia of Dog Breeds (D. Caroline Coile)
I am not a dog person (in terms of having one), but I love reading about different breeds, their history and conformation. I have no idea why. This book had a great overview of practically every breed – including many rare ones I’d never heard of. There were good pictures, illustrations and histories. Overall a great place to warm up for the National Dog Show.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X (Malcolm X)
I am, and should be, embarrassed to say my only previous knowledge of Malcolm X was he was a black leader who was assassinated. While I agree with most of his beliefs and ideas, there were many moments when reading that I felt myself pushing against his ideas. I realized it was that feeling, as a white person, of “I’m not like this!” – but the reality is the system is, and I’m part of the system. I control the system. Once I realized this and got over the feeling of being accused, I could acknowledge that the root of my discomfort was the truth.

I don’t agree with him that religion was going to be the way people come together. From the first appearance of the Nation of Islam, I was skeptical. Part of that is I’m agnostic on a good day and just don’t see religion as a uniting force. The other part was that from the beginning, the Nation of Islam reminded me of Scientology. Maybe it was the origin story, the living founder, the divine claims, but all that was missing was a DC-8. I wasn’t surprised to find that the modern day Farrakhan Nation of Islam is very closely intertwined with the cult of Scientology.

One of my favourite things about Malcolm X is he is very willing to share his mistakes, admit them, analyze them, change them. He doesn’t shy away from discussing his past, discussing his shift away from the Nation of Islam, his changing beliefs, any negative things about himself and his life. I found that very refreshing.  He was evolving and changing as a person, and acknowledging that he was on this journey to find what he believed. His political takes are bang-on and even more relevant now. It’s scary how much has not changed.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book so much. It left me angry because his death was such a loss, and not just for the black community. I wish we could have known what he would have ultimately become. Why the book is not taught in every school I’ll never know – actually, thanks to this book, I do know.

Goodreads Reading Challenge – 91/52

I was a bit slow reading this month. I’ve realized that non fic takes me longer to read sometimes. With Malcolm X I found I had to stop reading to think about what he was saying, turn it all over in my mind and sit with things, so it took quite a bit longer to read.

October 2020 Reads

I’ve already flew past my previous most books read and I’m focused on getting my page reads up. So much Shakespeare has resulted in high book reads, but lower page reads.

Fiction

Thunder Rolls: A Dark Nation Story (Dark Nation, #3.1) (Rashid Darden)
A short story from the Dark Nation series, this occurs after the events of Children of Fury and focuses on the coronavirus epidemic. I wasn’t sure about reading something about it (I’ve been avoiding), but I really like what Darden did here. It’s the kind of thing you want to read about if you’ve been avoiding any ‘rona art and literature as of late.

Plays

Henry IV Part I (William Shakespeare)
Here we are, back to the War of the Roses. I kind of wish Shakespeare 2020 had done them all in order (as hard reading as it would’ve been) because I have forgotten about what came first and what came after by now. I did really enjoy this one. From Falstaff to Harry’s redemption in his father’s eyes (and the reader’s), I think it was one of the good ones. I am going to skip Merry Wives of Windsor until after I read Part 2, only because I want everything fresh for Part 2.

Henry IV Part 2 (William Shakespeare)
I didn’t enjoy this as much as Part I unfortunately. I feel like I’m in the minority, but I don’t enjoy Falstaff that much. I prefer Hal and his journey and found the Falstaff sections tedious. Doesn’t bode well for Merry Wives next.

The Merry Wives of Windsor (William Shakespeare)
I really wasn’t sure about this one at first, but as the play went on, I found myself really enjoying it. I can see how this would be fantastic on stage – so much of the action is what would bring the laughter. Overall, some of the plot was thin (Anne Page), but the women and their plan against Falstaff made up for it.

Henry V (William Shakespeare)
I didn’t enjoy this as much as the others, but I did appreciate being able to follow Prince Hal becoming King. I’m very burnt out with English kings right now though!

Henry VIII (William Shakespeare)
I am probably one of the few people unfamiliar with much of the life of Henry the Eighth. This play covers his marriage to Catherine or Aragon and then to Anne Boleyn, but focuses more on the advisors to the king, especially the Catholic advisors. It was okay.

Edward III (William Shakespeare)
As might be obvious, I’m reading ahead. This isn’t scheduled until November, but I really want to get done sooner. I didn’t mind this play, but I am really, REALLY burnt out reading about English monarchy. I was surprised to find this was not considered canon until recently, which surprised me because I felt there was a lot more “traditional” Shakespeare here, especially with rhyming couplets and the actual construction of the play.

Timon of Athens (William Shakespeare)
I had high hopes for this, but man, was it depressing. Timon is a generous man who overspends treating his friends. His creditors bleed him dry and then his “friends” refuse to cover his debts. He finally sees they’re all users and leaves the city to live in a cave, angry and hating all mankind. I was hoping for some revenge, but nope. He dies. Depressing.

The Winter’s Tale (William Shakespeare)
I think this has been one of my favourites in the last half of the Shakespeare 2020 project. I enjoyed the storyline, the characters. It was just a fun read – although I honestly don’t get the title in relation to the story. All these years I thought it had something to do with winter and Christmas lol.

The Tempest (William Shakespeare)
I didn’t mind this one, but I feel like it would’ve had a lot more impact on stage. I like the fact this is much more of a supernatural play compared to others. I get annoyed that Shakespeare has wronged characters ultimately forgive and the person in question quickly repents (although Antonio has potential blackmail over his head lol). I sometimes wish for more realistic endings.

Two Noble Kinsmen (William Shakespeare)
This was a tough one to get through. The version on Project Gutenberg is written in more archaic English than everything else I read, so it was hard reading. I also wasn’t engaged with the plot. It was the last Shakespeare work I had to read, and completed my Shakespeare 2020 Project.

Non Fiction

Rampage: Canadian Mass Murder and Spree Killing (Lee Mellor)
Overall a good look at Canadian mass murderers and spree killers. It bothered me that there were cases showing the reader what the killer saw/felt when there was no record of this. There was a lot of purple prose in regards to the blood and murders that pushed it into tabloid territory rather than journalism.

Goodreads Reading Challenge – 87/52

So far the most books I’ve ever read, I finished all of Shakespeare and I still have two full months to go.

September 2020 Reads

With the cooler weather arriving, it’s now blanket, tea and a good book season!

I’ve switched the links in my past reviews so all of them go to Goodreads or Project Gutenberg to allow you to choose where you buy from.

Fiction

Coriolanus (William Shakespeare)
So I hated this. Maybe it’s my dislike of political things, but I just found this play so tedious. Coriolanus is a tough person to read about, very unlikable. I did enjoy the fact it was the women, in particular his mother, that saves the day.

All’s Well That Ends Well (William Shakespeare)
Oh Bertram. I have no idea what Helena sees in him. I suspect she won’t after spending more time with him. I didn’t enjoy this play as much as I’d hoped. I hated Bertram, and honestly, tricking people into sex to trap them is just icky, Shakespearean times or not. It’s hard with modern sensibilities to look past that in so many of these plays. I do enjoy Helena for her pluck, but man does she have shit taste in men.

Headhunter (CSI, #11) (Greg Cox)
This is a novelization of the TV show CSI. This is an original novel (not based on a TV episode). Overall it was interesting to learn about headhunting and tsantsas since the case revolves around them. The plot was decent, the characterization was on point, and it felt authentic to the show.

Measure for Measure (William Shakespeare)
Yet another “trick a man into sleeping with someone he thinks is someone else” in this play. I honestly don’t get the trope. That being said, I did enjoy the play because of the fun of seeing Angelo called out for saying one thing and doing another. Overall, it was okay, not my favourite, but not in my list of “not reading this again” either.

The Twelfth Card (Jeffery Deaver)
The sixth book in the Lincoln Rhyme series. After the attempted murder of a sixteen-year-old black high school student researching her ancestor (a freed slave accused of stealing), Rhyme and Sachs have to figure out who is after her and why they want her dead. I still really love the twists and turns Deaver writes – there are so many tiny one-off mentions that come back to mean something later, and it’s really fun to look back and go “Oh!” when you realize it was important. I am still all in on this series. One thing about this book. It was published in 2005 and the black characters use a lot of AAVE which comes off strangely. Some of it is the passage of time–some words are just not used anymore so it really sticks out and feels dated. In other places I wondered if it was accurate AAVE (although there are a few sections where some of the intricacies are explained so I have to assume he had people verifying the authenticity). So to some, it may seem offensive, but I can’t say whether that’s inadvertent due to the passage of time or a white guy just getting it wrong.

Poetry

The Phoenix and the Turtle (William Shakespeare)
I read this poem early (it’s due for a December read) because I need to clear the decks in December. It’s a short poem, and honestly, I thought turtle meant has a shell kind of turtle, but it’s the turtle dove. A nice poem, nothing too interesting to me though.

A Funeral Elegy (William Shakespeare … maybe)
I’m in the camp that he didn’t write this, but I read it anyway. It’s a long poem for “Master William Peter” and basically waxes poetic about a man who died young. The poem was sent to his brother and signed W.S. and so attributed to Shakespeare occasionally.

Non Fiction

Irish Trees: Myths, Legends and Folklore (Niall Mac Coitir)
I was hoping this was more of a book about Celtic tree birthday stuff (like this is your tree and how it colours your personality) but it was more of a history of specific trees in Ireland, in relation to folklore, ogham and more. Interesting, dense, but not what I thought going in.

A Day To Die For: 1996: Everest’s Worst Disaster – One Survivor’s Personal Journey to Uncover the Truth (Graham Ratcliffe)
Yep, back to the 1996 Everest disaster. Ratcliffe is a British climber who was not in the two parties most affected, but was on the South Col when things unfolded. His team was scheduled to summit a day later (the 12th). After the disaster, he realizes some of the teams had access to weather forecasts predicting the conditions and went ahead regardless. While interesting to know (as this wasn’t covered in other books), I felt like that journey for answers was more for the author to come to terms with what happened. Knowing Hall and Fischer may have had knowledge about dangerous weather is just another in a long list of baffling decisions made by both team leaders and doesn’t answer any questions about what happened. Overall, I enjoyed a lot of the mountain climbing aspects and appreciated that it wasn’t just an autobiography using the disaster as a selling point.

Escaped Killer: True Story of Serial Killer Allan Legere (R.J. Parker)
This purports to be a book about Canadian serial killer Allan Legere, but at 78 pages (a good 20 of them front/back matter), this is really more of a Wikipedia article.  You can tell this was literally cobbled together from multiple, better sources to sell quickly on Amazon. There are no quotes from interviewed people, because no one was interviewed. There is no firsthand information. It was a big letdown with some errors in it as well.

Goodreads Reading Challenge – 75/52

I’ve officially read more books this year than I ever have. I have a personal goal to read at least 25 fiction and 25 non-fiction. I accomplished it on the fiction side ages ago, but I’m at 19 for non-fiction so far.

One thing I have noticed is that my page reads are lower than I figured they’d be, then realized it’s because I’m reading lots of books, but many of them are Shakespeare plays that will have a much smaller word count than normal books.

My previous highest book count was 67 with 19,026 pages, then 66 books with 24,920 pages (!). This year I only have 14,521 pages but I have 75 books read.

.

August 2020 Reads

I’ve been having a hard time reading so far in August. Not sure why. I’m definitely getting burnt out on Shakespeare. I’m finding it really hard to want to read more.

Fiction

Macbeth (William Shakespeare)
This is the last of the Shakespeare 2020 Project that I’ve read previously, so from here on out everything is new to me. I studied Macbeth in high school and hadn’t read it since. I actually forgot a lot about it. I enjoyed Lady Macbeth most, although I’ve always felt her off screen suicide was really something that should have been shown.

The Vanished Man (Jeffery Deaver)
This was a really interesting Lincoln Rhyme book. It dealt with an illusionist who was murdering people around New York City. I have no experience with magic or illusions, so learning about that via the book was really interesting. I found the plot kept my attention and kept me guessing. I like that each book is also forwarding the relationship between Sachs and Rhyme in believable ways.

Troilus and Cressida (William Shakespeare)
I really found this super boring. Not just boring, but I didn’t really feel connected to the characters. Cressida is barely involved. Overall not one of my favourites. It dragged so much and I’m really, really burnt out on Shakespeare right now.

Daughter of Earth and Fire: The Fledgling (Sandra A. Hunter)
This is a fantasy, and book one in a new series. Fantasy is not a genre I normally read, especially fantasy that contains (in this case) dragons.  The writing is very good, the characters well drawn, and there was a lot of interesting details about flying, airports, animals and dragon-lore. Overall though, it’s not a book that I would normally gravitate to, but I think that fantasy readers will really enjoy it, especially those that are into dragon-lore.

Antony and Cleopatra (William Shakespeare)
Again, I’m burnt out. I didn’t mind this one, but as someone with little knowledge of Antony and Cleopatra, I felt like I would have enjoyed it more if I had a historical base. I think that’s true for me of a lot of Shakespeare’s works that have basis in history. I liked it more than Troilus and Cressida, although I’ve learned I really don’t like the Roman era at all.

Non Fiction

Golden Girls Forever: An Unauthorized Look Behind the Lanai (Jim Colucci)
If you’re a fan of the Golden Girls, this book is a must read. Lots of behind-the-scenes info, including quotes and stories from writers, producers, the main actresses and guest actors on the show. Lots of great photos as well. I learned so much I didn’t know about the show and I really wish it was streaming somewhere, because I want to watch the entire thing again.

Goodreads Reading Challenge – 65/52

Two more books and I beat my all-time record. I’m pretty sure with all the months left in the year I’ll get it, but you never know … it is 2020 after all.

July 2020 Reads

So in June I managed to complete my 2020 reading challenge – I guess the pandemic has been good for something after all. I won’t be raising my goal, but I’m continuing to beat it. Here’s hoping I’ll surpass my all time best (67!).

For July I read …

Fiction

The Empty Chair (Jeffery Deaver)
I am continuing to enjoy the Lincoln Rhyme books SO much. I love the forensic detail, the details of Lincoln’s disability and how people see him, Amelia and her concerns – it’s all so good. The case itself had a lot of twists which I also appreciate. One thing I notice Deaver is very good at is making me hate a character (usually because of how they feel about the main characters or actions they take that seem annoying/frustrating), but then doing a 180 and making me come back around on them again. It makes for a real rollercoaster ride and reminds me of how the writers of Third Watch had me hating Sgt. Cruz so badly, only to reverse it and make me feel bad for her lol.
Note that this link to Amazon Canada will let you read the book for free if you have Kindle Unlimited!

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (William Shakespeare)
I forgot how much I loved this play. I read it probably 20 years ago, and I’d forgotten how funny it was. I don’t remember coming out of it thinking Oberon was a giant dick, so times have changed. I really was annoyed at how much Titania was shafted here – I’m ready for some Titania revenge fic – anyone? My favourite part had to be the play put on by Bottom and the others. I actually laughed out loud at parts.

The Stone Monkey (Jeffery Deaver)
This is the fourth book in the Lincoln Rhyme series. It involves human trafficking of Chinese nationals into the US and trying to catch the snakehead who is trying to kill them all after their boat sinks. This is the first time I figured out one of the twists in his books early on, so in that respect it was a little disappointing. In the end, I did enjoy the book a lot, and I really liked the place Lincoln came to in the end.

The Merchant of Venice (William Shakespeare)
I really didn’t like this play. It was a combo of Shylock being treated like crap, Shylock being a terrible stereotype, and basically everyone in the play sucking. Portia’s scene as the lawyer was good, but the outcome wasn’t so it’s hard to cheer for her. Overall, this play just really annoyed me.

Much Ado About Nothing (William Shakespeare)
I wasn’t sure in the beginning that I’d like this play at all, but I think what redeems it for me is Beatrice and Benedick and their quick-witted fights and eventual love for one another. She’s a very fun heroine, and he jumps right in to defend Hero alongside Beatrice. I hate that the trick on Hero doesn’t really amount to much punishment. Claudio is a jerk and it annoys me he still gets the girl.

As You Like It (William Shakespeare)
I read this years ago and remember liking it, but for some reason it really did do anything for me this time around. Maybe it’s the focus on love and the fact it all seems so ridiculous. I know it was probably expected for redemption arcs and off screen problem solving in Shakespeare’s day, but I’m finding it really annoying now. Oliver is redeemed off screen, the Duke becomes religious and changes his mind about everything off screen. The deus ex machina is infuriating, and the more Shakespeare I read, then less I can stand it.

Non Fiction

If You Ain’t a Pilot … (Ray Wright)
This is a book that covers Wright’s time in UPT, Undergraduate Pilot Training in 1987/88 for the USAF. This was before UPT was specialized. Back then you learned on the T-37 then the T-38 no matter what air frame you were going to. When specialization occurred, you’d train in the T-37, then track select for heavies (T-1) or fighter/bomber (T-38) (the first trainer is upgraded now – you train in the T-6 and go to T-1 or T-38s). I really enjoyed a lot of the stories and the struggles of UPT. I just wish there was a bit more follow up of what happened after Wright’s first assignment. Another book, perhaps?

Goodreads Reading Challenge – 59/52