Month January 2024

One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot – Book Review

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Book 4/100
Book Challenge: A book with a beautiful cover
Some spoilers ahead, so take caution!

This book was written by Marianne Cronin and is about a 17 year old girl named Lenni who has is terminally ill. She only has a few months to live and her perspective on life is one of urgency. Margot on the other hand, has lived a full life and is 83. She is relatively healthy and we get to travel back and forth between the present and Margot’s interesting life. Together between the life of Lenni and Margot there is 100 years worth of stories.

There were a lot of endearing moments in Margot’s story, but Lenni’s story was mostly sad. There is an interesting relationship that Lenni develops with the hospital’s spiritual adviser, Father Arthur. He is a clergy member and this is where I believe the book fell short for me. Lenni has so many questions about her life. She is about to die and a lot of her questions are very deep and Father Arthur doesn’t truly answer them. As a Christian, I was so frustrated with the dialogue between the two of them! The book towards the end even hints that Lenni may have jarred Father Arthur so much with her questions that he may have ended up questionig his own faith. She’s about to meet her maker and Father Arthur basically answers everything with “I don’t know”. We have the truth, Father Arthur, and in the end that is what Lenni was looking for. Also, the outright abandonment when life got tough was shocking. Lenni’s dad leaves her because he can’t handle seeing her waste away by her illness. Margot’s first husband leaves her when they suffer a devasting event, and Margot also leaves her second husband when the going gets tough! How can you love someone and just leave them to die alone! I would even understand if it was years of devestation, but all of these abandonments lasted months. And Margot running away to live as a lesbian in her 80’s and marry Meena, a woman who just used her, had me fuming. Meena only wanted Margot around when she needed moral support, and even then, she was elusive and never really invested in Margot. I was not happy for Margot and felt that in the end, Meena would leave her like she did multiple times because it wasnt convenient for her to stick around. Meena was not a good friend, and would be a worse partner.

This book does have a very good rating of 4.30 on Goodreads though. So there is a chance that you would like it. It has the feel of A Man Called Ove, so if you liked that book, there is a strong chance you will like this one. I just didn’t like it, but still gave it a solid 3 stars because the author does write beautifully.

This book was published in June 2021
It is 322 pages long

Remarkably Bright Creatures

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100 Book Challenge – A book recommended by a friend:
3/100

One of my favorite animals are octopuses. And yes, that is the correct plural form for “octopus”, you can also use “octopi” if you so please, either way is perfectly fine, but I digress. I love their extrodinary ability to camouflauge, their sacrificial love for their offspring, and their adeptness in fitting into tiny spaces. They truly are remarkable.

I picked up this book both because it was recommended by a friend and because one of the protagonist is an octopus living in captivity at the local aquarium where the book takes place. In the book, the octopus’s name is Marcellus and he is too intelligent for his own good. He develops an affection for and eventually a friendship with the night-shift cleaning lady named Tova. Tova is lonely. She lost her son 30 years in a drowning accident prior and has recently lost her husband. She is a hardworker and is facing the difficult decision of what to do with the rest of her life. She is elderly and wonders what will happen to her and her things when she dies. A widow and a childless mother, we see her come to terms with her pain, loneliness and eventual joy.

The book has some loveable characters, but Cameron ruined the book for me. Cameron is a young man who is looking for his dad in the small town where Tova lives. He is very annoying and frustrated me the whole time I was reading his story. If it weren’t for him, I would have given this book 4 stars instead of 3. I also wish the author – Ms. Shelby Van Pelt – would have ended the story a little different.

I recommend this book to readers who like contemporary fiction or who want to read something light with a sweet, happy ending. Although Marcellus doesn’t audibly speak to any of the characters, we are privy to his thoughts – which I found cute and witty. There are some minor cuss words used. There are no sex scenes or gore.

This book was published in May of 2022.
It is 360 pages.
A solid 3 stars out of 5 for me.

Hidden Pictures – Book Review

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Book Challenge: A book of your choice
2/100
Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

I don’t often read books with pictures in them. I think the last adult book that I read with pictures was A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. I will admit that the pictures in A Monster Calls did add a whole other dimension to my reading experience and Hidden Pictures did the same thing. Where A Monster Calls tugged at my soul, Hidden Pictures scared the mess out of me.

Hidden Pictures is about ex-addict Mallory Quinn and her goal to pursue a normal life after being in a half-way house. She has made several mistakes in her past and all she wants is to find a job where she can earn a living and make something out of herself. She soons finds a job nannying a little 5-year old boy, but his parents seem to be a bit over protective. The job comes naturally to her and she is also given living accomodations in a guest house towards the end on the couples large backyard. Soon things are not what they seem and Mallory starts experiencing things that made the hairs behind my nect stand on end! The creepy pictures that Teddy begins to draw also add another level of fright.

Hidden Pictures was entertaining. It wasn’t very deep, but at least the characters were easy to follow and likeable. The plot twist at the end completely shocked me. I didn’t see it coming at all. I think this book would fall under the genre of contemporary gothic fiction. There is a ghostly feel to the book and thankfully there were no graphic scenes of gore or sex.

I would recommend this book to anyone 15 years or older who likes stories of ghosts.
This book was published in May of 2022
It is 375 pages long.
I do not recommend this book in audio form due to the importance of the pictures found within it.
4 out 5 stars

The Shire Bookstore 100 Book Challenge

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Our very first annual 100 book challenge. What rank will you reach this year? I know that some of you read more than 100 books a year, so you should be able to reach Dragon status with ease! There is no need to go in order, you can mix it up as you like. The purpose of this challenge is to help get you out of reading slumps and hopefully open up new genres you didn’t know you would like!

Happy Reading!

Goblin
—- a book recommended by a friend
—- a book by an author you’ve never read
—- a book set in the past
—- a self-help book
—- a classic
—- a book with less than 250 pages

Barbarian
—- a book by an author with the same first, middle
       or last name as you
—- a book with a beautiful cover
—- a  book of your choice
—- a book by a female author
—- a book by a male author
—- a book with an amazing cover

Orc
—- a paperback book
—- a historical fiction book
—- a spy book
—- a book you think you’ll hate
—- a book by an author who has a different
      ethnicity than you

Fairy
—- a religious book
—- a book that is first in a series
—- a book set in another country
—- a used book
—- a magic realism book
—- a book about sports

Swamp Elf
—- a book over 100  years old
—- a history book
—- a book your mom or dad would read
—- a book where animals talk
—- a book of your choice

Gnome
—- a psychological thriller
—- a book that won a Pulitzer
—- a biography or memoir
—- a book with one word in the title
—- a children’s book
—- a graphic novel

Dwarf
—- a fantasy book
—- a book with a mythological character
—- a non-fiction book
—- a book on your bookshelf
—- a romance book

Hobbit
—- a young adult book
—- a fiction book
—- a mystery book
—- a book with pirates or mermaids in it
—- a book of your choice

Ranger
—- an independently published book
—- a health book
—- a book with 400 or more pages
—- a banned book
—- a sci-fi book
—- a book recommended on social media

Rogue
—- a book with two authors
—- a thriller or horror book
—- a dystopian book
—- a book with an animal on the cover

Sage
—- a black, red, or green book
—- a hardback book
—- an audio book
—- a book that won a prize
—- a book of your choice

Paladin
—- a book recommended by someone younger than you
—- a book set in the U.S.
—- an art or craft book
—- a book by an author that uses initials in their name
—- a book with a number in the title
—- a book by an author who shares your birth month
—- a play
—- a book on the New  York Times Bestseller list
—- a book in a genre  you’ve never read
—- a book published in the 1900’s

High Elf
—- a book written by John Grisham, Stephen King, James Patterson, Nora Roberts, Karin Slaughter or Colleen Hoover
—- a Christmas book
—- a book with an awful cover
—- a book written by a TV personality
—- a book recommended by someone older than you
—- a true crime book
—- a book about traveling or exploring
—- a book of your choice
—- a political book
—- a book about a king or queen
—- a book that was made into a movie

Wizard
—- a book published on the year you were born
—- a book set in Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Georgia or Texas
—- a mass market paperback
—- a book on plants or animals
—- a book made into a series
—- a book found at a thrift store or garage sale
—- an old book
—- a book of your choice
—- a book involving a war
—- a book about zombies or the apocalypse
—- a book by an author you love

Dragon
—- a book by an author of a different nationality than you
—- a book in a trilogy
—- a funny or humorous book
—- a poetry book
—- a book about books or a bookstore
—- a book on WWI or WWII
—- a book of your choice
—- a book from a book club or reading group
—- a book you think you’re not going to like


The Shire Bookstore
100 Book Challenge

Not a Fan of Fan Fiction – Kinda

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I have never read fan fiction. I had heard of it, but I truly didn’t know what it was all about.

This is why I Iove to recommend to readers that when they are in a reading slump, just ask their friends what they are reading. And that is what I did. I had no clue what I was getting myself into. My friend was reading Manacled by SenLinYu, and get this, there was no actual book. The only way that I could read Manacled was to read it online on a certain forum. No physical copies exist, unless you get the printed pages bound. And even that is looked down upon by the Fan Fic world.

Manacled is a Harry Potter FanFic story about an alternate world where Voldemort wins in the end. Not only has he won, but because so many of the Wizarding population has been killed due to the war, Voldemort has enacted a new effort to repopulate it. All of the characters we rooted for in the Harry Potter series are dead except Hermione. Harry, dead. Ron, dead. Tonks, dead. Moody, dead. All the other Weasleys, dead. Hermoine is left to rot in a dungeon cell, but is finally relased after months in solitary confinement. The new regime wants her memories because there is still someone out there who is causing havoc for those now in power. Maybe Hermione knows something that the Dark Lord has missed, but during her coninement, certain memories are locked behind a barrier within her mind that even Voldemort can’t penetrate. An idea crosses one of the interregators’ mind that Hermione should be used as a surrogate to help populate the diminished Magical population and through producing an heir, her memories would crack open. To Hermione’s horror, that is exactly what happens to her. With the help of special manacles, her magic is stiffled and cannot be used. She is trained and then is assigned to be the surrogate baby maker for none other than Draco Malfoy. And to help the Dark Lord, Draco will do anything – even sire an heir through Hermione – to get those memories she’s hidden and defeat, once and for all, the Order of the Phoenix.

I won’t lie. I was pleasantly surprised by this “book”. I was fearful of awful writing and unforgiveable grammar errors and spelling, but there were very few, if any. The writing style was also very different. The author didn’t have long paragraphs, but short snippets with paragraph spaces in between them which made reading the material somehow easier. Although the book was actually good, something didn’t quiet sit right with me. The author did an amazing job in making this alternate world. SenLinYu knew the world of Harry Potter extremely well, but to me something was off, and frankly the only thing off was that the author wasn’t J.K. Rowling. In my heart of hearts, its not what was intended. Harry is supposed to live. Hermione doesn’t end up with Draco, but with Ron. Draco settles with his struggles and Voldemort gets what he deserves. Manacled didn’t follow canon and that is why at the root of it all, I am generally not a fan of fanfiction.

But if you are . . . . .

Read this book! Or whatever it is.

Although I will warn any reader that this is definitely a book for adults only. There is gore, rape, toture and a tremendous amount of violence.

I still gave this book 4 stars because the story was very well developed even though I know Hermione would never love Draco!

You can read this book for free on AO3. Here is the link.

This book is 876 pages long. It has an astonishing GoodReads rating of 4.66. Over 56,000 people have rated this book. Words: 370, 256