Sarca

My stars are based on the style of the drawing and the storytelling alone which were good overall. They both carried me to the end of the novel. However, I did have a hard time personally with the author's actions regarding those photos she stole from the memorial...and then never returned them! I kept waiting for her to reach out to Seth's family, but never did. This is my own bias, as I feel if you UE someplace, you take nothing but photos.

This is the first book I've read with knitting as a central theme...and I didn't want to throw it across the room within the first 15 pages! I found it light and enjoyable. I'll be picking up Sadie Hartwell's first book in the series.

Yeah, I read it. I hated it. Not my cup.

This was a crime that took place the next town over from where I was living at the time. Toronto Life's article on Jennifer Pan is way more interesting and encapsulates her personality and life way better than this book. The first third was pretty interesting, but once we got to the trial, with every one of Jennifer's suspect entourage, their cell phone convos and and nicknames at play, it got confusing. And then the girlfriends of these individuals show up at the trial...
I have to be more selective going forward, in choosing true crime books that tell the story and not basically copy the court reports from the trial, because that is really dry reading.

I happened upon this book at a used bookstore in the bio/memoir section. I had read Keysen's other book (wasn't too nuts about it...oops! Pardon the pun....),and almost put it back. The back of the book got me interested enough to spend the $ on it.

I picked it up last summer and began to read it, while my mother-in-law was crocheting. I soon found myself reading it aloud to her in one evening ‘cause it was hilarious, a little sad, but above all, impactful.

I know some people on here complain about the subject matter. It's true, that unless you have never experienced anything similar gynecologically like what the author went through, you would find Keysen whiny and self-absorbed. I'm not going into it, except to say that I identified with the author's health issues, and how they had an impact on her physically, psychologically and personally. This was a good piece of writing but not for everyone.

Not a bad wrap up to the Sonora Blair series. Not her strongest, but a decent suspenseful story.

I first picked up this paperback from a used bookstore many years ago, and wanted to re-read it again. I remember it being really good...and it is! Smartly written, with characters you care about.

First read in 1991, reread it for fun. Not as good as I remember it, but probably maturity is clouding my enthusiasm.The ending seemed a little too “Matlock” ending.

Thoroughly enjoyed this. An easy read with likeable characters. I hope this writer continues to write for this series.

Back when I was in University, a friend of mine suggested I read the Collector and even bought me a copy ( I still have it). I was disturbed by the synopsis and started reading. But, I was easily distracted back then and never finished it...until 10 years later when I picked it up and couldn't put it down.

The Collector is a disturbing story about a guy who collects butterflies...and a woman. Yes, things couldn't be more creepy in this story, yet I do recommend this book. The prose is very british and dated, but I still enjoyed it.

This was a great memoir of someone who went through the Vietnam war. An unforgettable story.

First time diving into Nancy Drew at my age. Very “privileged white people” mystery written in the tone of “a different time”, but charming and light nonetheless. I can see why little girls liked this series. I'll be reading more Nancy Drew.

My first attempt at reading this book was in 2014, and I only gave it 1 star. Going on a knitting-themed kick with reading, I tried reading this book again 9 years later with more age and patience under my belt...I didn't finish it this time either but I added another star because, well, this book isn't bad...it's just not my genre of preference. I understand Carol pining for a baby, but every page has her weeping; I can't read that constantly. Actually every character's problems were repeated over and over, causing me to eyeroll through the chapters, which is not any way to enjoy a book. So, Macomber is not a fave, i will not be reading her again, but that's ok. I think I've given her enough chances to move on.

The well researched story of Diane Downs, a woman convicted of shooting her three children, killing one and disabling the other two. It was a bit repetitive towards the end, only because we hear Downs' perspective, then hear it again during court proceedings. It's a tough read by all accounts. I am always interested in reading about the investigators, too, which this book does. I'll never listen to “Hungry Like the Wolf” the same way again.

Terrible. Mostly it was the writing that wasn't good. Why did it take two people to write this? The story itself was very tongue-in-cheek, and I get that. But the writing was just BAD.

Well-written, suspenseful and well-crafted story.

I first bought this book in 1993 before leaving for uni. It absorbed me right away. Read it 10 years later with the same effect. A brilliant book with a lot of twists. Simply unforgettable.

Well, I'm not going to say this book totally cured me since certain sections did not apply. But, I did gain insight.

This spring, I was introduced to Tim McGregor...or who I thought was Tim McGregor. His coauthoring of the Empathy Trap and the Sociopath at the Breakfast Table with his wife Jane helped me thru a harrowing time. Discovering that Tim authored his own works of fiction brought me to Eynhallow. Turns out, we are talking about two very different Tim McGregors! And to my delight, the author of Eynhallow is from Toronto! Anyhow...

Eynhallow was dark in its prose, melancholy in its telling, and i ate the whole thing up! I am not normally attracted to monster horror novels, but wow, this was something. And I was also to discover that Eynhallow is a real island in Scotland that had inhabitants (26 in fact until the 1851), but now has zero inhabitants, and is considered haunted. McGregor weaves an engaging juxtaposition of a Frankenstein novel with the lore of the island. I want more!

Kinda cute story about a family who returns to their usual summer vacation spot, grown children, elderly grandparents, and a mom going through menopause. She reflects on her child-bearing years ( some of it tragic) and prepares for the next stage of life as the children get on with their own lives. I found the relationship between parents and children a little woke, and too open, but maybe I'm comparing my relationship with my parents to this? In any case, good prose.

Immediately after I finished reading Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer last summer, I was left convinced that Krakauer is one of the great biographical storytellers. The yarn he spun about Chris McCandless still sticks in my memory and refuses to leave! I HAD to read more of his works, so, soon after finishing my review for Into the Wild, I decided to return to my library's eBook portal once again and download Into Thin Air, his second offering. It's a story I won't soon forget.

In 1996, Krakauer was working for Outside Magazine, a publication that highlights outdoor recreation. He was sent on assignment to Mount Everest to write a piece on the over-commercialization of mountain-climbing expeditions. Evidentally, mountaineering is serious business. Companies with major sponsorship deals were popping up. People who could afford the trip got a chance to pursue a lifelong dream in a controlled and supervised environment. An experienced mountain climber, Krakauer was initially planning to climb Everest as far as base camp only; he was never to reach the summit. But, his personal desire to fulfill a lifelong dream of climbing the tallest mountain above sea level trumped all professional protocols, and he eventually convinced his editors that making it to the top would make for a good story. Little did he know that he would experience one of the most tragic events in climbing history. Into Thin Air details the fateful day when eight people lost their lives (four from Krakauer's team) and many more were left stranded when a freak unrelenting storm blew through during the descent from Everest's summit.

Into Thin Air is quite an immersive and suspenseful read. Krakauer's descriptions of the majestic mountain, the crisp thin air, the crunching snow, was rich. The reader also got a look into the lives of a wide cast of mountaineering characters, including Rob Hall and Scott Fischer, duelling leaders of opposing expedition companies, whose big personalities sometimes got in the way of making sound decisions during Krakauer's trip.

I have never been interested in pursuing the sport of climbing, and Krakauer certainly did not make it appear cool or thrilling. The endeavor is unattractive to me..and frankly a little nuts! At the same time, I can understand the appeal of perseverence that climbing affords; having a goal as hard as climbing a mountain is, how unfathomable it is to imagine reaching the summit. And then the high and satisfaction you get when ticking Mount Everest off of your bucket list.

Into Thin Air was an excellent story - I highly recommend it!

I am always curious to find fiction with knitting as a theme. Alas, I hated this one. I guess I'm way too jaded for the fluffiness of this book, but I could barely get past the first line without wanting to take a Gravol...

From the first page, I could not put this book down. But, as things go with timely books, this one finished abruptly at 2014 so it doesn't include all that occurred later. Anyone who lived through this in Toronto knows how it ends...with Rob Ford's sad death. I didn't like the guy at all as a mayor, especially his wanting to shut down library branches for Tims outlets. I was among the few who believed that there was a crack video out there. But, regardless, his decline was really awful and death from cancer terrible.

At any rate, Doolittle's account is engrossing. I could not put it down. Toronto: Crazy town indeed!

In this world of expectation, structure, busy-ness, and bills, it has always interested me to come across people who abhor these tangles of everyday life and live like nomads. I recently came across some YouTubers who travel the United States, living out of their RVs or vans full-time and loving it. When I thought of this kind of lifestyle in the past I thought of the sad Matt Foley character from SNL “living in a van down by the river”. I am not convinced their life isn't without its hardships... nor bills... nor eliminating “THE MAN” from their lives completely, but these people do their best to make their cramped quarters and vagabond lifestyle look very attractive. I know myself very well, and can adapt to living without the finer things like a flushing toilet for a few months in the summer. But, living this way as a lifestyle forever? Nope. I likes my heated home with running water.

For many, though, this way of life is a philosophy, a mantra, a necessity. It's quite curious and intriguing to see the world through their lens. So when I recently reactivated my library membership after a long drought, a virtual trip to the eBook portal landed Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild onto my tablet, and next thing you know, I found myself immersed in one of the more recent stories of an infamous American vagabond, Chris McCandless, a young man who took the concept of nomadic living to extremes.

Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild tells the true story of McCandless, a headstrong, fiercely independent guy who felt more at peace alone in nature than anywhere. Raised by strict parents, he always went against the grain, never thinking a career was important, and that schooling was a waste of time. Following parental expectations was difficult for Chris, but he managed to tow the line, eventually making it through college with honours, with plans for law school. However, he had enough of the litanies of life the day after he graduated, packing up his things and leaving his life behind forever. He gave his life savings to OxFam, burned his Social Security card and embarked on a journey that saw him tramping his way around the U.S., with the eventual goal to live in the Alaskan wilderness in complete solitude. He even assumed a new name: Alexander Supertramp. His family never heard from him again...until his body was found in a remote forest in Alaska by a Moose hunter.



McCandless in Alaska

Jon Krakauer gives some context and understanding to Chris's thought process by recounting his life, childhood and relationship with his family. To round out the book, he interviews other folks Chris met on the road, living a similar nomadic life. In telling these stories, it shows the many layers to Chris McCandless. He wasn't simply a naive guy with big dreams; he was a guy determined to live out his philosophy at any price. And what one could gather from the book, he touched many lives in profound ways.

I found Into the Wild to be incredibly immersive, balanced and very thoughtfully written.  Might I add, there is a reason why the book is on many “top books to read before you die” lists. It's good - very good. Get your hands on it and start reading. I highly recommend it!

4.5/5

Into the wild / Jon Krakauer (1996)

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And while we are here...



[Movie] Into the Wild (2007)

Starring: Emile Hirsch, William Hurt, Marcia Gay Harden, Catherine Keener, Kristen Stewart

So, I thought, what the hey...let's watch the movie for comparison.

The film follows the book very closely. I'd hazard it was a visual representation of the book, but not a thorough one.

The one thing I noticed: Sean Penn, who wrote the screenplay and directed the film, stole A LOT of direct dialogue from Krakauer's book - seriously. If I hadn't just finished the book, I would not have noticed...but he does. If I were Krakauer, I'd be taking him to court. And yet, Krakauer only got a “based on the novel by...” credit, which I thought was also a little strange for the amount of the book Penn used.

I didn't overly enjoy Into the Wild: the movie. It wasn't terrible, but didn't do McCandless any favours. It missed the heart and soul of McCandless, showing him as a sort of untouchable, someone you could never get close to and who was completely ignorant and wonton. In fact, I remember when the movie was released, there was a lot of criticism from people saying McCandless' ways were glorified in the movie, and that no one should take his lead if they think they can survive in Alaska without being properly equiped. The book does well to give more context to McCandless, and to the people who knew him. Besides the fact, I found the book much more enjoyable (isn't that typical?). Do yourself a favor:  Get your hands on the book!

2.5/5

Into the Wild (the movie)
2007

3.5 stars rounded up. An encapsulation of the Susan Cox Powell case. Not much new is revealed here, but I found it readable...but also a little unbalanced. There is tons of hate towards the Powells in this book, especially when it came to the Powell family believing Josh Powell's innocence. Investigative journo, this is not, more of a telling of the story from the Coxes' perspective; their feelings, emotions, actions. I think the biases could have been smoothed out better.