jess

What a delightful story. The characters have real texture, the plot is interesting, and the pacing is on point. It is a quick and easy read - perfect for decompressing or relaxing. Follow along as the rats think through what it is to be a rat and confront their deepest fears. What is it to be a cat? a human? Deep existential thinking in a whimsical world.

While this story is #28 in the Discworld series, I had never read a previous Discworld novel and did not have any trouble with the setting. The book appears to stand alone quite well. I am looking forward to finding more books by Terry Pratchett now.

I'd recommend it to 5th graders on up who like fantastical stories. There is some violence, but cartoon style and mostly “off screen”. Younger kids could still enjoy the story, but I'd probably have it as a read aloud.

A fun story. I definitely think I was missing something about the story of Tiffany Aching - shoulda read the first one first.
Pratchett was still able to twirl me around a bit with fun characters, unexpected events, and non-real happenings.
Good times.

This one is fun and merges a few different plays together. There is mystery and violence and...mostly absurd humor.

This book is so fun. It has plenty for the reader to noodle on and plot twists!

The characters are lovely. I especially like the sidekicks - Crusher the giant and Squeezejuice the tiny hairy fairy

Wizards & warriors - tribes that are enemies completely, deep-thinking giants, troublesome sprites, a talking raven, and more fill the story with wonder, adventure, and just a little bit of healthy fear.

Powerful but challenging reader experience. Interwoven timelines and a bit of mysticism change this relatively calm diary of sorts of a middle aged woman in British Columbia into a mystery.

There is some brutal behavior and explicit content in this book. There is a lot of talk of suicide. Parts of this book are very hard to read because you feel so badly for the characters.

A short glimpse into a life pulled from fairy tales.

This story is creative and energetic, with a main character that struggles with all of the normal challenges of teenagers but then also...other stuff. Other worldly disaster awaits in this page turner. I enjoyed following the allies of the protagonist as they try to help and the main character learns who and what she really is...and how much control we can have over our own destiny.

I enjoyed it for the story and also the ending theme that we can't do life alone - it takes a village of people who love and care for you enough to do something.

Edit (after second read)
I reread this book in 2020. What a delight. Enough time had gone by that I had forgotten most of the plot twists and could enjoy them again. Truly a delightful story. Take a step into the Warbreaker realm.

**Edit (a few hours after the first review): No Warbreaker#2 :( This book was written in 2009. I thought for sure there would be a #2 by 2016, but I was wrong. It even has reviews on goodreads as “Nightblood”. Turns out that I should read Sanderson's blog more often because he warned us! On the “State of Sanderson 2015” he says that Warbreaker 2 is basically not happening until Elantris is finished and it was a tertiary book (tertiary!!) in priority.I love Sanderson's stories, but I'm starting to think that I need to walk away for about a decade and then try to find them again. Maybe then he will have finished at least one of the series that I've started reading.*****
I opened this one and then didn't have time to start it right away. I am glad I was able to give it some attention. This story has all the trappings - adventure, conflicted characters, plot twists, and a new mythology.

There are a couple of strong female characters, so it would be a great pick for girls who like the genre but often only see male heroes. Not too much realistic violence or other things to keep limit the audience to adults. I'd probably not recommend it to anyone under 13ish anyways because the plot twists may be lost on those without some understanding of governance and policy.

Onward to Warbreaker 2!

What an adorable story. This middle grade mystery is fast paced and character driven.

Aven has to move from the town in Kansas where she has spent her whole life (that she can remember) because her parents got a new job. Because she starts at a new school, she has to deal with re-introducing everyone to her disability (no arms). She is tough and resilient. She befriends a boy with Tourette's and an overweight boy. Together, they learn about the hard parts and good parts of friendship and get a little brave. And, they solve a mystery...but not the one they thought they were solving.

Setting: Kansas (nondescript), desert Arizona (some detail)
Characters: mostly children with disabilities but also adults pay supporting roles
POV character: young, female, adopted, no arms
Topics: disability, bullying, belonging, adoption (but the adopted child is not actively seeking birth parents)
Tone: curious, bold, lighthearted

I think I read this as a kid, but it was so much better this time around. The story is engaging and the choices are big and huge. I love that the superpowers these people have are invisible. What are your superpowers?

I'm enjoying how well the author is playing out a very human drama within the carefully constructed world where human drama feels completely unnecessary. But, humans gonna human.

The story constantly gives the reader opportunities to think about what it means to be human, to have faith, to hold to convictions, to trust, etc. All while entertaining the future where our every need is taken care of.

The excerpts from the Thunderhead are a delightful alternative view of the story - like the scythe journals in the first book.

Characters, Pacing, Plot. Nailed it.

This is a fun quick read that will keep you guessing.

We even get a cameo from Minty Fresh.

My only concern is that I may have internalized all of the coyote stories that may or may not be consistent with actual Crow legends.

Hilarious, absurd, and a nice escape. The only downside was the commentary on beta-males.

Imagine you are just living your life when...suddenly, you are death. Like, you decide who dies...but maybe you are just a schmuck and you don't really know what happened.

I heard Brigid's interview on the radio and decided this book could have useful information for anyone. It does-read the bulleted appendix and find a few nuggets. But it does not come across as useful to anyone. Generally, I am not living in “the overwhelm,” so maybe my first problem was that I couldn't completely see myself in the book.

I was disappointed with the disjointed narrative, in part because the thesis seemed to change. So much of this book is about the singular condition of working middle class wives in America, although parts admit that all adults can feel time pressured. Even though I am part of the target audience, I felt like much of the good points in the book were hampered by whining about the challenges.

The author does go on informative adventures like having fun, learning about Danish culture, and talking with experts. Sections from these adventures are useful and are largely summarized in the Appendices.


Best of luck to Brigid as she continues to seek peace.

I love this series. In Red Rising, Brown has made colorful (ahem) characters in an interesting and diverse world. Iron Gold continues the story that I (and you) thought ended with book #3. We are so lucky that it continued. The story keeps getting deeper and more complex and so very real. As you jump from character perspective to character perspective, you are easily attached to the new person and their struggles - a feat that some writers never quite get right.

I highly recommend that you read or reread all of the books in order before reading this one. The story is heavily dependent on knowing the events of the past by many actors in many places, and it is way to easy to forget or get confused.

The only downside to this particular novel for me is that I struggled making mental images of the characters. Originally, I had been able to easily make all characters of a color have a certain appearance. In this story, some people did not seem to fit the mold that I thought was valid for the world, and I was suddenly lost. I had a bit of a “core understanding” breakdown where I had to go back, again, and reread the other books because I forgot the main determinants of color. I almost wished there were a simple guide in the book for reference - like, a family “color” tree. There is a character guide, and it was too overwhelming for me.

Simple and yummy food ideas when you want to focus on veggies and meats.

A truly enjoyable weave of science and history.

Kean starts us thinking about the air we breathe, the molecules in it...the shear complexity of combinations of what is in a single breath. A little bit of math later, and we are practically made of every contemporary and every one who came before us.

We learn about the big changes in the air over millenia, leading from the “air” of our planet as a baby to the “air” of our planet today..with some brief discussion of air on other planets. This part of the narrative includes fascinating discussions of geophysics, chemistry, astronomy, and ... a curious old wisecracker.

Then, Kean takes us, molecule by molecule, through the discovery of components of air - great stories with a cast of characters that you simply could not make up. Scientists are the best.

I recommend this book to people interested in science. It is particularly attractive to me, and perhaps to you, because I “know” a lot of this information, but history and science have always been separate boxes in my head. This narrative helped to draw lines in time and across people so that the scientific discoveries and personalities became more real than theorems and equations.

This book should be on a must read list. Matt Taibbi provides a whole new experience for people interested in the inequities in America by presenting the treatment of/to/for justice of the poor and very rich in context. At times overly detailed and personal, the whole of this text gives the reader a firm understanding of a crumbling system of human rights. If you aren't angry reading this book...well, I just don't know how that could happen.

Wow. A well-written narrative of terrible events.

This is a must read for folks interested in local history of the Kitsap peninsula. It's also probably great for fans of true crime or mystery.

This one was a bit of a doozy. The action is still well paced, so you don't get bogged down in details. I was a little lost in places even after I knew what would happen...and then all the way through the end of the book. I think this is intentional because the protagonist is also confused.

If you liked the first one, definitely read the rest of the story.

A funny and thought provoking memoir from one of my favorite personalities. W. Kamau Bell navigates many issues in this book and keeps it engaging the whole time.

I especially enjoyed getting a closer glimpse into the arc that made Kamau into the personality that I first met on the Politically Reactive podcast (by me listening, not actually being a part of it) and the forces shaping him now.

I loved and recommend the audio because it is Kamau reading the book to you. Perfect.

The first few chapters were a little abstract for my head, but the rest was easy to digest. I loved the approach Tyson takes to make the universe a little less out of touch for results folks. Enjoy the facts sprinkled with stories. :)

Another great adventure into something with Mary Roach. Mary's real thoughts and humor mixed in with what could be quite dry science makes the subject matter oh-so-much more compelling.

Readers are in for a treat to learn about what our meatbags are like after our consciousness is gone from them. - note - she never refers to us as meatbags

In addition to shedding light on a subject most of us will never be able to learn first hand, she also humanizes the work - noting the names and appearances of each person she encounters in her reporting.

I recommend this one for sure.

Wow. What a quick read. I sat down and just plowed through this book in a couple of hours. The main text comes in and right around 215 pages, but there are tons of notes.

I enjoyed the connections between the historical Jesus and the religious Jesus the Christ. I have been, amateur-ly, making and effort at breaking this down myself. For me, it was helpful to have the perspective of another person, an expert, who is looking back as a Christian religious scholar. The contrast between Paul and James was something that I hadn't really understood in other texts. Also, the author's understanding of the Aramaic and the Greek language is helpful for untangling translations.

I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in the historical Jesus. I think that all of those potential readers will have explored other related historical readings already, such as a focus on what the Torah says about the messiah, what the Roman empire looked like around 100 BCE to 100 CE, and what the new testament says about Jesus. Having that foundation, this book connects the dots. The dearth of actual historic text may frustrate some folks, but I don't know what we do about this problem.

The premise is so captivating. What happened to magic? Can we bring it back? Through in a little military mentality, some time travel, and things really get going.

I'll say that I like the story line here. The combination of history, languages, and science fiction is fun. I did not always like the format. The logs and posts kept making me want to skip ahead back to the story. Alas, important narrative is happening in those logs and posts.

There is some nudity, sexual language, and violence. Else, appropriate for all readers.

The story of Putin's rise from unknown (perhaps even of unknown parentage) youth in St. Petersburg to leader of Russia includes a diverse cast of characters and quite a bit of luck (both bad and good). I did not have many of the cultural references that would be expected for a well-prepared reader - especially with regard to Russian holidays, politicians, and daily life. The author attempts to explain these without dwelling, but I still needed to look things up. That being said, I could still get the gist of the story (and the many smaller stories within).

Overall, the stories paint a picture of a selfish and spiteful man that manages to put on a mask to the outside world while crushing his countrymen. The book does not claim to be objective, and Masha certainly has personal reasons to not like Putin, the book includes hundreds of footnotes and references to published documents, videos, and books in Russian and English. The book has at times terrified and fascinated me, as I am now inspired to learn more about these events. I'm especially interested to read the book of Putin's former boss in St. Petersburg, Sobchak (A Dozen Knives at my Back) and that of Alan Goldfarb writing about Alexander Litvinenko (Death of a Dissident).

I could recommend this to anyone interested in history or modern civics.