January Books

I’m off to a great start on my reading this year!  10 books in January! :-)  I think that’s probably a personal record!  1/10 of the way to 100 too!  I’m pretty sure I can’t keep up this pace, but I’m glad to have gotten so many under my belt in one month. 

My two favorites from the month are The Double Bind and Hey Ranger!

The links lead you to my reviews but from there you can see which challenges they apply to and get more info on the books at GoodReads. 

1. Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen - by Susan Gregg Gilmore
2. Angels – Marian Keyes
3. Leave the Grave Green – Deborah Crombie
4. The Double Bind – Chris Bohjalian
5. Last Chance Saloon – Marian Keyes
6. Blind Courage – Bill Irwin
7. Family Tree – Barbara Delinsky
8. The Tooth of Time – Sue Henry
9. Blessings – Anna Quindlen
10.  Hey Ranger!: True Tales of Humor & Misadventure from America’s National Parks – Jim Burnett

A Day in the Life

Hey Ranger: True Tales of Humor & Misadventure from America’s National Parks by Jim Burnett

I really enjoyed this book!  Over his career as a park ranger Jim Burnett has worked in many different parks, most that I have never visited, but the stories he told are universal and could really have happened anywhere!  His light sarcasm and PC way of telling many of the stories added to the humor for me!  I was laughing out loud in many places!

One thing he did was turn common words into acronyms – this got a little old at the end, but I’m pretty sure that the National Park Service, like many other government or military organizations, using acronyms for everything and I’m sure it gets old there too! My two favorites  were:

Assume: Actions Seldom Supported Under Meticulous Examination

Oops: Outcome Outside of Planned Scenario 

I certainly enjoyed this “A Day in the Life” of a park ranger, it’s a job that would certainly be interesting and fun, but it’s one that I think is best experienced from a comfy armchair! :-)   Can’t wait to read the 2nd installment: Hey Ranger 2

Blessings

Blessings by Anna Quindlen

I have no idea how this book came to reside on my TBR shelf.  The price tag sticker implies that I bought it at Sam’s or Costco so I’m guessing it was an impulse buy.  In any event it’s been hanging around for years and has survived several “adult book clean-outs” where I donated most of my already read adult books or books that had just been hanging around so long that I knew I’d never read them.  I have no idea what it was about it that made me keep it around, but I’m pretty glad I did.  It was an enjoyable, fast read. 

It starts off as the story of a baby born to a teenage couple.  They decide to drop the baby off at a large estate where they thought the baby would have a good life.  The book, however, is not really about the baby.  It’s about Lydia Blessings, the owner of the estate and her family secrets.  In many ways it reminded me of Family Tree in the fact that many deeply guarded secrets were discovered.   As in real life though those secrets didn’t seem as big of a deal once they were out. 

I really enjoyed this story, however the writing I wasn’t a big fan of.  Quindlen goes back and forth between the present and the past a lot and at times it was very confusing trying to figure out if the action was in the past or in the present and I found myself doing a lot of re-reading.   As much as the writing confused me, I wonder if she did it on purpose to show the confusion that existed in the characters brains – kind of like real life when your brain drifts from one topic to another. 

     

A Visit with Maxie and Stretch

The Tooth of Time – Sue Henry

This is another book that has been sitting on my TBR shelf for years.  I discovered Sue Henry when I was looking for fiction books about Alaska when I was going there, she has written a large number of Alaska mysteries.  This was before I discovered that I like mysteries so I steered away from them.  I found that one of the Sue Henry books, The Serpent’s Trail, had an RV on the cover so I decided I’d read  that one.   Turns out it was the 1st in a new series she was writing about Maxie McNabb, a 60-something single gal and her dog. Stretch the dachshund, both of whom spend months at time traveling in a 30-ft Winnebago.   This book is the 2nd in the series, I think there are 4 or 5 now. 

As much as I enjoyed another visit with Maxine and Stretch, I couldn’t really get into this book.  The mystery was lacking in punch and I felt like she spent a lot of time telling details that didn’t really matter to the story.   I thought the writing felt a little “clunky” – kind of reminded me of reading the early works of some of my favorite authors.  I found this to be odd since Sue Henry has written so many other mysteries.  

Surprise! Surprise!

 

Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky

This book was full of surprises, the 1st being that Lizzie Clarke was born with brown skin and African-American features, yet both her parents were Caucasian.  I found the rest of the story, and how it came to be that Lizzie was born African-American very unbelievable.  

The other surprise was that I liked this book!  My mom gave it to me a few years back and it had been sitting on my “TBR” shelf and I didn’t think I wanted to read it – it looked like a romance-Lifetime Movie-Type book and I was surprised that it really wasn’t.  Don’t get me wrong, it could definitely be a Lifetime Movie, it just wasn’t as bad as I expected.

                   

Blind Stupidity

 

Blind Courage by Bill Irwin

A better title for this book would be Blind Stupidity.  This is the story of Bill Irwin, the 1st (and possibly only) blind man to ever hike the Appalachian Trail.   In the process he made some very stupid choices and endangered many people.  He went out unprepared in every sense and I’m actually surprised he lived to tell about it. 

It wasn’t even his blindness that caused the biggest problem.  In fact, I think a blind man could potentially hike the AT and be safe about it, but a significant amount of planning would be required.  As with any disability or medical condition, it should not dominate your life, but you do have to make allowances and plan ahead. 

Bill had no idea what he was getting himself into.  none.  none at all.  He was shocked by the first 7 miles and how rugged it was.  He was not a hiker, he didn’t even like hiking.  He brought a dog with him, granted it was a seeing-eye dog, but still the dog was forced into the walk and it didn’t get a choice.   By the end of the book, he was hiking in winter and fording creeks, slogging through snow and dragging other people, including the Head Ranger at Baxter State Park, with him.  There were many clues that he should have stopped, but he didn’t. 

The book was more about Bill’s struggle with addiction and his faith – he was a born-again Christian and strongly believed that the Lord had called him to hike the hike and that’s why he was able to finish, apparently the Lord made him strong and gave him the trail angels that helped him.   The book was very preachy and that is likely what turned me off to it.  I wanted to read a story about a hiker doing what he loved despite challenges, but what I got was an evangelizing praise and worship song. 

If the book hadn’t had a background of hiking the AT I never would have finished it. 

Another Marian Keyes

Last Chance Saloon by Marian Keyes

This was not one of my favorite Marian Keyes books.  It was lacking in many areas including the humor, British voice, and life of the happily single woman.  

It was definitely a more serious book, with the main idea being there might not be a tomorrow so life your life now, which I could appreciate,  but it seemed that the way to happiness for 2 of the main characters that happiness revolved around having a boyfriend.

It was a good read, about three main characters – Tara, the one who always felt that she had to have a boyfriend – somewhat came around to the idea that she didn’t need a man to complete her life by the end of the book – Katherine – the single by choice gal, although it turned out she really wasn’t single by choice entirely and then there was Fintan, the gay man who was in  a strong committed relationship.   I could definitely relate to these characters – as they reflected many people in my own life.