Five Book Reading Wrap-Up For Dec 2021/Part 2

                      Join me for my five-book reading wrap-up!

                                                 Dec 2021 Part 2




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(There is an Amazon link to each book.  If you are interested in more information, click on the link.  I am an Amazon Affiliate.  If you click on the link and buy anything at all, I get a percent of the sale at no cost to you...thanks:-)

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Book 1 
"Wish You Were Here "
by Jodi Picoult
Fiction, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Romance

Good Reads Rating is 4.13
My Rating is 2.75/5 stars


                                              (click photo below to go to Amazon)

Overview I found on GoodReads.
Diana O’Toole is perfectly on track. She will be married by thirty, done having kids by thirty-five, and move out to the New York City suburbs, all while climbing the professional ladder in the cutthroat art auction world. She’s not engaged just yet, but she knows her boyfriend, Finn, a surgical resident, is about to propose on their romantic getaway to the Galápagos—days before her thirtieth birthday. Right on time.

But then a virus that felt worlds away has appeared in the city, and on the eve of their departure, Finn breaks the news: It’s all hands on deck at the hospital. He has to stay behind. You should still go, he assures her, since it would be a shame for all of their nonrefundable trip to go to waste. And so, reluctantly, she goes.

Almost immediately, Diana’s dream vacation goes awry. The whole island is now under quarantine, and she is stranded until the borders reopen. Completely isolated, she must venture beyond her comfort zone. Slowly, she carves out a connection with a local family when a teenager with a secret opens up to Diana, despite her father’s suspicion of outsiders.

Diana finds herself examining her relationships, her choices, and herself—and wondering if when she goes home, she too will have evolved into someone completely different.
 
 Quote
“Trying to figure out what happened to me isn’t important. 
It’s what I do with what I’ve learned that counts.” 

My Thoughts After I Read the Book
I did not love this book.  The story was about a woman named Diana.  She had her life planned out and she focused on this plan.  She has a boyfriend named Finn who seems to have the same plan as Diana, but as we all know life is not predictable. Well along comes Covid 19 and the path of their mutual plans divert.  
I enjoyed the beginning of the book.  The storyline about Finn caring for Covid patients and the other of Diana stranded in the Galapagos, where they are having their own struggles with covid.
I did not like the twist that took the book in an entirely different direction. I enjoyed learning of Diana's job and how that attributed to the story although I did not like the in-depth description of one of the paintings. This sexually charged painting, I felt, was unnecessary to the story and seemed to take up a lot of time in this book which I did not like.
Overall I did not enjoy this book and it left me feeling indifferent. 

My Final Thought
I think the book was well written.  Based on that I should have given it a 3 but I could not bring myself to do so.  I think the storyline was just not to my liking and I found it less than enjoyable.

Book Trailer/Movie

As far as a movie it appears that Netflix has acquired the film rights.  

A 5-star and -star review I found on Amazon.
Five-star review-"My emotions were all over the place with this book ranging from fear and despair, sorrow and pain, to hope and joy. The book is certainly timely and delineates many facets of the COVID-19 pandemic through perfect characters. I couldn't put the book down and hated for it to end. Jodi Picoult's beautifully descriptive prose allows you to feel like you can see the surroundings and experience the feelings of the characters". 

One-Star Review-"I enjoyed some Jodi Picoult’s early books but she literally seems to have lost the plot. This book was rubbish. First there was the very obvious and very annoying appropriation of the John Lennon/ Yoko Ono story (lazy, lazy writing Jodi), then there was the ridiculous twist halfway through the book. I gave up at that stage. Was glad I borrowed from the library and hadn’t paid good money for it."

I must say I lean toward the one-star review.  I too disliked the "Lennon/Yoko" portion of the story, I found it totally unnecessary.  I did not like the plot twist either. 
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Book 2
Audible Read
"An Uninvited Ghost"
by E. J. Copperman
Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Ghosts, Fiction
3.92 stars on Goodreads out of 5 stars
I give this book 3.5/5


The Amazon link is below.  Just click the photo.
 
 
Overview From Good Reads
Alison and her resident gumshoe ghost are on their next case when the deceased Scott MacFarlane floats in worried that he accidentally killed a prominent local woman. Turns out she's still alive...that is, of course, until she's murdered-in Alison's house. Now, between the demands of her guests and the arrival of a reality television crew, Alison must find the killer before she sees reality from the other side.
Quote 
I don't have a favorite quote. 

 My Thoughts After Reading the Book
Alison has a guest house, she is an amateur private investigator, and she has ghosts in her house.  Her house is not only filled with guests and spirits, but she also has a reality TV show filming in her home.  This leads to many interesting characters and ghosts and a murder that needs to be solved. 
Overall this is a light cozy murder mystery.  It was not what I would call a great book, but I enjoyed it.

Is there a Movie or Book Trailer?

I could not find a book trailer or anything related to a movie on this book.

 A 5-star and 1-star review I found on Amazon.

5-Star  Review-"This engaging woo-woo cozy mystery offers an offbeat cast of characters. I like the persistent sleuth who also runs a guesthouse with her unusual boarders. Paul is my favorite of the ghosts. If you're in the mood for reading something a little different, this fun title might fit the bill."

1-Star Review-The ending/resolution was ridiculous. After reading through the whole book, I expected something less, well, weird than what happened. 
And the addition of the reality TV crew did nothing for me but introduce a number of obnoxious, over-the-top characters I could really have done without. 

I do agree more with the 5-star review but I do understand the 1-star review.  I guess that is why I am a bit in the middle with my review.  
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Book 3
"Fuzz"
by Mary Roach
Genre-Non-Fiction, Science, Nature, Animals
3.93 stars on Goodreads out of 5 stars
I  gave this book a 3/5

Click the photo below for the Amazon Link...

Book overview as found on GoodReads
What’s to be done about a jaywalking moose? A bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree? Three hundred years ago, animals that broke the law would be assigned legal representation and put on trial. The answers are best found not in jurisprudence but in science: the curious science of human-wildlife conflict, a discipline at the crossroads of human behavior and wildlife biology.

Roach tags along with animal-attack forensics investigators, human-elephant conflict specialists, bear managers, and "danger tree" faller blasters. Intrepid as ever, she travels from leopard-terrorized hamlets in the Indian Himalaya to St. Peter’s Square in the early hours before the pope arrives for Easter Mass, when vandal gulls swoop in to destroy the elaborate floral display. She taste-tests rat bait, learns how to install a vulture effigy, and gets mugged by a macaque.

Combining little-known forensic science and conservation genetics with a motley cast of laser scarecrows, langur impersonators, and trespassing squirrels, Roach reveals as much about humanity as about nature’s lawbreakers. When it comes to "problem" wildlife, she finds, humans are more often the problem—and the solution. Fascinating, witty, and humane, Fuzz offers hope for compassionate coexistence in our ever-expanding human habitat.
 

Book Quote
I don't have a favorite quote.


My Thoughts After Reading the Book

I found this to be an interesting book.  The focus was on the relationship of animals and humans and even plants and humans.  The part I liked best was when the storyline was actually on the focus of animals and humans meeting and the result of that meeting.  The part I liked least was the technical aspects of the book, this is where I would get bored and why I eventually DNF'd this book. There were parts of this book that were so interesting and even humorous but the detailed science components offset the fun parts of the book. I am not saying it is a bad book but I feel it is more science-based and detailed and I can see referring to this book for information and not so much for enjoyment.


Book Trailer or Movie
I could not find a book trailer or a movie related to this book.

A Five and One Star Review as Found on Amazon
Five Star Review-"Incredibly interesting look into the conflicts that arise between humans and nature. I especially enjoyed learning about the crime scene investigation techniques that are used in cases of possible animal attacks, but there really wasn't a dull point in the whole book.

One Star Review- "I love Mary Roach books and have read them all with glee. She’s normally both informative and quite funny. This was an absolute slog of a book. She clearly tried to make witty asides that normally really work and somehow in this book fell completely flat. I’m not sure I’ll be reading future Roach, she may have jumped the shark."

I guess I am in the middle of this and that is why I gave it 3 stars.  I have read other reviews where people comment that they love the books Mary Roach has written but that this one falls flat.  I would like to try one of her older books, maybe I can find one at the library.



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Book 4
"All The Devils Are Here"
by Louise Penny
Genre- Mystery, Fiction, Crime, France,
4.45 stars on GoodReads out of 5 stars.
I gave this one 2/5 stars.



Amazon Link Below, just click on the photo...


Description as Found on GoodReads,
On their first night in Paris, the Gamaches gather as a family for a bistro dinner with Armand's godfather, the billionaire Stephen Horowitz. Walking home together after the meal, they watch in horror as Stephen is knocked down and critically injured in what Gamache knows is no accident, but a deliberate attempt on the elderly man's life.

A gruesome discovery in Stephen's Paris apartment makes it clear the secrets are more rancid, the danger far greater and more imminent, than they realized.

Soon the whole family is caught up in a web of lies and deceit. In order to find the truth, Gamache will have to decide whether he can trust his friends, his colleagues, his instincts, his own past. His own family.

For even the City of Light casts long shadows. And in that darkness devils hide


A Quote I Like
I don't have a favorite quote.
My Thoughts After Reading the Book
For me, this book was hard to follow.  I don't know if it was the French names or dialect, but I became more and more confused.  I kept trying for a while because I really wanted to like this book, but when I began to skim the words and then skip pages, I knew it was time to stop.  I did DNF this book.

Book Trailer

I could not find one.

Is there a movie?
I could not find anything.


A Five and One Star Review as Found on GoodReads

A Five-Star Review-"In my opinion, this is one of the stronger books in the Armand Gamache series. 
I've thought about how to review this one, but to be honest I'm so biased and emotionally close the characters that any attempt I'd make to review it would look something like this LOVE IT!! READ IT!!"

A One-Star Review-"So much padding. So many superfluous details that do nothing to move the story along. And in one corner we have rare minerals! In the other, a father-son denouement. Then there is an elderly man who improbably survives a hit-and-run. And then there is the whole Nazi subplot that leads absolutely no where. And babies! And valuable paintings! And a corrupt cop, or is he? This is a devilishly terrible book. Give it a f***ing rest Louise!"

I lean more toward the one-star review, excluding the F word.   I was so confused I no longer cared.
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Book 5 
"Sputnik's Guide To Life On Earth"
by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Genre-Middle-Grade, Science Fiction, Fantasy
3.96 out of 5 stars on Good Reads
I give this book 2.5/5


Click on the photo below to go to amazon.



Book Description from GoodReads
A one-of-a-kind story of heart, humor, and finding one’s place in the universe.

Prez knows that the best way to keep track of things is to make a list. That's important when you have a grandfather who is constantly forgetting. And it's even more important when your grandfather can't care for you anymore and you have to go live with a foster family out in the country.

Prez is still learning to fit in at his new home when he answers the door to meet Sputnik—a kid who is more than a little strange. First, he can hear what Prez is thinking. Second, he looks like a dog to everyone except Prez. Third, he can manipulate the laws of space and time. Sputnik, it turns out is an alien, and he's got a mission that requires Prez's help: the Earth has been marked for destruction, and the only way they can stop it is to come up with ten reasons why the planet should be saved.

Thus begins one of the most fun and eventful summers of Prez's life, as he and Sputnik set out on a journey to compile the most important list Prez has ever made—and discover just what makes our world so remarkable.


Quote
I don't have a favorite quote.



My thoughts after reading the book

I usually love middle-grade books but this one was another story.  The storyline was strange and as hard as I tried I could not connect with the characters or the plotline.  I had to DNF this book because I no longer cared. 

Book Trailer





It sounds like there may be a movie produced based on this book in the future.

A Five and One Star Review as Found on Amazon
A Five-Star Review-"I thought that the theme of the book is possibly one of the many things that are essential for a happy life. This is a touching, beautiful story that touches an incredibly hard subject for any person who goes through this, Alzheimer's."


One-Star Review-"I never thought I was going to love this book, but I did expect it to be a funny, quick read that I would relatively enjoy. However, this was actually quite boring and I didn't even find it funny. I just don't think this book was for me."

I do lean more toward the one-star review.  I found it a bit slow and a bit boring.



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I would love to know what you are reading.  If you have read any of the above books, did you enjoy them?  Please drop me a note in the comment box.

Take care and happy reading!

                                                                          KathieyV:-)      

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