Mini Reviews: Adventures with Barefoot Critters, Paris in Love & O is for Outlaw

Adventures with Barefoot Critters
by Teagan White
★★★★

This sweet children's book features woodland creatures, (a fox, deer, squirrel and inexplicably a Triceratops), having adventures. Each page is dedicated to a single letter of the alphabet and has a cute little sentence paired with rustic illustrations.

I love that the book starts at the beginning of the year and works it is way through summertime fun and ends with Z on New Year's Eve. It also doesn't keep things too simple in regards to the alphabet. Instead of each letter having a single word ("A" is for Apple, "B" is for Ball), if uses that letter in multiple words in a single sentence. For example the F page says, “We camped in the Forest, cooking Food over the Fire.”

BOTTOM LINE: A very cute children’s book that introduces kids to the alphabet.


Paris in Love 
by Eloisa James

★★

 

This memoir is based on the author’s time in Paris. She moves to the famous city from her home in New Jersey with her two children and Italian husband in tow. The family’s goal is to embrace a sweeter, slower life for a single year, savoring food and experiences.

 

The author, by her own admission, compiled her Facebook and Twitter posts about her time in Paris to create this “memoir.” The result is a completely disjointed book. There are funny bits and astute observations, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the entire book is a series of non sequiturs with the loosest of threads holding it together. She’ll say something about her daughter’s difficult time adjusting to her new school and then the very next line is about a delicious meal she ate and then the next mentions their overweight chihuahua.

 

It was sweet to read about the wonderful meals she ate and museums she saw, but for me it wasn’t enough to justify a book. The format was too fragmented and I probably would have enjoyed it more if I’d read them on Facebook, in the original form they were intended.

 

BOTTOM LINE: There are too many great Parisian memoirs out there to make this one worthwhile. Read it only if you’re in the mood for a tiny taste of Paris and don’t care what form it comes in.

 

 

O is for Outlaw

by Sue Grafton

★★★☆

 

Kinsey’s first marriage has always been an unknown for readers. In this book we get to explore that relationship and in doing so we learn more about the tough P.I. we’ve come to know and love. O is for Outlaw has the same expected set up of the other novels, it just deals with Kinsey’s past instead of a stranger’s this time.

 

From bar fights to Vietnam Kinsey digs into her ex’s past and the confusing circumstances surrounding their break-up. She also makes a quick trip to Louisville, Ky. and spends a bit of time in the southern city.

 

BOTTOM LINE: A good addition to the series and a fun read.

 

**There’s one glaring thing I have to mention about the audio version of this book. All of the books in this series, from “A is for Alibi” to “N is for Noose” are read by Judy Kaye. She always did a fantastic job and I have a feeling her narration is a big part of why I’ve enjoyed these. This latest installment is read by Mary Peiffer. She doesn’t do a bad job; it’s just not the voice I’ve grown to connect with Kinsey Millhone. I have no idea why they switched narrators midway through the series, but it’s definitely a disappointment.

Mini Reviews: The Moonstone, Doctor Who and N is for Noose

The Moonstone
by Wilkie Collins
★★

I do not understand how this happened, but I was not a fan of this book. I loved Collins' mystery "The Woman in White." It's thrilling, complicated and well-plotted. I tend to love Dickens' books and he has a similar style.  I started this during R.I.P. this fall and just couldn't get into it. I tried reading it on my kindle and then I tried a hardcopy. I dreaded picking it up and it took me months to finish.

Called one of the first detective novels in existence, this unique plot rotates between narrators to tell the story of a stolen diamond. As the plot thickens we see each of the characters share their side of the story. Each participant has a different agenda and we aren't sure if we can trust their version. I appreciate the fact that the style in the book did something original, but I still had a hard time connecting with any of them.

BOTTOM LINE: I have no idea why this one was such an awful slog for me. It took me three months to get through it. I'm hoping that I am up for trying it again in a decade or so, but until then I'd recommend The Woman in White over this one.

Doctor Who: Nothing O’Clockby Neil Gaiman
★★★☆

As an avid Whovian it's hard to believe this is the first Doctor Who story I've ever read, but when I heard it was written by Gaiman I couldn't resist. For those familiar with the world of Doctor Who, this story features Amy Pond and the eleventh Doctor. They are visiting earth and realize it has been occupied by an alien. The plot revolves around a stranger in a mask who is buying up local real estate. It's a short story, so there's not too much room to get invested, but it's an entertaining read.

BOTTOM LINE: A fun addition to the world of Doctor Who. It definitely feels like a Gaiman story, which is a good thing. There's a touch of creepiness mixed with a dose of clever irony (think getting what you want only to realize it's not what you want.) If you're tempted to try a Doctor Who novel this would be a good one.

N is for Nooseby Sue Grafton
★★☆

Kinsey is hired by a vain and difficult widow. Her cop husband died of a heart attack and she is convinced that he was investigating something big before his death. He had a reputation of refusing to let things go; pursuing cases long after they'd been solved if he smelled something fishy.

After investigating in the tiny town for awhile Kinsey realizes that people are are avoiding or shunning her. She can't even get gas for her car because someone has been spreading rumors about her past. The plot moves slowly and isn't too thrilling. The end is good and wraps things up nicely, but the book feels thin, much of it acting as filler.

BOTTOM LINE: Not one of Grafton's best mysteries. Each one seems to be very hit or miss, but my expectations are always low.

Top Ten Series I Haven't Finished

This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks for the Top Ten Series I Haven't Finished (because either you didn't like them, you just have procrastinated, etc.) The top 5 are ones I don’t plan on finishing because for one reason or another the series didn’t hook me enough to want to continue. The last 5 are series that I definitely plan on finishing, I just haven’t gotten to all of the books yet.

Series I Won’t Finish:
1) The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini

2) Gregory Maguire’s Wicked Years series

3) Outlander

4) The Maze Runner

5) The Left Behind series

Series I Plan on Finishing:
6) Howl’s Moving Castle series

7) Stephen Lawhead’s Pendragon Cycle

8) Mary Stewart’s Merlin Series

9) The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Series

10) Sue Grafton’s Alphabet Mystery Series
 
I’ve made a big effort to finish quite a few series in the past year for this challenge, including the Lemony Snicket series, Anne of Green Gables series, C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy, The Dark is Rising series and the Wolves of Mercy Falls series.

Image from here.

Reading the States: Kentucky

State: KENTUCKY

Fiction:
- The Coal Tattoo by Silas House.
- River of Earth by James Still
- Hannah Coulter* by Wendell Berry
- The Memory Keeper's Daughter* by Kim Edwards
- Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
- The Patron Saint of Liars* by Ann Patchett
- A Parchment of Leaves by Silas House
- Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio
- Uncle Tom's Cabin* by Harriet Beecher Stowe
- In Country by Bobbie Ann Mason 

Nonfiction:
- Night Comes to the Cumberlands by Harry M. Caudill
- Blood Horses by John Jeremiah Sullivan 
- Hillbilly Elegy* by J.D. Vance
- The Bluegrass Conspiracy by Sally Denton

Authors Known for Writing in or about the State:
- Wendell Berry

Authors Who Lived Here:
- Hunter S. Thompson
- A. B. Guthrie, Jr.
- Sue Grafton
- Barbara Kingsolver

Great Bookstores:
Carmichael's Bookstore
Coffee Tree Books
Poor Richard's Books

*Books I've Read

Photo by moi.

I is for Innocent

I is for Innocent
by Sue Grafton
★★★☆

Kinsey is back for another adventure in her life as a private investigator. She’s been kicked out of her former offices, California Fidelity, and she’s started and new partnership with a local lawyer, Lonnie Kingman. She’s helping him investigate his cases in exchange for rent-free office space. The only drawback is the struggle to keep her investigative methods above board. If called to testify in court she needs to be beyond reproach, so breaking and entering is no longer and option.

Morley Shine, a fellow P.I., dies and Kinsey takes over a 6-year-old cold case he had been working on. She’s trying to help Kingman find evidence against a man accused of killing his wealthy wife, but the details don’t quite add up. Soon she finds herself in the middle of a bigger mystery than she’d originally bargained for. A hit and run, shots fired through a peep-hole in a door, poisonous mushrooms and her landlord’s hypochondriac brother all complicate matters.

As with all the Kinsey Millhone books, if you like the series, you’ll like this. If you don’t, this one is no different. I love having these books as a break or buffer between some of the bigger, meatier classic or modern lit books that I enjoy. They are a great palette cleanser. If I read Henry James and then dive straight into Edith Wharton, the two tend to blur in my mind. Having a quick mystery with the no-nonsense Kinsey is a perfect buffer.

p.s. Aren't those cover awful? Somebody needs to get on that.