The Wild Wood by Charles de Lint

 First sentence:

"...like music entangled in a thorny embrace, leaf-sigh, branch-rustle."

Description:

"Back in print for the first time in ten years, this original novel stands among the finest of Charles de Lint's early works. Eithnie is a young painter who is acclaimed by the art world until the critics start noticing that her work has lost the animating passion that had set her apart from the crowd. She returns to her cabin in Canada's remote woods, hoping to find a place where she can seek solitude and focus on her art.

At first, Eithnie's muse remains elusive, but then beautiful and disturbing creatures start slipping into her sketches unbidden. The following days bring strange visitors bearing cryptic messages indicating that Eithnie may be bound by a promise made in a forgotten, magical childhood. The world of Faerie is clearly reaching out to her for help, and her ability to figure out what they need may mark the difference between their survival . . .and their doom." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this book about different world interacting - the "real" world and the "faerie". Eithnie, an artist, becomes entangled in both as she wrestles with finding her muse and trying to figure out whether the faces she sees in the woods are real or not. I liked de Lint's descriptions of the woods and the sounds Eithnie hears as she moves through them. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Something Rich and Strange by Patricia McKillip.

Date read: 12/31/2024
Series: Brian Froud's Faerielands, #1
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3*/5 = good

ISBN-10: 0765302586
ISBN-13: 9780765302588
Publisher: Orb Book, Tom Doherty Associates
Year: 1994
# of pages: 205
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The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt

First sentence:

"The thing was carved of ice and rock."

Description:

"Humans call them the Monument-Makers. An unknown race, they left stunning alien statues on distant planets in the galaxy. Each relic is different. Each description defies translation. Yet all are heartbreakingly beautiful.

And for planet Earth, on the brink of disaster, they may hold the only key for survival for the entire human race." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this first book in the Academy series. At first, the narrative of the planet archaeological exploration seemed a little slow, but as it continued and as the characters faced obstacles both personal and alien, my interest increased. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Deepsix.

Date read: 12/30/2024
Series: The Academy (Priscilla Hutchins), #1
Genre: SF
Rating: 3*/5 = good

ISBN-10: 0441002846
ISBN-13: 9780441002849
Publisher: Ace Book
Year: 1994
# of pages: 419
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A.J. Jacobs

 First sentence:

"I know the name of Turkey's leading avant-garde publication."

Description:

Part memoir and part education (or lack thereof), The Know-It-All chronicles NPR contributor A. J. Jacobs's hilarious, enlightening, and seemingly impossible quest to read the Encyclopaedia Britannica from A to Z. 

To fill the ever-widening gaps in his Ivy League education, A. J. Jacobs sets for himself the daunting task of reading all thirty-two volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His wife, Julie, tells him it's a waste of time, his friends believe he is losing his mind, and his father, a brilliant attorney who had once attempted the same feat and quit somewhere around Borneo, is encouraging but unconvinced. 

With self-deprecating wit and a disarming frankness, The Know-It-All recounts the unexpected and comically disruptive effects Operation Encyclopedia has on every part of Jacobs's life -- from his newly minted marriage to his complicated relationship with his father and the rest of his charmingly eccentric New York family to his day job as an editor at Esquire. Jacobs's project tests the outer limits of his stamina and forces him to explore the real meaning of intelligence as he endeavors to join Mensa, win a spot on Jeopardy!, and absorb 33,000 pages of learning. On his journey he stumbles upon some of the strangest, funniest, and most profound facts about every topic under the sun, all while battling fatigue, ridicule, and a struggle between the all-consuming quest for factual knowledge and the undeniable gift of hard-won wisdom." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

A book about reading the Encyclopaedia Britannica? Wouldn't it be boring? Well, not this book! Jacobs doesn't just relay the entries from A to Z but adds his comments and thoughts about what he learns both from the volumes and the events and people in his life. Some of my favorite portions include his visiting the Chicago headquarters and learns how entries are created, checked, and indexed as well as his preparation for and participation on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? 

Date read: 12/19/2024
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 3*/5 = good

ISBN-10: 0743250621
ISBN-13: 9780743250627
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks
Year: 2004
# of pages: 388
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Earth is Room Enough by Isaac Asimov

First sentence:

"Arnold Potterley, Ph.D., was a Professor of Ancient History."

Description:

"Anything can happen and probably will right here on Earth. 

You don't have to rent a spaceship or sign up for a singles cruise to Saturn or spend your weekends star-hopping along the Milky Way because EARTH IS ROOM ENOUGH.

Earth is where the action is and each tomorrow unleashes new discoveries.

Here are brilliant, witty, frightening, and fascinating stories of the future by the greatest science fiction master of them all. Just hitch your mind to these weird and wonderful tales for a spin around the world of tomorrow that will take you right to the center of your wildest dreams." == from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this short story collection of the future. Favorite stories include "The Dead Past," "Gimmicks Three," and "Living Space."

Date read: 12/18/2024
Genre: SF
Rating: 3*/5 = good

Publisher: Fawcett Crest
Year: 1957
# of pages: 208
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The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

First sentence:

"The secret is how to die"

Description:

"Famed Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon answers an unexpected summons to deliver a lecture at the U.S. Capitol Building. His plans are interrupted when a disturbing object--artfully encoded with five symbols-- is discovered in the building. Langdon recognizes in the find an ancient invitation into a lost world of esoteric, potentially dangerous wisdom.

When his mentor, Peter Solomon--a long-standing Mason and beloved philanthropist--is kidnapped, Langdon realizes that the only way to save Solomon is to accept the mystical invitation and plunge headlong into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and one inconceivable truth...all under the watchful eye of Dan Brown's most terrifying villain to date. Set within the hidden chambers, tunnels, and temples of Washington, D.C., The Lost Symbol is an intelligent, lightning-paced story with surprises at every turn--one of Brown's most riveting novels." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this third Robert Langdon novel, especially the scenes in and round the Library of Congress. I worked at the Library for many years as a contract library technician so I'm familiar with the Main Reading Room and the tunnels. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Inferno.

Date read: 12/16/2024
Series: Robert Langdon, #3
Genre: Thriller
Rating: 3*/5 = good

ISBN-10: 0307950689
ISBN-13: 9780307950680
Publisher: Anchor Books
Year: 2009
# of pages: 603
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver

 First sentence:

"'The simplest thing would be to tear it down,' the man said. 'The house is a shambles.'"

Description:

The acclaimed author of The Poisonwood Bible and The Bean Trees, and the recipient of numerous literary awards -- including the National Humanities Medal, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the Orange Prise -- returns with a story about two families, in two centuries, navigating what seems to be the end of the world as they know it. With history as their tantalizing canvas, these characters paint a startlingly relevant portrait of life in precarious times when the foundations of the past have failed to prepare us for the future.

How could two hardworking people do everything right in life, a woman asks, and end of destitute? Willa Knox and her husband followed all the rules as responsible parents and professionals, and have nothing to show for it but debts and an inherited brick house that is falling apart. The magazine where Willa worked has folded; the college where her husband had tenure has closed. Their dubious shelter is also the only option for a disabled father-in-law and an exasperating, free-spirited daughter. When the family's one success story, an Ivy-educated son, is uprooted by tragedy he seems likely to join them, with dark complications of his own.

In another time, a troubled husband and public servant asks, How can a man tell the truth, and be reviled for it? A science teacher with a passion for honest investigation, Thatcher Greenwood finds himself under siege: his employer forbids him to speak of the exciting work just published by Charles Darwin. His young bride and social-climbing mother-in-law bristle at the risk of scandal, and dismiss his worries that their elegant house is unsound. In a village ostensibly founded on a benevolent Utopia, Thatcher wants only to honor his duties, but his friendships with a woman scientist and a renegade newspaper editor threaten to draw him into a vendetta with the town's powerful men.

A timely and "utterly captivating" novel (San Francisco Chronicle), Unsheltered interweaves past and present to explore the human capacity for resiliency and compassion in times of great upheaval." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I liked this book featuring characters dealing with life and family at different time periods while living in the same run-down house. I only wished that each story was a separate book so there would have been more to read.

Date read: 12/8/2024
Genres: Fiction; Historical Fiction
Rating: 3*/5 = good

ISBN-10: 0062684736
ISBN-13: 9780062684738
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2019
# of pages: 480
Binding: Trade Paperback
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The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

 First sentence:

"In the dim light of her desk's single bulb lamp, the map nearly glowed."

Description:

From the critically acclaimed author of The Book of M, a highly imaginative thriller about a young woman who discovers that a strange map in her deceased father's belongings holds an incredible, deadly secret--one that will lead her on an extraordinary adventure and to the truth about her family's dark history. 

What is the purpose of a map? 

Nell Young's whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field and Nell's personal hero. But she hasn't seen or spoken to him ever since he cruelly fired her and destroyed her reputation after an argument over an old, cheap gas station highway map. But when Dr. Young is found dead in his office at the New York Public Library, with the very same seemingly worthless map hidden in his desk, Nell can't resist investigating. To her surprise, she soon discovers that the map is incredibly valuable and exceedingly rare. In fact, she may now have the only copy left in existence... because a mysterious collector has been hunting down and destroying every last one--along with anyone who gets in the way. 

But why? 

To answer that question, Nell embarks on a dangerous journey to reveal a dark family secret and discovers the true power that lies in maps... 

Perfect for fans of Joe Hill and V. E. Schwab, The Cartographers is an ode to art and science, history and magic--a spectacularly imaginative, modern story about an ancient craft and places still undiscovered.

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this book about maps and the ways they bring people together or separate them. I had heard about the phantom settlement Agloe before, but I didn't know the whole story. I was glad that Nell's father requested a Sanborn Map as I had not only heard about them but had used them to find an ancestor's childhood home!

Date read: 11/16/2024
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4*/5 = great

ISBN-10: 0062910698
ISBN-13: 9780062910691
Publisher: William Morrow
Year: 2022
# of pages: 391
Binding: Hardcover
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Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

 First sentence:

"Professor Leonardo Vestra smelled burning flesh, and he knew it was his own."

Description:

"An ancient secret brotherhood. A devastating new weapon of destruction. An unthinkable target.

World-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a cryptic symbol seared into the chest of a murdered physicist. What he discovers is unimaginable: a deadly vendetta against the Catholic Church by a centuries-old underground organization -- the Illuminati. Desperate to save the Vatican from a powerful time bomb, Langdon joins forces in Rome with the beautiful and mysterious scientist Vittoria Vetra. Together, they embark on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and the most secretive vault on earth -- the long-forgotten Illuminati lair." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this first adventure of symbologist Robert Langdon in Vatican City and Rome. With the unexpected and sudden flight to the CERN hadron collider and his subsequent travel to Rome to find a dangerous item, the story kept my interest throughout.

Date read: 10/15/2024
Series: Robert Langdon, #1
Genre: Thriller
Rating: 3*/5 = good

ISBN-10: 0671027360
ISBN-13: 9780671027360
Publisher: Pocket Star Books
Year: 2000
# of pages: 569
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Run by Ann Patchett

 First sentence:

"Bernadette had been dead two weeks when her sisters showed up in Doyle's living room asking for the statue back."

Description:

Since their mother's death, Tip and Teddy Doyle have been raised by their loving, possessive, and ambitious father. As the former mayor of Boston, Bernard Doyle wants to see his sons in politics, a dream the boys have never shared. But when an argument in a blinding New England snowstorm inadvertently causes an accident that involves a stranger and her child, all Bernard Doyle cares about is his ability to keep his children--all his children--safe.

Set over a period of twenty-four hours, Run takes us from the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard to a home for retired Catholic Priests in downtown Boston. It shows us how worlds of privilege and poverty can coexist only blocks apart from each other, and how family can include people you've never even met. As in in her bestselling novel, Bel Canto, Ann Patchett illustrates the humanity that connects disparate lives, weaving several stories into one surprising and endlessly moving narrative. Suspenseful and stunningly executed, Run is ultimately a novel about secrets, duty, responsibility, and the lengths we will go to protect our children.

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this book about family -- the one you're born into and the one you create. Every character is true to themselves and while it can take awhile each can appreciate the other even if they can't always understand them. 

Date read: 9/15/2024
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0061340642
ISBN-13: 9780061340645
Publisher: Harper
Year: 2007
# of pages: 295
Binding: Hardcover
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The World Played Chess by Robert Dugoni

First sentence:

"A purpose, I have learned, is rarely found, but revealed."

Description:

"In 1979, Vincent Bianco has just graduated high school. His only desire: collect a little beer money and enjoy his final summer before college. So he lands a job as a laborer on a construction crew. Working alongside two Vietnam vets, one suffering from PTSD, Vincent gets the education of a lifetime. Now forty years later, with his own son leaving for college, the lessons of that summer--Vincent's last taste of innocence and first taste of real life--dramatically unfold in a novel about breaking away, shaping a life, and seeking one's own destiny." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this book about growing up from teen to an adult. William, a young man, discovering the stark reality of war as a marine/photographer in Vietnam, and later as a wiser adult coming to grips with PTSD. Vincent, a newly graduated high school student, learning about life and war from Vietnam vet William. Then, as an adult, Vincent passing some of his wisdom to his son, Beau.

Date read: 8/1/2024
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3*/5 = good

ISBN-10: 1542029376
ISBN-13: 9781542029377
Publisher: Lake Union
Year: 2021
# of pages: 369
Binding: Hardcover
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Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales by Stephen King

 First sentence:

"It's so dark that for awhile--just how long I don't know--I think I'm still unconscious."

Description:

"The first collection of stories Stephen King has published since Nightmares & Dreamscapes nine years ago, Everything's Eventual includes one O. Henry Prize winner, two other award winners, four stories published by The New Yorker, and "Riding the Bullet," King's original e-book, which attracted over half a million online readers and became the most famous short story of the decade. "Riding the Bullet," published here on paper for the first time, is the story of Alan Parker, who's hitchhiking to see his dying mother but takes the wrong ride, farther than he ever intended. In "Lunch at the Gotham Cafe," a sparring couple's contentious lunch turns very, very bloody when the maitre d' gets out of sorts. "1408," the audio story in print for the first time, is about a successful writer whose specialty is "Ten Nights in Ten Haunted Graveyards" or "Ten Nights in Ten Haunted Houses," and though Room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel doesn't kill him, he won't be writing about ghosts anymore. And in "That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French," terror is deja vu at 16,000 feet. Whether writing about encounters with the dead, the near dead, or about the mundane dreads of life, from quitting smoking to yard sales, Stephen King is at the top of his form in the fourteen dark tales assembled in Everything's Eventual. Intense, eerie, and instantly compelling, they announce the stunningly fertile imagination of perhaps the greatest storyteller of our time." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this collection of short stories. My favorites were "That Feeling," "The Road Virus Heads North," and "1408."

Date read: 4/20/2024
Genre: Fiction/Horror
Rating: 3*/5 = good

ISBN-10 0743235150
ISBN-13: 9780743235150
Publisher: Scribner
Year: 2002
# of pages 459
Binding: Hardcover
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Amnesia Moon by Jonathan Lethem

 First sentence:

"Edge had the highway to himself"

Description:

Since the war came and the bombs fell, Hatfork, Wyoming, has been a broken-down, mutant-ridden town. Young Chaos lives in the projection booth of the abandoned multi-plex cinema, trying to blot out his present, but unable to remember his past. Then, over a can of dog food, the local tyrant Kellogg reveals to Chaos that those bombs never actually fell. The truth, in fact, is a little more complicated.

So Chaos gets behind the wheel of an automobile and, accompanied by a fur-covered mutant female, sets out onto the empty highway for a journey to the edge of his American nightmare, in search of a missing identity and a stolen love." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this very strange book. I especially liked the characters Chaos and Melinda and how they helped each other in their journey to find a better home.

Date read: 1/25/2024
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Rating: 3*/5 = good

ISBN-10: 0571225306
ISBN-13: 9780571225309
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Year: 1995 (this edition: 2005)
# of pages: 247
Binding: Trade Paperback
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A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

 First sentences:

"Hi! My name is Naok and I am a time being."

Description:

"On a remote island in the Pacific Northwest, a Hello Kitty lunchbox washes up on the beach. Tucked inside is a collection of various items: an antique wristwatch, a pack of undecipherable letters, and the diary of a sixteen-year-old Japanese girl named Nao Yasutani. Ruth, who finds the lunchbox suspects that it is debris from Japan's devastating 2011 tsunami. Once Ruth starts to read the diary she quickly finds herself drawn into the mystery of the young girl's fate.

In a manga care in Tokyo's Electric Town, Nao has decided there's only one escape from te loneliness and pain of her life, as she's uprooted from her U.S. ome, bullied at school, and watching her parents spiral deeper into disaster. But before she ends it all, she wants to accomplish one thing: to recount the story of her great-grandmother, a 104-year-old Buddhist nun, in the pages of her secret diary. The diary, Nao's only solace, is her cry for elp to a reader whom she can only imagine." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I found this to be a mesmerizing book about time, connections, family and self awareness. I liked how the characters interacted and how they learn more about themselves through their interactions with others.

Date read: 1/20/2024
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3*/5 = good

ISBN-13: 978067026630
Publisher: Viking
Year: 2013
# of pages: 403
Binding: Hardcover
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