Blink: the power of thinking without thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

 First sentence:

"In September of 1983, an art dealer by the name of Gianfranco Becchina approached the J. Paul Getty Museum in California."

Description:

"Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology to reveal that the difference between good decision-making and bad has less to do with how much information we process than with our ability to focus on a few particular details. Gladwell shows how we can all be better decision makers -- in our homes, in our offices, and in everyday life." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

Fascinating book about how we observe the world - often without conscious thought and how it's important to step back and understand what's happening. 

Date read: 4/29/2021
Genre: Nonfiction
Rating: 3*/5 = good

ISBN-10: 0316010669
ISBN-13: 9780316010665
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company: Back Bay Books
Year:  2005; 2007 (this edition)
# of pages: 276
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

 First sentence:

"Marsh is not swamp."

Description:

"For years, rumors of the 'Marsh Girl' have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl.

But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life--until the unthinkable happens.

Perfect for fans of Barbara Kingsolver and Karen Russell, Where the Crawdad Sings is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I liked this book about Kya, a girl, and later a young woman, who survives on her own in the marsh and amongst the people in town. The writing was very descriptive and the story drew me in.

Date read: 11/17/2020
Genre: Fiction
Rating 3*/5 = good

ISBN-10: 0735219095 
ISBN-13: 9780735219090
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Books
Year: 2018
# of pages: 368
Binding: Hardcover
LibraryThing page:

Foop! by Chris Genoa

 

First sentence:

"I've always thought that the existence of Abraham Lincoln provided conclusive visual evidence that humans are descended from apes."

Description:

"There are strange happenings going on at Dactyl, Inc., the world's first and only time travel tourism company. So strange that Joe, a tour guide, is promoted to the new position of Chief of Probes. His first probe: find out who's been traveling back in time and torturing his boss in rather disturbing ways.

Joe finds himself catapulted from his dull life into a surreal journey where a blind hog-tying monkey is one of the sanest creatures he meets. Traveling through a past where the only thing that changes the present is death, while dealing with the fabric of space-time slowly unraveling. Joe stumbles into the middle of events that threaten both the Earth's future and past." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this weird and sometime confusing book about time travel, talking monkeys and tourism. I liked Joe's attempts to make sense of what's happening and his trying to figure out why two men, whom he calls Boogedy and Nibbles, keep appearing everywhere he goes.

Date read: 5/15/2020
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3*/5

ISBN-10: 0972959890
ISBN-13: 9780972959896
Publisher: Eraserhead Press
Year: 2005
# of pages: 293
LibraryThing page

Fledgling by Octavia Butler

First sentence:

"I awoke to darkness"

Description:

"Shori is a mystery. Found alone in the woods, she appears to be a little black girl with traumatic amnesia and near-fatal wounds. But Shori is a fifty-three-year-old vampire with a ravenous hunger for blood, the lost child of an ancient species of near-immortals who live in dark symbiosis with humanity. Genetically modified to be able to walk in daylight, Shori now becomes the target of a vast plot to destroy her and her kind. And in the final apocalyptic battle, her survival will depend on whether all humans are bigots--or all bigots are human." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This is a very compelling book. I liked how Shori learns about herself and her place in her world.

Date read: August 22, 2019
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3*/5 = good

ISBN-10:
ISBN-13:  9780446696166
Publisher: Grand Central
Year: 2005
# of pages: 310
Binding:Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

New year, new format

It's 2017, and I am way behind on sharing my thoughts about the books I read in 2015 and 2016. And then, there are the books I've read so far this year!  So, I decided to change the format.  Sometimes I'll just list what I read, linking the title to the LibraryThing.com page, and will indicate my rating, and sometimes I'll share my thoughts about books that stood out to me.

Deathbringer by Bryan Smith

First sentence:

"Hannah Starke watched a fly make its slow way up the length of her slim, tanned leg."

Description:

"Hannah Starke was the first to die. And the first to come back. In the small town of Dandridge they all come back. The buried claw their way out of their graves. The recently killed get up and kill. As the dead attack the living, the number of the dead continues to grow. And the odds against the living get worse and worse.

In the middle of it all stands a dark, shadowy figure, a stranger in town with an unspeakable goal. If he is successful, death will rule Dandridge and the terror will continue to spread until all hope is lost. Who can defeat an army of the living dead? Who can stand face-to-face against the . . .DEATHBRINGER" -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I don't read much in the zombie genre so I wasn't sure if I would like this book, but I did. I think what made this book a little different was that the zombies retained some of their memories and were aware of what they had become.


Date read: 10/24/2016
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Horror

ISBN-10:  0843956771
ISBN-13: 9780843956771
Imprint: Leisure Books
Publisher: Dorchester Publishing
Year: 2006
# of pages: 342
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page:

Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick

First sentence:

"For sixty-five days, the Mayflower had blundered her way through storms and headwinds, her bottom a shaggy pelt of seaweed and barnacles, her leaky decks spewing salt water onto her passengers' devoted heads."

Description:

"How did America begin?

That simple question launches acclaimed author Nathaniel Philbrick on an extraordinary journey to understand the truth behind our most sacred national myth: the voyage of the Mayflower and the settlement of Plymouth Colony. As Philbrick reveals in this electrifying new history of the Pilgrims, the story of Plymouth Colony was a fifty-five year epic that began in peril and ended in war. New England erupted into a bloody conflict that nearly wiped out the English colonists and natives alike/ These events shaped the existing communities and the country that would grow from them." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I learned a lot from this book concerning early interactions between Europeans and the various tribes in New England. For example, I didn't know, before reading the book, that Plymouth was a separate colony from the Massachusetts Bay colony to the north. I also learned that a big part of the reasons for the wars between the settlers and the natives was desire for power and for land.

Date read: 10/1/2016
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: History

ISBN-10: 0143111973
ISBN-13: 9780143111979
Publisher: Penguin Books
Year: 2006
# of pages: 463
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page