Becky's Book Reviews

Monday, March 06, 2023

49. Miss Newbury's List

Miss Newbury's List (Proper Romance) Megan Walker. 2023. 280 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: I leaned over the trunk at the foot of my bed in a desperate, frantic search.

Premise/plot: Miss Newbury's List is a Regency romance novel by Megan Walker. It is in the Proper Romance (clean) line of books published by Shadow Mountain. Our heroine, Rosalind Newbury, is engaged to marry the Duke of Marlow. It's not a love match--for either of them. They've only met twice. Her parents are incredibly excited--beyond thrilled--with the match. Marrying nobility is a dream that has been passed down for generations. Their daughter is the one who will make her parents dreams come true. That's good, right? Well, maybe.

Rosalind Newbury has a best friend, Liza, and Liza has a visiting cousin, Charlie. Charlie and Rosalind (or Ros) grow closer as her wedding draws near. You see, Miss Newbury has....a [bucket] list. When she was a child--perhaps ten?--she wrote a list of things [about ten???] she wanted to accomplish before she got married. Her bucket list is probably unusual for the times. First, I'm not sure anyone--male or female--wrote out "bucket lists" (not that it is ever in any way called a bucket list) of things to accomplish before marriage [or while they were young]. Second, even if men did have a "bucket" list of things they wanted to accomplish...I'm not sure young women would have. Third, the items on the list are unusual. In that almost all of the items on the list challenge the norms.

My thoughts: In all honesty, I thought all of the items on Rosalind's list were out of place, out of time, a bit off. Like is Rosalind really a young woman born circa 1800??? Or is she a twenty-first century woman wearing bonnets and petticoats? Perhaps "all" is too strong. I thought most of them were ridiculous. By extension, I then began thinking of Rosalind as ridiculous. [For example, when Rosalind decides to "learn to swim" by sneaking out early in the morning, going off by herself, and jumping into a pond having no plan, no idea, no help if things go wrong. That just seems high risk for little reward. Of course, she almost drowns and ends this whole list business.]

As for Charlie, I do like Charlie for the most part. I don't like his interest in boxing. (Though I'm guessing that aspect of sport/hobby is historically accurate). But he's a good guy.

The book is super-predictable. I typically do not mind in any way a predictable romance. I don't. The more I love the couple, the more predictability I want, expect, need.

For readers who embrace this notion of a bucket list and a free-spirited, quirky young heroine, this one offers a sweet, clean romance.

Sunday, March 05, 2023

48. Waco

Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage. Jeff Guinn. 2023. [January] 400 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Just before dawn on Sunday, February 28, 1993, an eighty-vehicle caravan departed Fort Hood Army base outside Killeen, Texas, heading northeast toward Waco, sixty-five miles away.

Premise/plot: Nonfiction book...about...you guessed it: Waco, David Koresh and the Branch Davidians. (Also the ATF, FBI, law enforcement, CPS, and "government" in general). The story isn't simple nor straightforward. (Perhaps it was naive of me to expect it to be.) The prologue starts moments before the initial raid in late February 1993. The prologue ends on a cliffhanger. It takes hundreds--literally--of pages to get back to that point in time. (That may annoy some readers.)

So this book seeks to provide context, context, and more context. Context on the Seventh Day Adventists. Context on the Davidians. Context on the Branch Davidians. Context on when this sect of a sect of a sect moves to Texas, just outside Waco. Context on about eighty plus years of leadership and ministry of the Branch Davidians. Context on Vernon Wayne Howell (who changed his name to David Koresh). Context on his joining the Branch Davidians in the late 70s/early 80s. His becoming 'the Lamb' and re-visioning things in the 80s and 90s. But also context/history of the ATF and other cooperating government forces. Journalists covering this story over the year. So I'd say about 85% of this one is all background context. Covering decades of history. Is it all necessary to have a basic understanding of the raid????? (I don't know. Some context, for sure, is helpful. This is extreme, in my opinion).

My thoughts: This book is SLOW. Slower than I thought it would be. I expected a bit more action and drama. It's not that action and drama weren't there. It's just that the action-y bits come very late in the game after a lot of history. I almost think I'd be more interested--maintained interest/engagement--if it was a documentary. A documentary with a narrator would be a good fit for me.

All things considered, this one does have a lot of information. I expected it to have a position, to take a side. It presents both sides. It doesn't take sides. It purposefully doesn't take sides. Even when one of the sides features very disturbing, incredibly disturbing, how can you not be seriously disturbed information. (I will NOT spell out the specifics.) So it was odd that this one went out of its way to stay neutral. To say maybe the government was 100% wrong. Maybe the Branch Davidians were 100% right. Maybe the world would be a better place if the government hadn't decided to interfere. Maybe Waco was the start of a terrible trend of terrorism. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

Sunday Salon #10 Too many books???

While I would never admit to owning too many books. (OUTRAGEOUS slander, I tell you). I might admit some weeks that I have too many books checked out from the library at any given time. In part, I think it's because when I'm putting books on hold, I don't know *when* books will come in and be ready to be checked out. And sometimes, it's a steady flow of books turned in and books checked out. And other times, all the holds come in at once and I lose my flow. I've got quite a stack of books.

I had originally planned on reading more review copies and fewer library books. But, of course, then all my hold books started coming in....with a due date. Books with a due date almost always take priority. I'll try to be balanced, but my vision of focusing more on review copies seems unrealistic now.

Not all of my 'currently reading' comes from the library, but many do:

Review copies:
Miss Newbury's List by Megan Walker
Find the Moon by Beth Fehlbaum
The Court of Last Resort by Erle Stanley Gardner

Library books:
The Plot Is Murder by V.M. Burns
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
The Winter Soldier: Cold Front by Mackenzi Lee
Waco by Jeff Guinn
True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

Questions:

How often do you use the library or library resources?
Is your 'hold' list out of control?
Do you have self-control when it comes to checking out books? or putting books on hold?
What book are you looking forward to reading in March?

Wednesday, March 01, 2023

47. Among the Hidden

Among the Hidden. Margaret Peterson Haddix. 1998. 153 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: He saw the first tree shudder and fall, far off in the distance. Then he heard his mother call out the kitchen window: "Luke! Inside. Now." He had never disobeyed the order to hide.

ETA: I really love, love, love Margaret Peterson Haddix. I enjoy rereading her books every now and then. I don't know that my library still has in its collection the whole series. But I'm going to try to read more of her books (again, again) this year.

Premise/plot: Among the Hidden is the first book in Margaret Peterson Haddix's fast-paced futuristic middle grade series. Luke Garner is a shadow child, an illegal third child; his parents are farmers in a rural community which gave him small doses of freedom--if freedom means breathing fresh air outside--now and then. But when the woods around his house are bulldozed to make room for more houses--or apartments--even that small bit of liberty is lost. Luke "lives" his life in the attic and on the stairs. His family fears the Population Police so much that they don't even allow Luke to eat with them in the kitchen. Things seem to be getting progressively worse; so much so that his mother decides to get a job--in a factory, I believe--leaving Luke alone in the house. One day Luke notices that one of the neighbor's has his lights on when no one is supposed to be home. Then he sees a face; could Luke have found another hidden child? Could this child be his friend? Only if Luke dares to disobey his parents and go outside. Is there life outside the attic?

My thoughts: I remember discovering this series a few years after I first started blogging. It was LOVE. I remember that it was winter. While I had the first two or three checked out at the same time, I finished them all in one day and a snowstorm kept me from getting the rest of the series right when I wanted them, no, NEEDED them. Long story short, CHECK OUT ALL THE TITLES AT ONCE. That's my advice to you. I found the series to be fast-paced, compelling, thoughtful. I really loved Luke and his new friend, Jen.

46. The Woman They Could Not Silence

The Woman They Could Not Silence: The Shocking Story of a Woman Who Dared to Fight Back. Kate Moore. 2021. 537 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence from the author's note: This is not a book about mental health, but about how it can be used as a weapon. It's a historical book.

First sentence from the prologue: If she screamed, she sealed her fate. She had to keep her rage locked up inside her, her feelings as tightly buttoned as her blouse. Nevertheless, they came for her. Two men pressed around her, lifting her in their arms, her wide skirts crushed by their clumsy movements--much like her heart inside her chest. Still, she did not fight back, did not lash out wildly, did not slap or hit. The only protest she could permit herself was this: a paralysis of her limbs. She held her body stiff and unyielding and refused to walk to her destiny, no matter how he begged. Amid the vast crowd that had gathered to bear witness, just one person spoke.

First sentence from chapter one: It was the last day, but she didn't know it. In truth, we never do. Not until it is too late.

Premise/plot: The Woman They Could Not Silence is a biography of Elizabeth Packard. It is the story of how she turned an absolutely horrible and unjust circumstance into an opportunity to change laws and society. Theophilus and Elizabeth Packard, but, not entirely happily. It seems that after some [early] years together [that were mostly quiet and peaceful], Elizabeth began to think, to think for herself, to think above and beyond what her husband wanted. Namely, her husband, a minister, became greatly upset when his wife began to reach different conclusions about religion. Not only did she form contrary opinions to his doctrine, she would talk about her opinions with others--men, women, her own children. Whether he truly and sincerely believed that she was actually insane and must be committed to an insane asylum for her own good, or, if her committal to an insane asylum was just beneficial to him personally, I don't know if we--the readers--can know. But we do know that she was committed against her will--at the will of her husband (and father, and many members of the congregation, there was a petition)--for several years. Being locked away had unintended consequences, it gave her a voice. Or perhaps the better way to phrase it, was instead of taking away her voice, it strengthened it. Instead of silencing her and hampering her circle of influence, it strengthened her voice, impassioned her, and gave her a life-long calling.

The book covers her life--and life's work--from 1860 onward. It discusses the rights--or lack of rights--for women, married women, for those women deemed insane. It covers laws, politics, and religion.

My thoughts: Elizabeth Packard is an author I'd never heard of before. I found her story--this biography--fascinating. It is a complex read. I would recommend for those who enjoy history, biography, legislation and law, politics, and culture.