June Reflections

Books Reviewed at Becky's Book Reviews

77. The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope. C.W. Grafton. 1943/2020. Poisoned Pen Press. 304 pages. [Source: Review copy]
78. Jeannie's Demise: Abortion on Trial in Victorian Ontario. Ian Radforth. 2020. [October] 258 pages. [Source: Review copy] [adult nonfiction; history]
79. Better Off Read. (Bookmobile Mystery #1) Nora Page. 2018. 325 pages. [Source: Library]
80. The Places We Sleep. Caroline Brooks DuBois. 2020. 272 pages. [Source: Review copy] [verse novel; coming of age; 9/11]
81. Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters. Jennifer Chiaverini. 2020. 352 pages. [Source: Review copy] [Historical fiction]
82. The Taste of Longing: Ethel Mulvany and Her Starving Prisoners of War Cookbook. Suzanne Evans. 2020. Between the Lines. 306 pages. [Source: Review copy] [nonfiction; World War II; mental illness]
83. The Huntress. Kate Quinn. 2019. 560 pages. [Source: Library] [World War II]
84. Dragonfly. Leila Meacham. 2019. 563 pages. [Source: Library] [World War II]
85. The Downstairs Girl. Stacey Lee. 2019. 374 pages. [Source: Library] [Historical fiction; YA Fiction]
86. The Beauty Chorus. Kate Lord Brown. 2020. (2011) 434 pages. [Source: Review copy] [Historical romance; World War II]
87.  The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. A Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen Anne. William Makepeace Thackery. 1852. 528 pages. [Source: Bought] [dull books; classic; Victorian literature]
88. Ender's Game. Orson Scott Card. 1985. 324 pages. [Source: Library]
89. Something Wicked This Way Comes. Ray Bradbury. 1962. 293 pages. [Source: Library]

Books Reviewed at Young Readers

65. Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster. Jonathan Auxier. 2018. 368 pages. [Source: Library]
66. Write to Me: Letters from Japanese American Children to the Librarian Left Behind. Cynthia Grady. 2018. 32 pages. [Source: Library]
67. The Willoughbys Return. Lois Lowry. 2020. [September] 176 pages. [Source: Review copy]
68. Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Nikki Grimes. 2021. [January] Bloomsbury. 128 pages. [Source: Review copy] [poetry]
69. Just Beyond the Very Very Far North. Dan Bar-el. Illustrated by Kelly Pousette. 2020. [October] 272 pages. [Source: Review copy] [j fantasy; animal fantasy; friendship]
70. Mr. Mensch and His Magical Meshugenahmobile: Stranger Danger. David Michael Slater. Illustrated by Michelle Simpson. 2020. 66 pages. [Source: Review copy]
71. The Wednesday Wars. Gary D. Schmidt. 2007. 264 pages. [Source: Library]
72. Silent Journey. Carl Watson. Illustrated by Andrew Bosley. 2020. 176 pages. [Source: Review copy]

Books Reviewed at Operation Actually Read Bible

44. If I Were You. Lynn Austin. 2020. Tyndale. 464 pages. [Source: Review copy] [Women's Fiction. World War II. Friendship. Christian Fiction]
45. You Are Never Alone: Trust in the Miracle of God's Presence and Power. Max Lucado. September 2020. 240 pages. [Source: Review copy] [Devotional. Christian Living]
46. Reading Romans with Luther. R.J. Grunewald. 2017. 128 pages. [Source: Review copy] [Christian nonfiction; devotional]
47. It's All About Jesus: A Treasury of Insights on Our Savior, Lord, and Friend. Randy Alcorn. 2020. Harvest House. 304 pages. [Source: Review copy] [christian nonfiction; devotional]
48. Why Is My Teenager Feeling Like This? A Guide for Helping Teens Through Anxiety and Depression. David P. Murray. 2020. Crossway. 160 pages. [Source: Review copy] [parenting; christian nonfiction]
49. Why Am I Feeling Like This? A Teen's Guide to Freedom From Anxiety and Depression. David P. Murray. 2020. Crossway. 144 pages. [Source: Review copy] [teens; YA; self-help; christian nonfiction]
50. Weep with Me: How Lament Opens a Door for Racial Reconciliation. Mark Vroegop. Foreword by Thabiti M. Anyabwile. 2020. Crossway. [Source: Review copy]
51. Pandemics, Plagues, and Natural Disasters. Erwin Lutzer. 2020. Moody publishers. 176 pages. [Source: Review copy]

Bibles Reviewed at Operation Actually Read Bible

5. MEV Personal Size Large Print. Passio. 2015. 1952 pages. [Source: Bought]

5 Star Reads

The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope. C.W. Grafton. 1943/2020. Poisoned Pen Press. 304 pages. [Source: Review copy]
 Write to Me: Letters from Japanese American Children to the Librarian Left Behind. Cynthia Grady. 2018. 32 pages. [Source: Library]
  The Willoughbys Return. Lois Lowry. 2020. [September] 176 pages. [Source: Review copy]
 If I Were You. Lynn Austin. 2020. Tyndale. 464 pages. [Source: Review copy] [Women's Fiction. World War II. Friendship. Christian Fiction]
 Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters. Jennifer Chiaverini. 2020. 352 pages. [Source: Review copy] [Historical fiction]
 The Taste of Longing: Ethel Mulvany and Her Starving Prisoners of War Cookbook. Suzanne Evans. 2020. Between the Lines. 306 pages. [Source: Review copy] [nonfiction; World War II; mental illness]
 Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Nikki Grimes. 2021. [January] Bloomsbury. 128 pages. [Source: Review copy] [poetry]
 It's All About Jesus: A Treasury of Insights on Our Savior, Lord, and Friend. Randy Alcorn. 2020. Harvest House. 304 pages. [Source: Review copy] [christian nonfiction; devotional]
 Why Am I Feeling Like This? A Teen's Guide to Freedom From Anxiety and Depression. David P. Murray. 2020. Crossway. 144 pages. [Source: Review copy] [teens; YA; self-help; christian nonfiction]
 The Downstairs Girl. Stacey Lee. 2019. 374 pages. [Source: Library] [Historical fiction; YA Fiction]
 The Beauty Chorus. Kate Lord Brown. 2020. (2011) 434 pages. [Source: Review copy] [Historical romance; World War II]
  The Wednesday Wars. Gary D. Schmidt. 2007. 264 pages. [Source: Library]

June Totals

June Totals
Pages	9909
Books	29

Yearly Totals

2020 Totals
Pages	60484
Books	212

© 2020 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

89. Something Wicked This Way Comes

Something Wicked This Way Comes. Ray Bradbury. 1962. 293 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: First of all, it was October, a rare month for boys. Not that all months aren't rare. But there be bad and good, as the pirates say. Take September, a bad month: school begins. Consider August, a good month: school hasn't begun yet. July, well, July's really fine: there's no chance in the world for school. June, no doubting it, June's best of all, for the school doors spring wide and September's a billion years away.

Premise/plot: Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade are best, best, best, best friends. One born a minute before midnight on October 30; one born a minute after midnight on October 31. They've lived side by side and done practically everything together. Still there's a wild recklessness that beckons to Jim now and again. In Something Wicked This Way Comes, a carnival comes to town bringing strange, strange, strange people and mysterious dangers. There is something alluring and tempting about the carnival, but also unsettling and disturbing. The boys have free tickets to ride...but will they risk their souls for fun?

The carnival poses some risk to the whole town, for it's not just kids or the young at heart with a sense of adventure and longing hearts. But for Jim and Will it poses extra danger because of their snooping.

My thoughts: I would recommend Something Wicked This Way Comes to those that love atmospheric reads with thrills and spooks.

It is well written. I didn't love, love, love, love it. But I definitely liked it.

The trouble with Jim was he looked at the world and could not look away. And when you never look away all your life, by the time you are thirteen you have done twenty years taking in the laundry of the world. (40)

A stranger is shot in the street, you hardly move to help. But if, half an hour before, you spent just tent minutes with the fellow and knew a little about him and his family, you might just jump in front of his killer and try to stop it. Really knowing is good. Not knowing, or refusing to know, is bad, or amoral at least. You can't act if you don't know. Acting without knowing takes you right off the cliff. (198)

By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
So vague, yet so immense. He did not want to live with it. Yet he knew that, during this night, unless he lived with it very well, he might have to live with it all the rest of his life. (186)

© 2020 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

88. Ender's Game

Ender's Game. Orson Scott Card. 1985. 324 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: "I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one. Or at least as close as we're going to get."

Premise/plot: Andrew Wiggin, aka "Ender," is six years old and potentially the earth's savior. Two wars have been fought and barely won against the aliens known to readers as Buggers. The third war will take much preparation--decades worth of the International Fleet training up children to be commanders and soldiers.

Ender is one such student or trainee. His older brother, Peter, and older sister, Valentine, didn't make it so far as Battle School in space. Ender's life is wearisome and burdensome. He doesn't make friends easily and his biggest fear is being just as violent and out of control as his brother, Peter. He is prone to self-reflection and self-loathing. But in terms of military genius, strategizing, leadership...he excels.

When the time comes to fight the war, will he be ready?

My thoughts: For a decade I would have considered this one of my favorite, favorite books. Now that it's been almost twenty years or so since I first read it--well, my thoughts and impressions have changed some. I love the last fourth of the novel. That hasn't changed. But the first fourth of the novel, well, it's DISTURBING, uncomfortable, awkward, a bit off. I did NOT remember the use of the n word. I did not remember the jokesy approach to different races (or ethnicities). I did not remember the chokehold scene where Peter is trying to kill his brother. I did not remember some of the crudeness.

One thing that bothers me is Peter. Peter is a psychopath in my opinion. He is cruel to his brother and sister. He is cruel to small animals. He is a bully. He is manipulative. He is egocentric and a narcissist. He dreams of world domination. He is just a sick, sick, sick individual. And I think what readers are outright told about him is just the tip of the iceberg. If Valentine is to be believed about the files and records she's been keeping of her brother. Chances are he might have done even more than she knew about. There was one line that disturbed me where she is telling Ender that you don't know what I had to do to keep Peter from hurting you. Of course, we don't know--she doesn't say. But Card later seems to redeem the character of Peter and seeks to make him sympathetic.

Card does do flawed humans well. I will give him that. Are any of the characters in this one not flawed?!?! I think the most likable characters may be Bean and Petra.

© 2020 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

87. The History of Henry Esmond, Esq

The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. A Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen Anne. William Makepeace Thackery. 1852. 528 pages. [Source: Bought] [dull books; classic; Victorian literature]

First sentence: When Francis, fourth Viscount Castlewood, came to his title, and presently after to take possession of his house of Castlewood, county Hants, in the year 1691, almost the only tenant of the place besides the domestics was a lad of twelve years of age, of whom no one seemed to take any note until my Lady Viscountess lighted upon him, going over the house with the housekeeper on the day of her arrival.

Premise/plot: Henry Esmond is an orphan being raised by his distant cousins, Francis and Rachel Esmond. He is brought up with their two children Beatrix and Frank. He is in that awkward space between servant and adopted son. The moods of this couple vary greatly. He is either greatly beloved or scorned and rejected. For example, when the plague comes--I believe it is the plague--he is REJECTED because he's blamed for the family's exposure to it. The couple's relationship is never quite the same after that--the plague--and the happy marriage becomes miserable. Of course, Henry is to blame. But the two are determined to see him educated--and at Cambridge University. While their moods are completely volatile and unreliable, Henry feels only love, loyalty, and gratitude. Perhaps to the point of being ridiculous?

(Henry comes from a long line of Stuart-supporters and Stuart-defenders. In fact, I believe, his father and grandfather both died in battle because of their allegiance.) 

So when Henry isn't being a soldier--he's a Colonel by the end of the book--he's madly, truly, deeply in love with the unattainable, cold-hearted Beatrix. That is until he isn't. Who's the love of his life? Well, in a surprise twist that comes on the last page or second to last page, it's revealed he marries his FOSTER MOTHER. (Never mind that he's spent probably ten to twelve years at least thinking of her as HIS MOTHER.)

My thoughts: I don't know what's worse being bored to death with all the war talk (though, the fact that he had encounters with famous men of the time like Richard Steele and Jonathan Swift, and others, etc. was slightly interesting) OR being grossed out by the fact that he falls in love with his mother. Yes, she's not technically his mother--biologically. But she is his foster mother, adopted mother, recognized guardian.

Quotes:

• 'Tis not the dying for a faith that's so hard, Master Harry—every man of every nation has done that—'tis the living up to it that is difficult, as I know to my cost," he added with a sigh.
• To see a young couple loving each other is no wonder; but to see an old couple loving each other is the best sight of all.
• 'Tis a hard task for women in life, that mask which the world bids them wear. But there is no greater crime than for a woman who is ill used and unhappy to show that she is so.
• "I never had a mother, but I love this lady as one. I worship her as a devotee worships a saint. To hear her name spoken lightly seems blasphemy to me. Would you dare think of your own mother so, or suffer any one so to speak of her? It is a horror to me to fancy that any man should think of her impurely. I implore you, I beseech you, to leave her. Danger will come out of it."
•  "Yes, I did, Harry," said she; "I thought of it; and think of it. I would sooner call you my son than the greatest prince in Europe—yes, than the greatest prince. For who is there so good and so brave, and who would love her as you would? But there are reasons a mother can't tell."
• "I am your mother, you are my son, and I love you always," she said, holding her hands over him: and he went away comforted and humbled in mind, as he thought of that amazing and constant love and tenderness with which this sweet lady ever blessed and pursued him.
• I suppose a man's vanity is stronger than any other passion in him;
• Parting and forgetting! What faithful heart can do these? Our great thoughts, our great affections, the Truths of our life, never leave us.

     

© 2020 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

86. The Beauty Chorus

The Beauty Chorus. Kate Lord Brown. 2020. (2011) 434 pages. [Source: Review copy] [Historical romance; World War II]

First sentence: I have four and a half hours to live. I am leaning against the wing of the yellow-bellied Airspeed Oxford, smoking contentedly while the ground crew chaps run their final checks. The freezing rain hisses as it hits the glowing coal of my cigarette, drums softly on the tin roof of the hangar. Call me Johnnie, by the way. Everyone does.

Premise/plot: The Beauty Chorus tells the story of Evie Chase, Stella Grainger, and Megan Jones three (fictional) pilots who ferried planes for the ATA. (Air Transport Auxiliary) The three join up at the same time and live together in a small cottage.

The book focuses more on their personal lives and off hours--recreational hours--than their time in the skies. Though much of their dialogue is talking about how much they love, love, love flying and how happy they are to serve Britain. For those that love historical ROMANCE with highlights of war drama, this is a satisfying read cover to cover. For those that are looking for WAR DRAMA with little tolerance for romance, may find it disappointing.

My thoughts: I really LOVED this one. I love books with a World War II setting. I enjoy books set in Britain. I enjoy romance novels. There were so many reasons that this would be a perfect perfect fit for me. And it was. It isn't a squeaky clean read. But the characterization so strong and the actual graphic bits so small a percentage--that I didn't mind it at all. I could feel giddy without guilt. I am speaking of my own personal preferences. I know that every single reader is different and has different likes, dislikes, expectations, and standards. My tastes are my tastes.  
 

She raised her cup of tea. ‘Well, here’s to the ATA and here’s to us.’ ‘The Always Terrified Airwomen?’ Evie said drolly. ‘I think I prefer “the beauty chorus”.’ ‘Rather that than “Ancient and Tattered”.’ Stella held Evie’s gaze as Megan enthusiastically tucked into her roast beef. ‘Do you think we’ll cope?’

 Shackleton talked of his fourth man. TS Eliot wrote of the other who walks beside you. We who have gone before are with you when you need us most. We are there holding our dying sons on the battlefields and beaches as they drown in their own blood. These women are my daughters, my sisters, and I shall be ‘the other’ flying with them, until this is over and we have won our peace.

© 2020 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews