Teen/YA Review: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

With so little time to myself these days for audiobooks, it took me more than a month to finally finish listening to my latest (and a Big Book), The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. It is a prequel to The Hunger Games trilogy, which takes place decades before that famous story. As with all of Collins' novels, it was suspenseful, surprising, and thoughtful.

As readers of the trilogy know, Coriolanus Snow ends up being President of Panem ... and he is pretty evil by then, fully committed to the barbaric Hunger Games and to keeping the Districts under the control of the Capital. But here in this novel, only ten years after the war, Coriolanus is just a teen-aged boy whose once-important family has fallen on hard times. There are only three of them left: Coriolanus, his teen cousin, Tigris, and their Grandmam. Everyone else was killed during the war (and his mother was killed in childbirth). They survived the war period on a diet of lima beans and cabbage, while Corilanus' father was a hero, off fighting the Districts, and they could very possibly lose their beloved family home, if the rumors about imposing a property tax in the Capital are true. Thanks to his family connections, Coriolanus attends the prestigious Academy, but he will have to win awards and scholarships in order to continue onto college. He works very hard to keep up appearances at school, and Tigris, who is a gifted seamstress and close friend to her cousin, helps him to look his best, to keep their poverty a secret.

Into this quiet, routine life of behind-the-scenes struggle comes the 10th Annual Hunger Games. For the first time ever, the Capital is assigning Academy students to mentor the tributes from the Districts. On Reaping Day, one tribute stands out: Lucy Gray from District 12. While initially disappointed he wasn't assigned a big, strong boy, Coriolanus quickly sees the positive aspects of his own tribute, in her outrageously cheery and colorful dress, with her beautiful singing voice and haunting song. At first, Coriolanus helps Lucy Gray in his own self-interest, so that he can get a scholarship for his role in helping her win the Games. Soon, though, he gets to know her as a real person, and the two become friends ... and maybe more. Coriolanus becomes confused and pulled in different directions: he's supposed to be a proud member of the Capital, but how can this be right, forcing sweet kids like Lucy Gray to fight to the death? The evil Game Master, his classmates, and his headmaster all play roles as Coriolanus fights internally to decide what to do and how far he will go to protect Lucy Gray.

As always, Collins has provided thought-provoking, morally-complex subject matter that is set in a wholly different world but somehow also reflects our own issues. I love this about her writing (we were huge fans of her Gregor the Overlander series long before The Hunger Games), and I thoroughly enjoyed this new novel, as well ... until the end. I struggled with the ending. I was thinking (as all readers will) throughout the book, "What will happen to Snow to make him turn him from this tormented teen into the evil President of Panem someday?" But when that moment came, it didn't feel quite believable to me. I had one of those moments where I thought I missed something on the audio and rewound a bit to listen again, but I hadn't missed anything. All that said, that sharp turn in Coriolanus' life comes in the very last chapters of this long book, and I very much enjoyed all the rest of it. Lucy Gray is a wonderful character, the other characters and setting are richly developed, and I enjoyed learning Snow's backstory.

528 pages, Scholastic Press

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, as Coriolanus talks to a friend and worries about the proposed tax, and/or download it from Audible.

You can purchase The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

You can also buy through indie bookstores using Bookshop.

Or you can order The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

It's Monday 7/13! What Are You Reading?

We are still mostly in crisis here, but managing and getting through it day by day. Our week was again focused on my father-in-law (who's 95 and recently had a sharp decline cognitively) and trying to line up the help he needs. We've made some progress on a few fronts, but we are still in the midst of some serious stress. We found out this weekend that he does have a mild UTI, so that's good news. After just 24 hours on antibiotics, he was vastly--shockingly--improved at lunchtime Sunday. After weeks of barely being able to get him out of bed and ready for meals, he was sitting up in his chair when my husband arrived, already dressed, ready for lunch, and even had a list of things he needs from the store! Unfortunately, by dinnertime, he was out of it again, and he called about 10 times in the middle of the might (he has his days and nights mixed up and time has lost all meaning lately), but we did see that glimmer of hope, and we are hoping he will at least come back to his baseline of about a month ago.

Meanwhile, while my husband has been running back and forth, I've been on the phone. We decided against assisted living for now because we wouldn't be able to see him at all--they are all still on total lockdown in our state. Losing contact with us would just push him over the edge. We're arranging for 3-4 hours of in-home care each day, which should help a lot, but we were worried about the cost. Then, we found out there is a VA program to provide assistance for in-home care or assisted living, and he's a vet! So, we need to apply for that program for him: more phone calls and forms to fill out!

That's pretty much our life right now. And, of course, we are all still enjoying our books and Big Book Summer here--reading is a wonderful escape! There's still plenty of time to join the fun: you only need to read one book of 400 or more pages by September (and, of course, you can read more if you want).

Here's what we have all been reading this past week:

I finished my next Big Book, one we inherited from my dad, Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King. I've wanted to read this trilogy ever since I read The Outsider last fall because I loved the character of Holly Gibney. In this novel, retired Detective Bill Hodges gets an anonymous letter from one of "the ones who got away," a man dubbed the Mercedes Killer who killed eight people when he drove into a crowd a few years ago. It's one of the cases that has always bothered Bill and has never been solved. Now, the killer himself has written a Bill a letter, filled with tantalizing details, taunting his inability to catch him. Bored by retirement, Bill suddenly feels like his life has purpose again and begins to re-investigate the case, using some of the clues from the letter and digging into details that bothered him at the time. Eventually, as I anticipated, weird, neurotic, lovable Holly joins him, along with the super-smart teenager who takes care of his yard, Jerome. I loved it just as much as I expected to; as always, King's suspense is almost unbearable ... and delicious. I am tempted to jump right into the next book, Finders Keepers, but I need to tackle some other books first. I'll be starting something new later today.

I was hoping to report that I had also finished my audiobook (it's taking me forever to listen to a Big Book on audio, with a full house here!), but I am still listening to The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. You've probably heard about this one, since it is getting a LOT of attention right now. It's the prequel to The Hunger Games, and it begins at the start of the 10th annual Hunger Games, while the war is still a recent memory. The story focuses on Coriolanus Snow, a teen-aged boy, who readers of the series know will eventually become President of Panem. Here, though, he is a self-conscious boy from a great family that has fallen on very hard times. He's trying to hide the fact that the remaining members of his family--him, his cousin, Tigris, and their grandmother--are barely surviving, eating cabbage and lima beans and unable to keep their family home if the rumored property tax is truly put into place. He feels like he has one chance to prove himself: as a mentor to one of the contestants from the districts. He is  assigned to mentor a girl from District 12 named Lucy Gray, a girl who creates quite a stir on Reaping Day with her colorful outfit and beautiful song. As Coriolanus gets to know her better, his role in her life becomes more and more complicated, causing him to question the Hunger Games and the Capitol's role in it. I am loving this book, and as always, Collins has provided such thought-provoking, morally complex subject matter.

My husband, Ken, is still reading a book I put in his Easter basket, The A List by J.A. Jance. It's a thriller about a woman named Ali Reynolds who used to be a broadcast journalist. The last story she did before her career ended was about a man who needed a kidney, which spiraled into a massive medical scandal. The doctor at the center of it went to prison for murder. He is now bent on revenge, even from prison, and Ali is on the list of those he blames for his demise. Ali and her cybersecurity team must race against time to stop the doctor's continuing murder spree before Ali is next. My husband says that so far it's not quite as fast-paced as he had hoped, but it's got an interesting and unique plot that he's enjoying. Not bad for a drugstore choice while everything else was closed this spring!

Our son, 25, returned to an old favorite series and read Heretic, book 7 in the The Sanctuary Series by Robert J. Crane, which he is loving. We gave him book 1, Defender, for Christmas 2018, and he loved the series so much that he quickly read books 2, 3, and 4, also. So, this past Christmas, we gave him book 5, which he read this spring, moving quickly onto book 6. The series is epic fantasy about a world called Arkaria and features dragons, titans, goblins, and more. He loves the series, and he flew through this latest book on his Kindle and immediately moved onto book 8, Legend.



Blog posts from last week:

Movie Monday: I See You - super twisty thriller filled with surprises that we loved!

Fiction Review: Vera Kelly Is Not a Mystery by Rosalie Knecht - 2nd in a great series about a girl spy/detective in the 1960's

Fiction Review: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller - WWII classic that highlights the humor, absurdities, and horror of war

My Summary of Books Read in June - a Big Book Summer month!

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.   

What are you and your family reading this week? 

Books Read in June

Tall trees & summer greenery

So, now it's July, which means the year is half-over. Wait...what??? That seems crazy, especially this year when time has lost all meaning! But, it's true, which means it's time for my June reading summary. Here's what I finished reading last month:

• Faithful Place by Tana French (Ireland) - adult fiction
• A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen (CA) - adult fiction on audio
• Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty (Australia) - adult fiction

 

• Vera Kelly Is Not a Mystery by Rosalie Knecht (NY, Dominican Republic) - adult fiction
• Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (Italy) - classic adult fiction

So, I finished just five books in June, but four of them were Big Books (more than 400 pages), so that's pretty typical for my summer reading. It was an all-fiction and all-adult month--no middle-grade or YA books at all. I listened to one on audio (my listening time has really been greatly reduced with everyone home) and read the others in print. Several of these were marked in my reading journal as "Loved it!" but I would say that Faithful Place was my favorite of the month; I was completely immersed in the story.

Progress in 2020 Reading Challenges:
You can see all of the reading challenges I am participating in and full lists of the books read for each at the challenges link. I have some fun ones going this year! Here's how June stacked up:

Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2020 - I read 3 books from my own shelves last month. The pandemic has been great for reducing my TBR shelves!  

2020 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge - June was Name or Number (in the title), and I read one of each: Vera Kelly Is Not a Mystery by Rosalie Knecht AND Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Back to the Classics 2020 - I read another classic, bringing my grand total for 2020 to ... three! I read Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, which fit perfectly into the category "Abandoned Classic," since I started it last summer.

PopSugar Reading Challenge - this is a unique one! I couldn;t fit any of my five books into my remaining categories--it's getting more challenging with fewer categories left but still a lot of fun.

2020 Nonfiction Reader's Challenge - No nonfiction in June.

2020 Diversity Reading Challenge - Only one of my five was a diverse read--Vera Kelly Is Not a Mystery by Rosalie Knecht--but it fit perfectly into the month's category of LGBT+.

Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge - I read in four more countries last month: Ireland, Australia, Dominican Republic, and Italy.

2020 Literary Escapes Challenge - I added no new states last month.

2020 Big Book Summer Challenge - I kicked off my own annual challenge in style, with 4 Big Books last month!

And finally, Bookish Bingo hosted by Chapter Break - not really a challenge per se, but a fun game that I play each month! Stop by to print out this month's Bingo card and play along. In June, I filled 19 spaces on my bingo card, which is great for only five books:

Spaces Filled:

Faithful Place - memory, father, coming of age
A Beginning at the End - free book, audio book, highly anticipated read, landscape on cover
Truly Madly Guilty - shelf love, not in a series
Vera Kelly Is Not a Mystery - read an e-book, travel, book club book, detective, in a series, missing person
Catch-22 - anti-hero, read a physical book, outdoor activity
Free Space

What was your favorite book read in June?

Fiction Review: Catch-22

I have wanted to read the WWII classic Catch-22 by Joseph Heller for years, but the story of how I actually read it stretches across two summers! I began it last year for my annual Big Book Summer Challenge and struggled with it. I set it down after a couple of weeks, thinking I would pick it up again, and ... it sat on my bookcase for another year. This summer, I picked it up again for Big Book Summer and was pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed it very much and finished it easily. Here's the scoop on what's it about, what I struggled with, and what I ended up liking.

Set on the island of Pianosa in the Mediterranean Sea during WWII, Catch-22 is focused on a U.S. Army Air Squadron. John Yossarian is at the center of the novel, though most of the rest of the squadron have a voice and a story to tell as well. The central conflict in the novel is that one crazy colonel keeps raising the required number of missions for the men. Every time one of them gets close to meeting the requirements and going home, the colonel raises the number of required missions again. Yossarian tries to get sent home on the basis of being crazy, but Catch-22 states that any man who says he is crazy and doesn't want to fly any more missions is proving that he's sane because no sane man would want to fly more dangerous missions. (This novel invented the now well-known term catch-22.) Scenes move from the camp, with tents and officer's club (picture M*A*S*H), to being on leave in Rome to the hospital, where Yossarian spends quite a bit of time trying to get sent home, to some very tense and sobering bombing flights. Through it all, Yossarian is trying to get sent home (by the end of the novel, the required flights has gradually been raised from 40 to 80) and is overwhelmed by the absurdities and madness that surround him.

This is a comic-tragic novel that mixes humor with the horrors of war, sometimes on the same page. When I started reading the book last summer, that uneven tone threw me. I had heard it was funny--and it is--but was put off by the juxtaposition of horrifying war scenes and people dying with humor. When I picked it back up this summer, I was more prepared and had come to recognize that that is the novel's intention: to highlight the absurdities of war by combining the two very different tones: again, think M*A*S*H, which accomplished that same purpose very well. While reading the second half of the novel (with a list of characters by my side to help keep them straight) this summer, I was able to better appreciate how it met this goal. I could be laughing out loud at some farcical scene on one page and sobered by the death of a dozen men on the next. So, I get it now, and I could recognize the genius in that approach, which was revolutionary when the novel was first released in 1955. One other negative, though, remained; the novel is quite misogynistic. The only female characters are whores and nurses (who are sexualized). This is, perhaps, understandable for a WWII novel set during battletimes, perhaps a product of its time as well, and I suspect it was part of its unorthodox approach to try to shock readers, but it was still disturbing to me at times. Other than that, I ended up enjoying the novel, appreciating its groundbreaking approach, and am glad that I finally finished it. I also enjoyed reading some of the end matter, including letters and essays from Heller himself, which provided more insights into the novel's intent and how it came to be.

453 pages, Simon & Schuster

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, from the start of the novel in a funny scene where Yossarian is censoring letters home, and/or download it from Audible.

You can purchase Catch-22 from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

You can also buy through indie bookstores using Bookshop. 

Or you can order Catch-22 from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Fiction Review: Vera Kelly Is Not a Mystery

In anticipation of Booktopia 2020 (cancelled, of course), I read Who Is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht back in February this year. Last month, I read the sequel, Vera Kelly Is Not a Mystery, and loved it even more than the first book! This unique 60's girl-spy series is fun and suspenseful.

In the first book, we followed Vera's brief spy career as a CIA operative in Argentina in 1966. A knowledge of history (not a spoiler!) will tell you that that assignment ends with a violent coup. Now, Vera is out of the CIA and living back in New York with her girlfriend, and she's still only in her 20's. In an ironic twist, her girlfriend leaves her and she also gets fired from her job at the radio station ... because she is suspected of having a girlfriend (being a lesbian was not much tolerated back in the 60's). In her apartment alone and without a source of income, Vera sets up her own little private investigator business. At first, she is bored by the string of spouse-surveillance cases, but she needs the money. Finally, an interesting case comes to her office: Mr. and Mrs. Ibarra, a man and woman from the Dominican Republic, are looking for their great-nephew. His parents were sent to prison during the revolution there, and their son, Felix, was sent to the United States to keep him safe. He was being cared for by an older woman, but when she died suddenly, Felix disappeared. His great-uncle and -aunt are anxious to find him again. Vera begins investigating, leading her through the foster care system and eventually, to the Dominican Republic itself, where her counterintelligence training comes in handy.

Rosalie Knecht has created a wonderful character in Vera; she's a strong, independent, smart woman living in a time when those traits were not appreciated in females. Despite these being spy novels, they are also character studies. In the first novel, we learn all about Vera's childhood and how she ended up becoming a spy in her early 20's. Here, we get an inside look into Vera's private life, as one relationship falls apart and she wonders whether to pursue a new one. But it is also a detective novel, with a twisty mystery at its center, providing action-packed suspense with a sense of humor. Reading these books is pure pleasure, and I enjoyed the second Vera Kelly installment even more than the first. I can't wait to see what's in store for Vera next!

249 pages, Tin House Books
Audio, Blackstone Publishing

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

You can purchase Vera Kelly Is Not a Mystery from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

You can also buy through indie bookstores using Bookshop.

Or you can order Vera Kelly Is Not a Mystery from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Movie Monday: I See You

My husband and I were scrolling through Amazon a few weeks ago on a Saturday, looking for a movie (specifically a thriller) to watch, and we found Lie to Me. It sounded interesting, and we like Helen Hunt, who stars in it, so we watched it. What a pleasant surprise! It turned out to be a very clever, twisty thriller with plenty of surprises in store.

Helen Hunt, most famous for her role in Mad About You in the 90's, plays Jackie Harper, who is married to Greg, played by Jon Tenney. They have a teen son named Connor, played by Judah Lewis. Greg is a police detective in their picturesque small town. It's clear from the beginning that Jackie recently cheated on Greg, and though the couple is trying to stay together, Connor has not forgiven his mom and is very angry with her. In this midst of this domestic trouble, a young boy has gone missing from their quiet town, last seen while riding his bike in the woods on his way home. Greg and the rest of the police force are looking for him, and members of the community join in with search parties through the woods. There is some reference to past incidents of boys going missing, though the details aren't clear at first. Meanwhile, Jackie starts to notice strange things going on in their home, as tension builds both within and outside their family.

This is the way I like my thrillers: smart and unpredictable. This seems to start out as a simple mystery--boy gone missing--with some family drama mixed in. Then, the weird things start happening around the house, and you begin to wonder if there could be something supernatural going on. Eventually, some of those questions are answered, but there are still plenty more surprises to come. The cast is excellent, the writing is great, but the star of this movie is that surprise-filled plot. We absolutely loved this super-twisty, tension-filled thriller that kept us guessing right up until the end (even my husband, who always guesses the ending of movies, was stumped). It just gets better and better.

I See You is currently available on Amazon Prime.

It's Monday 7/6! What Are You Reading?

Whew, what a difference a week makes! I just re-read last week's Monday post, and we had no idea how things would change. We went into major crisis mode this past week. My father-in-law (who is 95) has been going downhill during the pandemic, with the isolation, both physically and mentally, but last week, he could no longer manage self-care or even getting out of bed for meals. My husband's been running over there twice a day to help him, and I spent my week first calling in-home care services and then starting the search for an assisted living facility. Our doctor suggested testing for a UTI or other medical problems ... but, of course, the office was closed for the holiday weekend (just got the lab slip this morning). Somewhere around Thursday, we realized it would be impossible for us to leave him in this state (and impossible to find care services without more advance notice), so we cancelled our vacation with our sons this week. We should be packing up right now for a camping trip up into the cool mountains.

Bottom line is that stress and anxiety have been sky-high. I got so upset on Thursday (he barely knew who I was on the phone) that I spent much of the day crying--just couldn't stop once I started! Luckily, we had a very quiet, relaxed weekend because we were both totally wiped out, both exhausted and stressed. Our sons were away, and we mostly stayed home (as is the norm now) all weekend, catching up around the house, watching TV, etc. The highlight of our weekend was when our oldest friends invited us to a local brewery that had a food truck and an outdoor band on the 4th of July. We spent a very relaxing evening on the lawn (each in our own 6-foot circle!), listening to the music, eating cheesesteaks (big treat for me, as I am normally dairy- and gluten-free), having a beer (even me!), and enjoying our friends' company.

 

And, of course, we are all still enjoying our books and Big Book Summer here--there's still plenty of time to join the fun! You only need to read one book of 400 or more pages by September (and, of course, you can read more if you want).

Here's what we have all been reading this past week:

I finished Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert. This was a major departure for me, as I don't normally read romance, but I did enjoy this novel. I'd heard all kinds of rave reviews but somehow didn't know that the main character, Chloe, has a chronic illness! This is extremely rare in fiction, and--even more rare--the novel deals with Chloe's condition and challenges (even in the midst of a hot romance) very openly and honestly. What a thrill to see my own experiences reflected in the pages of a delightful novel. Chloe has fibromyalgia and has a near-death experience as the novel opens. Normally a very structured, controlled person (in large part due to her illness), she makes a Get a Life list and begins to cross things off, starting with moving out of her parents' home and into her own apartment. The new super in her building is also super hot, and the attraction between the two is instant (though of course, they don't like each other at first). By the end, I was remembering why I don't read much romance, but overall, I enjoyed it and was glad for the break from heavier subjects.

Now, I am back to my Big Books and have dived into one of the books we inherited from my dad, Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King. I've wanted to read this trilogy ever since I read The Outsider last fall because I loved the character of Holly Gibney. She hasn't shown up yet in this novel, but it is already a gripping story. Retired Detective Bill Hodges gets an anonymous letter from one of "the ones who got away," a man dubbed the Mercedes Killer who killed eight people when he drove into a crowd a few years ago. It's one of the cases that has always bothered Bill and has never been solved. Now, the killer himself has written a Bill a letter, filled with tantalizing details, taunting his inability to catch him. Bored by retirement, Bill suddenly feels like his life has purpose and begins to investigate the case again, using some of the clues from the letter and digging into details that bothered him at the time. It's great so far, just the kind of immersive suspense I needed to distract me last week!

I am still listening to the audiobook, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (it's a a Big Book and my audiobook time is limited with our house full most days). You've probably heard about this one, since it is getting a LOT of attention right now. It's the prequel to The Hunger Games, and it begins at the start of the 10th annual Hunger Games, while the war is still a recent memory. The story focuses on Coriolanus Snow, a teen-aged boy, who readers of the trilogy know will eventually become President of Panem. Here, though, he is a self-conscious boy from a great family that has fallen on very hard times. He's trying to hide the fact that the remaining members of his family--him, his cousin, Tigris, and their grandmother--are barely surviving, eating cabbage and lima beans and unable to keep their home if the rumored property tax is truly put into place. He feels like he has one chance to prove himself: as a mentor to one of the contestants from the districts. He is  assigned to mentor a girl from District 12, a girl who creates quite a stir on Reaping Day with her colorful outfit and beautiful song. As Coriolanus gets to know her better, his role in her life becomes more and more complicated, causing him to question the Hunger Games and the Capitol's role in it. I am loving this book, and as always, Collins has provided such thought-provoking, morally complex subject matter.

My husband, Ken, just finished his latest Big Book from the collection we inherited from my dad: Dark Rivers of the Heart by Dean Koontz. It is about a man named Spencer who is both physically and emotionally scarred. He's usually a loner, but when he meets a woman named Valerie in a bar, they make a connection. When he goes to visit Valerie, she has disappeared, and then her house explodes while he is there. Spencer barely escapes and is now on the run, wondering what on earth he has stumbled onto and what happened to Valerie. Ken says that it is a gripping thriller (though he gets annoyed by the way Koontz throws around long and obscure words just for fun!), and it's a straightforward suspense novel--with no signs of Koontz's frequent paranormal twists. He enjoyed it.

Now, Ken is reading a book I put in his Easter basket, The A List by J.A. Jance. It's a thriller about a woman named Ali Reynolds who used to be a broadcast journalist. The last story she did before her career ended was about a man who needed a kidney, which spiraled into a massive medical scandal. The doctor at the center of it went to prison for murder. He is now bent on revenge, even from prison, and Ali is on the list of those he blames for his demise. Ali and her cybersecurity team must race against time to stop the doctor's continuing murder spree before Ali is next. Sounds like a fast-paced thriller--not too bad for picking out from the drugstore when everything else was closed!

Our son, 25, has been plowing through one book after another in Brock E. Deskins' series, The Sorcerer's Path. He read the first four books in the series a couple of weeks ago, and the week before last, moved onto books 5 through 8! Last I heard, he had finished book 8, The Sorcerer's Destiny, but he was away visiting his girlfriend again this weekend, so I don't know what he read next. Clearly, he loved this series, though! It's about a young boy from a wealthy family who's left on his own and must survive in the streets, among thieves, thugs, and murderers. He not only wants to survive but to avenge the wrongs done to him and his family. This series also revolves around some sort of mysterious magical power. He's enjoying the series (obviously!) and says he and his college roommate discovered this author years ago, and he's enjoyed reading his books ever since.



Blog posts from last week:

Movie Monday: The Lovebirds - action-packed, funny, romantic thriller


TV Tuesday: Quiz - intriguing & suspenseful short series based on real life


Fiction Review: Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty - loved this compelling modern drama!

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.   

What are you and your family reading this week? 

Fiction Review: Truly Madly Guilty

I know that I am late to the party. Everyone has been raving about Liane Moriarty's novels for years, and Big Little Lies was such a huge hit that Reese Witherspoon made it into an HBO TV show that was an even bigger hit. So, I used my Big Book Summer Challenge as added motivation to finally read Liane Moriarty's Truly Madly Guilty, which my mother lent to me years ago. Now I see what everyone has been raving about! I loved this compelling modern drama about friends and family.

The novel begins with Clementine, a mother, wife, and professional cello player, talking about something horrible that happened at a neighborhood barbecue. In fact, Clementine is giving a public talk about this incident, and her childhood best friend, Erika, is in the audience. But the author cleverly switches scenes before the reader finds out what happened at this life-changing barbecue. And that sets up a pattern for the first three-quarters of the novel. The action moves back and forth between the present-day and flashbacks to the day of the barbecue, beginning in the morning and ever-so-slowly building to ... whatever happened. Erika and her husband, Oliver, live a quiet life in a suburban cul-de-sac outside Sydney in a pristine home. That fateful morning, Erika runs into their next-door neighbor, Vid, who is married to the gorgeous Tiffany, and lives in a slightly outrageous castle-like home. Vid is a friendly, outgoing man who truly loves to throw parties and shower his guests with good food, drinks, and music, and he invites Erika and Oliver to a barbecue that night. Erika tries to wriggle out of the invitation by explaining that Clementine and her husband, Sam, and their two little girls are coming for dinner, but Vid insists they all come to his house. The party starts out fun and festive, but the chapters taking place in the present day make it clear that something happened that day, at that barbecue, that changed all of their lives.

Moriarty builds such delicious tension into this novel right from the first pages and draws the suspense out, until it is almost unbearable and the reader is thinking, "What on earth happened at that barbecue??" The characters feel real, and she slowly builds them up, gradually revealing bits of information from their childhoods and backgrounds that explain their behaviors and feelings in the present, making them three-dimensional and complex. Much of the action is ordinary families going about ordinary lives but with that constant tension just beneath the surface. I guessed all kinds of things but was still shocked when the secret was finally revealed! Even though it qualifies as a Big Book (over 400 pages) for my challenge, I read it in record time because it was just so compelling that I stayed up much too late most nights, reading "just one more chapter." I loved the experience and can't wait to read more Liane Moriarty novels!

517 pages, Flatiron Books

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Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

You can purchase Truly Madly Guilty from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

You can also buy through indie bookstores using Bookshop.

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TV Tuesday: Quiz

Among the few new offerings on cable TV this summer is Quiz, a limited series (just three episodes) based on the true story of a couple who cheated on Britain's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? show ... or did they? We enjoyed it recently.

Mark Bonnar plays Paul Smith, a network executive who gets excited about the new game show that's been pitched. Its creators say it will be like no other game show in TV history, with a top prize of a million pounds awarded to the contestant who can answer a series of multiple choice questions. He and his team finalize the details of the now-familiar (to us) Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, and the show begins to air. Meanwhile, we see a married couple: Charles Ingram, played by Matthew Macfadyen, is a major in the British army, and his wife, Diana, played by Sian Clifford, is a huge fan of pub trivia games. She plays often with her brother, Adrian, played by Trystan Gravelle, and their dad is an even bigger trivia fan. So, Diana and Adrian are understandably excited about the new quiz show taking Britain by storm. They study it and connect with other trivia fans online. Soon there is a community of people obsessed by the show, with all kinds of tricks and tips on how to work the system to get accepted onto the show and then to get from the fastest finger chairs to the "hot seat." Adrian and Diana both manage to get on the show and earn some money, but Adrian is seriously in debt, and they convince Charles to go on the show, too. Using their knowledge from the group, they help him get on the show. Diana is in the audience, and another member of the uber-fan group, Tecwen, played by Michael Jibson, is in the fastest-finger seats up front--and later, a co-defendant in court. Charles wins the million pounds, but the show takes him, Diana, and Tecwen to court, saying that they worked together and cheated.

The action in the show, right from the start, moves back and forth between the trial and the earlier months leading up to the game show appearance, so the audience gradually gets a fuller picture of what happened while knowing that they end up in court. We also see both the contestants preparing, and a behind-the-scenes view of the TV crew creating the show. It's only a three-episode series, but it manages to tell an engaging and gripping story. I won't give away how the trial ends (though that is in the real-world news, if you look), but the show keeps you guessing and even ends on an ambiguous note. There is plenty of suspense surrounding the question: did they cheat or didn't they? We enjoyed this short but engrossing show based on an intriguing real-life story.

Quiz is available in the U.S. on AMC. We watched it On Demand through our cable company. It is also available for free on the AMC website. It is also available on Amazon for $1.99 an episode or $4.99 for the full season.

Movie Monday: The Lovebirds

I am so behind in reviewing the movies we've watched! It's almost impossible to find time to write a second blog post on Mondays, after writing my What Are You Reading post (but Movie Monday has such nice alliteration!). Anyway, here is a review for a recent release that we enjoyed last month, The Lovebirds, a mystery-action-romance (yeah, hard to categorize).

Kumail Nanjani stars as Jibran, and Issa Rae stars as his girlfriend, Leilani. The movie opens with their first date, showing how they connected immediately. Before long, though, several months have passed, and we see the perfect couple arguing before a night out together. They head out, dressed up for a dinner party at a friend's house, but both the evening and their fight are interrupted when a cyclist comes out of nowhere and bounces off their car windshield. The two are both stunned, but the cyclist quickly jumps up and rides off, and a guy, played by Paul Sparks, jumps into their car and commandeers it, saying he is a police officer. The chase scene that follows is exciting at first, until Jibran and Leilani realize he's not chasing the cyclist to make sure he's OK or arrest him, but to make sure he is dead (you can see some of this, hilariously, in the trailer below). The supposed cop takes off, leaving bystanders to conclude that Jibran and Leilani killed the cyclist. From then on, the two lovebirds are caught up in a crime caper, trying to find the guy, who they nickname Moustache, who is the real killer in order to clear their names. The run all over the city (New Orleans), changing into ridiculous disguises purchased at a convenience store, breaking into places, and trying to outrun the police, who are looking for them, and solve the crime themselves. Of course, this was not just a simple hit-and-run, and the two unwittingly find themselves stuck in a web of lies and secrets involving some of the most powerful people in the city.

This movie is a whole lot of fun, filled with action-packed scenes, hilarious lines, outrageous situations, and a sweet love story, too. I'm a big fan of Kumail Nanjani, who co-wrote and starred in The Big Sick, a rom-com that is the real-life story of how he and his wife, Emily, met (also recommended). I've been listening to--and loving--Kumail and Emily's podcast, Staying In, during the pandemic. His wonderful sense of humor comes through in this role, and Issa Rae, who I was less familiar with, is very funny here, too. The mystery itself is twisty and unexpected and takes the pair all over the city. The setting was a delight for us as well; we used to live in New Orleans and love to see it on the screen, and it's a fun location for this crazy comedy caper. Kumail and Issa have great chemistry in their roles, and it's refreshing to see an interracial couple on-screen who are both people of color. It's a fun romp, and we enjoyed watching it!

The Lovebirds was originally planned for a theatrical release but was switched to a Netflix release because of the pandemic, so it is available on Netflix.

Have you seen The Lovebirds yet? What did you think?

You'll get a glimpse of the movie's humor and action in this trailer: