Book: The Poppy War

 Book: The Poppy War

Author: R.F. Kuang

Pages: 545

This is my 91st read for the year

What Amazon Says:

When Rin aced the Keju - the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies - it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn't believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin's guardians, who believe they'd finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who relized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence.  That she got into Sinegard - the most elite military school in Nikan - was even more surprising.  But surprses aren't always good.  Becasue being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at Sinegard.  Targeted from the outside by rival classmates for her color, poverty, and gender, Rin discovers she possesses a leathal, unearthly power - an apitutde for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism.  Exploring the depths of her gift with the help of a seeingly insane teacher and psychoactive substances, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive - and that mastering control over those powers could mean more than just surviving school.  For while the Nikara Empire is at peach, the Federation of Mugen still lurks across a narrow sea.  The militarily advanced Federation occupied Nikan for decades after the First Poppy War, and only barely lost the continent in the Second.  And while most of the people are complacent to go about their lives a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away.  Rin's shamanic powers may be the only way to save her peoplle.  But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity - and that is may already be too late.

This was a pretty good book.  I almost didn't read it because I have not enjoyed the author's other books.  But the idea of the book drew me in ao I gave it a chance.  The story moved along at a pretty good clip.  The action scenes are well written and there is pretty good character development.  The book is gruesome though - espeically near the end.  Also - I should have read it instead of listening to it.  I do not like her chosen reader - she made Rin seem weaker than I think the author intended.  This is a first book in a series, but I don't think I will continue.

Stars: 4

Book: Everything is TB

 Book: Everything is TB

Author: John Green

Pages: 206

This is my 90th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Tuberculosis has been entwined with humanity for millennia.  Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is seen as a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustics and inequity we blazed for it.  In 2019, author John Green met Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone.  John became fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile.  In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequitites that allow this curable, preventable infectious disease to also be the deadlist, killing over a million people a year.  John tells Henry's story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world - and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.

This was a good book.  I learned a lot about the history of TB and how it is still such a prevalent threat in many parts of the world.  I liked how Green continued the story of one kid - Henry - throughout the facts about TB.  It is an easy read and I got through it in an evening.  I was a little surprised he didn't mention Gates and his work with TB, but otherwise a solid read.  I also enjoyed that he included Henry's social media handles so I could look him up.

Stars: 4

Book: In Our Likeness

 Book: In Our Likeness

Author: Bryan VanDyke

Pages: 224

This is my 89th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Graham Gooding is a leader at a tech start-up when his brilliant coworker - and work crush - Nessie Locke asks for help testing a new algorithm.  Graham jumps at the chance to impress her, and to improve his floundering personal life.  He soon discovers that the algo is more powerful than Nessie - or anyone - realizes.  It was built to detect lies on the internet, but when Graham makes a small edit to Nessie's online profile, hoping to see if the program will catch the lie, Nessie changes in real life.  The algo can alter the real world.  Now, so can Graham.  No one knows what Graham has done, except his boss, enigmatic tech guru David Warwick.  Graham is racked with guilt, but Warwick thrills to the possibilites of what they can do next.  This promises to be the innovation that will make Warwick a household name.  Drawn by the power of the algo but terrified by its potential for chaos, Graham must decide what to do and whome to trust in a world where one true reality no longer exists.  As love, trust, memories, and what it means to be human begin to slip away, Graham and Nessie work together to resotre the past - before it's lost to the anarchy of a world without truth.

This book was okay.  I got it free from Amazon first reads and it fit a reading challenge category.  I liked the beginning.  I liked where the story was going when an algorithm was changing things in real life.  But then it got very convoluted and hard to follow and I started to lose interest.  It wrapped up fine.

Stars: 3

Book: A Killing Cold

 Book: A Killing Cold

Author: Kate Alice Marshall

Pages: 304

This is my 88th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

A wirlwind romance.  When Theodora Scott met Connor - wealthy, charming, and a member of the powerful Dalton family - she fell in love in an instant.  Six monhs later, he's brought her to Idlewood, his family's isolated winter retreat, to win over his skeptical relatives.  Theo has tried to ignore the threatening messages on her phone, but she can't ignore the footprints in the snow outside the cabin window or the strange sense of familiarity she has about this place.  Then, in a dusused cabin, Theo finds something impossible: a phot of herself as a child.  A photo taken at Idlewood.  Theo has almost no recollection of her earliest years, but now she begins to piece together the fragments o her memories.  Someone here has a shocking secret that they will do anything to keep hidden, and Theo is in terrible danger.  Because the Daltons do not lose, and discoering what happened at Idlewood may cost Theo everything.

This was a pretty good book.  I have read two other Marshall books and have liked them both.  This story flows well and there is good character development.  The mystery keeps you wanting to continue to read to see where it is going.  I was a little surprised by who the killer was.  The ending wrapped up the story nicely.  I did find the family a bit too hard on Theo - sometimes I think authors take the hate too far.  But that is a personal opinion.

Stars: 4

Book: The Book of Tahl

 Book: The Book of Tahl

Author: Tahl Leibovitz

Pages: 160

This is our 87th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

He stands 5'3" on badly deformed feet.  Bone tumors prevent him from straightening his arms or flexing his wrists.  His hands and feet sweat excessively, forcing him to change socks several times a day.  And from the age of 14 to 21, he was homeless, sleeping in subway cars and on roof tops, stealing food, clothes and money, and defending himself from the violent attacks of those who prey on the homeless.  49 year old Tahl Leibovitz is one of the most highly decorated and celebrated American table tennis players of all-time, a Paralympic Gold Medalist and USA Table Tennis Hall of Fame inductee who will represent the US at the 2024 Paris Olympics/Paralympics in late August.  He is also a high school dropout who went on to earn four college degrees, including a master's in social work from NYU's Silver School of Social Work.  Today, he is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a thriving psychotherapy practice in NYC.

So - this is a hard book to review, so I won't do much.  What Tahl went through was extraordinary and he should be commended for what he went through to get there.  It isn't well written - very disjointed.  But overall - to see him come out of a terrible situation to be a successful man was worth the read.

Book: When The Moon Hits Your Eye

 Book: When The Moon Hits Your Eye

Author: John Scalzi

Pages: 336

This is my 86th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Now humanity has to deal with it.  For some it's an opportunity.  For others it's a moment to question their faith: In God, in science, in everything.  Still others try to keep the world running in the face of absurdity and uncertainty.  And then there are the billions looking to the sky and wondering how a thing that was always just there is now - something absolutely impossible.  Astronauts and billionaires, comedians and bank executives, professors and presidents, teenagers and terminal patients at the end of their lives - over the length of an entire lunar cycle, each get their momentin the moonlight.  To panic, to plan, to wonder and to pray, to laugh and to grieve.  All in a kaleidoscopic novel that goes all the places you'd expect, and then to so many places you wouldn't.  

This book is great.  I am a Scalzi fan and the more books I read by him, the happier I am that I found him.  He is a terrific writer.  He is clever, and funny, and his sci fi and just all around entertaining.  They aren't hard reads and I like his character development and story telling.  He can jam pack a story into 300-400 pages and keep you wanting to read without stopping.  He takes a lot of unrelated stories in the various stories which all revolve around the moon turning to cheese and what they were going to do about it.  Read it in two days and look forward to his next book.

Stars: 5

Book: Between the Lines

 Book: Between The Lines

Author: Jodi Piccoult

Pages: 368

This is my 85th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

What happen when happily ever after - isn't?  Delilah is a bit of a loner who prefers spending her time in the school library with her head in a book - one book in particular.  Between the Lines may be a fairy tale, but it feels real.  Prince Oliver is brave, adventurous, and loving.  He really speaks to Delilah.  And then one day Oliver actually speaks to her.  Turns out, Oliver is more than a one-dimensional storybook prince.  He's a restless teen who feels trapped by his literary existence and hates that his entire life is predetermines.  He's sure there's more for him out there in the real world, and Delilah might just be his key to freedom.

This book was just fine.  I didn't really love the characters.  I liked the idea of the story, and I read it for a reading challenge (the character becomes part of the story), but otherwise I probably would have skipped this one.  I do like Piccoults books. This was definitely YA, and the main characters was very immature.  The ending was weird and a let down.  I was left with too many questions about characters that I really never connected with.

Stars: 3