Book: The Map of Salt and Stars

 Book: The Map of Salt and Stars

Author: Zeyn Joukhadar

Pages: 384

This is the 148th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

This novel begins in the summer of 2011.  Nour has just lost her father to cancer, and her mother moves Nour and her sisters from NYC back to Syria to be closer to their family.  In order to keep her ather's spirit alive as she adjusts to her new home, Nour tells herself their favorite story - the tale of Rawiya, a 12th century girl who disguised herself as a boy in order to apprentice herself to a famious mapmaker.  But the Syria Nour's parents knew is changing, and it isn't long before the war reaches their quiet Homs neighborhood.  When a shell destroys Nour's house and almost takes her life, she and her family are forced to choose:  stay and risk more violence or flee across seven countries of the Middle East and North Africa in search of safety- along the very route Rawiya and her mapmaker took 800 years before in their quest to chart the world.  As Nour's family decides to take the risk, their journey becomes more and more dangerous, until they face a choice that could mean the family will be separated forever.

This was a really good book.  My favorite part was the intertwining of the story of Rawiya and Nour's real life.  The writing is pretty good and I liked most of the characters.  Nour annoyed me at times, but she was probably supposed to since she was a 12 year old character.  The ending was good.

Stars: 4

Book: Cleopatra Cipher

 Book: Celopatra Cipher

Author: LD Goffigan

Pages: 304

This is my 147th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Former FBI profiler turned professor Adrian West is in Rome for academic conference when she learns that her friend and colleague, Doctor Sebastian Rossi, has been abducted.  Her former partner, Nick Harper, believes that his disappearance is linked to stolen artifacts related to one of the most famous queens in history - Cleopatra.  When another of his colleagues is found murdered, and Adrian framed from the crime, it's a race against tie from the streets of Rome and  Cairo to the ancient temples of Egypt.  Adrian must prove her innocence, find Sebastian before it's too late, and stop a shadowy secret society from using the secrets of an ancient queen to cause the loss of countless lives.

This was an interesting book.  I read it for a reading challenge.  IT is an easy quick read with an interesting story.  Good character developement.  Well written.  IT is the first in a series and played out as so.  

Stars: 3

Book: The Lake House

 Book: The Lake House

Author: Kate Morton

Pages: 512

This is my 146th read for the year

What Amazon says:

Living on her family's idyllic lakeside estate in Cornwall, England, Alice Edevane is a bright, inquistitive, and precociously talented 16 year old who loves to write stories.  One midsummer's even, after a beautiful party drawing hundreds of guiests to the estate has ended, the Edevanes discover that their youngest child, 11 month old Theo, has vanished without a trace.  He is never dound, and the family is torn apart, the house abandoned.  Decades later, Alice is living in London, having enjoyed a long successful career as a novelist.  Miles away, Sadie Sparrow, a young detective in the London police force, is staying at her grandfather's house in Cornwall.  While out walking one day, se stumbles upon the old Edevane estate-now crumbling and covered with vines.  Her curiosity is sparked, setting off a series of events that will bring her and Alice together and reveal shocking truths about a past long gone - yet more present than ever. 

This was a pretty good book.  It is a long and twisting tale as the reader tries to figure out the who done it.  It actually took me awhile to figure out who actually did what, and I was on the fence on being happy about it and being annoyed about it.  Sometimes I felt like we were being kept in the dark for no reason, which I do find annoying in books.  Kate Morton is a talented writer, though, and I liked the majority of the characters.  I liked the dual time line stories equally.  I dropped it a start for the ending.  Seemed a bit too convenient, but it wasn't a bad ending.

Stars: 4

Book: All Systems Red

 Book: All Systems Red

Author: Martha Wells

Pages: 160

This is my 145th read for the year

What Amazon says:

"As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure".  In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company.  Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.  But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn't a primary concern.  Ona distant planet, a team of scientists are conductin surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied droid - a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as "Murderbot".  Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.  But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Muderbot to get to the truth.

This is a great book.  I had watched the TV show first, and this book follows it quite well with very minor changes.  There are equal parts humor and science fiction in this short little novel.  Excellent writing and great character development.  I am anxious to keep going with the series.

Stars: 5

Book: Slewfoot

 Book: Slewfoot

Author: Brom

Pages: 320

This is my 144th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Connecticut, 1666: An ancient spirit awakens in a dark wood.  The wildfolk call him Father, slayer, protector.  The colonists call him Slewfoot, demon, devil.  To Abitha, a recently widowed outcast, alone and vulnerable in her prious village, he is the only one she can turn to for help.  Together, they ignite a battle between pagan and Puritan - one that threatens to destroy the entire village, leaving nothing but ashes and bloodshed in their wake.  This terrifying tale of bewitchery features more than 2 dozen of Brom's haunting full-color paintings and brilliant endpapers, fully immersing readers in this wild and unforgiving world.

This was an interesting book.  I read ti for a reading challenge and knew nothing about it going in.  It is pretty well written and an interesting enough story, but I just couldn't get into it.

Stars: 3

Book: I am Malala

 Book: I Am Malala

Author: Malala Yousafzai

Pages: 256

This is my 143rd book of the year

What Amazon Says:

I am Malala.  This is my story.  Malala Yousafzai was only 10 years old when the Taliban took control of her region.  They said music was a crime.  They said women weren't allowed to go to the market.  They said girls couldn't go to school.  Raised in a once-peaceful area of Pakistan transformed by terrorism, Malala was taught to stand up for what she believes.  So she fought for her right to be educated.  And on October 9, 2012, she nearly lost her life for the cause:  She was shot point-blank while riding the bus on her way home from school.  No one expected her to survive.  Now Malala is an international symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize winner.

I know I am very behind in reading this story.  I don't know how I missed it.  Very familiar with Malala and her story, and found this book at our local bookstore and finally had a chance to read it.  It is a terrible tragedy, and I learned a lot about Malala as well as what happened.  I did find the back story a bit too long for this book, but overall, I am glad I read it.

Stars: 4

Book: Binti

 Book: Binti

Author: Nnedi Okorafor

Pages: 96

This is my 142nd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galazy.  But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs.  Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy.  The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the MEduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares.  Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti's stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach.  If Binti hopes to survive the legacy of a war not of her making, she will need both the gifts of her people and the wisdome enshrined within the University itself - but first she has to make it there, alive.

This bookw as fine, but at under 100 pages, I really didn't get much of a story.  It is the first of 3 books, and I was reading this one for a challenge, but did not know there were more.  I think if you read all three you would get one story and it would probably be decent.

Stars: 3