Book: American Gods

 Book: American Gods

Author: Neil Gaiman

Pages: 560

This is my 73rd read for the year

What Amazon says:

Released from prison, Shadow finds his world turned upside down.  His wife has been killed; a stranger offers him a job and Shadow, with nothing to lose, accepts.  But a storm is coming.  Beneath the placid surface of everyday life, a war is being fought - and the prize is the very soul of America.  An inspired combination of mythology, adventure, and illusion, American Gods is a dark and kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth and across an America at once eerily familiar and utterly alien.  It is, quite simply, a contemporary masterpiece.

This was a good book.  It is LONG.  I listened to it and it was 20 hours of listening.  I love Neil Gaiman's books.  He builds incredible worlds.  I liked a lot of the characters - especially the main character.  It is imaginative and the story flows well.  There are a lot of characters and I had to make sure I was listening to the book when I could really be listening.  No fluff here.  I did have a few remaining questions, but not a lot.  Overall a good read.

Stars: 4

Book: Fiddler on the Roof

 Book: Fiddler on the Roof

Author: Joseph Stein

Pages: 168

This is my 72nd read for the year

I read this book as part of the Rory Gilmore challenge.  It is the play in book form.  It is one of my favorite Broadway plays and it was fun to read the script.

Stars: 4

Book: Cemetery Boys

 Book: Cemetery Boys

Author: Aiden Thomas

Pages: 350

This is my 71st read for the year

What Amazon says:

Bestowed by the ancient goddess of death, Yadriel and the gifted members of his Latinx community can see spirits: women have the power to heal bodies and souls, while men can release lost spirits to the afterlife.  But Yadriel, a trans boy, has never been able to perform the tasks of the brujas - because he is a brujo.  When his cousin suddenly dies, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo.  With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free.  However, the ghost he summons is not his cousin.  It's Julian Diaz, the resident bad boy of his high school, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death.  He's determined to find out what happened and tie off some loose ends before he leaves.  Left with no choice, Yadrield agrees to help Julian, so that they can both get what they want.  But he longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave.

This was a pretty good book.  I liked the characters, and the magic.  I loved the mix of Spanish and English throughout the entire story.  I liked the family traditions.  It is a very important book for its target audience.  But it is YA and lately I just cannot get into that level of book.  Why did I read it?  It came up continuously for a reading challenge, so I read it to tick some boxes and felt that the overall feel of the book was something I would normally read.  But I am tired of reading about immature teenagers.  I live that every day.  There is so much to like about this for the target audience and I see the draw.  Because it wasn't for me does not mean that it isn't a good book.  So I cannot give it a low rating.  

Stars: 4

Book: Cheshire Crossing

 Book: Cheshire Crossing

Author: Andy Weir

Pages: 128

This is my 70th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Originating as fan fiction is a journey through classic worlds as you've never seen them before.  Years after their respective returns from Wonderland, Neverland, and Oz, the trio meet here, at Cheshire Crossing - a boarding school where girls like them learn how to cope with their supernatural experiences and harness their magical world-crossing powers.  But Alice, Wendy, and Dorothy - now teenagers, who've had their fill of meddling authority figures - aren't content to sit still in a classroom.  Soon they're dashing from one universe to the next, leaving havoc in their wake - and inadvertently, brining the Wicked Witch and Hook together in a deadly supervillain love match.  To stop them, the girls will have to draw on all of their powers - and marshal a team of unlikely allies from across the magical mutliverse.

I want to say that Andy Weir is a favorite author of mine.  The Martian remains to this day one of my all time favorite books.  Apparently he wrote this one BEFORE he wrote the Martian (which was also fan fiction) and this one for me was a miss.  He had a good idea, and I was drawn into it - a cross over world among fairytales.  But the dialogue fell flat and I just could not engage in the story.

Stars: 2

Book: Prodigal Summer

 Book: Prodigal Summer

Author: Barbara Kingsolver

Pages: 464

This is my 68th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Over the course of one humid summre, as the urge to procreate overtakes the lush countryside, this novel's intriguing protagonists - a reclusive wildlife biologist, a young farmer's wife marooned far from home, and a pair of elderly, feuding neighbors - face disparate predicaments but find connections to one another and to the flore and fauna with whome they necessarily share a place.  Their discoveries are embedded inside countless intimate lessons of biology, the realities of small farming, and the final urgent truth that humans are only one piece of life on earth.

I liked this book.  I am a Kingsolver fan and think she is an amazing writer.  I liked the characters and how the main characters all wove together in the in.  It did get a little predictable, but not not terribly so.  It does get a little steamy as well, but not on the level of YA these days, so it was fine.  The story flowed well and I liked the ending even though I assumed this was how it would wrap up.

Stars: 4

Book: Sunrise on the Reaping

 Book: Sunrise on the Reaping

Author: Suzanne Collins

Pages: 400

This is my 67th read for the year

What Amazon says:

As the day dawns on the 50th annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem.  This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.  Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathyis trying not to think too hard about his chances.  All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.  When Haymitch's name is called, he can fell all his dreams break.  He's torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three oher District 12 tributes: a young friend who's nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town.  As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he's been set up to fall.  But there's something in him that wants to fite - and having that fight reverberate far beyond the dealy arena.

This was a good book.  I was so excited to read the next prequel in the Hunger Games world.  This one got an extra star from me purely for nostalgia - Haymitch's back story was one that was a good one to tell.  And a lot of characters from the original Hunger Games books make an appearance.  The story flows pretty well, but there really isn't anything fresh here.  It is a lot of the same old story - bits and pieces from the first Hunger Games books and the first prequel.  It felt a bit rushed meaning that she wanted to churn out another book for her waiting fans without really putting a lot of effort into making a unique tale.  And maybe I am being too harsh - maybe this was her idea all along.  I just kept waiting for something to grab me, but it never did.  I did like the Epilogue.  I won't spoil it, but it was a nice wrap up to the story and made me wonder if she is done with this world.

Stars: 4

Book: The Answer Is No

 Book: The Answer is No

Author: Fredrik Backmann

Pages: 68

This is my 66th read for the year

What Amazon says:

Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai.  Peanuts are a must.  Other people?  Not so much.  Why complicate things when he's happy alone?  Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell.  And Lucas's solitude takes a startling hike.  They deman to see his frying pan.  Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucs suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party.  But their plan backfires.  Colossally.  This story is a portrait of a man struggling to keep to himself in a world that won't leave him alone.

This is a great book.  I am a Backman fan and this one did not disappoint.  It was a free short story from Amazon first reads, which was a total score.  It is a funny, clever, goofy, and touching story all rolled into 68 pages.  I liked the characters.  I laughed out loud at a few parts.  I feel Lucas in my soul.  The story is well developed and wraps up nicely.  Check this one out.

Stars:5