Book: The Ministry of Time

 Book: The Ministry of Time

Author: Kaliane Bradley

Pages: 352

This is my 76th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she'll be working on.  A recently established government ministry is gathering "expats" from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible - for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.  She is tasked with working as a "bridge": living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as "1847" or Commander Graham Gore.  As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore ided on Sir John Franklin's doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic so he's a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as "washing machines", "Spotify" and "the collapse of the British Empire".  But with an appetite for discovery, a 7 a day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast o fellow expats, he soon adjusts.  Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roomate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper.  By the time the true shape of the Ministry's project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined.  Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how - and whether she believes - what she does next can change the future.  

This was a really good book.  I liked the characters and the story flowed well.  You get drawn into the story of the expats and how they are trying to fit into timelines 100s of years after they lived and what that would be like for them.  Required to spend a year basically sequestered with their "bridge" helped them adjust, but keeps you wondering if they ever really would and wouldn't ultimately just like to go back to their timeline.  Most of the story revolves around two main characters, but we get to learn the dynamics of others who work at the Ministry as well as other Expats.  It is an interesting take on time travel.  I wish the ending would have been stronger and was groaning a bit when it didn't work out how I had hoped.  Overall a solid read.

Stars: 4.5

Book: The Sun Does Shine

 Book: The Sun Does Shine

Author: Anthony Ray Hinton

Pages: 368

This is my 75th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama.  Stunned, confused, and only 29 years old, Hinton knew that it was a case of mistaken identity and believed that the truth would prove his innocence and ultimately set him free.  But with no money and a different system of justice for a poor black man in the South, Hinton was sentenced to death by electrocution.  He spent his first 3 years on Death Row at Holman State Prison in agonizing silence - full of despair and anger toward all those who had sent an innocent man to his death.  But as Hinton realized and accepted his fate, he resolved not only to survive, but find a way to live on Death Row.  For the next 27 years he was a beacon - transforming not only his own spirit, but those of his fellow inmates, 54 of whom were exected mere feet from his cell.  With the help of civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, Hinton won his release in 2015.  This is an extraordinary testament to the power of hope sustained through the darkest times.  Destined to be a classic memoir of wrongful imprisonmetn and freedom won, Hinton's memoir tells his dramatic 30 year journey and shows how you can take away a man's freedom, but you can't take away his imagination, humor, or joy.

This was a good book.  It is terrible what happened to him and as anyone who is wrongfully charges - unimaginable what it was like for him and continues to be like for him even after his release almost a decade ago.  His lawyer - Bryan Stevenson - wrote Just Mercy - a fantastic book about his work with ciminals wrongfully accused.  He works to get Anthony off Death Row for over 15 years, which is incredible dedication.  The story of trying to get him out of jail was aggrevating on how long things took.  What I didn't like about the book is how much time was spent on minute details and not more on the overall feeling of what it was like to be on death row for 30 years.  Large gaps of time would pass without us getting much of an idea of what was going on in those gaps.  Overall - a solid read, and it will leave your seething about the justice system.

Stars: 4

Book: The Bad Muslim Discount

 Book: The Bad Muslim Discount

Author: Syed Masood

Pages: 368

This is my 74th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

It is 1995, and Anvar Faris is a restless, rebellious, and sharp-tongued boy doing hi best to grow up in Karachi, Pakistan.  As fundamentalism takes root within the social order and the zealots next door attempt to make Islam great again, his family decides, not quite unanimously, to start life over in California.  Ironically, Anvar's deeply devout mother and his model-Muslim brother adjust easily to life in America, while his fun loving father can't find anyone he relates to.  For his part, Anvar fully commits to being a bad Muslim.  At the same time, thousans of miles away, Safwa, a young girl living in war-torn Baghdad with her grief-stricken, conservative father will find a very different and far more dangerous path to America.When Anvar and Safwa's worlds collide as two remarkable, strong-willed adults, their contradictory, intertwined fates will rock their community, and families, to their core.  

This was a pretty good book.  It stars out strong, and I found the writing quite good.  I like the characters and how the two main characters meet.  There is a lot of historical background intertwined in the fictional story of these two families moving to America.  Safwa's story is the harder of the two to read, but it ends postively.  It is a story of immigration to the United States in the wake of 9/11 and I am glad I read it.  Good flow and good story.

Stars: 4

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