Search

Search only in certain items:

Too Big to Die by Sue Ann Jaffarian (Odelia Grey #12) – 5
One Saturday, Odelia and Greg’s errands are interrupted when they see a dog trapped in a car on a hot day. They rescue the dog, but the dog’s owner is less than happy with them. She turns out to be former reality TV star Marla Kingston, and her husband is a client of the law firm where Odelia works. While he makes Odelia’s work life difficult, the man who stopped to help them winds up dead. What have Odelia and Greg gotten into now?

Any fan of this long running series will tell you to expect a fast-moving case, and that’s exactly what we find here as well. One of the complications that arises here involves a series regular; that part of the book will appeal most to fans of the series. Zee is a strong character in this book, and I always love seeing her, although all the series regulars get a scene or two to shine. A suspenseful climax caps another fantastic book.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2018/02/book-review-to-big-to-die-by-sue-ann.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You by Aretha Franklin
I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You by Aretha Franklin
1967 | Rock
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"OMG, so I heard that in high school and I of course tried to sing along with it but as she's one of the best singers living or dead, she put the bar pretty high. I'd already learned projection, being able to project my voice by doing musical theatre as a kid, and she was somebody who could project really strongly, have a sweet sounding voice, a strong sounding voice; she had just a huge range. Definitely clever lyrics, her songs were the kind of songs you just wanted to belt out. I especially remember the song 'Do Right Woman, Do Right Man', it went, "So if you want/ A do-right-all-days woman/ You got to be/ A do-right-all-nights man", I was like, "What? You mean that you can ask your boyfriend that if you're supposed to be super awesome to him, he has to be super awesome to you back?" Because I always had awful boyfriends who were total dicks so I was like, "Wait, I deserve better?" Here was this woman telling me, "Look if you want me to stay home and not go running around, you gotta stay home and not go running around either, it's a two-way street here." She was basically staying: "I want equality in my relationship." That was a great message to me as high-school kids who had some pretty destructive relationships. Even though I wasn't really able to realise that until much later, it was a great thing to have in my head. I think my mum's boyfriend had her record so I was introduced to it because it was just there at home. I never had a huge record collection or anything, like five records. But when they started dating he had a bunch of records and I learnt about King Crimson, Van Morrison and Aretha Franklin.‬"

Source
  
40x40

ClareR (5885 KP) rated Memorial in Books

Jan 19, 2021  
Memorial
Memorial
Bryan Washington | 2021 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, LGBTQ+
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Memorial is the story of Mike and Benson’s relationship and about their separate lives. They have lived together and loved one another for a few years, but when Mike gets word that his estranged father is dying back in Japan, it seems to come at the right time for their relationship. They clearly need the space to think. Except “frying pan” and “fire” comes to mind. Benson is left to live with Mike’s mother who has come to visit her son, and Mike is propelled in to caring for a dying man, a stranger to him, and running his bar.
It was so interesting to read about their lives and motivations. What starts out to be a purely selfish move by Mike (I felt that he was running away at first), actually becomes a selfless act. Of course, there is the advantage that he gets to know his father before his death, but he is there for him until the end.
Even though Mike’s childhood was much harder, it’s Benson who, to me, seemed to have been more affected by his parents break up. His father’s alcoholism, his mother leaving them and starting a new family, and his HIV+ diagnosis, all added up to a difficult mental space for him. But I didn’t feel that any of this became sentimental. It’s a joint decision when Benson and Mike realise that their relationship is coming to an end.

I really enjoyed this book. Its gentle pace where small acts and occurrences form the bigger picture really appealed to me. It’s an original and engrossing story from an author that I’ll be looking out for in the future.

Many thanks to Atlantic books for providing me with a copy of this book through NetGalley.