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Alison Pink (7 KP) rated Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close in Books

Jan 15, 2018

I have never been a big fan of history. There have been events in history which have captured my attention...the Holocaust, JFK's assassination, the Civil Rights movement, the Beatles. I think my issue with history is just that, its history. I had no connection to it. All of that changed on September 11, 2001, my generation's version of the day that will live in infamy. Like most everyone who was old enough to remember, I remember that day like it were yesterday...where I was when I heard, what it was like to watch those massive building collapse, the fear, the uncertainty, the need to have those I loved close to me, how I knew it was real but just not being able to comprehend that I was watching the news & not some movie. I didn't have a personal connection with losing someone that day thank God.
Jonathan Safran Foer's book gave me that personal connection. While I know it is fiction, it felt SO incredibly real. His writing was very heartfelt...funny, depressing, hopeful, and heartbreaking all at once. It tells the story of Oskar Schell who lost his father on that horrible day. It tells the tale of the aftermath for those left behind, those who still today stuggle to get a handle on wrapping their minds around their loved one being gone, even though there is nothing to put closure to their loss.
Oskar spends months a searching for an explanation to a key he found at the bottom of a vase in his father's closet after he died. He embarks on the search hoping to feel close to his dad, if only for a little while longer. That search leads him all through New York and into the homes of a very eclectic group of people who are all dealing with some kind of tragedy. In the end, what he finds surprises Oskar, but also manages to pull him back to his mother and deal with his anger at the same time.
I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this book was a pleasant surprise. I laughed & cried, often times all from just one page of text. The story is accompanied by photos that just add to the personal nature of the story. I don't do this often if ever really, but I think this is a book I will read more than once.

Kudos

Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated Lone Star Legend in Books

Apr 27, 2018

Lone Star Legend by Gwendolyn Zepeda
Genre: YA Fiction
Rating: 2.5, DNF

Sandy S. has a second identity online—she blogs at a personal blog as Miss TragiComic Texas, and works for a website called Nacho Papi. Sandy is good at living her dual-identities and keeping them separate. But when people start connecting the the personal blog and the new website, and then recognizing her on the streets from the videos…

(From back of the book:) No matter how many passwords and aliases we use, there really is no such thing as privacy when you live your life online. Celebrities expect this, but what about the average person? Gwendolyn Zepeda’s novel plays with this idea of public vs. private and what happens when those lines get crossed.

I found Lone Star Legend to be very slow. It was hard to get into, and even halfway through the book I wasn’t sure what the actual plot line was.

There is a lot of drama. She breaks up with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend’s students find her personal blog and her rants about him and it embarrasses him. People recognize her in the coffee shop from TV. The man she interviews on a whim becomes the new biggest internet phenomenon, but he doesn’t want his photo on the t-shirts that she has already started to sell. These are just a few things that happen in the story, and none of it really leads anywhere.
And if a story doesn’t lead anywhere, and I have no desire to finish it, I’m not going to. Because I could be reading other things.

With that in mind, my positive comments include these: Zepeda is a pretty good writer. The writing and the dialogue is witty and fresh and alive and pretty funny at times. There were some great lines, great scenarios, and great laugh-out-loud sections… there just weren’t enough to keep me reading. The characters are well developed and defined and likeable, and it’s a pretty enjoyable read… little bits at a time.
But Lone Star Legend just wasn’t my thing, I guess. It kind of stinks, too, because I love the idea. As a blogger, people I know personally always tell me about stuff they read on my blog… but however much I wanted to enjoy it, I just couldn’t get into it.

Kudos

Phil Leader (619 KP) rated Bells On Her Toes in Books

Nov 8, 2019

When a body is discovered in a burnt-out barn, DCI Peter Hatherall and DI Fiona Williams are assigned to investigate. The barn is owned by a racehorse trainer and the two detectives struggle to penetrate the closed and secretive world of horse racing to uncover who the body is and why they were murdered. As the body count rises Hatharall's personal life starts to impact on his professional judgement putting not only the investigation but lives at risk.

The police procedural has a long and distinguished history and Febry does an excellent job in following the formula and adding enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. Everything is told from a personal point of view (mostly Williams') and the author does a great job in conveying personality through how events are described. One of the key suspects also provides some of their thoughts between chapters and this very effectively cranks the tension up.

The cast of characters is very convincing. The detective with personal problems has very much become a cliche but Hatherall is drawn in a very realistic and human light and is clearly struggling. Williams has her own relationship issues and their interaction has a ring of authenticity. The cast of suspects is wide and a number of them could easily be guily. What is certain is that it will take time for all the secrets to be uncovered.

The plot has many twists and plenty of red herrings for both the reader and the detectives to fall foul of. The stakes are constantly raised until the final confrontation.

When reading this book I was reminded of one of my favourite detective thriller novelists, Reginald Hill. The characterisation, the plot twists and some of the way Febry plays with the reader's expectations reminded so much of a Dalziel and Pascoe novel. I think that's a very fair comparison and although Peter Hathersall is not at all like Andy Dalziel he is still a detective who works with both facts and instinct

This books is part of a series (and indeed one of the other books in the series is mentioned in passing) and if this novel is anything to go by the series is one to read as soon as possible. Anyone who likes a good detective novel with interesting characters and plenty of twists will like this. A lot.