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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Jul 31, 2021  
How awesome is this scrapbook page from author Teddy Jones about West Texas!?! Check it out on my blog, and learn about her women's fiction novel MAKING IT HOME. Enter the giveaway to win a set of all three novels in her Jackson's Pond, Texas-the Series or a copy of her short stories/literary fiction novel Nowhere Near and a $25 Bookshop.org gift card!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2021/07/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-making-it.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
In this third novel in the Jackson’s Pond, Texas series, fifty-five-year-old Melanie Jackson Banks encounters racism, intolerance, and violence both in her family’s distant past and in current day Jackson’s Pond. She leads family and community efforts to create reconciliation for past wrongs and also to demonstrate strength and defiance in the face of vandalism, cross-burning, domestic violence, threats to Jackson Ranch’s operation, and kidnapping. In the midst of this stormy period, she finds allies in her mother’s long-time companion, Robert Stanley; her mother, Willa Jackson; her daughter Claire Havlicek; and many others.
     
I recently decided that I need to read some poetry books, and this happens to be the one that I started with. I'm also planning on reading another of Silverstein's collections, The Giving Tree. I don't really know all that much about poets or poetry, so I may have just searched Goodreads for high-rated books...

Silverstein often uses prominent, simply rhyme schemes throughout this book of poetry, making them easy to follow and popular with younger children/teens. They flow beautifully, almost rhythmically, and are all rather short. They are mostly humourous poems, with little illustrations alongside them. These illustrations, also by Shel Silverstein, are also often funny, and help us understand the point/joke being made in the related poem.
 
These are all pretty easy-reading poems, nothing too thought-provoking or hard to understand. Quite a nice book to read in bed, or when you just have a little time to relax. There are definitely poems in here that remind me of stories and poems from my early childhood. I think I can give his 4 stars quite easily.
  
Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun
Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun
Cornelia Funke, Guillermo del Toro | 2019 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.5 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Thrilling and eerie film adaptation
*I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
It has been a number of years since I watched Pan's Labyrinth, but remember it as being a dark, twisted fairy tale set during the second world war. The book keeps that feel, we are introduced to Ofelia, a quiet bookish young girl who is moving with her mother to live with her stepfather, as he tries to break a group of Spanish rebels, ahead of the birth of her half-brother.
Ofelia sees some unusual statues and artefacts in the woods and soon meets the Faun, who sets her a mission to return to take her place as the princess of the Underground Kingdom.
There follows a brilliant mix of Ofelia's real life, the despicable exploits of Franco's army, and the fairy tale world she steps into.
This is a very short, immersive fairy tale with lots of nice side-stories that all weave into the book in some form.
  
    Through Water by Lapsley

    Through Water by Lapsley

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    Album

    On 20th March 2020, Låpsley will release her highly-anticipated second album. Titled Through Water,...

    The Body

    The Body

    Bill Bryson

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    Book

    'We spend our whole lives in one body and yet most of us have practically no idea how it works and...

The Wrong Side of Goodbye (Harry Bosch #19)
The Wrong Side of Goodbye (Harry Bosch #19)
Michael Connelly | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Trying to Juggle Two Cases
Now retired from the LAPD, Harry Bosch is working as an axillary officer from the San Fernando Police Department, helping the small force clear back cases. That’s how he gets involved with a case of man who is serially attack women. Meanwhile, he’s hired as a PI to track down a billionaire’s potential heir. Can he solve both cases?

These cases were both intrigued, and I appreciated how the stakes kept being raised, explaining why Bosch would focus on one case at any given moment. While both stories resolved logically, I did feel like one got short changed, leaving me not completely satisfied with how that was wrapped up. Even retired, Bosch is still Bosch, mostly for better, although a couple of subplots are predictable at this point. We do get an update on his daughter, and Mickey Haller also shows up. The new characters are well drawn and help pull us in. Overall, this is a book that Bosch’s many fans will enjoy.