Reviews: Arthur (not the movie), and Of a Feather

Arthur:

The dog who crossed the jungle to find a home

By Mikael Lindnord and Val Hudson

Very lovely portrait of an adventure junkie who picks up (or is picked up by) a stray dog while on a race in Ecuador. The dog stuff was very interesting and a pleasure to read. But before the dog came on the scene, the story of the planning for and execution of the race was was somewhat on the tedious side. Not that it was boring, but I just kept thinking, “but where’s Arthur?  When’s the dog coming?”

From then on it was pretty good. I can’t say that I was thrilled and hung on every word—something about the writing style made all but the most exciting parts seem to drag—but it was good. Very much recommended. Pretty much.

 

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Of a Feather:

A Brief History of American Birding

By Scott Weidensaul

Wow!  Other than the gross-out parts—can you begin to imagine how many hawks were shot at Hawk Mountain before they came up with the idea of counting them alive instead of shooting them?  And all the stupid ladies’ stupid hats causing the near-extinction of plume-bearing birds.

But past those sorts of things, and bearing in mind that for many, many years, studying birds meant shooting them, this was a fascinating, irresistible book!   Very detailed but not so detailed as to be draggy, but just so very, very informative.  He did his research for real and it really shows. Loved it! 

 p.s. It’s not brief at all

Review: The House at Sea’s End

By Elly Griffiths

I’d read a couple in this series, but found myself on the fence whether to continue reading or not. So I decided this would be my last—if it wasn’t vastly better than the others, I’d stop reading.

And it was. Or else I just liked it a whole lot better this time around. The characters are the same, with a slowly building “situation” continuing in the background. And the mystery this time was spot on, and the science of how the bodies were able to demonstrate details of the past plus the fairly recent history of it all was very interesting to me. I can’t reveal much without spoilers, but as the blurb mentions a “Gruesome World War II  war crime.”

And I’m on to the next!

Review: Boundary Waters

 By William Kent Krueger

Other than the gratuitous grossness at the opening—did I really want to read that?—this was a solid good adventure and mystery. More action/adventure than mystery, but I might have enjoyed the mystery (puzzle solving parts) more if I hadn’t skimmed the parts involving Jo, the ex-wife of Cork O’Conner. I just really, really hated her in the first book--so very much that every time she took her turn on the pages I had a hard time not putting the whole book down. She didn’t take a role in the action until maybe one-third through, so I was not expecting her to ruin it for me.

 Yes, I know she’s an imaginary character and a fluffy figment of the male author’s imagination. He can do whatever he wants with her, even give her a brain that sometimes trumps over her emotions. But the emotions and the way they screw with her logical thinking is really irritating to me. I don’t like the character and it peeves me that the author might think that’s the normal way for a female to think and behave. It’s stupid.

 So will I read another?  Yes, probably one more. Just to see if she persists in a costar role. If so, that will be my last one.

Review: Atomic Habits

Atomic Habits

An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones

by James Clear 

Seemed right on target to me! He has a method for using habits to accomplish ones goals, and all sorts of ideas on how the habits can be formed, reinforced and rewarded to make them work. And of course, the corollary of how to eliminate bad habits too.

I can’t say I’ve followed his procedures to see if I can eliminate any bad habits or start any good ones. But the theory seems sound.