Review: Gabby

Gabby: The Little Dog That Had to Learn How to Bark
by Barby Keel

Lovely little book that should have been much smaller. Or larger--I would have really enjoyed reading more about the animals in the sanctuary and the people who worked there. That part--and there was a good bit of it--was great and could have been much larger. And the dog Gabby was very interesting, and the author herself also.  

But I have to recommend it with caution--the parts about the author and Gabby were
very repetitive. At times I wondered if she were repeating a previous passage verbatim. Probably not, but it got really old re-reading the same thoughts again and again.

Review: Kept

Kept: An American Househusband in India
by Gregory E Buford

Practically perfect in every way!  Light, funny and nerve-wracking at times, the author's wife get assigned to a diplomatic position in India, and he become homemaker and sitter for their lovely little son. And there they live, for about two years (I think), navigating the potholes. And everything is so different there, but they survive it beautifully, such as
--the house servants they seem to accumulate without every understanding why they need so many
--the wives in the embassy who try but have a hard time accepting a man into their kids' playgroups
--the "Christian" nanny who is prejudiced, self-righteous, and annoying
--the Indian driver who become their right-hand man and lifelong friend
--the building/home/who knows? going up next door, brick by brick
--the Cobra in the laundry room
--and the occasional wild adventure that throws everything off balance.

I loved it all and can't wait to read the next one.

Review: The Janus Stone

The Janus Stone
by Elly Griffiths

Second in the series for me, and well worth continuing. I'd been a little uncertain about whether I wanted to read a second book--the first was a little dark and moody and maybe a tiny bit unsettling. Atmospheric--that's the word!  But all that scary mist on the moor fit in after a while and I got to liking it.

And you have to love the main characters--the forensic archeologist Ruth and the police detective Nelson who kind of fancies her despite being happily married. I'm not sure where that is going, but I suspect the author knows.  Can't wait to find out.

The only negative for me was the insertion of an occasion few paragraphs in the mind of the perp.  Icky, unnecessary, and absolutely annoying.  After the first one, I skipped them. I want to know what's in the head of the perp only when it is revealed to the detectives.  And I certainly don't want to be in his head--for me, it destroys the mood and rips a leaking hole in the building suspense.

Review: Unruly

Unruly: A (Ridiculous) History of England's Kings and Queens
by David Mitchell

Funny!  And silly and awfully informative all the same. He stops at around the time Shakespeare lived and wrote, at about Charles 1.  I wish he hadn't!  I hope he writes a sequel--won't he?  I can't find the answer online.

He romps merrily through the era before kings and queens and then jumps into legend, fact and fiction with an adept hand. Not being an expert on the subject, I don't know how much of what he says has any basis in truth. But I suspect it mostly all does--I mean, what would be the point of writing such a marvelous book if it wasn't true?

The (Ridiculous) is in the title because that's how the book was labeled on Audible.  Don't know why Goodreads doesn't include it.

Review: Walk Upon a Time

Walk Upon a Time: An Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike
by Leslie Fletcher

Nowhere near as funny as I thought it was going to be, but enjoyable all the same. She hits about the right amount of detail in her daily updates, which read like a trail journal. In fact, this could have been copied directly from a trail journal. I'd hoped for a tiny bit more detailed description of the sights she saw, and I really hoped for more of what was going on in her head. There was some, maybe enough, but it seemed like too many of the entries were simply the where and the how of the journey with only a brief mention of how it felt. But it struck an okay balance; I wasn't all that disappointed.

Review: Mother, Nature

Mother, Nature: A 5,000-Mile Journey to Discover if a Mother and Son Can Survive Their Differences
by Jedidiah Jenkins

Very interesting. I almost didn't read this, because some reviewers had complained that the conflict was never resolved--how could a gay, left-leaning son and a fundamentalist, born-again Christian mother ever come to accept each other for what they were? How could they quit hurting and disappointing each other, just by the lifestyle they chose to endorse? I guess some readers thought it was going to end differently. But I thought I'd see for myself, and I was okay with the ending. Never resolved, adequately or otherwise, but explored to the point where you understood that it was okay never to be resolved.

But there was a lot more to the story than that, issues of life and death and aspiration and disappointment, and always, a fun exploration of places and people of America. Very much to like about that.

Review: Master Slave Husband Wife

Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey From Slavery to Freedom

by Ilyon Woo

I'm sure there are thousands of other reviews of this bestseller,  so the only thing I have to add is that I enjoyed it very much. I was surprise

d about how much there was to tell after the big events that precipitated the story. And I was pleased at how much information the author slipped in that wasn't simply biographical.  It flew by effortlessly and full of fascination.

The only time I got a little bored were during the last three or four chapters, when it was mainly a "went here, went there, spoke to these people, met this person" narrative. But not so bored as to give up. Worth every page!