Thursday, February 27, 2025

Teaching Yoga by Donna Farhi

This book begins with a very intellectual bent talking about pedagogy and doing some deep dives into philosophy. Later chapters do get a little easier to read but I felt like I was wading through some deep information to get there. 
There are ruminations on the ethics of teaching asana without philosophy as well as the etics that surround teaching yoga. The phrase that resonated most with me was "We should teach what we know, and teach what we practice." In other words, we should be trying to teach poses that we ourselves have not explored thoroughly. 
Not my favorite book on teaching yoga but I can see why it was included in the shelf recommended by my trainer.

Three stars
This book came out September 25, 2006
Hard copy of mine
Opinions are my own

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Spy x Family, Vol. 11 by Tatsuya Endo

The book starts with the furthering of the familiy trying to get in good with Damian's family. Yor knew the mother but Anya is really working on the son. It's not going well. Yuri visits and is still creepily obsessed with his sister.
Most of the book is based around a school trip that has gone terribly wrong when two of the buses are waylaid by dissidents. Anya and Damian are able to work together to get everyone home safely. 

Four stars
This book came out April 4, 2022
Follows Vol. 10
Followed by Vol. 12
Borrowed as hard copy from library
Opinions are my own

Tuesday, February 25, 2025

An Ominous Explosion by Lynn Messina

The Beatrice Hyde-Clare books aren't super deep but they're usually pretty fun. It took me awhile to get through this one but I did get to the end eventually.
In this book, Beatrice, her uncle, and her cousins go to a demonstration of a new steam engine. During the demonstration something explodes and the inventor, Peter Huzza, is killed. Few people are surprised. After all, this is a new technology and things happen. But Beatrice isn't so sure. Something just doesn't feel right. And it's not just pregnancy hormones.

Three and a half stars
This book came out May 8, 2022
Beatrice Hyde-Clare Mysteries #9
Followed by An Extravagant Duplicity
Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own

Monday, February 24, 2025

Sure 'Locked by Erik Henry Vick

Someone is dead from the bite of a Barghest. The rwo-headed demon dog rarely kills, usually being a potent of death rather than death itself. In Richard Brook's case, it becomes the murder weapon. 
A lot of forward movement in ancillary stories, especially Lerry's daughter who is wanting to become a vampire. He introduces her to Dru's father, one of the biggest baddies of the vampire community. Leery and Dru also solve a murder.


Three stars
This book came out October 2, 2020
Claw & Warder #7
Followed by 'Slay Fell Things
Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own

Sylvia's Second Act by Hillary Yablon

I saw this book on NPR's list of Books We Love for 2024 and thought it looked good. I didn't realize exactly how much the main character relied on Sex and the City as a reference for how to live in New York. 

The book opens with Sylvia walking in on her husband of several decades having sex with a woman in their retirement community. It's a woman she doesn't particularly like which just makes it worse. Sylvia retreats to New York and her daughter. When her daughter scoffs at the idea that Sylvia will get a job, she calls her best friend and decides to prove her wrong. 
Sylvia and Evie soon figure out that they might have been a bit naive about how easy it would be to find housing and work. And they're going to learn some more life lessons but they'll come out alright in the end. 

Three stars
This book came out March 12, 2024
Borrowed as audiobook from Libby
Opinions are my own

Saturday, February 22, 2025

What You Are Looking For is in the Library Michiko Aoyama with Alison Watts (Translator)

This book of short stories is nothing if not a love note to reading and to libraries. Each of the main characters has come up against an important time of life and need some guidance through. The patrons are looking for different books and are dealing with a range of problems but coming to the library, talking to the librarian, help solves them all.

Three stars
This book came out November 9, 2020
Hard cover I didn't keep
Opinions are my own

Friday, February 21, 2025

Murder in the Churchyard by Catherine Coles

Previous books in the series introduced us to Evelyn's friend, Isolde. She has been attracted to the local doctor but seems to have been holding herself back from him. It turns out, it's because she's already married. And the man himself is in town, doing shady things that a bad man married to a good woman does in cozy mysteries. 
Of course, that is the man who ends up dead. Tommy and Evelyn are on the case. We also have it reiterated several times that they are sad because they don't have children, reminding us that detective work is not the sum whole of their lives. 

Tommy and Evelyn #2
This book came out January 29, 2021
Three stars
Followed by Murder in Belgrave Square
Ebook of mine on Kindle
Opinions are my own