Showing posts with label hard copy from library. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hard copy from library. Show all posts

Saturday, November 9, 2024

The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi

I listen to the Lazy Genius podcast and thought I might read Adachi's books. I like reading about ways to simplify life, especially if I can do it lazily. Are any of the ideas really new in the realm of self-help? Not the overall pictures. But I did like the subset of "Let People In" that mentioned not telling people that you're sorry. Don't pre-apologize for things that don't matter.

Three stars
This book came out August 11, 2020
Borrowed as hard copy from library
Opinions are my own

Friday, November 8, 2024

Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte

I can't remember why I put this on my TBR list. It's fine (telling you how to better organize your self and your life by using technology). However, I feel like this is one of a number of books that was probably a 10 minute speech that someone enjoyed and had the author try and build it into a larger book.

While none of Forte's ideas are particularly new, they actually acknowledge that by talking about where they got their ideas from.

Three stars
This book came out August 2, 2022
Borrowed as hard copy from library
Opinions are my own

Thursday, October 3, 2024

Give and Take by Adam M. Grant

If you really thought about it, you might assume that people who hog all the glory or keep all the money for themselves are the only ones who get ahead. Grant uses this book to argue that the opposite is true, that we need to look for the givers in our lives. The chapters are split into topics like influencing people,  recognizing potential, and burn out and each looks at how givers and takers approach each. Each chapter also provides real-world examples.
Chapter 5 specifically talks about how to approach communication from a place of non-dominance. That an average interviewer was looked down on when they spilled coffee but it made an expert more relatable. In this chapter, he also references "powerless speech"- hesitations, hedging, disclaimers and more. Normally, you might think this displays a sense of inferiority but it can make people more receptive than a forceful arguement would.
Grant does a deep dive to understand why some people succeed and others fail. His theory? There are givers and takers in the world. The people who lift up everyone around them and the ones who are only in it for themselves. 
Grant weaves together stories of both givers and takers and why they succeeded and what they did to help or hinder others. My biggest surprise is that successful givers aren’t immune from self-interest, they just help others succeed as well.

Four stars
This book came out in 2013
Borrowed as hard copy from library
Opinions are my own



Friday, September 20, 2024

Murder at the Merton Library by Andrea Penrose

Wrex receives a note from a friend of his brother's, asking him for help. But when Wrex arrives at the college, the friend is already dead. It will be up to our intrepid team to find out what happened to the man. 
As we get further into the books, the mysteries are fine but, for me, it's more about the characters. And there is some growth for them in this book. Sheffield and Cordelia get closer to marriage, the Weasels start to interact more with their newest member, and we get to learn more about Wrexham and his brother. 

Four stars
This book came out September 26, 2023
Wrexford & Sloan #7
Borrowed as hard copy from library
Opinions are my own

Monday, September 9, 2024

Grit by Angela Duckworth

The title pretty much says it all. If you have stick-to-it-tive-ness, it will generally take you farther than innate skill. Duchworth's own father used to tell her that she was no genius but she stuck to it and turned out fabulous.

Do the stories start to sound the same? Yes. Does Duckworth tell you that you need to cut your losses sometimes? Yes. Did she tell us how to identify when that is? Not really.
I did overall enjoy this book but there is nothing new for regular self-help readers.

Three and a half  stars
This book May 3, 2016
Borrowed as hard copy from library
Opinions are my own

Friday, August 9, 2024

Slow Productivity by Cal Newport

Technology was touted as making our lives easier but that is often not what has happened. Instead, we are working harder than ever, often, without considering what it's doing to our mental health. there is an overwhelm of emails.

Newport brings together the works of many other authors who have written similar themes. There are stories of people who have worked both slowly and productively. He also presents ideas on how achieve productivity without burning yourself out.
This book was fine but it felt like a lot of filler- references to other similar books or the author's own writings.

Three stars
This book came out March 5, 2024
Borrowed as hard copy from library
Opinions are my own

Saturday, July 27, 2024

The Summer Escape by Jill Shalvis

When Anna Moore finds a coin in a collection of her dad's things, she doesn't expect Owen Harris to show up, accusing her father of having stolen a collection of rare goods including a necklace known as Ruby Red.
Owen's great aunt is his only family member left. She's ninety-five years old and, before she dies, he's like her to know that he recovered the property that was stolen so long ago. 
Together, they will solve the mystery of what happened oh so many years ago. All while Anna is also dealing with her sister Wendy who is pregnant with triplets. 
This is hypothetically part of a series but there isn't really a through line that I can see. This was a fast, fun, and fluffy book. Not much substance but an enjoyable book for a day off.

Three and a half stars
This book came out June 11, 2024
Sunrise Cove #6
Borrowed as hard copy from library
Opinions are my own


Thursday, June 27, 2024

Murder at an English Séance by Jessica Ellicott

Big things are happening in this book. Beryl has her plane and is enjoying flying to her heart's content. Edwina has finished her book and is just working up her nerve to get it shipped out. Of course, she'll have to post it where the town's biggest gossip (i.e. the postmistress) will see it. So she reroutes to a tea shop to fortify her nerves.
It is at the tea room that she meets psychic, Maude Dinsdale. Maude has just moved to town but she is about to set Walmsley Parva on its ear. While some people are eager to believe in her talents, others are being torn apart. And one person ends up dead in a mummy's sarcophagus.
There is a lot going on in this book including Charles being given care of his cousin's two-year-old son. The end of the mystery wasn't really fairly clued so that was a bit annoying but this was overall a nice book. 

Beryl and Edwina Mystery #8
Three and a half stars
This book comes out June 25, 2024
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Publishing and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Wednesday, May 15, 2024

Tastes Like Shakkar by Nisha Sharma

Have we read books before where the two best friends of the hero/heroine from the first book fall in love? Why, yes, yes we have. But have they perfectly played off the repartee of Beatrice and Benedick? Maybe. But I haven't read them. Highly enjoyable book although I thought the B-plot was a bit rough and really could have been left out.

Bobbi and Bunty have been thrown together for some wedding planning. He became her number one enemy when he, well-known chef, turned her down in for catering a wedding. She lost a lucrative contract and her uncle lost confidence in her. Now the man that raised her seems like he is pulling her dream further and further out of reach.
Bunty is trying to juggle the life he wants with the expectations of his family. While he is still in food, his father is trying to woo him back to the family business, frozen naan. To add to the complications, it is on the West Coast while his friends, and Bobbi, are on the East Coast. What is going to be more important in the end?

Three and a half stars
If Shakespeare Was an Auntie #2
This book came out August 1, 2023
Followed by Marriage & Masti
Borrowed as hard copy from library
Opinions are my own


Sunday, April 28, 2024

The Summer Book Club by Susan Mallery

As is usual in Mallery books, three women find their matches. Of course, for Paris, that new man is actually an ex-husband. They broke up years ago and he remarried and has a son. But now Jonah's back in town with his son to help while his mother undergoes surgery. While Paris believes they are on their way to being friends, Jonah might have a different idea.
Her best friend Laurel has two daughters and an ex-husband who doesn't see the girls. Her oldest is acting out toward all males. She just needs a friend. A male friend. One who can show that not all men are flakes who can't be counted on.
Last is Cassie. She's just joined the friend group after inheriting some land from a great uncle. She's feeling raw after her brother and sister kicked her out of the nest. While both of her siblings got money, she inherited land. Land that an apparently very hot archaeologist is working on. 
An enjoyable book but the ending was incredibly fast like the author ran out of time and wanted to wrap up the storylines quickly.

Three and a half stars
This book came out February 13, 2024
Borrowed as hard copy from library
Opinions are my own

Monday, March 4, 2024

Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie

 Nurse Amy Leatheran has just finished a position with a nice young family and decides to stay in Iraq with an archaeological dig. Famous archaeologist, Dr. Leidner, is married to a woman who is very stressed out. She is worried that her former husband is coming back to get even with her marrying another man. The only problem? Her former husband died in the war. 
Nurse Leatheran is only there a short time but she sketches a short outline of each of the characters at the dig. It's just too bad that Mrs. Leidner is killed in a locked room manner; there was no way for anyone to get in and out of the dig without being seen so it has to be someone on the inside.

Hercule Poirot #14
Four stars
This book came out July 6, 1936
Followed by Cards on the Table
Borrowed as hard copy from library
Opinions are my own

Monday, February 26, 2024

Murder at the Royal Botanic Gardens by Andrea Penrose

Charlotte and Wrexford are getting married. That means that they are incredibly busy with wedding plans and the social twirl of being a newly engaged couple. It is at one of the parties, one at the Royal Botanic Gardens, that Wrexford is summoned into another room. He has gained a reputation for solving murders and the murdered man's friend is convinced this is not a natural death. Yes, the man had heart problems but the white powder around his mouth points to a different reason for death. 
An old enemy comes back and a new comrade (a cousin of Thomas Jefferson, no less) is made. 
A nice book with a branching into the botanic realm of the time, stepping out of the technical one a little bit. 

Wrexford & Sloan #5
Four stars
This book came out September 28, 2021
Borrowed as hard copy from library
Opinions are my own





Saturday, February 24, 2024

Atomic Habits by James Clear

A coworker of mine was talking about this book so I picked it up. It was an interesting premise, boiling down to four steps to develop better habits, all of which seem fairly obtainable. Clear also brings up some other ideas that resonated with me. One was the "Plateau of Latent Potential." He mentions that this is a place where you've been working hard for awhile but not seeing any results. But if you keep plugging away, it will seem like you have sudden results.
Another idea that Clear brings up is the idea of systems vs. goals. Goals are what you are trying to achieve, systems are the way that you get to those goals. These are actually MORE important than the goals themselves as they are markers of how you get to what you need to do.
An idea that really hit home for me is that your identity is tied to the things that you do regularly. That means, the best habits are the ones that help you to define your identity. 
The rest of the book (the bulk of the book) is set on defining the four laws (and their inverses): Make it obvious (invisible); make it attractive (unattractive); make it easy (difficult); make it satisfying (unsatisfying.)
These all made a tone of sense and seem like they could be easily actionable. 

Four stars
This book came out October 16, 2018
Borrowed as hard copy from library 
Opinions are my own


Thursday, February 22, 2024

A Demon's Guide to Wooing a Witch by Sarah Hawley

Calladia Cunnington is proud of her physique. She's strong and really quite bad ass. Just because her mother and a former boyfriend tried to break her down doesn't mean that she's willing to listen to them. Plus, there's a hot demon who thinks she's all that. Not that she's going to pay attention since he tried to kill her and all.
Astaroth is gunning for power. He made a bad (demon) bargain and now he's been cast out and turned fully human. He's also lost his memory. Luckily, Calladia has taken pity on him. Unluckily, his major enemy is still gunning for him.
This was an interesting book. I read it because I picked up the third book in the series and thought I should read the first two. I didn't feel like I needed to have read the first book to understand this one. I didn't really like either of the main characters but made it to the end. Two and a half stars rounded up for Goodreads. 

Glimmer Falls #2
Two and a half stars
This book came out November 28, 2023
Follows A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon
Borrowed as hard copy from library
Opinions are my own

Sunday, February 4, 2024

My Murder by Katie Williams

I saw this on the Books We Love list for 2023 and thought it looked interesting. We meet Lou who is a clone but who has all the memories of her previous body. As you can imagine, there is some dysmorphia over whether she really is "her" and some exploration of what it means to be yourself.
With four other women, Lou was brought back by the Replication Committee. All five of them were killed by a serial killer whose name is now famous and he is in prison. They are all trying to figure out what it means to have been brought back with all of their memories, with their same faces, but with a gap missing of what actually happened at the end (ascribed to trauma.)
Lou is having problems since the daughter who she wasn't even sure about before she died certainly wants nothing to do with her now that she has returned. She's also struggling in her job which seems to be virtual cuddling (human touch in a virtual age.)
A really interesting book that was a little disturbing a points but overall an interesting read. 

Four stars
This book came out June 6, 2023
Borrowed as hard copy from Library
Opinions are my own

Thursday, January 4, 2024

The Witch Is Back by Sophie H. Morgan

Emmaline Bluewater was engaged to Bastian Truenote until the day he ran away. He didn't even leave a note for her, just for his parents. Emma was already known as lesser in their witchy society. Her family isn't prominent and, as a later born child, she doesn't have a lot of power. When he left, it was the lowest point of her life. But it opened the door to letting her escape her overbearing mother.
It's seven years later though and Bastian has just walked back into her life as though he never left. She's not very happy but he's got a hell of a reason- if they don't marry, his mother will die. So she agrees to a marriage in name only, just so that the contract will be fulfilled.
I wish we had seen more about she formed a friendship with Leah and more about how she, Leah, and Tia opened a bar. I also thought it would have been nice to know more about what she and Bastian did for the Exhibition.

Three and a half stars
This book came out 
Borrowed as hard copy from the library
Opinions are my own

Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

I saw this book on the 2023 NPR Best Books and it was worth the read. It took me some time to appreciate the story as the first week is somehow most of the first half of the story but I ended up being glad I stuck with it. 
Set behind the scenes of an SNL-esque show, we meet Sally Milz, one of the writers. She enjoys her job but is stymied by how her fellow writers (male) keep hooking up with these superstars (female.) In fact, she makes a rule out of it. Everyone laughs. Except Noah Brewster who is a guest on the show. However, the two of them seem to have a connection. But maybe only Sally feels it. Then COVID hits and the two start communicating through email and getting closer without being physically close. Love ensues. 

Three and a half stars
This book came out April 4, 2023
Borrowed as hard copy from library
Opinions are my own


Sunday, December 24, 2023

Heartwishes Edilean by Jude Deveraux

Seriously, what is it with normally good romance authors deciding that it's perfectly okay to write sex scenes without condoms? Would have been a four star book if the characters had decided that they loved each other enough to protect each other rather than just fall into bed because Gemma is on the pill?
Otherwise, really liked her character (hiring a historian instead of an archivist to organize your family papers aside). Devereaux often writes about physically strong women and Gemma is one of them. She isn't necessarily beautiful but she certainly captures the attention of Colin Frazier, a descendant of one of the seven founding families of Edilean. He's super rich (like all good romance heroes?) but works as the local sheriff, and oh, he's a Pied Piper with children.
It might seem a little too good to be true but they'll have to deal with Colin's not-so-ex-girlfriend, many small emergencies, a magical wishing stone, and even an international thief.

Three stars
This book came out August 30, 2011
Follows Scent of Jasmine
Followed by Moonlight in the Morning
Borrowed as hard copy from library
Opinions are my own

Friday, December 22, 2023

Starlit Winter Nights by Nora Roberts

I hadn't read the Cordina series in awhile and this book reminded me of why. This series didn't age well and this book is definitely a product of its time with Hanna supposedly being a kickass secret undercover agent (we learn this pretty quickly) but she is helpless against Prince Bennett and his ... charms(?).
Bennett is worried about his family. An old enemy is about to be released from from prison and he knows that his family is going to be a target. He is even more worried about the fact that he seems to be falling for a woman who is not his normal type. He usually dates models and striking women but this one is... not. but she's captured his attention.
Lady Hannah Rothchild is drab and tends to be overlooked. That is because she has cultivated that personality. It allows her to melt into the background becoming the perfect bodyguard for people like Princess Eve. She has the background and she has the skills. Hannah is about to take down the Big Bad but is apparently distracted by Bennett and his forceful (emphasis on force...) ways.

Two stars
This book came out October 1, 1987
Follows Command Performance
Followed by Cordina's Crown Jewel
Borrowed as hard copy from library
Opinions are my own

Thursday, December 21, 2023

Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies by Misha Popp

I had read the second book in this series and for about forty percent of this book, I wondered whether I really needed to read this one (I didn't). But then, what made me enjoy the second book finally kicked in. I really like the narrator of this story, Daisy Ellery, who kills men but does so by a certain set of rules (usually.) 
We know that she makes pies and can imbue a little bit of magic. That magic, in a similar vein to "Like Water for Chocolate", can imbue different feelings in people. It can also kill. And she is trying to rid the world of men who don't treat women well. To that end, she has set up a business, "Pies before Guys," that works solely on referrals. Daisy will take care of the men in your life who you need not to be in your life. But she has someone who is not her normal client. It is someone who is closer to her than she ever would have guessed.
For as close as some people are to her in the second book, I don't see those relationships really building in this book but it was a good intro to a series.


Three stars
This book came out May 10, 2022
Followed by A Good Day to Pie
Borrowed as hard copy from library
Opinions are my own