The Ruffington Dog Show by Hayley Rose
Now a book that did not tickle my fancy, but did make me think “I know someone who would love it,” was The Ruffington Dog Show. Perhaps the main issue with things is that it has rhyming text. Honestly, there is nothing wrong with that, I just need to be in the mood for it. Especially if the rhymes are going in the “sweet” direction, which they do. And a few felt a bit forced, and I think a few include made up words. So, […]
What the Bread Says: Baking with Love, History and Papan by Vanessa Garcia
What the Bread Says: Baking with Love, History and Papan is that this Vanessa Garcia and Tim Plain book is too short. Or maybe that is just me thinking that. Either way, Garcia talks about how bread can tell you something about where it comes from, the people who make it and more. We follow the young narrator as she and her Papan (grandfather/pan means bread in Spanish) make different types of bread. At the same time, her grandfather gives her a story as well […]
Terrace Story by Hilary Leichter
Terrace Story – which I consistently want to call Terrace House, which doesn’t make any sense at all, but there are brains for you – Terrace Story is a moving puzzle box of a novel. It’s short enough that you can whip through it in a single afternoon, if you’d like – but there no need to rush this. In fact, there’s so much more to appreciate, so many callbacks packed into such a short space – it’s almost as if this book about bending […]
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Every time I try to watch The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996 version, as I am an elder millennial, an “Oregon Trail” generation child) all I want is for that movie to be good. It had promise, didn’t it? And yet, each incomprehensible scene devolves into a farce, and anyway I haven’t stayed up long enough to watch a complete movie in several years. I may put it on again tonight, because even if the end is terrible I won’t even be awake to see […]
Fat City by Leonard Gardner
From most perspectives, Billy Tully and Ernie Munger would both be considered young men, but in their world of low-level professional boxing 18-year-old Ernie is a fresh face while 29-year-old Billy is a washed-up fighter barely hanging on. After a chance meeting at the Y, Billy convinces Ernie to go see his former trainer and try to make it in the fight game. Besides boxing, the only thing Billy and Ernie have in common is trouble with women. Billy has been miserably lonely since his […]
Four Weddings to Fall in Love by Jackie Lau
This was an ARC that I received from the author. It has not affected my opinions or swayed me in any way, although I will say that I also pre-ordered the book and paid for a copy with my own money, because Jackie Lau is a worthy auto-buy contender. Max Mok meets Kim Sun at a wedding and is smitten with her from the first. She clearly likes him enough to invite him to her hotel room after the reception, but Max isn’t really used […]
