This was ok. I found the book conservation parts of it interesting, but I really didn‘t like Margot, nor any of the other characters, except for the nuns. It was a bit difficult to figure out right at the start, as it flipped back and forth in time and was a bit hard to tell where we were (in time), but that didn‘t last long. It was pretty slow-moving, but it was ok. An author's note would have been nice.

I really enjoyed this. I liked Kel and I liked her friends. I also liked her new servant Lalasa. This one went pretty fast, as it sped through all the remaining years of Kel‘s training, so it might have been nice to get more detail as we went along, but I guess being a YA book, it was sped up a bit. It‘s certainly a great series for young girls, with Kel being such a strong role model, herself. But, of course, I‘m enjoying it, too

This was so short; I wish it had been longer. I felt terrible when I thought Billy was going to bring home an owl by stealing it out of a nest! There were plenty of humourous stories about Wol and Weeps. I am curious if Mowat actually had owls as pets.

I thought this was good. Have to admit, I didn‘t remember much of the first book at all. I think I read it fast (it‘s YA), and it just slipped my memory, but it came back as I read this one. I thought it got better as it got to the end of the book, and I will definitely be continuing the series

Rose‘s story was the most interesting storyline for me, though there a bit more going on in addition to her story. I didn‘t find the Sandman parts as interesting, though he does intersect with Rose‘s story. On thinking back, I thought I had rated Vol. 1 lower than what I did. So, officially, I rated both volumes “good”, but I feel like I liked this one better, at least as compared to what I remember of the first one.

It was ok. Pretty slow-moving, as nothing big really happens. It was just things that happened in his life as he was growing up. I grew up in Southern Sask (though in the 70s and 80s!), but “recognized” some of the small town prairie happenings (i.e. (sadly) kids trying to get gopher tails; luckily, I never saw it, just heard about it). Overall, it was ok.

To me, this one felt a bit like “filler” to get somewhere, but at the same time, it (mostly) kept my interest. A few big things happened as time went on, but much of it was day-to-day. Those big things picked the action up for a while as each one happened. There was something missing (in my opinion) that I would have liked to have “seen” just before the epilogue. I thought maybe that would be part of the next books, but I guess not.

I‘m Canadian. I grew up in a small town, and can see people reacting as the people of Gander did, doing everything they could do to help. 9/11 itself is an emotional topic, This was emotional, it made me feel proud to be Canadian, to read about everything the people in Gander had done. A really good (and emotional) account of what some of the people who were flying that day went through when they landed in a small isolated town in Eastern Canada.

What happens behind the scenes when someone dies until they “appear” at the funeral? The author looks at this, in addition to the business of being an undertaker, in all the historical changes – from burial to cremation… and still to come, green burials. I found this really interesting. Of course, there was a bit of humour thrown in here and there. In such a business, I think there needs to be.

These books were not great for recapping, so I have to just try to pick up and figure out what‘s going on. Once I did, it was ok. I listened to the audio and parts kept my interest and other parts didn‘t, so I did miss some things, but was able to follow the gist of what was happening. I think I had a similar reaction to the 2nd book, but I decided to finish the trilogy, so now I have

Lots of people in lots of places across the country are doing things to try to make the world better by sourcing locally. It was interesting to learn about some of those different things. The author has a section at the end where she tries to help offer suggestions on what people can do/look for/ask if they want to move toward eating locally. She admits that she isn‘t perfect about it, but really, every little bit helps.

I just don‘t tend to find rich people who don‘t do a whole lot all that interesting. Much of the book focused on the people around her, and because she married so many times, there were many different people, so I had trouble keeping them all straight. I think the section on WWI was the most interesting to me, and maybe the rise of Hitler and WWII, as well. But that was more interest in the historical times than interest in Allene, herself.

I love the title of the book! The book itself was enjoyable. There was one part of the ending I wasn‘t too crazy about. I didn‘t see it coming, and I definitely think I was picturing Thomas differently from how he was meant to be pictured!

It was interesting to learn about Queen Victoria, as well as the different world that England had become over 300 years. I‘m not sure, historically, how her husband, Albert, is regarded, but I was not a big fan, given how he‘s described in this book. Victoria loved him, but I didn‘t like him much. I found her family life (both as a child, and as an adult) more interesting than the politics in the book.

I thought this was really interesting. Horrifying how skinny she became. She did share photos in the book, as well. After her bout with anorexia, she seemed so much more positive about her body-image as a plus model. I did look her up online after, though, to see that she‘s gone down a couple of sizes since. What an awful world that is, though – the fashion industry

Books and cats – my two favourite things! I really enjoyed this. There are photos in the middle of the book. Baker and Taylorare so cute, each had their own personalities. They had a fan club made up of a grade 2 class. The teacher had her class write letters (to help them with their writing) every year to the cats, and send gifts. There was some biographical information about the librarian (and author) who mainly took care of the cats, as well

I listened to the audio, and had no trouble following without losing interest. I really liked this. It was hard to fathom how she could get more and more sucked in to that life and not realize the implications. I guess I felt like she had been brainwashed, like a cult. In fact, pretty much all of them had “drunk the Kool-Aid”! It was an interesting tale of taking social media way too far

Hard to write a summary, as there were a few different things going on. Overall, I liked the book, though some parts were better than others. I found Amber‘s storyline interesting, as well as when Roland‘s fiancee, Letitia, appears – I liked her, too. There were parts that I didn‘t find quite as interesting, but overall, it was enjoyable

I really enjoyed this main storyline, as well as the next biggest storyline in this one, involving Snow White and her children. I so love the illustrations in this, and like the others in the series, the borders are a nice “extra” that also helps you figure out which characters/storyline is happening on that page. It ended on a slow note for me, which is mostly what brought down my rating by that ¼ star. Overall, though, I quite liked this volume.

it seemed a bit all over the place. It moved too quickly to really have any kind of plot or story. It seemed like it might have made for a nice outline of an actual novel. That‘s what gave it the 3 stars (ok) from me. A nice outline for a novel. But, really, it was too short, nothing much happened (until the very end, but then it ended, so we didn‘t really get to find out what that was all about

I really enjoyed this. I thought it was paced well, and I definitely wanted to keep reading. It‘s told by way of “The day before”, “The day of”, and “The day after”, referring to the murder, but I thought it was pretty easy to keep track of where I was. In opposition to the title, there were actually quite a few secrets going on in this book! Of course, this is one with all the twists and turns.

I listened to the audio, read by Gaiman himself (of course!). He does have a wonderful storytelling voice, but for some reason, it still doesn‘t always hold my attention. It was ok. There were plenty of things that I missed, I was usually able to catch the gist of where we were in the story, as I listened. I think it was a cute story, at least what I paid attention to!

This was mostly told from Prudence‘s POV, with a few chapters from Laura‘s and a couple from Sarah‘s. I really enjoyed Prudence‘s chapters. The author knows cats well! I had to laugh at parts of it! I was horrified to find out about an event that really took place in New York City (1998) that is part of the background in this story. I just don‘t want to give it away as a bit of a spoiler.

I really liked this. A warning that there are some graphic scenes, though – sex, violence. The book certainly kept me wanting to read to find out what happened. It was a bit of an emotional roller-coaster with ups and downs. A small portion of the book told Lulu‘s story; admittedly, at first, I didn‘t think this was necessary, but it got more interesting as it went on, and it was nice to see the pieces come together as it continued.

This is meant to be a humourous look at cats. Much of it is set up in a letter “dear Abby” advice-type format, but there are other little snippets, as well. There were a few times I laughed out loud, but really not many. It wasn‘t as amusing or enjoyable as I‘d hoped, though I am still rating it “ok” (that may be generous). It was a quick read, at least.

I thought this was quite interesting. Some people have actually studied trash (garbologists). There was some history of how landfills got started, and how people traditionally got rid of their trash. Of course, the consumer culture – marketing to promote more and more buying (and also throwing away because we want the new stuff) – came to rise in the 50s, and hasn‘t let up. Con't in comments...

It was pretty slow-moving, but the story was good. I found I (mostly) didn‘t care about the characters. I guess by the end, I did a little bit, but still not as much as I would have hoped. The epilogue was unexpected – I‘m not sure I liked it. My edition had an interview with the author at the end, so I found it interesting to discover that the book was based on a real-life hostage situation at the Japanese embassy in Peru that did last months.

I thought this was pretty good. At first, I thought Alex was not a good person, but that turned out to be wrong (not a spoiler). The nightmares that Joanna had were creepy. This was originally written under a pseudonym, as it was a different genre than Koontz usually writes. He rewrote parts of it to update it in 1995 (from the original 1979), though a lot of the subject matter still felt a bit 70s. Overall, though, it was good.

I found the beginning of the book a bit slow. It also jumped over time a bit. But, I thought it really picked up about the time Juana realized what a cad Philippe was. The author fictionalized a reason why Juana may have ultimately wanted to stay out of the limelight and not be queen, which was somewhat entertaining. Con't in comments...

It‘s fairly short and entertaining for someone who is a fan of the show. I stopped watching DWTS a few years ago, but I still enjoyed the stories, and I certainly remembered most of the celebrities she was talking about (I even looked a couple of the dances up on youtube after I finished the book so I could watch again!). Cont in comments...

Neil Gaiman does have a nice voice and is a good narrator (I listened to the audio), but somehow he doesn‘t always hold my attention. I‘ve listened to a few he‘s narrated, but I think it‘s all been short stories, which I think is also harder on audio because when i lose focus, it‘s harder to catch up again. Cont in comments...

I liked this. There are a few themes going on here, beauty being the main one, both Terra‘s face and her art, but also the (emotional/verbal) abuse she and her mother (and brothers, until they left home) face from her father. Cartography is big in the book, and there is a trip to China. This was more than your usual lighthearted YA romance book; it felt a bit weightier. Cont in comments...

Because there were so many names/people I didn‘t know at the start of the book, I was a bit lost initially, but it didn‘t take long before I was able to figure most of it out. The book did get better and better as it went on, as Victoria grew older and was able to (sometimes) stand up to her mother. I definitely want to continue the series, and hope I am able to before too much time passes, so I remember what lead up to everything to this point.

I enjoyed this. I enjoyed Izabela‘s story more than Maia‘s, and, unfortunately, I just didn‘t “get” the connection between Maia and her love interest. Other than that, I did like Maia‘s story, as well, but it really was Izabela‘s that shone for me. I also liked the story of the creation of the Christ the Redeemer statue that stands in Rio de Janeiro; the people were real people, but of course, the story as written here was fictional.

I listened to the audio and enjoyed it. It looks like I rated the first two books 4 stars each, but on thinking back, I feel like “Hatchet” should have been 4 stars and “The River” probably 3.5, same as this one. In any case, it was interesting to see the kinds of things Brian had to do/learn in order to survive over the winter.

Another really good book in the series! I also really like the audios of these. I haven‘t listened to them all, but I have for many of them, and they are always done really well. I like the Irish accent, too. I also always enjoy the personal stories of the detectives in these books. I was always kept wanting to read more, to find out how things were going to unfold. Really enjoyed this one!

I wondered part-way through if there had been people who really thought they could live without eating, and in fact, there were. I might have rated it higher, but the story was pretty slow-going. For the last third of the book or so, I thought it picked up quite a bit, but decided that I‘d keep my rating at “ok”, which is where it fell for me for most of the book. I guess I shouldn‘t have been surprised at the crazy religious people.

I might have rated it higher, but the story was pretty slow-going. For the last third of the book or so, I thought it picked up quite a bit, but decided that I‘d keep my rating at “ok”, which is where it fell for me for most of the book. I guess I shouldn‘t have been surprised at the crazy religious people

Devastating story, but a fascinating read (and it always feels so weird to describe these real-life disaster books this way). But, they can be (and this one is) so compelling.

It‘s a long book. It took 200 of the 800 pages for me to get interested, and even then, that was only when they started bringing in characters I already recognized from the Robin Hood story. I feel like I shouldn‘t have to recognize the story to get interested in it. Cont in comments....

The first half of the book – preparation and parts of the known portions of Mallory and Irvine‘s story – I would rate good, but it really picked up for me in the second half when the group searching for clues got climbing. And they did find quite a few things, and a couple of them even managed to summit afterward. Cont in comments...

This is such a great series! There were some beautiful descriptions of the Prairies (there were also some “extra” descriptions (of the prairie and other things) as Laura was Mary‘s eyes, as Mary had recently gone blind after a bout with scarlet fever). I also really enjoyed the building of the town. You just don‘t think about what it takes to start from scratch with no one else around and to watch a town be built from nothing!

So, this is more a review of the abridged audio (not worthwhile), than of the book itself. Also, one of the “books” I‘ve read about her was a trilogy. So, if one author had to write 3 books to cover her life… this is already narrowed down to one book, but not only that, the one book is abridged! I hate abridged. If I‘d had another audio book lined up and ready to go, I might have switched

I really liked this. It wasn‘t go-go-go from the start, with the hen party and the set up, but it was definitely enough to get me curious as to what was going on. Part-way through, especially with that glass house in the woods, it did get creepy in parts. Of course, it was easy to second-guess everything that went on, with Nora not really being able to remember what had happened. There was more history between Clair and Nora to delve into, as well

This book is aimed toward younger readers, but I found it a good introduction. There are also plenty of archival photos included. The author decided to tell the stories of a few specific families – to follow what happened to the people in those families, what they were doing at the time, etc. I do think this makes the book more “relatable”. cont in comments...

I really enjoyed this. I love animals, and really felt for Sprout. Even if they weren‘t animals, there is a lot of mother-child type interactions going on between Sprout and the little one. And interesting (and sad) interactions between Sprout, the little one, and the other farm animals

I really enjoyed this! I loved Charlie‘s Maine Coon cat, Diesel, who pretty much goes everywhere with Charlie. Charlie‘s adult son also moved back him with his dog, so the critters were a lot of fun! Cont in comments...

I listened to the audio, which overall, I‘ll rate good. I have read so much about the Tudors, there wasn‘t a whole lot new to me about Katherine. Though, the author did highlight some of the connections and interactions (few that there were) between Katherine and Juana. Cont in comments...

The beginning of the book started off with a “bang”, so to speak, and it kind of ended that way, as well, but it was pretty slow-going in the middle. Overall, it was ok for me. I liked one of the other characters‘ stories a bit better (but that could also be because it was condensed) – Linda. The author included some sad stats at the end of the book, with regards to native women and rape.

The author is a family studies professor. The book takes a look at the history of marriage during different times and cultures in history (though the focus, certainly for modern marriages, is on the Western world). I found this quite interesting. The book has an extensive “Notes” section at the end for those of us who also like to peruse through it for extra tidbits of information.