For the Back to the Classics' prompt "a classic about an animal, or with an animal in the title" I decided to read something completely different from my usual reads and decided on Call of the Wild. A book that many in my community absolutely adore, but one I delayed reading for several years.
I selected the audiobook version of Call of the Wild and what I thought would be a boring chore to complete, turned out to be a really fun "read".
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This heartwarming picture book about the friendship between famous singer Marian Anderson and Albert Einstein is an absolute must for elementary school classrooms and for the parents of young children.
The Singer and the Scientist is a story about the importance of compassion and standing up for others even when it means going against the status quo. Ask Baba Yaga had been on my TBR since it was featured on Spirits Podcast and it was one of the books I was most excited to read to kick-off 2021. "In age-old Slavic fairy tales, the witch Baba Yaga is sought out by those with a burning need for guidance. In contemporary life, Baba Yaga—a dangerous, slippery oracle—answered earnest questions on The Hairpin for years. These pages collect her most poignant, surreal, and humorous exchanges along with all-new questions and answers for those seeking her mystical advice."-Goodreads
I decided to read George for the #ReadICT prompt "read a challenged book." Out of all the challenged books, why George? My state made headlines in 2017 when a school district refused to buy copies for its libraries even though the book was part of the William Allen White books list. This list is released yearly in Kansas and nearly all school districts buy every book on the list.
And my state made headlines once again in 2019 when a public library wanted to "change" how LGBTQ+ books were organized in its building. So of course I picked up a copy of George.
Monica Black's new book doesn't focus on literal supernatural beings. Instead, it provides a fascinating look at human psychology when faced with deep-rooted trauma, guilt, and the aftermath of war. The post-WWII years saw a rising popularity of faith healers and an increase in witchcraft accusations in Germany.
In A Demon-Haunted Land, Black examines German living standards and psychology during the post-war period to understand how such things were able to occur in the 20th century. Although there were times that I felt that the book focused too heavily on one particular faith healer (almost a bit too biographic), I enjoyed Black's research and found the concepts presented truly fascinating. Once Black broke down certain causes and influences to the witch craze, it was interesting to apply those same things to other similar situations to get a better understanding of people's psychology during that occurrence. This is a topic that I have never considered before and it's thanks to Black that I would like to do my own personal research to learn more. My Rating: ??? Amazon | Bookshop
The first book in "The Heroes of Corvus" series, A Superhero's Duty by Patricia Gilliam is a wonderful blend of urban fantasy and science fiction.
Icarus, a villain-for-hire, finds himself filled with guilt when a planned fight against hero, Red Bolt, ends in the accidental death of the hero, three civilians and a young boy becoming an orphan. However, Icarus soon realizes that there was more going on during the fight than he first believed and that city of Corvus is in great danger.
I was a bit disappointed to discover that the summary on the book jacket exaggerated the plot a bit. But I continued the book and did like the story.
Operation Oleander is a middle school book that centers on military kid Jess and her friends Sam and Meriwether. The teens created Operation Oleander to help deliver school supplies to an orphanage in Afghanistan. Jess and Meriwether's parents, both stationed in Afghanistan, help deliver the supplies to the orphanage. One day tragedy hits when insurgents strike the orphanage during a delivery.
Let me tell all the non-native Kansans something. When you're from Kansas, you get EXCITED when Kansas is featured in any book. I knew I had to read this the moment I found out it made it to the 2020 Kansas Notable Books list.
For those unfamiliar with this part of U.S. history, the term Exodusters refers to African-Americans who left the South after the Civil War and settled in places like Oklahoma, Colorado, and...Kansas!
I've read mystery books before, but I did not expect Higashino to approach the genre in a such a unique way!
At the surface, this crime story is a "whodunit" that centers on Detective Kyoichiro Kaga finding the murderer of a divorcee who was found strangled to death in her apartment. The story is propelled forward as Detective Kaga interviews different people connected and not connected to the crime. Each chapter focuses on a different person or family. And I absolutely loved how characters, objects, and even statements featured in one chapter would flow from one chapter to the next as Detective Kaga worked to find the murderer. |
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