Series Catch-up

I've read the next books in a couple of series so I just wanted to give them a quick mention.

The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken is the third book in Tarquin Hall's Vish Puri series. Vish is a private detective in Mumbai and these books are full of social commentary about modern India. The mysteries are interesting as well. This book also dealt with the division between Pakistan and India and I learned quite a bit about that time that I didn't know.

Mr. Kiss and Tell is the second Veronica Mars novel, continuing the story from pretty much right when it ends in the first book (which starts right after the movie). These are fun but dark reads. I have to admit that I mostly just read them to find out what is going on with Veronica and Logan.

Christopher Fowler's Peculiar Crimes Unit Mysteries (a.k.a. the Bryant and May Mysteries) are probably my favorite ongoing series right now. The Victoria Vanishes is the sixth of eleven current books in the series. I could easily speed through the entire thing but I'm trying to spread them out, keeping at least a couple for when I really need a comfort read. I love the amount of research that goes into them about the history of London and the detectives are quite different from any others you could read about.

Always in the middle,
K

New Release: Gumption

Until recently, Gumption: Relighting the Torch of Freedom with America's Gutsiest Troublemakers was not the type of book I would have picked up. But, thanks to finally getting on the Parks and Recreation bandwagon, a recent interest in historical figures, and a well-timed offer of this book from a blogging friend, I broadened my horizons and had a fun time to boot with Nick Offerman.

The basic premise of this book is that he evaluates twenty-one modern and historical figures and tells us why he thinks they've got gumption. It's a really interesting exercise and will certainly lead to readers composing their own mental lists. He's also incredibly funny, has a great vocabulary, and an adorable love for his wife, Megan Mullally. It also didn't hurt that he's only five years older than me so we come from the same time, if not the same place.

Offerman's list includes politicians, authors, singers, craftsmen (and women! he rocks the equality message in this book), and performers. Sometimes his criteria is quite straight-forward but, other times, it veers in a more philosophical direction. Though I'm pretty sure he didn't mean this to happen, it really gave a lot of insight into how he thinks and what he values. P.S. If he now sounds too high-brow for you, rest assured that he also loves a good steak ... and farts.

Anyway, I wanted to record my additions to his list. My criteria was simple: someone who makes a difference (for the better) in the world, who does things differently than those who have come before. I'm sure I have more additions but these were the first ones to come to mind as I finished reading the book.

Jane Goodall, Bill and Melinda Gates, Elon Musk, Neil Gaiman, Boyan Slat, Zack Kopplin

Who do you think has gumption?

Feeling a bit of my own gumption surfacing,

K

Summer Reading!

There are just a couple days left of school and then it's time to relax, go to our favorite family-friendly yoga class, and devour as many books as possible until September! I decided to choose my possible summer reads all at once this year so here they are.

The Devil's Workshop by Alex Grecian
The Boy Who Lost Fairyland by Catherynne M. Valente (planning on a whole series reread)
The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers
A Matter of Magic by Patricia Wrede
Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon
Fire and Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore
The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
The Mistaken Wife by Rose Melikan
Dodger by Terry Pratchett
Resorting to Murder, edited by Martin Edwards
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle (for The Estella Project)
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Envious Casca by Georgette Heyer
Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
The Martian by Andy Weir (for The Estella Project)
Angel With Two Faces by Nicola Upson
Elegy for Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear
The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
The Last Bookaneer by Matthew Pearl
S by Doug Dorst

I also have my 100 Chapter Books Project reads for the summer and I'm going to try and get to Emma for Roof Beam Reader's Austen in August. And I just noticed that I have no non-fiction on this shelf so I have to add one or two of those!

What are you looking forward to reading this summer?

Reading all the books,
K

Another Day in Paradise, Kauai Style

Yes, we took another trip to Hawaii. This time we decided to go to an island we had never visited before -- Kauai. Here are some of the highlights!

Talk Story Bookstore - The Western-most Independent Bookstore in the United States! It was our first stop on the island and yes, we bought books even though we had brought plenty with us.

If you have never had shave ice with ice cream in the bottom, find some. Even better if it is macadamia nut ice cream under guava and passion-orange shave ice (with a condensed milk "cream topping"!). Mmm.

Z was totally relaxed.

I practiced my palm tree photography.

I read some fantastic books.

We saw places that were definitely our idea of paradise, like Hanalei Bay. We even checked the price on the property for sale across the street!

We climbed on lava rocks and explored little tide pools filled with fish.

I grabbed a few photos of one of my favorite flowers.

Hibiscus are possibly the most photogenic flower.

And we spent some time just appreciating the gorgeous landscaping at the Grand Hyatt.

Kauai is an amazing island.

Because, in Hawaii, after every storm ...

... there's always a rainbow.

Dreaming of an island life,
K

New Release: Book Scavenger

I'm back! Sorry to disappear on you like that but I had to go to Kauai for a bit. It was a lovely vacation and I'll share some pictures with you in my next post but right now I really wanted to share with you the best book I read while I was there -- Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman.

Garrison Griswold is called "the Willy Wonka of book publishing".  He runs some one-off book and puzzle related games but his biggest undertaking is an online game called Book Scavenger where people hide books and then leave clues so that other readers can find them. There's a whole points system and it has some seriously devoted users. Griswold is ready to launch his big next game when he is attacked. Emily, a Book Scavenger fanatic, is the one who finds the first clue that launches her unknowingly into the new game. And though she is just getting to know her new home city of San Francisco, she's racing against the clock because she's not the only one who is on the trail of Griswold's next prize and those people aren't playing around.

This was such a fun book that I kept trying to pick it up again for days after I finished it. A side plot is that Emily's family moves frequently and so we get to see how she and her brother deal with that, especially as they get older. But, of course, the book parts of the story were the best and were right up my alley. Bertman's skill at combining regular book nerdery with specific San Franciscan literary history, Edgar Allan Poe lore, and cryptography is exemplary. This is a book that I want to read again already!

And amazingly, there is a real Book Scavenger game starting up! There are less than two dozen books hidden right now in the US but I can only imagine how that number will swell when kids start getting excited after reading this book and then finding out that the game is now real.

Finding that a good read is the best prize,
K