A Tale of Two Cities

 

***1/2

PG-13?

{L} {SM/V}

Could Recommend

I read this years ago and remember really liking it.

Then, I forgot the whole story.

Last month, my son was in a stage production called The Secret of Madame Defarge.

It was pretty dark and sad.  I had started rereading this book at the same time I saw the play and was curious to see how true to the book the performance was.  It ended up being pretty much taken right from the novel.  Very bloodthirsty, dark and sad.  However, the whole redeeming twist at the end of the story was not in the production, which was focused on Madame Defarge, so that made the book a little easier to swallow than the performance :)

I will not deny that it absolutely is a classic and does teach some good lessons.

There were one or two instances of the Lord's name taken in vain {Language} and with it being the French Revolution, there is much bloodshed so I gave the rating of {Subject Matter}/{Violence}.

I did find this was not one of Dicken's easiest narratives to follow (let's just say I was really glad I had just seen a stage adaptation so I was familiar with what was going on).  Aside from these things I could recommend reading it to someone who is willing to look past the dark stain of blood.

Young Woman and the Sea

 

***1/2

PG

Easily Recommend

I saw the movie and it made me want to read the book :)

I guess I expected the book to be like the movie but it was quite different and that ended up being okay.

There is a whole lot of history in here...history of swimming, history of how the English Channel was formed, history of key (and some not so key) players, you name it and Glenn Stout covers it.  At first it was a little too much for me; I just wanted to get to the story, but in the end I felt like it was a good thing to have so much background leading up to Trudy's part in the big picture.

I cannot remember objecting to anything.

It was a fascinating book and truly interesting to learn about this aspect of history.  Honestly, reading about Trudy's life post channel swim was a little sad.  Kind of a tragic ending after such an accomplishment!

Overall, I can easily recommend this book for someone that doesn't mind a lot of history mixed in with the story of an incredible young woman who broke all kinds of records and expectations.

The Tattooed Potato and Other Cluese

 

***1/2

PG

{SM}

Could Recommend

I searched this book out because I wanted to something else written by the author of The Westing Game which I recently reread.

I really didn't know what to expect but after finishing it I can say I am neither disappointed nor have I had my mind blown.  It was definitely an interesting read and there was nothing offensive in the story.

There was more than one murder (though not graphically described) so that is why I gave it the PG and {Subject Matter} ratings.

The mystery has a similar feel to the one in The Westing Game (mainly surrounding characters not being solely who they claim to be and also many secrets being harbored)

And, as with The Westing Game, in the end, not all of the pieces had clicked together for me.  I'm sure they do come together but my brain does not do a good job of connecting fragments into a whole.

So, overall, I think I could recommend it and would if someone was looking for a quick, interesting, somewhat lighthearted and juvenile mystery.

Pieces of Paris

 

***

PG (13?)

{UM} {BSt} {SM}

Probably Won't Recommend

I could have sworn I had rread this book years and years ago but I when I started reading it recently it wasn't ringing a bell.  However, I soon became somewhat uncomfortable with some of the content...not terrible but it was leading places I wasn't excited about...so I decided to not finish it.  However, I was interested in the overall plot and so I skimmed the rest to find out the basics.  Tragic story, but things definitely didn't go south like it seemed they would.  There were still some {Uncomfortable Moments} and some {Backstory} that I didn't love.  There is also a suicide that is mentioned with a few details {Subject Matter} but again, it turned out to be not as undesirable of a book as I was expecting.

  I remember in the past, my comfort level with this author has been hit or miss.

Probably Won't Recommend due to everything mentioned above.

Silent Sting

 

***

PG

Could Recommend

This book was very clean and another religious based story.  I also really liked the plot since I am a big fan of bees, but even with all of that in it's favor, I can't say that I loved it :(

I rated it PG for subject matter (there are several non-gory murders) and it also had a good mystery element but the main characters were not very likable in my opinion.  The author did not write great dialogue for them...as a matter of fact, it kind of made me wince a few times...and some of their characteristics were not very endearing.  At times it read like a teenage boy had written it (I hope that's not too rude...to the author and to teenage boys :)  Double thumbs down on the characters! 

 I also felt like some of the minor themes and how they were handled rubbed me the wrong way.

But, again, I did like the plot so I gave it an overall three stars.

Anyway, I could recommend it based on cleanliness but probably won't.

Without a Flaw

 

***1/2

PG

Easily Recommend

I actually really enjoyed this book!

There were some things that were not quite believable but other than that I liked it a lot!

To me, it was a unique plot and also had a lovely setting for the majority of the story.

PG for subject matter but otherwise very clean.

It also was heavy on the religious side of things but it was expected so it didn't bother me.

I could easily recommend this book to anyone looking for a clean...well, I don't know that it's really a mystery so we'll just call it a drama :)

Accidental Private Eye

 

***1/2

PG

Could Recommend

Since it has been a while since I had read a book like this I enjoyed the change of pace and genre.  However, I think that if I had read this in the midst of a bunch of other modern day murder mysteries it might not have come out on top as one of my favorites.  It was fine...just not as many twists as I usually expect in a book like this.  It does have some religion woven into it which is fine if I'm expecting it :)

It is well written but it wasn't the most exciting mystery I've read either.

It was clean and only received a PG rating because of the Subject Matter {SM} being murder.

I could recommend this book based on cleanliness but not on much else.