Review: 
This is one to pre-read for the Possum, mostly. She relies heavily on my suggestions, and it's kind of hard to keep ahead of her.
***
I'm unimpressed. It's all a bit thin.
Library copy
Original post: Kaethe.booklikes.com/post/2002842/the-worst-witch-saves-the-day-jill-murphy
Review:
pretty with an excellent point
***
2009 Mar 31
A big hit with the PandaBat who is not much of a drawer yet.
***
Cleaning up some database errors I came across this. Fun fact: a decade on, the child in question is now an adult and an accomplished artist. This is what makes raising children and also going back over old little reviews, so much fun.
Original post: Kaethe.booklikes.com/post/2002840/the-dot-peter-h-reynolds
Review:
Martin's writing appeals far more than most comedian's. Joke-writing is hard and I have nothing but respect for the work that goes into it, but most comedians aren't practiced at or devoted to longer formats. Martin is much more appealing to me as a short story writer than as a stand-up performer, actually. Although the idea of re-reading him scares me: if it doesn't age well I don't want to know.
Library copy
Original post: Kaethe.booklikes.com/post/2002835/pure-drivel-steve-martin
Review:
One of two books I remember reading in honor of the millennium; the other was Stephen Jay Gould's Questioning the Millennium. So one look back and one look forward. The look back was fascinating. Although I know more about the history of the British isles than any place outside the US it remains impenetrable to me.
I enjoyed it quite a bit, of course, I'm the sort of person who walks out of any historical film discussing how well they did in recreating the period. for England the answer is almost always "not enough sheep."
Library copy
Original post: Kaethe.booklikes.com/post/2002826/the-year-1000-what-life-was-like-at-the-turn-of-the-first-millennium-robert-lacey-danny-danziger
Review:
May 2019
This may well deserve a higher rating, but 7 months after I finished it without making even the slightest effort at a review, I have no idea. I recognize the start of the story from the blurb. And that's pretty much it. The identity of the first victim eludes me, as does the reason for any of it. All I seem to recall is that there was extensive back story. Well, also it got me interested in the the Hebrides and other islands, enough to look at houses for sale and jobs listings, not that I could consider moving without a lottery win because there is no way in hell that I am packing up and lugging all these books anywhere. I would love to see the white nights though.
Sad, innit, how little I remember? Still, I'd like to read more by Cleeves.
Library copy
Original post: Kaethe.booklikes.com/post/1998744/white-nights-ann-cleeves
Review:
The prologue begins with an opening line reminiscent of A Christmas Carol: "First of all, it was October, a rare time for boys."
Forty or so years ago I read this and identified with the boys, of course I did. This time I couldn't. So it was just a bunch of wordplay and monologuing and there was no horror to it anywhere, just an ad for an imaginary place I wouldn't be welcome. He did say some nice things about libraries, though, so I'm giving it a couple of stars.
Library copy
Original post: Kaethe.booklikes.com/post/1998300/something-wicked-this-way-comes-ray-bradbury
Review:
Original post: Kaethe.booklikes.com/post/1998298/sleeping-beauties-owen-king-stephen-king
for Modern Masters of Horror
I enjoyed this enormously. There were some surprises and some poor reading on my part (my earlier race comment was wrongish, because of my failure to notice and/or remember the race of characters, but also kind of accurate given later developments - it's complicated). Anyway, nice work with archetypes and fairy tales and a premise that is clearly fantasy, but also very grounded and concrete. There's a large cast and lots of plot. But also really nuanced and generous, kind even. Stephen has always showed an understanding of and sympathy with abused women, so a whole lot of compassion towards the inmates of a women's prison is no surprise. But there is also a lot of anger, some of it directed at people behaving badly and some of it directed at society for creating and exacerbating iniquity. Dickensian.
Good on these two for writing a book that is absolutely entertaining, but more than just entertaining.
Good for many squares, and recommended to those who don't care for horror in general.
Library copy
Original post: Kaethe.booklikes.com/post/1998297/sleeping-beauties-owen-king-stephen-king
Review:
Eberhardt has been working at Stanford for 30 years now, uncovering the roots of systemic racism via social science. Together with other researchers she has performed a lot of studies and learned and published. One focus of her work has been in using social science to address pressing social problems. In this book she takes all her years of research and expertise and lays it all out for the non-academic reader.
If you're not up on implicit bias it is the part that we all have picked up on regardless of our explicit ideas or beliefs. It kicks in faster than thought and slips in under our mental radar. It's why police shoot unarmed black boys, why they stop more people of color driving, it's why fewer African American and Hispanic children are labelled gifted and are more likely to have the school cop called on them for minor infractions. It's much more than that, too.
But there's the best part: Eberhardt knows how to short circuit it. There's a reason why people call them "genius" grants even if the MacArthur Foundation never does.
Engrossing, insightful, and with luck, truly helpful. We can all do better and this book is a first step for many. Brilliant.
Library copy
Review:
At this point I have written two different reviews for this book and I just can't summon the energy to start over yet again.
The Handmaid's Tale is amazing and horrifying, even as a reread after thirty years.
The Testaments is also amazing and horrifying, but where the first was a cautionary tale the second is the product of a different perspective. There is agency and volition about some of the ways women of different ages, classes, and circumstances can find to rebel against an oppressive regime.
The Testaments is a rallying cry, and really, just what I needed this year.
Library copy
Original post: Defenestraethe.booklikes.com/post/1989474/the-testaments-margaret-atwood
