The Introverted Detective

 Today I'm reading another Ruth Ware book. Lenora, our main character, goes to a hen party under compulsion. Let's get into it.  This book is Agatha Christie coded. A bunch of people are brought into an isolated area for a hen party. That hen party goes off the rails and one person leaves before the real crap hits the fan. Our main character is in a hospital, remembering what happened. She has a gap in her memory and the police are saying someone is dead. By the end we know what happened. Until then, we get flashbacks between hospital interviews.  Our main character is Lenora, who goes by Nora and used to be called Lee. The frustrating thing is that she is being called Lee by our hen Clare who's getting married and Flo, the maid of honor. Flo is obsessed over "the perfect hen party" to a point that she's basically trying to control the social environment. After some jokes at her expense (a seance where they say "maxwell" says to "buy coffee...

 James Bond is wanted and supposed to be on leave. I am once again reviewing a James Bond in my Gardner collection. Let's talk about it.  Once again, SPECTRE is taking a shot at Bond, this time by putting a bounty on his head. After running into a couple of women who won't go away for anything, he is forced to bring them along. May (housekeeper of Bond) and Moneypenny are kidnapped to get him to come to SPECTRE. One of the women hanging on for the ride is innocent of any agenda; the other is not. By the time Bond figures that out, it is too late. He ends up blowing up the whole place by rewiring a movable bed (where the head of SPECTRE was slowly dying).  This will be a rather short review, mostly because it is a typical Gardner Bond. Five stars, no notes. It's a fun adventure. Bond gets to hang out with Sukie (the woman without the agenda) in the end. Moneypenny and May are safe and going home. May is featured in most Gardner bonds, but usually not to this extent. She'...

 I'm reading an Ian Fleming Bond novel again. I collect James Bond, in case you didn't know. Let's get into it.  This is the book after Bond's wife is killed. Bond is sent on a diplomatic mission to Japan, for intel that they need and don't want someone else to know they have. This leads into a mission to kill a man who created a poison garden. The suicides were allowed to freely walk in and die to piranhas and poisonous trees. Japan is getting a little sick of this, so Bond is sent in to kill the scientist who did this. It turns out to be Blofeld, who killed Bond's wife in the previous book. He becomes Japanese for a while, does his mission and strangles Blofeld, then loses his memory.  This is where the end gets a little weird. The clam diver he stayed with liked him and decided to lie to him. She made sure his old life was not brought up and kept him under a cloud of amnesia, convincing him he was her lover and a fisherman. The end of the book implies he went...

 Shutter Island is a movie and a book. If I like the book, I may compare it to the movie. We'll see. Until then, I go in with high expectations, having read Live By Night and one other book by Lehane. Let's go.  This book was mind-bending, and for that reason, I really will tell you to read it yourself before you read this review. This is here to warn you of spoilers, heavy spoilers. I need to talk about the nuances of the plot and it will not be a spoiler-free review. You've been warned. Proceed with caution.  I said, read it yourself first. I'll wait while the ones who never read it or watched the movie leave.  Now we can proceed. Thank you. The review From the beginning we meet Teddy, a US marshall, investigating a missing woman on an island institution with a his new partner, Chuck. This is the setup we get. Quite frankly, I already knew I couldn't trust Teddy because someone online did spoil one small part of the end. But it still hit me like a truck at the end...

 Let's jump into it without further adieu. Let's talk about Telemachus and Nestor. Let's save time. Here's the video of the expert summarizing the Book/Chapter 3.  ODYSSEY BOOK 3 SUMMARY (Homer) Telemachus is going to talk to Nestor in Pylos at this point, with Athena (as Mentor's form) supporting him. I will review this in two ways. The first is a star rating (out of 5) of plot, and the other is the same star rating system for readability. Readability is essentially "how easy is it to figure out what is going on" and "did I understand this".  The Review for Plot Basically, this is a visit to see if Telemachus can get Nestor's take on what happened to his father. Nestor doesn't know. He says he can have a son accompany him to Sparta to see someone else who might know more. He also suggests the suitors might ransack Telemachus' home, so go see Menelaus and be quick to get home, lest your mother and your belongings be gone. That's t...

 I stumbled upon this book because of my home church. This book wasn't even on my radar until my peers picked it up. Let's talk about connecting our faith and sexuality, which is a concept I have not heard much about.  This book was a group read because of my home church. It is not the type of book I'm usually consuming. I read mostly fiction and some nonfiction on the side (more nowadays than I used to). The title alone had my attention. The concepts within the book deal with giving God our all and not just parts of us. It talks about sexuality as not an identity, but a part of us to surrender to God. Being God's children should be our identity core and part of our faith journey, according to this book. It has some guts as a whole, mostly because it's talking about stuff a lot of Christians aren't.  Why this book has guts This book has boldness that I don't usually see in Christian Self-Help (the only category I can think of for this book to fit in). It tal...

I haven't done this challenge in a while. It's definitely time. Today we read three books at random and decide whether or not they stay in my personal library.  The rules of this challenge are simple. I picked three random books from "the unread" tab of my book inventory (not including the series I collect). I read them or DNF them. I decide what to do with them at the end of the challenge. I chose three, a good number to handle for one blog. I can do up to five if I DNF two in a row (a rule I added this past year), but today I'm just doing three. That's about it for rules. I'm going to go one book at a time.  If you take on this challenge, it is a good rule of thumb to read ten percent or four to five chapters before making a decision. Unless, of course, you hate it already, then you know what to do. I recommend this challenge to book dragons like me. We hoard books, but don't always read them all. We need space constantly for books. This will help yo...

 At this point in the Dungeon Crawler Carl (DCC) series, we're at level 4 of the dungeons. If you haven't got to this point, you should back up and read those first. Let's get into level 4 of the dungeon.  Carl, Donut, and Katia are now going through a subway system with no map or limited maps. They trade intel of the train lines with other crawlers as time goes on. The crawlers themselves are either out to get them (as Donut learns) due to the bounty on their head or helping them map out the system. Hekla's crew and part of the nursing home group are sharing intel with each other at this point. Carl and Donut connect with literally everyone who's willing to ensure most everyone can work together. They take on Katia as a favor, then permanently for reasons you'll find out yourself.  The train system is confusing. No one can get to the stairs early, the announcer says. After some absolute nightmare monsters, they come to the conclusion the environment is rigged t...

 Attraction to friends? Being drawn to certain people? It's real. The very fact you want to hang out with your friend is a nonromantic attraction.  Let's get into it.  Attraction can be platonic or romantic. You heard me, non-romantic attraction. The reason you want to hang out with your friends of any gender is attraction. Attraction means wanting to be near them. There are different levels of attraction and romantic is just the highest degree of it.  Today I researched attraction in friendships - and I don't mean cross-sex friendship issues. I mean the actual concept of wanting to be near someone. You like seeing your family, your friends, and your significant other, which are two types of attraction but the same concept.  What magnets us to other people Familiarity is what we want as humans. Exposure effect is seeing someone over and over again, increasing our comfort. This connects us over time. Think about family here and how we connect with family. Most of...

 Today we review book 2 of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, Carl's Doomsday Scenario. At this point, Carl has just entered floor 3. If you don't know what I'm talking about, read the first book. Let's get into it.  Basic overview, this is where the real drama and dungeon crawling begin. This entire book is level 3. All of it. From the circus quest, to the desperado club, to the quest that led every crawler to run to level 4 early. This was level 3 alone, and I can't wait to see what level 4 has in store next book.  There is a lot to say. The stakes go higher and higher. There are also moments I wouldn't be eating lunch and reading this book. The circus quest left me feeling a little ill. Ice cream anyone? I didn't think so. You'll understand when you get there.  The main thing is that the crawlers are starting to interact more, and we learn that high crawlers have bounties on their heads. This game just keeps getting crueler and crueler. We see some NPCs...

  Return Of The King blew me out of the water. This is the best book in the trilogy, picking up with Gondor and what happens to Pippin and Gandalf. Let's get into it.  Half this book is war, another tenth is Sam and Frodo's journey to destroy the ring, and the rest of it is the aftermath of coming home - including liberating the Shire from Saruman. A lot happens in this book. I couldn't sum it up in one sentence if I tried.  Review The first thing I made notes about was Denethor, the "charming" father of Boromir and Faramir. There are memes explaining that Denethor loves Boromir more than Faramir for good reason. Later he burns himself alive, after trying to burn Faramir (ill from battle) with him. Denethor was convinced there was no hope of Gondor being saved, thus he decided to end himself. Gondor was saved. Denethor also was a steward of the throne and refused to give it up before lighting himself on fire. He makes Boromir makes sense. Next we come to "I a...

I'm reviewing another 1930 Laurel and Hardy, a talkie titled Murder Case. Let's get into it.  This talkie starts with Laurel and Hardy fishing, then has them at the home of a murdered man in hopes of claiming money, as they are out of work since 1921 according to title cards. At the end you find out all the hijinks were in their head and they fist fight into the water they were fishing in.  We got a hilariously creepy butler, a bunch of great practical effects, and a lot of silly moments. As usual, I loved it. Also, for 1930 the sound was pretty dang good. I also watched a refurbished version, so that might also be it. If you want the worst "woman passing out in shock" you'll find it here - used for comedic and dramatic effect. You might think I'm going to give this five stars, but I give it four stars. I rate these out of enjoyment and this was a great one, but not my favorite. It had great hijinks and comedy, but I like others more. So, for all the good soun...

 Let's get into Book/Chapter 2 of The Odyssey. Once again, I have watched a video by MoAn Inc before I got into the poetry. I highly suggest doing that for The Odyssey so you don't get lost in the poetic language. You'll see the link to that video right before the review section. Time to dive in.  Book 2 is really Chapter 2 in The Odyssey. If you want to read my review of Book 1,  here it is.  The review has two parts. One is plot and general enjoyment. The other is readability (how easy it is to understand). I'll have two five-star ratings here, just so you can know how difficult the poetry is to understand.  Here is the YouTube video by MoAn Inc.  MoAn Inc. Book 2 Summary The Review I'm starting with enjoyability. This was five stars. I liked the banter and storyline here. Right now Telemachus is calling a council meeting and then going to Pyle to inquire about Ulysses/Odysseus. He calls on Jove/Zeus and Minerva/Athena for help, which they give in omens ...