Jacksprat Gets Lost in Fiction

Review of “Dragon Teeth” By: Michael Crichton, Narrated by: Scott Brick, Sherri Crichton             Arrogant Yale student William Johnson made a bet he could convince Paleontologist Professor Othniel Charles Marsh to take him on his expedition west to find fossils and be his photographer.  Though, Marsh did take Johnson, he was paranoid about Johnson being a spy for his rival Professor Edwin Drinker Cope.  Johnson was abandoned in Cheyanne Wyoming, and he had coincidentally met Cope who took him on his own exhibition.  Johnson experienced the dangers on the terrain through the deadly environment, Native Americans who don’t appreciate the invasion of the white settlers, and lawless cowboys.  Johson soon became the sole caretaker of half the bones they dug up and had to survive getting them back to Cope before the dangers of the west could kill him first.      ...

Review of “Ship of Magic” By: Robin Hobb             The one consolation of Althea’s father’s passing was that she would inherit the captaincy of her father’s Live Ship “Vivacia”, but her mother had other plans.  She gave the ship to Althea’s brother in-law Kyle, who saw the ship as a business asset, and expected Althea to bec0me a lady.  Althea decided to run away and prove her worth on another ship disguised as a young man, but she learned she had some growing up to do.  Meanwhile the pirate Captain Kennit planned to steal a Live ship to prove he was destined to become the Pirate King.             Robin Hobb was a master at writing immersive stories using a writing that was easy to read, but with great descriptions of the setting and characters. This seafaring adventure took readers to a nautical culture where ships would come alive with...

Review of “Heart Shaped Box” By: Joe Hill, Narrated by: Stephen Lang Judas Coyne was an aging rock star who loved to collect macabre items such as a used hangman’s noose or a cannibal’s cookbook. He found a heart shaped box on eBay containing a Deadman’s suit inside and it was haunted by the ghost of the owner of the suit. Buying this was a mistake, because the ghost was a real, and he blamed Judas for his stepdaughter committing suicide.  Judas was determined to get rid of the ghost before he and the few people in his life end up dead himself. I’m glad I gave this book another chance, because my first attempt didn’t work out, but listening to it on audio book helped.  This story was dark with it discussing suicide, depression, abuse, and alcoholism. There’s also some kinky sex and a lot of swearing.  I’m not a prude but I have to admit it was a lot.  I’m well aware that the main character is rockstar and that comes with the territory. Though, the...

Review of “The Silmarillion” By: JRR Tolkien             This was the creation story of Middle Earth and the history leading up to the third age when Sauron created the rings and the war between the beings of Middle Earth and Sauron.             “The Silmarillion” was organized into five distinctive parts that gave the history of Middle Earth up until the third age.  Tolkien started with the creation story via Iluvatar and Valar.  Iluvatar was like God, Melkor was the Devil, and the Valar were like the Angels.  The third part was the story of the Silmarils and the wars with Melkor, whose name was changed to Morgoth. The last two parts covered “The Fall of Numenor” and related the events of the third age, which were what “Lord of the Rings” was about.              Unlike “Lord...

Review of Beren and Luthien By: JRR Tolkien             A man, Beren, saw the beautiful Elf princess, Luthien, dancing in the forest and it was love at first sight. He wanted to marry her, so Beren went to her father, the Elf Lord Thingol and asked for her hand. Lord Thingol didn’t approve of humans and opposed the marriage and sent Beren on an impossible quest to retrieve a Simaril, a jewel, that was currently on the crown of the Dark Lord Morgoth.             Beren and Luthien’s the story of a mortal and immortal falling love, was the story he wrote before Aragorn and Arwen’s epic love story in the Appendices of “Lord of the Rings”. Like a lot of Tolkien’s early work, it was written in the form of an epic poem and explored the theme of love conquering evil, though the ending was bittersweet.  Since it was fairytale, it had the love at first trope on Beren’s...

Review of “The Trouble with Mrs. Montgomery Hurst” By: Katie Lumsden             In the county of Wickenshire the most eligible bachelor Mr. Montgomery Hurst got engaged to an outsider, a widow from London with 3 children, and everyone in the community had an opinion on it. The older generation of county were determined to get their children married, and the younger generation felt the pressure to get married even when they didn’t desire it.             “Montgomery Hurst” was a fun and joyful read with an atmosphere that was cozy with its suburban setting, despite the characters being surrounded by gossipy neighbors. As I was reading, I was eager to turn the pages and consume the next chapter to find out what would happen next.  The drama was familiar for those of us who were entertained by Jane Austen and Anthony Trollop novels where the conflict was, who wa...

Review of “The Pillow Book” By: Sei Shonagon             In the Heian period Noble women living at court kept Diaries of their time at court and most memorable experiences. The authors intended these Diaries to be autobiographical. “The Pillow Book” was like these Diaries but had considerable differences from them, which were its structure and general character.  Sei Shonagon hadn’t written it it to be autobiographical, but it was an account of what she saw during her ten years at court and her reflections on her experiences there.             Sei Shonagon had quite the personality with her strong opinions and love of pretty things.  She reminded me of Jane Austen’s Emma Woodhouse with her charm and opinionated, as well as judgmental nature.  Throughout there were entries on her things that annoyed her or things that gave her pleasure that...

Review of The Plantagenets: The Kings and Queens the Made England? By: Dan Jones Dan Jones writes about the history of the Plantagenet Dynasty starting with Henry I all the way to Richard II.  Some of the Kings were good leaders, but others not so much due to their choices and relationship with their people.   Dan Jones divided the book into parts and organized it by years as he focused on each king and queen of those years.  It was a nice reprieve that there were short chapters. Each section highlighted the good and bad of each King’s reign and how they impacted the country.  In my opinion, some of them proved the King had too much, because they didn’t have empathy for their people.  They believed that they were King and only their opinion mattered and who cares what the people think.  This wasn’t shown through how the people responded but also how advisors responded to the throne.  Some would even turn against the K...

Review of Horror Movie By: Paul Tremblay             In 1993, a group of filmmakers made an independent horror film, but after a handful of weird accidents and the death of a cast member while they were filming a scene gave the film a reputation of being a cursed film.  Director/cast member Valentina uploaded only a handful of scenes onto youtube, and years later several people involved in the making of the film had died that encouraged the theory of a cursed film. It developed a cult following.  In present day, Hollywood producers approached the only surviving cast member, the actor who played “the thin kid”, now in his 50s, to help them remake the film and he was more than willing.             I still don’t know how I felt about this novel.  This is my second Tremblay and even if I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not I’m glad I read of his ...

 The Arrival of Autumn Endless simmering summer days fade away to brisk cooler days of Autumn Bright Green leaves transform to golden hues and deep reds and warm browns. The smells of pumpkin spice, crisp apples, and delectable cinnamon waft through the air making people desire sweet treats to fill their stomachs. A Symbol of Amends The pale faced man with weapons of fire stole the land from the Natives, whose soul resided here. To make amends a mountain was to be carved from stone of a great Native warrior.  Alas, it remains unfinished and it is a broken symbol of a promise to make amends.

Review of “I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons By Peter S. Beagle             Robert inherited his father’s profession as a dragon exterminator, but he secretly loved and respected dragons.  Meanwhile, Princess Cerise had finally found her husband in Prince Reginald but had to make sure the dragons that caused chaos in her family’s castle were eliminated to impress the prince.  Her parents hired Robert, whom she had known as a child, to do the job.  While Prince Reginald had to prove his worth to his father by slaying a dragon and show he was a warrior like his father.  The three had to come together when an enemy of Reginald’s father returned with blood thirsty dragons that he created, and he wanted to use the dragons to punish Reginald’s father. This read like fairytale with its story of Princes and Princess, wizards, and dragons, but it also commented on the tropes introduced in fairytales. ...

Review for Hello Beautiful By: Ann Napolitano             “Hello Beautiful” is a fictional drama of the relationship between William, a young man with basketball dreams and his wife, Julia. After tragedy strikes, the relationship between William and Julia, along with the rest of the family, starts to fall apart as truths and secrets are revealed. Side-note—I listened to the audio book and was pleasantly surprised at hearing the narration by Maura Tierney, an actress I’m familiar with.  Her soothing voice also delivers the emotions of these characters.              I found myself drawing similarities between “Hello Beautiful” and the classic novel “Little Women”, which Napolitano includes in the story.  Julia Padavano, and her three sisters each love and identify with the four March girls in “Little Women”, claiming the one they identify with th...

Best Books 2016-2023 2016 Reads: 1.       1Q84 2.       School of Good and Evil   2017 Reads:  1.       Jane Eyre 2.       IT 3.       Sense and Sensibility 4.       A Game of Thrones 5.       A Court of Mist and Fury 6.       The Ascendence series 7.       The Last Ever After: The School for Good and Evil 8.       Uprooted 9.       Caraval 10.    Brain on Fire 11.    The Host 12.    Treasure Island 13.    The Raven Boys 14.    Jurassic Park 15.    The Namesake   2018 1.       The Circle 2.       Frankenstein 3.       Cress 4.       The Traitor’...