The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

Ho-Ho-Homicide Kaitlyn Dunnett, 2014 Christmas crossposting! (Note: Many of the Christmas books I am reading this year have one notable thing in common -- they were all cheap or free on Kindle some time in the last few years. No other qualifications.) Premise: When Liss’ old friend Gina blows into town with a request concerning an inherited Christmas tree farm, Liss thinks it’s a good opportunity for a casual vacation. It’s been years since she stumbled into a murder investigation, after all. This is a perfectly serviceable mystery novel. The characters are fine, the writing is good, the plot is interesting even though the villains are too obvious. The best part is the fact that it is set on a Christmas tree farm. It actually takes place in late November, and Liss and her husband are tasked with figuring out whether Gina can turn a profit that year, and eventually with figuring out what happened to the previous owner and an unknown man killed on the property years ago....

The Vor Game (Vorkosigan Saga) Lois McMaster Bujold, 1990 Hugo Winner - 1991 Premise: Miles Vorkosigan graduates from the Imperial Service Academy and gets his first assignment: Weather Officer at a remote, unhappy base. Later, foiling plots and surviving the complex intrigue of interplanetary warfare should be easy. In the internal chronology of the series, this book follows The Warrior’s Apprentice (and the Hugo-winning novella The Mountains of Mourning ). However, it was written after several additional novellas and a novel which take place later. This isn’t one that I re-read as frequently as some others in this series, but reading it again now, perhaps I should revise that habit. The story mainly concerns a series of adventures and misadventures in the Hegen Hub, a crossroads in space held between four planetary powers, each jockeying for position, spying on each other, and nervous about increased tensions. The beginning isn’t the strongest part. Miles is shipped...

I have two reviews in queue, but I don't feel right posting anything yet. I'll just leave some old links here, shall I? The Handmaid's Tale Bitch Planet: Extraordinary Machine (Volume One) The Feminine Mystique Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity

Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef Gabrielle Hamilton, 2011 Challenge Book! Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2016 - Read a food memoir Premise: Gabrielle Hamilton has a successful restaurant in New York City, but she’s always trying to capture an experience of food that you don’t normally find in the food industry. In this memoir, she traces her life from her quirky childhood through her unconventional attempts at education to her unusual marriage and the relationship with food that runs under it all. I struggled with finding a book for this challenge. I started one and dropped it, perused a lot of lists and nothing called to me. Then I saw this book on several lists of great food memoirs, and it was available from the library as an audiobook on a day when I needed a new audiobook. It must have been fate, because I really liked this one. And it’s only partially because it contains some of the best descriptions of my alma mater I’ve ...

The Murder of Mary Russell (Mary Russell, Book 14) Laurie R. King, 2016 Premise: Mary Russell is home alone when a visitor with an old grudge comes calling. But this stranger’s issue isn’t with her, or with Holmes, but with… Mrs. Hudson? After being sometimes underwhelmed by some recent entries in this series, I put off reading this one for a while. Now that I have read it, I’d say it’s fine, but nothing outstanding. Most of the book takes place out of sequence. After a dramatic opening which sets up Russell’s possible demise, the narrative jumps into the past to tell the secret history of Mrs. Hudson, occasionally jumping briefly back to the present to follow the investigation into what happened to Russell. This series has always lived in that space between pastiche, homage, and fanwork. This volume in particular pulls more from the Holmes canon, drawing connections between various stories and slotting in an expanded dramatic backstory for a minor female character. As...

The Empress Game Rhonda Mason, 2015 Premise: Kayla and her brother have been hiding or on the run since their home planet was attacked by troops from the galactic empire. She’s made a new, bare-bones life by fighting in a backwater gladiatorial arena. Now she has the opportunity to get them either safety or in a lot more trouble when she’s asked to double for a princess competing to marry the heir to the empire. I remember seeing a strong recommendation for this book, so I picked it up when it was on sale. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The book isn’t terrible. The writing is fine, and some of the world-building (the psychic society that Kayla comes from) is intriguing. But the plot is silly on the surface and doesn’t improve with execution. This highly technical galactic empire has a physical contest where prospective empresses attempt to beat one another into submission. It makes no sense, to the point that Kayla actually attempts to lampshade the situation in-worl...

The Hidden Brain Shankar Vedantam, 2010 Challenge Book! Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2016 - Read a nonfiction book about science Premise: “How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save Our Lives.” This is a fascinating survey of research around unconscious reactions, and when they can and can’t be overridden by our conscious minds. There is a lot about bias. In some cases, no matter how tolerant and fair-minded we may be consciously, the biases we pick up from society may override our intentions. There was one particularly interesting piece of evidence that people found it easier to react without bias after having sugar. There are details about the invisible currents caused by gender biases. This section includes more detailed stories from a few prominent transgender researchers I’ve heard of before and their unique perspectives on society and privilege. There is a fascinating chapter on herd mentality, group-think, and disasters...