Author: Haze

Top Ten Tuesday | Books Featuring Travel or Transportation

Posted August 12, 2024 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 33 Comments

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.

Today’s topic is Books Featuring Travel or Modes of Transportation

I was initially worried about today’s topic because I couldn’t think of any books off the top of my head that would fit the topic, but then I scoured through my books and apparently I’ve got a few! I ended up having lots of fun with it, and I hope you enjoy these!

Top Ten Books Featuring Travel or Transportation

  1. Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb – Featuring a ship. This is the first book in a series that I read a long time ago and remember loving. I’ve been meaning to reread them soon!
  2. The Light Bearer by Donna Gillespie – Featuring a horse. This is one of my most favorite, underrated books. It’s the book I recommend to everyone whenever I can because it’s just such a shame it’s not more popular.
  3. The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary – Featuring a car. I love Beth O’Leary’s books and this was another great one.
  4. The Baker’s Secret by Stephen P. Kiernan – Featuring a bicycle. I’ve talked about Stephen P. Kiernan before. He’s one of my favorite underrated authors and I have loved every single book I’ve read by him. I cannot recommend him enough. Please read him!
  5. The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers – Featuring a spaceship. This book has got my heart. I love the found family element, and the way the author approaches differences in species and culture. We could all learn something from it.
  6. Life of Pi by Yann Martel – Featuring a boat. Another favorite! I love the story and the philosophy. I love how fantastical it is, and yet, so very believable (because I want to believe it!).
  7. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones – Featuring a moving castle (what? It transports people, doesn’t it?). I love the movie, I love the book. What’s not to love?
  8. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne – Featuring a submarine. It’s been so long since I read it, I don’t remember a thing, but I remember loving Jules Verne’s books as a child.
  9. Wild by Cheryl Strayed – Featuring a shoe (I guess we’re missing the other side, but it still transports the person wearing it…). I haven’t actually read this book, but I couldn’t not recognize shoes as modes of transportation. They don’t get enough love!
  10. Falling Upwards by Richard Holmes – Featuring a hot air balloon. I haven’t read this one either, but it’s supposedly the book the movie, The Aeronauts, was based on. I loved the movie and when I found out it was based on a book, it was like, I gotta read that!

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?

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Sunday Post | Is This How It Feels

Posted August 10, 2024 by Haze in Sunday Post, Weekly Book Memes / 22 Comments

Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings. 

To Be Reading From My TBR

I’m pretty stoked with where I am with this month’s reading because I’m almost done with every single book from my TBR Intentions for August! I’ve never gotten every single one before (almost), but to be fair, this month’s list was short and also subject to change – the goal was to finish the prompts I had left (for the 52 Book Club 2024 Reading Challenge) rather than specific books, so I could switch titles if I wanted.

Still, I’ve only got one book left to go and it also means I’m almost done with the challenge! And then on to the next! 😅

Currently Watching:
Our current binge is Why Women Kill. We started it a couple of weeks ago but took a break when we started Those About To Die. We came back to it right after and just finished Season 1 earlier this week and are in the middle of Season 2 right now. I’m sad that the show was canceled but at least each season is a standalone so you’re not left hanging.

Can I just say that Lana Parilla is gorgeous? I loved her as the Evil Queen in Once Upon A Time, and somehow you just can’t help rooting for her even though she’s the villain. She’s totally my “I can fix her” crush!

All the happy things:

  1. The aforementioned fact that I’ve been reading from my TBR and doing a great job of it!
  2. It’s been cooler this week which is nice after all the heat.
  3. I made tom yum coconut curry soup! I know it sounds weird but it works and actually tastes really good!
  4. I started coloring for fun again! It looks ugly but I’m enjoying it and that’s all that matters.

The Books

Books I read last week:

  1. The Women by Kristin Hannah – It was so good and heartwrenching at the same time. At one point, I was so anxious about how it was going to end because things kept getting worse and I couldn’t see a way out of it. It really affected me on a personal level because of how relatable it was.
  2. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood – I had no idea what to expect when I went into this, I never read the description! All I know is that it’s a Booker Prize nominee (because I chose it to fit the prompt) and that a lot of people really liked it. After finishing it, all I can say is wow, Atwood really has a knack for writing dystopian worlds. It’s incredible, and I’ll definitely be reading the next books in the series.
  3. Four Weekends and a Funeral by Ellie Palmer – This book was not on my radar at all but I needed a book for the debut in the second half of 2024 prompt, and it sounded good, so why not. It wasn’t bad, I really love that it wasn’t afraid to talk about breast cancer risks, mastectomies, breast reconstructions, and all the TMI things related to it. The writing itself was okay; I like the story but I think it got a little long at parts. Still a good read!

Books I’m reading:

  1. Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky – I’m about 9 hours in on a 16-hour audiobook. I’ve been hearing great things about Tchaikovsky as an author and this is the first book I’m reading from him. I did read the description for this book but it doesn’t exactly tell you what to expect! I love that it’s so different from my own expectations.
  2. If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio – I’m only about 8% in so there’s a long way to go. I’ve heard good things though, and I’m hoping they’re all true!

Last Week on The Blog

I only did a couple of book reviews:

This Week

I have one book left to finish the 52 Book Club 2024 Reading Challenge, and then I’ll move on to focus on the other challenges.

How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!

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Book Review | Clocktaur War Series by T. Kingfisher

Posted August 6, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Clocktaur War Series : Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine

A paladin, an assassin, a forger, and a scholar ride out of town. It’s not the start of a joke, but rather an espionage mission with deadly serious stakes. T. Kingfisher’s new novel begins the tale of a murderous band of criminals (and a scholar), thrown together in an attempt to unravel the secret of the Clockwork Boys, mechanical soldiers from a neighboring kingdom that promise ruin to the Dowager’s city.

If they succeed, rewards and pardons await, but that requires a long journey through enemy territory, directly into the capital. It also requires them to refrain from killing each other along the way! At turns darkly comic and touching, Clockwork Boys puts together a broken group of people trying to make the most of the rest of their lives as they drive forward on their suicide mission.

Pull three people out of prison–a disgraced paladin, a convicted forger, and a heartless assassin. Give them weapons, carnivorous tattoos, and each other. Point them at the enemy.

What could possibly go wrong?

In the sequel to CLOCKWORK BOYS, Slate, Brenner, Caliban and Learned Edmund have arrived in Anuket City, the source of the mysterious Clockwork Boys. But the secrets they’re keeping could well destroy them, before the city even gets the chance…

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 Audiobook Challenge

The Reason

I’m a fan of T. Kingfisher and I’m making my way through her books. I got these on audio s

The Narrator(s)

Khristine Hvam. I enjoyed her narration.

My Thoughts

It was just what I needed. I enjoyed the story; I love when we see different people who otherwise wouldn’t be friends come together for a specific reason, because the story is as much their relationship dynamics as well as what happens in the plot. Caliban and Slate reminds me a little of Joscelin and Phedre in Kushiel’s Dart, and the whole band reminds me of Bayaz’s band in Before We Are Hanged. I also really enjoyed the element of Slate’s allergies/powers, I thought that was hilarious and interesting.

My Feels

I have a lot of feels about a certain ship with Caliban and Slate. I love how it develops and how they are with each other. I wish I could see more of them and apparently there are more books set in the same world, but they feature different characters and I’m not sure if any of the characters from this series appear again. I may revisit in the future.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars. 4 stars for both these books and the series as a whole.

Have you read this series? Would you read this series? Did you like it or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Posted August 6, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 4 Comments

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 Audiobook Challenge

The Reason

I’ve read this book in print but people keep saying how good it is on audio and FOMO got me, so I signed up for Audible just to get the audiobook.

The Quotes

“Human beings have a remarkable ability to accept the abnormal and make it normal.”

“Fist my bump.”

“Grumpy. Angry. Stupid. How long since last sleep, question?”

“Good. Proud. I am scary space monster. You are leaky space blob.”

The Narrator(s)

Ray Porter. He has been praised so much as a narrator and I can certainly see what the fuss is about. He’s great!

My Thoughts

It hasn’t been that long since I read this book the first time, but I am blessed/cursed with a short-term memory when it comes to book details so I had forgotten a lot of what happens and how. I did remember some of the big details though, and as I was reading I kept looking forward to them, and was still very delighted to be reminded of how it all happens.

Since I’ve read this before I’ll also add my initial thoughts here for reference, written July 2021:

I loved this book so much! I loved The Martian, but this one completely surpasses it in so many ways. I feel like I cannot write a review that adequately describes my feelings right now. The Martian was a really smart book, and hilarious, and it appealed to me because of all the problems Mark Watney faced and the innovative solutions he came up with – and Andy Weir is also such a great writer in the way he makes it easy to understand all the science-y stuff.

But this book. This book has got all of that – the science-y stuff, the life-threatening problems, the innovative solutions, the humor… but it has also got feels! So much feels. ALL the feels! How do I even start?

The mystery he woke up with, the confusion of how everything worked, the loneliness, the excitement, the frustration, the friendship, the camaraderie, the anguish, the acceptance, the bittersweetness, the determination, the trust, the betrayal, the love, the fear, the choices… (no spoilers – it’s just how good the book is!)

I love this book so F**KING much!

My Feels

I will never not love Rocky and Ryland’s relationship. I love seeing how their relationship develops, how they learn from each other, how they communicate about cultural stuff, laugh with each other, respect each other.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars. Of course 5 stars, and yes, the audiobook was such a great way to experience the book the second time around!

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Sunday Post | It’s August

Posted August 3, 2024 by Haze in Sunday Post, Weekly Book Memes / 27 Comments

Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings. 

So Much to Catch Up On

I can’t believe the last Sunday Post I posted was June 16th! That means I missed one and a half months of Sunday Posts! I have been updating my Monthly Wrap Ups at least, but I haven’t been present at all and I’ve missed visiting with everyone.

Things are much better now and I’m getting back to a new normal – with new developing habits (running, getting enough sleep, and other healthier habits) so I’m still stumbling, but I’m loving the change and the results so far.

This past week we’ve been binge-watching Those About To Die and we finished the finale just yesterday. I love stories about the Roman Empire and got really engrossed in this story too – the actors were amazing – but so far there’s no news on if there will be a Season 2. I really hope there will because I want more! Now I’m going to have to read some books about the Roman Empire. One of my very favorite underrated books on this is The Light Bearer by Donna Gillespie. I’d love some other recommendations if you have them.

I sort of feel like I have one and a half month’s worth of updates I want to share, but I’ve also summarized some of them already, so I guess if there’s any specific thing I’d like to talk more about, I’ll do that in another post so it doesn’t get overwhelming on this post.

All the happy things:

  1. We watched Deadpool and Wolverine on Monday and it was so much fun!
  2. I bought a couple of new huge pencil cases to keep my vast amount of stationery and some stickers. Now they’re portable and I can journal anywhere I want!
  3. We found a new sichuan restaurant near our place and it’s so good and delicious, it’s taking every ounce of our willpower not to go every day!
  4. I exercised every single day this week! 💪
  5. Went for a regular doctor’s checkup and everything came back a-ok!
  6. Had a two-hour jamming session with the husband that got really hyped up and fun, and lost my voice! 😅

The Books

Books I read last week:

  1. The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown – This book has been on my TBR for a while but I never got around to it until recently when the stars somehow aligned for it. I’ve had the physical book from the library for a while and kept renewing it because I hadn’t gotten around to it, but last week I came across The Last Podcast on the Left‘s episodes on The Donner Party, binge-listened to them, and the audiobook just became available immediately after. It’s fascinating and horrifying at the same time, but so worth reading/listening to.
  2. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer – Another book that’s been on my TBR for ages. It counts towards a few of my reading challenges, which is great, but it’s also just really a wonderful reading experience. It feels light and beautiful and otherworldly, and it makes me feel so connected to the earth, but at the same time I recognize that I have been disconnected. And it’s easy to forget the lessons in this book and go back to old, potentially harmful habits. I’d like to try to be more thoughtful and intentional from here on out.
  3. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett – This one was interesting because it’s been years since I read it, and I remember liking it but it was never one of my favorite childhood books. Reading it now, as an adult, I think I understand it better now and love it more now than I ever did.

Books I’m reading:

  1. The Women by Kristin Hannah – I got this one with an Audible credit because I’d been wanting to read it and I love Julia Whelan as a narrator. I’m about a third of the way it and really enjoying it so far.

Last Week on The Blog

Just getting back in the groove. I did my Monthly Wrap Up for July and that’s about it.

This Week

I have several book reviews to catch up on! I’d like to get as many done as possible.

How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!

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Monthly Wrap Up | July 2024

Posted July 31, 2024 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 10 Comments

Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.

July 2024 Wrap Up

July was another hectic month, but for positive reasons this time. June was hard and it made me realize I needed to change certain things and build better habits. Obviously, things don’t change overnight, but I think I made a good effort this July to get things started.

I started waking up at 6.30am in the mornings and go for a walk/run (alternating because I’m not quite in good shape yet). Some days are harder than others, but the important thing is that I showed up. I’m also looking into continuing education classes I can take and I’ve been doing some research and legwork on that. I’ve organized and reorganized my workspace and workflow, purged some things in my life that no longer served, and am trying to prioritizing the important stuff.

To be honest, I’m still floundering and some days I’m full of self-doubt and throw out everything I thought I was clear on the day before. We also had a heat-wave this month and some days were so bad I couldn’t bring myself to do anything except lie down on the cool floor and not move.

Still, it was a good month overall, even though I haven’t been very present here on the blog and in the blogosphere. I’ve missed visiting with all of you, and I’m trying to figure out how to manage my time better so I can still do the things I love.

My July 2024 TBR Intentions

  1. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte
  2. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
  3. Feeling Good by David Burns
  4. The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner
  5. Frequency by Penney Pierce
  6. The Enchanted Life by Sharon Blackie

I only read two of my TBR intentions this month, but the good news is that my broader intentions were to read more nonfiction and books I own, and I did that! Out of the 12 books I read this month, five were nonfiction, and eight are books I own! So I did pretty good!

Books Read in July 2024

  1. The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
  2. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte
  3. Network Effect by Martha Wells
  4. Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
  5. Women in Science by Rachel Ignotofsky
  6. Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey
  7. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
  8. Clockwork Boys by T. Kingfisher
  9. The Wonder Engine by T. Kingfisher
  10. Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown
  11. The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown
  12. Braiding Sweetness by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Notable Books This Month

I got lucky again this month because almost every single book was great! The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs was a bookclub read, and our bookclub went for a road trip to the Royal Tyrrell dinosaur museum after that, so it added to the experience. It was so much fun and I love spending time with these people!

The picture isn’t very good, unfortunately, but we couldn’t take too many because it was pretty crowded and there were other people wanting to take pictures too.

I also really loved Women in Science more than I expected. It features so many amazing women and their contributions in history, and all the important information is presented so interestingly and succinctly. I loved reading every single one of them.

Project Hail Mary was a reread – I read it a while ago on print, but I keep hearing about how it’s so good on audio, and I really wanted to experience that. I’d been listening to audiobooks through Libby and my library all this time, but PHM was only available through Audible so I finally signed up for it just for this book. That’s how they get you! But hey, so far it’s been worth it. I loved listening to PHM on audio, and I’m enjoying so many other audiobooks on the Audible Plus catalog as well.

As I said, I loved almost every book I read this month, but I’ll leave the rest of the gushing to reviews I’m planning to write for them!

Reading Challenges

I achieved a few of these challenges a couple of months ago, but instead of marking them done I upped the challenges instead. I’m now rethinking that decision, because I haven’t done well in some of the other challenges and I think I should focus on the unfinished ones instead of adding to the challenges I already finished.

August 2024 TBR Intentions

This month I’d like to try knocking out the 52 Book Club 2024 Reading Challenge. I only have five more prompts to go, and I’ve got a couple of books I’m excited to read that would fit the remaining challenges, so I think it would be very doable.

The prompts are:

  • 13. An academic thriller
  • 17. Nominated for the Booker Prize
  • 37. Palindrome on the cover
  • 42. Author debut in the second half of 2024
  • 48. The word “secret” in the title

I’m planning to read, respectively for each prompt, but subject to change:

  • If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
  • Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
  • The Women by Kristin Hannah
  • Four Weekends and a Funeral by Ellie Palmer
  • The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

I do have some other books in mind for some of these prompts so I might end up changing my mind, but the goal is to finish the challenge so as long as I read books that fit the prompts, I’m good!

How was your month in July? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful August with lots of great books!

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Book Review | Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey

Posted July 20, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey

When Love cast me out, it was Cruelty who took pity on me.

The land of Terre d’Ange is a place of unsurpassing beauty and grace. It is said that angels found the land and saw it was good…and the ensuing race that rose from the seed of angels and men live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt.

Phèdre nó Delaunay is a young woman who was born with a scarlet mote in her left eye. Sold into indentured servitude as a child, her bond is purchased by Anafiel Delaunay, a nobleman with very a special mission…and the first one to recognize who and what she is: one pricked by Kushiel’s Dart, chosen to forever experience pain and pleasure as one.

Phèdre is trained equally in the courtly arts and the talents of the bedchamber, but, above all, the ability to observe, remember, and analyze. Almost as talented a spy as she is courtesan, Phèdre stumbles upon a plot that threatens the very foundations of her homeland. Treachery sets her on her path; love and honor goad her further. And in the doing, it will take her to the edge of despair…and beyond. Hateful friend, loving enemy, beloved assassin; they can all wear the same glittering mask in this world, and Phèdre will get but one chance to save all that she holds dear.

Set in a world of cunning poets, deadly courtiers, heroic traitors, and a truly Machiavellian villainess, this is a novel of grandeur, luxuriance, sacrifice, betrayal, and deeply laid conspiracies. Not since Dune has there been an epic on the scale of Kushiel’s Dart – a massive tale about the violent death of an old age, and the birth of a new.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #11: Title starting with the letter “K”)
2024 Audiobook Challenge

The Reason

I’ve tried reading this book before but gave up a long time ago. Some book buddies of mine were reading it recently and their discussion piqued my interest and so I decided to try again.

The Quotes

“That which yields is not always weak.”

“It’s funny, how one can look back on a sorrow one thought one might well die of at the time, and know that one had not yet reckoned the tenth part of true grief.”

“It is my observations, though, that happiness limits the amount of suffering one is willing to inflict upon others.”

“If I had to fall from Cassiel’s grace, at least I know it took a courtesan worthy of Kings to do it.”

The Narrator(s)

Anne Flosnik. She did a great job, I have no complaints.

My Thoughts

Funny story; I’d picked this book up so many times before but just couldn’t get into it. I was disappointed because I’d heard so much praise about it and I really wanted to like it, but it felt like such a chore to read it so I finally decided that it was not for me. I marked it as dnf, and not as something I would try again in the future, but something that I had made my peace with never reading again. That was in 2020.

Well… recently a couple of my book buddies decided to read it and I was not interested in reading the book with them, but I was interested in their thoughts about it because I wanted to know what I was missing. I never got past Chapter 5 the last times I read it, but the conversations between my friends got me more and more interested the further they got into the book, and as luck would have it, Kushiel’s Dart (and the other books in Kushiel’s Legacy) are currently free on the Audible Plus catalogue, so I thought I might as well try again.

Honestly, it wasn’t as bad as I remembered but I still wasn’t very invested during the first third of the book. I kept on with it because it was easy to keep going on audio, and I did enjoy it but I wasn’t enthralled by it or anything. The second third of the book was amazing though. It was my favorite part of the book; it was thrilling, adventurous, the stakes were high, and I enjoyed seeing Phedre and Joscelin navigate their treacherous circumstances. The final third of the book was also interesting, but not as exciting as the middle, but at that point I had become invested.

And again, to be fair, this last couple of months have been weird for me so I’m not as present as usual with my reading. But I think that this book is a success for me and I’m so glad that I finally read it. I think I might even keep going with the rest of the books!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐/5 stars. I’m only rating it three stars because it was still difficult to get into and even though I loved the middle part of the book, I have to rate it as a whole. Hopefully if I reread in the future when I’m more present, I might end up rating it higher.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Women in Science by Rachel Ignotofsky

Posted July 20, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Women in Science by Rachel Ignotofsky

Women in Science highlights the contributions of fifty notable women to the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) from the ancient to the modern world. Full of striking, singular art, this collection also contains infographics about relevant topics such as lab equipment, rates of women currently working in STEM fields, and an illustrated scientific glossary. The women profiled include well-known figures like primatologist Jane Goodall, as well as lesser-known pioneers such as Katherine Johnson, the African-American physicist and mathematician who calculated the trajectory of the 1969 Apollo 11 mission to the moon.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #6: Women in STEM)
2024 Nonfiction Reader Challenge
2024 Diversity Reading Challenge
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

I needed a book to fit the 2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge for #6: Women in STEM. There were several fiction books I might’ve tried, but I happened to come across this book in the library and was very interested in reading more.

My Thoughts

I loved it! I loved that it featured so many amazing women throughout history who have done so many great things! I loved the little snippets of information and quotes we get on each of their feature pages. I loved how it celebrated women and I love that it made learning about them and the things they did so interesting. I would totally recommend this book to anyone of any age and gender. I think I might buy a copy of my own, it would make a great reference book and a great source of inspiration.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte

Posted July 19, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte

The dinosaurs. Sixty-six million years ago, the Earth’s most fearsome creatures vanished. Today they remain one of our planet’s great mysteries. Now The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs reveals their extraordinary, 200-million-year-long story as never before.

In this captivating narrative (enlivened with more than seventy original illustrations and photographs), Steve Brusatte, a young American paleontologist who has emerged as one of the foremost stars of the field—naming fifteen new species and leading groundbreaking scientific studies and fieldwork—masterfully tells the complete, surprising, and new history of the dinosaurs, drawing on cutting-edge science to dramatically bring to life their lost world and illuminate their enigmatic origins, spectacular flourishing, astonishing diversity, cataclysmic extinction, and startling living legacy. Captivating and revelatory, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is a book for the ages.

Brusatte traces the evolution of dinosaurs from their inauspicious start as small shadow dwellers—themselves the beneficiaries of a mass extinction caused by volcanic eruptions at the beginning of the Triassic period—into the dominant array of species every wide-eyed child memorizes today, T. rex, Triceratops, Brontosaurus, and more. This gifted scientist and writer re-creates the dinosaurs’ peak during the Jurassic and Cretaceous, when thousands of species thrived, and winged and feathered dinosaurs, the prehistoric ancestors of modern birds, emerged. The story continues to the end of the Cretaceous period, when a giant asteroid or comet struck the planet and nearly every dinosaur species (but not all) died out, in the most extraordinary extinction event in earth’s history, one full of lessons for today as we confront a “sixth extinction.”

Brusatte also recalls compelling stories from his globe-trotting expeditions during one of the most exciting eras in dinosaur research—which he calls “a new golden age of discovery”—and offers thrilling accounts of some of the remarkable findings he and his colleagues have made, including primitive human-sized tyrannosaurs; monstrous carnivores even larger than T. rex; and paradigm-shifting feathered raptors from China.

An electrifying scientific history that unearths the dinosaurs’ epic saga, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs will be a definitive and treasured account for decades to come.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 Nonfiction Reader Challenge
2024 Audiobook Challenge
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

Our in-person bookclub decided we wanted to go on a road trip to the Royal Tyrrell Museum this summer and thought we should read a book that was related to the dinosaurs.

The Quotes

“There is a dinosaur outside my window. I’m watching it as I write this.”

“You could call T. rex the James Dean of dinosaurs: it lived fast and died young.”

“A new species of dinosaur is currently being found, on average, once a week.”

The Narrator(s)

Patrick Lawlor. No complaints, it was great!

My Thoughts

So I had actually bought a physical copy of this book but ended up also borrowing the audiobook through my library. The audiobook went a lot faster and I occasionally refered to the physical book for pictures and illustrations, but I mostly finished it on audio. I thought about writing this review after I reread through the physical book again because I’m not sure I absorbed everything I wanted through audio, but life has been hectic and I don’t think I’ll be able to absorb everything even if I reread in print, so I’m letting it be.

Accepting that, I must say that this was a very interesting book and I really enjoyed listening to it. One of the things that delighted me the most is that I live in Alberta and we have an amazing dinosaur museum and history here that is also referenced in the book.

I’ve actually been to the Royal Tyrrell Museum three times before but the last time was at least five years ago and it’s time to go back and learn more, and hopefully remember more! I do intend to read this book again, eventually, but even if I don’t remember the details, I remember enjoying the process of listening to the book.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

Posted July 19, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 1 Comment

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

From the New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House, Hell Bent, and creator of the Grishaverse series comes a highly anticipated historical fantasy set during the Spanish Golden Age

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family’s social position.

What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain’s king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England’s heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king’s favor.

Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition’s wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 Audiobook Challenge
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

It’s one of my most anticipated books this year and the audiobook finally became available on Libby, so I read it!

The Quotes

“Language creates possibility. Sometimes by being used. Sometimes by being kept secret.”

“You think you know hardship, but men have a gift for finding new ways to make women suffer.”

“It is a danger to become nothing. You hope no one will look, and so one day when you go to find yourself, only dust remains, ground down to nothing from sheer neglect.”

“Writing is the closest thing we have to real magic. Writing is creating something out of nothing, is opening doors to others lands. Writing gives you power to shape your own world when the real one hurts too much.”

The Narrator(s)

Lauren Fortgang. She was pretty good. There were some parts I couldn’t make out very well, and names and pronunciation of certain words were hard to get too, but that’s not unusual for sci-fi and fantasy stories.

My Thoughts

I’m a fan of Leigh Bardugo, but I don’t always enjoy all her books. Some I love, some are just okay, but they are always worth reading to find out! As a story, I loved this one. I thought the premise was very interesting and I didn’t expect the book to go where it did. That’s one of the things I enjoyed most about this book, that it was not very predictable. Some of the elements are familiar, but told in such a new and different way.

My Feels

To be fair, I read this book during a tumultuous time and wasn’t paying a hundred percent attention to it, so I think I didn’t get immersed into the emotional aspect of it as much as I would’ve been. Even so, there were parts where I did get hit in the feels, and they were great, but I think if I had been paying full attention, I might have been more affected by the story. It’s still a great read and I believe I’ll come back to it again one day when I can be more present. I also plan to read it on print so that I won’t get confused by the names and characters!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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