Book Rants - October 2024

I have gotten to like reading contemporary mysteries these days. I really like to read more of Mary Higgins Clark's books but they are not available as ebooks at my library. I also gotten to really like K-9 crime mysteries so I looked for them but strangely, there aren't K-9 mysteries without romances or rather, they are romances with half of it being mysteries. I read some of these and got annoyed by the romances as they are written like romances and it's a shame because the mystery part was really good. I didn't list them below because I'm annoyed by them. But it has been a good reading month. Here are the books I had finished reading in October:

01 - Timber Creek K-9 Mystery series by Margaret Mizushima
What's it about: K-9, handlers, animals, murder, crimes, small town, light romance
So far, I read 8 of the 9 books. I really like the series but I don't love it. It's like reading two types of stories (told in two perspectives) - one is the K-9/crime/mystery side with Deputy Mattie Cobb and her K-9 Robo and the other is the life of a vet extraordinaire, Cole Walker.
    I love Robo and I liked his handler, Mattie, but I really think they didn't have to give her so many tragic history. I like her perspective more than Cole's. Cole's side is a bit boring but he does get involved in the mysteries in later books. Even with one assistant and sometimes his two daughters' help, it seems impossible for him to be working this much. He's like the most hard working vet in the entire country. For a small town, there are sure a lot of animals. I don't think he even sleeps although they do mention him taking a rest here and there. The guy have no time but he squeeze in a romance with Mattie because being busy with his vet work, his daughters, his ex-wife, volunteering for the police, is not enough for this guy. But then again, they also stressed how much work Mattie and everyone in the police station does - these are most hard working folks in the country.
    The mysteries are good and the various descriptions of the landscapes are plenty. The romance with Mattie and Cole is just okay. I don't read this series for the romance so thankfully, there aren't too many romance-like writings. I would recommend this series if you like K-9 dogs and mysteries with bits of romance.

02 - Vanishing Edge (A National Parks Mystery Book 1) by Claire Kells
What's it about: murder, camping, hiking, some investigating, more hiking
Lots of outdoor scenery details as the female lead (Felicity Harland) and male lead (Hux) did a lot of hiking. Harland is so poor physically (she had a broken back that had healed but still not in full physical form) that she kept popping pills. As an FBI agent with experience, she seems to judge rather too easily and quickly. And she walked off a job because she was offended by a male cop who may be a jerk but as a professional, you shouldn't let your feeling rule you. Forget she had any kind of experience because her behaviors clearly speaks rookie. And she brings her dog along with her to work even though he's not a working dog - I don't know why she even have a dog though he was useful once or twice. Her opinion about people who hated dogs: "...any park ranger that hated dogs was probably a sociopath," - is a bit extreme. It's not a nice opinion for a character. I don't hate or like her but when I read this, it unbalanced my opinion which mostly lean on the unlikable side.
    The way Harland's backstory is told (through her memories and thoughts) is a bit much. Frankly, they could have a prologue so that readers aren't bombarded by constant memories of her dead husband. Maybe this should have been a prequel because with all the backstory, the current mystery is minor in comparison and besides that, it's Harland's first case since her injury.
    I really wish the book isn't in Harland's point of view as it is no fun at all to be in her head. Hux is the better, more clear-headed character who did most of the work while Harland seemed to be there maybe to be some decision maker (she is supposed to solve crimes that involves national parks), I don't know, it just seemed like if she wasn't there, Hux would have solve the crime. And the twist at the end about who the murderer was not a twist and the reason for the crime is rather dumb. Harland is mostly unavailable for the final end so we only get a summary which is too bad because that bit (Hux chasing the criminal and catching them) seems to be the only exciting thing in the entire book.

03 - I've got my eyes on you by Mary Higgins Clark
What's it about: murder, witless witness, lots of depressed people
Halfway, I predicted who the murderer might be and I was right. Toward the end, it was a bit predictable but still good. Although it did seem like it took too long to get there.

04 - Two Little Girls in Blue by Mary Higgins Clark
What's it about: kidnapping, murder, twins
The thing with twin talks (which was never speficied) and twins experiencing pain for each other is a bit unbelievable and they keep repeating how no one believes this about a million times, as if to assure the reader, we shouldn't believe it either. This was an okay read.

Have you read any good books lately?

Fiction: Miss Never & The Mortician's Craving

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by Sean Jeating and is hosted at Elephant's Child's blog over here. Last week's prompts: funeral, moon, splendiferously, sun, coffin, and/or afraid, biased, crows, nutrition, worms. This week's prompts: art, awe, love, moonlit, sleeping and/or beauty, breathless, dreamscape, face, oxygen.

Fiction: Miss Never & The Mortician's Craving
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01
"You're hired!" was something Liberty Elizabeth Never had heard many times before which often was followed a little later by "You're fired!" When she was fired from Piller and Small Fine Dinning, she shrugged away the slight rejection and simply added the name to a long list of places she was employed. Only through her splendiferously strong will did she survive each letdown, at least, that was what her father used to say.
    It's a been one month since Libby started working as an an assistant to a mortician at Eternal Glory Funeral Parlor. She wouldn't have chose to work there but she didn't want to be homeless and broke.
    Tonight, as Libby opened the back door to the basement of Eternal Glory, came sounds of caw caw from the crows that resided in the tall trees that framed the entrance of the five-story building. She paused and looked up at the sky. The full moon never looked more brilliant. Cold wind swept over her. She shivered in her coat and stepped inside. She hoped it wasn't a bad sign. It was the last week of October and nearing Halloween so it was natural to feel a trickle of disquiet.
    Usually Libby kept the same hour of 7 pm to 11 pm but this week, her employer had asked Libby to work longer hours citing a backlog of bodies to prepare. If she didn't get overtime pay, Libby wouldn't even agree.
    Before coming to work Libby had two sandwiches and a glass of milk. Her father had always said milk was full of nutrition and that Libby should drink more of it. Birds fed their young worms but her father fed Libby words. He had a great love for words and he studied them like art. In all of his fifty-four years, he had never spoke a useless word. She was always in awe of his ability to make you feel you are completely understood with just words.
     Libby yawned as she walked down the hallway toward the workroom. She wished she was sleeping. During the day with the sun out, it was hard to get to sleep. Not that she was much of a beauty but lack of sleep sure made her looked worst than usual. She had good skin and her features were perfectly symmetrical. Her father said symmetry is beauty. He had said Libby's mother was a breathless beauty with perfect symmetry. Libby had no memory of her mother. Some twenty-six years back, she left Libby at a gas station. If she hadn't called Libby's father to come and get her, Libby would have ended up a missing baby.
    

Fiction: Petrify

This months Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by Sean Jeating and is hosted at Elephant's Child's blog over here. This week's prompts are: consider, rather, superstitious, paraskevidekatriaphobia, table and/or bigots, different, gender, hyperbolise, teeth. Last week's prompts are: desert, dream, machos, planet, treatment, and/or bags, behind, four, infinity, walk. Charlotte (MotherOwl) has given us Pebble Grey as the colour of the month. I didn't use superstitious, bigots or paraskevidekatriaphobia - just couldn't find them fitting to the story.

Fiction: Petrify
Elma Knox's head started to ache which she knew wasn't a good sign. Across the table, her fiancé, Peter Small, was rambling on. Getting engaged had been a wonderful dream but now happiness was out of her reach. Sometimes she felt as if she was struck in the desert going in circles looking for water while rain fell upward.
    Tonight, the pair sat at their usual corner table with tall plants blocking them from other diners. Through the small gaps between the foliage, Elma watched other couples in their ordinary happiness and it made her wondered what was wrong with her and Peter. She played with the infinity pendant hanging from around her neck. When Peter had given her the pendant, he had seemed so sincere but now she wasn't so sure. Peter might had a bit of macho ego in him but his best talent was to hyperbolise his words.

Seven Things: Some Bookish Queries

01 - Does cursing make characters sound more like real people?
I find cursing to be very distracting in a story but if a character curse in anger, I can easily accept it but to use it just to make a character sound more realistic? No, just no. Excessive use of the F word certainly make me not like a character and also make me think they are not well educated but that's a cliche, right? I guess I'm more use to not cursing in books so it always takes a bit getting used to if there is excessive cursing.
    
02 - Do you read horror and how do you enjoy reading horror without scaring yourself?
I'm too much of a scaredy-cat to read horror. I avoid them because I know I can't handle it plus, having scary imagery in my head makes me an insomniac.

03 - Why do so many mystery/thriller books have prologues?
I have been reading mysteries/thrillers and have come across more prologues than any other genre. In most, the mysteries are almost always related to the past so we get this small past insight before the book starts and I don't know, it just seem unnecessary sometimes because almost every time, we never return to that scene.
    There was one book where the author included the prologue as the first chapter and I thought that was good but I was still reading a prologue in disguise which somehow didn't irk me as much.

04 - Do you read books in a series out of order?
I prefer to read books in a series in order because I'm like things in linear order. I did read a few books series out of order because I didn't know they were part of a series.
    Sometimes I think publishers and authors kind of disguise their books in a series and make readers think they are standalones. If you look at covers, they don't always say it's part of a series and if they do, they don't even bother with book 1 or book 12, something to indicate where that book stands in that series. It's like they don't care if readers read books out of order. I care. But I guess this will never get changed because publishers don't want turn people off who don't like book series.

05 - Should you hate popular books you didn't read?
Popular books are everywhere, shoving into everyone's faces (at least whose who hangs out at youtube a bit too much), it's only natural to grow some sort of emotions toward these books, right? Either that or I'm judgmental and that's allow. Maybe it's wrong to judge books I didn't read but I know them well enough to form opinions and most are negative opinions. So why I am wasting time hating books? I guess if you can't enjoy loving a book, you can you enjoy hating it, right? I also think you can't be a well-rounded reader if you don't hate some books.

06 - Do you get annoyed by Goodreads' reviews where some said  [This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers] and when you click on [Show full review], there's no spoilers?
What's up with that? It's annoying especially when I expect spoilers. Maybe some readers make a mistake and click on the wrong button? I don't use Goodreads so I don't know how this feature works but it would be nice if people don't overuse it.

07 - As a reader, do you think you have bad book taste?
Sometimes I think I must have terrible taste in books because there are so many books people love and I just don't and I don't see why they do. I like to believe I have good taste but I guess it's all depends on what one believes is good taste. But reading is a preference so even if a book is hated by millions, there would be one or two people who loved it so I don't think anyone's book taste is good or bad, just different from everyone else's.

Do you have some bookish thoughts to share?

IWSG Oct 2024: How can you tell if your writing have improved?

I'm going to skip this month's question and talk about improvement. To make my writing better, I read a ton of articles, blog posts, how-to books and watch a lot of youtube tutorial/info videos and continue to do so but it's hard to say whether they help or hinder because every idea or useful info can also make me question my writing and doubt my own skills and ability to judge correctly.
    Upon re-reading my old writings, I can tell I have improved because those old writings were really bad. At least in terms of grammar. But at the same time, I think my writing has gotten a bit less fanciful. Before, I seemed to write with a somewhat poetic style which may be because I had been writing poems but I don't know. I now write in a bit more direct way and I don't try as hard to make every sentence sound good but I still look up tons of words just to see if I am using them correctly. I like to think this change is an improvement but I'm not 100% sure.
    I guess the way to see if you have improved is to ask people to read your stuff and give their opinion but then you have to decide if you trust their opinion more or yours. If you ask an editor about your writing, you might get a more accurate answer but again, this depends on if you trust them or yourself more. In the end, it's your writing so you are the only one who can judge.

What about you? How can you tell if your writing have improved?

[More about the group over at the Insecure Writer’s Support Group blog here]