What's it about: jobs, work, work relationships
This read like short stories (book is divided by jobs) as told by a nameless, thirty-something woman testing temp jobs to get an easy one because she was burnout from her previous job. She gets very involved with whatever job she was doing and is very competent at it which might make you hate her and yet, you don't. She cares about people and yet, she seems a bit aloof about relationships. But somehow she made us care about the people she cares about. Some of these jobs had a bit of paranormal to them, like a touch of whimsy.
There was a scene where someone left a threatening message 'Die alone' and she interpreted as someone saying, 'I rather die than die alone!' and I don't know why, I just laughed at this and it's like funniest thing to me but it probably isn't funny at all.
This is under the category of 'cozy Japanese reads' but I wish they wouldn't use the F word because that somehow took away the cozy. I enjoyed this book very much and the translation is wonderfully un-American.
What's it about: stamp collecting, chemistry, murder
The mystery was fine but somehow bland. My interest kept going up and down. Whenever they started on some backstory about a place which was often, I got bored. I didn't like all the references to brand names and particular things to that time period (1950's) which most of them I didn't know so sometimes I didn't know what was being talked about.
I don't like how Flavia de Luce (the main character), she seemed too much like an adult (she's only eleven) and only like a child when she is in danger. I like her passion for poison and chemistry which throughout the book is talked about. But I don't see why she should lie when it wasn't even necessary most of the time. And her playing tricks on her sister (putting poison ivy in her lipstick) because they tied her up and put her in a closet - this kind of sibling rivalry I don't like. Or that their father married his third cousin and they called their mother by her first name.
There was some racists bits when two men put on yellow face and talked in an accent to do some magic tricks - why did they need to be oriental to do the tricks? It made no sense.
I'm not continuing the series as I find Flavia is just not someone I like to read more of. I guess I don't like how she was lying unnecessary. Besides that, she just didn't seem like a child.
What's it about: shelved memories, murder, luxury ship traveling through space
[SPOILERS in the whole rant > In this world, everyone's mind/memory is inside a book and shelved in a library so when the body dies, they put the memory from this shelved file into a new body (didn't say how exactly the new body is created but supposedly it's a copy of your body) and humans live for hundreds of years for this reason. They all lived in a giant ship, with cities and such, supposedly traveling to their new world. Humans are called by the narrator as "disgusting miracles" which I took offend to. These people didn't like bodies as some of them prefer to just exist on a shelf, intangible beings or whatever. Permanent death is when your book is erased which don't happen often.
Dorothy Gentleman (the main character/detective) wakes up in Gloria's body and immediately able to adjust without problems. Everyone believes her when she tells them she's the ship's detective and that is easily confirmed by talking to the ship's computer nicknamed Ferry. There was no point in her being in another body because she can just switch to another as easily as changing a shirt.
The mystery was quickly solved with Dorothy barely going about the ship and reading a couple of files and talking to a few people. It's so quick and easy and nobody got arrested because the detective only reports the crime to some higher people.
These people lived for hundreds of years but had the same old reason for murder: money. So yes, Gloria kept murdering her partner over and over for money but the memory part is iffy. There's no actual account of the murder. People don't remember the moments they died. And Dorothy only have her memories and not Gloria's so she had no memory of the murder. And Gloria's book had been erased so readers don't get to relive any memories having to do with murder or with Gloria.
Comparing Dorothy Gentleman to Agatha Christie's Miss Marple is absolutely absurd. Dorothy have nothing in common with Miss Marple aside old age and love of knitting. And Dorothy (I hated calling her Miss Gentleman) sounded very male to me.
Everyone's gay, not a single heterosexual is around, why? Nobody knows. And Dorothy is no exception. She's also into ogling a suspect or two because they are so sultry (actual word used in the book).
Still, it's bland but I suppose since this is under the category of cozy mystery, its blandness might be done on purpose. But at 103 pages, it's just not enough to understand the world and this is a first book in a series. Great ideas but boring execution. What's disappointing is that the crime had no affect on anyone or anything - nothing changes even when the culprit is revealed - it's like there was no point even in investigating because there is no punishment, no one's unhappy, okay, maybe slightly unhappy about the knowledge of being murdered but the victim was brought back to life and she had no memory of her murder so the whole thing is pointless.
The author is more of a romance writer and this book is probably better as a romance instead of a mystery. I'm not going to continue the series because there's no cause and effect, no consequences, no point to much of anything. And I don't like Dorothy, just her last name annoys me.
04 - Night of the Living Deed (A Haunted Guesthouse Mystery #1) by E.J. Copperman
What's it about: home repair, ghosts, a missing deed, unhelpful motherly advices
Alison is an annoying main character/narrator. Sometimes she sounded really childish and the way is written (first person), it's like she's talking with an attitude to someone - which I hate. She's a mother of a nine-year-old girl and she dishes out advices on being a mother which mostly sounded like she's a child playing a mother. I know they are going for an amusing narrator/main character but she's annoying, not funny. I find the two ghosts (Paul and Maxie) just as annoying as Alison. All they seemed to display are anger, rudeness, gloominess - they are mostly unkind, destroying properties, sexually assaulting (kiss with tongue) Alison's guy friend, blatantly think Alison have to help them find their murderer or else they will keep harassing her and ruining the house she is trying to fix up - these are the kind of ghosts you wish on your worse enemy on but somehow they still have dull personalities. And yet another good-looking love interest who is annoying because his only obsession is history and being a history teacher that makes sense but there isn't more to him and his name is Ned which is a nickname for Edward (which apparently is a true/normal thing) but somehow annoying so this put his annoying factor up a couple of notches.
[SPOILER AHEAD > At the end when the house walls which had been destroyed are all nicely fixed up in just a day (or it could have been two days) which is some miracle which shouldn't even be able to accomplished that fast no matter how many ghosts were there - materials things like walls are still rooted in reality or so I'm told to believe in this book. Alison, like other main characters who doesn't listen to cops and even willing to do some breaking and entering, was dumb enough to meet a murderer alone though she did believe the police would be there but still, I thought she's smarter than that. But I guess Alison's mother (Loretta) is the smart one in the family because she sent her dead husband's ghost (Alison's father) to save Alison. Alison's mother and Alison's daughter could both see ghosts but Alison needed a bump in the head to see ghosts which made no sense. I think I would rather follow Loretta than Alison. Loretta is smarter and have more sense and she can see ghosts without a bump on the head or without thinking she had gone insane. END SPOILER]
If the mystery had been better, I might continued this series but mostly Alison is too annoying to read again.
What's it about: dogs, investigation, dog kidnapping, murder, show dogs
This was good but again, I think the way Chet (the dog) thinks - lots of abrupt and distracted thoughts - are a bit much. And again, no view of what Bernie's doing whenever he is separated from Chet. Chet's one-side viewpoint is starting to get annoying. Why don't we get Bernie's point of view or why don't we know what the hell is Bernie doing when he's not around Chet? But then again, they made Chet smarter than Bernie so perhaps Bernie's viewpoint might make us not want to read this series. I haven't decided but I might continue the series at a later time.
What's it about: traveling, siblings, sisters & a wanted man & man who used to be in law enforcement on the run, gentleman's club for torturing & killing women
I don't know why I'm annoyed with this book when I enjoyed the first one. This one was too lovey-dovey, that is Gus (one of the main character) keeps gushing over Evan (her love interest) internally - way too much of this. She is a particularly strong character but I guess people in love have no will or control over their thoughts. Can't anyone tell me what "earthly male skin" is supposed to smell like? Gus and Julia (Gus' sister, the other main character) are mooncalving (used in the book, couldn't find any definition in any dictionary but it should mean two people in love foolishly looking at each other) with their love interests is a bit too annoying.
The repetition of the word 'innards' got my nerves. And the constant application that Miss Grant is Lady Hester's lover is also annoying - but this couple is annoying with their presence without even speaking. And people reading each other's mind through each other's eyes is just unbelievable - I guess it can work with sisters (the main characters) who had live together and been together all their lives but people who had known each other only a couple of weeks/months? Hell, no. A lot of eye mind reading here that I'm annoyed by.
There was an attempt rape scene that I really wished I hadn't read. Women are vulnerable during that period (late 18th century) and I honestly thought this character (Gus) since she is a tall, large woman and seemed strong physically that I thought she would be able to fight this a-hole but no she is made extremely weak and only when something else happened did that stop the attack. I guess I wanted her to kick that man's ass because it annoys me when women couldn't even get in a kick or anything when they are being attacked - she did bite him but that was sort of after he stopped and it was barely a fight back.
hy the heck didn't they end Evan's story (which pretty much started this series) right here which they could have done but nope, they had to set it up for another thousand books or something. I wish I had not read this book which ended the same way as the first book. I won't be reading the next one. Now I'm just going to try forget I ever read this book.
What's it about: sari, Indian food, something about some murder mystery
Here are my complaints about this book:
a - The prologue started with a man desperately seeking the detective (main character Kaveri), found her house and she was having a party, went into a shed to wait and started reading a notebook (with the title The Bangalore Detectives Club) he found and all of a sudden readers are transported into the story and reading about the main character (Kaveri) going for a swim. We never heard from this man again even at the end of the book. He must have died of boredom or why else didn't we hear from him again?
b - The crappy writing - lots of run-on sentences that really should have been broken up; lots of sentences starting with As with long list of actions that could have been broken up; no indiction of change of scenery or movement of the characters - for example, one moment they were sitting in someone's livingroom, the next they were in the car talking with no indications that characters went out of the house or got into the car, just in the next paragraph, they are elsewhere; actions or small events that are out of order or just wrong - for example, the husband talked about how he told his father not to hang the dead animals on the walls and Kaveri said, 'He didn't listen?' while they are looking at the dead animals hanging on the walls; used the 'moved' way too many times, characters don't walk, run or do anything other than move; used the word 'looked' way too much - characters looked at each other often, no glances, no stares; extra words that shouldn't be there - simply put, the writing is amateurish and reads like a draft - this is the author's debut.
c - Main character (Kaveri), 19, lived a privileged life, is spoiled, arrogant, thinks other people are prejudices against her but she's prejudices against them as well. For a society with women mostly being controlled by fathers, husbands, brothers, uncles and cousins, Kaveri have all the freedom of a modern woman since there is no one stopping her from doing anything. Her husband even helped/encouraged her to study just as her father did. Kaveri is living in a conventional world (in the 1920's) with unconventional thinking which is fine but why aren't there problems for her? Her only opposition is her mother-in-law who is away for so long that she might as well not existed except in talks.
Kaveri is Nancy Drew but without the worldly or street smart and seemed unable to control her emotions. She met one poor boy and wanted to avenge him, met one woman prostitute, heard her pitiful story and then when she was arrested for murder, she sobbed (twice) for her, met another woman whom got assaulted, pitied her so much that Kaveri got angry and wanted to get revenge for her. I wouldn't say this main character had an emotional mind of a 5-year-old but what 19-year-old reacted this emotional over strangers?
d - Main character listed the dead guy as a suspect only to cross him out - what? Maybe he stabbed himself to death and put the weapon into a tree. Maybe he had an accomplice but the thing is, he had no reason to kill himself. His name was Ponnuswarmy - makes me think of pond scum (a worthless jerk) - is this the author's inspiration?
e - The detective named Ismail is described like a giant of a man, reminded me of Moby Dick which had a character named Ishmael. I think Ismail allowed Ramu and Kaveri to investigate the murder just so he wouldn't have to do the work or else why allow it when he knew Kaveri and even Ramu were amateurs? Ramu even told Ismail Kaveri read a book about fingerprinting that supposedly made her an expert on it which any detective would know that reading books (She also read Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot) does not make you a detective but I guess in this world it does.
f - This sentence: Kaveri looked for Ramu, finding him embedded in a cluster of doctors.
g - The only thing that makes this Indian-es is the names of places, the food and character names, otherwise, there's not much difference from any modern setting. I don't know why they bothered with the 1920's setting since it really matters little to the main character's life.
h - Recapping - main characters recapped to the other characters instead of readers witnessing what had actually happened - why? All they had to do was said they told that character this or that. Why do readers have to know things second-hand?
i - [SPOILER >It's stupid to make the murderer a mad woman. For a character that smart, seemed able to plan and cover her tracks and they made her into a mad woman who had been to the asylum? Her reasons for the murder sounded sane. Can't a murderer just be bad and not be mad?
Plus what police would allow a civilian to go to a potential murderer's house just to get fingerprints? Main character met the murderer alone in the murderer's house but when she was in danger, she was waiting for her husband to save her but then changed her mind at the last minute. Why the husband and detective and a bunch of policemen waiting in the back of the house couldn't open a gate or even climb over it is silly - it's a gate, are we to believe the police can't climb over a gate or get it to open? They had to go the front of the house to get inside - unbelievably stupid. < END SPOILER]
j - In the acknowledgment from the author, she said it took her 13 years to get this book written which I'm guessing there were no one telling her it wasn't written well. This seemed to be traditionally published but no indication there were any editors, just people from the publisher which means professional people in the publishing industry had read this and give it a pass and agreed to publish this badly written book.
Why did I finish this book? Mostly so I can find fault in it or maybe I somehow wanted to see if the writing gets better or maybe I thought the mystery would somehow make up for the amateurish writing but nope. If you're a seasoned reader, you will likely find faults in the writing but if you are maybe 10 or 12 years old, you probably won't notice anything.
I'm not continuing this series. I fear the writing will get worse. But great cover which is very misleading as the woman there looked too mature to be the main character. And what detective club? There is no such club.
What's it about: depressing people, crimes, police, kidnapping, torture, revenge, murder
This was kind of fun but grime. Carl, the detective, is a nice jerk who probably got a lot of bad luck. Carl lusting after a therapist annoys me but then beautiful women are kind of there to be objectified by the men. Assad, the assistant is a mystery and a very capable cop, probably better than Carl. I like Assad - he makes things amusing.
The way the criminal is torturing his kidnapped victim is just cruel and the way he was going to kill her is the worse way to die. It's painful reading from the point of view of the victim. But we a get little humor break from Carl and Assad so it's not all grime.
This was translated from the Danish which meant a lot of American expressions/cliches which somehow fits with the other Danish-ish things.
I like this first book quite a lot even though the grime bits are very heavy. I'm waiting to read the next book in the series and had a hold in the library which will be 16 weeks(!) away.
Movie watched:
What's it about: squirrel, superheroes, family
It's a fun movie and delightful movie. I enjoyed it a lot. The ending is slightly different from the book but still ended the same way with everyone happy.
Have you read any good books or watched any good movies lately?
Right now, I'm in the midst of watching Season 5 of "Only Murders in the Building" (Hulu). Delightfully droll, as always.
ReplyDeleteDebra: I heard of 'Murder' show but sadly, I've never seen it. Maybe some day I'll get to see it.
DeleteThank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.
well done
ReplyDeleteChristine: Thank you for reading. And thanks for for coming by. Have a lovely day.
Delete"Already the year is almost over and it seems like I haven't really done anything. But at least I read some books."
ReplyDeleteStory of my life...
N°1 sounds so unique!
"it's like there was no point even in investigating because there is no punishment, no one's unhappy, okay, maybe slightly unhappy about the knowledge of being murdered but the victim was brought back to life and she had no memory of her murder so the whole thing is pointless"
It would seem so...
"But then again, they made Chet smarter than Bernie so perhaps Bernie's viewpoint might make us not want to read this series"
Ha! very likely!
"Can't anyone tell me what "earthly male skin" is supposed to smell like?"
Uh...I for sure can't LOL. What does it even mean?
"He must have died of boredom or why else didn't we hear from him again?"
😂
The whole book sounds full of faults that a good editor could/should have caught...
Roberta: Time just sped up, I guess there's no way to really slow it down.
DeleteI really enjoyed reading the first book on my list. It's really unique with some of the paranormal bits.
"Earthly male skin" - I think only romance readers would know the meaning.
I don't quite understand how that detective book got published. It's like editors weren't used just like a few books I know.
Thank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.