The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan

The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan

by Carol8 Comments
I was actually at Lakeside Chautauqua on Lake Erie for a week earlier this summer. I've lived in Ohio most of my life and even if we don't go up to Lake Erie often, it's still part of our state identity, if that makes sense, which is why The Death and Life of the Great Lakes caught my attention. It's an interesting book and an easy read, even for a non-history, non-science girl like me. We all know that humans affect the environment, but found it really interesting how a lot of the problems the lakes experience now can really be traced back to the 1800s when the lakes were first opened to the Atlantic Ocean and the Chicago River and onto the Mississippi. Egan does a wonderful job of combining history and science in relating all the lakes have been through and why. He also includes individual's stories, about what the lake was like when they were young versus today,...
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The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

by Carol6 Comments
Horowitz is just a little too clever for me. In The Word is Murder, he's inserted a fictional version of himself as the detective's sidekick. It's all very meta and distracting for me. The mystery itself is good, a woman is killed the same day she plans her own funeral. There are several secrets in her past that may have to do with the murder. She also has a famous actor son, which makes the case more interesting to the media. Horowitz the character is drawn into the case by a detective who consults for the police. Hawthorne can be a bit grating. He's supposed to be the brilliant, idiosyncratic Holmes-ish character to Horowitz. The characters and mystery are actually well-done. I like the false leads and how to some extent the slightly bumbling Horowitz encourages them. The clues are all there, but the time line falls apart a little. I think I tend to want to like Horowitz's stories more...
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The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

by Carol4 Comments
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is definitely one of Agatha Christie's best, but it was a reread for me, so I knew who the killer was. And the whodunnit is what makes this such a great mystery. Hercule Poirot has "retired" to the peaceful village of  King’s Abbot, keeping his former career as a detective a secret, but of course someone - Roger Ackroyd - is killed. Ackroyd was actually a friend of Poirot, one of the few who knew his work, and the niece, Flora, asks Poirot to investigate. Poirot doesn't have his Hastings here, so the part of narrator/sidekick is covered by Dr. Sheppard, Poirot's neighbor and the one who discovered the body. Poirot is his usual silly, brilliant self. I like that we meet him before he takes the case and I love that they assume he used to be a hairdresser. "Look at that moustache of his." The mystery is well-plotted with plenty of suspects and red herrings. I enjoyed...
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Head On by John Scalzi

Head On by John Scalzi

by Carol4 Comments
Head On could work as a stand alone, but I think it's best to read Lock In first, to get a full feeling for the world and the main characters Chris and Vann. In the near future, a portion of the population has been affected by Haden’s syndrome, leaving some “locked in,” awake and aware, but unable to move or respond without computer/mechanical help. Our mystery this time around centers on the death of a Hilketa player. The player, like almost all Hilketa players, is a Haden, piloting his specialty threep remotely. Since the crime involves a Haden, it's FBI territory and this case falls to Chris and Vann. It doesn't hurt that Chris was at the game when the player died - Chris's father is  potential investor in the Washington franchise. The world Scalzi has created is well-done - believable and possible, but t heart, this is a police procedural with a cool sci-fi backdrop. Chris and Vann make great partners...
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The Time Machine by H. G. Wells

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells

by Carol6 Comments
Apparently I had no idea what The Time Machine was about, aside from the obvious of course. The Time Traveler has invented a machine that can go into the past or travel into the future, but of course his friends, who he has dinner with weekly, don't believe him. However, the next week, he shows up late to his own dinner party looking ragged and disheveled and tells his friends an incredible story of traveling into the distant future. There he discovers two bizarre races—the ethereal Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks—who not only symbolize the duality of human nature, but offer a terrifying portrait of the men of tomorrow as well.  He also tells of going even farther and seeing the dying planet. On the one hand, it's an interesting exploration of class and societal evolution. It's the first story to popularize time travel and the image of the dying earth, not the one of the Eloi and Morlocks, but of the...
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The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

by Carol2 Comments
I probably shouldn't have read The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, since I can't actually say the title out loud, but I kept seeing it around and the audio was the prefect length for a couple of drives I made last weekend. I really liked the first part of the book. Basically, the media and internet and the world want us to care about everything, but that's not the way to a happy, fulfilling life. You need to choose what you care about, what values really matter to you. Manson shares thoughts that while not original are true, like pain and struggle are unavoidable; facing hard truths about ourselves helps us grow; and failure, as so long as we learn from it, can lead to success; that sometimes just doing something is better than waiting for inspiration. I got a little bored towards the end. A lot of the book is repetitious and his anecdotes can get a little annoying. Maybe...
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