Detective Gordon: A Case in Any Case

author: Ulf Nilsson
name: Wayne
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2017/03/05
date added: 2017/03/05
shelves: children-s
review:
'Detective Gordon: A Case in Any Case' by Ulf Nilsson with illustrations by Gitte Spee is the third and final book in this series from Sweden. This is a charming and sweet series for young readers or storytime.

Detective Gordon has turned things over to Detective Buffy. The gun and baton are safely behind glass and the detective has her bed in the jail cell. As usual, things start out quiet, but don't stay quiet for long. Detective Buffy hears strange noises in the night, and two young kindergarten children have gone missing. Detective Buffy realizes she will need some help, but will Detective Gordon be available, and will he remember that he is not in charge anymore?

I have read two of these books and they remind me of the works of Arnold Lobel. The illustrations are cute, and the stories are sweet. I have enjoyed getting to meet these two determined detectives.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Gecko Press, Myrick Marketing & Media, LLC, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.


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Summary and Analysis of The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing: Based on the Book by Marie Kondo

author: Worth Books
name: Wayne
average rating: 4.50
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2017/03/05
date added: 2017/03/05
shelves: non-fiction
review:
'Summary and Analysis of The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing: Based on the Book by Marie Kondo' by Worth Books has a title that's practically longer than this ebook.

The book by Marie Kondo was first published in English in 2014 and it has sparked an almost cult-like following. This book tells a history of the author and distills the book. There is also a bibliography of other works on decluttering.

The book is about a tenth of the size of the book that it summarizes. I haven't read the original work, but I do know the basic concepts and this book seems to do a good job of outlining. I could see this being useful as a refresher for someone who has read the original. I've felt this kind of thing could be useful for some of the self-improvement books I've read. I enjoyed reading this short work.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Open Road Integrated Media and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.


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Sea Creatures: In Their Own Words #1

author: Christophe Cazenove
name: Wayne
average rating: 3.25
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2017/03/05
date added: 2017/03/05
shelves: children-s, graphic-novels
review:
'Sea Creatures: Reef Madness #1' by Christophe Cazenove with art by Thierry Jytery and translation by Nanette McGuinness is a fun way to learn about the creatures that live in our oceans.

The book starts with a chart showing the different levels of species endangerment. This needs to be referred to during the book because I couldn't remember what "NE" meant (although near extinction is one of the easier ones). Each page is a comic story about a creature or series of creatures. There are stories about jellyfish and sharks and whales and all kinds of other fish and creatures. The focus is on learning, but the creatures make wisecracks and the art tends towards cartoonish as you would expect with talking fish.

Of course, the most dangerous creature in the ocean is man. There are also large parts of the ocean that are unexplored. Those are a couple of the more obvious lessons, but I didn't feel like the book was overly preachy or even felt like a textbook. Instead, it's a fun way to learn about the subject.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Papercutz and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.


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New Year, Same Trash: Resolutions I Absolutely Did Not Keep (A Vintage Short Original)

author: Samantha Irby
name: Wayne
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2017/03/02
date added: 2017/03/02
shelves: non-fiction
review:
'New Year, Same Trash: Resolutions I Absolutely Did Not Keep' by comedian and blogger Samantha Irby is a short essay about how most of us actually deal with resolutions. It's pretty funny.

Samantha Irby for 2016 wrote down 70 short resolutions. The idea was simple goals that could be met. In this essay, she lists them, and how she fared. As the subtitle might suggest, she didn't do all that well with most of them.

The resolutions are grouped into categories like writing, or eating well. They include entries like: 21. Wear clean socks every day, and are followed by the results: "Noooooooope. Nope, nope, nopety nope. I did not manage to do this."

It's pretty funny, albeit a bit crude at times. It feels a bit like an extended blog post, but it is less than a dollar for the Kindle edition. I think it's worth at least a buck.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vintage, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.


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Department of Temporal Investigations: Time Lock

author: Christopher L. Bennett
name: Wayne
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2017/03/02
date added: 2017/03/02
shelves:
review:
'Department of Temporal Investigations: Time Lock' by Christopher L. Bennett is a book set in the Star Trek universe. It concerns a couple characters that are charged with protecting history from inadvertent time travelers.

This is the 4th book in the series, and I haven't read the preceding ones, but I don't thing that's necessary. It's probably a bit more helpful to know the characters who show up in a few episodes of the later Trek series.

This time around, Lucsly and Andros aren't working together. Lucsly is guarding a time vault, when it is taken over by a group that wants to raid the vault for tools to time travel. Lucsly threatens the group with, then enables, a device that slows time incrementally, but only within the facility. As time goes by in the facility, it goes faster and faster outside. Lucsly's partner tries to help, but the standoff goes on. What are the raiders looking for and can this stalemate end before years go by?

There is a clever timeline that shows up in the book showing federation time and time within the lock. In an afterword, the author shows the math he used to calculate the times. It's a nice touch.

It seems a bit tenuous to base a series on a couple characters that show up in three or so episodes, but they are memorable enough to hold a story like this together. I had fun reading it.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Gallery, Threshold, PocketBooks, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.


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The New Hunger (Warm Bodies, #1.5)

author: Isaac Marion
name: Wayne
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2017/03/01
date added: 2017/03/01
shelves:
review:
'The New Hunger' by Isaac Marion is a prequel to Warm Bodies. It's a bleak story that shows how the world ended.

In this book, Julie is 12 and is traveling in search of shelter with her mother and father. Their search has brought them to the Canadian border, but they find out that hope can die pretty easy in this world.

Nora is left with her little brother in a world where food is scarce but enemies are not. Her parents are nowhere to be found, so it's up to Nora to keep them safe.

There are a few surprises that you can probably guess, but I won't spoil them for you. I saw the Warm Bodies movie, but never read the book. The movie seemed pretty light, but this book is pretty dark. There are lots of zombie stories out there. Some are better than others. This one wasn't bad. It's probably better to read if you plan on reading Warm Bodies.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Atria Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.


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Lady Mechanika Volume 2: Tablet of Destinies

author: Joe Benítez
name: Wayne
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2017/03/01
date added: 2017/03/01
shelves: graphic-novels
review:



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