Book bingo

[mafief]

The first book in a series – Crime and Poetry by Amanda Flower (Magical bookshop #1)
Mystery/crime – Pros and Cons by Amanda Flower (Magical bookshop #2)
An animal on the cover – Murders and Metaphors by Amanda Flower (Magical bookshop #3)
Set in your country – Verse and Vengeance by Amanda Flower (Magical bookshop #4)
Magical Bookshop series
I started this series because I love the voice of the audiobook narrator. I’ve read a couple of other books Rachel Dulude narrated, and followed her to this series. The books were cozy mysteries and were pleasant enough to read.

Over 300 pg book – Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee
This is the second book I’ve read from him and I prefer The Gene: An Intimate History. That said, it was a very well written history lesson on what we know about cancer and cancer treatment. How he tells the story is compelling. This book also confirmes in my head why I never wanted to study cancer, but I could appreciate those who study it. It also put Leukemia in context. Because Leukemia is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow, it was the easiest to study and develop treatment plans. My mom was diagnosed with Leukemia in 2007 and I was a freshman in college. I wish I understood this a little more, because I didn’t and continued on with my life unable to understand to what she was experiencing. Out of all of the cancers she could have developed, this one had the most research and there is a long history of successful drug development and well document drug side effects. She went into remission and is still in remission today.

Non-fiction – Never Home Alone: From Microbes to Millipedes, Camel Crickets, and Honey Bees, the Natural History of Where We Live by Rob Dunn
This is where you can have sympathy for my high school students. I had them listen to a NPR podcast about the life that lives in, on, and around you. After listening, they got to choose to critters to research. Podcast is here. About half of your body weight is human cells, the other half is bacteria, fungi, protists, mites, etc. that call our bodies home. The book and podcast explain the life that is in our homes. Our homes have a lot of extreme environments (oven, fridge, drains, water heaters, etc.) that specific bacteria can thrive in. Some are bad, but the vast majority is good and needed for our health. My sourdough culture captured some of this life that is in the air, my hands, the flour, water, etc. and created it's own community of microbes.

Classic – The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
One of the materials I read as research for my holmestice story. What surprised me is that it’s told from the perspective of a reporter who researched these events and that style creates so much distant from the narrative. The story begs to be remixed and the play satisfies this need. In the play the audience is being shown what the characters are experiencing. It’s definitely more satisfying to be shown instead of told.

Title has a name in it – Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
I like her writing style and storytelling. It’s one of the few books where I want to buy a hard copy and re-read it to really see how this the senences and scenes were constructed.

YA/children – The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo #1) by Rick Riordan
Do not start at this book if you haven’t read the Percy Jackson series. I haven’t read them and was very confused. I got through it, and still have no plans to read Percy Jackson.

Romance – Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati
My mom suggested this book. It was long, but a satisfying story set in the American frontier in 1792. The author did a lot of research and some of the scenes feel like the main reason it’s there is to show off this bit of factoid she learned. There are more books in this series, but this is my last one.

An author you’ve never read before – Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb
I liked this one a lot as well. The therapist, Lori, is having a crisis and she is still practicing therapy. Thus, you get different perspectives. It's a humanizing look at the therapist, what is their purpose, and how they help.

100 pgs or less – The Masque of the Red Death by Edger Allen Poe