Cold Sassy Tree (Burns)

Cold Sassy Tree
Olive Ann Burns (1984)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This book was a Pandemic Book Club selection.

I started listening to this book before I started reading, but I eventually caught up and finished the ebook first (which my the audio less important to finish). I listened to the first chapter twice just so I had an idea what was going on.

Cold Sassy Tree refers to the sassafras trees that the town of Cold Sassy were named after even though there's only one tree left by 1906. The rest are all gone. Cold Sassy is a fictional town in Georgia.

The story is narrated by a 14-year old named Will Tweedy. It has a definite beginning but it just sort of ends. At least it wasn't open-ended (although there is a sequel where I guess the boy is grown some more.)

What stands out about this book is the folksy tone with which it's narrated, and I didn't mind the spellings that were used. (This was much better than the "stylistic choices" made in The Bee Sting). It took a moment to figure out a few words, but after that, they were familiar with repetition. "Cudn" was an amusing one for "cousin". I never did figure out why they'd sometimes end sentences with "one".

The story starts a few weeks after Will's grandmother has died with his grandfather's announcement that he's getting remarried to a woman who works in his store. Scandalous is this seems (and unseemly, too), he doesn't want to be a burden on his two daughters, so he either has to get a new wife or hire a Negro housekeeper, and he figures a wife is cheaper. Will will later learn that it isn't a "real" marriage, but an arrangement to make Miss Love Simspon his new housekeeper and not the new Mrs. E. Tucker Ruckslee.

Their story is the backdrop of learning about Will working in the store, going to school, and getting into fights. Along the way, he learns to drive the only two cars in town, and almost gets run over by a train. He is helped off the tracks by a mill girl he likes (and eventually kisses).

My one problem with this lighthearted tale is that it eventually takes a dark turn, and then gets absolutely brutal.

I could also complain that they never mention driving to another town to get gasoline for the cars since there isn't a gas station in Cold Sassy as there are only two cars before Mr. Ruckslee starts selling them.

Other than the dark parts, you could imagine that this was any boy's misadventures growing up at a particular time in history. (I won't compare it to Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn because I haven't read those in a long time and I'm sure there was more and sharper commentary on society than here.) And the book could've gone on for a few more chapters before the events that bring on the ending of the book. I didn't pay attention to the timeline, but it could've been that it was a full year or a complete school year over which the book takes place.

This was an enjoyable book, and a nice change of pace from recent reads. Now I have to wait nearly a month for the meeting!

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. A fantastical foursome of flash fiction and short stories.

Eden: It's an Endless World! Volume 1 (Endo)

Eden: It's an Endless World! Volume 1
Hiroki Endo (1997/2005)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a book that I picked up at Readercon in Boston, MA back in July. It was on the freebies table, and I only took it because it was volume one.

From Good Reads:

Eden Volume One is both a brilliant love song to the post-apocalyptic survival genre and the beginning of a deep exploration on man's role in the natural order. In the near future, a large portion of humanity is wiped out by a brutal, new virus that hardens the skin while dissolving internal organs. Those who aren't immune are either severely crippled or allowed to live with cybernetically enhanced bodies. Taking advantage of a world in chaos, a paramilitary force known as the Propater topples the United Nations and seeks world domination. Elijah, a young survivor searching for his mother, travels towards the Andes Mountains with an artificially intelligent combat robot. When he encounters a group of anti-Propater freedom fighters, a maelstrom of unique characters unfolds. Graphic, cyberpunk, and philosophical, Eden is a place where endearing heroes face a constant struggle for survival and violent surprises wait around every corner!

It was an interesting story and a quick read. It's not available from any of the local libraries. The series was popular when it came out in English, or so I've read.

The story follows two immune teens and a scientist who is succumbing to the disease and who also had a hand it its spread. There are a lot of flashbacks to a time when the virus started and pockets of humanity are protected within governmental walls.

It then jumps ahead a generation where the child of the two teens is traveling with a robot.

No, I'm not describing it well. Also, I'm curious what happened to his parents.

The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina (Córdova)

The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina
Zoraida Córdova (2021)

[AUDIO BOOK -- I don't include covers for audiobooks unless I've read them as well.]

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This book was a Pandemic Book Club alternate selection. That is, it didn't win the group poll. However, I requested all the books as soon as the poll went up because many times there are holds for these books. The audiobook became available, so I listened to it. I don't remember what the wait was for the ebook, but since it didn't win, I didn't worry about it.

This was an enjoyable book although I might've restarted it early on because sometimes it's difficult to focus on the book while I'm out walking or because there's traffic or overhead trains running by. (I do this often.) I need to be doing something when I listen to audiobooks. I can't just sit there, not even on a subway.

The book bounces around between the past and the present. We learn that Orquidea didn't know who her father was, that she ran away with the circus, and that she had five husbands during his lifetime, so he used different names at different times.

Her grandchildren show up Four Rivers when she's dying to find out about their inheritance. There's more backstory into the grandchildren as well. In particular, we get to know a lot about Marymar, a name that is said many, many times and that I sometimes laughed at how it is pronounced for no reason. (On the other hand, I was a little annoying sometimes, so maybe I was smirking at my own annoyance.) It was later mentioned that her name meant "sea and sea" or "sea to sea", so it's either Marymar or Maramar. It's sounded more like a "y".

The story takes weird turns when Orquidea dies and turns into a tree. This is not metaphorical. And later, SPOILER, there are space aliens involved. I did NOT see that coming.

Would I consider reading this? Yes, but.

The "but" is because I'm so backed up with reading. I have the book club books, the Library Thing books (I'm 2 behind at the moment), books on hold at the library that I keep postponing and saying "deliver later", and books that I just want to read but haven't gotten around to yet. If this is still on hold, then it'll show up at some point. If it isn't on hold, there's a good chance that I'll forget about it until my end-of-year review.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. A fantastical foursome of flash fiction and short stories.

The Bee Sting (Murray)

The Bee Sting
Pauy Murray (2023)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This book was a Pandemic Book Club selection. It was also a 600+ page slogfest. If it had not been for the book club, I would have DNF'ed it 100 pages in -- by 200 for sure. As it was, I still had 150 pages to go when the meeting happened. I had already been spoiled that the book was left open-ended, which after 640 pages is a little outrageous. During the meeting, I discovered just what it was that was left open-ended. I was satisfied that I didn't need to read this book.

At the point where I considered dropping this book, I wrote the following on Good Reads:

First, there are no quotation marks, which gets a little confusing. Then almost all of the other punctuation disappears. Then there’s a slog of a chapter that’s literally 100 pages long, and you want to k!ll yourself instead If this hadn’t been a book club book, I wouldn’t have pushed on as far as I did, and I still couldn’t bring myself to finish it. I just didn’t care about anybody, how their lives were or where they’d end up, or even about that bee sting A good editor would’ve cut between 2-300 pages from this monstrosity. If there was a reason for it to be this long, I never got to it.

After the meeting, I was happy to put that book aside and read something else, The Bartender Between Worlds, which I enjoyed very much.

I started reading the next Book Club pick, but then I decided that I would power through this book.

Let me say right off: it didn't get better. It got worse. For the last 100 pages or so, it switched to Second Person POV, because it needed a fresh layer of Hell. And it applied this to all the different POV characters that it had. It wasn't using it to make the reader the POV character.

Yes, playing with the format might've been a storytelling tactic. It was an absolutely abyssmal choice.

The icing on the wedding cake came in Part III when it switched to a script format, except it wasn't a script. Just the formatting on the page was so you'd know with Second Person POV was involved in this bit. The main reason for the script, as far as I can tell, was because all the players were being brought onto a single stage so that open-ended ending could take place.

I never got the answer to my question, why this book had to be so long. On the other hand, they did address the "bee sting" in a way that explained why it was important enough to be the title of the book, and like so much that came before it, everything is a lie.

In the end, every adult is morally reprehensible for one reason or another, and when faced with a moral quandary tend to fail.

But, I got through this book and can return to next month's book, which is already better, and not quite as long.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. A fantastical foursome of flash fiction and short stories.

The Bartender Between Worlds (Steuernagel)

The Bartender Between Worlds
Herman Steuernagel (2024)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

It would be faint praise to say that this is the best book that I've read in a while. However, I really enjoyed this book. I don't remember how I heard of this book, but once I heard the title, I looked it up. The cover didn't sell me on the book, but it did help.

To be honest, I was curious because one of my writing prompt responses does have a bar between worlds. But it isn't an actual story. It's more of a behinning of something that needs a lot more. It could be a setting for a related set of short stories.

Thankfully, this book was nothing like mine.

First of all, the main character Emma isn't a bartender. She's a Hunter of people touched by magic, until she realizes that she's touched by magic. Then she tries to escape her life and wants to be a bartender because her magic affects alcohol. And she doesn't become a bartender "between" worlds but across different dimensions. Also, dimension hopping happens through portals, so there isn't any "between", no etheral plane, as well. That's not a criticism, just an explanation.

The story takes place across a handful of worlds that are all recognizeable but wildly different. Still, the counterparts of the main characters can, and do, inhabit these new Earths.

The original Earth starts generic fantasy English although there is mention of railroads. Emma encounters a fairy and a wizard. The wizard is a professor from another world who is trapped here because his device no longer works. I thought he was going to be steampunk, but he's actually from a 21st century world like our own without any magic. This proves difficult for the magic users, so they leave again to do more research on dimension hopping.

It was a quick read and under 300 pages, both of which I appreciated after a couple of books that I slogged through.

I enjoyed this book. I would consider reading a sequel.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. A fantastical foursome of flash fiction and short stories.

Write Something (Levenberg)

Write Something
Mitch Levenberg (2015)

This was not the cover of the book that I read, but that image doesn't seem to be available anywhere online

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

I'm not sure where this book came from. It either came out of a Little Free Library, or I brought it back from Readercon in Boston. I think Boston is probably the correct answer because I don't think I've had it for very long. It feels like I just got this, and that it hasn't been in my basement for a couple years. There are no stamps to indicate it was owned by a school or a library.

This book is 17 short essays (columns?) about reading, writing, Brooklyn, Flushing, Coffee, Cuban Coffee, Mosquitoes and whatever. Okay to read. Nothing memorable.

That's the summary. There isn't anything more to say about it, other than, if this can be a book, then I can write books, too.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. A fantastical foursome of flash fiction and short stories.

The Dream Keeper and Other Poems (Hughes)

The Dream Keeper and Other Poems
Langston Hughes (1932/1994)

Illustrated by Brian Pinkney

This was not the cover of the book that I read, but that image doesn't seem to be available anywhere online

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a book that I borrowed from school last summer but didn't read until this one. I found it (and many, many others) shut up in a locker in the back of my classroom that I practically had to pry open.

The introduction and other material were copyright 1994. Also, this edition had "Additional Material", that is, extra poems from Hughes, included.

I can't say that I've ever read a collection of poems by Langston Hughes. I'm sure we covered one or two somewhere in college, and I've seen poems referenced in textbooks and newspaper columns. But actually read a collection? No.

This has been rectified.

Some of the shorter poems up front were surprising. They were some little ditties, light verse, out of context that may have meant more to me 100 years ago. I appreciated the longer poems, which had meter, rhyme, or some structure to them, unlike the modern free verse I encounter too often. I enjoyed the note of the differences between spirituals and blues.

The book was about 80 pages, divided into sections: The Dream Keeper, Sea Charm, Dressed Up, Feet O' Jesus, Walkers with the Dawn, and Additional Poems. I enjoyed the illustrations as well.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. The fourth book will be available by the time you see this!

In the Margins: They found their place by not fitting in (Shea)

In the Margins: They found their place by not fitting in
John Shea (2012)

This was not the cover of the book that I read, but that image doesn't seem to be available anywhere online

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a book that I borrowed from school last summer but didn't read until this one. I found it (and many, many others) shut up in a locker in the back of my classroom that I practically had to pry open.

This book is essentially two half-books. The first half is about Sherman Alexie, author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (which I also saw in that classroom locker), his life growing up on and off of the reservation. The second half is about Julia Alvarez, author of In the Time of Butterflies, and her life growing up and leaving the Dominican Republic.

It was a quick, informative read. I can't say I've heard of either one of them before, but I am aware of them now. Ms. Alvarez has quite the bibliography, so I might pick something out to read at a later date.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. The fourth book will be available by the time you see this!

Trial by Moonlight (Hanford)

Trial by Moonlight,
A Rise of the Summer God Adventure,
Summer H. Hanford (2024)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a booklet that I picked up at World Fantasy Con in Niagara Falls, NY, 2024. It's only 46 pages, and an additional ten pages for a preview of another book, but it's bound like a book, and longer than the other novellas I picked up, so I'm calling it a book. (And this will balance out with the number of 400+ pagers I've been reading lately.)

Aldera came to live in the pines of Ravenwood with her mother. She wasn't born there, but she wants to be accepted there. And she wants to learn the ways of the witches there and be able (one day) to transform into a raven. She is woken on the night of her 12th birthday by the other girls to undergo a three-part test. She almost doesn't survive.

Not much else to say about it.

There's a cool two-page map where I assume the Summer God adventures take place, but this entire story takes place in basically one location (though they move around to three parts of that area).

It was a pleasant, quick read, and I really needed some quick reads after some of the things that I've ploughed through lately.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. The fourth book will be available by the time you see this!

The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam: An Illustrated Memoir (Fleming)

The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam: An Illustrated Memoir
Ann Marie Fleming (2007)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

I picked up this graphic novel at the same time that I picked up Pedro & Me, which I read back in 2018. I read that one (mostly) in the pool, and I started this one. Then summer ended, and this got pushed to the side and I lost track of it. Both books came from the Port Chester-Rye Brook Public Library, which means I likely acquired them at Lunacon.

Who is Long Tack Sam? That's the question that his granddaughter wanted to answer while writing this book. It contains many images, illustrations, and photos of programs and posters about the famous Chinese magician. And he was famous back in the days of Vaudeville and beyond. So much so that I'm surprised that I never heard of him, particularly when he's picture with so many peope who I have heard of.

It could be because he retired and left the United States, returning to Austria, where his wife was from.

This was an interesting book to read and a good use of the graphic novel format. There were little history lessons in the margins, a chronology of world events so the reader could put Sam's life in context.

If they made a movie about him, I'd watch it.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. The fourth book will be available by the time you see this!

Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-so-popular Party Girl (Russell)

Dork Diaries (2): Tales from a Not-so-popular Party Girl
Rachel Renée Russell (2010)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was NOT one of the books that I took from the Little Free Library in my neighborhood. And, unfortunately, I didn't take the bunch I saw in a different library when I had a chance!

That said, these books are still popular fifteen years later -- and I had to remind myself of the publishing date to reconcile some of the language and technology in the books. As it was, it was a bit of a wait for the ebook, after which I realized that these books lose something as ebooks. I finally got the physical book, and read it pretty quickly. (Summer time: I read a lot of physical books in the pool, and this was no exception.)

This book takes place not long after the first book and involves throwing the annual Halloween party. The book is written in diary format and contains nuerous drawing and doodles from author Nikki.

Nikki still doesn't think that Brandon will ever notice her, and she is shocked whenever he does, even after he came to the rescue in the first book.

Zoe and Chloe are still Nikki's BFF's in the library club. They have a plan to join the clean-up crew for the Halloween Party and then pretend that the band members are their dates, so they don't have to worry about being asked.

Of course, Mackenzie Hollister is in charge of organizing the Halloween Party, and, of course, she still hates Nikki and she still wants Brandon. When things don't go well for Mackenzie, she has everyone quit their committee assignments, leaving all the responsibilities to Nikki, Zoe, and Chloe to organize the party themselves -- and Mackenzie and company cancelled everything that they'd already done. If the Library girls can't get the party organized on their own, it will be up to them to cancel the school's annual party for the first time ever.

These are fun books, even if I'll never write for this level.

I look forward to the next book, which I believe I own a copy of. However, there are other books that I need to read and pass along first.

Paperback.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. The fourth book will be available by the time you see this!

Renegades (Burton)

Renegades
Nathan Burton (2025)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was an ARC from Library Thing (although the book was published in February). It was another book over 500 pages -- I need to stop requesting these. And while I won't hold the fact that I received a PDF file instead of an EPUB, it did lessen my enjoyment of the book. PDFs *suck* to read.

Renegrades reads like a season of a science fiction television show, such as Firefly but with fewer morals and more deadly sins but still a hint of conscience. The Desire is a crewed by five people and a robot who are for hire but also looking for an extra score wherever they can take advantage of a situation.

The chapters are like individual episode with continuing characters and themes which all come together in the last two chapters. Every chapter has something to contribute to the finale. The ending, however, was disappointing. It took a turn that wasn't exactly out of the blue, but it made it difficult to figure how Matthias's actual plan was supposed to go down before it all goes wrong. (Not as bad as the waterslide book ending, for sure!)

Matthias Mead is the captain, looking for his next score, which could be monetary or female. Nath is a former Earth Ranger with a chip on his shoulder. He's usually the more rational one with the bigger guns. Hayley owns the ship and has a gambling addiction, which gets her and the crew into trouble. The young twins, Haque and Watson, are from a moon of Saturn who eat a lot and have other skills.

The first assignment they get is to run security for the wedding of the head of a galactic crime syndicate who operates in all Nine Sectors. Matthias immediately hires extra help so he can run a side scam, stealing items of value from the rich invitees. In the end, Matthias, the lustful one, has an encounter with the bride in a bathroom (recording it with camera contact lenses). The Renegades are now on the run from the Marosky Syndicate as they are from the actual authorities (because not every job they take on is on the up and up). If that's not bad enough, they run into a few remainders of the ancient race of Primordians, who are actually more numerous than expected, and are deeply entrenched in Earth politics.

Jobs become harder to get and there's way too much time spent talking about recycling urine. You would think with an entire universe out there, they could find a lake somewhere and fill the tanks with fresh water.

As for those sins I mentioned: Nath represents Wrath, and don't get him started. He has his moment to shine. Greed is prevalent among all of them, but Hayley, who actually owns the ship, will take just about any bet and has a lot of gambling debts that the crew has to pay off. The twins, Watson and Haque, have Gluttony thanks to an operation done on their home planet, so they can eat a lot and not put on weight. Envy and sloth don't play much of a role, but pride goes without saying. This is a side exercise of my own even since someone once proposed that each of the cast of Gilligan's Island represented a Deadly Sin. In the case of the Renegades, there's only five crew members (and the twins are very similar) along with a robot but there are secondary characters that help out along the way.

This was another book that was just too long, and I pushed through to get to the end of it. At least, it was mostly entertaining, but, again, I was disappointed in the ending.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. The fourth book will be available by the time you see this!