Author Archives: Andrea Sigetich

Ninth House

Leight Bardugo

Fiction 2019/ 455 page

Galaxy (Alex) Stern has seen Grays all of her life.  "Grays" is a Yale Lethe term for ghosts.  Alex enters Yale, and, in her first year, she becomes "Dante " ... the young novice who will eventually rise to a place of greater power by her senior year ... invited into Yale's secret societies by her extraordinary talent..

The story is intriguing.  You learn about the secret societies of Yale who perform magic, connect with beings behind the Veil, sometimes make sacrifices, and maintain the long history of these nine underground "fraternities" that all lay claim to some of the most recognizable, professional, and successful business and political leaders (mostly men) in our society since the mid-1800k.

The first two-thirds of this adult fantasy novel quite captured my interest.  it was intriguing to learn how the House of Lethe worked and interacted.  I was quite pleased to witness the suppport and friendship among Yale faculty, staff, and students who are a part of Lethe.  And the magic is delightful!

Long about page 300, Bardugo's first novel in adult fantasy, turns violent.  I began to like it less then, though it certainly shifts when Alex befriends The Bridegroom, who is dead, lives on the other side of the Veil, and who saves Alex a number of times from black magic and angry Grays.

I liked this book quite a bit, though I don't know that affinity will take me far into reading the second and third novels in the trilogy.  The end of this first book did not leave me hanging and compelled to read more. I think Ninth House will intrigue you if you like Yale, or magic, suspense, and intrigue.

December 2023

 

 

 

From Here to Eternity

Caitlin Doughty

Nonfiction 2017 | 248 pages

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This is a fascinating account of how different cultures have established different approaches to dealing with dead human bodies.   Interestingly, the people from various cultures, rituals, and processes believe other processes show disrespect. For example, cultures that prefer open cremation, where the family watches a body burn, believe that closed creation, which occurs commonly today, traps the soul in the crematorium, and does nothing to help the family come to terms with the death.  Among some other countries/cultures, we also explore cremation on a raised platform in the small town of Crestone, Colorado; and the FOREST project in Cullowhee North Carolina (Forensic Osteology Research Station) which has developed ways to speed up natural decomposition and facilitates the body returning to soil; and Joshua Tree California, where some renegades took disposal into their own hands.

Yes, Doughty writes about the experiences of her research and what she learned, but for such a topic as this, she does a good job of intersecting humor and lightness.  This is one of those great nonfiction books that teaches you about a topic you had known you were interested in!  And it makes you think about your own demise.

December 2023

 

 

 

 

The Bullet that Missed

Richard Osman

Fiction 2022/ 341 pages

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One Thursday afternoon in the seniors' center, a decade-old cold case, the murder of Bethany Waites, leads the Thursday Murder Club to a murder with no body and no answers. A new enemy they call "Viking", wants Elizabeth to kill former KGB chief Viktor, or he will kill her best friend, Joyce.

This third "Thursday Murder Club" adventure ranges from a prison cell with an espresso machine to a luxury penthouse with a swimming pool high in the sky to the Thursday Murder Club meeting room at off hours, during the Jigsaw Puzzle Club.

I agree with some reviewers who call Osman's characters "quirky and fun." They are!  And that is delightful!  There are just too many of them, in too many complex relationships with each other.  Sorry, but I am going to quit Osman and not bother with the fourth book in the series.  I think one problem I had with Bullet is that there isn't a voice that ties the book together. In earlier books in the series, Osman had Joyce writing in her journal, creating a sense of flow and a pair of eyes from which to see the action.  Now, the point of view keeps shifting, from Ron to Pauline to Elizabeth to Ibrahim to Donna to Joyce to Victor to the Viking.  It is more like a disorganized box of Legos rather than Legos together that build a tower to a climax.

I am rating it three hearts because if you are a mystery lover, I think you may like this book.  Many people have!

December 2023

 

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

Stephen King

Fiction 1999 | 262 pages

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Trisha, nine years old, is on a hike with her older brother and mother, who are arguing so much and so vociferously, they do not hear her say she is stopping to pee.  She goes off the trail to pee, and since she is at a Y, she decides to go cross country a bit, just to pick up the other trail.  She hears voices on both trails.  But she never finds the other trail.

At nine-years-old, she is resourceful and smart.  She makes her tuna sandwich and Twinkies last a few days, and then she finds checkerberries, beechnuts, and fiddleheads to help sustain her.  Though one of these, or drinking straight from the stream, sends her belly on a roller coaster.

She is out for a week and walks miles and miles away from the search site, well into New Hampshire and up the chimney.  Of course, the mishaps are way too many to mention, but do include bug bites, falling, dead deer, torrential rain, swamps, and occasional tears.

Her passion is for Tom Gordon, pitcher for the Boston Red Sox.  She has her Walkman with her and is able to listen to three Red Sox games before it dies.  Tom Gordon is with her, encouraging her on, keeping her sane .... though it is all fantasy in her mind.  As is the evil "thing" that she imagines is out to get her, out there in the woods.

The typical King horror is downplayed in this book.  It consists of what a nine-year-old girl imagines in her mind, and the simple but challenging horrors of being lost in the woods.  There is no axe murderer or rapist following her.

I love Trisha!  She does not do everything perfect, but what a survivor she is, out for over a week until she finally sees a person.  I wonder if I would be as strong, committed, and brilliant as she is.

This is a great Stephen King novel.  He is such a good writer!  If you know other novels of his that are not filled with gore and real terror, and over-zealous bad guys, please let me know.  I would be glad to try another.

December 2023

 

 

 

The Chuckling Fingers

Mabel Seeley

Fiction 1941 | 385 pages

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The Library is a restaurant in International Falls, Minnesota.  The walls of the restaurant are lined with shelves filled with books ... and you can take as many as you want when you go there to enjoy lunch or dinner.  This is where I acquired Chuckling Fingers. Yes, the plot summary on the back of the book intrigued me, but it was the title that caused me to place this next to my plate of fresh walleye fingers.

The Chuckling Fingers has a smart protagonist, a complicated plot, and a range of characters.  Published in 1941, this book was delightful to read in part because it was written 80 years ago.  The Heaton family, lumber barons, are together in their estate called "Fiddling Fingers" on Lake Superior, near the town of Grand Marais in Minnesota.   Ann Gray is our protagonist and narrator.  She is a stenographer in her real life, but comes to visit Jacqueline, her very good friend and cousin, when she learns something is seriously wrong.  And she turns into a detective.

"Tricks" keep happening .... Bill's suit develops holes all over, when he and Jacqueline are on their honeymoon.  And then there is a fire in their bed, a shredded bathrobe, a missing piece of blue chalk ... all these tricks and more are perpetrated by the villain, and the tricks soon evolve into murder.

I like this book because it is a real mystery, right from the start, with characters that intertwine, and lots of vexing action, a sense of tension in the writing, and a satisfying denouement.  Seeley was a well-known mystery writer of her time.

I have finished and I still chuckle (no pun intended) at the title.  You will find it refers to the noise made when dangerous waters crash against the finger-shaped rocks on Lake Superior.

I recommend this book ... it is fun and gratifying.

November 2023

 

 

The Places that Scare You

Pema Chödrön

Nonfiction 2001/ 212 pages

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If you read a lot of Pema Chödrön, there seems to be very little new in her books.  Useful reminders, but the content is just too repetitive for me.  Loving-kindness, tonglen, mindfulness, bodhicitta, etc. I know many who love every single of her books ... please continue to enjoy, if that is your pleasure!

November 2023

 

 

Once Upon a River

Diane Setterfield

Fiction 2018 | 465 pages

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I think the writing is superb, from a logophile's perspective ... words are beautifully and thoughtfully used by Ms. Setterfield.

And the story is unusual.  It opens with a man entering the Swan Inn tavern with a young girl in his arms, who seems by all accounts to be dead, but mysteriously and miraculously awakens a few hours later. We are in a village along the Thames River, and the year is 1887.

Once Upon a River is about three families — the Vaughans, the Armstrongs and Lilly White — who have each lost a young girl from their lives, and who hope this is the daughter, sister, or granddaughter they lost.

The book begins with a lot of exposition — strong character development, explorations of towns, families and locations, backgrounds, cities, locations and families, etc. and introductions of new plot lines.  Each chapter ends in a cloud of mystery and each new chapter seems to introduce a new set of characters and plot lines.  There is a blurring of fantasy and reality, but it is rather muddied and unresolved, I believe.

So, good writing and good plot.  Why only two hearts? It was a slog to get through the 465 pages of this book.  I am not exactly sure why, but I think it is because the story develops ever-so-slowly.  I made it through Once Upon a River, but I cannot recommend it.  The story simply plods.

November 2023

 

 

 

 

One Step too Far

Lisa Gardner

 Fiction 2022/ 416 pages

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Tim and his buddies go backpacking (with lots of beer!) for his bachelor party, into a remote section of the Wyoming mountains.  But Tim never returns.  Five years later, Tim's dad Martin is still searching for him or his body in remote wilderness areas.  On this particular journey, we have Martin; Tim's three friends who were with him that fateful night; Nemeth, a local guide for this remote section;  Bob, whose hobby is being a Sasquatch seeker;  Luciana and her tracking dog Daisy; and our main character and narrator, Frankie, who really calls no place home, but seeks missing persons as a unpaid profession of sorts.  Except Frankie has never been in the wilderness before.  She has done all of her tracking in cities, especially inner cities, where she finds the bodies of people who have OD'd, or are victims of violence.

Gardner's characters have depth and personality.  Unfortunately, it took the whole first half io the book to set the context and help us really get to know her characters. There are simply too, many, and some seem not necessary to the story line.  Of course, Frankie is a delight right from the start, with her adventurous spirit and total lack of knowledge about how to survive a week in the woods.

Halfway in, the mystery began to take over the plot, and things became exciting until the very end, when all is discovered.  Except the violence was too gruesome for me.

This is a good, solid mystery, with suspense, and terror, and humor.  But it was not my cup of tea.  I will not read another Lisa Gardner.  She spent too much time in context setting, sacrificing a bit of the actual mystery search and discovery of clues.  And I don't need her violence.

The story kept me engaged, especially the second half.  I recommend this with a grain of salt ... Mystery lovers may quite appreciate it!

November 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Book Woman’s Daughter

Kim Michele Richardson

Historical Fiction 2022/ 356 pages

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I enjoyed this book, though it doesn't have the same complexity or depth of relationships as its predecessor, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. If you read that book, you will recall that near the end of that book, Bluet acquires a baby girl, who is also blue.  Honey becomes her daughter.

This book is Honey's story, as she follows in her mother's footsteps, experiencing similar discrimination while becoming the new "book woman."

If you have read and enjoyed The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, you may enjoy this as well.  Otherwise, I think you will be missing too much context to find this book meaningful or interesting.

November 2023

 

 

 

Bridge

Lauren Beukes

Fiction 2023, 427 pages

Do you ever read an author who seems to be writing out her internal stream of consciousness?  (Unedited ...) That's how Bridge reads to me, and I don’t care for the writing, so I am closing the book and moving on to something else.

October 2023