Gather 'Round the Sound is an audiobook production that was released by Audible for the 2017 holiday season. It is a short book at about 36 "pages" and contains four sections.

The first section is an audio interview with the GE office that handles letters from Santa Clause. It was an interesting piece that tried to capture a little bit about what happens to letters that go to the 12345 zip code. It was a little off-putting that letters of a more serious nature are shoved in a box labeled adoption and seemingly forgotten. While answering letters is a great service it was not very in the spirit of the holiday to hear how the letters dampened the festivity of the office.

The second section was an Australian version of The Night Before Christmas. I found it short, and humorous. It put an Australian twist on the favorite classic.

The third section was a short story by Charles Dickens. Dickens is one of my favorite authors and it was a delight to hear one of his stories that I had not experienced before. The story was amazing, even if it was probably more appropriate for a Halloween production then a Christmas one.

Lastly, there is an improve caroling skit about a party that was not doing so well. I am not a huge fan of improve, but I think I would have enjoyed seeing the production much more than listening to it. It seemed forced and fake more than spontaneous. I do not feel like it translated well.

Overall, it was an interesting collection that I enjoyed listening to. It was worth the hour of time that I invested. Also, it is free.

The Year of Magical Thinking
by Joan Didion


Rating: *****(5 stars)
Book Length: 240 pages
Genre: Memoir, Autobiography

I was first drawn to this book because of the title. Magical thinking is a developmental phase in childhood where basically children believe in what is not real. Fiction, at least the more fantastical type, is almost a way of telling off developmental psychologists who have determined that this thinking ends around the end of elementary school.

I had no idea what the novel was actually about. I had never read anything by Joan Didion. All I knew is that this book had won some awards and was suppose to be good.

What I found was one woman's story of coming to terms with a year that she can never forget. A year that she lost her husband and nearly lost her daughter as well. It is a story of tragedy and coming to terms with that tragedy and not coming to terms with that tragedy. The novel is raw and truthful and caused me to feel a type of pain that I had not previously known.

The writing was excellent. I now have Didion's works added to my to be read pile. I am interested in seeing how her style plays out in other topics. I was intrigued how she used phrases throughout the novel to tie points together or to drift back to other points. I was amazed how she wove in poetry, research, and a neurology textbook she picked up in a hospital gift shop. Didion must be a remarkable women.

I plan on reading the biography about her as well.

The only part of the book where I started getting lost was the ending. It didn't end. She just kept writing in a train of thought kind of way. Even the author addressed this - she didn't want it to end. If it ended then it would be over. Her husband would never be coming back. Even when she lost me she pulled me in further.

Originally published at The Book Recluse Review

Out of the Shadows by Ashlee Nicole Bye is a debut Urban Fantasy novel that presents the paranormal world as a dimension that at one point connected with our own. The shadow world is filled with all the creatures of our myths, some that wanted to protect the fragile humans and others who wished to dominate. As an intermediary between these two fractions you have the Order of Dark and Light, which are reapers that schedule death and collect souls to carry them off to the world of shadows.

I have been looking for a new Urban Fantasy series to add to my must-read pile, and this is the series. The world building is not unique, which would be hard in such a saturated market, but it is solid and well built. Characterization is a strength of Out of the Shadows. At first, it was a little hard to follow who was who. I mixed up two of the main male characters a few times. It was never bad, I always felt connected to the characters and the story. There are quite a few characters in the story, with a few intertwining subplots. Bye does a good job, and as the book continues an excellent job, of giving each of those characters a unique voice. I knew that it was a story I was going to enjoy from the first chapter.

There were times in the novel where my connection to the story was halted because of the writing. The words and sentences did not flow as well as they could have, and I had to reread to understand what the author was trying to say. It was not major disruptions, but it was a slight concern when I first started to read. However, by the end those disruptions were rare. You can see the growth of Bye as a writer from the start of the novel to the finish. I am excited to read the second book in the series; I am sure that it will start out a lot stronger then Out of the Shadows. Although, Bye did an amazing job with her debut novel.

The Strange Attractor seems to be a Numbers episode put into a Sherlock Holmes book.

The book focuses on the main character John Dobie. Dobie is a Mathematics professor and as such the book is presented from that view point. The logical and structured thought process of Dobie makes for a unique voice. This very voice provides a humorous context to the entire story that is present even while investigating multiple murders.

I found the setting of the early technological era to be quite interesting combined with a main character who seems to be more of an applied mathematician making use of emerging computer technology. This played an important part in the story. However, Dobie’s ability to make logical deductions pulled me into the whole mystery of the story.

I was not a huge fan of how the police were portrayed. They were all incompetent cookie cutter characters until the very last part of the book. I think it would have made for a better story if they were not so over the top incompetent. I was also not a huge fan of the narrator randomly calling the killer Agatha Cristy to hide the identity. It didn’t fit, since any notion of the author was just introduced a scene earlier with completely different characters. That and it was fairly obvious who was behind it all by that point anyway.

There is one other aspect of the story that was distracting, that may just be a formatting issue in the Kindle book. There were no breaks in between scenes. The narration would just jump and I would have to realize that there were new characters in new scenes. Simple line breaks would have improved the flow immensely.

Overall I really enjoyed the book. It was fairly light reading, but still a book you will think about after you finish reading it.

Survivors' Dawn is a debut novel by Ashley Warren about sexual assault on a college campus. The story features three female college students and one male college student.

When I read the excerpts from the novel I knew that I had to read the novel. I am leery about books dealing with sexual assault. As a survivor I have difficulty handling the topic being portrayed in an insensitive manner. Reading the excerpts I was very confident in Warren's narration.

The story is handled with grace. The characters are given their voice to tell their side of the story. You see them blaming themselves, being blamed, and acting out. Most importantly you see them standing strong and fighting back.

This is such an important topic, and it is one that I am glad that Warren has brought to light. While the book is fiction, it is a great way to start a conversation about sexual assault on university campus. However, it is ultimately a fictional account. There are parts that are more realistic than others. Some parts left me wishing if only that really would happen.

The writing was very strong. The characters were full of depth and individuality. I was pulled right into their world and experienced a wide depth of emotions. I am extremely glad that I decided to pick up Survivors' Dawn.

Slaughterhouse-Five is the first novel that I have read by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. I am uncertain how I have gone so long without reading one of his novels. I will certainly be reviewing more of his work in the future.

On one hand, Slaughterhouse-Five is a science fiction book. The main character, Billy Pilgrim, is kidnapped by aliens and slips through time reliving his life. On the other hand, Slaughterhouse-Five is a look at the human experience and effects of war. It is a light read novel with a lot of depth.

The writing is brilliant, it is both humorous and meaningful. The characters are ironic – I mean his name is Billy Pilgrim, yet real. The novel itself will be one that will stick with you until you decide to pick it up to read one more time. It is just one of those types of books. Even if you never read science fiction you should pick up Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, after all it is less a science fiction book and more a humanistic perspective.

Star Trek: Discovery: Desperate Hours is my first entry into the Star Trek: Discovery world. I was not thrilled with the concept and have steered clear of the actual television show. However, I was excited to see that David Mack wrote the introductory novel. I had confidence that he could mesh this series into the already well-established era of the Star Trek Universe.

This novel did not disappoint. At its core, it was Star Trek. It contained the overall goal of striving for good that is essential to be considered Star Trek. It also contained an amazing focus on the characters and a dynamic plot.

The book started off a little slow, or confusing, as I tried to orient myself to new characters. While they were described, it still seemed like I was expected to already know them. By the end of the novel, I knew them quite well. The writing was superb, not once did I stop and question the use of word choice or flow of the story.

I also listened to this book in audio. I quite enjoyed the narration. I prefer audio narrators that make you forget they are there so that you focus exclusively on the story. Susan Eisenberg did an amazing job at this.

I am still not sure about the vision for the new TV series of Discovery, but if the novels continue in this fashion I will keep current in reading them.

I put off starting Dig Deeper by DK Herman.

I am not a huge mystery fan, and the cover is less than appealing. I mean, eyes looking out from fall leaves, well it is creepy. Thankfully, I did not put it off for long. Before I finished the first chapter I knew I would like the book.

The main character, Hallie, is a private investigator that was just swindled by her now ex-husband. She is broke, humiliated, and hiding out from her family. After months of mourning her marriage, she finally contacts her aunt and moves back home. Being a mystery you can be assured that nothing is that simple. Girls have gone missing, and someone is trying to kill her Grandmas new boyfriend. Of course, Hallie is using her PI skills to help.

The writing is good. The scene and descriptions flow very well. There are a couple instances of dialogue that was too clique or did not flow quite right. It only happened a handful of times. It was enough to be noticeable, but not enough to be annoying.

The plot is well written, but not cleverly crafted. It was understandable, there were no major plot holes or unanswered questions (well I do have one), but I knew the who and the why about a fourth of the way into the book. There are enough twists and turns that it may not be the same for everyone.

​Either way, the story was worth reading all the way through. It is the characters and good writing that is the strength of the book. If the ending has to be a surprise then you may be disappointed. Overall, it is a really great read that I am glad I picked up. I can see finishing the rest of the series. I am really interested in seeing what happens next.

Having previously read At Least the Pink Elephants are Laughing at Us I knew that Westlake was a good author. However, Just a Bit of Banter, Like is beyond a good novel. It is amazing. It is has been added into one of my all time favorite books.

The book is a journey of the main character Nick. It is a coming of age novel for someone in their mid twenties. Which is apt, because who really has life figured out when they are adolescents? When an unexpected event tears apart his plush life in London, Nick decides to head back home to Wales. As with any coming of age story, that is where the story truly begins.

The writing in the book is amazing. The story is structured beautifully. The characters are detailed and real. It felt more like something I would have read in one of my English classes, and to find something that brillent from a independent published author is rare.

There was so many supporting characters, yet there was never any confusion about who they were. They all had back story that was beautifully woven into the story. Even the two older ladies on the bus that appeared in one brief scene were vivid and easily remembered.

The journey of Nick in many ways is predictable, yet this is it's appeal. It is very relatable to the reader. It is not really positive or negative, it is life, and how life is portrayed depends on how you look at it. It is also who you choose to share it with. Which is ultimately a deep message. While I loved all of the book my favorite part is the ending. I was wondering through the whole story how it would end, I knew (ok hoped) that as a reader I would not be left hanging. I do not think I could have predicted a better ending.

As a caveat this book does take place in Wales which seems to require a lot more alcohol than other places in the world. It also does contain talk about sex (and mild portrayal of sex), however the language is clean (well at least from an American stand point). With that being said I strongly recommend you at least check it out.

In many ways, Stephen Perkins’s book Sorcerers’ Dynasty reminds me of American Gods by Neil Gaiman. However, instead of the Gods of ancient mythology, it plays on the mythology of Christianity. Sorcerers’ Dynasty features a wide collection of characters that intertwine throughout the novel. The characters are complex and dynamic, however, at times I am left wondering how a character can change so dramatically from one scene to the next. At times a character changes within the same scene. These inconsistencies mostly happen with the smaller less flushed out characters. The main characters give you a solid sense of who they are throughout the entire novel.

There is a lot that is going on in this book. At times you are completely caught up in the dynamics of the world that Perkins created. At other times you are left feeling lost and confused. Going between scenes, at times, can feel like a bit of a whiplash. I wonder if some of the side stories could have been cut, or if it could have been made into two or three books. When I was near the end of the book I wondered how it could possibly end with so much left unsaid. Then it did end, very abruptly. I am still trying to wrap my brain around the ending. I like when a book leaves an impression. It says something positive about the writer if they can impact the reader to that degree. That being said, I felt like I invested a lot into the book and would have rather it have been broken into two books then be left with an ending that was too fast.

Perkins is a good writer. I look forward to seeing how his style develops. He has an incredible imagination and is extremely vivid. However, he is a bit too descriptive. Each sentence seems to have four or five adjectives. Many of the adjectives are said over and over about the same characters. One character was described as loyal in nearly every sentence. Yet the reader already knew he was anything but loyal. The flowery language did not help set the scene, instead, it distracted me from what was actually happening. Also, at the start of the novel, the characters kept zoning out and reminiscing about their past. While this gave the reader great background information it did not flow naturally. Thankfully this ended once all the characters were established.

Sorcerers’ Dynasty is a good book that had the potential to be great. Unfortunately, it did not quite reach that bar. With a bit more flushing out the characters and more work on the timing of the novel, I think Perkins has the potential to be an amazing author. I look forward to reading more of his work.