At Least the Pink Elephants are Laughing at Us is a novel by Chris Westlake about three down and out comedians who are gathered together by one journalist so he can document their journey for his book. They are a varied bunch from a variety of backgrounds but all living in Wales. They journey through the ups and downs towards the goal of performing in Edinburgh Scotland for a massive comedy festival.

My favorite aspect of the book are the characters. Each person in the book has his or her own personality. Even the minor characters are unique and easily identifiable. They are also a varied bunch of characters as well. There is the overweight, single, and most experienced Mandy who is the baby of the group. Then there is Conner, a mixed middle aged male who is coming to grips with his mother mental health issues. James is the senior member. While the father of a three year old he is also the one who is approaching a more advanced age. Herbert, who is mildly successful at being both a journalist and a human, is both their leader and their punch line.

The plot was also well thought out and very developed. If anything too much of it was given to the reader. The first of the four sections in the book could have very easily have been cut and introduced as segments within the rest of the book. Some if it was worked into the rest of the book even after being presented in the first section. The history of each of the characters is fascinating. The back stories are varied and complex. The only real commonality they have is that they are all broken in some way, but then most humans are. I think strong characters are very important to a novel, and this book will not disappoint.

I really enjoyed that the plot was not obvious. I haven’t read a book recently that I had figured the ‘mystery’ aspect of it out wrong. It is even better that one of the main characters had it all wrong also. The author did a brilliant job of leading the reader to the wrong conclusion and then twisting it. I really liked the ending as well. It was the perfect combination of reality and happy ever after.

The writing overall is really strong. The start of the book feels more like a collection of short stories that do not really stand on their own. Once you reach the second section, and the heart of the story, it flows more like a narrative. If you are torn at the beginning of the story trust me keep reading. I do not read a book to proofread it, however some of them were extremely apparent. It was easy to catch “Las Angeles” since I live in Los Angeles. There are a few words that the wrong word was inserted during a spelling revision. However, it is also apparent to remember that if you are American the English has Welsh spellings. It is easy for me to not even notice this since I hate paying attention to spelling at all. You can tell from the beginning that the author has talent, however the skill of his writing shows forth more at the end of the book than the beginning.

I am really curious about the characters calling each other “butt”. My first thought was that it was an autocorrect gone bad. When it kept happening I realized that it was probably a cultural difference. The usage of the phrase went right over my head, but it has me curious.

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

by Christopher McDougall


Rating: ***** (5 stars)
Book Length: 287 pages
Genre: Non-fiction, Sports, Fitness, Running, Adventure

I hate running. I have hated running my entire life. Now I think that I may have just been doing it wrong. I have a sudden urge to go spend the next six hours running. Unfortunately, my parental responsibilities preclude me from having that time. That being said, McDougall has given me an appreciation for the art of running that I have never had before.

One of the reasons I like picking a reading project, such as tackling the Amazon's 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime, is because I end up picking up books that I would have never read. I end up finding books that I would never have thought I could love. This is one of those books.

Born to Run is not about how to run. It is about the history of running presented alongside the history of human evolution. It is about different cultures such as the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico. However, what this book is mostly about is people. The best part of the book is how McDougall describes the people that you encounter on his journey to learn how to run. They are colorful and real. You could meet them in real life for the first time and feel like you already know them. It takes a talented writer to make people so alive.

As reviewed on The Book Recluse Review

Right before the holiday I was talking with a coworker about Charley and the Chocolate Factory. Although she loved the original movie she had never seen the newer version. I highly recommended that she view it. One point of my recommendation was that it was suppose to be closer to the book.

Only I had never read the book. It has been on my list of books to read forever. However, it never worked out to read it. Until now.

Charley and the Chocolate Factory is written for a younger audience. The children are all around the age of nine.

The book is different from both movies. It is simpler. This is not surprising when you consider the reading level of a nine year old. This is not to say that the book does not give you more than the movie. The best part is that you do not have to picture the characters like they appear on the movie. I also enjoy Willey Wonka in the book. He is not as over the top as Johnny Depp, but his is a bit more eccentric then in the original movie.

I hate to write a book review based upon the movie. However, it is rare that I have actually seen the movie before reading the book. I think this will tend to be the case for most everyone. If you have not read Charley and the Chocolate Factory you should.

Originally published on The Book Recluse Review

American War has been held up as one of the best Science Fiction releases for 2017. It is for good reason that it has been given this eclaim.

American War is a gripping story about the second American War. The South, upset by the outlawing of fossil fuels, has attempted to break off from the North. What follows is a war story so believable that you are left wondering how easily the tale could play out in reality.

I was not surprised when I learned that the author, Omar El Akkad, was a war correspondent. I am sure most of the plot was fictionalized from other events, such as Guantanamo Bay. The possibility of the novel adds to the impact on the reader.

Yet, it is still obviously science fiction. The setting is the late 2000s, more than sixty years from our current time. The climate has shifted and the political situation has imploded. Technology is a part of everyday existence. It was fascinating how Akkad wrote in the seamless integration of technology within the lives of the characters. Even when they do not have running water, they have tablets and WiFi.

The writing is amazing. Akkad is extremely talented and I cannot wait to read more of his work. The plot is disturbing, but well crafted. The characters are so real that I believe Sarat will remain a part of me. It is truly one of the best new science fiction books of the year.

Planning and Assessment in Higher Education: Demonstrating Institutional Effectiveness is an applied manual on implementing assessment in higher education. It approaches assessment from a practical standpoint including the impact of assessment on multiple aspects and from multiple perspectives in higher education.

The chapters on assessing student life are well thought out and extremely practical. They contain a wealth of information that would be useful for universities that are in various stages of assessment gathering. The chapters on course assessment is less applied. However, Middaugh does include a vast amount of resources to expand your knowledge in course assessment.

One of the strengths of the book is that includes practical information about accreditation, although most specific examples are focused on the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. There is also a huge slant towards using Institutional Research data for assessment purposes. This is great if your university is not utilizing this data, but not as helpful if that is all that your university utilizes.

I would not consider Planning and Assessment in Higher Education to be the only resource that a university needs. Nor does it ever try to be. It is a useful guide that provides a wealth of other resources to pursue depending on the specific need of your university. It is also extremely well written and easy to read. The way Middaugh explained some items, items that I had previously worked on, gave me a fresh understanding of the usefulness and potential.

Seeds by Cary Allen Stone is a science fiction book about colonizing the moon Titan. This book is a hard one to rate, how much you will enjoy it really depends on what you look for in a science fiction book.

The writing, overall, is well done. It is very technical, without really going into scientific jargon. It has good grammar and punctuation, and has a flow that is easy to read.

The plot is well thought out, but not perfect. The actual concept is very well done. There is a scientific collaboration to start a colony in space. The biggest concern is that there does not seem to be consistency with time in the novel. For one the timing of the setting is confusing. There are many things that suggest that the novel is set in the present day. There is a notable physicist who is still alive, there is a president that is extremely similar to our current president, and there is reference to millenials. However, the world that is described is very different then the present one. For one students still have grades in school.

There was also inconsistencies with time in the plotting of the novel. One notable instance was when nine months was specifically told had passed. Yet, in the preceding scene there was a conversation and after the nine months had passed the conversation was referenced as having been had the day before.

The novel was extremely complex when it came to characters. There were a lot of characters in the novel. Unfortunately, characterization was not the novels strong suit. It was so easy to confuse who was who. Characters kept being added in the book and I did not even realize there was someone new until pages after they were introduced. Also, of all the notable scientists in the world not one was married? Not one had children? In addition the women in the book played a very insignificant part. The one women scientist (with two PhDs) was hired on to be a secretary. The only other women in the novel were introduced half way through the book as part of the flight crew.

The concept was interesting and the book was enjoyable. It just had the potential to be much better. I would consider reading the rest of the series. The author is good, and I think will become more enjoyable.

I must have read this book a minimum of ten times at this point. Yet, I have never officially reviewed it. When I picked it up (yet again) I was worried that I would have become bored with reading it. I mean I know EVERYTHING that is going to happen. I was thrilled that I enjoyed it just as much as the first time that I picked it up. Although, I did find myself making a lot of connections with plots further on in the series. It was pretty cool to see the continuity in the series.

This book is pretty amazing. There is extremely impressive character building, the world that Briggs developed is fascinating, and the writing is superb. Reading this book makes me happy. Which, if you really think about it is kind of weird. It is not really a happy everything is well type of book. Yet I still pick up this book to relax away from the world.

This is an amazing start to what I consider to be my absolute favorite urban fantasy series. If you are even remotely interested then you should absolutely, without a doubt, check out this book.

Blood Bound is the second book in Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson series. While book one was mostly an introduction to the series, in book two all the main players have already been introduced. It allows for a more indepth look at the character's relationships with each other. Maybe that is why I enjoy this series so much. I love books with realistic and dynamic characters.

The plot is also well developed, I had to put it down last night because I knew what was coming. I also knew that it would not allow me to sleep if I read it before bed. Like the first book I have read this book over ten times. I still thoroughly enjoyed it. Instead of being old, or boring, it was more like visiting with good friends.

The second book in the series is as good, or maybe even better, than the first book. It is a series that is worth continuing on in.

​Alpha and Omega is the beginning of the Alpha and Omega series, a spin off of the Mercy Thompson series. This is a novella that was originally published in a collection, and then published individually. Technically, the happenings of this book happen around the end of the first Mercy Thompson book. However, it was published after the second book.

The story is not very long, there is no world building in the story. If you have not read the other series then you may be a bit lost as to what is going on. However, the characters are extremely well developed. There are several new characters in this story. There are also characters that are only briefly mentioned in the Mercy Thompson series that are better represented here.

I do not usually enjoy novellas. However, I enjoy this one everytime I read it. I think it helps to know that it is just an introduction to a world, and that there is much more left to read.

Dairy Free and Happy is a children's book directed towards children with a dairy allergy. I would say that the target age range is in early elementary school.

I was extremely interested in this book since my youngest daughter (as well as myself) has a dairy and gluten allergy. She had to go gluten and dairy free while she was in elementary school, and there was some challenging times getting to understand how food impacted her body.

I read this book with my daughter and asked for her opinion. She said that the book said the information that she had needed to know when she was younger. She also said that it was done in a way that was easy to understand, although the first part of the book confused her a bit at first.

I think that her review of the book is perfect. There is a lot of useful information that is perfectly directed at young children. It shows what food to picks, emphasis eating whole foods, and treats having a dairy allergy as something that is not stigmatizing.

As a parent, the only aspect of the book that I thought was missing was helping a child to understand why dairy hurts their body. This could be very different for every child. However, I think the book would have benefited from at least one page about how dairy makes you feel yucky. I really wish that I had this book when my daughter was younger.

Audio Review

The book was written in England. So, the narrator has an English accent. However, all the pronunciation was well done and would be easy to understand by younger children who are from other English speaking countries. It is also great that the book has an international approach, making it inclusive to all countries. The first part of the audiobook was a bit confusing. There is an introduction to the book that would probably make more sense in the print version. In the audio version there is a what is going on moment. However, once you get past this point the book flows very well. I do not think anything was lost by not having the pictures. It may actually help younger children to focus on the content of the book. It would also be great to have the audio with the pictures so that younger children are better able to process the information that is presented in the book. Handling a dairy allergy at a young age can be difficult, and it often falls on the child to be diligent even at the younger age. This extra way of processing the information could be beneficial.