Lots of folks visit our national parks every year. Some leave comments. Some are ... less than positive and maybe a bit baffling! Author/illustrator Amber Share has put together a collection of them in her book Subpar Parks: American's Most Extraordinary National Parks and Their Least Impressed Visitors. The comments should make you ask 'what were they expecting?' ... Glacier Bay is cold, White Sands is sandy ... and so on. Along with the one line reviews/comments is a history of each park, suggestions as to when to go, and how much the author enjoyed her visit. Her enthusiasm is evident! :-)

Reading Hermit With Dog

 

Here's a good book to read around Halloween: Chaos at the Lazy Bones Bookshop, by Emmeline Duncan. It says on the cover it's the first in a new series. :-) The small town of Elyan Hollow, Oregon has a Halloween theme year 'round. It is close to Halloween now, and the excitement is building as there are lectures from favorite authors, games, and mazes ... which is where a body is found. There is a film crew in town working on an upcoming spooky show of some sort. They, well some of them, do not make themselves welcome! Family secrets emerge, and decades old feuds, the list of suspects grows ... and grows.

Canadian Reader left this on my TBR shelf: The Dog Across the Lake, one of the Paws and Claws Mystery books by Krista Davis. I've read others by this author, but not yet this series, and even though this is not the first, it was not hard to figure out the characters. This time the small town is designed to be a destination for folks who like to vacation with their pets, and boy, does the staff cater to them or what! (There are recipes for pets with allergies in the back, too). When a strange dog appears the mystery begins, and then a body is found, in a tent across the lake. Turns out the dog belongs to Holly's cousin, who has come as a surprise for his grandmother's upcoming party. He is with someone hiding out from an abusive husband, who may or may not be tracking her. Lots of twists and turns!

Reading Hermit With Dog

 

Did you care for your parents, or perhaps grandparents, or really, any 'old' person when you were young(er)? Were there things that totally frustrated you, and/or made no sense? Things you vowed you'd never do? Steven Petrow (with Roseann Foley Henry) did. And kept notes! As a reminder, and as a sort of guide to others, they wrote Stupid Things I Won't Do When I Get Old: a highly judgmental, unapologetically honest accounting of all the things our elders are doing wrong. At least one of the authors has now reached one of those 'certain ages' and is trying hard to NOT do some of the things found here. At times funny, at times a bit scary (will I do that??) (or worse, am I already?) I laughed, I rolled my eyes, I shook my head ... and probably shared too much with my guest who was visiting when I read this!

Have you ever been, mm, bewildered by the Brits? They seem so patient, courteous, and hard to rattle ... then there's the weather, and politics ... and well, just so many things. Understanding the British: a hilarious guide from Apologizing to Wimbledon will explain all these and more. At times redundant, at times funny, I spent a nice afternoon reading this book. My favorite take away? There are at least 25 thousand roundabouts in England.

Reading Hermit With Dog

 

It took several tries, and some shuffling of schedules, but Canadian Reader finally made it for a visit! That means more of the Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy series books by Diana Xarissa! Next on the list was Theaters and Threats and boy, did the title fit! The small local theater was putting on a new show ... it was confusing and baffling and hard to understand, but Fenella endures it because a friend of hers is in the cast. During the intermission a body is found in the next box. Only, it's a mannequin, so what is going on? And, the theater (and others) have been receiving threatening letters. Close down the current production and perform those of a once popular playwright (lives locally now, but is a recluse). Then, someone actually does die, at a different show, at a different theater, but with the common link of the threatening letters. Mona (the ghost) has her take on the goings on, of course, making this another good read in this fun series.

Reading Hermit With Dog

 

I love books about words and language so was pleased to find Why Do We Say That? 101 Idioms, Phrases, Sayings & Facts! A Brief History on Where They Come From! by Scott Matthews (yes, I did chuckle that that sentence is incorrect). Some of the origins of phrases, etc. I did know, others I did not. My favorite was White Elephant! I found myself sharing what I learned with my guest ... who did not flee the room! :-)

Here's a book from the Mental Floss magazine folks, remember that? It was a fun read as I do like books of trivia, short entries on lots of subjects and so forth! This time it was In the Beginning: From Big Hair to the Big Bang, mental floss presents a Mouthwatering Guide to the Origins of Everything, edited by Mary Carmichael, Will Pearons, and Mangesh Hattikudur. There should be something here for everyone. ;-) Subjects include science, music, fashion, food, sports ... more. Great for reading during ads on tv.

Reading Hermit With Dog

 

For ages now I've had no picture books, and now I have two! One is a board book, but hey, it's still mostly pictures! :-)

P is for Pterodactyl: the Worst Alphabet Book Ever: All the letters that misbehave and make words nearly impossible to pronounce, by Raj Haldar & Chris Carpenter, with pictures by Maria Tina Beddia. It is wonderful! And each entry has several words that fit ... A, for example, includes aisle and aeons, K has knight and knife, knave and knee .. and so on. Fun to read, for sure!

Would you ever pick the snail to be your favorite animal? Well, maybe you should and Escargot is here to tell you why. Join him on his journey to a salad (no carrots please) to learn his reasons why he should be the favorite! Charming and fun, Escargot is a board book by Pashka Slater with pictures by Sydney Hanson.

Reading Hermit With Dog

 

I seemed to have jumped into the middle of a series with The Mystery of the Painted Dragon, by Katherine Woodfine, but it had 'dragon' in the title! (and there is no series title on the cover or title page ....) Sophie and Lil have solved mysteries before, so when a painting goes missing, from a locked room, they are ready to figure it out! This is a charming teen/tween read. The new character, Leo, is a young woman at an art school. Her copy of a famous painting (a green dragon) was of interest to someone, a rich someone who could have helped her career along ... until it wasn't, and he told her so, rather cruelly. She throws the painting away only to have it show up in place of the stolen painting in a fancy art show. What is going on? A fun read!

Reading Hermit With Dog

 

Here's another excellent recommendation from Canadian Reader: Murder in Tuscany, the first in the Armstrong and Oscar Cozy Mystery series by T.A. Williams. Newly retired DCI Dan Armstrong is at a creative writing course, a gift from his former co-workers. He hopes to write a mystery or two, however, it turns out this is a course for writing erotica! Now, he's been told no one knew this was what the course was about, but could he really believe that? It gets worse, or at least more, um, curious, when he meets the others that are taking the course ... little old ladies! It's been advertised as being taught by a famous author, but it turns out he has little to offer more than his name. Then he is murdered. There are eleven guests, all who might have a motive (and of course, an alibi), but Armstrong sets out, with the help of the local Italian Commissario, to find the killer. There is a dog, too, Oscar. A great start (Canadian Reader has already finished the third book), loved the opening paragraph! Beautiful setting, amusing characters, a wonderful read during our recent rainy weekend.

Sam (Samantha) is heading for England to do some research for a book she is writing. Also taking the trip are relatives and friends from the Shady Acres Retirement Village. Two have martial arts training, another flirts with anyone male ... all are opinionated ... what could go wrong, yes? ;-) A Tourist's Guide to Murder, by V.M. Burns, is part of her Mystery Bookshop Mystery series. A fun detail here is you also get to read along with the book that Sam is writing, also a mystery, but in different time period. Nicely written, good humor, most enjoyable.

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This is an absolute gem of a book: Shepherd's Sight: a Farming Life, by Barbara McLean. It's a month by month description of life on a small sheep farm in Ontario, told by someone who has been doing it for fifty plus years. There are the joys and challenges, the successes and failures, all in beautiful, descriptive writing. One chapter had me looking up, and rereading, a poem by Robert Frost, another a song by Gordon Lightfoot. There are observations on aging which made me nod (the author and I are close to the same age). You'll read about lambing, and shearing, and how and what to feed at what time of year. There is also a thought provoking entry about what to do with the land next: leave it to the grand-kids? To the descendants of the indigenous peoples who once lived here and were forced off? To new emigrants who want land to work? Do not rush through this book, it's meant to be read slowly and savored!

Reading Hermit With Dog