Review: "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson

When guys in camouflage pants and hunting hats sat around in the Four Aces Diner talking about the fearsome out-of-doors, I would no longer have to feel like such a cupcake. (4)

After returning to the United States after 20 years of living in the UK, author Bill Bryson decided to reconnect with his homelands by hiking the Appalachian Trail, a 2,100 trek that spans from Georgia to Maine. His unlikely companion is Katz, an old college friend, who knows even less about hiking than Bryson. A Walk in the Woods begins with the pair buying gear they know nothing about and set out into the Georgia wilderness on a snowy March day.

Their limited experience makes for an exciting travelogue that feels like it could be you or me out there in the wilds. Though Bryson describes the harshness of the hike, there's still a certain appeal of the trail that he conveys. Bryson's skill at weaving in trail and local history at the beginning of chapters take the memoir outside of his experience to make larger statements about the environmental, political, and social problems that affect the trail. The way he relates the history of the trail is just as captivating as the prose about his personal experiences.

The people they encounter on and around the trail are just as unique as the trail itself. Bryson's characterization reads like a caricature, focusing on a characteristic, but in a way that somehow still makes them makes them distinct, relatable, and, above all, entertaining. Often, the main feature of a person they meet is the particular way in which they annoy Bryson and Katz, whether its by being over enthusiastic while discussing hiking gear, being inconsiderate when sharing a shelter, or taking incessantly.

For the first half of the book, these factual interludes flow nicely with the day-to-day experiences of hiking on the trail, from Katz hilariously throwing gear over a cliff to make his pack lighter to the abundant excitement they express at coming to a town where they can sleep in a real bed and eat something other than noodles. 

The book is very enjoyable, until part two begins. Part one ends with Bryson and Katz getting off the trail and agreeing to meet up later in the summer to hike another part of it. In part two, Bryson details day hikes he does in between and then finishes with his second week-long hike with Katz. the second half of the book the ratio of personal to factual  is quite different, leaving the story line of Bryson's hiking muddled and disjointed. 

As a non-hiker with interest in, but limited knowledge of, hiking trails and wilderness adventures, I enjoyed the book overall. For the first half, I couldn't put the book down without reading one more day of their trek. The second half was nowhere near as compelling, but a suspenseful ending makes it all worthwhile anyway. 

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

About the Author:

Bill Bryson’s bestselling books include A Walk in the Woods, Notes from a Small Island, I’m a Stranger Here Myself, In a Sunburned Country, A Short History of Nearly Everything (which earned him the 2004 Aventis Prize), The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, At Home, and One Summer. He lives in England with his wife.

Review: "Choose Your Own Autobiography" by Neil Patrick Harris

The unique "choose your own adventure"-style autobiography could only be pulled off by someone with a great sense of humor or a magician, and it so happens that Neil Patrick Harris is both of these things. The entire autobiography is written in second person, so it tries to put you in Neil's shoes, as though you are getting to experience his life. Most chapters are on the shorter side, ending with choices that either continue the story along the same theme or timeline, or could take you someplace completely different. You can choose to read through all of his acting experiences (Doogie Howser, How I Met Your Mother, Broadway shows), his interest in magic and performing as a magician, his personal life from growing up to raising two kids of his own, or skip around and get a little of each.

I found the experience of skipping around NPH's life non-chronologically both rewarding and frustrating. I really enjoyed it the first two times I went through because I really wanted to hear about how he got in to magic so I read those first, and went back for his acting and family life afterwards. After "finishing" the adventure a second time, there were still a lot of passages I had missed. I suppose if you were able to put it aside and read it again a year later or so, you might get different pieces of his life, but I wanted to finish it all in one go. I ended up flipping through and reading the passages I had missed, which were quite a few! That part wasn't as much fun.

There are a few chapters that are completely made up, such as if you were to make the choice to have a horrible childhood. There's also a running gag where several outcomes bring you to a tragic end in a similar way where only the small details have changed, and though you are almost saved, ultimately "Your body is never found." These probably only make up about 15 pages of the 300-page book and are funny, though it was my least favorite part of the book.

All things considered, I really enjoyed Neil Patrick Harris' Choose Your Own Autobiography. The stories he included were all interesting, whether I was familiar with the show he talked about acting in or not. There's not a lot of information on any one thing, but there's a little information on everything it seems. If you're looking to read 30+ pages just about his time on How I Met Your Mother, you'll be disappointed. But if you want to know a bit about that and appreciate some Barney jokes throughout, this book is for you. This autobiography has it all - even recipes, a crossword puzzle, and a hidden signature page (shh).

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

Review: "Wild About Creation Sticker & Activity Book"

The Beginner's Bible Wild About Creation Sticker & Activity Book is a short, staple bound 16-page full-color book containing over 50 stickers.

The activities include: tracing, drawing, connecting the dots, spotting differences between two images, coloring, matching male & female animals, maze, word search, counting, puzzle solving, putting images in sequence of the story, and placing stickers as directed. I particularly liked that this book specifically said where to use which stickers, but also gave the freedom to place anywhere on the page.

This book tells the story of creation from "let there be light!" to banishment from the garden, but it doesn't tell the whole story. It would be hard for a child to understand why Eve eating the fruit was bad from just this book. I would use this book in combination with others, or with a child already familiar with the ideas presented.

The activities are great though and I think preschool/kindergarten aged children would really enjoy the variety in activities this book presents. I know I would've loved all of the adorable animal stickers as a child (especially the blue raccoon!).

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Book Look for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

Review: "Doctor Who: The Drosten's Curse" by A.L. Kennedy

For anyone with even the slightest familiarity with the Doctor Who series, this book will be a comfortable, easy read.

Featuring the Fourth Doctor, this novel takes place in Arbroath where a large number of guests have been mysteriously disappearing from the golf spa hotel. Junior Day Receptionist Byrony finds it odd that so many people leave their luggage in their rooms, but don't return for it. When an odd man in a hat and scarf appears, Byrony's dream of seeing a real-life spaceship becomes a reality as she teams up with the Doctor and Putta, another alien drawn to the golf spa hotel to figure out why a sand trap is eating people. There is also a massive conscious field that all of them can feel -- sometimes through a splitting headache, sometimes through hearing each other's thoughts, and sometimes hearing the thoughts of the very creature they sought -- the legendary Bah-Sokhar.

It is a whirlwind adventure full of dangerous situations and a problem that reached well beyond the perimeter of the hotel. In true Doctor Who fashion, it is up to these three unlikely companions to band together to save the world. With a romance brewing between Byrony and Putta, an angsty teenager who wants to take over the world, two not-so-human children and their grandmother who has been owned the hotel for far longer than should be possible, there is plenty going on in this 360-page novel.

It is a quick, easy read, filled with mostly very short chapters (that are oddly unnumbered). It doesn't explain a whole lot for someone trying to interact with the Doctor Who series for the first time and most of the things that would make a Doctor Who fan smile would be completely missed by a first-timer. For that reason, I'd recommend it only for someone who has already been introduced, whether through the tv show or other books.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

Review: "Prayers for New Brides" by Jennifer O. White

We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

Prayers for New Brides: Putting on God's Armor After the Wedding Dress is a 40 chapter devotional for newly married, soon to be married, or even long-time married brides. It focuses on praying for your husband and God's will for your marriage. It also spends quite a bit of time talking about spiritual battle and truths about marriage.

Each chapter has a discussion, prayer, and "call to action"/journal suggestion. Example chapters include "God Is Fighting for You," "See Your Spouse through God's Eyes," "Praise: Your Love Song to God and First Line of Defense," "Cement the Experience of Unity," and "Communicate as a Team." The prayers are personalizable, frequently using blanks for you to fill in your husband's name and sometimes require more in depth thought to fill in the blanks with personal examples and experiences. At the end of each small paragraph of prayer, the Bible verses that inspired it are cited so that you can look at them further.

Overall, I thought it was a well-compiled discussion of God's role in marriage and how to go into marriage sure-footed. I would recommend doing no more than one chapter a day to get the most out of it -- the book even suggests if doing it as a devotional with a group that five chapters a week for eight weeks is a good way to tackle it. There's not many personal examples in the book, so it can be hard to take in a bunch of chapters all at once and still take something away from them.

Though I'm sure every woman would take something different away from this book, I'll share a few points that stood out to me. In the "Sacrifice Your Expectations" chapters  the prayer invites you to bring your expectations of marriage before God including all the outside influences from media and couples in your life. The prayer describes these expectations as "limiting," which was a refreshing way to look it. In the "Covering His Priorities, Time, and Energy" chapter, the prayer included thanking God for creating your husband with his specific passions, personality, and talents as well as talking about how God knows the rhythm of time your husband needs to divide his time between work, marriage, serving God, and rest. As a last note, the chapter on "Fear Less: Your Privilege as a Wife" quotes 2 Timothy 1:7 "For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control," where the whole chapter focuses on surrendering your fears to God.

While I thought most of this book was well done, there were some parts that I didn't agree 100% with the author, her discussion, or the Bible verses she used to support her ideas, but some disagreement is to be expected and it didn't interfere with the parts I did find helpful.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Cross Focused Reviews for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

Review: "The Curse of Crow Hollow" by Bill Coffey

Small town friends Scarlett, Cordelia, Hays, and Naomi ditch their own party to have a private camping trip up by the town's old mines -- an area that has been fenced off mad locked up since before they were born. Superstition, rumor, and small town gossip were enough to keep most people away from the mines and from Alvaretta, whom most in the town called a witch and swore there were demons up in the mines to boot.

The narrator is a friendly southern voice, a resident of Crow Hollow, detailing the madness that took over the town to an out-of-towner. The tale begins with this teenage camping trip that ends up leading the friends to the witch's house where she promptly curses them and they barely escape alive after glimpsing some living thing that Alvaretta is desperately trying to keep hidden. 

The friends return to town, hurry to church, and desperately try to act as though nothing has happened.  Part way through the service though, the three girls are seized by fits and each develop alarming symptoms. Scarlett loses her ability to speak, Naomi has constant uncontrollable spasms, and Cordelia's face droops and is unresponsive to any muscle movement. 

With doctors stumped, the friends have no choice but to come clean about the witch's curse. Soon after, all of the other young girls in the town develop symptoms mimicking those of the original three. The town begins to fall apart as blame, rumor, and suspicion threaten to destroy the small town community. Long-held secrets come to light and questions of faith and demons, innocence and guilt, ravage the town. 

It is a dark and gripping tale that starts off at full rush with the friends getting cursed, but then slows down a lot as reader is introduced to the members of the town, setting up for the interconnected role they all play in the town's impending downfall. The final chapters speed back up to breakneck pace, packed with action and answers to the many puzzles introduced.

There's a lot of characters to keep straight and I had a little trouble remembering which kid went with which parents at first. All in all it was definitely worth reading if you're looking for something scary and mysterious, but at over 400 pages with so much build up in the middle, it could've been a little shorter. The book also includes discussion questions at the end, which would be fitting for a YA book club.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Book Look for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

Review: "Bradstreet Gate" by Robin Kirman

When a Harvard student Julie Patel is murdered, one of her professors, Storrow, falls to blame. The fact that he was dating a student, Georgia, was revealed through the investigation as well as through Georgia's jealous friend Alice's expose that she wrote following the murder. Beyond that, even students who had limited interaction with Storrow came forward with stories of interactions that seemed normal enough at the time, but odd in retrospect.

The novel is broken up into three parts: Harvard years, after Harvard, and ten years following the murder. The first section was excellent - full of suspense, mystery, and interesting characters. I was completely captivated and would've given the first section a five star rating. However, once I started the second section, things quickly went down hill. I kept expecting it to get better, but the characters' coincidental encounters just did not hold my interest. The book was screaming that the students had no reason to stay in touch after school, yet they kept going back to each other. By the third section, I couldn't wait for it to be over, since it was obvious nothing else would happen in the book.

If you're looking for a mystery that leaves you thinking "what just happened?" this might be it. I don't know how to interpret the ending, and it did not fulfil anything I was hoping to get from the conclusion of a mystery novel. If the first section hadn't been so good, the last two might not have seemed so bad, but at such a close comparison, I finished feeling very disappointed.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.