Lisa's Review: An Unwanted Guest

An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena

My Rating: 2 of 5 stars

As guests arrive at the charming Mitchell Inn for a weekend away, they are unaware that they will be stranded without power, heat, or any contact with the outside world as a result of the snow & ice storm. They are able to make the best of it until they discover that there is likely a murderer among them.   

I wasn't a huge fan of this book. What I did like is that it was a fast and easy read (once I got to the point of being able to keep all of the names straight). However, I really didn't enjoy the read. That may just be me, as there are plenty of glowing reviews. The few reviews I read that were in my range stated exactly what I had thought - I did not appreciate the style of writing and I didn't find any of the characters likable.

I found it interesting that a number of reviews (the good and the bad) compared it to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. I sheepishly have to admit I've never read an Agatha Christie novel, so I'm adding this to my list to the first one to read.

This is my 9th book for the 12th Annual Canadian Reading Challenge.

Lisa's Review: Against All Odds

Against All Odds: The Untold Story of Canada's Unlikely Hockey Heroes by P.J. Naworynski

My Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Against All Odds chronicles the story of the 1948 Canadian Olympic hockey team. The 1948 Olympic Games (the V Winter Olympics) were held in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and dubbed "The Games of Renewal" as they were the first games held after World War II.

New rule changes to the definition of amateur athlete for the 1948 games meant that Canada was not going to have a hockey team to send to the Olympics. Determined not to let that happen, Sandy Watson, manager of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) amateur team, gained approval to form a team of players from RCAF Flyers. He and coach Frank Boucher formed a team of men who had served in WWII.

I can't believe in my years as a Canadian hockey fan that I knew nothing about this piece of history. The story in itself is fascinating, and the author did a fantastic job telling it. From the quest of scouting out players for the team, telling the background of the players and what their war experiences were, and their long road to the Olympics, I was glued to the book start to finish.

This is my 8th book read for the 12th Annual Canadian Reading Challenge.

Lisa's Review: The Nature of the Beast

The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the 11th book in the Chief Inspector Gamache series. Armand and Reine Marie Gamache have retired to Three Pines, but that doesn't mean they've retired from being involved in murder investigations (after all, they are in Thee Pines!).

Laurent Lepage is a nine year old in Three Pines who has a huge imagination and tells very tall tales. When he disappears, people begin to wonder if there was truth behind his latest claim of finding a gun as big as a house in the woods.

I always love a Louise Penny book, that is never a question when I pick one up. I was a little wary as I got into this one as the plot seemed to be a little far fetched. However, in addition to tying all the plot together, the notes she has at the end of the book were eye opening.

This is my 7th book read for the 12th Annual Canadian Reading Challenge.

Lisa's Review: Swamp Bones

Swamp Bones by Kathy Reichs

My Rating: 3 of 5 stars

This novella is #16.5 in the Temperance Brennan series. Tempe has  traveled to Florida for a relaxing vacation, but of course those plans are interrupted soon after she arrives. Her friend (who she is staying with) is conducting research on bird species that are being threatened by an increased population of Burmese pythons in the Everglades. Tempe's vacation is cut short when she discovers some of the bones inside a python are human.

As with all of the Kathy Reichs books I have read, this one kept me solidly engaged. Since it was a novella, there isn't a lot of time to get into much other than the crime to be solved - though I was good with that aspect here because there is a lot of talk about snakes, and I have a phobia of snakes. It was comforting to know that Tempe feels the same way. I always say that I can't trust something that doesn't have legs (and can just slither anywhere). So I was somewhat amused by:

"The Everglades has a Burmese python problem."
"Pythons. As in alarmingly large serpents?"
I wouldn't call it a phobia, but I'm not overly fond of snakes. Slithery moves. Cold creepy eyes. You can't trust something that doesn't blink.  

This is my 6th book read for the 12th Annual Canadian Reading Challenge.

Lisa's Review: The Long Way Home

The Long Way Home by Louise Penny

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the 10th book in the Chief Inspector Gamache series. I've definitely been enjoying my run on Louise Penny books lately - though I'm afraid of soon getting to the point where I can't just go get the next one from the library & will instead have to wait for the next one to be published.

The Long Way Home is a bit different from the rest of the series that I have read so far - the biggest difference being that there wasn't a murder to solve. There definitely was a mystery to investigate, but it seemed a more relaxed plot & read - though that doesn't mean that I didn't thoroughly enjoy it, because I did! 

This is my 5th book read for the 12th Annual Canadian Reading Challenge.

Lisa's Review: Sleigh Tracks in New Snow

Sleigh Tracks in New Snow by Wayne Curtis

My Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sleigh Tracks in New Snow: Maritime Christmas Stories is described best on the back cover as "a collection of Christmas stories set mostly in rural New Brunswick - principally the Miramichi Region - in a bygone day and age. The stories range from the early 1950s to the 21st century, as Wayne Curtis recounts the old Christmases of his boyhood and more modern incarnations of the holiday."

It is also noted at the beginning of the book that some of the people in the stories are from the authors imagination and that some liberties were taken with those that are real. As a personal side note, I'd love to know if a few of the individuals in the stories were real or not - but I can accept that maybe I'm just supposed to not think about that or make my own conclusion.

I admittedly am a person who does not enjoy reading collections of short stories (or maybe I just haven't found the right collection for me yet). My mother gave me this book as a gift last Christmas, so I read about half last year, and finished the other half this year.

After finishing, I can say short stories are still not for me, but that is a personal preference and definitely not an indication of the author. From this collection, Curtis writes in a very descriptive way that made images pop in my head of exactly what was going on - and a lot of times had me thinking back of Christmas time at my Nanny & Grampie's house. I like this description of how things can trigger memories, especially around this time of year:

Like a secret love you carry inside you throughout life, and whose image returns in an old song on the radio. "Mood changers," my mother used to call them. "Voices of the moment that stir up feelings from the past." p 132-133     

This is my 4th book read for the 12th Annual Canadian Reading Challenge.

Lisa's Review: How the Light Gets In

How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny

My Rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is book #9 in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series.

I've been on a bit of an Inspector Gamache roll lately. My friend Mary & I had tickets to see Louise Penny in mid-December, and not knowing if there may be some spoilers on major plot development, Mary thought if I made it through How the Light Gets In, I should be safe.

There certainly was a lot of excitement to take in on this one! There were two main plots happening - one involving the investigation of the disappearance of Myrna's friend, and the other wraps up a story-line surrounding the Sûreté that has been ongoing for the last several books. I found both to be very interesting & kept the pages turning.

As a side note, Louise Penny was a delight to see in person!   

This is my third book read for the 12th Annual Canadian Reading Challenge.

Lisa's Review: The Beautiful Mystery

The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is book #8 in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series.

I think this is the first book in the series that does not involve Three Pines at all...in location, and none of the local characters (an earlier book in the series did not take place in Three Pines but did go there for a brief period).

In this book, Chief Inspector Gamache and Inspector Beauvoir travel to the remote Quebec monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups where one of the 24 monks who live there had been murdered, and all of the other 23 monks are suspects.

I loved the setting of this book. As much as I love Three Pines, I thought that this was a much welcome diversion for me. I found the whole scene of the secluded monastery to be a very interesting one.

An underlying story about the raid in the warehouse that has been a subtle undercurrent in prior novels starts to come more to the forefront here but not entirely - this story line has me wanting for more resolution!

I read many reviews on this book of folks who did not like the ending. I agree, I did not like how this one ended at all...but still loved the progression and setting. And I also knew that I could pick up the next book in the series right away, so was hopeful what I didn't like in the ending might change course when I picked up the next book (which I did the very next day!). 

This is my second book read for the 12th Annual Canadian Reading Challenge.

Lisa's Review: A Trick of the Light

A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

A Trick of the Light is the 7th book in the Chief Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny.

I can't believe it has been almost two years since I read my last Louise Penny book. As I started to dig in on this one, it felt like I was visiting with old friends in Three Pines.

Three Pines resident Clara Morrow finally gets her solo art show at the Musée in Montreal. Her post-celebrations back home are soon cut short when the body of Lillian Dyson is found in her garden. Nobody in Three Pines knows Lillian, except for Clara from a long time ago.

As usual, all of my favorite characters came back, and and I fell in love with them and Three Pines all over again. One of my favorites is Inspector Jean-Guy Beauvoir - he is at time so crass and unlikable, but some of the blunt thoughts that go through his head are spot on and make me laugh, like this one:

"Beauvoir stared at the women. It wasn't enough that they were English and had a prayer stick, but now they'd lapsed into pig latin. It was no wonder there were so many murders here. The only mystery was how any got solved, with help like this." 

This is my first book read for the 12th Annual Canadian Book Challenge.