Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

☀ Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths, 3/5
I was a bit disappointed in this third installment to the Harbinder Karr series as compared to the first two. I just couldn't connect with it.

☀ Family Baggage by Monica McInerney, 3/5
Light-read Fiction, read for another challenge.

☀ Night Birds and Other Stories by Khet Mar, 5/5
Night Birds is an allegory of the imprisonment of people in Burma for whatever reason a person with power could make up. It is a story of two young people imprisoned in separate rooms but able to at least talk about themselves, their lives, and their reasons for being there. It is also the story of losing that connection in a blink of an eye. The book itself was banned by the Burmese government in 1997.
The author is a trained chemist who became a journalist in Burma (Myanmar). She was imprisoned and physically punished for her writings, in her attempt to write about the lives of real people in Burma. After escaping, she was a writer-in-residence from 2009 to 2012 at the City of Asylum, an organization in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, that provides long-term asylum to writers under threat of severe persecution in their native countries.

☀ Dear Little Corpses by Nicola Upson , 4/5
The latest installment in the Josephine Tey mystery series, surrounding the disappearance of a child after her arrival in 1939 in a small town in England during the mass evacuation of children to the countryside from London. As with all the books in the series, it is as much about the characters and the culture as it is the murders and subsequent investigation.

☀ Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, 4/5
Read for my personal "Reading Banned Books" challenge, this is a beautiful read about the developing relationship of two 16 year-olds who meet on the bus to school. People who wanted this booked banned can't possibly have read it.

☀ The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman , 4/5
Third in the Thursday Murder Club series, I really enjoyed this.

☀ The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd, 5/5
This nonfiction nature book was first written in the 1940s about the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland. It was never published until 1977. It is a lyrical and poetic analysis of the various elements of the mountain: its landscape, its water, its bugs and plants, and its people. The audio is fabulous.

☀ The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, 5/5
I have waited 16 years to read it. And I only did so because my daughter-in-law was appalled that I hadn't already. So I read it. In a little over 24 hours. And gave it a 5. Sigh. I really hate it when she's right.... ;>)

☀ The Illness Lesson: A Novel by Clare Beams, 2.5/5
Set in Massachusetts during 1871, this book was noted as a "mystery novel": a philosopher, his daughter and a follower of the philosopher create a school for young woman that will teach them literature, math, philosophy much the same way that boys are taught in other schools. Creepy red birds show up and the girls (and the daughter) become ill with different symptoms. The mystery itself is never resolved. The book came highly recommended during an author lecture (not the book's author) I attended. I think the author tried to cover too many bases without having enough space or time.

☀ Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, 3.5/5
Sci-Fi/Fantasy read for another challenge. Great storyline, clunky execution.

☀ Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan, 3.5/5
Light, fun read for another challenge.

Great month, Gail. I keep wanting to read Octavia Butler. Guess I should put her on my Determination List challenge.

I read the Hunger Games series because it was so talked about, and I usually don't succumb to such. I loved the entire series.

Great month Gail, a nice variety and good to have enjoyed so many.
I love Rainbow Rowell and agree Eleanor & Park is a beautiful gem of a book. I follow her and read anything she writes. I am intrigued by your descriptions of several tempting sounding books, The Living Mountain is one, had to laugh at your Hunger Games (positive) experience. I loved it too, and enjoyed the trilogy.

Love your reviews Gail!

Susie wrote: "Love your reviews Gail!"

LOL. Thanks!