Book 31: The Mystery of the Blue Train

Hercules Poirot has a penchant for stumbling across murder wherever he goes.  Traveling by the blue train, he meets Miss Katherine Grey carrying a detective story.  Soon enough she is helping him with a real mystery as an American heiress is murdered and priceless rubies are stolen.  Hired by the deceased woman's father to solve her murder, Poirot proceeds as always gathering the facts, ordering them, and surprising everyone with the final result.

Another great Agatha Christie novel, I give The Mystery of the Blue Train 5 stars.

Book 30: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo is a minimalist style decluttering book with a delightfully positive psychology.  I love the quote:  "We should be choosing what we want to keep not what we want to get rid of."  It puts me in a mind frame of thankfulness for and contentment of the items that I am keeping rather than felling guilty or stressed about what to give away.  The basic idea is to work through items by category, handle one item at a time, and ask:  “Does this spark joy?”  If unsure, then she recommends considering when and why the item was originally purchased.  If it has fulfilled its purpose (even if that purpose is to teach you that it is not quite right for you) then it can be let go.  For items that hold sentimental value she states:  "No matter how wonderful things used to be, we cannot live in the past. The joy and excitement we feel here and now are more important." If the item still brings joy, it should stay.  If not then perhaps it's time to let go.  The memories will still remain once it is gone.

Her organizing techniques are reminiscent of the old adage "a place for everything and everything in its place".  She advocates storing like things together and prefers vertical storage even for folded items going in drawers.  I am definitely going to give her folding techniques a try although I did have Google for video directions to completely understand them.  Otherwise, her actual organizing section is very short since she believes that the decluttering will free up sufficient space for storage.

I will not deny that part of her philosophy is a little quirky (I have no plans to talk to any of my stuff not will I ask my house where something should be kept), but it does not diminish the value of the program overall.  While I consider her method minimalist, she doesn't truly stress how much or how little of something should be kept relying more on a person's intuition to determine how much to keep.  Unlike many decluttering books which focus on every possible category in your home, her focus seems to be primarily on the items belonging specifically to one person.  The big categories are clothes, books, papers, and sentimental items.  Other household items would fall within the miscellaneous section.

The book is almost devoid of any discussion of children.  I remember one example of a mom setting up space for her three year old's possessions and a section for adult children not to leave or store items at their parents' home.   There is nothing for kids old enough to have their own opinions of what they want.  Teens are probably included in the overall book, although they would only be responsible for their own space and possessions.  She does advocate allowing other family members to have their own space to keep their items, and the other members just learn by example or maybe osmosis to tidy their own stuff.  Honestly that wasn't clear.  I  plan to help my kids sort through their own items to decrease the overflow in the common areas. Telling them to keep their stuff in their own rooms will only result in chaos if I don't give them some kind of guidance.

Overall I would give the book 4 stars.

Book 29: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is third full length Hercules Poirot mystery novel by Agatha Christie.  Poirot has quietly retired to the small village of King's Abbott with only Roger Ackroyd about his previous profession.  When Ackroyd turns up murdered in a locked study at home from a dagger the the back, his niece requests text doctor to accompany her to his neighbor's home to ask the retired detective to solve the murder and clear the deceased man's adopted son of the murder.  With the help of Dr. Sheppard, Poirot slowly begins unravelling the secrets of those involved: blackmail, a secret marriage, a wayward son, and numerous monetary difficulties.

The ending came as a total surprise to me.  I would definitely consider this the best book in the series so far.  5 stars.

Book 28: Spark

Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John J. Ratey takes a fascinating look at the relationship between exercise and brain function.  Citing numerous scientific studies as well as various anecdotal stories, Ratey looks at the benefits of exercise relative to learning, stress, anxiety, depression, attention deficit, hormonal changes, and aging.  Anyone looking for some motivation to exercise or to improve their consistency is certain to find something in the text.  Most of the focus relates to aerobic exercise, but other forms of exercise are also mentioned although they generally do not have as many scientific studies relating to them.  The following are some general take always from the book:

1. Exercise improves both the body and the mind.
2. Consistent exercise balances the chemistry of the brain.
3. Exercise can actually build neural pathways reversing previous damage.
4. There are far more good reasons to get off my butt and exercise than excuses not to do so.

While the book can be a little tedious with all of the biochemistry, it is definitely worth taking time to read and I would recommend it for everyone.  5 stars.

Book 27: Naked in Death

Naked in Death by J. D. Robb is the first book in the very popular and long running "In Death" series.  Set in a futuristic America where guns are banned and prostitution legal, the initial book begins with the murder of a senator's granddaughter, who chose to become a legal companion (aka prostitute).  Lieutenant Eve Dallas is assigned to the homicide case which is to be conducted under the strictest confidence due to the victim's political family. While the murder itself is disturbing, the note stating one of six and the video of the murder which is quickly dropped off at Eve's apartment makes solving this case imperative.  As Eve begins her investigation, the evidence initially leads her to Roarke as a suspect, but as he is cleared a hot romance ensues.  Meanwhile the body count rises and political pressure mounts, pushing Eve to the limit as she tracks down the killer.

An excellent beginning to a series that does a good job of balancing the murder portion of the plot with the romance part.  Normally I steer clear of serial killer books because of the graphic scenes, but the focus on the budding relationship between Eve and Roarke and the lack of focus on the psychology of the serial killer made this book far more palatable in my opinion.  5 stars.

Book 26: Marked in Flesh

I enjoyed another brief vacation in Thasia this weekend rereading Marked in Flesh, the 4th book in the Others series by Anne Bishop.  It was great to see the larger threads of the story outside of Lakeside close, and I'm definitely ready to focus on the Lakeside Courtyard in the final book.


Here's a link to my original review.

Book 25: The Hammer of Thor

Rick Riordan's second installment of the Magnus Chase series, The Hammer of Thor, chronicles the adventures of Magnus and his friends as they try to locate and return Thor's hammer before the giants attack Asgard.  As usual Loki the trickster is behind everything with a plan designed for his own benefit.  He has arranged a marriage between Sam the Valkarie and a giant named Thrym, who is in possession of the hammer.  A new einherji named Alex, another child of Loki and an argr, joins Magnus, Sam, Blitzen, and Hearth in their quest.  What follows is the usual romp from one life-threatening situation to another with a large dose of humor binding it together.  Four stars.

Book 24: Odd Thomas

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz is the first of seven books told in the first person by a humble fry cook, who happens to see dead people.  Odd views his abilities as a gift and takes the responsibility upon himself to help the ghosts so that they can move on.  This time he has a chance not to simply solve a crime but help try to prevent one.  A sudden appearance of shadowy figures that Odd refers to as bodachs in larger numbers than he has ever seen before warns him that the man who visits his restaurant is big trouble.  Odd begins investigating the man and passes along what he discovers to his friend in the police, but then everything begins to unravel.  The suspicious man turns up dead in Odd's house, and Odd's police contact is shot multiple times leaving Odd alone to figure out what exactly is supposed to happen on August 15th, who the dead man's accomplices are, and how to stop their plans.

Overall the tale is a bit darker than most stories I read, but I truly loved the character of Odd Thomas.  He is a sweet man who tries to make use of his gift and do the right
thing.  His family is horrible, but his friends and especially his girlfriend are wonderfully supportive.  The ending had me in tears.  The plot is well paced, but the author seems to introduce elements such as thw black room that are never really explained.  I would rate the book as four stars.

Book 23: Vision in Silver

Only two days until the release of Etched in Bone by Anne Bishop.  I'm excited to see how she finishes the story of the Lakeside residents, particularly Simon and Meg.  This week, I finished a reread of the third book Vision in Silver, and I expect to read the fourth book in the next couple of days.  If you've never visited Lakeside Courtyard, I highly recommend it.


In Other news, Goodreads has a new book listed in Bishop's Others series for publication next year called Lake Silence.  Based on the information currently available, it looks like it is set in a different part of Thasia with an entirely new set of characters.  I'll miss Simon and Meg, but I love Thasia and am so glad the author is writing more books in that world.


Here's a link to my previous review of the book.  Happy reading!

Book 22: Blood of Olympus

The fifth and final book in Riordan's "Heroes of Olympus" series, Blood of Olympus is narrated by Reyna and Nico covering the return of the Athena Parthenon to Camp Half Blood as well as Piper and Leo to recount the end of the quest of seven against Gaea.  In the statue group, Nico is struggling to move the massive statue through the shadows, and they already have enough monsters to fight before Orion the hunter and a pack of werewolves are set on their trail.  With help from Hades, the Amazons, the Hunters of Artemis, and others, the group learns to work together to ensure their portion of the quest is complete and to stop war from breaking out between Camp Half Blood and Camp Jupiter.  Aboard the Argo II, the seven demigods take turns on a series of small quests to gather intel, subdue a crazed victory goddess, and gather the final pieces needed to complete their end of the quest by defeating the giants and stopping Gaea.

A well crafted end to a good series.  4 stars.

Book 21: I Am Half-Sick of Shadows

It's Christmas time at Buckshaw in the fifth Flavia du Luce mystery, I Am Half-Sick of Shadows; but this Christmas promises to be quite different.  In order to earn money to pay off the family's debts, Colonel du Luce has rented our the use of Buckshaw to a film company.  The whole village is excited about the imminent arrival of the famous film star, Phyllis Wyvern.  The vicar asks the actress if she would be willing to do a short scene in order to help raise money for roof repair, and she quickly agrees to perform a scene from Romeo and Juliet with her costar.  Things quickly go from bad to worse when the villagers are snowed in, and then Phyllis Wyvern is found murdered by Flavia.  Now in addition to preparing glue to catch Saint Nicholas and making fireworks to set off as her Christmas present to the village, Flavia has a murder to solve.

This is definitely my favorite of the Flavia series so far.  The mystery is well done as usual, but I found her Christmas plans to be quite funny and entertaining.  I definitely recommend this book for anyone who enjoys mysteries. Five stars.