Lyssa’s Comments (group member since Jan 01, 2012)

Lyssa’s comments from the The 104 Book Challenge - 2012 group.

#154 Visit Sunny Chernobyl: And Other Adventures in the World's Most Polluted Places

There's eco-tourism, and now pollution tourism? The author decides to visit some of the most polluted places in the world - I'm still not clear on why. More often than not, he finds something beautiful in an area most people avoid. Or, as in the case of the Amazon or the Garbage Patch, doesn't find what he's been led to believe will be found.

I'm glad he went these places so that I wouldn't have to. 3.5/5

#153 Running with the Kenyans: Passion, Adventure, and the Secrets of the Fastest People on Earth And continuing with my non-fiction trend, a book on running. Not an in-depth primer on running or on the state of professional runners in Kenya. This reads more as Finn's personal journal of his time spent training in Africa in order to improve as a runner.

Probably not for the avid runner or anyone expecting a history of Kenyan running. It's a basic, easy read... just what my brain needed to get back into gear after the holidays.:) 3.5/5

#152 Home is a Roof Over a Pig: An American Family's Journey in China The author gets a job teaching English in Tai'an, China and takes her family so that her adopted Chinese daughter can learn about her heritage. She has a theme through each of the chapters where she breaks down and discusses Chinese characters and the chapter generally relates to that.

She doesn't shy away from the children's temper tantrums or the bad days she and her husband have, but it just seems a little whitewashed, or like we're just under the surface, but not quite into the "what *really* happened." Not exactly what I was looking for, but not bad at all. 3.5/5

#151 Kindred in Death Ok, this one was rough to read. A 16 year old girl is the victim in this one and it just seems that Eve and the team go over and over the circumstances. Seems like there's a shift to focus on the mystery instead of Eve's growing circle of friends (as in past books). 3/5

#150 Promises in Death This one covers the relationship between ME Morris and Eve, tho all the relationships seem to take a backseat to the mystery on this one. 3/5

Also, this is the book that meets my self imposed goal of 150 for the year. The In Death series made it a little easier to reach. :)

#149 Pillow Talk Kind of a misleading blurb as it's more about the back and forth of Petra and Arlo after reconnecting 17 years down the road. Big deals are made of the mysterious Helen and Petra's sleepwalking, and then quickly given the "oh here's why" treatment toward the end. Kind of glad I got it as a free nook book. 2.5/3

#148 Salvation in Death 3.5/5

#147 The Toss of a Lemon Multi-generational look at Sivakami's family in early 20th century India. Lots of detail and interconnecting stories, but so....long.... started losing track of the story wondering when it was going to end. 3/5

#145 Strangers in Death Eve and Roarke seem a lot more in sync on this one, even while exploring Eve's "Eek, I'm married" thoughts. 4/5

#144 Creation in Death 3.5/5

#143 Beach House Memories Sad book makes sad face... :( Also I'm not really comfortable with the justification for the decisions Lovie made. Granted, different era therefore different solutions, but still not sitting right with me. 3/5

#142 Innocent in Death Now I got to this one. Creepy, creepy children. And babies! 4/5

#141 River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze After spending a week in Xi'an teaching an English class, I was particularly interested in Hessler's narrative of a long-term assignment. He captured China well as it made me want to go back *and* stay away from the complications at the same time. Contradiction, thy name is China. 4.5/ 5

#140 The End of Your Life Book Club A memoir covering the time Schwalbe spent with his mother after her pancreatic cancer diagnosis. He does a great job weaving together the book discussions with his mom's story. 4/5

#139 Born in Death Eve has two investigations that end up being related. Mavis is cute as all get out. And extra points added for babies! :) 4.5/5 (Whoops... editing here since I put the wrong title in)

Mary wrote: "Mr. Penumbra sounds interesting.
I think reading Penumbra first would have worked better for me. It's really not a bad book, I'm just more of an 80s geek (RPO) than a tech geek (Mr. P)so there's probably a bias. :)

#138 Memory in Death Still slogging my way thru the series. This one gives us Eve and Roarke's second Christmas together between all of the murder mystery solving. I'm liking the evolution of Eve's relationships more than the mysteries for the most part. 4/5

#137 Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore Aagh! It glows in the dark! Which I discovered when I turned off the light in my bedroom and thought "What the heck is *that*?!?" Nice mystery about a secret society and books and manages to integrate current technology in there as well. My only gripe is that it felt like Sloan was name-dropping on the tech stuff. Ready Player One already did that for the 80s and did it better, so I found myself comparing the two instead of being wrapped up in the story. 3.5/5

#136 Origin in Death Yep, I missed one. It was checked out at the library and I didn't feel like waiting. This is a good installment of the series tho - more futuristic science tech, while keeping up with the growing and evolving relationships of Eve and Roarke. Thought it was interesting that this was set just before Thanksgiving, and right now it's just before Thanksgiving! Yep, when I'm tired it's the little things that tickle me. 3.5/5

#135 Magic Study