So in order not to throw one really long wrap-up your way I’m splitting the books I read last week into two posts. This one has all the books I read that I didn’t count towards Booktubeathon+1 . So only three, and the one from the readathon – so a shorter wrap-up here! As always you can listen as opposed to read – the channel link is in the side bar.
The first thing I finished was The Oxford Illustrated History of Witchcraft and Magic by Owen Davies. I wanted this one to have a lot more diversity in it, and a lot more of what I didn’t know. 90% of this was stuff I knew or had read about in the past just more details like full names and time stamps. This also traced the history with the Church, the same complaint I had with the Penguin book of the Undead – I wish it had gone a little wider in it’s sources and regions. This is one that has a lot of cool illustrations and images but ultimately felt almost a waste for me since I’d see most of this information before. It might be picking up however if you haven’t read a lot on the topic – a good intro book.
The next book I read was the first book I finished after Booktubeathon Zia by Scott O’Dell. I’m also going to talk about Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell here (this is my +1) even though I counted this toward the readathon. Island of the Blue Dolphins is the story of Karana, a young girl who is left behind when her tribe is ‘rescued’ from their native island by otter hunters. Zia is the sequel to Island, and takes place during Karana’s stay on the island, from the perspective of her niece. First off for Island, I loved it. I loved it as a kid and I loved it now. It’s a wonderful survival story which I didn’t know was based off a true story, and a lot sadder than I remember. Zia… I was not so much a fan of. First off, the timing on Zia seems like it doesn’t fit well – the books were written 16 years apart and I feel like perhaps that was evident. Not only that but the way Karana is said to get off the Island in the Zia doesn’t seem to match in Island for me. And ultimately the storytelling was very different. In Island we get a great story with an interesting character. I think there was depth and learning to be had for young readers. In Zia the history was in overload – the book was less about that awesome story and more about shoving this history at the reader. I was not a fan. Personally as well I wish I hadn’t read the ending Scott O’Dell gave to Karana. Realistic though it may be, it was a huge bummer and I did not like it.
Finally I read and finished today Birds of Feather by Jacqueline Winspear. This was a great second book in the Maisie Dobbs mystery series. I normally don’t expect second books to live up to their predecessors but this did great. Jacqueline Winspear once again shows you some of the ripple affects of WW1 and manages to pinpoint in and focus on one thing, one group, and how that continues to have affects now years later. The characters continue to grow, to have depth and flaws. I can’t wait to see how this continues – I’ve already gotten the third book from the library to continue! If you like mystery books or historical books these are so worth picking up, and as far as I can tell the series is ongoing – so plenty to read!
That is it, my Booktubeathon wrap-up post will follow shortly so look for that! Thanks for reading guys, let me know if you have read and enjoyed any of these!
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