Pages & Paws

Writing, Reading, and Rural Life With a Border Collie

Category Archives: Read


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Why ‘Awake For Ever’ Will Put You to Sleep

Awake For Ever in a Sweet Unrest

By Chuck Rosenthal

Genre: Your guess is as good as ours

Pages: 102

Via: Publicist Request

Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

No Sominex needed!

Cut to the Chase

Let’s just cut to the chase on this one, okay? What a dud. This book is so busy trying to be clever or hip or something, it forgets to create a coherent story. That kinda matters. Especially if you’re gonna pitch it to us for review.

Newsflash: We don’t do muddled and mussy. We’re just funny that way.

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‘Want Some Ketchup With That Crow?’

Yo! Wazzup?

 

Kimber: The ‘Ole Curmudgeon (TOC) can’t come to the blog right now. She’s hunting up the nearest plate and fork. So I’m gonna take over for a min, okay?

Now. You know that the OC is like, super-duper opinionated. On Pretty. Much. Everything. Especially books. We don’t apologize for that one bit. In fact, it’s one of Mom’s best features. (I can’t remember the other two at the moment. Can I get back to you on that that?)

Anyway, Mom’s been whaling away on the last few Kristin Hannah novels she read. Cuz they were like, lousy. Lookin’ at you, The Women. Distant Shores. Summer Island. The Four Winds. Barf-o-rama x4.

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Why ‘Dear Santa’ Needs Rudolph

So Mom and I are diving into that “Christmas reading” thing. With both feet. And four paws. I’m not quite sure what ‘Christmas reading’ means. But if Mom likes it, then so do I!

We have some perennial favorites. Like Richard Paul Evans’ The Christmas Box. Earl Hamner Jr.’s The Homecoming. The Polar Express. That green dude, Whoville, and his dog Max. Luke 2.

We also grab some new titles every year. That’s how we found Dear Santa. By Nancy Naigle. I’ll let The ‘Ole Curmudgeon fill ya in:

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‘Hope Unleashed’ Warms Hearts, Wags Tails

Hope Unleashed: Coping with Cancer with Courage & Love: The True Story of an Animal Rescue Caregiver

By June Summers (Van Velzer Press, December 2024)

Via: Author request

Genre: Non-Fiction/Memoir

Pages: 179

We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Please note that we won’t be rating this book. Assigning a numerical rating to a memoir just doesn’t feel right.

If courage could shine through ink, these pages would glow.

Kimber: Mom and I? We don’t say the above about too many books. But June Summers’ Hope Unleashed isn’t just any book. Hauntingly beautiful and searingly elegiac, Hope Unleashed is based on the life of a real woman, Wendy, as told by her mother. It also has dogs. About 40+. And about 20 cats (Nobody’s perfect). And how Wendy’s limitless love for animals and her passion for saving lives became her own lifeline as she battled an aggressive form of cancer.

Mom says you might want to grab a box of tissue before diving into this one. Or maybe a whole pallet. I’ll let Mom tell ya more. As soon as I re-up her tissue supply. Take it away, Mom:

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Sparks’ ‘Dreamland’: Straight Outta Snoozeville?

Dreamland

By Nicholas Sparks (Random House, 2022)

Pages: 360

Genre: Fiction

Via: Library Book Sale

“So who are you and what have you done with Nicholas Sparks?” Her Momness asketh the other day. I’m pretty sure it’s a “rhetorical question.” Not sure what that means. Except that Mom’s been reading Nicholas Sparks since just after the discovery of fire. And apparently she was, shall we say, less than impressed with this tome? Here’s why:

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‘An Honorable Defeat’ Prodigious, Probing

You know how Mom and I love history, write? (That’s not a typo.)  So when we saw William C. Davis’ An Honorable Defeat: The Last Days of the Confederate Government at a library book sale recently, we snapped it up right quick. Thought we’d chew on it awhile. After all, it smelled like a good idea!

Here’s the 4-1-1:

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WWII Heroism Remembered in ‘Fifty-Three Days on Starvation Island’: When Uncommon Valor Was a Common Virtue

Fifty-Three Days on Starvation Island

The World War II Battle That Saved Marine Corps Aviation

By John Bruning

Via’ Library

Genre: Narrative Non-Fiction/Military History

Pages: 436 + Epilogue, Final Note, Their Legacy, Appendix, Bibliographic Essay, Notes, and Index

Note: We’re posting this review today because November 10 is a very important day in our household. Dad was a Marine. And November 10 is the Marine Corps Birthday. In honor of The Few. The Proud, we thought we’d look back at a historic battle in a long line of historic USMC battles via this book. From the Halls of Montezuma, to the Shores of Tripoli…

Hi, Dad!

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Why This ‘Monster’ Surprised Us

Someone say, “Make like a tree and leaf”?

Bet you think we’re gonna do a “Halloween” post today, huh? Nah. Her Royal Momness and I? We’re not big Halloweeners. But we are big Frank Peretti fans. Ever since This Present Darkness.

So when we found a copy of an old Peretti novel we hadn’t yet read at a library book sale the other day, we scooped it up like The Kimster after a T-bone steak. We’re talkin’ nano-second here. Especially since it was a hardback book. For like, a quarter. Oh yeah.

The 4-1-1

Anyway, here’s the 4-1-1 on Peretti’s thriller novel, Monster:

More terrifying than any nightmare, something has scathed a very real path thru the Idaho hills, paving it in blood and echoing screams. It lives, it hunts, and it’s just getting started.

This time, the monster is real.

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10+ Bark-Worthy Books Set in Exotic-ish Locales

You don’t have to say it. I know I’m beautiful. Also shy, modest, and retiring.

Kimber here with another edition of Fine Wine Fridays. (I was holding out for Excellently Scrumptious and Splendiferous Book Lists That Are So Delicious, They’re Even Better Than My Fave Dog Chow or Squeaky Toy. Mom nixed that. Ugh.)

Anyway, today we’re highlighting books set in exotic locales or other continents. So if you liked Peter Pan or Narnia, you may like… Oh, wait. Scratch that. These are set in real places, not Neverland or Aslan’s Country (Mom, you are no fun!)

Squirrel!

Wait. Where was I?

Oh yeah. Fun, interesting, engaging reads in other settings. Some titles are old. Some are new. They may be even better than my squeaky toy. (But I’m still holding on to it. Just in case.) So here, in no particular order, are:

10+ bark-worthy books set in exotic-ish locales:

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The Slug & I and a New Spy Thriller

Didya miss us?

Kimber the Magnificent here. Her Momness can’t come to the blog write now (that’s not a typo.) She’s being a lazy slug. Slacking on this post-y/bloggy thing. So I decided to step in and take over. After all, someone has to be the adult in the room. (And we all know who that leaves out, right?)

Anyway, the Slug and I? We’ve read like, 98 million books since our last post-y thing. Well. Okay. Maybe not “98 million.” Maybe only 97. But anyway. I wanted to tell ya about the last historical fiction thing-y we read. Cuz someone has to, Slugville notwithstanding. So here goes:

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