Kate’s 2¢: “One Of Us Is Lying” by Shalini Boland

“One Of Us Is Lying” by Shalini Boland

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   Shalini lives in Dorset, England with her husband, two children, and their cheeky terrier mix. Before kids, she was signed to Universal Music Publishing as a singer/songwriter, but now she spends her days writing .

   Boland is the million-copy, USA-Today bestselling author of eight psychological thrillers: ‘THE GIRL FROM THE SEA’, ‘THE BEST FRIEND’, ‘THE MILLIONAIRE’S WIFE’ (optioned for TV by Legendary Studios), ‘THE SECRET MOTHER’, ‘THE CHILD NEXT DOOR’, ‘THE SILENT SISTER’, ‘THE PERFECT FAMILY’ and ‘THE MARRIAGE BETRAYAL’.

The Other Daughter by Shalini Boland – Waggy Tales

waggytalesblog.com/2019/11/06/the-other-daughter-by-shalini-boland/

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

One of us is lying DB104296

Boland, Shalini. Reading time: 8 hours, 2 minutes.

Read by Eva Wilhelm.

Suspense Fiction

Psychological Fiction

While walking home with her children in their safe, quiet town, Tia realizes something is wrong with her five-year-old daughter, Rosie. Once she gets Rosie to open up, she is sorry she did, because Rosie wants to know why Tia killed someone. Long-buried secrets emerge. Violence, strong language, and some explicit descriptions of sex. 2020.

Downloaded: October 7, 2021

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Kate’s 2¢: “False Witness” by Karin Slaughter

“False Witness” by Karin Slaughter

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   Written during the 2020 fever pitch of the Covid-19 pandemic, Slaughter manages to convey the paranoid reactions to information and misinformation about the virus. To wear a face mask or not to wear a face mask?

   However, no mask can hide the horrors of a sexual predator when ‘like father/like son’ stalks Leigh and Calli. This is a chilling story that actually ends as it should. I enjoyed this tale of intrigue and suspense.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karin_SlaughterActions for this site

Karin Slaughter (born January 6, 1971) in Georgia, is an American crime writer. She has written 18 novels, which have sold more than 35 million copies and have been published in 37 languages. Her first novel, Blindsighted (2001), was published in 27 languages and made the Crime Writers’ Association’s Dagger Award shortlist for “Best Thriller Debut” of 2001.

   She is a celebrity author. Her genres are Crime Fiction, Mystery, Thriller. Her successful albums are Letzte Worte, Harter Schnitt. Her popular books are Pieces of Her (2018), Last Breath (2017), Pretty Girls (2015), Triptych (2006) and Blindsighted (2001).

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

False witness DB104747

Slaughter, Karin. Reading time: 18 hours, 41 minutes.

Read by Kathleen Early.

Suspense Fiction

Defense attorney Leigh Collier has worked hard to build a life that appears normal to the outside world. But her mask of normality conceals a childhood of secrets and violence. When she is called in to defend a wealthy man accused of rape, her past comes calling. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2021.

Downloaded: October 7, 2021

Kate’s 2¢: “The last goodnights: assisting my parents with their suicides : a memoir” BY John Stuart West

“The last goodnights: assisting my parents with their suicides : a memoir” BY John Stuart West

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   As a lawyer, West knew of the risk he was taking, but, since both his parents asked for his help  and they were terminal, he assisted their suicides. The author seems to over congratulate himself for his ‘service’, however, his point in writing the book was to encourage legislation to legalize assisted suicide.

   The issue raises a lot of ethical, moral, and practical facets and , like all altruistic  ideas, could be abused.

From the Web:

John West is the author of the controversial book “The Last Goodnights”. a memoir about his assisting his parents with their suicides – the first book of its kind to be published in 25 years, and one of only three such books ever written. John has also established The Last Goodnights Organization – the purpose of which is to elevate the discussion about choice and privacy rights .

From NLS/BARD/LOC          :

The last goodnights: assisting my parents with their suicides : a memoir DBC13262

West, John, (John Stuart). Reading time: 8 hours, 51 minutes.

Read by Norm Jones.

Psychology and Self-Help

Biography

Family

A husband and wife, both medical professionals, are gravely ill. Rather than living in pain, they choose to end their lives, and they turn to their son for help. Despite the legal risks and certain emotional turmoil, he agrees, and ultimately performs an act of love more difficult than any other.

Downloaded: December 11, 2021

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Kate’s 2¢: “Clark and Division” by Naomi Hirahara

“Clark and Division” by Naomi Hirahara

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   I found so many Japanese terms distracting from the story. It was enough to digest the Japanese names.  Other than that, I found the story compelling, yet disturbing.

   Along with reading “Clark and Division”, I was reading “Facing the mountain: a true story of Japanese American heroes in World War II” by Daniel James Brown and read by Louis Ozawa. The historical facts of both books match, so, the story of the family’s travails in Chicago are quite plausible. 

   What bothers me is how inhuman man (or should I say: people?) is to man and how history is still repeating itself.  Will we ever wake up intime to save ourselves from ourselves?

Naomi Hirahara was born in Pasadena, California. Her father, Isamu (known as “Sam”), was also born in California, but was taken to Hiroshima, Japan, as an infant. He was only miles away from the epicenter of the atomic-bombing in 1945, yet survived. Naomi’s mother, Mayumi, or “May,” was born in Hiroshima and lost her father in the blast. Shortly after the end of World War II, Sam returned to California and eventually established himself in the gardening and landscaping trade in the Los Angeles area. After Sam married May in Hiroshima in 1960, the couple made their new home in Altadena and then South Pasadena, where Naomi and her younger brother Jimmy grew up and attended secondary school.

The author  visited  Hiroshima at the age of three.

Naomi received her bachelor’s degree in international relations from Stanford University and studied at the Inter-University Center for Advanced Japanese Language Studies in Tokyo. She also spent three months as a volunteer work camper in Ghana, West Africa.

She was a reporter and editor of The Rafu Shimpo during the culmination of the redress and reparations movement for Japanese Americans who were forcibly removed from their homes during World War II. During her tenure as editor, the newspaper published a highly-acclaimed inter-ethnic relations series after the L.A. riots.

Naomi left the newspaper in 1996 to serve as a Milton Center Fellow in creative writing at Newman University in Wichita, Kansas.

After returning to Southern California in 1997, she began to edit, publish, and write books. She edited Green Makers: Japanese American Gardeners in Southern California (2000), published by the Southern California Gardeners’ Federation and partially funded by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program. She then authored two biographies for the Japanese American National Museum, An American Son: The Story of George Aratani, Founder of Mikasa and Kenwood (2000) and A Taste for Strawberries: The Independent Journey of Nisei Farmer Manabi Hirasaki (2003). She also compiled a reference book, Distinguished Asian American Business Leaders (2003), for Greenwood Press and with Dr. Gwenn M. Jensen co-authored the book, Silent Scars of Healing Hands: Oral Histories of Japanese American Doctors in World War II Detention Camps (2004) for the Japanese American Medical Association. Under her own small press, Midori Books, she has created a book for the Southern California Flower Growers, Inc., A Scent of Flowers: The History of the Southern California Flower Market (2004). Other Midori Books projects include Fighting Spirit: Judo in Southern California, 1930-1941 (co-authored by Ansho Mas Uchima and Larry Akira Kobayashi, 2006).

Summer of the Big Bachi (Bantam/Delta, 2004) was Naomi’s first mystery. The book, a finalist for Barbara Kingsolver’s Bellwether Prize, was also nominated for a Macavity mystery award. The completion of the novel was made possible by support from the California Community Foundation’s Brody Arts Award; Hedgebrook in Whidbey Island, Washington; Pacific Asian Women Writers-West; UCLA Extension Writers’ Program; and again, the Milton Center, which has since moved to Seattle, Washington.

Receiving a starred review from Publishers Weekly, Summer of the Big Bachi was included in the trade magazine’s list of best books of 2004, as well as the best mystery list of the Chicago Tribune. Gasa-Gasa Girl, the second Mas Arai mystery, received a starred review from Booklist and was on the Southern California Booksellers’ Association bestseller list for two weeks in 2005. Snakeskin Shamisen, the third in the series, was released in May 2006. In April 2007 it won an Edgar Allan Poe award in the category of Best Paperback Original. The third Mas Arai book was followed by Blood Hina, Strawberry Yellow, Sayonara Slam and Hiroshima Boy, all currently published by Prospect Park Books. The seventh and final Mas Arai mystery, Hiroshima Boy, was nominated for an Edgar Award in the category of Best Paperback Original, an Anthony and a Macavity.

Naomi also has two books in her Officer Ellie Rush bicycle cop series, Murder on Bamboo Lane, winner of the T. Jefferson Parker Mystery Award, and Grave on Grand Avenue, both published by Penguin Random House. Her series set in Hawai’i featuring Leilani Santiago is connected to the world of Ellie Rush. The series begins with Iced in Paradise, released by Prospect Park Books. Her only book for younger readers, 1001 Cranes (Delacorte), received an honorable mention in Youth Literature from the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Clark and Division DB104746

Hirahara, Naomi. Reading time: 8 hours, 58 minutes.

Read by Allison Hiroto.

Suspense Fiction

Mystery and Detective Stories

Chicago, 1944. Twenty-year-old Aki Ito and her parents have been released from the Manzanar camp they were incarcerated in, and relocated to Chicago to be reunited with Aki’s older sister, Rose. But Rose has died in a train accident, and Aki must uncover Rose’s secrets. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2021.

Downloaded: October 7, 2021

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“Clark and Division” by Naomi Hirahara

Facing the mountain: a true story of Japanese American heroes in World War II DB103646

Brown, Daniel James Reading time: 17 hours, 42 minutes.

Louis Ozawa

Bestsellers

World History and Affairs

The author of The Boys in the Boat (DB 77138) highlights the contributions and sacrifices of Japanese Americans, particularly four families whose sons volunteered for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. He discusses the dangers these soldiers faced as well as the difficulties and discrimination their families suffered back in America. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. Bestseller. 2021.

Download Facing the mountain: a true story of Japanese American heroes in World War II DB103646

Kate’s 2¢: “November man. Books 4-6” by Bill Granger

“November man. Books 4-6” by Bill Granger

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

The British Cross

   Oh my, the tangled  deceptive webs we do weave!  I’m still not sure who was telling the truth. There sure were a lot of dead bodies, double and triple crosses mixed in with love and more deceptions.

“The Zurich Numbers”

   This begins with a brief re-cap of “The British Cross”, then begins a new intrigue, where you know the November Man will have to become involved  to clear up the human trafficking or is he messing up an NSA black op?

   I wonder what the writer’s process is to keep all the dead or alive, friend or foe characters straight.

“ Hemingway’s Notebook”

   Much of this story surrounds the mystery of a notebook the real Hemmingway may or may not have left and been found by the possible current owner.

From Wikipedia:

Bill Granger (June 1, 1941 – April 22, 2012) was an American novelist from Chicago specializing in political thrillers. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Joe Gash and Bill Griffith. He worked at the Chicago Tribune and other Illinois newspapers.

Granger lived most of his life in Chicago, on the city’s South Side. He attended St. Ambrose Catholic School until 1955. Next, Granger attended DePaul University, where he was a student newspaper editor of The DePaulia. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1963.[8] During his student years he was a copy boy with The Washington Post”, where he met his wife Lori.

Military service and writing career[edit]

From 1963 to 1965, Granger served with the United States Army before his writing career that span from the 1960s to 2000 with several Chicago newspapers:[8]

• 1963-1966 Reporter with United Press International Chicago bureau

• 1966-1969 Reporter with Chicago Tribune

• 1969 Began teaching journalism classes at Columbia College, Chicago

• 1969-1978 Reporter and columnist with Chicago Sun Times

• 1971 6-month leave from Sun Times to Europe and later covering Belfast civil war for Newsday, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times news service

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

November man. Books 4-6 DB103992

Granger, Bill. Reading time: 26 hours, 0 minutes.

Read by Dwayne Glapion.

Spy Stories

Books four through six of the series, published between 1983 and 1986. In The British Cross, a defecting Russian agent dangles a Gulag prisoner in front of the November Man. Also includes The Zurich Numbers and Hemingway’s Notebook. Sequel to November Man, Books 1-3 (DB 103520). Strong language, some violence, and some descriptions of sex. 1986.

Downloaded: October 7, 2021

Download November man. Books 4-6

Kate’s 2¢: “Stargazer” by Anne Hillerman

“Stargazer” by Anne Hillerman

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

–Drugs, alcohol, poverty, violence. The seeds of the problem were planted before she or Maya or anyone of their generation took a breath.

–The heritage of historical trauma loomed large over all Native people.

–It was a tribute to the Navajo Nation that so many of their traditions survived the force marches, boarding schools, and prejudice.

–Leave undisturbed the spirits of the ancestors that cling to these places.

–Everything is considered living and sacred. The entire universe is a living, sacred organism; existing in a constant, regenerating cosmos.

   We learn many Navajo words as Bernie investigates the why and how of her friend, Maya’s confessing of murdering her estranged husband. We also learn about many of the Navajo customs and beliefs, such as the star ceilings in caves.

   I enjoyed this story, with its descriptions of the beautiful country-side and mountains.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anne Hillerman is an American journalist from New Mexico, and a New York Times best-selling author. The daughter of novelist Tony Hillerman, she continued her father’s series of Joe Leaphorn-Jim Chee novels following his death.

She is the daughter of novelist Tony Hillerman and his wife Marie Unzner, and was married to photographer Don Strel who died in 2020. Anne has served as arts editor and editorial page editor, as well as writer, for The Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper and the Albuquerque Journal.[1] Her first books were primarily about travel, local New Mexico points of interest, and restaurants. She and Strel collaborated on Santa Fe Flavors: Best Restaurants and Recipes and Gardens of Santa Fe.[2]

Leaphorn and Chee novels[edit]

Tony Hillerman, who died in 2008, was best known for his Leaphorn and Chee mystery novels.[3] Tony Hillerman’s Landscapes: On the Road with Chee and Leaphorn was begun by Anne before his death, and includes his comments. With Anne gleaning locale details from her father’s novels, and her husband taking the photographs, she intended it as a book to draw in readers of his novels, a guide for the reader to visualize the New Mexico and Arizona sites from the perspective of the two main protagonists Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee.[4]

After her father’s death, Anne continued the Leaphorn and Chee series, but Leaphorn’s involvement is curtailed in the first chapter of the first book, Spider Woman’s Daughter. Leaphorn is the victim of an assassination attempt, spends half of the book in a coma, and later was severely limited in his ability to communicate. Chee and Bernadette Manuelito are the crime solvers from that book forward in the series, with Leaphorn mentioned sporadically in the background but never fully active in the investigations. Spider Woman’s Daughter garnered the 2014 Spur Award for Best First Novel from the Western Writers of America, and landed on the New York Times Best Seller list.[5][6][7]

She followed that with three more in the series, Rock With Wings,[8] Song of the Lion[9] [10] and Cave of Bones, released April 2018, all of which have also been on the New York Times Best Seller list.[11]

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Stargazer DB103440

Hillerman, Anne. Reading time: 9 hours, 22 minutes.

Read by Darrell Dennis.

Suspense Fiction

Mystery and Detective Stories

Officer Bernadette Manuelito’s day starts out normally, but then she is asked to investigate the disappearance of her former friend and roommate Maya. Maya confessed to murder before disappearing. But nothing adds up for Bernie. Her investigation leads to a rift with her husband, Jim Chee. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2021.

Downloaded: July 3, 2021

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Kate’s 2¢: “A Birdsong tutor for visually handicapped individuals: by Lang Elliott

“A Birdsong tutor for visually handicapped individuals: by Lang Elliott

Kate’s 2¢:

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   I really enjoyed taking a walk to hear the birds and their calls as well as learning about their favorite habitats.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

A Birdsong tutor for visually handicapped individuals DB29485

Elliott, Lang. Reading time: 2 hours, 12 minutes.

Read by Lang Elliot. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Hobbies and Crafts

Animals and Wildlife

Nature and the Environment

An auditory guide to the sounds made by birds and other wildlife. Following an introduction to a variety of natural sounds, including a full mixed chorus of woodland birds, Lang conducts different field trips to acquaint us with various habitats of the sound-makers. With practice, the listener will be able to identify singers from the eastern United States and Canada.

Download A Birdsong tutor for visually handicapped individuals

Kate’s 2¢: “A private cathedral” by James Lee Burke

“A private cathedral” by James Lee Burke

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

–Who ever thought we’d die.

–What about those moments when you strip your gears, whether you’re chemically loaded or not, get lost inside the immensity of creation and see too deeply into our ephemerality and our penchant for greed and war and willingness to destroy the big blue marble; and for a brief moment, you scare yourself so badly you wonder why you didn’t park your porridge on the ceiling a long, long time ago.

   The many voices of the reader, Will Patton, added much drama to this story. Even when he whispered, the volume wasn’t too soft to hear and the loud yells, didn’t blister my eardrums. He really has the voice of ‘the God-father’ down pat.

   I enjoyed this para-normal detective mystery story, although, I didn’t dare read it at bed-time.

From: Wikipedia

James Lee Burke (born December 5, 1936) is an American author, best known for his Dave Robicheaux series. He has won Edgar Awards for Black Cherry Blues.

Will Patton, audio version for 22 books written by best-selling mystery writer James Lee Burke.

From:  https://24.fandom.com/wiki/Will_Patton:

Will Patton was born in Charleston, South Carolina. His father was Bill Patton, a playwright and acting/directing instructor, who was also a Lutheran minister and served as chaplain at Duke University. Patton attended the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem and The Actors’ Studio in New York City, New York.

Patton began his career in 1979, appearing in the film Minus Zero. Other films in which he has appeared are No Way Out (with Eugene Robert Glazer), Romeo Is Bleeding (with Michael Wincott and James Cromwell), Copycat (with Kelvin Han Yee), The Postman (with Dylan Haggerty), Entrapment (with Kevin McNally and David Yip), Gone In Sixty Seconds (with Lombardo Boyar), and The Mothman Prophecies (with Lucinda Jenney).

On television, Patton has had recurring roles in shows like VR.5, The Agency (with Kathleen Gati), and Numb3rs (with Navi Rawat). Most recently, he has been known for his role of Colonel Weaver in TNT’s sci-fi series Falling Skies.

From NLS/BARD/LOC                      :

A private cathedral DB100489

Burke, James Lee Reading time: 11 hours, 32 minutes.

Will Patton

Mystery and Detective Stories

After finding himself caught up in one of Louisiana’s oldest and bloodiest family rivalries, Detective Dave Robicheaux must battle the most terrifying adversary he has ever encountered: a time-traveling superhuman assassin. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2020.

Download A private cathedral DB100489