Reading Update

 Deep Creek: Finding hope in the high country, Houston

A sort of memoir about a writer who bought a beautiful ranch. There was a section about how horrible forest fires leveled everything around her. By some miracle they missed the main part of her ranch. I've been evacuated from a fire before, so that part kept me on the edge of my seat.

Never Cry Wolf, Mowat

 The account of one of the first people to go into the wild to study wolves. At that point, society's view was that wolves killed everything they saw, and the world would be better off without them. But this guy realized that wasn't true at all. It was the human hunters that were killing everything. He learned a lot from a couple Inuit friends, and he has some pretty entertaining parts of his story. Unlike other books I've read about studying animals, this one reads more like a story than a report. 

Beauty and the Beast, Villeneuve

This is the original version of Beauty and the Beast from the 1800's. The first half of the story is pretty much what you'd expect it to be. But then it goes on. It tells the whole story of how the prince became a beast. He was targeted by a mean fairy, who said he could only break the curse if a woman fell in love with him, and he could never be nice to her. A nice fairy found the beauty who would be able to fall in love with him despite those conditions. 

 

The Hero and the Crown, McKinley

A rare fantasy that I enjoyed. I've liked both books I've read by this author, so I'll look for some more. Though the way she writes her final battles is kinda strange. There's always these strange magical factors that make things confusing and hard to follow.

The Color of Magic, Pratchett

This read more like a gag manga than anything @_@ But it looks like it was his first book. I'll keep going, because I hear about this author all the time, and I've only read a few of his books.

Voyage of the Turtle, Safina

This guy has some really good animal books. This one was about leatherback turtles, and oceans. As always, he has some fascinating stuff.  

 

Mistborn, Sanderson

Yeah, I already wrote an entire post about these books.

Unbroken, Hillenbrand

This is the author that wrote Seabiscuit, which was an incredible story with amazing research. So I thought I'd try her other book. Whooo, this was super heavy. A true story about an Olympic athlete that ended up in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in WWII. Once again, amazingly researched. But certainly not for the faint of heart. Still, it's important to know history. At least it has a happy ending for him.

A Sand County Almanac, Leopold

This book really made me want to get outside. And it also really made me want to write about nature.  And I'm sure his goal was to drive you outside, so he succeeded well.

Rooftoppers, Rundell

I feel like this book ended before it was actually over. It stopped right in the middle of what should have been the climax, and left a lot of unanswered questions. 

The Wolverine Way, Chadwick

Okay, usually these books about studying animals are kind of bland. But this one was entertaining! I loved wolverines before (we have the most charming wolverine at our zoo. He may be an old man, but he'll still say hi to people, and do somersaults when he gets excited), but this book made me love theme even more. 

The Line Between, Beagle

A book of short stories by the author of The Last Unicorn.  This actually had a short story that takes place after the book. Man, that was like going back and seeing old friends. It made me super nostalgic. 

 

Becoming Wild, Safina

Another great book on animal behavior. This one looked at macaws, chimps, and whales. All super smart, amazing creatures. 

Mama's Last Hug, de Waal

More animal behavior! It had good info - angles I hadn't thought of much before. 

Nemesis, Asimov

Finally a book from him that actually kind of respected women XD

Sour Puss, Brown

Another of the Mrs. Murphy mysteries. Someone actually gave me some of these books many years ago. I ended up starting with this one, so maybe they gave me books that were out of order. I was totally lost, because I didn't know any of the characters that had been introduced in previous books. Well, there's a reason I like to read books in order XD It was much better reading it now, when I actually understand what's happening.