Island Nights' Entertainments - Robert Louis Stevenson

This book is a collection of three stories: The Beach of Falesa, The Bottle Imp, and Isle of Voices. All of them are fairly short and didn't take me long to read. I got this through Gutenberg.org. This is also the first thing I've read by Robert Louis Stevenson.

The Beach of Falesa is the story of a man who comes to the island and is betrayed by the man who introduces him around. He isn't going to back down and begins to plot his revenge.

The Bottle Imp is about a bottle that will grant all your wishes. They come at a cost, though. You have to sell the bottle for less than you bought it for, and the imp seems to work in strange ways. Eventually, the price gets low. The person stuck with the bottle at their death is automatically damned.

Isle of Voices is magical. There's an island of shells that turn into dollars, and warlocks use their powers to visit and get money. A lazy son-in-law is brought one day and decides to try and blackmail the warlock. It's not the best idea and backfires, and so does just about everything else that happens after that.

The stories are interesting, but my favorite was The Bottle Imp. I liked the story more than the characters, but it was tense enough I wanted to find out what happened. And it didn't disappoint. The first story was my second favorite. It was different, and I liked the imagination involved. The third one wasn't something I was drawn to. I don't know why, but it was somewhat forgettable.

The writing was engaging, but some of the language has not aged well, specifically the terminology used for the island natives. If you can ignore those, the stories might be worth your time. They are all public domain, so you're not risking any money. Overall, even though I didn't enjoy the third, it wasn't terrible either. I'm comfortable giving this collection a Good Book! review.

Flying Start - Hugh Dundas

Hugh was a fighter pilot in WWII. He mostly flew Spitfires, and he details his experience with them here. He was involved in the Battle of Britain and the campaign in Italy. He tells a lot of anecdotes and personal stories. 

I don't have a lot to say about this one. The writing was pretty good, and I found the stories interesting. I recognized some of the names in there, and Hugh was honest about how he felt about going up after being injured. I did enjoy the addition of the letters at the end. They brought another layer of personal experience.

I liked reading the details of Dundas' experiences. He doesn't omit his disappointments or fears. The end was super abrupt to me. I had to go back and read it again, because I didn't expect it to just end like that. I'm going to give this one a Good Book! review, because I enjoyed the stories and the honesty.

Men Without Country - Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall

I wanted to read this after watching Passage to Marseille.

This story is set during WWII. A group of men escapes from a prison in French Guyana. They are eventually picked up by a ship taking nickel ore to Marseille, but with the war in France, landing there may not be possible. Word reaches them that France has fallen, and the captain wants to head for England. There are people on board, however, that are more concerned with following orders. That means handing the ship over to the Germans, and the captain won't agree to that.

The story is being told to a reporter by a man who got to know them on that ship. It's short and easy to read. With it being this short, it's hard to get to know the characters. And multiple names starting with the letter 'M' didn't help. I will probably remember the basic elements of the plot, but the characters didn't get the time they needed to distinguish themselves from each other. It's an okay story, but I think it would have been better drawn out into a full novel. It would've given time to develop the characters enough that I cared about their fate.

Queen Victoria as I Knew Her - Sir Thomas Martin

Thomas Martin was asked to write a book about the life of Prince Albert. During that time, he had to interact with the Queen on what she wanted included in the book. They struck up a friendship that lasted throughout the rest of her life.

This book was a bit weird to me. It seemed like Martin adored the queen and had her on a sort of pedestal. He included snippets of a lot of letters and notes he received from her. It was almost like he wanted to show the world how close he was to the queen. He does talk about her personality, but I felt like the focus was more on his views. I'm not sure how to describe it.

Overall, I wasn't a big fan of this one. Toward the end, Martin was adding his sonnets and making sure to mention where they appeared (newspapers, etc.). I'm not a huge poetry fan, so I skipped most of those. I didn't feel like I learned much more about Queen Victoria through the book.

An Autobiography - Agatha Christie

I like Agatha Christie. I knew this was on the longer side, so it sat on my pile of books to be read for quite a while.

This goes through the popular author's life in her own words. She's 75 at the time, and she lived another ten years after that. She has a bit of sass and makes sure to let the reader know she hasn't spent tons of time editing. She wrote it the way she wanted and in the order she wanted.

I found it interesting to see things through her eyes. Her books, how she got into writing, and even what she thought of her own works. I was particularly shocked to see what she wanted to do to my favorite, "And Then There Were None" when trying to turn it into a play. I hated the movie where people lived at the end. She had the idea to leave the two alive in the play. It would align with the nursery rhyme as well. I mean, the original title, while inappropriate today, could've altered the plot, but I still don't like the change. Tangent over. I just really like that book, and I hated when the movie took the genius out of it.

Anyway, I liked this book for the most part. There were times when she would go on a bit longer than I wished about some topics, but overall, it was interesting to get a glimpse into the brain of the woman who didn't really see herself as an author most of the time. She had some great quotes in there and an interesting way of looking at life. Good Book!

Dying for Love - Cara Putnam

I've had this waiting on my Kindle for quite a while. I wanted to read something quick, so I pulled this up.

Ciara and David were close once. They both clerked for the same judge, but now they find themselves on opposite sides of the courtroom. The judge calls them both in to his office early one morning, but they find his body instead. 

For two people who claim to care about the judge, they seem to focus on each other an awful lot. They agree to work together and contribute what they can to the case. Then, they make a few calls, visit the man's son and stare at each other. Even the solution to the murder felt like an afterthought.

I found this 94-page novella irritating. I was interested in the mystery aspect, so it was a letdown that it took a backseat to these two being immature. Ciara walks away and then blames David for not stopping her. I hate when characters create the situation for them to be antagonistic to others. She had expectations for the way David was supposed to respond to her. When he didn't do what she wanted, she used that as a reason to reject him. Also, she holds what he does against him, but she doesn't know why he does it and doesn't try to understand.

Anyway, this wasn't for me. The title makes me think "the judge died for their love." Weird.