The Protégé - Charlotte Armstrong

Last up from my Christmas stash is this little gem. I'm somewhat sad to be out of gothics, but all good things come to an end. And honestly, I need my TBR pile to get smaller. It's a goal of mine for this year.

Mrs. Moffat is approached at church one Sunday by a grown up Simon Warren. He's the young man who used to live next door, and he seems to be going through something. The older woman is feeling a little lonely, and she wants to help the young man. Unfortunately, the young man has more secrets than she expects.

This book was a little different than the usual gothic. It wasn't a brooding man in a tower, and it wasn't a romance needing a bit of help. It was a couple of souls that were lost. One ended up finding family, and the other didn't. I really liked the change, and I was happy to see this book is actually available in Kindle form.

If you're looking for the spooky, ghostly gothic book, this one isn't going to scratch that particular itch. If you're into something a little different, maybe something that approaches the genre more from a tense, what's really going on here? kind of mystery, this might be worth checking out. I enjoyed it for sure. Good Book!

Berserk #14 - Kentaro Miura (and thoughts up to this point)

I vowed I would finish this up today, and I kept my word!

Casca's memories are restored, but she's not ready to be close to Guts. It's heartbreaking for me. After everything I've gone through! Does no one care how I feel?!

Griffith is still spreading his Griffithness all over the place and making his kingdom larger.

Okay, so it's clear this was not meant to be the end. I know the author passed away before he was able to finish it, and his friends debated whether or not to continue the story with their knowledge of the author's intentions. From what I'm seeing, they're pushing forward, carefully stepping only where they know the author wanted the story to go.

Theoretically, I'd be all for keeping my tomes the same, but this is going to be an exception. These deluxe volumes are really nice, but so far there's only two of the newer volumes and only one in English. The deluxe versions I currently have include three volumes, so it would be quite some time before a deluxe would exist, and I am just not willing to wait around that long.

The things that really stood out to me with this manga are the characters. Guts especially. He started out with nothing and no one. He really gathered quite the little family around him as time went by. And I was rooting for Casca for so long, I thought I would end up throwing one of these tomes across the room. Another thing that really struck me was the art. Some of the full page panels I would just sit and stare at and wonder how long it took to create. I'd see little fine details that had to take forever to draw in, and I'm sure I missed a lot more.

There was also a lot of gore and moments I probably blushed over, but they didn't bother me. Some of the monsters were really creative, and I actually liked the character design of a couple of the monsters. I also won't claim I understood all the panels, especially during fights.

This manga has been a really interesting ride. I didn't like where it ended, and I appreciate what I read about the friends of the author trying to stay true to the intended story. I've ordered volume 42, the newest and first episode of the new guard. I really want to know what happens next. Great Manga!

Berserk #13 - Kentaro Miura

Finally! I waited so long to get this volume! I decided to be patient and put off getting it in November, because I was going to use my Christmas money to purchase it. Then, horror of horrors, it was out of stock (because my Christmas money is an Amazon gift card). I was finally able to get my grubby little hands on it Tuesday night and spent yesterday reading it. 

We have two storylines going on simultaneously. Guts and crew finally make it to Elfhelm, and Rickert finally makes it to Falconia where he confronts Griffith. 

Casca begins her journey to regaining her memories.

I think this is one of my favorite ones. It wasn't nonstop fighting, but it has a lot of character development. It has some flashbacks, especially while they're gathering Casca's memories, but I liked the art style and the way the characters were interacting with each other. Especially the guys. The whole thing just worked for me.

While I was wallowing in my misery of not having volume 13, I snatched up volume 14 for a good price. We're in the middle of healing Casca's mind, and I'm definitely making volume 14 a priority. Good Book!

A Holiday for Murder - Agatha Christie

My daughter picked up this paperback while thrifting and let me borrow it. Unfortunately, I didn't know she hadn't read it yet, so I might have let out a spoiler or two after I'd finished. Oh well.

Simeon Lee has gathered around his entire family to mend wounds and have a lovely Christmas. Actually, he's brought them together to tell them they're all useless, and he hates them. He isn't a pleasant person, so when he's murdered, no one seems really upset. It's more the manner in which he's murdered that sets everyone on edge. That scream!

I saw Hercule Poirot's Christmas starring David Suchet, so I remembered some of the details, but I didn't remember the ending, so it was still a mystery for me. As usual, the writing is engaging, and the story is top notch. If you've never read an Agatha Christie and you like mysteries, this is a great one to start with. It has very little to do with Christmas, so I wouldn't even say you should wait for the holidays to read it. It might even be depressing to read it around that time. Good Book!

Patrol - Philip MacDonald

I was interested to read this after watching the movie Sahara. That movie was inspired by this book, so I wanted to see how closely it stuck to the source material.

The lieutenant is dead. He kept putting off telling the rest of the patrol know where they were going and what they were supposed to be doing, and now they're adrift in an ocean of sand. The sergeant has to get them to safety and come up with a plan to regroup with friendlies. The problem is, there are Arabs out there, and they're picking off the soldiers one by one.

This book was intense. You can't help but get wrapped up in the hopelessness of the situation. At first, you're wondering how they can get out of the situation. As the book goes on, you start to wonder if anyone will make it away from there alive.

I don't recommend this book if you need something uplifting to read. This isn't one of those inspirational books with a happy ending. It has the kind of ending that I expected, and I appreciated the reality it presented. I think if you're ready to be faced with this kind of book, I highly recommend it. Good Book!

(And the movie barely took any inspiration from this book.)

The Third Spectre - Dan Ross

Another one of my epic Christmas gothic novels. This one had me excited. The summary on the back was really intriguing. "WELCOME TO TERROR..."

Nancy's husband, Ralph, has exonerated a woman accused of murder. Jean is a beautiful woman who told Nancy she was in love with Ralph, and now Nancy has to deal with Jean living in the same house. And since Jean's being a caregiver to her hateful mother-in-law, Nancy has a double beam of hate headed her way. When a ghost starts popping up, and Nancy starts becoming the target of a poisoner, it's clear that someone wants her dead.

When I think about old school gothics, this is the kind of thing I'm talking about. You know what's going on. I even had an idea in my head what was happening. I felt so smug and smart. Well, guess what? I was wrong. And I love that! This book was short, sweet, and even though Ralph was super irritating with his rose color glasses, and they killed Rex, I'm giving this one a Good Book! review.

I still don't think it was necessary to kill the dog...

Misty of Chincoteague - Marguerite Henry

You'd think for someone who loves horses as much as I do, I'd have read this book, but as far as I know, I'd never read this before. When I saw it in a bookstore, I decided to put it on my list and keep an eye on the price. Once the price dropped, I snatched it up.

On the island of Assateague, wild ponies have sought refuge after the Spanish galleon they were sailing on wrecked. Now, they are wild, and once a year, men journey to Assateague to keep the herds to a manageable number by swimming some of them over to Chincoteague and sell them. This year, Paul and Maureen Beebe have determined to claim Phantom and Misty for their own.

I really liked this book, but it did make me sad at times. When they would talk about taking the colts away from their mothers, yes, I was sad. I'm a sucker for stuff like that. Also, the end was a bit emotional.

I knew the swimming of the horses was based on a true story. I've always wanted to see that, honestly. What I didn't know was that the Beebes were real people, and Misty herself was real as well. There were a few liberties taken here and there, but this book had a lot more truth in it than I realized. By far, my favorite thing was the drawings. They are so cute, and I could look at them all day long.

I'm a bit ashamed I haven't read this before, but I've remedied it now. The book is short, and with all the pictures, it didn't take long to read. I recommend it to anyone who loves horses and a good story! Good Book!

Rescue in the Pacific - Tony Farrington

This book came into my possession from my daughter. Her boyfriend won it during trivia night, and they thought I might like to read it. I was honored they thought of me!

Back in 1994, multiple yachts were hammered by an unexpected storm in the Pacific Ocean. These ships were manned by crews of various levels of experienced skippers, and they dealt with different challenges throughout the storm. They were eventually rescued, but some of them had to wait longer than others. 

This book was fascinating. It was so tense, it was better than a lot of the contemporary fiction I've read. I had to keep reading to find out what happened to the crews of the various ships. I got to know the different people, and it was heartbreaking as well. There are pictures in the middle, and the author provided an update for the crews of the vessels at the end.

I can't recommend this book enough. I have ZERO sailing experience, so a ton of the language went over my head, but I got the gist of what was being referred to most of the time. The sad thing is that this book hasn't been digitized. It came out in 1995, but someone needs to preserve it. It was expertly written, and should be available for future generations to read without trying to scour the used market or accidentally stumble across it on a trivia reward table.

Sometimes truth is more interesting than fiction...

Good Book!

RIP to the Quartermaster crew

The Mystery of the Blue Train - Agatha Christie

This particular title is an Agatha Christie novel that entered the public domain. I was able to get it from gutenberg.org. It's also one of the many mysteries taken on by the esteemed detective Hercule Poirot.

A train ride is supposed to be taking Ruth Kettering to her lover. On the way, however, she's murdered, and her valuable rubies are stolen. Her lover seems to be the obvious suspect, since the jewels are missing. But since Poirot is involved, you just know it's not a simple murder. There's all sorts of people to consider, and a young woman who's recently come into some money might be able to help solve the mystery.

It's Agatha Christie. Do I need to say anything else? It's written well. She drags you along and makes you care about certain people. You're not solving it until Poirot does it for you, because he has information you don't. I had suspicions on who it was, but I didn't know why or any of the details.

It's in public domain. If you like Agatha Christie, you can get a hold of it easily. Good Book!

The Bridge of Strange Music - Jane Blackmore

I was gifted some truly epic-looking gothics for Christmas. I asked my daughter to pick out the first read for me, and this was the lucky winner. According to the summary on the back, three women are "in love" with John Hardacre (which is a lie, by the way). Prudence is the governess, Violet is the strumpet, and Laura is the wife.

I'm not really sure how to talk about the "plot" of this book. I'm not sure there is one. It's basically two of these three women fighting for possession of John. And I'm not even sure he's worth it. Actually, scratch that. I'm positive he's not. He gets drunk, sleeps with one of them, misses his daughter's recital and treats everyone like crap most of the time.

Prudence is ridiculous. She's all on board with falling in love with John, even though he is basically a putz. She looks over at the man, drunk as a skunk, right after he's missed his daughter's first recital, and thinks about it's a perfect moment. Say what?!

Some of the writing in this was wild. The whole bridge thing was weird. It was a vision or a dream. I can't tell. It was just crammed in there randomly at one point. Hands down, my favorite sentence in the entire book was, "The master's foot is the best dung." I quoted that to multiple people, and no one knew what it meant. 

The other weird thing is the time period. When I think "gothic," I'm thinking 1800's. This time, we're post WWII. I think the best thing that could have happened to all these people would have been for a bomb to have dropped on this farm and killed everyone. Just have the daughter be at a dance lesson with Miss Petula. She was the best character, and the daughter had talent. But no one cared.

Nightblind (Dark Iceland #2) - Ragnar Jónasson

It's been a bit, but I found the first book in this series, Snow Blind, on a trip to HPB in 2024. It was a whole $2, and it was one of the better finds from the trip. It was so good, that I decided to keep an eye out for this one. It went on sale, and I snatched it up!

Ari Thór has been passed over for the inspector position, and he's a bit salty about it. His new superior officer is a man who he's kept his distance from. He's also having a bit of tension at home with Kristin, and his new son isn't making things easier. A late night attack is going to throw things into further chaos.

These books are short and sweet. For being just over 200 pages, they get to the point and don't try to hit a page count with a bunch of nonsense. I appreciate the readability of both of the novels I've read by this author, and the character of Ari Thór. I was a bit bummed at the end, but there wasn't much else to be done. Another thing I appreciate is the wrap up. I hate when books leave the little loose ends after making me care about side characters. Do you want to know what happened to so-and-so? I was able to find out in this book! Thank you!

Next up is Blackout, and I'll be tracking it. Good Book!

Death Note (Manga) - Tsugumi Ohba

In October, I finished watching the anime for Death Note. I had access to the manga, so I wanted to see how faithful it was to the source material. 

Light is bored. When he sees a notebook fall from the sky one day, he grabs it, and a whole new world opens up to him. Because it's not an ordinary notebook. It belongs to a Shinigami named Ryuk, a creature from another realm who loves apples. Writing someone's name in the notebook results in that person's death. With it, Light envisions a world with no more evil. But his vision has some flaws, and someone is trying to flush him out. A foe that goes by the name "L."

The anime was very faithful to the manga, so I wasn't surprised by anything that happened in it. I appreciate that they respected the source material, but if you have to choose between one or the other, I'm not sure it makes a difference which one you choose. I really liked the art style in the manga, and some of the covers to the volumes really stood out to me. Other than that, it's probably which time dedication you want to invest in. 

There are 12 volumes to Death Note. It's a great story with plenty of twists and turns. I still like Ryuk best, even though his eyes pierced my soul a bit at the end.It's a great chess match that I'd never win, and I highly recommend it. Both the anime and the manga are great. The anime is free to watch on Tubi, so no excuses if you don't want to buy the manga! Good Story, Good Manga!

My favorite cover

My Fellow Prisoners - Mikhail Khodorkovsky

This book covers short snippets of interactions a prisoner in Russia's penal system had with others during his sentence. Khodorkovsky was in that system from 2005-2013. And these are some of the characters he met along the way.

The corruption was crazy. The way men were manipulated into testifying against others so they would spend more time incarcerated was insanity. Those men were being threatened as well, so I couldn't pass judgment on them, because I have no idea what I'd do in a situation like that.

One of the stories that stood out to me the most was about a man framed for a brutal attack. He had multiple forms of paperwork showing that he was nowhere near the location of the attack, but all it took was two "witnesses" (who were told what to say), and the man was suddenly in a lot more trouble.

What you won't find in this book is a personal account of the author's stay. It was too much for him, and he doesn't want to talk about it. And that's completely fine. What he did was to preserve a slice of time and experience that doesn't often see the light of day or get spoken of in detail.

Overall, I would recommend this for anyone who wants a glimpse into the walls of a Russian prison. This book is perfect. It's short, there are plenty of breaks, and it covers a lot of different types of people. It's hard to understand how places like this can exist. According to Wikipedia, it's common for the judge to read the entire verdict. In Khodorkovsky's trial, his verdict was 662 pages, and the reading started on May 16. It finished up on May 31! The entire system seems surreal and like something out of a novel. If you have even a smidgeon of interest in this subject, you should check out this book. It's short, and the Kindle version is very affordable. Good Book!

Waltz into Darkness - Cornell Woolrich

Louis is waiting for his intended to appear in New Orleans after they've exchanged a few letters. There's a few things that strike him as odd, but nothing really prepares him for the day when she drains his bank account and disappears without a trace. After that, he has to verify if she was really who she claimed and approaches the sister, only to find his worst fears realized. His wife was a fake, and it seems his intended was done away with on her way to New Orleans. A private investigator is hired, and Louis is suddenly not sure what to do with himself.

I was willing to give Louis a pass on not spotting the red flags at the beginning. Sure, they were lined up for me all neat and tidy, but I was giving him the benefit of the doubt and saying he missed them until after the fact. The man destroyed all my sympathy for him with everything he did after that point.

I've read a lot of old gothic romances in the past. If you're not familiar, they usually involve a not very smart woman getting herself into stupid situations. That's what happened here, except it was Louis. And he did it over and over again. Probably more times than any of the women in the gothics I read. He really was his own worst enemy and thus deserved everything he kept walking back into.

The end of this book made me physically angry. The lack of real justice bothered me, because it involved the one character I actually cared about. The writing itself was smooth and easy to read. I just hated the plot and the characters.

My Dancing White Horses - Alois Podhajsky

Horses are one of my favorites animals. Always have been. Inside of that group, the Lipizzaner stands apart as a breed of mystery and elegance. I didn't know a lot of details about them, just that they were skilled in various steps, notably "airs above the ground." Recently, I'd heard of General Patton assisting in the reunion of the Lipizzaner stud with the rest of the herd toward the end of WWII, and I knew I had to look into that! At that point, I was on the hunt for just the right book, and I found this autobiography. 

Colonel Podhajsky's life was these horses. From the moment he was assigned to their care, he took the assignment seriously. More than once his own health hung in the balance, but he did everything in his power to shield these horses from harm. Appealing to the occupying U.S. Army for help in retrieving the Austrian horses was a bold move, but it paid off.

After the war, the horses went on tour. They traveled many places and dealt with a lot of different levels of accommodations. Different treatments and celebrations of horses were shown to him, and every culture adored his horses. But it wasn't until 1955 that he was able to take them back where they belonged: to Vienna. And that's where they stay.

I really liked this book. I liked how Podhajsky was humble and grateful for every bit of assistance he was granted, and the small gifts and expressions of gratitude were just as welcome to him as the ones that came from heads of state. I loved how he cared for the horses and did everything he could to save them. I thought it was wonderful how those horses were a bridge for those countries in the postwar years.

The only downside I can see is that this book was hard to find. I found a decently priced used copy, but I had to sacrifice a bit on condition. My binding was scary, and the dustcover was beat up. It's a shame, because this was a really good book. The pictures in it were crisp, and there were multiple pictures (clear, in motion pictures) of the horses in the middle of some of their jumping movements. This book needs to be digitized for future generations. Especially those that love horses! Good Book!