It Had to Be Murder - Cornell Woolrich

This short story was the basis for the famous movie "Rear Window." I watched the movie last month, so I was interested to read the inspiration.

Jeff is trapped in his home due to an injury. He spends his day peering out the window, and one day he starts to witness a pattern. After a few days of this, he's convinced a man has murdered his wife.

I won't say much beyond that, because it didn't take me long to read this. The writing was smooth and held up well for being written in 1942. I could see why this story would inspire someone to make a movie. It was really engaging and easily earns a Good Story! review.

The Search for Major Plagge - Michael Good

Major (Karl) Plagge was responsible for saving Jewish and Polish people during WWII, including the author's mother. In this book, he relates his journey to find recognition for Plagge and the result.

I had some issues with the book itself. The author was repetitive and could have used a good editor. I'm also someone who looks at sources. This makes it so I have way too many books to read, but I was looking at the footnotes. For the "book" (the part I'd consider the first edition), the sources were listed as documents on a dead website or to memoirs that didn't seem to exist. After the epilogue, I saw mention of a website searchformajorplagge.com. As of writing this review, that website is current and has all the articles and memoirs on it.

The other strange thing was the way the book was structured. The first third of it was more of a history of the author's family. The "search" didn't start until around 28% and then stopped around 55% (I use a Kindle and measure my progress through percent). After that, he spent 7 or 8% on a man who worked with Plagge (and that was the "epilogue" at 60%). There were also two sections of pictures in there randomly. I also didn't understand why he felt the need to include every detail of every letter/email like From: To: Re: - not sure that was necessary.

I found the most interesting parts of the book were the denazification trial (Appendix A) and whenever the author was quoting a direct source (memoir, letter, etc.). Karl Plagge was an interesting man, and I was glad for the glimpse into who he was. I would recommend for anyone wanting to learn about him to check out the website. I appreciate the author's journey and the good work he did bringing light to Plagge. He also brought together survivors and people that needed to heal. While I can appreciate that, I wish the book had been better structured.

The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

I watched a version (1997) of this with my mom a while back, and she made a comment that stuck with me. She was expecting to watch a different version (that I didn't know existed), and she wondered which one was closer to the book.

This book is a mystery that revolves around the lives of three women. Their lives are intertwined in ways that come to light through the testimonies given by various witnesses to events. The main voices are Walter, the drawing master, and Marian, one of the women.

I was in danger of straining my eyes on this one. I didn't want to put it down. It was just too good. Collins took the time to make the various testimonies have different voices. I could imagine the different characters depending on how they were speaking.

A brief word about the movie. It was barely based on the book. I have no idea how you can take a story this amazing and change it to the extent they did. Don't get me wrong, I still have a special place in my heart for the movie. Since it's so different, I can actually think of it as a separate story. But now I'm anxious to get my hands on a copy of the other one and see what they did with the story.

Putting the movie aside, I loved this book. I loved the way it was put together, and I enjoyed the story itself. I can't think of many times when I was bored. That was one of the reasons that I was in danger of eye strain. There just weren't many good places to put it down. Great Book!

First They Killed My Father - Loung Ung

I picked up this book because I wanted to learn more about different world events. The author of this book was a child when the Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia (1975-1979). During this time, she endured the loss of her home, family members, her way of life and basically everything she ever knew.

I honestly don't know how anyone comes out of something like this unbroken. The amount of tragedy and cruelty she had to endure was ridiculous. While I think she was a bit hard on herself, she was only a child after all, I felt that her reactions were relatable. As in I understood her rage and desire to destroy.

I wish the pictures had been at the end. They were from the reunion, which happened in the epilogue, so I wasn't sure why they were in the middle of the book (maybe that makes more sense in the paperback/hardback version but not the kindle). Also, I wish she had spent just a little more time on what happened when they got to America. She rushed through why the whole family didn't get relocated to America, but again, this was in the epilogue.

People react to circumstances differently. With the horrors the author went through at such an early age, I'm impressed with the amount of detail and willingness to share a lot of what happened to her. This book is a scary and sobering glimpse into genocide. It sounds weird to give it a Good Book! review, because it wasn't enjoyable in the sense that I found joy reading it. I learned a great deal, and it made me feel something. I feel like those books are the best. They stick with you long after you put them down. Good Book!

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes - Anita Loos

Ok, so when I watched this movie, I was utterly confused at what was going on. I picked up the book. It was short, and I figured I'd see if there was anything to make it rise in my opinion. Spoiler: not really.

In general, the characters are the same. Lorelei is a gold digger (but she doesn't solely gravitate toward diamonds), and Dorothy is described as unrefined. Lorelei is trying to improve her mind by becoming educated, so she meets various men. She uses them for their knowledge and shopping. It's supposed to be satirical, and I guess the humor just didn't hit with me. Also, her typos drove me insane.

When I looked back over my movie review, I noticed they did include Henry Spofford, but he was the child. Odd. Taking that into consideration, I still wasn't a fan. But for different reasons, because the stories were different. I mean, there was a tiara "fiasco" in there, but it didn't follow the same beats as the movie, and the whole courtroom scene was pulled out of nowhere. This just ends up being a strange experience overall, and I'm not sure why it's a classic. It just went over my head, I guess.

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - William L. Shirer

I've been really interested in WWII for quite a while now, and lately, I've been trying to get some insight into the Axis side. I saw this book was included in my prime membership (I could borrow it), but I was wary. The thing is massive at 1700+ pages, but I decided to give it a shot. It took me over a month to get through it, but I did it! Keep in mind, I'm probably not reading as much this summer since my kids are home from college, and my main priority is spending time with them. With that being said, it still would have taken me quite a while to get through this book.

The book is extremely thorough, which is amazing for when it was originally written (1960). I found it interesting to read the perspective of a man who had actually seen these people or had contact with them. Now, don't get me wrong, this book is not full of opinions and first-hand accounts by the author. It is full of what happened and a look behind the scenes. Most of the first-hand accounts and opinions are coming from diaries and documents that were found after the fall of Germany. The author's opinion comes through at times (calling the bunker a lunatic asylum for instance), but I rather enjoyed those glimpses of his personality. It broke up the more academic information.

I can actually narrow this review down to one word: fascinating. I couldn't believe that so many people could be so disconnected from a sense of humanity. I knew the Nazis didn't value life, but reading some of their memos, plans and testimony from Nuremberg disturbed me. It was also fascinating to see how a lot of it could have been prevented. The number of chances to stop Hitler was more than I even knew about, and it was frustrating. No one was listening at the time, and then it was too late.

Normally, with a book like this, I would feel every page. Longer books tend to put me off, but this one didn't. This is probably the longest book I've ever read straight through, and I turned off the % counter at the bottom of my Kindle since it moved so slowly. I didn't want to be distracted by that while I was reading. I think the author did a great job with this book, and if you're interested in what went on behind the scenes in Germany, with evidence to back it up, this could be the book for you. Good Book!

Into the Mummy's Tomb - Edited by John Richard Stephens

I bought this book so long ago that I don't remember where it came from. For the past few weeks, I've been working on one of longest books (maybe THE longest) I've ever read. It's 1700+ pages, but I decided to take a break once I got about halfway through and read something a little lighter. This book is a collection of stories, both fiction and nonfiction, about mummies and Egypt.

I'll leave my overall impression here in case the individual reviews are a bit much. My favorite stories were written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (I enjoyed both of his), Tennessee Williams, Sir H. Rider Haggard, Ray Bradbury, Elizabeth Peters and Sax Rohmer. The rest of them were not all bad, but they were varied levels of enjoyment. Most of them I wouldn't remember, but the ones listed above, I would recommend and read again in the future.

The Malevolence of Ancient Egyptian Spirits by Arthur Weigall (nonfiction) - Written by an Egyptologist, this entry goes over some of the strange occurrences that give rise to the belief in mummy's curses. He has plenty to share, but he stays unbiased. Unsurprisingly, he'd heard a lot of nonsense about malevolent spirits, but he doesn't judge and tries to keep an open mind. An interesting read.

Lost in a Pyramid or, the Mummy's Curse by Louisa May Alcott (fiction) - Alcott is best known for books like Little Women, but here I read something much different. It's a very short story about cursed seeds. I didn't know Alcott could write like this, and I enjoyed the writing. The story itself is on the sad side, but what do you expect when someone dabbles with sorceress's seeds? 

Raiding Mummies' Tombs by Amelia Edwards/Theodore Davis/Arthur Weigall/Giovanni Belzoni (nonfiction) - This is a brief collection of impressions made by Egyptologists. It mostly covers tombs, but there is some background information about mummification. Overall, this wasn't too bad, but Belzoni's descriptions of embalming were a bit much for me. It just makes sense that the richer you were, the nicer you were treated when you died. Some things don't change.

The Ring of Thoth by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (fiction) - In this story, a man falls asleep in the Louvre and awakens to find a strange occurrence. An Egyptian has taken down a mummy and unwrapped her. Then he goes through the rings and takes one out. The student is very confused, but Sosra explains the whole thing. He had done some research into extending lifespans only to become a victim of his own making. The ring was the key to his release. This was a good story, and I really enjoyed it. I knew Doyle was interested in the supernatural, but this is the first thing I've read that he's written related to the topic.

The Vengeance of Nitocris by Tennessee Williams (fiction) - Apparently this is one of the author's first works, written when he was sixteen and based on a true story. Queen Nitocris takes the throne when her brother is murdered by a mob. He defiled the temple of Osiris, and the people were afraid they would be punished for the pharaoh's act if they didn't do something to correct the act. Nitocris was devoted to her brother, so when she begins a building project, the people think she's making up for what her brother did. In reality, she's planning an elaborate revenge plot. The writing in this one was really engaging, and I was drawn in from the beginning. The addition at the end of what happened later was a bit sad.

Under the Pyramids by H. P. Lovecraft (fiction) - According to the blurb at the beginning, Lovecraft ghostwrote this story for Harry Houdini. By the end of it, the story has gone full Lovecraft, and I'm not sure how anyone would mistake it for anything else. The first half of this was so slow. It was like a quick class on basic Egyptian knowledge. Then, Houdini's "guide" and friends tie up Houdini and lower him into a shaft. After that, strange things happen, but it's all chalked up as a dream. It was a weird one, and I wasn't a huge fan of it.

Opening King Tutankhamen's Tomb by Howard Carter with A. C. Mace (nonfiction) - This is a summary of the emotions and actions of opening one of the greatest Egyptian finds. It covers the emotions and describes some of the larger artifacts. Not much more to say about it.

The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb by Agatha Christie (fiction) - This is a short story with Poirot as our detective. It involves the deaths of people involved in the excavation of the tomb of Men-her-Ra. It moves quickly, and the murderer is revealed just before he takes his own life. This one went by so fast that there was no time to get to know any characters, and Poirot just explains his thoughts at the end. No clues are given to the reader, so no use trying to solve this one on your own. It was okay, but I prefer Christie's longer works. I am drawn to characters, and they just weren't present here.

The Demon-Possessed Princess by An Egyptian Priest (fiction) - Very short story written in ancient times and updated by the editor. It tells the tale of a ruler asking Ramses II for help with his daughter and then refusing to allow the god that got rid of the demon to return to Egypt.

The Majestic Sphinx by Mark Twain (nonfiction) - Another short entry. Sounds like some random ramblings of a man gazing upon the sphinx. It was a bit fanciful before it basically just turned into a narration of what was in front of him.

Smith and the Pharaohs by Sir H. Rider Haggard (fiction) - J. E. Smith sees a cast of a beautiful Egyptian queen and is obsessed. He decides to travel to Egypt and see if he can find her. When he does, it's in the most unusual way imaginable. I enjoyed this one a great deal. It reminded me a bit of the movie Somewhere in Time. I won't say more than that, but this was one of the better ones in the book.

Some Words with a Mummy by Edgar Allen Poe (fiction) - This one was weird. I mean, it is Poe, so a bit of the supernatural is expected. A man goes to a mummy unwrapping, and when they zap the mummy with electricity, they discover that he wasn't really dead after all. The whole thing just struck me as weird, but the end gave me a smile. "My wife is a shrew." HA!

Colonel Stonesteel's Genuine Home-Made Truly Egyptian Mummy by Ray Bradbury (fiction) - In this story, the Colonel and Charlie are bored. They head up to the attic and create a mummy to stir up the town. It works well, and they have an eventful day. I really enjoyed this one. I loved the Colonel's explanation of the mummy and his advice to Charlie on what to do with him in the future. Definitely one of my favorite stories so far.

Dead Kings (Excerpt) by Rudyard Kipling (nonfiction) - This was a couple pages of rambling that I had trouble following. Pass.

Lot No. 249 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (fiction) - Smith is studying to be a doctor, but below him are a few men who he's warned to stay away from. One night, he's summoned to the room of the man below him where he finds a strange sight. The occupant is in a stupor, and he has a mummy in his room! What follows is unbelievable, but Smith is the only one who is brave enough to accept what is happening and face the evil with the intent to stop it. This was another story I really enjoyed. The writing style and the plot were unique enough that I wasn't desperate for it to end.

The Locked Tomb Mystery by Elizabeth Peters (fiction) - This is one of my favorite authors as an entire row on my bookshelf is dedicated to her books. They're almost all paperbacks, so I have them filed two deep. The editor states it didn't seem right to exclude Peters (Mertz) from the anthology, so with the help of her assistant, they found this short story. It appears to be the only Egyptian short story she wrote, and according to the editor, the most historically accurate included in the anthology. This story reminds me of an Egyptian Sherlock Holmes story. Amenhotep Sa Hapu was actually a real person, and if he could solve mysteries the way he did in this story, he was a marvel! Another one I really enjoyed. Not surprising considering the author.

The Death-Ring of Sneferu by Sax Rohmer (fiction) - This one started out a bit strange for me but picked up toward the end. A man is on the trail of a valuable ring, but anyone who comes into contact with it comes to a bad end. The man isn't afraid until he's trapped in a pyramid. After that, it's a matter of finding the ring to keep it from harming anyone else. It was a pretty good story. The end brought it up for me into one of the better ones of the anthology.

The Mummy or Ramses the Damned (excerpt) by Anne Rice (fiction) - An excerpt is dangerous for me, because if I like it, I'm going to want to read more. And so I discovered I wanted to read Anne Rice. I always associate her with vampires, but this is a mummy's curse story. The thing is, it's also a murder mystery. Now, there were hints of the supernatural surrounding the mummy, but I didn't get far enough to make a definitive decision. I'm definitely going to look into reading more of this one in the future.

The Jewel of Seven Stars (abridged) by Bram Stoker (fiction) - The final story is another person I associate with vampires. The original vampire to be specific. In this, a man has found the mummy of a woman. She's a queen with a supernatural history. There's significance to the number seven in this story. The cat has seven digits on one paw. The Queen has seven fingers and seven toes, and so she considers it a magical number. Even though this was abridged, I felt like it was overly wordy. It went on for too long, and I wasn't super invested in what was happening. It had potential but ended up being a pass for me.