Bogormen

Title: Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend
Author: M.J. Wassmer
Genre: Dystopian
Rating: 1.5/5
# pages: 350
Date read: September 2024

Vacation Checklist: Pack swim trunks. Apply sunscreen. Survive the apocalypse?

Professional underachiever Dan Foster is finally taking a vacation. Sure, his life has been average at best, and yeah, he's never quite lived up to his potential. But after a few Miller Lites in paradise with his girlfriend, Mara, things are starting to look up.

Then the sun explodes.

With the island resort suddenly plunged into darkness (he really should've sprung for the travel insurance), Dan's holiday goes from bad to worse when elite guests stage a coup and commandeer supplies. As temperatures drop and class tensions rise, revolution begins to brew on the island, and Dan accidentally becomes a beacon of hope for the surviving vacationers. But when one six-person plane is discovered that could get them back to the mainland, Dan realizes he has a choice to make.

Does he escape the island with Mara? Or does he stay and fight to become the most unlikely hero of the end of the world?


Unfortunately the last part of the title could also have been the title of this review: "Do Not Recommend". I had expected a dystopian novel, with people trying to figure out their new normal - perhaps a bit like "Life As We Knew It" by Susan Beth Pfeffer. What I got was a common-day "Lord of the Flies" - a less humorous and less believable (amazingly enough) version of "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray.

Rico was one-dimensional evil for no particular reason, and the "lovely" influencer and her preacher husband got on my nerves something fierce, and I desperately hope this is not how events would have turned out in real life. I have to believe that, or I would loose all faith in humanity.

I considered giving up on the book on multiple occasions, but I did want to know if there was any sort of resolution, so I stuck with it. And there was, but not really a satisfying one. While the explanation was fine, there was still a lack of closure.

So yeah, I don't understand all the high ratings here. This was definitely a "do not recommend" for me, and the book goes straight in the trash.

Title: Holiday Romance (Fitzpatrick Christmas #1)
Author: Catherine Walsh
Genre: Chick-lit, Christmas
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 354
Date read: December, 2023

Molly and Andrew are just trying to get home to Ireland for the holidays, when a freak snowstorm grounds their flight.

Nothing romantic has ever happened between them: they’re friends and that’s all. But once a year, for the last ten years, Molly has spent seven hours and fifteen minutes sitting next to Andrew on the last flight before Christmas from Chicago to Dublin, drinking terrible airplane wine and catching up on each other’s lives. In spite of all the ways the two friends are different, it’s the holiday tradition neither of them has ever wanted to give up.

Molly isn’t that bothered by Christmas, but—in yet another way they’re total opposites—Andrew is a full-on fanatic for the festive season and she knows how much getting back to Ireland means to him. So, instead of doing the sane thing and just celebrating the holidays together in America, she does the stupid thing. The irrational thing. She vows to get him home. And in time for his mam’s famous Christmas dinner.

The clock is ticking. But Molly always has a plan. And—as long as the highly-specific combination of taxis, planes, boats, and trains all run on time—it can’t possibly go wrong.

What she doesn’t know is that, as the snow falls over the city and over the heads of two friends who are sure they’re not meant to be together, the universe might just have a plan of its own…


I loved this book and read it in just two sittings! The relationship between Molly and Andrew is adorable, and I loved seeing it grow from friendship to something more. The progress seemed natural and believable with that sudden burst of, "Wow! I think I love you in a different way now!"

The setting itself was a bit contrived, but worked within the bounds of the story, and I loved reading about their families and their different ways of doing Christmas, once they made it to Ireland.

It's not high literature, but a sweet comfort read, that I could see myself rereading on a fairly regular basis.

Title: The Woman in Cabin 10
Author: Ruth Ware
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 352
Date read: September, 2016

Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. At first, Lo's stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for - and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo's desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong...


Wow! That was quite a ride... and I had no idea what to expect when I first started it, which just made it even better.

"The Woman in Cabin 10" is the kind of suspense novel I enjoy the most - where the mystery is slowly unraveled, and seemingly inexplicable events turn out to have a very good reason indeed. No leaps of logic and - more importantly - no supernatural events, no dreams and no split-personality issues!

I liked the way the story unfolded, and loved that it took part on a cruise ship, as they have always fascinated me. Most of the book takes place inside Lo's head, so we don't get to know the other characters as much as I would have liked, but because of the way the story is written, it actually works, without becoming too 'navel gazing'.

Great book. I had a very hard time putting it down. People compare it to "The Girl on the Train", but personally I think it's heaps better :)

Title: Dear John, I Love Jane
Author: Candace Walsh
Genre: Essay
Rating: 2.5/5
# pages: 272
Date read: September, 2014

The new buzzword in female sexuality is "sexual fluidity" - the idea that for many women, sexual identity can shift over time, often in the direction of same-sex relationships. Examples abound in popular culture, from actress Cynthia Nixon, who left her male partner of 15 years to be with a woman, to writer and comedienne Carol Leifer, who divorced her husband for the same reason.

In a culture increasingly open to accepting this fluidity, Dear John, I Love Jane is a timely, fiercely candid exploration of female sexuality and personal choice. The book is comprised of essays written by a broad spectrum of women, including a number of well-known writers and personalities. Their stories are sometimes funny, sometimes painful - but always achingly honest - accounts of leaving a man for a woman, and the consequences of making such a choice.


I picked this book up, not really knowing what to expect, and put it down again, not really knowing what I thought. I'm obviously not the target audience, and as such I thought it fell a little flat... or rather, it was a tad one-dimensional. I would have appreciated essays from the ex-husbands and children as well in order to tell the full story.

The essays were all well-written though, so all in all it made for a solid average read.

Title: Up from the Ashes
Author: Kenneth Walls
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 238
Date read: October, 2012

Ken Walls appeared to have it all... a happy marriage, loving kids, a great job as a Senior Pastor... What his friends and family didn't know was that Ken lived a secret life. He constantly had to fight his addiction to porn - a fight he insisted on fighting alone without even the help of God, and a fight he ultimately lost, as it led him to engaging in an adulturous relationship with his sister-in-law.

But God is gracious. Once He has called a person, He doesn't regret that calling. Once Ken was ready to repent, God was there waiting for him. Ready and able to shower him with His grace, and return His blessings to his life.

I'll be honest - this was a hard book to read and is an even harder book to review. With too many friends who've been the victims of affairs, I found it really difficult to read about Ken's travels down that road. Had it been a fictional account I would have disliked it intensely.

But it's not fiction. It a true story about a fellow human being - and just like you and me, a sinner, saved by grace. Ken is achingly honest in his way of relating what happened. He doesn't sugar-coat it, he doesn't make excuses for himself or try to explain it away. He just states what happened, and leaves it at that. I feel horrible for the people he hurt along the way, and find it almost wrong that he found happiness together with the person he cheated on his wife with, but that's because of my sense of judgement. Fortunately God doesn't work that way, and this just goes to show that God can make something beautiful out of even the worst mess we may have made of our lives.

I wouldn't recommend this book to non-Christians, as I think they might find many of Ken's experiences unbelievable and hard to stomach, but for a Christian it's an interesting reminder that a saint is just a sinner who fell down - and got back up again.

Title: A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again
Author: David Foster Wallace
Genre: Essays
Rating: 3/5
# pages: Read about 118 out of 355
Date read: March, 2012

In this exuberantly praised book - a collection of seven pieces on subjects ranging from television to tennis, from the Illinois State Fair to the films of David Lynch, from postmodern literary theory to the supposed fun of traveling aboard a Caribbean luxury cruiseliner - David Foster Wallace brings to nonfiction the same curiosity, hilarity, and exhilarating verbal facility that has delighted readers of his fiction.

An almost impossible book to rate and review, because I only read about a third of it, but what I read, I loved.

The title essay is an incredibly amusing essay on David Foster Wallace's experiences on a week long cruise in the Caribbean... only, the cruise could really be anywhere, because as far as I can make out, he never leaves the ship! Like the title reveals, he really doesn't think too highly of being on a cruise, yet he still manages to make me long to go on one! Probably basically because the things that drive him crazy, I'd love ;-)

So 5 stars for that essay alone, but unfortunately it was one of the very few that I managed to get through, as most of the others I couldn't get past the first few pages, so with about half of the book being a solid 1-star (my standard rating for abandoned books), it all averages out to this 3 star rating.

Title: The Glass Castle
Author: Jeannette Walls
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 4/5
# pages: Audiobook ~11hrs
Date read: March 2011

Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children. In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn't stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an "excitement addict." Cooking a meal that would be consumed in fifteen minutes had no appeal when she could make a painting that might last forever.

Later, when the money ran out, or the romance of the wandering life faded, the Walls retreated to the dismal West Virginia mining town -- and the family -- Rex Walls had done everything he could to escape. He drank. He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days. As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents' betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home.

A fascinating book. I knew absolutely nothing about Jeannette Walls before picking up this book, and had actually gotten the impression that it was fiction rather than a memoir.

But despite not knowing who Jeannette Walls is, and therefore not having any expectations whatsoever, I soon found myself deeply caught up in the book. The narrator suited the part well, and Jeannette's life was absolutely fascinating. Granted, her parents' behaviour bordered on child abuse from time to time, but it was obvious to see that it wasn't from any ill intent (unless selfishness counts as ill-intent) and that they really did love each other.

I'm incredibly impressed that so many of the children did so well with their lives with the upbringing they had. Seems very obvious to me that they owed it to their constant effort to stick together and help each other.

I really appreciated a look into this aspect of American living that I'd never known much about before.

Title: Farthing
Author: Jo Walton
Genre: Alternative history, crime
Rating: 7/10
# pages: 319
Date read: January, 2009

Summary: Over a summers weekend in 1949 -- but not our 1949 -- the upper-crust "Farthing set," the group that overthrew Churchill and negotiated peace with Hitler eight years before, enjoys a country retreat. Lucy is a minor daughter of two politicians in the group; since her marriage to a London Jew, relations have been strained. So she's surprised when she and husband David are invited for the weekend. Then, overnight, a different member of the set is found murdered, with abundant signs that the killing was ritualistic. As the authorities begin to investigate, it becomes clear to Lucy and David that they were invited in order to pin the murder on David. But whoever devised this conspiracy didn't reckon on the man from Scotland Yard being someone with his own private reasons for sympathizing with outcasts and looking beyond the obvious. As the trap slowly shuts on Lucy and David, they begin to see a way out -- a way fraught with peril in a darkening world. More than an alternate-history story, more than a drawing-room mystery, Farthing is a compelling story of encroaching darkness and the people who ultimately decide to resist it.

Review: I really enjoyed the writing style of this novel, with every other chapter being told by Lucy Kahn in first person and every other chapter told from the view point of Inspector Carmichael in third person. Jo Walton did an excellent job of keeping the two different styles distinct, and letting us see the plot unfold from each viewpoint.

But while I enjoyed the writing style, I'm not too sure about the plot. I've never been big on whodunit, but this had the distinct advantage of giving the reader all the same pieces of information as the inspector had, so I was able to puzzle out the clues at the same time as he was. The ending was greatly disappointing, not from a literary point of view but from a personal point of view. I didn't like that it had to end that way, but I can see how it would be necessary to keep true to the book's universe... where might makes right, and prejudices run abundant.

All in all a very interesting social realistic novel set in an alternative history. I'm glad to have read it... but not sure I'd be going out of my way to get hold of more of Walton's books.

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Title: Hollywood Crows Author: Joseph Wambaugh Genre: Suspense Rating: 7/10 # pages: 343 Date read: April, 2008

Review: Hollywood Crows is a literary version of "Crime Watch". Joseph Wambaugh takes the reader on the streets with nine very different cops from the LAPD. Together with them we encounter lonely elderly women who sees crimes everywhere (and who are sometimes right), unusual criminals and logic-defying situations constantly reminding the cops and the readers that "This is Hollywood. Here anything can happen and usually does."

Through Joseph Wambaugh's characterizations he makes us either love or hate, sympathise with or be frustrated by the cops that make up the Hollywood CRO (pronounced 'crow') team. Like them or not, you can't remain indifferent to them.

The one story that ties it all together is the tale of to-be-divorced Margot and Ali Aziz. The cops only know Margot as a harmless socialite, dangerous to nobody but the libidos of the males she encounters. What they don't realize is that Margot is not the helpless victim she appears, but a femme fatale who knows exactly what she wants and won't scorn any methods to get it. Unfortunately, she's not the only one with a deadly plan, and through her scheming she manages to ruin the life of at least one very dedicated cop, who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

A clever man once said, "Write what you know". Joseph Wambaugh obviously took this advice to heart which shows in his writings. Having worked for LAPD himself, he can draw from personal experiences to properly depict the joys and sorrows of a police officer. Because of Joseph's ability to draw the reader completely into the story, I found myself utterly unable to put down the book once I'd started it, even if there were parts of it that disturbed me, parts where I missed a proper resolution, and parts that I wish had been left out. I'd have rated it higher if these parts hadn't been present.

Hollywood Crows is an interesting but depressing novel that reminds us that even the good guys aren't always good, and that things don't always end the way they should.

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