Book Report

After hearing so many good things about Storygraph, I finally joined. Not sure yet if there’s a way to friend or follow people there, but if so, I am marileerd in case anyone wants to connect 🙂 I finished 4 books last month!

Wreck of the Whale Ship Essex (Amazon link) is an account of the incident that inspired Moby Dick, written by Owen Chase, who was one of the survivors. It is an interesting story and if you like Moby Dick, it’s worth reading just to get the background. The writing is of the time, so if you aren’t used to 1800s phrasing, it may take a minute to get used to it. I read the illustrated version, which features a lot of art and also selections from similar books. The excerpts from other books are just kind of stuck in there with no warning or visual signals that you are suddenly reading something else, so that also takes some getting used to. However, they do illustrate that sailing wrecks and sometimes whale attacks on ships are not isolated to this one situation.

A Death in Door County and Death in the Dark Woods are both by Annelise Ryan, a Wisconsin writer I recently found out about. (Amazon link to the writer’s page.) These are the first two in a growing series of cryptid murder mystery novels! I am currently reading the 3rd and most recent novel, so more about that in the end of March wrap-up. The main character is a cryptozoologist and also runs a book/curio shop. A lot in this series is pretty typical of cozies. The main character has no end of free time to run around solving mysteries, thanks to plucky and likeable shop staff. There is a cop love interest. There is no spiciness, as both main character and CLI have lots of baggage and are taking things slowly. But the best thing in this series is the cryptids! A Death in Door County features a Nessie-like creature, and Death in the Dark Woods features bigfoot. They are pretty well written, and I like the characters. Also, there’s always a little thrill in reading about places you know. So if any of this sounds interesting to you, I highly recommend this series!!

Word of the Year – Finish

I did OK with my WOTY in February. I finished some books and some house projects that have lingered for a while. Also, I unearthed a car knitting project that has been languishing in the back seat for a while. I think with a little more effort I can finish that one too 🙂 There have been several times I have thought about dropping projects or efforts and letting them lay for a while, but my WOTM inspired me to keep going. So I guess it’s working out so far 🙂