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January 1, 2012 One Man Book Club

The Poky Little Puppy

4/5 stars

The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey

A classic–even if it’s a little long!

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Dan Grover is the book-loving dad of six reluctant readers and the founder of One Man Book Club, a place for fellow parents and other content-conscious readers to find books they (and their kids!) will love.

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The 7 1/2 Deaths of #EvelynHardcastle By: #StuartTurton My Rating: FIVE out of FIVE stars! What a great story! The 71/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is Clue x Groundhog Day x "It was a dark and stormy night..." x Quantum Leap x Downton Abby drama. You're invited to join the Hardcastle family at their Blackheath Estate House for a masquerade ball! Come rub shoulders with other socialites and family friends as you indulge in the finery and engage in the gossip. A fine time will be had by all... ...until someone murders Evelyn Hardcastle. At 11:00 pm. Every night. There's so much more happening at Blackheath than meets the eye. You're trapped in a time loop, repeating the same murderous day over and over, inhabiting a new guest of the house each time. The only way out? Solve the mystery and answer the question: Who killed Evelyn Hardcastle? I was completely enthralled with the complexity in this fascinating, engaging, and very smart thriller. Relive the same day 8 different times, from 8 different hosts, with 8 different perspectives. Gather the clues. Solve the murder. Get free. Great story telling. Great characters. Great mystery. Great ending. Great book! No language, PG-13 violence, no sex. It's written for adults, but I think advanced 14-year-old's could handle this. But be warned...it's very complex. You're definitely going to have to invest some brain power to keep up with this story. But if you're up for the challenge, I think you're going to find it was worth the effort. Happy Reading! #onemanbookclub #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #dadswhoread

#TheGoblinEmperor By: #KatherineAddison My Rating: FIVE out of FIVE Stars The Goblin Emperor is still in my head! I was spellbound by this terrifically intricate drama. There's not a lot of action, but action wasn't needed to make The Goblin Emperor perfectly unputdownable. (Did you understand that? Then yes, it's a word.) If courtly intrigue, political machinations, elaborate world building, and brilliant character development is your thing, you're going to get sucked into this world of goblins, elves, and airships too. Unputdownable, indeed. Maia is the forgotten 4th son of the Elvish Emperor, the product of an unfortunate political union between his father the Emperor and the daughter of the Great Goblin King. He's a half-blood embarrassment, and out of site, out of mind is the preferred way to deal. So Maia is raised far from the Imperial Court by an abusive tutor, and learns nothing about the ways of the royal court...which only becomes an issue when the Emperor and his first three sons are all killed in an airship accident. And the half-blood embarrassment becomes--Emperor. Maia is tremendous. You're going to love him for all that he is, all that he isn't, and all that you know he can become. A couple notes for the more casual reader. First, I mentioned there isn't a lot of action. This story is a drama. The scope is not epic. This is Maia's story of how he learned to fill the big shoes he was forced to wear. I know some of my most favorite readers who would probably be bored reading this book. Second, Katherine Addison (bless her detailed, nerdy-girl heart) created an entire LOTR-esc world of places, cultures, languages, and naming conventions for this wonderful little story. It's awesome. But it's also hard to follow. So if you're not a patient nerdy reader who wouldn't enjoy, for example, the nuances of made up Elvish family names and why it's important, you may end up punting this book across the room. You've been warned. Content appropriate for all ages. Pace and complexity appropriate for advanced 14 and up. Happy Reading! #onemanbookclub #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #dadswhoread

#GhostsofGotham By: #CraigSchaefer My Rating: THREE out of FIVE stars Nope, it's not about Batman. I'm all for urban fantasy, paranormal discoveries, modern-day witches, magic, even horror--PLUS a mystery to solve. I came across Ghosts of Gotham, saw it was full of all that, and jumped right in expecting to be impressed. And I was impressed. A couple times. All the elements were there. It had it's moments. Some of it was even fun. But mostly Ghosts of Gotham left me feeling underwhelmed and disappointed because of the lame romantic subplot and it's strong adult content. Oh, and Batman was missing. Lional Page (is it just me, or is Lional a stupid name for a leading man?) is a journalist. He seeks out paranormal hoaxes and other mystical fakery to expose the con men behind faith healing, fortune telling, and the like so they can't steel any more money from old ladies. Very noble. Except it's also not. Something mysterious and magical happened to him when he was a kid that he can't remember, and so he's subconsciously trying to prove that magic is actually real. Except he doesn't know that. Except he should. Ya, I was confused too. Anyway, when he gets a tip there's a lost Edgar Allen Poe manuscript with magical ties being peddled in the shady underground of New York City, he's off to uncover the secret. And finds MUCH more than he expected... All that's good. I'm pumped for a magical mystery ghost adventure in New York City! But then there's this romance thing. He meets a woman who turns out to be key to the story, and of course they fall desperately, powerfully, fantastically in love. In a day. And it's stupid. So the lame romance, combined with distracting adult content (sex, language, violence), ruined the experience for me. It started dragging, the fun vanished, and it ended up taking me two weeks to read a 400 page book. Plus, no Batman. I probably should have just cut it loose, but I did want to see how the mysteries came together. So there's that. Sorry kids, adults only for this one. Happy Reading! #onemanbookclub #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #dadswhoread

#Enchantment By: #OrsonScottCard My Rating: Four out of Five stars How about this: Deep in an ancient forest, a 1990's grad student studying the history of creepy Russian fairy tales finds a girl asleep on a pedestal in the woods, so he kisses her. And she wakes up. And he's transported 1000 years into the past. And they want him to marry the princess. And he's supposed to become king. And the wicked witch wants to kill him. And he just wants to go home and graduate college. Enchantment was a lot of fun. It's time travel, fish-out-of-water, love, magic, duty, honor, fairy tales, and religion. It's authentic dark ages, it's marrying for love, it's discovering who you really are and being happy about it. It's has Orson Scott Card's standard religious undertones and his odd obsession with being naked. If you aren't familiar, there's nothing sexual about the naked stuff...for some reason he feels the need to call out when people are naked in his books. I always find it odd, but at least it's easy to tell when it's OSC writing! There is some language, a bit of violence, attention given to being naked, discussions about circumcision, and a couple of PG sex scenes. If Enchantment were a movie, it'd be rated PG-13. I'd say appropriate for readers 16 and up. Happy reading! #onemanbookclub #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #dadswhoread

#Warcross #Wildcard By: #MarieLu My Rating: Three out of Five Stars Warcross is good, YA fun. Really, that's all you need. Because, you know...YA. All the stuff you love in your standard Young Adult novel is packed into the two books of Warcross. I could complain about them, but I don't really feel like it. I'll just say the romantic relationship was about as deep as my cereal bowl, the hacking skills that solved every problem were as realistic as a Micheal Bay movie, and the character development was--let's see, what's the best word here--nonexistant? Absent? Missing? You get the idea. Warcross isn't going to be winning any awards based on literary merit. But, that's not always why we read, is it? If I ignored the lack of reality, I was able to enjoy the mindless fun--along with legions of teenage Marie Lu fans who couldn't care less about things like realistic relationships, actual science, or interesting characters. I was intrigued by the Ready-Player-One-esc VR/AR world and the way it's incorporated into all aspects of life in this dystopian (or maybe not so dystopian) future. That was legit cool. I can actually see some elements of the story becoming reality in my lifetime. I'd love to read a story that took the best of Warcross and fixed the worst. Until I find that book, Warcross it is. PG language throughout. One PG sex scene in book two. PG violence. 14 and up. Happy reading! #onemanbookclub #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #dadswhoread

#AgenttotheStars By: #JohnScalzi My Rating: Four out of Five Stars Before John Scalzi was John Scalzi, king of ScyFy, he wrote Agent to the Stars...just to see if writing a novel was something he could do. Turns out, he could. The rest is history. Agent to the Stars is a fun and unique story about Earth's first alien encounter. The aliens have been monitoring out movies and TV for years, and finally have decided to come for a friendly visit. The only problem? They look like snot and smell like dog farts. They've seen the movies. They know how humans are going to react. The answer? Hire a Hollywood talent agent to manage their public image. Creative story telling, hilarious situations, and a surprising amount thoughtful humanity ensue. I enjoyed Agent to the Stars. The characters developed, the story engaged, and the ending delivered. I still wish John Scalzi would buy a thesaurus and find some colorful adjectives other than the four-letter ones he frequently favors. As with all his books, be prepared for language. Because of language, this book is best suited for readers 18 and up. Happy Reading! #onemanbookclub #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #dadswhoread

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