Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

I'm posting today with t he fantastic Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop hosted by Greg Pattrige of Always in the Middle . Check out Greg's blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews. I've been discovering some great reads there--like the one I'm reviewing today.   Title: The Long Way Around Author: Anne Nesbet Publication Info: Candlewick Press, 2024. 185 pages (Kindle edition) Source:   Library Publisher's Blurb:* During a hiking trip with their parents in the mountains of California, cousins Owen, Vivian, and Amy are finally allowed to camp for one night at a little lake all on their own. But when a massive earthquake blocks their return path, there’s only one way: the long way around, through a wilderness filled with fierce animals, raging rivers, unstable weather, and high passes. The hardest challenges the cousins face, however, are the troubles they’ve brought with them: bold Vivian’s fear of starting middle school and of changes she c...

Thanks to Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this fun cozy! A  Basket Case (Maddie Sparks Mystery Series) by Lesley A Diehl About A Basket Case       A Basket Case (Maddie Sparks Mystery Series)   Cozy Mystery 2nd in Series   Setting - Upstate New York   Publisher ‏ : ‎ Camel Press (November 12, 2024) Paperback ‏ : ‎ 250 pages   ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1684922208 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1684922208 Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0D4MWFWSP   Maddie Sparks believes she has found the perfect balance in her life--Zack, the man she loves, a book she loves writing and volunteer work at a local museum with a granddaughter she adores. An old flame from Zack's past arrives and drives a wedge into Maddie and Zack's romance, her writing stalls and someone murders the museum's director just as the museum is about to return a collection of Native American artifacts to the Onondaga and Oneida nations. Standing over the dead body o...

I'm a little late with today's post thanks to the massive bomb cyclone that hit the NW last night--power was out at my house for about 10 hours. Of course, if I weren't a procrastinator, it wouldn't have mattered, but I am, and it did :D     Title : Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses Author : Robin Wall Kimmerer. Audio book read by the author. Publication Info: Audiobook Tantor Audio, 2003, 8 hours. Paper and ebook 2003 by Oregon State University Press, 176 pages.  Source: Library Publisher's blurb: Living at the limits of our ordinary perception, mosses are a common but largely unnoticed element of the natural world. Gathering Moss is a beautifully written mix of science and personal reflection that invites readers to explore and learn from the elegantly simple lives of mosses. Robin Wall Kimmerer's book is not an identification guide, nor is it a scientific treatise. Rather, it is a series of linked personal essays that will lead...

I don't know whether to review this as juvy or YA. I put it more toward YA both due to age of the characters (15) and subject matter (murder, in a cozy-mystery way).   Participating this week in the fantastic Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop hosted by Greg Pattrige of Always in the Middle . Check out his blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews. I've been discovering some great reads there. Title: Top Marks for Murder   Author : Robin Stevens Publication info : Kindle edition, Simon & Schuster, 2023, 260 pages. Originally published 2019 by Puffin. Publisher's Blurb: Daisy and Hazel are finally back at Deepdean, and the school is preparing for a most exciting event: the fiftieth Anniversary. Plans for a weekend of celebrations are in full swing. But all is not well, for in the detectives' long absence, Deepdean has changed. Daisy has lost her crown to a fascinating new girl - and many of the Detective Society's old allies are now their swor...

 This is a classic of the genre, with the good and the bad that implies.     Title: The Singing Wilderness Author :Sigurd F. Olson. Illustrated by Francis Lee Jaques Publication info :Kindle edition, Knopf 2017. Originally published by Alfred A. Knopf, 1956. 244 pages. Publisher's Blurb (per Goodreads): Sigurd F. Olson was for more than thirty years a wilderness guide in the Quetico-Superior country, and no one knew with the same intimacy the mysteries of the lakes and forests of that magnificent primitive area. To the many out-of-doorsmen who canoed and portaged with him through this wilderness, he was known honorifically as the Bourgeois--as the voyageurs of old called their trusted leaders through this same region. My Review: As is common with classics of nature and the outdoors, this book has both aged well, and aged poorly. There is no question that it is a beautiful paeon to the author's home, the lakes and streams on the boundary between Canada and the US on...

 Thanks to Great Escapes Virtual Tours for a chance to read this mystery.     In the Event of Murder (A Starlit Bookshop Mystery) Cozy Mystery 2nd in Series Setting – Colorado Publisher ‏ : ‎ Crooked Lane Books (August 20, 2024) Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1639100709 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1639100705 Digital https://amzn.to/3xRh1X8 It’s the star-studded event of the season in Silvercrest, Colorado—but some of the guests might not make it to the last dance alive in the second charming installment of the Starlit Bookshop mysteries from Agatha Award-winning author Cynthia Kuhn. Nestled on the banks of a breathtaking Rocky Mountain river and dotted with delightful boutiques and galleries, Silvercrest, Colorado, is a book lover’s paradise. Bookseller and literary event planner Emma Starrs is looking forward to attending the annual Silvercrest Library Gala, a glamorous evening with celebrities including the legendary Whitney Willton, currently on the...

 I'm delighted to review another installment in the ever-enjoyable Shady Grove mysteries.     Title: A Run for the Mystic: Shaky Grove Mysteries Book 8 Author : Ada Bell Publication info : Empress Books, 2024. 212 pages. Publisher's Blurb: Aly's racing to find a killer... When Aly’s boyfriend Cal gets her spur-of-the-moment tickets to watch his cousin ride at the local track, it’s off to the races! She’s forced to rein in the excitement after one of the jockeys is murdered. Once the dust settles, the local police turn their attention to Cal’s cousin, and Aly gets saddled with the task of finding the real killer. Cal doesn’t believe his favorite relative would hurt anyone, but Jacob entered the race under suspicious circumstances. Cal begs Aly to use her physic powers to clear Jacob’s name. Unfortunately, one obstacle after another slows her down: Heightened security at the track makes it difficult to get close enough to the evidence to induce a vision. No one w...

Another in my series of books about nature, walking, and much more. Title : In Praise of Paths: Walking Through Time and Nature Author : Torbjørn Ekelund. English translation by Becky L. Crook. Publication info: Greystone Books 2020, 240 pages. Source : library Publisher’s Blurb: An ode to paths and the journeys we take through nature, as told by a gifted writer who stopped driving and rediscovered the joys of traveling by foot.  Torbjørn Ekelund started to walk--everywhere--after an epilepsy diagnosis affected his ability to drive. The more he ventured out, the more he came to love the act of walking, and an interest in paths emerged. In this poignant, meandering book, Ekelund interweaves the literature and history of paths with his own stories from the trail. As he walks with shoes on and barefoot, through forest creeks and across urban streets, he contemplates the early tracks made by ancient snails and traces the wanderings of Romantic poets, amongst other musings. If we still...

When I was flying home from Africa back in March, I read an article in the in-flight magazine (hey, when the flight is upwards of 17 hours, you'll eventually look at everything!) about books by Africa writers. I'm a little bemused that it seems like most of them are African writers who live in England and write in English, but it's a start. My library had this one, so I decided to take a look. Or a listen.  Title: Yinka, Where is Your Huzband? Author : Lizzie Damilola Blackburn Publication Info: Penguin Audio 2022, 11 1/4 hours. Original hardback, Pamela Dorman Books 2022, 384 pages Source: Library Publisher's Blurb: Meet Yinka: a thirty-something, Oxford-educated, British Nigerian woman with a well-paid job, good friends, and a mother whose constant refrain is “Yinka, where is your huzband ?”    Yinka’s Nigerian aunties frequently pray for her delivery from singledom, her work friends think she’s too traditional (she’s saving herself for marriage!), her girlfrie...

Participating in the Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop  hosted by Greg Pattrige of Always in the Middle , with loads of reviews of Middle Grade fiction (books for roughly ages 8-12). I have another good MG LGBTQ novel, age-appropriate and realistic. I'm going to briefly address those who wonder if this is appropriate for kids this age. The obvious answer is that since by 4th or 5th grade (9 or 10) many kids are dealing with puberty, crushes, and all the rest, of course it is. And yes, kids that age need to know that there are options out there besides boy/girl, because not knowing only adds to the confusion. For the same reason, I'm hoping to find some good stories about kids coming to grips with being trans, because for many (like my daughter) puberty is when that begins to make itself known to them. I am a firm believer in knowledge. Not knowing what the options are (and that they're okay) doesn't keep a kid from being gay or trans. It just leaves them confu...

I've been reading Ellen Jacobson's hilarious cozy mysteries for years now, and we are (full disclosure time) fellow members of a cozy-mystery-writers' group and share beta reads, etc. Despite all that, it took me a long time to come around to read  Smitten With Ravioli , mostly because I kind of have an unfair attitude about romance. I should have had more faith in Ellen's sense of humor.  Oh, and yes, I noticed that I'm rather late with this post. It was a busy weekend. Title: Smitten with Ravioli Author: Ellen Jacobson Publication Info: Published 2020. 237 pages (paperback edition) Source: Honestly, I'm not sure. The author may have given me a review copy when it came out, or I may have picked it up on a free day or as a 99-cent ebook. In any case, the review is purely my own take on the book. Publisher's blurb: Love is on the menu in this sweet romantic comedy set in Italy. Ginny's Italian cooking course was supposed to be a peaceful escape from ...

Continuing my project of improving my understanding of what it means to be transgender, I finally tackled Julia Serano's foundational text on transgender politics, sexism, and the intersections between all sorts of gender-related biases. The book was first published in 2007, which makes it dated in some areas, and was updated for the 2014 re-release, which is already 10 years out of date. An afterword written in 2023 helps to keep it up to date and puts things in perspective, as we enter a new period of virulent anti-trans hysteria (made concrete by a lot of laws being floated, too many of which are passing).   Title: Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity Author: Julia Serano  Publication Information: Originally published 2007, Seal Press (390 Pages). I read the 2016 Kindle edition, with an afterword from 2023.  Source: Library Publisher's Blurb:   In Whipping Girl, biologist and trans activist Julia Serano shares her exper...

It's been a long time since I read the first in this series, and I recalled having reservations about it, despite very strong recommendations from Jemima Pett. But her insistence on the quality of the series prevailed, and I don't regret it.   Title: The Janus Stone Author: Elly Griffiths Publication info: Kindle edition, 2011 by Mariner Books, 337 p. Originally published 2010 by Quercus Publishing. Source:  Library  Publisher's Blurb: It’s been only a few months since archaeologist Ruth Galloway found herself entangled in a missing persons case, barely escaping with her life. But when construction workers demolishing a large old house in Norwich uncover the bones of a child beneath a doorway—minus its skull—Ruth is once again called upon to investigate. Is it a Roman-era ritual sacrifice, or is the killer closer at hand? Ruth and Detective Harry Nelson would like to find out—and fast. When they realize the house was once a children’s home, they track down the C...

Reading this book was part of my on-going quest to educate myself about all things trans, and was recommended by a reader of this blog, I believe. Title: The Argonauts Author: Maggie Nelson. Read by the author. Publication info: Blackstone Audio, 2015, length 4:40. Original Greywolf Publishing, 2015, 160 pages. Source: Library Publisher's Blurb: An intrepid voyage out to the frontiers of the latest thinking about love, language, and family. Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts is a genre-bending memoir, a work of "autotheory" offering fresh, fierce, and timely thinking about desire, identity, and the limitations and possibilities of love and language. At its center is a romance: the story of the author's relationship with the artist Harry Dodge. This story, which includes Nelson's account of falling in love with Dodge, who is fluidly gendered, as well as her journey to and through a pregnancy, is an intimate portrayal of the complexities and joys of (queer...

 Another of my random choices from the library, which turned out to be more nuanced than I thought.   Title: Hidden Truths Author: Elly Swartz Publisher: Books on Tape, 2023; 5 hours. Publisher's Blurb: How far would you go to keep a promise? Told from alternating points of view, Hidden Truths is a story of changing friendships, the lies we tell, the secrets we keep, and the healing power of forgiveness. Dani and Eric have been best friends since Dani moved next door in second grade. They bond over donuts, comic books, and camping on the Cape. Until one summer when everything changes. Did Eric cause the accident that leaves Dani unable to do the one thing in the world she most cares about? The question plagues him, and he will do anything to get answers about the explosion that injured her. But Dani is hurting too much to want Eric to pursue the truth--she just wants to shut him out and move on. Besides, Eric has a history of dropping things he starts. Eric knows tha...

I owe the author and publisher of Into Siberia an apology, as I apparently got this book through NetGalley, not from the library as I assumed by the time I got around to reading it. So I'm overdue with the review. Title: Into Siberia: George Kennan's Epic Journey Through the Brutal, Frozen Heart of Russia Author: Gregory J. Wallance Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2023. 304 pages. Source: Netgalley ARC Publisher's Blurb: In the late nineteenth century, close diplomatic relations existed between the United States and Russia. All that changed when George Kennan went to Siberia in 1885 to investigate the exile system and his eyes were opened to the brutality Russia was wielding to suppress dissent. Over ten months Kennan traveled eight thousand miles, mostly in horse-drawn carriages, sleighs or on horseback. He endured suffocating sandstorms in the summer and blizzards in the winter. His interviews with convicts and political exiles revealed how Russia ran on the...