“I love to smell flowers in the dark,” she said. “You get hold of their soul then.”

             

                               

All of Montgomery's books emerge on Prince Edward Island, which furnishes the backdrop of Montgomery's fifth book in her "Anne of Green Gable" series. The author has a way with words and her characters present a calming and unique presence which creates a longing to experience their companionship while walking along the shore or spending the afternoon sharing words from the heart, yet the expressions disappearing from our thoughts the next day.

Besides the character in Anne's story, what percentage of the population on our beloved earth have smelled flowers in the dark, or even thought of this as an activity to claim as their own?

When humans find the time to lean forward and breathe in the fragrance of flowers, typically the brilliance of day or artificial light pervade the atmosphere. The radiance has pushed the darkness back to the shadowy corners in which the blackness abides until it rules the night once more. 

The night grows deeper as the minutes fly by, growing larger as the lights are extinguished in stores and homes--then according to the quote, this is the ultimate time to smell their sweet perfume in the shadows.

In the absence of illumination, one's concentration is pronounced on items within arms length--imagined monsters that might harm us, or procuring components needed to light our lives anew. The dark providing heightened senses would establish the optimum point of discovery to detect with certainty if flowers truly possess souls.

The light may have more of an advantage in perceiving the soul of flowers as we can view their beauty while also enjoying their essence. Maybe a little of their souls may leak out through the light as well as the darkness.

I’ve often thought that beautiful and unique plants have a life that measures beyond our scope of understanding. The feelings of love and happiness permeate our beings in the presence of such splendor, and with our feelings pushing forward, perchance the plant perceives a measure of the human soul simultaneously.

If fortune smiled on me in the form of a legacy, or the one in a billion chance to win the lottery, then my life should know a suitcase as a new closet. Paris, Rome and Crete would definitely appear on my list of destinations, though Prince Edward Island would emerge as a  top contender to visit first.
Circumstances may prevent me from visiting the island, so I will continue to do so through reading, and the next time a kind person sends flowers to my home, the lights will vanish and hopefully, their brief secrets revealed.

The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin

☆☆☆☆This review contains spoilers☆☆☆☆

The Boys From Brazil is a phenomenal film from the early eighties, and now to find the movie is based on a book by the notable author Ira Levin surprised me immensely.

Before launching myself into the horror I knew would be ahead of me, I contemplated on the quality of the storyteller, would I feel saddened by the inferiority of the book compared to the film or would I believe the book was at least equal or superior to the adaptation?

The film, starring Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier, brought the story of future Hitlers to the screen that is spellbinding. Except for a few editing problems and the obligatory sex scene, the story works in a way that is driven by dread in a delightful way.

The flow of the book is effortless, and I'm sure every writer would wish to possess the talent of Levin, who weaves a story that guides us where he wishes the reader to blindly follow, and we follow willingly. 

Cloning is a chilling prospect to think of, and consistent in books and movies, it's shown as someone's despair--frequently the cloned being whose body parts may be desired.

Levin chooses to make the cloned beings as living Gods to nazis and living monsters to the rest of the world. 

The thought of Mengele's success in cloning ninety-four Hitlers by his vile and inhuman experiments during WWII on innocent children creates a story filled with an unfairness that is hard to fathom.

The atrocities of Mengele and all the other monsters, from Hitler down to the lowest echelon, should be told. Every human on earth should know the stories of the innocent in hopes this will never happen again. I'm one of those persons that shy away from the stories of the horror-filled lives so many endured--the pain is too overwhelming sometimes to bear, especially when children are involved.

The Boys From Brazil tells the horror yet also tells an interesting tale of madness, that we feel safe in knowing will never come true. Though somewhere in a secret vault of evil beings, is there a vial of Hitler's DNA waiting patiently for science to catch up?

When The Ashes Fall by Jacqueline Druga

If by chance a major disaster wipes out a massive percentage of the population--the evil in countless humans will run rampant. Warlords will seize power resulting in endless beings suffering at their hands. People who were rather decent before the catastrophe will become savage with greed for themselves or their families. Kindness and honesty may be just words from our past, and instead of helping each other, humans will turn back time to the dark ages.

Knowing all of these predictions could come true, the cruelty in some books becomes troublesome, that's one reason Druga's books and I get along famously. She writes often regarding the exemplary behavior of people during dark periods of humankind's worst nightmares.

The story centers on a woman named Abby and her two daughters who travel to the city to have an amusing day. On the way home, she drives into a large tunnel when suddenly a nuclear bomb hits the city they just left. Several survivors find a smaller tunnel into a mountain that keeps them away from the fallout, and for a brief while they're safe.

They must leave the tunnel eventually, plus their hearts are yearning to travel to a husband and son still at home. Along the way, each person met shows compassion (except one unknown assailant in the story for just a few lines), now that's the world I would love to be in if events turn to devastation.

Druga's books are always effortless to read, and the only problem I find with them--they eventually must come to a conclusion.

The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin

☆☆☆☆This review contains spoilers☆☆☆☆

I've watched both Stepford Wives on film and wanted to know how skillful Levin wrote the book--was his writing as brilliant as the first movie or as dreadful as the second or somewhere in between.
Additionally, the first Stepford Wives show Joanna(Katherine Ross) strong to the finish, and the second one with Nicole Kidman was merely silly, but what about Joanna in the book?

She's precisely the same as the character in the first film except she wasn't as secure with herself at the end and starts to lose her hold on reality. An infinite number of women couldn't arrive near this portion of the story and still stay sane--perceiving their death is imminent and soon a robot will be their replacement.

To understand the book one must understand the age the book was published (1972). For the first time, women were actually gaining rights and receiving the respect due to them, though grudgingly by a substantial population of men.

Perhaps all men from this time period grew up with a mom who didn't work and had one specific job--to create comfort for their family, wait on their husbands as if they were children, and never have their own identity. They must even write their name as Mrs. John Doe, and never receive or send letters with their own name. They were lost even to themselves.

The seventies became a breakthrough for women's rights and we won though it was a struggle. Men wanted their maids and cooks back in the kitchen--not out in the workforce. So it's conceivable that a man would replace his wife with a robot to create a home exceptionally comfortable and to have a sandwich in his hand whenever desired.

Though it's ambitious to believe that an entire community of men could agree to mass murder. The book states that countless people left the community after the men's club formed, and the previous owners of Joanna's home stayed only two months, hopefully in this world, a favorable amount of men had a conscience.

I've often thought about the female children of these killers--would they be just as willing for them to die so their husbands could have the same setup? They're all murderers and butchers, I've come to the conclusion they might be willing--who could have a normal psyche after conducting or agreeing to such madness.

The book is wonderful, and Ira Levin is an incredible writer, though he must always throw in a spattering of extremely crude sexual references, which I (the prude) pass by quickly. Though I'm sure in this day and age readers will not mind his little expressions.
He's the author of one my top ten books called This Perfect Day, and his writing in that book is also genius. His books are slow and easy yet convey a powerful mix of controlled energy.

I found this book to read for free on the Open Library  site which I put to work on my Kindle. There are copious amounts of older books to read that commonly charge a considerable sum of money on my Kindle and the paper books are difficult to find--this site helps frequently with my reading "wants."

After The Event by T. A. Williams

This review contains spoilers.

Another book on the end of  life's existence for countless humans-- not that there is anything wrong with another story containing diseases, horrible lunatics, starvation, destruction and so much more fun.

Before the events of this book take place, there's an extensive amount of back story concerning the father, named Grant and his four children. Grant's past includes running out continuously on his family, addiction, selfishness and as his wife lay dying, he was somewhere else taking care of his own needs as usual.

As the world begins the downward journey of  human destruction, Grant takes his motherless children to his father's farm. His oldest son hates him and believes Grant will let them all down yet again, but Grant fights his addiction and continues to win.

They barely survive the winter when suddenly horror is thrust upon them. Modern day pirates, though land pirates, descend upon their farm and create havoc, kidnapping, and murder.

This is where the story turns to such sadness that I could hardly continue reading. Grants young son is killed by the bandits, and his daughter taken.

I know that children would die if this story came true, but reading such sadness is hard to bear. Children die all too often in the real world--why shouldn't they live in books. 

There could be a worldwide referendum to prevent the death of children until they are the age of 18 in all future books punishable by some horrendous sentence. 

I plan to read the next book in the series name Remnants though I'm sure it contains more sadness to be endured.

Call Me Joe by Poul Anderson

This review contains spoilers.

When I commenced reading this short story, I agreed with various other reviewers stating the book appeared similar to Avatar--as the story progressed--my mind began to waver on that point of view.

Joe, who's a man made being, lives on Jupiter controlled by a handicapped man named Ed, though there's a last name listed, I will call him "Ed."  Ed is a disabled man who must move around in a wheelchair, and his job keeps him hooked to the avatar, but that's where the similarity ends between this book and James Cameron's laughable movie.

Joe can live on his own, though Ed controls Joe using his brain power, exploring the environment through Joe's eyes. A problem arises with the machine-- a tube (those pesky tubes from the 1950's) continually dysfunctions. Another scientist believes that Ed's sick and tired of Joe, however that isn't the case at all--Ed loves being in Joe's body. Who could blame him--he can roam around, drinking methane and eating random animals raw that wander near him. He makes pet animals (his dogs) out of giant caterpillars, and he's free from constraints.

Eventually, Ed leaves his human body and Ed and Joe fuse into one being.

The similarity to Avatar ends early in the story, since there isn't dragon riding and becoming one with the dragon through Ed's ponytail, or an ancient tree, or other ridiculous storylines from Avatar. Yes, Ed stays in his avatar, but the avatar in the movie didn't have any type of mind of his own--plus there isn't a strong culture in place in the book.

Ultimately, the scientist on their little space station come up with a beneficial idea, bring up humans (with disabilities who wish to go)for the purpose of connecting  their brains with the dozen Jovians recently sent down to the planet's surface without human control.

They also discuss sending the elderly up, anticipating living an extra life before dying "for reals."

An interesting concept, and personally when I'm a hundred years old, I could stand a caterpillar or two as my special pets.

Out of Darkness (The Starborn Saga #1) by Jason D. Morrow

What happens when you cross a zombie apocalypse and mutant super powers...anyone, anyone? The results are equal to but no greater than The Starborn Saga.
Mora's village seems to be in real trouble against the gray skins (yet another word used instead of zombies). She leaves her village to ask for help from a warlord type of character--imagine the president in The Hunger Games.

Jerimiah is the leader of the Screven, and the Screven's home base is yet again familiar as the Capital in Panem (if Panem had been involved in a zombie war, and didn't have all their hip toys and weapons). He will send his soldiers to protect villages, but he expects large sums of payments in crops and other items (Hunger Games anyone).

Along the way, Mora just happens to find out that she can move a large crane to help her escape from a horde of zombies. Yep, she has superpowers and can move items with her thoughts, which would be cool for us mere mortals if the remote lay on top of the television.
She meets a young man who takes her to his village that is controlled protected by Screven. She meets others who have mutant abilities, and finds out their secret codeword name--Starborn.

Then a considerable amount of silliness ensues, she likes Connor, she likes Connor's brother, she decides not to ask for help for her village, she asks Jerimiah for help with her village, she decides to help Jerimiah to find hidden Starborn, she refuses to help Jerimiah find hidden Starborn. Make-up your mind!

I know that I've delivered some harsh words against this book, but on the bright side, I honestly liked it, and I have started the second book called If It Kills Me.

Mutants and zombies combine for an interesting mix, and what better way to protect loved ones than to send zombies flying away or throw rocks at their heads with superstar powers. l look forward to the entire series.

The Ugly Little Boy by Isaac Asimov

Today, people's beliefs of Neanderthals have changed immensely. In the past, it was believed that these early humans were not too smart in the membrane, and lived without tools and were basically ignorant.

That belief has changed, and new findings show they were a smart people, and some believe they were humans, at any rate they eventually bred with humans. Neanderthal DNA can be found in homo sapiens today, and some have that look about them. 

These ancient people lived in caves or homes they made with mammoth bones, and were very careful about the way they kept their domiciles. Most could have made the cover of Neanderthal Home and Garden (sorry). They made tools, performed operations, and may have used language and created music.

This book is about a young Neanderthal brought to the future (the future of 1958 when the book was published) and the nurse who learns to love him even though he is an ugly little boy.

No one could say this story shows any signs of political correctness, and some of the words are quite offensive. Ape boy is what the media call him, and he is just a spectacle to be poked at and studied--no one cares that he is a scared little guy except his nurse, who names him Timmie and eventually she loves him dearly.

Ultimately, the company who brought him into the future is ready to send him back where he came from--they want to pull someone else out of time. It doesn't matter to them that he now wears clothes, reads, talks, uses utensils while eating and will be completely lost back in his original home.

It's heartbreaking to think they wouldn't care, but it's believable that corporations and some scientists care for nothing but money and fame, and what's one little boy's life in the shadow of their greatness.

The nurse wants desperately to sneak him out of the building to safety, but she's found out, and so her only recourse, which would be the same as most mothers frantically afraid for their child, is to go back in time with him, and try to keep him safe.

There are many conclusions my mind has created on what happens when they get back and I persist in my belief that she will help him be safe and he will grow to be a great man.

This is a wonderful story and Asimov felt it was one of his best.

Yesterday's Kin by Nancy Kress

May contain spoilers.
The worst element of Aliens landing on our Earth would be their intent of good or evil. Not everyone views good and evil as absolute, and in the beginning, the intentions of the aliens in this book are difficult to decipher.
The aliens, that land on our world, aren't complete strangers--they are part of our ancestors that somehow broke off and moved to a distant planet far, far away.
They tell a tale of a spore cloud coming our way within one Earth year, and will hit their planet within twenty-five years. The spores are deadly to the aliens and subsequently deadly to humans.
The aliens set up labs with all the top scientist of the world to find a cure for humans and the quasi-humans also.
One aspect of the story that I consider appealing portrays the primary character who's a middle-aged woman. She's a scientist at a leading university with three grown children. She doesn't have a man and doesn't seem to be looking for one. She threw out her alcoholic husband years earlier, and she concentrates on her work and occasionally her grown children.
Books rarely show a woman, moving up in years, worth anyone's scrutiny in this age of youth and beauty, so this is an immense credit to the writer.
As time moves on she becomes depressed when thinking back on the mother that worked too much, and the mother that couldn't find the secret formula to give her children what they needed.
As the book moves on, her regrets become  perceptible, which leads her down the path of anger, bitterness and regret. I recognize this woman since I have felt these same feelings towards my children, and I've spent copious amounts of sleepless nights contemplating my own maternal defects.
I wish in the end that she lost her frustratingly fatalistic perspective, and after learning a large percentage of the population on our planet will live, including her other two children and grandchild (left on earth), that she would have grasped onto happiness for the human race. Maybe, as time moves on and the pain of her loss diminishes, she will find the ample hope that she needs in her life.

Nightfall by Isaac Asimov

The thought of gazing upward to the stars driving any creature to complete madness is a difficult concept to fathom, nonetheless that's the driving force behind the story of Nightfall.

Picture a planet with six suns and no other way to light people's world. Every light they utilize, inside or out, comes from their suns. A few select scientist discovered there will be a total eclipse of all six suns and total darkness will ensue.

They're cognizant concerning the stars, though they're a bit shaky on what they may be. There are religious texts--thousands of years old-- explaining a well-known theory. The texts tell a tale of  catastrophes that happened when the world turned to darkness at a previous time. People burned their cities to light their world and set themselves back to their own dark ages. 

The primary component of the story presents dialog among a reporter and the scientist trying to record the event for future reference.

The dialog makes up 99% of the book, and the event of complete darkness occurs only on the last few pages. Asimov writes the amount of stars number 30,000 compared to the few thousand that inhabitants of Earth view during our nightly observations.

It's difficult to conceptualize the feelings except beauty from these pinpoints of lights, although to never observe a star and suddenly to be bombarded with thousands could jolt anyone's composure.

Even though the book feels especially long winded--the writing continues with Asimov's excellence and the story's interesting subject matter is definitely worth the reader's time.

The Demented: Contagion (The Demented: Z Book 3) by Derek J. Thomas

This review has a spoiler, please refrain from reading unless there's a desire to learn what happens.

In the first two books, Tom's trying to save his wife and son only to have them killed in the third book. What's the point of spending hours reading the first two books related to them--just to throw his family away consistent with discarding decaying trash? 

I must confess after she dies I sped through the rest of the book telling myself the reasoning behind my motive-- I could move on to bigger and better zombie stories.

I didn't feel too guilty since the book moves at a rapid speed, I found certain parts difficult to grasp, the pace moving so quickly. Parts which had the capability to retain my interest were glossed over abruptly, and the ending told three years of the story in a mere paragraph.

I still assigned this book four stars for the reason Tom consistently shows he's a man of integrity and the story has  a  multitudinous amount of zombies.

Departure by A. G. Riddle

I knew by reading the synopsis of the book that the essential characters are involved in a plane crash, which forces the passengers into a different time period or world than the one they left. At this point, the book takes a plunge into a surprising turn of events.

After the disaster, Nick organizes a rescue to save people from the sector of the plane that landed in the water. He's forces survivors to remain calm and help each other stay safe. They wait for the rescue that never comes and place calls on phones that reach out to emptiness.

Soon, five of the survivors endure a future they're not prepared for, and while a few meet their ghosts-- others meet their older selves. Only a handful of people lingers on earth, and Nick and all the survivors learn that they helped create a plague that forced people to age and die in mere hours.

Can they emerge back to their time, and once there, will they remember enough of what happened to fix their mistakes before they occur in real time?

Time travel always creates a perplexing puzzle that boggles my mind to an extraordinary degree. Several dimensions may be created by a person's merely existing in the wrong moment, which can influence the life of the world.

I genuinely liked this book and hope to read new books from the author.

Beyond The Wall by Jacqueline Druga

This is the third book in the long series called "Beginnings." Our old favorites are back: Dean, Ellen, Frank, Joe, George and many more, but we find out that one of these people is a terrible traitor who never cared about anyone else in Beginnings.
I'm not going to say who it is, but it was a real shock when it happened, since I always want people to be good and kind, and turn from evil.

This is by no means as good as the first book called The Silent Victor, which I couldn't put down until I read the entire story. I love hate Ellen, actually I really dislike her a lot, while continuing to like her. I'm so confused!
In the real world, I have never respected anyone who sleeps with another person's spouse, or sleeps around while married, and this describes the person that Ellen is, at least part of the time.

Frank is really becoming more understanding and mellow, and I like him much more. I think characters in stories should grow and become wiser and more self-aware.
It rarely happens in the real world, so we should at least see in books. I'm starting to appreciate his character much more.

Dean and Joe are exactly the same, and George gets kidnaped by the enemy.
So which one of these people never cared, and always had a secret agenda? I guess you will need to read the book to find out.
I'm going to start the fourth book soon called Circle of Justice, and hopefully one day I will read all twenty plus books.

When Mockingbirds Sing by Billy Coffey

As I read the first half of this book, I realized I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. It was rather slow and cumbersome, but redeems itself in the end.
I find it sad that we (me included) would turn our minds away from a new idea rather than to believe it might be true. I thought for sure the Rainbow Man was an evil spirit or the devil, but slowly realized that my first snap judgement was wrong.
Sometimes it's hard to know who or what to trust, and sadly most people love to judge first, and then distrust last. Christians are some of the worst offenders, but we've been brought up to believe most things are evil and of the devil. This is fear based faith, and something I don't ascribe to anymore.
The best passage of the book shows Leah stating  that none of us can hear God. We pretend to, but to hear Him, we must be as little children in our hearts. Then we can hear His voice. We all think we know the best way, and make our decisions without Him.
Allie is (30 year old) nine year old who befriends Leah. She is smart and good, and everything needed for a best friend for someone going through great turmoil
I loved this book, and feel there is a message for everyone, believers or non-believers.

Infected: The Fall by Caleb Cleek

A good zombie story told by a police officer, starting from the beginning of the infection. He tells about his family and town, and he still wants to be a good cop even as the world is falling apart around him.
The zombies in this book are the ones I would be most scared of--they are fast, strong and smart. They have reasoning skills in hunting humans, and have flanks coming in from the back while the ones in front are distracting their dinner.
If a zombie apocalypse ever happens--I would rather deal with the slow, the stupid and the weak brain eaters, otherwise I will be one of the first to die.
This was a good story, and I'm looking forward to the next one. Hopefully, it will be soon.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

I love Goodreads, and keep a record of all my books there--those I've read or want to read. I also look at several reviews before starting a new book. So basically, what I was saying to myself while reading this book  is "why, why, why didn't I believe all of the reviews with one star."
I should have put out a restraining order that this book should not come within a thousand miles of me, but what I actually did was read it. I did so kicking and screaming the whole way, because I hate to quit once I've started.
Juliette is in an insane asylum, and all she really has is a notebook she writes in and a view from a window. She crosses out almost everything she writes, and rewrites it a different way. At first, I found compelling, but after I lost interest in her completely, I found it annoying.
This book is a silly love story in a future world that is dying, and it drags on and on. After a while I was hoping a comet the size of the moon would smash into the earth and put me them out of their misery.
Suddenly, when I was about to get into a fetal position and cry "make it stop," the ending became very interesting. She meets more people that have mutant powers (oh I should have added that she can kill you if she touches you) but just when there was such promise--it was over, and  a series of books hold the rest of the story.
I'm torn whether I should read book two, but one thing I know for sure is that I'm going to look at the reviews again, and this time I will believe them.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

I saw the movie associated with this book many years ago, and was surprised to find out the book was so much more full of substance that can't be captured on the screen.
I don't always like Margaret Atwood's books, because they feel full of herself as if she was writing them with pompous attitude, but not this book.
This story is woven through three different time lines that all connect in a downward spiral. The main character speaks of the time before the madness, when she is conscripted and (attempted) brainwashed to become a handmaid, and the present time as a handmaid.
A handmaid is a surrogate (the woman doesn't have a choice in the matter) mother for a couple who can't have children. The men are high ranking officials, and for some reason there is a birth decline affecting many people in this new country of horrors.
Women are not allowed to read or write, and given the time the book was written, women had just achieved so much in equal rights. So many men (or at least many more men) during that time, didn't want women to work or leave the house and kitchen.
To say that the government of Gilead was based on Christian values would be to say the Westminster Baptist Church is based on Christian values, when it is actually based on hatred.
Even Offred doesn't believe this type of lifestyle is what God meant, but of course it comes down to people often perceiving others as trying to control their lives, as some perceive present day Christianity want to accomplish.
The one thing I really hate about this book is the ending, or lack thereof. Even the movie came up with a good ending, but the book just ended right in the middle of a story, and so everything is now left to our imagination.
Though there are some historical notes from a conference conducted in the future (yes they still have dreaded boring conferences), where the speaker tells how they know about Offred by the recordings she makes and hides.
Even though this last part is interesting, no one in this future which is in 2195 knows more than we know, so we still can't learn an ending here.
I believe this book is brilliant and genius.

The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham

This book was one of the biggest letdowns I've had in some time. The biggest reason is that I wanted to read it for many years, and now that I have, it all seems so pointless. This review is so harsh because it has my great disappointment mingled in every sentence.

I once read an excerpt on my Kindle of the first few pages, and the main reason I wanted to read the book was the style in which the author wrote, which was very hip, but apparently that was the only good part of the story. Once they try to sneak into town, and pass out everything goes downhill after that.

The part of the book that is so repulsive is the never ending, long winded, strongly nauseous conversations these people have. I now really know what the term "beat something to death" means, since the author beat to death almost every word spoken.

The only thing worse than this book was the made for TV movie with Christopher Reeves called Village of the Damned. That was just embarrassing for the actors involved, and the book is just embarrassing for me since I kept reading it.

H5N1 Code Name: Greed by Jacqueline Druga
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I love books containing apocalypses of the world--zombie, alien, contagions, meteors striking earth and massive earthquakes or volcanoes, and Jacqueline Druga is supplying my need for these types of books.
This is my third book to read from this author, and even though she will never be remembered as an outstanding author in the annals of time, her characters are likable and we feel great empathy for them. I can't wait to read all her extensive library of books.
The title of this book is a giveaway what the story is about, and it is told from the prospective of one woman who believes she may be the last woman on earth. As she fights loneliness and the crazies who are on the loose trying to kill her, she thinks back on how it all began and how she came to now.
Great book.

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