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Tag Archives: hardcover

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The Lolly-Madonna War by Sue Grafton (1969) – BR00160 (2019) – ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธโšชโšช

The PolyBlog
May 22 2019

Plot or Premise

I loved Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone series, and since I’m a bit of a “completist”, once I like an author’s books, I try to read everything by them. Although it was made into a movie, this book has been long out of print. Which made no real senseโ€ฆhow could a book written by an author as prolific and popular as Sue Grafton, and that was made into a movie, not be available ANYWHERE? Now that I’ve read it, I can see why. Like Keziah Dane, one of her earlier books, the characters are dirt poor backwoods families. Isolated from town, this story takes place entirely on the properties between two neighbouring families. If you have ever heard of the old Hatfields and McCoys feud of two warring families, fighting for reasons they no longer remember, you have the Lolly Madonna War.

What I Liked

The book picks up mid-war with the latest skirmish. The one family, the Gutshalls, has let slip to the other family that there is a girl coming to their house, a girl named Lolly-Madonna who will be a potential mate for one of the sons. Except it is entirely fictitious. Until the second family, the Feathers, sees a girl hiking along the road and decides it must be Lolly Madonna and therefore kidnap her to get back at the Gutshalls, depriving them of their prize. The girl protests, but to no avail. The war escalates with incursions on each other’s territory, shots fired, stills overturned, pigs slaughtered. And a budding romance with the girl.

What I Didn’t Like

The story is incredibly depressing from start to finish. With a giant plot-hole right in the middleโ€ฆthree of the kids are still friendly and talk occasionally, pretending to fight when they need to but not doing any real harm to each other. And when the Feathers tell their Gutshall friend that they have Lolly Madonna, he doesn’t say, “But we made it up”. It would have ended the story. Instead, he decides to say nothing, tell his parents, and they get it in their head to say nothing but maybe they should rescue her. Just as an excuse to keep the feud goingโ€ฆif one does something, even in retaliation, the other has to respond. And the ending is beyond depressing, not to mention you don’t really “see” the ending, you just turn the page and find out how it all ended.

The Bottom Line

There’s a reason this is out of print.

Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged action, book review, fiction, Good Reads, hardcover, historical, library, novel, PolyWogg, prose, Reading Challenge, stand-alone, western | Leave a reply

Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva (2010) – BR00119 (2018) – ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธโšช

The PolyBlog
December 17 2018

A reporter, Liam Mulligan, investigates a series of arsons around his hometown.

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Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged action, Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, B&N, book review, Chapters, crime, detective, fiction, Good Reads, Google, hardcover, Kobo, library, Library Thing, Mulligan, mystery, Nook, novel, OPL, PolyWogg, prose, series, sleuth | Leave a reply

Change: What Really Leads to Lasting Personal Transformation by Jeffrey A. Kottler (2013) – BR00118 (2018) – ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ

The PolyBlog
December 17 2018

Plot or Premise Kottler reflects on literature and his personal experiences as a psychologist about the elements that lead people to not only make changes in their life but also sustain those changes over the long-term. What I Liked I had the pleasure of hearing Kottler speak as an honoured guest at my wife’s university graduation ceremony, and he intrigued me enough on the subject of “change” — what we know and what we don’t know — that I bought his book. It was the perfect book for me at this point in my life, as I’ve been wanting to … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, B&N, biography, book review, Chapters, Fitness, Good Reads, Google, hardcover, health, Kobo, Library Thing, new, non-fiction, Nook, OPL, PolyWogg, prose, psychology, reference, self-help, stand-alone | Leave a reply

Big Box Reuse by Julia Christensen (2008) – BR00115 (2018) – ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธโšช

The PolyBlog
March 14 2018

This textbook-sized book includes ten case studies across America where former big box stores โ€“ Walmarts and Kmarts โ€“ have been put to new use after the store left or closed.

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Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, B&N, book review, business, Good Reads, hardcover, history, library, Library Thing, non-fiction, OPL, PolyWogg, prose, stand-alone, textbook, used | Leave a reply

Catch Me: Kill Me by William H. Hallahan (1977) – BR00082 (2016) – ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿธโšช

The PolyBlog
April 16 2016

Set in the 1970s, and a Russian poet has sought asylum in the U.S. Days before he qualifies for citizenship, he is kidnapped from Grand Central Station. Why was he taken? How can they help him? Where is he?

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Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged action, Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, B&N, book review, crime, detective, epic, espionage, fiction, Good Reads, hardcover, historical, international, library, Library Thing, mystery, novel, police, PolyWogg, prose, Reading Challenge, sleuth, stand-alone, suspense | Leave a reply

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My Latest Posts

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