83. Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather

read on Kindle

2019

176 pgs.
Adult SciFi
Finished  8/3/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.07
My rating: 3.5
Setting: outer space in the future

My comments: Although shorter than I expected, this was a rather satisfying science-fiction.  The convent space ship with a living, breathing animal  The handful of sisters that the reader got to know were quite individual and interesting.  Good versus evil for sure!  Power.  So interesting that Ms. Rather chose a group of NUNS as the protagonists!  I wish it had been longer, though....

Goodreads synopsis:  The sisters of the Order of Saint Rita captain their living ship into the reaches of space in Lina Rather's debut novella, Sisters of the Vast Black.

Years ago, Old Earth sent forth sisters and brothers into the vast dark of the prodigal colonies armed only with crucifixes and iron faith. Now, the sisters of the Order of Saint Rita are on an interstellar mission of mercy aboard Our Lady of Impossible Constellations, a living, breathing ship which seems determined to develop a will of its own.

When the order receives a distress call from a newly-formed colony, the sisters discover that the bodies and souls in their care—and that of the galactic diaspora—are in danger. And not from void beyond, but from the nascent Central Governance and the Church itself.

9. Saint's Gate - Carla Neggers

(It DOES look there will be more...)

2011, Mira Books

334 pgs.

Adult Murder Mystery

Finished 1/26/2015

Goodreads rating:  3.64

My rating: 2 - It was okay, but didn't grab me at all

TPPL

Setting:  Contemporary southern Maine coast (with a tiny bit of Dublin, Ireland thrown in)

1st sentence/s:  "Emma Sharpe steeled herself against the sights and sounds of her pas adn kept up with the nervous woman rushing ahead of her in the dense southern Maine fog."

My comments:  I SOOOO wanted to like this book, but it was a little too like a cozy mystery for me.  The story could have been told quite well in 100-or so less pages.  The introduction and description of the two major paintings in the story were confusing...it took me more than awhile to realize that two different paintings were being discussed.  There were too many solutions that just fell into their laps (one chapter even began with the protagonist "finding" a key to get into the rectory, a place he's never before been.....).  One of the reasons I picked up this book was the setting - I've been in all those smallish Maine coastal towns hundreds of times and the descriptions in the book didn't take me there at all.  Not even a little.  So I was really disappointed.  However, I bet there are lots of mystery readers that will love this book...a "lighter" mystery than my tastes crave.

Goodreads book summary:  When Emma Sharpe is summoned to a convent on the Maine coast, it's partly for her art crimes work with the FBI, partly because of her past with the religious order. At issue is a mysterious painting depicting scenes of Irish lore and Viking legends, and her family's connection to the work. But when the nun who contacted her is murdered, it seems legend is becoming deadly reality.   
          Colin Donovan is one of the FBI's most valuable assets -- a deep-cover agent who prefers to go it alone. He's back home in Maine after wrapping up his latest mission, but his friend Father Bracken presents him with an intrigue of murder, international art heists and a convent's long-held secrets that is too tempting to resist. As the danger spirals ever closer, Colin is certain of only one thing—the very intriguing Emma Sharp is at the center of it all.    
          A ruthless killer has Emma and Colin in the crosshairs, plunging them into a race against time and drawing them deeper into a twisted legacy of betrayal and deceit.

MOVIE - Ida

PG-13 (1:20 - though it seemed longer)

Limited release 5/2/2014

Viewed Sunday, 6/15/2014 in Harrisburg at the Midtown Theater

RT Critic:  93 Audience:  79

Cag:  2/It was okay

Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski

Music Box Films

in Polish, with English subtitles

My comments:  The story was a good one, but could have been told in about 45 minutes. It was depressing.  And dark...literally.  Black & white and dark.  And although it ended exactly as I knew it would, it really pissed me off...probably because of my own personal religious bent, especially about the Catholic church.  However, the thing that bothered me most were the long silences.  L...o....n....g silences.  Way too long......

RT Summary:  From acclaimed director Pawel Pawlikowski (Last Resort, My Summer of Love) comes IDA, a moving and intimate drama about a young novitiate nun in 1960s Poland who, on the verge of taking her vows, discovers a dark family secret dating from the terrible years of the Nazi occupation. 18-year old Anna (stunning newcomer Agata Trzebuchowska), a sheltered orphan raised in a convent, is preparing to become a nun when the Mother Superior insists she first visit her sole living relative. Naïve, innocent Anna soon finds herself in the presence of her aunt Wanda (Agata Kulesza), a worldly and cynical Communist Party insider, who shocks her with the declaration that her real name is Ida and her Jewish parents were murdered during the Nazi occupation. This revelation triggers a heart-wrenching journey into the countryside, to the family house and into the secrets of the repressed past, evoking the haunting legacy of the Holocaust and the realities of postwar Communism. In this beautifully directed film, Pawlikowski returns to his native Poland for the first time in his career to confront some of the more contentious issues in the history of his birthplace. Powerfully written and eloquently shot, IDA is a masterly evocation of a time, a dilemma, and a defining historical moment; IDA is also personal, intimate, and human. The weight of history is everywhere, but the scale falls within the scope of a young woman learning about the secrets of her own past. This intersection of the personal with momentous historic events makes for what is surely one of the most powerful and affecting films of the year.

9. Shiver - Lisa Jackson

Audio read by Joyce Bean, complete with major southern accents
Brilliand Audio, 2006
13 unabridged cd's
$38.95 (free from PBS)
16 hrs.
512 pgs.
Rating: 3

Set in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina, a serial killer is brutally murdering people in pairs, male and female, and staging a scenario for each. They all seem to revolve around Abby Chastain and her mother Faith, who supposedly committed suicide in a mental institution when she was 35. The story, told from many points-of-view including the killer and some of the victims, unfolds slowly...a little too slowly, actually. You can pretty much figure out what's going on and what's going to happen, and Jackson throws in plenty of lustful thinking and not just a little sex, especially when police detective Reuben Montoya enters the scene and meets Abby Chastain.

A little too much coincidence, a little too much dragging here and there, but good plotline and interesting characters kept me listening. Would I listen to another by Lisa Jackson? Probably...if it weren't quite so long.