Top Ten Tuesday-Liked but Forgot

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This Week...Books I Really Liked but Can’t Remember Anything/Much About. I'm doing books I read a while back that I liked but haven't read recently.

1) Jung Chang-Wild Swans
Memoir of three generations of women in China-a warlord's concubine, a Maoist during the Cultural Revolution and a young woman deemed an enemy of the state. This was a great read and I gave it 5 stars at the time in 2010.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9763.Wild_Swans

2) Markus Zusak-The Book Thief
A girl from a communist family is adopted by a German family who are suspected of not being Hitler supporters. Struggling to find her identity, she finds solace in stealing books. I really want to watch the film and shed more tears. Read 2010.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/893136.The_Book_Thief 

3) Khaled Hosseini-The Kite Runner
A boy from a rich family disowns his servant friend after a shocking incident but many years later finds redemption against the backdrop of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. I read it in 2010 and cried a lot.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/413081.The_Kite_Runner 

4) Heather Gudenkauf-The Weight of Silence
Two seven year old girls are missing in the woods and the investigation begins. It's a race against time to find them as someone dangerous is lurking out there. This was a good thriller with a switching viewpoint and I remember liking it. Read 2010.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7089636-the-weight-of-silence

5) Zoe Heller-Notes on a Scandal 
A lonely schoolteacher becomes friends with a young teacher who is having an affair with a pupil. Barbara's obsessive friendship with Sheba is going to take a darker turn and there will be a scandal. Enjoyable book and good film, read in 2010.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1597185.Notes_On_A_Scandal

6) Wendy Jean-Unstolen 
Bethany's childhood is blighted by the mystery of her missing brother and now that she is a mother, she has to deal with her own mother murdering what seems to be a random stranger. I liked the dual stories showing her childhood and adulthood. Read 2010.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2005285.Unstolen 

7) Audrey Niffenegger-The Time Traveller's Wife
Henry has an illness that sends him back and forward in time, making it difficult to maintain his relationship with Clare, and having a dangerous effect on his health. Sad book and sad film but I enjoyed both. Read 2010.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14050.The_Time_Traveler_s_Wife 

8) Curtis Sittenfeld-American Wife
Alice kills the boy she loves in a fatal car crash and gets into a destructive relationship. Years later she is marrying a man who could be the next President. This book was said to be based on the life of Laura Bush and it was fascinating. Read 2010.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5655153-american-wife 

9) Dean Koontz-Lightning
Each time lightning strikes, a crucial event happens in Laura's life. Growing up in a children's home with a pervert on the loose, a guardian angel appears whenever she is in trouble. Time travel thriller with Nazis too! Read 2010.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/369580.Lightning

10) Sherri Fulmer Moorer-Move 
Ruby has always been one of life's punchbags with a hellish boss and miserable life. A stranger offers to get her life back but when she agrees, life spins out of control. This was an interesting mystery thriller with a touch of paranormal. Read 2013.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17398841-move 

Book Review: Rebel Radio by Boyd Craven (The World Burns #5.5)

A raw and gritty standalone novel in The World Burns Saga. Can be read on it's own or as a companion after The World Burns 5: The World Bleeds! Life after an EMP puts the USA in the dark ages is not an easy one. Life is dangerous and difficult enough without humans preying on each other. Don, an alcoholic and a gamer girl called 'Z' make an odd introduction together and find themselves thrust into a survival situation neither of them are prepared to endure. A ghost from Don's past surfaces, one who's responsible for his pain and suffering. Can both Don and Z endure in a world that has gone crazy, when all they want to do is keep on living?

My Review: 
Part of my goals for reading in 2018 is to finish with The World Burns series and this was one that had been waiting for my attention for a while. It is a stand-alone book in the series about a gamer girl called Z who finds a radio which puts her in touch with Blake and Sandra at the Homestead on their Rebel Radio broadcasts, helping her to survive in the EMP aftermath. When she goes to the aid of alcoholic Don, she finds another friend to survive with.

Z has been alone since the couple she was living with were murdered, and she has been sneaking around town, trying to avoid Reno's motorbike gang who are always looking for supplies and unwilling women. She witnesses Reno's group killing some soldiers on the street and she loots the bodies, finding a radio. Surprised that it works, she hears Patty on the radio and timidly talks to her, and a man called Blake tells Z how to find the water she so badly needs in the boilers in the abandened house. Now the radio, which she offers the name Rebel Radio to, is linking the scattered survivors and giving them the survival tips that they so badly need, led by Blake and Sandra at the Homestead.

Don is an alcoholic who used to be a planning inspector before the EMP, which is when he fell foul of Reno's gang, leading to him losing his family. Nursing his wounds in an disused underground shelter, he only comes out for supplies. This time he is raiding the golf club for the contents of the bar, but on his second visit he runs into the enemy and is given a savage beating and left for dead. It is Z who witnesses this and comes to his rescue. Allowing her to look after him for a few days, Don is in turmoil over whether to stick together or go back to his lonely life with the bottle.

I don't want to say too much about the plot except that Reno's gang are a menacing feature that Z and Don both have to avoid for different reasons, and the fact that they can appear at any time with the roar of a Harley means that our MCs are always in danger. Z has little patience for the amount of drinking that Don does and starts entertaining a thought of going to find the safety of the Homestead, instead of living in the shadows of Reno and his thugs. Don is just trying to get through the days without the DTs and hope that Z will not abandon him out of revulsion for his condition.

I did find it hard to like Don as I'm not a fan of reading about MCs who have either drink or drug problems and I just wanted to shake him at times. He grew on me a bit by the end of the book but Z was always the better character. The book is a little slow but the action does pick up a bit towards the end. There is no real talk about the EMP event, which is fully covered in the main series so I would suggest reading that first, at least up until Rebel Radio is launched, to fill in all the background information.

I was a big fan of the World Burns series until the focus switched away from the Homestead to follow other characters. This spin-off was decent but I wouldn't want to read a whole set of books about these characters.

Read January 2018.
2.5/3 stars. 

Chuckles Retro Reads-The World Burns by Boyd Craven (World Burns #1)

Tension grips the country as the nuclear talks with Iran starts to go poorly. This is largely ignored by the populace and the threat of war goes unheeded.

Blake has lived his life through hard work and his blog- Back Country J. He's an off grid homesteader, blogger and author. He has the life that preppers dream of, and he never knows it. As an on again off again handyman he learns how to fix everything in his life except loneliness, until he meets Sandra.

Sandra is a Army veteran who has caught his attention, and also the preacher's daughter. Sparks fly the first time they meet and the shy hermit asks her out on a date.

Follow the couple as they try to survive raiders, hunger, and human nature when the balloon goes up after an EMP is set off.

My Review: 
I read most of this series in February 2016 and this is my review of the first book.

Blake lives the life of a hermit and prepper on his ranch outside town, avoiding people other than Duncan the local preacher who he does odd jobs for. He is self sufficient and has his own popular prepper blog. Things look up for him with a mutual attraction to Duncan's daughter Sandra, but on their first date, the EMP hits. As the town falls apart, Blake and Sandra have to secure the ranch and prepare to defend it while hoping that Duncan can find his way to them from a town that is a distance from them.

Since I stumbled across prepper fiction, I have been a happy chuckles! What I love in these books is the human story of trying to survive against the odds. You get the characters-sometimes military, sometimes civilian getting ready for a disaster and then trying to survive through the breakdown of society, attacks by bad guys and dealing with day to day shortages and problems. I love the drama of it and these books are generally fast paced. This book was no exception to that.

Blake is a guy who just wants to live in peace, relying on feeding himself from the land, producing his own resources and having limited contact with people or government interference. He is happy with his life and shares his self sufficiency tips online for others to learn. His only real friend is Pastor Duncan, who is also a prepper, and Blake uses his handyman skills to help with church repairs. Blake is a nice guy-ordinary, self taught skills, resourceful but able to look after himself. I like his friendship with Duncan. Duncan is a bit more kickass than you would generally expect in a preacher. His prepping skills in theory might go against his religious morality but Duncan is not prepared to stand by and let bad things happen to good people on his watch. I loved that!

The romance in the story comes in the form of Sandra. She is a follower of Blake's website and is delighted to find out who he is on their date. She fixes military vehicles for a living and is capable and strong, which I like to see from the female MC. She is a good pairing for Blake and you do want them to be happy. The romance between them is not the focus for the story-it is more of a background theme, but it does feel right and belongs there. I'm not a romance fan as followers know, but I liked the pairing and the development of their relationship set against an apocalypse. I liked that they are proper equals and Sandra is more than capable of looking after herself and is not just the needy love interest that you often see.

When the EMP hits, things fall apart quickly as people begin to panic and criminals start to take advantage of the lawless situation. Planes are falling from the sky, cars are coming to a halt, the power grid is down and those in prison are freed to cause carnage and threaten the surviving citizens in the town. Blake and Sandra might want to lie low and avoid trouble but it won't be long before the thugs move out of town and onto nearby property, threatening their new life. Do you risk your safety to help other people against the criminals? Should you take in strangers? How far should you go to defend yourself? Is it wrong to kill people in the aftermath of a disaster if they want to take what is yours? These are all questions that Blake, Sandra and Duncan are going to have to answer.

This is the first in a series of novellas about the aftermath of the EMP disaster and it does not take long to get into the story. There is plenty of action to keep the reader interested, and the character development is central to my enjoyment of the series. You do care about the main characters and what might be in store for them, which I find vital in books. The plot is good and the story flows nicely, with a mixture of tension, action and emotion. It also has an educational quality as we see the projects that Blake is undertaking at the ranch.

I certainly recommend this to fans of apocalypse and prepper fiction. This is an 11 novella book series, each book around 100 pages.

Read 2016.
5 stars. 

Around The Blogs With Chuckles

We all enjoy snooping and lurking on other people's blogs right? Why not share those entertaining things you found with other readers and bloggers too! Welcome to Around the Blogs with Chuckles, where I take time out to show you some of my favourite blog posts from the previous seven days and link you up so you can check them out. 

This Week!

1) I live in a home of non-readers! 
Danielle ponders the difficulties of being a lone reader in the household!
https://booksvertigoandtea.com/2018/01/15/confessions-of-a-tea-sippin-blogger-i-live-in-a-home-of-non-readers/

2) I Might Not Like Your Book And That's Okay 
Bark tells authors to chill out a bit...
http://barksbooknonsense.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/psa-i-might-not-like-your-book-and.html 

3) Books Becoming Films in 2018 
Daniela looks at a few new releases.
http://www.danielaark.com/seeing-is-believing-books-becoming-movies-in-2018/?utm_source=bloglovin.com&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BlogForReadersWritersAndBloggers+%28Blog+for+readers%2C+writers+and+bloggers%29

4) 30 ways to reduce your risk of flu 

Protect yourself and your family

https://www.theorganicprepper.com/30-ways-to-reduce-your-risk-of-catching-the-flu/ 

5) Puppy Love Challenge

Fancy joining a challenge of reading books with dogs on the covers or in the story in February? 

http://bookertsfarm.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/challenge-announcement-they-call-it.html

6) Book Review-The Chalk Man by CJ Tudor
Mogsy looks at a book I have my eye on...
https://bibliosanctum.com/2018/01/21/audiobook-review-the-chalk-man-by-c-j-tudor/  

7) Book Review-Speaking With The Spirits Of The Old Southwest
Sarah looks at conversations with ghostly spirits from the Old West 
http://allthebookblognamesaretaken.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/speaking-with-spirits-of-old-southwest.html 

Prepping With Chuckles #3 Having A Get Home Plan

Let's imagine for a moment that you have good supplies in your home ready for a limited or lengthy emergency. Whether you have the perfect fully equipped prepper house or you are just supplied for a few months, you know that you will have a good chance of seeing it through in your own house. After all, shelter, food and water, prepping equipment and weapons, if relevant, are a good start to getting through a disaster.

If you are all at home when disaster strikes, that's great! You are all together, safe and ready to think about what to do next to secure your home. But what if NONE of you are at home when it happens? What do you do? You need an emergency or get home plan. This post is not a get home plan, just a few things to think about when you put your own together.

1) Think About Your Location
When you aren't at home, where are you most likely to be? If you aren't at work daily, what other places are you at regularly during the week ie visiting other relatives, voluntary work, weekly shopping, meeting a friend in town for a chat, sports club, dropping off kids at school, going to the gym etc. You could be at any of these places if something happens and you need to get home safe from every one of them.

Think about how long it takes you get home by car from each place, and think about the best route home if a car or bike is an option ie you still have power in your car. It's easy to imagine the quickest route but in an emergency will everyone else on the road at the same time be using this route? If so you might end up in a traffic jam and be going nowhere at all. Look at possible alternative routes on quieter roads where there are less traffic lights, less workplaces and shops where workers are all trying to leave from, and where there should be less people. The more alternative routes you have in your head, the better your options if the worst happens. 

Be aware of any roadworks, areas prone to flooding, burst pipes or other issues that suddenly appear on your favoured routes as this can also slow you down. Which routes may be impassable in certain weather? Keep up to date on planned roadworks or when pipes under the roads are being repaired. Look for diversion signs and when this work finishes. Think of which routes you could take if you are on foot as these may differ greatly from roads you travel on by car and be more direct. Is it safer to walk on a longer main road or take the wooded short cut? Can you defend yourself in each circumstance? Plan what hazards you might face if you cut across fields ie angry animals, water  Plan out what supplies you will need for this length of walk and ensure you have suitable footwear and clothing for the journey, and adjust your plan for each type of seasonal weather.

THINK about what kind of area your route takes you through. Is it an area where there is high crime? If so you may be at risk of car-jacking, or robbery if on foot or bike. Try to avoid these areas unless you are confident of getting through before trouble breaks out. If you pass through quieter areas with less trouble, depending on which disaster you face, there may be time to stop for more food, water and supplies. You might be able to stop at small local grocery stores to grab more supplies on your way home, places not already attracting looters. These places might be slower to descend into chaos but be ready to pay cash and inflated prices for what you buy and the shops may already have closed up for safety reasons.

2) Your Family's Route Home
You need a plan for each family member. You have to decide on whether your plan involves getting to your kids schools to collect them, or if they have to make their own way home. For example if their school is a few minutes walk away, you can get them to run straight home and wait for you to get there. If they are young kids ten miles away from home, the situation changes and you may need to go and get them. If you drop off a spouse at work and you have the sole car, do you collect them or expect them to come home themselves? Will the schools bus the kids home in an emergency? Does your school have a disaster plan or require parents to come and collect the kids? Is the route home safe enough for the kids to make their own way back? How long would it take you to reach them by car or by foot? You could look at the route and perhaps find a rendezvous point that your family can get to quickly and wait safely out of sight for you or another family member to reach them. 

Do you gather the whole family at one home or will you all be staying in your own homes? If one of you is a prepper and have a lot of supplies in a defendable home it might be worth getting your family all under one roof for safety. If cars are still usable, decide which supplies you can ask your family to bring for the stockpile or if they can pick up anyone else en route. Do family members need to be collected before they can be brought to you? There are a lot of things to think of and the type of disaster can dictate your actions. An EMP is a long term disaster so you might want to be together for that whereas hurricanes are a short term situation where you can all stay in your own homes if it is safe to do so.

3) Are You Bugging In or Bugging Out?
This is the question that preppers disagree on most often. If a disaster comes do you stay at home and survive in an area you know, defending your supplies? Or is it not safe in your area and you want to bug out to a safer location? I personally have no choice but to bug in. We have no family outside of our urban environment who can take us in and we have no rural prepper property that we can try to get to in an emergency. We have no guns to protect us and no hunting or camping skills so we will have to stay where we are and hope for the best. If you decide to bug out straight to another location, know where you are going, ensure your routes are well planned and ensure you have the supplies and skills to get there.

3) What do you need to Get Home? A few things that might be useful.
-carry cash as credit card payment scanners may be down if the power is affected in a disaster
-BOB (Bug Out Bag)
-suitable shoes. Wear them always or have a pair in the car/workplace to change into
-paper maps to plan route as SAT-NAV might not be working
-salt/grit in case you need to get out of snow or go off road through a field in a real emergency
-ensure you have a full petrol tank in your car in case you need to take a longer route
-fold up bikes-excellent to store in boot/trunk and are easy to assemble if car is not an option
-if in a car, lock your doors
-if something looks dodgy ahead, don't stop and get away from the trouble

To sum up:
Whether by vehicle or on foot, you need to be sure of where you are going and what you may be facing so do your homework before it comes to disaster. Think about routes, supplies and how your family are to get home or to another location NOW. Don't wait. If a disaster was to hit tomorrow, you don't want your family to be in a panic wondering what to do. It'll do you no good if your kids are fleeing home by one route while you charge to their school by another route and you all miss each other. Make sure everyone in the family knows what to do in various circumstances and there is less likely to be panic.These points are to get you thinking about how to get home, and are a starting point but only you can make the actual plan.

Do you have a Get Home plan?