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Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life–not a mean bone in his body
Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life
by Helen Fisher
Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life is the story of a neurodiverse young man whose mother’s goal is to support him into being a happy person able to live independently and hold down a job. He is a man of routines and anything that deviates from that routine or is out of place makes Joe very uncomfortable. Joe has a job at a grocery store called The Compass where his favorite activities are to stack items for display and to return mislaid items to where they belong. His mother is writing a book, a manual, for him in case he gets confused or forgets how to do something. He is quite literate, reading and retaining so many facts, but he can’t make the connections necessary for functioning easily in settings with other people. He has an understanding boss Hugo. Joe’s friend Chloe is a foul-mouthed co-worker who is not afraid to stand up to “Mean Charlie” who bullies Joe unmercifully.
The first part of Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life is well-written, and I really cared about Joe and the other characters. There is a major event which happens in Joe’s life (spoiler if I included it) after which the book went downhill for me. The plot and the characters became more negative. Joe’s life goal is to prove his mom right that he “doesn’t have a mean bone in his body.” While that is a positive attribute, because Joe doesn’t understand anything that is not literal or is nuanced, he unintentionally causes a lot of physical pain in a relational situation. The reader has to cringe and inwardly say, “No, Joe! Stop!” several times.
Joe’s mother has beautiful handwriting. In this book the author quotes from the manual when Joe reads passages in it. This style and format (italics in place of cursive) are effective ways to demonstrate the difficulties faced by neurodivergent children and adults and how Joe’s mom clearly tries to address all of his present and future concerns. People who are neurodivergent are open to bullying, and their parents face huge challenges in preparing them for life as adults, especially after the parents have died.
Rating: 3/5
Category: Literary Fiction, Fiction, Women’s Fiction
Notes: 1. I am probably in the minority in not loving this book. I really liked the character of Joe, and I understood the author’s portrayal of him. I even both sympathized and empathized with Joe, but the negative events were too strong and outweighed the positives for me.
2. There was a lot of inappropriate language from Chloe who is actually one of my favorite characters because she is someone Joe can rely on and she has no agenda. Even Joe didn’t like her swearing; he made a box for her to put money in when she swore.
3. One of Joe’s favorite things to do with and without his mom was to watch episodes of the TV show “Friends.” It was part of his routine and relaxed him. I just don’t think that show has good role models and would have too many jokes and situations that Joe would not understand.
4. A minor detail: the author used a mask in a scene and the usage was OK in terms of the plot. Joe understandably doesn’t like masks because he can’t tell what expression the person has and match it up with the expressions he has learned from a chart. The mask in this case was worn by an insensitive bully and was the face of an American president. My problem with this scene is that the author slipped in a slur about the president. It was not funny and it did not further the plot in any way. It was clearly politically motivated and unnecessary, and I would not have appreciated it regardless of which president was depicted.
5. The book includes “Topics and Questions for Discussion” and a section of activities to “Enhance Your Book Club.” Both of these were well done.
Publication: May 28,2024—Gallery Books (Simon and Schuster)
Memorable Lines:
Making sure that her son had a secure job with a nice manager somewhere that was walking distance from home was one of the most important things on Janet’s list to help Joe-Nathan prepare for independent life.
Janet knew that assumptions were lazy; a simple way of filling in the blanks when there wasn’t enough information Assumptions were a way of connecting the dots to give you a picture that worked, but not necessarily the right picture. Not necessarily the truth.
He wished it was Monday morning so he could go to work and feel completely comfortable knowing how he fitted into the world.
Night Shift–using heart and brain
Night Shift
by Annelise Ryan
Two books to read. One—a thought provoking theological memoir with an impending book club deadline. The other—a page turner by one of my favorite authors, Annelise Ryan. She really knows how to tell a story. My decision, given this choice, is not hard to guess. As I finished the mystery, Night Shift, I should have been wearing my “one more chapter” sweatshirt because that is what happened, all the way to a surprising and satisfying conclusion.
Whereas Ryan’s Mattie Winston Mystery Series focuses on forensics and pathology, her equally well-written Helping Hands Series is about Hildy, a social worker who is combining her job with the hospital as a social worker with a newly created position where she rides along with local enforcement officers to support both the officers and the citizens they encounter. The upside is that many of her clients overlap; the downside is that the hours are extended with the jobs back to back not really allowing for any kind of normal sleep routines. Hildy has been trained in appropriate protocol to keep her safe, and she follows it. She has three big advantages in her new job. She is smart and is good at noticing clues and making connections that others may not see. She has a trained therapy dog Roscoe who interacts well with people in crisis helping to calm them. Personal traumas as a child and her experiences in the foster care system make her an understanding advocate.
In this mystery, Hildy’s welfare check on a farmer yields unpleasant results that are just the beginning of an intricate plot. Threads include a female vet with PTSD, a schizophrenic young man who hallucinates, two adult daughters of the victim who are not very nice people, and a militia organization.
Hildy is determined, persistent, and very caring. On a personal level, she befriends a young neighbor with autism and initiates a relationship with a bachelor detective who is ready to make changes in his life. On a professional level, she is confronted by her boss at the hospital who was turned down for the law enforcement position Hildy now holds.
Annelise Ryan’s books have some of the characteristics of a cozy mystery, but they have a little edge to them in the crime scene descriptions. They also have characters with more depth to them than the typical cozy mystery. She takes great care to bring the reader along as she supplies background information from the first novel in a natural and organic way. The characters are interesting and show development. The plot is intricate and fast moving. This is a mystery you’ll be thinking about for days as you wonder what adventures lie in store for Hildy in the next book.
I would like to extend my thanks to Netgalley and to Kensington Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: #2 in the Helping Hands Mystery Series, but excellent as a standalone
Publication: July 28, 2020—Kensington Books
Memorable Lines:
If eyes truly are the windows to the soul, one look at Danny’s makes it clear that reason and sanity have left that particular building. At least for now.
As I follow her in there, it occurs to me that this is a kid who never displays emotion, and that I may have just been played by an eleven-year-old.
The rest of the station employees not only haven’t noticed, but they’ve made no effort whatsoever to maintain the newly cleaned state. I’m surprised I got the job I did with this department because, apparently, being a slob is one of the criteria for working here.
Needled to Death–accidental OD, suicide, or murder?
Needled to Death
by Annelise Ryan
Welcome to the first book in The Helping Hands Mystery Series by Annelise Ryan. This series and its premier tale, Needled to Death, share some characters with Ryan’s Mattie Winston Mystery Series. As is true in the real world, people in a fairly closed community, like those who deal with crime and its victims, such as evidence technicians, detectives, and those in the Medical Examiner’s office, frequently have intersecting spheres. Experience with that series is not necessary to enjoy this one.
In Needled to Death, the main character is Hildy Schneider, a social worker for the hospital. Hilda is a flawed protagonist if ever there was one, and you will quickly come to love her, quirks and all. A product of the foster care system since a young age, she has been passed through more homes and psychiatrists than most people can count. Hildy, however, has emerged strong, but vulnerable, with an insatiable curiosity and a desire to help others.
A woman in Hildy’s grief support group at the hospital is convinced her son was murdered, and Hildy agrees to try to get the police to reopen the case. Hildy manages to get involved in the investigation as well as with the investigators on a personal level. There are a lot of interesting characters including P.J., a neighbor girl with Asperger’s, and Rosco, Hildy’s golden retriever whom she sometimes uses with clients as a therapy dog. Hildy goes from no social life to attracting the interest of two men who admire her smarts and spunk.
Author Ryan has a talent in her writing style that makes it hard to put this book down. I really needed to stop reading to attend to another task. Unfortunately for the other project, I would end a chapter, peek at the next, and off I went into the plot again. It was at least five chapters later before I managed to get tough and close the book. Another feature I like about this book is the humor scattered throughout. The ending of one chapter (no spoilers here) was a surprise that was laugh out loud funny. With a great plot and characters with interesting backgrounds, Needled to Death skyrockets for me, and I can hardly wait for the next book in the series to make an appearance!
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Kensington Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: #1 in the Helping Hands Mystery Series, but Annelise Ryan’s third series.
Publication: July 30, 2019—Kensington Books
Memorable Lines:
These glimpses of family life both warm and depress me. It’s a life I’ve never had or experienced, and I feel the lack of it at times. I try not to dwell in the land of self-pity too much, though, and if I do linger there overly long, Roscoe seems to sense it, and he’ll nudge me out of my depression.
I hate being so paranoid, someone who always suspects the motives of others as nefarious, but my experience, both in the foster system and as a social worker, bears it out. I’ve been lied to, ripped off, and manipulated by some of the best.
I loved books and the stories I read. They provided me with an escape, with adventures I might not otherwise have, and with characters whose lives I could step into and borrow for a time to replace my own.
Some Choose Darkness–very twisted serial killer
Some Choose Darkness
by Charlie Donlea
I am very conflicted as I finish Charlie Donlea’s Some Choose Darkness. The reason? It turned out to be more of a thriller than I had anticipated. This reader’s taste leans towards Agatha Christie and cozy mysteries. I cut my teeth on Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. I avoid thrillers because they stir me up too much. I chose to read Some Choose Darkness because I had read a book by Donlea previously and enjoyed it. Somehow I did not expect an intense work of fiction about a serial killer. The problem is that although in some ways I didn’t enjoy reading it, I felt compelled to finish the tale, to make all of the pieces fit together. Donlea has masterfully crafted a thriller with so many layers and connections that rapid page turning is a necessity. Add to the plot not one, but two characters with autism and obsessive/compulsive disorder and this retired teacher is all over it.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Kensington Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery and Thriller
Publication: May 28, 2019—Kensington Books
Memorable Lines:
With Lane’s reputation as a forensic psychologist and criminal profiler for the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit, and Rory’s credentials as a reconstructionist who pieced together the very findings the algorithm looked for, they made the perfect team. Police departments listened to their conclusions, and many had started using Lane’s software to track homicides on their own.
Like a tuning fork that has been tapped, the vibration from the mystery surrounding the woman was at once barely audible but yet impossible to ignore.
Rory’s greatest gift was her ability to piece together cold cases, to pore over the facts and discover things other investigators missed until a picture of the crime—and sometimes the perpetrator—became clear in her mind. Her understanding of a killer’s thinking and motive came from examining the carnage he left behind.
Murder in the Locked Library–wonderful quotes…weak plot
Murder in the Locked Library
by Ellery Adams
I was prepared to love Murder in the Locked Library. I am a bibliophile! How could I not love a cozy mystery about books with a cover that beckons “Sit down and read a while.”? I am sorry to say the book plodded along until about three-fourths of the way through when something happened that totally engaged me. I won’t spoil the book by saying what that event was.
I loved all the literary references and quotes, and I gradually began to understand what the purpose of Storyton Lodge is. And therein lies the second problem: Murder in the Locked Library really, really, really should not be read as a standalone. I did searches within the book to find the first references to “Guardian” and “Fin” thinking I had overlooked their introduction. I even did an Internet search on the terms to see if I had missed references in popular culture. My searches were fruitless. With background knowledge from previous books, this one would have been more enjoyable, but that still doesn’t solve the problem of the first part of the book lacking interest.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Kensington Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 3/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: #4 in the Book Retreat Mystery Series. It does not work well as a standalone.
Publication: April 24, 2018—Kensington Books
Memorable Lines:
Even the pleasant cacophony in the kitchens—the thud of a cleaver striking wood, the hiss of steam, the rush of water, the scrape of metal against metal, and the endless dip and swell of voices as the staff chatted and bantered with each other—couldn’t distract Jane.
“We’re among our kind. We’re with book people. People who love everything about books. The history of books. The illustrations. The typography. The paper, covers, edges. The significance of an original manuscript or a signed copy. These people also understand the power of books. They understand how books can impact the world, one reader at a time. They respect the book, as we do.”
She believed they were dancing to his tune, and it was a tune without melody or rhyme. It was the steady tick of a metronome—a metaphor for all the time he’d invested in this scheme. And he wanted a return on his investment.
education pathways 