Don't Look Behind You

 Don't Look Behind You! A Safari Guide's Encounters with Ravenous Lions, Stampeding Elephants, and Lovesick Rhinos is the second memoir I have read by Peter Allison.  He is an entertaining storyteller and spent significant time in the bush in Africa.  In this book, he describes some of the antics that it is amazing he lived to tell about.   If you like travel or animals you will definitely find things to enjoy in this book.  There are some sad moments that make you think about man's relationship with animals as well as some laugh-out-loud moments.  Definitely more of the latter in the book.  It is a great read to pick up when you have a short time to read as each chapter is effectively its own standalone story.  

 

Don't Look Behind You! A Safari Guide's Encounters with Ravenous Lions, Stampeding Elephants, and Lovesick Rhinos by Peter Allison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

an enjoyable memoir about the author's time in Africa leading safaris and other various jobs in the industry. anyone who loves animals or adventures will enjoy reading the book. it is amazing the author lived to tell his story based on some of the snippets he shares.

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Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:  

1. Goodreads and Reading by the Numbers #ReadingByNumbers2023 Book #  65
2. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge  Book #   53
3. Literary Escapes  #LiteraryEscapes  Botswana
4. What an Animal Book #21
5. Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2023   Book #58
6. Back List Reader  #Backlistreader  Book #48
7. Humor  Book #2
8. Memoir  #5 Animal Memoir:
9. Non Fiction Reader  #ReadNonFicChal   Book #2 Memoir/Biography
10. BooklistQueen  #booklistqueenreadingchallenge2023  # 41. With a Long Title
11. Beat the Backlist #BTB2023  #8 non-fiction just for fun
12. HP Quidditch 23 #2 Quidditch World Cup: Set in a country you’ve never been to
13. Nerdy Bookworm  #NerdyBookwormChallengeXO #4. Read a nonfiction book
14. Pick your Poison  # 82 A book with the work "lion," "elephant," or mouse in the title
15. Sci and Nature # 26 About Your Favorite Science or Nature Topic
16. What's in a Name   #1  Punctuation
17. Diversify your reading #DYRC23  April  Memoir
18. Book Voyage  #bookvoyagechallenge  March Set in Africa

NF Reading

  I tried this challenge in 2021 and I wish to try this again in 2022.  There are categories that are suggested to select non fiction reading.   This challenge will work well with my Reading Randomizer Challenge since I had so many NF works come up in that selection process.  

Nonfiction Nipper: Read & review 3 books, from any 3 listed categories

Nonfiction Nibbler: Read & review 6 books, from any 6 listed categories   <==== My GOAL

Nonfiction Nosher: Read & review 12 books, one for each category

Nonfiction Grazer: Read & review any nonfiction book. Set your own goal

Books Selected 

1/6 Prompts completed  

Categories:

1. History:
2. Memoir/Biography:  Don't Look Behind You! A Safari Guide's Encounters with Ravenous Lions, Stampeding Elephants, and Lovesick Rhinos  by Peter Allison
• Blog Post and Goodreads Review 5/18/23
3. Crime & Punishment:
4. Science:
5. Health:
6. Travel:
7. Food:
8. Social Media:
9. Sport:
10. Relationships:
11. The Arts:
12. Published in 2023:

Not So Different

 When I selected this book from my library I wasn't aware it was a children's book.   I picked it because I had previously read Laughing at My Nightmare (Blog review) by Shane and enjoyed it.  He definitely knows how to write frankly about his experiences in a way to help people understand his perspective.  This is a great book for sharing with children or to get a feeling for the type of books Shane Burcaw writes.  

Not So Different: What You Really Want to Ask About Having a Disability by Shane Burcaw
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

great perspective to share with kids

This is the second book by Shane I’ve read and his attitude is so inspiring. His struggles remind me to put difficult things in my life in perspective. They are ant hills compared to the things he deals with daily

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Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:  

1. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge  Book #   99
2. 2022TBR  #2022ReadingChallenge  # 
3. Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2022   Book #121
4. Back List Reader  #Backlistreader  Book #90
5. Non Fiction Reader  #ReadNonFicChal   Book #9. Linked to a podcast
6. Humor  Book #2
7. 52 Book Club  #the52bookclub  #40 A book with photographs inside
8. OWLS #22 Cheering Charm: A funny or happy book
9. Pick your Poison #52 a book wider than it is tall
10. Diversify your reading #DYRC22  non fiction
11. 52 books in 52 weeks  #10 Humor Me
12. Unruly Reader Bingo  #25 biography

Not All Diamonds and Rose

 This book by Dave Quinn is a biography of sorts of the different Real Housewives franchises.   Not all Diamond and Rose begins with the start of the franchise and the creation of the Orange Country edition.  This book is an enjoyable book doing memory lane for fans of the shows.  It does relive many of the premier moments with thoughts and opinions from Housewives and producers.   There isn't a whole lot of juicy behind the scenes info and I am sure the stories and info have been scrubbed to meet with Bravo and Andy Cohen's approval.  All it all it was a fun read but don't expect to get a whole lot of new information.  

Not All Diamonds and Rosé: The Real Housewives Spilling Tea, Throwing Shade, and Sharing Secrets by Dave Quinn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

fun read for franchise fans

While I enjoyed reading the stories and remembering scenes I couldn’t help but feel like this was more timeline rehash rather than revealing anything new per se. Felt like it had been whitewashed to make acceptable to bravo


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Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:  

1. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge  Book #60
2. Alphabet Soup Author Edition #AlphabetSoupAuthorChallenge  Q
3. Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2022   Book #72
4. Non Fiction Reader  #ReadNonFicChal   # 6. Celebrity
5. 52 Book Club  #the52bookclub  #7 A non-fiction bestseller  
6. Bookworm #26 Read a book published by Macmillan (or subsidiary)
7. Beat the Backlist #BTB2022  #24  author has an active podcast or youtube channel
8. BooklistQueen  #booklistqueenreadingchallenge2022  #39. Recommended by a Librarian
9. Nerdy Bookworm  #NerdyBookwormChallengeXO #24 New York Times Nonfiction Bestseller
10. OWLS 22  #60 Vanishment Spell: A bestseller (that vanishes off the shelf!)  
11. Pick your Poison #18 a biography
12. Lifetime of Reading  July – Life in Your 50s
13. Unruly Reader Bingo  #22 immersion

Songteller

 Songteller is a wonderful memoir by Dolly Parton.  I listened to the audiobook and thoroughly enjoyed the format.  It was structured as an interview of sorts and Dolly answers questions and prompts to tell stories and the background about many of her songs.  Generally, there is a snippet of her singing her song at the start of the section.   Dolly has such a sweet and happy voice it was such a pleasure to listen to her tell stories.  It was almost as though she was sitting right there next to me as I listened.  

Previous to this book I had no idea just how prolific a songwriter she is.  The impact and diversity of her work are amazing both in the music industry and her other business and philanthropic endeavors.    Readers will be happy to know she discusses some of her most famous- "Nine to Five" and "Jolene".  Also, I forgot she was the songwriter behind Whitney Houston's famous "I Will Always Love You."

I can highly recommend this book to anyone who likes Dolly or enjoys hearing stories told from personal experiences.

Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics by Dolly Parton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dolly is such a sweet and honest soul and it comes through in this audiobook. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to her tell about her songs and what inspired each of the ones they discussed. The format was a unique one as it was like a question and answer session. Listening to her stories about the business, her family and writing songs was such a peaceful experience. So glad I read this book

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Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:  

1. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge  Book #54
2. Literary Escapes  #LiteraryEscapes TN
3. Audiobook  #2022AudiobookChallenge #5
4. Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2022   Book #74
5. Back List Reader  #Backlistreader  Book #53
6. Memoir  #15  Written by someone over 40
7. Non Fiction Reader  #ReadNonFicChal   Book #3. Language
8. 52 Book Club  #the52bookclub  #30 Audiobook is narrated by the author
9. BooklistQueen  #booklistqueenreadingchallenge2022  #50. Inspiring Memoir
10. Nerdy Bookworm  #NerdyBookwormChallengeXO #4 Read a memoir
11. PopSugar #popsugarreadingchallenge #21. A book about a band or musical group
12. Pick your Poison # 70 a non fiction book about someone you admire
13. RAD challenge #aradreadingchallenge #6 A Celeb Memoir
14. Diversify your reading #DYRC22  Jan theme of Memoir
15. Lifetime of Reading  Books that Follow the Main Character over Several Decades
16. 52 books in 52 weeks  #29 Clef Notes

Possible Prompts book could be used for

Memoir  # 9 Written by a woman;  #6 Music Memoir

Pick your Poison #38 a memoir focused on the author's profession

Non Fiction Reading

 I tried this challenge in 2021 and I wish to try this again in 2022.  There are categories that are suggested to select non fiction reading.   This challenge will work well with my Reading Randomizer Challenge since I had so many NF works come up in that selection process.  

Books Selected 

5/6 Prompts completed  

Nonfiction Nipper: Read & review 3 books, from any 3 listed categories

Nonfiction Nibbler: Read & review 6 books, from any 6 listed categories   <==== My GOAL

Nonfiction Nosher: Read & review 12 books, one for each category

Nonfiction Grazer: Read & review any nonfiction book. Set your own goal

Categories:

1. Social History

• The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett
• Blog Post and Goodreads Review 3/19/22

2. Popular Science

3. Language

• Songteller by Dolly Parton
• Blog Post and Goodreads Review 6/6/22

4. Medical Memoir

5. Climate/Weather

6. Celebrity

• Not All Diamonds and Rose by Dave Quinn
• Blog Post and Goodreads Review 7/7/22

7. Reference  

• What Is the Story of Scooby-Doo?  by MD Payne
• Blog Post and Goodreads Review 4/25/22

8. Geography

9. Linked to a podcast

• Not So Different: What You Really Want to Ask About Having a Disability by Shane Burcaw
1. Blog Post and Goodreads Review 11/29/22

10. Wild Animals

11. Economics

12. Published in 2022