Library Buzz

Fallout by Ellen Hopkins

2011-10-19T09:07:00.000-07:00

Fallout by Ellen Hopkins

This is the third book in a series about the tragic consequences of methamphetamine use based on the experiences of the author's own daughter. The first two, Crank and Glass chronicle Katrina's drug use, rehab attempts, and failed relationships. Fallout tells the story from three (of five) of her children as they each try to find their way without a mother. One boy and two girls (one didn't even know she had a sister) make their way to their grandmother's house for Christmas and along the way we learn about their attempts at relationships, living in foster homes, flirting with alchol, and generally wondering how much of their problems can be attributed to their mother's drug use or are simply dealing with life like everyone else.

Reading at least one of the first two books will help the reader understand Katrina a little and see that her children were nothing more than a byproduct. They have to live knowing that their mother had no interest in them and there is the true tragedy of this devastating drug. It does not just affect the health of the user but everyone who comes in contact with her.

My rating for this novel in verse: ****

NaNoWriMo 2011

2011-10-19T08:36:00.000-07:00

After one failed attempt at novel writing, I am trying it again alongside some of our best and brightest students. I finally came up with an idea for a YA novel that involves dolphins. I've checked out some books from the library and am furiously studying the latest information about dolphin/human interactions and dolphin behavior.

As they say, you should write what you know and so I am basing my story on a very brief encounter I had with a dolphin when I was about 10 years old. Four of us kids were splashing and making all kinds of racket in the water when two fins came up out of the water and went back down. Our first thought was sharks so we hightailed it back to shore screaming. Someone calmed us down and asked us if each creature had one or two fins which came out of the water. When we realized that they each had one (the dolphin's tail is flat) we learned that we had missed an opportunity to visit with dolphins. It turned out that a scientist that was studying communication with dolphins had his lab around the corner from our bay and our visitors may have been attracted from there by our noise.

Visit the NaNoWriMo website at http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/ if you are a student interested in writing a novel in November or http://nanowrimo.org/ if you are an adult. Join the fun!

I Have a Kindle

2011-10-06T15:36:00.000-07:00

Despite all my protestations that I didn't like or want any type of ebook, my dear husband bought me a Kindle. I love knowing how well he listens to me. He wishes now that he had known about the Kindle Fire but that's OK. He bought me the model with 3G which means that anywhere I am I can click onto Amazon and with a single click, own and start reading a book. Crazy dangerous is what I call it. Fortunately I have stacks of books all over my room which I am determined to read some day.

The first book I purchased was A Trick of the Light because I couldn't wait for a copy to be available at the library and I really couldn't afford the price of a new book. It's taking me a while to "bond" with my new toy. One of the things I'm not at all crazy about is not having a beautiful color cover to enjoy. Another nerdy problem is not having page numbers. Instead I have a progress bar at the bottom which shows a percentage of completed pages. Somehow 75% is not as satisfying as 750 pages. It might seem silly but I miss having two pages to read. Somehow moving my eyes up and down and my head left and right feels better than just up and down.

Along with the Kindle I got a cover with a cute little built in light, necessary since the Kindle isn't backlit. I used it once for fun and it works nicely.

I'm on my second book now and I seem to be more oblivious to the new format. I still have all those piles of books to read, however, and I don't plan on completely giving up on paper books any time soon.

Oops!

2011-10-06T14:54:00.000-07:00

Oops! After I updated everything I never came back. Here's what's been happening.

A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin

This continues to be a very violent series. Each chapter brings us to a different character so we see what is happening in different locations pretty much at the same time. My sympathies lie mainly with the Stark family. Arya is trying to get back to her mother, Jon is trying to stay alive north of the Wall, Sansa is trying to hook up with a nice person who will take care of her, Rob is trying to fill his father's shoes and get his kingdom back, Bran is trying to get back home, too, on the back of a one word giant, and Catelyn is trying to find what's left of her family and get them back together. I decided I needed a long break after reading the 1,000+ pages of this book to allow my soul to relax and repair. Oof! My rating for this book: ***1/2

A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny
Three Pines #7

This is the latest installation of the excellent mystery series that takes place in a tiny town in the Quebec province. What makes this series so amazing is the character development. Over the series the reader has come to feel like they really know the inhabitants and we feel horror and fear when it seems like one of them could be the murderer. The investigator, Chief Inspector Gamache, is the best listener, allowing information to join clues and impressions to help him form an accurate picture of what happened. And if, along the way, the reader learns a little about the art world, all's the better.

My rating for this book: ****

Under the Mesquite
by Guadalupe Garcia Mccall

I requested this ARC hoping that it would be a good addition for the school library since it featured an immigrant Mexican family, like so many here. Lupita is the oldest child of a family that spends its working and attending school in Texas and visiting family in Mexico. Things go along just fine until her mother develops cancer. Even after treatment it returns and for a while Lupita was the head of the family while her father was with her mother at the treatment center. At times the family was without food of any kind and the children would go to their friends' houses and hope for the best. One of the problems I had with this book was how everything conveniently and predictably got solved. For instance, an ice cream truck broke down in front of their house which helped feed them that day. Yeah, right! This book was presented as a novel in verse but it felt to me that was a convenient way to stretch the book out from a novella to a respectful number of pages. My rating for this book: **

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

Oh, my goodness, was this a fantastic book!!!! I was totally captivated by the story which started in two parts, 50 years apart, one illustrated and one in text. Both characters were deaf and left their homes searching for something in New York. The illustrated pages zoom in and out and give you the feeling you are watching a movie. One of the settings is the fantastic Natural History Museum in New York City. Please treat yourself to this book. My rating for this book: *****

Rise the Euphrates
by Carol Edgarian

I bought this book at the San Francisco Library book sale. It gave me an introduction into the history and culture of the Armenian society. They are the original Christians living in the shadow of Mt. Ararat in Turkey, and who have been persecuted throughout history by Islamic Turks. Casard was a young girl when the Turks massacred her family in a genocide known as the Indignities. She suffered guilt all her life because she let go of her mother's hand when the women and children of her town were forced to jump into the Euphrates

River. She managed to survive, grew up in an orphanage, made her way to America where she married a Russian Armenian and had one daughter named Araxie. Araxie disgraced her family by marrying an orad, an outsider, and had three children. One of these, was a girl named Seta who is the narrator of the story. Casard's grief and guilt was felt down through the generations and had different effects on everyone. The story dragged for a while when Casard died, she was such a dynamic personality, but I persevered and finished the story. It was like The Joy Luck Club but with and Armenian family instead of a Chinese family. My rating for this book: ***1/2

Return, part 3

2011-09-08T12:49:00.000-07:00

This is the rest of the books that I have read so far this year:

Luminous by Greg Egan **1/2
LIE by Caroline Bock ****
The Maze Runner by James Dashner ***
The Scorch Trials by James Dashner ***
The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade ****
The Dark Deeps by Arthur Slade ****
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling ***** (duh!)
Death of the Mantis by Michael Stanley ***
The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan ***
Game of Thrones by G.R.R. Martin ****
Clash of Kings by G.R.R. Martin ****
Room by Emma Donaghue ***1/2
The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession by Susan Orlean ***
Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris ***1/2
The Country of Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett ***
Beasts (Mystic Phyles) by Stephanie Brockway ****1/2
This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel ***1/2
Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving edited by Judi Kingry and Lauren Devine ****

Return, part 2

2011-09-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

This is a list of second quarter titles dominated by three series: the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz (lots of teenage fun), Three Pines mysteries by Louise Penny (marvelous characters), and the Temeraire dragon series by Naomi Novik (fabulous fantasy/alternate history).

The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith ****
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz ***1/2
Point Blank by Anthony Horowitz ***1/2
Still Life by Louise Penny ***1/2
A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny ***1/2
Skeleton Key by Anthony Horowitz ***
Eagle Strike by Anthony Horowitz ***1/2
Cruelest Month by Louise Penny ****
Scorpia by Anthony Horowitz ****
Ark Angel by Anthony Horowitz ***1/2
Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz ***1/2
A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny ****
Dissolution by C.J. Sansom ***1/2
Bound by Donna Jo Napoli ****
Riot by Walter Dean Myers - DNF
The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny *****
The Day of the Oprichnik by Vladimir Boronik **
Crocodile Tears by Anthony Horowitz ***
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford *****
Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny ****1/2
Killed at the Whim of a Hat by Collin Cotterill ****
Raven's Gate by Anthony Horowitz ***
His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik ****
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson ****
Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik ****
Scorpia Rising by Anthony Horowitz ***1/2
Black Powder War by Naomi Novik ***
Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik ****
9-11: Artists Respond, various contributors ****
Medicus: A Novel of the Roman Empire by Ruth Downie ****
Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik ****
Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik ***1/2

The Return to the Buzz

2011-09-08T11:46:00.000-07:00

It has been over 6 months since I lasted posted here but I will try to get caught up. The following is a list of books I have read during the first quarter of this year with my rating.
First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde ****
Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde ****
Dracula by Bram Stoker ****
Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel ***1/2
Trash by Andy Mulligan ****1/2
Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff *****
1st to Die by James Patterson ***
Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris ***
Charles and Emma by Deborah Heiligman ***1/2
The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan ***1/2
Dark Life by Kat Falls ***
Fueling the Teen Machine by Ellen Shanley and Colleen Thompson **1/2
Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin ****
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather ****1/2
Pig Island by Mo Hayder **
The Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin ****
Grave Goods by Ariana Franklin ****
Crusader by Edward Bloor ***
Breathers by S.G. Browne ***
A Murderous Procession by Ariana Franklin ****
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan **
Scarlet Traces by Ian Edginton ****
The Ring of Solomon by Jonathon Stroud ****
Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon ***
A Red Herring without Mustard by Alan Bradley ***1/2
Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque by Joyce Carol Oates ****
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride **1/2
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson ****
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne ***
A Samurai Never Fears Death by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler ***1/2
Bruiser by Neal Shusterman ****1/2
Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld ***1/2
Spinning Out by David Stahler Jr. ***1/2
They Called Themselves the K.K.K. by Susan Campbell Bartoletti ****1/2
Stones for my Father by Trilby Kent ***1/2
One of our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde ****
City of Shadows by Ariana Franklin *****

Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun: A Personal History of Violence (2010)

2010-12-01T14:51:00.000-08:00

This graphic novel is based on a book of the same name by Geoffrey Canada and is illustrated by Jamar Nicholas. It is a memoir of the lessons learned growing up on the streets of the South Bronx. There is a code that is passed on from older kids to younger kids as they emerge from their families' apartments out on to the street. If they don't adhere to this code the consequences are some form of violence and the older the kid, the more severe the consequences.

As he gets older, Canada finds that the means to defend himself increase in efficiency from the fist to the stick to the knife and to the gun. At first he feels he must carry a gun to defend himself but he eventually comes to the realization that the consequences of using the gun could mean taking a life. He decides that carrying the gun makes it too easy and convenient to shoot someone so he decides to get rid of the gun and rely on less violent ways to survive.

And yet, these are young men who because they are armed feel less inclined to avoid confrontations that could escalate into bloodshed.
The power of the gun is no less intoxicating to them that it was to me. The evidence of their need to carry a weapon for self-defense is made clear to them every day as they talk about who was shot, who was robbed, who was killed.
They are not going to swap their guns just for sneakers, or gift certificates, or small amounts of cash. And unfortunately for us all, many of them have not been raised in the church or with any moral teaching, so the fact that they might end up taking a life is not a persuasive argument for throwing away their guns.

Canada is very involved with the ambitious program, Harlem Children's Zone, so that children can walk to school and the store without fear.

The illustrations in this book are in black, white, and gray and are rough and stark. They add to the fear and intimidation that the writer grew up with.

I highly recommend this book.

My rating: ++++

The Well of Lost Plots (2003)

2010-11-07T12:45:00.001-08:00

This is the third book in the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde. In this book, Thursday is in the Character Exchange Programme and is in hiding in an out-of-print book replacing a character that will spend some time in the real world. She is going to stay here until her child is born. In the meantime she is studying to be a Jurisfiction agent in the Book World with the help of her mentor Miss Havisham (from Great Expectations). Her grandmother, Gran Next, pops in to make sure that she doesn't lose any memories of her husband because that would indicate an attack by the mnemonomorph Aornis, sister to Acheron Hades, who was killed by Thursday in the first book. Another threat to books everywhere is the introduction of a new program called UltraWord which is supposed to create more than the eight plot lines that all novels derive from.

Whew! That's a lot in one book. Besides all this is the introduction of all sorts of creatures like the "vyrus" which changes the spelling of words with predictably dangerous results. One of my favorite parts was an exchange about the overuse of had had and that that and how it confused the reader too much.

"Take the first had had and that that in the book by way of example," explained Lady Cavendish. "You would have thought that that first had had had had good occasion to be seen as had, had you not? Had had had approval but had had had not; equally it is true to say that that that that had had approval but that that other that that had not."
"So the problem with that other that that was that --?
"That that other-other that that had had approval."
"Okay," said the Bellman, whose head was in danger of falling apart like a chocolate orange, "Let me get this straight: David Copperfield, unlike Pilgrim's Progress, which had had had, had had had had. Had had had had TGC's approval?"
There was a very long pause.

I put Jasper Fforde in the same high realm as J.K. Rowling and Terry Pratchett for his ability to create a new world with original creatures and physics, he is that good.

My rating for this book: ++++

Arctic Drift (2008)

2010-11-07T12:29:00.000-08:00

I know I said in the last entry I wasn't supposed to be reading but I actually had finished this book days ago and I am taking a break from writing to add it to the blog.

Wonderful action. Yes, it's the stereotypical testosterone-pumped thriller but Clive Cussler some how manages to come off less misogynist than other action writers like Clancey or Brown. Maybe I'm just swayed by the fact that most of the action takes place on or under the water.

Anyway, the action in this book takes us as far north as is navigable, the Northwest Passage. Bad guys are digging for oil and expelling CO2 in disastrous amounts. Rumors of an extremely rare element being found in the northern parts of Canada have the bad guys and the good guys rushing to locate whatever amounts already mined and any mines still undiscovered.

It is always necessary for the reader of books like this to ignore any inconvenient facts that are glossed over. For instance, only in these books can divers go down thousands of feet and not have to undergo decompression. Characters are, of course, immune to the bends. We can excuse the author however, since it is extremely unlikely that a reader would take it upon themselves to attempt a dive like that, suffer debilitating effects, and sue. It is much more likely that people will take a blow dryer with them into a bath and electrocute themselves so the dryer company has to place a warning on the cable and absolve themselves of any fault if the user is that stupid.

In any case, this is a real page turner.

My rating for this book: +++

NaNoWriMo 2010

2010-11-06T20:29:00.001-07:00

November is National Novel Writers Month!

I'm taking the big plunge and attempting to write a novel this month. It's six days into the challenge and I've written over 8,000 words. I'll have to see if I can make it to 50,000 words.

I'm writing a YA novel about a boy whose father left to work in Columbia three years previously and hasn't been heard from since. The boy gets some help from some very shy and rare creatures that somehow connect books across space.

My back up plan, in case the story ends before I reach 50,000 words, is to create inter corollary chapters about made up mythological creatures.

In the meantime, I probably won't get much reading done since that is pretty much viewed as procrastinating as is my writing here on my blog. Oh, well. Back to work.

Wish me luck!

Soulless (2009)

2010-10-22T07:59:00.000-07:00

I really hope that the action and humor in this book by Gail Carriger continue with the rest of her series because I really enjoyed it! Alexia Tarabotti is a pretenatural, she has no soul. She is the oldest of three girls, 26-years old, a spinster. The BUR (Bureau of Unnatural Registry) has tried to keep her existence quiet but her files were stolen by the Hypocras Club, an organization trying to learn how to create their own supernaturals. The head of the club, Mr. Siemons, explains why she is so special.

Mr. Siemons stopped blowing smoke in Miss Tarabotti's face and blew it instead at the American scientist. "This young lady is a preternatural: a Homo exanimus. We have been looking for her since we first deduced her existence here in London. Which, I might add, was only shortly after finding out that preternaturals existed at all. Of course, if you follow the couterbalance theorem, her kind seems perfectly logical. I am surprised we never before thought to look. And, of course, we knew the supernatural set had ancient legends pertaining to certain dangerous creatures that were born to hunt them. The werewolves have their curse-breakers, the vampires their soul-suckers, and the ghosts their exorcists. But we did not know they were all the same organism and that that organism was a scientific fact, not a myth. They are startingly uncommon, as it turns out. Miss Tarabotti here is a rare beast, indeed."

Alexia shares her attraction to the head werewolf, Lord Maccon, and he to her, much to the shock and amazement of her family who had given up on her getting married. In this excerpt one can see the humor that comes with the Victorian setting.

"Well, my love" said Alexia with prodigious daring to Lord Maccon, "shall we?"
The earl started to move forward and then stopped abruptly and looked down at her, not moving at all. "Am I?"
"Are you what?" She peeked up at him through her tangled hair, pretending confusion. There was no possible way she was going to make this easy for him.
"Your love?"
"Well, you are a werewolf, Scottish, naked, and covered in fbood, and I am still holding your hand."
He sighed in evident relief. "Good. That is settled, then."

I am looking forward for to reading the rest of this series with great relish.

My rating for this book: ++++

The Age of Innocence (1920)

2010-10-21T10:55:00.000-07:00

I read this book by Edith Wharton for several reasons. I had never read anything by her before, it was on the Banned Books List, and I am trying to catch up on many classics that I have not yet read.

It can almost be called historical fiction since she wrote the book in 1920 but it takes place in the 1870s. It is a biting look at high society in New York with all of its strict rules and conventions. Everything is so structured, in fact that the characters find they don't even have to speak to share their thoughts.

Archer Newland is a young man who, in the opening of the book, becomes engaged to Mary Welland, the neice of Mrs. Manson Mingott and cousin to the Countess Ellen Olenska. He encounters her in her family's box at the opera and "communicates" his intention to announce their engagement.

As he entered the box his eyes met Miss Welland's, and he saw that she had instantly understood his motive, though the family dignity which both considered so high a virtue would not permit her to tell him so. The persons of their world lived in an atmosphere of faint implications and pale delicacies, and the fact that he and she understood each other without a word seemed to the young man to bring them nearer than any explanation would have done. Her eyes said: "You see why Mamma brought me," and his answered: "I would not for the world have had you stay away."

Even though Ms Wharton was raised in this society, she is very biting in her descriptions of the people and their daily lives. The introduction of Mrs. Mingott had my jaw drop in disbelief it was so mean.

The immense accretion of flesh which had descended on her in middle life like a flood of lava on a doomed city had changed her from a plump active little woman with a neatly-turned foot and ankle into something as vast and august as a natural phenomenon.

I would have been really bad to be on Ms Wharton's bad side!

On the other hand, I found charm in the characters looking forward to the future, Ms Wharton's present, our past. In this excerpt, Archer has a rendezvous with the Countess in the now famous MOMA.

They had this melancholy retreat to themselves, and seated on the divan enclosing the central steam-radiator, they were staring silently at the glass cabinets mounted in ebonised wood which contained the recovered fragments of Ilium.
"It's odd," Madame Olenska said, "I never came here before."
"Ah, well --. Some day, I suppose, it will be a great Museum."
"Yes," she assented absently.

I highly recommend this book to everyone. Don't wait to read it like I did. Now that you have heard about it, don't delay.

My recommendation for this book: +++++

Mockingjay (2010)

2010-10-21T10:23:00.001-07:00

This book is the third and last installment of the series by Suzanne Collins which started with the fantastic "Hunger Games". The violence in this dystopia fantasy was quite disturbing particularly since so much of it was teen on teen. In this last book, the rebellion is in full swing and everyone is involved, whole districts are being fire-bombed and the most dastardly traps are around every corner. Katniss, has been elevated as the face of the rebellion, Mockingjay, named after a pin she wore, given to her by her mother.

What they want is for me to truly take on the role they designed for me. The symbol of the revolution. The Mockingjay. It isn't enough, what I've done in the past, defying the Capitol in the Games, providing a rallying point. I must now become the actual leader, the face, the voice, the embodiment of the revolution. Ther person who the districts -- most of which are now openly at war with the Capitol -- can count on to blaze the path to victory. I won't have to do it alone. They have a whole team of people to make me over, dress me, write my speeches, orchestrate my appearances -- as if that doesn't sound horribly familiar -- and all I have to do is play my part. Sometimes I listen to them annd sometimes I just watch the perfect line of Coin's hair and try to decide if it's a wig. Eventually, I leave the room because my head starts to ache or it's time to eat or if I don't get aboveground I might start screaming. I don't bother to say anything. I simply get up and walk out.

I probably should have read the three books together because I found Katniss' character positively grating. I wasn't the only one. Even the other characters in the book seem to have a problem with her. One of the times she is recovering from wounds, she talks with Johanna.

". . . How about you, Mockingjay? You feel totally safe?"
"Oh, yeah. Right up until I got shot," I say.
"Please. That bullet never even touched you. Cinna saw to that," she says.
I think of the layers of protective armor in my Mockingjay outfit. But the pain came from somewhere. "Broken ribs?"
"Not even. Bruised pretty good. The impact ruptured your spleen. They couldn't repair it." She gives a dismissive wave of her hand. "don't worry, you don't need one. And if you did, they'd find you one, wouldn't they? It's everybody's job to keep you alive."
"Is that why you hate me?" I ask.
"Partly, she admits. "Jealousy is certainly involved. I also think you're a little hard to swallow. With your tacky romantic drama and your defend-of-the-helpless act. Only it isn't an act, which makes you more unbearable. please feel free to take this personally."

Another aspect of this book that bothered me was the use of drugs. It seems that every time Kat got agitated, like after seeing Peeta speaking for the Capitol on TV, someone was there with a syringe to sedate her. Also, it seems she was receiving a lot of pain medication for her many wounds.

I will have to give this series another shot, some day, and read them together. I may have more sympathy for Kat then.

This series is very imaginative and violent, but very readable. I suggest the reader tackle all three in a row.

My rating for this book: +++ 1/2

Blank Confession (2010)

2010-10-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

I have been enjoying Pete Hautman's books since I read his National Book Award winning book, Godless, and I was thrilled when we received this book yesterday. Short and fast, it tells the story of Mike and his sister, Marie who was dating a drug dealer named Jon, and a police detective named Rawls. The story reminded me of the old TV series, The Lone Ranger, where a mysterious masked man would ride into town, avenge the innocent victim, and ride away before anyone could thank him.

Our story opens with a young man named Shayne showing up at a police station to confess to a murder he committed.

He had seen that expression in other places too. The morgue. Funeral parlors. Murder scenes.
The face of the dead.
But this boy was not dead. Somewhere behind those eyes existed a spark -- a spark that had brought him here, to this building, to this bench, to George Rawls.
"Are you Shayne?" Rawls asked.
The boy dropped his chin. Rawls took that as a yes and sat beside him on the bench, feeling every last one of his forty-three years, fifteen of them as a cop. Despite having conducted hundreds of such interviews, he found himself at a loss. Something about his kid -- who could not have weighed much more than his Labrador retriever -- frightened him. Not fear for himself. The other kind of fear: fear that the universe no longer made sense, that everthing was about to change.
"So . . . ." Rawls cleared his throat, looking straight ahead, ". . . who did you kill?"

The chapters alternate between Shayne giving his statement to Rawls, and flashbacks of the events from Mike's point of view. Jon shoved a bag into Mike's backpack when police showed up at the school with dogs to perform locker searches. Fearing that he might be caught with drugs, Mike threw the bag into the garbage. The next day Jon demanded his bag back and since the garbage had been emptied, he told Mike to repay him $500 or suffer the consequences. Unable to pay and afraid more for what Jon would do to his sister than himself, Mike is in a real quandry. In rides Shayne on his white horse, er, BMW motorcycle, to save the day.

"Hi, ho, Silver. Away!!!"

This book didn't take much longer to read than watching an episode of the Lone Ranger. The reader is swept along by events fearing the worst would result in this situation. I highly recommend this book to anyone.

My rating for this book: ++++

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (2008)

2010-10-10T12:14:00.000-07:00

David Wroblewski has written this retelling of Hamlet in a setting of a small dog breeding farm in Winsconsin starring the only son of Gar and Trudy Sawtelle, Edgar, who was born perfect in every way except that he was totally mute. Gar dies, apparently of a heart attack, and his brother, Claude, helps to fill in for the father, both in the business, and in Trudy's life. Understandedly, this does not please Edgar. Like Hamlet, Edgar plans a way to let his uncle know that he is under suspicion for Gar's death.

First, tell them the dogs see everything that happens here, he signed.
What?
Just say it. Say they see everything and they never forget. You'll understand in a minute.
He stood and waited. He thought his mother might ignore his request, but she turned to Mr. Benson and Claude and Doctor Papineau. "Edgar says to tell you that the dogs see" -- she faltered for a moment, then continued -- "That they see everything that happens here, and they never forget."
Edgar was standing before the dogs, looking down the line to make sure they didn't break. He touched Opal under the chin. She looked at him. He released her and she dashed down the aisle to the four of them standing by the workshop. Then he pulled one of the syringes from his shirt pocket. His hand was shaking and as the syringe came out, it snagged another which went clattering to the floor. He snatched it up and placed it in Baboo's mouth.
Tag, he signed. Then he turned to watch.
Baboo trotted down the aisle with the syringe in his mouth. Edgar kept his eyes on Claude, who had caught sight of the syringe. When Baboo reached them, he pressed his nose into Opal's hip, and Opal looked toward Edgar. He gave a small gesture with his right hand. She dropped to the floor and lay on her side.
. . .
Claude stood watching it all. He glanced at the open door, then back at the dogs, then at Edgar.

I have to admit I liked this book in spite of myself. It's not the sort I usually read but I found that frequently I would pick it up and lose a lot of time as I followed Edgar and his dogs through this tragedy. I learned about the Hamlet connection towards the middle of my reading and it added another level to the story, trying to remember Hamlet's story. It would be enjoyed by dog lover's for their major parts in the story.

My recommendation for this book: +++

The Eyre Affair (2001)

2010-10-10T11:24:00.000-07:00

This book by Jasper Fforde was possibly the funniest and most clever I have ever read. One part was so funny I could hardly read I was laughing so hard. Imagine a production of Richard III a la the midnight show of Rocky Horror Picture Show with the audience participation.

Thursday Next is an agent in the Literary Detective Division of the Special Operations Network. She investigates events like characters missing out of classic works like Jane Eyre. An evil fiend, Acheron Hades, has stolen a contraption that allows him to enter original manuscripts and alter the stories in all subsequent editions of the story. Thursday's uncle, Mycroft, was the inventor of the Prose Portal.

"What? What did you say? Mad, did you say? Hmm? Eh? What? What?"

His fingers tightened on Mycroft's windpipe; the professor could feel himself start to sweat in the cold panic of suffocation. Acheron was waiting for an answer that Mycroft was unable to utter.

"What? What did you say?"

Acheron's pupils started to dilate as Mycroft felt a dark veil fall over his mind.

"Think it's fun being christened with a name like mine? Having to live up to what is expected of one? Born with an intellect so vast that all other humans are cretins by comparison?"

Mycroft managed to give out a choke and Acheron slackened his grip. Mycroft fell to the floor, gulping for breath. Acheron stood over him and wagged a reproachful finger.

"Don't ever call me mad, Mycroft. I'm not mad, I'm just . . . well, differently moraled, that's all."

Characters go forward and back in time and pop in and out of the stories in books. Characters from those stories may also pop back into the real world. Curiously, the description of time travel closely resembles the description in the book, The Anubis Gate, by Tim Powers where the analogy uses a frozen river.

". . . The barriers between reality and fiction are softer than we think; a bit like a frozen lake. Hundreds of people can walk across it, but then one evening a thin spot develops and someone falls through: the hole is frozen over by the following morning. . ."

I highly recommend this book for the adventure, the allusions to literature (which do not need to be read), and the humor. I have the next three books in the series and I am eagerly looking forward to reading them.

My rating for this book +++++

Things Fall Apart (1959)

2010-09-22T07:29:00.001-07:00

It's almost Banned Book Week so I picked up this book by Chinua Achebe which was on the ALA list of classics that have been challenged and/or banned. I admit I knew nothing about the book or the author when I chose it. It's a story about a man named Okonkwo in a village somewhere in Africa (Nigeria?) called Umuofia. A simple life, we are shown how they observe celebrations such as marriage, grieve for the dead, and respect the gods that provide them with food. Many events over generations have given rise to their system of justice which is strictly observed by all members of the village. For instance Okonkwo is banished from his village for a period of seven years because his rifle exploded and accidentally killed the son of his friend, Obierika.

Obierika was a man who thought about things. When the will of the goddess had been done, he sat down in his obi and mourned his friend's calamity. Why should a man suffer so grievously for an offense he had committed inadvertently? But although he thought for a long time he found no answer. He was merely led into greater complexities. He remembered his wife's twin children, who he had thrown away. What crime had they committed? The Earth had decreed that they were an offense on the land and must be destroyed. And if the clan did not exact punishment for an offense against the great goddess, her wrath was loosed on all the land and not just on the offender. As the elders said, if one finger brought oil it soiled the others.

Unfortunately, as it has often happened in the history of our world, someone (white Christians in this case) comes along to civilize an already civilized people because they know better and in the process pride and self-respect is destroyed.

Why, he cried in his heart, should he, Okonkwo, of all people, be cursed with such a son? He saw clearly in it the finger of his personal god or chi. For how else could he explain his great misfortune and exile and now his despicable son's behavior? Now that he had time to think of it, his son's crime stood out in its stark enormity. To abandon the gods of one's father and go about with a lot of effeminate men clucking like old hens was the very depth of abomination. Suppose when he died all his male children decided to follow Nwoye's steps and abandon their ancestors? Okonkwo felt a cold shudder run through him at the terrible prospect, like the prospect of annihilation. He saw himself and his fathers crowding round their ancestral shrine waiting in vain for worship and sacrifice and finding nothing but ashes of bygone days, and his children the while praying to the white man's god. If such a thing were ever to happen, he, okonkwo, would wipe them off the face of the earth.

The end of the story is no surprise, it is just another tragic ending of imperial interference. I can well imagine that some Christians would be offended by the depiction of the missionaries and might challenge this book in some libraries.

This book begs to be read slowly. There is very little description, just bare action, so things can easily be missed if read too fast. It is a short book and well worth the time to read it.

My rating for this book: +++++

The Windup Girl (2009)

2010-09-18T10:44:00.001-07:00

Like his other book, Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi's story takes place in the future when fossil fuel reserves are used up, sea levels threaten coastal cities, and genetic companies are creating new species of plants and animals to help mankind. Unfortunately, there are also new species of diseases to destroy food crops and people. This new world has calories as the basis of world trade instead of oil. Taking place in Bangkok, we follow an American with a mission to find a rare seed bank, his plant manager who is a Chinese immigrant, a leader in the Trade Ministry's White Shirts, and a member of the Japanese New People, a genetically created and lab raised human known as a windup girl.

By then they were only mopping up. AgriGen and PurCal and the rest were shipping their plague-resistant seeds and demanding exorbitant profits, and patriotic generippers were already working to crack the code of the calorie companies' products, fighting to keep the Kingdom fed as Burma and the Vietnamese and the Khmers all fell. AgriGen and its ilk were threatening embargo over intellectual property infringements, but the Thai Kingdom was still alive. Against all odds, they were alive. As others were crushed under the calorie companies' heels, the Kingdom stood strong.

The thing I really loved about this book is how the reader is immediately immersed in the language and life of the characters - there is not easing into the story with descriptions of the city and explanations of the foreign terms. This book was fantastic!

My rating for this book: ++++1/2

Dexter is Delicious (2010)

2010-09-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

Another fabulous episode of life with Dexter by Jeff Lindsay. The blessed event has arrived and Dexter is now a daddy. This should be just the thing to banish the Dark Passenger and polish the new world that Dexter has created for himself with a house, wife, and children. Out of nowhere, his brother returns, seemingly sincere to be a part of this family. Can he be trusted? And will the bad guys stop doing bad things and distracting Dexter? We want Dexter to be able to enjoy his family but on the other hand, would he be as interesting a character?

I stood up. I just needed to move around, try to calm down, collect my thoughts, tame these weird and wild and brand-new emotions, before they carried me away on a flood tide of stupidity. I walked into the kitchen, where the dishwasher was already whirring away at the dinner dishes. Past the refrigerator, its ice-maker clicking. I walked into the back hall by the washer and dryer. All around me, through the whole house, everything was clean and functional, all the machinery of domestic bliss, in its place and ready to do exactly what it was supposed to do - all of it but me. I was not made to fit under the counter of this or any other house. I was made for moonlight gleaming off a very sharp knife and the soothing ratchet of duct tape purring off the roll and the muffled horror of the wicked in their neat and careful bods as they met their unmaker -

I doubt I would spoil the story by saying that Dexter decides he must keep the world safe for his Lily Ann. Yay!

My rating for this book: ++++

Extraordinary (2010)

2010-09-16T10:43:00.000-07:00

Is it fair that one person has to pay a debt for an obligation made by an ancestor many generations before them? Nancy Werlin gives us a story about a girl from a very wealthy family who has to face this dilemma. Phoebe's mother is a descendant of a man who made a deal with a fairie queen in order to create a financial dynasty. It seems that Phoebe will have to repay his debt.

Mallory appears at Phoebe's school one day, looking quite lost and wearing bizarre clothes. Phoebe turns her back on her priveleged friends and befriends her. Little does Phoebe know that Mallory has an alterior motive.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Phoebe - the girl - we are best friends now. That is what humans call it: best friends. With time I will be able to make her do exactly as we wish. But Your Majesty! I have tired you. Would you rest now? I can come back."
"I am only a little tired. I am not so sick yet, my child. Very well. You may have the time you say you require. It will not, after all, be the longest time that a faerie has ever masqueraded as a human."
"Thank you, Your Majesty. This is just a delay. I won't fail you or our people, I won't. You may rely on me. In the end I will do exactly as I have promised."

It is an intriguing question about how long a family can enjoy the fruits of an arrangement before they have to settle a debt. In this case, over 200 years pass before the opportunity arises for the fairies to collect and Phoebe is the price. Is there no alternative?

I liked this book except for some aspects which seemed forced and necessary only to make the story work. For instance, Mallory's "mother" is a mentally disturbed woman whose true daughter (named Mallory) had died. This Mallory moves in with her, helps her keep up with her drugs and Skittles addiction, and no one worries too much about the situation. Did the school not notice that someone is taking the place of someone they thought had died? Oh, well. It is a fantasy and we shouldn't worry about such details.

My rating for this book: +++

The Grimm Legacy (2010)

2010-09-09T14:54:00.001-07:00

Polly Shulman has given us a book with a very interesting premise. A library in New York City loans out items instead of books and has special collections including one with items from the fairy tales written by the Brothers Grimm. They hold magic and must be handled with respect and care since magic can be tricky.

Elizabeth is recommended for a job as a page at this library by her social studies teacher after writing a paper on the Grimm brothers and their fairy tales. She works hard and is eventually given the key to the special Grimm Collection. Unfortunately, someone is stealing items from this collection. Is it one of the other pages?

At one point in the book, Elizabeth and another page named Marc are shrunk down so they can sneak into a room. They get around by riding inside winged sandals.

He was gone for a while. I stroked my sandal's wing. While I waited, I took a minute to marvel at my position: six inches tall, riding a winged sandal through a storehouse of magical items. If anyone had told me a year ago I'd be in this position, I would have laughed and then edged away.

I really wish I liked this book more than I did. The last part of the book felt rushed and compressed like the author was running out of paper. In any case, it is a good read and fantasy readers should enjoy it.

My rating for this book: +++

Spies of Mississippi (2010)

2010-09-01T12:55:00.001-07:00

Subtitled "The True Story of the Spy Network the Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement" I thought I had found a really interesting nonfiction book. Unfortunately, this one by Rick Bowers misses by a mile.

I'm not sure why this book misses but I found my mind wandering while reading and I frequently had to back up and read a section over. This exerpt is from a chapter about Clyde Kennard, a young black man who was trying to enter all-white Mississippi Southern College. He was framed for a burglary committed by a young white man named Johnny Lee Roberts.

Police searched Kennard's farm and came back with a couple of empty feed bags. Kennard was charged as an accomplice to burglary -- a felony. On the witness stand, Roberts gave a meandering, hard-to-follow account of the robbery that confused even the district attorney. Still, it took an all-white jury only ten minutes to hand down guilty verdicts. Roberts got a suspended sentence, and the co-op rehired him. Kennard, by contrast, was sentenced to the maximum penalty -- seven years of hard labor at the notorious Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.

I can only hear Sgt. Friday of the LAPD narrating this in his "just the facts, ma'am" voice. I don't even think this book would be good for reference since there aren't that many facts or quotes or primary source references. What a shame!

I have to admit that I do not, as a whole, appreciate books about history so I can't really recommend this one.

My rating for this book: ++1/2

Identical (2008)

2010-08-30T14:47:00.001-07:00

Ellen Hopkins pulls no punches in her stories. She uses words and words in shapes to tell her stories as novels in verse.

I don't want to say much about the plot of this book because I don't want to spoil it for anyone. Suffice it to say that it is a terrifically told tale about a very dysfuntional family.

Afraid to Die Loveless
Because
I think if
you die
without
knowing
love in
this life,
that's how
you'll
spend
eternity.
Alone.
Frozen.
Do you
think hell
is fiery?
I don't.
I think
hell is
frozen.

'Nuff said.

My rating for this book: ++++

Ship Breaker (2010)

2010-08-29T12:23:00.000-07:00

I am a sucker for books that have anything to do with ships so it is no surprise that this one was a real page turner for me. Paolo Bacigalupi has created a dystopian world located in the Gulf of Mexico of the future and featuring high water levels and severe storms known descriptively as "city killers".

Whatever Nita thought of the scavenge opportunities, there was a lot of abandoned material spread out before them, and if Nailer understood correctly, this was just Orleans II. There was also the original New Orleans, and then there was Mississippi Metropolitan - aka MissMet - what had been originally envisioned as New Orleans III, before even the most ardent supporters of the drowned city gave up on the spectacularly bad luck enjoyed by places called "Orleans."

Nailer is a young man who works with a community of people who strip all materials that are recylclable from old ship hulks washed up or purposely beached.

He comes across a storm-wrecked sailing ship (there is no more oil) and while crawling around for possible salvage, he finds Nita, a girl who is barely alive. Having recently been abandoned by a fellow worker after falling into a tank of oil, he decides to try and rescue her rather than leave her to die. Now he has to protect her from his violent, drug using father and enemies of her father from whom she was trying to escape.

I would highly recommend this book to readers who also enjoyed the Hunger Game series.

My rating for this book: ++++

The Lark's Lament (2007)

2010-08-29T12:06:00.001-07:00

Taking place in the early 13th century, this book by Alan Gordon takes us into the world of jesters (fools) who were organized into an organization known as the Fools Guild. In this series of mysteries we meet a traveling family of jesters. They are visiting a monk who is a retired member of the guild when a brutal murder of another monk takes place and a line from a song is written on the wall using his blood.

Theo and Claudia travel with their infant daughter, Portia, and young apprentice, Helga. Along the way they entertain with puppet plays, skits, and songs. They go around France following clues about who wrote the song and why.

"Let me get this straight," said Grelho when he returned from escorting my wife and apprentice. "You have traveled a hundred miles to track down an obscure song that may contain an obscure reference to an obscure someone who is probably dead because an obscure someone else killed another obscurity so he could splash some blood on some books."
"Yes," I said. "Although when you put it like that, it seems like a waste of time."

I really enjoyed this book. There are so many series of mysteries that take place in new venues, times, countries which give the readers a glimpse into a new world and this one is definitely a new world for me. I will definitely be looking for back episodes of this series.

My rating for this book: +++ 1/2

Suite Francaise (2004)

2010-08-03T17:24:00.001-07:00

This book by Irene Nemirovsky will be in my top favorite books of this year. It is in two parts; the first covering the exodus of people from Paris ahead of the Nazis in 1940 and the second is about the occupation by the Germans of a small village called Bussy. It is in no way a romanticized or sugarcoated view of people under extreme duress. In fact, I had an image in my mind of rats crawling over each other trying to escape a flooding sewer. Compassion and being polite were two things left behind as people struggled to leave the city with their family and as much of their belongings as they could manage.

I had chills reading the following excerpt especially when I remembered that the author was herself, a victim of Aushwitz.

There was no crying or shouting; even the children were quiet. Everything seemed calm. From time to time a face would appear over a lowered window and stare up at the sky for a while, wondering. A low, muffled murmur rose up from the crowd, the sound of painful breathing, sighs and conversations held in hushed voices, as if people were afraid of being overheard by an enemy lying in wait. Some tried to sleep, heads leaning on the corner of a suitcase, legs aching on a narrow bench or a warm cheek pressed agains a window. Young men and women called to each other from the cars and sometimes laughed. Then a dark shape would glide across the star-covered sky, everyone would look up and the laughter would stop. It wasn't exactly what you'd call fear, rather a strange sadness - a sadness that had nothing human about it any more, for it lacked both courage and hope. This was how animals waited to die. It was the way fish caught in a net watch the shadow of the fisherman moving back and forth above them.

The occupation of Bussy is seen through the eyes of several people including one woman whose (unfaithful) husband was a prisoner of war. Lucile lives with her mother in law, Madame Angellier and meets a handsome and charming German officer, Bruno, who is billeted with them. Lucile is very conflicted as she is drawn to this man knowing that he is married and represents the army holding her husband prisoner. We learn that there are no clear cut emotions in this type of situation.

I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy historical fiction and character development.

My rating for this book: +++++

The Spice Necklace (2009)

2010-08-03T17:09:00.001-07:00

This book by Ann Vanderhoof is a delightful tour through many islands introducing the reader to the ingredients and people she found on her sailing tour through the Caribbean. It seems that there have been more than enough books about eating through France, Italy, and the Far East but this is the only one I can think of covering this area. Recipes follow the chapters and highlight the ingredients and meals she enjoyed and learned to make herself.

While many of the ingredients are not available in my part of the country, the book was enjoyable to read because the people they made friends with were so beautiful and the tours of farms and kitchens were fascinating.

Reading this book reminded me of several things I enjoyed growing up in St. Thomas. Saba is a small remote island which produces a spiced rum called Saba Spice. My family was given some by a man who worked in our boat yard who came from Saba. One fact that she failed to include about Saba was how the people of the island used to hunt whales. Another culinary factoid that brought back memories was how various herbs are sold in bunches that are just enough to season a particular dish.

Readers who enjoy culinary tours will enjoy this unusual tropical treat.

My rating for this book: ++++

Sex: A Book for Teens (2010)

2010-08-03T16:51:00.001-07:00

Subtitled An Uncensored Guide to Your Body, Sex, and Safety, this book by Nikol Hasler is written for teens and was inspired by the online site called the Midwest Teen Sex Show. It is written in an uncomplicated, conversational tone, like talking to a trusted and knowledgeable friend.

One of the things that impressed me about this book was how the topic of sexual orientation is covered in the second chapter, not relegated to the end of the book like an afterthought. The writer is very familiar with the facts that frequently confuse teens and are addressed in a way that won't make a teen feel embarrassed that they didn't know the right information. Every effort has been made to make the teen feel that the feelings they are experiencing are perfectly normal.

At the end of the book, phone numbers and URLs are given to sites with more information such as Planned Parenthood and LGBT resources.

My only problem with this book is the cover. The bold silhouette of coupling cows is too recognizeable from a distance and might discourage a teen from picking up the book and risking being teased.

My rating for this book: +++ 1/2

From Dead to Worse (2008)

2010-07-25T13:19:00.001-07:00

Another Sookie Stackhouse book by Charlaine Harris. Sookie has returned home after the disastrous attempt on the life of the Queen of Louisiana by blowing up the vampire hotel in New Orleans. She would like to just return to her job at Merlotte's and just be normal but this is not to be. Having just survived a vampire power struggle, now the weres are infighting.

Her current beau, Quinn, has not contacted her, and she doesn't know where he is. Bill is around and so is Eric who has regained his memory. All of it. Sookie also meets here great-grandfather and learns more about who and what she is. There are battles galore in this episode.

One more book and I will be caught up. I still love this series. Sookie is a brave, and sassy young woman who is totally loyal to her friends and family (until Jason screws up one time too many). She is admittedly not very educated but she visits her library weekly. One has to love that!

My rating for this book: ++++

Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000)

2010-07-25T13:07:00.001-07:00

This book by David Sedaris is a bunch of very funny autobiographical chapters about different aspects of his life. Particularly funny are his chapters about working for a moving company, learning to speak French, and eating in an expensive French restaurant. Since he didn't own a jacket, the maitre d' loaned him one. These loaners are usually particularly hideous to dissuade people from stealing them.

"And this would be...what, exactly? Hugh asks.
"This," the waiter announces, "is our raw Atlantic swordfish served in a dark chocolate gravy and garnished with fresh mint."
"Not again," I say. "Can't you guys come up with something a little less conventional?"
"Love your jacket," the waiter whispers."

I would use a favorite descriptor of mine, and call his style snarky. In any case, hardly a page went by without a smile or snort in appreciation. I highly recommend this book.

My rating for this book: ++++

The Book of Lost Things (2006)

2010-07-18T16:22:00.001-07:00

This is a delightfully different book by John Connolly which reintroduces us to many of our favorite fairy tales in a story about a Narnia-style link to another world.

David is twelve years old and lives in London during World War I. His mother succumbs to cancer even after all of the twelve-year old things he can do to keep her alive. In short order his father remarries and David finds himself with a baby brother. One night a German airplane crashes in their backyard and David finds a hole in the garden wall that leads to another world. He meets many new people, many familiar from our childhood fairy tales, in his quest to meet the king and find his way back to London, including a sinister character called the Crooked Man.

By bringing all these characters together, Connolly has given us a new fairy tale. It has all the requisite parts - the "abandoned" boy, the evil stepmother, helpers along the way, evil at every turn. David takes all of the events in stride and rises to the occasion at the end and lives happily ever after, sort of.

There is an additional 120 pages at the end of the story where Connolly gives us versions of the fairy tales he incorporates in the book and their backgrounds. I found this extra stuff very informative and fun, especially since I haven't read fairy tales in many, many years. Connolly says,

One of the themes of The Book of Lost Things is the way in which stories and books feed into one another, in much the same way that I, as a writer, have been influenced by the books that I have read. In that sense, The Book of Lost Things is a narrative constructed not only from the books David has encountered, but also from the books and stories that have influenced me.

I wonder what books have influenced me.

My rating for this book: ++++

Death at La Fenice (1992)

2010-07-18T16:09:00.001-07:00

This book is part of a series of murder mysteries by Donna Leon featuring Guido Brunetti in the marvelous city of Venice. In this story, the artistic director of La Fenice opera house, is found dead, apparently of poison.

One of the things that sets this series apart is that the lead character has a happy marriage and good home life. What a change! He also employs a deadpan sarcasm with his superior that adds a touch of humor.

"So you've finally come," Patta said, suggesting that Brunetti was hours late rather than on time. " Thought I'd have to wait all morning for you," he added, which Brunetti though was overplaying the role. When Brunetti made no response to either remark, Patta demanded, "What have you got?"
Brunetti pulled that morning's Gazettino from his pocket and answered, "The paper, sir. It's right here on page one." Then, before Patta could stop him, he read out, "'Famous Maestro Found Dead. Murder Suspected.'" He offered the paper to his superior.
Patta kept his voice level but dismissed th paper with a wave. "I've already read that. I meant what have you found out?"

I look forward to reading more stories from this series.

My rating for this book: +++

Shakespeare's Counselor (2001)

2010-07-18T15:59:00.000-07:00

This is another in the Lily Bard series by Charlaine Harris. I didn't enjoy it much but I have to admit that I may not have given it the best of circumstances. I read it on my plane ride home. I was jammed in the middle of two seats, annoyed by the flight attendant, disappointed that they were showing a Miley Cyrus movie, and I was achy and cranky, coming down with a little bug.

Lily finds a flyer inviting anyone to join a group of rape victims to try and live with the mental anguish of surviving an attack. She decides to give it a try and meets other women from the town of Shakespeare who are survivors and the counselor, herself a victim of a stalker.

When it becomes apparent that the stalker has followed the counselor, Lily helps discover who he is and why he is torturing her.

I love strong female roles and Lily is one of the strongest I've come across in a while. I may not be fair in my assessment of this book which failed to move me as much as it might have, but it may just have been my mood. I'll will try more of the other books in the series.

My rating for this book: ++ 1/2

My Summer Vacation (2010)

2010-07-18T15:41:00.001-07:00

No, this is not a book cover and this is not a review.
Erin and I spent two weeks here in St. Thomas. It was a rough life, but I grew up here and we came down to visit my father. My family moved here in 1961.

Magen's Bay is 1 1/2 miles long, pure white sand. It is a public beach and is beautifully maintained.

This is the "view" from the front of Dad's house. The Royal Palms block the view of the harbor but they also block hurricane force winds. At his age, 79, the shelter is a little more important than being able to see which cruise ship is in. I'll have to give that to him. ;-)

This is me, in the beautiful, clear, warm water of Magen's Bay in St. Thomas. Aaaaaaaaaah!

The Magicians (2009)

2010-07-12T06:01:00.001-07:00

I think Lev Grossman wrote this book for the adults who have read Harry Potter, Narnia, and other classic fantasies. Magic in those worlds was taken for granted and the question about where it comes from is not considered. The young people who find themselves in the Brakebills School take the training in stride but when they graduate they question what they can use their skills for. One of their instructors named Fogg asks them this question.

"Sometimes I wonder if man was really meant to discover magic," Fogg said expansively. "It doesn't really make sense. It's a little too perfect, don't you think? If there's a single lesson that life teaches us, it's that wishing doesn't make it so. Words and thoughts don't change anything. Language and reality are kept strictly apart - reality is tough, unyielding stuff, and it doesn't care what you think or feel or say about it. Or it shouldn't. You deal with it, and you get on with your life."

The central character, a mathemathically brilliant young man named Quentin, has always been fascinated by a series of books called Fillory and Further about two brothers and their two sisters who discover a hidden world called Fillory (sound familiar?). Throughout his time in Brakebills he hopes to be able to access Fillory which, he is convinced, is real and where he feels he will find a home. After their graduation Quentin and his friends embark on a vacation to find adventure in Fillory.

The reader will enjoy nods to several fantasy classics. The venture of these young people is difficult and painful at times but the reader is carried on to see if they succeed in finding Fillory and their place in this or any other world.

Fun quote: The thick plottens.

My rating for this book: +++

The Ape Who Guards the Balance (1998)

2010-07-08T06:28:00.000-07:00

This is the tenth book in the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters about a family of archaeologists at the turn of the 20th century. Amelia is the matriarch, Professor Emerson is her husband, Ramses is her son, Nefret her niece, and David, an Egyptian who is as close to Ramses as any brother could be. As I read this book I thought that all of them were always aware of each others' location and occupation like our body is aware of the location and occupation of each of its parts. The point of view alternates between Amelia's and "Manuscript H" which lets us see what is going on with the family members when she is not there to observe.

There was no warning, not even a knock. The door flew open, and he forgot his present aches and pains in anticipation of what lay in store. The figure that stood in the door was not that of an enemy. It was worse. It was his mother.

They are all very proper and very British in their actions and interactions with others. The Professor is given permission to dig in a location that does not hold any promise and he must use all of his best control to not interfere with another archeologist's more exciting dig especially since he knows that the other dig will not be correctly recorded in the rush to unearth new riches. They are all on guard for a master criminal known as Sethos who, despite his six foot height, is also a master of disguise. There is another villain, Bertha, who takes advantage of Amelia's crusade to educate Egyptian girls to better their circumstances.

I really wanted to like this book. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I started with the beginning of this series. After all, it has an undeniably intriguing mix of mystery and Egyptology. I think I will try to find the earlier adventures to see if I like the series better.

My rating for this book: +++

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2007)

2010-07-02T06:56:00.000-07:00

This book is the third of the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson and brings us to the close of one part of Lizbeth Salander's life. At the end of the last book, she had just extricated herself from a grave where her father had left her with a bullet wound in the shoulder, her hip, and her head. She returns to the house where he is in hiding and manages to land an axe in his face. We start this book with the two of them in the hospital, two rooms away from each other, with Lizbeth being accused of his assault and two other murders.

Mr. Larsson does not let us miss the main point of these books. He introduces many new characters, many of them women, and intercorollary chapters which told us about women warriors. We certainly get the message that men are pigs and that women are at their mercy. It is only when women join their talents and abilities together that they are able to get out from under mens' thumbs. And do they ever come out in force in this book!

This trilogy has been quite a ride. The "Girl" has been an amazing character to get to know. The consummate underdog, she used her unique talents and abilities when the moment arrived, to clear herself and set herself up for a new life. We can only hope that she is still able to find peace and some semblance of normalcy. Or at least, pick up the crusade and help other women trapped in testosterone hell like she was.

This whole series has extreme violence and sexual abuse but not gratuitously. The intrigue and computer hacking seems, at times, to be a little too convenient and easy. The individual books are very large (the paperback version of this book had 746 pages) but they read fast since they are mostly comprised of conversations and emails. I am glad to have met the character, Lizbeth.

My rating for this book: ++++

Little Bee (2008)

2010-06-13T21:09:00.001-07:00

This short but powerful book by Chris Cleave is about two women, one middle-aged, one young; one white, one black; one educated, one self-educated; one English, one Nigerian; one free, the other not. The chapters alternate between the two of them as their stories converge, separate, and converge again.

It is a short enough book that giving facts about the plot would give up too much of it. Here is an excerpt from the book:

Three weeks and five thousand miles on a tea ship - maybe if you scratched me you would still find that my skin smells of it. When they put me in the immigration detention center, they gave me a brown blanket and a white plastic cup of tea. And when I tasted it, all I wanted to do was to get back into the boat and go home again, to my country. Tea is the taste of my land: it is bitter and warm, strong, and sharp with memory. It tastes of longing. It tastes of the distance between where you are and where you come from. Also it vanishes - the taste of it vanishes from your tongue while your lips are still hot from the cup. It desappears, like plantations stretching up into the mist. I have heard that your country drinks more tea than any other. How sad that must make you - like children who long for absent mothers. I am sorry.

Two cultures come together and try to help each other as they are able, not enough for either in the end. I highly recommend this book.

My rating for this book: ++++

Let the Great World Spin

2010-06-09T15:19:00.000-07:00

Most of us walk around all day unaware of the stories of others around us. We have no idea who they are or how their lives intersect with ours. Colum McCann wrote this book about a small group of people whose lives intersect on one auspicious day - the day Philippe Petit pulled an amazing stunt. He and a group of friends stretched a wire between the two towers of the World Trade Center and tightwalked 140 ft., 1368 ft. above New York City. Most of the characters of this book were unaware of the feat but were involved in the momentous (or not) events of their own lives.

One of the people we meet is Claire, a mother who is suffering the death of her son in Viet Nam. She is hosting a meeting of other mothers who have lost their sons in Viet Nam that morning and they arrive with the news of Petit's escapade in progress.

But death by tightrope?
Death by performance?
That's what it amounted to. So flagrant with his body. Making it cheap. The puppetry of it all. His little Charlie Chaplin walk, coming in like a hack on her morning. How dare he do that with his own body? Throwing his life in everyone's face? Making her own son's so cheap? Yes, he has intruded on her coffee morning like a hack on her code. With his hijinks above the city. Coffee and cookies and a man out there walking in the sky, munching away what should have been.

(This excerpt follows one of those paragraphs that takes your breath away in its passion.)

Her husband, Judge Soderberg, sits in an arraignment court and gets the case of the tightrope walker to decide which charges he will face.

The theater began shortly after lunch. His fellow judges and court officers and reporters and even the stenographers were already talking about it as if it were another of those things that just happened in the city. One of those out-of-the-ordinary days that made sense of the slew of ordinary days. New York had a way of doing that. Every now and then the city shook its soul out. It assailed you with an image, or a day, or a crime, or a terror, or a beauty so difficult to wrap your mind around that you had to shake your head in disbelief.

This book felt so intimate in the way it portrayed a handful of citizens in a city that can feel so impersonal. The character portrayals pulled me in so deeply I felt like I could hear the ambient city noise, smell the odors, and feel the pain of the characters. It was truly moving.

I highly recommend this book. My rating for this boo: +++++

Flight of Shadows (2010)

2010-05-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

A walled-in city known as Lynchburg separating the Influentials and Invisibles from the Industrials and Illegals is the setting of this book by Sigmund Brouwer. Away from the city is Appalachia, rural and oppressive, and ruled by a religious leader. Caitlyn was brought to Appalachia by her father but wants to return to the city. She needs the assistance of a surgeon to correct a congenital deformity that was the result of genetic engineering.

As the story opens we find Caitlyn and friends escaping to Lynchburg in the hope of contacting the surgeon. Along the way she meets a shadowy character named Razor who can get her into the city. The problem is that they are being chased by a bounty hunter and others eventually join the chase. It appears there is more to her genetic makeup than meets the eye.

The story was very dark, being a dystopia, and even our glimpses to life inside Lynchburg are not that rosy. The action is non-stop. Chapters vary in length and switch locales so the rhythm is choppy. I have not read them but this books makes me think of the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson in that some of the characters have wings.

Some fantasy readers might enjoy the book, but I really did not.

My rating for this book: ++ 1/2

The Double Comfort Safari Club (2010)

2010-05-22T13:26:00.001-07:00

This is the eleventh book in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. We return to Botswana, the home of the recently married Mma Ramotswe and her secretary, Mma Makutsi who is engaged to Phuti Radiphuti.

Mma Ramotswe helps a lawyer in the U.S. find the recipient of a legacy, a friend who suspects her husband of infidelity and her husband who suspects her of infidelity, and Mma Makutsi. Phuti suffers a terrible accident and his doting aunt refuses her to visit and care for him.

One of the charms of this series is the slow, quiet dignity of Mma Ramotswe and life in Botswana. However, this book seemed to start off slower than previous books. It seemed that the first half of the book gives us Mma Ramotswe pondering things over a cup of her favorite red bush tea. Patience is rewarded, however, as events unfold and her assignments are resolved to almost everyone's satisfaction.

This series should be read to give the reader an idea of life in modern Africa. The traditional greetings when people meet, and the respect shown to family and friends is genuine and touching. While we enjoy modern conveniences, I wonder if we are truly better off. Without the assistance of television, radio, computers, libraries, etc. Mma Ramotswe is able to find solutions and settle even the touchiest of matters.

My recommendation for this book: +++1/2

The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009)

2010-05-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

Another thrilling masterpiece by the late Stieg Larsson, we are again treated to amazing characters and non-stop action. Having transferred a fortune from the offshore accounts ofWennerstrom, an industrial billionaire who sued her friend Blomkvist, Lizbeth Salander took time to travel, recuperate, and stay out of sight. Lizbeth is a terrific heroine in that she is smart and fearless and sexy. "Salander was the woman who hated men who hate women."

During her absence, the magazine publisher, Mikael Blomkvist tries to publish information about sex trafficking both in his magazine and as a book. The authors of the article and the book are killed as is Salander's guardian, an odious man who raped her and would have continued to abuse her if she didn't tape the abuse and threaten him with it. Found at the scene was the guardian's gun which Salander handled and left her fingerprints. A man hunt was out for her.

Blomkvist, sure of her innocence, and Salander both launch their own investigations. Knowing her ability with computers and hacking, Blomkvist finds an ingenious way to communicate with Salander. They discover the identities of the murderers, clear her name, and discover more about her history in the meantime.

The action is high for the whole book and the reader will fly through the 724 pages and by thirsty for the third and last installment.

My rating for this book: +++++

Going Bovine (2009)

2010-04-27T14:55:00.000-07:00

Libba Bray has certainly deserved the Printz Award for this book. It is a twist on Don Quixote where Cameron, a young man suffering from mad cow disease, takes his hospital roommate on an amazing adventure.

One of the places they visit is CESSNAB.

"What's CESSNAB?" I ask.
"It's this place." Daniel spreads his arms wide.
"It stands for Church of Everlasting Satisfaction and Snack 'N' Bowl."
"So it's a church" I say quickly.
"It's everything. Stores. School. Bowling alley. We've got everthing we need right here. Cool, huh?"

Sounds nice until we find out that you never bowl less than a perfect score, the only flavor of milkshake is vanilla, and everybody is happy, happy, happy. They also visit an Infinity Collider and end up in Daytona, Florida in time for spring break.

We follow Cameron and Gonzo on their desperate quest and meet many different characters like an angel named Dulcie and a talking lawn gnome named Balder.

I give this book as high a rating as I can and recommend it to everyone.

My rating for this book: +++++

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2008)

2010-04-26T08:19:00.001-07:00

It is always a little odd reading a book that just about everyone has already read and went totally gaga over. One wonders if they are OK if they don't like it as much as everyone else. Well, this book by Stieg Larsson, did not fail to meet expectations. For me, it was as riveting as everyone says.

Lisbeth Salander is the girl in the title and she is a fascinating character.

Blomkvist was watching her. With her slender body, her black camisole, the tattoos, and the rings piercing her face, Salander looked out of place, to say the least, in a guest cottage in Hedeby. When he tried to be sociable over dinner, she was taciturn to the point of rudeness. But when she was working she sounded like a professional to her fingertips. Her apartment in Stockholm might look as if a bomb had gone off in it, but mentally Salander was extremely well organised.

Blomkvist is the other main character in this book. He was the publisher of a business magazine and was sued for libel over an article he published about a billionnaire business man and lost the suit. He was approached by another billionnaire, Henrik Vanger, with a proposal to write a story of his family. In reality he was most interested in the disappearance of his niece, Hariet.

This book is a murder mystery as well as a story about business intrigue and espionage, sexual abuse, and maybe one of the most dysfunctional families portrayed in a long time. I highly recommend this book to readers of thrillers.

My rating for this book: +++++

The Last Summer of the Death Warriors (2010)

2010-04-22T09:17:00.001-07:00

I thought for sure this book by Francisco X. Stork was going to be a tear jerker. Right off the bat we meet a young man with terminal cancer and another who has lost all of his family. D.Q. and Pancho are brought together by one of the monks who work in the small orphanage for older boys. Pancho arrives after his sister dies of undetermined causes. As all boys are expected to take on tasks, he is assigned the task of helping D.Q. who has terminal cancer and is pretty much confined to a wheel chair. It turns out that D.Q. helps Pancho as well.

D.Q. is writing a manifesto for "Death Warriors" and he shares it with Pancho.

1. Who is a Death Warrior?
Anyone can be a Death Warrior, not just someone who is terminally ill. We are all terminally ill. A Death Warrior accepts death and makes a commitment to live a certain way, whether it be for one year or thirty years.
.
.
.
4. What are the qualities of a Death Warrior?
A Death Warrior is grateful for every second of time given and is aware of how precious each second is. Every second not spent loving is wasted. The Death Warrior's enemy is time that is wasted by not loving.
5. Why should you become a Death Warrior?
So you can live and die with truth and courage, and because life is too painful when you're wasteful with the time given to you.

D.Q. is an amazing young man, indeed! One of the things Pancho has to do to help him is to protect him from his over-protective, well-meaning mother. Pancho performs his duties to D.Q. as he tries to find out what really happened to his sister.

I would recommend this book to readers of buddy stories. By the way, it was not a tear jerker.

My rating for this book: +++

Revolver (2009)

2010-04-19T10:11:00.000-07:00

This is a marvelous historical fiction story by Marcus Sedgwick. It have me the uncomfortable, krizzly feeling in my stomach when reading about mean, awful adults bullying kids, the icky, shivering feeling when reading about the brutal cold of the polar regions, and the uneasy, creepy dread when it becomes apparent that a kid has to use violence to defend himself.

Does God turn his eyes away when bad things happen? Or does he watch, wondering at how his creation unfolds? Does he shake his head in sorrow? Or does he smile?
A miner named Wolff suspects Sig and Anna's father has a stash of gold and he wants half or he will reveal the theft. Sig and Anna have no idea what he is talking about and are dealing with the fact that their father just died after falling through river ice. Will the lessons they learned from their parents carry them through this dangerous time?
I highly recommend this book to readers of action books and historical fiction.

My rating for this book: ++++

Dead as a Doornail (2005)

2010-04-18T15:08:00.000-07:00

Sookie Stackhouse's adventures with supernaturals continues in this book by Charlaine Harris. This time she meets her guardian fairy who saves her from a person who is trying to reduce the population of weres and shifters.

In the world I lived in, the world of human people, there were ties and debts and consequences and good deeds. That was what bound people to society; maybe that was what was what constituted society. And I tried to live in my little niche in it the best way I could.
Joining in the secret clans of the two-natured and the undead made my life in human society much more difficult and complicated.
And interesting.
And sometimes. . . fun.

Sookie is shot and her kitchen is torched but she is protected and saved by the supernaturals and she is embroiled in the new leadership of the weres. All through this book she is trying to understand her feelings for Bill, Eric, and Alcide. New men catch her eye, too, which makes things even more complicated.

Still a fun series.

My rating for this book: +++

Forget Sorrow: An Ancestral Tale (2010)

2010-04-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

An autobiographical graphic novel by Belle Yang, this book reminded me of the books by Pearl S. Buck which also took place in China.

Xuan (translated to Forget Sorrow) is the only daughter of Chinese immigrants. As a typical teenager she was embarrassed by their old world ways and accented English. She had the bad fortune of falling in with an abusive man and went to China to study traditional art, travel, and meet her grandparents. She returned to the U.S. right after the massacre at Tiananmen Square. In order to fix her relationship with her father, she listens to stories of his family.

I love Baba's stories. I want to be able to give voice to people who were forgotten.
Rotten Egg silenced me with his fist when I disagreed. The Chinese government silenced its citizens with tanks. I have a voice in America. I won't waste it.
Rotten Egg has reduced my world to these four walls, but I won't let him waste my life.
I'm going to work with Baba until I put in the last period...and send it out into the world.

Xuan's great-grandfather, his four sons, and the rest of the extended family lived in an enclosure in Manchuria off of the rent of tenant farmers. The story follows them through invasions, famines, revolutions, and intense family politics.

I highly recommend this book to readers who are interested in life in 20th century China.

My rating for this book: ++++

The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag (2010)

2010-04-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

This is the second book in the series by Alan Bradley about the highly intelligent 11-year old Flavia deLuce. She continues to follow her passion for chemistry and poisons and befriends a puppeteer and his assistant after their van breaks down in her town of Bishop's Lacey. While their van is being repaired, they camp out on the grounds of a neighboring farm and promise to put on two shows for the residents of the town. At the end of the second show, the puppeteer is electrocuted. Flavia uses her unique knowledge to help the local constabulary find the guilty party. She is able to flit about the village and learn stuff because few take her seriously.

"You are unreliable, Flavia," he said. "Utterly unreliable."
Of course I was! It was one of the things I loved most about myself.
Eleven-year-olds are supposed to unreliable. We're past the age of being poppets: the age where people bend over and poke us in the tum with their fingers and make idiotic noises that sound like "boof-boof" -- just the thought of which is enough to make me bring up my Bovril. And yet we're still not at the age where anyone ever mistakes us for a grown-up. The fact is, we're invisible - except when we choose not to be.

They are starting to take notice of her, however.

"Dammit!" Inspector Hewitt shouted, leaping to his feet. "Sorry, Vicar. But why haven't we found these things out, Sergeant?"
He glared from one of his men to the other, including both in his exasperation.
"With respect, sir," Sergeant Woolmer ventured, "it could be because we're not Miss de Luce."

Now the long wait for the third book in the series.

My rating for this book: ++++

Push (1996)

2010-04-16T09:49:00.001-07:00

This novel by the author, Sapphire, is about a sixteen-year old girl who, when we meet her, is pregnant, illiterate, and being kicked out of her school. This is her second child, both from incestual relations with her father. Her mother, jealous of her husband's attention to Precious, abuses her physically, emotionally, and sexually.

Precious knows the only way out of this is to get her G.E.D., find work and accomodations for herself and her child. Luckily, she enters an alternative school and starts to learn to read and write.

I big, I talk, I eats, I cooks, I laugh, watch TV, do what my muver say. But I can see when the picture come back I don't exist. Don't nobody want me. Don't nobody need me. I know who I am. I know who they say I am -- vampire sucking the system's blood. Ugly black grease to be wipe away, punish, kilt, changed, finded a job for.
I wanna say I am somebody. I wanna say it on subway, TV, movie, LOUD. I see
the pink faces in suits look over top of my head. I watch myself disappear in
their eyes, their tesses [tests]. I talk loud but still I don't exist.

As Precious shows remarkable progress in her classes and learns she is not alone in her support groups, we see her language improve and see her learn she is not alone in her experiences.

This is a very tough read because of the suffering this girl has been through. Readers should be warned that there is sexual content and that it is raw and not pretty.

My rating for this book: ++++

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (Creating Currents of Electricity & Hope (2009)

2010-04-11T12:49:00.000-07:00

This autobiography was written by William Kamkwamba with Bryan Mealer. William is a young man who lived with his family on a farm in Malawi. He completed the state sponsored primary school and was looking forward to attending secondary school when his country felt the devastating effects of a drought. With all of his family's savings gone to buy food necessary for his family to survive, he could only go to the library where he studied books. He thought that he would try to keep up and be able to rejoin classes at a later time. His favorite subject was science, in particular, physics. While reading the section of the book on electricity he started to design a wind generator so his family could have light at night.

William gives us a view of his day-to-day life as well as introducing us to his family and friends. We also see how his family exists from crop to crop and when they have a poor season, how the entire country suffers. We see how civilization breaks down when there is no food and how governments in third world countries like Malawi increase the suffering with rampant political corruption.

This bright young man fashioned his windmill using parts of machinery left in scrap yards. He gets his light working and then works on improvements such as a brake to stop the rotors when the wind was too high and a circuit breaker so his make shift wiring wouldn't cause a fire in the thatched roof.

His work was finally brought to light when people visiting his village school's library noticed the structure and reported it to their superior. After he saw it with his own eyes he told the national radio station about it. Since then, William has visited England and the United States and has become a spokesman, not only of wind power, but also HIV/AIDS.

This book is a true inspiration and a testament to the benefits of an education.

My rating for this book: ++++

The Dogs of War (2010)

2010-04-11T12:25:00.000-07:00

This mystery by Conor Fitzgerald takes place in modern Rome and starts with the murder of an animal activist who had recently produced a film about illegal dog fights. He was discovered by his wife, a senator, and his young son shortly after his murder. His mistress, the daughter of a crime boss, left minutes before the murderer arrived. Alec Blume, an American born Roman police detective, is called in to supervise the investigation. He reminded me of another literary detective, Arkady Renko in the book Gorky Park who was also non-native born, single, singularly dedicated to his work, and skating through the politics of various different police agencies.

The story is told from the viewpoint of the murderer as well as Blume so the reader knows who the perp is but not his motive. The intervals between the alternate POVs is a little awkward and disorienting even though the date and time is given at the top of each chapter. Another small gripe I had with this book is that I was not given an explanation or translation of the names of the agencies or the titles of individuals. Since Blume was originally English speaking, it would have been easy to give us a tour of Roman crime fighters.

It was a rather dark mystery punctuated by Blume's sarcasm and occasional lack of respect for fellow policemen and interviewees. We get a view of the dog fighting world and the repulsive manner they keep and train dogs and we are introduced to a very old dog breed, Cane Corso, a kind of Italian pitbull bred strickly for fighting and consequently antisocial. It is no surprise that the case is solved but there is a rather unexpected and satisfying twist at the end.

This book is for serious mystery readers.

My rating for this book: +++ 1/2

When You Reach Me (2009)

2010-04-01T11:25:00.000-07:00

Rebecca Stead's book received the 2010 Newbery Award and is quite different from winners of past years. Miranda is a 12-year old girl who lives in Manhattan with her single mother in the 70s. She has the intelligence and common sense that most latchkey kids get with the responsibility and freedom of getting around a big city on one's own. She is given a copy of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, and she ponders the complications and contradictions of time travel. In the meantime she deals with the typical sixth grade stuff like stuffy friends, bullies, homeless guys, and not so typical stuff like finding notes referring to events that have not yet happened.

On the Friday after Thanksgiving there was no school, but Mom still had to go to work. I'd been trying hard not to think about them, but I spent a good chunk of that morning worrying about your notes. I held one in each hand and read them over and over. The part about writing a letter wasn't too scary. The scary parts were "I'm coming to save your friend's life" and "Oh, by the way, where do you keep your keys?" and "P.S. Don't ever tell anyone about any of this." Seeing my name written out on the second note was also pretty creepy, because I was still trying to pretend the notes weren't really meant for me. And also where you wrote "I won't be myself when I reach you." I didn't like that part at all.

But of course, we the readers are looking at all of the characters trying to figure who it was that came back in time and which kid was the one to come back. It was refreshing to read a book about a young city dweller that wasn't involved in drugs and gangs but maneuvered around city life with confidence.

My rating for this book: ++++

Equal Rites (1987)

2010-04-01T11:07:00.001-07:00

This is the second book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series (thanks, Lucien) and I liked it even better than The Color of Magic. This time Eskarina, Esk for short, was given the power of a dying wizard moments after she was born and moments before we learn that she is not a boy. Oops! Granny Weatherwax, a local witch failed to mention that little fact when she brought the baby to the wizard.

When Esk is older, Granny takes her to the Unknown University where wizards get their training. It is not easy because everyone knows girls can't be wizards, only witches, even though boys can be wizards and warlocks. Granny helps her get into the building but Esk shows her worthiness as a wizard, not by showing what she can do but more how doing nothing is sometimes the right thing to do.

As Esk tried to work out how to move the staff the ripples spread out in the magical ether, changing the Discworld in thousands of tiny ways. Most went entirely unnoticed. Perhaps a few grains of sand lay on their beaches in a slightly different position, or the occasional leaf hung on its tree in a marginally different way. But then the wavefront of probability struck the edge of Reality and rebounded like the slosh off the side of the pond which, meeting the laggard ripples coming the other way, caused small but important whirlpools in the very fabric of existence. You can have whirlpools in the fabric of existence, because it is a very strange fabric.

Pratchett has an amazing ability to turn words and the lesson I see in this book is not to assume. Anything. Ever. Not even how a sentence will end. Fabulous fun.

My rating for this book: ++++

The Van Alen Legacy (2009)

2010-03-25T13:29:00.000-07:00

The fourth book of the Blue Bloods series by Melissa de la Cruz is exciting and action-packed. Schuyler Van Alen spent most of the book jetting around the world hiding from the Venators because she was accused of killing her grandfather. She tried to sneak into a party (what a party!) to contact the Countess of Paris, a member of the European Coven, to seek shelter but all hell breaks loose (not just an expression). Mimi Force, a Venator on another team, has been sent on a mission to find a missing girl. The third character, Bliss Llewellyn, was battling with a sinister dark force that was taking over her body. All three girls came back to New York to return to their last year of high school.

But she would have to continue her education somehow. What had Lawrence always said? School was more than academics; an education prepared you for the humdrum of real life: working with others, tempering one's personality to
assimilate with the group but without losing your individual identity,
understanding the factors of logic, reasoning, and debate. For a person -
vampire or human - to succeed in the world, unlocking the mysteries of the
universe was insufficient. One would also need to grasp the mysteries of human
nature.

The cruel fact that love wasn't always convenient became apparent to all of the characters. Mimi was scheduled to "bond" with her twin, Jack (not too weird since their characters had always bonded in previous lives), but Jack loved Schuyler. Schuyler loved Jack but wanted to remain loyal to her human "Conduit", Oliver, who loved her. Bliss loved Dylan but he was dead and appears to her as a ghost. It's never easy, is it?

I have enjoyed this series since I picked it up after reading the Twilight series. In many ways I prefer this series, especially since Schuyler is so much more proactive than Belle. I loved how de la Cruz snuck in the pitch for high school quoted above. The next book, Misguided Angel, will be out in October.

My rating for this book: ++++

The Edith Wharton Murders (1997)

2010-03-21T11:50:00.001-07:00

I had so much fun reading this mystery by Lev Raphael and I am going to keep my eyes open for more of his books.

Nick Hoffman is a professor at SUM (State University of Michigan) and lives with his lover Stefan, a writer who also works at SUM. At a department meeting it is proposed that the university host a conference about Edith Wharton. Nick had published a bibliography about her and is named as the perfect person to organize it. He would love to get tenure and fears that refusing this task would ruin his chances at getting it. One of his reservations about this conference is that Wharton scholars are polarized into two opposing groups; the Edith Wharton Association and the Wharton Collective. As it happens, this should have been the least of his fears.

The writing of this book is intelligent and clever without being condescending and has a delightful sense of humor, possibly due to the fact that the main character is gay.

I wanted to smile when I listened to the paper given by Gustaf Carmichael. He ignored Wharton entirely to discuss an unknown Swiss woman novelist, Greta Inderbitzen, who was Wharton's contemporary and might even have met her in Paris. Around the small room I could sense how baffled and jealous the audience was. Carmichael was doing the ultimate act of academic one-upmanship by chamioning a writer no one had heard of or read.
He could make whatever claims for Inderbitzen's novels (all thirty-eight of them!) he wanted and no one could challenge him. It wasn't any more sophisticated, really, than a little kid sticking his tongue out and mocking his peers with a singsong "Nanny, nanny poo-poo!"
He was such a weasel in his leather pants and Vatican City T-shirt.

I liked Nick and his friends and I appreciated how he struggled with strident homophobes and the competitive life of a university professor. I hope other mystery fans will get as much of a kick out of this book as I did.

My rating for this book: +++ 1/2

Britten and Brulightly (2009)

2010-03-19T13:27:00.000-07:00

This graphic novel by Hannah Berry is wonderful. It has a dark, noir quality from constant dark rain and a wonderful voice-over kind of narration you hear in detective movies. Britten is a private detective who prefers to refer to himself as a "researcher". His companion, sidekick, conscience, and friend, Brulightly, is a tea bag. (Take a moment to think about that.)

Britten is hired to investigate a suicide and finds blackmail, intrigue, and incest. This is the book's opening line: "As it did every morning with spiteful inevitability the sun rose."

The story was very convoluted but the serious language and the tea bag had me laughing out loud. This conversation between Britten and Brulightly takes place outside in the rain after being chased up a tree.

Bloody hell!
I know.
Bloody HELL!
I know.
Listen, Fern ... when you jumped
into that ditch ...
I think I ... uh ...
Look I'm sorry: I infused in your
waistcoat.

I highly recommend this especially to newcomers to graphic novels.

My rating for this book: ++++

The Forest of Hands and Teeth (2009)

2010-03-19T13:06:00.000-07:00

This novel by Carrie Ryan received rave reviews and I am at a loss as to why.

Mary lives in a small village surrounded by a fence which keeps out previous inhabitants who were infected and "turned" into the Unconsecrated, flesh-eating undead (shuffling and moaning). As the story starts, her bereft mother, cannot live without her husband (already turned) and willingly allowed one to bite and infect her. As she dies and turns, she is forced out of the village. Mary grieves but has to carry on and face her own betrothal. Since the village has lost so many of its people, it is of the utmost importance that young people join and procreate. Before her ceremony is completed, the fences give way to the press of Unconsecrated and Mary and a small group of family and friends escape through a fenced tunnel to find other villages and the ocean.

But there are times when I stand at the edge of the Forest of Hands and
Teeth and look out at the wilderness that stretches on forever and wonder
what it would be like if it were all water. I close my eyes and listen to
the wind in the trees and imagine a world of nothing but water closing over
my head.
It would be a world without the Unconsecrated, a world without the
Forest of Hands and Teeth.

Mary is torn between the need to discover what is outside the fence and the need to do what is necessary to help her village. She is also torn between her feelings for Travis and her duty to Harry, his brother, who asks to join with him. While she should be enjoying her last days of freedom, she is in constant danger from what is outside the fence. I would like this story and this character if I could only lose the images from movies like Night of the Living Dead.

Fantasy and adventure readers would enjoy this book.
My rating for this book: +++ 1/2

The Anubis Gates (1983)

2010-03-14T17:44:00.000-07:00

Tim Powers has written a complex race back and forth through time in this book. Brendan Doyle agrees to host a party of people back through time to listen to Coleridge give a speech in a pub in 1846 London in an event designed by J. Cochran Darrow who tries to describe the time travel as a river covered with ice.

"Right - picture holes in that ice roof; now if part of your lifetime, some section of the seventy-year-long trailing weed that's you, should happen to be under one of the holes, it's possible to get out of the time stream at that point."
"To where?" Doyle asked guardedly, trying to keep any tone of pity or derision out of his voice. Why, to Oz, he thought, or Heaven, or the Pure Vegetable Kingdom.
"Nowhere," answered Darrow impatiently. "Nowhen. All you can do is enter again through another gap."

Unfortunately, Doyle is snatched before the group returns to the area where they return to their real time and he is stuck without money, clothes, or any means to get back. He tries to locate a gypsy who was somehow involved with the time shifts and ends up encountering beggar kings, a body-shifting mass murderer and a woman disguised as a man. The book is non-stop action through the streets, and sewers of London.

So what the hell happened, gang? Doyle thought. The "hellish retinue" sounds ominous . . . and what do you mean by "the Connexion"? He flipped hopelessly to the back of the books, and his eye was caught by a very short note written clearly on the endpaper.
He read it, and for the first time during all his adventures and mishaps he actually doubted his sanity.
The note read: "IHAY, ENDANBRAY, ANCAY OUYAY IGITDAY?" -- and it was in his own handwriting, though the ink was as faded with age as every other notation in the book.
Suddenly dizzy, he sat down on a stack of books, which exploded to dust under his weight, spilling him backward agains onther pile, which toppled down upon him, burying him in damp, disintegrating parchment and showers of panicked spiders and silverfish.

When I finished this book I felt I had just gotten off a wild roller coaster ride. I almost wished I had tried to chart the characters through the time and body changes to see how it would look.

This book was a bit of a challenge to read but I am very happy I finished it.

My rating for this book +++ 1/2

Childhood's End (1953)

2010-03-12T14:54:00.001-08:00

I put this book by Arthur C. Clarke on my list of Best Books Ever.

It is about Earth being visited by an alien race called the Overlords by the humans. Even though the ships hover over major cities, it is fifty years before they are seen and eighty years before it is learned what the Overlords were waiting and watching for. This is not a typical strip-Earth-of-its-resources or enslave-all-Earthlings type of invasion.

He felt no regrets as the work of a lifetime was swept away. He had labored to take man to the stars, and now the stars - the aloof, indifferent stars - had come to him.

This was the moment when history held its breath, and the present sheared asunder from the past as an iceberg splits from its parent cliffs, and goes sailing out to sea in lonely pride. All that the past ages had achieved was as nothing now; only one thought echoed and re-echoed through Mohan's brain:

The human race was no longer alone.

A fun aspect of this book was the inclusion of many scientific advances that were in its future like paternity tests, completely reliable birth control, microwave ovens, and photograph-like cartoons.

While Childhood's End is primarily a science fiction story, I recommend this books to everyone.

My rating for this book: +++++

Wintergirls (2009)

2010-03-09T13:36:00.000-08:00

Laurie Halse Anderson has written another YA masterpiece, this time centering on anorexia and cutting. Lia's friend, Cassie, was found dead in a hotel room. Lia had just returned to her father's house after a second stay in a clinic called New Seasons. Her mother, a heart surgeon, did not feel she could properly supervise her daughter and thought that her remarried ex-husband and his wife could do better.

I reach for the steak knife in the nest of spoons. The black handle is war. As I pull it free, the blade slices the air, dividing the kitchen into slivers. There is Jennifer, packing store-bought cookies in a plastic tub for her daughter's class. There is Dad's empty chair, pretending he has no choice about these early meetings. There is the shadow of my mother, who prefers the phone because face-to-face takes too much time and usually ends in screaming.
Here stands a girl clutching a knife. There is grease on the stove, blood in the air, and angry words piled in the corners. We are trained not to see it, not to see any of it.
...body found in a motel room, alone...
Someone just ripped off my eyelids.

The pain Lia experienced is intense and excrutiating. She felt ugly, fat, and stupid, and the only control she had was her weight. As her story and weight loss progressed, we are allowed intimate details of the triggers which exasperated her disorder, how she controlled her weight, and how she hid her weight loss from her parents. The only person she felt connected with was her stepsister, Emma.

This book is a must for teens and adults who know someone suffering from eating disorders. In addition to the inner turmoil, readers are given a glimpse of the damage the body suffers from anorexia and bulimia.

My rating for this book: +++++

Fire (2009)

2010-02-26T12:30:00.000-08:00

I may not have been in the right frame of mind to read this book by Kristin Cashore and maybe I was too distracted but I found this book a real muddle of characters and it was hard to discern a plot. In this world there are regular humans and animals and "monster" humans and animals. It is easy to tell which ones are monsters since they are brilliantly colored and the regular humans are shooting arrows at them. Fire is half human and half monster. She has rainbow colored hair which she has to keep covered when outdoors to avoid attracting the attention of monster raptors. Since her scent is pronounced when she is menstrating, we are kept apprised of her cycles (ad naseum). She is able to read people's minds and persuade them to do things and perceive things like the fact that they have no pain from the arrow impaling them.

Fire is so beautiful that it seems that every male in her vicinity is head over heels in love with her, to the extent that it's a wonder any thing gets done since all they can do is stand around with their tongues hanging out.

There is a mysterious being called a Graceling who appears in the beginning and later in the book who can influence people with his voice but why he appears and then disappears is a mystery to me.

I am in the minority with my opinion of this book. The companion book Graceling has glowing reviews. Fantasy fans would probably get more out of this book than I.

My rating for this book: ++ 1/2

Witch & Wizard (2009)

2010-02-20T15:23:00.000-08:00

To say this book by James Patterson went by fast would be an understatement. I started this book at 7:00 a.m. and finished it at 10:30 a.m. I also made breakfast, read the paper and did the crossword puzzle during that time. 107 chapters in 304 pages go by very fast. It felt like I was reading a children's book (a poor one at that) or a comic book because it felt very empty of substance.

My eyes nearly falling out of my dead in disbelief, I looked over at my sister and realized she had just hit Byron with a lightning bolt.
Lightning. A small bolt, sure, but lightning! From her fingertips!
"More proof!" Byron squeaked, his voice sounding extracrispy and his face almost purple. He was rubbing his chest, obviously horrified by the burn mark on his shirt. "You are a witch! You'll be locked up forever!" He got to his unsteady feet and staggered from the interrogation room.
"You're throwing lightning at people now?" I asked Wisty. "I mean, whoa."

Whoa, indeed. It's unfortunate, too, because there are aspects of this book that merit more investigation. Maybe the continuation of the series will give us more. The best part of the book were the lists at the end of the book including "particularly reprehensible noise polluters" and "especially offensive books".

THE PITCHER IN THE WHEAT: An immensely corruptive "coming-of-age" tale about a youth who endeavors to infect the populace with his cynicism and world-weariness.

This book would be perfect for readers who aren't very confident. They would fly through this book without much effort.

My rating for this book: ++

Rainbow Boys (2001)

2010-02-17T10:59:00.001-08:00

Alex Sanchez has written a series, starting with this book, about young gay men wrestling with different aspects of being gay in high school. The chapters are told from the viewpoint of three different young men; one openly gay (Nelson), one closeted gay (Kyle), and one closeted bisexual (Jason). They also have a variety of family reactions from very supportive and actively working for gay rights to an alcoholic and abusive father paired with a woman fearful for her own safety and unable to help.

They deal with coming out of the closet (when and how), gay bashing at school, losing one's virginity, and the fear of AIDS. This book does not gloss over any of these issues.

He asked questions for more than an hour and phoned the hot line three more times during the summer, speaking with different men and women. Each of them invited him to a Saturday meeting. No way, he thought. He wasn't about to sit in a room full of queers.
He pictured them all looking like the school fag, Nelson Glassman - or Nelly, as everyone called him. Even though a lot of people liked him, Jason couldn't stand the freak - his million earrings, his snapping fingers, his weird haircuts. Why didn't he just announce he was homo over the school loudspeaker?

I read this book because it is very popular and I wanted to see how these topics were handled. It shows the young men with all of the worries of straight teens with the added stress of being gay. I can only imagine how this book would, if not solve, at least let other young gay men know that they are probably not alone and that reaching out for help might help them. In the back of the book are resources that might be of use to them as well as their families.

I would recommend this book to gays in high school and their friends to help them understand what they are going through.

My rating for this book: +++

Thereby Hangs a Tail (2010)

2010-02-17T10:41:00.000-08:00

This is the second in the series by Spencer Quinn about a P.I. named Bernie and his dog, Chet, who just missed completing police dog school. It is told from Chet's point of view which is endearing most of the time and annoying part of the time.

Back home, Bernie took the rifle out of the safe. I tried not to jump up and down. Loved the rifle, hadn't seen it in ages. We went out, got in the Porsche, Bernie sliding the rifle behind the seats. "Had a drill instructor once," Bernie said. "Know what he told me?" No clue. First mention of a drill instructor, as far as I could remember; didn't even know what one was. We had a drill in the tool kit, of course, but had anyone ever come over to show Bernie how to use it? Might be a good idea. "He said, 'Don't bring a spoon to a knife fight.'" Hmmm. I
thought about that the whole ride, once or twice got the feeling I was real close to figuring it out.

Chet excels at loyalty to his friend and is a good one to have on your side in a fight. One thing he did learn at the school was how to attack someone holding a gun. One thing he did not seem to completely grasp was the difference in importance between an edible item and something that would help in an investigation. At first it bothered me that he dug up a box of his favorite treats that had been buried right next to a car (VW bug) buried with a corpse inside. Then I realized that he was not trained as a cadaver dog and was able to forgive what I thought was a gaff. Luckily Bernie found the car.

I would recommend this series to lovers of dogs and mysteries. Good stories for both genres.

My rating for this book: +++ 1/2

Angry Management (2009)

2010-02-09T14:18:00.001-08:00

Chris Crutcher has brought together characters from his previous book (without aging them) and put them together in an anger management course led by a retired teacher/cowboy who gives us a brief introduction of each of them as a way of reminding us of their previous history. Kids from foster homes, abused kids, black/gay kids, obese kids, and all of them mad.

Amazingly, the ones best suited to help them are other damaged teens. They understand what it is like to live in situations that most people can't understand and while they can't solve the problems, they can listen.

"I WANT HER TO MAKE ME FEEL BAD!"
Montana grabs Tara and holds her tight.
Tara squirms a moment, then surrenders. How do you tell somebody that? How can she tell her mother that feeling bad feels right when everything in your world is wrong; that at first you need your foster parents to make things familiar, which in this case means f___d up. It makes such sense at a heart level, but even for a wordsmith like Montana West, it's impossible to articulate. It's so true, and it sounds so crazy.

The author is proud that his books have been challenged and removed from libraries because he puts in them things that many adults don't want to hear, or don't want their kids to hear. It is, of course, a shame, because what he has to say should be heard by every teen and every parent of a teen.

I highly recommend this book.

My rating for this book: +++++

Stitches (2009)

2010-02-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

David Almond has given us his autobiography in a medium he knows well. This graphic novel is an example of how this genre is far from teenaged fluff and kiddy goofiness. This is an adult story that reads like a movie complete with zoom ins and close ups but without Foley sound effects and sound track.

Step inside your mouth with me for a moment, won't you?
Careful on the tongue! It's slippery!
Now, you see down there? Those folding screens over the tunnel of your thoat? Those are your vocal cords. When air flows over them they vibrate like the strings on a cello.
Your vocal cords make the sounds of your voice, your curses and your prayers.
When I woke up from operation #2, I had only one vocal cord, and with only one vocal cord the sound you make is...
ACK

Ironically, one of the family's major problems is a lack of communication. For instance, it was years after this operation before David learned that he had cancer which was caused by his father's dosing him with radiation to try and cure his sinus problems when he was very little.

This was a tough book to read since there were precious little happiness that David enjoyed as a child - namely using his talent to draw cartoons.

My rating for this book:+++

The Elegance of the Hedgehog (2006)

2010-02-08T09:35:00.001-08:00

This book by Muriel Barbery was translated from French. It takes place in an upscale apartment building with a consierge named Renee and a 12-year old girl named Paloma. Both of them prefer to let others think they are dimwitted, uninteresting women and luckily for them, all of the people around them are so involved in themselves that they fail to notice that they are both very literate and fascinating people.

Lisette lived just long enough to give birth to her child. The infant did what was expected of it; it died within three hours. From this tragedy, which to my parents seemed to be part of the natural order of things, so that they were no more - and no less - moved by it than if they had lost a goat, I derived two certainties: the strong live and the weak die, and their pleasure and suffering are proportionate to their position in the hierarchy. Lisette had been beautiful and poor, I was intelligent and indigent, but like her I was doomed to a similar punishment if I ever sought to make good use of my mind in defiance of my class. Finally, as I could not cease to be who I was, either, it became clear to me that my path would be one of secrecy: I had to keep silent about who I was, and never mix with that other world.
From being silent, I then became clandestine.

Paloma studies her classmates to see how they answer their teachers' questions and mimics them so that she avoids detection. At home she avoids conversations and seeks out any quiet place she can find to ponder things.
All of this scheming is foiled by a new occupant of the apartment on the fourth floor, a Japanese gentleman named Ozu who picks up on the subtle clues dropped by both these women and enjoys their intelligence, as well as it deserves to be enjoyed.
A wonderful, delicious read. I will keep this on my shelf because I am sure I will want to read it again.

My rating for this book: +++++

Raven Summer (2008)

2010-02-04T10:29:00.000-08:00

Raven Summer by Englishman David Almond, is a powerful novel about a young man who learns about the people around him and himself one summer. It opens with Liam and his friend, Max, who follow a noisy and persistent raven and discover an abandoned baby. His parents are arty and rather distracted people but they fall in love with the child and become foster parents for her. In this child we see the beginning of a life story that has tragedy, mystery, and hope.

He is friends with a young scarred girl and a young Liberian man who run away from their foster home. Along the way he learns their stories and a bit about himself as well. Crystal is covered with scars, some are burns inflicted on her and some are cuts inflicted on herself. Henry (aka Oliver) has a particularly heart wrenching past and shares it with his friends. I will not spoil it for the reader by going into particulars.

He looks across the flames at me.
"Perhaps is will always be so," he says. "That fathers wish their children
to live their lives for them. Is it so, Liam?"
I think of Dad: Live like you're in a story, Liam. Live an
adventure.
"Yes," I say. "It is true."

I highly recommend this book. It is a fast read and most everyone will get something out of it.

My rating for this book: ++++

Red Glass (2007)

2010-02-03T11:10:00.000-08:00

Laura Resau has written this story about a group of people taking a young orphaned boy to his home village in Mexico with adoption papers with the hope of finding any of his relatives to sign them. Sophie, her great aunt (Dika), Mr. Lorenzo (Dika's boyfriend), and Angel (Mr. Lorenzo's son) drive in a VW bus through Mexico to Pablo's village. Along the way we see the reasons why Pablo's parents made the desperate decision to sneak across the border to the U.S. After watching his parents die in the desert and being rescued after three days in the desert, six-year old Pablo was slow in trusting and communicating with his rescuers.

Pablo's grandmother, great grandmother and lots of friends are thrilled to see him return and welcome Pablo's new friends with open arms.

And once in a while she asked me to check on him, because he'd been a city boy
for a year and he wasn't accustomed yet to country life. I would find Pablo and
his cousins chasing lizards and playing hide-and-seek, yelling and laughing and
breathless from running. When I called them back for meals, they were always
rosy-cheeked, covered in dirt, loaded down with treasures they'd found in the monte and spouting off stories of animal encounters. Since we'd
arrived, he hadn't asked me once to read to him.

After Mr. Lorenzo and Angel make their way to their home village in Guatemala, Sophie learns that Angel was attacked and their passports stolen. She slips away from Dika with the copies of the passports Mr. Lorenzo had left behind and stikes out to Guatemala, regardless of the dangers of a lone, blond, teenaged gringa may encounter. Luckily she meets generous people who give her rides and run interference with bad guys. Yeah, right!

Reading about the countrysides, villages, and the warm, loving people of these countries makes reading this book worthwhile. The chapters are introduced by quotes from The Little Prince, one of my all time favorite books.

My rating for this book: +++

World Without End (2007)

2010-02-01T14:46:00.001-08:00

Ken Follett has created another historical fiction masterpiece taking place in 14th century England. As in his other book, Pillars of the Earth, we become acquainted with people from the lowest to the highest, the best and the worst, men and women.

Our two central characters are brothers, Ralph and Merthin. Ralph is, to say the least, cruel. His only joy is inflicting shame, pain, and insult. Merthin, on the other hand, is intelligent and driven to build. His goal is to build the highest cathedral in England. His ideas for constructing bridges and hospitals are inspired but they don't jive with the goals of others, in particular the monks of Kingsbridge.

Women feature prominently in this book, in particular Caris, a bright and caring woman who saves more people from the plague than the aforementioned monks would like to admit.

Merthin went to work with speed and energy. He built cofferdams around the two
problem piers, drained the dams, and began to fill the piers with the piles of
large rough stones he had envisaged from the start. Finally, he would remove
Elfric's ugly iron braces and fill the cracks with mortar. Provided the repaired
foundations were sound, the cracks would not reopen.
But the job he really wanted was the rebuilding of the tower.
It would not be easy. He would have to get his design accepted by the priory the parish guild, currently run by his two worst enemies, Godwin and Elfric. And Godwyn would have to find the money.

Both of these books are massive. World Without End is just over 1000 pages. One feature that makes them fast readers is that the language used by the characters is modern and familiar to the reader. The reader will become intimately involved with the characters and their complicated interactions and feel totally satisfied when the book is finished. I highly recommend this book to readers of historical fiction.

My rating for this book: +++++

Leviathan (2009)

2010-01-24T12:17:00.000-08:00

Scott Westerfeld has created an alternate history where Europe has two facing sides; the Clankers and the Darwinists. The Clankers, from eastern Europe, have developed mechanical machines that mimic the movement of animals and the Darwinists, from western Europe, have fabricated animals to be their war machines.

But Deryn's favorite lectures were when the boffins explained natural philosophy. How old Darwin had figured out how to weave new species from the old, pulling out the tiny threads of life and tangling them together under a microscope. How evolution had squeezed a copy of Deryn's own life chain into every cell of her body. How umpteen different beasties made up the Leviathn - from the microscopic hydrogen-farting bacteria in its belly to the great harnessed whale. How the airship's creatures, like the res of Nature, were always struggling among themselves in messy, snarling equilibrium.

Alek finds himself orphaned, his father Austrian Duke Ferdinand and his less-than-royally born mother have been killed. Alek is spirited away by two of the Duke's men who take him to a hideaway in the Alps, set up for just an occasion. Deryn is a young English woman who disguises herself as a man (Dylan) to enter the British Air Service and gets a position on the Leviathan, a fabricated whale with the ability to generate enough hydrogen to take it aloft. When taking a secret cargo to the Ottoman Empire, they are attacked and crash in, you guessed it, the Alps.

Deryn had always reckoned herself a tomboy, between Jaspert's bullying and Da's balloon training. But running with the other middies was mroe than just punchups and tying knots - it was like joining a pack of dogs. They jostled and banged for the best seats at the middies' mess table. They taunted each other over signal reading and navigation scores, and whom the officers had complimented that day. They endlessly competed to see who could spit farther, drink rum faster, or belch the loudest.
It was bloody exhausting, being a boy.

This exciting action is enhanced by illustrations by Keith Thompson which help the reader get a vision of the size and complexity of the machines described. There will be a sequel to continue the action. This is a real page turner with nonstop action. I highly recommend this book to science fiction and war fiction readers.

My rating for this book: ++++

Nation (2008)

2010-01-19T08:02:00.001-08:00

Terry Pratchett is well known for his series of Discworld books and his sense of humor. This book is about the results of a disastrous tsunami in a remote region of the South Pacific. Mau is a member of an island community called the Nation by its people. He is taken to another small island called Boys' Island to undergo the rituals which will mark him as a man among his people. While there something terrible happens. He has no clue what is happening but thunder, storm clouds, dancing water, upset birds and animals tell him that he had to leave.

Very fast, and not so far away now. Not a wave, either. It was too big. It was a mountain of water, with lightning dancing along the top, and it was rushing, and it was roaring, and it scooped up the canoe like a fly.

When he returns home, no one is left alive except for a English girl named Daphne who was deposited on the island in a ship. Together they learn each other's language and take care of survivors who make their way to the island.

Somewhere out there, flying to him from the edge of the world, was tomorrow. He had no idea what shape it would be, but he was wary of it. They had food and fire, but that wasn't enough. You had to find water and food and shelter and a weapon, people said. And they thought that was all you had to have, because they took for granted the most important thing. You had to have a place where you belonged.

One of the biggest issues facing Mau was recovering the god stones that his people had used to leave tribute to their gods for generations and had been swept out to sea. Somehow, taking care of gods that wreaked such havok on his people seemed to be a high priority to everyone else but him.

"The gods let you down. When you needed them they weren't there. That is it, and all of it. To worship them now would be to kneel before bullies and murderers."

Interestingly, the same sentiment has been made by survivors of the recent earthquake in Haiti.
Another big issue arrives with Daphne's rescuers. No other European has as yet reached this island and the first thing they wanted to do was plant a flag and claim it for England. Daphne pointed out that there was a nation already existing on the island and came up with an ingenious was to protect the islanders.

I loved this book. It is a survival story, a story of an unlikely relationship, and a story of the strength that people find when they most need it. I would recommend it to readers who like thought provoking stories.

My rating for this book: ++++

Her Fearful Symmetry (2009)

2010-01-10T19:57:00.001-08:00

This is the first novel by Audrey Niffenegger that I have read and it was a corker. Twins, OCD, ghosts, and cemetery tours all feature in this book. Valentina and Julia are mirror twins who inherit an apartment in London from their aunt Elspeth, twin sister of their mother, Edie. One of the provisions of Elspeth's will was that her sister could not step foot in the apartment. After living in the apartment for one year they could sell it if they wanted to. In the upstairs apartment lives Martin, a man with Obsessive/Compusive Disorder who is also agoraphobic. His wife just left him because of his demanding lifestyle. Downstairs from them lives Robert, Elspeth's younger friend/lover.
No one knows why, or is telling why, Elspeth and Edie split with no contact. Robert has possession of Elspeth's diaries but grief prevents him from reading them. When the twin girls turn 21 they leave their home in Chicago and go to live in London. Elspeth is still inhabiting the apartment as a ghost. She learns how to make her presence known and communicates with Valentina and Robert.

Both twins stood in the front hall looking solemn. "Come upstairs," said Valentina.
"What's wrong?"
"We have to show you something."
Julia followed Valentina and Robert upstairs. She was conscious of feeling hopeful.
The flat was blazing with light. The twins escorted Robert to the piano and stepped back. He saw Elspeth's handwriting.
GREETINGS, VALENTINA AND JULIA -
I AM HERE.
LOVE, ELSPETH
and:
ROBERT - 22 JUNE 1992 - E.

One thing that bothered me about the book was the emphasis on the twins being thin little Paris Hilton types. It made them seem to be closer to 13 than 21 years in age. Not only their build but the way they dressed and spoke. It made them, in my eyes, less believable and likeable.

It was very exciting toward the end and I stayed up very late finishing it. I was a little disappointed in the very end since it felt that the author had to tie up loose strings or had to add another 20 pages that I felt were unecessary and took away from the conclusion.

This is a pretty good ghost story. It had me gasping in spots. I would recommend it to a reader who likes books with a touch of horror.

My rating for this book: +++ 1/2

A Land Beyond Ravens (2009)

2010-01-10T17:03:00.001-08:00

When I was a teenager I enjoyed the Merlin/Arthur series of books written by Mary Stewart. This book by Kathleen Cunningham Guler took place at the same time (486 A.D.) but the characters are only tangentially connected with Arthur. Warlords and kings vie for power and Christianity is slowly creeping in and taking over the ancient religions. Marcus and his gifted wife, Claerwen have promised to support Arthur when he inherits the crown of Uther Pendragon and are involved with the intrigue and power struggles.

Claerwen straightened her shoulders. So be it, this was not a place for her. And to visit the grove was not the reason she and Marcus had traveled to Ynys Witrin. They had been charged with the secret transport of Gwyar, daughter of the high king Uther Pendragon and his queen Igraine. The young girl of six summers had become a target of political factions that sought to take her hostage or even to assassinate her. In fear Igraine had decided her daughter must be taken to the Lady of Avalon and raised in obscurity.
Another child in hiding. Like Uther's first-born, Arthur. Claerwen wondered where the boy might be by now. He would turn eight in the next winter. Still so young. She thought of Myrddin Emrys as well, the king's nephew and Britain's last high druid, a powerful man and a longtime friend, who had taken Arthur from Igraine's birthing chamber the night the boy was born. Few had been entrusted with the knowledge that Myrddin was raising Arthur - the boy was an even greater target for assassins that the high king himself.

Myrddin, also known as Merlin, meets with Marcus in this story and we see Arthur from afar but the story is really about all that went on behind, beneath, and around the boy. This story was so rich I slowed down my reading to enjoy the language, the history, and the story.

I highly recommend this book to historical fiction fans, especially lovers of the Arthur stories.

My rating for this book: +++ 1/2

Murder in the Latin Quarter (2009)

2010-01-01T18:14:00.001-08:00

This book is the ninth in a series by Cara Black featuring a detective name Aimee Leduc and taking place in Paris. I thought for sure this would be a book for me but I couldn't finish it. First of all, I don't know what French gun laws are but I doubt seriously that a Swiss Army knife would be considered a weapon of choice by any self-respecting detective.

In almost any book, a reader has to suspend belief, especially when reading fantasy or science fiction. However, the author has to stay in bounds sometimes. The following is the passage that pushed me off the page. She is in the catacombs below Paris.

Shuffling sounds came from ahead. She froze. The yellow flare of a match sputtered, illuminating a man's face. Lined and craggy. Philibert the ghost who wandered forever in the quarry?
Then she saw blue jumpsuits, the flash of silver badges. Not ten feet away stood two catablics, the IGC who patrolled the underground.
She shut off the headlamp, blew out the candle. Edged back, trying to melt into the stone. Somehow, they hadn't seen her.

Somehow, indeed!

I can't recommend this book.

My rating for this book: +

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (2009)

2009-12-29T12:42:00.001-08:00

11-year old Flavia de Luce is bright, clever, brave, and is like no other 11-year-old I have ever met. Alan Bradley's book had me smiling the whole time I was reading it and I even laughed out loud a few times by Falvia's antics. She lives with her father and two older (and not nearly so clever) sisters in England in 1950. A man shows up at her house one day, argues with her father and then dies in their garden, apparently of poison. By an odd coincidence, Flavia has a fascination with poisons since teaching herself organic chemistry and goes on to investigate this murder.

Having pointed out the body, I watched in fascination as Sergeant Woolmer unpacked and mounted his camera on a wooden tripod, his fingers, fat as sausages, making surprisingly gentle microscopic adjustments to the little silver controls. As he took several covering exposures of the garden, lavishing particular attention on the cucumber patch, Sergeant Graves was opening a worn leather case in which were bottles ranged neatly row on row, and in which I glimpsed a packet of glassine envelopes.
I stepped forward eagerly, almost salivating, for a closer look.
"I wonder, Flavia," Inspector Hewitt said, stepping gingerly into the cucumbers, "if you might ask someone to organize some tea?"
He must have seen the look on my face.
"We've had rather an early start this morning. Do you think you could manage to rustle something up?"
So that was it. As at a birth, so at a death. Without so much as a kiss-me-quick-and-mind-the-marmalade, the only female in sight is enlisted to trot off and see that the water is boiled. Rustle something up, indeed! What did he take me for, some kind of cowboy?

Her investigation leads her to information about the first U.K. stamp known as the Black Penny. Being a stamp collector I found this aspect of the book interesting. Flavia reminds me of Eloise from the series of books by Kay Thompson. She had no fear of grownups and no compunction of sticking her nose in grownup business.

I highly recommend this book to mystery lovers.

My rating for this book: ++++

Avatar

2009-12-23T16:55:00.001-08:00

This is the first 3-D IMAX movie I have seen and, boy, does it set the bar high for any other movie. Jake Scully (Sam Worthington takes) his recently deceased brother's place to go to a planet called Pandora. His brother was part of a mission where his thoughts could transfer to a genetically engineered native body so he could learn to speak to the native species and learn about them. There, of course, is an ulterior motive for this expensive effort. A very rare and precious material called Unobtainium has been discovered underneath the huge tree which was the Home Tree of a tribe of the natives.

Of course, Jake meets and becomes attached to the tribe's chief's daughter, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). He learns that the natives are not only spiritually, but also physically attached to the trees and other lifeforms on the island and he had to convince the evil corporation to stop the destruction of the land.

This story has been told many times and is a great vehicle for the amazing art in this movie. You would be soon tired of all the superlatives I could use so I will only say to go and see it. Now. Yes, now. Well, what are you waiting for?

My rating for this movie: +++++

My Sister, My Love (2008)

2009-12-23T16:14:00.001-08:00

I only read reviews about this book by Joyce Carol Oates after I had read it and then found out it was meant to be a satire about middle class America. Not being a good literature student I missed all of the clues. One of which was the names of the characters and their neighbors which were all mean and violent (Rampike, O'Styker). Another was the over-the-top psychiatric diagnoses of the children and the unbelievable number of drugs prescribed.

"Bix! Darling! God help us - Bliss is missing."

Loosely based on the murder of child beauty pageant princess, JonBenet Ramsey, six-year-old Bliss was found murdered in the basement of her family's house. Even though a neighboring sex offender admitted to the murder and subsequently hung himself in his jail cell, suspicion never completely came off of her nine-year-old brother, Skyler, who writes this memoir in the hopes that a memory would return to tell him who the real murderer was.

Skyler went from psychiatric facility to one boarding school to another, anywhere but home with his parents fueling the guilt that he must have somehow been responsible for Bliss' death. At the age of nineteen Skyler writes this book and shares with us every agonizing memory of his youth.

"...an adolescent Skyler the reader would be startled to behold: not a runt any longer, nor was Skyler's soul a runt-soul, for Skyler had learned at last the advantages of being a professionally afflicted kid of affluent background; amid the walking wounded of the Academy at Basking Ridge..."

It was very hard for me to finish this book. If I had know or realized it was a satire, it might have been less painful but I was determined to stick with this story to the end to see if there was any hope of Skyler finding any normalcy for himself. I'll let you read the book to learn if he was successful.

I think the only readers who would appreciate this book are Oates fans.

My rating for this book: +++

A Christmas Carol (1843)

2009-12-21T14:04:00.000-08:00

Charles Dickens' classic story about Ebenezer Scrooge has always been a favorite of mine in movie form but until now I had never read it. DailyLit offered it in installments through email so I could not resist reading it. What a treat!
I doubt there is anyone who is not familiar with the story of the stingy man who was visited by ghosts and shown how Christmas was more than just an excuse for people to pick his pocket but to share what he had and enjoy the feeling of making others' lives better. What I missed by not reading the book was the amazing language used. The first phrase that stopped me was:

Marley’s face. It was not in impenetrable shadow as the other objects in the yard were, but had a dismal light about it, like a bad lobster in a dark cellar.

Not having studied literature to any length, I don't know if this phrase is common to the era or the creativity of the author, but I loved it. Many of the words I was familiar with since they were used in my favorite version of the movie with Alistair Sim, like the following:

He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world.

While it was fun to get the story in installments, I recommend that the reader gain access to a book with the original illustrations or access them through The Gutenberg Project: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/46/46-h/46-h.htm.

I recommend this book to anyone who has never read it or hasn't read it in a while.

My rating for this book: +++++

Hush (2007)

2009-12-11T11:03:00.001-08:00

Donna Jo Napoli writes stories based on fairy tales and this book is based on a story from an Icelandic saga about a girl named Melkorka who was bought by an Icelandic man named Hoskuld and takes her back to his home. In our book, Melkorka is an Irish princess who was kidnapped when trying to escape her town before the Vikings invaded. She is advised by another slave to pretend to be mute so that her pride and arrogance wouldn't end up getting her beaten or worse.

In the night someone rolls agains me as we lie sleeping. I open my eyes to see Maeve's eyes shining at me in the moonlight. "He's convinced you are an aist - a stork," she whispers. "A stork who has the power to chage form into a woman. He thinks you may be a charodeitsa - an enchantress, but unlike our Irish piseogai, he fears you could be evil. It's only how clean and pretty you are that keeps him from quaking."

Melkorka was sold by the Russian kidnappers to an Icelandic sailor named Hoskuld. She continues to learn about these hard, rough, people from the north and about herself in the process. Her intelligence serves her well by quickly picking up languages and knowledge about healing from another slave.

Life in these northern places was cold, dark, and cruel. By following Melkorka on her voyage we learn about these early civilizations. She was a remarkable girl who wisely used her wits to stay alive. I recommend this book to historical fiction fans.

My rating for this book: ++++

The Lost Symbol (2009)

2009-12-06T19:56:00.000-08:00

The reviews for this latest Robert Langdon adventure said it was rushed to publication. This might be the reason I felt rushed through this book (up to the last three chapters which felt interminable). This time the ancient mysterious group known as the Masons have hidden information in a monument in Washington, D.C. and Langdon is called in when his friend, Peter Solomon, is kidnapped and his hand is found in the Capitol building.

There is a definite rhythm to this book: conversation, lecture, action, conversation, lecture, action, ... The chapters are very short as the action bounces like a superball between Langdon and a strange man covered in tattoos, the CIA director, the FBI, and Peter's sister, Katherine.

In Brown's previous books, The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons, we are taken into places most people never see in Paris and the Vatican respectively. This time we go through Washington, D.C. from deep basements to the top of the Washington Monument but instead of feeling like I am enjoying a private tour, I somehow feel excluded from being able to visit the same places as the characters and it's not a good feeling.

My advise to fans of action books is to try and buy this at a used book store so you won't feel ripped off and abused.

My rating for this book: ++

A Monstrous Regiment of Women (1995)

2009-12-06T19:45:00.000-08:00

Laurie R. King's series of detective stories feature a young woman, Mary Russell who develops a deep relationship with Sherlock Holmes. She is very bright and uses her tomboyish looks to dress as a man and get into places women cannot.

In this story, she is intrigued by a group of women who meet for spiritual and inspirational meetings. Danger lurks, however, and several members of the church mysteriously meet fatal ends after changing their wills, leaving everything to this church.

Holmes helps her discover the truth and their relationship reaches a new height.

These books are fun diversion and I will continue to slowly make my way through them as I find old copies in used book stores.

I recommend this book to mystery lovers who have a special attraction to Sherlock Holmes stories.

My rating for this book: +++

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice (2009)

2009-12-03T12:43:00.000-08:00

It may surprise many people (including history-impaired ones like me) that Rosa Parks was not the first woman to refuse giving up her seat on a bus in racially segregated Montgomery, Alabama. Phillip Hoose has earned the 2010 National Book Award for this book which chronicles the life of a teenaged girl (much in her own words) who felt embarassed and outraged at the treatment black people received from whites as well as other blacks.

All of a sudden it seemed such a waste of time to heat up a comb and straighten your hair before you went to school. So I just quit doing it. I felt very emotional about segregation, about the way we were treated, and about the way we treated each other. I told everybody, "I won't straighten my hair until they straighten out this mess."

It was the law in Montgomery that black people had to give not just their seat, but a whole row occupied by black people, to a white person.

Rebellion was on my mind that day. All during February we'd been talking about people who had taken stands. We had been studying the Constitution in Miss Nesbitt's class. I knew I had rights. I had paid my fare the same as white passengers. I knew the rule - that you didn't have to get up for a white person if there were no empty seats left on the bus - and there weren't. But it wasn't about that. I was thinking, Why should I have to get up just because a driver tells me to, or just because I'm black? Right then, I decided I wasn't gonna take it anymore. I hadn't planned it out but my decision was built on a lifetime of nasty experiences.

The rest of Claudette's story, along with pictures and sidebars telling about others involved in the struggle, give a vivid picture of what it was like at that time and how segregation was overturned. The strength and solidarity of the black community during the bus boycotts was amazing. Of particular interest is how Claudette felt her credibility was hurt by her pregnancy.

I highly recommend this book to history buffs and wannabe rebels.

My rating for this book: +++++

Manga Claus: The Blade of Kringle (2006)

2009-12-03T11:03:00.000-08:00

A student returned this graphic novel and I just had to read it. Nathaniel Marunas has written a humorous combination of traditional and martial arts themes. The artwork by Erik Craddock matches perfectly with the story of how a disgruntled elf magically turns an innocent nutcracker into a terrorizing ninja on Christmas Eve with the idea that he could reverse the spell and be a hero. As we all know, this kind of plan never works.

[Elf] I just wanted the nutcracker to mess things up a little so I could come to the rescue, but there are so many of these ninjas and they're out of control and-
[Santa] Enough! Go to my office as fast as you can, fetch my katana and wakizashi from behind my desk, and meet me at the power plant.

Things get out of hand, the elf has to admit what he did, and Santa is turns into an avenging, muscle-bound swordsman.

Not your typical Christmas story but it made me smile. Santa makes the elf a special effects coordinator and what he does to the reindeer is totally outrageous.

My rating for this book: +++

Glass (2007)

2009-11-24T11:06:00.000-08:00

This book is a sequel to Crank, the story of a meth addict loosely based on the life of Ellen Hopkins' daughter. Methamphetamine in a very pure form is called glass, ice, crystal, or "the monster" by Katrina, an 18-year old girl who has already danced with the devil, kicked the habit, and had a baby conceived during a rape. We join her in this book living with her mother, stepfather, and brother, taking care of her son and trying to get her life back on track. Unfortunately, the drug calls to her again.

I have my out.
I have my high.
I have more stash
waiting.
I have a job.
Almost have an income.
It is almost time
for an outstanding
eighteenth birthday.
I have earned my wings,
can't wait for my
test flight to freedom.
My head buzzes,
my body rushes,
electric, anxious.
I want a taste
of flight, a taste
of adulthood, another
small taste of ice
before afternoon dwindles.
The last thing on my
mind is Hunter, waiting
for his mommy.

Every promise she makes herself, she breaks. Every stopping point, she passes. We watch her inevitable downward spiral and we are appalled at how seductive this drug is. It gives the user such a rush of feelings in the beginning but the rush fades and it becomes harder to exist without using until it is impossible to quit. She is kicked out of her house and moves in with her dealer who needs a nanny for his two children. How convenient.

Have you Ever Tried

To quit
a bad habit, one
that has come to
define you?
To cease
using a substance-
any substance-
that you not only
need but enjoy?
To stop
yourself from
lighting up that
cigarette? It's going
to kill you, but hey,
you're going
to die
someday anyway,
why not die happy,
why not die buzzed,
why not die
satisfied? Why not
die sooner, with
fewer regrets, than
later?

Will she ever get over the drugs and enjoy a normal life? To recommend this book, please allow me to use free verse.

Read
this
book.
Now.

My rating for this book: ++++

Impossible (2009)

2009-11-10T11:39:00.001-08:00

It has been a long time since I have actually finished a book. I feel like I have neglected my duties. But I have just come to the end of this latest book by Nancy Werlin which is woven around the ballad known to many as Scarborough Fair.

Lucinda's mother is a crazy street person named Miranda and seems to pop up in Lucy's life at random, inconvenient times. The latest is when Luncinda is ready to go to her prom and is walking out to her date's car. Astonishingly Miranda starts to lob empty glass bottles from her cart at the group of people seeing Lucy off. Her date takes off and the cops arrive to haul Miranda away. Luckily for Lucy, her foster parents, Soledad and Leo are there to help and support Lucy as they tried with Miranda.

Days later, Lucy's friend, Zach, found a journal written by Miranda in the abandoned cart. By reading her mother's journal, Lucy learns about the curse following all her ancestresses. The way to counter the curse is to complete three challenges woven into the song.

Tell her to make me a magical shirt, Parsley sage, rosemary and thyme, Without any seam or needlework, Else she'll be a true love of mine.

Tell her to find me an acre of land,... Between the salt water and the sea strand...

Tell her to plow it with just a goat's horn,... and sow it all over with one grain of corn, Else she'll be a true love of mine, And her daughters forever pssessions of mine.

Will Lucy, Zach, and her fosterparents be able to solve the riddles in time? Fantasy readers will love the battle with the Elfin Knight who has managed to ruin the lives of so many women.

My rating for this book: +++

Sister Wendy's American Collection (2000)

2009-10-19T10:44:00.001-07:00

Sister Wendy is a petite British nun with bucked teeth and is absolutely marvelous at introducing art to the art deficients like me. I first saw her on PBS as she talked about pieces of art, dressed in her habit, her hands working in front of her just from the elbows.

In this book, Sister Wendy shows us art housed in six different museums in the United States. There are sculptures, paintings, fabric, and even musical instruments from just about everywhere in the world from ancient Egypt to modern art.

The fabulous thing about this book is that she will explain the symbolism or the technique used in a way that doesn't patronize or is condenscending. She sounds inspirational and passionate when her topic is of a religious tone. However, when the topic is violent or sexual in nature, she continues on without embarassment or shame. I love how she tells us how the pieces make her feel to help us explore our own feelings.

Referring to a part of the Raft Cup by Zhu Bishan, she says, "If you look at the traveler's expression, well-fed he may be, but his face is filled with wonder and with longing. Here is the man who could have had it all but wasted his opportunity. Of whom might this not be more true than the emperor? For all its complexity, this is a genuine cup. Every time the emperor drank from it, he would be eyeball to eyeball with that face -- ecstatic and yet forever yearning. I would love to know his thoughts."

The items of art are grouped by the museum that displays them, but inside each group they are randomly ordered, not arranged by medium, country or artist of origin, or even era. For instance, a page of Mondrian art, all geometric and primary colored, is followed by a 17th century Japanese painting of an exiled emperor on Okinoshima, featuring gentle colors and waves.

I highly recommend this to people, even if or especially if they aren't, knowledgeable about art.

My rating for this book: ++++

National Novel Writing Month

2009-10-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

50,000 words in the 31 days of November! That's the challenge. Quantity over quality matters here. I would do this if I wasn't taking my online courses. I will encourage my daughter, however, since she has aspirations of being a writer.

Along with keeping track of how much you have written, they also give you help in the form of mini challenges that you must include in your writing. One example might be to include a certain item in your story.

What a fun way for budding writers to push themselves.

In case you think I was copping out with my excuse of classes -- I am putting it in my log with the hope of finding it again next year.

Al Capone Shines My Shoes (2009)

2009-10-15T14:27:00.001-07:00

Gennifer Choldenko has added another chapter to life of 12-year old Moose, his autistic sister, Natalie, and his friends who live on the grounds of Alcatraz prison, the home for the worst criminals. I have to chuckle when I read the description of how these children, one just starting first grade, hop on a ferry to go to school in San Francisco without a parent to fuss over them. They play baseball on an area right under the cells and some inmates are allowed to work in the residences of the families. Considering most parents won't let their kids cross the street unattended, things sure have changed.

That question aside, Moose finds that favors you get from people like Al Capone can carry a very heavy obligation. In the first book, Al Capone Does My Shirts, Mr. Capone managed to obtain a coveted spot in a special school for Natalie. In this book, Moose finally meets the man face to face.

My father stops near the bars of a cell on the west side. Just one man in this cell, a big beefy guy with dark black hair, dark eyes, a round face, big lips, and the kind of smile that makes you like him without thinking twice about it. He's got shoe polish and a buffing rag on his bed along with a pair of shiny black guard's shoes.

The man stands up and sticks his pudgy hand through the bars. In the shadow of his left side a jagged line cuts across his face - a scar. "That your boy, boss?" he asks.

My father nods. "Moose, meet Al Capone."

I highly recommend this story for readers who enjoy intrigue and some historical fiction.

My rating for this book: +++ 1/2

Shiver (2009)

2009-10-13T15:28:00.001-07:00

It tore my heart out, because I heard his voice. The wolves sang slowly behind him, bitterweet harmony, but all I heard was Sam. His howl trembled, rose, fell in anguish.
I listened for a long time. I prayed for them to stop, to leave me alone, but at the same time I was desperately afraid that they would. Long after the other voices had dropped away, Sam kept howling, very soft and slow.
When he finally fell silent, the night felt dead.

Grace had watched the wolf watching her from the woods and had been mesmerized by his gold eyes. Sam had watched the girl watching him from the house and had been mesmerized by her. Until one day a boy with golden eyes showed up on her porch, totally nude and suffering from a gunshot wound.

He looked nothing like a wolf, but everything like my wolf. Even now, without his familiar eyes open, a little part of me kept jumping with irrational glee, reminding myself -- it's him.

There are many parallels to Twilight such as the love they feel for each other seemingly impossible to continue, the head wolf who teaches and takes care of new wolves, the jealous she-wolf threatening Grace with harm, and the theme of a sensitive sense of smell. I tried my hardest to not let Twilight influence my appreciation of this book but it was hard.

Fantasy romance readers will love this story by Maggie Stiefvater.

My rating for this book: +++ 1/2

Dexter by Design (2009)

2009-10-12T15:13:00.000-07:00

Jeff Lindsay keeps the Dexter story going with another in his series. Dexter is now married and has a baby along with his wife's other two children, Astor and Cody. Astor and Cody have had a violent childhood and Dexter sees that they are related to him almost deeper than by blood. He sees that he will need to "train" them as he was trained by his adopted father, Harry.

Harry's daughter, Deb, is a detective in the same police department where Dexter serves as a blood spatter specialist. She knows about his Dark Passenger and has used Dexter's unique talent to help her solve cases and advance in her career. She gets Dexter to help on a case and they find their way to the door of a suspect. Almost as soon as she identifies herself, the resident pulls out a knife and stabs her. Dexter mistakes the other resident as the stabber and holds him until help arrives. Unfortunately, this is not the stabber and the confusion allows the real one to escape.

While Deb lays in the hospital recovering from her blood loss, her boyfriend, Chutsky, helps Dexter track down the suspect as far away as Cuba. Unfortunately, the suspect is busy tracking down Dexter and his family. What a fool.

I love this series but be warned. It is not for everyone. The book's characters are echoed in the series on Showtime but the story lines are different.

My rating for this book: ++++

Persistence of Memory (2008)

2009-10-08T12:17:00.000-07:00

Vampires, shape shifters, and witches...oh, my!

This is the first book by Ameilia Atwater-Rhodes that I have read. It was fast, intense, and quite complicated. Erin has spent time in a psychiatric hospital and is taking a small pharmacy of pills to control hallucinations and panic attacks. Some of these dreams involve another girl named Shevaun. At least she thought they were dreams until one day she woke up in a strange place and was called Shevaun. Shevaun is a vampire and she also has dreams where she is a human girl named Erin.

She drew a deep breath. "I don't want to be tied up."
"I didn't think so. Now if you aren't Shevaun, why don't you let me know who you are?"
"I've been trying to--"
"So do it," he snapped. Then it was his turn to take one of those deep, calming breathes before he asked, "What's your name?"
She gave him that and more. "Erin Misrahe. I live in Massachusetts. I'm sixteen." She hoped that that might make him back off a little, since he was obviously older and they apparently had some kind of serious relationship.
"Do you often wander around in other people's brains...Erin?" he asked, hesitating only a little on the name.

So maybe she's not crazy after all. With the help of her shape shifting friends and Shevaun's witch friend, Adjila, Erin tries to get control of her life and maybe find a little normalcy. Or not.

I would recommend this book to teens who are fans of vampire books even if it's not really my cup of tea.

My rating for this book: ++

Catching Fire (2009)

2009-10-07T08:17:00.001-07:00

This sequel to Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games gives us another gripping, amazing page turner. We left off with Katniss and Peeta both surviving the games, much to the Capitol's disgust and the thrill of all the districts. We start this book as the victors prepare for the annual tour around the districts, but not all thirteen! It seems that something is going on and that Katniss may have been the catalyst to get it started.

This year is the 75th anniversary of the games and there is a special twist this year. The contestants will be victors from previous years. There are only three victors in Kat's district: Peeta, their mentor, Haymitch, and herself. Haymitch has enjoyed a bit too much liquor over the years to survive these harsh games so it falls again on Peeta and Kat. On their Victory Tour, Kat gets hints about a possible groundswell of rebellion.

The night of my engagement, the night Peeta fell to his knees proclaimed his undying love for me in front of the cameras in the Capitol, was the night the uprising began. It was an ideal cover. Our Victory Tour interview with Caesar Flickerman was mandatory viewing. It gave the people of District 8 a reason to be out on the streets after dark, gathering either in the square or in various community centers around the city to watch. Ordinarily such activity would have been too suspicious. Instead everyone was in place by the appointed hour, eight o'clock, when the masks went on and all hell broke loose.

How will Kat protect Peeta, keep up the image that they were lovers, survive the games, and support the rebellion? Many things are going on at once in this book and Kat does not falter and continues to be an unlikely hero.

Many sequels start and end with a bang but the middle book(s) are just financial boons for the author, filler for the fans. This book is equally as exciting as the first book and expectations are very high for the third.

Science fiction and action readers will love this series. I highly recommend it.

My rating for this book: +++++

Purple Heart (2009)

2009-09-30T11:20:00.001-07:00

I believe that most wars are started by men and that all children should be removed far from any war zones. In Patricia McCormick's book, Matt wakes up in a military hospital in Iraq with no memory of how he became injured but he knows there was a boy named Ali involved. While recovering from his TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) he slowly regains events but they don't add up.

He got out his notebook and turned to the page where he'd written a new version of what had happened, a version that included what he now knew.
1. taxi runs the checkpoint
2. Justin and I pursue the vehicle
3. we turn down a side road, past the bootleg store
4. we get out of the Humvee to give chase down an alley
5. we get separated
6. I start taking fire in the alley
7. I return fire
8. Justin picks off the shooter from an upstairs window
9. RPG hits wall, Justin drags me to safety.
He didn't write about what happened when he returned fire. He couldn't.

It is a slow and painful process recovering his memory. On one hand he needs to know and on the other hand he is afraid to know the truth.

It is interesting to note what the soldiers turn to for entertainment. They play Halo, watch Rambo movies, and joke about Chuck Norris, but it is a way to bolster their flagging bravery?

I highly recommend this book. It is a very fast read and the reader is riveted to find out the truth with Matt.

My rating for this book: +++++

The Carbon Diaries 2015 (2009)

2009-09-25T13:55:00.000-07:00

It's the year 2015 and British teenager, Laura, is keeping a journal about a year of rationing, insane weather, and how all of these changes affect her family and friends. Saci Lloyd has created a world that we may be facing ourselves if fossil fuel use isn't drastically cut.

Everybody gets a carbon card with an allotment of how much CO2 they can be responsible for before being hit with major fines. Driving cars, band practice, even cell phone use is monitored. Laura's father loses his job and becomes a crazy farmer person. Her mom joins a coop and a group of women who find they must wear the pants in their families now. Her sister, Kim, is sucked into black market affairs.

Wed., April 1
Woke up this morning and someone had polluted the world so much that the climate was messed up and the UK went on rations and nobody ever, ever had any fun again. Ha, ha, ha.

A typical teenager response to the world falling apart -- Why does everything have to happen to me? Much like a leaf in a flood (yeah, there's one of those) Laura is swept along as her family adjusts poorly to changes. Will things get fixed? Will her family pull back together or completely crumble?

This book isn't going to make readers panic into selling their SUVs but there is a list of websites they can visit to get more information on how they can change their behavior to maybe headoff this kind of diaster.

My rating for this book: ++

Nineteen Minutes (2007)

2009-09-22T12:55:00.000-07:00

Jodi Picoult doesn't tell the story of a high school shooting massacre from just one point of view -- we get it from the shooter's, the victims', the parents', law enforcement's, lawyer's and DA's. We don't just see the events of one day, we go back to the shooter's first day of kindergarten and follow him and his classmates to the fateful day and through the trial which followed. We get the whole story, dissected and laid out for us so we can feel everyone's emotions.

Chaos was a constellation of students, running out of the school and trampling the injured. A boy holding a handmade sign in an upstairs window that read HELP US. Two girls hugging each other and sobbing. Chaos was blood melting pink on the snow; it was the drip of parents that turned into a stream and then a raging river, screaming out the names of their missing children. Chaos was a TV camera in your face, not enought ambulances, not enough officers, and no plan for how to react when the world as you knew it went to pieces.

Gripping is a word that is frequently used to describe an exciting book. I wish I could think of a word even more dramatic to describe how this book captured my attention, sucked me in, and had me suffer along with all (yes, I mean all) of the characters. I can't help but look around my school and wonder about all the hidden, horrible things that are probably occurring now and how there may be someone who feels as desperate and hopeless as this shooter felt.

High school students and parents of high school students will find this book scarier than anything written by Stephen King.

My rating for this book: +++++

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1993)

2009-09-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

Maya Angelou's autobiography is very moving. The language she uses is so musical I can hear her voice speaking the words in a rhythm that is like poetry. Each chapter details one event in her life and introduces us to the people who influenced her one way or another.

Most of all, it's a story which shows how it is possible to become a successful and influential person even with the toughest of beginnings. It made me think of the adults I knew and how I was influenced by them. I admire and am jealous of her ability to remember so many scenes from her childhood.

I don't know why I hadn't read the book before now. It's one of those books that everyone must read once in their lives.

My rating for this book: +++++

"Dexter" series

2009-09-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

I have been a fan of the "Dexter" series on Showtime for a while now and came across one of Jeff Lindsay's books at a used book store and couldn't resist. For fans of the series, I highly recommend reading the books. There is enough difference between the events that reading the books gives you more Dexter deliciousness.

Dexter is a monster -- no one will deny that, not even himself. At the age of three he was found inside a cargo container sitting in a pool of his mother's blood. She had been hacked up by drug dealers and left with her sons three days before. The police officer adopted Dexter and helped him deal with his pathology by focusing his need to kill on targets that deserve it. By keeping to "the code" Dexter is able to hide his actions and feed the beast. Ironically, he works as a blood spatter specialist in the same Miami police department as the daughter of his adopted parents. Indeed it is here that he finds his victims and the skill to ensure that they deserve a death sentence.

These books are not for the squeamish and faint hearted. They are brutal and full of language but one cannot help but want to continue reading the series and watching the episodes on TV.

My rating for this series: ++++