The Tao of Bill Murray

The Tao of Bill Murray: Real Life Stories of Joy, Enlightenment and Party Crashing by Gavin Edwards           Hardback Book: 368 pages               Genre:  Biography

I love Bill Murray’s comedy ergo, I loved this book.    So many great, real-life as promised, stories about Bill Murray – the guy – from his home, growing up as Billy in a family of 9 kids to his Second City days honing his style and delivery so well that he still improvises to this day no matter the media or crowd.   He has been known to walk up behind total strangers, put his hands over their eyes and say, “Guess Who?”  When he releases them and they see who it is, Bill will say, “No one will ever believe you.”   Ya gotta a guy like that.    He is very loyal to his friends and has taken some questionable roles in some questionable films and made the best of them as best he can which is a lot all because a friend asked.   Married twice with 6 sons to show for it, Bill has always been a rambler and a rover.   When he goes someplace for a film shoot, or just checking it out, he will stay there hanging out and learning all about the locality doing touristy stuff and just going on Walkabout as the Aborigines call it.   He hands out meeting people and doing fun things even showing up and crashing weddings, frat parties, BBQs pretty much, you name it and if he is in the vicinity it is a good possibility Bill Murray will be there.   He is a riot.   Surprisingly while he is mostly good and kind to people he has been known to throw his weight around on a film set when it suits his purpose, though it is just as likely he will hire a band to play during lunch or maybe he will spring for a night out for everybody or maybe he will just disappear for a while then show up spot on when it is time for him to go before the cameras and will shock and amaze people by knowing every line, every cue, every dance step whether he has rehearsed or not.  This book is chock full of Bill Murrayisms.   Not everyone has his working style – he scared Mickey Rourke to death when he totally went off script but made it better with the dialogue he invented as he went.   Mickey is a one take maybe two take kind of guy but that shoot, Bill and Steve Carrell did the same scene 32 times and played it different each time, adlibbing the whole way.   Another time he totally frustrated Richard Dreyfus, who never got over it, by going completely off script delivering different lines than were written but in the same vein coming in with different lines but lines setting Dreyfus up so he could deliver the lines he had memorized allowing him the same reaction.    The frustration Dreyfus felt in real life showed in the film but made it that much funnier, it appears like Dreyfus is just doing a bit of great acting but it seems it was more real reaction than not.   Bill has been known to go up to complete strangers and sit on their laps, or hold his shirt up and rub his belly, whether they understood English or not.   Bill has done so many funny things that are captured here and there is good intel on behind the scenes stuff on Saturday Night Live (he and Gilda Radner were an item before she met Gene Wilder), each film he has done, his adventures in other countries, etc.  Bill Murray sounds like he would be a great friend to have – no matter what you or he would come up with – it would be no holds barred, let’s do it.   Fun!    I highly recommend this book to free spirits, fun lovers, fans and anyone looking for an enjoyable read about a guy that goes for the gusto and seems to enjoy every minute of it then like Zorro disappears.   Great book.

Iron Council

Iron Council by China Mieville     576 pages

"Following Perdido Street Station and The Scar, acclaimed author China Miéville returns with his hugely anticipated Del Rey hardcover debut. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon—this time, decades later.

It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places.
In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope.
In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council. . . ."

This is the summary from Goodreads, which I'm using because I have no idea how to summarize the plot of this book in a way that makes any sense at all.

Most people I talk to about China Mieville's books either love his books (like I do) or they don't like them at all. I have never met someone who has read one and said "meh, he's ok." This book is one that makes more sense if you have read the other books mentioned, although they don't give you too much to go on. If I tell someone about Mieville's books, I tend to say, "you just have to lean back and relax into the story. Just go with it because he's never really going to explain anything and your mind will just go with the flow if you let it."

The first time I read this book, I felt it was weaker than Perdido Street Station and The Scar. I hadn't picked it up for a few years, but my re-read this time felt the same way. While I like some of the concepts here, especially the one character who is able to make increasingly complex golems, I found the story just never quite caught me in the same way as some of his other books. I wanted to love it, but just didn't. It has a lot of the politics that you expect if you'd read his book. It has the complex characters and storylines and interesting (and flawed) characters. But . . . there's something about it that just does always come together smoothly. So, worth a re-read, but not my favorite.

The Four Color Comic Book History of Comic Books: Birth of a Medium

The Four Color Comic Book History of Comic Books: Birth of a Medium

By Van Lente, Fred, Dunlavey, Ryan - Artist,  Guzowski, Adam - Colorist  155 pages

Reviewed by Rae C.

This is a great book for anyone that loves comics!  Covers Platinum Age through Silver Age. There is a lot of information and history to cover, but it is deftly handled and presented clearly. (The more you know about comic books, the better, although newbies will benefit as well.) The illustrations are hilarious- often in very subtle or sneaky ways!

In particular I enjoyed the way they condensed the ascent, struggles, feuds, and victories of Stanley Lieberman, aka Stan Lee.  And the book discusses something about Lee that is unique in any of comics: that Lee is a writer, but is often confused for being a creator and/or artist.  The book also defends Lee (somewhat), and points out how this misconception came about.

Another favorite segment was the evolution of the Scarlet Pimpernel, Zorro, and The Shadow, and how they directly influenced Superman and other superheroes.  (Not mentioned in the book: V For Vendetta is also a direct descendant.)

One of the best things about it is the History of Women in Comics.  It’s one page per issue that focuses on (mostly unknown) female creators, artists and writers.  Patricia Highsmith, Jackie Ormes, June Mills, and, of course, Trina Robbins!

THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW

THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW By C.S. Lewis  202 pages 

Reviewed by Rae C.

I’d read several of these when I was kid, but I generally don’t care for stories where a witch is the villain.  I loved Aslan and the childhood magic of Narnia, but I never read passed A Horse And His Boy.  I don’t recall this title being the boxed set I had in the 1970’s.

If you don’t mind the witch being evil (and she’s really more of an otherworldly, magically powered, royal dictator) this is a great book.  In fact, I enjoyed it much more than the other three I'd read.  This is the Narnia creation story, and the origins of the Wardrobe, but it is also a great adventure story in and of itself.  You do not need to have read any of the other books to enjoy it.

Uncle Andrew is the perfect villain- greedy, mediocre, cruel, and selfish, dabbling in powers he couldn’t possible comprehend.  Digory and Polly, both adventurous and fearless, unwittingly become part of his experiment.  And then Digory’s reckless curiosity brings the “witch” out of her world and into ours, and Narnia’s.

The ending is predictable but not unsatisfying.  Lewis is a good writer and there is never a dull moment and all of the characters are well developed. Most of the Christian mythology – or theological symbolism, if you prefer- that would have been well known to children when this was written, is unknown and invisible now.  Anyone who didn’t know this was a Christian themed book- that Aslan is Jesus, and Jadis the Witch is really Lilith- would likely not figure it out.  Especially with all the satyrs and fauns running among gold trees grown from shillings.

I read this because I am a huge fan of Lev Grossman’s Magician’s Trilogy.   Grossman’s Fillory is essentially Narnia, with some modern and pagan changes, and a Hogwarts-style college (Brakebills).  To better understand Fillory, one must revisit Narnia.  And so through the Wardrobe I go….

Krik? Krak!

Krik? Krak!  By Edwidge Danticat  224 p.  

Reviewed by Rae C.

From the epigraph by Sal Scalora:

We tell the stories so that the young ones

will know what came before them.

They say “Krik?” and we say “Krak!”

Our stories are kept in our hearts.

I had read some of Danticat’s work on the Haitian diaspora and also a YA book on based on the Arawak natives of Hispaniola before reading  The Dew Breakers. It is a novel-in-stories.  It embedded itself on me so deeply, was true, so honest, so primal, so affecting, that I had to take a break of several months before diving in to “Le Monde de Danticat” again.  (Or I suppose rather, according to Google’s Haitian Creole translator, “Danticat non mond lan.”)

Krik? Krak! is almost a novel-in-stories.  The family legacy, stories of lives told great-grandmother to grandmother to mother to daughter, and cousins, and godmothers.  You will almost drown in the Massacre river; you will emerge blood red, the ghost of a capsized migrant drowned at sea attempting to escape to the U.S.

The titular story and Caroline’s Wedding, A Wall of Fire Rising, and 1937 have the strongest links, and the greatest impact.  1937 in particular will leave you reeling, but have the courage to read it.  Because it will also change your life.  

Between The Pool and the Gardenias is unbelievably shattering. A childless mother and a lifeless child, and a disastrous ending.  Night Women could have easily been titled Night Goddesses.   Danticat gives the men in the story a dignity that they almost do not deserve, that a lesser writer would have withheld.

Beautiful, evocative, heartbreaking, inspiring, sad, happy, aching, and joyful...   The whole of human existence can be found in these pages.  And Haiti itself is there always- the sounds, scents, spices, the ocean and the trees, the breadfruit, the sugarcane.

For any woman who writes- Haitian or otherwise- the last story, Epilogue: Women Like Us, on kitchen poets, is a necessary read. 

You thought that if you didn’t tell the stories, the sky would fall on your head.  You often thought that without the trees, the sky would fall on your head.  You learned in school that you have pencils and paper only because the trees gave themselves in unconditional sacrifice. There have been days when the sky was as close as your hair to falling on your head.

This fragile sky has terrified you your whole life.  Silence terrifies you more than the pounding of a million pieces of steel chopping away at your flesh.  Sometimes, you dream of hearing only the beating of your own heart, but this has never been the case.  You have never been able to escape the pounding of a thousand other hearts that have outlived yours by thousands of years. And over the years when you have needed us, you have always cried “Krik?” and we have answered “Krak!” and it has shown us that you have not forgotten us.

Human Errors

Human Errors: A Panorama of Our Glitches, from Pointless Bones to Broken Genes by Nathan H. Lents          Audio Book: 8 hours      Hardback Book: 256 pages        

Such a good book.   You will learn so many things you never knew before about the make-up of the human body.   Fascinating!  And Biology Professor, Nathan Lents tells all these fascinating facts in such a fun down to earth way that will have you pondering everthing about yourself from your skin to your DNA and beyond.  I love learning new things and this book is a cavalcade of new knowledge,  He discusses bones, organs, the nucleus of our cells, he goes into diseases the ones our bodies can fight pretty easily and the ones that wreak havoc on us and why.    Talk about amusing conversation – you will stun your friends and family with the facts you will pick up here.   You will come away knowing the why and the how (you already know the who, what and when) of yourself.    He discusses so many medical and evolutionary, “huhs?”  things you may have thought about but never understood.    You will come away from this read feeling like you ought to be wearing a lab coat and that you have just finished your first year of pre-med.  Man!   This guy is good.    I’m going to search for his other book and keep him on my authors I must read everything they write list.    He has the humor and presentation of Mary Roach but less graphic, although, he does tell you lots of amazing things.  I highly recommend this read!

Vox

Vox by Christina Dalcher     326 pages

In an America where half the population has been silenced, one woman will discover just how far she will go to protect herself and her daughter.

Dr. Jean McClellan had seen the signs that things were changing, that the government was becoming increasingly rigid and restrictions on women were increasing. However, she remained in denial . . . until the day that the government decreed that women are no longer allowed more than 100 words daily.  Now, women wear bracelets that deliver increasingly painful electrical shocks if they go over 100 words a day. Cameras watch their every move and schools don't teach girls anything beyond basic math skills and, of course, home economics. There is no more reading or writing for women.  When she is given an opportunity to work on a medical research project she had to leave unfinished, Jean is determined to reclaim her voice and go as far as she can to restore the voices of all women.

Think about how many words you say in a day. Did you know that the average person speaks 16,000 words per day? In this version of America, woman are limited to 100. Beyond 100 means electric shocks (and I'm not talking about something mild, either).  And this is just the beginning if the government has its way (or rather, the way of the men running it).  I really enjoyed this book and wound up staying up late last night to finish it because I could not stop turning the pages. The pace starts slowly, but then starts to pick up gradually, increasing the tension in the story at the same time. Jean's husband is involved in the government, so you have that layer adding to her relationship with him and their children. Jean's oldest son also starts to become indoctrinated (especially after the school starts a new religious studies class), which means he is starting to possibly be a danger to Jean.  I wasn't sure what was going to happen at the end --- and won't reveal anything here.

I will say that this book is chilling in the same way that The Handmaid's Tale is; you can't imagine a world like this . . . until you can.  I found parts of the book absolutely infuriating (on Jean's behalf) and wondered if I would be able to limit myself to 100 words per day.  I probably could . . . but knowing that this was just the beginning would probably make me implode. The idea of not being allowed to read is impossible. And if you think about girls being born and never being taught how to speak --- it's a form of torture (especially because it affects brain development as a whole).  Definitely a thought-provoking story.

Frozen Charlotte

Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell 297 pages Hardback 

Reviewed by Rae C.

Had I known the “Frozen Charlotte” dolls were central to the story, I might not have read this!  Haunted dolls usually scare me, even though I am in my 50’s.  However, I am glad I read this book!  It was edge of the seat engaging, genuinely suspenseful, frightening, and well written and plotted.

The book begins with a bang.  Sophie’s friend Jay has an Oujia board app on his phone.  Sophie’s dead cousin Rebecca is summoned. Rebecca died in a mysterious accident years ago in Skye. Mayhem and tragedy occur during and after the app’s use.   (I’m leaving out a big spoiler.)

A few weeks later, Sophie goes to the Isle of Skye to visit her other cousins.  Sophie is seeking answers to the death of her cousin, and also the clues that her cousin’s spirit communicated through the app.  Sophie is a very strong willed and determined.  She has a strong sense of self, and facing things squarely.  

But she is also unable to navigate the conflicts in her cousin’s family: her uncle is a basket case; her absent aunt is in an asylum; cute cousin Cameron has a burned hand and strange, sometimes violent, behaviors; Lilias is afraid of her own bones, and believes that the Frozen Charlotte dolls are haunted; and then there is perfect Piper, the only normal member of the family.

From Sophie’s first night there are strange and unexplainable events.  Plot twists, while sometimes predictable, always take unseen turns, but Sophie remains strong.  She is a heroine a girl can feel good about rooting for!

I had a few problems with the story, but they were fairly easy to ignore.  The first was the Skye location.  The Frozen Charlotte dolls were wildly popular in North America, but not so much in Scotland.  And the author did nothing to illustrate the landscape, culture, language or customs of Skye or Scotland.  I’d actually have preferred to have the location be in North America, as all that was needed was the creepy, haunted former school and the gates, beach, etc. 

And at the end there is fire, but the author didn’t demonstrate a thorough understanding of the reality of smoke inhalation. However, it was so well written and suspenseful that it was easy to ignore.

I recommend this book to anyone that likes supernatural thrillers, especially if, like me, you are a fan of Lois Duncan.

Minimalism For Families

Minimalism For Families:  Practical Minimalist Living Strategies to Simplify Your Home and Life by Zoe Kim        Paperback Book:  152 pages           

Excellent book on becoming a minimalist family.   Great tips on basing your needs up against your haves and your wants.    If you are spending way too much time cleaning, stepping over, stressing over and/or being overwhelmed by all the time you have to spend sorting your family stuff, if your rooms are way too full of furniture, sporting equipment, magazines, newspapers, books, toys, etc. it is time to consider minimalism so that you can spend more time enjoying your family, pets, friends and being able to leave the house without freaking out over all the chores that are going to be waiting for you when you re-enter the door.   If you have less stuff, you have less decisions to make.    If you stop saying yes to every invitation you will allow yourself to say yes to a relaxing evening or taking a vacation to treat yourself and anyone you take along.    If you feel like life is not fun and when you leave work at 5:00p.m. you feel as though you are starting your second shift when you get home because there are piles of laundry to do, dishes in the sink that need washing, furniture that needs to be dusted and carpet that needs vacuuming.   Zoe Kim suggests limiting your wardrobe, cull the items in your home, if you haven’t used something in 6 months, decide if you really need it or if it is used so seldom that selling it or donating it would serve your life better by making a space in your home, office, garage, attic, basement you name it.    Zoe has minimalized down to a core wardrobe including only the jewelry she actually wears and only keeping accessories as truly required.     She has taught these principles to her husband and four children as well.    Before going to bed they all as a family do a sweep of the house and their personal space to pick up things that do not belong, return things to where they live – books back to the shelf, paperwork and toys to their designated home, trash and recycling put in their proper recepticles.    She has downsized her dishes and utensils so there isn’t that much to wash anymore, she has used her creativity to think outside the box on repurposing items to find a new life purpose and continue to serve rather than going to a landfill.   She quotes a professional organizer that states most American homes contain 300,000 things from forks to bubble bath to sofa cushions every thing in a home which 80% of is not serving the inhabitants in any useful way.   After learning that statistic she was determined to keep an eye on just how much waste goes on in her own home and is teaching her family to be mindful citizens and try not to add to the waste in the world.    Really good read here.  If you are looking for ways to live better with less, Zoe Kim is your girl.   She also preaches no matter how good the deal or the sale you really don’t need to stock up on 5 years worth of shampoo.  She makes really good points and this book is so inspirational and so full of wisdom don’t be surprised if you find yourself creating your own Zen-like environment within your home and garden that nourishes your soul foregoing the life sapping clutter and overload many are in the throes of as we speak.   YAY Zoe Kim, you rock.   

Where the Dead Sit Talking

Where the Dead Sit Talking by Bandon Hobson          Audio Book: 6 hours, 5 mins.    Hardback Book:  288 pages             

A very good story about 3 foster kids,  living in Oklahoma.      The narrator of the story is 15 year old Sequoyah who is of Cherokee heritage.    A good look into the troubled lives of children caught between the lives they want to lead, the people they want to be with and the desolation that drugs, alcohol and abuse have on families with children as the victims.    One of the kids is autistic and sleep walks among his other peculiar habits.    Sequoyah and 17 year old Rosemary both dream the dreams of their native heritage with the spirits of the dead delivering messages to them about what is to come.   There is a sense of the shaman in both of them.    There are many back stories that make all of the characters so much more intriguing.    You find little surprises in strange things all of the children tend to do in dealing with their private grief and regrets.   So well told, Brandon Hobson is a gifted story teller.   Everyone is a little damaged throughout the book, and they interpret their lives accordingly.    It is one of those books you can’t put down because you know the other shoe is about to drop but when and how will surprise you.    Really well done.  Kudos Brandon Hobson.  

Secret Sisters

Secret Sisters by Jayne Ann Krentz        Audio Book: 9 hours, 45 minutes     Paperback Book:  493 pages             

I really wanted to like this book, but, I didn’t.    The story, while bodies piled up and the search was on for a mysterious box with the one clue linking the murderer to the original crime and why.   Two friends since childhood, Madeline and Daphne so close back as kids they joined a group of girls who hailed themselves somewhat like a sororiety only they were too young for that but they were secret sisters as it were and had always kept that going even to the present day when all hell broke loose and they were in fear for their lives.    Having been parted for years the death of Madeline’s grandmother and her inheiritance of a broken down hotel brings her back to decide whether to sell it or keep it.   Daphne still living in the same town and Madeline end up getting together and it was like they had never parted though they hadn’t seen each other for 20 years.    My favorite character was the security sleuth kind of P.I. Jack Rayner and his brother, who is a whiz with technology.   The story drags on way too long and even with the murders and fearing for their lives, I could have slept through it.    I almost let this book go, it promises to be interesting but it just wasn’t.    Like expecting meat and getting bouillion flavored filler instead it was like that.   Maybe my expectations were too high, but, this book, to me was a dud.    I forced myself to continue with it to the end, but, it wasn’t easy.   It was like force feeding yourself soggy bread.   It was not to my taste.   The few good parts did not outweigh the incredibly bland and boring parts.   I would not recommend this book to anyone unless they were a die hard fan of Jayne Ann Krentz and just wanted to read it to be sure they could say they had read everything by her.   It held such promise being a New York Times Bestseller and all, but, it did not hold my interest at all.   It seemed really slow and when something that should have been exciting happened it just seemed to be absorbed by the dull parts.   I tried to like it but, I would not recommend this book.

Chi’s Sweet Home

Chi’s Sweet Home by Konami Konata              Paperback: 168 pages             

I love this poor little lost kitten.    Konami Konata really captures the true identity of kittens.    Such soulful expressions – it is all in the eyes and she must have had a lot of cats in her life, because she has their body language and behaviors down to an art form – thus her Chi’s Sweet Home series and other graphic novels about cats and pets.    The poor kitten is so happy walking along with its Mommie and Siblings when Chi got distracted and ends up getting lost from her family.    It is heart wrenching when she cries for her Mommie and she has tears in her eyes that run down her face because she is so scared and sad.   Poor Baby!   I just want to scoop her up and help her find her family which is exactly what a little boy name Yoshei Yamada does.   He, too, feels sorry for her so he comforts her and takes her to his house.   His parents feel sorry for the lost kitten but pets aren’t allowed in the apartment building and the landlady lives on the premises.   Yoshei’s Dad goes out to pick up some food and treats for the poor little lost kitten, while Yoshei’s Mother tries calling around to their friends and family to see if anyone is willing to take in the kitten.   No luck, no one will take her, so Yoshei’s parents decide to keep her for now until they can find someone to give her a home.   Yoshie’s Dad buys cat toys and a litter box, food, treats, milk and comes home to try to entice Chi with it all.    At first Chi isn’t having any of it – what is going on?   She wants out the door to try and find her mother and she starts crying for her mother.  It is so sad to think of how lonely and stressed this poor baby is and all she wants is her Mommie.    It shows Chi thinking about her Mommie loving her, cuddling her, washing her and Chi lays down face first on the floor and cries.   God bless her, I love this little cat already.   Lots happens some funny as Chi learns she is not supposed to deposit urine nor poop in unacceptable places – that part is pretty funny and so true of newbie baby cats.   So it does have its hilarious moments but not when Yoshei’s Dad decides to take her to the vet to be sure she is healthy – gads!  Anal thermometer!    After that Chi decides, “she hates Daddy.”    I have to side with Chi on that one.    No warning, no lubricant just WHAMMO!   The look on her face says it all as she screams in fear and pain.    After that – forget about it – “Daddy” is not her friend.    She runs from him and when he tries to butter her up by treating her to yummy milk, she scratches him when he tries to pet her and she refuses to let him touch her.    It is sweet, endearing, very sad sometimes, empathy overflowing here, seriously, wickedly funny many times.    I loved this book.    I was so hoping she would bolt out the door, holler real loud and her mother would hear her and come for her.    And yes, when your read the bubble over Chi’s head stating her thoughts, it is too adorable.   I loved, loved, loved this book.    Cat lovers unite!   I may just have to get a Chi t-shirt before this is all over.     I found out there is a whole series of Chi’s Sweet Home books and this is only the first one in the series.   I’m invested in this dear little cartoon cat, now.   Hugs for Chi and for Konami Konato for coming up with such a delightful idea for a book series.   I recommend this to all ages and especially to cat people and animal lovers.   Great stories to be found here of Chi’s adventures.  Loved it.

Nightbooks

Nightbooks by J. A. White     304 pages

A boy is imprisoned by a witch and must tell her a new scary story each night to stay alive. This thrilling contemporary fantasy from J. A. White, the acclaimed author of the Thickety series, brings to life the magic and craft of storytelling.

Alex’s original hair-raising tales are the only thing keeping the witch Natacha happy, but soon he’ll run out of pages to read from and be trapped forever. He’s loved scary stories his whole life, and he knows most don’t have a happily ever after. Now that Alex is trapped in a true terrifying tale, he’s desperate for a different ending—and a way out of this twisted place.

This was a really cool, dark re-telling of Hansel & Gretel/Scheherazade. Alex, a young boy stumbles across an apartment where he can hear his favorite movie being played and he's so drawn to it, he ends up captured by a witch and becomes her prisoner, having to tell her a scary story every night to keep her happy.

I liked the inclusion of Alex's stories - they provide an extra level of creepiness that young kids will love (a bit like reading "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark"). Plus, having those stories around gives further insight into Alex's character, what he means when he talks about being different from other people, because you can see how his mind conjures up scary things to turn into stories.

I think the character development in this story is really well done. Alex's character is revealed a bit at a time, but you get a lot from his stories. Yasmin, also, takes a while to open up, but you can see her and Alex's relationship developing and it's very natural and sweet. White does a good job of writing the characters to be the age they're supposed to be. Both think and speak like children, so it keeps the story realistic and more accessible to the age group it was written for.

As far as the scariness, I definitely think kids would find aspects of this book terrifying. As an adult, I didn't find it too creepy, but I'm also not the target audience. Having Alex's stories helps with the creepy factor, but I also like the way White developed this more modern Hansel & Gretel witch. The apartment itself is its own character, which is really cool. It gives another element to the story and makes it feel less like a re-telling and more like something new and different. In this way, White keeps the reader from seeing the end ahead of time. I could predict certain things, but there were a lot of red herrings to keep you from realizing the full story, which I enjoyed very much.

I would definitely recommend this book to kids looking for a creepy story. Plus, this would make a great Halloween read-aloud, especially since it features creepy stories being read aloud! Check it out!

The Word is Murder

The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz, 390 pages


Diana Cowper walks into a funeral home and later that day is killed. A former London police detective named Daniel Hawthorne is called in to consult on the case. In this book, the ex-detective had consulted on a TV show that Anthony Horowitz wrote for. Hawthorne proposes that Horowitz follow him around while he works on the case and write a book about Hawthorne and the case. They would split the profits. Hawthorne is a difficult man so Horowitz is reluctant but decides he can't pass up the opportunity.

Years ago, Diana had hit two twin boys but got off lightly. Could her death be related to that incident? Her son is a famous actor who is spending too much money and may be taking too many drugs. Could he be involved? Shortly before her death, she had a disagreement with a man about an investment she made in a failed play. Could he be the culprit?

Of course, there are twists and some of the information creates red herrings. I was able to spot one of them but the question was how it fit into the larger puzzle.

I picked up this book because I was intrigued that the writer had written himself into the book. I was expecting it to be funnier (possibly without good reason) than it was but there were still parts that I found amusing. Despite not meeting all my expectations I really liked this mystery. Some mystery lovers may not appreciate it but I think a lot would.

The Wartime Sisters

The Wartime Sisters by Lynda Cohen Loigman     304 pages   Due out in January 2019; I read a galley

Ruth and Millie, raised in Brooklyn but estranged for years, are reunited at the Springfield Armory in the early days of World War II.  While Ruth, the older sister, leaves in relative ease with her husband and children as an officer's wife, Millie, the younger sister, arrives as a war widow with a small child.  Taking a job in the Armory factories, Millie is determined to build a better relationship with her sister. However, will old resentments get in the way?

I enjoyed this book and found it a good weekend read.  There is some back-and-forth in time, so you get a good understanding how of the two sisters were as children, and then what their lives are like in the present. I felt the author created two sympathetic, interesting characters and clearly shows the dynamic between the two of them. They felt like completely real women, which made the story easy to relate to. The pacing is steady and the accurate details about women's work during World War II also make the story interesting. Adding in some dynamic between the two sisters and some secondary characters made the story even more compelling.  All in all, an enjoyable book.

The Betrayals

The Betrayals by Fiona Neill     390 pages

Told through the perspectives of four members of the same family, this story explores the aftermath of an affair.  When Rosie's best friend has an affair with her husband, the consequences impact both families, even years afterwards.  Rosie's daughter Daisy, always fragile, has moved on with her life until a letter arrives (addressed to Rosie but opened by Daisy first) that opens up all of the old wounds of the affair. The question is: what actually happened that summer between Rosie's husband and her best friend?

I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy this book but the more I got into it, the more engrossed I became. I liked that there were the four different perspectives because each one had a different take on the affair. Daisy has OCD (not really a spoiler) and so I found her perspective particularly interesting because while I have read about OCD, it's different to read someone's first-hand account of how they view the world. What's also interesting about this story is that it's hard to tell what actually happened between the two adults the one summer (the summer of the affair) because you assume the one character is telling the complete truth . . . until you start to doubt that.  Not a happy story, but an interesting one. 

Moral Imagination

The Moral Imagination: From Adam Smith to Lionel Trilling by Gertrude Himmelfarb, 279 pages

The Moral Imagination collects a series of biographical sketches by Gertrude Himmelfarb - some old, some new - exploring the humanist disposition as it expressed itself in the lives of her subjects.  In her telling, each celebrated the reality of truth, goodness, and beauty, while condemning the dictatorial ideologies of a narrow rationalism.

Whether by accident or design, Himmelfarb's choice of subjects begins with the moral disaster of the Enlightenment and ends with the moral disaster of the '60s.  It therefore begins with the quest for values in the wake of the revolutionary overthrow of tradition, and ends with the ascendancy of anti-intellectual technocratic nihilism.  As befits her theme, her subjects are amazingly varied - the philosophers Mill and Burke, the clergymen Wilfred and Ronald Knox, the economists Adam Smith and Alfred Marshall, the statesmen Disraeli and Churchill, the novelists George Eliot, Austen, Dickens, and Buchan.  They include skeptics and believers, conservatives and liberals.  They are all the more diverse because they are themselves so multifaceted - Ronald Knox, Disraeli, and Churchill were all literary men in addition to their primary vocations, while Smith was a philosopher as well as an economist and Burke a politician as well as a philosopher.  In each case Himmelfarb exhibits (without explaining) how this breadth of activity and thought enhanced rather than detracted from the quality of their work.

The Dollhouse

The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis   368 pages

In the last month or so, I was lucky enough to snag a copy of author Fiona Davis’s new book, “The Masterpiece,” and I just loved it. So of course, since that was only her third novel, I knew that I had to read her first two. This was Davis’ debut novel. It’s as equally mesmerizing.

Davis employed the dualing timelines as her structure. I’m wondering if this is going to be a continued pattern for her; I sure hope so, as I love it.

In 1952, Darby arrives from Ohio to attend the Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School in New York City. She plans to never marry and strives for financial and economic independence from her mother and step-father.  She moves into the Barbizon Hotel for Women. It wasn’t like a hotel that we think of today. She had to have three references in order to be even considered a place. Unfortunately, there isn’t room for her on the floor that houses other Gibbs’ girls. Instead, she is forced to live with aspiring models, who often distract her from her studies.

Darby becomes friends with the maid, Esme, who introduces her to the seedier side of New York. She also meets Sam, a cook in a jazz club who yearns to become a chef, using the spices he discovered in Southeast Asia.

Fast forward to 2016. The Barbizon Hotel for Women is now condos, except for the Fourth Floor. That’s where several of the now-elderly women from the Barbizon still reside. Rose and her divorced lover, Griff, have lived there for about a year. Thanks to Patrick the doorman, Rose learns about the women and the building’s history, especially the scandal that caused Esme to fall to her death from the rooftop terrace. Working for an internet news bureau called WordMerge, Rose wants to interview the women of the Fourth Floor.

She begins to knock on doors and finds some women wanting to talk with her; others who are not interested in bringing up the past. One of those women is Darby. Yup that Darby. As Rose is forced out of her apartment (Griff goes back to his wife, supposedly for a teenager’s sake), she becomes more and more obsessed with Darby and the rumors of her involvement with Esme’s death. It’s just happenstance that Darby winds up caring for Darby’s dog when the neighbor suddenly takes ill and is hospitalized.

I was enthralled with the story; I couldn’t put it down. Can’t wait to get my hands on Davis’s sophomore book, “The Address.”  “The Dollhouse” receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Subway Girls

The Subway Girls by Susi Orman Schnall   320 pages

My new favorite writer, Fiona Davis, called this novel “dazzling and delicious,” and  I wholeheartedly agree. I read this dualing timelines story in one day. It was so captivating that I didn’t mind a four-hour wait at the airport for my plane to arrive. I couldn’t have been better prepared for a long wait than with this wonderful book.

The first timeline begins in the spring of 1949. Charlotte is a senior at New York City’s Hunter College, studying advertising. She dreams of becoming a junior copywriter but is realistic to know that her hopes of making it out of the typing pool are slim to none.

Times are tight in Brooklyn, where Charlotte lives with her parents. She has a steady beau who wants to marry her, but she wants to try her hand at a career first. Her father is a strict and cold man, man of few words. When his hardware store begins to fail, he insists that Charlotte leave school and help him in the store. Charlotte does help out, but refuses to abandon her studies; she only has a semester left.

Also happening in New York City is latest the latest advertising campaign for the transit system, a beauty contest that selects one young woman a month to wear the crown of Miss Subways. Charlotte concocts a scheme that if she enters and wins, she can use that platform as a way to save her father’s store. Based on the real-life Miss Subways campaign that ran between 1941 and 1976, Charlotte’s timeline captures a lost piece of New York City history.

The second time also begins in the spring, but the year is 2018. Olivia is an account executive with an advertising company that she, sort of, co-founded with a former colleague. The company has been losing business steadily and is on the brink of collapse. Thanks to a chance meeting in a bar, the company gets an opportunity to pitch a new campaign to the New York Transit System.  In her research, Olivia stumbles upon the Miss Subways campaign, and it here that Charlotte and Olivia intersect.

I loved this story. It pulled me in from the first page and didn’t let up until the ending that left me with a smile and a quiet cheer to myself.  “The Subway Girls” receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Good Omens

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman     412 pages

According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (the world's only completely accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655, before she exploded), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner.

So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon—both of whom have lived amongst Earth's mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle—are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture.

And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist . . . 

This was an interesting read - it took me a while to get into it and get used to the format of the book. If you're not a fan of constantly switching pov, then you might want to skip this, because there is a large cast of characters and many of them get at least a little portion of the text from their perspective. In this way, it was a bit tricky remembering people as you read the book, especially if they were just a minor character and they popped up early in the book and many not again until much later. In this way, I think the movie of this book might actually be a better format for this kind of story. It will be easier to remember characters, for one, but also the humor that Pratchett and Gaiman employ might come off better told from actual people than being read on a page. The humor was another thing that made it difficult for me to absolutely love this book. I guess since I'm not British, some of the humor just went over my head. Also, because I'm not as familiar with certain customs or companies that were either real and mentioned or parodied, it didn't come off as funny to me, per say. There were also lots of references and playing off of Biblical subject matter, and since I did not grow up learning Biblical subject matter, a lot more might have gone over my head. However, there were some pretty funny bits and I did enjoy a good portion of the book. All in all, it was fun read, but it didn't roll along easily for me. I definitely read it in chunks. I would recommend it, but only to people who I think this humor would go over well with.

I Only Have Lies for You

I Only Have Lies for You by Robert J. Randisi   324 pages

This is the eleventh book in the Rat Pack Mystery Series. I have really enjoyed the previous ten, and I’m already anxiously awaiting the arrival of Number 12. 

It’s 1965. Eddie G, one of the Sands Hotel’s pit bosses, has come to be known as the “go-to guy” when it comes to getting celebrities out of trouble. Thanks to all the help he’s provided, he can call the Rat Pack---Sinatra, Martin, Davis, Bishop and Lawford, his pallies.

Frank calls Eddie on behalf of his friend, television superstar Jackie Gleason. Frank even sends his private plane to take Eddie to Miami to confer with “The Great One.” All he can learn from Jackie is that somebody has been tailing Jackie’s sweetheart, Marilyn Taylor, sister of the famous June Taylor (and her dancers that were always a hit on Jackie’s shows.).” Before readers can turn too many pages, the bodies are piling up, and without more info, Eddie isn’t sure if he can help, and it appears that Eddie maybe on the receiving end of murder.

The usual cast of characters populates the pages. Jerry from Brooklyn, who has recently been diagnosed with diabetes and is on a diet. Danny, Eddie’s private dick pal who does some snooping back in Vegas. Jack who is the Sands’ head honcho.

I do love these tales, and I’m worried that Randid may be coming to the end of the series. Eddie makes a statement in the last third of the book that he is “getting tired of this.”  I sure hope Eddie isn’t considering retiring.

The story is predictable, but I knew that going in. For me, the fun of the read is the guys, Eddie and Jerry, not to mention all the glitz and glamor from the days when Vegas was cool. The biggest problem that I have is that Randisi has changed publishers. The guy on the cover’s left is supposed to be Frank Sinatra, but it sure doesn’t look like him. Then there is the lack of any kind of proofing reading. YIKES!  For those reasons,  “I Only Have Lies for You” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Kennedy Debutante

The Kennedy Debutante by Kerri Maher   384 pages

I have to admit that I don’t have much general knowledge about one of JFK’s sisters, Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy. Maybe because she was only twenty-eight years old when she died in 1948.  Maher’s debut novel tackles the elusive subject of the Joseph and Rose Kennedy’s nine children (John was second in line).

When her father was serving as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Kick made many friends in London and was the "debutante of 1938,” which is probably how Maher decided to title her story. There isn’t a lot about her early years in America in this novel, and that’s okay. It was fun dropping in on the eighteen year old as she is presented to the King and Queen of England.

Broken into three parts, from Spring 1938 through Winter 1944, readers are treated to watching Kick grown into a strong female. She wasn’t as confident as her two older brothers, but she did her best, especially when she went up against her formidable father and her rather harsh mother.

Readers get to watch Kick fall in love with England, even with war rising on the horizon. And readers get to watch as Kick falls in love with Billy Harrington, the future Duke of Devonshire.

Her family and Billy’s family frowns on their relationship. Kick is almost staunchly Catholic has her devoted mother, while Billy’s family is equally dedicated to their Protestant faith. If the young couple is allowed to marry, Kick must agree to raise any future children as Protestant, even if she herself did not convert.

I felt this novel was rather light-hearted and didn’t seem to have the depth that was needed to make Kick jump off the page. Maybe it’s not fair, but I read Michelle Gable’s “The Summer I Met Jack,” has a much deeper sense of actually knowing all the Kennedy’s personalities. For those reasons, “The Kennedy Debutante” receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

August and year-end totals

August marked the end of the year's worth of Challenge reading and we've got some big numbers:

In August,
7 people
read 65 books
for a total of 21,040 pages

And looking back at our Reading Challenge year, the SLPL team had a total of:

18 people
read 1303 books
for a whopping total of 366,178 pages !!!!!

One of our team members has already started his posts for the 2018-2019 year (obviously, he's a Super Reader)!!!

Thanks to ALL of the SLPL team members for your posts and pages!

Tolkien and the Great War

Tolkien and the Great War: The Emergence of Middle Earth by John Garth, 313 pages

On November 8th of 1916, after almost 6 months of service at the front, Second Lieutenant John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, a signals officer with the 11th Lancashire Fusiliers, was invalided home to England with a severe case of trench fever.  It was during his long recovery, first in hospital and later in the Royal Defence Force, that Tolkien would begin to tie together his scattered fantasies into a coherent mythology, the foundation of the legendarium that served as the basis for his later masterpieces.

Tolkien and the Great War, beyond presenting the bare facts of Tolkien's service in the War and the fate of his closest friends, is concerned with the impact of the War on Tolkien's imagination.  For Garth, Tolkien developed his legendarium not to escape from the brutal material reality of the War, but as an attempt to place his ordeals in a moral and spiritual context.  This was not expressed, as one might expect, by simply aligning the warring nations on the sides of good and evil - to the contrary, Tolkien was only too aware of the orcishness present on all sides.  Rather, the War confirmed for Tolkien the need for a recovery of memory and renewal of language, while his explorations of the meaning of suffering led to a deeper understanding of the paradoxes of evil, eucatastrophe, and the value of the meek and lowly, themes which would become the hallmarks of his future work.