Bringing Magge Home

Bringing Maggie Home  by Kim Vogel Sawyer    352 pages

Everyone has secrets, and secrets are the essence of this wonderful novel by bestselling Christian author, Kim Vogel Sawyer.  It has many of my favorite categories: dualing timelines, a cold case, a missing child, historical fiction and mystery.

The story begins in mid-July 1943 in a little town in Arkansas. Ten-year-old Hazel and her three-year-old sister, Maggie, have been sent to the blackberry bushes to pick the berries so their momma could make their daddy a blackberry cobbler for his birthday dinner. Hazel is distracted by a black snake that she saw headed in the general direction of a bunny burrow, complete with several baby bunnies. She runs after the snake, trying to change its direction, and when she gets back to the bushes, Maggie is gone. Without a trace. She is never found.

Maggie’s disappearance tears the family apart, and emotionally scars Hazel for life.

Fast forward to Las Vegas in 2013. Hazel lives there, a widow. Her only granddaughter, Meghan, is coming to visit for about six weeks, while she heals from injuries she suffered in a car accident. What neither Hazel nor Meghan, is that Meghan’s mother, Margaret Diane, also shows up on Hazel’s doorstep with her four dachshunds.

In alternating chapters, readers learn what makes each woman tick. Sometimes the identifiers of each woman are jarring. For example, when Margaret Diane is speaking, she refers to Hazel as Mother, while Meghan refers to Margaret Diane as Mom. But that doesn’t get in the way of a great story.

Meghan wants to create a scrapbook for her grandmother’s 80^th birthday, and it’s while they are gathering pictures that little Maggie’s is discovered and secrets are unearthed. It takes about half of the book for Meghan to realize that cold cases are her specialty. She then enlists the help of her partner to solve the riddle of Maggie’s disappearance.

Bringing Maggie Home  is highly readable and unputdownable.  I want to give it 6 stars, but the two flaws mentioned earlier are why it only gets 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world

I received this book from Blogging for Book in exchange for this review.

It Takes Only One

It Takes Only One by MJ Hardin   130 pages

I’m not sure why I’m writing a review, other than I told MJ Hardin. I read her novel, It Takes Only One. It’s too esoteric for me. Thankfully, it’s a short work at 130 pages. However, I did like the author’s footnotes; they were interesting but didn’t offer insight to the story.

This abstruse story centers on a newborn baby. It has no gender, no name, no nationality. It seems that in the first chapter the baby has turned blue (hence the character’s identifier, Baby Blue) from not being able to breath. The parents are terrified. The baby then goes on some sort of journey through what may be heaven. I’m not sure.

There are 20 chapters, an introduction (which didn’t clarify things) and a Last Chapter that were all mercifully short.

It Takes Only One receives 1 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

I Liked My Life

I Liked My Life by Abby Fabiaschi               Audio Book:  9 hours, 47 minutes     Paperback Book:  288 pages            

Good story.     I was intrigued by the fact that the person telling the story is dead and her ghost is observing what is going on with her husband and daughter in her absence.    The ghost is trying to figure out why she is still around.    The family is coming to terms with the huge tragedy of losing this bigger than life person in their lives who did everything for them,  put up with their neglect and guff but who come to realize what a hole is left in their lives now and how really ineffectual they are at keeping their world in tact without her.    A good story, very good development of the emotions one goes through in dealing with the death of someone close to them.    Well written.  It will keep you questioning the when, where, why, who and how of occurences all the way to the last page.    Ghostly perspective is so enlightening.   I don’t want to give too much away here but this is a good book.

The Swans of Fifth Avenue

The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin              Audio Book: 13 hours     Paperback Book:  400 pages                       

I absolutely loved this book!   What a great piece of writing.   As a rule I prefer non-fiction to fiction but I would read this book again and again it was so well written and such great detail and character definition.   True, the characters are all real and the details could easily have been researched but Melanie Benjamin’s fine hand at writing and bringing all of these people back to life and sharing such touching particulars about each both endear them and even the coarse or low sides of them are brought to light in such a way as to elicit empathy for every act whether vile or compassionate.  Oh I do so love this story.   Full of juicy dish on Hollywood celebrities and genteel descriptions down to the woodwork in the Plaza in New York.     Ms. Benjamim delivers a stellar story brilliantly.    I could gush over this one for days but then I would begin to sound like one of the story’s main characters, Truman Capote.     Do read this, you will be glad you did.    A laser look into the life of the wealthy that shows that money does not heal all wounds nor can it fix everything.   It can only pay for the polish to hide what is lurking beneath.     Bravo, Melanie Benjamin!   I give you a standing ovation for the world you brought to the page in such a way it is not just a read but a lush experience.   Thank you for that.                  

You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me

You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me: A Memoir  by Sherman Alexie         Audio Book: 12 hours        Hardback Book: 464 pages               

I knew that life on the reservation was hard and harsh and many of the Native Americans who live there have such a hard time that many turn to other measures to make life a little less depressing, drink, drugs, but what had never entered into my thoughts was the abuse mental, physical and most horrible sexual abuse of children.    Sherman Alexie discusses in detail horrific terrors that happened to him and others in the tribe from family, friends of family who are tribal members also the despicable things that occurred through the people coming onto the reservation who were supposed to be offering hope and help, priests, teachers, local people who pretend to be kind only to turn on them (he describes an older boy who pretended to befriend him and his cousins once only to turn around and start shooting them.    No wonder there is so little trust and so much hate and anger in the people who live there.    What began with the breaking of treaties by the government and abuse by soldiers and rogues forcing those who were the original inhabitants of the land to move from the rich parcels of land they farmed to tracts of land so harsh they were all but wastelands homes of rattlesnakes, coyotes, bears too harsh for the overbearing interlopers who hoped the Native Sons and Daughters would die from the lack of resources available to them in the hell holes they were imprisoned on.    But these were proud and noble folk who did the best with the lot that was thrust upon them and in the circumstances they found themselves.  Not every human being is mentally strong enough to deal with the harshness.   Sherman Alexie’s parents chose to color their world with alcohol and drugs.    This helped to numb them to life for a while.   Of course, this left their children vulnerable to the others who were always over to party and fight, drinking, doing drugs and molesting the children, the Alexie children, their cousins and friends.    Parties were a cover to rape children, to beat up and rape the older kids and abuse young women and young men as they saw fit because no one was clear headed enough to protect them.   Sherman Alexie talks about being bi-polar and in this memoir he deals with so much grief over his life and what he and his family have been through.   The bigotry of the town people toward the tribal peoples.   It is an often shocking book a look deep within the ugliness of what can happen to a soul.   Alexie pours his emotion into his poetry and there is such a feeling of release when you read his poems  which are so full of the hurt and contempt he feels at everyone who did dastardly things to him throughout his life and he rails at God in such ugly ways when he still to this day is so full of venom over the death of his mother.   While his father never tried to quit drinking and drugging his mother finally did and took the kids and ran away from the reservation once only to find she didn’t have anywhere to go and dejectedly returned.   A sad story that will remain in your memory but not without light moments.   Even the most put upon can find something to laugh about even in the most dismal of conditions and Sherman Alexie does that throughout offering light laughter his way of making it through.   It will keep you interested but his rants can get pretty blasphemous.   

Baby Faces

Baby Faces by Dawn Sirett                        Hardback Book: 14 pages          

What a cute book!   It is a definite fun read with a little.   Each page is a different expression made by an adorable baby and asks the reader or listener to make the face that the baby is making, happy face, sad face, etc.    The photos are too cute.     A fun read with little ones.     A pre-school teacher would do well with this one – the whole class could make each of the faces and all would be having a great time.   This would be a good choice for parents, too.      Or babysitters.    Everyone!   

The Potlikker Papers

The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South by John T. Edge               Audio Book: 10 hours    Hardback Book:  384 pages             

This book is a telling of United States history as well as the culinary evolution of the food grown, bred and served in the U.S. Southern states.   The term potlikker in the title is taken from the days of slavery in the South when a slave cook would stir up a mess of greens, the slave owner and his family would eat the greens and leave what is termed the potlikker or the broth left over from the greens in the pan.    Slaves would use this left over broth to feed their families.     The good news about the potlikker is that it is nutrient rich more so than the greens are so while it may have been the leftover part it was very good for the health of the slave families who created many recipes using this and other leavings from the plantation tables to create wonderful soulful heartwarming and delicious dishes and meals that added to the state of health of the slave families, a  God given benefit added that the masters knew nothing about.    The book balances what was going on historically from slavery times to current day and how the food changed along with the times throughout the South.   After the Civil War some black women began cooking and selling food to their neighbors to help support their families and as word of mouth got out requests increased and these home businesses prospered to the point some families began opening up their homes as restaurants increasing their business even more.   Even local politicians started showing up to sit and chat as they purchased home cooked meals.   Blacks and whites ate together at the tables in these homes.   As the population began to increase and move from place to place,  Cajun and Creole cuisine became popular as recipes were brought from Louisiana  and new spices started turning up in Georgia rues.   WWI and WWII brought in more and more people from various places bringing many more family recipes handed down and by the end of WWII BBQ joints became popular.      Southern whites would purchase food from black establishments but black people were still suffering apartheid when it came to their entering white establishments.   Martin Luther King took up the call to stop discrimination and segregation in the South.    The author tells it like it was at the time citing many examples along the way.    Edge is a good writer who comes from a place of emotion, respect and appreciation.    The story he tells is true to the times – all the times he speaks of and he is as much a teacher of history as a connoisseur of the excellent cuisine that has risen up from the Southern United States.   He brings the story of Soul Food, Home Cooking and Southern Fried all the way to the nouvelle Cuisine and ethnic fusion of groups moving into the South today bringing even more variations to the recipes and ingredients that have always been a part of Southern cookery.   An excellent book,  harsh times and harsh language are covered here with names named and details of actual events given and lots of wonderful dishes and ingredients discussed throughout.  

Duino Elegies

Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by JB Leishman and Stephen Spender, 102 pages

Undoubtedly Rilke's masterpiece, the ten poems which constitute the Duino Elegies form the field on which the poet, like Jacob, wrestles with the Angel.  Rilke's struggle, conducted in words, is existential - he seeks to uphold the worth of human things in the light of eternity, in spite of the pain and grief with which they are entangled.  In his elegies Rilke celebrates love and youth and expresses sorrow at their loss, but on a higher level he grapples with the meaning of, and ultimately affirms the value of, the reality of death and suffering.  In the process he manages to magnificently fulfill the vocation of the poet, translating the visible into the invisible, the temporal into the imperishable.

Rasselas

The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson, 158 pages

Rasselas was raised, like all of the sons and daughters of the King of Abyssinia, in a mountain valley entirely closed to the outside world, aside from an annual royal visit.  Waited on by an army of servants and provided with every luxury, Rasselas nonetheless comes to feel dissatisfied with life.  Accompanied by his sister, Princess Nekayah, her servant Pekuah, and the sage Imlac, Rasselas manages to escape from his gilded cage and experience the wider world beyond, embarking on a quest for the secret of happiness.

Rasselas is a fable, and provides little in the way of drama or character.  A considerable amount of the work's not inconsiderable charm lies in the contrast between the eager naivete of the main characters and Johnson's own fundamentally pessimistic view of this life.

The Sunshine Sisters

The Sunshine Sisters by Jane Green Book 371 pages

Take one self-centered movie star mother and three neglected daughters and you have a recipe for dysfunction. Ronni Sunshine is so busy being fabulous, that she doesn't realize her home is not the happy one she would like the world to think it is. Her daughters, Nell, the sullen one, Meredith, the insecure one, and Lizzy, the charmed one, have never been close and don't really know how to be. But they will need to get it together because when their mother gets old, she will have something to tell them and they aren't going to like it.

It took me the longest time to finish this book and I'm not altogether sure why. It wasn't a bad plot or bad writing, I think the author did a good job, especially with dialogue. However, the story didn't really pull me in, at least not in a can't put it down kind of way. I wouldn't say the characters were especially likable, but they were real. You could feel the animosity the girls had for their mother and the sadness they felt at not being a real family. Each suffered in their own way from the hurt their mother had unwittingly given them. Also you can feel Ronni's regret at not having treated her daughters better. She lost her husband and her children cringe whenever they hear from her (or from each other), so at the end of her life she just wants to make things right. Overall this was a decent book and I would recommend it to anyone who likes this kind of fiction, but I don't see myself coming back to read it a second time.

Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser Due out November, 2017 - I read a galley.  640 pages

This book, written by the editor of the Library of America edition of the Little House books, is  a thoroughly researched biography of not only Laura Ingalls Wilder, but of her daughter, Rose.  Using unpublished manuscripts, letters, financial records and more, Caroline Fraser gives fresh insight into the life of a woman beloved to many, and whose life everyone has known about through the Little House books.

I found this book to be fascinating.  I had recently re-read the Little House series, surprised that I found it on the shelves in the Fiction section. Now, after reading this book, I understand why the books were shelved in fiction because they aren't true nonfiction, but are more like historical fiction, based on true events and people, but not purely factual.   I really appreciated that the author did so much intensive research because while this book is very readable (i.e. not dry at all), there's a lot of information here. I liked that in addition to telling the story of Laura and her family, the author added a lot of historical information, so that you can put things into context when you're reading.

I found I was surprised by a lot of things, as well. I was aware that there was some speculation about Laura's daughter, Rose, really writing the Little House books, but I didn't know any more than that. After reading this, I have a much better understanding of their mother-daughter relationship and really learned quite a bit about Rose.  No spoiler about how much influence Rose had on the Little House books.  But a spoiler of a different sort --- Rose is not a great person. I was surprised by how awful she was in real life.

I suppose it's easier to imagine that these people are just like in the stories, but in a way, I found the real stories of them to make them much more compelling. Laura's books sometimes tell of how gritty her life was a child, but reading this book and understanding more about that period in time in the United States gave me more of an appreciation for her parents and how they kept their family together (and alive).  Definitely a fascinating read, and one that I plan on reading again --- maybe the next time I re-read the Little House series.   Great book!

National Geographic Kids Weird But True! 7

National Geographic Kids Weird But True!  7: 300 Outrageous Facts             Paperback Book:  206 pages               

Loving this series – seriously – and I am spreading the word on what great books these are.     Just a few of the fun things you will learn here:  Sitting in a box can lower stress for domestic cats – I can attest to this one – if one of my cats gets stressed they always seek out a box to go get in,   chewing gum puts you in a better mood, gotta remember to keep lots of gum in the candy bowl, special vending machines in Istanbul, Turkey automatically dispense food and water for dogs – how nice and thoughtful is that?   Cockroaches that lived 250 million years ago were as big as today’s house cats – geez!  And I cringe if I see the tiny ones and let’s not talk about the one’s outside at night THAT CAN FLY!    A hexagon shaped  hurricane has hovered over Saturn’s North Pole for at least 30 years, volcanoes once erupted on the moon, flashes of light sometimes appear in the sky before and during earthquakes – never heard that before – researching it.    A group of goats is called a trip and with those horizontal pupils it looks like they are tripping.   Some police cars in Dubai, United Arab Emirates,  can go more than 220 miles an hour must be for chaising those naughty folk in the desert downtown Dubai looks like Vegas from the photos, its impossible for a bat to stand upright, as a training tool, the U.S. military created a plan to combat zombies, hey fellas, save some dough and just have them come out on an episode of the Walking Dead win win for the military – win win for the show’s ratings and budget!   Some 20 billion planets in our galaxy could support alien life, every day, 100 tons of cosmic dust from space enters Earth’s atmosphere-that’s the same weight as 400 mountain gorillas, herds of buffalo-size rodents once roamed South America – hey, a capybara today can weigh up to 146lbs!    Until the mid 19^th century cucumbers were known as cowcumbers (that makes me laugh thinking about someone like the guy asking for grey poupon mustard saying, “Would you please pass the cowcumbers?)    Coffee with cream stays hot longer than black coffee, as a hen gets older she produces bigger eggs (like Mark Twain said, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight it’s the size of the fight in the dog!),  crocodiles sometimes climb trees – WHAT?   O.K. rule that escape plan out,  Pippi Longstocking’s full name is:  Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraim’s Daughter Longstocking.    Curious George’s name was originally Fifi (all are welcome here),  the Eiffel Tower grows about 6 inches taller in Summer when the heat makes its iron expand, a group of sharks is called a shiver – yeah, no kidding!   A warm golf ball will travel farther through the air than a cold one – guys I’m just saying and leaving that alone…

National Geographic Kids Weird But True! 8:

National Geographic Kids Weird But True!  8: 300 Outrageous Facts                    Paperback:  206 pages             

I love these books.   I have learned so many new things and started so many conversations lately sharing some of what I have learned.   Some people do not believe such fantastic claims as these but Google will always back them up with the in-depth research that supports them.    These books truly are amazing and chock full of so many new wonders to behold.   I love it!    Here is just a taste of the gems that are to be found within these pages:  A compound in human spit can help heal wounds (as children we instinctively knew this when getting a cut on our hands we automatically put it to our mouths),  the planet Mercury is shrinking,  a waterfall in Minnesota drops into a deep hole and disappears and no one knows where the water goes,  a giant black hole ate a star and burped out a flame, lightening strikes men more often than women (see that not wanting to get your hair wet thing pays off), you are made of stardust – true we are made up of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, Sulphur, oxygen etc. that is found throughout the galaxy, the song was right, “…You are stardust, you are golden…” there is also a percentage of gold in our systems – wow!  We are all the golden child!), a brown bat can eat 1,000 mosquitoes in an hour – hmmm, I need to put some bat houses up in my backyard.     One rare plant grows only on top of diamond deposits – let’s all look that one up!     Famous horror film director, Alfred Hitchcock was afraid of eggs (don’t judge), guess he was too afraid of them to put that in a film, there is a rock on Mars that looks like a floating spoon –photo in the book, a Librocubicularist is someone who reads in bed, there is a body of water floating in outer space that is 140 trillion times bigger than all the Earth’s oceans combined – gotta check that out – whoa!   During Olympic training swimmer Michael Phelps consumed more than 12,000 calories a day – about the equivalent of 80 cups of whole milk (its called “the Munchies”), King Henry III had a pet bear that swam in the Thames and caught fish and too much oxygen can make you sick – who knew?  Oh and that groove between your top lip and your nose is called your philtrum.    How can you not like these books, they are GREAT!

The perfect neighbors

The Perfect Neighbors by Sarah Pekkanen.  339 pages; 10 hour, 30 min audiobook

In beautiful Newport Cove, one of the top 20 safest neighborhoods in the US, everyone's lives are perfect. No, of course not!  Seriously, as soon as you learn about how bucolic this place is, you know someone's up to something.  Anyway, back to the summary.  Kellie Scott has just returned back to work after years of being a stay-at-home mom, but she's distracted by the hot, married guy at her new office. She's married, too, of course. Susan Barrett doesn't mean to stalk her ex-husband and his new girlfriend, but she can't help herself. And Tessa Campbell seems okay, although kind of weird. Which makes sense, considering she's hiding a huuuuuge secret.

Of course, you think you know what Tessa's secret is, especially since the story reveals bits and pieces of her secret throughout the whole thing. However, there's a twist.  And, this is the only thing that wasn't predictable about the book. I did find it entertaining to listen to, although some of the behavior of the characters made me cringe.  The blurb on the front calls this "A compelling and suspenseful tale," and I would disagree; it was compelling only because it kept my mind off of the awful driving and traffic I experience on my commute every day, and it wasn't truly suspenseful --- although wondering when and how these people would find out about Tessa's big secret did keep me in suspense.

A Little History of Economics

A Little History of Economics by Niall Kishtainy        Audio Book:  9 hours, 52 minutes   Hardback Book:  256 pages            

My Economics teacher would be so proud of me for reading up on the subject, I have to confess though, this is no lofty tome, this is enjoyable learning presented in story form.    While everything in the book is historical/economics fact Niall Kishtainy presents the subject in such an enjoyable way that you learn so much more because you literally want to know what comes next.    He would make an excellent teacher because like my economics professor/mentor he makes hard stuff understandable.   He begins at the beginning when humans learned if one person has something and another wants it they could barter, or trade or work out some amenicable transaction to the satisfaction of each party.   Kishtainy goes from there all the way through history to current times discussing so many things along the way, Adam Smith’s “Invisible Hand,” theory,  the stock market crashes, the Great Depression, Black Monday, inflation, recessions, how global warming is effecting global economies, etc. but he covers all that like your best buddy sharing his thoughts with you.    Well done!  I highly recommend this book for anyone considering or currently taking economics classes to give you a foot up and for anyone who has an interest economics.  

National Geographic Kids Weird But True! 3: 300 Outrageous Facts

National Geographic Kids Weird But True! 3: 300 Outrageous Facts          Paperback Book: 206 pages                      

I love this series of books.   It is right up my alley.  Outrageous facts are so fun to learn about and many of these are spurring me on to do further reading on the studies they come from.   Fascinating!    You will learn so much from these books and see so many things in the amazing photography inside each book.   Great!   Elephants, Aligators and Hippos can all outrun humans.   I did not know that, of course if scared enough I bet I could run pretty fast if one of those babies were after me – good to know their awkward gait does not slow them down.    I will totally remember that if I am ever out in the savannah and see one giving me stink face.   (I hope I get the opportunity to see them in the savannah some day – not the stink face part, though!)    A woman’s hear usually beats faster than a man’s heart.  Ladies, no wonder we fall for their lines.   Scorpions glow under black light.   I am so pleased to learn that because if I ever go to the southwest or southern hemisphere I will definetly pack a black light bulb (and accompanying device to be able to use it in another country’s current if outside the border of the U.S.)   There are 100 foot tall sand dunes in Alaska.   I never think about anything that far north being sandy, but hey,  I guess in the early years of the planet things were geographically way different and the leftovers of that time are still hanging around here and there.   Skunks have striped skin under their fur.   I bet they are just as cute bald then as they are with fur.  Astronauts on the space station drink recycled sweat and urine – I really didn’t need to know that one – eww!   Austrailian Aborigines have existed for at least 50,000 years.   They are the world’s oldest living culture.   Hadn’t heard that before.    Parrots talk without vocal cords.   That is going to require further research on my part – I’m intrigued.   Months that begin on Sunday always have a Friday the 13th.   I’m going to try and remember that one, too.   Some people can hear their eyeballs moving – what must that sound like?   (I’m not one of them.)   1 in 100 people can write equally well with both hands.  (I am one of them.)    Some clouds are more than 10 miles tall.    Saturn has more than 60 moons.    A praying mantis has only one ear and is the only insect able to look over it’s shoulder.   All of the people on earth could crowd into half the country of Belgium – seriously?   But there are so many of us and Belgium doesn’t seem to be that big.   We must have to be shoulder to shoulder toe to toe or maybe face to face toe to toe.   A geep is part goat part sheep – wasn’t there a geep in some of the old Popeye cartoons?  I think he was magical or from outerspace.    Your tongue print is as unique as your fingerprint.  (Tongue print?)    Like I said, I love this stuff!

National Geographic Kids Weird But True! 2: 300 Outrageous Facts

National Geographic Kids Weird But True! 2:  300 Outrageous Facts                Paperback:  206 pages                      

I am loving this series of books.    Who knew bottle-nosed dophin’s brains are bigger than human brains?   Only female bees sting and only female mosquitoes bite.    Dreams average 20 minutes in length.   The air around a lightning strike is 5 times hotter than the sun – more research required on that one – then how can we bear it?     Who knew bats have thumbs?   I knew they have little fingers man if my cats had thumbs they wouldn’t need me.    A jiffy is one-hundredth of a second.   I have been lying for years saying I will get to that in a jiffy.   Humans are made of 10 trillion cells.     A 95 mile long underground  river flows beneath Mexico – I have never heard that before.    I bet it would be cool to check that out, though.    Neil Armstrong left his space boots on the moon.   You know, from what I am hearing lots of stuff was left there.   We may need to go back and tidy up.   It says there is gold on the sun.   (How do they know?   More research!)    Animals that lay eggs don’t have belly buttons but then, why would they?     Russia is only two miles from Alaska, so that Tina Fey line on Saturday Night Live could have been true, Sarah Palin may very well have been able to see Russia from the roof of her house.     A group of Blue Jays is called a Party.    Me, too in a group.   A tigers stripes are different on either side – Zoo here I come gotta check that out.   Tyrannosaurus Rex means Tyrant Lizard King in Latin.   So was Jim Morrison of the Doors Saurus Rex in Latin?   A cat’s top speed is 31 miles per hour.   I can believe that.   Don’t get in the way when it’s kibble time at my house.   Christopher Columbus saw a manatee and thought it was a mermaid.   He must have been into those Rubenesque mermaids.    Saturn is made partly of helium the same gas used to fill party balloons can you imagine if there is life on Saturn?   Would they speak in Munchkin voices?    Contrary to the popular consensus most pirates NEVER buried their loot.   Why would they?    You can’t spend it if its sitting in a hole somewhere you are not.   Kangaroos wet their forearms to stay cool.    I wonder if they lick their wrists?    Queen Elizabeth has a crown studded with more than 3,000 precious gems.    I’ve seen a replica of this one.   I’ve got to say if I were her sometimes I would have to walk around with that on just for the fun of it.    The offspring of a whale and a dolphin is called a wholphin – does that happen?  More research!    A rattlesnake’s rattle is made of the same material as human fingernails.     Facts are stranger than fiction.   Love it!

National Geographic Kids Weird But True! 6: 300 Outrageous Facts

National Geographic Kids Weird But True!  6: 300 Outrageous Facts        Paperback: 206 pages

I am so addicted to these books.   So fun and so enlightening.   You learn so many things about a myriad of topics.    I picture Mr. Spock saying, “Fascinating.”   And he would be correct.   Just some of the stuff you will learn in this book are: the people who performed the voices of Mickey and Minnie Mouse were married in real life, sunlight reflected off a building in London, England melted a nearby car, more than half of the world’s geysers are in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming,  Nasa is developing a 3-D printer that it hopes will “print” edible pizza (will it taste like paper?) , some catfish leap out of the water to catch pigeons on the shore, people throw away enough ribbon each year to tie a bow around the entire earth,  Americans eat over a billion chicken wings during Super Bowl weekend,  there is a town in Canada called Saint Louis Du Ha Ha!    Loads of great info here.   New Zealand has more cats per person than any other country in the world,  Capuchin Monkeys greet each other by sticking their fingers up each other’s nose – yikes!  That could be painful I would think.   A designer created a glow-in-the-dark wedding dress (great for a romantic turn down the lights dance with the groom or to brighten up the bride and her father dance), an ice-cream truck in London served scoops just for dogs- cute picture, too,  it’s impossible to hum while holding your nose (yeah I tried it too- they are right) ,  a palm tree is not a tree it is a type of grass,  an elephant’s skin is as thick as 12 stacked pennies and a human’s is as thick as 15 sheets of paper.    The White House was originally called the President’s Palace, Amazon was originally called “Cadabra,” the blue whale – the largest animal on earth – can’t swallow anything bigger than a beach ball (they must have to chew everything at least 20 times to get it small enough to swallow must be tough with seals), nearly half of the world’s land is still wilderness – yippee! We need to keep some wilderness, a study found that choir members’ heartbeats sync when they sing together, cats and dogs can get sunburned – I did not know that.      So much good stuff here.    It will keep you amused from 1st page to the last one.   Excellent book series.  

National Geographic Kids Weird But True! 5: 300 Outrageous Facts

National Geographic Kids Weird But True!  5: 300 Outrageous Facts           Paperback Book:  206 pages    

Back again,  can’t help it, I am addicted to this series.    So much information here you will be utterly amazed at this series.    Some of the things you will learn in this book: a group of hippos is called a bloat,  some police officers in Cairo patrol the pyramids on camelback (hmm…pursuits ought to be interesting), the world’s largest bat has a wingspan as wide as a sofa – that would be like a vampire sighting!   Whales have belly buttons (born not hatched),  a hot drink can sometimes cool you down faster than a cold one, in 16th century weddings in England it was considered good luck to throw shoes at the bride and groom – not good luck for the person losing the shoes – they were pretty dear back then I should think and not good luck for the bride and groom –getting hit with a shoe could leave some nasty bruises!   Beavers have a set of clear eyelids to see under water.   A pineapple is actually made up of a bunch of berries.   There is a jellyfish that can change from an adult back into a baby –  whoa!  Fountain of Youth or illusion?   More research required.   A Buzz Lightyear action figure spent 15 months on the International Space Station – man, can you imagine what that would go for on Ebay?    The Peacock Mantis Shrimp has claws strong enough to punch through an aquarium’s glass walls –that would put you off shrimp cocktails.   Nighttime rainbows are common at Yosemite National Park in California (how would you see them?), an albatross can glide thousands of miles without flapping its wings.   Yak hair was used to make the wigs for characters in The Hobbit film, half of the pigs in the world live in China – I would not have thought that,  75,000 pounds of meat sank on the Titanic,  Nepal is the only country in the world that doesn’t have a rectangular flag,  bees once made blue and green honey after picking up colorful waster from an M&M’s factory, grass looks greener to females than it does to males.   All kinds of good stuff to be found in this series – it’s like magic – you can amaze your friends with all the stuff you will learn and never be without conversation in any situation,  “Did you know that Air Force One has never landed more than 3 seconds off its scheduled arrival time?”    Love it!

National Geographic Kids Weird But True! 4: 300 Outrageous Facts

National Geographic Kids Weird But True!  4:  300 Outrageous Facts                Paperback:  206 pages          

Another equally great book of weird and fun facts to learn like:   Deep Fried Kool-Aid is served at a County Fair in California, more earthquakes occur in Alaska than in any other U.S. state (that surprised me),  the first stop signs were black and white (today those would so blend into the scenery I bet most all of us would be blowing through them), some chickens are born half-male and half female ( I don’t know – lays eggs but has a comb on its head or what? – more research), a group of owls is called a parliament (got the visual on the olde English House of Commons but I think today they don’t have to wear the wigs anymore), there are about 3lbs. of bacteria living in our mouths – sounds awfully heavy to be carrying around, chalk is made from the skeletons of ancient sea creatures-must be where diatomaceous earth comes from, bat’s knees face backwards – I’ve got to check that one out,  Afghanistan and Azerbaijan are the only countries that begin but don’t end with the letter A,  Tasmanian devils sometimes sneeze to challenge other devils to a fight – hey don’t let him fake you out he is sick with a cold!   One spider species spins a silk bubble around itself so it can breath under water – clever spider!  Barbie (the famous doll) has a first, middle and last name, it is Barbara Millicent Roberts – great trivia, that, more people live in the Tokyo, Japan metro area than in all of Canada (that is news to me, too and kind of staggering when you think about it), Istanbul, Turker is located on two continents: Europe and Asia.     Man, the knowledge in these books is unbelievable.   Why isn’t everyone reading them?

Weird But True Science- Weird But True Weather

Weird But True Science Weird But True Weather by Carmen Bredeson               Hardback Book: 24 pages                

I am such a huge fan of weird science that I could be a character on The Big Bang Theory.   Weird weather is always interesting, the odder it is the more fascinating I find it.    In this book you will learn about snow donuts which occur when a small snowball starts rolling downhill picking up more and more snow as it gains momentum until it becomes this giant snowball, but, because the original bits that are now in the center of the snow orb are the soft powdery snow picked up at the beginning - if a strong wind gusts it can actually blow the soft center out of the now massive snowball creating what appears to be a donut made of snow speeding down the mountain and hurling toward the ground.    It reminds me of kids rolling down hills in a tire or a barrel.      The book brought up something I had never considered before saying that due to rain being in effect recycled because when it rains the rain falls down from the cloud on the ground once it stops raining and the sun comes out, the rain or water that is on the ground eventually evaporates and rises back up into the atmosphere becoming a cloud that will rain again and so on and so on throughout time.   Interesting point made in the book, the rain that falls on us today might be the same rain that fell on the dinosaurs when they walked the earth.   Cool, huh?     I had just heard something about people sighting spaceships that turned out to be enormous clouds that were shaped weird and looked like spaceships.    I was picturing looking at clouds as a kid (and as an adult) and seeing shapes that my mind honed in on and could see how they looked like turtles or angels or ponies, etc.   I haven’t seen a spaceship shaped one, yet, but, I’m going to keep looking.   There is a picture in this book of just such an occurrence and it really does look like a spaceship.   Kind of mushroom cloud looking with saucer shaped definition – I can see where people would think the mother ship was here.    It is actually a phenomenon called a lenticular cloud.     Stong winds blowing over a mountain makes the cloud twist and swirl and the result is a lenticular cloud that looks like it is straight out of the film, Independence Day and will have you wishing Will Smith would fly by on patrol.     Another anomaly is a Sundog.     Sounds like something the Justice League would be going up against and they look truly of science fiction origin but they are actual atmospheric events that occur when ice crystals sink through the air and align in such a way that the sun’s light refracts off of them along the horizon causing the ice to appear as a bright spot to the left or right of the sun.    Makes it look like multiple suns!   Again I say, cool, huh?    Then there are dust devils which I have experienced before.   They are like mini baby tornadoes that just whoosh up from the ground when warm air rises from the ground and meets cool air above and begins to turn picking up whatever is on the ground under it.   It’s really interesting looking.    I saw one in the playground as a child and a few years ago I saw one in a cemetery at night.   I said aloud, “how appropriate!”   Cool looking and duly scary like a sign!    The book also explains mirages, those ripples in the air that make it look like an oasis is just beyond the next sand dune or in this country more like there is water ahead of you on the highway but it is actually dry.    Speaking of sand, another really cool thing happens when lightning strikes sand.   The heat is so intense from the lightning strike that it actually melts the sand!  When the sand cools around where the lightning struck it forms into hard tubes called fulgurites.    Some say they are the shape of the lightning bolt itself, but, from the picture it looks like driftwood to me.   I may have seen a fulgurite at some time in my travels and didn’t realize it thinking it was driftwood.   It also looks like a long version of sea coral only sand color.      I would like to see a piece of fulgurite someday and see what it feels like.   Is it crusty like sand or smooth cause it has been burned?       Science rocks.  

Laurels and the Tiara

The Laurels and the Tiara: The Life and Times of Pius II, Scholar, Poet, Statesman, and Renaissance Pope by RJ Mitchell, 237 pages

Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini led a life of struggle, conflict, and, finally, disappointment.  Born into an impoverished Sienese noble family, one of eighteen children of whom only three survived to adulthood, he rose to occupy the highest office in Christendom.  He was raised in a rural backwater but became famed for his urbanity.  He was so immersed in the literature of pagan antiquity that he likely chose the name Pius after Virgil's hero, "pius Aeneas", rather than the second century martyr St Pope Pius I, but he was also devout enough to walk ten miles barefoot through the snow while on pilgrimage in Scotland.  He was a key player at the renegade Council of Basel but repudiated the conciliar theory long before he became Pope.  He undertook to personally lead a crusade to liberate Constantinople despite the persistent illnesses that left him virtually crippled, only to see the project evaporate in the last months of his life.

The very human story told in The Laurels and the Tiara combines international intrigue, Renaissance culture, and high moral purpose, epitomized by a colorful College of Cardinals which included the notorious Rodrigo Borgia alongside famed scholars Basilios Bessarion and Nicholas of Cusa.  The biographer's task is greatly eased by the fact that Pius II wrote an extensive autobiography, supplying him with an abundance of material including a number of amusing anecdotes and revealing trivialities.  Throughout, Mitchell keeps his narrative moving briskly along, even when it might benefit from lingering, and unfortunately this ultimately results in the biography resembling a sketch more than a complete portrait.

Oh: Susannah Series Books 1 and 2 by Carole P. Roman, illustrated by Mateya Arkova

 

Oh Susannah series Books 1 and 2 by Carole P. Roman, illustrated by Mateya Arkova   34 and 62 pages, respectively

Oh Susannah: It’s in the Bag: There’s a lot of stress at Susannah Logan’s house. Her parents have demanding jobs. It’s time to get up, but she doesn’t want to; She dilly-dally’s a bit, but not much. When she gets up, there’s the matter of her unfinished math homework. When Mom starts to yell, she stuffs it into her backpack. From there Susannah’s day gets worse: breakfast is a disaster, Dad and Mom are screaming at each other, her best friend, Lola, invites her to a sleepover and she doesn’t want to do, and she can’t decide what book to get out of the school library. Lola is feeling stressed and overwhelmed too.  She stuffs it all inside her backpack, filling so full, the zipper rips. Trying to sleep, she has a dream---and the backpack explodes!

This is a great story to teach kids about dealing with stress and how to ask for help.

Oh Susannah: Things That go Bump: The day Susannah has been dreading has arrived. It’s time for her best friend, Lola’s, sleepover. Susannah would give anything not to go. She’s afraid of all the noises that Lola’s house makes. And throw in Lola’s brother, Kai, who loves to scare her, well she just as soon stay home. But she doesn’t want to hurt Lola’s feelings, so as she is getting ready for school, Mom packs her overnight bag. The word “Afraid” keeps popping up in  Susannah’s day:  Her teacher is “afraid” she is getting a cold and her sight-impaired friend, Macy, is “afraid” of unicorns. At Lola’s, she learns that houses make noise and that isn’t ghosts. Susannah learns that everyone is afraid of something, and that it’s okay to be afraid. She learns how to confront her fears and keep her imagination in check.

A perfect story for kids who are having fear issues.

Both books are very well done, with delightful illustrations by Mateya Arkova. Each receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.  

Gone on Sunday

Gone On Sunday by Tower Lowe   294  pages

Everyone has some kind of secret. When you live in a small town, secrets are even harder to keep. Secrets, a cold murder case and a new murder are the essences behind Tower Lowe’s first book in the Cotton Lee Penn Historical Mystery series.

Set in Virginia in the years 1932 and 1972, Lowe provides readers with a taste of Southern Gothic—both from the Old South and the New South. It is sad that those tastes hadn’t changed in those forty years.

The book opens with lawyer Max Mayfield hiring the novel’s protagonist, Cotton Lee Penn, to help him investigate the beating death of Little Mary in 1972. The case is quite disturbing in that it bears many, many similarities to the unsolved 1932 beating death of Bead Baker (I found it both odd an interesting that each time Bead is mentioned, it’s always with her full name: Bead Baker.). Even more fascinating is that Little Mary is Bead Baker’s granddaughter.

Many in the town wonder why Max turned to Cotton Lee. After all, she is a cripple thanks to polio and walks with a limp. But as far as Max is concerned, Cotton Lee is the “smartest white person Sussex County.” (That was uttered in 1972!)

The novel jumps back and forth between 1932 and 1972, as Cotton Lee is certain that the two murders are connected. The hard part about this novel is that the possible suspects all have ties to Bead Baker’s murder. Keeping the character straight was often difficult at times. It would have been nice to have a character list in the front or back. Still, that doesn’t hinder the fast pace of the novel, or this reader’s inability to put it down.

But, quickly, here are the suspects: Did Sharp Dorn, the local, philandering and abusing minister kill Bead Baker for putting ideas in his wife Verdie’s head? Did Dorn’s son, Ron, kill Little Mary? Or was it the hired help Zed Omen in 1932 and his grandson, Doug, in 1972? I’m not sure how Lowe kept them all straight.

Another thing that bothered me, is the way that flashbacks are told in italics. It’s jarring and as I first began to read, it took me out to of the story. However, once I got into the book’s rhythm, well, it was fascinating.  

When Cotton Lee discovers some of the town’s (current and past) secrets, readers are led to the shocking conclusion.

Although I have the two problem areas, Gone on Sunday, receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. I highly recommend it.

Cosmopolis

Cosmopolis: The Hidden Agenda of Modernity by Stephen Toulmin, 209 pages

In Stephen Toulmin's exhilarating history of ideas, "cosmopolis" is defined as a worldview that unifies the vision of the social world of humanity with the world of nature.  The medieval cosmopolis, which combined a Ptolemaic astronomy that understood the earth as lying at the bottom of the cosmos with a theological social orientation dominated by the Church, faded into an urbane skepticism during the Renaissance.  This was replaced, in turn, by a new cosmopolitical vision, joining together Cartesian philosophy and Newtonian physics.  Toulmin identifies this union as the wellspring of modernity, noting that, contrary to the standard account, it represented a narrowing rather than a broadening of mind.  The late twentieth century, in this view, represents the dawn of another skeptical age, wherein the embryo of the next cosmopolis will form.

Toulmin's argument is marred by some questionable judgments (that Baroque art was "histrionic and grotesque", for example) and exaggerations (while not as oppressive as often imagined, the Middle Ages were hardly as open-minded as he implies).  More incredible is his too-easy identification of postmodern nihilism with Renaissance humanism.  Yet the greatest difficulties are raised by his enthusiasm for the adoption of ecology as the new model for social order, in which he is seemingly oblivious to the obvious problems of invoking biology as a political principle.  Nonetheless, these problems are ultimately forgivable, if only because his book is so rich in audacity and explanatory power.

National Geographic Kids Weird But True! Food: 300 Bite-Size Facts About Incredible Edibles!

National Geographic Kids Weird But True!  Food: 300 Bite-size Facts About Incredible Edibles!          Paperback Book:  206 pages          

Another book in this most excellent series.    I love trivia and this is just stoking my brain with lots of fun facts about food.       Sliced grapes catch fire when heated in a microwave – don’t try this at home kids!   Ben and Jerry originally wanted to make bagels – guess the Einstein Bros. beat them to it.   (Just kidding.)   Worcestershire Sauce is made from vinegar soaked anchovies – I did not know that!  Coconuy crabs pinches are stong enough to crack open a coconut shell!   Tough little dudes!    Tomatoes are related to deadly night shade a lethal poison.   The cherpumple is a cherry, pumpkin and apple pie stuffed inside a 3 layer cake.   That actually sounds really good.  The human stomach can hold up to a half-gallon of food and water – I may have tested that a time or two on Thanksgiving or at least it felt like it.   In the 1960s Jello made celery flavored pudding – whaaaat?   Who knew washing your clothes with a teaspoon full of black pepper saves them from fading?   Starbucks coffee is named after a character, Starbuck in the book, “Moby Dick.”   As you can tell, I can’t get enough of this stuff.    I love these books!

Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens

Believe Me:  A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens by Eddie Izzard      Audio Book: 14 hours, 30 minutes     Paperback Book: 560 pages      

I like Eddie Izzard, he strikes me as someone who would be fun to have for a friend and after completing this autobiography the reader will feel as if you have gotten to know the real person, Eddie Izzard better.    He is rather flamboyant on stage and screen (big or little screen) but this book takes you into his thoughts, dreams, ups and downs.   He sometimes comes across as if confiding truths to the reader as a trusted friend, other times he seems to be self-analyzing himself.   He is a mix of educated, worldly, possessing great savoir-faire, other times, you feel you want to give him a hug because he seems so vulnerable.   I enjoyed learning about him as a person and his life as an ongoing adventure.   I smile at his description of himself, he mentions more than once that he thinks he is a lesbian because while he is a transvestite and does love putting on makeup and heels he also prefers women and is not really all that into having affairs with men saying the majority of his relationships have been with women and he only sites a few of his hetero/lesbian(?) relationships with women in the book.    He says he just likes to go with his mood to dictate how he dresses.    Sometimes he feels like dressing like a male and sometimes he feels more feminine and puts on a dress or sometimes a kilt which he says can go either way.   A fun and comedic person, a friend you could swap stories, lip gloss amd earrings with.   A big hearted soul who is trying to learn as many languages as he can so that he can do his standup comedy in the language of the country he is performing in.    A many faceted human being who has endured a lot, learned a lot and is very open about many extremely personal things.      He tends to go all Madalyn Murray O’Hair throughout the book which was tedious because he goes off on tears and it will make you want to say to him, “I got it the first time you are an atheist.”    But he protests so often and so hard that as a reader it made me think as was credited to Shakespeare  “me thinks thou doth protest too much!”     Is his ardent denial because he is angry that his mother was taken from him at such a young age?  Upon which his father sent him and his brother immediately to boarding school?    Is he coming to grips with his personhood and wants no retribution from an authority figure?   There is a feeling throughout his musings that there is an underlying cause to this vehemence.   But barring these rants I enjoyed the book even if he does get a little chatty and rambling off topic at times, he always throws in extra tidbits about his life during these mental strolls that will make you laugh and isn’t that what Eddie Izzard’s passion is?   Making people laugh.    While he loves acting and doing dramatic roles, his real love is standup comedy, could it be cathartic?  

If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look On My Face?

If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look On My Face? :  My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating by Alan Alda        Audio Book: 6 hours  Paperback Book:  336 pages


The title grabbed me, then when I saw it was by Alan Alda I had to get it.   Really well done book.   You learn not only a lot about Alan Alda and his family that you may not have known but he also goes into some presentations he has done and classes he has taught that teach people how to relate to one another and how to speak to and listen to others in a way that is understandable.    He has worked with Scientists who are notoriously known for talking over the heads of most lay people.   Afterall, we are not all nuclear physicists nor MIT graduates who understand the jargon of the Albert Einstein science minded set nor are the scientists always able to relate to those of us who do not yet understand what a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram is.    Alan Alda uses improvisational acting games to create bonds of trust, levels of comfort and clear techniques to not only loosen up the individuals he is working with but to help them to find common ground with those they need to communicate with.   He uses a lot of the games designed by Viola Spolin that give the participants a situation, a scene and their character within the mix.    Then he may change it all around and as students go through the course they begin to become comfortable with speaking in front of groups,  give and take in the Q and A of varying opinons, even hecklers.    He teaches people to understand their audience be it a group or one on one.   He teaches them to pick up on the body language of the people they are speaking with, like how to tell when you are losing the other person or your audience just by the way they are sitting or standing or maybe if close enough by the look in their eyes.   A fascinating study in how we often communicate badly to others unwittingly when we think we are projecting familiarity but it is perceived as off-putting to someone we have not established a close relationship with or uncomfortably overbearing to someone who is skittish of close contact.    Excellent book of the many aspects of communication both audible and silent.   I highly recommend this one.  

His Guilt

His Guilt by Shelley Shepard Gray                Audio Book: 7 hours     Hardback Book:  304 pages            

O.K., I like to read stories about the Amish.   I have been to Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County, took the tour, listened to the tape and I learned a thing or two about the Amish.   Now, I get it that perhaps the Pennsylvania folks may be old order and more traditional stricter to the precepts of the Amish faith, but, it is my understanding that one of the differences between the old order Amish and the Mennonites, which is a similar but different religious faith (think Catholics and Lutherans sort of example), is that Amish do not go for the colors of the rainbow in their dress while the Mennonites don’t have a problem adding a little dash of spring to their wardrobe.     Amish wear the traditional black and white colors of clothing.   I saw this first hand.   I even saw clothes hanging on the line outside in back of Amish homes and from baby to child to females of all sizes and males of all sizes the clothing was black and white.   Mennonites on the other hand spritz their wardrobes with a bit of color here and there, blue or purple shirts and blouses with black pants, jackets and skirts.   All the gals wore white aprons and white bonnets in both religions.    Old Order Amish to my understanding shun modern conveniences.   Mennonites, a little more lenient in that respect but not completely.    I know about Rumspringa which allows Amish teens to go kick up their heels in the “English” community to see if after sowing a few wild oats and/or checking out what a walk on the English side is like to see if they truly want to commit to a life of foregoing Pepsi’s and t.v. etc. and commit to the church for life and return to the ways of the Amish community (driving buggies to town, dressing plainly, turning the other cheek when the English pick on them and renouncing the modern world ala in the world but not of the world).    I get all that.   So when I read a tale about the Amish and someone is wearing a yellow dress and a guy has Gatorade in his refrigerator?   I grit my teeth a little bit.   If you are going to tell an Amish tale get the details right.   Having said that, I also understand that maybe there are other orders like the Hasidic Jewish people who follow the Orthodox ways and the Reformed Jewish people who don’t (all) have a problem eating ham – maybe the Old Order Amish are stricter than some other Amish communities.   Perhaps there are less strict Amish that I don’t have a clue about as yet.   It just goes against my sensibility to have to integrate what I find to be, shall we say, playing loose with what I think is the way of a thing.   It’s like riding along in a car then hitting the brakes really hard.   It jars me to be caught up in a story then read something that to my mind is not right.   It makes me want to question the author’s facts.   It takes away from the story for me, and that is what happened with this one.   I like the story, but, the few little things that just did not stay in keeping with the cultural life of this group as I understand it grated on me.    Again, I like the story but do the Amish in Hart County, Kentucky really go off the Amish grid that much?  Maybe they do.   I’m willing to learn just not in the midst of a story I am reading.    Give me a clue in the beginning of the tale stating that this sect of folk are a little in touch with their English town more than say the Lancastrians are.   But to just be going along then bump in the road ummmm not so much.   So kudos on the writing, but boo dos on not giving the reader a heads up that these Amish characters may be a little more Quaker or Shaker in their world within the storyline.

Dining with the Famous and Infamous

Dining with the Famous and Infamous by Fionna Ross          Hardback Book:  245 pages      

What a great collection of dining experiences and with such notable dining companions!   A fun romp through several gastronomique experiences with the likes of  Alfred Hitchcock, Picasso, Salvadore Dali, Laurel and Hardy, Liz Taylor along with a few of her husbands, Marilyn Monroe, Paul Gauguin & Vincent Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera, Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall, Woody Allen, The Beatles, Bob Marley, The Rolling Stones, C.S. Lewis, Aleister Crowley, Michael Jackson, Louis Armstrong, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Sylvia Plath, Oscar Wilde, the list goes on.   So fun and so well written that you can almost smell the dishes cooking from the avid descriptions.   Recipes accompany each feast described so the reader can really feel a part of the meal.    One would do well to be mindful of the eccentricities of Salvadore Dali – a dining experience I would definetly pass on – Salvadore didn’t just look bizarre – yikes!   And Aleister Crowley liked to startle guests with his “personal” accoutrements served in the victuals he prepared.   Trust me that was a don’t ask don’t eat there affair, too.     It is said of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera that when they kissed lights in the room or in the street would burn brighter, of course Frida’s father told Diego she was a devil, I’m just saying...  From the brandy Frida hid within her skirts in a perfume bottle to the Duck with Black Mole and Huitlacoche Fry, the chilies weren’t the hottest things at their table.   The Beatles were wined and dined by rich and royals alike but when it came down to it the Liverpudlian lads loved their bacon butties, fish and chips and baked beans on toast (all recipes included here).   Who knew Nostradamus was quite the marzipan maker?   The things you learn here will surprise you.   Lots of stories told and facts revealed that I had never heard before – (Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithful – I will never look at a Mars bar the same way again) and several jaw dropping, rapid eye blinking reveals, too.    GOOD BOOK.   Good from the first page to the last.   I understand this is one book in a series titled, Dining with Destiny which I must peruse all the titles.   Excellent read.    Warning, this book will make you hungry at times and you will be forced to go make yourself a knockoff of what the celebrities are dining on.   (But then some chapters…not so much.)

National Geographic Kids Weird But True! Gross: 300 Slimy, Sticky, and Smelly Facts

National Geographic Kids Weird But True!  Gross: 300 Slimy, Sticky, and Smelly Facts    Paperback Book: 207 pages                

From anatomical occurrences (we are talking methane gasses, boogers and more here) to frightening food facts (really Food and Drug Administration?) to vermin to freaky deaky things under the sea and above if you are into GROSS FACTS you have hit the jackpot here.   This book totally lives up to its name.   It will literally set your teeth on edge but you won’t be able to avert your eyes.    You may actually have to squeeze them shut and close the book more than once because this stuff REALLY REALLLLLLLLYYYYYY is G-R-O-S-S!   However, upon completion you will be able to astound yourself and others with the plethora of revolting information you will now know and have to purge yourself of to lose the visuals and yes there are pictures here folks.    Gross but well done and full of trivia night fare.   Also, you will be able to mystify and out gross any child you come in contact with sharing these truly disgusting but terribly interesting too facts.