Under the Egg

Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald     247 pages

When Theodora Tenpenny spills a bottle of rubbing alcohol on her late grandfather’s painting, she discovers what seems to be an old Renaissance masterpiece underneath. That’s great news for Theo, who’s struggling to hang onto her family’s two-hundred-year-old townhouse and support her unstable mother on her grandfather’s legacy of $463. There’s just one problem: Theo’s grandfather was a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and she worries the painting may be stolen.

With the help of some unusual new friends, Theo’s search for answers takes her all around Manhattan, and introduces her to a side of the city—and her grandfather—that she never knew. To solve the mystery, she’ll have to abandon her hard-won self-reliance and build a community, one serendipitous friendship at a time.

This book was a very good blend of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Chasing Vermeer, just as advertised. I really loved the combination of art history and sleuthing and that the two main characters were girls. It's a solid middle-grade mystery story that has many elements that I love - art, libraries, history, and detecting. I'd highly recommend this to anyone who is into one or all of those things. There's a little bit for everybody.

Feral Youth

Feral Youth by Shaun David Hutchinson, Brandy Colbert, Suzanne Young, Tim Floreen, Justina Ireland, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Stephanie Kuehn, E. C. Myers, Marieke Nijkamp, and Robin Talley    310 pages

At Zeppelin Bend, an outdoor education program designed to teach troubled youth the value of hard work, cooperation, and compassion, ten teens are left alone in the wild. The teens are a diverse group who come from all walks of life, and they were all sent to Zeppelin Bend as a last chance to get them to turn their lives around. They’ve just spent nearly two weeks learning to survive in the wilderness, and now their instructors have dropped them off eighteen miles from camp with no food, no water, and only their packs, and they’ll have to struggle to overcome their vast differences if they hope to survive.

Did it live up to the blurbs on the book - specifically the ones that caught my attention and made me want to give it a shot - i.e. "inspired by the Canterbury Tales," and the cover, let's be honest, is so beautiful and really fits my aesthetic - not really. I can see no connection that would warrant saying it's inspired by the Canterbury Tales other than that there are a whole bunch of people who are going somewhere and tell stories along the way - but kinda not really. 

The premise is a bit forced - the "narrator" suggests a storytelling contest for $100 dollars and, surprisingly, these disparate teens who seem to hate everything and each other, decide to go along with it. Their journey is a forced journey - they're in a "boot camp" of sorts for teens who broke the law in one way or another, and they've been prepped to survive in the woods and are then dumped in the middle of the woods, WITH NO COMPASSES, a flare gun that doesn't work, a knife, and sleeping bags. What kind of program thinks this is a good idea to let teens loose in the middle of the woods and expects them to get back at all, let alone unharmed? They weren't even given food!

I call B.S. on that whole business. The stories are loosely meant to explain why each teen is at the "camp" but mostly each story - and I mean all of them - is met with extreme doubt and bluff-calling. No one believes anyone's story is the "truth" and the beginning of the book contains a premise by the narrator about "what is the truth, anyway? You don't know my truth, you only know what you want to believe," and, "we're teens - no one believes us or wants to or understands us!!!" Okay, I get it. Teens are misrepresented all the time, misunderstood, yada yada. I was a teen. I work with teens. They're not all that mysterious. 

Now, the stories - some I liked, some I hated, some were straight up strange. The only story I really liked ended in a brutal murder, so I hope that teen's story wasn't actually true. Either way. This book was bizarre, at best, and does it's best to capture the unique teen experience, presenting a diverse cast of teens and their stories, attempting to address current issues, like woman's rights, minority rights, rape, etc. Some of the authors were successful in that regard, some not so much.

Scoop

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh, 321 pages

William Boot is not a reporter, rather, he writes the nature column "Lush Places" for the Daily Beast.  It is only through a misunderstanding that he is dispatched to the obscure African nation of Ishmaelia, where the Fascist Blacks are fighting the Communist Reds, except that in this case the Blacks call themselves the Whites and the Reds call themselves the Blacks and there seems to be more fighting among the foreign press corps than among the native people.

Waugh's breezy satire of the self-referential world of the press will not cease to amuse as long as reporters and politicians remain.

We Are Okay

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour, 234 pages

Marin has had a hard first semester at school.  Several events took place right before she left, including the death of her only family member, her grandfather.  Marin is staying in the dorm over the Christmas break and Mabel, her former best friend, comes to see her.  As we move through the three days encompassing her visit, many secrets are revealed about exactly how hard her grandfather’s death was and why, and how everything is tied up with a brief romance with Mabel.  This book was amazing and difficult and messy and I loved it.  I would give this to any teen who likes realistic fiction, but it will probably resonate more with girls.

The Lie Tree

The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge, 377 pages

“Faith Sunderly leads a double life. To most people, she is reliable, dull, trustworthy--a proper young lady who knows her place as inferior to men. But inside, Faith is full of questions and curiosity, and she cannot resist mysteries: an unattended envelope, an unlocked door. She knows secrets no one suspects her of knowing. She knows that her family moved to the close-knit island of Vane because her famous scientist father was fleeing a reputation-destroying scandal. And she knows, when her father is discovered dead shortly thereafter, that he was murdered.   In pursuit of justice and revenge, Faith hunts through her father's possessions and discovers a strange tree. The tree bears fruit only when she whispers a lie to it. The fruit of the tree, when eaten, delivers a hidden truth. The tree might hold the key to her father's murder--or it may lure the murderer directly to Faith herself.” This might be my favorite of Hardinge’s books so far.  I really loved the characters, even the unlikeable ones, and the story was fascinating.  It’s historical, but I would give this to teens who like science fiction, mystery, and adventure, because it fits those categories better.  It’s historical setting is really just background.

The Fifth Season

The Fifth Season by N.K.Jemisin, 498 pages

“This is the way the world ends...for the last time. A season of endings has begun. It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester. This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.” An unusual and strange story but fascinating.  I liked it, but it was hard to follow at first.  This is for hard core fans of fantasy and science fiction.

Unkempt Secrets From the War

 Unkempt Secrets From the War by Jennifer Malech    416 pages

When I was contacted by the author to review her book, I assumed that she had made a typo in the title.  The adjective “unkempt” doesn’t feel or sound right. I even used the Thesaurus to see if I was mistaken, but putting in similar words was just as disturbing. It nagged me, but oh well.

So I began reading. The story starts in 1934 with the three orphaned Rosenberg girls being forced from the family home in Sherborne to an orphanage in London. Originally from Austria, the girls had no family to take them in.

Life in the orphanage isn’t great, but at least Nel gets to go to school. She doesn’t see her sisters much, and they live on different floors (or maybe different buildings, I was never sure)., but she looks forward to visit with them. 

One day Nel meets William Beckham, a young man to whom she is strongly attracted, and he to her. And that’s where the author lost me….around Page 66. It wasn’t the story line, but the use of language that forced me to quit reading. The prose sound as if this should be set in the late 1800s, not in the 1930s.

I really, really wanted to read this book. The synopsis makes it sound like just the book for me:

“Living in London, England during the wake of World War II, (shouldn’t it be WWI?) Nel Rosenberg, a German girl, finds herself facing great opposition, especially after falling for William Beckham who is neither of her class nor race. As war continues to break out across Europe and William heads off to war, rumours of espionage put Nel's future entirely on the line. While working for a London hospital, Nel collects war stories from the soldiers, stories that trace back to her late father's involvement in the first World War. During her time at hospital, Nel encounters an American writer by the name of Mr. Blackwell who asks if she would be willing to write for a column for the New York Register on the Secrets from the War. As she takes to Journalism in a male dominant field, Nel begins to discover family secrets of her own that put her life and her love for William Beckham all at stake. With the height of the war spreading throughout Europe, will Nel be able to forgive those whose secrets try to destroy her in the end?”

But as I said, the language caused me to put it down. Unkempt Secrets From the War gets 1 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Woman in the Movie Star Dress

The Woman in the Movie Star Dress by Praveen Asthana    300 pages

This is one of those books that I picked up based on its title and dust jacket. It reeks of film noir and Old Hollywood.  It does…in a way. The story’s premise is that clothes carry a ghostly fragment of whoever wears them, and when another wears them, those remaining fragments transfer to the new wearer.

Genevieve works in a vintage clothing story in Hollywood. They have clothing worn by Elizabeth Taylor, Natalie Wood, Marilyn Monroe, Mae West and a host of others. One day the store receives a box of clothing that was found in an abandoned storage unit. The best item in the box is a scarlet dress.

Soon a man comes looking for the box, in particular the scarlet dress. But, alas, the dress has already been sold. The man is a throwback to the ‘40s men’s style. He intrigues Genevieve.

Needing something to wear to a party, Genevieve borrows an outfit from the store. Knowing who wore it, gave her the courage to be more outgoing, even flirty. And so begins Genevieve’s interest in how the transference of personality can travel through a person’s old clothing.

The prologue is pretty good. A woman wearing a scarlet dress heads out in a 1954 convertible to kill someone. That’s all the reader gets. The story then switches to Genevieve’s point of view.

For me, this was a weird story. Each chapter title was the name of an old movie star, like Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck, Humphrey Bogart, and others, but the chapters themselves had little or nothing to do with the actor.

There are tidbits of gossip about the stars but given that there many inaccuracies in the story, I wasn’t sure if they were real or if the author had invented them

I expected a lot more from this novel and was terribly disappoint that it is such a dull read. I didn’t understand how Genevieve came to “discover” the personality transference, But I did get how she came to believe that if she was wearing another’s clothing, how she could become begin to act like them. 

The Woman in the Movie Star Dress gets two stars in Julie’s world.

The Best Kind of People

The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall           404 pages

"What if someone you trusted was accused of the unthinkable?"

That's what happens in this story when George Woodbury, a beloved teacher, husband and father, is arrested for sexual impropriety at a prestigious prep school.  His wife goes from denial to rage as their community turns on her and her family.  Daughter Sadie becomes a social pariah and son Andrew assists with his father's defense, even as he's wrestling with his own memories of unhappy teenage years.  The question is, how do they defend someone they love while wrestling with the possibility of his guilt?

I liked this book, and especially liked the character of Joan, the wife, who I felt was written the most realistically.  Sadie is typically a teenager, so at times, her character is pretty frustrating -- and Andrew, while older than Sadie, has his own moments of acting like an ass.  The one perspective you never get here is from George, himself, which is interesting.  He tells Joan that he didn't do anything, but we never get the story directly from his perspective in any way.  There's a twist partway through the story that makes it particularly compelling, especially as it adds another layer to how the different family members are coping with the situation.

You're Wearing That?

You're Wearing That?: Understanding Mothers and Daughters in Conversation by Deborah Tannen      304 pages

I've read several of Deborah Tannen's books and when I saw this on the shelf, I picked it up for a re-read. This book explores the relationships between mothers and daughters, specifically looking at and analyzing the language they use to communicate with each other. Why do daughters complain that their mothers are always critical?  Why do mothers feel their daughters often misunderstand them? Tannen explains why a remark that would be harmless coming from anyone else somehow turns explosive when it comes from your own mother or daughter.

This is an eye-opening book and as a re-read, still pretty interesting. It's insightful and also pretty helpful (or at least, it has been for me). Understanding how linguistics, tone and other facets of language can have impact allows you have some guidance for your own communication.

Once Upon A Time There Was You

Once Upon A Time There Was You by Elizabeth Berg           Audio Book:  9 hours, 27 minutes     Hardback Book:  304 pages                 

I liked this book, it kept me wondering just how everything would resolve itself in the end.   I didn’t much care for the 18 year old daughter, Sadie.   At first she was likeable but then she puts herself in a precarious position and instead of admitting it was her own doing she blames her mother.     Her parents are unique in that they love each other although they don’t really get each other.   Irene, the mom in the story has some cougar dating experiences but hey, some folks just get along better with younger people – maybe they particularly identify with that age group,  maybe in their mind’s eye they still see themselves as that mindset,  or maybe the conversation is better when folks are still young enough to be fighting for causes instead of jaded by the years that have passed without getting any further in their life’s journey than where they were 20 years before.   Irene had a lot going on and her fun factor was stifled with her ex.    Some folks rush into marriage before they find out who they really are which is what Irene and ex husband John try to explain to their daughter Sadie who  the reader is left to decide is she imprinting on her boyfriend from a hero complex perspective or is she psychologically damaged?   Could it be real?    The reader gets to mull that one.      A good book even with a bratty kid, but, then we have all had our moments and maybe that is what I saw.   Good book,  I liked the twists and how they were worked out in the plot.

Hunger

Hunger: A Memoir of (my) Body by Roxane Gay     320 pages


From the New York Times best-selling author of Bad Feminist, a searingly honest memoir of food, weight, self-image, and learning how to feed your hunger while taking care of yourself.

This was a very insightful read for me. I learned a lot from Gay and I will definitely be reading her book, Bad Feminist, as I really enjoyed her writing style. She has a lot of really important things to say that need to be heard. 

As someone with a more average body type, I found it very helpful to read this book because it's important to get other perspectives. Gay really opened me up to her own thoughts and feelings about how she fits in the world or wants to fit in the world and how society as a whole looks at her and treats people like her. Reading this book was definitely an eye-opening experience.

Surprised by Oxford

Surprised by Oxford: A Memoir by Carolyn Weber, 440 pages

Surprised by Oxford is Carolyn Weber's tale of finding herself and Jesus - not necessarily in that order - as a provincial Canadian girl pursuing a graduate degree at Oxford.  Raised in a well-off family thrust into poverty as a result of her father's mental illness, Weber describes how she came to terms with her own troubled emotional background while struggling to find her place in what turned out to be a very big world.

At the beginning of her memoir, Weber relates a conversation she had with a professor in which he explained to her the importance of learning "to discern the real thing from the" BS, "and then to choose the" non-BS.  It is an excellent anecdote.  Unfortunately, the memoir seems to itself contain a substantial amount of BS.  Perhaps Weber was concerned that the reality was insufficiently interesting, or was reluctant to share personal details (especially of other peoples' lives), or fictionalized around gaps in decade-old memories, or had an overactive editor, or is simply a poor writer.  Whatever the cause, throughout Surprised by Oxford, characters and events seem to obey the laws of drama rather than the ways of life.  While there is no reason to doubt the broad outlines of Weber's story, the air of unreality is a fatal flaw in a book about the search for the Real.

Murder of Crows

Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop (Book 2 of the Courtyards of the Others series)  354 pages


The human looking for blood prophet Meg Corbyn did not succeed, but caused a near catastrophe in the Lakeside Courtyard. Now, Meg wakes up from a dream of dead crows and Crows on the road. Humans are using something that makes people and Others either very violent or very mellow, causing fights and deaths.  The Others figure out that the Controller, the human looking for Meg, may be the source.  Courtyard leaders from other regions in Thaisia gather in the Lakeside Courtyard to discuss the problem and to meet the blood prophet. The humans who work in and with the Courtyard have become Meg’s human pack, causing some of the Others to see that a few humans can be trusted.  Dramatic events end one problem for the character you’ve come to know and love, while setting up new problems for the next book in he series.

Written in Red

Written in Red by Anne Bishop (Book 1 of the Courtyards of the Others series) 433 pages


In an alternative earth history, humans are not the dominate species.  When humans arrive in Thaisia, the equivalent to North America, their negotiations for land are with a much stronger group of predators known as “the Others” that includes shapeshifters, vampires, Elementals, and the Elders.  Humans can only lease the land and the wild country is filled with others who consider humans “clever meat.” When Meg Corbyn, human, but also a cassandra sangue or blood prophet, stumbles into bookstore in the Others’ Courtyard where human laws do not apply, she is running from a human.  Simon Wolfgard is the leader who is trying to find better ways to work with humans, but Meg does not smell like prey, as all other humans do.  Watching Meg and the Others work together to learn from each other while a determined group tries to get her back fills this story with both excitement and humor.  It also is an interesting study of various types of human nature and how they can bring lasting consequences to a situation.

Rituals

Rituals by Kelley Armstrong (Book 5 in the Cainsville series)  496 pages


This is the final book of the Cainsville series and a good conclusion.  The three main characters are the latest three in a long history of fae and Wild Hunt ancestry who continue to recreate a doomed love triangle from Welsh lore.  Olivia, Gabriel, and Ricky learned through trial and error and not a lot of help from the two sides vying for the results of their actions, about their place in this complex scenario.  While the three of them have vowed to not make the same mistakes of countless other incarnations of the trio, a third group of players is revealed who lead to a harrowing ending. Readers should start and the beginning of the series: #1 Omens, #2 Visions, #3 Deceptions, and #4 Betrayals.

You’ll Never Blue Ball in This Town Again

You’ll Never Blue Ball in This Town Again by Heather McDonald            Paperback Book: 263 pages               

Heather McDonald is one of the writers for the Chelsea Lately t.v. show and she is also a Stand-Up Comedienne.   In this book, Heather gives the reader a look into her life up to now and how she was able to maintain her virginity up until the age of 27 when her gynecologist shamed her into going for it one man away from the guy of her dreams.    (Wouldn’t you know?)   Sometimes serious, sometimes funny and always brutally honest, It is a book that will keep you turning the pages because like Alice in Wonderland you wonder what new adventure she is going to get into and how she was able to party throughout college and still only cuddle with her boyfiriend of the time.   Heather had many relationships, come celebs some older,  some rich some con artists, but, always amusing stories to tell.   She gets an A plus for her maneuvers and her writing skill.   Fun read.     

Second Grave on the Left

Second Grave on the Left by Darynda Jones    307 pages

In the sequel to First Grave on the Right, life is complicated for Charley Davidson. She’s a private investigator with a side job as the grim reaper. Reyes Farrow, the guy she’s in love with, is an escaped felon and the son of Satan. He’s hiding from demonic forces who want to use his power—and he’s also hiding from Charley.
Jones balances paranormal, romance, and mystery fiction. The humor occasionally falls flat for me—it’s just a little too quippy, in a way that works better on the screen than it does on the page—but on the whole it’s a fun read.

Off to Be the Wizard

Off to Be the Wizard by Scott Meyer     386 pages


Martin Banks leads an unfulfilling life until he stumbles across a mysterious computer file. By editing the file, he can edit reality, which is great until the feds come after him for suspected bank fraud. He escapes to medieval England, planning to set himself up as a local wizard, but finds out that he isn’t the only person around with “magical” powers.
Clever, funny, sometimes even insightful. I found the tacked-on romance to be, well, tacked-on and rather grating, but enjoyed the book overall.

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, Vol. 6

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, Vol. 6, by Izumi Tsubaki 146 pages

This lighthearted romantic comedy stars high schooler Sakura Chiyo. When she confesses her crush to stoic upperclassman Umetarou Nozaki, he doesn’t quite understand what she’s trying to tell him—instead, he thinks she’s found out about his secret career writing romance manga, and hires her as his assistant.

Nozaki-kun is still more comedy than romance; if you’re expecting any actual progress in the relationship between Chiyo and Nozaki (or in any other characters’ romances, for that matter), then I’d recommend a different series. This is the slowest of slow burns. If you’re looking for lighthearted comedy, though, I recommend this series quite heartily. It’s funny, sweet, and sincere.

No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular!, Vol. 2

No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular!, Vol. 2 by Nico Tanigawa  141 pages

High school student Tomoko Juroki is slowly realizing that her expertise in dating sims doesn’t mean she’s any good at actual human interaction. As her first year of high school ends, she’s spoken to other students a grand total of six times—but she has high hopes for the summer!
The jokes and situations in this second volume are a touch raunchier than they were in the first, as Tomoko tries out some new games, gets a personalized recording from her favorite voice actor, and utterly fails to function socially. It’s still funny; it’s also still mortifyingly awkward.

The True Flag

The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain and the Birth of American Empire  by Stephen Kinzer        Audio Book:  10 hours,  55 minutes   Paperback:  336 pages           

WOW!   What an eye-opener.    After this book, I felt like I must have been sleeping through my history classes in school because I don’t remember ever getting the detail you will find here.    O.K. elementary/middle school glosses over some of the hard core stuff whereas highschool becomes more detailed however this is hard facts in your face that are shocking to say the least.   The political powers that drove the U.S. from President McKinley’s time with the push of Henry Cabot Lodge and Teddy Roosevelt drove the United States to become an Imperialist nation.   What???  The behind the scenes horrific information that you will learn here about political operatives that were happening in other lands disguised as liberating other peoples from the dictatorial states they were in under foreign control only to subjugate people who were fighting for their freedom just as the U.S. had from English rule –wow!   Yogi Berra was right it was déjà vu all over again.   What the Founding Fathers fought for – Independence from a foreign power trying to subjugate the citizens of this country – then for the U.S. to do that to the then nations of Hawaii, the Philippines, Puerto Rico which are the first ones mentioned and which take the most of the book about – in clear disregard of what principles this nation was founded upon – began to claim territory and sovereignty over other non-warring people.   It is unconscionable what took place.    America’s political parties were at odds against such horror but the Republican party forwarded their expansionist platform under McKinley then Roosevelt who wanted to pursue war with everyone he could and acquiring more territory for the U.S.   The book ends with a litany of expansionist/imperialist tacks done by several regimes since on both sides of the political parties.   The horrendous acts carried out will stun most readers who like me had no idea that this land we are so much a part of was carrying out behind the flag of liberation the bullying of smaller island nations unable to stand against the superior weapons and agendas of the corrupt in power.     It gives you a whole new perspective on the Cuba situation and you will come away questioning what you were taught in school and those parts of history that seem to be a footnote rather than examining what all took place.     Your jaw will drop often during this read.    It will explain a lot that is going on in the world and why we are seen as the ugly American by so many nations in the world.     This book is a mind blower.

Not Your Sidekick

Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee    283 pages

High-schooler Jessica Tran rebels against her superhero parents by getting an internship with their archenemy. Along the way she faces normal high school troubles, like a crush on her coworker Abby, and not-so-normal troubles, like a government conspiracy out to  destroy heroes and villains alike.
This is a classic YA superhero story with a refreshingly diverse cast. While the climax is marred by confused pacing and a few awkward loose ends, I enjoyed the book overall and am glad for its inclusion in the library’s collection.

My Hero Academia, Vol. 8

My  Hero Academia, Vol. 8, by Kohei  Horikoshi   182 pages

In  a world where 80% of the population has some sort of superpower called a Quirk, Izuku Midoriya was born Quirkless. He still has dreams of being a hero, though, and with the help of the world’s greatest superhero All Might and an education at Japan’s top hero academy, he just might make it.
This volume’s fight scenes are as exciting and explosive as expected when students face off against teachers in a superpowered final exam. Intriguing but sadly neglected side character Momo Yaoyorozu finally gets some of the attention she deserves, while the villains’
 schemes creep forward in the background. Though it’s not as bad as volume seven’s, this volume does end on yet another cliffhanger—I’m not sure if the publisher’s doing this intentionally or not, but I want the next book already.

The Flight: Charles Lindbergh’s Daring and Immortal 1927 Transatlantic Crossing

The Flight: Charles Lindbergh’s Daring and Immortal 1927 Transatlantic Crossing by Dan Hampton         Audio Book:  8 hours, 58 minutes    Paperback:  400 pages                

Wow!  Prepare yourself for a nail biting enthralling telling of a great local celebrity who did the then unimaginable thing of flying from New York to Paris non-stop the first time it was ever accomplished.  Lindbergh had no GPS he went by paper maps and his own mathematical calculations.   What a feat and he completed the trip in 33 hours.    Lindbergh didn’t sleep the whole way and he was so hyped he went to a party the nght before he left and couldn’t sleep a wink that night either so the man was flying on lack of sleep,  he had some water and 5 sandwiches one of his backers packed for him of which he only ate 2 sandwiches and drank very little water but Lindbergh was a rail thin lad and didn’t eat much normally so that was nothing new for him.    Author Dan Hampton tells the story as though you are right there in the cockpit with Lindbergh in real time.   Going by Lindbergh’s own diary and journals Hampton relates the story in Lindbergh’s own words and they are powerful and intense.    It is so effective you can feel the fear and anxiety in Lindbergh’s words.   Man, that 25 year old went through some stuff on that trip.    He flew barebones taking the least amount of stuff with him to keep the weight down – he didn’t even pack a parachute to cut down on the weight.     An excellent telling of a harrowing event that even includes ghostly visitations offering suggestions of help in keeping on course and the plane aloft.     Charles Lindbergh and his plane the Spirit of St. Louis are aviation heroes as well as national and international heroes receiving the U.S. Medal of Honor, the French Legion of Honor , the Service Cross of the German Eagle presented by Hermann Goering on behalf of Adolph Hitler for his contribution to aviation, and more accolades and honors were bestowed on him.   Too bad when he arrived in France the people stormed the field and broke the bearings on his plane from the weight of all of them clambering up on it.    The crowd was overwhelming to Lindbergh as he knew only the words Vive La France in French and did not know how to say STOP!   GET OFF!   (Arretez!   Descendez!)   Souvenir hounds started ripping fabric from the plane’s fuselage and grabbed him out and carried him on their shoulders.   He later learned to his great sorrow someone had stolen his log book!  (CONNARD!!!!!)   Great story, great writer.   Bravo!

Mrs. Sherlock Holmes

Mrs. Sherlock Holmes: The True Story of New York City's Greatest Female Detective and the 1917 Missing Girl Case That Captivated a Nation by Brad Ricca.   432 pages

"Mrs. Sherlock Holmes tells the true story of Grace Humiston, the lawyer, detective, and first woman U.S. District Attorney who turned her back on New York society life to become one of the nation's greatest crime-fighters during an era when women were still not allowed to vote."

A biography of a remarkable woman in New York in the early 20th century who practiced law and then became served the governor and police for special cases. In a time when women were considered unsuited for work like that she made her mark.

Where the Dead Lie

Where the Dead Lie by C. S. Harris.   338 pages

"The gruesome murder of a young boy takes Sebastian St. Cyr from the gritty streets of London to the glittering pleasure haunts of the aristocracy . . .

London, 1813.
Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, is no stranger to the dark side of the city, but he's never seen anything like this: the brutalized body of a fifteen-year-old boy dumped into a makeshift grave on the grounds of an abandoned factory."  (summary courtesy of Goodreads)

The latest in the series of Sebastian St. Cyr, a nobleman who involves himself in murders no one else seems to care about, set in Regency England. I started this series several months ago and had to read them all. Now I have to wait for the next one.

The White Mirror

The White Mirror by Elsa Hart.   320 pages

"In The White Mirror, the follow-up to Elsa Hart’s critically acclaimed debut, Jade Dragon Mountain, Li Du, an imperial librarian and former exile in 18th century China, is now an independent traveler."

Just finished her second book and I am hooked on this series. It is about a former librarian of the Forbidden City and his travels around China in the 18th century.

Tyranny of Experts

The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor by William Easterly, 351 pages

In The Tyranny of Experts, development expert William Easterly describes how development orthodoxy was born during the last stages of colonialism, then proceeded to pass unquestioned from justifying European imperialism to supporting the autocracy of indigenous strongmen.  The result, he claims, is a system that supports the well-being of nations over the rights of individuals, and in the process fails both.

Easterly is handicapped by too narrow a view - he does not consider the extent to which bureaucratic management rules the West as well as the Rest.  In part this results from his own foreshortened historical perspective - beginning with late nineteenth century colonialism rather than tracing the origins of the "benevolent autocrat" back to the "enlightened despot" of the Enlightenment - Louis XIV and Frederick the Great play no part in his historical analysis, which comically imagines Tudor England to be less absolutist than Hapsburg Spain.  More seriously, Easterly's simplistic identification of collectivism and autocracy leads him to his own form of postmodern hubris.  His analysis castigates as oppressive any group in which membership is not deliberately chosen - a category that includes nations, ethnicities, religions, and families.  This ignores the extent to which the most meaningful relationships are given rather than chosen, and seems to favor the neo-colonial imposition of Western rootlessness on the poor of the world, all in the interest of liberating them from their communities.

Scooby Apocalypse, Vol. 1

Scooby  Apocalypse, Vol. 1, by Keith Giffen
In  this sci-fi reimagining of the Hannah-Barbera classic, Daphne is the host of a late-night investigative news show, Fred is her cameraman, Scooby-Doo is a genetically engineered “smart-dog” prototype, Shaggy is his trainer, and Velma is the genius scientist
 who accidentally helped transform most of the world’s population into ravening monsters.
The  transition from monthly comic to trade paperback leaves the story bogged down in redundant exposition. More important, however, is that between the nostalgic origins, wacky premise, and surprisingly grim execution, I’m not sure what this book’s trying to do  in the first place. There are a few entertaining scenes, but they’re not enough to carry the story.

Memetic

Memetic by James Tynion IV, Eryk Donovan (Illustrations)    128 pages

The  zombie apocalypse is caused not by a virus, but by a viral image of a friendly fellow known as the Good Times Sloth. The few survivors make their way through a strange and terrifying new world.
A  one-shot from BOOM! Studios, Memetic is short and—well, not sweet, but interesting. Somewhat meandering, and oddly ambivalent about the fate of humanity, there’s nonetheless a thoughtful story here.

Confucian Spirituality

Confucian Spirituality (Volume 1), edited by Tu Weiming and Mary Evelyn Tucker, 333 pages

Although Confucianism has traditionally been categorized as a religion by Western scholars, this has typically been qualified, especially in the past century, by an emphasis on the tradition's ethical, social, and political teachings.  The conventional view is that Confucius bracketed the rituals and beliefs of his own time, treating them as normative without assenting to their truth.  Yet, as these 16 essays exploring various aspects of Confucian spirituality demonstrate, a spiritual thread runs through Confucianism, if only in its assertion that there exist values worth sacrificing, suffering, and even dying for.  Indeed, a spiritual substratum is revealed in the concept of a transcendent harmony that embraces Heaven, Earth, and all the levels of human community, from the Middle Kingdom down to the individual family.

This first volume concentrates on historical perspectives, while contemporary developments are left for the sequel.  The essayists view Confucianism from a variety of perspectives, from Aristotelian virtue ethics to Nietzschean postmodernism, and likewise survey a range of sources, from focusing only on Confucius himself to considering the Confucian tradition as a whole to postulating a Chinese philosophia perennis of which Confucianism is one expression, and express a range of attitudes towards their subject, from admiration to skepticism.  Unfortunately, this very diversity precludes any unity among the essays, and the level of specialization makes it easy to become lost.

Charlotte’s Story

Charlotte’s Story by Laura Benedict, 320 pages

“The fall of 1957 in southern Virginia was a seemingly idyllic, even prosperous time. A young housewife, Charlotte Bliss, lives with her husband, Hasbrouck Preston "Press" Bliss, and their two young children, Eva Grace and Michael, in the gorgeous Bliss family home. On the surface, theirs seems a calm, picturesque life, but soon tragedy befalls them: four tragic deaths, with apparently simple explanations. But nothing is simple if Bliss House is involved. How far will Charlotte go to discover the truth? And how far will she get without knowing who her real enemy is? Though Bliss House may promise to give its inhabitants what they want, it never gives them exactly what they expect.” These books are creepy.  I would give them to people who like suspense that isn’t too intense.  These aren’t my favorite type of suspense but I like them well enough to want to keep reading them, because the author is a pretty good writer.

Yellow Brick War

Yellow Brick War by Danielle Paige, 270 pages

“In this third book in the New York Times bestselling Dorothy Must Die series, new girl from Kansas Amy Gumm is caught between her home--and Oz. My name is Amy Gumm. Tornadoes must have a thing about girls from Kansas, because--just like Dorothy--I got swept away on one too. I landed in Oz, where Good is Wicked, Wicked is Good, and the Wicked Witches clued me in to my true calling: Assassin. The way to stop Dorothy from destroying Oz--and Kansas--is to kill her. And I'm the only one who can do it. But I failed. Others died for my mistakes. Because of me, the portal between the worlds has been opened. And if I don't find a way to close it? Dorothy will make sure I never get to go home again. Now it's up to me to: join the Witches, fight for Oz, save Kansas, and stop Dorothy once and for all.” I think this may be my favorite book in the series so far.  Possibly, it took me this long to adjust to the new version of Oz.  Teens who like fantasy will probably like the series, as long as they are ok with some tragedy.

The Great Greene Heist

The Great Greene Heistby Varian Johnson, 226 pages

“Jackson Greene has a reputation as a prankster at Maplewood Middle School, but after the last disaster he is trying to go straight--but when it looks like Keith Sinclair may steal the election for school president from Jackson's former best friend Gabriela, he assembles a team to make sure Keith does not succeed.” Although the book felt like it was the middle of the series instead of the first, since there were many references to former heists Jackson had pulled, this was still an awesome story. I loved rooting for Jackson and his friends and kids will too.  This is a great book for anyone who likes realistic fiction, humor, and intrigue.

Lethal Legacy

Lethal Legacy by Irene Hannon, 351 pages

“The police say her father's death was suicide. But Kelly Warren says it was murder--and she has new evidence that she believes proves it. Detective Cole Taylor doesn't put much credence in her claim, and nothing in his case review suggests foul play. But when Kelly ends up in the emergency room with a suspicious life-threatening medical condition, the incident strikes him as more than just coincidence. Digging deeper, he discovers she's linked to a long-ago crime. Is history repeating itself? And who wants Kelly silenced?” This followed Hannon’s typical formula but it doesn’t stop me from feeling compelled to read the story, especially when it gets intense.  Fans of the suspense romance will like this.  Women looking for Christian romance will also like it, if they are ok with the thriller aspect.

The Haters

TheHaters by Jesse Andrews, 325 pages

“For Wes and his best friend, Corey, jazz camp turns out to be lame. It's pretty much all dudes talking in Jazz Voice. But then they jam with Ash, a charismatic girl with an unusual sound, and the three just click. It's three and a half hours of pure musical magic, and Ash makes a decision: They need to hit the road. Because the road, not summer camp, is where bands get good. Before Wes and Corey know it, they're in Ash's SUV heading south, and The Haters Summer of Hate Tour has begun.” I liked this book and I think that a lot of teens might like it also, if they like books that talk about real life.  I didn’t like the end as much as I liked the rest of the book, mostly because I like my stories more wrapped up than this was, but the ending made sense, even if I wasn’t as pleased with it.

The Last Days

The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld, 286 pages

“Strange things are happening: old friends disappearing, angels (or devils) clambering on the fire escapes of New York City. But for Pearl, Moz, and Zahler, all that matters is the band. As the city reels under a mysterious epidemic, the three combine their talents with a vampire lead singer and a drummer whose fractured mind can glimpse the coming darkness. Will their music stave off the end? Or summon it? Set against the gritty apocalypse that began in Peeps , The Last Days is about five teenagers who find themselves creating the soundtrack for the end of the world.” It took me a while to start reading Westerfeld’s books but I doubt that I’ll ever stop at this point.  This one is definitely more on the science fiction and horror side and teens who like those genres will love this.

Boxer Rebellion

The Boxer Rebellion: The Dramatic Story of China's War on Foreigners That Shook the World in the Summer of 1900 by Diana Preston, 360 pages

In the summer of 1900, an obscure Chinese religious sect - known as Boxers after their belief that certain martial arts rituals could render them invulnerable to bullets - grew into a major movement.  The Boxers demanded that the foreigners who had polluted and despoiled China be exterminated along with all those Chinese who followed their alien ways - especially the hundreds of thousands of Chinese Christians.  Soon, the Boxer movement exploded into violence, with Boxers torturing, raping, and murdering their way across northern China.  The Empress Dowager allied herself with the movement, and the foreigners resident in the capital of Peking found themselves besieged in their legations by a combination of Boxers and imperial troops.  The defenders - Europeans, Japanese, and Chinese - held out through months of desperate if sporadic fighting until relieved by a multinational expeditionary force.

Preston admirably sifts through a mass of diaries, papers, and memoirs left behind by the Europeans trapped in Peking, which provide a wide range of sometimes conflicting perspectives.  Unfortunately, the upheavals of the twentieth century have destroyed most of the primary sources on the Chinese side, and this means that the Chinese experience of the Rebellion remains largely a mystery.  Dramatically, this is satisfying, as it places the reader in the shoes of the besieged, but it is devastating historically.

The Alice Network

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn          503 pages

In this historical novel, author Kate Quinn gives us alternating perspectives of two main characters, one of them a female spy recruited to the Alice Network in France during World War I, and the other an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947.

In 1915, Eve Gardiner wants to join in the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly, gets her chance when she's recruited as a spy and is sent into enemy-occupied France.  Trained by Lili, the "Queen of Spies," Eve works right under the enemy's nose, putting herself in greater and greater danger.

Thirty years later, Eve spends her time drunk and secluded in her London house until a brash young American knocks on her door, uttering a name Eve hasn't heard in decades.  Charlie St. Clair, as it turns out, is on a mission to find her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France. Complicating things are a few facts: Charlie's pregnant (and her mother is determined to take her to Europe to have her "little problem" taken care of), Eve drinks a lot and has a brusque and difficult temperament, and, let's not forget, Charlie's cousin Rose disappeared a few years ago.  In helping Charlie, Eve discovers she's on the trail, herself, to find someone from her past.

Based on some real people and real events, I found this story entertaining, but it also made me want to know more about the real Alice Network.  The back-and-forth in time and the two narratives made the story really compelling, and the sense of danger that underlies Eve's story just helps to increase the pace.  Both women are well-written characters and Eve's story, in particular, is very believable.  Good story.

No Kidding

No Kidding: Women Writers on Bypassing Parenthood edited by Henriette Mantel    248 pages

This collection of essays by various writers tackles the topic of not having children. Whether their reasons have to do with courage, health issues, apathy or something else, each essay gives insights into each woman's decision.

Admittedly, when I picked this up, it was because the title made me curious.  I didn't realize that the women writers would mostly be writers in the field of comedy. After a few essays, I felt like this wasn't quite the book I had been hoping for, and most of the time, I didn't find the essays that funny. Some of them were more interesting than others, but I felt there was some repetition and I wish there had been more variety in the authors.

Unforgettable: A Son, A Mother, and the Lessons of a Lifetime

Unforgettable: A Son, A Mother, and the Lessons of a Lifetime  by Scott Simon           Audio Book:  6 hours       Paperback Book: 272 pages          

What a fun story about Scott Simon’s mother,, Patricia.   Written as only a loving son could tell it, there are celebrity and society names mentioned, there are glimpses into what it’s like growing up the son of a successful though alcoholic comedian father  and a sometimes actress but all the time great gal, Mother, then after they divorced, many of Mom’s pals, 3 more husbands, and all the adventures that got them from there to here.    His mother is so full of life that Scott’s telling gives a real word portrait of growing up with a beautiful mother that men threw themselves to be with her and how a young boy comes to terms with all the gay male friends who frequented their home and remained dear friends all their lives.   One story in particular when at 2 years old, while out at a chic restaurant with his mother and grandmother he sees one of his grandmothers dear friends who often came over in drag, however at the restaurant he was portraying his hetero side in a 3 piece suit.   Scott screamed, “Grace!  Grace!”  (The  gentleman’s alter ego.)    The man obviously with a group who did not know his other side came over and said, “What a lovely young man, but, I believe you have mistaken me for someone else.”   He looked to Patricia and her mother but received no help, though they did pretend not to know him to keep his cover going.    Scot continued to rail, “Grace!  Grace!   Don’t you know me?  Don’t you recognize me?”  Scott carried on so the poor man had to leave or be exposed!    Scott Simon  juxtaposes the history of the times with  the prevailing attitudes and what was happening in their own lives.  He gives an honest approach to the good and the bad they went through over the years and how everyone in their circle affected him and helped him to become the man he is today.   Whether it was his Mom’s Irish upbringing or being married to his comedic father, regardless the situation,  his mother looked for and taught Scott to look for the funny side in all things.   She also taught him to always write notes of thanks for both small and big things.   People remember what you say and how you took the time out to say something nice to them personally.    She taught him to leave big tips because tips got them through many a dicey time when they needed to scrape up rent or food money during those in between times.   (Usually in between lovers or husbands and acting jobs.)   This would serve him the rest of his life.   Scott is a successful writer and broadcaster on NPR.    I loved all the recollections and the laughter.    There were hard times too and when times got too hard Mom got married or found a boyfriend with money to help them get by.  They had many a wonderful adventure and loads of memories that I am glad he shared.    Good book.

The Almost Sisters

The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson                     Audio Book:12 hours,  45 minutes   Hardback Book:  352 pages              

A well told story so well told that I did not like the narrator.    She is harsh to her grandmother and her grandmother’s best friend by coming in after a long time away and tries to make them move out of the family home they share in order to get them both in an elder care facility.    Leia Birch Briggs finds out her grandmother has Alzheimers and is getting worse and that this has been going on for several years but her best friend took care of her and never told any one in the family how severe it was getting though they both were up in years and neither got around that well so they always held onto each other to walk.   Leia’s grandmother was appalled by all the rabbits she kept seeing and the things they were doing (multiplying).   O.K. no one else saw the rabbits, but,  I think her better tack would have been to find someone to come in for a few hours each day and look after them rather than just in bust in out of the blue and tell them what they were going to do because she said so after years of not worrying about her granny enough to see how she was doing?    Leia is a graphic artist who writes and illustrates her own books.    She is queen on the Con(vention) set and has a fling with a gorgeous guy dressed as Batman after they imbibe a little too much and fall on top of one another.    Turns up later she is going to have Batman’s baby.    The story has a lot of good twists and turns, funny dialogue and I did enjoy the book very much.   Don’t want to give too much away but Leia’s hateful blunderbust charge in take over and run the show attitude is what sets the whole story and a giant mystery into play.   A good WHO DID WHAT, WHEN, WHERE and HOW.

Weird Sh!t!

Weird Sh!t: True Stories To Shock, Stun, Astound and Amaze by Mark Leigh                    Hardback Book: 169 pages            

Oh how I love these types of books.   I just adore learning new incredibly bizarre stuff about everything in the universe.   It’s awesome!  Actual definition not the gushy over used version of that word.
Who knew a yak’s milk is pink?   Or a lab mouse/rat runs on average 5 miles per day on that wheel in their cages.   Or that Al Capone’s business card said he was a used furniture salesman?   Johnny Depp is descended from the first female slave in the United States to sue for her freedom and win!   Elvis Presley owned a chimpanzee named Scatter?   Wonder if that is where his son-in-law got the idea?   The Dahari tribe in India has a practice that all the brothers in a family can pool their money and buy a wife they all share.   When “The Sound of Music,” was released in South Korea, it turned out to be too long for local audience’s taste so the local distributor cut out all the songs.   Paintball guns were originally invented as a way of marking cattle for slaughter.   Adolph Hitler was declared Time magazine’s “Man of the Year, 1938.”    U. S. President James A. Garfield could simultaneously write Latin with one hand and Greek with the other.   Or how about every time you lick a stamp you consume one-tenth of a calorie?   Man, who knew sending out wedding announcements or holiday cards could be fattening?    Love this book.   Warning – some things here are pretty gross but there are a whole lot more really interesting tid bits I couldn’t put in this family posting.    Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.