The Firefly Code

Shirley J.                Juvenile Fiction              Scientist Parents, Genetically tweaked kids, A. I.                        The Firefly Code by Megan Frazer Blakemore         352 pages    

Mori and her friends have grown up in Old Harmonie, a small corporate town outside of Boston, where every parent is a scientist and works for the same company.    All the children have been genetically tweaked either before birth to create the designer babies the parents wanted ie. eye color, etc. or after.    After the kids are born the parents have the option to tweak their personalities as they see traits arising, ie. is the child too aggressive, etc. the parents can "dampen" unwanted traits genetically.  Are there fields of interest they would like to see developed ie. strong math/engineering skills, bents toward science or medicine?    All it takes is a visit to the "doctor" for a "check-up" and the child becomes genetically altered to the state required by the parents.    Then one day a new family moves to Old Harmonie.   None of the four friends, Mori, Theo, Benny nor Julia have ever seen a new family move in.   Every one that is here has been here all of their lives.   Interesting.   These folks are said to come from California.   Wow this new girl, Illana is an excellent athlete and while very nice, she is every bit as competitive as Julia, and she bests Julia and Theo at everything.    Mori's grandmother was also a scientist and is the one who came up with the program and the colony idea, down to all of their food being delivered to each of their identical houses.  There are many mysteries that will come to light as the story goes, and it is a good story that I think anyone could appreciate.  I certainly recommend it to the age group the author geared it to 8-12 year olds, but, it is a thought provoking story for any age group.      

                                                                           

 

The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

The Last Heir to Blackwood by Hester Fox 336 pages

 

Readers can always count on author Hester Fox for a quietly eerie novel, and her latest doesn’t quite live up to the abilities she has shown in other works.

 

Twenty-three-year-old Ivy Radcliffe is alone in the world. She lost her brother and father in the Great War and her mother succumbed to the Spanish Flu. She is shocked when she is summoned to a solicitor’s office for the reading of the will of the late Lord Hayworth, someone with whom she is unfamiliar. Turns out, he was Ivy’s father’s third cousin, and the last of the Hayworth line.

 

It took the solicitor a while, but they finally connected Ivy to Hayworth, and with that knowledge, she inherited his Lordship’s estate, Blackwood Abbey, located on the Yorkshire moors.

 

When Ivy arrived, the sprawling mansion was in disrepair, yet the servants who took care of her ancestor were still there. I don’t recall in how long the period was between the Lord’s death and Ivy’s arrival, but it cannot have been overlong since they were still there. The mansion is dark and depressing, attributed to its gothic vibes.

 

Almost immediately, Ivy is bored. She knows no one and there is little for her to do. On an afternoon outing to the local bookstore, she meets Sir Arthur Mabry. He discloses the existence of a magnificent library housed in the crumbling abode, and that he would love to get a chance to see it.

 

The conversation leads Ivy to wonder what she isn’t being told, especially if there are parts of the   house where she is told she cannot investigate. But a library! Ivy loves to read and makes it a priority to discover its contents.

 

The library is magnificent, but strange things happen there…footprints in the dust that lead to a solid wall without another living creature present is only one example. Still, Ivy isn’t scared away. Until the night of the storm.

 

I had a tough time piecing this novel together. I didn’t understand what the Prologue has to do with the rest of the story. Even after I finished the book and re-read it, it did not seem to tie in. I am afraid this is one of those stories that the author knew and understood but was unable to draw the picture for the reader.

 

 The Last Heir to Blackwood receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

The Night Portrait

The Night Portrait by Laura Morelli 496 pages

 

I saw this book listed on another book nerd page and knew I had to read it. It has dual-timelines, four main characters and a storyline that I loved.

 

At its core, this novel is about art: its creation and its importance to humankind and what will be done to save it.  This story centers on the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece, The Lady with an Ermine. There is so much to write about how wonderful this story is that I could probably write a book about it. 

 

The two timelines are 1476-1499 and 1939-1946. The four main characters are Cecilia Gallerani (the painting’s subject), Leonardo Da Vinci (no introduction needed), Edith Becker (a German art conservator) and Dominic Bonnelli (American soldier, art lover and a member of the famed Monument Men unit). 

 

The Renaissance period, Cecilia and Leonardo, sections tell of how the painting came to be. The WWII sections described how the painting hung in a Nazi leader’s country home and how it almost became a war casualty.

 

The Night Portrait is a phenomenal read. I read it in three evenings and have the bags beneath my eyes to prove.  I cannot recommend this book enough to art, historical fiction, Renaissance and WWII lovers. It receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

Pi in the Sky

Shirley J.                Juvenile Fiction                       Supreme beings of the universe, earth disappears

Pi in the Sky by Wendy Mass    272 pages

Juvenile sci-fi story about the universe being run by a Supreme Overload and the planets being managed by his children.   The younger kids, not quite ready to step up and take on such responsibilities get lesser jobs.   Josh's job is to deliver pies.  (His grandmother is an amazing baker.)  Now these pies are a lot more involved than the pies we know here on earth, the pies that Josh delivers hold the secrets of the universe baked inside!   Lots happens, there is a.i. out the wazoo and lots of action on the fronts of ruling the universe and then in the midst of a cosmic intervention earth disappears.  Not only that but Josh's best friend Kal gets sucked out of "the Realm," the plane they inhabit while a girl from earth named Annika appears in it.   Josh doesn't really want to tell her that everything she has known up until this moment has just "disappeared," so he takes on the task of trying to restore earth.   But how?    A cute story geared to the 8 - 12 year old set.   An interesting take on what is out in the universe?    I would recommend this one to the younger set the author aims it for.  

Joy at Work

 Shirley J.                Adult Non-Fiction                       Marie Kondoing your workspace and digital media

Joy at Work: Organizing Your Professional Life by Marie Kondo and Scott Sonenshein     256 pages

Marie Kondo tells how to stop feeling drained by all the weight of the crap pile up on your desk at work, in your file cabinet languishing for years and all the electronic trappings of old emails, etc. on your p.c.  Marie Kondo takes you through getting rid of all the piles of clutter bogging you down physically and mentally as you come in to a mass of chaos begging to be organized and your mind crying to get out from under the sea if detritus washing you out to sea in its undertow.   Marie Kondo is all for getting rid of every piece of paper though she grudgingly admits there are some things one has to keep though if there is anyway to get around it Marie Kondo is for it and tries to come up with work arounds and tips to get all the endless emails, papers, useless tasks and time wasting meetings that do nothing but clog ones mind like the physical stuff clogs one's space.   She calls them the hazards of working that drain the joy from work, undermine our well being and limit our chances of career progress because what use is having piles of unorganized information at your fingertips if you can't fine what you need when you need it?   Better to shed it all than be lost in pandemonium.   She and Rice University Business Professor, Scott Sonenshein offer strategies to eliminate clutter and create a space for work that matters.   She uses her Kon-Mari method to overcome the workplace madness to create a positive, tidy desk and mind!   This book is part of a 3 book series that promises if you properly simplify your home and your work life once you will never have to do it again!   I recommend this series to middle-schoolers on up - it is never to soon to learn the proper Kon-Marie method of tidying your world!

Walking In My Joy

 Shirley J.        Adult Biography          Jenifer Lewis' life growing up in Kinloch, MO and take on everything from COVID, to Donald Trump the orange president, Kathy Griffin's near suicide, etc.

Jenifer Lewis tells it like it is and then some.  She backs up from no one and nothing.  She talks straight about her love life, her family, her career, her politics and anything else that comes to mind.  She is a joy and a firecracker!  Don't think this is going to be a nicey nice politically correct gentle story, this is about Jenifer Lewis!  Quiet is not a word to describe her until the day her great nephews flushed a sock down her toilet in the Kinloch Room or was it the Egypt room?   I know she forbade them from ever going into the Africa Room after that.  The lady is generous to a tee taking care of family and friends and seldom letting the opposite sex do a number on her, but, oh, that sorry so and so who did!   Her mother taught her to scrap and she pulls no punches.  A delightful read about a strong black woman that takes no mess, delivers genuine sincerity and can play the part of any one like no other actor out there.   She not only writes books, she writes and sings songs, poetry, you name it.  She is a loyal and fierce friend, Auntie to all, and as sensual at 64 as she was at 24.   She leaves no stone unturned, no mysteries, and in no uncertain terms she tells you her say and you can like it or leave it.   She is a pro at cursing so if you are sensitive to it, reader, fasten your seat belt!  I loved this book.  I can't wait to read her other one and any future tomes she chooses to share with us.   Themes, language, sexual explicitness say I should recommend this one for adults, but, I hate to deny anyone this read, she is a force of nature!  ; D

Red at the Bone

 Shirley J.                    Adult Fiction          A generational tale grandparents, Sammy Po'Boy and Sabe, who survived the Oklahoma riots to present day granddaughter, college student/baby mama, Iris.

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson  208 pages

Excellent story with great characters chronicling a family's struggles to get by from the grandparents, Sammy Po'Boy and Sabe, who survive the Oklahoma riots and who's legacy carries on to their daughter, Melody,  who they have big hopes and dreams for to graduate and have a big successful life, slightly derailed when in her teens she becomes pregnant then to their granddaughter, Iris who also becomes pregnant as a teen by her best friend who comes to live with her family but strong willed Iris goes on to be the first in her family to go to college where she meets and falls in love with a woman who is a social activist on campus and who, seeing a photo of Iris' daughter assumes it is Iris' sister and so the lie begins.   Iris falls madly in love with the woman and sadly out of love with the father of her child, who is still living with her parents taking care of their child.   A good tale of survival over racism, love, betrayal, and coming of age.   Well done, Jacqueline Woodson.   I recommend this one to middle schoolers on up.

The House of Kennedy

 Shirley J.               Adult Non-Fiction             The story of every Kennedy since Honeyfitz to present

The House of Kennedy by James Patterson and Cynthia Fagen   432 pages

Brilliantly told biographies and histories of every American Kennedy, yes THE Kennedys, since their forebear Honeyfitz.   All the political aspirations, all the scandals (well, at least all the public has been privy to), the good they have done and the foibles within their characters and the damage and damage control over the years.   Excellent sharing of inside information, intimate details of the relationship between Joe Kennedy and Gloria Swanson and how Rose Kennedy dealt with the affair though it was right in her face, details of the affairs with Marilyn Monroe (both John and Bobby), Chappaquidick details that occurred that night and afterward.   Teddy's career and loss of Presidential candidacy, the later generations of the Kennedy Grandkids and Great Grankids.   Jackie and Joe's close family bond, Rose's girlhood and how she came to be Mrs. Joseph Kennedy, and her time campaigning for her family members, her reaction to losing so many of her immediate family.    There are so many good things about this book I cannot recommend it enough.   The glaring mistakes are not glossed over but are addressed head on and the successes and underworld ties are examined, too.   Well done James Patterson and Cynthia Fagen.   I recommend this book to Kennedy supporters, to history buffs, to highschool students on up.

Savage Season

 

Shirley J.                      Adult Fiction                                      Best Friends, Ex-Lovers, Double-Crosses

Savage Season (Book 1 in the Hap and Leonard series) by Joe R. Lansdale     178 pages

This book introduces us to the two best friends, Hap Collins and Leonard Pine.    Hap is a straight white dude from East Texas.  Leonard is a black man, a Vietnam Vet, and gay.   Hap a former social activist while in college that did time in prison over one of his causes and lost the love of his life while behind bars when his then wife couldn't hack the wait (18 months!) and divorced him and took off.   Trudy pops back up and waltzes in, seduces Hap (he is so easy) and brings him into her current illegal endeavor.   Seems her current boyfriend has information gleaned from a guy who heisted 3 or 400,000 dollars that is now dead but discussed the location of the money before he died.   This stolen money, once recovered will fund several social causes Trudy and the misfit band of radicals she brings with her want to aid.   Unfortunately, not all the radicals are committed to the greater good and while Hap and Leonard are drawn in for a big payday for helping, the best laid plans...can go awry.   A good book and excellent introduction to Hap and Leonard.   I recommend this one to mature high schoolers on up (for sexual content) and graphic depictions of shootings.   Excellent story and series.

Swedish Death Cleaning: What Moms and Housewives Need to Declutter House, Change Lifestyle and Enjoy Happiness

Shirley J.             Adult Non-Fiction       Decluttering with intent to save others from it after you are gone 

Swedish Death Cleaning: What Moms and Housewives Need to Declutter, House, Change Lifestyle and  Enjoy Happiness  by Cloe Hampton   116 pages

Cloe Hampton explores clutter from the perspective that minimalizing makes you more productive, improves your health and relationships.   You declutter your home, your personal space and your life so nobody else has to.   She calls it living the essentialist life ie. keeping only what is essential be it the necessary yet also the necessary to you (items that make you happy when you see them thus uplifting your spirit).   She covers all the places that clutter can accumulate, at home, at work, in the car, in our bags/pockets/wallets, on our computer, and our cell phones.   Too much is too much everywhere it is.  She recommends clearing all non-essential items from our lives.   She walks you through where and when to start, step by step, room by room, area by area.   She teaches you how to discern what to keep and what not to keep.   Very good book, lots of tips to be found here to make things easier on yourself and your family after you are gone.   I recommend this for young adults, the concept might be a little morbid for the younger set, though, it is never too early to start sorting out your belongings.  

Miss Julia Hits the Road

 

Shirley J.           Adult Fiction                Southern Women of a Certain Age, Fundraisers, Motorcycles

Miss Julia Hits the Road by Ann B. Ross     339 pages

Miss Julia's gentleman friend, Sam, has taken to wearing cowboy boots, even leather and driving a motorcycle!  He is sending her flowers and poetry and she thinks he is suffering from dementia!  In the meantime, Lillian has been evicted from her own home along with the other folks in the nine houses on her street.   The greedy jerk landlord doing it happens to be a deacon at Miss Julia's church!  Miss Julia enlists Binky's help to find a way out of it for Lillian and her neighbors but Binky is about to go into labor at any time herself.   Though worried for his sanity, Miss Julia calls on Sam who finds it is near to impossible to stop.   Seems there are viagra like qualities attributed to a spring behind the rental properties and the deacon plans on bottling it and selling it!   Drastic times call for drastic measures and Miss Julia and her usual go-to's get together to brain storm ways to keep Lillian and her neighborhood from going under and you won't believe what comes of it!  Is there a Harley in Miss Julia's future?  I recommend this book to all who love Miss Julia's tales as much as I do.   I think this one will appeal to 20 somethings on up.

Beautifully Organized at Work: Bring Order and Joy to Your Work Life So You Can Stay Calm, Relieve Stress, and Get More Done Each Day

 

Shirley J.        Adult Non-Fiction                 Organizing your workspace, stress-free work environment

Beautifully Organized at Work: Bring Order and Joy to Your Work Life So You Can Stay Calm, Relieve Stress, and Get More Done Each Day (The Beautifully Organized Series) by Nikki Boyd     150 pages

Nikki Boyd is big on decluttering your desk top and having little to nothing left out on your desk at the end of the day.   She suggests for those items you truly need, pens, note pad, sticky notes, tape, stapler to make drawer space for these items so when you arrive at work you begin your day with a clutter free desk top and suggests you only take out what you need then put away when finished or at the latest the end of the day.   She too has heard the studies about cluttered desks being the sign of creative minds but she finds if your desk is clear, or only housing minimal task related items, it helps to keep the mind clear and focused for the job ahead.   She recommends organizing files both hard copy and digital at all times again with a focus on minimal.   She recommends planning your workday to stay productive and on task.   She is big on having appropriate lighting and a clean desk and work area.  In fact from the photos of her home workspace it is almost stark and sterile looking.  Her color scheme is white and gold and the entire work area she has is made up of white walls, white carpeting, white pens with gold trim which she suggests finding what you like and buying/ordering matching accessories to help you mentally work more effectively.   She also works on a white desk (see photo on book cover).   A little hospital sterile seems to me, but, it is what works best for her and that is her point find what environment and accessories work best for you and it will improve your proficiency and efficiency.   She has many tips, shortcuts and ideas for getting your co-workers to do the same once they see how well your area works for you.   She offers suggestions for breakrooms, conference rooms, the lobby, etc.   I recommend this book to high schoolers on up.

Miss Julia Raises the Roof

Shirley J.               Adult Fiction                                 Devious tactics, neighborhood revolt    

Miss Julia Raises the Roof (Book 19 in the Miss Julia series) by Ann B. Ross    288 pages

Sam has gone to Europe to check out the architecture and artwork of cathedrals, Miss Julia is at home dealing with that busy body Madge Taylor who always tries to horn in and take over.   This time she has deviously bought a vacant property next to Hazel Marie and is fixing it up to put a group home for delinquent teenage boys in it!   No one checked with the residents before hand to see how they felt about a group home being in their midst.   Hazel Marie has the twin baby girls and Lloyd now a sophmore in highschool right next door!   Other residents with young children are concerned about it, too!  It was just the secretive way they did it and now the residents are seeking legal advice on whether the area is zoned for a group home.  No one balks at the need for at risk teenage boys to have a place to live but not in the midst of a residential area, but, it seems there are nefarious purposes behind the cover of a group home.   Several town councilmen and the new pastor is all for it, Madge has him sewed up as an ally and she is going around soliciting funds from the wealthy women in town.  Miss Julia included and Madge is manipulating in such a dishonest manner and as everyone notices Madge is certainly not putting the group home anywhere near her own residence!   Why doesn't she offer to foster a child or two?  And as for new pastor Rucker, why doesn't he open the church to the boys if he is such a goody goody?  No, all he does is quote Star Wars from the pulpit!  Wait till Miss Julia and Mildred who also is well off and not for any such happenings in her neighborhood either get together, the plots they come up with!   Another delightful Miss Julia story about steel magnolias not letting themselves be run over by bullies!    I recommend this one to young adults on up due to themes that might be uninteresting to the younger set.

Miss Julia Rocks the Cradle

Shirley J.                       Adult Fiction                                         Southern Folks, Southern Ways, Twins

Miss Julia Rocks the Cradle (#12 in the Miss Julia series) by Ann B. Ross    320 pages

When the Lloyd's schoolteacher, Miss Petty, is pulled out of class by two police officers, the town is aghast with gossip!  Neighbors are calling back and forth all over town, turns out a dead body was discovered in Miss Petty's tool shed!   And when Lillian goes to the grocery store the manager is real snippy and snidely tells her to have Miss Julia come down and settle up her bounced check!  Bounced check?   When Lillian tells Miss Julia what he said, Miss Julia is fit to be tied.  She has never bounced a check in her life!   She meticulously goes over her bank statements every month and reconciles her check book.   Come to find out she had forgotten to pick her check book off the car seat when she was going through her pursed looking for something one day.   Why, her checkbook was left in the car at least 3 days and someone had gone in and stolen several checks from the MIDDLE of her checkbook so she wouldn't have noticed right away!   All this is going on while Hazel Marie is about to deliver twins!   Who can think straight with so much going on?   And the folks at the bank are starting to treat her like she is senile!   Sam tries to straighten the confusion out and learns more than he bargained for!  A great book.  I love the Miss Julia series like I love the Hap and Leonard one.    I recommend this one to middle schoolers on up.  It is such a funny story, but, maybe being it is about older people, it might be geared to older folks, but, anyone reading it will like it, she is so funny, and oh so southern belle!
 

Rusty Puppy

 Shirley J.             Adult Fiction                                    Best Friends/Private Investigators in East Texas

Rusty Puppy: A Hap and Leonard Novel (10 in the series) by Joe R. Lansdale   213 pages

Hap is back working a case after dying twice on the operating table after his adventure in the previous book.  Didn't look like Hap was going to make it, but, fortunately he did.   Maybe it was Leonard's staying by his side while he was in the hospital willing him to live.  Or maybe it was the great medical care and more stories to tell.   Louise Elton comes into Hap and Leonard's office looking for the black private eye to help her, she did not trust white people, but, Hap charms her into letting him work the case for her till Leonard is available.  It seems her son was killed and she suspects cops did it.   He was killed in broad daylight in the projects by cops.  So that is where Hap starts the investigation fortunately for him he had left word for Leonard where he would be cause like a superhero, Leonard swooped in to save him from possible doom.   A good story with lot of plot twists and Leonard's new hat.   Fun characters and a sassy young lady who is not at all intimidated by Hap nor Leonard, although, her stepfather is another story.   I recommend this one to middle schoolers on up.  Great story.       

The Elephant of Surprise

 

Shirley J.                      Adult Fiction: Murder Mystery                                 Friends/Private Detectives

The Elephant of Surprise: A Hap and Leonard Novel (Book 12 in the series)    257 pages

Another delightful Hap and Leonard adventure.     Hap is married to Brett now and Hap's daughter, Chance and another newly arrived family member has joined the crew, who is as fast talking and sassy as the rest.  She fits in perfectly.   An East Texas flood wreaks havoc and Hap and Leonard end up saving an albino girl from the Dixie Mafia not without several fights and bodily damage on both sides.   Marvin is out of town so Manny his second in charge is working with the guys proving she is no slouch in the a** kicking department.   Oh, did I mention the albino girl's tongue has been cut out?   Thank goodness they didn't cut her fingers off!   I really like these stories what a great duo.   I hope this isn't the last of the series.   I recommend this book to middle schoolers on up.

In the Lives of Puppets

 

In the Lives of Puppets by T. J. Klune.  432 pp

Victor lives with his father, Gio, in a series of tree houses in a forest adjacent to a scrap yard.  He enjoys seeing what the scrap yard has to offer, but it is dangerous.  Several machines guard it from outside interference.  He already found a vaccum which he repaired and named "Rambo" and a robot nurse called Nurse Ratched (Ratched is actually the initials for Registered Automaton to Care, Heal, Educate, and Drill).  One day while in the scrap yard, Victor finds an android that seems to still be alive.  Unfortunately, by the time he removes everything on top of it, it is no longer functioning, but he takes it home to his lab to tinker with it.  Eventually, he is able to repair everything but the battery that makes it work.  He takes a heart he made in case his father needs it (Gio is an android, too) and puts a few drops of blood in and the android comes to life.  The android doesn't know who he is or what his purpose is, but he has some initials on his body HAP, so that is what Victor, Rambo, and Nurse Ratched call him.  Nurse Ratched also calls him Hysterically Angry Puppet since he is very grumpy.  When Gio sees what Victor has done, he is upset since Gio built HAP originally as a human destroyer (HARP stands for Human Annihilation Response Protocol) and Victor is a human.  Some government androids realize that HAP is alive and that there may be a human around, so Gio makes everyone go into a safe room.  The government androids take Gio back to the City of Electric Dreams and destroy his heart.  When Victor and his friends emerge from the safe room Gio is gone and the tree houses have been destroyed.  They they go on a quest to rescue Gio.

This is not my usual type of story (not big into Sci Fi), but I had read another T. J. Klune book and wanted to read this.  The robot friends are very funny (shades of MST3K).  Many reviews say this is a modern day Pinocchio.  I can see this as Gio creates Victor (he is already a "real" boy) and there is a workshop/lab for tinkering.  I really enjoyed it.

Mucho Mojo

 Shirley J.                   Adult Fiction Murder Mystery                 Family secrets, inheiritance, murder

Mucho Mojo: A Hap and Leonard Novel (Book 2 in the series) by Joe R. Lansdale    320 pages

Leonard's Uncle Chester dies and his worldly goods and house go to Leonard as his only surviving family member.  Leonard and his Uncle had been close throughout Leonard's childhood but after he grew up and his Uncle found out he was gay, they fell out.  Leonard never stopped loving his Uncle, he just stopped coming around to see him, but, always remembered the time he spent with him and how much he had loved his Uncle's house.    Going back to clean it out now that his Uncle had passed was harder than he had realized.  Hap went with his friend to help him through it.  When they arrive the house next door is a crack house and its inhabitants are trouble.  The thugs posture and try to instill fear which doesn't work with Leonard who gets them in check from the git go.   Going through his Uncle's things, Leonard comes across a hidden box he wished he had never found.   A good story with horrendous murders to solve done so well and so suavely by Leonard and Hap.    Another good story about this famous duo.  I recommend this one to mature middle schoolers on up.   

Honky Tonk Samurai

 Shirley J.              Adult Fiction                                 Best Friends/Private Eyes,  East Texas

Honky Tonk Samurai (A Hap and Leonard Novel #9 in the series) by Joe R. Lansdale   368 pages

The start of a normal day for freelance private investigators, Hap and Leonard, begins with witnessing a man abusing his female dog.   When Leonard and Hap see this guy swearing and kicking his dog so hard the poor animal cries out in pain, Leonard, animal lover that he is goes over and treats the abuser to the same he is dishing out to the poor dog.  Hap liberates the pooch and takes her home to live with him and his wife Rhett.  The day gets stranger from there when a new client an elderly woman comes in to the office to ask them to find her missing granddaughter in exchange for her keeping silent to the cops with the video she has of Leonard beating the crap out of the dog abuser.    They agree.   They learn that the innocent seeming car dealership her granddaughter was last known working for turns out to be the front for a high dollar prostitution ring.   Bodies start accumulating and blackmail is going on and so goes another story in the saga of Hap and Leonard and it is a good one!   I recommend this book to mature middle schoolers on up.  A fun read with lots of grown folks stuff going on.   

The Audrey Hepburn Estate

The Audrey Hepburn Estate by Brenda Janowitz 368 pages

 

One of my favorite movies of all-time is from 1954. Sabrina, starring Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden. It is an important film, so much so that it “was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.’”

Author Brenda Janowitz, in her eighth novel, has taken the essence of the movie and of Hepburn to craft a warm and surprisingly twisty work. The story is told with two narratives, “Now” and “Then.” 

“Now” is current time. Emma, Henry and Leo grew up on Henry’s grandparents’ Long Island estate, known as Rolling Hill.  The grand mansion has fallen into such disrepair that it is beyond saving. Or so says Leo, who has recently purchased the estate and plans to raze it. Emma has not seen Leo in almost seven years. It had been even longer since she had seen Henry. “Then” fills in the backstory, giving the reader insight into the characters as children and young adults.

Since Emma was eight years old, she knew that Henry was the one for her. They were childhood sweethearts. Janowitz reverses male roles. Think Henry in the Linus/Bogart role. Leo, the driver’s son, had been in love with Emma since they played together as children. Leo has the William Holden role. Since Leo first met Emma, he knew that she was the one for him. Who will Emma cling to in the turmoil that lies ahead.?

Emma returns to Rolling Hill for a trip down memory lane. What she didn’t know was that the house held more than one secret. She tried to get to Leo not to raze the house, but she was talking to deaf ears. She goes so far as to join the local historical society in the hopes of obtaining an injunction against Leo and his company.  Along the way, Janowitz throws in a few twists that turned the story in a different, yet same, direction.

Be sure to read the Appendix, “Finding Audrey Hepburn in ‘The Audrey Hepburn Estate.’”

The Audrey Hepburn Estate receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

 

 

 

Second First Impressions: A Novel

 Shirley J.                    Adult Fiction       Elder Care Facility, Tortoises, Bikers & Tats, Dating Services

The actual story here is a good one, it just kept getting lost in the constant mental sexually frustrated meanderings of the gal telling the story.   When kept to the actual telling of the story I liked the book but it got really disgusting with this chick's constant blathering and fantasizing.   The story is about an elder care facility for the monetarily well-heeled residents, two residents in particular who are looking for an aide to assist them and the family who owns the facility and their intentions for its future.   There is an endangered species of tortoise on the grounds, there are sibling rivalries, there are first impressions then the reality of who the characters turn out to be.   The story is a good one, and I would give high marks for it and wish there had been more of the actual story but the incessant constant babbling and rambling on and on gal who is so ready to explode because she is dying for an orgasm is just a waste of this story's potential.   Also when the obvious is so often right there and the lead female character acts as though she is too dumb or too naive to get it is also a slap in the reader's face.  When everything is right in front of you but all you want to do is think about how you want to ravish and be ravished then when the offer is put out there and she recoils and acts indignent.  I did not like this lead character but I really liked the story.  I cannot recommend this book to anyone because the gal is so awful she is insulting.  If the writer could do a sequel and continue with the good parts and leave her out completely then it would make a good story.   I did like every other character but the lead.  

As Always Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto

 

Shirley J.          Adult Non-Fiction                         Pen Friends, Dear Friends, Cookery, Book Publishing

As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto by Joan Reardon     432 pages

A delightful book full of over 200 letters exchanged between Julia Child and Avis DeVoto from 1952 - 1961.    Their conversations cover initially the knives Julia bought in Paris, France while living there with her husband, Paul and that she sent to columnist, Bernard DeVoto after reading his article in Harper's magazine on how one could not find good knives to cook with in the United States.   Bernard's wife Avis answered Julia's letter, thanking her for the knives and chatting so genuinely friendly that Julia wrote her back and chatted Avis up then one thing led to another, they jokingly became pen pals but were such kindred spirits that over the years they visited back and forth and continued to correspond through good times and bad and shared each other's woes, Julia's hardship with getting, "Mastering The Art of  French Cooking," published, while contending with the personalities of her two co-authors and Avis' losing her husband, author, Bernard DeVoto among other highs and lows.   The ladies discuss their lives, Julia's in France, Germany and Norway, etc. (she and her husband met while in service jobs for the agency later known as the CIA) while Avis and her husband lived in the U.S. in Cambridge.   A wonderful friendship that was a joy to experience vicariously through their correspondence.  So many events and people in history are shared here and what it was like to go through those times and out the other side of them into new eras, McCarthyism, Women's lib., the political administrations of Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy.   I loved it.   I recommend this one to fans of Julia Child, especially, and probably cooks, chefs, fans of public television, baby boomers and fans of the film, "Julie & Julia".  

Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

 Shirley J.           Adult Non-Fiction         True events of the massacre that occurred in Tulsa, OK in 1921

Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre      224 pages

Brandy Colbert is a terrific author.   Her telling of the events that led up to the massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921 is compelling.  She is so adept, she carries you to the front lines and the horrors those poor people experienced.   The bottom line of causation - jealousy.    The black community had established itself and several successful black businesses were flourishing, black doctors and surgeons helped get the first black hospital built there, black real estate investors bought land and made it available for other black families to be able to rent, lease or buy their own homesteads.   The black community in Tulsa was flourishing.  Several well-to-do families had large lovely homes.  Then one day, a black man accidentally brushed the arm of a white woman who told authorities he had accosted her.  The story blew all out of proportion, as the tale went the gossip gamut around town it grew and became he assaulted her, then he raped her, then a woman was killed, then a family was killed.   The longer it went the worse it got until groups of whites starting forming and going in attacking innocent black people in their own homes or on the street.   Black doctors and educators, black veterans of WWI got together and brought their guns into town offering to help the sheriff protect the man taken into custody (who had accidentally brushed the white woman in passing).   The sheriff thanked them but told them no, he had it under control.  He didn't.   Though, to that point there hadn't been a lynching in Tulsa or the Oklahoma territory, talk was getting loud and aggressive toward that end.   The armed black men returned to the sheriff and offered their help a second time to which the sheriff told them again that no, he and his deputies had everything under control.  The first time there was a swarm of maybe 1,000 threatening to storm the jail.  The second time, there was a crowd of 10,000 or so and seeing the armed black men incited the white throng even more.  The massacre insued.  Whites killed black men, women and children.   They burned the black community to the ground with shouts and slurs denoting blacks hadn't the right to be better off than they (the whites) were.     Few survivors made it through that horrific ordeal.  Some mothers with young children managed to run out of town amidst bullets zinging all around them and escape to family/friends or kind hearted people in other towns who were compassionate regarding their situation.   A nightmare to live through and a historical fact seldom discussed even to this day.    This is an excellent book telling of man's inhumanity to man in an unbiased forum giving background on the times, the people and the events that led up to one of the bloodiest holocausts in United States history.     I recommend this book to middle schoolers on up so the whole history is told.

Zero Days

 Zero Days by Ruth Ware  307 pp.

Jack (Jacintha) and her partner (and husband) Gabe own a business where they try to penetrate building security both physically and online so that they can give the companies tips on how to improve.  Jack is at a building doing the physical aspect of the security check (and hooking Gabe into the online aspect) when she is caught by security personnel.  They don't believe her when she said she was hired to do the check since the company contact is not answering his phone, so the police take her into custody.  Her former boyfriend (Jeff) is a police officer and when he finds out what is happening gets her freed.  When she gets home to her house, she finds Gabe with a slit throat.  Because she is in shock, she doesn't call the police immediately which leads them to question the timeline of her actions and before she know it, she is a suspect.  From there, Jack goes on the run and is nearly caught several times.

Despite figuring out who the bad guy was fairly early on, I did not know the motive immediately.  The book had an action movie feel to it once Jack was on the run and I felt the author played fair with the mystery aspects of the story.

All the Beautiful Girls

 

All the Beautiful Girls by Elizabeth J. Church 352 pages

 

The intro on the dust jacket lured me into treading this wonderful novel:  “Amid the glamour and swagger of 1960s Las Vegas, when the Rat Pack ruled the town, a spirited woman tries to conquer her past---and finds unexpected fortune, friendship and love.” They had me at the Rat Pack. Vegas must have been something back then, when Sin City really was Sin City.

 

This book spans three decades, the 1950s through the 1970s,

 

In the 1950s Lilly Decker grows up in Salina, Kansas. Eight-year-old Lilly has just lost her parents and her only sister in an auto accident. She is going to live with her mother’s sister, Aunt Tate, and her husband, Uncle Miles. Aunt Tate is cold and withdrawn from Lily. Uncle Miles can’t wait for Tate to retire so he can sneak into little Lilly’s bedroom. Only the arrival of her menstrual cycles forces Miles to leave her alone.

 

Lily seems to have a benefactor who she calls The Aviator. Readers don’t get a close look at this character until near the end of the novel. The clue we are given is that he was the cause of the accident that killed her family.  I like that bit of mystery in Lilly’s life.

 

Then Lilly takes dance lessons that are paid for by The Aviator. Here she finds solace and comfort. Plus, she’s very, very good at it. When she turns eighteen, she moves to Vegas, and changes her name to Ruby Wilde.  

 

Ruby is gorgeous with the kind of body men lust after. She had high hope of becoming a troupe dancer, but her looks land her jobs as a showgirl across Vegas She spends her night as a showgirl, wearing the mile-high headdresses, five-inch heels and costumes made from feathers and rhinestones. As glamorous as Ruby once thought the profession was, she did not expect to have to entertain men between shows. She wasn’t expected to have sex with the, just lead them spend more money in the casinos.

 

Ruby finds friendships with three other women as she learns to traverse the glittering Vegas Strip. They are there for her, and each other.

 

There are several surprises that begin in the last third of the novel that made me gasp---and stay up later than I should have, reading. All the Beautiful Girls receives 5 out of 5 starts in Julie’s world.

Moonlight and Magnolias

Moonlight and Magnolias by Ron Hutchinson 72 pages

 

In this play, movie producer David O. Selznick has shut down the making of that 1936 blockbuster novel, Gone With The Wind, three weeks after production begins. The burning of Atlanta has already been filmed and is in the can. However, the screenplay is not working. Selznick has fired director George Cukor and tapped Victor Fleming to take over. Fleming, however, is trying to direct that equally famous movie, The Wizard of Oz.

 

The Place:  David O. Selznick’s office. Day. And the next four days after that.

 

The Actors:  David O. Selznick, producer; Victor Fleming, maybe the movie’s new director; Ben  Hecht, famed screenwriter that can make any manuscript shine; Miss Poppenghul, Selznick’s secretary.

 

The Goal: To rewrite the screenplay for Gone With The Wind

 

Act 1: Word has gotten around that Selznick has stopped filming his high budget film.  He is fending off phone calls from the newspapers, everyone in Hollywood and Louis B, Mayer, founder of MGM studios and, more important, his father-in-law.

 

Selznick has called Ben Hecht and Victor Fleming to his office. He asks his secretary to being in bananas and peanuts, locks the door and tells the two Hollywood veterans that they have five days to come up with a shootable script. The only time the door will open is for more bananas and peanuts.

 

Problem number one: Hecht is the only person in Hollywood, probably the world, who has not read  Margaret Mitchell’s tale of the Old South.

 

Act II: Selznick and Fleming re-enact scenes from the novel to light Hecht’s imagination. Imagine if you will, the tall (6 foot), rotund Selznick prancing around his office in a high voice, pretending to be Scarlett, or even funnier, Prissy.

 

After five days, the script is finished. The office has been trashed. The men are falling asleep on their feet. The rest is history.

 

There is a lot that happens in these few pages that bounce between comedy and drama. Snippets of the play are in fact true, but mostly it’s fiction from the mind of author Hutchinson. I thoroughly enjoyed Moonlight and Magnolias and would love to see the play performed. The only real beef I had with it was that Louis B. Mayer was on hold for two solid days, waiting for an explanation from Selznick. That would never, ever happen in real life. Moonlight and Magnolias receive 4 out of stars in Julie’s world. 

 

Ghost Eaters

 

Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman 304 pages

 

Want to get haunted? That is the new phrase in Richmond. Instead of getting high, teens and young adults want to get haunted.

 

What does that mean? Instead of getting high and the munchies…or hallucinating gosh know what…takers of a new pill, GHOST, can actually see dead people. Not those they want to see necessarily, but all those who are around them. Considering its past with slavery and the Civil War, there are a LOT of ghosts tethered to the Richmond area.

 

Erin’s small band of friends, of people she trusts---most of the time---includes her ex-boyfriend, Silas, Tobias and Maura. Erin cannot let Silas go. She wants to, but she runs anytime he needs/wants her. She also has a habit of pulling him out rehab when the going gets tough. After all, says Silas, “rehab is for quitters.” When she rescues (?) him this time, he turns up dead under an overpass, and Erin is consumed with guilt.

 

Tobias tells Erin about a new drug, GHOST, that he and Silas have created that enables a person to speak to the dead. Erin leaps at the opportunity to see Silas again…and a whole bunch of other zombie-like creatures. He takes her and Maura to an abandoned subdivision so that the ghosts will have a place to haunt. The séance is successful; Erin can see and talk with Silas.

 

However, the Silas-sighting is only temporary, but the other dead follow her, trying to get close to her, trying to swallow her life force. There are times that these descriptions border less on horror and move the needle to the high-gross factor. I retched on more than one occasion.

 

Erin wants that experience again. She needs that experience. She begins to take more and more pills, desperate to have Silas reappear. Her life spirals out of control while more and more ghosts try to get close to her. They follow her wherever she goes.

 

It's been about a month since I finished this book, and yet it still haunts me. I felt like Erin---I didn’t want to finish, but I had to see what happened. This book is the grossest, not the scariest, book I have ever come across, but it is well done. The things that happened had to happen—a sign of a great plot. Ghost Eaters receives 4 out of stars in Julie’s world. I can still hear Silas say, “Want to
get haunted?”

 

 

The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

 The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff 560 pages

 

In some ways, when I think of it, 9/11 could have happened a few months ago, the images are still that crystal clear in my mind. However, there is a whole generation, or more, to whom 9/11 is just another historical event, like Pearl Harbor is to most of us. But author Garrett M. Graff spent years compiling the one book that, I believe, should be required reading (or listening as the audiobook is approximately 16 hours) for all Americans.

 

The book tells the story of that day’s events from hundreds of people, in their own words—from air traffic controllers to people on the street to President George W. Bush. These are the people who witnessed the event, who were part of it, who were left behind. Readers are able to get a much fuller look at what was happening that the news teams were able to depict. The story of that day is told in snippets from many individuals, coalescing into one heartbreaking narrative.

 

It has been at least a month since I finished The Only Plane in the Sky, and there are several images that have not left me, much like the images of those planes hitting the Towers. Images like:

 

·       As a firefighter was exiting one of the Towers, he was startled by the number of women’s shoes that were lying on the ground. Hundreds of pairs in every shape and size. After commenting on how it looked like the floor of Macy’s after a big sale, the firefighter was told was had happened:  As women exited the buildings, the kicked off their shoes and ran.

 

·       After the buildings fell, a group of people were trapped in a pocket in a stairwell. They heard a ping, then another, then another. One of the firefighters who was with them told them that that meant that a firefighter and down and movement was undetected (much like a Life Alert necklace). Suddenly all they could hear was ping, ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping. 

    ·       I knew people had jumped from the Towers to avoid the flames. I had no idea how many there really were. Graff does an amazing job of making the reader hear every one of those bodies hitting the ground. 

·       The thickness of the ash and how survivors had to scrap it form their eyes and mouths.

The Only Plane in the Sky receives at least three thousand stars in Julie’s world, but I’m only allowed to give five.