Ghost Eaters: A Novel

Shirley J.      Adult Fiction Horror              Contacting the dead through mushroom induced states

Ghost Eaters: A Novel by Clay Chapman     304 pages    

This book presents a unique premise.   People can have a paranormal experience by ingesting a hallucinogenic mushroom in pill form street named "Ghost" because once you take it you are able to see all the ghosts that are usually invisible to the eye.   Now, the maker of the drug sells the experience as being able to see loved ones or whoever the consumer wants to communicate with while under the influence, however, those eating "Ghost" get more than they bargained for when every ghost out there on the ultra-violet plane gains access to them and drops in for a haunting good time, which is not always so good for the human recipient of the visitation.   Four friends from college enjoy doing the scary goth things like visiting graveyards and haunted locations at night.   They feel pretty fierce and aren't bothered by the creepy things that go bump in the night.    They especially love to drop acid (lysergic acid diathylamide or LSD) and pretty much any hallucinogen that will intensify the experience.   Drugs, drinking and out daring each other for the macabre is their thing all through their college years, not as much after as each gets a "Joe" job.   Silas, the leader and on and off boyfriend of Erin tends to like staying high to the point he also does time in rehab after which he goes to estranged ex-girlfriend, Erin to crash on her couch, till he comes in stoned out of his mind and she throws him out.  Not long after Silas turns up dead and of course enabler, Erin, who has always given into Silas no matter what is filled with such guilt after he dies.    Tobias, another weak minion of Silas' continues the druggie experimentation emulating Silas and honoring his memory by keeping the drugs and new found doorway to the supernatural ala an ayahuasca like fungi crushed into powder then put into capsules for a high that will take you to the ethereal place where ghosts inhabit.   Hmmm.   When Tobias leads Erin into it she is desperate to try it never being a stranger to taking drugs, she is anxious to try it in hopes of reaching Silas.    So desperate is she in fact that after not getting the result she had hoped for dropping one cap. she steals Tobias' stash and drops them all.   BAMMMMM!   Erin's world turns into the film "The Sixth Sense" with ghosts in all forms of decay and mangled parts, some bloody, or missing appendages coming up to her strangely not Silas.   And, they want to lick her to taste the "Ghost" drug inside her.   Much more happens, things get really bizarre - yeah, even more so than they already are.   Go figure, betrayals, possessions, weirdly bonding dead babies with milky eyes, big business b&b experience and more.   The catch phrase for these folks isn't, "Hey, you want to get high?" its "Hey, you want to get haunted?"      A pretty intense ride, so, I think I will recommend this one to mature high schoolers on up.   Lovers of ghost stories, Goth, and the Twilight Zone will like this book.                                                             

 

Rewild Yourself: Making Nature More Visible In Our Lives

Shirley J.                    Adult Non-Fiction  Nature & Wildlife         Bringing Nature Into Every Day

Rewilding Yourself: Making Nature More Visible In Our Lives by Simon Barnes    208 pages

Too often we go through our day to day lives with the natural and animal world alive and all around us but we are too focused on work or whatever our minds are dealing with at home, in relationships, etc. to truly stop and enjoy the abundance of life and nature going on all around us.  We hear the sounds of traffic and construction instead of the birdsong coming from up above us in the tree we just passed.  Simon Barnes offers tips to bring back the natural world, the living creatures hiding in plain sight all around us, to restore the wonder they offer and the peace they bring us if only we open our senses to all that is as we share space on this planet earth together.   A beautiful insight into how to reclaim the serenity of the wild world that we often forget about because we no longer notice it.  As children we were aware of all the sights, sounds, smells, things to get down and touch for a real sensory experience, even the taste at times (- ever pick blackberries and eat them from a wild growing patch?)  as we play outside (is that a lost thing now with all the video entertainment available?)  Have we lost the ability to look and see?  Does the ability to listen and hear dull amid the jumble of noise we experience in a day to the point we no longer select to hear the whir of a hummingbird?    Simon Barnes suggests getting back to the basics of actually looking for all the wonders that can be found in the wild and wonderful things surrounding us.  Once you open yourself to all the life that is right in front of us as we venture outside you will see how much you have been missing.  He suggests taking binoculars along for bird watching and identification.  You will be amazed by all the different birds you can see, even on occasion a falcon, even in the cities, even more crows are coming into cities as their rural habitats shrink.   He discusses various species of moths, butterflies, etc. and where with a bit of observation you will be fascinated by all the variety of flying and crawling insects you can see, there is even a species of chameleon that when frightened/threatened can enlarge its head to look like a snake!  He talks about everything from fish to fowl from reptiles to mammals and the insect and plant world some requiring binoculars some not.   A book of how to find the awe in all our living world.  I recommend this book to middle schoolers on up.   He does use the off descriptive cuss word now and then but not often enough to be offended by.

 

Next Level Basic: The Definitive Basic Bitch Handbook

 Shirley J.   Adult Non-Fiction Auto-Biography            How to deal with life while being your most authentic self at all times

Next Level Basic: The Definitive Basic Bitch Handbook by Stassi Schroeder   240 pages

  Very funny and in your face humor and very real living the basic life instructions from "Vanderpump Rules," star and also podcaster, Stassi Schroeder, who claims the title of major defender of Basic Bitch rights.  Stassi cuts through all the hyperbole stating there is nothing more boring than people who take themselves too seriously or think you have to be pretentious to be cool.   While she loves lattes, pug dogs, her outfit of the day, astrology, and agrees wholeheartedly with Betty White's take that hotdogs and vodka lead to a long life.   She says her book is for all the people who are tired of pretending they would rather read "War and Peace" or watch Daniel-Day Lewis films instead of admitting they are fans of the "Saw" film series.   She loves dipping her pizza in Ranch Dressing and would rather have Hidden Valley Ranch tattooed on her forehead than to have a tribal tattoo anywhere on her body.   She is an open book about her relationships, her breakups, how one ex tried to sell a sex tape of her to TMZ, she talks about her botox treatments, how she screwed up friendships making an on camera joke about her A-List and B-List friends for which she still apologizes profusely - seems she got into a tiff with the actor friends she worked with on the show and set up a girls night out with her girlfriends she used to waitress with and made a joke about it which went viral and she had to do damage control to let her waitress buddies know it was only a joke - she got ripped on social media for it.   A very funny and very honest take on the world from a self described basic af bitch.   I will recommend this to high schoolers on up since there is some foul language to be found here, but, always with humor involved.      

Spare

 Shirley J.          Adult Non-Fiction  Autobiography                    The life of Prince Harry as told by him

Spare by Prince Harry The Duke of Sussex   416 pages

Excellent book.   It gives you a personal interpretation of royal life and events including his mother's tragic death as seen through the eyes of the Prince himself.   Harry gives a behind the scenes look at growing up the spare not the heir to the crown and how he was always made aware of that fact growing up and how little the palace did anything to stop incorrect stories in the media about him.   He admits to the things he did do (dressing in a Nazi costume for a party - young, stupid and didn't think about it being a huge slap to the people and their descendants who suffered through the Holocaust; getting drunk, high and ending up photographed naked in Las Vegas, etc.)  but many things he was accused of in the press he did not do.   Events were either misconstrued for sensationalism and the lie stuck, or inside the palace people leaked partial stories for pay that weren't true because the media made up the rest.   Time and again throughout his life, when Harry went to his father's and grandmother's "handlers" for help in combating the media's lies, he was told to just ignore it while the handlers put good spins on anything coming up in the media that might be taken negatively about Charles ("Camilla Gate") or the Queen when for appearances sake royal responses are required even when she didn't choose to give one, etc.  Harry was always made out to be the lesser royal, the bad student, the bad boy and things didn't change once he married.   When he tried to defend his wife and again went to the palace courtiers for help in fighting the stories in the media again he was told not to read the papers or social media stories.  They never offered to go after any of the insulting, slanderous and downright lies being printed by the media.   And when Harry and Megan had their fill and decided to leave royal service to pursue their own life abroad they were drug through the dirt again, offered no help and turned down cold for offering to still do public service on behalf of the Queen.   Once the Queen passed away, Charles as King went after them by taking away their HRH (His/her royal highness) status just as was done to Diana, and have allowed their spin doctors to hype Harry and Megan in the press by feeding the press false stories to make Charles and Camilla look good while villainizing Harry and Megan.    It is a good book with lots of inside information on the real relationships and truth behind the stories.   An excellent read for anyone who finds Harry and the Royal Family of interest.   I recommend this book to middle schoolers on up to the elderly.  Well done Prince Harry.

House of Brides

Shirley J.                          Adult Fiction                                    Out of the frying pan into the fire                  

The House of Brides: A Novel by Jane Cockram       384 pages                                                                      

                                             

 Miranda has led a good life, a successful life, never wanting for anything.  Her mother was a famous author, Tessa Summers, who wrote a best selling history of the women in their family tree who married into the Summers family and lived in the infamous rambling Barnsley House, an estate owned by the family that was chock full of rumor and mayhem.  It seems each succeeding generation offered up a worse matriarch within the walls of Barnsley House.   The eldest female ancestor on record was a famous crime novelist (where did she get her information for her writing?).   Why Miranda's own grandmother killed herself after setting fire to Barnsley House while her children were sleeping!  Each woman mentioned in her mother's House of Brides book is worse than the last mentioned.   The current wife of her Uncle Max is a celebrity chef and has turned the house into a hotel and put it on the tourist trade maps as a significant culinary must experience.    After a social media mishap, Miranda was a media influencer there for a while, tucking her head low and dragging her misgivings with her, Miranda goes home to live with her widowed father for a while to get over her woes.   With lots of time on her hands, Miranda gets curious about her mother's family after reading a letter from an unknown cousin.   She decides to blow in and visit this mysterious bunch of relatives without so much as I call to let them know she is coming.   Oh yes, she deceives her very rich father into giving her his information on one of his charge cards and off she goes into the wild blue yonder to drop in on people she has never once even met nor knew anything of prior.  She does a lot of acting on whims throughout the book, but, is somehow not entirely unlikeable in spite of her tendencies to act irrationally.  She plops in on them in the middle of the night and not receiving a cordial greeting decides to play along when they think she is someone applying for the nanny job.   The story takes off from there.    A good first novel by jane Cockram.   I recommend this one to high schoolers on up. 
 

Rewilding

 Shirley J.               Juvenile Non-Fiction Science, Nature              Saving our wildlife before extinction

Rewilding: Bringing Wildlife Back Where It Belongs by David A. Steen and Neon Squid Books  80 pages

Wonderful book explaining the need for conservation of our animal kingdom co-habitants on earth.   It shows the statistics of how many of various species are believed to be in the wild and shows how easily extinction can be with over fishing, over hunting, shrinking habitats and global warming.   It is an eye-opening book for all ages that will hurt your heart for those lives that have been completely eradicated from the planet and I pray move your heart to help the creatures we still share space with to help them lead better and longer lives.  Geared for 8-10 year olds but everyone will be amazed by all the information packed into these 80 pages.   

The House of Broken Angels

Shirley J.               Adult Fiction                           Family,  Extended Family, Bittersweet Partings

The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea       336 pages

A story of family and extended family.  Big Angel, the eldest of his father's sons is celebrating his birthday throwing one last unforgetable family fiesta.   He also invites his father's youngest son, by a gringo mother he married after he left Big Angel's mother.   Big Angel's half brother is known as Little Angel.   Little Angel has always been known of since his birth, but never quite completely accepted due to his birth status being half gringo.   Little Angel while visiting his father's people was somewhat accepted (his mother was not and was never a part of their family gatherings nor was she welcomed in any way - she was seen as a harlot who stole Big Angel's dad away).    Big Angel had some love for his little brother regardless.   Little Angel was barely acknowledged by his other other half siblings but after getting over his jealousy of him, Big Angel had no problem with him.   As the birthday celebration gets under way, Big Angel's mother passes away.   She was nearly 100 years old, had lived a good life, loved her children and her family members.  Big Angel is in Stage 4 Cancer that he will eventually share with his loved ones but first the party!   There is so much good storytelling here and humor and love I think anyone from elementary schoolers on up to senior citizens will enjoy this author's tale of familia.
 

The Secret, Book & Scone Society (Book 1 of 6 in the A Secret, Book & Scone Society series)

 Shirley J.     Adult Fiction    Magic found in just the right book & scone, alliances formed through secrets

The Secret, Book & Scone Society (Book 1 of 6 in the A Secret, Book & Scone series)                         by Ellery Adams    320 pages

Miracle Springs, North Carolina is renowned for the healing benefits of its natural hot springs, noted for its five-star restaurant and the spa where one can escape to soothe the soul.   It is also known for the magic afoot,  seems Nora, owner of Miracle Books has an uncanny skill, she can pick out just the exactly right book for people who come into her bookstore for advice.   Not only that but she uses her perceptive powers to prepare just the right scone for visitors to her shop.   She intuitively puts the exact extra flavorings into each of her scones that conjures up good memories from one's past and leaves her customer feeling as if fate led them to this special place to bask in the special memory that is theirs' alone as they enjoy the remarkable taste of the most excellent of baked good.   And Nora isn't the only one with devination like powers in the town.  When the 4 kindred spirits join together they form the Secret, Book & Scone Society binding them in friendship through their shared secrets of why they felt drawn to come to this town and their deep ties to the books Nora so skillfully recommends for each of them that speaks to their lives and of course those mystical scones taking each to their happy place.   A good read with likeable characters all with a special gift to help people with.   I recommend this one to middle schoolers on up to senior citizens.  A likeable story with traces of magical intuition.  Oh yes, there is also a murder mystery to solve!   

Song of Bernadette

The Song of Bernadette by Franz Werfel, translated by Ludwig Lewisohn, 575 pages

Poor Bernadette Soubirous, gathering firewood in the dump at Massabielle, has a vision of a beautiful lady praying the Rosary.  The mysterious Lady asks her to return regularly.  Despite her efforts to keep her visions a secret, word soon gets out, dividing the townsfolk into believers and skeptics.  More ominously, the local authorities move against her, fearing that the sophisticates of Paris will write them off as backwards and superstitious.  In time all resistance will be overcome by that gentle Power which will transform humble Lourdes into the Lady's kingdom and little Bernadette into a saint.

Franz Werfel wrote The Song of Bernadette to fulfill a vow he made while fleeing the fall of France.  It is a novel, not a biography, and is therefore obviously fictionalized, but Werfel's inventions are largely confined to reasonable extrapolations and the creation of ancillary characters as commentators on events.  These last rarely interact with the main characters, inhabiting a social and intellectual world far removed from that of the Soubirous family.  At the same time, their thoughts on the seemingly inexplicable events, their vain attempts to psychologize or mythologize the unexpected - and mostly unwelcome - irruption of the miraculous into their personal worlds, is perhaps the most profound part of the novel.  Perhaps this is because Werfel himself is amongst their company, attempting to more subtly smooth the sharp edges of reality.

Om Child: I Am Kind: Ahimsa, Compassion, and Community (Om Child 2)

Shirley J.                              Early Learning                      Nonviolence, compassion, gratefulness

 Om Child: I Am Kind: Ahimsa, Compassion, and Community (Om Child 2) by Lisa Edwards   18 pages    

This book teaches the concepts of compassion in order to lead to nonviolence.  It also shows children how to be grateful and appreciative every day to the world at large, to others, to our pets and all animals as well as to ourselves.   It teaches the concept of being polite, when to say thank you and when to say I'm sorry.  It also teaches how to be good to our bodies and minds through yoga.   A sweet book, with lots of good concepts to share.   Again, I feel this book could be enjoyed by older children too, though, it is geared to babies through 4 years of age.  This is a good series.  

Om Child: I Am Happy: Chakras, Colors, and Feelings (Om Child, 1)

Shirley J.      Early Learning      Teaches children the concept of chakras, the color associated with each chakra and the feelings (emotions) represented by each chakra.                             

Om Child: I Am Happy: Chakras, Colors and Feelings (Om Child 1) by Lisa Edwards     18 pages

Another beautifully illustrated board book.  While this is geared to the baby to 4 year old set, this is an advanced concept seems to me.  The chakras which are the bodies energy points from the top of our heads to the base of our spines are associated with colors (each chakra is a different color) and different emotions and meaning for each chakra.   

There are seven:

The crown chakra - purple,  knowledge

The third eye chakra - Indigo,  intuition 

The throat chakra - blue,  communication

The heart chakra - green, love and compassion

The solar plexis chakra- yellow, strength, power

The sacral chakra-orange, sensuality

The root chakra- red, stability

The book does teach colors, talks about emotions and the meanings of each chakra and how yoga can compliment our bodies and their energies.   A beautiful book.   I think older kids would be fine with this conceptual book.  

 

Om Child: I am calm: Yin & Yang, Opposites, and Balance (Om Child, 3) Board Book

 Shirley J.          Early Learning Book              The concept of Yin and Yang, Opposites, and Balance 

Om Child: I am calm: Yin & Yang,  Opposites,  and Balance (Om Child, 3) by Lisa Edwards    18 pages

Great book with beautiful illustrations.   The pages just pop with vibrant colors.  The concepts taught here are so well done, perfectly the yin and yang of it all.   Dark and light, night and day,  hot and cold.  How there can't be one without its opposite and how each balances out the other for a perfect world.   I really liked this book and I think it is an excellent book to read to children even older kids you could have a great discussion of opposites after and talk about what things are yin and what are yang.  Really fun teaching experience here.  It is a board book and so geared to the baby to 4 year old set, but, the concepts are so fun to play with I would go a little older.  Fun book.

Stillwater and Koo Save the World

 

Shirley J.             Children's Literature               Doing good things to make the world a better place

Stillwater and Koo Save the World by Jon J. Muth     32 pages

   A sweet story showing how any act of kindness done makes the world a better place.  Koo wants to save the world and Stillwater teaches him how to do so through one kind act at a time.   To save the world, we all must do whatever we can to help each other which brings love and compassion to a hurting world.  To save the world we can help to clean up the planet earth even through small acts of picking up trash and properly disposing of it, showing respect, love and compassion for the earth.   So many good and doable ideas for making the world a better place one small act at a time and by any one any age.   Goodness and kindness bring forth thoughtful acts that benefit one another, nature and animals.  Another beautiful book by Jon J. Muth.   I recommend this one to listeners on up.  Simple but profound.

Beyond that, the Sea

 

Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash 368 pages

 

The Blitz was in high gear. Nightly the German bombs rained down upon London. Most Londoners felt as if bomb shelters were their new homes. Many families were sending their children to the English countryside or to America to keep them safe. Millie and Reginald Thompson decided to do the same for their eleven-year-old daughter Beatrix.

 

I can’t remember how, or if it was even mentioned in the story, but the Thompson’s chose America and a family in Boston. The voyage was hard on the girl, traveling alone. But the ship made it across the ocean and landed. Beatrix was relieved when her new family claimed her. She was welcomed with open arms.

 

It didn’t take long for Bea, as she was called, to make herself at home and fit into her new lifestyle. Really, the only difference was the Thompsons were upper lower class while the Gregorys were wealthy. One of the things that Bea loved most living with the Gregorys, Nancy and Ethan, and their two sons, Gerald and William, was the summers spent at their cabin in Maine. Oh, what fun they had!

 

When the war ended, Bea was sent back to London. While she had been gone, her father had died, her mother had remarried, and London was still in ruins. As she tried to pick up the pieces, her memories of the Gregorys lingered in the back of her mind. She had grown close to both boys. Nor did the Gregorys forget Bea.

 

What I really like about this story is the way it is told---in short vignettes told from seven viewpoints (those of the seven characters.) What I didn’t like was that the vignette style also allowed the author to gloss over some key moments. Regardless, I would recommend this book to others, and Beyond That, the Sea received 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Welcome Flower Child: The Magic of Your Birth Flower

Shirley J.            Children's Literature: Nature                      The flower for every birth month

Welcome Flower Child: The Magic of Your Birth Flower by Brigette Barrager     42 pages    

A charming book with beautiful illustrations denoting the flower that represents each month of the year and includes a poetry verse that tells the qualities of babies born in each month of the year and the flower that blooms in each birth month.   That is so cool.   I didn't know if the type of flower was significant because of the traits designated for babies born but turns out it is actually the flower that blooms during that month, which makes it even more significant then of course flowers each have their own meanings assigned from long ago when posies bore special romantic or poignant significant expressions to the one receiving them.  The verses are precious as are the babies they are meant for and of course even adults will smile learning the special significance of the flower just for them in their birth month.   Geared for 3-7 year olds, but, honestly, no matter what the material, doesn't everyone every age want to take a peek at something that might portend their destiny?     Good book.   I enjoyed it.   It is always fun to learn something new.                                                                                                                                           

 

April 2023 Team Totals

 In April, 3 people read 28 books with a total of 8521 pages.  Shirley was the winner with 19 books and 5294 pages!  Thanks to all of the readers for participating!

March 2023 Team Totals

 

In March, Shirley was the only reader.  She read 20 books with 5633 pages.  Congratulations, Shirley!

Dead of Winter

 "Dead of Winter" by Darcy Coates   384 pp.

Christa's boyfriend Kiernan invites her to go on a trip to an exclusive lodge high in the Rocky Mountains.  The tour company suggests that everyone leave their electronics at home so they can enjoy getting away from it all.  A downed tree on the road means it needs to be moved.  While the other men in the tour group work on getting rid of it, Kiernan takes Christa on a walk.  She loses him in the snow and stumbles upon an abandoned hunting cabin.  By the time she arrives, the other members of the tour group are there, as well.  Christa has some bad frostbite and she hears someone else in the group say they might have to cut off her arm.  Kiernan is not there.  Christa wants to go out looking for him (and does a few times), but does not find him at first.  Then during the night, the tour guide disappears and other tour members soon follow.

"The Dead of Winter" by Darcy Coates was described as similar to "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie.  This is true in that all the people on this trip to a remote lodge have secrets and the characters die one by one.  This story, however, is far more graphic in its violence.  The story was gripping and fast-paced.  I figured out who the bad guy was before the end, however.

It Happened One Fight

 

It Happened One Fight by Maureen Lee Lenker  384 pp.

Joan Davis and Dash Howard have made a series of movies together, but can't seem to get along.  Joan has to contend with a jealous Hollywood gossip columnist who found out something Joan herself doesn't know--Joan and Dash are married!  It seems Dash (as a joke) sent Joan the marriage license from their movie (that was performed by a real minister) and Joan's assistant sent it off to city hall not knowing what it was.  Now both Dash and Joan are off to Reno so they can get a quickie divorce while filming their latest film (written by Joan's assistant) and Joan can marry the man she's engaged to.  

With elements of old Hollywood movies (including "It Happened One Night", "It Happened One Fight" is a cute romance.  Anyone who is a Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Clark Gable, or Montgomery Clift/Rock Hudson fan will find the book thoroughly entertaining.

The African Kitchen: A Day in the Life of a Safari Chef

Shirley J.     Adult Non-Fiction African Cookbook     Recipe from Ethiopia and other African Nations.

The African Kitchen: A Day in the Life of a Safari Chef by Josie Stow and Jan Baldwin       144 pages

Fascinating story, photos and recipes from chefs who work out in the wild on safari tours carrying their ingredients and cooking utensils, stoves and refrigerators out in the savannah to give tourists not only the experience of being up close and personal with wild animals still living free on the continent, but, also offering up lavish meals prepared outside on the African plains to give safari goers the ultimate experience of enjoying gourmet meals and adult beverages made from recipes from Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Namibia, Mozambique, etc.   The authors cite many recipes from a Zulu chef friend and the recipes sound so succulent and the photos so compelling it makes the reader wish you could be out there right along with them to experience the phenomenon that is Africa, ther terrain, the animals in the wild, the culture, the spirit, the freedom of experiencing living in the wild if only for a little while and living the dream that is the essence of African cooking.    It amazed me how simple the authors make it all seem.  What all they do to provide the full safari experience while making these sometimes extremely intricate recipes that they explain in such easy to follow instructions and explain them in such down to earth ways even as they have to often race ahead of the safari tourists in order to get elaborate food stations set up that are incredible yet out in the wild among all God's creatures.    They even teach you how to find termite mounds and how to make sure they have been vacated in order to term them into pizza ovens!   They tell you how to be sure the spot you are setting up in is free of snakes, cheetahs, elephants, lions etc.  Then how to go about setting up the equipment you have brought out.    It is always a good day if the eggs make it without cracking while riding fast in the jeeps as they rush out to stay ahead of the tour in order to provide cold drinks, and delightful appetizers, entrees, fruit and vegetable recipes that are foreign to our ears but look absolutely delectable in the photos included.   And to think of hauling actual stoves (they sometimes cook over a fire, they sometimes even put things on a shovel over a fire to cook them, but they don't always use termite mounds or cooking dugouts in the ground, they actually have refrigerators and stoves that households would use - how do they do it?    Generators?   Gas?   And then the elaborate decorations and tables adorned wonderfully and bars seriously BARS where they provide adult beverages, sometimes making their own vodka from many ingredients including fermented chili peppers.    I highly recommend everyone check out this look into a world you might never know about otherwise.   When I think about safaris, I had never thought about the local people working for the safari company to put out a spread of food that would rival a 5 star restaurant in the States.  Man!  They know how to throw a party at ever sitting and to have a view of Kilamanjaro rising above the serengetti, too!   Once when I was young I asked my Mom, "If you could be anywhere right now, where would it be?"   She said, "I would like to be on safari."    Having read this book with its wonderful asides telling of great experiences and repasts, along with the beauty and pureness of animals living free as they are meant to and being able to share that dream for even just a moment in time.   I am right there with you, Mom.   I recommend this book to anyone old enough to appreciate the wonder, the cuisine and the beauty and skill of bringing it all together in the outdoors in the magical continent of Africa.                                                                                                                                        

 

Not If I See You First

 Shirley J.         Teen Fiction              Auto accident, Blind, Orphaned, meeting life strong and head-on

Not If I See You First by Eric Lindstrom       336 pages

When Parker was 4, she was in a car accident that killed her mother and left her blind.   As a teenager her father died and now her Aunt and two cousins have moved in to Parker's house (it was way nicer than theirs) to look after her.   Parker is smart and doles out sage advice and tough love to her best friend and other friends.   Her cousin Sarah, now living with her, who is the same age and now attending the highschool that Parker goes to is not her bff.   To say their relationship is testy is being generous, but, she gets along great with Sarah's younger brother at least.   Not a lot of love showing from her Aunt, but, then they were never close till her Dad died so it is a familial unit of convenience for the most part.   Parker has strict rules she has set for herself, "Don't treat me any different" because she is blind and "Never take advantage."     She puts up a good facade of being tough but secretly she gives herself a gold star for every day she doesn't cry since her Dad's death.  Oh yeah, and her guilty pleasure is running.   Turns out, blind or not, she is good at it.   Lots happens, a blast from her past reemerges along with a new love interest and a maybe who ends up being tutored in calculus by Parker and her friends thereby earning the title of being "one of the girls."   A very well told story of teen angst with a whole lot more going on besides.    I recommend this one to middle schoolers on up.   A very good debut novel by Eric Lindstrom.

If I Could Turn Back Time: A Novel

Shirley J.             Adult Fiction                        Head Trauma, Time Travel, Getting a Do-Over on the past

If I Could Turn Back Time: A Novel by Beth Harbison    352 pages

Ramie Phillips gets the chance to do what so many wish we could at some point, she gets to go from her current 38 year old self who is successful, parties with the rich and famous but often feels "what if she had taken a different path?"   The universe or her fairy godmother hears her thoughts and while drinking champagne at a party on a yacht, she goes to dive off a diving board into the pool but hits her head and ends up going back in time to her 18 year old self to relive the time before graduation when she broke up with the love of her life and now she gets a do-over to see what her future would be with him in it, added bonus, she gets to see her Dad alive again and try to save him from the cancer that takes his life.   Problem: will she be stuck in the past and have to live everything over knowing what she knows now?    Very well done story unlike other similar theme fictions.   I recommend this one to high schoolers on up.
 

Woman Thou Art Loosed

 

Shirley J.                  Adult Non-Fiction                  Scriptural help for women dealing with past abuse

Woman Thou Art Loosed!: Healing the Wounds of the Past by T. D. Jakes     224 pages

In this book, T. D. Jakes addresses his teaching on the biblical scriptures telling of Jesus' encounters with the woman who had been healed by touching the hem of his cloak, the woman at the well, Mary Magdalene, the woman caught in the act of adultery, Tamar whose brother raped her, and more biblical scripture dealing with women who were dealing with past traumas and how God can help them to overcome and put past hurts behind them.    He addresses how to deal with low self-esteem, self-hatred, tragedy, disappointments then shows how regardless of what a woman has gone through in her past he offers hope and healing and how to achieve deliverance from past or present abuse and shows how God can make a way.    Good book,   I recommend this one to teenagers on up.

The Writing Retreat

 

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz 320 pages

 

I go on a writing retreat once a year, so when I saw this title in the library, I had to check it out!

 

For the past year, Alex has had writer’s block. She blames it on her breakup with her girlfriend, Wren. The opening chapters set up how destructive Alex’s life is since the two are no longer together.

 

Ursula, a friend, enters one of her old stories into a writing contest. The Grand Prize is a month-long writer’s retreat led by Alex’s all-time favorite, feminist horror writer Roza Vallo. Of course, she gets in, otherwise there would not be a novel. Alex is one of five women invited to the retreat. In addition to working with Roza, the winner will receive a publishing contract and a one-million-dollar reward. There is a lot at stake.

 

The retreat is held at Roza’s upstate New York estate, Blackbriar. Roza is eccentric and the women who care for her and her estate are also eccentric. That leads to a few weird rules and timeframes that seem impossible to meet. Each woman must write 3,000 new words for her novel and submit them to Roza everyday by midnight. If one of the women misses the deadline, she is invited to leave. That is a tough assignment for Alex who has not written a word in over a year.

 

Alex is in a frenzy. Wren is also there, so tensions are high. During the cocktail hour at the beginning of the retreat, Roza tells the group about the people who used to own Blackbriar. This opens a portal to the spirit of Daphne, the house’s former mistress. And that portal provides Alex with her novel.

 

In addition to watching the ladies write, all sorts of weird things begin to happen. The Writing Retreat has all the elements of a great gothic mystery. It also centers on the themes of friendship, creativity, courage and ambition.

 

Th plot is a little over the top for my tastes and too many graphic sex scenes. I’m not a prude, but it got old after a while. I was also disappointed that readers never learn the topics the other women are writing about. I loved the eeriness of Blackbrair and the author’s ability not to foreshadow too many of the happenings.

 

I had to know what happened, but not sure I would recommend this to anyone. Therefore, The Writing Retreat receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Strangers in the Night: A Novel of Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner

Strangers in the Night: A Novel of Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner by Heather Webb 432 pages

 

Fans of Francis Albert Sinatra know he was a complicated man. He could be as loyal as man’s best friend and generous to a fault. When he loved you, he loved you, but when he hated you, he hated you.

 

Frank was a man who loved hard, who worked hard and who played hard. And so was one of Old Hollywood’s sex goddess’ and movie star Ava Gardner. It was as if the two were cut from the same cloth.

 

And when they met, oh my God, did fireworks fly. Combine all the above with the fact that his career was virtually over and hers was on the rise, well, it was instantaneous combustion. They were doomed from the first flame.

 

Author Webb divides the book into five sections, by date and with Frank’s song and movie titles and traces their relationships from 1946-1990, the comings, the going and all the in-betweens. Somehow, they were there for each other, chasing each other around the world. And drink? Those two could almost drink each other under the table! This story is the story of that chemistry, the need for each other that only they could sate.

 

However, always in the background was Nancy, Frank’s first wife, and his kids. Oh, how he loved those kiddos!

 

Frank was a notorious womanizer and only wanted the best things in life. Ava wanted a career, but she also wanted a quiet cottage surrounded by a family.

 

There were times I wanted to stop reading. I didn’t like to see who they were so cruel to each other. Frank came off worse than Ava did, and she, could be a real bitch. That broke my heart. But one thing I found sweet. Ava always called him Francis, unless she was pissed at him, then it was Frank. Only his mother got away with calling him Francis.

 

Strangers in the Night A Novel of Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

Return to Virgin River: A Novel (Book 21 of 22 in the Virgin River series)

 

Shirley J.              Adult Fiction/Romance                 Virgin River, population 600 nestled among the redwoods in northern California

Return to Virgin River (Book 21 in the 22 book Virgin River series.) by Robyn Carr   262 pages

A light breezy romance.   Suspense writer, Kaylee Sloan has just lost her mother to cancer, it has stunted her writing, she is totally lost in life now as her anchor, her advisor, her confidant, her best friend is now gone from her life.   Her mother left her house to Kaylee and it is a wonderful house, the one Kaylee grew up in and the one Kaylee had lived in again after coming back home to stay with her Mom after she was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer.   Everywhere she looks there is a memory or sentimental tie to everything in the house.   Her mother died on Christmas Day and Kaylee cannot abide the thought of going through celebrating the day ever again.   She doesn't feel like writing but even if she did the constant barrage of people calling or dropping by filled with good intentions but not understanding that Kaylee just needed to be left alone so she could pour her tears out in her writing but that seemed to be going nowhere.   She couldn't concentrate for crying and missing her Mom terribly.  She  decides she needs to get away.   Nothing sounds good until an offer comes from family friends to visit a small community on a lake she and her mother used to join them at many summers as Kaylee was growing up after her father left them.  Perfect!   A getaway she could use as a writer's retreat since she still owed her editor another suspense novel and her deadline was creeping up on her.  When she gets to the cabin it is like a punch in both of her eyes!   The cabin is on fire!  The story goes from there with what action Kaylee takes next, the reaction of the community to her, how her fear of dogs plays in to it, her attitude about the holidays.  This really was a comfy book to curl up with and an easy enough story to just let your mind follow where the story takes you.  The characters are very soul soothing and I think anyone reading this story will like it.   I recommend this one to mature high schoolers on up to seniors.   It is like spending time with grown folks you really get along with. 

The Only Plane In the Sky

 Shirley J.                 Adult Non-Fiction Historical                  First Person Accounts of 9/11 Experiences   The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff  560 pages

WOW!  This book will literally take your breath away it is that impactful.  It is told in the words of the people who experienced it first hand, both those who survived it and those who did not.   It is one after the other leading up to the event,  those on the ground or in the air during the event, chillingly those trapped in the inferno with no escape and those below watching in horror as it all unfolded around them.   Readers will feel the chill of the hijackers' words as they took over the plane, feel the realization of the passengers and loved ones knowing there is no way out and the helplessness of those trying to respond to this shocking act of terror while being helpless to stop it.   The book brought up something I hadn't realized before, many people made it down and out of the building only to die during the sudden impact of the bodies of jumpers falling on top of them.    Many firefighters died in that rain of bodies from above, too.   They describe the horrid sounds this made.   The sheer thought of people running forward out of the towers in relief to what they thought was safety only to die on the ground under the body of a desperate person choosing suicide over being burned up by 1800+ degree incinerating fire, or from choking to death on the fumes from the gas leaking from the jet engine or the smoke pouring everywhere or imploding in one of the multitudinous explosions as windows blew out and pulled some victims out to their death.   Some victims lost their lives trying to help others.   Some people followed protocol and obeyed the directive, "Stay where you are, don't move, responders are on their way and know where you are."   That was the massive chaos at the twin towers before, during, then after the attack followed by the inthinkable collapsing of both towers.   But there were two more hijacked planes, one crashing into the Pentagon another stopped from its wretched mission by passengers who rose up to fight the terrorists on that plane which crashed in a field.   Oh, wow.   This book brings so much of that whole sensory experience right to the reader.    Like I said, it will literally take your breath away.   A good book, a factual encounter that the reader will not forget and a teaching experience in that everything you may have thought you knew about that awful time is only a speck on the top of what actually transpired.   It is a nightmare.  Having said that, I do feel that everyone should experience as much of this book as they can even if they cannot finish it, know as much of what really happened.  Too intense for the very young, even the young, but certainly, high schoolers on up and I would recommend this book be on every high school and college reading list.  

The Kiss Quotient

 Shirley J.                      Adult Fiction                   Asberger's, Male escorts,  Economic trend tracking

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang   352 pages

Stella Lane is an econometrician (economics expert) who researches and analyzes marketing trends to guide corporate business decisions.   She is very successful and obsesses over the math of compiling sales figures in various sectors so much so that she spends upwards of 12 hours or more a day at work and even comes in on the weekends because she so loves what she does.  This behavior necessitates little to no social life and her experience in that department is almost non-existant as in her 30+ years she has had 3 sexual encounters none of which were particularly pleasing as she was diagnosed in her childhood as autistic and suffers from asbergers.   She can hardly tolerate other people touching her.  She doesn't relate well to other people and doesn't know the norms of social interacting especially in large groups.   Her solitary work is perfect for her.   She can tabulate numbers to her heart's content and she can do it alone.   Perfect.   When her mother starts pushing her to find a boyfriend and stop working so much as her mother wants very much to be a grandmother.  Her mother starts trying to set Stella up with the boss at her firm who happens to be the son of one of her mother's acquaintances.   After a sort of stumbling get together, to which Stella turns her head when the boss goes in for a kiss, the idea of kissing him nearly makes her puke.   Prior to that Stella's sexual encounters have been 3 one night stands that neither party came away feeling particularly good about.   Stella likened French kissing to a shark having those little fish clean it's teeth.  The mere remembrance made her shudder.  She decides she needs instruction on the how of handling relationships and the intimacies that go with it.   She decides to hire a male escort to teach her what she needs to do to keep a man.    And that is what she does.   Enter Michael.   They both end up with way more than they expected!  A good book and manual on how to get and keep a man.   This one is pretty sexually explicit - it is training after all.  I recommend this one to adults through senior citizens.  

Meet Cute

 Shirley J.                  Adult Fiction                                Child Star, Lawyers, Life Upheaval

Meet Cute by Helena Hunting     384 ages

Kailyn Flowers was a huge fan of former t.v. star, Daxton Hughes.  So much so she collected every bit of memorabilia she could.   His face adorned multiple t-shirts she owned, action figures, cups, ad infinitum.  Then when she started law school,  who does she run into and has a fan-girl melt-down over, but, Daxton Hughes!   He is actually in class with her.   Him and his jerk friends.  Daxton in full star mode, turns on the smile he reserves for fan situations and is pleasant enough at the time, but, later when she asked for his help in turning in a paper, he betrays her.  Going through many hardships in her life, she can never get over the outright act of betrayal Daxton committed and her grade and her grade point average suffered because of it.   They never saw each other again until the day Dax comes walking into her law firm office with his parents to set up a trust.    Dax acts as if he doesn't remember her and nothing happened.   It is all Kailyn can do to remain professional throughout the meeting.  When a tragedy occurs, Kailyn and Dax are thrown back together.   He seeks her help and being a good person she doesn't refuse him but they will be tested throughout this new turn of events.   A good story told well.  Remember, "It ain't over till its over."   I recommend this one to high schoolers on up.              

Recommended For You

 

Shirley J.                 Young Adult Fiction                                Bookstores,  Jewish Teens, Two Moms

Recommended For You by Laura Silverman   272 pages       

Shoshanna Greenberg, teen workerbee at "Once Upon," her favorite bookstore, daughter of Mom and Mama, her two Moms, owner of Barbara Streisand, her hoopdie mobile that is always on its last leg and who she often prays to HaShem (Jewish word meaning "the Name" used to refer to God) to get her where she needs to go.   With Mom and Mama verbally sparing all the time now (Shoshanna is getting skiddish of the big D looming) the store has become her oasis.     Around the holidays, to kick up business as the store has been hit hard over the past few years from lack of sales, Shoshanna's boss announces a competition.   A cash prize for the employee selling the most books.    Shoshanna sees a way to get her car fixed, little does she know there is some steep competition for the prize money.   Good story, fun dialogue and fun characters.   I recommend this to middle schoolers on up.