Burial Rites

Burial Rites 

Burial Rites by Hannah Dent 322 pp.

Burial Rites is the story of Agnes Magnusson who was found guilty of murdering her employer in Iceland in the 1800s.  Because prison does not exist as a building in Iceland during this time period, she is sent to live with a family and has a spiritual advisor who is to come to visit her until the date of her execution.  Agnes is not interested in praying with the "minister in training" she has chosen, but when he offers to let her tell about herself and her crime, she takes him up on the offer.  When the minister become ill and cannot visit toward the end, she unburdens herself to the wife of the household she is staying in.  At first the family is cold toward her, but eventually everyone treats her as though she belongs.  I will not spoil the ending of this beautifully written and sad story.

This is a fictionalized version of a real event in Iceland.

Turbo Twenty-Three

 

Shirley J.                  Adult Fiction                           Lady Bounty Hunter/Naked Reality Shows /Ice Cream   

Turbo Twenty-Three by Janet Evanovich    352 pages

Gramma Mazur has a new honey with a bike.   After a dead body falls out of an ice cream truck and the guy is covered in chocolate and nuts, Ranger has Stephanie go under cover for the client he is working for to find out who killed the head of H.R. for the Bogart Ice Cream Company?   There is that little family rivalry thing when the ice cream business was split equally at the death of the benefactor, and oh yeah, there are so many disgruntled employees that the suspect pool is about to go double digits.  In the meantime, little person, Randy Briggs has talked Lula into making a demo tape with him for a new reality show called, "Naked and Afraid."  Stark naked on the far end of Stark Street where no cops ever go down by the occasional factory and open field with lots of trash around - the demo begins.   Long story short, Gramma Mazur held the flashlight, Stephanie held the clacker and someone threw a white cat at Lula!  The bodies continue to pile up at the ice cream factory - what is up?    Good story.   With the "Naked and Afraid" theme guess I had better recommend this one for adults of all ages.   Oh yeah, and then there is the naked bungee jumping.   Hilarious!

Tricky Twenty-Two

 

Shirley J.                     Adult Fiction                      Lady Bounty Hunters/ Catfishing/Snakes                           

Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovich    352 pages

When the head exalted leader, "Gobbles" of the Zeta frat house is arrested for beating up the dean of students at Kittmann College, no body knows his whereabouts when he misses his  court date  and Stephanie Plum, lady bounty hunter and Lula, her best friend, co-worker and former lady of the evening come to call to pick him up.  That is just one F.T.A. (failed to appear in court)  her other super high profile and big ticket F.T.A. is a serial rapist who kills his victims, cuts them up and feeds them to feral cats.   As if that isn't enough the perp doesn't keep guard dogs at his crib, turns out most of the baddies and meth cookers in Trenton have started keeping snakes in the grass around their hidey holes - cheaper than guard dogs and more effective they have found.   Now while all this is going on, Gramma Mazur has decided she wants to be a cougar and goes catfishing with Stephanie's photo online.  Zeta house in the meantime is blowing up fireworks, collecting aquariums in the cellar of the house, Morelli breaks up with Stephanie and why is Lula wearing a flea collar?   You will be bedazzled after this one!   Gotta love these folks, you never know what, where, how or who is coming next.   Love it!  I recommend this one to mature teens on up.    

Bridge to Haven

 Shirley J.                     Adult Fiction                     Abandoned children,  1950s movie stars

Bridge to Haven by Francine Rivers      480 pages    

When Pastor Ezekiel Freeman finds an abandoned baby under a bridge outside of the town of Haven little does he know his wife will want to adopt her.     Life in the Freeman family is full of love, support and security for the little girl now 6, but when the only mother she has ever known gets sick and dies, then the only father she has ever known takes her from her home and GIVES her to another family in town to raise, she, Abra, is damaged mentally for life.   She misses her brother, Joshua and can't understand why her Daddy abandoned her.   Every day she wished for him to come back and take her home but he never did.   Her new home had 2 adults who professed to care for her and her new "sister" had been her best friend who had said I wish we were sisters many times, but, once Abra actually did live in her home, the girl turned surly and hateful and jealous.  Life just kept getting worse.  The adults in the home kept wanting her to call them Mom and Dad, but, she just couldn't.  She had parents and they no longer wanted her she would never trust completely again.  Love didn't last.  Her "sister" brought a rich bad boy home when Abra was 17 and the playboy made a pass at Abra. and she ends up running away from home with him only to find out jumping out of the frying pan just got her into the fire.  The boy eventually takes her to his mother's home and they both use her for information (the mother - a Hedda Hopper type) and the boy abused her mentally and sexually.   She next moves on to a life with an older man who imprisons her in his home only letting her out to act in film under his strict watch.   Her film career soars ala Marilyn Monroe style and the folks back home recognize her from photos in magazines and newspapers though her is now Lena Scott.   Where does her story go from here?   Excellent story    I highly recommend this one to teens on up.                  

The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Result

 

Shirley J.                  Adult Non-Fiction                  Achieving Rapid Results on What Matters in Life    

The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan        240 pages

Excellent book and it really is that simple, whether you are dealing with work, home, friends, whatever, focus on the one thing that matters most and do that first.   Put all your attention and focus into it.   Do not let less important tasks or nearly as consequential things grab your attention - stay with the one most important thing to do - get it done- and everything else will fall into place.   Put the thought and time required in deciding out of all of the things on your to do list which is the one necessary thing to do to make it happen for your career, weight loss, getting your body fit, getting your marriage back on track, creating the space you need to achieve what you need to do for enriching your family life or your work life.   Multitasking doesn't cut it.  To accomplish more work solidly on the one most important thing then move to the second but only after you have completed the one thing first.  The authors outline how your productivity will improve when you don't allow the daily distractions (email, etc.) to pull you away from the one thing that really needs your attention.   You will cut down on stress, be more effective and get more done by doing les - don't try to do 6 different things, do 1 really well then do another really well but not all at once.   You will stop being overwhelmed and revive your energy by staying on track with the one thing that matters most.   I recommend this book to teens on up.   Learn to do that one thing and the rest is easy, 

Tender Is the Night

 

Shirley J.                Adult Fiction                                                  Film Stars of the 1920a

  Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald       332 pages  

A good story with many a surprising twist and turn.  At one point it broaches the subject of pedophilia which surprised me in a novel from that time frame.   An interesting look into the lives of several people living/vacationing in the South of France, all coming together and getting to know one another in their wealthy click.   A child star of American films becomes an unknowing Lolita when she and one of the married men in the group become obsessed with one another.   Friendship, innocence, betrayal all come tog4ther in this lifestyles of the rich and famous set in the Jazz age.   The writing is impeccable, the characters well fleshed out and so real you get a good visual in your mind as you read the words on the page.  Everything happens for a reason and even the most disparate comes together in the end.  Jolly laughs and melancholy meet here.   I recommend this one to adults as I think teens might find it a little less moving,.

        

French Exit

 

Shirley J.                    Adult Fiction                 Dark comedy about jaded people meeting up in France    

French Exit: A Novel by Patrick DeWitt     256 pages

Such an enjoyable read.   The characters are so dead pan and jaded they are comical.  And of course Small Frank the cat is possibly the most sane one, but, then he is possessed by the spirit o Big Frank then, isn't he?    Egad!  Scandal!  Bankruptcy!    A wealthy widow and her man-child son leave the shame forced upon them in New York and when a family friend offers the enticement of her home in France as a refuge from their storms they jump at it like drowning folks to a life preserver.   Hence French Exit.   Of course, they cannot leave Small Frank behind so he is smuggled across the ocean and into France where they all alight in Paris.  Once they move into their friend's abode in Paris it seems they are beacons for an odd array of folks who just seem to drift in and stay (a shy detective, a psychic they met while on the ship they came over on, who holds a seance for them to contact Big Frank, a doctor and his wine merchant,  Malcolm's (the son's) former girlfriend and her new fiancee' and another clingy American wealthy widow who is desperate for friends and latches on to the widow and her son).   When the friend who owns the apartment in France comes over to visit she is astounded by all the people in the apartment and asks how many people are living here now?   A dark balance of levity and tragedy but an enjoyable story nonetheless.   I recommend it to highschoolers on up.  Also, I just found out it was made into a movie and I am looking forward to seeing Michelle Pfeiffer in the lead role.

The Moon Changes Shape (Tell Me Why Library)

 

Shirley J                        Juvenile Non-Fiction                     The Moon is all its phases

The Moon Changes Shape (Tell Me Why Library) by Kathryn Beaton    24 pages

A really good book that explains the phases of the moon and why it seems to change shape explaining the rotation of the moon and how it is all still really there it is just the rotation that causes shadows to cover parts at certain times.   Good photos and clear explanation.   It also offers other sources and further study information.   Good book for parents, teachers and kids to discuss.

Funny Girl

 

Shirley J.                           Adult Fiction                                     Small town girl to t.v. star!

Funny Girl: A Novel by Nick Hornby    480 pages

This story takes you through the life of Sophie who starts out in a small village/town where everyone literally knows everyone else, most can claim family kinship however distant and how she went from being different and knowing she was destined  for more to getting her dreams realized by moving to London and through miracle of miracles landing a role on a t,v. series.   It starts out funny but develops into a whole other show by addressing serious and controversial aspects of love, marriage and all the situations that can come.   The writers end up putting their own lives and trials into the shows they are writing and the characters begin to develop into in the end far from the people they started out being.   Sophie is a natural at comedy and her dream was to be Lucille Ball and for a time it looked like she was realizing that goal, but, as the writers' lives morph into new places the fun and laughter fades as topics of abortion and divorce enter the show's venue.   The stars reap wide acclaim though when Sophie gets the chance to meet her idol Lucille ball in person one day, while kind and full of praise, it is certain to Sophie that their show hasn't quite reached every where across the pond, yet.   Good story.   Sophie's development is encouraging.   I would recommend this story to teens on up.  It gives a good study on how to make it and what to expect in the television industry even if it is set in the 60s.    

 

Full House

 

Shirley J.                Adult Fiction                      Divorced Mother Seeking New Hobbies

Full House by Janet Evanovich   352 pages

I really like Janet Evanovich's writing and her characters, however, I have to say that even though she has different series going simultaneously, all of her female characters are Stephanie Plum just with different names.  Now, this may be because she bases Stephanie on herself thereby putting herself in all of her stories, but, I am finding a continual pattern here in the three different series of hers I have read now, everyone is basically Stephanie and all of their love interests are the same guys Morelli and Ranger though, also with different names and in this particular story, her Ranger character is her gardner and Morelli is a polo player and instructor but so similar as to be clones.   Once you get past that, the stories are good and well worth the read.  In this series, Billie Pearce is a divorced mother of two who shares custody of her kids with her ex who has them for the summer.    She is thinking of exploring new hobbies while the kids are away and decides to learn to play polo.   Through much plotline she ends up allowing the polo instructor/love interest, Nicholas Kaharchek's weird spoiled relative DeeDee to move in.   This brings a whole bag of good and bad and some really funny dialogue and situations - DeeDee is dating a professional wrestler and fixes Billie up with one of his friends.   Later in the story the kids come home to find that Mom has now "taken up' with the polo player and who is that strange woman living in there house?   The house gets fuller as the story goes there is a double wedding, a mass bomber and loads more just like in a Stephanie Plum story, but, keep an eye on everyone even the bugs in this story!   Yes, I recommend it to teens on up.

Madcap May: Mistress of Myth, Men and Hope

Shirley J.                 Adult Non-Fiction                        Biography of May Yohe

Madcap May: Mistress of Myth, men and Hope  by Richard Kurin   288 pages

What an interesting lady!  Rumored to have had 13 husbands during her lifetime, May was a world famous actress, singer, stage and vaudeville performer.   One of her husbands was a British Duke who for a time owned the Hope Diamond and when May became a Duchess she was said to wear it out on special occasions.   Later in life when inheiritances were in the balance a couple of people came forward and said they were her children in order to get a share of the wealth but May was adamant about not having given birth to any children.   The cases though long fought were never proven though some witnesses were called, their testimony was labeled here say.   May was born in 1866 and died in 1938 - she experienced the repercushions of the Civil War through the Great Depression and beyond.   She was a world traveller and good friend to kings, presidents, and celebrities and had many tokens of esteem from each.   She experienced extreme highs in life and incredible lows when she went to work as a scrub woman on a dock and took care of her invalid husband whom she had shot at one point.  Such an exciting life she led   I highly recommend this story of quite the historical character that no one ever heard of.   Go, May!

Disney Pixar Storybook Collection

Shirley J.                  Juvenile Fiction                 New Stories starring favorite Pixar characters

Disney Pixar Storybook Collection by Disney Book Group       320 pages

I am such a huge Pixar fan.   I love the films and the stories of Nemo and Dorie,  Woody and all his toybox friends, Mater and all the other Cars,  Mike, Sully and the Monsters, Inc. gang - if its Pixar characters the story is an excellent one.   This book does not disappoint.  It is a fun visit with many of the characters we have come to love and these are additional stories to the ones we already know.   Like getting to visit a little more of their lives and adventures.   Thoroughly enjoyable book for young and old.  I highly recommend it.  

Broken (in the Best Possible Way)

 Shirley J.                     Adult Non-Fiction                   Mental Illness,   Comedic Takes on Life

Broken (in the Best Possible Way) by Jenny Lawson   304 pages

Jenny Lawson is very open about dealing with her issues with mental illness,  her marriage, her  husband and daughter,  their pets and life in general with all its trials, tribulations and hilarity.   I laughed so much  while reading this book.   She is so delightful in her descriptions of how things happen and how she interprets those happenings.   Her voice is that of a millenial, but, her references are those of a much older soul.  I get her so much it is a joy to read her work.   I can't wait to find more literature by this author.   She is clever, witty, outrageously funny and will have you shaking your head at all the inventive ideas she has.   She can be candid and poignant one minute then say something so off the wall the next.   I love this person!   I highly recommend this book but if you are offended with curse words please be advised.  In her defense she uses said words in such perfection she has brought them to a new level.   Like a perfect note in a Mozart melody, her m.f. bombs are dropped into her conversation so judiciously and with such aplomb I am applauding her precision of language,  Oh my gosh, she is great!   I recommend this book for adults only because of the R rating due to language but her insights are amazing and should be shared by all.  Most excellent book and a favorite.  

Unbroken Thread

The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos by Sohrab Ahmari, 265 pages

In The Unbroken Thread, Sohrab Ahmari attempts to draw his readers' minds to a series of twelve questions, including "How Do You Justify Your Life?" and "What Do You Owe Your Body?"  He asks us to meditate on these questions in the light of the ideas and experiences of thinkers ranging from Confucius to Andrea Dworkin.  These are hard questions that defy simple answers, essential questions, yet questions that few seriously consider beyond the superficial responses that our superficial society provides.  In inviting us to consider such fundamental matters, Ahmari threatens to radically transform how we think about ourselves and the world.

The Unbroken Thread is not a self-help book.  It is not a quick survey of great books offering cheap self-satisfaction or conversation starters.  It isn't a diatribe against the ills of the modern world.  It isn't an especially challenging book, intellectually.  It is remarkably personal, seemingly for the author and certainly for those readers willing to engage with it.

Tintoretto

Tintoretto: Artist of Renaissance Venice, edited by Robert Echols and Fredrick Ilchman, 222 pages

Tintoretto seems to be one of those artists who needs to be rediscovered in every generation.  John Ruskin saw in him the perfect artist, Henry James claimed that he had reached the "uttermost limit of painting", yet he remains overshadowed by Titian, Veronese, and the Florentines.  The five hundredth anniversary of the artist's birth in 1518/9 gave a new generation their own opportunity to be surprised by Tintoretto's genius, with a joint exhibition in his native Venice and Washington, DC. 

For those of us unable to see the exhibition in person, there is the catalog, which is thoroughly excellent, with essays touching on every aspect of Tintoretto's life and art, demonstrating the remarkable degree to which he succeeded in his life's work of combining "the draftsmanship of Michelangelo and the coloring of Titian."

Meeting in Positano

Meeting in Positano (translated from the Italian by Brian Robert Moore) by Goliarda Sapienza 256 pages

What attracted me to this novel was that it was set in Positano, a town south of Naples on the Amalfi coast. I love Italian settings. Picking up the book paid off because Positano is more than a setting; it’s a character in the book.  Author Sapienza does a wonderful job describing its beauty.

Sapienza worked as an actress from the late 1940s to the early ‘50s.  She made six films and after worked dried up, she worked in other areas of the movie industry. However, after her death in 1996, her husband found several novels that she had written and began publishing them.

In this novel, she is scouting locations and meets Erica Beneventano, a lovely widow. The two women become very intimate friends, not lovers but almost. This story is a bit confusing. First, I was never completely sure who the narrator was. It’s supposed to Goliarda, but at times I felt as if the words were coming from Erica. And at other times, the plot seemed more like a memoir than a fictional piece, especially since author Goliarda uses her own name as her character’s name (that was really off-putting).

Basically this is Erica’s life story. The book could also be labeled as “based on a true story,” with Erica taking the lead as most of the story was hers. As Goliarda goes about her movie business, the two women become very close, not lover-close, by closer than sisters.

Life was not easy for Erica. She was a middle sister, forced to go to work at an early age, married to one of her father’s ex-business associates and forced to have an abortion that results in her inability to conceive more children Sometimes I couldn’t follow the plot, which I found quite frustrating. But the beauty of the writing and the descriptions kept me reading. 

I was dismayed at the end when I found an Afterword by Goliarda’s husband, Angelo Pellegrino. The back of the book also contained a timeline of Goliarda’s life and pictures of Positano. I wish I had read them first. I believe if I had, I wouldn’t have had such a hard time following the book’s action.  Therefore, “Meeting in Positano” receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

Interior Chinatown

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu  266 pages 

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu explores racism against Asian American people in script form.  Willis Wu talks about the different levels he expects to attain in life (as a tv script) based on Asian characters he sees in television and movies.  You start as Asian Guy and move up to Kung Fu guy, but are never a leading man in the script of your life or at work as an actor.  This book explores Wu's life and that of his family through the tropes that people expect when they enter an Asian community (in many cases, Chinatown).  It also discusses the history of Chinese people in the United States and laws that were written against them.  I didn't realize that Chinese Americans were not allowed to own property and no immigrants from Asian countries could be accepted until Lyndon B. Johnson changed the immigration laws for the US in the 1960s.

This book is for our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Book Club at St. Louis Public Library and should provide an interesting discussion.  It was the book discussed on PBS News Hour in February 2021.

Nothing Lasts Forever

Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp, 188 pages

The time is the late '70s.  Joe Leland is a retired New York City detective and World War II vet visiting his big-shot corporate daughter in LA.  The Christmas party at his daughter's office, high in the skyscraper headquarters of the Klaxon corporation, is even more festive this year, thanks to a massive deal with the Chilean dictatorship that has just been finalized.  Leland isn't terribly impressed by the deal, but he is impressed by the murderous German terrorists, led by the psychopathic Anton Gruber, who expertly seize control of the building and take the partygoers, including Leland's daughter and grandchildren, hostage.  Slipping away in the confusion, he wages a one man war against the terrorists, using elevator shafts and air conditioning ducts to stay one step ahead of his enemies, his only uncertain allies the police outside.  The same police now laying plans for a frontal assault on the terrorists, plans that put Leland and his loved ones in the middle of the crossfire.

Nothing Lasts Forever is, of course, the novel that became Die Hard.  Obviously, many things changed in the adaptation - most obviously some of the names, the age of the protagonist, turning the terrorists into thieves, and switching an estranged daughter for an estranged wife.  Much is the same - the friendly police sergeant (although here a much younger man), the prickish police captain, a terrorist enraged when his brother is the first to die, extended conversations between hero and villain over the radio.  One of the greatest differences, however, is that the novel is entirely focused on Leland.  Scenes in the film featuring secondary characters greatly aided their development, but in the novel that is all missing.  This is most obvious in the case of Anton, who despite being a smart and canny adversary lacks the dangerous charm of Hans, even setting aside that he doesn't have the advantage of being portrayed by Alan Rickman.  This also adds to the second great difference, the '70s grimness of the novel, which becomes more a test of Leland's endurance than of his inventiveness.  Nor is all his suffering physical, for not only do the novel's more progressive terrorists include a number of women, but events will prove that everyone, including Leland himself, is deeply morally compromised.

On its own, Roderick Thorp's novel is a fine diversion with vague aspirations to be something more.  The connection to Die Hard adds an entire other level of interest, providing material for hours of reflections on storytelling choices, the differences between novels and film, shifting social mores, the excellence of Alan Rickman, and the patience of long-suffering wives.

Ruby Falls

Ruby Falls by Deborah Goodrich Royce 272 pages 

Author Deborah Goodrich Royce employs one of my favorite plot devices, dueling timelines, to create a gothic, atmospheric, creepy and unsatisfying tale.

Ruby Eleanor Russell is six years old when she and her father take a trip to Lookout Mountain, Tennessee. At one point in the guided tour, the guides have the lights go out, so the tourists can hear the waters of Ruby Falls. It is there, while standing within a crowd of people, that Ruby’s father releases her hand and disappears. He is never seen or heard from again. That event, as one can imagine, affects the rest of Ruby’s life with deep-seated abandonment issues.

Flash forward to 1987. Ruby now goes by Eleanor. She is a famous soap opera actress who was recently fired from her job after, I think, suffering from a nervous breakdown. Eleanor’s character was quite popular, and I really didn’t understand why they let her go.

Needing to get away, and I’m not sure why, Eleanor flies to Zurich, where she is sent by a letter her father left behind. I didn’t get it, but I was intrigued. There she meets a British aristocrat, Orlando Montague. For someone supposedly so wealthy, Orlando depends on her money for everything they need or want. After a whirlwind romance, they return to Los Angeles as a married couple.

There they buy a rose-covered cottage in the Hollywood Hills. Eleanor lands the lead in the movie remake of Daphne du Maurier’s “Rebecca.” It’s not just a remake---it’s a gothic remake. That aspect of the novel, the remake of one of my favorite films, led me to want to read this novel. Life is good.

As Eleanor immerses herself in the role, her private life becomes more and more weird. She fears she is suffering a relapse of the condition that forced the television executives to fire her, but she cannot be sure. She adopts a cat and meets the woman across the street, whom I swear is a ghost. 

Behind their home is a small building that they use for an office. Orlando runs his high-end antique business from there as he looks for office space. Then he begins to change. He becomes evasive and abusive, making secret phone calls and taking secret trips.

The last third of the book didn’t make any sense to me. I wasn’t sure if Eleanor was having a breakdown and/or if Orlando was a criminal, plotting his next move. Maybe both. The ending confused me, and left me wondering “huh?” 

Part of me wants to give this book two stars. However. I could not put it down. I was desperately trying to figure it out and was unsatisfied---okay outraged---when I turned the last page. But never once did I even consider not finishing it. Therefore, “Ruby Falls” receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

Liberalism

Liberalism: A Critique of Its Basic Principles and Various Forms by Louis Cardinal Billot, SJ, translated by Msgr George Barry O'Toole and Thomas Storck, 67 pages

Written in the last years before the First World War, Liberalism is a masterful critique of the political ideology of the so-called Enlightenment.  Cutting right to the heart of the matter, Cardinal Billot exposes the core dogma of liberalism as the enthronement of liberty as the supreme good, and demonstrates how this is corrosive of every human institution and relationship.  Prophetically, he foresees the paradoxical condition of the thoroughly dehumanized mass man who will tolerate no power above or beside him save that of the omnipotent state.  In closing, he distinguishes three types of liberals - the consistent, revolutionary, luciferian liberal, the supposedly moderate liberal who imagines that he can command the revolutionary forces of destruction to only go so far and no further, and the Catholic liberal who, in attempting to separate his politics from his faith, inevitably betrays both.

As incisive as they are short, Cardinal Billot's essays are, if anything, more powerful today than they were when they were written, since history has only added to the evidence for his claims.

Moon Water

Moon Water by Pam Webber 280 pages

I didn’t know this novel was a follow-up to author Webber’s “The Wiregrass,” until I looked up the page count. Doesn’t matter, while it may be a follow-up novel, this is a true stand-alone.

It’s the summer of ’69 in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Lots of changes are happening in the country, but they don’t seem to touch these small mountain towns. Sixteen-year-old best friends Nettie and Win have a “project” to complete. Win’s grandmother, Nibi, is a Monacan Indian medicine woman. She knows “the darkness” is coming, hard times, but she cannot put her finger on what will happen. In order to prepare the girls for the event, she teaches them how to build a dreamcatcher. Nibi warns them that it won’t be easy—it will be journey that will shape the girls’ lives.

It wasn’t easy mining for the amethyst for the middle of the dreamcatcher, killing a dear in order to get the sinew, searching for golden eagle and white owl feathers and digging for arrowheads. These scenes bring in the setting as a character, which becomes important in the last third of the novel.

Other than the dreamcatcher, Nettie’s summer plans include trying to figure out her relationship with her longtime boyfriend Andy, even though they have broken up. Andy seems to be dating by her arch-nemesis, Anne.  And more than anything, Nettie wants to get baptized in the local Baptist church, but her doubts, and the fact that she voices them, stops the local preacher from baptizing her. The preacher has turned Nettie’s doubts over to the assistant preacher, which creates a “darkness” of its own.

Then the darkness arrives, seemingly out of the blue. The only ones prepared are Nibi and, somewhat, the girls, and Again, setting place an important part of the story in the tragedy that unfolds. I would love to say more, but I don’t want to give it away.

I really enjoyed learning about Nibi’s life as a medicine woman and life in the mountains. “Moon Water ” receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

Never Saw Me Coming

Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian 400 pages

The new school year is just beginning for incoming freshman Chloe Sevre. She has more on her mind than frat parties and studying at Washington D. C.’s John Adams University. An honor student, Chloe has also been selected to participate in an exclusive study led by a prestigious psychologist. Only six other students are in the program. You see, Chloe Sevre is a psychopath, as is the other six, and she has plans to kill Will Bachman. She won’t rest until he’s dead.

As the novel opens, Will Bachman has 60 days to live.

On the outside Chloe is an ordinary college student. As she interacts with those around her, readers get to see exactly how she thinks and feels---or rather doesn’t feel. As Will’s days dwindle down, other murders begin to occur on campus. The murders aren’t random, however.

Beneath the surface of what is happening on campus, there is high tension in DC. Marches and protests seem to occurred daily, but the city is preparing for its biggest rally since MLK’s March on Washington.

I wanted to love this book so much, but I just didn't care. I didn’t care how it ended or what happened to Chole and her friends. It was hard sometimes to just turn the page, but I did and every time, my high hopes kept getting dashed. I think this book is more aimed at young adults as opposed to middle-aged women. Strange feelings for a book about psychopaths? I hate it when I read and read and read, only to be disappointed at the end.

“Never Saw Me Coming ” received 1 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

SLPL June totals

 This month, we welcomed a new blogger to our team!  Jennifer HS is not only joining the team, but will be our new Admin --- welcome, Jennifer!!

This month:

6 people

read 43 books

for a total of 13,184 pages --- 4 of them with bonuses (either a City in the Title or a Title that ends in Y)

Shirley, as usual, was this month's Super Reader, logging a whopping 25 books.  Go Shirley!!

Only Plane in the Sky

The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M Graff, 425 pages

Even now, twenty years later, when the subject of 9/11 comes up, the conversation almost invariably turns into an exchange of personal experiences:  "This is what I was doing when..."  Virtually every person in the United States, and large numbers outside the US, were affected, emotionally if in no other way, by the events of that day.  The Only Plane in the Sky collects the "Where were you?" stories of hundreds of people, most of them uncomfortably close to the horror as it unfolded.

There are some notable lacunae - for example, the stories of the passengers and crew of Delta Air Lines Flight 1989 and Korean Air Flight 85, both erroneously believed to have been hijacked, are completely absent -  but those are filled elsewhere in the considerable amount of literature produced on the attacks.  This same literature poses other challenges - those seeking a comprehensive account of what happened inside the WTC are far better served by the excellent 102 Minutes, and detailed accounts of what happened in the White House and onboard Air Force One are not hard to come by, while the ATC and military response was recreated in a manner more truthful than most documentaries in United 93.  Where The Only Plane in the Sky shines is its relatability.  The current of testimonies of ordinary people suffering through what seemed unimaginable draws the reader on and on.  The result is a compelling portrait of a moment in time.

Robert B. Parker's Angel Eyes

 Shirley J.               Adult Fiction                           Spenser,   Private Eye series  Book 48

Robert B. Parker's Angel Eyes by Ace Atkin    305 pages

Gabby Leggett decides to leave her home in Boston to seek fame and fortune in L.A. as an actress,  however, as anyone who has been to L.A can tell you, many come seeking the dream but few actually achieve the dream.     Gabby being a young voluptuous girl makes a lot of "acquaintances" in L. A.  going on auditions she starts meeting industry people and starts getting noticed, not so much for her talent as for her potential easiness when it comes to the casting couch.   She takes up with a guy wh has a foot in the entertainment word door so she thinks a relationship with him would be beneficial to her career, and it turns out to get her introduced to a studio mogul who is all about pretty young ladies he can collect as his wife turns a blind eye on his shenanigans.  Shee son tosses her "boyfriend" to the curb, but, he doesn't want to stay there and becomes obsessive stalker though she makes no bones about working her way up the ladder.   He never gives up and when after 2 years in LA. she disappears, he is one of a small number of potential suspects to her demise.   When no one can reach her, her mothr hires Spenser to find her.  Turns out search and vacation go together as Spenser has lots of friends in L.A. including his former apprentice, Zebulon Sixkill (nice name for a stoic Cree Indian,  also another Native American buddy,  Bobby Horse who is always up for some action and a good strong fellow to have on yuor side, not to mention his South of the Border bud, Chollo who could shoot an eye out with precise precision from 500 yards away.   Good friends to have your back.   A good story with lots of references baby boomers will understand not so much millenials.  It becomes a question of is Gabby still alive or not?  And what is the connection with the Algerian mob and a wacko cult leader and his foloowers?   I recommend this book to Baby Boomer adults especially who will get the references but story-wise I think mature teenagers on up will enjoy it, though, I found out this is #48 in a series of 60 books!  It stood alone well enough though.       

29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life

 Shirley J.                  Adult Non-Fiction                    Multiple Sclerosis, Alternative Healing.  How Giving to Others Brings Gifts Back to You

29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life by Cami Walker   226 pages

Cami Walker was a high-power executive working in an ad agency when things began to go a little off-center for her.   The hours were long, the stress off the charts but she loved what she did so she continued her 80 hur + weeks until her nerves became like the strings of a violin being plucked only nt in a beautiful concerto kind of way.  She began to become dependent on alternative ways of staying awake and keeping pace until she couldn't anymore.   She started attending addiction meetings and met her now husband at one.   They have for the most part done well and have stayed sober but two months after their wedding, Cami was in such pain and torment that when she went to the doctor she was diagnosed with Multiple Schlerosis,  which may have been brought on by the constant stress of her job taking its toll on her body.   She learned several other family members are troubled by auto-immune diseases of one kind or another.so with the stress and the hereditary tendencies there are many possible causes for it to hit her.   While suffering with the disease, when modern western medicine wasn't curing it, she went looking for other possible help in alternative medicines and therapies and found more relief but where her most relief came from was not medicine at all but through a friend from  South Africa who practiced ancestral divination.  Through her she learned spiritual lessons that turned the small things in life into major lessons and she learned how to give out of love and not obligation.    Her website is: www.29Gifts.org where she shares what she has learned through gifting and her followers blog their experiences, too.   A good book to aid in looking for the purity in giving without expecting to receive then finding the bounty that comes your way for doing unselfish things for others.   I recommend this to middle schoolers on up.     

Top Secret Twenty-One

 Top Secret Twenty-One by Janet Evanovich    341 pages

Shirley J.                         Adult Fiction                   Female Bounty Hunters,   Russian Terrorists

Someone is wreaking havoc on Ranger's business.   The FBI gets involved when Ranger's headquarters is blown up and a poisonous chemical released inside.   It is time for Stephanie to Bimbo up and accompany Ranger inside a Russian Vodka producers convention as well as to Atlantic City tracking a Russian terrorist.    A human heart shows up on Morelli's counter, a body with a lime overcoat shows up in a house Stephanie and Ranger investigate.   Randy Briggs is a target, his apartment getting blown to smithereens by a rocket launcher, guess he shouldn't have been cooking the books for Jimmy Poletti.   Then there is that pack of feral chichuahuas,   Never a dull moment in Stephanie's world, nor Lula's, who is dating a perp again and Grandma Mazur who has declared all out war on Grandma Bella.   You won't be disappointed with this one.   Grandma Mazur sure wasn't.   Mature teens on up will really enjoy this one.

Part of Your World

 Part of Your World by Liz Braswell   512 pages

Shirley J                      Young Adult Fiction                  Ariel, the Little Mermaid's continuing saga 5 years later.

I loved this book!  Omgosh, it is so well written and truly captures the entire spirit of the Disney version of the Little Mermaid Story complete with Ariel, Flounder, Sebastian, King Triton and the whole cast.   The story picks up 5 years later -Ariel is Queen of the Ocean because her father is presumed dead, the Prince is still under the sea witch's spell and he is married to the sea witch who is still in the guise of Vanessa, now Princess Vanessa still singing and speaking with Ariel's mellifluous voice.   Princess Vanessa has delegated Prince Eric to realm Bard as poet, maker of plays, and music while she runs the country into the ground bringing chaos and war to the land.  She gets such a kick out of mortals they are so easily lead and she leads them to mass destruction while she sits back and laughs.   This is a wonderful sequel to the story and catches us up on every character from the original.   This book is Book 5 in the A  Twisted Tale series.   I am hooked and will be checking out the rest of the books in the series (12 total counting this one).   I recommend this one to young and old and especially young at heart.   Loved it.

I Used To Be Famous

 

Shirley J.                 Juvenile Literature                  Giving your spot to the new baby

I Used To Be Famous by Becky Cattie and Tara Lebbue    32 pages

THis book is so cute and is all about the thing we all know about, when you have been the center of attention and the apple of everyone's eye until all of a sudden somebody younger and cuter and newer comes along bumps you off the throne and steals your place!   I'm talking younger family members!  It is a very relatable, adorable telling of how one has to deal with life's first lesson in You Are Not All That.   The little girl telling the story is a starlet in the making complete with family and friends paparazzi constantly taking photos of all the cute cool things she is doing until her fan base falls away and starts following the new kid in town, her baby sibling.    She finally realizes the baby really is sweet and loveable and she finally decides to show the new kids the ropes on how to become star material.   I loved this story.   I recommend it to all kids, parents and readers who love children's literature.   Great book.

Here Comes the Sun

 Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn 349 pages

Dennis-Benn tells a story from the points of view of three women from the same family.  Delores, Margot, and Thandi live in a shack in the poor part of town in Montego Bay, Jamaica.  Delores sells trinkets to cruise ship tourists in the market.  Margot works at a hotel and has a side hustle taking care of the men who are staying there.  Thandi goes to private school.  Both Margot and Delores and counting on Thandi to pass her exams so that she can go to college to become a doctor and take care of them.  Thandi has other ideas.  She wants to be an artist.

When Margot's boss starts building a new hotel, she has dreams of promotion and buying a house to live in instead of their lowly shack.  She acts in a ruthless manner losing almost everything she has ever wanted in her quest, including her childhood love.

Trigger warning: several women are raped in the story and some of the sex scenes are a bit racy.

This was a book I read for a neighborhood book discussion group.  We are reading books set in other countries since it is unlikely we will vacation out of the US anytime soon.  I was hoping for a little lighter read than this was since it was set in Jamaica.  It was valuable for me to check my privilege and learn about people who live in poverty in vacation spots that are "unseen".  Only 3 out of 5 for me.

The Photographer

The Photographer by Mary Dixie Carter 304 pages

For fans of Tarryn Fisher’s ‘The Wrong Family.”

Delta Dawn is the children’s photographer to New York City’s elite. She specializes in children’s birthday parties. She is magic behind the camera, thanks in part to a boatload of editing software. She can make the most disastrous party look like fun was had by all. For the most part, she is just a fly on the wall, unseen and unnoticed.

Then Delta is hired by Amelia and Fritz Straub to shoot eleven-year-old Natalie’s party. It’s there that she realizes this is the perfect family and longs to be noticed, to play an important role in their lives.

She develops a plan that will integrate her into their lives and becomes indispensable to the Straub’s. The plan begins with Delta taking an interest in the neglected little girl. She begins babysitting on Friday nights when Amelia and Fritz have to go out. The Straub’s are famous architects who have clients around the world. Delta tries to seem like a friend who can help. She runs errands for Amelia; talks with Fritz about a myriad of subjects.

When Delta isn’t at the Straub family home, she is in her apartment, manipulating photos to include herself. The pictures are of her and Fritz…in bed and naked; of her and Amelia…laughing and drinking wine, standing extremely close together…photos of her and Natalie having fun.

Delta learns Amelia deepest desire, and how that desire has been thwarted over the years. But Delta knows how to help make her dream come true.

Carter, a first-time novelist, has created a super-duper creepy thriller that will have readers looking twice at anyone who comes into their homes. I read it in one day! There was only one problem in this pageturner. There is no explanation as to why Delta needs this family so much. What triggered this obsessive need to fit in with the Straub’s. Not that it impedes the creep factor, but as I read the last page, I wondered what was Delta’s motive?

I was going to give “The Photographer” 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. However, due to the lack of motive, “The Photographer” received 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

Love, Jack

Love, Jack by Gunilla Von Post 158 pages

I’m just old enough to remember that “’brief, shining moment’ before Camelot, before an assassin's bullets shattered the hopes of a nation.”  Yeah, I’ve read another book about JFK.

This one is a memoir published in 1997. The author, a Swedish aristocrat, waited until after Jackie’s death to share her romance with a handsome, wealthy young Senator from Massachusetts. She was trying to be sensitive to the president’s memory.

In 1953, Jack Kennedy was trying to evade an Italian countess who was hell bent on catching him when he accidentally met Gunilla Von Post on the Rivera. It was love at first sight. But it was a love that was not meant to be…or in better words, a love that was not allowed to blossom. 

Jack hoped to get the nod as vice president in the upcoming election, knew that a bid for the U. S. Presidency was in his future, was engaged to marry Jacqueline Bouvier, and was under the complete control of his father, Joe Kennedy, Sr. Although Jack tried to get Joe, Sr. to let him back out of his engagement, and even his marriage, Joe would have none of it.  If he left Jackie, his change to become the most powerful man in the world was at jeopardy, and he would probably lose. 

Between 1953 and 1959, Jack and Gunilla carried on a love affair. But I’m not sure that I would call it a love affair. They seldom saw each other and rarely spoke. Gunilla had letters that proved his desire and need for her, but I have to wonder. Knowing what a womanizer Jack turned out to be, after reading this book, I’m convinced that, while Jack might have been smitten with Gunilla, he was truly only interested in the chase. But then, maybe I’m wrong. The world will never know. 

“Love, Jack” receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

Much Ado About You

 Much Ado About You by Samantha Young  372 pages

Summary from Goodreads: The cozy comforts of an English village bookstore open up a world of new possibilities for Evie Starling in this charming new romantic comedy from New York Times bestselling author Samantha Young.

At thirty-three-years old Evangeline Starling's life in Chicago is missing that special something. And when she's passed over for promotion at work, Evie realizes she needs to make a change. Some time away to regain perspective might be just the thing. In a burst of impulsivity, she plans a holiday in a quaint English village. The holiday package comes with a temporary position at Much Ado About Books, the bookstore located beneath her rental apartment. There's no better dream vacation for the bookish Evie, a life-long Shakespeare lover.

Not only is Evie swept up in running the delightful store as soon as she arrives, she's drawn into the lives, loves and drama of the friendly villagers. Including Roane Robson, the charismatic and sexy farmer who tempts Evie every day with his friendly flirtations. Evie is determined to keep him at bay because a holiday romance can only end in heartbreak, right? But Evie can't deny their connection and longs to trust in her handsome farmer that their whirlwind romance could turn in to the forever kind of love.

And here's what I thought:  I can suspend my disbelief for plenty of science fiction and fantasy books, no problem. I can believe in fairies and elves, I can believe in magic, I can believe in space battles. But I have a very difficult time suspending my disbelief when it comes to romance.

This book has a fun premise and I liked the main character -- but I found all of this way too difficult to believe. After a while, it wore on me enough to make the book irritating. I finished it because I wanted to know what happened at the end, even though I could kind of predict it. Which might not bother some readers, but I won't be re-reading this one any time soon.

However, this light romance has a very fun premise and for a "beach read" holds a lot of appeal. 

The Girls Are All So Nice Here

 The Girls Are All So Nice Here by  Laurie Elizabeth Flynn 308 pages

Summary from Goodreads: A lot has changed in years since Ambrosia Wellington graduated from college, and she’s worked hard to create a new life for herself. But then an invitation to her ten-year reunion arrives in the mail, along with an anonymous note that reads, “We need to talk about what we did that night.”

It seems that the secrets of Ambrosia’s past—and the people she thought she’d left there—aren’t as buried as she believed. Amb can’t stop fixating on what she did or who she did it with: larger-than-life Sloane “Sully” Sullivan, Amb’s former best friend, who could make anyone do anything.

At the reunion, Amb and Sully receive increasingly menacing messages, and it becomes clear that they’re being pursued by someone who wants more than just the truth of what happened that first semester. This person wants revenge for what they did and the damage they caused—the extent of which Amb is only now fully understanding. And it was all because of the game they played to get a boy who belonged to someone else and the girl who paid the price.

Alternating between the reunion and Amb’s freshman year, The Girls Are All So Nice Here is a “chilling and twisty thriller” (Book Riot) about the brutal lengths girls can go to get what they think they’re owed, and what happens when the games we play in college become matters of life and death. 

And here's what I thought: I found Ambrosia to be annoying. I just want to get that out there right away. However, as annoying as I found her, I wanted to know what was going to happen to her. Maybe something really mean, which sounded like it would serve her right.  Yes, I'm awful - but I don't need to like a character to find them interesting enough to read a story.  Actually, I didn't like Ambrosia's friend Sully, either. And reading about their freshman year at college gave me flashbacks I didn't enjoy, either.  But I found the story interesting and because I was curious, kept reading to the end.

In a nutshell, this story is: Someone gets revenge on some mean girls. Finally. 

Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake

 Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis J. Hall   435 pages

Summary from Goodreads: Following the recipe is the key to a successful bake. Rosaline Palmer has always lived by those rules—well, except for when she dropped out of college to raise her daughter, Amelie. Now, with a paycheck as useful as greaseproof paper and a house crumbling faster than biscuits in tea, she’s teetering on the edge of financial disaster. But where there’s a whisk there’s a way . . . and Rosaline has just landed a spot on the nation’s most beloved baking show.

Winning the prize money would give her daughter the life she deserves—and Rosaline is determined to stick to the instructions. However, more than collapsing trifles stand between Rosaline and sweet, sweet victory.  Suave, well-educated, and parent-approved Alain Pope knows all the right moves to sweep her off her feet, but it’s shy electrician Harry Dobson who makes Rosaline question her long-held beliefs—about herself, her family, and her desires.

Rosaline fears falling for Harry is a guaranteed recipe for disaster. Yet as the competition—and the ovens—heat up, Rosaline starts to realize the most delicious bakes come from the heart.

And here's what I thought:  This book has a bunch of elements I like: Baking contest, fun characters, and some surprise elements. I very much appreciated that there's more than meets the eye to Rosaline (spoiler: she is bisexual) and she's a great character -- someone I'd want to know in real life. I liked the baking elements, especially because I'm a fan of The Great British Baking Show. And while I don't usually read romance stories, I liked this one --- it's light, and the romance elements are there but they don't drive the entire story. And Rosaline has a good head on her shoulders, which I appreciated.