Animals By the Numbers: A Book of Infographics

 Shirley J.              Juvenile Non-Fiction                        Statistics on animals, insects and humans

Animals By the Numbers: A Book of Infographics by Steve Jenkins    48 pages

Really interesting book detailing loads of scientific statistics on all species deemed, animal, oceanic creature or insect, even stats as compared to the animal ones on humans in comparison.    Really well presented and so full of things one may have not considered before.  Information on bees to whales.  Chock full of facts anyone could base a paper for class on even so far as a thesis.  O.K. one would have to glean additional information to do a thesis, but, this certainly would give you grounds to start.   Excellent job, Steve Jenkins!   I recommend this one to 1st graders on up.  Even the elderly will be surprised at how much you will learn here.

Who Says You're Dead?: Medical & Ethical Dilemmas for the Curious & Concerned

Shirley J.                      Adult Non-Fiction                               Ethics and Medical Law

Who Says You're Dead?: Medical & Ethical Dilemmas for the Curious & Concerned by Jacob M. Appel  352 pages

Excellent book dealing with almost every medical situation one can think of and how each case is looked legally and ethically.   Fascinating.   Readers might think they know the obvious answers to many of these medical/ethical dilemmas but will be surprised.   Nothing is cut and dried nor black and white.   There are so many issues with everything that need to be addressed that laymen might not consider off the top of their heads, but, that doctors, hospitals, lawyers and judges see from a completely different perspective.   Well worth the read to give one background information on so many things that can and do happen in life and death and what one needs to know in advance.   Excellent!  All will come away enlightened.  Too heavy for the young, but anyone interested in a career in law would do themselves a favor to read this.  Adults will be surprised by all you learn here.

Around the World in 80 Days

 

Shirley J.                    Adult Fiction (Classic)           World Travel, gentlemen's wager, adventure

Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne  288 pages

English gentleman, Phileas Fogg, member of the Reform Club, who happens to have a fascination for and obsession with mathematical facts, gets into a discussion of world travel with other members of his club.   Being betting fanatics all, a wager is made between several members of the club and Phileas Fogg that Mr. Fogg will make a journey completely around the world in only 80 days (remember this was written in 1873).   A great adventure ensues with lots of memorable characters and cultures.  A fun read, and a different level of interpretation when you read it again later in life for fun.  I enjoyed it even more with this reading.  I recommend it to grade schoolers on up.   Fogg's French valet, Passepartout is funny and full of surprises.  

Wish

 

Shirley J.      Juvenile Fiction               Broken Homes, Loving Relatives, True Friends and a Dog

Wish by Barbara O' Connor    256 pages

11 year old Charlie Reese's Dad can't stay out of jail.    Her Mama is fond of drink and is currently on a depression downswing she can't lift herself out of.   Social Services steps in and removes Charlie from her Arkansas home then sends her to live with her mother's sister, Charlie's Aunt and her husband who live in North Carolina.   While the scenery of the Blue Ridge mountains is beautiful, Charlie misses her friends at school in Arkansas, and even if home wasn't all that, with her folks hollering and fighting most of the time, at least she had her older sister to make her laugh and comfort her when things got rough.   Now her sister is finishing out her last few months of highschool and was allowed to stay with her best friend in her friend's parent's home till she is old enough to graduate and leave home.   Charlie is miserable getting sent to live with strangers - she had never met these people - shoved in with a bunch of squirrel eatin' hillbillies!   Charlie railed at everything.  No matter how nice folks tried to be to her and how understanding of her being taken away from everything she was familiar with to be thrust into a new home, new circumstances, a new school.   Her Aunt and Uncle love her even when she treats them awfully.    She would set those hillbilly kids at school straight too, after all, one of her three favorite things was fighting.  She got her temper from her Daddy who was always going to jail for fighting.   After several altercations with other kids at school, some not undeserved, she is assigned a study buddy to show her the ropes of the school/system.   He becomes her unlikely mentor and friend as do his family.  Charlie makes life hard for herself but with her new mantra to chant when she gets angry she tries to cool her jets a bit though following through with her fists comes easier.  A stray dog she meets and names, Wishbone, changes her life.   A deeply sweet story with lots of humor and I don't think any one will go away untouched by Charlie and her plight.  I recommend this one to grade schoolers on up.   Adults will like this story, too.

Since We Fell

 

Shirley J.      Adult Fiction  Psychological Thriller         Negative Information Overload = Breakdown    

Since We Fell: A Novel by Dennis Lehane    496 pages

When journalist Rachel Childs undergoes a number of horrible, terrifying events while doing a story in Haiti, she loses her mind for a time and relapses when she encounters triggers to this event.   Her life becomes a prison inside the walls of her apartment.   She cannot go past the threshold without having another melt down.   She loses her career, her marriage and for all intents and purposes her life.   She is given another chance with a man devoted to her every wish, who caters to her every whim and cherishes her and coddles her when things begin to overwhelm her, then, she finds out he is seeing a very pregnant woman and thoughts of his leading a double-life take over and become her obsession.   Her fairytale is coming to an abrupt end and she is the evil that is bringing it to a close.    Is she losing her mind again or is there more to this story?   Her philandering husband must pay so she shoots him and throws him off a boat or is she mixing fantasy with reality?  No she saw the blood...wait....what?     Good story, I liked it way more than I thought I would although Rachel can be like fingernails on a chalkboard at times.  Well done!   I would recommend this book to adults just because some of the events are really tragic and haunting even if they are fiction they describe actual things that have happened.

The Dying of the Light: A Novel

 Shirley J.                Adult Fiction              Virginia gentry,  wealth, big houses, marrying for money    

The Dying of the Light: A Novel by Robert Goolrick    I only read 100 pages in and stopped

I tried to stay with this book, but, I couldn't.   The way the story was told to that point was like it all ran together and as if it was one tremendously long run-on sentence.    There wasn't a lot of depth or feeling to it.   Nothing memorable, nothing to cling to that would get you to want to see what happened next.  I sadly found it very dull and uninteresting.   I was hoping the somewhat historical background would hold my interest but sadly no.   The character had no pizzazz.    The read was like enduring a class with a professor who spoke in only a monotone and put you to sleep.    I kept having to force myself to try to stay with it but finally I had to stop, there was just nothing to hold my interest here.   I cannot recommend this one as it was not to my taste.

Confessions of a Teenage Drag King

 

Shirley J.               Young Adult Fiction                         Drag Shows, Double Lives, Highschool    

Confessions of a Teenage Drag King by Markus Harwood-Jones    176 pages    

A good story set in Toronto about a 17 year old girl named Lauren living a double life as an invisible blending in at high school making as few waves as possible to stay under everyone's radar while leading a double-life as a chest binding, mascara beard stubble painter, thrift store rock star mode costume outfit wearing drag king named REN at an all-ages drag venue.   Shy in her other life, she rules as REN in the evenings lip-syncing her way to drag stardom.    As REN she is as arrogant as she is shy in her Lauren persona.   Her drag family gets enough of some of her disrespectful behavior and while there is a bit of a abyss between them all for a while, when it comes down, drag families are family, too.    Good story.   A bit of love, a bit of Lauren thinking no one knows and a whole lot of performance art going on.   I recommend this book to tweens on up.  

The Keeper of Lost Things

 Shirley J.          Adult Fiction                    Love and loss, ghosts and the wish to fix what is broken

The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan   288 pages

Recapturing the past is illusive.    It seems like if we try really hard, if we over extend ourselves to try to make up for past wrongs, but, no, the past evaporates like smoke hanging in the air one moment then wafting away the next.  Seems like we could grasp it but it is a dream, a wish, a desire, a promise, but finally only the best we can do with what we have to work with.    Great book, many lives and stories tied together across time and miles.  Sometimes a nudge from a spectral presence points us in the correct direction if not the desired one.   Funny enough, it works out.    A neighbor girl who reminds me a lot of the little girl in the American Horror Story television series who "knows" things.    Never underestimate anyone,  you never know what their abilities are.   Excellent story.   I am a fan of Ruth Hogan's writing.   I recommend this one to adults who I feel can appreciate so many things that speak to people who have been around long enough to experience a lot of living to appreciate the art of dying.

The Second-Worst Restaurant in France

 

Shirley J.         Adult Fiction          Relationships and Siamese Cats, Cousins,  French Food Good & Bad

The Second-Worst Restaurant in France by Alexander McCall Smith   256 pages

Food writer, Paul Stuart survived his trip to Tuscany coming away with a book and a romantic relationship with his editor who brings along her 2 Siamese cats.   Things begin getting a little hairy for Paul when his favorite cousin, Chloe invites him to escape to her residence in the French countryside.   Considering how much fun they always have together, Paul jumps at the chance.   After all, he is writing another book on the Philosophy of Food so why not do his research in the country known for its fine food.   Of course the adventures begin for Paul when he arrives.   Noting local comments on a restaurant known as the second-Worst Restaurant in France he and his cousin Chloe decide to check it out and find out if it is really as terrible as the town folk say.    The dinner turns into another long and involved hilarious story with Paul and Chloe as the stars among a cast of quirky but lovable characters who without malice poison Paul, put Chloe to work as a waitress all while muttering there is a possible murder in Chloe's background and she is not who Paul thinks she is.   Madness ensues and this is another fun page turner.   You will thoroughly enjoy it.  I did.   I think this one is more for the adult crowd who will get a big kick out of it. 

The Wish

 Shirley J.                   Adult Christian Fiction                                   Amish vs. "English" life

The Wish by Beverly Lewis   432 pages

Living in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania is beautiful and growing up Amish or Plain in a world of vast technological advances can be challenging.    Best friends, Leona and Gloria don't even seem to notice as they happily go through life but one day out of the blue,  Gloria's family just picks up and moves to Arkansas no explanation but talk is something happened with Gloria's father and the community and now the family is shunned, but no one was saying why or what happened.  Leona and Gloria are devastated.  They were close as sisters for the years they got to spend together growing up and now hardly time to say their goodbyes.  For 4 years no word came of Gloria nor her family, though Leona kept them in her daily prayers then finally a letter arrived from Gloria for Leona.  She told her how much she had thought of her over the past years and how much she missed her friend  She explained that her family was now living as the "English" (non-Amish) and she and Leona cooked up a plan for Leona to come visit.  Leona prays and prays that Gloria and her family will come back to the Plain people and hopes if she visits she might be able to bring them back to the fold.   Gloria's father is way against going back.   Her mother follows her father as do her brothers but while Gloria has settled into the "English" way of life, she wears jeans, has a cellphone, an "English" boyfriend, and she drives a car instead of a horse drawn buggy.   Things are sure different when Leona arrives, but, while they all seem to have acclimated to this new lifestyle there is still a longing in Gloria to revisit the plain folk.   A good story that keeps the reader interested all the way to the end.   Like the song says, "Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."  I recommend this book to teens on up.   A tale of the endurance of friendship and faith.    

You Wouldn't Want to Live Without Bees!

 

Shirley J.              Juvenile Non-Fiction                     Everything you ever wanted to know about bees

You Wouldn't Want to Live Without Bees! by Alex Woolf     40 pages

Everything you ever want to know about bees and honey can be found right here in this book.  Very enlightening and very entertaining.   The illustrations are great, with cute, comical captions.  However, the information found here is astounding!  There is so much information included here in its 40 pages I can liken it to a crash course on bees.   From descriptions and illustrations of all the parts of a bee's body and exoskeleton, to the explanation of the life of a bee stating exactly what they are doing at each of the stages of their short lives and let me tell you that is plenty from birth to death.  Fascinating, I had no idea bees were that busy (cleaning, babysitting/feeding, hunting, gathering, not to mention doing fancy dances to explain to the rest of the hive where the best pollen can be found.   I did not know that there are over 20,000 different species of bees.  Some as big as the palm of your hand and some so small they are nearly microscopic.   Killer bees were bread in Brazil by mating African and European bees which produces offspring that are REALLY aggressive and not fans of humans especially with a lot of movement.  The Killer Bees surround their Queen in the center of their swarm to protect her as they attack whatever perceived threat and when like 10,000 bees in a swarm attack, whatever they go after, is done.   The author discusses how bees help the earth and other species in so many ways that it really is amazing - ways one wouldn't normally think of.   And the process of making the honey (not for the squeamish) and all the medicinal uses of it - this is such a good book and well worth the read for everyone on the planet.  You will never consider bees in the same light again.   I recommend this to kindergarteners on up!  Everyone will learn a lot from this book.

SLPL January totals

 

This month four people read twenty-four books with a total of 6869 pages!

Shirley read the most with a total of 16 books and 4282 pages.

Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon

 Shirley J.                  Adult Non-Fiction                           Textiles, Style and the Oldest Living Teenager

Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon: Musings of a Geriatric Starlet by Iris Apfel   176 pages

What a role model!  Iris Apfel is her own person.   She promotes creativity in life and like Thoreau, takes that road less travelled by Walden Pond.   Her family life at home growing up taught her fashion sense and her parents strongly encouraged her to be her own person and follow her own way in life.   She was in her mid 90s when she wrote this book and to this day, she is now 100yrs. old and still following her own drummer.   She loves flea markets and enjoys pairing expensive couture fashions with inexpensive jewelry she finds rummaging among bins for that oh so precious amazingly perfect find.   She was told early on that she wasn't going to make it on her looks but her sense of style was beyond compare.   She loves color and her outfits and pairings remind me of Frida Kahlo's gorgeous, bold paintings.   She loves layering lots of clothing and pieces of jewelry together.   She mentions that sometimes her outfits are so heavy they feel like horse blankets but she wouldn't dare leave off one item of the ensemble.   Her floor length capes are exquisite and do not convey the phantom of the opera look one might think but a superbly styled fashionista.    She doesn't let other people's opinions sway her and this attitude has served her well over the years.   She is adored the world over for her daring looks.   Her field has always been textiles and interior design rather than fashion yet they go hand in hand and it is her fashion sense she receives praise for though in her career as visiting instructor at Texas University her curriculum includes all phases of fashion from textiles to color sense/appropriate placement just the right thing just so perfectly adorned, to the fashion industry and museum and historical influences.   She deems herself the oldest living teenager and a geriatric starlet as she is so well known and still fashioning forward even at 100 years old as of August 29, 2021!   Still kicking and still making news as she brings her uniqueness, her joie de vivre, her astute and spot on takes on life to everyone lucky enough to bask in the glow that is Iris Apfel.  I recommend this book to all who love art in all its many splendors, most likely to mature middle-schoolers on up.   

 

In the Face of the Sun

 “In the Face of the Sun” by Denny S. Bryce   320 pages  

Denny S. Bryce hits another one out of the park with her second novel, “In the Face of the Sun.” She returns to the 1920s for one of her two timelines, but juxtaposes it with a 1968 road trip from Chicago to Los Angeles.  

In 1928 Los Angeles, Daisy Washington is a young woman who has dreams of becoming a journalist, writing for Black-owned papers. Mostly she collects gossip for Harry Belmont’s column in the “California Eagle” she gleans from the rich and famous Blacks who are checking into the new Hotel Somerville where she and her sister work as chambermaids... From Bryce’s descriptions the hotel is stylish and glamorous. Daisy is excited that gets to meet Stepin Fetchit, the comedian, one of the first Black actors to make it big in Hollywood. But even more, Daisy is over the moon to see W.E.B. Du Bois as he and a bevy of Hollywood elite arrive. Du Bois has arranged to hold the NAACP’s annual meeting at the Somerville.  

Then the narrative shifts to 1968 Chicago. Daisy’s niece Francine (aka Frankie) has learned that she is about eight weeks pregnant with her abusive husband, Jackson. For the baby’s sake, and hers, Frankie has decided to leave him. As she is headed to the bus station, Daisy pulls up and talks her into going to Los Angeles with her. Since they will be driving, Jackson will never be able to catch up with her and force her to return. The two take off for a Thelma and Louise road-trip along Route 66. Daisy isn’t being nice; she has some business in LA and wouldn’t mind the company.  

The 1928 timeline was well-researched. I felt as if I were there.  In the 1968 timeline, there were more twists that made the road trip dangerous. 

A third plot line that weaves between the two narratives is Daisy and her sister, Henrietta. They were very close, but a tragedy forced them to not speak for over forty years. Bryce is excellent at spooling out bits of information about this subplot as the roared toward a conclusion. 

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed “In the Face of the Sun.”  This sophomore novel receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

The Last Dance of the Debutante

“The Last Dance of the Debutante” by Julia Kelly   333 pages  

After reading two intense books (Melanie Benjamin’s “The Children’s Blizzard” and Dolen Perkins Valdez’s “Take My Hand”---I highly recommend both), I was looking for something a bit lighter. As I was strolling through the library, I saw that Julia Kelly had a new book out. I can always count on Kelly for a lighter read. 

Instead of World War II England, Kelly chose the 1958 debutante season for her third novel. The still-newish Queen, Elizabeth II, has decreed that will be the last season for high society parents to present their daughters to the Queen, in hope of finding a husband who is titled and/or wealthy. 

Lily Nicholls’ grandmother and mother have ties that can secure Lily’s future. But Lily doesn’t want to so “the season.” She wants to finish her studies and go the university. However, she gives in and allows herself to dive into the grind.  

I never realized how exhausting “the season” could be. From right after Christmas through late June, the debutante attends an ongoing array of teas, balls, outings, cocktail parties, and any other imaginable get-together that will put the young women near eligible men. Multiple events were held daily. It must have been exhausting…and expensive.  Lilly makes two friends, Leana and Katherine, who help her keep going. 

Lily’s family consists of her mother, her wealthy grandmother who is paying for most of the season, and a sister she has never met. The first half of the book is Lilly running from party to party, dance to dance. All she wants by halfway through the novel is a nap, and who could blame her. That first half deals with the pettiness, the sabotages, the gowns, the young men, the backstabbing.  

But halfway through, the plot gets juicy. Lilly is convinced that her mother, who has never recovered from her father’s death, doesn’t like her. Lily is certain she is hiding scandalous information about her hardly-mentioned sister, Joanna, and sets out---between parties---to discover the truth. 

To add to the intrigue, a tragedy near the end of the season shifts the plot into high gear, and I could not read fast enough. I admit that I got a little bored with the first half, but the second half shot this up to 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

Honestly, We Meant Well

 Shirley J.                       Adult Fiction            Lost Loves, Found Loves, Lust, and its aftermath

Honestly, We Meant Well by Grant Grinder    320 pages

What do a philandering husband, a gay son looking for love or lust, whichever, and a college professor pining for what she gave up years ago and looking at the prospect of an empty nest and waking up to the same old grind every day have to do with the islands off the coast of Greece?   A lot!   A fun story even given that every body in here has their flaws, but, then, don't we all?   Sue Ellen Wright loves teaching and loves her students, her philandering husband, a writer and teacher LOVES some of his students, along with anyone else he sets his eye on but also loves his wife, he just doesn't always remember her when in pursuit of coeds.   After finding out her husband is cheating (friends run back and tell her when they see him out canoodling) and after confronted, he doesn't deny it exactly, Sue Ellen is offered the chance of a lifetime, an all expense paid trip to Greece to give a presentation.   Having a bent for crazy women, her husband's current conquest is a little crazier than he is ready for and he wants to get as far away from her as possible.  He begs his wife to take him on the trip.  Thinking better of it, but, doing it anyway Sue Ellen takes the cheater and also her gay son who is going through a complete mess of things in his own life, bawling over his lover who left him while seeing the  photos of his former lover and said former lover's new love all over his former lover's Facebook page.   Deciding maybe a change of scenery will do them all good and cleanse the demons from their lives she books them all for 3 weeks in Greece.  Afterall, she waxes nostalgic, her first real love was in Greece where many years ago she fell for a man and the ancient culture surrounded by the Aegean Sea.   Seems like she never got over him.   Really good book, great characters, funny situations and dialogue.  I recommend this one for teens on up.

Parisian Charm School: French Secrets for Cultivating Love, Joy, and That Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi

Shirley J.              Adult Non-Fiction                  How to live like a French Woman even if you are not one

Parisian Charm School: French Secrets for Cultivating Love, Joy, and That Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi   by  Jamie Cat Callan    224 pages

For the most part, the author shares that French women have confidence.   They show their unique personal style in the things they do, the way they dress and in how they live.   They are not just beautiful they have an inner beauty they bestow upon the world through their joie de vivre (joy in living).  They love nature and love to bring it inside their homes through flowers, lovely art, interesting curios and in the signature colors they choose for themselves.   True aficionados of sparkling, entertaining and often sensual conversation and hostesses (French folks love to host and attend dinner parties) extraordinaire, they are gifted with the ability to flirt in more ways than Americans can think of from the food they prepare and serve to the way they look up at you through their eyelashes in a most coquettish way.  It is a part of life, n'est pas? (Isn't that so?)   This book cites examples from many of Jamie Cat Callan's French female friends who share insights on how to live one's best life from the French viewpoint.  A delightful read and the reader will be able to dip a toe into the real Paris away from the tourist locales, and learn things from the French perspective, even picking up bits of the language and recipes along the journey.   An enjoyable read for teens on up.   Now I want to read Jamie Cat Callan's other titles.

 

My Little Golden Book About Betty White

Shirley J.                   Juvenile Non-Fiction                        Betty White, her work with animals, her life

My Little Golden Book About Betty White by Deborah Hokinson  24 pages

I loved this book.   When I saw it I had to read it.  Who knew a My Little Golden Book about Betty White! How cool is that?  It talks about her life growing up in Illinois with lots of animals and her animal loving parents, her love for husband, Allen Luden, her acting work and her deep love and devotion to animals and animal causes.  She even visited COCO, the signing gorilla and became such great friends that Coco  nicknamed Betty, "Lipstick."   Coco would even ask about her friend, "Lipstick," between their visits.  Such a lovely lady, Betty White.    I recommend this to young, infant even, a wonderful book to read aloud all the way to elderly, who might also like being read to.   Betty's appeal is multi-generational.

Reputation

Reputation  by Lex Croucher  336 pages

As I read in a promo, Reputation is "Mean Girls" crossed with Jane Austen.  Georgiana Ellers is abandoned by her parents at her aunt and uncle's home while they move to a seaside community for her mother's health.  Georgiana is bored to tears with all of the activities her aunt has for her which includes counting embroidery needles at the most exciting.  While at a party where a local couple are showing off their new painting, Georgiana encounters Frances who leads her into a world of alcohol and drug use along with some heavy petting not common in the Regency era for young girls.  When Georgiana declines to go along with Frances (and friends), She finds herself on the outside of the "in" crowd.

"Reputation" explores situations that are more modern and not typical to a Regency romance.  It definitely put a spin on what Regency readers are used to and thus, may not be for all readers who like this genre.

The Reckoning

 

Shirley J.                  Adult Fiction                        Prisoners of War, Small town life, betrayal, murder

The Reckoning by John Grisham   448 pages

Killer book!  Literally and figuratively.   Excellent story with gritty details that will put the reader right in the middle of everything taking place.  It is riveting.  This story is so good you won't be able to put it down and if you must you will race back to it first chance you get.  The story takes place in rural Mississippi with flashbacks to other locales and incidents.  There is the small town feel of hero worship for a local man, gossip because they can and unanswered questions that push some over the edge.   It is a story of pain, survival, betrayal, and consequences.  The reader will really feel for these characters as each has their own story which leads them to do what they do.  It is an excellent blend of emotions.  You will admire, feel sorry for, crave justice, hate the dirty dealings going on and be mesmerized by what happens.  I can't praise this book enough.   It captures the reader from beginning to end.   There are some pretty weighty ethical dilemmas dealt with here, I think this one is best for mature teens on up.  Great book.