Notes from Spinning Planet: Ireland by Melody Carlson

Warning: this is a young adult book. I will probably be reading quite a few of these in the next month, as I have to book talk to approx. 15-20 middle school classes in May and I have to have something to read to them.

This book stars a girl who has grown up on a farm in rural Oregon. Her aunt is sent on assignment to Ireland and decides to take Maddie along as a companion. At the last minute, her aunt also brings along Ryan, her godson who's mother just died. Maddie has to come to grips with a lot of differences in culture in Ireland. In my opinion, she is extremely overexcited about her no drinking theories. In her opinion, Christians should not drink at all. I guess she didn't grow up German Lutheran, where you can drink with family as soon as you are confirmed, especially if you are a boy.

Once she is able to unwind a bit about the alcohol thing, she learns a lot about Ireland and its culture. I learned a lot in this book about the IRA, the RIRA, and all the reasons behind the fighting and violence that has been occurring in Ireland for generations. All in all, a very good book. We have the next two in the series too, so I'm sure I will read them soon.

T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton

It is amazing that Grafton has been able to keep things so fresh for so may years. This book has a lot of info on elder abuse. I think this really hit home to me as my grandmother has recently moved into a nursing home. It is a very nice nursing home, actually top rated in Michigan, but still. It is a bit scary when you think that your grandmother is at the mercy of these people youe don't event know. And...you only have their word on how things are going. Luckily, my grandma has a lot more family in the area to take care of her and look after her than the gentleman in this book did. The amount of damage this woman caused with her identity theft was also appalling. My sister-in-law had her purse stolen a couple of years ago, so I know how difficult it is to deal with cleaning all this up afterward.

Grafton wrote an excellent story that was all too believable for a fiction story. It had me cringing at many points and I greatly enjoyed every cringe.

Late Bloomer by Fern Michaels

This was a cute book, pure fluff, but enjoyable for riding in the car. It focused on an accident the main character had as a child where she was paralyzed and the other boy involved in the accident died. They were riding a home made zip line across a giant pond when they fell. She proceeds to need three years of rehab unttil she can walk again, and she also has amnesia of the event. Now 30, she moves back to that town to live with her elderly grandmother and begins asking questions. Specifically, she asks the people that she believes were witnesses to the event, although they all 4 deny it. Romances begin and her eccentric grandmother and friends play a big part in things. Total fun.

Double Take by Catherine Coulter

Catherine Coulter started as a historical romance writer, and she is pretty good, if you're into that genre. I much prefer her FBI series. This book touches on the wooey-wooey word of psychics who can speak to the dead. I don't happen to believe that this is possible, but who knows. It is just to easy to fake this kind of thing if you are charismatic enough and do your research. Jayne Anne Krentz has been delving deeper and deeper into that subject, but her books still are interesting.

Anyways, in this novel, the main character is suspected of murdering her psychic husband, even after someone starts coming after her. The FBI becomes involved, which is good because it makes the local police take a deeper look at the death of her husband. All in all, a very satisfying read.

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

The fact that I liked this book was a total surprise to me. A patron came in and told me about it and asked if we were going to buy it. I looked at the reviews and did, then when I gave it to him, he wanted to know what I thought, so I told him I'd read it after him. Normally, I eschew this type of thing, because I hate to read a book just because it gets raving reviews. Sometimes I don't read a book for exactly this reason (i.e. The Kite Runner).

This book is about a book, but not really. It examines the varied lives of the people that touched a certain book through the ages. I have to admit that, as a librarian, this thought appeals to me in some way. I've often wondered where our books travel and what the people's lives are like that read them. In some cases, I am almost positive that I don't want to know. If you read library book, I'm sure that you have seen mystery stains or smelled mystery smells that you don't want to know about. But I am also positive that there are things about our patrons that I would find fascinating.

The Purrfect Murder by Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown

Alright, I've been slacking on this again, but I guess it doesn't matter since no one knows. This was a great book. Rita Mae writes a couple of different series as well as some independent titles. Some of them are even a bit risque, with lots of lesbian action. This series she write with Sneaky Pie Brown (her cat) is her best in my opinion. Her other series, about fox hunting, is interesting, but as someone who thought fox hunting died out in the 1800s, it is a bit too much.

One major thing that I enjoy about this series is how she constantly adds new characters in every book so that she doesn't have to use any of the favorites as a killer or kill them off. Normally, new characters last between 1 and 4 books before they are involved in a case. Enough that you are comfortable with them and think you know them, but short enough that it is believable that they are a killer.

Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich

Oh, this Plum novel came along at just the right time for me. I had an awful, tense meeting, so I popped this one in and laughed all the way home. Stephanie is up to her usual craziness. Grandma finds a "leprechaun's" lucky money and takes off to Atlantic City to hit the slots. Of course, the leprechaun actually stole the money from a local mob boss in order to save the life of an old race horse. Diesel is on the hunt of the leprechaun and enjoys hitting on Stephanie. Add Lula, Connie, Randy Briggs, and a horse named Doug into the mix and it's quite a mess. Like Evanovich's other between the numbers books, Ranger and Morelli only show up by telephone calls to check on Steph. I am an avowed Ranger fan. Babe.