The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier

I probably would have had an easier time with this book if I had read it instead of listening to it on audio. The book focuses on the murder of a 7 yr old girl, Alicia. The main character, a 12 yr. old boy named Jason, is under suspicion for her murder, although he doesn't know it. The bulk of the book is Jason being interrogated by a professional police interrogator named Mr. Trent. This made me so uncomfortable that I had to shut the tape off at least 5 times.

See, Jason's mother lets him go to the police station alone, thinking he is only there to give police some background information to help their investigation. Once there, they corner him in a small stuffy room with Mr. Trent and let him at Jason. Mr. Trent has been promised political favors if he secures a confession from Jason. I'll stop there, so I don't give everything away. A thought-provoking book, although the subject matter was uncomfortable.

Princess Mia by Meg Cabot

If you've read any of the Princess Diaries books so far, this book isn't anything different. Princess Mia's boyfriend has broken up with her while he's in Japan for the next year. Her best friend, Lily, isn't speaking to her. Her grand mere is being horrible and no one understands the depression she is going through. Her dad even makes her see a therapist.

I understand that teens like series books, and normally I do too, but I am ready for Mia to graduate high school and move on to something else. Probably a good book if you are under 15.

Plague Ship by Clive Cussler and Jack DuBrul

For those of you who have never tried Clive Cussler, you really don't know what you are missing. His books are adventure from beginning to end. They normally start out with something happening far in the past. In this book, a German pilot finds the Ark (yes, Noah's Ark) in the Arctic Circle during WWII. Then you fast-forward to a little into the future from today. Bad guys are always trying to do something horrible to affect the earth. In this case, there is a group called Responsivists who thinks that the human race is breeding itself into extinction. So, to join to cult-like group, you must get a vasectomy or tubal litigation.

At this point, the Oregon, a ship from many of Cussler's previous books, comes across a cruise ship on which everyone has been killed horribly by a mysterious disease (yes, I know, pretty far-fetched). There turns out to be one survivor, so they then go about figuring out what happened. Overall, an excellent book as long as you have a good "willing suspension of disbelief". Adventure from beginning to end.

Deep Dish by Mary Kay Andrews

This light novel is about two cooking show hosts who end up getting involved in a cooking reality show in order to see who will get a new show on cable. Regina is into Southern cooking with simple and natural ingredients. She has a cooking show on public television, but she has just found out that it is about to be canceled because her producer (and boyfriend) was caught sleeping with the major sponsor's wife. Tate's show is more of the "Kill 'n Grill" of Southern cooking. He shows how to fish or hunt for his meats and fish and then cook them up sizzling hot. Apparently he is sizzling hot too, as he has a bevy of beautiful ladies gathering where ever he shows up. This book was a lot of fun, but a bit predicable.

Zapped by Carol Higgins Clark

For those of you who have never read Carol Higgins Clark, don't go into her books thinking that you are getting something like what her mother, Mary Higgins Clark, writes. Carol does write mysteries, but they are not nearly as well written or thought out as Mary's. Not that I don't like Carol's, there are just a lot different.

In Zapped, Reagan Reilly (P.I.) and her new husband, Jack (head of the Major Crimes Squad at NYU) are returning home to New York City as a major blackout occurs. Somehow, they are each able to run separate investigations of separate crimes, but all the bad guys and all the good guys somehow run into each other in the darkness of NYC and all is solved almost concurrently. There are way too many coincidences in this book, but yet it is a light mystery read, if that is what you are looking for.

Sheer Abandon by Penny Vincenzi

Ok, so I finally finished my book club book for May. I know, I know, it's June. But, it was a good book nonetheless. I don't have a lot to write since we did discuss it at book club a couple of weeks ago, but I'll give a short synopsis for those of you interested in possibly reading it.

The book starts with three English girls leaving for a year of holiday between high school and college. They meet in the London airport and travel together for a week. They then split ways, agreeing to meet again in a year and see how things are. Life intervenes and they don't meet up after that year. In fact, as one of the girls is on her way back, she delivers a baby in a cleaning closet at the airport and abandons her there. You, as reader, do not know which girl it was.

Fast forward 16 years. The abandoned girl is looking for her mother. We now see the three women and where they are in their lives. One is a doctor with a controlling husband, one is a barrister (lawyer) looking at getting into politics, and one is a journalist for a tabloid (I don't think the English use the word "tabloid" in the same manner that we do). Now, I'll leave the rest to you to find out. I enjoyed the book, although I wished some things had worked out a little differently at the end. Hey, you know I'm an optimist.

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach

Now, non-fiction is normally persona non-Grata in my reading repertoire, unless it is about paint techniques or recipes. But, as I was taking Peyton to Story Hour at my local library (not MY local library, but the one I pay for with my taxes), this book caught my eye. First, I was impressed that a very small-town library would have this book, as I looked at buying it for MY local library, but I didn't think it would get checked out much. Second, MY local library does have her previous book "Stiff" (no, it's not about sex, it's about dead people) and it was very funny. Third, who isn't interested in sex?

So, I checked it out along with Peyton's farm books. This was a hilarious book! I kept laughing out loud while reading it, causing Hans to shush me because he was trying to read his book (yes, Hans reads now, as long as it is Clive Cussler). Mary Roach has a way of putting things that just makes you smile. She really researches her subjects too. Almost every page had foot notes. Also, since many sex researchers have a hard time getting things through their Human Subjects Review Boards, she volunteered herself, and at times, her husband as well to participate in these studies so that she could get an inside look at what was happening. I'm not going to detail these escapades here, but it is worth reading the book for that alone. Now, I am not going to tell you that there aren't things in this book that you'd probably be happy never knowing (did you know that piglet production rises by 6% when the female pigs are manually aroused before being artificially inseminated?). But, nothing, I think, that will scar you for life. Take a chance, I think you'll laugh.