Books: Just for Fun!

Pride and Prejuidice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

2010-05-12T06:05:00.000-07:00

Now, if you are anything like me, you always hear about "the classics" and think that maybe you should read them. But...when you actually pick them up, they bore you to tears. I can't tell you how many times I have tried to read Moby Dick *insert puking sound here*. Sorry, but I just can't get into Ishmael and all that.

So...when I heard that there was a version of Pride and Prejudice coming out that involved zombies and ninjas, I thought 'hmm, this could possibly keep me awake!'. I listened to it on audio, which I very much enjoyed because it was then all in an English accent, as it should be. It was a fun romp of a book! The zombie part did get quite graphic, and there was a part where I was literally gagging in my car, but overall it was great. At this point, I am not exactly sure what there would have been to the story if it were not for the zombie story line. Why would Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth had any interest in each other if it was not because they were both first-rate warriors? But, let I give something away, I'll end. And, I am going to try Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter very soon!

Southern Vampire/ Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harris

2009-08-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

My friend Mary suggested the first book in this series to me. She told me it was like the Twilight series, but for grownups, because it is much funnier and much saucier. She was quite right. It is not as "romantic", although there is quite a bit of romance. The first book is Dead Until Dark. In it Sookie Stackhouse is a telepathic barmaid. She has many problems because of her ability. She knows too much and if she lets others know she can hear their thoughts, the think she is crazy. When Bill Compton, a vampire, moves into the area, he is perfect for her to date since he is dead, therefore no thoughts. The whole series is very good, I would love to have a week to sit on a beach and read them all. Much good fun!

Book 1: "Dead Until Dark"
Book 2: "Living Dead in Dallas"
Book 3: "Club Dead"
Book 4: "Dead to the World"
Book 5: "Dead as a Doornail"
Book 6: "Definitely Dead"
Book 7: "All Together Dead"
Book 8: "From Dead to Worse"
Book 9: "Dead and Gone"

Aside from being a great book series, I am told that HBO has made the first book into a TV series called True Blood. I have not seen any of it since I have no cable, but maybe someday.

My mother-in-law had recommended Charlaine Harris' other series' to me as well. I will try them soon and get back to you. For more information, check out her website.

Foul Play by Janet Evanovich

2009-07-06T09:27:00.000-07:00

This book was pretty silly, as most of Janet's books are, but I laughed out loud repeatedly. The book follows Amy as she loses her job as a children's TV show host to a chicken and gets a job at a vet office, where the chicken is subsequently stolen from. Amy is blamed when she walks into the office the next morning, unknowingly, and carrying fresh, homemade chicken noodle soup.

Very funny, even my husband was laughing out loud.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

2009-07-06T09:20:00.000-07:00

I read this YA book just for fun and it was a lark! I'm going to recommend it to my friend Meredith, as I think she will enjoy the word play. Synopsis from B&N:
"Frankie Landau-Banks at age 14:
Debate Club.
Her father's "Bunny Rabbit."
A mildly geeky girl attending a highly competitive boarding school.

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 15:
A knockout figure.
A sharp tongue.
A chip on her shoulder.
And a gorgeous new senior boyfriend: the supremely goofy, word-obsessed Matthew Livingston.

Frankie Laundau-Banks.
No longer the kind of girl to take "no" for an answer.
Especially when "no" means she's excluded from her boyfriend's all-male secret society.
Not when her ex boyfriend shows up in the strangest of places.
Not when she knows she's smarter than any of them.
When she knows Matthew is lying to her.
And when there are so many, many pranks to be done.

Frankie Landau-Banks, at age 16:
Possibly a criminal mastermind."

Frankie masterminds so many great pranks that you find you want to be her.

Unwind by Neal Schusterman

2009-07-06T08:59:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to say too much about this book, in case some of my book club members tumble upon this post before July 15. It is really good, you should read it. Here is the blurb from B&N:
"

In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would "unwind" them

Connor's parents want to be rid of him because he's a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family's strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until theireighteenth birthday, they can't be harmed -- but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away.

In Unwind, Boston Globe/Horn Book Award winner Neal Shusterman challenges readers' ideas about life -- not just where life begins, and where it ends, but what it truly means to be alive."

Read it.

Heart of the Sea by Nora Roberts

2009-07-06T08:43:00.000-07:00

3rd in the Trilogy. Darcy has always claimed that she only wants a rich man who can provide for her want of material things. She doesn't plan on falling in love, ever. Until Trevor Magee shows up on the scene.

Narrator wonderful. The whole series is emotionally satisfying!!!

Tears of the Moon by Nora Roberts

2009-07-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

The 2nd book in a trilogy. Brenna O'Toole has a "yen" for Sean Gallagher, a man she has known all her life. She figures a good roll in the hay will cure her of it, and so she proposes it to her. Sean is horrified...Brenna is like his sister. Then he starts to think of it and decides that she isn't going to get rid of this 'yen' so easily. Especially when Carick, the fairy king, gets involved.

Again, the narrator is wonderful. I love the Irish accents and Gaelic words. Both the book and the audio are worth the time.

Jewels of the Sun by Nora Roberts

2009-06-17T09:31:00.000-07:00

This is the first in a trilogy. I've read the series before and really enjoyed it, so when I needed something to listen to in the car, I gravitated toward this. In this first book, Jude has come to Ireland from Chicago and she's not sure why. She's always done what is right and expected of her in life. Since her husband of 2 months left her for another woman, so has been restless and unhappy. In a move not understood by her parents, she quits her job as a psychology professor and goes to stay in Ireland for 6 months. Here in the small village of Ardmour, she is welcomed with open arms since her grandmother was raised there. She befriends the Gallagher siblings and Brenna O'Toole. All the while she is supposedly writing a paper on the psychological aspects of legends and storytelling. When she becomes part of a legend, things get very interesting.

I loved this book and the narrator is wonderful in her Irish accents, and the pronunciation of many Gaelic words. A great read or listen!

Fancy White Trash by Marjetta Geerling

2009-06-05T18:55:00.000-07:00

This book was absolutely hilarious. I found myself thinking that I couldn't believe a book could be so far out and yet so believable. Abby is 15 and lives with her two older sisters, her niece (daughter of oldest sister), her mom and Guitar Player (mom's new husband). All of a sudden Mom announces that she is pregnant. Oh, I also forgot to mention that middle sister is also 8 months pregnant (by Guitar Player, but before he was married to her mom). And possibly older sister is preggers too? So, Abby has come up with the One True Love Plan to keep her from ending up like the rest of her family. She is assisted in this major quest by her best friend, the boy next door who is adamantly trying to insist he's not gay. All in all, a very fun book. Aimed to teens, but great for adults too.

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

2009-05-29T12:07:00.000-07:00

I had read and seen quite a bit of pre-pub hype for this book. May times when there is too much hype, the book is not all that good. That was not the case with this title. The Chosen one is about a 13 yr. old girl, Kyra, who has grown up in a polygamous sect of a cult. She has 24 brothers and sisters and her father has 3 wives. Suddenly, it is announced that the Prophet has had a vision from God and she is to marry her uncle, age 60, in 4 weeks time. While her father does all he can to fix things, the Prophet insists it must be so. So, it is up to Kyra to decide if she should save herself and never see her family again, or go about life as "normal" and enter into an incestuous marriage to a man 4 1/2 decades order than she, as a 7th wife. Excellent book, I was cheering her on and hissing at the bad guys.

What We Keep by Elizabeth Berg

2008-10-24T11:16:00.000-07:00

This was one of the best book club books that we have done. It garnered enough discussion to last us several hours. We did get off topic a couple of times (we always do), but it was mostly relating the book to our own lives and those of people we know.

As the book opens, the main character is flying to see her mom, whom she and her sister have not talked to in 35 years. Her sister is about to find out whether or not she has cancer and she feels they should reconnect with their mother, in case. We hear most of the story through the main character's reminiscences on the plane flight there. Their mother did something horrible all those years ago. Can you wait to find out what?

Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber

2008-10-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

I love the Blossom Street series by Debbie Macomber. This is the 4th book in the series and maybe my favorite. The book starts with Anne, who owns the bookstore on Blossom Street. It has been three years since her estranged husband passed away and she feels she is missing something in her life. She and three other widows gather on Valentine's evening and she comes up with an idea that they should each come up with a list of 20 wishes that they would like to do to revitalize their lives. Some of them are big and some are small. A couple of Anne's are to buy a pair of red boots and to see Paris with someone she loves. My only complaint about this book is that I want more. Macomber shares the major details of each widow's quest with us, but she could have made this into four books and I would have eaten them all up!

P.S. This book made me also seriously consider starting a list of my own 20 wishes. Maybe soon.

Booked for Breakfast

2008-09-12T08:24:00.000-07:00

I joined an e-mail book club a couple of years ago. It's quite fun. They feature a new book each week and M-F you receive a small snippet of the book, along with funny stories by the host, Suzanne. If you don't like the book, you can delete it. Sometimes I do, but I always read Suzanne's column. She's very funny and she likes to give things away, like home-baked chocolate chip cookies and fuzzy socks. I belong to the Mystery and Thriller Book Club, but they offer others as well. Check it out here: http://www.randomhouse.com/bantamdell/bookedforbreakfast/

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris

2008-09-12T06:34:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are regular readers, you know I'm not really into non-fiction. I actually chose this book for our Book Discussion Group at my library. They like to have books with lots of controversy so they have a lot to talk about.

Sedaris writes about his life and the lives of his family and friends. I laughed a lot at their antics, although there were many sad and poignant stories as well. He has admitted that he tends to exaggerate things at times, but I think that added to my enjoyment, rather than detracted from it. Some of my favorite stories in this book are about his baby brother. He is so crude and much larger than life. Even if you normally like fiction, you'll probably enjoy this too.

Play Dirty by Sandra Brown

2008-09-12T06:22:00.000-07:00

Sandra Brown isn't always on my "must read" list, but she has had some good ones over the years, including this. I actually picked it up because my mother-in-law was telling me about it and I was intrigued.

Play Dirty features a former NFL star who has just been released from prison for betting on and throwing a major NFL game. He is approached by a paraplegic billionare to sire a child with the man's wife. And...there can be no doctors involved because someone might find out! So they have to do it the old fashioned way. Also involved in this whole scene is a man from the NFL star's dirty past who would like nothing better than for him to be dead. Soon someone else dies and all is in an uproar. This was quite the page turner.

Some of Sandra Brown's books are just lusty romances, but others are really good mysteries. My two favorites are Unspeakable and Standoff. Try them out.

Sorry for the delay...

2008-09-12T06:19:00.000-07:00

For anyone who has been checking this blog hoping for updates, I apologize. On July 2nd, we welcomed our 2nd son, Qwilleran Robert, into our lives and I've been behind on this blog ever since. I will get back into the swing of things starting today. BTW, you get bonus points if you know where his name comes from. Hint: if you are reading this blog you're already in the right area.

The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier

2008-06-19T11:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-19T11:36:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-18T04:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-05T19:10:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-02T18:44:00.001-07:00

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

2008-06-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

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.

Playing for Pizza by John Grisham

2008-05-15T08:58:00.000-07:00

If you have ever had a conversation with me about John Grisham, you know that I cannot stand his legal books. They're so boring, and they're about lawyers and laws and all that boring stuff. But, amazingly, I enjoy his non-legal books. The first one I ever read was given to me for Christmas by the best gift-giver ever, my Aunt Judy. She gave me Skipping Christmas by Grisham while I was in college. It is a delightful tale about all the commercialism at Christmas, and what would happen if we avoided it. If you saw the movie, Christmas with the Kranks, with Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis, it was similar, but of course the book is always better.

Anyways, back to Pizza. This book is about an NFL quarterback who, through a series of circumstances, basically ends his NFL career through one game. He is only 28 and not ready to be done with football, but football seems to be done with him. So, his manager Arnie manages to get him onto a team in the Italian version of the NFL. Each Italian team is allowed a maximum of 3 American players, and the Americans are the only ones who get paid, and not well at that. The Italians play for the love of the game, and they are treated to pizza and beer once a week by the team's owner.

The descriptions of Italian food, wine, scenery, and customs make me want to dash over to Italy and spend a week or five tooling around the cities and countryside eating and sunning on the beach. Wait until you read/hear the part about Rick trying to get his little Fiat out of a parallel parking place when there is a vehicle less than 12 inches from both front and back, and Rick has never driven a stick. Reminds me of a couple of friends of mine who learned to drive my little blue truck in high school=).

All in all: great book. Read it and crave pasta with me.

Schooled by Gordon Korman

2008-05-14T14:24:00.000-07:00

I read this book because a 6th grade teacher told me that her class just finished it and loved it. I have to admit that I loved it to. The story revolves around a boy named Capricorn Anderson otherwise known as "Cap". He has lived his entire life in a hippie commune called Garland Farm. Only, he and his grandmother, "Rain", are the only people still living there. The commune has been around since the 1960s, but it is now over 40 years later.

Things really start happening when Rain falls from a tree and shatters her hip. Cap, who has been driving since he was 8, drives her to the hospital and gets arrested for driving without a license. Since Rain needs several weeks of rehab, and she is his only living relative (and also his home-school teacher), he moves in with a social worker's family temporarily.

Next, Cap is sent to Claverage Middle School a.k.a. C Average Middle School. He has never been to school before. He dresses in clothing that he and Rain made, as in grew the cotton, made the thread, wove the cloth, sewed the clothing and tie-dyed it themselves. Even his shoes are made from corn husks. You can about imagine the reaction of the rest of the students at this school. Next, he is elected 8th grade president, even though he is against government. Little does he know that it is a tradition to elect the worst candidate and then try to force them to slowly go insane. He befriends the most picked on kid in school, Hugh Winkleman, president of the Chess Club. The popular kids start an all out campaign to torture him. Luckily, Cap's clueless-ness is on his side. This was a great book, even if you're an adult.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

2008-05-14T04:18:00.000-07:00

This was a book that I read for CENA, which is the Chesaning High School book club. I missed the meeting last week, but I still finished the book last night, which tells you that I really enjoyed it. Part of the reason is that my friends and I used to be really into Greek mythology. If you sat at our lunch table in high school, you had a Greek god or goddess nickname.

In this book, Percy is a 13 year old boy who has never stayed at one school longer than one year. These huge incidents keep occurring that force him to change schools. At the beginning of the book, the one that occurs is his math teacher tries to kill him on a field trip. Then, after he manages to save himself, killing her in the process, no one, including his friends and other teachers has ever heard of her.

It turns out that Percy is what they used to call a demigod. He is the offspring of a human (his mother) and a Greek god (his father). All of these incidents that have been occurring are monsters that have been sent to kill him by other Greek gods that feel he is a threat. After this latest incident, he manages to make it to Camp Half-Blood, where all demigods and demigoddesses go for the summer for training, since they are constantly being attacked.

There he finds that his best friend and one of the teachers at his last school are actually mythical creatures sent there to guard him. Once at Camp Half Blood, Percy longs to find out which god is his father. This affects what magical abilities he has and which of the other campers are his siblings. Ok, I think I've already said too much, so I'll just add one small thing. Percy and two fellow campers set off on a quest that involves visiting both Mt. Olympus and Hades. All this is set in modern times and the United States. Mt. Olympus is at the top of the Empire State Building in New York City, and the entrance to Hades is located in L.A. Pretty fitting, eh?

Compulsion by Jonathan Kellerman

2008-05-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

It took me a while to finish this audio because I've been bouncing back and forth between cars the last couple of weeks. The audio never seemed to be in the car I was in while I wanted to listen.

Anyways, while I have read many books by Faye Kellerman, I had never read any by her husband, Jonathan Kellerman. While they both write murder mysteries, hers center on a police detective and his 2nd wife, who is Jewish. Along with learning a lot about his cases, you learn a lot about the Jewish faith. Jonathan is a trained psychologist, so his main character, Alex Delaware, is a practicing psychologist who consults on police cases when his good friend, Milo, asks him to.

In Compulsion, Milo and Alex get involved in a series of cases that don't seem to have anything to do with each other. The only real correlation is stolen, expensive cars. Not like Lamborghinis and Corvettes, think Bentleys and other cars of that caliber. In one of the cases, a 25+ girl disappears while driving home drunk from the bar one night. In another, a kindly old ex-teacher is viciously knifed to death while getting her paper, by an old man in a blue cap who gets calmly back into a Bentley and drives away. At the same time as these cases, Milo is asked to re-open a 16 yr. old unsolved case of a 15 yr old kid who disappeared while selling magazines door to door.

I think I'll stop with the description there, because if I get too much further into it, I'll start giving things away. This was a really good book. I think I'm going to check out another JK book on audio for my drive home today.

Lady Killer by Lisa Scottoline

2008-05-07T03:37:00.000-07:00

For those of you who know me, you know I can't stand legal thrillers. Sorry, I do not think John Grisham is a god. But...Lisa Scottoline writes the best legal books I've ever liked. Many of her books are about an all female law firm, and this was one of those. Mary DeNunzio is hired by that girl from high school. You know that girl, maybe you were that girl. She was popular, she wore tight sweaters, she smoked under the bleachers, and she hated you, for some reason. Anyways, Mary is hired by this girl to help her get out of an abusive relationship with...a guy who Mary used to date about 15 years ago, who the girl has been dating/living with ever since. He is now a fixture in the local mob scene and a drug dealer to boot.

Mary has a hard time reconciling what she knows of this guy with what the girl is telling her, but the girl is genuinely afraid for her life and she has documented the abuse. Now, Mary is a good Catholic girl and feels she must help no matter what. This leads all sorts of interesting places. I think I should stop now so I don't give away the entire book. I loved it.

"The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie

2008-04-13T14:43:00.000-07:00

Remember how I said that I had to start reading more YA books? Ok, this is one of them. It was a totally excellent book. Unfortunately, I don't think that I can book talk it at school because there are a couple of touchy subjects in here.

Anyways, the gist of it is that this kid, Junior, is 1/2 white and 1/2 Indian and he lives with his family on a reservation. You learn all about the social problems that seem to run amok on reservations. Lots of drinking, and because of it, lots of stupidity. Junior decides that if he wants to have a better life, that he needs to go to school at a nearby (20-30 miles away) non-Indian school. He is ripped on by almost everyone in his tribe for that and his best friend starts to hate him. I'm not going to go into any more of the plot because I don't want to give it away. One of the coolest things about this book is that Junior likes to draw, so the book is filled with his cartoons and sketches that show the things that are happening in his life. If you need a good book for a teenage guy, I would recommend this one, but not if the boy is under 14.

Winter Study by Nevada Barr

2008-04-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

So, a coworker of mine hasn't liked the last couple of Anna Pigeon books because Anna is aging and she doesn't think Nevada Barr should let that happen. Now, I enjoyed the last couple of books, but didn't love them, yet not for that reason. In those books, Anna has gotten married to Paul and she just didn't seem to show that she cared all that much about him. That didn't seem quite right to me.

I loved this book! A different coworker of mine took the book home first and told me she couldn't get into it because it was too much about wolves. She and I read some of the same books, but not exactly alike so I still went into this book with an open mind. While I did learn quite a bit about wolves, I found the psychological aspects of this book riveting. Imagine you are on Isle Royal, closer to Canada than Michigan, in the middle of Lake Superior, the nastiest Great Lake, in the middle of January with only 6 other people and no way to get supplies or leave the island if the weather isn't just right. Then, imagine strange things start happening and people start getting hurt. You have no electricity, no running water, and no telephone service. You have never met any of these other 6 people before you embarked on this trip. Who should you trust? No one of course! Read this book, you will not regret it!!!

Notes from Spinning Planet: Ireland by Melody Carlson

2008-03-31T11:27:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-31T11:15:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-18T12:33:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-18T12:28:00.001-07:00

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

2008-03-18T12:19:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-06T11:53:00.001-08:00

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

2008-03-06T11:39:00.000-08:00

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.

Public Secrets by Nora Roberts

2008-02-29T10:14:00.000-08:00

This was definitely not a traditional Nora Roberts book. I was looking for an easy and entertaining read when I picked this up, as I was planning on reading it during a series of lunch times. Public Secrets follows the lives of an English rock band that becomes a big hit during the seventies and on into time. Once she is born, the book really follows the life of Emma, the daughter of the lead singer. I got a good look at the seamy underbelly of the music world. It was almost like reading a tabloid, except it had more details and the whole 25 years story at once. I really enjoyed it, especially when they found out who killed Emma's brother. I found this book very satisfying, as every bad guy was punished, some more brutally than others.

The Hanged Man's Song by John Sandford

2008-02-27T18:33:00.000-08:00

I finished this book on audio today. I listened to the Recorded Books Unabridged version. I am not normally a John Sandford fan, but a coupl of weeks ago, I was at my in-laws' house and my father-in-law handed me "The Fool's Run" by John Sandford which is the first Kidd novel. I was kind of intrigued, especially since it is a hacker suspense novel written in 1989. The computer descriptions of that time were quite intriguing, especially since I was 8 when the book came out. Most of the hacking was done via the telephone lines, which seems quite antiquated now. So, back to "The Hanged Man's Song". In all of these Kidd novels, Kidd has a super-hacker friend named Bobby. In this book, Bobby is found murdered and his laptop with all its high-powered secrets is missing. This is both mystifying and bad. Even Bobby's closest friends do not know his real name or where he lives, so how did the bad guy get to him? Also, how much of the information on his laptop could be harmful to his hacker friends. Kidd has the help of his some-time girlfriend, Lu Ellen, and another reoccurring character named John Smith throughout the book. It made me want to stay in my car all day and drive around so I could find out what was happening next.

High Noon by Nora Roberts

2008-02-27T18:26:00.000-08:00

This book was great! I read it in one afternoon since I couldn't put it down. Ok, there were a few interruptions by my son, but still. It is about a female hostage negotiator in Savannah. She's had some rough hits in life, but now when things seem to be going well, it seems she has a stalker. Beware, there are a couple of extremely grisly scenes in this book, but they only made me want to read faster.

Books Should Be Fun

2008-02-27T17:26:00.000-08:00

Ok, how often have you felt guilty for reading something that some people would consider "fluff"? Since I'm a professional librarian, people seem to assume that I only read tomes with literary value. Actually, the opposite seems to be true. I'm the director of a small-medium sized library with a very small budget. This keeps me occupied a lot of the time. When I'm not doing something work related, I have a husband, a 2 yr. old son, and another child on the way. And...I somehow got roped into running the school library at my church (Preschool-8th grade). So, honestly, most of the books I read are for pure enjoyment and entertainment. I'm starting this blog so that I can talk about the books I read without guilt (no, I'm not Catholic). My goal is to create at least one post for each book I finish.