Me and Mr. Darcy

Author: Alexandra Potter
Stars: 3
Review by: Linds M.
You have to be interested in the topic in order to get through this book! 

Sarah's Key

Author: Tatiana de Rosnay
Stars: 4
Review by: Miss Lucy
The Holocaust is not usually subject matter that people WANT to read about, but this book is written in a way that will get you through it. Each disturbing chapter is quickly followed by a chapter about present-day characters, so that it's possible to go on reading. The book is really well-written and keeps your interest. I didn't give it a 5-star rating, though, because I felt like the author really jammed down the readers' throats the fact that most people were unaware that Jews were deported from Paris. She must have mentioned that at least 20 times in the first half of the book alone. But all in all, it's a great book. Put it on your must-read list!

Congratulations to...

... Saraswati, our Week #3 Prize Winner!!!

New This Week

Wicked Business by Janet Evanovich (Bantam Dell)

 Dazzling her patrons with scrumptious cupcakes at her Salem, Massachusetts bakery, Elizabeth Tucker continues to fall for the irresistible Diesel, who protects her from a villain who is seeking mystical stones tied to the seven deadly sins.

The Long Earth by Terry Prachett and Stephen Baxter (Harper Collins)

Finally finding the mecca of isolation in a distant region known as the High Meggas, Larry Lynsey, a recluse who is aggressively protective of his singular solitude, finds his quiet existence shattered by the arrival of two accidental tourists and will do everything in his power to make them leave.

The Orphan Master by Jean Zimmerman (Viking)

In 17th-century New Amsterdam, today Manhattan, 22-year-old trader Blandine von Couvering and British spy Edward Drummond investigate the mysterious disappearance of orphan children.

Just Jennifer

Bloodline by James Rollins (William Morrow, June 26, 2012)

James Rollins SIGMA force novels have been thrilling readers for years.  In his latest novel, he answers the age old question: if you could live forever, would you choose to do it?  When three seemingly disparate acts collide: the kidnapping of the United States President’s pregnant daughter by Somali pirates off the coast of the Horn of Africa, a bombing at a fertility clinic in South Carolina that has been experimenting with the human genetic code, and an eleventh-century Templar knight finding the staff of Jesus, a sequence of events is set off that turns deadly.  As former Army Ranger Tucker Wayne and his canine companion Kane set out to rescue Amanda Grant-Bennett things go terribly wrong and Wayne quickly learns this isn’t an everyday Somali pirate kidnapping.  Rollins seamless weaves history with heart stopping action, creating the intricate, believable---and infinitely scary if there is any truth to it---plot readers have come to expect from this best-selling author.

A Streetcar Named Desire

Author: Tennesse Williams
Stars: 5
Review by: BookWorm2
A fantastic read!

Room

Author: Emma Donoghue
Stars: 4
Review by: Ann M
Told through Jack, a 5 year old perspective, the abduction of
his Ma, his birth, their life in the Room, the escape and living after
the escape.

Lost December

Author: Richard Paul Evans
Stars: 4
Review by: Ann M
Luke Crisp is to take over the business from his father, a
self-made millionaire.  His father asks him to get his MBA and Luke
becomes the prodigal son.

Murder with Reservations: A Dead-End Job Mystery

Author: Elaine Viets
Stars: 3
Review by: Saraswati
Book #6 in this series:  This time Helen is working at a hotel
as a maid.  The maid sub-stories are sad, but funny.  Once again she
stumbles upon a murder.  So while avoiding the police she tries to solve
the mystery.  To add to her misery, her ex catches up with her and they
play a game of cat and mouse.  Fun, easy read.  (Need to find Book#2 -
Murder Between the Covers for this summer's club.)

Tote Bags and Toe Tags

Author: Dorothy Howell
Stars: 4
Review by: BookHunter
The latest in the Haley Randolph mystery series. This is a fun
summer read!

Home to Big Stone Gap

Author: Adriana Trigiani
Stars: 2
Review by: Smudge 
Not as good as the Valentina series.

Sweetgrass

Author: Mary Alice Munroe
Stars: 4
Review by: Smudge
A good summer read.  Although a little predictable, Sweetrass is
nevertheless a well told story about the secrets of a family struggling
to keep their land along the marshes of the low country.

A Wedding in Haiti: the Story of a Friendship

Author: Julia Alverez
Stars: 4
Review by: Tartu
The author recounts her friendship with a young Haitian working
on their coffee plantation in the Dominican Republic as he grows into a
young man, marries, has a family and continues to face the abject
poverty and natural disasters in Haiti.   Alvarez is a very lyrical
writer and lends a certain beauty to the island and its people.

Killer Insight: A Psychic Eye Mystery

Author: Victoria Laurie
Stars: 4
Review by: Saraswati
Book #4 in the Psychic Eye Mystery Series:  We find ourselves
going to a wedding of Abby's childhood friend.  Meanwhile, Abby knows
something is wrong but can't figure it out.  She has a mini-break up
with her boyfriend Dutch just before she heads out to the wedding.
Once there, all her friend's friends disappear and wind up dead.  This
book carried a lot of emotion as Abby sees her future and it does not
look bright. Fast paced and kept me interested.

The Watery Part of the World

Author: Michael Parker
Stars: 4
Review by: bd
A fictional account based on two true stories of  island
dwellers off the North Carolina coast in the 19th and 20th centuries. In
parallel narratives, we learn the story of Theodosia Burr (daughter of
recently exiled Vice President Aaron Burr) whose ship is attacked by
pirates and is left for dead on Nag's Head island. One hundred and fifty
years later, her two elderly descendants are among the last remaining
residents of the same North Carolina island. The writing is beautiful
and lyrical and once you are attuned to the local dialect, quite
immersing. I'm giving it four, rather than 5, stars, because I felt that
there were issues and plot points that the author should have resolved,
but overall it was an enjoyable and interesting read.

I'm Not Hanging Noodles on Your Ears

Author: Jag Bhalla
Stars: 4
Review by: Mary NK
An entertaining collection of idioms from many non-English
languages. The title is Russian for "I'm not pulling your leg.".
Chapters on food, colors, body parts, animals and numbers reveal sayings
that make sense ("An octopus in a garage" is Spanish for "A fish out of
water") or often, lose a lot in the translation ("Put saliva on one's
eyebrows" = a fake, in Japanese). A lesson we see frequently in this
little book is that idioms don't work in other languages. for example,
"wool gathering" in Hindi is to be at wit's end, NOT, as in English
"absentmindedly thinking". And an Italian who "has liver" is brave;
while a Frenchman with livers has cold feet.

Home Front

Author: Kristin Hannah
Stars: 3
Review by: deckreader
A story about a woman separated from her family while serving her country.
 

Beach Music

Author: Pat Conroy
Stars: 4.5
Review by: Barbie
 Lots of good descriptive writing. The characters stay with you.
I wish I had been able to sit on a beach to read it.

The Body in the Kelp: A Faith Fairchild Mystery

Author: Katherine Hall Page
Stars: 3
Review by: Saraswati
This is the second book in this series about a minister's wife and
caterer that finds herself entangled in murder mysteries.  
This time she is on vacation in Maine but rest and relaxation don't 
seem to on the agenda.   A treasure map found in hidden in quilt design, 
missing treasure, betrayal, and love make for a fun read.

Karma: A Serendipity Novel

Author: Carly Phillips
Stars: 2
Review by: Saraswati
The third book in the trilogy about 3 brothers coming back together after many years apart and how they fall in love.  The story is about the youngest brother coming to grips with a tragedy of his youth while falling in love with a woman that constantly reminds him of that time.   It moved a little slow, but it could be having read them somewhat back to back.  However, in the sense of most trilogies there is more to come.   Expect spin off novels starting early 2013.

Sybil Exposed

Author: Debbie Nathan
Stars: 4
Review by: libraryaimee
Tells the true facts behind the sensational book and tv movie about Sybil--the multiple personality woman.   It's a fascinating expose on how Shirley Mason was misused and misled by her psychologist and by the author of the original book.  She had a legitimate vitamin B deficiency that went untreated all her life. A sad story, but I couldn't stop reading it.

The Family Corleone

Author: Ed Falco
Stars: 4
Review by: BookHunter
If you enjoyed The Godfather you will certainly enjoy this book.  I didn't want to put it down.

The Freedom Writers Diary

Author: The Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell
Stars: 4
Review by: Reader
The true story of how a first year English teacher inspired at risk students by  using books and diaries.

A Confederacy of Dunces

Author: John Kennedy Toole
Stars: 4
Review by: Reader
Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction in 1981.   Set in New Orleans and contains
unusual characters.

New This Week

Bellwether Revivals by Benjamin Wood (Viking)

Feeling apart from the privileged students who roam Cambridge's colleges and spires, nursing home assistant Oscar Lowe is drawn into the opulent world of the charismatic Bellwether siblings and falls in love with medical student Iris before realizing the dangers posed by troubled Eden Bellwether, who believes he can heal people with his music.

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (Harper)

Follows a young Italian innkeeper and his almost-love affair with a beautiful American starlet, which draws him into a glittering world filled with unforgettable characters.

Between You and Me by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus (Atria)

Reunited with her cousin Kelsey when a job offer returns her to the home of her unhappy childhood in Oklahoma, Logan risks everything to secure her cousin's happiness while Kelsey's celebrity and controlling parents threaten her efforts to live a normal life. By the authors of The Nanny Diaries.

Heading Out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick (Algonquin)

Charlie Beale meets Sylvan Glass, the bride of the town's richest man, and Sam Haislett, the son of owner of the butcher shop where Charlie gets a job, and soon the interaction between Charlie, Sylvan, and Sam alters the town forever.

Porch Lights by Dorothea Benton Frank (William Morrow)

In the South Carolina Lowcountry, three generations of a family--a grandmother, a mother and a son--discover the indelible power of love, in this emotional journey that interweaves stories of swashbuckling pirates and an enigmatic writer named Edgar Allan Poe with the bonds of family.

Red House by Mark Haddon (Doubleday)

A tale told from rotating viewpoints traces seven days of bitterly comic family dynamics and confrontation when a wealthy doctor invites his estranged sister's family to join his newly blended one at a vacation home in the English countryside. By the Whitbread Book of the Year Award-winning author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Congratulations to...

... Rebecca S., our Week #2 Prize Winner!!!

Needled to Death: A Knitting Mystery

Author: Maggie Sefton
Stars: 2
Review by: Saraswati
 Book #2 in the Kelly Flynn series.  A CPA trying to find her way back home after the death of key members of her family gets herself involved with solving local murders while learning to knit.  This moved a little slow for me but it was interesting to learn about knitting and to see what a knitting pattern looks like.  This book talks a lot about Alpaca ranches which is very popular in our area.  Not a bad summer read.

The Rule of Four

Author: Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason
Stars: 1
Review by: ddlesmom
Boring book....don't waste your time.

The Year of the Gadfly

Author: Jennifer Miller
Stars: 4
Review by: Tartu
Another take on prep schools in New England. There was something appealing about this though there wasn't much new. 

Sarah's Key

Author: Tatiana DeRosnay
Stars: 4
Review by: deckreader
A young girl's story about the brutality she and her family endured during the roundup of Jews by the French in 1942. 

I've Got Your Number

Author: Sophie Kinsella
Stars: 5
Review by: Linds M.
It was a very entertaining book! Sophie Kinsella manages to surprise you and give you a great book all in one.

Wife 22

Author: Melanie Gideon
Stars: 3
Review by: BookHunter
This is a clever, funny book about facebooking and marriage counseling.

The Kingdom of Ohio

Author: Matthew Flaming
Stars: 2
Review by: BKF
NYC in 1901, digging of the subway, the start of the mechanical age, time travel, love story. Confusing, scrambled storyline. Footnotes were a distraction, too many of them. Wouldn't recommend it.

The Unseen

Author: Heather Graham
Stars: 3
Review by: Libraryaimee
A supernatural murder mystery that takes place in San Antonio with the ghosts of the Alamo as a backdrop.  A fast read, similar to her others, but very enjoyable! 

Murder Unleashed: A Dead-End Job Mystery

Author: Elaine Viets
Stars: 3
Review by: Saraswati
A cute twist to the women sleuth genre.  A woman on the lam gets involved with solving a murder mystery while trying to avoid the police and working dead-end jobs.  This time our main character, Helen, is working for a pampered pet store and winds up getting entangled in a web of intrigue and very strange, wealthy people in her area.   The story leads you right up to the next installment.  Waiting for it to arrive at the library.  A fun, summer read.

Just Jennifer

Slugfest by Rosemary Harris (Chestnut Hill Books, June 2012)

Anthony and Agatha Award-nominated Rosemary Harris’s fourth book Slugfest is now available in trade paperback with a kicky new cover. Originally published by St. Martin’s Minotaur imprint, Slugfest continues the story of gardening professional Paula Holliday from Springfield, Connecticut. Paula finds herself in Manhattan as the exhibit booth manager for a reclusive garden sculptor at The Big Apple Flower Show. She is hoping for busy weekend full of gardening tips and ideas, but instead uncovers professional jealousies & rivalries, exhibit sabotage including headless gnomes and the Javits Curse. When a body is found floating in the exhibit’s river, Paula is unwittingly left holding the bag, literally, that contains the clue to the murderer’s identity. Add in a pesticide that the inventor claims is a sure thing and Paula and a no-nonsense security guard have more than exhibits to keep their eyes on. Rosemary’s first novel, Pushing Up Daisies is an Anthony and Agatha Nominee for Best First Novel and was on Library Journal’s best first fiction list in 2008. In addition to writing mysteries, Rosemary is a Master Gardener, has been on six Habitat for Humanity trips, built the Chalula Library in Tanzania and is an avid hiker and kayaker and has hiked to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. Rosemary is a strong advocate for libraries and is a gracious speaker we have been very pleased to host twice at the Hunterdon County Library. Be sure not to miss this great series that will appeal to not only gardeners but also to mystery fans who enjoy a witty, sassy, no-nonsense heroine. Read alike authors include Susan Witting Albert, Sarah Graves and Harley Jane Kozak.

The lobby display at the Headquarters Library from Rosemary's 2008 visit.  Rosemary provided packets of daisy seeds with the cover of her new book for everyone and one lucky winner took home a gardening gift including an autographed copy of her new book.

A Vision of Murder: A Psychic Eye Mystery

Author: Victoria Laurie
Stars: 4
Review by: Saraswati
A fun combo of parapsychology, female sleuths, hidden treasure, murder, and mayhem.  After getting roped into buying a "fixer-upper" with her sister and friend, the main character, Abby, finds herself caught in a web of intrigue, history, and murder. Don't forget a little love on the side.  A fun summer read. 

The Lost Years

Author: Mary Higgins Clark
Stars: 2
Review by: Judy
A very easy read, but I wonder if she gets paid by the word as she is so repetitive.  

Overbite

Author: Meg Cabot
Stars: 3
Review by: C.J.
This book was fun and a quick read.  It helps to be familiar with the original Dracula by Bram Stoker, as the author uses some of the characters in her story. 

Just Jennifer

15 Seconds by Andrew Gross (William Morrow, July 2012)

In his fifth solo novel, James Patterson co-author weaves a story of revenge and two fathers’ love for their daughters that hits the ground running and doesn’t stop until the final page.  Young Amanda Hofer has just run down a young mother and her infant son in their front yard.  She was high on Oxy and is in prison facing a twenty year sentence with a father out for vengeance for his daughter’s life which she feels is over.  Plastic surgeon Harry Steadman is in Fort Lauderdale to attend a medical conference and play a few rounds of golf. While trying to find his hotel, he makes a wrong turn and ends up handcuffed in the back of a police car, for what, he’s not quite sure.  Next thing he knows, he is released and back in his own car, but witnesses the drive-by, execution style murder of the arresting officer.  He finds himself being shot at and fleeing the scene, becoming Florida’s most wanted fugitive.  Harry is now on the lam after finding his best friend dead and learning that whoever is masterminding this plot has his daughter.  His only hope is a dispatcher, Carrie, who has just returned from bereavement leave and who, for some reason, believes Harry.  Readers will either guess who is pulling the strings or feel the tell comes a little early in the plot, but as the rest of the plot unfolds and Carrie and Harry chase down leads and make connections, the tension remains high and the trademarked pace Gross is famous for never slows until the very end.

Just Jennifer

Criminal by Karin Slaughter (Delacorte, July 2012)

Karin Slaughter brings back Will Trent, Amanda Wagner and Dr. Sara Linton in her latest novel that flashes back to Amanda’s early years on the force and tells the story of how Will went from being a dyslexic ward of the state to a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent.   The setting deftly switches back and forth between the mid-1970’s when two young women were murdered and the present day when a co-ed has disappeared, bearing an eerie similarity to the earlier cases.  Sara and Will are in the early stages of a relationship, Will still married to, though separated from and mostly estranged from, his childhood protector, the ever psychotic Angie who continues to stalk Will and Sara, leaving Sara threatening notes almost daily on her windshield.  As Amanda and her partner Faye investigate the murders in the seventies, they are unwittingly telling Will’s story and his family history, a history Sara knows very little of; she is patient with Will and wants him to tell the story in his own time, but before long, his past comes crashing into the present with alarming speed and surprising results and when it seems that all is said and done, Amanda and Angie each have one last surprise for everyone.  Will and Sara have been readers’ favorites for a long time, in their individual series and when they have helped each other out on cases in the past, but Criminal throws then together in new and intimate ways, exposing Will, and Amanda, in ways that make them even more realized than before.  Add a break neck pace and murder investigations spanning four decades and this is one of Slaughter’s best books to date.

Just Jennifer

Bellwether Revivals by Benjamin Wood (Riverhead Books, June 2012)

A startling prologue depicting a scene of death and confusion is juxtaposed next to the first scene in which twenty-year-old Oscar Lowe, a caregiver at Cedarbrook Nursing Home, wanders into a Cambridge chapel, lured in by the sounds of Eden Bellwether’s hypnotic organ playing.  There Oscar meets, and falls in love with Eden’s younger sister Iris, a medical student who wants Oscar’s help in proving that Eden is mentally ill.  Eden is a gifted musician who believes that musical therapy can hypnotize and cure physical ailments, including Iris’s broken leg and a psychologist’s brain tumor.  As Eden’s obsession to cure grows, so does his madness and so his decline begins into a madness that no one, not even Iris can stop.  Wood’s prose is as lyrical as Eden’s music as he envelopes all of the reader’s senses with his descriptions of the sights, smells, and most importantly, the sounds, Oscar experiences as he is drawn into this gothic family.  Even though the end is inevitable, and the results displayed in the prologue, there is a palpable tension present as Oscar watches hopelessly as Eden, and Iris by association, spiral out of control in this wonderfully atmospheric first novel.  

Just Jennifer

The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty (Riverhead Books, June 2012)

What starts out as the story of the woman who accompanied a young Louise Brooks from Kansas to New York City where she first attended dance school, quickly becomes the story of a woman who has lost her past, given up her present and has little hope for the future until the summer of 1922.  Cora Carlisle agrees to chaperone an eager teenage Louise Brooks for the summer as she travels to New York City to do what she has always longed to do, dance, with dreams of becoming a star on stage.  Louise’s story become predictable as the fifteen-year-old wants to experience everything New York has to offer, though she has had very little experience in life back in Wichita, Kansas.  Cora’s story quickly unravel as we learn she was born in New York and raised in a Catholic orphanage who sent trains west on a regular basis.  As Cora’s quest to find her birth family unfolds, she finds herself facing a moral situation she never imagined and finds herself making choices that would be unthinkable to the old Cora.  Returning to her life in Kansas, we learn that things were not as they seemed for Cora, and they will remain so to the public, but finally Cora will be happy and satisfied with her life.  Louise makes another appearance after her short stint in movies, back home, broken and very much alone, as Cora makes a visit to her, not to judge Louise for her choices but to offer her a look at what might have beens can become if a path other than the conventional one is chosen.  Some may find Cora’s choices ridiculous until they are placed in the context of early twentieth-century mid-west America.  While historical fiction fans and those who enjoy fictionalized biographies will find much to enjoy here, the story goes much deeper as it becomes Cora’s, expanding the appeal to a broader audience.  

To Kill a Mockingbird

Author: Harper Lee
Stars: 5
Review by: Bookworm237
There's a reason this book is a classic. Set in 1930's Alabama, it's the story of a young girl nicknamed Scout and her transformation from innocent childhood to the harsh and cruel world that adults live in. Scout is fortunate to have her father, Atticus, guiding her through this time with his heartfelt and deep life lessons. The story is about racism and the prejudices that adults tolerate, and how we create a world that innocent children are subjected to and cannot understand. Atticus is ahead of his time in the 30's, and backs up his words when he defends an African-American man on trial for his life when a white girl and her father accuse him of rape. The book's title becomes extremely meaningful and clear in the last few chapters of the story, when parts 1 and 2 come together full circle. We could all stand to take a lesson from Atticus. It's such an amazing book. I cannot recommend it enough.

Alice On Board

Author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Stars: 2
Review by: Tartu
This series is getting a little drawn out and predictable.

Drop Dead Chocolate: A Donut Shop Mystery

Author: Jessica Beck
Stars: 3
Review by: Saraswati
The latest edition to the Donut Shop Mysteries.  Combine donuts, mayoral elections, murder, love and longing and you get Drop Dead Chocolate.  Another light, fun summer read.  Keep your eyes open for the next installment, Powdered Peril, coming soon.

Snowy Night with a Stranger

Author: Jane Feather
Stars: 2
Review by: Saraswati
This book contains three stories:   A Holiday Gamble by Jane Feather, When Sparks Fly by Sabrina Jeffries and Snowy Night with a Highlander by Julia London.  All of these are historical romances based around the theme of spending a snowy night with a stranger, falling in love, and happiness ever after.  As with many short stories, things move too fast without much substance.  These are quick and cooling reads.

Lone Wolf

Author: Jodi Picoult
Stars: 4
Review by: Jambob
My dad passed away last month from a massive heart attack that left him on life support for 2 weeks. I am grieving his passing as his only child but I reflect back on the decisions I needed to make for his care at the time. Although I was surrounded by family members they were ultimately my decisions. What agony! I could have read clinical books about the circumstance, instead I read this fictional account of a man whose life ambition was to understand wolves by entering a wolf pack himself and living in the wild. Actually a man has entered a wolf pack in real life. This author intersperses the lives of the people involved with the man's health condition in ICU due to brain death following a vehicle accident; his estranged son, loving guilt-ridden daughter, divorced wife and aspects of his own life as he learns about wolf relationships in the wild. For anyone who had to face the daunting and haunting task of making medical decisions for a loved one I highly recommend reading this book. For others who are fascinated by wolf behavior or how dysfunctional families may heal...this book is filled with treasures. Our families are all dysfunctional in one way or another and by varying degrees and you may be called upon to make life/death decisions for someone in your care. The author fleshes out the complexities of this gut-wrenching situation and the family dynamics which surround it. I finished the book and had a good cry then began reflecting more deeply on my own circumstances.

Defending Jacob

Author: William Landay
Stars: 4
Review by: Judy
An interesting novel that combines a courtroom trial with upsetting family dynamics. 

A Lucky Irish Lad

Author: Kevin O'Hara
Stars: 3
Review by: BKF
A charming memoir. Four year old Kevin sets sail for America in 1953 with his parents and four siblings, settling in Pittsfield, MA. Three additional siblings,born in America, would be affectionately referred to as "the Yanks." The book is comprised of stories of his youth up to 1973. An engaging read.  

All the World's Mornings

Author: Pascal Quignard
Stars: 5
Review by: BookDancer
When I recently saw the highly acclaimed and  profoundly moving French film, All the Mornings of the World (1991), it immediately went on my "all-time favorites" list of movies.  It is about the relationship of 2 French musicians in the late 17th century.  The book upon which it is based is a slim paperback, difficult to obtain but so worth the effort.  Most of the time, it's better to read a book before seeing the movie.  In the case of All the World's Mornings, see the movie first if you can because of the stunning musical score and tremendous acting, although the book can stand alone as a richly textured and unforgettable account of love, passion and music set in the historical context of 17th century France.  

Fifty Shades of Grey

Author: E. L. James
Stars: 3
Review by: Barbie
I think almost everything has been said about this book, a book for the Bachelor/Bachelorette fans. I do worry that young people reading it, especially young girls, will think that a relationship like this is the norm, and then find it acceptable to enter into.

Betrayal

Author: Danielle Steel
Stars: 3
Review by: deckreader
 A successful woman director is betrayed by two of her most trusted friends/coworkers.

Four Pictures by Emily Carr

Author: Nicolas Debon
Stars: 4
Review by: Elaine
Anyone who is an artist would enjoy this graphic novel.

Man and Wife

Author: Tony Parsons
Stars: 2
Review by: BookHunter
 Could have been a little more exciting - dull at times but a happy ending.

Red Hot Murder: An Angie Amalfi Mystery

Author: Joanne Pence
Stars: 3
Review by: Saraswati
 Just found out from the author's website that this is the next to the last book out in this series (author is planning her own wedding).  This takes Angie and Paavo to an Arizona town where Paavo went to visit in his youth.   Add western folklore, secrets, cooking and misadventure and you get a fun, easy mystery.   It can be difficult to feel sorry for Angie since she's rich enough to do the things that she does.  Must be nice.  Still this is fiction...

Due or Die

Author: Jenn McKinlay
Stars: 3
Review by: libraryaimee
The second in the Library Lovers Mystery series.  How could I resist a book about a librarian solving murder mysteries in her hometown?

Courting Disaster: An Angie Amalfi Mystery

Author: Joanne Pence
Stars: 3
Review by: Saraswati
Next to the last installment, at this time, of the Angie series. Again, light, fun mystery.  This one features her neighbor/friend Stan, a mystery woman and a baby.  Angie's "investigation" collides with her fiancee, Paavo's, investigation and leads to craziness.  All before the big engagement party.

The Lost Years

Author: Mary Higgins Clark
Stars: 3
Review by: deckreader
A double mystery about a missing priceless document and a murder.   A good read.

Two Cooks a Killing: An Angie Amalfi Mystery

Author: Joanne Pence
Stars: 2
Review by: Saraswati
Towards the end of the Angie series, this is another fun, light, mystery and mayhem book about Angie, her fiancee and friends.  Cool recipes are at the end of the book.  This one combines an old soap opera reunion, a rich, bad winemaker, murder and Christmas in April.

Julia's Child

Author: Sarah Pinneo
Stars: 2.5
Review by: mystery lover
A mother starts a business of organic baby food.

An Unexpected Guest

Author: Anna Korkeakivi
Stars: 4
Review by: Tartu
Very reminiscent of Mrs. Dalloway, almost too much so, down to the main character's name: Clare/Clarissa and buying flowers.  Still, an engrossing portrait of one woman's day as she sets about planning a dinner party which she hopes will help her husband's career.

Comfort & Joy

Author: Kristin Hannah
Stars: 3
Review by: deckreader
A lonely woman has a loving, happy experience until she learns it is only her mind playing tricks on her.  Although, the book has a happy ending.

Winter Garden

Author: Kristin Hannah
Stars: 4
Review by: deckreader
A story about two sisters and their always strained relationship with the Mother until they hear the true story of their Mother's past tragic experiences.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Author: Jamie Ford
Stars: 4
Review by: deckreader
A story of how a friendship turns to love between two young people and their experiences during the evacuations to internment camps.

These Girls

Author: Sarah Pekkanen
Stars: 2
Review by: Tartu
The plot was very contrived and the characters superficial with a burst of self-awareness at the end.

The Trespass

Author: Scott Hunter
Stars: 2
Review by: Marianne S.
An Archaeological Thriller which details the search for the corpse of Adam (but not Eve).

Congratulations to...

... Judy, our Week #1 Prize Winner!!!

Just Jennifer

The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D. by Nicole Bernier (Crown, June 2012)

When Kate’s friend Elizabeth dies in a plane crash, Kate finds herself the keeper of Elizabeth’s journals and must decide what to do with them and the secrets they contain.  As Kate reads the journals while on her family beach vacation, she reminisces about the Elizabeth she knew and the times they spent together, but learns more about Elizabeth through the journals than readers learn about Kate who is still alive.  Elizabeth’s plane crash occurred just before September eleventh, and Kate is reading the journals the following summer as she wrestle with the decision to return to her career as a pastry chef or continue being a full time mother.  Through Elizabeth’s journals, Kate learns of Elizabeth’s difficult teenage years, the time as a young wife and mother when she was robbed because of an incautious act, and that the secret trips that Elizabeth’s husband assumed where to meet a lover were something entirely different, something that her friends and family may feel cheated for not knowing about when she was alive.  While Bernier explores the secrets we keep and the persona we put on for others, sometimes, even for those closest to us, this is a very introspective novel and there is not as much character development as might be expected from a story such as this.

Just Jennifer

The Queen: A Life in Brief by Robert Lacey (Harper Perennial, May 2012)

Distilled from royal biographer Robert Lacey’s longer works on Queen Elizabeth II, this short (six chapters) book, full of photographs of the only monarch of England most people have known in their lifetime, offers an overview of the woman who was born not to rule England, but who has become probably the most recognized world leader of the twentieth century.  Born the first daughter to the second son of King George V, Lilibet had no reason to ever think she would be crowned queen, but after the death of her grandfather, abdication of her uncle and the coronation of her father, George VI, an eleven year old Elizabeth realized that she would be the next monarch to rule Great Britain, a task that came sooner than she expected when her father died in February 1952, just five years after Elizabeth’s marriage to Philip Mountbatten.  Throughout the following fifty years the world has watched as Elizabeth gave birth to four children, including the next king of England, Charles, raised her family, watched as they married, had families of their own, divorced and remarried, and suffered great losses, changing the face of the traditional monarchy.  From the photos in the book, it is evident that while Queen Elizabeth has a great love for her nation, she also has a fierce love for her family: a grinning son (Andrew) greets his mother upon his return from the Falklands War and a grieving daughter keeps both eyes on her mother’s casket as it is borne out of Westminster Abby with all the pomp and circumstances befitting the Queen Mother.  

Just Jennifer

The Boy Who Stole the Leopard’s Spots by Tamar Myers (William Morrow, May 2012)

Tamar Myers grew up in the Belgian Congo and adds a great authenticity to the setting of this third mystery set in Belle Vue.  Set in 1958 with flashbacks to 1935 when the birth of twins born to a chief set in motion a chain of events that will have far reaching effects, including a murder, when the two are reunited in Belle Vue.  At the center of the investigation is police chief Pierre Jardin and Protestant missionary Amanda Brown, who share a mutual attraction, much to the dismay of the locals.  Myers deftly depicts the tension between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants, the Belgians and the Congolese, in a nation so torn it will be almost impossible to become whole without much strife and death.  The ritualistic cannibalism and other superstitious activity collide with Amanda’s mission, and that of Monsignor Clemente who carries his own secrets, dating back to the 1930’s.  Myers is known for her Pennsylvania Dutch Inn mysteries featuring the farcical Magdalena Yoder and are filled with silly, often outrageous situations, a tone that sometimes creeps into this series and doesn’t match the tenor of the time.  The authenticity of colonial Africa life and politics is very interesting and could not be done as well by someone who had not lived it.

Just Jennifer

The Voluntourist by Ken Budd (William Morrow, May 2012)

When Ken Budd was thirty-nine, his father collapsed and died after playing eighteen holes of golf, one year into his retirement.  As Ken and his father’s friends and family grieved, Ken began to assess his own life, especially with regard to the affect his father had on others.  Ken became very conscious of the fact that he and his wife, his childhood sweetheart Julie, did not have children and would mostly likely not have children.  An unsolicited e-mail from a Katrina Relief organization sets Ken on the road of becoming a semi-pro volunteer.  Over the next few years, he rebuilds a home in flood damaged New Orleans, teaches English (with his wife) in Costa Rica, works with special needs children in China, studies climate change in Ecuador, works with orphans in Kenya and at a refugee camp in Palestine. As Ken, and sometimes Julie, experiences life in other countries, meets people like himself, searching for something in their life, and helps others, especially children, he comes to accept his life as it is and learns he is capable of having an impact on others, even without children of his own.  Ken’s story is broken down into each of his volunteer tours of duty and is told with honest emotions as he reflects on each experience and what he learns from each.  Ken keeps his sense of humor in many situations where others would throw in the towel and continues to help and inspire as he looks for his own way.

Just Jennifer

Let the Devil Sleep by John Verdon (Crown, July 2012)

Retired NYPD Detective Dave Gurney isn’t all that retired as he returns for his third case.  Gurney and his wife have move to upstate New York where the media dubbed Supercop can rest and the couple can try and live a normal life.  So far, that hasn’t happened as Dave has become a consultant on two cases, the last one that ended with Dave being shot and the resulting depression and over dependency on pain medications.  When a reporter calls and asks Dave to assist her daughter who is working on her graduate thesis, a television series based on the emotional trauma family members of the victims of a serial killer known as the Good Shepherd suffer every day; the Good Shepherd, who targeted people driving luxury black Mercedes sedans in Upstate New York was never caught, and Dave realizes that he has only been dormant all these years and will not be finished until he is caught.   Though it seems unlikely that a cop with Dave’s instincts and brooding temperament would get as involved with a reporter, especially when he learns that the television show is going to be more sensational than originally pitched, the plot is good and Dave’s different way of looking at the evidence helps point investigators in the right direction, though not soon enough to prevent more deaths.  Verdon’s plots are tightly constructed, his characters well developed, and though nothing may compare to his first novel Think of a Number, this is definitely one of the better detective series out there today.

New This Week...and Last

Canada by Richard Ford (Ecco)

After his parents are arrested and imprisoned for robbing a bank, fifteen-year-old Dell Parsons is taken in by Arthur Remlinger who, unbeknownst to Dell, is hiding a dark and violent nature that interferes with Dell's quest to find grace and peace on the prairie of Saskatchewan.

Lower River by Paul Theroux (Houghton Mifflin)

Idealizing the four years he spent in Malawi with the Peace Corps, Ellis Hock is abruptly divorced by his wife and decides to return to Africa only to find the region devastatingly transformed by poverty and apathy. 

Beautiful Sacrifice by Elizabeth Lowell (William Morrow)

Archeologist Lina Taylor teams up with former Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Hunter Johnson to track down four ancient Mayan artifacts that have disappeared.     

Wife-22 by Melanie Gideon (Ballantine)

Baring her soul in an anonymous survey for a marital happiness study, Alice catalogues her stale marriage, unsatisfying job and unfavorable prospects and begins to question virtually every aspect of her life. 

The Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar by Suzanne Joinson (Bloomsbury)

 In 1923, Eva English and her devout sister Lizzie embark on a journey to be missionaries in the ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar, while in modern-day London, a young woman's act of kindness to a Yemeni refugee results in an unexpected journey.    

Cronkite by Douglas Brinkley (Harper)

Douglas Brinkley presents the definitive, revealing biography of an American legend: renowned news anchor Walter Cronkite.   

The Thief by Clive Cussler (Putnam)

On the ocean liner Mauretania , two European scientists with a dramatic new invention are barely rescued from abduction by the Van Dorn Detective Agency's intrepid chief investigator, Isaac Bell. Unfortunately, they are not so lucky the second time. The thugs attack again-and this time one of the scientists dies. What are they holding that is so precious? Only something that will revolutionize business and popular culture-and perhaps something more. For war clouds are looming, and a ruthless espionage agent has spotted a priceless opportunity to give the Germans an edge. It is up to Isaac Bell to figure out who he is, what he is up to, and stop him. But he may already be too late . . . and the future of the world may just hang in the balance.

Blaze of Glory by Jeff Shaara (Ballantine)

A fictional account of one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, told from the perspectives of participants on both sides, recreates the April 1862 surprise attack by Confederate forces on the Union Army at Shiloh.    

New This Week

Stolen Prey by John Sandford (Putnam)

When the brutal killing of a family in a small Minnesota town reveals unsettling similarities to drug-retribution crimes, baffled police officer Lucas Davenport is shocked by findings that lead him into the darkest case of his career.

The Columbus Affair by Steve Berry (Ballantine)

When his beloved daughter falls in the clutches of a ruthless zealot, disgraced journalist Tom Sagan risks everything to embark on a perilous quest from Florida through Prague to Jamaica in search of an invaluable historical treasure.

The Cottage at Glass Beach by Heather Barbieri (Harper Collins)

Humiliated by her husband's infidelity, forty-year-old Nora Keane, married to the youngest attorney general in Massachusetts, takes refuge with her maternal aunt on Burke's Island off the coast of Maine.

Just Jennifer

A Lady’s Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar by Suzanne Joinson (Bloomsbury, May 2012)

In 1923 sisters Eva and Lizzie are traveling to Kashgar along the Silk Road as missionaries with the strong-willed, outgoing Millicent Frost.  Lizzie is very intent about their mission, but Eva is mostly along to write the bicycle travelogue for which she signed a contract before leaving London.  Along their route, the women encounter a young woman giving birth; the woman dies and the group, who is now caring for the newborn infant, is held under house arrest by local Muslim officials, possibly for murder.  In a separate story set in modern day London, Frieda, a young woman whose parents were free spirits, and who has not seen her mother in many years, inherits the contents of Irene Gray’s house, a woman she never knew and of whom she never heard anyone speak.  Along with a Yemeni alien whose welcome in London has been worn out, but who doesn’t know where to turn, Frieda sorts through the contents of Irene’s house, including an owl, and in the process learns more about herself and how she came to be who she is and maybe a bit why her mother was the way she was.  When the two stories finally connect, it will most likely not be a surprise, though there are several choices for how they will.  Eva’s journey and Frieda’s both become as much about self-discovery as anything else.  Both are strong willed women, though Frieda does seem as much so as Eva because of the times.  Many familiar topics are covered, but framed in such a way as to make them interesting and unique.  Well researched with keen insight this first novel is one not to miss.

Just Jennifer

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (Crown, June 2012)

When his wife Amy goes missing on their fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne begins to question how well he knew his wife.  The police suspect Nick in Amy’s disappearance after his casual reaction to his wife’s disappearance and the knowledge that Nick and Amy’s marriage was beginning to falter, and Nick must now follow clues his wife left him to learn her secrets and to learn the secrets Amy had uncovered about him.  The more Nick looks, the more he learns he never really knew Amy and the more he realizes he will never be able to be free of her, no matter how this ends.  Filled with cunning and clever tension, Gillian Flynn describes the marriage of two people who only knew about the other what the other was willing to reveal.  There are neat twists and turns, with a narrative that drives the plot forward as what happened to Amy, and what Amy did, is slowly revealed one layer at a time, making this book completely irresistable.

Just Jennifer

A Brief History of Thought: A Philosophical Guide to Living by Luc Ferry (Harper Perennial, 2012)

Luc Ferry is a French philosopher at the University of Paris.  In this easily accessible book he takes on five major areas in the history of philosophy, the wisdom of the ancient Greeks, the Christian thinkers, existentialists and modern and post-modern philosophers, synthesizing it in a way that allows us to think about modern daily life and how the wisdom of old can help us live a more enlightened journey, and perhaps have a happier outlook on life.  Ferry first tackles the question of “What is Philosophy?” framing it not as the antithesis of religion, but perhaps as its corollary.  He then spends a chapter on each of the five areas he has chosen to highlight, explaining how one leads into the next and how they are interdependent, building upon each other, yet can be seen as individual schools of thought.  Ferry’s love for his subject matter, and his reverence for it, show; he includes socio-political climates surround each major school and guides the reader to see how each philosophy might fit in to his or her life rather than assuming every thought is for everyone at all times.  While the chapters chronologically lay out the history of thought, once the book has been read the first time, it is easy to pick up and find the sections that appeal to us most at any given time.  Ferry gives relevance to the great thinkers we studied in school and makes us want to understand them and apply their thoughts to our lives. 

Just Jennifer

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (William Morrow)

Owen Meany and John Wheelwright are, for the most part, two ordinary eleven-year olds growing up in New England.  Johnny is the illegitimate grandson of one of the town’s founders and Owen, the son of a quarry worker, is a smaller than normal child with a high voice, both causing his classmates to pick on him.  In baseball, Owen is the team’s favorite pinch hitter (as he always walks) and pinch runner (as he easily steals bases).  The one ball Owen hits is a foul ball that kills Johnny’s mother, something Johnny does not hold against Owen.  Instead, the two strike up an unlikely friendship, almost a protector/protectorate relationship, though who is protecting who is not always clear.  When Owen sees a tombstone with the precise date of his death on it (during an ill-fated production of A Christmas Carol) he turns this knowledge to his advantage and adopts an almost ethereal quality about him, allowing himself to speak whatever in on his mind without fear of retribution.  As the two enter young manhood and are faced with the Vietnam draft, Owen injures Johnny to save him from his fate, but Owen charges into the army, certain that his fate lies in Vietnam, only to meet it in Arizona trying to ease the pain of the family of a fallen soldier. 

From the first sentence of the novel, narrator Johnny Wheelwright acknowledges that Owen Meany is the reason he is a Christian, in whatever form he has chosen and allowed his faith to take. While there are many, many detailed stories about Owen and Johnny’s friendship and their life together, the theme remains the same:  Owen becomes the instrument that allows others to consider their faith and to follow the path set out before them.  Stylistically, Owen’s dialogue, ALWAYS WRITTEN IN CAPITAL LETTERS, is bothersome and unnecessary to get the points across.  While Owen may appear too good to be true, indeed too good to be of this world, there is something appealing in the time honored tale of two best friends looking out for each other, no matter what may come.  Written in 1989, A Prayer for Owen Meany is Irving’s seventh novel.  His most recent In One Person was published by Simon & Schuster this May.

New this Week

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (Holt)


The sequel to Hilary Mantel's 2009 Man Booker Prize winner and New York Times bestseller, Wolf Hall delves into the heart of Tudor history with the downfall of Anne Boleyn Though he battled for seven years to marry her, Henry is disenchanted with Anne Boleyn. She has failed to give him a son and her sharp intelligence and audacious will alienate his old friends and the noble families of England. When the discarded Katherine dies in exile from the court, Anne stands starkly exposed, the focus of gossip and malice. At a word from Henry, Thomas Cromwell is ready to bring her down. Over three terrifying weeks, Anne is ensnared in a web of conspiracy, while the demure Jane Seymour stands waiting her turn for the poisoned wedding ring. But Anne and her powerful family will not yield without a ferocious struggle. Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies follows the dramatic trial of the queen and her suitors for adultery and treason. To defeat the Boleyns, Cromwell must ally with his natural enemies, the papist aristocracy. What price will he pay for Anne's head?

Home by Toni Morrison (Knopf)

Frank Money is an angry, self-loathing veteran of the Korean War who, after traumatic experiences on the front lines, finds himself back in racist America with more than just physical scars. His home may seem alien to him, but he is shocked out of his crippling apathy by the need to rescue his medically abused younger sister and take her back to the small Georgia town they come from and that he’s hated all his life. As Frank revisits his memories from childhood and the war that have left him questioning his sense of self, he discovers a profound courage he had thought he could never possess again.

In One Person by John Irving (Simon & Schuster)

A tale inspired by the U.S. AIDS epidemic in the 1980s follows the experiences of individuals--including the bisexual narrator--who are torn by devastating losses and whose perspectives on tolerance and love are shaped by awareness of what might have been.

11th Hour by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Little, Brown)

Investigating the murder of a millionaire who was killed with a weapon linked to the deaths of four San Francisco criminals, pregnant detective Lindsay Boxer is horrified to realize that the killer could be among her closest friends.

The Road to Grace by Richard Paul Evans (Simon & Schuster)

Reeling from the sudden loss of his wife, his home, and his business, Alan Christoffersen, a once-successful advertising executive, has left everything he knew behind and set off on an extraordinary cross-country journey. Carrying only a backpack, he is walking from Seattle to Key West, the farthest destination on his map. Now almost halfway through his trek, Alan sets out to walk the nearly 1,000 miles between South Dakota and St. Louis, but it's the people he meets along the way who give the journey its true meaning: a mysterious woman who follows Alan's walk for close to a hundred miles, the ghost hunter searching graveyards for his wife, and the elderly Polish man who gives Alan a ride and shares a story that Alan will never forget. Full of hard-won wisdom and truth, The Road to Grace is a compelling and inspiring novel about hope, healing, grace, and the meaning of life.

Just Jennifer

Jackie After O by Tina Cassidy (It Books, May 2012)

Jackie Kennedy Onassis may have been the most recognizable women in the world beginning in the late 1950’s when her very attractive, young husband was elected to be president of the United States.  With the same passion she approached life and impeccable taste, during her thousand days in the White House, she with a team of designers restored America’s home, raised her two children and became the symbol of a nation’s mourning as she walked behind her husband’s casket to Arlington where he was buried after his assassination in Dallas.  Five years later, Jackie surprised her family and her nation when she married Greek shipping magnet Aristotle Onassis, almost twenty years her senior.  She moved a young Caroline and Patrick to the Greek Island where Ari lived until she realized her children needed to be in the United States and moved her children back to the Manhattan of her youth.  There Jackie reveled in the culture and architecture available, essentially becoming estranged from Ari.  After reading that Grand Central Terminal was to be turned into a modern office complex, she lent her support to the Municipal Art Society and became the driving force to save the Beaux Arts building and restore it to its present glory.  In 1975, Jackie received word that Ari was in grave health and flew to his side in Greece where she and his daughter Christina moved Ari to Paris where he would spend the last months of his life, thought Jackie would not be at his side when he died.  Once more Jackie found herself a widow with the world’s eyes on her, especially as Christina began planting stories that Jackie and Ari were on their way to a divorce and that he had all but cut his extravagant wife out of his will.  Frustrated and not sure which path her life should now take, Jackie took this time to reexamine where she was in her life and where it should go from here.  Jackie returned to her journalism roots, writing some pieces for The New Yorker, and landing a job at Viking, a publishing house where she was a consulting editor, publishing a number of books before her death in 1994. 

This well documented book focuses on Jackie’s reemergence as a woman on her own in 1975, but examines the events in her life that led to this pivotal moment.  This small, concise book is well documented with many endnotes citing primary sources and will peak readers’ interest to delve into the many full length books in the bibliography.  Tina Cassidy has focused on a small portion of this American icon’s life, offering fresh insight and providing inspiration.