Interred With Their Bones - Review AND Giveaway!

I debated over whether or not to read this one before giving away my spare copy (from Reading Group Choices, but I thought, "Eh, it's Shakespeare meets DaVinci Code. I'm sure I'll love it!" So I decided to post the giveaway with the review, which means that I'm saying, "I really didn't like this book! Don't you want a copy?" This is very reminiscent of my little brother at the dinner table as a small child. He would take a tiny bite of something he hated and then offer up big bites to everyone else at the table. "Mmmmm," he'd say, "This is SO good. Dad, you should try some! Mom, have a bite!" So let me assure you, I planned to give this away all along, and I'm still going to because everyone's taste is different, and you may love it. Rules for the giveaway after the review.

I was excited to read Interred With Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell, which was being touted as The DaVinci Code meets Shakespeare. Carrell knows her stuff; she has a Ph.D in English and American Literature from Harvard, among other qualifications, and like her protagonist, she's directed Shakespeare. Unfortunately, this "stuff" is conveyed via long lectures in the text. It's not a good sign when I plow through a book just to get to the end and then am riveted by the Author's Note. It means that something went awry with the storytelling. The plot is promising: Former academic Kate Stanley has a visit from her estranged mentor, Roz, the night before Kate's production of Hamlet opens at the Globe Theater. Roz tells Kate she's found something and gives her a box. After the Globe burns down and Roz's body is found, Kate opens the box to find a brooch and a cryptic note that seems to point to Cardenio, Shakespeare's lost play. With her friend, Sir Henry, she determines that she has to get to Harvard, where she is menaced by mysterious bad guys with Shakespearean threats and meet Roz's nephew Ben, a security expert hired to protect her. Oh, and the British police think Kate might have killed Roz, but they don't really do much about it. Kate and Ben run from library to library on two continents, fleeing bad guys and police and looking for more clues. The bodies are piling up, but since Kate barely seems to care, the reader doesn't either. I'm not sure if Carrell is being ironic when she has Kate say "My God!" when a new piece of mildly interesting inconclusive information seeming to point to Shakespeare's true identity is found. I'm not sure it matters.

I'm not saying The DaVinci Code is great literature; Dan Brown's writing "style" drove me to distraction, but it was good for what it was. Brown kept me interested in the story with high stakes, breakneck pacing, and pieces of the puzzle coming together quicky. He did not have elegant prose or three-dimensional characters, but he didn't need one to make the book entertaining. For some reason, I just didn't get the same sense of high stakes in Interred. Okay, there's a lost play by Shakespeare. And someone might kill to get it. But the question of Shakespeare's true identity overshadowed the search for Cardenio, and I just wasn't buying it as something a person would kill so many people (in dramatic, Shakespearean fashion, no less) to conceal. And I just didn't get Kate. She decides to investigate herself despite the rising body count, instead of turning her information over to the police. She decides to trust or mistrust other characters on some whim, and she makes wildly speculative assumptions in one moment, only to declare "It's not proof positive" in the face of fairly convincing proof in another. The plot pacing was not very exciting for me. The pattern went: find a clue, get chased by bad guys, run to the next library, find a clue, get chased... You get the idea. There were plot twists, but nothing that really redeemed it for me. And if one more bad guy announced his presence in the dark with the hiss of a knife being pulled from its sheath, I thought I might scream.

In short, I thought this was much ado about nothing. The blurbs on the back of the book take pains to portray the book as "literary," "high class," and "intellectual." They certainly describe the author, but I'm not sure they describe this not-very-thrilling thriller.

Okay, so after all that...who wants a copy? Leave a comment here telling me what makes you want to read the book (or if you're planning to give it as a Christmas gift--it is brand new). For a bonus entry, tell me about your favorite suspense novel! For three bonus entries, post about this contest on your blog and tell me that you did. You have until Monday, December 15 at noon EST to enter! My postage budget for the year is shot, so I have to make this one U.S.-only. Good luck!

Giveaway

Bookish Ruth is giving away a copy of J.K. Rowling's new book Tales of the Beetle Bard! Go here to check it out! There are multiple entries and you can comment on which Hogwart's house you think you would be in. :-)

Picture Book Thursday!

We have a couple more book tour stops coming up on Picture Book Thursday so Allison and I decided to do Christmas books this week. There are so many great Christmas/holiday books out there. It's really hard to narrow it down.

Let's start with Merry Christmas, Curious George. In this installment, George and the man with the yellow hat go in search of a Christmas tree. George becomes curious about a large tree on a truck and winds up taking a ride to the hospital where the tree is being delivered. My girls and I enjoy all the Curious George books and this one is no exception. My daughter actually asked Santa for this last year. I was so thrilled that she actually asked for a book (well, she also asked for an Ariel Barbie too). There were no books on her list this year for Santa, but he's bringing her some anyway. ;-)

We received this next book as a gift a couple years ago and its so fun! Santa's Coming to Town by Tish Rabe. The book comes with an attached reindeer finger puppet. It has a magnet in the nose. On each page, the child is supposed to find certain things (like all the elves with striped hats) and the reindeer "sticks" to the correct answers. This is a nice sturdy board book and part of the The Nose Knows series of books. Also in the series, a Halloween version called Spooky Night and another called Puppy Love.

The last book: Once There Was a Christmas Tree is a very sweet tale. Mr. and Mrs. Bear get a very large Christmas tree. It doesn't fit into their house so they cut off the top to give to Mr. Fox and his son, saying to them, "We took our tree and made it two. One half for us, one half for you." This line is repeated through the book as one tree is shared among many animals getting smaller and smaller. I really like the giving and sharing storyline in this Jerry Smath book.


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I picked up McDuff's Christmas by Rosemary Wells at the Highland Games this year (if it's remotely Scottish, SOMEONE sells it in a booth there!). It was our first McDuff book, and it won't be the last. The sweet little white terrier saves Christmas when the family (and Santa) are snowed in. Susan Jeffers illustrates in a lovely, yet realistic style, and both text and illustrations are evocative of Christmas in a simpler time. The text is simple, and Lilah will listen to the whole thing.

The Peek-a-Boo books by Marie Torres Cimarusti are really cute, simple text with lift-the-flap surprises and bright, appealing illustrations by Stephanie Peterson. This Christmas version is really cute, with the flaps revealing an elf who asks "Naughty or Nice?", a toy train, a snowman, and more. The last page has several small flaps, each concealing a previous page's surprise, with a hint for each--in the shape of a gingerbread house! This is a cute one for younger children.

I've mentioned the Bear series by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman before, but Bear Stays Up For Christmas is really sweet. Bear's friends set out to keep him awake to celebrate Christmas, but they fall asleep! Bear happily prepares their presents and treats before his friends wake up to give him a truly thoughtful gift. Santa makes a cameo, but the real star is the friendship between Bear & Co. If you've read any of the Bear books, the rhyme scheme and illustration style will be familiar and welcome.

Some of Lilah's very first books were by Sandra Boynton, and she remains a favorite for all three of us. This is an oversized board books with seven one-page rhyming stories accessed by lifting the tabs on the side to choose one. My personal favorite is A Really Big Box, about a child looking for a really big box for a gift he wants to give "so the hippo's ears don't squish." The first six poems are delightful holiday silliness, and the seventh is a sweet Christmas lullaby, complete with sheet music.

Taking a Break

I haven't been reviewing much lately (or reading at all really). I have read more this year than I have since college and its been so fun! I've really enjoyed escaping into all the books I've read this year and I plan on doing a year in review post soon. The last several weeks, I've been knitting up some Christmas and baby gifts. I'd been putting these projects off because I had so many books in my TBR pile that I couldn't wait to get to. I finished everything that I was feeling obliged to review at the moment and thought it would be a good time to get some knitting projects completed.

So I'll leave you with a photo from about a month ago that I've been meaning to post. While I was visiting my mom in Iowa, Mary GrandPre (illustrator of the American edition Harry Potter books) made an appearance at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. The museum exhibited her illustrations and she did a book signing. My mom, stepdad and I brought my hardcover editions (I only have first editions in 5 of the 7 books) and had her autograph them. Here's the photo of me with her (unfortunately, my stepdad cut off my head, but oh well). :-)

Murder for Christmas, Part One

Inspired by holiday releases by two of my favorite mystery writers, I decided to sample several (okay, a LOT) of Christmas-themed mysteries. I'm breaking my "always read a series in order" rule for this purpose, figuring that a holiday entry might be a fun way to try out a new series. I found what may be the most extensive possible list of Christmas mysteries right here, though it's a bit outdated. It still has more mysteries than anyone can read between Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Six Geese A-Slaying by Donna Andrews: This is entry #10 in the Meg Langslow series, a series I've read from the beginning. Meg is in charge of the Caerphilly Christmas parade that includes camels, her mother hilariously in charge of the Dickens float, the meanest Santa Claus ever, an excess of SPOOR (Stop Poisoning Our Owls and Raptors) members shedding feathers in their goose costumes, and a snarky photographer sent from a big-time newspaper. When the mean Santa meets his end, Meg investigates along with Chief Burke. I figured out whodunit, but not why, which made the mystery plot interesting. I always enjoy a Meg Langslow mystery, and this was no exception, with the added element of a crazy Caerphilly Christmas!

Santa Clawed by Rita Mae Brown: I am a die-hard fan of Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, and Tucker (and their person, Harry), but even I have had some less than enthusiastic reactions to a few of the more recent mysteries. Brown tends to incorporate her opinions on everything under the sun in her books, which sometimes bogs down the narrative enough to lessen the fun, so I was delighted to see her back in fine form in this, the 17th entry, and a holiday treat, no less! The Brothers of Love, a monastic order in Crozet, run a Christmas tree farm to raise funds for their work with the dying. This year, one of the brothers is found at the farm, throat slit, and a strange coin under his tongue. The brothers each have a shady past, and the plot is complicated by a homophobic doctor and a paranoid wife. Christmas in Crozet is a delight, and the mystery is satisfyingly complex. Harry & Co. are in fine form, and the animals are a delight (did I say delight already? a couple of times? well, that's how delightful the book was). I really enjoyed the musings at the beginning on whether or not a leopard can change its spots, as well as Brown's explanations of Southern courtesies.

Sugarplum Dead by Carolyn Hart: This is #12 in the Death on Demand series (named for the mystery bookshop owned by the main character, Annie Darling), and my theory about publishers getting lax on the editing late in the series holds true here. I read the first book in the series at some point, but it didn't make much of an impression, I guess, because I didn't pick up any others. I actually thought the plot here (at least the main mystery plot) was well-done, a satisfying mystery with some twists and turns, but the characters and subplots were a problem for me. Annie's father turns up after 20 years out of her life (with a lame explanation for his absence), and she and her husband seem strangely cold and unaffected by what should be a major emotional upheaval. She rejects him at first, then sort of accepts him for no real reason. This bogged down the plot quite a bit, as did a subplot about Max's mother. Perhaps dedicated readers would be excited about her role, though--I'm not sure. Annie's father is in town to help his siblings and their spouses persuade an aging former Hollywood star to keep her money in the family instead of giving it to a charlatan who claims to communicate with the dead. There are a lot of characters, and it seemed Hart was afraid we might forget one, because she had several instances of listing what every single member says or does, one after the other, in tedious fashion. The mystery plot was intriguing, but I found myself skimming quite a bit to get to the interesting parts. And Annie and Max left me kind of cold. I didn't feel very invested in either of them. I got that Max was rich, and that Annie has read every mystery under the sun, but I really didn't get to know them. I was told some of their character traits, but I didn't feel much was shown. I liked Broward's Rock, the bookstore, and the mystery, but the main characters don't really scream "Buy the rest of the series so you can spend a few hours with me!" Also, as a holiday mystery, there wasn't much Christmas there. Annie and Max talk about presents for each other, and Annie decorates the shop, but it didn't feel much like a Christmas mystery. I may try the first in the series again to see if I like it.

Benjamin Franklin and a Case of Christmas Murder by Robert Lee Hall: I was predisposed to like this book. In elementary school, I used to check out the Benjamin Franklin biography from the school library, and I read Ben and Me I don't know how many times. But in the first five pages, the long sentences, long paragraphs, and historical diction were driving me to distraction. Within just a few more pages, though, I'd gotten used to the style, and I was completely sucked in. This book balances mystery and historical atmosphere brilliantly, bringing Franklin to life through the narration of his young assistant, Nick Handy. When merchant Roddy Fairbrass is murdered very publicly, during a mummer's play at his home, his wife is reluctant to answer Ben's questions, his son is evasive, and there are numerous threads including a local gaming hell, a criminal mastermind, a brother in Jamaica, and a ghost spotted in the Fairbrass home by Roddy's daughter. All this is wound together in a tight narrative at turns charming and suspenseful. The Christmas element is strong and gives an interesting look at Christmas celebrations in London circa 1757. I will definitely be picking up the first in the series (the Christmas one is #2), Benjamin Franklin Takes the Case.

Masterpiece, again!

Holly reviewed Masterpiece by Elise Broach right here. I agree with everything she said, but I so enjoyed the book that I wanted to add my two cents.

Elise Broach is amazingly creative, truly gifted with originality. When I started Masterpiece, I thought, "Oh, dear. I think I may be too old to suspend disbelief for a protagonist who is a beetle." But Broach somehow makes it work, and Marvin is a delightfully sympathetic character, a beetle who doesn't quite fit in his family. He is too curious, too interested in the world outside, too enamored of the human way of life, and when he discovers a stunning talent, he is further torn between the human and beetle worlds. His sympathy for James, whose father is mostly absent and whose mother ignores him until Marvin's drawings give her something to brag about to her associates, is believable and sweet. Though his communication with James is limited by their huge differences, they manage to work together. Neither fits in, and Marvin's artistic talent brings them together. On top of this sweet two-fish-out-of-water story is a major art world mystery. Who has been stealing pen-and-ink drawings by Durer, and is James's (really Marvin's) talent for drawing the key to unmasking the thief? Every aspect of this story is wildly improbable, but Broach pulls it off. Both the friendship between James and Marvin and the complicated mystery are fun to read, and the art history aspect adds an extra dimension that could interest children in the arts. Highly, highly recommend.

Wow! Big giveaway!

No, not from me, though I have a couple to post next week :) Penguin is offering not just one book, but a BOX of books! Enter here, at Presenting Lenore, for a chance to win a boxful of YA novels.

Amadi's Snowman Giveaway!

Holly has done a great review that sums up why I loved this book! It was a bit long in text for my daughter (not quite two), but older children will love it. If you would like to win your very own copy, here's what you do:

1. Leave a comment here telling us about a book that changed the way you thought about reading. (If you were like me, and can't remember a time you didn't love reading, tell me about a book that changed the way you thought about something else.) - ONE ENTRY

2. Leave a comment on Holly's review - A BONUS ENTRY

3. Blog about this contest and tell us that you did - THREE ENTRIES!

Enter no later than Monday, December 1 at midnight, EST, and I will announce the winner on Tuesday. Good luck!

Picture Book Thursday: Virtual Blog Tour Stop!

We have a special installment of Picture Book Thursday today! A little while ago, Allison and I were contacted by Tilbury House Publishing and asked if we'd like a review copy of Amadi's Snowman by Katia Novet Saint-lot. We jumped at the chance! And then we were asked to be a stop on Katia's virtual book tour! We were very excited about that and of course said yes!

Amadi's Snowman is a delightful picture book about a young Nigerian boy who thinks he doesn't need to read to be a good businessman. Amadi runs away to the market just as his reading teacher is supposed to arrive. He spies an older boy reading a book about a snowman and becomes fascinated. The boy tells him that frozen rainwater is snow. He is chased away by the bookseller before he can find out more about snow and the snowman. He goes about his day but a whole new world has opened up for him. For the first time, he notices billboards and wonders what they say. He sees the other boys in a new light when he tells them about the snow and they have never heard of it and don't seem to care about it. He returns home to find his reading teacher has left him a present: the snowman book! In the end, he decides learning to read could be a great thing!

Saint-Lot has done a terrific job writing a story for children that more than touches the surface. Children can learn the value of learning through reading. Just as Amadi is learning about snow and another climate, my children reading Amadi's story can learn about a warmer climate where snow does not exist, and a culture very different from their own. I think this book also works well because the main character is a boy. Statistics show that boys read less than girls. This story shows a reluctant reader overcoming his assumptions about picking up a book and the joy that comes along with it.

And I have to acknowledge the illustrator, Dimitrea Tokunbo. She has done a great job of bringing Amadi to life. The images throughout the book are engaging and interesting. I really like the stylized images and how they are framed.

I only have good things to say about the book. If I had to strain hard to come up with anything, I'd just say the text is a bit on the long side, but my five year old remained engaged and very interested when I read the book to her. I believe the illustrations really drew her in. I think a 6-8 year old would really find the book interesting.

About the Author:
Author Katia Novet Saint-Lot grew up in Paris but spent her summers visiting her mother's family in Spain. She has also lived in the U.K. and the U.S. Her husband's work for UNICEF took them to Nigeria, and their experiences there provided the background for Amadi's story. They now live in India with their two daughters. As a child, Katia loved reading more than anything else. She also dreamed of becoming a writer and longed for travels to faraway places—she's now busy living her dreams with her family.

About the Illustrator:
Illustrator Dimitrea Tokunbo brings to life the day-to-day experiences of life in Nigeria, where her father grew up. "I want to represent the beauty of all children. I fell that growing up biracial, having a direct connection to two different cultures in the American context, gives my art a spirit and spark that speaks to the children who were overlooked when I was a child." Dimitrea Tokunbo illustrated two children's books for Boyds Mills Press, Sidewalk Chalk: Poems of the City by Carole Boston Weatherford, and Has Anybody Lost a Glove? by G. Francis Johnson. Tokunbo has written one children's book for Cartwheel Books (a Scholastic imprint), Together, illustrated by Jennifer Gwynne Oliver, and has a new book coming out next year with Scholastic, The Sound of Kwanzaa, illustrated by Lisa Cohen. Dimitrea enjoys visiting schools and libraries to share her stories with children. She lives in New York City with her two daughters.

Please visit Katia's blog to read all about Amadi's story and reactions about the book from around the world. You can track her global virtual tour there.

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Please check back as Allison will be posting about a giveaway of Amadi's Snowman! :-)

Other Contests in the Blogosphere

S. Krishna's Books is giving away a copy of House of Daughters by Sarah-Kate Lynch. The contest ends on Sunday, Nov. 23rd.

Lisa over at Book Ahoy! is giving away 5 copies of Katie Brown Celebrates. A party cookbook just in time for the holidays! Hurry, contest ends Saturday, Nov. 22.

Jenn's Bookshelf is hosting a contest to when Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips. This contest also ends Saturday, Nov. 22. Jenn is also hosting several other contests right now too. So go check out her blog!

Tina at Bookshipper is hosting a fantastic giveaway for CBS where you could win 8 books! Go check it out here! Contest ends November 25th.

Sort of a theme

I was excited about Wicked Weaves by Joyce and Jim Levene, the first Renaissance Faire mystery featuring Jessie, a graduate student who works at the year-round Renaissance village during the summers, learning a new craft and choosing a new lover each year. This summer, she's learning basket-making from Mary, a Gullah who was exiled by her people. Mary's cousin also works in the village, and when her estranged husband turns up at the Village, strangled with one of Mary's baskets (or is it?), the police suspect Mary. Mary keeps to herself, but Jessie decides she needs to meddle and clear Mary's name, even going so far as to lie to give Mary an alibi, with no real motivation for her actions. In addition, a tedious romantic storyline takes center stage, and it goes something like this: "Oh, I can't get involved with Chase! But he's so attractive! But he has no ambition! Oh, wait, he has a BMW and a law license! Oops, I slept with him! I can't get involved with him! Oops, I slept with him again!" And on a nitpicky note (because I'm nothing if not nitpicky), Jessie has a mooch of a twin brother and makes at least two comments about how the two of them could have come from one egg. Well, unless one of them was identified with the wrong gender, they didn't, since opposite-sex twins are always fraternal, which means separate eggs. This mystery had so much potential, too. The Renaissance Faire Village is hilarious. I loved the residents who had worked there long enough to lose their sense of reality, especially a man who changed his name to Robin Hood, hangs out in Sherwood Forest, and steals toaster ovens from the rich. That's classic stuff. And the queen who takes the whole thing a little too seriously, the rules about staying in character, and the vaguely sinister monks. But all that takes a backseat to the romance. Oh, and this is a murder mystery, so there is a murder, but I felt like the murderer was wearing a neon sign flashing "I did it!" The murder also involves outsiders, which took the focus off the more interesting Ren folk. I might check reviews for the next in the series to see if the romance is less of a focus, but I was disappointed in this one.

Hard Day's Knight by Katie MacAlister: Katie MacAlister is fun. I don't read much romance, but I had fond memories of The Corset Diaries and Blow Me Down, so I picked this one up as a companion to Wicked Weaves. Now, here is Ren Faire literature done right. To my surprise, the big focus was jousting, and this isn't a parody of Ren Faires. The heroine actually decides to learn jousting, so I learned a lot about it, too, and it was fascinating. Pepper's cousin C. J., a member of the Wench organization, takes unemployed, single pepper to an international jousting competition, primarily to meet attractive men in tights. She meets a couple of sexy knights, ends up deep in jousting competition intrigue, and keeps an eye on her aunt's cat (who steals practically every scene he's in). The mystery was well-done, the characters fresh and vivid, the wit plentiful, the jousting interesting, and the book was an overall good read--a romantic comedy with jousting.

Kilt Dead by Kaitlyn Dunnett: This is the first in a series featuring Liss Maccrimmon, a Scottish dancer grounded by a knee injury who returns to Moosetookalook, Maine to help her aunt in her Scottish Emporium while she regroups. She finds her former teacher, Mrs. Norris, dead under a bolt of fabric in the store, and decides to investigate when the state police decide Liss must be guilty. She has help from Dan, an old friend, and Sherri, a part-time employee at the Scottish Emporium who is conveniently moonlighting as a police dispatcher. The mystery in this one was very well-done, complex but not confusing, with an ending that made sense, but which I didn't see coming. Liss was likable and sympathetic, and her interactions with Dan and Sherri made for pleasant, believable relationships. The ne'er-do-well brother and accusatory state cop add characters-you-love-to-hate to the mix. The Scottish component and Liss's manning the booth at the Highland Games were a fun counterpoint to small-town western Maine. An excellent first mystery--I'll be picking up the second, Scone Cold Dead.

Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center

I received this novel in the mail from Random House/Ballantine Books. I read it in about 2 days. It is a short, concise, and touching look at parenting with young children and marriage. I really responded to the main character Elena. She moved from her hometown of Houston to Cambridge, Massachusetts so her husband could pursue his music career/education. She was stuck in a tiny apartment with three small boys and didn't know a soul. Eventually, she meets people including an old high school acquaintance and she settles into life. She wonders how she ever became the frumpy, toddler-toting housewife she was and sets out to improve herself by joining a gym and taking a photography class. Along the way, she wonders what happened to her marriage and where it is going. As the reader, we are treated to flashback glimpses of the start of their relationship in college.

I really enjoyed this novel. It is very light, but the characters, especially Elena and Nora (their older neighbor), are rich in personality. I was with Elena every step of the way understanding the horrors of motherhood (her child biting, pooping on a dinner host's carpet, children with no filters, etc.) and the good side of it. I also fully understood and sympathized with her need to be artistic and her love of photography. I love photography myself and the things she thought were right in line with my own thinking. This would make for an excellent vacation read or when you're in the mood to escape. It's extremely short at 233 pages and you can whip through it in no time. I was very satisfied at the end. Katherine Center has also written a book entitled The Bright Side of Disaster that I think I will pick up soon. Everyone is Beautiful comes to a bookshelf near you on February 17, 2009.

In the Woods by Tana French

I have seen this book EVERYWHERE in the last year. So I'll save you the long-winded synopsis. :-) Check out these reviews if you haven't had a chance to hear about this book yet: The Written Word, The Optimistic Bookfool, or here for an infinite list of blog links.

In the Woods was our book club pick for November. Hmm....I have mixed feelings about this. I think I give it a 4 out of 5 overall. But, as usual for me, books that have a lot of hype tend to come with a lot of expectations. And I usually don't like overhyped books just because they tend to be a bit of a let-down for me. Everyone says what a page turner this was. It wasn't super slow, but I found parts of it dragging a bit and it didn't help that I was busy while trying to read this and could only sneak in 5-10 minutes here and there. So the dragging might have been more my fault than French's. She had a lyrical quality to her writing which was nice at times, and other times I was thinking, "just get on with it already". I liked the relationship between Rob/Adam and Cassie. I was a little dismayed to see how it turned out, but I supposed what happened between them was realistic and inevitable. My biggest gripe with the book is that you are left hanging about a major section of the mystery. I wanted to know what happened in the worst way. And French just left us never knowing. I was highly annoyed by that.

Otherwise, a solid book and I look forward to reading The Likeness as everyone claims its even better. Well, okay, there I go with the expectations again.

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

I first read the Westing Game in my sixth grade English class. I remember loving it. To me at the time, it didn't seem "classic" or boring. I loved mysteries so I just thought it was fun. It didn't seem like work to read it like some other things you have to read for school. I've been wanting to read it again and was excited to pick up a copy at our library book sale.

Hmmm....reading it as an adult, I didn't like it quite so much. I still enjoyed parts of it. But it jumped around a bit for me and seemed a little disjointed. I think this was purposeful on the author's part. Maybe she wanted the reader to feel as lost as the characters did, just grabbing at tidbits of information as they came to you to try and figure out the puzzle. I really did enjoy the last third of the book though. I liked the epilogue and was satisfied with how the characters ended up.

There are some books (like Catcher in the Rye) that I read when I was younger that I just LOVED. I'm a little leery about rereading some of those because I'm afraid as an adult I won't like them as much. I sort of like hanging on to the memory of how much I did enjoy them. So sometimes I'm torn about whether to reread childhood favorites.

Also reviewed here: Blogging for a Good Book, A Reader's Journal, and The Hidden Side of a Leaf.

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

Jen Robinson's review of this book made me want to pick it up. She also said if you liked The Eight, you probably would like this one. Well, not much else she would have to say to get me hooked. :-)

This young adult novel starts off in present day when twins Sophie and Josh (whose parents are off on an archaeological dig--they are staying with an aunt) happen upon a magical fight between book store owner Nick Fleming (aka Nicholas Flamel) and bad guy Dr. John Dee. Dee is trying to steal an antique book from Fleming. The twins intervene and end up getting themselves mixed up in an ageless battle full of mythological creatures, magical powers, auras, and a plethora of other supernatural things. Sophie and Josh find themselves visiting shadowrealms and learning about dangerous creatures. Flamel thinks the twins fulfill an ancient prophecy and he sets about awakening their unknown powers. Unfortunately, Sophie is given power, but the group is interrupted before Josh can attain his. This leads to a bit of sibling rivalry and we are left with the question of whether Josh will turn to the "dark side" or stick with his sister and their newfound guardians.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It is filled with historical references and many of the characters including Nick Fleming/Flamel were real figures, all of which I truly enjoyed. Some parts of it were long and and a bit dull. Even though there was a small battle in this book, it seems to be building toward a greater battle in the future. I'm basing this next comment off the movies and not the books (*gasp* I've never read the Lord of the Rings trilogy); This sort of reminded me a tiny bit of Lord of the Rings. Granted, it is quite different in terms of the specifics of the stories and the characters. And maybe its just the good vs. evil thing and the idea of an epic battle that reminds me of Tolkien's series. I suppose there are many good vs. evil books out there. This was about a 3.75 out of 5 for me. But I will definitely be reading The Magician to find out how the story continues. The Sorceress, the third book in the series comes out May 29, 2009.

Picture Book Thursday

Today's theme is Princesses! A very girly topic, but Allison and I both have girls so its fitting. :-) We'll start with Princess Sparkle by Nicola Baxter. This is a large-size board book, but the text is more that of a picture book. Each page has glittery metallic embellishments to accompany the story of Princess Sparkle who loves anything glittery and shiny: jewels, sequins, sparkly clothes. Everything in her castle sparkled. She left the castle one day for the first time (ever?!) and realized the world around her was dull and boring. She began to "sparkle" the world by throwing sapphires in the river to make it shine, diamonds on snowy trees, etc. until she had given all her jewels away. She was sad when she realized she was no longer Princess Sparkle until she realized she had made the world around her beautiful and so everything sparkled around her. Very cute book! And a nice book about sharing and being selfless. There are other books in this series as well: The Rainbow Fairy, The Snowflake Princess, and The Mermaid and the Star. These books can often be found as bargain books at Barnes & Noble.

Fancy Nancy has become one of my 5 year old's favorite characters. Nancy loves anything and everything fancy. She uses big words and explains what they are fancy for (example: extraordinary is a fancy for great). She loves to dress up in "fancy" outfits and loves anything French because if it's French, of course, it's fancy. In this first installment by Jane O'Connor, Nancy finds her family boring and offers them free lessons on how to be fancy. They go out to dinner all dressed up and unfortunately Nancy slips and spills their dessert all over the floor. They go home to get cleaned up and have ice cream sundaes. She realizes maybe sometimes its nice to not be so fancy. :-) There are four or five more books in the series so far. A couple of them are easy reader books if you have a beginning reader interested in Nancy. One of my favorite things about this series is that Nancy says oh-la-la and now my daughter is saying that which is highly amusing coming out of a little kid's mouth. If you're looking for a nice Christmas gift for a little girl, this book could be accompanied by a variety of Fancy Nancy toys, dress up outfits and games which I've seen at Target.

I have to admit I was not particularly excited by this book at first. But its grown on me. :-) Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann is about a little girl who eats too many pink cupcakes and wakes up with her skin turned pink. She goes to the doctor and is told to eat green food (complementary color use here) to go back to her normal skin tone. She ignores the doctor and eats more cupcakes until she pretty much turns red! At this point, she eats the green vegetables and fruit to turn back to normal. The only major gripe I have with this book is that they say green food is yucky. We have worked really hard to get our girls to eat healthy food (and still working on it) and I'm not that excited by a book telling them that healthy food is yucky. So I tend to gloss over those words and just say she needs to eat healthy green foods to get better. There is a sequel to this book called Purplicious. But I'm really NOT excited about that book. The basic premise of the story is that the little girl's favorite color is pink until her friends tell her its not cool to like pink anymore. In the end she finds another girl who likes blue and somehow she ends up mixing the colors and purple becomes her favorite color. I just don't like teaching my young daughter to listen when someone tells her something she really likes is uncool. Ella was very concerned about why the little girl couldn't like pink anymore. And why her friend didn't like pink, which incidentally, is Ella's favorite color. :-)

I realize these books are not all about actual princesses. But the girls in them like to dress up like princesses and they are all VERY girly. The last book I just want to mention. I came across it in a search and while I haven't read it, it sounds interesting to me. Don't Kiss the Frog by Fiona Waters contains six "princess stories with attitude". Here is the blurb for this book from the B&N website:
There’s a new crop of princesses in town, and these girls don’t wait for a prince to come to the rescue. Whether it’s slaying dragons or having less grace and more good sense, the heroines in these six stories put unexpected spice into traditional fairy-tale conventions. With sassy artwork and typography to match, this book is THE read-aloud or read-alone for any girl who likes her “happily ever after” with a twist.

Doesn't that sound fun! I really want to check this book out! I'll have to keep my eyes out for it. If you have read it, I would love to hear what you thought!

Next week's installment will be a little different. We'll be focusing on one book because we've been asked to be a stop on a virtual tour for it! Next week we'll be featuring Amadi's Snowman by Katia Novet Saint-Lot.

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Lilah loves this book, even if it's not one of my favorites. Each page features a different Disney Princess telling the story of the "jewels" on her page. The text is just okay, but what makes this a Lilah favorite are the inset plastic "gems" or gold foil to sparkle up the story.

Lilah has really enjoyed the Karen Katz lift-the-flap books, and this non-flap book has the same style illustrations. A little girl complains that her parents never call her by her "real name," instead showering her with nicknames. On the last page, she reveals her real name, Princess Baby, while wearing a cape, crown, and scepter. It's a cute little story and Lilah loves Katz's illustrations.

Child's Play

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart: Mr. Benedict assembles the Mysterious Benedict Society to give them a treat: he's designed a worldwide scavenger hunt. Reynie (the leader), Sticky (the knowledgeable one), Kate (the brave, resourceful one), and Constance (the youngest and most stubborn) are delighted to see each other again, but when Mr. Benedict and his assistant, Number Two, are kidnapped, they follow his clues not for fun, but to save their friends. Full of puzzles, twists, and surprising developments, this book is as much of a page-turner as the first. It's a pleasure to follow the character development in addition to the wacky adventures. Overarching themes of good vs. evil and the dangers of pursuing revenge make this more than just a fun romp (although that it is, trust me). Read the first book...first.

My review of The Mysterious Benedict Society

The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett: The second book to feature Calder, Petra, and the University of Chicago Lab School, The Wright 3 focuses on Frank Lloyd Wright, with a bit of The Invisible Man and Fibonacci numbers thrown in. Calder's friend Tommy has moved back to Chicago, and he and Petra each resent the other's friendship with Calder. They snipe at each other through the book and sulk, in a manner believable for their age. Ms. Hussey is upset at plans to dismantle Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House and put the pieces in museums. She enlists her students in demonstrating to prevent this, in a really moving component of the book. Meanwhile, the house is behaving in odd ways, bucking workers off its roof, rippling its art glass windows, and whispering to the children. Tommy is led to a mysterious carved fish on the property, which he is tempted to sell to secure a real home for his family. Tommy and Petra withhold information from each other in a fairly tiresome way, and bumbling criminals end up doing much of the mystery-solving, but the information about Frank Lloyd Wright and The Invisible Man is interesting, and the children have a bit more character development this time, even if it's confined to the jealousy/mistrust angle. I enjoyed this, but perhaps not quite as much as Chasing Vermeer. It's another fun read that makes art relevant to children's lives, and I can't think that's a bad thing.

The Calder Game by Blue Balliett: The third time is not the charm for this series, but there were still things to like. Petra, Tommy, and Calder are now in mean Ms. Button's class. They attend an exhibit of Alexander Calder's mobiles in Chicago just before Calder heads to England with his father for a week. The trio are intrigued by a challenge to make their own mobiles. Calder and his father stays in an inn just off a square that now contains a Calder sculpture donated by a mysterious benefactor. Both Calder and the sculpture go missing, and Calder's father calls Petra and Tommy, who fly in with Mrs. Sharpe to help find Calder (after getting magical overnight passports, no less). Right, because every worried dad wants a couple of twelve-year-olds to come find his son, and their parents certainly don't feel they're sending their children out of the country into possible danger. Anyway, skating past that for a moment, Petra and Tommy look for clues in the mazes that turn up. Will they find Calder and the sculpture? Well, someone will. This one just doesn't "hang" together very well, if you'll excuse the mobile reference. Maybe part of it is the mobile angle--they turn up in one illustration, but I didn't get a real sense of them. Another problem is separating the children after a pointless beginning about their new teacher. The story dragged, and I didn't feel the wonder of the "everything's connected" the way I did with Chasing Vermeer and even The Wright 3. The children felt shunted to the background--Calder's on his own for a chunk of the book, then missing for another chunk, so I missed the way their abilities complement each other. There was no real sense of urgency in Calder's disappearance, and the summing-up at the end went on and on (three or four chapters, I believe). I'm not sure what happened here, but while it was fun in places, overall, it just didn't work for me. The best part of this book is the examination of what art is and how it should be available for all to experience, not to mention participate in. That's a great message, and I wish it were cloaked in a more carefully wrought adventure.

My review of Chasing Vermeer

When Will There Be Good News?

The latest Kate Atkinson novel, When Will There Be Good News?, is her third featuring former soldier/cop/private investigator Jackson Brodie, but Atkinson's books are so far removed from the usual mystery novel as to be beyond that genre. So while there are mystery and suspense elements, what you have is a stellar literary novel examining coincidence, interconnectedness, and the anxieties and failings of fascinating characters. I'm glad I'm not a character in an Atkinson novel--she's brutal--but I love reading her characters, who are among the most complex, most human characters in contemporary literature. In the first twelve pages, she made me care so deeply about the little family she'd sketched that I was devastated when the inevitable tragedy occurs. The survivor, a six-year-old who grows up to be Dr. Joanna Hunter, now has a baby and a husband with some dubious associations. Her "mother's help," sixteen-year-old Reggie is an orphan plagued by a bad-seed brother. Meanwhile, DCI Louise Monroe brings Dr. Hunter the news that her family's murderer is about to go free at the same time she obsesses over another "lost woman" case. Jackson Brodie, newly (and hastily) wed, ends up on the wrong train in every possible sense. When Dr. Hunter goes missing, Reggie seeks help from Jackson and Louise. I couldn't put this book down as I waited to find out Dr. Hunter's fate. The mysteries wind through the novel, and the reader can begin to see connections but won't put together all the pieces. I had my suspicions on a few matters, and though in a sense I was right, I didn't anticipate Atkinson's execution. She's always surprising, even when you know surprises are coming. A week later, I'm still musing over the brilliant ending. And her writing is lyrical yet accurate, a pleasure to read, with biting humor to ease the suspense.

Hands down, the best book I've read this year. Of course, any year Kate Atkinson releases a novel, I expect it to be the best book of that year. The first in the Jackson Brodie series is Case Histories, followed by One Good Turn. Although When Will There Be Good News? works well as a stand-alone novel, you'll want to meet the characters in the first two books first.

Giveaway

Being on vacation for a week, I have a lot to catch up on. I have a couple reviews to post in the near future. But for the time being I wanted to tell you that Knit Too by Kate Jacobs is coming out soon. This is the sequel to The Friday Night Knitting Club. If you're interested in the sequel hop over to The Written Word where Stephanie has reviewed the book and is giving away five ARC copies of the book!

So you want to learn about...colors!

Lilah loves books about shapes, colors, counting, and the alphabet. Colors are always a favorite. We have tons of books about colors. Here are four favorites:

Skippyjon Jones: Color Crazy by Judy Schachner: We haven't read the "big kid" Skippyjon Jones books, so parts of this board book (and its companions about counting, opposites, and shapes) were bewildering to me. Skippyjon is a Siamese cat who (I believe) thinks he's a chihuahua. Just go with it, it works! Lilah loves these books, which incorporate a bit of Spanish. Unfortunately, although the counting book includes a page with all the numbers in English and Spanish, the colors are not given in Spanish. But that's fine. The best part of this book is its use of imagination. Skippyjon is not confined by traditional notions of color. His grass is yellow, his sun in blue, and at the end, he colors himself (Lilah's favorite: "Big mess kitty!" she laughs).

Fairy Colors by Caroline Repchuck (we also have Fairy Numbers) isn't necessarily the best book for learning colors, as the pages are colorful and it's not necessarily obvious what the colors on each page refer to. However, it's sparkly and fun, and Lilah adores it. The fairies are dressing up for the fairy ball, each page showing a different color.

This is barely a "book," with only four thick foam pages, each with a different animal in TWO colors. The best part is that the animal pops out for a young child to play with. Lilah loves these (we also have Animals and Numbers). They can go in the bath, but we haven't ever done that, actually. The animals have holes, making them easy for little fingers to pull them out, but they're a bit harder to put back in.

This has been a really fun one for Lilah (we also have Opposites and Shapes), with tabs that are fairly easy for little hands to pull out. Each page shows a closeup detail of an animal with the color name, then the tab pulls up to reveal the animal. Lilah has gotten to where she anticipates the animal and knows the fish is blue, for example. These are great for little hands, and really enjoyable for toddlers who like some interactive fun in their reading.

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I'm on vacation this week and unfortunately for my Google Reader away from a wireless connection (how my mom lives with dial-up, I'll never know. I guess ignorance is bliss, right?). But I did want to add my absolute favorite color picture book to Allison's list. We LOVE The Color Box by Dayle Ann Dodds. I picked this up at the library for Lily when we were trying to teach her colors. The monkey in the book goes on a colorful journey exploring each new shade. Each page has a specific color theme with objects that are typically that color. And each page has a cut-out that gives you a preview of the next page/color. And if I remember correctly, the monkey in the book "crawls" through each hole to experience to the new color. I just loved this book (maybe even more than my daughter) and highly recommend it!

Death by Cashmere by Sally Goldenbaum

Death by Cashmere is the first in Sally Goldenbaum's Seaside Knitters series (she is also the author of the Queen Bees Quilt mystery series), and it's a lovely introduction to Sea Harbor, Massachusetts and the knitting group that meets in Izzy's shop. This charming story begins after Izzy has moved back to Sea Harbor, abandoning her law career to open a knitting shop. Her aunt Nell, Nell's elderly friend Birdie (a hoot!), and lobsterwoman Cass get together one evening a week to share food, gossip, and knitting time. When Angie, who lives above Izzy's shop, is found drowned, her beautiful red hair tangled in one of Cass's lobster pots, the police in Sea Harbor are quick to assume the culprit is a random act by an outsider. The knitting group senses something is wrong in their little town, and they want it fixed so they can feel safe again.

Sea Harbor is the kind of town I love to read about: truly close-knit and caring, families who have lived there for generations, and in one of my favorite locales, New England. It's a bonus that the picturesque seaside town gives Goldenbaum plenty of opportunities to demonstrate her gift for descriptive writing. Nell, Cass, Izzy, and Birdie are well-developed characters with interesting backstories eased into the narrative. Goldenbaum gives them plenty of scenes to interact in smaller groups, with secondary characters, and as a quartet, which made them feel like real people. They have distinct personalities and a rich group dynamic. When they talk about the murder and begin investigating, it's not the pushy, overt "I must solve this crime myself" investigation that I've come to expect from amateur sleuths. Their efforts are more organic, arising from their fear for their community, and the pieces of the puzzle are slow to drop in place to form a satisfying conclusion. Sea Harbor is more developed than I expect in a mystery, with great secondary and even tertiary characters who give the reader a real sense of the place. The mystery was engaging, but at times I would be immersed in Sea Harbor, then suddenly be reminded that I was reading a murder mystery. This made the book an even more complex, fun read for me, but readers who like the murder at the forefront and are not as interested in getting to know the town and characters may find the book slow-moving.

Goldenbaum seems unconcerned with the conventions of contemporary cozy mysteries, and I found that refreshing. She eschews the usual youngish, single point-of-view character who spends much of her time looking for a guy (though, don't get me wrong, I enjoy plenty of those) in favor of Nell, Izzy's aunt, who is happily married. There is a sweet bit of romance for Izzy, but it's in the background. The mystery is complex and satisfying, with numerous threads that come together nicely. There is no sense of imminent danger to the sleuths (I often find those scenes to be annoying in other mysteries), and no confront-the-killer ending. I found the writing and editing to be excellent, and I found very little to nitpick there. One annoyance is in the dialogue: the characters frequently refer to each other by name while they're speaking to each other, and no one talks that way. I found that I could skim past the references without my inner Grammar Nerd going nuts. There was a reference to a "unique, one-of-a-kind sweater" that made me grimace, but for the most part, the writing and editing were great (not always true of cozy mysteries). None of these little things diminished my pleasure in reading, though as someone who cooks, I'm still scratching my head over an herbed spinach frittata apparently made with cumin and coriander AND topped with parmesan AND sour cream. And I have a bone to pick with whoever approved the jacket copy, which makes it seem that Izzy is the point-of-view character, not even mentioning Nell's name! I spent the first few pages annoyed at the wandering POV, only to realize that the misleading jacket copy was the problem.

To sum up, Death by Cashmere is a thoroughly enjoyable start to a new mystery series, and I highly recommend it to knitters, mystery readers, readers of women's fiction, and anyone who enjoys a cozy visit to a small town.

Ulysses Moore adventures

Some quick internet research turned up Pierdomenico Baccalario as the author. Apparently, Scholastic is using a gimmick whereby Ulysses Moore, a key but unseen character, is the author of "manuscripts" discovered by Scholastic employee Michael Merryweather (whose emails to the Scholastic bigwigs begin each book). Oops, I'm blaming Scholastic, but I just checked, and the books were first published in Italy by Piemme, and list Ulysses Moore as the author, and Baccalario as the author. At any rate, it's a gimmick, but it's not intrusive, so I'll let it go.

This is an adventure/historical series for ages 8-12, and I thought it was really cute. I'll certainly buy the next one, since Isle of Masks, the fourth, ends on a huge cliffhanger.

Book 1: Door To Time: Twins Jason and Julia move into a mysterious house in Kilmore Cove, a tiny village in Cornwall formerly owned by the almost hermetical Ulysses Moore. Their parents (still alive, odd for the fantasy genre) leave them in the care of the house's caretaker, Nestor, while they finalize the move. The children make a new friend, Rick Banner, who comes to stay with them. The three children find a strange door and, after solving a series of puzzles and clues, they end up traveling back in time.

Book 2: The Long-Lost Map: Julia, Jason, and Rick are in ancient Egypt, but end up separated. Julia helps Nestor defend Argo Manor from Oblivia Newton, the woman who longs to control Argo Manor and its door to time, while Jason and Rick search ancient Egypt for a map of Kilmore Cove.

Book 3: The House of Mirrors: The children compete with Oblivia Newton to find the secret concealed in inventor Peter Dedalus's home.

Book 4: Isle of Masks: The children travel to 18th century Venice to learn the secret of the doors.

This series is really well-written, funny without relying on gross-out humor, splitting the difference between historical and contemporary settings. The puzzles are fun and add interest as the reader tries to solve the mystery along with the children. The children are engaging, squabbling but cooperative. The time frame is very tight: all four books happen over a couple of days. At the end of Book 4, the parents have come back home, so I wonder how Book 5 will work. Parents are such a nuisance to adventuring kids that most authors just kill them off. Books 1 and 3 have the children searching delightfully backwards Kilmore Cove, Cornwall, for clues. A rich supporting cast and ample secrets and mysteries make these fun. Book 2 has the children exploring ancient Egypt, with details and characters that bring the time and place to life. Book 4 takes place mainly in 18th century Venice with evocative sensory descriptions. The series is skewed a bit younger than Harry Potter (at least the later books), and I think any child who's a fan of puzzles, historical books, and/or fantasy will have a blast reading them. I look forward to seeing what's in store next.

Picture Book Thursday - Fall Edition

I happily proposed fall as a topic for today, figuring we must have a bunch of fall books. Hmmm. It was harder than I thought! This one, Apples, Apples by Salina Yoon, is really our most overtly "fall" book, and it's a winner. A diverse group of apple-cheeked children pick apples with their families, then enjoy the treats their parents make with them. At the end, everyone bobs for apples. The illustrations are very cute and brightly colored, and the simple, singsongy rhymes are fun to read aloud. The flaps revealing the apple treats add interest for young ones. This would be a fun one to read before taking the kids to an orchard and then baking/saucing/pressing the apples.

See, I'm cheating a little, since we've already done Halloween books...twice, but this is such a fun book to read out loud during fall. The three bears decide to explore the spooky old tree, bringing a light, a rope, and a stick, which they lose along the way as they continue through the scary tree. This is skewed much younger than the usual Berenstain Bears books, and the rhythm of the text is perfect for reading out loud. Matt and I both love reading this one, and Lilah is riveted.

Ha! School starts in the fall, so I can slip one more book in here. Lilah loves the Spot series, with or without flaps. This one is "with flaps." Spot's first day of school is great. Each page has a different activity the class enjoys, from show and tell to painting to dress-up. We don't have many "school" books yet, since it's a ways off for Lilah, but this one makes school sound like an absolute blast. Lilah loves Spot and his animal friends. The Spot books aren't necessarily Matt's favorites. He finds them choppy and disjointed, and they really are. Some books seem to have better illustrations than others, too--in some, the crocodile and hippo both look a little lumpy. But it's fun to read them to Lilah because she loves them so much. At any rate, this would be a good one to read to a child preparing for school, since school is very non-threatening and even downright fun.

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The Little Bit Scary People by Emily Jenkins is not directly about fall, so I'm cheating a bit with this one. :-) The story is a little girl who is frightened of certain people for various reasons: the boy with big eyebrows and a mohawk playing music really loud as he rides down the sidewalk on his skateboard; the grumpy bus driver; the music teacher with a crazy beard who picks her to sing a solo; the girl in her science class who chews on her pencil and mutters to herself. For each person the little girl thinks is scary, she imagines what they are like at home. The bus driver making pancakes for her kids in the morning, the music teacher reading at home with a shaggy dog on his lap, the little girl from science class learning to ride a bike with her mom alongside her. It's a really sweet book and a good one to teach kids not to be judgmental about what people are like based on their appearances. I threw this in with fall books because several of the illustrations (which are really cute by the way!) have a fall feel to them and several of the pages are about school. And I really like Emily Jenkins! She also wrote Toys Go Out and Toy Dance Party.

We're Going on A Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger is a take on We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. It follows the same repetitive text format and uses great sound words as three little kids go searching for various kinds of colorful leaves. Little kids will learn about different kinds of trees and what color and shape their leaves are as the children in the book go on their journey. While I think this is a bit of a rip-off and not nearly as good as the Bear Hunt book, I think it does make for a nice fall book and my girls seem to like it.

My last book for fall is Ruby's Falling Leaves by Rosemary Wells, part of the Max and Ruby series of books. In this book, Ruby is looking for leaves to put in her leaf book for school. Max "helps" her look for them. He jumps into the leaf pile which makes it more difficult for her to find the perfect leaf. But in the end she finds it. My girls LOVE Max and Ruby, the show and ALL the books. We have checked out every Max and Ruby book from the library multiple times and my husband and I pretty much have them memorized. While I don't think this is the *best* Max and Ruby book, it is a fun fall book. If you're looking for more Max and Ruby books, Bunny Mail and Max Cleans Up are particular favorites in this household.

Another Giveaway!

I'll be announcing a giveaway as soon as I think of a good one, but in the meantime, check out this giveaway of The Heretic's Daughter at She Reads and Reads!

The Charlemagne Pursuit by Steve Berry

I believe this is the fifth installment in Steve Berry's Cotton Malone series. I received The Charlemagne Pursuit as an ARC from LibraryThing. I was happy to find it a home in my library, but I haven't read the previous books in the series so I passed it on to my friend Kelly. She recommended the Berry books to me in the first place and I thought she would enjoy reading the latest book before it hit the shelves.

I asked her to relay a few of her thoughts on the book and this is what she had to say:
Readers will not be disappointed by the latest in the Cotton Malone Series. Fast-paced, suspenseful; just when you think you have something figured out you are hit with another plot twist that takes you down a different road. Love the way Berry weaves in very detailed, factual historical info into Malone’s quest - very “Da Vinci Code” in the way it reads; Nazis, Charlemagne, ancient groups of people, American Submarine lore, the Antarctic – all very interesting. Malone gets involved in this book’s quest as a result of looking into the death of his father. This allows us to get to know Cotton on a much more personal level than the other books in the series. The ending verged on being over-the-top, but with the complicated build-up, I can’t imagine it any other way.

So I think its safe to say, if you have enjoyed previous Berry books, you should pick this one up as well! Thanks for your thoughts Kelly!

You CAN go home again!

Anyone with warm, fuzzy memories of an 80s sitcom who stumbles across an episode on TV Land will understand why I was a smidge apprehensive about rereading the Bunnicula series, the first four books of which I adored as a child. There are many things I enjoyed as a child (television shows stand out the most) that simply...weren't that good. Fortunately, Bunnicula lived up to my memories, with a bonus of three books I had never read in the series! I had a great time zipping through these again, and it'll be fun to read them out loud to Lilah when she's older.

The premise of the series is that Harold, the Monroes' dog, brings manuscripts to his editor detailing the strange events in the Monroe household. These were much funnier than I remembered, and I suspect much of the humor went over my head as a child. Nighty-Nightmare was published in 1987, and that was the last I had read. I am happy to report that Howe has kept up his standards to produce three delightful sequels since then. Howe parodies horror films and books to great effect, and one assumes he has a blast writing these. The funny thing about the Bunnicula series is how little Bunnicula is in the books. He's completely left out of a few, and he doesn't talk or interact much when he is there. Yet, he's an important presence in the series. A spin-off series "written" by Howie the puppy is also out there, and I have them in my amazon cart!

Bunnicula: The first of the series introduces the Monroe family: Mom, Dad, Toby, Pete, Harold (the dog), and Chester (the cat). The Monroes find a bunny while watching Dracula at the local movie theater, so they name him Bunnicula. When vegetables turn up with all the juice drained from them, Chester decides that Bunnicula must be stopped: "Today vegetables...Tomorrow the world!" Harold is torn between his loyalty to his friend Chester and sympathy for the little bunny. This is a short book with lots of humor, suspense, and memorable characters.

Howliday Inn: Harold and Chester are sent to Chateau Bow-Wow while the Monroes go on vacation. Something strange is afoot there, and Chester insists on investigating in his usual suspicious manner. The other Chateau inmates add fun and color to this entry in the series, which culminates in the Monroes' adoption of puppy Howie.

The Celery Stalks at Midnight: Still one of my all-time favorite book titles. When Bunnicula goes missing, Chester fears for the family, Centerville, even the world. Strange happenings, like Pete and Toby wearing cloaks and taking other children prisoner, strike Chester as evidence that Bunnicula is exerting power over humans as well as vegetables. The solution is hilarious as Chester is proved completely wrong.

Nighty-Nighmare: The Monroes go camping (with the animals and meet up with rednecks Bud, Spud, and their dog, Dawg. When Dawg gets the animals lost in the woods, Chester fears for the Monroes at the hands of Bud and Spud. Bud and Spud (and Dawg) turn out to be nothing like they seem. Howie's puns abound in this one, and spoofs of horror film conventions keep this one going, but Chester's tale of horror is the real highlight.

Return to Howliday Inn: Chester, Harold, and Howie are back at the ol' Chateau. Howie is excited to see where he was born, but Chester and Harold remember the healthy but tasteless food. New and familiar animals brighten this story, and the ending is surprisingly sweet.

Bunnicula Strikes Again: Chester has gone after Bunnicula again, telling Harold ominously (and smugly) that everyone is safe from Bunnicula. Meanwhile, the Monroes are protesting the demolition of the historic theater where they found Bunnicula. If the plot involving Bunnicula's mother is a bit convoluted, the sibling rivalry makes up for it.

Bunnicula Meets Edgar Allan Crow: Previous books have mentioned M. T. Graves, author of the FleshCrawlers series for children, read devotedly by Pete and puppy Howie. In this one, Pete wins a competition and the prize is a visit from M. T. Graves. He shows up dressed in black with his pet crow, Edgar Allan Crow, on his shoulder. Chester assumes the crow (and the murder of crows that turns up outside) is an omen of evil, and sets out to unmask Graves. The suspense is well-done, and the solution inventive. A great ending to the series.

Murder! Mayhem! Maine!

Murder Most Maine by Karen MacInerney is the third in her Gray Whale Inn series featuring innkeeper Natalie Barnes. In this installment, there is nary an evil developer in sight! There is, however, a weight-loss group staying at the Gray Whale Inn to liven things up and provide fresh victims for Ms. MacInerney's body count on tiny Cranberry Island. Seriously, this place is worse than Cabot Cove. Anyway, among the weight-loss group are handsome trainer Dirk DeLeon and his business partner Vanessa (a former summer fling of Natalie's boyfriend, John). A shifty reporter is there, ostensibly to cover the weight-loss retreat, seems to be up to something else. When Dirk is predictably found dead, Natalie's kitchen is shut down by the police, forcing her to rely on some of the other islanders. She's an outsider to Maine, but she's starting to find acceptance, and the response of her friends to her predicament is indicative of how far she's come. Her relationship with John takes another blow as John comforts Vanessa after Dirk's death (honestly, this is a symptom of a problem common to cozies: the single woman must have a love interest or two, and obstacles must come up to save the relationship from complacency). And of course, there's the murder. Natalie decides to investigate in part to help reopen her kitchen faster (in homage to the classic culinary mystery Catering to Nobody by Diane Mott Davidson?). The weight-loss retreat is entertaining, and the group's members a diverse lot providing plenty of entertainment, and the subplot about the lighthouse and the Underground Railroad is intriguing. As always, the best part is visiting the charming Cranberry Island, its crusty, heart-of-gold residents, and the B&B business. Recipes at the end are more diet-friendly than in the first two books, but a delightful-sounding makes up for most of the blah low-fat fare. I actually think this was the best of the three so far, but you'll want to read the first two to get acquainted with Cranberry Island and the characters who live there.

To sum up: Another fun cozy from MacInerney, who also authors the Urban Werewolf series (not really my thing, so I haven't read them yet). If you love Maine, B&Bs, cozy mysteries, and culinary mysteries, this series should be right up your alley.

My review of #1, Murder on the Rocks
My review of #2, Dead and Berried

Heartwarming Tale of the Heartland

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron and Brett Witter is part memoir, part history lesson, and part tearjerker. But it's all heart. I wasn't sure what to expect from this, a biography of a cat-turned-library-mascot-turned-international-symbol, but it wasn't the rich, complex story I found. I expected heartwarming reminiscences, sure, and those are present in abundance. Myron weaves together three storylines: the farm crisis of the 1980s and deaths of small midwestern towns, her own personal memoir, and the story of Dewey, a little kitten stuffed into the Spencer, Iowa library's book return slot on the coldest night of the year. Dewey anchors the other two stories, giving them both needed anchoring and a focused perspective. As the story begins, Spencer, Iowa is facing the fate of similar small towns across the Midwest: when the biggest employer pulls out of town at the time the farm crisis has multigenerational farm families selling up or declaring bankruptcy, the writing is on the wall. But Spencer, like the tiny frozen kitten, fights to survive. Dewey becomes a symbol for Spencer, first increasing library attendance by people in hard times who need something good in their lives (and he's a perfect library cat, always seeking the affection of those who need him most), then gaining regional, national, and even international fame.

VIcki's story is a tough one to read: divorced from an alcoholic husband, with a small child to support, with health problems that will have you shaking your fist in the general direction of the idiot doctors who made her conditions worse, eventually trying to communicate with a combative teenager. But she's not whiny or self-indulgent. In fact, the whole book has the air of midwestern values: plainspoken, making the best of what you have. She garners sympathy without drama, and I'm glad she had Dewey to support her through her ordeals. Watching her grow in confidence as she finishes her education, relates to her daughter, stands up for Dewey (when the board suggests retiring Dewey when he's no longer young and cute, I wanted to catch a flight out there and smack them) is inspirational. She takes what she has and makes it better where possible.

The mini-history of Spencer (and through it, the whole region) was fascinating. The farm crisis is brought to vivid life, and the way small towns change to survive (some welcoming endless strip malls or undesirable industry, others struggling to maintain the small-town way of life) is illustrated well. The library, under Vicki's direction and with Dewey's help, becomes a strong community center: a place where the downtrodden can look for jobs, acquire new skills, and just enjoy a few minutes of unconditional love. Vicki doesn't overstate Dewey's influence; in fact, when an interviewer asks her for the "deeper meaning" of Dewey, she refuses to give an answer. But the entire book illustrates Dewey's impact on Vicki, on the town of Spencer, and on the psyches of those who cling to his story of hope, loyalty, and survival. A beautiful read.

Neville Winner!

Jennifer, Jennifer, where are you? You are the winner of our Katherine Neville contest and I would love to get your books to you. Please email me by Sunday with your mailing address. If I don't hear from you, I'll have to let the second winner know the books are hers!

Thanks!!!

'Tis the Season Too!

Halloween has put me in the mood for mystery books! In the last week I’ve finished three! So I thought I would expand on Allison's previous Halloween mystery post.

Fiendish Deeds (A Joy of Spooking book) by P. J. Bracegirdle. Allison wrote a glowing review earlier this year. So I’ll leave you with what she said. But I will add that this was a smart and fun book. I enjoyed Joy’s character and her imagination. I loved the descriptions of the different towns: Spooking (an old, charming established community) and Darlington (cookie cutter, manufactured, boring city). Now, I live in a cookie cutter neighborhood where all the houses are variations on a theme. So I have nothing against that. I just really love old communities with their charm, history and quaintness. I think it would be fun to retire to a place like that, if they still exist by the time we retire. I really do hate established areas being bull-dozed for designer style, cookie cutter monstrosities. Okay, so I completely got off on a tangent there. Anyhoo, this book has some nice themes under the story. I look forward to the next two books in the series. You can learn more at the Joy of Spooking website.

Real Murders by Charlaine Harris: I’ve been seeing Harris’ name everywhere lately and for various reasons. Mostly for her Sookie Stackhouse series, which has been turned into the show True Blood on HBO. I’m not particularly into the vampire thing so I decided to try out some of her other series. She has four or five series that are all quite different from each other. Seems just about any mystery fan can find a Harris’ series to suit their tastes. Real Murders is the first book in her Aurora Teagarden series. Aurora is a young librarian in Lawrenceton, Georgia. She belongs to a club where the participants discuss historic and contemporary murder cases. Although the club is a little morbid, all the members find it interesting and each has their own specialty. Unfortunately, a member is murdered at one of their meetings in a copycat of a famous murder. Poor Aurora is the one who happens to find the body. This event starts a string of murders and attempted murders copying famous cases. It leaves the town of Lawrenceton on high alert and the members of Real Murders wondering whose next and what famous murder will be imitated. As with typical cozy mysteries, Aurora does happen to have two love interests but neither of these really get in the way of the story. It will be interesting to see how the love triangle plays out as the series goes on. I thought this was a really good mystery. It was not too predictable. I hate when I figure out who the murderer is early on. And I didn’t figure it out until Harris wanted me to. I’m not sure this is a “cozy” mystery (Allison, what is the definition of a cozy mystery? Does there have to be humor?). There was not much humor in this one. It was a tad bit darker than some other series I’ve tried. But I really enjoyed it and I kind of liked the “seriousness” of it. I will definitely read more in this series.

Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris: This is the second book in Harris’ Harper Connelly mystery series. I usually stand by my rule of starting with the first book of a series and reading them in order. However, I made an exception for this one. Grave Surprise was a bargain book calling out my name as I walked by. I checked out the description on the first one thinking I might buy that as well, but I liked the sound of this one better and it was cheaper. SO, there you go. Harper Connelly was struck by lightning when she was fifteen and her brother Tolliver saved her by performing CPR. Through this and growing up with a terrible childhood, the two formed quite a bond. As a result of the lightning strike, Harper now has the ability to “read” dead bodies. She can stand on a grave and know who the deceased is and how they died. She can touch a dead body and have a connection with them. She might “feel” their last moments or “hear” their last thoughts. In this way, she helps many dead bodies to rest peacefully by letting police know their locations or what really happened to them. Tolliver follows her along as her Manager. In this installment, Harper and Tolliver travel to Memphis to do a demonstration for a college class when she discovers a new body in an old grave. The body of a missing girl Harper tried to find two years prior. This discovery begins a whodunit story with Harper and Tolliver as prime suspects. I liked this book. And if I didn’t know it was the second in a series, it would have seemed like a stand-alone to me. I didn’t feel like I had missed out on anything. And now, I’m curious to read the first one to see how much Harris’ repeated in the second. This book was definitely a psychological drama. The entire book you’re learning about these characters and watching their reaction to the news of the body discovery and seeing their interaction with each other. You spend the whole book wondering which member of her family really did kill her. And I enjoyed the build up. BUT, the ending was a little flat to me. It seemed Harris’ just all of sudden decided she was done with this build up and revealed the killer and I thought the identity of the killer was sort of lame. I thought it might be someone else. And I thought the killer’s reasoning for killing the little girl was really lame. But I will read the first one and probably read the later books as well. One other thing that bothered me about the book was Harper and Tolliver’s relationship. It just seemed a bit weird to me. He actually is her stepbrother (his dad married her mom) and at one point Harper thinks she might sort of have feelings for him and then shakes it off. I felt like this was sort of unnecessary. But then again, this is a very psychological series so it does makes sense that Harris would delve deep into Harper’s mind.

In comparing these two series by Harris, the Aurora Teagarden series is much more on the cozy, light-hearted mystery side of things and the Harper Connelly series is much more serious, dark, and psychological with some paranormal activity thrown in. The Connelly series is much more like a ghost story, which I actually thought was well done and I liked it. I’ll read more in both series.

Odds and Ends

I have a bunch of book related thoughts running around in my head so I thought I would just throw them into a post today.

I picked up Janes in Love by Cecil Castellucci at the library the other day. This is the sequel to the graphic novel The Plain Janes. In this installment, the Janes are all crushing on different guys and trying to figure out how to ask them to a dance at school. Their art collective, P.L.A.I.N. is still causing an uproar in the community and Jane applies for a federal grant to make their group legitimate. While I enjoyed this book too, I really liked the first one more. I can’t really put my finger on why I wasn’t quite as fond of this one. It just didn’t strike me quite the same way. If you enjoyed The Plain Janes, you should still pick this one up too. It’s worth the hour (or less) it might take you to get through it.

On another graphic novel note. While we were at story time this week at Barnes and Noble, I noticed a “Comics and Manga” shelving section in the Children’s area. I hadn’t paid any attention to this before, but I looked through the selection while Ella was working on her coloring sheet. There is quite an array of graphic novels for grades 3-7. I was amazed! There are Babysitter’s Club and Nancy Drew mysteries in graphic novel format! There’s a whole series of Amelia’s Notebooks by Marissa Moss that look really fun. Moss also has one called Max’s Logbook for younger male readers (perhaps a nice a follow-up book to the Wimpy Kid series?). I was just really intrigued at the array of graphic novels available to this age group. And what a great thing for reluctant readers! They had a series called Phonics Comics that I’m going to look into for my five year old. She loves to “read” and wants more than anything to be able to read on her own but she’s just not quite there yet. So I think she might really like the Phonics Comics because she can look at the pictures and “read” the story. I also ran across a graphic novelization of Artemis Fowl. I’ve read the first couple in this series and own them all. I requested the graphic novel from the library. I think it will be fun to see what how the story is in a visual format.

Okay enough about graphic novels.

I received my Bookmarks Magazine in the mail yesterday. I always love getting this magazine. I find some time when I can be uninterrupted, sit in my comfy chair with a cup of tea and look through it marking the books I’d like to add to my TBR list. Well, this time I was very disappointed! I had already heard of almost all the general fiction books they were reviewing! I couldn’t believe it, almost all of them were LibraryThing Early Reviewer books, or on other ARC sites. Or I’ve read about them on the many book blogs I have in my Google Reader. This is interesting to me for a couple of reasons. One, I’m really surprised at how knowledgeable I’ve become about the book world just by paying attention to more book blogs than I used to (LOVE my Google Reader!) and by participating in early reviewer programs. I also think this says A LOT about marketing in the book world and what a GIANT part book blogs and book review websites, such as LibraryThing and GoodReads, play in spreading the word about an upcoming book. You can now hear about new books months in advance! In the past, I think many times you didn’t hear about new books coming out except maybe a month or a few weeks in advance. It’s just really interesting to me that we are witnessing an evolution in the book world first hand. I guess I’ll hang in there for a couple more issues of Bookmarks, but I might have to consider letting my subscription go….