Meh. Precociously brilliant children save the world, again. It's OK if you're a diehard Enderverse fan, but we've seen this story before.

Meticulously researched, this book sheds new light on the story of Olive Oatman and the Mohave tribe. There were parts of the book that I skimmed through, but some parts really captured my attention including the discussion of how Olive's story was appropriated (mainly by men) into popular culture and literature of the day, as well as a discussion of tattooing practices in early America.

I admit that books about libraries and librarians hold special appeal to me, but these time-traveling, dimension-hopping librarian spies had me hooked from the first page. It defies genres - it's part fantasy, part mystery, part steampunk and I can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series!

I loved the movie, Purple Rain, and I found this book to be an interesting glimpse of Prince behind the scenes of the movie. Perhaps even more interesting is the authors insight of the music industry and of the impact Prince made on it. Highly recommend this book if you were young in the 80s. I wish the author could have included photos,though.

Tom Robbins' books have had a big influence on my life, and I'm glad to get to know the author better. This isn't a standard autobiography, but rather vignettes of the author's amazing, adventurous and unexpected life. If you love his work, you'll love this book and you'll love him all the more after reading it.

Like the author, I am rapidly approaching fifty and experiencing some of the same things she is. Because of that, I really, really wanted to like this book and there are some great laugh out loud moments as well as some very poignant ones. But in between, there is whining. Lots of whining about her teenaged son not wanting to be seen with her, her physical problems, her income and on and on. Because of the whining, this book really wasn't for me.

Lesbian blacksmith berserker with a magic, dragon-slaying sword! How much more fun can this get, and how often do you get to start a review with a description like that?

J.A. Pitts has created a believable world where magic, dragons and the old gods of Norse mythology exist, if you only know where to look. These action-packed books have become better with each successive one, and I am enjoying watching the characters grow and develop, especially our heroine Sarah, who has turned into a kick-ass dragon-slayer. There are tantalizing hints dropped about Sarah's family in this book, so I'm looking forward to the next installment in this series.

A light and enjoyable chick-lit novel. It doesn't stray too far from the standard formula - a likeable heroine who can't get over the wrong guy, even though the right guy is there the whole time. It even has the obligatory sassy gay friend to add the necessary humor. Fans of the genre will love it.

I know this was supposed to be humorous, but I didn't find it funny at all. It was mostly just whiny and self-serving. Good thing it was extremely short.

Margaret Mitchell's work is one of the great American novels, and was written by an intensely private woman. This book meticulously tracks how Mitchell's idea became one of the greatest successes in publishing, as well as providing a fascinating look at the publishing industry and copyright. The authors did an outstanding job of combing through an enormous amount of primary sources to present the complete picture of the author and her work. I'm a huge fan of GWTW, both in print and movie form, so I was eager to read this book, but because of the sheer amount of detail, I'm not sure how much appeal it will have to the casual reader.

Lush photography with eye-popping color, Maurer focuses on the tiny sea creatures that most people overlook while snorkeling or scuba diving. His up close shots of coral reveal the delicate intricacies of its construction while revealing miniscule creatures that call it home. One of my favorite photos is of sea horse no larger than a grain of rice. The narrative is brief in this book, but does give clues to his techniques and the specialized equipment he uses to take these amazing photos.

This book should be required reading for all public librarians. A straightforward how-to about writing effective security policies, dealing with patrons who don't follow the rules, physical security and personal safety.

I don't normally read many Westerns, and this is the first Longarm novel I've ever read. I had heard of them, though, and expected a lot of sex from a male fantasy perspective. The sex was there (and every available attractive woman simply throws herself at Custis "Longarm" Long), but what surprised me was how tongue-in-cheek funny this book was. The author also has a great ear for natural sounding dialogue which reminded me a great deal of when my career-Marine Corps husband gets together with his old buddies. In this book, Longarm is looking for the murderer of a Ute Indian girl. Her family has given him eight days to find the killer, or they will attack the nearby mining camp. Lots of action, lots of sex, and a true hero in Longarm. He's the man every guy wants to be, and every girl simply wants. Overall, it's a rollicking, fun read.

I loved this book. Harold receives a letter from his old friend, Queenie, and unintentionally sets out on a pilgrimage to walk to her. During his journey, he reflects on his life, his marriage and the world around him. In many ways, he is very innocent and unworldly and you feel anxious and worry for him, but he always pulls through, frequently due to the kindness of strangers. He becomes a heroic figure, and a person that people confess their secrets to, but it is only at the end of the book that you discover Harold's secrets, because it takes him that long to admit them to himself. This is such a lovely book that makes you want to live every day to the fullest and never take your life for granted.

"Glamour in Glass" picks up where "Shades of Milk and Honey" left off, shortly after Jane's wedding to Vincent. "Shades" was very much a Jane Austen-like regency romance with some lovely magic thrown in, but "Glamour" is more historical fiction, with Jane and Vincent finding themselves smack in the middle of the Napoleonic war. There is still the wonderful manners and language of the Regency period, so Jane Austen followers will not be disappointed, but we get to see a newly married, if unconventional couple sorting out the details of their married life in a historical setting all while practicing their magical craft. A very imaginative, refreshing book!

A very useful and helpful resource containing detailed descriptions of handy web sites for libraries. It was well organized, listing the sites in alphabetical order, with a good table of contents which also listed a category for each site. Some of the sites are more useful than others - for example, I have little need for open-source office suites - but the many tips and suggestions in this book outweigh that. The real hazard, as with any book about the internet, is the fact that it becomes outdated almost as soon as it hits the shelves of the bookstore. I was relieved, however, to see the author has a website that is kept current. Overall, an excellent resource for librarians.

It took me a long time to get in to this book about Donna Johnson, who was the young daughter of a woman who sold everything to follow evangelist and preacher David Terrell in the 1960s and 70s. Donna's mother had an affair with the married minister and secretly bore three of his children. On one hand, this is a fascinating look at the inside world of tent revivals, and how people want to believe in miracles so badly that they overlook all the warning signs that the minister just might be a con man. On the other hand, the author did witness some truly miraculous things that didn't appear to be staged or sleight of hand, but if you want definitive proof, you won't get it.

A thoroughly enjoyable mystery set in London at the beginning of World War II. Maggie Hope, a brilliant mathematician who was raised by her eccentric blue-stockinged Aunt after being orphaned at a young age, is exasperated that the only job she can get to help the war effort is that of a secretary to none other than the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. The job is anything but ordinary, however, and there's murder afoot that somehow involved Maggie. I particularly liked the author's details of wartime London, and the way she captured the spirit of a nation. This is the first of a new series featuring Maggie, and I look forward to the next installment.

King Peggy is a truly inspiring memoir of Peggy Bartels, a Washington DC secretary who is also known as King Nana Amuah-Afenyi VI, the king of Otuam, a fishing village in Ghana. Peggy was chosen to be king by the tribal elders in a ceremony where they consulted the ancestral spirits. It is unusual, though not entirely unprecedented, for a woman to be chosen as a king in Ghana, and Peggy was a favorite of her deceased uncle the former king. Peggy's kingship, however, is not a fairy tale. Her palace is crumbling, her royal treasury is in the red, and her people lack access to decent schools, clean water and medical care. She must deal with her elders' deep-seated attitudes towards women, corruption and greed before she can begin helping her people. With strength, humor and forgiveness, she does overcome these obstacles and begins to turn her village around. Her story is told in the third-person by co-author Eleanor Herman, which, coupled with the colorful idioms and the folklore of Ghana, give this book a fable-like feel when reading it. You will come away from reading this book feeling buoyed by Peggy's optimism, cheering for her successes and wishing her all the best for the future. A truly feel-good read.

A warm moving and yet funny memoir that made me like Jane Lynch even more. I highly recommend the audio version which is read by Jane herself.

Comic book dealer John has decided to break up with his boyfriend, Taylor, on the day that Taylor perfects a time machine. It's 2006, and the reason for their break-up is because Taylor became a Republican after 9/11. John is sent back to 1986, where he teams up with his younger self and a younger Taylor to prevent three tragedies: his father's death from alcoholism, his sister's suicide and the election of George W. Bush as president. Pursued through time by an evil Dick Cheney, the trio find that you can change some things for the better, while others are inevitable. Alternating between razor wit, poignant realizations and keen political observations, this book was a joy to read. I look forward to more from Bob Smith.

I loved this book. It's a love story, a fascinating glimpse of North Korea, and most importantly, an examination of identity, and of how we become the stories we tell. Adam Johnson’s story telling skills left me amazed at the deft way he wove in minor characters, only to have them fade out of the narrative, then reappear as a pivot point to the story.

Pak Jun Do is starts out with lowly beginnings, but rises from tunnel soldier to professional kidnapper, becomes a hero, then a prisoner and finally one of Kim Jong Il’s most powerful commanders and a rival for his love interest, the beautiful and pure actress Sun Moon, who is so innocent that she doesn’t recognize poverty or starvation. Set in North Korea, a land where no one is allowed individuality or even their own thoughts, every citizen is acting out a role in the story dictated by one man, Kim Jong Il. Our hero is tossed from one role to another, throwing himself into the part, until he reaches his most demanding role yet, the husband of Sun Moon and Kim Jong Il’s rival. I highly recommend this heartbreaking book.

This book tells the story of a mother and daughter, each caught up in their own romantic obsession and how it molds their lives. Cecilia is a beautifully naive schoolgirl who falls desperately in love with the one person who she feels really understands her - her older, married English teacher, James Dahl. Her mother, Dora, came to Devon to live a Bohemian lifestyle but found that her husband is worthless and she must shoulder the burden of caring for her family. Dora finds an escape in a forbidden affair with the fascinatingly changeable Elizabeth Dahl, James' wife. Both women make unbearable sacrifices that tinge their relationships and break their hearts for the rest of their life.

I found this book to be beautiful and heartbreaking. I loved the author's descriptions of the moors and Devon, and the way she brought her characters alive, especially when she describes Cecilia's and Dora's feelings of being in love. It could be a little hard to follow sometimes, because the time frame switched from present day to Cecilia's girlhood, but as long as you prepared yourself for the change at the start of each chapter, it wasn't impossible. Overall, I really liked this book.

If you are already a fan of Maru, either from his blog or from I Can Has Cheezburger, then you will enjoy this book. It is much like Maru's blog with lots of cute pictures of the expressive, round-headed Scottish Fold, narrated in the same whimsical, slightly lost-in-translation style. If you're not already a Maru fan, I suggest you visit YouTube for some of his box-sliding adventures before picking up this book. In short, general cat lovers & Maru fans will give it a big thumbs up.

Less angst than the first book and plenty of action. Apprentice blacksmith and wielder of a legendary sword, Sarah Beauhall, is back and trying to deal with the aftermath of last year's battle with the dragon. The action begins when Sarah witnesses a singer's kidnapping. Things just keep getting weirder and weirder with elves, kobolds and other mythical creatures popping up and plenty of them want to kill Sarah and her friends. The characters are developing nicely in this series, and there are plenty of loose ends left hanging for the next book which I am looking forward to. I would, however, recommend that the author finds a better editor to tighten up the grammatical and factual errors. Maybe I'm just nitpicking, but when I'm into a story and I come across an obvious error it tears me right out of the fantasy world and right back into the real world.

I loved this book and its predecessor, The Magicians. As a child I devoured books about magic and other lands and I was probably more at home in Narnia or Middle Earth than in the real world. I knew they weren't real, of course, but a part of me never gave up wishing they could be. Quentin Coldwater, the reluctant hero of Lev Grossman's books, is the same way, except he grew up living and breathing books about the magical kingdom of Fillory. In The Magicians, Quentin discovers that magic IS real when he is accepted into Brakebills, a university for magicians. He also finds his way into Fillory, which turns out to be darker and more dangerous than he imagined. The Magician King begins with a bored and restless King Quentin of Fillory still searching for something more in his life but the quest he finds himself on is more than he bargained for. These books are a mashup of Narnia, Harry Potter, Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionovar Tapestry and Catcher in the Rye. Grossman manages to create characters and worlds so real that you can't help but believe in them, but these books aren't for kids; there's plenty of magic, but also plenty of angst, drinking, sex & swearing as Quentin and his friends navigate the dangerous world of magic and magical creatures.

Lucy, the daughter of a Russian immigrant, is the children's librarian in small-town Missouri and Ian, a bright ten year old boy, is one of her favorite patrons. From Lucy's point of view, Ian's home life is troubled and restrictive, so when he decides to run away from home, Lucy becomes his willing accomplice. Their multi-state journey becomes one of self-discovery for both of them, all while reinforcing the idea of how stories influence us, strengthen us and help us cope. A must read for any bibliophile, author Rebecca Makkai refers to many classic works of both children's and adult's literature from "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" to "Lolita". It's not only great literature that shapes Lucy, but also the stories of her own father and his escape from Soviet Russia. These stories, and the slow revealing of truth provide some of the most poignant moments of the story.

After the cliffhanger ending of Changes, I was breathlessly awaiting this book and it doesn't disappoint. It's Harry Dresden at his wisecracking best, and it ties up many loose ends while also filling in some of Harry's back story from his teenaged years. Having said this, I wouldn't recommend Ghost Story if you haven't read the previous Dresden Files books - there's just too much keep up with. Now I can't wait for the next installment!

Early suffragette and do-gooder Temperance O'Neil is incensed that her new stepfather is in control of her fortune and expects her to act like a dutiful, proper young lady. She continues to needle him until he sends her to his nephew, James's house with the promise that if she can find James a wife, he will allow her to return to New York and her work. What happens next is no surprise.

I generally love romance novels as a good guilty pleasure, but the breathy qualities of the narrator, combined with her insistence to perform a nearly unintelligible imitation of a Scottish brogue drove me nuts. It didn't help that I didn't realize this audiobook was an abridgement and there were jarring gaps in narrative. I might have liked it better in the print form, but the narration was too annoying.

Some really beautiful projects and beautiful photography. Some of the instructions have a few holes in them, but an experienced beader will figure it out.