chinquapin keeps reading

I will try again to make 75 books in 2011. Here it goes...

1. Bloomability by Sharon Creech
2. Homicide in Hardcover by Kate Carlisle
3. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
4. The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig
5. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
6. Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton
7. Ghost Canoe by Will Hobbs
8. Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton
9. Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo
10. Kingdom Keepers by Ridley Pearson
11. Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
12. Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris
13. The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
14. Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones
15. Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
16. The Ritual Bath by Faye Kellerman
17. The Sword Thief by Peter Larangis
18. Precious Blood by Jane Haddam
19. Catnap by Carole Nelson Douglas
20. Hoot by Carl Hiassen
21. Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
22. Emma, Volume 1 by Kaoru Mori
23. The English Assassin by Daniel Silva
24. The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd
25. Night of the Living Deed by E. J. Copperman
26. Emma, Volume 2 by Kaoru Mori
27. Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech
28. Emma, Volume 3 by Kaoru Mori
29. Emma, Volume 4 by Kaoru Mori
30. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
31. Witches' Bane by Susan Wittig Albert
32. Soulless by Gail Carriger
33. Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
34. A Gift of Grace by Amy Clipston
35. Buzz Off by Hannah Reed
36. The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone
37. The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths
38. Mister Monday by Garth Nix
39. The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg
40. A Killer Plot by Ellery Adams
41. The Rabbi's Cat by Joann Sfar
42. The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley
43. The Mozart Question by Michael Morpungo
44. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
45. Pussyfoot: A Midnight Louie Mystery by Carole Nelson Douglas
46. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
47. Nathan's Run by John Gilstrap
48. London Calling by Edward Bloor
49 The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi
50. The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths

Bloomability by Sharon Creech

12 year old Domenica Santolina Doone, otherwise known as Dinnie, has lived in 12 different states in her 12 years as her father keeps chasing that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Then her uncle gets a job as the headmaster of the American School in Switzerland and he and his wife take Dinnie along to live with them and attend this international boarding school. Dinnie's world opens up into a rich field of friends from a smorgasbord of international backgrounds, skiing and hiking in breathtakingly beautiful mountains, great teachers, fieldtrips around Europe and learning Italian.

There are some very amusing events, mostly stemming from Dinnie's attempts at learning Italian, and the story has an undeniable appeal to it. The American School seems almost too wonderful to be real...for two weeks the whole school body moves to a hotel in St. Moritz and hold abbreviated classes in the morning and evening so everyone can ski during the mid-day. However, the plot is somewhat thin and there is not a whole lot going on other than making friends and going to classes, but Creech manages to make even these mundane things interesting. Major themes are the ties of friendship and change.

Homicide in Hardcover by Kate Carlisle

Brooklyn Wainwright is a book conservator and she was happy and excited to meet up with her mentor, Abraham Karastovsky at the gala at the Covington Library celebrating the restoration project of a collection that includes Goethe's Faust. While there, however, she finds Abraham in his workroom, dying in a pool of his own blood. Gasping, he utters a cryptic word and gives her the precious Faust. Brooklyn is now faced with attempting to figure out who killed her beloved mentor and why.

There were parts of this book that I greatly appreciated. I enjoyed the descriptions of bookbinding and repair. I also liked the depictions of many of the characters, such as Brooklyn's hippie parents and the police detective Derek. The mystery itself was well constructed and interesting.... but I didn't really care for Brooklyn herself .I found her acerbic, flippant tone irritating, and I have reservations about a character who could forget to feed her neighbor's cats. I think it is unlikely that I will read another in this series.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-time by Mark Haddon

Intriguing story told in first person by a 15 year old boy named Christopher with Asperger's syndrome. It starts with his discovery of the dead body of his neighbor's dog, and his decision to investigate and find out who killed it, but the novel evolves into a family drama seen through the imperfect lens of Aspergers. Christopher's story and his unique narration style seem to perfectly illuminate his condition and his unique way of interpreting the world. There are many diagrams and drawings in the book that Christopher uses to help explain things or to help organize information. He was both compelling and charming, and then frustatingly annoying. The chapters were quite short...most were 3 or 4 pages long, and Christopher delves into many different subjects, both those that pertain to the story at hand, and also those that are just interesting to him, like how Arthur Conan Doyle believed that fairies were real or why he did not like the colors yellow or brown. I found this to be a fascinating, unique story with a memorable narrator and protagonist.

The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig

Widower Oliver Milliron hires Rose Llewellyn to come and housekeep for him and his three boys on his Montana homestead after reading her advertisement claiming she "can't cook but doesn't bite." And thus begins a season of change in the Milliron world. The story is told from the point of view of the oldest son, 12 year old Paul Milliron, and his youthful outlook sets a perfect tone.

With Rose comes her highly educated brother, Morrie, who in many ways seems out of place in this world of prairie dry farmers, but after the schoolteacher runs off with an itinerant preacher, he becomes the new schoolmaster of the one-room schoolhouse. He gets the whole community excited about the arrival of Halley's comet and begins to teach Latin to Paul.

Much of the story revolves around the schoolhouse, and there is even a case made for the efficiency and importance of these schools in the face of the school consolidation movement. There is also a sense of the world changing. This book is set around 1910 when technology was just beginning to change the rural landscape for all time, and Doig covers this period and its energy masterfully. All in all, this was a wonderful story that I thoroughly enjoyed...so much so that I will probably seek out another Ivan Doig book.

Some good reading there! I enjoyed The curious incident too.

Nice start to the year!

Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton

After her aunt is murdered, Kelly Flynn goes to her home in Colorado to settle her affairs. Kelly discovers that her aunt had uncharacteristically taken out a loan on her cottage for 20,000 and just received the money the day that she was killed. The police believe that a vagrant who has been in trouble with the law before committed the crime because he was seen nearby soon afterwards, but Kelly finds several things that just don't add up.

She gets permission from her company to work from Colorado for awhile and she gets connected with a group of women who knit at the knitting store that is right across the street from her aunt's cottage. They also teach her to knit and get her started on her first sweater.

This book made me want to get my knitting out. The descriptions of yarn and the knitting shop were excellent. I also loved all the knitting group characters. The mystery was well-constructed, if somewhat a stretch in believability in the end. I already have the next one in the series ready to go.

I'll be interested to see what you think as the series progresses. I've read several of them, and I've got one or two in the to be read pile but I'm not really motivated to pick them up.

Sadly, that is the way that many mystery series progress. They seem to lose steam after a while. I have a friend, though, who has read them all and eagerly waits for next. She is an avid knitter, though, so that part may be what is holding her interest.

Ghost Canoe by Will Hobbs

Nathan's father is a lighthouse keeper on Tatoosh island near the Strait of San Juan de Fuca in Northwest Washington in the late 1800s. He spends most of his days with a local Makah Indian named Lighthouse George roaming around the region and fishing. At the beginning of the book, there is a bad storm and a ship wrecks off the Strait. Nathan sees plumes of smoke on the island and other clues lead him to suspect that someone survived the wreck.

Meanwhile, the owner of the local trading post starts behaving very strangely, and a very odd Makah who has been gone for years working on ships returns to Neah Bay. Nathan also finds a canoe up in the tree canopy with a skeleton and other Indian artifacts within, and he hears stories about Spanish treasure being hidden in the area. Slowly, a mystery emerges and Nathan puts together all the pieces.

There was not as much action in this book as I was anticipating, but there was a pretty decent mystery. The story builds quite slowly, but ends in a rush of action and excitement. The slow start, however, might discourage some boys who would be potential readers. There is a lot of information about Chinook customs, such as how they made canoes, fished, buried their dead and, of course, the potlatches. All in all, I would say it was an intriguing historical adventure that would appeal to many kids, especially those with a love of the outdoors.

I have read a couple of Hobbs' books. I really enjoyed Jason's Gold. Jack London was a character in this story which took place during the Canadian gold rush.

I want to read more of his books, so thanks for the recommendation for Jason's Gold. I was also looking at reading Far North.

Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton

Sugar Maple, Vermont is a cozy, picturesque town that is populated entirely by magical beings. The town is under the protective spell of a sorceress who lived 200 some years ago, and will remain that way as long as there is a female descendent living in the town who possesses the elusive Book of Spells. There is no police force because there is no crime, and noone dies in Sugar Maple either. The problem is that the only female descendent is Chloe, who is half-human and appears to have no magical abilities at all and, worst of all, does not know where the Book of Spells is hiding. The villagers are worried because the town's protective spell appears to be wearing off, especially when a human tourist is found murdered, and the state government decides to send a detective to investigate this most unusual of towns.

This story was a little bit of cozy mystery, a lot of paranormal goings on, and had a romance as well. Chloe is also a knitter and owns a charming knitting shoppe. It was light-hearted and fun, and easy to read, which was perfect because I read it while I was sick and not wanting to delve into anything requiring more effort.

Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo

Painter's Mill is a quiet farming community in Ohio where the Amish and the English have managed to get along and raise their families for generations. The Chief of Police, Kate Burkholder, had grown up on an Amish farm, but had left the sheltered, sequestered life when she turned 18. Now her understanding and sympathy with the Amish, and her English life, make her an ideal chief of police for the small town. Then the body of a young woman, brutally murdered, is found in a farmer's field, and while they are still investigating that murder, yet another body is found in a deserted farmhouse. The community fears the return of a serial killer who preyed on the area 16 years ago, killing young women, but then disappearing.

This was an excellent thriller. I really like the main characters, Kate Burkholder and Special Agent John Tomasetti. I liked how the Amish were in the book as real people, realistically depicted, and were not the focus of the story. The mystery itself and the pacing were superb. My only drawback is that I thought the descriptions of the violence and the torture were too much.

The Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark by Ridley Pearson

The main character in the story is Finn, a 13 year old boy who lives in Florida and is very familiar with Disney World. He and four other kids were selected after a rigorous process, to become Disney's first holographic hosts...kind of an animated, walking and talking holographic image of themselves. All is well until Finn and others discover that when they fall asleep they "cross over" into the Magic Kingdom in some weird state that is half human and half holographic image. On these nighttime excursions, animatronics and Disney characters seem to come to life, and most of them are up to no good. An older cast member named Wayne who lives at the park explains to them that an evil magic is at work, and that they need to solve the puzzle of the Stonemason's Quill to overcome it. Thus begins their adventures in the park after dark.

Well, this is a children's book, but I loved it. It started out a little slow, but really picked up once they were on the quest for the Stonemason's quill. Some rides, like It's a Small World and Splash Mountain will probably never be the same for me...lol. I will say, though, that Pearson does not spend a lot of time describing the rides or the park. There is an assumption of familiarty which could probably make the story less enjoyable if you have never been there.

#15-16: both of those sound intriguing. Into the Someday Swamp they go!

#15: I enjoyed that one very much. Glad to see you did too.

#16: I will have to see if that one is in the BlackHole already. If not, I will add it.

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

Bud is an orphaned 10 year old African American boy living in an orphanage in Flint, Michigan. After being sent to a horrible foster home, he ends up running away and being on the lam. His mother died when he was six, but he still has some mementos from her such as a couple of flyers of a jazz musician named Herman E. Calloway. Bud comes to believe that this Herman Calloway must be his father and he sets out on a journey to Grand Rapids to find him. There are many memorable characters and adventures on his way, and the story just gets better once they find Herman E. Calloway and his zany band.

I thought the novel was an excellent mix of a portrayal of a sad time in American history and the struggles of many people, and the hopeful optimism and courage of both Bud and those people around him. There was also just the right amount of historical detail, enough to give a sense and flavor and couple factoids about the Great Depression, but not enough to make it seem like a history lesson. Bud was courageous, smart and incredibly funny, but also a little smart-alecky. He was the narrator of the story, and a very engaging one at that.

#9: I have enjoyed a couple of Curtis' books including Bud, Not Buddy. If you want to read more of his work, I can highly recommend his The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963.

Yes, I saw on one of your threads that you had read The Watsons Go to Birmingham and that you liked it. I plan on reading it soon. I hope that I like it as much as Bud, Not Buddy.

Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris

A sixteen year old girl from a wealthy family in Saudi Arabia goes missing in the desert and Nayir ash-Sharqui, a Palestinian desert guide and close friend of the family, is asked to try and find her. All that is found is her dead body, which points to murder. Nayir then begins to investigate why Nouf had run away and, in the process, uncovers many hidden secrets and a troubled family.

An interesting part of this story was the depiction and seeming discussion about the role of women and their extreme segregation in Saudi Arabia. Nayir is a religious conservative who believes that the laws for wearing the burqa protect women, but he is also a thoughtful, kind man and is conflicted when he meets Katya who is working in the criminal investigation laboratory who feels very stifled by these laws. He is also aware of how these laws make it nearly impossible for a man like himself with no family ties in Saudi Arabia to meet a respectable young lady and marry.

As a reader, the view into this very closed Islamic society was very intriguing, and I found myself drawn into the mystery and sympathetic towards the main characters. Reading this book was a highly rewarding experience, and it is one whose story and characters will stay with me for a long time.

#22: I already have that one in the BlackHole. I am hoping to get to it some time this year. Thanks for the reminder.

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

In this sweet, short, poignant novel set in Japan, a housekeeper who is a single mother of a ten year old boy is assigned to clean and cook for an elderly genius mathematician. This genius, who is only called the Professor in the novel, had suffered brain trauma as the result of a car accident in 1978 and his memory only lasts for 80 minutes; so everyday when the housekeeper arrives, he has forgotten who she is. In spite of these challenges, the housekeeper, the professor, and the housekeeper's son, whom the Professor nicknames Root, form a non-traditional family. It is a powerful story that reaches a touchstone of the human condition and our need for companionship and family. I also found that it was beautifully written and translated. Even though the story is set in Japan, you definitely get the feeling that it could happen anywhere or at any time

Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones

Enchanted Glass is a whimsical, witty children's fantasy filled with quirky characters. The plot is bizarre, yet engaging. Andrew, a typical absent-minded professor inherits his grandfather's old home and estate. It turns out that his grandfather was a magician and that he was in charge of a field-of-care that is now going awry. But Andrew doesn't recall any of the stuff that his grandfather had tried to teach him about magic and the field-of-care when he was a boy because he dismissed it as nonsense. Then, when things start getting terribly weird, young Aidan shows up, whose own magical Grandmother, with a field-of-care in London, has recently passed away. He is running away from some evil creatures called The Stalkers. Somehow, with a lot of humorous twists and turns, Andrew and Aidan figure out how to get control of the field-of-care that is now in Andrew's hands.

A great part of the appeal to the book for me were all the strange and quirky characters...a gardener who gets revenge by bringing Andrew baskets of enormous, oversized vegetables; a housekeeper who expresses her disapproval by endlessly rearranging furniture and making cauliflower cheese which both Andrew and Aidan detest; and a secretary who makes predictions based on the names of the horses who won races the day before at the track; a dog who is not really a dog at all. I enjoyed the story and I regret that Diana Wynne Jones has passed away and now cannot continue their adventures in a sequel.

Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Something is stalking the halls of the Museum of Natural History in New York City and leaving behind a wake of mutilated corpses. Museum officals, concerned about a spectacular exhibition that is about to open, try to stifle all rumors, speculation and discussion that there is a monster in the museum. However grad student Margo Green believes that there is a monster and she finds a clue connecting the murders with a failed expedition to the Amazon years earlier. An FBI Detective named Aloysius Pendergast from New Orleans arrives to help in the investigation because he believes the murders are connected to some similar murders in his part of the world. They begin to unravel the veil of secrecy that the museum's officials have laid over the disastrous Amazon expedition and discover the true origins of the monster that has made the museum its home.

I found this to be a fast-paced, very exciting story full of action and edge-of-your-seat type suspense. The characters could have been a little more developed, especially Pendergast. The Museum of Natural History with its warrens of underground storage rooms and unmapped subterranean levels and rooms full of spooky artifacts was a perfect setting for this story. The plot was far-fetched and stretched believability at several points, but well developed anyway, and once you accept the premise, it is a suspense-filled ride to the last page.

I read Relic a number of years ago and loved it. I have to admit the books of Preston and Child have become somewhat of a guilty pleasure. They are over the top, but always full of action and thrills. Great escape reading!

The Ritual Bath by Faye Kellerman

At a remote orthodox Jewish yeshiva in the hills near Los Angeles, a young married woman is raped leaving the mikvah, a bathhouse for performing ritualistic Jewish cleansing. Rina Lazarus, a math teacher at the yeshiva who also cares for the mikvah, finds the woman and calls the police. Police Detective Peter Decker arrives to investigate and seems almost immediately to be drawn to Rina. While the rape investigation is continuing, Rina and Decker begin to draw closer to one another and Rina is conflicted about her growing feelings for Decker, a man who is not Jewish.

I enjoyed this mystery novel tremendously. It was informative and engaging, and I was very drawn to the two main characters, Rina and Decker. I also loved the setting of the yeshiva in the foothills. I have the next book in the series already, and I look forward to seeing where this relationship is heading.

The Sword Thief by Peter Lerangis

I have mixed feelings about this 3rd book in the 39 Clues series. I enjoyed the usual action and suspense while Amy and Dan pursue another clue, this time in Japan and then, Korea. The mystery surrounding the clue and the steps to figuring it out were particularly well done. There were the usual alliances and betrayals with other members of the far-flung Cahill clan that are also seeking the clues...this time they work with Alistair Oh and the Kabra twins. And you also get some interesting information about Alistair, and something flares up between Amy and Ian Kabra which annoys their respective younger siblings to no end.

What I missed in this volume was the historical content of the first two in the series. Also, I did not feel like the East Asian setting was particularly well done for either Japan or Korea. The story really could have taken place in Illinois and it would not have mattered. So this probably explains why the book was so much shorter than the other two...strip away descriptive setting and historical background, and you have the bare bones of an exciting tale, but lacking some substance.

I'm pretty sure I have Relic around here somewhere, and if I don't, it's because I'm remembering all the conversations people had about it when I was doing my archaeology program. For the most part, the conversations were "OMG this book is RIDICULOUS", but the entertainment factor seemed to be high!

I have to say that I found the Lerangis books the weakest in the 39 Clues series, and book 3 perhaps the weakest of all. The book lacked substance, as you mentioned, and tried to force a romance that didn't seem appropriate to the situation. I might have found it believable if the romantic elements had been stretched between books a bit, but I found the "I like him, does he like me?" tedious in this volume.

Precious Blood by Jane Haddam

In this second book of Jane Haddam's long-running series, retired Armenian-American FBI investigator Gregor Demarkian goes up to Colchester, New York during Easter week at the request of Cardinal O'Bannion, who is a friend of his Orthodox priest, Father Tibor Kasparian. O'Bannion originally wants him to come and help investigate Father Andy Walsh, a troublesome liberal Catholic priest who takes great pleasure in annoying the theologically conservative Cardinal. A woman with ties to Father Walsh's murky past is found dead in an alley behind a hotel and the Cardinal wonders if Andy could have had anything to do with it. When Gregor arrives, however, he witnesses the murder of Father Walsh during the Ash Wednesday service at St. Agnes Church in full view of hundreds of parishoners. What follows is a lucid, fascinating investigation into these murders.

Precious Blood had great characters... the Irish Cardinal O'Bannion; the nun from the Sisters of Divine Grace, Sister Mary Scholastica; Barry Field, the bad boy Catholic turned into an anti-Catholic radio talk show host, etc. The plot was intricate and ingenious with many twists and turns, and it was well-paced throughout. I enjoyed the detailed setting at the St. Agnes parish, and the interesting (and sometimes respectfully humorous) information on the Catholic Church and its practices and politics.

Catnap by Carole Nelson Douglas

Midnight Louie is an enormous 20 pound black cat who roams free in Las Vegas. He has lately been mostly living in the hotel and casino, the Crystal Phoenix, but looking for more action, he moves to the Convention Center. He gets his wish as after being found next to a dead body, finds himself as a material witness in a murder investigation in the middle of the ABA (American Booksellers Association) Convention. Templeton Barr, a public relations specialist at the Convention, ends up taking him home with her and thus begins an partnership that has extended into 20 some mystery titles.

In this mystery, most of the chapters are from the point-of-view of public relations director Templeton Barr, with a few short chapters that are from Midnight Louie's humorous voice. I liked both Temple and Louie, so I imagine that I'll move on to the next in the series. The mystery itself was average with some pacing problems, but the description of some of the ABA and publishing world politics was interesting. The side mystery of the missing Baker and Taylor cats was almost more interesting to me than the murder investigation. Finally, the Las Vegas setting was very well described, from the glitzy Strip, to the non-descript suburbs, to the unrelenting heat. This was a fun cozy for cat lovers and I suspect that the plot elements will improve in future books in the series.

I really enjoyed reading your reviews. They are all nicely done! I added several books to my wishlist. Are you going to participate in the May group read of Murder and Mayhem books? I am planning to start Darkly Dreaming Dexter soon. I haven't read through the thread yet to see what everyone else is reading.

Hoot by Carl Hiassen

Roy Eberhardt is the new kid at Trace Middle School in central Florida. He just wants to live quietly and go about undisturbed and unnoticed, but a bully seems to have it in for him, and makes his daily bus rides to school a dreaded torment. One day, though, while being squished into the window of the bus, he sees a strange barefooted boy running by the bus stop. With his curious nature, he sets out to find out more about the mysterious running boy. He eventually finds the boy and becomes ensnared in a ecological dilemma involving some nests of burrowing owls.

This book was a humorous, fast-paced story with a strong ecological message. There was also an excellent theme for a children's book running throughout about making difficult moral choices when things are not black and white. Naturally, the ecological dilemma with the owls has a positive conclusion, but I was left wondering about the fate of the running boy. In this area, the ending was very unsatisfactory to me. Also, as I thought about the book some more, I detected a certain pessimism about society in this book which, sadly, resonates with so many young people. The idea that adults and institutions such as schools and police departments and businesses are basically self-serving and uncaring, concerned only about their own personal interests, and it is the rare individual who rises above this. With this pessimistic, but often true, view of society, the running boy's life in the woods, free from school and authorities, represents a noble life that is untouched by this selfish corruption. So, although Hoot is a light-hearted children's story, it has some interesting themes lying just beneath the surface.

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

In this strange, brilliant world, London is a traction city living by the rules of Municipal Darwinism, meaning that the whole city has been placed on traction wheels and moves around the Great Hunting Ground, devouring smaller towns and cities, and hiding or fleeing from larger ones. Set in the far distant, post-apocalyptic world, cities took to traction because of earthquakes, volcanos, and advancing glaciers. Then the city-eat-city world of Municipal Darwinism took over, and now the great traction cities consider the static ones and their people dangerous radicals.

Tom is a young apprentice historian on London, and when he gets to meet his hero, the great archaeologist and adventurer Valentine, he is so excited. Then a stranger walks up to Valentine and tries to assassinate him. Tom immediately gives chase and when he catches up with the would-be-killer he discovers it is a girl with a horribly scarred face and she tells him that her name is Hester Shaw before she jumps off of London. Tom soon follows her as he is also pushed off the great, moving city. Thus begin their amazing adventures.

It was a great and fascinating story. Besides the descriptive and awe-inspiring world building, there is action, adventure, unique plot twists, and even pirates. There are many elements of steampunk present, such as airships...there is even a great airship city in the sky called Airhaven, but being post-apocalyptic and the technology being stuff from the ancients that they find, I am not sure if it really fits the definition. The characters of this novel are strong and well-drawn. I especially liked Katharine, the "High London lady" daugher of Valentine, who is transformed by her knowledge of the human cost of running London and by what she learns about her father.

I found Mortal Engines to be a gripping story of a bizarre distant future that was one of those books that you just can't put down until you finish it. Highly recommended.

I enjoyed reading your review of Hoot. I have read both Hoot and Flush, and did find as you, that the author communicates on different levels. I did like Hoot better than Flush, but the themes are similar. I do like it that the young people in these novels are passionate about the things that interest them.

I am enjoying reading your delightful thread. I want to add most of your reads to my tbr pile, but for now, I'm adding The Kingdom Keepers book.

Christopher Paul Curtis is one of my favorite authors. Like Stasia, I recommend The Watsons Go To Birmingham. I also highly recommend Elijah of Buxton.

> 36 Thanks, and I also like the passion of the young people, and the environmental message of Hoot.

> 37 Thanks, and I have Elijah of Buxton home from the library, so I am hoping to read it this month.

#35: I enjoyed that one a lot too. You remind me that I need to return to the series.

Just found and starred your entertaining but dangerous thread (already it's adding to my endless wishlist). I like your succint reviews. I just listened to an interview with Hiassen this a.m., and I think I'll be returning to his work, perhaps starting with Hoot.

Emma, Volume 1 by Kaoru Mori

The lovely drawings of Emma and William and scenes from Victorian England made this beginning of an upstairs/downstairs romance something quite special. Emma is a maid living with and working for Mrs. Stownar an elderly lady who was widowed at age 20 and then worked as a governess for well-to-do families for many years before retiring. William Jones seems to be the only son of a wealthy English merchant family that hobnobs with the aristocrats, and Mrs. Stownar used to be his governess when he was a boy. One day he comes to visit his old governess and meets Emma, and the romance begins. He seems immediately attracted to her, but social conventions against relationships between classes prevent him from furthering their acquaintance. Things get more complicated when his visiting friend from India, Hakim, is also attracted to Emma, and when his father starts plotting for him to meet and hopefully marry a pretty young lady from the gentry class named Eleanor.

The story is very subtle, and much is deduced from the detailed drawings. I especially loved the drawings of Mudies, the great lending library in London. In the short story at the end of the book where Kaoru Mori writes and draws about the making of Emma, she complains about the tediousness of drawing all the books in the library. It may have been very tedious, but the result is amazing.

I am drawn into Emma and William's story now and have already started reading Volume 2.

The English Assassin by Daniel Silva

In this second book of the series, Israeli art restorer and spy, Gabriel Allon, is sent to Switzerland to restore a Raphael painting. When he arrives at the mansion where he has been sent, he finds the owner, Augustus Rolfe, has been murdered. Delving into the mystery, Gabriel goes to meet Rolfe's daughter Anna, who is a famous violinist. He learns that Rolfe had an extensive art collection in a well-protected basement that is now missing. As his investigation continues, a Swiss conspiracy of silence emerges regarding art stolen from the Jews during World War II.

This was another fascinating, fast-paced thriller by Silva. I did not know much about the Swiss role in collaborating with and thereby supporting the Third Reich financially, or about their role in stealing Jewish-owned art. Indeed, I had no idea about how much art had been stolen. I actually went and did some online research on the subject after finishing the book, and I was astounded. That Swiss banking laws have these loopholes that allow Swiss banks and bankers to knowingly own stolen property is shocking. Anyway, I found the storyline intriguing and thought-provoking, and the action to be swift and decisive. I plan to keep on reading the series.

Just dropping by to say HI! I really enjoyed reading your reviews. :) Will be definitely checking in to see what you will be reading in the future.

Thanks Valerie! By reading various threads here, I have added so many books to my wishlist and read so many wonderful books I probably never would have found on my own. Also, I have never really kept a reading diary before, and I am taking great pleasure in it :)

Thanks for stopping by my thread. I hadn't looked at yours before and there is some interesting reading going on here ... and I like you reviews.

*Starred!*

What you said in message 44 is so true for me as well. I have expanded my reading to so many different levels since joining LT, I think my only holdouts are plays and poetry which, so far, I haven't developed an interest in. Of course, having a wishlist over over two thousand is also a factor of LT as well!

LT is addictive and dangerous! They really should provide people with some kind of warning before they sign up. :)

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd

Ted and Kat's Aunt Gloria and their cousin Salim come to visit them in London right before their planned move to New York City. They decide to take a ride on the London Eye. Due to strange set of circumstances, the kids end up with one free ticket and they send Salim up in the ride by himself. Ted and Kat watch him board into the sealed capsule, but then he never comes down.

The adults and police do not seem to be making much headway in finding Salim, so Ted and Kat start their own investigations. Ted has Asperger's Syndrome and his unique way of thinking which he self-describes as "having a different type of operating system" helps him to notice and see what others don't and figure out what happened. His sister, Kat, helps him to understand the people around him and what they are really saying and their body language and expressions.

This was such an enjoyable kids' mystery. The story was puzzling and compelling. I wanted to figure out how Salim disappeared. Ted was a great narrator, and I loved his visualizations of idioms that he struggled to understand such as "the atmosphere was so thick you could cut it with a knife," and "it's no skin off my teeth." He was kind of fixated on the weather and knew a lot about it, so there was a lot of weather information in the story as well. It was an interesting look at how Asperger's Syndrome can affect a person's thinking.

#48: Adding that one to the BlackHole.

If you have not read Dowd's The Bog Child, I would recommend that one to you.

Thanks for visiting my thread, Stasia! The Bog Child definitely looks interesting, so I have added it to my burgeoning wishlist. Thanks for the recommendation :)

I haven't heard of this author before, but now I have added both these books to my wishlist.

Hi. I'm stopping by to say I read Kingdom Keepers today. Thanks for your recommendation.

Wow, my wish list just took a major hit! I really enjoyed reading your thread, with so many wonderful reviews.

#50: I hope you enjoy the book when you get to it!

Night of the Living Deed by E. J. Copperman

After divorce, Alison Kerby acquires a run-down old Victorian home "down the shore" in New Jersey. She moves into the house with her nine year old daugher, Melissa, and begins renovations to turn it into a guesthouse. After being hit on the head by a falling bucket of wall joint compound, Alison discovers that she can literally see ghosts. They are Maxie and Paul, the former owner and a private investigator who she had hired to look into some threatening emails that she had been sent. The ghosts persuade the reluctant Alison to help them investigate their deaths.
This was a fun cozy with amusing, sassy characters. I enjoyed it enough that I plan on reading the sequel, but it also had flaws. First, I thought that it was just too long for a cozy...some 325 pages. It dragged toward the end, and I thought that it should have been edited down by 50 to 75 pages or so. Second, the plot and motivations were not rational for me. I had a hard time imagining that someone would murder two people premeditatively for the reasons given. But even so, I enjoyed the story, the characters and the setting. Alison sures knows her way around home renovations, and the situations created by the ghosts sometimes had me laughing out loud.

Emma, Volume 2 by Kaoru Mori

In this second volume of Emma, we learn more about both Emma and William. We learn about Emma's sad childhood and how she came to work for Mrs. Stownar when she was still a girl; and we meet William's large family of brothers and sisters, who are all horrified at the idea that William may have fallen in love with a....maid. Then, sadly, after the death of Mrs. Stownar, Emma decides to return to her home village, and William is distraught.

There was a lot more going on, plotwise, in this volume than in the first one. Emma is becoming more filled out as a character with both the background information of her past and her response to Mrs. Stownar's death and knowledge that she is now homeless. As to William, his family is arrogant, and his younger sister Vivi, is a horrid little wretch. I think that I like Hakim, the friend from India, better than William. I eagerly move on to Volume 3 now, wanting to know what is to become of Emma, and will William gather the courage to confront his father?

Also, the artwork continues to amaze me. I enjoy seeing the emotion on the character's faces, and the incredible detail down to tiniest things in the Victorian scenes.

Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech

Dallas and Florida have lived their entire lives at this horrible orphanage or in a series of appalling foster homes. So when they are sent to live with elderly Tiller and Sairy in Ruby Holler, they are expecting the worse, and make plans to runaway at the first opportunity. But slowly, slowly, the good food and the understanding and patient Sairy and Tiller begin to break down the walls that Dallas and Florida have built around them. As the older couple help the kids, it is apparent that the kids are helping them also. There is excellent character development in the novel. And, although this whole story sounds somewhat sappy, it isn't...mainly because neither Dallas or Florida, nor Sairy or Tiller are the type of characters that would fit in a syrupy, sweet kind of novel. They are all a bit cantankerous and set in their ways.

However, as much as I tried, I just couldn't quite get into this story or form much attachment to the characters. There were 66 short chapters, most 3 to 4 pages, but several were just 2 pages. The chapters seemed to skip around to different people and places, and this led to a choppy, disjointed story. Florida just did not seem like a real person to me...something seemed off regarding her dialogue. And finally, there were several plot elements that were just left hanging, and not resolved. So all in all, this was somewhat of a disappointing read for me, which was surprising because most people who have read it seem to have loved it.

Have you read Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. If not, I highly recommend it!

No, I haven't read it yet, but I plan to read both that one and Chasing Redbird. She seems to be a very talented author, and I really liked Bloomability.

I will echo Linda's recommendation of Walk Two Moons. I would also recommend Creech's Love That Dog.

Emma, Volume 3 by Kaoru Mori

This volume of Emma seemed like an aside to me. Emma and William, the two main characters of this series, do not meet at all in volume 3. Emma is now working as a maid at Haworth in northern England, a large household owned by wealthy merchants of German ancestry. She is adjusting to this new life and new duties, but all the other servants notice that she seems different, more reserved. Meanwhile, still in London, William is turning a leaf, trying to be a dutiful, conscientious son and aristocrat. Both Emma and William seem to be trying to conform to societies expectations of their class and roles.

I am enjoying the slow unfolding of the story, and the introduction of new characters. The artwork is just lovely, but I found some the facial expressions overdone; for example, surprised comes across sometimes as horrified. There was some brief historical information given in this volume also on the Industrial Revolution and its effect on society, and I liked that. And Mori explains how to make lavender sachets and press and fold laundry in her afterword. Overall, I enjoyed this volume, but it really felt like an interlude to the main story, so I am moving on the Volume 4.

Emma, Volume 4 by Kaoru Mori

In this volume, Emma makes a trip back to London with her new employers, the Molders. Once there, she is cajoled into playing the part of a ladies companion to Mrs. Trollope, an eccentric friend of the Molders, for an evening party where her son plans to announce his engagement. Mrs. Molder and Mrs. Trollope get Emma all fixed up for the party with a fancy dress, and new hairstyle and they take away her glasses. Hmmmm....Emma seems to look rather good as a lady of quality. Of course, since she is back in London, it is inevitable that she and William meet once again.

The story picked up momentum once again in this volume. There was a lot of emotion in this volume, and you are left wondering what will happen next. Mori does such an excellent job with the artwork, and I am amazed at some of the backdrops of London in several drawings. Also, she is doing a nice job contrasting artistically the lives of the wealthy, aristocratic class with that of their servants. I continue to enjoy the series and am moving on to the next volume.

You are just rolling along with those graphic novels! :)

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Yesteryear)

Wonderful coming-of-age story set in South Carolina in the 1960's, at the height of the Civil Rights Era. Lily flees from a mean, abusive father with her black nanny after they encounter violence on a simple trip to town to register to vote. Through a set of incredible events, Lily and her nanny end up staying at the beekeeping farm of an amazing African American woman, August Boatwright, and her two sisters, May and June. There she learns about beekeeping, family, love, the black madonna and keeping strong in the face of trials, and about her mother.

There is a remarkable sense of place and time presented in this novel. South Carolina in the grip of the explosive Civil Rights era is recreated with amazing clarity. The imagery of the bees and beekeeping are fascinating metaphorical devices for Lily's experiences. I liked how this unusual group of eccentric black sisters, a black nanny, and white Lily form a non-traditional family.

>63 jolerie: LOL! I never would have thought that I would be reading graphic novels. I am having fun with the series, and they are definitely helping me get to the 75 books goal.

I have added the Emmas' to my wishlist, I am enjoying this discovery of graphic novels. I am also going to add The Secret Life of Bees to my wishlist as well, it sounds like a delightful read.

Great review of Secret life of Bees! I enjoyed it myself when I read it a couple of years ago. Are you planning on reading her other book, The Mermaid Chair?

I enjoyed The Secret Life of Bees too. Glad to see it has found another fan!

>67 jolerie: I don't have any plans right now to read The Mermaid Chair. Its description does not seem as compelling to me as that of The Secret Life of Bees. Have you read it?

I read it after I read The Secret Life of Bees and my memory is foggy but I think I might have likes it even more? I remember reading the back and didn't think I would be interested in the storyline but I think the book surprised me. :)

I thought The Mermaid Chair was horrible. It was a real disappointment after Bees.

>71 mamzel: Ouch! Horrible eh? I love LT because where else can you meet so many people with so many different tastes. ;)

hmmmm....interesting....opposing points of view. Perhaps I'll read it now, just to see where I fall.

Witches' Bane by Susan Wittig Albert

It is Halloween season in Pecan Springs, a small town in the hill country of central Texas, and China's friend Ruby is teaching a class on Tarot. When a series of ritualized killings of farm animals begin to be discovered, the mood in town becomes very hostile towards Ruby's new age shop and Tarot class. Then one of the members of the class is found murdered in her home and Ruby's boyfriend is a chief suspect. Something just doesn't seem right to China and she sets out to find out what really happened.

What I liked most about this cozy mystery, the 2nd in the China Bayles series, were the fun, interesting characters and the familiar, realistic setting in the hill country of Texas. The mystery itself was average, and I had figured it out very early. The herbal lore was also interesting, but it certainly did not overwhelm the story. I think that I'll be returning to the series for book three at some point.

I like the China Bayles series, a nice cozy mystery series. Susan Wittig Albert also writes a series with her husband under the pseudonym Robin Paige, if you did not know, as well as the Beatrix Potter series.

I have read a couple of the Robin Paige mysteries, Stasia, but I did not know that they were written by Susan Wittig Albert. And I was unfamiliar with the Beatrix Potter series, but I have added the first one to my wishlist. Thanks for the information!

No problem!

Simply stopping by to wave hi.

Soulless by Gail Carriger

Alexia Tarabotti is a 26 year old forthright spinster living in London with her mother, step-father, and two half-sisters. She is also a preternatural, meaning she has no soul, and therefore she can cancel out the supernatural abilities of vampires and werewolves just by her touch. When we first meet her in this novel, she is attacked by a vampire whom she accidentally kills in self-defense. This sets off an entire stream of events which lead to a mystery involving disappearing rove vampires and werewolves and a romance with the alpha male of a werewolf pack. This whole adventure takes place within the social constraints of Victorian London, albeit an alternative, steampunk London that even has a government agency responsible for dealing with vampires and werewolves.

Alexia is an amazingly strong-willed character, and her honesty, bravery and wit lead to some hilariously funny dialogue. I laughed out loud often while reading this book. There are many amusing and well-drawn characters in Soulless, and the setting is most unique. I found this to be an enjoyable, light-hearted romantic adventure, and I do not normally read books of this type.

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

Eleven year old Elijah Freeman was the first free child born to the former slave residents in Buxton settlement in Canada. He has lived a life free from the direct horrors of slavery, although he has heard many stories from the "growned up folk." For the first half of the novel, we read about Elijah's life in Buxton... chores, school, friends and family. Then, the story deftly turns down a darker path when the money of the one of the men, thousands of dollars saved to buy his wife and two children, is stolen by a ne'er-do-well who goes by the nickname of Preacher. Elijah feels responsible for this loss because he had told the man that he thought the Preacher could be trusted. So, Elijah goes with Mr. Leroy down to Detroit in America to try and find the Preacher and recover the money. Elijah is confronted with horrors of slavery firsthand and has to make to some very mature decisions.

This was a brilliantly executed coming-of-age story. Elijah truly moves from a childhood innocence into a mature understanding of the joys of freedom and responsibility when they are seen thru the lens of the terrible realities of slavery and evil. Curtis develops his characters very carefully and subtly, and explains simply many things pertaining to life as a newly freed slave. Elijah is reminded by his parents that, "people that used to be slaves are toting things ‘round with ‘em that caint be seen with your regular eyes….They’ve seen people acting in ways that caint help but leave scars and peculiarities."

The book is set in a real historical setting, Buxton settlement in Canada is very accurately portrayed in the book, right down to the Latin in the school and the regulations about how the houses must be built and land cleared. Even the stories related by the some of the adults in the community come from the original residents of the settlement. I was not familiar with this history, and I read up on it on the internet while reading the book. I would love to visit the site and the museum that is there now someday.

I really enjoyed Soulless. I agree with you that it's very funny - Alexia is a hoot.

I have to say that I didn't like Changeless and Blameless quite as much, but I'm still eagerly awaiting Heartless out this July.

BTW, I wanted to ask if you'll be reading the follow-ups to Relic? You ought to consider reading Reliquary even if you don't end up reading the entire Agent Pedergast series. The series does get to be a bit bizarre (although I confess I keep on picking them up and have Cold Vengeance out this summer on hold at the library) but I particularly like The Cabinet of Curiosities.

Yes, I do plan on reading the next in book in the Pendergast series, Reliquary. I just suffer from that common malady of too many books and not enough time :) I am eager to get to The Cabinet of Curiosities, but I want to read them in order.

I really enjoyed your review of Souless. I think it is the second time in the recent days that I've seen reviews on this book and they have both been positive. I will definitely have to look into this one some more! There is something about the cover of that book that catches my eye. :)
Thumbs up!

Loved your reviews on your last two books. Thankfullly, both are already on my wishlist so don't have to add any more. I'm sure I can't quite compete with Stasia's blackhole but it's pretty big!

I have already read Soulless and have Elijah of Buxton in the BlackHole. Whew! Dodging book bullets left and right!

Elijah of Buxton is one of the books I want to stand on a mountaintop and tell everyone to read! Christopher Paul Harris is one of my favorite authors.

A Gift of Grace by Amy Clipston

Rebecca is a traditional Amish wife who has, sadly, been unable to have children. When her sister Grace and Grace's husband are tragically killed in a car accident, she suddenly finds herself with the guardianship of her two teenage English nieces. Her sister had left the Amish community years ago and married an outsider.

The two girls come to live on the farm in Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, and one works with Rebecca and her mother-in-law in their family bakery, and the other works in the office of the family carpentry shop. Predictably, these girls have a huge adjustment to make, foregoing i-pods and music, television and pop culture for gardening, baking and family gatherings. One sister, Lindsay, adjusts much more rapidly and easily than the other, and there is conflict when the other sister, Jessica, clings to her old way of life. This conflict leaves Rebecca questioning her husband,her Amish life, and her faith in God.

I confess that I enjoy reading these Amish life type Christian novels. I find the Amish lifestyle fascinating, albeit unfathomable. There wasn't anything particularly special about this one, except the plot was different and unpredictable; yet it was a pleasant and enjoyable read and it made me smile.

Buzz Off by Hannah Reed

Like the beginning of many a cozy mystery series, we find that our protagonist, Story Fischer, has just emerged from a divorce. She has taken up beekeeping and also has her own business in her small Wisconsin town that seems to customize in honey products of all kinds and organic produce. Everything is starting to look up for Story, until her beekeeping mentor and friend is found dead near his beehives with stings all over him and bees swarming all around him. Story gets drawn into the investigation of his death because she wants to prove that the bees, which she sees as very gentle creatures, did not kill him. Soon, however, another dead body is found by the river in her canoe, and she becomes a legitimate suspect.

I thought this was a great first novel in a new cozy mystery series. I liked all the characters, except for Story's mother. Why is it that all the mothers in cozy mysteries are so horrible? The Wisconsin small town setting with the beekeeping backstory was a lot of fun. I loved all the beekeeping lore. This one gets a thumbs up from me.

I too am interested in the Amish world. I think it's because they are going against the stream and doing what most people aren't doing. :)
I've never heard of the cozy series, but it sounds interesting. I will have to look more into those books.

The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone

This children's story mostly takes place in the Thorne Rooms of the Art Institute of Chicago, which are filled with tiny rooms packed with miniatures accurately representing different periods of history. Jack and Ruthie visit the Throne Rooms on a class field trip to the museum, and they find a mysterious key on the floor that has the ability to shrink Ruthie down to five inches tall. With Jack's help, she explores some of the rooms, but the kids decide to come back and spend the night, and this is when the adventures begin. Reminiscent of "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids", Ruthie and Jack struggle to figure out how to get in and how of the rooms when they are small, and they battle a giant cockroach as well. They also discover that they can enter the past through these rooms, and they visit late 17th century France and 16th century Puritan America.

Although I enjoyed the premise of the book, I had a hard time getting into the story. This book had all of the elements that should have made it a great read... museum, miniatures, magic, time travel, etc.; however, there didn't actually seem to be much of a plot, other than explore the rooms and avoid getting caught. I thought that the parts where they visited the other time periods lacked purpose and unity, and they really could have been made into something much more than they were. I guess I wanted more of a mystery for them to solve, something that would justify their lying to their families and sneaking into the museum after hours. Overall, it felt like something magical was always just around the next corner, but it never quite materialized.

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths

Dr. Ruth Galloway is a different kind of mystery detective... she is an overweight, underdressed, cat-harboring academic in the field of forensic archaeology who has amazing insight and wit along with that rare ability to laugh at herself. She is asked by Detective Harry Nelson to identify some bones that have been found out at the saltmarsh. He is hoping that they are the remains of Lucy Downey, a young 5 year old girl who disappeared ten years earlier, but they turn out to be ancient remains from the Iron Age, some 2000 years ago. Then another young girl disappears and Ruth finds herself being drawn into the investigation because of some letters that have been sent to Detective Nelson that are filled with archaeological, literary and even biblical references. Ruth is truly challenged and shocked during the course of the investigation, and her world will never be the same.

I was quickly drawn into this moody, atmospheric novel, mainly because I really liked the main character, Dr. Ruth Galloway. The other characters are also well drawn, and I was somewhat surprised by what seemed like an unlikely relationship between stoic, blunt Detective Harry Nelson and Ruth. I was quite attached to them by the end of the novel and look forward to reading on in the series to find out what happens next. Additionally, the author does an excellent job describing the saltmarsh, with its history, its terrors and its subtle beauty. The mystery was likewise excellent, well plotted and not at all obvious, and yet not too complicated either.

I just added The Crossing Places to my list of books to pick up at the library. Thanks for the review!

My local library still does not have The Crossing Places. I am off to check PBS. . .

Well, I think this one is worth chasing down. I am eager to read the second in the series, The Janus Stone.

Your review makes me super curious about this one. Onto my list it goes. :)

Glad you enjoyed it as much as I did! I have enjoyed all the books by Elly Griffiths I have read.

The Crossing Places is on my wish list and now, I must make a greater effort to move it up to the top!

Mister Monday by Garth Nix

Arthur Penhaligon nearly dies from an asthma attack on a run at his new school, but while he is gasping out his last breaths, he is given a key, the minute hand of a very special clock, and suddenly everything changes. His asthma retreats, he starts being followed around by strange, dangerous creatures wearing bowler hats, and a deadly sleeping plague starts sweeping across his town. Arthur soon finds himself in a different world where a man named Mister Monday will stop at nothing to get the key back.

This was a compelling and, well, bizarre story. Arthur enters this mansion of a house that he can only see after he has the key, and he soon discovers that his quest is to gain the hour hand key to go with his minute hand one and defeat Mister Monday who has allowed the House to become corrupt. He goes along with the quest in order to find a cure for the plague that is sweeping his world. He meets many unusual characters and has some mind-twisting adventures, but it all comes together in a fascinating plot. One of the elements of the story that I really liked was the way that Arthur never knew who to truly trust. I'll be moving on to the next in the series, Grim Tuesday ,soon.

The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg

This story begins at a Middle School Quiz Bowl Championship in which Noah, Nadia, Ethan and Julian, all sixth graders are competing as a team under the leadership of their homeroom teacher, Mrs. Olinski. Mrs. Olinski is asked how she chose the members for this extremely successful team and she is unable to answer right away. The story then moves into flashbacks of each of the team members, beginning with Noah's presence at a wedding and ending with Julian, the last addition to the team. Each story seems to move seamlessly to the next one when their lives interconnect. Mrs. Olinski's story and that of the Quiz Bowl itself is told intermittently, interspersed between the flashbacks of the four team members. An overriding theme seemed to be the power of friendship and kindness over difficulties and problems which span from typical school bullies to racism to physical disabilities.

Konigsberg seemed particularly adept at characterization in this children's story. In fact, the characters and their personas seem to outshine everything else and that is probably by design. I loved seeing how all the characters fit together and formed a whole that was better than the sum of their parts. There is also some interesting symbolism in the book...and fitting for a children's novel, some of it is cleverly explained.

I enjoyed both the Nix series and The View from Saturday. Whew! Safely dodging BBs here. . .

Nice reviews! The View from Saturday seems like something I would enjoy as I favor great characters. Thanks for the reviews!

A Killer Plot by Ellery Adams

It took me a much longer time than expected to work myself through this cozy mystery set in a small coastal town in North Carolina called Oyster Bay. The main character, Olivia Limoges, is a wealthy woman in her 40's who has returned to live in her childhood town, buying up many of the buildings and becoming the landlord to what seemed like half the town. She is reserved and miserly in the beginning of the book, living quietly with her standard poodle, Captain Haviland, and working on her historical novel. When she joins a local writer's group, she abruptly changes and becomes overtly friendly, generous and civic-minded. She is befriended by a gay author who is in town researching a famous, wealthy family for a tell-all type book. When this man is found murdered at a local park that has created a development controversy due to a small Confederate cemetery on its grounds, Olivia can't help but become involved in investigating what happened.

Somehow, I just could not connect with Olivia Limoges. I think she was just too perfect...beautiful, rich, smart, well-educated, well-mannered, witty, generous and perfectly politically correct in everything she said or did. She has even taken "several courses on administering canine first aid." Oh, and the dog was perfect too. At one point Olivia tells the Chief of Police that, "Haviland has the killer's scent down now and he can identify him! Trust me, the Captain earned perfect scores in all his tracking courses. He has more training than your combined K-9 unit." The murder mystery itself was well-constructed and nicely plotted, I just had a difficult time sympathizing with, or even liking, the main character.

#102: I am going to read that one for this month's TIOLI challenge, so I am (politely) ignoring your review :)

It's always hard when you are reading a book and you don't connect with the main character since so much of the story and the feel of the book comes from that person!

LOL, Stasia. Take my review with a grain of salt because it seems that many more people loved it than not. My only complaint with the whole book is really my inability to connect with the main character.

#105: I cannot take it with a grain of salt since I did not read it :)

The Rabbi's Cat by Joann Sfar

Set in the early twentieth century in Algeria, the Rabbi's cat eats the family parrot and somehow ends up talking. In the first volume, the cat decides that he wants to convert to Judaism and he argues extensively in a sarcastic, skeptical, and sometimes even wicked way with the Rabbi, and with the Rabbi's Rabbi about Jewish law and philosophy. It could be funny and interesting, but there were times that it made me cringe as well.

The second volume was my favorite of the three. It told about the Rabbi's fear for having his official position as Rabbi of the community taken away by the government because of his poor French, and of the courtship of his daughter. The mischievious cat continues narrating the story with his many sarcastic comments. And the third volume is about a trip that the family takes to Paris to visit the family of the new husband of the Rabbi's daughter. This one had a lot about the cultural and religious shock that the Rabbi faced in secular France, and showed the secularization of the Jews there. The Rabbi himself seems to have a religious transformation at the end. At one point he asks, "So, my friends, if we can be happy without respecting the Torah, why should we exhaust ourselves to apply all these precepts that make life so complicated?" and then he answers his own question, "Well, the truth is, I don't know."

I alternated between really liking this graphic novel and its humor and wit and insight, and being uneasy with the cat's sarcasm and skepticism regarding matters of faith. The artwork was uneven. Most of it was wonderful, especially the panels showing Algeria...detailed, colorful and evoking a feel for that country. The cat was weird, though. His poses were very catlike, but he just looked really strange in many of the panels...perhaps on purpose. His face would sometimes look dog-like with a long muzzle, and other times he would look rat-like with his ears and expression, and he was very straggly, which is probably pretty accurate for an Algerian cat. Soooo, I would say enjoyable, with some reservations.

#107: One of these days my local library will get that series of books in so I can read it!

Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley

Verity Grey goes to Scotland to work on an archaeological dig that is located on an estate near the small fishing village of Eyemouth on the Scottish coast. Peter Quinell, who owns the property and is running the dig, has some interesting theories about the property and the mysterious disappearance of the famous Ninth Roman Legion. He is looking for some evidence to support his theory, something more scientific than the words of a young boy, who apparently has "the sight", and claims to see and talk to a ghost who is a Roman Sentinel. As Verity begins her work, she becomes more and more engaged in the mystery, and she hears ghost horses at night and the Sentinel ghost begins to follow her around, seemingly trying to tell her something.

I had read that Susannah Kearsley was similar to Barbara Michaels and Mary Stewart, other authors of ghostly romantic suspense, and having read and enjoyed both of those authors, I decided to try Shadowy Horses. It was very similar to works of those authors, and I enjoyed the suspenseful tale. It had all the elements that are the hallmark of those gothic romances...a rugged, handsome hero; a psychic child; a creepy ghost in a gothic setting, an interesting cast of diverse characters, and a smart, brave heroine. My only disappointment was that I thought that the plot was a little thin, but that didn't keep me from enjoying the Scottish dialogue and humor.

>109 chinquapin:

As a fan of both Barbara Michaels and Mary Stewart, I'm going to have to get my hands on The Shadowy Horses. Besides, I never can resist a mystery set on an archaeological dig....

Thanks for the review!

The Mozart Question by Michael Morpurgo

This was a beautifully written and poignant novella that tells the story about why a famous violinist will not play Mozart. It begins with a young journalist travelling to Venice to interview this violinist. She has been cautioned to not ask the Mozart Question, but when she nervously blunders and says, "Well, I know that I cannot ask the Mozart Question," the old musician decides to tell her the whole story for the first time. What follows is a tale of his parents imprisonment in the Nazi death camps, and their eventual release, forever changed and haunted by the horrific experience.

This book was written for older elementary children, but its short length and well done illustrations might make some think that it is really for the younger elementary crowd. Its themes and topic, however, make it much more suitable for the older child. It is a very short read, but excellently written and illustrated. Strongly recommended.

I enjoy visiting your thread! You read some very interesting books. I'm adding The Crossing Places to the tbr pile.

The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen

Josey is a shy, 27 year old recluse who lives with her demanding elderly mother. She consoles herself by retreating to her closet where she has hidden away a cache of candy and other sweet treats, romance novels and travel magazines. Everything changes, however, when one day she finds Della Lee, a woman who is a bit rough around the edges esconced in her closet and quite unwilling to move out. Talking with Della Lee and helping her are the first steps that Josey takes toward a journey of self-discovery which leads her along a path towards friendship, a romance with the mailman, and a new understanding of herself and her family.

This was a light and breezy, fast-paced story that was very character driven. It had some of my favorite elements...a little magic, yummy food, peculiar characters, and a dash of romance. And who wouldn't like to have books following them around like Chloe does? I also enjoyed the names of the chapters, each named after a candy that was also appropriate to that chapter, like SweeTarts, Jawbreakers, Mr. Goodbar, and Life Savers. But all in all, after everything is said and the last page is read, this was a simple romance that was spiced up a bit with candy and magic.

I'm glad you enjoyed The Sugar Queen. I read it earlier this year as well and was pleasantly surprised since I've never read any of Allen's works before, although I have a couple of her other books sitting on my shelves. Like you, everytime I read the book, I had the sudden nostalgic attack of all the childhood candies I used to enjoy as a kid. :)

Pussyfoot: A Midnight Louie Mystery by Carole Nelson Douglas

Temple Barr and her 20 pound black cat, Midnight Louie, get caught up in another murder mystery. This time, Temple is working as a fill-in Public Relations Director for a Stripper Convention after the regular PR man has a heart attack following his discovery of the murdered body of one of the exotic dancers. Once again Temple spars with the abrasive Lieutenant Molina, but she becomes just a wee bit more human in this novel. The Stripper Convention is being picketed by an offended feminist, and the next day she is joined by an offended Christian. While Temple is dealing with these PR emergencies, another stripper is found murdered.

Midnight Louie is drawn to the dressing rooms of the exotic dancers because he is in love with the Divine Yvette, a petite silver-furred Persian belonging to one of the competitors, Miss Savannah Ashleigh. He witnesses the first murder, but only sees the legs of the perpretator. He is interested in the murder as well, but very much distracted by the lovely Divine Yvette.

This second novel in the Midnight Louie mystery series was an improvement over the first, Catnap. The mystery itself was constructed much better, the pacing was much improved, and the chapters narrated by Midnight Louie were more convincing. The Stripper Convention setting was strange, and there was a lot of discussion between Temple and various characters about the morality and sociology of the exotic dancers. Care was taken to explain that they were not prostitutes, but dancers who exploited their men customers for cash as much as they were exploited. However, they also discussed how an extremely high percentage of them came from abused childhoods, and many now suffer from abusive relationships. In Pussyfoot, we learn more about Temple and her missing lover, Max the Magician. It was a good mystery, and I enjoyed my second encounter with Midnight Louie on the glitzy Las Vegas Strip.

Wow, you've read some fantastic books this year, I love your reviews as well - very well written. Thanks for stopping by, I've got you starred and will be watching to see what you read next.

I enjoyed your review of The Mozart Question. I read about the book lately -- now it's going on to the wish list. Thanks!

I read The Sugar Queen a few months ago. I liked it. It was light, breezy and pleasant.

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

The Queen discovers the joys of reading late in life when she comes across a mobile lending library while walking her Corgis outside Buckingham Palace. She feels obligated to check out a book and thus begins a reading adventure through a wide variety of authors that eventually consumes much of her thinking, and subtly begins to alter her worldview. The palace staff, however, is not happy about this new passion for reading, finding that it is becoming increasingly disruptive of the Queen's official duties.

There are many wonderful quotes within about reading, such as when the Queen writes in her journal, "I think of reading as a vast country to the far borders of which I am journeying but will never reach." Another quote that can be appreciated by any avid reader is, "can there be any greater pleasure than to come across an author one enjoys and then to find that they have written not just one book or two, but at least a dozen..."

This was a satirical, thought-provoking, and intriguing commentary on reading, the British monarchy, and public expectations.

Oh, I loved The Uncommon Reader! Nice review.

The Uncommon Reader has been on my wishlist for some time now, I really have to give it a push. It sounds like a great read and I'm pretty sure I will love it.

>116 KiwiNyx: Thanks! The quality of my reading has dramatically improved since joining LT.

>117 AMQS: & 120 Thanks, and I hope you enjoy The Mozart Question. It takes even less time to read than The Uncommon Reader.

>118 Whisper1: I read your wonderful review of The Sugar Queen, and it inspired me to read this one sooner than later. I am glad that I did :)

>121 DeltaQueen50: I think you probably would love it, Judy. It is short, a novella, and can really be finished in an afternoon, or an evening.

I am adding The Uncommon Reader to my list, sounds like something I would like! I will easily admit that my reading habit it often "disruptive" to fulfilling my responsibilities as well. :)

Nathan's Run by John Gilstrap

Nathan is a twelve year old orphaned boy who escapes from a Juvenile Detention Center in Virginia after killing a guard in self-defense. Of course, the police believe it is outright murder and the chase is on. While holed up in the home of a vacationing family, Nathan manages to call in to a popular nationwide Newstalk radio show, and he tells his side of the story and gains some popular support. It seems as though everyone is against him, the bad guys, of course, but also all the law enforcement types. The story about why there are hit men out after Nathan is developed rather slowly, and everything builds up to an action-filled drama at the end.

This was a tense, entertaining thriller that stars an endearing and clever twelve year old basically in what amounts to the lead role of The Fugitive. Nathan's character is quite well-developed, but everyone else is somewhat cardboard-like, which is fairly typical for this type of novel...it is all about the story and the action. Be forewarned also that law enforcement takes a beating. They are not sympathetically portrayed. Nevertheless, it was definitely an absorbing, exciting tale from start to finish.

Per your suggestion, I have read The Crossing Places and I ended up loving it. I loved it so much, in fact, that I have already begun The Janus Stone and put it under TIOLi #18 / even number of letters.

I'm very far behind on my reviews, so I haven't written anything about The Crossing Places yet, but I wanted to be sure to thank you right away!

I am glad that you enjoyed The Crossing Places as much as I did. I could join you in reading The Janus Stone by the end of the month if I cancel out on reading two other TIOLI books, both of which I was reading by myself. Hmmmmm......tempting.

London Calling by Edward Bloor

Martin Conway is a seventh grader who hates his school. He attends exclusive All Souls Prep on a scholarship because his mother works there as a secretary. There is a lot of ugly tension and history between the rich kids at All Souls and the scholarship kids. In the opening pages of the book, Martin gets into a fight with the great-grandson of the school's founder, Henry Lowery, on the last day of class. Over the summer, he becomes more and more withdrawn and depressed, and rarely emerges from his basement room, where he sleeps most of the day.

All this begins to slowly change after his grandmother, with whom he had a special spiritual connection, dies and leaves him an antique radio. When he falls asleep with the radio on, he finds himself transported to the home of Jimmy Harker in London in 1940 during the Blitz. He is not sure if he is dreaming or has actually somehow travelled through time, so he begins writing things down that Jimmy tells him in order to verify the facts. He starts researching the Battle of Britain and the history of radios. Gradually it unfolds that Jimmy is asking for his help, with some unfinished business. He needs Martin to "do his bit to help." Shuffling back and forth through time awakens Martin to a love of history, to the importance of family, and to the joy of helping others.

It is kind of difficult to pigeon-hole London Calling. It is a time travel adventure, a historical mystery, and also a poignant coming-of-age story. The novel has an authentic feel to it, even with the time travel storyline. This is in part because of excellent characters, but also because of the author's ability to impart a believable and accurate historic atmosphere.

The Stonekeeper (Amulet, Book 1) by Kazu Kibuishi

In the opening prologue of this graphic novel, Emily witnesses the death of her father in a terrible car crash. Two years later, she moves with her Mom and younger brother, Nevin, into an old Victorian house that belonged to her great-grandfather who is now missing. While cleaning this creepy mansion, Emily finds an amulet which seems to release some magical properties. It is fairly obvious that there are secrets lurking in this old house, and they manifest themselves when Emily's mom is dragged by a tentacle through an open door. Emily and Nevin discover that they must go on a mission to find their great-grandfather and rescue their mom.

The artwork is just beautiful. I especially loved the renderings of the creepy old mansion. I think the story may be a bit dark for the intended age range, but it has elements also, like the robots, that would captivate them. Emily is a strong girl character and the story seems to have all the makings for a fascinating series. I have already ordered the next two volumes from the library.

I'm stopping by to say I am currently reading Bud, Not Buddy and re-read your excellent review. It is a wonderful book and I thank you and Stasia for recommending it.

Thanks, I really like the books of Christopher Paul Curtis. I liked Elijah of Buxton also. I still haven't gotten to The Watsons Go to Birmingham.

Touchstones don't seem to work for me anymore.

The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths

This is the second in the new mystery series set in Norfolk, England, featuring forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway. Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson calls Ruth in to investigate some bones uncovered by builders demoloshing an old Victorian home. They look to be those of a small child, and the skull is missing. The house was previously a children's home, so Ruth and Harry both wonder what was really going there. As the investigation continues, it seems like someone is trying very hard to frighten Ruth off the case.

This was another excellent book. I really like this series, especially the two main characters, Ruth Galloway and DCI Harry Nelson. They seem very real and authentic. There are also many well-drawn secondary characters. The mystery definitely kept me guessing, and there was a lot of suspenseful action that kept me up late in order to finish the book.

Griffiths' series has quickly become one of my favorites. Glad to see someone else who likes it as much as I do.

Like you, I've just finished a book that kept me up late in order to finish it.

The Janus Stone sounds like a book I might like.

I finished Bud, Not Buddy, another Newbery award winning stellar book!

I note you read this book in April and that you also read Elijah of Buxon. Christopher Paul Curtis is now one of my favorite authors.

>109 chinquapin:-110

I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed The Shadowy Horses. You were absolutely right -- the whole time I was reading it I though of Mary Stewart and Barbara Michaels.

Thanks!

Too bad my local library does not have The Shadowy Horses. It looks like a natural for me. Thanks for the recommendation. I am hoping to be able to get a copy through PBS.

>134 Dejah_Thoris: I am glad you enjoyed The Shadowy Horses. I do think that most people who like Mary Stewart and Barbara Michaels will enjoy it. i need to read more of Kearsley's books now.

>135 alcottacre: I hope that you can find it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my library had it.

#136: I could not get a copy through PBS either. I will have to look for it elsewhere - after my current book buying ban is no longer in place.