Carrot

Vanita Oelschlager

Carrot is a sweet book, my daughter and I enjoyed the illustrations and the story.  The colors were vibrant and caught the eye.  I appreciated the message behind the story, but I struggled a little bit with some of the wording.  The author seemed to add details to the story just to keep the rhyming going.  All in all, it was charming and entertaining.  

Blue Labyrinth

Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

I have been a fan of this series from the very beginning, when Agent Pendergast was a minor character.  I, along with most other readers, always want to know more about Pendergast's life, how he thinks and what motivates him.  This information comes in drips and dribbles, pieced together from all the books written so far.  Blue Labyrinth adds more color to the Pendergast picture, but still leaves quite a bit of gray.  

Preston and Child have never been afraid of killing off characters, or at the very least landing them in the ICU.  Poor Proctor better have a good health insurance plan!  It was interesting to have Pendergast out of commission for much of the story, having to rely on others for help.  It took a team of allies to try and get in front of the man who out-witted the usually indefatigable special agent.  I was glad to see Constance and Margo join in the action and be able to hold their own.  

I miss the stand alone stories, where Agent Pendergast solves mysteries and meets new and, often, strange characters.  The last few books have certainly answered many questions about the Pendergast family history and Agent Pendergast's own back story, but I am hoping for a moody, creepy protagonist that doesn't have a personal connection to any of the main characters.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this book immensely, and can't wait to get my hands on the next one.  I just hope the future holds more bizarre and darkly fascinating mysteries for everyone involved. 

Mr Squirrel & the Moon

by Sebastian Meschenmoser

The illustrations were so charming, we had to go back several times to look at them after we had read the words.  You know your child likes the pictures when it takes three times as long to get through the book than it should.  The jail cell scenes were deceptive, there was a lot more going on than you may initially think.  

This is a good choice for bed time reading, my daughter was able to read most of it herself, with some help from me.  Having her ask me to read it again is a sure fire indication that she enjoyed it!

Humbug Witch

by Lorna Balian

We just read this book tonight, gearing up for Halloween next week.  My daughter loved the illustrations and cracked up during the potion making portion.  The story was very sweet, even though the witch wasn't successful at being witchey, she never lost her temper or seemed disappointed.  No spoilers here, but we were both surprised at the ending!  Highly recommend this book for grown ups and young witches in training. 

A Thing of Beauty

Lisa Samson

Relationships are complicated, messy things.  People don't always behave as you'd want them to, or need them to.  Fiona is dealing with her past by trying to build a new legacy, but she can't seem to make it work.  Her choices are self-destructive, but she is convinced she isn't hurting anyone but herself.  

Enter Josia.  I was pretty sure in the beginning that this would turn into a love story.  It did, but not in the way I anticipated.  There was love, understanding, and compassion.  Everything that Fiona had so desperately needed, but never received.  With no strings attached.  No romantic entanglement.  No demands for reciprocity.  It took Fiona some time to trust what Josia was handing to her, but once she started down that path, her whole world opened up.

Yes, there was romance in this book.  There were relationships that were damaged beyond repair. And there was a lot of junk.  Literally.  I enjoyed reading about Fiona's journey back from the brink. My only issue is that Josia seems too good to be true.  Are there really people out there like him?  I hope so.  

 

Tagged for Death:

A Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery

Sherry Harris

I love a good garage sale, and I love a good mystery.  Both were well represented in this book.  I found the tie in to military base living interesting, it allowed the author to introduce characters that have a forced intimacy.  To enjoy what I consider to be a Cozy Mystery, I need to like the main characters and their quirks.  There wasn't a lot of quirkiness here, but the fast pace and likable main character helped make up for that.

From the very beginning, Sarah knew she couldn't go to the police for help.  Even though she was the (alleged) wronged party, having your ex as the Chief of Police can put a damper on those emergency responses.  Toward the end of the book, Sarah finds out who she can trust and who really has her back, which surprised me almost as much as it surprised her.  I look forward to reading more about the garage sale finds, friends and past indiscretions of the main character.  Very entertaining! 

As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust

A Flavia de Luce Novel

Alan Bradley

Who else could get away with saying, 

"Low clouds, reddened to the shade of inflamed intestines by neon advertising signs..."

Flavia, Flavia, Flavia.  On your own, far from home.  You don't even know what those odd Canadian coins are worth.  How are you going to  survive?  Quite nicely, thank you.

Just give the girl a dead body and a mystery and she feels right as rain.  I feel taking Flavia out of her comfort zone really helped her grow and stretch her wings.  Yes, she was homesick.  Yes, she felt overwhelmed by her mother's legacy.  Yes, she was thrown into a situation she couldn't quite parse out. But true to her nature, she rises to the challenge and finds the answers to her questions in her own unique manner.

I love this character.  I love this series.  I was not disappointed in this new adventure.  A must read!

I had a lovely discussion about, surprise, books over lunch yesterday.  I was sitting in my work cafeteria, discussing the movie version of Gone Girl.  Personally, I feel the translation into film was well done.  I find it hard to watch movie versions of books I've loved, as I'm sure a lot of people do. You either love it or are left disappointed and bitter.

So, we were talking about recent books we've read and what we would recommend to someone else. I found myself thinking about how I would definitely tell my co-worker to read some books, but not my Mother.  Know thy audience!!  This is not to say my Mother wouldn't like the books, I just don't want to think about her reading them.  Think 50 Shades of Gray.  Get my point?

Books I would tell everyone, and have told everyone, to read?  Here goes...

Out of the Easy
The Scent of Rain and Lightening
The Storied Life of A.J Fikry
Where'd You Go Bernadette
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

And soooo many more.  These are the ones that popped into my head at lunch yesterday, so that must mean I consider them must reads.

The Walled City

Ryan Graudin

I honestly expected this to be a young adult dystopian novel.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  I've read quite a few in my time.  I didn't know that the premise of the book was based on a real city, one that actually existed much the way the author described it.  Once I did know, I had to re-think the whole book.  This truly could have happened.  Those people could have lived, loved, suffered and died in the same world I grew up in.  A sobering thought.

The use of three points of view worked for me.  It was easy to see that these three people were going to come together at some point, but nothing unfolded quite the way I expected.  The inner monologues of the three main characters created an intimacy, a sense that I knew them well enough to care what happened to them.  I should say the four main characters, since the city is as much a part of the story as the people.

The story relied on the contrast of a clean life  and making piece with the grunge, living in safety and surviving in jeopardy.  There are people who prefer the devil you know as opposed to taking a chance to change your circumstances.  Graudin played on these themes well, creating tension and intrigue.  I truly enjoyed the ride.

Life is too short to read a bad book!  I spend so much time reading about books, picking the ones that sound like they would appeal to me.  I troll the library website, look at editorial reviews and customer reviews.  When I start reading a new book, I always go into it biased toward loving it.  It is painful to me when I realize I don't like it.

At this point, I tell myself, give it one more chapter.  If that doesn't work, I turn into one of those awful readers who skip to the end.  I figure if I know how it ends, I may become more involved with the characters and plot.

The older I get, the less time I seem to have.  Waking up early on a Saturday morning, I make my coffee and shuffle to the living room to read.  I have, maybe, an hour before the rest of the house wakes up.  Call me selfish, but that time is MINE.  When I don't have to clean, answer questions, wipe noses, make breakfast, snacks, snacks, snacks...

So, life is too short to read a bad book.