Plainsong by Kent Haruf

First sentence:

Here was this man Tom Guthrie in Holt standing at the back window in the kitchen of his house smoking cigarettes and looking out over the back lot where the sun was just coming up.

Description:

"Ambitious, but never seeming so, Kent Haruf reveals a whole community as he interweaves the stories of a pregnant high school girl, a lonely teacher, a pair of boys abandoned by their mother, and a couple of crusty bachelor farmers. From simple elements, Haruf achieves a novel of wisdom and grace--a narrative that builds in strength and feeling until, as in a choral chant, the voices in the book surround, transport, and lift the reader off the ground." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

A quiet and beautiful book! Haruf's description of place and characters drew me in to discover a family of friends.

Date read: 10/16/2015

Series: Plainsong, #1
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0375705856
ISBN-13: 9780375705854
Publisher: Vintage
Year: 1999
# of pages: 301
Binding: Paperback
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Tell by Frances Itani

First sentence:

"Zel glances around the room: oak floor, oak desk, wooden cabinet, two windows that look down over city streets three storeys below."

Description:

From internationally bestselling author Frances Itani comes Tell, the breathtaking follow-up to Itani's award-winning debut Deafening, which launched the story of Grania, deaf from the age of five, and her sister, Tress, who helped to create their secret language.

Now it's 1919, only months after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles and the end of the Great War, and the men and women of Desoronto struggle to recover from wounds of the past. Attempting to adjust to the trauma that has overwhelmed her husband and altered their marriage, Tress seeks advice from her Aunt Maggie. But Maggie and her husband, Am, who cares for the town clock tower, have sorrows of their own, heartbreaks that lie unacknowledged between them.

While Am's unease increases, Maggie finds joy in her friendship with Zell, an eccentric widow who runs the local boarding house, and in the choral society started by a musician who has arrived in town from an unspoken part of war-torn Europe. Am seeks out Kenan, and the two offer each other comfort, often sitting together in silence. Meanwhile, Maggie reconnects with the music of her past, rediscovering a part of herself that had long ago been set aside. As the decade draws to a close and the lives of these characters become more entwined, each must decide what to share and what to hide, and how their actions will lead them in the future.

Written with Itani's signature power and grace, Tell is both a deeply moving story about the burdens of the past, and a beautifully rendered reminder of how the secrets we bury to protect ourselves can also be the cause of our undoing. This is a stunning achievement from one of our finest writers." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this sequel to Itani's book Deafening. Taking place after World War 1, the book brings to front the struggles of families dealing with men home from Europe with wounds, physical and mental.

Date read: 8/12/2015
Book #: 19
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Historical Fiction

ISBN-10: 0802123368
ISBN-13: 9780802123367
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2014
# of pages: 318
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Deafening by Frances Itani

First sentences:

"1902.
'Your name,' Mama says. 'This is the important word. If you can say your name, you can tell the world who you are.'"

Description:

Elegantly written and profoundly moving, Frances Itani's debut novel, Deafening, is a tale of virtuosity and power, set on the eve of the Great War and spanning two continents and the life and loves of a young deaf woman in Canada named Grania O'Neill.

At the age of Five, Grania -- the daughter of hardworking Irish hoteliers in smalltown Ontario-- emerges from a bout of scarlet fever profoundly deaf and is suddenly sealed off from the world that was just beginning to open for her. Her guilt-plagued mother cannot accept her daughter's deafness. Grania's saving grace is her grandmother Mamo, who tries to teach Grania to read and speak again. Grania's older sister, Tress, is a beloved ally as well -- obliging when Grania begs her to shout words into her ear canals and forging a rope to keep the sisters connected from their separate beds at night when Grania fears the terrible vulnerability that darkness brings. When it becomes clear that she can no longer thrive in the world of the hearing, her family sends her to live at the Ontario School for the Deaf in Belleville, where, protected from the often-unforgiving hearing world outside, she learns sign language and speech.

After graduation Grania stays on to work the school, and it is there that she meets Jim Lloyd, a hearing man. In wonderment the two begin to create a new emotional vocabulary that encompasses both sound and silence. But just two weeks after their wedding, Jim must leave home to serve as a stretcher bearer on the blood-soaked battlefields of Flanders. During this long war of attrition, Jim and Grania's letters back and forth -- both real and imagined -- attempt to sustain their young love in a world as brutal as it is beautiful.

Frances Itani's depiction of a world where sound exists only in the margins is a singular feat in literary fiction, a place difficult to leave and even harder to forget. A magnificent tale of love and war, Deafening is finally an ode to language -- how it can console, imprison, and liberate, and how it alone can bridge vast chasms of geography and experience." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

This is a very moving and thought-provoking book about deafness and the importance of listening in many different ways during the years up to and including the first World War. I know I really like a book when I wish I could meet the characters in real life, and I would love to meet Grania and Lloyd.


Book #: 14
Date read: 7/6/2015
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre: Historical Fiction

ISBN-10: 0871139022
ISBN-13:
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Year: 2003
# of pages: 378
Binding: Hardcover
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The Keepsake by Tess Gerritsen

First sentence:

"He is coming for me."

Description:

"For untold years, the perfectly preserved mummy had lain forgotten in the dusty basement of Boston’s Crispin Museum. Dubbed “Madam X,” the recently rediscovered mummy is, to all appearances, an ancient Egyptian artifact. But medical examiner Maura Isles discovers a macabre message hidden within the corpse–horrifying proof that this “centuries-old” relic is instead a modern-day murder victim. When the grisly remains of two other women are found, it becomes clear to Maura and Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli that a maniac is at large. Now Maura and Jane must unravel a murderer’s twisted endgame before the Archaeology Killer adds another chilling artifact to his monstrous collection." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this thriller set in a museum and featuring Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles. I especially liked how they followed the clues to places far and near.

Date read: 12/19/2014
Book #: 44
Series: Rizzoli & Isles
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Thriller

ISBN-10: 0345509390
ISBN-13: 9780345497635
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Year: 2008
# of pages: 418
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Chasing Shackleton by Tim Jarvis

First sentence:

"I thought I knew Antarctica by now."

Description:

"In this extraordinary adventure memoir and tie-in to the PBS documentary, Tim Jarvis, one of the world's leading explorers, describes his modern-day journey to retrace, for the first time ever—and in period clothing and gear—the legendary 1914 expedition of Sir Ernest Shackleton.

In early 1914, British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and his team sailed for Antarctica, attempting to be the first to reach the South Pole. Instead of glory, Shackleton and his crew found themselves in an epic struggle for survival: a three-year odyssey on the ice and oceans of the Antarctic that endures as one of the world’s most famous tales of adventure, endurance, and leadership ever recorded.

In the winter of 2013, celebrated explorer Tim Jarvis, a veteran of multiple polar expeditions, set out to recreate Sir Ernest Shackleton’s treacherous voyage over sea and mountain, outfitted solely with authentic equipment—clothing, boots, food, and tools—from Shackleton’s time, a feat that has never been successfully accomplished.

Shackleton's Epic is the remarkable record of Jarvis and his team’s epic journey. Beautifully designed and illustrated with dozens of photographs from the original voyage and its modern reenactment, it is a visual feast for readers and historians alike, and an essential new chapter in the story that has inspired adventurers across every continent for a century." -- from Amazon.com

My thoughts:

I enjoyed reading this adventure that recreated Shackleton's voyage and mountain crossing. After I read the book, I saw and enjoyed the documentary which included Jarvis and his crew toasting Shackleton at his grave on South Georgia island.

Date read: 10/24/2014
Book #: 39
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Nonfiction/Adventure

ISBN-10: 0062282735
ISBN-13: 9780062282736
Publisher: William Morrow
Year: 2014
# of pages: 272
Binding: Hardcover
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The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene

First sentence:

"Wilson sat on the balcony of the Bedford Hotel with his bald pink knees thrust against the ironwork."

Description:

Graham Greene's masterpiece The Heart of the Matter tells the story of a good man enmeshed in love, intrigue, and evil in a West African coastal town. Scobie is bound by strict integrity to his role as assistant police commissioner and by severe responsibility to his wife, Louise, for whom he cares with a fatal pity.

When Scobie falls in love with the young widow Helen, he finds vital passion again yielding to pity, integrity giving way to deceit and dishonor—a vortex leading directly to murder. As Scobie's world crumbles, his personal crisis makes for a novel that is suspenseful, fascinating, and, finally, tragic.

Originally published in 1948, The Heart of the Matter is the unforgettable portrait of one man, flawed yet heroic, destroyed and redeemed by a terrible conflict of passion and faith." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this book about an assistant police commissioner facing a moral dilemma. I especially liked the interactions between Scobie and Helen and between Scobie and Wilson.

Date read: 6/15/2014
Book #: 19
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0142437999
ISBN-13: 9780142437995
Publisher: Penguin Books
Year: 1948 ; 2004 (this edition)
# of pages: 255
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason

First sentence:

"They were able to guess his age, but had more trouble determining which part of the world he came from."

Description:

"A dark-skinned young boy is found dead, frozen to the ground in a pool of his own blood. The boy's Thai half-brother is missing; is he implicated, or simply afraid for his own life? While fears increase that the murder could have been racially motivated, the police receive reports that a suspected paedophile has been spotted in the area.

Detective Erlendur's investigation soon unearths the tensions simmering beneath the surface of Iceland's outwardly liberal, multi-cultural society, while the murder forces Erlendur to confront the tragedy in his own past." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this mystery set in Iceland. The possibilities kept me guessing right until the end.  I look forward to reading earlier books in this series.

Date read: 6/2/2014
Book #: 18
Series: Reykyavik Murder Mystery #7
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0099542323
ISBN-13: 9780099542322
Publisher: Vintage
Year: 2009
# of pages: 344
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Geist by Phillipa Ballantine

First sentence:

"It was good weather for a riot."

Description:

"Between the living and the dead is the Order of the Deacons, protectors of the Empire, guardians against possession, sentinels enlisted to ward off malevolent hauntings by the geists. . .

Among the most powerful of the Order is Sorcha Faris, now thrust into a partnership with the novice Deacon Merrick Chambers. They have been dispatched to the isolated village of Ulrich to aid a Priory besieged by a surge of violent geist activity. With them is Raed Rossin, Pretender to the throne that Sorcha is sworn to protect, and bearer of a terrible curse.

But what greets them in the strange settlement is something far more predatory and more horrifying than any mere haunting. And as she uncovers a tradition of twisted rituals passed down through the dark reaches of history, Sorcha will be forced to reconsider everything she thinks she knows. Even if she makes it out of Ulrich alive, what in the hell is she returning to?" -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This is a very good urban fantasy, featuring battles between the living and the dead. I enjoyed the characters and their interactions, especially between Sorcha and Merrick. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Spectyr.

Date read: 5/30/2014
Book #: 17
Series: Book of the Order, #1
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0441019617
ISBN-13: 9780441019618
Publisher: Ace Fantasy
Year: 2010
# of pages: 294
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

First sentence:

"I keep the Beast running."

Description:

"Hig survived the flu that killed everyone he knows. His wife is gone, his friends are dead, he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, his only neighbor a gun-toting misanthrope. In his 1956 Cessna, Hig flies the perimeter of the airfield or sneaks off to the mountains to fish and pretend that things are the way they used to be. But when a random transmission somehow beams through his radio, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life–something like his old life–exists beyond the airport. Risking everything, he flies past his point of no return–not enough fuel to get him home–following the trail of the static-broken voice on the radio. But what he encounters and what he must face–in the people he meets, and in himself–is both better and worse than anything he could have hoped for." -- from peterheller.net

My thoughts:

I loved this story about starting again in a new world. There's joy and heartbreak, excitement and serenity. I liked Hig's interactions with Bangley and especially with his dog Jasper.

Date read: 4/13/2014
Book #: 12
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0307950476
ISBN-13: 9780307950475
Publisher: Vintage
Year: 2013
# of pages: 336
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay

First sentence:

"Harry was in his little house on the edge of Back Bay when at half past twelve her voice came over the radio for the first time."

Description:

Harry Boyd, a hard-bitten refugee from failure in Toronto television, has returned to a small radio station in the Canadian North. There, in Yellowknife, in the summer of 1975, he falls in love with a voice on air. He soon discovers that the real woman, Dido Paris, is even more than he imagined.

Dido and Harry are part of the cast of eccentric, beguiling characters who form an unlikely group of colleagues at the station. As summer progresses, we gradually discover their loves and longings, their professional and personal rivalries, the stories of their pasts and what brought each of them to the North. When four of them embark on a canoe trip into the Arctic wilderness, tracing the journey of the ill-fated Englishman John Hornby, their lives are altered, much as the balance of power in the North is being changed by the proposed Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline, which threatens to rip open the Arctic and displace Native people from their land.

Hay has a skewering intelligence about the frailties of the human heart. Weaving stories from the past into the present, she builds a fresh, erotic, darkly witty and moving tale, replete with sentences that will stop you dead because of

Elizabeth Hay has been compared to Annie Proulx, Alice Hoffman, and Isabel Allende, yet she is uniquely herself. With unforgettable characters, vividly evoked settings, in this new novel, Hay brings to bear her  and her ability to tell a spellbinding story. Written in gorgeous prose, laced with dark humour, Late Nights on Air is Hay’s most seductive and accomplished novel yet.

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this book about people at a radio station in the Canadian North. I especially liked the interactions between the characters and the life-changing trip some of them make.

Date read: 3/11/2014
Book #: 8
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0771040199
ISBN-13: 9780771040191
Publisher: Counterpoint
Year: 2008
# of pages: 364
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Thursday Next: First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde

First sentence:

"The dangerously high level of the stupidity surplus was once again the lead story in The Owl that morning."

Description:

"Beloved for his prodigious imagination, his satirical gifts, his literate humor, and sheer silliness, Jasper Fforde has delighted book lovers since Thursday Next first appeared in The Eyre Affair, a genre send-up hailed as an instant classic. Since the no-nonsense literary detective from Swindon made her debut, literature has never been quite the same. Neither have nursery rhymes, for that matter. With two successful books of the Nursery Crime series under his belt, Fforde takes up once again the brilliant adventures of his signature creation in the highly anticipated fifth installment of the Thursday Next series. And it’s better than ever.

It’s been fourteen years since Thursday pegged out at the 1988 SuperHoop, and Friday is now a difficult sixteen year old. However, Thursday’s got bigger problems. Sherlock Holmes is killed at the Rheinback Falls and his series is stopped in its tracks. And before this can be corrected, Miss Marple dies suddenly in a car accident, bringing her series to a close as well. When Thursday receives a death threat clearly intended for her written self, she realizes what’s going on—there is a serial killer on the loose in the Bookworld. And that’s not all—The Goliath Corporation is trying to deregulate book travel. Naturally, Thursday must travel to the outer limits of acceptable narrative possibilities to triumph against increasing odds.

Packed with word play, bizarre and entertaining subplots, and old-fashioned suspense, Thursday’s return is sure to be celebrated by Jasper’s fanatical fans and the critics who have loved him since the beginning." -- from Amazon.com

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this latest installment in the Thursday Next series. I especially liked the interactions between Thursday and her previous incarnations, Thursday5 and Thursday1-4. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, One of Our Thursdays is Missing.

Date read: 12/20/2013
Book #: 37
Series: Thursday Next, #5
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0143113569
ISBN-13: 9780143113560
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2008
# of pages: 384
Binding: Hardcover
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The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

First sentence:

"A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes."

Description:

"Set in the harsh Puritan community of seventeenth-century Boston, this tale of an adulterous entanglement that results in an illegitimate birth reveals Nathaniel Hawthorne's concerns with the tension between the public and the private selves. Publicly disgraced and ostracized, Hester Prynne draws on her inner strength and certainty of spirit to emerge as the first true heroine of American fiction. Arthur Dimmesdale, trapped by the rules of society, stands as a classic study of a self divided. As Nina Baym writes in her introduction, The Scarlet Letter was not written as realistic, historical fiction, but as a 'romance," a creation of the imagination that discloses the truth of the human heart." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I liked this book about Puritan ethics and hypocrisy. I found the reactions of the townspeople to Hester interesting as time goes by.

Date read: 11/10/2013
Book #: 34
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0142437263
ISBN-13: 9780142437261
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Year: 1850; 2003 (this edition)
# of pages: 228
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Don't Forget Your Spacesuit, Dear edited by Jody Lynn Nye

First sentence:

"The morning started out quietly enough. "

Description:

"The apron string theory of spacetime

So, you think things will be any different in the future, in space, in other dimensions where magic works? Wash your mouth out with soap! Mother will always know best. The galactic emperor, master of a million suns, lust better not get too busy to call his mother. Starship troopers had better not forget Mother’s Day, even if massed space armadas are about to rocket into battle across the galaxy. The great and powerful White Wizard had better remember what his mom told him about washing his white robes separately from his colored long johns. Speaking of washing, who do you think taught that famous alien to scrub behind his pointy ears? And as for that muscular barbarian swordsman-with all those mighty thews, why can’t he clean up his room? 

Enough about the square-jawed, steely-eyed heroes of science fiction and fantasy, already-where would those heroes be without their mothers? Its time to give the mothers of the galaxy their due, and New York Times bestselling authors Anne McCaffrey, Morgan Llywelyn, Robert Asprin, and Diane Duane are on hand to do mom honors, along with Elizabeth Moon. Esther Friesner, Christopher Stasheff, Mike Resnick, Jody Lynn Nye herself, and more. Enter a star-studded volume celebrating motherhood throughout space and time. But first-wipe your feet-and Don’t Forget You’re Spacesuit Dear.  -- from the back cover.

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this collection of science fiction stories with a maternal theme. My favorites included Jody Lynn Nye's "What's the Magic Word?" and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough's "Don't Go Out in Holy Underwear."

Date read: 11/7/2013
Book #: 33
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: SF

ISBN-10: 0671877321
ISBN-13: 9780671877323
Publisher: Baen
Year: 1996
 # of pages: 320
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

First sentence:

"The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas eve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to say that it was the only case he had met in which such a visitation had fallen on a child."

Description:

"A young governess is left in sole charge of two charming and beautiful orphans. As she begins to see and hear strange things, she grows increasingly uneasy, and is swiftly drawn into a frightening battle against unspeakable evil. Forced to take action, the governess will soon discover terrible consequences."

My thoughts:

I liked this chilling book about a haunted house and its inhabitants. I especially liked the interactions between the governess and the boy.

Date read: 10/10/2013
Book #: 29
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Horror

ISBN-10: 0141194375
ISBN-13: 9780141194370
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Year: 1898; 1994 [this edition]
# of pages: 121
Binding: Trade Paperback
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M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman

First sentence:

"I sat in my office, nursing a glass of hooch and idly cleaning my automatic."


Description:

Bestselling author and master storyteller Neil Gaiman here presents a breathtaking collection of tales that may chill or amuse readers -- but always embrace the unexpected:

• A teenage boy who has trouble talking to girls finds himself at a rather unusual party.
• A sinister jack-in-the-box haunts the lives of the children who owned it.
• A boy raised in a graveyard makes a discovery and confronts the much more troubling world of the living
• A stray cat fights a mighty battle to protect his adopted family from a terrible evil.

These eleven stories illuminate the real and the fantastic, and will be welcomed with great joy by Neil Gaiman's many fans as well as by readers coming to his work for the first time." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I liked all the stories. My favorites included Case of Blackbirds, Troll Bridge, Chivalry and Sunbird.

Date read: 9/25/2013
Book #: 27
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Urban Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0061186473
ISBN-13: 9780061186479
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2007
# of pages: 260
Binding: Hardcover
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Mystery Cats by Lillian Jackson Braun, et al

First sentence:

"When my sister and I returned from our vacation and learned that our eccentric neighbor in the wheel chair had been removed to a mental hospital, we were sorry but hardly surprised" [from "Susu and the 8:30 Ghost." by Lillian Jackson Braun]

Description:

"WHEN MURDER IS THE CAT'S MEOW...

This murderously entertaining collection assembles sixteen purr-fect tales of crime and cats by some of today's best mystery writers. Lillian Jackson Bruan's charming Siamese SuSu is the first to smell a rat in ta chilling tale of two spinster sisters and an eccentric neighbor. Edward D Hoch's favorite theif, Nick Velvet, accepts a commission to catnap a pampered pet named Sparkle and ends up a whisker away from death. Ruth Rendell leads an unwary motorist up the garden path to an elderly cat owner's cottage, giving a sinster twist to the old maxim, 'an eye for an eye.' These, along with thirteen other purebred stories of felines and felonies, make for spell-binding reading for mystery fans and cat lovers alike! " -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this set of feline mysteries.  Favorite stories included "The Lady Wore Black" by Hugh B. Cave and "The Theft of the Mafia Cat" by Edward D. Hoch.

Date read: 8/20/2013
Book #: 25
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0451171012
ISBN-13: 9780451171016
Publisher: Signet
Year: 1991
# of pages: 256
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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The Known World by Edward P Jones

First sentence:

"The evening his master died he worked again well after he ended the day for the other adults, his own wife among them, and sent them back with hunger and tiredness to their cabins."

Description:

"In one of the most acclaimed novels in recent memory, Edward P. Jones, two-time National Book Award finalist, tells the story of Henry Townsend, a black farmer and former slave who falls under the tutelage of William Robbins, the most powerful man in Manchester County, Virginia. Making certain he never circumvents the law, Townsend runs his affairs with unusual discipline. But when death takes him unexpectedly, his widow, Caldonia, can't uphold the estate's order and chaos ensues. In a daring and ambitious novel, Jones has woven a footnote of history into an epic that takes an unflinching look at slavery in all of its moral complexities." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was an interesting book about slavery, race and families in Manchester County, Virginia. I liked the interactions between the characters, including Moses and Caldonia.

Date read: 8/15/2013
Book #: 25
Rating: 3*/5
Genre: Historical Fiction

ISBN-10: 0060557559
ISBN-13: 978006055753
Publisher: Amistad
Year: 2003
# of pages: 388
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Midnight in Peking by Paul French

First sentence:

"By day the fox spirits of Peking lie hidden and still."

Description:

"January 1937. Life in Peking is a heady mix of privilege and scandal, opulence and opium dens, rumors and superstition. The Japanese are encircling the city, and the discovery of the mutilated body of British schoolgirl Pamela Werner at the base of the Fox Tower is chilling. Is it the work of a madman? One of the ruthless Japanese soldiers? Or perhaps the dreaded fox spirits? Historian and China expert Paul French at last uncovers the truth behind this notorious murder and offers a rare glimpse of the last days of colonial Peking." -- from the back cover



My thoughts:

This was an informative account of a mysterious murder in Peking on the brink of the Japanese occupation.

Date read: 8/10/2013
Book #: 24
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Nonfiction

ISBN-10: 9781410448965
ISBN-13: 1410448967
Publisher: Thorndike Press
Year: 2012
# of pages: 419
Binding: Hardcover
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Of Such Small Differences by Joanne Greenberg

First sentence:

"He stood in the cold outside and to the hinge side of the door so other people could move past him."

Description:

"John Moon was 25, good-looking, intelligent, gifted, and beginning to make his mark as a poet. Leda Milan was a talented and ambitious young actress. They met and were drawn to each other. But there was a barrier between them. Leda could see and hear. John could not.

Nobody ever said that love was easy -- or what a special kind of wonderful it could be. . ." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I liked this book about people trying to communicate. John, Leda, his family, co-workers - all make mistakes and assumptions about what others are trying to say. Yet even with problems, friendships are formed.

Date read: 7/20/2013
Book #: 21
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0451164199
ISBN-13: 9780451164193
Publisher: Signet
Year: 1988
# of pages: 271
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Fifty Acres and a Poodle by Jeanne Marie Laskas

First sentence:

"It's hard to say how a dream forms. "

Description:

The place is almost too perfect to be believed, but there it is: a pretty-as-a-picture-postcard farm, with an Amish barn, a chestnut grove, and vistas so beautiful, they take her breath away.



My thoughts:

I enjoyed this memoir of finding a new life on a farm. I liked Laskas' discovery that what looks like a postcard from a distance is a lot more complicated in real life.

Date read: 7/9/2013
Book #:20
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre: Memoir

ISBN-10: 0553109049
ISBN-13: 9780553109047
Publisher: Bantam Books
Year: 2000
# of pages: 272
Binding: Hardcover
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