Books Finished Since July 1

 UnSpun, Brooks Jackson and Kathleen Hall Jamieson
Thinking critically about "spin," whether it be political or the product of advertising. I saw this last year among the "required summer reading" books. Apparently some people wanted more specific things to investigate, like websites, politicians, and books, according to the reviews I read. This isn't a book that is partisian. Rather, it gives you examples of words, emotional triggers, and other propaganda tools that should make you "look twice" at a statement of "fact."

 Trolls in the Hamptons, Celia Jerome
Willow Tate, graphic novelist, lives in her family's old New York apartment, envies her cousin Susan, and tries to cope with her odd family, who all have special gifts (grandma's a herbalist; Mom is kind of a "dog whisperer"). Belatedly, Willow discovers she has her own gift: working on a new idea, she draws a red troll—who promptly appears in real life, wreaking havoc on her neighborhood.

Via a sexy British representative of a hush-hush Department of Unexplained Events, Willow learns she's a Visualizer, someone who can bring a fantasy world alive. And, though desperately reluctant, she becomes involved with a kidnapped child, a boy Agent Grant tells her is being forced to break the barriers between the magic world and the human world. The more Willow tries to ignore the threat, the more it is brought home to her.

This is pleasant fantasy fluff with a strong romance novel element (Chapter 24 has a really steamy sex scene). Willow is a plucky but flawed heroine, Grant lends the proper male romance counterpart, and there are some funny quirky characters, including Willow's crusty mother, the deceptive "super" of the apartment building across the street from Willow's apartment, and even a three-legged Pomeranian. I'll definitely pick up the sequel, but be warned: if you're looking for hard fantasy, this isn't it.

 The Penderwicks at Point Mouette, Jeanne Birdsall
In this newest outing with the Penderwick girls, the four sisters are separated for the first time in their lives. While Mr. Penderwick and his new bride (and her baby) are in England for a belated honeymoon, eldest Rosalind will be spending time with her friend Anna in New Jersey while Skye, Jane, and little Batty accompany Aunt Claire to a cottage in Maine.

It's a fun, but occasionally stressful adventure for them all: a guest they were told would not be accompanying them does arrive, Skye feels overwhelmed by her responsibilities as now oldest sister, Jane runs into an unexpected roadblock while doing research for her new "Sabrina Starr" book, and little Batty gets addicted to golf balls—and music! A neighbor and his dog add another spark of interest to the story, and, although at a certain point, as in the proceeding book, a plot point becomes very obvious, by then you are so drawn into the story you are eager to see how it all comes out.

This is such a delightfully old-fashioned book: although it's definitely the present (Aunt Claire and other adults have cell phones, and the books the children are reading are modern), the girls aren't overwhelmed by television and other technology, they explore, fight but don't cat-fight, and aren't drowning in girly "princess" stuff. As much as I hate sports, I wouldn't mind playing a game of soccer with the Penderwick family, and then discuss astronomy with Skye, writing with Jane, and take Batty to see a moose and her calves on a misty summer morning!

 A Woman's Guide to a Healthy Stomach, Jacqueline L. Wolf
Since I occasionally suffer from various types of digestive problems, I was interested to see what this book had to say. It was a bit comforting to read the case histories in this book and to learn that "I am not alone," and that so many women felt embarrassed or frustrated by their conditions.

As this book illustrates, sometimes there are no "easy fixes" with digestive, reproductive, or elimination problems. Dr. Wolf takes various conditions—endometriosis, acid reflux, diarrhea, constipation, bowel irregularities, etc.—chapter by chapter, discussing causes and treatments for each. I found the charts, such as the one for fiber foods, and the one for which bacteria causes what type of food poisoning, very useful. I wish there had been a little more information on diets, but I suspect this can be solved by a more specialized book.

In summary, I found this a satisfactory overview about the subject, a good jumping off point for discussions with a doctor or further research on a particular issue (like celiac disease or IBS.

 The Orchid Affair, Lauren Willig
In the present, perpetual grad student Eloise Kelly and her boyfriend Colin Selwick are in Paris, visiting Colin's mother and his odious stepfather, his cousin Jeremy. But in the world of Eloise's historical investigation of the British spy ring of the "Pink Carnation," Laura Gray, one of the newest graduates of the Selwick spy school, is sent on a delicate mission: to pose as governess to the two children of French official Andre Jaouen. Jaouen was once an ardent revolutionary, but, unknown to the Pink Carnation, is disillusioned at how the freedoms he dreamed of have been turned around by a new "aristocracy" ruled by fear.

Since this is a Pink Carnation book, you can possibly guess the outcome; the "fun" is the ride there, as Laura is endangered by the machinations of Gaston Delaroche and becomes friends with the enemy, including her two charges and their handsome father (shades of The Sound of Music). There's a deceptive lack of tension during a change of venue that builds to a corking ending, while Laura and Andre slowly pull back each other's layers to discover the real person within. A solid entry in the Carnation series. So when's the next? :-)

 Unnatural Issue, Mercedes Lackey
Elemental Earth Master Richard Whitestone goes mad with grief after the death of his wife in childbirth and gives the raising of the child over to his faithful servants, until the day he sees eighteen-year-old Susanne from his window. She is the image of her late mother, and Whitestone's mad mind conceives the idea of bringing back the spirit of his wife and lodging it within his daughter's body. Luckily Susanne discovers the plot and flees; while the White Lodge detects traces of evil magic and sends Lord Peter Ansley to investigate.

There are several things to like about this book, the main being Lackey's Lord Peter Wimsey avatar, Peter Ansley. He and his faithful Bunter stand-in, Garrick, conceive a plan to track down the evil magic, and then to help Susanne, with the help of his landowning friends. I did think it a bit much that the avatar of Peter is also named Peter, and his friend is Charles, the same as in the Wimsey mysteries. Like the other female leads in these Elemental Master novels, Susanne is resourceful and no shrinking violet, and the portion of the book that deals with her service in the war is quite good. I also enjoyed the way Whitestone's real character was revealed as the story progressed. I did find Susanne a bit dull, however; not as compelling as Maya Scott, for example. I would get this from the library first, or wait until the paperback release.

 Hallmark: A Century of Caring, Patrick Regan
Okay, it's a bit of a Hallmark shill, but it's supposed to be. This is a big coffee-table book packed with information about the founding, innovations, and family running of Hallmark Cards. If biographies of executives aren't your thing, there are special pages devoted to the different decades of card designs, insights into the artists behind the cards, including several pages about White House Christmas cards, several pages about J.C. Hall's parallels with Walt Disney, who was also raised in Kansas City, a chapter about television's Hallmark Hall of Fame, and more. This book can be bought at bargain prices, and at those, it is a worthwhile indulgence.


 Queen of the Road, Doreen Orion
What do two successful psychiatrists do when they want a change of place? In the case of Doreen Orion, self-proclaimed home and possessions worshipper, and her husband Tim, they buy a custom-built bus and take a year off to tour the country (after a few months of working the bugs out of the vehicle's custom gadgets) with their standard poodle and two cats, including the one that starts out hiding the moment the bus moves. They travel to 48 states, discover the good and the bad about campgrounds, take in tourist attractions and the joys of visiting relatives, and encounter crickets and other "wildlife." Along the way, Doreen, who initially comes off as self-absorbed, agoraphobic, and frivolous(you'll certainly wonder how she ended up as a practicing psychiatrist), comes to realize that life in the great outdoors, without television and in the company of family and friends, is quite worthwhile after all.

This book can be quite funny, but you may wonder if Ms. Orion has an alcohol problem, given her penchant for concocting a martini for every occasion. She does touch on some neat places and personalities discovered in their cross-country odyssey, but your enjoyment will depend on how well you cope with her quirky personality.

 Discounts, Deals & Steals, Readers Digest Books
For people over 50, advice on bargains for grandparents, for travelers, for everyday spending. A good book if this is what you're looking for.

 Picturing Rhode Island, Maureen A. Taylor
I saw this book in Borders last year on vacation, but the high price tag made me gape. I found an excellent copy used instead, and in general I am pleased, but I wish they'd cut three-quarters of the "esthetic white space." The author advises you to use a magnifying glass to check out the details of the photos; I'd advise making them larger in the first place. This is a book, not a modern art gallery. The photos themselves are super; so many I've never seen before, or angles I've never seen before, of Downtown Providence and Newport, including a sequence of the State House being built, and the cleared landscape before I-95 was built.

What this book needed? Twice as many pages! :-) I couldn't believe there wasn't a picture of the old meeting house in Cranston, or the exterior of the old Normal School, or more of the downtown shopping district, or a few more modern photos of the amusement parks.

 Into That Silent Sea, Francis French and Colin Burgess
When I read In the Shadow of the Moon (a book about the Gemini era in the American space program) three years ago, I didn't realize it was part of a series called "A People's History of Spaceflight" until I bought the volume about the Apollo missions. This is the book about the Mercury era—but what I found most fascinating was that fully half the book concentrates on the Russian Vostok program, with biographies of each of the Soviet astronauts, including Yuri Gagarin, Gherman Titov, and Valentine Tereshkova. Even more intriguing was a chapter about "the Mercury 13," thirteen women pilots, including the famous Jackie Cochran, who attempted to get the space program opened to women.

This is a super series of books for anyone interested in the space program; there is also a volume called To a Distant Day about the rocket pioneers, and books about unmanned spacecraft and Spacelab. Highly recommended!

 Requiem for a Mezzo, Carola Dunn
Daisy Dalrymple only knows one of her neighbors is a gifted mezzo-soprano who lives with her husband and sister. But when she goes next door to borrow a baking item, she finds herself propelled into the lives of the narcissistic parents' favorite Betsy "Bettina" and her plain sister Muriel, Bettina's put-upon husband Roger, and their music students. Still, when Daisy and her Scotland Yard beau Alec Fletcher attend Bettina's performance in Mozart's Requiem, no
one's more surprised than Daisy—or more frustrated than Alec—when vain Bettina is poisoned onstage.

This adventure propels Daisy and Alec into the histrionic world of opera, where each of the suspects has a good reason for wanting Bettina dead, and dozens of alibis as well. There's an entertaining supporting cast, including Alec's faithful sidekick Sergeant Tring, the members of the opera company, and even a brief glimpse at Alec's little daughter Belinda, whose acceptance of "Miss Dalrymple" in Alec's life shows a preview of things to come. Another sprightly adventure in the Dalrymple series, although I guessed early who the real culprit was.

 The Reading Promise, Alice Ozma
Alice's librarian father loved to read to his children's classes, and to his daughters. When Alice was ten, she and her father made a promise that he would read to her every night for one hundred days, no matter what. The one hundred days became a thousand, through colds and adolescence and arguments, then continued into a nightly habit until Alice's first day at college.

This is a book about a bond between a father and a daughter that seems to come about partially to compensate from problems with home life. Her parents' marriage was fragile and eventually her emotionally-troubled mother left, leaving her father to bring up two daughters. Her father held himself aloof from a social life so his daughters would not feel they had been abandoned. So their reading "streak" became a coping mechanism as well as a loving tradition.

Despite the melancholy behind this volume, there are several magical moments in this book, including Alice and her father watching a thunderstorm that reminded me of my own childhood. My mother kept me from being afraid of thunder by telling me it was "the angels bowling," and each loud clap became a strike, a softer one a spare. This chapter had a similar feel. For those who love books, or who have used books to get through those tough moments of their life.

(Note to the editors of this book: why is Alice selling her bicycle door-to-door? Oh, you meant she was pedaling her bicycle, not peddling it! Why didn't you say so?)

 The Dime Novel in Children's Literature
I thought it about time I got to this one, which I bought with interest last year at DragonCon. McFarland is known for publishing narrow-interest, but excellent nonfiction, so I was a bit dismayed as I got into this one. There is much good information about the predecessors of books for children (hornbooks, broadsides, chapbooks, religious tracts) and the way dime novels/series books/pulp magazines were treated the way the internet is vilified today, television was in the 1960s, comic books in the 1950s, radio serials in the 1940s, and the movies in the 1920s, as bad influences on children. (Indeed, even novels were suspect in the 1700s.)

However, the book is pretty badly written, with stiff prose, repeated information, and often conflicting data. In one paragraph, five sentences one after the other begin with the same three words. There are noticeable typos, like "Blumfeld" for "Plumfield" in a list of significant children's books, and the author even states that Nathaniel Hawthorne created the character of Natty Bumppo (I've never read Cooper, but even I know who created one of the most significant early leads in American fiction!). If you are truly interested in dime novels and their influence and appeal to children, I suggest you find a used copy of the book.

Books Finished Since June 1

 A Dog's Life, a "Chicken Soup for the Soul" book
Enjoyable reading for the dog lover, with 101 stories following dogs from puppyhood to old age. Several are amusing, but most are touching, and many will make you cry. If you are familiar with the "Chicken Soup" format, you will know what to expect. Sentimental scoffers need not apply.

 Treason at Lisson Grove, Anne Perry
While Thomas Pitt and his partner Gower head to France in pursuit of a murderer of an important informant, Pitt's superior in Special Branch, Victor Narraway, is dismissed in disgrace for embezzling money that should have bought an Irish informer's freedom and instead spelled his death. When Charlotte is told what has happened, she realizes she must help Narraway since Pitt's professional future depends on his keeping his post. Posing as his sister, she accompanies him to Ireland, where he hopes to ferret out the person from his past who blames him for a family death and who would gain the most satisfaction from his dismissal. It is not long before Narraway, Charlotte, and Pitt all learn they don't know who to trust, as it becomes evident both men were lured from London for some nefarious purpose.

One would not have expected Pitt's career to stay static, and after some years social gossip would have given away the identities of Charlotte and her sister Emily helping Pitt on the society-crime cases of the earlier books. Still, the stories have lost appeal since Pitt went from police detective to national security investigator. Missed is the investigative interaction between Pitt and his former partner Tellman (now married to Gracie Phipps, who makes a welcome cameo in this book), and the ways Charlotte, Emily, and the imperious yet sympathetic Lady Vespasia found to assist him. It also seems out of character for Charlotte to take matters in her own hands to quite the level she does, and the characteristic Perry examination of the supporting characters' underlying emotions, strengths and weaknesses has become quite superficial. For those of you joining this series on this, or the previous book, Buckingham Palace Gardens, please go back to the initial Pitt/Charlotte novels, starting with Cater Street Hangman, to read what this series had going for it in the past.

 Demon Ex Machina, Julie Kenner
Once upon a time Kate and Eric Crowe fought demons together, but they abandoned that life for a normal life raising a child. But there was a secret Eric never told Kate: a demon had been bound to him from childhood. And then Eric was killed when their daughter was nine years old.

Now Kate is remarried and she and her husband Stuart, an attorney, have a toddler son together, and daughter Allison is nearly fifteen. Some time earlier demons had come back into Kate's life and one by one Allison, Kate's best friend, and finally Stuart became aware of it. And Eric returned, his spirit reborn in schoolteacher David Long. And now the demon inside Eric is growing stronger, and with the help of a Demon Hunter gone rogue, is about to escape.

This is a nonstop—except for past exposition—action entry (it looks like the final book) in the series of Kenner's "demon-hunter soccer mom," where Kate realizes that to eliminate the demon she will probably need to kill Eric as well. Repercussions to Kate's marriage, to her relationship with her daughter; to Allison's relationship with her best friend and with her father are all into play here. Definitely suspenseful, although for regular readers of the series the exposition may become tiring.

 Angel With Two Faces, Nicola Upson
In this second of Upson's mysteries based on the real-life mystery writer Josephine Tey, the author is visiting friends in Cornwall for the summer while starting work on a new mystery. Nearby, her friend Inspector Archie Penrose has come back to home soil to attend the funeral of a friend, an accidental death which seems less accidental the more he investigates. Both Josephine and Archie become entwined with those closest to the case: the victim's twin sister and younger sister, a well-loved neighborhood schoolteacher, a young minister full of doubts, and more.

I did not like this second book so well as the first. One of my delights about the first book was how much like a 1930s-written book it was in language and attitude. This one seemed less so, and several events happen which all the characters, including Archie and Josephine, treat with a modern-day sensibility instead of the way people of the 1930s would have reacted. I did find the mystery fairly absorbing, and also enjoyed the description and information about Cornwall and the real-life Minack Theater, but there were reactions to relationships that I didn't understand the protagonists' calm acceptance of.

And while I hate to give spoilers, even though the relationship was consensual, this is NOT a book I would give to read to someone who has familial sexual abuse in their past. Please be warned about this aspect if you purchase this book for yourself or another.

 Once and Future Giants, Sharon Levy
History is about to repeat itself. The prehistoric giants, mammoths, dire wolves, aurochs, saber-tooth tigers, etc., all met their end the same way, at the hands of the two-legged predators known as man. And now man is once again encroaching on the last of the giants, like elephants and whales.

I was raised on theories of mammoths and other megafauna having been made extinct by climate change, so the theory that man may have caused their demise was a new one to me. I used to devour books like this as a child and was similarly absorbed by this theory, plus the concept of rewilding to possibly return damaged ecosystems back to a healthy status. The idea of transferring endangered African species like elephants, lions, and cheetahs to replace their extinct counterparts in North America was intriguing. Also of interest were the chapters about the extinct megafauna of Australia, something I had done little reading about, and a surprising chapter about Nazi attempts to breed aurochs (wild cattle, whose forms were painted by prehistoric hunters) and tarpans (wild horses).

 Rebirth of a Nation: The Making of Modern America, 1877-1920, Jackson Lears
The period of history that this book covers is my favorite in American history, with its combination of the progressive ideas of a group of reformers and the inventions and urbanization that changes the United States from an agrarian to an urban nation. I own several other books covering this period of history and was looking forward to the paperback publication.

In seven chapters, a prologue and a conclusion, Lear examines the highlights and issues of the era: the turning of the Civil War from a conflict chiefly to do with slavery to a romantic vision of battle, the deterioration of the rights of the freed slaves until "Jim Crow" firmly holds them in its grip, the rise of the wealthy industrialists and the "trust busting" that did little to break them, the "taming" of the West (and the inevitable subjugation of the native tribes), the sting of the eugenics movement, the rise of leisure time in the middle class, efforts to help the poor, the jingoism of rising imperialism, women's rights, and finally the destruction that was World War II. It's all presented with numerous anecdotes of the figures of the time, not just Theodore Roosevelt, John Rockefeller, Jane Addams, and William Jennings Bryan, but little mentioned but then well-known personalities like William James, Henry Adams, and the progressive southerners Tom Watson and Henry Grady.

Despite all this, I got the impression it was rather tossed at me pell-mell; not confusing as much as bouncing from one thing to another without taking a breath. Also, a running theme of the militaristic effects of "muscular Christianity" tied much of the anecdotes together.

 A Bitter Truth, Charles Todd
This third in the Bess Crawford mysteries has returned to the complexity of the first volume, after what I thought was a disappointing second book. Bess has briefly returned to her London flat on Christmas leave, preparatory to joining her parents for Christmas. But as she arrives home, she finds a battered woman trying to warm herself in the doorway. Lydia, as Bess discovers through questioning, has been struck during an argument with her Army officer husband; Lydia also immediately clings to Bess and persuades her to accompany her back to her husband's home to confront him. Bess has no sooner arrives than she realizes Lydia's family by marriage is haunted by the death of a child years earlier. But it is when a man is murdered after a family gathering that Bess is drawn into something much deeper than dysfunctional family members.

This is a happy return to a complex family mystery as in the first volume. Bess' investigation into the family mystery seems much more natural than in the previous volume, and she is joined in a search in France by an intriguing Australian soldier. Her father's assistant Simon Brandon is again pivotal in the novel as well. I also enjoyed the atmospheric descriptions, whether it be of Bess' cold return to London, the bleak country surroundings she finds in Sussex, or the smoky battlefields and appalling fate of the war wounded. Bess herself is a favorite of mine; she is practical, if with a tendency to get caught up with anyone who asks her help, and reminiscent of Maisie Dobbs without as much of the introspection.

 A Boston Miscellany, William P. Marchione
This is the delightful anecdotal book I first saw in the National Park Service bookstore in downtown Boston, and bought for myself at the Harvard Coop, a short history of the Hub from its founding to the 1920s, starting with William Blackstone, who later fled to Rhode Island and had several geographical landmarks named after him. Did you know that Beacon Hill used to be a very unfashionable address, containing the town workhouse and jail? That railroads began as a way to haul granite for building? That the prestigious addresses of Newbury and Marlborough Streets were once a fetid swamp? You'll read about Lafayette's visit to Boston, the construction of the first bridges to span the Charles River, the destruction of all but one of the hills upon which Boston was built, and more.

Assimilated

It was only a matter of time until I bought an e-reader.

Actually, I've been reading e-books since 2002 when I got my HP Jornada. Three years ago, a couple of our friends showed up at Timegate with Kindles, more friends have purchased various brands in the interim, including Phyllis, who bought a color Nook, and a few months ago, unable to resist the price at a Borders liquidation sale, James bought a Kobo. I have all three of the "name" book reader apps on my Droid: Kindle, Nook (which is a whopper at 12MB), and Borders, plus Google Books reader and Aldiko, which reads the new e-book darling, .epub format (taking the title away from Mobipocket and Microsoft Reader, which were the two leaders when I bought the Jornada).

I'd always had an interest in a Kindle, as Amazon just sells so many books, but when the color Nook came out, I was intrigued. It functioned not only as an e-reader, but had a browser, and you could get magazine subscriptions since it was in color. And, to be frank, it had other allure: it's an Android operating system and you can hack them to make them operate like a Droid, or even boot off an micro SD card and operate on a Droid. (I'm twisted that way, but it would give me a giggle to use a Kindle app on a Nook. <g>)

Not to mention the fact that it's upscale. My dad used to say that if you asked me to pick out a certain electronic, I'd invariably head for the one with the most buttons and the highest price (he also claimed I could sense a bookstore at five miles <g>).

However, I've pretty much been fence-sitting since after Christmas. I still don't like the price of most new e-books. Printed books have an entire pile of expenses having nothing to do with the writing or editing of a volume: costs to produce paper and ink, cost for the printing, cost for the cover graphic and the book cover (and the hardcover if it's a hardback). An e-book must still be written and edited, but the formatting doesn't take any of the labor or the cost of printing (I know, since I've formatted e-books myself with ReaderWorks). So why do e-books, especially paperbacks, cost the same as a printed book? If I knew the author was getting that extra profit, it would be different, but I know they're not.

So I think you know the answer to this one: I bought the color Nook last Friday. Most of the apps cost money, so I have a couple of the free ones: the calendar, Word of the Day, and GoodReads. I downloaded Evernote but you need an SD card for it. It comes with a crossword app, Pandora, and a sudoku app (I hate sudoku).

And nope, I haven't bought any books—yet. Every Friday, Barnes & Noble's Nook blog features a free e-book. Lots of vampires and paranormal stuff, it appears, which I'm really not into. I did download a reprint of a 1930s Fodor's guide to Europe and a chick-lit type thing. Read a few samples. Mostly I have downloaded some stuff off Munseys.com, Gutenberg, and ManyBooks (a bunch of Angela Brazil books, which I've just discovered and as many of the ten Hildegard Frey Camp Fire Girls books as are online—I have the other two; one I scanned and one I bought) and the three James Potter books by G. Norman Lippert. (I just discovered these. They are fanfiction originally written for Lippert's family. Apparently they were put on line and at first J.K. Rowling's lawyers tried to have them taken down. But she found out about the contents, realized they didn't infringe on anything she'd already written, and said she didn't mind it. So evidently she has no intention of writing about James Potter [Harry's son, not Harry's dad]. So far as I've read, which isn't much, they're well written, but lack that little bit of mischievous humor that make the Harry Potter books a bit different.)

On the other hand, I may be investing in a few e-books soon. I've become interested in the Daisy Dalrymple mysteries after reading about them on a book blog, and bought the first three of the British editions really cheaply from Hamilton Books. They're light mysteries set in England in the 1920s. Trouble is, Daisy is up to book eighteen now, and nine of the "middle books" are out of print (they were published in the 1990s and early 2000s) and some of them are going for as much as $45 used (yes, for paperbacks!). I thought of ordering them from Amazon.co.uk (they are just being published in England) and really, £26 was not bad for six books—until I saw the postage, which was nearly as much as the books. £21! For the slowest postage they have. Yow! But I managed to find the fourth book on Deep Discount, and Barnes & Noble carries the rest of them as e-books for the same price as a US paperback. So...maybe I might be persuaded to pay that silly price after all.

Books Finished Since May 1

 Murder Your Darlings, J.J. Murphy
Dorothy Parker arrives early for her luncheon at the Algonquin Hotel with her fellow members of "the Round Table," a sharp-tongued company of writers and publishers, including the acid-tongued Alexander Woollcott and the whimsical Robert Benchley, and discovers, under that selfsame table, the murdered body of a newspaper drama critic. A young visitor from the South, callow "Billy" Faulkner (yes, that Faulkner), is suspected of the crime, and Dorothy juggles apartments and escape routes to keep the young man out of the clutches of the police, accompanied by her drinking partner-in-crime, Benchley.

With the police pursing "Mr. Dachshund" (Dotty's cover name for Faulkner), Parker and Benchley bounce from newspaper publishers to speakeasies to the haunts of gangsters trying to figure out who would want to kill the critic—with a fountain pen nonetheless!—and even manage to do some writing in the process. Murphy draws a vivid picture of Prohibition New York, to the point where Parker and Benchley's sheer volume of imbibing makes one cross-eyed. And the members of the Round Table may have been inventive writers and creators, but they certainly were an unpleasant bunch of comrades, even to themselves. Still, the book moves at a brisk pace, and if knife-edged repartee is your fortè, you may enjoy the wild ride.

 My Life as an Experiment, A.J. Jacobs
I bought this off the remainder table and didn't expect much from it; it looked a lot lighter than The Year of Living Biblically and even Jacobs' first effort, The Know-It-All. In the end, indeed it is, but there are still several hilarious moments. Jacobs outsources all his responsibilities (to a company in India, nonetheless), tells only the strict truth for a month (you can imagine how that turned out), attempted to live by George Washington's "Rules of Civility," posed as a celebrity, attempted to find "the most rational toothpaste" (yes, honestly), and more.

As always, Julie Jacobs needs to be commended for putting up with A.J. The woman is a saint. And in total honesty, like A.J., I will tell you this is best bought as a remainder book. However, at that price, you should find something to enjoy.

 Tolstoy and the Purple Chair, Nina Sankovitch
Nina and her sister Anne-Marie were brought up with a love of books. From childhood they recommended volumes to each other, purchased each other books, read together. Then Anne-Marie passed away at age 46. Floundering in grief and memories, Nina decides to take a hiatus in her life and read a book a day as a way of soothing her soul and honoring her sister.

It was a daunting challenge. I'm a fast reader and can usually finish a regular-sized book in a day, but I'm not sure even I could have kept up her pace. I'm not sure I would have been prepared to give up sleep and other activities to keep this tryst. But I enjoyed reading of her experience: of the books she read, of the memories they brought back, how they made her think or cry or laugh—or occasionally just be happy the book was finished and there was a new one the next day! She read fiction, nonfiction, profound books, light books, young adult novels, and more.

This book is for anyone who has loved books and for whom books are a refuge from sorrow, something you turn to for solace and inspiration. You will definitely understand.

 White Corridor, Christopher Fowler
The war to close the Peculiar Crimes Unit isn't over: it has been arranged that a minor, tetchy royal will inspect their headquarters; surely what she sees will lead to an order to shut them down. If that isn't bad enough, senior officers Arthur Bryant and his more urbane partner John May have become trapped in a blizzard (and a murder investigation), while the rest of the unit must operate on their own, and solve the mystery death of one of their own, about-to-retire, superannuated coroner Oscar Finch, who expired in a room locked from the inside.

Fowler twists the unit, still bruised from their last adventure with the Horseman, into two parts: Bryant and May trying to help a young mother who's being stalked by a murderer while the rest of the unit works to solve Finch's death before the Princess' visit. As always in a PCU book, there is unexpected humor mixed with tension, the delightful eccentricities of each of the team members, and the mounting tension involved not only with the mother and her son being stalked, but the real danger of Bryant and May also becoming victims. I was a bit dismayed at the team being broken up for the story, but it did not fail. Another delight.

 Cut the Clutter and Stow the Stuff, edited by Lori Baird
Really, all I needed was another book about decluttering...but I had this 50 percent off coupon at JoAnn...

This is a very practical, readable clutter book. The author firsts asks a series of questions to pinpoint what type of clutter you have, and then helps you work with it. She's very practical and does not suggest you go out to buy expensive storage solutions, or even plastic tubs, her theory being that you just toss the stuff in bins and really don't declutter. She offers a lot of low-cost solutions for keeping things under control, from something as simple as a board nailed across two-by-fours in your non-drywalled garage to corral brooms and rakes by their handles, using non-traditional pieces for storage like putting a baker's rack in the mudroom or a sorting hamper in the garage, and just a bunch of other useful stuff. Very enjoyable and enough to set off light bulbs over your head.

 Ginny Gordon and the Lending Library, Julie Campbell
I picked this up at a used bookstore, having been a fan of Campbell's Trixie Belden novels since childhood, and having read that this resembled the Belden novels superficially: Ginny is always getting involved in mysteries, Ginny and her friends live in Westchester County [New York], they have counterparts in Trixie Belden characters (although I doubt if Trixie would have put up so patiently with the characters of the twins, Babs and Whiz, who always seem to be doing something stupid). In this entry, Ginny and her friends are starting a lending library in their small town and, inexplicably, two men are trying to find a specific copy of a new bestseller. Typical 1950s kids' mystery, with the biggest mystery to me how Ginny got any of her schoolwork done in between working on the library, trying to help a financially-challenged friend, and trying to find a companion for an older woman!

 A Free Man of Color, Barbara Hambly
In 1833 New Orleans during Mardi Gras, Benjamin January is playing piano at a ball where white benefactors display their handsome mixed-race mistresses. Of mixed racial heritage himself, January is a trained physician who cannot openly practice in the United States and supports himself by teaching and playing music. When he meets a former student of his, a costumed white woman wildly out of place at the event, and she asks him to help her speak with the well-known but spiteful Angelique Crozat, he cannot refuse her.

And then Crozat is found murdered.

This is a complicated historical mystery that pulls no punches about the racial discrimination of 19th century New Orleans. January must find out who killed Angelique without implicating his former student, and risks being sold into slavery to do so. The novel contains a large cast of characters, both of Creole and American extraction, and is a fascinating portrait of New Orleans society before it became Americanized, but is no light mystery reading. For those who stay with the story, there are rich characterizations and situations.

 The Alchemy of Murder, Carol McCleary
The first in a series of "unpublished" adventures of Elizabeth Cochran Seaman, otherwise known as crusading Victorian reporter Nellie Bly. Nellie's career including her incarceration in a mental institution (in order to expose the horrible treatment of the inmates) and traveling around the world in 72 days to beat the record of the fictional Phileas Fogg.

But "newly-discovered" manuscripts reveal that Nellie discovered a horrifying event while incarcerated on Blackwell's Island: a foreign doctor performing experiments on prostitutes. He escapes the United States, only to spend a short sojourn in London as Jack the Ripper, and then Nellie follows him to Paris, where the great Exposition is taking place. Here she enlists the help of Jules Verne, and eventually is assisted by the dissolute but charming Oscar Wilde and the elder biologist Louis Pasteur, entering the Parisian underworld in search of a madman. An epidemic looms over the city—but is it of natural causes or artificially produced?

This is a page-turner that takes Nellie from sewers to hospitals to the rough neighborhoods of the Parisian poor. Verne's initial hostility blossoms into something quite different, and there are chases through sewers teeming with rats, encounters in dance halls and sleazy clubs, a journey to the country stalked by cutthroats, as our heroes slowly realize a biological weapon is being born. Improbable, but addicting, except for one thing: it's another of these modern books where spell-checking is evidently done by computer. Nellie "shutters" instead of "shudders." Oscar Wilde wears "beeches" (nice trick) rather than "breeches." It breaks the crafted atmosphere and is really quite unfortunate.

 The Wilder Life, Wendy McClure
Anyone who has ever loved a book series to the point where they wished they could have lived the adventures in it will feel kinship with Wendy McClure, who fell in love with the Little House books as a child. Years later, she finds one of the books among her childhood things after her mother dies, and re-reads and becomes obsessed with the series. With her patient partner in tow, she tries recipes from the books, and eventually visits each of the sites Laura Ingalls Wilder lived in.

If you are expecting a "tour" of the Ingalls sites, you will be disappointed, as some reviewers were. This is not a Laura Ingalls Wilder travelogue, but the journey of Wendy McClure, who is searching for a past that is not her own. She has some amusing journeys to each of the sites, and gives a portrait of the Laura-lore as it is presented at each home, from the pageants in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, to the loneliness of the prairie, but it is also the story of Wendy's reconciliation with her own past.

I really enjoyed this book, but nevertheless was a bit dismayed at one portion: her and her partner's reaction to the devout Christians they met at one of the sites. Neither of them is religious, and they referred to the Christians as "cult members" and other unpleasant names because they indulged in prayers and practiced disaster preparedness, possibly in case of the end times, which several of the group chatted about. I felt their reactions were rather bigoted. Would they have reacted the same way to Muslims praying five times a day, a Wiccan or a Native American performing a traditional ritual, or Catholics saying the rosary? The Christians they encountered treated them with nothing but friendliness and did not try to forcibly convert them. Could they not have been polite and tolerant? This really bothered me.

 Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths of World History, Richard Shenkman
Given that I enjoyed Shenkman's I Love Paul Revere Whether He Rode Or Not and his similarly-titled volume to this, about US history, I was puzzled at the fact that I did not like this book as well as the others. Then I scanned some of the reviews of all three books and noticed that my opinion pretty well dovetailed with the others. The two US books were fun "bites" of American history, but while Shenkman admits straight out in the preface to this particular book that he's about to be Eurocentric, the book still seems gratuitously padded with jokes at the expense of the facts. The whole thing seemed like a lesser effort just to stuff some historical facts in humor. Very disappointing.

 State Fair, Earlene Fowler
It's nice to see Benni Harper and hubby Gabe Ortiz "back on the job," as it were. This time Benni is helping out at the annual Mid-State Fair and enjoying a week of "bad for you" foods. A feature at this year's fair is an exhibit of reproductions of African-American quilts. Then the most complicated of the quilts disappears—and reappears wrapped around the dead body of a young white man who was dating a biracial girl who is the daughter of the fair's first African-American general manager. Could the death be racially motivated?

Since the quilting club and the manager are all Benni's friends, of course she can't help getting involved. But who might be responsible? Is the skinhead group in their midst too obvious? And why was the body stuffed in the family exhibit of a loudmouth car dealer?

The mystery shares several stages with other subplots, most prominently Benni's realization that racism still exists in San Celina. There's also a lively subplot with Benni's visiting great Aunt Garnet, who displays a surprising aspect of her personality and which lends a great deal of humor to the first half of the novel. Pleasing on several levels for fans of Benni, Gabe, Grandma Dove, and other returning characters.

[Note: Fowler has never made a secret of her Christianity, especially through Dove, Father Mac, and several other characters. However, it seems to be manifesting itself more heavily in the text in this offering. Some folks may find it unexpected or disconcerting.]

 Mr. Monk is Cleaned Out, Lee Goldberg
Monk has too much on his plate. No there hasn't been a surfeit of killings in San Francisco; in fact, due to the downturn in the economy, the police department's let him go from his consulting job. He figures he'll live on his investments—until he finds out they're gone, his "investment counselor" accused of a gigantic Ponzi scheme of which he claims he is innocent. Monk not only considers him guilty, but suspects him of murder as well. What will both Monk and Natalie do without jobs? Worst yet, what will Monk do without water—his beloved Sierra Springs has also gone out of business! How long can he survive on water a teaspoon at a time?

This is the second book I've read in two months that involves the protagonists with economic downturns. The children in the previous book almost reacted better than Monk. As always in the novels, Monk seems to have more phobias than ever, and they can get intensely annoying. There is a nice confrontation between Natalie and her teen daughter Julie that shows Natalie's backbone, a humorous sequence in a pizza parlor, and a welcome appearance by Monk's agoraphobic brother Ambrose, but I didn't enjoy this one as much as, say, Mr. Monk is Miserable or Mr. Monk in Outer Space.

 Time Unincorporated, Volume 2: The Doctor Who Fanzine Archives, edited by Graeme Burk and Robert Smith?
The title pretty much tells all in this collection of articles about the classic series of Doctor Who, some informative, some touching, some humorous. We learn about the Canadian roots of the series, series symbolism, "31 Things I Wouldn't Know If I Didn't Watch Doctor Who," essays for and against Jon Pertwee's Doctor (and another about his relationship with Jo), a look at the stereotyping in the classic "Talons of Weng-Chiang," women in the series, a closer look at Barbara Wright and Tegan Jovanka, as well as the Tom Baker era and John Nathan-Turner's tenure, examination of the Daleks, "20 Handy Tips for Survival in the Doctor Who Universe," and fifty more. You may not love every essay, but there's certainly something here for everyone. IMHO, a must collection for the classic Who fan.

 The Mistaken Wife, Rose Melikan
In this third book of the adventures of Miss Mary Finch, heiress, and Captain Robert Holland, Army engineer and occasional adventurer, intelligence agent Sir Cuthbert Shy recruits a restless Mary to perform her most dangerous mission yet: she is to pretend she is the wife of an expatriot American painter and travel to Paris, a Paris in the wake of the Revolution and patrolled by menacing French officers, to keep the French from forming an alliance with the Americans against the British. At the same time, Holland has had troubling news of a new weapon, a boat that travels underwater. He also infiltrates France, knowing nothing of Mary's mission.

Needless to say, the two meet, sparks fly—and they must then race to complete their respective missions and then escape France before the gendarmes discover what they're up to. In the meantime, a faithful friend of Mary's preserves the illusion she's in England—but will the secret be kept?

Based on two real events, "the XYZ affair" and Robert Fulton's invention of a submarine, the suspense builds slowly until it's almost too late. A great combination of history and suspense, with two charming heroes who don't slobber over each other.

 The Hardy Boys Mysteries, 1927-1979: A cultural and Literary History, Mark Connelly
What makes the Hardy Boys, created in the 1920s in a series of formula-driven, cheaply-published novels, enduring characters? Connelly addresses the mystery in this McFarland volume, which chronicles the early adventures of the Hardy brothers, Frank and Joe, through their 1920s exploits with "roadsters" and stereotypical minority characters through the 1950s when the books were rewritten and socially adjusted to the modern era where they fight terrorists with the latest technology. The characters are examined, how they changed with the times (and how the villains did as well), how the stories were corrected but became less challenging, how language differed over the years, how women were viewed in the series, and more. Connelly even tries to locate "Bayport," the iconic Hardy Boys hometown. A must for anyone who loved the Hardy Boys.

 Royal Flush, Rhys Bowen
Lady Georgina has just committed a major social blunder: the penniless 34th-in-line-for-the-British-throne, young "Georgie," unable to find employment in any other field, decides she will hire herself out as a dinner companion to traveling businessmen. She soon discovers that "escort" means something a bit different than she envisioned, and is luckily rescued from a lascivious client by her dashing Irish beau, Darcy O'Mara. Then she is visited by an official for the Home Office, who asks her to return to her ancestral home a few weeks early. Someone appears to be trying to injure (or perhaps kill) members of the Royal family. So Georgie reluctantly returns to Castle Rannoch, to be enthusiastically and uncharacteristically greeted by her dour sister-in-law "Fig," who is being driven mad by visiting Americans (including Wallis Simpson, the inamorata of the Prince of Wales).

Georgie rather bumbles her way through this mystery, which throws all sorts of characters at one right and left: a sexy Italian speed demon, endlessly bathing Americans, a dashing woman pilot, a dismissed officer, a stalking reporter, Georgie's twinkling Cockney grandfather and her narcissistic mother—even the young Princess Elizabeth! It's a fun romp through another version of a legend addressed in a Robin Paige book.

 In a Gilded Cage, Rhys Bowen
While attending a women's suffrage parade with her unconventional friends Sid and Gus and their former Vassar classmates, Molly Murphy is arrested, but rescued by her police office fiance Daniel Sullivan; via the parade private detective Molly also gains two cases: one old classmate asks her to find out the truth about her birth, and some time later Molly is contacted by another classmate who wishes to know if her husband is cheating on her. But when the latter woman abruptly dies, Molly wonders if there is more to the case than adultery.

I guessed "who" early on, but the "why" of the tale is a convoluted mystery that should keep most "gaslight era mystery" fans entertained. More interesting in this volume is Bowen's portrayal of an era when women were almost literally property of their men, unable to do anything without male approval, and the husband held sway; women who showed intelligence were called "bluestockings" and were persuaded to bury their education to become pampered creatures who were basically baby breeders. Molly is having her own struggle with accepting a marriage proposal; she likes being an independent woman as much as she loves Sullivan. It is a thoughtful portrayal for what intelligent women know was an infuriating era.

My one quibble: at least twice Bowen uses modern nomenclature which propels me abruptly out of the story. (For instance, a woman refers to a suspected homosexual person as "AC/DC." Say what?) Why carefully paint Molly's turn-of-the-last-century world and then use vocabulary that destroys the brushstrokes?

 The Little Ice Age, Brian Fagan
At one time England and Newfoundland were so warm that vineyards flourished. The Vikings struck terror into neighboring countries because the ice packs had retreated enough to give them a freewheeling lifestyle.

And then climate changed. Bitter winters and rainy summers became the norm. Crops rotted, people starved throughout the late medieval and Renaissance periods into the age of exploration. The 19th century saw some conditions even worsen: when Mount Tambora erupted, the world suffered through "the year without a summer," where snow fell in June and frost killed ripening crops. Climate change led to the Irish being dependent on potatoes, which caused disaster when the potato blight struck.

This is a smart, readable text about the effects of climate change on people, society, governments, and ecology. Never simplistic, the text is accompanied by maps and graphs to further illustrate events and concepts.

 A Witch in Time, Madelyn Alt
The little town of Stony Mill sees two more mysterious deaths, but it's the domestic complications of protagonist Maggie O'Neill and her family that drive this newest Bewitching mystery. Maggie's just about to tryst with her boyfriend Marcus Quinn when she gets the word that her "perfect sister" is ready to deliver. Pretty soon Mel is with twins, and Maggie has become trapped in an elevator, where she hears what sounds like a threat against a woman. Later on, she hears an argument between a man and one of the new mothers on the maternity floor. Can the two events be connected?

We spend the first half of the book involved with Maggie's family dynamics (in fact, it all takes place at the hospital) and the mystery doesn't really get going till the second half. Indeed, the story is more about Maggie coping with her overbearing mother, repercussions from the birth of the twins, Marcus' growing relationship with her, and a minor subplot involving Maggie's best friend. If you don't mind the story being light on mystery and you don't mind the "Grandma Cora" convention leaping to another level, you should enjoy this entry in Alt's series. Maggie's grandfather is a hoot!

 Our Glorious Century, Reader's Digest Books
A super used bookstore find: a big coffee-table book published in 1994 as an overview to 20th century life in the United States. Crammed full of photographs, lithographs, drawings, maps, charts, and other visual aids, the book progresses era through era covering the political, social, and environmental issues of each time period, with the occasional two-page spread about fads that spread over the entire century, like automobiles, games, transportation, and more. A delightful cornucopia of American history.

The "Real" Lord Peter?

In face only, at least. Apparently, Sayers based Wimsey's looks on Roy Ridley.

Books Finished Since April 1

 Coming into the Country, John McPhee
After watching series like R5Sons Alaska and Flying Wild Alaska, plus numerous nature specials taking place in the area, I was a natural to be drawn to this book by nonfiction writer McPhee in which he examines the wild landscape, the individual Alaskans, and even the politics of the Last Frontier. The book opens on a fishing/camping trip that McPhee takes with four other men, surveying the Salmon River, where he immerses himself in magnificent landscapes of river bottoms, tundra, and mountain slopes teeming with wildlife, fish, and insects—and learns how to successfully avoid grizzly bears. Next, a short chapter focuses on the conflicts between those who wish Juneau to be retained as the state capitol, and those who feel that the government in Juneau are out of touch with "real" Alaskans and wish to form another state capital. The last and largest portion of the book portray the stubborn, strong, opinionated, and often odd folks who live in the "bush," often under living situations most people would find primitive and/or horrifying, from a man who passed the winter living off the land and scant supplies with only his dog for companionship, to couples who eschew beautiful clothing and furniture for "roughing it," to rough individualists who chafe at government control. I enjoyed reading about the "bush" and also about the unusual people who live in it, but found the chapter about the capital quarrel a bit dull.

 Staying Together, Ann M. Martin
Is this the end of the "Main Street" series? There certainly seemed to be signs of a conclusion, with characters taking stock at the end.

Ruby's "project" to make up for the wrong thing she has done appears to be making her a better person, but her older sister Flora knows better. The girls are not speaking, and their best friends Olivia and Nikki can't help but be affected. In the meantime, the economic crunch has come to Camden Falls and all the small businesses are doing their best to cope. Will Hilary's family have to move back to Boston? Will their efforts to fund-raise for the town community center be successful?

The best thing about the Main Street books is that they don't solely concentrate on the child protagonists, nor do they gloss over some hard facts (Nikki volunteers at an animal shelter, and is faced with abused animals and survivors of puppy mills). Several portions of the book focus on Mr. Pennington's search for a new dog; in another sequence Mr. Willet (the elderly gentleman whose wife has Alzheimer's disease) makes a momentous decision about his future; Robby, the gentle boy with Down syndrome, enters a new phase in his life; even the girls' Aunt Allie's life is changing.

If this is a wrap-up book, it ties up most loose ends. But I will certainly miss my visits to Camden Falls.

 The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin
I was curious when this book came out, enough to go to Amazon.com to read reviews. Some of them were downright vituperative: "shallow, silly, stupid," all came up at various times. A frequent theme reoccurred: "What does Gretchen Rubin have to be unhappy about? She says...brags, some people insist...about her wonderful husband, kids, family, job, home.

I think they missed "the piont," as they used to joke on Ask the Manager. Rubin admits her blessings of home, family, and work right off, but wonders: "If my life is so good, why am I so unhappy so often?" This is Rubin's discovery of herself, and how making herself happy actually helps her family and friends attain happiness as well. She doesn't perfect anything, backslides and recovers, admits selfishness and frustration, but persists. It's her journey into what works for her, but any "happiness project" you do for yourself must center around your own needs and situations. I found her writing bright and interesting, and, while there is some repetition, it is usually to emphasize key points, not to fill space.

I felt inspired by Rubin's journey and hope to profit from it. I may never have a super job in New York City or adorable children, but happiness can be attained on many levels. Your mileage may vary.

 Mistress of the Art of Death, Ariana Franklin
As a baby, she was found on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius by two scientists of the school of Salerno, a girl they named Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar. In a school which made no distinction between men and women, Adelia, as she is known, has not only been trained in medicine, but has learned to read from the bodies of the deceased the method of their death.

In other words, she's a coroner—and in a 12th century world. When four small children are murdered in Cambridge and the profitable Jews of the town are blamed, King Henry II asks the King of Sicily to send someone who will sort the means of their deaths. Along with her companions, Mansur, a Moor who acts as her bodyguard, and Simon, a Jew, Adelia is sent to England, a superstitious, religious-constrained, male-oriented England that would consider an educated woman a witch. Under cover of acting as a "wise woman" assistant to Mansur, Adelia slowly reveals the brutal nature of the crime—and that the killer is living among the people she has been traveling with, including a kindly abbot, a high-living abbess, a churlish knight and his kindly companion who have returned from the Crusades, and the former Crusader Sir Rowley Picot, who takes a shine to Adelia.

While Adelia does seem a bit more "liberated" than any medieval woman would be (including providing low-cal suggestions to an overweight man), Franklin does an excellent job of portraying medieval society and the living conditions of the unwashed, unlettered world around Adelia. Do be aware that the childrens' murders are very brutal and described as such, which may be disturbing to some.

 Meerkat Manor: Flower of the Kalahari, Tim Clutton-Brock
This was a great find from the bargain shelf! If you followed the Animal Planet series Meerkat Manor, you will probably also enjoy this well-narrated, lavishly-illustrated book by Clutton-Brock, who headed the research project studying the meerkats. Indeed, the project had progressed over several years before someone had the idea to film the colony of meerkats, develop it into a narrative, and turn it into a television series. For that reason, this book covers more than Flower and her progeny, but begins with her own birth and puphood, and describes how she became the alpha female of the "Whiskers" clan. The observers are careful to be just that—the meerkats were given names only to keep from referring to them by confusing numerical identifiers—but it's quite amusing to see how the meerkats actually became used to the researchers and used them and their vehicles for lookout perches!

 The Shanghai Moon, S.J. Rozan
When I picked this up I thought, "Wow, I haven't read a Lydia Chin story in ages." And ages it has been, at least a half-dozen year since Rozan's last novel involving this pair. When I finished I realized it had been worth the wait.

When Lydia is hired by Joel Pilarsky to look into a matter of missing jewelry, she never realizes how deeply she will become emotionally involved with the original owner of the piece, Rosalie Gilder, an Austrian Jewish girl who, with her brother, fled the country just before the Nazis captured the remainder of her family, and emigrated to Shanghai, and who left a legacy of letters behind. On the ship she meets a charming Chinese businessman who will shape her future.

There are several threads working in this mystery, including Lydia's rocky relationship with her now ex-partner, Bill Smith, and her attempts to get her contentious mother to move somewhere more comfortable, her family's connection to Chinese gangs, and the tangled lore of a legend that has become attached to the piece of jewelry known as "the Shanghai Moon," but the most fascinating portion of the story is the historical tale of the Jews who moved to Shanghai and formed a community there after being turned away by other supposedly freedom-loving countries. This was a historical event of which I had no knowledge, and I was as engrossed by Rosalie's tale as much as I was by the search for the "Moon" and a murderer. Great from first page to last—and, Lydia? don't be away so long next time!

 The Anglo Files, Sarah Lyall
When Sarah Lyall married a British man and moved from New York City to London, she realized she'd have to face some culture changes: driving and language differences, for instance. But she also found some things that were downright perplexing or odd: the glacial speed of cricket, the eccentricities of nobility and the House of Lords, political and sexual banter, the legendary British habits of understatement and self-effacement, the Page 3 girls in the Sun, the unpredictable British weather, and more—and even hedgehog lovers.

Anglophiles may enjoy this wry volume that hides a bit of melancholy and frustration under Lyall's commentary. It's obvious that she's never quite fit in with the British lifestyle and it shows. In fact, many times she makes the British sound a bit pathetic, when all they have is personal quirks just like any other person of any other nationality. Still, I found it a fun read without taking the sour underside too seriously.

 Chicken Soup for the Soul: Living Catholic Faith, Jack Canfield/Mark Victor Hansen/LeAnn Thieman
Perfect Lenten reading: 101 short pieces about faith, love, healing, consolation—occasionally even humorous recollections. Several of them can be applied to any denomination, but these are chiefly told from the POV of the Catholic faith.

 The Year of Living Biblically, A.J. Jacobs
I hadn't read Jacobs' other book, The Know-It-All, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect of this book. I'd purchased it last year and pulled it out for Lenten reading. Jacobs, Jewish by heritage but not doing more than lending it lip service, decided to spend a year "living Biblically," trying to obey rules set by the Bible, eight months for the Old Testament, four for the New. He starts out in what I take is his typical quirky manner by having his clothing inspected so that he does not break the rules that say fibers of wool and linen should not be mixed.

The first thing I need to say is that Jacobs' wife Julie has to be the most patient woman on earth. When Jacobs said he was going to live by the rules of the Bible, he tried to meet most of them, including things like not sitting in chairs that a menstruating woman had previously sat in. Plus, given the idea and the book's cover, the whole thing sounded as if it might be flippant.

Well, he is a bit flippant, but not usually about the Bible, and in the course of consulting books, investigating other churches (as well as things like a Creationist museum and Bible discussion groups), talking to religious people as diverse as Amish farmers and snake-handlers, Jacobs' text often reminded me of points presented in The Happiness Project: that if we just took the time to slow down, be kind to one another, listen, and give something of ourselves, our lives just might be a little better. Offbeat but more insightful than you'd expect.

 What on Earth Have I Done?, Robert Fulghum
In this latest collection of life essays by Fulghum, he talks about "the Mother Questions," those that your mom demands of you when you have been too full of yourself: "What on earth have you done?" "What in the name of God are you doing?" "What will you think of next?" and "Who do you think you are?" When Mom asks them, they are daunting enough...but in reality, they are questions to ask yourself for all time. The essays are grouped into threes, written in his own neighborhood in Seattle; from a second home in Moab, Utah; and from his vacation home in Crete (where he tells a delightful tale about his housekeeper). These later essays aren't as fresh as his earlier ones, but I had to bookmark this bit by Fulghum, I liked it so:
       Meanwhile, the trucks of fate roll by.
       The trick is not to get run over by one.
       The trick is to be there, alert, by the side of the road, with your thumb out. So that if the truck with your number on it just happens to come along, you will know. And you will get in and go. And the ride will be as long and as lovely as you always imagined it might be.

 Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City, Michelle Nevius and James Nevius
This is the kind of history-combined-with-travel book I love. The Neviuses take us street by street starting at the Battery and the earliest settlement on the island of "Manna-hata," and then northwards as the city expands over the years. Many books of this sort print a photograph and a few lines, but this volume is jam-packed with facts and fascinating stories like that of "the Peach War," Castle Clinton (which later became the predecessor to Ellis Island), the oldest existing cast-iron building in the city, the revelation of just who is buried in Grant's Tomb, and other facts well-known or obscure. Peppered with black-and-white photographs, this is a great volume for anyone who loves history and especially that behind the metropolitan massiveness of "the Big Apple."

 A Rather Lovely Inheritance, C.A. Belmond
Yes, okay, it's chick-lit. But it's light, charming, with a minimal mystery and a likeable heroine, Penny Nichols, a young woman who makes her living doing research for historical films. When Penny is named an heir in her Aunt Penelope's will, she makes the re-acquaintance of her handsome cousin Jeremy, now an attorney, and the acquaintance of her distasteful Aunt Dorothy and her dissolute cousin Rollo, and a whole passel of familial intrigue, including hidden bequests and a long-buried secret.

And thus begins an odyssey that crosses England, France and Italy as Jeremy's right to inherit is contested, and a mysterious burglary of Penny's new flat inherited from her aunt takes place. There's nothing deep or socially significant about this book—it's just nice light reading, with an appealing, spunky heroine, a dashing but moody hero, a few shady characters along with a few more with ulterior motives, the romantic history of lively Aunt Penelope, and foreign locales that will make you want to move to a villa in France or take a vintage flat in London. Just put your brain in neutral and enjoy.

 Atlantic, Simon Winchester
Having grown up barely fifteen minutes' drive from an Atlantic inlet (Narragansett Bay) and spent so many summer (and winter) Sundays on the shore of this restless ocean, I was eager to read this new effort by Winchester.

As a whole I enjoyed this "biography" of the Atlantic ocean beginning with its formation after the separation of the super-continent of Pangaea. Winchester then uses as his framework Shakespeare's "Seven Ages of Man" to tell the story of man's relationship with the turbulent ocean: the Phoenicians' tentative steps onto the feared waves in search of murex dye, and other early explorations, followed by the great wave of European explorers, and then onward to stories of battles at sea, famous wrecks, the extension of technology across the ocean (the Atlantic cable, followed by the transmission of wireless), to the present-day worries of pollution and rising sea temperature affecting marine life. Despite this organization, the book occasionally feels scattered, with irrelevant tangents, although in total the history, legends, and tales collected are of interest, especially a history of trans-Atlantic shipping and the first packet boats.

This is my first foray into one of Winchester's books, so I came with no pre-conceptions of his writing style. Other reviews appear to have found something lacking in this volume. Perhaps, then, this volume is best read by Winchester neophytes, or those who really love the lore of the Atlantic and won't mind the occasional sidetrack.

For Molly Murphy Fans

Are you a fan of Rhys Bowen's Molly Murphy mysteries? If you have a Kindle or a Kindle phone app, you can get a free, prequel Molly Murphy story from Amazon.com that will be delivered to your device when the story is released on May 10:

"The Amersham Rubies"
 

Whilst Wandering Through a Catalog

When I name beloved books that I first read in junior high school—The Family Nobody Wanted, The Story of Walt Disney, What Katy Did/What Katy Did at School, A Wrinkle in Time, Have Spacesuit Will Travel, Especially Dogs, The Morning of Mankind—there is one I always forget to name, but the book itself is so memorable that I smile at its title just thinking about it: Laurie Lee's Cider With Rosie, although I first knew it by its American title, The Edge of Day.

This was a magical book. Lee was born during World War I and grew up impoverished but surrounded with the love of his mother and older sisters in a small English village. This was the first time I had ever read prose that sounded more like poetry; Lee's use of description and language was like a song set in paragraphs, a chronicle of his home and village life, and his adventures in growing up.

Google Books has some sample chapters of this extraordinarily lovely autobiography here; perhaps you too will fall in love with its delightful prose.