To Be Sung Under Water by Tom McNeal

to be sung underwater is an ARC from Blue Dot Literary, LLC.  I've struggled for a long while trying to decide what to say about it.  For some reason, it has been difficult to put into words my perception of the book.

Tom McNeal writes beautifully of Judith Whitman, a woman who realizes that she is disconnected from her life--from her husband,  her daughter, her mother, her friends, her work.  She has everything she thought she wanted, but now, Judith seems to be having a mid-life crisis.

Her way of dealing with this realization is to withdraw even further, to return to memories of her adolescence, her parents divorce, and her father's move to Nebraska.  As she allows these retreats into memory more space in her life, she begins to focus on Willy Blunt, her first love, and eventually decides to get in touch with him.

This is a compelling story of a woman who wants, at least temporarily, to return to an earlier time in her life, to have the feeling of possibilities.

I thought of John Greenleaf Whittier's poem Maud Muller, and these lines:

God pity them both! and pity us all,
Who vainly the dreams of youth recall.
For of all sad words of tongue or pen,	105
The saddest are these: "It might have been!"

When Judith contacts Willy Blunt,  he asks her to come see him.  She returns to Nebraska for a brief interlude with Willy, not a sexual assignation, but a kind of reunion and possibly a rapprochement.  In the end, however, Judith is not sure of Willy's purpose and there is no sense of resolution for Judith.

I loved Tom McNeal's voice and the lovely language of the novel, and as I mentioned, I was quickly engrossed in the story.  However, it does have distinct echos of a longer, more complex, and definitely better-written Bridges of Madison County.  Maybe that is one reason why it has taken me so long to get to this review; I loved reading it, but the after-thoughts aren't quite as positive as the process of reading.

The thing that saves it, perhaps, is the ambivalence at the end.  Willy's actions, the plan he set in motion, leaves Judith in an emotional limbo.  She can never know his intentions for having Malcolm there.

Other review/ opinions:  S. Krishna's Books, Book Chase, Pamela Leavy,

Fiction.  Contemporary Fiction.  2011.  436 pages.

Heaven Is High by Kate Wilhelm

Heaven Is High is the latest in the Barbara Holloway series that I've been reading for years.  There are 12 in the series, and I haven't read them all, just the ones the library has, but I enjoy these legal mysteries.   This novel isn't a courtroom drama, really, so the cover is misleading, but Barbara Holloway is a lawyer, and her cases all involve mystery and suspense.

Barbara  is a courageous and compassionate advocate for her clients.  In Heaven Is High, Barbara is attempting to block the deportation of  Binnie, a young woman and a mute to Haiti.   The more she discovers about the case, the more suspicious she becomes about the reasons and individuals behind the tips that brought Binnie to the attention of the Immigration Service.

Time is short, and Barbara decides to go to Belize to attempt to persuade Binnie's grandfather to establish that Binnie is not a native of Haiti.  Once there, however, she discovers that the grandfather has recently been murdered .  Her next step is to locate Binnie's aunt, but Barbara discovers that she herself is in danger.

These are not cozy novels, but neither are the hard-edged, darker type of authors like Jo Nesbo.

I was not aware that Wilhelm also wrote SF and has won a Hugo and 3 Nebula awards.  Will have to look into this side of the author.

Other reviews/opinions:  Genre Go Round,

Fiction.  Mystery/Legal thriller.  2011.  304 pages.

Tomorrow is World Alzheimer's Day

Put Your Loved One on FaceBook

World Alzheimer's Day is Wednesday September 21st. Please change your FaceBook profile picture to a photograph of a person who has/had Alzheimer's that you wish to honor and remember on September 21st and always.

Please include this statement in your status update:

I support the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative at www.AlzQuilts.org 

If you make a $5 donation (below) to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative before midnight on Wednesday post the invoice number generated by your donation to the AAQI FaceBook Page*, we will capture the image of your loved one from your profile picture and add it to the 2011 AAQI Virtual Wall of Remembrance where it will remain for one year. Names will not accompany photographs.

If you are not on FaceBook, or wish to make multiple donations to honor more than one person, email one photograph of each of your loved ones and the invoice number generated by your donation ($5 per photograph) to Diane at diane456@gmail.com. Pictures may be cropped and sized to fit the wall.

As it is somewhat time consuming to snag and post your profile picture, please do not change it until you see it appear on the "wall" on the AAQI Update Blog. It may take several days to keep up! We'll do our best.

*If you've never been there before, you may have to click the "LIKE" button. What's not to like?!

Read more: http://www.alzquilts.org/putyolooneon.html#ixzz1YWDf7d5v  


All donations to AAQI go directly to AD research.  The entire organization is made up of volunteers.  I don't know any other charity that does this.

I've donated in memory of my father, 1924-2010.  His birthday is coming up, so it is nice to be able to celebrate World Alzheimer's Day in his birth month.

Hell Is Empty by Craig Johnson

I' d only read one other book by Johnson (The Cold Dish -- you know, revenge is a dish best served cold), but I liked it a lot, and Hell Is Empty ("Hell is empty and all the devils are here."  The Tempest) only made me eager to read more.

The Cold Dish was the first book in the series and the setting was a  blizzard and an arduous journey.  Strange that I've read the first and the latest in the series and that both have the weather as almost another character.  Now, I've got to seek out five books published after the The Cold Dish and before Hell Is Empty.

Walt Longmire is the sheriff of Absaroka County in Wyoming.  When several murderous convicts escape during a transfer to the FBI, killing several FBI Agents and taking two hostages,  Longmire goes after them.  The trail leads higher and higher into the Big Horn Mountains in the midst of a blizzard.  Cold as hell seems an apt description.

I missed Henry Standing Bear's presence (he has only a small role in this novel), but I liked Virgil quite a lot.  The novel has suspense, endurance, and mysticism

One of the minor characters, Sancho (a Basque deputy) has been reading Dante, and his copy of The Inferno (yall know I love The Inferno) plays a role in Longmire's hunt for the convicts.  Here we have hell featured once again.

  In the back of the novel, Craig Johnson includes the reading list that has been given to Sancho. Walt Longmire, Henry Standing Bear, Victoria Morelli, and several other characters each added 10 books to the list.  It is interesting to see the books each character deems important.  I'm always curious about what other people recommend, even fictional people.

As with the first in the series, I found Hell Is Empty to be a page turner.  Now, I've got to go back and try to pick up the other books in the series, hopefully in order.

Other reviews/ opinions:  Unruly Reader, My Random Acts of Reading,

Fiction.  Mystery/Western.  20ll.  320 pages.

Around the Blog World

I first saw Thomas Allen's work on Sam's Book Chase blog.  What fun!

This one is a favorite.

Carl's R.I.P. Challenge is going on and this is the first year since it started that I haven't participated.  At least so far.  Must do something about it.  I've read a number of books this year that would have qualified for this challenge--now I wish I'd held back on some of them.   I need some new gothic-type titles.         

You can turn your blog into a book.  Jeez, I wonder what that would cost for those of us who have been blogging for years?         

We all love creative bookshelves, but this older idea is such an easy DIY.

These are amusing:

I love the way I can explore the creative world from right here at home!

                                                                                                                         

The Return of Captain John Emmet by Elizabeth Speller

The Return of Captain John Emmett was a pleasure to read. It is Speller's first novel and is  beautifully written and skillfully plotted with well-rounded and interesting characters.

The setting is London, 1920, in the aftermath of the Great War.  All of England is still reeling from the loss of life and the domestic tragedies that have ensued.  Laurence Bartram has pretty much isolated himself from the world, associating almost exclusively with his friend Charles, who is also a veteran.  Charles is social and full of interesting gossip, providing Laurence with a connection to a society he mostly avoids.

When Mary Emmet writes him a letter asking for his help in discovering why her brotherCaptain John Emmett committed suicide after surviving all the horrors of the war, Laurence finds himself intricately involved in asking questions that lead him to more questions.  With the help of Charles, Laurence determines that not only Captain John Emmett has died after returning from the war, but so have several other veterans who have ties to Captain Emmett.

As Laurence searches for answers, he also begins to come to terms with his own war experiences.

A compelling novel.  I recommend it!

Other reviews/ opinions: A Work in Progress,

Fiction:  Mystery/ Historical Fiction.  2011.  442 pages.

www: wake by Robert J. Sawyer

w w w: wake is an unusual book.  It is the first in a trilogy about...the awakening of the web.

Young Caitlin Decter is young, a math prodigy, web savvy, and blind.  When offered a new and experimental implant that might help her see, she is thrilled and jumps at the chance.  The implant, however, provides a view into the web realm, and she discovers (as it is discovering her) something else, another consciousness.

Many well-known specialists in the fields of neuroscience, linguistics, mathematics, and web science and computer geekdom,  become part of Caitlin's reading and studying:  Steven Pinker, Julian Jaynes, Stephen Jay Gould, Stephen Wolfram, Claude Shannon, and Doug Lenat of Cycorp.  Fascinating stuff and intricately woven into the story.

Or stories, I should say, because there is more than one story going on here, and although they involve different people in different countries and different fields, the relationships become more and more evident.

Robert J. Sawyer has won all three of the world's for science-fiction:  the Hugo, the Nebula, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award -- only one of seven writers ever to do so.  He has, in fact, won forty-one national and international awards for his fiction.

The library is holding the next book in the series for me now.  Yes!

Other reviews/ opinions:  Starmetal Oak Book Blog, Rhapsody in Books, The Great Geek Manual,

Fiction.  Speculative Fiction/ SF.  2009.  354 pages.

A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear

A Lesson in Secrets adds another episode in the life of Maisie Dobbs, and I always enjoy a new Maisie adventure.

In the 8th book in the series, Maisie finds herself, for the first time, more than financially comfortable.  Maurice Blanche, Maisie's mentor and dear friend, made her the chief beneficiary in his will.

The series began in the aftermath of WWI, with all the problems England faced having lost almost a generation of young men.  Recently, Winspear has been incorporating hints about the problems in Germany, and A Lesson in Secrets sees the threat of WWII being manifested in Germany and England.

Maisie is approached by the British Secret Service for help in keeping an eye on individuals with a leaning toward Communism.  She accepts a job as a philosophy teacher at a college in Cambridge, and she finds that what alarms her is not Communists, but students who are leaning toward the Nazi party.

When the head of the college, a man who wrote a remarkable children's book with pacifist themes during the Great War, is murdered, Maisie wants to find out who and why.  Her brief remains unchanged by the Secret Service, but Maisie intends to follow her own feelings concerning the murder and the Nazi influence.

Other reviews/opinions:  A Work in Progress,    Of Books and Bicycles,      Daisy's Book Journal,  The Reader of the Pack,

:)  Lee Child (of Jack Reacher fame) interviews Jacqueline Winspear at Amazon.

Fiction.  Mystery/ Historical Fiction.  2011.  336 pages.

Interpreting Classics :)

Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries, interprets literary classics...

Three More Reviews

Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink has a great cover, but offered little else.  I'm using a canned review for this one.

Lia and Alice buried their father on a rainy day in the fall of 1890. His death was sudden, and strange happenings are keeping the twins from resuming their wealthy, well-educated lives. Lia begins to dream of flying and Alice, while reserved, does not appear to mourn her father. Lia's boyfriend, James, uncovers an ancient tome that cryptically tells of two sisters, one the Gate and one the Guardian. One has the power to return Satan to Earth, the other the responsibility to keep her sister in check. As Lia investigates the prophecy, a fortuitous trip to a fortune-teller, Sonia, unlocks new doors. With school friend Luisa joining in the adventure, the cast of characters is complete. Lia, Sonia, and Luisa band together to solve the riddle while preventing the increasingly malevolent Alice from discovering their findings. Zink's choice of first-person present sadly emphasizes her lack of character development. None of the perils the heroines face invoke fear or sympathy, as they are all half-explained and resolved too quickly for real concern to set in. Pass this title over for better historical fantasy fare.—Cara von Wrangel Kinsey, formerly at New York Public Library 


Fiction.  Supernatura/YA.  2009.  352 pages.

Dark Fever (Book 1) by Karen Marie Moning-  I don't think I'll continue with this series, either.  One review on Amazon said the heroine's IQ was "slightly above that of a rutabaga."  The sexual elements were a bit disturbing, especially since you can't imagine the barbie doll heroine having enough sense to make decisions.  Not that she always has the choice of making decisions...
Fiction.  Supernatural.    2007.  384 pages.

The Medusa Amulet by Robert Masello.  Sounded good; fell flat.  An art historian, a missing artifact, some supernatural, mystery, and adventure--but the plot is contrived, the adventure difficult to believe, and the characters shallow.  Even Benvenuto Cellini and the supernatural element fail to provide real interest.  All ends happily.
Fiction.  Supernatural.  2011.  464 pages.










Please remember these are just my personal opinions of these books.  Many others, without doubt, found them thrilling.

Tripwire by Lee Child

Tripwire  is another Jack Reacher novel, and I love me some Jack Reacher.  This was the third in the series, and the last "catch up" novel for me.  Now, I've read all of the 15 novels in the series and eagerly await the imminent release of #16 this month.

Who is Jack Reacher?  At 6'5", he is a giant of a man, an ex MP, and a current vagrant of sorts.  After leaving the army, he moves from city to city at will, never staying very long in one place, and owning only what he wears and can carry.

  He is quiet and slow to anger, but has a propensity for violence when called for, as his villainous opponents discover to their chagrin.  He has a strong moral sense, and although it often is more personal and immediate than the legal system, his moral code has a sincere sense of justice.

 Reacher's skills include terrific hand-to-hand combat techniques, the ability to know time without referring to a watch, an unusual awareness of his surroundings, great reflexes; he is also a skilled marksman.  He is a sort of superhero whose feats are pretty remarkable and whose adventures are suspenseful and exciting.

He is a sort of Paladin.  (Remember Paladin?)  Not as fancy a dresser and not a "gun for hire," but a good man to have on your side when fighting the bad guys.

Trip Wire, the third in the series, is a case involving Leon Garber, his former commanding officer.  Garber, before his death, was looking into something that made him curious (and suspicious) for the elderly parents of a young soldier whose death in Vietnam the military won't confirm.  Garber sends for Reacher, but dies before Reacher arrives, and Reacher is determined to get to the bottom of the puzzle his friend and mentor was trying to solve.

Fiction.  Action/Adventure.  2000.  432 pages.

Reviewing, etc.

I'm still trying to finish all the reviews left undone in July and August.  Like everyone else, I get distracted from the reviews by life and current reading.

If only I would write the review as soon as I finish the book, all would be well.  Of course, I don't.  And from reading your blogs, you all have the same problem and frequently find yourself way behind in the reviewing.

Then, of course, you can't quite catch up because you have continued reading, working, and living!  Blahhhh.
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Two of the activities that are important to my version of living are doll-making and quilting.  I've made several small art quilts for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative.

We all hope that research will help find a preventative, a cure.  In fact, this morning, I heard that insulin in a nasal spray showed promising results in slowing the slow deterioration of the brain.

We carry the hearts of our loved ones with us whether they remember us or not.

When Laddie was in assisted living and then a nursing home, patients would frequently approach me to ask if I would take them home.  I wanted "home" to be cheerful, even if I couldn't take them.

These will be sold at an AAQI auction and the proceeds donated to Alzheimer's Research.  My quilts have been sent, but are not yet assigned.

The organization is all volunteer, all quilts are donated, and all proceeds are donated.
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Some of my most recent doll finishes are Izannah Walker inspired.  Harriet and Matilda are cloth and clay with weighted bottoms.

Very old-fashioned ladies.  I have two more in the works.

The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles, Day 1) is an excellent venture into fantasy.  I didn't want it to end, but at least I knew I had the second one in the series waiting.

The story is told in three days.  On the first day, an unassuming innkeeper rescues a biographer called the Chronicler.  The Chronicler realizes that the innkeeper is none other than the famous Kvothe (pronounced Quothe), The Bloodless.  He wants to record Kvothe's story, but Kvothe who has abandoned his former life and lives anonymously in a tiny, secluded village insists that the tale be told his way.  And his way may contradict all the famous stories, legends, and myths about himself.

He begins with his childhood because, as is true of all of us, our childhoods and upbringings have much to do with the way our lives develop.  I fell deeply into the novel, and although it is long, was eager to get to the next volume in this trilogy.

Fiction.  Fantasy.  2007.  662 pages.


The Wiseman's Fear (Kingkiller's Chronicle, Day 2) continues the story of Kvothe's life and adventures. I continued to be engrossed.  Only as I came closer and closer to the end of the book, I became more and more despairing that the third book has yet to be released.

Loved both books.  Loved the world-building, the characters, the adventures.  There are flaws, but I can easily overlook them because I became so immersed in these two books, it was almost as if I lived there.

Fiction.  Fantasy.  2011.  1008 pages.

Other reviews the Kingkiller Chronicles:  Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings, Fyrefly's Book Blog,

If you've read one or both let me know, and I'll add you to "other reviews."

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Oh, gosh.  I never published this review!

Unbroken by  Laura Hillenbrand is the story of  Louie Zamperini, U.S. track and field star and a participant in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, who hoped to run in the 1940 Olympics.  The war, however, put an end to dreams of the 1940 Olympics, and eventually, Louie found himself a bombardier in the Army Air Corps.

In May, 1943, Louie was part of a mission searching for a missing plane when the engines failed, and his own plane went down in the Pacific Ocean.  Only three men survived the crash, and Louie and his two companions spent a record-breaking 47 days adrift, threatened by a lack of fresh water, a lack of food, and circled by sharks.  The story  of the survival of Louie and the pilot, "Phil" Philips (the third man did not survive) is remarkable enough, but not the end of this tale of courage and endurance.

Louie and Phil were captured by the Japanese.  The Japanese POW camps were notorious for the cruelty, and Louie and Phil were separated and sent to different camps.  From interviews with Louie, Phillips, and other Japanese prisoners, Hillenbrand is able to depict the hell in which these men found themselves.  The Japanese did not abide by the Geneva Conventions, and the camps were a place where minds, emotions, and bodies of many prisoners were broken beyond repair.

The perseverance, the tenacity of these men is inspiring.  The camps in which Louie was held were harrowing for their brutality and cruelty.

Even after surviving the camps, many men were unable to return to civilian life without great trauma.  Those who survived the Japanese camps had a much, much higher rate of suicide than those held in German camps.  On his return after the war, Louie tries to deal with his nightmares with alcohol.  Just when he is about to lose everything, he manages to pull himself out and redeem his life--once again.

Unbroken is a great read and a great testament to the endurance of the human spirit..



Nonfiction.  Biographical.  2010.  496 pages.

Another Tabby

After seeing Bookfool's Fiona pics and Annie's Homer the Office Cat, I must post a picture of our Tabby -- Edger the Purrfectly Magnificent.

He does have a few bad habits--like jumping up into the cabinets above the computer desk if the door is left open.

The Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Ahhh, a steampunk novel that I really did enjoy!  I've not had much luck with liking most steampunk fiction, but this one is a worthy exception.  The Clockwork Angel is the first in the Infernal Devices trilogy.

When Tessa Gray arrives in Victorian London to meet her brother Nate, she is met by two strange women who say Nate sent them to accompany her to him.  In reality, the two are members of the Pandemonium Club and have their own sinister plans for Tessa.  She is held in their home and forced to confront and develop a talent Tessa was unaware of possessing.

Finally, realizing the purpose of her confinement by the Dark Sisters and that the mysterious Magister plans to use her for her skill, Tessa decides to escape.  Fortunately, a group of Shadowhunters have chosen to rescue her and arrive to do just that.

After an exciting rescue that reveals more about the sinister Dark Sisters, Tessa is ensconced in the London Institute where she must come to terms with a world she has never imagined.

Good characterization, exciting plot.  A fun read!  I'll be sure to get the next one!

Fiction.  Steampunk/Supernatural/YA. 2010.  496 pages.

Hangman Blind & The Red Velvet Turnshoe by Cassandra Clark

Hangman Blind by Cassandra Clark.  A medieval mystery set in 1382 and featuring Sister Hildegard, a Cisterian nun.

Sister Hildegard wants to establish a small priory with funds she retains from her marriage.  (After her husband death, she has spent 7 years with the Cisterians.)  In order to establish her priory, she must receive permission from Abbot Hubert de Courcy.

The historic setting is during the time of the peasant revolt and the murder of Wat Tyler and during the Great Schism in which there were two rival popes, one in Avignon and one in Rome.  Loyalties were problematic and dangerous.  Who to trust?  Where do loyalties lie?

I really enjoyed this first in the series and am glad I decided to read this one before reading The Red Velvet Turnshoe.

The Red Velvet Turnshoe is the second novel in this series featuring Sister Hildegard.

As civil war threatens as a result of the rival popes, Sister Hildegard must make the long and hazardous journey to Rome to retrieve a religious artifact.  The danger mounts as a murderer follows.

I like the characters in these books, the personalizing of historic events, and the intrepid Sister Hildegard.


Fiction.  Historic Fiction; Mystery.

Multiple (and Brief) Reviews

Since I haven't posted reviews in about a month, I'm doing some short ones of a sentence or two.

Chelsea Cain:  evil at heart &amp - the over-the-top, weird, gruesome kind of murder mystery; The Night Season - not as bad, but not really my kind of book.  I checked both out at once, but no more Chelsea Cain.

Jan Burke: Disturbance - I like Jan Burke's mystery series featuring Irene Kelly.

Peter Orullian: The Unremembered  - Fantasy that definitely needed an editor.  Almost abandoned it, but found myself more involved as I went along.  Didn't change the fact that it needed a ruthless editor for, among other things, length and repetition.  First in a series.

Andrew P. Mayer:  The Falling Machine  (Book One of The Society of Steam) - Another steam punk disappointment.


Graham Thomas:  Malice on the Moors - Not bad.  I enjoyed this one.







Peter Robinson:  Playing with Fire - I always enjoy Peter Robinson.

Deanna Raybourn:  The Dead Travel Fast - Oh, no.  Don't bother.

Edinburgh

On the Royal Mile, all kinds of performances are advertised by the actors in costume.  We saw this one for Hamlet: House of Horror, and we loved the music, took a flyer, and planned to attend.

The girls dancing to the music had just given a preview for another show, I think.  They were having a great time!


Hamlet: House of Horror was one of the best shows (and that isn't an easy choice as we enjoyed all of them!) shows we saw in Edinburgh.  It was a thrilling musical adaptation of Hamlet that was fascinating from beginning to the tableaux at the conclusion!

.
After the show, we were having a drink in the courtyard.  After a while, two of the cast members, Claudius (George Rowell) and Hortatio (Hugh Pickering), and  George's mother came down for a drink, too.  We asked if they minded if we took some pictures, and they were so sweet and friendly!  Below, George rolled down his sleeves and fastened the cuffs, and Hugh prepared to take out the ponytail and fluff his hair straight up.  We weren't asking to disrupt their comfortable evening, but they insisted.

Then they volunteered to pose with Erin and Amelia, who-- grown women that they are-- were as thrilled as teenagers.

They were all trying to look evil.  The show is an active one and the makeup (which takes hours to apply) has a bit of a melted look.

Hugh and George stayed and had a drink with us, filling us in on a lot of stuff about the show.  Hamlet (Louis Lunts) stopped by for a minute on his way out.  The show was wonderful, but it was especially nice to know that the cast is wonderful, too!

We saw The Curse of Macbeth on our last night;  it also had interesting staging, but somehow, just missed the mark.  Not that we didn't enjoy it, but despite the intriguing use of the mirrors and the witches, the actors didn't seem to relate to each other.  It was adapted and directed by Max Barton, who played the ghost in Hamlet: House of Horrors.  The play was innovative and creative, and we liked the music, too.

 We saw ten shows, maybe eleven in all.  The Real MacGuffin's  Skitsophrenic was very funny and included audience interaction.

How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse, another audience participation piece, was a lot of fun.  An hour long interactive training seminar teaching ways to survive the imminent Zombie Apocalypse, the "seminar" involved choosing the correct answer to questions.  I survived longer than Erin and Amelia, but only by one question.  We were woefully unprepared for the Apocalypse, but we did learn a few useful tips.  Overall, a great time!  Although, we did wish that we had survived....

The Kidnapper's Guide was entertaining and funny, with some charming actors.

Poor Jerry-- when incompetent kidnappers discover that no one wants him back, Jerry takes over the kidnapping.

The acting was more natural and the actors were all cute and funny (I especially liked the saucy salsa senorita, Carmen!).  We thought they were American,  their accents were so good, and we were surprised to discover they were from the University of Birmingham.

We arrived too late for dinner at the Sheep's Heid Inn, but enjoyed a half pint of Tennant's!

All in all, a great trip with some great shows, a tour of the underground vaults, a visit to the National Museum, and some wonderful meals!

The Nightspinners by Lucretia Grindle

The Nightspinners  is the story of the link between twin sisters Suzannah and Marina deBreem, who as children developed their own wordless language, communicating telepathically by what they called nightspinning.


Suzannah and her sister are no longer close when Marina is murdered.  About 18 months later, Suzannah begins dealing with some strange events: her car door is vandalized, she receives flowers from an anonymous admirer, she is accosted in the laundry room when the lights go out.  


Discovering that her sister was stalked in a similar manner before her murder, Suzannah fears the killer may have transferred his interest to her and begins her own investigation.  


Definitely suspenseful, there are almost too many people who could be guilty.  Suzannah find it difficult to trust anyone and because she doesn't know the motive, both Suzannah and the reader have difficulty eliminating suspects.


Suzannah is not always sympathetic, but the novel is a quick read and entertaining.  I recently read a positive review of Grindle's The Faces of Angels, but the library didn't have it.  I'll look for more by Grindle.  


Fiction.  Mystery/Suspense.  2003. 288 pages.

The Diviner's Tale by Bradford Morrow

The Diviner's Tale   is the story of Cassandra Brooks, a dowser (or diviner) who uses instruments such as a forked branch to locate water.

"The dowsing rod is a simple instrument which shows the reaction of the human nervous system to certain factors which are unknown to us at this time." -Albert Einstein

"Dowse \Dowse\, v. i.   To use the dipping or divining rod, as in search of water, ore, etc.   Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

“Dowsing (Water Witching, Divining, Questing, Doodlebugging ... ) is the ancient art of finding water, minerals and other objects that seem to have a natural magnetic, electromagnetic or other perhaps unknown energy.” Source “Letter to Robin” by Walt Woods

Cassandra is dowsing for water when she sees the body of a girl hanging from a tree, but when she returns with the local authorities, the body has vanished.  On a return visit the next day, a dazed and confused girl wanders from the woods.  She is not the girl Cassandra saw, but she is a girl that has been reported missing, and the Sheriff is able to contact her family.

Suspense, supernatural, and mystery are all rolled into one.  The information about dowsing is interesting, the mystery is reasonably involving.  Nice for a stormy night (which I would certainly appreciate about now).


In his Acknowledgements, Morrow mentions V.S. Ramachandran's A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness (Ramachandran is a neuroscientist whose works are part of the cannon of brain and neuroscience) and  Andrew Lang's Custom and Myth (Lang [1844-1912] is the author of The Red Fairy Book, The Blue Fairy Book, etc., revered among those who love and study fairy tales; he contributed to the fields of anthropology, folklore, and myth; he was also a Homeric scholar and contributed to various translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey).  


As is often the case, the sidelines are as interesting as the story.


Fiction. Supernatural/Suspense.  2011.  309 pages.

Drink the Tea by Thomas Kaufman

Drink the Tea by Thomas Kaufman won the PWA Best First Private Eye Novel Competition.  At first, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, but I found that I liked it very much as I continued reading.

Willis Gidney is a former foster child who is an expert liar and scam artist, but as an adolescent, his association with Shadrack Davies of the D.C. Police teaches him a thing or two about ethics.  Gidney's homelessness and childhood traumas still haunt him, but he becomes a private investigator, albeit a struggling one.

When asked to find the daughter of a friend, he becomes involved in a much more serious and dangerous case than the ones to which he is accustomed.  Gidney's back story is skillfully woven into his current adventures, and he becomes more intriguing with each page.

The characters are flawed, but engaging, and none more so than Gidney himself.  As I mentioned, at first, I wasn't not too taken with the novel (a bit hard-boiled), but the development of Gidney's character and the humor lightened the flavor of the book as it progressed.   As I read, the book wormed its way into my good graces, and I look for more from Mr. Kaufman and the rather unusual, but endearing Willis Gidney.

Fiction.  Mystery/Crime.  2010.  294 pages.

Mysteries

Some new mysteries of interest from Stop Your Killing Me:


The Red Velvet Turnshoe  by Cassandra Clark; Sister Hildegard is on a secret mission to Italy in 1383-- set during the dangerous period of the Hundred Years War and the Black Plague.

Out of the Dawn Light   by Alys Clare; a fourteen-year-old diviner (who can find lost things and dowse for water) is convinced to find a mysterious object.  The first in a series set in 1087.  I like the period.

The Worst Thing  by Aaron Elkins; Brian is a former abductee who is skilled at designing hostage negotiations.  He still has panic attacks and nightmares and relies on Xanax to live a normal life.  A psychological thriller.

Mind's Eye by Hakan Nesser (I recently read one of the Chief Inspector Van Veeteren novels and enjoyed it)
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This is the hottest summer.  EVER!  At least in my memory.  Days of 109 degrees;  the ground has heated up so much that it doesn't even cool down much at night.  And no rain.  We are in the midst of pretty serious drought in north Louisiana, not as bad as Texas, but bad.   Burn bans, heat advisories, low water reservoirs.

Reading is an escape!

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is a peculiar book.  The unusual vintage photographs from his photo collector friends add such an odd and mysterious element to the story that a great deal of time can be spent just looking at the photographs, again and again.

I think I first read about this on Carl's blog, although I've seen reviews on several blogs since then.  The book is interesting for its use of the weird vintage photographs (only a few have been altered) that form the basis of the story, a great concept because almost everyone can identify with the curiosity engendered by such photographs.

Who were these people, what did they do, who were their family and friends, what eventually happened to them?  Using the photographs to weave a story that relates such unusual images is a nice feat of the imagination, and Ransom Riggs manages to do this.

The book reminds me of both Griffin and Sabine by Nick Bantock and The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick because the visual aspect is as important (or more important) than the story itself.  The illustrations, whether drawings or photographs, are inseparable from the narrative in any of these works. 

I finished this a couple of weeks ago and am finally getting around to the review. 

A boy who worships his grandfather, Jacob eventually comes to doubt the truth of the fantastic stories with which his grandfather regaled him throughout his boyhood.  However, when his grandfather is killed under mysterious and dreadful circumstances, Jacob discovers how awful it is not to be believed.

Eventually, Jacob decides to follow up certain clues he feels his grandfather has left him and determine whether or not the tales of adventure Jacob loved as a small boy had more than an element of truth.

I love the premise of the novel, the photographs, Miss Bird, the peculiar children.  I was not as thrilled by the feeling of a rushed conclusion and a bit of a cliff hanger.  More time spent with the peculiar children, bringing each one to life and letting us linger a bit more with them, would have pleased me.

While I am glad to have a copy of this book (which is printed on fine paper and full of the interesting photos), I'm not sure that in retrospect, it lived up to my expectations.  


Other Reviews:   Stainless Steel Droppings, Fyrefly's Book Blog, An Adventure in Reading,

Fiction.  Fantasy/Adventure/YA.  2011.  352 pages.