Winter Reading!

Blood Done Sign My Name by Timothy B. Tyson
In 1970, I was seven years old and the biggest fear in my life was being sent to bed early for not eating my vegetables and missing out on the kick-the-can game outside.  I knew nothing of racial tension, forced bussing, or quite frankly, the civil rights movement.  I lived in Seattle, where the so-called 'minorities' were Asians, and since my best friend was Rodney Yen, who lived a few doors down, it just really didn't matter to me.  This was not the life of Timothy Tyson, the author of this book and an eleven year old in 1970.  As he played outside one day with the other boys, a friend of his ran by screaming "My daddy done shot him a nigger!"  As the book progresses, we see Oxford, Mississippi devolve into a conflagration of racial violence, with tobacco barns burning, marches on the state capital, and bricks through windows.  Tyson, now a professor of African-American studies at the University of Wisconsin (ironic, considering he is white), was more than an observer that summer.  His father was the main pastor at the Methodist church in Oxford, and a leader in the community.  Pastor Tyson was ahead of his time, when he asked a black minister to speak in his church, yet behind what we would now consider necessary, as he slunk out of the funeral march of the murder victim.  Tyson develops this story into more than just a tale of a small southern town;  he creates a complex world where right and wrong are not so easily recognized, and when it is, the people we think would stand up for right, sometimes just take a seat.  The friend that told me of this book said that it should be required reading for all high schoolers, and adults, and I must agree.  It is a powerful story, well-written, and well-researched, that may just change your perspective on race in this country.

Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan

After a few months of 'clunkers' in our book club, we decided to go with a tried-and-true author.  Nancy Horan's first book, Loving Frank, had been a huge best-seller and a shockingly suspenseful story of Frank Lloyd Wright and his scandalous love affair.  Years after reading that book, I still find myself intrigued by Wright's architecture as well as his life story.  I was hopeful that Horan's latest book about Robert Louis Stevenson would be a similar page-turner, and I was not disappointed.  Interestingly enough, for the huge reader I was as a child, I never read Stevenson's famous childhood novels, Kidnapped and Treasure Island.  Of course, Walt Disney on Sunday nights made it so I didn't have to either:)  As an English teacher, I knew R.L. Stevenson was one of the 'biggies' but I really wasn't sure why; luckily, this book explains quite a bit.  Told as a fictional story, with the voices of Louis and Fanny, his American-born wife, we follow their lives from the penniless days of anonymity, through Louis' struggles with tuberculosis and Fanny's mental issues, as well as the trauma of marriage, death, divorce, and poverty.  Horan does a masterful job of showing us the complexity of these two people, as well as the peripheral friends who influence them.  Quite often, Louis and Fanny are unlikeable, sympathetic, courageous, annoying, exasperating, and lovable - all at the same time.  I look forward to the book club discussion as there is quite a bit of 'meat' on this bone/book to chew over!  Next up for book club... Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde by...R.L. Stevenson.

After Her by Joyce Maynard
Another one of my audible.com listens, I was obsessed with this book, turning it on whenever I had the chance (the dog got exponentially more walks during these two weeks).  Classified as a mystery in GoodReads, I'm not sure I agree with that genre label; it reads more like a memoir, wrapped up in a murder mystery.  Based on the real-life tale of the trail-side killer in Marin County back in the 1980's, Maynard's story is told through the eyes of Rachel, a typical 13-year-old girl who is shy and awkward, lacking in friends, still waiting for her period, and is broken inside by her parent's failed marriage.  As the homicide detective in Marin County, her good-looking Italian father gets pulled into the limelight of the media, as young women keep turning up dead in the mountainous countryside.  Rachel appears to have a strange connection with the killer, and her younger sister Patty is pulled into the mystery as well.  I have to admit - much of this story hit far too close to him for me.  For anyone who grew up in Seattle in the 1970's, creepy stories of "Ted" abounded, as young women were kidnapped from public places, dead bodies turning up in the Snoqualmie forests.  Eventually, Ted Bundy was caught, but not before he ruined the innocence of the Pacific Northwest; I was never again allowed to walk down to the neighborhood ice cream store or go to Lake Sammammish for a swim date with friends.  This book can be a bit predictable in the end, but the story it paints of an innocent childhood summer lost to violence, and the havoc it wreaks on the lives afterward of those involved, was quite engrossing.

War Brides by Helen Bryan
If you're a historical-fiction junkie like me, you will love this book.  I had seen it around for awhile, but then discovered I could check it out for free on my kindle - 'free' is a good deal, and it did not disappoint.  The story covers the lives of five women - the stereotypical good girl (or in British terms - a 'brick'), the aristocratic wild child, the southern belle,  the Jewish refugee, and the Cockney girl from the East End of London - all during the London blitz and the war years of 1939-1945.  Quite frankly, I figured I knew most of the history already, but I knew more of the war, not of the lives of the people left behind in the countryside as well as the city.  I was in awe of the sacrifices and courage of these people, and engrossed in the lives of these four characters.  Bryan does an admirable job of creating interesting characters and intriguing story lines.  This would be a fabulous book to give a mother or grandmother who lived during these times; I think they would relate to it quite a bit, and be vindicated in their belief that yes, they truly are the 'greatest generation.'

January Books

The Enchanting Life of Adam Hope by Rhonda Riley
This book is a tough one to categorize - part love story, part historical-fiction, part fantasy, or maybe science fiction?  It is an intriguing book, to say the least.  In the first three pages, we meet Evelyn Hope, who has received a picture from her red-headed, freckled, green-eyed daughter who has moved to China with her husband and child, and now appears quite Asian in looks.  Evelyn remarks that she is 'much like her father'...and the story begins.  We share the life story of this remarkable woman, and her even more remarkable love.  As a reader, we experience the love between two women, and between a man and a woman; we see a family made and a family torn apart - and we are left wondering, just who is Adam Hope?  I am still not sure, and I'm okay with that.  I admit - I'm not a fan of picture-perfect endings and rather enjoy the ambiguous finales, ones that leave me questioning and seeking to find answers within the previous pages, or by talking with other friends who have read the same book.  Riley's first novel is sumptuously written, placing us deep into North Caroline farm country, as well as the countryside of northern Florida.  Not a plot-driven book, but one peopled with the most fascinating characters, this would be a book that would incite some interesting conversation at a book club, or just in a coffee date with a fellow book lover.

One Summer by Bill Bryson
Admittedly, I love non-fiction that is filled with fascinating trivia.  With that said, this book is a humdinger.  The premise is to look at the year of 1927 here in America; this sounds simple enough, until you realize all the life-changing things that happened that year.  Some historical events we know of, such as Charles Lindbergh, the handsome young Minnesotan who enchanted the world by flying across an ocean.  Or maybe the 1927 New York Yankees, the most statistically winning team in all of baseball.  Or how about Henry Ford?  Yep, we've all heard of him, but did you know he shut down his entire Model-T car-building line for six months, just to retool it for the Model-A.  Who does this?  We live in a time period of what we see as rampant gun violence, terrorism, obsession with celebrities and their private lives, and we wonder "where are the good old days?"  Well, Bill Bryson reminds us that the 'roaring twenties' are infamous for a reason; they make the 21st century look tame.  I cannot tell you how many times, as I read this book, I said "No way!" out loud.  This is a truly fascinating look at a stage in our rather 'young' country.  I would recommend this to young and old, as a wonderful way to put our own history in context and to just gather some great party trivia:)

Mayhem by Sarah Pinborough
As you can see by the cover, this book is not for the faint-hearted.  It is packed full of good old-fashioned gothic mystery during the days of Jack the Ripper.  If you're like me, we have all read scads of Ripper books and seen countless made-for-television movies as well.  However, did you know that another serial murderer was actually at work at the same time as Jack?  The Torso Killer, as the lovely dear was known, left a few dead bodies hanging out in the Thames River, confounding both the police and Dr. Thomas Bond, the real-life coroner who dealt with Jack's victims.  Pinborough is a very decorated short-story writer, who has turned out her first novel, soon to be a television series on the BBC.  In Mayhem, the story is told through a few different viewpoints: Bond's first person point of view, a bit addled by opium but driven to solve the mystery; the main detective who shows us the confusion of the London detectives; and finally, a Russian immigrant whose strange visions bring him hauntingly close to the murderer.  Within Pinborough's book are the normal mystery components - addiction, love, insanity, gore, creepy venues - but also cultural folklore, horror, and fantasy.  Read in just two days, this book was addictive.  However, I would not recommend reading it late at night, in a deserted home - I spent some time looking over my shoulder while my neck hairs stood on end. If you like a good, creepy mystery, though, this is it.

Last of the 2013 books!

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
If you haven't seen or heard of this novel, you've been living under a rock, at least in the literary world.  It is on every best-seller list, everyone's 'must read' agenda, and on every book store shelf.  The length and heft of this book is daunting, but it is oh-so worth it.  I was about a quarter in when I left on vacation, so I just downloaded the $7.50 version to my Kindle so I could continue my obsessive reading - I was done one day into my vacation.  While I have never read anything else by Tartt, I would say this book is definitely a masterpiece.  Extremely well written, she tells the life story of Theo, a young boy who seems to make questionable choices in both friends and life.  At the outset, Theo and his mom are on the way to a school conference, to discuss his suspension, when they stop by the Met for a 'look-see' at his mother's favorite painting, a 17th century oil painting of a chained goldfinch, painted by Rembrandt's teacher.  While there, an explosion occurs, mom dies, and Theo becomes inextricably connected to another 'family', as well as the painting. (and yes, much of this is on the book jacket and takes place in the first 30 pages, so I hope I didn't give too much away).  Life takes Theo in a multitude of directions while he forms relationships with some 'interesting' people, namely his bff Boris, a Ukranian boy of suspicious background.  An unrequited love, some time spent in the underworld of drugs, the nastiness of New York high society, and criminal dealings in the art world, all make up a book you cannot put down.  The characters are complex - it's hard to 'love' Theo, but difficult not to root for him - and Boris is just highly entertaining.  I did get a bit bogged down during the Vegas era, but just plow on through - it is so worth it.  Highly recommend*****

The Dinner by Herman Koch
A friend loaned me this book, begging me to read it so we could digest it together.  After only taking 24 hours to finish it, I totally get it - this is one nasty, disturbing, provoking book that I absolutely could not put down.  It all takes place in one night, at a dinner with two brothers and their wives.  Set in Amersterdam, written by a Dutch author, this book definitely has the 'flavor' of Northern Europe.  As the story unfolds, we see two brothers who are less than familial with one another, two wives who seem to have secrets and agendas kept from their husbands, and of course, children who cause issues for both parents.  It would be criminal of me to tell any more of the plot, as it Koch's ability to spin out the pieces of the issues, one by one, that keeps one turning the page.  Ultimately, we see moral and societal dilemmas that makes you question what is right, and what is wrong.  I cannot say that any of the characters are likable - in fact, they are pretty much despicable, depraved human beings.  Yet, I loved this book - not for the people in it, but for the provocation the book brought to my mind. This would be an outstanding book club book; I can only imagine the hours of conversation surrounding it.

The House Girl by Tara Conklin
After watching my own daughter go through the first year of law school, I was intrigued by the author's life story.  A graduate from Yale, and then NYU law school, as well as a Masters of Arts from Tufts, Conklin spent years as a corporate lawyer, before leaving that world to settle in Seattle as a fiction writer; this is her first novel.  I do love reading 'firsts', as I usually find them to be the most genuine look at a writer's style, and I did truly enjoy this book.  A short-story writer for years, Conklin strung a number of her stories together to make up this plot line.  We have the tale of the corporate lawyer, doing pro-bono work for a mogul looking for reparations over slavery.  As the lawyer searches for a good face for a class action suit, she runs across Josephine, a house slave to a woman of the antebellum South.  As we travel back in time and see Josephine's life, we also move through the art world of New York city, and question who was the real painter of the art work on display, the slave or the owner.  Conklin moves quite seamlessly between time periods, and amongst the variety of characters, not an easy thing to do.  If you love historical fiction, this is a good one; the description of the live of the slaves is real and disturbing and painful, as is the life of the abolitionists who try to help.  I got the distinct feeling Conklin is less than enamored with corporate law, as many of the lawyers turn out to be sharks, but the main character does seem to have a soul and a heart.  This was a good vacation read.

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
This was our book club choice for January memoirs, and it was a home run, as far as I'm concerned.  Written in 2007, it was on all the bestseller lists for months and had all the political pundits talking as well.  For some reason I missed it back then; I am so grateful to have read it now.  It is a first person account of Ayaan Ali, a Muslim woman who grew up in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia, eventually emigrating to the Netherlands, ending at age 35 when she comes to live in the United States.  The first half focuses on her life in Africa, enduring female mutilation as part of her grandmother's religious and cultural beliefs, searching for her religious identify in fundamentalist Islamic groups, and navigating the complexities of her family and clan relationships.  It is often heart-wrenching and painful to read.  The writing is beautiful, but dense; this is not what I would call a quick read.  At times I was bogged down a bit by all the African names and trying to keep them straight (I swear, every man's name started with "M"!!).  The second half of the book is her life as a refugee in the Netherlands, her rise in the political party, and her infamy as a Muslim woman who denounces not only the way women are abused and subjugated, but turns her back on religious beliefs as well.  I found the politics of the story fascinating, even more so in light of the riots and bombings and murders that occurred because of the Dutch cartoonist this past summer.  This is one of those books that just made me feel smarter; I learned about Islam, about Africa, about European politics, and what it takes to truly be a survivor.  I remain permanently fascinated by how some people survive trauma, and others fold; what is it about their character that pushes them to live and to rise above such a painful upbringing?  I look forward to our book club discussion; I'm sure it will be hours long.

We Are Water by Wally Lamb

Let's add one more book to the list of 2013 good reads.  Wally Lamb's latest book is another powerhouse of story-telling.  I loved his book This Much I Know, but had not read another one of his in years.  I always remembered the characterization and ability to get inside a dysfunctional family, letting us see all the nuances yet not hating the family members.  He has done it once again with We Are Water (and if you're an audible.com member, it is read by numerous different narrators - like a good movie playing inside your head!).  It begins with a strange story of a long-dead African-American painter and his mysterious death.  The main character, Annie Oh, is also an artist, but not the "paint-beautiful-pictures" type of artist.  She creates angry shadow boxes that reflect the tortured soul within this middle-aged woman.  Lamb draws out the history of the characters through a wedding between Annie and her female agent, reliving Annie's youth and marriage to Orien Oh, as we hear the story from both husband and wife.  Occasionally the children's voices chime in as well, and much more so in Part II, as Annie's son and her long-lost cousin gives us more background history to Annie's life.  Some parts are heard to read, as there's raw sex, pedophilia, and a horrific flood scene, but Lamb is the master of the story - he fills in every nook and cranny of Annie's life, so that we see who she truly is, and more importantly, how she became the tortured artist of New York fame.  And in a surprising manner, he even draws the threads together of the long-dead black artist.   I listened to this book obsessively, every moment I got, including making Christmas cookies and cleaning house.  It's a fabulous, rich, well-told story of a dysfunctional family, that quite frankly I saw as pretty normal these days - it's just real.  I strongly recommend this book - it would be a wonderful book club read as so many intriguing and controversial topics are tackled.

End of 2013

As 2013 winds down, it's kind of fun to look 'back' on the books of the year.  After a productive summer of reading, it looks like I'll beat the number of 2012, with 72 books read, or listened to, in 2013.  I'm a big believer in my classroom mantra...the more you read, the smarter you get.  I'll read just about anything - murder mysteries, non-fiction WWII novels, historical fiction, drama, even romance - I still think we pick up something about life that otherwise would not have happened.  After a conversation with my daughter about the arts, it all came together.  When asked what she was taking for college courses next quarter, Megan, my art history major / aspiring professor, said "Well, Mom, I really need to take a sociology class because art is about people.  But then, I need to take some bio-psychology as well, probably some history, more classics, English literature, just anything.  My professor said that makes sense, as art is about everything in life - that's why we are all drawn to it."  It made me realize that is the reason I love to teach English literature - every human emotion, every historical moment, every dilemma, victory, and solution in human history is found in the pages of books.  The idea that the arts is a dying world, and that all of our children should be majoring in mathematics or engineering is a fallacy - as long as humanity 'feels', we will need music, painting, sculpture, poetry, dance, and yes, BOOKS.  And with that little soapbox moment, here's a few books I've read lately.

The Imposter Bride by Nancy Richler
I picked this one up cheap at Village Books here in Bellingham, our favorite local bookstore.  I was attracted to the topic, a holocaust era story.  However, it's a very different take on that time period.  The premise involves an immigrant who comes to Canada to marry a brother, post WWII. However, the one brother merely sees her at the train station and gets a sense of doom, ultimately refusing to marry her.  His older brother, however, feels a powerful attraction and chooses to marry her instead.  Wedding guests come, as the bride is a cousin of family members in their Jewish community.  But is the bride who she says she is?  The story then follows the bride's desertion and the daughter's life, as she wonders and questions, and ultimately searches for who her mother really is.  The story is interspersed with a diary from Russia and Poland, creating an intriguing time warp. I wouldn't say this is the best Holocaust book I've read, but it's an interesting take on the genre.

A Higher Call by Adam Makos
If you read Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand, this is your kind of book.  I think I was feeling a 'dad' moment when I chose this one from audible.com this month.  My dad, a WWII bomber pilot, was obsessed with planes, flying, WWI aces, you name it.  On a visit to the Boeing Flight Museum years ago, he was able to tell me about every little part of every single plane - it was impressive.  So, in other words, my dad would have loved this book.  It is the story of two pilots, Charlie and Franz, one American and one German, and an amazing incident of nobility and humanity that we rarely see in today's world, that occurred between two 'enemies.'  However, Makos spends much of the book on the background and war-lives of these two pilots.  Makos has literally spent his entire adult, and teen life, chronicling the stories of WWI veterans, with the rule being to never write a story of the 'enemy.'  Upon talking to American pilot Charlie Brown, though, he had to break his own rule, as Charlie would not tell anything further until Makos spoke to his German counterpart.  I admit that at times, the story drags when it gets into small details of the planes, and I seem to like the American story better at times, but the historical details of the air war were utterly fascinating and shocking, even to one who has read quite a few WWI war books.  If you have a family member who is a veteran, or who loves stories of war and flying, you cannot go wrong giving them this book.  Rumors of a movie abound, which I understand - it is a story of honor and heroism that is inspiring.

One Mississippi by  Mark Childress
Another 'cheap' book at Village, this was one of those novels that had a lot of buzz a year or two ago, and I just never got to it, as other 'buzzy' books pushed it off my list.  I'm glad I did.  As my husband said, "it's just a good story." Childress creates a family of the '60's, with a salesman dad who gets transferred every year, dragging his three children and wife with him.  This year's move is to, obviously according to the title, Mississippi.  As schools are desegregated for the first time, we see the ordinary lives of teens, and the great social movement, collide, in both small and big ways.  We see the implosion of a both friendships and marriages, and the pull between doing what's right and doing what's easy.  A few good laughs exist as well, as the southern kids teach the 'northerners' how to pronounce words and we see what one good man can do when a company does him wrong.  Definitely worth a read - good beach book:)

FINALLY...some new books!!

It is fairly obvious the school year has begun, as I have been quite delinquent in my book blog.  My apologies to you all, but at least I have some 'dandies' to share so...happy reading!!

The Whisperer by Donato Carrisi
If you like the television series Criminal Minds, if you like a mystery book that leads you through a maze, showing you the 'answer' and then denying it, and if you like unique, tortured souls as the lead characters, then this book is for you.  Mila Velasquez is the best detective around when it comes to finding kidnapped children; it's her specialty.  However, to be a woman detective who has devoted her life to finding missing children, something in her life is a little haywire.  She's got an 'interesting' background, a life peopled with her past, and some odd habits.  Enter Goran Gavila and his team of specialists - Gavila is a behavioral scientist and they need Mila's help with their latest case.  It involves severed arms, young girls, and an entire litany of psychopathic characters.  Carrisi does a masterful job of weaving the story all together, when one is not really sure where it is going.  Beware of the twists and turns - I went down many a dead-end, thinking I knew 'who dunnit', only to be turned away.  The ending is worth it.  This is definitely what I call a page turner:)

The Wedding Gift by Marla Suyapa Bodden
This was our book club choice for our 'historical fiction' month.  After much deliberation around a variety of time periods, we opted for the antebellum south.  The premise of the story is fairly straightforward - a plantation owner gives a slave to his daughter as a wedding present.  The twist?  The slave is the bride's half-sister.  Even then, Bodden could have relegated this to a fairly stereotypical southern story, with the evil overseer, the drunken owner, the ever-suffering wife, and the loyal slave.  However, Bodden goes well beyond this.  As told by both Sarah, the half-white, half-black slave, and the slave owner's wife, Theodora, the story is more of the life of women back in the 19th century, their lack of choice, the lives they must lead, and the legacy they wish to pass on to their children.  Clarissa, the spoilt white daughter, has a surprising depth to her at times, and Sarah, her sister and slave, is simply marvelous.  Her courage and intelligence would make her a charismatic civil rights leader if she had been born 100 years later.  The bad guys (the overseer, the owner, the husband) are well-developed, but not highly complex - they really have no redeeming qualities.  We are told of a slave's life, the never-ending fear that her children will be sold away, never to be seen again; we see the families they try to create and the way in which plantation life tears them apart.  A bit of a mystery surrounds the final one-third of the book that is fairly intriguing (and I won't give it away).  Needless to say, this was a fairly fast read, not particularly long, good story-telling, and I hope a great discussion for our book club.

The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon
Listening to this book on audible.com was a beautiful journey back into a time of shame for our country.  It begins in 1968, when an elderly widow, Martha, answers the door to a young pregnant girl named Linny.  Linny is accompanied by an African-American man, who is both deaf and mute.  As the young girl holds her newborn daughter, the guards from her 'school' retrieve her, not knowing of the baby's existence.  The other escapee runs through the rainy night, thought to be drowned, but miraculously saved.  Thus...the story begins.  We go back to a time when children who were mentally impaired were placed in institutions, hidden away from the world, lest one be 'embarrassed' by their outbursts, their inappropriate laughter, their inability to form words properly.  We see the world through Linny's eyes as she lives the life of the institutionalized, and watches as the world changes around her, as civil rights eventually come to the developmentally disabled.  We also watch Martha as she struggles to raise a child on her own, determined to do 'right' by Linny.  And we also share Homan's life (aka '42' at the institution), marveling at how a deaf-mute could survive in a world that treats him as a cipher.  This is a powerful story of how far our world has come, what it takes to survive, the people who become 'family', and the lighthouse that weaves the story all together in the end.  This is well worth the read.

Night Film by Marisha Pessl
First, you have got to see this book in person, not on Kindle.  It's an amazing work of art, with a variety of page types and 'creative' news articles embedded into the fiction story.  It is also the heaviest book I've ever lifted; it's got to be the paper used, as it is smooth to the touch and dense.  So, if you want a lighter weight book, go with the Kindle version, but honestly, the book itself is just really cool!  Now...to the story.  So, full disclosure - it took me two months to read this book and I'm not even sure why.  It's really very good, but I just kept putting it down, picking up other 'quick' reads, not wanting to drag the heavy tome with me to places, and generally making excuses.  The amazing thing was I could always pick it back up whenever I wanted and I was immediately transported right back into the story.  I'm thinking that if I hadn't started school at the same time I'd started this book, I would have breezed through it.  Pessl is a really, really good writer, trust me.  She constructs a complex story line, fascinating characters, and even throws in a bit of occult/fantasy to round it all out.  The premise surrounds a middle-aged reporter who's been put in the penalty box by other news sources for getting a story wrong about Stanislaw Cordova, a "Quentin Tarantino-ish" movie director, who makes Marlon Brando look like a publicity hound.  Cordova's daughter, Ashley, is found dead at the very start, and our diligent reporter, Scott McGrath (boring name compared to all the other characters) is pulled back into the Cordova universe, convinced a mystery is waiting to be solved.  McGrath has a couple of dandy sidekicks who are quirky and twisted, and the places they go - oh my - it's a roller coaster ride, for sure.  I really need others to read this book, as I'm dying to talk about the ending; it left a lot of questions in my mind, but not the bad kind of questions like "what happened" but the good kind like "why...?" So yes, I definitely recommend this book - there is a reason it's been on the best-seller list for months.  Quirky, twisted, creepy, complex, dark...what's not to like??

The Story Catcher by Ann Hite
This was actually the book I voted for when we had to choose a 'historical fiction'; luckily, I lost, as I really wouldn't call this 'historical fiction.'  It is most definitely a ghost story.  However, it takes place during the Great Depression, when not flitting back in time to figure out the ghosts' lives, and the story is set both  in the mountains of Appalachia and an island off the Georgia coast called Sapelo (look it up - it's been in the news lately).  Thank goodness, a few family trees were written at the beginning of the story, as I had to keep referring to them time and again.  Numerous families are connected, but a couple of main ones tell the story.  First is young Shelly, an African-American teen whose brother has run off, whose mother works for the tyrannical pastor in their small mountain town, and who is viciously jealous of the pastor's daughter, Faith.  The other main family is the GeeChee connection out on Sapelo Island (a small hunk of land that was settled by slaves, where families have lived for generations, tied to the sea and the land).  As Hite brings these two stories together, we also see the ghosts and their interaction with the humans.  They have 'issues' left to resolve, a few dead bodies to find, a few folks who need retribution to come their way, and a few mysteries to solve.  I loved the dark gothic settings, the fire-and-brimstone preacher who needed his comeuppance, the gritty young girls trying to find justice in an unjust world.  This is a great vacation read, or a dark, stormy weekend curl-up-by-the-fire kind of book.  It's a quick read, well told, about a different place in time (it does, however, make you look over your shoulder more than once, wondering who may be watching you that cannot be seen!).

New Books...Finally!!!

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
If you're ready for your hair to stand on end, as you lay cuddled in your bed, looking over your shoulder for the insanely creepy murderer who plays number one bad guy, this is the book for you.  While I'm definitely NOT a horror fan (I don't do slasher movies, read books about the occult or vampires, or read Stephen King), this is a murder mystery that will get your adrenalin pumping.  Harper Curtis is not your run-of-the-mill creeper...he has found a 'special' house in downtown Chicago that affords him little side trips into the future and the past.  In other words, yes, he's a time traveler, but don't think this is a sci-fi book
- the time traveling merely serves as a vehicle for Harper to terrorize his victims throughout their lifetimes before pulling the final knife.  However, one has been left alive.  Kirby, a tortured young woman, teams up with a quintessential old curmudgeonly reporter as the two try to solve the mystery of her attacker.  This book is a humdinger - guaranteed to make you check under your bed at night and keep you turning pages until it is done.

I Am Forbidden by Anouk Markovits
This is a short, yet poignant, book that looks at a fictional Hasidic family post WWII.  I have read numerous Holocaust novels as well as non-fiction, yet I had very little knowledge of the most religious of the Jewish sects, the Hasidic Jews.  I found this tale to be utterly engrossing as it details the life of two girls, one adopted into a rather famous Hasidic family after the murder of her family in the camps, and the other the daughter of the prominent rabbi.  The two girls follow different paths - one a strong follower and believer in the faith, the other who questions and chafes at the strict religious rules imposed especially on the women.  Through this book, we learn of the adherence to their laws, as well as what occurs when those laws are broken. This would be a fascinating book to read as a book club, as it brings up all sorts of questions...what does God expect of us?  how do we live with faith?  what is our role in the family?  can we be forgiven when we sin?  If you are looking for something thought-provoking and off the track of 'best-sellers', I would highly recommend this book.


Dearie:  The Remarkable Life of Julia Child by Bob Spitz
So, next month is 'biography' month for our book club.  Figuring I'd be buried under essays by then, I jumped in early to our chosen bio.  After being presented with five different choices, our club enthusiastically chose the story of Julia Child.  Rather hilarious, actually, as I'm not sure any of us are gourmet chefs, though we must all aspire to be:)  I had seen the movie from a few years ago, Julie and Julia, and found it delightful.  Although, I do remember thinking I was not that interested in the blogger and found Meryl Streep's portrayal and storyline of Julia Child far more interesting.  I have to say, I was hooked from the first line of Spitz's fascinating, in-depth look at Child's life.  He takes us from the moment she is born, back into the life of her parents and grandparents, and then looks at literally every aspect of her life.  Spitz does an admirable job of looking at all Julia's life stages, and does not merely focus on the famous years from age fifty to her eighties.  While it is a rather long book, the last 30% is taken up with footnotes, so it's not as long as it may seem at first glance.  At times, I wished Spitz would spend less time detailing the peripheral characters of her life, but he was always able to bring it back to Julia and her husband Paul (that is a fascinating love story).  I was thoroughly engrossed in the story of this 6'3" tall woman (yep, and her younger sister was 6'6"!!) and the impact she made in the American kitchen.  I had always thought of Julia Child more as the parody on Saturday Night Live, but she was so much more.  Each night I closed the book, I found myself starving to death - they talk food ALL the time - and I may even attempt one of her butter- and-cream-rich recipes soon, but if you like historical tidbits about famous people and you're even peripherally interested in cooking, this is a thoroughly enjoyable book.  In the words of Julia...bon appetit!

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
I had heard a little buzz about this book (Amazon book of the month last June), so when I saw it in my high school library, I impulsively checked it out.  One of my students saw it on  my desk and exclaimed "Oh, that was my favorite book this summer!"  Hooked.  Gaiman is typically a Young Adult author, but this is first foray into the world of adult fiction in quite some time.  I admit - it's not my usual fare of mystery, historical fiction, or non-fiction inspirational true story.  It is a fantasy, where a curmudgeonly old man attends a family funeral, and remembers his summer as a seven year old boy.  As we return in the memories of the boy, we see the extraordinary summer he had as magic, myth, and fantasy conspire to create a whole new world for him to explore and conquer.  What I liked about this fantasy is that it is grounded in a small, recognizable English countryside, the two children as main characters are utterly delightful, courageous, and engaging, and the antagonists are incredibly and evilly intelligent.  It is a short, beautifully written story that will keep you reading to the end.