FROM SUZANNE

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

LOVED this one! Part 1 of 4 tells the story of Ethan (a regular teenage bot) and Lena, a Caster (similar to a witch) who will become either a Light or Dark Caster on her 16th birthday. Aside from the fantasy aspects, I think the authors tell the story very realistically- about teenage outcasts, small southern towns and teen relationships. Highly recommend, I've already begun the 2nd in the series!





Dirty Little Secrets by Kerry Cohen

This one's a nonfiction follow-up to Cohen's memoir, Loose Girl (which I loved.) Dirty Little Secrets is part sociology, part self-help, part parenting. Centers on the sex culture in American teenagers, but also explores the issue with adult reflections. The tagline on the cover is "It's not about when girls are having sex- it's about why." That sums it up better than I could hope to. Highly recommend, Cohen is wonderful! An honest, smart and insightful book.

52 Weeks 52 Books / Week Ending May 13, 2013

WOOL by Hugh Howey

While science fiction isn't my genre of choice, who could resist picking up this book--after reading about the explosive success of WOOL.  Author Hugh Howey self-published the beginning of Wool, actually a short story, and gave away copies.  Eventually it became a book of five novellas, and with word of mouth praise,  sales exploded--over 500,000 copies have been sold.  Howey has sold film rights and a print only deal  to Simon and Schuster, keeping the rights to publish e-books himself, a very lucrative deal. 

Really good sci-fi creates a world so well developed that you're right there with the people of the book.  In the dystopian world of Wool, you feel the rungs and flights of the never ending staircase that runs through the 147 levels of the Silo, where survivors have lived underground for hundreds of years, as the earth's toxic air will kill anyone who steps outside. Wool 1 opens with a "cleaning" and  the reader quickly learns what happens to those residents who question those in authority. The characters are carefully drawn with multi-layered personalities and the setting is chilling. The world of Wool continues on, with its secrets and sinister intrigue, with revelations of those remaining, and hope even in the direst of circumstances.

~ Katherine 

Above All Things by Tanis Rideout

Even though I knew the outcome, this book kept me awake until 12:20 a.m.  I just couldn't go to bed until I finished it.  Where these men found the courage, strength, and stamina to try to climb Everest -- without all the climbing gear and sub-zero clothing of today's climbers -- I'll never know.
                 ~~Anita Barney 

“Tell me the story of Everest,” she said, a fervent smile sweeping across her face, creasing the corners of her eyes. “Tell me about this mountain that’s stealing you away from me.” In 1924 George Mallory departs on his third expedition to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Left behind in Cambridge, George’s young wife, Ruth, along with the rest of a war-ravaged England, anticipates news they hope will reclaim some of the empire’s faded glory. Through alternating narratives, what emerges is a beautifully rendered story of love torn apart by obsession and the need for redemption.  [Amazon.com review]

AN AGATHA RAISIN MYSTERY from SUZANNE

Hiss and Hers (Agatha Raisin, Bk 23)
Author: M.C. Beaton

"This is the 23rd Agatha Raisin and I still enjoy this series. The mysteries are great and the characters are like old friends."
     ~ Suzanne

If only the bossy, beloved Agatha Raisin were as lucky at finding the right man as she is at catching killers in M. C. Beaton's New York Times bestselling mystery series Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of everyone's favorite sleuth, M. C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin is as feisty as ever—armed with her famous wit and biting sense of humor. This time, though, there's some biting of a whole other sort going on. Agatha has fallen head over heels in love—again. This time, she has her eye on the local gardener, George Marston, but so do other women in their little Cotswold village. Shamelessly determined, Agatha will do anything to get her man—including footing the bill for a charity ball just for the chance to dance with him. And then George doesn't even show up. Only partly deterred, Agatha goes looking for him, and finds his dead body in a compost heap. Murder is definitely afoot, but this killer chose no ordinary weapon: A poisonous snake delivered the fatal strike. Rising to the occasion, Agatha rallies her little detective agency to find the killer, only to learn that George had quite a complicated love life. But murderously complicated? Well, if she can't have George, at least Agatha can have the satisfaction of confronting the other women and solving the crime. With Hiss & Hers, once again, "M. C. Beaton has a foolproof plot for the village mystery" (The New York Times Book Review) in the irresistible adventures of the irrepressible Agatha.

Thank  you for sharing, Suzanne!

52 Weeks 52 Books / Week Ending May 6, 2013

WAVE by Sonali Deraniyagala 

Just after Christmas in 2004, on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, Sonali Deraniyagala was the sole family survivor of the tsunami that followed a 9.1 earthquake that occurred in the Indian Ocean.  More than 230,000 people lost their lives that day, including Sonali's husband, her two young sons, and her parents.  Sonali was found battered and dazed, but alive after the waves receded, and in this soul-searching memoir, she describes the absolute horror and devastating loss, grief and overwhelming guilt that followed over the next days, months and years. Her extended family watched over her, as she attempted suicide and tried to numb her pain with alcohol and drugs.  She was devastated by memories that confronted her everywhere--her home in London, her parent's home, and eventually in Sri Lanka where the hotel they stayed in once stood. She raged at the renters who took over her family home, after her brother rented it out against her wishes. At first her memories are too painful, but over time, as she revisited family sites and remembered the things she loved about her husband, children and parents, and shared memories with other family and friends, she is able to remember her family, honestly and lovingly. 

Sonali's memoir is a heartbreaking story, but her eventual healing shows a brave woman who understands the true meaning of survival and love of family.  Just have the tissues close by.   ~ Katherine

Three Great Nonfiction Titles from Jaclyn

The title says it all! ~ Jaclyn    


All I Really Need To Know I Learned From Watching Star Trek by Dave Marinaccio

"Wit and wisdom for intelligent life forms who have gotten past kindergarten. For generations of Trekkies, Star Trek TV episodes, movies, and books are nothing less than scripture. With ad man Marinaccio's light-heavyweight collection of down-to-earth essays, the cult of the faithful has gained a new theologian and exegete. If a viewer is unsure of what an episode, character, or turn of plot in Star Trek really means, this short, sweet book will explain the intention of Gene Roddenberry (the series' Moses) and show how to apply the show's wisdom to life. Captain Kirk is the author's dominant lodestar for ethical and business success, a blend of good soldier and bold innovator. The captain always checks in with Starfleet Command and delegates responsibility when he beams down off the ship, and he is people-oriented enough to get the most out of the all-too-human Dr. McCoy and the half-human Mr. Spock. Marinaccio feels that leadership sometimes requires breaking the rules, as Captain Kirk ignores the Prime Directive (not to interfere with any civilization they explore) when ethical imperatives are involved....A delightful mix of satire and inspiration, nostalgia for a time when William Shatner could still pull in his gut, and patient optimism for the talent and moral vision of ``the Next Generation.'' 
        - Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP




 History made interesting! Wow! ~ Jaclyn


 The Tender Bar: A Memoir by J.R. Moehringer 

 A moving, vividly told memoir full of heart, drama, and exquisite comic timing, about a boy striving to become a man, and his romance with a bar.  J .R. Moehringer grew up listening for a voice: It was the sound of his missing father, a disc jockey who disappeared before J.R. spoke his first words. As a boy, J.R. would press his ear to a clock radio, straining to hear in that resonant voice the secrets of masculinity, and the keys to his own identity. J.R.'s mother was his world, his anchor, but he needed something else, something more, something he couldn't name. So he turned to the bar on the corner, a grand old New York saloon that was a sanctuary for all types of men-cops and poets, actors and lawyers, gamblers and stumble bums.....When the time came for J.R. to leave home, the bar became a way station-from his entrance to Yale, where he floundered as a scholarship student way out of his element; to his introduction to tragic romance with a woman way out of his league; to his stint as a copy boy at the New York Times, where he was a faulty cog in a vast machine way out of his control. Through it all, the bar offered shelter from failure, from rejection, and eventually from reality-until at last the bar turned J.R. away. Riveting, moving, and achingly funny, The Tender Bar is at once an evocative portrait of one boy's struggle to become a man, and a touching depiction of how some men remain lost boys."   ~from the Publisher

 Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

The extraordinary New York Times bestselling account of James Garfield's rise from poverty to the American presidency, and the dramatic history of his assassination and legacy, from bestselling author of The River of Doubt, Candice Millard.

James Abram Garfield was one of the most extraordinary men ever elected president. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, a renowned congressman, and a reluctant presidential candidate who took on the nation's corrupt political establishment. But four months after Garfield's inauguration in 1881, he was shot in the back by a deranged office-seeker named Charles Guiteau. Garfield survived the attack, but become the object of bitter, behind-the-scenes struggles for power—over his administration, over the nation's future, and, hauntingly, over his medical care. Meticulously researched, epic in scope, and pulsating with an intimate human focus and high-velocity narrative drive, The Destiny of the Republic brings alive a forgotten chapter of U.S. history." ~ from the Publisher  

Thanks for sharing, Jaclyn!

From Trevor: A Great Nonfiction Title

Daring Greatly:  How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead by Brene Brown.

"Terrific Book" ~ from Trevor

"Researcher and thought leader Dr. Brené Brown offers a powerful new vision that encourages us to dare greatly: to embrace vulnerability and imperfection, to live wholeheartedly, and to courageously engage in our lives.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; . . . who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.” —Theodore Roosevelt

Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable, or to dare greatly. Whether the arena is a new relationship, an important meeting, our creative process, or a difficult family conversation, we must find the courage to walk into vulnerability and engage with our whole hearts.

In Daring Greatly, Dr. Brown challenges everything we think we know about vulnerability. Based on twelve years of research, she argues that vulnerability is not weakness, but rather our clearest path to courage, engagement, and meaningful connection. The book that Dr. Brown’s many fans have been waiting for, Daring Greatly will spark a new spirit of truth—and trust—in our organizations, families, schools, and communities." 
 ~ from the Publisher

Thanks for posting this book, Trevor!

52 Weeks 52 Books / Week Ending April 29, 2013

THE ONE I LEFT BEHIND by Jennifer McMahon

"The summer of 1985 changes Reggie’s life. An awkward thirteen-year-old, she finds herself mixed up with the school outcasts. That same summer, a serial killer called Neptune begins kidnapping women. He leaves their severed hands on the police department steps and, five days later, displays their bodies around town. Just when Reggie needs her mother, Vera, the most, Vera’s hand is found on the steps. But after five days, there’s no body and Neptune disappears.

Now, twenty-five years later, Reggie is a successful architect who has left her hometown and the horrific memories of that summer behind. But when she gets a call revealing that her mother has been found alive, Reggie must confront the ghosts of her past and find Neptune before he kills again." 
~ from the Publisher

I've read other books by Jennifer McMahon, but had a few issues with this one.  The plot was intriguing but parts of the book seemed implausible to me and I guessed the killer fairly early on--and this was disappointing because surprises make it so much more fun.  The author goes back and forth in time in telling the story, which is not everyone's cup of tea.   
 ~ Katherine

TWO JUSTIN CRONIN THRILLERS FROM JACLYN:

The Passage by Justin Cronin

Slow start, but definitely got better.   ~ Jaclyn
 

 " An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, The Passage is the story of Amy—abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Brad Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl and risks everything to save her. As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape—but he can’t stop society’s collapse. And as Amy walks alone, across miles and decades, into a future dark with violence and despair, she is filled with the mysterious and terrifying knowledge that only she has the power to save the ruined world."  ~ from the publisher


The Twelve by Justin Cronin Book 2 of the The Passage Trilogy

 "With The Twelve, the story continues. In the present day: As a man-made apocalypse unfolds, three strangers navigate the chaos, desperate to find others, to survive, to witness the dawn on the other side of disaster. Lila, a doctor and an expectant mother, has been so broken by the spread of violence and infection that she continues to plan for her child’s arrival even as society dissolves around her. Kittridge, known to the world as “Last Stand in Denver,” has been forced by loss of electrical power to flee his stronghold and is now on the road, dodging the infected, armed but alone and well aware that a tank of gas will get him only so far. April is a teenager fighting to guide her little brother safely through a minefield of death and ruin. These three will learn that they have not been fully abandoned—and that in connection lies hope, even on the darkest of nights.

A hundred years in the future: Amy, Peter, Alicia, and the others introduced in The Passage work with a cast of new characters to hunt the original twelve virals… unaware that the rules of the game have changed, and that one of them will have to sacrifice everything to bring the Twelve down.
The scope widens and the intensity deepens as the epic tale of sacrifice and survival begun in The Passage surges forward in its breathtaking sequel—The Twelve."  ~from the publisher

Thanks, Jaclyn!