One Summer by David Baldacci

I read the large print version of this book in one day - 500 pages of it. There are very few books that I find so compelling that I can't put them down somewhere along the way. This was one of those precious few.

Jack begins this story in critical condition. He is in a hospital bed a few days before Christmas waiting to die. He has three children ranging from a daughter, Mikki, who is 15, Cory who is 9 or 10, and Jackie, a toddler. Liz, his wife, cares for him patiently.

Liz sees that Jack is out of medication and goes out in bad weather to get his prescriptions. She loses her life in an accident. Jack's children are farmed out to various relatives and Jack goes into hospice care waiting to die.  But he doesn't.

Through nothing less than a miracle, Jack recovers. He collects his children and takes them to South Carolina to the old family homestead for the summer to honor the plan Liz had when she thought she would be the surviving spouse. It's a long road back for Jack to recover from the grief and to become the kind of father he needs to be for his children. Mikki is especially trying, being a teenager and angry about her mother's death. There is also a complication involving Jack's mother-in-law that brings the family into court.

This is a three-tissue story with a soul-satisfying end.

Happy reading,

Kathi Linz

Start Your Own Home Business After 50 by Robert Bly

Being over 50, Robert Bly's new book Start Your Own Home Business After 50 caught my eye.
I read the introduction and skimmed the ideas he wrote up for home businesses well suited to mature adults.

Robert Bly gives the outline of the plan, an action plan for acquiring whatever you need to start, how to market effectively, and some possible drawbacks. All in all, he gives you enough information to make an informed decision. Most of the businesses can be started with a small investment.

Maybe you will find a way to work from home full-time or part-time to enhance your retirement options.

Kathi Linz

Floors by Patrick Carman

In the book Floors by Patrick Carman, Leo is the son of the maintenance man at the Whippet Hotel. The two of them live in the basement of the hotel. This building stands in Manhattan on some of the most valuable real estate in the country. It is only a few stories high and is surrounded by a large garden with a pond for the ducks. The hotel was built by Merganzer Whippet who specializes in strange inventions. His hotel has rooms like the Cake Room, the Train Room, and the Robot Room. The eighth floor is built like a haunted house. The guests are odd to say the least.

Mr Whippet is good friends with Leo, but he has been missing for 100 days. Suddenly, Leo starts finding boxes that present him with a puzzle and the answer to the puzzle. There are floors between the floors unlike anything one would find in any other hotel in the world. Often the puzzles have to do with rings. Someone keeps sending Leo messages to help him with the puzzles.

Between his box adventures, the hotel is being sabotaged and Leo and his dad have to fix things. Ms. Sparks, the hotel manager is mean.  She is looking for any reason to fire the employees. A couple of men in a limousine are trying to buy the hotel out from under the missing Mr. Whippet.

Leo manages to survive all the tests and in the end he is rewarded for his love of the hotel he helps take care of.

Kathi Linz

The Chocolate Cupid Killings by JoAnna Carl

I admit to having a bad habit about reading mysteries. I tend to read bout 50-75 pages and then look at the end to see who did it.  If no one is dead by page 50, I'm likely to turn the book back in to the library without finishing it.

However, when I started reading The Chocolate Cupid Killings by JoAnna Carl, I got so involved in the story so quickly, that I just kept reading without peeking at the end of the book. This is the ninth book in her series, but it is the first I've read by this author.

Valentine's Day starts with a dilemma for Lee the owner of the TenHuis Chocolade shop. One of her recent employees is a woman running away from an abusive husband on the Underground Railroad. This is not approved by local law enforcement, which is another part of the dilemma, since Lee and Aunt Nettie are married to local law.

In the process of helping this woman, two people are killed and the chocolate shop ladies find themselves on the wrong end of the law - including FBI - for impeding an investigation.

I had no idea who were the good guys and who were the bad guys until the end. I didn't guess who did it and I was glad that I hadn't peeked.

Thank you, JoAnna Carl, for this engrossing mystery. I'm certain to pick up more of this series.

Kathi Linz

The Gold Shoe by Grace Livingston Hill

The Gold Shoe by Grace Livingston Hill has the spoiled rich girl, Tasha Endicott, going to a "Great Gatsby"-type house party in the middle of a blizzard. She gets off the train at an unmanned, locked train station, dressed for a house party, but absolutely unready to be outdoors in winter weather.

Fortunately for her, Thurly MacDonald, a young preacher, is trying to get to another town where he has been invited to preach. He arrives at the station, finds her, and hauls her bodily to his mother's house where she can be cared for until the weather passes.

Oddly enough, after a few chapters, both of the young people go their way and the story rests with Thurly's mother and another young lady who comes to stay with her while Thurly is out of town. The story builds but not in the usual romance way. A good deal of the story revolves around a gold dance slipper with a diamond-studded buckle which Tasha leaves behind after the storm. Finally, everything works out as a romance story should.

If you are a fan of literature which has come to us from an earlier time, you may well enjoy this.  If you prefer contemporary romances, I can't suggest that you read this one.

Kathi

The Shadow Scholar: How I Made a Living Helping College Kids Cheat by Dave Tomar

Having been a teacher for many years, I was curious about this book simply because of the title. I wondered about The Shadow Scholar: How I Made a Living Helping College Kids Cheat.

Dave Tomar cannot be described as having lived a clean or healthy lifestyle. He partied during college as much as he could with limited means. The college he went to was the only one in his state which he could afford. When he needed to get his car out of tow, he had no way of coming up with the ninety dollars he needed for the fine. A friend offered him ninety dollars to do a term paper for her, and his business was born.

Dave claims he only showed up for class to take exams, and he somehow managed to pass every course without doing his homework. He resented the fact that he wasn't getting his money's worth out of his education. However, once he started writing essays, term papers and even master's theses or doctoral dissortations, he discovered that he was getting the education he wanted by doing other people's homework.

The author dreads the future of America given his knowledge of the entitlement mentality of today's young people. He lays out the seamy underbelly of higher education, both the students and the administration.

This book doesn't make for pretty reading, but you will learn an insider's view of college and university mentality.

Kathi Linz

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Elance by Karen Lacey

If you have good writing (or other) skills, you might wish to check out The Complete Idiot's Guide to Elance by Karen Lacey. 

Elance is a website where clients come to pay creative people for their skills. Jobs are posted looking for logo design, articles, web pages, and hundreds of other possibilities.

As in other Complete Idiot's Guides, nothing is assumed.  Each detail is explained, from signing up with the website to posting a proposal, submitting the finished project, and how you get paid. Every clickable button is described and you find out how and when to click it.

This book will be in the New Book section for another month. Come and check it out. Maybe you can put a few extra dollars into your bank account.

Kathi Linz

"Harry Potter Film Wizardry" by Brian Sibley

Are you a fan of the Harry Potter movies?  If you are, you should check out Harry Potter Film Wizardry by Brian Sibley.  The book discusses the making of all eight films in the series.  (Be aware that there are two versions of this book.  The 2012 version does cover all eight films, but the 2010 one may not.)  It covers many aspects of the film-making process, from how some of the actors came to be involved to the reasons for various decisions about sets and costumes.  Each film is explored by describing various sets and creatures that were introduced in that film.  Scattered throughout the book are pages devoted solely to particular characters and the actors who portrayed them.  In addition to the many pictures (including concept art, models, and movie stills), there are a few extra visual aids to add to the enjoyment of the book.  (Did you think you'd ever get to unfold & view the Marauder's Map?!?)  In case you've been missing Harry Potter but haven't had time to sit down & re-watch all the movies or reread all the books, reading Sibley's book--or even just looking through all the pictures!--will bring back the whole story!

Isle of Shadows by T.L. Higley

Tracy L. Higley writes a series of Christian books based on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

In Isle of Shadows, we are on the Isle of Rhodes in the last days before the great earthquake of 226 B.C. The Colossus of Rhodes, a huge bronze statue of Helios, stands astride the harbor of the capital city. 

Tessa, a beautiful and powerful courtesan, must serve Glaucus, the head of the democracy in Rhodes.  She hates her slavery in spite of the gifts and favors she receives. 

Glaucus dies in an accident. However, due to the circumstances, no one is likely to believe that Tessa didn't kill him.  Simeon, the Jewish head servant of the household, and newcomer Nikos help Tessa hide the truth for a short time.

Along with keeping Glaucus' death a secret, they must also discover who is behind certain political maneuverings which include shutting off the water supply to part of the city and the murder of more than one official.

Nikos has his secrets too, which bring about other complications.  Tessa and Nikos find themselves hidden away with Simeon's family in the Jewish section of town during Passover. They are invited to stay for the meal and learn the history of the feast and the promise of the Messiah.

Tessa makes a last desperate stand for her freedom just as the great earthquake hits the island.  The statue of Helios helps secure her freedom in a very compelling manner.

If you like Christian historical fiction, I suggest you read this book.

Kathi Linz

Promise Me by Richard Paul Evans

Beth Cardill has loved three men in her life.  Mark, her first husband, betrays her.  She doesn't find out that he is cheating one her until her daughter Charlotte comes down with a mysterious illness that is causing dangerous symptoms and the doctors can't diagnose.

Soon after Beth becomes ill, Mark also gets a critical illness. Shortly after this, Beth has to juggle mortgage payments and more bills than her job can pay for.

Enter the tall, dark stranger.  Matthew helps Beth with her problems and suggests the cause of Charlotte's illness.  Everything turns around for Beth. Life is wonderful and beautiful - but...isn't it strange that Matthew knows things about her and Charlotte that he can't possibly know.

When Matthew helps Beth with her financial problems, and then disappears with the money, Beth determines never to trust anyone ever again.

I won't tell you the ending, but don't give up hope for Beth and don't judge Matthew too quickly. The answer to the riddle of Matthew is one you aren't likely to guess before Richard Paul Evans tells you.

Kathi Linz

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

I'm betting the title was chosen partly because of the popularity of the series with a similar title.  However, Between Shades of Gray is a young adult fiction book based on the "relocation" of tens of thousands of Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians and Finns when the Soviets took over those countries in 1941.

Lina tells the story beginning with this line: They took me in my nightgown.

The Soviets gave Lina, her mother Elena, and her brother Jonas twenty minutes to pack whatever they wanted to carry in a suitcase.  The family was herded into cattle cars with hundreds of other townspeople where they spent six weeks on their way to Siberia. 

Once there, they were told to sign documents that declared them to be criminals with a sentence of 25 years at labor in the beet and potato fields.  They were given only a little bread to eat.  Many died of scurvy and other diseases caused by living in noxious conditions.

As Elena wouldn't sign the documents, she, Lina, and Jonas were sent clear across Asia to the northern end of the Lena River above the Arctic Circle. 

This family lived through the horrors of Stalin's dictatorship.  The story seems to have a better - although not completely happy - ending.  Lina's story is eventually found buried in a jar in 1954.  She was never able to speak about it openly due to the Soviet strictures. 

While not a comfortable story, it is based on what really happened to the Baltic Coast countries during World War II.  It was a different kind of Holocaust occurring at the same time as the Nazi destruction of the Jewish people.

Kathi Linz

I Got a D in Salami

Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver have written a series of books for children with Hank Zipzer as the main character.  Hank has a learning difficulty which isn't named in the story, but sounds quite a bit like dyslexia.

I actually listened to the book on CD which is read by Henry Winkler himself.  He reads it like an actor rather than like a regular reader.  The result is quite comical. 

Hank is not especially good in school even though he studies as best he can.  In spite of his honest effort to do well, he ends up being laughed at and in trouble all the time. 

Hank's mother runs a deli.  She experiments with healthy foods, and has created soy salami. 

When Hank gets 3 D's on his report card and a letter from his teacher saying she wants to meet with his parents, between Hank and his friends, the report card ends up in the salami mixture which is going to be presented to a big buyer the next morning.  Hank and his friends come up with a plan to thwart the meeting so no one will become sick from eating report card salami.  Of course, nothing goes according to their plan, and the whole thing ends up a huge disaster which includes an Irish wolfhound and a dachshund named Cheerio.

In spite of the destruction of the meeting and penthouse suite, this turns out to be a turning point for Hank, because he ends up getting tested for his learning difference.  He will be allowed to learn in different ways so he isn't penalized for something he can't help.

If you want to have a good laugh, pick up this audio book.  Hearing it read by Henry Winkler absolutely enhances the story.  In my opinion ( a past teacher of two decades), I'd have to guess that Henry Winkler is writing from his own experience. 

Kathi Linz

"My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business" by Dick Van Dyke

I don't normally read biographies (if I ever have!), but being a fan of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and looking for a new audiobook, I recently listened to My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business by Dick Van Dyke.  I enjoyed the audiobook version because it was narrated by Dick Van Dyke himself.  Being both the author and the narrator, he could read the book with whatever feeling he wanted.  With that and his recognizable voice, listening to his autobiography was like listening to him just sitting down and talking about his life.  The book itself described Dick Van Dyke's life from before he was in show business up until he wrote the book, which was about 2010 or 2011.  In that time span, you get to hear funny anecdotes from his personal and professional lives.  Entertainment buffs will appreciate the name-dropping, ranging from personal stories about Stan Laurel and Buster Keaton to mentions of Carl Reiner, Debbie Reynolds, Ben Stiller, and more.  In short, I enjoyed the book as narrated by the author and may be tempted to add some more biographies to my reading wish list!

Two New Knitting Books

The library recently got two new knitting books.



The Sock Knitter's Handbook: Expert Advice, Tips, & Tricks by Charlene Schurch and Beth Parrott and Knit Step by Step: More Than 150 Techniques and Stitch Patterns with 10 Easy Projects by Vikki Haffenden and Frederica Patmore.



If you are handy with a pair or needles, these might be something you want to explore.

Kathi

New Weaving Books

The library recently acquired three new books on weaving. 

If you have a table (or larger) loom, you might want to check out these two books:

Pattern Weaving: Basics for the Handloom by Rabbit Goody
and Simple Weaves: Over 30 Classic Patterns and Fresh New Styles by Birgitta Bengtsson Bjork and Tina Ignell




If you have an interest in inkle weaving - making bands and sashes - you might want to see this book, The Weaver's Inkle Pattern Directory by Anne Dixon. This book goes beyond the basic patterns and shows how to do pick up weaving for fancier patterns.



Kathi Linz