Shore Excursion by Marie Moore

Sidney Marsh left Mississippi for the Big Apple and has never looked back.  She spends her time as a travel agent and a lot of her travel agent time is spent shepherding tours throughout the world.  Sidney's specialty is acting as the tour specialist for senior citizens tours; specifically the High Steppers.  She has been on several tours with this group of friends.

This trip they are headed to the northern European countries; Denmark, Sweden, Russia.  But someone else has boarded the cruise ship and they spell danger.  One of the High Stepper women is killed, although the cruise ship tries to hush it up.  Then another High Stepper, this one a male, is killed.  Who is trying to kill these innocuous senior citizens, and why would they be targets?  Sidney is determined to find out since the authorities don't seem interested in anything except sweeping the murders under the rug so that the tour can go on.

There are plenty of suspects.  There are some younger men who are touring with the group, and why would interesting, attractive young men want to spend time with those of an older generation?  Then there is the cruise ship captain.  One minute he seems to be interested in Sidney, the next he is ordering her around and thwarting her investigations.  There's the blonde bombshell who flirts with all the men, and even Sidney's best friend Jay is acting suspicious.  Can Sidney find the killer before anyone else is killed?

This is a debut mystery from Marie Moore.  It is written in the cozy, light-hearted style of a Joan Hess or Carolyn Hart.  The narrative is written in first-person style from Sidney's perspective.  Along with an engaging mystery, readers learn tidbits about successful cruising.  Shore Excursion is the first novel in a series, and readers will be interested to see what Ms. Moore serves up next.  This book is recommended for mystery readers interested in light crime dramas. 

The Girl With The Crooked Nose by Ted Botha

In The Girl With The Crooked Nose, Ted Botha follows the career of Frank Bender and his forsenic sculpting work.  Frank was a commercial photographer but his love was sculpting.  As with most sculptors, he hired models to try to determine how human anatomy worked to make his pieces more authentic.  This desire to know about human anatomy eventually led him to the Philadephia medical examiner's office.  There he started to study corpses.

After several visits, the police approached Frank about a murder victim who was unidentified.  They explained that they had mimimal luck with sketch artists producing a likeness in such cases that helped with identification, and wondered if Frank could produce a bust that would be better.  Frank didn't know anything about forensics but was persuaded to make an attempt.  He created a bust that led to an identification, and found his life's work. 

Over the years, Frank worked on multiple cases.  He was successful in finding identities in many cases.  The ones that he was proudest of were the children, often found in suitcases or boxes, thrown away after being murdered.  Frank's work was able to give them back an identity, and to let them be buried under their own name instead of being sent to an anonymous grave. 

Frank's biggest case was that of the scores of Mexican women who were murdered in the early 2000's.  The Mexican government brought him in, along with an FBI consultant, but it was soon clear that there were politics at play and forces that did not want this case solved.  While Frank went back to Mexico several times and created multiple busts, the cases still remain a mystery, although many believe either the Mexican police or the military had a hand in these deaths. 

Another area Frank's expertise was used in was age regression and advancement.  He was the sculptor that created the bust of John List that was used on America's Most Wanted to identify this man who a decade earlier had killed his entire family and disappeared.  That case led to the government using Frank for several other busts to identify fugitives who had been missing for many years.

Ted Botha has outlined the life history of a fascinating man.  Bender loved the work he did, but never made enough money at it to support his family.  He had to take side jobs throughout his life to make ends meet.  Frank lived life on his own terms, and his work was so valuable that he was able to live life as he wanted while still fitting in with the highly structured world of police work.  This book is recommended for readers of true crime and those interested in forensic work.

Collecting Innocents by C.K. Webb and D.J. Weaver

Something is very wrong on I-10.  Parents who encounter car problems while riding on the interstate are disappearing along with their children.  The parents all make 9-11 calls from callboxes along the interstate and that is the last contact anyone has with them.  The bodies of the parents are found in a few days or weeks but the children are never found.

The police are slow to put together the cases as they happen in different jurisdictions.  That's where The Saving Angels Agency comes in.  The agency was started by Sloanne Kelly and her fiance, Shawn Taylor, two years ago.  They were involved in a similar case and Sloane's goddaughter was kidnapped and murdered.  When that killer was apprehended, the couple swore that they would spend their lives working on missing child cases.  Two years later, they not only had helped put that killer behind bars, but had reunited multiple children with their parents.

Many of the individuals from the earlier case work on this one.  Jake MacKenzie was a detective in the earlier case.  He moved to Louisiana where the most recent kidnappings are taking place and is the first to make the connection.  He calls in Sloanne and Shawn along with their friend Birney Sullivan.  Sullivan is a reporter with the ability to take a news story nationwide.  Together this team, along with the sheriff in Louisiana and his men, work to discover the killer and try to locate the missing children.  Can they be successful against such a diabolical killer?

C.K. Webb and D.J. Weaver have created an interesting cast of characters.  Collecting Innocents is the second book in their series, but is easily accessible without having read the first.  The Saving Angels team is an interesting mix of people who have been affected by those who prey on children and have determined to devote their lives to making children safe.  This book is recommended to mystery lovers looking for a new series to follow.

By Blood by Ellen Ullman

It is the 1970's and a disgraced professor has come to San Francisco, awaiting the judgement of his college. A tenured professor, there is an allegation of improper student contact, and now he must wait for the wheels of collegial justice to grind out his fate. Knowing that it will take months, he has fled to another city where he is to work on research and papers. It is an unsettled time in San Francisco. The peace and love generation has given way to terrorists similar to those who kidnapped Patty Hearst. The Zodiac killer is stalking the streets. There is unease everywhere, including the professor's mind.

He takes an office in a cheap location, and there he finds his solace. He is placed next to a psychiatrist's office, and the construction is so cheap that he can hear through the walls. Not everyone; for most patients there is a white noise machine. But one patient, the one that the professor begins to think of as 'his patient' wants the machine turned off and he can hear everything she says.

The patient is caught up in the same identity crisis the professor has fought his whole life. Both feel they don't belong anywhere, that there is something unique about them that sets them apart and makes them unlovable. The patient believes it is her past as an adopted child. The professor comes from a family rife with mental disease and suicides. Both struggle to determine if they are a product of their genes, fated at birth to become what they are, or if they have the strength to define themselves apart from their heredity.
The professor has spent years in therapy and has removed himself from that setting. Yet he finds himself drawn into the struggle of the patient as she confronts her adoptive parents. He uses his research skills to find her birth mother and the truth of her background and mails the results to her pretending to be a clerk at the adoption agency. He then sits back and waits to see what will happen, if his gift will enable the patient to move forward with her life or if the truth of her background will swamp her.

Ellen Ullman has written a brooding tale that draws the reader in hypnotically. Set in short chapters, the hour long therapy sessions are juxtaposed with the actions of the professors. The story rackets up the suspense as the truth is revealed a bit at a time. Will the therapist have the skills to free the patient, and the professor who looms in the background and is just as needy? This book is recommended for all readers, an atmospheric tale that will not soon be forgotten.

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

In 1953, the millionaire Cyrus Ott, head of a large corporation with far-flung interests, comes to Rome to make a proposition.  His former lover, Betty, now lives in Rome with her husband Leo.  Cyrus suggests that he will found a daily newspaper in the city and leave it to Betty and Leo to run it as editors.  They agree and the newspaper is founded.

Tom Rachman's debut novel, The Imperfectionists, follows this newspaper over the next fifty years along with the lives of the many people who make up the work force that creates a daily newspaper.  He structures the novel so that each person gets a chapter that shows his life, both at work and at home.  Each character ties to the other people at the newspaper, yet each remains separate.  This is the way of corporations and most large enterprises.  Each individual has their own agenda yet somehow, if lucky, these agendas are chained together to create a complete structure which none could have done alone.

Along with the short glimpses into individual private lives, Rachman portrays the dying days of the newspaper.  This is a fate that seems to be inevitable for most newspapers as readers' expectations are for instant information which they can get on the television news channels and the news on various Internet outlets.  There is little time for the leisurely exploration of topics that newspapers were able to create in years past.  The Ott corporation forgets about the newspaper in Rome, with few visits or inquiries from the home headquarters, and the newspaper is left to flounder and lose its way.

Rachman has done an impressive job.  His own background is as a journalist and an editor on foreign newspapers, so he knows the territory he writes about.  His slice-of-life vignettes are cunningly constructed to shed light on individual lives while typing them together to make a united whole.  This book is recommended for readers interested in modern fiction and for those interested in the writing industry.

The Night Swimmer by Matt Bondurant

Fred and Elly Bulkington are the luckiest couple alive.  They have won a genuine Irish pub in a contest, lock stock and barrel.  All they have to do is open the doors and their new lives will begin.

But this is not the Ireland of sunny skies, laughing children and warm communities.  This is the Ireland flung out on the outskirts of civilization, a dark, brooding, inbreed place where anyone not born there is called a 'blow-in'.  A place with secrets that outsiders only catch occasional glimpses of.  A place that is ruled by one family and where everyone else bows to that family's wishes.  A place of menace, contrasted with occasional flashes of casual violence.

Fred opens the doors, but customers are few and far between.  The only tourists who come here are birders, as this is the first landfall for migrating birds.  Elly is a distance swimmer, the kind of swimmer who only feels alive in the water.  She spends her time swimming in the ocean, an occupation that the natives view suspiciously.  To them the water is a necessary evil, a force that gives livilhoods but in return may demand a life in payment.  The couple is ostracized, not overt acts but just treated as if they don't exist.  The strain mounts with Fred falling into the bottle and their marriage starting to crack.  Will they be able to make a go of things in this remote, desolate place?

Matt Bondurant has written a stunning book, one that grips the reader, insinuating its way into thoughts at strange times, leaving behind an impulse to drop whatever is being done to get back to Elly and Fred's story.  The language is brooding, building suspense with each vignette the story unfolds, leading to a climatic finish that won't be soon forgotten.  This book is recommended for all readers who are interested in connection and remoteness and how we find our way in the world, clinging to others to save us from the cruelty we encounter. 

The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst

The Stranger's Child follows two British families, the Vances and the Sawles, from before WWI to the present. Both families were in the British upper class, with the Vances a bit higher, having a title. The sons of the families, Cecil and George, become friends at college, and the book begins with Cecil Vance's visit to George Sawle's family home on a weekend. Daphne, George's teenage sister, is infatuated with Cecil, too innocent to understand that the young men are sexually involved with each other. Cecil, a budding poet, dashes off a poem in Daphne's autograph book before he leaves. This poem becomes his most famous, and the one by which he is forever known.

The next section occurs after the war. Daphne is now Lady Vance, but is not married to Cecil. Cecil is killed in the war, and Daphne has married his brother Dudley. George is now married and teaching. The section follows their married years and their friends and acquaintances. They are part of an artistic circle with poets, authors and artists.

Fast forward a generation. The Vance family home has now become a boy's school, and Peter Rowe is a schoolmaster there. He begins an affair with Paul Bryant, who works as a bank teller in Daphne's son-in-law's bank. The circle of connection moves forward with Peter being invited to play duets with Daphne's daughter, Corrine, at gatherings at their home.
Another generation. Now Paul has become an author, specifically a biographer. He trades on his acquaintance with the Vance and Sawle families to ferret out their secrets and create a best-seller. George became the author, with his wife, of a famous historical textbook that became the milestone of every British child's education. Daphne spends her old age living with her son, who guards her jealously.

Alan Hollinghurst has created a fascinating book that looks at an era in British history where there were only a limited number of people who 'counted' and they all knew each other in some way, or had some tangential relationship or acquaintance that brought them into the charmed circle. He also plays with the idea of memory, how we are remembered when we are no longer here, and whether memories are ever true or are instead tinged and shaped by what we want to have happened. Families rise and fall, fortunes and titles come and go. The sections are tied together interestingly, with minor characters tieing back in unexpected ways to the two main families. This book has been nominated for the Mann Booker Prize in 2011, and is a well-deserved nomination.

Paris My Sweet by Amy Thomas

Amy Thomas fell in love with Paris on a trip in her late teens.  She dreamed of living there, and after years of work in the advertising field, she was offered a dream job.  She could take a contract to work on the advertising of Louis Vuitton, but would have to move to Paris and work there.  Amy jumped at the chance as it was her dream come true.

Amy's other passion was quality desserts.  She had, as a side interest, created a blog about sweets and where to find the best ones in New York.  She dreamed about expanding this with all the wonderful new sweet shops and French confections she would find in Paris.  Amy spent her first weeks there touring the famous shops and discovering new ones. 

Paris My Sweet combines both the story of Thomas's two years in Paris and her love of anything sweet.  Each chapter talks about an issue common to those starting a new job, moving to a new city, or being a woman on the cusp of middle age who is still single and adventurous but starting to wonder about love, marriage and children.  Each chapter also features a category of sweet such as the madeline or cupcakes or macarons.  At the end of each chapter is a page outlining the best places to find that category of sweet, both in New York and in Paris.

Paris My Sweet will appeal to a wide variety of readers.  It is great travel writing.  Foodies will be thrilled to read about the variety and intensity of flavors available in the dessert category as well as the guide to the best places to find specific categories.  Overall, the book will appear to women working on finding their place in the world, finding that mix of work and family/love that works for them.  Throughout the book, Thomas is revealed as a woman questioning her life but ultimately satisfied with her choices, a woman with a zest for life and who loves to share with others.  This book is recommended for all these categories of readers. 

Chasing China by Kay Bratt

Mia has come to China to discover the truth about her birth family.  She is one of the many Chinese girls who were adopted overseas.  Although Mia had a wonderful childhood and a loving adoptive family, part of her cannot rest until she discovers more about who she is, where she came from, and why her birth family deserted her at the age of one in a train station, leaving her to spend several years in a state-run orphanage before being adopted at age four.

When Mia visits the orphanage where she lived with a translator, she is appalled at the shabbiness but even more at the emotional starvation the children there encounter.  In order to feed, clothe and educate so many children, every minute of their day is strictly scheduled, and the caretakers don't have time to give praise or affection.  The children are treated as items on an assembly line.  Mia is also suspicious when her questions go unanswered or given an airy reply of  "Later".  She is unsure if her translator is giving her all the information the officials speak.

As the days go by, Mia explores other avenues to discover her past.  She meets Jax, another Chinese-American who helps her.  Jax is in China on an internship and is willing to help Mia find out whatever they can.  They post fliers and hunt down clues.  Mia also starts to work with a group of foreign women; expatriates who are in China for a year or two and who have chosen the orphanage as a charity.  Through these avenues, Mia gets closer to the truth, but it is uncertain if she will ever discover what occurred all those years ago.

Kay Bratt has worked in the field of overseas adoption for many years.  Chasing China allows her to educate readers as she entertains them, and to share the issues surrounding intercultural adoptions.  This book is recommended for readers interested in adoption, and those interested in other cultures.

Narrows Gate by Jim Fusilli

Narrows Gate is the kind of immigrant neighborhood in New York that everyone is familiar with from books and movies.  Lots of poverty, but close-knit families.  Not many chances for economic success leading to enterprising men making their way however they can.  Started as an Italian immigrant neighborhood, by WWII it was divided between the Italians and the Irish.

This is the world Leo Bell, his friend Sal Benno, and Bebe Marsela grow up in.  Each chooses a different path for his life.  Leo is smart and joins the military during the war where his intelligence is recognized and he is recruited to work for the government.  Benno has to hustle to make a living, and finds ways to make himself useful to the Mafia figures that control the city.  Bebe recreates himself as Bill Marsela, a crooner that makes the women swoon and all the men jealous of his luck. 

Jim Fusilli has written an intriguing novel that follows the life of these three characters as they navigate life in the city in the 1940's.  Full of well-researched details, the reader learns how criminal organizations grow and take over any enterprise in their vicinity that has the potential to make money.   This was the heyday of the Mafia and their plans to control the entertainment industry.  It was the time that Las Vegas was built, created by Mafia figures as a money-making enterprise.  The tension between the main characters, the government and the Mafia is carefully crafted and ratcheted up leading to a satisfying resolution.  This book is highly recommended for readers interested in a compelling read with fascinating characters and an intricate plot.

Pigeon English by Stehen Kelman

Prepare to fall in love. Harrison Opuku bursts off the page and into the reader’s heart. Harri is eleven, a recent immigrant from Ghana. He is now living in England with his mother and sister; his father, grandmother and baby sister left behind until the family can afford for them to come also. Living in the projects, Harri is amazed at all the new things he sees. The subway is an amazing item that he can’t quite believe work. He thinks it is bo-styles; the word for the ultimate cool. He is thrilled by remote control cars, cell phones, and new trainers. Harri’s best skill is his running; no one can catch him when he runs. He is the kind of boy who is open to all experiences, taking them in and finding the good in everything around him. Harri tends to like everyone; even the pigeons who flock around the housing projects, occasionally getting inside. Where others see a mess that should be cleared away, Harri sees a friend.

But not everything is positive in Harri’s world. Gangs abound, and as a newcomer, he is tested for inclusion. Daily life is full of insults and casual violence, and Harri is sometimes tempted by these acts. Worst of all, a boy who is the star of the basketball court, is murdered on the streets. The motive? No one knows for sure, maybe even just for his dinner. Harri and his friend Dean decide that they will find the killer. Full of facts gained from CSI shows, they attempt to lift fingerprints and find DNA, sure that they can find the culprit and bring him to justice.

Stephen Kelman has created a character that readers will not soon forget. The language is spot-on for a child growing up in modern England in the housing projects. The language is sometimes rough, and the facts that are commonplace knowledge breathtaking, but through it all, the sweetness of Harri’s personality shines through. Kelman himself grew up in the housing projects of England and worked as a careworker, a warehouse operative, in marketing and in local government administration before focusing on writing. Pigeon English has been nominated for the Booker Prize and readers will not be surprised by that fact. This is a stunning, excellent book; the fact that it is a debut novel is almost unimaginable. This book is recommended for all readers.

Dark Side Of Valor by Alicia Singleton

Lelia Freeman, a child advocate, knows what she speaks about.  She herself spent years on the street, running from a miserable homelife.  She managed to find a way out, but not before a tragedy occurred that stole her best friend from her, a victim of the streets and the predators that prowled them.

These days, Lelia is well past those days.  Her adopted family supported her as she used education to build a life for herself.  A life that not only sustained her, but allowed her to give back to society, to help others who found themselves on the streets due to poverty, drug or alcohol abuse, or lives filled with sexual and physical abuse.  She can relate to the children she saves since she was one of them.

Her work does not go unnoticed.  She is nominated to go work in Africa with the children orphaned from a civil war.  Once there, she discovers that all is not what it seems; that those who requested her did so to use her work as a cover for the evil they had done and planned to continue doing.  She escapes from the government, her allies two mercenaries who are there for their own purposes.  Relieved at first, she comes to realise that this was no accident; the men she was counting on to save her life had old ties to her past that left her anything but safe.  Could Lelia escape the danger she finds herself in and make it back to the kids that give her reason for living?

Alicia Singleton has written a compelling story that highlights the pain behind the lives of street children and abused and neglected children all over the world.  The reader will cheer for the heroine who attempts to assuage their pain, while learning more about what goes on in their world.  This book is recommended for readers interested in social justice, an exciting story and tales of those who rise above their background to make a new life.

The Black Echo by Michael Connelly

Harry Bosch, Hollywood homicide detective, is called out one night to investigate a body found in a large drainage tunnel.  He is surprised when he gets there to realise that he knows the man.  They served together in Vietnam, where they were 'tunnel rats'; the soldiers that went down in the tunnels to flush out the enemy soldiers.  Some vets came back and found their way as Bosch had.  Some, like Billy Meadows, the victim, never seemed to make it all the way back as a productive member of society.

Bosch discovers that Meadows is a suspect in a large bank heist that happened six months ago.  The robbers had tunnelled into the bank's vault over the Labor Day weekend and made off with the contents of the safety deposit boxes.  The FBI is investigating, and Bosch is soon attached to work with the FBI.  His partner there is Eleanor Wish, one of the few female agents on the bank robbery squad.

As the team investigates the robbery, it becomes clear that it may have been only the start of a larger plan and that another robbery may be occurring in the coming weeks as Memorial Day weekend comes up.  Additional victims are killed, and Bosch becomes even more determined to discover who is behind the plan.  Can he and Agent Wish discover what is going on in time to prevent the next robbery?

The Black Echo was Michael Connelly's first book in the Harry Bosch series, and the reader is interested to not only discover how the murder is solved, but to look back and see how the series originated.  Bosch is the outsider, a cop not loved by the police organization he works for.  He has issues relating to others but is recognized as a consummate detective, worth the hassle he tends to bring along with his investigations.  This book is recommended for mystery lovers, and especially for Michael Connelly fans.

Midnight Rising by Tony Horowitz

Painstakingly researched, Midnight Rising is Tony Horowitz's account of John Brown and the raid at Harper's Ferry. Militarily, this was a small operation, but most people have heard of it. What makes it so important? Horowitz explains the country's environment and ambiance at the time which made this such an explosive event.

Tensions ran high in the country. The Abolitionists were convinced that slavery was an abomination; one that there was no action too desperate to try to eradicate. Those who owned slaves were convinced that without slavery their entire economic world would collapse. As always, when there are two such diametrically opposed viewpoints, tensions ran high and extremists on both sides were willing to take drastic actions to further their beliefs.

Horowitz examines the life and philosophy of John Brown, a figure that most recognize but few know much about. He covers Brown's early life and his start as an Abolitionist vigilant in Kansas, the place that gave him his reputation as a bloody yet effective leader.  A staunch Abolitionist, he was willing to sacrifice his livelihood, his family and the lives of others as well as his own to further his beliefs. The result of Harper's Ferry, which stunned the nation, was to move the country even closer to the brink of the Civil War. 

Tony Horowitz has had a fascination with the Civil War. His earlier book, Confederates in the Attic, explored this topic, and Midnight Rising continues this exploration. His writing style is fluid and entertaining and the reader is educated without feeling that he is lectured to. This book is recommended for history readers and those interested in the Civil War and the events leading up to it.

Defending Jacob by William Landay

Andy Barber has achieved the middle-class dream. He has a great job he loves as the lead assistant district attorney, a long-term marriage to a woman he still loves, a fourteen year old son, a wide circle of friends, a house and enough money not to worry about it. Then tragedy strikes. A child at his son's school is murdered, knifed down in a near-by park. Andy heads up the investigation and is shocked when the evidence starts to point at his son Jacob.

Jacob is arrested and everything starts to fall apart. He is suspended from his job. Their friends drop them cold. The marriage becomes strained as they struggle to extradite their family from this nightmare. Jacob is sullen and uncommunicative. Their savings are demolished by the cost of retaining a lawyer to fight the charges. Even worse, old family secrets Barber has repressed come to light.

William Landay has written a compelling novel that readers won't be able to put down until they find out what happens to this family that rings so true and that could be their own. It forces the reader to consider how precarious their own life and happiness may be, and to what lengths they would go to protect what they have. Those who have read it will want to seek out others to discuss the book with. This book is recommended for all readers, and is one of the season's best.

The Little Book Of Bitchy Thoughts by Elizabeth Fairlight

The Little Book Of Bitchy Thoughts by Elizabeth Fairlight is a compendium of sayings to give the reader pause, to make them think.  This is a book to pick up and read when the reader has a few minutes and wants something to reflect on.  The book is organized into topics with thoughts about each category.  Here are a few of my favorites, although it probably says more about me than the book:

On Music
Opera is only vaudeville with attitude

The Arts
Spare design is for the emotionally autistic

On Religion
Most Southerns are Baptists because the Baptist religion allows you to live a life full of sin, but lets your repent on your deathbed.  Many Southerners would never get to heaven otherwise.

On Taxes
Do you know what poor is?  Reaching the age of 40 without knowing when taxes are due.

On Writing
Writers with talent need to avoid reading James Joyce's Ulysses the way a flawless skin needs to avoid smallpox.

On Mountain Climbing
So what?  You climbed up.  You could do that on a ladder and clean your gutters while you're at it.

And my favorite:

On Adulthood
To hell with grace under pressure.  Give me effectiveness under pressure.

This is a fun book, one that can be dipped into when the reader needs a quick life.  This book is recommended for readers that don't take life that seriously and are quick to appreciate humor.

History Of A Pleasure Seeker by Richard Mason

It is 1907, and Piet Barot has come to Amsterdam to make his fortune.  He has applied to be the tutor to the ten year old son of the fabulously wealthy Vermeulen-Sickerts family.  Piet is moderately well-educated, can play the piano adequately and can sing.  But his real assets are his looks and his ability to charm.  His mother was a singer before marrying his father, and raised him to have the manners and knowledge that a wealthy young man would have. 

Piet is successful in getting the job, and uses it as a station to improve his lot.  He charms each member of the family.  Maarten is a successful businessman, but one who also made his way to the top and he sees himself in Piet.  The two daughters of the family try to play with Piet as they do their suitors but he is able to avoid that trap and instead become their friend.  The mother, Jacobina, is attracted to Piet, and he plays on that attraction to solidify his position.  Piet is also, after many months, able to free the son from the phobias that have restricted his life.

Mason has created a character that will long remain in the reader's mind, as they try to determine if he is an admirable figure or a scoundrel.  Piet shows flashes of both, along with a steely determination to live life on his own terms and use all his strengths to make his way in the world.  This book is recommended for readers interested in the golden age of Europe and the way the upper class lived.

Gravestone by Travis Thrasher

Can anything be worse than being picked up in your junior year of high school in a big city and plunked down in a small rural town where you’re known as the outsider? That’s Chris Buckley’s predicament. When his parents divorce, he is forced to leave his normal teenage life in Chicago and move to the small Southern town of Solitary in North Carolina. He has no friends, his mother is caught up in her own world of grieving, and Chris is left to his own devices to figure out what his life will be from this point on.

That would be a crushing blow for most teenagers, but Chris has added issues. Solitary is a town full of secrets that can’t be discussed and evil that can’t be hidden. Chris’ girlfriend, the one person he trusted, has supposedly moved away with her family, but Chris knows better. He saw what happened to her one night. Of course, no one in town will believe him. Not his mother, not the school, not the sheriff. He has never been more alone, and now it appears that he is the next one targeted. Can he find out what is occurring in the town, and how to survive it?

Gravestone is the second book in Travis Thrasher’s series, The Solitary Tales. Fans of suspense and horror will enjoy the slow unraveling of the evil that surrounds Chris, and his attempts to discover what is happening before it overwhelms him entirely. The writing is moody and somber, with an insistent pulse of eminent disaster that grows and grows as the reader discovers more of Solitary’s secrets. This book is recommended for horror fans looking for a series that will satisfy their interest in things that go bump in the night.

The Hare With Amber Eyes by Edmund De Waal

In The Hare With Amber Eyes, Edmund De Waal narrates the rise and fall of his maternal family over decades and countries.  His mother was one of the members of the Ephrussi family.  The Ephrussi were Russian grain traders who became wealthy and branched into banking and art collections.  They owned grand mansions and banks in Paris, Vienna and later lived in Japan.

The book starts with the story of the French branch.  Charles Ephrussi was an art collector, dandy and ladies' man, living with the rest of the family in a mansion in Paris and seen in all the best circles.  One of his early collections was a set of 274 netsuke; the Japanese ivory miniatures carved to illustrate animals, daily life memorabilia such as logs or a sheaf of grain, and the inhabitants of the country.  He later gave this stunning collection as a wedding gift to a couple in his family from the Austrian branch, and the netsuke moved to Vienna for their next home.

In Vienna, Viktor and Emmy Ephrussi lived the life of fabulously wealthy Austrians; days filled with social visits and clubs and business relationships; the nights filled with society dinners and balls.  The children of this couple were entranced with the netsuke, which lived in Emmy's dressing room and which the children were allowed to play with as they watched their mother dress for evenings out.  But this fabled existence was shattered by the German invasion and conquer of Austria in World War II.  In a manner of days, the entire Ephrussi fortune was distributed to various German strongholds as the family was forced to sign over everything and finally managed to flee the country.  Imagine the surprise after the war when one of the children returned and found that the netsuke had miraculously survived.

The next home for the collection was in Japan, where they had been created.  Iggie, who had become a fashion designer after fighting with the Americans in the war, settled in Japan and lived there for many decades.  His nephew, Edmund De Waal, visited him there and had a close relationship with him.  De Waal, a potter who lived in England, appreciated the artistry of the netsuke and Iggie left the collection to him.  The netsuke now reside in England with De Waal.

De Waal has written a splendid history of his family, using art to tie together the generations and the various branches of this illustrious family in various countries.  The chapter in which the family is made destitute by the Nazis brings home the horror of that time in a way that dry history books cannot.  This book is recommended for art lovers, for history lovers, and for anyone interested in a marvelous read.

GIVEAWAY!!!! KAMA SUTRA BY VATSYAYANA

Here's a great idea for Booksie's Blog readers.  Why not make this Valentine's Day a memorable one with a copy of the new edition of the Kama Sutra, released by Penguin Classics.

From the publisher:

True to the original, this new Penguin Classics edition of the Kama Sutra offers a cultured guide to life, love, relationships and pleasure.  Little is known about Vatsyayana, who is reputed to have composed the book 'while observing a celibate's life in full meditations'  In Sanskrit the word "kama" means desire, especially for sensual pleasure, and its proper pursuit was considered an essential part of a young, urban gentleman's well-rounded education.

Giveaway Rules


1. The giveaway starts Wednesday, February 1st and ends Friday, February 13th, 2012.

2. There is one copy of the book to be given away. The winner must live in the United States or Canada, sorry!

3. For one entry, leave your email in a comment.

4. For additional entries, be or become a follower of Booksie's Blog post the giveaway on Twitter or Facebook with a link in your comment.

5. Entries without valid email addresses will not be entered. The winner will be chosen by a random number generator.

That's all!  Good luck and Booksie hopes your Valentine's Day is a very happy one indeed!

Eating Smoke by Chris Thrall

Chris Thrall leaves the Royal Marines in his early twenties, sure that he is cut out for bigger things.  He goes to Hong Kong to make his fortune in the security business, but soon finds it falling apart.  He moves from job to job, his engaging personality making it easy to get jobs, but his restless nature making it difficult to keep one.  He soon makes his way to the nightclub world, where he is employed as a doorman. 

This way of life suits him, with nighttime working hours, lots of new faces and above all, the drugs.  Chris has the knack of quickly making friends with almost anyone, and he spends his days in a whirl of socializing and doing drugs.  He becomes addicted to crystal meth.  Although he can see the effects of the drugs on his friends, decrying the depths they fall to, he seems oblivious to his own deterioration. 

As time goes on, he finds it more and more difficult to keep a job, eat, sleep, or maintain a home.  Wandering the streets, living off his friends, he becomes a typical meth addict, but with one terrifying difference.  He gets on the wrong side of one of Hong Kong's fiercest gangs and must now figure out how to save his life, both physically and to wrench himself out of his drug addiction.

Readers will want to not like Chris.  He blithely moves through life, never finding anything that goes deeper than an inch, taking drugs, moving from job to job, friend to friend.  Yet, somehow, the reader is engaged with this man who seems so oblivious yet is so engaging, and soon finds that they are cheering for Thrall to be successful in his attempt to change from an addict with no future.  This book is recommended for those interested in learning about the Hong Kong culture and those interested in tales of redemption.

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

Things are not going well in Swamplandia!  Once a major tourist draw with hordes of visitors each day, the death of the show's main attraction has put a serious dent in the business.  Even worse, the main attraction was also the mother of the Bigtree family that runs Swamplandia.

Karen Russell's novel is the story of how this family comes to grip with the loss of their mother and the possible ending of the only life they have known; that of the Bigtree family of Swamplandia!.  There are three children.  Ossie, the oldest sister who is sixteen, has never been that involved with the business, being a fey girl who drifts through life.  She becomes entranced with spiritualism and soon convinces herself that she can talk to the dead and that dead boys are perfect boyfriends.  Kiwi, the oldest and only son, has always wanted a 'normal' life on the mainland, and leaves the Swamplandia! island, determined to make it on his own and then figure out how to save the park.  Ava Bigtree is thirteen and the novel's protagonist.  She loves the business and her only dream is to grow up and take over for her mother.

Chief Bigtree, the father, is one of those optimistic people who is sure everything will work out even when he has no plan to make it happen.  He leaves on a mysterious business trip shortly after Kiwi's departure, leaving the girls alone on the island.  Ossie disappears into the swamp, chasing her ghostly love, and Ava soon goes into the swamp to rescue her.  Will this family ever be reunited and made whole?

Readers will love the fresh voice and writing style of Karen Russell.  Ava's spirit is so big it jumps off the page, and the ability to experience life from her young perspective is intriguing.  The characters are memorable, and the reader gets to experience the Florida swamps in all their murky, humid, bug-infested, dangerous appeal.  This book is recommended for all readers, and especially those interested in coming of age stories and those of families finding their way to make a live together.

T-SHIRT GIVEAWAY!!!!!

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Booksie is pleased to announce the giveaway of a Booknerds Are Sexy t-shirt, thanks to the generousity of R.Lynn, who is promoting her new book, Vanity & Valor. R.Lynn is a multi-genre author from Victoria, BC, Canada. She lives there with her hubby and their two four-legged children. She has entered the literary scene with a bang, and recently became one of the first authors to receive a publishing sponsorship.

About The Book

His father’s dying wish was for him to give up racing chariots and focus on being the new Dominus. The problem with that was, all he ever wanted to do was race chariots. When his desires and duty clash he finds himself at the verge of losing everything. She was sold into slavery by her father and purchased by Rome’s champion charioteer. Forced to work in his trigarium with the horses, she learns that women hold little to no value and that a prized racehorse has more rights than she does. When faced with the choice to risk her life and deny her status… will she? Doing so could get both her and her Dominus killed.

Giveaway Rules

1, The giveaway starts Saturday, January 21st and ends Friday, January 27th, 2012.

2. There is one t-shirt, size Large, to be given away. The winner must live in the United States or Canada, sorry!

3. For one entry, leave your email in a comment.

4. For additional entries, be or become a follower of Booksie's Blog post the giveaway on Twitter or Facebook with a link in your comment.

5. Entries without valid email addresses will not be entered. The winner will be chosen by a random number generator.

That's all! Thanks and watch here for Booksie's reivew of Vanity And Valor in the coming weeks.

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

When she woke, she was red. This is the opening lines from Hilary Jordan's new novel, When She Woke. In this updated version of The Scarlet Letter, those who sin against God and the state wear their shame openly so that all know. Criminals are chemically treated so that their skin shouts their crime, whether yellow, green or red, the most serious.

Hannah's crime? She fell in love with a married man, had an affair, got pregnant and had an abortion. Even worse, she refused to name the man or the name of the doctor who performed the operation. Her sentence? A month in detention, on 24 hour video for all to see, then sixteen years of living with red skin so that her crime was the first thing everyone saw when they saw her. Living as a criminal who could be easily discriminated against, unsafe from those who searched for victims who could not fight back.

Hannah tries desparately to forge a new life for herself. She finds enemies such as a vigilante group who takes punishment of Chromes as their life mission. Friends such as other Chromes and those committed to end this practice and to save those condemed by it. Can she find her way through this new life she is forced to live to ever find happiness again?

Hillary Jordan has created a believable world and a pace that draws the reader along, anxious to discover what will happen next to Hannah. This thought-provoking work will be one that the reader finds hard to forget but instead will think of long after finishing.

How To Be A Best Friend Forever by John Townsend

What is a friend and how can someone bring friends into their lives?  That is the premise of Dr. John Townsend's book, How To Be A Best Friend Forever.  His position is that friends are our second family, those who after we are nurtured in our birth families, help us to finish growing outside that protective environment.  They bring needed diversity of opinion.  Of course, to have a friend, one must be a friend and Townsend covers what makes a great friend and what one must do to have them.

Best friends should not be considered an exclusive title, he suggests, but rather an inclusive category such as best movies or best songs.  An individual needs a variety of best friends, each of whom brings a different viewpoint that allows the rounding out of one's personality.  Nor are best friends better than other friends rather they are those whom an individual feels the most connection with.

In order to be a good friend, several items are required.  One must commit time and effort to building the relationship.  The shared times are currency in a friendship bank that allow withdrawals when that is inevitable.  Friends should make sustained efforts to carve out time for their friends and to be available when they are needed.

Another item that is required is the commitment to be vulnerable, to let the friend see you as you are, to know your strengths and weaknesses, your faults and your best characteristics.  Without this vulnerability, there is not a best friend relationship but a strong acquaintanceship one.  Finally, truth is an absolute necessity; the truth to reveal yourself honestly, and the truth to tell your friend what they may not want to hear but need to.

Dr. Townsend is a psychologist, speaker and leadership coach.  He has a daily radio show and has authored several other bestselling books.  His advice is succinct and written in an approachable manner.  This book is recommended for those interested in bringing another resource into their lives, and those interested in nurturing and sustaining the friendships they already have.

Remarkable Creatures by Sean Carroll

In Remarkable Creatures, Sean Carroll takes the reader on a lively tour of the discoveries in evolution, biology, genetics, archeology, geology and scientific dating that have revolutionized the thinking about how man appeared on earth and changed over the years.  Carroll is a professor of molecular biology and genetics and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Wisconsin, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

The book is structured in three areas.  The first talks of the beginnings of the theory of evolution with chapters on Darwin and on Alfred Wallace (Amazon explorations) and Henry Walter Bates.  The second group of chapters discusses the role of fossils and the lengths and privations taken to obtain them, as well as the conclusions reached from them.  The final group of chapters talks about the human evolution from the cradle of life in Africa to the Neanderthal chapter and the scientists such as Leakey who pioneered this work.  It ends with the new role that molecular biology is playing with providing more exact dates when various life forms existed and the genetic relationships between various forms.

This book is recommended for curious readers who want to know more about how we know what we know.  It is an overview of the area and highlights the various scientists who advanced knowledge, providing a look at the human side of their lives as well as the scientific discoveries they made.  The privations and enthusiasm these individuals displayed as well as the total focus they had on their life work is an amazing characteristic that all shared.  Carroll has done an excellent job in explaining the overall theories of life without drowning in the details, providing enough information for those who want to delve more deeply. 

From The Memoirs Of A Non-Enemy Combatant by Alex Gilvarry

Prepare to be charmed.  From the moment, Boyet Hernandez hits New York City from his native Philippines in 2002, his exuberance and talent starts to propel him to the top of the fashion world.  He comes with nothing but determination to make it in the only world he cares about.  Several years later, he has his own line (B)oy, magazine spreads and an American girlfriend.  He has it all, or so it seems, until the knock comes in the middle of the night and he is hustled off to a military prison.  His crime?  Fashion terrorist.

It seems that his main financial backer, a Canadian Muslim who believed in him and invested the money to get Boy his start, has been arrested as a smuggler with terrorist ties, and a stash of enough fertilizer to make many bombs.  There is the Indian gangster who tries to blackmail Boy--pay up or he will turn Boy in as a known associate of the smuggler.  His American girlfriend turns their love affair into an off-Broadway play about falling in love with a terrorist.  Even his publicist is a mark against him.  An Irishman whose family changed their name from McLaden to Laden to escape the prejudice against the Irish a century ago, Ben Laden has come full circle and this gay Irish man has lost most of his customers who don't want to be associated with someone whose name sounds so much like Bin Laden.

A travesty of justice, no doubt.  Boy is left in a prison cell under isolation, his only human contact guards and interrogators.  But then, but then.  Under the torrent of Boy's words, his exuberant explanation for everything, a worm of doubt starts to build in the reader's minds.  Is he as innocent as it seems, or is there a kernel of truth to be uncovered?

Alex Gilvarry has created a memorable character in Boy.  His exploration of the immigrant mind and the New York fashion scene is fascinating.  Readers will walk away from the experience of reading From The Memoirs Of A Non-Enemy Combatant with many questions about what is correct when a country is dealing with terrorism and to what lengths we are willing to go to protect ourselves.  This book is recommended for readers interested in fresh writing, great characters and writing that makes them question their positions.

Men And Dogs by Katie Crouch

The defining moment of Hannah's life was the disappearance of her father.  Her father, a hero whose medical skills saved the life of a child in front of her.  Her father, who disdained convention and made life interesting.  Her father, who went out in a boat when Hannah was eleven and never returned.

Everyone agreed that he must have drowned, but without a body, Hannah refuses to believe this is true.  She grows up and becomes successful, but still checks out older men on the street of every town she goes to, hoping against hope that she will see the face of her father.  She refuses to believe that any other man won't also leave her so she spends her time leaving them first, or making them leave her by her bad behavior.

John, her husband, has just reached his limit with Hannah and her drinking and infidelity.  Hannah goes home to Charleston to try to put her life back together.  She spends her days talking with her brother Palmer, her mother and stepfather and her high school boyfriend.  Can she solve the mystery of why her father left her behind?

Katie Crouch has written a compelling tale of how women's lives are shaped by their experiences with their fathers.  Hannah cannot heal and have a successful relationship until she puts her first relationship into focus.  Women readers will see themselves in Hannah's longing for her father, and men will discover how important they are in creating strong, independent women.  This book is recommended for readers of modern fiction and who are interested in family relationships and how secrets can tie up lives for many years.

Midnight Fugue by Reginald Hill

Superintendent Dalziel is back from his recuperation.  Caught in a terrorist blast, he spent time in a coma and the local criminals as well as his men thought he was a goner.  Now, he is ready to come back, but is he the same Dalziel that has held sway and created terror for so many years before the blast?

The day starts with a good-looking blonde asking for his help.  Seven years ago, Gina Wolfe's husband disappeared without a trace.  He was a police officer suspected of being corrupt when he disappeared.  Now, someone is trying to make Gina think that he is still alive and ready to come back.  She goes to Dalziel for help. 

Dalziel is willing to help, but also has other matters to consider.  His second in command, Pascoe, seems to have taken to being the man in charge a bit too easily and he shows signs of not wanting to give up the power now that Dalziel is ready to come back.  Dalziel sees other worrying signs; a suspicion from his peers that he is not fully recovered, that perhaps it's time for the king to be dethroned.  There are also others who seem interested in what happened to Alex Wolfe.  There's the local hot-shot reporter.  An up-and-coming politician seems involved somehow, or perhaps it's just his father, a local gangster now gone respectable.  Can Dalziel find Wolfe or what has happened to him before another tragedy occurs?

Fans of the Dalziel-Pascoe series will be grateful for another chance to visit with this team of detectives.  Reginald Hill has opened the door into the world of these Yorkshire detectives.  Readers are comfortable visiting this world and eager to return whenever there is a new adventure to read.  This book is recommended for readers who enjoy suspense and intricate plotting.  Hill is a master at the top of his form and always a pleasure to read.

The Mother-Daughter Show by Natalie Wexler

It's just after the holidays, so that means it's time for a honored tradition at Barton Friends School.  Every year, the mothers of the senior girls put on a singing, dancing show honoring their daughters with fun songs and humorous skits to show their love.  As those familiar with this environment might imagine, competition is fierce to put on the best show possible and outshine the shows that came before.

Natalie Wexler's The Mother Daughter Show tracks the creation of this year's extravaganza through the lives of three mothers.  Barb is the perfect wife and mother.  She is married to a high-powered attorney and spends her life serving on various committees at the school, always ready to give of her time and energy, and a shoo-in for the coveted service award this year.  Susan has a career where she facilitates cooperation and team building so she is a natural match for the organizational job.  She can organize any task and build consensus and it's just coincidence that consensus always seems to be built around her opinions.  Amanda has spent her time being an old-fashioned mom, making a house, being there for her kids, but before marriage she had dreams of being a songwriter and performer.  Obviously she should write the show.

While all is perfect on the surface, there are tensions underneath.  Barb spends her time caught between her aging mother's needs and the dramas of her willful daughter, who has just announced that she wouldn't be going to college afterall, but instead moving out to live with her tattooed, disreputable rock musician boyfriend.  Susan's family is starting to show signs of revolt against her perfectly organized homelife where every choice they make turns out to be what Susan wanted.  Amanda now has to find a job with college looming for her daughter, and after a twenty-year hiatus, that isn't going to be easy.

Natalie Wexler has written a humorous, lively book with characters that every woman will recognize.  She deftly lays out the conflicts that face all women; whether to work outside the home or stay home and make the family the prime focus; the fine line between being interested in the children's lives and overwhelming them; the struggle to keep love alive with husbands of many years, and the fierce tug of obligations between children and aging parents.  Readers will sympathize and cheer for the characters, and find much to relate with in their own lives.  This book is recommended for women readers, but all readers will enjoy it.

Booksie's Best of 2011

It's always difficult to pick out the best books of an entire year.  So much of enjoyment of a book depends on whether it is in the reader's preferred genre, their mood at the time, and the background they bring to the book, which influences how the book resonates with them.  That being said, here are my favorites of 2011 in no particular order:

Nonfiction

1.  Take Good Care Of The Garden And The Dogs, Heather Lende
2.  Savage City, T.J. English
3.  Grand Pursuit, Sylvia Nasar
4.  Triumph Of The City, Edward Glaeser

Fiction

1.  The Oracle Of Stamboul, Michael David Lukas
2.  Inherent Vice, Thomas Pnychen
3.  Jamrach's Menagerie, Carol Birch
4.  The Woodcutter, Reginald Hill
5.  The Swan Thieves, Elizabeth Kastova
6.  The Summer Of The Bear, Bella Pollan
7.  Ten Thousand Saints, Eleanor Henderson
8.  Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away, Christine Watson
9.  The Keeper Of Lost Causes, Jussi Adler-Olsen
10.  Doc, Mary Doria Russell
11. A Small Hotel, Robert Olen Butler
12. A Man Of Parts, David Lodge
13.  Luka And The Fire Of Life, Salmon Rushdie
14.  The Tranformation Of Barthlomew Fortuno, Ellen Bryson
15.  Stone's Fall, Iain Pear

My favorite book for 2011 was a debut fantasy by R.T. Kaelin.  It is a rare delight to read a book and instantly realise that a new star is being born.  I believe Kaelin will be a name in fantasy to rival Sanderson, Jordan, Donaldson and Martin.  The Booksie Best Book of 2011 goes to:

Progeny by R. T. Kaelin

Brightwing by Sullivan Lee

Edgar Battle is not having a good day.  Following a prison bus break, he and his brother, Mallory are on the run.  The problem is that Mallory is a sociopath and the body toll keeps rising.  Now the biggest manhunt in Florida for many years has the brothers right in its headlights.  They need to change cars and they need to do it now.

Coming up on a woman with a stranded car on a backroad, they quickly take her hostage.  Nothing they haven't done before, but this time things don't go as planned.  They have kidnapped Lucy Brightwing.  Lucy is the sole survivor of the Tequesta Indian tribe.  She is in the process of buying enough land to create her own reservation, but that kind of dream takes lots of money.  Lucy is on her way home from a jewelry heist and has millions of dollars worth of jewels hidden in her car.  She decides that the easiest thing to do is to take these two men to her home deep in the swamps where she will have the upper hand.

Lucy is right.  The Battle brothers stomp around the swamp like a bull in a china shop, totally out of their element.  Lucy quickly loses her fear of them and starts to teach Edgar how to survive using the old Indian techniques.  In the meantime, the unthinkable happens.  Captor and captive become lovers and both realise that they have found what they have been searching for their entire lives.

But life doesn't just let dreams come true, especially when lots of laws have been broken.  Can Lucy and Edgar figure out a way to be together without worrying about the long arm of the law?

Sullivan Lee has written a quirky crime novel with engaging characters.  Against all odds, readers start to have sympathy for Lucy and Edgar, and by the end of the book are hoping they can find a way to live their dreams.  Along the way, the reader learns about the Everglades ecosystem, and the techniques the Indians used to survive in this hostile environment.  This book is recommended for suspense readers.

The Transformation Of Barthlomew Fortuno by Ellen Bryson

The Transformation Of Barthlomew Fortuno takes the reader inside the lives of the men and women who made up P.T. Barnum's 'Curiosities'.  Barthlomew is The Thinnest Man Alive; there is Martina the Fat Lady, Ricardo the Rubber Man, Emma and Alley the giants and many others.  As the book opens, a new act has arrived; Iall, a gorgeous woman with flowing red hair and a flowing beard to match.

Barthlomew is instantly entranced.  He is determined to win Iall's heart.  But there are many obstacles in his way.  Barnum is not interested in his acts falling in love, and furthermore, seems to be interested in Iall himself.  Mrs. Barnum, who controls the pursestrings, is interested in moving Iall to a new location where her husband will not be tempted.  Barthlomew must decide if he is willing to take on his employers, on whom he depends for his livelihood, in order to win his heart's desire.

This is a lovely book.  There is enough historical detail to transport the reader back to New York City in the 1860's, and it all rings true.  But the novel is about much more than just a nostalgic look backward.  It forces the reader to think about the different types of control in each person's life.  The acts are controlled by their physical characteristics and by the determination of others to make money from their differences.  Some of the acts like Barthlomew and Martina have made themselves into curiosities by controlling themselves; in Barthlomew's case by controlling the small amount he eats and in Martina's by controlling the enormous amounts she consumes.  There is the question about free will and how much an individual truly is in control of their own life.  This book is recommended for all readers.  Those who read it will ponder the questions raised long after the last page is finished.  This is Bryson's debut novel, and readers will eagerly await her next one.