92. Netherfield Park Revisited, Book 3

By:  Rebecca Ann Collins
Rated 4 Stars
From:  Library

Like I said, I am addicted now.

The third book in the bestselling Pride and Prejudice sequel series from Australia."A very readable and believable tale for readers who like their romance with a historical flavor." Book NewsLove, betrayal, and changing times for the Darcys and the BingleysThree generations of the Darcy and the Bingley families evolve against a backdrop of the political ideals and social reforms of the mid-Victorian era.Jonathan Bingley, the handsome, distinguished son of Charles and Jane Bingley, takes center stage, returning to Hertfordshire as master of Netherfield Park. A deeply passionate and committed man, Jonathan is immersed in the joys and heartbreaks of his friends and family and his own challenging marriage. At the same time, he is swept up in the changes of the world around him.Netherfield Park Revisitedcombines captivating details of life in mid-Victorian England with the ongoing saga of Jane Austen's beloved Pride and Prejudice characters."Ms. Collins has done it again!"

91. The Women of Pemberly, Book 2

By Rebecca Ann Collins
Rated 4 Stars
From Library

I decided to continue on with this series.  While still a little dry it is becoming slightly addictive.

The Women of Pemberley follows the lives of five women, some from the beloved works of Jane Austen, some new from the author’s imagination, into a new era of post industrial revolution England, at the start of the Victorian Age. Vast changes are in motion, as they were throughout this dynamic century. The women, like many of Jane Austen’s heroines, are strong, intelligent individuals, and the depth and variety of the original characters develop into a series of episodes linked together by their relationship to each other and to Pemberley, which is the heart of their community. The central themes of love, friendship, marriage, and a sense of social obligation remain as do the great political and social issues of the age. "The stories are so well told one would enjoy them even if they were not sequels to any other novel."

90. Second Time Around

By:  Marcia Willett
Rated 4 Stars
From:  Library

Marcia Willett is very much a hit and miss author with me.  Fortunately this book was a hit.

LIBRARY SUMMARY:  Mathilda Rainbird bequeaths her home to three unknown relatives: twenty-two-year-old Tessa, who misses her dead parents and brother but has learned to live alone; Will, a widower, who is drawn to Mathilda’s housekeeper, Isobel; and Beatrice, a retired prep-school matron who thinks the idea of living with her cousins is preposterous.Deeply moving and utterly real,Second Time Aroundfeatures the shining honesty that Willett’s fans have come to love.

89. The Pemberly Chronicles Book 1

By Rebecca Ann Collins
Rated 4 Stars
From:  Library

Overall I would recommend it for any Austen fan. It did kind of drag a little because there was a lot of  detail given to the political and economic situation of Regency England. Jane Austen herself chose to ignore the world events of her time: i.e. Napoleonic wars but these were important factors in a rich landowner's life  and the author researched very well.  This book certainly wasn't the steamy kind of read many authors have chosen when writing a P&P pistache, I myself enjoyed it.  It left Jane Austen's characters with their dignity intact.

PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY:  "Those with a taste for the balance and humour of Austen will find a worthy companion volume."-Book News The weddings are over. The guests (including millions of readers and viewers) wish the two happy couples health and happiness. As the music swells and the credits roll, two things are certain: Jane and Bingley will want for nothing, while Elizabeth and Darcy are to be the happiest couple in the world! The couples' personal stories of love, marriage, money, and children are woven together with the threads of social and political history of nineteenth century England. As changes in industry and agriculture affect the people of Pemberley and the neighboring countryside, the Darcys strive to be progressive and forward-looking while upholding beloved traditions. Rebecca Ann Collins follows them in imagination, observing and chronicling their passage through the landscape of their surroundings, noting how they cope with change, triumph, and tragedy in their lives. "A lovely complementary novel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Austen would surely give her smile of approval." -Beverly Wong, author of Pride & Prejudice Prudence

88. The King's Daughter

By Sandra Worth
Rated 4.5 Stars
From:  Library

Seventeen-year-old Elizabeth of York trusts that her beloved father's dying wish has left England in the hands of a just and deserving ruler. But upon the rise of Richard of Gloucester, Elizabeth's family experiences one devastation after another: her late father is exposed as a bigamist, she and her siblings are branded bastards, and her brothers are taken into the new king's custody, then reportedly killed. But one fateful night leads Elizabeth to question her prejudices. Through the eyes of Richard's ailing queen she sees a man worthy of respect and undying adoration. His dedication to his people inspires a forbidden love and ultimately gives her the courage to accept her destiny, marry Henry Tudor, and become Queen. While her soul may secretly belong to another, her heart belongs to England…

87. The Time of Singing

By:  Elizabeth Chadwich
Rated 5+++++ Stars

Absolutely wonderful!

FROM ELIZABETH CHADWICK WEBSITE:  In 1173, Roger Bigod is heir to the vast and powerful earldom of Norfolk When his treacherous father, Hugh, loses the family lands and castles in a rebellion against King Henry II, Roger finds himself in reduced circumstances and dogged by a bitter family dispute with his half brother over the remaining crumbs. Whilst trying to resolve the matter, he encounters Ida de Tosney, the King's young mistress. Seduced by Henry, Ida's gaze is now drawn to Roger in whom she sees a chance of lasting security beyond the fickle dazzle of the court. But she has to navigate a careful path between her dearest wishes and the King's reluctance to part with her. Every fulfilled wish has its price, and that price is losing the son she has borne to Henry. When King Richard comes to the throne, Roger is restored to his family's lands and becomes a great earl, and one of the richest men in England. He builds a great castle at Framlingham for himself and for Ida, but life is still riddled with uncertainty as Richard goes on crusade and the men left to govern the country quarrel their way into civil war. Ida struggles to come to terms with their new future...

86. Crossroads

By Belva Plain
Rated 2 Stars
Purchased in Train Station

Something to read on train.

Plain's tepid latest focuses on two women—privileged but plain Gwen Wright and beautiful but poor Jewel Fairchild. Their lives occasionally intersect, and eventually Jewel marries a wealthy man and discovers that money can't buy happiness. Gwen, meanwhile, marries a poor but honest man—but she still finds herself drawn to Jewel's husband, and the foursome is soon tangled in a web of deceit. Unfortunately, Jewel and Gwen don't evolve throughout the novel; Gwen is a character that some readers might find intolerably perfect—smart, privileged, shy, well-spoken, with simple needs and a tragic past—but any irritation that one might have with her is eliminated by the calculating and shallow Jewel, who is too pathetic to be a legitimate antagonist and too tragic to really be hated. It functions well as a simplistic morality tale.

85. The Elfish Gene

By:  Mark Barrowcliff

Rated 4 Stars

From:  Purchased

My ten year old Great Grandson was very impressed that I was reading this.  He told me that for a Great Grandmother I read interesting books. 

--BOOK JACKET.  "In the summer of 1976, twelve-year-old Mark Barrowcliffe had the chance to be normal. He blew it. While other teenagers were being coolly rebellious, Mark - like twenty million other boys in the 1970s and 80s - chose to spend his entire adolescence pretending to be a wizard or a warrior, an evil priest or a dwarf. He had discovered Dungeons Dragons, and his life would never be the same. No longer would he have to settle for being Mark Barrowcliffe, an ordinary awkward teenager from working-class Coventry; he could be Alf the Elf, Foghat the Gnome or Effilc Worrab, an elf warrior with the head of a mule." "Armed with only pen, paper and some funny-shaped dice, this lost generation gave themselves up to the craze of fantasy role-playing games and everything that went with it - from heavy metal to magic mushrooms to believing your bike is a horse named Shadowfax. Spat at by bullies, laughed at by girls, now they rule the world. They were the geeks, the fantasy wargamers, and this is their story."

84. The Hour I first Believed

By Wally Lamb

Rated:  One Star

From:  Purchased

This book was at least well written but way to depressing for me to enjoy.

Relocating to a family farm in Connecticut after surviving the Columbine school shootings, Caelum and Maureen discover a cache of family memorabilia dating back five generations, which reveals to Caelum unexpected truths about painful past events.

83. A House in Fez

By Susanna Clarke

Rated 5 Stars

From:  Purchased

http://riadzany.blogspot.com/2007/11/house-in-fez-book-launch.html

82. Nella Last's War

There is so much to like about this book that I am almost having a hard time writing about it.  For one thing Nella Last is one of the most eloquent writers I have ever seen.  She says in one part that if she had been clever enough she would have liked to write books.  Well I beg to differ with her - she is most assuredly clever enough.  Like you I am impressed that the British Government had the time to put together a project like the Observation Project.  They were incredibly lucky to catch Nella Last in the wide net they cast to find "ordinary" people to contribute their actual experiences in the form of a diary.  Aside from some reallhy eloquent writing what comes through to me is the breath taking honesty with which she bares her soul when she discusses her reactions and feelings as the war goes on. From all she writes of her crafts projects that she has turned into assisting in the war effort that she always had been a very creative person as well as sensitive and caring.   I would very much like to see the DVD and also there is a sequel coming out called Nella Last's Peace where presumably she continues her diary through the post war period.

One of the passages she wrote that I flagged as I read through the book is where she discusses how her work with the W.V.S. and various other projects  has changed her.  It gets more and more evident as you read through that while she has some affection for her husband (they have been married about 30 years) she has very little, if any respect for him as a person.  In fact, in the whole entire book she never once refers to him by his name - always as my husband.  Any way this passage struck me:

"When she had gone out, my husband said, 'You know, you amaze me really, when I think of the wretched health you had just before the war, and how long it took you to recover from that nervous breakdown.' I said, 'Well, I'm in rhythm now, instead of always fighting against things' - but stopped when I saw the hurt, surprised look on his face.  He never realises, and never could, that the years when I had to be quiet and always do everything he liked, and never the things he did not, were slavery years of mind and body."

And from page 195 - this made me laugh  - "As I walked I junketed off in my mind on a gay road of 'what I'd like to be next time I came".  I think I'd like to be a man and have the freedom to go to the far ends of the earth, to do things and see places, to go where few, if any, have travelled and be clever enough to write about it."

And the last bit I am going to bore you all with "The countryside was a painted glory of crimson and gold and green, so heartbreakingly lovely and it was impossible to believe that in the South - our South - there was death and destruction.  I wonder if everyone has the queer disbelief that I have so often.  And will keep it until bombs come and work havoc in Barrow, and I've seen destruction and death for myself?  I feel as if between me and the poor Londonpeople there is a thick fog, and it is only at intervals that I can believe it is our own people - not Spaniards or Dutch or French."

I cannot thank you enough Kathy for recommending this book.

81. The Bee Keeper's Apprentice

Rated 5 Stars
Re-read
From own shelves

What would happen if Sherlock Homles, a perfect man of the Victorian age--pompous, smug, and misogynisitic--were to come face to face with a twentieth-century female? If she grew to be a partner worthy of his great talents?Laurie R. King, whose very different first novel,. A Grave Talent (SMP, 1993), drew rave reviews, read the Conan Doyle stories and wondered about such an imaginary encounter. And following through, she has written The Beekeeper's Apprentice.1914, a young woman named Mary Russell meets a retired beekeeper on the Sussex Downs. His name is Sherlock Holmes. And although he may have all the Victorian "flaws" listed above, the Great Detective is no fool, and can spot a fellow intellect even in a fifteen-year-old woman.So, at first informally, then consciously, he takes Mary Russell as his apprentice. They work on a few small local cases, then on a larger and more urgent investigation, which ends successfully. All the time, Mary is developing as a detective in her own right, with the benefit of the knowledge and experience of her mentor and, increasingly, friend.And then the sky opens on them, and they find themselves the targets of a slippery, murderous, and apparently all-knowing adversary. Together they devise a plan to trap their enemy--a plan that may save their lives but may also kill off their relationship.This is not a "Sherlock Holmes" story. It is the story of a modern young woman who comes to know and work with Holmes, the story of young woman coming to terms with herself and with this older man who embodies the age that is past.

78. Identical Strangers

Rate 4 Stars
From Library

Elyse had always known she was adopted, but it wasn't until her mid-thirties that she searched for her biological mother. She was not prepared for the life-changing news: she had an identical twin sister. Not only that: she and her sister, for a time, had been part of a secret study on separated twins. Paula also knew she was adopted, but had no inclination to find her birth mother. When she answered the phone one spring afternoon, her life suddenly changed. As they take their tentative first steps from strangers to sisters, Paula and Elyse are also left with haunting questions. As they investigate their birth mother's past, they begin to solve the puzzle of their lives. Interweaving eye-opening studies and statistics on twin science into their narrative, they offer an intelligent and heartfelt glimpse into human nature.--From publisher description.

80. The Firemaster's Mistress

Rated 4.5 Stars
From Jani

England in the early reign of James I: an unsteady nation adapts to its new king; Shakespeare labors over the tragedies of Othello and Macbeth; bearbaiting is a popular diversion . . . and Guy Fawkes, with a small group of desperate men, hatches a terrifying plot to assassinate the king and all of Parliament by explosion.Francis Quoynt is a firemaster who would rather make fireworks than war. Kate Peach is a poor glovemaker and a mistress to the powerful Hugh Taylor, who is forced to hide her Catholicism as she spends her days looking out on noisy, teeming London streets crowded with prostitutes and drunks.Once Francis and Kate were lovers before the firemaster abandoned her and the plague destroyed her family. Now they will meet again-as enemies-caught up in the maelstrom of treachery and violence surrounding Fawkes's malevolent plot. In the midst of chaos and madness, the flame of their romance will be dangerously rekindled, as their lives and the London they know are changed forever.

79. 8.4

Rated 5 Stars
From Library

Scary, scary book for someone who lives right next door to the New Madrid Fault.  The stories are the stuff of legend, and they are all true. In 1811 and 1812, three earthquakes measuring 8 on the Richter scale ruptured an area spanning twenty-four states and a third of the land mass of the United States. Lakes formed in Tennessee, church bells rang in Boston, and the mighty Mississippi ran backward.But today it is all a distant memory. Until the underground force reawakens. Kentucky farmers say animals are acting strange: cows butt each other with unheard-of aggression and a few hundred rats race across a road in broad daylight. In the Ozark Mountains, leaking subterranean gases flash bursts of red and green across the midnight sky. Suddenly the earth beneath a sleepy Tennessee town "liquefies" in a fountain of mud and foul-smelling water.A man and a woman, both seismologists, find themselves in a race against the clock to convince the world that their daring mission is the only way to stop the last monstrous earthquake to come. History is about to repeat itself. It's Mother Nature calling.

77. American Wife

by Curtis Sittenfeld
Rated about 3 Stars - maybe
From: Library

I still haven't made up my mind what I think of it. The story is based on Laura Bush and it was obvious that the author admires her and definitely does not admire her husband. It was, or my take on it was, that this was an attempt to explain why such a nice woman loves such a jerk and sticks by him when (according to this book) she hates everything he stands for politically.

It would have been a very interesting book had it not been based on the Bush's but that part was hard for me to get past. There are so many things about the lives of these fictional characters that are are a matter of public record as happening to the Bush's and then some pretty controversial things attributed to the fictional character that are not a matter of record that I think some readers will not draw a distinction between what is fact and what is fiction. Unless this was written with the cooperation or permission of Laura Bush then I think that it was an invasion of her privacy. So at the end I was left hanging about whether or not I liked it.

And heaven knows how hard it is for me to defend the Bush's. *LOL* But the fact is that I have never had a problem with Laura herself.

Copied from Amazon:


From Bookmarks Magazine
While critics couldn’t say for sure whether or not Sittenfeld captures the exact thoughts of Laura Bush, they did agree that she creates a realistic and highly sympathetic portrayal of the (soon-to-be former) First Lady. (The author supposedly based the novel on Ann Gerhart’s 2004 biography, The Perfect Wife: The Life and Choices of Laura Bush.) Sittenfeld asks provoking questions about marriage, loyalty, and responsibility. But many reviewers couldn’t fundamentally understand why the very decent Alice had supported her husband despite her doubts about his capabilities; Sittenfeld’s pat, unsatisfactory answer is that Alice leads a life “in opposition.” That, combined with the author’s obvious contempt for Charlie, brought the reviews down a notch. Still, there’s nothing as titillating as a look, albeit fictional, inside the White House—especially during an election year.
Copyright 2008 Bookmarks Publishing LLC

76. Killing Rommel

By: Stephen Pressfield
Rated 4 1/2 Stars
DVD Recording
From: Library

This was a rousing WWII adventure story. British Eighth Army, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps are advancing on the valuable oil fields of the Middle East. If the Desert Fox and his panzers gain control of these reserves, Hitler will have all the fuel he needs to power a successful offensive against the Soviets. The British government gambles with a desperate plan: send a small, highly skilled team of commandos, the Long Range Desert Group, behind enemy lines to assassinate Rommel. Told from the point of view of a young tank officer and second in command of the team, R. L. Chapman, this gripping novel is chock-full of evocative, historical details that readers of military fiction will voraciously devour.

75. The Fall of Eagles

By C. L. Sulzberger
Rated: DNF

I just couldn't make myself keep reading this book. However I loved the content so it was probably that the writing style and I were not compatible. I did want to finish it so much that I reactiveded my netflix membership and ordered the 1974 BBC production of it. The blurb from netflix is below.

This superb BBC production chronicles three European dynasties that ultimately crumbled: the Hapsburgs of Austria-Hungary, the Romanovs of Russia and the Hohenzollerns of Germany. Set in the late 1800s, the miniseries recounts how the convergence of autocracy, social strife and World War I led to each family's downfall. The outstanding cast includes Patrick Stewart, John Rhys-Davies, Gemma Jones, Gayle Hunnicutt and Tom Conti.

74. Foyle's War - Season 5

DVD
From: Library
Rated 5 Stars +++++

"No one was unhappy when World War II ended, but the demise of Foyle’s War is something else entirely."

And this is exactly how I feel. I am going to miss this series. Before I alway's had the knowledge that one more set was in the works. Now it's over. For lovers of good mysteries I highly recommend watching this series from the beginning. It is something special. But to purchase it is out of my reach as it is pricey. Amazon has this last series listed for $45. (sigh) Anyone interested might find it at their library like I did or from Netflix.

AMAZON: For fans of this first-rate British murder mystery series, set against the backdrop of that epic conflict, Set 5 represents something of a reprieve; although Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle (Michael Kitchen) retired at the end of Set 4, circumstances force him to return to action in "Plan of Attack," the first of three 90-minute episodes (each on its own disc) offered here. But by the end of this set, the war is over and Foyle has eased back into retirement. That’s lamentable. Smartly conceived and often quite masterfully executed, this show will certainly be missed. "History meets mystery" has been the concept from the beginning, as the low-key (like Peter Falk’s Columbo, he knows much more than he lets on), unfailingly decent Foyle and his assistants, Sgt. Paul Milner (Anthony Howell) and driver Samantha "Sam" Stewart (Honeysuckle Weeks), solve murders and various other crimes in and around bucolic Hastings, England, while WWII rages on at home and abroad. But this time out, the war provides much more than context, as the murders tend to be directly related to it. What’s more, Set 5 affectingly deals with combat’s heavy emotional psychological toll. It’s a burden we see carried by the cartographer who can’t bear knowing that his work is helping to kill innocent German civilians (in "Plan of Attack"); by the maimed former POW struggling to readjust to life at home, the teenager whose job it is to deliver bad news telegrams to soldiers’ families, and the Jewish doctor, a refugee from Poland, whose survivor’s guilt leads him down a very dark path (all three in "Broken Souls"); and even by Foyle’s own son (Julian Ovenden, in "All Clear"). OK, so the mysteries may not be all that mysterious--perceptive viewers will have little difficulty identifying the culprits. But with its multi-layered storytelling (the scripts were written by creator Anthony Horowitz) and fine production values (the cinematography, editing, and music are all excellent), Foyle’s War is a whodunit that’s both a prime example of its genre and thoroughly successful on its own unique terms. Bonus features include a brief "making of" featurette and cast filmographies

73. Breaking Dawn

By: Stephanie Meyer
Rated: 4 1/2 Stars
From: Library

This book made me feel very squeamish in parts. Think Rosemary's Baby. In spite of that I really enjoyed it.

FROM LIBRARY DESCRIPTION: When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give, how could you not give it? If it was someone you truly loved? To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, a tumultuous year of temptation, loss, and strife have led her to the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or to pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fates of two tribes hangs. Now that Bella has made her decision, a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating, and unfathomable, consequences. Just when the frayed strands of Bella's life-first discovered inTwilight, then scattered and torn inNew MoonandEclipse-seem ready to heal and knit together, could they be destroyed... forever?

72. Where The River Ends

By Charles Martin
Rated 4 1/2 Stars
From: Library

This book ended up being so much better than I thought it was going to be. When I put it on my reserve list I had something like one of Nicholas Sparks books in mind but had high hopes it would be a little better. Not all that much, but some better.

I was wrong. This was a very good book. Doss not only has his wife's cancer to worry about but also has to battle her family every inch of the way in order to give her the kind of ending of her life that she wants.

He was a fishing guide and struggling artist from a south George trailer park. She was the beautiful only child of South Carolina's most powerful senator. Yet once Doss Michaels and Abigail Grace Coleman met by accident, they each felt they'd found their true soul mate. Ten years into their marriage, when Abbie faces a life-threatening illness, Doss battles it with her every step of the way. And when she makes a list of ten things she hopes to accomplish before she loses the fight for good, Doss is there, too, supporting her and making everything possible. Together they steal away in the middle of the night to embark upon a 130-mile trip down the St. Mary's River--a voyage Doss promised Abbie in the early days of their courtship.

71. A Rather Curious Engagement

By C. A. Belmond
Rated 4 Stars
From Library

American freelancer-turned-heiress Penny Nichols is back for more fun and another engaging international romp with her English hero, Jeremy. Pursued by gigolos, gold-diggers, an ex-wife, and highly aggressive salesmen chasing after their millions, Penny and Jeremy decide to take the summer off and sock away most of their inheritance for one year. But they allow themselves one big "splurge" from their wish list-- and that's where all the trouble begins. At an auction on the French Riviera, Penny and Jeremy win much more than they bargain for, uncovering a centuries-old rivalry involving the theft of a priceless treasure linked to Beethoven's Germany, the mysterious island of Corsica, a luxurious 1920s yacht, and a medieval castle on Lake Como, Italy.--From publisher description.

70. Letters From Nuremburg

By Christopher J. Dodd
Rated 4 1/2 Stars

The Nuremberg trials demonstrated the resolve of the Allied victors of the Second World War to uphold the principles of dispassionate justice and the rule of law even when cries of vengeance threatened to carry the day. Thomas J. Dodd served as a staff lawyer in this unprecedented trial for crimes against humanity. Thanks to his agile legal mind and especially to his skills at interrogating the defendants, he quickly rose to become the number two prosecutor in the U.S. contingent. Over the course of 15 months, Dodd described his efforts and his vivid impressions of the proceedings in nightly letters to his wife, Grace. Unexamined for decades, these letters now remind us of the inspiration that good people across the world have long taken from that courtroom--and that fear and retribution are not the only bases for confrontation.--From publisher description.

69. Skeletons at the feast

By: Chris Bohjalian
Rated 5 Stars
From: Library

I am definitely in WWII mode this month. After I got my delicious stack of books from the library this morning I sort of closed my eyes and grabbed one because it was so hard to decided which one I wanted to read first. The one I picked was "Skeletons at the feast" that was recommended to me by Tammy, a friend on one of my internet groups. Here is her review for it http://www.historicalnovelsociety.org/editors-choice.htm She has done an excellent job of reviewing this book.

68. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

By: Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Rated 5 Stars
From: Library


"January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she'd never met, a native of Guernsey, the British island once occupied by the Nazis. He'd come across her name on the flyleaf of a secondhand volume by Charles Lamb. Perhaps she could tell him where he might find more books by this author." "As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, she is drawn into the world of this man and his friends, all members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a unique book club formed in a unique, spur-of-the-moment way: as an alibi to protect its members from arrest by the Germans." "Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the Society's charming, deeply human members, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all. Through their letters she learns about their island, their taste in books, and the powerful, transformative impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds there will change her forever." "Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Vie Society is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways."--BOOK JACKET.

67. A Rather Lovely Inheritance

By C. A. Belmont
Rated 4 Stars
From: Library

I was in need of a light and easy read and this book was just the thing. Light, fun, and fluffy. The plot doesn't take too much scrutiny but if you can suspend your disbelief and just go along for the ride it is a pleasant way to spend a day.

FROM AMAZON: Penny Nichols, finds herself an heiress after her great aunt Penelope dies. Penny flies to London for the reading of Penelope's will and is met by her dashing cousin Jeremy, a barrister. Jeremy receives Penelope's luxurious French villa, while Penny is given her London flat and the contents of the villa's garage. Although their feckless cousin Rollo is well provided for, too, he is envious of his cousins' inheritances and drops a bombshell: Jeremy might not be a blood relation. The revelation sends Jeremy into a depressive funk, causing him to withdraw from Penny, who becomes determined to discover the truth. As she starts to dig into the family's history, the mystery takes her back several generations, and she realizes the connections among them all are more complex than she ever could have imagined. An entertaining yarn with family drama and intrigue aplenty

66. Ghost Train to the Eastern Star

By Paul Theroux
Rated 4 stars
From Library


This book get a 5 star review at amazon and is breathlessly reviewed on the site:


Amazon Best of the Month, August 2008: Way back in the dark pre-Internet, limited-air-travel world of 1975, the way to get from Europe to Asia was by train. A young and ambitious writer named Paul Theroux made his literary mark by taking the 28,000-mile intercontinental journey via rail from London to Tokyo and back home again. His book, The Great Railway Bazaar, became a travel-lit classic. Thirty years later, an older, wiser, and even less sanguine Theroux decided to retrace his steps. The result is Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, a fascinating account of the places you vaguely knew existed (Tbilisi), probably won't ever go to (Bangalore), but definitely should know something about (Mandalay). Get on board Theroux's fast-moving travelogue, which features some of the most astute commentary on our distorted notions of time, space, and each other in the age of jet speed, broadband connections, and cultural extinction. --Lauren Nemroff --

I am finding parts of this book beautifully written and then again parts of it are a little hard going for me. I just finished reading a 107 word sentence that shifted focus several times and IMO should have been several paragraphs if not chapters. Doesn't this man have an editor? But it is good book. Right now the author is wandering around the Republic of Georgia and you can't get much more topical than that.

65. Keep Your Mouth Shut and Wear Beige

By Kathleen Gilles Seidel
Rated 3 1/2 Stars
From Library

I have been a KGS fan for a long, long time. She wrote great, insightful, character driven romance novels. I own her entire romance back list and they have a permanent place on my keeper shelves.

However, she has moved on from the romance genre and started writing more main stream novels. I think they call it women's literature or some such thing. Her first one, An Uncommon Degree of Popularity was not much to get excited over. Readable, but only just. This one is a little better. Maybe by the next one she will have a handle on this new direction she wants to go in. Me, I just wish she would go back to romance where she really stood out.

Being the mother of the groom isn't quite a snap for divorced nurse Darcy Van Aiken in this gently humorous look at how an upcoming wedding upsets the delicate balance of family relationships. Darcy, a busy mother of three, gets along with ex-husband Mike, likes her oldest son Jeremy's bride-to-be and discovers an unexpected affinity for the bride's wealthy but down-to-earth mother. There's just one flaw in the ointment: Mike's new girlfriend, clothing designer Claudia Postlewaite, is determined use the wedding as a means to boost her professional and social standing. From the moment Claudia begins her campaign and cold-shoulders Darcy, there's trouble afoot, but instead of letting the book turn into a comic tug-of-war, Seidel (A Most Uncommon Degree of Popularity) reveals the traps people-and especially parents-set for themselves in their marriages and lives. The good (Darcy) vs. evil (Claudia) battle here is light, digestible and full of chuckle-inducing moments.

64. Lost on Planet China

By J. Maarten Troost
Rated 5 Stars
From: Library


FROM BOOK LIST:

Troost, who entertained readers in The Sex Lives of Cannibals (2004) with tales of life on a South Pacific island, now turns his attention to China. Settled in Sacramento, California, with his wife and two sons, Troost gets restless and floats the idea of moving his family to China. His wife is amenable, so he sets off to scout ahead. What he finds in Beijing is a crowded, smoggy city where something as simple as taking a walk can be a dangerous proposition, given the hazardous traffic. Troost visits one burgeoning industrial city after another, finding immense crowds, odd cuisine, piteous beggars, and masseuses offering sexual favors. He also discovers a country that firmly believes that it's on the edge of something big; in spite of a great divide between poor and rich, China is undergoing a tremendous push toward modernity. Troost's crisp, engaging prose invites the reader to experience his adventures right alongside him. At turns meditative, whimsical, humorous, and shocked, Troost is an excellent guide to the vast, multifaceted country that is modern-day China.

63. The Night Villa

By Carol Goodman
Rated: 5 Stars
From: Jani

FROM: AMAZON

In this complex and lyrical literary thriller from Goodman (The Sonnet Lover), University of Texas classics professor Sophie Chase, after barely surviving a gunman with ties to a sinister cult, joins an expedition to Capri. A donor has funded both the exact reconstruction of a Roman villa destroyed when Mount Vesuvius buried nearby Herculaneum in A.D. 79, and a computer system that can decipher the charred scrolls being excavated from the villa's ruins. Sophie's hopes for a recuperative idyll fade after her old boyfriend, who disappeared years before into the same cult as the campus gunman, appears in the area, implicating the cult in a criminal conspiracy. Meanwhile, extracts from the scrolls—the journals of a Roman visiting the villa just before the volcano erupted—shade toward bloodshed and betrayal. The scrolls' oddly modern tone aside, Goodman deftly mixes cultural and religious history, geography, myth, personal memory, dream and even portent without sacrificing narrative drive, against the beautiful backdrop of the locale with its echoes of unimaginable loss.

62. Oxygen

By: Carol Cassella
Rated 4 Stars
From Library

"Dr. Marie Heaton is an anesthesiologist at the height of her profession. She has worked, lived and breathed her career since medical school, and she now practices at a top Seattle hospital. Marie has carefully constructed and constricted her life according to empirical truths, to the science and art of medicine. But when her tried-and-true formula suddenly deserts her during a routine surgery, she must explain the nightmarish operating room disaster and face the resulting malpractice suit. Marie's best friend, colleague and former lover, Dr. Joe Hillary, becomes her closest confidante as she twists through depositions, accusations and a remorseful preoccupation with the mother of the patient in question. As she struggles to salvage her career and reputation, Marie must face hard truths about the path she's chosen, the bridges she's burned and the colleagues and superiors she's mistaken for friends." "A quieter crisis is simultaneously unfolding within Marie's family. Her aging father is losing his sight and approaching an awkward dependency on Marie and her sister, Lori. But Lori has taken a more traditional path than Marie and is busy raising a family. Although Marie has been estranged from her Texas roots for decades, the ultimate responsibility for their father's care is falling on her." "As her carefully structured life begins to collapse, Marie confronts questions of love and betrayal, family bonds and the price of her own choices. Set against the natural splendor of Seattle, and inside the closed vaults of hospital operating rooms, Oxygen climaxes in a final twist that is as heartrending as it is redeeming."--BOOK JACKET.

61. The Unthinkable

By Amanda Ripley
Rate 4 Stars

Nine out of ten Americans live in places at significant risk of earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, terrorism, or other disasters. Tomorrow, some of us will have to make split-second choices to save ourselves and our families. How will we react? What will it feel like? Will we be heroes or victims? Will our upbringing, our gender, our personality--anything we've ever learned, thought, or dreamed of--ultimately matter? Journalist Amanda Ripley set out to discover what lies beyond fear and speculation, retracing the human response to some of history's epic disasters. She comes back with wisdom about the surprising humanity of crowds, the elegance of the brain's fear circuits, and the stunning inadequacy of many of our evolutionary responses. Most unexpectedly, she discovers the brain's ability to do much, much better, with just a little help.--From publisher description.

60. Give us this Day

By R. F. Delderfield
Rated 5 Stars


I read all three of these books in one gulp and I have to admit that by the time I got about half way through with this one I was started to go a little cross eyed. Had this not been such a good book I would have put it down. But it wouldn't let me do that.

FROM AMAZON:

Weaving the fortunes of the patriarchal Adam Swann and his family into the pageantry of English history in the years following Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee of 1897, this sweeping historical novel takes Swann's four sons and daughter into the perilous reaches of government and commerce and the army. As this younger generation of Swanns strives to wed personal dreams to national values, the rumble of the guns of August 1914 signals the end of the world as they and imperial England have known it.

59. Thier's Was the Kingdom

R. F. Delderfield
Rated 5 Stars


This is the second of Delderfield's Adam Swann during the late 1800s and features his children growing into their various interests including the family haulier business established during the British industrialization age 1860+ Adam's wife, Henrietta, had taken the business reins while Adam fought in a war and lost his leg. Now she is attending their 9 children while they choose schools and vocations.

58. God is an Englishman

By R. F. Delderfield
Raed 5 Stars

I cannot imagine how I have managed to not read these books before. If anyone had asked me I would have bet money that I had. But, better late than never I guess.

The story traces the development of a haulage firm that serves all of England, Wales and eventually part of Scotland. While that is the major focus, the family life of the founder of "Swan on Wheels" is very much a part of it. In fact, all the characters involved are well presented with divergent and believable personalities.

57. Brideshead Revisited

by Evelyn Waugh
Rated 4 1/2 Stars

This story has been made into a movie that is just out or soon to be out so I thought I ought to read it before I decided whether or not to stir myself to go see it. I think I will pass on the movie. The theme is too cynical for me to consider it to be entertainment. However the book is beautifully written and I love the way Waugh puts the reader right into the story. That is why I gave it a high rating.

FROM AMAZON: Evelyn Waugh’s most celebrated novel is a memory drama of extraordinary richness and depth. The novel Waugh thought of as his magnum opus, it is the story of the intense entanglement of a young, middle-class Englishman, Charles Ryder, with a wealthy, eccentric Anglo-Catholic family, the Marchmains: in particular, with Sebastian, the flamboyant young man Charles meets at Oxford in the 1920s; and Sebastian’s sister Julia, who will become the great and unrequited love of Charles’s life.

Written during World War II, the novel mourns the passing of the world of Waugh’s own youth, but it is also a story about religious and secular love, about the notions of sin and judgment, guilt and punishment and how, almost unaccountably, they can give shape to one’s life. By turns romantic, sensuous, comic, and somber, Brideshead Revisited transcends Waugh’s familiar satiric exploration of English society and mores, revealing an elegiac, lyrical writer of the most lucid and profound feeling.

56. In The Bleak Midwinter

by Julia Spencer Fleming
Rated 4 Stars

For me the main appeal of this book was that it established the characters and set the scene for the latter books which I enjoyed more.

BOOK COVER: Spencer-Fleming's award winner for Best First Novel is now available in this special value edition. When a newborn is abandoned and a young mother is brutally murdered, Clare Fergusson, the new Episcopal priest in Millers Kill, New York, must pick her way through the town's secrets. Reissue.

55. The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder

By Vincent Bugliosi
Rated 5+ Stars

BOOK JACKET" In The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, Bugliosi presents a tight, meticulously researched legal case that puts George W. Bush on trial in an American courtroom for the murder of nearly 4,000 American soldiers fighting the war in Iraq. Bugliosi sets forth the legal architecture and incontrovertible evidence that President Bush took this nation to war in Iraq under false pretenses - a war that has not only caused the deaths of American soldiers but also over 100,000 innocent Iraqi men, women, and children; cost the United States over one trillion dollars thus far with no end in sight; and alienated many American allies in the Western world."

54. Service included

By Phoebe Damrosch
Rated 4

This was a quick little read that I skimmed through parts of. It was mildly entertaining. It would probably appeal more to someone who had worked in the food service industry.

"While Phoebe Damrosch was figuring out what to do with her life, she supported herself by working as a waiter. Before long she was a captain at the New York City four-star restaurant Per Se, the culinary creation of master chef Thomas Keller." "Service Included is the story of her experiences there: her obsession with food, her love affair with a sommelier, and her observations of the highly competitive and frenetic world of fine dining."--BOOK JACKET.

53. The Blackstone Key

Rated 4 Stars
From: Jani

It is 1795, and Mary Finch sets off to meet her wealthy uncle, hoping to heal a bitter family estrangement and perhaps to avoid a dismal career teaching at Mrs. Bunbury's school for young ladies. Eager for an adventure, she is soon embroiled in one of frightening proportions, for war is raging across Europe, England faces the threat of invasion, and some secrets are more valuable than gold.

As she uncovers a complex and deadly plot involving ruthless smugglers, secret codes, and a dangerous network of spies and traitors, Mary must learn quickly whom she can trust. The apparently stalwart Captain Holland? The dangerous yet attractive Mr. Déprez? Perhaps the mysterious Hicks or even Mrs. Tipton, who knows what is best for everyone, especially Mary? The price of failure may be her life and the safety of all England.

52. A Fountain Filled with Blood

By Julia Spencer Fleming
Rated 4 Stars
From: Library

A series of gay bashings, the discovery of PCBs in a local elementary school playground and a brutal murder heat up the Adirondacks town of Millers Kill, N.Y., hotter than the July weather. Clare, rector of St. Alban's Episcopal Church, and the very much married police chief Russ Van Alstyne, who have spent the last six months avoiding each other in hopes of dispelling their mutual attraction, find themselves working together on a perilous murder investigation. With eloquent exposition and natural dialogue, the precisely constructed plot moves effortlessly to its dramatic conclusion. The poignant reflections of Clare and Russ as they examine their own hearts and struggle with their feelings never detract from the crime solving. Amid a host of memorable characters, Clare stands out, whether daring to drive a sports car instead of a safer four-wheel-drive vehicle or donning her vestments to perform the evening service of Compline in an empty church lit with candles.

51. What happened : inside the Bush White House and Washington's culture of deception

By Scott McClellen
Rated: Disgusting
From Library

Or, how about - When Thieves Fall out, or more accurately - "How I hope to save myself from going to jail like the rest of these crooks."

"The former White House press secretary examines how and why the Bush administration went awry, providing a look at George W. Bush and his top aides in terms of such crises as Hurricane Katrina, the Iraq war, and Washington's political infighting"

50. All Mortal Flesh

By Julia Spencer Fleming
Rated 5 Stars
From Library

"Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne's first encounter with Clare Fergusson was in the hospital emergency room on a freezing December night. A newborn infant had been abandoned on the town's Episcopal church steps. If Russ had known that the church had a new priest, he certainly would never have guessed that it would be a woman. Or at least not a woman like Clare. That night in the hospital was the beginning of an attraction so fierce, so forbidden, that the only thing that could keep them safe from compromising their every belief was distance - but in a small town like Millers Kill, distance is hard to find." "Russ Van Alstyne figures his wife kicking him out of their house is nobody's business but his own. Until a neighbor pays a friendly visit to Linda Van Alstyne and finds the woman's body, gruesomely butchered, on the kitchen floor. To the state police, it's an open-and-shut case of a disaffected husband, silencing first his wife, then the murder investigation he controls. To the townspeople, it's proof that the whispered gossip about the police chief and the priest was true. To the powers-that-be in the church hierarchy, it's a chance to control their wayward cleric once and for all."--BOOK JACKET.

49. Sway - The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior

By Ori and Rom Brafman
Rated 4 1/2 Stars

I heard these two guys interviewed on my crazy late night radio program and they were so interesting I checked the book out from the library. It is a very well written and reader friendly book about why we do what we do, and see the things we expect to see and how expectation bias changes the way we see people. Very interesting.


FROM PUBLISHERS DESCRIPTION:

A journey into the hidden psychological influences that derail our decision-making. Why is it so difficult to end a doomed relationship? Why do we listen to advice just because it came from someone "important"? Why are we more likely to fall in love when there's danger involved? Here, organizational thinker Ori Brafman and his brother, psychologist Rom Brafman, answer these questions and more. Drawing on research from the fields of social psychology, behavioral economics, and organizational behavior, Sway reveals forces that influence every aspect of our personal and business lives, including loss aversion, the diagnosis bias, and the "chameleon effect." The Brafmans not only uncover rational explanations for a wide variety of irrational behaviors, but also point readers toward ways to avoid succumbing to their pull.--From publisher

48. Fearless Fourteen

By Janet Evanovich
Rated 2.5
From Library

I keep asking myself why I keep reading these books. But then when a new one comes out I always do. It's like chocolate covered cherries - they tend to make me slightly sick but I eat them anyway. Go figure.

BOOKLIST REVIEW: Stephanie Plum, finds herself watching over a goth teen called Zook, who is heavily into gaming, after his mom can't make bail and disappears (or has been kidnapped). A lot of people think there is stolen money buried in or near Officer Morelli's little house-that's Steph's Morelli, the cop who is her number-one boyfriend most of the time, or at least when the entrancing Ranger isn't nearby. The money is the reason behind Zook's mom's disappearance, and it's the tie that binds Evanovich's various plotlines, which carom about endlessly, not always resolving. Questions abound: Are Steph's sidekick, the plus-size Lula, and Ranger's man Tank really engaged? Ranger is working security for a fading but brassy pop star: How does Steph manage to get into and out of her reality show? Can Zook and his sidekicks protect Morelli's house-and Stephanie-with their homegrown weaponry (think potatoes as missiles)? Where else but Evanovich's fourteenth novel can a line like "it's raining money and popsicles!" actually make sense?

47. I shall Not Want

By Julia Spencer-Fleming
Rated 5 Stars
From Jani

I liked this book way more than I thought I was going to. I was really beautifully written an full of some terrific secondary characters. For one thing, while it was as much a romance as it was a mystery it wasn't full of explicit sex. While I don't consider myself a prude I really do not like it when characters fall into bed willy-nilly, often on short acquaintance with each other. I like books where relationships are based on more than lust and where sex is a culmination of the relationship. This book is full of relationships.

Since this is the sixth book in the series and the first one for me I feel like I am missing out on a lot of the back story so I have ordered the first book from the library and I will see if I want to read the whole series. I suspect that I will and I know for sure that I will be in line for book seven when it comes out.

From Julia Spencer-Fleming's Website:

Millers Kill reaches the boiling point in this white-hot novel of love and suspense

People die. Marriages fail. In the small Adirondack town of Millers Kill, New York, however, life does not stop for heartbreak. A brand-new officer in the police department, a breaking-and-entering, and trouble within his own family keep Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne busy enough to ignore the pain of losing his wife---and the woman he loves.

At St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, the Reverend Clare Fergusson is trying to keep her vestry, her bishop, and her National Guard superiors happy---all the while denying her own wounded soul.

When a Mexican farmhand stumbles over a Latino man killed with a single shot to the back of his head, Clare is sucked into the investigation through her involvement in the migrant community. The discovery of two more bodies executed in the same way ignites fears that a serial killer is loose in the close-knit community. While the sorrowful spring turns into a scorching summer, Russ is plagued by media hysteria, conflict within his department, and a series of baffling assaults.

As the violence strikes closer and closer to home, an untried officer is tested, a wary migrant worker is tempted, and two would-be lovers who thought they had lost everything must find a way to trust each other again---before it becomes forever, fatally, too late.

Julia Spencer-Fleming shows you can escape danger---but not desire---in her most suspenseful, passionate novel yet.

46. In This House of Brede

By Rumer Godden
Rated 5 Stars
My Keeper Shelf

I have loved this book for years. Something about it makes me pick it up every now and again so that I can slip back into the serene and comforting atmosphere of Brede.

Rumer Godden has woven an intricate story about an odd subject - contemplative nuns! - and, instead of following a strict chronological order - follows the development and growth of many of the nuns. Many of the nuns - and even the non-nuns - struggle with their own personal crises and flaws. Dame Philippa learns to be patient and to overcome the tragedy of her past. Abbess Catherine learns to lead, to reach out to people, and to trust in herself and in providence. Sister Cecily accepts her own beauty - both of body and of soul - and takes responsibility for it rather than turning away from people and hurting them. Mrs. Scallon learns to accept her daughter's decision and in some ways even appreciates it. Penny and Donald put their priorities in order and strengthen their marriage. Dame Agnes learns to be less critical and more loving; she acknowledges the worth of others. Dame Veronica confesses what her pride has compelled her to do and finally tells the truth. Dom Gervase recovers his confidence and can go back into the world. Each character is developed with love; each character is different (although a surprising number of them seem to be extremely well read); each character grows. We feel with them through their tears and smiles, sorrows and joys, despairs and yes, even triumphs - although the triumphs may be on a quieter scale than one finds in most other novels.

Yet, despite these personal crises, the book has an overarching serenity, possibly because all the nuns are devoted to the same end - praising their God - they all have vocations. Godden's writing, rich with detail, unstinting in her choice of words, leads us through the days and seasons and years of the contemplative life, so that we, the readers, also experience the garden in the garth, the moor hens in the dingle, the fresh air and the cries of the seagulls from Brede's tower, as well as the liturgical cycle in the church.

At the end of the novel, I, like Philippa Talbot, am likewise sorry that I must leave This House of Brede. I put it back on my keeper shelf - but I know I can pick it up again and re-enter the enclosure doors, and again recover a measure of peace.

45. The Canoe Boys: The First Epic Scottish Sea Journey by Kayak

By Alistair Dunnett
Rated 5 Stars
Purchased from Amazon

I don't buy all that many books anymore but when something special comes along I make an exception. Besides I knew this was one my library would probably not purchase so I decided to treat myself and buy it and I am so glad I did. It's a real treasure and is exquisitely written. One has to wonder which of them was the better writer. Was he just as good as she was, or was she just as good as he was. Whatever, the ability to write a thrilling sea scene was most definitely a family talent.

FROM BACK OF COVER: "It's too late in the year!" they were advised, but they still did it. By canoe from Bowling to Kyle of Lochalsh with numerous stops along the way, Alastair Dunnett and Seamas Adam spent a heady Autumn in 1934 meandering up the glorious West Coast of Scotland. On their way they sent reports back to the Daily Record informing the readers of their progress and the people they met along the way. Their account makes fascinating reading as they were hailed by onlookers and bystanders wherever they went as 'The Canoe Boys'. Escapades as varied as running the infamous tide-rush of the Dorus Mhor to a balmy harvest working on Calve Island off Mull, quenching their thirst with a mug of drammach (oats and water) are related in superb, lyrical style by Dunnett. This is an adventure story of youthful exuberance and of how life once was lived before the war changed everything for ever."

44. The Host

By Stephanie Meyer
Rated 5 Stars
From: Library

The only book I have really enjoyed this month was The Host and I think that is because the author created such an interesting world and she has always been very original with her first books. The second and third in the Twilight series were not nearly as good as the first. She gets great original ideas but has trouble maintaining the momentum beyond that first book. Thank goodness The Host is a stand alone because if she wrote a sequel to it I would just have to read it and then I would be disappointed. How's that for convoluted reasoning?

"The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed. But Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind. Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves--Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she's never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.--From publisher description."

43. The Art of Racing in the Rain

By Garth Stein
Rated 4 Stars
From: Library

"Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver. Through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition, and he sees that life, like racing, isn't simply about going fast. Using the techniques needed on the race track, one can successfully navigate all of life's ordeals." "On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through: the sacrifices Denny has made to succeed professionally; the unexpected loss of Eve, Denny's wife; the three-year battle over their daughter, Zoe, whose maternal grandparents pulled every string to gain custody. In the end, despite what he sees as his own limitations, Enzo comes through heroically to preserve the Swift family, holding in his heart the dream that Denny will become a racing champion with Zoe at his side. Having learned what it takes to be a compassionate and successful person, the wise canine can barely wait until his next lifetime, when he is sure he will return as a man."--BOOK JACKET.