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.

42. A Dangerous Age

Rated: 3 Stars

BOOKLIST BOOK REVIEW:

*Starred Review* Beloved southern fiction writer Gilchrist returns with her first novel since Sarah Conley (1997), and the legion of fans who appreciate her propensity for using recurrent characters will enjoy the reappearance of the extensive Hand family of North Carolina and Oklahoma. The focus is on three cousins, women, who face making greatly important career and personal-marital-choices against the ubiquitous, unavoidable backdrop of the Iraq War and the terrorist conditions prevalent in the post-9/11 world. Gilchrist brings these three characters into full individual realization while simultaneously connecting them to the bigger pattern that is their shared family history and also to the even bigger national event that fractured lives. The novel's opening event, a wedding, which was to gather all the Hands together, is canceled when the bridegroom perishes in the collapse of the World Trade Center only three months before the nuptials were scheduled to take place. The ripple effect of this family tragedy, and the continued impact of the war in Iraq, on the three cousins' lives gives this novel a humanity easily embraced by the reader. Gilchrist's trademark supple prose and droll sense of humor are on full display. Hooper, Brad.

41. Born Fighting

By James Webb
Rated 5 Stars
From Library

This book was recommended by one of the loopies and I am finding it absolutely fascinating reading. I have been into genealogy for a long time and while I am about 4/5ths German, descended from a long line of dull, pious, hardworking German peasants with an occasional shoemaker, tailor or weaver thrown in I also have this fascinating little line on my Mother's side that is part of the Ulster Scots-Irish group that Webb is writing about. It has been hard for me to get a handle on these people other than that they seem to have arrived ticked off at all things English in the early to mid 1700's, came down the Wilderness Trail from Pennslyvania to North Carolina and within a couple of generations became small land owners around Greensboro, N.C. It appears that every time there was a fight going on this contentious group of ancestors was in the thick of it and I found 4 direct ancestors on the list of people who signed the Regulator Petition. I have always wondered since if any of them knew Roger. As these families grew members eventually went west settling all over the South and Southwest. My G-G-Grandparents came to Missouri in the mid 1800's just in time to be on the wrong side of the Civil War They are my only Confederate leaning ancestors.

Anyway this book tell me a lot about why they left Scotland and then Northern Ireland (they left from Londonderry) and what kind of atmosphere they ended up in when they got to N.C. I need to go and thank Jane for recommending it as it's another one of those books I would never have read had not someone pointed me in it's direction.

BOOK JACKET: "More than 27 million Americans today can trace their lineage to the Scots, whose bloodline was stained by centuries of continuous warfare along the border between England and Scotland, and later in the bitter settlements of England's Ulster Plantation in Northern Ireland. Between 250,000 and 400,000 Scots-Irish migrated to America in the eighteenth century, traveling in groups of families and bringing with them not only long experience as rebels and outcasts but also unparalleled skills as frontiersmen and guerrilla fighters. Their cultural identity reflected acute individualism, as well as a dislike of aristocracy and a strong military tradition; and, over time, the Scots-Irish defined the attitudes and values of the military, of working-class America, and even of the peculiarly populist form of American democracy itself."

"Born Fighting is the first book to chronicle the full journey of this remarkable cultural group, and the profound, but unrecognized, role it has played in the shaping of America. Written with the storytelling verve that has earned his works such acclaim as "captivating...unforgettable" (the Wall Street Journal on Lost Soldiers), Scots-Irishman James Webb, Vietnam combat veteran and former Secretary of the Navy, traces the history of his people, beginning nearly two thousand years ago at Hadrian's Wall, when the nation of Scotland was formed north of the Wall through armed conflict, in contrast to England's formation to the south through commerce and trade. Webb recounts the Scots' odyssey - their clashes with the English in Scotland and then in Ulster, their retreat from one war-ravaged land to another. Through engrossing chronicles of the challenges the Scots-Irish faced, Webb vividly portrays how they developed the qualities that helped settle the American frontier and define the American character."

"Born Fighting shows that the Scots-Irish were 40 percent of the Revolutionary War army; they included the pioneers Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark, Davy Crockett, and Sam Houston; they were the writers Edgar Allan Poe and Mark Twain; and they have given America numerous great military leaders, including Stonewall Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Audie Murphy, and George S. Patton, as well as most of the soldiers of the Confederacy (only 5 percent of whom owned slaves, and who fought against what they viewed as an invading army). It illustrates how the Scots-Irish redefined American politics, creating the populist movement and giving the country a dozen presidents, including Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. And it explores how the Scots-Irish culture of isolation, hard luck, stubbornness, and mistrust of the nation's elite formed and still dominates blue-collar America, the military services, the Bible Belt, and country music. Both a distinguished work of cultural history and a human drama that speaks straight to the heart of contemporary America, Born Fighting reintroduces America to its most powerful, patriotic, and individualistic cultural group - one too often ignored or taken for granted." Book jacket.