Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography by Kitty Kelley

                                              While shelving some biographies the other week, I came across Kitty Kelley’s Nancy Reagan, The Unauthorized Biography.  “An oldie but goodie,” I thought,  ”This will be dishy and trashy about someone you love to hate: a spoiled, dictatorial, self-involved, vain, rich woman with too much of everything.”

    Kitty Kelley goes into a subject digging for dirt and generally finds it.  Yes, Nancy Reagan had questionable power over the country via her control over her husband. Yes, she consulted expensive astrologists.  Yes, the tiny virago swung a hefty ax, toppling some of the most influential men in her husband’s sphere.

    However, who among us could stand up to a personality assassin’s scrutiny and come out unscathed? Very few, I’m sure. 

When I read a biography, I often learn as much about myself as I do the subject.  This was less an exposé than a picture of a human being who is prey to the frailties and temptations that flew out of Pandora’s box. The author’s perceptions and interpretations of events could be applied toward the events of anyone’s life, and show him/her in an unfavourable light. I have to wonder, “Who is doing Kitty Kelley’s biography?”

    Not trying to defend nor hail First Lady Reagan, but, in expecting a page turner, I found a “turner-off”.  The spirit in which the book is written is less about documenting history, and more about the author’s motivation: $$

Rita – York                                        ISBN  067164646x

Home Safe by Elizabeth Berg

One of my favorite authors has done it again. The storyline and the characters are real.  Some quirky, some normal but very believable.

The story is about a best-selling author whose husband has died  & did  everything from paying bills & fixing things while she wrote  novels & cooked.  It deals with how she and her daughter learn to cope & move on with life. Although Helen Ames has discovered since her husband’s death she has cannot “find a book in her” she finds that through these quirky aspiring student writers that she has a purpose and can be independent. 

Home Safe explores, with insight and humor, (as many of Elizabeth Berg’s novels do) what it’s like to lose everything & in the end, Helen Ames has discovered she can survive and thrive.  Berg has written a perfect, plausible survival story.

Page – Rock Hill                  ISBN 9781400065110

In the Courts of the Sun by Brian D’Amato

In the Courts of the Sun is an original story that weaves together Mayan history, modern day science, game theory and the Mayan apocalypse that is predicted to occur on Dec. 21, 2012.  The narrator is a modern day descendant of the Maya, Jed DeLanda, who has spent his life hungering to retrieve his lost heritage.  He is a math prodigy who spends his time playing Go against his computer and raking in profits from online trading.  His secret weapon is a Mayan divination ritual called the Sacrifice Game that was once used for predicting corn harvest cycles and now proves useful in predicting corn futures.  When Jed’s former mentor and game theorist, Taro, and a mysterious game designer named Marena, ask Jed’s opinion on a newly discovered Mayan codex, his life is changed forever.  The codex is an ancient book that contains an account of a Game predicting the end of the world.  Taro and Maurena need Jed to “travel” back to AD 664 to learn to play the original version of the Sacrifice Game. With the future of humanity in Jed’s hands, the scientists plan to replicate Jed’s brainwaves and send them through a “desktop wormhole” back into the mind of a Mayan king.  Instead, something goes horribly wrong and Jed ends up in the body of a ballplayer named Chacal who is about to kill by ritual sacrifice! 

This book is long and is a little technical in places. Jed is an engaging narrator, though, who tells his story in an easy and often humerous style.  In the Courts of the Sun is an exciting doomsday science fiction thriller and is the first of three books in a series.  Anyone who has an interest in the Mayan culture and civilization will find this an interesting glimpse into the past.

Mary Beth – York                            ISBN 9780525950516

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver

Novelist Barbara Kingsolver has written a very thought-provoking book on
eating locally. This means that for one year her family only ate foods that
grew within 100 miles of their rural Virginia farm.  They planted and tended
a huge garden, canned and “put-up” tomatoes, zucchini, and many other
vegetables. They also grew some of their own meat (chickens and turkeys).
The youngest daughter in the family had her own business raising chickens
and selling eggs. How does she manage to “harvest” some of the chickens
she’s raised?  Her rule is:  don’t name them!

This was an interesting, well written book with essays by the author’s
husband, Steven Hopp, and college-age daughter, Camille, and includes some
of their recipes. 

Could I live like this?  Probably not, but it was a fascinating look at what
we eat and where it comes from.  It made me look at things in a different
way.

Debbie – Rock Hill                       ISBN  9780060852559

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Foer

What if there was a drain beneath every pillow in New York that connected to a special reservoir and whenever people cried themselves to sleep, their tears would flow there?  Every morning, the weatherman could give a report on whether the water level in the Reservoir of Tears had gone up or down.  Or what if you could have a birdseed shirt so that you could make a quick escape even though humans don’t have their own wings?  Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is an imaginative, inventive child who is coping with the loss of his father in the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center.  When he finds a key hidden in his father’s closet, labeled only ”Black,” he sets out on a journey through the five boroughs of New York to find the lock that fits the key and, in the process, to find a way to deal with the loss not only of his father but of his innocence.

 I read plenty of books that I find enjoyable, but only a few that I find unforgettable.  This book, for me, is unforgettable.  When I think about other books that have had a similar impact on me in the last few years, The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak and Life of Pi by Yann Martel come to mind.  Maybe there is something about the honesty and naiveté in the way a child or teen approaches the horrors of the world that appeals to me.  I laughed out loud at Oscar’s wild inventions sometimes, only to find myself moved to tears a paragraph later by his attempts to create a world where tragedy could be kept at bay.  And as the mother of a nine-year-old son, I can vouch for the fact that Oskar, genius or not, definitely has the sense of humor of a typical young boy!

This book is certainly unusual, which may make it difficult for some to read.  Photographs, letters, and notes written by Oscar’s grandparents are found throughout the text, and the story ends with a flip-the-pages device.  I enjoyed the extra texture this added to the story, but I can see how the unique style might also be distracting. While this might not be a book that will appeal to everyone, I feel safe in saying that, if you read it,  it’s a book you’ll never forget.

Molly – York                                    ISBN   0618329706

In the Woods by Tana French

The book jacket opening hooked me: 

    As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home from play.  But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent wood.  When the police arrive, they find only one child, gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blook-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours…

Tana French’s first novel, introducing Dublin Murder Squad detective Cassie Maddox, was an Edgar Award finalist.  A 12-year-old girl is found murdered at a local archaeological dig, and the Dublin detectives must dig deep in to the victim’s dark family history.  Adding to the intrigue are disturbing similarities between this murder and the disappearance 20 years before of two children from the same neighborhood.  I enjoyed the twists in not only the plot but in the ongoing relationship between Cassie and her partner, Rob.  There is plenty of suspense, but the author also has a delightful sense of humor that I found very refreshing.  I would find myself laughing out loud at times.  Part psychological thriller and part police procedural, Cassie and her co-worker, Rob Ryan, have a partnership and friendship that keeps the action and dialogue action-packed and highly entertaining.  If you like this one, then you’ll be set to read the sequel just out, The Likeness, which also takes place in modern Dublin.  Early reviews claim it’s even better than French’s first novel.

Jennfier L.  – York                         ISBN  9780670038602

Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

What happens when you combine a modern forensic thriller with historical fiction?  You’ll find out in this intriguing tale!  When four young children are murdered in medieval Cambridge, the local Jews are accused of killing the children in sacrificial ceremonies.  To prevent the rioting townsfolk from attacking the Jews, King Henry II hides them in a castle fortress where, unfortunately, they are unable to pay taxes.  To protect his treasuries, the king calls on the King of Sicily to send him his finest “master of the art of death,” a medical expert on death from the University of Salerno.  That “master,” however, is actually a “mistress,” – Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar.  When she arrives in Cambridge, Adelia and her companions must not only discover who is behind the horrific murders before the killer strikes again, but must do so in secret to escape accusations of witchcraft.    Well-written and entertaining, this novel –the first in a series- is great fun for fans of thrillers and historical fiction alike!

Molly – York                                         ISBN  9780399154140

Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns

In 1906, it doesn’t take much to scandalize the small Southern town of Cold Sassy, Georgia.  So when Grandpa Blakeslee suddenly marries a much younger woman a mere three weeks after the death of his wife, the town is in an uproar!  This is just the beginning of a year filled with change for our narrator, fourteen-year-old Will Tweedy.   As Will experiences love and death, progress and loss, and the inevitable changes that come with life and growing up, so, too, does the town.  Filled with a cast of wonderful, flawed characters, this delightful tale of a community set in its ways coming to terms with change will make you laugh, cry, and maybe even recognize some truths about your own family history.

 I read this book years ago and just recently picked it up again for Book Club.  It didn’t take many pages for me to remember why I loved this book the first time around! While I believe Cold Sassy Tree would be a pleasure to read for anyone who loves a good story, as someone with roots in a small Southern mill town it was particularly interesting to see how my grandparents may have grown up and become the kind of people they were.

Molly – York                                         ISBN 0899193099

The Last Lecture by Dr. Randy Pausch

Dr. Randy Pausch had such an incredible sense of humor and ability to express that humor with his “Last Lecture”.  This is another lesson in the importance of making wonderful memories with your family & friends by a terminally ill professor. I was inspired by his courage as I was with Morrie Schwartz in “Tuesdays With Morrie”.  Worth reading!

Page – Rock Hill                      ISBN  9781401323257

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

If you want a reminder of how important your time spent with friends can be, then this book will definitely be that for you. You will laugh & cry but it was one of the most inspirational books I have read. You can’t help but like Morrie Schwartz  with his common sense  and wisdom : “Everyone knows they’re going to die.. but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently.” is so on target. Definitely a biography that is readable and memorable.

Page – Rock Hill                                   ISBN  0385484518