Sylvia's Reviews

After enjoying the movie Nanny McPhee, I wanted to read the book on which it was based. And I found the Nurse Matilda tales charming, in spite of the differences: Mrs. Brown is alive but completely useless at controlling her children, there are far more Brown children in the book than in the movie, and Nurse Matilda comes and goes through the Browns’ lives. And, of course, there is no new romance for the lonely widower. The stories themselves were rather repetitive, but of course they were written for children, not adults. I’m glad I read it, but I was ready for it to be over.

Modern authors don’t seem to have the concept of the “backstory.” This is what happened in the main character’s life prior to the start of the story, which should be worked out in the author’s head so the author knows what shaped him/her. Individual elements may wind up being mentioned in the course of the actual story, if and when relevant. It does NOT need to be laid out for the reader in boring, chapter-devouring detail. Unfortunately, Schwartz suffers from this common failing, and wastes several initial chapters on Haruko’s wartime experiences and schooling. But once she meets the Crown Prince, the story becomes much more involving, although her treatment from the imperial hierarchy is cruel and depressing. Apart from the tedious beginning and a rather unbelievable ending, this is an interesting look at an Asian institution.

Sentimental tale of the life of a loving family, told from the viewpoint of the family dog. Not particularly well-organized or believable, but an effective holiday tearjerker anyway.

A brilliant but generally unliked conductor is killed, and Commissario Guido Brunetti is determined to find which of his associates hated him enough to kill. Was it someone angry at his Nazi past, or a victim of his homophobia, or someone he had blackmailed? The characters are very European and just didn’t interest me enough to keep reading. Someone more interested in Euro culture would probably enjoy it.

Predictably sappy story of a young reporter desperate for a story, who tracks down the family who has been giving away jars full of money on Christmas Eve. No surprises but have a box of kleenex handy.

I yield to no one in my respect for working dogs, and my love of dogs as pets, but this book was ridiculous. Dogs are not innately wiser then humans and the only subject we could learn from them IMNSHO is unconditional love. I couldn’t finish it, the premise as so absurd (and the feeble attempt at a story was so uninteresting it didn’t help).

Detailed history of frontier medicine, but unfortunately not very readable. I read it in small chunks because it had amazing information on what really happened on the frontier.

From the description, I expected a narrative full of juicy tidbits I didn’t already know. But it was just another history book, nothing new to any history buff. I gave up pretty early in the book.

Apparently Perry’s “Christmas mysteries” are written to feature minor characters from her other series in Christmas settings. This book features the obnoxious Grandmama Ellison from the “Charlotte and Thomas Pitt” series, not a bit less disapproving than usual. When another unwanted female joins Grandmama for the holidays at Caroline’s house, she is both enthralled and appalled at the new arrival’s endless stories of her travels. But when the woman is found dead, Grandmama is the only person who suspects a possible murder, and she is determined to expose the killer. Like Perry's other mysteries, the killer is usually pretty obvious but the "why" is baffling, and I don't think the reader is given the information that Grandmama uses to identify the murderer.

Veterinarian Gail McCarthy is shocked when she finds a horse trainer dead after his horses are poisoned and he blames another, more successful trainer. I really wanted to like this series; the idea of a female vet as solver of mysteries was awfully tempting. But the characters were unlikeable or unbelievable or both, the reader isn’t given the information to identify the killer, and the story itself never really caught my interest.

Chiaverini brings together people in crisis under the auspices of a quilt camp. The connection is sometimes tenuous, but the people are generally likeable enough to forgive Chiaverini for less than perfectly logical writing. This time, an aging TV star, a mother opposed to her daughter’s marriage, a master quilter facing a life threat, an older woman worried about her grandson, and a divorcee desperately trying to replace her neglectful ex-husband in her son’s life make up part of the cast. As the new friends leave the camp and resume their regular lives, they commit to do something about their problems before they start on their challenge quilt. A bit sappy and predictable, but still keeps you reading.

An elderly woman is found face down in a stream, and her grieving husband is sure she was murdered. A year earlier, a professional knife thrower buried a knife in the throat of an actress and disappeared. The knife thrower’s wife hires Jack Scott to find him and then disappears herself. Are the events related? This was another story I just couldn’t get into. The characters didn’t seem real and I couldn’t care about even the nice old lady. I gave up after the first 100 pages.

Narrative about the experiences of several second-career student priests at a Roman Catholic seminary. Their different backgrounds and agendas affect their progress as they develop both practically and spiritually. I am not Catholic, and was pleasantly surprised at the enormous emphasis on spiritual development and focusing on one’s relationship with Jesus. A slow read, but involving.

I’m not sure what the point of this book was. Starting with a vicious man beating his bride on their wedding night, it flashes back to his childhood and how his relatives, governesses, and tutors tried to curb his malice and failed. I’ve been unable to finish a number of Lofts books because the characters were so unlikeable, but this sinks to new lows.

Newly married Marigold, Countess of Tregaron, is captured and held for ransom by the highwayman The Fox. All the worst elements of historical romances and novels glorifying road thieves – I couldn’t finish it.

One of the participants ruins a week-long fishing school by bringing up unpleasant events from the others’ pasts. When she is found dead, village constable Hamish MacBeth wants to identify the killer. I read this all the way through, and I’m not sure why. The constable is relaxed to the point of laziness. The school participants range from self-obsessed to delusional, and have their own agendas and secrets. Even the constable’s love interest sums up her romantic notions with the comment that one has to marry somebody. I need to have some likeable characters to enjoy a book, and there just weren’t any.

Qwill, new-Pickax-resident Celia Robinson, and the Siamese investigate when a rough-hewn bank owner disappears, along with his secretary and most of the bank’s money. Braun writes her usual involving, logical story, but many characters were disposed of in a cavalier manner, and the ending is obscenely weak; Braun can do much better. This book goes to the bottom of "The Cat Who" list for writing quality.

Wealthy Alexa Chitting had written but not signed a new will that would have left everything to a conservation group when she was found murdered. Was it a drug-related robbery as the police think? Or did one of the people who would have benefited from the current will take action to protect their interests? I don’t mind a flawed heroine, but brand-new PI Katie is a mess, emotionally scarred from a school shooting (she used to teach) as well as a divorce and growing up in an orphanage, totally lacking confidence in herself (and I don’t find wimps interesting, as a rule). However, the story itself is a well-done mystery, with lots of red herrings, a handsome man to distract her, and the reader given the clues to figure out whodunnit. (I had the murderer on my short list but hadn’t narrowed it down to just one person.)

In this start of the Phryne Fisher series, set in the Roaring Twenties, she travels to her native Australia to investigage a woman being poisoned by her husband, rescues and hires a wronged housemaid, and helps track down a murderous abortionist. Apart from an impossibly elegant heroine who is accomplished in unladylike ways and casually puts others in danger, there is too much reliance on coincidence (one potential victim happens to look out her window at the right time to see a Bad Guy climbing up, another one is saved when a Bad Guy is reluctant to break down a bolted door). And I figured out who the King of Snow was going to turn out to be way too early in the story.

Qwill and the Siamese visit Breakfast Island, newly renamed Pear Island and developed into a tourist trap by Don Exbridge. New B&B owner Nick Bamba is concerned that a string of disasters, the most recent an explosion that killed a new yacht-owner, may not be coincidence. Qwill finds plenty of resentment from islanders, rich Grand Island Club members, and residents of the next county, but is anyone resentful enough to murder? The new characters are less charming than usual, but the denoument is logical.

It’s not a good sign when the first part of a book is taken up with a detailed, uninteresting narrative of how the hero’s family lost their estate and his delicately-bred mother had to do her own house- and farm work. By the time he’d escaped from English soldiers and landed on a ship which was then attacked by pirates who sold him into slavery, I gave up. Disorganized as well as uninteresting.

When Inspector Pitt investigates the deaths of two babies found buried in a ritzy park, Charlotte and her sister Emily decide they have to help find the poor servant girl who must be responsible. One buried secret after another comes to light, exposing the dark side of the lovely house facades. Involving, with enough red herrings to stock a cannery, but I’m not sure the reader is given the info needed to solve the mystery.

I skipped the first book in this series because it just sounded too depressing. This one recounts a family Christmas gathering spoiled by the death of the oldest brother and allegations that he had been a corrupt judge who convicted and sentenced an innocent man. The widow asks her godfather for help: Henry Rathbone, a character from Perry’s Inspector Monk series. Tedious as well as depressing, I gave up about 2/3 of the way through and skipped to the end, which was just as unhappy as I had expected.

Junior Goodwinter’s lively grandmother is found dead, an apparent suicide. Koko develops quite a collection of items stolen from closets in dead woman’s mansion. Then a sled dog racer asks Qwill’s help to find her missing farmer father, since the police (in the person of her obnoxious ex-husband) won’t bother. Is there more to the story? Qwill’s twitchy moustache says there might be. Worthy entry in the series, with the reader learning key information as Qwill does.

Argh, another stupid romance. Nurses don’t have time to swoon over handsome doctors, but you’d never believe it from reading stupid books like this.

Sweet and sentimental story of a scared young woman who tries to rebuild her life in a new town. Not great literature but a pleasant read.

Unfortunately dry account of an arranged marriage between two Rothschild cousins that turned into a love story as well as a political history of Victorian England and its entanglements with the rest of Europe. Interesting characters, but such a slow read I gave up halfway through.

Horror story about a neighborhood rapist hiding behind the veneer of a quiet husband and father. ‘Nuff said.

This story of a young Jew tackling the Germans in WWII Leningrad sounded promising, but it turned out to be nothing but unlikeable characters constantly spitting curses in pursuit of some eggs for a colonel’s daughter’s wedding. I gave up halfway through.

Strange book, partially due to the setting and partially to the structure. Not too many chick lit authors set a story in an African refugee camp. Meanwhile, the story bounces around between the refugee camp and what brought the main character there, an obsession with a famous author in England. I’m not a fan of the flashback format, period, but at least if you’re going to use that format, go back once and stay there. I tried to get at least halfway through before giving up but I just couldn’t; mostly unlikable characters (including the doormat heroine) and a not-very-interesting storyline skipping around like a Mexican jumping bean were too bad for me to stick with.

Qwill leaves the cats at home while he tours Scotland with a group from Pickax. But when one of the travellers dies, Qwill’s suspicions that it was not natural are compounded by several thefts and the bizarre behavior of a former lady friend. More convoluted than the typical Braun story but every element was legitimately set up. The title was a sloppy stretch, though.

Charlotte is a proper Victorian miss with a tendency to honesty and an interest in real life on which her dictatorial father frowns. But when one young woman after another is found garrotted in her middle-class neighborhood, she finds herself attracted to the police inspector investigating the murders. Good story other than way too much preaching about the unfair double standard and revelations about the father’s past that wasn’t either relevant to the murder or a legitimate red herring.

Like far too many of Lofts’ books, this one featured mostly unlikeable characters in an uninteresting story. Supposedly based on a real crime, the children’s nurse accidentally kills one of her charges and the children’s father, her lover, helps her pretend to be innocent. Another book I couldn’t make myself finish.

Grim story of a Tribeca paramedic who takes photos of dead and injured people and helps steal drugs for others to sell. Totally lacks the lyrical quality that underlay the grimness in Burke’s amazing second book, Black Flies.

The only home newly-widowed Maria can find for her four children is working as a housekeeper for a lonely man of limited means. As the story continues, it became more convoluted and the characters more unlikable: a mother who resents her children gaining an education, a daughter who follows her master's wishes even against her mother's concerns, a suitor who decides one wife is as good as another. I gave up halfway through.

At a crafting weekend, middle-aged trust-fund baby and former state senator Kitzi Camden finds her best friend’s husband in flagrante delicto with another beader. When the woman turns up dead, Kitzi walks a fine line between protecting her friend and trying to catch the killer. With multiple suspects, Smith really didn’t supply information to distinguish the killer from the red herrings.

Kitzi is livid when a cousin wants to take over the family manse and appalled when his co-worker is found murdered in a dumpster next door. In between admiring bead creations and hosting an ovarian cancer benefit, she tracks down a missing candlestick and fights to keep her home. Better than the previous book in making sure the reader has the information needed to identify the murderer, but still more than a bit confusing as Smith runs numerous simultaneous storylines.

Qwill and the Siamese head for the Potato Mountains so he can think about what he wants to do with his life. Instead, he gets involved in a preserve-the-environment vs. economic progress conflict and a year-old murder for which an innocent man may have been sentenced. Much sloppier than usual for Braun, including an enormous red herring (involving the length of the human gestation period) which Braun never explains.

Moderately interesting children’s book about three young people living in Galilee at the time of Christ. Definitely aimed at children only.

Shell-shocked and haunted, Ian Rutledge is sent to Cornwall to see if the deaths of three family members are as innocent as they seem. The gradual relevations that seem to confirm the accusation of one family member horrify him, but is there even more to the story? Painful but involving, I didn’t guess whodunnit until almost the end. But these are not cozy mysteries and can be disturbing to read.

Bridget goes from savoring a loving relationship with Mark Darcy to letting jellyfish Rebecca sabotage it. Fielding continues to make the diary format work most of the time, although the story itself got sillier and sillier. Particularly annoying was the endless “interview” with Colin Firth. Fortunately, the last quarter was back up to the high level of funny pathos Fielding does so well.

Warm story of a man who marries a widow with children (and it’s nice to see a loving family portrayed for a change). Not what I’d call engrossing but a pleasant read.

Deadly dull, slow-as-molasses story of an apprentice doctor who falls in love with a new-girl-in-town in early 19th century England. As his desire for the girl conflicts with knowing she is living in a brothel, he wanders further from the straight and narrow. Moderately interesting twist at the end but otherwise not worth reading.

Absolutely riveting autobiography of an NBC cameraman-turned-producer. Full not only of dramatic scenes he experienced but the effect they had on his psyche and his family. Another book that was not a fast read but well worth the time it took to get all the way through.

Slow and convoluted tale of a magazine sob sister who visits one particularly mysterious writer and finds a sinister house full of people who deny the girl’s existence. I got tired of the pace after the first quarter of the book and skipped to the last quarter, and don’t think I missed anything.

Historical romance about a lower-class young woman determined to become the mistress of a big house. More ambitious than sympathetic, which made her not very interesting, and I didn’t finish it.

Better than I expected. (Is there anyone on the planet who doesn’t know Bridget Jones is a thirty-something single obsessed with her weight and her boss?) Not as coherent as the movie, which is not surprising since the format is literally diary entries. I did have to laugh when Bridget’s new boss demands info about Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, since Grant eventually played Bridget’s old boss Daniel Cleaver and Firth played son-of-family-friends Mark Darcy.

When the gifted but arrogant and antisocial high school principal is killed, the list of people who hated him consists of the whole county. The sheriff thinks it must have been someone at the cast party that ended just before the murder, but Qwill is convinced the answer will come from his mysterious past. Fortunately, Koko maintains his record of knocking just the right books off the shelf to alert Qwill to the killer.

Called in by a friend to help with lady-of-the-manor duties at a local festival, Dandy investigates when a festival character turns up dead and finds a local ghost may hold the secret. I like this series and hope McPherson will continue it.

This supposed colonial mystery tried to be a ghost story as well and basically set 21st century men and women into the 1700’s. Not believable and not even very interesting, I finally just skipped to the end.

Any story that starts with the attempted murder of a small child and the actual murder of his father has two strikes against it. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t follow up with anything to hold my interest: young man who wants to draw and falls in love with a girl he has only seen from afar, childhood friend that thinks scolding a man will make him fall in love with you, old wise woman who can’t manage to help guide his life, yada yada. Not worth the time.

Another noir-meets-sword-and-sorcery tale, seems to be Green’s specialty. Hawk and Fisher are married and the only honest Guards in Haven. They are assigned to protect a Reform candidate during the election day. Mildly interesting, so I read the beginning and was curious enough to read the end, but not interesting enough to wade through most of the book.

This could have been a great mystery spoof, with Detective Sergeant Mary Mary assisting Inspector Jack Spratt to solve the murder of Humpty Dumpty. But the author took it too seriously and turned it into a police procedural.

Strange but well-written retelling of well-known fairy tales from a different viewpoint: Cinderella from the viewpoint of the prince, Rapunzel from the viewpoint of the witch, Jack and the Beanstalk from the viewpoint of the golden harp. Not, however, necessarily cheerful tales, although the final story was the happiest version of the Lady Godiva story I’ve ever read.

Essentially noir 1940s story about a young wannabe newspaperman who investigates the murder of a young socialite for which a black man is blamed. Not involving enough to keep me reading.

Depressing, slow-moving story of an Elizabethan curse that haunts successive generations. All the classic Gothic elements: the lonely widower, the young governess, the innocent children, the mysterious overseer. Since I don’t like ghost stories or Gothics, I didn’t make it all the way through.

Charming story of an upper-class 1920’s lady-of-the-house who is asked to investigate when a mutual acquaintance claims her priceless diamonds were stolen earlier, at a ball. When the daughter is found murdered, Dandy and the dead girl’s fiance have more to find than the missing diamonds. Dandy is a bit superficial but the contrast between her personality and her ability to investigate is enjoyable.

Full of unlikeable people, including a serial killer that literally gave me nightmares. Andrew Broom himself was okay, but not worth wasting the time on the rest of the characters.

Strange book about the crippled son of a British minor noble during the Restoration, that I never found a story in and gave up on.

Another mystery I just couldn’t get into. Since this was set in the restaurant business, and I love cooking, I figured this was a can’t-lose. But when I got a quarter into it and the most likable character was the corpse, and I figured out the heartless meaning of the title, I gave up.

I couldn’t figure out the point of this book. Woman who abandoned her husband and baby in Britain during WWII comes back to ask for divorce and custody of daughter she abandoned so she can remarry her boss. No one seemed to understand what they were doing and the closest thing to a likeable character was the woman’s boss. I gave up about a quarter of the way through.

Yet another single-mother-brings-kid-home-and-discovers-she-and-kid’s-father-really-love-each-other nonsense. Unrealistic on so many levels I couldn’t even finish it. (Most pregnant teens who keep their babies do NOT wind up owning waterfront property in Seattle, or anything else.)

Agatha follows James to Cyprus and stumbles across the murder of a British tourist. Beaton took an awfully long time to give the reader clues about the murderer, as James and Agatha continue to not get along, Sir Charles reappears and woos Agatha, and someone keeps trying to get Agatha out of the picture – permanently. But this is another workmanlike entry in the Agatha Raisin series.

Cassie promises the dying woman who practically raised her to find suitable wives for her two sons. Not as predictable as I expected, kind of a cross between Bridget Jones’ Diary and Love Story. I liked the beginning, even though it was a flashback, because it brought likeable characters to life. Cassie’s progress is realistic and involving even if a bit slow.

Depressing story about a group of losers. If I wouldn’t enjoy meeting the characters in real life, I probably won’t enjoy a book about them.

When a visiting celebrity turns up dead in Hannah’s bakery, she has to solve the murder in order to get back to work. Workmanlike cozy mystery, easy to read with likeable characters. The murderer was a bit obvious, but the “why” took longer to figure out.

I’ve said numerous times that when an author tries a non-standard writing technique, it usually does not help the reader or make the story more interesting. This may be a partial exception. This book consists of an almost Spoon River Anthology-like collection of short stories, narrated by different participants, to present the lives of the residents of a small Irish town. Having different characters retell the same event is particularly effective in the story of Ned and Claire, an unlikely but happy married couple. It is also involving; even when the narrator is unlikeable, his/her turn doesn’t last long to make the reader want to put the book down. However, the author skips around between topics and frequently moves us from a character we know to one we haven’t heard of, which is disorienting and confusing. Also, some of the stories relate to the theme of the village’s reaction to a possible new highway that would destroy St. Ann’s Well, and some are completely irrelevant to it. Even though Binchy pulls most of the stories into the final scene, the book would be stronger if it had a plainer theme and if it was shorter – keeping the characters and stories straight tires the reader.

Utterly predictable start – Agatha’s long-gone husband Jimmy reappears just in time to stop Agatha’s wedding to James, is found dead shortly thereafter, and Agatha becomes the prime suspect – but Beaton quickly gets past the predictable section and then splits the story between Agatha and James’ hunt for the real killer and Agatha’s continuing obsession with James. If she isn’t dressing up to try to get him back, she’s congratulating herself that she is over him. So much about the premise here doesn’t ring true. A hardheaded business woman like Agatha would have made sure Jimmy couldn’t bother her again years ago. If by some chance she didn’t, she’d quietly take care of it long before her anticipated wedding. But the trail of death that follows Agatha’s investigation distracts the reader from this sensible analysis. Uncharacteristically, Beaton “hides” the murderer by having James and Agatha miss an obvious question to ask about their missing prime suspect.

Usually, when an author tries to write in an unusual manner, it’s distracting and does not contribute to the storyline. This book is no exception. It is written in the present tense, which does nothing to mask cold, unlikeable characters and boring lives. I gave up halfway through.

Extraordinary but grisly novel about a new paramedic working in Harlem. Probably accurate AFAIK (and I worked on an ambulance in Miami’s Liberty City many years ago) but not for the squeamish. Although Burke himself was a paramedic in Harlem, this is not a memoir. It has a real plot, characters, and development, and is the best-written story I’ve read in ages. Burke leads the reader through the experiences and emotions that make the characters’ actions believable. I definitely want to read more by this author.

The author tried to turn her hip replacement surgery into a humorous story. She didn’t succeed. Even though it’s a very slim book, I couldn’t make myself finish it.

Grim more-or-less-fact-based novel of the building of the Taj Mahal, from the viewpoint of the oldest daughter of the beloved Empress. Beautifully written, with lush language reminiscent of Dickens or Austen, but I gave up halfway through because the story was just too depressing.

I had heard good things about this book. Imagine my disappointment at finding it’s just another romance novel. Set in the pre-Civil War South, it has all the elements: a stunningly handsome but wounded hero, a beautiful-but-hidden heroine, lots of bare chests and crushed lips, and of course their Final Night together where the heroine Surrenders All. Instead of winning the hero’s children as their New Governess, she wins over the hero’s wounded stallion. There is absolutely no reason to read this book unless you like romance drivel.

This was another mystery I couldn’t finish because it was too scary. A pastor who tries to be a good Christian is given an evening with a call girl by an old “friend.” Although he quickly leaves, when the woman is murdered, he becomes the prime suspect and must try to find the real murderer while on the run from the police.

Sadly, Watson should have taken his own advice. Another memoir starting with the great-grandparents, and lest the reader miss his heavy-handed point, each chapter ends with a “Lessons I Learned” section. Sheesh!

Agatha returns to Carsely and joins the local ramblers to lose some weight (and hopefully get closer to the leader, James). But when a confrontation-seeking rambler from a nearby town turns up dead, Agatha has to overcome class divisions as well as lying witnesses to find the murderer. Still way too much obsession with James – why does Beaton want to make older women look like man-crazy idiots when her continued sales depend on the reader liking this older woman? And I suppose she thinks the ending justifies the James-obsession.

I hate to be the one to say that Barbara Walters’ story is boring, but the way she tells it, it is. Starting with gory detail about the immigration from Eastern Europe of her grandparents, she then regales us with tedious minutiae of her family and growing up. I gave up at the start of her college memories.

Dual plots, one about an abandoned baby raised by a conscienceless thief and one about a couple claiming to inherit a New York house. I don’t like most of Clark’s suspense novels because they are just too scary. I made it halfway through this one before I couldn’t stand it and skipped to the end.

I was hoping for some new ideas for portable food from this book. Unfortunately, most of the recipes are well-known to any cook: spinach and artichoke dip, potato salad, even deviled eggs (although Byrn includes several neat topping ideas for the eggs). But there were some great exceptions. Winners included a 15-minute stovetop mac & cheese that even my college daughter thought she could make (no white sauce involved), Mushroom and Gruyere Cheesecake, a very adaptable roast potatoes recipe, baked apricots, and a cheese ball made with Gorgonzola instead of the usual cheddar.

Collection of chick-lit short stories of uneven quality from notable chick-lit authors. Some were enjoyable, some left me wondering what the point had been. All of them featured women obsessing about men, which doesn't speak well for American womanhood.

I didn’t like this book, and I’m not absolutely sure why. Maybe it was that a woman who decided to test her husband’s commitment by telling him she wanted a divorce is too stupid to care about. Maybe it was that the small-town residents punished her teenaged son when they decided she was the murderer. For whatever reason, when I got halfway through and realized I didn’t care enough to find out who the murderer was, I gave up. Too bad, because this was the first of a series and had sounded interesting.

Spiritualistic drivel, without even a good plot as justification

Desperate to keep James away from a new woman in town, Agatha joins the local horticultural society and tries her hand at a garden. But a rash of garden vandalism culminates in yet another murder. Still too much obsession with James, but not as bad as the previous book, and a nice workmanlike mystery.

Moving autobiography of an Army nurse who served in Viet Nam during the early days of that conflict. Not for the faint of heart, with accurate descriptions of horrible wounds as well as grisly details about the life nurses as well as soldiers had to endure. Unlike most “I was there” reports, Smith also writes about her return to “the world,” her difficulty adjusting and lonely life, and her life-changing treatment for PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder).

Lanagan writes bizarre but beautiful prose that I can’t decide if I like or not, but I keep reading. The title story and several others were real stories, with enough information dropped for the reader to figure out what happened – not a characteristic of all of Lanagan’s stories, or even of all the stories in this book. But her unique point of view makes it worth putting up with the uneven quality. Also, for some reason our library puts her work in the Young Adult section, but there is no reason older adults wouldn't enjoy it.

Once again, Boynton has come up with a children’s musical way too good to waste on children. Sure, your little ones will enjoy hearing about a lost shoe and a band marching through the kitchen, but the adults can appreciate Steve Lawrence, Neil Sedaka, the Sparklets, and Patti LuPone performing Boynton’s songs in their own unique styles. Although "Mersey Lullaby" is probably the prettiest tune, I particularly liked Brian Wilson singing "Speed Turtle" and B.B. King wailing the "One Shoe Blues." Amazing, thoroughly enjoyable, and often hysterically funny.

An about-to-be-famous designer is murdered, and the husband of Josie’s friend Alyce is the prime suspect. Will following the money lead Josie to the real killer? Involving as usual, but I don’t think the reader was given all the necessary info to figure out the murderer.

Sir Bascot de Marins is a Knight Templar who suffered Moslem captivity, escaped, and arrived in King John’s England broken in body and spirit. Lady Nicolaa decides he is recovered enough to investigate the murders of four people, all found dead in a local alehouse. As other deaths follow, Sir Bascot gradually uncovers a complex web of relationships and greed. This is another of the mysteries in which I’m not sure the reader is given all the clues, but I identified the murderer about 2/3 of the way through anyway.

Slow-moving non-story of mostly unlikeable characters set in a dusty Vermont town. There are authors who can make a collection of tableaux interesting, but Nichols isn’t one of them.

The authors are dedicated skiiers who wanted a collection of recipes that could be easily made in a rented ski lodge, i.e., with very limited equipment and ingredients. I’m not a skiier, but with one child off at college and a second about to follow her, I figured many of these recipes would also be suitable for college students. I was right, and saved recipes like Twas the Night Before French Toast, Hold-the-mayo Tuna Salad Sandwich, I skipped recipes that weren’t aimed at a student palate, such as Curried Red Lentil Soup, or were too much trouble, such as Croque Monsieur.

Awful attempt by a liberal author to ridicule abstinence and promote homosexuality through a novel. With no evidence that it doesn’t work, he has to fall back on having his characters make unsupportable clains. Boring as well as preachy.

Oddly complicated story featuring Lady Emily Ashton, a young Victorian widow who discovers her late husband may have been involved with stealing antiquities from museums. It was quite simple to identify the villain but still interesting to watch how the heroine figured it out.

I apparently don’t like romance novels even when they have a Christian theme. All the women are drop-dead gorgeous, all the men are stunningly handsome, and everyone is unjustly persecuted. What's wrong with ordinary people finding love?

Slow-moving and somewhat non-sequential novel of the death of a white man in a small Mississippi town pre-integration. Any story got lost in all the description and characterization. The people are real enough that it might be interesting to someone who didn’t remember segregation, but I grew up in pre-integration Florida and remember it just fine.

Very slow-starting story about a West Virginia town that is suddenly transplanted to 1632 Germany. I couldn’t get into it at all; none of the people seemed real and the situations were bizarre rather than interesting. Too bad, because the premise was intriguing.

Alternate-universe murder mystery set in an Alaska which was used for Jewish resettlement after the new Republic of Israel was wiped out in 1948. Between the wandering narrative (in both time and subject) and heavy use of anti-Semitic pejoratives (generally by Jews), I couldn’t stand it.

A handsome new vet has the Carsely ladies drooling, until most of them realize he doesn’t like treating pets and is a sleazy womanizer to boot. When he is found dead, Agatha realizes investigating it as a murder gives her an excuse to be with James. But what if he really was murdered and the person responsible doesn’t want Agatha to find out? Way too much of Agatha dreaming of James marrying her and trying to keep him away from local femme fatale Freda. I’m also not sure the reader was given all the information to identify the murderer; I sure didn’t.

The title was the most amusing element of this collection of supposedly humorous essays in which the author shares that she is a compulsive liar, drinker, and sleeper-around. Not funny at all, and not particularly interesting, either.

In spite of the rave reviews on this book, it had no story, just a disjointed set of events, and the characters weren’t interesting enough to hold my interest.

Another book whose title had nothing to do with the story. It sounded like the experience of the children left behind when a soldier was deployed, which would have interested me. Halfway through the book, when I gave up, it was just a little girl’s non-sequential whine about various overseas postings, loss of pets, and dislike for a little brother.

Yet another sappy romance – lovely young nurse meets gorgeous but hostile doctor and they fall in love. Has as much to do with nursing as with pig farming.

Complicated but enjoyable mystery featuring Middle Eastern terrorists meeting common Los Angeles archetypes. I’m not sure why I like this series; maybe it’s because the hero doesn’t take himself too seriously. I don't like Westlake's supposedly humourous mysteries at all, but I'm hunting for the rest of this series.

Totally blah tale of a man on the run from a false accusation of murder, who helps another man who was just framed for murder. Both men are clueless dips. The description is more interesting than the book was.

Very slow start, with a very unlikeable so-called heroine! She retires to a small Cotswold town intending to run it, outbids her neighbor to obtain the services of a cleaning lady, and buys a professional quiche to make sure she wins a baking contest. Serves her right that she doesn’t win, and the person who eats the rest of her rejected quiche dies. But if you stick it out, the story becomes quite enjoyable and Agatha more sympathetic.

There is a genre that should be called “sappy love stories.” Nicholas Sparks and Cecelia Ahern are famous examples. Not necessarily bad, but I at least have to be in a certain mood to enjoy them. This is a worthy new entry. A long-married loving couple dies and their long-lost son returns for the funeral even knowing he’ll be arrested. Even with the predictable elements (gorgeous wandering son and gorgeous ex-girlfriend see each other for the first time in years, revelations threaten to tear the family apart), I kept turning the pages.

This debut novel received rave reviews, and I have to admit the descriptions are vivid. But a novel should have a story, and likeable characters are a plus. This book has neither. Narrator Kate is a obnoxious preteen wimp, and older sister Frankie is an obnoxious teenage wannabe slut. They live in Hong Kong with their mother while their photographer father spends most of his time in war-torn Viet Nam. Rather than a story, Greenway offers a series of tableux: the girls in church, the girls listening to a tape from their father, the girls finding a dead body; unfortunately, none are particularly interesting and none seem relevant to any plot.

Supposedly a history of how people thought in Stalin’s Russia, but all I can say is BORING.

Next time I want to read essays by a homosexual about how hard it is to travel with his lover, I’ll pick up a Sedaris book. Or maybe not, these weren’t very interesting.

Amazing pull-no-punches story of a Navy nurse who was captured when Manila fell and spent the rest of WWII as a Japanese prisoner. Not the best-written story I’ve ever read, and the title makes it sound amusing (which it certainly isn’t), but the people jump out of the book and her experiences keep the reader following along.

Tale of a Depression-era couple whose already-strained marriage is pulled further by separation when the husband leaves to take a WPA job and the neighbor decides this is his chance to win the wife’s heart at any cost. Kind of heavyhanded about leaning on God, but I don’t know how it could have been written differently. It dragged on, though, about halfway through I started skipping 20-30 page chunks and didn’t miss anything.

Stasheff winds up his long-running The Warlock In Spite of Himself series with this tale of a dying Gwen bringing Magnus back to Gramarye. As a possibly delusional Rod seeks a way to be reunited with Gwen, SPITE and VETO jump at the chance to finally destroy Catherine and Tuan. Stasheff brings back numerous characters from previous stories, and have a box of kleenex handy. It’s really difficult to bring a series to a satisfactory end. Shasheff does as well as anyone can.

Think of this as Supernatural Noir. The hard-boiled detective in the seedy office is hired by the beautiful rich woman to find her daughter, but instead of getting beat up by human thugs in the process, his would-be killers include faceless nightmares and a killer-for-good sets him up in order to save him and repay a debt. Of course the beautiful rich woman isn’t what she seems … probably fans of noir and supernatural thrillers will enjoy this series, but I’m not one so I’ll be skipping the rest.

Yet another growing-up tale, this one of a poor white girl abandoned by her parents after the Civil War. Just not interesting, and with a particularly unlikable main character.

Only for history buffs. Pastor does an excellent job re-creating not only the culture but the speech and thinking of a Roman army officer, which (unsurprisingly) sounds awkward to American ears. The mystery part is more like a political thriller and fairly confusing, because the hero doesn’t share his suspicions.

Young Erast Fandorin’s father gambled away the family money, so he starts a career in the police department and finds himself pursuing a possible political conspiracy behind several murders and involving a beautiful woman. Awfully convoluted without being involving enough to hold the reader’s interest, and lacks the light touches of his Sister Pelugia series.

Young Lord Miles Vorkosigan suffers from legs deformed after his mother was poisoned during her pregnancy and is obsessed with proving he is a worthy heir to his military predecessors. But his obsession doesn’t make him interesting or his actions understandable.

The only interesting part of this book was Bujold’s faithful presentation of the point-of-view of a man who had been raised believing women were evil. The story itself ranged from boring to weird, and it was completely predictable that Ethan’s helper would be a woman. Also, this was not a Vorkosigian book, although the library labelled it as such.

Grieving widow runs her husband’s real estate business and tries to care for his Afghan hound. (Solving murders is just a sideline.) Way too cute to be read without insulin handy, with the sassy real estate agent, the neglected 8-year-old son of a music star who wants to train the hound, the New Age masseuse, and a host of other characters. Oh, and “Whisky” is a nickname awarded by her unlamented FIRST husband. But the worst offense is the story just wasn’t interesting. I gave up halfway through.

I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like this series. I was right. Bounty hunters aren’t real high on my list of likeable people, but it sounded mildly intriguing. Turns out the heroine only became a bounty hunter because she was laid off from her job as a discount underwear buyer, knows nothing about bounty hunting to start with, and is a dip to boot.

Yet another of her stories featuring unlikeable people doing selfish things. Wimp Jim adores his wife, narcissistic Stella, who thinks she deserves better but at least would rather live with her mother, conniving Ma, where she can con siblings into caring for her child and be spoiled rotten, while Ma intends to make Jim her personal chauffeur. Even skipping chunks didn’t make the story tolerable.

From the title, I thought this was going to be a somewhat-humorous account of having breast cancer, like Erma Bombeck did so wonderfully for pediatric cancer. It isn’t. It’s simply a gritty, blow-by-blow account of Nash’s diagnosis and treatment, and not even particularly interesting. It might be more involving to another patient, but I gave up about halfway through.

Ripping good mystery reminiscent of Agatha Christie, in which Sam Holt and several other Hollywood types are stranded on a lonely island and killed one by one, and if I’d believed the book’s own description, I wouldn’t even have started it. The back cover asks “Who’s Likely to Like This?” and answers “fans of Donald Westlake,” but this is the only book by this author that I have ever liked. The intro describes it as a “Hard Boiled” mystery, with “mean streets and meaner bad guys,” which I don’t like. But I had trouble putting it down and will definitely be looking for more Sam Holt mysteries.

This time, Daisy finds a murdered parlormaid and a controlling lady of the manor. Likeable characters and all the information needed to identify the murderer.

Typical sappy romance. I sure don’t know why romance writers think nurses have nothing to do but fall in love with doctors, but I definitely find it annoying as well as untruthful.

Cute story of four highschool friends who start a club to promote virginity, but ethically wrong and with one-dimensional characters. It is simply not right to present teen sex as casual, and Brian does.

Something about this book just bothered me. The author plays fair with information (although the “why” was a bit unusual) but the whole atmosphere was gloomy, reasonable given the heroine’s recent experiences but unpleasant.

Why does a book claiming to focus on the tail end of Jefferson’s life give his whole history, starting with childhood? If you ignore the misnomer of the title and the slightly pedantic style, this was actually an interesting if unflattering portrait of an amazing but contradictory man. He earned almost universal praise for running the country, but couldn’t manage his own finances. He believed slavery was wrong and treated his own slaves well, but didn’t bother to keep visiting male guests from raping the women. He either fell apart or acted completely oblivious when a loved one died. This remained a very readable book to the end.

Intriguing but tragic history of a little-known royal. Caroline was the sister of George III of England, and married to the bizarre Christian of Denmark. Lofts is at her best writing about real historical figures, but even she can’t lighten this sad tale.

Juvenile book of mostly cute poems with a Christmas theme. I particularly liked the story about the brown king going to see the baby Jesus.

The negative points of this series seem to be increasing (heavy-handed foreshadowing, really annoying manipulative ex-husband) while the positive points are disappearing. When I was interrupted reading and set it aside for several days, I just didn’t care enough to pick it back up.

Very weird love-your-inner-woman self-help book. The author tries to be humorous (I think) by attributing her advice to a pre-Colombian “La Poodlea” she is supposedly channelling. There may or may not be good advice in this book, the form is so bizarre I can’t tell.

Particularly grisly retelling of the Donner Party story. Even Lofts couldn’t make most of the people likeable.

I had high hopes for this series. The titles are so clever, and the first couple of pages were intriguing. But it quickly deteriorated into characters so unlikeable the tragedy was that they weren’t all eliminated. Presenting honest plain folk as deceptive hypocrites didn’t help. I didn’t even care enough to read long enough to find out who was the corpse, much less who was the murderer.

What a great example of the benefits of writing a series. In spite of the complete lack of sympathetic characters, I kept reading this story of the “accidental” deaths of several women who had been bridesmaids in a wedding months earlier. As usual, White plays fair with the reader; all the pieces of information needed to reach the unlikely solution are there. But would it have been too much to make ONE of the characters likeable?

I don’t know what I was thinking, even checking this out. I like cozy mysteries, and this is a hard-core police procedural.

Whiny, unlikeable, STUPID characters, a plot so slow-moving I gave up before the murder even happened.

Slow-moving narration of two brothers who made this trip in 1911. Great primary source but not that interesting to just sit and read.

When Thursday’s new husband Landen is eradicated, a Goliath agent forces her to discover how to enter a book to bring Landen back. This brings her into Jurisfiction … where things get really weird. This is the second book I’ve tried from this series, and I won’t bother with any more.

Interesting trio of stories featuring New York Police Lt. Eve Dallas, a tough but dedicated policewoman of the future. Well-enough written but darker than I prefer, with serial killers instead of dangerous desserts.

This intended start of a new series features Griffen and his sister Valerie, who discover they are shape-changing dragons instead of the normal humans they have always thought themselves. As they develop their powers, they deal with various threats (mostly to Griffen). Okay, but not always interesting and gloomier than the Myth or Phule series (not as bad as Thieves’ World, though).

In the Forward to this supposedly young-adult book, editor Strahan says he tried to get good old-fashioned golden-age-of-SF-type stories. He didn’t quite get that, but he did get good stories with strong plots, unfortunately in short supply in “modern” SF. The variety of authors helped ensure a truly wide range of story themes, but the quality varies. This is a thick book, not one you can just sit down and read straight through.

Set in Europe around 1300 AD, this is an odd combination of history (accurate, as far as I can tell) and magic. It follows two Knights Templar during a critical period in Scottish history, pitting them against those seeking to overthrow the worship of the White Christ and restore the power of the old, vicious Pictish gods. Unfortunately, it became so convoluted that I lost interest and gave up halfway through.

This book represented such a great idea: a reunion of soldiers from the author’s company in Viet Nam. Unfortunately, great ideas don’t always result in great books, and this one was just boring.

It’s always a thrill to find a book that I can’t put down, and I read the first half of this noir-meets-sword-and-sorcery in one sitting. A sword-for-hire with a haunting past receives a message that his old friend the king needs his help because the queen has apparently murdered and eaten their son. It even had a good ending. Unfortunately, there are way too many typos, don’t publishers use competent copyeditors any more?