Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Book 1:The Alchemyst - Book 2: The Magician - Book 3: The Sorceress
Are 15 year-old Sophie and Josh Newman the legendary twins who will save the world for humans or are they just pawns in a mythical battle between the alchemist Nicholas Flamel and the magician John Dee? Sophie and Josh are working at boring summer jobs in a coffee shop and a book store when their lives are changed forever. The books feature characters from legend such as Machiavelli, Joan of Arc and William Shakespeare as well as gods such as Hekate, the Witch of Endor and the stag-headed god Curnunnos. Michael Scott is adept at introducing modern magical technology such as cell phones and GPS tracking into the ancient world that includes auras and ley lines. This is a classic quest story deftly handled with exciting battles and clever escapes - it seems that magic has its weak points. This is a fun entry into the young adult world of Harry Potter and the Golden Compass suitable for the fantasy lover of any age. ~Gretchen Echols

 Lucie de la Tour du Pin was a survivor and witness to an era of terrifying and dangerous political mood swings – the French Revolution. As a member of the minor nobility, she witnessed major intellectual debates in the salon of her stern and domineering grandmother. Her mother, who died young, was a lady-in-waiting to Marie Antoinette. Her stepmother was a first cousin to the Empress Josephine. Her husband fought alongside Lafayette in the American Revolution. Her half-sister Fanny married a faithful follower of Napoleon and followed him into exile. She was a refugee émigré in Regency England and upstate New York and lost and regained a fortune.

 Based on Lucie’s memoirs and numerous letters to her goddaughter, this lucid biography is a fascinating page-turner. It clearly recounts the various political factions and fast paced power changes during and as a result of the Revolution. This is a woman born in privilege but at the mercy of a cruel grandmother and treacherous political change. Throughout she kept her spirits up and valiantly made the best of circumstances presented to her.
~Gretchen Echols

T.R. Reid begins The Healing of America with the premise that a nation’s health care system is a reflection of it’s basic moral values.   Instead of dry lists of statistics or muddled ranting he offers an insightful journey through the four basic models of health care delivery and how they are practiced around the world.  He uses an old shoulder injury causing pain and limited range of motion as the vehicle to compare how health care is provided in Europe, Asia and the United States.  He not only talks with the doctors he sees, but other patients, people in government and related health care fields.  He suggests possible alternatives to the current state of American health care in a well reasoned, organized manner.  By offering examples that include the things that are satisfactory as well as those that are not, he shows how other systems change and adjust over time.  No system is perfect, but other systems deliver more and better care for less money than the American system, and leave no one at risk of death or financial ruin due to lack of insurance.  It is a pleasure to read this book, both for style and content. ~Marla Vandewater

Beginning in the waning years of Victorian England, following the lives and intermingling of five families and many acquaintances through the end of the first World War, The Children’s Book by A. S. Byatt is a sprawling novel of people in a world of art and social upheaval.  Olive Wellwood is a very successful writer of children’s literature.  In addition to her published works, she keeps an ongoing fairy tale, the center of their relationship, for each of her seven children.  She and her husband Humphrey consider themselves freethinkers.  They associate with artists, writers and intellectuals.  While Olive’s sister Violet lives with them and manages the household, the children are mostly left to raise themselves.  Through the lives of her characters, Byatt paints a picture of a society in a swirl of creative and intellectual ferment, of stories and beautiful objects and cafes full of intellectual exchange.  Below this surface of energy and creativity are many uncomfortable and ugly secrets and nothing is left out as the world of the parents overlaps the world of the children with complex and sometimes devastating consequences.   As always with A.S Byatt, the writing is superb, the scope impressive.  I loved this novel. ~Marla Vandewater

After 13 years as a pastry chef at the legendary Chez Panisse and several more years as a cook book author specializing in the sweet endings of a meal, David Lebovitz needed a radical change. He “shook the etch-a-sketch” of his life and moved to Paris.The Sweet Life in Paris is an account of his experiences as a resident, not a tourist, as he makes his way through the fish markets, chocolate shops and department stores of this legendary city. His humorous, mini-essays about the challenges of living in a foreign culture are full of love and goodwill even when complaining how Parisians are aggressive about cutting in line. He attempts to be understanding when faced with the daunting challenge of finding shoelaces, with a myriad of sizes on display except the necessary 110 centimeter laces. And he is baffled when clerks demand exact change, feigning an absence of the crucial centimes to return. At the end of each essay he includes a recipe for something delicious – sweet or savory. Each recipe sounded more scrumptious than the last. I kept thinking, “That’s not so hard, even I could make that” as I flagged recipes that seemed especially mouthwatering like “Carnitas” – caramelized pork, or Chocolate Macaroons. My friends, true chocoholics, loved the Chocolate Macaroons, small morsels of almond chocolate meringue filled with an intense chocolate filling. Each recipe has a short intro that gives some insight into why David includes it in his book. He provides cooking tips developed through testing the recipes in his miniscule apartment kitchen with counter-tops that are too high and storage space that is practically non-existent. So, if you can’t make it to Paris soon, immerse yourself in this book. Whip up one of his savory or sweet recipes, have some friends over (or not), close your eyes and imagine you are part of the sweet life of Paris.  ~Gretchen Echols

Philip Kerr set out to pen a trilogy about World War II-era Berlin cop turned private eye Bernie Gunther, beginning with March Violets (1989). But he’s now up to five volumes. In the newest, A Quiet Flame (Putnam, $26.95), Gunther poses as a Nazi war criminal and escapes to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1950. Everywhere he goes in South America’s most European city, he seems to come across some former Hitler henchman, now living behind an assumed name and innocent occupation, benefiting from President Juan Perón’s interest in permanently retired Nazis — and their ill-gotten gains. Gunther might have liked to disappear, too. But instead he’s called on by the local chief of police, who knows something of his sordid background, to help investigate the gruesome slaying of a young girl — a case that bears similarities to another, unsolved homicide that Gunther worked on during his police days. The story offers lots of flashbacks, placing a more hopeful Gunther in the wild Berlin of 1932, where he delves into the “lust murder” of Anita Schwarz, a disabled part-time prostitute. Kerr does an excellent job of bringing to life such characters as Perón and his wife, Eva, as well as Adolf Eichmann and Otto Skorzeny. And he mixes them with winning fictional figures, notably Anna Yagubsky, a fetching young Jewish woman who wants the older Gunther’s help in finding her lost relatives, and in return assists him in the Schwarz probe, no matter the dangers involved — or the bed sheets they must tangle along the way. Questions about Argentina’s collaboration with the Nazis and its anti-Semitism only add further spice to A Quiet Flame. There are just enough loose ends in the last chapter to suggest that Kerr has a sixth Bernie Gunther book in the works. Thank goodness. ~ Jeff Pierce

The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway (Knopf $25.95) is a rollicking adventure story set in a post-apocalyptic world. The unthinkable has occurred and people are struggling to keep life going as they once knew it. A surprising plot twist towards the end radically changes your understanding of what has happened. This book grabbed me by the lapels with its smart, funny and energetic writing by Our Hero. Warning: Don’t start this before bed. It is a page turner and a perfect read for a rainy day or a sunny vacation or any time you want to escape to a new world. ~Gretchen Echols