The Robe of Skulls by Vivian French

It was exciting to get this book. The instant I saw the cover, I wanted to read it. With intriguing cover art, I am like a young kid who can't wait and has to have it. That said, I am adult who loves kids' books (really, almost all books, but that's besides the point). I am also an adult who likes fairy tales and any take-offs of fairy tales - you know, mix them up a little and maybe thrown in something new.

I liked Gracie and cheered her on, but I really wanted to know more about Foyce, as a Werewoman. Foyce is a combination - she was obviously an "evil stepsister" but she was also the Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood. (Although I don't know if I like Gracie compared to Red Riding Hood. . . if you read the Sisters Grimm series, Riding Hood is not that likeable as a character. . .)

The bats and Gubble were the best characters. The bats had the most interesting tasks in this book. They were really keeping every under control and organized. Gubble was likeable and had more personality that many of the other characters. He made me laugh out loud. He is so proud of himself when he figures out that he can rhyme! ("Gubble's Troubles")

Overall, this was a quick and easy read for me. Enjoyable, as well. I would definitely recommend this book to any kids and adults who like fairy tales.

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Title: Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen (Copyright 2007)

The tree behind the Waverly ancestral home, a large Victorian house in North Carolina, throws apples at the people who come near, trying to get them to eat the apples. The apples cause dreams, visions, really, of the biggest event of their lives, but not necessarily the best event of their lives. Claire, the Waverly daughter who now lives in the house, regularly gathers the apples and buries them. Around the tree grows magical herbs, which Claire ingeniously uses put in food for uses such as bringing happiness to other people or compelling them apologize if apologies are needed. The Waverly's special wine is used for helping people see in the dark.

This book, though, is not just about the magic, but about the relationships in a town where families for generations have either been the best of friends or feuding with one another, and not knowing the real reason anymore. Claire has felt so abandoned her entire life that she prefers not to make too many attachments. She only wants people and things in her life that will remain constant. Her sister and her niece are starting to become constants, but Claire worries that they will leave, too. Her sister Sydney and niece Bay have returned from some place and situation that Sydney reveals later.

This is a sweet book. The story is well-told and very effective. The conclusion of the story is bit predictable, but that is exactly why this book is so good. I enjoyed it very much.

Forever Lily by Beth Nonte Russell

Title -- Forever Lily: An Unexpected Mother's Journey to Adoption in China by Beth Nonte Russell (2004, 2007)

"I want nothing of this world, nothing by to love you. What was false in me has died . . . What you have given me is beyond value, beyond price; what can I give you in return? It is my greatest wish that you be whole, and happy and free. I have never wanted something so much, yet felt at such a loss to achieve it. You represent all that is good in the world, in triumph over all that is bad" (197).

This book was an excellent read. Not only is it not a long book, but it is very well-written. The author opens this memoir while she is on the plane with a friend, accompanying the friend on her way to adopt a baby girl from China. The upshot is that the friend finds that even after a year of paperwork, etc, she is not ready to raise this new child, and begs the author to take the baby, who is eventually named Lily. The quote above is directed toward Lily and it a good example of the writing throughout the book.

Interspersed with the narrative of this emotional trip to China are the author's dreams and past-life memories. At first, this was rather irritating, as I, as the reader, wanted to narrative, wanted to find out what happened. However, the past-life memories became increasingly important in driving home the point of karma and how the author, her husband, and Lily belong together as a family.

This book is a recommended read.

Caspian Rain by Gina Nahai

This book was a let-down. The title sounds great, and held such promise. The book flap made me want to read the book. The way in which the story was written and developed was well done and very dramatic. However, the ending came too quickly and suddenly. It was rather shocking. The reader is really left wanting more. Many of the periphery characters really were on the periphery. . . they could have been more fleshed out. On the other hand, the story is written reflects Yaas's (the daughter who is telling the story) limited experiences.


This was the first book I read by this author. I am really not sure if I will read any of her others. As my husband has pointed out, there are a lot of books by angry Persian women, and I had hope that this one would be different. Perhaps I will try another book by this author, and see if it seems as angry. I suppose I was hoping for a happier ending. I read the whole book hoping for something good to come out of all the unhappiness. I have read other books, fiction and nonfiction, set in Iran that I have liked and appreciated more than this book. I love the cover and the title, and really, I am disappointed.


Here is the link to the author's official website: http://ginabnahai.com/
Actually, maybe if I can get her first book, Cry of the Peacock, I will give that one a try.

So many books, so little time

I plan to write about what I've been reading lately very soon. . . I've been busy moving across the country, and just tonight, I found some of our bathroom stuff. . . so now we have a place to put our shampoo, for instance.

I read the first two "House of Night" vampire series by PC Cast and Kristen Cast. I really enjoyed the first one (Marked), and the second (Betrayed), not so much. I don't even know if I want to read the third, but I know that I will at least skim it. I was not able to get my hands on a copy of Sucks to be Me, and I really want to read it. Meanwhile, I have some other vampire stories to keep me occupied. I will report on them fairly soon. I have been reading a romance, Sex and the Psychic Witch by Annette Blair, and though I liked one of her books that I read two years ago, I have already skipped to the end to see how it turned out. The ending wasn't all that surprising, which I did not really mind. I was into it at the beginning, but I've pretty much skimmed parts of it now.

Before this book and after Betrayed, I re-read Belles on Their Toes by Frank Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, and read for the first time Trying Again: A Guide to Pregnancy After Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Infant Loss by Ann Douglas and John R. Sussman, M.D. The first, Belles, I have read many times since my first read in 1988. The "old-fashioned" humorous family tales allow me to feel better when my life feels like it is in upheaval. The second is in doing background reading with the idea that maybe a few more months from now maybe trying to have another baby. I have also just started reading a novel by Gina B. Nahai: Caspian Rain. It takes place in pre-Revolutionary Iran. I have read the first few pages thus far, and it is much better written than the romance I've been reading, even though completely a different topic.

My Most Excellent Year (Teen Fiction)

Title: My Most Excellent Year: a Novel of Love, Mary Poppins & Fenway Park by Steve Kluger

Take a paper that needs to be written for school entitled "My Most Excellent Year" (well, that's what TC changes the title to be, anyway), journals, letters emails, lots of IMs, and three friends, and you have a great story. This very humorously written story is first about TC who has a passion for baseball and doesn't think he is popular, when in fact he his popular. He also misses his mother a lot. She died when he was little. His "brother" is Augie. They've been best friends since they were little and the connection is so strong that they consider each other brothers for life. They have their own spaces in each others' houses. Then there is Alejandra. She is the 'new girl' at their high school their freshman year. TC immediately falls in love, and writes Ale a note telling her that he is considering a relationship with her. She thinks he's terrible with his tactics.

It moves on from here. . . you learn about each of their lives and their perspectives. TC meets a little boy who loves Mary Poppins. He takes this boy, Hucky, under his wing, even learning American Sign Language so they can communicate. Augie comes out about his sexual orientation, but it's not really big news to everyone else. They've realized it for a long time. Everyone is very accepting. Ale discovers that she does not want to go into politics or anything else like that as her father expects. She loves singing and dancing. In the midst of this, there is email communication between the adults in this story, particularly between TC and Augie's fathers. Sometimes this is all quite humorous.

I loved this book. A fellow staff member at Joliet recommended it. Even though the book is rather long, it was really a quick read. I wanted to know how it ended. I cared passionately for the characters. I think adults will enjoy this book as much as teens.

Title: Locked in Time

Locked in Time by Lois Duncan, copyright 1985

Nore has an "uncanny" sense of time. She doesn't need an alarm clock to wake her in the morning, and always knows what time it is. (Of course, this is prior to cell phones, which might make this point moot. On the other hand, it could come in handy if you just know when you wake up in the morning exactly what time it is without a clock around. . .)

Her father has just gotten remarried, much to Nore's surprise. Her father and mother loved each other very much until her mother died just the year before. Suddenly her father, a somewhat famous writer, is in love with this woman who is so unlike Nore's mother, and lives in the bayou in Louisiana on an old plantation. Nore immediately perceives that Lisette, her new step-mother, does not like her and sees her as threat. A threat to what? That's the question. And then there is Nore's new step-siblings, Gabe (who is quite handsome in a teenage sort of way) and Josie, who is 13 and in "that awkward stage". It is Josie who says things that don't always make sense. . . like about the circus fire in 1941 and that she was there. How could she have been there? Why has Nore found 100-year-old pictures of people who looked exactly like Lisette, Josie and Gabe? Not just similar, but exactly. Who are they, really?

I loved this book as a young teen precisely because of the "time" factor. The first time I read this book, I had to know the answers. In addition, I was fascinateds by the idea of immortality. Because I had not yet quite discovered vampire novels, this was a good book that bridged that gap between realistic fiction, time travel, and vampiric immortals in fiction.