January ~ 2012

1. The Monsters of Templeton...Lauren Groff

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At the start of Groff's lyrical debut, 28-year-old Wilhelmina Willie Upton returns to her picturesque hometown of Templeton, N.Y., after a disastrous affair with her graduate school professor during an archeological dig in Alaska. In Templeton, Willie's shocked to find that her once-bohemian mother, Vi, has found religion. Vi also reveals to Willie that her father wasn't a nameless hippie from Vi's commune days, but a man living in Templeton. With only the scantiest of clues from Vi, Willie is determined to untangle the roots of the town's greatest families and discover her father's identity. Brilliantly incorporating accounts from generations of Templetonians—as well as characters borrowed from the works of James Fenimore Cooper, who named an upstate New York town Templeton in The Pioneers—Groff paints a rich picture of Willie's current predicaments and those of her ancestors. Readers will delight in Willie's sharp wit and Groff's creation of an entire world, complete with a lake monster and illegitimate children.

I've actually had this book for months and almost returned it to the library before reading it...really glad I didn't do that! It was a great story! I loved how she wove in characters from Last of the Mohicans, etc.



2. Death Warmed Over: Funeral Food, Rituals, and Customs From Around the World...Lisa Rogak

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One part sociological study and one part cookbook, DEATH WARMED OVER explains the background and proper timing for such culinary rituals as passing a hen and a loaf of bread over a grave as dirt is shoveled onto the coffin, serving chocolate caskets and skull-shaped cakes at a funeral, and baking up a Funeral Pie to acknowledge the passing of a loved one.

Can't say I'll try any of the recipes in this book, but I did enjoy learning about funeral and death customs from cultures all over the world.



3. Double Dexter...Jeff Lindsay

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Dexter Morgan is not your average serial killer. He enjoys his day job as a blood spatter analyst for the Miami Police Department . . . but he lives for his nighttime hobby of hunting other killers. Dexter is therefore not pleased to discover that someone is shadowing him, observ­ing him, and copying his methods. Dexter is not one to tol­erate displeasure . . . in fact, he has a knack for extricating himself from trouble in his own pleasurable way.

Probably one of my favorite series! I absolutely love Lindsay's writing style!


4. V is for Vengeance...Sue Grafton

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A woman with a murky past who kills herself-or was it murder? A spoiled kid awash in gambling debt who thinks he can beat the system. A lovely woman whose life is about to splinter into a thousand fragments. A professional shoplifting ring working for the Mob, racking up millions from stolen goods. A wandering husband, rich and ruthless. A dirty cop so entrenched on the force he is immune to exposure. A sinister gangster, conscienceless and brutal. A lonely widower mourning the death of his lover, desperate for answers, which may be worse than the pain of his loss. A private detective, Kinsey Millhone, whose thirty-eighth-birthday gift is a punch in the face that leaves her with two black eyes and a busted nose.

I've always enjoyed the Kinsey Millhone series. This book was no exception. No hanging on the edge of your seat suspense, but a nice, light mystery.

5. Book of Days...James Rubart

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"… in Your book all my days were recorded, even those which were purposed before they had come into being." —Psalm 139:16
Young Cameron Vaux’s mind is slipping. Memories of his wife, killed two years earlier in a car accident, are vanishing just as his dad predicted they would. Memories he knows he has to remember.
His father tells Cameron that to save his mind he must find "the book with all days in it" —the past and future record of every soul on earth.
When an obscure clue leads Cameron to a small central Oregon town, he meets enigmatic Taylor Stone, a possible guide to finding the book who seems to carry secrets far deeper than anyone imagines. Local hotshot TV personality Ann Bannister thinks the legend of the book is a farce, but she has her reasons to join Cameron’s search anyway. Finally, there is fanatical New Age guru Jason Judah, who will stop at nothing to find the book of days before Cameron does.

I don't normally read Christian fiction because I hate the whole in-your-face religious pushing that most of them have. This book wasn't like that. It was more about history and a little mystery than trying to proselytize. I would definitely read more books by this author.


6. The Monster's Corner: Stories Through Inhuman Eyes...edited by Christopher Golden

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An all original anthology from some of todays hottest supernatural writers, featuring stories of monster's from the monster's point of view.

In most stories we get the perspective of the hero, the ordinary, the everyman, but we are all the hero of our own tale, and so it must be true for legions of monsters, from Lucifer to Mordred, from child-thieving fairies to Frankenstein's monster and the Wicked Witch of the West. From our point of view, they may very well be horrible, terrifying monstrosities, but of course they won’t see themselves in the same light, and their point of view is what concerns us in these tales. Demons and goblins, dark gods and aliens, creatures of myth and legend, lurkers in darkness and beasts in human clothing…these are the subjects of The Monster’s Corner. With contributions by Lauren Groff, Chelsea Cain, Simon R. Green, Sharyn McCrumb, Kelley Armstrong, David Liss, Kevin J. Anderson, Jonathan Maberry, and many others.

Great book! It was full of short stories where the monster was the protaganist. You even felt sorry for a lot of them. There is supposed to be a similar book about zombies that I'm going to try and find.
          

7. The Whole Death Catalog: A Lively Guide to the Bitter End…Harold Schechter

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In the tradition of Mary Roach’s bestselling Stiff and Jessica Mitford’s classic exposé The American Way of Death comes this meticulously researched, refreshingly irreverent, and lavishly illustrated look at death from acclaimed author Harold Schechter. With his trademark fearlessness and bracing sense of humor, Schechter digs deep into a wealth of sources to unearth a treasure trove of surprising facts, amusing anecdotes, practical information, and timeless wisdom about that undiscovered country to which we will all one day travel.

Much better than the last one I read! Neat little facts and some pretty gruesome stuff, too. Don’t read it while you are eating!



8. When the Brain Can’t Hear…Terri James Bellis

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Millions of Americans struggle silently with APD. For many of them, holding a simple conversation can be next to impossible. As sound travels through an imperfect auditory pathway, words become jumbled, distorted, and unintelligible. As Dr. Bellis notes, the most profound impact of this highly specific impediment to auditory comprehension may be on the young. Facing a severely reduced ability to read, spell, comprehend, and communicate, children with APD are subject to anxiety, academic failure, and a damaged sense of self. Often, they are misdiagnosed.
Discussing the latest and most promising clinical advances and treatment options, and providing a host of proven strategies for coping, Dr. Bellis takes much of the mystery out of APD. If you or anyone you know has difficulty comprehending spoken language, or if your child is struggling in school, this important book may have the answers you need.

We’re having our boys tested for Auditory Processing Disorder soon and I wanted to read up a little on it.



9. Learning Ballet
10. The Ballet Companion…Eliza Gaynor Minden

Just looking into some dance stuff. My mom would never let me take ballet as a kid (it was too girly) and I’ve always harbored a secret desire to learn.



11. Three Guys From Miami Celebrate Cuba
12. Three Guys From Miami Cook Cuba
13. Sabor!...Ana Quincoces Rodriguez
14. The Cuban Kitchen…Raquel Rabade Roque

I love cookbooks! Especially ones that tell stories along with the recipes.
 
15. Old World Murder...Kathleen Ernst

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Trying to leave painful memories behind her, Chloe Ellefson is making a fresh start. She's the new collections curator at Old World Wisconsin, an outdoor ethnic museum showcasing 1870s settlement life. On her first day, Chloe meets with an elderly woman who begs her to find a priceless eighteenth-century Norwegian ale bowl that had been donated to the museum years ago. But before Chloe can find the heirloom and return it to her, the woman dies in a suspicious car crash.
Digging up the history and whereabouts of the rare artifact quickly turns dangerous. Chloe discovers that someone is desperately trying to cover up all traces of the bowl's existence—by any means necessary. Assisting Chloe is police officer Roelke McKenna, whose own haunting past compels him to protect her. To catch the covetous killer, Chloe must solve a decades-old puzzle . . . before she becomes a part of history herself.

16. The Heirloom Murders...Kathleen Ernst

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As collections curator for Old World Wisconsin, Chloe Ellefson delights in losing herself in antiques and folk traditions—and forgetting her messy love life. But her peace is destroyed when her ex-boyfriend unexpectedly turns up, followed by a break-in at her friend Dellyn’s historic house—a potential treasure trove of priceless antiques. Was the intruder hunting for the missing Eagle Diamond, a legendary gemstone unearthed in 1876?
When a grisly murder takes place on the museum grounds, Chloe is further drawn into a mystery involving a rare variety of Swiss cheese, a nearly extinct heirloom flower . . . and plain, old-fashioned murderous greed.

I really liked these two books and I would love to have Chloe's job!! I wish she did a little bit more character development, but I'm hoping that will come out the more she writes this series. I'm looking forward to the next one coming out.