Life’s a Beach by Claire Cook

Review by Kristin D. (kdurham2813) 

It may have “beach” in the title, but that isn’t the only reason why I put this book into my beach read list.  A light and easy great read that I would recommend to pack in your beach bag.

NOTE – I don’t have a clue why it was titled as such, it didn’t quite fit the story.

Night Season by  Eileen Wilks

Review by Susan R. (Sue-in-AZ)

Synopsis

This is the fourth book in the World of the Lupi fantasy series.  In this book, the author departs from the main characters (Lily and Rule) and focuses on two of the supporting characters Cullen Seaborne and Cynna Weaver.

There are several interwoven stories.  The first is the building romance between Cullen and Cynna.  Previously in the series, Cullen and Cynna had a romantic encounter that left Cynna pregnant.  As the book opens, Cynna is not quite coming to terms with this pregnancy.  As the story progresses, Cullen and Cynna deal with both their relationship and their impending parenthood.

The second story line, and the main plot of the book, revolves around another realm (called Edge) where a magical medallion has been stolen.   Travelers from Edge want Cynna to “Find” the medallion – a task that she alone is suited for. Through trickery, the travelers manage to trap Cullen, Cynna and a small group of people in Edge.  There is no way to return to Earth until the medallion is restored to its correct place.

Also interwoven in the story is Cynna’s discovery that her long-lost father has been living in Edge for many years. She thought he had abandoned her and her mother – but it’s possible that he’s been trapped for a long time.  And we follow Gan’s evolution from demon into something else entirely. She appears to be growing a soul  – and an insatiable love of chocolate!

While trying to find the medallion, Cullen and Cynna interact with various factions from Edge. Some are out right hostile, others appear to be friends but aren’t trustworthy.  There is also a small parallel group who are tracking Cullen and Cynna’s every move – a man, a woman and a giant cat.  This parallel group is on their own mission and it’s impossible to tell if they mean to help or harm Cullen and Cynna.

My Review

I loved getting a deeper look into Cullen and Cynna’s relationship.  As much as I enjoy the main characters from this series, it was great to spend some time with the supporting characters. Gan, the former demon from earlier in the series also plays a major role in this story. She’s great comic relief.

I really enjoy the writing in this series. This book could stand on its own, but the continuing story lines would make more sense if read in order with the other books from the series.

Lots of tension among the characters, and between the various factions in the story. And with “secondary” characters, you can’t be certain that everyone will make it to the end of the book alive!

Rescuing Sprite: A Dog Lover’s Story of Joy and Anguish by Mark L. Levin

Review by McGuffyAnn M. (nightprose)

This is a love story of a family and their dogs. Written by national talk show host and attorney Mark R. Levin, he shares his love of dogs, particularly his rescue dog, Sprite.

Already sharing their home with Pepsi, a 6 year old mixed breed, the family decides to adopt a second dog from the local shelter. They fall in love with the adorable Sprite, believing him to be between 3-6 years old. He fits right in with the family, he and Pepsi becoming inseparable.

Weeks after adopting Sprite, he has an emergency and must be rushed to the animal hospital. This is followed by another incident shortly thereafter. The Levin family realizes Sprite is much older than originally believed, perhaps ten years or more! But this does not matter; he is family, and he needs them.

The next few years are spent loving Sprite and caring for him. The Levin family, including Pepsi, is forever changed by Sprite and his gentle spirit. Friends and listeners of Mark Levin’s show are touched by Sprite’s life and struggle.

We are reminded by the Levin family’s story with Sprite of how much animals add to our lives, and how much we can learn from them, from their simple wisdom. This is a beautiful story that will stay with you, especially if you have had the joy and anguish of rescuing an elderly dog, as I have.  It is indeed special.

An Oxford Tragedy by J. C. Masterson

Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage) 

This 1933 novel feels authentic because its author, J. C. Masterson was an academic all his life. Like the historian author, the narrator Francis Wheatley Winn is the Senior Tutor in History at fictional St. Thomas. He probably speaks for the author when he avers “My life is bound up in the life of the college.”

Familiar elements of the classic mystery are a large number of suspects, an amateur detective,  and a lengthy anti-climactic discussion of the puzzle in the last 25 pages.

In A Catalogue Of Crime (1989), critics Barzun and Taylor list it as one of the 90 best mysteries and say of it, “A first rate story, which…projects the genuine atmosphere, establishes plausible characters, and furnishes detection, logic and discussion of ‘method’ in admirably simple and attractive English…a masterpiece.”

I’m not sure I’d go that far. But I heartily recommend it to readers that like classic mysteries set at Oxford-type universities.

It’s rather more intellectual than Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers, with sometimes stiff vocabulary and ruminations on how a quiet community of scholars is rattled by a killing.

It is, however, less flippant than Michael Innes’ The Weight of the Evidence in which while sunning himself in a courtyard Professor Pluckrose is crushed to death by a meteorite that the culprit has shoved out a window.

At least, in this novel, one has a sense that murder has been done and that violence has dark consequences nobody can guess.

Chi’s Sweet Home by Kanata Konami

Review by Cyn C. (Cyn-Sama)

I’m a cat person.  Always have been, always will be.

So, I was predisposed to like this series going into it.  I just didn’t realize how adorable it would be.

The story is told from the point of view of Chi.  A newborn American shorthair cat.  She gets separated from her mother, only to be found by a caring family.

A caring family who’s apartment does not allow pets.  So, while Chi has found a home, she and her family might loose the home, if Chi is found out.

It’s a simple and sweet story.  What really makes it appealing is Chi’s point of view.  The artist managed to capture the very essence of what it is to be a cat, from sleeping in inappropriate places to traumatic trips to the vet.

The story is also something that can be enjoyed by all ages.  Manga isn’t something that’s just for adults, or just for children.  Yes, there are series that are absolutely not for children (and, that’s mainly what I read), there are great titles out there that will appeal to everyone.

Every time I read this series, I find myself utterly charmed by it, and giggling at the trouble that one little kitten can cause.  It’s obvious that the artist has cats, and is in love with them.

Each volume is a chance for me to escape reality for a short time and enjoy a slice of simple pleasures, and to take time to love on my own itty bitty kitty committee.

Zenna Henderson’s Pilgrimage and The People: No Different Flesh

Review by Cynthia F. (frazerc) 

I love this series – re-read it regularly!  Most of the stories [but not the thread connecting them] have appeared independently in various science fiction and fantasy magazines and some short story collections.  The two books have also been collected in the omnibus edition Ingathering: The Complete People Stories of Zenna Henderson.

Although she was not as well known [or as prolific] as Heinlein and Asimov and Norton, Zenna Henderson is truly one of the Golden Age masters.  Like most great authors she uses her stories to ask – and answer – important questions.  In the case of the People stories that question might be – what if alien people crash land on earth, and what if they are different – perhaps even better than us?

The People are a race from another planet who become marooned on earth, many injured and killed, most of them separated from each other and not knowing if they are the only survivors. The People have the very best of human qualities: love, gentleness, spirituality; and also special powers of healing, levitation and other frequently miraculous abilities.

Pilgrimage

Before talking about the story I want to give credit to her skills as a writer.  Her setting simply glows with the color and heat of the American Southwest.  Her people are fully visualized, their emotions vividly portrayed.  The plots of the different stories are intense and page turning.

There is a thread which binds the short stories together – the story of Lea who is suicidal but is dragged back from the brink [literally] by a chance-met member of the people.  The stories she listens to about their past, their Home, and the landing which scattered and shattered them slowly bring her back to feeling hope…

No Different Flesh

This book tells the story of a couple, Mark and Meris, who, one stormy night, find a young girl who has fallen in a capsule from the sky, and who has special abilities. Maris and Mark, still grieving the loss of their own baby, must come to terms with the emotional issues that caring for the young girl, Lala, creates in both of them. What follows is a plot that will involve the reader in the magic, compassion and sense of rightness that the People evoke.

In Pilgrimage, as in The People: No Different Flesh, the plot shifts between the present day story, and stories about the People from their past, which comprise the People’s race memory. Included as one of these memories told to Mark and Meris is a short story, “Deluge”, which has appeared in some short story collections. “Deluge” gives the reader a taste of the magical and deeply fulfilling way of life on the People’s home planet and tells how the People came to leave it. Other memories tell us what happened to various individuals of the People as they arrived on earth. These add texture and interest to the present-day story, and include events of terrible persecution of the People as well as stories of personal tragedy and joy.

One of the continuing themes in these stories are teachers and teaching and just how much difference they can make in others lives.  As a teacher myself, I reread these books to remind me why I was teaching and to refill the well of compassion which sometimes gets drained pretty dry in all of us.

If you’re looking for Lara Croft or Indiana Jones – these books are not for you.  They will never be made into summer blockbuster movies. These stories frequently require access to the kleenex box but still manage to provide an overall feeling of uplift and hope.  And that’s something we could all use a lot more of.

Devoted: The Story of a Father’s Love for his Son by  Dick Hoyt with Don Yaeger

Review by Brenna B. (demiducky25) 

Every now and then you read a book that inspires you to really examine how you live your life.  For me, Devoted is one of those books.  Prior to reading this book I had heard a little about Team Hoyt.  I knew that they were a father and son running team, and I knew that Dick (the father) pushed Rick (the son) through the races due to the fact that Rick is a quadriplegic.  However, what I didn’t know before reading this book is that although Dick is the one doing the physical pushing, it is really Rick who has been the driving force behind the story of Team Hoyt.  I challenge anyone to read this book and not walk away from it with some idea of how you can stop making excuses for why you can’t/ won’t do certain things in your life.

Do not go into this book thinking that it’s just a sports story.  Yes, sports do play a large part in the story of Team Hoyt, but it’s only one part of their story.  The real focus of this story is a father’s love for his son and a son’s love for his father.  Both strive to do whatever it is that they can do to make the other person happy.  The earlier parts of the book detail Dick and his wife’s struggle to learn what it was like to care for a son with cerebral palsy at home during a time when institutionalization was the recommended course to take.  Dick’s wife made serious inroads with pushing certain special education acts into law in Massachusetts, all while raising Rick and his two younger, able-bodied brothers.  With her guiding force, Rick was able to eventually attend public school.  Rick also was able to eventually communicate the intelligence that his parents knew he had through the use of a machine that involved using his head to spelling out words, and later sentences, into a computer.  One day, Rick used this machine to express to his father that he wanted to run in a charity race, and that he wanted Dick to be the one to run with him.  Their goal was to not come in last.  They succeeded in that goal by coming in second to last, but they knew that they could do even better.  From that day on, Dick and Rick began training for a variety of races that have included 5K races, triathlons, marathons, and Ironman competitions.  Each race, especially in the early years, brought about new challenges that Team Hoyt had to overcome.  Some challenges were creating racing chairs that Rick could ride in, others included dealing with race officials that didn’t see Rick as a true competitor and tried to prevent Team Hoyt from racing because they didn’t fit either standard classification of an able-bodied runner or a typical wheelchair racers (one interesting story from the book goes into detail about how Team Hoyt could race in a particular competition, but Dick would have to make the much faster qualifying time for his son’s age group in order for them to do so).  To this day, Team Hoyt is still racing.  Rick is now 49 and Dick is now 71.  Both have expressed the fact that they will not race without the other.  Dick has expressed that without Rick guiding him into racing, he probably wouldn’t be alive today because being in racing shape has helped him overcome a number of health problems that could have been life-threatening.  The last chapter is written by Rick and if what he has to say doesn’t strike an emotional chord with you, nothing will.

What impressed me the most in this book was how Rick’s humor would shine through, and how he always seems to have a positive, sunny disposition, even when his father Dick felt that perhaps the latest struggle might become the one that they wouldn’t be able to beat.  Each of these instances in the book shows how Rick is truly the driving force of the team.  Rick could easily be one of the angriest people on the planet (not to say that there weren’t some darker times in the book where Rick would become frustrated), but overall he would overcome the obstacles in front of him with a dignity and grace that I don’t think most of us are able to do in our daily lives.

This is not a particularly difficult book to read.  After I read it I donated it to the classroom library of an English teacher in my building (late middle school) because I think that our students will enjoy reading a story like this.  The most risqué part of the story involved a teenaged Rick using the fact that he couldn’t control his arm movements to explore the bottoms of college girls during one of his father’s speaking events, but it’s mentioned so briefly that I don’t see it as a problem.    As a result, I think this book could, and should, be read by readers of all ages because there is something that each and every one of us can take away from the story of Team Hoyt.