Homeowner's Manual / Tom Silva 224 p.

The experts from This Old House present how-to information on fixing and maintaining that big investment--the house/our home. Many photographs show just how to do the job. Tom Silva offers a sixty-minute inspection guide. As he says: "Maintenance problems don't heal themselves. You have to walk around your house and find them--before they turn ugly."

Hammersteins / Oscar Andrew Hammerstein 236 p.

Oscar Hammerstein, II, the public knows and loves through his wonderful musicals, Show Boat, Oklahoma!, Flower Drum Song, Sound of Music and more. This famous lyricist grew up in the world of Oscar Hamemrstein, I, his grandfather. Oscar, I, turned his attention to music and theater after establishing himself as a successful businessman. It is Oscar I who built many theaters in New York City. He turned the Longacre Square into Times Square, the theater capitol of the world. His sons managed these theaters and nurtured the careers of Will Rogers, W.C. Fields, Al Jolson, Charlie Chaplin.

Written by Oscar, II's grandson, Oscar "Andy" Hammerstein, this work presents all sides of the entire Hammerstein family including its scandals and tragedies. It chronicles development of popular musical theater.

What fun to read "behind the scenes" of this talented family.

Quiet : the Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking / Susan Cain 387 p.

Susan Cain, a former Wall Street lawyer and self-labeled introvert, opens the door to the world of introverts. Filled with real stories of real people, she charts the rise of the extrovert. Impressively researched, she describes the switch from the culture of character to the culture of personality.

Introverts make up one third to one half of the population. These are not necessarily shy people. (Shy people fear social judgment.) Introversion is more how one responds to stimulation including social stimulation. Extroverts long for extra amounts of stimulation while introverts feel their most capable at their quieter, lower key moments. She details the undervalued strengths of introverts.

She notes that the work environment has moved to the world of brainstorming, offices without walls, committees, all more conducive to the work environment of the extrovert. Research is showing that these are not the most productive work spaces. It is interesting to note that working to get the sum of individuals over committee work gets a better end product. More and good ideas are generated when people think in solitude. She points out that some businesses are taking advantage of this by having sharing via the web…think sharing a document where all can contribute.

She offers research that shows introversion and extroversion are perhaps hardwired from infancy.

This book has the power to permanently change how introverts are viewed in the world.

Breadcrumbs / Anne Ursu / 312 pages

This is a great book but will not appeal to every young reader.  A 5th grade girl, Hazel, doesn't fit in for many reasons: she's adopted, her father left the family, she's from India, she's starts at a new school, and she is imaginative and creative with different interests than anyone in her class.  The only person who makes her feel worthwhile is her good childhood friend Jack who is just as imaginative but likes to hang with the guys too.  Ursu alludes to elements of other childrens books and fairy tales to create parallels to the life that Hazel is living.  The first half of the book deals with the real world that Hazel must survive, the 2nd half of the book deals with a fantasy world in which Hazel ventures to save her bestfriend Jack after he has hurt her and then gone missing.  It's this mixing of the real and the fantasy that make the book intriguing.  I would say this would be for special readers who want to be left thinking about how the world of fantasy may align with the real world we experience.

Barefoot Season/Susan Mallery/360 pgs.

This is a "Blackberry Island Novel." Michelle Sanderson is returning to Blackberry Island after serving 10 years in the army. She is coming back to run the inn she inherited as the result of her mother's death. While she was serving in the army, her former best friend, Carly Williams, has kept the inn running. In order to get the inn out of the red, Michelle and Carly are going to have to work together. Past hurts come to light, misunderstandings are confronted, and all ends well. I've said it before, but I really like Susan Mallery--her characters are very believable, and her books are a fast read.

The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection / Alexander McCall Smith / 257 pages

Precious Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi meet their idol, the one and only Clovis Anderson, author of The Principles of Private Detection.  Together the Ladies of the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and Clovis Anderson restore order to a world in turmoil when Fanwell, the young mechanic in Precious' husband's car repair shop Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, is falsely accused of being part of a car theft operation, Mma Ramotswe's best friend Mma Potokwane is unfairly dismissed from her job as matron of the Orphanage, and the builder of Grace & Phuti's new home is disreputable.  We see all the foibles of the main characters but their goodness, loyalty and acceptance of others shine through.  Readers also get a good sense of the connection of people to their country.  Each book in this series is satisfying in terms of character, plot, setting and language, and readers are left with a good feeling about the way things are. 

The Bond of Passion / Beatrice Small / 416 pages / R. T. Reviewer's Choice Award

Much, much too descriptive!!  The many graphic love scenes detracted from the historical story.  I actually had to fast forward through several scenes.  This is part of the Beatrice Small Border Chronicles and tells of Angus Ferguson, the handsomest man in the borders of Scotland, Earl of Duin, and his plain-faced wife from Rath, Annabella Baird.  Angus has always sought to avoid politics but, unable to ignore an invitation to Mary Queen of Scotland's court, he is caught up in royal intrigue that threatens his home, family, and country.

The Lost Years / Mary Higgins Clark / 292 pages

What a wonderful premise for a book!!  The Lost Years refers to those years absent from biblical accounts of the life of Jesus.  After his temple lessons at the age of 12, for 18 years the Bible is silent as to Jesus's activities and whereabouts.  Biblical scholar, Jonathan Lyons, is certain he has found a letter written by Christ to Joseph of Arimathea just prior to his crucifixion.  The letter had been stolen from Vatican archives during the reign of Pope Sixtus IV in the 1500's.  Professor Lyon is murdered in his library.  Is the murderer his wife with Alzheimer's who had discovered his affair with a colleague?  This is a real page-turner fueled by one's desire to discover the contents of the letter...

Silk Is for Seduction / Loretta Chase / RUSA Reading List / 371 pages

Marcelline Noirot is determined to make her dressmaker's business a success.  She leaves London for Paris where she hopes to attract the attention of the Duke of Clevedon.  She wishes his patronage for her shop in ordering dresses for his future duchess, his childhood friend.  Attract his attention she does and much, much more.   The is a most enjoyable read, highly satisfying, and believable only within the covers of a romance novel.

The Witness / Nora Roberts / 488 pages

"Elizabeth Fitch's seeds of rebellion had perhaps always been there, but they were awakened by the fat and salt when she walked into McDonald's at 16 and ordered her first Big Mac with large fries and a chocolate shake."  She had always followed her mother's directives and was currently enrolled in Harvard pursuing a medical degree, following in her mother's footsteps.  When her mother cancels her free summer time and enrolls her in a friend's class, Elizabeth rebels.  Her rebellion leads to a shopping spree, fake identities, a night club, and murder.  Because of the murder, Elizabeth is placed in a safe house awaiting her testimony.  The house is breached and Elizabeth is on the run for 12 years.  When she settles in a small Ozark town as Abigail Lowery, her life is changed forever by police chief Brooks Gleason.  This is an excellent, cant-put-it-down read!!

Through a Glass Darkly / Karleen Koen / 726 pages

Frequently quoting from scriptures, Through a Glass Darkly tells of life in England and France during the 1700's.  The title itself refers to 1 Corinthians 13:11-13, "For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face; now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."  Barbara Alderley, at 15, is of marriageable age and her promiscuous mother, the beautiful Diana, is plotting a suitable match with Roger Montgoeffrey, one of Barbara's grandfather Richard's commanding soldiers.  Barbara has always loved Roger, but the relationship brings infidelity, homosexuality, financial ruin, and no children.  This is an eye-opening look at 18th century English life, love, and family.

Nowhere Near Respectable / Mary Joe Putney / R. T. Reviewer's Choice Award / 390 pages

Lady Kiri Lawford is the daughter of an English duke and an Indian princess.  Running away to escape betrothal to an Englishman whose mother looks down on Kiri's heritage, she is captured by smugglers and rescued by Damien Mackenzie, owner of a fashionable gambling hall.  Kiri is a perfumist and can recognize people by their smell.  Faking his death during an attempted kidnapping of Princess Charlotte on one of his masquerade nights, Mackenzie and Kiri seek to find the kidnappers.  Enjoyable and humorous read.

Adam Canfield, the Last Reporter / Michael Winerip / 377 pages

Adam and Jennifer, co-editors of The Slash, the newspaper of Harris Elementary/Middle School, continue to gather news even though the newspaper has been shut down.  Losing school sponsorship, they decide to publish online or self-publish.  The mandatory voluntary classes to prepare for state testing are over, and Adam, although still the most over programmed boy in the world, finds he has some free time.  This time the star reporters investigate a school election, stolen bicycles, state testing, and advice columns.  Great middle school read!!

Gone Girl/Gillian Flynn/416 pages

Nick and Amy Dunne were living a storybook life in New York City until everything fell apart. Even after both of them lost their jobs, they didn't panic until Amy's parents came to her asking for a loan from her trust fund. The fund was originally started with money earned from her parents' children's book series Amazing Amy. With the majority of Amy's trust fund gone and the news that Nick's mother is dying of cancer and his father has Alzheimer's, Nick decides that moving back to his Missouri hometown to care for both of his parents is the only way to regroup. Amy's not happy with the decision or Missouri in general or the hometown specifically. When she goes missing on their 5th anniversary, mounting evidence points to Nick as the only suspect in his wife's apparent murder.

Although Flynn lives in Chicago, no one should ask her to write tourism brochures for the Midwest. Her Missouri is a vast waste land of closed shopping malls and abandoned subdivisions. Even Hannibal sounds like a ghost town. St. Louis fares a bit better in her descriptions, although her only mention of the Cardinals includes a loss. (She must be a Cubs fan.) The story itself is well-crafted and well-told. I was a little disappointed in the ending. I think she was going for a more menacing tone, but it basically just stopped. Overall, a good summer read.

Victims / Jonathan Kellerman / 338 pages

You can't beat Kellerman if you're in the mood for a tense thriller with some meat to it.  Alex Delaware along with LAPD Lt Milo Sturgis go through an extensive police procedural to connect a series of gruesome murders/dissections.  Alex Delaware uses his background and experience as a child psychologist to help make the connections in the mental health world and provide insight into the motives and impulses of the killer.  He is always an interesting character as is Milo Sturgis who has issues of his own.  No spoiler alert...Milo is going to have to deal with something very important that happens at the end of the book.  Recommended.

The Newlyweds / Nell Freudenberger / 337 pages

This story is about foreign/American marriage and it is well done.  Amina is from Bangledesh and marries George, an electrical engineer, whom she meets on a dating site online.  Her difficulties in adjusting to the U.S., understanding her husband and adjusting to him and all the overwhelming cultural and religious differences makes one wonder how anyone could succeed in such a marriage.  Her desire is also a typical one:  to bring her parents over as soon as she can.  In her case, there are some very good reasons in terms of safety.  She returns to Bangladesh and through her eyes the reader gets a good look at that culture and the very real difficulty of being torn at leaving.  There are also some very interesting and moving personal problems that really put that book at the top for good.  This is not a "feel good" totally happy ending book.  It is, however, real life.

Milkweed/ Jerry Spinelli/ 208 pages

This is the story of a boy who lives on the streets in Warsaw during the ouset of WWII.  He is eventually forced into the ghetto with the Jewish population.  He is a simple-minded boy and we are unsure of his age.  But, the story is told from his point of view about all the atrocities that are afflicted upon the Jewish population at that time and place.  It was a sad book, but good.

Cinnamon Roll Murder / Joanne Fluke / 333 pages

Hannah Swenson with the aid of her mother Dolores and sisters Andrea & Michelle solve another murder and save Norman from marrying the wrong woman.  The Hannah Swensen Mysteries are all cozy stories complete with recipes that usually require mayo, butter and cream...yeah.  I hate to say it , but this was not one of the better titles in the series.  It was poorly edited with all sorts of spelling errors and misuse of words.  That is annoying to me.  I thought the identity of the muderer was sort of thrown in at the end too.  It would be fun for a book club to discuss the book and have each person bring a sample recipe from the book.  I'm not so sure about Chocolate cookies that use avocado or lemon cake that uses the whole lemon (except for the seeds) though. 

Secrets at Sea / Richard Peck / 238 pages

This book set in the time of Queen Victoria is the story of the downstairs Cranston mice (Helena, Louise, Beatrice & brother Lamont) setting off to sea with their upstairs Cranston family to find the eldest Cranston daughter a husband.  The book is entertaining, charming, funny, spot on, action-filled and eloquently written.  The language of Richard Peck's book is as elegant and spare as Richard himself.  The illustrations by Kelly Murphy are perfect and add even more to an already wonderful tale.  Recommended for all readers (probably has more girl appeal) in grades 3-5.  This would be a great read aloud for family or class and there's plenty to talk about.  In the words of Aunt Fannie Fenimore (a very wise old mouse) "Everybody has two futures.  The future you choose. Or the future that chooses you."    Highly recommended.

Into the Darkest Corner/Elizabeth Haynes/400 pgs.

Debut author Elizabeth Haynes has written a psychological page turner that kept me up until the wee hours of the morning to see how it ended. It is ultimately a story of domestic violence told through the victim's voice--Catherine "Cathy" Bailey. The tension builds as Cathy provides the reader with the background to her relationship with Lee Brighton which starts as a "normal" situation up through the time it spins out of control. It's an incredible journey with twists and turns along the way--I don't think I've been this tense reading a book in a long, long, time. Highly recommended!