Tag Archives: Book reviews

On the shelf: ‘Homer’s Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale…’ by Gwen Cooper

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By WKTV Contributor

 

I’m often resistant to books billed as being “inspirational”, “heartwarming”, or providing “life lessons”, but when I finally gave in and read Cooper’s book, Homer’s Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned about Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat, I loved it. I figured that with her last book being, Diary of a South Beach Party Girl, which People Magazine touted as a “seedily thrilling world of mid-90’s Miami”, the cat book couldn’t be too sentimental…

In fact, Homer is anything but a poor, pitiful animal; his character is very bold and resourceful, drawing from a deep place of awareness without physical sight, since Homer is completely blind. Abandoned as a very young kitten, an infection took his eyes, and a veterinarian sewed the lids shut. When Gwen Cooper adopted him at 4 weeks, she realized that he was special, and others did too. Her (cat adverse) parents offer to take him in, if,  “God forbid, anything should happen to you”.  Her ex-boyfriend and his pals love to cat-sit Homer, explaining, “For he is El Mocho, the cat without fear!”

In one chilling chapter, Homer saves Gwen from an intruder in her house in the middle of the night. Living in the Manhattan financial district, the cats also survive the terrible days of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, where their apartment was only 5 blocks away.

The book works so well because the writing is crisp and funny, and the cat is so unusual and appealing, plus it’s a definite page-turner, and ok, it’s probably inspirational too.

On the shelf: ‘Kitchen Table Wisdom’ by Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen

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By Karen Thoms, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main

 

If I were sitting across the table and complaining to Rachel Remen about something going on in my life, I’m certain she would give me a pearl of wisdom wrapped in a story. Not only am I wiser for Kitchen Table Wisdom, I am more human.

 

This book contains approximately 80 short stories from Remen’s counseling practice, primarily with cancer patients. Many passages left me with tears in my eyes. And although the stories were about her patients’ and coworkers’ “aha!” moments, it was I who was illuminated. I cried over my negative attitudes.

 

In order to be a successful female doctor in the early 1960s, Remen covered over her own tenderness with clinical expertise. Through turns of circumstances interspersed in the book, she recaptures much of the softness her Jewish grandfather had instilled in her. Her transparency about her own journey is refreshing, which in turn suggests to the reader that they, too, may have something to discover about their own life.

 

I was particularly moved by a story of a male patient in the final stages of cancer. What he loved more than anything about seeing his oncologist, he told Remen, were the conversations they would have at the end of his appointments. This doctor was the only person in his life who he felt completely understood what he was going through.

 

Eventually his doctor said there was nothing more he could do, though additional chemotherapy might prolong his life. He did not want more chemotherapy, so the doctor released him from his care. He was devastated; yet he resumed treatments just to have those short conversations! Remen is also the counselor of the man’s oncologist. This doctor came to Remen because he felt his life did not matter. He believed if he died no one would miss him.

 

In three pages, I have been given a beautiful story. Inside the story I see  clearly the value of listening to others with an open heart. And although Remen could not tell the oncologist of the great impact he was making on one man’s life, she told me that, even if I cannot see it, my life is significant to someone.

 

Kitchen Table Wisdom is a must-read for everyone who desires to expand their capacities for loving, understanding and accepting others.

 

Thank you, Dr. Remen, for many hours of  counseling.

 

On the shelf: For Keeps: Women Tell the Truth About their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance edited by Victoria Zackheim

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forkeepsBy Michele Montegue
The 27 stories in “For Keeps” remind me of the spontaneous, intimate conversations that can happen between women when we share experiences and discover common ground. The common ground here is our bodies. Body image and acceptance, illness, surgery, chronic pain, weight, depression, aging. If you’ve ever waited anxiously in an examination room, argued with your mother about clothes, dreamed of the perfect body, or simply hated your nose, you will feel a
connection to these stories.
Each memoir is short, personal and readable. Some are tragic: a debilitating injury or a diagnosis of cancer. Others are celebratory, such as, “Making Love and Joy in Seasoned Bodies,” a story of injuries, aging and happiness. Many fall within
the realm of common experience: finding clothes that fit, caring for a dying husband. A couple are downright provocative: the author of “Divorcing My Breasts” wrote, “I’d been unhappily married to my breasts for as long as I could remember.”
The stories all have one thing in common: they’re written by women with
the advantage of age and experience. There’s a thread of wisdom throughout as each author cultivates an instinct to separate the truly important from the merely
cosmetic. There is little “fluff” here; the details are plain-spoken, sometimes even blunt, and the insights are grounded and realistic.
Most readers will find themselves somewhere among these stories and perhaps,
like me, learn from them as well. Like life itself, they are painful, enlightening, humorous, and enjoyable.

On the shelf: The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood by Sy Montgomery

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pigBy Lisa Boss
I’m always afraid that a book with an animal on the cover will not offer more than a superficial helping of cuteness, so perhaps I was scared off from “The Good Good Pig,” imaging a type of “Green Acres” horror. But now I am kicking myself for waiting so long to enjoy such a wonderful read!
Part of the great appeal is the author’s style, then the wide ranging subject matter, and the rest is up to Christopher Hogwood himself, who carries a small memoir very well. Born a runt among runts, he was adopted out to the author and her husband when he was so small that he fit into a shoebox. But he was a pig with a powerful heart and will, and he grew up, fulfilling his dharma, and touching many lives in unexpected ways.
Fans of James Herriot, Temple Grandin, or Bill Bryson, may enjoy Sy Montgomery, as she combines a page-turning story with historic, scientific, and cultural
asides. A naturalist, author, and screen writer, Sy has gone to some of the world’s most unique areas to unravel ecological puzzles. She has passed through dark places in her life and travels, which makes her writing all the more insightful, and her love of her bucolic town in New Hampshire all the more special.

On the shelf: Into the Beautiful North by Luis Urea

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north2By Jen Andrews
Nineteen-year-old Nayeli works at a taco shop in her Mexican village and dreams about her father, who journeyed to the U.S. to find work. Recently, it has
dawned on her that he isn’t the only man who has left town. In fact, there are almost no men in the village — they’ve all gone north. While watching “The Magnificent Seven,” Nayeli decides to go north herself and recruit seven men —
her own “Siete Magnificos” — to repopulate her hometown and protect it from the
bandidos who plan on taking it over.
Luis Urrea took a serious issue, the U.S.-Mexico border, and wrote a comic, terrifying, uplifting book about it. His descriptions of places are vivid and his characters colorful and memorable. The reader will fall in love with each of them, laugh at them and root for them until the end.
Urrea tells a great story that is hard to put down.

Book Review: Isadore’s Secret

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6518631Isadore’s Secret
by Mardi Link
I have been familiar with the story of the missing nun from Leelanau County for years and was anxiously awaiting Mardi Link’s second true-crime book last summer. I was lucky to be able to read it in Leelanau County, not far from the scene of the murder: the small community of Isadore, where the Holy Rosary Catholic Church is the predominant presence in the landscape.
“Isadore’s Secret” is the story of Sister Janina, a young Felician nun who mysteriously disappeared one summer day in 1907, and the cover-up and controversy that followed when her decayed remains were found ten years later in the basement of the very church she served. The story is interwoven with the parish priests, the bishops, the townspeople, the local sheriff and the suspect housekeeper in a tale of secrets, scandal and intrigue.
Mardi Link has captured the flavor of the small Polish rural community in the early 1900s and the historically accurate background gives depth to the story. Link has done extensive research on the case, carefully constructing the story with original research using church records and other documents, newspaper accounts, and interviews with family members of those involved. The resulting tale would
seem to be the basis for a great crime novel, but Link’s book is pure non-fiction.
Link’s gripping account of the despicable crime, the sins of omission of the Catholic Church, and the insight into Sister Janina’s convent life makes for a great Halloween read.

Book Review: World War Z

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world_war_z_book_coverWorld War Z
by Max Brooks
If you like history books, if you like apocalyptic scenarios, and especially if you like books about zombies, then “World War Z” by Max Brooks just might be the right book for you. Brooks writes as if he is interviewing various survivors from all over the world 10 years after the end of the Zombie War that almost wiped out humanity. From the mouths of the people who lived through it, we hear about the
first warning signs in China and South Africa, different ways the virus spread and how leaders in all countries refused to believe and then tried to blame everyone but themselves for the mass deaths and re-animations.
The narrator interviews key figures in the war, including such notables as the author of the South African scheme that started to turn things around and the leaders in charge of the ultimate “take back the world” strikes towards the end.
The book – was made into a movie in 2013 starring Brad Pitt – is full of both historically-accurate and invented details covering many countries and cultures and if you ignore the zombie content, reads just like a
collection of oral histories. I especially loved the section on Japan’s homeland evacuations, and the multiple viewpoints of how China, Russia and the
Ukraine all responded to the swarms of living dead.

Book Review: The Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine by Steven Rinella

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51npxrbdnhl-_sx321_bo1204203200_What happens when you want to cook a meal from a 1903 cookbook, only to find that your local supermarket does not carry the bladder of a wild boar?

 

 

If you are author and avid outdoorsman Steve Rinella, you embark on a yearlong quest to hunt or scavenge the ingredients you need to complete your feast.

 

In 2003, Rinella discovered one of the greatest cookbooks ever written, “Le Guide Culinaire” by renowned French chef August Escoffier. Known in his day as the “King of Chefs and Chef of Kings,” Escoffier’s cooking methods revolutionized French high or haute cuisine and used many ingredients that are not readily available to us today, such as sparrow, black bear, eel, pigeon and stingray. Rinella’s quest would take him to the far-flung corners of the country, hunting, fishing and scavenging the ingredients he would need to create a forty-five course feast from Escoffier’s tome that would be served over a three-day period to his family and friends.

 

 

“The Scavenger’s Guide” chronicles this adventure in enjoyable, easy-to-read (and sometimes hard to stomach) format. As someone who has never gone hunting, killed an animal, and to be honest, doesn’t even put the worm on the fishing hook, I found this book to be a reminder that we are never far removed from our food source. Although graphic in spots, the book will appeal to outdoorsmen and foodies alike. Rinella only kills what he intends to eat and the book is seasoned with respect for nature, the camaraderie of family and friends (including a vegetarian girlfriend) and the love of good food. A book that will at the same time leave you sated and curious to know what pigeonneaux crapaudine really tastes like.

 

Bon appetite!

 

 

Book Review: William G. Milliken: Michigan’s Passionate Moderate by David Dempsey

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millikenWhen I was a kid, I read a lot of biographies – explorers, sports heroes, presidents. Somehow, reading about those outstanding individuals of the past gave me pride and hope for the future. Dave Dempsey’s new biography of William G. Milliken evoked that same kind of feeling.

 

 

Milliken became Governor of Michigan in 1969, when then Governor George Romney left for Washington to take a post in President Nixon’s Cabinet. Milliken was subsequently elected to three consecutive four-year terms when he retired in 1982, he had served longer than any previous individual as the state’s chief executive. These were not easy years. Riots had scarred Detroit, the automobile industry was battered by foreign competition disrupting the state’s economy, and the battle to protect the environment was just beginning.

 

 

Through it all, Milliken acted with confidence, optimism and a spirit of conciliation. He stood, and still stands, as an example of the decency and civility that raises politics from the level of mud-slinging to the high plain of public service. Like all good writers, Dempsey uses many specific examples to paint a clear picture of Milliken’s general character. He describes the time when the Governor and his wife were taken on a hiking tour to film the television program “Michigan Outdoors” and 60-year-old Gene Little was lugging a huge TV camera on his shoulder. Dempsey lets one of the hikers, David Smethurst, tell the story:

 

“. . . we walked on and on. Pretty soon Gene is huffing and puffing. We stop more often for him. I walk ahead with Ned and Mrs. Milliken and look behind. Gene is still slogging along, but the Governor is now carrying his TV camera . . .I made up my mind about the Millikens that day. Good people make good leaders.”

 

 

 

The book is filled with these firsthand observations from friends of the Governor and his political adversaries, from newspaper editorials, journalists and reporters. Dempsey has done an excellent job of weaving this material into his text which provides a broader historical perspective. It’s like being there and then stepping back to reflect on the impact of major events form the time period. Often he lets Milliken speak for himself as in these words from his first speech as the acting Governor:

 

 

“[I hope my administration] is known for its compassion, its idealism, its candor and its toughness in pursuit of public ends.”

 

 

This high standard is the Milliken legacy something we citizens can hold up with hope and pride for our future political leaders.

 

Book Review: Listen to the Landscape by Linda Nemec Foster and Dianne Carroll Burdick

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listenListen to the Landscape is a magical book. The collaboration between artist and poet dance in a visual-verbal blending of words and color.

 

The color comes in the form of hand-colored photographs by Dianne Carroll Burdick, which have a luminous quality. Starting with a black-and-white photograph, the artist has transformed the reality if the image into a soft reflection of a dream world.

 

 

Photographed in her travels throughout the country, Carroll Burdick features scenes from California, Massachusetts, Michigan and other places where the landscape caught the artist’s eye. She is a freelance photographer well known in local artistic circles.

 

 

These photographs inspired Linda Nemec Foster to create haiku that capture the spirit of the landscape scenes. Written in the traditional Asian-style, Nemec Foster’s haiku resonate with the movement of a wave, the breath of a cloud, the green of trees.

 

 

She has written six other volumes of poetry and in 2003, she was selected to be the first poet laureate of Grand Rapids. This slim volume offers a tactile, yet spiritual experience. A meditative book for yourself or a perfect gift to share with friends, it even inspired this writer to try a haiku book review:

 

Scenes wet with color

Haiku captures the moment

Pages turn like waves

 

 

Book Review: A Stronger Kinship: One Town’s Extraordinary Story of Hope and Faith by Anna-Lisa Cox

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kinshipEvery so often I feel compelled to suggest a book not only for the skill of the author’s writing ability, but also for its social importance. The book, A Stronger Kinship, by Anna-Lisa Cox is such a book.

 

A true story describing the town of Covert, Michigan during the late 1800s, it tells the tale of the town’s unique population. People settled in the area because the “land was abundant, fertile and cheap, supporting themselves first through lumbering and then through fruit farming. Families developed churches, schools and” formed businesses, creating a small community. What set this town apart was that the population of Covert was integrated at a time when the rest of America was not.

 

The reader encounters a community who felt that all people were equal regardless of color and meets the runaway slaves, freed blacks and abolitionist New Englanders who were the backbone of this community. While elsewhere the country was experiencing racism, families here, black and white, lived side by side on farms and in the town.

 

 

Readers meet the first elected African American official, the town’s business leaders who came from both sides of the color line, and families that were integrated through marriage and accepted by the entire populace. What is remarkable is that this community has stayed true to the original conviction of the pioneer generation. Now a small town outside of South Haven, Covert is a typical rural community in Southwest Michigan – typical except for the easy blending of color that makes it a model for others. It conveys the sense that intentional community is not always impossible, and that the highest morals can be lived out in ordinary life.

Book Review — ‘Every Book Its Reader: The Power of the Printed Word to Stir the World’

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everybookWho among us, having read The Diary of Anne Frank, has not shared in the image of the personal impact of the Holocaust? Or understood the Depression as seen through the eyes of the Joads in The Grapes of Wrath?
 Books have shaped much of who and what we are. The impact on our world and our thoughts has been influenced throughout the ages by the printed word.
This subject is carefully explored and presented in the latest book by Nicholas A. Basbanes, also the author of A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion of Books.
This book will delight those who are intrigued by books — collectors, readers or researchers. Basbanes describes books that have shaped our history, those that have made history, the writers who have drawn from one another and their influence on our own perceptions. The author not only provides a glimpse into the books that have influenced many of our current authors but also challenges us to consider how these works have impacted others.

Highly recommended for all who love books, the history of books and publishing, and those who want to begin their journey towards greater understanding of the printed word.

Book Review: Columbine by David Cullen

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columbineTen years after two high school students killed thirteen and critically injured 27 others, journalist Cullen creates a comprehensive look at the tragedy in Columbine. Cullen draws on hundreds of interviews, police reports and the killer’s journals and video tapes to piece together what occurred before, during and after the attack on April 20, 1999.
Right after the attack, and for years afterwards, many rumors and misinformation have been widely reported as fact. In an attempt to correct these, Cullen details the lives of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris — they are not loners, not a part of the Trench Coat Mafia, not targeting jocks or Christians. Cullen purports that Klebold and Harris were on the surface pretty normal high school kids. They had a group of friends, went to prom, held part-time jobs, played sports, applied to college. But underneath the surface, Harris was a
psychopath, demonstrating nine of the ten trademarks of one. Klebold was depressive and suicidal. Over the two years that they planned and practiced for the attack, their goal was to be bigger than Oklahoma City. And if they had been better bomb makers, they might have succeeded.
Cullen looks at errors made by law enforcement, public reaction, and the healing that took place for the survivors, the injured, the community and the world. He examines Harris’ and Klebold’s parents, who have never spoken publicly about the attack before this book was released, but who are largely blamed for what their children did.
In the vein of Capote’s “In Cold Blood,” “Columbine” is a chilling look inside the minds of those who kill, a reminder to be watchful of those around us in a world that is often not what it seems.

On the Shelf: Some old favorites to add to your summer reading list

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003717d545cebefe44-0Eleven on Top
By Janet Evanovich

 

Although her novels are classified as mysteries, Janet Evanovich really deserves a category of her own. Her stories fall somewhere between soap opera and a cheesy whodunit by combining over-the-top drama with a healthy dose of humor and a Nancy Drew twist or two. With a series of successful stories based on the character Stephanie Plum, who can dispute Evanovich’s winning combination? The beauty of this series is that readers don’t need to read each book in succession to get a sense of the characters.

 

Plum is a moderately successful bounty hunter with a little too much spunk and not quite enough common sense who can’t seem to commit to a permanent relationship. The difficulties between Stephanie and the men in her life, Joe Morrelli and Ranger, pale in comparison to the difficulties she encounters in her job, all of which brings her to a life changing decision: time for a career move. In “Eleven on Top,” Stephanie convinces herself that life in the law enforcement field is over for her, so she attempts to start a new career. While this is great in concept, she just can’t seem to adapt to the mundane and finds herself doing office work for Ranger instead. The tension escalates as Stephanie walks the line between Ranger and Joe and tries to maintain her balance while seeking the identity of the stalker who is trying to kill her.

 

At the official Janet Evanovich website readers can learn more about Evanovich and all of her novels, www.evanovich.com.

 

– Laura Nawrot, Grand Rapids Main Library

 

414dajcxaIL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_Bodies in Motion and at Rest: On Metaphor and Mortality
By Thomas Lynch

 

Funeral home director Thomas Lynch’s essays are as much about poetry as they are about undertaking, as much about life as they are about death.

 

Acclaimed essayist and poet Lynch runs the family funeral home in Milford, Michigan. “Bodies in Motion and at Rest” is a collection of essays that addresses both of Lynch’s professions but, more importantly, links them wholly to one another. Lynch writes about the struggles of each profession and the struggles of mixing them.

 

“Reno,” an essay that touches on marketing strategies for a poet/undertaker, contains moving passages comparing words of a poem to words spoken at a funeral.

 

In essays such as “Bodies in Motion and at Rest” and “Johnny, We Hardly Knew You,” Lynch writes with the knowledge of an undertaker and the wisdom of one who has experienced the death of loved friends and family. He speaks against those who pretend that death may never affect them, and against those who allow the drama of celebrity deaths to overshadow their own losses.

 

Lynch doesn’t shy away from other serious topics. In “The Way We Are,” he describes the alcoholism that runs in his family, writing with honesty about his own collisions with the disease and, more tragically, his son’s. As a victim of and a witness to alcoholism, Lynch writes with sensitivity and honesty about the grief of alcoholism.

 

These essays contrast with the funny, lighthearted tone found in the other essays of this collection.

 

“Notes on ‘A Note on the Rapture to His True Love'” is a step-by-step approach to writing a good poem. With humor and satire, Lynch makes it clear that he is a humble, sincere poet.

 

“Y2Kat” is a hilarious account of Lynch’s despised pet and adored son.

 

Like good poetry and good funerals, Lynch’s essays contain some death and some life, some humor and some sobriety, and plenty of honest wisdom.

 

– Stephanie M. White, Grand Rapids Main Library

 

41709Serpent
By Clive Cussler with Paul Kemprecos

 

“Serpent,” Clive Cussler’s first “National Water & Marine Agency Files” book, gives readers a new hero for a new age. Kurt Austin has a master’s degree in Systems Management from the University of Washington and much experience in marine recovery. In “Serpent,” Austin and his Special Assignments Team of Joe Zavala and Drs. Paul and Gamay Trout find themselves conquering a mystery of legendary caliber.

 

“In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue;” Austin and his team soon find that there were a lot of things left out of the popular children’s rhyme. With the help of Nina Kirov, the team investigates industrialist Don Halcon. Halcon is dedicated to carving a new country out of the southwestern United States.  To do so, Halcon needs a priceless pre-Columbian antiquity buried in the battered remains of the sunken Italian luxury liner Andrea Doria, and he’s prepared to do anything to get it.

 

Admiral James Sandecker, from Dirk Pitt fame, sends Austin and his team all over the world to stop Halcon before he can get his hands on the artifact. Austin and Zavala soon find themselves diving the Andrea Doria itself in order to gain access to a secured vault left behind when the liner sank fifty years before.

 

With a hefty dose of actual historical fact and fictional license, Cussler dishes out a wonderful first episode in the lives of the new heroes of NUMA. The subsequent novels in the series, “Blue Gold,” “Fire Ice,” “White Death,” “Lost City,” and “Polar Shift,” all follow Austin as he pursues a life of intrigue and danger.

 

Fans of Cussler’s Dirk Pitt will find much to love in Kurt Austin.

 

– Megan Andres, Grand Rapids Public Library’s Seymour Branch

 

9780738539508Grand Rapids in Vintage Postcards: 1890-1940
By Thomas R. Dilley

 

This volume by local author Tom Dilley is a wonderful contribution to the growing number of books about the history of Grand Rapids. Postcard collectors, historians and researchers continue to find this a useful and interesting book with its black and white reproductions of 228 postcards from Dilley’s personal collection, many of which are quite rare.

 

Dilley begins the volume with a concise overviews of Grand Rapids history and the history of postcards. Short explanations are given for the various types of postcards: postal mailing cards, real photos, white border cards, linen and chrome cards. He points out the importance of postcards as historical documents capturing the social history of a certain time and place.

 

The book is divided into three sections: “The City,” “Life in the City,” and ” The City at Work.”

 

This structure works well in categorizing the wide array of postcards.

 

Dilley starts by showing aerial views of the city. He proceeds with street scenes, individual buildings and bridges. Dilley does an excellent job of identifying buildings, giving the location, interesting details, the architect when known, and the life span of the structure. Dilley often refers to the contemporary counterpart of a historical building, giving readers a real sense of “then and now.”

 

The section “Life in the City” includes the commercial, religious, educational and social activities of the growing city. There are wonderful views of museums, theaters, retail stores, cafes, hotels, hospitals, churches schools and parks. The author spotlights social organizations such as the YMCA, the Ladies Literary Club and the St. Cecilia Music Society. Dilley’s book includes rare interior scenes of the YWCA gymnasium and the clothing department of May and Sons.

 

Section Three, “The City at Work,” shows Grand Rapids as a leader in “wholesale, retail and manufacturing enterprise.”

 

The furniture industry is given prominence, but other industries are also included. The Grand Rapids Brewing Company, Grand Rapids Brass Company, the Cargill Company, and Bissell Carpet Sweeper Company stand out as a few examples.

 

Grand Rapids in Vintage Postcards includes many cards that most people have never seen. Included is a rare double card of the Majestic Theatre, a real photo card of the Fanatorium Bowling Alley and a scene of visiting airplanes lined up for the 1919 dedication of the Grand Rapids Airport. Besides the wonderful visual images, a strong point of the book is the accompanying text, which is very helpful in giving a historical perspective on the postcard views. Dilley’s book will serve as a valuable reference work as well as an enjoyable walk down memory lane.

 

– M. Christine Byron, for the Grand Rapids Main Library

On the Shelf: French Milk by Lucy Knisley

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cvr9781416575344_9781416575344_hrFrench Milk

By Lucy Knisley

In the throes of becoming an adult, Lucy has an idea: she and her mother shall move to Paris. For a month. For both of their birthdays. Through some planning and words lost in translation, the mother-daughter trio start their adventure.
Lucy gives the reader a look into what it would be like for an American to uproot their life for a month and travel to a foreign country. Visiting museums and visiting the Eiffel Tower are obvious places they visited, but buying gourmet cheeses and delicacies only found in Europe are also highlights. Filled with intricate drawings and photographs, Knisley creates a unique story that will make the reader want to move to a foreign country themselves.
– Karen Herringa, Grand Rapids Main Library
On the Shelf book reviews are provided by the Grand Rapids Public Library. For a list of locations, programs and other good reads, visit grpl.org.

On the Shelf: a few spring break offerings

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1395807-198x300By Kayne Ferrier

Grand Rapids Yankee Clipper Branch 

 

Blue Heaven is the latest action packed book from C.J. Box. It tells the story of several retired, corrupt cops from Los Angeles and how they almost successfully cover up two major felonies, including a murder. But several factors contribute to their undoing: two little kids, a retired good cop from L.A. and an honest older rancher. The story has a lot of verisimilitude and a great ending. I recommend this book.

 

Another of Box’s book, Winterkill is one of the game warden Joe Pickett books. Box’s books always start off with a bang (no pun intended) and you’re off and running. Corrupt bureaucracy and good hearted, honest people butt heads in this tale of tracking down a murderer and blaming it on the most convenient suspect. Joe works to catch the real murderer and makes some new friends and enemies along the way. It all comes to a satisfying conclusion.

6033731

 

Real Life and Liars, by Kristina Riggle, is truly a book for adults, the older ones of us, that is. It takes place in Charlevoix, Michigan, over one weekend. Mira’s children are all in town to help her celebrate her 35th wedding anniversary. However, she has learned that she has breast cancer and Mira uses this time to review what her life has meant and what will come of it in the future. Philosophical questions that begin to nag at us as we enter middle age are the meat of this novel.

 

Spring into these book selections from locally owned Schuler Books & Music

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lovecraftcovThe staff of Schuler Books & Music offer a few book selections that are certain to add some color and fun to your spring.

 

Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff

Reviewed by Jim Tremlett, Schuler Books, Lansing

 

It’s the 1950s in America, and horror is everywhere — especially if you’re Black. But there are mystical threats afoot, too: the kind that pit family against family in a race for the hidden truths of existence. Winners take all, losers serve forever.

 

When Atticus Turner’s unpleasant father goes missing, he and his family must trek to a mysterious, New England town to find him. What they encounter there sets the entire Turner family down a weird path, indeed. For the magical clan that awaits there once owned their ancestor, and still has macabre plans for “their” family.

 

But these are the Turners, and this is Jim Crow America. They’ve handled worse threats in their everyday lives than sorcerers’ schemes and otherworldly beings. These modern-day magicians are in big trouble — they just don’t know it yet…

 

Spooky, heartfelt, and subtly sinister, Lovecraft Country deftly accomplishes Ruff’s primary mission of turning sci-fi tropes on their head. Some of the book’s vignettes are better than others, but they all succeed in maintaining a pulp noir feel — echoing H. P. Lovecraft’s brand of cosmic horror without stealing from him outright.

 

More importantly, it brings the real horrors of relatively-recent American history home to a generation that might otherwise believe recent attempts to whitewash that era. Given Lovecraft’s own considerable racism, and recent controversies concerning his place in the horror canon, this is a victory all in itself.

 

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The Charm Bracelet by Viola Shipman

Reviewed by Aubrey Dolinski, Schuler Books, Lansing

 

The Charm Bracelet by Viola Shipman – the pen name of popular Michigan memoirist Wade Rouse, in honor of his grandmother — was inspired by the author’s grandmother and her charm bracelet. The novel’s grandmother is sassy, one-of-a-kind Lolly, whose daughter and granddaughter come for an unexpected stay at her cabin in a small northern Michigan resort town. They are all at turning points in their lives and find inspiration in the stories behind the charms on Lolly’s bracelet. They gain a new appreciation for each other and the simple things in life. With its vivid depictions of Lake Michigan, this is the perfect book for a weekend getaway and also great for Mother’s Day.

 

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Tuesday Nights in 1980 by Molly Prentiss

Reviewed by Pierre Camy, Schuler Books, Grand Rapids

 

It will be very difficult to find a book this year as vividly descriptive and deeply moving as Tuesday Nights in 1980. A successful art critic whose talent is due to a singular disability, a painter who selflessly left his sister in Argentina, and a young woman from Idaho eager to prove herself, meet, fall in love and clash in 1980 New York. Their worlds collide in an explosion of colors, smells, lies and betrayals. Molly Prentiss offers a breathtaking portrait of a city and of the freedom its artists enjoyed compared to the events that were unfolding in Argentina and all the people who were disappearing at that time. This is a superb novel that I will not soon forget.

 

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Thirst by Benjamin Warner

Reviewed by Pierre Camy, Schuler Books, Grand Rapids

 

At the risk of sounding silly, reading Thirst is going to make you very thirsty. This is a compliment to author Benjamin Warner’s descriptive talents. Imagine a time in the near future when all means of communication, electricity and especially water are no longer available. How long will you survive and how long before the world erupts into total chaos? Although this is speculative fiction, the lack of water is a highly relevant topic — as exemplified in last year’s excellent novels The Water Knives by Paolo Bacigalupi and Gold, Fame, Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins — and this novel is as scary as scary can be.

 

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​Run by Kody Keplinger

Reviewed by Holly Frakes, Schuler Books, Okemos

 

Agnes and Bo are the most unlikely friends. Agnes is partially blind and lives with loving, yet overprotective parents. Bo is a wild child whose parents are either absentee or outside the law.

 

But these two girls form a strong friendship, filling in the gaps for each other in their respective lives.  Bo brings adventure and freedom to Agnes, and Agnes gives Bo a sense of belonging and trust. Set in a small town where both girls dream of nothing but escaping, they will test their loyalty to the limits.

 

This beautiful teen novel explores the depths of female relationships, and celebrates that special bond you have with that one person who gives you unquestionable acceptance.  I highly recommend it.

 

On the shelf: Book review of “Empty Mansions”

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05BOOK-blog427Empty Mansions:

The Mysterious Life of Hugette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune

by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr.

 

Review by Mary Knudstrup

Grand Rapids Main Library

 

The rich really are different and nothing proves it as much as Empty Mansions, the story of Huguette Clark, heir to the riches of her millionaire father, W.A. Clark , a savvy and ambitious businessman and politician, who made his money in copper mines and founded a town that later became Las Vegas.

 

Authored by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell Jr., a cousin to Huguette, Empty Mansions tells the story of a woman so wealthy she owned paintings by Renoir and Degas, Stradivarius violins, and several remarkable homes, including an estate in Santa Barbara, California, and three apartments totaling more than 40 rooms at a posh Fifth Avenue address.

 

Despite her vast wealth, however, she chose to spend a large part of her life as a recluse, collecting dolls and abandoning her many opulent homes to live in a small and rather spartan hospital room even though she was not ill.  A complex and mysterious individual, she was extraordinarily generous to people she hardly knew but avoided most of her family.

 

Upon her death her secluded life was thrust into the public venue as a legal battle over her $300 million dollar ensued.  Meticulously researched and filled with illustrations of her homes and possessions, Empty Mansions is an intimate look at an eccentric life.

 

 

On the shelf: A book review of Dan Harris’s “10% Happier”

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Anchor Dan Harris and his new book.
ABC News “Nightline” Dan Harris and his new book.

10% Happier: 

How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works – A True Story

 

by Dan Harris

 

Review by Karen Thoms

Grand Rapids Main Library

 

“I just want you to be happy.”

 

Parents say this to their children because they know how quickly day-to-day stresses can  sap life of happiness. If declining happiness is a fact of most lives, maybe becoming 10%  happier is a worthy goal.

 

Harris is a climb-the-ladder faster kind of guy. He made a rapid ascent at ABC News, but not without occasional kicks from his mentor, Peter Jennings. According to Harris, “Working for Peter was like sticking your head in a lion’s mouth: thrilling, but not particularly safe.”

 

Harris’ rise had a lot to do with his upbringing. Son of an oncologist father and pathologist mother, he absorbs his father’s “wisdom” from an early age: “The price of security is insecurity.”

 

He acts on it brilliantly in his career by over-thinking and volunteering to cover stories putting him in harm’s way–anything to gain more air time.

 

By the time he’s in his early thirties, Harris is covering breaking news stories from Iraq, Afghanistan, and the West Bank.

 

However, the light from his rising star is almost extinguished in 2004 when he has an on-air meltdown, fueled by years of drug abuse. Harris tells millions that cholesterol-lowering  drugs have “cancer production” effects. Before the cameraman has time to cut away, Harris has implied to millions that cholesterol-lowering drugs cause cancer! Not long after this on-air blunder, Jennings gives him a new beat to cover. Religion. His rise, his fall, and his new assignment all happen in the first chapter of the book.

 

The remainder of the book alternates between Harris’s visits to his psychiatrist to try to  get his mental health stabilized and the evolution of his religion stories for ABC  News.   

 

At the beginning of this religion beat he covers only sensational stories that make Christians look like lunatics. He might have kept filing stories filled with caricatures had he not met mega-church evangelical pastor, Ted Haggard.

 

His developing friendship with Haggard causes him to lower his defenses and piques interest in his own spiritual life. He chooses the kinds of stories he will pitch to his superiors based on his growing spiritual interests. His personal reading begins to inform whom he will interview, and he frequently chooses advocates of a more Eastern approach to religion. In time, he starts his own mindfulness and meditation practices, including going to weekend retreats.

 

As these experiences begin to shape a less driven, less anxious life, Harris finds himself wanting to share what he is learning with others. He is dismayed to find that people aren’t  interested and sometimes even chide him. Late in the book he accidentally stumbles upon  a winsome way to open discussions with others.

 

10% Happier is not a how-to book. It is a chronicle of the highest and lowest points to date in the life of Dan Harris. He believes that if he was able to tame the voice in his head and reduce stress while not losing his edge, you can, too. You can be 10% happier.

 

On the Shelf book reviews are provided by the Grand Rapids Public Library. For a list of locations, programs and other good reads, visit grpl.org.