Wow...

Three Things I Know are True was so powerful. And so well written and so real and so timely and just so so good.  This is Betty Culley's first book and I see from her bio that she was a pediatric hospice nurse.  What a calling, huh?  One of my very dear friends was a hospice nurse and I think that it takes a very special person, someone who is very attune to the needs and feelings of others, plus someone with a TON of other gifts to serve in this way.
What a gift that Culley also is sharing her insights and gifts in writing. 
Such a heart-breaking, hellish, beautiful story. 

1/3

One-third Nerd was a great, super sweet read.  Very funny, very real.  Good good stuff!  I loved the 47s! I do love stories in which siblings get a long in a realistic way.  And also I loved that divorce isn't seen as a BIG EVIL.  Much too often it is.  And in reality, it is often a very good thing.  The parents in this book really act like adults.  Good stuff. 

'Scuse Me While I

Meet the Sky was sadly, not as memorable as I would have liked it to have been.  As I wish all books were!  As they all deserve to be, because an author pours out his or her heart on to the page and then puts it out there for all to see.  And so I wish I could remember the books that I read as they deserve to be remembered.  I am sure that others will remember this one.  It just didn't stick with me.
The Carolinas recently faced Hurricane Rita and so this was timely.  I love people who live in Charleston, SC and in Chapel Hill, NC who had to evacuate and so this was on my heart and mind as I read this book.  But still it didn't stick.  Or maybe what did stick was the relationship between the main character, Sophie and Finn.  I didn't like Sophie or Finn as much as I should have, I guess.  I also wish that McCall Hoyle had gone into more of Meredith's story.   I can recommend this book, but for me, it was a four star instead of a five.

Last Week in the Crescent City or the Big Easy

I ate a vegan po-boy at Seed.  It was fantastic!  It was the eggplant one.  I had a sample piece of a praline at Leah's Praline's, too!  So delicious!  And I had gelato at La Divina Gelateria.  Incredible.
I was reading Recipe for Adventure New Orleans while I was there so I knew how to pronounce some of the New Orleans-type food!
I hadn't read any in this series in a while.  I have only read the first one, actually.  And I just re-read the review.  Now I see why I gave it only 1 star. It was reflective of my opinion of the author, not the book.  Which I have addressed here.  And now feel very differently.  I guess that I would have given it 5 stars today!

Jacob Have I Loved SPOILERS!

This wasn't a rip off of Jacob Have I Loved, not at all.  But it did remind me of that book, just now, not when I was reading it.  I had a father who was a mean guy.  Mean to my mom, mean to my brother and mean to me.  But he did the best he could.  He had a dad who was even meaner!  My mom is a wonderful soul, but she had a mean mom and she had to live with my dad, so she has painful issues of her own that still haunt her.  Still, I know that I was/am loved by parents who did the best that they could.  Generally I do think that people do the best they can.
But I am off on a tangent.
Thinking this and thinking about the mom in Notes from a Liar and Her Dog, I know that Ant is a liar, doing the best that she can.  Harder to feel grace toward her mother who is really tough on Ant, but she is an adult and so maybe doesn't get as much grace from me as Ant does.
Really good book.  Hard but good.  Just so you know, the dog DOES NOT DIE!

The First Saturday

The Saturdays is a book I have seen around a lot, it has been around a long time.  Published in 1941 it was, it was, indeed.  It is the first book in a series about the Melendy family, four kids:  Mona, Rush, Miranda and Oliver and their father. This was a sweet little book, but I am not sure if I will keep with the series.

The Fleischman Guys

I have forever been mixing up Sid Fleischman and Paul Fleischman.  Granted, this is easier to do that mixing up say, Tom Sawyer and Diane Sawyer.  It is harder to do than mix up a lump of coal with Fred Phelps.  But once I write this, I will never mix up father and son, Sid and Paul Fleischman again.
Sid Fleischman:
Author of Disappearing Act and Escape:  the story of the Great Houdini, both of which I loved.
Won the Newbery for The Whipping Boy.
Has gone Home to the Lord.
Was in to magic.
Paul Fleischman:
Author of one of my most favorite books in the whole world, Seedfolks.  Also wrote A Fate Totally Worse than Death and Graven Images, both of which I loved.
Won the Newbery for Joyful Noise:  poems in two voices, which I read many years ago and I have performed the one about the Queen Bee and the Worker Bee!   This book is mentioned in Disappearing Act!
He is still among us living.
Both take very handsome pictures!
Both create really neat stories that are life-like and original, like Disappearing Act, which is the story of a brother and sister who are on their own, running away from the sister's stalker.  They head to Venice, California, in LA and the stalker follows them there.  In Venice they hook up with characters who are quirky and fun and real.  Holly is a budding opera singer and so there are references to La bohème  because Holly gets the part of Mimi is a local production.  Great opera, not my favorite, I think Tosca is, but if this book causes someone to investigate Puccini further, they will get there, too! So that is awesome!  
Anyway, great little story.  Lots of fun!   

Another Really Great School Story!

Andrew Clements, man.  He is GOOD GOOD GOOD.   Lost and Found was another excellent one.  It is about twin boys who are entering a new school and they pretend that there is only one boy instead of two!  The guys move to Cleveland over Labor Day weekend.  One twin is sick on the first day of school and his brother discovers that the school has messed up and combined both boys' records together so instead of being Jay and Ray, there is only Jay!  They get the idea to play it out and see how long they can be one only child instead of half of twins.  Really good!

Forgot!

And it is probably not necessary now, but I have no idea how I missed Dream On, the fourth book in the Whatever After series. Obviously this series is one that I love and recommend often.  It is based on the story of Sleeping Beauty and this time Abby and Jonah take a friend with them into the tale, but no worries, she sleeps through the whole thing!  

Somebody Lied

Is a great song.  Man, it is.  Someone on goodreads said that this series is getting old, but Bad Hair Day was a great addition, I thought. 
Abby and Jonah are great kids.  Normal siblings in a very abnormal and very funny situation.  Rapunzel is a rock star in this one.  Highly recommended series. 

More of Alvin...

Alvin has a new member of the family!  I do hope that this is not a Jump the Shark situation, because that would make me very sad!  Alvin Ho:  allergic to babies, burglars and other bumps in the night is the fifth book and if you take a look on goodreads, there are a lot of folks who didn't like this one at all.  Some folks thought Alvin and the gang came across as too naive or too stupid to be believed.  I don't know.  I enjoyed the book.  I have to say I gave it a four of five, though.  I mean that is still really good...but I will have to see how the sixth one goes. 

Pucker Up!

One of my most favorite shows is Modern Family.  Although I couldn't stand the show Married, with Children and especially the character that Ed O'Neill played on it, Ed O'Neill is one of my favorite characters on MF.  Last night I was watching the episode which saw him and his granddaughter, Lilly, selling lemonade and advertising it as "Pucker Up" and so that's how this whole stream of consciousness thing got started.  Anyway...
The Lemonade War is a book a that I have been wanting to read for some time.  It's a series and I hope to read the rest, because this was a sweet little story and good for guys and girls.
It's a brother and sister story.  Evan and Jessie have gotten along pretty well.  Evan is older, just by a year.  He isn't as book-smart as his sister, because Jessie seems to be a gifted kid and she is actually skipping a grade.  As we meet them in this first book, they have just found out that Jessie and Evan will be in the same class next year.  That makes Evan super sad.  And super cranky.  Jessie can't really understand why Evan is being so distant and mean.  The two begin to compete to see who can sell the most lemonade before school starts.  There's math in here and good info about starting a business.  It isn't preachy though and it all comes across very naturally as part of the story that I think kids in grades 2-4 would really like.  Good stuff!

Simply the Best

or at least one of the very best I have ever read.  Coaltown Jesus is theology done right.  Walker asks for help from God when his brother dies and he and his mom are having a tough time of it.  He asks God to help his mom, who runs a nursing home and is just so beaten down by the death of her eldest son, I think the death was drug-related, but when Jesus actually show up, he ends up helping both Walker and his mom.  Amazing, amazing book.  Wonderful.  Wonderful.  I can't say enough.  This was the first book I read by Ron Koertge but it won't be my last.

Another wow....

Not too long ago I finished listening to Eleanor and Park and I've recently finished Rainbow Rowell's latest book, Fangirl.  Man.  Wow.  Yes.  Amazing.  Just super, super, super.  My friend Kelly said it best, "Rowell writes flawed but incredibly decent people."  Incredible characters here.  Original story about twin girls who head off to college.  Just so so so so so good. 

Another Series Ends

Even though I know it was time for The Lying Game to end, I am sad to see it go. It really couldn't have gone on much longer, but I loved this series.  Seven Minutes in Heaven is the final book.  I loved the Tucson setting and I recalled time I spent in Arizona on my way to San Diego.  It makes me wish I was back on the road, just trekking across country.  And I will miss Emma Paxton and Sutton Mercer.  I have to say I was unsure of the killer up until he or she was revealed (no spoilers here.) I also loved that the author took the time to make sure we knew that Nisha's cat was going to be okay. Unlike some evil books.  Read this series from the beginning.  Great one.

geeze..

I just didn't get this book at all.  It just was too short to really get me to care about the characters.  Many of the goodreads reviews of No Place Like Home said it was awesome, but man...I just didn't get it.  And the girl who can't even figure out a Nancy Drew book figured the ending out right away.  I feel like I blew a credit on audible.  My fault for trying to look for a shorter book.  So a girl is murdered and she had a really terrible mother and, in my opinion a very creepy relationship with her brother, and well she's dead.  Yeah.  I don't know.  This really didn't do it for me at all.

Food Journeys

I

So Giada De Laurentiis is writing kids books now!  Recipe for Adventure #1 Naples!  Is her first one, the next one is Paris!  De Laurentiis was at ALA Chicago, but I didn't see her, but I did get a galley of Naples!
The premise of these books is interesting.  Alfredo and Emilia and Italian-American siblings who are introduced to real Italian cooking by their Aunt Zia.  When they take a bite of her zeppole, they are transported to present-day Naples where they help a family in trouble.  It's kinda a Magic Tree House meets The Food Network meets Whatever After.  There are also recipe cards in the back.  The only thing that bugged me a little is that brother, even though he is younger is painted as the hero and Emilia is worried and nervous and all of that.  It was just kind of weird in a modern book, so lopsided was the balance between brother and sister. Also I really don't much care for the television persona of Giada. There is something nasty in the way she comes across.  Her treatment is Food Network Star contestant Lovely was unkind and puzzling.  Very troubling to me.  There was just a sense that there was something rotten in the state of Italy when it came to the way she dismissed this particular finalist. I wonder if others picked up on it.

Under the Sea

I've never seen Disney's The Little Mermaid, I am sad to say. I know the characters and the songs and it looks awesome but I'm not much of a movie watcher. Still I know that the Disney versions of The Little Mermaid, Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast, etc. aren't very true to the original tales.  

Sink or Swim points that out. Abby has to explain to her brother that in the REAL Little Mermaid, there is no happy ending. 

So this time, when Abby and her brother are sucked through the Magic Mirror into the land of fairy tales, they set out to mess up the fairy tale on purpose.  

This one was hilarious and I so love this series. I've recommended it to so many and when I've heard back, it has been loved by all!  Abby and her brother, as I've pointed out before, are just a great pair of siblings. I love Sarah M., no matter what she is writing!  Can't wait for the next one!

Another Yet-to-be-Published

Great book I got from netgalley.com.  Listening for Lucca is a deeply moving story of Sienna and her family and a ghost from the past.  Lucca has stopped talking and her family has made a move with the hopes that he will start speaking again.  The move from Brooklyn to Maine isn't easy and Sienna seems to be possessed or obsessed with a brother and sister who lived in the house decades before her family moved in.  Somehow the brother and sister from the past are tied to Sienna and Lucca in the present day.  This is a very different, very original and real story, despite the supernatural elements.  Great stuff.  Introspective, but a decent amount of action and a good mystery that will keep you turning the pages.

Loving this new series!

Finally I got a copy of the first book in the Almost Identical series by Lin Oliver. It was great. This first book is told from the POV of Sammie, where as the second book was from her twin, Charlie's POV.  I can't wait for the third.  These books are great!