Burning of her Sin by Patty G. Henderson
Featuring Brenda Strange - 1st in the series
Meet Brenda Strange. Wealthy. Dead Ringer for Princess Diana. Brenda Strange has a great life, looks, money and a great job. She's is a lawyer and she's just been made junior partner. All is changed in the blink of an eye when a crazed gunman goes on a killing spree and she becomes one of the victims and is seriously injured.
Brenda, literally, is pulled back from deaths door to find she has a strange psychic abilities. She decides to leave her life as a lawyer and focus on making miniature teddy bears in her brother, Timmy's memory. During her near death experience she saw her young brother who died when she was a child.
Brenda and her lover Tina, decide to buy an old Victorian house in Tampa, something Brenda has wanted to do for a long time. Tina hopes this will help Brenda's recuperation. They will split their time between Florida and New York. Brenda was drawn to the house from the beginning. After they move in, the mystery begins and Brenda will not rest until it's solved. To top it all Brenda's mom is diagnosed with cervical cancer and is torn between her obsession with the house and dealing with her emotions.
I have heard about this series for years and never made time to read it. I wouldn't say it was my favorite lesbian mystery but definitely not as graphic as some I've read over the years. I want to try some others to see how the series develops as I do enjoy a good occult mystery.
Lucky breaks by Susan Patron
Lucky is about to turn 11 and she knows that this is a special birthday. She's ready to be intrepid, which isn't easy in Hard Pan, California, with a population of 43. Her best friend Lincoln is still tying knots, his little brother Miles is an endearing genius, and Brigitte, her French-born new mother, is studying how to become more American and a good new parent for Lucky. When Paloma, a fun and smart girl tagging along with a group of geologists, comes to Brigitte's cafe, Lucky knows she would be a perfect best friend. The trouble is that Lucky must overcome many obstacles, including Paloma's overprotective parents, tomato worms, and her own decidedly not sensible decisions.
I so enjoyed the prequel "The higher power of Lucky" which won the Newbery in 2007. So it was great fun to read this sequel and now I'll need to look for the 3rd book of the triology. I listened to it on CD and the reader did a good job plus there was an author interview at the end of the CD.
Luz sees the light by Claudia Dávila
Everyday scenarios teach Luz how to live with less impact on the environment. Her neighborhood experiences blackouts due to excessive electricity use, gas prices are so high that her family has to ride bikes to the mall, and her mother buys local foods at the supermarket to save money. Eventually, the 12-year-old is inspired to turn a vacant lot into a community garden.
Cute graphic novel teaching the importance of the environment and being involved with one's community. At first I was a bit annoyed by Luz being so oblivous to what was happening around her and only interested in earning money for expensive sneakers. But as she started paying attention and being aware of how her actions were impacting her community and environment. This would be great for grade school kids.
The professor's daughter illustrated by Emmanuel Guibert ; story by Joann Sfar ; translated by Alexis Siegel.
Graphic novel featuring the tumultuous courtship of a pair of Victorian lovers, one of whom happens to be an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. Lillian, daughter of an eminent Egyptologist, and the mummified Imhotep IV turn more than a few heads when they venture out in public, and their affair is complicated when she accidentally poisons two police officers. After turning herself in, she is thrown in jail and tried for murder. When Imhotep is caught trying to rescue her, he, too, must face a judge and jury. Both Lillian's and Imhotep's fathers attempt to save their children and set things right. Imhotep's father takes an extreme approach, abducting Queen Victoria and tossing her into the Thames.
This graphic novel was a real hoot, I loved when Imhotep talked to his father in egyptian hieroglyphics.
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling
Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck–impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers. Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls.
I listened to the audio version which is recorded by Mindy and slightly adapted to fit an audio version. I had read reviews but wasn't sure I could handle an entire book spoken by Mindy but was pleasantly suprised by how much I enjoyed it and laughed out loud. It was perfect for listening to in the car. Plus I learned that she is really a comedy writer and became an actress from writing for the show. I found her book really empowering and made me like her so much more. I loved how she wrote about her upbringing and being an overweight woman. It felt very real.
Unlikely friendships : 47 remarkable stories from the animal kingdom by Jennifer S. Holland.
Written by National Geographic magazine writer Jennifer Holland, Unlikely Friendships documents one heartwarming tale after another of animals who, with nothing else in common, bond in the most unexpected ways. A cat and a bird. A mare and a fawn. An elephant and a sheep. A snake and a hamster. The well-documented stories of Koko the gorilla and All Ball the kitten; and the hippo Owen and the tortoise Mzee. And almost inexplicable stories of predators befriending prey-an Indian leopard slips into a village every night to sleep with a calf. A lionness mothers a baby oryx. These are the most amazing friendships between species, collected from around the world and documented in a selection of full-color candid photographs.
I became aware of this book because of Freekibble.com and their reference to this youtube video Crow and Kitten are friends. Which has just became a children's book called Cat and Crow: an amazing friendship.
These kind of stories always make me cry and this was no exception. The photographs are great and show the animals in their natural environments. I'm just a sucker for unlikely friendships.
Object of Beauty by Steve Martin
Lacey Yeager is an ambitious young art dealer who uses everything at her disposal to advance in the world of the high-end art trade in New York City. After cutting her teeth at Sotheby's, she manipulates her way up through Barton Talley's gallery of "Very Expensive Paintings," sleeping with patrons, and dodging and indulging in questionable deals, possible felonies, and general skeeviness until she opens her own gallery in Chelsea. Narrated by Lacey's journalist friend, Daniel Franks, whose droll voice is a remarkable stand-in for Martin's own, the world is ordered and knowable, blindly barreling onward until 9/11. And while Lacey and the art she peddles survive, the wealth and prestige garnered by greed do not. Martin (an art collector himself) is an astute miniaturist as he exposes the sound and fury of the rarified Manhattan art world.
Read this based on recommendation of my bookclub at work. While I enjoyed the concept of the book I didn't particularly enjoy reading it. I found the characters very unlikeable and the story difficult to follow. It was strange how it was written in first person but not by the person the book was about. I had read Shopgirl years ago so was interested in seeing how these compared. Yawn....
Family Fang by Kevin Wilson
Performance artists Caleb and Camille Fang dedicated themselves to making great art. But when an artist’s work lies in subverting normality, it can be difficult to raise well-adjusted children. Just ask Buster and Annie Fang. For as long as they can remember, they starred (unwillingly) in their parents’ madcap pieces. But now that they are grown up, the chaos of their childhood has made it difficult to cope with life outside the fishbowl of their parents’ strange world.
When the lives they’ve built come crashing down, brother and sister have nowhere to go but home, where they discover that Caleb and Camille are planning one last performance–their magnum opus–whether the kids agree to participate or not. Soon, ambition breeds conflict, bringing the Fangs to face the difficult decision about what’s ultimately more important: their family or their art.
I chose this book for my bookmongers group as it sounded intriguing from the reviews I had read. I'm kind of torn as I liked it but it was difficult to read. The story jumps from teh past which chapters include "works of art" featuring Child A & B and/or the parents. Then it would be to the current time where we see how Child A (Annie) and Child B (Buster) have turned out. Sadly both are more messed up than they were as children. I think that was the most difficult part seeing how they both struggled with dealing with their emotions and lives. It got worse as they both went home to live with their parents and how things really hadn't changed. You always hear that saying "some people shouldn't have children" and the parents were a complete image of it. I liked it and it sticks with me but it was painful at the same time.
