Accused, by Lisa Scottoline

Lawyer and amateur detective Mary DiNunzio's new client is a 13-year-old girl who believes the wrong man was convicted for her sister's murder. Allegra has known for six years that Lonnie is innocent, and she's finally able to hire a lawyer to help him, thanks to an inheritance from her grandfather that allows her to spend part of her income as she sees fit. As Mary digs into the case, she finds that there is a lot more to the story than appeared obvious at the time, and it seems clear that the police seized the first likely suspect and did no further investigations.

As with others in the Rosato and Associates novels, Mary's family becomes involved in the investigation, and she finds help from the three Tony's, octogenarian friends of her father's, as well as from others. She's struggling with her new roles as a partner in the firm (to be renamed Rosato and DiNunzio), as well as fiancé to Anthony Rotunno. Balancing her mother's and her soon-to-be mother-in-law's demands about the wedding are also a challenge.

This is a fast-paced, funny mystery with a lot of action. Like her other novels, Accused is set in Philadelphia and the surrounding area. I'm particularly fond of Ms. Scottoline because of her strong support for libraries; she's been a regular speaker at Pennsylvania Library Association events. Anyone who enjoys mysteries with a strong female protagonist would enjoy Accused.

Lisa Scottoline. Accused. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2013. 354 pages. ISBN 9781250027658.

The Reputation Economy, by Michael Fertik

According to Michael Fertik, the founder and CEO of Reputation.com, our digital lives will be used to create reputation scores, similar to our credit ratings, that will be used in all manner of ways, both in our favor and against us. Citing studies that indicate that a person is more likely to declare bankruptcy if one of his or her friends declares bankruptcy, Fertik predicts that even our friends' online reputation will be used to create these future scores.

Fertik begins by describing how big data and data analysis make all of this possible. The development of inexpensive storage has created a situation in which it's cheaper to simply store all information rather than take the time to delete what's no longer needed, an effort that often requires human intervention. Everything that you do online: searching, downloading, viewing, buying, clicking likes, commenting, reviewing, sharing, friending, connecting, etc. is being collected and stored somewhere.

Fertik goes on to talk about the power of the internet to draw attention to you and your strengths, using the example of Arnel Pineda, who was the lead in a cover band in the Philippines and was hired as the new lead singer for Journey based on a video he posted to YouTube. Of course, most of Fertik's readers won't be hired by huge rock bands, but his tips are useful, if predictable: 1) post positive content widely, 2) post your resume online, 3) establish digital profiles, by buying your own domain name and updating it with, for example, professional information about yourself, 4) make sure all public information about you is consistent, 5) use social media wisely, 6) show growth over time. All of this is helpful, if unoriginal, advice for anyone who's concerned about their online profile.

The Reputation Economy is full of interesting anecdotes and predictions about how your online information will affect not only your hiring potential, but also how you might be treated as a customer at hotels or restaurants. Fertik's vision of a future in which the food you order at a restaurant is later used by an employer to determine whether you might be worth hiring is a little scary. We can only hope that some privacy will remain in our future (or we'll all have to go back to paying for everything in cash). The Reputation Economy provides a lot of food for thought.

Michael Fertik and David C. Thompson. The Reputation Economy: How to Optimize your Digital Footprint in a World Where your Reputation is your Most Valuable Asset. New York: Crown Business, 2015. 244 pages. ISBN 9780385347594.

I received this book for review from Blogging for Books.

Help for the Haunted, by John Searles

Sylvie is a young girl who's lost both her parents to violence. She's living in their house, under the care of her older sister, and trying to make sense of her life. Sylvie's parents were famous for helping people who were haunted by their dead loved ones. Sylvie lied about what happened the night they died because she's trying to protect her sister; while she doesn't believe her sister is guilty, she's afraid to ask her for the truth. She continues to pursue clues and leads in an attempt to understand what happened and who's responsible for their deaths. Did it have to do with one of their clients who was unhappy with their inability to help him? Or is the truth more mundane than that?

I absolutely loved this combination ghost story and mystery. The writing is truly excellent and it was impossible to put the book down. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries and suspense stories.

I heard Mr. Searles speak about this book at the 2013 BEA. He also wrote Strange but True, another excellent book. 

John Searles. Help for the Haunted. New York: William Morrow, 2013.362 pages. ISBN 9780060779634.

The Wonder Singer, by George Rabasa

Mark Lockwood is a writer who has spent recent months getting the story of famous opera singer Merce Casals so that he can ghost write her autobiography. When she dies unexpectedly, the publisher decides to drop this project and instead hire a more famous author to write her biography. Mark knows that this is the story of his career and he goes into hiding along with all of his cassettes and notes so he can write her story and publish it first. In the meantime, his obsession with Merce is creating stress in his marriage, and he becomes infatuated with Merce's young, attractive nurse.

I loved this story of obsession, love, and friendship. The writing is wonderful and goes back and forth between Mark's own story and Merce's life and loves. The characters are interesting and well-developed, and I wanted to know what happened to them after the story ended. I highly recommend this book.

George Rabasa. The Wonder Singer. Denver, CO: Unbridled Books, 2008. 322 pages. ISBN 9781932961560.

The Black Hour, by Lori Rader-Day

Amelia Emmet is a tenured college professor who was shot a year ago by an undergraduate student. No one has ever been able to determine his motive; he was never in any of her classes and she doesn't remember ever having met him before. The book begins with Amelia coming back to work in the fall after her medical leave. She's in pain and having a difficult time adjusting to the return. Her graduate assistant turns out to be obsessed with her case, and the book follows both of their efforts to figure out what happened.

While I liked the premise, I found Ms. Rader-Day's writing and characterization of Amelia and her graduate student to be a little annoying. Some of the passages, such as Amelia's struggles to climb the stairs, are drawn out entirely too long. Nevertheless, the plot kept me going, as I was curious to see where she was taking us with this story. This is Ms. Rader-Day's first book, and I expect she'll get better at pacing and characterization, but I can't be extremely enthusiastic about this book.

Lori Rader-Day. The Black Hour. Amherst, NY: Seventh Street Books, 2014. 331 pages. ISBN 9781616148850.

The Holy Thief, by William Ryan

This is a historical mystery set in Moscow in 1936. A young woman's body has been found in a former church, and her death appears to be related to a market in Orthodox icons. Captain Korolev of the Moscow police has been asked to investigate the murder and to report back daily to an officer in the NKVD. He's faced with the challenge of investigating while important information is being withheld from him, and any misstep could mean his arrest or even death. I really enjoyed the portrayal of Soviet culture, when those in and out of favor change constantly and no one ever really feels safe. This book was really well-written and it kept my interest throughout. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys mystery, suspense, and historical settings. 

William Ryan's website is here; it looks like he has a number of other books in this series. My copy is an advance readers' edition, and it came with an audio excerpt on CD.

William Ryan. The Holy Thief. New York: Minotaur Books, 2010. 345 pages. ISBN 9780312586454.

The Assassin's Gallery, by David L. Robbins

Mikhal Lammeck is an expert on assassination, writing what he believes will be the definitive book on the topic, titled The Assassination's Gallery. Although he's a teacher at a university in Scotland near the end of World War II, he is convinced to come to the United States to investigate what appears to be an assassin on U.S. shores going after President Roosevelt. Working with his former student, now Special Agent Nabbit of the Secret Service, he tries to think like an assassin in order to figure out where she'll strike before it happens. This is a well-written and enjoyable suspense novel. Recommended to all who like the genre.

I picked this up at the 2006 BEA in Washington, D.C.; it's inscribed "For Rebecca, David L. Robbins."

David L. Robbins. The Assassin's Gallery. New York: Bantam Dell, 2006. 413 pages. ISBN 0553804413.

Waxwings, by Jonathan Raban

I occasionally pick up a book because I like the cover, and that was the case with Waxwings, by Jonathan Raban. In this case, I was shopping at the AAUW Used Book Sale in State College, PA, one of the largest such sales in the country, with close to half a million books. Often I attend the sale three or four days in a row; the first two days are full price, the third half price, and the fourth is bag day (all you can fit for $5). I'm especially vulnerable on bag day, and that's when I picked up Waxwings; at that price it doesn't hurt to take a chance on a new book or author.

Waxwings is set in Seattle in 1999-2000, at the height of the dot-com boom. Beth and Tom are a couple whose marriage is slowly disintegrating. Beth is a writer and editor working for an online real estate company; Tom is a literature professor at the University of Washington (UW). Their four-year-old son Finn figures prominently in the story of Beth and Tom's breakup, an ongoing theme being his misbehavior at preschool and his parents' disagreements about what he should eat or watch on television. Another key figure is Chick, an illegal Chinese immigrant who's trying to save enough money to pay off the debt to the men who brought him to the U.S. His path crosses Tom's when he offers to replace the roof on his Queen Anne Victorian home, using a crew of illegal Mexican immigrants.

I was unfamiliar with Mr. Raban's work before reading Waxwings. He's a travel writer and novelist with 18 books to his credit. His writing is very good and the plot drew me along as he developed several subplots. One of the subplots involved a young girl who disappeared from a trail on the same day that Tom was hiking there. After his and Beth's separation he was falling apart, not taking care of himself and smoking. His hike helped him to develop an idea for a new novel, but also put him in the place where a crime was committed, and his disheveled appearance and the fact that he was smoking, made him the most memorable character to everyone hiking that day. He quickly becomes a "person of interest," causing UW to put him on paid leave and his wife to begin to doubt him. As he struggles with this problem as well as his wife's departure and Chick's work on his house, he begins to realize that he can survive these problems and begins to make his way back into a semblance of normalcy.

This book is funny and well-written. The main characters: Tom, Beth, Finn, and Chick are well-developed and believable. Seattle and the dot-com boom around the turn of the 21st century are also very well described. The bust that follows the boom is subtly hinted at, and Beth's new financial "security" due to her stock options is clearly at risk. Not stated explicitly, her new wealthy status was certainly a factor in her decision to leave Tom. The title of the book refers to a species of birds that light upon a bush or tree and eat everything possible before moving on, paralleling the dot-com boom and its impact on Seattle. The book leaves the reader with a feeling that Tom will survive all of his crises and Chick will flourish; Beth's future is really questionable. Recommended.

Jonathan Raban. Waxwings. New York: Pantheon Books, 2003. 282 pages. ISBN 0375410082.

Still Life with Bread Crumbs, by Anna Quindlen

I've just read Anna Quindlen's first and latest novels, one right after the other. Her first novel was Object Lessons, which I mentioned briefly in this post, and her latest novel is Still Life with Bread Crumbs. It was fun reading them successively and I noted a great improvement in her writing. This latest book is much more polished than her first, although I liked that one quite a bit as well.

Still Life with Bread Crumbs is about Rebecca Winter, sixty years old, who is a well-known photographer, but who has fallen on hard times. She has resorted to renting her New York apartment out so she can use the income to support her mother's retirement home fee and her own, much cheaper, rented home in a small town in upstate New York. Once there, her life takes on a slower pace than she's used to. She begins to make friends in town, and a romance blossoms with Jim Bates, who offers her a weekend job taking photographs of birds for the Wildlife Service. In the meantime, she wanders the woods surrounding her new home, taking pictures of what seem like memorial crosses that someone's been leaving all over the woods.

During the course of the year that Rebecca spends in her new home, she comes to appreciate the slower pace of her new life. She faces many challenges, including her father's death, and a misunderstanding with Jim, and she learns that she is a dog person, adopting a stray named Jack.

One of the things that I like about Anna Quindlen's writing as that she creates realistic characters. They're believable, they make and learn from their mistakes, and they're easy to root for. I have a sense when reading her books that things will always work out somehow for the characters. In that sense maybe they're a little unrealistic, but it's hard not to like that.

Anna Quindlen. Still Life with Bread Crumbs. New York: Random House, 2014. 256 pages. ISBN 9781400065752.

Playing catch-up

Somehow I got behind in my book reviews; a conference in Chicago late January and early February started off my delinquency and then it continued through most of February. A bad cold topped it off, and now I'm about eight books behind. To catch up, I'm going to just list the books here. I enjoyed all of them:

Iain Pears. The Immaculate Deception; and Death and Restoration. Art historian professor and art theft detective solve theft and murder in contemporary Rome. I read both of these during my conference in Chicago. Traveling just calls out for mysteries that can't be put down and these fit the bill.

Kimberly McCreight. Where They Found Her. The body of a newborn baby was found buried in a rural area and journalist Molly Anderson investigates, uncovering many small-town secrets that no one wants exposed. I got Where They Found Her at one of the American Association of Publisher events at the conference; Author Kimberly McCreight gave an interesting talk about becoming a writer. Her earlier book, Reconstructing Amelia, was a big success, but I haven't read it yet.

Paula Hawkins. The Girl on the Train. An alcoholic, depressed woman believes that she's seen a crime from her vantage point on a train going through her old neighborhood. No one believes her but she keeps investigating until she learns the truth. I also got The Girl on the Train at the conference, but the author got held up because of the weather (Chicago had a blizzard while we were there) so I didn't get to hear her speak.

Greg Iles. Natchez Burning. Mayor Penn Cage's father may be implicated in the suicide of his former nurse, and somehow it's connected to the activities of an offshoot of the KKK and murders that took place in the 1960s. This is a humongous book, 788 pages, but I could not put it down. It's the beginning of a trilogy and I can't wait for the others to come out. Author Greg Iles has already published more than a dozen books, and I don't know how I've missed him, but I will have to do some catching up. Excellent writer!

Elizabeth Haynes. Behind Closed Doors. Kidnapped on a European vacation when she was 15 years old, Scarlett Rainsford has turned up in a brothel in England. Where has she been all this time, and is her appearance related to recent murders in the area?

Jo Nesbo. Phantom. This is the penultimate (so far) of Nesbo's Harry Hole series, so I'm reading them all out of order. I really enjoy his writing and I love reading about Oslo. I look forward to filling in the series gaps.

Anna Quindlen. Object Lessons. I read One True Thing and Black and Blue many years ago. I've had Object Lessons on my shelf since then, but never got around to reading it. I'm glad I did. This is Quindlen's first novel, and her writing isn't as mature as her later books, but it's still worth reading.

Sir Ken Robinson's TED Talk on How Schools Kill Creativity

Inspired by How to Deliver a TED Talk, reviewed here yesterday, I watched Sir Ken Robinson's 2006 TED Talk "How Schools Kill Creativity." As Jeremey Donovan noted, his talk was funny and inspiring. He talked about his belief that creativity has the same importance as literacy for education. He claimed that if you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original. We're educating children the same way all over the world, in a system that was developed to prepare kids to be part of an industrial society. Science and math are at the top, creative arts are at the bottom. He claims that intelligence is diverse, dynamic, and distinct, and he plugs a book he was working on at the time of the video: Epiphany: True Stories of Sudden Insight to Inspire, Encourage, and Transform. If you have 20 minutes to spare, this video is inspiring.

How to Deliver a TED Talk, by Jeremey Donovan

I've been impressed with many of the TED talks that I've watched online. Standing for Technology, Education, Design, TED conferences present speakers who speak about "ideas worth spreading." Jeremy Donovan has been involved with TED and TEDx conferences for years and in this book provides guidance for readers who want to become better speakers. Whether you will ever give a talk at a TED or TEDx conference, the tips provided in this book will help you become a better speaker.

The bulk of the book focuses on content, delivery, and design. Donovan illustrates his points with many examples from famous TED talks. Readers can spend hours just looking up and watching many of the talks that he references. He uses charts to break down the main points of many of the talks that he cites, demonstrating how the talks are structured and supported by the speakers' main points. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to become a better speaker.

Jeremey Donovan. How to Deliver a TED Talk: Secrets of the World's Most Inspiring Presentations. New York: McGraw Hill, 2014. 229 pages. ISBN 9780071830598.

George Washington's Secret Six, by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger

This is an easy-to-read book about a group of spies who delivered messages to George Washington about British troop movements and other details of the Revolutionary War. While I enjoyed the story, I found the writing to be scattered and unfocused. With better framing, and a more chronological approach, this could have been a much better book.

I found that the story about the spies was interesting and definitely worthy of a book. It's clear from Amazon reviews that it's fairly popular, so maybe the issues I have with it aren't widely held. But I will list them here:

1) There are no footnotes or endnotes citing where any of his information came from.
2) The writing is poor; even his co-author couldn't help with the awkward prose.
3) The narrative is confusing and jumps all over the place.
4) Every time George Washington is mentioned he's in a different place. First they're delivering information to him in Connecticut, then New Jersey. No information is provided about the larger context of the war and why or how he was in each locale.
5) The author has supplied dialog for many of the characters. He claims they're all based on his written sources, but since those sources aren't cited, there's no way to tell. The dialog supplied is very stiff and awkward sounding.

This would have made a much better historical novel. Perhaps Kilmeade should have just taken the leap and written a novel, supplying all of the dialog he wanted and not worrying about getting the facts exactly right or citing his sources. The book includes 8 pages of illustrations, a short list of sources, and an index.

Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger. George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring that Saved the American Revolution. New York: Sentinel, 2013. 252 pages. ISBN 9781595231109.

The 4-Hour Workweek, expanded and updated, by Timothy Ferriss

Seven years after the publication of The 4-Hour Work Week, Timothy Ferriss has come out with an expanded and updated version of the book. Having read the first edition when it came out in 2007, I was eager to re-read it and see what changed. Mr. Ferriss states that he wanted to confirm that the principles that he originally shared in 4HWW, which came before the 2008 economic crisis, were still valid in a recession (he claims they are, unsurprisingly). He's added additional content, including many letters from readers who adopted his principles and have been successful in re-designing their lives. Content from his blog has also been incorporated into the book.

Mr. Ferriss advocates lifestyle design, which for him means that he outsourced much of the drudgery of life (making appointments, doing background research, etc.), obtained a source of income that is self-perpetuating and requires little oversight, allowing him to travel and live around the world for months at a time learning new skills and living his dream. He assures readers that they too can achieve this, and lays out the steps it takes to get there.

Who is the audience for this book? Mr. Ferris would say everyone, and the sales of the first edition and likely this expanded edition would indicate that many would agree. But many of his claims and recommendations will only work for a select group of people, whom I would classify as business majors or entrepreneurs, and for the most part, single or otherwise unattached with no children or pets. Anyone in a profession: teachers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, librarians, accountants, bankers, etc. wouldn't be able to drop everything and move to Buenos Aires for three or four months. No one who falls into the "working class" would be able to do it either. The most significant recommendation in Mr. Ferriss' book, the claim that the reader can start an internet business that basically runs itself, would only be an option for a small sector of the population.

However, I found that many of Mr. Ferriss' recommendations could be useful to most readers. He suggests that readers outsource many of the activities that they don't enjoy. He recommends the elimination of excess possessions. He provides tips on managing people, meetings, communication (email and phone), interruptions, and more that are very useful and which could be applied by most of us. His travel advice and suggestions about how to pack lightly are definitely worthwhile. One of them (plan to buy some necessities when you get where you're going) reminded me of a friend's claim that you can go anywhere with a credit card and a passport (so stop fretting about forgetting something).

In the end, even though most people will not be able to, or even want to, drop everything so they can gallivant around the world, there is still a lot in this book that they will find beneficial. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading about time management, productivity, lifestyle re-design, and simplifying.

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."

Timothy Ferriss. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. Expanded and updated. New York: Crown Archetype, 2015. 426 pages. ISBN 97803074655351.

A Daily Dose of Ghosts, v.1, by D.L. Kaiser

I'm so impressed with my friend Lu Kaiser, who has written and published a collection of short stories, A Daily Dose of Ghosts. These witty and imaginative stories are suitable for readers of all ages. I found myself laughing out loud in many places as I read through the 30 stories in this collection. From ghosts who throw such loud parties that they qualify as nuisance neighbors to ghosts who manifest themselves to help solve murder mysteries, this book includes a thoroughly diverse assortment of otherworldly beings.

Lu is also an accomplished artist, and she's demonstrated this talent by creating the cover art for A Daily Dose of Ghosts. Lu published the book through Amazon's publishing program, and it's available as both an e-book as well as print-on-demand. I was fascinated by this project as Lu was compiling the manuscript, editing the stories, and going through the publication and promotion process. As someone who has only dreamt of writing and publishing creative fiction, I'm especially impressed with folks like Lu who actually do it! I recommend this clever collection to anyone who enjoys ghost stories with a funny streak.

D.L. Kaiser. A Daily Dose of Ghosts, v. 1. Published 2014. Available from Amazon here.

Modern Manners: Tools to Take You to the Top

Modern Manners: Tools to Take You to the Top is a guide to modern etiquette aimed at young adults and teenagers. Its authors are Dorothea Johnson, a long-time etiquette expert and consultant, and her granddaughter Liv Tyler (whom I will always think of as Arwen).

Modern Manners is organized into six parts addressing meeting others, business etiquette, electronic communication, travelling, dining, and hosting. It’s illustrated with colorful drawings throughout, and includes an index and additional references for those who want to learn more. Most topics are addressed with just one page of text or less. There are many sidebars with additional information, including “Did you know?” sections, lists of do’s and don’ts, and comments by Ms. Tyler, such as “Liv on eye contact,” or “Liv on body language.” These are generally short, anecdotal, and personal comments about her own experiences and observations about etiquette.

Overall, this is a friendly and accessible guide to etiquette and manners that would be a great gift for any young adult. Sections on eating out, email and text etiquette, and behavior at social events are particularly helpful.

Dorothea Johnson and Liv Tyler. Modern Manners: Tools to Take You to the Top. New York: Potter Style, 2013. 176 pages. ISBN 9780770434083.

Perfidia, by James Ellroy

James Ellroy. Perfidia. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014. 695 pages. ISBN 9780307956996.

Ever since seeing L.A. Confidential and reading an interview with James Ellroy I've wanted to read one of his books, so I was pleased to be given an advance reading copy of his latest, Perfidia, at the 2014 BEA, held at the Javits Convention Center last May.

Ellroy is most known for his L.A. Quartet, which includes The Black Dahlia, The Big Forever, L.A. Confidential, and White Jazz, and which is set from 1946 to 1958. Perfidia is the first book in The Second L.A. Quartet, which is set during World War II and which includes many of the characters from the original series.

Perfidia begins with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the discovery of the murder of a Japanese family. The events and hysteria that surrounded the start of war are described in great detail. Men and women line up to volunteer for armed service, and Japanese citizens become immediate targets of suspicion and violence. The four main characters in Perfidia are embroiled in both the war preparation and the murder investigation. Hideo Ashida is a Japanese-American scientist who works as a crime scene investigator for the LAPD. William Parker is an alcoholic police captain hoping to become Police Chief some day. Kay Lake is a young woman who's looking for any kind of excitement she can find. Dudley Smith is a detective who's hoping to cash in on some shady deals enabled by the wartime confiscation of Japanese property.

Perfidia is dense with plot and characters. It was difficult at time too keep track of all of the characters, almost none of whom had any redeeming characteristics. All of the policemen, without exception, are portrayed as being willing to lie and cheat to get ahead. They cover up crimes, arrest people for crimes they didn't commit, kill people for crimes that they can't prove but whom they're convinced are guilty. They betray each other, make promises that they can't keep, and throw their loyalty to whomever they think will come out on top. All of the characters abuse alcohol and many abuse drugs, such as terpin hydrate, Benzedrine, and opium. Most sleep with anyone and everyone who crosses their paths, although this is explained away as the prevailing attitude at the beginning of the war. There is a casual and virulent use of racist epithets that would be shocking today. Violence is a consistent theme throughout the book with people shot, stabbed, poisoned, drugged, blown up, and beaten up.

Much has been written about Ellroy's staccato-style prose. He writes short sentences, many just fragments. I found it difficult to get used to, but after a few hundred pages of this, I adjusted. One objection I have is that many of his characters' dialog sounds indistinguishable from each other. Their utterances are unnatural; no one really speaks the way his characters do in his books. I assume this is intentional on Ellroy's part, but it still takes some getting used to.

Nevertheless, the book kept my interest, and I would like to read some of his other books. His descriptions of wartime L.A. are unforgettable; I will probably always think of this book when I think of that time and place.

The Book of Life, by Deborah Harkness

Deborah Harkness. The Book of Life. New York: Viking, 2014. 559 pages. ISBN 9780670025596.

The Book of Life is the third volume in Deborah Harkness' trilogy about witch Diana Bishop and vampire Matthew Clairmont. In this book Deborah is pregnant with twins and they've returned to the present from their sojourn in 1591. Deborah is trying to locate the three missing pages from the Bodleian Library manuscript Ashmole 782, also known as The Book of Life, which contains secrets about the origins of witches, vampires, and daemons. In the meantime, Matthew is working with colleagues to analyze vampire DNA so that he can find a cure to a genetic disease, which causes him to go into "blood rages" when he's upset. As in the other books in the trilogy, there's a lot of action ranging from upstate New York and New Haven, Connecticut, to England, France, Italy, and other European countries. With many plot twists and interesting characters, this is a great wrap-up to the trilogy. I do wonder, though, if she will continue the story. With so many characters, not to mention the twins, there seems to be a lot of potential for more books...

Hild, by Nicola Griffith

Nicola Griffith. Hild. New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 2013. 545 pages. ISBN 9780374280871.

I loved this historical novel about the young woman Hild, later known as Saint Hilda of Whitby. Hild was born to a royal family in 7th century Britain. She is used as a pawn by her mother, who declares that she had a dream that Hild was a seer. Used by her great uncle, the king of Northumbria, she accompanies him as he battles with others for dominance in the British territories. Author Nicola Griffith has done an enormous amount of research in support of this book, truly bringing the 7th century and all of its challenges to life. The struggles between early adherents of Christianity and pagan religions are illuminated. Ms. Griffith's writing is wonderful; the dialog is completely believable. One challenge for me was that I was constantly looking things up; Ms. Griffith's uses some older terms and vocabulary that had me frequently referring to Wikipedia articles and online dictionaries. I recommend Hild to anyone who likes history or historical fiction.

Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time, by Jeff Sutherland

Jeff Sutherland. Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time. New York: Crown Business, 2014. 248 pages. ISBN 9780385346450.

Scrum is a project management and product development technique that's intended to deliver results more frequently and quickly than traditional methods. Originally developed for application in software development projects, Scrum can be applied in other project or development settings. Decrying the use of traditional project management techniques, such as Gantt charts, author and Scrum creator Jeff Sutherland describes the origins of Scrum, shares anecdotes about its application in war, home improvement, and business settings, and gives a checklist of Scrum principles. Although the anecdotes are interesting, this book is more of a sales pitch for Scrum and less of a primer. Sutherland does provide a list of Scrum principles as an appendix, but there isn't any real instruction on how to put them into practice. The Scrum principles outlined are:

• Pick a product owner
• Pick a team
• Pick a Scrum Master
• Create a product backlog (i.e., list of to do items)
• Refine and estimate the product backlog
• Conduct sprint development
• Make work visible with a Scrub board listing to do, doing, done items
• Hold daily Scrum meetings
• Conduct sprint reviews or demos
• Conduct sprint retrospective (i.e., debriefing)

At the end of each chapter is a list of main points that the reader should take away; these are fairly useful. Other particularly useful suggestions include the creation of a product backlog and the use of development sprints. Such efforts can be useful in many environments, not just in software development. Overall, this book was thought-provoking and would be useful for anyone who's interested in improving productivity in environments where team work is the norm.

The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion

Graeme Simsion. The Rosie Project. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2013. 295 pages. ISBN 9781476729091.

Finding a romantic partner has been particularly difficult for Don Tillman, a university genetics professor and research scientist with Asperger's Syndrome. He decides to use a questionnaire to weed out any potential prospects that might be unsuitable because of one factor or another (smoking, drinking too much, chronic lateness, etc.) Through this effort he meets Rosie, a barmaid who enlists his help finding her "real" father, who has never been a part of her life. Although Rosie is completely unsuitable as a potential future wife, he enjoys her company as they work together to solve the mystery. As Rosie becomes a fixed part of his life, Don finds himself questioning his beliefs about what would make him happy, and is challenged to stretch his people skills and ability to empathize with others.

The Rosie Project is most easily described as a romantic comedy, and is in fact being developed as a movie. It's funny, touching, and a bit sad in parts, but mostly funny. Don describes his daily routine which he has scheduled down to the minute so as not to waste any time. Any deviation from his schedule requires adjusting other elements of his schedule so when Rosie begins to drop by unannounced, or change plans without advance notice, Don struggles to keep up. Rosie stretches Don's ability to enjoy himself in the moment, and Rosie learns to appreciate Don's approach to life and its challenges. I liked Don's acceptance of others' personalities, as well as his growing ability to understand others' perspectives, such as the Dean's challenges running his college. The plot is amusing and moves along at a good pace, and the dialog is truly hilarious. I'm looking forward to seeing this as a movie.

We picked The Rosie Project for our December book club read. Once again we were working from a list of Great Group Reads compiled by the Women's National Book Association. So far, from this list, we've read Burial Rites by Hannah Kent and The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry; and I've read (outside the book club) Neverhome, by Laird Hunt.

In other news:

I've been enjoying Pink's The Truth About Love lately. So many good songs: "Are We All We Are," "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)," "Try," "Just Give Me a Reason," "True Love," and many more.

I've also been re-watching The 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concerts (2009); there are some really great performances on it. Some of my favorites are "Because the Night" with Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, and U2; "Gimme Shelter" with Mick Jagger, Fergie, Will.i.am, and U2; and Metallica's "Enter Sandman."

A Bowl of Olives, by Sara Midda

Sara Midda. A Bowl of Olives: On Food and Memory. New York: Workman Publishing, 2014. 125 pages. ISBN 9780761145264.

A Bowl of Olives is a collection of reminiscences about food and shopping for food in various markets around the world. It's a small book with an attractive binding and colorful book jacket. It's illustrated with whimsical watercolor paintings by the author, along with some selected color photography. Each chapter addresses a food-related topic: markets, packaging, eggs, table settings, eating outdoors, salads, seasonal foods, food memories, olives, fruit, vegetables, seasonings, and "food wishes." The chapter on table settings starts off with illustrations of placemats, and moves on to napkins, tablecloths, vases with flowers, crockery, cups, and plates. Each page includes dozens of small watercolor paintings; for example, the section on cups has the header "The search for the perfect cup" and includes thirty tiny paintings of different cup and mug styles.

Overall, this is the kind of book that one gives to someone who likes food and cooking. Some of the chapters include recipes, although the total number of recipes probably doesn't exceed a dozen. The book is weighted much more heavily on the illustration side; some pages have no text and others just have a few sentences. It's a thoroughly pleasant book that will in turn stimulate readers to think of their own food and cooking memories.

Nantucket Five-Spot, by Steven Axelrod

Steven Axelrod. Nantucket Five-Spot. Scottsdale, AZ: Poisoned Pen Press, 2015. 283 pages. ISBN 9781464203428.

In the second volume in the "Henry Kennis Mystery" series, Henry is the police chief of Nantucket Island where he deals primarily with locals and visitors during the busy tourist season. His life gets a little more exciting when they begin to receive bomb threats, and they have to call in Homeland Security, which arrives in the persons of former love-interest Frannie Tate, and her boss, Jack Tornovitch. It soon becomes clear to the reader, if not Henry, that the bombing plot is a complicated revenge plot, rather than a terrorist action. Zeke Beaumont, along with a partner, have developed a revenge scenario to implicate someone from their past. The revenge plot is made clear to the reader early on, but the identity of Zeke's partner only becomes obvious nearer the last third of the book.

I found the plot of this book to be a little choppy. In some cases it could have benefited from better transitions and better overall editing. The plot is a little far-fetched, but that can be said of many, if not most, mysteries, so I can't hold that against it. I read this as an uncorrected proof; this book won't be available until January 2015.

Timeline, by Michael Crichton

Michael Crichton. Timeline. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999. 443 pages. ISBN 0679444815.

In Michael Crichton's Timeline, he uses the principles of quantum physics to take characters back in time to key points in human history. Robert Doniger has created a technology that can travel between multiple, almost identical dimensions to bring people to other times in history. His goal is to create theme parks, and he's invested billions in the technology and in archaeological investigations at sites that will become tourist destinations in his grand scheme. Everything begins to fall apart when some of his scientists travel back in time too many times, leaving clues that are found by the modern-day archaeologists. Professor Edward Johnston pays a visit to Doniger to find out what's going on. He's sent back in time to 13th century France so that he can see for himself, but something goes wrong and he's trapped there. His team is recruited by Doniger to go back and rescue him, and they have 37 hours to do so. Of course, everything goes wrong once they travel back in time and it comes down to the last few seconds before we find out if they get back out.

Like many of Mr. Crichton's other books, Timeline takes a topic of contemporary research and creates an alarmist premise around it. Similar to other books about time travel, this one creates situations that just can't be explained away; no amount of logic applied to it makes sense. In spite of that weakness, Timeline is an exciting romp through history that kept me turning the pages to find out how everything was resolved.

Prey, by Michael Crichton

Michael Crichton. Prey. New York: HarperCollins, 2002. 363 pages. ISBN 0066214122.

In Michael Crichton's thriller Prey, Jack Forman is an out of work software engineer whose wife works in the nanoscience and technology industry. Jack is beginning to worry about his wife who's been acting strangely and whom he suspects is having an affair. As he tries to find out what she's up to when she's at work, he learns that she's been working on a project to create nano particles that can work together to complete a task. It all begins to unravel when it becomes clear that the scientists have lost control of the nano particles which have begun to turn on them. Jack is recruited to try to capture the nano particles that have escaped and which are reproducing in the Nevada desert, but he has to go up against some of the scientists who don't want to stop the nano particles.

Prey is one of the earliest books in popular fiction to address the development of nanoscience engineering and technology. It's a little bit on the alarmist side, but is nevertheless an engaging work of science fiction.

One Kick, by Chelsea Cain

Chelsea Cain. One Kick. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014. 306 pages. ISBN 9781476749758.

Author Chelsea Cain has had a successful run with her Archie Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell thriller series. With One Kick, Ms. Cain introduces a series heroine who will be sure to attract new readers. Kick Lannigan was kidnapped at the age of six and found again five years later. She's gone through years of therapy but what's helped her most is her study of martial arts and other self-defense programs. At 21 Kick is recruited by a man named Bishop who's trying to find another missing child. He thinks the same people behind Kick's kidnapping are behind this new set of kidnappings, and he believes that Kick holds clues to their location. Reluctantly, Kick is drawn into the search for the missing children in a fast-moving thriller that keeps the reader glued to the pages of the book.

While I have no doubt that this is the beginning of a successful new series for Ms. Cain, the characters seemed cartoonish to me, a little like caricatures of themselves. It reminded me of characters that are based on comic books, rather than on characters developed in a novel. The book seems a little rushed. Perhaps in Ms. Cain's efforts to create a fast-reading thriller with high stakes, she neglected some of the character development that would have given this book a little more substance. Nevertheless, I found One Kick intriguing and it left me wanting to learn more of the story, which is sure to continue over many more volumes.

Take Command, by Jake Wood

Jake Wood. Take Command: Lessons in Leadership: How to Be a First Responder in Business. New York: Crown Business, 2014. 242 pages. ISBN 9780804138383.

Author Jake Wood has turned his experience as a Marine sniper in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars into a management book that tells readers how to apply military leadership principles to their work in business. After he left military service, Mr. Wood and fellow veteran William McNulty formed a non-profit organization, Team Rubicon, which provides emergency relief to regions hit by natural disasters, such as the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, or Hurricane Sandy. Their experiences building and running Team Rubicon as well as Mr. Wood's experience as a sniper inform his perspective on leadership.

Take Command is organized into eight "lessons" in four sections: Prepare, Analyze, Decide, and Act. Each chapter, or lesson, introduces a principle and provides examples from either Mr. Wood's military experience or Team Rubicon to illustrate it. The lessons themselves aren't original: build a high-impact team, maintain transparency, demand accountability, prioritize goals, gather information, understand and accept your risks, don't wait until you have 100% of the information you need (i.e., you can move forward with 80%), overcome set-backs. Mr. Wood concludes with advice to be relentless in executing your plans.

I can't quibble with the principles outlined here; in fact, I found Mr. Wood's discussion of the 80% solution particularly compelling. His military experience certainly informed his work at Team Rubicon, which deploys veterans and medical personnel into potentially dangerous situations to provide emergency relief and medical aid. However, I don't think Take Command connects these experiences closely enough to most business environments. The promise of this book is that we can apply the principles learned in the military to real life business challenges, but because Mr. Wood's experience is primarily in the military and now with Team Rubicon, he has a hard time making those connections to business.

Because the leadership principles are not original and not tied very closely to actual business examples, I can't believe that this book would be a significant help to anyone hoping to learn leadership skills. Nevertheless, Mr. Wood's anecdotes about his military experience and Team Rubicon activities are interesting. I would have preferred a book strictly about Team Rubicon's challenges and achievements while providing emergency relief. 

Fruits Basket, Ultimate Edition, v.1-2, by Natsuki Takaya

Natsuki Takaya. Fruits Basket, Ultimate Edition, v. 1-2 (in one volume). Los Angeles: TOKYOPOP, 2007. Unnumbered. ISBN 9781427806895.

While I've read a handful of graphic novels and comics (Maus 1 and 2, Persepolis, Fun Home, The Umbrella Academy, and a few others), I haven't dipped very much into Japanese manga (Barefoot Gen is the only title that I can think of). A few years ago I was given a copy of Fruits Basket, volumes 1 and 2, bound together in its first English translation and published by TOKYOPOP. Immensely popular in Japan, Fruits Basket is an example of what's called shojo manga; that is, manga that's written for young girls between the ages of 10 and 18, and often addressing family dynamics and other relationships.

Fruits Basket tells the story of Tohru Honda, a young girl who has been recently orphaned. She was living with her grandfather, but when he decides to move in with another relative while his home's being renovated, Tohru decides to live on her own in a tent. She attends a good high school, but also takes a job to make ends meet. One day she meets up with the family that owns the land where she's set up her tent. They're three young men, one of whom she knows from school, who live together in a secluded house. They offer to let her live with them during her grandfather's renovation project if she takes care of the house and kitchen.

As Tohru becomes a fixture in their home, she brings order into their chaos, and they become the family that she no longer has. But as she gets to know them she learns that they have a secret: when they're hugged by someone of the opposite sex, they turn into an animal in the Chinese Zodiak. Yuki turns into a rat, while Shigure turns into a dog. Outsider Kyo turns into a cat, and resents that there's no cat in the Zodiac. Will Tohru be able to stay with her new family? Will she keep their secret? This is the plot of the first volume; the second takes readers further into the extended family and we meet other members and their alternate shapes.

I found these first two volumes of Fruits Basket utterly charming. So much so that I'm really curious about how the story develops beyond volume 2, but I'm not sure I want to delve into further volumes, since they go up to volume 23 so far! Either way, this story has a lot to recommend it. The characters are interesting and amusing; the themes are perhaps typical for a YA book, but there's nothing wrong with that since teen issues are perennial. The artwork is really good; I particularly liked her drawings of animal figures. I recommend this to anyone who likes Japanese manga in this genre.

Wonderstruck, by Brian Selznick

Brian Selznick. Wonderstruck. New York: Scholastic Press, 2011. 637 pages. ISBN 9780545027892.

I read Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret a few years ago and loved the way Mr. Selznick combined both written and drawn storytelling. His newer book, Wonderstruck, is no less impressive. It tells the story of Ben, a young boy whose mother was killed in an accident a few months ago. He's living with his aunt, uncle, and two cousins when he is hurt in an accident. Either permanently or temporarily (we're not sure) made deaf by a lightning strike, Ben takes off for New York City where he hopes to find his father. His only clue is a book, Wonderstruck, with a bookmark from a bookstore on the Upper West Side, but when he gets there he finds the store has long been closed. Despondent, he sneaks into the American Museum of Natural History where he befriends another young boy, Jamie, whose father works at the museum.

While Mr. Selznick tells Ben's story through short prose passages of just a few pages each, he intersperses Ben's story with Rose's, which he tells solely through black and white pencil drawings. While Ben's story is set in 1977, Rose's is set in 1927. She's also deaf, and lives a lonely existence in Hoboken with an absentee mother (a famous actress). One day Rose takes off to try to find her mother at a theater in the city. Angry, her mother is ready to send her home, but Rose runs off and hides in the same museum that Ben hides in 50 years later. She's found there by her older brother Walter, who works at the museum. Walter takes her to his home and gives her a copy of Wonderstruck.

Near the end of the book Ben's and Rose's stories converge and we learn about how the two are connected. The story continues to be told in alternating sections of prose and pencil drawings.

This book has mystery and suspense, and a great deal of heart. The drawings are intricate and really wonderful. It's amazing how much of the story can be told just through drawings. I really loved this book; I like the characters, the plot, the writing, and the illustrations. Intended for ages 9 and up, I think this would be of interest to anyone who likes good storytelling and illustrated books.

Nothing Left Over, by Toinette Lippe

Toinette Lippe. Nothing Left Over: A Plain and Simple Life. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, a member of Penguin Putnam Inc., 2002. 257 pages. ISBN 158542160X.

I found Toinette Lippe's book, Nothing Left Over, at the 2014 AAUW State College Branch Annual Used Book Sale. Its simple yet attractive book jacket appealed to me, and the blurb promised a thoughtful exploration of what it means to have just enough.

I'm always interested in ways to simplify my life and manage it more effectively, so I picked up this book thinking that I might find some good advice for doing so. While the book didn't provide exactly what I was looking for, I nevertheless enjoyed Ms. Lippe's memoir about how she came to be an editor for a major publisher in New York City, and her personal philosophy of minimalism (although she doesn't use that term in her book).

Ms. Lippe spent many years working at publishing houses such as Andre Deutsch, Simon and Schuster, and Alfred A. Knopf. While there she founded her own imprint, called Bell Tower Books, which published books about spirituality. Ms. Lippe's deep interest in many spiritual traditions is reflected in her ruminations in Nothing Left Over. She writes about being present and focusing on what you're doing. She advises readers to be open to ideas and to try to say "yes" rather than "no" to new experiences and opportunities.

Ms. Lippe has retired from the publishing business, but maintains a website through which she sells not only her artwork (she's a painter), but also newer editions of both Nothing Left Over and her second book, Caught in the Act: Reflections on Being, Knowing, and Doing. While I haven't read the second book, I would recommend Nothing Left Over to anyone who enjoys books about simplicity and living a thoughtful or spiritual life.