Review of "Nonsense" by Jamie Holmes

I found this book to be a very illuminating account of how we deal with ambiguity in every day life. The necessity for knowing how we react to uncertain situations without really thinking about the consequences versus considering the alternatives when it really matters will enable us to make better choices. The need for closure can be a very powerful force in how we react. It can be dangerous if we are not open to other possibilities. I liked the discussion of experiments that have been done to determine how the mind works in different situations.

Review of "The Supernatural Enhancements" by Edgar Cantero

This story of a young English man who inherits a haunted house in Virginia and his teenage mute, Irish girlfriend is told is a series of diary entries and notes, transcripts of audio recordings and video recordings, letters to an Aunt Liza, emails and a dream journal. The young man supposedly is the long lost second cousin of the house's owner who killed himself. The young man thinks he sees a ghost and has very vivid dreams of a horrifying nature. His girl friend is supposed to watch over him. These two slowly find out the background of the house and it's former owners. I liked the way that the story moved forward it's various written entries. It kept me engrossed about what would happen.

Review of "A Slant of Light" by Jeffrey Lent

This most recent book from Jeffrey Lent creates the atmosphere and life during the aftermath of the Civil War in western New York around the Finger Lakes. The story opens with the killing of a hired man by Malcolm Hopeton not long after he returns to his farm after the war. He inadvertently causes his wife's death, also. The characters in the book are very well drawn and life on the farm is described in great detail. The spiritual and moral beliefs of these hard-working people are depicted, too. The language that comes out of their mouths rings true.

Review of "The Gates of Evangeline" by Hester Young

Charlie, a woman whose child died recently from a brain aneurysm, has visions / dreams  of children who are about to die. She is a New York City journalist who is sent by her employer to write a story about a rich family in Louisiana. In fact, the family commissioned Charlie's employer to write about them. The family's history includes the disappearance and presumed death of the younger brother of the present adult siblings. Charlie thinks that her recurring visions are leading her to discover who killed him. But the truth is slowly revealed in this complicated story. The author kept me long after I should have gone to sleep.

Review of "Alice' by Christina Henry

Many of the characters in this book are based on characters from Alice in Wonderland. But there the resemblance to the original book ends. Alice goes through many adventures of a horrifying and violent nature trying to remember what happened to her in the past. She slowly remembers what happened to her and realizes her own power. In the end she is able to defeat the dark forces and return to a brighter world. This book kept me reading until the end. It is well written and the pacing is good.

Review of "Last Bus to Wisdom" by Ivan Doig

Like other books that I have read by Ivan Doig, this one is set mostly in Montana where the author grew up. It is about the life and adventures of an eleven year old boy during the summer of 1951. He is being raised by his grandmother after the death of his parents. She is a cook on a cattle ranch in Montana, but needs an operation. So she sends her grandson to his grand aunt and uncle in Manitowoc, Wisconsin to stay with them for the summer while she has the operation and recuperates.

The boy, Donal, rides a Greyhound bus for more than 1600 miles. Along the way he meets all sorts of people and collects their autographs in a book. Almost half the book covers this part of the story with Donal using his imagination to conjure up stories about himself. When Donal finally arrives in Manitowoc, he comes to realize that his Aunt Kate is stingy and rules the household. She and his Uncle Herman are always arguing. Donal is bored with not much to do and spends time with his uncle in his greenhouse talking and watching him garden.

The second half of the book is about Donal and Herman's adventures as they head west on the Greyhound bus. Herman's story slowly unfolds over the course of the rest of the book. The atmosphere of the Crow Fair, Yellowstone N.P. and working on a hay ranch in Montana is evoked very well. 

Review of "Relae" by Christian F. Puglisi

This book is not just a cook book. It contains essays on many aspects of food and techniques for dishes created by the author Christian F. Puglisi.  It provides food for thought about cooking as well as serving. This is a book that I will dip into at various times for inspiration.

Review of "The Brain's Way of Healing" by Norman Doidge, M.D.

This book was an eye opener for me about how the brain can heal itself because of its neuroplasticity. Dr. Doidge covers some remarkable ways of healing the brain using natural, non-intrusive methods. He explains how and why these techniques work. In the case of some individuals who had suffered for years with their conditions and were considered lost causes, these ways of using the brain's neuroplasticity restored them to normal or near normal lives. This is truly amazing. These techniques need to be more widely used.

Review of "Becoming Ellen" by Shari Shattuck

Ellen Homes, the main character in the story, learns to step out of her shell in order to help others. She establishes social relationships with people and becomes less shy by the end of the book. She also discovers that her friends have their own insecurities and fears that she can help them overcome. Ellen knows about the system of foster care that often fails children because she was one of them. She gets an abused boy to trust her and with the help of the people she knows saves him from a bad situation. Likewise, the case of a young girl is successfully resolved due to Ellen's intervention. This is not an entirely believable story because too many situations just fall into place fortuitously but the good characters are so heart-warming and loving that I couldn't help but be pulled into the story.

Review of Kitchens of the Great Midwest J. Ryan Stradal

I liked the linked stories about the characters in this book. We follow the lives of the people in this family and community from the time when before Eva is born to her eventual success as the legendary chef behind a much sought after pop-up dinner club. Many of the stories don't involve Eva directly but all have food as a part of them. Some of the stories are sad, some are humorous. All have quirky, interesting characters.

Review of The Girl Who Slept With God by Val Brelinski

The story is told from the point of view of the 13-year old Dory, the middle sister, in a family of three daughters. She is brought by her father to live in an old house with her pregnant 17-year old sister, Grace, outside of the town where her family lives so that no one will know about the pregnancy. Grace became pregnant while on a missionary trip to Mexico. She is very religious and insists that the child is from God. Dory has a hard time adjusting to a new school and is befriended by a man who drives an ice cream truck and an elderly neighbor. The relationship of Dory and her father evolves over the course of the story and issues of love and control are developed.

Review of "Let Me Die in His Footsteps" by Lori Roy

This book takes place in Kentucky in the early half of the twentieth century. There's a belief in certain people having a gift of "know-how" and superstitious beliefs about good and evil. It's a slow revealing of what happened between the Hollerans and the Baines families. The story goes back and forth between 1936 when Sarah and Juna were teenagers and 1952 when Annie and Carolyn are teenagers. Annie calls Sarah 'mama' but has been told that her Aunt Juna is her real mother. Annie thinks that her Aunt Juna will return someday from where ever shes gone off to. The author portrays life in rural Kentucky in the last century well. The many people in the story convey a sense of what life was like then with the willingness to help each other when necessary but staying away from some because of superstitious fears. The ending was a surprise for me. I didn't see it coming at all. But the details all fall into place in the end making for a powerful story.

Review of "Girl Underwater" by Claire Kells

This story kept me riveted. The story of the plane crash and its aftermath were interwoven with scenes of Avery before the crash and after she is rescued. It described her relationship with her family, especially her father, an emergency room doctor who taught all his children survival skills on their camping trips. Avery must come to terms with what happened during the five days surviving in the wilderness through several snowstorms. Her relationship with her family, her boyfriend, Lee and her teammate, Colin change as she learns to cope with her feelings about the plane crash and swimming in the freezing cold lake.

Review of "Last Man Off' by Matt Lewis

Matt Lewis is a very good writer. The pacing of his story was excellent. The account of his time as an observer on a fishing boat in the southern ocean around South Georgia Island and the subsequent abandonment of it in a very bad storm was filled with detail. The days fighting for survival in the life raft were gripping. This is a book that will keep you reading through the night.

Review of "I Am Radar" by Reif Larsen

This book kept me reading. It covered so much history throughout the world while following the "performances" of a mysterious group of artists originally based in Norway. The book starts out with the birth of Radar Radmanovic and follows his life until his involvement with the remaining artists in the group. Large parts of the book don't involve Radar but other members of the group. The stories are all fascinating with a touch of the mystical.

Review of "The Girl On the Train" by Paula Hawkins

This book slowly reveals the story of Rachel's life and her involvement in the murder at a house in the neighborhood that she used to live in. At first she doesn't seem like a very strong person who became an alcoholic when she was not able to conceive a child. She still loves her ex-husband even though he has remarried and has a child with another woman. Rachel wants to help solve the murder by telling the police what she observed from the train she takes every day. She knows that the husband of the murdered woman will be a suspect but she wants to help him. She observed his wife kissing another man on their terrace. The book had a lot of twists and turns as the truth is slowly revealed through Rachel's faulty memories and the points of view of the different characters in the novel. A great debut novel.