Friday, December 28, 2018

The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White, 256 pages

Before there was a famous king named Arthur, there was a curious boy named Wart and a kind old wizard named Merlyn. Transformed by Merlyn into the forms of his fantasy, Wart learns the value of history from a snake, of education from a badger, and of courage from a hawk--the lessons that help turn a boy into a man. Together, Wart and Merlyn take the reader through this timeless story of childhood and adventure--The Sword in the Stone.

T.H. White's classic tale of the young Arthur's questioning and discovery of his life is unparalleled for its wit and wisdom, and for its colorful characters, from the wise Merlyn to the heroic Robin Wood to the warmhearted King Pellinore.

Golden Kite Honor artist Dennis Nolan has loved The Sword in the Stone since childhood, and he imbues White's tale with magic and mystery in his glowing illustrations. Readers who know Arthur or are meeting him for the first time will delight in this beautiful rendering of one of the greatest stories of all time.  


Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Mrs. Roosevelt's Confidante by Susan Elia Macneal, 337 pages

December 1941. Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Winston Churchill arrives in Washington, D.C., along with special agent Maggie Hope. Posing as his typist, she is accompanying the prime minister as he meets with President Roosevelt to negotiate the United States’ entry into World War II. When one of the First Lady’s aides is mysteriously murdered, Maggie is quickly drawn into Mrs. Roosevelt’s inner circle—as ER herself is implicated in the crime. Maggie knows she must keep the investigation quiet, so she employs her unparalleled skills at code breaking and espionage to figure out who would target Mrs. Roosevelt, and why. What Maggie uncovers is a shocking conspiracy that could jeopardize American support for the war and leave the fate of the world hanging dangerously in the balance.


threats, bribes & videotape by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott, 128 pages

The 10th collection, very funny and still hits home even though my kids are much older now.


Super-Absorbent Biodegradable Family-size Baby Blues by Jerry Scott and Rick Kirkman, 255 pages

Cartoons provide a humorous view of the frustrations and rewards of parenthood as Wanda and Darryl adjust to life with young children Zoe and Ham.


Monday, December 24, 2018

Check, please... by Jerry Scott and Rick Kirkman, 128 pages

Is it possible for the MacPherson kids to get any cuter? Zoe excitedly dipping water from the toilet to serve her daddy ""tea."" Hamish rolling efficiently across the floor instead of crawling. And Darryl and Wanda watching all their antics in worn-out wonder! Who hasn't experienced, or at least witnessed, that final humiliated plea for the check after a restaurant is turned into a war zone by active kids? Well, Darryl and Wanda are there now.

Since 1989, Baby Blues fans have witnessed the amusing transformation of the career-oriented MacPhersons into realistically warm and wild-eyed parents-from Wanda giving up her job to be a stay-at-home mom to Darryl fitting in daddy duty after demanding days at the office. As demonstrated over and over in Check, Please..., the MacPhersons are no different from many new parents, forced to make adjustments that have come fast and furious.


Sunday, December 23, 2018

Family Trust by Kathy Wang, 385 pages

Meet Stanley Huang: father, husband, ex-husband, man of unpredictable tastes and temper, aficionado of all-inclusive vacations and bargain luxury goods, newly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. For years, Stanley has claimed that he’s worth a small fortune. But the time is now coming when the details of his estate will finally be revealed, and Stanley’s family is nervous.

For his son Fred, the inheritance Stanley has long alluded to would soothe the pain caused by years of professional disappointment. By now, the Harvard Business School graduate had expected to be a financial tech god – not a minor investor at a middling corporate firm, where he isn’t even allowed to fly business class.

Stanley’s daughter, Kate, is a middle manager with one of Silicon Valley’s most prestigious tech companies. She manages the capricious demands of her world-famous boss and the needs of her two young children all while supporting her would-be entrepreneur husband (just until his startup gets off the ground, which will surely be soon). But lately, Kate has been sensing something amiss; just because you say you have it all, it doesn’t mean that you actually do.

Stanley’s second wife, Mary Zhu, twenty-eight years his junior, has devoted herself to making her husband comfortable in every way—rubbing his feet, cooking his favorite dishes, massaging his ego. But lately, her commitment has waned; caring for a dying old man is far more difficult than she expected.

Linda Liang, Stanley’s first wife, knows her ex better than anyone. She worked hard for decades to ensure their financial security, and is determined to see her children get their due. Single for nearly a decade, she might finally be ready for some romantic companionship. But where does a seventy-two year old Chinese woman in California go to find an appropriate boyfriend?

As Stanley’s death approaches, the Huangs are faced with unexpected challenges that upend them and eventually lead them to discover what they most value. A compelling tale of cultural expectations, career ambitions and our relationships with the people who know us best, Family Trust skewers the ambition and desires that drive Silicon Valley and draws a sharply loving portrait of modern American family life.


I found this very similar to Crazy Rich Asians and enjoyed it.



Thursday, December 20, 2018

One More and We're Outnumbered! by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott, 128 pages

Their life is hectic, filled with terrible twos, teething, and temper tantrums . . . but Darryl and Wanda wouldn't have it any other way!

Since 1990, the MacPhersons have staked their engaging claim on the comics page with their realistically wild-eyed and worn-down reaction to parenting. We watched as Wanda gave up her job to be a stay-at-home mom, wondered how the couple would handle countless sleepless nights, and laughed when they unexpectedly found themselves expecting. Now, as Zoe grows into a walking, talking toddler and newborn Hamish learns how to roll over, the couple's pride, joy, and exhaustion reaches even greater heights.

Winners of the National Cartoonists Society's Best Comic Strip of the Year for 1995, Baby Blues creators Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott continue to entertain readers around the worlds. "If there's one service that we provide, it's to let parents know that they're not alone," says Kirkman. "I think it's comforting for readers to know that no matter how unmanageable life can get for them, Darryl and Wanda probably have it worse," adds Scott.




Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Uncle Will and the Fitzgerald Curse by John D. Fitzgerald, 250 pages

This is one in a series of Non-fiction that tells the tale of the Fitzgerald family from Adenville UT. The others in the series are Papa Married A Mormon and Mama's Boarding House

The CIA's Control of Candy Jones by Donald Bain, 269 pages

In the 26 years since The Control of Candy Jones was first published, the controversy surrounding this wrenching tale of how one of America's most famous models was used by the CIA as a human guinea pig in its infamous mind control experiments, has never completely vanished. It has remained a "cult book," fueling the cause of critics of the CIA, and further defining the now proven (and accepted) thesis that the minds of certain people can be manipulated and controlled, in this instance, for evil purposes. 20th Century Fox paid significant money for it as a film vehicle for Jane Fonda, yet never produced the movie despite attempts at screenplays by three of Hollywood's best, and has refused to sell the rights to the many producers who've expressed interest in making the film. Why? The CIA attempted to suppress the book, as did one of the doctors, a physician to the stars, who spearheaded the intelligence agency's mind control experimentation. This edition, with a new foreword by the author, presents another opportunity for every concerned citizen to share the compelling tragedy suffered by Candy Jones during that dark, tumultuous period in our history known as the "Cold War." 

This was mentioned in a WWII spy novel I read as proof that spy agencies were using mind control for years. I'm not 100% convinced but I don't believe our government is above these tactics.

Monday, December 17, 2018

Mama's Boarding House by John D. Fitzgerald, 305 pages

A humorous novel full of eccentric characters and their adventures in a Utah boarding house, Fitzgerald's sequel to his enormously popular, Papa Married A Mormon. A scarce Fitzgerald title.

This is the same author of the Great Brain series. I love everything he wrote. His books are good, solid reads that are sweet and entertaining.

Sunday, December 16, 2018

I Saw Elvis in my Ultrasound by Jerry Scott and Rick Kirkman, 128 pages

"Let's name the Baby Lexus It's gender-neutral... It's unique... Plus, people will be really impressed "There go the MacPhersons," they'll say, "They have a Lexus ""When Jerry Scott and Rick Kirkman put their heads together comedy springs forth like a baby out of bath water. This cartooning duo delights readers with "I Saw Elvis in My Ultrasound."

"I Saw Elvis..." documents the day-to-day challenges Wanda and Darryl MacPherson face as they juggle the demands of raising adorable Zoe with getting ready for Bundle of Joy No. 2. The older, and somewhat wiser couple think they've got this kid business under control, only to find a whole new set of parenting problems on their hands.

Potty-training becomes "potty pleading," Wanda concludes that she's not just pregnant, she's "abdominally challenged," and Darryl admits that what he really sees in the ultrasound screen is... Elvis.




MASH by Richard Hooker, 180 pages

Before the movie, this is the novel that gave life to Hawkeye Pierce, Trapper John, Hot Lips Houlihan, Frank Burns, Radar O'Reilly, and the rest of the gang that made the 4077th MASH like no other place in Korea or on earth.
The doctors who worked in the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) during the Korean War were well trained but, like most soldiers sent to fight a war, too young for the job. In the words of the author, "a few flipped their lids, but most of them just raised hell, in a variety of ways and degrees."
For fans of the movie and the series alike, here is the original version of that perfectly corrupt football game, those martini-laced mornings and sexual escapades, and that unforgettable foray into assisted if incompleted suicide--all as funny and poignant now as they were before they became a part of America's culture and heart.

I'm glad I got my book club to read this. It's an interesting look at the book that created the show. I'm going to look at reading the other books in the series as well. 


Friday, December 14, 2018

Aunt Sookie & Me by Michael Scott Garvin, 339 pages


"Folks don’t like mess in a tidy town,” declares young Miss Poppy
Wainwright in this rollicking romp of a ride.

In Michael Scott Garvin’s Aunt Sookie & Me, he takes us on an
unforgettable journey through Savannah in the turbulent year of
1968.

Both hilarious and heartbreaking, this Southern Gothic classic
introduces us to the irrepressible Poppy and her cantankerous
ancient Aunt Sookie. All political correctness is buried alongside
the dead corpse in the family vegetable garden in the riotous book.
Garvin’s follow-up to his award-winning, best seller, A Faithful Son,
does not disappoint. The zany cast of characters in this homegrown
treat includes the proper socialites of Savannah’s upper crust, a
flamboyant ice cream man, and an ornery goat. But don’t let the
folksy and fresh recipe fool you, Garvin serves up a big helping of
reality, cutting through small-town bigotry and bias.

Through the enlightened eyes of a thirteen-year-old girl, the
hilarity and insanity ensues.

This book was fantastic. I was completely shocked by the twist this book took. I can see Rebecca totally loving this read!

Blood is Blood by Will Thomas, 308 pages

A bombing injures private enquiry agent Cyrus Barker, leaving it up to his soon-to-be-married junior partner Thomas Llewelyn to find the person trying to murder them both before it's too late—in the newest mystery in Will Thomas's beloved series.

In 19th century London, Cyrus Barker and his associate Thomas Llewelyn are renowned private enquiry agents, successfully employed by the highest levels of Her Majesty's government as well as private citizens. Their success, however, has led to their acquiring a powerful group of enemies, many of whom are determined to have their revenge.
At least one of those enemies is responsible for a bombing of their offices that puts Cyrus Barker into the hospital and endangers Thomas Llewelyn's rapidly forthcoming nuptials. To add to the confusion, Barker's long-lost brother Caleb turns up on the rubble of their doorstep not long after the not-quite-fatal bombing.
Unsure of Caleb and warned about him by Barker, Thomas reluctantly accepts Caleb's help both with a new case that comes in as well as trying to pinpoint which of Barker's enemies is making a move against them. As Thomas works his way through their enemy list, someone else is winnowing down that list: one by one those enemies are dying.
With time running out—and his bride-to-be reconsidering their marriage—Llewelyn must (with the sick-bed bound Barker's help) uncover the killer and the plot before it's too late.


Night of the Living Dad by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott, 128 pages

Now that Wanda and Darryl are pregnant again, the doting parents will be getting the baby clothes out of the attic, preparing Zoe to be a big sister, and just trying to cope with it all!

  In Night of the Living Dad from Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott, the MacPhersons deliver humor at its family-oriented best. Juggling the demands of job, home, and a baby on the way, the fatigued Wanda and Darryl have the added challenge of Zoe as she becomes a mobile toddler. She walks, she talks, and she's obsessed with the Whistling Monkey Cowboy Band!

  Like the millions of new parents who have embraced this engaging strip, the MacPhersons have found parenthood both fulfilling and frustrating. Exhausted parents everywhere are enthralled with this on-the-go couple who manage their careers and child-rearing. Mothers love Baby Blues because they know all too well how Wanda's days have changed, from career woman to Mom, especially as she prepares to add another bundle of joy to the MacPhersons' already busy household. Dads nod in recognition as Darryl tries to help out and hold down a demanding job. Everyone cherishes little Zoe for making adorable even the most exasperating childhood antics.


Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Overkilt by Kaitlyn Dunnett, 282 pages

Liss MacCrimmon’s meddlesome mother is back in Moosetookalook, Maine, to serve a hefty portion of trouble in time for Thanksgiving. But when a scandalous murder case threatens to leave Liss alone at the table, family drama takes on a terrifying new meaning . . . 
 
While Liss preps the Scottish Emporium for November’s inevitable shopping rush, other local businesses aren’t half as lucky. Year after year, her father-in-law’s rustic hotel can barely turn a profit during the stretch between autumn’s peak and ski season. Except this time, Mr. Ruskin realizes that the recipe for success lies in enticing an untapped niche clientele—childless couples desperate for a holiday away from family . . .

The unusual marketing tactic has everyone in Moosetookalook talking. Unfortunately, it also inspires a scathing social media campaign aimed at persuading tourists to boycott the hotel for affronting family values. Liss dismisses the bad publicity as being totally “overkilt”—until angry mobs fill the streets, the troublemaker who started it all turns up dead, and her loved ones are suspected of murder . . .

With so much at stake, Liss can’t possibly follow police orders to stay out of the investigation. There’s just one wee problem: saving her own clan could mean sending a friend or two behind bars. Now—partly helped, partly hindered by her difficult mother—Liss must digest a slew of unsettling clues and catch the real killer . . . or else everything she’s ever been thankful for may vanish before her eyes.


The World of Lore: Dreadful Places by Aaron Mahnke, 329 pages

Sometimes you walk into a room, a building, or even a town, and you feel it. Something seems off--an atmosphere that leaves you oddly unsettled, with a sense of lingering darkness. Join Aaron Mahnke, the host of the popular podcast Lore, as he explores some of these dreadful places and the history that haunts them.

Mahnke takes us to Colorado and the palatial Stanley Hotel, where wealthy guests enjoyed views of the Rocky Mountains at the turn of the twentieth century--and where, decades later, a restless author would awaken from a nightmare, inspired to write one of the most revered horror novels of all time. Mahnke also crosses land and sea to visit frightful sites--from New Orleans to Richmond, Virginia, to the brooding, ancient castles of England--each with its own echoes of dark deeds, horrible tragedies, and shocking evil still resounding.

Filled with evocative illustrations, this eerie tour of lurid landmarks and doomed destinations is just the ticket to take armchair travelers with a taste for the macabre to places they never thought they'd visit in their wildest, scariest dreams.

These books have been so-so for me. I would prefer to have less places covered and get more indepth for them. But if you're looking for short, sweet and lightly scary, this would fit perfectly.

Death of a Neighborhood Scrooge by Laura Levine, 248 pages

Freelance writer Jaine Austen is feeling festive about spending Christmas house-sitting at a posh Bel Air mansion, accompanied by her friend Lance and her cat, Prozac. But when a grumpy neighbor gets himself iced, she’ll have to find the culprit or she may spend the New Year in jail . . . 
Scotty Parker is a former child star who once played Tiny Tim, but now he’s grown up into the role of neighborhood Scrooge. He cuts the wires on his neighbors’ Christmas lights and tells local kids that Santa had a stroke. And his miserly, bah-humbug attitude lasts year-round—a fact known all too well by his current wife, his ex-wife, his maid, and many more.

Scotty thinks he can stage a comeback with the screenplay he’s working on (The Return of Tiny Tim: Vengeance Is Mine!), and Jaine’s been reluctantly helping him edit it. So when Scotty is bludgeoned with a frozen chocolate yule log and the police start making a list of suspects and checking it twice, Jaine’s name is unfortunately included. True, she’s been under some stress, with Lance trying to set her up on dates and her fickle feline taking a sudden liking to someone else—but she’s not guilty of murder. Now she just has to prove it, by using her gift for detection and figuring out who committed this holiday homicide.

This is always a nice, fluffy mystery to read. My favorite part is always the emails from her parents.


Friday, December 7, 2018

We Are Experiencing Parental Difficulties...Please Stand By by Jerry Scott and Rick Kirkman, 128 pages

"We Are Experiencing Parental Difficulties...Please Stand By" is the fifth Baby Blues collection from creators Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott. In the pair's lovingly realistic way, the book captures the continuing challenges Darryl and Wanda face as Zoe begins to walk, talk, and take over the remote control.



Thursday, December 6, 2018

Hocus Pocus & the All-New Sequel by A. W. Jantha, 522 pages

Hocus Pocus is beloved by Halloween enthusiasts all over the world. Diving once more into the world of witches, this electrifying two-part young adult novel, released on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1993 film, marks a new era of Hocus Pocus. Fans will be spellbound by a fresh retelling of the original film, followed by the all-new sequel that continues the story with the next generation of Salem teens.

Shortly after moving from California to Salem, Massachusetts, Max Dennison finds himself in hot water when he accidentally releases a coven of witches, the Sanderson sisters, from the afterlife. Max, his sister, and his new friends (human and otherwise) must find a way to stop the witches from carrying out their evil plan and remaining on earth to torment Salem for all eternity.

Twenty-five years later, Max and Allison's seventeen-year-old daughter, Poppy, finds herself face-to-face with the Sanderson sisters in all their sinister glory. When Halloween celebrations don't quite go as planned, it's a race against time as Poppy and her friends fight to save her family and all of Salem from the witches' latest death-defying scheme.




Lark! The Herald Angels Sing by Donna Andrews, 279 pages

It’s Christmastime in Caerphilly and Meg, full of holiday spirit, is helping out with the town's festivities. While directing a nativity pageant and herding the children participating in it, she finds a surprise in the manger: a live baby.

A note from the mother, attached to the baby girl’s clothes, says that it’s time for her father to take care of her―and implicates Meg’s brother, Rob, as the father. And while a DNA test can reveal whether there's any truth to the accusation, Rob's afraid the mere suspicion could derail his plan to propose to the woman he loves. Meg quickly realizes it's up to her to find the baby's real identity.

She soon discovers that the baby―named Lark according to the fateful note―may be connected to something much bigger. Something that eventually puts a growing number of Meg’s friends and family in danger. And before long, Meg realizes she can’t fix things single-handedly. Meanwhile, a war is brewing between Caerphilly and its arch-rival Clay County―and it's not a snowball fight. Can Meg bring everyone together in time for the holidays?


Monday, December 3, 2018

Murder in her Stocking by G.A. McKevett, 324 pages

As the Moonlight Magnolia Agency revisits old memories on Christmas Eve, Granny Reid takes the reins back thirty years to the 1980s--back when she went by Stella, everyone's hair was bigger, and sweaters were colorful disasters. But murder never went out of style . . .

Christmas has arrived in sleepy McGill, Georgia, but holiday cheer can't keep temperamental Stella Reid from swinging a rolling pin at anyone who crosses her bad side--and this season, there are plenty. First an anonymous grinch vandalizes a celebrated nativity display. Far worse, the scandalous Prissy Carr is found dead in an alley behind a tavern. With police puzzled over the murder, Stella decides to stir the local gossip pot for clues on the culprit's identity . . .

Turns out Prissy held a prominent spot on the naughty list, and suspects pile up like presents on Christmas morning. Unfortunately, the more progress Stella makes, the more fears she must confront. With a neighbor in peril and the futures of her beloved grandchildren at risk, Stella must somehow set everything straight and bring a cunning criminal to justice before December 25th . . .
 


Sunday, December 2, 2018

Papa Married A Mormon by John D. Fitzgerald, 298 pages

Born in Price, Utah, in 1907 to a Scandinavian Mormon mother and an Irish Catholic father, he grew up influenced by both cultures. He left Utah behind at age eighteen, working at such varied jobs as playing in a jazz band, working in a bank, and serving as an overseas newspaper correspondent. At the time of his first break into the national literary scene, he was a purchaser for a steel company in California. Fitzgerald began writing Papa Married a Mormon, a family history about his boyhood, to fulfill a promise made to his mother on her death-bed. She implored him to tell the story of those who settled the west. Not so much a story of the Mormons, but of the people themselves – specifically Fitzgerald’s family and members of the Mormon/Gentile community in which they lived.

Set in the fictional southern Utah community of Adenville, Fitzgerald creates a nostalgic picture of small town life in early 1900s. The story tells of the conflicts between the Mormons and gentiles within the community, and how leaders on both sides managed to unify the town, despite their differences and animosities. Because many parts of the book are similar in prose to Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn novels, Papa Married a Mormon fits the mold of a Victorian look at an era long gone.