Creepy Irish ghost story...

Three dead women are found by the postman in a house at the end of a lane, in a small town just outside Dublin. One woman died from having her head bashed in, presumably by the shovel found upstairs, next to the emaciated bodies of her two nieces who had been imprisoned, fed rat poison, and slowly starved to death. Shortly after the grisly discovery, Niall, an aspiring graphic artist who works at the post office, finds an unclaimed package in the dead letter bin, mailed by Fiona Walsh (one of the dead girls) to "anyone at all" in the post office. It turns out to be Fiona's diary, and once Niall opens the book and begins to read, he is dragged into a world of fairy tales and evil. Fiona and her sisters grew up in a town in West Cork, and Niall goes there to follow the story.

How much of the tale is fanciful or exaggerated? How much is just a romantic telling of something very real and horrible? Fiona and her sister are dead -- and so is their Aunt Moira. They all had been involved with a traveling storyteller named Jim. And it is Jim's story that forms the spellbinding tale which leads to the final chapter of doom.

Read this one with the lights turned down low -- to get into the mood of horror and things-that-go-bump-in-the-night. Or keep all the lights on to their full brightness so you won't get too freaked out. I give this book 3 1/2 stars for spinning such an intriguing yarn.

Appearances can be deceiving

Yet ANOTHER book using the currently-popular writing style of two stories told concurrently in alternating chapters, which eventually merge as the author slowly reveals the common elements. And though I found myself initially irritated by the style, the story grabbed me, and I found myself staying up late and trying to find stray moments to pick up this book to continue reading.

Each of the two stories is about a mother immersed in the early months of parenthood. Lexie Sinclair (aka Alexandra) is tempestuous, fiercely independent, and bright. At 18, she left Devon for postwar London and was soon deeply involved in the art scene - living in Soho, writing as a critic for a magazine, and deeply in love. Fifty years later Elina is an Finnish artist who just had a baby with her boyfriend Ted. She almost died during delivery, and can't remember anything about her life before the baby. Ted is having his own memory issues -- he is starting to remember disturbing new things about his early childhood.

I love the "period piece" descriptions of 1950's London, the dreamy writing style, and generally the language of the book. The characters came alive, and the story was gripping.

4 out of 4 stars

A new year for sharing about books

Stop by the RB Library to pick up a book for those odd moments when you have a free moment. Or for a weekend's relaxation. Or for an SSR requirement assigned by a teacher. The librarians would be happy to help you choose a book you would enjoy.

Did you read any good books this past summer? I did. (though I also had a great time camping, biking, and spending some quality time with my kids - one got married, two moved to Chicago, one has a beautiful son that I spend time with whenever I get a chance) But I escaped into some great books, too. See my summaries below. (and share YOUR favorites in a reply comment!)

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is the third book in the series about the mysterious Lisbeth Salander, multiply-tattooed computer hacker who was featured in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire.

Faithful Place is the third book by Irish author Tana French, who previously gained worldwide fame with her thrilling mysteries In the Woods and The Likeness. This one is her best so far. It tells the story of Frank, who has for years distanced himself from his "crazy" family - only to be pulled back into their midst when the body of his old girlfriend is discovered in an abandoned house on his childhood street, called Faithful Place. He had always believed that the girlfriend had dumped him and run off to England alone. As an experienced detective, he is prepared to run an investigation - but is he prepared for all the drama and trauma his family brings to the situation?

Jerk, California is one of the Abraham Lincoln High School Book Award nominees for 2011. What I liked about this one is that I felt like I gained some understanding of Tourette's Syndrome beyond the stereotypes. Sam experiences uncontrollable twitches, which sometimes build up to seizures. His stepfather is ashamed of his condition, and continually

berates him and tells him that his father was a deadbeat deserter. But then Sam meets George, who knew his father, and he begins to learn the truth about his past - including the fact that his real name is Jack. And he is launched on a cross-country journey of discovery.

There are many more summer books to write about - stay tuned for regular updates!

She kicks *#%*!

Katsa is the king's enforcer, due to her "Grace," (i.e. talent or gift), which is an unusual ability to fight. He sends her off to "convince" his subjects to pay their taxes, or to punish them if they don't give him what he wants. You may get the picture that this king is not such a nice guy. But he is Katsa's uncle, and has raised her. Her uncle, King Randa of the Middluns, is no worse than many of the kings of the surrounding countries - they all vie for power. Now 18, Katsa has started an underground movement called The Council which tries to counteract some of the abuses of the kings.

On one mission for the Council, Katsa and some friends are rescuing a kidnapped old man, the father of the King of Lienid, kept captive in the dungeons of the king of Sunder. And that's where Katsa meets Po, a mysterious fighter who also has two differently-colored eyes, just like her -- which means that he also is Graced. But what is his grace? And how will their futures overlap? As Katsa tries to evade the power of her uncle king, she becomes wrapped up in the intrigue between neighboring countries. And she discovers that Po could be a friend - or maybe something more.

I loved this book, and hope that it will be the start of a great new series. The characters evolve, the mysteries are captivating, and the problems are real in spite of the obvious fantasy-world setting. This is one of the Abraham Lincoln Award nominees for 2011.

3 out of 4 stars.

The 60's weren't all about the hippies!

As the "elder librarian" at RB, I was actually ALIVE during the 1960's. Involved in school, softball, my friends, family activities, and so on, I was barely aware of life outside of Illinois - and I lived in a town with very little diversity. In other words, I led an unrealistic and sheltered life. The big news was about Kennedy's assassination, the increasing drug use (especially out in California, where the hippies were!), the space race against the Russians, and the protests against the Vietnam War. I don't remember hearing much about the Civil Rights movement (other than a unit in my U.S. History class in about 1969) until I was an adult. I didn't know any African Americans, and their problems were remote -- it was like hearing about wars and unrest in other countries.

The Help, a first novel by Kathryn Stockett, does an amazing job of making the Civil Rights era come alive. First of all, it doesn't read like a history lesson, a moralistic tale, or a documentary. It's a wonderful story surrounding three very strong female characters in Jackson, Mississippi.

Eugenia ("Skeeter") Phelan has just graduated from college and wants to be a writer. Having failed to get a job, she has reluctantly returned to her parents' plantation home and drops right back into her social group of women who spend their days at the country club, at card parties, shopping, or visiting with friends. She resents being under the thumb of her very-controlling mother, who wants only to see her engaged or married. Skeeter sets out to assert her independence by getting a job writing a housekeeping column in the local paper. However, she knows NOTHING about keeping house -- and so she turns to:

Aibileen, the housekeeper for one of Skeeter's friends. (Of course, Aibileen can't say No when Skeeter asks for her help!) They meet in secret so that Skeeter can pump Aibileen for "tricks of the trade" to include in her column. As they speak, Skeeter becomes increasingly aware of the perspective of the black domestic help who toil for the whites - they are "trusted to raise the white children, but not to polish the household silver." (Publisher's Weekly) Aibileen has raised 17 white children, but, we discover later in the novel, she leaves them when they lose their toddler innocence and "color blindness". As Skeeter's awareness of the rampant racism grows, she decides to write about it in a collection of essays, each one about a different housekeeper, cook, maid, or other domestic worker in town. To recruit more subjects for her book, she needs the help of:

Minnie, Aibileen's best friend, who has been fired from many jobs through the years because of her habit of mouthing off to her white employers.

One thing I liked about the book was its unpredictable turns -- so I'm not going to say much more about the story line -- but I will praise the character development. It would be too easy to make these women cardboard cutouts to represent the cause of civil rights, or to represent a stereotype of a kind of person, just to build a convincing story. But each of these women is so much more - and we slowly discover things about them throughout the story which make them deep and real.

As the women take incredible risks to continue to meet and share their stories, we also hear news headlines of the day - about Martin Luther King's peace march on Washington, DC, about the bombing of the church in Birmingham, Alabama which killed four little girls, about efforts to integrate the schools, etc. - and we realize that change was brought about by such brave people as the women in this book. Not by the laws, but by the people who caused those laws to be enforced.

Highly recommended -- 4 out of 4 stars