Conflicted feelings

Lots happening at work, both jobs, and I'm still trying to decide how I feel about things. I won't go into any great detail, as I value my careers - and I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. But yeah...lots going on.

On the one hand, I'm sort of relieved about some of it. It takes a decision out of my hands, one I've been contemplating for a while. On the other hand, I'm not entirely sure I'm ready for this to be the decision. If that makes any sense, which is probably doesn't without all the facts. And it could be temporary anyway, so who knows what will happen.

The other thing I'm dealing with is jealousy. Well, I guess that's what I'm feeling. I don't really know, as I know I didn't want what someone else got. But I'm still a bit...hm...cranky? about it. I think it's because I was asked to move from what I'd always known - and was still working hard to improve - to a whole new situation, but without any increase in pay. Yep. More responsibilities, more staff, longer drive, new everything - but nothing on the money front. Now, I've always been one of those people that will do what needs to be done. I'm not a slacker. And while I get that the move means management has faith in me and my abilities, and while I'm actually getting to like my new assignment, I'm still feeling...upset? rankled? frustrated? by some other things that are happening. Or not, as the case may be. I think I'm jealous of someone else, but can you be jealous when you didn't want a certain position/assignment in the first place? That's my quandary this morning, trying to define how I feel.

Of course, in the end, it doesn't really matter how I feel. Not about any of this. They're just jobs, in the end, ways to make money to do the thing I really want to do, which is make a life with my hubby. Be able to take a vacation every year. Have some nice weekends off with him. And provide for our furry overlord, aka the cat. And now that I've written that, I realize that is what I should be focused on - making the life I want to have. I can't change anything that's happened, or that's happening. I can only control how I react to things. Which means I should stop thinking so much, get myself another cup of tea, grab my book (currently reading Spring Fever by Mary Kay Andrews - love her!) and sign off the computer for a while. Yes...sounds like plan. :-)

Birthday Boy

It's Friday, and it's also my hubby's birthday. I took the day off to spend it with him, then ended up agreeing to some work time in the morning (a meeting that's kind of important). He said it was OK, seeing as how he has every intention of sleeping in this morning. Still, I feel a bit bad - I promised to spend the day with him.

I'm still working on balancing work and home. Thanks to his illness 4 years ago, when I almost became a widow, I know how important balance is. Much as I love my job, he comes first. To me, that is what marriage is about - putting your partner first.

Anyway, Happy Birthday to Hubby, and Happy Friday to all!

Strange book

I'm reading The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones, and it finally got interesting. And very weird. It only took almost two hundred pages for that to happen, far more than I usually give a book. Not to mention the novel is only fifty-nine pages longer than that - I've read over two-thirds of the book already! It's very, very British, set in 1912, and involves a somewhat well-to-do family who may be losing their beloved estate, Sterne. It's Emerald's birthday, and there's supposed to be a party attended by a close friend of Emerald's and that friend's mother. However, things do not go as planned; there's a train wreck, and suddenly the family is being asked to house a group from the accident. A mysterious stranger also shows up at Sterne (cliche, but necessary), a man who obviously has some ties to the family - or the house - in some way.

As I said, I usually give books about fifty pages, then give up. I kept going with this one, and for the life of me, I really don't know why. It's been frustrating to read, as the punctuation is driving me batty! Lots of things I've been taught not to do/use when writing, such as colons and semi-colons in dialog. And the commas! Tons and tons of commas, as if the writer took them by the handful and just threw them across the page - and on every page. Maddening - and yet I kept reading.

It's nice that there's been some vindication to keep going. However, I'm not entirely sure where the story will end up. I could still be horribly disappointed, and then realize I spent a good week or so on this book for nothing. Time will tell...

Hm...

I finally logged in here for the first time in quite a while. Realized I haven't written or posted anything in, wow, almost 3 months. So I'm once again pondering what to do with this site. Keep trying to do the book review thing? Try something new, go off in a different direction? Maybe more about my work life/library stuff?

Or just shut it down entirely? Since I sort of think no one is really out here reading it anymore anyway.

Hm...

Decision time, I guess.

The Sound and the Furry by Spencer Quinn

When Chet and Bernie happen upon a prison work crew that includes Frenchie Boutette, an old criminal pal they sent up the river, getting a new case is the last thing they expect. But Frenchie, who comes from an old Louisiana family full of black sheep, needs help finding his one law-abiding relative, his brother Ralph, a reclusive inventor who has gone missing with his houseboat. Though he's temped to take another job (with a big payday) in Alaska, Bernie decides to set course for the bayous of Louisiana, a trip that will introduce Chet to a world of sights, smells, and tastes that are like nothing he's ever encountered.

Out in bayou country, Chet and Bernie meet the no-good Boutette family and their ancient enemies, the maybe-even-worse Robideaus, and at first it seems as if Ralph's disappearance is connected to a dispute over a load of stolen shrimp. but when Chet uncovers a buried clue, the investigation heads in a dangerous new direction involving the oil business and an impending environmental catastrophe. The more Chet and Bernie discover about Ralph, the more treacherous the job becomes, and soon they're fighting not only Big Oil, but also shadowy black ops figures, a violent biker gang from back home, and Iko - a legendary bayou gator with a seemingly insatiable appetite. Meanwhile, deep under the Gulf, the pressure just keeps building.

With top-notch suspense, humor, and genuine insight into the ways our canine companions think and behave - all set against a rollicking new Louisiana backdrop - The Sound and the Furry will make you howl in delight. 

There really isn't much I can say, except it's another great entry in one of my favorite series. I liked that Chet got to describe lots of different smells, especially the ones relating to water. Living in the desert, most of the books don't go into wet smells, just Bernie's rants about the aquifer and such.

I was surprised by one of the relationships, and thought it was very cool of the author to include it. And I love, love, love Chet's way of explaining how alligators smell!

F in Exams: the very best totally wrong test answers by Richard Benson

Everyone's been there. You study hard. The big test arrives. You turn over the paper...and you draw a total blank. Not a clue. 

Collected in this book are examples of the more creative and hilarious ways that students have tackled those particularly challenging exam questions.

An incredibly short but funny book, the sort of thing that takes you maybe 30 minutes to read. Just be sure you're among friends if you're reading it around other people, as you will be laughing out loud - and you don't want people thinking you're weird. Also good to be reading around friends as you'll definitely want to share some of the crazy answers. You can tell some of the test takers just didn't care that they didn't know the answer; they have fun making up stuff. Some of the answers are so wrong, they make you weep for the future of our youth. And then there are the misspellings that lead to hilarity, such as the following question/answer:

"What were Jesus' closest group of followers known as?"

"The 12 decibels"


Great for a good laugh. And yes, I completely relate, as I can remember blanking out on a test question or two in my day.

My Planet: Finding humor in the oddest places by Mary Roach

Follow New York Times bestselling author Mary Roach - but be careful not to trip - as she weaves through personal anecdotes and everyday musings riddled with her uncanny wit and amazingly analytical eye. These essays, which found a well-deserved home within the pages of Reader's Digest as the column "My Planet," detail the inner workings of hypochondriacs, hoarders, and compulsive cheapskates. (Did we mention neurotic interior designers and professional list makers?) For Roach, humor is hidden in the most unlikely places, which means that nothing is off limits. Whether she is dwelling on her age or talking about the pros and cons of a bedroom night light - "A married couple can best be defined as a unit of people whose sleep habits are carefully engineered to keep each other awake" - Roach finds a lesson, a slice of sarcasm, or a dash of something special that makes each day comical and absolutely priceless.

Full disclosure before the review: I listened to this as an audio book, rather than reading it as I usually would (in a physical book). I've recently taken on a new assignment through work, and now have alternating 10 and 16 mile drives back and forth to home. I thought maybe it was time I gave audio books another try, as my previous assignment, at only 4 miles from our apartment, barely gave me time to listen to one song on the radio. After trying this particular title, I can't say I'm sold yet on the idea.


I love Roach, ever since reading her first book Stiff: The curious lives of human cadavers. She's got a really neat way of looking at things, and a nice writing style - never dumbed down, yet always accessible. So it threw me for a loop when I found myself nearly nodding off at this audio version of her short vignettes (and that's definitely not something you want to do while driving!) I think it's not so much the words as the presentation. I've been told that the narrator makes or breaks the audio book, and in this case, well...for myself, it was a case of break. Angela Dawe is, I'm sure, a very nice person, and probably does some excellent work in film, TV, stage, and possibly other audio books (all talents of hers according to her bio on the back of the case). But I think she was the wrong choice for this title. She reminded me a lot of the voice you hear when you call your bank, the automated teller. And that's to her advantage for one of the tracks, "42 minutes" where she recites Roach's typical interaction with the automated voice of her credit card company. For that track, Dawe was perfect. For the others? Not so much.

The other thing I had a hard time with was the fact that 3 of the 4 cds ended in the middle of a story. Why? None of the tracks is particularly long, and when I got to the forth cd, I was shocked that it was over after 16 tracks - most of the other cds ran at 20 or so. Why not take those three interrupted stories and put them on that last disc? I've been told that sometimes the audio publishers do it this way, sometimes they don't. All I know is that I found it weird, distracting, and incredibly inconvenient - I mean, hello! I'm driving and you want me to switch discs all of the sudden?

Overall, I can't say whether the book itself is good or not. I think it is, but I'll reserve that judgment until I read it. In a nice cozy chair, using the voice inside my head. As for the audio version, I didn't care for it. I'll give one more title a try (maybe something in fiction) before I give up, but I'm leaning toward the "I'm just not a fan of audio books" school of reading.

Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen, and Candy Stripe Nurses: Roger Corman, King of the B Movie by Chris Nahawaty

[This book] is a rollicking account of the life and career of Roger Corman - one of the most prolific independent producers, directors, and writers of all time. Known for low-budget cult classics such as Little Shop of Horrors (1960), Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979), and Galaxy of Terror (1981), Corman is the self-proclaimed king of the B movie, and it is thanks to his films that actors like Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson found the limelight.

As told by Corman himself and by the showbiz legends that got their starts alongside him, [this book] provides a comprehensive oral history of more than six decades of American cinema. Renowned directors and actors including Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert de Niro, and Peter Bogdanovich candidly recount working with Corman in the years before their big breaks, as if trading anecdotes at a Hollywood cocktail party.

Brimming with never-before-published behind-the-scenes photographs and ephemera drawn from Corman's personal archive, [this book] provides an unprecedented glimpse into the world of a film legend. Full-page reproductions of classic Corman movie posters trace his impressive filmography, and critical essays on Corman's most daring and influential films - including The Intruder (1951), The Masque of the Red Death (1964), Boxcar Bertha (1972), and The Big Doll House (1971) - make the case for Corman as an artist like no other. [This book] is the definitive chronicle of a singular career and personality - the giddy, fun-filled companion to a Roger Corman drive-in retrospective. 

I've always been a fan of Roger Corman, but after reading this book, I'm also inspired by the man. I knew about some of his movies, having grown up watching them, but wow! The man is literally unstoppable, a true work-horse, and an innovator in every sense of the word. And still making/producing movies today, in his mid 80s! I had no idea just how long he'd been in the business, nor did I know how many people he helped out along the way. Granted, his tactics weren't always the most popular, but his credentials are impressive (bring up his page on IMDB and there's over 400 entries listing him as producer. Four hundred plus.)

The movies of his I love best are the ones based on Edgar Allan Poe stories, starring Vincent Price. Back when I was in grade school, our local NBC affiliate (WTHR, Channel 13 - back in the days before cable) showed movies at 4 pm weekday afternoons. I would race home when it was Price week, as they almost always pulled out all the Corman flicks: Masque of the Red Death, The Pit and the Pendulum, House of Usher...all fabulous films with one of my favorite horror movie actors, very atmospheric and creepy. Never mind that I was young enough that the plots were sometimes over my head. Those movies made a big impact on me. Of course, Corman would have been happier if I had somehow bought copies of those flicks, as he was always looking to make money on his movies.

And make money he did. The things I learned from this wonderful love letter (because that's really what it is - a love letter from a fan) are amazing, such as the fact that Corman almost never lost money on his films, able to produce/direct/distribute at a profit. Think about that for a moment. At least 90% of the time, maybe even 95%, he made a profit. What other Hollywood type can say that? Corman worked his casts and crews to the bone, always asking them to do as much as was humanly possible in the least amount of time for very little dough. Many of the actors/directors/other staff quoted mention how they "survived" the Corman School of Filmmaking, not a real school but the very experience of working with/for Roger. And work they did, grueling schedules on shoots plagued with problems.

And yet, everyone interviewed speaks of their time at Roger's feet with love and admiration. I would liken it to summer camp or something similar. Also, not many people worked with/for Roger more than one or two films, specifically if they showed talent; Corman himself would tell them it was time to move on. He showed them the ropes, gave them a crash course education, and then kicked them out of the nest. He did what any good manager should do - he grew his people so that they could move up in the business. And grow them he did, lots of very famous names, such as those listed in the book blurb, not to mention the women he mentored: actresses like Pam Grier and Angie Dickinson to directors like Penelope Spheeris, Amy Holden Jones, Deborah Brock, and Katt Shea. He gave women a chance when others simply wanted them for their...um...assets. Roger knew they had assets, and not the ones that were visible. He truly broke new ground, and did it over and over again.

If you're a film fan, this book is for you. If you're a B movie fan, this book is for you. And if you're a Roger Corman fan, this book is definitely for you. Big, beautiful, and yes, even a bit cheesy at times. Everything that makes a Corman film a Corman film.

The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell

Rose Baker seals men's fates. With a few strokes of the keys that sit before her, she can send a person away for life in prison. A typist in the New York City Police Department, Rose is like a high priestess. Confessions are her job. The criminals admit to their transgressions, and Rose records their crimes.

But 1923 is a confusing time for Rose. Gone are the Victorian standards of what is acceptable. All around her women bob their hair short, they smoke, they go to speakeasies. Yet prudish Rose is stuck in the fading light of yesteryear. When glamorous Odalie, a new girl, joins the typing pool, despite her best intentions Rose falls under Odalie's spell. And soon her fascination with Odalie turns into an obsession from which she may never recover.

This is one of those really good books that drives you nuts once you reach the end. In many ways, I'm reminded of when I read The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson; when I finished that book (which is awesome!) I realized that I wasn't sure I'd read the story correctly. And that's how The Other Typist feels - I'm not sure I read the story right. If I had the time, I'd love to go through it again, see if I can figure it out. Because it's one of those books, with not only an unreliable narrator, but also an ambiguous ending.

However, it's a very well written book. Rindell has done a wonderful job capturing the feel/flavor of Prohibition New York, of the start of the flappers, and of the underground world of the speakeasies. And she did an excellent, and creepy, job of showing how a mild-mannered, by-the-book person like Rose could fall under the spell of someone who seems to have it all, falling so hard as wanting to be like her. The story is told in first person POV, which is really the only way to write the unreliable narrator. At times, Rose comes across like one of the nuns that helped raise her in the orphanage - cold, unfeeling, unwavering, and frankly, not very nice/likable. At other times, though, her yearning for a good friend (a "bosom-friend" as she keeps referring to Odalie), for a home, for a family, is just heartbreaking. You, as the reader, can completely understand why she does some of the things she does - she so wants someone, anyone, to love her.

A very interesting book, and thankfully, a debut novel. Which means that Rindell will hopefully have many more books to come.

All She Wrote by Josh Lanyon

A murderous fall down icy stairs is nearly the death of Anna Hitchcock, the much-beloved "American Agatha Christie" and Christopher Holmes's former mentor. Anna's plea for him to host her annual winter writing retreat touches all Kit's sore spots - traveling, teaching writing classes, and separation from his new lover, J.X. Moriarity.

For J.X., Kit's cancellation of yet another romantic weekend is the death knell of a relationship that has been limping along for months. But that's just as well, right? Kit isn't ready for anything serious and besides, Kit owe Anna far too much to refuse.

Faster than you can say "Miss Marple wears boxer shorts", Kit is snooping around Anna's elegant, snowbound mansion in the Berkshires for clues as to who's trying to kill her. A tough task with six amateur sleuths underfoot. Six budding writers with a tangled web of dark undercurrents running among them.

Slowly, Kit gets the uneasy feeling that the secret may lie between the pages of someone's fictional past. Unfortunately, a clever killer is one step ahead. And it may be too late for J.X. to ride to the rescue.

This is the second book in Lanyon's Holmes & Moriarity series, and it's a pretty fun read. Plenty of red herrings, and also lots of danger, as well as exploring the on-again-off-again relationship of Kit and J.X.

There's the usual cast of characters that one would expect from a writers' retreat (or what I imagine would be the usual cast of characters): the ingenue, Nella House, a young 20-ish something who shows promise as a writer, someone that Anna has said she'll take under her wing; the cold fish, Poppy C. Clarke, who dresses in manly clothes and may have had her ex-husband killed; the tenant, Victoria Sherwell, a writer living in a cabin on Anna's estate; the chubby guy, Rowland Bride, who is rather heavyset, always looks "hot" as in perspiring hot, and who obviously has a crush on young Nella; the cool, biker-looking writer, Arthur Gohring, whom no one knows anything about; the PA, Sara Mason, who has been with Anna several years now - and who writes "for herself"; the longtime editor, Rudolph Dunst, who might have a less-than-professional relationship with his author, Anna; the obnoxious stepson, Ricky, who stands to inherit quite a tidy sum of money and his deceased father's catalog of work - but only once his stepmother is dead; and the ever-lurking handyman, Luke, who is young, an ex-con, and might be tending more than Anna's outside gardens.

It's a lot of characters to keep up with, but Lanyon does a nice job of developing them enough that the reader has no trouble remembering who is who. Plus, said characters start dying pretty quickly, which helps us not only keep track of the players, but emotionally invests us in Kit's investigation. Because he is also in danger, suffering injuries in a fatal car wreck early in the book. He needs to find out if someone really is trying to kill Anna, or if her accidents are just that - a series of very unfortunate events that have her imagining assassins around every corner.

J.X. shows up after the car wreck, and that's where things really take off. Kit's lover has his former profession, that of law enforcement, on his side when trying to explain that sometimes, an accident is just that - an accident. J.X. obviously cares greatly for Kit; it's Kit who is holding back, fearing their age difference (only 5 years, but when you turn 40, any difference feels pretty big), J.X.'s fame (he's also a writer now, and pens very popular, bestselling, "utterly readable" thrillers), and his, Kit's, own writers block. Kit's series starring Miss Butterwith has been around for twenty some years, and much as he loves her and her cat (and her very obviously gay male friend), he's running out of ideas for her. He seems a bit bored with her, but also afraid to try something new. And yes, every time I read Miss Butterwith, I think of the syrup, Mrs. Butterworth. Hard not to, and then I want some pancakes. Hm...

But I digress. The mystery was pretty well-written, and I didn't realize whodunnit until pretty much the very end. I read a few reviews on Amazon where people thought Kit complained/worried too much about the possibility of losing J.X. Well, who wouldn't? Kit's ex-husband, David, had left him for a younger man, and that's gotta hurt, no matter who you are. J.X. is written to be smokin' hot, while Kit thinks of himself (and as such, so do we, the reader), as pretty much an ordinary 40-ish, middle-aged man. Not too firm, but not too flabby, having trouble seeing small print, not bouncing back from things nearly as quickly as he used to. I can see where he'd be nervous about letting J.X. get too close...and I thought this installment moved along their relationship very nicely.

Overall, my only disappointment was that a few characters were introduced, became part of the mystery, then just sort of disappeared. I would love to know what happened to them, and what their exact relationships with Anna were. Oh well. Can't have everything!

Hello 2014!

As always, my first promise is to keep up with this blog. OK, to do better at keeping up with this blog. Oh, alright, to at least post once a month on this blog.

I didn't make my reading goal of 2013 of 100 books - only made it to 75, maybe 76. It's hard to keep track; I use two different online bookshelf sites, and they don't always have every title available. Either way, I didn't succeed. Then again, 75 or 76 books is still nothing to sniff at. I've already set my goal of 100 books for this year on both sites, and wonder of wonders, I've already finished one book. And it's only the 2nd day of January!

Big changes are happening in my work life. I've been reassigned to a branch pairing in my library system, so I'll be responsible for two branches, two communities, and of course, all new staff (all new to me, that is). I've been at my current branch for 11 years. It's where I started my library career, and it's been very hard, the idea of leaving the people behind. And, since I work for county government, and one that is still struggling with very skeletal budgets, there is no raise for taking on more responsibility. In fact, we had to pick up a second car, so according to my husband, we're actually losing money with this move. Oh well - I still have a job, and that is definitely nothing to sneeze at (as anyone working in a library knows).

My hopes for 2014 include lots of great books, hopefully at least one good vacation, and to finish the year off still sane and maybe even 10 pounds lighter. Hey, it could happen! My hopes for you, my (very few) readers, is that you stick with me, don't give up on me, and that you have lots of great books in your future, too.

Notes From Ghost Town by Kate Ellison

When sixteen-year-old artist Olivia Tithe is visited by the ghost of her first love, Lucas Stern, it's only through scattered images and notes left behind that she can unravel the mystery of his death. But there's a catch: Olivia has gone color-blind, and there's a good chance she's losing her mind completely - just like her mother did. How else to explain seeing (and falling in love all over again with) someone who isn't really there? With the murder trail looming just nine days away, Olivia must follow her heart to the truth, no matter how painful. It's the only way she can save herself.

 As much as I loved The Butterfly Clues, I can't say the same for this second novel from Kate Ellison. Olivia isn't nearly as strong a character as Lo, and the romance here wasn't "sweet" to me like a lot of other reviewers on Amazon. Part of the problem, too, is that Lucas is dead when the story starts, so we don't really get to know him as Olivia does - we just know him as the ghost that she knows.

Also disappointing was that I had the mystery figured out quickly, the whodunit part, anyway. The why of it all wasn't entirely satisfactory, either - felt like a very stereotypical sort of why, but with no real clues about it beforehand.

Overall, the only relationship I enjoyed in this book was the one between Olivia and her soon-to-be stepsister, Wynn. That felt very real and also very sweet, and I would have liked to have seen more of that on the page. Very sad that this sophomore offering from Ellison is just sort of there, very predictable, and not really what I think of as a good book.

Johannes Cabal the Detective by Jonathan L. Howard

Jonathan Howard’s sly humor, cunning intelligence, and wacky sense of the absurd are on display in this riotously clever tale of murder and international intrigue. In [the first book of the series],  Cabal beat the Devil at his own game and was reunited with his long-lost soul. This new madcap adventure tale catches up with the indefatigable sociopath and necromancer in a remote corner of the world and on the run from the local government.

               The fact that he stole a precious and mysterious book that had been under lock and key iin a university library has not endeared him to the militaristic aristocrats who run the backward country he finds himself in. “Borrowing” (ahem) the identity of a minor bureaucrat, Cabal flees on the Princess Hortense, a passenger aeroship that is leaving the country. The deception seems perfect, and Cabal looks forward to a quiet trip and a clean escape. He is to be disappointed.

               On the first night in the air, a fellow passenger throws himself to his death, or at least that is how it appears. To Cabal’s pathologically tidy mind, however, there are a few bothersome inconsistencies, and he begins to investigate out of curiosity. His minor efforts at detective work result in a vicious attempt on his own life—and then the gloves come off.

               Cabal and a fellow passenger—the feisty and beautiful (not to mention equally determined) Leonie Barrow—reluctantly team up to discover the murderer. Before they are done, there will be more deaths. There will be narrow escapes involving sword fighting and newfangled flying machines. There will be massive destruction. There will be hilarity, not to mention resurrected dead…

 

A pretty decent entry in the series. It's been quite a while since I read the original (Johannes Cabal the Necromancer), so it was nice that the author reminded me of a few things from that work. I had completely forgotten who Leonie was (she was in the first book), and even with the backstory provided again, it didn't occur to me very often that it would be ironic for these two to team up.

I don't really know why the word "hilarity" is used in the book blurb, though. Some of the story is mildly humorous, but I don't really remember laughing much. Hm. Guess humor, like a lot of things, is in the mind of the beholder. Also, this is considered to be in the steampunk genre, which seems sort of odd to me. Then again, I haven't read a lot of steampunk, so maybe I'm not really schooled on what that classification is.

Overall, not too bad. Took a while to get through it, but not for lack of wanting to read. Just been busy and haven't had a lot of time to read.

Love Him or Leave Him, But Don't Get Stuck with the Tab by Loni Love

PUT YOURSELF FIRST AND LOVE WILL FOLLOW

That's the message of this fresh and funny relationship book by beloved actress-comedian Loni Love. Full of down-to-earth advice on love, sex, and dating, Loni delivers answers to women's most pressing relationship questions along with plenty of hilarious been-there-done-that tales - from hooking up to breaking up to everything in between.

As Loni says, "You can love him or you can leave him, but the day a man starts taking advantage of you is when you need to remember that putting yourself first is the most important step in finding love. That's the foundation for all the advice I give, because it's a message so many women need to hear, over and over, like multiple orgasms." Sure you can act like a lady and think like a man, or admit that he's just not that into you, but the path to lasting love is looking out for number one and treating yourself like the great catch you are.

If you're in a great relationship, Loni gives tips on keeping it strong. (Love him.) If you're having problems that seem insurmountable, she tells you how to extricate yourself from difficult situations. (Leave him.) But no matter what, don't let yourself get bullied, cheated on, or taken advantage of (aka Stuck with the Tab). Every woman deserves a healthy, satisfying, exciting love life, so what are you waiting for? Loni Love has all the answers.

This was a First Reads win from Goodreads, one of the handful I've won (think I'm up to five titles now over, um, maybe as many years?) I'm a bit behind on getting in my review of it, but I figure, better late than never.

I love Loni Love. I've seen her on several of the I Love the 80s/90s/00s shows on VH1, plus I think I've caught her on a few other shows of that ilk. Of course, you never get all of her on those shows, as she's not allowed to swear. Her book? It's her rules, so the potty mouth comes out. But it's all good, as it's spot-on advice told it a no-nonsense way. It's like having your best girlfriend over to set you straight, the one who will always tell you if your outfit makes you look fat - that sort of friend.

I really did like this book. I'm not sure how many library patrons I could recommend it to, due to the language. I mean, it's not that raunchy, but still...blue enough that I know quite a few people who would look at me a lot differently when they brought it back. I still say it's funny, and honestly, it's very good advice. Simple, really - put yourself first. Don't let a man - any man - treat you like dirt. Don't let him cheat on you, don't let him put you down, don't let him bully you, and don't you dare let him hit you. Who can't get behind that sort of advice? Have respect for yourself, and make sure the men in your life, romantic or otherwise, do too.

This is her first book, and I hope it's not her last. I'll be looking for another one from her - soon, I hope!

The Butterfly Clues by Kate Ellison

Penelope "Lo" Marin has always loved to collect beautiful things. But in the year since her brother's death, Lo's hoarding has blossomed into a full-blown, potentially dangerous, obsession. When she discovers a beautiful antique butterfly figurine and recognizes it as having been stolen from the home of a recently murdered girl known only as Sapphire, Lo becomes fixated. As she attempts to piece together the mysterious "butterfly clues", with the unlikely help of a street artist named Flynt, Lo quickly finds herself caught up in a seedy, violent underworld - a world much closer to home than she ever imagined.

Kate Ellison's debut novel is a tour de force thriller about a girl whose obsessive-compulsive collecting leads her down a dangerous path of secrets, mystery, and murder - where every clue she uncovers could be her last.

I first saw this title about a year ago during a webinar. I'd sort of forgotten about the book until I was weeding our Young Adult section in the library. I picked it up, read the description, and decided this would be my next read for our teen book club. I worried that I had yet again picked a dud as far as my teens were concerned, as they've explained that they don't like "realistic" fiction - to them, it's boring.

I don't know if any of them will ever pick this book up, but I highly recommended it to them, as it is anything but boring. OK, actually, my co-worker had to read my review, as I was on vacation during our last meeting. But still...I really like this! I thought the author did a wonderful job giving the reader a full picture of what Lo's daily life was like. I was really fascinated by her rituals - all the numbers, the tap tap tap, banana she MUST perform before she does certain things, etc. I think the best way it's described in the book was that doing these things made Lo "safe" - at least, in her mind. We as the reader know they don't really do anything, and at times, we can tell that Lo knows they don't either...but she can't seem to convince her brain of that.

Lo's parents, in my humble opinion, weren't very well fleshed out. We know her dad works a lot, and that her mom is still grieving the death of Oren, Lo's brother. Even though the book was told from Lo's point of view, I still think the author could have given us a bit better understanding of the parents. Also, at times I found it hard to believe that they wouldn't realize Lo had skipped out to do her sleuthing. But since they were rather preoccupied with their own dramas, maybe it's not all that crazy that they didn't notice her absence.

I found Flynt to be a very interesting character indeed, and I really liked him. I thought it was interesting that he seemed to be the only character that picked up on Lo's OCD behaviors and didn't judge her for them. In fact, he seemed to try to help her feel safer by recognizing that she needed things in threes (a "good" number). I wondered if the author was trying to say that it takes one non-traditional person to make another non-traditional person feel OK.

The mystery was decent, although I had pretty much figured out the whodunit early on. It was still exciting to watch Lo get closer and closer to figuring it out. The author, Kate Ellison, has a new book out titled Notes from Ghost Town, and yes, there's a copy in our library system. And yes, I think I'll be checking that one out, too.

Three Graves Full by Jamie Mason

There is very little peace for a man with a body buried in his backyard.

But it could always be worse...

More than a year ago, mild-mannered Jason Getty killed a man he wished he'd never met. Then he planted the problem a little too close to home. But just as he's learning to live with the undeniable reality of what he's done, police unearth two more bodies on his property - neither of which is the one Jason buried.

Jason races to stay ahead of the consequences of his crime, and while chaos reigns on his lawn, his sanity unravels, snagged on the agendas of a colorful cast of strangers. A jilted woman searches for her lost fiancé, a fringe dweller runs from a past that's quickly gaining on him, and a couple of earnest local detectives piece clues together with the help of a volunteer police dog - all in the shadow of a dead man who had it coming. As the action unfolds, each character discovers that knowing more than one side of the story doesn't necessarily rule out a deadly margin of error.

Jamie Mason's irrepressible debut is a macabre, darkly humorous tale with the thoughtful beauty of a literary novel, the tense pacing of a thriller, and a clever twist of suspense.

I had flagged this as something my husband might like to read. I keep a running list for him, since he reads so quickly - seems like he's always running out of books, and authors to boot. This wasn't blurbed by any of his usual writers, but it sure sounded good. And it was a debut, which meant I wouldn't have to hunt around for the first few books in a series.

Long story short, he was very impressed. Enough so that I decided to pick this up, too. Wow. There's really not much I can say except that this is a page-turner! I loved the way the author was able to weave what seemed like three or four very disparate story lines into one big, tangled, incestuous ball of yarn. I was caught off guard more than once by a twist, something that I love to see happen.

I can't say much more, as I don't want to give anything away. What did surprise me is that I ended up liking Jason; he's not really what I think of as a "great" character in the beginning of this book. In fact, I was sort of thinking that maybe he deserved everything it looked like he was going to get. Leave it to Mason to have me rooting for him by the last few pages - that's the mark of a truly good author.

And as this is a debut, I'm hoping there will be many more works by Ms. Mason in the coming years. I know I'll be keeping an eye out for her name, and you should too. Definitely going to recommend this to fans of mystery, suspense, and even Gothic horror.

Simon's Cat in Kitten Chaos

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

OK, I'm a huge fan of Simon's Cat, the uber-cute strip drawn by Simon Tofield. It's a cute comic no matter what; it's priceless if you're slave to one of the feline persuasion.

Simon's cat is like any other cat, believe the world revolves around him. His every need should come first. Imagine his utter shock and horror when his slave (a cartoon version of the real Simon) brings home a box that someone left out in the rain, a box that has something in it - A KITTEN.

You know what this means, don't you? Yep, Simon's cat is no longer #1 in the household. He's been upstaged by a cute little kitten, one who acts much like Simon's cat. Hmm...

It's another winner by Tofield. I didn't think the cartoon could possibly get any better, and yet, he proves me wrong. It won't take you long to fall in love with the kitten, and watching Simon's cat deal with this young whippersnapper is precious.

Highly recommend this one!

This Is Not the Story You Think It Is... A season of unlikely happiness by Laura Munson

"I don't love you anymore. I'm not sure I ever did."
His words came at me like a speeding fist, like a sucker punch, yet somehow in that moment I was able to duck. And once I recovered and composed myself, I managed to say, "I don't buy it." Because I didn't He drew back in surprise. Apparently he'd expected me to burst into tears, to rage at him, to threaten him with a custody battle. Or beg him to change his mind...I really wanted to fight. To rage. To cry. But I didn't. Instead, a shroud of calm enveloped me, and repeated those words:
"I don't buy it."
You see, I'd recently committed to a non-negotiable understanding with myself. I'd committed to "The End of Suffering." I'd...decided to take responsibility for my own happiness. And I mean all of it.

When Laura Munson's essay appeared in the "Modern Love" column of The New York Times, it created a firestorm. Readers sent it to their friends, therapists gave it to their patients, pastors read it to their congregations. People everywhere were struck by Munson's wisdom. But how was she able to implement this strategy? How was she able to commit herself to an "End of Suffering" at such a critical time?

At forty years old, certain parts of Munson's life were going exactly as planned - she had two wonderful children, a husband she adored, a cherished home. Yet she and her husband, the once golden couple, weren't looking so golden anymore. While she had come to peace with her life, her husband had not.

Poignant, wise, and often exceedingly funny, [this book] recounts Munson's journey. Shaken to her core after the death of her beloved father, and having sought guidance and solace in stacks of books and hours of therapy, she finally realized that she had to stop basing her happiness on things outside her control. And once she had this key piece of wisdom, she realized she could withstand almost anything.

Well, like they say, don't just a book by it's cover. Or, in this case, it's blurb. I've had this sucker on a to-be-read list since we picked it up for our library system over two years ago, and I was finally at a point to pick it up, give it a shot.

I made it to page 104 and quit.

I'd read Happier At Home by Gretchen Rubin, and this book sounded like it might be in the same vein. I really liked the whole "you are responsible for your happiness and no one else" attitude that was covered in the blurb. But once I got started, I realized this really wasn't the story I thought it was. And neither was the author this "wise" person that the blurb made her out to be.

She says in the very beginning to flip to the back and check out the list of her books that she's reading/refers to in her happiness/finding herself endeavor. There's something like 36 titles! I mean, I'm a bibliophile, don't get me wrong - but I usually have a max of four books at my bedside. And often those are what I think of as "fun" titles, in that I'm reading for my entertainment - not for enlightenment.

The husband's revelation comes pretty quickly, followed by chapter after chapter of her waiting for him to contact her after he leaves their marital home. She talks about their childhoods, how they met, how lucky they have been to have good, stable, middle-income families, how they went the bohemian route somewhat once they got to college, how they finally decided to make it legal, blah blah blah. There's a whole chapter about her father, and while I am completely sympathetic to her desire to please her father, being a bit of a daddy's girl myself, a whole chapter of paternal love was a bit much.

Then there's her incessant droning on about how she could have taken a job at some point after they started having kids and such, but she's an author and she needed her time to write. Never mind that she'd never been published. Never mind that she has many, many "good" rejection letters, the kind that tell her how wonderful her work is but it's "just not right" for that publisher, etc. I mean, I get wanting to do what you love, but when the big economic crash hit us all - when you're own economic crash hits - you've got to look at reality. Rejection letters don't pay bills and won't buy groceries.

The last chapter I managed to slog through was entitled "The Italy Cure". Evidently, Munson had done an academic year abroad, in Italy of course, while in college. And according to her, it was the best year of her life; the food, the culture, the love of the family that hosted her, etc. Well, not too long before her husband tells her he doesn't love her anymore, she listens to a therapist who tells her that instead of whining about how going to Italy would make her feel better, she should just GO. And she does just that, originally offering it up as a family vacation. Hubby declines, and the son isn't keen on the idea, so it becomes a mother-daughter trip. I could live with that, even though I'm still thinking to myself that it isn't a good idea, given that their finances aren't good at that moment. But when she talks about taking this trip so she can "recontact her soul" - I was done.

I don't know if the author and her husband make it or not. At this point, I don't care. What I had hoped would be an interesting look at marriage, and the idea of happiness and such, turned out to be nothing more than a bunch of pretentious twaddle. Maybe that's due to my upbringing, what I bring to the book. I don't know. But I do know that I'm firmly in the one-star or less camp that I've found on some review sites. And that I'm not inclined to look for any more works by Ms. Munson.

Monsters of West Virginia: Mysterious creatures in the mountain state by Rosemary Ellen Guiley

Not much of a review on this one - I skimmed a lot. I picked it up for the husband, as he's all about finding Bigfoot, UFOs, USOs (unidentified submerged objects), the chupacabra, etc. He read this book in about an hour or so, nothing to it for him. I struggled with it myself, mostly because I couldn't stop laughing (and coughing, as I was reading this in bed and I've had a really nasty cold lately).

I'm like Mulder from the XFiles. I want to believe. I really, really do. I want to think there are ghosts and other creatures that can't be explained by science. But the things described within the pages of this work are just...silly. There are the usual suspects, such as the Mothman. But The Yayho? And just a little fyi, that's pronounced "yay-hoo" to those of us that don't live in the area. And there's the Snallygaster, a weird reptile-like thing that evidently struck from the skies, attacking people, drinking their blood, and stealing children. It was huge, and scaly, and oddly enough, a cyclops to boot. Oh, and it was completely made up, a hoax whipped up by journalists George C. Rhoderick and Ralph S. Wolf, to boost sales, maybe even save, the Middletown Valley Register. But even though it was exposed in the early 1900s, there are still reports of the Snallygaster. Go figure.

Perhaps the most snort-inducing entry was the one regarding the Sheepsquatch, which falls into a special sub-category of creatures called White Things. Wow! Really stretching for a scary name there, weren't we? Anyway, said Sheepsquatch is "about the size of a bear, with woolly white hair, and its front paws are more like hands, similar to those of a raccoon but much bigger. The tail is long and without hair. The head features a doglike snout and single-point horns like those of a young goat. It carries a pungent sulfur smell." And it's rarely seen, something I do not find surprising. Thing sounds like its having a major identity crisis. And I'm thinking it might take more than one alcoholic drink to catch a sighting of this thing, if you know what I mean.

Good for a few laughs, in my humble opinion. Unless you really like this sort of thing. In which case, pack your bag and head into the hills of West Virginia - maybe you'll get lucky.

A Long Day at the End of the World by Brent Hendricks

In February 2002, hundreds of decayed, abandoned bodies were discovered at the Tri-State Crematory in rural Georgia. It was the largest mass desecration in modern American history. The perpetrator - a well-respected family man and former hometown football star - had managed to conceal the horror for five years.

Among the bodies was that of Brent Hendricks's father. To address the psychic turmoil caused by this discovery, Hendricks embarks on a pilgrimage across the disturbed landscape of the Deep South to the crematory site. In [this book], he reveals the gruesome and bizarre details of the desecration and confronts his fraught relationship with his father - wrestling with the grief surrounding his death as well as the uncanniness of his startling resurrection.

This is one of those little finds across the library desk. A patron returned the book and of course wanted to tell me about it. I thought it sounded like the sort of thing my husband would be interested in (he reads mysteries, true-crime, forensic stuff), so I checked it out and took it home. He read it in no time flat (maybe 48 hours?) and kept telling me about little things here and there. Since it's such a small book, I decided to pick it up myself.

It's interesting, I'll give him (and my patron) that. My biggest problem was that I wanted to know a lot more about Brent Marsh, the man responsible for the 339 bodies that were found on the crematory grounds, left in all sorts of disarray and states of decay. But since Hendricks wrote the book about his journey to see his father's last "resting" place, the story of Marsh is doled out rather sparingly. Granted, Hendricks makes it clear that there's not a lot to know about Marsh; he never gave a reason for his failure to perform his duties. He didn't do it to make money, as the savings per body was rather paltry. Theories run the gamut from laziness to a sort of overworked-snowball-type thing, where he got behind on his crematory duties and started to dump a body here, a body there, perhaps planning to catch up later, but of course, never able to get the upper hand on the situation. And much like an office worker who gets behind on paperwork, then starts hiding it to hide the fact that he/she is behind, the theory goes that Marsh dumped more and more bodies.

I'd be very interested in reading more about one theory Hendricks talks about, that of hoarding. One psychologist proposed that Marsh was, in essence, exhibiting hoarding tendencies with his acres of bodies. And while it sounds plausible, one has to wonder why he would only hoard a portion of the bodies he received for cremation; he still performed over 600 some cremations during the 5 years or so that this was going on. Why keep some but not others? And if one is hoarding bodies, why? The only people I've ever read about keeping bodies as such have all been serial murderers. These people were already dead when Marsh received them.

Perhaps the best theory is that Brent Marsh had to go into the family business, but it was about the last thing he wanted to do. He simply did not want the job. And maybe that's why he did what he did - he just hated his job. We'll never know, and the reader definitely doesn't learn much more from this book. Hendricks talks mostly about his journey across the South, about his childhood, about the reason his father came to "rest" at Tri-State, and how biblical it all is to him, the son. His father was displaced from his original home by a flood (one to create a lake and dam), and after he died, he was buried in the ground. Hendricks's mother, however, had a growing phobia regarding burial, and after some years, had her husband exhumed so that she could have him cremated. I know - how ironic that he should end up at Tri-State, suffering a fate, one would imagine, much worse than mere burial.

As I said, it's an interesting subject. And while I would recommend the book merely for that reason, be prepared - the author gets extremely philosophical, and tends to repeat himself. It does make me wonder if anyone wrote anything on just the Tri-State Crematory desecration itself. Time to do some digging, if you'll pardon the pun!