by Nevada Barr, 2003 Took me too long to finish, but it was interesting. Ranger Anna Pigeon is on temporary assignment on Dry Tortugas National Park, where Fort Jefferson was built during the Civil War to house war prisoners. She intersperses Anna’s mystery – finding out why she’s seeing ghosts and why her assistant was […]
Author: bookhound
Flashback
Tennis
by Joan Johnson and Paul Xanthos for Brown Physical Education Activities Series, 1967 Short book (88 pages) describing everything you need to know about tennis. Under “Values:” Tennis can truly be called the sport of a lifetime, since youngsters can begin at about six years of age and their grandparents may still be playing even […]
The Arrow Writer’s Handbook
The Arrow Writer's Handbook, Scholastic Inc., 2000 Short book (32 pages) for children packed with tips on writing. I particularly liked the tips on how to get more details into your writing: Use names. Think about exact colors, shapes, and sizes. Use comparisons. Notice all the details, even those that might not seem important at […]
The Flame Trees of Thika
by Elspeth Huxley, 1959 Beautifully written autobiography about Elspeth’s childhood years in Kenya in the early 1900’s before World War I. Her Mom and Dad, whom she calls Tilly and Robin, are determined to make it as coffee farmers in Kenya, despite no one having done so before and them not having the skills or […]
Simplify Your Life
100 Ways to Slow Down and Enjoy the Things That Really Matter, by Elaine St. James, 1994 Easy to read, fun little how-to book on simplifying your life. Some parts are outdated (“Drop call waiting,” “Stop the Junk Mail,” and “Get rid of your car phone”) and there is no mention of social media, e-mail, […]
Last Seen Wearing
by Colin Dexter, 1976 I love Inspector Morse mysteries. I miss them when I’ve finished because Inspector Morse and Sergeant Lewis are so likable, so human, and I just want to be with them. They take me to England and back to a time before much technology, except for color TVs. Morse consults maps, phone […]
The Good Earth
by Pearl S. Buck, 1931 “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” This novel greatly illustrates what can happen when a man gets bored. It’s an amazing tale about Wang Lung (pronounced Wong Lung), a poor farmer in China, and what happens when he goes from poverty to wealth.
Cross Creek
by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, 1942 This is the memoir by the author of The Yearling. She tells about her 13 years living in Florida on 72 acres in the northeastern part of the state near the St. John’s River between Jacksonville and St. Augustine.
The Story of Ferdinand
by Munro Leaf, 1936 Drawings by Robert Lawson Ferdinand the Bull just wanted to sit under his favorite cork tree, “smelling the flowers just quietly.” I loved this book as a child and they made a movie of it, which is pretty good, and made me want to read the book again. Learned about cork […]
The Little Paris Bookshop
by Nina George, 2013 Jean Perdu owns a book barge in Paris. He is 20 years into grieving his lost love. She gave him a letter but he never opened it. Finally he does and she left him because she was dying of cancer. He unhooks his barge and travels south with Max Jordan, a […]
Roughing It
By Mark Twain, 1872 (I own this book) Hilarious account, especially in the beginning, about Mark Twain’s trip out West in the 1860’s. The stage coach trip took 20 days from St. Joseph, MO, to Carsono City, NV. It’s mostly hilarious! He talks about the Mormons and includes a history in the appendix – they’d […]
Evil Under the Sun
by Agatha Christie, 1940 Hercule Poirot solves the murder of Arlena Stuart, strangled on the beach of a beautiful English sea-side resort hotel called the Jolly Roger. This one had me fooled – I could not figure out who did it. Could have been her husband, Capt. Marshall, who was fed up with her cheating […]
Birds of a Feather
by Jacqueline Winspear, 2004 So-so book – Maisie Dobbs, the WWI nurse turned private investigator, discovers the murders of 3 young women are linked – she finds a white feather at each of the scenes. The women were part of the “Order of the White Feather” and handed out white feathers to men who were […]
Thereby Hangs a Tail
by Spencer Quinn, 2010 A Chet and Bernie Mystery. Fun read! Chet and Bernie catch the murderer – an Italian count married to Adelia Borghese – who owns “Princess,” a dog show star. They also save Susie, trapped in a lunatic’s basement, in the nick of time. Love Chet and Bernie! Chet loves grass – […]
Death on the Nile
by Agatha Christie, 1937 Rich English girl, Linnet Ridgeway, steals her best friend’s fiance, Simon Doyle, and marries him. They go on their honeymoon to Egypt, where Hercule Poirot is also vacationing. Jacqueline deBellefort, ex-fiance of Simon and ex-best befriend, turns up in Egypt and stalks the couple – turns up everywhere they go. Wants […]
Borderline
By Nevada Barr, 2009 Anna Pigeon and her new husband, Paul Davidson, a wonderful man, priest and cop, go on a raft trip in Big Bend N.P. on the Rio Grande which borders Texas and Mexico. The border has been closed since 9/11 and the book opens with a young pregnant Mexican woman crossing with […]
All Quiet on the Western Front
by Erich Maria Remarque, 1928, Translated from German by A.W. Wheen – (not a good translation – is what I thought in 2013) Preface: “This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with […]
Jayber Crow
by Wendell Berry, 2000 Very sweet tale about a sweet man, the town barber, in Port William, Kentucky. Full of love and pain, the beauty of nature, hard-work, relationships, and faithfulness and steadfastness, forgiveness along life’s journey. Jayber’s life starts out by the river and ends by the river. He’s an orphan sent to live […]
Saving Fish from Drowning
by Amy Tan, 2005 Strange but interesting book about 12 tourists who went to Burma (Myanmar) and got kidnapped by jungle tribe who thought one of them was the Young White Brother who would save them from the SLORC – the military junta, make them disappear, etc. Told from the point of view of Bibi […]
Life after Life
by Kate Atkinson, 2013 (same author who wrote Started Early, Took My Dog) Never read a book like this before – like different courses through time that a person’s choices make. Little Ursula is born on a snowy night in English countryside home, “Fox Corner,” on February 11, 1910. First time she dies because the […]