The Readin Roos

Ashley Hunter inherits an old castle in Scotland, along with its ranks of ghosts, whom she can hear and see. She decides to run the place as a B&B while she's figuring out what to do with it. Along comes the dramatically handsome drifter-type to whom she takes an immediate dislike. Naturally he becomes her first and only paying guest and the story takes off from there involving her resident ghosts, a couple of fallen warrior angels, and a big mystery.

John Grisham knows how to write a "can't put it down" bestseller. This one certainly is. Former high school football star Donte Drumm has been on death row for the past 12 years for the brutal kidnapping and murder of a cheerleader, a crime he says he didn't commit. Just days before his scheduled execution, the true killer, a man suffering from an inoperable brain tumor, comes forth. Will he act in time to prevent an innocent man's execution? This is the second of Grisham's books in which he explores the idea of an innocent man facing execution.

I've read nearly every book on September 11 and this is one of the best and most readable. It relates the history of Al Qaeda and the step-by-step plotting of 9/11 as it weaves the lives of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri and FBI counterintelligence chief John O'Neill. A Pulitzer Prize winning book.

Reviewed by Cathy Cook

The White Queen is the first in a new series of British royal fiction by Philippa Gregory. This series, The Cousins' War, is about the Plantagenets, the fighting royal family before the Tudors came along. This first book's heroine is Elizabeth Woodville, a very interesting queen, wife of Edward IV, and mother of the Tower Princes (yes, those princes!). Elizabeth's family on the maternal side believes they are descended from Melusina, the water goddess, and thus have special powers. Others considered Elizabeth and her mother witches.

Ted Chiang is one of the celebrities of the Science Fiction world. His output, though not voluminous, captivates readers and wins the acclaim of his fellow writers. For an example of what others have said of Chiang, consider this review in The Globe and Mail: “Chiang is a consummate stylist, and these lyrical tales aren’t just great SF; they’re great literature.”

This 2002 collection contains 8 stories and has recently been re-printed by Small Beer Press. I love Chiang’s writing.

I know, I've been on a big Jim Butcher kick. One of these days, I'll read a book by another author. I've really just been reading the Alera books to tide me over until the next Dresden book comes out, anyway.
Side Jobs is a collection of short stories that takes place in the Dresden-verse between the actual novels. The story that I was really looking forward to was "Aftermath" because it happens right after the big cliff hanger in Changes (and, hoo boy, those were some changes!).

Miranda Bliss writes a fun, easy-to-read mystery romp. This is the third of the formulaic but fun Cooking Class mysteries featuring Annie Capshaw and her sometimes vapid, but always earnest best friend Eve DeCateur, the rather predictably sexy siren with a heart of gold. The pairing is cliche, but - meh - it works.

An interesting twist to these mysteries is that Annie is to a kitchen what the iceberg was to the Titanic, yet she's managed to become the business manager of Bellywashers, a pub in Arlington, Virginia. Jim MacDonald, Annie's very Scottish beau, is the owner, chief cook, and the instructor of the cooking class.

Murder once again touches the residents of St. Mary Mead, home of Miss Jane Marple. American actress Marina Gregg and her husband have recently moved into the area, and host a garden party as a fundraiser for a local charity. One of the guests, Heather Babcock, dies after drinking a poisoned cocktail. Because Marina Gregg had shared her drink with Mrs. Babcock, it is assumed that Gregg was the intended victim. Miss Marple joins forces with Chief Inspector Craddock to sort out the confusion and identify the murderer.

The book opens with author, Tony Horwitz, making a pit stop while on the road, which happens be in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It’s while wandering around Plymouth that Horwitz realizes that his knowledge of the early exploration and settlment of European America is limited to scraps of knowledge from elementary school. Upon reviewing the history of European settlement in America Horwitz discovers a major chasm in his education; by the time the first English settled in North America other Europeans had already reached half of the forty-eight states that make up the continental United States.

I stumbled on Henrietta Lacks' story by luck and chance when I noticed prepublication copies were being offered for consideration. I asked for the book thinking it would be a good one to recommend to students on docent rotation. Ms. Lacks' story is so fascinating, and Skloot's writing is so emotionally compelling that the book was a quick read. Early on, Skloot explains how the HeLA cells taken from Lacks' tissue resulted in her immortality.