The Color Chartreuse, Etc., by Jane Hallock Combs

The Color Chartreuse, Etc by Jane Hallock Combs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Who doesn't love reading about quirky family members? But then, most of us are related to quirky family members; that, or we are the quirky one, right?

The Color Chartreuse, Etc, by Jane Hallock Combs, is full of quirky family members. Many of the essays here were read on NPR station WKMS in Murray, Kentucky, as well as appearing in several newspapers.

Disclaimer time: I do appear several times in The Color Chartreuse, Etc, as Jane Hallock Combs was my mom. So, maybe I'm a little partial to many, if not most of the essays. I have a feeling, though, that even without that family link, I would laugh at many of these essays.

Why? you ask. Fair question.

Example: Cousins Anna Mae and Ezra, who, during WWII, held off a Nazi invasion with a baseball bat - when they weren't literally tearing their house apart; Greg, who didn't want the tooth fairy tip-toeing into his room to leave money for the tooth under his pillow, and sat in his bedroom doorway with a baseball bat to keep the tooth fairy out; Greg, who after breaking his leg, had a double-legged cast on, and, unable to help Mom at the laundromat, leaned out the Volkswagon's sun-roof, giving a passionate speech to passers-by about being "a poor little boy with a broken leg who just wanted to hep with the laundry!"; and more. There's the time the school bus went to take Mom to school, after her brother told her that the road being taken was the road to heaven...

If you want a good laugh, this is the place. The Color Chartreuse, Etc, by Jane Hallock Combs, has enough laughs to help you through the day.

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Dead Land, by Sara Paretsky

Dead Land by Sara Paretsky

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

How is it that trouble always manages to find certain people? Fortunately for those of us who love Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski books, trouble doesn't so much find Vic as much as trips her up, sending her in an unexpected direction.

Dead Land starts off with a mysterious man, Coop, leaving his dog tied up outside V.I.'s apartment, with a note to "Look after Bear until I come back for him."

Just what Vic needs: another dog to watch after.

Vic's goddaughter, Bernie Fouchard, is spending the summer in Chicago, coaching a girls' soccer team. Bernie has also discovered that singer-songwriter Lydia Zamir in now living on the streets of Chicago, playing her music on a toy piano, and protected by the mysterious Coop. While Bernie wants to rescue Lydia, Vic finds herself protecting Bernie.

At one point, Vic accompanies Bernie to a community meeting. Unfortunately, tempers flare up during the meeting; it doesn't take long for people to begin dying because of the flare-ups, including Bernie's boyfriend.

Between trying to find the killer(s), locating Lydia (who disappears to Kansas, along with Coop), and keeping Bernie and her friends safe, V.I. must also try to stay alive. She is shot at numerous times, ending up in the hospital.

On top of that, Vic's ex-lover, Murray Ryerson, is shot and left for dead. Will he make it? (Yes, he does, but you'll have to read the book to find out the details.)

All in all, Dead Land is another fine example of Sara Paretsky's writing, and well worth the read.
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Revolutionary Letters, by Diane di Prima

REVOLUTIONARY LETTERS by Diane di Prima
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A slim book of poetry should take a relatively short period of time to read, right?

Well, not always. Diane di Prima's Revolutionary Letters is a wonderfully slim volume of poems that, like a pan of rich fudge or fine music, should be savored, one at a time.

It took me months to finish this book. Why so long, especially when I had it next to my seat at the dining room table (where I do much of my reading)? I'd pick it up when I only had several minutes to read, but wanted something relatively intense; these poems/letters were that. They are short, with only a few more than one or two pages long, but definitely full of nuances, intensity, and much to think about. The fact that most of the poems' sentence structure was a little disjointed made it so that a poem might have to be read two or three times for the reader to really begin to fully understand the poem. This might be a problem with a less gifted writer; in di Prima's hands, this is very do-able.

Diane di Prima spent the latter part of the 1950s and early '60s in Manhattan where she was involved in the Beat movement; from 1974 to 1997, she taught at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, along side Allen Ginsburg, William S. Burroughs, and others.

Revolutionary Letters is a book to be read, savored, and reread again.

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The Sewing Room: Uncommon Reflections on Live, Love and Work, by Barbara Cawthorne Crafton

The Sewing Room: Uncommon Reflections on Life, Love and Work by Barbara Cawthorne Crafton

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There are books of essays that are dry and bordering on boring. Then there are books full of entertaining essays that leave the reader feeling like he or she has just had a visit with a beloved friend or a slightly older sibling. The Sewing Room: Uncommon Reflections on Life, Love and Work by Barbara Cawthorne Crafton definitely falls into the second category.

Barbara Cawthorne Crafton is an Episcopal priest, writer, and lecturer who has written several books on spirituality. Her book The Sewing Room: Uncommon Reflections on Life, Love and Work is full of essays written about her time as an active priest, the people she's met, ministered to, and loved over the years. While the essays tend to be short, we meet a wide range of people through them: seafarers, AIDS patients, the homeless, and others struggling with their daily lives, who still manage to maintain their humanity.

This version of the book (it originally came out in hardback) ends with an essay that brings us up to date on the people we met in the earlier essays, bringing us full-circle to our new acquaintances.

If you're looking for a book filled with satisfying essays, Barbara Cawthorne Crafton's The Sewing Room: Uncommon Reflections on Life, Love and Work should fit the bill nicely.

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Mercy Street, by Jennifer Haigh

Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Have you ever read a book that you connected with to the point that, upon finishing the last page, has you wanting to start back on page one immediately?

Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh is one of those books in my recently-read stack that I wanted to restart almost immediately. (More on that in a minute.)

Claudia Birch works in a women's center on Boston's Mercy Street (hence the title). Every morning, despite the cold winter weather, she must work her way through the crowd of protesters to get to the building, where she and her coworkers man the phone lines, dispensing advice to women needing birth control and/or abortions. Divorced, childless, and estranged from her mother, Claudia finds her job rewarding, but stressful, occasionally visiting her local pot dealer to help her make it through the work week.

The book also dives into the lives of Tim (the pot dealer), Anthony (disabled from a work accident, who finds his daily trips to church, smoking weed, and protesting in front of Mercy Street all as ways of finding meaning in his life), and Victor, a scary, misogynistic man who posts signs around the country denouncing abortion, and runs an internet site showing women who he perceives are getting abortions.

How all these lives, as well as the other women on Mercy Street - workers and those in need - intertwine and feed off of each other binds the story together in a thoroughly engrossing way.

Whatever the reader's thoughts on abortion might be, Mercy Street still makes for interesting reading. The very end of the book - what happens to all of the main characters - wraps the book up nicely.

This is definitely a "must read."

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Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Have you ever stumbled onto a book that you started reading, with no expectations of liking it, then finding out that it's a gem? For me, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen is one of those books.

The book's narrator, Jacob Jankowski, is a 90 (or 93) year old man living in a nursing home, getting weekly visits from his children. The chapters dealing with the present - looking forward to a trip to the circus, discovering that his son has forgotten to visit and bring him to the circus, and his "escape" to see the circus - anchor the book as they are interspersed between his memories of his youth.

When studying for his finals to become a vet, he learns his parents have died. He skips out of his finals, and ends up joining a traveling circus, the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. After working several jobs with the circus, he is hired on as the show's vet. He makes friends with several of the circus people, and eventually falls in love with Marlena, who is married to an abusive horse trainer with the circus. (Spoiler: Marlena and Jacob do end up together at the end of the book. How? You'll have to read it to find out.)

I really didn't have any expectations when I started the book. But the more I read of Water for Elephants, the more I wanted to read; it was the old "just one more chapter" situation.

The one down side (if it can be called that) is that there are two or three places that could be considered risque. But even then, they only last for a couple of paragraphs, and really don't detract from the story.

The punchline is that if you're looking for an engaging book that will keep you interested from start to finish, Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants is it. When I got to the last page - the last chapter was a bit of a surprise, but realistic - I was tempted to start the book again. Alas, it's a library book, so back it goes. Guess I'll have to buy my own copy!

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Turtle Moon, by Alice Hoffman

Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Welcome to Verity, Florida, where the month of May is a dangerous time: long-time residents know better than to make any life-altering decisions during May, as everyone seems to "go a little crazy."

It is where Lucy Rosen and her son Keith have landed after leaving New York in Alice Hoffman's wonderful book, Turtle Moon.

While Lucy has come to Verity to escape an unhappy marriage, 12-year-old Keith is miserable in Florida, and gets into non-stop trouble - stealing, skipping school, and more - with a new friend.

One night, a single mother in the Rosen's apartment complex is murdered and her baby disappears. The "meanest boy" in town finds the baby in the complex's laundry room, realizes that no one is coming for her, and takes off with the baby, becoming her protector.

Julian Cash is the police officer assigned to solving the murder and finding the baby. He, too, was once considered the "meanest boy" in Verity, and can relate to Keith when he (Cash) finds the boy.

What transpires in Turtle Moon is a fast-paced story of complex people trying to find what will give their lives direction, while learning how to trust, as well as growing and letting go.

If you're looking for your next satisfying fast read, Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman is sure to please.

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