Fanny Hill Meeting

Book of erotica from the 1700's - $10
One penis cake complete with blue veins and vermillion head - $10
Petticoats for all to throw over their heads - $40
Night of hilarity with the ladies of Book Club - PRICELESS

The Book of Lost Things

BN synopsis: High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness. Angry and alone, he takes refuge in his imagination and soon finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld. While his family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled into a world that is a strange reflection of his own -- populatedby heroes and monsters and ruled by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book, The Book of Lost Things.

When I first picked this book up, I thought it was maybe a book for young adults, but couldn't find the YA on the book. I then saw that this book won the Alex Award in 2007 which honors adult books that appeal to teen readers. I can see how it would appeal to teens, it takes all the fairy tales we grew up with and twists them into what David, the main character, imagines them to be if they were real. In his fantasy world, Snow White is extremely fat and the dwarfs feel oppressed by 'her' and call themselves Comrade Brother One, Two, Three, etc... It is a little violent and would recommend this for adults and about 8th/9th grade and beyond and has a surprisingly sweet ending.

The Know-It-All

I'm sure we all remember the set of Encyclopedia Britannica's on the book shelf in the back of our 5th grade class room when we had to do our first research paper on a country and their import/exports, I know I do. A.J. Jacobs, the author/subject of The Know-It-All, takes the Britannica and all the knowledge within, and sets about with a singular goal, to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica from A-Z, about 33,000 pages. The synopsis from BN: Early in his career, A. J. Jacobs found himself putting his Ivy League education to work at Entertainment Weekly. After five years he learned which stars have fake boobs, which stars have toupees, which have both, and not much else. This unsettling realization led Jacobs on a life-changing quest: to read the entire contents of the Encyclopedia Britannica, all 33,000 pages, all 44 million words. Jacobs accumulates useful and less-so knowledge, and along the way finds a deep connection with his father (who attempted the same feat when Jacob's was a child), examines the nature of knowledge vs. intelligence, and learns how to be rather annoying at cocktail parties. Part memoir/part-education (or lack thereof), it's an entertaining (and alphabetical) look at the true nature of knowledge.

I really enjoyed this book, it was out loud funny and an easy read. Jacobs really does go through from A-Z, letting the reader know about a-ak (the first word) while giving us his thoughts on the words, information he learns and insight as to what is going on in his own life as he goes through the books. I recommend this book and will bring it to the underground.

The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine by Benjamin Wallace

From B&N: “Part detective story, part wine history, this is one juicy tale, even for those with no interest in the fruit of the vine. . . . As delicious as a true vintage Lafite.” —BusinessWeek

The Billionaire’s Vinegar tells the true story of a 1787 Château Lafite Bordeaux—supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson—that sold for $156,000 at auction and of the eccentrics whose lives intersected with it. Was it truly entombed in a Paris cellar for two hundred years? Or did it come from a secret Nazi bunker? Or from the moldy basement of a devilishly brilliant con artist? As Benjamin Wallace unravels the mystery, we meet a gallery of intriguing players—from the bicycle-riding British auctioneer who speaks of wines as if they are women to the obsessive wine collector who discovered the bottle. Suspenseful and thrillingly strange, this is the vintage tale of what could be the most elaborate con since the Hitler diaries.

This book is an interesting peek into the world of wine, old wine and the lengths people will go to obtain a piece of history. I learned more about wine from this book than I will probably ever need to know. I personally cannot imagine paying thousands of dollars for bottles of wine either for drinking or display. I have tried some very expensive wines at dinners with my husband. Though I have not tried 200 year old - $156,000 wine, in my opinion, an $800 bottle of wine can taste just as good/bad as a $10 bottle of wine. I think this was one of the points of the book. If you believe that wine tastes better because it costs more, then it does taste better...to you. It is the author's belief, and mine as well that things like wine are meant for enjoying. And, mysteries about wine should be enjoyed too. However, I prefer a smoking gun (cork?) at the end of a mystery, this ending was a little to ambiguous for me. If you like wine, I would recommend this book simply for the information and the history, Wallace does a great job explaining every detail.

Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz

Drowning Ruth opens in 1919, on the heels of the influenza epidemic that followed the First World War. Amanda, who is a nurse suffering from an unknown ailment causing nausea and frequent "nervous" episodes, returns home to live with her sister Mathilde on a farm by Lake Nagawaukee in Wisconsin. Within a year, though, her beloved sister drowns under mysterious circumstances. And when Mathilde's husband, Carl, returns from the war, he finds his small daughter, Ruth, in Amanda's tenacious grip, and she will tell him nothing about the night his wife drowned. Amanda's parents, too, are long gone. "I killed my parents. Had I mentioned that?" muses Amanda.

"I killed them because I felt a little fatigued and suffered from a slight, persistent cough. Thinking I was overworked and hadn't been getting enough sleep, I went home for a short visit, just a few days to relax in the country while the sweet corn and the raspberries were ripe. From the city I brought fancy ribbon, two boxes of Ambrosia chocolate, and a deadly gift... I gave the influenza to my mother, who gave it to my father, or maybe it was the other way around."

I liked this mystery. The author is very good at releasing small breadcrumbs of truth along the way but saves the answer to the mystery of whether Amanda killed her sister until the very last page. I would recommend this book on a cold, blustery day with a fire and a nice, hot cup of tea.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

I was really looking forward to reading this book, especially since the first sentence is, "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." I was looking for fast paced action packed Austen. Instead, I got an agonizingly slow moving read. The scenes with the zombies, or 'unmentionables', and how Elizabeth and Mr Darcy fight the zombies are fun as they are both trained in 'the deadly arts'. There are a few lines that had me snicker but they are few and far between. I can totally see this becoming a movie. I also saw that later this month the same publisher is coming out with Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monster. I think I'll skip that one.

Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey

I was initially hesitant to pick this book up because the controversial author, James Frey, wrote A Million Little Pieces which was heart wrenching 'memoir' of addiction and rehab that blurred the lines between fact and fiction. I read a review of this novel (it really is a novel) when it first came out and the reviewer liked it. The New York Times - Janet Maslin,
"The million little pieces guy was called James Frey. He got a second act. He got another chance. Look what he did with it. He stepped up to the plate and hit one out of the park. No more lying, no more melodrama, still run-on sentences still funny punctuation but so what. He became a furiously good storyteller this time."

This is a fast paced quick read. Frey tells several stories about the people who live in Los Angeles. From a young couple from the Midwest escaping west, to a homeless alcoholic on the Venice Boardwalk who lives in a bathroom, to a iconic movie star whose homosexuality is hidden from public view. The author also interweaves stories or history of Los Angeles, from the founding in 1781 through the Rodney King riots. Living in LA for years, several of the locations and people were familiar to me and some of the stories stayed with me for a few days and left me wanting more.

Passing the torch

DiscoSplitz (a.k.a. Tracy) will be taking over authorship of the blog for a while. Otherwise, we'll never get updated on Book Club Meetings, Book Picks, etc.

Love you all - Burpykitty (a.k.a. Michelle or Library Mistress as Bethany calls me)

The Girl from Junchow by Kate Furnivall

The Girl from Junchow is the sequel to The Russian Concubine. The plot of this novel has been woven into Stalinist Russia and the way the author portrays the time period is incredible. The book continues the struggles of Lydia, a teenage Russian refugee brought up in 1920's China, as she returns to Russia in search of her imprisoned father. She is accompanied by her half-brother Alexei and friend Liev. Her Chinese lover from the first book becomes a much more believable character in this book. There are also numerous secondary characters which Furnivall develops well. All in all a great historical fiction.

Highwire Moon by Susan Straight

This book had me from the moment I opened it. It is the story of a young Mexican-Indian girl, Serafina who in California illegally. Due to her inability to speak Spanish or English, (she speaks an Indian dialect) she is violently separated from her beloved three year old daughter, Elvia. The story picks up, 15 years later with Elvia, pregnant, and desperate to find her mother. She thinks her mother left her because she didn't want her anymore. At the same time Serafina is trying to find the daughter she has never stopped thinking about.

Susan Straight writes so compellingly that we are willing to look at things we would normally never want to see. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, although I know it is a bit bleak for some readers. I would encourage even them to read it because of the hope and love that permeates this book.

The descriptions of migrant camps and border crossings make you feel as though you are there. I have no idea how the author got some of the details she put into the book.

The book is set in South Riverside County. Readers from this area will recognize many landscape markers, and the Indian tribes names.

I knew instinctively how this book would end. I was right and wrong at the same time. You will be to, no matter how you think it will end.