“Food Rules” by Michael Pollen has to be one of the hottest books and a trend in the universe right now. So, what is it? Well, it’s a bookl about Americans and their diet. We are an obese nation getting worse, at risk for shortened life spans and diseases that were almost unheard of a century ago. In this book Michael Pollen outlines 64 simple principles to help you develop a healthy eating lifestyle. And in a very uncomplicated way. These aren’t extensive, government style rules and addendums that we’re talking about here. This is an easy to use guide that, really you should have at home, that are memorable, easy to follow and just make sense. Like this: p.23 “Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they’re not” Imitation butter is the classic example…he goes on with a very short paragraph to tell you why not to use margarine. (hurrah, I don’t like it anyway). The book is short, 139 pages and full of common sense ‘rules’ about food and eating.

“Choosing to See” by Mary Beth Chapman is the true story of Singer/songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife Mary Beth and the loss of their 5 year old adopted Chinese daughter, Maria, in 2008. Well, the word ‘loss’ is actually a euphemism for ‘the death of’. Worse, little Maria was killed accidently when run over by her older brother, Will. Chapman does not look at this tragedy with a pie in the sky attitude; rather she lays out her deepest sorrow and the overwhelming loss of it all right in front of us. She describes son Will’s anguish, as well as describing her questions of God with tears and despair. A heartfelt well written book.

I love the title of this book: “My Teenage Werewolf” by Lauren Kessler. From the title alone you know exactly where this book is going to go. First the author is going to talk about teenage girls, their unpredictability, their changing and wildly swinging moods and the ‘complete mutual hostility of it all’. The author of this book goes bravely where no mom has gone before and let me tell you I just must find out about her discoveries: she heads into the girls locker room. She witnesses the utter coolness of her daughter and her own shabbiness and stupidity. I actually remember those days; days when I wondered how it was I ever managed to get up and get dressed without someone critiquing my fashion sense! Secondly, this book title is the perfect marketing strategy! After all, werewolves and vampires are all the rage right now. Curiousity will reign, and you will just have to pick this one up. But I’d recommend it anyway, especially if you have teenage girls in the house, or if you love someone who has teenage girls in their house. (Dads too, you shouldn’t be exempt.) That should cover everyone!

You Have to Be in It to Win It!: A seven-step program to embrace ebooks.

I first became enamored Civil War ‘stories” after Reading Bruce Catton’s “This Hallowed Ground”. I had never thought about the personalities and human foibles of war, but Catton brought them all fully to life. So when I completed Killer Angels by Michael Shaara just last week, I knew I had found another author who could totally bring this one battle, Gettysburg, to life. I wished I had read this book, at least, before my visit to Gettysburg a few summers ago. Ah well, I could still see Big and Little Round Top, The stone fence of Pickett’s charge, Devil’s Den and the Peach Orchard as Shaara describes them and this most important Civil War Battle.

The one thing that Michael Shaara does amazingly well is to describe the thoughts, feelings and attitudes of the generals, Robert Lee, James Longstreet, George Pickett, Joshua Chamberlain, John Reynolds.  Other than Lee, I had not heard of those other men before. But suddenly,  with this book, I am brought face to face with the reasons for the Civil War, the tragedy of more than 50,000 men dying for such fiercely held beliefs, and the enormous sacrifices that men on both sides made for honor and duty.  By the end I feel like I really understand, for the first time, why this war was fought, what differing opinions brought men to such a place and above all, the tragedy of the whole thing.

This was a wonderful book and an absolute MUST READ.  Shaara won a Pulitzer Prize for this novel and rightly so. It is considered one of the best Historical Fiction accounts of the battle of Gettysburg anywhere.  A review of this book states: “This is simply the best historical fiction novel on the American Civil War. This novel will keep your interest and give everyone a greater appreciation of the men that fought on both sides.”

Still Alice by Lisa Genova was one of my vaction reads. I have to tell you, if you haven’t yet read this book, hurry down to the library and get it. This book was wonderful. I could not put it down, and read it in less than 2 days.

The story is about Alice, a Harvard Professor of Psychology and linguistics and her husband John, a researcher for Harvard. Alice is a brilliant professor with career, family, home. She is doing what she loves when one day she finds herself in the middle of Boston square and does not know how to get home. She is soon after diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease (EOAD). Alice is only 50.  The story tells about the progression of the disease and the effects this has on her family, her career, her life. The thing that makes such a depressing so story so incredible is how real each of the characters are. We understand her husband’s struggles, his sadness, even his unwillingness to change his habits and schedules. We grieve with her and with her family over each loss as it occurs and come away from the story with great sympathy for families and victims of Alzheimer’s. It’s not an entirely depressing story. I don’t mean to give that impression, but it is most definitely a powerful one. I highly recommend this book.

Oh I have loved Daniel Silva’s stories for a long time now. His main character, and he has never moved on to someone else thank heavens, Gabriel Allon is wonderfully knowable character. Each time I meet him in a story I get to know him and what he cares about just a bit more. I like this man who is passionate about art and his wife and keeping the world safe from the likes of insane terrorists.  In this story we find Gabriel and his wife, Chiara out of Israeli intelligence trying to resume a quiet normal life in the English countryside of Cornwall. Of course, that’s not going to happen when Julian Isherwood, Gabriel’s art restoring mentor, begs Gabriel to help find a newly discovered Rembrandt artwork “Portrait of a Young Woman”. Naturally, there is more to that than meets the eye and Gabriel suddenly finds himself trying to stop Iran from completing work on its first nuclear weapons.  It is a story of how politics and countries and industrialists with complicated pasts are all involved and twisted up by their own greed into helping madmen like those in Iran.  I would much rather read this in a book than actually live with it, and this is no exception. It’s a great story. Check it out at the library.

I just finished my first “Holmes” book of this series, Holmes on the Range by Steve Hockensmith. This was a funny and delightful cowboy mystery. I have to add a caveat right away, though. I did not love the language even though I’m sure that cowboy language would have been pretty salty I could have done with a lot less of it. Other than that, the story was great fun. It centers on two brothers, the Amlingmeyer-Gustav (old Red) and Otto (Big Red) who are a bit down on their luck as the story starts. They get hired on to the Bar V-R ranch in order to fend off a winter of starvation. Instead of punching cows like they expect they spend days cleaning and sprucing up the main house and then fiddling with the odd cow here and there. There are two distinct sets of hands though, and the brothers are in the group that has the short leash.  It isn’t long before the general manager is found trampled by a stampede (not more than a hand and a smear in the mud) and another hand shot in the head. Gustav, who fancies himself as a mite like old Sherlock Holmes himself sets to detecting! With lots of twists and turns in this wild west setting we’re taken off through a great Holmes like mystery. I truly enjoyed this story and luckily for me there are plenty more to read.  Hockensmith’s newest one “A Crack in the Lens” is here at the library as well!