Sand and Fire

The history and importance of an often overlooked and underappreciated landscape, the Pine Barrens of Wisconsin. Prior to reading this book I had never even heard of this area. This area is completely unique to North America and efforts are finally being made to maintain it and restore it to protect the fragile ecosystem and wildlife that lives there. Dave Peter does a great job describing the landscape, it's importance, early inhabitants, the fight to preserve it, and beauty of the area. There are many pictures to help illustrate his points. A small and important read. 

The Werewolf at Dusk

A quick but masterful graphic novel told as three short stories. The Werewolf at Dusk is about the changes an aging werewolf goes through. Still able to change at the full moon, yet hardly able to chase a squirrel or climb up stairs. A Walk in the Old City is about a shrink who loses his way at night. Attempting to psycho-analyze himself will not getting him out of the mess he stumbles across. The final story is The Tiger in Vogue which is a terrifyingly whimsical look at Hitler's rise to power in Germany. Unique and wonderful storytelling in that one. Fantastic illustrations grace the pages of all three stories. I wish it were longer! 

Help for the Haunted

My rating is really a 3.5. This book is perfect for fans of The Conjuring and suspense novels. Sylvie is the good daughter, she is the youngest of her parent's two kids and the one that can be counted on. Her parents are "helpers" they take demonic or spiritual cases and try to solve problems with prayer. As their notoriety grows across the country, things get harder at home. Her older sister Rose acts up and starts driving a wedge between their parents. When her parents are murdered in a church after meeting with a client they helped in the past, Sylvie is the key to the case. But what does she really remember. Told in alternating timelines between the past and the present; Help for the Haunted starts out pretty slow but the pace really picks up in the last third of the book. 

Raiders of the Lost Heart

This was a fun, steamy, romantic comedy perfect for fans of Indiana Jones, Romancing the Stone, and The Mummy. Corrie gets called out to her dream archaeological dig, the study of her life's work, and she finds out that the lead of the dig is the guy that broke her heart in grad school. She is beyond angry but surprised the attraction is still there. Against her better judgement she finds herself staying onsite because she will never be this close to finding the lost remains of her ancestor, Chimalli, an ancient warrior of the Aztec empire. The two keep finding themselves flirting with each other and soon enough they are sharing tents. Very steamy - I could have used a little more adventure however!

All Hail, The Queen of the Freaks

I was far too sober to read this book. If you are a fan of nonsense novels then you may enjoy this weird young adult novel. Otherwise steer clear! The book opens with a warning to go to the author's website to learn how to properly read the website (which seems like it would be useful because trying to find the plot in this book....) - the only problem is the website no longer exists. The "premise" of this young adult novel is that a young female teenager wakes up in a weird asylum with no memory of who she is - all she knows is that people are trying to kill her. She runs away and finds herself in Paradiddle Lane - a high end street in the suburbs of Chicago. She runs into a high end collectible shop (that is alive) and a lonely German man takes her in and decides to raise her as his own. He enrolls her in a school for ultra rich teens called Prep and there she makes friends with some billionaires. While playing around she discovers she can enter different dimensions and time travel. Her friends are like, "that's cool." Nothing in this book makes any sense - it's weird and ironic and annoying and I hate read the whole book. Not one of the characters is likable, there is no plot, there are so many weird nonsensical asides. It was too much for me. Read at your own risk.

Live and Let Chai

Cheesy, predictable, and a fun cozy read. The book was fun and highly improbable as all good cozy mysteries are. Everly has moved back to her hometown on Charm Island after a devastating breakup with a cowboy. She buys a fixer upper on the boardwalk and decides to convert the downstairs into an iced tea shop called Sun, Sand and Tea. Things get off to a rocky start when the old town curmudgeon is found dead, with her tea glass right beside him. The new detective insinuates her tea poisoned him and suddenly she can't get any customers. It's up to her to clear her name and prove she's not an iced tea killer. Lots of small town cliches, zero business sense, and attraction to the hunky detective. Nice fluff. I may continue with the series later. 

The Real Hoosiers

For someone who doesn't get that into sports I freaking LOVE reading about them. The Real Hoosiers is magnificent, it's a breathtaking look at The Big O, Attucks, and basketball in Indiana. As a Hoosier, this content isn't brand new to me. I have read several other books on Hoosier basketball, and a young adult book on Attucks - however the framework of this book included so much background and depth that I learned a ton. This should be required reading. It talks in depth about how deep racism permeated in the Hoosier Heartland (on and off the court) and the hoops (see what I did there) that African American players faced just to play the game they love. I love Indiana and we've come a long way as a state - but boy... things were bad. It's amazing that we got such a great school and basketball team out of so much prejudice. Wonderful book, I loved all the footnotes and anecdotes! 

A Place Called the Tree

A relatable teen novel about wanting to belong, parental angst, tumultuous friendships, drama club, and first romance. Leah has always felt like she is on the outside looking in. Her mom has been in and out of relationships and has moved her from place to place. Tipton, Indiana is the place where she has lived the longest and it's starting to feel like home. What if she could really belong? She belongs in drama club and with her two friends Justin and Becky. But she doesn't feel as if she belongs at home with her mom's new boyfriend and she longs to belong to the "cool kids" group at the high school, the choir. The choir kids have a tree they all sit around at lunch and to Leah it's larger than life. What are they discussing out there? After school she sneaks out to be by the tree when no one can see her, and on one auspicious day she finds a letter buried in dirt from an old man named Robert. Life as she knows it will never be the same. Teens will really relate to this novel but the I did not care for the ending. As a Hoosier, I did love all the Indiana references. 

Greymist Fair

LOVED this book so hard! This is my favorite Zappia novel to date. I loved this village and all the people in it. The storytelling was beautiful - if the characters aged up, this would easily read as an adult novel. This is one book that I plan on keeping and re-reading. Greymist Fair is a little village in the middle of the woods, some people never make it there and the villagers never leave. They know to stay out of the forests, for death lurks within. Each tale is a retelling of old Grim fairy tales and they all connect to the town. The Grim tales that are "retold" aren't necessarily the common ones and most children would never know them. I myself didn't know a few. The storytelling is beautiful, the setting is beautiful, the characters are complicated and interesting.  

Higher Power

I didn't love this book but I learned so much. This is never a book I would have picked up, but I'm not mad that I had to read it. Prior to reading this book, the only other book on nuclear energy I had ever read was, "Midnight in Chernobyl" which was slightly terrifying. Higher Power is not that kind of book. Broken into three parts: Higher Power has a mix of different nuclear themes. The first section is about Dowie, a religious leader/fanatic/hypocrite and the founder of the city of Zion in Illinois. The second part of the book is about the nuclear plant with twin reactors that was built in the town. The author was able to spend nearly two years there as a journalist working for the Chicago Tribune. The final section of the book is a bit of a hodge podge about the future of nuclear energy, former workers of the Zion plant, and the decommissioning process, and other nuclear disasters. It was all interesting - but a very dense read.

Dust Yourself Off

 

An engaging biography of a North Dakota farm wife who proved she was so much more than that. This reads like a love letter to Muriel Henrickson Sandhei. It outlines her childhood, her marriages and the many ups and downs that came from living off the land during the 40s and 50s. Barely making ends meet, but proud, fearless, and determined; she was a strong and passionate woman who raised several fine young children and weathered quite a few tragedies. Not only is it a look at her life and that of her families - but it is also a wonderful snapshot of Fort Ransom in the first half of the twentieth century and the Norwegian farming community that lived on the land. With an upbeat attitude Muriel took everything that was thrown at her with stride - she didn't think that was extraordinary - she thought it was expected. A moving portrait of strong woman. 

The Other Side of Anoka

When Karen's husband dies she starts to wonder about lives lived and if she'll see him again. Her curiosity leads her to start working the ghost tours in her town and that leads her to someone who has answers. A past life regressionist takes her to "the other side" of Anoka - back to 1851. The majority of the book is through Carrie's eyes as the small settlement of Anoka grows into a bustling town. Carrie meets Jacque-Pierre, her soulmate, and starts a family of her own. Her family grows as the town does. While Carrie is the "main character" there are also many other characters, ordeals, and backstories that readers are privy too. The town itself could also be classified as the main character, because as the years pass, the buildings and population grow as well. This book would mainly fall under historical fiction although the buildings, the catastrophes, the people, and the deaths are all based on real accounts of the town. An interesting way to tell a town's history while focusing on one family. 

Blaze

I love nearly everything written by Stephen King but I didn't love this as much as I wanted to. I don't know if it was the narration or my concern for the baby - but this book was just so so for me. The premise of Blaze a man wants to kidnap a baby so he can do one big con and be set for the rest of his life. The only issue is that Blaze is a few fries short of a happy meal after being repeatedly being thrown down the stairs by his father as a child - for years he would pull cons with his buddy George, but ever since he was stabbed during a poker game he's been on his own. He's a gentle giant and too stupid to do much without George - but George's voice is guiding him on what to do and he wants Blaze to do this kidnapping. Can he pull it off? He is a sympathetic bad guy and the story will give you complicated emotions. I'm sad I didn't like it more. 

The Irish Matchmaker

I am a sucker for inspirational historical romance - especially when it is set in Ireland. Having read Jennifer Deibel's other books, I knew I was in for a treat. While I didn't love this as much as some of her other titles, it was still a nice quick read. Catriona Daly is a matchmaker just like her father - she is too busy helping other people find their forever love that she never gets to find a man for herself. When she starts to work with Andrew Osbourne - a man of means and property she is determined to match him with herself so that she can get away from their small Irish town and be financially well off. Donal Banratty, is a single father with a barely functioning farm. He never seems to come out ahead no matter how hard he tries. When his daughter Sara begs him to go to the matchmaking festival so she can have a mother - he reluctantly agrees. If nothing else he could use an extra set of hands around the farm. He isn't looking for love - he's looking for a partner. Little do Catriona and Donal know that what they are looking for could be right in front of them. 

Taboo

Interesting look at Nino Cutraro, an entrepreneur who created some of the most iconic night clubs and restaurants in America. Nino immigrated to America with $20 in his pocket and with a little hard work and a lot of good business sense started creating iconic businesses (mainly in Detroit) that people still talk about today. All the major celebrities went to them and they became legendary even after they were closed down or rebranded. From disco clubs to Italian restaurants to dance venues to western bars; the whos who of every in America passed through the doors and Nino has the pictures to prove it. Madonna, David Bowie, Pavarotti, Stevie Wonder, Al Gore, Sugar Ray Leonard and so many more came back time and again. Nino even developed a deep relationship with Mark Whalburg and helped open up their first restaurant. This book is fun and reads like a long Rolling Stone article. A fun little coffee table book.