Ali and Nino

Ali and Nino

Kurban Said

I would characterize this book as Romeo and Juliet with an East/West culture clash rather than a familial clash. The setting, Baku, a crossroads between East and West is essential to the story.

Ali is a Muslim boy and Nino is a Christian, Georgian girl who happen to fall deeply in love.

While Ali's father agrees to the marriage, Nino's family at first refuses, until a supposed friend intervenes on Ali's behalf.

In the course of their courtship and marriage there are many obstacles thrown in their way - blood fueds, cultural and religious differences, and war. Much of their quest for happiness is played out in physical journeys from Baku to Persia, to Tiflis.

There was a fairy-tale quality about this story that I really enjoyed.

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women

Harriet Reisen

As is true for so many others, Louisa May Alcott and her alter-ego, Jo March, are icons of my childhood.

I already knew quite a bit about Louisa May Alcott but I still found this an informative biography.

Louisa seemed to resemble her counterpart, Jo March, even more than I'd expected. I was also surprised by how many details from the Alcott's real lives found their way into Little Women. Not surprisingly, it seems as if she wrote her life, but as she wished it to be.

I found some of the details from Louisa's mid-life a bit surprising. For instance, her romance with the real Laurie.

I find it terribly sad that this woman who as a girl could go into raptures over nature, or who was always the one to lead any kind of fun, who gave so much pleasure to others, and who worked so hard for everyone around her was never able to find her own happiness. She never really was able to enjoy her own success.

Women in Love

Women in Love

D.H. Lawrence

Women in Love is the story of the Brangwen sisters who are very different in their approaches to life and relationships. The novel centers on Ursula's relationship with Birkin and Gudrun's relationship with Gerald Crich, son of the owner of the town's coal mine.

This is my first foray into Lawrence's work, and it will not be my last! In spite of the angst and over-analytical tendencies, it is the most lush, sumptuous writing I've ever had the pleasure to read. I loved it!

Flashman

Flashman

George MacDonald Fraser

The main character, Harry Flashman is a foolish, self-preserving, bigoted, womanizing coward. I didn't like him at all, yet couldn't help but laugh at the scrapes he would get into, and through no real effort of his own, get out of. I enjoyed the adventure, humor, and history. In its way, it was a fun read.

Nellie Bly: Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist

Nellie BlyL Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist

Brooke Kroeger

I love reading about unorthodox, adventurous, Victorian-era women and had recently wanted to know more about Nellie Bly.

Kroeger's portrait of Bly is both thorough and balanced. I came away with less respect for Bly than I thought I would, but I learned more about her than I had hoped. I also came away with respect for the author.

A River in the Sky

A River in the Sky

Elizabeth Peters

This is the last boook in the Amelia Peabody series to date, although it takes place out of chronological order.

This time, in a bit of an aberration, the Emerson family heads to Jerusalem and the Holy Land rather than to Egypt. The plan is to meet up with Ramses who has been working on a dig in Samaria.

While in Samaria, Ramses' insatiable curiousity and nose for trouble, (likely inherited from his fond maternal parent), leads him into a situation which may have dire consequences.

Meanwhile, as the Emersons await his delayed arrival, they must avert an explosion of the powder keg that is made up of Jerusalem's multitude of religious sects. A thoughtless, incompetent excavator, a man who might well have ties to German intelligence, may have deliberately lit the fuse.

I was very sorry to have come to the end of the Amelia Peabody series. It has been a great pleasure to have spent the last two summers with Amelia and her family.

Tomb of the Golden Bird

Tomb of the Golden Bird

Elizabeth Peters

This Amelia Peabody adventure centers on Howard Carter's discovery of King Tut's tomb in 1922.

Of course, the Emerson family gets caught up not only in the excitement of the discovery, but in fighting crime and all kinds of intrigue as well.

This was a very satisfying addition to the series.

I simultaneously read Carter's own account of the tomb's discovery. which made this book even more fun and interesting.

The Serpent on the Crown

The Serpent on the Crown

Elizabeth Peters

This installment of the Amelia Peabody series brings us back into chronological order.

The Emeraons are approached by a wealthy widow who is also a famous novelist. She appeals to them to accept a stunning golden statue which was bequeathed to her by her husband, and which she claims is cursed. She claims to believe that only Emerson can safely keep it, as his talents for escaping all kinds of danger and for excorcising evil spirits are well-known.

Soon, the Emersons are thrust into the midst of a series of mysterious events involving dead bodies and black afrits. As they work to unravel the puzzle of who is behind these mysterious occurences, they never flinch from what may be the greatest danger they've ever faced.

Of course I loved this! It was one of the most suspenseful in the series.

Guardian of the Horizon

Guardian of the Horizon

Elizabeth Peters

This adventure of the Emerson family was written out of chronological order in order to fill in a gap left in the story of Nefret and the Lost Oasis. It takes place in the year 1907 - 1908.

When the Emnersons are summoned to come to the aid of their good friend, Tarek, King of the Kingdom of the Hidden Mountain, they do not hesitate to return to Sudan to come to his aid, though they are suspicious of the messenger.

When they arrive, they soon find that their suspicions were warrranted. Tarek has been usurped by one who has no right to claim the throne. The usurper plans to use Nefret and the Emersons to solidify his position.

I've been reading the Amelia Peabody books in order, and was thrown off a bit at first by the out-of-synch chronology. I was soon caught up in the story, though, so that quickly ceased to be a problem, and I quite enjoyed it.

Children of the Storm

Children of the Storm

Elizabeth Peters

The Amelia Peabody series still hasn't grown stale for me. The characters are so delghtful, their adventures are so exhilarating, and so many wonderful new characters are added, that it is still fresh and more fun than the three-ring circus that their lives often resemble.

In this installment, Amelia and co. are on the trail of thieves who've stolen a few very valuable pieces of Ancient Egyptian jewelery from their good friend, Cyrus Vandergelt, as they try to work out a pattern to a number of other seemingly unrelated events.

The Golden One

The Golden One

Elizabeth Peters

The Great War and the Great Game continue. This time the entire Emerson clan follows Ramses on his assignment to Gaza.

Meanwhile, they have hired a very competent, eager young, Egyptian girl, and her lazy, incompetent brother, who may be involved in the discovery and pilfering of a very important tomb. They are also having to deal with an obnoxious American famnily who seems bent on openly dealing in stolen antiquities.

All in all, it's just anoher season in Egypt for the Emersons, which is always a delight for readers!

Lord of the Silent

Lord of the Silent

Elizabeth Peters

The saga of the Egyptological Emerson family continues. Lord of the Silent begins with their return to Egypt as WWI threatens, yet again, to pull them into its midst.

Even as they retreat to their beloved Luxor they are not immune to the effects of the war.

When Amelia discovers a recently dead body in a tomb, which is then followed by the discovery of others, they are plunged right into the thick of things, as usual.

Meanwhile, Amelia is busy trying to keep her son Ramses from being compelled to accept another dangerous undercover assignment and she is also working to discover if their arch nemesis is at work once again.

Fun, fun, fun!

He Shall Thunder in the Sky

He Shall Thunder in the Sky

Elizabeth Peters

In this book of the Amelia Peabody series, the shadow of WWI descends upon Europe and the world, including Amelia's beloved Egypt. The Emersons are caught up in the maelstrom and in the Great Game of espionage.

As always, this was great fun!

The Falcon at the Portal

The Falcon at the Portal

Elizabeth Peters

There was great character developement in this installment of the Amelia Peabody series. There were more surprises and twists regarding Amelia's family than there were involving mysteries.

All of the surprises made this one of my favorites in the series!

The Ape Who Guards the Balance

The Ape Who Guards the Balance

Elizabeth Peters

This is part of the wonderful Amelia Peabody series. There are approximately 19 books in the series. Last summer, which I christened "The Summer of Amelia Peabody", I read through the first nine. It was such fun that I decided to read the remaining books in the series during this, my "Second Summer of Amelia Peabody".

As I resumed the series, I was not disappointed. It is now "the season" of 1907. Independently-minded Amelia and her equally unorthodox family are off once again to Egypt. Amelia and her husband Emerson are disappointed that they've only been given permission to dig a minor tomb in The Valley of the Kings.

Of course, being the Emersons, it isn't long before they are distracted from their boredom by criminals, nefarious plots, and danger.

The Second Summer of Amelia Peabody was off and running with a terrific start!

The Ape Who Guards the Balance

The Ape Who Guards the Balance

Elizabeth Peters

This is part of the wonderful Amelia Peabody series. There are approximately 19 books in the series. Last summer, which I christened "The Summer of Amelia Peabody", I read through the first nine. It was such fun that I decided to read the remaining books in the series during this, my "Second Summer of Amelia Peabody".

As I resumed the series, I was not disappointed. It is now "the season" of 1907. Independently-minded Amelia and her equally unorthodox family are off once again to Egypt. Amelia and her husband Emerson are disappointed that they've only been given permission to dig a minor tomb in The Valley of the Kings.

Of course, being the Emersons, it isn't long before they are distracted from their boredom by criminals, nefarious plots, and danger.

The Second Summer of Amelia Peabody was off and running with a terrific start!

Poor Miss Finch

Poor Miss Finch

Wilkie Collins

Lucilla Finch is a young woman who has been blind since the age of one. The complications that ensue when her sight is restored combine with the complicatons that arise from the feelings that identical twin brothers have for her.

I was immediately grabbed by the Dickensian humor I found in the first part of the book, and which appeared from time to time throughout the book.

At other times the story became more gothic in nature, which was more in line with what I've come to expect from Collins. It never quite became truly gothic, though. I would venture to call it gothic light.

Loving Dickens and his particular brand of humor, (and pathos), as I do, and loving gothic novels as I also do, I thoroughly enjoyed Poor Miss Finch.

Passenger to Teheran

Passenger to Teheran

Vita Sackville West

I read this a few months ago, so, it's hard to write about it now. I do remember that I loved it. Not only is it one of my favorite genres, vintage travel, but it impressed me as one of the most beautifully written travelogues I've read.

It really made me want to read more of Vita Sackville-West's work. I haven't done so yet, but her work is definitely on my radar.

Four Spirits: A Novel

Four Spirits: A Novel

Sena Jeter Naslund

This is a novel of The Civil Rights Movement. In particular, it deals with the bombing of a Birmingham church that killed four little girls, and the effect this had on many people, especially the main character, Stella Silver. Stella Silver is a young, white college student for whom the bombing created a conflict between the compulsion to act on her conscience and concern for her personal safety and the safety of her friends.

The stories of so many others tie in as well. Naslund does an outstanding job of fully embodying each character, so that no character seems just a one-dimensional sillhouette, trivial, or unimportant to the whole of the story.

I wouldn't list this book among my favorites, but I am glad I read it.

The Mysterious Benedict Society

The Mysterious Benedict Society

Trenton Lee Stewart

This is a book for older children, and children at heart. Fans of Roald Dahl or Lemony Snickett will especially enjoy this adventurous tale, although it also refreshingly stands on its own.

The Mysterious Benedict Society is made up of four unique children chosen by Mr. Benedict, who is indeed mysterious, to complete a very serious, very important task. They must use their wits and special gifts to act as spies, solve codes, and unravel clues, all while remaining undetected.

This is the perfect choice for anyone who is looking for a light, fun read.

The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag

The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag

Alan Bradley

When a famous puppeteer is murdered, Flavia DeLuce is on the case. In spite of having to constantly deal with two obnoxious older sisters and a visiting aunt who is cranky, stern, and eccentric, Flavia manages to put her investigative skills to good use.

I must say, I adore Flavia DeLuce. She and Amelia Peabody are my favorite amateur sleuths, bar none. This is a wonderful, wonderful series that I hope continues for a very long time.

Mrs. Woolf and the Servants: An Intimate History of Domestic Life in Bloomsbury

Mrs. Woolf and the Servants: An Intimate History of Domestic Life in Blooomsbury

Alison Light

This was an excellent biography of Virginia Woolf and her servants. The author seems to have researched many aspects of her subjects thoroughly and well.

The interaction between Virginia Woolf and her servants was fascinating , and gives a new perspective of her, making a subject that's been written about many times fresh and vibrant, giving it mew life.

My favorite parts, though, were about Woolf's writing, and how her relationship to her own and other Bloomsbury servants affected it. Sometimes there was even a direct correlation between a real-life servant and a servant in one of Woolf's novels or stories. I adore that kind of insight.

Mrs. Woolf and the Servants gets full marks from me. This is biography at its best.

The Oracle of Stamboul

The Oracle of Stamboul

Michael David Lukas

Briefly, The Oracle of Stamboul is about a very intelligent, very precocious , gifted young Jewish girl of the Ottoman Empire, whose birth is heralded by a flock of purple hoopoe birds.

Eleonor's mother dies, as a result of childbirth. Eleonor's father is a rug merchant, and when he decides to travel to Stamboul in the hopes of selling more carpets, 8-yr-old Eleonor, not wanting to be left in the hands of an uncaring setp-mother, and not wanting to experience the loneliness of separation from her loving father, stows away on the ship that is taking him to Stamboul.

In Stamboul, her father is killed, and she becomes the ward of her father's business partner, an important, wealthy man, Monef Bey.

Her gifts and intelligence bring her to the notice of the Sultan, and she becomes his trusted advisor, much to the disdain of many in the palace.

I enjoyed this, but perhaps not as much as I'd hoped.

Upstairs Downstairs

Upstairs Downstairs

John Hawkesworth

Upstairs Downstairs is the story of the fictional Bellamy family, an upper-class Edwardian family, and their servants.

This book is based on the television series that aired in the 1970's.

Even though I don't recall ever seeing the series, there were no real surprises. Both the Bellamys and their servants were locked rigidly into their class roles. There were inevitable rebellions from both classes, while most accepted their lot without complaint, and some even thrived in that system.

I watched the sequel that aired back in April, and it got me in the mood to read this book. I quite enjoyed it, even though books based on television series or movies are almost never well-written, and this was no exception.

# 23 Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned From the Happiest Kingdom on Earth

Radio Shangri-La

Lisa Napoli

Lisa Napoli was a radio journalist in New York when she got the opportunity to go to the little-known Himalyan Kingdom of Bhutan, a place where the nation's success is not measured by the GDP, but by GNH...gross national happiness. Napoli volunteered to help Bhutan set up their first youth-oriented radio station, Kuzoo FM.

In spite of the over-supply of travel sub-genre where a woman reaches middle-age and decides to travel to an exotic location on some kind of quest to find herself, to find meaning, to find love, or to find something else, I still enjoyed this book, which almost falls in the category.

I especially enjoyed learning about little-known Bhutan, but I'm afraid the only thing I garnered from the book about happiness, in spite of the subtitle, is that ignorance is bliss, I suppose. The king had kept Bhutan isolated from the rest of the world, and the inahabitants seemesd to me to have a certain chldlike quality...a simplicity, a sense of wonder at the world that was slowly opening up for them, and a sort of patriarchal devotion to the king who seemed a father figurehead.
I don't think that Napoli made clear what it is that she learned from Bhutan, except that a simpler life is less stressful and therefore happier.

This was not the greatest book I've ever read, but I did enjoy it.

# 22 The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games

Suzanne Collins

the Hunger Games is set in a dystopian future North America, a nation called Panem, which is comprised of The Capitol and 12 subordinate districts who flought a bloody war of independence against The Capitol and who have been under the tight, cruel control of The Capitol ever since.

One way that The Capitol reminds the district of its control over the districts is by The Hunger Games, which take place annually.

The district residents aged 12 - 18 must all put their names into a drawing. Two names from each district are chosen - a boy and a girl. Those chosen are called tributes. All 24 tributes will fight each other to death, until only one tribute, the winner, is living. This is The Hunger Games, and every moment is televised live across Panem.

This year Katniss Everdeen is District 12's female tribute, after she volutneers to take the place of her younger sisterm whose name was drawn.

The course of the games is naturally intense and fast-paced. I won't say more about the actual games for fear of spoilers.

This book was the most gripping I've read in a long while. It was hard to put down.


Collins did an outstanding job of making the reader care for the characters, and of making such a story believable.

This is defintely the best YA novel I've read in a few years!

#21 The Heroine's Bookshelf

The Heroine's Bookshelf

Erin Blakemore

This book's subititle, "Life Lessons from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder" exactly describes this delicious little gem. Each chapter is devoted to the life lessons that Blakemore, and millions of other readers have gleaned from a literary heroine such as Jane Eyre, Jo March, or Scout Finch, and her author/creator.

From the very first words of the introduction I identified with the author. Again and again this book resonated, and I found myself mentally crying out an emphatic "Yes!".

At other times, I was delighted to gain a new perspective of an old friend.

I suppose that it would be a bit redundant to say that I LOVED this book and that I highly recommend it. It's being added to my list of favorites, for sure!