#39 Rainbow's End

#39
Rainbow's End
Lauren St. John
2007
259
Non-Fiction
3 out of 5
S&S Review
I think to fully understand this book, you need to have an educated background into the Rodesian War. That being said, and not having this background this book goes on forever. Beginning in the prologue you are grabbed by the throat and think that you are about to jump on a rollercoaster. Then for the next 150 pages you wallow in the childhood of Lauren St. John as she wanders around Rhodesian with a father (who she engages in a love hate relationship) who is more interested in his own next adventure then in his family and a mother who never wanted to be there in the first place and decides to become a world traveler leaving Lauren to pretty much raise herself Then low and behold (this is acutally the good part) Rhodesia is taken back by the Black population, the whites are being forced out and Lauren realizes that she is a Racist - but it's not her fault she was raised that way - yawn. Right as the book begins to get interesting, boom she jumps back to her personal recollections about riding her horse and all the animals she was raised with. About half this book could have been cut out and it would have been much better.

#42 Al Capone Does My Shirts

#42
Al Capone Does My Shirts
Gennifer Choldenko
2006
225
YA
4 out of 5
PBS
"If you love someone, you have to try things even if they don't make sense to anyone else" Moose Flanagan and his family arrive on Alcatraz Island in 1935 so his father Cam can work as an electrician and guard at the prison and his sister Natalie can have a chance to attend a "special" school for children with Autism. At the time it's not called Autism, but that is what the reader of today is lead to believe. Moose is caught in the middle of Piper the wardens daughters' schemes and her mad drive to meet Al Capone and his mothers desperate need to get Natalie into the only school that can help her. Moose is the only one that can really reach Natalie and the decisions and realities that the family has to face can just be too much for a 12 year old boy. Maybe Al Capone is his only option.

#41 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

#41
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
JK Rowling
2007
759
Fantasy
5 out of 5
TBR
This final book in the series is a wonderful end to a wonderful series. After Dumbledores death in the previous book, Harry, Hermoine and Ron must fulfil the wishes of their headmaster and find the seven horcruxes, destroy them and put an end to the rule of "He who must not be named". This book grabs you from the beginning when you realize that things are not always what they seem, people are not who you thought they were and questions are answered with characters background stories finally being told. This story is much darker than the previous books, but all that is played out against the tender love that is blooming.

#40 Legend of the Jade Dragon

#40
Legend of the Jade Dragon
Yasmine Galenorn
2004
275
Cozy Mystery
4 out of 5
PBS
#2 in the Chintz 'n China Mystery Series. Things go downhill quickly for Emerald when a man leaves her shop after a reading and is killed by a hit and run driver leaving behind a small jade Ming dragon that has been cursed and disrupts the lives of those that are in possession of it. Unfortunately, little things in this book kept distracting me from the story. Doesn't Yasmine have an editor that would point out that you don't give a school nurse your insurance card or that you don't hear the "ringing" of the dial tone, even if this is a cozy mystery shouldn't an editor still do their job?

Movie: #11 The Queen

#11
The Queen
2006

5 out of 5
Block Buster

No wonder Helen Mirren won the best actress award. She was absolutely marvelous. This movie takes place the during the week of Princess Diana's death. The movie depicts the behind the scenes wrangling between the royal family and Tony Blair in how the family was going to handle the funeral of the People's Princess versus the fact that she was no longer a royal. How much influence Blair had and how torn the queen was between duty and being a grandmother. I hope that Queen Elizabeth had as much compassion as the film depicted, but I have a new dislike for Prince Phillip - what a jerk.

Movie #12: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

#12
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
4 out of 5
Theater

This movie adaptation of J.K. Rowlings 5th book was unfortunately a let down for me. You definitely needed to have read the book first to understand what was going on in the movie. Favorite scenes from the book were left out - Quiddich. Favorite characters - Hagrid, Creature and Tonks had very minimal parts. The movie is very dark in both cinematography and subject. The characters all have a harder edge and definitely not a children's movie. Imelda Staunton who was cast as the perfect Delores Umbridge literally steals the whole movie. Harry, Hermoine and Ron all seem to be getting a little too old for the characters that they play. The best part of the movie was the last 30 minutes, unfortunately you had to sit through the first two hours to get there.

Movie #10: Lonesome Dove

#10
Lonesome Dove
1998
5 out of 5
Netflix
Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Danny Glover, and Diane Lane. When people talk about the romance of the west they must be crazy. The west was a hard and horrible place or so this movie shows us. Duall and Jones takes a herd of cows, horses, green cowboys and two pigs from Texas to Montana where they encounter some rather rough characters, Indians, old lovers and live long enemies. I loved this movie, loved how the characters would come and go and how the storylines built on itself and then twisted back to the beginning to tell the whole story. Great Movie.

Movie #9: Last Holiday

#9
Last Holiday
2006
4 out of 5
Library
This was a fun Queen Latifa movie. She is beautiful in this movies. Queen Latifa plays Georgia Byrd a department store worker who has always denied herself the better things in life. When she is told that she only has a couple of weeks to live she pulls out her book of possibilities and turns them into realities. This funny heartfelt movie is a great family treat.

#38 Latte Trouble

#38
Latte Trouble
Cleo Coyle
2005
232
Cozy Mystery
4 out of 5
PBS
Victims become suspects, suspects become victims. In this 3rd outing, Cleo opens up the Village Blend for New York Fashion week. On the evening of Lottie Harmons party Tuckers ex-boyfriend is poisoned by a drink that was intended for Lottie. Cleo takes it upon herself to prove Tuckers innocence only to get in the middle of something that is much bigger then she is. This story stumbles and twists along (with a couple of editing mistakes) until the twisted ending in which you have to be paying attention to get all the complexities. Not to mention whether Matteo is really wanting to change or not. I enjoy this series, the characters are familiar and it's nice to revisit them.

#37 Aunt Dimity Takes a Holiday

#37
Aunt Dimity Takes a Holiday
Nancy Atherton
2004
199
Cozy Mystery
4 out of 5
PBS
In this 8th outing. Lori and Bill are summoned to Hailesham - Derek Harris' family home for a working weekend / vacation. Lori's knows that this will not be the relaxing vacation she had hoped for when upon their arrival a large topiary is set ablaze and poison pen letters start to appear. More is found out about Derek's family and Nell is still as irrepressible as ever. There was something very familiar about this book. Like I had read part of it before. Very reminiscent of Aunt Dimity Beats the Devil.

June Books

#31 Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
Barbara Kingsolver
2007
342
Non-Fiction
3 out of 5
Library

"This book is part college course, part how to manual and part family scrapbook. Kingsolver and her family moved across the country from Tucson to Appalachia to get back to her roots and to the farm that her husband had bought years before with the purpose of living off the land and the products of surrounding county farmers all in an effort of making as little impact on environmental resources as possible. I don't know what exactly I was looking for in this book, but it just didn't hit the mark. I think that my problem with the book is that it is 3 books jammed into one. It was like she couldn't decide what audience she wanted to appeal to. Each of the three would have made a great book. She also tends to veer off into tangents which left me with a bit of whiplash. But I do have to say that there are many laugh out loud moments. Many moments of insight and an eye opening into the true cost of food in both natural resources and the bottom line. Oh and the story about the roosters is just hysterical. **Amazon Review Written

#32 Still Life with Murder
P.B. Ryan
2003
309
Cozy Mystery
4 out of 5
PBS

First in the Nell Sweeney / Gilded Age Series. Nell Sweeney is an assistant to Dr. Greaves, a man that has saved her from her past, when one evening they are called out to assist in a birth that will change Nell's life. Next thing she knows she is a Governess to this child and within 3 years is a trusted companion to the head of the house and is sent on an adventure to save the woman's son, who was thought to be dead, from a hanging for a murder that he is being charged with. From opium dens to high society this book looks at the life of the Hewitt family and their many secrets. This book is more character driven then actual murder mystery, but the characters are very engaging and Nell is a very independent thinking woman for the late 19th Century in which this book takes place. ** Amazon Review Written *** PBS Review

#33 Dedication
Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
2007
378
Chick Lit Fiction
3 out of 5
S&S Review Book

Beware the "F" Bomb. Wouldn't it be refreshing if an author didn't have to resort to this just to make a point. And I am quite sure that when I was 30, my mother and I never screamed this at each other. Bouncing back and forth between her 80's adolescence years and 2005. 30 year old Kate tells the story of her needing revenge against Jake Sharpe, her teenage first love whom she is swearing revenge on to the point that he wished he never existed. Jake left Kate and his old band suddenly to become a mega singer leaving everyone in his dust. Kate blames her lack of life in her 20's to the fact that she never quite got to end her relationship with Jake and the unrequited love that she carried for year. Yada Yada Yada. The book bogged down in the middle for me because Kate really didn't seem to grow up very much between her 14 year old self and her 30 year old self. There were quite a few funny moments and it was nice to recollect my high school years. ARC Edition *** Amazon Review Written ** PBS Review

#34 Aunt Dimity Detective
Nancy Atherton
2001
229
Cozy Mystery
4 out of 5
PBS

#7 in the Series. Everyone has a story. In this outing, Lori returns to Finch from a 3 month visit to the states only to find that the horrible Prunella "Pruneface" Hooper has been murdered. With the help of Nicholas, the nephew of the vicars wife, they set out to find the secrets of their little town and to find out who "didn't" have a motive. Everyone in this idyllic village has a secret, but it's up to Lori and Nicholas to keep their secrets but to also solve the crime with some help from the wonderful Aunt Dimity. I enjoy the theme of Atherton's books. They are just the right amount of cozy. ***Amazon Review Written

#35 Kabul Beauty School
Debbie Rodriguez
2007
275
Non-Fiction
4
Library

I know that there is a bit of controversy concerning the "good" that Debbie Rodriguez did in Kabul, but I really enjoyed this quick read book. Debbie is a young woman who is bored with her life and after two failed marriages decides that she would like to join up with an NGO (Non-Governmental Oraganization) and help people somewhere in the world. She is attached to a group of medical professionals sent to Afghanistan and not knowing how she could help - mentions by chance that she is a hair stylist. Little did she know that this profession had been banned by the Taliban and finding someone who could do hair was next to impossible in this country. Westerners, aid works and Afghani women swarmed to her. Knowing that there had to be more then just doing hair she approached US companies to see if they would support her desires to open a beauty school in Kabul to train the women there how to be successful beauticians so they could support themselves and their families without being hidden in the shadows like they had been for some many years. The women, their stories, their personal trials are just amazing and inspiring. Just to know that when presented with insurmountable odds, the human spirit can still beat those odds. **Amazon Review Written

#36 Elsewhere
Gabrielle Zevin
2005
275
YA - Fiction (but don't let that stop you from reading this amazing book)
5+
Library Happiness is a choice. Great Discussion book. Great Book Period. This is one of the best books that I have ever read. My review doesn't do it justice, but that is just because I don't want to ruin this amazing book for you. Liz wakes up on a bunk in a boat not knowing where she is or how she got there. The shock of her life comes when she finds out that she is dead, the victim of a hit and run driver, and what's more important to her 15 year old self is that she will not turn 16 get her drivers license, go to college, get married or even get big boobs. This is a funny and heart-tugging book of Liz's journey through Elsewhere where she never gets older, but has an unexpected life and will grow younger until she is sent back to earth as a new born to experience life all over again. With the help of her grandmother that died before she is born, Liz makes this journey through anger, regret and triumph. It will definitely make you look at the after-life in a totally different way. **Amazon Review Written