BROWSING THROUGH SOME BOOKS

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Most of the books I receive I am given in return for an honest review. But some of the books come to me free with no requirements. I am free to tell you about them but cannot quote from them because they are advance reader's copies and are uncorrected and not for sale. Here are a few I would like to tell you about:

KEEPER by Kathi Appelt
Kathi Appelt follows up her Newberry Honor Book bestseller,The Underneath with a tale that will pull right at your very core. Ten year old Keeper knows who can make things right: Meggie Marie, her mermaid mother who swam away when Keeper was just three. A blue moon calls the mermaids to gather at the sandbar, and that's exactly where Keeper is headed--in a small boat, in the middle of the night, with only her dog BD (Best Dog), and a seagull named Captain. When the riptide pulls at the boat tugging her away from the shore and deep into the rough waters of the Gulf of Mexico, panic sets in, and the fairy tales that lured her out there go tumbling into the waves. Maybe the blue moon isn't magic and maybe the sandbar won't sparkle with mermaids and maybe--Oh, no..."Maybe" is just too difficult to bear.

I'LL MATURE WHEN I'M DEAD by Dave Barry
The New York Times calls Dave Barry "The funniest man in America." I'm not sure that is true, but he is funny and this is a funny book. As with most comedians, Dave uses some words that are not a part of my daily vocabulary. In spite of that, I find his stories hilarious. Of the eighteen stories I laughed the most at: The Elephant and the Dandelion (A Defense of Men), If You Will Just Shut Up, I Can Explain: A Man Answers Questions from Women, Dance Recital, and Colonoscopy. If you tend to the prudish side--don't buy this book. Don't forget. I warned you! But if you need some laughter in your life, run out and get this one.

THE LOST SUMMER of LOUISA MAY ALCOTT a novel by Kelly O' Connor McNees
Readers across generations have laughed and cried with the March sisters of Louisa May Alcott's classic novel Little Women. And there has never been a more beloved heroine in the history of American letters than Jo March, Louisa's alter ego and an iconic figure of independent spirit and big dreams. But as Louisa knew all too well, big dreams often come at a cost. In her debut novel, Kelly O'Connor McNees deftly mixes fact and fiction as she imagines a summer lost to history, carefully purged from Louisa's letters and journals, a summer that would change the course of Louisa's writing career--and inspire the story of love and heartbreak between Jo and Laurie, Jo's kindred spirit.

I agree with author Terry Gamble who said, "A superb, thoughtful and deliciously paced book that will hook lovers of history and Alcott alike.I enjoyed it tremendously."