The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann J McM

Imagine a world where everything is gray and bleak... the entire world as you know it is surrounded by walls and above you is a barbed wire fence.  Now with how amazing that sounds imagine that you are a 13 year old kid who was caught drawing in the dirt with a stick or humming a song or telling a story to your friends.  What do you think would happen to you?  Why you are classified as Unwanteds and then sent to the Death Farmer to be eliminated of course!

Once the gate is closed behind you and you are inside the Death Farm and you are NOT eliminated... what crazy thoughts are going through your mind?  Being told that you can do whatever you want sounds like a scheme to get you to do something bad again right? WRONG!

Mr. Today is the "Death Farmer" also known as the mage of a magical land called Artime.  He has teachers (human and creatures) to teach the children how to be creative!  How to sing, dance, act, draw, paint and create.  Each child is assigned to a specific teacher that specializes in what that child is most creative in and help them thrive in creating.

Now imagine after learning that singing and drawing are good things that you can also learn how to do magic!  Now you are told that since the land you live in is a secret, you need to be trained and prepared to fight in case the secret land you live in is ever discovered.  This story was an amazing beginning to a series I'm excited to continue reading!

The Returned by Jason Mott FIC Mot

What would happen if the dead came back to life on earth, just as they left it? When people who died years previously begin reappearing -- alive and unchanged -- the world doesn't know how to react or what to do with them. These "Returned" are actual people who simply want to go back to their homes and families -- or are they? The question of what or who are the Returned is never fully answered, but they aren't zombies or aliens or anything sci-fi like that.

The story is mainly set in a small southern town, but the events are happening all over the world. The main characters of the book are an elderly couple whose young son drowned over 40 years ago, the government agent who brings the boy home when he is found "returned", the evil army colonel who is "only doing his job", and the frightened and angry townspeople who decide enough is enough.

This book is the debut novel by Jason Mott, and it is worth the read. While there weren't a lot of surprises in the book, the story was well-paced and the characters were real and likeable (for the most part). The author left a number of questions unanswered, and a number of themes unexplored, but I suspect that was deliberate on his part -- it leaves the reader thinking. How would I react if my loved ones Returned? How would I react if they didn't? Could I believe it was really them? Why did some Return and some did not? What would I expect the government's reaction to be, and how would I respond to those actions?

A good story, and a thought-provoking read.

Hungry: A Memoir by Darlene Barnes 641.5 Bar

A professional chef with no formal training takes a job as the house cook for a fraternity at the University of Washington. Over the next six years, Darlene Barnes battles inadequate facilities and equipment, government inspections, picky eaters, lousy food supplies, and the occasional rat. She also learns how much it means to college kids to have good, healthy food prepared by someone who cares -- and how easy it is to become an integral part of their lives.

Though not her first job in the food profession, having worked in supermarket delis, dive restaurants, and most recently as a private chef to a Dallas billionaire, Darlene finds this particular position to be by far the most rewarding. This is not only because of the supreme control she has over nearly every aspect of the food decisions (a level of control that had been completely missing in all her previous jobs), but also because she is able to elevate the level of food service the young men in this fraternity -- and, as it turns out, a number of sorority girls whom she dubs "the food bandits" -- receive by insisting on great ingredients for meals to be prepared *by her* on-site. She is an anomaly among her peers, who are mostly nothing more than microwave re-heaters of tasteless, nutrition-less, frozen, packaged meals. Some of the food bandits described what their "chef" offered: "Just chicken...And then some kind of sh** on it...A different kind every day." Meanwhile, Darlene's "boys" ate everything from asparagus to zucchini, beef to salmon, kosher to meat-free Lenten meals, all made from fresh, mostly local, ingredients.

In addition to providing the meals, Darlene becomes part of the family. Her kitchen becomes a meeting place, and Darlene herself becomes a sounding board, a sympathetic ear, and a friend to many of the boys.

Comedy, some tragedy, and plenty of recipes are found in this engaging, though very quick, read. I finished it in one day, in part because of its length and in part because I couldn't seem to put it down.

Multiple Exposure by Ellen Crosby MYS Cro

Photojournalist Sophie Medina returns to her home in London from an overseas assignment to find that her husband Nick has been violently abducted.  Nick worked for a British oil company as a geologist but was also an undercover agent for the CIA.  Days later his boss and owner of the oil company he worked for is found dead in the Danube River in Vienna.

Sophie stays in London, where she and Nick had been so happy, to deal with her grief.  Three months after his abduction a friend in the British government tells her that Nick might not be dead after all.  Nick has shown up in recent pictures taken in Moscow.

Not sure who to believe and wondering why Nick hasn't contacted her, Sophie returns to Washington, D.C. to be with family and friends.  While taking pictures of a Faberge egg exhibit for her new job she is threatened by a Russian oil tycoon who implicates Nick in an international energy scheme.

Sophie isn't sure who to trust but as she tries to solve the puzzle of Nick's disappearance she relies on her knowledge of Washington, D.C. and her close-knit circle of friends from her childhood as well as her wealthy and influential step-father.  What she finds out has national and international implications.

I first read Ellen Crosby's series of mysteries set in the Virginia wine country which is located just outside Washington, D.C.  She has a wonderful ability to create a sense of place.  After reading those mysteries I wanted to visit Loudon County in Virgina and ride a horse or two, go from winery to winery and do some antique shopping.

This mystery, the first in a series, had the same effect.  I've been to Washington, D.C. several times but the author described parts of the city I have never seen.  I wanted to hop on the next plane to experience it through Sophie's eyes.

"First in a series" books can sometimes be difficult to work through.  The author has to set up characters and personalities and sometimes plot can take a backseat.  This book still managed to keep the pace moving and provide an intricate mystery that isn't resolved until the very end.  I enjoyed it and look forward to the next book in the series.

Benediction by Kent Haruf FIC Har

First of all, if you haven’t read Kent Haruf’s Plainsong, drop everything and go do that right now. It’s okay; I’ll wait. When you’re done, don’t be embarrassed if you want to hug the book. I did.

Good. Now that that’s out of the way, we can talk about Haruf’s latest novel, Benediction. Set in the small eastern-Colorado town of Holt, which we have come to know through Haruf’s previous books, Benediction focuses on the final days of Dad Lewis. Dad is the owner of the local hardware store, and the story opens with him learning that he has terminal cancer, with only a few weeks left to live. The book follows Dad, his wife and daughter, his neighbors, friends, and employees, and his church pastor as they cope with the end of one life, while giving the reader the spectrum of lives being lived – a young girl on her first bicycle; teenaged “love”; married couples, widows, spinsters; all navigating the perils of life with and without each other.

Benediction is another fine example of what Haruf does best: character studies, of people we know doing things we recognize in places that feel like home. His prose isn’t flowery or noticeably complex; in fact, it’s simple and direct – much like his main characters.

I love Kent Haruf. His books are comfortable, even as the stories he tells are not.

The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison FIC Har

I had heard good things about this book and was hoping that I had found a new author to read.  Sadly this was Harrison's debut novel and it turns out to be her final one because she died of cancer while writing her second one.  This novel has been compared to  Gone Girl which I just loved.  There were similarities and I enjoyed this one too.  It is told from the viewpoints of Jodi and Todd - and they have rather different points of view!  They have been together for more than two decades.  They live in a beautiful condo in Chicago.  Todd has been cheating on Jodi since the beginning.  Jodi is the "queen of denial".  She is perfectly happy keeping a clean house, fixing gourmet meals, walking their dog and working part-time.  When their happy arrangement begins to crumble it gets nasty.  Remember that "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned".  No truer words were ever written.  It isn't a very long book - I started it in the afternoon and finished it that night.  If you like books that don't end "happily ever after"  this would be a book for you!

The Good Children by Kate Wilhelm FIC Wil

I ran across this 1998 book while I was shelving....and then I read the jacket and decided it would join the large pile of books I have at my house.  It didn't take long to read and was a nice interlude to the audio book of FDR that I was listening to.  Warden and Lee have four kids.  When Lee was young she was shuffled among foster homes.  When she married Warden she knew that she didn't want to be separated from him because they were a family.  So she and the children followed him as he went from assignment to assignment.  Warden decides it is time to let his children grow some roots in a community so he buys a big old house for his family.  Lee loves gardening and taking care of the house.  Life was good until a tragedy strikes.  After listening to their mom's stories of foster care and the state, the four kids come up with a bold and risky idea to hold onto their family.  They would do whatever was necessary to protect each other.  But eventually the circumstances and lies start to become too much.  It is a good psychological suspense book!