Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan J Rio

Note: This is a new title in children's fiction by one of the most successful authors in recent years. Don't let the "children's" classification keep you from picking this up for an entertaining read.

Someone is looking for Magnus Chase, and after two years living on the streets in Boston, this 16-year-old knows he needs to lie low until he has a little more information. When he overhears the man and his daughter, who are handing out flyers with Magnus’s picture on it, he realizes that he is being sought by his uncles and a cousin, whom he hasn’t seen in ten years – and whom his mother warned him away from right before she died.

Curiosity leads Magnus to break into his uncle’s house in search of clues about why his family is looking for him after all these years of not caring. But he lingers longer than he should and Uncle Randolph prevents his escape.

Claiming Magnus’s life is in danger, Randolph persuades him to get in his car, and they take a speedy drive to the Longfellow Bridge. As explosions and fires draw near, Uncle Randolph explains to Magnus that he is the son of a Norse god; that today, his 16^th birthday, he has attained manhood and will be able to resurrect his father’s powerful sword from the bottom of the Charles River, where it has lain for centuries. And the perpetrator of the pyrotechnics is after the same souvenir.

In true Riordan style, the non-stop action is a little over the top. Our hero is just this side of a smart-aleck – a little snarky, a little irreverent. Supporting characters are well-defined with their own quirks that add to the humor of the book.

Riordan sets the opening scene and many subsequent ones in Boston, which is brilliant. In the late 1800s, a Harvard professor was convinced that the Vikings had set up housekeeping in the Boston area, and he managed to get a statue of Leif Erikson erected on a main thoroughfare in the city. He was also responsible for including copies of Viking ship mastheads on the pillars of the Longfellow Bridge. He based all of this on wishful thinking and supposition, and Boston has lived with it ever since. Boston landmarks are prominent in the story. (The famous Swan Boats in the public garden are used to great comedic effect – but you have to read the entire book to get there.)

Norse mythology is a tangled thicket of nine worlds, and it helped that I had read up on it a bit. With giants, elves, dwarves, major gods, lesser gods, and even people, there is a lot to keep track of. While the story is complex, it isn’t confusing. And what a romp! Riordan hits this one out of Fenway Park.

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The Secrets of Lake Road by Karen Katchur FIC Kat

This is a debut novel and I look forward to more by this new author.  It is a story of a family that has been dysfunctional because of secrets. Jo was spending the summer at her family's cabin as she did every year.  But one year her life changed for ever.  Her boyfriend, Billie, drowned.  The truth of that death has been haunting Jo ever since.

Now she is back at the lake.  But as she has for years she is dropping her children off to spend the summer at the lake with her mother.  She can never stay there long.  Jo doesn't get along well with her 12-year-old daughter, Caroline, or with her mother.  Her relationship with her son Johnny is better but maybe that is because he is always off with his friends.  As always her husband, Kevin, is off driving a truck.

Jo is itchy to take off when a tragedy occurs.  A young girl, Sara, goes missing from the beach and is presumed drowned.  The locals are anxious to find her body so that they can get back to making money.  In the process of looking for her body they discover an arm bone.  It is sent for a DNA test but everyone is sure that is belongs to Billie since his body was found with a missing arm. Secrets will be revealed!

It was an easy and entertaining read.

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A Lucky Life Interrupted by Tom Brokaw 616.99 Bro

I have always loved Tom Brokaw on television and have read some of his books.  This book is about his latest challenge - a diagnosis of multiple myeloma (MM) which is a blood cancer that is not curable but treatable.  It began with nagging back problems that wouldn't go away.  As a very physically active man it was quite annoying.  He is on a Mayo board in Rochester Minnesota and was there for a board meeting when he decided to get a quick physical to see if they could suggest anything else to help.  The diagnosis came out of the blue (as it does for most of us).  He kept the news from his wife Meredith until he could return home and tell her in person.

Brokaw is very honest in his telling of what he went through - the pain, the cost and the new normal of living every day with cancer hanging over his head.  He also talks about his family and many of the opportunities he had a chance to witness as a newsman.

It is a very quick read.  The subtitle of the book is "A Memoir of Hope" so it also an uplifting book.

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Long Upon the Land by Margaret Maron (MYS Mar)

In this 20th book in the series, Judge Deborah Knott with a dead body on her father's property about which he might know more than he says and questions about how her parents met (her father was a bootlegger, her mother the daughter of a respected attorney).  Trying not to interfere in the murder investigation run by her husband, Deputy Sheriff Dwight Bryant, proves almost impossible.

Opening up the pages of this book was like connecting with a long-lost friend.  Margaret Maron easily conveys the patterns and rhythms of life in rural North Carolina.  In the 22 years since the first book in this series was published, I have watched Deborah's relationship with Dwight grow, come to know her many brothers and their wives and children (although I have to admit that there are so many of them that I do get confused) and come to care about what happens in Colleton County.

A quick read that made me wish for more.

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The Storm of the Century by Al Roker 976.4 Rok

   
Of course I have heard of Galveston (I am sure I first heard of it in the song!) and I knew that there had been an horrific hurricane there once. Now I know a lot more!  There were times when I found the first part of this book a bit slow - there is a lot of weather information.  Still I was interested in the background of the town and the background of meteorology.  I would have thought in 1900 it was more a matter of looking out the window to see if it was raining. Interspersed with this introduction to the town and weather are lots of personal stories of some of the people who lived there.  My stomach was in my throat as I read about the harrowing events. There are no accurate records but it has been estimated that 10,000 people died in that storm.

Clara Barton came to Galveston after the tragedy to help out with the Red Cross.  It was her final time in that role (of course she was 78 at the time so it was time to retire).

One little tidbit that I jumped on was the story of Indianola, Texas.  It had been destroyed by a hurricane in 1875, they rebuilt the town but in 1886 another hurricane hit.  It was followed by a fire and that was it.  Indianola, Texas is now just an historic landmark.

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Center of Gravity by Laura McNeill FIC McN

 Ava is one of those women who thinks she has hit the jackpot when smooth-talking Mitchell Carson falls in love with her.   He has been raising his young son Jack after his wife's tragic death.  Ava was a counselor at Jack's school and that is how she met Mitchell.  He is a driven and successful man - that should make Ava's mother think more highly of her.  After a couple years of marriage things have changed.  Jack has been officially adopted by Ava and he is very happy to be a big brother to baby Sam.  Ava is no longer working (Mitchell's decision) and is instead trying to be the perfect wife and mother so that Mitchell doesn't get upset.  It has become a balancing act and she is beginning to lose her balance.  Her failures are forcing Mitchell to take drastic measures - and you know that isn't going to end well!
      A good psychological thriller of good versus evil.

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17 Carnations by Andrew Morton 941 Mor

Love. War. British royalty. Nazi intrigue. Scandal. Espionage. Deceit. Family discord. And the future of the modern world. Andrew Morton’s 17 Carnations is a riveting, revealing account of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor’s involvement with Hitler and the Nazis, which leaves the reader with chilling thoughts of what might have been.

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