Books I am Reading, January, 2016

2016 is here! Along with it are more books to read. I have Amazon Prime and along with it I can get a new Kindle book for free before it is released.

This month I chose Harmony Black by Craig Schaefer. I read this book in a couple days. Harmony is a witch who is also an FBI agent. She is one of the few who know that witches and demons and other sinister things exist. She has always worked alone and followed the rules to a "T". This is all about the change. Harmony has been recruited to be a part of Vigilant Lock, a special team with the purpose of finding the sinister monsters and making sure that humans do not find out and are not harmed. Thirty years ago the unspeakable happened and it is happening again. Children are being kidnapped and it dredges up some nightmarish memories for Harmony. Who, or what, is taking the children? Will they be able to find the children before it is too late? Harmony and her team meet characters along the journey of the investigation. She learns what it means to be a part of a team and learns the answer to questions that have haunted her for most of her life. (Because I enjoyed this book I bought a couple other ones from the series which Harmony Black is a spin-off. Though they were riveting and I liked them, the material in the first of those books were graphic and not something I would recommend for everyone. Therefore I am not recommending them on my blog.)

I was at the library and I noticed that Alexander McCall Smith had written a new novel in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series. I remember when this series was first started. I waited anxiously for the next one in the series. I have not read any of these books in recent years, as things change and reading taste changes and time restraints have forced me to put my reading aside often. I decided that I should reread the series and then read the last few novels I have not read so I could read the new book. The author opens up the reader's eyes to what life is like in Botswana; the weather, the landscape, the thoughts, the traditions. He shows how beautiful the culture is. The first book is called nothing more than No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. I absolutely love the main character, Mma (Precious) Ramotswe. She has common sense and sees the world so clearly. Her goal in life is to help the people with their problems. She opens up her own Detective Agency, but not any Agency. It is the No. 1 Ladies Agency, run by ladies, yet serving everyone. Her understanding of people, their characters, desires, needs, of traditions, and of human nature allows her to solve mysteries and help people with problems. From a missing 11 year old boy, to a girl wondering if the man claiming to be her father really is her long lost daddy, Mma Ramotswe delves into problems, solving them in very interesting ways. When I was growing up I loved Agatha Christie and Miss Marple. I saw a reviewer compare Mma Ramotswe with Miss Marple, but in all honesty? Precious Ramotswe is in a class all her own and no one can compare to her. I ordered the second book from the library and checked out the third so watch for those reviews in coming months. (At the end of the month I had read books 2-4 and was partway through book 5 as well.)

I went to the library one day with a student. I told the student that I needed a happy type of book to read. The student told me that they had a recommendation but they did not think it was necessarily a "happy" book. They took me to the Young Adult section and showed me Graceling by Kristin Cashore and preceded to tell me I had to read it. So I picked it up and started reading right there in the library. I read the first chapter and checked the book out. This book was great. Katsa is a Graceling, meaning she has 2 different colored eyes. In the land where she is born, made up of 7 different kingdoms, those whose eyes settle as 2 different colors have a Grace (a power). Each Grace is different and manifests itself differently with each Graced person. Those who are Graced are considered the King's property in Middluns, the kingdom that Katsa lives in. The young Graced are sent to the King to see what Grace they are Graced with. If it is useful to the King they are kept in his service, but if it is not, they are sent back to their families. Those sent back are often shunned by the community. No one seems to like the Graced. Katsa found, at 8 years old, that her Grace was one of killing. Her life has been fraught with killing and maiming at the whim of the King of Middluns, Katsa's uncle. To counteract the killing Katsa organizes The Council, which she uses as a way of righting wrongs that are heard about in the 7 kingdoms. On a mission she meets someone who's Grace opens her eyes that maybe, just maybe, she is not just a killer. Maybe there is more to her Grace than she realizes.

Books I am Reading, December 2015

The month of December was so busy that even though I had two weeks off I never had time to post about the books that I was reading, so here it is:

After reading Mother Carey's Chickens I was rather on a classics kick. I reread The Emily Starr Trilogy by L.M. Montgomery, who is most well known as the author of the Anne of Green Gables series.  I found it on Amazon for the Kindle for 99 cents and it is still that price. The formatting of this one is a bit off but it was readable. The italics did not come through, as Emily has a bad habit of using italics, yet I still enjoyed reading it.

The first book in the trilogy was Emily of New Moon. (I am including the link for the paperback in case you are interested in that vs the Kindle version.) Emily is a young girl with imagination. Her mother has passed away and she lives with her father...at first. Shortly into the book he passes away as well. Her mother's family, the Murrays, comes along and they must decided what will be done with her. Where will she live? What will be done with her? She embarks on a new life, living at New Moon. She learns what it means to be a Murray.

In Emily Climbs, Emily hones her skill of being a writer. She wants to go to school in Shrewsbury but has been told she would be allowed to go if she will give up writing. Can she give up writing for an education? What type of adventures await Emily in the years to come?

In Emily's Quest, Emily learns about love and heartache. She handles the disappointments of life with grace and poise.

I started a couple other books I am sure during the month, but in the hustle and bustle of December I did not get far enough along to write about them.