Celebrate! by Sheila Lukins

Ms. Lukins has written a cookbook that features menus for celebrations throughout the year. The first section of the book is A Year of Celebrations. It begins with a buffet, Ring in the New Year , which includes pork tenderloins and a “platter of plenty” that has a wide array of roasted and blanched vegetables. This dinner is topped off with a pineapple upside down cake. She ends the holidays with A Toast to the New Year complete with recipes for Sparkling Crab Salad and chocolate truffles. She provides the recipes and suggests the music, drinks and table settings for the occasion. In her introduction to each holiday, she gives us a quick overview of the holiday and its special meaning or traditions.

The second half of Celebrate! is dedicated to Celebrating Our Lives. Recipes and ideas for occasions such as The Big Raise, A Gracious Housewarming and my favorite, Celebrate a Ripe Tomato. Her recipe for the Garden Tomato Tart uses frozen puff pastry which makes this easy to make. Recipes for appetizers, main dishes and desserts are plentiful and easy to make. This is a delightful cookbook/ party planner which is fun to read and even more fun to use. Celebrate! - Reviewed by Deb

The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan

This book transported me to India in the 1500’s. This is the fictionalized story of a real woman named Nur Jahan. She was born to a poor Persian nobleman and his wife. After suffering through a great many difficulties, her family’s luck began to change. As a beautiful young woman, she experienced life in the Imperial harem (the zenana) and began to understand the role of women and the power that they exerted. While there, she falls in love with Prince Salim, but unfortunately is required to marry a cruel Persian soldier, Ali Qui. We follow the parallel lives of Prince Salim and Nur Jahan through their marriages and births of children to the conquest of an empire.

Indu Sundaresan engages the reader of this historical romance through the use of vivid descriptions of clothing, food and customs. She gives the reader a peek into the daily life of both the poor and nobility. I am looking forward to reading the sequel, The Power Behind the Veil. - Reviewed by Deb

The Touch by F. Paul Wilson

In the third entry in the Adversary Series (the first being The Keep, the second one being the first Repairman Jack novel, The Tomb), a caring and compassionate doctor by the name of Alan Bulmer is given the ability to heal people by just touching them. This ability, called The Touch, or Dat-tay-vao, unfortunately comes with a price, which I dare not reveal here, as it one of this book's many wonderful plot twists.

I love this book. The main character may be the sweetest and most sympathetic main character of any book I have ever read, which makes all the bad things that happen to him even more tragic. The book moves at a fast pace, but the author also allows enough time for character development and does his best to make everyone as three dimensional as possible. There is a villain in this story, but even he is not drawn out to be totally evil. And one supporting character who starts out as being a bit aloof and anti-social eventually mellows out and turns out to be quite a nice guy in the end. The plot twists are absolute genius and the story is very unpredictable. It is also a very fast read. I plowed through it just one day!

Though the front cover makes this out to be a horror novel, it is really a medical thriller, with elements of horror and the supernatural thrown in. There is even a sweet romance in the book. A very touching and moving book. I think it is one of F. Paul Wilson's best books ever. A must read! - Reviewed by Rich

Dewey: a Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron

What’s not to like about this New York Times bestseller? A true story about a cat which was found almost frozen in a library book-drop on January evening, adopted by the library staff, beloved by everyone who used the library, and who eventually became known around the world? Too cute for words - yet I fell I love with Dewey, identified with the daily routine at the Spencer Public Library and admired Vicki, who was the library director at Spencer for twenty years. Vicki’s personal history of her family, along with the history and values of Spencer made this book more than just a story about a personable and appealing feline. Recommended. - Reviewed by Janet


Vicki Myron was interviewed on the Charles Osgood Sunday morning show television program and a friend of mine called me to tell me to look at it. When I listened to the interview and saw that she wrote a book about an orange cat(my favorite type), I just had to read this book.

This is a very touching story not only about the cat Dewey and the Spencer Public Library in Spencer, Iowa but about the town, its people, and the changes it has been through over the last two decades.

The author shares a lot with us about her life with all its challenges and ups and downs. This book made me cry and laugh and this was fine. It’s a wonderful story not only for those of us who work in public libraries.

I heard it will be made into a movie with Meryl Streep that I am looking forward to watching. - Reviewed by Patricia

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

I feel I should start this review with a disclaimer: I am not the target audience for this book. Perhaps if I were, my review would be quite different, since the popularity of this book indicates that the writing holds appeal to one group or another.

That said, Twilight is a strange book. Now, I love a good vampire story, I really do. I also love a bad vampire story, because let's face it - vampires are awesome. The modern-day vampires are monsters, and that appeals to the tough little kid in all of us, and they are tragic romantic heroes, and that appeals to the wide-eyed and full of wonder little kid in all of us. But Twilight isn't so much a book about vampires as it is about restraint. So much restraint perhaps, that it approaches the idealized courtly love of a medieval story from a young adult book of the early 21st century.

The story centers around Bella Swan, a young lady (high school junior) who moves back to the Pacific Northwest to get away from her mother and her mother's new boyfriend. The first third of the book must be much maligned in the Pacific Northwest, because the major feature of that section of the book is discussing how much the Pacific Northwest is terrible. Bella really honestly hates it, until she spots Edward, whose major personality feature seems to be that he's gorgeous and that he doesn't want to hang around with Bella.

After a rocky start and some admittedly decent set-up, Bella realizes Edward is a vampire and their courtship starts. It basically consists of Bella wanting to know Edward better (in every sense of the word) and Edward insisting he's dangerous. Edward's claims of danger are undermined by his a. inability to leave Bella alone and b. the fact that nothing about him seems dangerous in any way. His thirst for blood is under control. His reaction time is so inhumanly fast that nothing can hurt him (or anyone with him). He insists that if he lost control he could really hurt Bella, but his control is so exacting we never believe him. He doesn't even burst in to flame in the sunlight... he just sparkles. In the end, we're left wondering what the downside is to being a vampire, and why he's so dead-set against allowing Bella to become one.

There's really not much to recommend for this book or the series. The book is paced oddly, spending most of the book on set-up of the world they live in and what vampires are. The characters are often one-dimensional; Bella is inhumanely distant emotionally, and inhumanly clumsy physically. Edward doesn't have much going for him, in terms of personality. Bella's father seems to exist only because she has to have one parent or another to live where she does. And most of the other humans in the book (with the possible exception of the Native Americans) are written in such a way as you feel they do nothing but compare, poorly, to the vampires...

And yet...I can’t help but want to know what happens to these characters next. I can't explain why. But I'm very, very interested in reading the rest of the series. Which can only mean that even if I can't identify it, there must be something right about this series. Off to read New Moon now. - Reviewed by John

Without the King: the Shocking and Astonishing Story of the Kingdom of Swaziland

In 2006, when filming took place, Swaziland was the last absolute monarchy in Africa and one of 4 remaining worldwide. King Mswati III was chosen from the 250 children of the 110 wives of his father to inherit the throne. Though he is educated and well-spoken, he appears to be unable to comprehend the facts of life that most of his subjects face daily. Swaziland has a 69% + poverty rate, an incredible HIV rate of 42.6% of its 1.1 million people and more than 80,000 AIDS orphans. Interviews with the king’s first wife and oldest daughter are compelling. You will never forget the image of Princess Pashu shaking the hands of very young children orphaned by AIDS. It’s obvious they would have much preferred being given a piece of bread. - Reviewed by Nancy

His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman

An elderly man – a regular library patron - sparked my curiosity about Philip Pullman's trilogy, His Dark Materials. Although they were shelved in the Young Adult section, he told me that they were based on John Milton's Paradise Lost and recommended them for adults.

He was listening to the audio books on CD, read by the author. I, too, listened to the three books - read aloud to me over the course of several months by a friend (a great way for us to experience books together!)

The Golden Compass was the most exciting – filled with brave children, evil parents, arctic places with cool names like “Svalbard” (a real place that is home of the global seed vault about 700 miles from the North Pole!), armored polar bears, and physical "daemons," which are spirits in personalized animal forms attached to every human. In the finale, a massive explosion of energy released from the separation of a child from his daemon rips a hole in the universe that the young heroine, Lira, travels through to a new world.

In the second book, The Subtle Knife, Lira meets Will, who uses a magical knife to cut anything – even windows into more worlds. From this point and throughout the third book, The Amber Spyglass, the adventure follows the two children as they explore the world of the dead and confront a fundamental choice between good and evil that parallels the story of Eve’s choice in the Garden of Eden.

I really enjoyed these books. They were fun and also thought-provoking in that they raised questions of spirituality, organized religion and the existence of a supreme, divine "Authority,” as well as scenarios of global climate changes. Sometimes, though, I felt that the three books could have been consolidated into one, for it seemed like the author was repeating himself. Although that may allow each book to stand on its own, I advise reading them in order.

We began reading/listening to these books last winter, the same period of time that the first book in the trilogy, The Golden Compass, was released as a movie. I haven't seen it yet, but the library has the DVD. I’ve placed a hold on it and am looking forward to watching it.

I would recommend the Dark Materials trilogy to adults and youth who enjoy fantasy/science fiction, or just want to read a good adventure tale. - Reviewed by Joyce

Exit...Stage Left by Rush

I am a big fan of the Canadian progressive hard rock trio Rush, but I have never been a fan of their live albums, especially this one, Exit...Stage Left. Why? Mainly because Rush live are very similar to Rush on their studio albums, since they try to do the songs live the exact way they are done on the studio albums. And since the sound of their studio albums (at least from the era represented here, '74 to '81) were so perfect and the sound on this live album is not, there is not too much reason to want to have this.

I certainly approve of the song selection. Any Rush album to have songs like on it Xanadu, Jacob's Ladder, Beneath Between Behind, La Villa Strangiato, Freewill, A Passage To Bangkok (included on the original LP and remastered CD, but not here),and Red Barchetta is more than worth owning. For the casual Rush fan, their three most well known songs, Tom Sawyer, The Spirit Of Radio (a tune I’ve never liked!), and Closer To The Heart, are included here, the last one featuring a children’s choir. It is the mix that I have the biggest problem with. Alex Lifeson's guitar is very low in the mix, which is disappointing because it was so loud on the studio albums and a big part of their sound back then. I could also do without Neil Peart's drum solo, which is in the middle of the instrumental YYZ. Peart gets a chance to show off enough during the songs, so a drum solo from him is unnecessary.

The front and back cover, which show at least one object and/or person from every Rush album from their debut to 1981’s Moving Pictures, is kind of amusing. I like Alex Lifeson’s classical guitar solo Broon’s Bane, partly because it is one of the few times on the album his guitar is audible. And I like the introduction to Jacob’s Ladder, during which Rush play part of a Sam Cooke song; it may be the only moment of spontaneity on the whole album!

Like the first live album, All The World’s A Stage, Exit…Stage Left marked the end of an era for Rush. The next four albums (which include my least favorite album, Power Windows) would see Rush veer further away from their original hard rock roots and add more and more synthesizers and keyboards. I like this album, but do not consider it a must have for Rush fans. - Reviewed by Rich

What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn

This debut mystery begins in Birmingham, England in 1984. Kate Meaney is 10, a loner who lives with her grandmother after her father has a stroke and dies, and is obsessed with becoming a detective. Her world revolves around her imaginary detective agency, Falcon Investigation, which she runs with her stuffed toy, Mickey the Monkey. Kate lives next door to a sweets shop, and offers surveillance to the owner and his son, Adrian, who at 22 is Kate’s main friend in her solitary life and the only adult who knows of her desire to one day be a private detective. She also does undercover spying at the new shopping center, Green Oaks, and it is there that she suddenly disappears one day, never to be seen again. Adrian, pulled into the police station for questioning, also vanishes after the anguish of being accused of her abduction.

After Kate is lost, the novel jumps to 2003, where Adrian’s sister, Lisa, is an assistant manager at a record shop in the Green Oaks mall. She knows her brother is alive only because he sends her a mixed tape every year on her birthday, but it is not until she finds a stuffed monkey in the mall that she begins to think constantly of Kate and Adrian’s disappearance. Shortly after finding the monkey, a lonely security guard working the night shift at the mall begins to see a girl show up on his CCTV cameras that looks like Kate.

Part mystery and part ghost story, the novel also has funny moments to it, and a budding romance between Lisa and Kurt, the security guard haunted by images of Kate. Both Lisa and Kurt are hiding secrets, including Kurt’s horrible one of seeing Kate the day she was disappeared. Everything is artfully tied together at the end, and readers do get to find out what happened to Kate. Full of wonderfully detailed characters, a haunting desire to find out what happens to Kate, and many surprises, I was enchanted by this novel and couldn’t put it down. While heartbreaking, I highly recommend this gripping book. – Reviewed by Sarah

I Feel Bad About My Neck and Other Thoughts On Being a Woman by Nora Ephron

Nora Ephron has a good sense of humor. This book is light and enjoyable and will make you smile and maybe even laugh. Included in a list of “What I Wish I’d Known”: “Anything you think is wrong with your body at the age of thirty-five you will be nostalgic for at the age of forty-five, you can order more than one dessert and you never know.” I agree. Ephron is currently blogging for the Huffington Post. - Reviewed by Nancy