Summer: A User's Guide

Have you ever looked longingly at those Daring and Dangerous books for girls and boys and wished to be a kid again? Well, wish no longer, because Suzanne Brown's Summer: A Users Guide is right up that alley and aimed at the grown-up set.

Suzanne is a self confessed summer junkie. From her parents renting a bungalow at the Jersey shore, to weekends on the Vineyard with friends, summer held magical moments. Brown uses this book to help those who may not be summer converts to fill their days, no matter the city or country location.

Filled with stunning photographs, readers need not study cover to cover. The format allows for and encourages jumping around. From the initial list of "50 fun things to do this summer" (which includes 8. send a message in a bottle, and 50. spike a watermelon with vodka p. 17) to the instructions on cleaning fish, this is a book that should accompany folks to the beach-house, cottage, cabin, lake house, and kitchen table.

Recipes, instructions for games, hosting, arts and crafts, tire swings, picnics, identifying clouds, car games, skipping stones....the list goes on and on. Yes, this is a family friendly book, but with recipes for cocktails, and instructions for repairing screens, there is a decidedly adult bent.

I really love this book. From the way that it looks to the eclectic content within, it's sure to make a match for plenty of readers. I know that it will be a hostess gift of mine this summer!

The Mistress of the Art of Death

There used to be a time in my life when I read quite a few forensic style mysteries. This is the first I have read in a while - this title being a choice of our grown-up summer book club.

The year is 1170 and the place is Cambridgeshire, England. Children are disappearing, and the village is up in arms. Surely the town Jews are to blame. Child sacrifice is part of the culture afterall, isn't it?

King Henry needs to keep all elements of his kingdom in line. He needs the tax money from all areas, he needs peace. He tells his tax collector "Peace is money, Aaron, and money is peace." (p.10)

So how to solve these disappearances? Henry calls for one of the best detectives from Italy by way of his cousin, the King of Sicily. Simon of Naples is to come over to clear the name of the town Jews, and to find out what really happend. And to accompany him, a master in the art of death will come as well. This person is schooled in reading dead bodies for clues as to how they were killed. What Henry and Simon do not count on is that this person is a woman. Adelia is the child of professors and a student from the University of Solerno...one of the only places where a woman is allowed an education.

How will she fare in medieval England where the Church rules as well as the King, and women with knowledge are oft accused of witchcraft? And what will happen to those accused when the children start surfacing -- their bodies obviously violated before death in numerous ways?

Ariana Franklin has written quite the page turner. And, I have to say it ... eeewww! Lots of detail that I would have done quite well without. Mind you, the detail is not over-the-top in a gore for the sake of it way. It certainly ties in with the plot. But what made this title so readable for me, were the characters and their development. Adelia herself is complicated, smart, and torn. Little Ulf is utterly charming in his own messy way, as is his grandmother Glytha.

The reader also gets a real sense of the racism, religious fervor, and overall danger of the times. Unless you were a catholic, white man, your very existence could be wiped out with very little consequence.

While this title didn't capture me as much as last summer's The Historian, I did learn quite a bit about the time period, and it has spurred me on to want to read some non-fiction about the times.

Rosie Little's Cautionary Tales for Girls

I picked up this delightfully creepy little book at BEA a couple of weeks ago. The cover shown here is not the one I have...I have a black polka dotted cover with a little red shoe.

These stories all involve Rosie Little in some way. Danielle Wood reminds me a little of Barbara Gowdy...I am not sure why, but there it is.

My most favourite stories are "Wardrobe" and "The Deflowering of Rosie Little". The second one is the first story in the book. It's a bit shocking to someone who is used to reading for children. First line - "The Trouble with fellatio, in my view, is its lack on onomatopoeia". Nice!

Incredibly well written, the reader will find a smile or two crossing her lips during reading. A real pleasure to read! Yay!

110 per¢

Tony Consiglio's 110 per¢ is quite the ride of a graphic novel.

Meet Cathy, Sasha, and Gertrude...3 aging boy band fans and members of MOFO 110 per¢ (the Mature Older Fans Of...). 3 very different lives with the single fact in common that they are way too concerned, and even obsessed with the boy band.

Cathy is an overweight single gal who is the butt of many a joke in her workplace. She goes to MOFO meetings in hopes of identifying with other adults, and finding a place to fit it. Sasha is the eldest of the 3 and her husband Harry is a bit of a jerk. Gertrude obviously hates her life, her husband, and even her kids...and simply lives for the band. All things come second to 110 per¢.

This is a sad and hopeful story. While Sasha and Cathy realize that they don't need the band to be happy, Gertrude pays the price of her family for her obsession.

I think most readers can find themselves in one of these women. From the jerky husband, to feelings of lost youth, the themes in this book make it best for adult readers. (Not to mention the couple of simply drawn, yet *raunchy* sex scenes with the MOFO group's only straight male member!)

Another great book from Top Shelf Productions.