Jewish Holiday Cookbook by Joan Nathan

Let me start this review by saying that you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy this cookbook, just as you wouldn't have to be Christian to enjoy a book on Christmas cookies. I'm not Jewish, but found so many of the recipes perfect for the current needs of my family, that I had to buy a copy after checking this out from the library. Several of my family members have mild allergies, and this cookbook provided great recipes for those with that allergy in particular, since the Jewish religion has rules governing kosher, parve, and unclean foods and food combinations, among them being the combination of milk and meat. So this recipe book works perfectly for our family, with each recipe not only being delicious, but rich in cultural and religious context.

Nathan is a renowned scholar of Jewish cuisine, and this book provides seven chapters on holidays: Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, Hanukkah, Purin, Passover, Shavout and even Israeli Independence day. There is also a long chapter on the Sabbath meal. Besides the recipes themselves, I found the book an excellent study in the history of the Jewish people, and their migration throughout the world, as recipes found here bear a resemblance to recipes from the Middle East, but also mirror the cooking styles of various parts of Europe. I found it fascinating that European recipes in this book were very similar, in name and ingredients, to those passed down by my German grandmother, showing that people from different religions are not that very different after all in the way they celebrate and live their lives. In short, this book is a fabulous find, whether you're looking for a great meal or snack, or a look at the history, festivals, and dietary prohibitions of the Jewish people.

Submitted by Gerti

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

When I found out that Ms. Clare was coming out with three more books in the Mortal Instruments series I was excited. Then when I started thinking about it I got scared. I loved her first three books and I liked the way the trilogy ended. I had closure. The bad man had been put down and love was in the air. Jace wasn't Clary's brother and you knew Simon might be getting his groove on with Isabelle or Maia. So for me to read three more books and have my beloved characters thrown back into chaos I wasn't sure about that. All I have to say after reading the fourth book is that everyone better have a happy ending by the end of the sixth book.

Then I was curious as to why Ms. Clare decided to write three more books and I found the answer on her website.

Taken from Ms. Clare's FAQ page:

"How did you go from having decided to write the Mortal Instruments as a trilogy, to deciding that it would be four books and then six?

I had indeed initially planned not to write more Mortal Instruments books after City of Glass. Two things happened to change that: One, I had written a plot for a graphic novel about what would happen to Simon after the events of Glass. When the graphic novel didn’t work out, I was left with this storyline and nothing to do with it — it wasn’t enough for a whole book on its own. However, while I was writing the first book in The Infernal Devices, Clockwork Angel, which deals with Jace, Clary, and the Lightwoods’ ancestors, the way events played out in it gave me the idea for a new villain and conflict that might beset the cast of characters from The Mortal Instruments, and connect up to the plotline from the planned graphic novel. I’ve always liked stories where the distant past comes forward to affect the future, so, without being spoilery, when I realized I could connect the events of Infernal Devices to the few loose ends left at the end of Glass, I realized I wouldn’t want to pass up writing that story, especially considering how much chaos I knew it would bring to the lives of Jace, Clary, Simon, Alec, Magnus, Isabelle and the rest!

Then, in October of last year, I sat down to start writing the story of City of Fallen Angels. I had a detailed outline based in part on the graphic novel idea I had had, but when it came to expanding the outline and writing the story, it just wasn’t working for me. I was on a writing retreat in Mexico with a number of other writers, and when we sat down to go over the issues I was having, I realized that the story I had thought I was telling was really a much bigger story — that my smaller, Simon-centric story had morphed into something much bigger, much more epic, and deeply involving the whole cast of characters from the first three Mortal Instruments books. I realized that what I had on my hands was not a single book that would wrap up the story begun in The Mortal Instruments, but rather the beginning of a new trilogy about these characters. (The fun part was calling my agent and editor to explain “You know that one book I was going to write? Well, actually, it’s three books!” I like to think I could hear heads hitting desks all through Simon and Schuster. But when I submitted the outlines for the new Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls, and City of Heavenly Fire, they were thrilled with the idea of the new trilogy — and I hope readers will be as well!"

These three new books in the series have a lot more to do with Simon but the rest of the cast of characters are present. I am excited to read more about these characters but there is something nice about a series ending and then as the reader you can just fantasize about what happened to your favorite characters. Fans of Ms. Clare won't be disappointed. City of Fallen Angels was an excellent read.

Crossfire by James Patterson

Reading Level: Adult Fiction

This is the latest of Patterson's series about Alex Cross and his family. He is a policeman who lives and works in Washington DC. Alex again meets his nemesis and finally overcomes him in one of the most exciting stories. He finally marries his girlfriend.

Submitted by Rose

The Sisters Who Would Be Queen - Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Grey: a tudor Tragedy by Leanda Delisle

Reading Level: Adult Non-Fiction

Like most people who care about Tudor history at all, I have to admit that I have always loved the character of Elizabeth I. I have spent a lifetime admiring her courage in the face of such adversity - seeing her mother (Anne Boleyn) get her head cut off by her father (King Henry VIII) for a start, and then having to survive her siblings (Edward VI and Mary I) time on the throne. One would think having to live through all those hardships would have made Elizabeth a more empathetic, softer person. However, if this history of her cousins, the Grey sisters, is to be believed, it instead gave Elizabeth I a will of iron and a heart of stone.

The three girls in the title - Lady Jane Grey and her younger sisters, Katherine and Mary, were brought up in the shadow of the throne, and yet only one, Jane, would ever sit on it, and that for only a short period of time. However, due to their kinship to Queen Elizabeth I, the Queen kept the other two sisters locked up for most of their lives, along with their husbands. The book has totally changed my opinion of Elizabeth, and lost her much respect in my eyes. While Elizabeth was not responsible for the death of Lady Jane Grey, her older sister Mary did that while she was queen, Elizabeth did go out of her way to make the lives of the younger girls miserable. Both girls married without the Queen's permission - a mistake, for sure - but neither deserved the harsh and cruel punishments for that which the Queen metted out. And to lock up their husbands, too, and send their children to others to raise... it is shameful behavior on the part of Elizabeth.

A fascinating look at Tudor times, and the struggles that put and kept various figures on the throne. Leanda DeLisle does a good job of debunking various myths about the romantic but reluctant girl who would be Queen, Lady Jane Grey, and also about the Queens who followed her to the throne. Brilliant scholarship, if hard to read at times.

Submitted by Gerti

Leprechaun in Late Winter by Mary Pope Osborne

Age Range: 7-12 Lexile: 500L

“Leprechaun in Late Winter” by Mary Pope Osborne, is #43 in the Magic Treehouse series. In this story, the main characters Jack and his sister Annie are whisked away from their tree house in Frog Creek woods to Galway, Ireland. They are on a third Merlin mission to “help a creative person give their special gifts to the world”.

The person Jack and Annie help in Gallway is Miss Augusta (a real person in history officially named Isabella Augusta Persse who later became, as an adult, Lady Gregory, the wife of a knight named Sir William Henry Gregory). Miss Augusta’s special gift is her love of stories and her ability to remember the exact speech or dialect of the storytellers.

Later in her life, as Lady Gregory, she became known for the folklore she collected from the Irish. She was also a good friend of Ireland’s most famous poet, William Butler Yeats and together, in the year 1904, they founded Dublin’s Abbey Theatre, which is the national theater of Ireland.

I enjoyed this story. It was short but well written. It presented information on Lady Augusta and the fairies or, as they call them in Ireland, si (pronounced shee), in a fun way. There is also a Magic Treehouse Research Guide, you can read, with more information on the subject, called “Leprechauns and Irish Folklore”. This guide, also in our library system, is written by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce.

Submitted by Karin

Giving Up the Ghost by Sheri Sinykin

Lexile Level: 600

Age Level: 10-14

“Giving Up The Ghost”, written by Sheri Sinykin and published by Peachtree Publishing in 2007, is about a thirteen-year-old girl named Davia who travels with her parents to Louisiana to help great-aunt Mari who is in the process of dying from cancer. Mari lives at Belle Foret, an old plantation home that has been passed down in the family for generations. From the first that Davia arrives there, she thinks the place feels scary. It turns out that there is a ghost named Emilie, a French Creole girl, who is haunting it and that great-aunt Mari can speak with her. Then Davia also finds out that she too can see and speak with Emilie, eventually be-friending her. Meanwhile, even though her great-aunt Mari is sharp-spoken, Davia is becoming close with her as they work together in figuring out how to release Emilie’s ghost from “Belle Foret” before Mari dies. Besides all of this, Davia is also working through the fear of her mother’s cancer returning. This book is a 2009-2010 Young Hoosier winner for grades 6-8. It is basically an emotional novel about overcoming fear. Written in an easy to read manner, I think it is a great engaging story that gives the reader a lot to think about.

Submitted by Karin

Covet By J. R. Ward

Reading Level: Adult
(4 out of 5)

So I have been a little obsessed lately with J. R. Ward. It's probably due to the fact that I read her latest book in two days and the next one won't be out until next year. Then it dawned on me that she did have another series of books that I could read. When the Fallen Angels Series came out I wasn't sure if I would like them, but since I needed a Ward fix I gave it a shot. It was very silly of me to think I wouldn't like these books. Very, very silly of me. What I really liked was that some of the characters are from the Brotherhood books.

Jim Heron is a guy just trying to live his life when he dies. He wakes up to four British guys that tell him that the fate of the world rests on him. That his mission is to save seven souls from the seven deadly sins. Failure is not an option. Jim's first soul to save is Vin diPietro. Vin has surrendered himself to his business until he meets Jim and a woman who questions his destiny. The woman is Marie-Terese which if you follow the Brotherhood series you will recognize her from those books. Trez is in this book also. I'm looking forward to reading book two called Crave and the third book Envy comes out September 6.

River Marked by Patricia Briggs

Reading Level: Adult
(4 out of 5)

River Marked finds Mercy getting married and going on her honeymoon with Adam. Where would a coyote and a werewolf go on a honeymoon, camping of course. But they are not roughing it by any means having borrowed a camper from Uncle Mike and the showers at the campground are nicer than any campground I have been to. But if you follow the Mercy books you know that trouble always seems to find Mercy. Being on her honeymoon is no exception. Lurking in the water is a monster of epic proportions. It is going to take Mercy and some friends to stop the monster in it's tracks. This was another great read by Ms. Briggs. I'm sad that she stated that she will only be writing one book a year now instead of two. Next year a new Alpha and Omega book will come out in January and the year after another Mercy book. I can't wait.

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris

I have read several collections by David Sedaris, and this is by far the most unique. His usual fare is hysterical portraits drawn of family members and other human misfits he has run across in his life's journey. But in this bestiary, these misfits are animals, who unfortunately are seem to share some of the same virtues and vices as their more evolved brethren, humans.

For example, the animals in the title story are dating, and the chipmunk's family doesn't like it. She feels when the squirrel asks her whether she likes jazz, that she must answer in the affirmative, even though she doesn't know what it means. When she asks her family, although they don't know that jazz is a type of music, they are also suspicious of the squirrel for bringing it up. As a result of their ignorance, the chipmunk breaks up with the squirrel, but spends the remainder of her life trying to find out the meaning of jazz, and creating her own fantasies, both good and bad, about what it could be.

When I started reading the book, I didn't like it as much as Sedaris' other stories. However, it was a quick and easy read - I probably finished it in under 2 hours, and got several good chuckles and some interesting life lessons out of it. As always, Sedaris is often that strange combination of touching and salacious, but his clever, easy to read style and gift for description are still brilliant. It's always a pleasure to pick up one of his books, and I can't wait till I finish them all.

Submitted by Gerti

The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean

Although the librarian when I returned this book seemed skeptical about its merits, and although it took me all of 6 weeks to read, I can say that now that I've finished reading it, it was brilliant and exhausting all at once! It was fascinating to hear the stories behind all the elements, much like the enjoyment I felt watching the PBS series on the history of a Cold. With the television program, I had no idea that it was so hard to design a working thermometer, something we now take for granted. With this, I didn't know it was so challenging to fill in all those little squares on the Periodic Table!

Kean has a unique gift as a writer. He can write a story about Chemistry, my least favorite subject in high school, and make me read for over 350 pages, including all the foot notes! From Tycho Brahe to Linus Pauling, Kean has the ability to humanize scientists, to make them not only geniuses of the first order, but also incredibly fragile and fallible human beings. I feel much richer for having read this book, although it isn't something for the late-night reader who doesn't know much about the topic. Certain topics, like the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, are best when handled when the brain is fresh and receptive to new concepts. A fascinating but difficult journey through the history of the Periodic Table that I'm glad I took. Fans of "The Big Bang" will enjoy this as well, because it has the same balance of humor and knowledge.

Submitted by Gerti

Uncle Tungsten: memories of a chemical boyhood by Oliver Sacks

This is the second book I've read this spring on the subject of chemistry, and although it isn't as easy to read as Sam Kean's accessible history of the periodic table, "Disappearing Spoon," Oliver Sack's endearing autobiographical stories make the whole book worth the effort.

Although like Kean's book, it also took me all of 6 weeks to read, I can say that now that I've finished reading it, "Uncle Tungsten" was brilliant and exhausting all at once! It was fascinating to hear the stories behind all the elements, and even more fascinating to hear the story of how the brilliant neurologist first discovered each element, and his subsequent experiments with them. Although these childhood stories make me feel like a bad parent, since he was already up to his neck in chemical experiments before he even became a teenager, the book does show how his passion for chemistry was fostered by his parents and various aunts and uncles, which is a great lesson for all parents on how to raise a brilliant child.

Besides being a story of a child enamored of science, the book also details the heartbreak Oliver Sacks felt when he was removed from his family home during the blitz in London, and his difficulties in returning to "normal" life and relationships after the war. Like Dickens, he details some of the horrors experienced by British schoolboys, and while this is only a subplot to the story of the elements, it provides the emotional punch to keep the reader interested in the life of this boy. What I find more fascinating, however, is Sacks ability to recall his experiences and experiments, while those of us with lesser minds have a hard enough time recalling where we've left our car keys.

In summary, a book that should be read by everyone interested in science, whatever age, by a brilliant author. I can't wait to read some of his other books.

Submitted by Gerti