Sunkist Branch Library Sunkist Book Chat April 2009 NEWS
Coming to Anaheim and the MUZEO, is the exhibit “The Emperor Rules: The Treasures of Napoleon.” From October 11 to January 5, 2010, you will have the opportunity to explore over 250 amazing artifacts. Check the MUZEO web page at muzeo.org or call (714) 956-8936 for information on the hours and admission. Join us at our next meeting for cookies, coffee and conversation on May 28 at 1:00.
REVIEWS
The numbers in parenthesis, following the title, indicates the reader’s rating of the book. The ratings are (1) poor, (2) so-so, (3) good, (4) very good, (5) great.
John Simon read 4 books. The Second Chair (3) by John Lescroart is a legal thriller that has seventeen-year-old Andrew Bartlett and his young attorney Amy Wu facing a decision. If Andrew pleads guilty to the double murder of his girlfriend and English teacher, he will be tried as a juvenile and will have to spend eight years in a juvenile facility. If he pleads not-guilty, he will be tried as an adult and because the evidence against him is overwhelming, will probably spend the rest of his life in jail. The trouble is that Andrew insists that he is innocent and it is up to Amy and her managing partner, Dismas Hardy, to find the evidence to prove Andrew’s innocence. Cruel as the Grave (3) by John Armistead takes place in Sheffield, Mississippi and is a mixed race mystery. A man is shot in the parking lot of his apartment complex and when Sheriff Grover Bramlett begins his investigation, certain clues lead him to the 3-year-old murder of Narese Clouse. Narese had two daughters, Lizzie and Shamona and a son, Isaac. Narese had a decades long affair with an unknown man and Sheriff Bramlett thinks that this mystery man may hold the solution to several deaths in Sheffield. Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World (3) by Vicki Myron is just what the title says. Dewey is found in the library’s book drop one cold morning. He is immediately adopted by the staff and nursed back to health. Dewey soon becomes the darling of the library and soon thereafter, the entire town. He is so loveable that people, who never used the library in the past, soon became regular patrons. The author gives us an interesting history of Spencer, Iowa and the surrounding area. Having had cats in my life, I soon tired of Dewey’s cuteness. Hit Parade (2) by Lawrence Block rates a “so-so” rating, not because of the writing, but because it’s a little hard to picture a professional hit man as the hero of a novel. John Keller kills people strictly for money. Unlike some in his profession, Keller doesn’t cope with what he does by making it personal and finding a reason to hate his prey, he goes about his business like any other professional except that his goal is death. Ruth Flanagan read 7 books. Powers of a Woman (5) by Barbara Taylor Bradford is a novel about family secrets, betrayal and redemption. Stephanie Jardine runs America’s branch of Crown Jewellers of London. She and her husband have three sons, but he dies while the boys are still young. Later, Stephanie has a daughter but refuses to name the father. Tragedy strikes on the other side of the world and plunges Stephanie and her children into a world of turmoil and despair.
Crusader’s Cross (4) by James Lee Burke has detective Dave Robicheaux and his half-brother Jimmie meet a prostitute, Ida Durbin, who takes them back to a strange and violent summer from their youth. Ida disappears and they believe her dead but when she reappears, Robicheaux is plunged into the manipulations of New Orleans’ wealthiest families. My Soul To Take (3) by Yrsa Sigurdardottir takes place in the frigid climate of Iceland. Thora Gudmunsdottir is the attorney for resort owner, Jonas Juliusson. Thora is called upon to represent Jonas when the badly beaten body of a young woman is discovered at the resort. When a second body, in the same condition as the first, is found it’s up to Thora and her friend to solve the mystery. Swimming With the Dead (5) by Kathy Brandt is a new series featuring Hannah Sampson, a C.S.I. diver for the Denver Police Department. She is sent to the British Virgin Islands to assist the local police with their investigation into the death of the son of the island’s police commissioner. The Green Ripper (4) by John D. MacDonald is probably the most brutal and suspenseful of the Travis McGee series. When his live-in girlfriend is brutally murdered by a terrorist group, Travis infiltrates the group to avenge her death. Silver Falls (4) by Anne Stuart is a fast paced suspense novel. Rachel Chapman and her daughter Sophie move to Silver Falls, a small town in the Pacific Northwest where she meets and marries David Middleton. Over time, the gloomy weather and David’s repressive personality begin to get on Rachel’s nerves. Meanwhile, David’s handsome and sexy brother Caleb returns to Silver falls. After his arrival, young women are being found murdered and Caleb is the prime suspect. Word of Honor (5) by Nelson deMille is the story of a man haunted by his past. Benjamin Tyson was a lieutenant in the Vietnam War. Since his discharge from the service, he has become a successful businessman. Eighteen years later, the publication of a book details a murderous atrocity that was committed and names Tyson as the officer in charge. He is charged with the crime and only one woman can reveal the truth and set him free. Barbara Murray read 5 books. Mother’s Day Murder (3) by Leslie Meier takes place in Tinker’s Cove Maine. Lucy Stone works for the local newspaper but on a warm spring day, would rather be out working in her garden than sitting in her office. Mother’s Day is approaching, and a feud between two neighboring moms, Barbara and Tina, is growing into something nasty. When Tina is shot on the tennis court, the primary suspect, of course, is Barbara Lucy doesn’t think that the evidence is as cut and dried as it seems. Blood Memory (4) by Margaret Coel is the first book in a new series featuring Catherine McLeod, an investigative reporter in Denver. She becomes a target for assassination after her coverage of a lawsuit filed by the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes for the return of their ancestral lands. She has discovered a conspiracy involving her ex-husband’s wealthy family and some state politicians. Cure for the Common Life (4) by Max Lucado is a non-fiction book that aims to help you find the uniqueness and the motivation to put your strengths to work to make your life the best that it can be. Dog on It (3) by Spencer Quinn is the story of Chet, who flunked out of his K-9 class, and his master, Bernie, a down-on-his-luck P.I. Chet narrates this frolicking tale of mystery and mayhem that takes the pair to biker bars and other more exotic locales. Borderline (4.5) by Nevada Barr takes place in Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas. Anna Pigeon is placed on administrative leave and her husband, Paul convinces her that the warmth and adventure of a rafting trip in the national park is what she needs to pick up her spirits. Everything is going well until the raft overturns in some rapids and a young woman falls overboard. This leads to the discovery of a pregnant woman, more dead than alive, and an adventure that takes Anna and Paul from the Mexican desert to the Governor’s Mansion in Austin, Texas.
Ruth Hirsch read 2 books. Plum Spooky (3) by Janet Evanovich is the latest in the series about Stephanie Plum, New Jersey bounty hunter extraordinaire. Usually, these books are very funny, but this one is only slightly funny. Stephanie is escorted by Diesel, one of her three boyfriends, while tracking down a loony parolee. He is working on a project to control the weather with rockets and chemicals. There is also a whole troop of monkeys involved and some other strange people who participate in the hunt. Unfortunately, Grandma Mazur has only a small role in this book and she is the most amusing character in the series. Muscle Memory (5) by William G. Tapply is highly recommended. Brady Coyne is a Boston attorney who is retained by a friend whose wife is seeking a divorce. A couple of weeks later, Brady’s client’s wife is brutally murdered and the soon to be ex-husband is the chief suspect. Brady sets out to find the real murderer which he does after many twists and turns. This writer writes clearly and strongly and tells a story very well. Barbara Wood read 13 books. Mrs. Lincoln (4) by Catherine Clinton is an excellent biography of the wife of our 16 th President. She was an educated, well-connected Kentucky girl when she married a lawyer from Illinois. She was next to her husband when he was shot, lived to see three of her four sons die at early ages and was put, involuntarily, into an asylum for a year by her surviving son. Terminal Freeze (4) by Lincoln Child takes us to the Arctic Circle. A group of scientists are sent to a remote area of Alaska to study global warming. They find an ancient animal frozen in an ice cave and prepare to thaw it out for research. The Native Americans warn the scientists but the warnings go unheeded with what could be dire consequences. Among the Mad (3 ½) by Jacqueline Winspear is a Maisie Dobbs novel that takes place in 1932 London. In this story about Londoners still recovering from WWI, Maisie must catch a madman before he commits murder on a grand scale. In Plain Sight (3) by Lorena McCourtney is the second book in the Ivy Malone mysteries. Ivy is a little old lady with mordant curiosity and quirky sleuthing skills which are put to use when new neighbors and snooping strangers come to town. Eclipse (4) by Richard North Patterson takes us to Luandia, a West African nation. Damon Pierce is a successful California lawyer who is asked by an old flame to come to Luandia to take on an almost impossible task. He is asked to defend her husband, a freedom fighter against his corrupt government. Three Weeks to Say Goodbye (4) by C.J. Box is the story of the possible nightmare of being adoptive parents. After years of trying to have a baby, Jack and Melissa McGuane finally adopt a daughter, Angela. Nine months later, the birth father, a teenager wants to take custody of the baby. It turns out that he had never signed a document giving up his rights as the father. Bones (3) by Jonathan Kellerman again joins homicide detective Milo Sturgess and psychologist, Alex Delaware. The bodies of young prostitutes are turning up in L.A.’s Bird Marsh and when the latest body turns out to be a young musician hired by a wealthy family to tutor a musical prodigy; Milo and Alex are put on the case. Lethal Legacy (4) by Linda Fairstein is another mystery featuring Assistant District Attorney Alex Cooper. This is a story of murder, wealthy families and rare books. Alex and her team’s investigation take them from Manhattan’s grandest apartments to the secret tunnels and chambers of the New York Public Library. Long Lost (5) by Harlan Coben reunites Myron Bolitar with his lover, Terese who after a 10-year absence needs him. Terese is living in Paris and is accused of the murder of her husband. Myron agrees to help but they are soon having Homeland Security, Interpol and Mossad on their tail.
Night and Day (5) by Robert B. Parker is another story of police chief Jesse Stone. Jesse is called on to investigate the reports of lewd conduct by Betsy Ingersoll, the principal of the local junior high school. Also, the women of the town are being threatened by “The Night Hawk”, a voyeur who is no longer content to just peer into the women’s window. Cape Disappointment (5) by Earl Emerson is about Seattle P.I. Thomas Black. Black returns after an absence of 10 years. He witnessed Kathy, his wife, killed in the crash of a commuter plane and was himself, seriously injured several weeks later when a bomb exploded following a speech by a Senate candidate in a school gymnasium. When he gets out of the hospital, Black thinks that he sees Kathy riding in a pick-up truck. Whisper to the Blood (4) by Dana Stabenow is a Kate Shugak mystery that takes place in Alaska’s biggest national park. A gold mining company has started buying up land in the park. One of the men in opposition to the gold mining company is murdered as well as a series of attacks on snowboarders. Run For Your Life (5) by James Patterson has a calculating killer who calls himself “The Teacher” threatening the citizens of New York City. Detective Mike Bennett is assigned the case. The author throws in a little humor when single parent Bennett’s 10 children, all under the age of 10, come down with the flu. Nancy Ypma read 1 book. Taste for Death (4) by P.D. James is, as usual, well written but more philosophical than her usual novels. Scotland Yard Commander Adam Dalgliesh is called upon to investigate an intriguing mystery. An upper-class Minister of the Crown and a derelict are found lying together in a London church with their throats slit. Dalgliesh must determine what, if anything, the two victims had in common. Sally Nuttelman read 3 books. A Little House of Their Own (4) by Celia Wilkins is the last of the 7 books about Caroline Quiner, the mother of Laura Ingalls Wilder in the “Little House” series. Caroline has returned to the backwoods of Wisconsin to teach in the one room schoolhouse. She becomes reacquainted with Charles Ingalls, whose family lives across the river, and they soon marry and settle down in a cabin of their own. The time period is just prior to the Civil War and Wisconsin is becoming quite settled. Old Town in the Green Groves (4) by Cynthia Rylant is the story of Laura Ingalls Wilder between the winter of 1875 and the fall of 1877. Laura did not write about this period in her books, but she did write letters to friends recalling the period. The author did extensive research to reconstruct these “lost” years when Laura was 8-10 years old. She describes the small town in Iowa where the family lived, having moved from Plum Creek because of the grasshopper plague. First, the family lived in a hotel where both Ma and Pa worked, then to living quarters over a store when Pa gets a job at the mill and finally to a real house at the edge of town. Pa has wanderlust and wants his own land so they move to Silver Creek. Little House on Rocky Ridge (3) by Roger Lea MacBride is the first of seven books in the “Rose” series. Rose is the only daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder, written by a man who was a distant descendant of Laura and called Rose, Grandma. Laura, Almanzo and Rose are leaving DeSmet, Dakota Territory because of the continuing drought. They drive a wagon directly south to Arkansas where they hope to have a better life. The first part describes their journey, traveling, along with some close neighbors, about 20 miles a day for many months. The second part tells of the hard work to clear the land, living in a log cabin in the Ozarks just outside of the new town of Mansfield in 1894.
RECIPE
The following recipe was found in my cookie folder and torn out of a periodical from October, 1967. I don’t recall any one in my family ever making these so they should be a surprise to us all. Also, I have no idea who Mrs. Hansen is or was but all of the recipes on the page are credited to some woman who might have entered the recipe in a contest.
Mrs. Hansen’s White Coconut Cookies 1 cup butter, softened 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar 1 cup flaked coconut 6 Tbs. Water 2 cups all-purpose flour Cream the butter and 1 ¾ cups sugar. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Chill for 30 minutes or until firm enough to handle. Preheat the oven to 375°. Roll dough into walnut size balls, flouring hands if necessary. Place on greased cookie sheets and press thin with the bottom of a glass tumbler, buttered and dipped in sugar. Bake for 10 minutes or until browned and crisp. Let stand a few minutes before removing to racks to cool.