Before and After

This is a book that was in the right place at the right time. I went into a restaurant to have lunch. Generally when I eat by myself, I like to have a book to read, but had forgotten to bring one that day. Looking around, I spotted a book on one of the tables. When I asked the waiter if someone had left the book behind, he said it had been floating around for a few days and I was welcome to it. Well, I started Before and After at lunch, read it on the bus, took in a few chapters before bed and finished it on the way into work the next day. You could definitely say I found it riveting.

The book begins with a very normal, typical family- mother Carolyn, father Ben, brother Jacob, and sister Judith - in a small New Hampshire town. Almost immediately, the local police come to the door looking for seventeen year old Jacob, believing that he has murdered his girlfriend. What follows is how the family deals with the shocking and tragic situation, Ben wanting to protect and hide Jacob from harm, no matter his guilt; Carolyn and Judith both loving Jacob, but haunted by conscience. The chapters are alternately told from Ben's, Carolyn's, and Judith's point of view, expressing their individual shock, denial, horror and pain, from Jacob's disappearance, to his trial, to their personal aftermath. The family dynamics and character reactions of Rosellen Brown's Before and After gripped my attention and just propelled me through the story.

The Strange Files of Fremont Jones

A few years ago, I was looking for a not too long, entertaining mystery book. Browsing the book shelves I happened upon a book whose cover featured a woman in a black cloak walking down a dimly lit street and a Chinese dragon with a red, glowing orb in it's mouth. I went ahead and judged the book by it's cover (and great title!) and was rewarded with a delightful and easy read featuring the spirited and independent Fremont Jones.

The year is 1905, and Fremont Jones is an adventurous young woman who's not interested in settling down and getting married. Instead she journeys across the country to San Francisco and establishes her own typing business. Successful with her clients, Fremont also delves into the mysteries of their lives. Attracted to handsome lawyer Justin Cameron, spooked by the tales she must type for Edgar Allan Partridge, and puzzled by the disappearance of the elderly Li Wong, Fremont is enmeshed in turn of the century intrigue.

The Strange Files of Fremont Jones by Dianne Day is also a Macavity Award Winner for Best First Mystery Novel (1996).

The Highest Tide

"There is no drop of water in the ocean, not even in the deepest parts of the abyss, that does not know and respond to the mysterious forces that create the tide."
-Rachel Carson, The Sea Around Us

This quotation sets the tone of the book The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch. Set in Washington state on the Puget Sound, the story begins as thirteen year old Miles O'Malley collects marine specimens at low tide in the middle of the night. He hears breathing, sees a big shiny eye, and realizes a giant squid is trapped in the mud! Immediately, Miles receives far more attention than he ever wanted; squid this size are never found in the area and certainly not alive. Now in addition to having a crush on the girl next door, waiting for his teen growth spurt, and the possibility of his parents divorce, Miles also finds himself dealing with inquiring TV reporters, scientists, and even a local cult. The Highest Tide beautifully balances the changes of a boy with the changing of the sea.

Welcome to 2009 Everyone!

With the New Year come New Year's Resolutions. Who among us hasn't decided that this year will be the one? The year I will lose weight, exercise, eat vegetables every day, organize the closets, do laundry more than once a month, stop biting my fingernails, watch less TV, learn German, take guitar lessons, etc., etc.

For some offbeat and bitingly humorous inspiration, check out Beth Lisick's Helping Me Help Myself. On January 1st, 2006, Beth decides she's tired of dealing with the same old problems every year. So she makes plans to improve her life month by month. Attempting to vanquish her fears of professional advice and self-help, Beth consults empowerment experts, attends a convention to learn why Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus, goes on a "Cruise to Lose" with Richard Simmons, and decides to proactively make her overpriced vacation a "writing retreat". One of my personal favorite moments is when she looks around the house at what needs to be organized and notes "For the record, my sock drawer currently has blank taxi receipts, hard candies, and stray coffee beans in it." Lisick is witty and just a little bit wicked. And for anyone who read Beth's last book, Everybody into the Pool, she still occasionally wears the banana suit.