Cool Down with Agatha Christie – Standalones Readalong

May 312011

You may have heard that HarperCollins is reissuing all of Agatha Christie’s books exclusively. To celebrate, they have enlisted my help, along with Book Club Girl and three other bloggers to host an Agatha Christie Summer Readalong Extravaganza called “Cool Down With Agatha Christie,” which will be taking place this June, July, and August.

Here’s what HarperCollins has to say about the reissues:

HarperCollins is proud to now be Agatha Christie’s global publisher and will be reissuing all of her books in beautiful trade paperback editions. These wonderful authentic editions are exactly as Christie wrote them using the original UK texts. Read

all of the Christie mysteries including the Hercule Poirot Mysteries, the Miss Marple Mysteries, and the Tommy and Tuppence Mysteries (Winter 2012). And don’t miss a single one of Christie’s stand-alone novels and short stories.

I will specifically be hosting a readalong of some of the standalone books during the fourth Friday of every month. If you want to start getting ready now, here is my schedule:

Endless Night – June 27
And Then There Were None (previously known as Ten Little Indians)- July 25
Ordeal by Innocence – August 22

endlessnight picture andthentherewerenone picture ordealbyinnocence picture

I will have five copies of each to give away to people who plan to participate, as well as one mystery prize to be given away to a participant in each discussion.

Feel free to grab the general button and/or the one specifically for my standalones readalong:

AC ReadingGroup TileAd General picture AC ReadingGroup TileAds StandAlones picture

As I said, though, I am one of five bloggers co-hosting this event. Check out what everyone else is doing as well:

Jen from Book Club Girl: Agatha Christie short stories – schedule
Julie from Booking Mama: Poirot – schedule
Melissa from The Sunday Book Review: Miss Marple – schedule
Nicole from Linus’s Blanket: movies – schedule

If you plan to participate in any of the events, we encourage to leave a link on the Mr. Linky below (please note, all of our blogs have the same Mr. Linky, so you only need to leave your information once), either to an announcement post or to your blog in general:

If you are planning to participate in my first readalong for Endless Night, please leave your name in the Google form below. I will choose five people who have signed up at random to receive copies of the book from HarperCollins. Please sign up by 11:59 pm Central on Friday, June 3. Winners will be notified over the weekend. Having a blog is NOT a requirement.

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Towards Zero by Agatha Christie – Book Review

May 312011

Towards Zero by Agatha Christie
Published by Harper Paperbacks, an imprint of HarperCollins

If you are interested in Agatha Christie’s standalone novels like Towards Zero, check out the readalong I will be hosting this summer.

People tell you that Agatha Christie is a master, but you have to read her yourself to fully understand. Take, for instance, this setup early in Towards Zero:

I like a good detective story,” he said. “But you know, they begin in the wrong place! They begin with the murder. But the murder is in the end. The story begins long before that – years before sometimes – with all the causes and events that bring certain people to a certain place at a certain time on a certain day…. All converging towards a given spot… And then, when the time comes – over the top! Zero Hour. Yes, all of them converging towards zero.” -p. 4

There is no murder until over 100 pages into the story. This could easily be the story of a simple family drama. The disapproving elderly surrogate mother; the man and his new wife visiting at the same time as his ex-wife; the man who has been in love with the ex-wife since childhood, and the one who has been in love with the current wife since childhood. Instead, I spent nearly 120 pages uncomfortable, wondering who would be murdered, and by whom.

Even before knowing the victim, my brain was working overtime to find the culprit. Oh, the red herrings! Every few pages I would feel that a character had tipped his or her hand, provided just the clue I needed to know who was going to have done it. Except, as soon as I started to feel smug, that character would make it plain that while she was a great suspect, she was far too obvious. For example, I had just started to suspect the elderly woman’s companion, when she said this:

“Oh, I plan things,” said Mary vaguely. “In my mind, you know. And I like experimenting sometimes – upon people. Just seeing, you know, if I can make them react to what I say in the way I mean.” p. 101

Far too obvious, Mary clearly couldn’t be the killer. I suspected every – or nearly every – character at one point or another, but I never came close to understanding the murderer or the crime until the big reveal at the ending. It made perfect sense, the clues were all there, but I missed them entirely. I was ever so slightly disappointed with the story elements following the big reveal, but the mystery itself was perfect, and the tension Christie built leading up to the murder was beyond masterful. It is obvious upon reading Towards Zero why she has been outsold only by Shakespeare and The Bible. Highly recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

If Sons, Then Heirs by Lorene Cary – Book Review

May 302011

If Sons, Then Heirs by Lorene Cary
Published by Atria, an imprint of Simon & Schuster

Every Easter, Rayne Needham makes his way down to his Nana Selma’s place, to help her around the heir property she has held for the family since the death of her husband, King, Rayne’s great grandfather. Rayne wants nothing more than for Selma to sell the land, so she can live out her last years in something closer to luxury. It turns out, though, that the fact that this is heir property – an arrangement common among African American farming families in the South – complicates everything. Selma is not the sole owner of the land, really not the owner at all, but all of King’s progeny, and that of his brothers, are equal owners.

Rayne’s attempt to unravel the reality of the situation with the land coincides with and feeds into his finally learning some of the most disturbing of his family’s history, and the reuniting of what has been, until this point, a rather dysfunctional family. Told largely through the eyes of the increasingly frail Selma, and through bits and pieces from other family members, the Needham’s family history is told in a largely nonlinear fashion. This unmooring in time and repetition of certain family lore gives increased weight to what Rayne finds in his family’s past.

Although it took me some time to become invested in the lives of the Needham family – mostly because of the jumping between multiple family members – the history and the issue of heir property, which is still an problem for many families, absolutely fascinated me. I ended up extremely engaged, and really enjoying the If Sons, Then Heirs.

Recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells| Indiebound*

Source: Publisher.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

TSS – High School Book Drive Wrap-up

May 292011

You may remember that over the last couple months I was soliciting books from people cleaning off their shelves for the students at my husband’s school. We ended up receiving about 400 books, not counting the ones that I pulled off my shelves.

That means I owe about $80 to First Book, with which they will be able to buy another 40 books for young children. So thank you, all of you readers and bloggers who participated, and thank you to the employees of Random House and HarperCollins who sent books cleaned out of their offices!

One of two totally full library carts

Historical fiction table before the kids got to it

Nonfiction/memoir table

Fiction tables

We had a great turn out, 50 or 60 kids, and they CLEANED US OUT, which was awesome. One girl told me that she was really excited, because she only had three books at home, and now she had a great pile for summer reading (6 or 7 books, some of them major chunksters).

One girl's book pile - she wasn't even done yet

Sci-fi/fantasy table before the kids made their last sweep

Historical fiction table before the last sweep

By the end, the kids picked up every single book, and they were all beyond thrilled about it. A book for every reader and a reader for every book.

Thank you!

Tumford the Terrible – Saturday Story Spotlight

May 282011

Welcome to Saturday Story Spotlight, my feature where I discuss books my husband and I are reading with our son, Daniel. These are books that he, we, or all of us particularly enjoy.

Tumford the Terrible by Nancy Tillman
Published by Feiwel & Friends, an imprint of Macmillan

Tumford isn’t really terrible, exactly; in reality, he is a very nice cat. The problem is that, like many cats, he has a tendency to make messes and, when he does, he has a very strong aversion to the words, “I’m sorry.” Day after day he gets into scrapes around the house, and instead of owning up to what he has done, he hides all over the place from his very pleasant human parents. Tumford’s parents are understandably very frustrated with the situation, but instead of getting angry, they decide to try a different technique. They will give him a treat, take him to the big fair that is in town, if only he will promise to apologize for anything he does that goes wrong. As you might guess, Tumford isn’t able to behave himself completely at the fair. His first reaction when things go oh-so-wrong is still to hide, but as he is hiding, Tumford thinks about his parents, and realizes what he really wants to do is to make them proud.

Tumford the Terrible is a very sweet book. Tillman found a very good balance with Tumford’s actions. He is never deliberately malicious, just naturally curious in the way that cats and small children tend to be and, as is often the case with cats and small children, his curiosity has a tendency to end messily. Hiding from one’s mistakes is an unfortunate reaction that people of all ages have, so showing children that it is better to own up to one’s mistakes is a very good message. Even better, Tillman manages to keep the message from becoming a heavy-handed MESSAGE.

Part of what keeps Tumford the Terrible from becoming too preachy is Tillman’s jaunty verse, but most of the credit belongs to the absolutely gorgeous illustrations. You must find a copy in a bookstore and flip through it, my personal favorite is when Tumford and his family are marching off to the fair. The picture is a full spread, with Tumford marching assertively in front of his family wearing yellow boots. It is absolutely gorgeous.

So clearly I like Tumford the Terrible, but what about my toddler? Some of the pages have a bit more text than he likes to sit still for, but they are well-balanced with much shorter pages to keep the story moving for younger readers, which keeps him actually seated and engaged for the entire book. An even better measure of enjoyment, though, is the fact that the “cat book” has become a frequent request.

Highly recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Review copy
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

The Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor – Audiobook Review

May 272011

The Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor, narrated by John Telfer
Published in audio by AudioGo

Synopsis:

For reasons that will quickly become apparent in the next section, I am going to use the publisher’s description for this one:

1786, Jerusalem College, Cambridge: they say Jerusalem is haunted by Mrs. Whichcote’s ghost. Frank Oldershaw claims he saw her in the garden, where she drowned. Now he’s under the care of a physician. Desperate to salvage her son’s reputation and restore him to health, Lady Anne Oldershaw employs John Holdsworth, author of The Anatomy of Ghosts, an attack on the existence of ghostly phenomena. But his powers of reason have other challenges. Dreams of his dead wife and Elinor, the Master’s wife, haunt him. At the heart of it all is the mystery of what happened to Sylvia Whichcote in the claustrophobic confines of Jerusalem.

Thoughts on the story:

I had an incredibly difficult time following this story, unfortunately. There are an awful lot of threads, which do all eventually come together quite nicely, but I happened to listen to this during a time when I was sick for the better part of six weeks, foggy-brained and unable to concentrate, also unable to listen consistently. It seemed to be a very well put together story, certainly well-written, but it was more complex than my more addled brain could handle.

Thoughts on the audio production:

John Telfer was a fantastic choice to narrate The Anatomy of Ghosts. Even when my brain was fuzzy on the actual intricacies of the plot, it was quite happily enjoying Telfer’s wonderful narration. Audibly distinguishing between a large group of upper-class British men seems a difficult task, but one Telfer performed admirably. With another narrator I would have been even more totally lost than I was, but Telfer gave me a hint of what I was supposed to be following and kept me happy with his gorgeous voice even when I had no idea what was going on.

Overall:

Everyone else seemed to love this book and Telfer’s narration is fabulous, so don’t let my foggy-brained failure dissuade you, but give it a try in either print or audio. When you do, though, make sure you are able to give it adequate time and attention.

Buy this book from:
Powells: Audio/Print*
Indiebound: Print*
Audible

Source: Publisher.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Doc by Mary Doria Russell – Book Review

May 262011

Doc by Mary Doria Russell
Published by Random House

You may think that you know Doc Holliday, doesn’t everyone? He is one of the most well-known denizens of the Wild West, a hard-living man famous for the shootout at the OK Corral. A roughneck, what else is there to know about him?

And yet, the real Doc Holliday, John Henry Holliday, was not the uncouth man of legend, but a Southern aristocrat who saw his family lose nearly everything in the Civil War, and had his own hopes of a living ruined by the Panic of 1873. He was a witty man, extremely well-educated and well-read. He might have been perfectly happy to remain in Georgia, or even move up North where he went to college, except for disease which would change his life, his future:

He began to die when he was twenty-one, but tuberculosis is slow and sly and subtle. The disease took fifteen years to hollow out his lungs so completely they could no longer keep him alive. In all that time, he was allowed a single season of something like happiness. -p. 1

It was this tuberculosis, the same disease which killed his beloved mother, that forced John Henry away from his beloved uncle and extended family. There were rumors of people who moved to the American West going into remission, being cured by the drier weather, and so he had to try it. Trained as a dentist, he moved West, only to bed confronted by the reality of the Panic of 1873, which left most people without any extra money for dental work.

It certainly wasn’t John Henry’s fault that he couldn’t make a living at his profession. No reasonable person would have thought so, but who is reasonable at twenty-two? -p. 19

Unable to sustain himself with his chosen profession, and feeling terrible about that fact, John Henry consigned himself to a life as an often drunk professional gambler who practiced dentistry on the side, earning his nickname around that time from his passionate live-in whore (this was actually her job) girlfriend, Kate.

Just one paragraph into Doc I already knew why Mary Doria Russell is beloved by so many readers. That first excerpt I quoted is the opening of the book. As an opening it is beautifully written, and immediately engaging. It causes the reader to feel sympathy for John Henry by the first comma. The second sentence provides the chills, and the third the curiosity of what the one season of happiness was, and why the rest of his existence didn’t qualify as such.

More impressive, though, than the stellar opening, is the fact that Doria Russell manages to keep up the interest and quality of writing throughout the roughly 400 page book. Her writing remains amazing, and her characters are all fascinating, even the most bit players. There is not a particularly steady flow of time, but that works to Doc’s advantage, glossing over the less interesting parts of history, using just enough exposition to impart what is necessary for the story, before getting back to the real meat of it all.

If I have one disappointment about Doc, though, it is where Mary Doria Russell chose to end her story. The majority of the action ends as John Henry and the Earp brothers are deciding to move from Dodge, Kansas to Arizona, where they will become so famous in Tombstone. Doria Russell has so much insight into Doc’s life and fleshes him out so well as a character, I would have really appreciated her take on the situation at the OK Corral, because I cannot quite seem to get my head around exactly what happened. Still, this is a minor qualm, because the book in no way feels unfinished where she does end it. On the contrary, it is a very natural ending point, and to tell that story as well would probably add another 200 pages on, at least.

Doc is one of those books that will make you wonder why you haven’t read more from its author. When I finished it I was ready to drop everything else and read every word that Mary Doria Russell had ever written. If you’ll excuse me, I’m off to do just that.

Very highly recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher, at GLIBA.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Getting Excited for Audiobook Week – The Audies Winners!

May 252011

Audiobook Week is fast approaching - less than two weeks, now, until it starts, and only a week until National Audiobook Month. You can follow along with both events on Twitter, the hashtag for Audiobook Week is #audioweek and the one for National Audiobook Month is #JIAM (for June is Audiobook Month). The daily discussion topics for Audiobook Week will be up within the next week, and I hope you are all collecting audiobook reviews to post, since there will be a place to link both your reviews AND your discussions every day. The prizes are also shaping up nicely, so be on the lookout for that announcement as well.

In case any of you need more reason to be excited about Audiobook Week, or in case you’re looking for a great listen that week, you should check out the winners of the Audies. The Audies are an award recognizing distinction in audiobooks put on by the Audiobook Publishers Association. Basically the Oscars for audiobook. The winners were announced last night in New York and there are some great listening options here, something for everyone (links go to AudioFile Magazine reviews):

Audiobook of the Year:

Life by Keith Richardson, read by Keith Richardson, Johnny Depp, and Joe Hurley (Hachette Audio)

Audio Drama:

Saint Joan: A Chronicle Play in Six Scenes and an Epilogue by George Bernard Shaw, read by Amy Irving, Edward Herrmann, Stefan Rudnicki, and a full cast (Blackstone Audiobooks)

Audiobook Adaptation:

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, read by Sean Barrett (Naxos Audiobooks)

Biography/Memoir

Life by Keith Richardson, read by Keith Richardson, Johnny Depp, and Joe Hurley (Hachette Audio)

Business/Educational

The Intelligent Entrepreneur by Bill Murphy, Jr., read by LJ Ganser and Fred Berman (Audible)

Children’s Titles Ages up to 8

The Jazz Man by Karen Ehrhardt, read by James “D Train” Williams (Live Oak Media)

Children’s Titles Ages 8-12

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly, read by Natalie Ross (Brilliance Audio)

Classics

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, read by Roger Rees, Rosalyn Landor, John Lee, and Judy Geeson (Blackstone Audio)

Distinguished Achievement in Production

Here in Harlem: Poems in Many Voices by Walter Dean Myer, read by Muhammad Cunningham, Michael Early, Patricia R. Floyd, Kevin R. Free, Arthur French, Dion Graham, Nathan Hinton, Ezra Knight, Robin Miles, Lizan Mitchell, Gail Nelson, Monica Patton, Charles Turner (Live Oak Media)

Fiction

Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell, read by Emma Galvin (Hachette Audio)

History

Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic by Gordon S. Wood, read by Robert Fass (Audible)

Humor

Old Jews Telling Jokes: 5,000 Years of Funny Bits and Not-So-Kosher Laughs by Sam Hoffman and Eric Spiegelman, read by Sam Hoffman, Eric Spiegelman, and a full cast (HighBridge Audio)

Inspirational/Faith-Based Fiction

Fireflies in December by Jennifer Erin Valent, read by Kate Forbes (Recorded Books)

Inspirational/Faith-Based Nonfiction

In a Heartbeat by Leigh Anne Tuohy, Sean Tuohy, with Sally Jenkins, read by Leigh Anne Tuohy, Sean Tuohy, et. al (Macmillan Audio)

Judges’ Award – Paranormal

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garci and Margaret Stohl, read by Kevin T. Collins (Hachette Audio)

Literary Fiction

The Snakewoman of Little Egypt by Robert Hellenga, read by Coleen Marlo (Tantor Audio)

Multi-Voiced Performance

Jitters: A Quirky Little Audiobook by Adele Park, read by a full cast (Straight to Audio Productions)

Mystery/Suspense

The Reversal by Michael Connelly, read by Peter Giles (Hachette Audio/AudioGo)

Narration by the Author or Authors

Nanny McPhee by Emma Thompson, read by Emma Thompson (Macmillan Audio/AudioGo)

Nonfiction

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, read by Cassandra Campbell and Bahni Turpin (Random House Audio/Books on Tape)

Original Work

The New Adventures of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer, Vol 2: The Little Death by Mickey Spillane and Max Allen Collins, read by Stacy Keach and a full cast (Blackstone Audio)

Package Design

The Very Best of Bob and Ray: Legends of Comedy by Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding, read by Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding (HighBridge Audio)

Personal Development

Put on Your Crown by Queen Latifah, read by Queen Latifah (Hachette Audio)

Romance

The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte by Syrie James, read by Bianca Amato (Recorded Books)

Science Fiction/Fantasy

The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison, read by Phil Gigante (Brilliance Audio)

Short Stories/Collections

Stories by Neil Gaiman [Ed.], Al Sarrantonio [Ed.], Joe Hill, Lawrence Block, Carolyn Parkhurst, Joanne Harris, et al., read by Anne Bobby, Jonathan Davis, Peter Francis James, Katherine Kellgren, Euan Morton (Harper Audio/ AudioGO)

Solo Narration – Female

Glorious by Bernice L. McFadden, read by Alfre Woodard (Audible)

Solo Narration – Male

Zorgamazoo by Robert Paul Weston, read by Alan Cumming (Penguin Audio)

Teens

The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon, read by Dion Graham (Brilliance Audio)

Thriller/Suspense

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson, read by Simon Vance (Random House Audio/Books on Tape)

For a full list of all nominated audiobooks, see The Audies.

Are any of your favorite books of the year here? Any that are on your To Be Listened pile? Something you think should have won in a certain category?

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/amazon_publishing_push_is_raising_wiJw12c25HG7L9PSt2RVrM

The Arrivals by Meg Mitchell Moore – Book Review

May 252011

The Arrivals by Meg Mitchell Moore
Published by Reagan Arthur Books, an imprint of Hachette

Ginny and William Owens have been enjoying their quiet house, but they are thrilled when their daughter Lillian brings her young children for a visit. Even so, things don’t seem quite right, with no sign of Lillian’s husband Tom who, Lillian is hiding from everyone, recently cheated on her. Not that there is much chance to dwell, when their son Stephen and his pregnant wife Jane show up unexpectedly and are forced to stay when Jane is ordered to bed rest. As if the house isn’t crowded enough with five adults and two children, the Owens’s youngest child Rachel shows up, her life similarly in tatters.

The Arrivals could have easily been one long pity party, in some ways it was one tragedy piled on top of another. Money problems, infidelity, high-risk pregnancies, all happening to a single family in a single summer. And yet, the love of the family and the way they interacted, together with Meg Mitchell Moore’s gorgeous prose combine to create a cohesive and moving novel.

Certain passages of The Arrivals are just so beautiful and true that they beg to be read, reread, shared:

Thinking about it, her throat caught. She felt embarrassed for herself the way you feel embarrassed for a child who falls down while she’s running toward a playground. So much optimism, dashed. -p. 25

What is particularly admirable about The Arrivals is how so many periods of life were represented so realistically: there is the young family, the expectant family, the empty nesters, the young person unsure where to turn. The characters have some poignant things to say about the bittersweet nature of of parenthood as well:

“But parents these days, it is different, I know it is. There’s a certain level of…dissatisfaction that wasn’t there when I was first a mother. Nobody worried about living up to some absurd ideal. There was no idea. But no, I don’t know. It just seems like you’re all laboring under this belief that you can have it all. I know that sounds like a cliche, but really that’s what it is.” -p. 159

After she hung up, Ginny told Lillian that it took every ounce of whatever she had – willpower, fortitude – not to disobey him. She could not stop thinking, she told Lillian, of how he looked on his first day of first grade, waiting at the bus stop with his back curving under his navy blue backpack and his eyes big and scared beneath his baseball cap. Only twice in all of Stephen’s life, said Ginny, had she felt such a need to protect him – that day, and today. -p. 287

The Arrivals is beautifully written, a must read for people in all stages of life, for anyone to whom family is important. Highly recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Author’s agent.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Grace Under Pressure by Julie Hyzy – Book Review

May 242011

Grace Under Pressure by Julie Hyzy
Published by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin

The first book in the Manor of Murder Mystery series

All Grace’s life, she has dreamed of working at Marshfield Manor. She is finally the assistant curator and at this point, it is really the only thing she has going for her, after losing her mother to cancer and her fiance to someone else in quick succession. She loves her job and her roommates, even if money is still a bit tight and the roof needs replacing. All things considered, things are going well over all. Until, that is, the head curator of Marshfield Manor is killed in the private quarters during a disturbance downstairs. Now Grace must step into two new roles: running the manor as head curator, and trying to solve a murder, before anyone else is targeted.

Grace is a fabulous character, tough, yet vulnerable. Great at her job, but a little bit hopeless in her personal life. She is so engaging that I fell immediately under her spell, completely identifying her and rapt by the things that were challenging her. The mystery itself was well-constructed, with sufficient clues that I did not feel the answer came out of nowhere, but enough intrigue and suspense that I did not guess the perpetrator before Grace did.

I very much enjoyed the first two books I read in Hyzy’s White House Chef series, but good as they were, I think that Grace Under Pressure is that much better. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series, Grace Interrupted which is out in June of 2011.

Highly recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Personal copy.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Older Entries

Devourer of Books

Cool Down with Agatha Christie – Standalones Readalong

Towards Zero by Agatha Christie – Book Review

If Sons, Then Heirs by Lorene Cary – Book Review

TSS – High School Book Drive Wrap-up

Tumford the Terrible – Saturday Story Spotlight

The Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor – Audiobook Review

Doc by Mary Doria Russell – Book Review

Getting Excited for Audiobook Week – The Audies Winners!

The Arrivals by Meg Mitchell Moore – Book Review

Grace Under Pressure by Julie Hyzy – Book Review

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