A Spoonful of Murder

 

Welcome to the Spoonful! A lovely place to stop and have a bite to eat and to catch up on the latest town gossip! No really, the Spoonful was a lovely place to sit and chat and eat homemade soup. (Check out the last few pages... the recipes used in the book are actually listed there!) Lucky began running the soup shop with her grandfather Jack after her parents passed away. In the wintry months at the little town that you may recognize, a murder takes place. Life is hard enough to run a soup shop with unsteady customers, but when the cook is framed for the murder, it's almost all that Lucky can bear. To make things worse, the sexy doctor from her high school days, Dr. Eliot, has begun to take a shine to her and brings her into a world that she never could have dreamed of before she moved away for college. Can Lucky solve the murder and save the restaurant before it goes under? Or will she fall for the sexy doctors charms and forget everything else? 

Find out in A Spoonful of Murder by Connie Archer!

The Westing Game

Was it the Judge in the house with a gavel? 

Or was it Otis in the front yard with the hammer? 

Or was it Theo with his darling looks aimed at his young stalker? 

The Westing Game, written by Ellen Raskin in 1979 and since then has left its readers scratching their heads trying to figure the best who-done-it for children!

Mr. Westing has passed away and left his million dollar estate to his sixteen heirs, wait, sixteen?, who seem to have no relation to each other by blood, by work, but maybe by bruised shins. The sixteen heirs have been paired together to solve the riddles left behind by Westing, with the winner the sole benefactor of a large share of the estate. Soon, it's tenant verses tenant, best friends against each other, siblings against siblings... you get the drift. So, who will be the one who wins it all?

Will it be, the doorman who waits pationtly for you to enter the building, then enters himself?
Will it be the family that owns the restaurant at the top of the building?
Or will it be the momma's girl, who always does as she's told?
Only you can solve the mystery, hopefully before anyone else is killed!

Middle School by James Patterson

So, have you ever heard of James Patterson? How about books written for children by James Patterson? Well, one of my students thought that I would enjoy this book by him, and I certainly did!

Our main character Rafe has decided to take middle school into his own hands and save himself from either being a bully or being bullied.  Well, in order to do that he’s got to come up with a plan.  A really good plan.  A really good fantastic plan! 

A really, unexpected plan that no one will ever expect out of good old Rafe.  And who better to start him off in this amazing plan than his best friend Silent Leo?  Leo has decided that it’s time for Rafe to step it up and pull off the most amazing adventures in school… wait, is that even possible?

Characters: Rafe, Leo, Rafe’s mother and sister and the school teachers

Setting: Rafe’s middle school

Plot: Rafe has decided to start of middle school the right way, the unexpected way, by being someone completely different.  He had decided to do something that has never been done before… break all of the rules to his middle school. And how is he going to do that?  Armed with the school book of rules and the comics of his best friend Leo, what could possibly go wrong?

Powerless

 

Powerless is written by a a really funny author named Matthew Cody who has aimed this hilarious story at young boys! The main character, Daniel, has moved to a new town with a BIG secret. And Daniel, the newest 12 year old in town, has no idea. His new friends seem to dissapear quite often, and are certainly full of information about the town (what normal 12 year old knows the ancient history about anything?) and a few actually smell... bad.
But what happens if someone was to find out the dark secret? What if something was to attack the town and the secret was to get out?

What if?

Tess and the Highlander

 

I don't know how many of you are a fan of book clubs, but a number of years ago I was given the opportunity to take part in one in high school. The name of the book was Tess and the Highlander and written by May McGoldrick. I didn't know what to expect, and it was called a true romance novel... whatever the heck that meant, but what really caught the attention was that well, I was entranced by this kid named Bryan and he was in the book club too. So, I bought the book and decided to read it.

Tess and the Highlander is a teen novel. It is aimed toward teens. So if you are opening this book to look for raunchy material like sex, drugs, rock and roll, well, you're not going to get any of that. Instead, you will be pleasantly surprised by the love that is instead introduced and what love should be between two barely there young adults. Which, I love tremendously. If I can find a good novel without any raunchy material in it, I'm as happy as a clam!

So in this book club, first you were asked to read the novel in question, then as a bonus you could meet the author. Meet the author! Holy smokes! At the time I was writing short stories about creepy creatures living in our woods and transportation into other worlds, but who would pass up the opportunity to meet a real live author?? Now here's the kicker, May McGoldrick was not just one person, it was really two people! The author was a couple who decided to write novels! The name is combination of their real names, and they have been happily researching and developing this story together. It makes the story that much more lovable as you get both sides of the love story without anyone making it up as they went along. I mean really, what guy really knows what women are thinking?

So all in all, listening to this story being created was worth ten times the actual amount of the book.  Ten Times! This couple has really inspired me to really keep writing, so here's another shout out to May McGoldrick!

Back to the story: Tess is a young lass just past the age of 17 who has been living on an island in Scotland for the past 11 years with no recollection of who she really is and how she had come up on such a dismal place. When she was shipwrecked on the speck of an island she lived with an older couple and never dreamed of leaving her new home. Then another storm hits and her world is flipped upside down. Colin, the Highlander, has washed ashore, with secrets of his own. The youngest of the three children of the Macpherson couple has heard of the lass who was stolen away from the Lindsay house 11 years before, but to his recollection, she had either died or was hidden away for years after her father died. Could this really be the missing child? Or was she only an impressionable lass that he has fallen in love with? Who knows! Read to find out!

What I absolutely love about this story is how I can connect to Tess. She is an independent thinker and can take care of herself, and does not need a man to take care of her in any situation. She can clearly defend herself and knows when it is time to open your heart. And also, her best friend is named Colin, and I can totally relate to that!

Bookmarks!

Now what the heck can we do with an envelope that has to do with reading? Well, I'll tell you.

 

Ever look for a fashionable bookmark and you don't want to use a shredded piece of paper that happened to be lying around? Well, use this!

 

From your recycle bin, cut a small rectangle from either the lower left or lower right and done! Make sure that the corner is fairly big enough, like mine found below!

 

 

Isn't he cute??? He's adorable. And he keeps my page in place!

He sits right on the corner of my book and makes sure that my page doesn't move!

 

 

This is quite handy too in workbooks, and in spelling books like I'm using one presently! On three more I wrote "Group 1", "Group 2" and "Group 3." I can see it when I'm looking down on the book and know exactly what I need. And compared to sticky notes, doesn't it look a bit neater than sticky notes? You can use them too as little reminders, such as "CHECK HERE!" or "GET LAUNDRY!"

 

I've made mice, wombats, bears and even turtles! What are you going to make?

James and the Giant Peach

 

Hello!

My class and I are reading this wonderful novel by Roald Dahl.

A master storyteller and extraordinaire.

 

This book holds the key to adventure, spirit and friendship. And knowing that really... Anything is possible!

You must remember however, as we embark on the wonderful journey, that we must throw all views of realism and remember that everything is all fantasy! If anything doesn't seem logical, remember that it is all Fiction! If a Giant Peach really did roll through your house and village, then people would think that you're off your rocker and send you to the loony bin.

However, if you lived in Dahl's world, anything is possible!

Characters: James, Centipede, Miss Spider, Miss Ladybug, Miss Silkworm, Miss Glow Worm, Old-Green-Grasshopper, and the late Aunt Spiker and Aunt Spounge
Setting: England, the Atlantic Ocean, and the United States of America
Plot: James is a lonely little English boy who is forced to live with two of his (I'm quite certain unrelated) aunts way inland away from his lovely little home by the sea. James meets an old, we'll call him a wizard, who gives him magical things and instruct him to not let anything else get anywhere near them! Well, that is a case of foreshadowing if I ever saw one. By and by, and true Roald Dahl style MAGIC starts to happen! Everything starts to a little bit differently for James, starting off with, he gains new friends, and has more real adventures than anyone else his age!

Well, enjoy the magic! And let me know what you think of this master story teller! ☺

Ellen Tibbits

Characters: Ellen Tibbits, Austine Allen and thier classrom
Setting: Ellens and Austines school
Plot: Ellen has a deep dark secret that she can't tell anyone. It's so dark that she has to hide it from the other girls all fall, winter and spring. She's been getting away with it for a while... then Austine the new girl figured it out... because she's hiding the same exact secret! Austine and Ellen bond over hiding thier deep dark (and actually quite silly) secret! Then on the first day of thier new grade Ellen does something awful and Austine doesn't forgive her. Over time Ellen realizeds that it is really her fault but she struggles about whether she is the one who is wrong or if her best friend is. By and by, like best friends do, the air is cleared, but Ellen wonders if it really has, can you tell?

I know this is a childrens book but this week I had an incedent with some of my students and they started a ruckess. I read this book so that I could ask the girls to read and reflect on thier own actions these past few days. Will it work? I'll let you know!

Whales on Stilts

 

Doesn't the book itself intrigue you? First off, it's written by M.T. Anderson who I've hard is an excellent science fiction writer!

Anyways this lovely girl named Lilly finds herself in the middle of a mystery, who does her dad really work for and why does he act so strange? Turns out (the first mystery at least) is solved when Lily talks to her best friends Katie and Jonas who appear to be adventure magnets! They're all underage so when the car chase starts it becomes a little difficult to evade capture after they figure out whats going on, but is it enough to get them away?

As you can tell from the picture, there are whales on stilts with lazer beams shooting out of thier eyes and they look a bit bad tempered. Well, that actually doesn't happen. I'm kidding, that does take place in this hilarious novel, and they trample through the only town that is introduced in the book. Well, there are two more, but if I give those up then I'll give away the rest of the story.

So:

Characters: Lilly (a very plain person), Katie (an adventure magnet), Jonas (a geeky adventure magnet) and Mr. Larry who is quite sinister and has a terrible history. Poor thing.
Setting: A little town in the middle of nowhere, where if you go 5 miles over the speed limit then you're busted. Sounds like a lovely place, right next to a bay and a floating restaurant!
Plot: Three friends try to foil a plot to take over the world with lazer beam welding stilt walking whales! How are they going to get throught this muddle of a mystery?

Happy Reading!

Fantastic Mr. Fox

 

In my classroom this year, we're doing something a little different, instead of just doing a full out report on the book, we're doing three main sections. Ideally: Title, Characters and Plot. And so follows:

Title: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Characters: Mr. Fox; Farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean; the underground creatures
Plot: The Fantastic Mr. Fox has done it again. For years he has been stealing from Farmer Boggis, Farmer Bunce and Farmer Bean who each sells different wares to various customers. Namely, ducks, cider and chickens. One day, all three farmers have finally had it and decide to go after Mr. Fox and his family of little fox cubs. In turn the entire underground animal kingdom is affected and everyone blames Fox. What will happen next? Who will win out in the end?

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

By Kate Douglas Wiggin (a New England Native)

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is a delighful tale about a charming little girl who grows up in a very dull house with two aunts that take her in after her mother has her nth child. Rebecca is an intelligent child who wins the heart of anyone that she meets, except for her Aunt Miranda. Aunt Miranda is a spiteful old goat who clearly does not like children, or her brother in law, who is Rebecca's father. While Rebecca stayed in the Aunts house she endures her aunts meanness and SCHOOL. Back in her hometown of what Rebecca likes to call Sunnybrook, school is only open two months out of the year, and for a smart girl like Rebecca, that is not enough time to read, write and learn 'rithmitic.

In Riverboro, where Rebecca is staying, Rebecca finds friends in classmates and have a marvelous time helping each other in classes and with selling enough soap to buy a lamp for friend. She meets a strong character Adam Ladd, who invests in Rebecca's education and strives to keep Rebecca at the top of her game. Then there is Mr. Cobb who is the first person to introduce Rebecca to the life at Riverboro, and again helps her when she needs advice about running away from her aunts watchful eye. Spunky and heroic, she has caught my eye as a up coming teacher.

Over the years Rebecca has recieved a harsh word or two from Aunt Miranda, comforting words from Aunt Jane, help from her mother back on the farm and support from friends and more family. She also learned about friendship, trust and earning rewards through hard work in education.  Graduating from the top of her class Rebecca moved her way up to help her family by hopefully reciving a better job than she and her friends could dream of, and more. Unfortunetly we don't know what happens to Rebecca in the end, but we can hope that is the best.

the Help

By: Kathryn Stockett

This book came as a recommendation through a variety of my friends, one of which is one my favorite neighbors. (Please tell her that I said that because I have to live with her for the rest of the year!)

The Help is a marvelous tell-all book about a group of courageous women who decide to beat the odds by writing a book on the life of being part of the help in white households.  They tell all about the families they are employed under, the good the bad and the well, shitty. Excuse my terms! But it was in the book!

Skeeter has this marvelous idea, why not tell the world how it really is to live in the deep south with someone to raise you from birth until you're ready to leave the proverbial nest?  Aibileen, a new friend who is working under one of the more terrible families in the area, become adamant at the idea, then realizes how it could help everyone.  She pulls her friend Minny into the book idea, but we don't find out if she's up for it or against the idea, and it remains that way for a little while. Poor Minny, we hear her thoughts but it takes all that she is to keep her yap shut sometimes.  Aibileen is by herself but she loves raising children, since her pride and joy is no longer in the house that she takes care of herself. 

I admire the three women who are fictional, yet explain their reasoning's of their actions through the different stories that they tell.  Skeeter takes pride in the book that she is compiling, and beginning to understand the work environments that people like her mother and best friend have helped continue. Aibileen watches her friends and coworkers go through life raising other mothers babies, teach a hidden message to her last baby, and takes pride in herself for deciding to make a difference in the other women's lives by being a part of this book. Minny on the other hand, wishes that there was another way that she could earn her way to being away from those that hurt her, and still be able to raise her continuously growing family.  How do these women make a difference in their communities? Are they able to change history with their stories?

Stay tuned for a follow up post on the the movie, the Help starring my favorite, Emma Stone, as Skeeter. I'm getting the movie in this week, so hopefully it'll be a quick follow up!

 

The A-List

By: Zoey Dean

As it sounds, this book is about a high elite class of people who steal boyfriends, party it up every chance they get, with the rampant sex, unaware parents social life... yes, the list continues.  It was compared to Gossip Girl and any other show like it that is on the telly.

Anna, a New York social-lite has decided to move out of her mothers home and into her fathers dwelling in Los Angeles where the life of the party apparently lives.

Here she falls in love with a kid named Ben who turns her life upside down and pulls her into the social life of Los Angeles where she meets just about everyone that he had slept with, or dated with for a while, or is in love with presently.  Anna realizes how much the girls really don't like her, maybe it's when they rip her dress, or maybe it's when they start spreading lies about her or maybe...

I do have to root for Anna at one point though, she says NO to Ben! Go Anna!

Besides that, it seems the same as my impression of the Gossip Girl series, always going on and always about girl bullies that don't exist in this sense in normal school systems.  In normal school systems the majority of the students are not uber rich, do not party up a storm every night of the week on thier parents money and do now wear a different party dress to any and every occasion with a variety of dress makers and jewelry designers on hand.

So, to recap, I rooted for Anna to for saying no to Ben, but that's all I got to say to the subject of anything to do with what is not my cup of tea... usually. I like reading about it, but doing it? I've got a whole 'nother ballpark for a longer discussion.

Bones of Faerie

I had a friend of mine recommend this book to me after reading "Luck+Love" (which you can find the beginning to http://helpimalmostanadult.blogspot.com/2010/08/preteen-girl-in-me-says.html )

Bones of Faerie is about a world where the real world and the faerie world which has become a world of lore.  Liza, the main character, has decided to pursue the dissaperance of her mother and is harboring a dark secret that she can not tell no one, not even her father.  She begins her journey across the lands (much like the lands of the Hunger Games, with fences and such and forbidden forests... you may hear about my dislike of the Hunger Games freqently for the next few months. At least until it dies down like Twilight.) with a partner (male, of course... CAN THE HUNGER GAMES HAVE GOTTEN ANY MORE PLAGERISTIC??) who decides to protect Liza on her journey to find her mother.
On the journey, Liza and her male counterpart fight thier way through a forest, and into another village that may hold more secrets that she can handle at one time. Here the Healers decide that Liza is someone is worth saving and allow that someone to live in the world and continue on thier journey. 
Along the way more travelers join the search in the quest to find Liz's mother who may or may not carry the gene to bring in the old world in with the new.
Can Liz find her mother? Will the Faerie world triumph? What is beyond the Golden Gate Bridge?
(I am so totally more into this than I am the Hunger Games let me tell you... it's got more of a story line than the terrible series! Here there is fighting, love, a hunt for another world, friendships won and family lost.... tell me where any of that truly exists in the Hunger Games and I will personally read the rest of the Hunger Games.)
*Hunger Games Bash #1*



****BASH BASH BASH BASH BASH BASH****

Carrie

 I'm really getting into the whole supernatural spooky theme, and I'm really not that surprised. After watching The Amity ville Horror and reading it to see how much of it was true (see link for direct link to the Amity ville Horror http://helpimalmostanadult.blogspot.com/2012/02/amityville-horror.html ) I decided to read Carrie, just for kicks. My library provided me with this copy of the book, after they inter library loaned it.

 My mom told me not to read it to bed, but really, it wasn't that terrible to read in bed! I was able to read a few pages every night, and the story began to build. If any of you have seen the movie, it shouldn't be too different. It's next on my list to read, so I'll let you know how it goes if you haven't see it yet, like myself.

As it starts out, Carrie, the main character, gets her period. Now remember, this is the 1970's and a little bit different. Fortunately, there were still lockers room, it wasn't that long ago! Carrie was a bit of loner, with no friends and truly the but of every one's joke until senior year. She lived alone with her mother in a little house under a strict religious regimen. Her father passed away when she was too young to remember, and her mother had a miscarriage before Carrie even came into the picture. Her mother did not like Carrie and pretty much told her this everyday. With a mean mom and awful kids, and a sudden maturation, Carrie begins to sense a different kind of power within in her body.

Before long Carrie has mastered her new powers and uses them to develop control over her house and manages to snag a date for the Prom. As everyone knows, something bad happens at prom when it is in the movies or in the books, which I will not go very much into detail. In a nutshell, something goes wrong at Prom, which was supposed to be one of Carrie's shining moments, however, it did not go very well. It's not even mischief like in the Amity ville Horror ghosts, Carrie is a walking, talking terrifying creature that you would not want to meet in a dark alley. With or without pigs blood.

In the 1970's this book had rocked every one's worlds and the paranormal became something very frightening to think about, much less read about at night. If I was one of the first people to read it, I certainly would have slept with a night light and a working smoke alarm. And would have gotten rid of the fish tank. You know what happens when water and electricity is on the ground? It's not good, not good at all.

This is all from the great mind of Stephen King, who is by far, one of my favorite authors of the century. Thank you Stephen King for this great novel!

By Stephen King 

The Amityville Horror

For those who are bit squeamish when it comes to ghost stories, I'm on your side. They kinda freak me out too. But that's why we read them though, right? Just to get that little bit of fright out of the way for the day! Right? Okay, sorta. But this time I wanted to hear the full story of The Amityville Horror and see if the new movie is up to par. So far, it isn't. You really can't focus on the different emotions that the characters are going through in the movies, unless if you know what you're looking for specifically.

To begin, this young couple (the Lutz's) decide to move into their dream home together. Four days into the new house they begin to notice a few peculiar things, such as strange smells, odd emotions, weird things that make you wake up in the middle of the night, things like that. What they don't know is what's causing it. The house has been blessed (as it is in the movie) but what the movie doesn't show is what happens to the poor priest after he leaves the house and what he REALLY saw. Darn guy had no idea what was happening in the house, didn't even know who lived there before the new family (the Lutz family by the way) had moved in and had to be told by other priests who lived in the area. Shesh. This sort of throws the movie off of the track. Maybe they wanted to 'spice it up' a bit. Bleaugh. Stupid idea.

If (and WHEN) you read the rest of the book, and compare it to the most recent movie of The Amityville Horror you will understand how much time Hollywood has put into reading the actual books or scripts of the movies that they are doing these days. The most annoying bit while I was reading the documentary was that there were TWO characters that the youngest daughter was talking to, a little boy and a fairly large PIG. Yes, a PIG and the PIGS name was Jodie. Not the little girl that appeared in the newer movie. It was a little BOY that haunted the house and a male PIG that frequently talked to the alive child. Frustrating to read that and reflect back on the movie. And in one part of the book the little girl follows the pig out of her window with no explanation as to where she went. In the movie to again 'spice it up a bit' she walks out on the roof and needs to be rescued by her step father and her mother. And get this, the step father never goes crazy, he just becomes extremely frantic and ... can't say much more, other than Hollywood screwed it up again!

Sure, the family stayed in the home for 28 days, at least that bit is correct. The names and the scenarios are fairly accurate, including the dog Harry, a few of the situations are pretty much on the dot, but like the author says, ghosts cannot be asked to appear on command and appear or act, they do as they please because they are stuck between worlds, or so we think. We may never understand their predicament. We cannot show a movie to the world of how ghosts preform because there is no proof of them acting this way. If you look very carefully most of the time in the movies you can see the cables, bright lights or the CGI or what ever it is called to make the ghosts and what not appear "out of thin air!"

I enjoyed the book, because the book is more accurate than the movie, but I am excited to watch the original movie, just to see the originality in the movie scene, and compare it to the original book. 

PUSH

Push is about a troubled young teenage mother who is abused in her home by her mother and her father.  Precious Jones, as she likes to be named, is kicked out of her high school before having her second child. On this birth certificate however, unlike the first one, she leaves the father of the child as unknown.
This fictional story seems much different than what I typically promote, but this story does become life-altering. Precious is placed into a high school where she can apply her knowledge and skills in a program that is supportive, other than her last school.  I won't say much on the topic but even in the first two chapters of this novel, there is a change in the way that Precious thinks about herself, the world and the education that she able to recieve through the help of numerous individuals.  All of the people that are introduced to her after she was admitted in the Higher Education Alternative/ Each One Teach One improve her life style, her way of thinking and more importantly, her self-worth.
I did like reading this book, and I hope that you will too. When I have the time (which is usually on the weekends) I hope to watch the movie Precious, which is the major motion picture of Push.

The Scarlet Pimpernel

Brilliant book if I may say so, written by Baroness Emmuska Orczy in 1905 this story is set in England and France around the time of the reign of terror, so named for the bloodthirsty guillotine that claimed so many lives. A rouge travels between the countries who goes under the pseudoym of The Scarlet Pimpernel, snatching innocent citizens from the famous execution style that was prominant in France in the 1700's.
The question is, who is the mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel? Is he British? Is he a French citoyon? Could he be your fearless neighbor? No one knows! Save for the Scarlet Pimpernels trusty staff, who keep the secret so well hidden that not even Chavaulin finds out his secret!

The story begins with a lavish party where Marguite is approached by the sniveling Chavaulin who is trying to capture the rascal the Scarlet Pimpernel. Using the weakness of women to his advantage, Chavaulin alerts Marguite to her brother Armands plight of perhaps becoming a victim of the guillotine soon.  He asks of ehr to reveal the where-abouts of the elusive one to barter her brothers life. With Marguite's husband was away, Marguite agrees to the terms and gathers information for the two-timing Chavaulin who promptly sets off to find the Scarlet Pimpernel. Much to his astonishment however, all he finds at the appointed place is Marguite's idiot husband, Sir Percy, asleep on the couch in the next room. The slumbering idiot gets up and leaves the party with his not-so-doting wife and life goes on for the couple. Or does it?
Chavaulin takes the information he gathers at the party and applies it to a new search of finding the Scarlet Pimpernel and is once again on the brilliant mans heels. Marguite realizes that in her haste to find information regarding her brothers savior, she not only put her brother in danger, but the savior, and other lives that the Scarlet Pimpernel was rescuing! In desperation Marguite goes after her brother with a trusted friend, Sir Andrew to try to save the day and rescue innocent French citizens. Much to her dismay the trail is laywayed with danger and unexpected trials.
Will Marguite save her brother? Will Chavaulin capture the Scarlet Pimpernel? And Who is the Scarlet Pimpernel?

Lonesome Dove

This novel was 845 pages long, but definetly worth the read. Not one page was boring and all flowed beautifully. As it turns out the story is historically accurate, with tales of the sympathetic and of cunning killers, beautiful whores and honest cowboys.

The story opens up with a group of men in thier ranch keeping an eye on the peace as it is. There's Call and Gus, two leaders who grew up together rather quickly when they were selected to assist in the war, as they were cowboys. Gus loved to be in his rocker, a cold drink and enjoy the day. Call was a worker, and would not let slackers be around, besides Gus. This relationship was at peace for many years, as they ran the Hat Creek Outfit, renting out horses, help but not the blue pigs that Gus liked to watch.

The peaceful life became changed when an old member of the Hat Creek Outfit rides in and announces that he killed a man, and knows of undocumented land that could be claimed by the men. The Outfit jumps up and prepares for a long haul ahead, packing in food, clothing, and a few momentos from home. In preperation they also steal a few thousand steer from the Mexican border, but no one really minds since the Mexicans are busy running from another Outfit.

Within this tale there are a few other side stories. Lorie, the local whore convinces one of the Hat Creek Outfit to take her north planning to give up whoring forever. Along the journey she becomes a stronger woman and finds a place where she can finally call home.

July Johnson comes along and chases down Jake as he did murder his brother in the middle of the day, in the middle of the street and with witnesses around. July finds his way around the wild west and finds a better life for himself and for his young son whose mother is as wild as tumbleweed.

I chose this book because it reminded me of the untamed desert out in Arizona, and I wondered how the Wild West was before buildings replaced the mountians and homes replaced the plains. I wish I had a time capsule to see the world and enjoy the world before it became so small.

On a side note, I liked this picture as there are a few *ahem* loose women in the novel...

Sense & Sensibility & Seamonsters

Ever hear of Sense and Sensibility? This is the same as the beautiful story, however it is different. Instead of the regular story but theres something differnet. Something a lot different. Something alot different like  ... seamonsters.
The original text by Jane Austen is rewritten in a comic way by Ben H. Winters. There is mayham and gore galore in every chapter, but keeps the charm and wit of the original text.
I throughly enjoyed the retelling of the classic, which included many a battle with the disasterious sea creatures, mer-animals, a giant city under the water and of course the different love interests amongst the men and women. There was a variety of curses, loves and the occasional crazy person. Oh wait, maybe thats the reader. Try reading this lovely novel on the beach and see how long you'll stay out there before you retreat back into the safe indoors!