The Mysterious Benedict Society

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a great book for kids and adults.  I am using it for homeschooling.  The book is about 4 extremely gifted orphaned children who answer an add for exceptional students.  Each of the children is exceptional in a different way and they work for the mysterious Nicholas Benedict to enroll in a sinister school also for orphans.  They are able to avert disaster while using their extraordinary talents.

Nicholas Benedict, whom they work for, suffers from narcolepsy as does the headmaster of the school they have infiltrtated.  Both are apt to nod off in times of excitement, strong emotion, and danger.  I did a little reading on the disease and the book is quite accurate on it's effects.

The story is fanciful but still plausible...if here was such a thing as a Benedict Society...and such a dastardly plot.  In other, the reader knows that the story couldn't possibly be real, but if it was, this is the way it would happen.


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The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was the best book of the series.  It is a great book for gifted kids and adults, as well as any kid who likes to read.  Benedict's parents were scientists who were killed in an explosion.  He was taken by a relative who died and he was placed in a series of orphanages. He suffered from narcolepsy which often caused him to fall asleep whenever he experienced strong emotions or fear and he also suffered from night terrors which constantly awoke the other orphans. Being a genius, having a photographic memory, and being able to read a book in only a few minutes also set him apart from the other children.

His adjustment was at his latest orphanage was difficult and he was a target of bullies.  Eventually, he was able to use his genius to protect some of the other children and finally make friends.  The book is full of situations that seem insolvable, but Nicholas prevails and manages to carve out a niche for himself.


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The Magician's Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia, #1)

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have been using this book for homeschooling my granddaughter and it is wonderful.  I've read it aloud a number of times when my children were young and it is great to listen to myself.

We used the book for both Literature and Bible and there are some amazing Biblical concepts.  The loving creation of Narnia is especially moving and gives a exceptional picture of the creation of our world.  The issue of sin and forgiveness are also explored in a way children can understand it, but is profound for even an adult.  Diggory, one of the main characters disobeys a sign and sets in motion a score of negative consequences that can't be erased.  Later, he is given the chance to make a different choice to help counteract the first choice and wonderfully illustrates the concept of atonement.  The book is full of love, beauty and redemption, but it doesn't skirt the issue of evil and sin.


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Weighed in the Balance

Weighed in the Balance by Anne Perry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I didn't like this as the rest in this series.  It dragged quite a bit and nothing much happened in the mystery until the last chapters.

The plot revolves about a case which Oliver Rathbone takes involving slander.  A Countess has said that the wife of the exiled heir to the throne of a small Germanic principality has killed him.  He have up his throne for his wife and lived in exile in Vienna.  Their story was a romance for the ages and no one can believe that his wife would kill him.

What I did find interesting was the information about the number of small kingdoms which were caught up in the unification of Germany.  I never thought about what it would mean for these kingdoms which had their own identity and history.  I have even gone to Bavaria, seen Neuschwanstein, and read the history of King Ludwig II and never thought what happened when Germany unified.  Some of the smaller kingdoms fought the Prussian army and others, realizing the futility of resisting, allowed themselves to become part of Germany.


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Long Spoon Lane

Long Spoon Lane by Anne Perry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was not one of my favorites.  For one thing, it dealt with anarchists and their political agenda, is not one I can relate to, or like to read about.  Of course, the anarchists are only a smoke screen and there is far more going on, but I just couldn't get into this one as well as the others.


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Death of a Chimney Sweep (Hamish Macbeth #27

Death of a Chimney Sweep by M.C. Beaton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Could an affable local Chimney Sweep actually be a murder?  Hamish Macbeth thinks it's impossible and that there is more to it than meets the eye.  He's proven right when the chimney sweep is found dead also.  What's behind the murders?

This is a nice cozy mystery and a great audiobook where the text is read with all the appropriate accents.  I like this series because it is comfortable and you can always count on it.  If that sounds a little boring, I don't mean it to.  In the middle of books about Afghanistan or the Balkans, or other unsolvable real life situations, there is a place for wonderful books like this series.


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Death of a Valentine (Hamish Macbeth, #26)

Death of a Valentine by M.C. Beaton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is another book in the Hamish Macbeth series and is a little better than most, so I gave it an extra star.  That is mainly for the trip to the altar that it seems that Hamish can't possibly get out of.  Everything keep inspiring against him and this part of the mystery is actually more interesting than the real one.

These books play a role in my reading life.  They are entirely predictable and easy to listen to as an audiobook.  If I put one of these on my iPod, I can stick with a less than interesting, but necessary task around the house.  They are also a relief between weightier books.


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The Mysterious Benedict Society: Mr. Benedict's Book of Perplexing Puzzles, Elusive Enigmas, and Curious Conundrums by Trenton Lee Stewart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a great book for any child who loves to solve mysteries and to push themselves to do more with his or her mind.  The book is full of logic problems, codes and other puzzlers.


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Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist (Agatha Raisin, #6)

Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist by M.C. Beaton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Agatha Raisin's marriage to James Lacy was ended before it began when her husband, whom she thought was dead, turned up.  Fortunately and unfortunately, he turned up dead and Agatha solved the murder.  Now she has headed for Greece where James retreated after the fiasco of a wedding.

While in Greece, a "terrible tourist" is murdered and she and James end up having to solve the murder before Agatha is killed.  All this is typical Agatha and the reader ends up wanting to kill her while hoping she escapes the clutches of the real murder.


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Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist

Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist by M.C. Beaton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Agatha Raisin's marriage to James Lacy was ended before it began when her husband, whom she thought was dead, turned up.  Fortunately and unfortunately, he turned up dead and Agatha solved the murder.  Now she has headed for Greece where James retreated after the fiasco of a wedding.

While in Greece, a "terrible tourist" is murdered and she and James end up having to solve the murder before Agatha is killed.  All this is typical Agatha and the reader ends up wanting to kill her while hoping she escapes the clutches of the real murder.


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Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Against all odds, Peeta and Katniss Everdeen have survived the Hunger Games, but now they are perceived as a pair and their popularity and even safety depend on no one knowing the truth.  The bravery and love that Peeta shows Katniss has struck a cord with the people of the country and their safety depends on keeping that impression alive.

At home all is not well.  Both Peeta and Gale seem to be angry at Katniss and it is time for Peeta and Katniss to go on their Victory Tour.  The Capitol feel that the pair have helped to fuel the rebellion stirring in some of the districts and yet they are so popular, their hands seem to be tied.


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Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars




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The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was excellent.  Young Katniss Everdeen lives in a country called Panem which is surrounded by 12 districts.  The Capitol rules over the districts by requiring that they send two teenagers every year to the Hunger Games in which they compete to the death while the people of the country watch on live TV.  There are people who create the games and are able to create even more difficult challenges at will, pitting the children of one district against other districts and their own partner.

Katniss volunteered when her 12 year old sister was chosen and she was allowed to take her place.  She accepted the challenge as a death sentence, but could not bear to see her sweet and sensitive sister go to her certain death.  It turns out that the survival skills Katniss' father taught her helped her to do much better in the games than she ever believed possible.


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The Unseen Guest by Maryrose Wood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Great book for kids and interesting for adults.


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The Romanov Conspiracy: A Thriller"

The Romanov Conspiracy: A Thriller by Glenn Meade
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a fascinating book about some bones buried outside the place where the Romanovs were brutally killed.  It is a mixture of fact and fiction.  Even though we know the outcome of the DNA tests, the book was still fascinating.


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Still Life (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #1)

Still Life by Louise Penny
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this book at a time when my life was so busy and complicated, I can't, for the life of me remember what this book was about.  I am writing this review 3 months later and I don't have a clue.

Interestingly, I do remember that I liked it pretty well and would like to read more with the same characters.  The detective was likable and the village charming.  I enjoyed learning more about Quebec and I will probably reread this one before starting the rest of the series.


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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I have read this series so many times, I've stopped putting in the dates.  Usually I listen to the audio tapes when I have some work to do that doesn't use all my senses,  but keeps my attention only partially.  While the story is one I know by heart, I am always amazed as another of the numerous incidence of the series plot is laid down to be harvested in a later book.

In this book we see our three heros as teenagers, and they really are!  I think they are bickering and quarreling through the whole book!  I found it annoying, but so totally accurate for their age that it made me smile.  They are constantly at cross purposes and cross with each other.  In this book, the writing takes a much darker turn and younger kids who enjoyed the first four books may find this one a little too dark and dangerous.

The story starts with Ron and Hermoine knowing about the Order of the Phoenix and Harry being kept in the dark.  The problem is that Voldemort is back and he wants to kill Harry. The Order members know how much danger Harry is in and they want to protect him.  The Ministry of Magic is no help because they are determined to believe that Voldemort is not back despite all the evidence.

Voldemort also wants the prophecy concerning Harry Potter which is held at the Ministry of Magic down a dark corridor.  Harry is getting glimpses of what Voldemort sees as he works his evil.  This is helpful when the snake, Nagini, bites Mr. Weasley and leaves him is dying.  Harry is able to alert Professor Dumbledore and someone is at the Ministery of Magic immediately.  Since Harry is being kept out of a lot of the business of the Order, he is determined to find the prophecy himself.

The best part of this book is Delores Umbridge.  The Ministry of Magic is trying to squelch all rumors that Voldemort has returned and so they install Umbridge as the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher.  The Ministry doesn't believe the children should actually practice defensive spells because there is no need.  They believe that the students should read carefully edited text books about dark arts in the past.  Delores, however, in her fluffy pink everything, is just pure evil.  She's a villan you love to hate.  Every time Harry and crew do something, she has poor old Filch hammer up another decree on the wall.  Eventually, just about everything is banned, but the kids, of course, have found a way around the rules.

(Just a little note, the casting in the movie for the part of Delores Umbridge, I think, was wrong.  It would have been better to cast someone whose character was evil posing as someone who is good rather than the other way around.  Delores doesn't ring true until you have seen the movie a couple of times and have already identified with her as an evil person.)  


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Death on the Downs

Death on the Downs by Simon Brett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another adventure from the village of Fethering featuring the odd couple of sleuths, Carol Seddon and her friend, Jude.  Carol stumbles on some bones in a barn while sheltering from a storm.  She has to try to find out who the bones belonged to and, unfortunately, who murdered the victim.  This sets up the amateur detective scenario in which the two friends bumble into the clues and then the solution.

The book is charming because of the characters and environment.  The mystery is just the vehicle to propel us through the charming village of Fethering and the Weldisham Downs.  While the mystery is interesting, the lives of the main characters is what brings me back to these books, that and the probably non-existent village life of the English countryside.





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The House of Velvet and Glass

The House of Velvet and Glass by Katherine Howe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was very interesting.  A young woman finds that under certain circumstances, she is able to see the future.  As she begins to work to change some events by interfering, she finds that changing the future has some unexpected and unpleasant consequences.


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Kissing Christmas Goodbye

Kissing Christmas Goodbye by M.C. Beaton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was one of the better books in this series.  Agatha Raisin is still irritating as usual and obsessed about James Lacy and the perfect Christmas, but she shows compassion for her young detective, Toni, whom she rescues from and abusive home.  Toni is a wonderful addition to the Agatha Raisin stories and breathes new life into the series.  She is talented and personable...a perfect foil for Agatha.  James is his usual wooden self and Agatha's obsession with him is irritation as usual.  In some ways, I keep coming back to Agatha just like she keeps coming back to him.  She irritates me with her shallowness and grousing, but I find myself looking at the library shelves for the latest in the series.


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The Hidden Gallery (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, #2)

The Hidden Gallery by Maryrose Wood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the second book in this wonderful series and the governess, Miss Penelope Lumley, has managed to somewhat tame her young charges and help them deal with the constrictions placed on young children of wealthy and socially prominent parents.  It hasn't been easy though.  For one thing, their mother has absolutely no idea how to raise a child, in fact, she is often more of a child than her children.

As the children come to the city, more and more things don't seem to add up.  There is some connection to them and a mysterious society and it involves a hidden room in the Art Gallery.

There are also some disturbing questions about Miss Lumley's parents and the roll of her mentor and teacher at the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females.  Why is her hair turning the same color as that of the children?  Why does her mentor require her to use a special conditioner for her hair that changes the color and texture.  What has really happened to her parents.


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Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this in a Ravelry book group and we all enjoyed it immensely.  It was set in the time of the Gordon Riots of 1780.  Barnaby is simple minded and lives with his mother.  He gets drawn into the Gordon Riots by bad companions who use him and then abandon him.  As is usual with Dickens, there are several other plots going on at the same time and they eventually connect.  It is just a delightful book and well worth the time it takes to read it.


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The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars




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Legacy: A Novel by Danielle Steel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I haven't read any of Danielle Steel's books for a very long time, but someone told me that this book was different and it was.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It is a story viewed by characters in the present and past and I like those.  One is a young woman who is working on an advanced degree and living with her boyfriend who is an aspiring archeologist.  Here life is like treading water only there is no shore even being looked for.  Suddenly, the boyfriend leaves to direct a dig and she goes home with virtualy nothing.

While reassising her life at her mother's apartment in the city she agrees to help her mother search for an Indian ancestor who marries a marquis and moves to France.  The genealogy project helps her get her bearings and gives her the strength to change to a life of purpose instead of staying on the same treadmill she has been on.


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The Retribution by Val McDermid
My rating: 4 of 5 stars




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A Darker Domain by Val McDermid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars




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Fever Of The Bone by Val McDermid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars




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Christmas Mourning by Margaret Maron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars




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The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It has been a long time since I read this and it definitely is a book that you don't want to know the ending before you read it.  The suspense adds a lot to the story and helps to counteract the long philosophical passages. I read this in a book group and we all agreed that the house was a character in the book.  It's brooding menace fills the early chapters and you get the feeling that it wants to exact revenge for the crimes done on that spot of earth.


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Hard Row by Margaret Maron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars




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Winter's Child by Margaret Maron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars




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Death's Half Acre by Margaret Maron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars




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Rituals of the Season by Margaret Maron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars




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Killer Market by Margaret Maron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars




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Storm Track by Margaret Maron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars




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Up Jumps the Devil by Margaret Maron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars




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Home Fires by Margaret Maron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars




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Shooting at Loons by Margaret Maron
My rating: 5 of 5 stars




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Southern Discomfort by Margaret Maron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars




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Mrs. Pollifax and the Golden Triangle by Dorothy Gilman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars




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Now You See Her by James Patterson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars




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The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars




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Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars




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The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is another Dickens favorite.  I read it for a Ravelry group called "Knitting like the Dickens."  It is a little too sweet and a little to sentimental, but a great book despite that. Dickens' talent is to create characters that are so real, it is as if they actually  lived.  While the fact that Nell is slated for an early death is obvious from the beginning, the characters which surround her and not nearly as predictable.


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Ladies Of Letters.Com by Carole Hayman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is absolutely delightful!  I have the audio book and could listen to it again and again.  (Actually, I did repeat it on a 600 mile drive and found it just as entertaining the second time.) If you love Patricia Rutledge in the BBC comedy "Keeping up Appearances,"  you will love her in this.

It is the ongoing exchange of letters and email between two old friends.  The ladies are very different, but were friends from their youth on.  The comedy is subtle in some spots, so read or listen to it slowly to pick it up.  There are subtle jibes and a bit of posturing that keeps the plot moving as the nature and character of the women unfolds.  There is no narrator or prose to fill in details, so you only learn about them through their own words and it is masterfully done.


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Ladies Of Letters.Com by Carole Hayman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is absolutely delightful!  I have the audio book and could listen to it again and again.  (Actually, I did repeat it on a 600 mile drive and found it just as entertaining the second time.) If you love Patricia Rutledge in the BBC comedy "Keeping up Appearances,"  you will love her in this.

It is the ongoing exchange of letters and email between two old friends.  The ladies are very different, but were friends from their youth on.  The comedy is subtle in some spots, so read or listen to it slowly to pick it up.  There are subtle jibes and a bit of posturing that keeps the plot moving as the nature and character of the women unfolds.  There is no narrator or prose to fill in details, so you only learn about them through their own words and it is masterfully done.


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Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars




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The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars




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Murder In Chinatown by Victoria Thompson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars




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False Mermaid: A Novel (Nora Gavin, #3)

False Mermaid: A Novel by Erin Hart

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the third book in the series and we finally get the full story of Nora’s sister’s tragic death. Nora has long suspected her brother-in-law Peter Hallett as the vicious murderer, as has the lead detective, but Peter was too crafty to be caught. Now he intends to marry again and Nora is desperate to prevent any further tragedy both to his bride to be, and her young neice, Elizabeth. While Nora is certain that she loves Cormac McGuire, she cannot move further in that relationship until the murderer of her sister is brought to justice and her neice is safe.

Nora finds some clues her sister left hidden in a secret place they shared as children and she and the detective are convinced that the murder of her sister was not his first. Clues turn up in other places also and yet, they don’t lead all the way back to Peter Hallett, but Nora is sure he is the source of the evil.

In the meantime, Cormac McGuire has returned to an isolated village where his long-estranged father has been staying near Port na Rón. He meets Roz, a friend of his father’s and becomes interested in the mysterious disappearance of Mary Heaney who was reported to be a selkie who returned to the sea. While walking on the headlands, he finds the abandoned fishing hut where Mary was supposed to have lived and upon searching it, he finds a single shoe. Who runs away with only one shoe? Eventually, he and Nora are reunited and discover the truth of the old legend.

I really enjoyed this series and look forward to more books by this author.


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