At Mother's Request

At Mother's Request: A True Story of Money, Murder and Betrayal by Jonathan Coleman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book goes into much more detail in the life of Frances Schreuder. I had puzzled over the actions of her mother, Berenice. It was hard to understand why she was so connected to Frances, who was such a difficult child and who treated her so badly. This book did a much better job of exploring that relationship.

Frances was clearly sociopathic and it was fascinating reading about her view of the world through her own eyes. No matter how clever a sociopath is, they will never be able to cover their tracks completely because they will never be able to understand and copy ordinary people who can empathize with others or truly love them. In the book, her relationship with her son, Mark, whom she favored and could always control, was a clear example. However close he was to her and however much favored he was, she turned her back on him as soon as he was no longer useful to her. This was a fascinating study.


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Nutcracker - Money, Madness, Murder: A Family Album

Nutcracker - Money, Madness, Murder: A Family Album by Shana Alexander

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As I continue to explore the mind of the female sociopath this book provided an incredible multilayered example. I read the book years ago and it was so powerful, I remembered most of the story, but it was still fascinating. This time I tried to focus on the relationship of Berenice to her daughter, Frances. The story is about Frances Bradshaw Schreuder who contrives to get her son to murder her father. Aside from the sociopathy, there are other serious mental illnesses in this family of three generations.

Frances is clearly the most disturbed, but on this reading, I was more struck by the toxic relation between Frances and her mother, Berenice. At first, Berenice seems to be a good-hearted soul who is terribly abused by her daughter and bilked of hundreds of thousands of dollars. There is more than meets the eye. Berenice and Frances have a symbiotic and deeply pathological relationship. In the beginning chapter there is a description of the entire family standing around Frances' cradle singing to her all night long, night after night. Frances cries constantly and begins her life as the narcissistic center of this family and nothing changes through out her life. Berenice seems to demand that everyone in the family cater to Frances just to keep her from throwing a tantrum of epic proportions over the slightest thing.

I have to wonder at why Berenice turned her back on her husband and 3 other children in order to constantly placate Frances. The older daughters seemed sane and reasonable, but Berenice was always turned towards Frances. She allowed her to live a lavish lifestyle in New York and ended up paying for the legal defense of her grandson, Mark, and her daughter for the murder of her husband. That is almost more unbelievable than the fact that she focused all her love and attention on this one child to the detriment of everyone else in the family.





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Too Late to Say Goodbye: A True Story of Murder and Betrayal

Too Late to Say Goodbye: A True Story of Murder and Betrayal by Ann Rule

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Lovely Jenn Corbin seemed to have a perfect life. She was married to a handsome and successful dentist and had two beautiful boys. She had a lovely home and taught part time at a preschool. But there were numerous problems that she tried to conceal from her parents and sisters. Her husband was often critical and explosive and his practice was suffering because of the way he treated his staff. Jenn was miserable and she reached out to a person on the internet who seemed to be all the things that Bart was not.

Bart was also dissatisfied, but he could not let go of Jenn even though he had a mistress. Years ago, a girl he loved had broken up with him and he would not let another woman leave him. Just a few weeks before Christmas, Jenn was found dead from a gunshot wound to her head while she was lying on her bed. At first it seemed to be a suicide, but Jenn’s family said that it wasn’t possible. She loved her boys too much to leave them and especially for them to find her. Even her 7 years old son didn’t believe it and on the morning he found her, he told the neighbors that his daddy had killed his mother.

Detectives soon came to believe that the scene was staged and that Bart was acting in a very strange manner showing no concern at all about his sons. Soon they were informed that a woman Bart had been involved with in dental school, Dolly Hearn, had died in the same manner and Bart was the only suspect in that murder. Officials from both counties began talking and Dolly Hearn’s case was reopened.

One of the things I found fascinating was Bart’s personality. It was obvious that he was a sociopath. He did things that were so bizarre and didn’t seem to understand how they would appear to others. For example, he didn’t even contact his sons or make any provision for them after his wife was murdered. He refused to come to the house and pick them up, or be questioned by the police. He even went so far as to refuse to let Jenn’s family get clothing for the boys or collect the Christmas presents Jenn had bought for them. When his father-in-law took matters into his own hands and entered the home, he tried to have him charged with burglary. His incredibly suspicious actions let the police to consider him the only suspect.



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Never Enough

Never Enough by Joe McGinniss

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I read this book because I was interested in the characteristics of the female sociopath. I found it fascinating and it was hard to put down. This is the story of Rob and Nancy Kissel. Rob, who was an investment banker for Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong. He work and traveled all the time earning a huge salary...one that includes a $15 million bonus at times if that gives you the idea, and was rarely home, but who does seem to love his wife and children.

The fascinating one in this book is Nancy. To me it was like reading a text book description of a female sociopath and then having someone turn those traits into a person. One of the things I found interesting was her inability to see how many of her actions were totally inappropriate. In many ways, she was trying to function in a society that was from a different universe, which is exactly the problem with sociopaths. Her total lack of empathy led her to do things that were bizarre and treat her children in ways that showed that they were only things to her. She lived in a universe in which she was alone and everything and everyone were props for her pleasure.



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Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls

Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls by Rachel Simmons

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was excellent. Rachel Simmons has done an astounding job of looking at the cliques of girls and the devastating effect they have on girls…those in the clique and those who are rejected. With the rise of the phenomena of girls committing suicide because of harassment over the Internet and the number of adults who are participating, this study is extremely important. We hear so much of boys bullying, but little thought has been given to the girls who bully and why.

Rachel Simmons conducted this study by interviewing girls from both sides of the issue and recorded what they said. The root of this behavior, she believes, is hidden aggression. Girls in our society are not allowed to express their aggressions and thus turn them inward. Anger is built up and rejecting other girls helps to displace this aggression. The problem has gotten worse and worse and the consequences have been robbing individuals of their self-esteem and natural development. Interestingly, those who are in the “in group” often suffer as much as the girls who are excluded. One little “un-cool” action and they find themselves on the outside. Even if that never happens, they often find in later years that they have buried themselves and their uniqueness under the burden of being popular.

Not only has the problem been growing, but it has also begun cropping up at an increasingly early age. My granddaughter experienced it in nursery school. One of the girls would turn to a classmate and say, “You’re invited to my birthday party…not!” Granted the child had several older sisters, but this behavior would have been unheard of even 15 years ago. This book should be required reading for anyone who is involved with girls and at the expense of adding more non academic tasks on over burdened schools, there must be an attempt to address this issue.



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A Killer Stitch (A Knitting Mystery, # 4

A Killer Stitch by Maggie Sefton




This was a cute cozy mystery revolving around a knitting shop in a small Colorodo town. The characters get more interesting in each book in the series. The plot is not too taxing and the character's names are different enough to keep them separated in the reader's mind.

If you want a cozy mystery and love knitting, this is for you!



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The Elegance of the Hedgehog

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is not for everyone, but I loved it. I already knew that the action didn't really pick up until the middle of the book, and I did find it a little slow going at first, but is was well worth my patience. When you take an elegant apartment for the very wealthy in the middle of Paris, pair it with a 12 year old genius who is hiding her light under a bushel and plans to commit suicide on her 13th birthday, and then throw in what seems to be a cantankerous old concierge who appears to only watch television all day, but who is secretly an autodidact who loves art, philosophy, and Oriental culture you have something that ought not to work, but does splendidly.

Most of the wealthy inhabitants of the building lead boring and predictable lives, and 12 year old Paloma refuses to join their ranks. She is a competent scholar, but knows that even in school her brilliant mind will not be appreciated. She is planning to wait only until her 13th birthday to see if, just possibly, there is more to look forward to than the lives she sees around her.

Renée, the concierge was raised in abject poverty and ignorance and she was cursed with a brilliant and cultured mind that had no possibility for expression. She had to hide her mind in what little schooling she had and eventually found her way into a job where her brilliance again had to be hidden from everyone in the building. What does a peasant do with a brilliant mind? Renee chose to hide hers by leaving the television on while she was hiding her bedroom reading Proust.

Nothing seemed to change until Japanese man named Ozu arrived in the building. He was able to sense the secrets in Renee and Paloma and carefully create an environment where their true natures could be expressed. As I look back at the book, I think Mr. Ozu could be called a “people whisperer.” He was able to create an environment where each of these two lonely people could be herself. But this is not an ordinary “feel good” book. It is much too close to reality for that. I don’t think anyone who finishes this book will ever be the same.


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Middlesex

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


My doctor recommended this book to me and I am finding it fascinating. It is about a rare genetic abnormality that causes the main character to be a hermaphrodite. The story starts in the shadow of Mt. Olympus in Asia Minor and concerns the main character's grandparents from whom Callie/Cal gets the gene which sends her/his life careening into the textbooks.

The story is told well, not just as background, but as an exciting glimpse of the lives of ethnic Greeks whose lives are turned upside down by an invasion of the Turks. The brother and sister emigrate to America and end up living in Detroit in a Greek community. Into this community, Callie is born and lives the life of a girl for the first 14 years of her life. Although this portion of the book is actually background for the main focus of the book, it is written in a charming way and the characters are well developed.



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Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities

Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is a delightful book that gives the important information of plants that are deadly, illegal, poisonous, and otherwise obnoxious. The writing is wonderful with a light touch to even the most deadly plant. The illustrations are also charming and quite often very funny. I would recommend it to anyone who comes into contact with plants...which is just about anyone. It will be especially helpful to families with small children.

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Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses

Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses by Bruce Feiler

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


When Bruce Feiler begins his journey, he has no particular attachment to the Biblical lands. He is not even sure of what he hopes to find. With the help of an Israeli anthropologist, he visit the places mentioned in the Bible, or those that are traditionally believed to be the place where certain events took place and he finds his tie to land and his faith are growing deeper and deeper. The reader can’t help but to be carried along by his vivid descriptions and powerful narrative. I found that the explanations of what happened in these places and what life was like in Biblical extremely compelling. I felt that I had journeyed with him. It doesn’t matter what your religious background is, this book is for people of all Biblical faiths.



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Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club

The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club by Gil McNeil

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


There have been a number of books that deal with knitting groups, but this one is an interesting twist. Jo Mackenzie’s husband has just been killed in a car crash…just after he has informed his wife that he has a mistress whom he has been living part time and he has taken a second mortgage on their house to finance their life. He will be leaving her immediately…and then he is killed. Her emotions are in limbo and her life has been turned upside down. There is only one solution on the horizon. She will move to the country with her two young sons and take over her grandmother’s knitting shop.



Nothing is simple and this transition isn’t either. Jo manages to get a “Stitch and Bitch” group going and she is in just as much need of it as her customers. One of her best customers is an actress who lives in a nearby mansion. Her friendship is a turning point and puts to rest some of the animosity shown to the newcomer.



This is a nice book for some light reading. The characters are pretty well developed and the plot has some unusual twists to it. It would be nice to see some of these characters in another book.







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Amelia Bedelia (I Can Read Book 2

Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Amelia Bedelia keeps messing up everything because she takes everything absolutely literally. She means to please but somehow it all goes wrong. Big kids and little kids all enjoy this madcap maid of all work.

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Deaf Sentence

Deaf Sentence by David Lodge

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


At first, I wasn't sure I was going to like this book. It is the story about a professor of linguistics who has taken early retirement because of his increasing deafness. I wanted to read it because my father is hard of hearing and I thought it would help me to identify with his world. In that respect, the book was excellent. I understood some of the difficulties a partially deaf person faces...leaving home in a hurry and forgetting the hearing aids, agreeing with people in a confused setting because of either misunderstanding or simply because it is easier than having everything repeated again and again.

The book was also interesting as it deals with a person whose identity is changing with the loss of a career, an elderly parent, and the everyday enjoyments no longer feasible due to increasing age and loss of agility. The main character is struggling to transition out of the active workforce and into the life of the elderly.

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The Killing Doll

The Killing Doll by Ruth Rendell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is not one of my favorite Rendell books. There actually isn't much of a mystery. It is more a psychological and psychic book about a brother and sister in a very strange English family. The main characters are Pup and his sister, Dolly, and the twisted way in which they grow up.

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Lucy Rose: Big on Plans

Lucy Rose: Big on Plans by Katy Kelly

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Lucy Rose and her best friend, Jonique, have a lot to do in the summer. They are both going to Parks and Rec. where Lucy desperately wants to make a lanyard, but Parks and Rec has a fly in the ointment called Ashley. Ashley looks down her nose at Lucy Rose and makes fun of her. She goes out of her way to be nasty and Lucy Rose doesn't understand it.

She also has a few more things to do this summer. She has to get rid of the Squirrels in her grandparents yard because they are eating all the fruit an Madam can't make jam. But the biggest thing she has to do is get her parents back together. If she could just think of the right thing to do.



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Lucy Rose: Here's the Thing About Me

Lucy Rose: Here's the Thing About Me by Katy Kelly

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lucy Rose could be Junie B. Jones in 3rd grade. She has the same kind of spunk and good intentions that tend to go awry. She is an "individual" and things are rarely boring around her.

Her parents are separated and she has left Michigan for Washington, DC where she lives very close to her grandparents. While she enjoys her grandparents, and they seem to be of the very best sort for an independent little girl, she doesn't look forward to a new school, especially when the one student she meets is a boy she dislikes thoroughly.

This book is hilarious and I fell in love with Lucy Rose and her whole family. Her parents are very supportive of her and while they are separated, they both show their love for Lucy Rose by the way they treat each other. This is a great book!


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The Stabbing In The Stables

The Stabbing In The Stables by Simon Brett

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I read this in June as an audio book for listening to in my car and it was an on and off thing. Sadly, 2 months later, I can hardly remember enough of the book to write a review. I guess that tells me something! I do remember that is was interesting enough to continue to listen it but alas, not memorable enough stay with me.

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Critical

Critical by Robin Cook

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I usually enjoy Robin Cook, but I found a lot of this boring. I guess it was the business side of "for profit" hospitals and I admit I skimmed through a lot of it. Laurie Montgomery is always a good character to follow as she seems to be authentic and there are enough details about her to let the reader identify with her, but it seems like Jack Stapleton is getting more and more one dimensional. It is highly unlikely that a person in his position, knowing the deaths that are coming from the hospital he is to have surgery in, would completely disregard the danger, especially when his wife is so adamant about there being a serious problem. Jack's one dimensional personality is beginning to make me wonder if he is to be killed off in a future book.

On the other hand, this is still a good book. Through most of it, the reader is propelled forward to find the source of the infection before disaster sets in and Jack is killed. While this isn't up to some of the earlier books, it is still a good book and I enjoyed it.


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Fatal Voyage

Fatal Voyage by Kathy Reichs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book was a little different from the usual Temperance Brennan in that she started out being totally involved in the wreckage of an airplane and then after finding a foot that doesn's seem to belong to any of the passengers, she is taken off the crash team. Not only is she not involved, but her reputation as a profession is brought into serious question.

I didn't like having to wait for other characters to provide information any better than Brennan did. At first it seemed as if she was getting side tracked with mysterious problems with her car and strange mountain folk, but it all came together in the end, making this one of her better books.
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Knitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks

Knitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
While there are some patterns in this book...and patterns I have already used, the book is more about the social aspects of knitting. The book is hilarious. Anyone who has knitted any length of time knows of or has been in the situations Stephanie talks about in such an amusing way. I think even a non knitter might even enjoy her writing.

The book also serves a practical purpose. There are instructions for various stitches and projects as well as list of things to do or not do. All are informative and enjoyable.



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