Sharon Reads: Dean Koontz’s Oddkins: A Fable for All Ages

August 4, 2013August 1, 2013 / Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

Oddkins: A Fable for All Ages

Oddkins: A Fable for All Ages by Dean Koontz is a book that readers from elementary school ages through adults can understand and enjoy, with beautiful illustrations and a story that feels very real. Isaac Bodkins was a magical toy-maker who creates toys that can come to life in order to help children trough difficult times. He calls his creations Oddkins. However, Isaac has passed away sooner than expected, and before he could train the next toy-maker. The race is now on to see whether a good or evil magic toy-maker will wield the power. A team of Isaac’s Oddkins are on the move to find the toy shop of Isaac’s chosen heir, while evil toys from the hidden sub-basement try to stop them from reaching their goal before the evil toy-maker can purchased Isaac’s toy shop.

Oddkins: A Fable for All Ages might be Koontz’s first book intended for more than just adult readers, but you would never know it from the read. Living toys are a new idea, but Koontz instilled a new life to the idea, with strong personalities for each of the living toys. I loved the idea that the toys are intended to help children facing special difficulties, although I wished all children could have one rather than just the ones with the ‘potential for greatness’, since I think everyone has that potential. However, that would make for one busy magic toy-maker! The Oddkins that face the action, both good and bad, have quirks and personalities that often made me smile or shudder, depending. The good Oddkin’s quest for Colleen Shannon’s shop, Isaac’s nephew’s search for the truth, and an ex-con in search for more ways to inflict pain intersect with the evil Oddkins intent on securing their future and the success of the dark toy-maker. There are epic battles, internal debates, and characters that will take hold of your heart. What else do you need?

I recommend Oddkins: A Fable for All Ages for adults that are fans of Koontz works as well as adults, teens, and the middle grade set. On a scale of one to five, I would give Oddkins a full five stars. There is a combination of fast passed action with enough introspection and personal discovery to keep readers of all ages and all genre preferences entertained and turning the pages.

(This review was originally published on Sharon the Librarian.)

Jenn Reads: “A” Is For Alibi

August 3, 2013July 31, 2013 / Jenn / Leave a comment

“A” Is For Alibi by Sue Grafton was the July pick for our mystery book club, chosen by one of our members.

Here is another “Jenn Reads” that is not a newer book! I’m a huge fan of book

“A” Is For Alibi by Sue Grafton

clubs picking books that are not necessarily new, something every other book club in the world is reading (Can I tell you how many times I’ve seen Gone Girl or The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Societyhas been read by book clubs?), and perhaps a little off the beaten path.

Grafton’s W Is For Wasted comes out in September, so it was appropriate that our member chose this title. Grafton started this series more than 30 years ago and has been plugging away at the alphabet ever since. Wonder how relieved she’s going to feel when she finishes this series and can start another?!

“A” Is For Alibi starts with the main character, Kinsey Millhone stating that she murdered someone just days before. Well! How about that for a setup! Makes you curious to know whom she killed. Kinsey, a private investigator, has been hired by Nikki Fife to investigate the murder of her husband, which she has just spent eight years in prison for.

Laurence Fife was a divorce lawyer, excellent at his job, but a scoundrel, adulterer, and abusive man. So there are many who would have liked to do him in. The story twists when it comes out that his accountant, Libby Glass, was killed in the same manner he was. It was suspected the two were having an affair.

Kinsey sets off on an investigation that takes her to Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Most of the story takes place in Santa Theresa, California and Grafton does a fantastic job at describing the location. I could feel the California sunshine on my face as Kinsey went on her runs (which, by the way, I didn’t need to know every time she went for a run) and the sand at my feet as she visited her lover Charlie while he dog sat.

Kinsey displaces some very rookie moves for a season private investigator and former police officer, specially trusting people she shouldn’t trust. She wipes down her room in Las Vegas, thinking the police might tie her to a murder there, but forgets that she checked in and paid with a credit card.

What I do like about Kinsey is her doggedness, want to do right, and perseverance. Unlike Stephanie Plum, who is just terrible about being a bounty hunter and lucks into a lot of her leads, Kinsey actually sits down and does the work, and follows through.

I’ll probably continue with the series, as it is one of my mother’s favorites, and I’d like to see how Kinsey develops as a character. “A” Is For Alibi is a good start to the series.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

See you in the stacks,

Jenn 🙂

Escape With A Cozy Mystery – take a journey, enjoy an adventure, learn something new…

July 21, 2013June 5, 2014 / Linda / Leave a comment

Julie Hyzy

One of cozy mystery’s premier authors, Julie Hyzy, recently wrote a very interesting article for the Huffington Post about cozy mysteries. Her new book, Grace Takes Off, was published July 2.

Here are some other cozy mysteries out this month:

1. Tarnished and Torn (A Witchcraft Mystery) by Juliet Blackwell

2. Tulle Death Do Us Part (A Vintage Magic Mystery) by Annette Blair

3. A Custom-Fit Crime (A Magical Dressmaking Mystery) by Melissa Bourbon

4. Woof at the Door (A Call of the Wilde Mystery) by Laura Morrigan

5. Final Sentence (A Cookbook Nook Mystery) by Daryl Wood Gerber

6. Laced With Poison (A Sweet Nothings Lingerie Mystery) by Meg London

7. Dyeing Wishes (A Haunted Yarn Shop Mystery) by Molly MacRae

8. Yarn To Go (A Yarn Retreat Mystery) by Betty Hechtman

9. One Dead Cookie (A Cookie Cutter Shop Mystery) by Virginia Lowell

To view a previously published post about Cozy Mysteries, click here.

Susan’s Top 15 Summer Films

July 20, 2013July 15, 2013 / Susan O. / Leave a comment

Sure, there’s dozens of great huge summer blockbusters to watch, but chances are you’ve already seen quite a few of them. Here’s a list of great films that take place IN the summer. Some are great to watch with your kids and some are definitely for the older crowd. Which is your favorite?

1. What About Bob? (PG) A man follows his psychiatrist on vacation and drives him crazy. And you thought your job was rough!

2. The Sandlot (PG) Kids. Baseball. James Earl Jones. ‘Nuff said.

3. Jaws (PG, but I’d think twice about under 10) The original summer blockbuster, the one that started it all. Thirty years later, those special effects still hold up. You’re going to need a bigger TV.

4. Caddyshack (R) Yeah, it’s got the predictable plot, the bad language, the potty humor, and I hate the stupid puppet – but you’ll still laugh yourself silly.

5. Field of Dreams (PG) – The greatest baseball tribute movie. It’s not too late to cut a diamond in your lawn for playoffs. If you build it, they will come.

6. National Lampoon’s Vacation (R for language) – the mother of all summer vacation movies, who can’t relate to long trips with grumpy kids, relatives you can’t stomach, and things going bad every inch of the way? Don’t you wish reality ended as well it does here?

7. Stand By Me (R for language) – a fantastic coming-of-age movie for the 11 & up crowd – and it was written by Stephen King.

8. Deliverance (a very adult R) – classic dark 70’s story of friends taking an ill-fated rafting trip that will make you fear the sound of banjos.

9. The Parent Trap (G) – A Disney Classic of two separated twins who find each other at summer camp and decide to get their divorced parents back together. Watch the Haley Mills original; Lindsey Lohan’s not the role model people hoped she would be.

10.West Side Story – (Not rated, but I’d give it a PG if you object to guns and knives) Oh, to be in America, dancing on a New York roof in the heat of summer! A classic story and a film that can never be reproduced, with a soundtrack that’s among the best musical scores ever. Make your kids watch it now, so when they have to watch it in highschool, they’ll be ahead of the game.

11. Porky’s (R) The American Pie of its day, full of juvenile sexual banter and potty mouth as a group of Florida teens tries their best to sneak into a strip bar. You will laugh until you cry.

12.Addams Family Values (PG-13) Wednesday and Pugsley go to summer camp, with the inevitable twisted chaos that follows the ooky Addams family.

13. Super 8 (PG-13) A group of kids plan to spend their summer filming a movie, and get far, far more than they bargain for when they stumble upon a government secret.

14. Friday the 13th (R) The original slasher movie that sent everyone scuttling away from lakes and summer camps. It doesn’t matter where you watch it; Jason will find you.

15. Little Miss Sunshine (R) A quirky little film about a quirky family trying to hang together as they pin their hopes on their daughter winning the Little Miss Sunshine pageant – without any clue what it’s about.

Anticipated Erotic Literature – My Education by Susan Choi

July 18, 2013August 27, 2014 / Linda / Leave a comment

Susan Choi

One of the most anticipated books of 2013 is My Education by Susan Choi. Susan is the author of three previous novels. Her first novel, The Foreign Student, won the Asian-American Literary Award. American Woman was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and A Person of Interest was a finalist for the PEN/Faulker Award.

My Education is a steamy, but very well-written book. It’s about Regina, a graduate student, who is warned about a notorious professor who sleeps with students. She becomes his teaching assistant and, in a surprising twist, has an affair with the professor’s wife. The story spans fifteen years of Regina’s misadventures that are both erotic and catastrophic.

This novel is Amazon’s best book of the month – July 2013. It has received rave reviews from many sources, including Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, the Boston Globe, Vanity Fair, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post.

Available at the Cheshire Library.

Note: For sensitive readers, this book contains profanity, sexual references and overt sexual scenes.