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The book is presented as journal entries, newspaper articles, memo’s, emails, post-it notes and court records. There is some narrative but it never detracts from the flow of the book. Seeing the characters through their correspondence and journals gives a very personal view of the characters that would be difficult to achieve in a traditional narrative format. Who’s who in Almost Like Being in Love: Craig McKenna The High school all-star quarterback. Liked by everyone. Popular and attractive. Destined for great things. Craig secretly plays the guitar and enjoys singing but has never told anyone. That’s not what football jocks do. ...

Flesh and Blood is a large story covering three generations and 100 years. The book starts in 1935 with Constantine and his early childhood memories. Constantine falls in love with and marries Mary. Constantine is a young strong immigrant. Not comfortable with his english, but strong and determined to have the dream. Mary is pretty and sophisticated in Constantine’s eyes. They have three children Elizabeth, Billy and Zoe. The book continues to follow their lives as people enter and leave. ...

There has been a bit of fuss in the media concerning this book, as the title is somewhat provacative. But it has more recipes than tips and the tips aren’t as useful as I had hoped. The tips consist mostly of trade offs, just like most weight loss tips. If you have a large meal, cut back the next day. If you eat the bread, skip dessert and so forth. Nothing really new, but it is interesting reading. ...

The biography of a brilliant mathematician, A Beautiful Mind is not only fascinating but extremely well written. John Nash is a mathematician whose brilliance is matched by illness, specifically schizophrenia. When his illness takes over, his life changes dramatically. And in turn, he is changed by his illness. Although the book is nothing like the movie (with very few exceptions), it does a much better job of conveying the extremes involved in Nash’s life. A brilliant, and arrogant, man who becomes ill but is still brilliant. On the other hand, a life full of promise becomes a living hell, which Nash eventually overcomes. ...

This is a story about the year two colored nuns came to a small town in Southern Louisiana to teach at the white Catholic school. One nun was to teach first and one fifth grade. But the real story is about change, and growth. Vivian Leigh (named after the movie star) is 10 and in the fifth grade. The story follows her, her little sister, and their friends, family, and neighbors. All the people of Vivian Leigh’s little town begin to question their place in the world and how they think about others’ places. ...

Merry Gentry, a member of the Faerie royal bloodline, has been in hiding for the past three years. Now working as a Private Investigator in Los Angeles specializing in supernatural crime, she is drawn back into the Royal Court and all the dangers she tried to escape. Laurell Hamilton has done it again! This is a great book with intriguing characters and great action. Merry Gentry’s world is like our world except that Faeries and Goblins still exist in the world and, through political alliances, have made a home in America. ...

Andrew Bjorklund and Ellie Wold have known they would wed since grade school. Two years before Ellie graduated, her family moved to a different community. Her father made the decision to further his furniture manufacturing business. It was only an hour away by train, but it may as well have been a thousand miles. Andrew and Ellie had to content themselves with staying in touch by letter. Finally, Ellie would graduate in May, and they planned to marry in June. ...

Arabella Newberry was not only fleeing the life of the Shakers, she was leaving her father behind her. Her father had forced his wife and daughter, Bella, to join a shaker community when Bella was 14 years old. Bella’s mother died a couple of years later of a broken heart. Though she loved God, Bella could not embrace the Shaker doctrine that forces families to be separated and live as though they were not family at all. ...

The two main characters, Jaycee and Bud, share similar emotional challenges, but were raised in very different environments. Both are extreme narcissists, egocentric, self-indulgent magpies with no likeable qualities. Both lost their mothers when they were very young, and both complain of fathers who do not love them. Jaycee was born and raised in a small Alabama town. She grew up poor and quickly learned to fend for herself; her father was to busy with booze to take care of or even notice her. ...

Where are my thoughts? In small boxes and cubbyholes, Arcane bits of the past Whisper the names of old friends And hum old songs. In files, yellowed paper and faded handwriting. Checks, receipts, manual for a long gone kitchen appliance, To do’s and to don’ts, Old addresses and old loves, Old projects, old degrees, flight logs And pictures of Navy subs. Perhaps on the computer, Etched on platters, matters of drive; Work and toil, man and machine. ...