Fatally Flaky

By: Diane Mott Davidson

I loved Davidson's books when she first started out, always looking forward to her feisty chef-protagonist and mouth-watering recipes. But over the years she's become tediously repetitive, re-hashing the plot elements (perhaps ruminating on the clues?) and endlessly reciting her daily espresso consumption. In this volume, she pours herself 2 cups of coffee in one paragraph! And the recipes are all at the end, so there's no more integration of party theme and menu. Maybe she just needs a new editor. Review by Anne. (Fiction) 08/27/09

More Than a Memory

By: Roz Denny Fox
A young woman had been in an accident and lost her memory. After her mother died, she finds a box of papers and books, relating to her life before the accident. This information takes her back to her old life, where she was happy. (Fiction) 08/27/09

Woman in Hiding

By:Rebecca Winters
A story about a young woman who is living stalked by an ex fiance. She travel across the U.S. to escape and find a new life. (Fiction) 08/27/09

Star Trek: Federation

By:Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens
Science has a way of bringing out both the best and worst of mankind. When Zephram Cochrane created faster then light travel, humanity spread to the stars. Unfortunately, Earth fell to a cataclysmic 3rd World War, one with nuclear repercussions. The heinous Colonel Adrik Thorsen is intent on procuring from Cochrane the non-existant Warp bomb. Thorsen chases Cochrane through the years, over the centuries through strange and unique means. On the journey Cochrane is aided by both Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S Enterprise as well as Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S Enterprise-D over seventy years later. The tale that is spun shows us the best and worst of humanity's nature, and what we can achieve and hope to achieve if we only allow ourselves to do so. This set of values is the heart of humanity's greatest achievement...fellowship..brotherhood....The United Federation of Planets. This was an amazing novel, very well written, and gives a whole new insight to the foundations of the Federation and the history of humanities achievements. Despite many of the details here being overridden by the film Star Trek: First Contact, the book is still a must read for any fan of the franchise, and it's the best I've read to date! 5/5 stars!! Review by Barron. (Fiction) 08/27/09

I Can Do It!

By: Louise L. Hay
Louise L. Hay is an 80 year old author, who loves her readers. The book and book on CD sold as a unit offer a double bonus. Using affirmations to create a fulfilling life in all areas such as health, love, money, friendship, and self-esteem are the subject of the book. Review by Victoria. (Non-fiction) 08/26/09

The Cat Who Said Cheese

By: Lilian Jackson Braun

I enjoyed this book from cover to cover. Mrs. Braun has a way of mixing cats and crime that is amazing and keeps you turning pages. I enjoy all of her books. Review by Patricia. (Fiction) 08/26/09

The Cat Who Could Read Backwards

By:Lilian Jackson Braun

If you like cats and a mystery like I do, this book gives you both! Koko was a smart cat from the get go, plus he solves crimes before the police. Review by Patricia. (Fiction) 08/26/09

The Cat Who Saw Stars

By:Lilian Jackson Braun

I enjoy all of "The Cat Who" books because I love cats and I like crime stories. With a cat who books you get both. Ms. Braun has a way of writing that keeps me interested from beginning to end. I recommend all of "The Cat Who" books to everyone. Review by Patricia. (Fiction) 08/26/09

The Cat Who Went Up the Creek

By:Lilian Jackson Braun

This book was very interesting. It had me turning pages. I like Ms.Brauns way of writing. I like cats and a good mystery. This book is the ultimate mixture of both. Review by Patricia. (Fiction) 08/26/09

The Traffickers

By: W.E.B Griffin & William Butterworth IV
Waited a long time for the next chapter of the Badge of Honor Series. Keeps you reading to get to the end. Hopes he continues with the series. (Fiction) 08/25/09

Blindman's Bluff

By: Faye Kellerman

I would recommend this book to everyone. Very fast pace, action thriller. She ties up all the loose ends. It's the type of book you can't wait to get to the end. Review by Kathleen. (Fiction) 08/25/09

Murder on the Rocks

By:Karen MacInerney

This first "Gray Whale Inn" mystery is great. Who killed the owner of premier resorts? Natalie certainly didn't want him buying up the land next to her inn. But she wasn't the only one. Many locals on Cranberry Isle, Maine thought a modern hotel wasn't good for the nesting terns. Are they mad enough to kill? Read this one to find out. And enjoy the Gray Whale Inn. Recipes at the end of the book. Review by Donna. (Fiction) 08/25/09

The Walking People

By:Mary Beth Keane

A wonderful book about Irish immigrants in the 1950s, long after the terrible starvation of the famine years but still a time when grinding poverty drove country people to leave family and home. The title is derived from the Irish name for tinkers or gypsies, who were considered thieves and liars and treated as outcasts. Yet even settled people had no electricity, telephone or any of the modern "conveniences" Americans already took for granted. Like most others before them, Greta, Johanna and Michael never stop thinking of Ireland as home, but nor do they ever return. They succeed in adapting to life in America, tho a deep secret isolates them from both neighbors and distant relatives. Wherever your ancestors came from, you'll enjoy this skillful portrayal of the post-War period by an extremely talented young writer. Review by Anne. (Fiction) 08/24/09

Death on Demand

By:Carolyn G. Hart
Title: excellent, especially as the name of a bookstore. Setting: love the SC barrier islands and an all-mystery bookstore? terrific! Characters: appealing in the cozy way. BUT is this a mystery or a romance? Well, cross-genre is fine. Or is this the author's entry in a contest to see how many classic mystery author and titles (both book and film)one can refer to in one volume? A true mystery scholar might enjoy this book, but there was too much name-dropping for this casual fan. Review by Anne. (Fiction) 08/24/09

Shatter

By: Michael Robotham

Prepare to be terrified. A friend at the beach told me she avoids mystery and suspense in which the victim is a single female of a certain age. But I read this anyway because I like the psychologist-detective (and I'm a bit bored with Alex Delaware.) A motive related to the experiences of returning veterans; an utterly unique method; tremendous suspense and a nice little red herring. Enjoy it early in the day. Review by Anne. (Fiction) 08/24/09

The Unscratchables

By: Cornelius Kane

Hmmm - a bit of diversity in the mystery genre is welcome, but this one is perhaps too far-fetched. The investigators: police detective Crusher McNash, a bull terrier, and Siamese Cassius Lap of the Feline Bureau of Investigation. The setting: a Manhattan-like city and its gritty suburbs, inhabited by these species with the cats occupying society's upper echelons and the dogs at a distinctly lower stratum. The victims: two Rottweiler gangsters and a feral cat who might be their killer. The first in a series based on the dark side of the animal kingdom, I'd skip this one. Review by Anne. (Fiction) 08/24/09

The Chalk Circle Man

By: Fred Vargas
The first in the Commissaire Adamsberg series, this mystery has a distinctly French/European flavor as the plot advances more through character development than action. The commissaire is a great thinker and doodler whose patience sometimes annoys but ultimately improves the performance of his staff. He longs to find his beloved Camille, who left him years before. Other cast members are eccentric and psychologically intriguing, as well as surprisingly interconnected. Is the murderer an obsessive-compulsive, drawing blue chalk circles around seemingly random objects with an occasional victim? Or is it all coincidental? I read the sequel, Have Mercy on Us All, some time ago and plan to skim over it again before continuing with this excellent series. Review by Anne.(Fiction) 08/24/09

Auralia's Colors

By:Jeffrey Overstreet

This novel is a religious allegory weakly posing as a fantasy novel. Reviewers raved about the "lush" language, rife with similes, metaphors, etc, yet often Overstreet's comparisons felt forced. Readers lauded Auralia as a delightfully unique character, yet I found her supremely unrealistic and uninteresting, as well as far too mystical for my tastes. Add in a whole ream of flat characters and my appreciation further skydived. Evidently some people really enjoyed this work - but I was not one of them. (Fiction) 08/24/09

The City & The City

By: China Mieville

Part science fiction, part murder mystery, this novel takes place in twin cities that occupy the same geographical space. Street by street, building by building, even room by room, the two cities co-exist with different cultures, languages and foods. How is this accomplished? By strict adherence to not seeing, hearing or reacting to what is happening in the city in which you don't live. This extreme "custody of the eyes" is enforced by Breach, a much-feared authority over both cities. But what is Breach? And when a young woman is murdered in one city and her body found in the other - has a breach occurred? Fascinating commentary on the ways in which we do not see or understand those who differ from us in ethnicity, wealth, culture, religion or any other quality and equally fascinating to contemplate what it means to bridge those differences. Review by Anne. (Fiction) 08/24/09

Death with Interruptions

By: Jose Saramago

An extraordinarily challenging book to read, this novel is translated from the Portuguese. The author is the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature. On the first day of the new year in an unnamed country, death ceases to occur and the consequences are predictable (and not), thought-provoking, tragic and humorous. It evolves that death is a being, one of many and in this case concerned with human beings. Gradually death's personality emerges until the tale becomes a love story. Particularly difficult in the first half of the novel, Saramago uses no quotation marks or paragraph indentations and few capitals to indicate different speakers. I sometimes had to tick off the sentences on my hands to follow the dialogue, reading much of the novel twice - and it was absolutely worth it.

Review by Anne. (Fiction) 08/24/09

Little Dorrit

By:Charles Dickens

A true Dickens masterpiece, with a wide array of interesting characters, beautiful language, and a delightfully sharp, though occasionally veiled, sense of humor. Little Dorrit focuses on imprisonment of all kinds, Marshalsea only the most obvious, to create a literary delicacy that both merits and demands slow savoring. And, an additional plus, the novel features what I found the most believable and appealing of the Dickens romances. (Fiction) 08/24/09

A Princess Found

By: Sarah Culberson

Lovely autobiography by a bi-racial woman, adopted into a white family in West Virginia. Clearly she loves the parents who raised her, and they sound like wonderful people, but she is also compelled to search for both her natural parents, and for a racial identity. Juxtaposed with her father's story, struggling to save his African family. The contrast is well-managed and well-paced. (Non-fiction) 08/24/09

One Fifth Ave

By: Candace Bushnell
Carrington Macduffle does a terrific job reading Candace Bushnell's novel. Its about the lives of several people who live in the kind of building, they must earn their way into, one way or the other. It's a story of old vs. new money and of marriages and social climbing. There is an ironic twist to wrap up the stories. Give it a listen or if you prefer give it a read. As we also have the book at Newburgh Free Library. Review by Donna. (Fiction) 08/24/09

Secret Servant

By: Daniel Silva
An American ambassador to London has had his daughter kidnapped. A very exciting story taking you all over Europe in search for this woman. (Fiction) 08/24/09

A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity

By:Bill O'Reilly
Excellent story of the authors childhood, young adult life and rise to fame. (Non-Fiction) 08/24/09