My sister gave me this book the other day; I looked at it and saw a horse on it and thought "not another horse book"!  but this is a great book, beautifully written and researched by the author.  The book is based on the song "Tennessee Stud" by Jimmy Drfitwood and recorded by many country singers.  The author was intrigued with the story and the song, so he set out to research the orgins of the lyrics.

This is the story of Robert Johnson, a resident of Tennessee.  He lives on a small farm and wants to settle down, marry and raise horses from his special stud horse.  He is  in love with Jo, a neighbor's daughter.  Her family does not want them to marry and they would like to dispute the ownership of the land Robert claims as his own.  They would also like to steal his horse.  They end up framing him for a murder he did not committ.  To escape hanging, Robert takes off through Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas, one step in front of the bounty hunter, MacDonald.  Riding his gifted and beloved "Stud", they have many adventures, do some racing and come close to starving to death several times.  Set in the 1820's, the horse and owner endure many hardships as they avoid being brought in by the bounty hunter.  They meet up with some Indians, who steal the stud, Robert's belongings including his shoe sand clothing and leave him to die in the wilderness.  Some Mexican vaqueros find and rescue him and the story continues. 

Will Robert find his horse, return home to the woman he loves and prove his innocence?  Read and see.

One of the reasons that this book caught my attention is that I’m a fan of David Letterman.  The author of this book is comedian, and he had always dreamed of being on David Letterman’s show.  However, he did not make any real steps toward getting on the show until he was diagnosed with cancer.  Then it became a campaign that he got his friends and family involved in.  He also decides to film his progress for a documentary.  He gets a couple of friends to help him.  He interviews comedians who have been on the show and has them film him doing his comedy routine.  The book and his documentary are a message to chase your dreams and not wait until you get a cancer diagnosis.   I thought it was very inspirational.  I enjoyed it very much.

A Newbery Award winner by Christopher Paul Curtis, the story is told by Kenny Watson, a preteen black youth living in Flint, Michigan.  Kenny lives with his parents, Daniel and Wilona, big brother, Byron and little sister, Joetta.  They live a nice life; mom stays at home, dad works at the auto plant and the three children go to school.  Mom is from Birmingham, where the winters are not so brutal as Flint.

When Byron is deemed uncontrolable and a trouble maker, his parents decide to send him south to spend the summer, hoping Grandma can straighten him out.  After careful planning by mom, the family loads into the "Brown Bomber", dad's big car and start the trip south, deciding not to take the 3 day trip but to drive straight through.  On the trip, the parents give the children a warning that they are going is nothing like where they are from.  "Separate but equal" still exists in the south.  The black population must keep in their places.  Civil rights is a very hot topic.

When the family arrives, the children find that the warnings their parents have given are true.  Kenny sees a big differece in what is acceptable here as apposed to Michigan.  It is also so hot that the children can't sleep.  They have a few adventures.   One scary adventure Kenny has is a battle with the "Wool Pooh",at Collier's pond, where he almost drowns until Byron saves him.  The next day is Sunday and Joetta goes to Sunday School. Kenny stays home, worn out from his near drowning that neither his brother nor he told their parents about.  Kenny goes outside to rest under the large magnolia tree, but before he rests much he is shaken awake by a loud noise and then frantic cries and running toward the church.  Kenny is fearful and heads toward the church himself, worried about little sister Joetta.  He sees bodies pulled from the bombed church and thinks one may be Joetta.

Fortunately, Joetta is safe and she tells Kenny that she thought she saw him motioning for her to come back home so she didn't go to church at all.  Kenny is puzzled but so shocked about 2 terrible events in several days that he withdraws from life.  Mom and Dad now decide that Byron can't stay so they load up the car and drive back home.

Kenny is still withdrawn.  He does not talk to anyone, quits spending time with his friends and retreats behind the sofa in the living room.  His only hope, he feels, is the healing power of "The Watson World Famous Animal Hospital" where the family's pets go when they are sick or injured.  He remains there hoping to feel better.  It takes some consideration from his parents and his brother to lure him out, and finally Byron is able to get him back to his regular life. 

The book is about social change and how you deal with it, as seen through a small boy's eyes.

I enjoyed this book, it is part history, part romance and part suspense.  Set in Walls of Water, North Carolina, it is the story of an old hotel called the Blue Ridge Madam, and two ladies who love their small town, its people, and the old hotel.  It is also about keeping and discovering secrets, old and new.

Willa, a sporting goods store owner and Paxton, a young socialite and business woman, were not very good friends in high school, Paxton was "Miss Everythng" and Willa was the high school prankster from hell.  However, the grandmothers, who are best friends, and former workers at the Madam, wish the girls were friends.  Now the two older ladies are in the same nursing home, one has alzheimers and the other is nearly blind. 

Paxton is the head of the Women's Club and is helping it celebrate its 75th anniversary.  At the same time, the Blue Ridge Madam is undergowing renovation and Paxton hopes to have the gala there.  Things are soon complicated when a skeleton is found under a peach tree.  Grandma Georgia knows who the skeleton belongs to and why he is buried there and how he died.

To tell more about the book would spoil the story.  While unraveling the mystery, realtionships are formed, friendships are tested and things will never be the same.  Read the book to see who killed the stranger under the peach tree and why it happened.

Fifteen-year-old Green is so named because of her green thumb, but her abilities are much more than that.  One day, a great fire in the city changes her life forever.  Green has a difficult time coping until she meets a boy who cannot speak.

This story had great potential and I loved the idea of the plot.  The delivery, however, was less than satisfying.  Hoffman loves similes and metaphors, so much so that they overrun the book, even when they don’t make sense.  In addition to beating a metaphor to death, Hoffman seems to love repetition, which, while perfect for poetry or Dr. Seuss, has no real place in this story.  Most of the story seemed to be fluff, which dragged on and on, and I had to wonder when she was going to get to the point.  If you took out the fluff, this one hundred and sixteen page story could have been simply a long poem, and I probably would’ve been happier with it.  I had heard good things about Alice Hoffman and I was, unfortunately, disappointed.

This book is the first in a series and the third book is scheduled to be released in February 2012.  I can’t say I recommend this book, but you might like it if you are a fan of diary fiction and angst-ridden teens.  I’d give it two stars.

A very good book by one of my favorite authors, Last Light over Carolina is set in South Carolina.  It is the story of the Morrison Family; Bud, Carolina and Lizzy.  Bud and Carolina are about 30 years into their marriage.  Lizzy is a divorced, single mother of a little boy.  They all live together and help each other out.  Bud runs a shrimp boat, Carolina is a housewife, and Lizzy works at the local diner to make ends meet. 

The story of the relationship between Bud and Carolina is told in a series of flashbacks after Bud goes shrimping alone and gets his hand caught in the winch of his boat.   Trapped with no help, he must hope that the townspeople and his wife figure out where he is and that he needs help.  Can they realize that Bud is in trouble and find him in time?

Set in California, this book is about Tracy Potter and her son, Matt.  Her husband, Glenn, has just passed away and left her a mountain of debt from his business dealings and the Heartbreak Hotel, an old run down inn that Tracy decides to remodel and sell.  Tracy can't figure out where Glenn's money has gone, but she sells her home and moves into the hotel.  During the renovation, a man on a Harley stops and checks in to get out of the rain.  Wade MacAllister, unknown to Tracy, is a world famous author whose last book inspired a killer to copy the methods in his book and kill 12 people.  Wade is just trying to get some peace in his life.

The book is full of twists and turns.  Wade begins to dream about a ship's captain who returned from being shipwrecked for a year, to find that his wife died in childbirth and his child was still born.  The dreams are so real that he stays on at the hotel to find out about the story of the captain and his wife.  Tracy works on the hotel, discovers she is strong, then finds out a terrible thing about her dead husband; he had an affair with her best friend and fathered a child. 

The writing is very good but a little predictable.  I enjoyed the book. It mixes historical fiction with present day lives.  Mystery lovers will like it, too.  There are several mysteries to be solved in the story.

I liked this book.  It is a series of short stories about a small town in Maine called Crosby.  The inhabitants of ths small town are somewhat sad to see progress come to the village, including Olive, a math rteacher and her pharamacist husband, Henry.  The short stories revole around the town's people and the Kitteridge family.  Olive, a grumpy, frumpy stick in the mud type lady, has something to say about all the goings on in her town and most of it is not pleasant to hear.  She is  appalled at what goes on and the problems that seem to visit Crosby. 

Although each story is not about Olive and Henry, she plays a part in each section.  Although she is not an overly friendly favorite in the town, she gives sound advice and guidance and seems to at times, be the town guardian.  At the end of the book, the reader will find a softer, gentler side of Olive and she becomes more likable,

After I read the book, I saw a lot of Olive in me and in others.  Olive may have been an old, opinionate grouch, but her advice is usually sound and she is a strong shoulder to lean on.  I guess every small town needs an Olive to look out for it.

This is a collection of women’s stories of Americans who have chosen to live in other countries.  Most of them chose to live elsewhere.  One woman wrote of when she was a child, and her family moved from Brooklyn, NY to Sydney, Australia.  I was intrigued by the book because since going to Guadalajara I have given some thought about retiring to Guadalajara, particularly the Lake Chapala area.  There are several thousand Americans and Canadians living there.  I met a woman at the Dallas airport who lives there, and she loves it.  Anyway, it was interesting to read about the adjustments the women had to make to deal with the cultural differences.  Also, I liked reading about what the women did to help them feel more at home.  One woman had moved to China to teach English.  She decided to have baked chicken like her mother made.  It was not available in a store under cellophane.  She had to buy a live chicken.  At least she didn’t have to kill it.  The poultry vendor killed it for her.  He also had a device for removing the feathers.  She cooked it with seasonings like her mother used, and cooking it helped her feel more at home in China. 

Most of the women were single, but one woman was married with a young family.  She and her husband decided to sell everything and move to Morelia, Michoacán in Mexico and live with their baby daughter.  She writes that they enjoyed living in Mexico, but after living there for four years, they decided to come home.  They wanted their daughter to know her cousins, and they wanted to live among Americans again.  She said that they always felt like outsiders.   I thought this book was interesting.  I highly recommend it.

Here's some books from our Digital Library that haven't been found yet. Take a look, you might find a great read for the cold weather!

L.A. Blues, by Maxine Thompson

Growing up in foster care, Zipporah "Z" Saldano never dreamed of becoming a police officer, but after she's rescued from a hostage situation during the LA riots, she chooses a career in law enforcement. After ten good years on the force, Z is involved in a domestic homicide case gone awry. Her partner is killed, and Z is fired when alcohol is detected in her system. It's two long years before she gets sober and opens her own private investigation firm. Now Shirley, her former foster mother, is in need of Z's help. Soneone has murdered her grandson, a high school basketball star, and she wants Z to find out who did it. Z soon finds herself in deeper trouble than when she was kicked out of the LAPD. What she discovers is a conspiracy much deeper than anyone would believe, and she finds her own life is in danger.

Spoonin', by Kimberly T. Matthews

When his marriage falls into turmoil due to lack of intimacy, Malcolm takes matters into his own hands by getting back into the dating game, but he soon discovers that his quasi-single status isn't all he'd imagined it would be and must earn his wife's forgiveness to repair their marriage.

The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien

A classic work of American literature that has not stopped changing minds and lives since it burst onto the literary scene, The Things They Carried is a ground breaking mediation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling. The Things They Carried depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and the character Tim O'Brien, who has survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three.

Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction, by David Sheff

What had happened to my beautiful boy? To our family? What did I do wrong? Those are the wrenching questions that haunted every moment of Sheff's journey through his son Nic's addiction to drugs and tentative steps toward recovery. Before Nic Sheff became addicted to crystal meth, he was a charming boy, joyous and funny, a varsity athlete and honor student adored by his two younger siblings. After meth, he was a trembling wraith who lied, stole, and lived on the streets. David Sheff traces the first subtle warning signs: the denial, the 3 A.M. phone calls (is it Nic? the police? the hospital?), the rehabs. His preoccupation with Nic became an addiction in itself, and the obsessive worry and stress took a tremendous toll. But as a journalist, he instinctively researched every avenue of treatment that might save his son and refused to give up on Nic.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers

With its profound sense of moral isolation and its compassionate glimpses into its characters' inner lives, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is considered McCullers finest work and an enduring masterpiece. At its center is the deaf-mute John Singer, who becomes the confidant for variouis types of misfits in a Georgia mill town during the 1930s. Each one yearns for escape from small town life. When Singer's mute companion goes insane, Singer moves into the Kelly house, where Mick Kelly, the book's heroine, finds solace in her music.

Watch for more undiscovered gems, coming soon.