It's a short read (only 122 pages), but never feels contrived or rushed.   This is the author's first novel, after nearly 40 years as an actor, and shows great promise for good things to come, as we follow Eddie Collins' career.

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett   [LOGOS]
I read this book after seeing a new musical based on it.  The musical was nice, but "something" was missing and I couldn't put my finger on what, so I went to the source material, and realized that the "soul" of the story had not  come across to me in the musical.  I started reading it on my Kindle, and then found it on the Logos shelves when I worked this week and finished it there.

Sara Crewe is the daughter of Captain Crewe, an adventurer who is going off to seek an even bigger fortune.  He takes Sara out of India, where she has grown up, and puts her in an English boarding school, run by a harridan, Miss Minchin, who at first exploits Sara because of her fortune and then, after her father dies in the jungle, searching for diamonds, she forces the now destitute girl into slavery at the school.

The book shows Sara's character and how she has the heart of a princess by her kindness toward all, even after she loses all of her money.   It is Sara's ability to fantasize, tell stories, and make magical the most dreadful of situations that is her salvation. We see her in incident after incident being selfless and generous which, of course (since this is a children's story) is rewarded in the end.

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck   [LOGOS]
I started re-reading this book after my friend Lynn and I were on Cannery Row in Monterey and decided to read it together.  Then I became even more interested when I visited the Steinbeck Museum in Salinas, CA, fulfilling one of my bucket list items.   This is one of Steinbeck's short stories and really if you want to talk plot, it is about a few drunken ne'er do wells who want to throw a birthday party for a doctor they all love.  But this isn't about plot.  It's about character development and word pictures of the setting.  It is Steinbeck doing what he does best.  When we visited the museum, I had just finished a section about the homeless who had taken over sections of huge discarded pipes to live in, and how they had fixed them up...and in the museum there is a section of pipe, decorated as described in the book.  It brought the whole thing to life for me. 

Along The Way by Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez
In 2012, Emilio Estevez wrote and directed (and had a small role in) a movie called The Way, starring his father, Martin Sheen.  It tells the story of a man whose son dies on his first day walking the Camina de Santiago, an 800 km road from St. Jean Pied de Port in the French Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.  The man goes to France to retrieve his son's body and decides to have it cremated and take it on the pilgrimage himself.  It is a voyage of discovery and in making the film  Sheen (whose real name--and still his legal  name--is Ramon Estevez) and son Emilio had their own voyage of discovery.  At the completion of the movie, the two collaborated on this book about their lives, separately and together.  It's more than a Hollywood autobiography (though it is that too), it's also a spiritual journey and it made me want to watch the video, which I did just before finishing the book.  I had hoped to find out about making "The West Wing," which is not even mentioned in the book, but I didn't miss it.  The stories of the two men and their lives as father and son is a good one and I highly recommend both the book and the movie.

The Sixth Man by David Baldacci
This is the fifth in the Sean King/Michelle Maxwell books (#6 is reportedly due to be published in November 2013).  The duo this time are hired to help in the investigation of the case of Edgar Roy, an alleged mass murderer being held at a federal supermax facility in Maine.  Of course it can't be as simple as investigating the murders of the six people the cops found buried in Roy's barn.  More bodies start piling up, starting with Roy's attorney, leaving Sean the lead attorney on the case.   The convoluted plot continues to roll out as they try to discover who killed the attorney? why won't Roy speak? what is his secret? The investigation leads into the highest levels of the federal government and surprises are met at every turn,   though, as with most of these books (by Baldacci as well as by others) there are parts where you roll your eyes at the next surprise revealed.   Another fun Baldacci read.  I hope the next one is out soon!

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
A collection of essays by humorist David Sedaris, this based on his recent move to Paris with his parther, Hugh.  There are a lot of giggles in this book, as Sedaris attempts to learn French, and introduces the reader to his rather bizarre family, including his father, whose eating habits and practices are...unusual, at best! "Sedaris has turned self-deprecation into a celebrated art form," writes an Amazon viewer and in so doing becomes a writer with whom every "everyman" can relate!  He speaks for all of us non-celebrities!

An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
I am bereft.  I have now finished the 7th book of Gabaldon's "Outlander" series...and the 8th book is not due out until Fall 2013.  This book has Bree and Roger in the 20th century while Claire and Jaime remain in the 18th century, partly in "the colonies" and partly in Scotland, where Jaimie goes to retrieve his printing press.  There is war (the Revolutionary War battles following the Declaration of Independence), love affairs, murder, intrigue, and all the stuff you expect from Gabaldon.  This book brings Lord John and his stepson (Jamie's real son) into the story and the plot lines bring them closer and closer and closer until the final confrontation.  Claire and John become much better acquainted.  Bree's son Jem has the key to a treasure that everyone wants, and enough plot lines resolve and are left dangling that I will, with the rest of Gabaldon's other fans, be panting for the next book to be released..and I sincerely hope that the book and the audiobook will be released simultaneously!

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
This was a book club book.  A rather odd writing style that I didn't like a lot.   The whole story is told in mostly present tense from the point of view of a disinterested observer.  Rarely, throughout the ~300 pages do we get enough emotion to actually care deeply about any of the characters.  Gogol Ganguli is an American-born son of Indian parents, who move to the US shortly after their arranged marriage.  Through the fate of his grandmother's letter, giving them the name they were to name the child, being lost in the mail, Gogol's father gives him a temporary name (which ends up being permanent) honoring his favorite author, the Russian Nicholai Gogol, who had helped the father through many terrible periods of his life.

We watch Gogol grow up, and watch the parents integrating into the U.S. culture, along with their Bengali friends.  We get a good picture of the immigrant life, through parties, foods, and the disconnect between the children and the immigrant parents. 

The second half of the book had a bit more emotional connection...but not much.  Given how disconnected I felt with the characters, I was surprised to find myself a bit teary at the end.

Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo  [LOGOS]
This was a book I'd been embarrassed to admit I wanted to read, but I certainly didn't want to buy it, so I was happy to find it on the bookstore shelves when I worked. I've always been intrigued by people's near death experiences, and especially seek validation of "something" after this life when I began losing friends...and children.  This book isn't it.  It is subtitled 'a little boy's astounding story of his trip to heaven and back' and is written by his minister-father.  While I buy that little Colton may have had the experience of seeing his parents in the time while he was undergoing surgery for a burst appendix (there are certainly lots of stories by adults and children alike, describing things they can't possibly know), the whole "trip to heaven" thing, sitting on Jesus' lap, Jesus wearing a gold crown with a jewel in it, lots of gold and jewels around, Jesus riding a rainbow colored horse, etc., etc. are just too much to swallow.  The thing reads like a pastor's sermon to children to tell them about God and heaven. 

Colton was 4 when he nearly died and the "revelations" come out over the next 3 years.  What confuses me is that if you have a child who has this amazing story to tell, why would you not record it?  At one point the father talks about Colton meeting other people in heaven who have died, but he has conveniently forgotten the names Colton told him. 

This book gets 5 stars on Amazon and is apparently very popular.   Sadly, I read it with a huge grain of salt.  According to Colton, the only entrance into Heaven is through Jesus, which discounts anybody of any other religious belief and that just is not credible to me, though for those who find this book comforting, more power to ya.

Buckingham Palace Blues by James Craig
Inspector John Carlyle is walking in Green Park, near Buckingham Palace, one night when he finds a 9 year old girl, barefoot and crying sitting on a bench.  She speaks minimal English and when she asks if they are going to "f***k now" he takes her under his wing, determined to find out her story.  The story takes the reader behind the scenes at Buckingham palace (a fascinating glimpse), exposes corruption in the British police, and gives a heartbreaking introduction into the world of child sex trafficking in the Ukraine.

I will admit that when the bodies began to pile up toward the end, I did wonder how far this was going to go...seems that every good guy (and it wasn't often easy to identify who was the good guy and who was the bad guy) who tried to help Carlyle with his investigation ended up being killed in increasingly gruseome ways.  But in the end, I enjoyed the book very much.

Lie Down with Lions by Ken Follett   [LOGOS]
** SPOILER ALERT**
Poor Jane just can't pick her men right.  First there was Ellis, with whom she has been living in Paris, whom she leaves when she discovers he's a CIA agent, informing on terrorists.  So distraught is she that she agrees to marry Jean-Pierre, a French physician, and move with him to Afghanistan to help care for rebel families holding out against the Russian Army.  They set up housekeeping in a  small village, living in the house at night and in the mountain caves in the day because of the Russian bombing raids.  They have a baby, Chantal.  But then Jean-Pierre turns out to be a Russian spy who has caused many of their Afghan friends to be slaughtered.  Just at the right moment, Ellis arrives to help get a treaty among the Afghan tribes so they can receive US aid.  Jane and Ellis pick up where they left off (in a very steamy love scene), Jean-Pierre learns Jane has betrayed him.  He and his Russian partner, Anatoly, set off to find Jane, Ellis and the baby.  The last 1/3 of this book is a harrowing escape over impassable terrain, carrying a 2 month old baby, all the while being hunted by Jean-Pierre and the Russians.  It's a gripper, as are all Follett books.  

My Antonia by Willa Cather
This was the classic fiction book for our book club, a book I'd known about since childhood, of course. I'm not sure quite how to review it. It is a beautifully written picture of life on the Nebraska prairie in the early 1900s. It's a lovely character study, a lovely study in lifelong friendships and how lives change and move in different directions. Antonia's indomitable spirit in the face of adversity sets a wonderful example (as evidenced by how she has raised her children, and how they view life).

However, I guess I have had too many action/adventure novels under my belt. I felt it tedious going. I finished it. I didn't dislike it, but if I had been reading it for fun, I probably would not have finished it.

Interestingly, I have always heard it as AntoNEEa, the book club says AnTONia, and the guide in the book says it should be pronounced ANtonia. I find the "proper" pronunciation as impossible to roll out of my mouth comfortably.

Cesar's Way by Cesar Milan  [LOGOS]
I read this over two weeks at Logos.  It's not a book that a lot of people are interested in buying, apparently! I have never really bonded with Cesar Milan, but this book, in which he details his childhood, how he came to learn to love animals, and his work with them, which has resulted in his popularity as "The Dog Whisperer" was really very good and though this is not a "how to," he talks in depth about the animal thought process and how your dog perceives your actions...how we are not doing our dog favors by loving them so much and so openly.  I did learn a lot, but sadly there is no chapter on how to try retraining an excitable dog when the dogs have all been in your life for many years and there are THREE of them, making it impossible to do one-on-one training!  In any event, a useful book, recommended especially for people contemplating adding a new dog to their life!  (Heck, even Oprah had to learn how to stop being submissive to her dog!)

Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon
Oh my god...there is only one more book left in the Outlander Series.   Whatever will I do?  I "read" these as audio books, so it takes a long time to get through an >1400 page book covering the story of the time-traveling Frasier family, Claire, immigrant from the 20th century to 18th century Scotland, where she meets and falls in love with Jamie Frasier, conceives a child, returns to the 20th century, has the baby, returns 18 or so years later and has now taken up permanent residence, first in Scotland (eventually with daughter Brianna and her husband Roger) and then in the new world in pre-Revolution days.  I liked this book much better than the previous one, "The Fiery Cross," which focused more on politics, battles, etc., and less on home and hearth.  This one is almost like a succession of short stories, one building on the other.  I found it kept my interest better and included medicine in the 18th century, rape, kidnapping, incest, witchcraft, murder, sex, and enough of history that we get a feeling for what was going on in other colonies as the Continental Congress was drafting and voting on the Declaration of Independence.  The ending was such that it made me immediately start listening to the next book, "An Echo in the Bone," which is slightly more than half the size of this one, so in the sadly foreseeable future, I will be finished with the currently-written Outlander adventure and will sink into Gabaldon withdrawal and grief.

The Compassion of Animals by Kristin von Kreisler [LOGOS]
This is a collection of stories about animals who have done extraordinary things out of love, compassion, concern for, etc. humans.  Mostly dogs, several cats, and a few oddball types like pigs, horses, cows, and an iguana.  There are animals who have saved people from drowning, burning, being crushed by animals, natural disasters, attack by bad guys, etc.  We find an iguana can be surprisingly affectionate and caring when its owner is ill.  There is a tear-jerker on almost every page, so read with tissues at the ready.

The Winner by David Baldacci
People think winning the lottery is the best thing in the world.  Not so LuAnn Tyler, who is 20, beautiful, dirt-poor, and living in a trailer with her deadbeat boyfriend, the father of her newly born daughter, Lisa.  Then she gets a call from a mysterious "Mr. Jackson" who offers to make her rich beyond her wildest dreams.  All she has to do is buy a lottery ticket and he will take care of the rest.  LuAnn is also a good girl, so, though tempted, she doesn't want to do anything illegal, but circumstances beyond her control make her change her mind and she accepts Jackson's offer.   She wins the $10 million and, according to her agreement, leaves the U.S. forever.

Ten years later, tired of running, she sneaks back into the U.S. and sets off a series of events that involve Jackson, and a host of people he kills trying to keep his secret from coming to life. 

This Baldacci was definitely readable, but toward the end, the events seemed a bit unbelievable.  Still, I enjoyed it very much.

The Floor of Heaven by Howard Blum
This was the non-fiction book we were reading for our book club, but it reads like a fiction novel.  It is subtitled "A True Tale of the Last Frontier and the Yuon Gold Rush" and centers on 3 men whose lives, after many, many pages, intersect in Alaska.  George Carmack, is a Marine deserter, whose discovery sets off the stampede to the Yukon, "Soapy" Smith is a flamboyant western villain, and Charlie Siringo is a cowboy turned Pinkerton detective named Charlie Siringo.  This was an exceedingly readable book, though, since it is non-fiction work, when the end comes, it's rather anti-climactic.  The book, in the very end, suffers from the lack of suspense that you would find in a work of fiction.  But I found the notes about research almost as interesting as the book itself, since Blum had lots and lots of material at his disposal, but freely admits that there is a lot of fiction and self-aggrandisement in the personal memoires, so his book is as accurate as it can be, but how true it is, will never be known!

Miracle by Danielle Steel   [LOGOS]
Logos got in a huge number of Danielle Steel books.  She is one of my mother's favorite authors and I have avoided the books like the plague, but decided that I would read one this week.  I chose the thinnest book (and it was large print to boot).   It was an easy 3 hour read and OK.  The story of a widower getting his life back together, with a couple of ther people, the widow next door and a handyman who is hiding a secret.  A lot of the book revolved around boating, since the wealthy widower is having a sailboat built for him in Amsterdam, with the idea that he will sell his house and retire to the boat for the rest of his life.  The whole thing is pretty predictable (except for the sub plot about the handyman), and an enjoyable, if mindless read.

The Bleachers by John Grisham    [LOGOS]
This is an unusual Grisham book in that it has no courtroom drama, no crime, no nothing like that.  It tells the story of Neely Crenshaw, former high school football star of the "Messina Spartans."  Neely hasn't been back home in a very long time, but his former coach, Eddie Rake, one of the most victorious coaches in high school football history, is about to die and many of the players he coached over his career have returned to Messina to hold a bit of a death watch.

When I started this book, I thought a lot about Friday Night Lights and the relationship between coach and player in that wonderful TV series, but Coach Rake was nothing like Coach Eric Taylor.  Rake ruled through intimidation and downright cruelty and his players hated him...but years later, as they sit in the bleachers of Rake Stadium (so named after the coach was fired for causing the death of one of his players), they realize how much he shaped their lives. 

As the players talk, long-held secrets are revealed and help create a better rounded picture of not only the coach, but also the players who worked under him for many years.

This is a quiet sort of a book, a "coming home" sort of a book, and a good read.

The Learned Ladies by Moliere
This was the first book I read for the Woodland Shakespeare Book Club, to which I was invited this coming week end.  It is a play, translated from the French.  What's interesting is that I found the text on line for free but the problem was that I couldn't put bookmarks in it, so whenever I put it down, I had to search through the book trying to find my place again.  I finally gave up and bought a Kindle book and it was a totally different translation, much more "colloquial" and written entirely in verse (which I suspect is more in the style of Moliere anyway).

Very funny play about two daughters, one of whom rejects men and prefers to lead an intellectual/philosophical life while the other is in love with a man and wants to marry.  The struggle between feminism and the typical housewife could have been written today.