This book was not at all what I thought it was.  I was under the impression that it would be like the rest of Cabot's books, that the protagonist, Emerson Watts would be thrown into an element she wasn't familiar with and we'd read along as she navigated her way in her new world.  Well, technically, that is what this book is about, but not quite.  It's what I said with a sci-fi slant. 

Emerson Watts is a tomboy with a crush on her best friend that she has never been able to come clean with. She winds up accompanying her little sister to the local entertainment mega store to see Frida's favorite pop star.  At the store there is an accident when supermodel Nikki Howard shows up.  One of the big screen tvs hanging from the ceiling falls and Emerson pushes Nikki out of the way, taking the brunt of the damage done.

As it turns out, Nikki was killed, but her body was perfect, while Emerson was mangled but her brain was intact, so the doctors did a transplant and turned the two girls into one, with Emerson's brain and Nikki's body.  After you got past that it becomes the story of Emerson Watts, a regular girl, getting used to life in a world she never imagined she'd be living. 

I liked Emerson and I think Cabot has a way with these stories and characters. She makes interesting heroines and despite the outrageous situations they find themselves in, they handle themselves very believably.  It's easy to see why Cabot is so popular. Her books are sweet little snacks to indulge in.  They have delightful characters who are easy to identify with and they are placed in fantastic situations, that the average girl won't ever become familiar with, like finding out you are a princess or a  supermodel, for starters.  

Bella finally gets her wedding day.  She does have the sense to be afraid of what will happen to her once she is made a vampire and she's rethinking the time table, much to Edward's delight.  They fly to a tiny island and on their wedding night, Bella finally gets what she's been waiting for from Edward, the consummation of their love.  What results is far from normal, as Bella has a most unusual pregnancy and that's just the beginning.

Meyer brings the stories all full circles, she ties up all of her loose ends and everyone gets a satisfying conclusion.  There were so many problems with the way things were going.  Renee and Charlie were going to lose their daughter and Bella was going to have to be forever separated from her parents and everyone she ever knew. Jacob was heartbroken and his future was looking pretty grim, he's pretty much gone wild and rarely returns to his human form.  We finally get to see Rosalie at her best and  we come to understand why she was resistant to Bella.

I know these books won't make literary history, but I think Stephenie Meyer has given readers everywhere a great gift with these books.  I'm hearing about people getting caught up in Bella and Edward's story and reading through the books, it's like Harry Potter all over.  My sister in law is devouring the series and purchasing the books as gifts and passing along her copies to be read by friends and family.  I enjoyed this series and I'm sure I'll be quick to pick up the next book, which I believe will be told from Edward's point of view.  Is is a guilty pleasure when it is shared by so many?  I think that Meyer has done an amazing job with these books. Sure, the dialog can be a little flowery, but the sentiment goes straight to a girl's heart. What teenage girl, and grown women, at that, doesn't want to be told that she is someone's reason for living? Who doesn't want someone to love them that much?  It's a chaste fantasy that still leaves them all panting for more.  A Jane Austen sensibility in a 21st century gothic romance, who would have thought it would work?  But, it does and I, for one, am glad that I had the chance to watch it all unfold.

The critics are right and some of the parody stuff I have seen about this series is so funny.  None of that takes away from my enjoyment of this book and my delight at how many people are reading the books and can't put them down. That's just the way it's supposed to be. Isn't it?

I get heartbroken each time I read the newest books by Lawrence Block.  The last Matthew Scudder book read like he was retiring and riding off into the sunset.  Now, Keller is rethinking his career choice.

Keller is the hitman with a heart, of sorts.  He's smart and he's very good at what he does.  He's had some close calls and he figures it's about time to get out of the game. He takes one more assignment and then he plans to move on and never look back.  Of course, they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Although, I would imagine that killing for hire puts you on that road already.  Despite his profession, which I find truly abhorrent, I like Keller. I like his relationship with Dot and I like the way his mind works.

Dot took money from an anonymous source for a hit in the future.  When the call comes in, he feels like he has to go and he winds up in a real mess.  Even though he's done things his way to keep himself clear and has received notification that he's not to kill his target yet, he finds himself the subject of a manhunt, for a man that he not only didn't kill, but wasn't even the target he was told of.  It's worse than Keller could have expected, the dead man is a prominent politician.  When Keller tries to find Dot, he discovers that her house has burned to the ground and she is believed to be dead.

Keller heads south trying to avoid detection. He winds up making a whole life for himself in New Orleans, helping with the rebuilding and falling in love with a really good woman.  All that's left is for him to clear his name and get the guy who set him up.

I was happy for Keller and the way things worked out, but I will miss him and his exploits.  Little by little, Block is retiring his characters and I hate seeing them go.  Although, it's been so long since he brought out a new burglar book, that I almost hope that he is planning a retirement for Bernie Rhodenbarr so that I can enjoy another of his adventures before I have to rely on reading all the old favorites.

Poor Mia.  Her boyfriend Michael broke up with her and moved to Japan.  She is beyond distraught, she can't even drag herself out of bed.  She distances herself from her friends, loses her friendship with Lilly and has to deal with an "I hate Princess Mia" website that is written by someone who obviously knows her. 

Mia's mom and Mr. G send her to a psychiatrist because they know she needs to talk to someone and it's never been her strong suit, hence the diaries.  The doctor is a strange man, but he accepts Mia even when she comes in for her first session in her pajamas, wrapped in her comforter, carried by her bodyguard. Gradually she gets some tools to help her heal and she starts to gain her footing again.  She also learns to define herself without Michael for the first time in her adolescence.

Cabot covers teenaged heartbreak honestly and beautifully.  Mia has been interesting to follow through this series. She's sweet and funny and a very believable girl.  I think girls could do worse than learning from Mia's example. Sure, she's kind of a ditz sometimes, but she's got commitment and she believes in things and she's a well-written character.  I will be sorry to see this series end, but I will be reading the next book when it comes out and I hope that Cabot has planned a suitable farewell for the little princess.

This is a collection of short stories written by a master wordsmith, Margaret Atwood. I don't even know how to begin to clarify or qualify the stories.  They are smart and sharp and take a new look at some old tales. Atwood's acerbic style takes a stab at the ravages of time and the knowledge that comes with age.

This slight book can be read in one sitting, but you'll probably want to savor them, they are definitely worth it.

This is the 3rd book in the Dresden Files. Harry Dresden is a Chicago area wizard who deserves better writing in his stories.  This time, amid all the made up and misused words and really clumsy wording, Harry and his friend Michael, a knight, are out and about trying to figure out what is going on between the this world and the spirit world. Someone is getting the ghosts all riled up and sending them out into our world.  The wall between the two worlds is extra thin and the way too much stuff is coming through.

Harry and Michael need to find the source of the disruption without cluing in Harry's godmother, who wants to pull him into the underworld and keep him prisoner there forever. There is some question as to Michael's true identity.  He's definitely a good guy, but it's possible that he be a lot older than he seems and he just may report directly to God.

These books could be pretty good. The stories are interesting and if someone gave Butcher a dictionary and a thesaurus, he'd really be in business. Instead he continues to use this ridiculous syntax that makes it hard to take him or his work seriously. Harry Dresden is a good character, he deserves better.

Edmond Dantes is framed by two jealous men, one of his love for his intended, the lovely Mercedes and one his coworker who doesn't want Dantes to wind up the next captain of their trade ship.  Dantes winds up imprisoned at the Chateau d'lf for a crime he never committed and knew nothing about, based on an anonymous letter written after a number of bottles of wine and sent to a man trying to distance himself from his father's reputation as a Napoleon supporter, but still protective enough to try to keep his father out of additional trouble, Dantes is shuffled off to prison and then sent to the dungeon. 

In the dungeon he befriends an abbey thought to be mad, but who winds up not only brilliant,  but resourceful and the rightful owner of a fortune hidden in a cave on the island of Monte Cristo, a fortune which no one believes really exists.  After 15 years, the abbey dies and Dantes escapes in the dead man's shroud.  Once he succeeds in getting free he is on a quest to make his enemies pay.

Dantes, now going by the name of The Count of Monte Cristo manages to insinuate himself into the lives of all the assorted characters from his past and their poor children.  He discovers who is responsible for his imprisonment, who was on his side and who stood by his father when he disappeared all those years ago. 

Despite the warnings of the Abbey, Dantes uses his education and fortune to seek out his revenge on his enemies.  Sure, Dantes has a legitimate bone to pick and he does dig up plenty of dirt on his enemies, but what kind of a life is that? He already lost a huge chunk of his life and then he spends years on revenge.  He systematically puts himself in the midst of these people and then he picks them off, one by one. 

I know this is considered a great work of literature, but it's seems like an awful waste of a life. I can't imagine anyone who would want to live that way. He had a promising future which was cut short by being wrongfully imprisoned in a dungeon for 15 years. He had a reason to be pissed off, certainly.  But he spent the rest of his life plotting and then getting revenge.  He had his freedom and all the money in the world and instead of living a good life, he wasted so much.  I would understand if he did some digging and made things tricky for the people who caused his woes, but he had to destroy everyone, including families. He was a complete mad man.

I guess I just didn't get it.  I think life's way too short to spend it plotting and scheming. Not only does it hurt others, but it certainly doesn't make you look very good.  I found Edmond Dantes and his tale inscrutable. 

David Rice has been abandoned by his mother and is basically held prisoner by his abusive drunk of a dad.  One night when he is scared and stressed out, he finds that he has jumped away from home and has wound up in the local library.  Pretty soon he discovers that he can control this talent and that he is capable of jumping anywhere he's been whenever he wants, as long as he can picture the place in his mind. 

He jumps from his home in the Midwest to New York City where he can disappear in the crowds.  He manages to find a place to live and he robs a bank of enough money to keep him going.  Davie is smart enough to be careful and he knows that he doesn't want a life of crime.  He makes a couple of rash moves when he gets himself in emotional situations, until he meets a college student and falls in love.

The other turning point in Davie's life has to do with his mother.  He finally finds her and they have a wonderful reunion.  Then, she is killed while on vacation in a terrorist attack. Davie sets out to hunt down the man responsible for her death. He gets involved in stopping many terrorist attacks and putting a lot of terrorists out of action. 

This book was interesting, I guess.  The "what if?" factor you get by reading it is worth it alone.  But, I can't say that the story went where I thought it would, or even that I liked the direction it took.  David Rice was an interesting and likable character.  The terrorist angle really came out of nowhere and wasn't in keeping with the rest of the story. I found it jarring and it messed up the narrative for me.

Holistic detective, Dirk Gently is back to solve another case. An airline ticketing counter at Heathrow Airport blows up and is considered to be an act of God.  Gently wants to find out just which god is responsible.  Of course, as happens in Gently's life and as his philosophy works, everything is connected and Dirk looks into the connections, because somehow he manages to be connected to everything in the universe, too.

He discovers gods, his missing, and very surly, ex-secretary and Valhalla in the course of his investigation. How many people have that in them?

Douglas Adams wrote some of the wildest stuff I've ever read. He managed to be thought provoking and smart and ridiculous and hysterically funny all at the same time.  His death was a great loss to the literary community and the world at large. Who knows what else he had to share with us? 

Book two of the Oz series didn't win me over and may have been the last nail in the Oz coffin for me.  I was a little pleased by the idea of the girl power plot line, but the girls were so horrible that you couldn't help but hope that they would break down and their rule would fall apart.  It's also the story of a child who isn't what he seems and is in line to rule Oz. 

Apparently the Tin Man and the Scarecrow were far more than they appeared to be when we first met them.  The Scarecrow has been elevated to genius, and took over in the Wizard of Oz's place until he was run out by the crazy little girls who took over the Emerald City. The Tin Man went off and lived in peace being a really lovable guy.   The two are reunited when the Scarecrow goes to seek out his old friend and meets a new friend, Tip and the three set out to bring peace back to the Emerald City. 

The book just didn't work for me. I could not manage to get involved in the story and I never connected with any of the characters.  I think this made up my mind that I have no interest in seeing what the rest of the series has to share with the reader.

I don't believe I ever read any of the books in this series before. Sure, we're all familiar with the movie.  My niece who probably doesn't remember it, lived for it as a toddler. She actually wore through a couple of VHS tapes of the movie and, with my dad's coaching, did a darn good Cowardly Lion impersonation.  After a lifetime of watching this movie so many times and all the memories it's left me with that have nothing to do with the movie itself, the book was sort of a disappointment. 

I read this book through the Daily Lit service, which if you haven't used it yet, you should check it out immediately.  I get portions of books emailed to me every morning at 9 a.m. So far, I've polished off about a dozen books ranging from children's books like The Wizard of Oz, Little Women and Anne of Green Gables, to classics like  Moll Flanders, The Count of Monte Cristo  and Madame Bovary.  There are enough titles to make it tough to plot out your reading list, but still a lot of fun.

So, we all know the story of Dorothy Gale and how she got swept away from her life with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry in Kansas in a cyclone (which was actually a tornado, and not even remotely a cyclone which is really a tornado made of water and not wind) and dropped onto the body of the Wicked Witch of the East with her house in Oz.  There she meets the munchkins and looks for a way to get home.  I think that the Dorothy in the book is supposed to be much younger than Judy Garland was in the movie. The slippers are silver and not ruby, but that probably had more to do with the whole Technicolor thing. 

Strangely, I think I prefer the movie.  The foreword by the author claims that his idea was to make stories for children that weren't scary and disturbing, but there's plenty of disturbing stuff in this story.  You've got a lost child who needs to kill a wicked witch to convince a wizard bent on terrifying her to send her home.  There are poison flowers and flying attack monkeys, plenty of stuff to scare kids.  I plan to read more of the books in the series in an attempt to see if my opinion improves.  I have no problem admitting that my history the movie that makes liking the book difficult. We'll see.

The author of the infamous Twilight series wrote this as her first "grown up" book.  I don't really see why her young adult readers couldn't read this book as well. It's definitely more sci-fi than romantic fantasy, but it's still pretty tame.

A parasitic species from another world has begun taking over the universe, one host body at a time.  Little by little people on earth are noticing that things are very different.  Small bands of outlaw people are hiding to retain the last vestiges of the human race.  A reader is left to ponder that not all of the invading species ways are bad.  You can't dispute that taking over every species of sentient being in the universe is just wrong, and it's murder of a sort, although the bodies are intact, the original occupant is gone, or at best, a prisoner in their own mind.  On the other hand, the creatures make wherever they go into a much better place. They are honest and kind and helpful. They have no war, no disease, no pain, no need for money, all things the human race could stand to learn some lessons about.

Melanie Stryder has been implanted with a being called Wanderer, but Melanie refuses to relinquish her mind and the two begin at odds with one another fighting for control. But, this is a much more complex relationship.  Both souls grow to care and respect one another  and they have to figure out how to work together in their shared body. They also are both in trouble.  Wanderer could be removed from Melanie and shipped off to some horrible planet hundreds of years away and Melanie needs to find her brother, boyfriend and remaining relations, and convince them to let her live, even though she's been taken over, at least partially, by the alien insider her.

This was really an interesting book.  Melanie and Wanderer go seek asylum with Melanie's people in their hideout in the hills.  Both have to manage to gain the trust of the people they need to help them survive.  Then, each of the souls falls for a different guy, and these people live in really tight quarters, so that is a pretty awesome monkey wrench to throw into the works.

I liked this book. I was interested in the characters and wanted everything to work out in the end. The dynamic between Melanie and Wanderer was pretty amazing.  I liked the interpersonal conflict and the way the humans learned so much.  It was pretty hopeful in the long run. If you like Meyer's writing, you should definitely look into this book.  It's a doorstopper, but once you get into it, you'll find that the time and the pages go flying by. 

This is a horror novel if I've ever read one.  A small town whose inhabitants have been ruined by the local chemical plant strikes out for justice.  It seems a saving grace when the first case is won by a local woman who lost her husband and young son to cancer as a result of the water, air and food that's been poisoned by toxic waste.  But, the chemical company appeals and they have more resources at their disposal than the struggling husband and wife lawyer team who gave up almost everything to see their case to court.

This is a work of fiction, but it could certainly be real in the current climate. Between the corporate greed, political treachery and the demolition of the lives of good people who, apparently are of little consequence, this book hammers away at you.  There are monsters cleverly hiding themselves behind facades of mysterious benefactors and hapless attorneys and ambitious men and women who want to rule the world. 

Grisham has all the ingredients of a page turner here.  A town torn apart by tragedy and horror.  Can you imagine living somewhere, watching all of your neighbors growing sick and dying, living in a town where you can not use the water for any reason?  Certainly not to drink or cook with, but not to bathe, either.  Because there are no jobs available the town is dying.  The people are sick and out of work and can't afford to go someplace where they might have a chance to live, since thriving and succeeding are totally out of the question.

I hate to go all conspiracy kook on people, but Grisham left me wondering how much of this could really happen and how much is going on right now.  Sure, the offenders that are amassed here are more than you can feasibly wrap your head around, at least as far as real world scenarios go. But, I wouldn't be surprised if you took all the pieces of the puzzle apart, you could find any or all of those things going on, separately, right now.  Scary thought, huh?

This is the end of Barry and Pearson's trilogy about the origins of Peter Pan.  They wound up taking some pretty crazy turns from the source material as they went along and by this volume, there is very little that is familiar about any of the characters.  I'm pretty sure that by now you can really call the entire series a complete invention of the authors and not really  consider it to have anything to do with Barrie's work.

Peter is off with Molly, her dad and George Darling to stop Lord Umbra and King Zarboff from using the remaining star stuff on earth for their evil plans.  Meanwhile, back on the island, a new batch of pirates wants to occupy Mollusk Island and they bring their own natives to take over. This means that the pirates and the Lost Boys and the Mollusk tribe all have to work together to fight back against the invading hordes.

I think Peter is reaching his high point of maturity here.  He's wondering about girls and jealous of Molly's relationship with George Darling, but Molly is already getting taller than him.  There's also the fact that it is generally accepted that Peter is no longer altogether human considering his exposure to the star dust. 

Lord Umbra is the baddie from book two in the series, Peter and the Shadow Thieves, and King Zarboff was the original bad guy from book one.  Had Zarboff's plan worked out in Peter and the Starcatchers, Peter would be one of Zarboff's slaves, along with the other boys from the orphanage that made it into his clutches, and Molly and a large quantity of the magical "star stuff" would have been lost to the Starcatchers, who seek to protect it and get it back into the sky as soon as possible. 

If you are a huge Peter Pan  fan, you might find yourself disappointed in these books, but if you, or your younger readers want an interesting magical tale peopled with familiar faces, albeit acting completely out of character, then you might find these to your liking.  I'm on the fence about these.  They can be enjoyable reads, but I'd like to think that an international cabal of learned people trying to protect the earth and keep the magical powder that falls from the sky out of the hands of evil doers, would have come up with a more clever name than "star stuff."  There is never an explanation of the origins of the creepy shadow guy, Lord Umbra, which seems like it should be fairly important, considering that he's extremely powerful and not corporeal and, I think, he would fail to exist in direct light.  Yeah, there's plenty to scratch your head about, but the books are filled with action, adventure and lots of kid power.

Little Fletcher Moon (hence the nickname Half Moon), at 12, is the youngest detective to be certified in his internet detective class.   Fletcher loves a mystery and has proved to be pretty good at solving them.  Despite the fact that half the kids in school torment him because of his proclivities, one of his fellow students asks him to help solve a mystery.  April's prize possession, a lock of hair from a rock star is missing and she needs Fletcher's help to find it.  April won't make things easy on him, because she's kind of a brat.

After Fletcher starts to get to the bottom of a conspiracy, things start to get complicated. Fletcher finds himself in trouble for a crime he didn't commit.  With the help of the trouble making Sharkey family, Fletcher needs to clear his name and solve the mystery, and save his name and reputation.

Fletcher Moon is an adorable character. He's part cute precocious kid, part old fashioned gum shoe, all fun.  I think I like him much better than Colfer's Artemis Fowl. Colfer doesn't forget that there is good and bad in everyone.  There are good parts to everyone, you just have to look for them, or maybe, you just have to let yourself see them.  The Sharkey family, the town ne'er do wells are more than what they seem, and Fletcher's situation puts him in a position to see that.  I would be interested to read about more of Fletcher's cases.

Stephanie Plum is back and I couldn't be happier about it. These books never fail to tickle me.  I can never wait until June when the next book is due out, and then I actually try to hold off from reading it.  I also find that as soon as I turn the last page, I want to open the book back to the beginning and start over right away.  These books aren't going to be classics, but they are funny and engaging and extremely entertaining. I love all of these characters and I really like that Evanovich has all the books based in a neighborhood, so you get to keep reading about the colorful characters that populate her fictitious Burg. 

In Fearless Fourteen, Trenton cop and Stephanie's boyfriend, Joe Morelli, is having family issues. His cousin Dom stole $9 million from a bank, and went to prison for his crime.  The money was never recovered. Now he's out of jail and people keep turning up dead in Morelli's basement.   He hires his old classmate, the stoner, Mooner to guard the house.  This, like most of the decisions made in this series is, as the ex handsome honey was fond of saying, a recipe for disaster.  There's nine million dollars missing, dead guys in the basement, stoners in the living room and Morelli and Ranger to keep Stephanie on her toes. 

These books are my not so guilty pleasure. I gobble them up as they come out and am never disappointed by the offerings.  I'm currently waiting for the next "between the numbers" book to be released. I pre-ordered it from Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago and am hoping to see it sitting on my porch some day very soon.

I read a more recent novel of Kate Atkinson's last year and was completely won over by her style and her protagonist, the detective Jackson Brodie.  Case Histories is a Jackson Brodie book and it was nice to see how he got to where he was in the amazing One Good Turn.

Case Histories begins with three separate cases that would seem to have nothing to do with one another. The disappearance of a beloved little sister that becomes news again, thirty years later.  Then there's the attorney who can't get over the death of his beloved daughter and the young woman who is found holding a bloody axe near the bodies of her husband and baby.  The only obvious connection is the detective called to investigate the three cases, Jackson Brodie.  But, it's the way the connections become apparent as the stories progress that's genius.

Atkinson seamlessly weaves these characters and stories together.  The Land girls who want to know what happened to their sister all those years ago, who find baby Olivia's blanket amongst their father's things after his death. Theo who keeps returning to the scene of his daughter's murder, the place that was once his law office.  He coerced her to work at the office and on her first day she was killed at the office.  Michelle who is trapped in  a life she never imagined for herself, who finds herself suddenly freed in a particularly violent way.  There are surprises in store for each of these characters, and for the reader, too. 

I like the way Atkinson's mind works. I've since been picking up her other books and none of them disappoint.  She juggles a lot of stories that seem to have nothing to do with one another, until she finishes deftly leading the reader to a unified conclusion that makes perfect sense, all of the stories neatly intertwined.

Fool Moon is the second novel in The Dresden Files series about the Chicago wizard, Harry Dresden.  I actually saw the television show that ran on Sci Fi before I knew about the books.  Although the series only made it through one season, I liked it.  So, of course, I checked into the books. I have to say that the show was much better than the books, and who ever heard of that happening?  It probably has something to do with the fact that Butcher makes up nonsensical words and uses them ad nauseum in his narrative and he misuses so many words.   It is beyond irritating.

The stories would be pretty good if the author could manage to master his native tongue.  Harry Dresden is a wizard who has set up shop in Chicago.  He has befriended a tough, smart and beautiful cop Murphy and she calls on Harry to help with supernatural crimes.  The supernatural business is kind of funny. Everyone who knows about it makes a point of not spreading the knowledge around.  Murphy knows that some crimes require Harry's expertise, but she has limited knowledge of what's happening and Harry isn't at liberty to share much in the way of details.  Murphy's fellow police officers vary in what they can accept or understand about the supernatural and, as far as her superiors go, there is just a lot of weirdness in Murphy's cases and reports.

Business is really bad for Harry until Murphy calls him in on a particularly nasty murder mystery.  It involves a mutilated corpse, a full moon and some paw prints.  Now Harry has to get to the bottom of this and find out who is doing the killing before it is too late.

Like I said, the stories are kind of interesting. Harry Dresden is an interesting character. I definitely like the television version better. The one in the books is such a cliché.  There's a huge Mary Sue factor here and it's really hard to swallow. On the tv series, Paul Blackthorne portrays a sexy, warm Harry Dresden, a man that you could tolerate being chased by werewolves to meet.  The guy in the book is close, but he feels more like he was created by someone spending way too much time in the world of role playing games. 

Peter Pan isn't the only one having adventures on Mollusk Island in this series of tales from Never Land.  In Carnivale, Little Scallop, the daughter of the chief of the Mollusk tribe goes off after hours with her mermaid pals Aqua and Surf, in search of pearls. When the three get past the lagoon, instead of finding pearls, they find themselves in great danger.  Surf gets caught up in the nets of the ship Carnivale.

The pirates on Carnivale want to make Surf a part of their freak show.  Aqua and Little Scallop want to save Surf, and Captain Hook and his fellow pirates want to get off of Mollusk Island for once and for all and they think the Carnivale is their ticket out.  So the race is on and it's anyone's guess who will win.

For Little Scallop this is the time to prove herself to her father and her older brothers.  She's been looking for adventure and now she's gotten more than she bargained for.  So she sets up a plan for rescue that requires the help of Teacher, the head of the mermaids, the lost boys, and many of the helpful inhabitants of the seas.

I like that Barry and Pearson threw a little girl power in here.  Little Scallop has proven herself to be a fun character. She's helped save her people and now her friends with her ingenuity.  Peter is fine, but everyone knows he can't do it on his own.  It's nice to have a little girl heroine in on the Never Land action.

I stumbled upon this book on a visit to my local library and being a Heroes fan, I decided to check it out.  I liked the episode where Hiro went back in time to save the waitress Charlie from the evil Sylar and this book gives the story of what went on with the two.  It was nice for Hiro to get a little love in his life.  

Anyway, Hiro and Ando are headed to Texas to save the cheerleader (you know, so they can save the world) when they stop in a diner for lunch.  Hiro is captivated by Charlie the sweet waitress who takes their order.  However, Charlie meets with misfortune in the storage room that day, when her skull is sawed open by none other than the original baddie, Sylar.  Hiro can't bear the thought of Charlie dying, especially when he can go back and save her.  So, despite Ando's pleas, Hiro jumps back in time to change the outcome. 

Hiro winds up going further back than he intended and must insinuate himself into Charlie's life.  The two become friends and then more as they get to know one another.  He tries everything he can think of to alter Charlie's fate, but can he find a way to keep her from being another hero who falls victim to Sylar?

This is really just a more in depth look at a television episode and that's okay, because I really did want to know about Charlie and what happened when Hiro went back to save her. Since we already knew that he didn't get back in time to do anything he was supposed to, I was interested to know why.

I don't think I've ever read a book based on a television series. I know that there are a lot of them out there, and I peruse the titles and sometimes wonder if they might be any good, but this was the first time I've picked one up off the shelf.  I wasn't disappointed, but I don't know that I will try this experiment again.  I haven't seen one episode of Heroes this season, and I'm not sure I miss it. I really liked the first season and I think Hiro is adorable.  This was an interesting episode and I like that it got fleshed out.   Maybe I will pick up another book based on tv, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting.  Until then, I might just have to check back in and see how Peter Patrelli and the gang have been getting on since I last tuned in.

The Baudelaire orphans, after having traveled hidden in the trunk of Count Olaf's car, find themselves parked at Madame Lulu's Caligari Circus.  In order to remain hidden, in plain sight, as it were from the murderous count and his entourage of evil doers, the children disguise themselves as circus freaks.  As it turns out, the real freaks in the circus are hardly freaky at all, but that doesn't stop the carnival visitors from getting all uppity and superior toward them.  The Baudelaires however have disguised themselves as some really freaky freaks.  Violet and Klaus become conjoined twins, Beverly and Elliot and baby Sunny is disguised as Chabo the wolf baby. 

The children manage to befriend their fellow freaks, while also trying to raise their self-esteem enough to realize that they aren't even remotely freaky in reality.  They must also fight for survival. It seems that people are so indisposed to freaks that they like to periodically feed one to the circus' lion.

As usual, the kids survive and escape the circus and Olaf.  They manage to get a little more information about their past and VFD and even a little about the Snickets before they are once again fleeing for their little lives.  It just remains to be seen what it waiting for them in the next book in the series.

Jean Dominique Bauby was the editor of French Elle  magazine. One day he went to pick up his son for visitation and while driving had a massive stroke centered in his brain stem.  In the past this would have meant death, but with modern medicine as advanced as it is, Mr. Bauby developed what is called "locked in syndrome."  His brain was perfect, but trapped in a completely non-functioning body.  He learned to communicate using his one functioning eye.  With the help of a speech therapist he learned to communicate by blinking.  In fact, he dictated this book one letter at a time just with one eye.

Yes, it is a very short book, but Bauby's story is amazing and he manages to tell it very well.  I don't know how well modern medicine served him.  I can't imagine the horror of living your life this way.  Yet, he managed to mend his fractured relationships, begin new ones with the people who helped him to hang on, day by day and remained in his young children's lives for as long as he could.  According to the notes in the book, Mr. Bauby died within a few days of his book's publication.

The book is only 144 pages and Bauby doesn't shy away from his faults. It seems an honest portrayal of a life even after all control is wrested from it.  This is a glimpse into things I've never seen or imagined and I loved it.  It was sad and funny and moving.  It gave rise to plenty of pondering after I'd turned the last page. 

Emma Bovary was a silly young girl who thought herself in love with the country doctor that her father had taken a fancy to.  She married with the idea that she was beginning a life filled with romance and passion, but discovers after meeting a man she desires that she has none of this with her hapless husband.  Emma considers herself a respectable woman and she drowns her desires with the acquisition of things.  Once she has run up an insurmountable debt and finds herself consorting with shady characters  to shuffle it around, she loses some of that sheen of respectability. 

Once she is involved in the subterfuge of hiding all of the debt from her husband, and selling things to keep them afloat, she finds a new way of feeling good. She seeks and finds real romance in illicit affairs with dashing men who pay attention to her. 

It's sad how Emma goes from headstrong romantic girl to disillusioned young married woman.  You watch her dig herself a hole she can never escape from while her husband just blithely goes along in his little fantasy world. He has no idea what is going on in his own house. Emma pays for her crimes in the end and Monsieur Bovary loves her to the end in his own sad little way.

Flaubert captures a lot of real emotion here.  This is a story told so realistically that it could easily take place at any time.  Emma Bovary could be making her same mistakes today.  I imagine she would be pretty deadly with a credit card and internet access. 

Thirteen year old Matilda lives on a faraway tropical island. Most of the men are gone, either serving as soldiers in the war, or being forced into labor mining copper.  Life is a struggle and the natives work hard together to go on with their lives.  For the children, there is no more school and life is boring, although, in reality, they live in a scary world.  The one fascinating thing is Mr. Watts, the white man who has married one of the native women and pulls her around in a cart as if it were a parade.

Mr. Watts takes the position of teacher, but is not a proper teacher and so he doesn't try to teach the usual curriculum.  Instead, he reads to the children from Great Expectations.  For Matilda, Pip becomes more real to her than the people she sees every day.  In response to criticism from the parents, Mr. Watts invites the natives to come in and teach the children as well.  Regular guest teachers, the friends and families of the students come into class and teach something they know to the children. Mr. Watts is completely non-judgmental and the adults grow more accepting of the unconventional teacher and the children look at the adults in their life with new eyes.

When it seems there is nothing more for the soldiers to take, they come ashore and occupy the small island.  No one is safe anymore and the natives who are working so hard just to provide for themselves must now feed and house the interlopers, and the cost is great, not just in food and space, but physically and mentally as well.  These poor people become prisoners in their own lives.  As a result of a misunderstanding they come looking for Pip and they don't care who they hurt before they find him. 

This book was amazing. Matilda and Mr. Watts are two of the best characters in contemporary literature.  I found myself wanting to protect the tiny island and its inhabitants.  The civil unrest in which they find themselves surrounded is a far cry from the peaceful life they've made for themselves.  There is a lot of conflict in this book, the warring factions, Matilda and her extremely religious and disapproving mother, Mr. Watts and the locals, the struggle to survive, and Matilda must face all of it and the threat these things pose to the only way of life she knows.

This is the 8th book in the series and I still can't get past the fact that no one seems to realize that these are little kids.  Do you remember when Sunny was the principal's secretary because she was too young to go to school?  Or when they worked at the mill?  In the last book they were the indentured servants of all those nuts in that village.  Mr. Poe should be locked away until the end of time and someone with a brain should be managing their care.  Why are wealthy children being thrown to the wind so often?  You would think it would be fairly easy to get them set up in some sort of stable situation.  But, as it is, the adults in this book are idiots and the fact that the Baudelaire children have survived this long is certainly a credit to them.

They escaped the vile village and wound up at the hostile hospital with plenty of questions and what may, at last, be a way of getting some answers.  Of course, there are new perils, and the old perils, which are pretty perilous in their own right.  Olaf and his crew are pretending to be doctors and figure the best way to get their hands on that Baudelaire money is by getting rid of some of the benefactors.  To do this,  they arrange to operate on a "patient" for everyone to watch. The idea being that it will seem a tragedy and not a murder when the little Baudelaire dies on the operating table.

The kids escape, just barely, and only get away from the hospital by stowing away in the trunk of Olaf's car.  This can't bode well for them, can it?