How nice it was to be back in Botswana with Mma Ramotswe. She is such a kind, gentle, generous person. If a friend asks for a favor, she feels the need to grant it. But this is too much. Mma Potokwane wants her to run for a seat on the City Council, and she absolutely does not want to run for a seat on the City Council. She likes her life just as it is. Meanwhile, the No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency has a new case, a hit and run, and Mma Ramotswe lets young Charlie, her sometimes detective, do a bit of investigating. I love this series. It never gets stale, boring. The characters grow and change, just a bit. Just enough to keep things interesting. The plot moves at a gentle pace. There is always time for tea, always time to think about things, always time to see the beauty and humor in life. This is the 19th book in the series, so if you want to start with this one, there is a lot of missing back story. But it is not absolutely essential and the book can stand alone.
eGalley review Publication date 11.6.18
From the publisher, “All her life, Teodora has hidden the fact that she secretly turns her family’s enemies into music boxes, mirrors, and other decorative objects. After all, everyone in Vinalia knows that stregas—wielders of magic—are figures out of fairytales. Nobody believes they’re real.
When she was born in a small village in Alsace in 1761, she was tiny, oh so tiny, just about the size of two hands, and not expected to live. Little Anne Marie was stubborn and refused to die, but she was not very good at growing and stopped when she was the height of most people’s hearts. And so she lost her name and was called “Little”. She was an odd-looking little thing, with a large nose that pointed down and a large chin that pointed up. Her mother taught her to read and told her to always stay busy and to always discover. When her parents die, she becomes a servant to Dr. Curtius, a recluse who makes interesting things from wax. He makes body parts, all sorts of body parts, and wonderful heads. The scene shifts when they must flee creditors and hide in Paris. There they make wax heads of notable people, (and some not so notable) exhibit them, and become rather famous. Unfortunately, they also become caught up in the French revolution. Little tells her own story, and the first-person narrative is so well done. I felt that I was there with her through the nice times, the just okay times and the awful times. This book is very, very good, full of wonderful characters, historical events, humor and tragedy. It is laced with lovely illustrations, purported to be drawn by Little, herself. I highly recommend it.
Willa thought her life was finally in order. Her husband, Iano, had tenure, and she had a job she loved with a magazine. But of course, that was not to be. The college closed, the magazine failed, and it was back to zero. At least, they had inherited a house in Vineland, New Jersey. It was fairly close to Iano’s new job. But (and there is always a “but”) the house is very old and is falling down. Flash back to the 1870s. Thatcher Greenwood is also dealing with a house that needs major repair. He is newly married and newly employed as a science teacher at the Vineland school, and he must cope with a headmaster who feels that Darwin’s theory is heresy. The chapters alternate between the two centuries. The writing is beautiful, as only Kingsolver’s can be. Each narrative has its own voice and is true to its time. Shelter is more than a house. Shelter is also found in your beliefs, your friendships. This book explores the difficulties finding shelter when the world is changing around you. Barbara Kingsolver has again written a thoughtful book, combining wonderful stories with issues that confront us daily when we are trying to make sense of our life.
From the publisher, “Doris—a lone liberal in a conservative small town—has mostly kept to herself since the terrible waterslide incident a few years ago. Nell had to leave behind her best friends, perfect life, and too-good-to-be-true boyfriend in Chicago to move to Alabama. Grant was the star quarterback and epitome of “Mr. Popular” whose drinking problem has all but destroyed his life. What do these three have in common? A summer job working in a store called Unclaimed Baggage cataloging and selling other people’s lost luggage. Together they find that through friendship, they can unpack some of their own emotional baggage and move on into the future.”
It was the winter of 1779-80. Eliza was twenty-two and it was time for her to find a husband. Knowing that her old beau, Tench Tilghman, would be stationed at the army’s winter camp in Morristown, New Jersey, her father arranged for her to pass the winter with Aunt Gertrude and Uncle John, the camp surgeon. So Eliza came to look for a husband, and Alexander Hamilton was there looking for a wife. Eliza Hamilton was an amazing woman, a strong woman. She was born into the prominent New York Schuyler family and most of her childhood was spend on family lands in Saratoga, on the site of traditional Mohawk hunting grounds. She had eight children before she was forty. And her life didn’t end with the death of her husband. She was one of the founders of the first private orphanage in New York City, traveled by steamboat to the west to see her son in her eighties, and continued to be active until her death at ninety-seven. This was so easy to read, full of descriptions of daily life, full of interesting people, it reads like a novel. The author does take a few liberties describing Eliza’s reactions to events, but that’s just a small thing and it makes Eliza come to life. I enjoyed the book very much and highly recommend it.
The world is turned around, with Africa and the Middle East being well educated, liberal, rich. Europe is the backwater, full of extremists waging “holy wars”. Khalid al-Zarzisi, is a senior investigator, sent with his assistant, Dawud ibn Musa, a Jew, to Rome to stop an uprising of the fanatic Aquinists. And they succeed. Sort of. OK. That’s the plot. The characters are paper cutouts, there are a lot of explosions, and a little romance. That’s it. I have enjoyed Harry Turtledove’s books for years and looked forward to this one. But I was quite disappointed. There is the comparison between the fanatic Christians and the educated, intelligent Muslims. But there is little history to explain how that happened, no unexpected turns of plot. I found it rather boring.
From the publisher, “On the night that Aunty dies the Raggedy Witches come for Mup’s mam. Pale, cold, relentless, they will do anything to coax Mam back to Witches Borough. When they kidnap Mup’s dad, Mup and her mam must leave the mundane world to rescue him. But Mam is strange on this side of the border – striding, powerful, and distant. Even if they can save Dad, Mup is not sure anything will ever be the same again…”
From the publisher, “Louie doesn’t have the best luck when it comes to nurturing small creatures. So when his father brings home a sickly newborn mini donkey, he’s determined to save him. He names him Winslow. Taking care of him helps Louie feel closer to his brother, Gus, who is far, far away in the army.
From the publisher: “The first book in a scifi retelling of the Mahabrahata. When Esmae wins a contest of skill, she sets off events that trigger an inevitable and unwinnable war that pits her against the family she would give anything to return to. 
From the publisher: “In a star system dominated by the brutal Vathek empire, eighteen-year-old Amani is a dreamer. She dreams of what life was like before the occupation; she dreams of writing poetry like the old-world poems she adores; she dreams of receiving a sign from Dihya that one day, she, too, will have adventure, and travel beyond her isolated moon.
From the publisher: “After her family is killed by corrupt warlord Aric Athair and his bloodthirsty army of Bullets, Caledonia Styx is left to chart her own course on the dangerous and deadly seas. She captains her ship, the Mors Navis, with a crew of girls and women just like her, whose lives have been turned upside down by Aric and his men. The crew has one misson: stay alive, and take down Aric’s armed and armored fleet.
Well, Margaret has done it again. She was in Chicago attending the funeral of her father, when called back to China to assist in the autopsies. After a short briefing, instead of being allowed to get some sleep, she is hustled to a welcome banquet. Of course, there is alcohol for toasts, and combined with the vodka she had at the bar earlier, Margaret is a bit outspoken. No, not just a bit. She manages to insult most of the dignitaries present. Dr. Margaret Campbell is an eminent forensic pathologist, quite skilled in her profession. Unfortunately, her people skills are lacking. Thus, her love affair with detective Li Yan has lots of rough patches. The setting for this novel is Shanghai, as Li has been called there to investigate the discovery of a mass burial containing eighteen dismembered female bodies. The descriptions of the city are beautiful, such a contrast with gray, dirty Beijing. The plot moves quickly, and the book is hard to put down. But BE PREPARED, the descriptions of autopsies are not for those with weak stomachs. This is the third book in the China Thrillers series written about seventeen years ago. It may be read as a stand alone, but having the background information from the first two makes this one more interesting. I have enjoyed the books, but they are early Peter May and lack the depth and beauty of the Lewis Trilogy. Still, it is interesting to see how his writing has matured.
You all know the story of Dr. Joseph Warren, don’t you? Surely you remember him. He was a close friend of Samuel Adams and he spearheaded the original group of insurgents in Boston. Shortly before the Battle of Bunker Hill he was made a Major General. He died at the Battle of Bunker Hill. His character was featured in a miniseries but I can’t recall learning of him during American History studies. This comprehensive biography tells the story of Dr. Warren, a man so important to the revolution that if he had lived, our capital might be named Warrenton. Joseph Warren was the eldest son of a gentleman farmer in Roxbury, two miles south of Boston. After he graduated from Harvard he apprenticed with Dr. James Lloyd, one of Boston’s most famous physicians. Soon he had a thriving practice and was on his way to becoming a very wealthy man. But when he became convinced that America should be free and independent he did everything he could to make it happen. He ran the rebels’ first spy ring, was at the center of almost every major conflict, and was a fine and moving orator. This is a very thoroughly researched book, well written and thoughtful, hard to put down. I hope that it will find many readers, for Dr. Warren deserves to be remembered.
From the publisher: “In a freezing world, where everyone knows the day they will die, three teens break all odds. Franny Bluecastle, a tough city teen, dreams of dying in opulence, to see wealth she’s never known. Like the entire world, she believes it’s impossible to dodge a deathday. Until the day she does. Court Icecastle knows wealth. He also knows pain. Spending five years in Vorkter Prison, a fortress of ice and suffering, he dreams of life beyond the people that haunt him and the world that imprisoned him.
YA Lit Ramblings 
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