The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gillman

This is the second in the series about Mrs. Pollifax.  It has been about a year since Mrs. Pollifax entered the world of US intelligence.  She has settled back into a routine of volunteering at the hospital and pouring tea at the women's auxiliary. Then she gets a call from Mr. Carstairs. He wonders if she can leave in a half an hour to do a courier job in the middle east.  Mrs. Pollifax drops everything and packs her bag.  This time she needs to rendezvous with a defecting Russian spy and get her out of Turkey.  The trouble is, that there are lots of different agencies from around the world looking for this ex-spy and the last agent the CIA sent ended up dead.  Can Mrs. Pollifax's super "sweet old lady" power save  her again?

After reading a couple of kid's books, I felt I needed a treat.  This one was very much like the other two Mrs. Pollifax books I read, and I enjoyed it just as much.  I am starting to see some patterns.  There seems to always be a charming young man who comes to respect and care about her, a dashing older man who jumps in to save the day, and a foreigner who turns out to be a secret ally.  Even though they are formulaic, Gillman's characterization are so delightful that I will probably keep reading them as treat books for a while. (309 p. 1970)

Efren Divided by Ernesto Cisneros

Efren lives with his mom, dad, and little twin sister and brother in a small studio apartment. Sometimes he feels embarrassed that his family has so little while others have so much more.  Then one day his mother doesn't come home from work.  Her factory was raided by ICE and she was deported. Suddenly Efren realizes, all too painfully, how much he had and how much he has lost.  Now he and his father must push themselves to the limit to take care of Efren's little siblings and try to find a way to get enough money to hire a coyote to get Efren's mother back home.

This is a book that is receiving a lot of starred reviews this year.  It is well written and Cisneros doesn't pull any punches.  The book is obviously motivated by current political issues, and it is not unbiased. There is no discussion about the fact that Efren's parents have, in fact, been breaking the law for 11 years by working and living in the United States without permission. But it is honest in portraying how a 11 year old boy would feel about a beloved parent being treated like a criminal and the troubles it would cause a family to have one of the parents deported.  I think it is a good choice to help kids feel empathetic with the whole question of immigration, but I think a wise parent/teacher, would add a little balance by discussing why a Government might put immigration laws into affect. (2020, 263 p.)

A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer

  

Adam Deveril is called back to England from the war against Napoleon when his father dies, and he inherits both his title, Viscount Lynton, and his father's enormous debts.  Although the new Lord Lynton had planned to marry the vivacious Julia Oversley, he feels he cannot now drag her into a relationship haunted by the real possibility of total financial ruin. Instead Lord Lynton agrees to make a marriage of convenience to the daughter of a very wealthy merchant, Jenny Crawleigh, who is decidedly plain and reserved. Adam knows the union is not ideal, and is never likely to be blessed with any degree of romance, but decides to try to make the best of it by being as kind to his new wife and not let her see how he pines for the lost Julia. Jenny, on her part, is committed to make her husband "comfortable" in any way she can.

I haven't read a Georgette Heyer in a while, but I was going on vacation and decided to treat myself.  This one is not my favorite of Heyer's books, but it was a very pleasant read.  It is a little refreshing to read a historical romance that is not based on physical attraction. Though not as funny as some of her other books, there are some decidedly funny scenes, mostly involving Jenny's very gauche father.  The overall tone is just sweet, as the two main characters learn to love, respect, and value each other. (1961, 410 p.)

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

 

Kendra and Seth don't know their paternal grandparents very well, so they are not that thrilled to learn that they will be staying with them for two weeks while their parents go on a cruise.  Their grandparents live on a small farm on the edge of a large forest.  Soon after they arrive, Kendra and Seth feel that some things are not right.  Their grandmother isn't even there, and their grandfather makes lame excuses for her absence.  He also has strict rules about where they can go and what they can do.  Seth just happens to be the kind of kid that thinks rules don't apply to him, and before he knows it he had gotten himself, and ultimately everyone on the farm in big trouble with the mystical creatures that live in the nearby wood.  

I am only a little embarrassed to say that this is my first time reading Fablehaven.  I know it is hugely popular with kids, but I haven't been thrilled with anything else Brandon Mull has written and I didn't really hope this would be any better.  Still, when it came time to pick books for the parent/child book club in September I wanted one a lot of kids would be familiar with and like in hopes of generating a good attendance. As I looked through the list of possibilities I decided this was my best choice.  Of course, that meant I would have to actually read it.  

I will admit, I like it better than either the Candy Shop War or The Beyonders. I wasn't even able to finish either of those.  I did finish this one, and I can see why kids like it.  There is an element of wish fulfillment and some exciting actions scenes. My main issue with Brandon Mull is that the kids in his books are too dumb.  They do really stupid things for no good reason.  This book had that same problem.  Seth is just so stupid.  His grandfather says his life is in danger if he looks out the window.  There is ample proof that this is true, but he looks out the window anyway!  How dumb can you get?  I think the charm for children is that the dumb kid makes all these mistakes, and in the end it turns out okay anyway.  I think it gives dumb kids hope that they may actually survive to adulthood.  (259 p. 2006)

The Other Side of the Coin by Angela Kelly

 

Angela Kelly is the official Senior Dress of Queen Elizabeth II, a post she has held for more than 20 years.  Ms Kelly started out as a lady's maid to the queen, but over time, has come to be a fashion consultant and designer.  Probably more than anyone else, Ms Kelly has made the queen the fashion icon that she is.  This short memoir tells briefly how Ms Kelly rose to the position and then gives more than a dozen behind-the-scene anecdotes about the queen and her wardrobe.  I had no idea, before reading this book, how much it took to keep the queen looking her best.  She can sometimes have five dress changes a day as she moves from one event to another.  Ms Kelly also cares for many of the historic ceremonial garments the queen is expected to wear to state occasions each year.  The book is the second Ms Kelly has written, and both portray the queen is very positive light.  I have a personal interest in clothing and fashion history, and I found this book delightful and fascinating.  (2019, 302 p)

The Darwin Affair by Tim Mason

 

When Charles Darwin finally publishes On the Origin of Species, it has an extremely polarizing affect on the people of Britain.  The Prince Regent, Albert, is impressed with it and wants to give Darwin a knighthood.  Other members of the British elite are willing to go to great lengths to make sure that doesn't happen.  When inspector Charles Fields starts to investigate an assassination attempt on the Royal Couple, he gets sucked into a dangerous web of power, influence, dark forces and madness that threatens, not only Charles Darwin and Prince Albert, but Field's own life and reputation.

This is the current "Big Read" book of the Utah Beehive Consortium.  It is a decent historical mystery, but maybe a little too dark for me.  The body count was pretty high, and there is a lot of depiction of cruel psychological abuse of some children.  The plot is intricate and interesting, and  the depiction of the time period and historical characters is carefully researched.  I think there are a lot of readers who like mystery and intrigue authors like Michael Crighton and James Patterson, who will really enjoy this book.  (2019, 373 p.)

Promised by Leah Garriot

 

Margaret Brinton had her heart broken once before and is determined that it not happen again.  She knows she must marry, but decided to marry someone she has no chance of falling in love with.  She sets her cap at a notorious libertine, Mr. Northam, but her plans are thwarted when Mr. Norton's cousin, Sir Williams,  steps in and asks for her hand instead.  Margaret finds Sir Williams condescending and high handed, but gradually lets him into her heart.

I found this title on the Proper Romance series website.  I am always on the lookout for truly clean historical romance, and this one fit the bill.  Although the plot is super predictable, the characters were well drawn, and it was not overly heavy handed with Christian platitudes.  I imagine I will be reading more by Leah Garriot in the future. (365 p. 2020)

The Year of Less by Cait Flanders

Cait Flanders is a successful blogger who writes about her journey to overcome binge drinking, crushing consumer dept and finally compulsive shopping. This book focuses on the year that Ms Flanders decided to do a shopping "ban" during which she only allowed herself to buy certain things, including groceries, toiletries (only when she ran out) and necessities, when they broke and needed to be replaced.   As part of the ban she went through her belongings and got rid of many things she never used, totaling more than 60% of all her stuff.  She found that she hadn't realized how much she used shopping to handle her emotions and as a social event.   Her ban taught her to value what she did use, and to recognize the emotional burden of owning lots of things she didn't.

It is easy to compare this book to The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up.  I would say that Flanders is more relatable than Kondo--she doesn't seem so fanatical.  That said, I didn't come away from this book with as much motivation to change my life as I did after reading Kondo's book, but that might just be because I read this book second.  Flanders includes more about her life and her relationships with others, and how crisis in her life both threatened and strengthened her resolve to shop less.  At the end, however, I had to wonder if her shopping "ban" was just another manifestation of her extreme, all-or-nothing, approach to life that lead to her drinking and spending problems (through a more healthy manifestation).  I also ended the book feeling like, although an improvement, the commitment to spend less wouldn't ultimately make her as happy as she thought it would.  Soon she would need some other "extreme" scheme to validate herself. Still, this is a good choice if you are looking for motivation to simplify your consumerism. (191 p, 2019)

The Fowl Twins by Eoin Colfer

Myles and Beckett have been raised on stories of fairy folk and the LepRecon forces that live underground.  As much as they loved their brother's stories, they always thought they were just that-- stories.  Then one day a tiny troll shows up on the island where the Fowl twins now live, and their lives change forever.  Myles (the brainy one) and Beckett (the action one) find themselves joining forces with beings they always thought were fairy tales and running from not one, but two evil masterminds. 

I am a big fan of the Artemis Fowl series and was excited that Colfer would revisit the series with this new generation.  I enjoyed the book.  It was fast paced, clever and funny.  I thought the target age group was a little younger than the original series. It had all the fun and excitement of the original series, but lacked some of the deeper moral questions that made the original Artemis Fowl books special. I also wasn't 100% pleased with the reader.  I think he made Beckett sound too lacking in intelligence, when I don't think that was Colfer's intent.  Beckett isn't dumb, he just has a very different set of intelligences than his brother, and that is why they are such a good team.  Still, it was a delightful read and I will probably read more in the series. (368 p. 2019)