The Vampire Book Club 1 & 2 by Nancy Warren

 In the first book we meet Quinn Callahan who is a middle-aged divorced witch from Seattle. When she misuses her magic, the Witch Council forces her to move from Seattle to a small town in Ireland.  There she takes over the home and bookshop of another witch, Lucinda, who has also left due to the wishes of the Council. Quinn is looking forward to a fresh start and has decided to keep her witch skills on the down low when she walks into her book shop for the first time and finds a dead body. The dead man's aura hangs around the shop and she feels compelled to try to solve his murder. As she begins to investigate she is surprised to find out that a group of Vampires meet in her shop once a week in the middle of the night to have a bookclub.  Frightened at first, she quickly warms to them and enlists them to help her investigation. (2020, 246 p)

In the second book Quinn is attending her first Irish wake for a man she barely knew.  The deceased's daughter begs her to help her dispose of her father's jumble of possessions by taking all the books he left behind. As Quinn goes through the books, she finds and old grimoire written in Gaelic. While reading through it whe accidentally releases a long-dead dark witch who used to live on the dead man's property. When there is another death, Quinn is once again thrown into a murder investigation, while simultaneously trying to decide what to do with the dark witch who seems determined to haunt her. Once again she rallies the help of the book-loving vampires to solve the mystery. (2020, 230 p.)

I have been enjoying the Vampire Knitting Club series, but end up waiting for weeks for the next of the series to become available on Libby. I decided to try this series by the same author.  It exists in the same world as the Vampire Knitting Club, and Raef even makes a cameo appearance in the first book. It is very much like the other series.  The main difference is that Quinn is a more experienced witch, so she is not struggling to learn her witchcraft like Lucy is. Still, like in the first series, there is a wealthy vampire that becomes someone of romantic interest to Quinn, just as Raef is to Lucy. Also, there is some tension between Quinn and the local coven due to Quinn's earlier indiscretion. The plot of the first book was a little weak with an all-too-convenient confession in the end. I thought the second plot was a little better, but really, these books are not enjoyable because of the clever mystery plots, but because of the cozy world building.  

The Catalog of Shipwrecked Books by Edward Wilson-Lee

 Everyone has heard of Christopher Columbus, but how many of heard of his sons, Diego and Ferdinand?  This book tells the story of Columbus' family from the point of view of Ferdinand who traveled with his father on some of his voyages, but later made a name for himself as a scholar and voracious collector of books and other print material. Ferdinand was too young to accompany his father on his early voyages, but served as a page in the court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella where he gained a good education. He accompanied his father on his fourth voyage, but when Columbus died in 1505, Ferdinand began his life long quest to gather and catalog all the books, pamphlets, and printed pictures he could find.  Unlike other scholars of his age, he didn't focus on the classics or religious texts. Instead, he delighted to find lesser known texts, including printed newspapers, handbills, and writings from marginalized groups like the Moors and others. As his collection grew, he developed systems of organizing and cataloging the material that was ahead of his time.  He also became important in politics, since his study had given him a broad understanding the the workings of the world. Constantly fighting to keep the memory of his father alive, he wrote a biography of Columbus that became one of the most important sources for modern understandings of his life and accomplishments.

This is another book that was available on Libby as a celebration of the 250 anniversary of the founding of America. As a librarian, I found the story of Ferdinand's bibliophilia and innovative cataloging system very interesting. If the author is to be believed, Ferdinand's library was the forerunner of such library staples as card catalogs, indexes arranged by topic, and even placing books vertically instead of laying them down horizontally on shelves. I was also interested to hear how Ferdinand interacted with other famous people of the Renaissance and had a front row seat to important events like the opening of the Sistine Chapel fresco by Michelangelo, and the formation of the Protestant reformation. That being said, the writing of this book is very academically dense, and I admit that at times I found myself tuning out. I am not sure how interesting this book would be to the general public, but it should be required reading for anyone studying the history of libraries. (416 p. 2019)

Emily's Tree by Lisa Washburn

 Emily's home life is less than ideal.  Her mother drinks, her grandfather sits in an armchair smoking and watching TV, and the whole house is a mess. The only light part of Emily's life is her love of art, and a recurring dream she has had since she was small, about a beautiful place with a tree and and kind woman. One day Emily has a fight with her family and flees the house. As she sits on a bench in a park two young sister missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints approach her and offer to buy her hot chocolate. That is the start of her journey from darkness into light.  She eventually goes to the local LDS church and meets the Baker family.  They are kind to her and ignore her worn out clothes and the smell of smoke the hovers around her.  In fits and starts, Emily comes to recognize the spiritual meaning of her dream and make her way toward a better life as a member of Christ's church. 

This is a new novel, self-published through Amazon, by a  LDS author who is the relative of one of my friends.  It is very heartwarming and earnest.  The story is sweet, if a little predictable, and the two protagonists are likeable and relatable. The transformation that occurs in Emily's life during the story reminded me of the changes in some of the people I saw who joined the church when I was an LDS missionary, though to my knowledge none of them had visionary dreams to help them along. It is a decent first novel and portends good things to come from this author in the future. (302 p. 2026)

History Smashers: The Mayflower by Kate Messner

 Almost all American school children first learn about the Pilgrims' arrival in America in kindergarten Thanksgiving celebrations when they hear about the Mayflower, Squanto, and the first Thanksgiving. How much about that over simplified story is true?  This book, written for children, examines the truth, myths, and complexities of what really happened when Europeans started settling in North America.  There is a lot of emphasis on how the event affected the native peoples who were already living in the region and the difficulties both they and the early settlers had in survival and intercultural relationships. It also tracks the possible origins of some of the misconceptions about the Mayflower story.

Because of the 250 anniversary of the founding of America, Utah's Libby consortium has made several books about the history of the United States available to check out without waiting lists.  This is one of them.  Most of what is mentioned in the book I, as an adult, had already heard, but I did encounter a few new facts.  The book is written at a child's level, but it doesn't pull any punches about the injustices enacted on the native peoples by the arriving Europeans. Since I have been working in the schools this year, it made me wonder what is the proper way to teach children about the Pilgrims.  How early do we expose them to collective guilt about how Europeans stole land and abused the people living on it, not to mention causing the death of millions by bringing disease to this continent for which native peoples had no resistance?  Should kindergarteners be making Pilgrim hats and paper feathered headbands? How about 4th or 5th graders?  It is a difficult question. If a parent or teacher wants to breach it, this is a good resource. (224 p., 2020)

Spy School Revolution by Stuart Gibbs

 In this 8th installment in the Spy School series, Ben is back in Washington DC, at the headquarters of the CIA when a grenade launcher hits the room next to him.  Someone is trying to kill him, and Zoey believes it is Erica Hale. All the Spy School friends get sucked into a quest to discover the truth about a historical supervillain organization called Croatoan.  Was it really behind all the major upheaval in the U.S. since the time of the Revolution?  Does it still exist? Can they stop it from destroying America as we know it?

Here's another Spy School mystery.  It is much like the others, i.e. fast paced, fun and full of interesting facts. This one explores Ben's conflicting emotions about Zoey and Erica, and their feeling about him, so that is an added bonus. These are always fun, and I would recommend them or any of Stuart Gibb's series to middle grade readers who like action/adventure. (352 p. 2020)

Fair Isle and Fortunes by Nancy Warren

 In this sixth of the Vampire Knitting Club series, Lucy's cousin, Violet, has volunteered to play the part of a fortune teller at a village fair.  When one of her fortunes turns out to be "dead" accurate, local fear and distrust of witches spikes.  Lucy decides she must solve the murder to diffuse the tension between the townsfolks and her cousin's coven. With the aid of the vampires, particularly Rafe, she digs deep into the past when another murder had rocked the community.  Could the two murders be related?

Here is another in one of my fluff-and-fun series. This one is much like most of the others and doesn't really advance the overarching plot very much.  Still, it has the delightful characters and quirky setting that draws people to the series and keeps them reading more. The mysteries in this series all have the same shape, but Warren does a good job of not making the solution too obvious. (232 p. 2019)

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riodan

 Percy Jackson never did well in school.  He has dyslexia and ADHD and trouble seems to find him wherever he goes. Then a disastrous field trip reveals that he is really a demigod and that monsters from Greek mythology want to kill him.  His best friend takes him to Camp Half Blood where other demigods train to be come heroes. There he makes friends and is sent on a quest to recover something that has been stolen from Zeus himself. 

Of course, I read The Lightning Thief when it first came out and even met the author. That was before I started this blog, so I never blogged about it.  My husband and I recently watched the Percy Jackson videos on NetFlix so I decided to read the first one again. It really is a fun series with non-stop action, well crafted characters, and fun world building. It also helped me realize that the NetFlix version does a good job capturing the spirit of the books. (2006, 377 p.)