Courting Mr. Emerson by Melody Carlson

 George Emerson is about to retire after working for more than 20 years as a high school English teacher.  He is what some would call "buttoned up," and others, mildly obsessive-compulsive. Even though he is retiring early, he doesn't really have plans for retirement.  He vaguely imagines himself lounging around his house, and keeping a comfortable, solitary routine.  Those plans are interrupted when George meets Willow West.  She is the grandmother of one of his best students, and a child of the Hippie movement.  Her colorful clothes, and habit of butting into George's business both confuse and mystify the introverted George.  Their relationship is bumpy to say the least, but whenever something threatens to separate them forever, something always brings them back together. 

I just picked this one off the shelf as I was waiting for a hold to come in.  It turned out to be a very charming Christian romance and I am glad to have found a new author that I can explore. This book had the feel of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand which I loved. The characters are well drawn and endearing.  Even Willow's looser daughter ends out as sympathetic in the end. The Christian element is important in the story.  The second half of the book is as much a story about George's journey of faith as it is a romance, but it is very palatable and well integrated into the story as a whole. I am looking forward to trying other books by Carlson. (2019, 452p.)

Deep Work by Cal Newport

Deep Work emphasizes the importance of creating a place to eliminate distractions and truly focus on work.  The book is targeted at people with jobs that require working through complex problems and Newport asserts that finding time and space for focused uninterrupted work is the only way for people in these kinds of fields to truly excel.  The first part of the book gives reasons why deep work is important and many examples of famous people who intentionally create time and space for deep work.  The second part of the book talks about strategies to eliminate distractions and find time to "unplug" to accomplish deep work.  One of his main points is that email and the internet is one of the biggest distractors.  He urges people to consider electronic communication as only one of many tools, and that we must evaluate and decide if its benefits justify the time we spend on it.  He also discusses different ways people can find time to unplug.  These range from taking long sabbaticals to just carving out time each day when we don't check email and social media.  

This is a very timely work since addiction to electronic devices has become a major 1st world problem.  He makes some good points that people think having an active twitter feed or answering constant texts is essential for their careers, when maybe it isn't. Much of what he says primarily applies to jobs where you are trying to create a an intellectual product, like a research paper or some other kind of research.  As a professor, Newport fits squarely into that category.  For someone in a service oriented position, (like a librarian or library director) staying present and accepting interruption to help others is more important.  Still, the book is very accessible and engaging, and I think almost anyone can find here ideas to ponder and good advice for personal improvement. (304 p. 2016)

What Came from the Stars by Gary D. Schmidt

 Tommy is trying to hide the dorky lunch box his grandmother gave him for his birthday, when he finds a strange necklace inside.  It seems to change and morph in his hands, and when he puts it on, he gains access to the memories and skills of an all-but-extinct race from a different planet.  As Tommy experiments with his new abilities, others are looking for the necklace, and not for noble purposes.  As inimical forces pressure Tommy to give up the necklace Tommy has to decide what he will be willing to sacrifice to save a people he understands intimately, but never met. 

This is a very interesting and original book.  Schmidt intersperses chapters from Tommy's life with ones from the foreign planet.  The ones from the other planet are written in a grand, epic style, reminding me a little of the style of Beowulf, and the chapters about Tommy are written in normal narrative style.  As the two cultures come together, the author switches more freely between the two styles.  It is very clever, but what else would I expect from Gary Schmidt?  Like all Schmidt's books, this one has a lot of heart, with a very sweet relationship between Tommy and his sister as both deal with the death of their mother.  I also liked the friendships between Tommy and his classmates. Mostly, I liked that it is different, not like all the other middle-grade fantasy/sci-fi I have read before. This, like The First Boy, is one of Schmidt's earlier books, and didn't quite have the impact of OK for Now, but it came close. (294 p. 2012)

The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontorvat

 Sai pretends to be a well-bred young woman from a prominent family, but she is really the impoverished daughter of a petty criminal.  By a stroke of luck, she becomes the assistant to a famous mapmaker, and when the emperor calls for ships to go on exploring expedition she jumps at the chance to accompany her master, if only to get away from her overbearing drunk of a father. Once on the high seas, her excitement about the adventure wanes when she discovers that her shipmates have hidden agendas that lead into danger.  She must choose between glory and honor, loyalty and riches and the choice might just cost her life.

This is an interesting Newbery honor book from last year.  The book is clearly set in a fantasy world based on an Asian culture, but I didn't know it was based on a Thai legend until I read the Amazon blib just now.  This book has a lot going for it. It is an exciting adventure story with a strong but complex main character. There is intrigue and mystery. The reader, like the characters, is not sure whether the legends about the Sunderlands are true or not until the very end. There is also a loud and clear message about the consequences of unrestrained ambition and imperialism.  I am always glad when a Newbery winner is actually going to be an easy book to recommend to kids and I think this one fits the bill. (2022, 368p)

A Dream of Ebony and White by Melanie Cellier

Princess Blanche is devastated when her father dies.  She is so overcome with grief that she fails to notice as her stepmother swiftly moves to consolidate her own power and take the thrown that should have gone to Blanche. Luckily, her oldest friend, Alexander, a royal huntsman, overhears the new queen's plan to have Blanche killed, and secrets Blanche away into the vast and dark forest.  In the forest, Blanche and Alexander become separated, and Blanche happens on a little cottage inhabited by seven orphaned children.  She tells the children her name is Snow, and soon settles into a, if not easy, at least comfortable, life with them. When Alexander finally finds her again, and tells her all the terrible things her step mother is doing as queen, Blanche knows she must muster all the courage she never thought he had and try to win back her throne. 

About 6 months ago I put a book on hold.  While I was listening to the Left-Handed Booksellers book, the book I had been waiting for came available.  I hurried to finish the Bookseller one, returned it and went to open the one I had been waiting for months for. It was then that I realized that in my haste, I had accidently returned the book I hadn't listened to, instead of the one I had just finished.  Oh Nooooo!  Sadly I put that book on hold again, with months before it will become available, and looked for something to listen to until my next hold came in. This is the one I chose.  It is the next in the Cellier series that began with A Dance of Silver and Shadow. It was actually a good choice.  Cellier's books are all pretty similar, but the good thing is that they are dependable.  They are clean and not too dark.  The writing is pretty good, and they all have happy endings. It is always fun to see how she will incorporate the elements of the original story into her retellings. Sometimes she gets a little tongue-in-cheek.  When Blanche arrives at the cottage in the woods and sees the children for the first time, she says, "Oh, you are children!" and one of the orphans quips, "What? where you expecting, dwarves?" So, hooray for Cellier, who is prolific enough to fill all the gaps in my book holds. (300 p, 2018)

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix

Susan Arkshaw is excited to be turning 18.  She plans to leave home and her slightly spacy mum and go to London to find her dad before she starts college. When she gets to London she visits a man whom she thinks might be her father, or at least might know something about him.  When he ends up dead, she finds herself swept up in a world she never knew existed. A left-handed bookseller (i.e. guardian of the interface between humans and the fairy realm), named Merlin, saves her from demons and other nasty supernatural creatures who seem to have taken an interest in her. Merlin and his right-handed sister, Vivien, work together to find out who Susan really is and why a particularly nasty part of the fey realm is trying to kidnap her. 

I don't think there has been a Garth Nix book that I didn't like.  This one isn't his best, but it is still very fun.  Early in the book the Merlin character talks about how children's fantasy authors cause problems for "booksellers" because they accidently unearth ancient rituals and stories relating to the fey and include them in the books. Then, through the rest of the story, Nix makes very subtle references to creatures and things in children's fantasy stories.  It is as if Nix said to himself, "what would a world be like if all the magic in classic children's fantasy were real," and then wrote a book based on that. Nix is nothing if not clever. Susan is a sympathetic character, and Merlin is just fun. He is a enthusiastic cross dresser and Nix has a great time dressing him up in outrageous outfits throughout the book.  The second in the series just came out last month and I will probably end up reading it. (2020, 416 p) 

Humble Pi by Matt Parker

Matt Parker is an math educator and a stand-up comedian. In this book he talks about several ways math errors have caused problems in history.  The book is divided into sections dealing with similar kinds of math errors such as round off error, coding errors, dividing by zero, errors caused by different units of measurement and others.  It sounds terribly dull, but the book is actually very entertaining. All week as I was listening to the book I was sharing funny stories with anyone who would listen.  Sometimes, of course, math errors have caused tragic loss of life, and Parker is sensitive to that.  He uses those stories as cautionary tales. Many of the stories, however, caused inconveniences, and huge expenses, but no death. The audiobook is narrated by the author and he does a good job communicating the delight he finds in uncovering and figuring out the most outrageous historic math mistakes.  I mostly picked this book because I am married to a math professor, but I think it would have wide appeal to people who like humorous nonfiction. (2020, 336 p)

Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce

Margery Benson lives a lack-luster life as a domestic arts teacher at a girls' school.  One day a cruel joke played by the girls pushes over the edge and she walks away from it all and decides to attempt to fulfill a life long dream of finding a legionary gold beetle of New Caledonia. She will be the leader of the expedition, but she needs an assistant, especially since her hip is none too flexible these days.  Only four people apply, and only one gets the job when the others turn out unsuitable or unwilling. Her assistant, Mrs. Enid Pretty is the opposite of Margery. Bold and vivacious, she has an uncanny way of making the impossible happen. As the two women face life threatening nature and soul killing societal prejudice together, they find freedom by throwing off social convention and sharing with each other their painful pasts. 

I am still puzzling over this book. I both loved it and found it hard to finish. On the one had I think Joyce is a brilliant writer. She has an amazing turn of phrase, and some of her sequences are laugh-out-loud funny.  Enid and Margery are very sympathetic and relatable. I had two struggles with the book.  One was the pacing which was, in my mind, painfully slow.  If the book had been 25% shorter, I think it would have been a better book. I think the other is that I just am not a huge fan of the "dream the impossible dream" type stories.  People can improve their lives without doing something drastic and dangerous. (spoiler alert) I also wasn't thrilled with the ending.  I can kind of see why it had to end that way, but after committing 12 hours to the story, I felt pretty bummed at the ending. (2021, 368 p)