Top Ten Tuesday: Books for Ages 4-5

Picture Book Review, Top Ten Tuesday 4

Happy Top Ten Tuesday! Today I’m going to list ten books I love for approximately ages 4-5. (I’m putting overlap in the ages for these lists to be able to include more!)

Last week I learned that I was not the first one to think of the Top Ten Tuesday meme, so after my list of Sondy’s Selections for ages 4-5, I’ll include a list for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday at The Broke and the Bookish — books that make me cry.

The titles I’ve reviewed will link to the review, and the others will link to Amazon. Next week’s list will be books for beginning readers. Be thinking of your favorites!

Sondy’s Selections, Ages 4-5

Timothy and the Strong Pajamas, by Viviane Schwarz
Timothy Smallbeast’s favorite pajamas wear out, but his mother mends them into Super Strong Pajamas. After a day helping others with his Super Strength, his new friends come to his aid when he needs them.

The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig, by Eugene Trivizias, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
Three sweet little wolves are up against a pig who “isn’t called big and bad for nothing.” When blowing down their houses doesn’t work, the pig starts in with a sledgehammer. This hilarious twist on the traditional tale will have everyone laughing.

A Visitor for Bear, by Bonny Becker, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton
Bear does NOT allow visitors. But a persistent mouse quickly has readers wondering where he will pop up next. Despite Bear’s best efforts, the mouse shows Bear that some things are better with friends.

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, by William Steig
In this Caldecott Medal-winning book, Sylvester the donkey finds a magic pebble and rashly wishes to be a rock when attacked by a lion. But how can a rock reach the pebble to wish himself back?

Officer Buckle and Gloria, by Peggy Rathman
Officer Buckle is sure that his safety demonstrations are a hit with kids. He doesn’t realize that his dog Gloria is acting out all the accidents behind his back.

Millie Waits for the Mail, by Alexander Steffensmeier
Everyone who sees this book will enjoy the silly situations as Millie the cow waits for the mail – so she can scare the mail carrier out of his wits.

Clever Cat, by Peter Collington
A cat learns that being too clever can backfire. Maybe not a great message, but very funny.

The Dot, by Peter H. Reynolds
Here’s a beautiful little book about making your mark and not judging yourself by other people’s standards. Kids who read this will never dare to say they’re “not good at art.”

The Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter
The classic tale of a naughty rabbit outwitting Mr. MacGregor is still as pleasing as ever.

Horton Hatches the Egg, by Dr. Seuss
A faithful elephant tends a nest because he meant what he said, and he said what he meant.

And now, a special bonus list in honor of the Top Ten Tuesday at The Broke and the Bookish:

This week their list topic is Books That Make You Cry.

Now, when I was a teen, a book had to make me cry to be counted one of my favorites. But it was hard to remember which ones those were. I think I cried a lot more easily then!

Anyway, here’s the list I came up with of my favorite books that made me cry:

1. Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
2. Emily’s Quest, by L. M. Montgomery
3. Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell
4. Light From Heaven, by Christmas Carol Kauffman
5. Heidi, by Johanna Spyri
6. Mister God, This Is Anna, by Finn
7. Little Britches, by Ralph Moody
8. A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken
9. Jacob Have I Loved, by Katherine Paterson
10. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, by Gary Schmidt

Now, please add to the fun and share your favorites (in either category) in the comments!

NaNoWriMo 2010

NaNoWriMo 0

Today begins NaNoWriMo 2010 — National Novel Writing Month.

I’m actually not going to participate this year, but I did think it would be a good month to set a goal for my writing. I will record how many words I write on my novel and my blogs, but I didn’t want to focus on a new novel this year. The fact is, I am getting very very close to having my work-in-progress ready to send out to agents and/or editors. Now, the rewriting process is not one that causes a high word count, so I will probably not come close to 50,000 words.

However, here is my goal for the month of November:

Finish revising and rewriting my middle grade fantasy novel, The Mystical Mantle and have it ready to send out.

It would also be nice to get more than 36,000 words written this month on my book and my blogs and set a new monthly record. However, it might be difficult to do that, since my divorce case is this month, and if our lawyers can’t reach an agreement, I’ll need to spend most of my free time for a couple weeks compiling the papers for the court case. I’m also hoping to maybe visit my family in California over Thanksgiving.

So — it’s not a good month for getting a lot of writing done, but on the other hand, nothing would boost my spirits more than finally finishing my book. (And I think it’s already much better than anything I’ve sent out before — maybe it’s finally my turn to get published…)

Even if I don’t meet my goal of finishing, I hope to be mighty close, and that will make me happy.

Write on!

Review of The Cardturner, by Louis Sachar

Contemporary, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Cardturner

by Louis Sachar

Delacorte Press, New York, 2010. 336 pages.
Starred Review

Ever since he was small, Alton’s parents have drilled it into him that his great-uncle Lester is his favorite uncle. Uncle Lester is rich, very rich, and Alton’s parents want to be remembered should anything ever happen to him, God forbid. He’s only actually met Uncle Lester one time, when Alton was six, at his uncle’s sixty-fifth birthday party. When Alton’s a junior in high school, his uncle takes a turn for the worse, and his parents start thinking what they could do with his money.

One person they’re worried about is Sophie Castaneda.

“I’d heard about the Castaneda family all my life, ‘the crazy Castanedas,’ but I never quite got my uncle’s relationship to them. It was complicated, to say the least.

“From what I understood, Sophie Castaneda was the daughter of Uncle Lester’s ex-wife’s crazy sister.

“When Uncle Lester was in his twenties, he had been married for less than a year. His wife had a sister who went insane. The sister had a daughter named Sophie King, who later changed her name to Sophie Finnick, and then became Sophie Castaneda when she got married.

“See what I mean?

“According to my mother, all the Castanedas were bonkers. I met Toni Castaneda, Sophie’s daughter, at my uncle’s sixty-fifth birthday. Toni was about six years old, and I remember I was glad to find someone my own age to play with. Toni ran up to me. She covered her ears with her hands, her elbows sticking out, and shouted, ‘Shut up! Leave me alone!’ and then she ran away.

“She didn’t do that just to me. I watched her tell other people to shut up and leave her alone too. I thought she was funny, but when I tried playing that game, I got in trouble for saying shut up.”

On one of Uncle Lester’s turns for the worse, he goes blind. Alton’s Dad figures he’ll have to stop playing cards, but then his mom hears that Uncle Lester is playing cards four days a week with Toni Castaneda. They aren’t sure how he can do that when he’s blind. Then they get some insight into it:

“It was the second-to-last day of school. I didn’t have any summer plans, just a vague notion about getting a job. I had just driven Leslie to her friend Marissa’s house, and when I got home I heard my mother say, ‘Alton would love to spend time with his favorite uncle!'”

Uncle Lester wants Alton to drive him to his bridge club and be his cardturner. He will tell Alton what card to play, and Alton will play it. Toni had the job before, but then, before playing a card, she asked, “Are you sure?” thus revealing to the other players that Uncle Lester had more cards he could play. He fired Toni and wants someone who knows nothing about bridge. Alton qualifies.

It turns out that Uncle Lester — Trapp is what everyone calls him at his bridge club — is a fantastic bridge player. Alton tells him the cards in his hand at the beginning of each game, and Trapp has no trouble remembering them all and all the cards played during the game. Other people ask him for advice after the day’s play, and he can still remember the cards that were dealt.

You might think a book about playing bridge would be boring, but this is anything but. When the plot requires some detail about the game, the author inserts a whale symbol (because of all the whaling details in Moby Dick) and then a summary box, so if you choose you can skip the details and cut to the summary.

Yes, this is a book about playing bridge — Trapp would like one more shot at the national championship — but it’s also about Alton learning about his uncle and his uncle’s surprising life. And then there’s Toni Castaneda, who is Trapp’s protege as a bridge player. She doesn’t seem crazy to Alton. Too bad his best friend seems interested in her.

I especially enjoy the last third of the book. I can’t give away what happens, but it’s perfect, and what follows brings everything together.

I grew up playing Rook, which is like a very simple form of bridge, so I could follow the play pretty well. The book did make me want to learn bridge! Like other Louis Sachar books, this book strongly appealed to the mathematical side of my brain. You can think of the bridge play as a series of puzzles, which were fun to read about. It was all in the context of a very human story, adding up to a great book.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/cardturner.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Review of You Can Be Happy No Matter What, by Richard Carlson

Nonfiction Review, Personal Growth 0

You Can Be Happy No Matter What

Five Principles for Keeping Life in Perspective

by Richard Carlson, PhD

New World Library, Novato, California, 1997. 141 pages.

You Can Be Happy No Matter What hit the spot for me. Some nice, practical advice on being happy.

Since my husband left me a few years ago, and I’m still going through a divorce, my life has not turned out the way I planned — not at all. But I’m bound and determined that I don’t want choices someone else made to ruin my happiness. Richard Carlson gives you some nice practical advice to help yourself be happier more of the time.

Here are some passages I liked:

“When you can recognize the feeling of happiness when it’s there, you will realize that this feeling is what you have been looking for all along. The feeling isn’t leading somewhere else — it’s the goal, not the means to a goal. If the bride-to-be understands that her happiness comes first from within, she can make the decision to marry or not to marry from a place of wisdom, not from a place of lack. If she is already happy, the marriage will also be happy. If the couple then decides to have children, the children will grow up in a happy environment without the pressure of being someone’s source of happiness. The same will be true throughout the life of any happy person. Happiness breeds a happy existence and a joyous way of looking at life….

“Happiness is right now. Your life is not a dress rehearsal for some later date — it is right here, right now. The invisible quality of happiness we have all been looking for is right here in a feeling.”

He reminds us that we don’t have to be led by our thoughts down unhappy paths:

“There’s nothing to fear from thought itself, once we understand that it’s just thought.

“Perhaps the greatest misinterpretation of this principle is to believe that the goal is to control what you think about. It isn’t. The goal is to understand thought for what it is: an ability you have that shapes your reality from the inside out. Nothing more, nothing less. What you think about is not ultimately going to determine the quality of your life, but rather the relationship you have to your own thinking — the way you manufacture your thoughts and respond to them. Do you hear your thinking as reality, or as thought?”

Another insightful comment was to lower our tolerance for stress, which I interpreted as meaning to be more aware of your feelings if you want to have positive feelings:

“Surprisingly, the solution to stress is to begin to lower our tolerance to stress. This is the opposite of what most of us have been taught, but it is the truth. Lowering our tolerance to stress is based on the simple principle that our level of internal stress will always be exactly equal to our current tolerance. This is why people who can handle lots of stress always have to do just that.

“People with extremely high levels of stress tolerance might end up with a stress-related heart attack before they begin to pay attention to what the stress is telling them. Others may end their marriage or find themselves in a recovery center for alcohol or drugs. People with lower tolerance might begin paying attention to their stress earlier, when their job first begins to seem overwhelming or when they find themselves snapping at their children. Still others, who can’t tolerate stress at all, sense that it’s time to slow down and regain perspective when they start merely having negative thoughts about their friends or family.

“The lower our tolerance is for stress, the better off we are psychologically. When our goal is to feel our stress as early as possible, we can “nip stress in the bud” earlier, and return more quickly to a positive feeling state. We have choices; in fact, we have a series of “choice points,” in any situation. The longer we wait to disregard the stressful thoughts, the more difficult it becomes to bring ourselves back to our natural state of mind. Eventually, with practice, any of us can get to the point where we are aware of our negative thoughts before they pull us off track.”

The basic format of the book covers five principles for being happy, and then talks about how to apply them. The chapters are short and simple, but there are definitely some dynamic principles here. The chapters made nice selections to read at the beginning of the day to remind me of things like this:

“To a happy person, the formula for happiness is quite simple: Regardless of what happened early this morning, last week, or last year — or what may happen later this evening, tomorrow, or three years from now — now is where happiness lies. Happy people understand that life is really nothing more than a series of present moments to experience. Mostly, they understand that right now, this very moment, is where life is truly lived.”

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/you_can_be_happy.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books for Ages 3-4

Picture Book Review, Sondy's Selections, Top Ten Tuesday 0

It’s Top Ten Tuesday! The day when I give a list of ten recommended books in a certain category. Today’s category is books for ages 3-4. It’s more fun if others join in! Please, join in the comments with your favorite books for this age group, or better yet a link to your blog post where you list your favorites. Even if you don’t have a list of ten, I’d love to hear from you! The more the merrier!

The titles I’ve reviewed will link to the review, and the others will link to Amazon. Next week’s list will be for ages 4-5. Be thinking of your favorites!

Sondy’s Selections, Ages 3-4

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, by Bill Martin, Jr, and John Archambault, illustrated by Lois Ehlert
Rollicking sounds and rhymes have the naughty little letters of the alphabet climbing up and falling down from the coconut tree. Irresistible rhythm!

Katie Loves the Kittens, by John Himmelman
Katie is a dog who loves the new little kittens but doesn’t know how to contain her enthusiasm for them. A great twist on welcoming new members of the family.

The Lion and the Mouse, by Jerry Pinkney
This 2010 Caldecott Medal-winning picture book wordlessly tells the famous fable with lush pictures full of details your child will want to examine over and over again.

Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey
This much-loved classic has ducklings Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack following their mother through Boston to get to the Public Garden, with help from kind policemen stopping traffic.

Book! Book! Book! by Deborah Bruss, illustrated by Tiphanie Beeke
The animals of the farm want something to do and go to the public library. But only the hen can get the librarian to understand what she wants.

The Three Pigs, by David Wiesner
This Caldecott Medal-winning book plays with the rules of illustration to show the three pigs escaping the wolf by fleeing from their book, and then visiting other books to find resources to build a happy ending.

Millions of Cats, by Wanda Gag
This timeless classic tells of a very old woman and a very old man who want one little cat and find millions and billions and trillions of cats.

A Porcupine Named Fluffy, by Helen Lester, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger
Poorly named Fluffy is angry when others laugh at his name – until he meets a rhino whose name is even less appropriate.

Serious Farm, by Tim Egan
Farmer Fred is too serious. The animals on his farm try to make him laugh, and don’t succeed until something happens that’s very serious to them. This book will succeed right away at making the reader laugh, child or adult.

Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming, illustrated by G. Brian Karas
A farmer goes to greater and greater lengths to keep bunnies out of his garden. Each time the bunnies get in, there’s a refrain ending with Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!

In My Mailbox #3

In My Mailbox 0

It’s time for In My Mailbox! I’m finding this a fun excuse to talk about the books I just checked out. Though I may eventually subside with embarrassment as people find out how many books I actually check out but don’t get read and how far behind I am on writing reviews! This having a full-time job cuts down on blogging time, I’m afraid!

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren.

This week, the first batch of books I checked out is here:

Picture books: Zero, and The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark
Nonfiction: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Children’s Fiction: The Kneebone Boy, by Ellen Potter
Teen Fiction: The Amaranth Enchantment, by Julie Berry
Adult Fiction: Miss Hargreaves, by Frank Baker

Since I only review picture books I’m super excited about, I ended up turning those two back in unreviewed.

The next batch of books checked out:

Here we have:
Picture Books: Zen Ghosts, by Jon Muth, and Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten? by Audrey Vernick
Teen Fiction: A Wizard of Mars, by Diane Duane
Children’s Fiction: A Whole Nother Story, by Dr. Cuthbert Soup

Then on Saturday I went to the Zen of YA Literature Conference, where Catherine Gilbert Murdock was speaking. I purchased copies of Front and Center and Princess Ben, and got them signed.

Oh, I also checked out three audiobooks, and am listening to the first one: Carpe Diem.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned, but ever since I came home from ALA with an overabundance of review copies, I have started trying to discipline myself to alternate my fiction reading between a library book and a book I own. So this week I finished the library book Behemoth, by Scott Westerfeld, and then read the book I own, Enchanted Ivy, by Sarah Beth Durst. Both were excellent, and Enchanted Ivy especially so! Reviews will be coming — some day! I also finished the audiobook Flipped, by Wendelin Van Draanen. It was very good, but I didn’t want it to end where it did.

This week I got one review posted and one review written.

It doesn’t take a math major to figure out that I am just getting further behind! My current score is I now have 31 books I have read and would like to review, and 16 books that I have written a review for, which need to be posted.

But at least I’m having fun!

Review of Ladybug Girl at the Beach, by David Soman and Jacky Davis

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Ladybug Girl at the Beach

by David Soman and Jacky Davis

Dial Books for Young Readers (Penguin), 2010. 36 pages.
Starred Review

A big thank-you to Betsy Bird for calling my attention to this book on her Fuse #8 blog.

This is another favorite of the year so far for me — another one with such wonderful illustrations, I hope it gets some Caldecott attention.

Lulu has already made an appearance in Ladybug Girl, and today her family is going to the beach. She has a ladybug swimsuit, complete with wings and antennae.

Lulu is excited to come to the beach. But then (in a stunning two-page spread) she sees the big waves and thinks it’s a good day for just making sand castles. Her dog, Bingo is a steadfast companion through the whole book.

Of course sand castles don’t last all day. They fly a kite, get some ice cream…

The whole book feels so real. It brings me right back to my first few times at the beach. The first time she gets her feet wet:

“Suddenly a wave crashes into her legs and nearly knocks her over.

“Just as she gets her balance the whirling water races back and tries to pull her in. Her feet get buried in the sand up to her ankles.

” ‘Are you okay, Bingo?’ Lulu asks. She looks around to see if anyone noticed that they were almost carried away, but everyone is playing just as they were before.”

The pictures that accompany this section are perfect — first tentatively dipping a toe in the water, then bracing against the splash of a wave, then bracing the other way and trying to keep her balance as the water rushes out, leaving big swathes in the sand in front of their feet.

The whole book so beautifully catches Lulu’s mood — happy, a little scared, kind of tired, a little bored — and then, determined!

Lulu gets determined when she’s digging in the sand for pirate treasure and the tide comes in and tries to take away her favorite pail. That’s when she remembers that she is Ladybug Girl!

Ladybug Girl isn’t afraid of anything!

From then on, we see Ladybug Girl and Bingo playing happily in and out of the water.

“Ladybug Girl and Bingo play until the bright blue sky turns pink. They make footprints in the sand.
“At least 14 miles of them, Ladybug Girl thinks. Every time the ocean erases them, they make more.”

Reading this book will make you remember what it’s like to be a child at the seashore. And don’t let me stop urging you to take a look at this book yourself to see the exquisite watercolor paintings. They’re playful, they’re gorgeous, they’re joyful, and most of all the artist knows how to perfectly portray a little girl who still has a tummy and loves being Ladybug Girl. Beautiful!

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/ladybug_girl_at_the_beach.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books for Toddlers

Picture Book Review, Sondy's Selections, Top Ten Tuesday 0

It’s Top Ten Tuesday! Each week, I’m sharing my ten favorite recommendations in a given category. Last week, I listed books for babies, ages 0 to 2. This week, my list will be books for ages 2-3. I made the categories overlap so I could include more!

Again, I’ll provide links to my reviews if I’ve written one, and links to Amazon if not.

Top Ten Tuesday is more fun if others participate! Please leave a comment with your own favorite books for ages 2-3 or a link to your own blog post about it.

Next week, I’ll cover ages 3-4.

Sondy’s Selections, Ages 2-3

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems
Reading this book, the child gets to make the rules. The pigeon begs and pleads and throws a temper tantrum, but please don’t let him drive the bus!

Bark, George! by Jules Feiffer
When George tries to bark, the wrong animal sounds come out! George’s mother takes him to the vet, who finds animals inside George. Simple text gives excited anticipation as the animals get bigger and bigger.

Go, Dog. Go! by P. D. Eastman
This classic book explores colors and shapes, in and out, over and under, using dogs and cars and a big dog party at the end.
(Don’t get the board book – This is a book that should not be shortened!)

Pete’s a Pizza, by William Steig
This book is a fun excuse to play along as Pete’s father turns him into a pizza – with lots of tickling as he goes.

Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley
In this book, a big green monster gradually appears, using cleverly shaped cuts in the pages. Then, the reader says, “Go away!” to each scary part until the end, “And don’t come back! Until I say so!”

Toot Toot Zoom! by Phyllis Root, illustrated by Matthew Cordell
Fun sound effects abound throughout this story, as a red fox drives up a sky-high mountain and finds some friends.

Good Night, Gorilla, by Peggy Rathmann
The pictures tell the story in this book where the gorilla follows the night watchman around the zoo, unlocking the cages.

Oh, Daddy! by Bob Shea
The little hippo’s silly Daddy keeps getting everything wrong, so he has to show Daddy how to do simple tasks.

Little Quack, by Laurel Thompson, illustrated by Derek Anderson
Five little ducks, named Widdle, Waddle, Piddle, Puddle, and Little Quack are trying to get the courage to jump into the water behind their mother. Splish! Splash! Sploosh!

Llama Llama Red Pajama, by Anna Dewdney
A simple story with strong rhymes portraying night time worries calmed after Mama Llama doesn’t come back as fast as little Llama wishes.

PS: For even more fun, today, as if in honor of Top Ten Tuesday, the American Library Association announced the Teens’ Top Ten! Teens around the nation have voted on their favorite books written in 2009. Two of the books were also favorites of mine: Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins was the Number 1 choice, and Fire, by Kristin Cashore, was Number 9. Congratulations to all the winners!

So go pick up some great books for toddlers AND for teens!

In My Mailbox #2

In My Mailbox 0

Here’s another week’s look at what’s In My Mailbox. This meme is hosted by The Story Siren.

This week, I did not actually receive any books in my mailbox. I did, however, check out plenty of books from the Fairfax County Public Library.

The books are:
The Library Doors, by Toni Buzzeo. I’d been wanting this book, to see if it would be a good one to use for library tours. Of course, I’m currently not in a position where I’m offering library tours, but maybe again some day….

Orangutans Are Ticklish, by Steve Grubman. Need I say more?

Front and Center, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. I finished her earlier books Dairy Queen and The Off Season in audiobook form, and I can’t wait for the audiobook to find out what happens next! Besides, next week I get to hear the author speak at the MAYALIG conference!

The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise, by Julia Stuart. This is a book for adults for which I read a good review. Last time I checked it out, I had to return it unread.

The Magical Ms. Plum, by Bonny Becker. I love Bonny Becker’s books about Bear and Mouse. Surely this will be good, too.

Not pictured, I also checked out Touch Blue, by Cynthia Lord, based on a good review.

I didn’t read this many books this week. Of the books pictured last week, I had to return Reckless unread. I did, however, stay up all night last Sunday night reading Coronets and Steel, by Sherwood Smith, and thoroughly enjoyed it. (Monday was a holiday, so I went to sleep after I finished the book. It wasn’t a smart way to do it, but it was fun.)

I made a policy after getting back from ALA with 124 new books. From now on, I will read one library book, then one book I own. Coronets and Steel was a book I own, so next I read a library book: I have almost finished Behemoth, by Scott Westerfeld. Next I would like to tackle some of the review copies I’ve received, but I may finally tackle Wuthering Heights, as I was prompted to by reading Clare Dunkle’s The House of Dead Maids.

This week I also finally finished Women Who Run With the Wolves, by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, from my nonfiction pile. I go through nonfiction chapter by chapter in a rotating pile, so it tends to take me a long time. I’ve been reading that excellent book for a very long time and finding it inspirational.

I’m actually trying to slow down my reading a little bit, because I currently have 28 books I have read and want to write reviews for, and 15 books I have written reviews for and want to post. I did get more written this week than the number of books I finished, so that means I made progress, right?

Hmm. This may get discouraging reporting on how many books I check out and how slowly I’m getting them reviewed! I’ll try it a little longer and see if I make progress….

Review of The Double Comfort Safari Club, by Alexander McCall Smith

Fiction Review, Light Reading, Mystery, Starred Review 0

The Double Comfort Safari Club

by Alexander McCall Smith

Pantheon Books, New York, 2010. 211 pages.
Starred Review

This is now the eleventh installment of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. Though I think it would be an enjoyable book as a stand-alone, I still recommend that people start at the beginning, and they will be all the more touched by these developments in the lives of old friends.

In The Double Comfort Safari Club, we again have a nice tangle of cases for Mma Ramotswe, Botswana’s premiere detective, to solve. One of them necessitates that she and Mma Makutsi take a business trip to a safari camp, which is where the book gets its name. (I love the titles in this series!)
As usual, the solutions to the mysteries don’t really involve intellectual puzzles, as in traditional detective tales. These are more a chance for Mma Ramotswe and her friends to reflect on human nature and draw wise conclusions about life.

In this book, a terrible accident happens to Phuti Radiphuti, and his aunt tries to use it as an opportunity to keep him from Mma Makutsi. The reader’s heart will be touched, but be glad that she has friends like Precious Ramotswe to find a way to help in a bad situation.

As always, reading this book is like spending time with wise and kind friends. And the variety of cases keep things interesting. Always fun.

“Mma Ramotswe thought about this. Having the right approach to life was a great gift in this life. Her father, the late Obed Ramotswe, had always had the right approach to life — she was sure of that. And for a moment, as she sat there with her friend, with the late-afternoon sun slanting in through the window, she thought about how she owed her father so much. He had taught her almost everything she knew about how to lead a good life, and the lessons she had learned from him were as fresh today as they had ever been. Do not complain about your life. Do not blame others for things that you have brought upon yourself. Be content with who you are and where you are, and do whatever you can do to bring to others such contentment, and joy, and understanding that you have managed to find yourself.

“She closed her eyes. You can do that in the company of an old friend — you can close your eyes and think of the land that gave you life and breath, and of all the reasons why you are glad that you are there, with the people you know, with the people you love.”

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/double_comfort_safari_club.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.