WRLC September 2008 Book Reviews

Mistaken Identity | The Alchemyst | The Broken Window
The Long Table
September's Quick Flick's - list of weekly additions to the collection

Featured Book

Mistaken Identity / Don Van Ryn

In 2006, Laura Van Ryn and Whitney Cerak, students at an evangelical college in Indiana, and their families were victims of a ghastly mistake when the wrong girl was identified as one of the survivors of a car crash that claimed multiple lives. Only after five weeks, with one of the girls buried under the wrong name, was the error discovered when the surviving girl fully emerged from her coma.

The families and the survivor, Whitney, record their experiences in this account. Both girls were extremely similar in appearance, and Whitney suffered a traumatic brain injury in the accident, which caused her to be very confused when she first starting regaining consciousness. Mannerisms which were unlike her were put down to the brain injury while familiar actions were confirmation that she was recovering. Eventually however questions about her identity were raised, and the Van Ryn family had to face the fact that it was their daughter who had died in the accident and the girl they had been caring for, for the last five weeks, was Whitney Cerak.

The incident caused intense media interest, both because of the number of young people killed in the initial accident and then the resulting mistake in identity, and the families had to deal with this intrusion into their lives at a time when they were dealing with intense grief. The families however relied on their strong Christian beliefs to help them cope, and this is very much reflected in the book.

The Alchemyst : the secrets of the immortal Nicholas Flamel / Michael Scott. (Young Adult fiction)

Nicholas Flamel was born in Paris in 1330, and reputedly died in 1418. Now, nearly seven hundred years later he is acknowledged as the greatest Alchemyst of his day, and rumoured to have discovered the secret of eternal life.

In current day San Francisco, Nick and his wife Perry Fleming own ‘The Small Book Shop’. One summer morning four strange visitors arrive, attack the shop, take Perry hostage and also steal a rare book. The stolen book is the book of Abraham the Mage, and hidden in it is the secret of eternal life, the elixir which has been keeping Nick and Perry alive for centuries. Also caught up in the chaos are twins Sophie and Josh Newman, who have taken summer jobs at the bookshop and a café across the street.

Josh manages to snatch two pages from the book, and he and Sophie discover that they are mentioned in the book’s prophecies “the two that are one will come either to save or to destroy the world” and that they have their own magical powers. Thus starts a desperate race to rescue Perry and retrieve the book before the thief, Dr. John Dee, can use it to destroy the world.

Scott has populated his book with fantastic beings from folklore, mythology and history from around the world, some support Dee, and others will help Nicholas and the twins. Although much action takes place this enthralling story ends on a precipice, with the story to be continued in the second book of the series.

The Broken window / Jeffrey Deaver

Lincoln Rhyme is wrapped up in a transatlantic case when he gets an unwelcome phone call: his cousin, Arthur, has been arrested for first-degree murder. All the evidence says he did it. And this much evidence can’t be wrong.

Or can it? As Lincoln and Amelia investigate, they find a spider web of crime woven by the most insidious killer they have ever encountered. A man obsessed with collecting – from junk on the street to intimate details about his victims, to the ultimate trophy: human lives themselves. This is a man who tortures and murders, a man proficient with razors and guns, but whose most dangerous weapon is information.

Information he obsessively culls from the corporate and government databases which contain every single aspect of our lives. Information he wields with ruthless precision against those he targets … and against those who try to stop him. Deaver introduces us the world of identity theft and data mining, where Strategic Systems Datacorp has files on over four hundred million people and details their communications, financial records and activities. However, someone in the company is using the information to frame innocent people for the crimes he is committing.

Terrifyingly up to the minute, breathlessly paced and endlessly inventive, this new novel from the master of the twisty thriller gives us a rare insight into his best-loved creation, Lincoln Rhyme, with information about his family and past providing added interest.

The Long Table : my love affair with food / Mary Moody.

Australian author Mary Moody is best known for her expertise as a gardening writer and television presenter, and for the autobiographical account of her adventures in a rural village in South West France.

In “The Long Table”, Mary takes us on a nostalgic journey in which she recounts how her life had been shaped by the love of food, cooking and sharing these pleasures with generations of family and friends. The food in her childhood was simple – the food of the fifties before the great cultural shift brought on by European and Asian migration. As a young wife and mother she cooked on a wood-burning stove in the mountains, bringing up her children on fresh, often home-grown produce. In France she learned how to cook French provincial food. And now, living on a farm in rural New South Wales, she bring all of that experience together as she cooks for her children and grandchildren and serves them at her beloved long table – a large table made from Australian hardwood that can set16-18 people at a pinch.

The book is divided into four main sections – Growing up; Raising the family; France; The Farm. Each section has an introduction which includes details about family events and activities and comments on which was fashionable in cooking at the time. Then there are a range of recipes covering all meals from breakfast through to lunch and dinner.

The book is wonderfully illustrated with photos of Mary’s family and friends, the places she has lived, and of the recipes themselves.

September's Quick Flick's

1 September 2008

City Of Ashes by Cassandra Clare. Quick flick: Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries?
Mosaics by Kaffe Fassett. Quick flick: Knitter Kaffe Fassett teams up with designer Candace Bahouth and does for mosaics what he has already done for knitting, needlepoint and patchwork. This source book features 24 projects for readers to tackle themselves.
Chasing Darkness by Robert Crais. Quick flick: It is fire season, and the hills of Los Angeles are burning. Fire Department personnel rush to evacuate the inhabitants, and find the days-old corpse of a middle-aged recluse who apparently committed suicide. Clutched in his lap is a photo album containing photographs of seven young women who have been murdered, each photograph was taken only moments after the women were killed.
Changeling: The Autobiography of Mike Oldfield by Mike Oldfield. Quick flick: Born without social instincts many people take for granted, brought up in a troubled environment and possessed with an extraordinary musical talent, Mike Oldfield was thrust into the spotlight at the tender age of nineteen. His first album Tubular Bells went on to sell fifteen million copies worldwide and catapulted him into a stardom he was ill-equipped to cope with.
The Turnaround by George P. Pelecanos. Quick flick: On a hot summer afternoon in 1972, three teenagers drove into an unfamiliar neighborhood and six lives were altered forever. Thirty five years later, one survivor of that day reaches out to another, opening a door that could lead to salvation. But another survivor is now out of prison, looking for reparation in any form he can find it.
My Family Is All I Have: A British Woman's Story of Escaping the Nazis and Surviving the Communists by Helen Alice Dear. Quick flick: Helen-Alice Dear was only fifteen when she left London to visit Bulgaria on a family holiday in 1937. Just weeks after her arrival, she found herself unable to leave and struggling to survive in an increasingly hostile and terrifying environment. Her marriage to a Bulgarian man bore her four children but they were often homeless, cold and hungry. Despite these hardships, Helen refused to give up hope and bravely managed to protect and raise her family. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Helen was finally able to fulfil her dream of returning to her homeland.
Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death by Deborah Blum. Quick flick: Pulitzer Prize-winning author Blum tells the fascinating story of William James--philosopher and Harvard psychiatry professor--and his scientific investigation into unexplainable incidences of clairvoyance and ghostly visitations.
A Bike Ride: 12, 000 Miles Around the World by Anne Mustoe. Quick flick: When ex-headmistress Anne Mustoe gave up her job, bought a bike and took to the road, she couldn't even mend a puncture. 12,000 miles and 15 months later, she was home. From Thessaloniki to Uttar Pradesh, from Chumphon to Singapore, she faced downpours, blizzards and blistering deserts, political turmoil and amorous waiters - alternated with great kindness from strangers along the way.
Nelson's Purse by Martyn Downer. Quick flick: For nearly two centuries, a red morocco dispatch box lay forgotten in a castle attic. When Martyn Downer opened the box and broke its spell, he uncovered a cache of fascinating and intimate letters relating to the life of Britain's greatest naval hero, Horatio Nelson. As Downer explored the castle, he went on to find a treasure trove of never-before-seen objects, including Nelson's swords, medals, porcelain, guns and even the purse he was carrying on the day he was shot at Trafalgar in 1805, still containing its gold coins. As Downer identifies each item and its provenance, we gain fresh insights into the personal and domestic lives of Nelson, his jilted wife Fanny and his mistress Emma, Lady Hamilton.
This Game Of Ghosts by Joe Simpson. Quick flick: A sequel to the award-winning Touching the Void, in which Simpson described a fall in the Himalayas which crippled and almost broke him. This is a memoir of the signposts that have directed him since childhood to measure fear and embrace the unknown.

8 September 2008

The Mayday by Bill Eidson. Quick flick: The Mayday is the second installment of an acclaimed new series featuring ex-DEA Agent Jack Merchant and boat repo contractor Sarah Ballard. This time they are searching for a man's wife and children, missing on the high seas.
The Broken Window by Jeffery Deaver. Quick flick: Rhyme's cousin has been arrested for murder. The evidence clearly shows he did it, but Rhyme agrees to check things out. It turns out that the cousin along with other people has been wrongly convicted because the true killer knows every single detail about the lives of the victims he kills and the men he sets up to take the fall for those crimes.
Valley-Westside War by Harry Turtledove. Quick flick: Usually Crosstime Traffic concerns itself with trade. Our world owns the secret of travel between parallel continuums, and we mean to use it to trade for much-needed resources with the worlds next door. Preferably without letting them know about any of that parallel-worlds stuff. But there's one parallel world that's different. In it, the atomic war broke out in 1967, at the height of the Summer of Love. Now, Crosstime Traffic has been given a different sort of mission: find out what on earth, or on the many earths, went wrong.
101 Ways To Work Out On The Ball by Elizabeth Gillies. Quick flick: Sculpt your ideal body with pilates, yoga and more.
Loss Of Innocence by Ron Clem. Quick flick: The Clems were a family living the American dream until their fifteen-year-old daughter Carren became addicted to Meth. Within two months of first taking the highly addictive drug Carren had moved out of the family home, spent her entire savings on Meth and resorted to stealing, dealing, and prostitution to pay for her habit. Loss of Innocence is told both from Carren's perspective and from the perspective of her father Ron.
Pressing The Right Buttons: People Skills for Business Success by Allison Mooney. Quick flick: People skills are extremely important in the business world today. To be successful at any level you need to be able to work with a variety of people, communicate with them, and keep them happy. This book provides a simple framework for analysing personality types and will show you the best ways to motivate people of these different types and keep them productive.
They Called Him Boy by Peter Fenton. Quick flick: Andrew 'Boy' Charlton set his first world record as a school boy. He became an Olympic and World Champion in the 1500m swim, and like Grant Hackett, in a number of shorter distances. He medalled in the 1500m in 1924, 1928 and 1932. In between each Olympics he retired and stopped competing to either complete his studies (he was only 16 at his first Olympics), or work as a jackeroo. Only taking up training, if at all, in the months prior to a competition.He was, and remains, admired by swimmers and lovers of sport past and present.
Secrets Of The Baby Whisperer For Toddlers by Tracy Hogg. Quick flick: In Secrets of the Baby Whisperer for Toddlers Tracy reveals the know-your-toddler quiz to help determine how best to help and 'handle' your toddler. She explains the critical techniques for fostering your toddler's growth and independence and advises on discipline, one of the most troublesome toddler issues, as well as socialising and toilet training and much, much more.
Still Waters by Camilla Noli. Quick flick: In the suburbs, a young mother is looking after her two children. She has been a successful career woman in control of her life and used to attracting her husband's undivided attention. But now her control is slipping away. Motherhood is devouring her life.
Ragdoll Cats by K.L. Davis. Quick flick: Its name describes this feline. When it's picked up, it relaxes completely, going as limp as a ragdoll. This volume is filled with handsome, full-color photos, instructive line art, and easy-to-read tables and charts. It provides information on all aspects of pet care for new and prospective pet owners.

15 September 2008

Birth Skills: Proven Pain-management Techniques for Your Labour and Birth by Juju Sundin. Quick flick: The most anticipated part of pregnancy is giving birth yet most pregnancy books devote only a chapter or two to this miraculous event and the physical discomfort that accompanies it. Uniquely, Birth Skills concentrates solely on helping you, and your partner, manage the pain of childbirth - from the first contraction, throughout the labour to the actual birth itself.
Precious Blood by Jonathan Hayes. Quick flick: 'They found her in the East Village, nailed to the wall of a railroad flat'. Dr. Edward Jenner is a New York forensic pathologist: he has attended countless murder scenes and performed thousands of autopsies but the killing of 21 year old Andie Delore is different. The naked body is marked with an indecipherable ancient script and is arranged in the shape of a ritual sacrifice. The murderer poses as a cop.
Pay It Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde. Quick flick: It all started with the social studies teacher's extra-credit project: Think of an idea for world change, and put it into action. Whilst this proved a little ambitious for most of his classmates, twelve-year-old Trevor thought he would start by doing something good for three people. But instead of paying him back, he would ask them to pay it forward by doing a favour for three more people. If it all went to plan, Trevor thought, it would be the start of a long chain of human kindness.
Set In Stone by Linda Newbery. Quick flick: When Samuel Godwin, a young and naive art tutor, accepts a job with the Farrow family at Fourwinds, their majestic home, little does he expect to come across such a web of secrets and lies. His two tutees are as different as chalk and cheese - the beautiful younger sister Marianne, full of flightiness and nervous imagination, and Juliana, controlled and sad. With their governess, Charlotte Agnew, Samuel begins to uncover slowly the horrifying truth behind Juliana's sadness and Marianne's emotional fragility.
Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva. Quick flick: The violent death of a journalist leads agent turned art restorer Gabrial Allon to Russia. Here he finds that in terms of spycraft, the stakes are the higest they've ever been. He's playing by Moscow rules now. It is not the grim city of Soviet times, but a modern Moscow, awash in oil wealth and bulletproof Bentleys.
6 The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. Quick flick: A lost child: On the eve of the First World War, a little girl is found abandoned on a ship to Australia. A mysterious woman called the Authoress had promised to look after her - but has disappeared without a trace. A terrible secret: On the night of her twenty-first birthday, Nell Andrews learns a secret that will change her life forever.
The Outcast by Sadie Jones. Quick flick: 1957, and Lewis Aldridge is travelling back to his home in the South of England. He is straight out of jail and nineteen years old. His return will trigger the implosion not just of his family, but of a whole community. A decade earlier, his father's homecoming casts a different shape. The war is over and Gilbert has recently been demobbed. He reverts easily to suburban life - cocktails at six thirty, church on Sundays - but his wife and young son resist the stuffy routine.
Simple Chinese Cooking by Kylie Kwong. Quick flick: Cooking Chinese food at home has never been easier, all you need is this book, a wok, and a trip to the supermarket.
Pebble Mosaics: Step-by-step Projects for Inside and Out by Ann Frith. Quick flick: Talented designer Ann Frith has drawn on the ancient tradition of pebble mosaic to devise 12 contemporary projects using pebbles and other natural materials such as broken slate, flint and glass. Traditionally used as outdoor decoration on garden paths and floors, Ann also shows how it can be incorporated in the home - in entrance ways, conservatories, bathrooms or on fire hearths.
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. Quick flick: Neal Stephenson hacks into the secret histories of nations and the private obsessions of men, decrypting with dazzling virtuosity the forces that have shaped the past century. Weaving together the cracking of the Axis codes during WWII and the quest to establish a free South East Asian 'data haven' for digital information in the present, Cryptonomicon explores themes of power, information, secrecy and war in the twentieth century in a gripping and page-turning thriller.

22 September 2008

Heartsick by Chelsea Cain. Quick flick: When beautiful serial killer Gretchen Lowell captured her last victim, the man in charge of hunting her down, she quickly established who was really in control of the investigation. So why, after ten days of horrifying physical and mental torture, did she release Detective Archie Sheridan from the brink of death and hand herself in?
Flood by Stephen Baxter. Quick flick: Next year. Sea levels begin to rise. The change is far more rapid than any climate change predictions, metres a year. Within two years London, only 15 metres above the sea, is drowned. New York follows, the Pope gives his last address from the Vatican, Mecca disappears beneath the waves. Where is all the water coming from?
The Council Of The Cursed by Peter Tremayne. Quick flick: When Bishop Leodegar of Autun calls upon the church leaders from western Europe to attend a council, it is to be a meeting haunted by sudden death and intrigue. It's AD 670, and the Council of Autun is meeting to discuss serving a final devastating blow to the Celtic Church. But when a conflict between two delegate results in the murder of the chief delegate from Hibernia, the entire Council is in danger.
Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs. Quick flick: When a careless plumber accidentally knocks through a wall, he is horrified by what he uncovers. Called to the scene is forensic anthropologist Dr Temperance Brennan. Fighting her claustrophobia, and the unmistakeable sweet, fetid odour of rotting flesh, Tempe descends the precariously steep, makeshift wooden steps. What awaits her below is a ritualistic display: slain chickens and a goat - and a skull, ghostly pale, rests on a pedestal, the lower jaw missing, the empty orbits starring back at her.
Keep The Bastards Honest by Don Chipp. Quick flick: Keep the Bastards Honest reviews the life of a key figure in Australian politics and exposes the political and humane elder that is Don Chipp. Interwoven with humorous anecdotes.
The Wolfman by Nicholas Pekearo. Quick flick: Marlowe Higgins has had a hard life. Since being dishonourably discharged after a tour in Vietnam, he's been in and out of prison, moving from town to town, going wherever the wind takes him. He can't stay in one place too long - every full moon he kills someone.Marlowe Higgins is a werewolf. For years he struggled with his affliction, until he found a way to use this unfortunate curse for good - he only kills really bad people.
Bonsai With Japanese Maples by Peter D. Adams. Quick flick: With their delicate foliage, seasonal color changes, and intricate pattern of branching, Japanese maples are among the most popular and suitable plants for bonsai design. Internationally renowned expert Peter Adams discusses both the specific horticultural needs of Japanese maples as bonsai subjects and illustrates proven techniques for creating and maintaining beautiful specimens.
Ornamental Bamboos by David Crompton. Quick flick: Bamboos are among the most fascinating of plants. Their unusual life cycle, tremendous power of growth, and extraordinary diversity of size and form give them a special significance in gardens. And gardens of all sizes can accommodate these elegant plants, which are cold-resistant and surprisingly easy to grow.
King Dork by Frank Portman. Quick flick: Tom Henderson is small, skinny and awkward, and pretty much feels like an idiot most of the time. But when he discovers his father's copy of The Catcher in the Rye, it changes his world. It puts him in the middle of several interlocking conspiracies and at least half a dozen mysteries involving dead people, naked people, fake people, ESP, blood, guitars, monks, witchcraft and rock and roll. It's the tip of a very odd iceberg of clues that could help Tom unravel the puzzle of his father's death, and - bizarrely - reveal the secret of attracting semi-hot girls. Teen.
Blood Red, Snow White by Marcus Sedgwick. Quick flick: Set at the time of the Russian Revolution, the end of a centuries old dynasty, the rise of the Bolsheviks sent shockwaves around the world. This is the story of one man who was there. It's real history - about the riches and excesses, the glory of the Russian nobility, Nicholas and Alexandra, their haemophiliac son, Alexei, notorious Rasputin, Lenin and Trotsky who ruled from palaces where the Czars had once danced till dawn. Teen.

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Wimmera Regional Library Corporation

September 2008 Book Reviews