A Gift from Bob

By James Bowen

If you have read the other books by James Bowen you will definitely get a warm Christmas feeling from his latest book, A Gift from Bob. If you haven’t read the other books, you should. How Bob affected James’s life is truly remarkable. James made many bad choices due to bad circumstances in his life. He was working on making his life better when he met Bob and this chance meeting was the boost that really was the icing-on-the-cake. Bob is a ginger street cat that needed James as much as James needed him. If you like animals at all, you will love these books.

~ Beckie H.

Sweet Home Alaska

By Carole Estby Dagg

Terpsichore’s Father has lost his job at the mill and it doesn’t look like things are ever going to improve. The great depression has hit hard in Wisconsin. When Terpsichore’s family gets chosen to go to Alaska to homestead, she is so excited! She loves the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and she wants to live just like Laura did. Mother is not too happy about the move and says she will “vote” on whether to stay after the first harvest.

Terpsichore falls in love with Alaska along with her father and twin sisters. Mother will have to be convinced however, and Terpsichore starts planning to win her over by the end of the local fair.

This is a juvenile book suitable for any reader.

~ Dixie

Mud Season

By Ellen Stimson

A very funny chronicle of one family’s transition from city life to real country living in Vermont. That culture shock alone is funny but when Ellen decides she wants to own the old fashioned country store, the calamities start coming at an alarming rate. Anything that could go wrong did with (most of the time) hilarious results. I’m pretty sure the broken bone healed. I always enjoy stories of people totally out of their element.

~ Dixie

Lovable Livable Home – How to Add Beauty, Get Organized, and Make Your House Work for You

By Sherry & John Petersik

I want to read anything with the word “organize” in it. Someday maybe I will master that. In the meantime there are some great books about it including this one. Nice photos of livable rooms and ideas that don’t take a professional to accomplish. Now I’m pretty sure I need a Murphy bed. . . .

~ Dixie

Interstellar

DVD format

Cooper is an ex-pilot who is now a farmer in the Midwest. The earth is foundering and mankind’s existence is being threatened. Cooper and his daughter stumble upon a secret NASA station and learn of a most important mission in the history of mankind. Cooper agrees to pilot this mission to see if humans can find a planet that will sustain life. This is a great cast including Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and Michael Caine. Very enjoyable!


~ Dixie

Annie’s Quilted Mysteries

This 12 book series includes:

A Patchwork Murder – by Jan Fields
Raven Threads – by K.D. McCrite
A Midsummer Night’s Seam – by Racheal Phillips
Broderie Curse – by Jan Fields
Innocent Until Proven Quilty – by Donna Kelly
Oceans Selvage – by Jan Fields
A Deadly Pattern – by Liz Penney
Unsavory Notions – by Amy Lillard
Seam of the Crime – by Jan Fields
Celtic Chains – by Donna Kelly
Sab Stitched – by Liz Penney
Unraveled Secrets - by Jan Fields

This series is the type that can be purchased from a book-of-the-month club. I thought it might be something that I would enjoy because it involved quilting and mysteries: two topics that I enjoy in a book. There is only one set in the Clevnet system so it makes it a necessary to wait a bit for the next book. Emma Cotton and Kelly Grace are co-owners of a quilt restoration business in Mystic Harbor, Massachusetts. Fifteen years before the first book takes place their best friend dies falling down a stairway at the college where she worked. Emma always felt it was murder but the police declared it an accident and closed the case quickly. Emma never believed it was an accident and had been trying for 15 years to get the police to reopen the case. She received a clue from a friend and decides to investigate the murder herself with help from Kelly and her Aunt Dottie Faye. The series takes the reader to Europe twice and different locations in the US. I found the books entertaining and wanted the next book as soon as I finished each title. I think you will like this series, give it a try.

~ Beckie H.

Tricky Twenty-Two

By Janet Evanovich

Fans of Stephanie Plum will not be disappointed by the latest in the series. Stephanie is always getting into trouble and the trouble in this instillation is really big. Ken Globovic (aka: Gobbles) has missed is court date, while looking for him Stephanie discovers he is the Supreme Exalted Zookeeper for Zeta House fraternity and there is definitely something funny going on at that house. While she is trying to find Gobbles, there are two murders and her life is in danger more than once. I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll leave the rest for you to discover. I’ve always enjoy the Stephanie Plum novels as a book on CD in my car because Lorelei King does such a fantastic job. If you have only read her books, give the book on CD a try, you’ll laugh your way down the road.

~ Beckie H.