The Further Adventures of Ociee Nash by Milam McGraw Propst

Eleven-year-old Ociee Nash was born and raised on a farm in Abbeville, Mississippi in the late 19th century. A year after her mother died, when Ociee was only 9, she headed to Asheville, North Carolina to live with her Aunt Mamie. Her adventures there are recorded in "A Flower Blooms on Charlotte Street". Ociee came back home in "Ociee on Her Own" for her brother, Fred's wedding and now she's moving, with her father and her other brother Ben, to Memphis, Tennessee where Fred and his wife live.

Ociee Nash, like Pollyanna and Anne Shirley, has a knack for making people love her. Early in life Ociee learned that a person's appearance has nothing to do with their inner beauty and in her third book of adventures, she once again proves that a caring heart and a willingness to look beyond a person's outside, can break down walls and create friends.

The author has based these books on the life of her grandmother, the real Ociee Nash. Knowing that the books are a fictionalization of a real person's life brings added depths to the major events and lessons in Ociee's life. Though they're intended for an audience much younger than I, I thoroughly enjoyed reading them and would highly recommend them for children between the ages of 8 and 11. If I had a little girl, I know I'd encourage her to find Ociee Nash.

The Best Creative Nonfiction ed. Lee Gutkind

When I first saw this book up for grabs in LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program, I thought long and hard before I requested it. I certainly enjoy nonfiction, and creative nonfiction sounded very interesting, but I've struggled with essay compilations in the past and worried that this might end up being the same thing. In the end, I decided to risk it and I'm very glad I did.

The Best Creative Nonfiction (3) is full of interesting experiments in writing, both through technique and through subject matter. Some pieces, like "Return to Hayneville" and "What Come's Out" are relatively simple in style but their subjects are simultaneously uncomfortable and wonderful. Other pieces, like "Life in Figures" and "Community College" are stylistically innovative while the subject matter is a bit more commonplace. I was never bored while reading and found myself in tears more that once. ("Open Letter" was absolutely heartbreaking).

More than anything else though, this book showed me that my writing interests are shared by others. I've always thought of myself as a nonfiction writer, better at reports and research papers than stories or plays, but yearned for the outlet of creative writing. Suddenly I've been shown the way to this. It has inspired me to realize that all those semi-autobiographical, barely started novels I've struggled with through my life may be able to find new life in fully autobiographical creative nonfiction. My guess is that's exactly what the editor of these volumes is hoping for.

Dirty Little Angels by Chris Tusa

Hailey Trosclair has a hard life. Living in modern-day New Orleans, her mother has recently had a miscarriage, her father is an alcoholic and her brother has been arrested several times. When her brother, Cyrus, starts hanging out with an ex-con preacher named Moses, Hailey joins him. Moses believes he's on earth to be the Hand of God and takes it upon himself to punish the wicked. As he becomes more and more violent, Hailey and Cyrus start to doubt what he's been preaching.

The book was well-written, if a little simile heavy, and the dialogue was believable. So why only two stars? It's a simple matter of taste. I've never lived a life like Hailey's and while I'm well-aware that there are many out there who do, I had a hard time putting myself into her head. Many of the decisions she makes were simply incomprehensible to me because I couldn't understand her logic. That's not to say her decisions were illogical, they would have made sense to her and were believable, I just couldn't understand them.

This is where the book fell short, because a truly great book can put you in the heads of people who's life you have never lived and allow you to understand their thoughts and hopes and dreams. It was a disappointment.

A Year of Cats and Dogs by Margaret Hawkins

When Maryanne's boyfriend Phillip finally moves out, she's left with her cat, Clement and her dog, Bob for company. Her animals quickly become much more than "pets", they are her constant companions, granting her love and loyalty when the rest of the world seems to turn their backs on her. After quitting her job to "find herself", Maryanne discovers a hidden talent, she can communicate with animals. She's soon working at a local shelter as a "dog-whisperer", helping the vet to identify complaints and ensure the wellness of the animals.

This book is many things all at once. It is a book about philosophy, based on the I Ching and subtly comparing the Eastern philosophy of the present being all that matters with the Western philosophy of cause and effect. (Interesting that the same publisher's released a novel about cause and effect earlier this year. A Year of Cats and Dogs makes a good companion piece to The History of Now.) This book is about releasing entropy and learning to live life with a passion.

This is a book about food. Recipes for the food Maryanne prepares are scattered throughout the book. They have names like "Quitting Your Job and Vowing to be Frugal Stew: Chicken Soup for the Sad" and, unlike so many similar books, they're well worth reading. Despite the heavy subject matter of the book, there's a humor that is particularly evident in the way the recipes have been written. Maryanne in fact is a bit reminiscent of Stephanie Plum in the way she reacts to the weirdness that surrounds her with acceptance and sarcasm.

But finally, this is a book about love. In particular about the love that can form between a human and their animal companions (Maryanne dislikes the word "pet".) Anyone who has had an animal in their life like Bob and Clement, will instantly understand the connection Maryanne has with them and their importance to her when her life starts to fall apart. Their are some extremely moving scenes showcasing the love the animals themselves feel, but to share them would spoil the book.

To read A Year of Cats and Dogs, is the matter of just a few hours, but it will leave you with days of ideas to contemplate. If you're an animal lover, a food lover, or a philosophy lover this book will be well worth your time.

Loved Me Once by Gail Hewitt

Forty-four year-old Maggie McLaurin's father left her the house in Atlanta when he died. Though she lives and works in Manhattan, she's struggling to hold on to the house for her mother, who's doctors say a move would likely exacerbate her Alzheimers. However, the property taxes are climbing while home prices around the country decline and the house is slowly falling apart. When Maggie discovers her mother's doctors will cease to accept Medicaid and she goes into a financial panic. Then she's laid off.

When an ex-boyfriend then offers her her dream job, she takes it against her fiancee's wishes, sure it will save all her problems, but her problems are only just beginning.

A classic case of "don't judge a book by its cover", Loved Me Once was a surprisingly good read. Neither the cover art, nor the book synopsis fully do this well-written story justice. "A Novel of Love, Romance and Business" however, is a wonderful description, as I sit here struggling to find a word to describe it. This is not a "romance" novel. There is romance indeed, but it's not the focus of the story. Nor is the financial troubles Maggie works her way through. Refreshingly, this reads as a true to life look at a woman of today, working, loving and living her life in the best way she can.

There are, of course, some fantastical elements. The romance is a bit over the top and most women aren't given jobs where they're suddenly able to employ a personal shopper and fill their closet with designer labels; but, Maggie herself felt real to me. The author, Gail Hewitt, managed to avoid the pitfall I've been noticing with a lot of books recently of drama for drama's sake. Maggie never over reacts to a situation, she reasons things out rationally and her conclusions generally make sense, though I don't necessarily agree with all of them. All the characters are flawed, but inherently likable, the dialogue is realistic for the most part and never felt clunky and the prose was good.

I'd recommend Loved Me Once to anyone who likes their characters real and their situations slightly heightened. It would make a perfect beach or airplane read this summer. I find myself looking forward the the sequel, Love Me Now and the further exploits of Maggie (and the men in her life) but mostly Maggie.

Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo

Kate Burkholder grew up Amish in Painter's Mill, Ohio. When she was a young teen a series of murders gripped the town's imagination, ending when she was fourteen and leaving her to question everything she knew. At 18 she left the Amish community and became a cop. Now she's back in Painter's Mill as the chief-of-police and the murders have begun again. Is it the same killer from before, or someone new?

It's a good premise. In the right hands, it could be a gripping thriller, full of twists and turns and heart-pounding action. Unfortunately, Linda Castillo is not the right hands.

The story is told in both 1st person by Kate and in 3rd person from the perspective of other characters including the killer. An unreliable narrator can be a fun way to keep things fresh, however the 3rd person narration was all told in past tense while Kate told her story in the present tense and I found the switches distracting. Additionally, I've never been a big fan of stories told in the present tense as I inevitably find myself wondering why the character is taking the time to journal when running for their life!

I also found the repetition extremely annoying. I'm not sure if the author forgot what she had written or if she just thought the reader might be stupid but the same information was repeated ad nauseum on several occasions. How many times do you have to describe the grain silo? Or tell us who "Pickles" is? I felt I was being condescended to more than once.

The characters were all idiots too. Several times Kate would "notice a red flag" and then promptly forget about it so that she could "notice" it again a few pages later. The "terrible secret from her past" she spends much of her time worrying about seems overdone and the constant harping about it diminishes it's impact over time. The "final reveal" of the secret should come as no surprise at all to anyone who's read a thriller or two before. Finally, Kate's reluctance to involve anyone when she finally figures out who the killer is feels contrived to provide the big climactic scene which ruined it for me.

I did manage to get through the entire book, unlike similar stories I've tried recently, so there are some redeeming qualities, mostly the premise itself. If you are a fan of thrillers and don't care about choppy editing, unrealistic dialogue and incomprehensible intuitive leaps, you'll likely enjoy this book. If, like me, you've reached a point where you want good writing in addition to a good story, this one's not for you.

So You Think You Can Dance week 8

After last week, I've all but given up trying to predict who's going to win. I can't say that any of the routines really blew me away last night, though many of them were very enjoyable, I just didn't get that emotional connection to any of them. I have decided that if Brandon and Kayla aren't in the finale, it will be a serious travesty, so I attempted to vote for them, to do my small part. I got through on Kayla's line okay, but every time I tried Brandon's I got a message saying the number was not in service, which is troubling.

As to the other four, I adore Evan, but don't think he's very good at other styles of dance, and I truly don't understand why he's never been in the bottom. I'll be happy if he makes it to the finale, because I think he's a cutie, but I definitely don't want him to win. As to Jeannine and Melissa, as far as I'm concerned they're interchangeable. I've enjoyed watching them both, but I don't think they have the star power Kayla does.

So, that's what I have. Nothing left to do now but sit back and see who makes the finale!