My Summer Book Report

Have lots to catch up on, but for now, I've finished my reviews for Cherry Hill Library's Summer Reading for Adults program.  Will hand it in today - we'll see if they use any of them.  I hope you will be tempted to read any one of them - loved them all!

The Kitchen God’s Wife

Amy Tan

Find yourself identifying with the young wife and mother – frustrated and stressed with two daughters, a husband, a mother from another time and place – rushing about and attempting to bridge the gap between old Chinese culture and new American ways.  Suddenly your mother, known as Winnie, not only pulls the rug out from under you, but the scales from your eyes.  Consider China, thousands of years old, steeped in Confucian tradition, where men “rule” the wife and children.  China, where women have no rights, and are considered merely property of their husbands.  The time is the 1930s during a time of civil uprising and then Japanese invasion.  Where Winnie doggedly perseveres against all odds through horror, and, improbably, survives to tell the story.

The Alienist

Caleb Carr

A dark, gruesome and intriguing ride back to the turning point in our nation’s history of crime – when forensic science is born through the efforts of a hodge-podge group gathered under the auspices of none other than Theodore Roosevelt, New York’s Police Commissioner.  Not only will this book hold your interest, and stand your hair on end, but it will trigger an interest to read more about the people and the times Mr. Carr introduces in this page turner.  I had a hard time putting it down!

Frozen Fire

Tim Bowler

“I’m dying” are the first two words in this fast paced, intense novel that had this reader beginning to hold her breath by page 3 and sensing terror by page 16.  The story of a mysterious boy stands on its own; but there are layers of truths and speculation to the story that the reader is left to discover on her own.  Or not.   Tension and mystery abide on every page with a strong dose of the supernatural throughout.  One is left with a sense that the last page is not truly the end of the story.