Karen's Staff Picks

I loved this book.   It's not a happy story, but it takes you on a journey every single parent can imagine.   It draws you in, little by little, until you suddenly stop, look around and ask yourself how you got where you are now.  The story revolves around the tragic loss of a young child, and the lives of those drawn into the whirlpool of the accompanying emotions, events and inevitable self doubts.  The love of family and true friends supports Mark, the boy's father, through the worst of it, but he eventually has to take a step on his own.  He thought he was ready, but one of those steps presents a challenge he may not be up to.  Could it be true?

Wonderful book.   The lighthouse captivated me right from the start.  Seeing them in New England when I was a child gives them a special place in my imagination.  I have always wanted to stay in one.  My mother has told us only recently that dad actually thought about chucking it all and buying one.   But back to the book.  I loved it and had a hard time putting it down.  The characters were alive, and every single thing felt real.  There is much pain and sadness, but you feel it inside yourself without actually having to wade through depressing text.  Very artfully written, hard to believe this is a first novel.  Yes, I cried. 

Another just plain fun read! If you like the Stephanie Plumb books, you'll like this series too. Diesel, one of Ranger's employees, breaks out on his own set of adventures. They are full of the same madcap mayhem we see with Stephanie, Morelli and Ranger, but these add a layer of magic and mystical powers. Lizzy is a pastry chef in Salem Massachusetts who also happens to be a "finder". Her talent is sensing special properties of inanimate objects. Lizzy and Diesel are off on a mission to find another one of a set of magical stones before Wulf or any other bad guys can get it. (His full name is Gerwulf Grimoire, and he's Diesel's evil cousin.) The cast of characters continues on and on. There's Glo, who works at the bakery, has a magic broom, and is trying very hard to learn magic spells. There's Ms. Wortley, who owns Ye Olde Exotica Shoppe for all your wizarding and spellcasting needs. There's Carl, Diesel's pet monkey who has an amazing vocabulary for a monkey. And yes, there's a cat! This is the second in the series, be sure to start with Wicked appetite so you don't miss a thing!

The first sentence sets the perfect tone for this wonderful debut novel from Alice LaPlante.  "Something has happened."  With so much attention on Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, this book provides a thoughtful but thoroughly terrifying portrait of a victim.  Dr. Jennifer White is a renowned orthopedic surgeon. She has retired, and is doing volunteer work at a local clinic.  She also has dementia, and doesn't quite remember how her neighbor ended up murdered, missing four expertly removed fingers.  Her son, daughter and caregiver each deal with their own issues in addition to helping Jennifer navigate the foggy world that is her life.

Loved this book! A BBC British comedy in print. The main character is drawn to perfection; Constance Harding is a totally clueless but well meaning, well-bred, English lady. Her home is "a comfortable five-bedroom Georgian house located on the outskirts of a pleasant village in Surrey." She defines herself as wife to Jeffrey, mother to Rupert (a 25 year old IT consultant) and Sophie (a slightly directionless adolescent); she dotes on her Eclectus parrot Darcy. This book is a year in her life, told through her blog entries. Rupert thought she might want to tell the World Wide Web all about it, rather than him -- "He is such a thoughtful boy." -- so she does. Enter a Lithuanian housekeeper, a troupe of bell ringers, a handsome Argentinean gaucho, and Ivan the Terrible. What a year for Constance! There are a couple of British terms I had to look up, but this emerges as a very entertaining, if a bit messy, story of friendship, family, and love.

I know, I know, we all cried when we read or saw Marley and Me. Do you really want to read another book about a man and his dog? I say yes, you do -- this one is different. By now you have figured out that I am a sucker for any animal story. That's likely why I put a hold on this title when I read a review. But I'm glad I did. Do you watch a news show in the morning to see what's going on the world around you? Do you cringe at some of the local interest spots? Do you laugh at those outtakes that show the news personality getting knocked down, or splashed or licked by some kind of critter they don't want to even touch? And do you root for the critter? Then you'll like this book. Barney literally shows up on reporter Dick Wolfsie's front porch one cold winter day and Dick figures he should be safe for a few hours. Before you know it, Barney is, well, not allowed to be unsupervised in the house. So he starts going to work with Dick in the mornings. For the next ten years, Barney works his way into countless news stories, and becomes a mascot of sorts. The actual setting is Indianapolis, but the fun is universal. I've never been owned by a beagle, but apparently if you have, you will relate to this on an even deeper level. A fun quick read guaranteed to leave you with a smile!