A Series Of (Un)Fortunate Reviews

30 Days of Night is a graphic novel; it is the first in a series of graphic novels of the same name. It is also the graphic novel upon which the movie of the same title is based; the movie version stars Josh Hartnett and Melissa George. 30 Days of Night is so titled because for 30 days from mid-November to mid-December Barrow, Alaska is shrouded in night. More specifically the 30 days in the title refers to the period in 2001 during which this phenomenon endangers the entire town when a murderous band of vampires descend upon it to cut off all communications and escape routes in order to massacre all the citizens in the town. Essentially the vampires wish to make the town their own private playground. The husband and wife team that sheriffs the town leads a small band of citizens that hides out in the basement of one of the buildings in town; they hope to wait out the month of night when hopefully the vampires will be forced to abandon the town when the sun rises again. Unfortunately...

The Matthews Public Library is proud to present its own adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy, King Lear. Prepare to be amazed by this special presentation of the play as you've never seen it before! You can click here to view the video on our YouTube channel or you can click on the video below to view it here. Fix a bowl of popcorn, sit back and enjoy the wonders of Shakespeare!

The Sonnet Lover is Carol Goodman's fifth novel. The novel, like her previous novels, starts with a murder mystery and then focuses on a literary mystery that is closely connected to the murder mystery. Dr. Rose Asher is a Comparative Literature professor at Hudson College, a private liberal arts school in New York City. What exactly Comparative Literature is, I'm not entirely sure... It is never really defined or explained in the book and I don't think we had Comparative Literature at Kutztown University. At a soiree that wraps up the college's student film contest, one of Asher's male students falls to his death. The police rule it a suicide, but Asher wonders if it was really an accident, a suicide or was it murder. Asher travels to Italy to search for the sonnets of a sixteenth century female poet who may or may not have been the Dark Lady of 28 of Shakespeare's sonnets. This female poet's sonnets hold the key to unlocking both the secrets of the presen...

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry is an engrossing story that sucks you right in to it and by the end of the story the reader finds out just how "unreliable" the narrator really is. The novel takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, the town of seventeenth century witch-hunt infamy. The town itself really acts as another character in the story because it is the nature of the town's history that influences the events and characters of the story. Ultimately this is the tale of the deadly destruction of a family by one man, who is an extremely dangerous and cunning alcoholic, abuser and psychopath. It is also the story of one young woman's journey toward mental and emotional healing. When her beloved great-aunt goes missing, Towner Whitney returns home after a self-imposed fifteen year exile. Towner comes from a family of lace readers--women who can read others' fortunes in the patterns of lace--and is herself a very gifted lace reader. Towner refuses to use her gifts o...

This is a review of a trilogy called The Brothers' Bond written by Linda Goodnight. The titles in the trilogy are A Season For Grace , A Touch of Grace and The Heart of Grace . The trilogy tells the tale of three brothers who have been separated as boys by social services because of family issues and when the brothers are adults, it is about their journey toward healing and reuniting with each other. Each book focuses on one of the brothers. This series is very captivating and exciting. I could hardly wait to start the next book, and it didn't take long to finish all three books. I recommend this series. You can find these books at the Matthews Public Library in the Young Adult fiction section located along the back wall downstairs. Check them out the next time you're in the library! --Review written by Ms. Kathy; posted by Ms. Angie

I'd pulled this exact same fire handle last summer right around this time. And boy, were those firemen steamed when they found out there was no fire. I'd done it cuz Mary Lane said she'd give me a dime if I would and, after all, she was our best friend. from page 82, Whistling In The Dark by Lesley Kagen Whistling in the Dark by Lesley Kagen tells the story of the summer people started locking their doors on Vliet Street--it is told from the perspective of a ten year old girl with a very active imagination. It is summer. It is 1959 in the Vliet Street neighborhood in Milwaukee. Young girls are going missing and then their bodies are being dumped--molested, naked, and dead. The O'Malley sisters' mother is in the hospital for a mysterious procedure and complications and the fact that she "may be dying" keep her there for most of that summer. The girls' older sister, Nell, and their stepfather are supposed to look after them, but these plans don't qu...

Death At A Funeral is a movie that stars Matthew Macfadyen, Peter Dinklage, and Rupert Graves. It's an independent, British comedy, and it is hilarious. When a family's patriarch dies, friends and family of the deceased gather for a final--dignified--farewell. However, one unexpected guest throws a wrench into these plans when he demands compensation for keeping an explosive family secret under wraps. The sons of the deceased are forced to improvise increasingly out of control solutions as one after another of these solutions goes terribly wrong in order to keep this family secret buried--and to preserve the dignity of their father's wake. People and events in this dysfunctional family quickly gather steam and threaten to spin disastrously and hilariously out of control. This black comedy is the best I've seen since Little Miss Sunshine' s dysfunctional family road trip, and I highly, highly recommend you see it. It is available upon request from Annville Free Libr...

The Keepsake is the latest installment in Tess Gerritsen's Dr. Maura Isles/Jane Rizzoli (medical examiner/homicide detective, respectively) series that is set in Boston, Massachusetts. This is the other book that I was anticipating for about the past half a year since I found a listing for it on amazon.com. The novel begins with a cryptic first chapter narrated in the first person--this is a departure from the rest of the novel and the series since the rest of the book, save for the final chapter, is narrated in third person. Gerritsen contributes a much better written installment to her series than Reichs did to the Brennan series. Gerritsen's mystery crackles with tighter, more urgent suspense as well. Gerritsen succeeds in creating and painting a more terrifying serial killer. In The Keepsake we catch up with Isles and Rizzoli. Isles continues to see a man she cannot completely have and Rizzoli's marriage is still going strong; Rizzoli's daughter is now a year old....

Herstory: Women Who Changed The World edited by Ruth Ashby and Deborah Gore Ohrn is copyrighted 1995, which makes me wonder who would be included in an updated volume. Ever since high school I've identified myself as a feminist, and women's history and women's rights are near and dear to me. The marginalization, objectification, discrimination, and second class citizenship of women throughout history are ideas that still outrage and horrify me when I read about the obstacles, injustices and perils that my female forebears have had to overcome and survive to get to where we are today. I may not have personally experienced these struggles--I have come of age in the title IX era where equality or near equality is the only thing I've known--but I am acutely aware of the fairly recent period in history in which women had few or no rights and how fragile those rights remain with the current Republican president and the addition of two conservative justices to the U.S. Supre...

Before I begin the book review, I'd like to point out that this is my 100th blog post. Whoa. That is a lot of posting of reviews, news of new arrivals and notices of new YouTube videos. Here's to the next 100 posts. I hope my fingers don't get too sore. Ever since I found out the title of Kathy Reichs' next Tempe Brennan novel and then stumbled across its listing on amazon.com with a release date attached, I was counting down the days 'til I could get my hands on the next installment of Brennan's adventures. And I was obsessively checking amazon.com nearly every day for an updated Devil Bones listing with a blurb attached. Then the book came out in August, and as soon as the title appeared in the Lebanon County Library System, I put my name on the Hold Queue. And I obsessively checked my account on its status to see if it was finally on its way. It arrived one day last week... Thursday or Friday. I finished it Saturday, and since I reviewed the last Brennan no...

Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson is a beautifully, vividly written novel coming soon to the Matthews Library. The author may sound familiar to you because I reviewed her most recent novel, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming , on this blog a few months ago. [Click on the title to go to that review!] I believe I also mentioned Between, Georgia in that review. That was back in May, and this past Labor day weekend, I did some major reading. I finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society , and then started Between, Georgia Saturday afternoon. I stayed up until 1 a.m. to finish the book, which is something I rarely do, but everything was getting ready to go to hell in a hand basket (in the book) by bedtime that I couldn't put it down until I finished it. I then read a book called A Thousand Bones by P.J. Parrish on Sunday and Monday. That is also a wonderful book, and I am now getting ready to read the series by that author. Some people have picnics on federal holiday wee...

I'm sorry I can't send you my notes on Charlotte and Emily [Bronte]--I used them to kindle a fire in my cookstove, there being no other paper in the house. I'd already burnt up my tide tables, the Book of Revelation, and the story about Job. from page 52 of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books. from page 53 of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a novel by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. According to a review that I read for the novel, Shaffer died before it was published; Barrows, her niece, finished and edited the novel for publication. The novel is set in post-war London and Guernsey Island; World War II has literally just ended--it is 1946--and London, Guernsey Island, and its citizens are struggling to rebuild their towns, their homes and their lives. They are wondering if and when life will ever return to normal and how do they move ...

Shoot 'Em Up stars Clive Owen, Monica Bellucci, and Paul Giamatti. This movie is part love story, part urban western shoot out, and part dark comedy. The action literally explodes in the first minute of the film with a storm of bullets flying before it careens into conspiracy/government cover up territory. Its mysterious, eccentric characters possess unbelievable shooting skills; if Mr. Smith (Owen) is not an extremely skilled black ops trained marksman, then he is an extremely lucky man. Mr. Smith, who has a yen for carrots, is drawn into the fight of his life when he defends a mother and her baby from ruthless guns for hire who want both mother and child dead. Smith quickly realizes that if the child is to survive, it is up to him to make sure it happens. To achieve this end, he enlists the help of a hooker from the local brothel. The two end up on the run from a brutal, violent man, who will stop at nothing to kill the baby--and anyone who stands in his way. This movie is comin...

Across The Universe stars Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, and Joe Anderson as Lucy, Jude and Max respectively. This is the story of Lucy and her brother, Max, and his best friend, Jude (who also becomes Lucy's lover) from Liverpool, England. The story focuses on the blossoming romantic relationship between Lucy and Jude that is set against the turbulent backdrop of 1960's riots, protests, drafts, war and the changing times in America. Max is drafted and deployed to Vietnam while Lucy immerses herself in the radical anti-war movement. Lucy's activities in the peace protests can be seen as a reaction to Max being drafted. However, an early scene in which Lucy confesses to a friend that her decision to not have children is based on the opinion that having children is "narcissistic" reveals Lucy to be a rather radical, free thinker, who is unafraid to buck societal expectations and roles for women. Meanwhile, her boyfriend, Jude, is a struggling artist living in the ...

Hola, chicas! We have a guest reviewer for this post and her name is Victoria. She has been volunteering here at the Matthews Public Library this summer, and she has quite graciously and bravely agreed to submit a review for our blog! --Ms. Angie Home is the place that'll catch you when you fall. And we all fall. Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts (now also a major motion picture!) brings us into the life of Novalee Nation and her sometimes cursed, sometimes blessed life. The story starts with Novalee, who's seventeen years old and pregnant, stranded at a Walmart and befriended by the most unusual people in the southern United States. After living in and giving birth to her baby in the Walmart, Novalee is taken in by Sister Husband, who cares for her and her baby. Following countless accidents, troubles, and good times, we finally reach the end of the novel in which Novalee must decide between her head and her heart. This novel is touching as well as heartwarming. Watching the...

Are you looking for a children's book about flower gardening? Zinnia's Flower Garden by Monica Wellington may be just the book you've been searching for. It tells the story of girl named Zinnia who decides to plant a flower garden. The book is filled with bright pictures and simple descriptions of how Zinnia planted her seeds. The story also teaches the reader how to care for the seeds and what the seeds need to grow. It also includes pictures of some common flowers. The next time you're in the library check out this book; it is located in Easy Reader fiction at E/Wel. It is also available upon request from Lebanon Community Library and Annville Free Library. --Reviewed by Ms. Kathy

As [Union General Joshua Lawrence] Chamberlain later wrote ... "my thought was running deep.... Desperate as the chances were, there was nothing for it but to take the offensive. I stepped to the colors. The men turned toward me. One word was enough,-- 'BAYONET!' It caught like fire, and swept along the ranks." With a wild yell, the survivors of this two-hour firefight, led by their multilingual fighting professor, lurched downhill in a bayonet charge against shocked Alabamians. from pages 81-82, Hallowed Ground Chamberlain's words at the dedication of his regiment's monument at Gettysburg: "In great deeds, something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear, but spirits linger, to consecrate the ground for the vision-place of souls. And reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them......

Ms. Sheila, our ingenious and intrepid director, has filmed two videos for our Youtube channel . They detail two unique and creative activities that you can do this summer to beat boredom with the kids or to improve the outdoor landscape of your summertime retreat. The first is entitled DIY Patio Pavers and can be viewed here on the blog or on our channel here . The second video is entitled Paper Toys and features a fun book called The Toymaker by Marilyn Scott Waters that is chockfull of creative paper toy ideas to create with the kids. You can view this video below or you can view it on our channel here . We hope you enjoy viewing these videos!

There are so many killings, so many victims, so many lives lost and ruined every day, that it can be hard to keep track of them all, hard to make the connections that might bring cases to a close ... One death invites the next, extending a pale hand in greeting, grinning as the ax falls, the blade cuts. There is a chain of events that can easily be reconstructed, a clear trail for the law to follow. from chapter 1, page 13 of The Reapers The Reapers by John Connolly can be considered a stand alone novel. Although references are made to past events from the Charlie Parker series (see related YouTube review here by yours truly) and characters recur from previous Parker books, this is not a Parker novel. You don't really need to read any of the other Parker novels before you read this one. There was once a fraternity of killers of killers; they were called Reapers. Louis, our friendly neighborhood assassin who often helps out Charlie Parker on particularly nasty cases, is a Reaper....

So I really wanted to post this review yesterday, but the site was down for updates or maintenance or whatever Blogger does when it goes down, and I was unable to upload the photo at left. Luckily the site is working again today and I can post again. Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives by Jim Sheeler is one of the few non-fiction books that I've read in its entirety. It is a book that I think every American should read whether or not you support the war in Iraq--especially in a time when the government limits photos of flag draped caskets arriving at Dover, Delaware. It's easy to be detached from this war, to be ignorant of the sacrifice required of servicemen and -women and their families. This book will bring the war and the freedom we often take for granted in this country and the cost of both in human lives into your home--it's impossible to remain detached from this war after you've read this book. Sheeler is a reporter who has followed a group of families...

I went to the Annville Free Library's book sale last night. Unfortunately I didn't find any books to buy, but I did find a couple items to borrow. One item was the graphic novel Midnight Nation by J. Michael Straczynski. Try saying that last name three times fast. I had a strange sense of deja vu when I started reading the first couple pages of this novel before I realized that, yes, I did already read it. So I decided to reread it, and after I was finished, I found out that I still don't quite "get" what the author meant by the ending. I don't want to say much more than that because I don't want to spoil the story for those who haven't read it yet. David Grey is a homicide detective for the LAPD, and the latest murders he's caught are some seriously nasty news. Grey starts poking around and a witness points him in the direction of "the men" a.k.a "the Walkers" (not a surname). He tracks down an ex-con who may be connected to t...

Cynthia glanced about for a note. Her mom was big about leaving notes when she had to go out. Even when she was angry. A long enough note to say, "On your own today," or "Make yourself some eggs, have to drive Todd," or just "Back later." If she was really angry, instead of signing off with "Love, Mom," she'd write "L, Mom." There was no note. from page 5, No Time For Goodbye Whoa. That's what I thought when I finished reading No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay. The story is one wild ride starting from the first chapter as it careens around some dark twists in its complicated plot. Twenty-five years ago Cynthia woke up one morning to an empty house--her parents and her older brother were gone. Her family has vanished without a trace, and the police have no leads and no explanations; there isn't a shred of evidence that points toward one theory or another. Cynthia is left the only survivor. The mystery of her family...

The Descent is a scary horror movie that stars six British actors I've never really heard of... and chances are if I've never heard of them, most other American viewers haven't heard of these people either. Apparently they are well-known in Britain. The Descent tells the unfortunate story of six women who take a weekend to explore a cave in the Appalachia region of the U.S.A. Things go horribly wrong for the women when their path back to the entrance of the cave becomes blocked by a cave-in. Eventually this becomes the least of their problems. The women blindly press on deeper into the cave hoping to find another way out. Soon it is made clear to them that a freaky, carnivorous, cannibalistic, gross looking, species also calls the cave home. In addition to looking for another entrance, the ladies must also avoid becoming the species' next meal. This movie is very dark--literally and figuratively. I mean, really, how much light can you expect to find in a cave? It is a...

Considering when I read this book, this review comes a little late; I'm already deep into another book. How did you spend your Memorial Day weekend? I spent mine reading this book. About 30 pages in, I was still thinking about whether or not I was going to finish it or ditch it and move on to the next one. There are too many books on my reading list to mess around with one I don't like or that doesn't hook me in the first few chapters. I used to feel guilty about dropping a book after a chapter or two if it didn't work out, but ever since one of my college professors said it was okay, I don't feel so bad about ditching a book if it's not connecting with me. There's always the next one. Then the next thing I knew, I was in over 100 pages; this book sucks you in like that. Dark of the Moon features Virgil Flowers, an off-beat agent for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (I think it's an equivalent of PA's State Troopers... some states have ...

Smokin' Aces stars Ben Affleck, Ray Liotta, Ryan Reynolds, and Jeremy Piven among others. It's an ensemble piece that tells the story of Buddy Israel, a Las Vegas magician mixed up with the mob. The mob wants him dead, and Israel wants a deal with the FBI for protective custody in exchange for information on the mob operations in Vegas. Meanwhile, news of the $1 million dollar price on Israel's head spreads like wildfire, and more hitmen, bounty hunters, and bail enforcement agents are all on Israel's trail in addition to the two FBI agents tasked with taking him into custody the minute the deal goes through. Everything starts to spiral out of control as these various eccentric and dangerous personalities all converge on a Nevada hotel gunning for Israel. Some want him dead; others want him alive. This movie is fast paced and has quite a few colorful characters; with its ensemble and myriad twists, it reminds me of the Ocean's Eleven movies. There are many differ...

Until the drowned girl came to Laurel's bedroom, ghosts had never walked in Victorianna. The houses were only twenty years old, with no accumulated history to put creaks in the hardwood floors or rattle at the pipes. from page 1, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming I had previously read the first 30 pages of Jackson's Between, Georgia before recommending the library buy her new novel, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming . So even before I picked this book up, I knew I was in for some uniquely drawn characters. Lately it seems this is just the lastest in a string of books that I've been reading that happen to be populated by eccentric characters. Why I haven't gotten past the first 30 pages of Between, Georgia is a long story that has to do with my book reading habits/rituals, and it is a little ... I'm not sure if obsessive or neurotic are the right words for it, but someday, I will get that one read as well. The Girl Who Stopped Swimming is the story of two sisters, Laurel...

Greetings, dear blog readers! The library has recently posted a new video to our YouTube channel. This video was posted in response to another video from Keith Richards, a member of the Rolling Stones. In order to fully appreciate our video, you should first view the Richards video. To do so, please click on this link to our video; right below our video is a yellow box that says "This is a video response to Living Legends-Rolling Stones: Question to the Community." Click on this direct link to the Richards video. After you have viewed the video, you can then click the "back" button in your internet browser to return to our video response to view it. We hope you enjoy both videos. We know we did!

The graphic novel, Watchmen , by Alan Moore is currently being adapted into a big screen version in Hollywood. If you're a big comic book movie fan, you might want to read or re-read the graphic novel before the movie version comes out. Watchmen takes place in 1985 in an alternate universe where "masked adventurers" a.k.a. superheroes once roamed the streets fighting crime. Then a 1977 federal law banned masked adventurers, and they disappeared from the streets. Most adventureres hung up their masks and assumed normal lives. Now people who used to wear the mask to fight crime are being mysteriously targeted for elimination. The central mystery concerns the person who is eliminating these former masked adventurers and the motive behind their elimination. I don't normally read graphic novels or comic books though I have read about a handful, such as V for Vendetta (saw the movie too) and Maus I & II by Art Spiegelman. One of the complaints that I usually have when...

The day I returned to Templeton steeped in disgrace, the fifty-foot corpse of a monster surfaced in Lake Glimmerglass. It was one of those strange purple dawns that color July there, when the bowl made by the hills fills with a thick fog and even the songbirds sing timorously, unsure of day or night. from page 1, The Monsters of Templeton The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff tells the story of Willie Upton and her search for her father. Willie is a descendant of Marmaduke Temple, the founding father of Templeton, the sleepy little town where she grew up. Both of her mother's parents were descendants of Temple--one through his marriage and the other through his dalliance with the family's slave. For years Willie's mother, Vi, regaled her daughter with the story of her conception: how Vi left home as a teenager for a hippie commune in San Francisco where pot and free love were the norm; how Vi could never be sure of Willie's father because she was with a different ...

"You see, there's nothing funny about being missing. I also quickly realized there's li ttle difference between being missing and looking for the missing: every day I search. Same as I did when I was working. Only this time I search for a way back to be found. I have learned one thing worth mentioning. There is one huge difference in my life from before, one vital piece of evidence. For once in my life I want to go home. What bad timing to realize such a thing. The biggest irony of all." from page six, There's No Place Like Here Close your eyes and chant with me, dear readers: "There's no place like here... There's no place like here... There's no place like here... THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HERE!" And poof, magically we're transported here. There's No Place Like Here by Cecelia Ahern is... there are so many words to describe this book. The story and characters are unique, creative, original and unusual. They are sometimes hilarious ...

The movie stars Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans and Rose Byrne and five other actors, but those were the ones that I recognized in previews before viewing the film. I also happen to be a Chris Evans fan, and, admittedly, he was the main reason for checking out the movie. This movie has a very small cast... There are only eight characters in most of the film, and it takes place on board one space ship. These two factors make for a pretty contained film and contribute to a slightly claustrophobic feeling throughout the film. I mean, would you want to be confined with the same eight people for about four or five years on one ship travelling to the sun and, hopefully, back to earth again? I don't think I would. Okay, maybe if the fate of the earth and all mankind depended upon it, then maybe I would. But I would have to think long and hard about this. The sun is dying and once our closest star dies, so will we, mankind, and all life on earth. In a risky move, the earth (I'm ass...

The Invasion stars Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, and Jeffrey Wright. A space shuttle crash brings to earth an insidious alien infection that turns its victims into emotionless shells of the human beings they once were. Once a human is infected, the virus lies dormant until its victim falls asleep. When they wake up, they are not themselves any longer. Kidman plays Carol, a psychiatrist, who struggles to avoid infection, reunite with her son, solve the mystery of the infection and find a cure/antidote. She has her work cut out for her. Will she survive? Will she find a cure? This movie is scary, creepy, twisty, heart pounding, and suspenseful; you'll keep guessing about the fates of Carol, her son and the world almost up to the very end of the film. Be forewarned: there is a gross factor to this movie. The aliens infect their human hosts by spewing snot and mucus into their faces and mouths or spitting it into the coffee they then serve their unwitting guests. Ew! This mo...

I'm not sure why I kept reading this book or why someone on the back cover of this book calls the author's prose "lyrical." That is not a descriptor that I would attach to this novel. The Color Of Light by Karen White is ultimately a love story dressed up and masquerading as a mystery. Jillian is pregnant, newly divorced, and struggling to find her way on her own with her daughter. She returns with her daughter to Pawleys Island, SC, her childhood home of warm summer memories to heal and start a new life. Linc is bitter, haunted by the disappearance of his girlfriend whom he was accused of killing one summer, and trying to resist the attraction he now feels to Jillian despite her perceived betrayal that summer when Lauren, his girlfriend and her best friend, disappeared. Lauren was never to be seen nor heard from again after that summer. This is the story of Jillian and Linc and how they each begin heal together after they lay to rest the past that scarred bot...

Over the last two years, as I have tried to tease out the truths from the untruths in that series of events that seeped out through Elizabeth's death, like lava moving upwards and outwards through salt water from a tear in the seabed, I have had to be you several times, Cameron Brown, in order to claw myself towards some kind of coherence. Sometimes it was--is--easy to imagine the world through your eyes, terribly possible to imagine walking through the garden that afternoon in those moments before you found your mother's body in the river. After all, for a long time, all that time we were lovers, it was difficult to tell where your skin ended and mine began. That was part of the trouble for Lydia Brooke and Cameron Brown. Lack of distance became--imperceptibly--a violent entanglement. So this is for you, Cameron, and yes, it is also for me, Lydia Brooke, because perhaps, in putting all these pieces together properly, I will be able to step out from your skin and back into min...

The Yada Yada Prayer Group by Neta Jackson is set in Chicago, Illinois in 2002. The prayer group of the title is a diverse group of women thrown together to pray during the Chicago Women's Conference. While at the conference, one of the women receives an emergency phone call from home. The other ladies spend the whole night covering the emergency in prayer. At the end of the conference the women decide to call themselves the "Yada Yada Prayer Group." They promise to stay in touch by email. After a few weeks of emailing, they decide they should start meeting in person again. Each time they meet, a new twist is added to the story as the women share their own personal problems with the group. This is an easy read because it is a story that has several twists. There were times I could not put the book down. I had to keep reading to find out what happens. This book is available in the Matthews Public Library in the Young Adult Fiction section, located at call number YA/LP/Fic...

So it has been a long, long while since I last posted to the blog, and I'm sorry. I'm still reading the same book that I've been reading for the past, like six to nine weeks. It's one of those books where once you pick it up, it sucks you in. But once you put it down, you can leave it there for days ... which is what I've been doing. I am near the end, and eventually I will finish it. This review is about the movie Death Sentence that stars Kevin Bacon, Garrett Hedlund, Kelly Preston and Aisha Tyler. The movie is based on a novel by the same name (the novel happens to be the sequel to the novel Death Wish which spawned a movie series by the same title; however, Death Sentence is in no way related to Death Wish the movie). It tells the tragic tale of Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon), a husband and father, whose older son is slaughtered in a convenience store hold up. It's not long before Nick decides to take justice into his own hands and hunts down the gang banger th...