This Cookbook Nook Mystery featuring bookstore owner Jenna Hart is a rather formulaic cozy. The author does include some appealing recipes (including gluten free ones) in the back of the book for those who like to cook.

This memoir is told in fragments, shards of a brutal childhood and racist schools, survival on the margins of society. But it is also about the southwest landscape, Navajo stories and spirits. The language is both poetic and sometimes almost stream of conscious. Nasdijj is a fascinating and unusual writer.

This memoir by a woman who feels herself a bit of a misfit finds her calling training horses. She is asked to help out at a ranch for prisoners finishing off their sentences, most of whom have been drug dealers and addicts. By teaching the residents patience with training the horses, she finds a number of them react with love and care for the horses and overcome many of their personal difficulties.

so far ive almost cried twice

Roberts, a longtime political commentator, has written an interesting book on the wives and mothers who participated in the American Revolution and the early political life of the Republic. Based largely on the letters women wrote to their families, friends, and political leaders, the book sheds new light on women's contributions to early American history. There are wry asides comparing life and politics then and now.

Breakout, by Kate Messner is amazing! I loved how it was written in letters and documents. I have one thing that kept me from giving it five stars though. The characters are supposed to be in middle school I'm pretty sure, but they do not seem as mature, or educated in society matters as middle schoolers these days are.

This is a fast paced political thriller. The survivor of a car crash that killed the president's wife suspects that it was no accident. Pursued by mysterious men determined to make sure she can't talk, she begins to fear everyone. There are lots of chase scenes and some romance.

For the Tlingit and Haida peoples, both shamans and kushtakas, half man half otter spirits of those who drowned, had supernatural powers. Respect for elders and tradition as well as ascetic training helped

I really liked this book! 5 stars because it only took me 45 minutes to read. Even though it is technically a children's book, I still found it enjoyable and not simplistic. Sís doesn't shy away from the violence he and friends experienced under Communist control in Prague, and also doesn't shy away from a more advanced vocabulary (what children's book uses the word cataclysmic in the second sentence?). Being born about a decade after the Cold War ended, people always talk about it as if I should know exactly what it was like, diving into deep details before giving me a general overview (and I've already taken both years of global history, so that's not the problem!). This book gave a really excellent summation of how the Cold War started and developed across Europe while also keeping a strong focus in the daily effects in Prague. I would definitely recommend this quick, educational read with wonderful, colorful artwork!

Subtitled "Two Literary Sleuths and Their Shared Passion," this book is a joint memoir of two friends, authors, and rare book dealers. They were the ones who uncovered the blood and thunder potboilers of Louisa May Alcott published anonymously or pseudonymously and published collections of these stories, which threw a whole new light on the author of "Little Women." They enjoy their research and their special rare book finds.