Big Boned by Meg Cabot

Meg Cabot is the author of the popular Princess Diaries, so many people think of her as only a young adult writer. However, I just finished Big Boned and thoroughly enjoyed it. Big Boned is about Heather Wells, who is a plus sized former pop singer who is now the Assistant Dorm Director at a college in New York. She has a new boyfriend and currently lives with the brother of an old boyfriend: okay, it is a little complicated. Her boyfriend is her remedial Math teacher, Tad. He's into jogging and health food. Heather is more into walking, fancy coffee, and chocolate chip cookies. She lives with Cooper, whose brother Jordan was once Heather's teen boyfriend; Cooper is a private investigator who felt his brother treated Heather badly and offered her a room.

Heather has moved on from her teen singing career; her days are filled with dealing with emotional college students, demanding administrators, and she has made a number of friends at the Residence Hall. Her beloved former boss, Tom, recently got promoted and her new boss Owen is a rather humorless, bland person. So, imagine her surprise when Heather arrives at work one day to find that Owen has been shot in the head from the street, and is sitting at his desk with a cup of cold coffee in front of him. She calls the police and it becomes evident that she may be really well acquainted with one of them; Detective Canavan questions her and from the references to the "Death Dorm," it is clear that they have worked together before.

I loved the descriptions of the college meetings, the friendships with Pete the Security Guard and Magda the cafeteria lady, and the way Heather goes to bat for her assistant Sarah and the other students. Mix in a proposed strike by graduate students, the appearance of a well meaning but inept PR person named Muffy, a large orange cat named Garfield, and Owen's ex wife and the story is an engaging one. While many books proclaim themselves to be funny, this one REALLY IS funny; I liked the self deprecating way Heather has of describing her reaction to healthy eating and exercise, worrying that her uterus may have fallen out while running. As she tries to reach out to one of her students, Jamie, they share a dish of warm cobbler.

However, I liked the way the author developed the storylines and characters. Heather is not a perfect person; however, she handles the various crises with her graduate students with her heart, and it becomes evident that she gets a lot of satisfaction from doing her job. I also liked that each new chapter offers a stanza of song lyrics from her music. (For example, "You're not fat--though you could get toned--But it's not your fault--You're just big boned.")

Now, I can't wait for the people who checked out Cabot's other two books about the same character to be returned: Size 12 is Not Fat and Size 14 is Not Fat Either. In the meantime, if you're looking for something funny and satisfying, check out Big Boned. You can find it in the Mystery section of the Waterloo Public Library. You might also want to check out Meg Cabot's website at www.megcabot.com.

c Waterloo Public Library 2009

Listen to the Silence by Marcia Muller

I have long been a fan of Marcia Muller's series about Sharon McCone: recently, I got a chance to read one of the books that I had overlooked, Listen to the Silence (2000). When Sharon's father dies unexpectedly, she and her brother John are left with the task of going through his things.

She discovers a shocking secret when she finds her birth certificate with some other papers: she is adopted, but when she goes to her mother for more information, she is met with silence. Finally she gets some information from her aunt and uncle, and goes in search of her biological parents. One of the people she meets gives her a photo that includes her aunt--as well as a group of young Native American young people, including a young woman who looks startlingly familiar.

As Sharon unravels the story, she discovers the identity of her biological mother and a man she believes may be her father. He comes from a rich and powerful family, and his father obviously did not want his son to marry a "poor Indian girl." After she finds her mother, she also discovers that she now has a half sister and brother as well. However, her mother is struck down by a hit and run driver, and in a coma--not the best of circumstances for meeting a long lost daughter.

Muller is a master storyteller; this was a satisfying read, with plot twists, believeable characters, and a complex character at the heart of it all. Anyone who has ever stared at an old family portrait and wondered about the lives of the people in the photograph can relate to Sharon's fascination with the old photo. Of course, Sharon didn't even know who they were at first, other than her aunt.

Over the past two summers, having two surgeries, I've spent my days reading books and scanning in old family photos and putting together photo albums. When I read the wonderful description of the photograph in this book, it made me think of an old black and white photo that I found of my family. It is unusual because it is the only photograph that I have found that has all three of my grandmothers in it. Great Grandma Eva looks pensive, while Grandma Nellie is smiling; I am struck by how short she is, as my older sister Cathi stands in front of her. My grandmother Lillian was visiting from California; she stands next to my father, and I see that she is much taller than Nellie. Looking at the people in this picture helps me to understand better who I am; however, it also makes me wonder. What were their secrets, their joys, their fears? What stories did they not get a chance to share with us?

I am going back to check the online catalog to be sure that I haven't missed any other books in this series; you can find Listen to the Silence in the Mystery section of the Waterloo Public Library.



c Waterloo Public Library 2009

Bad Medicine by Aimee and David Thurlo

I just finished reading Bad Medicine, one of the earlier books (1997) in Aimee and David Thurlo's series about tribal police officer Ella Clah. As noted in my previous review of Wind Spirit (2004), this series blends good storytelling and mystery with an exploration of the Native American culture out west. The series is set on the Navajo reservation and this particular story focuses on the racial tensions between the Navajo and white workers at the local mine. Hate crimes occur on both sides, and there is talk of secret organizations. In the meantime, Ella investigates a mysterious car accident and death: the victim is Angela Yellowhair, the daughter of a powerful Navajo senator. Ella's friend, Dr. Roanhorse, the Medical Examiner, finds tainted peyote in Angela's system, but Senator Yellowhair does not want to accept this verdict.

Ella juggles the investigation, which turns into an ugly and personal attack against both her and Dr. Roanhorse with trying to figure out not only who killed Angela, but why the senator is so determined to reject the evidence found by the M. E. She also becomes acquainted with Kevin, a young lawyer who is building a home near her mother's; Kevin becomes her friend and takes on the task of getting Dr. Roanhorse reinstated at the hospital after the Senator pressures administrators to put her on suspension. The story also develops Ella's relationships with her mother, who is a very strong, wise woman and her brother, a respected medicine man who loves his sister but follows the traditional ways.

I have always enjoyed Tony Hillerman's novels for their windows into the culture of Native Americans. This series goes a step further, in a sense, because it features a woman who embraces both her own culture and that of the larger society. Ella has FBI training, has lived away from her family and culture for a number of years, and has absorbed the values of both; she is fiercely protective of her friends and family, works hard to discover the truth, and has a deep bond with her fellow police officers, including her younger cousin Justine, who assists her in the investigation. Ella also

For all of the cultural differences, however, Ella is a woman that many of us can relate to: she works hard but wonders if she will ever have a close relationship again. Her husband died some years before, and while Ella has had a few romances, she has resisted getting close to anyone else. She struggles with wanting to please her mother and family and still be her own person. She worries about her friend Dr. Roanhorse and is determined to clear her name. Ella pushes herself hard, but tries to shield her partner, Justine, from taking unnecessary risks. She is a very complex, likeable person.

I am looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this series, but as the summer comes to a close, so does my free time. However, if you're looking for a good read, check out Bad Medicine; you can find it (and all of the Thurlo's books) in the Mystery section.

c Waterloo Public Library 2009

Wind Spirit by Aimee and David Thurlo

There are several wonderful series set out west, such as Tony Hillerman's books featuring Joe Leaphorn. So when Tony Hillerman recommends a book, I pay attention. Recently, I read Wind Spirit by Aimee and David Thurlo (2004); it is part of the Ella Clah series. Ella is a young Navajo police officer and a single parent who is caught between the culture of her people and that of the outside world.

As the book begins, she attends a ceremony at a mine that is being closed up; she sees her nephew and other boys playing in an area that she deems unsafe, and gets them to move. However, part of the ceremony includes using some powerful explosives to seal up the mine; this also creates or opens several holes and Ella and her nephew start to fall down into one of them. Ella is able to save her nephew but cannot save herself. She tries to get out, but finds herself suffocating in sand and dirt from above. She then has a strange experience--she sees her husband Eugene, who died, and her father, who became a Christian minister, and was murdered a decade ago. She is told she has been given a choice: stay there with them or return to her life.

Ella doesn't want to leave; however, she cannot bear the idea of leaving her daughter behind, so she tells them that she must return. The next thing she knows, people are bending over her, trying to revive her. It seems that they had given up and pulled a blanket over her--then she sat up! For many of the Navajo who are traditionalists, there is something disturbing about this, because they are afraid that Ella has been contaminated by the spirits of some miners who died. Those who are Christians see it as a miracle. But many are afraid of her, and her family encourages her to have a singer perform a special song/prayer/blessing to lift the sense of a curse.

I found this novel very intriguing: there is a surface similarity to Tony Hillerman's stories, since both explore the culture of the Native Americans and focus on the daily lives of law enforcement officers solving crimes on the reservations of the west. However, while I enjoy Hillerman's characters, I found the Thurlos to be skilled story tellers as well, and was intrigued by the perspective of a young woman who left her family and culture behind, and then returned.

Now that I have had a chance to look at the authors' website, I see that again I stumbled onto a series late in the game; I need to work backwards and read the earlier books. The first one in the series is Blackening Song; it dates to 1995. As far as the Thurlos go, David grew up on the Navajo Reservation and taught school there until he retired. Aimee is Cuban. They live in New Mexico. If you are interested in learning more about the authors or the series, check out their website.



You can find all of their books in the Mystery section of the WPL.

c Waterloo Public Library 2009

Damage Control by J. A. Jance

I decided to try something new and checked out one of the new playaway books--there is a display near the self check machines. I must admit, although it hurts my pride, that I was a little confused by the packaging. Looking at the side of the plastic box, which looks a lot like a VCR case, I was a little baffled when it did not easily open up--and the strange set of holes (two square, two round) further complicated things. I was just getting ready to email my personal reference librarian for help when I finally got the silly thing open. Inside there was a little device a little larger than the typical MP3 player, with the controls on one side and what looks like a miniature book cover on the other side.

Plug in the headphones and slip the lanyard around my neck and I could answer email, surf the web and straighten my desk while I listened to Damage Control by J. A. Jance (2008). If you haven't read anything by this author, you're missing another wonderful series, which is set out west. Sheriff Joanna Brady has her hands full in this book (the 13th in the series, according to Amazon); an elderly couple commits suicide by driving off the cliff of a mountain in Cochise County, Arizona. Their two daughters, in their 60s, descend on the town, demanding answers. However, when someone finds human remains in a garbage bag and one of the deputies is shot, the sheriff's department has more work than they can handle. Joanna is also juggling child care duties with her husband, Butch, trying to cope with her difficult mother, and starting to come to terms with new information about her father and his death.

This is a good read--or listen, according to your preference. While this series is definitely a little more on the somber side that some, the author does a wonderful job of developing the stories, and describing the beauty of the southwest.

Now that I know where to plug in the earphones, I can't wait to get another playaway audio book!


c Waterloo Public Library 2009

Death in Paradise by Robert Parker

I realize that I have been blogging about books written by a number of great female writers this summer. However, one of the all time great writers is Robert B. Parker, author of the popular Spenser series. Parker has another series that I also enjoy: the Jesse Stone novels. Several have been made into TV movies, starring Tom Selleck, so whenever I read one of these books, I am picturing Tom Selleck as Jesse.

In Death in Paradise (2001), Jesse has settled into his job as the police chief of Paradise, a small town in Massachusetts not that far from Boston. He is still seeing his ex-wife, Jenn and is starting to recognize that he has some issues with alcohol and moving on. Jesse once played professional baseball and enjoys a regular game with friends; one night, after their game, several men discover the body of a young girl at the edge of the water. Suddenly, Jesse is investigating a missing girl who became a victim of homicide.

Robert Parker is the master of dialogue, description, and characterization. He does a skillful job of mixing humor, real life situations and details of police procedure. Jesse works with an interesting group of people, including the ever efficient and articulate Molly, Suitcase, and a few cops from the Boston force. The extra layer of pyschological insights into troubled relationships and substance abuse adds complexity and interest.

Jesse is determined to find the person guilty of killing the young girl, and in order to do so, he has to enlist the help of other officers to gather information and do some old fashion surveillance. As he does so, he has to deal with other cases and crises.

If you are looking for another series full of interesting characters and cases, check out the Jesse Stone series. The first two books are Trouble in Paradise and Night Passage; Death in Paradise is book three. You can find them in the Mystery section of the WPL.

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Mummy Dearest by Joan Hess

Joan Hess is one of my favorite writers: she mixes humor, lively dialogue, and great characters into each book. She knows how to capture the feel of a small college town, and one of her series features Claire Malloy, who runs a small bookstore in Farberville, Arkansas. Claire has a teenage daughter (Caron) and is a single parent; her husband died. In earlier books in the series, Claire solves a series of mysteries and gets more than acquainted with Peter Rosen, local police officer. A romance evolves between the two, but is not conflict free.

The latest book in the series, Mummy Dearest, (2008) begins with an informal wedding and an unlikely honeymoon. Claire, her daughter Caron and Caron's best friend Inez fly to Egypt, to meet Peter, who went ahead of them. Peter has received special training and is now more than a small town police officer. Claire has learned it is best not to ask too many questions, but knows that the trip is part honeymoon, part business, which is one of the reasons for bringing the two teenagers along. Now they are all staying in an elegant old hotel in Luxor, in a fancy suite, complete with balcony, fireplaces, a parlor, and servants. While having breakfast, Claire is approached by a young British man, Alexander, who invites her to a party his father (Lord Bledrock) is having that evening.

Peter and Claire are then introduced to an eccentric and lively group of people, who are in Egypt because they are working on an archeological dig. Several of the British are wealthy sponsors, helping to fund the small American college officially in charge of the dig. They also meet a couple of other guests at the hotel, including a rather obnoxious Texan, Mr. Sittermann, who seems to be everywhere.

As Peter divides his time between sightseeing and a series of mysterious meetings, Claire and the girls settle in to a routine of sightseeing, shopping, and relaxing. Claire spends more time than she would like with the socially gregarious Alexander, his father, Mr. Sittermann and the collection of people associated with the dig. Later, Peter and Claire take the girls on a brief cruise, and meet a rather mismatched young couple, Buffy and Samuel. Mr. Sittermann shows up on the cruise as well. They make several stops to sightsee, and during one of these stops something strange happens--Buffy is kidnapped by two gun-toting Arab men, right in front of them.

The author does a wonderful job of describing many of the well known landmarks in Egypt--the temples, tombs, pyramids, and desert. My parents went on a whirlwind tour of the middle east back in the early 1970s: I was a high school senior and wondered why they didn't take me along with them, but it was one of those fast paced tours that started in New York to London to Rome and then on to Egypt and Israel. I have a stack of trays of slides from that trip; my mother was a photo-journalist of sorts, and later gave presentations in the community about their travels. (After reading this book, and some of the descriptions of the two irritable, bored teenagers, I think I understand why they left me at home!)

This book also made me think of several of the pictures from my parents' trip: in one, my father (who is 6'2") is dwarfed by the massive columns of a temple while in another my mother is up on a camel, while my father stands nearby. As it turns out, he had to borrow some money from a friend to pay the camel driver more money to get my mom OFF the camel! The last picture I will post here: my parents are surrounded by smiling porters and workers at the airport.



If you can't get away for a little trip to Egypt this summer, Mummy Dearest is the next best thing. You may get thirsty, reading about all those excursions out into the hot, dusty desert to see the tombs and digs, so be sure to grab a tall glass of something icy first. You can find Mummy Dearest in the NEW books display; it has the Mystery sticker on the spine.

c Waterloo Public Library 2008