April reviews

April book reviews 2015

1. Classified as Murder by Miranda James (a library eBook from Overdrive)

This story is called, A Cat in the Stacks Mystery.  The story is book 2 in a series.  A professional librarian, Charles Harris, has moved back to his boyhood home.  He owns a Maine Coon Cat that goes everywhere with him.  It is a fact that many more people would take their pets along to more places if they could and so the story gives a view that is ambitious. 

Harris is one of the types of characters that murder mysteries follow around.  He seems to be in the right place to gather clues and find bodies. Even though he prefers quiet afternoons reading and spending time with Diesel.

The story has interesting facts about librarians, books, cats, and retirees.  The murder facts shift from one suspect to the next with an interesting twist to the law as it unfolds.

Many readers and writers remember a library from their youth where they spent hours reading and researching for school projects or entertainment.  In answer to a library customer Harris says,"I started on my own travels as a boy in the old library."  They lament the uselessness of the older discarded library building in the town while being happier with the newer facilities and technology in the modern building that took its' place. Buildings may become dispensable but I doubt libraries and librarians will grow out of style.

2. Under The Beetle's Cellar by Mary Willis Walker (A Library eBook from Overdrive)

This is a fictional apocalypse story that will grab your imagination with reality and keep you reading until the end. The characters are believable.  We are looking at a story that is fiction but feels like it happened.

Unraveling Mordecai (the main character) is a good reason to involve the FBI.  Mordecai keeps everyone jumping while he pursues his end time ideas.  Now everyone wonders is it real?

"Maybe this was the way the world ended, not with the fireworks Samuel Mordecai kept ranting about, but with a simple, gradual fading of the light, a blurring of detail until everything vanished." 

And, there is a dog.  A big beautiful working police dog that grabs your imagination and steals your heart.
"Jake reached down to accept the filthy, dripping tennis ball that Copper had retrieved. "Of course he does.  He's a dog."" Copper's character creates controversy between two of the main players in scenes that add reality.

Each paragraph is introduced by a quote.  The information in these quotes will by keep your mind scrambling for the next chapter. Great characters, big sacrifices,  maybe you will read some poetry next?

3. The tomb in Turkey  by Simon Brett ( A Library eBook from Overdrive) (a Fethering Mystery)

Counting this story, there is a list of 15 Feathering Mysteries in the front of the book.  Although the story line and characters are fiction the reader will find accuracy in the scuba diving and other parts alluding to history.

It's a fun mystery based on a holiday in Turkey. "The fact was that Carole Seddon, after a good few years of it, still hadn't properly adjusted to retirement."  So, when a chance at a holiday came along she allowed herself to be persuaded." How many retirees are out there on holiday,  adjusting to retirement.

The story is a good read for a lazy day.  It holds interest with the descriptions and liveliness of the characters.  Carole sets out on her own to explore the sites described by a friendly tour guide.  What she finds is a surprise worth reading as she explores the mystery.

Another main character, Jude, takes a book along planning to spend the days reading and sitting by a pool but finds this holiday bursting with business. 

This is another good mystery for a summer afternoon.

4. Blood of the Tiger by J.A. Mills (copyright 2015) (nonfiction, library eBook from Overdrive)

If you take an environmental class you might be asked to read this story.  Mankind is up against a mass extinction of species. With or without the class it would be an error to not read it.  You will meet bears, tigers, sharks, crocodiles and human injustice as you read. You will plow through alarming statistics.

Between the dates of 1967 and 2015 you will meet the people that make up the organizations of many countries that are fighting to keep numerous species from going extinct. Sometimes they are winning some battles but it seems each battle turns up a new facet in the war. 

After the story ends read the other parts: The List of websites for more information, How you can help end Tiger trade and an important reference list.

Many times Mills wanted to put down her work and read a good book but she stayed the course and now is passing on her hard won information to us, the reader.  Mills says, "But, this story isn't about me, nor is it about China.  At its core, it is a story about how greed and well-meaning but outdated ideologies threaten to take from us iconic wild beings that guard our forests and the wildness of spirit that our higher selves long to meet."

The story culminates in a picture of societal changes as new generations with better ideas take control of countries.  It explains the many organizations that are born to care for the rights of animals wild and domesticated. The story is about quality of life for animals and humans.

Humans are at the top of the tree.  It is up to us to care for those beings on the branches beneath ours.  It is up to the governments to make and keep laws so the creatures can live on the earth with us for as long as the light lasts.

5. Minecraft for Dummies  By Jessie Stay, Thomas Stay, and Jacob Cordeiro

I wanted to know more about Minecraft so, I read this book.  The book was written from the experiences of a family who plays the game.  The specifics of this book are mine boggling.  Yes, I said mine.  From mining ore to creating objects that open doors, light houses, fight mobs, build  farms, and fly above the clouds this book has the how to build and play. 

Especially interesting to me are the references to both PC version and PE version.  I've read some of the things written for PE Minecraft and was not satisfied with the clear-cut descriptions. They aren't always precise.

Minecraft for Dummies gives such detailed directions to the game.  You can't go wrong if you need to sit down and read any of the chapters with special details.  It even helps you wander the web in search of online information about the game of Minecraft.

It tells how to find the game on the web, how to download, who owns it, how it was produced, information plus information equals understanding.

In the section about potions you find this "you can add a fermented spider eye if you want to make only a potion of weakness."

There is a focus on family here with appropriate encouragements to parents and children.  It is a family game played for amusement and learning.  This is an excellent reference guide to MINECRAFT.