The Hazards of Working at a Bookstore Vol. 2.3

It's been awhile since I did one of these, partly because I haven't been working that much, and partly because I've been really busy. So this volume will actually include both nights I worked this week, but only 3 books, as again, with our lack of employees lately, I don't have as much time to wander and find new books.

First is The Friendship Doll by Kirby Lawson. This is a young readers book, and is told kind of from the doll's viewpoint I think. But the premise is that in 1927 there were 59 of these dolls sent from Japan to America as a friendship offering. These are the tales of the girls that they lived with and the friendships they made. The story goes that only 45 are left, and they hope that after reading, maybe someone will help find the 13 others or solve the mystery of what happened to them.

The 2nd book is a teen book called Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier. Again, the cover drew me in when I had to reshelve this book thanks to a lazy customer, but hey, if they hadn't left it sitting somewhere, I might not have seen it, so let's look on the bright side. The story is that this is a family of time travelers. They are prepared as they grow up for this, except our main character Gwyneth, who supposedly was born at the wrong time and missed this gene. But, for some reason, her mother was wrong, and she does time travel. She works with someone named Gideon, where the time traveler gene is passsed through the men in the family. They travel through 18th century London as well as contemporary London.

And finally, this isn't really a book to read, but one that I could use as a single person. I'm always looking for cookbooks for just one or two people so I don't end up with a ton of leftovers. I often get bored of leftovers really quickly. Especially if the recipe isn't really that good. On our new cookbook table we have one called: The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones. This sounds like it has a lot of recipes, even Julia Childs types of recipes, but it helps you to not waste food and save money as a single person. Don't know when I'll buy it, I've promised myself not to buy anymore cookbooks until I actually start cooking out of the ones I have.

The Hazards of Working at a Bookstore Vol. 2.1

I didn't work at the store at all last week, so didn't have time to do one of these, not to mention didn't look at any books either. Both of the books I have to share today are kid's books. I actually got to spend a little time in the kid's department last night, even though I was as usual in charge of the whole 2nd floor.

First is The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone. In the Children's Gallery of the Chicago Art Institute there are the Thorne rooms, 68 miniature rooms, each of which is designed in the style of a different historical period. This book imagines what if you had a key that made you shrink so that you could go inside each room? And as you went through them, what if you discovered other people had also visited and maybe left something behind? This sounds like a really fun read to me.

Second is Suddenly in the Depths of the Forest by Amos Oz. In a village, all the animals disappeared long ago. Only one old man, and a young teacher will talk about animals with the children, it is like no one wants to talk about it. There is one little boy who really gets into the animal stories, then disappears. Two girls, Maya and Matti decide to explore the woods around the village. There are dangers, something called Nehi, who is mountain demon. They find the boy in a cave, but also find a place where there are lots of animals. But is also the home of Nehi. Turns out Nehi used to be a boy in this town who was mocked and treated horribly. He has stolen all the animals. They must try to find out how to get them back.

The Hazards of Working at a Bookstore Vol. 1.9 Part 1

I have so many books from working this past Wednesday, and then last night, I am going to split this blog into two parts to save myself some time. So check back, hopefully later tonight for the rest.

First is going to be Eliza's Freedom Road by Jerdine Nolen. Now this is really a young readers book, not teen level. But I am a sucker for any Civil War story. And this one really hits close to my childhood. Why? Because at the private school I went to from 1st-8th grade, for handwriting, at one point we had to just copy from books. And the book I copied from most of the time was a book about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. And this story is about a young slave named Eliza who has her mother sent away, and soon the owner is talking of selling the slaves, especially a young girl like Eliza who will be a very big moneymaker. Eliza decides to run away using the stories her mother taught her about the Freedom Road.

Next is Balefire by Cate Tiernan. I guess this is actually an omnibus of a whole series all in one book. There are two girls who look almost identical, one of them has just moved to New Orleans where the other one already lives. And it isn't just a separated at birth kind of thing, it's much darker. Don't know much more than that, but it sounds great.

Third is Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter. The main character is Kylie whose life seems to be going downhill, parents getting a divorce, boyfriend dumping her, grandmother dies, and now she has a stalker. Her counselor decides to send her to a school supposedly for troubled teens. Turns out the school is actually home to vampires, werewolves, fairies, witches, and shapeshifters, and supposedly Kylie is one of them.

Falling Under by Gwen Hayes is about a girl named Theia who lives a pretty sheltered life, but she dreams about a boy with haunting eyes all the time. Then one day he shows up at her school, and of course she's pulled to him, even though he seems hot and cold to her. She soon learns what he really is, and still thinks she wants to be with him.

And the last one I'll talk about now, and then I'll just do a part two with the other books, is Subject Seven by James A. Moore. Another teen book. In a way the storyline of this somewhat reminds me of I Am Number Four. There were several children genetically modified and raised in the Janus Project. These children are sent away after the original Alpha kills the the head scientist and his guards and escapes. In the future, they begin to feel a call, and feel like their bodies are being taken over by something that they can't control. It is compared somewhat to a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story. They are gathered back together by Subject Seven and find out they were supposed to be killed instead of adopted out, and must band together to save themselves.