The Adventures of Jack Lime ~ James Leck

The title character Jack Lime is a high school student at Iona High. He is new to the school having moved from Los Angeles. Wanting to be noticed by his fellow classmates Jack tries his hand at private investigation. Voilá! A new-age Sherlock Holmes is born. Jack’s antics get him into trouble and often bruised, but he always solves his case.

This junior fiction novel pays homage to 1940s film noir detective stories. I loved the classic PI language: “a dame walked into my life”, “I should quit the business”, etc. It had me laughing out loud! James Leck writes the book as several of Lime’s cases compiled into one novel. Each mini story was enjoyable and left me hoping that this debut novel won’t be Leck’s last. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read something light-hearted, quick, and purely for entertainment.

Christy ~ Catherine Marshall

Christy, a young, ambitious, passionate girl, is sitting at a meeting where a missionary is describing a new school he has opened and is calling for a volunteer teacher.  The speech grabs Christy and she jumps at the opportunity.  Everything happens so fast and before she knows it she's on a train headed to the Cutter Gap missionary school.

But when she arrives things are much more primitive then she ever expected and she questions her choice.

Is she cut out to be here, in the wilderness mountains?  Can she really teach these children?  Can she survive without the comforts of the home she knew?

As she begins to settle in she comes in contact with two very different men.  One makes her angry and feel like a child ... yet something interesting about him draws her.  One she falls in love with ... or so she thinks so.

Can she stay and teach?  Can she love this man?  Will she turn and run?

This book was very well written.  Marshall is a very good writer and I loved how she describes things!  Yet, this book didn't "grab" me until about half way through.  It was fun to read, but there wasn't anything that really made me feel like "I just have to find out what happens" until, as I've mentioned, about halfway through.  But maybe it was just me.  Although after I got to that point where I "just had to know" it was very interesting and attention grabbing. And, just from my point of view, it ended just like I wanted. :)

There were times in the book where I felt like each chapter was just a different story about the same people.  Sometimes she referred back to things she talked about in the earlier chapters, but not often, until, again, about halfway through.

I do recommend this book.  Be wary though, there are some parts that could have been left out.  They are not terrible, but questionable.

The Pursuit of Holiness ~ Jerry Bridges

"Be holy, for I am holy," commands God to His people.  But holiness is something that is often missing in the Christian's daily life.  According to Jerry Bridges, that's because we're not exactly sure what our part in holiness is.  In this book, Bridges helps us see clearly just what we should rely on God to do - and what we should accept responsibility for ourselves.

This was the second time I've read this book and it was so helpful both times. Very convicting yet extremely helpful at the same time, as I already mentioned.  Bridges is very easy to understand and his writing flows very smoothly. I highly recommend this book.

A Study in Scarlet ~ Arthur Conan Doyle

This is the first story in the series of writings starring the famous detective Sherlock Holmes. In his tale Sir Arthur Conan Doyle introduces the reader to Mr. Holmes and his crime-solving companion Dr. Watson. The good doctor has returned to London after a stint in Afghanistan, having served for the military. While on his tour of duty he is injured, and now he is in back in the U.K. to recover. Watson lives on a fixed income and yet he needs a place to live. A friend introduces him to an acquaintance who is in a similar predicament: Sherlock Holmes. The two men become roommates, and it doesn’t take long for Dr. Watson to notice Mr. Holmes’s eccentricities and his unbelievable skill of deduction. Watson accompanies Sherlock on a case aiding Scotland Yard. A murder has been committed, but there is no sign of the killer. In the end the crime is solved by Mr. Holmes, of course, much to the amazement of Watson and Scotland Yard. Thus Holmes begins his lucrative detective practice. The rest, as they say, is history. J

***

I LOVED this story! I thought it was so fantastic that I couldn’t stop reading it. From the very moment the reader is introduced to the character Sherlock Holmes you just HAVE to keep reading about him and his peculiarities. The manner is which the author writes him is just amazing and draws you in. I was baffled as to how Holmes found “his man”, but then Arthur Conan Doyle takes the reader back and explains it all, and his explanation kind of added a twist to the narrative. No wonder readers 100 years ago were clamoring for more stories featuring the unique character. My only minor complaint is that Doyle uses many words that modern readers (well, at least me) might not be familiar with. Recommended.

Shutter Island ~ Dennis Lehane

My brother read this book, and he asked me to read it, too, so he could have someone to talk about it with. I had seen the previews for the movie, and thus I knew that this was a thriller and/or scary book. Normally I don’t read books in that genre. Okay, I NEVER read books in that genre or watch movies either. But I figured I’d give it a try for my brother’s sake.

***

U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels has been assigned a mission to locate a missing woman at Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane on Shutter Island. He and his partner Chuck soon learn that things are not what they seem at the hospital. During their investigation more questions arise than are answered. On top of that a hurricane is raging around them. Will Teddy and Chuck discover the secrets regarding the island and its hospital? Will they ever leave??

*****

Surprisingly I kind of enjoyed this book. It certainly held my interest. There was also a plot twist at the end of the story. Unfortunately there was some bad language. And since the hospital housed criminally insane people there were some disturbing scenes. Would I recommend this book? Probably not. Will I read a novel from this genre again? Probably not.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow ~ Washington Irving

Ichabod Crane is a school teacher who enjoys telling and listening to ghost stories. And the part of New England where he resides, Sleepy Hollow, is filled with tales of spooks and specters and most famous of all: a headless man who rides on a horse at night.

Ichabod tries to court the most sought after beauty in the county: Katrina Van Tassel. Ms. Van Tassel is warm to Ichabod’s feelings, but she is also being wooed by “Brom Bones” Van Brunt, Ichabod’s rival.

Both Crane and Van Brunt are invited to a party given by Katrina’s father. Many scary stories are told the night of the autumn festival, and Ichabod was rather skittish when he left the Van Tassel farm. Not long into his journey home he finds that he is being pursued by the notorious Headless Horseman himself! Ichabod is so frightened by his late-night encounter with an actual ghost that he leaves Sleepy Hollow, never to return.

*****

Because of this book’s history, and the fact that it is so famous, I was expecting a long story filled with adventure and intrigue. You can imagine my surprise then when I discovered that Mr. Irving’s well-known tale is a short story! Its lack of pages though was no indication of its plethora of words. Washington Irving used so many archaic terms that I had to have a Post-It note and pencil next to me at all times so I could write down all the unknown words I found to look up later. And his style of writing is out-of-date which made it difficult to read. I would only suggest reading this story so you can say, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow? Oh, yes. I’ve read it.” You’re probably better off just watching the movie.

Rebecca ~ Daphne Du Maurier

This story follows the life of a young female attendant to a wealthy matron. The young lady and her employer are vacationing in Italy when they meet a famous Englishman, Max de Winter. Two weeks later Max and the young woman are married, and he brings his new bride back to England to his stately home, Manderley. But all is not blissful for the newly married couple as the new Mrs. de Winter soon discovers that life at Manderley is haunted by the shadow of Max’s first wife, Rebecca. The mystery of Rebecca’s death grows throughout the summer. Finally, all of Mrs. de winter’s questions are answered through a series of startling events.

This famous 1938 gothic novel completely surprised me (in a good way). I was puzzled by the story right up until the very end. But I enjoyed reading this book because it had such a fantastic twist, and Daphne Du Maurier is an excellent descriptive writer; the reader can easily picture everything that is happening. One other thing that was unique about this tale is that you never find out what the new Mrs. de Winter’s first name is. She is only called by her surname. This was an interesting novel for adults.

P.S. I Love You ~ Cecelia Ahern

I started reading this book and got to the third chapter, I believe, but I couldn't finish it.  There was so much swearing that it was hard to over-look.  I know the story is sweet and I was interested to see how Cecelia actually wrote the book but I couldn't read it.  I don't recommend this book for that reason, since I didn't get too far into it, I obviously don't know much about the rest of the book and cannot rate it on the rest of the contents.

Catcher in the Rye ~ J. D. Salinger

Maybe you are like me in that you have heard of this novel, but you've never read it. It's fame has also piqued your interest. Well, that is how I decided I was going to read this book. And that is also how I found out that this book is not worth reading. :)

Here's the gist: the novel chronicles a weekend in the life of prep school attendee Holden Caulfield. He has been kicked out of another school, but he doesn't want to go home to his soon-to-be disappointed parents. Instead he spends the weekend in New York City. There isn't a real strong plot to the story. It is told in the first person point of view, and the entire book is basically just Holden giving you his thoughts on life. He has been committed to a mental institution because he has had a nervous breakdown, and it seems that he has been instructed to write down the events that led to his breakdown.

This novel is filled with very frank observations regarding people, and Salinger uses a lot of coarse language. A lot. I understand that he was trying to convey a strong character, and when you read the book it does come across that Holden would speak that way. But it was beyond excessive. Also, because Holden is only sixteen, and the novel is written in a manner that Holden himself is telling the story, there is a lot of repetition of words and phrases.

I will give Salinger credit in that he certainly makes the reader believe that a 16 year-old is telling a story rather than a 25 year-old writer. But the bad language makes this book one to be avoided.

Pauline's Passion and Punishment ~ Louisa May Alcott

Synopsis: The title character, Pauline, has been wronged in love, and she uses her womanly wiles to seek revenge against the offending man. With a hunger that is almost demonic, Pauline stops at nothing to make the man atone for what he has done to her.

~~~~
After reading A Long Fatal Love Chase I vowed that I had to find more of Alcott’s lesser known thrillers. I was intrigued by that book because it was such a stark contrast to Little Women and its subsequent novels, and the ending was very surprising.

I hunted around and found the massive book Louisa May Alcott Unmasked: Collected Thrillers at my local library. I was specifically looking for the short story Pauline’s Passion and Punishment. And it IS a short story: only 30 pages long. But don’t let its lack of length make you think it was brief in plot development. I found this tale to be unusual, and I don‘t mean that as a bad thing. It was an expected story of love and revenge. I thought I had the ending figured out, but Alcott surprised me once again.

I will definitely be reading more of these suspenseful stories. Alcott is truly a versatile writer.