A LEGO Brickumentary (Documentary)

A LEGO Brickumentary (Documentary)

EVERYTHING LEGO!  Seriously, everything!  Fan conventions, the origin story, how the company creates new products, LEGO in space, making LEGO art for a living, you name it, it’s here.  If you, or someone you love, loves LEGO this is a must-see.  It is narrated by a mini-fig (voiced by Jason Bateman) and all the different aspects of this iconic toy are covered: the fun, the play, the art and the practical aspects for science. 

I never had LEGO growing up but I did have a knock-off brand and I LOVED them.  After watching this documentary I am seriously considered going out and getting one of the models that are made for adults who love LEGO, but boy those things are pricey!  So enjoy this movie, but watch with caution, you will be tempted to start playing with bricks no matter your age.

Death in Salem by Eleanor Kuhns

Death in Salem by Eleanor Kuhns

Will Rees is a weaver from Maine visiting Salem on his way home from selling his wares on the road.  He’s hoping to purchase a nice present for his pregnant wife, but instead bumps into a friend who saved his life in the war; and that would be the Revolutionary War for its 1796 when our mystery is set.  Will’s friend, nicknamed Twig, is the local undertaker and he’s leading the funeral procession for the long ailing Mrs. Antiss Boothe.  Her family is well respected in the town and when her husband is found murdered shortly after her funeral the town is in shock.  No one more so than Twig who races to find Will, who recently left for home, and bring him back to Salem to solve the crime.  The woman Twig loves, the slave belonging to the Boothe household, is accused of the murder and locked in the jail.

It’s obvious from the get-go that the accused didn’t commit the crime.  She wouldn’t have had the strength.  Yet the politics and secrets of the wealthy shipowners of Salem trip Will up as he tries to uncover who would have a motive and the opportunity to murder Mr. Boothe. 

Those fans of historical mysteries will find a lot to like here.  There is a lot of local color and period detail.  I did find some of the “mysteries” easy to solve but that was because I’m looking at the situation with modern eyes. Will wouldn’t have (and didn’t) make some of the jumps a modern reader would which was accurate to the time, yet annoying as far as crafting a mystery.  It was slower paced than I like my mysteries, but again, true to the time.  I both read and listened to this book and recommend reading it over listening; some of the voices the narrator used I found a bit annoying in their tone.

The Detectorists (Comedy/British Mini-Series – Starring Mackenzie Crook and Toby Jones)

The Detectorists (Comedy/British Mini-Series – Starring Mackenzie Crook and Toby Jones)

Andy and Lance are members of the DMDC, the Danebury Metal Detectors Club.  They like to spend their free time searching the countryside for an ancient Saxton ship burial but mostly find pop-tops, Matchbox cars and buttons.  Andy is finding balancing his love of his hobby and the love of his girlfriend and realizes he may need to make some hard decisions.  Lance is still helping his ex-wife (and thereby her new husband) with issues in her life and has to wonder if he’s being taken advantage of along the way.  Things come to a head when the Antiquisearchers, a rival club of detectorists, starts searching the land Andy and Lance got special permission to search.

In a word, charming.  Watching these six thirty-minute segments you really become fond of Andy and Lance and want them to find something, anything!, important.  At the core it’s a quirky group of people experiencing life and all the curveballs it throws their way.

The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure

The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure

Lucien is an unemployed architect in Nazi occupied Paris.  He does his best to keep his head down and not get involved with anything that may single him out or make him put his neck out for his fellow man.  Then he is asked to do a job.  Create a space in an apartment where a Jewish man can hide and be undetectable to a Nazi search.  Lucien wants to refuse but the contract to build a factory that comes with this commission is too good to pass up.  Reluctantly Lucien becomes a working architect again building hiding places for people to avoid detection from the Nazis while designing factories to arm the Nazis to continue the war.

My “home” book club recently talked about this book and one of the members couldn’t continue reading because she didn’t like the main character.  Yes, Lucien is not the most likeable of characters but he grows a heart, and very realistically I thought, throughout the book.  Watching how an ordinary man who tried very hard to avoid thinking about the occupation and all the horrors it brought with it becomes entrenched in intrigue and truly making a huge difference in the lives of many people was compelling; the fear of him being caught at every turn really ramped up the adrenaline rush to keep the pages turning.

This book has a great ending.  If it were a movie I would have clapped.  Instead I settled on quiet cheering.  I’m looking forward to reading his latest book House of Thieves. 

The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins by Antonia Hodgson

The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins by Antonia Hodgson

Reviewed by Keith McCoy, Somerset County Library System

Originally Submitted to Library Journal

Occurring a few months after the excellent tale that was The Devil in the Marshalsea, ne’er-do-well parson’s son Tom Hawkins is once again in trouble in Georgian London.  Recently out of debtor’s prison, he is living off his girlfriend’s money while translating erotica for her bookstore.  First, he finds himself in the debt of one of London’s most notorious underworld figures.  Then he gets involved in a late night fight with the husband of King George’s mistress, followed by a secret meeting with a conniving Queen Caroline.  A priggish neighbor is stabbed to death in his bed, right after an inebriated Tom publicly threatens him.  This all unfolds in confessional retrospect, as Hawkins is being wheeled off to the gallows for murder.  It all comes to a “head” at the end.  Hodgson has provided another pell mell romp through the top and bottom of English society, seen through the eyes of a gentleman who is both a rogue and a naif. 

Verdict:  Those who enjoy their historical action fast and vivid will enjoy the second installment of Thomas Hawkins’ misadventures.

Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

Beryl Markham experiences an interesting and unconventional childhood growing up on a horse farm with her father in colonial Kenya.  She makes friends with the local tribe and her neighbors and finds her childhood ideal.  But when she gets older her gender and the expectations of society for young ladies, start to stifle and constrain her.  She attempts to become a wife but the match that seemed ideal turns out to be anything but perfect.  Having tried the conventional role Beryl starts to follow her heart becoming the only female horse trainer in Africa all the while trying to follow her heart as well with varied levels of success and heartbreak.

I wasn’t a fan of The Paris Wife but I think that was more because I’m not a fan of Hemingway as a person/husband, but nonetheless I was a little concerned about this one.  I shouldn’t have been.  Beryl is such an interesting person I fully enjoyed reading her fictional biography.  Yes, she made some really bad choices, but you couldn’t really fault her for going with her heart when the status quo was awful.  There was one instance where I thought she was finally making a good choice for both herself and to fit into society and like Beryl I was mistaken so I could really identify with the character.  This is the story of strong woman way ahead of her time trying to live by the beat of her own drum while the world around her held onto its Victorian attitudes only when it seemed to be convenient or hurtful to others to do so.

Wonderful on audio so you can hear how all the melodious African names are pronounced!

Warriors of the Storm by Bernard Cornwell

Warriors of the Storm by Bernard Cornwell

Reviewed by Keith McCoy, Somerset County Library System

Originally Submitted to Library Journal

The irascible and combative Uhtred Uhtredson returns in the ninth book of Cornwell’s Saxon Tales.  Set in a fractured ninth century England, the aging Saxon warrior is surprised by a Norse attack from across the Irish Sea.  Worse, he quickly finds out that a former lover has allied with the invader, Ragnall Ivarson:  the latter wants a kingdom, and the former wants to annihilate Uhtred and his grown children.  Threaded through the battle scenes is the nascent Celtic Christianity, and how it melds or conflicts with the old religious ways.  The desire to create (or prevent) a unified England under Edward of Wessex is behind much of the maneuvering, too.  Uhtred uses all of his martial prowess, wits, and gut instinct to save most of his offspring, and the future of his land.  Cornwell again provides an exciting and tricky retelling of history from the standpoint of a colorful warrior lord.  

Verdict: Not just for lovers of historic fiction, but those who catch the first episodes of The Last Kingdom (based on this series) on BBC America will want to read all the stories.

Last Words by Michael Koryta

Last Words by Michael Koryta

Reviewed by Cassandra, Teen Librarian at Mary Jacobs

Florida-based death-row defense lawyer Markus Novak’s life derailed when his wife was murdered while the two of them were working on a case. Still searching for her killer two years later, Novak has put his life and career on the line one too many ties. His boss sends him to Indiana to review a cold case just to get him out of town.

The 10-year-old cold case involves a teenage girl who disappeared inside a cave system beneath a rural farm. Days later the girl’s lifeless body was brought out of the cave by Ridley Barnes. All these years later Barnes, who called to have the case reopened, continues to claim he has no memory of what happened inside the cave. Living under a cloud of suspicion, Barnes wants answers even if it costs him his life.

Just when you’re sure you know who the killer is, Koryta throws you a curve and a new suspected killer is introduced with even more motive. Koryta switches back and forth from the suspects always leaving you wondering who the real killer is. The twists will have you second guessing yourself as you try to solve the mystery along with the protagonist.

**Very good on audio!

This is Your Life, Harriet Chance! by Jonathan Evison

This is Your Life, Harriet Chance! by Jonathan Evison

Novels with happy colors of the cover should be happy; just one complaint to start out with while trying to write a positive review because many people will enjoy this novel, just not me.

Harriet Chance is 78 and has been a widower for two years.  She has been seeing Bernard, her dead husband, quite a bit lately.  Of course her friends and family think she is losing touch with reality, but no dear reader, Bernard really is visiting her from the afterlife.  (I have no idea why, the book would have been fine without the weirdness of him having conversations with Harriet and those that run the afterlife.  I must have missed something…?)  Anyway, before his Alzheimer’s got truly awful Bernard entered a drawing to win a cruise to Alaska.  And he won!  The ones who held the raffle take three or four years to hunt down a relative (what?!) and now Harriet is going on a cruise.

The style of the writing was interesting.  Each chapter starts with the date and the age Harriet is at the time.  Most of the story is set in the present, but you also get to see what made Harriet the woman she is today.  Unfortunately something awful and more awful always seems to be coming when you learn about her past. 

Maybe I’m being a little harsh.  I apologize.  I could have seen around all issues I mentioned above, but what starts out quirky and fun becomes depressing and very dark.  I get really annoyed when books do that.  I have to say it was very well written, maybe a little too much an emotional rollercoaster for me.  However, I did listen to the whole book.  A testament to how good the reader was, and that I did want to know where the story was going.  Just didn’t like it when I got there.

If you like dysfunctional stories with a fully development main character that is more bitter than bittersweet this may be your next read.

Almost Interesting: the Memoir by David Spade

Almost Interesting: the Memoir by David Spade

Reviewed by Laura the Libraian

David Spade showcases his trademark biting humor in this memoir that covers his childhood growing up in Arizona, the fraternity years at Arizona State University, his start in comedy and his breakthrough when he gets cast on Saturday Night Live. 

There's plenty of amusing anecdotes about his tumultous time at Saturday Night Live, including a rivalry with Rob Schneider, friendships with fellow up and comers Chris Rock and Adam Sandler and his infamous run-in with Eddie Murphy.  He also delves into his friendship/partnership with Chris Farley. Disappointingly, he does not discuss his many famous relationships with such celebrities as Lara Flynn Boyle, Heather Locklear, Julie Bowen and others.

Spade certainly has had a colorful life and never adopts a warm and fuzzy tone -- it's self-deprecation all the way.