Oath of Office by Michael Palmer

Oath of Office by Michael Palmer

This is the perfect novel for Mendocino County. A doctor shoots seven patients and staff and then himself, another doctor working on him is not adhering to protocol, a woman driving home becomes fixated on a car with a tail light out to the point of almost causing an accident herself, a young man chopping onions in a restaurant kitchen is so fixated on an onion that he chops off his thumb.

Meanwhile the until now exemplary man who is the head of the Federal Drug Administration is filmed in a hotel room with an underage prostitute who claims he has hurt her. The Presidents popularity ratings have plummeted, leaving him hurt and depressed.

The President’s wife and a doctor are the unlikely team who discover what is happening in King’s Ridge. It has to do with mice eating cockroaches, I think, actually could not read that part, corporate evil and GMOs. As I said the perfect novel for Mendocino County.

Eliza

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury

In the almost 10 years that I have been here only Heidi & Dixie Shimshak have offered a book review. Last night Joel Mikesell presented me with this book review so I asked his permission to publish it on this blog.

If you haven't read The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury, get it now and
read it before Halloween! In The Halloween Tree, Bradbury has written an
artist's history of Halloween, lightly wrapped in a story.

The wrapping: A group of boys are taken on a journey through history to
discover the true meaning of Halloween. They travel in time and space to
the ancient world, Notre Dame, and, of course, to Mexico for Bradbury's
beloved Day of the Dead.

The sweet inside: I call The Halloween Tree an artist's history
because‑‑while Bradbury's accounts of Halloween's historical roots are
accurate enough‑‑they are more implied than laid out for the reader. It is
the spirit of Halloween in these various cultures that is important to
Bradbury, not dusty footnotes. (Unless it be mummy dust, of course.) When
the boys travel to Notre Dame, it is not to be given a lecture on Gothic
architecture and decorative arts, but to feel the gargoyles come alive,
doing what they were meant to do in a world where darkness has palpable
power.

This is a children's book. It is quite short and so a fast read, even
without Bradbury's extraordinary tone and pacing that tumbles the reader
along like a fallen leaf pursued by an autumn wind.

Apparently there is a new, longer edition out that includes some material
from Bradbury's collaboration with Chuck Jones on the animated version of
the story (Don't care, didn't like the cartoon much.), and a copy of
Bradbury's first submitted manuscript of the book with descriptions that
were cut in the first printed edition (Very exciting, this!).
ISBN13: 9780375803017

How long has it been since you've read a book in one sitting, excited the
whole way through? Give yourself a treat.

‑ Joel Mikesell

Two -new to me- mystery authors

A friend called. We worked together a number of years ago at a Library in Marin County.
She recommended two mystery authors that I had not read.

Jane K Clelland
Consigned to Death: Josie Prescott left New York City after a series of difficult events and moved to the coast of New Hampshire (all 18 miles of it) and started her own antiques auction house. Being a murder mystery, she is almost immediately mixed up in murder. The descriptions of her business and her employees are entertaining and carry the story forward. There are several other Josie Prescott stories which follow.





Elizabeth Gunn
Kissing Arizona: This is Elizabeth Gunn's second mystery series. Sarah Burke is a detective in Tucson, Arizona trying to balance work, care of her drug addled sister's daughter and a bit of romance on the side and oh I forgot, her mother. Today's typical family story with murder added.

Reference Books: Local plans & EIRs

Even if you are not interested in the subject, you can learn a lot about where you live
by looking at local environmental impact reviews and plans.

There are two recent publications:

Notice of preparation of a draft environmental impact report & notice of public scoping meeting & public review period, a Proposal to Construct the New Ukiah Courthouse for the Superior Court of Mendocino County. Currently they are considering two sites. The First is the "Library Site" bordered by Perkins St., Main St, Mason St and behind the properties front Smith St. The second under consideration is the "Railroad Depot Site" 309 Perkins St. It is interesting to note because the AOC, Administrative Office of the Courts, local government land use planning and zoning regulations would not apply to proposed courthouse project. I would never have known that without reading this.

Draft Ukiah Valley Area Plan Filled with great pictures, maps, graphs and local information.
This plan gives the reader the proposed changes in land use and discusses community development, population, housing, circulation and transportation, water management, energy and air quality, health and safety, open space and conservation, historical and archaeological preservation and parks and recreation. This is the plan for our community.

Both of these are Reference Books so they do not check out, but may be read at the Ukiah Library.

On Borrowed Time by David Rosenfelt

On Borrowed Time by David Rosenfelt

His biography says he lives with his wife and 27 Golden Retrievers something
I who have had, once and only once, 14 dogs (mostly rescue waiting to be adopted) have a hard time imagining.

That aside and having initially being attracted to his previous books because the dog was an essential part of the story. I enjoyed this dogless tale. This is a scary tale of Richard Kilmer who thinks he lost his true love in an automobile accident, only no one else in his life knows anything about her.

Can memories be implanted from the outside?

This was an interesting night's read. Hope you also enjoy it.

Eliza

Civil War Novels of Ann McMillan

Having grown up in Virginia just down the street from a fort built to protect Washington, D C, and yet knowing not much about the Civil War until I watched Ken Burns incredible series. It just was not discussed much except that my grandmother always said we were not rich because Albert Goddard had died and her father in law, Alfred Goddard was the dreamer and Shakespeare scholar, but not a money maker. I was just a kid. What did I know?

Ann McMillan's heroine described as a white widow turned Confederate nurse solves a series of mysteries all the while Richmond, Virginia is coming closer to being engulfed by the northern armies. She is aided by a free black herbalist and midwife, Judah Daniels. McMillan's 4 civil war mysteries are as follows:

Dead March
Angel Trumpet
Civil Blood
Chickahominy Fever

Since most books about war are from the male side, I am drawn to these books that bring the war down to a city, a block and a family. How are people affected. Her stories
are fascinating and certainly very possibe. I think of how one could be a nurse during the butchery of the Civil War, well probably any war. But that is what interests me.
If for nothing that they are well written and interesting stories, I recommend this series of 4.
Unfortunately, I do not see any new books in this series.

Eliza

Two Books

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

Cecelia Rose Honeycutt's life changed the week her mother died. For 12 years as her mother's mind slipped back to her
time of glory as the Vedalia Onion Queen of 1951, CeeCee had become almost totally isolated. She had no friends. How could she when her mother would go to the Goodwill and buy every prom dress and then dress up in one and stand out in the front of their house and blow kisses to those passing by.
Her father could not deal with any of this and so spent less and less time at home. Her only friend was an elderly widow next door.

After her mother's death, her great aunt Tootee appears and whisks her off to Savannah and a new chapter in her life.



At the same time, I started reading The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Bruce Perry. Dr. Perry helped change the image of children as ever resilient and able to overcome any abuse in the early years by showing that the human brain needs love, caring and stability to grow normally. Abused children often have high heart rates because they are hyper vigilent to the circumstances around them. Without love one cannot learn empathy and loving kindness. There are a series of children who early lives he describes including the boy raised in a dog crate. He was left with someone who had no idea how to raise children, just dogs. The story of the 21 children released by the Branch Davidians before the conflagration was so very sad.

What he said though reflected the lucky circumstances that CeeCee fell into, is that much early abuse can be overcome through the presence of a caring and loving adult in a young child's life.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt is just a fun read, but having read Dr. Perry's book at the same time, gave it greater weight.

Eliza

Autistic Children & Dogs

There have been two recent books on pairing autistic children and dogs. A Friend Like Henry by Nuala Gardner recounts her sons journey from violent, terrifying tantrums and her journey from starting to prepare a fatal dose of painkillers and sleeping pills to the connection that her son Dale had with a Golden Retriever and how that slowly blossomed into connections with others.

Before Henry, days were 18 hours of tantrums. An hour to get pajamas off. Another hour to get clothes on. A local pediatrician diagnosed Dale with a communication disorder. The family learned to communicate through Henry.

Cowboy was another Golden Retriever bought at a pet store, from a puppy mill and I must admit for me half the time, I just felt sorrow for Cowboy and angry that anyone buys puppys from puppy mills. Cowboy had numerous auto-immune deficiencies and did not even make it to age 3. And thinking of all the difference she made to Wills in that short time, I can only think "What if", "What if they had a long and happy life together. Like Henry, this book, Cowboy & Wills by Monica Holloway, Cowboy brings out the child. Her presence brings his classmates over to say hello. Her comfort allows Wills to play with other children and form friendship.

There are a number of places that you can check out dogs and autism.
Autism Service Dogs of America
North Star Foundation
Canine Companions for Independence

Some train and only place fully trained adult dogs
Some choose a puppy that they think will help a particular child.

Eliza

Sacrifice and Awakening by S J Bolton

I just came across Sacrifice and then Awakening by S J Bolton and thoroughly enjoyed both of them. They are dark, involving human sacrifice and snake handling pentecostal cults.
The protagonists and also to some extent past and present victims are both women. One a
doctor and the other a veterinarian. Neither is for the descriptive weak of heart. It
helped me that I grew up with a grandfather for whom the first CSI lab was built and who had
books with full colored pictures of victims of gun shoot wounds (his specialty) and have
a daughter who is a veterinarian and so have been the recipient of books like "The Book of
Bodily Fluids" and a by stander in an equine necropsy.

But if just reading about these things does not both you. You will probably enjoy her books.
I am looking forward to the next one.

Eliza