Huntington Public Library Adult Reading Challenge

  It was difficult in the beginning to figure out the different characters in the book because the story is told through letters and emails (aka, correspondence), but I quickly fell for the protagonist's quick wit and fireball personality. I wrote letters as a child and this book piqued my interest in returning to letter writing. Overall, it is a beautiful and endearing novel.

 Peter Shandy is a tenured professor of agriculture at Balaclava Agricultural College. He likes Christmas and Christmas celebrations as much as the next person, but he hates the College Illumination holiday celebration and year after year refuses to decorate his home to compete with the other houses on the street. Then one year he snaps and orders in decorators to turn his home into a holiday extravaganza, then he leaves town before the neighbors blow a gasket. When he returns he finds Jemima Ames, the wife of his best friend, Tim dead on his living room floor. At first glance it appears Jemima fell and hit her head while trying to rearrange Peter's over the top decorations, But Peter doesn't think so and it's up to him to find out what really happened to Jemima Ames before it happens to someone else. This is a fun Christmas whodunit. I reread it every year or listen to the audio. It's a good mystery with lots of twists and turns and plenty of quirky characters. The seq...

  Maggie Walther is recently divorced from her hot shot councilman husband who had been arrested for bigamy. She meets and falls for Andrew who runs the Christmas tree stand. Follow Maggie on her journey with Andrew and his deep dark secret. Fast reading story.

  A graphic adaptation of Coppola's recent film that attempts to capture the grandeur of vision, but that ultimately is overblown in its lofty philosophy and story that has no heart to it.

  A great read that helps you deal with people/things in your life that you cannot control. Very well written and covers all facets of your life. Highly recommend.

Great read, but it also made me very angry. Ms. Jones is a school librarian in Louisiana who makes a comment about censorship in her local public library during a board meeting and ends up getting crucified on social media. She even gets death threats from the conservative Christians who disagree with her.  

  A woman named Lilith travels around the world to learn about the connecting mythologies of goddesses and the people who follow them. An educational and well drawn story.

  If you have already read 12 Months to Live by James Patterson and Mike Lupica, then this should be your next read. It is the second book in their series called "A Jane Smith Thriller". This book is a continuation of Ms. Smith's defense of her client accused of a triple homicide for the second time. She is also battling what has been diagnosed as terminal cancer and she is well into the 12 Months to Live that her doctor gave her in the previous book. This is a fast-paced story, a reflection of the writing style with many very short chapters. There are lot's of twists and turns and just when you think that you have it figured out, you don't!

  In 18th century England, a villager accuses a family of sisters of being able to turn into dogs. But despite the absurdity, the town begins to turn on the girls and their family farm. Its a combination of The Crucible and The Virgin Suicides. A story of a town seeking morality and losing their humanity in the process.