"Savannah Blues" by Mary Kay Andrews

I am always reading, but there's a frantic period near the end of the summer, when the school year is fast approaching, that I tend to binge-read. And what better author is there to sit down and read in a lazy summer afternoon than Mary Kay Andrews? Andrews' Savannah Blues makes for the perfect end-of-summer reading treat. Heroine Eloise "Weezie" Foley, an antique picker, copes with divorce (and subsequently living in her ex-husband's backyard), being accused of murder, and new love with an old boyfriend, all with her own unique brand of cyncism and hilarity. What could make this delectable book of romance and mystery even better? Its setting: Savannah, Georgia, a city which Andrews writes about with tangible affection.

Beth gives it four out of five carrots!

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"The Maxwell Daily Reader" by John C. Maxwell

Featuring timeless wisdom from fourteen of John C. Maxwell's leadership books, The Maxwell Daily Reader is an excellent resource for group inspiration. I recently attended a showchoir camp and was introduced to the book by my choreographer, Stephen Todd. He would read the daily message to us every afternoon when we were starting to feel tired and lethargic. It would rejuvenate and motivate us faster than anything else ever did. Each entry delivers a powerful leadership principle, ready for real-world practice. Anyone in need of inspiration or motivation is sure to find The Maxwell Daily Reader a perfect fit!

Grace gives it four out of five carrots!

Hardcover, 19.99

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"The Strain" by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

Put together an aged Holocaust survivor (who is also the world's foremost expert on vampires) and a down-on-his-luck epidemiologist, throw in a violent vampire uprising and you get a horror story you can really sink your fangs into. Guillermo del Toro is perhaps best known for his films, like the uber-violent "Pan's Labyrinth" or the dark comedy "Hellboy". He and co-author Chuck Hogan spin a dark tale of an impeding apocalypse in this intriguing, novel first book in a trilogy that's sure to be just as compelling. Vampires in this book are not of your average Transylvanian, Count Chocula variety--they are inflicted with an incurable virus (which sounds increasingly realistic and probable through many in-book medical descriptions) that causes them to drink blood. Not through fangs, but through "stingers". Dwell on that horrifying image for a moment. I won't spoil the other imaginative changes to the "classic vampire" that del Toro dreamed up, but he has essentially invented a whole new monster. This book is 100% horror, through-and-through. You'll find yourself being jerked from story to story as del Toro and Hogan explore a wide variety of characters. Watch out for my favorite, an exterminator named Vas. As strange as it sounds, all of the research the authors poured into rat behavior (and how they are tell-tale signs for world crises) makes Vas the most interesting subplot.

Beth gives it four out of five carrots!

Hardcover, 26.99
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"Amazing Gracie" by Dan Dye

Fans of Marley and Me by John Grogan will love the tale of Gracie Dane, a partially blind albino "underdog" saved by thirty-something slacker Dan Dye. Gracie had been cast off by her littermates, her mother, and her breeder, and Dan discovered her the day before she was scheduled to be put down. From there emerges a love story between man and dog: Gracie, always awkward with a big heart (and not only because she's a Great Dane) and Dan, who had recently suffered the loss of the dog he'd been grown up with. Gracie is not an easy puppy--she goes to great lengths to have romantic rendevouzes with the uptight neighbor's Boston Terrier, and she refuses to eat anything but Dan's homemade dog cookies. She terrorizes the house on her first night home (causing the police to be called, because she was mistaken for a burglar). Her hijinks are endearing and familiar to anyone who's ever owned a dog. But truly, this is a story of Gracie's legacy--how she shaped Dan's life (and even his career). Any dog lover will laugh and cry, and read it over and over.

Beth gives it three out of five carrots!

Paperback, 10.95
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"Alive" by Piers Paul Read

Some of you may remember the tragedy of the Fairchild plane crash in the 1970's. My father sure did, and when he told me that he remembered loving this book in his youth, I had to see what my usually book-averse father "devoured". What I found was a surprisingly atypical survivor story: yes, it did have drama, yes, it did fulfill that morbid curiosity about what surviving in the worst conditions entails. The plane crashed in the middle of the Andes Mountains, harsh and nearly unsurvivable conditions. Aboard was a Rugby team from Uruguay, rich, spoiled kids who suddenly have to fend for themselves. Probably the best part of this book was how surprisingly well-written it was--not at all like those somewhat guilty pleasure reads about horrifying events, Read is a very talented writer who uses his gift to tell the story in an empathetic, yet truthful, way.

Beth gives it four out of five carrots!

Paperback, 7.99

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