Fiction

Ok, I don't know who chooses the monthly book selections for our County Public Library, but I will no longer follow blindly your recommendations. A couple of the last few books were good. But this last selection of The Somnambulist by Jonathon Barnes negated all other good recommendations because of it's awfulness. I guess it was better than the last awful book (that I chose off the shelf, from the Librarian's Choice section) Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch.
That book was so bad that I didn't even get past the 2nd chapter before I returned it. The Somnambulist, I at least finished, though I regretted the loss of the last few weeks of my life reading it. I need to stop feeling guilty about quitting a book early. Oh, I guess I should tell you what it was about? It is about a detective/magician in Victorian London times who is in search of a murderer. Along the way, he encounters a variety of stereo-typic carnival people with various unusual physical characteristics. His partner is the Somnambulist who is one such person with unusual physical qualities.


Miss Julia Stands her Ground. by Ann B. Ross. What a strange transition from The Somnambulist to Miss Julia. Miss Julia, apparently is the lead character in a series of books by Ann B. Ross. True to the traditions of the South, Miss Julia has a strict moral and ethical code that is challenged by her circumstances. So prudish and uptight, you would think that Miss Julia would be annoying... ok, she is a little. But she is also endearing and a champion of those people she has brought into her family. Basically, she found out that her late husband had an affair which resulted in a child. She takes the woman and the child into her home. The book begins a few years later when she hears rumors of further indiscretions by this woman whom she has chosen to trust. Not high literature, but entertaining, and a refreshing 180 from the previous book I read.

Up Next: Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich

Tomorrow, hopefully, another sneak peek.