Here is a list of the books for this year:
Books by Libby Fischer Hellmann
Easy Innocence
When pretty, smart Sara Long is found bludgeoned to death, it's easy to blame the man with the bat. But Georgia Davis — former cop and newly-minted PI — is hired to look into the incident at the behest of the accused's sister, and what she finds hints at a much different, much darker answer. It seems the privileged, preppy schoolgirls on Chicago's North Shore have learned just how much their innocence is worth to hot-under-the-collar businessmen. But while these girls can pay for Prada pricetags, they don't realize that their new business venture may end up costing them more than they can afford... Libby Fischer Hellmann writes the award-winning suspense series featuring video producer and single mother Ellie Forman. She's recently edited the successful anthology Chicago Blues.
An Eye for Murder
It begins in 1944 Prague, but the madness—and the murder—move on to contemporary Chicago where an old man has died. Then it goes to the North Shore suburbs where documentary filmmaker Ellie Fore-man gets a letter prompted by the success of her show Celebrate Chicago. The landlady of the dead Ben Sinclair has found Ellie’s name among his effects. Why? Mrs. Fleischman is uneasy, and wants to know, moreover, if Ben could have been murdered. Ellie became a filmmaker to help people tell their stories. The books and wartime relics Ben left behind—will they be enough to tell his?
An Image of Death
Who knew that a career in video documentaries could lead to crime? Such is the fate of Chicago's Ellie Foreman whose shoots hook her up with misdeeds past and present. Here she is producing a video about foster children that's being financed by a successful Chicago real estate developer. Her plans get thrown for a loop when a mysterious package appears at her door one winter night. Inside she finds a surveillance video showing the murder of a young woman. Who was this woman and what is her connection to Ellie? The cops shunt her aside, but the urgency she feels to find answers, coupled with her professional knowledge of film, compel her to sleuth despite the difficulties borne from a complex history with her lover, David. A little digging reveals that the murder victim was a courier with a dark history forged in Eastern Europe at the time of the Soviet Union's collapse. And a little more digging reveals dark happenings here at home, money laundering, and the deadly price of dealing in diamonds....
Book recommended by Libby
The Postman Always Rings Twice
Book by Ann Bauer
A Wild Ride up the Cupboards Book recommended by Ann
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Book recommended by Joci Tilsen
He Drown She in the Sea by Shani Mootoo
Book recommended by Jim Bour
Scribbling the Cat by Alexandra Fuller
Book recommended by Lisa Wagner
Home by Mairlynne Robinson
Here is the blurb about the 2 we didn't have to read, but most of us did.
A Picture of Guilt
The big news story in Chicago is the murder trial of Johnny Santoro, a dock worker whose girlfriend has been killed. Most Chicagoans are betting on a quick guilty verdict, but Ellie Foreman has doubts about his complicity—Santoro is strangely familiar to her. Checking back to the outtakes of a video project in progress while the murder took place, Ellie finds evidence that could save Santoro from a lifetime behind bars. It seems the perfect alibi, but the tape is compromised by radio interference and Santoro goes to jail. Almost immediately, Ellie's world begins to shift: a suspicious vehicle follows her, the Chicago mob shows up, and the FBI wants to question her. She doesn't have answers, but she has questions of her own about the radio transmissions. Everything indicates someone wants something from her, something bigger than the Santoro case. If only she could figure out what it is....
A Shot to Die For
In this fourth title in the Ellie Foreman mystery series, A Shot to Die For, the Chicago documentary filmmaker finds herself in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, producing a video for a popular resort. She is soon drawn into the history of a wealthy and prominent family deeply rooted in its magnificent mansion on the shores of the lake. Ellie, a divorced single mom, finds the issues of trust and loyalties reflect the turmoil of her own life, and soon is wading waist-deep into murder....
Easy Innocence is not really a part of the series, but the main character is in some of the previous books, but in those 4 she isn't the main character. Easy Innocence was my favorite, but I liked them all.
Hellman lives in Chicago (not a MN author, obviously) so that will be interesting. One year we had an author from Wisconsin, but the rest have been from MN.
So, I read Hellman's 5 books, and then I read the one she picked,
The Postman Always Rings Twice
A work of hard-boiled detective fiction from the master, James M. Cain. A drifter gets a job at an isolated diner and gas station, then quickly sinks into a lustful relationship with the proprietor's young, sexy wife. Because in the world of Cain's fiction only a beat separates the urge from the act, it is easy for the pair to move from consummated lust to a plan to murder the husband. The consequences unfold in surprising ways.
I have never read this, nor have I seen the movie. We are bringing the movie with us so we will watch it one night in our wonderful cabin, while we drink some wonderful wine. Did I mention that this is a girls weekend? This year there are 7 of us going. All but one have been there before, 4 of us have gone all 7 years.
The other author that is coming is Ann Bauer, who lives in Twin Cities. I was just reading a little about her and it turns out she is Jewish. I'm assuming Hellman is also Jewish because her main character is Jewish, and she uses some Yiddish/Hebrew, I'm not sure which, words in her books.
A Wild Ride Up the Cupboards
Edward is nearly four years old when he begins his slow, painful withdrawal from the world. For those who love him — his father, Jack; his pregnant mother, Rachel; his younger brother, Matt — the transformation of this happy, intelligent firstborn into a sleepless, feral stranger is a devastating blow, one that will send shockwaves through every nook and cranny of family life.
I thought the Wild Ride was good, although I thought it ended abruptly. Like, ok, I've written enough now, The End.
I also read the book Ann picked, Olive Kitteridge.
At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large, but she doesn’t always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance; a former student who has lost the will to live; Olive’s own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and her husband, Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse. As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life–sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty. Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition–its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires.
I've given up on the other 3 books. A few reasons, I usually don't like the books these people pick. I'm sorry, but its true. Sometimes I'm very pleasantly surprised, like last year when Jim picked Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen. Now one of my all time favorite books! Another reason is that if you read all the books you feel obligated to go to all the book talks. Which means you don't have a lot of time to drink wine in the hot tub, or drink wine in your cabin, or go make crafts with the hunky, naturalist John (Ok, he's not really hunky, but he is a naturalist and he does crafts!), or go looking for moose, or take pictures of deer...you can see the dilema.
We have had cabin 2 the past few years - here are some photos from the Gunflint web page:
Here is the kitchen, and outside that window is our hot tub!
The living room has a nice fireplace, which we burned a book in one year.
Yeah, don't go crazy. It was a book that was discarded from the public library, and it had been wet, so you know the wavy pages, plus it had a hideous doll with weird eyes on the cover.
You can understand now, can't you? We had read a different book by this author a few years before this, and it was bad. And had a ton of latin words in it - my friend Patty counted and documented it all. So we had a book burning.
The first year we went Beth brought a Flat Stanley with.
Flat Stanley is a children's book.
Meet Stanley Lambchop.
He's an ordinary boy with an extraordinary problem.
He's four feet tall, about a foot wide . . . oh, and half an inch thick.
At first being flat is fine.
It's fun going in and out of rooms simply by sliding under the door.
And it's exciting being mailed to your friends in California for a visit.
But it's not always easy being different, and soon Stanley wishes he could be just like everybody else.
Will he ever be normal again?
Beth's niece had given her a Flat Stanley doll, about 6 inches tall. You are supposed to take Stanley with you and take his picture places and then bring the pictures to school to share with the class. We had some fun with Flat Stanley! On the liquor cart, in the toaster, on the pancake griddle...needless to say some of the pictures did NOT go to school with Beth's niece!
If you are ever interested in joining us on our book weekend let me know. Hopefully next year I'll be in Spain with the High School band, but if I'm not I'll be at the Gunflint.
The Honor Band did Triumphant Fanfare, Afton Variations, Fantasy on Childhood Songs, and Light Cavalry Overture. This Honor Band is the first for our middle schools. Both Mr. Hanson and Mr. Melody (yes, that is his real name) put together the Honor Band program, and tomorrow they all leave on a trip to Chicago where they will have a whirlwind musical tour of the windy city. Everyone is very excited about this trip!
and the right side too!
some Edison Light Bulbs.
and the view of the canal and lake from their backyard.
One evening we went and watched the sun set over the water...
