The Public DVD review

A sensitive and enlightening look at the problem of the homeless in regards to public libraries. This movie tells the story of a librarian and his work at the Cincinnati Public Library. In a particularly long cold snap the homeless are lined up at the door waiting to get in at the moment of opening. They use the bathrooms to wash and groom themselves. They stay the day.They are required to leave at closing because the library is not a shelter equipped for overnight stays. Still, the main character feels the need to help these unfortunate ones, especially because of his own background and his desire to serve the public. One cold night he helps them to stay n the library with an act of civil disobedience. A touching story of someone just trying to help. "I can see clearly now, the rain has gone."

The American Agent by Jacqueline Winspear

I had forgotten how much I enjoyed Jacqueline Winspear's previous Maisie Dobbs mystery, To Die But Once, until I read her latest work, The American Agent. Set in England during The Blitz of 1940, The American Agent follows Dobbs, a self-taught private detective. She works to solve the murder of an American war correspondent who met her demise just shortly after meeting Maisie, who was on ambulance duty during a bombing raid on London.
Winspear does a thorough job of working Maisie through all of the potential suspects and leading the reader through a variety of possibilities when it comes to the identity of the murderer; but it is with her historical fiction work where Winspear shines.
Maisie has several friends involved in various aspects of the war effort, as well as in Scotland Yard. She interacts with them in a variety of locations that highlight what it was like in the days of wartime Britain. You encounter displaced people, bombing raids, and propaganda efforts that were all a part of 1940 life. In fact, Maisie is trying to adopt a young girl whose mother passed away after she gave up her daughter and sent her to safety outside of London proper. There are many twists that revolve around the war and the people involved, and that's what I particularly like about Winspear's books.
The other thing I like about the Maisie Dobbs series is I think you can start with any volume and get caught up. The American Agent is book 15, and I actually started the series with number 14. I have since gone back and read 11-13, all of which I have found to be good reads.

Someone We Know by Shari Lapena

Lapena’s latest thriller opens with a gruesome murder. The quiet upstate New York suburb is shaken when their new resident Amanda Pierce goes missing… Did her husband Robert do it? It could also be any of the neighbors she was having affairs with. Paul and Olivia’s teenage son Raleigh has been breaking into houses to hack into the owners’ computers. Does he know secrets he is not telling? How about Olivia’s best friend Glenda and her husband Keith or their son Adam and other suspects? Lapena gives a few false leads leaving us guessing. The surprise twist towards the end was unexpected. It is a fast read “whodunit.”

Heading for Home: My Journey from Little League to Hollywood! by Kent Stock with Ken Fuson

Need a quick, good story to read?  Look no further than Heading for Home: My Journey from Little League to Hollywood! This was just a good story.  Stock speaks of his growing up, his parents and grandparents growing up and how it all shaped their lives.  You can appreciate the hard work of Kent, his parents and others in the story. 

I grew up in a small community like Norway where the school was everything.  The town was a ghost town on Friday nights during football and basketball seasons and in later years when my school was an up and coming baseball powerhouse, the towns caught baseball fever and held on!  In 1997 when the girl’s basketball team played in the first round of the State tourney, the volunteer ambulance crew had to draw names out of hat as to who would stay back in town of there was an emergency.  this isn't something you find in larger communities.  Like Norway when the high school was moved to the other town after consolidation of three small districts, the whole town felt it and still does today.  

Take a night or two to read this uplifting book about Iowa Nice.

Butterfly Palace by Colleen Coble

In 1904 Lilly Dobson is in mourning for her mother and abandoned by the man she loves.  Moving to Texas she is hired for a position as a maid in a grand mansion and works for a spoiled young woman. Shocked to find her former boyfriend in this town she learns he is hiding his identity. There is a murderer in this town killing young women.  Who else is going to be killed?  How can she stay safe and know who is hiding unlawful deeds in this elegant society?  There are strange noises in the mansion and secret tunnels are found. Her master's exotic butterfly collection distresses her and causes an eeriness in this home. A web of secrecy, conspiracy, and some religious undertones make this novel interesting and in anticipation of the solving of different plots in the story.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

This is a great historical fiction novel spanning several generations of a Korean family.  It begins in the 1930s with Sunja, the beloved daughter of a poor family whose unplanned pregnancy threatens their honor.  A minister who stays at their boardinghouse offers to marry Sunja and take her with him to his new life in Japan.  In Japan, the family faces harsh discrimination and poverty.

Sunja's children, Noa and Mozasu, both end up working in the pachinko business, which is very popular in Japan, but also has a seedy reputation.  (Perhaps like casinos here?)  They take very different paths in life, and end up in very different places.  The story ends in the 1980s with Solomon, Sunja's grandson, who is navigating what it means to be a second generation Korean in Japan.

I found this book to be very readable, so don't let its nearly 500 pages keep you away.