THE SUGAR QUEEN by Sarah Addison Allen, 2008.

A nice, light piece by the author of Garden Spells, this story concerns three youngish women, living in a small North Carolina town, who are tied together by secrets and lies: Josey, who lives with her mother as basically an unpaid servant, keeps a hidden closet full of sugary junk food for herself and dreams of escape; Chloe, who owns and operates the best sandwich shop in town, is in the throes of a breakup and is hounded by books that appear whenever she needs them; and Della Lee, a tough talking waitress with a heart of gold who is fleeing an abusive relationship and hiding out in Josey's closet. Murder, abusive behavior, illicit affairs, forbidden love, and blooming romances all play a part in the plot, and these characters' lives intersect when secrets are slowly revealed and all comes to light in somewhat surprising ways. Full of small town quirkiness, recognizable and interesting characters, humor, and a little bit of magic, it's a pleasant and charming read.

I enjoy watching the old 90's sitcom "Home Improvement" (thank goodness for cable), and I like Tim Allen's humor on that show, so I decided to check out his first book, DON'T STAND TOO CLOSE TO A NAKED MAN (1994). I don't read a lot of strictly humor books, so this was something different for me. I decided that while I really like his show, reading an entire book of his humor was just a bit much. Maybe that's the way I'd feel about reading any comic's book of humor. Anyway, Allen's humor is good on TV, where he's interacting with other characters and it's in small doses. It just didn't come off as funny on the printed page--at least, it didn't give me consistent chuckles while reading it.

I decided I would watch the theatrical version of "Brideshead Revisited" (2008), after putting it off a while. I had viewed the original PBS series (from 1981) a short while back, and enjoyed it quite a bit--made when Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews were so young and John Gielgud was still actively working. I had read that this movie version did not stand up so well next to the PBS version, but I like Emma Thompson and thought I'd give it a shot. Well, next to PBS's miniseries, the film came off as pretty shallow. Of course, a film cannot accomplish as much as a miniseries can, but this film didn't have much character development or motivation, seemed rather murky at times, somewhat disjointed, and not very involving. Didn't draw me into very well. Emma Thompson as the brittle and very Catholic Lady Marchmain and Matthew Goode as the ambitious Charles Ryder were about the best things in the film; Michael Gambon was not very good, or Ben Whishaw or Hayley Atwell. In terms of chemistry, the only ones who had much chemistry together were Goode and Whishaw and Goode and Thompson. Sometimes the dialogue was a bit dull, which made the whole movie go rather slowly. Andrew Davies has certainly done better scripts than this (a little too much concentration on the gay thing for me and the whole Catholic/atheist issue seemed very shallow). Beautiful location shooting (Castle Howard in England, which was used for the original, too), very gorgeous sets, but not much depth here. Not terrible, but not consistently good or very enthralling.

THE PHYSICK BOOK OF DELIVERANCE DANE by Katherine Howe, 2009.

The second adult novel about the Salem witch trials I've read in a year's time, the other being THE HERETIC'S DAUGHTER. This one is also written by a descendant of someone tried for witchcraft at Salem in 1692.

There are two storylines in this novel: one concerns Deliverance Dane, a real person who lived in the Salem area during 1692, and was accused of witchcraft. Deliverance is a practitioner of herbal medicine, with deep knowledge of herbs and healing power. She possesses a book, however--called at various times a receipt book, recipe book, physick book--that contains rare information about remedies and such, but also something more--actual spells. She uses her magical powers for healing, but unfortunately a patient (a child) dies under her care and years later this incident comes back to haunt her when she is accused of witchery and murder and thrown into prison to await trial and certain execution. Her daughter Mercy is left with the responsibility of keeping the physick book safe and flees to Marblehead.

The second storyline is set in modern day Cambridge, and concerns Connie Goodwin, a graduate student in history at Harvard, who is commissioned by her absent mother to clean out and get her grandmother's old home in Marblehead ready to put on the market. While she's looking through some old books in the house, a small key drops out of an old Bible; the key contains a scrap of paper with the name "Deliverance Dane" on it. Connie becomes determined to find out who this woman was; during her search, she discovers the fact that Deliverance once owned a physick book. Recognizing its research value gives Connie great impetus to discover its whereabouts. If such a rare item could be located, it could definitely add prestige to Connie's career. But someone else is most anxious that Connie find the book as well, and is willing to use any means to lay hands on it.

Smooth narrative, likeable characters, easy transition between stories, good details about the trials, some humor and romance with a small bit of menace thrown in. Not as intense or detailed as THE HERETIC'S DAUGHTER, but enjoyable in its own way.

ARK OF FIRE by C.M. Palov, 2009.
Finished this up last night; good read that kept me turning pages. Story concerns a young and beautiful photographer, Edie Miller, who witnesses a murder and the theft of an important artifact called the Stones of Fire. She is hunted down herself but saved by a tall and blond former British Secret Service agent/scholar/author named Caedmon Aisquith, who of course becomes involved with the girl as well as the crime. They discover that a fanatical organization has stolen the aforementioned artifact and are tracking down the companion piece--the famed Ark of the Covenant, with the express purpose of bringing about Armageddon. Clues fall into place, leading them across continents, the body count is high, and time is running out. Definitely feels like a Dan Brown/James Bond/Indiana Jones sort of adventure. Knowing that, it's a fun and fast read, a good book to take along to the airport, beach or on a vacation.

BOOMSDAY, by Christopher Buckley, 2007.
Uproariously funny political satire involving the crisis of retiring Baby Boomers. Cassandra Devine, a frustrated Washington spin doctor is infuriated by the excesses of what she calls America's "Ungreatest generation" and the Social Security debt. She calls for a solution on her blog: the government should offer incentives to those baby boomers willing to kill themselves by age 75. Her proposal catches fire with millions of citizens, and with politician Randolph Jepperson IV, who is looking for the youth vote for his bid for the presidency. Their opposition includes the current president, a pro-life preacher who may have killed his own mother, and hordes of baby boomers who are offended by the attacks on their golf courses. Buckley writes with great tongue in cheek humor, I have not laughed so much while reading a book in ages. His characters are broadly written but often ring true, the dialogue is witty and biting, the situations comic. I'm not a huge fan of satire, or political novels, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. A great change of pace for me.