Sad Cypress by Agatha Cristie

Sad Cypress starts at the end of a case, in a crowded courtroom. It then moves to the time before the case, following the people in it. You get to be there when the crime is committed, but it is no easier to find out who did it.

Elinor Carlisle is a happy girl - She is engaged to the man she loves, and she has no money troubles, at least for the present. She is at a gentle point in life. But she is another person altogether underneath her calm, cool and collected facade. She is a passionate person, deeply in love with her fiance Roddy and devoted to him - but she can't show that side of herself lest she scare him off. She manages to keep it under control. But then Mary Gerrard comes into the story - first within an anonymous letter warning Elinor against someone- someone trying to steal her inheritance from her old, sick aunt through kindness. And Elinor thinks it's Mary.

When Elinor and Roddy go to visit her sick aunt, Roddy falls in love with Mary at first sight and Elinor now has a reason to passionately hate the beautiful, kind young girl. Even enough to kill her...

So when Mary Gerrard is found poisoned, Elinor Carlisle is the likely suspect. And perhaps even Hercule Poirot won't be able to declare her innocent.

Recommended to ages 12 and Up

The Murder on the Links by Agatha Cristie

This Agatha Cristie novel is a particularly good one. Nothing is quite what it seems.

It all starts when the young Captain Hastings has an unimportant meeting with a beautiful girl on the train. Or is it? Hastings goes to visit his friend, the famous Hercule Poirot and, as usual, gets caught up in an exciting case about a rich South African. On this particular case are two detectives, Poirot and the young, impertinent Giraud. Finding out the truth will become a battle between Poirot's little grey cells and Giraud's carefully gathered bits of evidence. Who can pick out the truth behind each article of clothing, strand of hair and disturbed ground? Everything needs to be taken into account. No slight piece of evidence can be disregarded. But as I said before, nothing is quite what it seems, and you will be chocked at multiple places. Is the crime a simple one as Poirot wishes? or a sudden act, full of rage and love as Hastings is inclined to think? Many things will cloud seeking eyes, including family members of the victim. Once again, only Poirot can sort out the puzzle.

Recommended to ages 12 and Up.

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Issacson

This book about Benjamin Franklin is a mix of a few of pages of secrets clocked with adoring sentences about Franklin's amazing inventions, long list of morals, calm discussion tactics and friendly personality. At first I was bored reading long sentences about Franklin's way of teaching himself to write better and other little bits of information that made him such a good person. It moved very slowly. But then I began to find out more things. Funny little stories about Franklin or ones that he wrote. As I read on I found out more things that make Franklin a person, not an unreachable character from history. There were somethings that made me laugh out loud, frown or even exclaim in anger.

By the end of the book I was full of conflicting emotions. I couldn't tell if Franklin was a genius, a friendly, social man and a great patriot, or a sour, creepy man who was quite capable of being a hypocrite.

Franklin is a man we learn about in school from early on, the man who flew a kite and discovered the power of lightening. However we don't find out that he was helped create and then sign many extremely important early American documents. He worked in public service until he was in his 80s. He invented many practical things, so many that they aren't all talked about even in the book. He also stayed in Europe for the last 15 years of his marriage, never seeing his wife again. He could rarely keep a male friend, but made female friends at ease, particularly younger ones. Only read this book if you have the patience to reread a few sentences during the boring parts. However by the end of the book you'll be glad you read it. And you'll sound smart when you tell your friends you're reading a book about Benjamin Franklin and show them the thickness of it.

Recommended to ages 13 and Up

Dead Man's Folly by Agatha Cristie

In Dead Man's Folly Mrs. Ariadne Oliver is invited out to Devonshire to create a murder. An annual festival is being put on and instead of a Treasure Hunt there will be a Murder Hunt. All is fun and games as the Fair goes up, the murder designed and the plot written. But with each suggestion to a change in the story Mrs. Oliver feels like something is wrong, she isn't making this story, someone else is. No one can decide on anything odd until the murder game becomes too real for comfort.

When a child is killed and a child-like woman disappears can the famous Hercule Piorot solve the puzzle? Can he find the truth behind each casual sentence and careful life? Can he look at everything in a slightly different light and see what the picture is trying to be? All you have to do is turn the pieces a certain way and everything will fit, if only he can see.

One of the better Agatha Cristie books, things may not be what they seem.

Recommended to ages 12 and Up

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

The God of Small Things is a book woven out of sights, smells, feelings and strong senses. Of dreams, of the past, the present and future. What is true, what isn't- what is possible, what impossible.

The connection of two-egg twins, the mish-mash of feelings each person has and the danger of those feelings.

The strength and presence of History, all the time. Influencing the present and already dictating the future. History chooses what is possible and what is impossible. History locks people where they are, and won't let them go, move on or change. And the people work to keep their history the same, unbroken, unstained. But by doing so they seal their lives into cages.

In this book the innocence of childhood is shattered, "not death, but ending life." By small things, small choices, more than one life can be destroyed, lived but not fulfilled. Divorce is like death, Die-vorce. Make one wrong mistake and you have completed your life, caput, it's over. Then the children, the two egg twins learn that the impossible can become possible and things can change in a day.

This book is made of several aspects, not many but all woven together and elaborated by metaphors and the complication of all the senses. The chapters switch back and forth, from the present to the past (with the threat of the future). This book is funny, sad and disturbing, almost all at once. A strange read.

Recommended to ages 15 and Up

Crossing California by Adam Langer

Crossing California is a book following the lives of several very different families in Chicago during the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Each family is very different, in their views, in their activities, in their members. There are the troubled adolescents doing drugs and having sex. There are the parents, stuck in marriages they don’t want to be in. There are the kids, on the cusp of teenager-dome who have to learn how to act in a different world and what is important.
Each person has their own thoughts and feelings, each more important to themselves. But you also see the subtle ways in which their lives are connected, bounce off another’s, intersect.
At first each person is just a person to you, as he/she is to other characters, but then you learn about them. The side they hide from others, their fears and wishes. You find out the Jill Wasserstrom is more insecure than you think, after her mother’s death the end of the world seems inevitable. You see that Charlie Wasserstrom is not the fat, lazy, stupid man who didn’t go to college, but the man so kind he doesn’t belong in this world. You’ll find out that Michelle Wasserstrom is smarter than she appears to be, along with her own realization of that fact. You’ll find out how hard Muley Wills works, how smart he is, when others just view him as that “cool black 8th grader.” You’ll find out so much about other people, how they each have a tender side and where the truth and lies will get them.
This book was intensely sad at some points, hilarious in others. By the end of the book you’ll feel like you lived with the characters, you were in Chicago in the ‘70s, you can recognize each landmark. This book sucks you in each time you pick it up, bringing past lives into bright, clear focus.

Recommended to 16 and up

Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Cristie

Elephants Can Remember starts out when Mrs. Oliver goes to a literary luncheon and is rudely asked by a large, brusque woman to dive into the tragic past of her goddaughter. The goddaughter, Celia and the large woman’s son, Desmond wish to get married. But something is still hanging in the backs of their minds, something that happened many years before…
Celia’s mother and father were both found at their home, shot. It was thought to be a double suicide, but no one knew for sure. Mrs. Oliver goes on the task of finding out the truth, of course with the help of Hercule Piorot. They must look in their old address books for elephants. For, elephants can remember, and what they need to find are memories.
Can Piorot and Mrs. Oliver find enough fact in those “elephants’” memories to find out the truth about Celia’s mother, her insane aunt and her father, the General?
This Cristie novel got a little repetitive in the beginning, but is better than Appointment with Death in my opinion. See if you can find out the truth yourself, I did.

Recommended to ages 12 and up

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

Year of Wonders is a book about a village in England, during The Plague in 1666. Everyone in London was running from the Plague and so was spreading it. When a boarder of Anna Frith shows signs of the Plague things turn for the worse in the small village on the hill. Children are sick next after playing with rats. And after that, no one’s life is ever the same. The people of the village, after guidance from their rector, Michael Mompellion, choose to stay in their village and make it their prison so the Plague can stay confined as well.
Food is delivered at a certain spot when necessary but apart from that the villagers do not see any new faces. Their fear and the sight of neighbors and loved ones developing huge throbbing sores and dying in agony drive the villagers to do things they never would have dared to do.
The fear of witch craft thrived, and more than one innocent had to die for it. But then, as people become desperate, doing the work for three people, all who should be living, now under the ground, witchcraft starts to thrive again. But it is not feared now, it is bought and traded in the dead of night. People start to do whatever they can, no matter how foolish or painful to insure theirs, and their loved ones’, safety. Horrible things will be done to women, children and family in the hope of saving them. People will be brought to exhaustion, starvation and madness.
Anna Frith struggles to continue life after her two babies are dead and gone. She tries to cope by helping others, since she has no one herself. You will follow her as she goes around the village, trying to help others, whether they want it or not.
Religion is many people’s anchor during this time, but it is sorely tested as well. People question why a just God would do such terrible things. For many, their faith can never return.
Can Anna cope with the lose of her family, her friends, and her loved ones as she struggles to continue life by acting as a midwife, and tending other’s with herbs and medicines? After it is all over, can she still stay? Will she ever be happy again, and can she save any more lives? Because there are lives to be saved, even though the Plague is gone, and one of them might be her own. Can she do the ultimate thing, uproot herself from everything, and start over?
This book can be very graphic in hate and love. It is a very powerful book though, and shows what people can be driven to do under threat of terrible things.

Recommended to ages 15 and Up

Appointment with Death by Agatha Cristie

In this Agatha Crisite novel, all the characters become closely intertwined within each other’s lives when they go on vacation in Jerusalem. There is the Boynton family, made up of a horrible, malignant, tyrannical mother and her four nervous, childlike children. There is Sarah King, who is studying to be a doctor and has just gotten her M.B. There is Doctor Gerard, a well known professional in mental illnesses. There is Jonathon Cope, who is possibly in love with the eldest Boyton son’s wife, Nadine Boynton. There is the loud talkative dragoman and the small, tittering old Miss Pierce. Last but not least, there is Lady Westholme, larger than life, loud and commanding.
Each character has his or her own story and life, but with one small trip to Petra, they will all become intertwined. Will Raymond Boynton fall in love with Sarah King? Will he have the courage to leave his tyrannical mother and try to live life? Will Lynox Boynton leave his mother with his wife Nadine, so they can live a real life? Can Jinny Boynton stay sane enough living with her mother? All the problems start to revolve around old Mrs. Boynton and her malignant presence…
When she is dies, Hercule Piorot appears on the scene to investigate. There is barely anything to say that she didn’t just die a natural death of heart failure. But Piorot wants to learn the truth. The problem is, who didn’t want to kill Mrs. Boynton?

Recommended to ages 12 and up

Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith

Tea Time for the Traditionally Built is the 10th book in the series, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. Each of these books involves one or more of Mma Ramotswe’s cases, but they contain much more than just that. They are full of good advice, insights into many different people’s lives and Botswana. They contain the importance of upholding old Botswana moral and customs, of the history of Botswana, of the cattle, the places and the people. After reading these books I have learned more about Botswana as an intimate place than I could possibly have from a history book. And it is never boring.
These books are calming and relaxing to read. I can read two in a day, or take my time and slowly finish one in three days. There are exciting points when Mma Ramotswe and her partner, Mma Makutsi are on a case; puzzling out people’s words and expressions. There are sad points, when Mma Ramotswe thinks about life, the bush with the wild animals, and her late father. There are always lessons tucked away in every page. They are provided after someone acts a certain way, or says a certain thing. In the middle of dialogue Mma Ramotswe will go off on a train of thought, pulling you deep into her thoughts, and they you will be brought back to the present, with her, when someone interrupts.
In this particular book you will go on a case about soccer with Mma Ramotswe, a seemingly impossible case. Is there a definite answer? You will spend time with good men, and bad women. You will teach a grown man a lesson, and feel fear for another person. You will fear for the well-being of Mma Ramotswe’s little white van, and possibly mourn with her.
You do not need to read the previous books in this series to understand what is going on, but you will learn much more about all the characters if you do.

Recommended to ages 11 and up
(Good for all ages, appropriate, but meaningful and deep)

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

Chains is a moving book about a young slave girl, Isabel and her experience trapped between two countries. The book takes place in 1776 on the west coast when people have to decide where their loyalties lie. Isabel and her younger sister Ruth are set free with the death of their mistress, but things do not go according to plan. Isabel and Ruth are sold to the Locktons, and two more evil, terrible, violent, angry, selfish people are hard to find. Isabel is brought to New York where she becomes trapped between two battling countries and has to fight for her life.
As New York divides and rich Loyalists and poor Rebels fight among themselves the slaves are trapped in the middle. Most are forced to do what their masters demand, some run away to both sides. They are trapped because they belong to others, yet they belong no where.
Promises are made by Loyalists and Patriots alike to Isabel in exchange for her services. But who can Isabel trust? Not the Locktons, who threaten to sell her sister Ruth, who beat and starve her. Not the Patriots, who take Isabel’s information willingly but refuse to set her free. Not the Loyalists, who only care for the king. But perhaps a fellow slave boy, Curzon, can help her. But Isabel has to do some fighting on her own. As an old slave told her, she must fight against anything that stands in her way, and cross the River Jordan to freedom.
She has to muster up the courage to fight for herself, instead of going to others for help. No one is there for her, will she be able to build up the strength to save herself, her sister Ruth and Curzon? Can she cross her River Jordan?
Read this stirring book to find out.
With Anderson’s close attention to detail, each scene is brought vividly to life. Every feeling of Isabel’s is startlingly near to your heart, and this quick moving tale will bring tears to your eyes.

Recommended to ages 12 and up.

Hello and About the Site

Hello, I'm Sheridan and after I read a book I will write a review of it. I will give a brief summary of its contents and whether it is worth reading or not. I encourage everyone to comment on my reviews, read the books I talk about and tell me what they think of those books. You can also recommend books to me. Thanks, and I hope this site is helpful to you!