Day 319: Matthew's Rise

Chatting Books Online Day 319. Today's recommended book is one that I would not have picked up for myself without a little push . That book is Matthew's Rise by Debra Spearman. It is "juvenile fiction" , so really targeted at the Middle Grades aged students which is not a genre to go to often. But the publisher's rep called a few times and sent me a copy and kept telling me she thought I would really like it so eventually I read it. And you know what? I really enjoyed it and actually looked forward to reading it each time I got a few minutes free.

The book is set at Caddo Lake in Northwest Louisiana . The main characters are 3 kids about 12 years old centering on Matthew. Matthew has recently lost his father and his mother takes him and his little sister up to their lake house on Caddo lake to try and get a way a bit and have a bit of normalcy in this difficult summer. Matthew is at loose ends and spends some time wandering the woods when things start going oddly. Someone sets a fire in the woods where he and his sister had been playing, odd things start happening around the house and things are just off. After a week his mother allows a friend, Nick, to come visit from home , and right around this time the neighbor's granddaughter , Abby, also joins the group. Together the 3 kids decide to solve the mystery of what's going on and find themselves embroiled in a puzzle of Indian artifacts, people shooting , symbols being left to scare them away, and theft. And they even get to visit the library, learn a little history and become interested in a new topic so much so that by the end of the book they are excited about writing their "what I did over the summer" essays when they get back to school just to share the story!

This paperback book is 134 pages and sells for $9.95 a copy.

To purchase a copy come see us at the shop during business hours or you can call or message me to have a copy shipped to you .Now mask up and solve the mystery.

Day 318: The Wife Upstairs

Chatting Books Online Day 318. Today's recommended book is The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins .

In this book we meet Jane - or do we? Jane is a dog walker , former foster kid, with a mysterious past. She strives for more and one day it all falls in her lap . She suddenly finds herself with a handsome , rich fiance , a dog of her own, a big house, and friends - but is it all real ? And is it all what it appears? And what really happened to her new fiance's missing wife ? Buckle up and ride along on this fast paced mystery.

This book is available currently in hardcover for $27.99 a copy. It is also available on our audiobook partner Libro fm . I listened to this one on audiobook and thoroughly enjoyed it. For more information on ordering audio books through us message me and I can send you more information .

To purchase a copy come see us at the shop during business hours or you can call or message me to have a copy shipped to you .Now mask up and solve the mystery.

Day 317 : Bedtime Bugs

Chatting Books Online Day 317. Today's recommended book is Bedtime Bugs: A Pop-up Good Night book by David A. Carter .

This delightful interactive book walks you through the bugs that can help you get ready for bed (tooth brushing bug, scrub a dub tub bugs, lullabugs, etc) and even the Angel bug that will watch over you until morning. Each page has an interactive pull tab or flip and at the end you are ready for a good night's sleep.

This book is board book sized and sells for $12.99 a copy.

To purchase a copy come see us at the shop during business hours or you can call or message me to have a copy shipped to you .Now mask up and have a good night's buggy sleep.

Day 316: Empress of the Garden

Chatting Books Online Day 316. Today's recommended book is 'Empress of the Garden" by G. Michael Shoup.

With all the dreary weather we have had followed by a sudden warm day you may be looking around your garden and wishing you could do something to get started with springtime gardening. The truth is other than a bit of clean up there is very little we can do for most plants in our region right now. We certainly wouldn't want to plant anything too tender when another cold snap could be around the corner. But this cold January/ February time frame is the perfect time to prune your existing roses and plant new bare root roses to fill your garden with beauty and fragrance all summer long. With that in mind I recommend this book to help you make your selections. Whether you want climbing or grandi-flora, red, pink, or yellow this book gives lots of information and beautiful full color photos to help you choose. The book itself is an oversized square coffee table book so even if you never cultivate the first rose (which of course you will) the book alone will bring some sunshine and beauty to your day.

With 208 beautiful full color pages this book sells for $39.00 a copy.

To purchase a copy come see us at the shop during business hours or you can call or message me to have a copy shipped to you .

Day 315 : The Week in Review January 18-24, 2021

Chatting Books Online Day 315. The week in Review January 18 - 24, 2021.

This week I recommended a variety of books including a coffee table book : "Bridging the Mississippi" , another pretty book of photography and bits of marching crew history in "I Wanna Do That" . Then it was on to children's with "Eloise at the Plaza" and "When I was an Alligator". Towards the end of the week we read a story that though it is non-fiction and about what seems a boring topic (writing a dictionary) it reads like a sweeping fiction drama in "The Professor and the Madman" , and then we wrapped up the week with absolute escapism fiction in "Oona Out of Order" about a girl whose life does not seem to follow the same space-time continuum the others of us are on.

If you missed any of these reviews and want to read what I had to say about them you can see all of our Chatting Books Online picks by visiting our website at: http://www.conundrumbooks.com/chatting-books-online .

We still (and always will going forward) offer shipping if you cannot make it to the store. Or just stop by the shop during or normal hours . See you soon !

Day 314 : Oona Out of Order

Chatting Books Online Day 314. Today's recommended book is Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore.

"Time heals all. But what if time itself is the disease?" That is from Wim Wenders and Peter Handke, Wings of Desire , it is also the quote that opens this book and sets the tone for what is to follow.

Oona lives an exciting life filled with travel, music , love, loss, and adventure , the only problem is it is all out of order. Every New Years Eve Oona, whose birthday happens to be New Years Day , is thrust into a new year - but not necessarily the one that would normally follow consecutively on a calender. So she may be 19 on New Years Eve and suddenly is thrust into her life at 51 at midnight - complete with a 51 year old's body, and life but none of the memories of the years in between . And at the end of that year she may be 35 or 65 - you get the picture. Eventually she lives all of her life just not in way anyone would consider normal. It gives lots of opportunity for big questions : would you change your future if you could? Should you? But it also gives the opportunity to look back at ourselves in the 80's or 90's wearing neon and shoulder pads etc and wonder what the heck we were thinking! And Oona is into music so we get a musical odyssey through the decades as a little bonus for you music fans.

The book is warm, and humorous and witty and a quick page turner - absolute escapism.

We currently stock the book in hardcover , it is 336 pages and sells for $ 26.99 a copy.

To purchase a copy come see us at the shop during business hours or you can call or message me to have a copy shipped to you .

Day 313: The Professor and the Madman

Chatting Books Online Day 313. Today's recommended book : The Professor and the Madman, by Simon Winchester.

Since I shared with you how I decide what book is today's recommendation earlier this week let me start this recommendation by saying that though this has long been a favorite book I had basically forgotten about it - and actually it has been out of stock at our bookstore for some time - until this week that is. I was originally introduced to this book over 20 years ago when my then boyfriend , now husband , gave it to me as a Christmas gift along with a sweet inscription about choosing it because I love words so much, I was absolutely enthralled by the book and many years later when we opened the bookstore I chose it as one of our first book club reads, but then over the years it fell to the back of my mind. Until this week when we saw the movie on Netflix! That's right thisbook has now been made into a movie starring Sean Penn and Mel Gibson among others and it is as fabulous as the book .

The book is the fantastical and yet true story of the compiling of The Oxford English Dictionary. Due to the size of the undertaking of gathering every word and it's usage throughout the centuries the original committee decided to use volunteers to help with their research. Throughout the course of the work they received many more submissions from one man than from any others. Curious the head of the project decided to visit him to bring him a copy of the first volume in thanks only to discover that he was an American Civil War veteran currently housed at an asylum in England for the criminally insane, Apparently plagued by voices and delusions Dr. W.C.Minor had murdered an innocent man leading to his commitment. This book is truly a fascinating character study of both Dr. Minor and those working on the dictionary committee and quite a sweeping and compelling story .

We currently stock (once again) this book in paperback selling for $16.99 a copy.

To purchase a copy come see us at the shop during business hours or you can call or message me to have a copy shipped to you .

Day 312: I Wanna Do That

Chatting Books Online Day 312. Today's recommended book is "I Wanna Do That: The Magic of Mardi Gras Marching Krewes" by Echo Olander and Yoni Goldstein.

I came across a review of this book while reading Arthur Hardy's Mardi Gras Guide this year . Though this a year without parades I know you all have vivid memories of previous year's parades and the fun marching krewes that have sprung up over the years. From the 610 Stompers in their satiny gym shorts to The Rolling Elvi and every permutation in between . With a bit of background on each group and big vivid full color photos this book catches a bit of the crazy all out vibe that will be sadly missed this season but I am sure will come back twice as strong as we all crave a bit of fun when we return. And it's fun to flip through the pages and see if any of your friends were captured on film!

This hardcover book is 272 pages and sells for $40 a copy.

To purchase a copy come see us at the shop during business hours or you can call or message me to have a copy shipped to you .