Custer Survivor by John Koster

Custer Survivor: The End of a Myth, The Beginning of a Legend by John Koster

Copyright 2010

History Publishing Company - NF/History

220 pages, incl. Afterword, Bibliography, and Index

From the cover: It is commonly believed that the 210 troopers under Custer's command were killed to the last man. Careless military reports and inadequate record keeping allowed this belief to stand. . . .

Through carefully detailed research and forensic evidence, Custer Survivor reveals that the five companies were not killed to the last man. One trooper did escape from the deadly encirclement of warriors. He was the Second Sergeant of C Company. Custer Survivor is the story of the man, how he escaped, his ensuing ordeal and the subsequent years of his successful life. This is the book that corrects the record and makes complete the history of Custer's Last Stand.

Well, who could pass up reading about that? Certainly not this book addict and history buff. I knew the bare bones about the battle, but no details beyond the fact that Custer and his men were surrounded by Indians and slaughtered. So, Custer Survivor was yet another wonderful dive into history that I knew I'd enjoy.

I've struggled with reviewing this book because when I've written about Custer Survivor, it seems like I have a tendency to say too much. So, this is actually my third attempt. Good thing nobody is paying me by the hour (or at all -- that's for the FTC and IRS) to write this because it would cost them a fortune. Let me just say this: I thought the evidence was convincing but there's one thing that I thought was glaring in its absence and that is a photo of the man in question as a young army officer -- something with which to compare his features as both a young and older man.

The "forensic evidence" mentioned in the book's description involves documents with signatures by a man named Frank Finkel and a fellow who enlisted in the army by the name August Finckle. It's all explained in the book and I think the evidence is fairly convincing. Frank was too young to enlist; Prussians were much admired and he would make more money if he claimed he was a Prussian officer; Frank spoke German fluently because his family spoke German in their home and he was technically a deserter so he kept his counsel after his escape -- which sounds more like a function of his injured horse running away than an escape, actually, but I suppose that's beside the point.

The author explains how Finckle got away, how his horse figures into the evidence and how August/Frank became a deserter. Plus (news to me), the men who died were stripped by Indians and . . . nasty business . . . scalped, their faces hacked off so that they were only identifiable by body size and shape. All that makes sense. Without identifying features, uniforms and other objects on their persons, it's understandable that someone may have misidentified a body.

The only thing that really seems lacking to me, then, is photographic evidence. There are tons of photos in the book, but none of them show young August Finckle. Not one. When you look at the photographs, you can't help but wonder why on earth there is not a single photo of August, or Frank pretending to be August. It's apparent that soldiers were awfully fond of having their photos taken in uniform, individually and in groups. The author mentioned that record-keeping in those days was sloppy, but surely there is a photo of Company C with August Finckle in the ranks, somewhere. I'd feel a lot more comfortable comparing photos in addition to signatures.

Having said that, I still do believe the author presents a convincing argument for the possibility that a single man escaped Custer's Last Stand. And, I enjoyed reading the book very much, which I suppose is what really counts.

4/5 - Parts were a little confusing, but I found this book very readable and enjoyed the peek into history. Pretty well-written (not perfect, but clear enough) and convincing. Photos and documents add a great deal of perspective, even if the man in question is not shown as a young officer.

A side note of peculiar interest: The author and a man named Michael L. Nunnally have quite an entertaining and heated discussion going within the comment section at Amazon. Both have studied the deadly battle for many years and are a wee bit obsessed. I highly recommend that you traipse over to Amazon's Custer Survivor page to read the discussion. And, then you might as well buy the book while you're there (but I won't profit if you do) because it's awfully fun reading and I'd love it if some of you came back to tell me what you think about Frank Finkel. Was he genuine or just another fraud?

Many thanks to Don of History Publishing Company for the review copy.

January Reads in Review (2010)

Funny how blog posting can get away from you when you're distracted by life. At least February isn't over! January was a so-so month in quantity, certainly a lesser month by comparison with most months in 2009, but I enjoyed something about every book I read so it was an excellent month from the standpoint of sheer enjoyment.

Bookfool's January Reads in Review (links where applicable):

Key:

Hist - History
NF - Nonfiction
M - Memoir or Personal Narratives
SS - Short Stories
YA - Young Adult

1. Custer Survivor by John Koster (NF/Hist) - After years of research and forensic testing on handwritten documents, John Koster is convinced he has enough evidence to prove that one man survived The Battle of Little Bighorn. Custer Survivor describes Custer's Last Stand and how a man who enlisted under a false name got away and then managed to stay unknown most of his life.

2. Fidelity by Grace Paley (Poetry) - Paley's last book, a set of poems written as she neared death and reflected on life, art, aging, friendship, family and home. Written with a little humor, a bit of frustration and a lot of flair.

3. First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria by Eve Brown-Waite (NF/Memoir) - The true story of a woman who fell in love with her Peace Corps recruiter, worked for a time in a small village in Ecuador (in part to impress him), married him and then ended up living in Africa. This was one of my favorites.

4. The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova - A psychiatrist seeks answers to the reason for a troublesome patient's difficulties and ends up falling in love and solving a mystery. I loved the senses in this book but was underwhelmed by the mystery and the ending.

5. The Great Automatic Grammatizator & Other Stories by Roald Dahl (SS/YA) - A collection of Roald Dahl's adult stories (marketed to young adults). Some are creepy, one is a war story, all are crafted beautifully but with somewhat abrupt endings. My favorite is a WWII story, "Katina".

6. They Were Just People by Tammeus & Cukierkorn (Hist/NF/M) - Stories of rescues in Poland during the Holocaust. The authors interviewed both survivors and rescuers or their direct relatives. Solidly written, amazing stories with a great deal of excellent extra material.

7. The Making of the African Queen by Katharine Hepburn (NF/M) - Katharine Hepburn's rambling description of her experience preparing for and filming The African Queen, complete with loads of photographs.

8. Elephant à la Mode by T. Roy Nakai (NF/M) - The memoir of a dentist who was forced to retire early after a devastating accident and then experienced an even worse loss -- and how he coped by using the principles he learned from his parents, who were imprisoned in a Japanese Internment Camp during WWII.

9. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter (YA) - The first in the Gallagher Girls spy series introduces Cammie Morgan, her friends and their exclusive spy school for girls. Cammie meets and falls for a civilian boy but pretends to be homeschooled because the locals think Gallagher Hall is a school for rich snobs. Adventurous fun. I love this series.

10. The Cat Inside by William S. Burroughs (M) - Part allegory, part personal memoir of the author's life with cats. Hint: He wasn't very fond of dogs, but he did love the felines.

11. Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott (YA) - Danielle has spent her entire life moving from place to place with her mother, living under false identities and then stealing silver from wealthy residents. When they move to the small town of Heaven and Danielle falls for a police officer and her mother falls ill, she has to make some important decisions about whether or not to change her life.

12. Veracity by Laura Bynum (SciFi) - In a dystopian, post-plague future world, the United States (no longer the U. S. of A.) has become a place of terror. Chips embedded in each citizen's neck monitor every word spoken and punishments are severe. When an important government worker escapes from the city in which she lives and works, she finds out that the "pandemic" wasn't quite what it seemed and her presence is crucial to the coming rebellion. This is a dark, dark read but I loved it.

I hope to review those last two on the list, soon.

Things I forgot to remember - I do that a lot, actually

A little irony, here, I think. Note the book No More Clutter in the midst of one of my crammed bookshelves:

The sheer quantity of books (not those pictured) that I haven't reviewed is starting to get insane, so I'm going to go ahead and go crazy writing mini-reviews, then I hope I will finally, finally get back to blog-hopping. I've missed reading other folks' posts, but when I did manage to read a few, last week, I found myself utterly speechless. I had nothing whatsoever to say. I'm not so sure I ever make brilliant comments anyway, but at least I can usually manage to type something.

This weekend, I bought a little pile. I'm allegedly on a book-buying ban, but . . . okay, forget it. There's no excuse. I bought the following:

Stealing Heaven - Elizabeth Scott

How Green Was My Valley - Richard Llewellyn (the spacing gods are out to get me, again)

Armageddon in Retrospect - Kurt Vonnegut

If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period - Gennifer Choldenko

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You - Ally Carter

The Cat Inside - William S. Burroughs

The Printer's Devil - Paul Bajoria

I'm going to remove some of the images of books I've read and need to review from the sidebar, because it's looking a little heavy. But, here's what I have read and not reviewed in recent weeks (for my sanity, I think I'll cross them off as I review):

Custer Survivor - John Koster

Elephant a la Mode - T. Roy Nakai

They Were Just People - Tammeus & Cukierkorn

Fidelity - Grace Paley

First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria - Eve Brown Waite

The Making of the African Queen - Katharine Hepburn

The Cat Inside - William S. Burroughs

I'd Tell You I Love You, etc. - Ally Carter (see list above)

Spellbinder - Helen Stringer

How I Live Now - Meg Rosoff

I don't believe I've ever fallen quite so far behind. Oh, well. Things happen. C'est la vie.

My wonderful friend Cindi has asked me to post info about a contest that includes blog columnists and since it's relevant, I agreed. I'm copying her release verbatim, with the exception of the part where I substituted a link for the URL, so write to Cindi at the address noted, if you have any questions:

2010 NATIONAL SOCIETY NEWSPAPER COLUMNISTS CONTEST Print, Online and Blog-Columnists it is Win, Place or Show Time! Dust off your columns from 2009, find the ones that shine and enter the 2010 annual contest. Make this YOUR year for recognition. Submit with the best of the best and go for the gold. Entry forms and contest guidelines are an easy click away at the NSNC web page. You may just have the winning article...but you can't win if you don't play. It's that simple...GOOD LUCK!

For additional information contact: Cynthia Borris, National Society Newspaper Columnist Contest Chair cynthiaborris@gmail.com

Yes, Cindi, I really did dream God told me I'm fat. It was not my happiest moment.

I've had very few comments to approve for the last few days, probably because everyone's afraid that I'll regale them with stories of my dearly departed cat (don't worry; if I write about my cats, I'll just write stories about their lives as blog posts and I'll entitle them accordingly, although I don't plan to do so).

Yesterday, I took advantage of not having to reply and updated my sidebar a bit. I've removed the tribute to Dewey, but that doesn't mean I'll ever forget her. I simply felt like my heart needed me to put something even more personal in the sidebar. Yes, of course. The cats. Well, they were great pets.

After I added my kitties, I moved all links that smacked of advertising to the bottom of the sidebar. They're not advertisements. I'm not paid to put them in my sidebar; I added them by choice. But, my blog is meant to be a homey, chatty place and books aren't the only thing it's about. So, I decided to keep my tour group -blog directory - media links but move them to a less prominent position.

My third accomplishment was to finally list and link to the books I've read since 2005 in my sidebar. This is something several people have asked me to do. I don't know how to create tabs, so I decided to just go ahead and set up links. Easy peasy. They're lists by month - title and author only. Just for the heck of it, I tossed in my reads from 2000, as well. Typing up all that info was surprisingly fun. Now, I know when I first read Paul Auster, which year I read that Faulkner "with" my eldest (he pretended to read it), and how the variety of books I've read has changed in recent years. Well, I think it's interesting.

Coming up next: A Brevity Test. I usually fail. This time, I'm determined. We'll see how that works out.

Happy Monday!

Bookfool, only cringing a little at the task before her

Just dropping by . . .

I'm still on a bloggy break until the kiddo returns to school (next week, I assume) but I thought I'd pop in and tell you about some of the books I've read while I've been on my holiday break:

1. Among the Imposters by Margaret Peterson Haddix - The second in a series about a dystopian world in which families are limited to 2 children. 3rd children, known as "Shadow Children" are hidden. In this second installment, shadow child Luke takes on the identity of a deceased child and attends a school where things are not quite what they seem. I enjoyed this one much more than the first, Among the Hidden.

2. Beyond the Night by Joss Ware - A romance set in a future world (post-disaster) with zombies, drug lords and a surprising connection to the past. A small band of men caught in a cave during the disaster have apparently hibernated for 50 years and must learn to live in a new and dangerous world. I don't have the book handy, but it focuses on a particular couple and is heavy on romance but has some interesting twists. Not your typical zombie book. This book will be released January 10.

3. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket - A book I happened across while cleaning and decided I might as well read before I donate it, The Reptile Room is the second in the "Unfortunate Events" series. The children are put in care of a delightful uncle who is a herpetologist but the fun eventually ends and the uncle dies. Darn.

4. Schooled by Gordon Korman - I actually finished this one before I went on break, but I haven't reviewed it, so I plunked it onto the stack. It's about a teenager who has been raised in isolation by his hippie grandmother, homeschooled all his life, and when his grandmother is injured he has to go to a real school for the first time in his life. He's made class president in order to put him in a tight spot but it turns out he's so innocent and guileless that he manages to become popular. Loved this upbeat, funny YA story.

5. Spellbinder by Helen Stringer - A British YA about a young girl who lives with the ghosts of her dead parents. When the doors between the Land of the Living and the Land of the Dead close and her parents (and all but one ghost in the world) disappear, Belladonna must figure out what exactly is going on in order to save the world and resume her everyday life. She has a little help from an Edwardian ghost named Elsie and a classmate named Steve.

6. A Circle of Souls by Preetham Grandhi - A young girl is brought to the emergency room after a dream leads to not only walking in her sleep but dangerously sleep-climbing in a place where she could have easily fallen to her death. Meanwhile, another young girl has been brutally murdered. When the psychiatrist in charge of the sleepwalking girl's care realizes her dreams are actually psychic images sent by the murdered girl, he connects with an agent in charge of the murder to help her solve it. Absolutely the most gripping book I've read in ages, beautifully written and surprisingly believable for the subject matter.

I've also finished reading How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff, the story of a young girl who goes to England to visit her cousins and then war breaks out. I am currently immersed in Custer Survivor by John Koster and Mr. Darcy's Great Escape by Marsha Altman. I'll tell you about the books I've bought over the holiday (I donated 39 and then went shopping . . . sigh) when I return. I'm just looking at the school calendar and it is truly confusing with all the tiny colored squares but it looks like school resumes on Friday, January 7th. I don't think I'll stay away from the computer quite that long. Kiddo will probably forgive me for posting, some time next week. We shall see.

I hope everyone has been enjoying the holidays. Happy New Year, a bit early!!

2010 Reads in Review

I didn't review absolutely everything I read, so I've written some notes on each of the books I didn't review at the bottom of this post. Links are provided to all reviews, where applicable (some are combined reviews).

2010 Reads in Review:

January

1. Custer Survivor - John Koster
2. Fidelity - Grace Paley
3. First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria - Eve Brown-Waite
4. The Swan Thieves - Elizabeth Kostova
5. The Great Automatic Grammatizator & Other Stories - Roald Dahl
6. The Making of The African Queen - Katherine Hepburn
7. They Were Just People - Tammeus & Cukierkorn
8. Elephant a la Mode - T. Roy Nakai
9. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You - Ally Carter
10. The Cat Inside - William S. Burroughs
11. Stealing Heaven - Elizabeth Scott
12. Veracity - Laura Bynum

February

13. Reach for the Stars - Serge Bloch
14. Mix and Mash Adventures in the Kitchen for Baby and You
15. Classic Starts: Great Expectations - Deanna McFadden
16. Potty Animals: What to Know When You've Got to Go - Hope Vestergaard & V. Petrone
17. Maybe I'll Sleep in the Bathtub Tonight - Levy & Buscema
18. Diamond Jim Dandy & the Sheriff - S. Burrell & B. Langdo
19. Mr. Darcy's Great Escape - Marsha Altman
20. The Wives of Henry Oades - Johanna Moran
21. If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period - Gennifer Choldenko
22. Benjamin Pratt & the Keeper of the School - Andrew Clements
23. The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien
24. Home is Where the Wine Is - Laurie Perry
25. The Last Surgeon - Michael Palmer
26. Cherries in Winter - Suzan Colon
27. So Long, Insecurity - Beth Moore
28. Making Rounds with Oscar - David Dosa, M.D.
29. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - T. S. Eliot
30. Island of the Swans - Ciji Ware

March

Not numbered - The Fox and The Hen by Eric Battut

31. Cesar Takes a Break - S. Thoms & Roge
32. Don't Stop Laughing Now - Various
33. Mr. Midshipman Hornblower - C. S. Forester
34. The Country House Courtship - Linore Rose Burkard
35. That Cat Can't Stay - Krasnesky & Parkins
36. The Invention of Everything Else - Samantha Hunt
37. Postcards from a Dead Girl - Kirk Farber
38. I'll Mature When I'm Dead - Dave Barry
39. Ecomazes: 12 Earth Adventures - Roxie Munro
40. The Lotus Eaters - Tatjana Soli
41. Flyaway - Suzie Gilbert
42. The House with a Clock in Its Walls - John Bellairs

April

43. Anastasia's Secret - Susanne Dunlap
44. Disaster Status - Candace Calvert
45. She's So Dead to Us - Kieran Scott
46. Storylines - A. Croft & M. Pilavachi
47. The Secret Holocaust Diaries - Nonna Bannister
48. Rumor Has It - Jill Mansell
49. Winging It - Jenny Gardiner
50. College in a Nutskull - compiled by Anders Henriksson
51. The Founding - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
52. The Amazing Book of Useless Info - Noel Botham
53. Will Grayson, Will Grayson - John Green & David Levithan
54. Rhymes with Witches - Lauren Myracle
55. The Return - Daoma Winston
56. I Love Him, But
57. The Lunatic Express - Carl Hoffman
58. The Man Who Loved Pride & Prejudice - Abigail Reynolds

May

Not counted - Little Critter's Where Is My Frog? by Mercer Mayer

59. A Mango-Shaped Space - Wendy Mass
60. The Secret Lives of People in Love - Simon Van Booy
61. Shakespeare Wrote for Money - Nick Hornby
62. Non Campus Mentis - compiled by Anders Hendriksson
63. Life in Spite of Me - Kristen Anderson
64. The Prophecy - Dawn Mills
65. Faustine - Emma Tennant
66. Spaceheadz - Jon Scieszka
67. If You Follow Me - Malena Watrous
68. A Hundred Feet Over Hell - Jim Hooper
69. Eyes Like Stars - Lisa Mantchev
70. Appetite for Detention - Sloane Tanen
71. Dead End Gene Pool - Wendy Burden
72. F My Life - Valette, Passaglia, Guedj
73. Fireworks Over Toccoa - Jeffrey Stepakoff
74. Field Notes from a Catastrophe - Elizabeth Kolbert
75. Twenty Boy Summer - Sarah Ockler
76. The Secret Lives of Princesses - P. Lechermeier & R. Dautremer
77. The Making of a Duchess - Shana Galen
78. Sunrise in the West - E. Pargeter

June

79. A Place for Delta - Melissa Walker
80. The Passage - Justin Cronin
81. Emma - Jane Austen
82. Bird Girl and the Man Who Followed the Sun - Velma Wallis
83. A Cottage by the Sea - Ciji Ware
84. The All-American Jump & Jive JIg - Hueston & Haley
85. Boyfriends, Burritos & an Oean of Trouble - Nancy Rue
86. Growing Wings - Laurel Winter

July

87. A Dog's Purpose - W. Bruce Cameron
88. Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover - Ally Carter
89. Prayers for Sale - Sandra Dallas
90. The Case of the Crooked Carnival by Michele Torrey
91. Kindred - Octavia E. Butler
92. Bellwether - Connie Willis
93. Doomsday Book - Connie Willis
94. Suggestion - Illegal Art
95. Take Good Care of the Garden & the Dogs - Heather Lende

August

96. Stash - David Klein
97. Benny & Shrimp - Katarina Mazetti
98. Moose Droppings & Other Crimes Against Nature - Tom Brennan
99. Little Chimp's Big Day - L. Schroeder & L. McCue
100. Snow White - The Brothers Grimm & Charles Santora
101. Man Gave Names to All the Animals - Dylan & Arnosky
102. Matthew & the Bullies - Sarah, Duchess of York
103. 1 + 1 = 5 - D. La Rochelle & B. Sexton
104. Ten on the Sled - K. Norman & L. Woodruff
105. Calvin Can't Fly: The Story of a Bookworm Birdie - Berne & Bendis
106. The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May and June - Robin Benway
107. Emma and the Vampires - Austen & Josephson

September

108. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind - William Kamkwamba & B. Mealer
109. Peter Pan & Wendy - J. M. Barrie
110. Why We Fight, ed. by Simon Van Booy
111. London's Strangest Tales - Tom Quinn
112. Ten Big Toes and a Prince's Nose - N. Gow & S. Costanza
113. The Coffin Quilt - Ann Rinaldi
114. Inside Hurricanes - Mary Kay Carson
115. Georgette Heyer's Regency World - Jennifer Kloester
116. Whisper on the Wind - Maureen Lang
117. For the King's Favor - Elizabeth Chadwick
118. Strange Happenings - Avi
119. A Memory Between Us - Sarah Sundin

October

120. Mr. Darcy's Obsession - Abigail Reynolds
121. The Making of a Gentleman - Shana Galen
122. Dewey's Nine Lives - V. Myron & B. Witter
123. Why Our Decisions Don't Matter - Simon Van Booy
124. Fables: Legends in Exile
125. The Puzzle King - Betsy Carter
126. Nightshade - Andrea Cremer
127. Jane Austen Rined My Life - Beth Pattillo
128. The Reapers Are the Angels - Alden Bell
129. Take a Chance on Me - Jill Mansell
130. The Summoning - Kelley Armstrong
131. The Christmas Gift - William Bennett
132. The Human Bobby - Gabe Rotter
133. The Awakening - Kelley Armstrong
134. The Ship of Brides - Jojo Moyes

November

135. Wake - Lisa McMann
136. Merry Sparkling Christmas - Spurr & Madden
137. The 12 Days of Christmas in Washington, D.C. - Ransom & Hollander
138. Richard Scarry's Best Christmas Book Ever - Richard Scarry
139. The Reckoning - Kelley Armstrong
140. Why We Need Love - Simon Van Booy
141. Detectives Don't Wear Seatbelts - Cici McNair
142. Under the Overpass - Mike Yankoski
143. Forecasts & Faith - Barbie Basset
144. Desiree - Annemarie Selinko
145. Fade - Lisa McMann
146. Before I Fall - Lauren Oliver
147. The Winter Sea - Susanna Kearsley
148. The Christmas Journey - Donna VanLiere
149. Water Tales - Alice Hoffman

December

150. Cosmic - Frank Cottrell Boyce
151. Two Tickets to the Christmas Ball - Donita K. Paul
152. Pemberley Ranch - Jack Caldwell
153. Voice of America - E. C. Osondu
154. Hercule Poirot's Christmas - Agatha Christie
155. The Clouds Roll Away - Sibella Giorello
156. Let it Snow - Johnson, Green & Myracle
157. Christmas Jars - Jason F. Wright
158. Beneath the 13 Moons - Kathryne Kennedy

159. Need by Carrie Jones

Notes on books not reviewed:

Eebee's Mix and Mash for Baby and You is a board book and DVD that has recipes to cook with very, very young children. I'm going to give this one to my niece, who is about to give birth to her first child. Very simple recipes that mostly involve cutting blocks of soft food and shaking them in closed containers -- a really cute book that I didn't deliberately skip reviewing.

Don't Stop Laughing Now is a book of funny essays written by a variety of authors and published by a Christian publisher. Some essays I'd read elsewhere -- possibly things that have been passed around on the internet -- and they're all tremendously entertaining. This was an old book from my bookstore days.

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot - Silly poems about cats (but also insightful) that I read along with a friend . . . possibly during National Poetry Month? Half the joy of this book is in its illustrations by Edward Gorey. This one's on a shelf of favorite classics.

The Amazing Book of Useless Info - Not only useless but frequently inaccurate info so brief as to often leave out critical info that makes sense of the facts. Not recommended.

I Love Him But - A book of quotes about husbandly quirks by the wives of the men who drive them crazy. I love this little mini book; it's a reread.

Shakespeare Wrote for Money by Nick Hornby - I can't believe I didn't review this. Hornby's final book of columns for Believer magazine, another book that weighed down my wish list with suggestions (most notably, Field Notes from a Catastrophe, which was fabulous if terrifying). Of particular interest was Hornby's discovery of Young Adult books.

Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev - A lively YA book about a girl who lives in a magical theatre. I loved this adventurous, romantic and very delightfully unique book and put the second Theatre Illuminata book on my wish list immediately, but haven't yet acquired a copy.

Appetite for Detention by Sloane Tannen - A picture book geared to teenagers and about teens, quite funny but in kind of a rude way. Photos of fluffy chicks and teen-themed settings (lockers, classrooms, etc.) make the book really adorable if a bit bizarre.

F My Life by Valette, Passaglia and Guedj - Funny horror stories about real-life bad experiences gathered from a website by the same name. Unfortunately, there are some that are truly hilarious but the vast majority are raunchy. This book turned my stomach and I would definitely not recommend it.

Growing Wings by Laurel Winter - A YA book about a girl who begins to grow wings and goes to live in a hidden house where other winged people (often deformed because their wings were cut or bound to try to keep them from growing) live together. I found that the conflict I'd hoped for never materialized; this was a very disappointing book.

Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover by Ally Carter - The Gallagher Girls spy series is loads of fun; my son and I share them. In this one, Cammie travels to Boston to join her friend Macey on the campaign trail. I can't recall, but I'm pretty sure I thought this one lacked the level of humor of the other books. I like them all, though.

Suggestion by Illegal Art - A group called Illegal Art went around (in New York, I think) with big boxes that said, "Suggestion", asking people to write anything they'd suggest. Some of the suggestions were really funny, some sad, some incredibly stupid (or not suggestions at all) with poor spelling, punctuation and grammar that would make English teachers want to stab their own eyeballs. Interesting idea, not as revealing as I'd hoped.

Fables: Legends in Exile - The first in the Fables graphic novel series by Bill Willingham, a mystery in which one of the characters disappears and is thought dead. The Big Bad Wolf sets out to solve the crime. I really enjoyed this first installment and probably didn't review for lack of time and energy.

Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie - An elderly man gathers his offspring for Christmas to annoy them by threatening to cut them out of his will (for grins) and then is viciously killed in a locked room. Hercule Poirot investigates. I'm not an Agatha Christie fan but I thought this was a surprisingly fun read.

Let it Snow by Johnson, Green and Myracle - Three interconnected YA Christmas romances set during a blizzard. I gobbled this book up. The stories are light and really quite delightful but I had to keep flipping back to refamiliarize myself with characters when I began each new story. Definitely recommended for a light seasonal read. I'm hanging onto this one for a reread.

Christmas Jars by Jason F. Wright - When a newspaper reporter who was abandoned as a baby finds a jar of coins in her burgled home and discovers that similar jars of money mysteriously show up on doorsteps during the holiday season in her town every year, she sets out to investigate and finds a surprisingly welcoming home and a family with a unique story that interconnects with her own. I liked this sappy Christmas book but the writing is kind of wobbly and it's not one I'd reread.

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Updates on . . . things

I know I owe you guys a pork chop recipe and I swear I'm going to get to it, but between a head cold, a long night without sleep, helping Kiddo with a project I'd very much like to label "stupid and kindergartenish" (the assignment, not the end product) and National Novel Writing Month (see stunningly accurate visual of my storyline, at right, from Lambert/Hulton Archive Getty Images), Bookfool is a train wreck. I just don't feel like propping up a book to copy a recipe, today. I am too weak and weary.

So, you get an update, which is honestly just as much as I can handle.

Bookwise: I finished Against Medical Advice by James Patterson and Hal Friedman, last night. It was a really quick, very touching read (so quick, in fact, that I didn't manage to add it to my sidebar) but it left me with a few questions. I don't know if they can be answered; I just wonder if the subject of the book -- a young man who had a debilitating combination of Tourette's Syndrome with OCD and anxiety -- got better because of what he did to get control of his life or if it was at least in part because he grew out of his syndrome a bit. Does anyone have thoughts on that?

I won Against Medical Advice from Thoughtful Joy and it arrived pretty quickly, which leads me to a thought . . . Hatchette. Not to pick on them, but I have been on both ends of the giving and receiving love from Hatchette and sometimes the books won show up lightning fast; sometimes they just flat don't show up.

I don't want to nag drawing hosts (at least not more than once), so if they don't show up after a first mention, I let it go. I'm curious if anyone else has had a contest win never arrive. Never as in NEVER. Meaning months have passed, you've asked once, the nice blog drawing host said, "I'll remind them," and still nothing. Just curious. I've gotten a few complaints, myself, and that's one reason I've decided I'm about to stop hosting their drawings, at least for the time being.

There are other reasons, which are probably much better . . . one of which is the fact that I've preemptively declared 2010 a "Mostly No-ARC Year". I've already bungled that up by signing up to write a bunch of reviews in January, but I hope to gain strength as the year progresses. I've been working on writing a review policy to that end and, unfortunately, drawing a total blank. I'm reminded of the time we had a power outage and, just to be silly, I changed my answering-machine message to "Nyeh, go away," and then promptly forgot about it. A few hours later, someone I knew -- but not well enough to explain away that bit of madness -- called.

"Nyeh, go away," does not seem like the best of review policies. It's all I can come up with, right now, though. That's probably my head cold talking.

Nano-wise: Sometimes I love it; sometimes I hate it. My story, that is. I seem to alternate between good writing days and bad ones. Yesterday was good. Today, bad. My favorite really horrible excerpt:

In the Medical Restricted Zone, Kole awoke to find himself a little sore but feeling surprisingly well for a man who had been shot by some unknown kind of laser beam. He was also manacled to the bed. That sucked.

I just love to read that bit over and over, again. It makes me laugh. The awfulness of it tickles me so much that I'm leaving it in, for now. I'm not supposed to edit anyway, right? In case you're interested, my current word count is 27,467. I like meditating upon the fact that I have now passed the halfway point, if a bit late. I'm still behind but closing in on where I should be.

Other bookish things: Since I've decided to back away from reviewing advanced readers and read the ominous, glaring stacks of books before the infamous book rebellion in which the weak and seriously outnumbered are killed and eaten (say that aloud 5 times, fast), fewer books are arriving on my doorstep. I have, however, received two that I'm very anxious to read:

They Were Just People: Stories of Rescue in Poland During the Holocaust by Tammeus and Cukierkorn, and

Custer Survivor: The End of a Myth, The Beginning of a Legend by John Koster

Also, I've just found out that my church is going to be doing a year-long study using the God Sightings Bible and its Companion Guide. I have this Bible and guide for review and I've been a little perplexed as to its purpose and what to say about it (although I'm enjoying reading it, whether I "get it" or not), so I'm hoping that joining the group will illuminate me a bit and enable me to babble about what I learn. Because that's what I'm good at. (<---Bad English, sorry.] Babbling, I mean. At left is an image of the God Sightings Companion Guide, which I feel compelled to share because I just love that picture. I am excessively fond of a sheep.

I'm still reading all those books in the sidebar, also. Nano has slowed down my reading significantly, but I'm about to give in to this nasty cold and go to bed early. A few nights of caving in early to read and maybe I'll be able to change out that boring old set of same old, same old. The French chef's cholesterol-lowering nutrition advice and recipe book is still a huge hit around here, by the way. Just don't kick me if it takes a few days to say something about it and type up that pork chop recipe. I need sleep. Lots of sleep. And, the old kind of Nyquil.

Nighty-night.

Bookfool, aka "Sickie-poo"