698. Autobiography of a Fat Bride (Laurie Notaro)

Synopsis from Amazon:
In Autobiography of a Fat Bride, Laurie Notaro tries painfully to make the transition from all-night partyer and bar-stool regular to mortgagee with plumbing problems and no air-conditioning. Laurie finds grown-up life just as harrowing as her reckless youth, as she meets Mr. Right, moves in, settles down, and crosses the toe-stubbing threshold of matrimony. From her mother's grade-school warning to avoid kids in tie-dyed shirts because their hippie parents spent their food money on drugs and art supplies; to her night-before-the-wedding panic over whether her religion is the one where you step on the glass; to her unfortunate overpreparation for the mandatory drug-screening urine test at work; to her audition as a Playboy centerfold as research for a newspaper story, Autobiography of a Fat Bride has the same zits-and-all candor and outrageous humor that made Idiot Girls an instant cult phenomenon.

My rating: 5 stars

697. Menage a Magick (Lora Leigh)

Synopsis from Amazon:
For a millennia, the Covenani Sorceresses of planet Sentmar have been separated from the Cauldaran Wizards, their natural mates. Deceit and blood have forced a reunion; destiny and passion have forced a bond. Brianna, youngest of the Princesses of Covenani, will be a consort to two handsome, virile Wizards. Will the union be forged in desire and love, or will she deny the union, as well as the two men who are bound to her, hearts and souls?

My rating: 2 stars

696. A Kiss of Fate (Mary Jo Putney)

Synopsis from Amazon:
Gwynne, the daughter of an eighteenth-century librarian and widow of one of the powerful Guardians, has always wished she had inherited the Guardians' magical talents, but she is an excellent librarian and scholar of Guardian history. Gwynne is consequently overwhelmed when she meets Lord Ballister, a Scottish laird and the most powerful Guardian weather worker in generations. And he is instantly besotted. Wanting nothing to do with him because of the visions of bloodshed she has when close to him, Gwynne nevertheless agrees to marry him at the behest of the Guardian Council, and her wedding night reveals that she really does have a Guardian gift. Then their love for each other and dedication to the Guardian cause bring new challenges when Bonnie Prince Charlie arrives in Scotland.

My rating: 1 star

695. The Complete Poems (Catullus)

Catullus

Synopsis from Amazon:
Of all Greek and Latin poets Catullus is perhaps the most accessible to the modern reader. Dealing candidly with the basic human emotions of love and hate, his virile, personal tone exerts a powerful appeal on all kinds of readers. The 116 poems collected in this new translation include the famous Lesbia poems and display the full range of Catullus's mastery of lyric meter, mythological themes, and epigrammatic invective and wit.

My rating: 4 stars

694. The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (Ernest J. Gaines)

Synopsis from Amazon:
Set in rural southern Louisiana, the novel spans 100 years of American history -- from the early 1860s to the onset of the civil rights movement in the 1960s -- in following the life of the elderly Jane Pittman, who witnessed those years. A child at the end of the Civil War, Jane survives a massacre by former Confederate soldiers. She serves as a steadying influence for several black men who work hard to achieve dignity and economic as well as political equality. After the death of her husband, Joe Pittman, Jane becomes a committed Christian and a spiritual guide in her community. Spurred on by the violent death of a young community leader, Jane finally confronts a plantation owner who represents the white power structure to which she has always been subservient.

My rating: 4 stars

693. Aesop's Fables (Aesop)

1867 translation by George Fyler Townsend

Synopsis from Amazon:
One hundred forty stories written 600 years before Christ, with lessons as fresh for us now as they were for Aesop's contemporaries.

My rating: 4 stars

692. Sweet Discipline (Bonnie Hamre)

Synopsis from Amazon:
When Norris Brownell registers at an exclusive diet spa to further her career and salvage her social life, she expects the usual regimen of diet, exercise and behavior modification. However, Adrian, her personal trainer, knows that won't do. He's determined to train her to discipline her body and her impulses for more than portion control. He wants her for himself. She's initially appalled and resistant to his methods, but as her body slims and her sensual needs expand, she finds herself dealing with cravings that only Adrian can satisfy. Norris may lose much more than just pounds at the hand of her sensual trainer.

My rating: 4 stars

691. The Forbidden Lord (Sabrina Jeffries)

Synopsis from Amazon:
When Emily Fairchild first encounters the dashing Earl of Blackmore, she never dreams that the chance meeting would change her life forever. Yet as a rector's daughter, Emily knows she has no future with Jordan Blackmore. However, when Emily is trapped in a masquerade by her best friend's father, the playing field becomes more even. Emily becomes Lady Emma Campbell, a very eligible and acceptable debutante. And when "Emma" encounters Lord Blackmore, it is all she can do to keep up the charade, especially since he is determined to reveal the truth. The charade must continue in spite of her feelings for Blackmore. But will it ever end? Will she forever be destined to a forbidden love?

My rating: 3 stars

690. The Provincial Lady in Wartime (E. M. Delafield)

Air raid shelter in a Tube station

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
World War 2 has begun, and the provincial lady must cope with gas masks, evacuated relatives, and canteen service.

My rating: 5 stars

689. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (Agatha Christie)

Cover of first edition

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
A dentist is found shot dead - a pistol lays nearby. Later, a patient is found dead from a lethal dose of anaesthetic. A clear case of murder and suicide. But why would a dentist commit a crime in the middle of a busy day? A shoe buckle holds the key to the mystery - can Poirot solve it?

My rating: 4 stars

Publication information:

• US title: The Patriotic Murders
• 1940
• Collins Crime Club
• London
• Orange/red cloth with black lettering
  
• Dust wrapper priced at 7/6

688. Getting Over It (Anna Maxted)

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
Helen Bradshaw, 26, has a lot to get over - a dogsbody job on a women's magazine - an attraction to unsuitable men - being five foot one - driving an elderly Toyota. She is about to ditch the infuriating Jasper when she hears the news that will change her life. Her father has collapsed with a massive heart attack. Initially, Helen thinks of this as an interruption in her already chaotic lifestyle. But with his death everything starts to fall apart around her - her relationship, her mother, even her cat. Her flatmate Luke has the tact of a traffic warden with toothache, her friend Tina is in love with her new man, her landlord Marcus is in love with himself, and, after the tequila incident, it looks as though Tom the vet will be sticking to Alsatians. Seems like Helen will be dealing with this one herself ....

My rating: 3 stars

687. The Making of Minty Malone (Isabel Wolff)

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
Everyone likes radio reporter Minty -- she's so terribly nice. But being nice doesn't save her from being jilted at the very altar by her attractive but domineering fiance Dominic. Ditched rather than hitched, a shocked Minty takes stock, and, on her husbandless honeymoon, she vows to become just a little less 'nice'. Joined by her fiery cousin Amber, whom no one could describe as sweet-natured, Minty sets out on a Quest for the Self, in which she will finally learn how to say 'No'. But Dominic's devastating desertion has left her with an unhealed wound. For if the man she loved could do that to her, then how can any man be trusted? But then Minty stumbles upon the real reason for Dominic's dreadful defection. Faced with the ugly truth, she prepares to move on, let go, and learn how to say 'Yes' once more.

My rating: 1 star

686. The Lost World (Arthur Conan Doyle)

Cover of first edition

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
Headed by the larger than life figure of Professor Challenger, a scientific expedition sets out to explore a plateau in South America that remains frozen in time from the days when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Seemingly impossible to penetrate, this lost word holds great danger for the four men, whether from fiendish ape-men or terrifying prehistoric creatures.

My rating: 5 stars

Publication information:

• 1912
• London
• Hodder & Stoughton
  

685. Artists in Crime (Ngaio Marsh)

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
One of Ngaio Marsh's most famous murder mysteries, which introduces Inspector Alleyn to his future wife, the irrepressible Agatha Troy. It started as a student exercise, the knife under the drape, the model's pose chalked in place. But before Agatha Troy, artist and instructor, returns to the class, the pose has been re-enacted in earnest: the model is dead, fixed for ever in one of the most dramatic poses Troy has ever seen. It's a difficult case for Chief Detective Inspector Alleyn. How can he believe that the woman he loves is a murderess? And yet no one can be above suspicion ....

My rating: 4 stars

Publication information:

• 1938
• Bles
• London
• Red cloth with white lettering
• Dust Wrapper priced at 7/6
  

684. Simply Divine (Wendy Holden)

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
Twentysomething, magazine journalist Jane has enough stress -- breaking up with her boyfriend, falling in love with a man who leaves the country the next morning and the spare tyre around her waist -- without the added headache of the glamorous socialite Champagne D'Vyne, who pops effervescently into her life and proceeds to sour everything as their lives become inextricably intertwined.

Meanwhile, her best friend Tally's crumbling ancestral mansion in Lower Bulge is about to be sold off unless Jane can find a rich knight to come to Tally's rescue and, while she's at it, nab one for herself. The reader is launched into the world of double-barrelled socialites like the Front-Bottomes and Uppe-Timmselves, and the offices of the "Gorgeous" and "Fabulous" magazine worlds where only girls with slim calves and tinted bikini lines get onto the front covers.

Simply Divine sparkles with Wendy Holden's sharp, acerbic wit as she bursts the bubble of high society's extravagant pretensions and leaves the reader choking at some of her more shocking sentiments:

"How could [Tally] see that far? ... This honing of the optics came, Jane imagined, courtesy of the genetic inheritance of generations of Venerys scanning the horizons of their vast acreage. Being grand, however, had its downsides too. Like the girls at Fabulous, Tally had always suffered the most agonising of periods. Blue blood was evidently more painful."

Wendy Holden holds nothing back in her outrageous satire on the rich and frivolous, from psychics to New Age ceremonies to modern, "glossy" bibles, she exposes the shallowness behind the façade.

My rating: 2 stars

683. Moneyball (Michael Lewis)

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
Billy Beane, general manager of MLB's Oakland A's and protagonist of Michael Lewis's Moneyball had a problem: how to win in the Major Leagues with a budget that's smaller than that of nearly every other team. Conventional wisdom long held that big name, highly athletic hitters and young pitchers with rocket arms were the ticket to success. But Beane and his staff, buoyed by massive amounts of carefully interpreted statistical data, believed that wins could be had by more affordable methods such as hitters with high on-base percentage and pitchers who get lots of ground outs. Given this information and a tight budget, Beane defied tradition and his own scouting department to build winning teams of young affordable players and inexpensive cast-off veterans.

Lewis was in the room with the A's top management as they spent the summer of 2002 adding and subtracting players and he provides outstanding play-by-play. In the June player draft, Beane acquired nearly every prospect he coveted (few of whom were coveted by other teams) and at the July trading deadline he engaged in a tense battle of nerves to acquire a lefty reliever.

Besides being one of the most insider accounts ever written about baseball, Moneyball is populated with fascinating characters. We meet Jeremy Brown, an overweight college catcher who most teams project to be a 15th round draft pick (Beane takes him in the first). Sidearm pitcher Chad Bradford is plucked from the White Sox triple-A club to be a key set-up man and catcher Scott Hatteberg is rebuilt as a first baseman. But the most interesting character is Beane himself. A speedy athletic can't-miss prospect who somehow missed, Beane reinvents himself as a front-office guru, relying on players completely unlike, say, Billy Beane. Lewis, one of the top non-fiction writers of his era (Liar's Poker, Next), offers highly accessible explanations of baseball stats and his roadmap of Beane's economic approach makes Moneyball an appealing reading experience for business people and sports fans alike.

My rating: 5 stars

My review: A must-read for baseball fans.

682. Tempting the Beast (Lora Leigh)

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
Callan Lyons is a genetic experiment. One of six fighting for freedom and the survival of their Pride. Merinus Tyler is the reporter who will tempt him, draw him, until the fury of the "mating frenzy" locks them into a battle of sexual heat there is no escape from. Deception, blood, and the evil Genetics Council are hot on their trail. Callan will use his strength to try and save them both...and do all in his power to keep his woman in the process.

My rating: 4 stars

681. Bill Bryson's African Diary (Bill Bryson)

Synopsis from Amazon Canada:
In this slim, invigorating volume, the author of Notes from a Small Island and A Walk in the Woods sets his dry, Midwestern fish-out-of-water wit on Kenya. For eight days in the fall of 2002, Bill Bryson, accompanied by workers from the international poverty-fighting organization CARE, toured the East African country, visiting various CARE-sponsored projects and meeting the locals. One of these is Dr. Mbua. Among Bryson's interests is the human fossil record, and so an appointment at the National Museum--which "has the finest collection of early human remains in existence"--is arranged. Among its treasures is a 19-million-year-old ape skull returned to its rightful country after 40 years of bargaining with the British Museum, where it was sent for cleaning in the 1940s. Bryson asks Dr. Mbua, a paleontologist, why the museum kept it for so long. "'They coveted it,' she said, smiling serenely, but hinting at levels of darkness in the world of paleontology that I hadn't known existed." In describing why a highway isn't in the shape it's supposed to be in, Bryson drolly notes, "some government official or group of government officials decided to spare Kenyan workers the wearying toil of laying tarmac under a hot sun, and pocketed the money instead." For all his humour, Bryson never takes his eyes off the main point of his journey--that CARE has been a force for good, bringing improvements in the quality of life of poverty-stricken Kenyans, but that much more work is needed. Proceeds from the sales of this worthwhile little book (illustrated with photographs by Jenny Matthews) go to the organization, and hence to aiding fellow humans. As Bryson writes of a farmer he meets, "William Gumbo ... is a happy man and he has a future. Surely every human being is entitled to at least that much."

My rating: 4 stars