The Poe Shadow: A Novel by Matthew Pearl

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A great novel about the very real mystery surrounding Edgar Allan Poe's death. At the same time, the book could be a story from Poe. It has the same creepy and intense vibe. Thoroughly enjoyable.

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Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
As always, I enjoyed this one from Jennifer Weiner. It is a sequel to Good in Bed and features Cannie and her daughter Joy narrating the months leading up to Joy's bat mitzvah (they alternate chapters between them). There is some really great mother daughter insight here.

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Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Not as good as the other Tommy and Tuppence books. Too much talk and not enough action. The plot didn't quite hang together either. But, I still liked the characters and I even thought the dog was pretty funny.

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Brewing Up a Business: Adventures in Entrepreneurship from the Founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery by Sam Calagione

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
About half of this book is a great business story. The other half is advice about starting your own small business. I felt like the stories and the advice could have been integrated better. But, even so, I wasn't looking for advice, so that part wasn't really all that interesting to me. Still worth a read for the history of Dogfish Head Brewing.

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Fay-Bainbridge & Fort Ward

On Saturday, I picked up Sam in Seattle and we took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island.  We headed north to Fay-Bainbridge State Park.  At first look, it seemed like kind of a lame park--a stretch of grass with some completely exposed campsites.  But, the small beach has some amazing views.  You can see Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker, and the Olympics.  Each campsite has two adirondack chairs, which seemed kind of goofy, but as soon as we sat down we realized how perfect it was.  What could be better than sitting in a couple adirondacks on a nice day looking at the amazing view?

Then we headed south to Fort Ward State Park.  We parked at the north end of the park and hiked up into the trees and eventually passed by two gun batteries (the Navy decommissioned the fort in 1958).  We then looped around and walked along the beach back to the car.  The beach has some awesome rocks and a lovely view.

The World to Come by Dara Horn

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A beautiful, engaging, dark, and often funny tale that ranges from 1920s Russia to present-day New Jersey. Dara Horn tells the fascinating story of the Ziskind family and the (fictional) theft of a Chagall painting. The story has a very surreal, fairytale quality to it, but at the same time Horn carefully develops each character so that you truly believe the outlandish actions they take.

A wonderful book--I highly recommend it!

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A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx by Elaine Showalter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Showalter does a great job of placing each writer in her point in history, while also talking about the individual style, strengths, and weaknesses of her writing. She writes about the major themes of each era while making sure to include women who stood outside of those themes. By the end, you not only have a great sense of how women's writing has changed over time, but also a clear picture of how women's writing and the culture and politics of the day impacted each other.

Best of all, you learn about some pretty amazing women.

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