Pepper Cartwright is a popular television show judge that has just been nominated for the Supreme Court by a President that doesn't seem to want to be president anymore. In fact, he plans on not running for a second term. Pepper's nomination is in response to the Senate Judiacary Committee turning down two highly qualified nominees just because Senator Mitchell, commitee chair, doesn't like the President. Pepper's nomination sparks a media uproar and some very suprising results in an approval polls.

This book is probably one of the most humorous I've read this year. I'm not doing it any justice from my description. Pepper is a fiesty young Texan that brings a new atmosphere to the dignified Supreme Court. She tells it like it is and doesn't care what you think about it. Currently the Supreme Court is divided 4 -4 and Pepper's vote will become critical in the nation's most important case in decades.

A leak in the office, an inter-judiciary romance, and a President that is running just to prove a point add up to quite a collection of situations that all show just a little bit of the flaws in our system could be manipulated given the correct alignment of events.

4/5 (a little too much legalize...but what can you expect in a book about the Supreme Court)

Caroline is distraught. She is in alone and sobbing as "her" Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy marries Elizabeth Bennet. Little does she know that she is being watched...by the other Mr. Darcy...the American cousin, Robert.

I adored this book. The characters were represented perfectly and they grew in ways that allowed us to love them. Caroline and Robert have a very difficult time relating to each other. She does not feel he is a proper English gentleman, and he thinks she's too guarded and doesn't share her thoughts enough. They are tossed together by Elizabeth Bennet (now Darcy) taking ill and sending for her friends for comfort.

Seeing all the characters again was like catching up with old friends and hearing their new stories. I fell into the story and didn't come up for air until it was finished.

This is the second book on Egypt that I have read by Robert Bauval. I would recommend reading the first, The Orion Mystery, before starting this as it occassionally references back to topics written there, and I found it very helpful to have the background on the pyramids discussed in The Orion Mystry.

The Message of the Sphinx moves away from the Great Pyramids a bit and centers on the meaning, purpose and age of the Great Sphinx. Newer theories (1996) suggest that the Sphinx is much older than originally thought and also suggest a new purpose for the anciet monument. These discoveries are based in science and lead to a very compelling argument for the writers' theories.

If you are interested in Egyptology, this book should be on your must read book. Even if we choose not to believe the authors' theories, it shows a new picture of the ancients that helps piece together how and when they lived, specifically their religion and funeral rites. The writing gets a littel overly scientific for easy reading so I've been picking it up on and off all year.

4/5

A provoking story of Marly and her fiance David. Marly is "damaged" inside and can't seem to find a way to be fixed. David is her lifeline and her outlet of anger and disappointment (in a very bad way). She nags, yells, demeans, and damages him thoughout the story only to regret it seconds later. The pages took the reader into Marly's mind and thoughts as she struggled with, what appears to be, depression and abuse, although they are never named.

4/5

I requested this book from the Members Giveaway program because I thought it would be more about the history of the Unabomber. It is a series of letters written to him after he was imprisoned. However, most of the letters center around the author and his lack of faith in the system and life itself. While mildly entertaining, it was not what I had been expecting at all.

2/5

Marian and Ruth may be twin sisters, but they do not always see eye to eye. Such is the case when Marian decides to go to Bhutan, a small country near India, to work in their library for 6 months. During her time in Bhutan something happens to Marian. After a frantic call home from Bhutan to Ruth, several weeks after she was supposed to be back, Ruth decides to go find her twin sister. Her search leads her all across the small country and into neighboring countries as well as she tries to put the last few weeks of her sister's whereabouts together.

Marian and Ruth are both very richly developed characters. They are subject to the whims of their very unique emotions and viewing the country of Bhutan (which I admit to never having heard of before), through both their eyes was fascinating. It was a country rich in culture as well as people. It was also a wonderful look into the Buddhist religion for me.

Throughout the book, you will read of two separate journeys that while vary drastically follow the same path...through love, life, faith, and family.

4/5

A group of us on the LibraryThing 75 challenge thread are reading the Chronicles Prydain this year. We started in January with the first book, The Book of Three. The first book in the Chronicles of Prydain didn't hold up to the second, The Black Cauldron, which I read many times when I was younger, it was a favorite. Perhaps these many reads of the sequel are what lead to me not quite enjoying it as much as I would have. We are introduced to quite a cast of characters. Our main being Taran, the assistant pig keeper, and his pig, Hen Wen (I love that name, I wonder if it means anything).

Taran meets up with an odd assortment of companions in the form of the annoying (at least to him) girl Eilonwy, and the bard, Fflewddur. They find themselves rushing to beat the bad guy, The Horned King, to the castle so they can warn the good guys about the attack. The story is enjoyable and easy to follow, but occasionally moved a little too fast for me. I could tell the author was trying to convey a feeling, but he moved on before it had sunk in. Overall I'm glad I read this book, and look forward to reading the sequel, The Black Cauldron, again next month.

3.5/5

Lilly Renfrew has just witnessed a murder. She doesn't care it if was "just" a prostitute...to her it is still another human being. A small gasp betrays her and the murderer realized he's been watched leading to a chance through the Barbary Coast area and directly into Deegan Galloway's arms.

Deegan has been bored...he wants adventure, and when the little wren, Lilly, stumbles into his arms trying to escape from a man chasing her, he is quick to oblige. Once he hears her story he decides to join in the hunt for the murderer.

While this is labeled a Romance, and it does have a few steamy scenes in it, it was more of an action/mystery in my opinion. The hunt for the murderer leads to all manner of unusual circumstances and list of highly unlikely suspects. The author does a wonderful job of keeping the true bad guy's identity a secret until almost the very end, which I admire a lot.

Lilly and Deegan are both wonderful characters that are struggling to realize who they really are underneath. Their journey together is fun to follow and I truly enjoyed watching them become who they really were.

3/5

Bailey Ruth has been sent back from Heaven once again. This time her mission is to watch over a little boy named Kieth, the long lost grandson of a quite wealthy, and very ill, woman named Susan. When Susan turns up dead, a result of foul play, after announcing that she was leaving everything to her recently found grandson, there are many suspects, as many were remembered in her original will. It is up to Bailey Ruth to try and discover the identity of the murderer and keep little Keith safe, all while not breaking the Precepts that she was ordered to follow when she was sent from Heaven

This was supposed to be a Christmas read for me, since the events in the story all happen around Christmas time, but I didn't quite get to it in time. The story was a little hard for me to get into at first. The reader is introduced to a slew of potential hiers to Susan's fortune right off the bat, and it took me awhile to get them all sorted out. Once I had and the action picked back up, I was very happy with the pace of the book. The author kept the identity of the killer a secret until the very end, at least she kept it secret from me.

Bailey Ruth bothered me a bit. I understand that her character is a bit like an angel, having been sent down from heaven and all, but she was a bit of a goodie-goodie at times. Her only saving grace was that she did occassionally break the rules she was supposed to follow while on earth. This is the second book written about Bailey Ruth and I have added the first to my wish list to see if I warm up to her a little bit more.

3/5

The first in the Legends Trilogy from the realms of DragonLance. The series starts up several years after the Chronicles Trilogy. We are revisited by three old friends, the twins, Raistlin and Caramon, and the kender, Tasslehoff. The war has changed all of them over the short time since its conclusion and the world feels at peace. But some feel otherwise, such as the cleric, Crysania, a new character that is introduced.

Raistlin has grand plans, more ambitious than anyone suspects, but he needs help. Through his manipulations, the group finds themselves magically transported to a previous age...the age of the Cataclysm where all will be forced to make the difficult choice between their lives or their soul.

The book follows the characters back in time, allowing the reader to see a point in the world's history that was often mentioned in the previous series. In the distant time the stage is set for a bottle between ambitious evil and pure goodness. The first book ends with such a cliff hanger that I just about screamed because it took so long to go grab the next one off my shelves.

5/5