Growing Up Amish; Walking Dead Vol. 21: All Out War Part 2

"Growing Up Amish" by Ira Wagler is his memoir of his rebellious teen years. During that time he left his Amish home repeatedly, only to keep coming back in misguided attempts to make his Amish heritage "stick". He joined the church and left. Came back, repented, asked forgiveness, and was taken back in. Then he left again. He finally left for good around age 26, when he managed to get his head on straight and leave for the right reasons rather than just rebellion. It would have been more interesting if he'd been able to articulate what exactly it was about the Amish life he didn't like so much. He was like, oh I wanted to leave so I left. Well, okay, but *why*? At any rate, I hope he's happy with the decisions he's made since leaving for good.

Robert Kirkman's "Walking Dead Vol. 21: All Out War Part 2" finds Rick's team gearing up for one final showdown with Neegan. It ends with Rick capturing Neegan. Many of his group want to kill him, but Rick successfully argues for his lifelong imprisonment instead and the two groups agree to work together to rebuild. It's about time, too, I've been hoping Walking Dead would eventually reach the point where they stop running and start rebuilding society. I think that's interesting. I hope the TV show follows suit :)

The King's Curse; The Death of Archie; Supernatural Enhancements

"The King's Curse" by Philippa Gregory is the sixth in her Cousin's War series. It follows the life of Lady Margaret Pole, born a Plantagenet and cousin to Henry VII's wife, Elizabeth. She is married off to a minor knight and loyal supporter of the King. Lady Margaret is there when Prince Arthur dies, and swears to Princess Katherine that she will do anything it takes to see her married to Prince Henry and on the throne of England, so when the subject comes up of if Arthur and Katherine consummated their marriage, Margaret did a palms up and refused to say more. Henry VII dies, and his son, one of the most evil tyrants the world has seen, Henry VIII, takes the throne and marries Katherine. Margaret is there when their baby sons die, one after the other, and is Princess Mary's governess. She is there when Henry throws aside his true wife for Anne Boleyn. She is there for all of it, until Henry throws her in the tower and cuts off her head, a little old lady in her sixties, simply because he could. It was very moving and nicely done.

I was at the Long Beach Comic Con a few weekends ago, and I saw this comic. I used to read Archies all the time as a kid, I still have a bunch. I had to see how poor Archie met his end. He died saving a friend from a bullet, in true Archie style. It made me want to go back and reread some of my old ones.

"Supernatural Enhancements" by Edgar Cantero was suitably spooky for this time of year. I love the cover! So, A. is a young twenty something European lad who discovers, in 1995, that he had a second cousin twice removed in America who has died, committed suicide, actually, by jumping out of a window the exact same way his father before him did. Since Ambrose Wells never married, A. is his closest heir. A. comes to Virginia to see the mansion left to him, bringing along his mute companion, a teenage girl named Niamh. They start digging into the clues Ambrose left behind for his butler, who fled the scene before A. showed up. Ambrose was a bit of a hermit who seemed to devote his life to research of some sort, and every year at the Winter Solstice a group of his fellow researchers would show up at the house for several days. What they did no one seems to know. Very odd things keep happening, like light bulbs bursting, shadows in the tub, and wicked nightmares. The house is of course haunted, but in a very unusual way. It was very good and quite creepy, I enjoyed it.

Too Big to Miss; Boleyn Reckoning; Trixie Belden and the Gatehouse Mystery; Fables Vol. 19: Snow White; Trixie Belden and the Mystery of the Emeralds; Dead to the World

"Too Big to Miss" by Sue Ann Jaffarian is the first in a series starring a plus size paralegal named Odelia Grey. I really enjoyed it: it had a touch of humor without being disrespectful towards the dead or big ladies. One of Odelia's good friends, Sophie, kills herself while on a webcam for her website, which catered to men with fetishes for big girls. Odelia didn't know she ran such a website, but she does know Sophie wouldn't have just committed suicide like that--someone must have drove her to it. The more she digs the more she discovers how little she really knew Sophie, how many secrets she was really keeping.

"Boleyn Reckoning" by Laura Andersen was the third of her trilogy. I didn't really care for the whole series. I really felt she had the opportunity to do something fun with William and his sister Elizabeth. If Elizabeth isn't going to be queen, marry her off, have William marry someone interesting, I don't know, do something other than basically have it come out the way it did in real life. Anyway, Minuette and Dominic's secret marriage is found out and William is livid. He banishes them and has Dominic arrested and thrown in the tower. He kills his sister's favorite, Robert Dudley, and then ends up dying in battle. Elizabeth becomes queen anyway, but without her Sweet Robin, which I'm sure would have made her an even more bitter and angry person than she already was.

Book #3, "Trixie Belden and the Gatehouse Mystery" by Julie Campbell is another one of my favorites (I remember the early ones better because I've read them so many times). It's late summer after Honey has moved in next door, Jim is safely ensconced in the Wheeler household, and Mart and Brian are finally back from summer camp. The kids form a club after cleaning up the Wheeler's old gatehouse and call themselves the Bob-Whites of the Glen. Trixie and Honey found a diamond in the gatehouse, and they're sure one of the Wheeler's new employees is the thief who lost it. Trixie suspects Dick the new chauffeur right away, but it takes some convincing to get the rest of the Bob-Whites on board.

"Fables Vol. 19: Snow White" by Bill Willingham has Bigby gone in search of their two missing children. While he's gone, Prince Brandish shows up the newly rebuilt Fabletown, insisting that he and Snow White were married under ancient rules and the marriage is still valid. He has gone to a lot of trouble to enchant himself with protective spells, so whatever damage anyone does to him hurts Snow White instead. Ghost is able to find his father and bring him back to save Snow White, but Prince Brandish turns Bigby into a glass wolf and shatters him. Snow is able to kill him once the Fabletown witches undo his protective spells, but is Bigby gone forever? I sure hope not.

Book #14, "Trixie Belden and the Mystery of the Emeralds" by Katherine Kenny (Julie Campbell stopped writing them after book #6, and Random House used a group of in house writers under the name of Katherine Kenny to finish it out, which is why there are inconsistencies in the later books) was one that I didn't remember the finer details of. Trixie finds an old letter in their attic, discussing an emerald necklace hidden in a Southern estate. Luckily, the Lynches were planning a trip to Virginia and because Mr. Lynch is awesome, he lets Di bring all her friends along. In Virginia they are quickly able to discover the estate mentioned in the letter, but it's owned by a very shifty man who is also on the hunt for the emeralds. Who will find them first?? :)

 Another reread, book 4 of the Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris, "Dead to the World". I think this one is my favorite. Sookie is driving home late one night from work and she sees Eric out wandering. He has been cursed by a group of witches and lost his memory. Sookie takes him home for safekeeping and lets Pam know where he is. Pam asks her to keep him safe there, since no one will look for him, while she tries to figure out a way to undo the witches' curse. Sookie reluctantly agrees, but soon discovers that Eric without his memory is a sweet, kind man. Unfortunately, her brother Jason has disappeared. He was dating a werepanther from Hotshot, and they discover a panther print and blood on his deck. Plus, Debbie Pelt is still pissed that her boyfriend, Alcide, has the hots for Sook and is after her. Poor Sookie can't seem to catch a break.