Women Who Run With the Werewolves: Tales of Blood, Lust and Metamorphosis

As usual with short story collections I enjoyed some more than others.

"Boobs", Suzy McKee Charnas' tale of a girl who finds puberty to be an unpleasant kind of shape-shifting

Ursula K. LeGuin's "The Wife's Story," which takes the usual werewolf tale from a different point of view, that of the wife of a Werewolf

and

Moon Running about a wolf that changes into a human at the full moon...a Wereperson perhaps?

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

In 1996, as rare book expert Dr. Hanna Heath examines the Sarajevo Haggadah, an illuminated Hebrew manuscript from 15th century Spain, she carefully removes a series of artifacts that, under laboratory examination, will offer insight into the remarkable journey of this unusual text. Having survived the Serb-Bosnian war, the haggadah yields precious clues that allow Hanna to reconstruct the attrition of time: the fragment of an insect wing, an apparent wine stain, a white hair, salt crystals.

Extraordinary people drive the story, from Sarajevo to Vienna to Boston, an intense investigation via scientific methods of chaotic times, religious and political unrest. Each era is revealed through the actions of characters circa 1940, 1894 and 1609, the journey of the haggadah and its protectors, the book hidden from those who would obliterate an invaluable artifact: "To be a human being matters more than to be a Jew, a Muslim, Catholic or Orthodox." Time's guardians reach through the years to pass the haggadah from one century to another.

The main thing that kept this from being a 10 star read for me was the ending. It was a bit too much spy thriller and didn't seem to fit with the rest of the story.

Overall tho, I loved it. The way it went back and forwards telling the story of each fragment found in the Book was very well done.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson

The bulk of the story centers around investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist , who has been hired by a wealthy industrialist to solve the murder of a young girl who disappeared nearly forty years ago. There is a lot more to this book than just a murder mystery, though. It is also a tale of corporate intrigues and love triangles populated by interesting characters that includes a whole family of crazies and the amazing girl with the dragon tattoo - Lisbeth Salander, a skinny 24 year old 90 pound, pierced and tattooed goth chick with a distaste for authority figures who has Asperger's syndrome and incredible computer hacking skills.

For the first half I'd read a couple of pages, put the book down and wander off to do something else. Then yesterday it suddenly grabbed me and I couldn't put it down.

There were a couple of odd words used in the translation. I had a smile when I saw Tennant Creek, a town from my part of the world, mentioned ....but a sheep station west of TC is very unlikely. It's all cattle out there.

The Road Home by Rose Tremain

After the death of his wife , whom he dearly loved, and losing his job due to a factory closing, Lev travels to London. He leaves behind his daughter and his mother. Eventually, he finds a job working in the kitchen of an upscale restaurant and a room with an Irish landlord. Lev finds it hard to adjust to his new life. He misses his family.

Rose Tremain deftly shares the tale of a present day immigrant. She describes the pain of leaving and missing those you love and your native land and the pain of feeling out of place in a strange new country.

I didn't think this was as good as other of Rose Tremain's books that I have read.

But, I did enjoy it. She created a cast of characters that drew me in and made me care about about them. It is a page turner in a quiet way. Overall an engaging story.

White Gardenia

In a district of the city of Harbin, a haven for White Russian families since Russia's Communist revolution, Alina Kozlova must make a heartbreaking decision if her only child, Anya, is to survive the final days of World War II.

White Gardenia sweeps across cultures and continents, from the glamorous nightclubs of Shanghai to the harshness of Cold War Soviet Russia in the 1960s, from a desolate island in the Pacific Ocean to a new life in post-war Australia. Both mother and daughter must make sacrifices, but is the price too high? Most importantly of all, will they ever find each other again?

An absorbing and entertaining read. I felt the ending was a little too neatly tied up.

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Welcome toBascom,North Carolina, where it seems that everyone has a story to tell about theWaverley women. The house that's been in the family for generations, the walled garden that mysteriously blooms year round, the rumours of dangerous loves and tragic passions. EveryWaverley woman is somehow touched by magic.

Claire has always clung to the Waverleys' roots, tending the enchanted soil in the family garden from which she makes her sought-after delicacies - famed and feared for their curious effects. She has everything she thinks she needs - until one day she waked to find a stranger has moved in next door and a vine of ivy has crept into her garden ...Claire's carefully tended life is about to run gloriously out of control.

A lovely, magical story.

Midsummer Masque by Coral Hoyle

The daughter of a bishop, Julia Witton had somehow reached the grand age of four-and-twenty unmarried. So her parents had arranged for her to wed the odious Mr. Oglesby. Julia's efforts to escape this fate resulted only in her eye being blackened, struck by a mysterious pouch thrown from a passing coach - an event that strangely coincided with the arrival of the foppish Lord Rossiter. He was visiting the bishop's country home ostensibly to pursue his passion for flowers. But it soon became apparent to Julia that this devilish peer had not nearly such sweet-scented purposes.

A nice Regency with a good mystery that wasn't immediately obvious.