Bellman and Black: A Ghost Story by Diane Setterfield

I received this book free to review from Netgalley. I slogged through a bit over 60% of it before I gave up and skimmed to the end. I had hoped that the plot would redeem itself and become interesting and worth the time I had taken on the first part of the book. Sadly, it did not. The book begins with the story of William Bellman, a nice enough man who is a hard worker and does well in business. When his wife and 3 of his children die from a fever, he seems to make a deal with the devil - Mr. Black, for the life of his only remaining child, Dora, who, although she survives, is an invalid for the rest of her life and once it is certain she will live, Bellman pretty much ignores her. Bellman then opens a funeral business and becomes a total workaholic working himself, literally, to death, occasionally wondering where the mysterious Mr. Black is, so that he can share his business with him as he thinks he promised. In the end, we learn that Mr. Black is, I think, Bellman's memories of his life and of his loved ones who have passed on and Bellman has ignored them and worked so hard that he has neither enjoyed nor remembered the good times he once had in his life. There were also a lot of references to rooks - black birds like crows, and I think that was supposed to be some sort of symbolism or something. I do not recommend this book.

Rich Food Poor Food: Your Grocery Purchasing System by Jayson Calton, Mira Calton

This book is an excellent resource for everyone who wants to eat a more healthy diet and get unhealthy preservatives and other chemicals that are put in food our of their diets. The authors begin by explaining that just because a processed food may call itself healthy, that certainly does not mean that it is actually better than other processed foods. In a comparison of Classic Lays Potato Chips vs Baked Lays Potato Chips, the baked ones appear to be healthier based on the fact that they have lower calories and lower fat and sodium content. However, when you look at the ingredients - the Classic Lays contain just Potatoes, Vegetable oil and salt. The Baked Lays contain Dried Potatoes, Cornstarch, Sugar, Corn Oil, Salt, Soy Lecithin and Corn Sugar - actually a less healthy option than the Classic chips. This book explains what many of the poor food ingredients are - since some of them are chemicals and most of us have no idea what they really are or where they come from or how they are created, and how and why they are bad to consume. The authors advocate a whole foods, non-gmo food, organic when possible diet free of as many processed foods as possible. They give recipes for making your own foods like almond milk, mayonnaise and ketchup and they rate and list a variety of foods by brand name as being rich or poor foods. I found the book well written, highly informative and easy to use. It is limited by the fact that it does not - and cannot rate all foods in any category and also by the fact that processed food companies change their products from year to year. However, it is an excellent and timely resource and I highly recommend it.

Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz

Oh my, what a sad book. An island with magical healing fish. A fish boy. Sick people who need to eat the magical healing fish to stay alive. A teenage boy who befriends the fish boy. Cruel fishermen who abuse the fish boy. Interesting concept. Very sad. Good book.

The Artemis Effect by Kasia James

In this rather different apocalypse type story we follow 3 groups of people - one in Australia, one in the USA and one in England as communication crawls to a standstill, many people go insane, modern conveniences stop and people must fend for themselves. The cause of this catastrophe appears to be the changing shape of the moon. Prayed to as a goddess by some, its' changing shape affects more than just the tides.

Kimberly lives in the US and after things start falling apart, she goes to her mother's house in the country and befriends a pregnant and distressed woman named Alice. Together they traverse the post apocalyptic world with various groups of people trying to survive and evade the "ring gangs" - groups of insane men and helping the plethora of pregnant women.

Ray, Kimberly's husband is stranded in England, after having gone there on a work trip unable to return since planes are no longer flying and society has gone to hell in a hand basket. Hanes, a kind airport worker takes Ray home and they travel around England with a group of people for a while, trying to survive, Ray, all the while wanting to return home to his wife.

Scott and his friends - a group of people who are watching the skies for aliens in Australia are the third group of people who are followed in this tale as the strange behavior of the moon has caused similar problems in Australia as it has in the other parts of the world.
I found the story interesting, but it does have some editing errors and is not entirely well explained. I received this book free to review from Netgalley.

The Originals by Cat Patrick

I picked this book up at the library yesterday evening and finished reading it around midnight. Very interesting concept and good Young Adult novel. Sixteen year olds Lizzie, Ella, and Betsey look like triplets. But they are not. They are clones and they are in hiding. They take turns going out living their three lives as one person so no one will find them out. They make it work out well, with one girl taking morning classes, then going home and switching out at lunch for the next girl and the last one taking some night classes at a junior college. It works fine - until Lizzie meets Sean and Ella is pursued by David. And, a mysterious woman seems to be following Lizzie and she learns that her mother does not go to work where she has always said she did. As the boy troubles and mysteries pile up, the girls yearn to live their own lives in public rather than a three in one life in hiding. The book is intriguing with mystery and romance and teen angst.

Eat Move Sleep: How Small Choices Lead to Big Changes by Tom Rath

This book can change your life! Really. I read a lot of health and fitnees books - especially lately due to being older and having health problems of my own. This is totally the best book I have read on the topic. Ever. It is simple and comprehensive, well-researched and it makes sense, is doable and explains lifestyle changes that can help you to be more healthy. The back of the book inludes a 30 day challenge of lifestyle adjustments to do each day. In addition, there is a website on which you can answer questions and get daily reminders sent to you for 30 days. Most of what is in the book about eating, I already knew most of what the book tells about food, but don't always eat correctly anyway like most of us, but I found the reasons to eat right in this book encouraging and it has good tips like putting healthy snack foods at eye level. I learned a lot about movement that I was not aware of including the fact that we retain more that we learn if we move immediately afterwards - and I am totally moving a lot more now than I was before reading this including walking daily and incorporating more movement into my daily routines. Lastly, I learned a lot about sleep that I was not aware of including reducing light levels in the hour or so before bedtime and the importance of a good night's sleep on our overall health. Each chapter of the book ends with a list of three bullet points that sum up the main ideas about eating, moving and sleeping in that chapter. I signed up on the website for the daily reminder e-mails and am using this book as a reference book for lifestyle changes that I am sure will help me to be healthier. I recieved this book free to review from Netgalley and I am so glad that I did! It is a fantastic book and I highly recommed it!

Endless by Amanda Gray

A timeless romance. A romance out of time. This book is a lovely combination of reincarnation, time travel and romace. Seventeen year old Jenny has always been able to see the past. Now, the past is reaching out to her. It begins with a Ouija board, then continues with a mesmerizing music box that she finds with Ben, her new neighbor. A handsome man invades her dreams and shows up in her paintings. What is the truth about Jenny's mother? Can she save Nikolai? This book has action, adventure, and romance. It seems rather endless, with a bit of a cliffhanger ending, but is a lovely read. I received this book free to review from Netgalley