A woman with a secret and a love for cemeteries

The Restorer by Amanda Stevens is a romantic, paranormal murder mystery.   Amelia Gray from Charleston, SC restores cemeteries.  She can also see ghosts like her father can.  He gave her a set of rules to follow to keep her safe from these spirits:
1. Never acknowledge the dead
2. Never stray far from hallowed ground
3. Never get close to the haunted
4. Never, ever tempt fate
Well her world comes crumbling down when she meets police detective Devlin who is investigating dead bodies that are showing up at the cemetery where Amelia is restoring.  Devlin has secrets and spirits hanging around him and Amelia becomes drawn to them.  Now Amelia is not only in danger from a killer on the loose, she has also disobeyed her father's rules which puts her in more danger.  The Restorer is a fast-paced read.  If you are interested in paranormal activities and ghost stories, this will be an interesting read.  The Restorer is the first book in Amanda Stevens' - The Graveyard Queen series.

Super apes with a vengeance

Rise of the Planet of the Apes was excellent.  This was only the second movie so far this year that I would love to see over and over again.  Ok...I am a fan back when Charlton Heston starred in the first Planet of the Apes.  The cgi in this film was amazing.  Congrats to the visual arts team.  The expressions on Cesar's face and body language was unbelievable.  The story is pretty much the beginning of the Planet of the Apes saga.  Cesar's mother, a chimpanzee used in an experiment to find out how to enhance the brain functions is mistakenly killed trying to protect her baby, Cesar.  The experiments stop and James Franco (Will) takes the baby chimp home and gets help from Freida Pinto (Caroline) a vet and is joined by his sick father John Lithgow (Charles).  Cesar has the serum in him from his mother.  Cesar becomes older and wiser and that is when things start to become complicated.  This movie keeps you engaged and excited.  It was a great movie and I highly recommend it being seen.

An old friend came for a visit

Winnie the Pooh is an icon for a lot of people all over the world.  It was so nice to visit the hundred acre woods and see Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, Tigger, Owl, Roo and Christopher Robin.  The movie was a refreshing reminder of our innocent days as a child.  The hand drawing they used in this new addition of Winnie the Pooh was a wonderful welcome.  The story was classic and fun.  It was a nice escape on a very hot day.

Witches and baked goods

Trick or Treat (A Corinna Chapman mystery) by Kerry Greenwood is the 4th book in the Chapman series. Corinna is a baker who owns Earthly Delights and works and lives in a building in a small town in Australia with a cast of very interesting characters. She has a gorgeous boyfriend, Daniel, a former junkie apprentice named Jason and a host of cats two of which are the mouse patrol and keeps the area clear of mice and juicy rats. Daniel has a friend, Georgina, who has a devious secret and is causing trouble for Corinna. A new bakery, Best Fresh, opens and is direct competition to Corinna's bakery. People start turning up hallucinating and acting crazy in Corinna's alleyway and trouble starts heading in the way of her witch friends and a long lost treasure. This series is fun and relaxing.

A betrayal and a lot of dead bodies

The Mechanic starring Jason Statham and Donald Sutherland is an action packed drama that has a predictable ending.  A "Mechanic" is a "hit man".  He is called when he is needed to clean up someone else's mess.  Trouble starts when his assignment is to exterminate his mentor and friend.  When he finds out who is behind this and then tries to make amends with his mentor's son, his house of cards starts to tumble down around him. These is not much more to tell with this story.  There is a lot of shooting and dead people all over the city and problems start to get solved.  The movie is fast paced and entertaining. If that is what you are looking for and no more, then this would be a nice movie to rent.

Christians on a witch hunt

Season of the Witch starring Nicholas Cage and Ron Perlman is a short film, just 96 minutes.  A crusade of Christian army men are attacking cities who are home to non Christians and who are sanctioned as devil worshipers because they harbor witches.  They come across one city where mothers and children are killed and they start to question their leader and their beliefs.  They decide to quit the crusade and survive on their own.  Some time after, three witches are found and hung and die except for one young witch. She survives and needs to be transported to the monks to be judged.  Cage, Perlman and a small band of Christians, go on a journey to transport this witch to the monks.  Little do they know what truth is behind this young witch and what they will face when they arrive at their destination.  Season of the witch is not a bad movie but it becomes apparent as to what is going on and fizzles out in the end.  Oh well...it is a short movie and it's entertaining.

A teacher trying to find his way

Sometimes I pick up a book that is ridiculously funny and unbelievably shocking.  That's what The Mystic Arts of Erasing all Signs of Death by Charlie Huston conveys.  Webster Fillmore Goodhue (Web) makes a career change because of a tragedy, from teacher to joining the clean team.  The clean team cleans up grisly L.A. crime scenes.  Web feels that he has a steady gig but of course nothing is ever simple.  One job is for him and the clean team to sponge up a Malibu suicide's brains from a bathroom mirror. While doing his job, Web starts flirting with the deceased man's daughter and afterwards things turn weird when the deceased man's daughter asks Web for a favor.  Someone normal would run away but Web agrees to meet her at midnight to see what she needs.  After meeting her he sees that gun-toting California cowboys start showing up on his doorstep.  Something is going on and he finds himself an unfortunate victim in this whole mess.  If you are looking for a funny disturbing and entertaining read then this is the book for you.

Mississipppi's secrets

Being born and raised in New York, the story The Help by Kathryn Stockett was a bit foreign to me.  It's not that I am not aware of the history and stories I heard about the south, it's just that I never experienced the things the people in this book experienced.  The Help is set in 1962, Jackson Mississippi and it's an extraordinary story surrounding Abilene and Minny who are maids and Skeeter, a white woman writer who befriends these ladies.  Skeeter is also looking for her nanny Constantine, who mysteriously disappeared.  Her mother never tells her what really happened to Constantine.  Skeeter decides to write a book about the Help with assistance from Abilene and Minny and they get the other maids to tell their stories.  The Help was an eye opening fun book.  I can't wait to see the movie.  I highly recommend reading this exceptionally written book.

Africa invaded by Britain

The book, Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe is comprised of two stories.  One about a strong warrior in Nigeria named Okonkwo who does not always follow with the traditions of his people and Okonkwo slowly starts to fall from grace with the tribal world.  The second story is about the clash of cultures and the destruction of Okonkwo's world because of European missionaries.  Things fall apart is not an easy book to get through but it is a worthwhile read.

Pirates times four

This sequel of Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides starring Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz is much better than the third pirates movie.  Jack (Depp) is looking for his lost ship (The Pearl) but runs into Angelica (Cruz) and gets involved with her to look for the fountain of youth.  It was fun to see some familiar characters.  One of the best scenes of this movie for me was Captain Jack Sparrow dancing with another Jack Sparrow.  The choreography for that dance was really nice.  Black Beard is back with a vengeance and brings a few surprises along the way.  The story of course leaves room for another sequel.  How many treasures can you look for?

An American Hero

Captain America:  The First Avenger was a strong story about the military putting their lives on the line to protect our country.  A young man, Steve (Chris Evans) is picked on and rejected several times from enlisting in the military.  However, Steve doesn't give up in a fight, he has compassion and a determination that is not swayed, so he is chosen for an experiment in the military and is finally accepted.  The supporting characters Peggy (Hayley Atwell), a brave friend Bucky (Sebastian Stan) and a very loyal cast of characters makes for a cohesive story.  Captain America is not a character that is interesting to me but the movie is worth seeing.

Harry Potter ends

Harry Potter, Hermime and Ron are together one last time.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2 was a fast paced and emotional movie for all the Harry Potter fans.  The battle of good verses evil and the final fight of Harry and Voldemort bought excitement and anticipation to us all.  There were a lot of questions answered which was nice.  Many fans will miss Harry Potter, but what a wonderful run of very likable characters.

Star cast, weak story

Cowboys vs Aliens starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde was a pretty good movie.  The movie is set in 1875 in New Mexico, a stranger (Craig) appeared with no memory and with an alien device on his wrist.  He decides to go to the nearest town and finds the  law enforcement and the towns people know who he is and he becomes public enemy number one.  Harrison Ford plays a concerned father of a troubled spoiled son and a cowboy who is the leader of this town.  Olivia Wilde is a beautiful woman with an agenda of her own and a secret.  When more townspeople are taken by the aliens, enemies and rivals have to work together to fight the aliens.  The actors were great and they did the best they could with such a weak storyline.  The  story was so disjointed and confusing that it made a movie by director Jon Favreau and Steven Spielberg not really worth seeing.

A First for a Native American

Geraldine Brooks has done it again with Caleb's Crossing.  She is a dynamic writer and researcher.  Her historical fiction stories make you ache for more.  This time she goes from 1660 to 1715 at Martha's Vineyard and Harvard College.  A twelve year old girl, Bethia Mayfield and a Native American Indian named Caleb meet in her homeland of Great Harbor which houses a small band of English Puritans. They forge a forbidden friendship and teach each other the ways of their people to each other.  When tragedy strikes both families, Caleb and Bethia are sent away to school together.  Bethia, to clean and care for the boys at Cambridge and Harvard and to pay the way for her brother to get a free education.  Caleb who was tutored by Bethia's father attends Harvard with the colonial elite studying Latin and Greek.  Both characters struggle to get their voices heard during this period of time.  Women are not supposed to get formal educational training and Native Americans have to fight and accept christian culture and prejudice in order to gain a proper education for their future and their people. The outcome of these two characters and the people around them will have you thinking about them and their circumstances and our sordid past for years to cone. Caleb's Crossing is a reminder of our past and how history unfortunately repeats itself.