Beast of the North Woods by Annelise Ryan is a quick, entertaining read that has certainly elevated my interest in the state of Wisconsin and especially the small town of Rhinelander. This real town celebrates a strange spirit creature called a Hodag which was supposedly born from the ashes of abused, cremated oxen, has red eyes, fangs and a dragon's body. Is it really out there in the woods and can it kill people? The residents of the town embrace and protect the reputation of the creature even when a dead body has been found showing signs of a brutal attack. A witness claims to have seen a Hodag at the site of the murder. Can a professional cryptozoologist prove the killing was really committed by the Hodag? This book puts a small Wisconsin town on the map and is bound to increase the number of tourists who visit next summer. I might just go myself.

The Bog Wife

The Bog Wife is a unique smorgasbord of Southern Gothic, environmental horror, magical realism and family disfunction set in rural West Virginia over the course of one very wet and cold year. The isolated ancestral home which is situated on the edge of a peat bog is dirty, cluttered, and on the verge of collapse with a huge hemlock tree fallen through the roof. The family patriarch has died and the five siblings are trying to make sense of their family history and the family's compact with the bog. Through a dozen generations the bog has provided a cranberry crop, peat for heat, and a new bog wife for the eldest son when he becomes the patriarch. In return, the family has cared for the bog defending it from invasive plants and other environmental hazards. Now things are not progressing as planned for either the bog or its caretakers. Be warned, this book is a compelling read and might keep you up late into the night. It will appeal to readers who enjoy horror and mystery.

We'll Prescribe You a Cat

When your mental health or relationships with others need a tweak, forget about counseling and medication. Perhaps a cat prescription is just what you need! However, beware, your life is certain to change in ways you might not anticipate. You will be warned that each cat prescription must be taken until complete or, like an antibiotic you could become resistant if finished half way through.

This book is a series of vignettes about people who have been prescribed a cat to help them overcome some of the problems in their lives. Problems like a stressful job, a difficult boss or an unsatisfactory partner. An absolutely delightful book set in Kyoto, Japan that provides a bit of information about life in Japan, about breeds of cats, about cat behaviors, about human relations and about so much more. I loved it!

If you are searching for a Gothic novel that will transport you to another time and place, this is it. The House on Biscayne Bay by Chanel Cleeton has it all; a large, foreboding house (complete with parapet and secret passages), strange unexplained deaths, an inscrutable housekeeper, a mysterious husband and maybe even a ghost or two. The setting is Miami, Florida during the time period between the two world wars when people were flocking to Florida to make their fortunes in real estate and land development often by means less than legitimate. An undercurrent of tension and intrigue permeate the novel demanding that you keep the nightlight on and quickly turn the pages. If you like the Gothic Horror genre, this book is for you.

All You Have to Do is Call by Kerri Maher is one of the most important and thought-provoking books I have read in a long time. It transports us back to the years immediately before the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision which made abortion and a woman's right to choose legal. How ironic that this case has been recently overturned by our current conservative court. The book reminds readers of what life was like for women in this country when access to credit, homeownership, jobs and even birth control pills was often denied without a male family member's approval or signature. Women born after the struggles of the women's movement are often completely unaware of what life was like back then. This book is historical fiction at its best. It brings to light the true story of the courageous women of the Jane Collective in Chicago. This is the story of women helping women and struggling to overcome society's expectations. There are lessons here which, apparently, our country needs to learn all over again.

The September House kept me up reading late into the night. Old, spooky Victorian houses, especially those with a turret can so easily capture our imaginations. But this old house is really unique. Never has a house been haunted by so many spirits who died in so many horrible ways. Even the ways they haunt the house are unique. The month of September brings out the worst in all of them. The book is hard to put down because the reader just has to figure out, "What's going on here?" It's definitely a book that will be enjoyed by readers who love a good haunting story.

I have read two other books by David Grann so my expectations were high when I began to read The Wager. Coincidentally, I had just returned from a trip through the Strait of Magellan and the Drake Passage to Cape Horn so I have personally experienced the wind, sleet, fog, clouds rocky cliffs and raging seas that he so vividly describes. Reading this book swept me right back to this wild place. Grann is a skilled storyteller who is able to keep the reader engaged as he tells the story of a ship sailing in the 1700s when ships were barely seaworthy, and scurvy, fatal accidents, hunger and thirst were every day events. Unfortunately, shipwrecks were not an uncommon occurrence either. The descriptions of the storms, the land, the natives and the struggles of the crew in the extremely hostile environment keep the reader turning the pages. Grann educates and entertains the reader. My kind of book.

Jamila Minnicks' debut novel Moonrise Over New Jessup takes us back to 1957 and the beginning of the civil rights movement in Alabama. Her compelling characters and engaging prose give us a different lens through which to view the history of the civil rights struggle. New Jessup is one of the many thriving all black communities that once existed in the south. Historically, many of these towns were destroyed or subsumed into white neighborhoods. In the 1950s and 1960s many black communities were fighting for inclusion and integration. But in prosperous New Jessup, the residents are happily separate from white Jessup, and want to remain that way. They don't want to become integrated with whites as much as they want to be "separate but equal". They want their own city government and control of their tax revenue. In New Jessup the residents don't have to take a backseat on the bus or use the "colored" entrance. They like the way they live and want to preserve their way of life. A beautifully written book that will give readers a more nuanced view of the struggle for civil rights faced by blacks in the US.

Natural History is a wonderful set of stories interweaving the lives of some of the characters who appear in Andrea Barrett's previous works. The time frame stretches from the civil war era to modern times and focuses on women, family relationships and the love of nature as well as an appreciation of science and the world around us. As the stories unfold we see the lasting impact that a teacher with an organized, curious mind can have on her students and family members. As the book moves through time, the reader can see how community and family expectations of women's roles in and outside the home evolve. Traditionally, many of the most talented teachers have been intelligent, very well-educated women who were unable to pursue advanced degrees or occupational advancement due to societal expectations. The main character, Henrietta, is such a woman. She leaves the university setting and returns home to a small town in Central New York where she influences many lives in her role as a teacher and as a mentor to her nieces and former students. Her love of science and experimentation lives on in the interests and occupational choices of future generations.