Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks, to be published August 21, 2012, ISBN 125000621X

After having both the pleasure and honor to read and review Matthew Dicks first two books, I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of his next. I I had some moments of despair when it was published across `the pond' and we in the US had to wait. So I was very excited to yet again be offered the chance to review the advance reading copy of his book Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend. Matthew's work just gets better and better and this book is excellent. Perhaps it stands out as even more special to me because I have my own "Max" and got to see the astounding way he grew and learned even if it was with the friendly help from the imaginary friends on "his planet" from which he even gave us daily weather reports. It is obvious that Matthew understands the hearts and souls of those that are special among us. I think that is what makes his books so brilliant. His characters with so many of what are normally called flaws, he brings out the things that make them so strong and special.

There is no point in giving a book report telling what happened in the book as the author has done a very good job of that. Suffice to say the story revolves around, Max is a different type child, with parents that don't really understand him or how to help him, and Max's imaginary friend Budo. Much of the activity takes place at school as well. Budo is Max's voice in this book since Max rarely speaks.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone. It makes for a terrific read and most especially would help those who would like a greater understanding of an autistic or developmentally delayed child. This book brings into focus so much that this type of child `live on the inside'. The title of this book sounds like this would be a book for children and it is, but it also can hold an adult's interest. I could just see teacher's reading this book to their students just as Mrs. Gosk reads to her students.

Keep up the good work Matthew!!!

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I have noticed something interesting as the early reviews from readers who received an actual copy of Matthew's book and those that received the book on CD. I have never liked listening to books on tapes and such, so when I was half through with the 9 CD set and had a chance to get the book to actually read, I jumped at it. Reading this author's work brings out so many of the subtle nuances that seem to be missed and even the different voices on CD aren't what the book itself would imagine them to be. For instance, Mrs. Gosk's voice sounds silly on the CD but when reading the book you can imagine it any way you want. Anyhow those 'readers' that accessed the story on CD have given it poor reviews, while those of us that got to read and wallow in the characters of Budo and Max are giving it stellar reviews. My suggestion, read the book!

Jane of the Jungle by Jane Baskin

Jane of the Jungle by Jane Baskin ISBN 978-1-4620-0292-4 This book is available in Hardcover, Softcover and Kindle editions.

Most books can nicely fit into certain categories, but this book is not one of them. It has romance, adventure, science-fiction moments, suspense, mob-mafia characters, talking tigers, motorcycle gangs, and middle-aged main characters. Yet with so many different types of things going on, the book reads well and is highly entertaining.

One of the delightful things about this book is that the main characters are middle-aged swiftly sliding into old-age. They are starting to feel the effects of their age while in their minds they are so much younger and still want so much out of life. As someone that is middle age with chronic health problems that make me feel like I'm in my 80's most of the time, I enjoyed reading a book that has intriguing main characters in my age range which is a rare thing to find.

Jane is a fairly new widow. She has found that now that her husband has died leaving her a pile of unpaid medical bills, she is tired of her ER nursing job and wants something different in her life. So she walks away from her old life. Or to be more accurate, drives away in an old RV. And then her adventures begin. Since I am not the writer that the author is, I can't give a good blurb about what this book was about without it seeming absolutely silly, but the book was great fun to read. I get so tired of authors of novels that can only seem to write dreary, depressing books. I read books for entertainment and this book is certainly entertaining. It is also one of the first books that I have ever read that I thought could be made into a fun movie and have been trying to figure out who would be good at playing the main parts. As I mentioned before, the actors would need to be middle aged which I hear are hard parts to find lead roles for, actresses especially, at this age.

You should find this book to be a bit bizarre, a bit fun, interesting and very different to read. I hope the author writes a lot more books as it was a refreshing change to read such a fun book. This is a great book to read when you need an uplifting fun book when life has gotten you a bit down or you are in the midst of an arthritis flare-up like I was, as I have found that humor helps decrease the pain.

Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian by Ave Steinberg is a book I read and reviewed for the Amazon Vine Program. It is an interesting look into the life of those prison workers that feel caught in the cracks. They certainly aren't the inmates, but mostly they don't feel like part of the guard force either.

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At one point in my nursing career, I worked three years as a prison nurse. Being a civilian employee at a jail or prison is a very unique experience so I looked forward to reading this book. This is an autobiographical work by Avi Steinberg who ended up working as a librarian in a large Boston prison when all his other job options had run out. He became one of several librarians who worked along with a trustee detail of prison inmates. While there he learned to walk carefully, and at times not so carefully, the tightrope between being friendly to the inmates as opposed to being friends with the inmates—there is a huge difference! He also had to learn how to deal with the prison staff of guards and other civilian employees in an institute that was state run with all the many nuances working a state funded job can throw at you.


He found that he had to learn many things that had nothing to do with librarianship. Learning what is contraband and what isn’t. Intercepting notes that the prisoners had left in books. Dealing with deaths of inmates he had come to care for. His story is told in a very humorous manner and yet was sensitive to his surroundings. While some parts of the book, I was honestly wondering where the guards were, I felt that the feelings about his work there was very real and honest. It is hard to see that nice friendly inmate face on a daily basis and yet know that you can’t trust him or be his friend. He even recalls being mugged by an inmate while out of work. That is always the strangest feeling when you bump into someone you only basically saw behind bars or finding yourself behind them in line at the movies. If you are interested in prison life from a different point of view, you should enjoy this book. I know I did.

Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich

Thanks to the McCord Library in North East, PA for making this book available to me.

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This is my review of Sizzling Sixteen for Amazon.com

This is your typical Stephanie Plum mystery book. If you have been reading the series, it is a continuation of the amazing adventures of Stephanie, Lula, Joe, and Ranger and featuring more of Connie from the bail bonds office. We find that Connie makes great stink bombs and was known for it when she was in high school. Stephanie is still wrecking cars, Lula is on yet another diet where she is allowed to eat one item, only she hasn’t decided if that means one donut or one dozen donuts. Joe and Stephanie are currently on the outs although that doesn’t mean he won’t come to her rescue as needed. Ranger is still hot stuff and continues to loan Stephanie cars as she continues to total them. This time it is Vinnie the bail bondsman that has disappeared and the three girls need to find him and rescue him or come up with a million dollar ransom if they want to keep their jobs. In other words a typical fun story.


If you have never read a book from this story, you can jump in any time, but I suggest you start from book number one if you can. Otherwise, be prepared for a cozy mystery, humor, fun, romance, crazy grandma’s and a whole slew of oddball people. It is a great hot, humid summertime book to read to make you forget how miserable you are and at times you may find yourself laughing out loud. In the sense of great literature, this book doesn’t cut it, but if you want a fun entertaining book to read this whole series will do it for you.

This book did need to come with a warning though. Cluck in a Bucket extra crispy fried chicken played a huge role in this book. I was able to read this book in one sitting and by the time I was done I HAD to go get a bucket of Colonel Sanders extra crispy fried chicken, my brain wouldn’t stop demanding it! Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

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I never read reviews of books until I have actually written and posted mine, so I was surprised than many readers didn't like this book. That is their right, but I am continually amazed when I see some reader's reviews of books and they pick books like this one apart as if it were supposedly the next Great American Novel. This book was quite simply meant to be fun and entertaining. I know I enjoyed it. All of the Stephanie Plum books are over the top silly and the times I have laughed out loud while reading them are too many to count. Then my husband asks what I'm laughing at and I read him a section and he laughs too. That is the fun part of this series of books. Perhaps I've had enough sadness and pain in my life that I enjoy anything that takes me away from the pain, if only for a few hours and so I am greatly indebted to Janet Evanovich for doing this for me. I was in very bad pain the day I read this and so the relief was enormous to get lost in a fun book and I firmly believe that "laughter does good like a medicine".