Kirjahaku

Seth's show Seth Row has made his name a household word with his weekly radio, internet and TV specials interviewing inmates on Death Row before their executions. Seth is often the last person to really speak with the inmates before they exit this world and the women in his life articulate that hanging out near the abyss of death rubs off on him and ghosts of his interviewees may follow him home. Could be possible he supposed. Seth doesn't focus on the heinous acts that placed these corrupted humans on death row, but their backstories. The man behind the crime...their life, loves, interests, regrets, beliefs about life after death. He humanizes the villains. Not in an attempt to exonerate or give them fame, but to pull back the outer layer and see what makes them tick. His favorite stories were always those where each character is multifaceted...the heroes not always all good and the antagonists not all bad. Mankind is constantly battling the natural-man inside themselves and Seth believes there is good and bad in every person. It just depends on the wolf they decide to feed. He is the consummate professional interviewer, until he meets the most unlikely death row inmate and things become a bit more personal for him. Each chapter opens with interesting, true facts about death row (but no political stance is taken).The story is filled with colorful inmates, varied love interests, a long lost father who turns out to be an actual Father and a young philosophical death row inmate that ends up connected to Seth on another level. Seth ultimately has to decide if he can host the live execution of someone he cares about and believes is innocent.

Poppy Paisley hails from a long matriarchal line who are all named for flowers. Since she has a permanent address at Greener Pastures (her Grandma Daisy's dementia care center) she does not really consider herself homeless. Even though she keeps her belongings in Sunny-mobile (her car) and sleeps at a different location each night. None of the people in her life are aware of her housing situation, except perhaps a park-dweller named Chet who has become her father-figure and is the wisest person she knows. Poppy is studying online to become a librarian and works at the public library with her best friend Russell and a butterfly aficionado named Misty. When a dashing library board member invites Poppy to help on a project in which she has vested interest, she is able to confront her homelessness firsthand. Poppy rescues others along her journey, as she wrestles with the dilemmas of what really makes a home and how does a person interpret their reality?

Hijacking definition: 1) to unlawfully seize a vehicle in transit and force it to go to a different destination or use it for one's own purposes. 2) steal goods by seizing them in transit. 3) take over something and use it for different purposes. Happiness definition: 1) a state of well-being and contentment or joy. 2) a pleasurable or satisfying experience. 3) the "pursuit of happiness" is something this country is based on, but different people feel happiness for different reasons. Have you ever taken off on a journey, any kind of journey, and not ended up where you expected? I think this happens to most of us much of the time, just not necessarily on an airplane going to a predetermined place. We often think of hijacking in today's world as a violent act, taking a group to a destination they did not choose or sign up for. I am tweaking that definition. My hijacking is of a gentler nature. My vision is to board the vehicle of happiness (whatever that may be for you) and gently guide it to where you want to go. Don't let it take off and leave you behind or get onto one of the lesser aircrafts of discouragement or frustration. There is enough happiness to go around and room for everyone to be on board or have their own seat.

Do you believe that a drought of the land which causes many people to die of famine or a drought of the human soul that affects the lives of those nearest him/her is more devastating? Can droughts of the soul be more damaging than those of the soil? The analogy buried in the book Drought uncovers the dichotomy (or juxtaposition) of both. In one storyline we meet Anoop, a boy who lives in 1876 India and is named for water yet battles the lack of water on his family farm. The desire of his heart is to do something great, maybe by bringing water to the world, but he ends up watering in a greater capacity. In the second storyline, Conifer, named for an evergreen tree, is an autistic twin living in Oregon over one hundred years later who speaks only in rapped song lyrics. This human Conifer needs to be watered to enable him to grow and become the mature man that he was destined to be despite having a father that nurtures his son's roots with nothing but drought. The reality that we all need water to survive is artistically portrayed in this analogical tale with a touch of history and science added for depth.

Three is a magical number. Not only were there three magi, but there are three musketeers, three witnesses are often required, and there are three in the Godhead or Trinity. Good things often come in threes. The number is popular in refrains, proverbs, and from fairytales to Hollywood blockbusters. The rule of three principle suggests that things that come in threes are inherently more humorous, satisfying, and effective than any other number of things. There is something powerful in that combination. The three young people in this story...Solomon, Esther and Misha... have been deemed less than exceptional by the world's standards. Together they bring to life not only the power of the trio but the value of their individual gifts, ones that are not always honored in the world today. When a mysterious man named Elias lets each of them see themselves in an ancient mirror, they realize they possess more than can be seen through the eyes of those around them. The main message in this story is that who we inherently are and what we eventually become are more important than what we do to get there...we don't have to be famous, or brilliant, or stand out in a crowd in an extraordinary way to make a difference in the lives of those around us.

In this offbeat whodunit, Mayor Dankworth is found dead and the only suspect is golden-boy, high school track star Aiden Birdwhistle. Unfortunately, Aiden fled the crime scene taking refuge at a tea maker's treehouse before turning himself in to the authorities. Will Aiden be convicted of a crime that he insists he did not commit due to the ineptitude of his attorney uncle? Or will his newfound quirky friends uncover the truth in time to free him from an awful fate? A Tale of Three Cities takes place along the Scenic Solar Loop that weaves through the animated towns of Starville, Moonburg, and Sunlight City while paying homage to Dickens's classic novel from which its title is derived. The surnames in this story come from a list of eleven endangered last names more common in past centuries which are now considered to have fewer than twenty contemporary bearers possessing them.