Slowing Time

Mahany, Barbara. Slowing Time: Seeing the Sacred Outside Your Kitchen Door. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2014.

This book was not what I expected it to be. It is arranged seasonally with not quite daily activities to enhance observations and slow the reader's pace of life down to enjoy a sense of wonder. It's really a book of creative writing pieces with no regard to proper rules of grammar. I found the arrangement to be a bit of distraction as there was one piece which tended to weave its way across the bottom of several pages, making it impossible to read a page at a time without going back to where that piece began to read it in its entirety for the sake of cohesiveness. It did not really work for me although other readers might enjoy this type of book.

The Fourth Secret

Camilleri, Andrea. The Fourth Secret. s.l.: Mondadori, 2014.

Workers at construction sites are meeting their deaths on the job. After the latest incident, Montalbano can't resist taking a peak at the crime scene even though it is not his investigation. This is a very short installment in the long-running series. The brevity of the book leads to less fully developed characters and a less-complicated plot. Montalbano fans, however, will enjoy this visit with the Inspector. This review is based on an e-galley received by the publisher through NetGalley for review purposes.

Citizens Creek

Tademy, Lalita. Citizens Creek. New York: Atria Books, 2014.

This multigenerational tale relates the story of Cow Tom, a black man enslaved to a Creek Indian in Alabama who became a chief in the Creek Nation. The story follows Cow Tom and his desire to purchase his freedom through his marriage to Amy, his service in the Seminole Wars, the birth of his children, his removal to Indian Territory, his loyalty to the Tribe, and then follows his granddaughter Rose. It is based upon a true account. While the story bogged down and moved a bit slower than I would have liked in places, it was a fascinating account. It is a story that deserves to be kept alive, and Tademy has done an excellent service for us all in telling it. This review is based upon an advance e-galley provided by the publisher through NetGalley for review purposes.