reviews

Get Your Buzz On... Author:  Dave Goulson Once in a while, I’m fortunate to come across a book that presents a remarkably attentive look at some neglected part of the natural world.  It may be obvious that nature contains myriad little nooks that hide all sorts of potentially fascinating stories, but it’s not very often that someone writes a good book about one.  A Sting in the Tale is just such a book.  Written by British biology professor Dave Goulson, it reveals the intriguing world of the bumblebee, that quietly working, frequently overlooked denizen of flower gardens everywhere. Closely related [...]

“Give me a girl at an impressionable age and she is mine for life.” Author: Muriel Spark A novel about attitude and rebellion, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie follows a middle aged teacher in her prime as she seeks to educate and form a set of girls by her own outspoken ideas against the strict nature of education and Scottish (specifically Edinburgh) society in the 1930s. Her unorthodox methods center around sensuality, idealisms, and the building of characters so that her girls will be the crème de la crème. “Give me a girl at an impressionable age and she [...]

Reality Stings... Author:  Laline Paull Flora 717 is the lowest of the low.  A humble sanitation worker in a struggling honey bee hive in the last remnant of dwindling countryside on the edge of the suburbs, she’s one of tens of thousands of sisters all working to support The Queen and her entourage, as well as dozens of lazy, arrogant drones.  But Flora is not as simple as she appears.  Calling on her hidden potential and bravely asserting herself despite remarkable adversity, she may well hold the secret to the hive’s survival.  Teeming with literary flourishes aplenty, Flora’s heroic adventures [...]