It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas even here in CA.  The weather is cold (for here) and even the low mountains are shrouded in snow--a pretty sight.  With no snow on the ground here, maybe that would be more pleasing to some of you, but the citrus farmers here are suffering anxiety attacks concerning the possible loss of their crops.  Snow or no snow (unless there is  a blizzard), remember the Finley Library will be open as usual for your use and enjoyment on Thursday nights (6:30-8:00) before and after Christmas and on Fridays (200-5:00) as well.  Come in and check us out!

Here's a couple book reviews:

Dear James by Jon Hassler.  (PB)  (Staggerford series #3)  I couldn't keep myself from reading the last book in this series and it was well worth the time.  Agatha McGee has some difficult times due to nosy neighbors who read--while she is on a trip to Italy--the letters that she has received in years passed from James.  While in Italy she falls under the spell of the town of Assisi--and James--who is there to meet her unbeknownst to her!  All around Dear James is a wonderful and thoroughly enjoyable finale to this series.

Fort Apache, the Bronx by Heywood Gould.   (PB)  Published in 1980, made into a movie starring Paul Newman in 1981, this book is an oldie-goldie police procedural of the supposedly worst precinct in New York City--the 41st in the Bronx.  Almost all the cops are apathetic drunkards who are on the take and still think the best way to handle any criminal is with threats, beatings and sometimes murder.  If they are married, they'd rather spend their time in drinking joints with their buddies than go home.  But there are a few that--even though they act like they don't--really do care about the people they are called to protect.  Johnny Murphy is one such cop and the book chronicles his life--on and off duty--for a few months when a new captain comes to the precinct.  Johnny is hard to like, but his heart is in the right place one finds while reading.