Books for this week

In the Middle of the Night ~ by Robert Cormier, 1995, mystery, 184 pages

Eight years before Denny Colbert was born, his father was involved in a tragic accident that killed 22 children.  Now Denny is 16, and all he wants is to be like other kids his age.  But he isn't allowed to answer the telephone or have a driver's license, and his family is constantly moving from town to town — all because people can't forget what happened long ago.  When Denny defies his parents one afternoon and answers the telephone, he finds himself drawn into a plot for revenge which may prove deadly.

The Second Tree from the Corner ~ by E. B. White, 1954, essays, 253 pages

A man visits a psychiatrist a number of times to see if the doctor can dispel his unstable feelings. Unfortunately he is not a properly cooperative patient and he ends by putting himself in the doctor's position and worrying about him (the doctor) rather than himself.

The Shape of Illusion ~ by William E. Barrett, 1972, fiction,  256 pages

Kirk Donner couldn't believe what he saw in the painting hanging on a New York art gallery wall.  Painted by a little-known 17th century artist, the canvas showed Jesus surrounded by a mocking crowd after Pontius Pilate had sentenced him to death.  Glancing at the angry mob, Kirk saw his own face in its midst.  And everyone else who looked at the painting saw his own likeness there, too.

Intrigues by the painting's magical powers, Kirk journeyed to the small German village where the artist had lived to find out all he could about its history.  There he met another American — a beautiful girl who had come to review the village's famed Passion Play.  Someone commented online that the protagonist is agnostic and his beliefs don't change, but his sense of something powerful outside himself does, adding that "the way he figures out he's met the girl he's supposed to marry is worth the read alone."

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz

hosts The Sunday Salon.