Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent by Veronica Roth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Divergentby Veronica Rothis a dystopian novel set in an alternate Chicago. (I always assume these are set in the future, but they don't necessarily have to be.)At 16, teenagers must choose their faction: dauntless, abnegation, erudite, amity, and candor. Each faction has its own personality and own roles in society - and they don't mix. Choosing a faction different from your family means you will leave them forever. After troubling testing results, Beatrice isn't sure what faction to choose - and when she does, she must hide her specialness.

View all my reviews

Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards

The Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Lucy Jarrett, a twenty-something professional, goes home to visit when her mother is in a minor traffic accident. While rummaging around in the family home, she finds a letter and scrap of fabric that belonged to a relative she had never heard of- a great-aunt. Interest piqued, she follows clues to unravel the history of her grandfather and his sister. This is also a time of turmoil in the family and in the town - a large amount of undeveloped lakefront property has become available. Her family's land is on the lakefront and there must be a decision about whether to develop or not.

Lucy is taking her journey to full adulthood - dealing with her father's death, her mother's need for male companionship, and her need to decide on the direction her life will take.

Beautiful, lyrical prose and an interesting plot make this a worthwhile read.

View all my reviews

The Drop by Michael Connelly

The Drop by Michael Connelly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Enjoyed The Drop, but I need to go back and re-read parts - I read it too fast, and missed some of the plotting. Bosch is assigned the investigate the probable suicide of the son of a City Council member. He is also working on one of his cold cases. The investigation of the suicide has "high jingo" - lots of political moves being made in the background. Great read.

View all my reviews

Lord John by Diana Gabaldon

The Lord John Grey stories are finely crafted mysteries involving Lord John, the homosexual British soldier introduced in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.  Lord John's adventures take him to Hanover in the Seven Year's War (between England and Hanover and France, Prussia, & Austria), the poorest areas of London, and the wealthiest houses.

 Diana Gabaldon's web page.

Lord John and the Hand of Devils by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book contains three novellas: Lord John and the hellfire club -- Lord John and the succubus -- Lord John and the haunted soldier. In all three, he is at the front in Germany during the Seven Year's War. He spends time with his friend, Capt Von Naumsen (sp? I've been listening to it.) Very good if you like Lord John. These & other Lord John stories are not for everyone.


Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book. The posh english speech of Lord John and brother Hal is wonderfully counterpointed to the various accents of the lower class characters. Highly recommend the story - warning some explicit sex.

Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I listened to Lord John and the Private Matter. I enjoyed the story but the best part was listening to the reader, Jeff Woodman, with his oh-so-posh British accent. I'm not sure reading it would have been the same experience. Am now listening to .

View all my reviews

Boomerang by Michael Lewis

Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World by Michael Lewis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this short book in one evening. Lewis visits Iceland, Greece, and Ireland investigating their recent (and current) financial crises. Even though superficially, the three countries' problems sound similar, he looks deep into their national character to get to the underlying issues. He then visits California and looks into that state's finances and a local municipality which had to declare bankruptcy. Lewis is not afraid to express his opinion about the underlying causes - which should be a bit of a wake-up to us all.

I recommend it even if you don't read a lot about finances or governments.

View all my reviews

Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade by Diana Gabaldon

Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book. The posh english speech of Lord John and brother Hal is wonderfully counterpointed to the various accents of the lower class characters. Highly recommend the story - warning some explicit sex.

View all my reviews

GoodReads best of 2011 poll

2011 Goodreads Choice Awards: Favorite Book of 2011 Vote now for your favorite books!

Madam Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Madame Bovary: by Gustave Flaubert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This new translation of Madame Bovary by Lydia Davis won the French-American Foundation Translation Prize. I realized that I had not read it before. I recommend finding a copy of this edition (1010)to read. As I read, I alternated between pity for Madame Bovary and anger at her romantic notions that led to her downfall. I felt that her husband should have been more aware of her, her emotions and her actions. She lived in a fantasy, where she denied inconvenient realities - a little like Scarlet O'Hara.

There is much more to this French literary masterpiece, which will take me some time to absorb.

View all my reviews

V is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton

V is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sue Grafton's latest in her alphabet series. Kinsey is hired to investigate the supposed suicide of a local woman. The story is a complicated mix of the mob, a shoplifting ring, and an unhappy housewife.

View all my reviews

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am not an apple user. But Steve Jobs is an iconic figure of our generation. He's one of the original "invented it in the garage" people. Jobs genius was seeing the potential of computerized products. He insisted in a top to bottom design that would delight the user. Isaacson began spending time with Jobs, interviewing family members, colleagues, and enemies in 2009 with the complete cooperation of Jobs. He gives us a frank assessment of Steve Jobs' achievements, failures, and personality. The book is very readable, but a bit of a project.

View all my reviews

Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle

Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age by Kevin Boyle
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Kevin Boyle's Arc of Justice includes a large amount of backstory. After the precipitating events, he writes what is essentially a biography of Ossian Sweet, the Black Detroit physician who buys a bungalow in a white neighborhood in 1925. He invites several friends and his brothers to stay at the house when a white mob arrives to drive the Sweets out. They are well-armed. Shots are fired from the house, and a white man is killed. All of the occupants of the Sweet house are arrested and put on trial for murder. The NAACP sends attorneys, and eventually persuades the famous Clarence Darrow to lead the defense team. The trial is covered in great detail.

Actually, all of the information in the book proved useful in understanding the events of the time, but it should have been condensed. It was assumed the reader knew nothing about the racial situation in Detroit before WWII. I'm sure people who don't know much about Detroit race relations will not be reading the book anyway.

View all my reviews

Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson

Now Reading:  Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.  Only on p.119 - very long, but very readable.

Double Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

Double Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I forget how different the TV series is from the books. In Lindsay's books, Dexter is very introspective. He goes on and on thinking about himself - how he can find his stalker, how he can fit in with normal humans, what is going on with Rita. The stalker - the double - almost outsmarts Dexter. For as smart as he thinks he is, he is very slow to catch on.

Still worth reading. Interesting to see Dexter's life with Rita and the kids.

View all my reviews

Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle

Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age by Kevin Boyle


This book is the Great Michigan Read book for 2012. It is about a Black family who moved into a white neighborhood in Detroit in 1925. Dr. Osian Sweet gathered relatives and friends in the house to protect it from the White mob outside. Shots were fired, and a White man died. Sweet, his wife, and friends were all arrested and charged with murder.

A serious event in the Civil Rights movement and in Michigan.

View all my reviews

The Reservoir by John Milliken Thompson

The Reservoir by John Milliken Thompson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I like mysteries set in places I have been - in this case Richmond, VA - whether present day or in the past. So far I'm not liking this one, but intend to keep with it a while longer.

Gave it up. I think because the mystery was too rambling - you already think you know who the murderer is. If it's not, then so be it. May try it again later.

View all my reviews

Moneyball by Michael Lewis

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Haven't seen the movie yet - but the book is very matter-of-fact. Lewis tells the story of Billy Beane's new approach to baseball. As GM of the Oakland Athletics, Beane uses his limited budget to select cheap players who have particular assets. For instance, Beane and his statistical genius assistant determine that on-base percentage is more important than RBI or slugging percentage; also that walks are more important than strike outs. Pitchers are valued by their ability to get outs no matter how, than ERA. If you are interested in baseball, a worthy read. I, of course, can't wait to see Brad Pitt in the movie.

I can recommend Michael Lewis. I have read Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, abd The Money Culture.

View all my reviews

Lord John and the Private Matter

Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I listened to Lord John and the Private Matter. I enjoyed the story but the best part was listening to the reader, Jeff Woodman, with his oh-so-posh British accent. I'm not sure reading it would have been the same experience. Am now listening to .

View all my reviews

The Reservoir by John Milliken Thompson

The Reservoir by John Milliken Thompson




I like mysteries set in places I have been - in this case Richmond, VA - whether present day or in the past. So far I'm not liking this one, but intend to keep with it a while longer.



View all my reviews

The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman

The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm not sure what to call this book - if it were a movie it would be dramatic suspense. Four childhood friends are thrown together when the fifth crashes his car into a Jersey barrier. The friends and their parents lost touch as they grew up - and because they all share a secret. Something bad happened the night of the 1973 hurricane - and all share in the guilt.

Told in episodes from the various character's viewpoints, the angst of growing up and the difficulties of being become clear. Lippman is a great storyteller. The story is haunting and suspenseful and beautifully written.

I remember that Leakin Park featured in a previous novel, perhaps What the Dead Know.

View all my reviews

The Honorary Consul by Graham Greene

The Honorary Consul by Graham Greene
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Read this as part of the Mystery/Thriller Groups group reads. Graham Greene is a well-known British writer of the early 20th century, but I had maybe only read one of his novels in college. As I get older, I realize I had no idea what many of the books I read in college were really about. I would recommend this because of the examination of the British influence in Latin American countries and the interplay of local politics. Thematically, the book is about the isolation of one man because of the loss of his father; of "machismo" in the Latin American man; of a constant want to be the hero, resulting in tragedy.

Our hero, Dr. Parr, wants to effect the rescue of his friend, who was accidentally kidnapped by Paraguayan militants who want to force the European & U.S. governments to overthrow the corrupt Paraguayan government. The militants had planned to kidnap the American ambassador to Argentina - on a sightseeing trip to the area near the Paraguayan border.

Parr enters into an affair with the ex-prostitute wife of his kidnapped friend, Charley. Parr habitually has affairs with his female patients. Charley's wife Clara is pregnant, probably with Parr's child. Toward the end of the kidnapping episode, Parr does express some guilt of his relationship with his friend's wife.

Charley is the only character who seems content with his life, and is the only survivor. The others, who all wanted something they could not or should not, have, all perished.

As for Greene's obsession with religion (Catholicism), that is beyond me.

View all my reviews

Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First book of the Inspector Kurt Wallander series, set in the Skane area of Sweden. He spends a lot of time driving from one small town to another. Lone homicide detective for Ystad and region, his personal life is a mess - wife left, daughter won't speak to him, father falling into dementia. This book reminds me most of Alex McKnight (Steve Hamilton's character) - loner detective, remote location. Highly recommended.

View all my reviews

The Affair by Lee Child

The Affair by Lee Child

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


drat! wrote a review and lost it!



The best part was the train - the tracks go right through the town just a block off main street. Many interesting things happen during the one minute that the midnight train thunders through, drowning out everything.



View all my reviews

Don't Stop!

Haven't stopped reading although I haven't posted in awhile.  Be sure to see my comments in GoodReads.

Almost finished:  To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild.  A history of WWI, from the British point of view.  Enough portraits of individuals to make it very interesting.

Currently Reading:  Fragile by Lisa Unger.

Up next:  The Affair by Lee Child.

Well, this is very interesting if you follow linguistics.  Jack Reacher linguistics.

The Ballad of Tom Dooley: A Novel by Sharyn McCrumb

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Sharyn McCrumb has written several novels exploring the facts behind traditional NC mountain ballads.  In The Ballad of Tom Dooley: A Novel, McCrumb re-interprets the true story of Tom Dula, hanged for the murder of Laura Foster, the kinswoman of his true love, Ann (Foster) Melton.  In the novel, Pauline Foster, another kinswoman, travels down the mountain to Wilkes County to be treated for the pox - syphilis - by the local physician.  Pauline decides to seek the hospitality of her cousin Ann & husband James Melton.  Pauline is offended by her cousin's affair with Tom, her lack of interest in doing any work, or caring for her children.  Ann carries on with Tom Dula (Dooley) in the house while her husband and Pauline sleep nearby.  She leaves her two daughters in the care of her drunken mother.  Pauline manipulates sundry and all to bring about the murder of young Laura, presumably by Ann.  Zebulon Vance, senator and governor of North Carolina, narrates the legal side of the story.  Tom is eventually hanged, and Ann goes free, due to her great beauty, according to Pauline.



McCrumb states that she has interviewed and researched to set her version as firmly in the facts of the case as possible.  Pauline is certainly a character, interested only in herself, and taking revenge for slights against her.

If you have trouble accepting this version as a possible truth, I suggest you visit Wilkes county, NC and spend some time there.



View all my reviews

The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm not sure what to call this book - if it were a movie it would be dramatic suspense. Four childhood friends are thrown together when the fifth crashes his car into a Jersey barrier. The friends and their parents lost touch as they grew up - and because they all share a secret. Something bad happened the night of the 1973 hurricane - and all share in the guilt.

Told in episodes from the various character's viewpoints, the angst of growing up and the difficulties of being become clear. Lippman is a great storyteller. The story is haunting and suspenseful and beautifully written.

I remember that Leakin Park featured in a previous novel, perhaps What the Dead Know.

View all my reviews

Running Blind by Lee Child
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jack runs afoul of the FBI when women he investigated while still in the army are murdered. FBI profiler Julia Lamarr is certain Jack is a serial killer. Of course, it is much more complicated as Jack runs around trying to find the real killer and protect his girlfriend (yes, he has a girlfriend for a time). Great vacation read.

View all my reviews

Die Trying by Lee Child
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jack Reacher is ex-military police investigator who lives on the move - no home, no belongings, no family. Buys a new set of clothes when the old ones get too dirty. In Die Trying, Reacher is kidnapped along with an FBI agent from the Chicago streets. The kidnappers are holding her not because she is FBI, but because her father is a high-level military officer. The title is apt, because both Reacher and Holly nearly die trying to escape and to prevent a sinister plot to destroy the world. He is like John McClane in Die Hard - how many times can one man survive near-fatal assaults? With Reacher, it is a very high number.

View all my reviews

Death Roe: A Woods Cop Mystery by Joseph Heywood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Somehow, I missed this one when it first came out in 2009. I read the 2011 trade paperback version. Grady Service is a Conservation Officer (Woods Cop) based in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In Death Roe, he is tipped to a conspiracy to add contraband salmon roe to Michigan roe by a state contractor. The contractor is responsible for harvesting salmon roe, returning some to the state, and uses the rest of it for commercial purposes. Grady steps on many toes trying to prove that the contractor and many state officials are corrupt.

In this "episode", Grady has been promoted to the detective division of the state DNR. He frequently wishes he could return to his regular policing duties arresting poachers. He is full of angst because of the death of his fiancee and son in the last book, and the impending birth of his grandchild. Grady is like Jane Rizzoli from the male perspective.

Had to get up in the middle of the night to finish it - couldn't wait.

View all my reviews

Boundary Waters: A Novel by William Kent Krueger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the first book by Krueger I have read. It's number two in the Cork O'Connor series. It is a lot like Joseph Haywood's Woods Cop series. Cork O'Connor is the former sheriff of Aurora, Minnesota, near the Boundary Waters Quetico Wilderness area. Cork is asked to locate a young C&W singer who has exiled herself to a remote island in the Boundary Waters. As it turns out, several groups are looking for her, some of them willing to kill. Two men are claiming to be her biological father, but it is not clear whether they both wish her well. The ending was a surprise twist to me.

Cork is wounded and his wife is letting him move back into their home.

View all my reviews

Persuader by Lee Child, Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs

Persuader is the seventh Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child.  Reacher goes undercover into a smuggling ring to extricate a DEA agent whose identity was compromised.  Again, he is the energizer bunny of tough guys, absorbing injury after injury on top of foodless days and sleepless nights.  But so much fun reading!

Flash and Bones is the latest Kathy Reichs Temperance Brennan novel.  Set in Charlotte, NC, a man is discovered inside an oil drum, covered in asphalt from the Charlotte speedway.  Tempe works with a local homicide detective and a disgraced former cop, now the head of security at the speedway to discover who the dead man is, and what happened to a young couple 12 years ago.  Despite elaborate terrorist theories, it turns out to be the most mundane reason of all - a young couple from different backgrounds trying to lead their own lives.

A lot of fun NASCAR background for fans.

Once Upon a River by Bonnie Jo Campbell

I've been busy watching hurricane Irene and building a deck.  But I could not put Once Upon a River down.  We are introduced to Margo, the daughter of an illegitimate son of the all-powerful, all-encompassing Murray clan.  They live on a tributary of the Kalamazoo River in southwestern Michigan.  Margo's mother has left home, and Margo is raised by her loving, but inept, father.  She spends her life along the river.  After a tragic incident during a family gathering, Margo leaves home in her late grandfather's teak boat, and begins a search for her mother.  Along the way, is loved, used and abused by various men. 

Bonnie Jo Campbell has captured a type of person who, while outwardly self-sufficient, is not self-aware.  Her physical travels parallel her mental growth so that she eventually finds herself. Margo's bittersweet story grips you from beginning to end.

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

One of 2010's best books, Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter is the story of the friendship of two boys - one white, one black - in small town Mississippi. The book opens as Larry Ott is being shot in the chest by an unknown assailant. Ironically, he is saved by the town constable, with whom Larry was friends when they were in school. However, when a local girl disappears after a date with Larry, the friends move on. Larry becomes stuck--he reads and keeps his father's garage open, but has no business and no friends--while Silas goes to Ole Miss to play baseball. Now, years later, Silas has returned to town, and the real story finally comes out.
Similar to Dennis Lehane and Lee Smith.

Grammar commentary

I've just been reading commentary from the linguist's blog and a blog named "Motivated Grammar" about the use of "bad" vs "badly".  The consensus seems to be that "I feel bad" is perfectly acceptable American English, with "I feel badly" also being used, but that we shouldn't worry about the difference too much.  Personally, if I am not feeling well (physically), I say one "I'm not feeling well" - "I'm sick" - or "I feel like c___".  I've also noticed that where I work, they write on the board "so-and-so is ill" not "sick".  Growing up, I would hear "ill" in the sense of terminal illness, or "cranky", "out-of-sorts", "mad".  "Sick" was what we were when we had the flu.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Went to see The Help - the movie.  I think they did a very good job with it.  They really seemed to capture the look and feel of Mississippi.  Since I never lived there - I can't be sure - but it sure felt right.  Octavia Spencer as Millie was very affecting.  Her relationship with Celia was the key to the movie - and showed us all how life was very stratified.  Social pressures confined everyone much more than today, but, of course, African-Americans were confined legally and socially.

I have read the book, which was very affecting.  Again, the tone rang true to me.  I was too young in 1963 to be aware of events happening in the greater world.  I am glad Stockett has been able to make me aware of the sacrifices African-Americans made on a daily basis.

The Enemy by Lee Child

The Enemy by Lee Child

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I think this was the best one I've read. It takes place while Reacher is still in the army.



View all my reviews

In Stitches: a Memoir by Anthony Youn, M.D.

Dr. Youn keeps us "in stitches" with the high & low-lights of his path to becoming a medical doctor. He is absolutely charming & humorous. I highly recommend.
Happy Reading!~

The Girl Who Disappeared Twice (2011) by Andrea Kane

Not Kane's first book, but the first one in the Forensic Instincts series.  Casey Woods heads a private investigatory firm that includes a former navy seal and a computer whiz (read: hacker).  Probate Judge Hope Willis 5-year-old daughter is kidnapped from her school.  Hope immediately calls in Forensic Instincts, as well as the local police and the FBI.  Casey's people can take shortcuts that the FBI can't.  The case is further complicated by the fact that Hope's twin Felicity was abducted as a child, and never found.  Woods, her co-workers, and the FBI chase false leads galore until they finally trip onto the correct path.

The writing is a little trite ("Silently, she talked herself down, reminding herself why she was doing this."), but very suspenseful.  The characters are interesting, and the mystery is well-plotted.  I'd have to read her earlier books to tell if she is consistent.

Happy Reading!~

Visit to Northern Virginia

Went to Northern Virginia - Fairfax County - to visit family.  We went to Great Falls National Park where the Potomac River dramatically cuts through the fall line on its way to the Chesapeake Bay.  We had a great picnic of Greek specialties from a local Greek restaurant.  We had tzadziki, hummus, tabouli, and stuffed grape leaves, with crackers, cheese, etc.  It was like a tapas menu - a little bit of everything.  Blue Moon & Yuengling round out the meal.

Acceptable Loss (2011) by Anne Perry

A William Monk Novel

Following just after the events of Execution Dock, Monk is called to the body of a murdered man in the mud on the banks of the Thames.  The victim is a known criminal, Mickey Parfitt.  Monk traces him to another ship where young boys are imprisoned and used for immoral purposes.  Hester and Monk have taken Scruff, a mud lark, into their home, and are determined to protect him from further abuse.  Also, they suspect that Rathbone's father-in-law is the financier behind the trade in pornography and abuse of boys.  Hester, Margaret (Lady Rathbone), Monk and Rathbone are at odds in the subsequent case against Mr. Ballinger (Margaret's father).

Perry is a master of the Victorian era, placing Monk, Hester, Margaret, and Oliver among the most severe social issues of the day.  Complex plots, in depth characterization, and impeccable writing make Perry's Inspector Monk novels impossible to put down.

Detective by Kathy Burke

Kathy Burke was a NYC police detective from 1968 to 1991.  When she joined, women made up less than 1% of the New York police force.  Burke was instrumental in paving the way for women in the force.  She worked undercover in the 1970s making drug buys, later worked homicide, then organized crime.  She was shuttled around the department to keep her from making waves.  She battled with, then sued, the chief of the major crimes unit.  She was shot on the street, effectively ending her active police career.  At the time the book was published, 2006, she was actively involved with the police self-support unit, helping police officers who had been mentally or physically traumatized on the job.  She is a brave woman.  The book is impossible to put down.

Jack Reacher

Vacation Reading - I ordered numbers two, three & four of the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child to take on vacation.  I had read some of this series, but not in order.  They are Die Trying, Tripwire and Running Blind.  Unfortunately, I left Tripwire on a bus, only half read.  I'll have to get a copy from the library and finish it.

Jack Reacher is ex-military police investigator who lives on the move - no home, no belongings, no family.  Buys a new set of clothes when the old ones get too dirty.  In Die Trying, Reacher is kidnapped along with an FBI agent from the Chicago streets.  The kidnappers are holding her not because she is FBI, but because her father is a high-level military officer.  The title is apt, because both Reacher and Holly nearly die trying to escape and to prevent a sinister plot to destroy the world.  He is like John McClane in Die Hard - how many times can one man survive near-fatal assaults?  With Reacher, it is a very high number.

In Running Blind, Jack runs afoul of the FBI when women he investigated while still in the army are murdered.  FBI profiler Julia Lamarr is certain Jack is a serial killer.  Of course, it is much more complicated as Jack runs around trying to find the real killer and protect his girlfriend (yes, he has a girlfriend for a time).

Great vacation reads!

Happy Reading!~

Conquistadora (2011) by Esmeralda Santiago

I mostly read this book during my vacation (more about that later). I had heard Santiago interviewed on NPR, and thought the historical, family saga sounded interesting. Santiago grew up in Puerto Rico, and moved with her family to New York City when she was 13. Her two memoirs, Almost a Woman, and When I was Puerto Rican, tell about her childhood in Puerto Rico and her adolescence in New York.
The saga begins with Ana Larragoity Cubillas, a 16-year-old girl of buen familia (good family - middle class). She has been raised in Spain to look beautiful, marry and have children. Instead she marries a young man whose father has inherited properties in Puerto Rico, and determines to go there and run the hacienda (plantation). Starting up a derelict sugar plantation in the 1840's is a daunting task - and Ana is up for the challenge.
The story (plot) is compelling - you want to keep reading to see what becomes of Ana, her husband, her children, and their friends. What new disaster is coming? Hurricane, fire, crop failure, slave insurrection and cholera are all common dangers. The exoctic setting is well done, except that you occassionally feel you are reading from the "Colonial History of Puerto Rico."

Misery Bay by Steve Hamilton

It's a pleasure to have another Alex McKnight book after last year's hit The Lock Artist. Alex is asked to look into a retired state patrolman's son's suicide. It is cold on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the winter. The young man was found after several days hanging from a tree facing Lake Superior's Misery Bay. The distraut father just wanted some information about why the boy committed suicide. So Alex drives to Houghton to talk to the boy's housemates. When he returns to the Soo, the boy's father, Raz, has been murdered. Teaming up with Sault Ste Marie police chief Roy Maven, they start unraveling the mystery, which goes back years to a trio of State Police Troopers who were unwitting participants in a young man's return to his abusive father.

McKnight, although he is trying to deal with his personal traumas by laying low, finds himself at the mercy of another deranged killer and falling into the arms of another lady law enforcement officer. There are plot twists a plenty and marathon drives from the Soo to Houghton to Saint Ignace to Bad Axe to Lansing chasing the good the bad and the misunderstood. Difficult to put down.

Good Reading !~

Burnt Mountain by Anne Rivers Siddons

Thayer Wentworth is devastated when her father and grandfather drive off the side of Burnt Mountain on their way home from a visit to a summer camp. She is so unhappy that her grandmother finally sends her to summer camp in the North Carolina mountains. Thayer thrives there. In her last year, when she is seventeen, she meets the love of her life and they plan to marry. However, tragedy ensues at the hand of Thayer's mother. Off to college, Thayer meets and marries an Irish college professor. Aengus teaches Irish folklore and has a magical gift of storytelling. He eventually begins visiting a boys camp on Burnt Mountain to tell stories, and is ensnared in a magical web that leads to his downfall.

Siddons injects a bit of magical realism into her usual story of Southern pretentions and the harm they cause. The mother's betrayal of her daughter represents the harm that can be done when parents insist that children conform to a certain norm. Thayer manages to overcome her tragic disappointment in the end, but goes almost to hell and back in doing so.

Happy Reading !~

What I'm Reading Now

Here are a few books I have in my to be read (TBR) stack.
Cold Comfort Farm (1932) by Stella Gibbons. Reading for possible book club selection. Humorous domestic fiction - considered a classic in its field.

Silver Sparrow (2011) by Tayari Jones. New book reading for possible book club selection found on several recommended lists. Set in Atlanta by a native Atlantian (I think), young Dana knows that she & her mother are her father's "secret family". He also has a legal wife and daughter. A talented young African-American author. She has also written novels The Untelling (2005) and Leaving Atlanta (2002). Leaving Atlanta is set during the Atlanta child murders of 1979 - an event that made a lasting impression on the community.

Drawn in Blood (2009) by Andrea Kane. Recommended by a someone with similar reading interests. Romantic suspense. Not in a series, so picked this one based on availability and description. She does have some books in a series with FBI Special Agent Sloane Burbank (what a name!). -Correction - This is the 2nd Sloane Burbank book.  I'll probably wait and read the first one or one of her other books.- Looking forward to reading.

Burnt Mountain (2011) by Anne Rivers Siddons. Just released. I enjoy her books, but don't read every one. This one is set mostly in a camp in the North Georgia mountains, where Thayer Wentworth must face events involving her parents and her husband. Siddons' writing is very enjoyable.

Happy Reading!~

Books Not Chosen

Lest you think that I love every book I put on hold from lists or reviews, I do not. Here is an example that I decided to put back for now.

Never Knowing by Chevy Stevens
After enjoying Stevens first novel, Still Missing, I was looking forward to this second one. However, when I turned to the first page, it starts with a young woman talking to her therapist. The framework of the novel is the same as Still Missing -- young woman discussing traumatic event with her therapist interspersed with the story of the trauma. In this case, the trauma has to do with adoption & searching for birth parents. I probably will read it at some time, it's just too soon after reading the first one for something so similar.
I usually have a selection of books coming in from holds at the library and other older books I want to read for some reason. I usually must decide which ones I have time or reason to read now, and which ones will have to wait. If I start a book, and it doesn't interest me in the first few pages, then I don't keep it. There are too many really good books to read and more coming every day.

I am currently reading Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (1932). It is a humorous send-up of British novels of manners such as Jane Austen. Looks to be great fun now that I have a new copy - the one I had interlibrary loaned was very musty, and the type was hard to read. I can't stand that mustiness - it makes me sneeze and makes my eyes water. It was a Penguin Classic & had only been in the lending library since 1997 - but if books aren't opened and read, they get musty fairly quickly.

Happy Reading!~

Tigerlily's Orchids by Ruth Rendell (2011)

Dark dsychological suspense by the queen of the genre, Ruth Rendell.  Although a mystery, the murder doesn't take place until the middle of the book. The book is more about how we see ourselves vs how others see us.  And how we react to others can lead to unexpected consequences.  We peek into the life of each person, seeing them as who they really are; while also seeing how others perceive them.

Lichfield House has 6 flats plus a porter & his wife.  In one of the houses opposite, Duncan Yeardon, an elderly widower, watches the comings and goings of the inhabitants and invents his own version of their lives.  Stuart Font of flat 1 invitesw all of the neighbors to a housewarming party, bringing them together in ways that will change all of their lives.

Rendell is also the author of the Inspector Wexford series.

The Silent Girl by Tess Gerritsen

 A Rizzoli & Isles Novel
2011

Gerritsen’s Rizzoli and Isles series benefits from having two main characters.  Some books focus more on Jane Rizzoli and some, more on Maura Isles.  This one is almost all Jane.  Jane and her partner Frost are called to the homicide of an Asian woman found on a rooftop with her neck sliced through and her hand sliced off.  The victim’s gps points to two addresses connected with a 19-year-old massacre in a Chinese restaurant.  Jane and Frost are being assisted by a new detective, Tam, who has more experience with the Chinese culture.  Jane repeatedly puts herself in danger, drawing the ire of her husband, eventually winding up in the clutches of the true criminals.

The complex plot is based in Chinese folklore--specifically, the Monkey King.  The Monkey King fights for justice, but he will cause mischief and mayhem along the way.  In this mystery, involving immigrant Chinese, the restaurant massacre, and missing girls, someone is using the Monkey King to obscure themselves as they act outside of the law.

I’m looking forward to the return of the TNT TV series.  The series is based on the first two books with added plotlines more suitable to a TV series.

As Husbands Go by Susan Isaacs

A witty mystery involving an upscale wife, her murdered husband, and who in the world would murder a plastic surgeon. Susie Gersten is the mother of active triplet boys, and the wife of Jonah, a craniofacial plastic surgeon. One morning she wakes up to find that her husband had never come home the preceding night. She couldn't be more surprised when his body is discovered in a call girl's apartment. As the investigation begins, her husband's relatives start showing up to help her. When the police seem to be suspecting Susan, her in-laws send their high-priced attorney. Eventually Susan's Grandmother Ethel arrives from Florida and takes things in hand.
The charm of this book is that Isaacs represents Susie's inner turmoil so believably. The situations are just barely over-the-top, making for a very funny tale of family, love, and life.

Betrayal of Trust by J. A. Jance

A J.P. Beaumont Novel
Jance's latest in her J.P. Beaumont series. Beaumont is still working for the State of Washington Attorney General as part of S.H.I.T. - Special Homicide Investigation Team. He is also now living with his partner, Mel Soames, in Seattle.
Beau and Mel are called when the state governor finds what appears to be a snuff film on her step-grandson's phone. The governor wants them to find out who is being killed, and who is doing it. Complex relationships and complex, long distance investigations keep this one moving along.

Shanghai Girls and On Gold Mountain by Lisa See

Read Shanghai Girls by Lisa See and then seriously consider reading On Gold Mountain, also by See.  On Gold Mountain is See's biography of her great-great-grandfather and his descendants in the United States.  Fong See arrived in the U.S. - the Gold Mountain - from  a remote Cantonese town about 1871.  He went to Sacramento and became a merchant.  He also had two wives in the U.S. and perhaps another two in China.  From his two U.S. wives, he sired 12 children.  His first family went by the surname of See.  His second used the surname Fong.  The family later moved to Los Angeles and founded a business empire that supported three generations of Sees and Fongs.  It is the story of Chinese immigrants to the west coast and their contributions to the American melting pot.

Shanghai Girls tells the story of two sisters, Pearl and Mai, who are betrothed by their father to the sons of two merchant sons in the U.S.  Instead of boarding the steamship with their future husbands, they run away. Sneaking back home, they rejoin their mother and must immediately flee to escape invading Japanese forces.  The sisters eventually make their way to the U.S., where they enter the country by claiming to be the wives of the two merchants.  Joining the husbands they have only met once, they make a life in L.A.'s Chinatown.

Pearl and Mai demonstrate a stronger than usual sisterly bond, remaining together, and living in the same household, for most of their lives.  Their adventures are full of danger, fear, and occasional violence, but they way they bamboozle the Angel Island inspectors is precious - if not for the serious reasons they must extend their stay.  See's prose is spare and to the point, contrasting with the unwillingness of the Chinese to discuss personal matters even with close family members. Recommended reading.

Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi

"A Story of Loss and Gain".  De Rossi is an Australian actress who has appeared on TV shows Ally McBeal and Arrested Development, and various movies.  She began modeling when she was 12 years old.  After making a movie in Australia, she came to the U.S. to break into movies & tv here.  She began struggling with her weight and feelings of insecurity as a teenager. 

In the book, written after her marriage to Ellen Degeneres, de Rossi recounts her constant struggle to lose weight and become "thin".  She equates thinness with beauty and self-worth.  Gaining weight, or even failure to lose weight is a personal failure.  She believes that there should be a space between her thighs when lying on her side.  She eventually begins to measure this gap.  After losing down to 89 pounds, she passes out at a movie shoot, and is contractually required to seek medical help. 

De Rossi's story is hard to put down.  Everything she is doing makes sense in her mind - and she takes you right along with her.  Not until the end do you see how thin she was.

Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich

Stephanie Plum, bail-bond enforcer, stumbles her way from one disaster to another, destroys another of Ranger's car, in the seventeenth entry in Evanovich's series.  She still can't decide between Ranger and Morretti, and her mother is fixing her up with a returned home town boy, who had become a mortgage banker, and is back after serving his jail term in Georgia.

Not a lot different, but lots of fun and a quick read!

Kindness Goes Unpunished by Craig Johnson

"A Walt Longmire Mystery"

As much as I admire Walt and Bear and Viv, there hasn't been much variation in the plot sequence of these books.  In Kindness Goes Unpunished, Walt and Bear drive to Philadelphia to visit Cady (Walt's sister) and to deliver Bear's collection of old photos to a museum.  Naturally, as soon as they arrive, all hell breaks loose - Cady is injured in a fall and is comatose in the hospital.  The criminal conspiracy goes deep within the DA's office, with ADAs and crack dealers working together.  Walt, with the help of the Philadelphia police and Vic's entire family, unravels the case just as Cady comes out of her coma.

I like the plot - the criminals are original, but it's the same thing with Walt & Bear . . . Walt gets involved with a person who is endangered, must catch the criminal, who tries to & almost does kill him.  Then Bear comes in to assist, Walt sees the ghost indians, and they finally catch the bad guys.  The only real difference here is that they meet Vic's family, and Cady will be returning to Wyoming with Walt.

Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff

I heard Stacy Schiff speak here last night.  She is a dynamic speaker - full of energy and intelligence.  She mostly talked about the process of writing a biography - selecting a subject - research - writing.  Here are a few tips:

• Interview oldest living people first
• Don't forget background research - for Cleopatra, she had to do background on the Roman writers who were her sources, also on typical court life & attire of the day.
• Use the phone book - call experts to explain background detail.

She gave us a few biographies that she likes:  John Adams by McCullough, Alexander Hamilton by Chernow, several by Nancy Mitford - Sun King, Madame de Pompadour.  Charmed Circle by Mellow about Gertrude Stein & company in Paris.  And many more.

Pioneer Woman by Ree Drummond

This is Ree Drummond's delightful story of meeting her husband, their whirlwind courtship, and the first year of marriage.  Not saccharine, but honest and open.  They share a deep love, willing to give up any future plans to be with each other.  It made me happy just reading it.

Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin

Giffin is a popular author of women's fiction.  In Heart of the Matter, the lives of a plastic surgeon, Nick, his wife, Tessa, and the mother of an injured child, Valerie.  When Valerie's son is burned at a bonfire, he become's Nick's patient.  Nick and Valerie become very close as the son's treatment progresses.  Meanwhile, Tessa is trying to fit in with the country club set in their tony subdivision, alienating Nick.  The story is told alternately from Tessa's and Valerie's viewpoints, allowing the reader access to their innermost thoughts. 

Fast paced and well-written, Giffin keeps us in suspense until the very end.

Death without Company by Craig Johnson

"A life without friends means death without company."  Basque proverb.

I'm writing this blog because I want to keep track of the books I'm reading, and to (hopefully) improve my writing skills.

Earlier, I wrote about Johnson's first Sheriff Longmire book, Cold Dish.  Death without Company begins only a month after Cold Dish ends.  The holidays are approaching, and Sheriff Longmire is awaiting the arrival of his daughter, Cady.  Naturally, there is a wicked blizzard keeping her stuck in Denver.  Longmire's friend, the former Sheriff, Lucian Connally, calls him to the assisted living home to investigate the death of an elderly woman, whom Lucian believes has been murdered, saying that she was his wife long ago.

Similar to Cold Dish, the current murders in Death without Company, are based in the past, when the woman's Basque brothers prevented her from marrying Lucian. The Sheriff adds to his cast of characters by hiring a new deputy of Basque heritage, who turns out to be very helpful in this investigation.

Well worth reading.  Gritty, with memorable characters.  The plot seems a little formulaic, but we'll see how the next book is.

Outrage by Robert K. Tanenbaum (2011)

Read this in about one & a half days.  The latest in Tanenbaum's Butch Karp/Marlene Chiampi series.  Karp is on the trail of corrupt cops who have the wrong person charged for a horrific double murder.  Chiampi & her LARGE Mastiff come in toward the end to protect the innocent.  If you like Law & Order, you'll like this series.  It's a bit more Order & Law, but still very exciting.  The first book is No Lesser Plea (1987)

Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff

Went to Virginia to visit my sister.  I took my personal copy of Cleopatra so that I would have to read it.  I had started it because Stacy Schiff is coming to speak here.  I felt it was not as an interesting narrative history as some others I have read (Warmth of Other Suns, Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks).  This might have been because of the lack of historical facts about Cleopatra.  On my way to Virginia, I left the book in a restroom at Detroit airport, and did not have enough time to go back because I needed to catch my next plane. I thought - now I don't have to read it.  However, I think anyone interested in the real Cleopatra should read it.  Schiff uses the historical record to describe what Cleopatra's life must have been like in the absence of historical record.

The Coffins of Little Hope by Timothy Schaffert

Described as quirky and charming, The Coffins of Little Hope takes place in small-town Nebraska.  Essie Myles is the local newspaper's octogenarian obituary writer.  Older people in town now contact her ahead of time to work on their obituaries.  She happens on the story of a local girl who was supposedly kidnapped by her mother's boyfriend.  But there is no evidence the girl ever existed.  Essie is also concerned about her grandson, the newspaper editor, and her great-granddaughter, who was abandoned by her mother.

Essie's voice sounds like my grandmother's - straightforward and unsentimental. She's hard to forget even after the book is done.

 NYTimes review. 

Memorial Day

We're watching The Longest Day about D-Day and WWII.  After that is Midway.  These are two of the best feel-good war movies ever made, but I would welcome a movie about another war, but there aren't that many.  Although there were many other war movies shown this weekend and I don't know what all of them were.  We've spent more time watching auto racing.

The Orange Curtain by John Shannon

John Shannon's fourth Jack Liffey novel.  Liffy, a former aerospace engineer, who looks for lost kids.  He is called into Orange County (CA) to search for a young Asian woman who has disappeared.  The girls parents, who are Vietnamese, are concerned.  Liffey encounters the local gangs, is taught the politics of the area by a remarkable woman, uncovers fraud in development of an airport as he follows Phoang Minh's tracks.

There is also Billy Gudger, a loser who lives with his mother, a palm reader, and believes he has a toadstone in his head.  Sometimes people laugh at him, and something happens.

This hard-boiled detective novel takes place in the L.A. metroplex.  If you like Elvis Cole in Robert Crais' books, you'll like Jack Liffey.

And now for something completely different . . .

Aunt Dimity & the Family Tree by Nancy Atherton

I usually think of Atherton's Aunt Dimity novels and M.C. Beaton's Hamish MacBeth series as very similar.  However, they are different in certain ways.

Lori Shepherd is assisting her father-in-law in setting up his new quarters, a local manor house that had been abandoned.  Since he is a widower, all of the local widows are very interested in him.  As Willis Sr. becomes embroiled in a scheme to cover a woman's holiday indiscretion, and a young couple are hired as live-in household staff, valuable objects are suddenly found rearranged in the house, and a valuable painting is stolen.  Lori, of course, begins sleuthing around, suspecting the unknown housekeeper & chauffeur.

Unlike Beaton's Hamish MacBeth, there is no real villain, and everything turns out happily in the end.  A gentle and entertaining read.

The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson

Not so different from John Hart, The Cold Dish is set in small town Wyoming - so small that the county sheriff's office has only 4 deputies.  When Cody Pritchard is found shot to death in the mountains, everyone thinks it must be a hunting accident.  However, Pritchard and three friends raped a Native American girl, were found guilty, but were given light sentences.  Just back from the juvenile detention center, the four boys are shunned in town.  Sheriff Walt Longmire finds his force stretched very thin over the large county as he tries to solve the murder before anyone else is killed.

Told from the Sheriff's point of view, the story unfolds slowly and takes some unexpected turns, but ultimately comes to a satisying ending.

Catching Up

John Hart.  King of Lies. 2006.  "Un-put-downable"  Work Pickens' father disappeared the same night that his mother died of a fall down the stairs.  Now 18 months later, his father's body has been found.  From the beginning, the local police target Work as the killer.

Told from Work's viewpoint, the reader knows that Work is not the killer, but you can't put it down as Work tries to keep himself out of prison, and protect his sister at the same time.  This is Hart's first novel.  I gave this book to someone else at the library before I had even had it checked in.

The Crossing Places (2009) is first of the Ruth Galloway mysteries by Elly Griffiths.  Ruth is a forensic anthropologist based at North Norfolk University in England.  She is called to examine some bones found in the saltmarsh near where she lives.  These bones are hundreds of years old, but she is then asked to help find a local girl who has been kidnapped.  This kidnapping is very similar to one of 10 years ago.  Ruth and DCI Harry Nelson try to solve the mystery of who has written letters to the police and who has kidnapped the two girls.  (see previous entry for The Janus Stone)

Death of a Chimney Sweep by M.C. Beaton

Thank heavens for Hamish Macbeth!  Reading M.C. Beaton's lovely and lively English - or rather, Scottish - cozy is a break for the mind.  Macbeth bumbles around several murders in the nearby village of Drim, ultimately running one villan into others, with dire results.  He also feels alternately attracted to - and relieved that he hasn't married - two women.  Take a break with Hamish!

FW: Fuzzy Nation: The Latest Power Ballad from John Scalzi

This looks interesting. I have never read H. Beam Piper, but sounds like I should have.

________________________________
From: Jeff VanderMeer
Posted on: Thursday, May 19, 2011 2:27 PM
Posted to: Omnivoracious
Conversation: Fuzzy Nation: The Latest Power Ballad from John Scalzi




I must admit that when I heard hugely popular SF author John Scalzia multiple Hugo Award finalist, was writing a novel entitled Fuzzy Nation; that riffed off of H. Beam Piper's iconic creation, I was a little, dare I say it...fuzzy...on the details. It'd been awhile since I'd read H. Beam Piper, but I did remember liking the stories.

So if you're thinking "Wait. What? Fuzzies ?", you may not be alone. Although Piper is known to core science fiction fans, his last Fuzzies book came out in 1964, the year of his death, with a posthumous collection published in 1984. Two additional Fuzzy books have been written, by Ardath Mayhar and William Turning, but Scalzi's is significant for being a reboot of the original franchise—taking as its source material the original book, Little Fuzzy.

The Fuzzy books were part of Piper's Terro-Human Future History series, which provides a detailed account of about six thousand years of human history, dating back to 1942, the year the first fissoon reactor was created (or, in Piper parlance, year 1 A.E., Atomic Era). In Piper's future, part of it now our past, a nuclear war lays waste to Earth in 1973. This catastrophic event leads to the creation of a Terran Federation and the invention of anti-gravity space technology. In exploring the stars, humankind eventually comes across the Fuzzies: first contact with an intelligent alien species.

What, exactly, are Fuzzies? Small furry bipeds on the planet Zarathustra that turn out to have their own civilization, and are hugely misunderstood by the humans who encounter them. As in the original novel, this reboot features prospector Jack Holloway. Holloway works as an independent contractor for the huge ZaraCorp mining corporation. The potential conflict between Holloway's maverick ways and ZaraCorp heats up because of the Fuzzies: the corporation's right to exploit the planet is based entirely on being able to prove to Earth authorities that no intelligent species live there.

Indie Choice Winners for 2010

From the Book Club Classics blog, here are the Indie Choice award winners.  From the list, I have read the following, with my rating:

Room by Emma Donoghue - A, can't put it down, can read in one sitting.
Thousand Rooms of Jacob de Zoet - B, very long historical novel.  Worth the effort.
A Visit from the Goon Squad - C, Pulitzer prize winner, but too experimental for me.
At Home by Bill Bryson - A, background of domestic practice from 18th & 19th centuries.  Well written, and interesting.
The Tiger by John Vaullant - B, non-fiction.  True story of the Siberian tiger in the forest and mining area of northwest Russia.  Very well written and a fascinating story.
Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukerjee. A, History of the treatment of cancer, with amazing insights and personal accounts which give it the meaning and depth it needs.  Really could not put down, read it straight thru in a weekend.

If you've read any others from this list, feel free to comment.

What I Read Last Weekend

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Like her television personality, Fey is sarcastic and very funny.  She takes shots at herself, her family, her co-workers, and the TV industry.


The Last Child by John Hart

Set in Rowan County, NC, Johnny Merriman cannot accept the death of his twin sister and disappearance of his father.  Trapped in an abusive relationship, Johnny & his mother are barely getting by.  When another girl disappears, the town is angry and frightened.  Johnny and his friend Jake continue to look for Johnny's sister, visiting homes, spying on registered sex offenders.

 Gritty and compelling, you will not guess the ending of this intricately plotted novel.  It reminds me of Child 44 by Tom Smith with a similar feel.

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

The first book by Genova, a neuroscientist.  Alice Howland is a professor of psychology, specializing in cognition, in her early 50s when she is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease.  Told entirely from Alice's point of view, you experience Alice's thoughts and emotions as her disease progresses.  Bring your kleenex.

I don't always read three books in a weekend (from Thursday night to Sunday afternoon).  I didn't have much on my agenda, and spent a lot of time reading.  We also saw THOR this weekend.  It is very well done by Kenneth Branagh and Stan Lee, even if you aren't familiar with the comic book series -- and it's 3-D.