Mystery!

I've been on a mystery kick again!

Through the Grinder by Cleo Coyle: This is the second Coffeehouse Mystery featuring Clare Cosi. The Village Blend has started offering a singles night with speed-dating, and one after another, women who frequent the blend are committing suicide. Or are they? I thought this was a weaker mystery than the first in the series, but we get a lot more development of Clare as she dates Bruce, dodges her ex-husband, and flirts with her cop friend. Coyle persists in thinking that passages from the deranged killer's point-of-view heighten the drama and tension, when in fact, they reek of cheesiness and drive me to distraction. At any rate, I thought this entry was a decent one in the series, although the brutal ending was sort of shocking. I picked up the third, Latte Trouble, but the first paragraphs were in deranged-killer-speak, and I wasn't in the mood, so I went on to some historical mysteries.

A Late Phoenix by Catherine Aird: Three words: Fun. British. Mystery. I discovered these when visiting my high school English teacher a couple of weeks ago. He had Catherine Aird novels strewn about, and I had never heard of her. A Late Phoenix was published in 1971, so they're not new. I think they're mostly out-of-print, but are easily found either used on amazon or in lots on eBay. Developers start a project at a WWII bomb site, only to uncover a skeleton, a woman not killed in the bombing. C.D. Sloane is assigned the case (along with Crosby, an idiot partner). Sloane is wry, witty, and astute, and he teases apart the threads of the mystery with interviews and even trips to the library. This is a good, old-fashioned detective novel with tight plotting and a bit of humor to lighten it up. I loved it!

A Bicycle Built for Murder by Kate Kingsbury: Along the historical mystery front, I found a used copy of this, Kingsbury's first Manor House novel. She has another series, Pennyfoot Hotel, that is devilishly hard to find (at least at a reasonable price). Anyway, Lady Elizabeth is Lady of the Manor, so when her tenant begs her to help solve the mystery of her teenaged daughter's disappearance, Lady Elizabeth agrees. At the same time, her house has been chosen to house some American troops (did I mention this takes place during WWII? Oops, I forgot, and it's kind of important). And the Major who liaises with her on this matter is really attractive. (Why do mystery novels written in the last 20 years or so HAVE to have a romance angle if the sleuth is a woman?) Kingsbury does a nice job of evoking the time period and Lady Elizabeth is a sympathetic heroine. The mystery is nicely done and the supporting cast enjoyable. I thought it was a good start to the series, and I'll be looking for more. I've read that the Pennyfoot series is actually better, so I'll have to try to find some of them.

Edited to add: I knew I was forgetting something! I also read Withering Heights by Dorothy Cannell, a recent Ellie Haskell mystery. Her first, The Thin Woman, is one of my all-time favorite mysteries. This entry was really quite good! It takes place in a huge old house and gently spoofs gothic mysteries. Ellie, Ben, and Mrs. Malloy head to Yorkshire to return Ben's cousin's teenaged daughter home and manage to solve murder, mayhem, and ghostly happenings while there. If you enjoy cozies and haven't read Cannell yet, order a copy of The Thin Woman used on amazon for pretty much the cost of shipping right now!

I think that's it for now. I'm reading Strangled Prose by Joan Hess, the first Claire Malloy mystery. I read a couple of these a while ago and then kind of forgot about Joan Hess. She also writes the Maggody series.

Bobbie Faye Returns

Bobbie Faye and the (kinda, sorta, not-exactly) Family Jewels by Toni McGee Causey follows up Bobbie Faye's Very, (very, very, very) Bad Day. This sequel starts up a couple months after the first disaster and many of the same characters appear. Bobby Faye is working at Ce Ce's store one day when her cousin Francesca shows up asking Bobbie Faye to help her find stolen diamonds her mother, Marie, hid somewhere. Francesca's father, Emile, head of a mob organization and the person Marie stole the diamonds from, thinks Bobbie Faye knows where they are at. Within the first several chapters of the book, Bobbie Faye is shot at, kidnapped on the same block by three separate groups of people, and her car blows up on a bridge, taking part of the bridge with it. So you could say the sequel starts off with a bang.

Throughout the book, we get to meet more of Bobbie Faye's crazy family, including her father, she blows up other things, comes near death several times, all while trying to figure out her feelings for Trevor (well those feelings are pretty obvious) and Cam (not so obvious). Bobbie Faye is also accused of murder not once, but twice through the course of the book. Trevor and Cam know she is innocent and try to figure out a way to keep every cop in the state from killing her on sight.

Causey's second attempt with Bobbie Faye does not disappoint. However, I don't think it quite lives up to the first one. A little less time is spent on the action and running around (just a little, there's still a lot of action) and more time is spent developing the relationship she has with Trevor and Cam. There are also a ton of characters in this book, sometimes a little difficult to keep track of. And I didn't laugh out loud quite as much as the first one. With all that being said, I was still highly entertained and liked the ending. I won't give too much away, but we find out a little more about best friend Nina at the end of book. Hmm.....perhaps we're setting up for a third installment?

My copy of Bobbie Faye's Family Jewels was an Advanced Reader Copy from LibraryThing. But you won't have to wait long, it will be in bookstores on May 27th!

A Couple of Little Things

I forgot to mention that I read On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle, the first in the Coffeehouse series. I had read this and maybe one of the sequels ages ago. It's a decent cozy mystery series with enticing recipes. A few things bug me. It starts out with a prologue from the stalker's point-of-view a la James Patterson or Jonathan Kellerman, which I think is super cheesy. Despite throwing around Italian terms like someone who knows what she's doing, Coyle (or her editor) has used the wrong accent over the 'e' in the Italian word 'caffe,' (It should be the opposite accent of the one over the 'e' in the French word 'cafe,' but I can't figure out how to do diacritical marks in Blogger) and spelled 'baci' (which means 'kisses') 'bocci.' There are other typos in plain old English, typical of this genre's mediocre editing. Despite some annoyances, the book is kind of cute and I enjoyed the coffee information, which I thought complemented, rather than distracted from, the narrative flow. Clare Cosi returns from suburban New Jersey to manage once again The Village Blend, an historic coffeehouse in New York City at the request of her former mother-in-law. You can bet the ex-husband will be around to bug her/be strangely attractive. One morning, Clare arrives at the coffeehouse to find it empty and dark. She finds her employee, Annabel, dead at the bottom of the basement steps. The police are treating the death as a tragic accident, but Clare thinks differently. Also, she thinks the detective is pretty cute. Typical cozy mystery investigating ensues, in more-interesting-than-average-cozy fashion. I'll read the second one, Through the Grinder, soon.

I also read "The Twelve Desserts of Christmas" by Joanne Fluke, one of four novellas in the holiday romance collection Sugar and Spice (available for the cost of shipping--used on amazon.com). I didn't read the other three, which are more typical romance, but I thought the Joanne Fluke story, featuring two teachers stuck with six kids at a boarding school over the holidays, was a cute confection. Hannah Swensen delivers desserts to the group and solves an innocuous little mystery. Most of the recipes are title recipes from previous books, but a couple may be new (I'd have to check Sugar Cookie Murder, which has tons). If (like me) you're waiting for Carrot Cake Murder to come out in paperback, this is a nice little diversion.

Bobbie Faye review, redux

Oops, I meant to link to Holly's review of this book, so I'm editing to add that in!

I read THE FUNNIEST BOOK in the history of the world! Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but Bobbie Faye's Very (Very, Very, Very) Bad Day by Toni McGee Causey had me laughing out loud. With a clever, official-looking map at the beginning labeled "Louisiana State Insurance Archive of Bobbie Faye Sumrall Disasters (Southwest Region)," you know you're going to be suspending disbelief. Each chapter has a quote about Bobbie Faye, and the first quote is, "You know how some people are born to Greatness? Well, Bobbie Faye Sumrall woke up one morning, kicked Greatness in the teeth, kneed it in the balls, took it hostage, and it's been begging for mercy ever since," attributed to "a former Louisiana mayor after Bobbie Faye accidentally ran her car into his office, knocking pages of fraud evidence into the street, which helped land him in Federal prison." Those two components at the very beginning could be setting us up for a fun ride or trying to compensate for a lackluster novel. Fortunately for us, it's the first!

Bobbie Faye is having the worst day of her life, and for someone inadvertently attracted to disaster like a moth to a flame, that's saying something. She wakes up in the morning to her five-year-old niece remarking that there's a swimming pool inside. She's caring for her niece while her sister is drying out, as ordered by the courts, and her trailer has flooded because her no-good brother Roy hasn't fixed the washing machine. The Sumralls have been fixtures in Lake Charles, Louisiana ("if someone had labeled it 'home of the hard drinkers who make Mardi Gras revelers look like big fluffy candy asses,' it might have staggered to attention and saluted") for generations, and Bobbie Faye is the latest in a long line of Contraband Days Queens since her mother died, complete with a battered tiara. It turns out that Roy has been kidnapped by someone demanding the worthless tiara, but when Bobbie Faye takes it out of the safety-deposit box (it may be worthless, but she didn't want her sister hocking it for booze), she loses it to bank robbers. She takes a guy hostage and goes in pursuit of the robbers, with the FBI and local police (led by her ex-husband of all people) following closely behind. This is a wild ride with abundant humor, a touch of mystery (who *is* this guy she took hostage? why would anyone want that tiara this badly?), and over-the-top action. Can Bobbie Faye find the tiara, save her brother, keep temporary custody of her niece, avoid mushy thoughts about her handsome hostage, and survive this day? I can't think of anyone who wouldn't compulsively read this one to find out!

Woman in Red by Eileen Goudge

This was our book club pick for May. I actually did not vote for this one when we were voting on new choices and I thought the description of it sounded really depressing. So I was not actually looking forward to reading this one. However, this is a case of don't judge a book by its cover. I really enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.

The book is about a woman, Alice, who spends nine years in prison for running over the drunk driver who killed one of her two sons. While in prison, her husband divorces her and eventually her son does not want to visit her anymore. She gets out and returns to the small town where she grew up. She tries to rebuild her life and get to know her son and family again despite the stigma of being an ex-con. She also meets a new man (Colin) who lost his wife in the 9/11 attacks and is just coming out a downward spiral himself. As if all of this is not difficult enough for her to deal with, her son is falsely accused of raping a girl and finds himself in trouble with the law. Hmmm...like mother, like son?

See, I told you depressing, right? BUT, it turns out, it's not quite as depressing as it sounds. And there is a back story interspersed throughout the book about Alice's grandmother and Colin's grandfather. A love story. This book actually somewhat reminded me of a Jodi Picoult book without the extra legal thriller part of it. The whole book is about different relationships old and new. And in the end all the different threads come together. I absolutely loved the epilogue. I think Goudge did a great job writing this and keeping all the characters interesting with a solid story line. It's as long as it needs to be without anything extra. This is definitely not one I would have picked up at the bookstore, but I'm glad I had the chance to read it. And really I had a hard time putting it down!

Honk if you love Percy!

Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan: The fourth installment of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is action-packed, funny, clever, and original, with character and plot developments we've been waiting for since Book 1, The Lightning Thief. Percy is a clever boy (I think he's 12 in book 1) who's been kicked out of multiple schools, has ADHD and dyslexia, and a knack for trouble. In The Lightning Thief, he learns he's a half-blood, the son of a Greek god, and discovers there are others like him at Camp Half Blood. If you haven't read the series, I don't want to give away too many details of the plot of Book 4. Battle of the Labyrinth opens with Percy's orientation at his new school, which is equipped with monster cheerleaders (yes, that's literal) before heading off to Camp Half-Blood, which is in danger like never before. A chunk of this installment takes place in the Labyrinth, the monster-infested, ever-changing maze underneath the U.S. Any juvenile fantasy is compared to Harry Potter these days, and I have to say, I love both series. Percy Jackson is not derivative of Harry Potter, and Riordan manages a fresh and funny take on ancient stories (the Greek myths). I can't recommend this series and this installment highly enough, and I can't wait for Book 5 (and it's very clear there will be a Book 5, though I believe that will be the last).

Edited to add: I went looking for the source of my belief that there will be five books (sadly it's true--next year's will be the last, though the first film will be out next year, too), and discovered a short story that's available on Rick Riordan's blog. Here are the three parts (part 1 is at the bottom of the page). Here's fun bonus Percy!

Deep Dish by Mary Kay Andrews

Okay, after three books, I have to say I quite like Mary Kay Andrews. I think I actually liked Savannah Blues and Savannah Breeze a bit better than Deep Dish because I enjoy the mystery component, which is absent from Deep Dish, but Deep Dish was fun Southern chick lit. This one is set partially in Atlanta, too, which is fun when Gina is stuck in traffic on I-285. Hahaha! I'm always stuck in traffic on I-285! Gina has a regional cooking show produced by her boyfriend, Scott, that is canceled when Scott is found sleeping with the show's sponsor's wife. Oops. But it turns out that Food Network...erm, I mean The Cooking Channel...is looking for a Southern cooking show to add to their lineup. They're in town to look at Tate's kill 'em and grill 'em show (which is called Vittles, a really lame name--Kill 'Em and Grill 'Em would have been better) and decide to take a look at Gina. Soon Gina and Tate are in competition for the time slot in an Iron Chef kind of battle out on an island (yes, really). Tate and Gina go between attraction to each other and competitive dislike, and there's little suspense--if you can't tell they're going to end up together, you've probably never read chick lit before. There's also little suspense on the outcome of the cooking show, though Andrews throws in some unexpected challenges that bring in some laughs. The development of Tate and Gina's relationship from competitors to ready to get married isn't all that fleshed out, but I'm used to that in chick lit. All of a sudden, the man and woman are in love...whatever. I thought this was a cute, breezy summer read, but I'd wait until it's in paperback (it was lent to me, or I wouldn't have read it yet!).

Southern Fried Nancy Drew

A negative reviewer on Amazon gave Savannah Blues by Mary Kay Andrews a single star and lambasted it with, "If you're craving a Southern fried version of Nancy Drew and her pals, then carry on." Well, obviously my taste is not as refined as this reviewers because while I agreed with her assessment, I thought this book was great fun, even with some flaws, but I love Nancy Drew, too! I would characterize it as Southern Chick Lit With Mystery. Anyway, the story is about Weezie, a divorcee who won the carriage house behind her carefully renovated once-home (which her husband and his new fiancee, the atrocious Caroline, now live). Weezie is a "picker," scouring yard sales and dumpsters for hidden treasures that she can fix up and sell to antiques dealers. Sneaking into an estate sale early to answer a call of nature, she stumbles over Caroline's body and is promptly arrested for the murder. The story is slowed a bit by chapters from the point of view of Uncle James, Weezie's attorney, which were really unnecessary and I can't believe they weren't edited out. Weezie, her best friend Bebe, and Daniel, the attractive chef at Bebe's restaurant, set out to solve the murder themselves and clear Weezie's name. There really wasn't much suspense in this one, but the bumbling crime-solving trio, Southern charm, and insight into the antiques business made it a lot of fun. I recommend this as an excellent beach read.

After reading Savannah Blues, I picked up Savannah Breeze, the sequel, which details Bebe's life following her financial ruin at the hands of a handsome con man (she's distracted by family issues at the time). Apparently, Ms. Andrews has trouble deciding which story she's telling, because in this one, too, there are chapters from a secondary character's point of view--this time, Weezie's. I found this distracting and didn't think it added to the story at all, but other than that, I thought this was even more fun than the first book. Bebe discovers that she is now owner of the Breeze Motel on Tybee Beach (the con man, Reddy, hadn't had time to unload it before splitting), and she decides to make a go of renovating and running the Breeze. With the help of Weezie and the Breeze's on-site manager, the handsome and unrefined Harry, Bebe sets out to get back what Reddy has stolen from her when the police decline to pursue him. Another fun beach read.

The Innocent by Harlan Coben

I enjoyed reading Coben's The Woods last year and when I saw The Innocent and Deal Breaker in the Barnes and Noble bargain sale I snatched them up. I've spent the last couple days reading The Innocent and thoroughly enjoyed it!

The blurb on the back of the book does not really give you full insight into the story, which in this case was a good thing. The main character, Matt Hunter, accidentally kills a man when a fight breaks out at a party during college. Matt serves his time in prison and manages to still have a life afterwards with a decent job and wife with a baby on the way. He receives a couple startling photos on his cell phone that make him think he does not really know his wife and he wonders if he can really trust her. Thus starts a journey of discovery that lasts a couple days and is filled with suspense. This book also has short chapters which actually added to the suspense. It switched back and forth between characters' viewpoints leaving you in suspense with one while catching up with another. Eventually all the points of view come together at the end. It wasn't entirely predictable and had a few nice reveals toward the end.

I don't want to say too much and give anything away because I think this story is much better if you go into it blind. I thought it was well-written and Coben unfolds the story very well. If you're a fan of more serious mystery/suspense I recommend this book. I believe I enjoyed it even more than The Woods. And I'm looking forward to reading Deal Breaker which is the first book in Coben's Myron Bolitor series.

Almost time for Percy!

The fourth Percy Jackson book comes out May 6th! Yeah! Camille over at BookMoot had a fun post relating to Percy and included the video below. Just thought I would share because I was amused by it. Don't get me wrong, I still like Harry Potter. :-)

The World of Bobbie Faye

I just finished Bobbie Faye's Very (very, very, very) Bad Day by Toni McGee Causey. This book was absolutely hysterical! I chuckled out loud several times. A must-read for any Evanovich fans. I actually think this is better than the recent Plum books. Bobbie Faye is Stephanie Plum amped up 50 degrees. There are a few similarities in the characters: Bobbie Faye as a very independent woman compares to Stephanie; Cam, her cop ex-boyfriend would play the part of Morelli; and Bobbie Faye's apparent hostage, Trevor could sort of be Ranger. Other than that, this book is purely original especially in the debacles Bobbie Faye gets herself into...in one day!

This book takes place in Louisiana and is filled with Cajun charm from French to voodoo. The course of the book is mostly one day, which seems unreal. It starts with Bobbie Faye's trailer being flooded and collapsing and her day just gets worse from there. She receives a call from her brother who has been kidnapped and needs her to bring a treasured family heirloom to the kidnappers in order to save his life. Bobbie Faye stops at nothing to reach her brother including robbing a bank, taking a hostage, demolishing a truck, running through a swamp, encountering a bear, and it only goes on from there (that's the first half of the book). There's mystery, adventure, suspense, and romance in this highly sarcastic, fun read.

The chapters are short so this makes for a perfect book for someone who can't sit and read for long periods of time. The beginning of each chapter has a quote from someone in reference to Bobbie Faye. Here are a few examples:

"I'm sorry, Mr. President, but even though you really like the governor of Louisiana, you cannot drop a civilian behind enemy lines. No sir, not even if she could take out the whole country."
-an anonymous senior aide to the president

"Sir, we do not draft civilians into our foreign service, even if you think she's of the devil and would make a good spy. Please do not offer her to us again."
--Elizabeth Smith, CIA undersecretary in a memo to the governor of Louisiana

"No, honey, you can't bring in Bobbie Faye as your show-and-tell exhibit for National Disaster Awareness week. I'd like to make it through this week alive."
-Ms. Pam Arnold, Geautraux Elementary's third grade teacher

I decided to pick this book up and read it because I received the second installment, Bobbie Faye's (kinda, sorta, not-exactly) Family Jewels as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers group. I thought I should read the first one before I reviewed the second. And now I can't wait to read Family Jewels.

A few reviews

This is a pretty random assortment of reading here!

Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn: This is the first Daisy Dalrymple mystery, and I thought it was lots of fun. These are set in the 1920s England and Daisy is a Town & Country reporter, shocking her family (I think her father is a baronet or something). Anyway, Daisy is likeable and I think Dunn evokes 1920s England well, at least to someone who's seen Gosford Park. The plot is well done. Daisy is at a family's country house when an apparent accident takes place. Daisy's photography uncovers a suggestion that it might have been murder. I'll have to find the second in the series--I think there are 16 or something. It was cute and well-written. I think cozy readers and those interested in historical fiction might get a kick out of this.

Duma Key by Stephen King: It's been hit or miss for me with recent Stephen King, but I had a hard time putting Duma Key down, even with 600+ pages. He's used his personal experience with recovering from a terrible accident and placed in on Edgar Freemantle, who loses an arm and scrambles his brain in an accident. His 25-year marriage ends, and when his doctor suggests "geographical therapy," Freemantle (randomly, he thinks) chooses Duma Key, an isolated island off the coast of Sarasota. He takes up painting with a vengeance, stunning gallery owners in Sarasota, and haunted by his phantom arm and the voices of the shells under his house, he begins to uncover the truth about Duma Key and its oldest inhabitant, Elizabeth Eastlake. His hired help, Jack, and Elizabeth's companion, Wireman (who has also suffered a head injury, as has Elizabeth), help him find the source of his talent. If any part of the novel dragged, it was pages 500-600 or thereabouts--the exciting conclusion was really kind of long. But I found Edgar's emerging talent engaging, and King did a great job of the terror gently creeping into the story.

Back on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber: I read the first of these, The Shop on Blossom Street, ages ago. It took me a while to get into this one. The intro in which Macomber basically explains everything that happened in the series so far was very long and dragged, but once I got into it, it was pretty fun. These are the most wholesome romance novels you've ever read, seriously, but they're also about the personal struggles of the various characters. She writes from the point-of-view of several, which is totally cheating, but it works for the stories she's telling. The prose is...saccharine is a good word to use here, maybe a really long Hallmark card is another way to put it. But if you're in the mood for uplifting, obviously telegraphed happy endings, and women solving their problems in a knitting group, this book is for you. I don't mean that as negatively as it maybe reads. I enjoyed the book, I did, it's just not particularly challenging and it's not my usual fluffy reading (very little sense of humor here). Anyway, Lydia owns a knitting shop and decides to have a class on doing prayer shawls. Each of the women in the class has a different problem going on, and everyone's happy at the end. There are really no surprises in this one, but it's pleasant and comforting.

I also zipped through How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author by Janet Evanovich. She co-wrote this with a creative writing professor, to make it more credible, I guess. Anyway, the poor professor's parts are fairly dry, but useful and well-organized. The book is mainly Q&A with Evanovich, based on questions asked by fans on her website. It's often interesting to read how a writer writes, and Evanovich is funny and entertaining. As a writing book, it doesn't hold a candle to Stephen King's On Writing, but it was interesting, and samples of query letters and manuscript pages, and advice on joining groups and attending conferences, is worthwhile. All in all, not an essential read for writers, but a fun one for Evanovich fans.

Another Giveaway!

Maw Books is giving away some of the books in her collection in celebration of her 100th blog post. If you're interested, visit her blog and comment on her posts. You'll be entered each time you comment and can double your entries by posting on your own blog. Here is info on the giveaway and the list of books.

Freebies!

Stephanie over at The Written Word is sponsoring a contest to win one of five canvas bags with the book cover of Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs and one lucky person will win an Advanced Reader's Copy of Kate Jacobs new book. Jacobs is the author of The Friday Night Knitting Club, which I really enjoyed. I'm looking forward to reading Comfort Food. And I think there are a few of you out there who might be interested as well. So many of my friends LOVE the Food Network. I can think of several people I should recommend this book to. Now, I am sooo NOT into cooking, but I think this might be interestign. Jacobs' latest effort is about two women who end up co-hosting a cooking show together under not so great circumstances. Since I'm writing on my blog about Stephanie's contest, I'll be entered twice! Whoo hoo!

The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett

I just finished reading this book yesterday. It tells the story of Rose, starting in 1968, who ends up at Saint Elizabeth's, a home for unwed mothers. She was married and found out she was pregnant. One day, she just decided to get in the car and drive across country and ended up at Saint Elizabeth's. In the end, she decides to keep her daughter and in fact, stays on at Saint Elizabeth's as the cook. The book is split into three sections: Rose's story, Son's story (Rose's second husband), and Cecilia's story (Rose's daughter). The title of the book is in reference to St. Elizabeth and the fact that all the pregnant girls that come there lie. They lie about who the father of their baby is, where he is, what they'll do when they go home, etc. Also, there are many lies of omission throughout the book, especially on Rose's part. But really none of the characters do much talking to each other. It's more of a dance around each other.

I picked this book up in the book store and read the prologue which describes a farmer who discovers a spring on his property. It turns out the spring has mystical healing powers and a grand hotel is built nearby to accommodate all the visitors to the spring. Eventually, the spring dries up and people stop visiting. The building becomes Saint Elizabeth's. I thought perhaps the spring would pop up again throughout the book or by the end. But it never reappeared.

Although the book took a slightly different course than I initially thought it would, I enjoyed it. It was a quick read. And I liked reading from the different character's point of view. Rose's character sort of annoyed me throughout the book because she was never happy and I'm not sure why she couldn't let herself be happy. But this puzzled the other characters as well. :-)

Since I haven't read her other books yet, I'm not sure how it measures up, but I liked her writing style and hope to read Bel Canto and Run in the near future.

Lady Julia Grey

Have you discovered her? She's a Victorian lady of the royal sort whose husband dies rather suddenly. A year later, she decides to hire an inquiry agent(detective) to determine if hubby died as a result of foul play. The inquiry agent is a very handsome, very mysterious man named Nicholas Brisbane.

Deanna Raybourn is the American author of this rather offbeat mystery series. She uses British spellings for words like colour which put me off at first. It was hard for me to deal w/a contemporary AMERICAN author writing in Victorian English. However, once I realized the language fit w/the life and times of her books' setting, the spelling and quaint words like draughty just add to the books' charm.

Raybourn's very first novel is SILENT IN THE GRAVE followed by SILENT IN THE SANCTUARY. Lady Julia is a member of the very large March family whose family crest includes a hare as in they're all crazy as a March hare! Each family member is eccentric and barely accepted in English society because of the family reputation for being wild and crazy. Lady Julia really tries to live a "conventional" life but as she turns 30 and decides to investigate her husband's death, she ventures where no proper British lady would dare to go. She surprises even herself when she dresses as a man and visits a gypsy camp as well as samples Brisbane's hookah. She just gets caught up in all sorts of improper adventures!

There's nothing ho hum about the plots in these books. They are page turners w/plenty of plot twists and always a surprise ending. Brisbane makes his appearance in each book in his role as the inquiry agent and Julia's potential lover. He always disappears before the books end and before their love affair gets very far along. The author is very good at leaving the reader wondering if the love affair will ever get beyond the kissing stage. After all, it is the Victorian age!

This series reminds me of Dorothy Sayers' very entertaining Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries written in the 1930's. Peter Wimsey is a very proper English lord who just happens to be very good at detecting in his spare time. He meets the Lady Jane, also a rather unconventional member of British society, and they end up detecting their way through many mysteries. Sayers also keeps you wondering if Jane and Peter's relationship will ever blossom beyond detection. Aside from the gripping drama, Sayers and Raybourn give you an entertaining picture of British society in a funny, literate and thoroughly satisfactory way.

One of these things is not like the other...

I picked up Don't Look Down by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer as a bargain book ($3.99--yay!). The reviews for this were really mixed, so I'd put off reading it. I do love Jennifer Crusie, whose Welcome to Temptation, Getting Rid of Bradley, Manhunting, and other laugh-out-loud contemporary romance-with-some-mystery novels have been very enjoyable, so I suppose I can blame Bob Mayer for this convoluted mess of a book. Mayer is apparently a military adventure-type novelist, and my guess is, not a very good one. I have no idea why Crusie, Mayer, and the publisher thought this was a winning combination. It's as if someone said, "People like peanut butter! People like pickles! Let's put 'em together!" Mayer appears to adore a certain word that begins with the letter 'F' and its variations (clusterf*** is a big favorite...I didn't count, but I believe he topped 20 incidences of this one alone). Now, I'm not offended by vulgar language, and I think in some settings, it's the way to go, but not in a contemporary romance novel. It just shows a lack of imagination on the part of the author--really? You couldn't come up with ANY other word to use? Besides, that annoyance, there are passages of military-speak that must be mind-numbing to most of Crusie's fans. Discussions of various weapons and military strategy just didn't go with the rest of the book. Speaking of which, the plot was confusing and convoluted, with an unnecessary and poorly explained plot by the bad guys and inexplicable responses by good guys. The best part of this book is a charming and adorable Wonder Woman Party for Lucy's niece, but even that is constantly interrupted by people knocking on the door in a tiresome fashion. I'm not even going to summarize the plot for you, just advise you to skip this one. They have a second collaboration called Agnes and the Hitman, that got much better reviews, and since I still love Crusie's humor, I may pick that one up at some point. But maybe at the library!

I've starting reading Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swenson mysteries from the beginning, and I'm having a great time with them. I think I may have read as many as the first 3 when they were first out, but I can't remember who the killers were, so it's like reading them for the first time. The first, Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, has been re-released with a bonus 100+ page novella at the end that was pretty cute, and some additional recipes. I baked Peach Almond Muffins adapted from the Peach Bread recipe in Key Lime Pie Murder. Yum! Basically, I just dumped the batter into 18 muffin cups instead of 2 loaf pans and cut the baking time. Fantastic.

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

The Wee Free Men is part of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. I've read good things about him as an author so I thought I would check this out. It's the story of nine year old Tiffany Aching. She lives in the hills on her family farm. Her Granny was a shepherd and a witch. Tiffany soon learns she also has the gift. Her younger brother gets kidnapped by the Queen of another world, and she begins her journey to get him back armed with a frying pan, talking toad, and an army of red-headed little men.

At first glance, this book seems like a fun young adult fantasy. I was about half way through it at the start of today and I tried to keep plugging through, but ended up skimming the last half. I stopped skimming and read the last several pages. I really wanted to love this book, or even like it. I think I only mildly enjoyed it. It was humorous. And I enjoyed the descriptions of the worlds and monsters. I also like the idea of Fairy tale monsters coming to life. My biggest problem with it is the language of the Nac Mac Feegles. It has a Scottish base and it got a bit tiring reading it as it was written. I think I would have enjoyed this much more if it were just stated that they spoke with a Scottish accent and then written with regular English. Instead it was written in the Scottish dialect and I found myself having to slow my reading down to catch what they were saying. This greatly annoyed me! Hmm....maybe I would really enjoy these books more as audiobooks! I'll have to think about that.

So now, I have A Hat Full of Sky sitting here from the library and I'm debating whether to read it now, or skip it all together and go right to Wintersmith.

Naptime is the New Happy Hour

This book by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor has a healthy dose of humor, sarcasm, and parenting advice. Her first book Sippy Cups are NOT for Chardonnay is an hysterical look at parenting in the first year. This sequel takes a look at toddlerhood and I suspect she will have a third book out in another year or two about raising twins. ;-)

Wilder-Taylor lives in Los Angeles and she captures the Mommy Culture there perfectly. Having lived there for almost 6 years, spending 3 of those in the Mommy World, I can honestly say her portrayal is right on! I found myself chuckling every few pages and nodding my head in agreement to her tips and anecdotes (yeah, LOVE the Target One Spot and kids really do think there is magic healing power in Disney Princess Band-aids!).

However, this book will translate across the board, whether you live in a big city, podunkville, stay at home or work. Read it! I think all moms go through those feelings of guilt about something or other, have no patience on some days, hate those seemingly "perfect" mommies because they make you feel inadequate. Wilder-Taylor says it all and tells you how to deal with those feelings....hence, the happy hour. :-) It's just nice to know that you're not alone. If you're looking for a fun, light-hearted look at parenting, pick this one up! And the first book too if you haven't read it already.

Oh, and for further reading, Wilder-Taylor has her own blog here.

Key Lime Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke

Okay, somebody else post something, quick, so I stop hogging the blog! I don't know what it is, but I've been reading a lot lately, at the expense of my knitting (I just started Matt's birthday socks, and his birthday was almost two months ago).

Anyway, I know Holly reads this series, and has probably already read this book. I thought it was an excellent entry in a cozy series. Besides the murder mystery, there were several fun subplots: What's behind Moishe's odd behavior? What is Hannah's mother's Secret Project? Will Hannah choose Norman or Mike or even Ross, who still sends her gifts? Will Hannah enter the 21st century world of cell phones and computers with internet access? Some amazon reviewers complain that Hannah's dithering over the men in her life is annoying, that it's unbelievable that she resists computers and cell phones, that the mystery doesn't happen until past 100 pages in. But to me, the fun of this series is small-town life in Lake Eden, Hannah's family, and Hannah's life, and those things don't bother me that much. This is a really fun cozy series. And oh yeah, there's a murder, and that part of the story was well-done, too. There are a few cookie recipes I think I'll be trying, though I'm not really a casserole (hot-dish) fan, so that's about it.

Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter by Blaize Clement

Holly sent me excerpts from the improbably named Blaize Clement's most recent (and third) Dixie Hemingway mystery, Even Catsitters Get the Blues. It seemed well-written, with an interesting sleuth, so I picked up the first in the series, Curiosity Killed the Catsitter. This was surprisingly dark and complex for a cozy mystery series. Dixie was a sheriff's deputy on Siesta Key (off the Sarasota coast) until the deaths of her husband and daughter sent her over the edge. She regrouped and started a pet-sitting business. When she finds a dead man in a client's home, she's sucked back into the world of investigation, both as a suspect and a person with some inside scoop. I thought Clement pulled off the edgier heroine in a cozy setting quite well. The lifestyle and characters are Siesta Key were an interesting setting, Dixie is sympathetic, and the mystery complex and satisfying. There was one Clue (that's a capital C, as in "Scooby Doo, you've found a Clue!"), let's call it a MacGuffin, that Dixie comes across without recognizing its significance. That's fine, but as it became increasingly clear that the MacGuffin was really important, it started driving me a little crazy that Dixie wasn't picking up on it. However, since she had quite a bit going on and I was paying more attention to details as a reader, I tried to let it go. At any rate, I thought this was a fun, really well-written mystery, and I'll be picking up #2 in the series! I'd recommend it to cozy mystery fans who are open to a little bit edgier book, and even to private detective-type novel fans who aren't usually into cozies.

Public Service Announcement

I forgot to mention that bn.com is having a buy 2, get 1 free sale on all bargain books. This means 3 hardbacks for around $10-12! I was excited about this and grabbed a couple i had been meaning to read but hadn't wanted to pay $25 for. Unfortunately, you only get one free, no matter how many you buy.

I'm currently reading Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter by the improbably named Blaize Clement. Fun!

And now for something completely different...

What Looks Like Crazy by Charlotte Hughes was a fun diversion, and a great break from the intensity of the Lippman novel. Hughes is co-author with Janet Evanovich on the Full House series, which I've enjoyed (though not as much as the Stephanie Plum books). When I see a no-name sharing author credit with a bestseller, my jaded opinion is usually that the no-name did all the work and the big name is there to sell books. It doesn't really matter, because I like Charlotte Hughes' writing, and if it hadn't been for Evanovich, this book likely wouldn't exist. Comparisons between this new series and Stephanie Plum are inevitable, but I didn't think this was a knockoff. Kate is a funny, smart, neurotic psychologist with relationship issues. In her job, she encounters plenty of "nutcases," as her wealthy receptionist Mona calls them, and they bring lots of fun to the mix. Kate's mother and aunt own a junk shop (from which Kate's condo is decorated) and they bring another element of fun. Kate's two exes bring in the obligatory romantic element. Hughes is a little drier in her wit, less laugh-out-loud and farcical, but it's a different kind of funny, not a lack of funny, if that makes sense. I think this is a good beach read, and I look forward to the next one.

What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman

This was a gripping, well-paced mystery (I hesitate to call it a thriller since no one is really in danger) that begins when a woman is apprehended leaving a car accident. She alludes to the Bethany sisters (whose disappearance thirty years before was never solved) but clams up without sharing her identity. She eventually claims to be one of the sisters, and the book is extremely well-paced, using flashbacks to explore the parents and sisters at various points during the thirty year gap. The current characters, a social worker and two cops, one who retired after the Bethany case (and to a lesser extent, an attorney) are well-fleshed out and the impact of the disappearance on their lives is believable. It was hard to put this book down. I really wanted to know who this woman was and what happened to the girls. I recommend this to anyone who's a fan of suspense.

ToB 2008 Winner

These are the finalists in the 2008 Tournament of Books. And the winner: The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. I haven't really looked at either of these books. I'll have to check them out next time I'm at the bookstore. Please comment if anyone has read them!

Randomness

I went from not really being excited about any books I had in the house to having too many! I guess that's a good problem to have. A bunch of library requests came through at the same time so I have a few books from the library. I also received a free advance copy of a new book!

We'll start with that one: Off the Deep End by W. Hodding Carter. As a member of LibraryThing, you can choose to put your name in to receive advance copies of upcoming books, the only catch is that they ask you to review them. Well, to me, that's not much of a catch. I'd probably do that anyway. Usually there are 400-600 people for each book and maybe 15-50 copies of the book sent out. This was the first book I won. It's the story of Hodding, an over-40 man who used to be a competitive collegiate swimmer. He always dreamed of making it to the Olympics. He didn't have the chance when he was young and becomes obsessed with the idea as a middle-aged man. The book is his memoir of his journey.

It took me a while to get used to Carter's more conversational style of writing. It is very informal, and he tends to interject in the middle of his sentences. Anyone who was a competitive swimmer would probably really enjoy this book. I found it mildly interesting, but not incredibly fascinating. I had preconceived ideas that it might be more of an inspiring story, however, it is more about a man's mid-life crisis journey. Because its an advance copy, the end of the book is missing where you find out if he really did qualify for the Olympics this summer. Once it is published, I'll probably pick it up at the bookstore and just skim through the end.

In other book news, this week is Buy-a-Friend-a-Book Week. More info here. :-)

A while ago, I bought Terry Pratchett's Wintersmith as a bargain book. I've been reading very good things about Pratchett as a young adult author so I thought I would grab. I discovered this was part of a series of books in his Discworld. Discworld appears to be a large series with many tangents or several series within a larger umbrella series. Does that make any sense? At any rate, there were 2 books in this series before Wintersmith (The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky) so I picked up both of them from the library and plan on reading them before I get to Wintersmith. I'm sure I could have read Wintersmith out of order, but I'm kind of anal when it comes to that sort of thing and like to start with the first in a series.

I also have The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett sitting here. I went to the bookstore to look for Run. I just wanted to check it out. However, they were sold out. So I picked this one up instead and read the first few pages. I was really engaged so I requested it from the library. Of course, I received it at the same time as some other books. ;-)

And the last book I currently have sitting around here waiting to be read is Naptime is the New Happy Hour by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor. She also wrote Sippy Cups are NOT for Chardonnay, which was hysterical. I can't wait to read this this. Her first book was so funny and true about parenting. I can only imagine what she has to say about the toddler years. I have a feeling I can recommend this one to other mothers without even having read it yet!

Well, I think that's all for now. I've been sort of schizophrenic about deciding which one of these to delve into, they all seem good to me. I guess I'll just see what clicks with my mood today...

Run

Run by Ann Patchett is everything you would expect from the author of Bel Canto. Patchett's prose is lyrical. Her writing is so beautiful. The similes she concocts are amazing. Her prose just flows through this sweet story of a Boston politician's adopted children and his expectations for their lives. Each character is so finely wrought. You feel like you could meet any one of them on the corner of your street. Patchett gives you a slice of life and her characters make the most of it. Enjoy!

ToB Reviews

I don't have any new books to post, but thought I would let you know that Girl Detective has created a reading challenge for herself. She is trying to get through some of the ToB books. So far she has reviewed the following:

An Arsonist's Guide to Writer's Homes in New England
What the Dead Know
Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name
On Chesil Beach

Just thought some of you might be interested. :-)
Happy Reading!

Possible ToB Winner Review

So, I read Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris, which is headed to the semifinals in the Tournament of Books. It was fantastic. Seriously, one of the best books I've read in a long time. It's extremely funny, with a unique voice (the corporate "we") that manages to explore group dynamics without losing the individuality of the group members. Who doesn't love a book with the awesome first line, "We were fractious and overpaid."? Excellent stuff. There is a lot of funny here as Ferris explores the contradictions, excess, and search for meaning in an ad agency just as the dot-com bubble bursts. The group dynamics shift and change as layoffs loom over the entire office and the employees wonder whether or not their boss has cancer. This would have been a fantastic bit of office humor, but Ferris goes deeper than Office Space for insights into finding meaning in one's life, how to face death, and how we break when pushed too hard. Brilliant, amazing, fantastic first novel, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Back To The Stack

You know, I waited so long to chat about some of my stack I can't even remember what I read. I've been a big fan of Nora Roberts for years. She does a variety of chick lit. There's always a romance somewhere in her books. Besides writing under her own name, she writes a romantic detective series set in New York City in 2058 under the pseudonym, J. D. Robb. Her latest on the best seller list is Strangers in Death. Her tough cookie, very smart female detective, Eve Dallas, solves murders while living life in the fast lane of future NYC. I love Robb's descriptions of the clothing, homes, electronics, cars, food, etc as she imagines them to be 50 years from now.In this book, Robb's murderer steals the plot from Hitchcock's movie, Strangers On A Train. Like the TV series, Law & Order, you know who the murderer is by mid book. The author leads you through the evidence bit by bit until she has her case built and her suspect firmly in her clutches. It's Eve's job to get her suspect to confess which of course, she does by book's end.

Deep Dish by Mary Kay Andrews is a book right out of the reality TV series TOP CHEF. I LOVE TOP CHEF where a bunch of up and coming chefs are challenged each week to create some appetizing dish and then judged on who did the best. Deep Dish pits two chefs, one a former beauty contest participant who cooks healthy and the other, a studly male whose motto is "kill it and grill it," against each other in a battle to become the next host of a network cooking show. They travel to a remote island off the Georgia coast to cook for a trio of stereotypical professional chef judges. Love blossoms in this light and tasty novel which includes recipes at the end!

Other books in my just finished stack include Killing Ground, the latest Jack Higgins Sean Dillon spy thriller, Heart Sick by Chelsea Cain, a serial killer suspense, and Damage Control by Robert Dugoni, another murder suspense novel. Loved them all for their solid intrigue and nice tidy endings.

My Stack

I used to have a large stack of books waiting to be read. Now, I have a large stack of books waiting for me to BLOG! So, here goes.

I'm a huge fan of thrillers of all sorts. I just finished two by Alex Berenson, The Faithful Spy and The Ghost War. They both are current event style thrillers concerning Iraq, al Qaeda and the mess we having going in the middle east.

In Faithful Spy, Berenson introduces his main character, John Wells, who is in the midst of a ten year long infiltration of al qaeda. He's had very little contact w/his CIA handlers during this time. Consequently, the powers that be in the CIA think he may have actually crossed over to the other side. Not true but only one CIA employee actually believes John still is a valuable and true source in the post 9/11 war on terror. The book is full of intrigue and drama as Wells tries to foil a terrorist plot to release a deadly plague causing bacteria in New York City. There's a lot of murder and mayhem very reminiscent of Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne spy series.

The Ghost War pretty much picks up where The Faithful Spy left off only John Wells is now back in the Satates and life is BORING. Of course, he volunteers to return to the Middle East to determine what world power is sponsoring a sudden surge in Taliban activity. What he uncovers is a plot that reaches into the highest levels of the CIA and he has to stop China and North Korea from going NUCLEAR!! Again, lots of spine tingling, last possible second only John Wells can save the world from destruction action. I really can't wait to see how John saves the US and world from the bumbling ineptitude of the CIA and other spy agencies in Berenson's next book.

Stephen King uses a little lighter hand w/the paranormal and supernatural in his newest best seller, Duma Key. It's still there along w/his scatological vulgar vocabulary which he also uses less of than usual. Duma is set in the Florida Keys where his characters are part of the wealthy Florida art scene. His "hero" is a Minnesota contractor who is involved in a terrible work site construction accident, loses his arm, chucks the building business and goes off to Florida to recoupe. There he discovers an extraordinary(of course, this is Stephen King) painting talent and meets a wealthy, ancient crone and her caretaker, a former high powered attorney, who is also escaping real life on Duma Key. As in all King's books, there's murder and weird events but what I really liked about this book was King's cast of Minnesota characters from real suburbs of the Twin Cities as well as his art related plot twists including Salvador Dali. He just spoke to native Minnesotan, Art History minoring me.

Easter Brunch is calling so more later. I've hardly gotten through half my book stack.

Man Walks Into A Room by Nicole Krauss

I really wanted this to be a five-star review, and if I had stopped around page 75, it would have been. Krauss is a fantastic writer, and there are passages of achingly beautiful prose that highlight the potential that is never realized in this, her first novel. But Man Walks Into A Room is too scattered and wanders off on too many tangents. The book begins with a memory seemingly unrelated to any of the characters we meet for those first 75 pages, and this was annoying, but I was sucked into the gentle exploration of Samson, who is found wandering in the desert, all memories since the age of 12 obliterated by a tumor. He does not recognize his wife, Anna, and Krauss explores her reaction to Samson's condition in a peripheral kind of way. The story up to this point is fascinating and beautifully written. Then Krauss veers off onto a science-fictiony tangent that the framework just can't support. I tolerated this for a while, but by 125 or so pages, I was irritated and cranky and wanting the story to be over, but the opening had been so promising that I felt compelled to keep reading to see if she redeemed herself. Nope. After the science fictiony bit is finally blissfully over, we go into this other part in which Samson connects with a teenager and then his senile uncle in sort of obvious, yet obscure, ways. And the ending just fizzled out. This could have been a really amazing book, but Krauss was too ambitious in her scope and the story suffered for it. Ultimately, I don't recommend this book, but I do want to read her second novel, The History of Love, in the hopes that she reaches her potential there.

Edited to add: I have current books from ToB to read, but I started this while waiting for them to arrive. I think I felt spurred to clear some of my literary backlog by the imminent arrival of new books :) I'm reading these interspersed with my Jane Jeffry mysteries.

The Pact by Jodi Picoult

I finished The Pact over the weekend while I was laying around recuperating from this cold/flu bug that has been going around. Again, as with her other books, it was a very easy, quick read. However, this one was not quite up to my expectations. It wasn't bad. It just wasn't as good as Salem Falls or My Sister's Keeper. I think Plain Truth was a bit better as well.

The story is about a teenage couple, both age seventeen, who have known each other all their lives. They lived next door to each other. They had a very mature relationship for their age and were apparently in love. Then one night the boy shows up in the hospital with a head wound and the girl winds up dead from a gunshot wound. According to initial interviews with the boy, this was a suicide pact gone wrong. However, we find out that might not necessarily be the truth. Aside from the boy and girl having a relationship, both their families are the best of friends. The boy ends up being accused of murdering the girl and the trial tears the families apart. As with other Picoult books, the last third plays out in the courtroom.

I think one of the things that bothered me about the book is that I didn't find the topic as interesting as some of her other books. The front cover of my copy of the book had an icon claiming, "Soon to be a Lifetime Original Movie!". Now, nothing against the Lifetime channel or their movies. I can definitely see where this book would fit their usual type of storyline. But I found it a bit sappy for my tastes. I felt the book was pretty contrived and I guess the characters didn't grow on me the same as some of her other characters have. I didn't have much sympathy for Emily, the character who commits suicide. And there was an underlying storyline of sexual abuse that I felt Picoult could have made stronger which might have made Emily a little more sympathetic or perhaps the courtroom scene more dramatic. I think it would have been more interesting if the abuse had been revealed to the boyfriend or the parents by the end of the book.

Not to say this book is a waste of time, because it is not. I'm just being more critical in comparing it to some of Picoult's other books. I'm looking forward to reading some more of her books that I have on my bookshelf and I think her newest release Change of Heart sounds like an interesting story. I think I'm just not a big sucker for romance. :-) If you are, you might like this more than I did.

And Now You Can Go by Vendela Vida

The new Tournament of Books list really shamed me into finally reading Vendela Vida's debut novel (her latest is on the list). I got it as a bargain book at some point a couple of years ago, and though it's a slender novel, I just haven't gotten to it yet. I busted through it yesterday and a little today. It's a quick read for capital-L Literature. The premise really grabbed me: Ellis, a 21-year old college student, is held at gunpoint. She escapes from the experience unharmed, but completely changed. The encounter occurs at the very beginning of the novel, so the story is really about how she responds--in unpredictable, conflicting ways. She does everything a victim is supposed to: she files a police report, collaborates on a sketch of the assailant, looks at mug shots, sees a therapist. But her world has been turned upside down, and she flounders, avoiding her boyfriend's calls, telling outrageous lies to strangers, and turning to a few solicitous men for answers. She flies home to see her parents and ends up in the Philippines on a medical mission with her mother (a nurse). This could have been a gloomy, depressing book, but Vida's sense of humor is finely tuned. Ellis's roommate (not a friend, Ellis tells us, just someone from whom she rents a room) leaves little poems accusing Ellis of shirking her chores, and these are hilarious. Rather than dismal, I found it a hopeful book, and a surprisingly light read for such heavy subject matter. Oh, and Ellis is an art history student, Holly, so though it's not a huge part of the book, there are references to art history throughout. I definitely recommend this book and will have to check out her second novel.

Tournament of Books 2008

The Morning News has published their lists of books for the Tournament of Books 2008. And here they are:

Run by Ann Patchett
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
Petropolis by Anya Ulinich
Ovenman by Jeff Parker
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
You Don't Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem
New England White by Stephen L. Carter
Remainder by Tom McCarthy
The Shadow Catcher by Marianne Wiggins
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño
Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name by Vendela Vida
Shining at the Bottom of the Sea by Stephen Marche
What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman
An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England by Brock Clarke

Some interesting ones on there. Anyone read any of them? Run by Ann Patchett pops up here again. And I might take a look at The Shadow Catcher, a fictional book that uses Edward Curtis, a photographer whose goal was to document Native American cultures as part of the background story. His photographs were somewhat controversial because he would dress his subjects up in traditional costumes with traditional props, even if the people were more assimilated into the "modern" world. I wrote a grad school paper on him so I think it would be interesting to see how this book portrays him, even if its fictionalized.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Relin

Wow. I just finished this book. I hardly know where to begin. What an amazingly interesting story. Greg Mortenson is a man who decided a little over a decade ago to single-handedly take on changing the Middle East. During a failed attempt to summit K2, Mortenson wandered lost into a small village in Northern Pakistan. After being entranced with these impoverished people, Mortenson promised to build their children a school. At the time, they would kneel in the dirt and practice their multiplication tables writing with sticks in the dirt. This one promise of a school turned into what is now the Central Asia Institute founded by Mortenson.

Three Cups of Tea details his tremendous journey from the side of a mountain to building many schools throughout Pakistan and Afghanistan in order to secularly educate the children of the region. His belief is that if we help educate the children there, they will have options and will not have to be educated in schools run by religious extremists. Therefore, the ideals of the Taliban and other extremist groups of that region will simply die out with future educated generations. Mortenson's influence in the area has not only built schools, but women's vocational centers, and proper water supplies. He actively promoted education for girls and women so they would not have to live naively in their husband's shadow. They could become empowered and whatever they wanted to be.

The book was incredibly interesting and filled with details about the cultures Mortenson encounters regularly on his trips to the Middle East. I learned more about the Middle East from this one book than anything the American media has published since before 9/11. The story was moving and really makes you want to support Mortenson's cause. The old saying goes, "one person really can make a difference." Well, it is truly amazing what this one human being has accomplished and continues to accomplish. The book is pretty long and I felt like maybe there were a few details that could have been more glossed over or condensed. But because the overall effect of the book was so intriguing, it makes you keep reading on. Read this book. And then tell more people to read it.

I have long ignored nonfiction books as something to read in my spare time. I think often I look to books to escape stress from everyday life so I typically don't want to read things that I find difficult, sad, "boring" or disturbing. Yet, I've enjoyed the last several nonfiction books I've read and found them to be none of the above. Perhaps I need to rethink my preconceived notions about the nonfiction genre. :-)

Edited to add: I meant to mention that Mortenson spent much of his childhood growing up in Africa with his family. The whole section about his childhood reminded me of the book The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, one of my all-time favorite books. I've also had the book Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi on my bookshelf for a couple years now. I may get around to reading it now. It is about a small group of women in Iran who gathered secretly to read forbidden Western classics.

Trying to get caught up...

Very recently, I had 12 books on my stack from the library. I'm down to 4 now because I've been very diligently reading. What else is there to do w/snow on the ground and frigid temps?

I've read a couple books that were on the best seller list. I read LOTS of best sellers. Sometimes I wonder how they got on the list. I think it's because some author's last book was a best seller so they get a free pass on to the list w/the next one.

Beverly Hills Dead by Stewart Woods is the latest in a LONG series of his best sellers. I liked this one because it gave some of the back story on a number of his characters that have appeared in his other books. I agree w/Allison when she says that the writing tends to get a little mediocre once an author has written several books in the same series. Woods is like that in this Vance Calder,(his character), Hollywood series about Hollywood, actors and their wealthy existences. There's ALWAYS a murder or two and always lots of comments on clothes, homes , cars, restuarants etc. of the rich and famous characters. Beverly Hills Dead is one of Woods' better efforts in his typical trash for the masses fashion.

The Senator's Wife has been on the best seller list recently as well. It was OK. Apparently, Sue Miller, the author, has written other best sellers. After reading the wife, I'm not eager to read her others. The Senator's Wife is all about how she copes w/her charming but philandering politician husband and builds her own life beyond all his affairs. The wife has a profound influence on a young newly married woman who moves next door who later has a profound influence on the Senator's wife! I imagine extra marital affairs can be life altering but the book was all a bit too dramatic.

On to the non best sellers. The very best book I've read recently is My Enemy's Cradle by Sara Young. Set in Nazi Occupied Holland, it's about a young girl who finds herself pregnant. She doesn't know where to turn and manages to get into the Nazi sponsored program for spreading the Aryan race called the Lebensporn(I think). The girl goes off to an unwed mother's home set up by the Nazis to take care of girls who are priviledged enough to be carrying their offspring. While at the home, she receives the best of care all while trying to figure out how to escape to save herself and baby before she gives birth. A really spellbinding read.

Robert Harris has written historically based novels like Fatherland and Enigma which were set in WWII. They were fascinating. His new book, The Ghost, is set in today's world of U.S./ British politics/Iraq. I hung in there through his rants concerning the CIA and waterboarding torture as well as others, hoping the book would become a wee bit more intriguing but he had more to say about the current state of our world than I really wanted to know. I read to escape not to have the current world political mess thrown in my face. I just wish someone else would read this book and let me know if it's Harris' thinly veiled view of Tony Blair/ George Bush and Halliburton's roles in our world.

I've read two books in the last week that had psychics as main characters. Apparently, in the psychic world there are "listeners", "healers", "finders" and others w/different psychic gifts. It was a happy coincidence that I read Pandora's Daughter by Iris Johansen and Blood Dreams by Kay Hooper right after one another because I could understand the psychic jargon used in both books. Johansen has written tons of murder thrillers in a long career and I've loved them all. Each book is stand alone w/new characters and new thrills. I always wonder how prolific authors come up w/all their ideas for vastly different books. I've just discovered Kay Hooper who has written a murder series about a special unit in the FBI that uses psychics to solve crimes. Blood Dreams is the first book I've read by Hooper. I had a hard time putting it down while reading about a nasty serial killer and the psychics' efforts to catch him. The ending was a real disappointment where she didn't even identify her killer and very blatantly set up her next book in the series. Too many loose ends and too commercial for me.

I think I need to request Hiaasen's Hoot and Flush from the library. I know I'll be entertained and have a few laughs. I just have to get through the last four books in my pile first....

More Mysteries

I re-read the first three Jane Jeffry mysteries by Jill Churchill--Grime and Punishment, A Farewell to Yarns, and A Quiche Before Dying. I read these ages ago, so I'd forgotten who the killers were. Anyway, I enjoyed reading them again. Jane is a widowed stay-at-home mom with three kids, and ends up involved in mysteries in her Chicago suburb. She and her friend Shelley poke around, digging up gossip and domestic facts that elude the police. In the first one, it winds up being important that most people vacuum with their back to the door (something that doesn't even occur to hottie detective Mel VanDyne). Grime and Punishment is about the murder of Shelley's cleaning lady, A Farewell to Yarns starts with a visit by Jane's friend, a master knitter (and Jane crochets an afghan throughout), and her horrid (uninvited) son. In A Quiche Before Dying, Jane and her visit mother (and Shelley as well) take a writing class that ends in murder by poisoned quiche (more common than you might think!). Lilah loves these books, too, incidentally, because they all have kitty cats on the covers. She'll carry one around, happily saying "Kitty cat, kitty cat, meow." So cute. She will also climb into her chair and "read" them.

Anyway, these were (I believe) some of the earliest cozy mysteries, first published in 1991 (I think--Lilah wandered off with the book and I'm not sure where she put it). Jane and Shelley are entertaining, and the housekeeping/childrearing content isn't the least bit boring (at least to me, since it's stuff I do, too). Jane's budding relationship with Mel VanDyne is handled well, I think, and her kids are great. The mysteries get less tight and the editing a little less stringent as this series goes on. I'm not sure I've found a series where this isn't true, though, and favorite series for me are often as much about visiting old "friends" as they are about reading a great mystery novel. Even less stellar entries in the series (I think she's on #16 or so, so it's a while before they lose a little something) are fun for me.

I'm now reading Death at Daisy's Folly by Robin Paige, the third Victorian Mystery. I love it. It takes place at a house party, which is so Gosford Park (one of my favorite films ever). Expect a review soon!

I'm Back!!

Boy, Howdy! It's only been at least a year since I've posted anything but guess I'm back in the mood. It isn't that I haven't read anything because that will never happen. Being very uncomputer savvy certainly has a lot to do w/it.

I just finished Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. Read it in one day! It's a beautifully written, captivating story about a group of wealthy, mostly business people who attend a dinner party and are all kidnapped by a bunch of "socially responsible" terrorists. One of the dinner guests is an opera diva who pretty much rules the kidnapped roost. There's romance and intrigue in big doses w/an ending twist I never saw coming. If anyone else has read Bel Canto, I'd love to know what you thought of the ending. Ann Patchett has a new book out called Run which I'm eager to read. The only reason I read Bel Canto was because it was mentioned in the review for Run. If Run is as good, it'll be a real winner.

I also recently finished 6 Sacred Stones by Matthew Reilly. This is a sequel to his swashbuckling adventure 7 Deadly Wonders. Both books are david vs goliath stories where the underdogs perform death defying feats and manage to succeed. Well, mostly. The Deadly Wonders had one huge suspense filled adventure after another much like the Sinbad the Sailor movies I saw each Saturday afternoon when I was a child. 6 Sacred Stones picks up where 7 ended but the ending most definitely leaves you clamoring for more.

I read two of Carol's recommended Susan Kandel books featuring the LA ditzy biographer cum detective. Unlike Carol, I thought her clothes the best part of the books; they books really weren't my cup of tea but they passed a couple wintry afternoons.

Three Shirt Deal by Stephen Cannell, yes, of TV series scriptwriter fame, was a quick entertaining LA cop murder mystery. For a while, it was hard to tell the good guys from the bad but Shane Scully, the main cop character, sorts it all out even while dangling from a roller coaster by his belt!

One last comment for Allison. I LOVE any and all Carl Hiaasen books and look forward to reading both Hoot and Flush. Thanks for reminding me Hiaasen had written these young adult books.

I Am So Boring!

I am, it's true. I read two more books, but just two more in the Pauline Sokol series by Lori Avocato. Nip, Tuck, Dead and Dead On Arrival. I hope it's not super annoying, but as I review books in a series, I don't like to reveal too much. That way, if you decide to pick up the first one, I haven't revealed something that happens in Book #11 that spoils something in #1. Anyway, I enjoyed both of these. The series begins with A Dose of Murder. Reading the whole series in quick succession, I'm probably more critical than if I had read one per year. It's more obvious how limiting the insurance investigator job is from a mystery standpoint, since all the murders are going to have to do with insurance fraud. Avocato's Ranger counterpart, Jagger, is very mysterious and doesn't have a ton of character development because, well, that's what happens when you have a character whose big thing is being mysterious. She did reveal something about him in Nip, Tuck, Dead, but the implications still haven't been revealed in Dead On Arrival, so I think she's trying to get a lot of mileage out of this tidbit. But these are minor quibbles in what I think is a pretty entertaining cozy/humorous mystery series. Also, Pauline is attracted to Jagger, but she has one guy per book she's also interested in. This is a little doofy, but that's okay. If you can't wait for Fearless Fourteen to come out, pick up A Dose of Murder and see how you like Pauline!

Vacation Reading Round-Up

Lilah and I got the stomach flu on our travels to California, so I read A LOT for two reasons. I didn't feel well enough to do much of anything else, and Lilah was feeling crummy and wanted to be held while she napped, and she napped a lot. So here it is!

Death at Gallows Green by Robin Paige: This is #2 in the Kate Ardleigh series by Robin Paige, the nom de plume for Susan Wittig Albert and her husband. Beatrix Potter is a character, and I wonder if the research for this inspired Albert's Beatrix Potter mystery series that I love so much. I enjoyed the first, Death at Bishop's Keep, but liked this one even better. I'm told that this series eventually gets a bit tiresome, but not yet. A constable is murdered, and Kate and her new friend Beatrix Potter pursue an investigation, as does Sir Charles. The authors do a good job of invoking Victorian England, and the historical setting is not distracting in the least. Kate is very likeable, and the subplot about Kate's various admirers is sort of fun, given all the misunderstandings. Kate's friendship with Beatrix is fun, as are the references to Beatrix Potter's stories. The mystery is well-constructed, not obvious, but not out of the blue either. You could certainly read this one without reading the first, but you wouldn't have the background on how Kate comes to live at Bishop's Keep in the first place.

The Stiff and the Dead, One Dead Under the Cuckoo's Nest, and Deep Sea Dead by Lori Avocato: Since these are #2-4 in the Pauline Sokol series (beginning with A Dose of Murder), I'll review them together. I read A Dose of Murder quite a while ago, and was fairly entertained. This is the thing. This series was probably pitched as "Stephanie Plum but with a nurse-turned-insurance-investigator instead of a lingerie-buyer-turned-bounty-hunter." It is really derivative. You could write a list of characters in the Stephanie Plum books and find a corresponding character in the Pauline Sokol books. Instead of Grandma Mazur, there's Uncle Walt as the token elderly sometimes-sidekick. Instead of Lula, the plus-size retired 'ho, there's Goldie, the Creole transvestite. Instead of Joe Morelli, the "normal" love interest, there's Nick Caruso. Instead of Ranger, the mysterious, dressed-in-black master bounty hunter who serves as mentor/love interest, there's Jagger, the mysterious, dressed-in-black master investigator who serves as mentor/love interest. Instead of a Hungarian mother who has dinner on the table right at six, there's a Polish mother who has dinner on the table right at six. And these are just the similarities off the top of my head. Avocato doesn't do wacky/madcap as well as Evanovich, but the books are entertaining anyway, if you can get past the Plum parallels. In The Stiff and the Dead, Pauline goes undercover to investigate insurance fraud at a hospital. In One Dead Under the Cuckoo's Nest, she goes undercover to investigate insurance fraud at a mental institution. And in Deep Sea Dead, she goes undercover to investigate insurance fraud on a cruise ship. So you can see that the insurance fraud investigator job is more limiting than a bounty hunter one. And these are written as traditional mysteries, unlike the Stephanie Plum books, and you KNOW the murder has something to do with insurance fraud. Either participants in the fraud are killing each other, or someone found out and is killed, etc. All this might make it seem as though I didn't like the books, but they're actually enjoyable. Avocato writes snappy dialogue and engaging characters, and the books are a nice diversion if you're waiting for Fearless Fourteen to come out. Good fun!

Bubbles A Broad and Bubbles Betrothed by Sarah Strohmeyer: The first in this series is Bubbles Unbound, which introduces Bubbles Yablonsky, a single mom who is trying to parlay her eight years of education at Two Guys Community College into a reporting career. Bubbles was born in bred in her steel-town home of Lehigh, Pennsylvania, and her fashion sense runs to big hair and spandex. Strohmeyer has a gift for wacky humor, and Bubbles is a lot of fun. She's brash, street-smart rather than book-smart, and so darn motivated and earnest you just want to hug her. These two entries in the series (#4 and #5) are entertaining reads. Bubbles's skill as a reporter is improving, her relationships with other characters in the series progress, and there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. This is a fun series.

A Watery Grave by Joan Druett: Joan Druett is the author of many non-fiction books related to nautical history, and she decided to parlay this knowledge and research into a mystery series. Half-Maori Wiki Coffin is the sleuth, though he's briefly suspected of the murder. Once he's cleared, the sheriff deputizes him to do some detective work as he joins the fleet of the American expedition to explore the South Seas. The expedition is actually real, though Druett explains in an author's note that she invented several characters and one ship for the purposes of the novel. Her research is clearly thorough, which makes for occasionally dry reading, but lends authenticity to the proceedings. Wiki is a well-written character, and he has to deal with racism from several quarters, including the sheriff who makes him a deputy! The plot is well-wrought, with lots of red herrings and plot twists, and the solution is not in the least obvious, though there are lots of "a ha!" moments as you realize that various occurrences and details are connected. I enjoyed this, the first mystery in the Wiki Coffin series, and I'll be looking for #2, Shark Island.

Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig: This is the "authorized" sequel to Gone With The Wind (to distinguish it from that non-authorized gem of modern literature, Scarlett). I should have put a sarcasm alert before the Scarlett reference. Anyway, I imagine the Margaret Mitchell heirs are hard-up for cash and authorized this book to drum up sales for GWTW. One review I read said something like, "Was it strictly necessary to re-write GWTW from Rhett's point of view? No. Is it fun anyway? Yes." and I agree. I thought McCaig did a nice job. I probably wouldn't have picked this up myself, but my mom had it lying around and I was running through books like crazy during the stomach flu thing. We learn a lot about Rhett's background that isn't in GWTW, and no doubt many liberties are taken. I do have the urge to read or rent GWTW again, as it's been years and things were hazy for me. I thought the book moved well and I was sucked into the plot and historical setting quite well. Great literature? Eh, not so much. But a diverting read. I read one amazon review that was basically an impassioned defense of Melanie. The reader gave the book one star because of one scene in which Melanie does something the reader insists she never would have done. Hoo boy. So, if you liked GWTW too much, you might not like this book, but if you didn't like it at all, you won't be interested. If you're in that narrow category of "Yeah, I read GWTW and it was good," I recommend this book. Otherwise, you're in for 500 pages of either boredom or anger. And I'd wait till it's in paperback, too.

Bell, Book, and Scandal by Jill Churchill: This is a late entry (#14?) in a well-established cozy mystery series, possibly one of the first in the genre. I used to read these Jane Jeffries mysteries and came across this one in Borders. I picked it up because I had vaguely fond memories for Jane Jeffries books, liked the title, and liked the setting (a mystery writers conference). I wasn't disappointed. The first few chapters are a bewildering account of Jane buying a new car and preparing for the conference. They meander and don't really seem to belong. I think they're pages that in earlier books, back when her editor still actually edited her books, Churchill would have written for herself as background but not published. Eh, that can happen in long series, and I was willing to overlook it. The story really gets going a few chapters in when Jane and best friend Shelly arrive at the conference, and this part is so much fun, you won't care about the clunky opening. Jane and Shelly are likeable sleuths and the conference is a fantastically fun venue for a mystery. Lots of crazy suspects, and Jane's attempt to get her mystery novel published is character-advancing and interesting. The first in the series is Grime and Punishment, and if you're looking for a light cozy mystery series, you can't go wrong with Jane Jeffries. I have to pick up some of the others I've missed.

Skinny Dipping by Connie Brockway: This is a contemporary romance novel putting on airs by calling itself "women's fiction," whatever that is. I think that's the PC way of saying chick lit. Mimi, a tele-medium who reports to callers what their dead friends and relatives tell her, is in her forties and well into a life of "letting it slide," with no real relationship, few possessions, and her life's only constant, a summer home on a Minnesota lake where her crazy extended family spends a few months every year. To say it's obvious that Mimi will find a guy and some kind of ambition is an understatement, but that's okay. Mimi herself is hard to relate to, since most of us want things, which she doesn't seem to do. The imminent sale of the family home, Chez Ducky, pushes her into close quarters with a workaholic, germaphobic businessman and his son. There's not a ton of suspense here, but this is a surprisingly enjoyable read because the extended family on the lake sections are so engaging. The ending drags a bit with a clunky denouement, but if you're looking for contemporary romance with humor and a fun wacky family setting, this one is worth picking up.

Daddy's Girl by Lisa Scottoline: Scottoline does legal thrillers, which I read from time to time, and she's very good at suspense. This one has all the plot twists you could possibly want, and more, and was hard to put down, despite a sometimes-annoying subplot about her interfering family and frankly annoying boyfriend bogging things down. Nat Greco is a law professor waiting for tenure. Her colleague Angus asks her to guest-lecture at his class for prison inmates. While Nat and Angus are there, a riot breaks out and Nat finds a dying prison guard whose last words are "Tell my wife it's under the floor." Nat gives the wife the message, and the wife is later shot, her house ransacked. Evidence points to Nat, who with Angus's help, bolts from the police and the killer at large. The premise is intriguing, and the plot moves fast. I enjoyed this one, though I tended to skim the parts with Nat's interfering family and was relieved when she finally kicked the boyfriend to the curb (among his many endearing qualities is a scene in which Nat calls him from jail, only to have him answer with a "We're in the middle of a game. Call you later!" and hang up without asking what she wanted. Seriously, ESPN rules this guy's life (and the lives of her brothers and father), and it's pretty obvious she's going to dump him eventually). Anyway, it was a good diversion from the stomach flu.

Lamb by Christopher Moore

The full title for this book is Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, which is good, since if you are offended by the title, you can just skip this book. The "author's blessing" at the beginning of the book says something like: "If you came here for humor, may you laugh; if you came here to be offended, may your ire rise and your blood boil," which I thought was really cute. I really enjoyed this one. Christopher Moore is sometimes a bit juvenile with over-the-top scatological and sexual humor, and there were some parts in this (as with all his books) at which I rolled my eyes. But overall, I enjoy his humor, a melange of satire and one-liners, and I did in this book as well. Here's the premise: A slightly inept angel named Raziel is charged with resurrecting Biff who is called Levi, who is asked to tell the story of Jesus (here called Joshua, after the Hebrew rather than the Greek form of Jesus' name) as he knew him in childhood. Raziel and Biff stay in a Holiday Inn, where Raziel becomes addicted to television and Biff sneaks the Gideon Bible into the bathroom to get caught up on what he's missed. Biff begins to tell his story, interspersed with modern day scenes with Raziel. To be honest, I expected Biff's bible-reading to lead to some sort of conflict, but that well was left untapped. That was fine, since there was plenty to keep my attention in Biff's gospel. Biff is the less-than-holy sidekick in this story: he happily helps Joshua understand sin by experiencing the joys of an array of harlots, and he (sometimes reluctantly) accompanies Joshua on his trip to self-discovery via eastern religious figures. I found myself getting caught up in the journey, and I thought it was well-told. Clearly, Moore did a lot of research to make his narrative ring true, and as the Passion approaches, the story turns surprisingly earnest.

In short, if the title makes you chuckle, I recommend this book to you. If the title makes you angry, and you enjoy a good bout of self-righteous indignation, I also recommend this book to you.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen...and more

I've been reading, just not getting around to posting about it. :-) Our book club pick for January was Water for Elephants. I was glad to be pushed into reading this one. I have been meaning to get around to it for months now and just needed a little incentive. All I really knew about it was that it was the story about a man being in the circus.

It's actually a very well-written tale of a man's life in the circus circa 1930. As a young man, Jacob Jankowski leaves his studies at Cornell after losing his parents in a car accident. He runs away and hops the rails which turns out to be a train for a fledgling circus. The book alternates between present day with Jacob as a very old man and his past days in the circus. The flow is pretty smooth and the characters, including the animals exceptionally well developed. A love story emerges that leaves you hoping the characters end up together.

As I've said before, I enjoy learning about new things while reading fiction. There was an author interview in the back of my book revealing the in depth research the author did on the history of the circus in America. And many of the animal characters and things that happen at the fictional circus were taken from actual events. The elephant in the book is a combination of two elephants Gruen read about. It makes the story that much more interesting to know these things really happened (including an elephant sneaking off and drinking the whole supply of lemonade). A word to any animal activist readers: there are several scenes of animal cruelty in this book. While I wouldn't say you shouldn't read it, you might want to prepare yourself for that part of the story.

I definitely recommend this one. And everyone I've talked to who has read it, loved it, including everyone in my book club who read it.

I've finished the second Percy Jackson book, Sea of Monsters. This was a very good sequel, almost better than the first because it concentrates a little less on character development and more on the story. In this story, Percy must battle a Cyclops in order to return the Golden Fleece to Camp Half-Blood. Another fun update of Greek mythology. And I'm looking forward to continuing the series.

I received The Intellectual Devotional by David S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim for Christmas. I am really enjoying this book! It has a different tidbit of knowledge for each day of the year. Each day of the week has a particular subject (Monday=History, Tuesday=Literature, etc. The book starts with ancient history and works its way toward more modern trivia as the year progresses. Each day covers a particular topic such as Plato, Alexander the Great, Venus de Milo, The Harlem Renaissance, etc. The section defines the topic, puts it into the context of its time period and at the end gives fun facts about the topic. I've found it very interesting and a nice review of things I learned about in school. Or I'm learning about things I should have learned about in school. ;-)

I also finished a really great book about sensory processing issues called Sensational Kids by Lucy Jane Miller. The book discusses Sensory Processing Dysfunction (SPD). It explains the different types of sensory processing disorders, and then goes into a-day-in-the-life story of a child with each type. Very fascinating and educational. I have read a few books on the subject to educate myself in the wake of learning my daughter Ella has sensory issues. I found this one to be most informative and very well-written for a parent's understanding.

Okay, I think that has me all caught up. I've been listening to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer on audiobook. I'm about 2/3rds through it and enjoying it. I only listen to it every now and then so it'll take me a while to finish it. But I'm finding this book much easier to listen to than The Accidental (I was one of the only people on the planet to not like this one).

Now, I'm in the position of deciding what book to read next... :-)