Passing along a review...

Awhile back I posted a few books from my Bookmarks Magazine that sounded interesting to me. One of them was the Cliff Janeway series by John Dunning. "Booked to Die" is the first in the series about "a tough, book-loving homicide detective". Based on my recommendation, my mom read the whole series. She said the first three books were good and interesting. They talked quite a bit about the technical side of book collecting. And although the last couple were still good, there weren't quite as good because they weren't focused as much on the book part of the series.

I haven't read any of these yet, but hope to start the first one sometime in the near future. It's on my must-read list. :-)

I'm about 50 pages into The Shadow of the Wind and am enjoying it so far. I'll post a full review when I'm finished!

Hopefully, coming soon to a blog near you!

A post from Holly!! My thanks to Allison and Kirsten for keeping this blog going in my non-reading stage. :-) We are moved into our new house and I am in the process of unpacking. Sadly, Andrew shoved all my book boxes to the basement. I'm not really sure what he thinks will come of them down there. Since, well, I have a plan for them, of course, to go on nice newly purchased bookshelves in our bedroom once we buy nice new bedroom furniture. Um, who knows when that will be. So here's hoping that someone paid attention to my amazon wishlist and maybe I'll get some fun books for Christmas.

But in the meantime, I shall be writing a review in the next month at least! I know you are all on the edges of your seats! I joined a book club! A real live book club! I've wanted to do this for years and just haven't had the right opportunity. My good friend Claire, who happens to live around here, has been going to a book club for about 5 or 6 years now, and she asked if I wanted to join. So I'll hopefully be attending their January meeting. The book is The Shadow of the Wind by Caros Ruiz Zafon. It received great reviews on both the Barnes and Noble and Amazon websites. I'll let you all know what I think!

So mysterious!

I have been reading, just not posting much about it. I've mostly been on a mystery kick:

Jane Austen mysteries by Stephanie Barron. Since posting a review of the first, I've read #2 (Jane and the Man of the Cloth) and #3 (Jane and the Wandering Eye) and they did not disappoint. There's something a little poignant in knowing Jane Austen's biography when reading these--I know how many years she has left to live, and I know the outcome of her romantic entanglements. But somehow, this doesn't detract from the enjoyment of the stories, which is a credit to Barron.

The Flaming Luau of Death by Jerrilyn Farmer. This is the most recent (out in paperback, anyway...I don't buy mysteries in hardback) in her series about Madeline Bean, a party planner in LA. She has two fun assistants, and her parties always end one way...with police tape and a chalk outline. Seriously, who would hire this woman to plan a party after a half dozen or so The first in Sympathy for the Devil. I rather like these, and this latest was very enjoyable.

Re-reading the Diane Mott Davidson series. The first is Catering to Nobody. These are about Goldy, a caterer with a son who goes from around 10 years old into his teenaged years. She gets married during the course of the series. Each book includes a handful of recipes, some of which are really excellent. I have mixed feelings about these. I always enjoy them, but there are little annoyances. For example, in every book she has Goldy look in the mirror and describe herself, which is a pretty lame device. In every book, she brings up the thumb that her ex-husband broke in three places. Arch (her son) can be a real pain in the patoot, but she puts up with his moodiness and flat-out jerky behavior. She uses adjectives like there might be a shortage soon. And a lot of her causes of death are really convoluted, on par with the terrorist plot in Snakes on a Plane for sheer plausibility. That said, I like them anyway. Maybe I cut her some slack because I *adore* her recipe for Grand Marnier Cranberry Muffins, but I like Goldy, and the investigations are always interesting. So if you're looking for a new series to try, give the first book a read and see how much these things bother you. I can obviously get past them, since I'm re-reading the series for the umpteenth time.

That's it for now!

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

I just finished this book, and I have to say I don't think it lived up to its reviews. (Sorry, Holly!) It never drew me in, and I had to make myself finish it. The characters were all extremely sad and self-centered, which made the whole book feel one-dimensional. I also found it completely unrealistic since societal attitudes about Down's syndrome had already begun changing in the 1960s.

Feed your habit...

I just found this cool site where you can trade your used books for other ones. I think the only cost is $3.99 for shipping the books you select to your home. There's no charge to mail your used books to others. Here's the site: http://www.bookins.com

A Little Too Mysterious

I finished Pride and Prescience by Carrie Bebris a few days ago, but hadn't really known what to say about it. It's the first in a series in which the newly married Mr. and Mrs. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice solve mysteries. I thought the premise sounded cute for a cozy mystery series, and I really wasn't expecting great literature or anything, just an entertaining mystery novel. It started out pretty well. The Darcys find Caroline Bingley wandering in a disreputable street, acting very strangely, and other odd happenings follow. There were some rather over-the-top characters, but I was willing to look past that. The writing was fine, but suffered in comparison to Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen mysteries. It was a quick read and very light. But then she brought in this occult element that just didn't really fit. I've read mysteries that successfully bring in the otherworldly, but it really didn't have a place in a continuation of a Jane Austen book. And frankly, the solution was pretty...lame. So, I'm not sure yet if I'll read the next in the series. For now, I'm reading the second book in the Barrons series and really enjoying it.

Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor

I finished this book last night. It's the first in a series by Stephanie Barron that purports to be "edited" by the author from long-lost journal entries and letters written by Jane Austen. This is somewhere between the light "cozy" mysteries and and an actual Jane Austen novel in feel. I have to say, I enjoyed it quite a lot. I wasn't sure what to expect, and I was a bit skeptical of the set-up, which includes some footnotes to fill in things from Jane's life specifically or her time period generally. It was just fun, and I was sucked into the premise quite easily. Barron, I thought, is quite a good writer, and makes it believable that the writing is Jane's. Jane is exactly as clever and witty as you'd expect, so the book isn't in the least dry. The mystery is complicated and the supporting characters well-drawn. It took longer for me to read than a typical cozy mystery, but that's not a bad thing. It was just a bit more dense and with a less modern feel to the writing. I have the next few books in the series as well, and I'm told they just get better. I'd certainly recommend it to mystery lovers and Jane Austen fans. But make sure you have hot chocolate in the house--Jane drinks it with breakfast every morning, and each mention sets off a craving :)

I'm nearly through with Pride and Prescience, the first in a series by Carrie Bebris in which the newlyweds Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy solve mysteries. This is a much lighter and breezier series, but enjoyable nonetheless. Review when I'm done.

For the kid in you

I'm reading Molly Moon's Hypnotic Time Travel Adventure. I love children's books, and I enjoyed the first two Molly Moon books quite a bit. The first is Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism. Molly is raised in an orphanage and ends up finding a book on hypnotism. When she turns out to have a natural talent for it, she ends up thwarting an evil plot. If you love Harry Potter and are looking for something in a similar vein to read before Book 7 comes out, these are very cute, and at around 400 pages each, pretty substantial (though they're grades 4-6, I think, so they go fast). Molly is a likeable heroine, and the other orphanage characters are a nice supporting cast.

A Little Fun

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this series here before, but I just finished Owl's Well That Ends Well by Donna Andrews, and I think some of you might enjoy her series about Meg Langslow. Meg is a blacksmith, but there's not much technical blacksmith stuff in the books. They mostly center on Meg, her actor/professor boyfriend, and her crazy family. The first is Murder With Peacocks, which is a very enjoyable read. The premise is that single Meg is involved in the planning of three separate weddings. Each bride has her own specific quirks. Oh, and there's a murder :) The investigation is entertaining, partly due to the enthusiasm of Meg's father, a doctor, who is just tickled to be in the midst of all the excitement. Occasionally, I'll look around on amazon for new (to me) mystery series, and I found this one based on their recommendations and really enjoyed it. The subsequent books have been fun as well.

My book club is reading The Alchemist, and I just got my copy, so I'll start that soon. I've also decided to start the Darcy mystery series (the first is Pride and Prescience, I think) by Carrie Bebris and the Jane Austen mysteries by Stephanie Barron. I'll post reviews as I finish them.

From Harry Potter to Encyclopedia Brittanica

I haven't posted lately, but that doesn't mean I haven't been reading. I recently finished the latest in the Harry Potter series, The Half Blood Prince. I enjoyed the book quite a bit, but I feel like an idiot for not figuring out who was the Half Blood Prince sooner.

On a slightly more highbrow level, I also just finished The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A.J. Jacobs. It is exactly what the title says it is, a recounting of A.J. Jacobs' quest to read the Encyclopedia Brittanica from A to Z. The book is organized in encyclopedia fashion with alphabetical entries of varying lengths. This makes it a good book to read in spurts, because you always have a convenient stopping point. Jacobs shares with the reader the knowledge he acquires about each topic as he reads it, in particular, the weird and strange facts buried within the Brittanica. It was a surprisingly funny read.

Book review - An Assembly Such As This

I finished An Assembly Such As This by Pamela Aiden. This is the first in a trilogy that tells the Pride & Prejudice story from Mr. Darcy's point-of-view. I thought this would be really interesting since P&P doesn't give you much insight into how Mr. Darcy goes from completely dismissive of all country society (including Lizzy) to saving her family from ruin and falling in love with her. But as it turns out, I think she gives you all you really need. I enjoyed this book, although it was much too long. This should be one book, not a trilogy. Ms. Aiden isn't a great writer. I would describe this as above-average fanfiction, honestly. Ms. Aiden adds some elements to show Mr. Darcy's character and circumstances. Some of these work, and some are clunky. His conversations with Bingley are interesting, and some of the P&P scenes she shows are cool to see with his thoughts revealed. The clunkiest ones are when he talks to his horse and dog and this whole ridiculous thing where his valet ties his cravat in a new way and this other guy is really jealous, which just seemed stupid. And she went on and on about the dang cravat for like two chapters. The political stuff that's alluded to could have been really interesting, but I don't think it's handled all that well.

Do I recommend this book? Hmmm. Die-hard Jane Austen fans like me may enjoy it despite it's shortcomings. I am interested enough to want to read the other two books. Definitely buy it used, though, or get it from the library. This is not a full-price from B&N book :)

Other Jane Austen related series to check out: Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen mysteries, in which Jane Austen solves mysteries (these sound really fun) and Carrie Bebris's Mr. and Mrs. Darcy mysteries. Both series sound like lots of fun, and maybe the genre change to mystery negates some of the issues I had with the Aiden book.

Ha! See, Holly, I read a new book :)

More Jane Austen, Not Less

My mother-in-law gave me An Assembly Such as This, by Pamela Aiden. It's the first in a trilogy that tells Pride & Prejudice from Darcy's point of view. She loved it, but I haven't read it yet. Just wanted to alert fellow Jane Austen fans that this is out there :)

Hmm.....

Kinda slow lately. Any good books out there?

I just finished Deja Dead, the first book in the Temperance Brennan series by Kathy Reichs. I enjoy the tv series Bones on FOX and that's based on the Brennan character. I'll probably read a few more in the series. I thought some of the technical descriptions in the book were a little dry and come off much more interesting when you have the visual of the television to go with them. But overall, I enjoyed the book.

I have the third Bubbles book sitting around from the library that I need to finish in the next week or so and then I might delve into The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I have a coupon to buy it this weekend from Barnes and Noble and well, all my other books are packed away for now. :-)

Interesting coincidences

So I haven't finished any books lately, but I am in the middle of the second Bubbles book, which I am enjoying for its silliness. Bubbles visits Amish country. Quite entertaining. Coincidentally, I received my latest Bookmarks Magazine in the mail a week or so ago and read it cover to cover. One of the books it reviewed as an interesting read was Rumspringa by Tom Shachtman. He is the man who also created the documentary "A Devil's Playground" which I believe was nominated for an Oscar. Then 20/20 had a show on this week about Amish gone bad. It's so strange that all in a week's time three Amish related things have popped up in my world. Not that I'm particularly fascinated by the Amish. It's just interesting how coincidences pop up sometimes....

Here are some books that I thought sounded like they might be good that were also reviewed in Bookmarks:

Theft by Peter Carey--a novel set in the art world and about art forgery

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen--a novel about a man studying to be a vet who runs away to the circus in the Depression-era

The Bookwoman's Last Fling by John Dunning--a detective book in the book world. Part of the Cliff Janeway series.

The Stolen Child by Keith Donahue--a science-fiction book about a boy kidnapped by changelings who then take his place in the real world (or something like that). I'm not super into science fiction but this one is touted at a fairy tale for adults and sounded entertaining. (Allison, I thought this sounded like a book you might like.)

If anyone reads these before I have a chance to, I would love to know what you thought of them.

On a streak...

I have finished three books in the last week and a half! Go me! I read Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich. I really enjoyed it. I like that she brought in a couple new characters with the gay funeral directors. I laughed picturing Grandma Mazur prancing around like Mick Jagger, and sort thought "Eww!" to Lula's outfits. But I was quite entertained by this one. Either my expectations for her books have been lowered or I feel like she has gotten out of her rut she was in for books 7-9. I also read Bubbles Unbound since Allison and Carol both recommended it. I was pleasantly entertained by these characters as well. And I plan on reading the rest of the series.

The third book I finished was The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. I was really enthralled with this book. It starts in the mid-1960's and goes through to late 1980's. Dr. Henry and his wife have twins, a boy and a girl. The boy is perfect and "normal" and the girl is born with Down's syndrome. Due to events in his family history, the doctor feels that the girl would be better off at an institution. And that there would be less grief for him, his wife and son if they believed the baby had died at birth. The doctor lives with the secret that his daughter is alive and well and living with the nurse he asked to deposit the baby at the institution. The nurse could not fathom leaving the baby in such a place, and chose to raise her in a different part of the country. The book is written with every few chapters alternating between the doctor and his family and the nurse and the little girl. It flows well and I really liked how the chapters switched back and forth. I would recommend it as a good read. It's also a quick read.

I keep saying I'm going to read The Lost Painting and there it still sits on my bookshelf. I really do want to get to it, bu I think it reminds too much of my college reading since its about one of the artists in my thesis topic. So even though I find the book interesting, its hard for me to think of it as light reading. I may move on to the next Bubbles book next. ;-)

Summer Re-Runs

Okay, we've been a little slow here at the Bookshelf lately. I'm not helping, either, since I've been stuck in a re-reading rut. I'm hosting my book club next week and I haven't even bought the book! I'm hoping they'll be too distracted by my wonderful cooking to notice :) All my "new" reading lately has been childbirth/early childhood stuff (and baby name books!), and maybe there's just not room in my brain for anything else.

So, I thought I'd try to start a little bit of discussion. What books (if any) do you re-read, and why? If you're not a re-reader, why not? Here's my list:

Harry Potter: I secretly really, really want to go to Hogwarts. But reading these is the closest I can get :) I love visiting the world JK Rowling constructed. The books are rich and full of detail, and really just delightful to read. The characters are well-drawn and believable, and even though I already know what's going to happen, the getting-there is so much fun that I can read them over and over.

Jane Austen: I love reading about all the social rules and who follows them or breaks them. I love Austen's gentle satire of social conventions (which you could easily miss by skimming) through making characters ridiculous with dialogue. And every time I get to the end of Pride & Prejudice, I'm so happy that Lizzy & Mr. Darcy finally got together.

Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next Series: My inner English nerd loves the wordplay and literature references, but those couldn't stand alone without the entertaining characters and clever situations. Plus, I've always wished I could literally enter my favorite books, and I think the way Fforde manages this is an impressive feat of imagination.

Kate Atkinson: I love her writing. I bought Human Croquet on the bargain table of Barnes & Noble without having heard of Atkinson, and I loved it. And that's not even her best book! Her sentences are just a pleasure to read, and I enjoy the unfolding of her intricate plots.

Gregory Maguire: Even his "not as good" books are fun retellings of fairy tales. It's the familiarity of a story you've heard since childhood, but with variations. I think my favorite of his is Lost, which incorporates Jack the Ripper and A Christmas Carol, if you can believe that.

Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit: Because I'm a big nerd, that's why.

HItchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (and sequels): Because sometimes, you need a little insanity.

Janet Evanovich: It's nice that Stephanie Plum's life/career/family are so much crazier than mine :) Even in the less stellar books in the series, you're always guaranteed to laugh out loud at least once.

Rita Mae Brown's Mrs. Murphy series: Because there's something comforting and lovely about animals talking to each other and solving mysteries, even if the mysteries aren't all that interesting.

Dorothy Cannell: Cozy mysteries at their finest. An injection of Britishness, crazy family members, fun mysteries that make you wish you were poking around an old mansion with lots of secret passages.

Jennifer Crusie: Her contemporary romances are engaging enough to re-read. Welcome to Temptation and Manhunt are really the best.

There are more, I'm sure, but these are the most frequently re-read for me.

On My Bookshelf...

Bubbles and other laugh out loud novels...

On Allison's recommendations, I started reading the Bubbles' series by Sarah Strohmeyer. They're not quite as good as Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, but they're an easy and entertaining read. And, yes, at times, I even laugh out loud. I've read four of the five books so far and am going to pick up the fifth at the library in the next week.
Bubbles is a really ditzy blonde hairdresser who as part of her divorce settlement attended junior college (Two Guys) to be retrained for a new career. After failing tons of courses over 8 years, she finds that she's a natural for reporting. After all, what is a beauty parlor anyway but a den of gossip! She has a brilliant daughter who dyes her hair with koolaid and a hot boyfriend named Steve Stiletto. Strohmeyer admits to creating Bubbles at the kitchen table of Janet Evanovich. Definitely you can see Evanovich's fingers in this one.
The other two authors that I really enjoy reading that make me laugh out loud are Christopher Moore and Carl Hiasen. Holly introduced me to Christopher Moore with The Stupidest Angel and her Mom introduced me to Carl Hiasen. Both of them have characters that are out there to say the least. I think Moore is a bit more unhinged with his plots than Hiasen, but both of them write very entertaining and fun novels. These are all great summertime reads as they're light, hilarious and entertaining - just the way, summer should be!

Better get started!

Britain's librarians have posted a list of books to read before you die right here.

I think I went to a really good high school (go, public education!), because I have read 23 out of 30, many of them in high school. I hadn't heard of Birdsong or The Master and Margarita before. A few of these I just haven't gotten to. And I just have to say, "The Lovely Bones????? Are you kidding me?" Man, I hated that book. Actually, I liked it until the convoluted, tacked-on ending, which ruined that book for me. Ugh.

Need a Laugh?

Boy, have I got the book for you! On my flight back to Wisconsin, I read Early Bird by Rodney Rothman. The guy next to me kept giving me sideways looks and trying to inch away. I tried to smile reassuringly and explain, "It's this book! It's so funny!" Yeah, he thought I was a loon. This is the memoir of a comedy writer who loses his job at the age of 28. Lost as to what to do next, he decides to test-drive retirement out in Florida. At first, he's perplexed by the old folks up washing their cars at 6:15 in the morning, 4:00 pm dinners at value buffets, and the ladies who can play five Bingo boards at once (he can barely manage one). But he settles into retirement, gaining acceptance into the exclusive clique that hangs out by the condo pool and joining the shuffleboard team. Laugh-out-loud funny and achingly poignant. A totally satisfying reading experience. I've been recommending this to everyone I know. It's 244 pages and a quick read. Read it! Seriously!

Still chugging away...

I recently finished The Kalahari Typing School for Men and The Cupboard Full of Life by Alexander McCall Smith (#4 & #5 in his Ladies Detective Agency series). Okay, I understand that when you write a series of books you will have to repeat a few things in the off chance that someone picks up a book out of order in the series. For example, it is always mentioned in the Stephanie Plum series about the unlucky happenstance of getting her cars blown up, etc. But Smith's repetition gets a bit annoying. It is mentioned probably no less than 3 times per book about Mma. Makutsi's (a supporting character in the series) 97% on her secretarial exam. I just find it getting to the point where some of the repetition bothers me. Also, Smith seems to drag the story out and then all of sudden gets bored with it and ties it all up in the last two chapters. Either speed things along throughout the course of the book, or make them longer!

I do still somewhat enjoy the books though. The Typing School was entertaining because you read the book really hoping that Mma. Makutsi has finally found the right man. And book five culminates in an event that Mma. Ramotswe has been waiting for for awhile.

I'm sure I will continue to read the series as I am pretty loyal once I start a book series as evidenced in my next book choice: Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich (the twelth book in the Stephanie Plum series). Even the Plum series wavered a little after about book 6, but it came around again in book 10. So I'll hold out hope for the Ladies Detective Series. There are either one or two more books already published in the series. So I'll get them eventually. After Evanovich, I think I'll read The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr.