The Iced Tea Diaries: A Book Blog

Nerd Do Well by Simon Pegg

2012-01-25T19:47:00.003-05:00

Simon entertains me through movies and tv. I wasn't as entertained by the book but I really didn't expect to be. Sometimes I think it's difficult for really funny people to be really funny in writing.

This is a memoir for Pegg (they keep getting younger - writing their memoirs) but he interspersed a pretty great piece of fiction with himself as the suave, handsome hero. The fiction story was more entertaining than the non-fiction.

Pegg is a nerd. Was a nerd. Probably will always be a nerd. He had a good concept of presenting how the nerdliness from his younger years morphed into work as an actor.

If you like Pegg, you will probably enjoy the book. I recommend the audio book though because his storytelling (of the fiction story) is quite .... enthusiastic.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

2012-01-20T09:46:00.003-05:00

Thank goodness for the Daily Show introducing me to all these new books. I don't watch The Office but Mindy was a good interview on TDS that I ended up borrowing her book from the library. Kaling is a writer for the Office and appears on it sometimes as Kelly.

This isn't a memoir or anything. It's basically just some funny essays about growing up and getting into show business. The beginning of the book is pretty funny but I'm not sure what happened towards the end. Although I do firmly agree with Kaling on the need to date MEN vs dating BOYS. Her list of differences between the two? Yep, agreed fully with.

Fun, light read. Laugh out loud moments (not as much towards the end. Boo)

The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

2012-01-16T17:26:00.002-05:00

This novel was more beautiful than I thought it would be. I heard about it through the New York Times Book Review and Oprah's magazine and was impressed that a first time novelist, at age 26, made such an impact. A well deserved impact.

I think what I liked best was the style she wrote in, how she left so many things unwritten and really did leave us without a lot of "facts". Everything feels like it's general except for the stories. I'm not sure that made sense....

Somewhere in the Balkans, we have no idea where, a doctor and her grandfather are introduced to us. From there, we follow both their paths via stories told to us from the past. The doctor, Natalia, explains to us how her grandfather always took her to the zoo to see the tigers. We end up back in her grandfather's village as he's growing up and learn about the Tiger's wife, a deaf-mute who has a special bond with a tiger that escaped from the zoo during the war. From there we travel with Natalia to another place where she is providing vaccinations to orphans and trying to find the place her grandfather died to get his belongings. The back to stories of her grandfather's encounter with the "deathless man" who Natalia is sure she is going to meet as well.

As jumbled as my telling of this is, trust me that the book weaves everything together in to one seamless, beautiful story of doctors, death and tigers.

The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

2012-01-15T20:18:00.002-05:00

The plot of this book intrigued me. What if something, Rapture-like, has taken millions of people one day? What happens to those who are left to deal with the chaos and bewilderment? This book isn't Left Behind. It's not religious and it doesn't even say it was the Rapture, just a day where millions of people vanished, all religious types, all beliefs, nothing to join anyone together.

First, what you get is very angry Christians who believe they should have been taken as well, and since they weren't, they make it their mission to unearth every deep nasty secret about those who were taken to prove that the phenomenon wasn't the Rapture. You get people who try to ignore the whole thing happened. You get people who lose their entire families in a split second and have to figure out how to survive. You get people who join cults to try and make sense of what happened.

This book is a story, of ordinary people living through something extraordinary, and not doing such a great job at it. We follow the Garvey family: Kevin, Laurie, Tom and Jill, who survived the event intact but end up broken apart. We also meet Nora, who lost her husband and 2 small kids and realizes that she is broken beyond help, no matter how hard she fakes it.

The ending gives some hope but the entire book is a sad read of people just struggling to live their ordinary lives that somehow fell off the tracks.

In The Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

2012-01-10T18:43:00.002-05:00

I've rediscovered the library, if only because they now offer ebooks and audiobooks. This is my first ebook loan and I devoured it. I heard about this book on the NY Times book review podcast and it piqued my interest.

The subtitle of this book is Love, Terror and An American Family in Hitler's Berlin. This book doesn't focus so much on Hitler as it does the Dodd family who ends up in Berlin as a result of the father's ambassadorship from President Roosevelt. It's amazing to think now, but thank goodness back then people kept diaries and wrote actual letters that could be saved. We just don't do that now. I mean, besides everyone and their brother posting stuff on the internet.

Dodd was an academic, his daughter Martha was apparently a bit of a slut for the times (we know this by her diary and letters). Dodd tried to be a good ambassador for the US, but once he and his family arrived in Berlin it became clear how bad things were, even if it took Martha a little longer to not celebrate with the Nazis. The US seemed to only be focused on Germany's repayment of debt and not caring about how Hitler was running things.

Most people, hopefully, know from history class about Germany and the start of WWII. You don't get a huge history lesson with this book even though it describes quite a bit of the disturbing events leading up to WWII and Germany's invasion of Poland. What you get is a regular person's account of living in this horrible place under the rule of Hitler. You get Dodd's depression at what he sees as his failure to be a good ambassador, even though he really did do what he could. You also see everyone else's complete lack of regard to the situation. It appalls me how many people in the US government turned their head to what Dodd reported, instead merely asking about the money.

It appalls me how easily Hitler gained power, how after his first "purge" of undesirable people (using the excuse of treason), Americans in Berlin commented in letters how "exciting" it was. Hundreds, if not more, people were pulled from their homes and shot in the back and it's "exciting"?? This is how evil triumphs. When good people fail to do anything. When good people turn their head and believe that since it's not THEM who is persecuted, it's ok. At some point, Dodd even notes that Jewish people are happy with Hitler, when he executed General Rohm.

It's easy to look back on what is done and wonder why things went the way they did. In a way, not a lot has changed with humans. We still have a tendency to look the other way when it's not us being harmed. We have a tendency to gang up on a particular group of people just because everyone else is (illegal immigrants is our new phase). And we still have a tendency to let evil triumph, all because we were just standing still.

The Outlaw Demon Wails by Kim Harrison

2012-01-02T19:59:00.002-05:00

Another Rachel Morgan/Hollows book, 6th in the series.

Rachel is a witch, who lives in a sanctified church with Ivy, a vampire and Jenks, a pixy. The formed the business Vampiric Charms to help capture demons and to deal with magical problems. But they have more than their share of problems of their own.

In the last book, Rachel lost her vampire boyfriend, Kisten, to a murderer and we still don't know who. She's still dealing with it when Marshall appears. He's a witch who helped Rachel out before and is looking for a job in Cincy. Possible romance? Maybe.

In this book, Al, the demon, is being summoned by someone to kill Rachel. She's determined to find out who it is and to stop Al from coming after her and her family. We get to meet Rachel's mom in this book and I hope she shows up in the other books too.

Fast paced and still entertaining. I really think this series gets better with each book.

Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: The Movie

2011-12-30T12:41:00.002-05:00

I finally got out to see this movie last night. This might be the first time I ever was meh about a book but really wanted to see the movie. It might have something to do with Daniel Craig.

My main issues with the book were the sexual violence which did get toned down in the movie, although not by much, and the slow moving, too detail oriented pace. My thought with the movie was that they would have to remove a lot of the details that I felt moved way too slow in the book. And they did! While the movie wasn't a fast paced movie (it felt like forever before the characters met up, but less forever than the book felt) it moved along quite nicely.

Craig and Mara were excellent in their roles. Although I admit to just enjoying Daniel Craig pretty much no matter what, he was a really good Mikael and Rooney Mara was a great Lisbeth.

I think in the case of this series, I'll forgo the rest of the books and just wait on the movies. I've already added the Swedish versions to my Netflix queue to see how those are in comparison.

On a side note, seeing as how the movie is set in Sweden in the winter, I was loving the knitted hats and scarves. I particularly liked Lisbeth's slouchy gray hat. Setting off to find the pattern ....

Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs

2011-12-29T12:14:00.002-05:00

While I love Bones, the TV show, I much prefer the Temperance Brennan books. She's not nearly as socially awkward in the books even though she's just as intelligent.

This was an almost 9 hour audiobook (the last 2 hours entertained me while deep cleaning my bathroom and bedroom - thanks audiobooks!) that is based in Charlotte, and centers around NASCAR racing. I didn't know this going in which is good. I'm not a NASCAR fan but this book kept the mystery interesting with only a bit of NASCAR related info.

A body turns up in the landfill behind the speedway, encased in asphalt in a barrel. People come out of the woodwork with speculation on who it could be: Cindy Gamble or her boyfriend Kale Levett, who went missing in the 90's. Could it be an Atlanta guy, Raines, who was supposed to be at the speedway and disappeared off the face of the earth? Add in idiot right-wing Patriot Posse members, the FBI and NASCAR fanatics and you got a mighty fine book.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

2011-12-21T14:38:00.003-05:00

A lovely audiobook read by Mr. Gaiman himself. I really enjoy it when he reads his own books, he just has that way about him.

Published in 1998, this is a good little story about fairies and regular folk. The audiobook was about 6 hours long so it seemed like a short little book. The village people of Wall guard their wall and the only gap in it very sternly because on the other side of Wall is the land of Faerie. Every nine years, faerie folk come and set up a market right outside of Wall and the villagers get to mingle with the faeries, who they otherwise ignore.

A villager and a faerie got together (*cough*) and a baby was born, named Tristran. He does not know the circumstances of his birth, being raised inside Wall with regular family. He falls in love with Victoria and as they are walking to her house they see a falling star. Desperate for any sign of affection from Victoria, Tristran offers to fetch her the star if she will give him anything he desires. She agrees. He goes off, through the gap in the wall and past the guards.

Tristran does find the star, and a slew of other faerie folk who keep the story moving along pretty quickly.

Another great book by Gaiman.

2011 Best of Books

2011-12-20T20:29:00.003-05:00

I attempted to read 50 books this year but as of today I'm at 44. BUT it turns out I've listened to a boatload more podcasts so in some ways I consider myself even.

Here are the best books I read in 2011:

Two Stephen King books top my year and one was so old I read it when I lived with my parents. Bag of Bones was a re-read and a wonderful one at that. The story changes when you age about 13 years. 11/22/63 was King's new book this year and caused me to sit for hours on end just absorbed in the story.

I really enjoyed the A Song of Fire and Ice series (first 2 books) more than I thought I would, although I think that was helped along by the HBO Game of Thrones series (NEEEEEEDDDD!)

The newest Dresden novel, Ghost Story, also topped my list this year but again, the anticipation for it helped a lot. This is really an excellent series by Jim Butcher and I encourage anyone to give it a try.

On a non-fiction note, I 100% recommend The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. The HeLa cells that have helped with chemotherapy and to cure polio came from a poor black woman named Henrietta. It's an amazing story that just needs to be heard.

Mary Roach always rocks my world and her Packing for Mars book gave more more tidbits and facts I need to gross out my friends and coworkers. Thanks Mary!

If you want to try Tina Fey's Bossypants, I suggest listening to the audiobook. Fey reads it and adds a lot to the experience. I realized I love that woman.

Looks like it was the year of non-fiction because Bill Bryson tops my lists with A Short History of Nearly Everything. Facts were my THING this year and entertaining facts are Bryson's specialty.

Jane Goodall wrote a wonderful book that helped me change my eating habits (or at least look at things more carefully). Harvest for Hope is a great book to start with if you want to learn where your food comes from and how to eat better for yourself and the environment (and no, she doesn't lecture about becoming a vegetarian).

Another series... sorry, but Kim Harrison's The Hollows (Rachel Morgan) series is really really good. For A Few Demons More was the last one I read and I need to get back to it. They keep getting better as you keep reading.

Getting back to basics, I recommend checking out Librivox.org and downloading some classics. I re-read the Wonderful Wizard of Oz this year and remembered how much I love that story.

Maybe my goals for next year should include more fiction that isn't part of a series?

Here's to happy reading in 2012!

Bag of Bones : The Movie

2011-12-18T09:58:00.002-05:00

The book is a favorite of mine, so I was was warily excited to see it brought to life even if it was a TV miniseries. Wary because I can count 2 King adaptations that are GOOD. Stand by Me and The Shawshank Redemption. My gut feeling is that these 2 are so good because they were based off of short stories. Bag of Bones is a huge book (although not King's biggest book) and I knew stuff would be cut.

First, I do love Pierce Brosnan. I do! But he is too old for this role! He's 58 and Mike Noonan, I think, was in his late 30's/early 40s. Pierce is still quite handsome, but just wasn't right. His acting was good but the maniacal cackling was a little ... campy. And excessive.

While I was expecting stuff to be cut, I didn't expect so much to be changed. It felt like it was changed to be shocking to the viewer instead of heartbreaking as it was in the book. Jo didn't get hit by a bus (really????). She died of an unexpected aneurysm while running to help victims of a car accident.

The "Once for yes, twice for no"? Oh so creepy and awesome in the book, happened WAY too soon in the movie and not in the right places. They lost the oomph that the phrase had. The history of the cabin was left out, as well as the name (Sara Laughs). It never even said where the story was set which I thought was weird. I watched this with my family and my sister's friend had to ask questions that should have been answered by the show. Heck, I was confused and I read the book several times.

The book was published in 1998 and the movie makers decided to update that by putting iPads and iPhones in nearly every scene. It irritated me to see that simply because I wouldn't think someone going away to a cabin in Maine and being haunted by ghosts of his dead wife and a dead singer from the 30's is going to worry that much about new technology.

The racism issues were completely erased. Along with the bonding scenes between Noonan and Maddie and the kid. Those were needed, in some shape, because it made no sense that the kid would just adore this old guy after meeting him once for less than 2 minutes.

And finally.... the kid's mom had her head blown apart by a bullet and less than 24 hours later watches this strange man murder another lady, and yet, the kid and Noonan go off hand in hand to go frickin' canoeing. WTF?

If you think it would be easier and less time consuming to just watch the show, delete it from your DVR now and go read the book. The book is a beautiful piece of literature that deserves the attention that you give it. It doesn't try to hit you with a bus or spurt blood all over your carpet. It takes your hand, gently guides you through a haunted and stunning love story. Please, trust me. You won't end the book wishing for those hours of your life back.

Shakespeare by Bill Bryson

2011-12-14T19:49:00.002-05:00

For someone who is so well known, there is really not much known about Shakespeare. You'd be hard pressed to find a person who didn't know of Shakespeare, which is pretty impressive for a guy who lived in the 1500s.

Bryson is such a good writer when it comes to fleshing out facts into something that is entertaining and memorable. Even he concedes that this is a very short book because if we're going on fact, there isn't much to go on. Shakespeare led a life off the papers, showing up only sometimes in court documents. We know he married young, had children and went to London for the theatre and wrote fantastically brilliant plays. Little else is known but much else is speculated.

Bryson tries to weed fact from fiction in this book and, when laid out as such, it's amazing to me how much is just guessed at about Shakespeare's life.

This is an interesting little book if you like the bard but you won't really learn a lot. But if it's facts you're after, they are here.

The Front by Patricia Cornwell

2011-12-10T14:28:00.001-05:00

I only got this because it was in the bargain bin. I really should have saved my $5.

This is an extremely small book (about 180+ pages) and contain none of Cornwell's characters that I normally care about. The plot was awful, the characters were awful and made me want to punch them. In short, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK.

Books into Movies!

2011-12-04T15:54:00.005-05:00

Although I didn't get the hype of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, I didn't think it was a terrible book. I just didn't think it was as great as what most people proclaimed.

Well, the new US movie trailer is convincing me to give it a chance as a film (Daniel Craig!). For me, this might be another case where the movie turns out to be better than the book. Limitless turned out that way. So we'll see. In the meantime, the trailer:

A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

2011-12-04T15:41:00.002-05:00

Finally finished this audiobook today. I'm not saying that in a way that is derogatory towards the book, but in a way of "I had time to finally finish!!"

Firstly, the audiobook was well done and I really enjoyed the reader.

Secondly, what an interesting book. Not so much in plot but in layout. Because it was an audiobook I couldn't flip back and forth to get things straight, so it might be easier in a real, hold-in-your-hands book. This isn't a complicated book either. What it really does is follow 2 characters, Sasha and Bennie. Bennie is a record exec who longs for the old punk rock days and Sasha is his assistant.

It sounds simple enough but the way Egan laid out their storylines was the most intriguing part of the book. Many places I was left wondering how we got to point C from point A but it usually became clear fairly quickly.

This review is sounding as confusing. Basically, we're introduced to Bennie and Sasha's lives through a series of, I'm going to say, short stories of other people's lives. These new characters somehow always connect back to Bennie or Sasha and managed to not only introduce a new character (that will show up later) but provide a substantial portion of Bennie or Sasha's life. It works amazingly well.

The characters themselves may not be amazing, some are even whiny and kind of annoying, but how the book was laid out and unfolded for the reader was worth it.

11/22/63 by Stephen King

2011-12-04T15:15:00.003-05:00

It's amazing how less monstrous books seem when they are on the Kindle.

Time is a funny thing. While reading this book, I kept remembering something I said to my mom, when she lamented about wishing her father (who died when she was just a small kid) was still alive. I said that would have changed everything, for one person to be alive when they weren't supposed to be. My grandpa was my grandma's first husband. It took my grandma's 3rd husband's stepson to introduce my mom to my dad. If my grandpa had lived? I, for one, believe things would be worse (I wouldn't be here....duh).

In 11/22/63, a time portal is found in a diner. The diner's owner was using the portal pretty frequently and made a decision that he had to save JFK from assassination. His logic was all well and good and he was rife with good intentions, but he didn't get the deed done before getting to old and ill to carry it out. So he passed it on to Jake Epping, a newly divorced high school English teacher.

The time portal always starts out on 9/9/1958. Always. For as long as the traveler is in the past, it only appears they are gone from the present for 2 minutes. In order to save Kennedy, the traveler would have to stay in the past for over 5 years (and age five years - this isn't magic). Which is exactly what Jake does.

I'll try not to give away spoilers but I'm putting this book on par with Bag of Bones. King has somehow turned from a scary horror writer into an epic storyteller. I'm not sure where the transition happened, although I'm thinking it was around The Green Mile.

Clearly a lot of research went into this, because it felt like authentic 1950's/60's. But how would I know? I'm eager for my mom to read this and let me know what she thinks.

You'll learn a lot about the butterfly effect in this novel, something I've always been intrigued by. The tiniest change or action by one can cause a huge chain of events somewhere else. A good time travel book expounds on this theory and King didn't disappoint.

Now, that I'm finished with the book, the only thing I keep thinking is "The road to hell is paved with good intentions". Was it really a good idea to try and save Kennedy? What kind of President would he have been? Clearly people assumed he would have been a great one. He's still talked about in awed tones. But no one knows. And frankly, it's probably best left unknown.

Bag of Bones by Stephen King

2011-11-04T19:52:00.002-04:00

This is my second read of this book, the first being when it came out in 1998. Upstairs in my parents house, reading at night, scaring the bejeezus out of myself in the dark. My second read is me in my home, with tears in my eyes, seeing the love story for what it is. This is not just a ghost story, it's a haunted love story. Age apparently brings wisdom.

I started reading this again in anticipation of the TV movie with Pierce Bronsan. I had a few hundred pages left to read tonight and decided to read a chapter or so once I got home from work. Which turned into me grabbing another mug of hot tea and reading some more. Which turned into me curling up under a blanket and forgetting I had homework and laundry to do. Which turned into....well, hello night time, where did you come from?? But I finished it. And laundry be damned.

Mike and Jo Noonan are a couple in love when Jo dies rather abruptly in the beginning of this book. Running across a parking lot towards an accident, an undiagnosed aneurysm bursts. We follow Mike through his grief, through his writer's block (he's V.C. Andrews with a prick) and back to his cabin at Dark Score Lake, Sara Laughs.

Sara Tidwell was a traveling musician who played at Dark Score back in the early 1900s. Untimely deaths were the rage then and the ghost of Sara continues her revenge on the residents of Dark Score.

Mike meets up with Mattie, a young widowed mother, and Kyra, her cute 3 year old daughter. And from there, we just spiral into a world of centuries of murder and ghostly vengeance.

I believe this is truly one of King's best novels. I don't say that lightly, as I rank several of his books among my top favorites. But this, this is a work of art.

Born Standing Up by Steve Martin

2011-10-30T17:24:00.002-04:00

A memoir published in 2007, I'm just now getting around to hearing it. Ah, audiobooks read by the author. Martin even sings in it.

I'm an eh fan of Martin. I have never seen The Jerk, loved The Three Amigos and really like his books. So I'm not sure exactly where I stand with him, I guess. Either way, this book is about his rise to fame in the stand up comedy world and it doesn't go much further than The Jerk.

Martin delves back to his life growing up in Waco, moving to California and getting his first job at DisneyLand. I had no idea that he was a magician (having learned the tricks at Disney's magic shop) and really never paid any attention to his stand up act (before my time). As he describes his time trying to become famous and what his act consisted of, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have found it funny. But for some reason, having listened to him telling me his story, I find him more likable and endearing. Go figure.

I'm not sure how the book would read on its own but I would highly recommend the audiobook just for the singing and banjo playing.

Diane: A Signature Life by Diane von Furstenberg

2011-10-21T17:26:00.002-04:00

I love reading memoirs, mainly because memoirs are not bios, but the stories the author wants to tell. Naturally, memoirs are usually happier endings, better memories and more outrageous stories.

This one is by Diane von Furstenberg. Her wrap dress and shirt dress made her a fashion icon and she details how she got to live out the American dream. She was born in Belgium in 1946 (same year as my mom!) and she is the daughter of an Holocaust survivor. Her parents split and she ended up spending time in Paris but longing to come to America. After marrying Prince von Furstenberg, she did just that, bringing with her samples of her wrap dress and shirt dress.

She is the "immigrant-done-good" story to a T, even if she was a Princess. Diane describes her rise to the top of the fashion world, but does go into how she fell out of it and ended up selling off her name in the form of licenses. She made some bad (naive) decisions but clearly she came back pretty well.

There's quite a bit of name dropping in this book as well as detailed travel trips. You really never feel sorry for her, even when things start going badly, because her version of bad is definitely not mine. When things are bad for me, I can't jet off to Bali and pick up a man. Or, at least, I haven't tried that....

Fun background for any reader who likes their fashion stories.

Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl

2011-10-03T12:02:00.002-04:00

I actually forget where I heard about this book, but any book about food usually ranks high on my list. The subtitle of this book is "The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise" and that's exactly what it is.

Reichl was the New York Times restaurant critic for 6 years and she went through various incarnations of herself to get in and out of restaurants without being noticed. Notice I said incarnations of herself vs disguises. As you read how Reichl (with help from her friends) puts together the disguises, she really embodies each person and finds that each person is really a part of her (some are kind of mean though).

As much as I love reading about food, I love eating it. My health problems cause me to have to avoid a lot of foods that sound wonderful so I live vicariously through food books. Reichl is a great writer with the ability to bring you right down at the table with her. It helps she includes several of her favorite recipes as well.

Better than reading about food is cooking it. Thanks to my dad, I can cook and bake pretty well and spend a lot of time in my kitchen. With the thoughts of the food from Garlic and Sapphires, I'm adjourning to the kitchen to come up with another great meal.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

2011-09-23T20:20:00.003-04:00

Borders up and died and I basically got this paperback for almost nothing. I never had any interest in this series (trilogy, I think) not because it's blockbuster bestseller but because it's a blockbuster bestseller. Make sense? The masses aren't always right (Hello Twilight).

I still don't think the masses are right. I read the entire book but I just didn't get the appeal for the majority of it. It seemed very slow going and didn't seem to find it's speed until near the end, but it was a good enough story that I kept reading.

The original Swedish title is Men Who Hate Women and boy howdy, that's an accurate title. Are all Swedish books this horribly violent?

Mikael Blomkvist is a journalist who is on trial and convicted of Libel against a bigshot financial guy. He didn't defend himself and takes the fine and jail time. In another place, Lisbeth Salander is a strange woman who is an excellent researcher and runs profiles for a security company. Lisbeth has issues but for the majority of the book, I didn't think she was likable. Maybe she wasn't supposed to be but I do kind of want characters to root for or something. Anyways, Blomkvist is hired by Henrick Vanger to spend a year out in the country and write the Vanger family history....oh and to unravel the mystery of the missing Harriett Vanger.

It was a decent enough story that really exploded towards the end. There's a serious debate going on in my head about whether to read the remaining books. To be decided....

Limitless by Alan Glynn

2011-08-27T10:57:00.003-04:00

This was originally titled The Dark Fields but was re-titled and re-covered with the movie stuff, which is a pet peeve.

I think I can sum this book up in one sentence: Kids, drugs are bad for you.

Actually, this was a pretty good book and I would even admit to wanting to try out the MDT-48 drug, if only to have a clean house and a banging career. But without the nasty side effects. Eddie Spinola is a massively down on his luck copywriter in New York. He ends up running into his ex brother-in-law on the street and is offered a little pill, the MDT-48, that Vernon swears will help Eddie out with all his problems. Apparently being a former drug addict makes it easy for people to just swallow random pills to see what happens. Which Eddie does and becomes hyper alert and scary smart.

Vernon is murdered and Eddie steals the rest of the MDT-48 stash from his apartment and proceeds to become a junkie all over again, albeit a wealthy, brilliant, stockbroker junkie. We know how this ends, everything has to come crashing down. And crash down it does, in a rather magnificent way.

Withdrawal from MDT-48 means death, so there's no illusions as to Eddie's fate. But perhaps the creepiest part of this story is when Eddie sees the the President of the United States on TV and sees the "alert, gorged MDT expression in his eyes". Well, we're all freaking doomed then.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I hope it keeps fairly well to the book but clears up some of Eddie's boneheaded decisions because for someone supersmart, he really is a moron sometimes.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

2011-08-14T12:25:00.002-04:00

Highly recommend everyone to read this book. I listened to it on audiobook (12+ hours) and it drew me in each time.

Henrietta Lacks was a black woman born in Virginia who unknowingly gave her cancer cells to Johns Hopkins Hospital. Back in the '50s it wasn't necessary, or even thought of, to ask patients for tissue samples for research. It was just done. When Lacks went to Johns Hopkins for cervical cancer treatments, the doctors took samples of the tumors and sent them to George Gey to work with. Gey had been trying to find ways to get human cells to live in a lab, with very little success. Lacks' cells turned the tide (and became known as HeLa cells) and are still living today.

This book has 2 sides: the good that the HeLa cells have done (the polio vaccine to name one very important discovery) and the Lacks family, who didn't know that their mother/wife had cells taken from her without anyone's permission. The Lacks family never received any money or any information about the HeLa cells and Skloot was determined to get the story out.

The whole research issue is an interesting one. The book brought up the case of John Moore, who found that his tissue was being used in research that would net the doctor a lot of money. He sued and was told he had no rights to his tissues and therefore could get nothing from it. This is based on the fact that millions of people, every day, leave behind tissue and cells at hospitals and doctor's offices and that tissue is what helps science proceed. As someone who has left behind a colon, thyroid and who knows what else after leaving a hospital, this amazes me. I always assumed tissue was incinerated but that happens rarely. Mostly it's stored and/or used in scientific research.

This is truly an amazing book and it's spurred me into looking at tissue research a little more in depth.

A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin

2011-08-11T19:24:00.002-04:00

I'm slowly trucking along with this series and am pretty happy that book two is done before the 2nd season of Game of Thrones starts. Once again, this is an old book so these aren't spoilers....

But I'll still give you time to go away.....

The beginning of this was....not boring, but maybe a tad slow for my tastes. Once I got midway through, things started picking up so fast I was forced to forgo my laundry and just sit and read to finish the book last night. Dany's story arc didn't do much for me, so I'll not talk about it.

Great battles are brewing as everyone and their brother (literally) are proclaiming themselves King. Everyone and their brother still hates King Joffrey and who can blame them. Tyrion is now dispatched to Joffrey's side as Hand of the King (formerly occupied by Ned Stark - he of no head). I have to admit that I am fully rooting for Tyrion at this point. Wits and brains are incredibly more impressive than brawn. It got him pretty far in this book, but notably, at the end of the book, Tyrion, fights in battle. Brave little man, whose men turned against him and tried to kill him.

Arya is another favorite. She is Ned's daughter who managed to escape King's Landing before it was shut down. Yoren, of the Night Watch, was trying to get her out of town to the Wall. Unfortunately, bad stuff happens and Yoren dies, leaving Arya and a few buddies to fend for themselves...and get captured and sent to Harrenhal as slaves. Spunky little girl ends up kicking some ass and escaping again.

Winterfell falls to Theon Greyjoy (who stupidly feels up his own sister without realizing who she is). Then falls again to Ramsay Snow of the Bolton house. Bran and Rickon are thought dead by everyone but turns out they're not. Which is good. Sansa is no longer Joffrey's betrothed but still a hostage at King's Landing and hello, is Cersei just really crazy?? Yes, I think so. Incest will do that to you.

Stannis mounts a battle against his brother Renly for the rightful title of King but Renly is killed by a "shadow" (this is where my distaste for fantasy stuff comes in) so Stannis tries against King's Landing only to have to pull back in defeat. There's another case of killer shadows coming from the crotch of the sorceress Melisandre. Sorry, but give me a break.

So we're left with plot lines moved forward, but quite a bit in most cases. People dead, some we actually liked. People gravely wounded and some just gone into the ether of "read the next book" fog.

And now I shall read the next book.

In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan

2011-08-01T20:43:00.003-04:00

I don't know why but I've never liked Utopian stories, they always severely rub me the wrong way. This little book is only 166 pages, and Utopian/hippie vibe aside, was pretty charming. On the surface it seems like a communal, hippie place where the narrator (no name given) goes about his days "writing" (or planting seeds, napping and walking) but the story ends up going deeper into human nature. Love and betrayal. And lots of whiskey and trout. With singing tigers.

Even for the far out, probably pot-induced, setting, everything comes back down to human nature and our wonderful ability to really hurt the people around us.

Utopia will never work as long as people are involved. Maybe that's my problem with it.

Ghost Story by Jim Butcher

2011-07-30T20:11:00.002-04:00

I can't even pretend to write this review without revealing spoilers so be warned now:

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Well, hell's bells. I was really really put off by this book at first. For some reason, I have no problem with magic and it's hijinx but I have issues with ghosts and heaven/hell stuff. Since Harry died in Changes, we know he's a ghost now. Fairly obvious by the title of the book. As Harry works his way through the "system", he's sent back to earth as a spirit to help his friends fight another helluva battle. Six months have passed since his death and bad things are overtaking Chicago since lunatic wizard Dresden is dead. (Important to note that his body was never found). After the entire Red Court was destroyed in the previous book, thanks to Harry, there's a big void to fill for evil.

Getting past the learning curve of the ghost world, this really started taking off as another great Dresden book. His magic comes back and he gets to lead another army to war...an army of spirits but hey, they fight well.

I ended up being pretty satisfied with this book and was even able to be surprised at the identity of Harry's killer. And SPOILER.....Harry's back from the dead! Thank goodness the ghosty stuff only lasted one book.

Side Jobs by Jim Butcher

2011-07-22T18:27:00.002-04:00

A nice little series of short stories featuring Harry Dresden. The new Dresden book comes out Tuesday so this made an excellent bridge between now and Tuesday.

All of the stories were good, some even told from Thomas' point of view, but the last novella, Aftermath, was the best. Told from Murphy's point of view, it takes place a few hours after the ending in Changes, where Harry died. It was a fitting story of the troops soldiering on despite the loss of their friend.

Short review, short stories. It was all good.

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

2011-07-16T20:29:00.002-04:00

After watching the first season of Game of Thrones on HBO, I had to dive into the books. Seeing as how I refuse to read fantasy type books, this was a leap of faith. And it was a good one.

GoT isn't the regular fantasy series that I despise. This is incredibly well-written and focuses heavily on the characters. I get the dragons, kings, castles, and all that. But it was the people that made me want to read the books. Ned, Dany, The Lannisters, they are all such good characters that you cannot possibly be ambivalent about any of them. You either love or hate them.

Several things were different between book and TV show, but I really really liked reading this and getting all the extras that couldn't have been done on TV.

Since the books are so old, these can't count as spoilers. Book one ends with Ned beheaded (and millions of people wanting to kill Joffrey), Winterfell at war and a Lannister captured. And lest we forget my favorite, Dany and her dragons.

Really looking forward to the next one.

You Grow Girl by Gayla Trail

2011-07-15T19:43:00.002-04:00

I wanted to do a garden this year, but stopped short because I also seem to ruin them. I did a bit of container gardening and only got basil in return. I found this book and just wanted to see if I could get gardening figured out.

This is labeled as a punk rock gardening book, but I think that's a stupid label for anything. It actually had a lot of great information about gardening, if you have a big yard or just a rooftop or fire escape. There is a lot of info about plants, what is good where, edible pretties, soil and much more.

I've dogeared this book to pieces already and am happily planning a real garden next year.

The Devil's Cloth by Michel Pastoureau

2011-07-06T14:06:00.003-04:00

I think this could have been a really great book but I felt that it fell a little short. It's a very small book, only about 90 pages, and it's lacking in pictures or illustrations that would have really demonstrated the points the author was trying to make.

He goes into depth about the history of the stripe. He does explain in pretty good detail how the stripe was seen as repugnant, only to be worn by outcasts of society (convicts, servants, prostitutes, etc). The book traces the path of the stripe throughout history and finally into its acceptance (with the help of America and her flag). The stripe soon became patriotic and even romantic.

The author seems to jump to some wild conclusions without answering his own questions ("Oh well, I guess we'll never know" type of writing). He also seems to contradict himself, or at least stretch a little, like putting children in stripes in the same vein as

Packing for Mars by Mary Roach

2011-06-26T14:51:00.002-04:00

Is there any other author who is so willing to throw themselves into their research as Mary Roach? The woman drank recycled URINE for this book, for goodness sake.

As always, Roach's book left me with facts to horrify my friends and family. This is why I love her so. Packing for Mars looks into the space program, and all the very unattractive things the prospective astronauts have to go through in order to be launched into space.

Heroes, yes, they are. Awe-inspiring, yes, they are. Even more so now that I know all the trouble they have to go through just to poop in space. A lot of money is spent researching how astronauts use the restroom, how they eat, down the to tiniest thing. Now I also know that astronauts get steak and eggs on launch day - because those foods are almost 94% digested, which leaves little to be....released later.

Someday, NASA wants to plan a trip to Mars, our closest planet. Which is still millions of miles away. We've landed unmanned vehicles on Mars, but they want a manned mission. Initially, it seems to be a one way trip, which there are volunteers for. Now they are trying to figure out how to get enough food to Mars so that the astronauts can come home. It's incredibly interesting to read.

And I still have plenty of fun facts to scare friends and family.

French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano

2011-06-10T19:40:00.002-04:00

I've read other reviews of this book and have been amused at the people who are offended that Guiliano is being superior and calling Americans fat. News flash, Americans. We're fat. Instead of getting offended, I jumped right into this book. It's helpful that I've always loved all things French.

Guiliano didn't pen a diet book. She simply tells us what French women do differently and then gives us advice on how to incorporate it into our lives. Everyone who has ever crashed dieted knows that it's short term and doesn't really work (and potentially does more harm later on). The whole restricting everything lifestyle change rarely works either. Very few people can stick to that for long. What Guiliano suggests is making moderate changes and still being able to indulge in the food that you love.

Her first suggestion is to keep a food diary for 3 weeks, no calorie counting, just writing down everything you eat and drink. Then you analyze your weak points, where you eat out of control portions or just plain overeat. Then for 3 months you start pulling back. Make portions smaller (actually, for America, that basically means just eating NORMAL portions and not our steakhouse portions that we're used to).

Guiliano includes several recipes that sound great. I've already started the food diary and managed to increase my water intake by a few glasses a day. I really do feel perkier.

With all my health problems, I was looking for ways to be healthier. I may not be able to change genetics but I can control what I ingest. And if I lose a few pounds with it, I won't complain.

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson

2011-05-30T18:26:00.002-04:00

I ignored the fact this guy wrote Men Who Stare at Goats, because that was a book I just couldn't finish. His interview on the Daily Show sealed the deal for me and I got this book. HIGHLY entertaining look at psychopaths and other mental illnesses. Which sounds weird, I know.

One of the theories that Ronson worked with here is that higher ups in the business and political worlds are psychopaths. He wasn't able to fully validate that theory but I have no doubt it's true. Bob Hare came out with a Psychopath Test. A checklist of sorts that allows people to determine who is a psychopath. But like all psychology, it's not that black and white. Almost all of us could tick off some of those traits that make a psychopath and there's no real threshold to determine who "fails".

Ronson also covers the fact that children are being diagnosed with disorders that technically are not mental disorders that children should have and he explains (accurately, I think) how drug companies are taking advantage of this and becoming drug pushers to parents.

I ended up reading this in just a few days, it was really that engrossing.

Official Book Club Selection by Kathy Griffin

2011-05-26T20:27:00.002-04:00

An audiobook read by Kathy herself this was less funny than I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed this, and I really like Kathy's comedy but this book kind of proves she's a real person. Weird, right?

This is a little memoir (6 hours+) and I'm left with "Wow, she works hard" and "She's ballsy and just doesn't give a shit what people think" and "She was married? And he kinda sounds like a loser". I've only sometimes watched her show Life on the D List but I have a feeling I'll be watching more. She traces growing up, her family issues, her marital issues, issues with her weight and body image, and well, everything. She truly holds nothing back.

Not AS funny as I thought it would be but still a pretty good book, so go listen to it.

Buried Prey by John Sandford

2011-05-21T09:07:00.002-04:00

I. Love. Lucas. Davenport.

Buried Prey is the 21st Davenport book and it took a different turn than the others. We start off with the recovery of 2 somewhat old corpses of little girls. Marcy Sherrill is the head cop in charge but it turns out this case was Davenport's way back in the day, when he was a patrolman.

When Davenport "remembers" the case, we get a large portion of the book being set back in the Davenport early years. It was a nice touch to see how Lucas started and to see he was kind of a douchebag (he still IS a little but we like him more). Pre-money, pre-stable relationship, pre-detective.

The book does come into the present day to track the killer. There are some very "all-choked-up" moments in this book which really made it an excellent addition to the Davenport series.

Dark Horse by Tami Hoag

2011-05-18T18:23:00.002-04:00

Another book I just found in my bookcase. I swear my bookcases are like my own secret bookstore.

Good little mystery set in the horse world. Who knew that world was so backstabbing, strife with jealousy and murder? It is in Hoag's version (and perhaps the real one). Elena Estes is a cop who was severely injured on the job. Her actions cost the life of another cop and she has since retreated into misery and suicidal thoughts. While staying with a friend and taking care of his horses, Estes is approached by Molly, a little girl who is worried that her sister Erin has been hurt. After some indecision, Estes takes the case to search for Erin and ends up with more than she bargained for (to take a cliched phrase).

Pretty fun book to read with a surprising ending.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum

2011-05-10T19:07:00.002-04:00

Another Librivox recording.

You think you know the Wizard of Oz? You don't. I read this long ago when I was young and was amazed at the difference between this book and the movie. Listening to it again makes me wonder why more of the book wasn't adapted into the movie. Such great scenes that would have added a lot.

The basic premise is still the same. Dorothy and Toto are flung away from Kansas in a tornado/cyclone and end up in Munchinland, crushing the Wicked Witch of the East. Her travels are much the same with the scarecrow, the tin woodsman, and the lion. What I like about the book is while each character still wants their heart, brain and courage, the plot makes it very obvious that they already have what they need. The movie seemed to make them needier and less....great than the book.

They have lots of adventures including a land of hammerheads and a land of nothing but china figures.

The book is worth reading just to get what the Wonderful World of Oz is supposed to be.

Oh, and the slippers weren't ruby slippers. They were silver.

The Beat Cop's Guide to Chicago Eats

2011-05-08T19:36:00.002-04:00

By Sgt. David Haynes and blogger Christopher Garlington.

Part of the Librarything's Early Reviewers deal, this was such a quick read that it only cost me a few hours and a glass of wine. And having finished reading it....I'm hungry.

Hungry for things I don't normally eat, like hot dogs and Polish sausages. Hungry for Mexican food served from a window and Italian food that transports you to Naples. Hungry for Caribbean food and soul food. And hungry for breakfast at greasy spoon diners. Indianapolis has some pretty good places to eat at for little money but just based on this book, it sounds like Chicago is the place to be.

The book has coupons for some of the places they talk about, so really, you're getting a pretty good deal.

And I'm still hungry.

Bossypants by Tina Fey

2011-04-28T20:23:00.002-04:00

Since I've only listened to Tina reading the book, I'm going to encourage everyone to just listen to the audiobook. She's hilarious, it's hilarious and even includes the audio to her Palin SNL sketches.

This is an autobiographical book but really really really funny. Covering her childhood, touching briefly on the scar on her face, her time at Second City to SNL and 30 Rock.

Did I mention this is funny??

Read it. Or rather, listen to it.

Fierce by Kelly Osbourne

2011-04-20T19:25:00.002-04:00

A very short and sweet audiobook gets a short and sweet review. Kelly reads the book and instead of just reading it, it really sounds like she's hanging out having a conversation with the listener, even crying when talking about her dad's accident that left him in a coma for 14 days.

Kelly gives advice on a little bit of everything and doesn't completely sound like a little rich girl giving advice to poor people. I have a soft spot for Kelly so of course I like this little book.

Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore

2011-04-19T20:33:00.002-04:00

It's been a long time since an audiobook made me laugh so much. Moore is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

In Bloodsucking Fiends, Jody, a pretty redhead living in San Francisco, is attacked and turned into a vampire. Her attacker leaves her under a dumpster with a boatload of cash and Jody has to figure things out on her own. She realizes that she needs someone to help her during the day. Enter Indiana boy, C. Thomas Flood.

When bodies start turning up everywhere Jody and Tommy go, the police get involved and things get hairy - in a very comical way.

Thankfully, there are no sparkling vampires in this world.

Gravity by Tess Gerritsen

2011-04-17T19:52:00.002-04:00

I haven't read any medical/suspense books in ages. My treadmill is next to a bookcase and I just pulled this out and started reading. I've been reading a lot of non-fiction so this was a great distraction. And we know how much I like my medical lingo.

Gravity leads us into the world of NASA as we watch Emma Watson and her team preparing to be sent into space to stay for 4 months on the ISS (International Space Station). Watson is a physician who is in the middle of a ugly divorce from her husband, fellow physician Jack. We can still see the hearts around them when they talk though...angry hearts but hearts nonetheless.

Circumstances occur that cause Emma to be sent into space earlier, with another team. Once there, it's routing space station stuff, until experiments start going wrong. What happens next is an outbreak of "something" that is killing astronauts very quickly and very gruesomely. Everything is fast paced and we learn what this killer bug is at a breakneck speed.

Pretty exciting and fun book to read.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

2011-04-06T13:18:00.002-04:00

What a great book for a nerd. Bryson really does try to cover nealy everything in this book, from The Big Bang theory to dinosaurs to human origins and human cells and DNA. This is definitely not an in-depth book on any of these subjects but it gives you enough of a peek into a everything that you can be prodded into doing more research on your own.

Science is a favorite subject for me to read about. There wasn't much of this book that didn't make me a happy camper (except finding out that if you've owned your pillow for more than 6 years, 1/10 of it's weight is live mites, dead mites and mite poop. Guh.). It's written for the layperson, you don't need to be a nerd to appreciate it.

As always, Bryson is a fun writer, making even DNA fun and exciting to read about.

Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy

2011-03-10T18:04:00.002-05:00

Subtitled as 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done In Less Time, this was a pretty short (2:40 audiobook) book that basically outlines how to get off your duff and get a move on, in work and your personal life.

Is it The Word? Probably not, but most of it did seem like common sense. I did use some of the suggestions already such as starting your day (or ending your night) by making a list of tasks that need to be done that day (or the next day). I know how necessary this is, but sometimes once I get to work, all hell breaks loose and there's no time. As Tracy says, MAKE TIME. I started doing this this week and it really did help focus me on what needed to be done. Tracy expounds on the fact that only 1-3 of your daily tasks are essential to your work/job. Working to identify those tasks and only doing those tasks is ideal but I couldn't see me trying this at my job.

I'm not going to continually tell myself I'm awesome, like he suggests, but I can tell myself that this little book was well worth reading and actually using.

Port Mortuary by Patricia Cornwell

2011-03-05T19:34:00.002-05:00

As an audiobook, I enjoyed this much more than her other books (as of late). The annoying characters (Marino, Lucy and Benton) didn't seem quite as annoying. Although I still don't care for any of them.

Scarpetta is working in Dover, fulfilling her obligation for accepting a military scholarship for college. Scarpetta is called back to the CFC when Lucy and Marino fly in to get her because a body in her morgue has suddenly started bleeding. What starts as something innocuous and simple turns into a drama-filled mess with Jack Fielding, her deputy in chief, the FBI and the government.

The book is fairly fast paced and only spans a day or 2 in Scarpetta's life. Although I have been disappointed in the last few Scarpetta novels, this one cheers me and makes me hope we're back on the right path.

Twelve Red Herrings by Jeffrey Archer

2011-03-01T18:16:00.002-05:00

Sometimes all I need are short stories. Archer created 12 stories that throw a twist (or red herring) into the mix. One Man's Meat... even includes 4 alternate endings. I somehow always choose the sad sack ending.

Do Not Pass Go was quite a good story about an Iraqi man just trying to fly home from Turkey. Cheap at Half the Price was a little....ballsy for a woman but also made me cheer for her. Never Stop on the Motorway has been told before, many many times.

There were only a couple of stories that caused me to go Meh, but the rest made up for those.

Doctor Who: The Jade Pyramid by Martin Day

2011-02-24T20:04:00.002-05:00

This was an incredibly short story yet I'm counting it as a book! I've only recently learned of and fell for Doctor Who and discovered the books out there as well. I grabbed this one as a first try.

Read by the 11th Doctor, Matt Smith, I think this went fast because the good Doctor was hyped up on something. He seriously talks FAST. Nonetheless, excellent little story about Doctor and Amy landing in medieval Japan in response to a faint distress signal. The come across a pretty kind and trusting man who shows them the Jade Pyramid kept at a shrine.

Chaos ensues, as it always seems to, with ninjas and samurai and robotic monsters. That 11th Doctor is certainly enthusiastic, eh?

Off to find more Doctor Who stories....

Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain

2011-02-23T21:24:00.002-05:00

As an audiobook read by Bourdain, he really puts some feeling into this. Which, makes sense since this book is ALL about naming names of the restaurant industry. While it doesn't seem that he holds back at all, sometimes it felt like he crossed over from edgy and provocative to douchebag (of which he has a chapter on who he considers douchebags).

He redeems himself some by following up on some of the anger and spitefulness from Kitchen Confidential by admitting his anger was misplaced or unexplainable. Although he still doesn't like Rachel Ray or Sandra Lee (no argument from me there).

Some chapters got a little tedious. I'm sure David Chang is awesome but I didn't care to know that much about him. I did really like the chapter on the fish butcher from Eric Ripert's restaurant having just read Ripert's book on his restaurant.

Even though I was making the universal "hurry up" sign through some of the book, I still enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who already likes Bourdain.

On The Line by Eric Ripert

2011-02-14T18:44:00.002-05:00

This book is a fairytale type of book for someone like me. I would love to one day travel to New York and eat at Le Bernardin. Will that ever happen? Unlikely. But in the meantime, I have this book. Filled with gorgeous photos of food and recipes that I could probably never recreate (although I am going to try the sweet corn sorbet in the summer), this book takes you behind the scenes of an incredibly successful Michelin restaurant.

We get the details of the kitchen, including all the positions, the stations, how each station works and each person who is the key to that station. We meet the executive pastry chef, the Chef de Cuisine (second in command to Ripert - the Executive Chef), and everyone who makes up Le Bernardin, including the waiters and maitre de. Everyone in the restaurant is clearly important to the success and Ripert gives everyone equal credit.

All of the details of the costs of running the restaurant, the charity work, everything is touched on in this book. Did I mention the gorgeous pictures of the food??

For A Few Demons More by Kim Harrison

2011-01-21T18:25:00.002-05:00

The fifth book in the Rachel Morgan series is probably the best. Beware of spoilers, they be ahead.

Rachel is a 20-something Earth witch who has been working ley line magic and dabbling in demon spells. Granted the demon spells were to save her friends, but demon spells leave smut and Rachel's aura is coated it in. Word has also gotten around that she is a demon practitioner. Weres are being murdered in this book and it's discovered that The Focus can actually turn people into werewolves. David, her alpha, has been sleeping with quite a few ladies and they've all been turned.

Trying to figure out how to deal with the Focus, Al the demon, Newt the crazy demon, Ivy's desperate need to have Rachel, blood and body, plus Trent's wedding almost proves too much for Rachel. With a lot of screw ups, we have to remember she is only in her 20s, she does manage to bring some peace to the fighting were packs and still have some good birthday sex with her boyfriend, vampire Kiston. (Wow...that scene.)

Things turn very very ugly and Harrison hints at the unthinkable....then does it. Main characters are actually killed off in book 5! We, as readers, had 4 books to really get to know these people and wow....good on you, Harrison

Already downloaded book 6 to read.

Harvest for Hope by Jane Goodall

2011-01-16T17:57:00.002-05:00

I fully expected to encounter a preachy Goodall telling me that I was a murderer, carcass-eater, and all the other niceties that vegetarians seem to call people who eat meat. But Goodall is smarter than the average vegetarian. She understands that people are different and that being preachy and judgmental isn't the way to save the world.

Instead, Goodall lays out the facts, bit by bit, and leaves it up to you to decide what to do. The facts are many and they are scary. I found myself unconsciously eating less meat while reading this book. She starts off the book with a celebration of food. Why we love it, why we need it and how the different cultures celebrate with it.

Then we get into some dire facts. I honestly had no idea of the extent of the plight of the farmer, no idea about genetically modified foods or how cows, chickens, pigs, etc are "harvested" for their meat. I already knew about the obesity issue in Americans, everyone knows this. But with some helpful suggestions from Goodall, it seems like something that is fixable. She has a chapter on becoming a vegetarian but she repeatedly states throughout the book to just eat LESS meat. The amount of energy, grain and water that is needed to support the meat industry is staggering and if everyone just ate less, it would make a huge difference.

Obviously becoming vegetarian would be helpful, but she says that even becoming semi-vegetarian is helpful. Eating meat only occasionally and eating meat that is organic and free-range shows your support to the farmers who are trying to make a living and make a difference in the world. Going to farmer's markets, buying local produces, buying organic, forgoing bottled water (apparently tests have shown that bottled water has some pretty nasty toxins in it simply because this area isn't regulated like regular tap (public) water is) and growing your own food are just a few ways to help keep the world healthy for the future generations.

The United Nations released a study showing that if we don't stop the degradation of the land, pollution, and overfishing of the seas, we would literally run out of food for the world's population by 2050.

Just reading the book is enough to spur people into action, to take the small steps necessary to protect the earth's food supply for many many more generations. This is a really motivating book.

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

2011-01-09T09:57:00.002-05:00

This quick read is a romantic fable centered around a traditional Mexican family. Fables are generally great exaggerations that are meant to tell how things come to be. This is no exception.

Tita, the youngest daughter of Mama Elena, is destined to never marry and to take care of her mother until she dies. This is the tradition of the family. Tita ends up finding love in Pedro, but is forbidden to marry him. Pedro instead marries Tita's older sister so he can stay close. A complicated mess, but somehow it works out.

Tita is a gifted cook and, through some fable-y magic, imbues her moods into her cooking. When she is happy and passionate, her food makes everyone passionate. When she is sad, everyone eating her food ends up crying and upset.

This isn't the type of book I normally enjoy and while it was entertaining, it's not in my top books. I appreciate the recipes given but they appeared right in the middle of the stories and just seemed odd.

What the Night Knows by Dean Koontz

2011-01-05T18:19:00.002-05:00

A gift card for Christmas brought this book into my home. I had recently sworn not to buy Koontz books until they got a little better, but my excitement over this won out.

And yay, this one is so much better. Koontz managed to completely creep me out, make me question strange noises in my home and do double takes at shadows. The climax of the book occurred at work on my lunch hour and he made me come so close to taking an extended lunch just to finish. Kudos, Mr. Koontz!

John Calvino is a homicide detective and we land right has he is entering a state mental hospital to find out why a 14 year old boy just butchered his entire family. Right from the start, we get a feeling of "That was weird. Why did he do that?". We find out that John's family was also butchered by a madman 20 years prior. That madman, Alton Turner Blackwood, seems to be coming back from Hell to start his murder spree again. A Hell that Calvino sent him to.

I had some frustrations with the book, mostly with the overly creative language used. Koontz seems to be more into lengthy descriptions of late, instead of straightforward writing, but I let it pass because the plot moved along pretty quick. Thankfully, unlike some of the Odd Thomas books, we don't have pages describing one object. My other frustrations came with the characters but as I kept reading, I saw that those problems were actually part of the plot and it made more sense.

I'm pretty glad I bought this book, I'm almost a believer again.

Persuasion by Jane Austen

2011-01-04T19:06:00.002-05:00

I'm not a romantic type of person. I don't read romance novels, swooning and clutching my bosom and wishing for Prince Charming. Which is why I never really read Jane Austen. Life isn't a happily-ever-after and I don't enjoy reading that it is.

I gave Pride and Prejudice a try a year or so ago and it was ok. Austen IS a good writer and her characters do have some serious flaws, even the characters you are supposed to be rooting for/swooning over. While listening to a CraftLit podcast, the podcaster announced we'd be listening to Persuasion. Ugh, I almost passed them all by.

While there is swooning and happily-ever-after, Persuasion turned out to be incredibly good and interesting and, might I say, exciting. Persuasion was Austen's last novel, published after her death. The main character, Anne Elliot, is a girl from a desired family, wealth and all. But she isn't a horrid person. In fact, she is much maligned and ignored by her own father and sisters, unless they needed something from her. She spent a good deal of time in the shadows, being helpful and ignored.

She was persuaded by her stand-in mother, Lady Russell, to not marry a certain Mr. Wentworth because his status would bring hers down. Years later, when she is 27 years old, she meets up with the now Captain Wentworth and finds she is still in love.

Drama drama drama and happy ending. But still in all, an excellent story with a heroine who is kinda normal for the times.

The Universe in a Single Atom by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

2011-01-02T15:05:00.002-05:00

I will admit it took me a long time to read this. Even though I'm a science geek, a lot of the concepts do go over my head. It doesn't make it less interesting, it just takes me longer to try and grasp the concept or just give up and move on.

HHDL takes some of the concepts of science and compares and contrasts them to Buddhist practices. If you are interested in either, then this is probably a good book for you. We're taken through the Big Bang vs the Buddhist beginningless universe, Quantum physics and relativity vs Buddhist emptiness, evolution vs karma, several chapters on sentient consciousness vs neurobiology and finally into genetics vs the entire human race.

In the concepts I did grasp and make notes on, HHDL makes excellent parallels between the scientific world and the spiritual world, something that the majority of religions maintain cannot happen. HHDL is all to happy to point out the similarities and encourage scientific progress, but with warnings of keeping the human compassion and ethics along for the ride.

HHDL has often said that every human on this earth is the same, and should all be treated with compassion. He was essentially proven right when the human genome was finally sequenced.

In his own way, he implores (nicely and gently) for society to get better educated about science so that we don't fear it and so that we do not cross a line. "We must be willing to be revolted when science - or for that matter any human activity - crosses the line of human decency, and we must fight to retain the sensitivity that is otherwise so easily eroded."

Stealing Buddha's Dinner by Bich Minh Nguyen

2010-12-29T13:33:00.002-05:00

I picked this up through Bookmooch because it sounded interesting. Frankly, anything involving food is interesting to me. I read cookbooks for fun.

This is a memoir, an account of Nguyen's escape from Saigon to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her dad made the decision to flee, in order to allow his 2 daughters a future that didn't involve bombings and war. They ended up in Michigan with grandma Noi and eventually, a stepmother Rosa and step sister Crissy. This is Nguyen's story - told through the lens of the 80's and the food of 3 cultures: her Vietnamese heritage kept alive by her grandma, her desire to be fully American and eat at McDonalds, and her stepmothers Mexican heritage, complete with tamales and sopa.

The 80's were an embarrassing decade, I know, I grew up in it. And I got a little secondhand embarrassment from reading this book. If only because I pretty much did the same things and tried to wear the neon and poof my hair up to the sky as well.

Nguyen was shy and "not pretty" so she kept to books. I related well, my best books were the Little House books and the descriptions of food from Ingalls kept me entranced as much as it did Nguyen.

Nguyen reconciles her childhood, understanding now all of the things that she couldn't grasp back then, like most people do when they grow up. It's a fairly quick read but satisfying...like McDonalds.

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

2010-12-26T19:14:00.003-05:00

As an audiobook, this was extremely well read by Stephen Briggs. Kept me entertained while knitting. Good Omens is about the Anti-Christ, good vs evil and prophet witches.

Aziraphale and Crowley are 2 angels on earth who quite like humanity and all our screwed-upness. Aziraphale is the angel on God's side, while Crowley is the angel on Satan's side. In the thousands of years of working side by side, they've grown fond of each other. So when it is time for the end of the world, neither of them are happy and make a plan to help avert it.

The child who is thought to be the Anti-Christ isn't, thanks to a mix up at the hospital. The real AC is having a grand time growing up with a normal English family and normal friends.

Things kick into gear when the Four Horsemen (War, Famine, Pollution - Pestilence retired due to the invention of penicillin - and Death) start the end of times. Everyone is on the hunt for the AC, to either stop the Apocalypse or to help it along.

Entertaining fantasy by Gaiman and Pratchett.

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

2010-12-12T16:58:00.002-05:00

In the Afterword, King admits that these 4 short stories are harsh and hard to read. Telling us that up front probably would discourage readers from even trying this book. Short stories are where King shines. This book is no exception.

What's noticeable in this book is the lack of the supernatural. No ghosts, aliens, scary creatures that you can only imagine. What we have here is the pure evilness of the human person. And, frankly, that's even scarier than anything supernatural. King delves deep into the black hearts of people, showing how they live normally among us but do deeds we can't imagine.

We have 4 mostly longish shortish stories. We start off with 1922, a story about a farmer, his child and his wife. The wife inherits land from her father and wants to sell it off while the husband wants to try and farm it. What ends up happening is on par with Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart.

Next we have Big Driver which was just a horrifying read. An author goes to a book reading and signing at a non-descript library and ends up on a shortcut that was just... horrific. That's the only adjective I can come up with for this story.

Along comes Fair Extension which did have a little help from the devil, but really, the human in this story didn't need the help. He just needed a reason.

Lastly, A Good Marriage shows us that decades of living with, loving and being friends with someone doesn't mean you know the person or the gruesome hobbies they indulge in.

Eek. I think the vampires, werewolves and bogeymen are less scary than people now.

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

2010-12-05T12:08:00.004-05:00

Audiobooks make it so darn easy to do other things and still get to read books you have in your "to-read" pile.

Wicked Lovely is a fairy book, and while I normally avoid fairy books, I was curious about this series. This is the story of Aislinn, who is a teenager with the sight to see the fairies around us. It was passed from her Grams to her mother to her. Apparently, fairies are little bastards who get angry if mortals see them, so Aislinn has to keep her sight a secret, even when the fairies are harassing mortals for fun. She is in love with her best friend, Seth, but is being stalked ("courted") by Keenan, the Summer King. He is convinced she is the Summer Queen, and will not take No for an answer.

Supernatural folk are horribly pushy. That might be the main pet peeve of mine with fantasy books. In the real world, this would be harassment and a crime to browbeat a girl into dating you (especially when you threaten to kill her boyfriend). But I guess it all is fair in fantasy land.

I was happier with the outcome, because Aislinn and Seth are two mortals who don't get shoved around. Looking forward to the next book.

Life by Keith Richards

2010-11-21T10:20:00.002-05:00

Seeing as how I grew up in the 80s, where synthesized crap was king, I'm jealous of those that grew up in the time of good music. The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Chuck Berry, etc. Of the Stones, Mick has always scared me. The man is just a fright to look at. But Keith fascinated me. He's put voice to dictation (I don't believe he actually *wrote* this book) and is letting us in on his life.

Quite honestly, I don't know how much is true. He swears it all is, and it probably is, but the amount of Zorro-type moments he puts himself in seem....over the top. But I suppose if you carry a big knife around on a regular basis you will have more Zorro moments than the average citizen. Being strung out on drugs and quick to anger probably helps too.

Keith's book was a rough road to follow. I'm sure he didn't even read some of it, what with one page contradicting the very next page. But it was an entertaining path anyways. He has taken the life of a rock star and blazed a path for others to follow. He takes us through his childhood, his beginnings with the Stones, arrests, drugs, and surprisingly only 2 women that he had kids with and pretty long term relationships with. Several times in the book he promises to tell us more about events and stories but fails to do so.

He clears up the rumors of snorting his dad's ashes, climbing trees for coconuts and his drug habits (he had them, just not all the drugs that people said he took).

Maybe there will be a sequel so he can tell us more stories. He is a mighty fun storyteller.

Bad Blood by John Sandford

2010-10-03T11:46:00.003-04:00

Another F*ckin' Flowers book. He might be topping Davenport as my favorite character...might.

Spoilers ahead:

We start this one off with a young adult murdering another adult. It's all very vague, there's no background or particular reason why this young man, Tripp, committed the murder. While Tripp is in jail, he is murdered. His death is made to look like a suicide by Crocker, one of the cops in charge of the station that night. Then Crocker is murdered, made to look like a suicide.

This trail of deaths prompts Lee Coakley, the lady sheriff, to bring in Virgil Flowers. The little area that Coakley is in charge of usually has maybe 1 murder every 5 years, so 3 in a week is more than they can handle. Flowers comes in and does his thing that leads him to another murder years earlier.

After a lot of digging, something even more heinous than the murders turn up. A church, called the World of Spirit, has a large congregation among the farmers but rumors of child abuse keep surfacing. Emmett Einstadt is the head of the church and pretty despicable.

It's a long haul to get the church taken down but well worth it. Full of frightening concepts that actually make the murders the tamest part of the book.

The Barefoot Book by Daniel Howell

2010-10-03T11:34:00.002-04:00

I got this book as an early review from Librarything. It called out to me from the list of books because, as much as I like buying and looking at shoes, I don't like wearing them very often. I'm in my ever-present flip flops until the first snow arrives and then back in them once the snow is gone.

This book gives you 50 reasons to go barefoot, a no-brainer for someone like me, but pretty compelling for people who think wearing shoes is the best thing to do for their feet. If you think about it, your feet are not fragile little things that need protecting. They withstand our weight, absorb the shock of our walking and running, help us keep our balance, etc. Wearing shoes immobilizes the feet, not letting them absorb impact or expand the way they need to in order to help us move.

Women's shoes are particularly bad, and it doesn't take a PhD to note that. Just look at those things!! Of which I have many many pairs. Men's shoes are just as bad and running/athletic shoes are pretty bad too. You get an education with this book on how shoes are made and how they purposefully alter how your foot moves (twisted ankles, anyone?).

An interesting note, children's feet stop developing around age 8, so they really shouldn't be in shoes up until then. I've always always wondered by people put shoes on babies and children who can't walk yet. Just for looks, obviously, but let those feet run free! Baby shoes are pretty silly.

Even if you don't like being barefoot, read this book, it may change your mind about ditching your shoes. Even if it's for a little while.

A Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L'Engle

2010-09-18T12:15:00.002-04:00

Although I've heard of L'Engle, I don't recall ever reading any of her books, even the more famous Wrinkle in Time. I got this book on a whim and now it's one I won't part with.

Circle is book one of the Crosswicks Journals. I had, wrongly, assumed this was fiction but found that this series of books are pulled from L'Engle's personal journals. Judging from the journals alone, what a fascinating, intelligent, and insightful woman! I ended up writing in this book quite a bit and have already went back and re-read passages. She speaks of living out at Crosswicks and co-owning, with her husband, the local general store in a small village. She's a writer who teaches and she does a great deal of teaching in this book, but it feels more like great conversation with a friend. L'Engle also details her failures, the times where her books were rejected by as many publishers as they were sent to. If someone like that has trouble getting published....

While she has been deemed a children's author, she takes a more practical approach and claims she's just a writer. If she feels a subject is too harsh or complicated, she will make it a children's book because children are more open and not yet close-minded to ideas. One of her main topics is how to help children be children and how to not keep trying to "save" them from the world. Very interesting ideas are put forth that make a lot of sense.

Looking forward to reading the other journals in the series.

Gunn's Golden Rules by Tim Gunn

2010-09-12T12:36:00.002-04:00

This is an instance where my Kindle is the best thing ever. I pre-ordered Gunn's book and boom! there is was on the day it came out. Love that.

This book is subtitled Life's Little Lessons for Making It Work. Naturally. As an avid fan of Project Runway, I often wish I had a Tim Gunn in my life. With this book, I kind of do. Gunn is a huge advocate of manners and I'm a somewhat less huge advocate of manners. We both agree that technology is getting in the way of people interacting with each other. People now live in their own little bubble that they forget there are humans around them and whoops, that was a human they just ran into without so much as an "Excuse me". Gunn realizes that he probably sounds like a schoolmarm and I do too. It's not that hard to just pay attention to the people around you, although it obviously IS that hard now.

Gunn shares many many behind the scenes stories, not just of PR, but of the fashion world. God bless the dishy man. He talks about his family, about how Make It Work came to life, and how to navigate the world ... nicely. While most of me agrees with him, I recognize that I suffer no fools and have no filter on my mouth. I have gotten much better at taking the high road in life, but I'm still apt to take the low road on occasion. A lot of Tim's advice I knew to be true. Yes, things would function so much better if people did have manners. Things would function better if I had better manners (although in today's society, I'm probably a schoolmarm too).

Tim is very frank about his past relationships and current single status. As one perpetually and happily single person, I want to give him a hug. Like he said, it's perfectly fine and normal to be happy and single. I've been preaching that for years!

I love fashion but often look like a clown dressed me, so I admire it from afar. Gunn is my mentor into the fashion world. May he keep writing books and being on my television to make this middle of Indiana girl feel like she can be fashionable and polite.

I Know I Am But What Are You? by Samantha Bee

2010-09-12T12:21:00.002-04:00

The Daily Show being one of my favorite shows, this was a no brainer to read (or listen to, in my case). Bee read the audio book herself and, much like on the Daily Show, I ended going eh... or laughing hysterically.

Comedians are hit and miss with me for some reason. Bee IS funny, but I don't laugh out loud at, say, half of her work. I can chuckle, say "That was cute" and move on. But the other half has me laughing like a fool. When listening to an audio book in the car, without tinted windows, and laughing like a nut....well, I'm not surprised at the stares I get.

Bee illustrates her childhood in Canada and growing up trying to be an actress. Her stint as the lead in Sailor Moon, where she met her husband, Jason Jones, was funny and easily visualized. She runs us through her crazy cat lady period, her forced camping excursions with her dad and stepmom, and her trying times with gift giving. The funniest part was the Dude Ranch present for her husband. That part made me cry with laughter.

Lucky Man by Michael J Fox

2010-08-28T18:44:00.002-04:00

Reading this book was a little difficult. Fox has Parkinson's Disease and with each description of the disease or it's horrible symptoms I just ended up thinking of my dad. Dad passed away in October 2009 from PD and I would love to have my dad back, shaky and unsteady as he was.

Fox takes us through his life, from growing up an army brat in Canada to breaking into Hollywood and the lean years before Family Ties became a huge hit. He started getting famous for movies, including Back to the Future and was celebrating just a little to hard. He leads us through his drinking problems, his first time seeing his pinkie tremble (a tell tale sign of PD) and then through his diagnosis and how he tried, and pretty much succeeded, in hiding PD from the public for 7 years.

He's definitely led a lucky life, considering his starving years as an actor didn't seem that long compared to other actors. Even with some box office bombs, he was lucky with his family life, marrying actress Tracy Pollan and eventually having 4 kids. Fox was diagnosed with PD in 1991 and came out with it to the public in 1998. Since then he's become an advocate for PD reasearch, creating the Michael J Fox Foundation with the hope it will soon go out of business. The MJFF funds research and fast tracks the path to a cure.

Fox is very open and to the point in this book. The last person he softens the blow to is himself.

Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich

2010-08-27T17:57:00.002-04:00

There's a reason I quit buying Evanovich's books, instead relying on the library to help me see if I'm missing anything good. The answer, usually no, this time was kinda? Evanovich has recently switched publishers for a whopping $50M. For these books??? Surprising.

The Stephanie Plum series started off very good, with a pretty good plot and strong, funny characters to carry it off. Plum is a bail enforcement agent at her cousin Vinny's bail bonds office in New Jersey. She's a terrible agent, mostly relying on the Latin "hunk" Ranger to help bring in the deadbeats. All the while, keeping secrets from sometimes boyfriend, homicide detective and Italian "hunk" Joe Morelli. Keeping pace with her is Lula, an ex-hooker who is now the file clerk at the office, and Connie, the receptionist who can handle an Uzi.

In this book, Plum inherits a lucky bottle from her Uncle Pip, who had the misfortune to pee on a downed electrical line. Vinny is kidnapped by Bobby Sunflower and a ransom of $1.3 million is demanded. Hijinx ensue as the ladies of the bail bonds office scramble to get the money (after debating whether Vinny is worth it. He's not but you can't disappoint relatives). While there were several laugh out loud places, the spots that made you cringe appeared more often. After 16 books, can't Evanovich let Stephanie NOT be a complete moron? Can't she let Stephanie wisen up a little bit and actually become a tiny bit decent at her job? It's like the town and the characters are doing a Groundhog Day and repeating the same thing over and over but with different criminals.

I'm still glad I don't spend money on these.

A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris

2010-08-20T11:56:00.002-04:00

This is a little collection of short Sookie stories that was published just after Dead and Gone, which explains why I was a little lost. I've only read up to Living Dead in Dallas, but since short stories are so easy to get through, thought I'd give this a try.

There are 5 stories. We have fairies, Dracula (not a fan of this story - the hero worship thing diminished Eric a little too much, I think), lucky insurance agents and naked men showing up on her door step. That must be a rough life.

All stories were pretty quick and cute and entertaining when you listened to the audio book.

The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster

2010-08-19T18:51:00.002-04:00

My first introduction to Auster's work is a good one. He has a wonderful way of writing and created a "story of survival" that might even make a cynic think that things can get better.

Follies is set around the time of Bush stealing his election and 9/11. But thankfully, not a lot of time is spent on national events. The majority of time is spent getting to know Nathan Glass, a 60ish year old man who comes to Brooklyn to find a quiet place to die. Recently divorced and a survivor of lung cancer, he's all but given up on himself. Enter Tom Wood, his nephew who he had lost touch with for years. Tom lives in Brooklyn as well and is in the same boat as his uncle, unhappy, feeling without redemption and unable to move forward.

Family is key to this novel, not just blood relatives but the strangers-turned-friends kind of family. Everyone is trying to survive and banding together, the motley crue in Follies does just that.

Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher

2010-08-16T19:01:00.002-04:00

This is a semi-autobiographical novel from Princess Leia. Suzanne Vale is an actress who is also a drug addict and begins the novel by ending up in the hospital having her stomach pumped from a drug overdose. She ends up in a drug rehab clinic and sends postcards to people that move along her story. The narrative changes or bounces around and listening to it in audio book form was really confusing. I got the gist of the book though: some people are horribly self absorbed and go on to try and destroy their lives to prove their point.

I don't gather that I'm supposed to come away with that but that's what I got. Vale irritated me to no end with the woe is me shtick. I understand that there are certain personalities that are like that but thankfully no one near me is like that. I'm not sure that relationship would last long.

If it is semi-autobiographical, as it's mentioned elsewhere, I feel for Fisher. That must be a hell of a life to lead, but at least now she has a sense of humor about it.

Stories: All New Tales

2010-08-16T16:17:00.002-04:00

Edited by Neil Gaiman & Al Sarrantonio.

Twenty-seven short stories by a wide variety of authors. Some well known such as Jodi Picoult, Chuck Palahniuk, & Lawrence Block. I read all the stories but one: Stories by Michael Moorcock was one I just couldn't get through, and also seemed to be one of the longest. Sorry Michael.

All in all, this is a great collection of fantasy type stories that meld really well. Some of the stories were too abrupt, seeming to end before we even got started. Others were extremely well done, leaving the reader wondering and enthralled (the reader being me).

A few favorites: The Devil on the Staircase by Jo Hill, Parallel Lines by Tim Powers, The Therapist by Jeffery Deaver, Unwell by Carolyn Parkhurst, The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman, The Stars are Falling by Joe R. Lansdale, Catch and Release by Lawrence Block & Let the Past Begin by Jonathan Carroll.

As Neil Gaiman says in the introduction, the best four words that show the power of stories is:

"...And then what happened?"

The stories in this collection leave you asking the same thing.

Lamb by Christopher Moore

2010-08-08T10:09:00.003-04:00

I tried a Moore book a while ago and didn't like it at all. I saw this one at the library and with the subtitle of "The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal" I felt I needed to give him another try. So now I'm torn because I really liked this one and really didn't like the other. What to do?

This book is such a great idea. It takes the time that Christ (or Joshua) was a child up until his crucifixion through the eyes of his snarky, sarcastic (Biff invented sarcasm) best friend, Biff. Naturally this is all fiction but it has the stories most people know and were taught as young kids and Moore just kinda filled in the blanks.

Biff sees Josh for the first time when they are 6 with a lizard hanging out of his mouth. He gives the lizard to his little brother who then smashes it with a rock. Josh takes the lizard, puts it back into his mouth and voila! the lizard is alive again. Obviously, Josh has powers but also obviously he's a 6 year old boy. Biff and Josh become instant best friends.

The Gospel according to Biff takes us through Josh's journeys to find out how to be the Messiah. He finds the 3 wise men and spends years learning from from, along with Biff, who really isn't as devout as Josh and keeps falling under the lure of prostitutes and martial arts. Seriously.

As Moore says, "This story is not and never was meant to challenge anyone's faith; however, if one's faith can be shaken by stories in a humorous novel, one may have a bit more praying to do." Go read it.

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

2010-07-24T12:18:00.002-04:00

Another excellent travel type book from Bryson. This time he "rediscovers America on the Appalachian Trail". Bryson seems to be the type of person who just decides he needs to visit somewhere and goes. For this endeavor, he sees a path that marks an entry point to the AT and decides he needs to hike it. Although no one knows for sure, it's estimated the entire AT is over 2,100 miles long and takes you through all the states between Georgia and Maine. Personally, this would be my idea of hell. But Bryson, along with his old friend Stephen Katz, head down to Georgia and begin their journey.

They are not trying to be thru-hikers, people who hike the entire trail at one time. They are day hikers, people who do the trail in spurts. Several weeks at a time or just day hikes. As with Bryson's other books, he's well read on the AT and gives us all the statistics on how you can die out there. And those don't include the 9 murders that have taken place on the AT.

What starts out as a whim with determination ends with a "yeah, this is enough". Overall Bryson hiked 870 miles of the trail, a pretty awesome feat. He encounters wildlife but not the deadly ones he was hoping for (with a written guarantee of survival, mind you).

Even though I have no desire to ever hike, this book did make me want to head out to some National Parks and appreciate them while they are still here. Acid rain, loggers, developers, lack of funds to the Park Service, all these are threatening what wilderness we have left. It will be good to see them before they are gone.

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier

2010-07-23T20:27:00.002-04:00

This was a lovely audio book to listen to. It always makes me happy to come across such excellent readers. What made me happier was later learning that the remarkable women in this book were, in fact, real people. This is historical fiction but the people are real and did live back in the early 19th century.

Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot are the 2 main characters, 2 women who are unlikely friends due to class lines back in those days. Elizabeth is a middle class, educated woman; albeit a spinster. She lives in Lyme Regis with her 2 sisters, Louise and Margaret, also spinsters. I do despise that term but that was the terminology of the times. Mary is a working class girl in Lyme who has a knack for finding fossils. Her finds keep the family with some food on the table.

Mary stumbles across the full fossil of what she believes is a croc. As the story moves on, she discovers more and more crocs that she later dubs monsters. These aren't like any crocodile anyone has ever seen and it begins to bother people that there may be an animal that no longer exists. Does that mean that God let them die? A lot of religious questioning happens in the Lyme community.

The croc became known as the first ichthyosaur ever to be discovered (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthyosaur). Mary later found the first plesiosaur as well (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plesiosaur) and went on to discover a great deal more.

The fiction part of the book revolves around Elizabeth's and Mary's friendship and some jealousy between the 2 when it comes to men. The fictional part was a good story as well.

In A Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson

2010-07-15T18:37:00.002-04:00

This book greatly upset me. I'm upset because Bryson has numerous books out and this is the first I've ever heard of him. Upset because he's a very good writer and I've never read his work before! Where have I been??

In this book, travel writer Bryson makes it his mission to chronicle the little paid attention to Australia. I took particular interest because my grandma is from Queensland and I have family there, but have never been there. Sad. After reading this book, well, I'm not sure I ever want to go. How can a country so beautiful want so badly to kill people? Between the horrendous heat and emptiness of the country, the amount of deadly critters in the water (including shells that attack you) and the amount of deadly animals on land (the majority of the world's most deadliest snakes and spiders are Aussies), Australia doesn't seem to want visitors. Despite all this, Bryson depicts an incredible country full of life that cannot thrive elsewhere. Full of history that is rarely acknowledged and full of people that are kind, cheerful and welcome you.

Bryson is enough of a geek that I can relate, finding museum after museum to wander about in, getting giddy joy from rocks and plants and just being in the moment during the days of driving and not seeing another soul. But it's not all fun and games. Bryson gives insight into the plight of the Aborigines, their past of not being real people to the white man, and their present of not being real people to the white man. He ponders over how the Aborigines appeared in Australia at all and elaborates on how Australia was populated (most people know the penal colony history).

I do want to visit Australia now. Even if it does want me dead.

The Deathless by Keith R. A. DeCandido

2010-07-02T17:32:00.002-04:00

This is an original novel based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, one of my favorite tv shows ever. The author has written several novelized versions of shows, like Buffy and Firefly. Seeing as how Buffy is off my tv forever, I thought I'd try out a quick fix in book form. It wasn't too bad. Definitely not the show but the author kept to each character's personality pretty well. You did almost think you were back at Sunnydale.

In this story, Buffy and the senior class deal with Ring Day, where the students get their class rings. Who knew that was basically mandatory? Wasn't in my school. Anyways, Buffy can't afford one and Xander works his butt off to afford one, since he believes it will make him part of the cool crowd.

Giles receives word that Koschei the Dealthless is about to be resurrected in Sunnydale. Apparently, he wasn't really deathless. But close. A sorcerer named Baba Yaga claims to have been the one to kill him and wants to make sure he doesn't come back. Enter in all sorts of characters from Russian folklore and it's one little Big Bad.

Good beach read, which is where I read it. Quick and entertaining.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

2010-06-27T14:46:00.003-04:00

Toole only has 2 books published, having never published before his suicide. CoD only made it to light because his mother found the manuscripts and was persistent in getting it out to the world.

The title comes from a Jonathan Swift quote: "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." Ironically, the main character, Ignatius Reilly, considers himself the true genius and everyone who opposes him as the dunces. In reality, while Ignatius may be intelligent, he's so socially backward and egocentric and, well, loathsome, that you feel sorry for anyone who has to come into contact with him.

Initially, Ignatius is taken care of hand and foot by his long suffering mother. He's 30, morbidly obese (his hands are frequently referred to as paws), doesn't work and stays locked in his room watching TV or writing in his Big Chief tablets. At the beginning of the novel, Ignatius almost gets arrested by the police for being a shady character (in New Orleans, this must mean a lot of arrests) but really was just 'studying the crowd of people for signs of bad taste'. He and his mother then get in a minor car accident in which his mom, Irene, has to pay for the property damage. She finds her backbone and demands that Ignatius get a job and help out. And from there it really is as the cover blurb says "marvelous, madcap adventures in New Orleans".

The majority, if not all, of the characters in this book are annoying. But Ignatius is the one who would irritate the Dalai Lama. He's delusional, an incredibly self-involved liar who will do anything to get out of work. It's also quite possible that he's gay, with the hateful mockery of anything sexual, his very very strange masturbation .... uh, techniques, and his plan to have a political party made up of only homosexuals.

Dunces does have a great background in New Orleans and Toole's ability to capture the dialects are really a thing of beauty. Apparently there is a statue of Reilly on Canal Street. I'm sad to say I missed that when I was there but will go look for it when I go back.

The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking

2010-06-23T19:10:00.003-04:00

Hawking is a genius. And a frequent Simpsons character. I am not a stupid person. And have never been a Simpsons character. Even though this book is supposed to explain physics to a general audience (ie. dumb it down), I do believe most of this went way over my head.

Don't get me wrong, it's a really excellent book for science geeks, minor or major. It even won a science book award in 2002. And Hawking does dumb stuff down the best that he can. The entire book didn't flummox me, just most of it.

Hawking went over everything from Einstein's Theory of Relativity to string theory to chaos theory to black holes to worm holes to time travel and star trek (he does have a sense of humor!). I really enjoyed his explanation of black holes and worm holes. He spoke about those in simpler terms that were pretty easy to understand. Time travel was confusing and mostly concluded to be impossible at a macro level but not impossible at a micro level.

With the star trek portion, we ventured into aliens and other forms of intelligent life. His take on that is pretty interesting. Along with this, I've been watching his show Into the Universe and he delves more on aliens there. And somehow makes it more interesting.

I think any form of science geek will enjoy this, even when it flies over their head.

Surviving The Dragon by Arjia Rinpoche

2010-06-20T20:25:00.002-04:00

Firstly, this copy of the book is signed by Arjia Rinpoche ... in Tibetan, no less.

I've read the book from the Dalai Lama's perspective on the takeover of Tibet by China. Or the liberation of Tibet if you swing that way. Surviving the Dragon is Arjia Rinpoche's account of the same takeover from inside Tibet. He didn't manage to escape Chinese rule until the 90s, having survived 40 years under Chinese rule. China came into Tibet to "free" them in 1949. Arjia Rinpoche was 8 in 1958 when the Chinese came into his monastery and basically tore everyone's life apart under the guise of freeing them from feudal serfdom.

Arjia Rinpoche is the 8th incarnation and was found in his family's little nomadic hut and taken to Kumdum monastery to serve out his duties. This book starts there and takes us through all of the horrors of communist China and the humiliations and torture faced by many monks at that time. Arjia Rinpoche was lucky and rose higher in the political world, but many of his fellow monks, teachers and friends weren't so lucky.

Arjia Rinpoche now heads the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center in Bloomington, Indiana and through his book, tells a fantastic story of surviving what couldn't even be imagined here in America.

Storm Prey by John Sandford

2010-06-13T20:42:00.002-04:00

I am stupidly dedicated to the Prey series and I will probably always love me some Lucas Davenport. And Virgil Flowers. But I've been wondering: what happened?? Why is the Prey series now a run of the mill mystery?

Lucas is incredibly intelligent, shrewd and will kill you if he needs to. He used to go up against some intelligent, shrewd killers in previous books but the last few have been disappointing. He's having to go against some of the dumbest damn people ever. There's no mystery or challenge anymore.

The hospital that Weather works at is robbed with the pharmacy wiped clean. Someone dies in the process and everyone is up in arms. The Mack brothers and an inside doc are the criminals and they are all as dumb as bricks. And drug addicts to boot. Fabulous.

For a regular ol' mystery, this is good. For a Davenport book (with that Fuckin' Flowers even!!!) it's just not that good. Lucas needs better villians to go up against. No more stupid rednecks.

Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck

2010-05-16T10:22:00.002-04:00

I'm searching my memory for a book more pleasurable to read than Travels with Charley and I'm coming up empty. Traveling the country with Steinbeck and Charley, the poodle, is pure joy.

Steinbeck is a gifted writer, somehow making every sentence quotable and something to linger over. I found myself going back and re-reading just to get the feel of the words again. Steinbeck sets out on a journey of America, in the 1960s, in order to get a feel of the people and how America has changed. Since he is a prolific writer of America, he feels he needs to reacquaint himself with it. Because you can't faithfully write about that which you don't know.

Steinbeck gets a custom truck with a camper attached to live in on his travels. He takes along Charley, his distinguished French poodle, for company. Their travels take them to Maine, through the midwest, the Dakotas, California, Texas, Deep South and back again. He talked to as many people as he could, without identifying himself, and tried to answer his own question of "What are Americans like today?" Try as he might, I don't think he found himself a sufficient answer.

We get to experience everything along with John and Charley. The giant Redwoods, the Badlands, Charley vs the bears of Yellowstone, and desegregation in New Orleans (and we get to be nauseous along with him at the violence and hatred).

Travels with Charley is worth lingering over, taking your time and being present every word along the way.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

2010-05-07T21:49:00.002-04:00

The Graveyard Book is a young adult/children's fantasy novel, made up of short stories that bring together the life of Nobody Owens. I say YA because I'm guessing this might bother some littler kids, but what do I know? Maybe kids are more cynical now.

Nobody was just a baby when his entire family was murdered. He escaped into a graveyard where the inhabitants shooed away the killer and adopted Nobody as their own. His new parents became Mr & Mrs Owens and his guardian is Silas. The Owens' are ghosts, having been dead several hundred years. Silas is neither dead nor alive and is able to leave the graveyard to acquire food and clothes for Nobody. (Gaiman later confirmed that Silas is a vampire -something I wondered throughout the book).

Nobody grows up in the graveyard, mostly avoiding live people, except for one little girl named Scarlett. But she moves away and once again, Nobody has just the dead to keep him company.

The book goes through many of Nobody's adventures, including going to school with live kids. He also discovers that the killer of his family is still hunting him and things get really hairy for Nobody.

Another excellent Gaiman book!

Changes by Jim Butcher

2010-05-02T11:04:00.002-04:00

The latest in the Harry Dresden series, this one knocked characters and readers alike on their collective asses.

There will be spoilers here: beware.

The first sentence of the first chapter sets the tone for the entire book. Not only that, it sets the entire focus.

"I answered the phone, and Susan Rodriguez said, "They've taken our daughter.""

Yup, Harry is a father. Has been for about 8 years, since his last encounter with Susan, before she turned into a half-vampire from the Red Court. Susan failed to let Harry know this because, rightly, she recognized that neither her nor Harry's lifestyle was safe for a child. Susan had handed the child, Maggie (named after Harry's mom), over to a couple who already had kids. Still, it was pretty harsh for Susan to never mention this to Harry, and he takes it pretty badly. A wizard is powerful, a wizard carrying that much rage is downright scary.

Susan shows up on Harry's doorstep, with Martin in tow, to set into motion a plan to get Maggie back. Susan and Martin have been fighting their vampire curses and fighting the Red Court, almost like terrorists. Even though Maggie had been kept a secret, word got out to the wrong people. Namely, Arianna of the Red Court. The plan is to carry out a bloodcurse using Maggie to kill off everyone in her bloodline. Harry, Susan, and possibly Thomas and another surprise relative.

Harry and Susan have one hell of an adventure just trying to get to the Yucatan to save Maggie. They end up fighting in goblin territory for their lives, Harry meets up with some retired gods, the White Council is in a serious state of unrest, and Harry makes a possibly life ending deal.

The battles are extraordinarily written and well done. The characters just keep growing and getting better, and that makes it all the more sad when some of the well knowns have to perish in this novel.

The ending....not so happy with. It's a cliffhanger times 100 and we're left like this til April 2011. Not fair, Mr. Butcher. Not fair.

A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman

2010-04-27T18:58:00.002-04:00

I got this tiny audiobook (only 48 minutes) and listened to it in it's entirety on my drive home from work. I really love when Neil does his own voice work.

This is a short story based on Sherlock Holmes mysteries. We have unnamed characters, one having been tortured in the war in Afghanistan against the "gods and men", and one being a consulting detective for the police. Rooming together, the veteran notices odd comings and goings from the detective but never inquires about any of it, instead quietly retreating to his room when a visitor arrives.

We first see the detectives amazing skills when, while eating with the veteran, he announces that a guest will be joining them in exactly 4 minutes. When laying out how he knows this, it all seems simple. That if you just paid attention, you too would know this!

They are visited by Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard. He needs the detective's help with a touchy case and the veteran comes along. There is a murder most foul and the detective deduces that it was done by 2 men, one with a limp, and the the victim is royalty. Here's where it gets odd. Royalty, in this world, isn't human royalty. Ahhh, magic and "Great Old Ones".

Since it's a short story it does wrap up rather quickly but in a pretty satisfying way. Another excellent piece of work by Gaiman.

What is the What by Dave Eggers

2010-04-11T18:58:00.002-04:00

This is a novelized version of the life of Valentino Achak Deng. It took some time to read, not because it's badly written or particularly long, but because it's gut-wrenching. Deng was born in a small village in Sudan, called Marial Bai. He has a father, several mothers (it's common for the man to have several wives) and several brothers and sisters. I'm not even going to pretend that I understand everything that happened within Sudan during their civil war. Honestly, not a lot of it makes sense to me. I understand that Southern Sudan and Northern Sudan are split and Southern Sudan is ruled by a government in Khartoum, similar to Darfur. The government didn't to anything to help the people of Sudan and ended up making Southern Sudan and Darfur some of the poorest countries out there.

When the rebel groups (the SPLA) came together to fight the government, essentially all hell broke loose. Children like Deng became The Lost Boys aka Unaccompanied Minors because the majority of them who weren't killed or enslaved, watched their families be killed or enslaved by the murahaleen. The Lost Boys banded together, sort of, and walked for months to get to Ethiopia where they were hoping for shelter and food. They got a refugee camp, Pinyudo, that the SPLA picked through to help their ranks. Not a good thing.

After being forced from Ethiopia, when the president was overturned and the natives got pissed, they carried on walking to another refugee camp and then to another. At the last camp, Kakuma, Deng stayed for 10 years.

Interspersed throughout the book is modern day Deng, living in Atlanta. And being beaten and robbed and told to "Go back to Africa". Nicely patriotic.

The story is told somewhat matter of fact but still contains emotion and horror. It seems that Deng is able to describe how boys on the walk were eaten by lions on a regular basis and just dropped dead from dehydration and starvation or any disease imaginable in a "that's just the way it was" manner. Deng questioned often whether God had it out for him, as it does seem that he has terrible misfortune. Through everything, Deng is a survivor. That much is crystal clear.

Deng and Eggers have a foundation to help Sudanese and the web site explains more of what he is doing and how the war in Sudan is fairing.

http://www.valentinoachakdeng.org/

A Fistful of Charms by Kim Harrison

2010-03-31T18:36:00.002-04:00

Book 4 in the Rachel Morgan series, this one takes place almost entire out of Cincinnati. Rachel, having been "dead", is now the Alpha in David's pack. Since it's just the 2 of them, and Rachel is a witch not a were, it's all a formality. Members of other packs don't see it as such and end up challenging Rachel to a fight. She nearly loses without use of her magic and is determined to find a spell to change her to a wolf so she can fight again.

In the meantime, Jenks and family are still living away from the church, after not being told that Trent was an elf. Jenks' wife does come to Rachel and Ivy for help though. Their son, Jax, is missing and presumed with Nick, Rachel's ex. Nick, it turns out, is a common thief and got Jax involved in that life. Rachel and Jenks make up enough to go after them, in Michigan.

A true adventure starts, leading them into several joined packs of hostile weres and other vampires. Rachel ends up performing quite a bit of demon curses in order to save the world from the power of an ancient were relic.

A really great & fast moving book.

Lessons from the Fat-o-sphere by Kate Harding

2010-03-21T19:42:00.002-04:00

I only knew my weight from the times I went to the doctor. Mostly, I just knew if my clothes were fitting or not. If they weren't, and I was to cheap to go buy new ones, I would hop on the treadmill just a little bit more than usual. Then I discovered online food tracking and "helpful diet hints". While I got down to a skinny weight, I ended up gaining it back (plus more when I had thyroid surgery and my meds got out of whack). Even though I've never been obese, or even heavy, I beat myself up on a regular basis. 5 more pounds, 10 more pounds....

After starting the Biggest Loser at work and having to weigh myself every week, I got even more down about myself. Two and a half months of diet and exercise and I lost 1 pound. Seeing my doc, we discovered my thyroid meds were again messed up so my metabolism was messed up. Bloody hell. At this point, I decided I wasn't dieting anymore. I missed cooking my big feasts and baking and well....eating. I love food, dammit. I didn't want to throw exercise out the window because I actually like my treadmill and feeling good afterwards. I liked the extra energy because obviously my thyroid meds weren't going to help me there.

Lo and behold, I found a review for this book, which is all about accepting your body for what it is. Bless you authors. The 2 ladies go over all the reasons to give up dieting and wishing for a body that you just don't have. Major studies have shown that your body will do what it needs to do, meaning it will stay in the weight range it's meant to be in, regardless of how much you yo-yo and push it to change. Diets don't work. Anything that alters how you eat, portion control, calorie restrictions, etc, just don't work. At least not long term. So why put your body through that?

This book encourages learning how to be healthy at any size, doing exercise that you enjoy doing and eating when you're hungry and stopping when you're full. Revolutionary! They also emphasize that food is neutral, it's not bad or good. It's whatever you want. There are too many messages from our culture out there telling women (and men) how they should look if they want to win at life and frankly, they're just wrong. Not everyone is meant to be a size zero and people shouldn't be humiliated to be the size they just are.

The authors don't want you to give up on yourself. They're just asking you to be kind to yourself and go out and quit worry about that last 10 or 15 pounds. You are perfect the way you are.

Just Kids by Patti Smith

2010-03-09T20:15:00.002-05:00

Only knowing Mapplethorpe as the guy who did the explicitly erotic photographs, and Smith as one of my favorite singers, this book was pretty enlightening. Seeing Mapplethorpe through Smith's eyes softens the public persona of him some.

Smith headed to New York from New Jersey to pursue her passion, art. Along the way she met up with Mapplethorpe, who rescued her from a bad date, and the two become best of friends and lovers. Inseparable, if not physically then in spirit, they remained by each others side until Robert's death from AIDS in 1989.

While Patti traveled to Paris, Robert went on to discover different relationships with men. It seems, back in the 70s, that it wasn't always possible to be openly gay and and perhaps it was something that he continually fought with himself. He kept a physical relationship with Patti for some time despite the evidence that he preferred men. While I can't imagine how that could make for a happy life, denying part of who you are, being with Patti obviously made him very happy.

Smith describes living at the Chelsea Hotel and hanging out with the likes of Jimi, Janis, Burroughs, and Harry Smith. And a lot more; those two really got around. She also chronicles the "luck" and hard work that helped make Mapplethorpe and herself the legends that they are today.

Flirt by Laurell K Hamilton

2010-03-09T17:37:00.001-05:00

Flirt is not a full blown Anita Blake novel, just a little novella to apparently tide the reader over til the next novel comes out. I wasn't aware that we needed tiding over but hey....

I did like that this novella was focused only on one plot and never veered off into subplots. It is what it is and that's it. Kinda refreshing.

Anita starts off having to turn down some clients because they want to raise their dead spouses for somewhat nefarious reasons. She has morals and she uses them! Naturally surrounded by her many boyfriends, she goes to lunch and explains how she was taught to flirt. There's too much time spent on flirting with a waiter so we move on.

One of the aforementioned clients won't take no for an answer and wants the dead spouse, dammit! Hijinx and sex ensue.

Same Anita but in a smaller dose. Not bad.

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

2010-03-03T20:59:00.002-05:00

First, the cover of this copy is of the True Blood couple, not the original artwork. I have issues with that, it's a weird pet peeve. Second, the TB couple make me not want to see True Blood.

I'm not as psyched for this series as I am over other vampire series. Angel, anyone? I think my main complaint is that Sookie seems perpetually dumb and Bill (Bill the vampire, I can't get over that) is very possessive. It almost reminds me of Twilight and Edward. The possessive you-are-my-property vibe that these vamps give out is annoying.

This had a decent plot and some funny moments involving Eric, the other vamp after Sookie's affections...or blood. Quick read, probably a good beach read.

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

2010-02-28T11:32:00.002-05:00

Spoilers ahead!!!

Since I heard the movie was good, and the book is ALWAYS better than the movie, I dug up my copy of Shutter Island. Read in less than a day, there's now no way I can go see the movie. The book was fantastic and I'll just be disappointed in the movie version.

Shutter Island is a place where the criminally insane are kept. Teddy Daniels, a US Marshal, and his partner, Chuck Aule, end up there investigating a missing patient. They talk to the staff, the patients and investigate the island as much as they can. What they come away with is: similar to Nazi's experimenting on Jews, the staff of Shutter Island is performing radical experiments on its patients and creating "ghosts". They are seeking Rachel Solando, who killed her 3 children by drowning them. She believes she didn't and that her children are alive and happy somewhere.

If someone is said to be insane, and they protest vehemently that they are not insane, does that show their insaneness? Teddy is on the verge of cracking, having lost his wife in a fire, set by Andrew Laeddis. He misses his wife and has more than once wondered why he hasn't died yet. Instead of suicide, he has a death wish. He knows that Laeddis is on the island and goes to get his revenge.

Spoilers are coming....beware.

Chuck isn't Teddy's partner. Chuck is a doctor at Shutter Island. Teddy's wife didn't die in a fire. Teddy killed her after she killed their 3 children. Which makes Teddy....? A patient named Andrew Laeddis. Who the hell saw that coming???

Dr. Crawley and Dr. Sheehan (Chuck) staged an elaborate role playing game for Andrew, in hopes that he would come to the realization of who he is. None of the what we read was real. It was all a play, written by Andrew, acting out his fantasies to avoid the reality of murdering his wife and letting his children die at the hands of their insane mother.

Andrew comes to his senses, realizing what he is. But we're not left with closure in this book as Andrew regresses back to Teddy and the threat of a neutralizing lobotomy is in his immediate future.

Bones of the Moon by Jonathan Carroll

2010-02-27T11:45:00.002-05:00

Normally I don't read fantasy-type books but since this was lent to me by a trusted soul, I gave it a try. Bones of the Moon exceeded my expectations and turned out to be a really quick read. Or maybe I just read it quick. This appealed to me mostly because the major portion of the book is set in reality. One of the things that always irked me about fantasy books is the seemingly haphazard way things are named and the way things work. I realize that is the imagination of the author but mostly it feels like the plot, names, etc were just pulled out of someone's ass.

Cullen James, our main chick, is living a charmed life. Married to the man of her dreams, traveling to Europe, has a super gay best friend, and a baby. She starts having dreams of Rondua, another world far away from her own. She's traveling in her dreams with her son, Pepsi (really??) and they must collect the bones of the moon in order for Pepsi to become ruler of Rondua.

Cullen's dreams manifest over into reality and she needs help from her real friends and her fantasy friends to save her.

The story was really good and the fantasy part was slim enough to make me keep reading.

Julie & Julia by Julie Powell

2010-02-21T11:21:00.002-05:00

The rest of the book title is 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen. Julie Powell comes to a crossroads in her life where she realizes that she's just a secretary and probably won't become the actress that she wants to be. She's nearing 30 (which isn't that bad of an age, come on), was told she'll have trouble conceiving and everyone and their mother is telling her how old she's getting.

Leafing through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, she decides to embark on a year long journey of completing every single recipe in the book. Just something to do? Or searching for a purpose?

I listened to this book and was soon fantasizing about the recipes she described, with exception of the major animal ones, including killing a live lobster. I've always enjoyed just reading cookbooks and dreaming of having time to make more food. And of eating said food.

Julie continued her day job during this project, often cooking well into the night. Her and her husband, Eric, enjoyed a lot of good food and suffered through the ones that didn't go so well. Her husband was a trooper considering Julie seemed prone to hysterics and breakdowns during the year.

My next book to buy is Julia Child's book. Most of the recipes did sound too good not to make at least once.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

2010-02-19T07:31:00.002-05:00

The dog on the cover of the book implores you to buy it. I gave in to the dog's soulful eyes and purchased a book I've never heard of. I'm a sucker.

Enzo, the dog, relays the entire book to us. It never ever veers from Enzo's point of view and that's really for the best. The world seen through the eyes of a dog is an amazing one. Enzo wishes to be reincarnated as a man, but after reading this, I wouldn't mind being a dog.

Denny picks Enzo out of a litter on a farm and they become best buds. Enzo is a little jealous when Eve comes into the picture and acknowledges that he wasn't very warm with her. Once little Zoe arrives, they are one happy family. Enzo's uncanny sense of smell detects something wrong with Eve before she even starts showing symptoms. But, being a dog, he can't speak and tell her to go to a doctor. She finally does, but it's too late.

Denny's in-laws are horrid people and managed to really envoke some anger in me. The hell that Enzo and Denny are put through is unthinkable but somehow, if you keep your eye on the finish line, things manage to come through.

Denny is a race car driving so expect quite a bit of racing stories and metaphors. Enzo himself is quite the racing fanatic so he's happy to tell you all he knows.

Me by Katharine Hepburn

2010-02-14T20:07:00.002-05:00

I'll be upfront in saying I never watched many Hepburn movies even though the woman is a legend. Me is a book of stories and I was interested in hearing those stories (read by Kate herself in her unique way). This isn't her biography per se, it's just personal stories from her life. She lived to be 96 so you know she had some stories to tell.

This books covers some of her childhood, Fenwick and growing up in Connecticut. She dearly loved her parents and siblings. In 1921, she found her brother Tom hanging by the rafters. It was presumed an accident but no one knew for sure. Kate also covers her early acting career. One obvious quality of Hepburn is her self-confidence. She never seemed to struggle for parts or self-esteem, even when she was "box office poison".

She saved Spencer Tracy for last. They met filming in 1941, already having known about each other. Tracy was married but Hepburn and Tracy had a complex relationship that lasted until his death in 1967. Listening to her account of time with Tracy, it showed that she put herself aside for the man she loved. The very last part of the book is a letter to Tracy, read with her voice breaking throughout.

Under the Dome by Stephen King

2010-02-11T18:15:00.003-05:00

King started this book way back in 1976, when I was only 1! It's a behemoth of a book, at 1100+ pages, that is apparently the pared down version of his first draft. That's a little scary to think about.

UTD is a sincerely good King book. I was getting worried about him, having not been enthused about his newest work.

The story begins on October 21st, when an invisible barrier comes crashing down around the town of Chester's Mill, a small sock shaped town in Maine ( I think it's Maine). Dale Barbara is trying to head out of town after a 4 on 1 fight with some of the local thugs. He almost gets a ride but the young girl changes her mind and drives on, leaving Dale aka Barbie to walk on. He doesn't make it out of town before he's trapped by the Dome. Interestingly there wouldn't be a book if Dale had hitched that ride out....

Thankfully King provides a cast of characters list because the town holds a couple of thousand people and I believe we're introduced to almost all of them. Some of the most repugnant is Big Jim and Junior, a father-son duo that is dead set on turning the Dome to their advantage. The only word I have to describe them both is: Repugnant. Kudos to King for writing such vile and nasty people that actually makes you want to punch through the book and into their throats.

It's batted around that the dome is a terrorist act, a karmic intervention, aliens, and some maniacal person in town. I would be a terrible person to give away the end of the book since it's such a task to wade through, so I won't.

Even with it's size, UTD is surprisingly easy to speed through because King has his foot jammed on the gas pedal the whole way through.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

2010-02-07T15:10:00.002-05:00

Shadow is not necessarily a good man, but he's not nearly as bad as some of the other characters in this book. Shadow is serving time when we meet him for a robbery gone awry. He's deeply in love with his wife, Laura, and is nearing the end of his sentence.

The end comes faster than anticipated when Laura is killed in a car accident. Shadow is released and things just go downhill from there.

In this book, gods walk the earth. Anansi, from the book Anansi boys, is alive and well and very much still the spider god. Each god is kept alive and viable because people believe in them. Once people move on and quit telling the god stories, the gods become nothing.

Shadow is confronted by Wednesday and enticed to work with him. Wednesday is a god, turns out he's THE god. And Wednesday wants to start a war with the new gods, gods of tv, media, computers, you know the things people all worship now.

Along the way to war, Shadow meets up with Laura, who is dead but not really, and several other gods in disguise. Lucy Ricardo tries to entice him with her breasts and gods fall into crumpled heaps. The war is not what it appeared to be and Shadow does what he can to save both sides.

Probably should have read this before Anansi Boys but it didn't matter too much. American Gods is ripe with imagination and vision. A scary vision, but a vision nonetheless.

Boomsday by Christopher Buckley

2010-01-30T11:40:00.002-05:00

As an audio book, I wasn't a fan of Janeane Garofalo's style. A lot of her character voices were just speaking louder.

As a book, I loved this one! First Buckley book I've read and I really like his style of writing. Boomsday is political satire based on the baby boomers retirement and the inevitable depletion of Social Security.

Cassandra Devine, labeled as a morally superior PR chick, leads the way in renouncing baby boomers squandering of Social Security. It starts innocently enough with protests on golf courses and leads to Devine and Senator Jepperson trying to pass a bill of Voluntary Transitioning. VT is basically advocating suicide once a person reaches 70.

Devine and Jepperson have a sketchy past, throw in Devine's "prick" of a father, the current president who swears like a sailor with Tourette's Syndrome, a reverend who heads SPERM and desperately wants to have sex, and the Pope, then you have a wild ride of a novel that is pretty damn fun to read.

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

2010-01-13T20:29:00.002-05:00

Thankfully this book is not a sequel to American Gods because I haven't read that yet. But it's apparently along the same lines. Mr. Nancy is an old man who loves to sing and names things; and those names stick. He has a son who he named Fat Charlie and humiliated on a fairly regular basis. Fat Charlie goes to London, gets engaged and is persuaded to invite his father to the wedding. Finding his father had passed, things start to get a little surreal. Even by British standards.

Mr. Nancy is really Anansi, a spider god. Fat Charlie is told he has a brother, Spider. They eventually meet up for a reunion of sorts and havoc is wreaked.

Identities are stolen, money is laundered, people are murdered and other gods long forgotten emerged to get revenge on the hated Anansi.

Incredibly interesting and entertaining book. First one of the year that has really held my interest.

The Continual Condition by Charles Bukowski

2010-01-10T18:16:00.002-05:00

For a man who died in 1994 at the age of 73, Bukowski is still a prolific writer. Released in 2009, The Continual Condition is the newest book containing never before published poems.

Not being a poet, my gauge of how well I like a poetry book is based on how many pages I dogear to go back to and re-read. While I did really like the majority of poems here, I didn't dogear to many. Although it might just be my mood because I seemingly just picked the darkest poems as my favorites.

This Kind of Fire was one of my favorites, along with Perfect Silence, Dear Editor and Moving Towards Age 73.