January-November 2009
Topic: Reading
November 16, 2009
I finished a nonfiction book called The Noticer by Andy Andrews. The subject is conduct of life. The writer meets a man named Jones at the lowest point in his life. Jones offers the young man a new perspective about his situation and shows him opportunities the young man didn’t even know were available to him. Jones says that’s his job, to notice things about people they don’t see in themselves and then help them look at their situation from a different perspective. Over the years the writer meets Jones on many different occasions and witnesses Jones helping other people gain perspective. Over the years the entire community is touched by Jones and changed forever. By the way I just met my 25 books goal. Yeah me!
November 6, 2009
Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith is another installment of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. This book, published in 2006, finds Precious Ramotswe, Grace Makutsi and Mr. Polopetsi dealing with several complicated cases. Things are always complicated when people are involved. Two people come to Precious confiding secrets about their employers anonymously. Precious must expose the misdeeds without compromising the jobs of the employees. Grace makes a slip of the tongue that she fears has scared away her fiancée. She finds a way to straighten things out but the price is a purchase that Precious doesn’t want to make.
September 15, 2009
I read The Private Tales of the Cat Who… by Lilian Jackson Braun. It was a really quick read. It only took me a couple of hours to read it this afternoon. It’s a very good synopsis of several of my favorite Cat Who books. It’s a good way to get caught up with the earlier history of Qwill and the cats without having to read all the early novels and the later novels will make sense.
September 12, 2009
I finally finished Demolition Angel by Robert Crais. I didn’t like it as much as I did the Joe Pike or Elvis Cole mysteries. Crais doesn’t write from a woman’s perspective very well. His character, Carol Starkey was formerly on the LA Bomb Squad when she and her partner were killed working on a bomb. Starkey was brought back to life and two years later is still trying to put her life back together. Now working on the homicide squad, she draws a member of the bomb squad murdered by a serial bomber. Like Crais’ other novels there are twists and turns but not enough to keep you reading. It took me nearly 3 weeks to read this book because it was so hard to get into and hard to keep reading. The only reason I kept reading was because I wanted to see Starkey get her man. Whichever man it was.
August 17, 2009
I just finished two more Robert Crais books, “The Forgotten Man” and “The Last Detective.” Both are Elvis Cole novels with Joe Pike backing him up. In the Last Detective” Cole is looking after his girlfriend’s son, Ben, when the boy disappears. Crais is a master at plot twists and turns keeping the reader guessing as to what’s going to happen next. In the next novel “The Forgotten Man” Cole tries to identify the body of man who’s dying declaration names Cole as his son. The mystery of who the man is and the investigation brings back painful memories for Cole of a father he never knew and a mother whose mental illness kept her from being a real parent to her son. Crais’ books are intense so be warned. You can’t put them down. These are books 20 & 21 for me. I’m getting closer.
Entry for July 27, 2009
I love Catherine Coulter, her books grab you from the first paragraph and don’t let you go until the last word. Wow, Knock Out won’t disappoint you! Dillon and Sherlock work two cases at the same time and are struggling to keep up. The daughter of a serial bank robber and her boyfriend are on the run and want to get revenge on Dillon for killing the girl’s mother. The couple is on the run, they are desperate and psychopathic, a dangerous combination for anyone who runs into them. At the same time Dillon gets a telepathic distress message from a little girl who is running for her life with her mother from people who want to take advantage of the little girl’s gifts. To make matters worse the men trying to catch her have supernatural powers as well and only Dillon seems immune to their mind control.
Entry for July 16, 2009
I was introduced to a new author and I can’t get enough of his books the first book I read was “The Watchman: a Joe Pike novel” by Robert Crais. It was great! Pike is an ex-marine, ex-cop, ex-mercenary who now works with L.A. private detective Elvis Cole. Joe Pike has to ask an old friend for a favor and now the man wants his favor returned. He wants Pike to do “a job” for him. Pike turns him down until he finds out his training officer is the one who specifically asked for him. Pike is especially not thrilled when “the job” is babysitting a rich teenager who was at the wrong place at the wrong time and saw something/someone she shouldn’t have. Now Pike doesn’t know who to trust because the bad guys find the safe houses before they have time to unpack. There’s a leak and Pike along with his friend and partner Elvis Cole have to plug the leak before they all get killed.
Entry for July 13, 2009
My future son-in-law recommended “Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back” by Texas Rangers player Josh Hamilton. It’s an incredible story of a man who has talent, ambition and a love for the game of baseball but nearly lost it all to drug and alcohol addictions. It’s a testament to the power of God and family to bring a man back from the brink of death to again play the game he loves and break records doing it. Hamilton’s story is inspiring, honest and at times brutal as he makes no excuses for his life but explains how drugs and alcohol can take away everything. He nearly lost his wife, children, career and his life before he reached out to the One who could change it all.
Entry for July 7, 2009
Over Independence Day weekend I read Alexander McCall Smith’s latest No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency novel, “Tea Time for the Traditionally Built.” Again I love Precious Ramotswe and her assistant Grace Matsuki help the owner of a football team find out why his team suddenly started losing and Grace’s old nemesis from Botswana Secretarial College decides to try and break up Grace’s engagement. Mma. Ramotswe also has to give up her beloved white mini-van but learns that the people in her life are much more important than one van. It was a great read. I always feel good after finishing one of his novels. I really have to find some more of his books, both the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency & the Isabelle Dalhousie novels.
Entry for June 29, 2009
I read one of the books of an author on my “to be read list.” Carolyn Hart, is an Oklahoma author and I read one of her books a few years ago called “Letters from Home” which was an Oklahoma READ selection and was very good. I found she has two series (btw “Letters from Home” isn’t part of either series, it’s a stand alone) Henri O and Death on Demand. So I picked up one of the Death on Demand series called “April Fools Dead.” Annie Darling owns a bookstore she inherited from her uncle. She is promoting a local author’s book signing with a Whodunnit mystery contest. But someone uses the contest as a cover for a murder which leads to another murder. Annie and her husband Max with the help of their friends and family have to solve the mystery to absolve Annie of blame for a slanderous flier that is circulated and to clear the dead woman’s good name. The book is slow in a couple of places though it starts out strong. Not a lot of surprises along the way. By the time the killer is revealed you pretty much know who it is. By the way this is number 15.
Entry for June 20, 2009
I read Walden’s Pond by Henry David Thoreau. It was a tough read. I literally had to drag myself through it. I read it through DailyLit which I get a few paragraphs in my e-mail every day. It’s the only way I could read it. I wasn’t impressed with Thoreau’s living in the woods alone for two years. His cabin was only a few miles from Concord, Massachusetts and he went into Concord every Saturday. It is interesting that a city boy would go out in the woods and build a house, all his own furniture by hand. Plant gardens and basically he was self sufficient for two years. What he spent on items he couldn’t grow he made up by selling the surplus from his garden. Although Thoreau’s disdain for society is at times humorous considering he keeps making weekly trips back into the society he finds so intolerable. Maybe this is a man’s book. But I didn’t get the point. Some of his daily activities were interesting but his oratories on the states of society left a lot to be desired.
Entry for June 16, 2009
I read Carol Higgins Clark’s new book “Cursed.” I’m getting used to her style of Keystone Kops writing. Regan Reilly flies to California to help her old friend find an ex-boyfriend who borrowed money from her and disappeared. Little known to Regan the new girlfriend of her friends’ ex-boyfriend is on the same flight. See what I mean. Not only that, but someone is stalking Regan and her friend. The action is good, the characters are funny and everything works out in the end.
Entry for May 26, 2009
I finished John Grisham's "The Associate" over the Memorial Day weekend. It was one of the best he's written lately. I really enjoyed it and I loved the ending. The thing about his books is sometimes the bad guy gets away, but that's okay. But this time the good guy gets his life on course. It also deals with a very sensitive issue of date rape/acquaintance rape which was handled very well. The book moved along enough to keep me engaged. In a couple of places it bogged down, but as the story unfolded those places were necessary to set up the events that were the catalyst for our young hero to do the right thing. I really enjoyed this book, the characters were believable and what first year attorney's are put through in mega-law firms is incredible. It's every bit as rigorous as what interns and residents are put through in hospitals. This book like so many others of Grisham's exposes the abuses of the system and why courts are clogged up and legal system as a whole keeps consumer prices inflated. When everything we buy has a lawyers price tag attached it makes you want to throw something. It's a system that literally feeds on itself. Excellent summer read.
Entry for May 11, 2009
I just finished book number 11, “The Sunday Philosophy Club” by Alexander McCall Smith, the author of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. This book is set in Edinburgh, Scotland which also meets one of my reading resolutions to read a book written about another culture. I was very interested in this book because my great-grandfather emigrated from Scotland in the 1880’s so it was like reading about a part of family history.
The main character is Isabel Dalhousie, the editor of a journal called Review of Applied Ethics. Being a professor of philosophy, Isabel struggles with questions of ethics, philosophy and morals which are sometimes tedious and boring. Are you obligated to find out why a young man died in a fall when you were the last person he saw? Should you tell someone that the person they are planning to marry is unfaithful? Dalhousie’s struggle with these and other philosophical ideas made me have to put the book down but Smith keeps things moving with the mystery and her curiosity which keeps her in all sorts of trouble.
At the end of the book I wasn’t disappointed and even though there were times I wanted to toss the book back on the shelf I was glad I finished it.
Entry for April 27, 2009
I read two (yes 2) books this weekend. Both were Christian Fiction, a friend recommended one and the other I just grabbed off my bookshelf. It's amazing how they both complimented each other. Maybe it's a God thing. I love Karen Kingsbury's writing but she always makes me cry, so here's your hankie alert. If you've read "A Thousand Tomorrows" and "Just Beyond the Clouds", "This Side of Heaven" is in the same series but Cody and Carl Joseph are not major characters in this book. Josh Warren was injured in a car accident three years ago and is waiting for his settlement so he can move on with his life including finding the daughter he's never seen and starting his own business so he can ask the girl he loves to marry him. But when tragedy strikes, his mother learns her son wasn't the failure she thought he was and that God's plan is the right plan. Be sure to read Karen's comments at the end. It makes the book so awesome. The other book is called "Something that Lasts" by James David Jordan. The writing isn't the greatest and there are some holes in the story but the story line and characters are amazing. When Jack's dad, a preacher at a growing church near St. Louis, is exposed as a sinner to the entire congregation including 12-year-old Jack and his mother, Jack's belief in God as well as his father is destroyed. Thirty years later Jack has to come to terms with his anger at his father, the death of his son and his relationship with God before he destroys his family the same way his father did. Both books were amazing stories of love, forgiveness, hope and redemption.
Entry for April 22, 2009
Happy Spring everyone! Beautiful weather, I’m feeling energized and excited. I just finished reading Diane Mott Davidson's new thriller Fatally Flaky her 15th Goldilocks Catering mystery. Goldi has to find out who killed her godfather and his best friend and whose out to get her. All the while she and Julian are catering two weddings. As only Goldi can she makes people mad enough to try and hurt her and her husband Tom has to protect her while investigating two homicides. This book was a little slow to begin with but after the first hundred pages it really picked up. I couldn't put it down until I finished it. It wasn't until the last 4 chapters that I figured out whodunnit. It's a good read, all her good recipes in back really make you hungry.
Entry for April 01, 2009
Well it's been a while since I blogged, I went through a dry spell but now I'm reading again with a vengeance. First I read Robert B. Parker's latest Jesse Stone novel "Night and Day." It was ok. No murders this time, just a three bizarre cases for Jesse to sort out. First a junior high principal does a panty check before a dance, then they have a report of a group of couples who are "swinging" and finally a peeping tom. Wow, talk about strange goings on in Paradise. But as always Jesse deals with it in his sensitive, humorous manner and alls well that ends well. Hmmm. Oh and there's an extra surprise at the end.
Second, I've been reading "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" from DailyLit.com and just finished it this morning. I can't believe I missed this book when I was growing up. They only way I can explain it was I was a tomboy and this book probably seemed too "girlie" for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and intend to read it to my granddaughters someday. I think they probably need to get a little older because some of the language is confusing. But her spirit, joy, diligence and love for family and friends left me feeling happy and content.
Finally, I've been reading the rough draft of "Midnight Sun" which is Stephanie Meyers addition to the Twilight series. "Midnight Sun" is Edward's perspective of what happened in "Twilight." I haven't read the Twilight series. I did see the Twilight movie and thought it was good, not as 'awesome' as so many of our readers have said it was, but it was good. Stephanie Meyers is a good writer. She is very empathetic in describing her characters feelings so you feel what they are feeling. I think part of the reason that I'm not that engrossed by her books is they are written for teens and as a more mature woman, they don't necessary hold the same appeal to me. They are good clean reading. No violence, no language, no descriptive love scenes. I would recommend them for teens.
Entry for February 12, 2009
I had a few days off, baby sitting and didn't get as much reading done as I wanted to but I still was able to finish The Florabama Ladies Auxiliary and Sewing Circle by Lois Battle. Loved the book! I had read so many mysteries I had to have some light reading and this chicklit book was just what I needed. The characters, mostly middle aged women (like me) dealing with many of the same issues I deal with such as dating, grandchildren, grappling with money issues with humor, dignity and friends. We all need our friends to get through the ups and downs of life. Bonnie is getting divorced after 20+ years of marriage. She gets a job, counseling a group of women who just lost their jobs, at a college across the state from her home and her family. She has to start her life over with less resources and less support than she's ever had before and she has to help women that she thinks she can't even relate to. But they all learn one important lesson, sisterhood transcends, race, religion, and finances.
Entry for February 02, 2009
OK so now I know why I love mysteries so much. I grew up on Nancy Drew and what little girl didn't want to grow up to be Nancy, solving mysteries, traveling around the country with her friends Bess and George and then there's the guys falling all over themselves to spend time with her, Ned Nickerson for starters. In "The Hidden Window Mystery" Nancy has to expose her new neighbor as a con artist, find a stained glass window that's been missing for 100 years, find out who's trying to keep Nancy and her friends out of South Carolina, who ran her cousin Sue off the road twice, why Sue's neighbor won't let anyone on his property, what is Alonzo Rugby hiding, what does the cowboy from Oklahoma want and what's the secret he's keeping and who's the ghost haunting Ivy Hall. Whew!!!! I was worn out trying to keep up with it all. In spite of putting herself in danger more than once Nancy figured out who the bad guys were (and the good guys) and found the missing window helping her friends the Patterson's and River Heights hospital at the same time. Way to go Nancy! It's always fun tripping down memory lane and re-reading the books from your past that shape the reader you are today. Thanks Carolyn Keene (a.k.a. Franklin Dixon) for writing so many great books and for the memories of reading them. BTW if anyone is counting I read 6 books last month. Whoo Hoo!!
Entry for January 27, 2009
I just finished my latest book "Violet Dawn" by Brandilyn Collins. Very good Christian Fiction, which by the way, doesn't have preachy, religious stuff. The majority of Christian fiction books are clean romance and/or mysteries. There are occasional references to someone going to church or praying but they don't promote one denomination over another. In "Violet Dawn" a mysterious young woman comes to Kanner Lake and quietly gets a job and a house by the lake only to find a body in her hot tub one night. Fearful and distrustful of the police she moves the body somewhere else. But it soon becomes apparent that she is being framed for the disappearance and murder of noted retired actress Edna San. Who is after her and why? Alone and scared Paige Williams doesn't know who to trust, if anyone. This was a great story and an easy read. I didn't put all the pieces together until the last 50 pages of the book so it definitely kept me going to find out who really everybody was for real. I highly recommend this book.
Also, do you know how hard it is to find a book published in the year you were born, (see reading resolutions #3) especially when that was 50 something years ago. But I settled on a Nancy Drew book. The Hidden Window Mystery. I read all the Nancy Drew books when I was 8-10 years old. But it's fun to re-read them now. Will update you when I finish the book
Entry for January 21, 2009
OK well I'm posting about a couple of books that I have just finished this week. I re-read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. This meets a couple of my reading resolutions: a book I didn't get the first time and a classic. I didn't get it because I focused on the love? between Heathcliff and Catherine. But I still don't get. What I thought was beautiful was Hareton and Cathy finding love after all the horrible things that Heathcliff did to both of them. Their love truly outlives time. My personal opinion (yeah I know like belly buttons) is that Catherine and Heathcliff were both nuts. By the way I have to say I didn't read the book I read it online through a service called dailylit.com. It's awesome. I can read those classics that are so hard to get into by reading a few paragraphs each day delivered to my e-mail. Then when I really get into the book and have to get it finished because I can't wait for the next installments or can't get them fast enough I check the book out and finish it. Last year I read all of Jane Austen and I read The Scarlet Letter. This is an easy (and painless) way to read the classics without getting bogged down. I'm trying to work up the courage to read Les Miserables but it's 675 parts which means it will be 3 years of reading. Ugh. Ok moving on. I also finished A Fine Day to Die today by Jack Higgins. I thought I had read all of his but this one was donated to the library and I realized I hadn't read it. It is a 1969 copyright so the storyline is a little out of date but Higgins heroes as always are men you hate to love. Paul Cavasse is a spy for Her Majesty. He's a genius at languages and kills without a second thought. He believes in justice even when the law doesn't believe in it. Cavasse and the brother of a murder victim set out to stop a smuggler who has no country or conscience. As always Higgins at his best.
Entry for January 16, 2009
In line with trying to read more and blog more I want to catch everyone up on what I read but didn't blog so here goes. In December I read "Laced" by Carol Higgins Clark. It was up to par with her awesome mysteries. It kept me going even after I figured out "whodunnit" I couldn't wait to see them caught. It was much better than the one after it "Zapped."
In November I read "Rough Justice" by Jack Higgins. Again when you think Higgins has run out of bad guys for Sean Dillon and company to deal with he finds more drama and gives you some hints into Sean's murky past. As always an excellent read.
Last week I read "Fatal Tide" by Iris Johansen. I had read an Eve Duncan mystery a couple of years ago and enjoyed it but found this book very good...disturbing but good. I had to read a more lighthearted mystery afterwards. Johansen again weaves a very good story with beautiful detail about the Caribbean and Antilles. Her heroine, Melis, has strenghth beyond what anyone could think possible because of a tortured past. Her hero is strong and reliable but also masked. Sometimes it's hard to tell if he's a good guy or bad guy.
This week I read "Love Me if You Must" by a new author Nicole Young. When I said I needed a more lighthearted mystery I didn't exactly choose one. Like the young woman in "Fatal Tide" Tish Amble also has a tortured past and like Melis has withdrawn from people to protect herself from any more pain. Then she moves to Rawlings and is drawn into the mystery surrounding her Victorian renovation project. Whose body is in the basement? There are so many missing women to choose from. And who's the murderer, again more people than you can shake a stick at. Then when one of the suspects becomes a victim and Tish is blamed it's time to get serious about solving this mystery before Tish winds up in jail or dead in the basement.
Entry for January 12, 2009
My 10 reading resolutions for 2009
1. I will read a book I loved as a child to my grandchildren
2. I will read a least 3 classics this year.
3. I will read a book from the year I was born.
4. I will blog more about what I'm reading
5. I will attend a book club sometime this year.
6. I will read through the bible this year.
7. I will read a book about a place I've never been.
8. I will reread a book I "didn't get."
9. I will read a book written by and about another culture.
10. I will read 25 books this year along with my granddaughter. (If she can do it, so can I)
Posted by chandleroklibrary
at 2:47 PM EST
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party time!