Thursday Next: First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde

First sentence:

"The dangerously high level of the stupidity surplus was once again the lead story in The Owl that morning."

Description:

"Beloved for his prodigious imagination, his satirical gifts, his literate humor, and sheer silliness, Jasper Fforde has delighted book lovers since Thursday Next first appeared in The Eyre Affair, a genre send-up hailed as an instant classic. Since the no-nonsense literary detective from Swindon made her debut, literature has never been quite the same. Neither have nursery rhymes, for that matter. With two successful books of the Nursery Crime series under his belt, Fforde takes up once again the brilliant adventures of his signature creation in the highly anticipated fifth installment of the Thursday Next series. And it’s better than ever.

It’s been fourteen years since Thursday pegged out at the 1988 SuperHoop, and Friday is now a difficult sixteen year old. However, Thursday’s got bigger problems. Sherlock Holmes is killed at the Rheinback Falls and his series is stopped in its tracks. And before this can be corrected, Miss Marple dies suddenly in a car accident, bringing her series to a close as well. When Thursday receives a death threat clearly intended for her written self, she realizes what’s going on—there is a serial killer on the loose in the Bookworld. And that’s not all—The Goliath Corporation is trying to deregulate book travel. Naturally, Thursday must travel to the outer limits of acceptable narrative possibilities to triumph against increasing odds.

Packed with word play, bizarre and entertaining subplots, and old-fashioned suspense, Thursday’s return is sure to be celebrated by Jasper’s fanatical fans and the critics who have loved him since the beginning." -- from Amazon.com

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this latest installment in the Thursday Next series. I especially liked the interactions between Thursday and her previous incarnations, Thursday5 and Thursday1-4. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, One of Our Thursdays is Missing.

Date read: 12/20/2013
Book #: 37
Series: Thursday Next, #5
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0143113569
ISBN-13: 9780143113560
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2008
# of pages: 384
Binding: Hardcover
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Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

First sentence:

"He is coming on the Lord's Day."

Description:

In her new novel Caleb's Crossing, Geraldine Brooks once again takes a shard of little known history and brings it vividly to life. In 1665, a young man from Martha's Vineyard became the first Native American graduate of Harvard College. From the few facts that survive of this extraordinary life, Brooks creates a luminous tale of passion and belief, magic and adventure.

The voice of Caleb's Crossing belongs to Bethia Mayfield, growing up in the tiny island settlement of Great Harbor amid a small band of pioneering English Puritans. Posses of a restless spirit and a curious mind, Bethia slips the bounds of her rigid society to explore the island's glistening beaches and observe its native inhabitants. At twelve, she meets Caleb, the young son of a chieftain, and the two forge a secret bond that draws each into the alien world of the other.

Bethia's father is Great Harbor's minister, who feels called to convert the Wampanoag to his own strict Calvinism. He awakens the wrath of the medicine men, against whose magic he must test his faith in a high stakes battle that may cost his life and his very soul. Caleb becomes a prize in this contest between old ways and new, eventually taking his place at Harvard, studying Latin and Greek alongside the sons of the colonial elite. Bethia also finds herself in Cambridge at the behest of her imperious elder brother. As she fights for a voice in a society that requires her silence, she also becomes entangled in Caleb's struggle to navigate the intellectual and cultural shoals that divide their two cultures..

What becomes of these characters--the triumphs and turmoil they endure in embracing their new destinies--is the subject of this riveting and intensely observed novel. Like Brooks's beloved narrator Anna in Year of Wonders, Bethia proves and emotionally irresistible guide to the wilds of Martha's Vineyard and to the intimate spaces of the human heart. The narrative travels from the sparkling harbors of Martha's Vineyard to the mean, drafty dormitories of early Harvard and, as ever, Brooks buttresses her richly imagined fiction with the fascinating and meticulously researched detail that has brought her legions of readers and a Pulitzer Prize." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

This was a fascinating book about the European-Native American encounters in 17th century New England. Brooks does a great job fleshing out the characters and giving a sense of what could have been if Caleb had survived.

Date read: 11/21/2013
Book #: 36
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Historical Fiction

ISBN-10: 0670021040
ISBN-13: 9780670021048
Publisher: Viking
Year: 2011
# of pages: 300
Binding: Hardcover
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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Anne Barrows

First sentence:

"Dear Sidney, Susan Scott is a wonder."

Description:

"'I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.' January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb….

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I loved this book about finding new friends in a new home while learning about their shared history of German occupation during World War II. I especially liked the way it was written through letters.

Book #: 35
Date read: 11/15/2013
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0385341008
ISBN-13: 9780385341004
Publisher: Dell Press
Year: 2009
# of pages: 290
Binding: Trade Paperback
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The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

First sentence:

"A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes."

Description:

"Set in the harsh Puritan community of seventeenth-century Boston, this tale of an adulterous entanglement that results in an illegitimate birth reveals Nathaniel Hawthorne's concerns with the tension between the public and the private selves. Publicly disgraced and ostracized, Hester Prynne draws on her inner strength and certainty of spirit to emerge as the first true heroine of American fiction. Arthur Dimmesdale, trapped by the rules of society, stands as a classic study of a self divided. As Nina Baym writes in her introduction, The Scarlet Letter was not written as realistic, historical fiction, but as a 'romance," a creation of the imagination that discloses the truth of the human heart." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I liked this book about Puritan ethics and hypocrisy. I found the reactions of the townspeople to Hester interesting as time goes by.

Date read: 11/10/2013
Book #: 34
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0142437263
ISBN-13: 9780142437261
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Year: 1850; 2003 (this edition)
# of pages: 228
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Don't Forget Your Spacesuit, Dear edited by Jody Lynn Nye

First sentence:

"The morning started out quietly enough. "

Description:

"The apron string theory of spacetime

So, you think things will be any different in the future, in space, in other dimensions where magic works? Wash your mouth out with soap! Mother will always know best. The galactic emperor, master of a million suns, lust better not get too busy to call his mother. Starship troopers had better not forget Mother’s Day, even if massed space armadas are about to rocket into battle across the galaxy. The great and powerful White Wizard had better remember what his mom told him about washing his white robes separately from his colored long johns. Speaking of washing, who do you think taught that famous alien to scrub behind his pointy ears? And as for that muscular barbarian swordsman-with all those mighty thews, why can’t he clean up his room? 

Enough about the square-jawed, steely-eyed heroes of science fiction and fantasy, already-where would those heroes be without their mothers? Its time to give the mothers of the galaxy their due, and New York Times bestselling authors Anne McCaffrey, Morgan Llywelyn, Robert Asprin, and Diane Duane are on hand to do mom honors, along with Elizabeth Moon. Esther Friesner, Christopher Stasheff, Mike Resnick, Jody Lynn Nye herself, and more. Enter a star-studded volume celebrating motherhood throughout space and time. But first-wipe your feet-and Don’t Forget You’re Spacesuit Dear.  -- from the back cover.

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this collection of science fiction stories with a maternal theme. My favorites included Jody Lynn Nye's "What's the Magic Word?" and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough's "Don't Go Out in Holy Underwear."

Date read: 11/7/2013
Book #: 33
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: SF

ISBN-10: 0671877321
ISBN-13: 9780671877323
Publisher: Baen
Year: 1996
 # of pages: 320
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

First sentence:

"They say it came first from Africa, carried in the screams of the enslaved; that it was the death bane of the Tainos, uttered just as one world perished and another began; that it was a demon drawn into Creation through the nightmare door that was cracked open in the Antilles."

Description:

Things have never been easy for Oscar, a sweet but disastrously overweight, lovesick Dominican ghetto nerd, a New Jersey romantic who dreams of becoming the Dominican J. R. R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding love. But he may never get what he wants, thanks to the fuku--the curse that has haunted the Oscar's family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, tragic accidents, and, above all, ill-starred love. Oscar, still waiting for his first kiss, is just its most recent victim--until the fateful summer that he decides to be its last.

With dazzling energy and insight, Junot Diaz immerses us in the uproarius lives of our hero Oscar, his runaway sister Lola, and their ferocious beauty-queen mother Belicia, and in the family's epic journey from Santo Domingo to Washington Heights to New Jersey's Bergen-line and back again. Rendered with uncommon warmth and humor, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao presents an astonishing vision of the contemporary American experience and the endless human capacity to persevere--and to risk it all--in the name of love.

A true literary triumph, this novel confirms Junot Diaz as one of the best and most exciting writers of our time. -- from the inside flap.

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this book about a Dominican-American man trying to find his way in New Jersey and Santo Domingo.

Date read: 11/7/2013
Book #: 32
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 1594489580
ISBN-13: 9781594489587
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Year: 2007
# of pages: 335
Binding: Hardcover
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

First sentence:

"There's a photo on my wall of a woman I've never met, its left corner torn and patched together with tape."

Description:

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists knew her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells-taken without her knowledge--became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first 'immortal' human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they'd weigh more than 50 million metric tons--as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses , and the atom bomb's effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilziation, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.

Yet Henrietta Lacks remain virtually unknown buried in an unmarked grave.

Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey from the 'colored' ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells, from Henrietta's small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia--a land of wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo--to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells.

Henrietta's family did not learn of her 'immortality' until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family--past and present--is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.

Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family--especially Henrietta's daughter Deborath, who was devastated to learn about her mother's cells. Deborah was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Had they killed her to harvest her cells? And if her mother was so importatn to medicine, why couldn't her children afford health insurance?

Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks capture the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I learned much from reading this book, not only about medical history but also about ethics and about a family left in the dark for far too long.

Date read: 10/26/2013
Book #: 31
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre: Nonfiction

ISBN-10: 1400052173
ISBN-13: 9781400052172
Publisher: Crown Publishers
Year: 2010
# of pages: 328
Binding: Hardcover
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Fool by Christopher Moore

First sentence:

"'Tosser!' cried the raven."

Description:

"'This is a bawdy tale. Herein you will find gratuitous shagging, murder, spanking, maiming, treason, and heretofore unexplored heights of vulgarity and profanity, as well as nontraditional grammar, split infinitives, and the odd wank . . . If that's the sort of thing you think you might enjoy, then you have happened upon the perfect story!'

Verily speaks Christopher Moore, much beloved scrivener and peerless literary jester, who hath writteneth much that is of grand wit and belly-busting mirth, including such laurelled bestsellers of the Times of Olde Newe Yorke as Lamb, A Dirty Job, and You Suck (no offense). Now he takes on no less than the legendary Bard himself (with the utmost humility and respect) in a twisted and insanely funny tale of a moronic monarch and his deceitful daughters—a rousing story of plots, subplots, counterplots, betrayals, war, revenge, bared bosoms, unbridled lust . . . and a ghost (there's always a bloody ghost), as seen through the eyes of a man wearing a codpiece and bells on his head
Fool

A man of infinite jest, Pocket has been Lear's cherished fool for years, from the time the king's grown daughters—selfish, scheming Goneril, sadistic (but erotic-fantasy-grade-hot) Regan, and sweet, loyal Cordelia—were mere girls. So naturally Pocket is at his brainless, elderly liege's side when Lear—at the insidious urging of Edmund, the bastard (in every way imaginable) son of the Earl of Gloucester—demands that his kids swear their undying love and devotion before a collection of assembled guests. Of course Goneril and Regan are only too happy to brownnose Dad. But Cordelia believes that her father's request is kind of . . . well . . . stupid, and her blunt honesty ends up costing her her rightful share of the kingdom and earns her a banishment to boot.

Well, now the bangers and mash have really hit the fan. The whole damn country's about to go to hell in a handbasket because of a stubborn old fart's wounded pride. And the only person who can possibly make things right . . . is Pocket, a small and slight clown with a biting sense of humor. He's already managed to sidestep catastrophe (and the vengeful blades of many an offended nobleman) on numerous occasions, using his razor-sharp mind, rapier wit . . . and the equally well-honed daggers he keeps conveniently hidden behind his back. Now he's going to have to do some very fancy maneuvering—cast some spells, incite a few assassinations, start a war or two (the usual stuff)—to get Cordelia back into Daddy Lear's good graces, to derail the fiendish power plays of Cordelia's twisted sisters, to rescue his gigantic, gigantically dim, and always randy friend and apprentice fool, Drool, from repeated beatings . . . and to shag every lusciously shaggable wench who's amenable to shagging along the way.

Pocket may be a fool . . . but he's definitely not an idiot." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this version of "King Lear" as told by the Fool, with various cameos from other plays (witches from "Macbeth"). I especially liked Pocket's interactions with Lear and Cordelia.

Date read: 10/25/2013
Book #: 30
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0060590319
ISBN-13: 9780060590314
Publisher: William Morrow
Year: 2009
# of pages: 304
Binding: Hardcover
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The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

First sentence:

"The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas eve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to say that it was the only case he had met in which such a visitation had fallen on a child."

Description:

"A young governess is left in sole charge of two charming and beautiful orphans. As she begins to see and hear strange things, she grows increasingly uneasy, and is swiftly drawn into a frightening battle against unspeakable evil. Forced to take action, the governess will soon discover terrible consequences."

My thoughts:

I liked this chilling book about a haunted house and its inhabitants. I especially liked the interactions between the governess and the boy.

Date read: 10/10/2013
Book #: 29
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Horror

ISBN-10: 0141194375
ISBN-13: 9780141194370
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Year: 1898; 1994 [this edition]
# of pages: 121
Binding: Trade Paperback
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M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman

First sentence:

"I sat in my office, nursing a glass of hooch and idly cleaning my automatic."


Description:

Bestselling author and master storyteller Neil Gaiman here presents a breathtaking collection of tales that may chill or amuse readers -- but always embrace the unexpected:

• A teenage boy who has trouble talking to girls finds himself at a rather unusual party.
• A sinister jack-in-the-box haunts the lives of the children who owned it.
• A boy raised in a graveyard makes a discovery and confronts the much more troubling world of the living
• A stray cat fights a mighty battle to protect his adopted family from a terrible evil.

These eleven stories illuminate the real and the fantastic, and will be welcomed with great joy by Neil Gaiman's many fans as well as by readers coming to his work for the first time." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I liked all the stories. My favorites included Case of Blackbirds, Troll Bridge, Chivalry and Sunbird.

Date read: 9/25/2013
Book #: 27
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Urban Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0061186473
ISBN-13: 9780061186479
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2007
# of pages: 260
Binding: Hardcover
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Virtuosity by Terry Bisson

Description:

"LOS ANGELES, 1999.

The idea is to create the perfect cop through virtual reality training - a game. But before you can create the perfect cop, you've got to create the perfect criminal. Sid 6.7 is a digitally enhanced humanoid - a composite of Charles Manson, John Wayne Gacy, and Jeffrey Dahmer. In a computerised world of crime he's an unstoppable killer. The only problem is that Sid 6.7 isn't sticking with the program. He wants out - he wants to kill in the real world, and what Sid 6.7 wants, he gets. He's hit the streets of L.A., and there's only one man intelligent enough, and desperate enough, to go after him. Parker Barnes is a former cop convicted of murdering his family's killers. He's been used as a guinea pig in virtual reality training and he's come up against Sid 6.7 before. Now Parker's got his ticket out of prison on one condition: take Sid 6.7 down for real."

My thoughts:

I liked this sci-fi thriller about virtual intelligence combined with a physical body. Someday, I'll see the movie this book was based on. 

Date read: 9/15/2013
Book #: 26
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: SF/Thriller

ISBN-10: 0671537520
ISBN-13:9780671537524
Publisher: Pocket Books
Year: 1995
# of pages: 213
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Mystery Cats by Lillian Jackson Braun, et al

First sentence:

"When my sister and I returned from our vacation and learned that our eccentric neighbor in the wheel chair had been removed to a mental hospital, we were sorry but hardly surprised" [from "Susu and the 8:30 Ghost." by Lillian Jackson Braun]

Description:

"WHEN MURDER IS THE CAT'S MEOW...

This murderously entertaining collection assembles sixteen purr-fect tales of crime and cats by some of today's best mystery writers. Lillian Jackson Bruan's charming Siamese SuSu is the first to smell a rat in ta chilling tale of two spinster sisters and an eccentric neighbor. Edward D Hoch's favorite theif, Nick Velvet, accepts a commission to catnap a pampered pet named Sparkle and ends up a whisker away from death. Ruth Rendell leads an unwary motorist up the garden path to an elderly cat owner's cottage, giving a sinster twist to the old maxim, 'an eye for an eye.' These, along with thirteen other purebred stories of felines and felonies, make for spell-binding reading for mystery fans and cat lovers alike! " -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this set of feline mysteries.  Favorite stories included "The Lady Wore Black" by Hugh B. Cave and "The Theft of the Mafia Cat" by Edward D. Hoch.

Date read: 8/20/2013
Book #: 25
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0451171012
ISBN-13: 9780451171016
Publisher: Signet
Year: 1991
# of pages: 256
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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The Known World by Edward P Jones

First sentence:

"The evening his master died he worked again well after he ended the day for the other adults, his own wife among them, and sent them back with hunger and tiredness to their cabins."

Description:

"In one of the most acclaimed novels in recent memory, Edward P. Jones, two-time National Book Award finalist, tells the story of Henry Townsend, a black farmer and former slave who falls under the tutelage of William Robbins, the most powerful man in Manchester County, Virginia. Making certain he never circumvents the law, Townsend runs his affairs with unusual discipline. But when death takes him unexpectedly, his widow, Caldonia, can't uphold the estate's order and chaos ensues. In a daring and ambitious novel, Jones has woven a footnote of history into an epic that takes an unflinching look at slavery in all of its moral complexities." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was an interesting book about slavery, race and families in Manchester County, Virginia. I liked the interactions between the characters, including Moses and Caldonia.

Date read: 8/15/2013
Book #: 25
Rating: 3*/5
Genre: Historical Fiction

ISBN-10: 0060557559
ISBN-13: 978006055753
Publisher: Amistad
Year: 2003
# of pages: 388
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Midnight in Peking by Paul French

First sentence:

"By day the fox spirits of Peking lie hidden and still."

Description:

"January 1937. Life in Peking is a heady mix of privilege and scandal, opulence and opium dens, rumors and superstition. The Japanese are encircling the city, and the discovery of the mutilated body of British schoolgirl Pamela Werner at the base of the Fox Tower is chilling. Is it the work of a madman? One of the ruthless Japanese soldiers? Or perhaps the dreaded fox spirits? Historian and China expert Paul French at last uncovers the truth behind this notorious murder and offers a rare glimpse of the last days of colonial Peking." -- from the back cover



My thoughts:

This was an informative account of a mysterious murder in Peking on the brink of the Japanese occupation.

Date read: 8/10/2013
Book #: 24
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Nonfiction

ISBN-10: 9781410448965
ISBN-13: 1410448967
Publisher: Thorndike Press
Year: 2012
# of pages: 419
Binding: Hardcover
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The Round House by Louise Erdrich

First sentence:

"Small trees had attacked my parents' home at the foundation."

Description:

"One Sunday in the spring of 1988, a woman living on a reservation in North Dakota is attacked. The details of the crime are slow to surface as Geraldine Coutts is traumatized and reluctant to relive or reveal what happened, either to the police or to her husband, Bazil, and thirteen-year-old son, Joe. In one day, Joe's life is irrevocably transformed. He tries to heal his mother, but she will not leave her bed and slips into an abyss of solitude. Increasingly alone, Joe finds himself thrust prematurely into an adult world for which he is ill prepared.

While his father, who is a tribal judge, endeavors to wrest justice from a situation that defies his efforts, Joe becomes frustrated with the official investigation and sets out with his trusted friends, Cappy, Zack, and Angus, to get some answers of his own. Their quest takes them first to the Round House, a sacred space and place of worship for the Ojibwe. And this is only the beginning. Written with undeniable urgency, and illuminating the harsh realities of contemporary life in a community where Ojibwe and white live uneasily together, The Round House is a brilliant and entertaining novel, a masterpiece of literary fiction. Louise Erdrich embraces tragedy, the comic, a spirit world very much present in the lives of her all-too-human characters, and a tale of injustice that is, unfortunately, an authentic reflection of what happens in our own world today."-- Amazon description.

My thoughts:

I liked this book about the Objibwe tribe and a young man trying to make sense and avenge his mother's pain.

Date read: 8/1/2013
Book #: 23
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0062065246
 ISBN-13: 9780062065247
Publisher: Harper
Year: 2012
# of pages: 316
Binding: Hardcover
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Minion by L.A. Banks

First sentence:

"Sarah Richards stood in the middle of her bedroom trying to console her infant who was wailing at the top of her lungs."

Description:

"There is one woman who is all that stands between us and the eternal night. Here is an account of her Legend...

All Damali Richards ever wanted to do was create music and bring it to the people. Now she is a spoken word artist and the top act for Warriors of Light Records. But come nightfall, she hunts vampires and demons -- predators that people tend to dismiss as myth or fantasy. Damali and her Guardian team cannot afford such delusions, especially now, when a group of rogue vampires has been killing the artists of Warriors of Light and their rival, Blood Music.

When strange attacks erupt within the club drug-trafficking network and draw the attention of the police, Damali realizes these killings are a bit out of the ordinary, even for vampires. Instead of neat puncture marks in the neck showing where the blood has been drained from the body, these corpses are mutilated beyond recognition, indicating a blood lust and thirst for destruction that surpasses any Damali has encountered before. Soon she discovers that behind these brutal murders is the most powerful vampire Damali has ever met -- a seductive beast who is coming for her next..." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this first book of the Vampire Huntress Legend series. I liked the interactions of the characters, especially Damali and her friends. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, The Awakening.

Date read: 7/25/2013
Book #: 22
Series: Vampire Huntress Legend, #1
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Paranormal Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0312316801
ISBN-13: 9780312316808
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Year: 2003
# of pages: 176
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Of Such Small Differences by Joanne Greenberg

First sentence:

"He stood in the cold outside and to the hinge side of the door so other people could move past him."

Description:

"John Moon was 25, good-looking, intelligent, gifted, and beginning to make his mark as a poet. Leda Milan was a talented and ambitious young actress. They met and were drawn to each other. But there was a barrier between them. Leda could see and hear. John could not.

Nobody ever said that love was easy -- or what a special kind of wonderful it could be. . ." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I liked this book about people trying to communicate. John, Leda, his family, co-workers - all make mistakes and assumptions about what others are trying to say. Yet even with problems, friendships are formed.

Date read: 7/20/2013
Book #: 21
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0451164199
ISBN-13: 9780451164193
Publisher: Signet
Year: 1988
# of pages: 271
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Fifty Acres and a Poodle by Jeanne Marie Laskas

First sentence:

"It's hard to say how a dream forms. "

Description:

The place is almost too perfect to be believed, but there it is: a pretty-as-a-picture-postcard farm, with an Amish barn, a chestnut grove, and vistas so beautiful, they take her breath away.



My thoughts:

I enjoyed this memoir of finding a new life on a farm. I liked Laskas' discovery that what looks like a postcard from a distance is a lot more complicated in real life.

Date read: 7/9/2013
Book #:20
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre: Memoir

ISBN-10: 0553109049
ISBN-13: 9780553109047
Publisher: Bantam Books
Year: 2000
# of pages: 272
Binding: Hardcover
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Jep's Place: Hope, Faith and Other Disasters by Joseph A. Parzych

First sentence:

"There were 13 kids in our combined family--15, counting two of my father's sons by his first wife."

Description:

"Jep’s Place: Hope, Faith and Other Disasters is the entertaining story of a boy growing up during the Great Depression in a family of 13 children of Polish immigrants in a small farmhouse at the end of a dirt road" -- from BN.com

My thoughts:

I liked this memoir of growing up on a struggling farm during the Depression. Parzych describes the highs and lows well and I liked learning what happened to him and the family.

Date read: 7/8/2013
Book #: 19
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Memoir

ISBN-10: 1591139376
ISBN-13: 9781591139379
Publisher: Joseph A. Parzych
Year: 2006
# of pages:
Binding: Trade Paperback
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The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

First sentence:

Mabel had known there would be silence.

Description:

Homesteaders Jack and Mabel have carved out a quiet life of hard work and routine for themselves in the wilderness that is 1920s Alaska, both still deeply longing for the child it's now impossible for them to have.



My thoughts:

This was a powerful and moving book about family, appreciation for one another, and making a new life. I liked how Faina brought Jack and Mabel closer together.

Date read: 7/4/2013
Book #: 18
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0316175676
ISBN-13: 9780316175678
Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books
Year: 2012
# of pages: 386
Binding: Hardcover
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Room by Emma Donoghue

First sentence:

"Today I'm five."

Description:

"To five-year-old Jack, Room is the world. It's where he was born, it's where he and his Ma eat and sleep and play and learn. At night, Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where Jack is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma it's the prison where she has been held for seven years. Through her fierce love for her son, she has created a life for him in this eleven-by-eleven foot space. But Jack's curiosity is building alongside Ma's own desperation--and she knows that Room cannot contain either much longer.

Room is a tale at once shocking, riveting, exhilarating--a story of unconquerable love in harrowing circumstances, and of the diamond-hard bond between a mother and her child." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a very powerful and moving book! I liked the characters' interaction, especially between Ma and Jack as first she protects him from Old Nick and then how she prepares him for a much wider world.

Date read: 6/29/2013
Book #: 17
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0316223239
ISBN-13: 9780316098328
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Year: 2010
# of pages: 321
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Crazy Hot by Tara Janzen

First sentence:

"Dropping a sealed manila envelope on the desk, General Buck Grant eased himself into his chair and stretched out his bad leg."

Description:

"Only the most dire emergency could send paleontologist Regan McKinney racing across the West in search of a man. But her grander has vanished, and Quinn Younger could be the missing link. What the bad-boy-turned-American-hero is doing in a deserted tumbleweed town is an even bigger mystery...until danger trails Regan into Cisco, Utah, and the sexy ex-air force pilot becomes her sole hope of survival....

Quinn figures things can't get worse than being stuck in tiny Cisco on an impossible special-ops mission. Then the dinosaur doc's granddaughter roars into town with bad guys on her tail. Once, Quinn was on the fast track to a life of crime...until Regan's grandfather rescued him. Now Quinn owes it to them both to find the old guy. But throw in a deadly terrorist and some hot dinosaur bones, and a man could get himself killed. Because facing down danger with this revved-up lady is one endless adrenaline-rush of pleasure--especially when they're falling crazy in love...and hanging on for dear life...." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:


I enjoyed this first book in the Steele Street series. The characters were enjoyable to get to know, and the plot moved along well. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Crazy Cool.

Date read: 6/27/2013
Book #: 16
Series: Steele Street, #1
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Thriller

ISBN-10: 0553586106
ISBN-13: 9780553586107
Publisher: Bantam Dell
Year: 2005
# of pages: 403
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa by R.A. Scotti

First sentence:

"According to the song, it's not supposed to rain when it's April in Paris, but the day was wet and raw."

Description:

"In Paris at the start of a radically new century, the most famous face in the history of art stepped out of her frame and into a sensational mystery.

On August 21, 1911, the unfathomable happened -- Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa vanished from the Louvre. More than twenty-four hours passed before museum officials realized she was gone. The prime suspects were as shocking as the crime: Pablo Picasso and Guillaume Apollinaire, young provacateurs of a new art. As French detectives using the latest methods of criminology, including fingerprinting, tried to trace the thieves, a burgeoning international media hyped news of the heist.

No story captured the imagination of the world quite like this one. Thousands flocked to the Louvre to see the empty space where the painting had hung. They mourned as if Mona Lisa were a lost loved one, left flowers and notes, and set new attendance records. For more than two years, Mona Lisas's absence haunted the art world, provoking the question: Was she lost forever? A century later, questions still linger.

Part love story, part mystery, Vanished Smile reopens the case of the most audacious and perplexing art theft ever committed. R. A. Scotti's riveting, ingeniously  realized account is itself a masterly portrait of a world in transition. Combining her skills as a history and a novelist, Scotti turns the tantalizing clues into a story of the painting's transformation into the most familiar and lasting icon of all time." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this book about the theft and return of the Mona Lisa. I liked learning the history of the painting, how it got to France, and where it ended up during the time it was missing.

Date read: 6/23/2013
Book #: 15
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre: Nonfiction

ISBN-10: 0307265803
ISBN-13: 9780307265807
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Year: 2009
# of pages: 227
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Civil War Fantastic edited by Martin H. Greenberg

First sentence:

"Ghosts of Gettysburg, bah."

Description:

"The War Between the States is synonymous with romance, tragedy, bravery, and lost causes. The only war fought by Americans against Americans, it nearly irrevocably tore the nation apart. Yet the United States of America did survive, though at a terrible cost. Even today, more than 130 years after the end of the Civil War, people are still fascinated by this pivotal point in American history. Writers, too, find this a fruitful period to investigate. And in Civil War Fantastic, some of science fiction's finest take us back to this turbulent time with their own special visions of what might have been. So don your uniform, load your cap and ball rifle, raise the colors, and perpare to charge into Civil War Fantastic where:

---A mysterious old man shows a Confederate soldier how one well-placed shot can change the course of history...

---He was only a horse used for children to ride on tours of Gettysburg, but he could see things on the battlefield that no human was aware of...

---Could General Lee bring himself to sanction a terrible sacrifice if it guaranteed that the South would win the war?" -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a good collection of alternate history stories. My favorites included William Keith's "A Place to Stand" and R. Davis's "Across Hickman's Bridge to Home."

Date read: 6/12/2013
Book #: 14
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Alternate History/Historical Fiction

ISBN-10: 0886779030
ISBN-13: 9780886779030
Publisher: DAW Books
Year: 2000
# of pages: 308
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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The Secret Supper by Javier Sierra

First sentence:

"No one took any notice."

Description:

"Tightly paced and atmospheric,The Secret Supper is a dazzling historical thriller with a unique vision of both Leonardo da Vinci's genius and his masterpiece -- which you will never look at in the same way again.

Milan, 1497. Leonardo is completing The Last Supper. Pope Alexander VI is determined to execute him after realizing that the painting  contains clues to a baffling--and blasphemous--message that he is driven to decode. The holy Grail and the Eucharistic Bread are missing, there is no meat on the table, and the apostles, shockingly, are portraits of well-known heretics--and none of them are depicted with halos. And why has the artist painted himself into the scene with his back turned toward Jesus? The clues to Leonardo's greatest puzzle are right before your eyes. . . . " -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I liked this historical thriller about Da Vinci, The Last Supper, religious and political intrigue in the 15th century. Sometimes there are mysteries and sometimes there are nothing to find, except rumors.

Date read: 6/9/2013
Book #: 13
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Historical Thriller

ISBN-10: 0743287649
ISBN-13: 9780743287647
Publisher: Atria Books
Year: 2006
# of pages: 329
Binding: Hardcover
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The Trouble with Magic by Madelyn Alt

First sentence:

"I don't know what it was that made me abandon my usual path to work on that particular October Tuesday."

Description:

"Bored with her office job (and subsequently fired for excessive tardiness), Maggie jumps at the opportunity to work in Enchantments. She was a little weirded out when Felicity described herself as a witch, but if her boss wants to play with broomsticks and cauldrons, where's the harm. However, Maggie's first day on the job may turn out to be her last when police question Felicity in the murder of her estranged sister.

With everyone in town proclaiming Felicity's guilt faster than the Salem Witch Trials, Maggie finds herself wondering if she'll also be tied to the stake. And lately, she's been receiving messages on a spiritual frequency guiding her to prove Felicity's innocence--and to embrace her own 'charmed' life. . ."

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this first book of the Bewitching Mystery series. I liked how Maggie learned about Felicity and about herself. I look forward to the next book in the series, A Charmed Death.

Date read: 5/30/2013
Book #: 12
Series: Bewitching Mysteries, #1
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Paranormal Mystery

ISBN-10: 0425207563
ISBN-13: 978042507568
Publisher: Berkeley Prime Crime
Year: 2006
# of pages: 261
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Murder in the White House by Margaret Truman

First sentence:

"The radio on the helicopter was tuned to the tower frequency, and the crisp metallic voices said Air Force One was on final approach long before anyone could see it."

Description:

In a town where the weapon of choice is usually a well-aimed rumor, the strangling of Secretary of State Lansard Blaine in the Lincoln Bedroom is a gruesome first. White House counsel Ron Fairbanks is ordered to investigate. There are persistent rumors that the Secretary was an accomplished womanizer with ties to a glamorous call girl. There is also troubling evidence of unofficial connections with international wheeler-dealers.

In death as in life, Blaine is a power to be reckoned with. For Fairbanks, who loves the President’s daughter, one point is soon clear: only a few highly placed insiders had access to the Lincoln Bedroom that fateful evening. And one of them was the president. . . . -- from Amazon.com

My thoughts:

I liked this first book in the "Capital Crimes Series". I enjoyed meeting the characters as well as trying to figure out who killed Blaine.  I look forward to reading the next book, Murder on Capitol Hill.

Date read: 5/27/2013
Book #: 11
Series: Capital Crimes Series #1
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0446310700
ISBN-13: 9780446310703
Publisher: Warner Books
Year: 1980
# of pages: 252
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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The Stone of Farewell by Tad Williams

First sentence:

"The wind sawed across the empty battlements, yowling like a thousand condemned souls crying for mercy."

Description:

"It is a time of darkness, dread, and ultimate testing for the realm of Osten Ard, for the wild magic and terrifying minions of the undead Sithi ruler, Ineluki the Storm King, are spreading their seemingly undefeatable evil across the kingdom. With the very land blighted by the power of Ineluki's wrath, the tattered remnants of a once-proud human army flee in search of a last sanctuary and rallying point - the Stone of Farewell, a place shrouded in mystery and ancient sorrow.

And even as Prince Josua seeks to rally his scattered forces, Simon and the surviving members of the League of the Scroll are desperately struggling to fulfill missions which will take them from the fallen citadels of humans to the hidden mountain caves of the Qanuc trolls - across storm-tormented waters to discover the truth behind an almost-forgotten legend - to the secret heartland of the Sithi, where the near-immortals must at last decide whether to ally with the race of men in a final war against those of their own blood. . . ." -- from the back cover


My thoughts:

I read the previous book, The Dragonbone Chair years ago, so I was glad to read the recap before reading on. There were times when the plot jumped around and I had trouble keeping track, but overall I liked this book and I look forward to reading the final book, To the Green Tower.

Date read: 5/20/2013
Book #: 10
Series: Memory, Sorrow, Thorn #2
Rating: 3*/5
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0756402972
ISBN-13:9780756402976
Publisher: DAW Books
Year: 1990
# of pages: 727
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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The Museum of Horrors edited by Dennis Etchison

First sentence:

"It is not on any map."

Description:

"Here for the first time in paperback are eighteen original tales of terror and the grotesque from the greatest modern masters of the macabre selected by award-winning editor Dennis Etchison. Step inside the museum and gaze upon the dark works of . . ."

PETER STRAUB	JOYCE CAROL OATES
RICHARD LAYMON	RAMSEY CAMPBELL
WILLIAM F. NOLAN	CHARLES L. GRANT
ROBERT DEVEREAUX	GORDON LINZNER
S.P. SOMTOW	TOM PICCIRILLI
MELANIE TEM	PETER ATKINS
DARREN O. GODFREY	JOEL LANE
CONRAD WILLIAMS	TH. METZGER
SUSAN FRY	LISA MORTON

-- from the back cover 

My thoughts:

This was a good collection of horror tales. Ones I liked included "Piano Bar Blues" by Melanie Tem and "Hammerhead"by Richard Laymon.

Date read: 5/12/2013
Book #: 9
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Horror

ISBN-10: 0843950773
ISBN-13: 9780843950779
Publisher: Leisure Books
Year: 2003
# of pages: 369
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The Probable Future by Alice Hoffman

First sentence:

"Anyone born and bred in Massachusetts learns early on to recognize the end of winter."

Description:

"The women of the Sparrow family have lived in New England for generations. Each is born in the month of March, and at the age of thirteen, each develops an unusual gift. Elinor can literally smell a lie. Her daughter, Jenny, can see people’s dreams as they’re dreaming them. Granddaughter Stella, newly a teen, has just developed the ability to see how other people will die. Ironically, it is their gifts that have kept Elinor and Jenny apart for the last twenty-five years. But as Stella struggles to cope with her disturbing clairvoyance, the unthinkable happens: One of her premonitions lands her father in jail, wrongly accused of homicide. The ordeal leads Stella to the grandmother she’s never met and to Cake House, the Sparrow ancestral home full of talismans and fraught with history. Now three generations of estranged Sparrow women must come together to turn Stella’s potential to ruin into a potential to redeem." - from the back cover

My thoughts:

I loved this book about family, history and magic. Each character has a rich story to tell and Hoffman gives them the space to tell it.

Date read: 3/20/2013
Book #:8
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0345455916
ISBN-13: 9780345455918
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Year: 2003
# of pages: 322
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille by Steven Brust

First sentence:

"Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille has the best matzo ball soup in the galaxy."

Description:

"So you've had a hard day?

Your planet's just been nuked?

Welcome to Cowboy Feng's!

. . .If you can find it, that is. Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille is a great place to visit, but t tends to move around a bit--from Earth to the Moon to Mars to another solar system--and always one ste

Still, Cowboy Feng's s worth tracking down. Not only does it dish up the best matzo ball soup and Irish music in the known cosmos, it may also be humanity's last hope for survival. . ." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this books about musicians in a traveling restaurant. I liked the character interactions, especially between Billy and Libby.

Date read: 3/19/2013
Book #: 7
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genres: SF, Thriller

ISBN-10: 044111816X
ISBN-13: 9780441118168
Publisher: Ace Books
Year 1990
# of pages: 223
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Ghosts of Cape Sabine by Leonard F. Guttridge

First sentence:

"It was 18 September, 1883."

Description:

"Twenty-five men went north. Only six returned alive.

In July 1881, an expedition compose mainly of American soldiers sailed off to establish a scientific base in the remote Arctic region of Lady Franklin Bay. What happened afterward is a remarkable saga of human achievement and human frailty, of heroism, hardship, bad luck and worse judgment. Compounded by deliberate political negligence back home, especially on the part of Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln, son of the late president, and increasingly fierce dissension in its own camp, the expedition's fate, and that of its would-be rescuers, eventually encompassed starvation, mutiny, suicide, shipwreck, execution. . . and cannibalism.

The story has been only partly known, and full of dark riddles, but more than seven years of research by acclaimed historian Leonard Guttridge have uncovered journals, letters, diaries, and other documentary material that for the first time provide intimate day-by-day details of the swirling events surrounding that ill-fated voyage, from turbulent birth to bizarre and tragic finale. The result is a work of nonfiction narrative that reads like a novel--a raw, vivid, harrowing adventure, brilliantly told." -- from the inside flap.

My thoughts:

Last year I read North by Roger Hubank, a fictional account of the Greely expedition. Afterwards, I wanted to read an historical account of the Greeley expedition. In this book, I learned more about problems with the first two relief attempts. I liked Guttridge's detailed end notes describing the sources from institutions such as the National Archives and the Library of Congress.

Date read: 3/12/2013
Book #: 6
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: History

ISBN-10: 0399145893
ISBN-13: 9780399145896
Publisher:G.P. Putnam's Sons
Year: 2000
# of pages: 354
Binding: Hardcover
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Crimnal Elements edited by Bill Pronzini and Martin H. Greenberg

First sentence:

"'I'm very glad she's dead,' the man said."

Description:

Thirteen of the best mystery writers today chronicle tales of crime and punishment.

Isaac Asimov - The Cross of Lorraine
P.D. James - A Very Desirable Residence
Ed McBain - Sadie When She Died
Donald E. Westlake - Sniff
Peter Lovesey - A Man With a Fortune
Sue Grafton - She Didn't Come Home
Richard S. Prather - The Double Take
Marcia Muller - Dust to Dust
Francis M. Nevins, Jr. - All the Bagworms on the Block
Edward Gorman - The Reason Why
Susan Dunlap - Hit-and-Run
Joseph Hansen - The Anderson Boy
Tony Hillerman - The Witch, Yazzie, and the Nine of Clubs -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I like this anthology of mysteries. My favorites include Sue Grafton's "She Didn't Come Home," and Peter Lovesey's "A Man With a Fortune."

Date read: 3/10/2013
Book #: 5
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0804101272
ISBN-13: 9780804101271
Publisher: Ivy Books
Year: 1988
# of pages: 294
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín

First sentence:

"They appear more often now, both of them, and on every visit they seem more impatient with me and with the world."

Description:

Provocative, haunting and indelible, Colm Tóibín’s portrait of Mary presents her as a solitary older woman still seeking to understand the events that become the narrative of the New Testament and the foundation of Christianity.

In the ancient town of Ephesus, Mary lives alone, years after her son’s crucifixion. She has no interest in collaborating with the authors of the Gospel—her keepers, who provide her with food and shelter and visit her regularly. She does not agree that her son is the Son of God; nor that his death was “worth it;” nor that the “group of misfits he gathered around him, men who could not look a woman in the eye,” were holy disciples.

Mary judges herself ruthlessly (she did not stay at the foot of the Cross until her son died—she fled, to save herself), and is equally harsh on her judgement of others. This woman who we know from centuries of paintings and scripture as the docile, loving, silent, long-suffering, obedient, worshipful mother of Christ becomes a tragic heroine with the relentless eloquence of Electra or Medea or Antigone. Tóibín’s tour de force of imagination and language is a portrait so vivid and convincing that our image of Mary will be forever transformed. -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

This was a thought provoking book, depicting the Gospel story from a different point of view. I liked how throughout Mary talks about being a mother first and last.

Date read: 2/15/2013
Book #: 4
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Historical Fiction

ISBN-10: 1451688385
ISBN-13: 9781451688382
Publisher: Scribner
Year: 2012
# of pages: 81
Binding: Hardcover
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Virtual Light by William Gibson

First sentence:

"The courier presses his forehead against layers of glass."

Description:

"Berry Rydell, an ex-cop, signs on with IntenSecure Armed Response in Los Angeles. He finds himself on a collision course that results in a desperate romance, and a journey into the ecstasy and dread that mirror each other at the heart of the postmodern experience." -- from Amazon.com



My thoughts:

This was an interesting cyberpunk novel. I liked the characters Berry and Chevette and how they worked together to figure out the story behind the special glasses. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Idoru.


Date read: 2/14/2012
Book #: 3
Series: Bridge Trilogy, #1
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: SF

ISBN-10: 0553074997
ISBN-13: 9780553074994
Publisher: Bantam Spectra
Year: 1993
# of pages: 323
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Skull Session by Daniel Hecht

First sentence:

"'The thing about danger,' Lia shouted, 'is that it simplifies you.'"

Description:

"Despite his brilliance, Paul Skoglund hasn’t held a steady job for years, partly because of his Tourette’s syndrome, a neurological disorder that forces his body into wild swings and to blurt out words that are hilariously, often tragically, inappropriate.

When his eccentric, wealthy aunt asks him to take on the repairs of her magnificent hunting lodge, he is in no position to refuse. But inside the lodge lies a scene of almost superhuman destruction: a violence now mirrored by a series of disappearances and deaths haunting the region. As Paul delves into the wreckage, he can’t help but wonder what dark passion--and what strength--could cause such chaos.

Janet, Paul’s icy ex-wife, plans to use his condition to wrest away custody of their young son. And in his otherwise uncertain world, Paul is sure of one thing: nothing and no one is going to come between him and Mark. But quickening events lead him deeper into his family’s past, and as Paul faces the darker aspects of his own nature, he must brave the possibility that in saving those he loves, he might well destroy himself …" -- from the back cover


My thoughts:

I liked this thriller about the "monster" inside and what happens when it's released without control. I liked Paul's interactions with Lia, his son Mark, and his aunt Vivian.

Date read: 2/13/2012
Book #: 2
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Thriller

ISBN-10: 0330353748
ISBN-13: 9780330353748
Publisher: Pan Books
Year: 1998
# of pages: 568
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Fortress in the Eye of Time by C.J. Cherryh

First sentence: 

"Its name had been Galasien once, a city of broad streets and thriving markets, of docks crowded with bright-sailed river craft."

Description:

"Deep in an abandoned, shattered castle, an old man of the Old Magic muttered almost forgotten words. His purpose -- to create out of the insubstance of the air, from a shimmering of light and a fluttering of shadows. that most wondrous of spells, a Shaping. A Shaping in the form of a young man who will be sent east on the road the old man was too old to travel. To right the wrongs of a long-forgotten wizard war, and call new wars into being.

Here is the long-awaited major new novel from one of the brightest stars in the fantasy and science fiction firmament. C.J.Cherryh's haunting story of the wizard Mauryl, kingmaker for a thousand years of Men, and Tristen, fated to sow distrust between a prince and his father.

A tale as deep as legend and a intimate as love, it tells of a battle beyond Time, in which all Destiny turns on the wheel of an old man's ambition, a young man's innocence, and the unkept promised of a king to come." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

Overall I liked this fantasy epic featuring the innocent Tristan trying to understand his purpose in the world. Sometimes, however, I wish there was a list of characters and their connections as many of the names were similar and I found it hard to keep track of who was who. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Fortress of Eagles.

Date read: 1/27/2013
Book #: 1
Series: Fortress, #1
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0061056898
ISBN-13: 9780061056895
Publisher: HarperPrism
Year: 1995
# of pages: 773
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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