Enough to Read

A to Z Challenge 2012

2012-01-05T22:07:00.000-05:00

As described by the challenge host, Strawberry Splash Review, the A to Z Challenge 2012 has three possible choices:

"1. Author - A to Z by authors last name, 26 books.
2. Title - A to Z by book title, 26 books.
3. Double Whammy - Do both Challenge 1 and 2 for a total 52 books."

I will do #2: A to Z by book title

A:
B:
C:
D: Dancing with Werewolves by Carole Nelson Douglas -- finished 1/3/2012
E:
F:
G:
H:
I:
J:
K:
L:
M:
N:
O:
P:
Q:
R:
S:
T:
U:
V:
W:
X:
Y:
Z:

Off the Shelf Challenge 2012

2012-01-05T19:30:00.000-05:00

What: Read books from the TBR pile
When: January 1 - December 31, 2012

For more information, see the instructions on Bookish Ardour

My level: 2 = trying. For this level, I will read 15 books:

Carole Nelson Douglas. Dancing with Werewolves -- finished 1/3/2012

Dancing with Werewolves by Carole Nelson Douglas

2012-01-04T21:49:00.000-05:00

First sentence:

"For the first time in the history of humankind, the turn of the millennium was tracked around the globe like an incoming comet zooming over the earth from the black night sky."

Description:

"It was the revelation of the millennium: witches, werewolves, vampires, and other supernaturals are real. Fast-forward thirteen years: TV reporter Delilah Street used to cover the small-town bogeyman beat back in Kansas, but now, in high-octane Las Vegas--which is run by a werewolf mob--she finds herself holding back the very gates of Hell. At least she has a hot new guy and one big bad wolf-hound to help her out..." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a good paranormal fantasy. I liked the mix of the mysterious and supernatural in the Las Vegas setting. I also liked Delilah's interactions with Hector, her familiar Quicksilver, Ric and the CineSims. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Brimstone Kiss.
Br
Date read: 1/3/2012
Book #: 1
Series: Delilah Street, #1
Challenges: Off the Shelf Challenge 2012, A to Z Challenge 2012
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Paranormal Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0809572036
ISBN-13: 9780809572038
Publisher: Juno Books
Year: 2007
# of pages: 394
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

New Author Challenge 2012!

2012-01-03T13:34:00.001-05:00

What: Read authors who are new to me

When: January 1 - December 31, 2012

Hosted at Literary Escapism

My goal: 15 new authors

What's in a Name 5 Challenge!

2012-01-02T14:33:00.002-05:00

Between January 1 and December 31, 2012, I will read one book in each of the following categories:

A book with a topographical feature (land formation) in the title
A book with something you'd see in the sky in the title
A book with a creepy crawly in the title
A book with a type of house in the title
A book with something you'd carry in your pocket, purse, or backpack in the title
A book with a something you'd find on a calendar in the title

TBR Challenge 2012!

2012-01-02T12:31:00.000-05:00

Time once again for one of my favorite challenges! I selected 12 books plus 12 alternates/extra credit:

Here they are (in no particular order):

Michael Crichton. Sphere
Angela Knight. Master of Wolves
C.J. Cherryh. The Pride of Chanur
Robert C. Fleet. Last Mountain
Dave Duncan. The Gilded Chain
John Ramsey Miller. Upside Down
Vernor Vinge. A Fire Upon the Deep
Patricia Wallace. Lullabye
Robert Heinlein. The Green Hills of Earth
Greg Iles. The Footprints of God
Frederick Forsyth. Icon
Margaret Truman. Murder in the White House

Alternates/Extra Credit:

Harriet Scott Chessman. Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper
Daniel Blythe. The Dimension Riders
Alice Hoffman. The Probable Future
Trish MacDonald Skillman. Someone to Watch Over
Judith Tarr. Household Gods
Javier Sierra. The Secret Supper
Terry Bisson. Virtuosity
Philip Caputo. The Voyage
Poul Anderson. Trader to the Stars
LA Banks. Minion
Madelyn Alt. The Trouble with Magic
Mo Hayder. Pig Island

Little, Big by John Crowley

2011-12-22T21:21:00.000-05:00

First sentence:

"On a certain day in June, 19--, a young man was making his way on foot northward from the great City to a town or place called Edgewood, that he had been told of but had never visited."

Description:

"Edgewood is many houses, all put inside each other, or across each other. It’s filled with and surrounded by mystery and enchantment: the further in you go, the bigger it gets.

Smoky Barnable, who has fallen in love with Daily Alice Drinkwater, comes to Edgewood, her family home, where he finds himself drawn into a world of magical strangeness.

Crowley’s work has a special alchemy - mixing the world we know with an imagined world which seems more true and real. Winner of the World Fantasy Award, Little, Big is eloquent, sensual, funny and unforgettable." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a very good and complex fantasy novel. Though I often felt lost, especially with repeating and similar names, I enjoyed learning about the world of Edgewood, and its inhabitants.

Date read: 12/21/2011
Book #: 24
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 185798711X
ISBN-13: 9781857987119
Publisher: Millennium
Year: 1981
# of pages: 538
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson

2011-11-05T10:57:00.000-04:00

First sentence:

"Bill Nagle's life changed the day a fisherman sat beside him in a ramshackle bar and told him about a mystery he had found lying at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean."

Description:

"In the fall of 1991, in the frigid Atlantic waters sixty miles off the coast of New Jersey, weekend scuba divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler made a startling discovery under decades of accumulated sediment: a World War II German U-boat, its interior a maze of twisted metal and human bones. Equally astonishing: All the official records agreed that there simply could not be a sunken U-boat at that location. Over the next six years, an elite team of divers embarked on a quest to solve the mystery. Some of them would not live to see the end. Chatterton and Kohler, at first bitter rivals, were drawn into a deep bond of friendship. As the men's marriages frayed under the pressure of a shared obsession, their dives grew more daring, and each realized that he was hunting for more than the identities of a lost U-boat and its nameless crew." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This book combined many of my interests and knowledge. I always like reading about nautical adventures and I have worked as an archivist for nearly twenty years. I enjoyed reading how Chatterton and Kohler researched the history of World War II German U-boats and how they gathered evidence from the submarine to discover the truth.

Date read: 11/4/2011
Book #: 23
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre: Nonfiction

ISBN-10: 0375760989
ISBN-13: 9780375760983
Publisher: Random House
Year: 2004
# of pages: 335
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

2011-09-10T20:38:00.000-04:00

First sentence:

"It was November."

Description:

"All children mythologize their birth. . . .So begins the prologue of reclusive author Vida Winter's collection of stories, which are as famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale as they are for the delight and enchantment of the twelve that do exist.

The enigmatic Winter has spent six decades creating various outlandish life histories for herself--all of them inventions that have brought her fame and fortune but have kept her violent and tragic past a secret. Now old and ailing, she at last wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life. She summons biographer Margaret Lea, a young woman for whom the secret of her own birth, hidden by those who loved her most, remains an ever-present pain. Struck by a curious parallel between Miss Winter's story and her own, Margaret takes on the commission.

As Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good, Margaret is mesmerized. It is a tale of gothic strangeness featuring the Angelfield family, including the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden and a devastating fire.

Margaret succumbs to the power of Vida's storytelling but remains suspicious of the author's sincerity. She demands the truth from Vida, and together they confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I liked this book about tales, both personal and literary. I especially liked how Margaret learned the truth about Vida's life.

Date read: 9/9/2011
Book #: 22
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0743298020
ISBN-13: 9780743298025
Publisher: Atria Books
Year: 2006
# of pages: 406
Binding: Hardcover
LibraryThing page

The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt

2011-08-30T17:56:00.000-04:00

First sentence:

"'Everyone in Venice is acting,' Count Girolamo Marcello told me."

Description:

"Venice--a city of masks and riddles, where narrow streets and passageways form a giant maze that confounds the uninitiated and deepens the sense of mystery. As captivating as it is elusive, the city teeters in precarious balance between endurance and decay. Architectural treasures crumble--foundations shift, ornaments fall--even as efforts to preserve them are under way. In The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt, author of the record-breaking bestseller Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, unveils the enigmatic Venice as only he can.

The story opens on the evening of January 29, 1996, when a sensational fire destroys the historic Fenice Opera House. The loss of the Fenice, where five of Verdi's operas premiered, is a catastrophe for Venetians, made worse by the revelation that arson might have been the cause. Arriving three days after the fire, Berendt inquires into the nature of life in this remarkable city while gradually revealing the truth about the fire. In the course of his investigations, he encounters a rich cast of characters: a hard-as-nails prosecutor who blushes when he's angered; the First Family of American expatriates facing the loss of their palace on the Grand Canal after four generations of ownership; a contemporary Venetian surrealist painter known locally as an outrageous prankster and provocateur; a twenty-first-generation master glassblower whose sons are locked in a dynastic war; and numerous others--pigeon trappers, scapegoats, hustlers, sleepwalkers, a believer in Martians, the Plant Man, the Rat Man of Treviso, and Henry James.

Berendt tells a tale full of atmosphere and surprise as the stories build, one after the other, ultimately coming together to portray a world as finely drawn as a still-life painting. The fire and its aftermath serve as a leitmotif that runs through the book, contributing to the ever-mounting suspense and revealing the city of Venice in all its magic, mystery and decadence." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I liked this book about Venice - its history, people and events, especially in the late 20th century.

Date read: 8/29/2011
Book #: 21
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Nonfiction

ISBN-10: 1594200610
ISBN-13: 9781594200618
Publisher: The Penguin Press
Year: 2005
# of pages: 398
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

TBR Challenge 2011!

2011-07-24T22:45:00.000-04:00

Another year has gone by, and it's time to post my list of books to read for the TBR Challenge 2011! I selected 12 books plus 12 alternates/extra credits.

Here they are (in no particular order):

John Sandford. Chosen Prey -- finished 1/30/2011
Douglas Clegg. Dark of the Eye -- finished 3/2/2011
James Lowder. Knight of the Black Rose -- finished 3/6/2011
Robert Goldsborough. Murder in E Minor [substitute for Icon] -- finished 3/6/2011
Michael Koepf. The Fisherman's Son [substitute for Native Tongue] -- finished 3/17/2011
Robert Tine. Desperate Measures -- finished 3/18/2011
Hugh B. Cave. The Restless Dead - finished 3/26/2011
Michael Reaves. The Shattered World -- finished 3/29/2011
Ruth Rendall. End in Tears -- finished 5/28/2011
Michael Bishop. Unicorn Mountain -- finished 7/12/2011
Stan Pottinger. The Final Procedure [substitute for Upside Down] -- finished 7/15/2011
Iain Banks. The Wasp Factory [substitute for The Gilded Chain] -- finished 7/22/2011

Alternates / Extra Credit:

Michael Crichton. Sphere
Angela Knight. Master of Wolves
C.J. Cherryh. The Pride of Chanur
Robert C. Fleet. Last Mountain
Dave Duncan. The Gilded Chain
John Ramsey Miller. Upside Down
Vernor Vinge. A Fire Upon the Deep
Patricia Wallace. Lullabye
Robert Heinlein. The Green Hills of Earth
Greg Iles. The Footprints of God

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

2011-07-23T13:04:00.000-04:00

First sentence:

I had been making the rounds of the Sacrifice Poles the day we heard my brother had escaped.

Description:

Meet Frank Cauldhame. Just sixteen, and unconventional to say the least:

Two years after I killed Blyth I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different and more fundamental reasons than I'd disposed of Blyth, and then a year after that I did for my young cousin Esmerelda, more or less on a whim.

That's my score to date. Three. I haven't killed anybody for years, and don't intend to ever again.

It was just a stage I was going through.

My thoughts:

This was an interesting book about discovery, treasure and manipulation.

Date read: 7/22/2011
Book #: 20
Challenge: TBR Challenge 2011
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0684853159
ISBN-13: 9780684853154
Publisher: Simon and Shuster
Year: 1984
# of pages: 184
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

The FInal Procedure by Stan Pottinger

2011-07-16T11:55:00.000-04:00

First sentence:

"He heard a soft voice, a little girl's voice, singing quietly in the operating room."

Description:

"HE'S TRAINED IN THE SCIENCE OF EVIL...

Christmas Eve in Auschwitz, 1944. Hitler's Angel of Death, Dr. Joseph Mengele, and his brilliant young protégé, Adalwolf, are on the verge of a nightmarish medical discovery when the war brings it all to an end. But Mengele's insane visions for the Third Reich live on.

SHE'S SKILLED IN THE ART OF THE HUNT...

More than half a century later, FBI agent Melissa Gale's mission is to bring Adalwolf to justice before it's too late. He's emerged from the shadows of history to resurrect a biological terror and unleash it on the world. But tracking him is easier than Melissa imagined. Because for years, Adalwolf has been tracking her.

BUT WHICH ONE IS THE PREY?

Melissa and her unborn child have something Adalwolf needs--a genetic history that holds the key to his success. As a dance of death is engaged between hunter and hunted, Melissa realizes how far the last Nazi will go to fulfill his dark dreams for his Ultimate Solution--and just how far she is prepared to go to stop him..." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I liked this thriller about the past coming back to life. I especially liked Melissa gradually learning who Adalwolf is and how strong she could be.

Date read: 7/15/2011
Book #: 19
Challenge: TBR Challenge 2011
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Thriller

ISBN-10: 0312997256
ISBN-13: 9780312997250
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Year: 2003
# of pages: 342
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Unicorn Mountain by Michael Bishop

2011-07-13T19:55:00.000-04:00

First sentence:

"Libby Quarrels was standing at the produce bin in the gigantic Safeway grocery store in Huerfano, Colorado, scrutinizing the bell peppers and hefting bag after cellophane bag of brown-edged celery stalks and runty carrots."

Description:

"KAR'TAJAN

Unicorn Mountain is the story of four people whose lives are transformed by a herd of unicorns. Libby is divorced, just getting by and unsure about how to react to the fact that she sometimes sees unicorns. Bo is dying and has no one to turn to until Libby takes him in. Sam is estranged from his wife and child and feels he probably deserved supernatural punishment. Paisley, Sam's daughter, is haunted by a recent personal tragedy.

Into their lives come the unicorns. Sam and Libby have seen them but are unsure of their reality. Then Bo begins to receive television transmission from another dimension that reveal that the unicorns are dying from an equine disease. Someone has to do something here, in this world, to save them...

Written with realism and compassion, Unicorn Mountain is a beautiful novel in which the magic works to make everything better. It is a deeply affecting story about salvation that will lift your spirits - and make you think again." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a very moving book about unicorns, AIDS, and learning new things about oneself and others. I liked how Libby, Bo and Sam gradually got to know each other better over time.

Date read: 7/12/2011
Book #: 18
Challenge: TBR Challenge 2011
Rating: 3*5 = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0586206175
ISBN-13: 978058206171
Publisher: Grafton Books
Year: 1988
# of pages: 495
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

North by Roger Hubank

2011-06-18T19:27:00.000-04:00

First sentence:

"In Washington, towards the end of the nineteenth century, in one of the fine town houses that lined three sides of an elegant square, six men were sitting down to dinner."

Description:

"In the fading years of the nineteenth century, five men meet in one of Washington's most elegant townhouses . They are all powerful men - with one exception. For Washington's finest have gathered to plan an expedition to the North Pole and they have chosen William Parish, a studious and quietly spoken Lieutenant, to be its leader.

As Lt Parish sets off into the unknown, he leaves behind him a young wife, Martha. Isolated and at first oblivious to the political machinations of those backing the expedition. Martha soon discovers the treachery of those in whom she has placed her trust. Meanwhile, as Parish struggles to hold his party together, each man is confronted with the darker side of his instinct to survive.

Based on a true story and winner of a Special Jury Award at the Banff festival, this is a powerful novel about what has been called 'one of the most shameful episodes in American Arctic history.'" -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

Polar exploration is one of my favorite historical topics. So, I found this fictional account of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition very moving. Parish, the fictional version of Adolphus Washington Greeley, and his men were brave as they faced struggles that could have been partly avoided except for some people back home not understanding what the expedition was going through.

Date read: 6/172011
Book #: 17
Rating: 3*5 = good
Genre: Historical Fiction

ISBN-10: 0753817691
ISBN-13: 9780753817698
Publisher: Phoenix
Year: 2004
# of pages: 344
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

End in Tears by Ruth Rendell

2011-05-29T20:32:00.000-04:00

First sentence:

"When he lifted it off the seat the backpack felt heavier than when he put it into the car."

Description:

"Chief Inspector Wexford has never before known a case of a father finding the murdered body of his daughter, never thought to see a bereaved parent prone over his child's corpse. He has daughters of his own, but he can barely imagine himself in George Marshalson's position.

Wexford needs to discover if there is any connection between two apparently unrelated deaths. But he is soon accused in the local press of old-fashioned police methods.

However,with his old friend and partner, Mike Burden, and two new recruits to the Kingsmarkham team, Wexford pursues his inquiries with a diligence and humanity that makes Ruth Rendell's detective stories enthralling, exciting and very touching." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I liked this mystery featuring Chief Inspector Wexford. I liked how he and the rest of the Kingsmarkham team figure out the cause of the murders and catch the actual killer. I look forward to reading the first book in the series, From Doon with Death.

Date read: 5/28/2011
Book #: 16
Challenge: TBR Challenge 2011
Series: Inspector Wexford, #20
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0099491141
ISBN-13: 9780099491149
Publisher: Arrow
Year: 2006
# of pages: 376
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

The Shattered World by Michael Reaves

2011-03-30T22:05:00.000-04:00

First sentence:

"He was running, had always been running."

Description:

"A millennium ago, the Necromancer unleashed cataclysm upon the world. Shattered into a thousand pieces, the fragmented planet is held together only by the great spells of the ancient sorcerers. But in a thousand years even spells grow old. . .

Beorn, a shape changer who is half man, half bear, has fallen into the sinister clutches of Ardatha the sorceress, whose mission requires his skills as a master thief. Her goal: to make Earth whole again. And she will stop at nothing--even the resurrection of the Necromancer--to fulfill her destiny. . ." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

Normally, quest fantasies have the characters trying to save the village or region or their world. With multiple worlds orbiting each other, I found this fantasy novel that much more compelling. I look forward to reading the sequel, The Burning Realm.

Date read: 3/29/2011
Book #: 15
Series: Shattered World, #1
Challenge: TBR Challenge 2011
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0708881718
ISBN-13: 9780708881712
Publisher: Futura
Year: 1984
# of pages: 413
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

The Restless Dead by Hugh B. Cave

2011-03-27T17:12:00.000-04:00

First sentence:

"Aboard Barracuda II, inbound off the east coast of Florida, a small white man with a pimply face thrusts his head up from the boat's engine room and says in a whine, 'Joe--jeez--I can't find out what's wrong with this thing!'"

Description:

"A curse lingers over the Everol mansion--a voodoo curse, born of evil, steeped in blood. The tormented family who lives in this house of horrors is beset by insanity, visions. . .and death. They have shut themselves off from the world, allowing no one to trespass on their blighted property. No one except Jeff Gordon, a university professor with a special knowledge of voodoo and the occult. Reluctantly, in desperation, the Everol family has permitted Gordon to enter the mansion. But all Gordon's experience could never prepare him for the unearthly creatures that await him thee--or the ultimate terror of the mysterious caves beneath the house." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I liked this voodoo horror story. I especially liked how Jeff helped the Everol family get rid of the creatures that were haunting there home.

Date read: 3/26/2011
Book #: 14
Challenge: TBR Challenge 2011
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Horror

ISBN-10: 0843950832X
ISBN-13: 9780843950823
Publisher: Leisure Books
Year: 2003
# of pages: 339
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Desperate Measures by Robert Tine

2011-03-19T19:30:00.000-04:00

First sentence:

"They didn't come along all that often but this was one of those stories that the news directors of television stations just loved to get their hooks into--one of those stories that had just about everything, a story tailor-made for television news."

Description:

"Desperate: 1. Rash or violent out of despair. 2. Almost hopeless, grave. 3. Overpowering, intense.

Frank Connor's nine-year-old son has a rare form of leukemia. Without a bone marrow transplant, he will die--and time is running out. After no suitable donors are found, Frank risks his career as a San Francisco cop by illegally hacking into a Federal law enforcement computer. But he finds what he is looking for...

His name is Pete McCabe, a murderer incarcerated in America's toughest prison. His DNA is the closest match. If Frank can get him to do the transplant, his son's life will be saved--and he has a plan to get McCabe to do just that.

But McCabe also is no ordinary killer. He is a pure sociopath with a genius IQ who has spent too many years behind bars. And he has a plan of his own..." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this "cat-and-mouse" thriller with both the cop and con manipulating each other. After I read the book, I saw the movie that the book was based on. I noticed that some scenes that were briefly described in the book was shown in the movie, and that the book had a few extra scenes the movie didn't have.

Date read: March 18, 2011
Book #: 13
Challenge: TBR Challenge 2011
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Thriller

ISBN-10: 1572973498
ISBN-13: 9781572973497
Publisher: Boulevard Books
Year: 1997
# of pages: 213
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

The Fisherman's Son by Michael Koepf

2011-03-18T11:27:00.000-04:00

First sentence:

"In a life raft, in the night, pushed by wind, Neil Kruger drifts on."

Description:

"Drifting in a life raft off the northern California coast after a horrifying shipwreck, Neil Kruger retreats from his fear by recalling scenes from his childhood as the son of a commercial fisherman out of Half Moon Bay. Lost at sea, he finds his truest self in his vivid memories: his powerful attachment to his father, a man who can predict storms by looking at the stars; his painful estrangement from his mother, who works at the local cannery; his fascination with the hard lives and warm wit of a host of fellow fishermen. From its arresting first paragraphs to its shattering ending, this enthralling tale combines the lyrical storytelling of The English Patient with the muscular excitement of The Perfect Storm, Michael Koepf has created a triumphant novel about our lifelines to childhood and the pull of the sea." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a gripping book about family and self-discovery. I liked how Neil learned that while his father had flaws, he still had important lessons to impart.

Date read: 3/17/2011
Book #: 12
Challenge: TBR Challenge 2011
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0767902440
ISBN-13: 9780767902441
Publisher: Broadway Books
Year: 1998
# of pages: 289
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

Knight of the Black Rose by James Lowder

2011-03-07T15:00:00.000-05:00

First sentence:

"One name recorded here, in these scrolls that make up my history of Krynn, has become a byword for corruption and monumental evil throughout the continent of Ansalon: Lord Soth of Dargaard Keep."

Description:

"On the fabled world of Krynn, Lord Soth finally learns that there is a price to pay for his long history of evil deeds, a price even an undead warrior might find horrifying.

Dark powers transport Soth to Barovia, and there the death knight must face the dread minions of Count Strahd Von Zarovich, the vampire lord of the nightmare land. But with only a captive Vistani woman and an untrustworthy ghost for allies, Lord Soth soon discovers that he may have to join forces with the powerful vampire if he is ever to escape the realm of terror." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I liked this dark fantasy in which even the evil Lord Soth can, at times, have some redeeming qualities. I look forward to reading the next book, The Spectre of the Dark Rose.

Date read: 3/6/2011
Book #: 11
Challenge: TBR Challenge 2011
Series: Terror of Lord Soth, #1
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Dark Fantasy

ISBN-10: 1560761563ISBN-13: 9781560761563
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Year: 1991
# of pages: 313
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Murder in E Minor by Robert Goldsborough

2011-03-07T11:41:00.001-05:00

First sentence:
"Nero Wolfe and I have argued for years about whether the client who makes his first visit to us before or after noon is more likely to provide an interesting--and lucrative--case."

Description:

"When a maestro is murdered, Archie is flabbergasted when the gargantuan gourmet detective lifts himself out of retirement, amid a juicy public scandal. Wolfe and Archie feast on suspects yet starve for facts--until the scanty clues finally arrange themselves like notes on a score, and Wolfe recognizes a dark melody that only a murder virtuoso could perform." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was my first Nero Wolfe read, and it won't be the last. I enjoyed how Wolfe and Archie gradually solved the case and confronted the real killer.

Date read: 3/6/2011
Book #: 10
Series: Nero Wolfe, #48
Challenge: TBR Challenge 2011
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0553261207

ISBN-13: 9780553261202

Publisher: Bantam Books
Year: 1986
# of pages: 196

Binding: Mass Market Paperback

LibraryThing page

The Dewey Decimal Challenge 2011

2011-03-04T20:36:00.000-05:00

Dewey Decimal Challenge

When: January 1 - December 31, 2011
What: Read at least one nonfiction book to reach the following levels:

Dilettante--Read 1 non-fiction book.
Explorer--Read 2
Seeker--Read 3
Master--Read 4

I'll add my books as I read them. Who know what level I'll reach?

Deborah Wearing. Forever Today -- finished 1/25/2011
Matthew Battles. Library: An Unquiet History -- finished 3/3/2011

Library: An Unquiet History by Matthew Battles

2011-03-04T11:36:00.003-05:00

First sentence:

"When I first went to work in Harvard's Widener Library, I immediately made my first mistake: I tried to read the books."

Description:

"Throughout the ages, libraries have not only accumulated and preserved but also shaped, inspired, and obliterated knowledge. Matthew Battles, a rare books librarian and a gift narrator, 'entertainingly traces the evolution of the library through the centuries,' [New York Times Book Review] from Boston to Baghdad, from classical scriptoria to medieval monasteries, from the Vatican to the British library, from socialist reading rooms and rural home libraries to the Information Age." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this engaging book about libraries, books, writing and knowledge. I liked learning about how writing on bamboo stalks influenced the look of Asian writing and how Antonio Panizzi changed the card catalog "...from an inventory to an instrument of discovery" [p. 130].

Date read: 3/3/2011

Book #: 9

Challenge: Dewey Decimal Challenge 2011

Rating: 3*/5 = good

Genre: nonfiction

ISBN-10: 093325644

ISBN-13: 9780393325645

Publisher: W.W. Norton

Year: 2003

# of pages: 214
Binding: Trade Paperback

LibraryThing page

Dark of the Eye by Douglas Clegg

2011-03-03T20:00:00.000-05:00

First sentence:

"He had never killed a child before."

Description:

"A tragi accident left eleven-year-old Hope Stewart with an extraordinay power that is both blessing and curse. Her touch alone can heal those suffering from horrifying afflictions. . .or subject them to an unspeakable fate. Now, a once-innocent child has become the prey in a monstrous hunt. Her scientist father is determined to exploit her frightening gift, a relentless government agent is out to kill her--and a damaged soul called Monkey vows to deliver her to the mercies of the fiendish forces he serves. . . ." - from the back cover

My thoughts:

This book was more than a typical horror tale of monsters. Every character had reasons for their actions, even if I did not always agree with them.

Date read: 3/2/2011
Book #: 8
Challenge: TBR Challenge 2011
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Horror

ISBN-10: 067173539X
ISBN-13: 9780671735395
Publisher: Pocket Books
Year: 1994
# of pages: 325
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Die Trying by Lee Child

2011-03-02T20:31:00.010-05:00

First sentence:

Nathan Rubin died because he got brave.

Description:

"Jack Reacher is an innocent bystander -- in the wrong place at the wrong time -- when a woman is kidnapped. Now he's at the mercy of a group of men demanding an impossible ransom, for this mysterious woman is worth far more than Reacher ever suspected. And though she doesn't ask for his help, he's going to give it to her....

Because ex-military policeman Jack Reacher is a hero. He's used to saving lives. But this time he's going to take a few before he's through." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a good suspenseful thriller. I liked the interaction between Reacher and Holly Johnson as they both try to escape and figure out who captured them and why. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Tripwire.

Date read: 3/1/2011
Book #: 7
Series: Jack Reacher, #2
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Thriller

ISBN-10: 0515125024
ISBN-13: 9780515125023
Publisher: Jove
Year: 1999
# of pages: 422
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

The Wizards of Odd edited by Peter Haining

2011-02-27T20:50:00.002-05:00

First sentence:

"It was a fine summer morning, the kind to make a man happy to be alive."

Description:

"Wizards and wotsits, swords and sorcery, astronauts and aliens -- all the ingredients of humorous fantasy are packed into the pages of this unique collection.

Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams return to Discworld and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy respectively, with stories first seen in book form in this volume.

Other stars of the genre represented include Brian Aldiss, Isaac Asimov, Robert Bloch, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Donaldson, Ursula K. Le Guin, Kurt Vonnegut, and H.G. Wells. Altogether, twenty-four writers have contributed their talents to create the best anthology of humorous fantasy ever published."

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this collection of humorous fantasy stories. Two of my favorites were "Doodad" by Ray Bradbury about a man who learns too late not to underestimate seemingly useless items and "The Rule of Names" by Ursula K. Le Guin about a mysterious wizard and a knight.

Date read: 2/26/2011
Book #: 6
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 1857236351
ISBN-13: 9781857236354
Publisher: Orbit
Year: 1997
# of pages: 298
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Chosen Prey by John Sandford

2011-01-31T20:35:00.001-05:00

First sentence:

"James Qatar dropped his feet over the edge of the bed and rubbed the back of his neck, a momentary veil of depression falling upon him."

Description:

"Lucas Davenport returns in the most harrowing and unexpected Prey novel yet -- the story of a congenial man, and his most uncongenial obsession...

Art history professor James Qatar's hobby was taking secret photographs of women. At night when he was all alone he'd dream about them and indulge his fantasies. Then one day his fantasy went too far. Now it's Qatar's turn to become an obsession -- of Davenport's. And for both men there's no turning back." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this mystery/thriller featuring Lucas Davenport. One of my favorite scenes was when Davenport meets the computer genius Kidd for the first time. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Mortal Prey.

Date read: 1/30/2011
Book #: 5
Series: Lucas Davenport, #12
Challenge: TBR Challenge 2011
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0425182878
ISBN-13: 9780425182871
Publisher: Berkley
Year: 2001
# of pages: 383
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Forever Today by Deborah Wearing

2011-01-26T20:00:00.003-05:00

First sentence:

"Clive had no idea that Tuesday 26 March 1985 would be his last day of conscious thought."

Description:

"Clive Wearing has one of the most extreme cases of amnesia ever known. In 1985, a virus completely destroyed a part of his brain essential for memory, leaving him trapped in a limbo of the constant present. Every conscious moment is for him as if he has just come round from a long coma, an endlessly repeating loop of awakening. A brilliant conductor and BBC music producer, Clive was at the height of his success when the illness struck. As damaged as Clive was, the musical part of his brain seemed unaffected, as was his passionate love for Deborah, his wife.

For seven years he was kept in the London hospital where the ambulance first dropped him off, because there was nowhere else for him to go. Deborah desperately searched for treatments and campaigned for better care. After Clive was finally established in a new special hospital, she fled to America to start her life over again. But she found she could never love another the way she loved Clive. Then Clive’s memory unaccountably began to improve, ten years after the illness first struck. She returned to England. Today, although Clive still lives in care, and still has the worst case of amnesia in the world, he continues to improve. They renewed their marriage vows in 2002.

This is the story of a life lived outside time, a story that questions and redefines the essence of what it means to be human. It is also the story of a marriage, of a bond that runs deeper than conscious thought." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I had heard about Clive Wearing's total amnesia on an episode of Radio Lab podcast about identity. This book not only gave an insight into Clive's condition but also how it affected his wife, Deborah.

Date read: 1/25/2011
Book #: 4
Challenge: Dewey Decimal Challenge 2011
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Memoir

ISBN-10: 0385606265
ISBN-13: 9780385606264
Publisher: Doubleday
Year: 2005
# of pages: 338
Binding: Hardcover
LibraryThing page

The Girl Who Remembered Snow by Charles

2011-01-11T18:47:00.001-05:00

First sentence:

"Emma Passant's earliest memory was of snow."

Description:

"A professional magician, Emma Passant knows the hand is quicker than the eye. But how much of her own life has been an illusion? Her grandfather is murdered, and soon afterward a friend is killed by the same gun. So when her brawny assistant departs for greener pastures, Emma puts her act on hold and sets out to find some answers.

With only a pattering of clues, she follows a trail of cryptic words, rumors of stolen treasure, and her own vague snow-shrouded memories to the Caribbean, New York and Paris, where she discovers shattering deceptions made in the name of love--and the shocking truth about her own past." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a good mystery about someone learning the truth about her past. I liked the interactions between Emma and Timoteo in San Marcos.

Date read: 1/10/2011
Book #: 3
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0373262574
ISBN-13: 9780373262571
Publisher: St Martin's Press
Year: 1997
# of pages: 300
LibraryThing page

Publisher:
Year

Skeleton's Knee by Archer Mayor

2011-01-07T08:56:00.002-05:00

First sentence:

"I have a body for you."

Description:

"Vermont hermit Abraham Fuller kept mum on his gunshot wound. When it finally causes a fatal aneurysm some twenty years later, Detective Joe Gunther decides to investigate--and, for the first time, must leave his rustic Brattleboro beat.

The trouble starts in Fuller's garden where Gunther's crew digs up an artificial knee joint . . . attached to a very real human skeleton. Worse yet, the victim had been murdered. When a sniper machine-guns the hearse bringing the skeleton to the morgue, Gunther's first step is clear: find the manufacturer of the steel knee. It will mean trading Vermont for Chicago, where big city cops snub small-town gumshoes, too many people are hiding dark pasts, and a deadly trail could lead to a fresh new corpse--Gunther's own." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I liked this mystery featuring Vermont detective Joe Gunther and his experiences in Chicago. I liked how he noticed discrepancies in the crime scenes and how he worked on identifying all the players in the murder.

Date read: 1/6/2011
Book #: 2
Series: Joe Gunther, #4
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0446400998
ISBN-13: 9780446400992
Publisher: Mysterious Press
Year: 1993
# of pages: 311
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Ubik by Philip K. Dick

2011-01-06T13:31:00.000-05:00

First sentence:

"Friends, this is clean-up time and we're discounting all our silent, electric Ubiks by this much money."

Description:

"Squeaking in his metal-insect voice, Stanton Mick floated to the ceiling of the room, his arms protruding distendedly and rigidly. 'Mr. Runciter, don't let your thalamus overide your cerebral cortex. This matter calls for discretion, not haste; calm your people down and let's huddle together in an effort to mutually understand.' His rotund, colourful body bobbed about, twisting in a slow, transversal rotation.

'I've heard of this,' Runciter said to Joe Chip. 'It's a self-destruct humanoid bomb. Help me get everybody out of here. They just now put it on auto; that's why it floated upward.'

The bomb exploded...

From first page to last, UBIK is a searing exploration of time travel, telepathy and the human condition faced with adversity. Drawing on his boundless resources of creation, Dick produced in UBIK a winner of a novel--bizarre intrigue, vaulting imagination and an action-packed plot. SF at its very best..." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I liked this science fiction novel of the past intruding into the present. I especially liked the scene where Joe sees an early twentieth-century elevator instead of the modern one that should be there.

Date read: 1/5/2011
Book #: 1
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: SF

ISBN-10: 0586037160
ISBN-13: 9780586037164
Publisher: Grafton
Year: 1969
# of pages: 224
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

LibraryThing page

What's in a Name? 4 Challenge

2011-01-01T20:18:00.007-05:00

Between January 1 and December 31, 2011, I will read one book in each of the following categories:

A book with a number in the title:
A book with jewelry or a gem in the title:
A book with a size in the title:
A book with movement in the title:
A book with evil in the title:
A book with a life stage in the title:

2010 A-Z Challenge

2010-12-26T20:45:00.000-05:00

2010 A-Z Challenge
January 1 - December 31, 2010

How does this reading challenge work? Choose the option that works best for you...

Authors -- Read alphabetically by author. Commit to 26 books.

Titles -- Read alphabetically by title. Commit to 26 books.

Authors & Titles -- Commit to reading 52 books

I will read 26 books alphabetically by author:

A: Boris Akunin. The Winter Queen -- finished 2/26/2010
B: Melissa Bank. The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing -- finished 3/16/2010
C: Ana Castillo. Peel My Love Like an Onion -- finished 4/14/2010
D
E: David and Leigh Eddings. The Redemption of Althalus -- finished 4/3/2010
F: Mark Frost. The List of Seven -- finished 3/10/2010
G: Bea Gonzalez. The Mapmaker's Opera -- finished 1/17/2010
H: Sophie Hannah. Hurting Distance -- finished 3/5/2010
I
J: Iris Johansen. Final Target -- finished 1/26/2010
K: Julie Kaewert. Unbound -- finished 2/5/2010
L: Kelly Link. Stranger Things Happen -- finished 2/11/2010
M: Elizabeth Moon. The Speed of Dark -- finished 3/10/2010
N: Larry Niven. Tales of Known Space -- finished 2/22/2010
O: Heather O'Neil. Lullabies for Little Criminals -- finished 2/23/2010
P: Sara Paretsky. Total Recall -- finished 6/10/2010
Q
R: J.D. Robb. Witness in Death -- finished 4/17/2010
S: Asne Seierstad. The Bookseller of Kabul -- finished 2/16/2010
T: Daniel Tammet. Born on a Blue Day -- finished 6/22/2010
U
V: Vernor Vinge. Marooned in Real Time -- finished 2/13/2010
W: Jincy Willett. Winner of the National Book Award -- finished 3/2/2010
X: Garth Nix. Mister Monday -- finished 12/23/2010
Y
Z

Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge 2010

2010-12-25T15:00:00.000-05:00

Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge 2010
January 1 - December 31, 2010

This challenge has four levels:

Inquisitive - 3 books
Enthusiastic - 6 books
Addicted - 12 books
Obsessed - 24 books

I will add my books as I read them. Who knows what level I'll reach?

Scott Sigler. Contagious - finished 1/17/2010
Kelly Link. Stranger Things Happen -- finished 2/11/2010
Vernor Vinge. Marooned in Real Time -- finished 2/13/2010
Larry Niven. Tales of Known Space -- finished 2/22/2010
Terri Windling. The Wood Wife -- finished 3/2/2010
Lois Lowry. Gathering Blue -- finished 3/3/2010
David and Leigh Eddings. The Redemption of Althalus -- finished 4/4/2010
Edmund Cooper. Sea-Horse in the Sky -- finished 4/7/2010
Matthew Cook. Blood Magic -- finished 4/22/2010
Eoin Colfer. The Wish List -- finished 5/5/2010
Terry Brooks. The Sword of Shannara -- finished 5/22/2010
Will Shetterly. Elsewhere -- finished 5/29/2010
David G. Hartwell, ed. The Year's Best Fantasy -- finished 6/30/2010
Glen Cook. The Black Company -- finished 7/21/2010
Esther Friesner. Here be Demons -- finished 8/9/2010
Iain M. Banks. Excession -- finished 11/7/2010
Fredrik Pohl. Beyond the Blue Event Horizon -- finished 12/20/2010
Garth Nix. Mister Monday -- finished 12/23/2010

Mister Monday by Garth Nix

2010-12-24T11:13:00.000-05:00

First sentence:

"They had tried to destroyed the Will, but that proved beyond their power."

Description:

"Arthur Penhaligon is not supposed to be a hero. He is supposed to die. But then he meets sinister Mister Monday and everything changes.

SEVEN DAYS. SEVEN KEYS. ONE MYSTERIOUS BOOK. ONE STRANGE HOUSE FILLED WITH SECRETS.

Dare Arthur enter and accept the fate that awaits him within? -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this first book of the Keys to the Kingdom series. Iliked how Arthur learned to believe in himself and how he interacted with Suzy and the Will. I look forward to reading the next book, Grim Tuesday.

Date read: 12/23/2010
Book #: 53
Series: Keys to the Kingdom, #1
Challenges: Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge; A-Z Challenge 2010
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0007175019
ISBN-13: 9780007175017
Publisher: Collins
Year: 2003
# of pages: 425
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

Beyond the Blue Event Horizon by Frederik Pohl

2010-12-21T14:10:00.000-05:00

First sentence:

"It was not easy to live, being young, being so completely alone."

Description:

Robinette Broadhead, made rich by the Gateway mission that had cost him the woman he loved, joined in bankrolling an expedition to the Food Factory a Heechee spaceship found beyond the obit of Pluto and designed to graze the cometary cloud and transform the basic elements of the universe into untold quantities of food.

Broadhead thought his motives were simple enough, a gamble on a breakthrough that could end famine forever and would make him the wealthiest man in history. But his understanding, tough-minded wife knew something else drove her husband, a vision of his lost love: poised forever at the 'event horizon' of a black hole. . .where Robin had abandoned her.

Every scrap of Heechee lore that could be brought back and interpreted increased the chance that he would someday, somehow be able to reach and perhaps even rescue his beloved Gelle-Klara Moynlin.

After three and a half years, messages came back from the expedition that electrified the wold: the Food Factory was still working. . .they found a human aboard. . .they had discoveed the key to the use of a whole new level of technology. . .

And, it appeared they had found the Heechee!

My thoughts:

I liked this science fiction book about discovery and relationships. I noticed that although there were spaceships and colonization of other worlds, the communication problems resembled pre-telegraph days.

Date read: 12/20/2010
Book #: 52
Series: The Heechee Saga, #2
Challenge: Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: SF

ISBN-10: 0345275357
ISBN-13: 9780345275356
Publisher: Del Rey
Year: 1980
# of pages: 309
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Body Work by Fiona Brand

2010-11-16T12:16:00.000-05:00

First sentence:

"Throat tight with panic, ten-year-old Etienne Dexter launched himself off the veranda, bare feet thudding on sun-hot dirt, kicking up dust as he ran."

Description:

"Someone wants her dead and she can't remember why...

As a child, Jane Gale witnessed her mother's murder and was nearly killed in trying to escape. Left for dead, she has suffered complete memory loss, unable to recall who she was before the "accident" or the events that caused her mother's death. Twenty-five years later, Jane has a new life and a blossoming career as a novelist -- until the killer picks up her book and discovers that the only eyewitness to his secrets has survived. And told.

Oblivious to the fact that she has attracted the murderer back into her life, Jane has no idea where the inspiration for her bestseller came from. But she has a photograph that leads her back to Louisiana, to a place she knows but can't remember -- and to a stranger she wants to trust. Because somehow he is a link to her past . . . and her only chance of staying alive." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this thriller. I liked how Jane gradually learned that the book she wrote was based on forgotten memories and how she learned to face her enemy.

Date read: 11/15/2010
Book #: 51
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Thriller

ISBN-10: 0778322890
ISBN-13: 9780778322894
Publisher: Mira
# of pages: 377
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Hurry Down Sunshine by Michael Greenberg

2010-11-16T09:37:00.005-05:00

First sentence:

On July 5, 1996, my daughter was struck mad.

Description:

"Hurry Down Sunshine tells the story of the extraordinary summer when, at the age of fifteen, Michael Greenberg's daughter was struck mad. It began with Sally's sudden visionary crack-up on the streets of Greenwich Village, and continues, among other places , in the out-of-time world of a Manhattan psychiatric ward during the city's most sweltering months. 'I feel like I'm traveling and traveling with nowhere to go back to,' Sally says in a burst of lucidity while hurtling away toward some place her father could not dream of or imagine. Hurry Down Sunshine is the chronicle of that journey, and its effect on Sally and those closest to her--her mother and stepmother, her brother and grandmother, and, not least of all, the author himself." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

This was an interesting book about how mental illness affects a family. I liked how Sally's parents struggled to understand what's happening.

Date read: 11/14/2010
Book #: 50
Rating: 3*/5
Genre: Memoir

ISBN-10: 1590511913
ISBN-13: 9781590511916
Publisher: Other Press
Year: 2oo8
# of pages: 233
Binding: Hardcover
LibraryThing page

TBR Challenge 2010!

2010-11-08T14:00:00.000-05:00

It's time for me to post my list of books for the TBR Challenge 0f 2010! I selected 12 books for the challenge plus 12 alternates/extra credits.

Here they are (in no particular order):

Damien Broderick. Matilda at the Speed of Light -- finished 1/6/2010 (substitute for The Knight of the Black Rose)
Thomas Tryon. The Other -- finished 1/23/2010
Iris Johansen. Final Target -- finished 1/26/2010
Jincy Willett. Winner of the National Book Award -- finished 3/2/2010
Ana Castillo. Peel My Love Like an Onion -- finished 4/14/2010
David Wise. The Children's Game -- finished 4/27/2010
Whitley Streiber. The Forbidden Zone -- finished 5/3/2010
Eoin Colfer. The Wish List -- finished 5/5/2010 (substitute for All Tomorrow's Parties)
Terry Brooks. The Sword of Shannara -- finished 5/22/2010
Lorenza Caracaterra. Sleepers -- finished 6/5/2010 (substitute for Chosen Prey)
David G. Hartwell. Year's Best Fantasy -- finished 6/30/2010
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Reliquary -- finished 7/21/2010 (substitute for The Dimension Riders)

Alternates/Extra Credit:

Iain Banks. Excession -- read 11/7/2010
Robert Tine. Desperate Measures
Frederick Forsyth. Icon
Douglas Clegg. Dark of the Eye
Carl Hiassen. Native Tongue
Michael Bishop. Unicorn Mountain
John Ramsey Miller. Upside Down
Michael Reaves. The Shattered World

Excession by Iain Banks

2010-11-08T12:30:00.000-05:00

First sentence:

"A little more than one hundred days into the fortieth year of her confinement, Dajeil Gelian was visited in her lonely tower overlooking the sea by an avatar of the great ship that was her home."

Description:

"Diplomat Byr Genar-Hofoen has been selected by the Culture to undertake a delicate and dangerous mission. The Department of Special Circumstances--the Culture's espionage and dirty tricks section--has sent him off to investigate a 2,500-year-old mystery: the sudden disappearance of a star fifty times older than the universe itself. But in seeking the secret of the lost son, Byr risks losing himself. There is only one way to break the silence of millennia: steal the soul of the long-dead starship captain who first encountered the star, and convince her to be reborn. And in accepting this mission, Byr will be swept into a vast conspiracy that could lead the universe into an age of peace. . .or to the brink of annihilation." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I liked this book, but I think I would have liked it more if I had read the earlier books in the series first. I found myself wondering what was going on and who the characters were, and it wasn't until I was halfway through when I realized that it was part of a series. I look forward to reading the earlier books starting with Consider Phlebas.

Date read: 11/7/2010
Book #: 49
Series: The Culture, #5
Challenges: Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge, TBR Challenge 2010
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: SF

ISBN-10: 0553575376
ISBN-13: 9780553575378
Publisher: Bantam Spectra
Year: 1996
# of pages: 499
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

What's in a Name ? 3 Challenge

2010-10-26T20:30:00.000-04:00

What's in a Name? 3 Challenge
January 1 - December 3, 2010

Between January 1 and December 31, 2010, I will read one book in each of the following categories:

A book with a food in the title: Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris -- finished 3/6/2010
A book with a body of water in the title: Cane River by Lalita Tademy -- finished 10/25/2010
A book with a title (queen, president) in the title: The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin -- finished 2/26/2010
A book with a plant in the title: The Wood Wife by Terri Windling -- finished 3/2/2010
A book with a place name (city, country) in the title: The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad -- finished 2/16/2010
A book with a music term in the title: The Mapmaker's Opera by Béa Gonzalez -- finished 1/17/2010

Cane River by Lalilta Tademy

2010-10-26T12:31:00.014-04:00

First sentence:

"On the morning of her ninth birthday, the day after Madame Francoise Derbanne slapped her, Suzette peed on the rosebushes."

Description:

"Ladita Tademy had always been intensely interested in her family's stories, especially ones about her great-grandmother Emily, a formidable figure who died with her life's savings hidden in her mattress. Probing deeper for her family's roots, Tademy soon found herself swept up in an obsessive two-year odyssey--and leaving her corporate career for the little Louisiana farming community of...Cane River. It was here, on a medium-sized Creole plantation owned by a family named Derbanne, that author Lalita Tademy found her family's roots--and the stories of four astonishing women whose lives began in slavery, who weathered the Civil War, and who grappled with the contradictions of emancipation through the turbulent early years of the twentieth century. Through it all, they fought to unite their family and forge success on their own terms.

Here amid small farmhouses and a tightly knit community of French-speaking slaves, free people of color, and whites, Tademy's great-great-great-great-grandmother Elisabeth would bear both a proud heritage and the yoke of slavery. Her youngest daughter, Suzette, would be the first to discover the promise--and heartbreak--of freedom. Suzette's strong-willed daughter Philomene would use determination born of tragedy to reunite her family and gain unheard of economic independence. And Emily, Philomene's spirited daughter, would fight to secure her children's just due and preserve their future against dangerous odds.

In a novel that combines painstaking historical reconstruction with unforgettable storytelling, Lalita Tademy presents an all too rarely seen part of American history, complete with a provocative portrayal of the complex, unspoken bonds between slaves and slave owners.Most of all, she gives us the saga of real, flesh-and-blood women, making hard choices in the face of unimaginable loss, securing their identity and independence in order to face any obstacle, and inspiring all the generations to come.' -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I liked this book about Tademy's ancestors and their struggles in the 19th and early 20th century. I especially liked the way she inserted images of newspaper accounts, slave auction lists, and census records. I would read these documents just after reading the fictional account and would connect the names to the characters, making them more "alive." I look forward to reading the sequel, Red River.

Date read: 10/25/2010
Book #: 48
Challenge: What's in a Name? 3 Challenge
Series: Tademy Family Chronicles, #1
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre: Historical Fiction

ISBN-10: 0446530522
ISBN-13: 978044653952?
Publisher: Warner Books
Year: 2001
# of pages: 416
Binding: Hardcover
LibraryThing page

Psi Hunt by Michael Kurland

2010-09-02T12:27:00.006-04:00

First sentence:

"The Plaza DiLauria Complex, the World's largest hotel and convention center, was stuffed from the eighth subcellar to the rotating observation platform this Power Day weekend."

Description:

"Astral Emprise sold metaphysics, mysticism, paranormal phenomena, astrology lessons--and anything else that Believers were willing to spend a dollar on.

Not the kind of operation the U.S. Navy was used to dealing with.

Until the People's Republic of China decided that it could blow up half the United States with five telepathic kids who spent their days watching grade-B war movies in an L.A. theater.

And Lieutenant Junior Grade Robert Burrows was assigned to call their bluff. . ." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a good mix of science fiction and adventure. I liked how Burrows and Friendly bluffed their way into the enemy's headquarters.

Date read: 9/1/2010
Book #: 47
Challenge: Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: SF

ISBN-10: 0425046648
ISBN-13: 9780425046647
Publisher: Berkley
Year: 1980
# of pages:
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Celebrate the Author Challenge 2010

2010-09-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

Celebrate the Author Challenge 2010
Hosted by Becky of Becky's Book Reviews
12 Books, 12 Months
January - December 2010

"The challenge is designed to “celebrate” author birthdays. Choose one author for each month of the year. Read at least one book a month. 12 authors. 12 birthdays. If you like, you can read MORE than that. Read the books IN ANY ORDER YOU LIKE. As long as you've got one book representing an author birthday from each month of the year by the end, then you're good."

My list:

January:

Thomas Tryon. The Other -- finished 1/23/2010

February:

Asne Seierstad. The Bookseller of Kabul - finished 2/16/2010

March:

Lois Lowry. Gathering Blue - finished 3/3/2010

April:

Edmund Cooper. Sea-Horse in the Sky - finished 4/7/2010

May:

Eoin Colfer. The Wish List -- finished 5/5/2010

June:

Whitley Streiber. The Forbidden Zone -- finished 5/3/2010

July:

David Eddings. The Redemption of Althalus -- finished 4/3/2010

August:

Daniel Keyes. The Minds of Billy Milligan -- finished 8/30/2010

September:

October:

Lorenzo Carcaterra. Sleepers -- finished 6/5/2010

November:

Mark Frost. The List of Seven -- finished 3/10/2010

December:

John Berendt. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil -- finished 5/19/2010

The Minds of Billy Milligan by Daniel Keyes

2010-08-30T12:23:00.012-04:00

First sentence:

"On Saturday, October 22, 1977, University Police Chief John Kleberg placed the area of Ohio State University's medical school under heavy police security."

Description:

"Billy Milligan came be anyone he wants to be. . .except himself.

Out of control of his own actions, Billy Milligan was a man tormented by twenty-four distinct personalities battling or supremacy over his body.--a battle which culminated in late 1977 when heawoke in jail, arrested for the kidnap and rape of three women. In a landmark trial, Billy was acquitted of his crimes by reason of insanity caused by multiple personality--the first such court decision in history--bringing to public light the most remarkable and harrowing case of multiple personality ever recorded.

Twenty-four people live inside Billy Milligan.

Philip, a petty criminal, Kevin, who dealt drugs and masterminded a drug store robbery; April, whose only ambition was to kill Billy's stepfather; Adalana, the shy, lonely, affection-starved lesbian who 'used' Billy's body in the rapes which led to his arrest; David, the eight-year-old 'keeper of the pain'; and all the others, including men, women, several children, both boys and girls, and the Teacher, the only one who can put them all together. You will meet each in this often shocking true story. And you will be drawn deeply into the mind of this tortured young man and his splintered, terrifying world." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was an interesting book about someone who learned that he was rarely in charge of his actions. One scene that stuck in my mind was when "Phillip" decided to go to New York and "David" came forward and couldn't carry the weight of the duffel bag.

Date read: 8/30/2010
Book #: 46
Challenge: Celebrate the Author 2010
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Nonfiction

ISBN-10: 0553225855
ISBN-13: 9780553225853
Publisher: Bantam Books
Year: 1981
# of pages: 426
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Banvard's Folly: Thirteen Tales of People Who Didn't Change the World by Paul Collins

2010-08-26T12:30:00.005-04:00

First sentence:

"The life of John Banvard is the most perfect crystallization of loss imaginable."

Description:

"In Banvard's Folly, Paul Collins celebrates what he calls the 'forgotten ephemera of genius.' Here are thirteen unforgettable portraits of men and women who might have claimed their share of renown but who, whether from ill timing, skullduggery, monomania, the tinge of madness, or plain bad luck--or perhaps some combination of them all--leapt straight from life into thankless obscurity. Among their number are scientists, artists, writers, entrepreneurs, and adventurers, from across the centuries and around the world. They hold in common the silenced aftermath of failure, the name that rings no bells--until now." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This is a fascinating book about people and their tenuous claim to fame. I liked learning about the musical language "Solresol," promoted by Jean Francois Sudre and the use of blue glass to heal as promoted by A.J. Pleasanton.

Date read: 8/25/2010
Book #: 45
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Nonfiction

ISBN-10: 0312300336
ISBN-13: 9780312300333
Publisher: Picador
Year: 2001
# of pages: 283
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

Take Another Chance Challenge

2010-08-10T18:15:00.000-04:00

Take Another Chance Challenge

January 1 - December 31, 2010
Hosted by Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here

This challenge has many participation levels which cover 12 shorter challenges. Rather than list all of them, I will post the level I intend to reach and the challenges I intend to finish. For complete rules, go to the site linked above.

A Small Gamble - complete 3 out of 12 challenges

Challenge 3: 100 Best Book

Philip K. Dick. Ubik (Ranked #44 on Top 100 Sci-Fi Books)

Challenge 4: Prize Winner Book

Marilynne Robinson. Gilead. (Pulitzer Prize, 2005) -- finished 8/9/2010

Challenge 5: Title Word Count

Vernor Vinge. Marooned in Realtime (3-word title) -- finished 2/13/2010

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

2010-08-10T17:45:00.002-04:00

First sentence:

"I told you last night that I might be gone sometime, and you said, Where, and I said, To be with the good Lord, and you said, Why, and I said, Because I'm old, and you said, I don't think you're old."

Description:

"In 1956, near the end of Reverend John Ames life, he begins a letter to his young son, and account of himself and his forbears. Ames is the son of an Iowa preacher and the grandson of a minister who, as a young man in Maine, saw a vision of Christ in chains and came west to Kansas to fight for abolition. He 'preached men into the Civil War,' then, at age fifty, became a chaplain inthe Union Army, losing his right eye in battle. Reverend Ames writes to his on about the tension between his father--an ardent pacifist--and his grandfather whose pistol and bloody shirts, concealed in an army blanket, may be relics from the fight between the abolitionists and the settlers who wanted to vote Kansas into the Union as a slave state. And he tells a story of the sacred bonds between fathers and sons, which are tested in his tender and strained relationship with his namesake, John Ames Boughton, his best friend's wayward son.

This is also the tale of another remarkable vision--not a corporeal vision of God but the vision of life as a wondrously strange creation. It tells how wisdom was forged in Ames's sold during his solitary life, and how history lives through generations, pervasively present even when betrayed and forgotten.

Gilead is the long-hoped for second novel by one of our finest writers, a hymn of praise and lamentation to the God-haunted existence that Reverend Ames loves passionately, and from which he will soon part. ' -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I found this book emotionally moving and thought-provoking. I liked how John reflected on his relationship with his father and his father's relationship with his father.

Date read: 8/9/2010
Book #: 44
Series: Gilead, #1
Challenge: Take Another Chance Challenge
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 037415382
ISBN-13: 9780374153892
Publisher: Farrar, Strous and Giroux
Year: 2004
# of pages: 247
Binding: Hardcover
LibraryThing page

Here be Demons by Esther Friesner

2010-08-10T17:30:00.002-04:00

First sentence:

"It's your move," said Atamar."

Description:

"The road to hell is paved with bad intentions. . .

But intentions alone are not enough. Hell hates a failure, and the archdemon Atamar has just not been pulling his weight in the competitive world of bad deeds, rotten behavior, and corruption of mortal souls. So he and his team of junior demons have been put on probation--thrown out of the comforts of Hell into the realm of the living. They won't be allowed back until they've collected a fat bonus of innocent souls, fully corrupted and ready to drag down to the Devil himself.

Unfortunately, Atamar has landed in the desert, miles from the nearest known sin--until a team of American archeology students arrives for a summer dig. And when the gleeful demons descend to do their worst, they discover that their idea of bad deeds is sadly out of date--at least when the youth of America is involved!" -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I liked this humorous fantasy about demons and people. I look forward to reading the next book, Demon Blues.

Date read: 8/9/2010
Book #: 43
Challenge: Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge
Series: Demons, #1
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0441327974
ISBN-13: 9780441327943
Publisher: Ace
Year: 1988
# of pages: 233
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

The Black Company by Glen Cook

2010-07-22T10:30:00.001-04:00

First sentence:

"There were prodigies and portents enough."

Description:

"Some feel the Lady, newly risen from centuries in thrall, stands between humankind and evil. Some feel she is evil itself. The hardbitten men of the Black Company take their pay and do what they must, burying their doubts with their dead.

Until the prophecy: The White Rose has been reborn, somewhere, to embody good once more.

There must be a way for the Black Company to find her. . ." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this first book of the Black Company series. I especially liked how the members learned about the White Rose and the powers of the Circle of Eighteen. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Shadows Linger.

Date read: 7/21/2010
Book #: 42
Challenges: Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge
Series: Chronicles of the Black Company, #1
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0812533704
ISBN-13: 9780812533705
Publisher: TOR
Year: 1984
# of pages: 319
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Reliquary by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

2010-07-22T10:00:00.003-04:00

First sentence:

"Snow tested his regulator, checked both air valves, ran his hand along the slick neoprene of the suit."

Description:

"Hidden deep beneath Manhattan lies a warren of tunnels, sewers, and galleries, mostly forgotten by those who walk the streets above. There lies the ultimate secret of the Museum Beast. When two grotesquely deformed skeletons are found deep in the mud off the Manhattan shoreline, museum curator Margo Green is called in to aid the investigation. Margo must once again team up with police lieutenant D'Agosta and FBI agent Pendergast, as well as the brilliant Dr. Frock, to try and solve the puzzle. The trail soon leads deep underground, where they will face the awakening of a slumbering nightmare." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I liked this sequel to Relic with its mix of horror and mystery. I especially liked how different events all intersected in interesting ways.

Date read: 7/21/2010
Book #: 41
Series: Pendergast, #2
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Horror

ISBN-10: 0812542835
ISBN-13: 9780812542837
Publisher: TOR Books
Year: 1998
# of pages: 457
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Year's Best Fantasy edited by David G. Hartwell

2010-06-30T12:15:00.001-04:00

First sentence:

"I am sunning myself on the west terrace when Gilyan comes."

Description:

"Tales as deep as legend and as new as dawn.

Acclaimed editor David G. Hartwell has gathered a harvest of shimmering beauty and powerful writing in this inaugural volume of the very best fantasy from the last year. Established masters rub elbows with rising stars in this outstanding collection of short stories rich with imagined land and finely etched, unforgettable characters. Travel to distant realms--and around the block--with stories by:

Terry Goodkind
Nicola Griffith
Nalo Hopkinson
George R.R. Martin
Robert Schekley
Michael Swanwick." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this collection of short stories. Some of my favorite stories were George R.R. Martin's "Path of the Dragon" which gave some insight into Daenarys Targaryen and Sherwood Smith's "Mom and Dad on the Home Front," which illustrated what parents go through when the children have otherworldly adventures.

Date read: 6/30/2010
Book #: 40
Challenges: TBR Challenge 2010, Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 038081840X
ISBN-13: 9780380818402
Publisher: EOS
Year: 2001
# of pages: 490
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Trammet

2010-06-23T12:03:00.009-04:00

First sentence:

"I was born on 31 January 1979 -- a Wednesday."

Description:

"Daniel sees numbers as shapes, colours and textures and can perform extraordinary maths in his head. He can also learn to speak a language fluently from scratch in a week. He has Savant Syndrome, an extremely rare form of Asperger's that gives him almost unimaginable mental powers, much like the Rain Man portrayed by Dustin Hoffman. But he is virtually unique amongst people who have severe autistic disorders in being able to live a fully independent life." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a very interesting book about Savant Syndrome, synesthesia and autism. I liked Tammet's accounts of learning Icelandic and memorizing the number pi up to over 22,500 digits.

Date read: 6/22/2010
Book #: 39
Challenge: A - Z Challenge 2010
Rating: 3*/5 = good

ISBN-10: 0340899751
ISBN-13: 9780340899755
Publisher: Hodder
Year: 2006
# of pages: 284
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

Total Recall by Sara Paretsky

2010-06-11T12:02:00.001-04:00

First sentence:

"The cold that winter ate into our bones."

Description:

"For private eye V. I. Warshawski, the journey begins with a national conference in downtown Chicago, where angry protesters are calling for the recovery of Holocaust assets. There, a slight man steps forward to tell an astonishing story of a childhood shattered by the Holocaust. . .a story that has devastating consequences for V.I.'s friend and mentor, Lotty Herschel.

Lotty was just nine when she emigrated from Austria to England, one of a group of children saved from the Nazi terror just before the war. Now, stunningly, it seems someone from that long-lost past may have returned. With the help from a recovered-memory therapist, Paul Radbuka has unearthed his true idenity. But is he who he claims to be? Or an imposter who has usurped someone else's history. . .a history Lotty has tried to forget for over fifty years? Desperate to help her friend, V.I. digs into Radbuka's past. And as the darkness gathers around Lotty, V.I. struggles to decide whose memories of a terrible war she can trust, and moves closer to a chilling realization of the truth--a truth that almost destroys her oldest friend." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a good mystery with the past of the Holocaust affecting the events in the present. I liked how V.I. gradually learned about Lotty's past.

Date read: 6/9/2010
Book #: 38
Series: V.I. Warshawski, #10
Challenge: A-Z Challenge 2010
Rating: 3*/5 = good

ISBN-10: 0440224713
ISBN-13: 9780440224716
Publisher: Dell
Year: 2001
# of pages: 524
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Sleepers by Lorenzo Carcaterra

2010-06-06T12:00:00.001-04:00

First sentence:

"I sat across the table from the man who had battered and tortured and brutalized me nearly thirty years ago."

Description:

"This is the true story of four young boys. Four lifelong friends. Intelligent, fun-loving, wise beyond their years, they are inseparable. Their potential is unlimited, but they are content to live within the closed world of New York City's Hell's Kitchen. And to play as many pranks as they can on the denizens of the street. They never get caught. And they know they never will.

Until one disastrous summer afternoon.

On that day, what begins as a harmless scheme goes horrible wrong. And the four find themselves facing a year's imprisonment in the Wilkinson Home for Boys. The oldest of them is fifteen, the youngest twelve. What happens to them over the course of that year--brutal beatings, unimaginable humiliation--will change their lives forever.

Years later, one has become a lawyer. One a reporter. And two have grown up to be murderers, professional hit men. For all of them, the pain and fear of Wilkinson still rages within. Only one thing can erase it.

Revenge.

To exact it, they will twist the legal system. Commandeer the courtroom for their agenda. Use the wiles they observed on the streets, the violence they learned at Wilkinson.

If they get caught this time, they only have one thing left to lose: their lives.

Sleepers is the extraordinary true story of four men who take the law into their own hands. Brilliantly written, it is a searing portrait of a system gone awry and of the people--some innocent, some not so innocent--who must suffer the consequences. At the heart of Sleepers is a sensational murder trial that ultimately gives devastating, yet exhilarating, proof of street justice and truly defines the meaning of loyalty and love between friends. Told with great humor and compassion, even at its most harrowing, Sleepers is an unforgettable reading experience. It will leave you breathless." -- from Amazon.com

My thoughts:

This was a very intense account of brutality and courage. Not everyone made the right decisions, but all faced hardships straight on.

Date read: 6/5/2010
Book #: 37
Challenges: TBR Challenge 2010, Celebrate the Author Challenge 2010
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre; Memoir

ISBN-10: 0345404114
ISBN-13: 98034504114
Publisher: Ballantine
Year: 1995
# of pages: 370
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Elsewhere by Will Shetterly

2010-05-30T11:30:00.005-04:00

First sentence:

"I knew I was in the Nevernever when I saw a wild elf through the train window."

Description:

"All MESSED UP and NOWHERE to go?

Bordertown lies halfway between the world of humans and the realm of Faerie. Here, elf and human gangs clash by night, magic works better than technology, and runaways like Ron show up with dreams of changing themselves into someone new. Ron's come searching for something he thought he's lost, but instead he finds all sorts of other things - a makeshift family of punk castaways; a friend in half-elf biker Mooner; and maybe true love in Mooner's beautiful - and dangerous - sister, Wiseguy.

Getting to Bordertown took Ron a bit of luck and magic. Surviving there will be another story altogether." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this urban fantasy set in the NeverNever. I especially liked the interactions between Ron and the people he meets.

Date read: 5/29/2010
Book #: 36
Series: Borderland, #5
Challenge: Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good

ISBN-10: 0152052097
ISBN-13: 9780152052096
Publisher: Harcourt
Year:
# of pages:
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs

2010-05-27T07:56:00.001-04:00

First sentence:

"Babies die."

Description:

"Temperance Brennan, like her creator Kathy Reichs, is a brilliant, sexy forensic anthropologist called on to solve the toughest cases. But for Tempe, the discovery of a young girl's skeleton in Acadia, Canada, is more than just another assignment. Evangeline, Tempe's childhood best friend, was also from Acadia. Named for the character in the Longfellow poem, Evangeline was the most exotic person in Tempe's eight-year-old world. When Evangeline disappeared, Tempe was warned not to search for her, that the girl was 'dangerous.'

Thirty years later, flooded with memories, Tempe cannot help wondering if this skelton could be the friend she lost so many years ago. And what is the meaning of the strange skeletal lesions found on the bones of the young girl?

Meanwhile, Tempe's beau, Ryan, investigates a series of cold cases. Three girls dead. Four missing. Could the New Brunswick skeleton be part of the pattern? As Tempe draws on the latest advances of forensic anthropology to penetrate the past, Ryan hunts down a serial predator." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

This was both a good mystery and a good insight into Tempe's childhood. I liked how she persisted in finding her lost friend and solving the mysteries of the cold cases. I look forward to reading the next book, Devil Bones.

Date read: 5/26/2010
Book #: 35
Series: Tempe Brennan, #10
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0743294378
ISBN-13: 9780743294379
Publisher: Scribner
Year: 2007
# of pages: 310
Binding: Hardcover
LibraryThing page

1st in a Series Challenge

2010-05-23T14:30:00.000-04:00

1st in a Series Challenge
January 1 - December 31, 2010

I will read 3 books that are first in a series to complete the Curious level:

Boris Akunin. The Winter Queen (Erast Fandorin #1) -- finished 2/26/2010
Mark Frost. The List of Seven (Jack Sparks #1) -- finished 3/10/2010
Terry Brooks. The Sword of Shannara (Shannara Trilogy #1) -- finished 5/22/2010

The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks

2010-05-23T13:30:00.002-04:00

First sentence:

'The sun was already sinking into the deep green of the hills to the west of the valley, the read and gray-pink of its shadows touching the corners of the land, when Flick Ohmsford began his descent."

Description:

"Long ago, the wars of ancient Evil had ruined the world and forced mankind to compete with many other races--gnomes, trolls, dwarfs, and elves. But in peaceful Shady Vale, half-elfin Shea Olmsford knew little of such troubles.

Then came the giant, forbidding Allanon, possessed of strange Druidic powers, to reveal that the supposedly dead Warlock Lord was plotting to destroy the world. The sole weapon against this Power of Darkness was the Sword of Shannara, which could only be used by a true heir of shannara. On Shea, last of the blood line, rested the hope of all races.

Soon a Skull Bearer, dread minion of evil, flew into the Vale, seeking to destroy Shea. To save the Vale, Shea flees, drawing the Skull Bearer after him.

Thus begins the seemingly hopeless quest of a simple man against the greatest power of evil the world has ever known." - from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this epic fantasy. I especially liked the way Shea, Flick, Hendel, Balinor and others face trials in their quest to find the Sword of Shannara.

Date read: 5/22/2010
Book #: 34
Series: Shannara Trilogy, #1
Challenges: Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge, TBR Challenge 2010, 1st in a Series Challenge

ISBN-10: 0345314255
ISBN-13: 9780345314253
Publisher: Del Rey
Year: 1977
# of Pages: 726
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Read the Book, See the Movie Challenge

2010-05-20T13:15:00.001-04:00

Read the Book, See the Movie Challenge
January 1 - December 31, 2010

"The Read the Book, See the Movie Challenge is based on a simple idea--read a book, see a movie based on the book, include both in your review. Whether yours is a book blog or a movie blog, this could be a way to add some spice to your posts, expand your outlook, have some fun. Mostly, have some fun."

I will do the Double Feature level - two books/two movies:

Augusten Burroughs. Running With Scissors -- read 4/7/2010
John Berendt. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil -- read 5/19/2010

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

2010-05-20T12:00:00.001-04:00

First sentence:

"He was tall, about fifty, with darkly handsome, almost sinister features: a neatly trimmed mustache, hair turning silver at the temples, and eyes so black they were like the tinted windows of a sleek limousine -- he could see out, but you couldn't see in."

Description:

"Shots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in the misty, early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. John Berendt's sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yet it is a work of nonfiction. Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case.

It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman's Card Club; the turbulent young redneck gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the 'soul of pampered self-absorption"; the uproariously funny black drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artists; young blacks dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story is a sublime and seductive reading experience. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, this enormously engaging portrait of a most beguiling Southern city is certain to become a modern classic." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I liked this book about Savannah and what happened there in 1981 and afterwards. Just learning about the city's history and its inhabitants was worth the read. I look forward to seeing the movie.

Date read: May 19, 2010
Book #: 33
Challenge: Read the Book, See the Movie Challenge, Celebrate the Author Challenge 2010
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Nonfiction

ISBN-10: 0679429220
ISBN-13: 9780679429227
Publisher: Random House
Year: 1994
# of pages: 388
Binding: Hardcover
LibraryThing page

Easy Prey by John Sandford

2010-05-07T13:00:00.000-04:00

First sentence:

"When the first man woke up that morning, he wasn't thinking about killing anyone."

Description:

"When Davenport is called to the white-stuccoed house, after the party, he knows it's for no usual case. For one thing, the strangulation victim is Alie'e Maison, she of the knife-edge cheekbones and jade-green eyes: as models go, one of the biggest. For another, there are a few small complications. Such as the drugs in her body and the evidence that she had recently made love to a woman. Such as the fact that one of Lucas's own men had been at the party, and is now a suspect. Such as the little surprise they are all about to find when they search the house: a second body, stuffed in a closet, with a deep dent in the skull.

The whole case is going to be like this, Lucas knows – secrets piled upon secrets, the ground shifting constantly under his feet. But even he cannot suspect the earth tremors he is about to feel, when an old lover comes back into his life, a woman he has never been able to forget... whose own secrets may turn out to be the most perplexing ones of all.

My thoughts:

I liked this mystery featuring Lucas Davenport. I especially liked how the twists of the case first confused him and then led him to the actual killer.

Date read: May 5, 2010
Book #: 32
Series: Lucas Davenport, #11
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 039914613X
ISBN-13: 9780399146138
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Year: 2000
# of pages: 407
Binding: Hardcover
LibraryThing page

The Wish List by Eoin Colfer

2010-05-06T11:00:00.002-04:00

First sentence:

"Meg and Belch were doing a job."

Description:

"Meg Finn is in trouble. Unearthly trouble.

Meg's soul is up for grabs as Heaven and Hell try every sneaky trick imaginable to claim it. Helping a lonely old man complete tasks on his wish list is her only chance. But even if she takes that chance, will she really have enough points to face up to St. Peter?" -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this fantasy about a young girl who learns about helping people. I especially liked the interactions between Meg and Lowrie and between St. Peter and Beezlebub.

Date read: May 5, 2010
Book #: 31
Challenges: Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge, TBR Challenge 2010, Celebrate the Author Challenge 2010
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

ISBN-10: 014131592X
ISBN-13: 9780141315928
Publisher: Puffin
Year: 2000
# of pages: 200
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

The Forbidden Zone by Whitley Strieber

2010-05-04T20:16:00.002-04:00

First sentence:

"To the middle of a perfect summer afternoon came a long, trembling scream."

Description:

"The mound, a quiet town gathering spot...until now. Now something undeniably evil is hiding beneath it. A powerful darkness, terror with unfathomable needs and desires, spreading its roots in secret, transforming all that the good townfolk love and cherish: their past, their hopes, their souls.

Courageous physicist Brian Kelley and his beautiful, very pregnant wife, must confront the horror. They will band together with their neighbors to battle a power transcending their worst imaginings. And only an impossible gamble will give them a chance to survive. The Forbidden one -- master storyteller Whitley Streiber's breakneck journey beyond the cutting edge of terrifying suspense." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a suspenseful book with horror and surprises from unexpected directions. Just as I thought the characters would be ok, a new horror appeared and made things worse.

Date read: May 3, 2010
Book #: 30
Challenge: TBR Challenge 2010, Celebrate the Author Challenge 2010
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Horror

ISBN-10: 0451404874
ISBN-13: 9780451404879
Publisher: Onyx
Year: 1994
# of pages: 415
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

The Children's Game by David Wise

2010-04-28T16:45:00.001-04:00

First sentence:

"The bears, as expected, had been excellent."

Description:

"William Danner, an ex-spy dragooned back into the CIA, must find the mole whose sabotage of the agency's covert operations threatens to destroy the CIA itself. Haunted by his past, investigating a tangled mix of intrigue, he finds himself simultaneously battling the KGB, a group of mysterious "old boys" fired by the CIA, and his own agency. When he uncovers a spine-chilling plot at the highest levels of government, he risks his life to stop it -- and to save his daughter and the beautiful woman he loves. In the process he discovers new truths about his own life as a man playing The Children's Game." - from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this espionage thriller with its many twists and turns. I especially liked how Danner figured out how to get an important disc from a rather unique hiding place.

Date read: 4/27/2010
Book #: 29
Challenge: TBR Challenge 2010
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Thriller

ISBN-10: 0312132425
ISBN-13: 9780312132422
Publisher: St. Martin's
Year: 1983
# of pages: 280
Binding: Hardcover
LibraryThing page

Blood Magic by Matthew Cook

2010-04-23T20:13:00.000-04:00

First sentence:

"For three days we run, and the Mor follow."

Description:

"When the inhuman Mor crawl up from the underground to torment the world above, Kirin joins the battle against them as scout and archer for the Imperial Army. The power of her blood magic, a dark sorcery even she does not understand, has given her the ability to raise grotesque creatures from souls and dead flesh -- loyal, lethal warriors that aid her in the fight to survive. She finds comfort in the arms of Sergeant Jazen Tor, but it is beautiful and gentle Lia Cho, a woman who can call lightning from the skies, who helps Kirin discover the truth about herself . . ." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a good fantasy featuring Kirin, a young woman with powers she doesn't always understand. I liked how she gradually learned about the cost of her actions and I look forward to reading the sequel, Nights of Sin.

Date read: 4/22/2010
Book #: 28
Series: Kirin Widowmaker, #1
Challenge: Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0809572001
ISBN-13: 9780809572007
Publisher: Juno Books
Year: 2008
# of pages: 264
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Witness in Death by J.D. Robb

2010-04-18T20:30:00.000-04:00

First sentence:

"There was always an audience for murder."

Description:

"Opening night at New York's New Globe Theater turns from stage scene to crime scene when the leading man is stabbed to death center stage. Now Eve Dallas has a high-profile, celebrity homicide on her hands. Not only is she lead detective, she's also a witness - and when the press discovers that her husband owns the theater, there's more media spotlight than either can handle. The only way out is to move fast. Question everyone and everything . . . and in the meantime, try to tell the difference between the truth - and really good acting. . ." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a good mystery featuring Eve Dallas. I liked the mix of theater and crime and the way Eve figured out who the killer was.

Date read: 4/17/2010
Book #: 27
Challenge: A to Z Challenge 2010
Series: In Death, #10
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0425173631
ISBN-13: 073042517363?
Publisher: Berkeley
Year: 2000
# of pages: 338
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Peel My Love Like an Onion by Ana Castillo

2010-04-15T14:00:00.000-04:00

First sentence:

"I remember him dark."

Description:

"Peel My Love Like an Onion is the breakthrough novel from Ana Castillo, author of the wildly praised So Far from God -- a lyrical, steamy, and moving story of a love triangle set in the colorful world of flamenco dancing.

Carmen "La Coja" ("the cripple) Santos is a flamenco dancer of local renown in Chicago, despite the obstacle of a gimpy leg, the legacy of a childhood attack of polio. From the beginning of her professional career, she has carried on an affair with Agustin, the married director of her troupe -- a romance that is going stale from over-familiar lust and an absence of honesty. But when she begins a passionate liaison with the younger Manolo, Agustin's godson and a dancer of natural genius, an angry rivalry is sparked. Add to that the looming reassertion of her crippling disease and Carmen's vexed relations with her mother, one of the most exasperating parents in recent literature, and you have all the ingredients for a love story a la Ana Castillo -- equal parts soap opera, tragicomedy, and rhapsody. Laced with sarcastic asides and dead-on observations, Peel My Love Like an Onion is a universal work inbued with love's power to vex and exalt." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

This was a very good love story interlaced with music and dancing. I liked how Carmen learned to find her own voice and dignity.

Date read: 4/14/2010
Book #: 26
Challenges: A-Z Challenge 2010; TBR Challenge 2010
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0385496761
ISBN-13: 9780375496766
Publisher: Doubleday
Year: 1999
# of pages: 213
Binding: Hardcover
LibraryThing page

Seahorse in the Sky by Edmund Cooper

2010-04-09T13:30:00.001-04:00

Description:

"Eight men and eight women, with curious bumps on the backs of their heads, and no memory of anything but an interrupted journey, a flight that never landed. They emerged from their green plastic coffins one by one, into the sunlight of an endless alien plain." -- from fantastic.fiction.co.uk

My thoughts:

This is a good science fiction story about different groups of people finding themselves in a very new and unexpected place. I liked how they figured out how to get beyond the river valley and learn who brought them there and why.

Date read: 4/7/2010
Book #: 25
Challenges: Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge, Celebrate the Author Challenge 2010
Rating: 3*/5
Genre: SF

ISBN-10: 0340129751
ISBN-13: 9780340129753
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Year: 1980
# of pages: 192
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing Page

Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

2010-04-08T13:00:00.001-04:00

First sentence:

"My mother is standing in front of the bathroom mirror smelling polished and ready; like Jean Nate, Dippity Do and the waxy sweetness of lipstick."

Description:

RUNNING WITH SCISSORS is the true story of a boy whose mother (a poet with delusions of Anne Sexton) gave him away to be raised by her psychiatrist, a dead-ringer for Santa and a lunatic in the bargain.Suddenly, at age twelve, Augusten Burroughs found himself living in a dilapidated Victorian in perfect squalor.The doctor's bizarre family, a few patients, and a pedophile living in the backyard shed completed the tableau.Here, there were no rules, there was no school.The Christmas tree stayed up until summer, and Valium was eaten like Pez.And when things got dull, there was always the vintage electroshock therapy machine under the stairs.... RUNNING WITH SCISSORS is at turns foul and harrowing, compelling and maniacally funny.But above all, it chronicles an ordinary boy's survival under the most extraordinary circumstances.

My thoughts:

At times both funny and disturbing, this was a very interesting memoir showing the good and bad in human relationships.

Date read: 4/7/2010
Book #: 24
Challenge: Read the Book, See the Movie Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Memoir

ISBN-10: 0312283709
ISBN-13: 9780312283704
Publisher: Picador
Year: 2002
# of pages: 304
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

The Redemption of Althalus by David and Leigh Eddings

2010-04-04T13:23:00.006-04:00

First sentence:

"Now before the Beginning, there was no Time, and all was Chaos and Darkness."

Description:

"Althalus is an unrepentant rogue and scoundrel. Yet of all men in the world, it is Althalus who will become the champion of humanity in its desperate struggle against the forces of an ancient god determined to return the universe to nothingness.

On this way to stealing The Book from the House at the End of the World Althalus collides head-on with his unique destiny-- and Dweia, a seductive goddess who just happens to be a cat. Dweia can manipulate time. Unfortunately, as can her evil brother. . . and he has been using his own dark magic to rewrite history itself. The only people who can stop him are Althalus and a ragtag group of men, women, and children. But they have no reason to trust Althalus -- or one another." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this fantasy adventure very much. I liked how Althalus and his friends learn to work together as they battle Daeva and the forces of darkness. I also like the use of "doors" to get from place to place (and from time to time).

Date read: 4/3/2010
Book #: 23
Challenge: A-Z Challenge 2010, Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge, Celebrate the Author Challenge 2010
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0345440781
ISBN-13: 9780345440785
Publisher: Dell Rey
Year: 2000
# of pages: 792
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank

2010-03-17T14:15:00.000-04:00

First sentence:

"My brother's first serious girlfriend was eight years older–twenty-eight to his twenty."

Description:

"Generous-hearted, smartly comic, and wickedly insightful, The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing maps the progress of Jane Rosenal as she sets out on a personal and spirited expedition through the perilous terrain of sex, love, relationships and the treacherous waters of the workplace. What is love, she wonders, as she scrutinizes the wiles and ways of older, possibly wiser women; casts a questioning eye toward various species of couples; and holds out her wrists for a spritz of perfume from her beautiful boss . . . How do you find it (and keep it) -- and above all, who makes the rules?

In the throes of a budding romance, Jane repairs to the self-help shelves to take a sojourn with authors Bouncy Bonnie and Blown-Dry Faith who whisper in her ear and tell her what the rules are -- in their terms. 'Wear you hair long. . .Don't say 'I love you' first. . .Don't accept a date less than four days in advance. . .' and above all. 'Don't be funny! . . . Men like femininity," Faith says, crossing her legs. "Humor isn't feminine. . .'

When she is swept off her feet by an older man and into a Fitzgeraldesque world of cocktail parties, country houses and rules-that-were-made-to-be-broken, Jane learns what it means when her lover says he wants "to everything" with her, and the stakes become far too high.

A floating house in St. Croix (after a soul-stripping game of strip poker) has its own lesson to teach, as do a couple of sexy, come-and-go boyfriends, a drama around a Greenwich Village kitchen table, and a never-ending bloop-yatty-bloop wedding reception. Finally, when Jane has gone in all the wrong directions (but for all the right reasons), she learns not only when to fish and when to cut bait, but who really makes the rules." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

This was a somewhat quirky and interesting book about relationships. I liked how Jane learned how relying too much on other people's opinions isn't the right thing to do.

Date read: 3/16/2010
Book #: 22
Challenge: A-Z Challenge 2010
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 067088300x
ISBN-13: 978067088300?
Publisher: Viking
# of pages: 274
Binding: Hardcover
LibraryThing page

The List of Seven by Mark Frost

2010-03-11T14:45:00.002-05:00

First sentence:

"The envelope was vellum, cream."

Description:

"Christmas Day, 1884: a letter is slid under the door of a struggling young doctor and aspiring novelist, begging him to come to the aid of a mysterious woman, a victim of the black spiritual arts. . .

From the foggy streets of Victorian London to the wind-swept moors of Yorkshire, a demonic conspiracy begins to unfold. The List of Seven, a sinister brotherhood sworn to serve the Dark Lord, have conceived a diabolical plot that threatens not only the Royal Crown, but the very fabric of modern society.

Only two men stand in their way: the young Doctor Arthur Conan Doyle, and Jack Sparks, Queen Victoria's Special Agent, a man of formidable intellect and lethal skills. . ." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a good mix of mystery, historical fiction and the supernatural. I liked how the characteristics of Holmes and Watson were displayed in Sparks and Doyle, respectively. While some scenes did get a bit clichéd, I enjoyed the book and look forward to the next book in the series, The Six Messiahs.

Date read: 3/10/2010
Book #: 21
Series: Jack Sparks, #1
Challenges: A-Z Challenge 2010; 1st in a Series Challenge, Celebrate the Author Challenge 2010
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction

ISBN-10: 0099305119
ISBN-13: 9780099305118
Publisher: Arrow Books
Year: 1994
# of pages: 426
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon

2010-03-11T14:00:00.001-05:00

First sentence:

"Questions, always questions."

Description:

"Thoughtful, poignant, and unforgettable, The Speed of Dark is a gripping exploration into the world of Lou Arrendale, an autistic man who is offered a chance to try an experimental "cure" for his condition. Now Lou must decide if he should submit to a surgery that may change the way he views the world -- and the very essence of who he is." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a very good book about autism and how different people react to it. I liked how Lou could explain to his friends how he viewed the world. I also liked the way he learned more about himself in making his decision.

Date read: 3/10/2010
Book #: 20
Challenge: A-Z Challenge 2010
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0345481399
ISBN-13: 978934548139?
Publisher: Del Rey
Year: 2005
# of pages: 369
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris

2010-03-07T17:45:00.000-05:00

First sentence:

"When my mother died, she left the farm to my brother, Cassis, the fortune in the wine cellar to my sister, Reine-Claude, and to me the youngest, her album, and a two-liter jar containing a single black Perigord truffle, large as a tennis ball, suspended in sunflower oil, that, when uncorked, still releases the rich dank perfume of the forest floor."

Description:

"The novels of Joanne Harris are a literary feast for the senses. Five Quarters of the Orange represents Harris's most complex and sophisticated work yet -- a novel in which darkness and fierce joy come together to create an unforgettable story.

When Framboise Simon returns to a small village on the banks of the Loire, the locals do not recognize her as the daughter of the infamous Mirabelle Dartigen -- the woman they still hold responsible for a terrible tragedy that, look place during the German occupation decades before. Although Framboise hopes for a new beginning, she quickly discovers that past and present are inextricably intertwined. Nowhere is this truth more apparent than in the scrapbook of recipes site has inherited from her dead mother.

With this book, Framboise re-creates her mother's dishes, which she serves in her small creperie. And yet as she studies the scrapbook -- searching for clues to unlock the contradiction between her mother's sensuous love of food and often cruel demeanor -- she begins to recognize a deeper meaning behind Mirabelle's cryptic scribbles. Within the journal's tattered pages lies the key to what actually transpired the summer Framboise was nine years old.

Rich and dark. Fire Quarters of the Orange is a novel of mothers and daughters of the past and the present, of resisting, and succumbing, and an extraordinary work by a masterful writer." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

This was a good book about family and secrets. I liked how Framboise learned about her mother through the diary/recipe book and how she and others came to understand what happened years ago.

Date read: 3/5/2010
Book #: 19
Challenges: What's in a Name 3 Challenge
Series: Food Trilogy #3
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0060198133
ISBN-13: 9780060198138
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2001
# of pages: 307
Binding: Hardcover
LibraryThing page

Hurting Distance by Sophie Hannah

2010-03-06T09:15:00.001-05:00

First sentence:

"I could explain, if you were here to listen."

Description:

"Three years ago, something terrible happened to Naomi Jenikins - so terrible she never told anyone.

Now Naomi has another secret - her lover, unhappily married Robert Haworth. When Robert vanishes, Naomi know he must have come to harm. But the police are less convinced, particularly when Robert's wife insists he is no missing.

Naomi is desperate. If she can't persuade the police that Robert is in danger, she'll convice them that he is a danger to others. Then they'll have to look for him - urgently.

Naomi knows how to describe in detail the actions of a psychopath.

My thoughts:

This was a very good thriller with many unexpected twists. I liked how Naomi and others learned the truth about Robert.

Date read: 3/5/2010
Book #: 18
Series: Spilling Detectives, #2
Challenges: A-Z Challenge 2010
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Thriller

ISBN-10: 034084034X
ISBN-13: 9780340840344
Publisher: Hodder
Year: 2007
# of pages: 408
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

2nd Reading Challenge

2010-03-04T21:15:00.000-05:00

2nd Reading Challenge
January 1 - December 31, 2010

Overall rules: Read books that are either second in a series, or the second book you have read by an author.

I plan to finish the Curious level - 3 books:

Julie Kaewert. Unbound (Booklover's mystery #2) -- finished 2/5/2010
Vernor Vinge. Marooned in Real Time (Across Real Time #2) -- finished 2/13/2010
Lois Lowry. Gathering Blue (Giver Trilogy, #2)

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

2010-03-04T19:30:00.002-05:00

First sentence:

"Mother?"

Description:

"Kira, an orphan with a twisted leg, lives in a world where the weak are cast aside. She fears for her future until she is spared by the all-powerful Council of Guardians. Kira is a gifted weaver and is given a task that no other community member can do. While her talent keeps her alive and brings certain privileges, Kira soon realizes she is surrounded by many mysteries and secrets. No one must know of her plans to uncover the truth about her world -- and to find out what exists beyond it." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a very good story about a world in which the weak are cast aside. I liked how Kira learned about her gift and the truth of the Council of Guardians. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Messenger.

Date read: 3/3/2010
Book #: 17
Challenges: Celebrate the Author Challenge 2010; 2nd Reading Challenge; Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge
Series: The Giver Trilogy #2
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0440229499
ISBN-13: 9780440229490
Publisher: Random House
Year: 2000
# of pages: 215
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

The Wood Wife by Terri Windling

2010-03-03T20:15:00.001-05:00

First sentence:

"On the night that Davis Cooper died, coyotes cam down from the hills to the town in the desert valley below."

Description:

"Leaving behind her fashionable West Coast life, Maggie Black comes to the Southwestern desert to pursue her passion and her dream. Her mentor, the acclaimed poet Davis Cooper, has mysteriously died in the canyons east of Tucson, bequeathing her his estate and the mystery of his life--and death.

Maggie is astonished by the power of this harsh but beautiful land and captivated by the uncommon people who call it home--especially Fox, a man unlike any she has ever known, who understands the desert's special power.

As she reads Cooper's letters and learns the secrets of his life, Maggie comes face-to-face with the wild, ancient spirits of the desert--and discovers the hidden power at its heart, a power that will take her on a journey like no other."

My thoughts:

This was a good fantasy set in the American Southwest. I liked how Maggie learned about the land and people around her and how she discovers the truth behind Cooper's death.

Date read: 3/2/2010
Book #: 16
Challenges: What's in a Name 3 Challenge, Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0812549295
ISBN-13: 9780812549294
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Year: 1996
# of pages: 292
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Winner of the National Book Award by Jincy Willett

2010-03-03T19:30:00.000-05:00

First sentence:

"Lightning sought our mother out, when she was a young girl in Brown County, Indiana."

Description:

"Set in Rhode Island, Winner of the National Book Award tells the story of twins who could not be more different. Abigail Mather is a woman of passionate sensual and sexual appetites, while her sister, the book loving local librarian Dorcas, lives a quiet life of the mind. But when the sisters are sought out by the predatory and famous poet, Guy DeVilbiss, who introduces them to Hollywood hack writer and possible psychopath Conrad Lowe, they rapidly become pawns in a game that leads to betrayal, shame and ultimately, murder.

Darkly comic and satirical, Jincy Willett's Winner of the National Book Award is unnervingly funny and disarmingly tender whether she is writing about sex, literary delusion or Yankee pretension."

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this book. I liked Dorca's cynical observations and wit, especially about her neighbors and the library patrons. I also liked how she grew to appreciate her twin sister Abigail.

Date read: 3/2/2010
Book #: 15
Challenges: TBR Challenge 2010; A-Z Challenge 2010
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 031242423X
ISBN-13: 9780312424237
Publisher: Picador
Year: 2003
# of pages: 323
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin

2010-02-27T21:00:00.001-05:00

First sentence:

"On Monday the thirteenth day of May in the years 1876, between the hours of two and three in the afternoon on a day that combined the freshness of spring with the warmth of summer, numerous individuals in Moscow's Alexander Gardens unexpectedly found themselves eyewitnesses to the perpetration of an outrage that flagrantly transgressed the bounds of common decency."

Description:

"Set in 1870s Moscow, St. Petersburg, and London, The Winter Queen introduces to American readers Boris Akunin's internationally celebrated sleuth, Erast Fandorin, who investigates the suicide of a wealthy student in Moscow's Alexander Gardens and discovers that it is not an open-and-shut case but evidence of a vast conspiracy with the deadliest of implications." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this first book in the Erast Fandorin series. I liked how Fandorin noticed inconsistencies and how he interacted with his boss and with the suspects. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, The Turkish Gambit.

Date read: 2/26/2010
Book #: 14
Series: Boris Akunin, #1
Challenges: What's in a Name 3 Challenge; A-Z Challenge 2010; 1st in a Series Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0812968778
ISBN-13: 9780812968774
Publisher: Random House
Year: 2004
# of pages: 242
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill

2010-02-24T15:00:00.000-05:00

First sentence:

"Right before my twelfth birthday, my dad, Jules, and I moved into a two-room apartment in a building that we called the Ostrich Hotel."

Description:

"12-year-old Baby is used to turmoil in her life. Her mother is long dead, her father is a junkie and they shuttle between rotting apartments and decrepit downtown hotels.

As your father's addiction and paranoia grow worse, she begins a journey that will lead her in and out of several foster homes, a detention centre and eventually onto the streets as a prostitute.

Throughout the chaos and hardship of her life, Baby's remarkable strength of spirit enables her to survive. Smart, funny and determined to life herself off the city's dirty streets, she knows that the only person she can truly rely upon is herself." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a very good book about finding one's way in the world and the need to be important to someone. I liked how Baby learned about herself and her father.

Date read: 2/23/2010
Book #: 13
Challenge: A-Z Challenge 2010
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 184724393
ISBN-13: 9781847243935
Publisher: Quercus Fiction
Year: 2006
# of pages: 358
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

Winter Words Reading Challenge

2010-02-23T20:45:00.000-05:00

Winter Words Reading Challenge
December 31, 2008 - March 19, 2010

For this challenge, participants chooses the number of books they plan to read (3 to 8). Then they pick one of two words which have the corresponding number. For instance, if I want to read four books, I choose between the words snow and sled. The word I picked is an acronym, and I have to read books that have a title word starting with one of the letters or the author's first or last name starts with one of the letters in the word.

I will read five books, and my word is frost:

F: Iris Johansen. Final Target -- finished 1/26/2010

R: Vernor Vinge. Marooned in Realtime -- finished 2/13/2010

O: Béa Gonzalez. The Mapmaker's Opera -- finished 1/17/2010

S: Kelly Link. Stranger Things Happen -- finished 2/11/2010

T: Larry Niven. Tales of Known Space -- finished 2/22/2010

Tales of Known Space by Larry Niven

2010-02-23T20:00:00.000-05:00

First sentence:

"In the coldest place in the solar system, I hesitated outside the ship for a moment."

Description:

"Ranging from the 20th Century to the 31st, these interconnected stories trace man's expansion and colonization throughout the galaxy...completing an epic creation that stands beside Asimov's Foundation trilogy and Heinlein's popular Future History series.

A colossal vision of the future. . .by a super writer!

Becalmed in hell
Howie's spaceship had a malfunction...but it might be only psychosomatic!

Wait it out
He was trapped on Pluto...and all his assets were frozen!

The borderland of Sol
Forward possessed the ultimate weapon...but no one would ever see it!

The jigsaw man
The organ banks want you...now!

Cloak of anarchy
They were free to be anything but violent...but that wasn't enough!

-- plus eight other great stories in Niven's spectacular cycle of the future...and, special for this volume, a complete Niven bibliography and a detailed chronology of all his Known Space stories!" -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this anthology of Known Space stories. I especially liked the stories "Wait it out," (set on Pluto), "At the Bottom of a Hole," (Muller discovers the truth behind the failure of a human settlement on Mars) and "The Borderland of Sol" (Julius Forward has a very dangerous weapon). I also like the timeline at the beginning of the book which sets the stories in context and the bibliography at the end.

Readers who like Niven's work may like Shaun Farrell's October 2007 interview with Larry Niven at the Conjecture convention. It aired on Farrell's podcast Adventures in SciFi Publishing:
http://www.adventuresinscifipublishing.com/2007/10/aisfp-36/

Date read: 2/22/2010
Book #: 12
Challenges: Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge, A-Z Reading Challenge 2010, Winter Words Reading Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: SF

ISBN-10: 0345245636
ISBN-13: 9780345245632
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Year: 1975
# of pages: 220
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad

2010-02-17T18:00:00.001-05:00

First sentence:

"When Sultan Khan thought the time had come to find himself a new wife, no one wanted to help him."

Description:

"This mesmerizing portrait of a proud man who, through three decades and successive repressive regimes, heroically braved persecution to bring books to the people of Kabul has elicited extraordinary praise throughout the world and become a phenomenal international bestseller. The Bookseller of Kabul is startling in its intimacy and its details - a revelation of the plight of Afghan women and a window into the surprising realities of daily life in today's Afghanistan." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was an interesting look at the lives of people in Afghanistan during and after the Soviet occupation in the 1980s and the Taliban rule in the 1990s. One scene that has stayed with me is when the women in the burqas have to know what shoes each is wearing so they don't lose each other.

Date read: 2/16/2010
Book #: 11
Challenges: What's in a Name 3 Challenge, A-Z Challenge 2010
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Nonfiction

ISBN-10: 0316159417
ISBN-13: 9780316159418
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Year: 2003
# of pages:
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing Page

Marooned in Real Time by Vernor Vinge

2010-02-14T20:00:00.003-05:00

First sentence:

"On the day of the big rescue, Wil Brierson took a walk on the beach."

Description:

"Fifty million years in the future, all the time in the world might not be enough to save mankind. . .

The Extinction happened at some point in the 23rd century. Beyond that point, all that remained of humankind survived locked in timeless limbo inside spherical force fields known as 'bobbles'.

The rebuilding of civilisation and the rescue of survivors fell to the 'high-techs', themselves survivors of the technologically advanced decades just before The Extinction.

When they reached the 'bobble' where the last members of the Peace Authority lived on in stasis, one of the 'high-techs' was murdered, cruelly abandoned in real time.

Wil Brierson, the last detective in the world, was called in to handle the case. Seeking the murderer through a complex web of mysteries, he stumbled on a plan for a new -- and final -- Extinction . . ." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This book had a good mix of mystery and science fiction. I liked how Wil and Della Lu learn who abandoned Marta Korolev in the past and who was still a danger to them in the present.

Date read: 2/13/2010
Book #: 10
Challenges: A-Z Challenge 2010, Winter Words Reading Challenge, Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge 2010
Series: Across Realtime, #2
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: SF

ISBN-10: 0330299603
ISBN-13: 9780330299602
Publisher: Pan Books
Year: 1987
# of pages: 269
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link

2010-02-12T17:15:00.008-05:00

First sentence:

"Dear Mary (if that is your name), I bet you'll be pretty surprised to hear from me."

Description:

"This first collection by award-winning author Kelly Link, takes fairy tales and cautionary tales, dictators and extraterrestrials, amnesiacs and honeymooners, revenants and readers alike, on a voyage into new, strange, and wonderful territory. The girl detective must go to the underworld to solve the case of the tap-dancing bank robbers. A librarian falls in love with a girl whose father collects artificial noses. A dead man posts letters home to his estranged wife. Two women named Louise begin a series of consecutive love affairs with a string of cellists. A newly married couple become participants in an apocalyptic beauty pageant. Sexy blond aliens invade New York City. A young girl learns how to make herself disappear.

These eleven extraordinary stories are quirky, spooky, and smart. They all have happy endings. Each story contains a secret prize. Each story was written for you." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a very good collection of fantasy stories with a twist. I especially liked the stories "Travels with the Snow Queen," "Flying Lessons," and "Shoe and Marriage."

Date read: 2/11/2010
Book #: 9
Challenges: A-Z Challenge 2010, Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 1931520003
ISBN-13: 9781931520003
Publisher: Small Beer Press
Year: 2001
# of Pages: 266
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

Unbound by Julie Kaewert

2010-02-06T15:30:00.001-05:00

First sentence:

"When I entered Armand Beasley's library that night for what would be the first and last time, it inspired the awe I always felt in the presence of a great mass of books."

Description:

“Plumtree Press is about to launch a bombshell of a book - a fact-based novel about one of Britain’s most revered authors, Marcus Stonecypher, a member of Virgina Woolf’s Bloomsbury Group. Angela Mayfield’s shocking book reveals a series of explosive secret messages in Stonecypher’s own novels published at the turn of the century, messages that implicate him in secrets of publishers past, and a treacherous plot to topple the monarchy.

It soon becomes clear to publisher Alex Plumtree that someone will go to any length to keep Angela’s revelations from seeing print - but why, decades after the fact, should anyone care?

First come anonymous warnings, then, on the eve of publication, Alex’s library of precious first editions is vandalised. When deadly warnings and industrial sabotage imperil the book’s publication, Alex realizes he and his author have made some very powerful enemies. Then the Titles of Stonecypher’s books become actual events, and Alex finds himself threatened with censorship of the most permanent kind…” -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this book selling mystery featuring Alex Plumtree. I especially liked how he discovers who is after him and the writer Angela Mayfield and why. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Unprintable.

Date read: 2/5/2010
Book #: 8
Challenges: A-Z Challenge 2010, 2nd Reading Challenge
Series: Booklover's Mystery, #2
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0553577158
ISBN-13: 9780553577150
Publisher: Crimeline
Year: 1997
# of pages: 415
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

The Professor's Daughter by Emily Raboteau

2010-01-31T15:35:00.000-05:00

First sentence:

"My big brother Bernard took great pains to learn how to talk Black."

Description:

"'My father is black and my mother is white and my brother is a vegetable.' When Emma Boudreaux's older brother, Bernie, winds up in a coma after a freak accident, it's as if she loses a part of herself. All their lives, he has served as her compass, her stronger, better half: Bernie was brilliant when Emma was smart, charismatic when she was awkward, and confident when she was shy. Only Bernie was able to navigate-if not always diplomatically-the terrain of their biracial identity. Now, as the chronic rash that's flared up throughout her life returns with a vengeance, Emma is sleepwalking through her first year at college, left alone to grow into herself.

The key to Emma's self-discovery lies in her father's past. Esteemed Princeton professor Bernard Boudreaux is emotionally absent and secretive about his family history. Little does Emma know just how haunted that history is, how tortured the path from the Deep South town to his present Ivy League success has been. Though her father and brother are bound by the past, Emma might just escape.

In exhilarating, magical prose, The Professor's Daughter traces the borderlands of race and family, the contested territory that gives birth to rage, confusion, madness, and invisibility. This striking debut marks the arrival of an astonishingly original voice that surges with energy and purpose." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a very good book about finding one's identity despite others' wish to define it themselves. I liked how Raboteau showed the world from both Emma's and her father's point of view.

Date read: 1/30/2010
Book #: 7
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0805075062
ISBN-13: 9780805075069
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.
Year: 2005
# of pages: 276
Binding: Trade Paperback (ARC)
LibraryThing page

Final Target by Iris Johansen

2010-01-27T16:00:00.000-05:00

First sentence:

"Wind Dancer."

Description:

"A YOUNG GIRL IN JEOPARDY…
TWO WOMEN DETERMINED TO SAVE HER…
THE MAN WHO COULD BETRAY THEM ALL...

Melissa Riley arrives at her sister's isolated Virginia country home to find herself plunged into a deadly drama. There the renowned Dr. Jessica Riley is attempting to draw the daughter of the President of the United States out of a severe catatonic trauma. The last thing young Cassie Andreas saw was an organized team ruthlessly murder her nanny and the Secret Service agents sworn to protect her. But to free Cassie, Melissa and Jessica must trust a mysterious, charismatic man.

Michael Travis made his fortune in the international underworld. He risked everything to save Cassie during that terrible night of bloodshed. And he has entered into a secret bargain with the President. But is his show of concern all a treacherous charade? Melissa and Jessica have no choice but to accept Travis as their ally--and to follow a dangerous plan that will lead them into the world of a killer who'll destroy anyone standing between him and the... FINAL TARGET" -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This book was a good thriller, but could have been better. I liked the character interaction, especially between Cassie and Melissa in the "tunnel" and between Travis and both Melissa and Jessica Riley. I didn't like that it took the author a long time to explain what Travis was involved in and why various people were after him.

Date read: 1/26/2010
Book #: 6
Challenges: TBR Challenge 2010, Winter Words Challenge, A-Z Challenge 2010
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Thriller

ISBN-10: 0553582135
ISBN-13: 9780553582130
Publisher: Bantam Books
Year: 2001
# of pages: 387
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

The Other by Thomas Tryon

2010-01-24T15:30:00.001-05:00

First sentence:

"How old do you think Miss DeGroot really is?"

Description:

"Entranced and terrified, the reader of The Other is swept up in the life of a Connecticut country town in the thirties, and in the fearful mysteries that slowly darken and overwhelm it." -- from the publisher

My thoughts:

I've seen reviews that describe this book as a quiet horror and they were right. Throughout I had a sense that something was not quite right, but didn't know what it was. Tryon's description of the area and the characters brings the reader into a very insular world where not everything is as it seems.

Date read: 1/23/2010
Book #: 5
Challenges: TBR Challenge 2010, Celebrate the Author Challenge 2010
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre: Horror

Publisher: Fawcett
Year: 1971
# of pages: 288
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Contagious by Scott Sigler

2010-01-18T19:30:00.000-05:00

First sentence:

"It had to be a joke."

Description:

"From the acclaimed author of Infected comes an epic and exhilarating story of humanity’s secret battle against a horrific enemy.

Across America, a mysterious pathogen transforms ordinary people into raging killers, psychopaths driven by a terrifying, alien agenda. The human race fights back, yet after every battle the disease responds, adapts, using sophisticated strategies and brilliant ruses to fool its pursuers. The only possible explanation: the epidemic is driven not by evolution but by some malevolent intelligence.

Standing against this unimaginable threat is a small group, assembled under the strictest secrecy. Their best weapon is hulking former football star Perry Dawsey, left psychologically shattered by his own struggles with this terrible enemy, who possesses an unexplainable ability to locate the disease’s hosts. Violent and unpredictable, Perry is both the nation’s best hope and a terrifying liability. Hardened CIA veteran Dew Phillips must somehow forge a connection with him if they’re going to stand a chance against this maddeningly adaptable opponent. Alongside them is Margaret Montoya, a brilliant epidemiologist who fights for a cure even as she reels under the weight of endless horrors.

These three and their team have kept humanity in the game, but that’s not good enough anymore, not when the disease turns contagious, triggering a fast countdown to Armageddon. Meanwhile, other enemies join the battle, and a new threat — one that comes from a most unexpected source — may ultimately prove the most dangerous of all.

Catapulting the reader into a world where humanity’s life span is measured in hours and the president’s finger hovers over the nuclear button, rising star Scott Sigler takes us on a breathtaking, hyper-adrenalized ride filled with terror and jaw-dropping action. Contagious is a truly grand work of suspense, science, and horror from a new master." -- from the publisher

My thoughts:

Having listened to Sigler's books Ancestor and Infected as podcasts, I knew to expect a gripping story in Contagious - and I was right. In fact, I could hear Sigler in my mind reading the words and encouraging me to turn one more page and then another page and another. But the book is more than one exciting scene after another. Sigler builds in-depth characters that you care about and root for them to fight the alien invasion. I look forward to the next book in the series.

Date read: 1/17/2010
Book #: 4
Challenge: Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge
Series: Infected, #2
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genres: Thriller/SF

ISBN-10: 0307406318
ISBN-13: 9780307406316
Publisher: Crown Publishers
Year: 2008
# of pages: 436
Binding: Hardcover
LibraryThing page

The Mapmaker's Opera by Béa Gonzalez

2010-01-18T08:56:00.016-05:00

First sentence:

"It begins in a once-upon-a-time land, on a remote plain, far from the place we call home."

Description:

"In a town in the heart of La Mancha, home to Don Quijote and his windmills, to long afternoons and silent, silent nights, the Clemente family lived for centuries, their fortunes tied to those of a plant…

So begins the grand buliéra that is The Mapmaker’s Opera. Born in Seville, Spain to a dishonored governess, Diego Clemente finds solace from the turmoil of his early years in the world of books, in particular, John James Audubon’s Birds of America. Presented with the opportunity to assist the renowned American naturalist Edward Nelson in compiling the first guide to the birds on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, Diego embarks on a journey that will not only hone his artistic talent but will transform his life.

Arriving on the eve of the Mexican Revolution, Diego finds himself in a world of precarious beauty, where opulent henequen plantations are built on the backs of slave labour, and where the social order is on the brink of imploding. There, Diego falls in love with the young Sofia, a woman who longs to be as free as the birds she also loves.

A mesmerizing tale of star-crossed passions, a pair of mysterious birds, and a young man’s quest to honor both his mentor and his father, The Mapmaker’s Opera is a tour de force of lyrical, magical storytelling" -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

This was a beautifully told story about birds, love and people on the eve of revolution. I liked the opera theme throughout as characters entered the scene from stage right or left.

Date read: 1/17/2010
Book #: 3
Challenges: A-Z Challenge 2010, What's in a Name? 3 Challenge, Winter Words Reading Challenge
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0002005425
ISBN-13: 9780002005425
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2005
# of pages: 277
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

Matilda at the Speed of Light edited by Damien Broderick

2010-01-08T15:41:00.000-05:00

First sentence:

"When he was ten, Shannon inherited a flawed Toby dough-beast from his uncle and raised a quarter-jack upon it."

Description:

"'Waltzing Matilda' has always been an Australian catch-cry. Now Matilda is no longer waltzing. She's rushing into tomorrow, and so are we, breaking all the boundaries of Australian time and space and voyaging fast into a hall-of-mirrors future where even the past can be reexamined . . .to make the present itself scarcely credible! Indeed the landscapes of Matilda at the Speed of Light are familiar only until we enter them. Once we are inside, the 'science of fiction' turns into the 'fiction of science', and time and space never stand still.

So a traditional Aussie bush yarn, transformed with nostalgia for the twentieth century, tells of a life after the gene wars; a delightful feminist romp ends up where no man dares to tread any longer; an eerie high adventure describes Dreamtime-like mythical spirits and uncanny powers; a time-travel fable leads to a sepia-toned excursion into the life and times of Oscar Wilde;and a chance discovery gives rise to an outrageous reworking of Australia's political history. . .all this imbued with characteristic Antipodean tang and irony, often light-hearted, sometime venomous.

Certainly Matilda is waltzing no longer. Matilda is rushing into tomorrow, and we with her, at the speed of light. -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I liked this collection of Australian science fiction stories. I especially liked David Lake's "Creator" (with an interesting look at how worlds are created) and George Turner's "Not in Front of the Children" (a world in which death is definitely not talked about in certain social circles).

Date read: 1/7/2010
Book #: 2
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: SF

ISBN-10: 0207157340
ISBN-13: 9780207157349
Publisher: Angus & Robertson Publishers
Year: 1988
# of pages: 263
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

The Alchemist's Daughter by Katharine McMahon

2010-01-03T14:41:00.010-05:00

First sentence:

"In one of my earliest memories, I walk behind my father to the furnace shed."

Description:

"There are long-held secrets at the manor house in Buckinghamshire, England, where Emilie Selden has been raised in near isolation by her father. A student of Isaac Newton, John Selden believes he can turn his daughter into a brilliant natural philosopher and alchemist. Secluded in their ancient house, with only two servants for company, he fills Emilie with knowledge and records her progress obsessively.

In the spring of 1725, father and daughter begin their most daring alchemical experiment to date--they will attempt to breathe life into dead matter. But their work is interrupted by the arrival of two strangers: one a researcher, the other a dazzling young merchant. During the course of a sultry August, while her father is away, Emilie experiences the passion of first love. Listening to her heart rather than her head, she makes a choice.

Banished to London and plunged headlong into a society that is both glamorous and ruthless, Emilie discovers that for all her extraordinary education she has no insight into the workings of the human heart. When she tries to return to the world of books and study, she instead unravels a shocking secret that sets her on her true journey to enlightenment.

The Alchemist’s Daughter is a gripping, evocative tale. Set against the backdrop of eighteenth-century London society, it is an unforgettable story of one woman’s journey through a world of mystery, passion, and obsession." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

This was a great book to read at the end of one decade and the beginning of another. I liked how gradually Emilie learns how her isolation has left her ignorant of not only the city life in London but how others perceive her.

Date read: 1/2/2010
Book #: 1
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre: Historical Fiction

ISBN-10: 0307238512
ISBN-13: 0780307238511
Publisher: Crown
Year: 2006
# of pages: 338
Binding: Hardcover
LibraryThing page

Agatha Christie Challenge

2009-12-30T16:30:00.000-05:00

Agatha Christie Challenge

When: 2009
What: Read at least two books by or about Agatha Christie

My list:

Agatha Christie. The Murder at Hazelmoor -- finished 11/11/2009
Agatha Christie. Murder in Retrospect -- finished 12/24/2009
Agatha Christie. A Murder is Announced -- finished 12/29/2009

A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie

2009-12-30T16:00:00.001-05:00

First sentence:

"Between 7.30 and 8.30 every morning except Sundays, Johnnie Butt made the round of the village of Chipping Cleghorn on his bicycle, whistling vociferously between his teeth, and alighting at each house or cottage to shove through the letterbox such morning papers had been ordered by the occupants of the house in question from Mr Totman, stationer, of the High Street."

Description:

"A murder is announced, and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks, at 6:30 pm. . .

The ad in the local paper is a joke, of course. In bad taste, of course.

But none of Miss Blacklock's friends can resist calling on her at the appointed hour. Certainly not Miss Marple. . .

At 6:30 precisely, the lights go out. . ." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a good mystery with lots of twists. I liked how Miss Marple and the Detective Inspector Craddock gradually put together the truth surrounding the murder announcement.

Date read: 12/29/2009
Book #: 65
Challenge: Agatha Christie Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0006165281
ISBN-13: 9780006165286
Publisher: Fontana
Year: 1990 (original: 1950)
# of pages: 237
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Murder in Retrospect by Agatha Christie

2009-12-25T14:00:00.001-05:00

First sentence:

"Hercule Poirot looked with interest and appreciation at the young woman who was being ushered into the room."

Description:

"Amyas Crale had been famous as a painter...and infamous as a lover. His fiery wife, Caroline, had been jealous as she was devoted. So naturally it was she who was tried and convicted for his murder. Now their daughter, Carla, presents the brilliant Hercules Poirot with the greatest challenge of his career - to clear her mother's name by finding the fatal flaw in what, after sixteen years, appears to be the perfect crime!" -- from the backcover

My thoughts:

Not only can Poirot solve a recent crime, but he can solve one sixteen years later! I liked how he knew how to behave with each person, making him or her feel comfortable enough to share what they saw and believed.

Date read: 12/24/2009
Book #: 64
Challenge: Agatha Christie Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0425093255
ISBN-13: 9780425093252
Publisher: Berkley
Year: 1985 (original: 1941)
# of pages: 216
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

2009-12-25T12:00:00.000-05:00

First sentence:

"I never used to keep close track of the phases of the moon."

Description:

"Business has been slow. Okay, business has been dead. And not even of the undead variety. You would think Chicago would have a little more action for the only professional wizard in the phone book. But lately, Harry Dresden hasn’t been able to dredge up any kind of work—magical or mundane.

But just when it looks like he can’t afford his next meal, a murder comes along that requires his particular brand of supernatural expertise.

A brutally mutilated corpse. Strange-looking paw prints. A full moon. Take three guesses—and the first two don’t count…" -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

Although it's been a while since I've read a Dresden Files book, I had no problems getting back in the magical world of Harry Dresden. I enjoyed all the twists and surprises, and I liked Harry learning about different types of shape shifting. I look forward to reading the next Dresden Files book, Grave Peril.

Date read: 12/24/2009
Book #: 63
Series: Dresden Files, #2
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Urban Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0451458125
ISBN-13: 9780451458124
Publisher: ROC
Year: 2001
# of pages: 342
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page