I was Amelia Earhardt by Jane Mendelsohn

First sentence:

"The sky is flesh."

Description:

"In this brilliantly imagined novel, Amelia Earhart tells us what happened after she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared off the coast of New Guinea one glorious, windy day in 1937. And she tells us about herself.

There is her love affair with flying ("The sky is flesh") . . . .

There are her memories of the past: her childhood desire to become a heroine ("Heroines did what they wanted") . . . her marriage to G.P. Putnam, who promoted her to fame, but was willing to gamble her life so that the book she was writing about her round-the-world flight would sell out before Christmas.

There is the flight itself -- day after magnificent or perilous or exhilarating or terrifying day ("Noonan once said any fool could have seen I was risking my life but not living it").

And there is, miraculously, an island ("We named it Heaven, as a kind of joke").

And, most important, there is Noonan . . ." -- from the publisher

My thoughts:

This was an interesting book of the possible life of Amelia Earhart after she disappeared flying over the Pacific Ocean.

Date read: 8/21/2015
Book #: 21
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3*/5 = good

ISBN-10: 0679776362
ISBN-13: 9780679776369
Publisher: Vintage 
Year: 1997
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Ghost Train to New Orleans by Mur Lafferty

First sentence:

"Zoë Norris would have rather had a root canal than conduct this interview for a new writer."

Description:

"Zoë Norris writes travel guides for the undead. And she's good at it too -- her newfound ability to talk to cities seems to help. After the success of The Shambling Guide to New York City, Zoe and her team are sent to New Orleans to write the sequel.

Work isn't all that brings Zoë to the Big Easy. The only person who can save her boyfriend from zombism is rumored to live in the city's swamps, but Zoë's out of her element in the wilderness. With her supernatural colleagues waiting to see her fail, and rumors of a new threat hunting citytalkers, can Zoë stay alive along enough to finish her next book?" -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this sequel to The Shambling Guide to New York City. I especially liked the Ghost Train with the ghost train robbers on horses galloping along beside it!

Date read:  7/1/2015
Book #: 13
Series: Shambling Guide, #2
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Urban Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0316221147
ISBN-13: 9780316221146
Publisher: Orbit
Year: 2014
# of pages: 320
Binding: Trade Paperback
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The Shambling Guide to New York City by Mur Lafferty

First sentence:

"The bookstore was sandwiched between a dry cleaner's and a shifty-looking accounting office."

Description:

"Because of the disaster that was her last job, Zoe is searching for a fresh start as a travel book editor in the tourist-centric New York City. After stumbling across a seemingly perfect position though, Zoe is blocked at every turn because of the one thing she can't take off her resume --- human.

Not to be put off by anything -- especially not her blood drinking boss or death goddess coworker -- Zoe delves deep into the monster world. But her job turns deadly when the careful balance between human and monsters starts to crumble -- with Zoe right in the middle." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this travel guide to the hidden areas of New York City that monsters need to know about. After reading it, I don't think about places like the Statue of Liberty or the subway quite the same way!. I look forward to reading the next book, Ghost Train to New Orleans.

Date read: 6/24/2015
Book #: 13
Series: Shambling Guides, #1
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre: Urban Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0316221171
ISBN-13: 9780316221177
Publisher: Orbit
Year: 2013
# of pages: 339
Binding: Trade Papeback
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Mr. Darwin's Shooter by Roger McDonald

First sentence:

"The day was hot and dusty with scattered leaves of poplars lining a towpath."

Description:

"In this richly detailed novel based on the life of Syms Covington, Charles Darwin's hard-working shipboard assistant and later his house-servant, Roger McDonald shines a light on a man forgotten by history, capturing the breathtaking excitement of the historic voyage of the Beagle and brilliantly illuminating the scientific, religious, and social controversies that exploded around Darwin's watershed theories.

As "Darwin's shooter," Covington collected and preserved invaluable specimens; as the scientist's clerk in London, was he the first man to grasp the full import of their research--the seeds of Darwin's theory of natural selection? Twenty years later, Covington awaits his copy of The Origin of Species with mixed emotions. Embittered by Darwin's failure to acknowledge him, he is also profoundly troubled by his own role in the discoveries that subverted sacred doctrines and shook the Victorian worldview to its very foundation." -- Amazon.com
 
My thoughts:

I liked this account of Syms Covington, an English sailor, who became Darwin's assistant during the voyage of the Beagle. Through his writing, McDonald illustrates well the times and beliefs of mid-18th century England and Australia.

Date read: 3/26/2015
Book #: 5
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Historical Fiction

ISBN-10: 0802143563
ISBN-13: 9780802143563
Publisher: Grove Press
Year: 2008
# of pages: 364
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire

First sentence:

"So the talk of random brutality wasn't just talk."

Description:

"Ten years after the publication of Wicked, beloved novelist Gregory Maguire returns at last to the land of Oz. There he introduces us to Liir, an adolescent boy last seen hiding in the shadows of the castle after Dorothy did in the Witch. Bruised, comatose, and left for dead in a gully, Liir is shattered in spirit as well as in form. But he is tended at the Cloister of Saint Glinda by the silent novice called Candle, who wills him back to life with her musical gifts.

What dark force left Liir in this condition? Is he really Elphaba's son? He has her broom and her cape -- but what of her powers? Can he find his supposed half-sister, Nor, last seen in the forbidding prison, Southstairs? Can he fulfill the last wishes of a dying princess? In an Oz that, since the Wizard's departure, is under new and dangerous management, can Liir keep his head down long enough to grow up?

For the countless fans who have been dazzled and entranced by Maguire's Oz, Son of a Witch is the rich reward they have awaited so long." - Amazon.com

My thoughts:

I liked this second book in The Wicked Years series. Liir is an interesting character and I liked his interactions with Candle and Glinda as he learns about who he is.  I look forward to reading the next book in the series, A Lion Among Men.

Date read: 2/16/2015
Book #: 2
Series: The Wicked Years, #2
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0060747226
ISBN-13:  9780060747220
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Year: 2006
# of pages: 352
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea by Gary Kinder

First sentence:

"As was his habit each morning, James Marshall rose early to walk the gravel bar along his millrace to see if the water was yet deep enough and swift enough to turn the wheel for the sawmill he had built for John Sutter."

Description:

"In one of the most exciting adventure stories of our time, Gary Kinder combines maritime disaster with visionary underwater technology. In September 1857, the SS Central America, a side-wheel steamer carrying passengers returning from the gold fields of California, went down during a hurricane off the Carolina coast. It would be the worst peacetime disaster at sea in American history, claiming more than 400 lives and 21 tons of gold. In the 1980s a maverick engineer named Tommy Thompson set out to find the wreck of the Central America and salvage its treasure from the ocean floor.

With nail-biting suspense, Kinder reconstructs the terror of the Central America's last days, when passengers bailed sea water from the hold, then chopped up the ship's timbers to use as impromptu life rafts before being cast into the sea themselves. He goes on to chronicle Thompson's epic quest for the lost vessel, an enterprise marked by hair-raising weather, the hostility of the deep ocean at 8,000 feet, highly experimental technology, and unscrupulous rival treasure-hunters. The result is a magnificent tale, filled with heroism, entrepreneurialism, and perseverance." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this book about a shipwreck - both the history of the wreck and what led to it, and the struggle to find the wreck over a century later.

Date read: 12/15/2014
Book #: 43
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Nonfiction

ISBN-10: 0375703373
ISBN-13: 9780375703379
Publisher: Vintage Books
Year: 1998
# of pages: 507
Binding: Trade Paperback
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The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

First sentence:

"There was a time in Africa the people could fly."

Description:

Writing at the height of her narrative and imaginative gifts, Sue Monk Kidd presents a masterpiece of hope, daring, the quest for freedom, and the desire to have a voice in the world.

Hetty "“Handful" Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.

Kidd’s sweeping novel is set in motion on Sarah’s eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be her handmaid.We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty five years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love.
As the stories build to a riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women’s rights movements.

Inspired by the historical figure of Sarah Grimke, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all of her characters, both real and invented, including Handful’s cunning mother, Charlotte, who courts danger in her search for something better.

This exquisitely written novel is a triumph of storytelling that looks with unswerving eyes at a devastating wound in American history, through women whose struggles for liberation, empowerment, and expression will leave no reader unmoved." -- Amazon.com

My thoughts:

I liked this book about the Grimke sisters and the early years of abolition and women's rights. I also liked learning about African customs through Handful and her mother Charlotte.

Date read: 11/29/2014
Book #: 41
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Historical Fiction

ISBN-10: 0670024783
ISBN-13: 9780670024780 
Publisher: Penguin Books
Year: 2014
# of pages: 373
Binding: Trade Paperback
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The Art of Cartography: Stories by J.S. Marcus

First sentence:

"I read, in several newspapers, about a man from Los Angeles who wanted to go to Oakland."

Description:

"The young men and women who inhabit these mordantly alive stories move around -- as do the stories themselves -- from city to city, country to country.The characters are in and out of graduate schools, apartments, love affairs, marriages. They go from New York to London to Los Angeles, compulsively studying the facts of their own lives and the facts they can guess at in the lives of those around them, as a way, perhaps, out of their solitude, as if they could map themselves into the world. They long for perspective, permanence -- truth -- although what they find is often something quite different.

A young American working in a London bank is propelled by a random happening -- he gets off his train one day because an unexploded bomb from World War II has been discovered on the tracks -- into a series of chance meetings and invitations that illumine the nature of his loneliness.

A New Yorker, the author of 'unpublished travel books and eight-millimeter documentaries,' while visiting a South Pacific island famous for its archaeological dig, accidentally brings together, and then less accidentally puts at odds, the people at his hotel.

A woman named Sheila, who appears -- at various periods of her life, and in and out of a relationship with a music critic -- in several of the stories, is last seen in southern California, holed up in a mansion, smoking  grass with the maid, and expecting to end up where she began: back with the critic, as if the best she can do is 'shift weight.'

In all twelve stories, we see people in motion, in flux -- again and again deflected by the succession of chance encounters that has become their way of life.

A remarkable collection of stories, a memorable debut." -- from the inside flap.

My thoughts:

This is an interesting collection of short stories. I liked the narrator meeting different people and reflecting on who they are.

Date read: 10/20/2014
Book #: 38
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre; Fiction

ISBN-10: 0394559460
ISBN-13: 9780394559469
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Year: 1991
# of pages: 129
Binding: Hardcover
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George Washington's Secret Six by Brian Kilmeade

First sentence:

"He was twenty-one years old and knew that in a matter of moments he would die."

Description:

"When General George Washington beat a hasty retreat from New York City in August 1776, many thought the American Revolution might soon be over. Instead, Washington rallied—thanks in large part to a little-known, top-secret group called the Culper Spy Ring.

Washington realized that he couldn’t beat the British with military might, so he recruited a sophisticated and deeply secretive intelligence network to infiltrate New York. So carefully guarded were the members’ identities that one spy’s name was not uncovered until the twentieth century, and one remains unknown today. But by now, historians have discovered enough information about the ring’s activities to piece together evidence that these six individuals turned the tide of the war.

Drawing on extensive research, Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger have painted compelling portraits of George Washington’s secret six:

• Robert Townsend, the reserved Quaker merchant and reporter who headed the Culper Ring, keeping his identity secret even from Washington;
• Austin Roe, the tavern keeper who risked his employment and his life in order to protect the mission;
• Caleb Brewster, the brash young longshoreman who loved baiting the British and agreed to ferry messages between Connecticut and New York;
• Abraham Woodhull, the curmudgeonly (and surprisingly nervous) Long Island bachelor with business and family excuses for traveling to Manhattan;
• James Rivington, the owner of a posh coffeehouse and print shop where high-ranking British officers gossiped about secret operations;
• Agent 355, a woman whose identity remains unknown but who seems to have used her wit and charm to coax officers to share vital secrets.

In George Washington’s Secret Six, Townsend and his fellow spies finally receive their due, taking their place among the pantheon of heroes of the
American Revolution." - from Amazon.com

My thoughts:

This is a fascinating book about another side to the American Revolution. Recently I've started watching the AMC drama Turn: Washington's Spies about the same topic and I highly recommend it.

Date read: 10/3/2014
Book #: 36
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre; Thriller

ISBN-10: 1595231102
ISBN-13: 9781595231109
Publisher: Sentinel
Year: 2014
# of pages: 272
Binding: Trade Paperback
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The Good Lord Bird by James McBride

First sentence:

"I was born a colored man and don't you forget it."

Description:

In 1856, Henry Shackleford is a young slave living in the Kansas Territory, a battleground between anti-and pro-slavery forces. When legendary abolitionist John Brown arrives in the area, an argument between Brown and Henry's mater quickly turns violent. Henry is forced to leave with Brown, who believes he's a girl. Over the ensuing months, Henry--whom the eccentric Brown nicknames "onion" -- conceals hist rue identity to stay alive, eventually finding himself with Brown at the historic raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This is an engaging, powerful story about John Brown, slavery in the west, and the abolitionist movement. I liked the voice of Henry who could both see the reality Brown wasn't seeing but who could also be self-interested.

Date read: 10/1/2014
Book #: 35
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Historical Fiction

ISBN-10: 1410464857
ISBN-13: 9781410464859
Publisher: Thorndike Press
Date:  2013
Edition: Large Print
# of pages: 635
Binding: Hardcover
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Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

First sentence:

"Straddling the top of the world, one foot in China and the other in Nepal, I cleared the ice from my oxygen mask, hunched a shoulder against the wind, and stared absently down at the vastness of Tibet."

Description:

"When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin the perilous descent from 29, 028 feet (roughly the cruising altitude of an Airbus jetliner), twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly to the top, unaware that the sky had begun to roil with clouds. . .

In this definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest, Jon Krakauer takes the reader step-by-step from Katmandu to the mountain's deadly pinnacle, unfolding a breathtaking story that will by turn thrill and terrify." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This is a bittersweet true adventure tale of the 1996 tragedy on Mount Everest that claimed the lives of twelve climbers. Krakauer recounts with brutal honesty what went wrong amidst the heroism of climbers both on his expedition and from others.

Date read: 9/1/2014
Book #: 32
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Nonfiction/Travel/Memoir

ISBN-10: 0385492081
ISBN-13: 9780385492089
Publisher: Anchor Books
Year: 1997
# of pages: 378
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

First sentences:

"So, then. You want a story and I will tell you one. But just the one."

Description:

"AN EMOTIONAL, PROVOCATIVE, AND UNFORGETTABLE NOVEL ABOUT HOW WE LOVE, HOW WE TAKE CARE OF ONE ANOTHER, AND HOW THE CHOICES WE MAKE RESONATE THROUGH GENERATIONS.

Broad in scope and setting, wise and compassionate in its storytelling, And the Mountains Echoed is a profoundly moving, captivating novel that demonstrates Khaled Hosseini’s deeply felt understanding of the bonds that define us and shape our lives—and of what it means to be human.

It begins with the heartbreaking, unparalleled bond between two motherless siblings in an Afghan village. To three-year-old Pari, big brother Abdullah is more mother than brother. To ten-year-old Abdullah, little Pari is his everything. What happens to them-and the large and small manners in which it echoes through the lives of so many other people—is proof of the moral complexity of life. In a multigenerational novel revolving around not just parents and children but also brothers and sisters, cousins and caretakers, Hosseini explores the many ways in which family members love, wound, betray, honor, and sacrifice for one another; and how often we are surprised by the actions of those closest to us, at the times that matter most. Following its characters and the ramifications of their lives and choices and loves around the globe—from Kabul, to Paris, to San Francisco, to the Greek island of Tinos—the story expands gradually outward, becoming more emotionally complex and powerful with each turning page.

Propelled by the same remarkable instincts and philosophical insight that made The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns so remarkable, And the Mountains Echoed shows once again that Khaled Hosseini is a born storyteller." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I liked this book about family told from different points of view. I especially liked how the events in the past rippled into the future in unexpected ways.

Date read: 8/10/2014
Book #: 27
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 159463176X
ISBN-13: 9781594631764
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Year: 2013
# of pages: 402
Binding: Hardcover
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Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley

First sentence:

"I was the youngest of three daughters."

Description:

"A strange imprisonment.

Beauty has never liked her nickname. She is thin and awkward; it is her two sisters who are the beautiful ones. But what she lacks in looks, she can perhapss make up for in courage.

When her father comes home with the tale of an enchanted castle in the forest and the terrible promise he had to make to the Beast who lives there, Beauty knows she must go to the castle, a prisoner of her own free will. Her father protests that he will not let her go, but she answers, 'Cannot a Beast be tamed?'

Robin McKinley's beloved telling illuminates the unusual love story of a most unlikely couple: Beauty and the Beast." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this version of "Beauty and the Beast". I especially liked the interactions between Beauty and the two "spirits", and how Beauty and the Beast gradually became friends.

Date read: 7/22/2014
Book #:  25
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0060753102
ISBN-13: 9780060753108
Publisher: Eos
Year: 2005
# of pages: 325
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean

First sentence:

"As a child in the early 1980s, I tended to talk with things in my mouth - food, dentist's tubes, balloons that would fly away, whatever - and if no one else was around, I'd talk anyway."

Description:

"Why did Gandhi hate iodine (I, 53)? Why did the Japanese kill Godzilla with missiles made of cadmium (Cd, 48)? How did radium (Ra, 88) ruin Marie Curie’s reputation? And why did tellurium (Te, 52) lead to the most bizarre gold rush in history?

The periodic table is one of our crowning scientific achievements, but it’s also a treasure trove of passion, adventure, betrayal, and obsession. The fascinating tales in The Disappearing Spoon follow carbon, neon, silicon, gold, and every single element on the table as they play out their parts in human history, finance, mythology, conflict, the arts, medicine, and the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them.

Why did a little lithium (Li, 3) help cure poet Robert Lowell of his madness? And how did gallium (Ga, 31) become the go-to element for laboratory pranksters? The Disappearing Spoon has the answers, fusing science with the classic lore of invention, investigation, discovery, and alchemy, from the big bang through the end of time." -- from the book jacket

My thoughts:

This is a fascinating book about the elements placed in the context of their discovery and their impact on everything. I liked how Kean groups the elements in various contexts, such as medicine and money.

Date read: 1/7/2014
Book #: 2
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Nonfiction

ISBN-10: 0316051640
ISBN-13: 9780316051644
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Year: 2010
# of pages: 346
Binding: Hardcover
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Don't Forget Your Spacesuit, Dear edited by Jody Lynn Nye

First sentence:

"The morning started out quietly enough. "

Description:

"The apron string theory of spacetime

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

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

My thoughts:

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

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

ISBN-10: 0671877321
ISBN-13: 9780671877323
Publisher: Baen
Year: 1996
 # of pages: 320
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Fool by Christopher Moore

First sentence:

"'Tosser!' cried the raven."

Description:

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

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

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

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

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

My thoughts:

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

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

ISBN-10: 0060590319
ISBN-13: 9780060590314
Publisher: William Morrow
Year: 2009
# of pages: 304
Binding: Hardcover
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Mystery Cats by Lillian Jackson Braun, et al

First sentence:

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

Description:

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

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

My thoughts:

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

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

ISBN-10: 0451171012
ISBN-13: 9780451171016
Publisher: Signet
Year: 1991
# of pages: 256
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Civil War Fantastic edited by Martin H. Greenberg

First sentence:

"Ghosts of Gettysburg, bah."

Description:

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

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

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

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

My thoughts:

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

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

ISBN-10: 0886779030
ISBN-13: 9780886779030
Publisher: DAW Books
Year: 2000
# of pages: 308
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

The Museum of Horrors edited by Dennis Etchison

First sentence:

"It is not on any map."

Description:

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

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

-- from the back cover 

My thoughts:

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

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

ISBN-10: 0843950773
ISBN-13: 9780843950779
Publisher: Leisure Books
Year: 2003
# of pages: 369
LibraryThing page

Crimnal Elements edited by Bill Pronzini and Martin H. Greenberg

First sentence:

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

Description:

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

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

My thoughts:

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

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

ISBN-10: 0804101272
ISBN-13: 9780804101271
Publisher: Ivy Books
Year: 1988
# of pages: 294
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page