Dec 22-28, 2013

After seeing The Hobbit last week, I decided to finish out the year with some Tolkien.

The Hobbit by J.R.R.Tolkien - Bilbo finds the ring.
The Fellowship of the Ring by Tolkien- the ring must be destroyed.
The Two Towers by Tolkien - men are caught between Sauron and Saruman.

4 stars for all

Dec 15-21, 2013

Vigilante by Claude Bouchard - a vigilante is killing the bad guys and the police can't catch him. They turn to a computer expert for help. Not very well written, it goes back and forth between viewpoints and everyone seems rather wooden.

2 stars
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The Halo Effect by M.J. Rose - someone is killing prostitutes. Badly written and the heroine is just stupid. Also too graphic. I think I only finished just to see how bad it could be.

0 stars

The two books above were in a Kindle bundle called Nine Great Mysteries I got for .99 cents. I deleted the rest, not even worth .99 cents.
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Agatha Webb by Anna Katharine Green - in which the reader will attempt to elucidate on the mystery surrounding the death of Agatha Webb, a story found in Greatest Mystery Collection Volume 2, purchased on Amazon, not the great tributary found in South America, but the online store wherein every item known to man may be purchased, for $2.99, an amount fitting the constrained budget of the reader. Too. many. words. This was written in 1899 by a woman considered the mother of mysteries. She was writing detective novels 10 years before Conan Doyle invented Sherlock. There are over 60 books, that's books, not short stories, in this collection. Probably will only be reading them when I'm desperate.

2 stars
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Spider Woman's Daughter by Anne Hillerman - this is called a Leaphorn and Chee novel although it seems to be centered more on Chee's wife, Bernie. The author is continuing the series begun by her father. A pretty good first time book, although there were a lot of driving scenes.

3 stars
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Spirit of Steamboat: A Walt Longmire Story by Craig Johnson - a Christmas time novella that's not a mystery. It tells the story of a time in 1988 when Walt and the former sheriff, Lucius, undertake a wild flight in a storm. Too much technical detail about the plane and medical procedures.

2 stars
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The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell - I was drawn into this book on the very first page and finished it in one sitting. The story of a mousy police typist during the 1920's. She's gradually drawn into a different world by one of the other typists. The ending was a shock, I still don't know what to think.

5 stars

Dec 8-14, 2013

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling) - pretty sure I had this on my list before the secret was out about who really wrote it because I would have been prejudiced against it. Cormoran Strike is hired to discover is a model's suicide really is a suicide. I really liked this, it ripped right along.

4 stars
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No Man's Nightingale by Ruth Rendell - the author has been writing about Inspector Wexford for 50 years and I've read all 24. Now he's retired but drawn into an investigation by his house cleaner. Things move pretty slow and don't seem to have a lot to do with the case. Not one of the best of this series.

3 stars
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We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler - something happened to the narrator's sister many years ago that she has completely blocked out. Because of the incident, her brother has disappeared and is wanted by the FBI for being a terrorist. A major plot point is revealed on page 79. Don't read anymore about this book if you want to be surprised.

4.5 star
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Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich - the 20th of the Stephanie Plum books and things are still pretty much the same. She can't decide between Morelli and Ranger, she's still a klutz, her grandmother is looney and Lula is still dressing like a hooker. Getting tiresome and some of the situations are completely unbelievable. She needs to pick Ranger and get on with her life.

2 stars
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The Gods of Guilt by Michael Connelly - a Micky Haller book. He takes a murder case that soon becomes about dirty law enforcement. I always enjoy Michael Connelly.

4 stars
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Night Watch by Linda Fairstein - another Alexandra Cooper case. This time she's in France visiting her boyfriend when she's called back to New York do deal with a high profile case. Then her boyfriend gets involved in a murder case. The two stories have absolutely nothing to do with each other. This is supposed to be a series about a strong woman but she doesn't stand up for herself very well and is pretty whiny. I skimmed the middle part of the book.

2 stars
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The Second Chance Dog by Jon Katz - I've always enjoyed this author's books about his dogs but this one just dragged on and on. His editors didn't do their job, there was lots of repetition. It's the story of the dog belonging to the woman he wants to date after his divorce. The dog part was good - the rest, not so much.

2 stars
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The Widow File by S.G. Redling - Dani works for what she thinks is a highly skilled security company. That turns out to not be true. Really intense action and you're never sure who is actually helping Dani get away. The plot is somewhat convoluted but that doesn't take away from action. This was an ebook I tried just because it was cheap on Kindle First. I'm glad I did. If it hadn't been for too much vulgarity, I would have given it a 5.

4 stars

Dec 1-7, 2013

A Street Cat Named Bob: How One Man and His Cat Found Hope on the Streets by James Bowen - a true story of a recovering addict and how taking a cat into his life helped him get stronger. James is pretty straightforward about his problems and also has an interesting take on life on the streets of London. The writing isn't the greatest but the cat is.

3 stars
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Doing Hard Time by Stuart Woods - this is another Stone Barrington book. And just like many others in the series, everything comes too easily to the main characters and none of them have any problems with money. A far cry from the authors first book, Chiefs. And yet I keep reading them.

2 stars
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The Bones of Paris by Laurie R King - Paris, 1929, and an American private investigator is hired to look for a missing girl. Everything seems to involve the art world and he runs across famous and infamous people. Somewhat macabre and it seems to move slowly until the end.

3 stars
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The Spy Who Loved:The Secrets and Lives of Christine Granville by Clare Mulley - a biography of the first woman spy for the British during WWII. Should have been an interesting book but the writing was dull and at times seemed to be just a list of Polish names. I have to be honest and say I just skimmed the middle of the book. Also poorly edited, I found several errors.

2 stars

Nov 24-30, 2013

Wet Desert by Gary Hansen - I started this book thinking the writing wasn't very good (the author's first book) but then got caught up in the action. A terrorist blows up a dam on the Colorado River and several stories intertwine as people try to escape the flood or solve the problem.

3 stars
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The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - a 13 year old boy is left parentless when his mother is killed in an explosion at a museum. He's shunted from family to family and basically left to raise himself.  A 771 page book that just kept me reading and reading.Language and unsavory happenings.

5 stars*
I think I'm the only one of my blog readers that would give this 5 stars. 

Nov 17-23, 2013

Etched in Sand by Regina Calcaterra - I'm always amazed at the cruelty of some parents toward their children and of the resilience of those same children. Regina is one of 5 children. She escaped her mother by declaring emancipation when she was 14. She has gone on to become a lawyer and political advocate, especially for older foster children.

4 stars
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The Divorce Horse
Christmas in Absaroka County - both by Craig Johnson - these are very short e-books. Divorce Horse covers a gap between two books and obviously the other is 4 short stories taking place around Christmas.

3 stars
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W is For Wasted by Sue Grafton - Kinsey gets involved trying to find the identity of a homeless man and is surprised by connections to herself. Part of the story is told from another viewpoint.

3 stars
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Quiet Dell: A Novel by Jayne Anne Phillips - based on a true story from the 1930's, this is a highly fictionalized account of the murder of a mother and her three children. While the true part was interesting, the fiction portion was too modernized.Too much sex, all of it irrelevant to the story.

2 stars
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Critical Mass by Sara Paretsky - finally, an author I've been reading for years still has it. V.I. Warshawski originally is looking for the daughter of a friend of her mentor's. That becomes a search for a grandson, missing documents and national secrets.

4 stars
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Tatiana by Martin Cruz Smith - I have no idea if the Russia portrayed in this book is accurate since Mr. Smith doesn't live there. However, I always enjoy his books. This time Arkady becomes involved in the death of a mob boss and the suicide of a journalist. I like the terse way this author writes.

3 stars
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The Fourth Sacrifice by Peter May - Margaret Campbell, the forensic pathologist from the previous book, is getting ready to leave China when once again she's asked to help the Chinese police investigate a murder that seems to be a part of the series. I find her a little whiny and easily annoyed. The mystery part was good though. A gratuitous sex scene, easily skipped.

3 stars

Nov 10-16, 2013

Thankless in Death by J.D. Robb - Eve Dallas is on the trail of a killer fueled by revenge on anyone who has crossed him. We know who the killer is almost right away and this time it's a matter of trying to figure out who he will go after next. The violence in this one bothered me, probably because it was more personal. Also the usual couple of obligatory sex scenes.

3 stars
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Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indridason - a skeleton is found when foundations are being built for new houses and Erlander's team is called in. Since the skeleton is about 50 years old, it takes lots of police work to figure it out. The story is also told from the past. I find it irritating that the first two books in this series have not been translated yet.

3 stars
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Just One Evil Act by Elizabeth George - reading this 720 page book was like watching a 3 hour movie that should have been 1 1/2 hours. Way too long and convoluted. And not really an Inspector Lynley book as much as a Det Barbara Havers. Her young friend Hadiyyah has been kidnapped and she becomes much too involved. There were moments of excitement but there were lots of words in between. A disappointing book from one of my favorite authors.

2 stars

Nov 3-9, 2013

The Sound and the Furry by Spencer Quinn - a Chet and Bernie mystery. The mystery is almost secondary to the pleasure of being in a dog's mind. I get such a kick out of the way Chet thinks. This time the pair are in Louisiana to find a missing person and get caught up in big oil hijinks.

3 stars
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Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason - part of what's called the Reykjavik series, featuring three detectives. A man is found murdered in his flat and the detectives discover that many years ago he was accused of a crime. How do the death of a 4 year old girl and the current murder connect? This is the best in the series I've read so far. If you're interested, try to read this series in order. I haven't and it's been somewhat confusing.

4 stars
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Police by Jo Nesbo - another excellent Harry Hole (pronounced hol-leh) mystery. Someone is killing police officers connected to unsolved murders at the site of the original murder. Many facets to this story and Harry doesn't even appear for quite awhile. This author is not afraid to kill off familiar faces so the suspense and dread build. And as usual, there are a couple of threads left hanging.

This is the 10th books in the series but they have not been published in the US in order. I have yet to read the first five. Past events are sometimes referenced in later novels. I think they're all available now and I have the first on hold at the library.

4 stars
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The Catch by Archer Mayor - a hunt for a cop killer turns into a search for drug runners from Canada.

3 stars
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The Price of Malice by Archer Mayor - a suspected child molester is found murdered in a stranger's apartment. Meantime, Joe's girlfriend is dealing with a revelation from the last book and Joe finds his attention split. I don't usually read two books by the same author in a row but I discovered I had missed the previous book when I started this one.

3 stars

Oct 27-Nov 2, 2013

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton -  a very young child is found alone on the dock in Australia in 1913. She is taken in by a young couple and knows nothing of her history. In 2005 her granddaughter continues the search. The story goes back and forth in several times but wasn't hard to follow.

3 stars
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Silken Prey by John Sandford - a Lucas Davenport mystery. A political fixer is missing and may be involved with child porn showing up on a candidate's computer. Lucas is called in to quietly look into things. Too much political scumbaggery for me and I didn't think the characters were very developed.

2 stars
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The Draining Lake by Arnaldur Indriaoson - an Icelandic lake is draining because of an earthquake and a skeleton is found. Unlike tv shows, it takes the police team months of painstaking investigation to solve the case. Also told from the perpetrators viewpoint, which goes back in time to the Cold War.

3 stars
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The Firemaker by Peter May - a forensic pathologist from America goes to China to teach for 5 weeks at a police academy. She becomes involved in 3 seemingly unrelated murders and at the same time becomes attracted to the Chinese detective heading the case. Lots of misunderstanding because of culture. Written in 1999 so it seems a little dated. The first in a series, I think there are 5 more. Some sex.

3 stars

Oct 20-26, 2013

The Astronaut Wive's Club by Lily Koppel - I was disappointed with this book, I didn't think it lived up to the hype I heard about it. I couldn't keep all the wives straight and the author really didn't go into to much depth. She also couldn't keep her snark out of the book. It was interesting to hear how the wives were expected to act while their husbands were off being heroes. I have to be honest and say I skimmed the last third. Because the subject matter was interesting...

2 stars
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The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker - my library labeled this as historical but it should be labeled fantasy history. A Golem is made for a man on his way to America, but he dies on the journey and she is left masterless. A Jinni is accidentally released from his bottle in a small tin smith's shop in New York in 1898. Somehow the two meet and touch several lives. I really found myself immersed.

5 stars

October 13-19, 2013

The Whole Enchilada by Diane Mott Davidson - a Goldy's Catering mystery. One of Goldy's friends dies right after a party catered by Goldy. As usual, she gets involved in trying to solve the mystery in spite of the admonitions of her policeman husband. In spite of the fact that many things were repeated over and over, I still found the story somewhat confusing. And then something unexpected happens right at the end that I feel should have had a bigger part in the story.

3 stars
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Finding Colin Firth - three women's stories intertwine in a small Maine town at the same time Colin Firth is there to make a movie. A cute story and a fast read.

3 stars
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The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer - six teenagers meet at summer camp in 1974 and dub themselves the interestings, mostly out of a feeling of superiority. Two of them fade away a few years later but the remaining four remain friends for several decades. Too much sex.

2 stars
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Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures by Virginia Morrel - the author interviews many scientists doing experiments to determine if animals are actually thinking. Very interesting and not overly scientific. All from an evolutionary standpoint.

4 stars
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How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny - an Inspector Gamache/Three Pines mystery. Gamache is asked by one of his friends in Three Pines to look into the disappearance of an old friend. Meanwhile, the cover-ups and persecution of Gamache at the Surete are coming to a head. The previous three books in the series should be read before this book. Corruption/political scandal irritates me so this didn't get 5 stars.

4 stars
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The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman - I don't know how to describe this book. I guess a dark fairytale for adults. An older man returns home for a funeral and finds himself at a house he visited as a child. Then he begins to remember fantastic things.

4 stars
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Hearts of Sand: A Gregor Demarkian Novel by Jane Haddam - Gregor is called in to help solve the murder of a woman who has been missing for 30 years.

3 stars

Oct 6-12, 2013

As I Knew Him: My Father, Rod Serling by Anne Serling - Anne decided to write this book after reading other biographies that described a man she didn't recognize. She portrays Rod as a warm, caring, very funny man. He hated injustice and prejudice. Many of her memories take place at the summer cabin where the family had more of his attention. However, I didn't like the tense it was written in so...

3 stars
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Bones of the Lost by Kathy Reichs - a Temperance Brennan novel. This was a little better than the last couple of Brennan books I've read, partly because she didn't seem to be quite so self-centered in this one. An unidentified teenage hit and run and inspecting the remains of Afghanistan nationals make the book seem like two separate books at first. A fairly exciting ending.

3 stars
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Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford - A 12 year old Chinese boy in a Seattle orphanage becomes convinced a Chinese actress is his mother. I was disappointed in this book, I didn't think it was nearly as good as his first.

3 stars

Sept 29-Oct5, 2013

Seven For a Secret by Lynsday Faye - it's 1846 and Timothy Wilde has been on the New York police force for 6 months. He becomes involved in the kidnapping of free blacks by blackbirders. This is the second book in the series and I liked it better than the first. The headings at the beginning of chapters are very interesting - they're from actual newspaper articles or books and tell opposing viewpoints of the times. Rather dark and bleak.

4 stars
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Julia's Cats: Julia Child's Life in the Company of Cats by Patricia Barey - a short and simple book about Julia's love of cats and the many cats that kept her company. Lots of pictures but I thought the use of French was overdone and pretentious.

3 stars because I like cats
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The Why of Things by Elizabeth Hartley Winthrop - a family who has recently experienced a tragedy arrive at their summer home right after a young man has driven his car into the quarry in their backyard. The rest of the summer is spent with them coming to terms with both events.

4 stars

Sept 22-28, 2013

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atchinson - Ruby's life is told from the day of her conception. The story goes back and forth in time as we learn more about the extended family. No one seems very happy but the writing sucked me in.

4 stars
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Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay - an American writer living in Paris is assigned to a piece on the 60th anniversary of the rounding up of Jews in Paris during WWII. She discovers a link to her husband's family. I think I'm done with this theme of book for awhile but I might have one more in my pile.

3 stars

Sept 15-21, 2013

Innocent Graves by Peter Robinson - an Inspector Banks mystery. I thought I had missed this in the series but had a nagging feeling I'd read it the whole time. I didn't care for one of the plot lines of the story.

3 stars
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A Serpent's Tooth by Craig Johnson - I don't like cult religion/land grab for oil/big government conspiracy plots and this had all three. If you've seen any police/detective shows for more than 3 seasons, you've already seen this story. Also, this seemed darker than previous books. I think Walt and the author are getting tired.

3 stars
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Outtakes From a Marriage by Ann Leary - Julia thinks everything if fine with her marriage to a successful actor. Then she accidentally hears a voice mail to her husband. Funnier than it sounds. Ann is Denis Leary's wife.

3 stars
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After Her by Joyce Maynard - a mystery/coming of age story based on the Hillside Strangler case. But I thought it was really about the bond between sisters and importance of a father's presence.

4 stars
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Beyond the Bear: How I Learned to Live and Love Again after Being Blinded by a Bear by Dan Bigley - this fell flat for me. I didn't think the story was told in a very dynamic way and I wish some areas had been more explored. He did work really hard to regain his life, though.

2 stars
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Second Watch by J.A. Jance - J.P. Beaumont is finally having knee surgery and the drugs make him think of his first case. Good twist at the end.

3 stars
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Man in the Empty Suit by Sean Ferrell - a time-travel book that confused me terribly but I still really enjoyed. Every year the traveler celebrates his birthday with his former and future selves. This time something goes wrong and it's up to one version of himself to figure it out. I still didn't figure it out totally by the end of the book and yet,

4 stars
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The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch - a short little book taken from the last lecture given by Randy when he knew he was dying from pancreatic cancer. I found myself actually more interested in his job as a professor working in virtual reality.

3 stars
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Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfield - Twin sisters, one has given up her psychic (?) gift and the other predicts an earthquake in St Louis. A little more than halfway throught this book I started skimming as it seemed to take forever to get to the main point. Too much graphic sex and I didn't care for either  sister.

1 star
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Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum - Trudy knows nothing of the life her mother led as a young woman in war time Germany. The story goes back and forth between wartime and about 50 years later as Trudy becomes involved in a remembrance project. Some uncomfortable themes.

4 stars
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The Fault in our Stars by John Green - a young adult book about teens dealing with cancer. I really liked the way this was written. At first I didn't think the conversations rang true but then I realized the kids are very intelligent and interesting and that's what makes their inevitable death so sad.

4 stars

Sept 8-14, 2013

It Happens in the Dark by Carol O' Connell - this is a Mallory series mystery. I haven't decided yet if Mallory is a sociopath or just doesn't deal with people well. She's a brilliant, ice-cold detective. This time murders keep taking place during the first act of a play that might be about an actual massacre.

4 stars
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Austenland by Shannon Hale - in which our heroine is gifted a 3 week stay at an estate in England in order to totally immerse herself in everything Jane Austen. I'm not an Austen fan but I found this amusing.

4 stars
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Night Film by Marisha Pessl - a reclusive film maker's daughter commits suicide and a disgraced reporter decides to dig for the truth. I was immediately drawn into this book and was enjoying it quite a bit when about half way through, dark magic was thrown in and it turned into almost a horror novel. By then I was so wrapped up in the story I had to continue, skimming some of the darker stuff. I really don't know how to categorize this book - mystery or horror. Also written in a different style with interactive elements and other media inserted.  It would have received 5 stars if not for the magic stuff.

4 stars

*Cindy, this is not for you, don't read.
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A Mist of Prophecies by Steven Saylor - I was reminded of this series by someone on fb, and I was glad because I could remember the series but not the author. Takes place in Rome at the time Caesar and Pompey were fighting. One of the wives of Rome's most powerful men may be involved in a murder. I did think the main character acted out of character.

3 stars

Sept 1-7, 2013

Eva's Eye by Karin Fossum - written in 1995, translated in this year. It's the first in a Norwegian series featuring Inspector Sejer. Another of those translated out of order series. I found this story very odd. Halfway through the book the murderer confesses and the rest of the book is how and why it was done. Then there's an unexpected twist at the end.

3 stars
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Bear Is Broken by Lachlan Smith - a fairly good debut novel. Leo Maxwell, a new lawyer, is having lunch with his brother when his brother is shot in the head. As Leo tries to find out who was behind the murder attempt the answers begin to lead him to the murder of his mother when he was 10. Lots of twists and turns along with some language and sex.

3 stars
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The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits by Les Standiford - I didn't know much about Charles Dickens so it was interesting to read why he wrote A Christmas Carol. A little dry in places.

3 stars
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I also started two other books but didn't finish them. One was too crude (Mr. FunnyPants) and one too convoluted (A Delicate Truth).

August 25-31, 2013

The Iggy Chronicles, Volume One by Spencer Quinn - a short e-book in the Chet and Bernie mysteries. Chet's best friend Iggy, who I always pictured as a pug but I guess is a poodle, disappears at the same time one of his owners returns to the hospital.

3 stars
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Claws of the Cat: A Shinobi Mystery by Susan Spann - this is set in Japan in 1564. A samurai and the priest he protects help a hostess in a tea house who has been accused of murder. Not quite enough clarity as to why the samurai and priest are together.

3 stars
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Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World by Matthew Goodman - I was really looking forward to this book and was quite disappointed. The author told so much more than I wanted to know about.every.single.thing. Everything from who built Grand Central Station and how they made their fortune to the state of Jules Verne's marriage. I only wanted to know about the trips. Almost gave it one star but the minutiae settled down some in the second half of the book.

2 stars
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Bad Blood by Arne Dahl - first published in 1998, just translated this year. The second in the series called the A-Unit. A serial killer has made his way to Sweden and the team tries to find him. A police procedural type of mystery, I found it very interesting all the avenues they take to get just one clue.Although the subject matter was dark I didn't find this book to be a much of a downer as the previous in the series. Totally unexpected ending. There are 11 books so far in this series - I wish they would be translated faster. A couple of gratuitous sex paragraphs.

4.5 stars

August 18-24, 2013

The English Girl by Daniel Silva - another in the Gabriel Allon series. Gabriel is an art restorer/Israeli ex-spy (or is he?). He's asked to find the kidnapped mistress of the English Prime Minister. These books usually spend quite a bit of time with the planning stages of things. I find that interesting but some might not.

4 stars
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Restoration by Olaf Olafsson - I read this because it was mentioned by the author of The Light in the Ruins. A villa in the middle of the German retreat from Rome during WWII, a forged painting and two women with secrets. Told from many viewpoints and different times. The war is not the focal point but rather the people caught in the middle.

4 stars

Aug 11 - 17, 2013

Who Could That Be At This Hour? by Lemony Snicket - this is the beginning of a new series of children's books. I really enjoyed A Series of Unfortunate Events and this time instead of being the narrator, Lemony is the main character. This series is subtitled All the Wrong Questions and ends with a question cliffhanger. I'm looking forward to reading the next one.

3 stars
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The Beast by Faye Kellerman - this book annoyed me right away by throwing me in a scene that really had no bearing on the book. And you had to have read her previous book to know what was going on. So that causes it to lose one star. Anyway, an elderly, very wealthy recluse is found dead in his apartment along with his very much alive tiger. The mystery part of the story really kept me going and I was surprised at the end. But there was too much side story that had nothing to do with the mystery.

3 stars
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Chanel Bonfire by Wendy Lawless - a memoir of the authors childhood with a mother who was probably narcissistic and definitely an alcoholic. And suicidal. I don't know why books like this fascinate me so much, I always read them with a sense of horror. Maybe because they're the polar opposite of my childhood. I really liked the author's style, it keeps you reading. Some language.

4 stars
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The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian - I loved the way this book flowed. It alternates between 1943 and 1955 in Italy. During the war an Italian family loses their villa and several members of their family. And in 1955 someone starts killing the remaining members. It's not really a mystery in the typical sense, but the story of the family and then one of the police officers in particular. Really had me going and I had no idea who the killer was. Totally surprised.

5 stars

August 4-10, 2013

Room No. 10 by Ake Edwardson - I was irritated to find that this is the latest book in a series that I've missed. I feel I missed some back story because of that. I didn't find the characters sympathetic, but the mystery really kept me going. Crimes committed almost 20 years apart have the common point of a room in a run down hotel. Rather dark as seems to be the case in most Swedish books.

4 stars
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Death Angel by Linda Fairstein - another author that seems to be phoning it in, this is the 15th in the series. I don't know why I keep reading them other than my ocd need to read everything in a series. I don't really like the main character, I think she thinks too highly of herself. What was interesting about this book was the history of Central Park and because of that it got

3 stars
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Misterioso by Arne Dahl - another dark Swedish mystery. If I were to go strictly by the mystery books I've read set in Sweden I would think them not a very happy people. A serial killer is killing the rich and powerful and a new agency is set up to investigate. A pretty good police procedural. This was written in 1999, but not translated until 2011. The first in a series. Sex but seems to be thrown in because it's expected. Rather clinical.

4 stars
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The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence - A 10 yo boy is hit in the head by a meteorite. He's already "different" and this makes him more so. He meets an elderly man and life takes an even more interesting turn. I love the way this author writes. I found it funny, sad and interesting even though I don't agree with his thoughts on God and life after death. And now I might read some Kurt Vonnegut. Language and marijuana use, also another issue that could be a deal-breaker for some. Pm me if you want to know a spoiler before reading. I read this in one sitting.

5 stars

July 28-Aug 3, 2013

The Missing File by D.A. Mishani - I really thought I was going to like this book set in Israel by a first-time Israeli author. The story of a missing boy is told from two viewpoints, one the dispirited police detective investigating the case. And I did like it, right up until the end where it is not resolved and says to be continued. And I never did understand the title - I don't know if that was a translation issue or not. So it was 4 stars until the end.

2 stars
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Winger by Andrew Smith - a young adult book that is funny, touching and disturbing. Winger is the nickname of a 14 yo boy in boarding school who is very smart so he's two grades ahead of his peers. I guess it's a typical coming of age story but I loved the writing. Language, thoughts of sex, innuendo and sex jokes.  Probably fairly true to life, especially considering the setting. Loved it but couldn't quite give it 5 stars.

4.5 stars
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Call the Midwife:Farewell to the East End by Jennifer Worth - the last of the books the tv series Call the Midwife is based on. This was the most graphic of the books but it's all told in a very matter of fact way. I thought this was better than the second book, not as many history lessons and more stories of the people she lived and worked with. There is also a nice wrap up of what happened to her colleagues.

3 stars
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Slouching Toward Adulthood: Observations From the Not-So-Empty Nest by Sally Koslow - I read a fiction book by this author and thought I would enjoy her observations on the adult child at home. She calls them adultescents and has lots of statistics to back up her thoughts.

3 stars

July 21-27, 2013

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - it took me two weeks to read this book. I put it down halfway through and finally decided to finish it. Too much military strategy for me. Very young children are tested to see if they can become the one commander of the space force to win against the buggers. Lots of cruelty by adults and other children. In his forward the author himself says you either love it or hate it. I don't think I hate but now I'm not sure I'll see the movie.

2 stars
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The Ides of April by Lindsey Davis - I've read several of the books in this series about Marcus Didius Falco, an informer in ancient Rome. Now the series has been rebooted with his adopted daughter, Flavia Albia, taking over the role of informer. I miss her parents and their relationship. It takes awhile for the story to get going and I found it rather confusing. Also, I guessed a crucial reveal about halfway through and also guessed the perpetrator. So this didn't really hold my interest.

2 stars
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The Widow Waltz by Sally Koslow - a well-off woman finds herself suddenly a widow and the money her husband promised would be there to take care of her has disappeared. She and her two almost adult daughters must learn to live a new life and pull together. The ending was unexpected and I'm not sure I believe it.

3.5 stars
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Stranded by Alex Kava - finally, a mystery that kept me going right till the end (although I guessed the killer early on, but wasn't sure). This is part of the Maggie O'Dell series about an FBI agent who tracks serial killers. She and her partner are looking for a serial killer who targets people at rest areas along the highway. Don't think I'll be able to stop at one after dark again. Just a tinge of gruesome.

4 stars

July 14-20, 2013

Diners, Drive-in, Dives: The Funky Finds in Flavortown by Guy Fieri - a collection of some of the places from the show with a short thought from Guy, a couple of lines from members of his Krew, sometimes something from the owners about how the show changed their business and then a recipe. Most of the recipes are not really something that would be easy to make at home. This book would be better used as a travel guide and I think many people do that. In the back is a list of all the places the show has been, not just the ones in the book.

3 stars
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TransAtlantic by Colum McCann - this is a book that is getting rave reviews but I didn't enjoy it. I spent most of the book wondering what it was about and when I would get to the story. It weaves real people and events from 1845 to 2012 and moves from Ireland to North America. The author writes beautiful sentences but what are they about?

2 stars
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Her: A Memoir by Christa Parravani - a true story of a woman dealing with the death of her twin sister. This was a very raw, let it all out book. The author pulls no punches when telling the depths each sister went to dealing with their various issues. 50% of twins die within a couple of years of their twins death. I came away with the idea that perhaps their relationship was not a healthy twin relationship but I don't know what it's like to be an identical twin.

3 stars
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A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams - this is a glorified Harlequin romance novel. The writing is nice but it's basically a girl loves boy/ loses boy over misunderstanding/ finds boy again. And it wraps up in a true hurricane story in 1938. There are sex scenes but not salacious.

3 stars
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Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan - if you're not a fan of Jim Gaffigan's comedy you probably won't like this book. Very short chapters about raising 5 children in New York in a 2 bedroom apt. I really enjoyed his chapter on people's reaction to his having 5 children. I also like his obvious love and admiration for his wife. Because I laughed out loud a few times it gets

4 stars
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Shadows of the Workhouse by Jennifer Worth - this is the second of the three books Call the Midwife are based on. I didn't think this was quite as good as the first, there wasn't as much nursing. It was more of an in depth look at three cases. She does go into quite a lot of detail about the workhouses and that was horrific.

3 stars
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Diary of a Stage Mother's Daughter:A Memoir by Melissa Frances - Melissa was on Little House On the Prairie the last two years of the show. This book tells of her and her sister's life constantly trying to please their mother but not knowing what was going to set her off. Melissa liked acting but she didn't like how her mother's love was lavished or withheld depending on her performance.

4 stars

July 7-13, 2013

Calculated in Death by J.D. Robb - another in the series of futuristic Eve Dallas books. I like these for the author's take on a slightly (2060) future era and on the relationships Eve has built over time. This time Eve is investigating the supposed mugging of an accountant. There are sex scenes between Eve and her husband - I skip right past them and they've become very formulaic.

3 stars
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Carrie and Me by Carol Burnett - Carol's daughter, Carrie, died of cancer in her late 30's. In this book she tells of their troubled relationship during Carrie's teen years. Then the rest is mostly a series of emails to each other. The second half of the book is a short story written by Carrie that was unfinished when she died. I was a little disappointed in this book, I didn't feel it had a lot of depth. But then I wouldn't be able to write a book about a dead daughter at all. And the fictional story is just eh.

2 stars
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The Raft by S.A. Bodeen - a young adult book that reads like a young adult book, very short chapters. A young girl is on a cargo plane that crashes and is adrift on the ocean with no food or water. The co-pilot is unconscious and she must make decisions on her own.

 3 stars
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The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye - 1845, the New York police force has just been formed and Timothy Wilde unexpectedly finds himself a member of the force. He's thrust into an investigation of the disappearance and possible murder of several children. I wanted to give this 5 stars but it's very dark. Probably fairly accurate for the times. The politics, immigrant tension and reaction to poverty seem very familiar.

4 stars

June 30-July 6, 2013

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson - a woman dies and relives parts of her life with different possibilities over and over. Not really reincarnation since she is the same person every time. Takes place during the I and II World Wars. I'm not really sure how I feel about this book. It's the kind of quirky book I usually like but something about the end bothered me.

4 stars
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The World's Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette's, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family by Josh Hanagarne - absolutely loved this book. He makes his parents sound wonderful, which is so refreshing. I felt he was pretty honest about his struggles. He does talk quite a bit about being a Mormon and his struggle with that. Gives some definition to what being a Mormon means that I found very interesting. I liked this book so much I actually sent an email to the author (which I've never done) and he answered within the hour! 

5 stars

June 23-29, 2013

The Golden Egg by Donna Leon - I love these stories about Commissario Brunetti. They flow along so gently. In the course of his investigations, Brunetti must maneuver the corrupt politics of Venice. He has the help of his superior's secretary and a few of the officers under him. The stories are as much about his home life with his wife and two children as they are the mystery. This time he investigates the supposed suicide of a special needs man while having to seem not to do so.

4 stars
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Chat by Archer Mayor - Joe Gunther investigates the maybe related deaths of two John Does while also looking into the car accident involving his mother and brother.

 3 stars
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Tuesday's Gone by Nicci French - a disturbed woman is discovered serving tea in her living room to a man who has been dead for at least 2 weeks. Psychiatrist Frieda Klein is brought in by the police to help investigate. This really had a lot of twists and turns and kept me going - I had no idea who did it.

4 stars
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Cover of Snow by Jenny Milchman - a first novel and the first book I've read on my laptop. Small town police corruption that goes back generations and is discovered after a policeman commits suicide and his wife is left wondering what went wrong.

2 stars
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She Left Me the Gun:My Mother's Life Before Me by Emma Brockes - the author's mother had a horrible upbringing that she never talked about. After her death Emma travels to South Africa to discover the story.

4 stars

June 16-22, 2013

The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo - a Harry Hole (pronounced hula) book. The frustrating thing about foreign language books is that they are often not published in English in the order they were written. So this was a little confusing since it referenced events I haven't read yet. Also, I found the beginning of the book very disjointed and sometimes couldn't tell which character was being written about. About halfway through, I put the book down thinking I wouldn't finish it. I gave it another chance and am glad I did as I thought it improved in the last half. In fact I would have given it 4 stars if not for the beginning.

3 stars
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Lethal Investments by K. O. Dahl - another Norwegian author. This was a murder mystery that ended up being about an investment scandal and I couldn't follow all the finance stuff. Rather depressing and too much nudity. Would be R if a movie. I don't think I'll read anymore of this series.

2 stars
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Judgement Call by J.A. Jance - one of her Joanna Brady novels. I was starting to worry about this author when I couldn't finish her last book. Maybe because it was a different series. The mystery part was good and I figured it out right along with Joanna. I'm very tired of her difficult mother though. If Joanna was talking about her on a forum we would all encourage her to cut off contact.

3 stars
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As the Crow Flies by Craig Johnson - the 8th Walt Longmire book. I thought this was the weakest book in the series so far. Not as much humor and again, more Indian mysticism.

3 stars
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Bonus tv review
I just finished the first season of the Longmire series on tv. After the first episode I realized if I was going to enjoy the show I would have to let go of everything in the books. Only the Longmire character is right except for being too young. Instead of saying at the beginning of the show, based on, it should say very loosely based on. I like the show but not nearly as much as the books.

June 9-15, 2013

The Second Mouse by Archer Mayor - another in the Joe Gunther series. An apparent suicide may be murder and leads to criminals engaged in other crimes. Not quite as good as the previous book, I do get tired of Willy Kunkle.

3 stars
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Divergent by Veronica Roth - another dystopian young adult book. Society is divided into five factions - at the age of 16 everyone must decide which faction they will choose. Tris makes a surprising choice and learns things are not as they seem. First in a series - the second is out and titled Insurgent.

3 stars
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Hell is Empty by Craig Johnson - a Walt Longmire book. This time Walt is mostly alone as he tracks escaped criminals up a mountain in a snow storm. Quite a bit of mysticism this time.

3 stars
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The Informationist by Taylor Stevens - a female heroine in the mode of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. The setting is Africa, which is what made the book interesting to me. Somewhat repetitious.

2 stars
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Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger - a coming-of-age too soon story. Five deaths occur one summer in a small town in Minnesota and they profoundly affect Frank and his family.

4 stars
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Talk to the Hand  by Lynne Truss - a lament about everyday rudeness.

3 stars

June 2-8, 2013

St. Albans Fire by Archer Mayor - another Joe Gunther mystery and better than the last couple I've read. This time there is an actual mystery - someone is setting fires to cattle barns. I think the reason I enjoyed this one more is that it was mostly Joe Gunther and not all the other peripheral characters.

3 stars
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Above All Things by Tanis Rideout - a fictionalized account of George Mallory's attempt on Mt Everest. It alternates between the mountain climb and a day in the life of his wife back home. It did leave me wondering why anyone would have attempted the climb with such primitive equipment. And now I'm going to be looking for an account about the sherpas.

4 stars
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An Innocent, A Broad by  Ann Leary - her account of the surprise arrival of her son at 27 weeks while she and her husband, Denis Leary, are in England for a weekend. I really like the way she writes.

4 stars
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The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult - an elderly man tells his new acquaintance a secret. Now she is forced to decide what to do about it. Told from different viewpoints and timelines.

4 stars
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Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks - Budo is the imaginary friend of Max, an autistic boy. When Max is in danger, Budo must rescue him in spite of the fact no one can see or hear him. I loved this book. The observations Budo makes about Max's parents and the other adults around them are quite interesting. My heart was really pounding near the end. Just the kind of quirky and different book I like. If anyone else reads this I would like to know what your thoughts are on the last page.

5 stars
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Story of the 1900 Galveston Hurricane edited by Nathan C Green - this is a compilation of news articles and eyewitness accounts of the hurricane published in 1900. I found myself almost distracted by the language and style of writing. Still interesting though.

3 stars
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Junkyard Dogs by Craig Johnson - another Walt Longmire book. This time there are nefarious doings at the junkyard. Most of the criminals aren't very bright. Quite a few twists and turns before everything is figured out.

3 stars

May 26-June 1, 2013

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh - a young girl ages out of the foster care system and must support herself. Her only skill is that she knows what different flowers mean and she is fortunate to get work at a florists. She very gradually learns to trust people again.

4 stars
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Widow's Tears by Susan Wittig Albert - another China Bayles mystery. But this one focuses on her friend, Ruby, who is psychic. So a little too woo-woo for me. But by the time I realized that, I was wrapped up in the story of Rachel, who lost her entire family in the Galveston hurricane of 1900. I found that interesting and want to read more. Would have been 2 stars if not for that.

3 stars
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A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy - several people gather at a hotel in a remote spot in Ireland. Every chapter is about a different person and they are all intertwined in the story. I liked how connected everyone turned out to be.

3 stars
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A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving - I didn't expect to like this book but I read the first 348 pages all at once. Obviously I was sucked in right away. Didn't always agree with the author's POV but still found it very interesting. It did lag in a few places.

4 stars

May 19-25, 2013

The Soul Of It All by Michael Bolton - Maybe I  wasn't in the mood to read an autobiography but this didn't hit the spot. I was interested to read about the many songs he's written, I hadn't realized that. And he certainly has been persistent. Also, this has the largest acknowledgement section I've ever seen. Just wasn't linear enough for me.

2 stars
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Bad Blood by Dana Stabenow - a Kate Shugak mystery. This time two towns on opposite sides of a river have a Hatfield-McCoy feud going on and of course Jim Chopin and Kate get involved. Ends in a cliffhanger.

3 stars
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Still Points North: Surviving the World's Greatest Alaskan Childhood by Leigh Newman - I really liked the way this author wrote. Her story wasn't so much about her Alaskan childhood as it was about the way her life was affected by the divorce of her parents.

4 stars
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Ten Years Later:Six People Who Face Adversity and Transformed Their Lives by Hoda Kotb - an abused single mother, a cancer survivor, a woman who has radical surgery for epilepsy, a meth addict, a 9/11 survivor and an unusual business woman talk about the decisions and how their lives are different 10 years later.

3 stars
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The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth - this is the book Call the Midwife is based on. There are two more books by the author that I hope to read. A fascinating book.

4 stars
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The Dark Horse by Craig Johnson - the 5th in the series and almost my favorite so far. Longmire goes undercover in a very small down with a lot of bad characters.
 "The AR had been The BAR at some point in its past, but poor carpentry and the ever-prevalant wind had changed its name; that, or the B had decided to move on to a better hive."

4 stars

May 12-18, 2013

Guilt by Jonathan Kellerman - Psychologist Alex and his police friend Milo look into two mysteries 60 years apart. This is a long running series and seemed to be running out of steam but this was a pretty good one. Warning: deals with dead babies.

4 stars
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Night Moves by Randy Wayne White - more adventures of Doc Ford, a marine biologist with a secret background. This has an interesting true story of missing airmen woven into it. But it doesn't have a traditional mystery plot.

3 stars

May 5-11, 2013

The One I Left Behind by Jennifer McMahon - a woman's mother was presumed killed by a serial killer 20 years ago and is found to be alive. The book alternates between past and present. I didn't figure out who it was until about the same time as the heroine.

4 stars
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Lifesaving Lessons: Notes From an Accidental Mother by Linda Greenlaw - a true story of a single woman who finds herself the guardian of a 15 yo girl. Linda Greenlaw is a fishing captain who survived the Perfect Storm and has written a couple of other books. The first part of the book was too much about fishing but once it got past that was okay. I couldn't tell if the book was linear - she mentioned things a couple of different times and I couldn't tell when they actually happened.

3 stars
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The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian - fiction, but it covers actual events. The book takes place in the present and in 1915 during the genocide of Armenians by Turkey. Told from several different viewpoints.

4 stars

April 28-May 4, 2013

I have a 5 star book in this group that probably wouldn't get 5 stars from most. So a little reminder of what 5 stars means from me.

• It has to interest me from the first page. 
• If it's a mystery, I can't guess the bad guy.
• I don't read the end to see if I should keep reading.
• I have to enjoy the way the book is written.
• Nothing irritates me. And believe me, after 56 years of reading I'm easily irritated. 

With You or Without You by Domenica Ruta - a memoir of a very badly raised woman and she is still struggling with it.  Pretty raw and with language. I found it fascinating.

5 stars
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Unintended Consequences by Stuart Wood - I think I'm OCD when it comes to a series, I keep reading them even when they irritate me. Once again, Stone Barrington is hanging around the richest people and everything comes easily to them. And he's ready to hop into bed with any woman at any time.

2 stars
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The Blackhouse by Peter May - takes place on a very small, cold island off Scotland. Goes back and forth between the present and past, with the past mystery more interesting than the present. There are two more books in this series but so far they aren't available at my library. I might have to break down and buy a book!

4 stars
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Another Man's Moccasins Craig Johnson - another in the Sheriff Longmire series. In this one he has flashbacks to his time in Viet Nam because of a present day murder.

3 stars
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Surrogate Thief by Archer Mayor - another series I'm trying to complete. The bad guy was telegraphed pretty early on in the book which I find irritating because if I know I figure everyone else should know too. I think I'll take a break from this series for awhile.

2 stars
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The Good House by Ann Leary - a successful real estate agent deals with life in her town after a stay at a rehab center for alcoholism. Much better than it sounds. I really enjoyed this one.

4 stars
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You Changed My Life by Abdel Sellou - I watched The Intouchables, which I highly recommend, and wanted to know more about the people in it. This is written by the real-life caregiver from the movie. It was interesting to read the real story. A man without much of an upbringing is hired to help a tetraplegic who is quite wealthy.  I hope to read the book by Phillipe Pozzo di Borgo next but my library doesn't have it. 

3 stars
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A Death in Venice and Other Tales by Thomas Mann - oh.my.goodness. I am definitely not an intellectual. I read this because it was mentioned in The End Of Your Life Book Club. All the stories were depressing and lots of them didn't make sense. I only finished it so I could say I had.

1 star

April 21-27, 2013

Sand Sharks
Death's Half Acre
Christmas Mourning
Three Day Town all by Margaret Maron - and now I'm all caught up on this series. To me the mysteries take second place to seeing what's going on with Judge Knotts and her immediate and extended family.

3 stars for all
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Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala - the author's two sons, her husband and parents were killed by the tsunami of 2004 when it hit Sri Lanka. This is an almost stream of consciousness account of the wave and her reactions afterward. Quite sad.

3 stars
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Deadly Stakes by J. A. Jance - this is one of her Ali Reynolds books. I used to really like this author's books but the last couple have been duds for me. I just can't get invested in them.

2 stars

April 14-20, 2013

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline - a story told in the present and the past about one girl's experience. About a year after being in America, she is orphaned by a fire and put on a train to the midwest in the hopes of getting a new family.

4 stars
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Rituals of the Season
Winter's Child
Hard Row all by Margaret Maron - more of the Judge Deborah Knott series. The first leads up to her marriage and the second takes place about a month after. The third follows shortly after and talks a little about the plight of migrant workers.

3 stars for all
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Kicking and Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul and Rock and Roll by Ann and Nancy Wilson and Charles R. Cross - the story of Heart. I'm fairly sure this was "written" by the two sisters reminiscing to Mr. Cross. They take turns telling their story and every once in awhile we hear from someone else about their memories from that time. I liked the book more than I thought I would. We went to a Heart concert last week and they were interviewed by Mr. Cross. That's what gave me an interest in reading the book.

3 stars
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People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks - a fictionalized story of the Bosnian Haggadah. A book conservator is brought to Bosnia not long after the war is over to look at a Haggadah. The story then goes back in time until finally arriving at the origin of the book.

4 stars
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Gatekeeper by Archer Mayor - another Joe Gunther book. I didn't think this one really went anywhere.

2 stars
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Kindness Goes Unpunished by Craig Johnson - the 3rd book in the Sheriff Walt Longmire series. This time he's in Philadelphia to visit his daughter when she is attacked and goes into a coma.

3 stars
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Enchanting Lily by Anjali Banerjee - not really what I was expecting. A kind of Harlequin romance but with a sort of psychic cat. Thought it ended rather abruptly.

2 stars

April 7-13, 2013

Six Years by Harlan Coben - a man's girlfriend suddenly marries someone else. When that man dies six years later he finds that the widow is not his old girlfriend. Mystery ensues. Just a tad of stalkerishness that I found a little uncomfortable.

3 stars
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The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion - a book she wrote the year after her husband of 40 years died unexpectedly. Her daughter was quite ill at the time and died around the time the book was published. I thought her observations on how we're expected to handle grief have changed were quite interesting.

3 stars
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The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Kill Lincoln Before the Civil War by Daniel Stoshower - a non-fiction book that read rather like a mystery. A part of history I didn't know. Evidently there's controversy over whether a plot existed, if it did who discovered it, and then who's version after was correct. What I found interesting was the utter lack of security at the time. I'm surprised Lincoln wasn't at least injured by the crowds if not killed accidentally.

3 stars
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High Country Fall by Margaret Maron - another Judge Deborah Knott mystery. This time she's out of her county and in the mountains during leaf time.

3 stars
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Proof of Guilt by Charles Todd - an Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery. I found this to be a little too confusing. I absolutely could not figure out what was going on anymore than the inspector. Just a little too convoluted.

3 stars

March 31-April 6, 2013

The Night and the Music by Lawrence Block - a collection of short Matthew Scudder stories. Some from the past when he's an alcoholic and some in the present when he's sober and remarried.

3 stars
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The End of Your Life Bookclub by Will Schwalbe - true story of the author and his mother forming a bookclub of two while she is being treated for pancreatic cancer. Somewhat depressing, but she takes her illness better than anyone else. And I got quite a list of books to read.

4 stars
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Slow Dollar by Margaret Maron - another Deborah Knott mystery.

3 stars
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The Guilty One by Lisa Ballantyne - another first time author that I enjoyed a lot. The book goes back and forth from the present and the past but I didn't find it irritating. It was almost like getting two mysteries in one. The book is about an 11 year old boy on trial for murder. In England, the age for being treated as an adult is 10.

4 stars
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Leaving Everything Most Loved by Jacqueline Winspear - a Masie Dobbs novel. I didn't enjoy this one as much as previous books. To me, Masie is almost whiny in the way she is not satisfied with her life. Not whiny out loud but whiny in spirit. I think I'm in the minority with that thought, though, and am influenced by my personal philsophy.

3 stars
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The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein - a story of a family told from the viewpoint of the dog. And he's quite a smart dog. And of course I cried at the end.

4 stars
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Summer Falls by Amelia Williams - an e-book published by BBC Books to go along with the Dr. Who episode from last Sunday. The book was being read by one of the characters in the episode.

3 stars
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My Father's Tears by John Updike - a collection of short stories. Mostly depressing stories about people who can't stay married, connect with their children or grandchildren and have lots of regrets.

2 stars
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Watching the Dark by Peter Robinson  - an Inspector Banks mystery. The murder of a policeman leads to investigations in immigrant trafficking and a 6 year old disappearance of an English girl in Estonia. I thought it drug on just a little too much.

3 stars

March 24-30, 2013

The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell - I hesitate to even put this on my list because most of my friends won't like it. And I don't normally read books with heavy swearing. But I was hooked from the very first page. It starts with two young girls burying their parents in their backyard. A very dark book but uplifting by the end. If it was a movie it would be R rated.

4 stars
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Learning to Swim by Sara J. Henry - this book won 3 awards for best first novel. Another one that had me from the very first page. A woman thinks she sees a child thrown from a ferry and dives in to save it. I was a little disappointed at first by the ending but think it had to be that way to develop into a series.

4 stars
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A Cold and Lonely Place by Sara J. Henry - the second book in the series. I almost liked this one better because I couldn't figure out what was going on. I'd say it lived up to the promise of the 1st book. I hope the author writes more, I really like her main character.

4 stars
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Collateral Damage by Stuart Woods - a Stone Barrington book that takes place very soon after the previous book. This one is really more about Holly Hunter though. The CIA is tracking a terrorist.

3 stars
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The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson - the first in the Sheriff Walt Longmire series. I read the second out of order because it took so long to get this one. And the second book had told me whodunnit in this one but I'd already forgotten that until the very end.

3 stars

March 17-23, 2013

Unwholly by Neal Shusterman - #2 in the Unwind Trilogy. I had a hard time getting into this book. The author says he never meant the first book to become a trilogy and I thought that showed in this book. It jumped around too much from character to character and just kept adding more. I finally got into the story about half way through.

3 stars
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The Emerald City of Oz
The Patchwork Girl of Oz both by L. Frank Baum - poor Mr. Baum, at the end of the Emerald City he has come up with a surefire way to quit writing about Oz but he is foiled and must continue writing. His publishers and finances probably had a lot to do with it. Both of these had some clever word usage which led me to give them

3 stars
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The Sniper's Wife by Archer Mayor - the 13th in the series and somewhat of a departure. The main character isn't Joe Gunther, although he is in the book. And it takes place in New York city instead of Vermont.

3 stars
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The Paris Wife by Paula McClain - I don't mind historical fiction but usually have a problem when it's written from a first person point of view. How can the author possibly know what the person was actually thinking? And I think it's too easy to project our today sensibilities onto historical events. However, I really enjoyed this book and the writing. Trying to decide if I want to read a biography of Hadley Hemingway now.

4 stars

Mar 10-16, 2013

Somehow deleted my post so this will just be a list, no descriptions.

The Sound of Broken Glass by Deborah Crombie - 4 stars

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes - 4 stars

Step By Step: A Pedestrian Memoir by Lawrence Block - 3 stars

The Marvelous Land of Oz - 2 stars
Ozma of Oz - 3 stars
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz- 3 stars
The Road To Oz - 2 stars
all by Frank L Baum

Mar 3-9, 2013

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillebrand - this is a true story of a man who is on his way to becoming a delinquent when he becomes interested in running. He is in the Olympics right before the war. After he joins the Air Force, his plane is shot down and he spends many days on a raft. Then he is captured by the Japanese. The time of his captivity is a hard part of the book to read. I actually wish more of his story after the war had been covered.

4 stars
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Standing in Another Man's Grave by Ian Rankin - a John Rebus book. I guess the author missed his character after having retired him a few years ago. Rebus is still as crochety and maverick as his previous books. This time he is working as a civilian for the cold cases branch and becomes convinced they are looking for a serial killer.

4 stars
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The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier - a young Quaker girl comes to America in the 1850's with her sister. Her sister dies soon after they arrive and she is left to depend on the kindness of near strangers. She becomes involved by accident with the Underground Railway. There is a sex scene that surprised me, not gratuitous, somewhat necessary to the story.

4.5 stars

Feb 25-Mar 2, 2013

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker - a young girl tells the story of the earth suddenly starting to spin slower. At first it's just a few minutes a day. It's as much a coming of age story as anything.

4 stars
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The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms by Amy Stewart - all about worms. They're much more important than we think.

3 stars
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Hit  Me by Lawrence Block - the 5th book in the Keller series. He's now a retired hitman but gets back in the business because his construction business isn't doing well in the economy. Lawrence Block is one of my favorite authors, I like his weird humor. Don't know why I like these books about a man who kills people for a living but I do. He also collects stamps and you learn quite a bit about that. They are not graphic.

4 stars
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The Bughouse Affair by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini - this is set in the 1890's and feature a former Secret Service agent and a woman who used to work for the Pinkertons. They have opened a detective agency together. I was all set to enjoy the book and then they introduced a person purporting to be Sherlock Holmes. The book seems to present Holmes as a real person although we're not supposed to know if the man claiming to be him really is. That threw the whole book out of kilter for me. I would have enjoyed it more with just the two main characters.

2 stars

Feb 17-23, 2013

Shakespeare's Counselor by Charlaine Harris - I'm pretty sure this is the last of the Lily Bard series, it was written in 2001. I think the author is concentrating on her Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood series. Or she got tired of writing about this somewhat angry young woman. This time Lily deals with being newly married and trying to figure who is stalking her new counselor.

3 stars
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Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman - a very differently written book, told in short chapters or from social services reports. A young girl tries to escape from generations of poverty, abuse and a history of very young motherhood.

4 stars
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The Black Box by Michael Connelly - one of my favorite authors. Harry Bosch is trying to solve a crime committed 20 years ago during the riots in LA. I like how he just picks at threads until finally one leads to finding the murderers. The murderers themselves are rather caricatures but the solving is what's fun.

4 stars
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An Unacceptable Death by Barbara Seranella - the last of the Munch Mancini mysteries, the author died shortly after this was written. I don't like when a character's life is just starting to go well and then something bad happens. Don't know if the author's illness was the reason for this.

2 stars - the story was okay but it irritated me because of the above.
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Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich - the books in this series usually make me laugh out loud because of the outlandish things that happen to the heroine. But I do find her waffling between the two men in her life irritating. Might be a little too much sex for some.

3 stars
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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon - a really different book told from the viewpoint of a 15 yo autistic boy. He really goes off on tangents because that's the way his mind works and this particular boy takes refuge in math and actually explains several math problems. Really quirky so I gave it

4 stars

Feb 10-16, 2013

My Mother Was Nuts by Penny Marshall - the actress/director talks about her childhood and how she got into directing. Her mother was odd, but no more so the Penny. I found the book rather disjointed once she got into her adult life, it seemed to move around in time. A lot of drug taking.

3 stars
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The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan - right before WWI begins, an ocean liner blows up and 39 people are trapped in a lifeboat for many days. I wanted to like this more than I did. I didn't find the protagonist very likeable.

3 stars
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Mission Flats by William Landay - the mystery part was good but there were some twists later in the story I didn't like and ultimately found it fairly depressing.

3 stars
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Canada by Richard Ford - written by a Pulitzer prize winner and I guess that means you have to use lots of words. I found it rather repetitious and somewhat unbelievable. The parents of 15 year old twins decide to rob a bank. Once that finally happens the rest of the story is about what happens to the son.

2 stars
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Suspect by Robert Crais - a stand alone not in his regular Elvis Cole series. A wounded cop and a wounded war veteran dog wind up together. Sometimes told from the viewpoint of the dog. Really liked this because it was a little different.

4 stars

Feb 3-9, 2013

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan - takes place in the near future. A young man takes a job in a bookstore and discovers all is not as it seems. He tries to figure out what's going on and stumbles across a mysterious group searching for eternal life. Really much lighter than it sounds and really hard to explain.

5 stars
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Starring Miss Marple by Agatha Christie - I'm on an Agatha kick lately. This was actually 3 books: A Murder is Announced, The Body in the Library and Murder With Mirrors.

3 stars
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The Beginner's Goodbye by Anne Tyler - a middle-aged man tries to come to terms with the death of his wife.

4 stars
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Looking for Yesterday by Marcia Muller - the latest in the Sharon McCone series. I've read every book in this series - some are better than others. I like to catch up on all her relatives and the people she works with. I still remember reading her first, Edwin of the Iron Shoes.

4 stars
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Far North by Michael Ridpath - another Icelandic mystery. This time the policeman has spent time in America and become a policeman there before coming back to Iceland. Someone starts picking off the bankers and politicians they feel are responsible for Iceland's financial crisis. Didn't know who the final bad guy was till the very end.

3 stars
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The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman - a young couple living on an island tending a lighthouse in the 1920's find a baby in a lifeboat along with her dead father. Decisions are made which affect many people.

5 stars
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The Bone Bed by Patricia Cornwell - a Kay Scarpetta novel. I keep saying I'm going to quit reading these but my OCD towards series makes me keep going and hoping. Kay whines way to much. She needs to get rid of some of the people in her life. She needs to quit thinking about fooling around on her husband and that every man desires her even if she's 50.

2 stars
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The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith -this time Precious Ramotswe meets Clovis Anderson, the author of the guide to private investigation she follows.

3 stars
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The Racketeer by John Grisham - a man in prison claims he know who has killed a federal judge and will tell for commutation of his sentence. Had no idea where this book was going and it has some twists and turns.

4 stars
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Shakespeare's Trollop by Charlaine Harris - not about Shakespeare at all, instead about a cleaning woman who lives in a town by that name in Arkansas. She always gets involved in mysteries.

3 stars

Jan 27-Feb 2, 2013

Alaska Traveler Dispatches From America's Last Frontier by Dana Stabenow - a collection of magazine articles. I've read most of the author's mystery books and these were an interesting different side of Alaska from her. I really enjoyed her humor and the interesting places she went.

3 stars
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The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith - I really like these gentle books although I still can't fathom how a white man writing about a black woman in Botswana makes it all seem so plausible. I really like the musings of Mma Ramotswe as she solves the little mysteries that come to her detective agency and helps her friends with their problems.

3.5 stars
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The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce - recently retired Harold receives a letter from an old friend and on his way to post a reply and begins a walk to see her almost by mistake. Quite a different book and I really enjoyed it.

5 stars
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Tucker Peak by Archer Mayor - a Joe Gunther mystery about misdeeds at a ski resort.

3 stars
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The Mousetrap and Other Plays by Agatha Christie - 8 plays with stage directions and suggestions by the author. I find it a little difficult to read plays since I'm distracted by the stage directions. I knew a couple of the stories already but it was fun to re-read them. The longest book I've read so far this year.

3 stars
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The Calligrapher's Daughter by Eugenia Kim - the story begins with Japan's taking control of Korea and continues through WWII. I knew little about Korea and had no idea Japan took it over. The story is told mainly from the viewpoint of the daughter but some chapters are from other viewpoints. I really liked it and am not sure why I can't give it 5 stars.

4.5 stars
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Shiver by Karen Robards - this book touts itself as a thriller but it was really more like a Harlequin romance  book. Yes, there were exciting parts, but in the meantime the heroine and hero are lusting after each other. Finished it because I wanted to know how they got out of their predicament but way too much sex and I figured out the real bad guy almost right away.

2 stars
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Jan 20-26, 2013

The Kidnapping by Charles Todd - a very short e-book featuring Ian Rutledge. A man runs into Scotland Yard claiming his daughter has just been kidnapped. I think this was quickly written just so the authors could get in on e-books. It was more like a chapter than a book.

2 stars
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Mistletoe Man by Susan Wittig Albert - another China Bayles mystery. I'm still catching up on the ones I've missed in the middle of the series. This one involves a hit and run.

3 stars
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Bloodroot by Susan Wittig Albert - this time China goes to her family plantation to help her mother care for her great aunt. Long time family mysteries are solved. A little woo-woo with ghostly visions and mysterious smells.

3.5 stars
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Indigo Dying
Dead Man's Bones both by Susan Wittig Albert - I've finally caught up on the series except for the latest book. A little too much foreshadowing in both of these books.

3.5 stars for Indigo
3 stars for Dead
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The Man Who Went Up in Smoke by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo- a new detective series for me and an older one. The first book in the series (which I haven't read yet) was published in 1965.  This is the second and somewhat atypical in that the majority doesn't take place in Sweden.

3 stars
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Death Without Company by Craig Johnson - a Sheriff Walt Longmire mystery. A little slow moving at first but finishes with a bang.

3 stars
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Uncommon Clay by Margaret Maron - a Judge Deborah Knott story. Takes place in a pottery community. The deaths are a little gruesome.

3 stars
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Cat's Claw by Susan Wittig Albert  - finally caught up on the China Bales series. This was different in that it alternates between China's first person view and police chief's Sheila Dawson's third person view. I'm not sure I liked that.

3 stars
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An Unthymely Death and Other Stories by Susan Wittig Albert - just when I thought I was done I discovered there was a book of short stories featuring China. I was able to get it from the library on my Kindle so I could get the last book in this week.

2.5 stars