Aug 3-9, 2014

Under a Silent Moon by Elizabeth Haynes - DCI Louisa Smith has just been put in charge of her first murder investigation when a suicide is discovered that may be connected. Most of the people in this book are liars about small things and large. At one point I was even suspecting different people on the police force. Would have given this 4 stars if not for too much sex.

3 stars
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Beating the Lunch Box Blues by J.M. Hirsch - some good looking lunches in this book. Mostly it encourages you to think outside the box for lunch ingredients.

3 stars
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Philomena: A Mother, Her Son, and a Fifty Year Search by Martin Sixsmith - this was a completely different book than the movie by the same name. If I had read it under it's original name, The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, I wouldn't have been surprised. The movie is almost completely from the mother's point of view. The book is from her son's, who is no longer living. I have a problem with the author telling me what he (the son) was thinking and feeling. I enjoyed the movie much more.

2 stars
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The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown - totally unknown sports history for me, I had never heard about this before and I live in Washington. Told mostly as a story of one of the boys and the incredible hardships he had. I personally thought the book delved a little too much into the German side but I guess that was to show what a big deal it was for the Americans to win.

4 stars
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Oystercatchers by Susan Fletcher - I don't understand why this story drew me in when the author writes in such an irritating way. Perspectives and tenses changed constantly, sometimes within paragraphs! And the person telling the story wasn't all that likeable. She's basically telling her life story to her 16 year old sister who is in a coma. But I still found it interesting enough to finish.

2 stars
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The Poacher's Son by Paul Doiron - Mike Bowditch became a game warden partly to spite his poacher father. Now his father has been accused of killing a cop and another man and Mike is sure he didn't do it. One unnecessary sex scene.

3 stars
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The Kill Switch by James Rollins and Grant Blackwood - Tucker Wayne and his military dog, Kane, are asked to get a pharmaceutical scientist out of Russia. This was like reading an action movie, one tense situation after another. I really liked this and am looking forward to the next book.

4.5 stars
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The Care and Management of Lies by Jacqueline Winspear - not a Maisie Dobbs book, but a stand alone about WWI. How the war affected one family. The whole book has a rather sad air about it.
* In fact, I downgraded my rating today because the more I think about this book, the sadder I get.

2 stars