The Gentleman by Forrest Leo - set in Victorian times and written in that style with illustrations. Lionel Savage, a 22 yo poet, discovers he's broke and marries a beautiful woman for her wealth. He finds he can no longer write and comes to loathe his wife. One night at a party he meets the devil, the gentleman of the title, and comes to believe he has sold his wife to him. He then sets out to rescue her, accompanied by his butler, sister, and brother-in-law. This is a comedy/fantasy that I quite enjoyed.
4 stars
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Survivors Will Be Shot Again by Bill Crider - the 23rd Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery. There's been a rash of thievery in part of the county and when a man is found dead in a barn the sheriff doesn't know if he's one of the thieves or a victim of them. Soon, another body is found. There are also small marijuana fields popping up guarded by alligators and snapping turtles. A light hearted mystery with quirky characters and the sheriff is always smarter than he seems.
3.5 stars
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Wilde Lake by Laura Lippman - Luisa has just been elected as the county prosecutor when she receives what looks like a slam dunk case. A homeless man is accused of killing a woman in her apartment. But something about the case has Lu thinking about the past and her brother's justifiable homicide in defense of a friend. Told in a style I usually dislike - third person present, first person past - but the story really kept me turning the pages. This also tells the story of real town Columbia, Maryland, a planned community of 10 villages.
4 stars
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Aug 14 - 20, 2016
Fed, White, and Blue: Finding America with My Fork by Simon Majumdar - the author is probably best known for his appearances on The Food Network as a judge. The author of previous books combining travel and eating, he decided to explore becoming a US citizen by traveling the country eating and also discovering all the different cultures making up the country. Each chapter is a different area and has some history or cultural facts woven in. Finally, I know what keeping kosher is, I only had a vague idea before. A few PG-13 words and a couple of adult references.
4 stars
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See How They Run by Tom Bale - New parents Alice and Harry wake in the middle of the night to find three masked men in their bedroom asking questions they can't answer and threatening their baby. And then it's quite a thrill ride to the end. The only thing I didn't like was that the viewpoint changed abruptly sometimes. Some violence and child endangerment.
4 stars
4 stars
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See How They Run by Tom Bale - New parents Alice and Harry wake in the middle of the night to find three masked men in their bedroom asking questions they can't answer and threatening their baby. And then it's quite a thrill ride to the end. The only thing I didn't like was that the viewpoint changed abruptly sometimes. Some violence and child endangerment.
4 stars
Sunday, August 14, 2016
August 7 13, 2016
The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - the author brings back his detective after killing him off in his previous collection. Thirteen short stories, including The Adventure of the Empty House in which Holmes returns. Watson is the real mystery, sometimes he's married, sometimes he's making a living as a doctor, sometimes he's not.
3 stars
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His Last Bow: Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - eight short stories, as always selected by Watson to show the brilliance of Holmes. Ending with a rather odd story not told by Watson right before the advent of WWI.
3 stars
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The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - the last 12 short stories published. Some told by Holmes himself. The Adventures of the Lion's Mane was my favorite. What struck me in re-reading all these stories is how much we think we know of Holmes is from how he's been portrayed in movies and shows. Many of his mannerisms and catch phrases are not that evident in the actual stories.
3 stars
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Ink and Bone by Lisa Unger - imo, this did not live up to the hype. Billed as a cross between horror and thriller, I found it rather bland. A young woman with a psychic gift gets involved in the search for a missing child. But part of the book read as almost a romance novel. I don't believe in psychic stuff so that wasn't scary to me. Almost too much character development and yet so much left unexplained. Very unsatisfying. I'm in the minority on Goodreads.
2 stars
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A Banquet of Consequences by Elizabeth George - I had to give up on this book by one of my favorite authors. 540 pages is too long for a mystery. And a fourth of the way in the murder had still not been committed. By then I didn't care who got knocked off.
3 stars
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His Last Bow: Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - eight short stories, as always selected by Watson to show the brilliance of Holmes. Ending with a rather odd story not told by Watson right before the advent of WWI.
3 stars
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - the last 12 short stories published. Some told by Holmes himself. The Adventures of the Lion's Mane was my favorite. What struck me in re-reading all these stories is how much we think we know of Holmes is from how he's been portrayed in movies and shows. Many of his mannerisms and catch phrases are not that evident in the actual stories.
3 stars
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Ink and Bone by Lisa Unger - imo, this did not live up to the hype. Billed as a cross between horror and thriller, I found it rather bland. A young woman with a psychic gift gets involved in the search for a missing child. But part of the book read as almost a romance novel. I don't believe in psychic stuff so that wasn't scary to me. Almost too much character development and yet so much left unexplained. Very unsatisfying. I'm in the minority on Goodreads.
2 stars
**********************************************************************
A Banquet of Consequences by Elizabeth George - I had to give up on this book by one of my favorite authors. 540 pages is too long for a mystery. And a fourth of the way in the murder had still not been committed. By then I didn't care who got knocked off.
Sunday, August 7, 2016
July 31 - Aug 6, 2016
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle - the first Sherlock Holmes story. A man is found dead in an abandoned house with no visible means of death. Sherlock astounds the police and his new friend, Dr. Watson. This story is in two parts, the murder and solving of, and then the reason for the murder. The second part takes place in America, featuring deserts and Mormons, and goes on and on. I've read this several times, this time it was fun comparing it to the Sherlock tv series.
3 stars
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The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle - another story in two parts. In the first, a man is found dead in a house with the drawbridge closed but the murderer is nowhere to be found. Sherlock does his stuff and then we hear, in excruciating detail, the why. The second part also takes place in America.
3 stars
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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - a collection of 12 short stories, including A Scandal in Bohemia, The Red-Headed League, and The Speckled Band, one of my favorites. Sherlock seems much more solicitous of his clients than how we're used to seeing him portrayed on tv. He still solves some of the mysteries before his client is out the door.
3 stars
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The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - 11 short stories, ending with the author killing off his famous detective in The Final Solution. In these stories we learn that Sherlock has a family, he actually had one friend in school, and that he can make mistakes.
3 stars
3 stars
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The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle - another story in two parts. In the first, a man is found dead in a house with the drawbridge closed but the murderer is nowhere to be found. Sherlock does his stuff and then we hear, in excruciating detail, the why. The second part also takes place in America.
3 stars
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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - a collection of 12 short stories, including A Scandal in Bohemia, The Red-Headed League, and The Speckled Band, one of my favorites. Sherlock seems much more solicitous of his clients than how we're used to seeing him portrayed on tv. He still solves some of the mysteries before his client is out the door.
3 stars
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The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - 11 short stories, ending with the author killing off his famous detective in The Final Solution. In these stories we learn that Sherlock has a family, he actually had one friend in school, and that he can make mistakes.
3 stars
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