- Classic Elite Quick Knits by Classic Elite Yarns Quick Knits is a nice compendium of quick knit projects for knitters of all levels of experience. The hat and sock patterns are particularly nice, with a range from easy to intermediate patterns. Large-sized photos and information on yarn types and weights make it easier to substitute yarns. Although these were individually published in pattern books or the CEY newsletter, this would make a nice holiday gift.
- Walking Meditations by Nguyen Anh-Huong and Thich Nhat Hanh Thich Nhat Hanh is a Buddhist monk who has written and instructed lots of people on mindfulness walking. The text is a short and easy introduction to the concept of meditation walking. The accompanying DVD and CD instruct the walker who wants to engage more fully with nature and themselves. Apparently I wasn't in the right frame of mind to follow the CD, as I found the repetitive instructions frustrating at times, so clearly I need to practice my mindfulness walking more. I do wish they had not used the terms 'in-breath' and 'out-breath' for inhale and exhale, though; I found it grating and that may be why I had trouble focusing on the exercises.
- Face of the Enemy by Joanne Dobson and Beverle Graves Excellent mystery, first in the Wartime Mysteries series. Set in 1941 NYC, the story opens with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the rising hysteria within the city regarding invasions and spies blends well with the rising tension of the murder of an art dealer. Louise is a nurse from Kentucky, an exotic herself in the gritty Big Apple, hired to nurse the American professor husband of a Japanese artist. Masako, the artist, is arrested as an enemy of the state, and the night before she is arrested, the art dealer who decided to stop her show because of public anger, is killed. While the feds and NYPD fight over who has jurisdiction over Masako, Louise and Abe, a feisty lawyer, investigate the murder as they try to clear Masako and save her very ill husband's life. This has to have been the best galley I've read all year for Net Galley. The book is scheduled for release in September and I urge all fans of historical mysteries to read it. Beyond a good mystery and superb ambiance, and despite some distressing racial slurs, the attitude of several characters is mirrored in our current society's issues over Mexican-Americans and illegal entrants, and makes this a particularly thoughtful and timely mystery story.
- Drop Dead on Recall by Sheila Webster Boneham The wold of canine obedience trials is cutthroat, and this mystery captures that perfectly. When a contender for top obedience handler drops dead in the ring, 50-year-old Janet MacPhail, photographer and dog lover, hastens to help, and is drawn into a dangerous, murderous world. The author is a bit heavy-handed with her suspects, making it pretty easy to figure out whodunnit, but the grown-up romance between Janet and fellow dog-lover Tom is nicely and realistically portrayed, and gives all of us dog-loving women of a certain age hope, even if it is a fictional romance. Who knows? The author got the world of obedience trials and competition right; maybe she's right about middle-aged romance, too. Definitely a recommendation for dog lovers.
- Pets at the White House by Jennifer B. Pickens and Barbara Bush Lovely book showcasing the pets that have helped our First Families make the White House a home. The book begins with a brief review of the early presidents of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries, but focuses on the presidential pets beginning with the Kennedy administration. A nice book for dog lovers and history buffs. Filled with great photos, both staged and informal. And it was nice to be reminded that even presidents I didn't vote for and disagreed with vehemently have a humane streak, and if they love animals, they can't be all bad, right? I just wish there had been more on the earlier presidents; Pickens has tracked down some interesting trivia, like Jefferson's parrot, so there must be other stories and information out there.
- Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson Nice re-release of small knitted projects that would be nice for holiday presents. Patterns range from a scarf and mitts to a tea cosy, even a blanket. The section at the back on presentation and wrapping is nice, since the perfect gift needs the perfect package. Nice photos give good views of the projects from different angles.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Middle SIster's August Reads
An interesting month for books, August was. Forthwith:
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Big Sis' July Reads 2012
I did a lot of reading this month, contrary to Middle Sis... It might well be one of my better months in recent history... I guess since work is actually a bit slow, there's more time to read before, during lunch, and after work, and there were some good vacation days that were productive reading days, as well.
Enough blathering --- here are July's books...
XO, by Jeffery Deaver - I do love Jeffery Deaver. I especially love his Lincoln Rhyme books and even though this was actually a book from Deaver's Kathryn Dance series, Lincoln made an appearance to help solve the mystery of the stalker following young singer Kayleigh Towne. I love the idea of body language being used to help solve a mystery. Personally, I rely a LOT on people's faces, their eyes, the sound of their voices, to help me make judgments when meeting new people, or when deciding if I believe them or not...
The Third Gate, by Lincoln Child - Oh, I had such plans to read this book and send it on to Middle Sis for her enjoyment. After all, wouldn't she just L.O.V.E. a book about an archaeological team trying to locate the tomb of an ancient pharaoh in Northern Sudan? The pharaoh who united Upper and Lower Egypt in 3200 B.C., whose tomb has been whispered about for years?? Yea, NOT. The story itself was good, but I was disappointed in the writing. It seemed a bit disjointed, more so than previous Child books. There were some cool "special effects," and he came up with a great description of the scene, but it just seemed the usual character development wasn't there.
Come Home, by Lisa Scottoline - Jill is getting married. Well, she was until her ex-stepdaughter shows up on her front steps. Jill's ex-husband is dead, and Abby, one of the two stepdaughters she lost contact with after the divorce, well she wants nothing more than for Jill to fix it all. She wants to find out who killed her dad. And although all signs point to it NOT being murder, some things just don't add up and we soon find there IS a mystery to solve. What I liked the best in this book, and I don't usually credit this to Ms. Scottoline, I LOVED the feelings, the emotions. Jill loved these girls like they were her own and they were ripped from her life as a result of the divorce, but she soon feels that love again, up front and personal, and her fiance has to come to terms with a child from Jill's past, actually, TWO children from her past...
15 Seconds, by Andrew Gross - Oh, yay! This was a GREAT read! It had tons of twists and turns, and it took quite a few chapters before I figured it out, and even then, even when you knew who the bad guy was, you still had to read 2/3 more of the book to figure out how their lives intersected, and then, THEN his daughter is kidnapped... And that's ALL I'm going to say. Read this suspense novel! It was a great read!
The Line Between Here and Gone, by Andrea Kane - I met Ms. Kane at a lunch her publisher threw for her when I used to work at SDC. She's a lovely woman and I've been a fan ever since. Another Forensic Instincts story, we have a dying child, a mom determined to save her son, a missing father who doesn't know he's a father, the Mob, and several investigators who have special talents. I will be reading every one of these (I think this is the second?) - I sure hope there are several more coming!
Between the Lines, by Jodi Picoult and Samantha VanLeer (Kindle edition) - Ms. Picoult's daughter Samantha came up with the basic premise of this story: what if the characters in your favorite fairy tale actually had real lives outside the story you were reading? What if things happened when the book was closed and you weren't reading it? Could a character from a book come to life, in real life? Ms. Picoult was intrigued enough to decide to work WITH her daughter to write this book. In all honesty, I'm only halfway through it, so I can't say if the ending justifies the journey, but so far, while it's not one of Ms. Picoult's traditional novels, it's interesting enough to keep my attention and I'll be finishing it this week. I'll update this entry with some final words later...
Backfire (an FBI Thriller), by Catherine Coulter - This series started off phenomenally well, then seemed to peter out a bit. It seems to me to be a 50/50 chance that the book will be up to speed, or disappointing. This one? While it wasn't as good as the earlier ones, it was good enough. A judge is shot, the prosecutor from a high-profile trial is missing, and Sherlock and Dillon Savich are called to San Francisco by the judge's wife (they're friends from a previous case), called to SF to hopefully find the person who tried to kill the judge.
I, Michael Bennett, by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge - Again, a great opportunity for an up and coming author to have another bestseller under his belt before he goes solo! I like the character, NYC Detective Michael Bennett, dad to 10 adopted children. Michael takes the kids and the nanny on vacation to the family cabin in Newburgh, NY. Of course, a vacation can't just be a vacation or there'd be no story, but in this book, we deal with the attempted murder of one of Michael's boys, the developing relationship and almost demise of said relationship between Michael and Mary Catherine, the nanny, and loads of fast-moving action.
Midnight Promises, by Kay Hooper - Another in the Sweet Magnolias series, we meet Elliot and Karen, now married after meeting and falling in love in a previous novel as supporting characters. He wants to invest their hard-earned and saved money in a business venture he really believes in, to make their lives better in the future. He wants to adopt her children, who already love him like the father they never really had. But Karen can't get over the memory of the debt her ex-husband left her in, where her children had to live with a family friend because Karen couldn't support them, where they had nothing, and nothing was a lot. A series of misunderstandings, a family friend possibly suffering from Alzheimer's, everyday stresses... is love enough?
Summer Nights, by Susan Mallery - Fools Gold: Book 8 - I haven't read 1-7, although I do think I read one or two of them because some of the characters and scenarios seemed familiara. Shane wants a quiet woman, someone who will be content to be a rancher's wife. A librarian, perhaps? Annabelle has a history, and all she wants is passion and heat and overwhelming love, none of which she got in her first marriage. Can this work? (Hint, hint: yes, it can, and it's fun watching the fireworks!)
Enough blathering --- here are July's books...
XO, by Jeffery Deaver - I do love Jeffery Deaver. I especially love his Lincoln Rhyme books and even though this was actually a book from Deaver's Kathryn Dance series, Lincoln made an appearance to help solve the mystery of the stalker following young singer Kayleigh Towne. I love the idea of body language being used to help solve a mystery. Personally, I rely a LOT on people's faces, their eyes, the sound of their voices, to help me make judgments when meeting new people, or when deciding if I believe them or not...
The Third Gate, by Lincoln Child - Oh, I had such plans to read this book and send it on to Middle Sis for her enjoyment. After all, wouldn't she just L.O.V.E. a book about an archaeological team trying to locate the tomb of an ancient pharaoh in Northern Sudan? The pharaoh who united Upper and Lower Egypt in 3200 B.C., whose tomb has been whispered about for years?? Yea, NOT. The story itself was good, but I was disappointed in the writing. It seemed a bit disjointed, more so than previous Child books. There were some cool "special effects," and he came up with a great description of the scene, but it just seemed the usual character development wasn't there.
Come Home, by Lisa Scottoline - Jill is getting married. Well, she was until her ex-stepdaughter shows up on her front steps. Jill's ex-husband is dead, and Abby, one of the two stepdaughters she lost contact with after the divorce, well she wants nothing more than for Jill to fix it all. She wants to find out who killed her dad. And although all signs point to it NOT being murder, some things just don't add up and we soon find there IS a mystery to solve. What I liked the best in this book, and I don't usually credit this to Ms. Scottoline, I LOVED the feelings, the emotions. Jill loved these girls like they were her own and they were ripped from her life as a result of the divorce, but she soon feels that love again, up front and personal, and her fiance has to come to terms with a child from Jill's past, actually, TWO children from her past...
15 Seconds, by Andrew Gross - Oh, yay! This was a GREAT read! It had tons of twists and turns, and it took quite a few chapters before I figured it out, and even then, even when you knew who the bad guy was, you still had to read 2/3 more of the book to figure out how their lives intersected, and then, THEN his daughter is kidnapped... And that's ALL I'm going to say. Read this suspense novel! It was a great read!
The Line Between Here and Gone, by Andrea Kane - I met Ms. Kane at a lunch her publisher threw for her when I used to work at SDC. She's a lovely woman and I've been a fan ever since. Another Forensic Instincts story, we have a dying child, a mom determined to save her son, a missing father who doesn't know he's a father, the Mob, and several investigators who have special talents. I will be reading every one of these (I think this is the second?) - I sure hope there are several more coming!
Between the Lines, by Jodi Picoult and Samantha VanLeer (Kindle edition) - Ms. Picoult's daughter Samantha came up with the basic premise of this story: what if the characters in your favorite fairy tale actually had real lives outside the story you were reading? What if things happened when the book was closed and you weren't reading it? Could a character from a book come to life, in real life? Ms. Picoult was intrigued enough to decide to work WITH her daughter to write this book. In all honesty, I'm only halfway through it, so I can't say if the ending justifies the journey, but so far, while it's not one of Ms. Picoult's traditional novels, it's interesting enough to keep my attention and I'll be finishing it this week. I'll update this entry with some final words later...
Backfire (an FBI Thriller), by Catherine Coulter - This series started off phenomenally well, then seemed to peter out a bit. It seems to me to be a 50/50 chance that the book will be up to speed, or disappointing. This one? While it wasn't as good as the earlier ones, it was good enough. A judge is shot, the prosecutor from a high-profile trial is missing, and Sherlock and Dillon Savich are called to San Francisco by the judge's wife (they're friends from a previous case), called to SF to hopefully find the person who tried to kill the judge.
I, Michael Bennett, by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge - Again, a great opportunity for an up and coming author to have another bestseller under his belt before he goes solo! I like the character, NYC Detective Michael Bennett, dad to 10 adopted children. Michael takes the kids and the nanny on vacation to the family cabin in Newburgh, NY. Of course, a vacation can't just be a vacation or there'd be no story, but in this book, we deal with the attempted murder of one of Michael's boys, the developing relationship and almost demise of said relationship between Michael and Mary Catherine, the nanny, and loads of fast-moving action.
Midnight Promises, by Kay Hooper - Another in the Sweet Magnolias series, we meet Elliot and Karen, now married after meeting and falling in love in a previous novel as supporting characters. He wants to invest their hard-earned and saved money in a business venture he really believes in, to make their lives better in the future. He wants to adopt her children, who already love him like the father they never really had. But Karen can't get over the memory of the debt her ex-husband left her in, where her children had to live with a family friend because Karen couldn't support them, where they had nothing, and nothing was a lot. A series of misunderstandings, a family friend possibly suffering from Alzheimer's, everyday stresses... is love enough?
Summer Nights, by Susan Mallery - Fools Gold: Book 8 - I haven't read 1-7, although I do think I read one or two of them because some of the characters and scenarios seemed familiara. Shane wants a quiet woman, someone who will be content to be a rancher's wife. A librarian, perhaps? Annabelle has a history, and all she wants is passion and heat and overwhelming love, none of which she got in her first marriage. Can this work? (Hint, hint: yes, it can, and it's fun watching the fireworks!)
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Canine Reflections
Best part--their reflection in the bottom of the bowl through the water. I'm trying to get good photos of this, as Mr. Big in particular looks amazing, with all his furry whiteness and that black nose in the midst of it. Golden Boy has not as striking a reflection. I'll keep trying to get better photos.
Don't mind the dirty crocheted mat under the bowls. We've had our fourth rainy weekend in a row, which we desperately need, and which I guaranteed by mopping my floor Sunday afternoon. It started raining, literally, 15 minutes later.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Middle Sister Reads in July
Okay, happy campers, it's time again for the monthly book round-up. This was a pretty slow month for me, as I was distracted by updating lectures for my fall class and now the Olympics. This month I dedicated myself to reading and reviewing some upcoming mysteries for NetGalley, all of which are due to be published this fall.
To Hell in a Handbasket by Beth Groundwater I confess to turning to mysteries set in very cold places when the temperature here is in the three digits, so I had high hopes for this mystery set in Breckenridge, Colorado. The cover is attractive. The book, well, less so. I think the hobby-driven mystery subgenre has pretty much run its course, as our amateur detective is a part-time gift basket maker. Okay, I can see a spin-off from a professional shopper, but really? And she travels on vacation with supplies? She did--she made 'unexpected' baskets for the family of the murder victim and the detective from supplies she had in her luggage, including baskets. I'm shaking my head here in disbelief, maybe because I've been known to forget my toothbrush when I've packed for vacation. This story tries to transcend the cozy genre mystery to one with more grit by having the Russian mob at the center of the mystery, but it just doesn't work for me. I really don't think the Russian mob in the US is going to be undone by one gift basket maker, as the police suggest at the end of the story. But, the depiction of the skiing and the tourist village is nice, the pace of the story is nice (especially the snow mobile chase at the end), and hobby mystery lovers might like this one more than me. Claire's husband Roger was the only character I liked; her daughter is very annoying; and her daughter's boyfriend, while sympathetic, was a bit of a muttonhead. I doubt I'll seek out the first in this series given my reservations about Claire Hanover, but I can see potential within this series with some hard work and tweaking.
A Fistful of Collars by Spencer Quinn The latest Bernie and Chet mystery. Bernie is the human, Chet is the dog, and it's Chet who narrates this series. A cute idea that can get a little irritating after a while, especially when Chet is distracted for the umpteenth time by a scent in the middle of a crucial scene. And frankly, I don't think my dogs are laying around rhapsodizing about my eyebrows, the way Chet does about Bernie ("Bernie has great eyebrows, if I haven't mentioned that already--and eyebrows like his, beautifully thick and heavy, are worth mentioning again--with a language all their own." Location 928, Kindle version). They may think that some days I smell better than others, but that's about it. Nice depiction of a not-so-hard boiled Southern California detective (although there is the requisite fistfight and some car scenes, so the book maintains its hard-boiled detective street cred) and an adult romance that's realistic. I'm mildly intrigued and might read earlier entries in the series if they come my way.
Scone Island by Frederick Ramsey I love a mystery that includes a map or a house plan. Scone Island opens with a map of the island, so it gets props for that in my book (and a great cover). The latest in the Ike Schwartz mystery series, Ike is a retired CIA operative, and in this entry, he's targeted for elimination--only he doesn't know it. Ike and Ruth, his fiancee, have decamped to Scone Island for a completely unplugged weekend where they are completely unreachable by his sheriff's deputies or her university. Unfortunately, that means when Ike's friend Charlie Garland, still with the CIA, discovers that agents linked by one particular operation are all being killed, he can't reach Ike to warn him. Interesting idea--what happens when CIA agents retire, and what happens if someone from their past reappears. A little unbelievable in the end, where two people face off against hired soldiers-of-fortune. This is more a thriller-type mystery, with lots of 'collateral damage' and some violence, but not gore. My major pet peeve--pages of dialogue without any reference to who is saying what. Given the poor formatting (see below), even if only two people were involved in a conversation, it was often difficult to keep track of which character was speaking. I'm not a fan of this style, or some of the wording (thesaurus- and dictionary-loving me got to learn some new words like gelid, which mystery-loving me is not sure is appropriate for the style of the book). Again, I'm mildly intrigued and might read earlier entries in the series if they come my way.
A general critique for all of these, though--the Kindle formatting is terrible. It's often impossible to tell when paragraphs end and new ones begin, there are lots of inserted spaces, typos, missing words--it's all very shoddy. I don't remember paper galleys (from my many happy years at the bookstore) ever having this many grammatical mistakes and typos. Editors are badly needed for this new format. I missed having my red pencil to whip out to make corrections--it's just not as satisfying highlighting and making a notation. You can't type a flourish with the same kind of aplomb as you can when writing with a red pencil.
Yup, I'm ready for school to start.
To Hell in a Handbasket by Beth Groundwater I confess to turning to mysteries set in very cold places when the temperature here is in the three digits, so I had high hopes for this mystery set in Breckenridge, Colorado. The cover is attractive. The book, well, less so. I think the hobby-driven mystery subgenre has pretty much run its course, as our amateur detective is a part-time gift basket maker. Okay, I can see a spin-off from a professional shopper, but really? And she travels on vacation with supplies? She did--she made 'unexpected' baskets for the family of the murder victim and the detective from supplies she had in her luggage, including baskets. I'm shaking my head here in disbelief, maybe because I've been known to forget my toothbrush when I've packed for vacation. This story tries to transcend the cozy genre mystery to one with more grit by having the Russian mob at the center of the mystery, but it just doesn't work for me. I really don't think the Russian mob in the US is going to be undone by one gift basket maker, as the police suggest at the end of the story. But, the depiction of the skiing and the tourist village is nice, the pace of the story is nice (especially the snow mobile chase at the end), and hobby mystery lovers might like this one more than me. Claire's husband Roger was the only character I liked; her daughter is very annoying; and her daughter's boyfriend, while sympathetic, was a bit of a muttonhead. I doubt I'll seek out the first in this series given my reservations about Claire Hanover, but I can see potential within this series with some hard work and tweaking.
A Fistful of Collars by Spencer Quinn The latest Bernie and Chet mystery. Bernie is the human, Chet is the dog, and it's Chet who narrates this series. A cute idea that can get a little irritating after a while, especially when Chet is distracted for the umpteenth time by a scent in the middle of a crucial scene. And frankly, I don't think my dogs are laying around rhapsodizing about my eyebrows, the way Chet does about Bernie ("Bernie has great eyebrows, if I haven't mentioned that already--and eyebrows like his, beautifully thick and heavy, are worth mentioning again--with a language all their own." Location 928, Kindle version). They may think that some days I smell better than others, but that's about it. Nice depiction of a not-so-hard boiled Southern California detective (although there is the requisite fistfight and some car scenes, so the book maintains its hard-boiled detective street cred) and an adult romance that's realistic. I'm mildly intrigued and might read earlier entries in the series if they come my way.
Scone Island by Frederick Ramsey I love a mystery that includes a map or a house plan. Scone Island opens with a map of the island, so it gets props for that in my book (and a great cover). The latest in the Ike Schwartz mystery series, Ike is a retired CIA operative, and in this entry, he's targeted for elimination--only he doesn't know it. Ike and Ruth, his fiancee, have decamped to Scone Island for a completely unplugged weekend where they are completely unreachable by his sheriff's deputies or her university. Unfortunately, that means when Ike's friend Charlie Garland, still with the CIA, discovers that agents linked by one particular operation are all being killed, he can't reach Ike to warn him. Interesting idea--what happens when CIA agents retire, and what happens if someone from their past reappears. A little unbelievable in the end, where two people face off against hired soldiers-of-fortune. This is more a thriller-type mystery, with lots of 'collateral damage' and some violence, but not gore. My major pet peeve--pages of dialogue without any reference to who is saying what. Given the poor formatting (see below), even if only two people were involved in a conversation, it was often difficult to keep track of which character was speaking. I'm not a fan of this style, or some of the wording (thesaurus- and dictionary-loving me got to learn some new words like gelid, which mystery-loving me is not sure is appropriate for the style of the book). Again, I'm mildly intrigued and might read earlier entries in the series if they come my way.
A general critique for all of these, though--the Kindle formatting is terrible. It's often impossible to tell when paragraphs end and new ones begin, there are lots of inserted spaces, typos, missing words--it's all very shoddy. I don't remember paper galleys (from my many happy years at the bookstore) ever having this many grammatical mistakes and typos. Editors are badly needed for this new format. I missed having my red pencil to whip out to make corrections--it's just not as satisfying highlighting and making a notation. You can't type a flourish with the same kind of aplomb as you can when writing with a red pencil.
Yup, I'm ready for school to start.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Big Sis' June Reads, 2012
Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, by Anna Quindlen - I am a fan of Ms. Quindlen and this book is a new favorite. She reflects on growing old(er); Ms. Q. has reached 60, I believe. She remembers the past, she predicts her future, she enjoys her present. I can certainly relate to a lot of what she wrote - this is a keeper; if you want to borrow it, just drop me a line!
The Unexpected Husband: Jury of His Peers and Any Sunday, by Debbie Macomber - Two for the price of one, folks! Caroline and Ted meet again, for the first time since high school, I believe, when they serve on the same jury. Caroline never liked him, he always liked her, and since this is a romance, yay! They eventually get together! And in the second story, Marjorie meets Ben when she needs a doctor. He falls for her immediately but she's not in the market for a husband... or so she thinks!
Hot for Fireman, by Jennifer Bernard - Our heroine turns out to not be such a heroine: I have a problem with someone really thinking that setting fire to her family's bar might be the best way to pay off the upcoming loan... After all, what else would you use the insurance payment for? I had a hard time wrapping my head around her decision to do this, even though, during the course of the story, she winds up not being "the bad guy..." Just the thought that she'd even consider it made me not like the story, but it was fun and a quick read.
Odd Interlude 1, Odd Interlude 2, and Odd Interlude 3, by Dean Koontz (special Kindle only short stories) - These were $1.99 each and they were apparently intended to be a prelude of sorts to his forthcoming Odd Apocalypse. They were short stories, unique each to themselves, but you really need to read 1, then 2, then 3 or they make no sense. I can't wait to see how they fit into the new book coming next month. Little Sis has a galley; just waiting to borrow it when she's done with it. I LOVE the Odd Thomas series! Interludes 1-3 are chock full of sci fi, mystery, psychic phenomenon, characters we love, characters we really don't like too much, and of course, one AWESOME bad guy!!!
No One Left to Tell, by Karen Rose - I am a huge fan of Ms. Rose, and I think this might be my favorite romantic thriller! She's in the same genre as Ms. Johansen and Ms. Hoag (two of my all-time favorites, as you know!) and this one? This one is her best, I think! Paige witnesses the death of a woman related to a case she's working on, and realizes the victim's fiance is in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Paige and Grayson work together to solve this whodunnit, and by the end, after several twists and turns and numerous more murders, we finally find out who the bad guy really is. This was a long, thick book and I loved every page!!!
The Unexpected Husband: Jury of His Peers and Any Sunday, by Debbie Macomber - Two for the price of one, folks! Caroline and Ted meet again, for the first time since high school, I believe, when they serve on the same jury. Caroline never liked him, he always liked her, and since this is a romance, yay! They eventually get together! And in the second story, Marjorie meets Ben when she needs a doctor. He falls for her immediately but she's not in the market for a husband... or so she thinks!
Hot for Fireman, by Jennifer Bernard - Our heroine turns out to not be such a heroine: I have a problem with someone really thinking that setting fire to her family's bar might be the best way to pay off the upcoming loan... After all, what else would you use the insurance payment for? I had a hard time wrapping my head around her decision to do this, even though, during the course of the story, she winds up not being "the bad guy..." Just the thought that she'd even consider it made me not like the story, but it was fun and a quick read.
Odd Interlude 1, Odd Interlude 2, and Odd Interlude 3, by Dean Koontz (special Kindle only short stories) - These were $1.99 each and they were apparently intended to be a prelude of sorts to his forthcoming Odd Apocalypse. They were short stories, unique each to themselves, but you really need to read 1, then 2, then 3 or they make no sense. I can't wait to see how they fit into the new book coming next month. Little Sis has a galley; just waiting to borrow it when she's done with it. I LOVE the Odd Thomas series! Interludes 1-3 are chock full of sci fi, mystery, psychic phenomenon, characters we love, characters we really don't like too much, and of course, one AWESOME bad guy!!!
No One Left to Tell, by Karen Rose - I am a huge fan of Ms. Rose, and I think this might be my favorite romantic thriller! She's in the same genre as Ms. Johansen and Ms. Hoag (two of my all-time favorites, as you know!) and this one? This one is her best, I think! Paige witnesses the death of a woman related to a case she's working on, and realizes the victim's fiance is in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Paige and Grayson work together to solve this whodunnit, and by the end, after several twists and turns and numerous more murders, we finally find out who the bad guy really is. This was a long, thick book and I loved every page!!!
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Middle Sis' June 2012 Books
Well, a large part of my recreational time in June was spent reading The Mill on the Floss, which I am still only two-thirds through. My book group begins another title tomorrow (Thomas Hardy), so I may or may not finish this one. Well written, some interesting characters, but interminable. I feel terribly guilty at not having finished it. I have no idea why I can't.
I did spend some time monitoring a county crew this month, so I had a chance to get a lot of fast reading in on my down time (Mill was on my Kindle, which is not excruciating heat friendly). Forthwith:
I did spend some time monitoring a county crew this month, so I had a chance to get a lot of fast reading in on my down time (Mill was on my Kindle, which is not excruciating heat friendly). Forthwith:
- It's All Too Much by Peter Walsh. How to declutter. I am happy to say that according to his quiz, I am one of those few who are not buried under clutter. But I do have some closets that need to be cleaned out and some bad housekeeping habits I need to break, so this very fast read may not (hopefully) have been in vain. (library hardcover)
- Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo. Very fast, fairly engaging read. This reader wanted to smack the heroine upside the head after about the fifth time she said that Austen's books had led her to believe that everyone has their happy ending (I'm not sure what Jane Austen she read; the one I've read had plenty of characters fail to have happy endings.). I had a whole page of detailed notes or comments. My dog ate it. Just as well, I guess. Printed on nice paper and very few typos. Good beach read, even if I read it sitting on a bucket on the side of a broken sewer line. Oh, glamorous life. (present from Lil' Sis)
- P Is for Peril by Sue Grafton. Kinsey Milhone in yet another mystery where she's not sure she likes the people who have hired her. Interesting twist at the end that I really didn't see coming. As with every alphabet title, recommended. (extremely old galley from Big Sis)
- The Spirit Woman by Margaret Coel. Mystery and murder surrounding academics trying to determine when Sacagawea really died. A long-lost memoir could re-write modern history, and make or break academic careers, but someone is willing to kill to keep them from coming to light. Interesting main character is a priest on a Native reservation. He's assisted in his investigation by the only female Native lawyer on the res. It was a relief to see a priest depicted as a decent, honest person, with foibles, but not the devil incarnate. Well written and gripping, but I was completely depressed because every single female character in this book is physically abused by her husband or boyfriend, every single one. Read this just as the congressional inquiry into rapes on reservations was in the news, so it was timely. Not much has changed, sadly. (library discarded book sale paperback)
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling. Big Sis gave me the whole ebook edition series for my birthday, which is wonderful as I never made it past book 4 when taking the books out from the library. So I'm beginning at the beginning, and am going to try to read one every month or so. Obviously great, but I did see one glaring error: muggle is never defined. They are talking about Draco's snide comments about students who are only half-wizards, and then Harry uses the word 'muggle' but it had never been introduced before, so how did he know that word? I finally will catch up with the rest of the universe. (ebook)
- Sweet Shawlettes by Jean Moss. Shawls, my dear gentle readers, are very hot in the knitting and crocheting world right now. Very hot. And let me tell you why--they are super fun to make. I myself have made about 6 or 7 in the past year. This book is a nice addition to the other shawl pattern books out there, but I caution other knitters: there are quite a few cowls and skinny scarves in here, title aside. Some of her patterns are gorgeous and have unique shapes, but there are no crescent-shaped shawls, which are particularly capsaicinesque right now. Big props given for listing the weight and kind of yarn used for each shawl at the back of the book, so that substitutions can be made. Nice variety of shawls from simple to complex should make this interesting for any shawl addict. Gorgeous photos; one model in particular is stunningly gorgeous. (NetGalley galley).
- Cast On, Bind Off by Leslie Ann Bestor. Only a die-hard knitter would happily read a book about nothing but various methods to cast on and bind off. And boy, was this knitter happy to find this book! Ms. Bestor included some techniques I'd never heard of before. Mucho big props given for telling the knitter when each particular method would work best. Nice photos demonstrating all the steps to each cast on and bind off technique. This book immediately went onto my Amazon wish list. I have other knitting basics book, but they all only have 1 or 2, at most, cast on techniques, and just the standard bind off method. I want this book, badly. (NetGalley galley)
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