Caroline's 2011 Challenge

Hello and welcome to my 50 book challege for 2011. Here are some of the books I'll be reading this year. I will mark them with the date when I am finished reading the book and then post a review.

I have found in the past that the list will be changing throughout the year.

1. Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love by Chris Roberson & Shawn McManus (read 01-02-2011)
2. Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz (read 01-22-2011)
3. Justice Society of America: Axis of Evil by Bill Willingham (read 01-27-2011)
4. Tree of Life (Part I) by E. F. Daniels (read 02-01-2011)
5. Lost Horizons by James Hilton (read 02-08-2011)
6. Frames: A Valentino Mystery by Loren D. Esleman (read 02-16-2011)
7. Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey (read 02-22-2011)
8. A Voyage Long And Strange: Rediscovering the New World by Tony Horwitz (read 02-28-2011)
9. The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (read 03-06-2011)
10. Carnacki, Ghost Hunter: A Collection of Ghost Stories by William Hope Hodgson (03-12-2011)

Please see the next books I am going to read at posting #24.

Thanks for the link, Caroline! I've got you starred!
--BJ

Here is my first read of the new year Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love by Chris Roberson and Shawn McManus.

After Cinderella's disastrous marriage to Prince Charming she became a globetrotting socialite and opened a shoe store in Fabletown called The Glass Slipper, but this is all a cover story. She is actually a spy working for the Fabletown sheriff Beast. Her newest assignment is to stop the flow of magical items coming into the mundy world from the Fable homelands. Her first stop is Dubai where she meets Aladdin or as she like to call him "lamp boy." They team up and discover the magical items are being traded for guns. What Fable would want to obtain an arsenal of mundy weapons and for what purpose?

The Fables series is always well written if not always well drawn. This graphic novel is both. I love the way the writers introduce more and more Fables into the storyline. Who would think of putting Cinderella and Alladin together? There is also some comedy relief from her assistant at the shoe store who makes a pact with shoe making elves that he soon regrets.

I'm still working on Confiderate in the Attic by Tony Horwitz. This is a very interesting book about how some southerners still keep the Civil War alive.

My daughter is a huge fan of those Fables graphic novels. She only has 2 or 3 of them, but she wants to collect them all, I think.

I have a copy of Confederate in the Attic that I got a few weeks ago, so I look forward to seeing what you think of it.
--BJ

My latest review is of The Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz.

This book is an exploration of the American South's obsession with the Civil War. The author journeyed from the Carolina low country to the Mississippi delta to the Shenandoah Valley visiting battle fields and war memorials and asking people why they still care so much about the war. He participated in "hardcore" reenactments of battles as well as a trip with the main "character" of the book, Robert Lee Hodge the most "hardcore" reenactor of them all, on a Civil War-gasm which involved dressing in period costume and visiting as many battlefields and memorials as possible within a week. He spoke with members of the Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy, a woman who makes a living dressing up as Scarlett O'Hara for Japanese tourists, and the oldest living Confederate widow. Along the way he learned that predjudice is alive and well in the South along with a good dose of hate for the federal government. In the end the three reasons that stand out are; romance for a lost way of life, a perceived lack of states rights, and racism. The rebel flag was the conerstone of a lot of his visits. It represents the three issues I have stated above, but it also represents for many young men a statement of rebelion.

This was a fasinating read. I learned a lot about the Civil War and about attitudes in the South. The book is slightly dated, it was written in the late 1990's, but these issues still linger especially the controversy over states rights. I can see many right wing policitians and Tea Party members making the same comments as the people in this book. It would be interesting to revisit these people and places to see if the election of a black president has changed views or enhanced them. Besides being informative, this book is a very good sociological study and well worth reading.

Nice review! I have a copy of this book around here. I need to read it.
--BJ

Think I will have to add Confederates to my TBR list, thanks for the review! I currently live in the Deep South and always appreciate books that give further insight into its racism, etc.

Hello BJ and karspeak, thanks for dropping by and reading my review. I think you will both enjoy the book.

I am abandoning my Bill Bryson book as it is a little to scholarly for me, but I know he has written quite a few books and I look forward to trying him again in the future.

Still reading and enjoying the Fantasy novel Tree of Life by E. F. Daniels.

This is a review of my third book this year, Justice Society of America: Axis of Evil.

The Justice Society of America has split into two superhero teams; Justice Society of America and JSA All Stars. This graphic novel is about the Justice Society of America. In the first story, "Merciless", a magical villain from the past takes over Dr. Fate and puts all of the team members in jeopardy. The villains in the second story are very appropriate for this team of heroes. Many of the members are patriotic in origin, are the relatives of original members or are the original members from the 1940's. In the "Fatherland" the JSA has been defeated by a group of nazi super-villians called The Fourth Reich. It's twenty years later and Mr. Terrific is telling his memoir to a nazi secretary before he is executed. He is imprisoned with other DC Universe superheroes. A machine has taken away their powers.

I am so happy this team split up. The past stories were full to overflowing with heroes. I prefer the smaller more managable team. I can now get to know each of the characters.

Bill Willingham understands this team of heroes. He has written stories that fit this historic and patriotic group. The first one reminds me of the fantastical situations that the superheroes from the golden age would get into. The second one has great patriotic as well as alternate history elements. I enjoyed this graphic novel.

This is a review of Tree of Life by E. F. Daniels.

Deacon is a Riven, a being capable of extraordinary magic. As a child, his father manipulated him and his mother. They are saved by the Elvin people. When tragedy strikes, Deacon and his cousins, Cedrik and Derek, set off on a quest for revenge; but against who and why?

This book had elements of J. R. R. Tolkein, Raymond E. Feist, and Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Rapuccini's Daughter". It is by no means an original novel, but there is a twist in the plot and a cliffhanger ending.

The pacing was a bit to quick in the beginning and a bit two slow in the heart of the story, but the last chapters are fast paced and exciting. I didn't realize when I started reading the book that the first part was all backround information before you get to the true story. The author quickly galances over the situations that give the main character reasons for his later actions. Then the story becomes a slow paced romance until near the end when the hero finally takes action.

The most well written aspect of this novel are the characters. I really began to care about them. This is important because this is the beginning of a series and beloved characters always keep readers interested in learning of their futher adventures.

Nice review. I had never heard of this series before.
--BJ

Hi BJ, E. F. Daniels is a new author from Australia. The author gave my friend desertgrandma both an ebook and paperback copy of this book. She gave me her ebook copy to read. The author is self published so I don't know if you can get the book anywhere other than her website.

Thanks for letting me know!
--BJ

This is a review of Lost Horizon by James Hilton.

A British diplomat, his young co-worker, an American, and a missionary are taken by airplane to a mysterious valley in Tibet. When they arrive they are greeted by a retinue from Shangri-La; the local lamasery. They are invited to stay until porters from outside the valley arrive with goods. While they wait to be rescued they learn about the inhabitants idealic way of life.

Each character views Shangi-La differently: Conway, the British diplomat, feels very much at home; Mallinson, the youngman, views it as a prison; Miss Brinklow, the missionary, sees only heathen ways; and Barnard, the American, makes jokes about the situation. I couldn't stand the Mallinson character. He argued and fussed because he thought he was a prisoner. Being young, he wanted to get back to the outside world where he could fulfill his wants and passions instead of staying in the utopic world where he could just live.

The theme of this novel is that we should live out our lives with moderation and balance. The people in the valley don't ever go to extremes. They live their lives quietly and pleasantly and don't try to have more, or do more, than is necessary. This is a very Buddhist view of the world.; that all things are created in perfection and gratitude and serenity are the true signs of self-actualized living.

This book was one of the most well written books I have read in a while. It was a fast read. The author got his point across simply, yet the story is full of deep philosphical meaning.

Sounds like a good one!
--BJ

The following review is of Frames: A Valentino Mystery by Loren D. Estlemen.

This is the first book in a series about film detective Valentino. He works for the UCLA film preservation department searching for long lost films. While viewing an old run down cinema his real estate agent wants him to consider buying, he finds twenty-four cans marked "Greed." Since "Greed" is Erich von Stronheim's lost masterpiece, he buys the cinema. When his colleague and friend Broadhead and a student, Fanta, join him looking in the basement of the theater they find the other twenty-four cans of film and a skeleton. Valentino's movie palace becomes a crime scene and he hides the film from the police so he has time to preserve it before they confiscate it as evidence. When Sergeant Clifford figures out what Valentino has done, she tells him he only has until Friday before she secures the film. It will take much longer to conserve it properly, so he decides to try and solve the mystery himself to keep the police from ruining the fragile film.

I read the second book in this series as part of the Early Reviewer program and liked it so much I decided to read the first one. These books are more about film trivia than the mystery. Every page is peppered with cinema history. The mystery is not complicated and is easily solved. The story is humorous and moves quickly. I have enjoyed reading this novel and hope Estleman writes more Valentino books.

This is a review of Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey.

Brat Farrar, a youngman who has never known what it is like to belong in a family, impersonates a member of the Ashby clan who was thought to have committed suicide eight years earlier. The Ashbys welcome him back thinking he ran away from home. The only member who isn't thrilled with his return is Simon. He was just a few days away from inheriting the family estate when Brat appeared. Is he just jealous of his older twin brother or is there more to it?

This was a wonderful mystery novel. I enjoyed reading it. Brat is a very sympathetic character, even though he should be the villain of the story he is actually the hero. His whole reason for the deception is because he wants to work with horses on the Ashby's horse ranch. He doesn't care about the money. You don't want him to be discovered, because he needs the family so much and the family needs him as well. The Ashbys all genuinely care for one another, except for the egotistical Simon. The author compares Simon's personality to an award winning horse who, although beautiful, tries to harm his riders. A very well written novel.

I read Brat Farrar last year and also thought it was a great read. I have another Tey book around here, The Franchise Affair. I hope it is as good as that one and The Daughter of Time.
--BJ

I tried reading The Daughter of Time, but just couldn't get into it. The next one I'm going to read is The Franchise Affair. If you get to yours before I get to mine, you'll have to tell me how you liked it. :-)

OK!
--BJ

This is a review of A Voyage Long And Strange by Tony Horwitz. I have read two of Horwitz books now and his is fast becoming one of my favorite authors.

Tony Horwitz, while visiting the Plymouth Rock, wondered why so many people were interested in looking at an old cracked rock. Why was the story of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving so important to Americans when other people visited and colonized America before them? Another question, why is Columbus considered to be the one who discovered America when he actually landed in what is now the Dominican Republic thinking he was in the India? Horwitz travels from an archeological investigation of a Norse colony in New Foundland, down to the Caribbean, through the American Southwest, across to Florida, up to Virginia and then back to Plymouth looking for the truth behind the discovery and colonizing of America.

This book mixes in depth historical research with investigative journalism. Horwitz provides the reader with historical background and then relates his travels. He observes his surroundings and interviews people living there. His interviews are usually with park rangers, local historians, tourists, reinactors, or members of historical organizations.

Horwitz writing style is both thoughtful and humorous. Racism crops up in some of the places he visits. In the Dominican Republic it's better to be of Spanish descent than Indian or black. In Virginia, many people claiming to be a descendant of Pocahontas are actually a mix of white, indian, and black. He talks with a member of an organization of whites who have been asked by Native Americans not to dress in Native American garb in public. He also relates his exasperating adventures traveling around the DR where mentioning Columbus is considered a jinx. At a ceremony he is pulled away from seeing the possible remains of Columbus by a group of bureaucrats.

When sorting through all the myths and facts what is more important to people, historical truths or what they preserve to be the truth? In the end, people believe in what they are comfortable with and that is that the nation was founded by pious, hardworking Puritans.

Sounds really interesting. And another nice review!
--BJ

This is a review of The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

Maximillian Carver decides to move his family to a seaside village to get away from the war. The Carvers have three children; Alicia, Max, and Irene. The house they move into has a tragic past which fascinates Max. He is drawn to a creepy garden with statues of circus performers. Max meets a young man named Roland and they become fast friends. When Max introduces Roland to Alicia sparks fly. The three young people are left on there own when Max's parents stay in town with Irene after she is injured. Roland is obsessed with diving to a sunken ship. His adoptive grandfather is the local lighthouse keeper and he tells Alicia, Max and Roland the story of the lost ship and the sinister Prince of Mist.

I enjoyed the story and found it fast paced and exciting. The storyline was not as complicated as Zafon's adult novels, which made it a faster read. In "A Note From the Author" at the beginning of the book, Zafon mentions that he wanted to write a book full of the things that interested him when he was reading as a child. The story has an evil clown, a sunken ship, carnival rides, a magician, and a fortune teller; all the things that are classic in children's storytelling.

I thought it was unusual that the parents left the teenagers all alone for most of the novel. I also found some strange switching of perspective by the author; shouldn't the perspective be first person and not third person omniscient when a character tells there own story? I also started to read a chapter thinking I was following Max and then realized I was reading about Roland. A lot of things in the novel are left up to the reader to figure out and are never fully explained. I know it's 1943 and the author is Spanish and since the Spanish Civil War is an important part of his other books, I concluded that was the war the family was escaping from. This could just be the mistakes of a new author since this was Zafon's first book. I still liked the story, even if the execution was flawed.

11. One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde (read 03-23-2011)
12. Packing For Mars by Mary Roach (read 03-26-2011)
13. Vegas Knights (Angry Robot) by Matt Forbeck (read 03-29-2011)
14. Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling (read 04-17-2011)
15. Visitants: Stories of Fallen Angels and Heavenly Hosts by Stephen Jones (read 04-28-2011)
16. The Tragedy of Arthur: A Novel by Arthur Phillips (read 05-09-2011)
17. Embassytown by China Mieville (read 05-16-2011)
18. Killer Move: A Novel by Michael Marshall (read 05-24-2011)
19. Inside Gilligan's Island: From Creation to Syndication by Sherwood Schwartz (read 05-30-2011)
20. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Vol. 8: Last Gleaming by Joss Whedon (read 06-07-2011)

Please jump to post #39 to see the next 10 books.

This is review of Carnacki, Ghost Hunter by William Hope Hodgson.

Carnacki is not just a ghost hunter he is a consultant for people with weird happenings. He is called in to help those with cursed objects, strange dreams, and unexplainable nightly occurrences. He relates his adventures to his friends in his parlor after dinner, then answers questions and ushers his friends out into the cold night.

Hodgson creates high tension when his Carnacki character first encounters the phenomenon. This is the best part of the short stories. Carnacki's investigations unveil either a real psychic threat or a hoax and he then acts accordingly. When it is real, the phenomenon goes beyond the normal ghost haunting and into the weird. His explanations at the end of the stories are sometimes a disappointment. At the end of the tale "The Hog", one of the tensest and strangest stories, he goes into a verbose explanation of the psychic world that should have caused his friends to either yawn and squirm or leave his home in utter bewilderment. I had to scan through those paragraphs which lasted about five kindle pages.

This is a review of One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde.

The Book World's version of Thursday Next is trying to keep the first four volumes of her series respectable even though their readership is down, the other characters are disgruntled, and the books have become remaindered. She decides to bring in an understudy so she can do some work away from her novels for Jurisfiction. Her first case is an accident that drops narrative debris over Conspiracy Theory. While investigating the mishap she discovers that the real Thursday is missing somewhere in the Book World. She is needed for the peace talks between Racy Novel and Women's Lit. Does the downed book have anything to do with the missing Thursday?

I loved reading about the Book World. Jasper Fforde is a terrific world builder. The Book World is a landmass with each genre having it's own boundaries that expand and contract based on readership. Each little book "country" has it's own idiosyncrasies; it's always wet and dreary in Physiological Thriller, Comedy has a clown army. Yet, even though this book realm is very interesting and extremely funny, I missed the real Thursday and her life in Swindon. The storyline was not as exciting or complicated as the other Thursday Next novels. I missed Thursday's family and her battles with Goliath. I hope the next book is about the real Thursday.

I am still reading Packing for Mars and hope to wrap it by the beginning of next week.

My latest read is Packing For Mars by Mary Roach

This is a well researched book on the subject of living in space. Through interviews with doctors, researchers, astronauts and cosmonauts, the author explores the psychological and physiological aspects of space flight. She explains the testing and preparation that goes into insuring that everyone comes home safely.

When I started reading this book I thought it was great. In the first chapters the author wrote about some humorous situations highlighting how different cultures train for space missions. I then recognized the names of astronauts and specific circumstances from the Mercury and Apollo missions which I had learned about from the movies "The Right Stuff" and "Apollo 13." Then it started to get gross. I had heard that the author used humor to get the reader through distasteful subjects, but her sarcastic wit wasn't good enough. I started to get bogged down in certain chapters and by the end I even considered skipping some. I had hoped this book would enlighten me on how a normal person could eventually travel in space. I wanted to know if we would ever get to the point, as in "2001 a Space Odyssey", where a person without an EVA suit could hop in a space craft and zip to a space station without the pesky problem of weightlessness. In the end, she could not explain this to me because she could only share what information had been collected from previous missions and what I wanted to learn is only speculation.

This is a book I received from ER titled Vegas Knights by Matt Forbeck.

Two college boys think they can beat the tables in Vegas with magic. What they don't know is that the Sin City is full of real magicians hiding behind stage magic. The young men are quickly discovered and told to leave town or become a part of the magician cabal.

This is an action packed story full of magic, gambling, chase scenes, and zombies. The later I found a little cliched, every new fantasy novel has zombies in it. The story is so full of action yet as far as I could tell it only took place within 3 days and nights. Either the characters didn't sleep much or the days had extra hours in them. I like the magical elements, especially that each culture has it's own magic tradition. I also like that the main bad guys are famous figures from history.

Here is my review of Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire.

Harry is invited to go to the Quidditch World Cup with the Weasleys over summer vacation. After the game someone summons the "Dark Mark", Voldemort's sign. When Harry, Hermione, and Ron return to Hogwarts for the next school year an announcement is made that the Triwizard Tournament will be held at Hogwarts this year. Harry is to young to enter the tournament, but someone puts his name in the goblet of fire. It's a dangerous game and whoever entered him wants to put him in harms way.

First a little background into why I decided to read this book. Harry Potter is a fad, but it is a hard one to ignore. In fact, it has become so much a part of pop culture that even if you haven't read one of the books or seen one of the movies you probably know the main characters by name. My husband and I rented movies three, four, and five on the suggestion of a friend and we enjoyed them. "Goblet of Fire" was my favorite of the three movies, and the fact that it won the Hugo Award in 2001, led to my decision to read the book.

I new what to expect, because I had seen the movie, but it was nice to have the three main characters fleshed out. I especially liked Hermione, she is sweet and smart. I didn't get what a caring person she was from the movies. I also enjoyed the house elf characters, which were not in the film.

This story had a strong thread of anti-prejudice. People are discriminated against because of class and racial background. Rowling uses Fantasy to show young people how unfair it is to discriminate against others; being half giant is bad because giants are cruel, it's better to be a full blooded wizard or witch than half muggle. It also touches one of the oldest discriminatory theme in our society, the rich vs. the poor. Using Science Fiction or Fantasy to discuss social issues is not new and can be quite effective.

Besides being socially conscious, the novel is well written, exciting, and hard to put down. This is the best Young Adult book I have read so far. It was easy to catch up on the storyline even though I hadn't read the first three books. Rowling gives you a lot of background information. If you are only going to read one book in the series, I recommend this one.

This is a review of a book I received from Early Reviewer, Visitants: Stories of Fallen Angels and Heavenly Hosts edited by Stephen Jones.

The short stories in this collection range from good to excellent. You would think that each story would either feature an angel or have angels in them, but that's not the case. The best tales involved angels, were intelligent and used mythological or religious themes. Here is a list of my favorite stories in this compilation. "Murder Mysteries" by Neil Gaiman in which the author utilizes a creation myth as the setting for the very first murder mystery. "An Infestation of Angels" by Jane Yolan which features a fantasy world to reinterpret the Biblical plagues culminating in the Hebrews leaving Egypt. "Second Journey of the Mangus" by Ian R. MacLeod about the return trip of one of the three magi who finds a very different adult Jesus. "Evidence of Angels" by Graham Masterton focuses upon how guardian angels teach children to walk. "Being Right" by Michael Marshall Smith is about a man who uses angelic help to find out who is right, him or his wife. "Basileus" by Robert Silverberg is a story that mixes computers and angels.

A few of the stories were very well written but light on angelic intervention. "Snow Angels" by Sarah Pinborough is a haunting tale of snow and sorrow and "Things I Didn't Know My Father Knew" by Peter Crowther is a sweet story about a son being visited by his dead father.

I was disappointed by some of the tales that did not have angels in them at all, but were about religious fanatics or serial killers who thought they were angels doing Gods divine work. There were also tales based on the idea that children wait in Heaven for their parents to conceive them but when they don't, or the babies are still born, they become vengeful cherubs.

The worst read in this compilation was "Sariela; or, Spiritual Disfunction & Counterangelic Longings: A Case Study in One Act" by Michael Bishop. This was a pretentious play about angels lack of sexuality.

All in all this collection is worth reading, but be warned that a few stories only mention angels in passing.

This is a review of The Tragedy of Arthur: A Novel by Arthur Phillips.

Arthur Phillips has been asked by his publisher to write and introduction to a lost Shakespeare play titled "The Tragedy of Arthur" which Phillip's father left to him and his mother and sister as a legacy. He uses the introduction to tell his life story to convince the reader that the play is a fake even though many authorities on Shakespeare believe the play is real.

I enjoyed reading this novel. The plot is very unique, a quasi autobiography where the subject's father is an art forger and leaves his family a possibly lost Shakespeare play. The reader sees the authors life from childhood all the way to the publication of the play. Phillips is a flawed memoirist, because he has yet to come to terms with his relationship with his father. Many Shakespeare experts have authenticated the piece but he will always think the play is a phony because he can't believe in his father. In the end how important is it that this is a real Shakespeare play. Everyone seems happy with it except for Phillips.

This is a review of Embassytown by China Mieville.

This is the first book I have read by China Mieville. When I first started to read it I was worried. The beginning of the novel is totally incomprehensible. The narrator is Avice Benner Cho a woman who was born in Embassytown, left to travel in space, and came back. The novel begins with Avice reminiscing about her childhood and her work as an immerser, part of a crew that flies space ships through immer. She speaks in terms and relates incidents the reader will not be able to understand until later in the book. There are no explanations for the vocabulary she uses. I even looked for a dictionary of terms in the front or back of the book to try and decipher what is was saying. The first fifty pages of this novel are very disappointing. The only reason I continued reading it was because I read reviews that promised that the book gets better ... and it does.

This is actually a very fascinating story about communication. It's also a story about how one culture can affect or infect another. Embassytown is a Terre colony on the planet Arieka on the far edge of immer. The Ariekei are beings that speak Language. Language is an important part of their lives. It is a living Language that must be spoken with two mouths with a mind behind each mouth for the Ariekei to understand the entity is speaking or even to perceive the entity exists. The colonists are able to communicate with the Ariekei, or "Hosts" as the Embassytowners call them, through Ambassadors, two clones linked together. Embassytown depends on the Hosts for their day-to-day survival, because relief ships are few and far between.

The Hosts seem to many Terre to be innocents, yet they are afraid of them because they can not understand how they think or act. The Hosts become fascinated with lying and the freedom that it brings. The idea that you can say something that is not reality is mind boggling to them. They start lying through creating living simile. When Avice is a child she is told to do a specific task. The Hosts then speak of her as "the girl hurt in the dark that ate what was given her." Scile, Avice's husband, is a linguist who comes to believe that the Hosts are angelic and need to be protected from the evil humans. Right when the Ariekei start learning to lie a cataclysm occurs that changes the lives of Hosts and Embassytowners.

After the cataclysm the story really takes off. It becomes a compelling read that touches on many ideas including; social structures, morality, rebellion, and addiction. Please wade through the first fifty pages, you will find that it is worth it.

Interesting review! I read a book by him last year (Perdido Street Station), and it took me 200 pages to get hooked in. But then I did not want to stop reading.

Good to hear from you BJ! I wonder if all his books start out slow. I will be reading more of his works so thank you for the warning.

Seems like I hear that a lot about his books. I wanted to read that one because I thought it was a really great title. The beginning was interesting, but I could have put it down no problem. I read it for a group read so I kind of stuck with it. I think it was all the world building that took so much time in the beginning. I will probably read more by him, too.

This is a review of Killer Move by Michael Marshall

John Hunter has just been paroled from prison. He was incarcerated for killing the woman he loved, a crime he did not commit.

Bill Moore sells condos on the Florida Keys. He does everything he has been told will make him successful; he works out, he quit smoking, he gets daily affirmation emails, practices positive thinking and visualization. One day Bill finds a card on his desk at work with the word "modified" printed on it. Small inconveniences start occurring with the word "modified" attached and then things start getting serious. Bill becomes the main suspect in the police's investigation of a missing man.

What do these men have in common? Why is John Hunter's story so important to answering Bill's questions?

This novel is divided between Bill's first person narrative and a third personal omniscient look at John Hunter. It is obvious that Bill is unwittingly part of a game that has become deadly, but it takes a while to bring both men's stories together. I would have liked to have read more about John, but this is really Bill's story.

This intelligent thriller kept me guessing until the very end. Even when I thought all the questions were answered there was one final twist. A well written engaging thriller I highly recommend.

My latest read is a book I won from Early Reviewer, Inside Gilligan's Island: From Creation to Syndication by Sherwood Shwartz.

Sherwood Schwartz is a comedy writer and creator of "Gilligan's Island" and the "Brady Bunch." In this book he relates the trials and tribulations involved in bringing "Gilligan's Island" to television. His background in comedy makes this an entertaining read. Where most people would have been driven insane by the stress caused by C.B.S. executives, Mr. Shwartz found humor in the endless meetings and backstabbing.

What I found fascinating is that the people in charge of Hollywood still have the same attitudes that they had back in the 1960's. No one wants to back a new idea, even if test audiences prove it will be a hit. C.B.S. didn't have faith in "Gilligan's Island" even when it continually landed in the ratings top ten. Television executives don't want to take chances with a new concept. They want shows taken from already proven source material such as movies, books, and other shows.

Some of the references in this book are a bit dated, as it is a reprint of a text that was originally published in 1988. Television has changed significantly since the 1980's. The sitcom is basicly dead and reality television rules the air waves. This book would have benefited from a new introduction by Mr. Schwartz. I am sure he would have much to say about the state of television today. Instead we have a foreword made up of comments by the original cast. This is rather creepy since only three of the "castways" are still alive; Russ Johnson, Tina Louis, and Dawn Wells.

There is a very useful episode synopsis at the back of this edition. I enjoyed skimming through the descriptions and picking out my favorite episodes. This book is a must for die hard "Gilligan's Island" fans and those who long for the family friendly television shows they grew up watching.

Just finished reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer Vol. 8: Last Gleaming by Joss Whedon. This is the end of the series. A new Buffy series will be starting in September I think. I've already seen an "Angel and Faith" comic promised for August on the Dark Horse website. I'm looking forward to seeing where Joss and his writers will be taking all the Buffyverse characters in the new comics.

I was very excited when I first started reading season eight. No one had ever taken a television series and completed the show in comic book form. The problem is the writers became drunk with the power of the comic book world. You can do anything in a comic book and they did. That's why I enjoyed this last story arc. They listened to the fans and dumped all the outragous storylines and went back to what Buffy the television show was all about, a girl struggling to live a normal life eventhough she is a vampire slayer.

21. A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie (read 06-19-2011)
22. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (read 06-21-2011)
23. The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett (read 07-01-2011)
24. A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd (read 07-09-2011)
25. Halfway to Hollywood by Michael Palin (read 07-12-2011)
26. The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures by Dave Stevens (read 07-17-2011)
27. Icons: The DC Comics and Wildstorm Art of Jim Lee by Jim Lee (Read 07-19-2011)
28. The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Bedder (read 07-29-2011)
29. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (read 08-12-2011)
30. To Your Scattered Bodies Go Philip Jose Farmer (read 08-17-2011)

Please see Post #51 for the next 10 books.

This is a review of A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie.

Everybody in Chipping Cleghorn reads the personal column in "the Gazette." One day a strange listing appears declaring a murder will take place at Little Paddocks on Friday, October 29th at 6:30 p.m. Everyone who knows Miss Blacklock thinks it's a murder party so they all show up. Miss Blacklock didn't put the announcement in the paper and she doesn't know what will happen. Then a youngman appears in the doorway, the lights go out, a flashlight blinds the group, and three shots ring out. Miss Blacklock is wounded and the only casualty is the youngman. Who is he? Why would he want to rob or kill Miss Blacklock?

This is the first Miss Marple story I have read and I found her to be a lovely character. She is an expert on human nature because of all the people she has known in the small town she lives in. When puzzling out a murder case she simply relates the incidents to simular situations from her past.

The novel is an interesting look at English life right after World War II. It was originally published in 1950. Miss Marple talks about how you don't know yours neighbors as well as you used to because so many people have been displaced because of the war and have moved to smaller towns. There is an interesting barter system in Chipping Cleghorn where people trade meat, milk, honey etc. One of the characters is a young war widow with a small son who works as a gardener.

A friend of mine had told me that she finds reading Agatha Christie mysterys very soothing. I didn't know what she ment until I started this novel. It was if my mind sighed and relaxed. I'm not British, yet I found the characters way of speaking very familiar and enjoyable. Maybe that is why the genre is called "cozy."

This is a review of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark.

Miss Jean Brodie teaches at a small Scottish day school for girls. She uses unusual teaching methods such as telling her impressionable prepubescent girls romantic stories and taking them on excursions to art galleries and plays. Her favorite pupils are referred to as the "Brodie set" a group of girls especially selected because of their parents love of Miss Brodie's methods or just indifference. She constantly reminds the girls how lucky they are to know her while she is "in her prime" and manipulates them to her own ends.

When Miss Brodie continually reminds her girls that she is "in her prime" the author is alluding to her being a woman past marrying age that is trying to hold on to her influence and sex appeal. She is an egotistical spinster who uses her "Brodie set" as confidants and co- conspirators. They keep her secrets and help her to keep her job. She influences her students for the better or worse. She instills poise and confidence in some of her girls and they look back to there time with her with fondness. She also lets some of the girls down like the harassed Mary Macgregor and the misguided Joyce Emily.

Miss Brodie is an idealistic admirer of the fascists. She feels persecuted by the head mistress of the school and she in turn persecutes one of her students, Mary Macgregor, by constantly blaming her for anything that goes wrong. Poor Mary is so dim that she takes the abuse. The other pupils copy the behavior and tease Mary to please their teacher.

This is a very sexual novel. When we first meet the young pupils they are 10 or 11 years old and are both curious and naive about sex. The girls have conversations and write stories elaborating on the tales Miss Brodie tells of her past lover who died in World War I. Later Miss Brodie manipulates the girls into covering for her new affair and even encourages one pupil to start an affair with one of the teachers.

This short novel is packed with meaning. I am impressed by Muriel Spark's economy of words, yet so much is said. By using repetition we learn so much about the characters personality and motives. This is a very well written novel and I look forward to reading more of her works in the future.

I have just started watching the Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv series this summer. I had seen the movie quite a while ago. I need to check out the graphic novels, too.

The TV series is much better than the movie. I will warn you, the season eight graphic novels go farther into fantasy than the television show. You can do anything with a comic book and believe me they do! There are lots of graphic novels and regular novels that came out while the show was first airing. I haven't read them, but they may be truer to the tv show. The Buffyverse is great so have fun!

This is a review of The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett.

"No city, no town, no community of more than one thousand people or two hundred buildings to the square mile shall be built or permitted to exist anywhere in the United States of America. Constitution of the United States. Thirtieth Amendment."

So begins the story of Len and Esau, two young men growing up in a post-atomic war America. Those who survived this future war adopted the lifstyle of religious sects such as the Quakers and the Mennonites. To prevent future atomic strife, a thirtieth amendment was added to the constitution to keep large cities from being formed. Young cousins Len and Esau grow up listening to their Gran tell tales of the world of the past with towering buildings and teevee. One night at a revival meeting a man is stoned for being from Bartorstown, a place where free thought and invention is encouraged. The boys become curious about this place and leave home to find it. What exactly is Bartorstown and will it be the place of the boys dreams?

The story is well written and thought provoking, but light in the realm of science fiction. The setting is an America without machines; everyone rides in horse drawn carts, they build their own homes, and grow their own food. This made for some dull moments, but this novel is more about ideas than action. Questions about how to halt progress are explored. Everyone is afraid of the past so leaders use religion to control the population and keep them from learning and growing. When people challenge the laws and try to prosper they are brutally stoped. Others believe than in the end progress can not be stoped so the use of atomic weapons must be nullified.

This is the first Leigh Brackett novel I've read. She is most well known for writing the script for the movie "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" and for encouraging and mentoring a young Ray Bradbury.

This is a review of A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd.

Bess Crawford is a battlefield nurse who had returned home to London on leave from France. She finds a bruised woman on her doorstep and takes her in. She soon becomes involved in the woman's personal problems. Bess escorts her home to a small village in Sussex, where her brother-in-law is being laid to rest. The home is haunted by the past death of a young child. After a mourner inappropriately mentions a child in France, he is found died. Who killed him and who is the child?

I enjoyed the setting of this mystery novel. The author does a good job of bringing war torn World War One France to life. You get a feel for the comradeship between the soldiers and nurses on duty. Unfortunately, this is the only part of the novel I really liked.

I was disappointed by the character of Bess Crawford. I understand she is a compassionate and well meaning person, but she comes across as a meddler. She keeps information from the police to shield the family and looks for the little girl when it isn't any of her business.

The storyline turned out to be one prolonged red herring with the solution to the mystery being revealed at the end of the novel. If you enjoy following a story and then discovering that the ending has almost nothing to do with the rest of the novel, then this book is for you.

This is a review of Halfway To Hollywood by Michael Palin.

"Halfway To Hollywood" chronicles nine years in Michael Palin's life from "Monty Python Live At The Hollywood Bowl" to "A Fish Called Wanda." This is his personal diary in which he writes about his family and other commitments besides films. He comes across as a sensitive compassionate man who values his quiet family life and doesn't put on movie star airs. It also serves as a time capsule of British life in the 1980's with fears of IRA terrorism, Margaret Thatcher's conservative administration, and questions about nuclear power.

This is the second compilation of his diaries to be published. Palin's writing is easy to read and engaging. At the end of the book he is about to start his new career as a world traveler. Hopefully, he will publish more diaries about his journeys around the world. If not, I can always read his many travelogs.

This is a review of The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures by Dave Stevens.

Cliff Secord is a stunt pilot who finds a rocket pack hidden in the cockpit of his plane. He figures the pack is a ticket to the big time and will help him keep his high maintenance girlfriend Betty. With the help of his good friend Peevy, he becomes the Rocketeer, saves Betty from Nazi's, meets Howard Hughes, and has a big adventure in New York.

"The Rocketeer" was first published by Pacific Comics in 1982 as a backup feature at the rear of the second issue. If the story sounds familiar, you may have seen the 1991 Disney movie based on this comic with Billy Campbell and Jennifer Connelly. The comics creater, Dave Stevens, was inspired by Commando Cody, a movie serial hero, and by pulp stories of the 1930's. Cliff's girlfriend Betty is modeled on the queen of pin-up models, Bettie Page. The illustrations are lush and dramatic with action on every page. This is the deluxe issue with two stories, the only stories completed and published before Pacific went under, and many extra notes and sketches. Stevens died in 2008 of leukemia before this compilation was published.

This is a review of The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor.

Princess Alyss Heart is celebrating her seventh birthday with a grand party. Her mother Genevieve Heart, Queen of Wonderland, has invited all the suit families; the King and Queen of Spades, Diamonds and Clubs. Suddenly the palace is attacked by Redd, the Queen's sister, yelling "Off with their heads!" Redd usurps the throne and threatens Alyss. Hatter Madigan, Genevieve's bodyguard, grabs Alyss and they escape through the Pool of Tears. They are separated, Alyss reappearing in Victorian London and Hatter in Paris. While Redd terrorizes her citizens in Wonderland, Alyss lives on the streets of London with other orphaned children. Hatter must find Alyss and bring her home to Wonderland so she can defeat Redd and take her rightful place on the throne.

The main theme of this story is that if you believe in yourself you can over come any obstacle. Alyss looses faith in her powers of imagination, because in London no one believes her stories of Wonderland, so she stops believing that Wonderland exists. Once she returns to her home world, she must relearn how to use her imagination so she can reign as Queen of Wonderland.

This was a very predictable story, yet I really enjoyed reading it. If you are looking for a simple and fun twist on the story of Alice in Wonderland, this book is for you.

This is a review of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.

Wade Watts is a teenager living in the year 2044. The world has become so bad because of poverty and the energy crisis. So most people spend their waking hours in the OASIS, a virtual reality game. When James Halliday, the creator of OASIS, dies he leaves an easter egg, a prize embedded in the game. To find the egg, the hunters or "gunters" immerse themselves in 80s trivia, which gives them clues on where the egg is located. Wade, using his avatar Parzival, finds the first key to the first gate and everyone takes notice. Soon he is pursued by "Sixers", hunters who work for a large international corporation called IOI, who will stop at nothing not even murder to retrieve the egg.

This story is full of trivia about movies, television shows, cartoons, music, video games, computers, and anima. I knew most of the references except for the anima ones. I love that one of the avatars lived on an asteroid named Benetar (Pat Benetar) and her television feed included; "Square Pegs", "ElectraWoman and DynaGirl", "Isis", and "Wonder Woman". Talk about girl geek heaven! If you are a nerd like me who loves cult movies and television shows you will enjoy this book.

I also recommend this book for people who can think in video game terms. There are many references to classic computer and video games. It helps to have an understanding of gaming terminology and how role-playing games work. I only know a little about video games from watching my stepson play them, but the little I know helped me to decipher this world.

This is a review of To Your Scattered Bodies Go the first novel in a two novel book titled Riverworld by Philip Jose Farmer. This first novel I am giving 5 Stars. I am still reading the second one The Fabulous Riverboat.

Humanity has been resurrected on another planet. Not just a few people, but all of humanity, from every time period, wake up in a new world with a long river running through it. Each one carries a cylinder on a chain around their wrist. This cylinder, which everyone starts calling a grail, can be inserted into a mushroom like device called a grail stone. When the grails are inserted in the grail stone a flash of blue incinerating energy emerges from it and the grail is then full of whatever is needed such as food, clothing, and even cigarettes and joints. On the first day people go through a variety of emotions; shock, anger, fear. One man, Richard Burton, the explorer, gathers together a motley crew that includes Alice Liddle, the inspiration for Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland," an alien, a neanderthal man, an American from the twentieth century, and a jewish man who lived through internment in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. We follow this group as they explore their new world.

This is the first novel in the Riverworld series. Farmer uses his characters to explore the new land and set the ground rules. Using a real explorer as the main character was a good idea.

The main theme of this story is what would you do if you could start your life over in a young healthy body, in a whole new place and with all your memories intact? Would you do things differently or would you do everything the same as before? Richard Burton was an explorer who searched for the source of the nile. In this novel his character becomes obsessed with finding the source of the river on Riverworld. Hermann Goering, leading member of the Nazi Party, is also a character in the novel. He uses his new life to imprison jews in a forced labor camp. When any of the characters in the novel dies they come back whole and healthy at a different spot on the river. In a way it's like the theory of reincaration with each character coming back again and again until they get their life right.

This is the second time I have read this story and I had the same reaction to the first half as I did the first time I read it. I know that Philip Jose Farmer wrote a few erotic novels, so when everyone is naked for most of the beginning of the book I started to wonder what I had got myself into. By the second half everyone is fully clothed, building shelters, and acting like most humans by trying to conquer their neighbors.

I really enjoy reading this book. It's a social studies lesson, a psychology lesson, and a treatise on spirtuality and eastern religion all rolled into one.

31. The Fabulous Riverboat by Philip Jose Farmer (read 08/25/2011)
32. My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business by Dick Van Dyke (read 08/29/2011)
33. The Shakespeare Thefts: Stealing the World's Most Famous Book by Eric Rasmussen (read 09/04/2011)
34 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (read 09/11/2011)
35. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams (read 09/17/2011)
36. Life, The Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams (read 09/20/2011)
37. So Long And Thanks For All The Fish by Douglas Adams (read 09/23/2011)
38. Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams (read 10/01/2011)
39. The Manitou by Graham Masterton (read 10/04/2011)
40. The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane by Laird Koenig (read 10/10/2011)

My next 10 books are bellow at message 66. Yeah! Maybe I will make it this year!

This is a review of The Fabulous Riverboat by Philip Jose Farmer.

Sam Clemens has a dream. His dream is to build a fabulous riverboat and travel up the river to the misty tower. To build this boat he needs iron, luckily a meteorite crashes up river and Sam is there to take advantage. He starts a new settlement called Parolando with King John Lackland. This new nation becomes an industrial powerhouse. Soon they have engineers building a dam for electrical power and every kind of industrial building that can spew pollution into the air. Parolando trades with other states for wood and minerals. Other nations along the river threaten to invade Parolando so they manufacture guns and an amphibious tank. Sam starts to wonder if they ever will get his riverboat built.

This is the second book in the Riverworld series. Much like the first book, "To Your Scattered Bodies Go", Philip Jose Farmer has written an intelligent story with historical characters. Among these characters are; Samuel Clemens, John Lackland, and Cyrano de Bergerac. Odysseus and Mozart make small guest apearances. My favorite character is a giant prehistoric man named Joe Miller. He is a gigantic ape like man, but he is the wisest person in the story. He puts up with Sam's wisecracks and is a loyal friend.

The author covers issues of racism, religion, and politics. The leader of a nation called Soul City tries to segregate it's black citizens from all the other settlements along the river because they remember the abuse they indured from white men on Earth. A religious group called The Second Chancers are persecuted for preaching that the reason they were all resurrected on Riverworld was so they can become more evolved souls. The leaders of the different nations negotiate back and forth about trading guns and natural resources. They also invade each other to gain land and resources. In other words, you can remove the human from Earth, but they will bring their bigotry, greed, and brutality with them.

I didn't like this story as much as the first novel in the series. The setting was mostly in Parolando. I enjoyed Richard Burton's adventures along the river in the first novel better because we were on the move and meeting different cultures and getting to know Riverworld. This story was about how an obsession can ruin a persons life and the lives around him. I got tired of the political intrigue and the wars and invasions. Sam Clemens builds this huge industrial complex just because he wants to build a riverboat. It is shear madness. The Second Chancers have it right, just get along and love one and other. Don't push or fight just live.

To Your Scattered Bodies Go looks good, I think I'll have to read it, thanks for the review!

Your welcome! I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.

This is a review of My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business by Dick Van Dyke.

This is an autobiography of the legendary actor, comedian, singer, dancer and all around entertainer Dick Van Dyke. Van Dyke does not go in-depth into his life, but he covers all the high and low points. He begins in his home town of Danneville, Illinois where he started as a radio dj. He then covers his rise in the entertainment field; his break thru performance on Broadway in "Bye-Bye Birdie", his hit tv show "The Dick Van Dyke Show", his memorable performance in the children's classic "Mary Poppins", and his last television show "Diagnosis Murder." He covers his personal problems; alcoholism, smoking, mid-life crisis, and divorce. He never dishes dirt and seems to genuinely like everyone he has ever worked with. He also covers his political, social, and religious beliefs. Even though this book is written in an easy to read style, it manages to say a lot. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this delightful book and I think any fan of Mr. Van Dyke would enjoy it too.

That's good to hear---I wanted to pick up Van Dyke's book when it first came out, but decided to hold off until after my exam (scheduled for this Thursday). Now, I'll look forward to it even more! Thanks for the review, and good reading!

Hello whitewavedarling, thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did. Good luck on your exam!

Eric Rasmussen and his colleagues traveled the globe cataloging Shakespeare first folios for a new definitive bibliography. He collected stories about each of these folios and has published them in The Shakespeare Thefts: Stealing the World's Most Famous Book. Rasmussen relates stories about the folios such as who first published the works, how they were printed, who bought them, who stole them, and who now owns them. The best stories are the craziest ones. Some people stole this book because they were bibliomaniacs and just couldn't resist. Others stole it to sell, but were so inept that they were easily caught. Rasmussen's team cataloged each book down to the minutest detail including blood splatters and bullet holes. The book is broken into chapters that tell a story about each folio. Within these chapters the author mentions other anecdotes about famous book collectors or other books that have been stolen. This was a quick enjoyable read. If you are in the antiquarian book business like I am or are an avid book collector you will enjoy these tales.

This is a review of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

Arthur Dent is having a really bad day. He wakes up to bulldozers poised to tear down his home so the local council can build a new by-pass. As he is laying in front of the dozers, his friend, Ford Prefect, talks him into getting a pint at the pub. Ford then tells Arthur that the Earth is about to be destroyed to build a new galactic expressway. It turns out that Ford is an alien who writes for a guidebook called "The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy." Arthur and Ford hitch a ride with one of the Vogon ships that disintegrates the Earth. This starts a journey across the galaxy full of strange alien's, improbable circumstances, and lots of fun.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a classic of humor and science fiction. Douglas Adams was inspired to write this story by the "Hitchhiker's Guide to Europe" he used when traveling. The first version of the story was produced by BBC radio. It became so popular it sponed a BBC television mini series, this novel and four sequels, and a Hollywood movie.

The funniest part of the book is the entries in the guide. These are some of Douglas Adam's little philosophies of life like; how important it is to have a a towel when you are hitchhiking or where do pens go when you loose them? I recommend this book to all British humor fans.

This a review of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Dougals Adams.

Zaphod Beeblebrox, a hip two headed three armed egomaniac, wants to meet the man who is in charge of the universe, because he is really making a cock-up of it. Before he and his band of space vagabonds go see the great man they stop off to get something to eat at The Restaurant at the End of The Universe. This eatery has the greatest floor show ever, the end of the universe. Then they accidently become involved in the rock band Disaster Area's stage show by stealing the stunt star ship that is scheduled to crash into a sun at the end of the bands show. Arthur Dent, the last man from Earth, and Ford Prefect, the travel writer for "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", escape on another space ship. This ship is an ark sent from a planet that wanted to get ride of their telephone sanitizers and hairdressers.

This is another fun novel in the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series. I enjoyed this one more than the first in the series, although it has a slow start. Maybe slow isn't the word. The opening of the story belongs to Zaphod and the morbidly depressed robot Marvin. They are not my favorite characters and this section doesn't gel with the second half of the book. From the time all the characters get to the restaurant until the end with my favorite characters, Arthur and Ford, stranded on a planet this book is non-stop hilarity.

I'm still reading through the Hitchhiker series. The next book is Life, The Universe and Everything.

This is a review of Life, The Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams.

Slartibartfast, a planet designer with an obsession with fjords, engages Arthur and Ford to help him save the universe from the people of the planet Krikkitt. They must stop the Krikkitt androids from reforming the Wikkit key that will release the people of Krikkit from their slo-time prison. While they are traveling, Arthur is detained by a poor soul that by coincidence is killed by Arthur in every lifetime and Arthur accidently learns to fly.

This is the first Hitchhiker's novel with a real plot. This book wasn't based on the radio play or the BBC miniseries. It's the first one that Adams wrote that was completely original. Unfortunately, it seems like Adams tacked on an ending that would relate to the title. The character of Arthur Dent is more developed in this volume which I liked since he is my favorite character. I also liked the references to cricket, because it makes the story so British. Another great Hitchhiker story.

My next read will be So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish.

This is review of So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish by Douglas Adams.

Arthur discovers the Earth is back and only he, a girl named Fenchurch, and a man named Wonky the Sane remember that it exploded.

This volume in the Hitchhiker series takes place on Earth with a few passages about Ford travelling to Earth after he discovers his full review of Earth is showing up in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." Zaphod and Trillian are only mentioned once in the story. Marvin only makes an appearance at the end.

This was kind of a dull entry in the series. There is a poor truck driver who doesn't realize he is a rain god eventhough it is constantly raining on him and Arthur flies again, but that's about all that's quirky and fun. Arthur falls in love and that is done very sweetly. Other than that, it was boring compared to the other books.

My next read will be the last book in the series Mostly Harmless. I am excited to read it because it's the one Hitchhiker book I haven't read before.

This is a review of Mostly Harmless.

Trisha McMillian is a tv reporter who missed out on traveling the galaxy because she went back for her bag. In another universe Arthur Dent, while searching the multi-universe for his true love who disappeared in a freak accident, crash lands on a planet and becomes their sandwich maker. Ford Prefect discovers that the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" has been bought out by a company that plans to produce one guide and sell it over and over again in every universe. Trillian, Trisha McMillian in a universe where she didn't go back for her bag, becomes a reporter that covers stories all over the galaxy. She has a child using sperm Arthur Dent donated to upgrade passenger seating on a space flight. She leaves him with their daughter, Random, then things really go wrong.

This is the last in the Hitchhikers Guide series. Adams should have stopped the series with the third book. The last two books don't have the joy and fun that the first three have. The storyline in this book was a bit jumbled and the ending was not fulfilling.

This is a review of The Manitou by Graham Masterton.

A young woman has a rapidly growing tumor on the back of her neck. She has also been having strange dreams of Dutch sailing ships landing in America of the coast of New York in the 1600's. Before going into the hospital to have the tumor removed, she visits a fake clairvoyant named Harry Erskine. Erskine believes that her dreams are supernatural in origin and begins to investigate. The operation does not go as planned. Her doctor, Erskine, and an Indian medicine man team together to save the poor young woman and the world from an ancient evil medicine man named Misquamacus before it is to late.

This is the first Graham Masterton novel I have read. I remember seeing the movie on tv when I was a kid, so I thought the book would be fun to read and it was. The story is extremely fast paced. You will not be able to put it down until the end.

This is a review of The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane by Laird Koenig.

Rynn Jacobs is an extremely bright thirteen year old girl. She lives a quiet life in a small village on Long Island. All she wants is to be left alone, but she is being persecuted by a busy body real estate agent and her pedophile son. Her only friend is Mario the Magician, a frail crippled teenager with whom she can share her secrets. Will her little world survive the realities of life?

This story started out in the form of a stage play, then Koenig's press agent encouraged him to flesh it out into a novel. The novel was a success and led to a movie starring Jodie Foster. It eventually was produced as a play. I can see how the story would work as a play. Most of the action takes place in the little girl's house.

This is an interesting psychological thriller. Rynn has her life planned out into a neat routine, but the outside world keeps intruding. She starts to depend on Mario until she realizes that he is part of a world that she doesn't fit into. The novel ends abruptly leaving the reader thinking she isn't someone to pity, but a person who is strong enough to take care of herself.

41. The Werewolf in Paris by Guy Endore (read 10/21/2011)
42. Kill The Dead by Richard Kadrey (read 11/13/2011)
43. Valentino: Film Detective by Loren D. Estleman (read 11/16/2011)
44. Uther: The Half Dead King by Bo Hampton (read 11/23/2011)
45. Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang by Ian Fleming (read 11/23/2011)
46. The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford (read 12/04/2011)
47. The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark (read 12/10/2011)
48. Sixties Shockers by Mark Clark and Bryan Senn (read 12/11/2011)
49. The Last Defender of Camelot by Roger Zelazny (read 12/20/2011)
50. Murder Most Merry by Abigail Browning

This is a review of The Werewolf in Paris by Guy Endore.

The narrator of this novel is communicating the story of Bertrand, a young man inflicted with lycanthropy. He found a defense statement written by Bertrand's adoptive uncle Aymar and turned it into this novel. The story follows Bertrand's ancestry and violent conception. Aymar's hypothesis is that people with weak spirits can be possessed by the spirits of wolves. He tries to tame Bertrand without success. Once Bertrand has the taste for human blood there is no turning back.

None of the characters in this novel has any redeeming qualities. Bertrand comes across as a weak idiot who lives in denial most of the time. He lets his lusts control him. You never feel sorry for his affliction. His uncle doesn't care much for Bertrand even as a child. He tries to educate him, but you never get the impression that he shows him any love or affection. Aymar treats him like a dog and it only makes things worse. Everyone Bertrand comes in contact with is doomed as though they are cursed by even the most fleeting contact with him. When you start to think that true love will cure him you find out that he has corrupted his lover as well.

The over the top gore and long narrative passages made this novel a disappointing read. Some of the cannibalistic sections were so over played that I found them funny. The idiot Bertrand kills a friend of his on the road to Paris and is horrified at first, then later down the road he gets peckish and remarks that he should have taken the dead man's arm with him to snack on later. Near the end of the story the author ads an anti-war theme by describing the atrocities of the Franco-Prussian War and compares man's in-humanity to man to werewolfism.

I read this novel when I found out it was the basis for the Hammer Studios film "The Curse of the Werewolf." This is an unusual case of the movie being better than the book. I suggest skipping the book and watching the movie instead.

A warning to anyone reading this as a kindle book, the formatting is lousy. Every page has a miss-spelled word. One character named Mrs. Didier is turned into Mrs. Dither which is kind of funny, but I'm sure not what the author intended.

This is a review of Kill the Dead by Richard Kadrey.

James Stark, aka Sandman Slim, is the monster who kills monsters. He obtained his reputation by killing demons in the arena in hell. He is a human and a fallen angel all rolled into one with bad habits like smoking and drinking to access, but he is on our side. Stark lives over a movie rental store, Max Overload, in LA with a very talkative severed head. He is recruited by Lucifer to act as bodyguard while he is in town making a movie about his life. This brings him in contact with the Sub Rosa or magical first families in town. He discovers a number of Sub Rosa have disappeared recently. Then the zombies appear. Soon LA is overrun by the living dead.

Richard Kadrey is great at fast paced action. His books don't have chapters, they are one long roller coaster ride. I am not a big fan of zombies and I try to avoid them, but Kadrey's writing is so addictive he can make zombies seem less passe. His characters are people you care about and want to come back to again and again. Be warned, if gritty black humor isn't your style you may want to avoid the series.

I finally got all caught up on your reviews, and I really enjoyed them. You do a really great job writing reviews. I especially enjoyed reading about Ready Player One and the Hitchhiker books. Have a great day!

Thank you BJ! You are very kind.

I just can't seem to write reviews, so I really appreciate the fact that you write them for every book.

I talked with my daughter last night who is taking the zombie literature and film class, and she said that the latest book was not that great. I can't recall the title, though. I also am not that crazy about zombies (they totally creep me out), but she loves them. I do think there might be some in this steampunk book that I am reading now. There seems to be some reason steampunk and zombies go together! :)

Wow! I didn't know there were classes on zombies! The teacher may take the view that zombie books and movies show how apathetic people are in our society. That's what critics say about George Romero's movies. My step-son took a class on violence in films and how it reflects our society. He majored in Psychology so maybe the class your daughter is taking is a psych credit...or maybe it's just a fun class!

My husband hates zombies because "when you're died, you're died." He feels that your body is the home or temple of a persons soul and when the soul is released after death the body turns to dust and you live on through your soul. I think part of his dislike is that he was scared by a zombie episode of "Kolchak: THe Night Stalker" when he was a kid.

The trend in fantasy right now is steampunk, zombies, vampires, and romance. Mix them all together and you have best seller. :-)

For me the zombie thing goes back to Night of the Living Dead. My first ever zombie movie, and the ending was so hard to take. My daughter is taking the class for fun with a bunch of her friends. Most of her classes are really stressful, and she doesn't get to take anything with her friends. I did ask what she thought it would look like on her resume, but I am glad that she is enjoying it. Her final project is going to be a comic with a zombie plot. I am not sure how long it will be.

My brother is a big fan of Kolchak: The Night Stalker. I haven't seen it in forever. If I ever get Netflix, I am going to watch all those old tv shows from way back when.

This is a review of Valentino: Film Detective by Loren D. Estleman.

This is a collection of fourteen mystery short stories featuring Valentino, a film preservationist, as the main character. They were originally published in "Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine." Two of the stories have been expanded into the mystery novels "Frames" and "Alone."

The first few mysteries were not very intriguing and I could tell the author hadn't really fleshed-out the main character yet. The later tales have more interesting ties to Hollywood, the main reason I read the novels, and were more complex.

My favorite stories where the ones I thought the author might draw from for future novels: "Bombshell", "Preminger's Gold", and "The List." In "Bombshell" someone murders a has-been actress and a female impersonator in the same manner in which Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield died. In "Preminger's Gold" an old man who had been an extra in the movie "Anatomy of a Murder" claims the director, Otto Preminger, hid bars of gold in a lake outside of town. The last story in the book, "The List", is about a B film producer who dies in Mexico and leaves the one and only Hollywood blacklist that was used by film studios to ruin the careers of so many people during the red scare.

This was an uneven group of tales. I was especially disappointed when I found out the stories "Greed" and "Garbo Writes" were the same as mystery novels I had already read. The reason why I keep coming back to Valentino is the film history. In the Preface, Estleman explains his love of the cinema and why he decided to create a character that was a film detective. If you enjoy movie history and simple mysteries with good character development then you will enjoy reading the Valentino series.

This is an informal review of Uther: The Half Dead King a graphic novel by Bo Hampton.

This story is about Uther Pendragon, the father of King Arthur, and how he gained and lost the throne. It starts with Uther's brother, the king, being murdered and Uther and his other brother escaping to safety. They return after the new king is killed and Uther meets young Merlin. Merlin believes Uther will be the king who unites Britain, but when he risks everything to be with his closest allies wife, he realizes that the child born from the union will be the prophesised king.

The story was well written with characters, especially Merlin, speaking the way you would expect. The art work was so-so. It was dark and vague. I like my art work crisp and well defined.

This is a review of Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang by Ian Fleming.

The Potts are an unusual family. Father Pott, Royal Navy Commander Caractacus Pott, is an inventor. Mimsi and the twins, Jimmy and Jemima, never know what wonderful new invention will come out of his workshop. One day he presents his children with a fantastic new treat; a candy that whistles. They take it to the local candy manufacturer who buys it for one thousand British pounds. They use the money to buy a car. It's not in the best of shape, but the children know the car is magical because the license plate is GEN II. Caractacus works on restoring the car and when he is done the whole family piles in and they head out to a picnic at the beach. When Caractacus starts the automobile the engine coughs and sputters "chitty-chitty-bang-bang" and that's how it gets it's name. On the road the traffic gets heavy because it's a beautiful day and everyone is headed to the seaside. Good thing the car can fly!

Most people know this story because of the United Artists film with Dick Van Dyke; that's how I know it. What some people don't know is that this children's novel was written by Ian Fleming of James Bond fame. It is very British which is what you would expect from Fleming. It's only flaw is that the author writes "down" to children so the bad guys aren't so bad and the family is never put in to much danger. The characters are very sure of themselves, especially the children, and they are smarter than the villains. Fleming over compensates to protect the children reading the novel. I don't want more sex and violence but you don't need to coddle children that much.

I found this little book at the local library sale and had to give it a try. It is a sweet tale about a happy adventurous British family and their magical car. Although it has flaws, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The story is fun and light hearted. It's a lovely family novel.

This is a review of The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford.

In 20th Century British literature it always stuns me how the characters react so stoicly when it seems more natural to act emotionally. No one is willing to talk about their feelings. This always leads to tragedy. That is why Ford Madox Ford almost named this book "The Saddest Story." Yet it isn't a tale that will make you weep. Infact, I don't feel sorry for any of the characters, because everything that happened they brought upon themselves.

The novel is narrated by John Dowell the husaband of Florence. They are a rich American couple who live in Europe and go to a spa every year because Florence has a "heart." There they meet Edward and Leonora Ashburnham, a rich British couple who come to the spa for Edward's "heart." Edward is the "good soldier" who seems honnest and respectable. They start a friendship because Dowell is bored with being Florence's nursemaid and Leonora wants to use Florence to get Edward's mind of a young woman who is the real reason he is at the spa. Florence and Edward, again the only people in this novel that the narrator describes as having a "heart" start an affair and then everything goes down hill from there, or maybe that wasn't the beginning.

Florence and Edward are characterized as having heart conditions when really they are two passionate people who married for convience. Their spouses, especially Leonora, are rather cold and unfeeling. Florence isn't the kindest person in the world to poor Dowell, but he is a dim-wit. At the beginning of the novel he describes the tale he is about to tell as the saddest story he has ever heard. What does he mean "heard"? He was living with these people when all the events occurred. This is where we come back to the stoic British. These two couples are portrayed as "good people" and good people never show emotion in public. They put masks on and pretend that they lead happy lives, because they are rich and hob-nob in high society.

Dowell is not a reliable narrator. He tells the story in the first person, but he is relating the saga as it was told to him. He wants to state the tale as if he were sitting with the reader next a roaring fire on a cold night. The narrative starts out jumbled and gets clearer as it becomes clearer in Dowell's mind. He comes to realizations and adds his own thoughts as the story progresses.

I recommend this novel because of the intriguing way it is written. The use of an unreliable narrator makes it well worth reading. It is also an excellent example of late 19th Century and early 20th Century literature with it's portrayal of members of high society caring more about how they are percieved by others than about how they treat others. It reminded me very much of Edith Warton and Henry James.

This is a review of The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark.

The May of Teck Club is a women's hostel set up as a refuge for young ladies who have moved to London to work and find husbands. It's near the end of World War II. One of the girls brings an idealistic youngman into the fold and he falls in love with the girls and their commune like way of life.

The main story is told through flashbacks. Jane, a young woman who worked in the publishing business, but is now a newspaper columnist, is calling the different girls to tell them that Nicholas, a former writer and anarchist turned jesuit, has been killed in Haiti. Jane wonders if the reason his life changed so drasticly was because of the events of a tragic night at the May of Teck Club.

This story snuck up on me. I knew something terrible was going to happen to change Nicholas's life, because of the authors use of foreshadowing, but I was surprised and saddened when it happened.

Spark does a good job portraying life in London at the end of World War II with it's bombed out ruins and economies. I recommend this book to anyone interested in reading about young women living in London during this time.

This is a review of Sixties Shockers by Mark Clark and Bryan Senn.

This is a detailed filmography of horror cinema from the 1960s. The first chapter is an interesting essay on the decade and how it influenced horror movies. The authors discuss social and policitcal events and links them to the rise in more violent and sexual movies. When times are troubled, as they were during the Great Depression of the 1930s, horror cinema thrives. This was also a time between the movie production code and the movie rating system we have today. Film makers pushed the envelope presenting more thrilling and gastly content. Many doors were also opened to foreign film makers at this time. Horror movies from Mexico, Spain and Italy started to pour into the theaters.

The next chapter details films that were released during the 1960s in alphbetical order. The title, year of release, alternate titles, director, producer, and cast are listed at the beginning of each entry. Next the authors include a review and any production backround that is available. The last chapter is much the same only the fims contained here were produced in the 1960s, but not released until the 1970s. Over 600 films are listed in this book.

This is a great reference book. I have already used it to pick out movies to watch on-demand. It is also an engrossing read. I don't suggest reading the book cover to cover, but thumbing through it you are sure to find amusing titles such as "Hercules Against the Moon Men" or "Picture Mommy Dead."

I thought I would just write a few words about the short story The Last Defender of Camelot by Roger Zelazny instead of a full review.

The main characters in this story are Lancelot, Morgana and Merlin. They are still alive in the world today, but are very out of place. Our modern times are very different from the world of magic and chivalry they came from. Merlin wants to meddle in the afairs of man like he did in the past and Lancelot and Morgana are trying to stop him. The story is a nostalgic look at the romantic past by three characters who have out lived it.

My next read is Murder Most Merry and then I will be done with this challenge. Yay!

Well, I am finishing up my 50 Book Challenge with a Christmas book Murder Most Merry. I am excited to start a new thread on the 75 Book Challenge group so I am not going to do a formal review. I will just say that these short stories were a delightful read and that I gave the book 4.5 stars. I will be back soon to post a link to my new thread.

Here is a link to my new thread http://www.librarything.com/topic/130350