VictoriaPL's 12-12 reading (part one)

I will be reading from Jan - Dec 2012

I love to read along with other people - that's why I'm on LT, right? If you see something you'd like to read with me, drop me a note and let's pick a date!

I've been thinking lately about the books I currently read and the books I used to read. LT is really a wonderful tool for this. And I realized something:



That's right. Growing up within 'spittin' distance' of the Cape, I've had a life-long appreciation for the U.S. space program. I used to read about astronauts all the time, particularly those of the Mercury and Apollo programs. They are fascinating people. But LT tells me that the last time I touched a space book was 2004! So, that's changing. My theme this year is NASA. Obviously, not all of these books will be about the space program, but I will have one category completely devoted to the topic.

Welcome to my 12-12 Challenge!

I. The Great Space Race
written by or about astronauts, with particular attention to the "Moon Era"



Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin by Piers Bizony (1.16.2012)
Two Sides of the Moon: Our Story of the Cold War Space Race by David Scott & Alexei Leonov (2.12.2012) ✤
Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach (4.28.2012)
Sex on the Moon by Ben Mezrich (5.12.2012)

most likely:
Magnificent Desolation: the Long Journey Home by Buzz Aldrin
A Man on the Moon: the Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts by Andrew Chaikin
The Man Who Ran the Moon: James E. Webb, NASA and the Secret History of Project Apollo by Piers Bizony
Live from Cape Canaveral: Covering the Space Race, from Sputnik to Today by Jay Barbree

also considering:
Failure Is Not an Option by Gene Kranz
The Last Man on the Moon by Eugene Cernan
Flight: My Life in Mission Control by Chris Kraft
Falling to Earth: An Apollo 15 Astronaut’s Journey to the Moon by Al Worden
We Have Capture by Thomas P. Stafford
Light this Candle: The Life and Times of Alan Shepard by Neal Thompson
For Spacious Skies: The Uncommon Journey of a Mercury Astronaut by Scott Carpenter
Rocketman: Astronaut Pete Conrad’s Incredible Ride to the Moon and Beyond by Nancy Conrad
All-American Boys by Walter Cunningham
Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story by David Hitt, Owen Garriott and Joe P Kerwin
Rocket Men: the Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon by Craig Nelson
Gus Grissom: The Lost Astronaut by Ray E. Boomhower
Dragonfly: An Epic Adventure of Survival in Outer Space by Bryan Burrough
In the Shadow of the Moon: A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965-1969 by Francis French & Colin Burgess
Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo by Nicholas de Monchaux
Space Race: The Epic Battle Between America and the Soviet Union for Dominion of Space by Deborah Cadbury

♫ audiobooks
✪ reading through time
✤ 12-12 group read or 12-12 TIOLI sub-challenge

II. Test Flights
(new-to-me authors)



The Sex Club by L.J. Sellers (1.19.2012)
Open Season by C. J. Box (3.9.2012)
A Change of Heart: a memoir by Claire Sylvia (3.10.2012)
Deliver Us from Evil: a Novel by Robin Caroll (5.19.2012)

candidates:

most likely
The Book of Air and Shadows by MIchael Gruber
Christine Falls by Benjamin Black
The Killing Tree by Rachel Keener
The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson
What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman

also considering
Hornblower and the Hotspur by C.S. Forester
The Psyonic by Shanda Sharlow
The Dream of Perpetual Motion by Dexter Palmer
The Dead Travel Fast or Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn
The Cold Room by J.T. Ellison
The Night Wanderer by Drew Hayden Taylor
The Meq by Steve Cash
State of Decay by James Knapp
Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore
The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley
All She Ever Wanted by Patrick Redmond
Polaris by Jack McDevitt
Mind the Gap by Christopher Golden
Love and Hate by J.B. Williams
The Stars Tennis Balls by Stephen Fry
Delaying Death by Joshua Keil
Footfall by Larry Niven
Random Magic by Sasha Soren
The Flower Master by Sujata Massey
The Lecturer's Tale by James Hynes
The Dragons of Springplace by Robert Reed
F as in Frank by David A. Page
Corrupting Dr. Nice by John Kessel
Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg
Between Life and Death by David Pyle
The Unincorporated Man by Dani Kollin
Slow Dancing on Dinosaur Bones by Lana Witt
Men Die: a novel by H.L. Humes
Praise the Human Season by Don Robertson
Oasis by Bryce Beattie
Giants of the Frost by Kim Wilkins
The Face of Time by Camille Bacon-Smith
False Pretenses by Arthur Lyons
Murder Every Monday by Pamela Branch
Tamar: a novel of Espionage, Passion and Betrayal by Mal Peet

III. Public Appearances
books discovered through films or TV


The Captain (Jim Lovell) congratulates Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) in Apollo 13

You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming You Only Live Twice (2.19.2012) ✤
The Road to Jerusalem by Jan Guillou Arn: The Knight Templar (5.8.2012)
The Man Who Heard Voices: Or, How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career on a Fairy Tale by Michael Bamberger (5.27.2012)
Coffinman: The Journal of a Buddhist Mortician by Shinmon Aoki Departures (5.27.2012)

candidates:
Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard Empire of the Sun
Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace Big Fish
The Martian Child by David Gerrold Martian Child
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje The English Patient
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem Solaris

♫ audiobooks
✪ reading through time
✤ 12-12 group read or 12-12 TIOLI sub-challenge

IV. The White Room
last stop before liftoff, these are ARCs, ER & newly released books


(crew of Apollo 8)

The Chalk Girl: A Mallory Novel by Carol O'Connell (1.15.2012)
The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice (2.17.2012)
Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult (3.6.2012)
The Deep Zone by James Tabor (3.18.2012)

candidates:
Radiant Days by Elizabeth Hand releases 4.12.2012
The Third Gate by Lincoln Child releases 6.12.2012
Peaches for Monsieur le Cure by Joanne Harris releases 6.26.2012
Criminal: a novel by Karin Slaughter releases 7.10.2012
Kill You Twice by Chelsea Cain releases 8.7.2012
Heat Rises by Richard Castle releases 9.20.2012
UnWholly by Neal Shusterman September 2012

V. The Trench a.k.a. Mission Control
recommendations from other LT members



One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus inspired by @dudes22 (1.11.2012) ♫ ✪ ✤
The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis inspired by @mathgirl40 (2.1.2012) ♫
The Slave by Isaac Bashevis Singer inspired by @avatiakh (5.6.2012)

candidates:
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (multiple members)
The Choirboys by Joseph Wambaugh (@clfisha)
The BLDGBLOG book by Geoff Manaugh (@clfisha)
The Hotel Angeline by Jennie Shortridge (@lkernagh)
Corelli's Mandolin: A Novel by Louis de Bernieres (@RidgewayGirl)
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (@RidgewayGirl)
The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan (@RidgewayGirl)
Tunneling to the Center of the Earth: Stories by Kevin Wilson (@avaland)
The Confessions of Max Tivoli: A Novel by Andrew Sean Greer (@SqueakyChu)
Wedlock by Wendy Moore (@Janoorani24)
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (@DorsVenabili)
Midwinter of the Spirit by Phil Rickman (@tymfos)
The Mourner by Richard Stark (@psutto)
The War Against Miss Winter (@christina_reads)

♫ audiobooks
✪ reading through time
✤ 12-12 group read or 12-12 TIOLI sub-challenge

VI. The Apollo-Soyuz docking
tandem & group reads



Iron House by John Hart (1.7.2012) ✤
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (2.26.2012) ✤
The Garden Intrigue by Lauren Willig w/ @christina_reads (2.26.2012)
Night Passage (Jesse Stone) by Robert B. Parker w/@jonesli (3.3.2012)
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (3.13.2012) ♫ ✤
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (4.29.2012) ✤
The Holy Road by Michael Blake w/@DeltaQueen50 (4.30.2012) ♫
The Burglar in the Library by Lawrence Block w/ @jonesli (5.5.2012)

candidates:
Wolf Hall: A Novel by Hilary Mantel (12-12 group possibly June)
The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf (@RidgewayGirl)
Possession (@AnneDC)

♫ audiobooks
✪ reading through time
✤ 12-12 group read or 12-12 TIOLI sub-challenge

VII. John Glenn's fireflies
random & shiny books that come out of nowhere.


(as portrayed by Ed Harris in The Right Stuff)

Sacred and Profane by Faye Kellerman (1.8.2012)
One Tough Cop: The Bo Dietl Story by Bo Dietl (1.22.2012) ✪ ✤
Milk and Honey by Faye Kellerman (3.1.2012) ♫ ✤

♫ audiobooks
✪ reading through time
✤ 12-12 group read or 12-12 TIOLI sub-challenge

VIII. The Squawk Box
♫ audiobooks


(Marilyn Lovell listens to a radio feed / portrayal by Kathleen Quinlan in Apollo 13)

Chill Factor by Sandra Brown (1.26.2012) ♫
Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo (2.10.2012) ♫
The Affair: a Reacher novel by Lee Child (2.22.2012) ♫

candidates:
The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry

♫ audiobooks
✪ reading through time
✤ 12-12 group read or 12-12 TIOLI sub-challenge

IX. The Liberty Bell 7
Off-the-Shelf


(after splashdown she lay on the ocean floor for 38 years. Hopefully none of my TBR books will wait that long!)

The Lost Van Gogh by A.J. Zerries (1.17.2012)
The Cool Cottontail by John Ball (2.28.2012) ✤
Cut to the Heart by Ava Dianne Day (3.24.2012) ✪

candidates:
The Probable Future by Alice Hoffman
Night Crossing to Athens by Irene Magers
The Grand Complication by Allen Kurzweil
Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethern
The House of the Whispering Pines by Anna Katharine Green
The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas

♫ audiobooks
✪ reading through time
✤ 12-12 group read or 12-12 TIOLI sub-challenge

X. The Silver Snoopy (service award)
Favorite Authors



Indelible by Karin Slaughter (1.16.2012)
Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson (2.6.2012)
You're Next by Gregg Hurwitz (4.14.2012) ♫
The Devil's Bed by William Kent Krueger (4.22.2012) ♫
Frost (Great Plains Teen Fiction) by Nicole Luiken (5.21.2012)

candidates:
Topics About Which I Know Nothing by Patrick Ness
The Hunter from the Woods by Robert McCammon
blueeyedboy by Joanne Harris
The End of Everything by Megan Abbott
The Firefly Dance by Sarah Addison Allen
Renegade by Donna Boyd

♫ audiobooks
✪ reading through time
✤ 12-12 group read or 12-12 TIOLI sub-challenge

XI. Spacecamp
YA books



Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (2.4.2012) ♫
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (2.14.2012) ♫
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (2.18.2012) ✤
Blood Red Road by Moira Young (5.6.2012)
Sixteen in Nome by Max Brand (5.12.2012)
The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean (5.17.2012)

candidates:

Bruiser by Neal Shusterman
My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick
Fire by Kristin Cashore
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Matched by Ally Condie
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

♫ audiobooks
✪ reading through time
✤ 12-12 group read or 12-12 TIOLI sub-challenge

XII. Robonauts
Terminator and other sci-fi



Terminator and Philosophy: I'll Be Back, Therefore I Am by Various (1.28.2012)
T2 Dark Futures:The New John Connor Chronicles by Russell Blackford (2.11.2012) ✤
Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology (5.24.2012)

candidates:
Terminator Salvation: the official novelization by Alan Dean Foster
An Evil Hour: The New John Connor Chronicles by Russell Blackford
T2: Infiltrator by S.M. Stirling
T2: Rising Storm by S.M. Stirling
T2: Future War by S.M. Stirling
Terminator Hunt by Aaron Allston
Terminator 3: Terminator Dreams by Aaron Allston (MAR?)
Rewired: the Post-Cyberpunk Anthology

♫ audiobooks
✪ reading through time
✤ 12-12 group read or 12-12 TIOLI sub-challenge

Love the pictures and your categories :-)

Very nice, I will post my intentions before the week is over. I was in the middle of making one of my book lists when unannounced company dropped by! I was on a roll, now I am tired......

What a creative challenge theme -- I love it!

nice!

Very creative Victoria! Looking forward to seeing how you fill your categories.

Very clever, Victoria! And the categories sound like a lot of fun!

themes are so much fun!

Great categories!

Love your categories!

Clever and good-looking. And with no shortage of candidates either!

>23 GingerbreadMan: Why, thank you Anders.
Oh, were you talking about my challenge? ;)

Huh? You read books too?

Occasionally. At least, that's the rumor.
Are you joining us for the 12-12?

Excellent and creative categories, as usual. Looking forward to stalking you once again!

Very clever categories. I've got a couple of your moon books on my Kindle already but haven't gotten around to them.

This'll be my inspiration for reading more about astronauts/NASA in 2012.

Linda, That's fantastic! It's so lonely going to the moon all alone! But seriously, what books do you have?

#29 I know I have the Mary Roach book, Packing for Mars

I think I have Rocket Men: the Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon by Craig Nelson.

Also, not positive, but I think I've also got: Martian Summer: Robot Arms, Cowboy Spacemen, and My 90 Days with the Phoenix Mars Mission by Andrew Kessler.

Love the theme, do you have all those books on your shelves or are they future purchases/library books?

The space books? I own some, but most I intend to borrow from the library.

Love the theme! And so many candidates already. Good luck in narrowing those down when it comes to selecting your next reads.

What a great theme and with nice range to fit a huge swath of books!

Excellent categories!!! & I'm sure I'll join you on some group reads in 2012. Just not sure which yet. You've got so many options!

I don't know if any of you have played with the "if you like..." feature that LT released yesterday, but nearly all of my top-rated authors are bringing up Laura Lippman, whose acquaintance I have yet to make. Which of hers should I start with? Suggestions, please.

cross posting this in the 11-11 too

You have such a well-organized thread here, Victoria. I'm a newbie at this and just came over here on a whim. I'm so glad I did. Good luck with your reading in 2012!

Thanks Donna!

Hello! Just dropping by to say I'd love to join you in reading Possession in 2012. Especially since I meant to read it in 2011 and didn't! I don't have a particular month in mind to read it but am flexible. Thanks for visiting my thread (which is still a work in progress).

Now having done a Re-Read category in the 11-11, I have decided to nix it as a category for the 12-12.
I didn't have much sci-fi in the 11-11 so that will be my replacement. I have a lot of Terminator fiction building up on my TBR (yes, I'm such a fan girl) so I'll pull largely from that. Books off the shelf is good, yes?

Books off the shelf is welly good indeed.

Books off the shelf is VERY good!

I love how you themed your categories. :)

thanks!

Ah! Space. The Final Frontier. Very cool!

Happy new year Victoria - hope you started the year with a good book.

Thanks! Happy New Year to you as well!
I started with Iron House by John Hart and I am enjoying it.

Oh! I can go and get my copy from where I've hidden it behind a bunch of other books. Yay!

I should be able to start Iron House sometime this week, I can't let you finish without me!

As soon as I finish my Agatha Christie, I will be plucking Iron House off the pile!

Yay! Love reading with you ladies - starting the new challenge off right!

Attended a library sale today and, though I mostly shopped for the other half, I couldn't resist this one for myself:

Victoria Victorious

Nice!

Victoria -- excellent theme/categories! I'm looking forward to seeing what you read.

BTW, Possession is a wonderful book -- one of my all time favorites. I hope you get a chance to read it this year.

I also loved Possession. Loved, loved, loved it.

I'm so glad to hear that Possession is a good read. Looking forward to it.

So... in Real Life things have gone a little haywire and I've been a little overwhelmed and completely unmotivated to write reviews. I do apologize dear Challenge friends. I will try and catch you up on the six ( six!) books I have read and neglected to mention. And to show my intentions are good, I'll start with the one I finished last night....



Starman: Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin by Piers Bizony and Jamie Doran

This is a biography of Yuri Gagarin, the first human to journey into outer space. How his sense of nationalism grew out of a childhood in German-occupied WWII Russia. His fascination with flight, his love of adventure and general good nature took him far in the qualification rounds to fly what he was told "was not a plane."

The first half of the book leading up to his historic flight just flew by for me. The second half slowed down a little, perhaps modeling Gagarin's own life. He was lauded and paraded and became so unattached to his previous existence that he found himself drinking too much. He was no longer in top physical condition and was too highly prized to risk on flying, his first passion. Like many other people, life after celebrity was too much for Gagarin to handle. Finally he got himself together, pulled considerable rank and demanded to train for another mission - much like our Senator John Glenn did many years later. It was during this training that Gagarin perished in a MiG accident.

In addition to the material on Gagarin, I found the information about the USSR space program to be good reading as well. The troubles they had with their own engineering and rockets, the cosmonaut fatalities... these are stories I had not read about before. I particularly found the supposition that the US, tired of being beaten, went for the moon only because they knew Russia lacked the resources to make it there very interesting indeed.

I felt the authors did a good job weeding through the propaganda to present a picture of the real Yuri. The book was very approachable, very conversational and I would recommend it if you're interested in the subject.

Great categories and a good review of Starman.

Six books already? Geez.

Sacred and Profane by Faye Kellerman

This is the second installment in the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series. While out camping with Peter, one of Rina's sons finds two skeletons. Decker starts to investigate and soon finds himself in the nightmarish world of drugs, prostitution and snuff films. He can't help but think of his own teenage daughter and the stress from the case makes it difficult for him to concentrate on his conversion to orthodox Judaism. He questions whether he's doing it only for Rina or if he has found a path to true belief. Rina's continued relationship with Peter has placed her into a difficult position in her community and she struggles with how to raise her sons. Can she continue to bring them up orthodox if she doesn't hold the man in her life to the same standard?

I really love the balancing act in this series between the chaos of the outside world and the stillness of the orthodox community. There are no cut-and-dry absolutes and Peter and Rina are swimming in gray. I always find challenging love stories to be the most rewarding but I also find Peter's internal struggles to be satisfying as well.

There are some especially dark moments in this book. I certainly will continue to read Kellerman but I hope the whole series is not quite this intense.

Nice review of Starman. Sounds like a fascinating read.

The Chalk Girl by Carol O'Connell
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

Detective Kathy Mallory returns from leave just in time to meet an orphan girl who seems to be connected to several bodies found hanging in the trees in New York's Central Park. Victims strung up in The Ramble and left to dehydrate, helpless against the city’s hungry vermin. Kathy, having once lived on the street herself, has an instant connection with the child but psychologist Charles Butler, a man she counted as a true friend, fears what Mallory’s influence will do to the sensitive girl and takes custody instead. Can Mallory solve the case before more bodies appear? Will duty destroy friendship?

I am an unabashed Carol O’Connell fan, as many of you know, so I’m going to surprise you when I say, I didn’t love this one. In fact, I struggled with it. O’Connell is always good with her characterizations but I found that there were a few characters I didn’t really care for at all. I found myself skimming through, looking for the next ‘good part’. I think it’s because unlike Stone Angel, Crime School or Find Me, there wasn’t as much about Mallory’s backstory here and that’s really my cup of tea.

Somewhere I saw O’Connell’s series referred to as ‘Mallory grows a soul’. I would call this episode “Charles finds his backbone.” It was nice to see the shakeup in Charles and Mallory’s relationship but I’m nervous and excited about it at the same time. This book felt like a transition to me and I’m looking forward to seeing what O’Connell does in future installments.

The Lost Van Gogh by A.J. Zerries

Detective Clay Ryder doesn't get much respect from his buddies in the Major Case Squad of the NYPD. After all, none of them think it kosher for a former SEAL to be interested in art. But art is Clay's passion and he has just gotten a spectacular case. Two Van Goghs, a matched set, are at stake. And at the end of a trail of black-market thieves and art movers might just be the catch of a lifetime - a bona fide Nazi.

I found this book at a library book sale and was curious enough to give it a try. It has several things that should have made it right up my alley - a tough-guy who has an intelligent side, art (specifically Van Gogh) and Nazis. Oh yes, I should have loved it. But I didn't. It took weeks to slog through. I stuck with it because I liked Clay... most of the time... but I didn't like anything else. Not the other cops, not the locales, there wasn't even a really good toady, just nothing. Some scenes seemed to have promise and then the whole next chapter was a bust. And then it hit me - two authors wrote this novel and published under one name. No wonder it felt uneven. So, I can't really recommend it for reading but I still hold out hope that some Hollywood script doctor could do something with it...

When I first started to read your review The Lost Van Gogh sounded so promising....oh well. I, too, have read books that I thought would make better movies than novels. Thanks for the review!

Thanks to all who have stopped by and left an encouraging note... I'm trying to get caught up on the rest of my reviews. I promised myself I'd be better about them this year - so hang tight, more to come!

Indelible by Karin Slaughter

The shift has just started at the police station in Heartsdale, Georgia and a grade-school class is having a tour when two armed men arrive with bloodshed in mind. They manage to wound Chief Jeffrey Tolliver and capture several hostages including Tolliver’s ex-wife, Sara Linton. One of the men recognizes her even though she doesn’t recall him. He’s from somewhere in her shared past with Jeffrey and Sara must remember, must find an angle and stop the situation before it’s too late.

I generally prefer to read an author’s books in order but with Karin Slaughter that just isn’t happening. A few years ago I snagged an ARC copy of one of her Will Trent series and blew through those like a hurricane. I was hooked. Like any junkie I started to peck around for another fix and found her Grant County series. The two share many characters but Police Chief Jeffrey Tolliver is out of the picture by the time the Will Trent series comes around. To be honest, the things I had read about Jeffrey in the later books made me a little hesitant to delve into the beginning books. What I didn’t know about Indelible is that it’s all Jeffrey, all the time. It’s Jeffrey’s back history and it was a good way to get to know the man. I guess my reticence was due to the fact that we had not been introduced properly because as I read I began to gain an appreciation. I should have trusted Slaughter better. I really love her characterizations, particularly her men and particularly when she has the time to spend fleshing them out.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Indelible and I managed to blaze through it in one sitting. I definitely enjoyed it better than A Faint Cold Fear. Maybe it’s an anomaly in the Grant County series but I hope not. I have three others on the TBR to read, but I’m trying to pace myself. The newest Slaughter arrives in July and who knows how long it will take her to write the next. I’ll need something to hold me through!

One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus

In order to make peace between the white man and the Cheyenne and to facilitate their assimilation into the culture, the US has agreed to hand over 1000 white women as brides. Most of the women are from hospitals, institutions or prisons and the majority go willingly in hopes that their life with the tribe will give them more freedom than they had back home. But the Cheyenne and Grant's men find other things to squabble over - will peace ever be known?

I'll just be plain honest. I am a sucker for 'white person joins the tribe' type of fiction. Dances With Wolves and Last of the Mohicans, yes please. So I came into the book with high expectations and maybe that was the problem. May got on my nerves something fierce. She's the prettiest, the bravest, the most level-headed, the most advanced-thinking woman of the whole bunch. The Major loved her over their first supper. The Chief instantly selects her as his bride on first sight. Her progeny is heralded and lauded as the 'savior' of the tribe. I just couldn't get past my annoyance enough to enjoy it.

I will say that I thought the narrator of the audiobook did a great job with the many different accents of the women and with the Cheyenne language. I was impressed.

#66 Victoria, I admire your restraint in not plowing through all of Karin Slaughter's books! They are addictive for sure. I'm pretty sure that I didn't start them in order either, I think I picked up book # 4 or 5 and then went on a mission to obtain the rest of them.

I really want Sara and Lena to have a face off, I've been waiting for it!

Lisa, have you read Fallen yet? Sara and Angie. Sara and Angie! Epic. I was such a happy fan-girl!

Annnd totally off-topic -- could I join in with you and AnneDC in reading Possession? I've been wanting to, and I see you are already planning a read-together....

@pammab - completely fine with me!

>70 pammab: And with me!

Late, but I've finally got a star on this thread! Love your theme & categories!

You're doing some great reading. It's interesting that you didn't love Chalk Girl. I thought it was great. It's always interesting how we all see things differently.

Starman sounds intersting.

The Sex Club by L.J. Sellers

Nurse Kera Kollmorgan is more than a little disturbed by the trend she sees at the Planned Parenthood clinic where she works. Several girls from the same middle-school have come in for treatment of the same STD. She makes a note to research it further when she hears a loud noise and then wakes up on a debris-strewn floor.
Detective Wade Jackson knows that the bomb that took out the clinic's lobby was small and the damage relatively minor. He's more concerned about the homicide he has been assigned to - a young middle-school girl, who also happens to be his daughter's friend.
Can Jackson and Kollmorgan put the pieces together and find out what's happening at The Sex Club?

As titles go, it's grabs your attention but unfortunately the title was the most exciting part of the book for me. In short, it was full of stereotypes. I thought of trotting out a whole list but found myself giving away too many spoilers. And frankly, it's more effort than I feel the book is due. I was extremely disappointed at how predictable the plot was. It was more of a how-bad-can-this-train-wreck-get read than anything else.

One Tough Cop: The Bo Dietl Story by Bo Dietl and Ken Gross

It was ten blocks, and Bo turned on the siren and smacked the magnetic dome light on the roof… the police cars with their flashing lights were scattered like rage. A street full of blinking fists.

I picked this book up on a whim, having never heard of Bo Dietl and his illustrious career as one of New York’s finest. He comes across as what John Walsh would be if he had a badge - a man with a burning hatred for wrong-doing and the confidence in his own ability to do something about it. The numbers are impressive. In his fifteen years with the NYPD, Dietl made over 1400 felony arrests (most cops average 180 in same time span) and had a ninety-five percent conviction rate. As part of a decoy (plainclothes) unit, he was mugged over 500 times. He was stabbed, shot, beaten, run over and assaulted in multiple colorful ways.

I had the best pickpockets in the world try to lift my wallet. But I had an educated ass. I could always feel the hand go in.

Dietl did more than just decoy work, although he had to fight grudges and red tape to get his gold shield. The man was the job. He worked without sleep for days at a time, driven to see justice done. He went face-to-face with Columbian drug lords on Elmhurst Ave and fought the pimps of Times Square. But the book focuses mostly on Dietl’s most famous cases, the Harlem convent rape and the Palm Sunday massacre. These were the most satisfying to him both personally and professionally. He loved protecting the citizens of New York and many reciprocated by plying Dietl with free food, free booze and with their deep friendship.

I wake up the whole neighborhood. The whole neighborhood… I was dancing over the whole neighborhood. I owned it. I was running around like a nut, but that hour was sheer ecstasy. It felt like the whole world was in love with me. For one whole hour.

Many things in these pages were surprising to me. Dietl talks about drinking in bars while waiting to testify in court. About giving detainees beer to pacify them during a delay in transport. He talks openly about beating perpetrators during the takedown and explains that it was the lesser of two evils - he subdued them with his fists because he didn’t want to shoot them dead. It’s certainly my hope that law enforcement is different now than it was in the seventies!

Dietl didn’t always find the NYPD a smooth ride. He wasn’t good at paperwork, he got into trouble for working too much overtime and he didn’t like some of the precincts he was assigned to. He frequently moonlighted as protection for Saudi princes and often found that his brothers in blue resented him for it. Dietl fought turning in his retirement papers for several years when an injury finally made up his mind for him. He went on to own his own business and he eventually consulted on a movie made of his life staring Stephen Baldwin (although as I was reading this, I would see and hear Al Pacino).

I really enjoyed Dietl’s engaging story. I've never sat in a bar and been regaled in style by a blue-collar hero, but that's what reading this book is like. Being about a New York cop, I probably don’t have to warn about the language but I thought I would just in case anyone is particularly sensitive to it. Dietl is capable of expressing himself without using profanity however, being a mostly candid telling, he rarely makes the effort to do so.

Nice review of The Sex Club -- not something I think I will read, but an entertaining review nonetheless. Wish it had been better for you!

Chill Factor by Sandra Brown

Five women have gone missing over the last two years in Clearly, North Carolina, and authorities have had to suspend the search for the most recent due to the weather. Police Chief Dutch Burton has people to interview and FBI agents to settle with, but his mind is on his newly ex-wife, Lily, and the way they divided up their belongings that afternoon. A voicemail she left indicated she struck a man on the drive down the mountain and returned to their cabin with him. There’s a brutal blizzard settling in over Cleary and the roads are treacherous. The forced isolation makes the town folk uneasy because one of them is a murderer.

This is the third Sandra Brown thriller I’ve read and I have to say, she hasn’t disappointed me yet. I really love her snappy dialogue and vivid characters. I gave her kudos for her interesting family dynamics and for having strong female characters but occasionally I became irked at the talky women or by the hardiness of the men. I suppose most thrillers at some point strain credulity, perhaps because if they didn’t ride that line we’d become bored.

I’m not sure if it was a good idea to read this one during winter – imaging all that snow and ice made me feel about ten degrees colder. Brown stays true to her romance roots, gives us a few sultry scenes to warm it up, but I think this one might be better read on a beach towel during summer.

Terminator and Philosophy: I'll Be Back, Therefore I Am by Various

Be advised, SPOILERS for the Terminator movies and The Sarah Connor Chronicles TV show...

The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series (culture clears the cobwebs from Kant!) takes on the Terminator franchise - and I am so glad they did! I am no student of philosophy but I do enjoy Terminator a great deal and those two traits put me in the target audience for this book.

There's a lot of name-dropping in these essays, Marx, Kant and movements like Utilitarianism (very popular) but most authors give you a little background before jumping in with their arguments. Many of them assume you know the characters from the franchise. T2:Judgement Day is by far the most discussed film in the book. The fourth movie, Terminator:Salvation was released after this book went to print and so it is not discussed at all (a shame).

The Terminator franchise is very much about death and life. What is the value of a life and are some lives worth more than others?
"Our moral intuition recoils at the idea of sacrificing innocent lives for some greater good. Even if we approved of shooting Miles Dyson to save three billion people, most of us would not sanction sacrificing humans in medical experiments that would lead to a cure for AIDS or cancer."

Scenes across the Terminator franchise address the idea of a cyborg's personhood. If it learns outside of its programming, does it have rights or is it alive? Do the T-101 and T-1000 truly understand the emotion of crying or the sensation of pain, as they state, or is their programming simply picking up on feedback from humans they are interacting with? If a Terminator can only follow its programming can it truly commit suicide, self-sacrifice or allow euthanasia - as in T2, T3 or T4?
"If we're moved by the self-destruction of the Terminator, it's because we feel that somebody and not just something is being destroyed."
"The T-101 (T3) dies in an inauthentic way because it refuses to acknowledge death as the end of possibility - this Terminator will live again, it believes... the T-101 in T2, on the other hand, does accept that its death is the end of possibilities: indeed, the whole point of its sacrifice is that there will never be a Skynet or Terminators.

Where is the line between human and cyborg drawn? This is explored a great deal in Terminator: Salvation and The Sarah Connor Chronicles. In T4, we meet Marcus as a human on death row and then later as a Terminator who believes he is human and indeed possesses a heart inside his chest. In TSCC Sarah often refers to the Terminator Cameron as a "Tin Miss". In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Tin Man needed a heart, but he had been human once and had become metal a piece at a time. Cameron has the memories of a real girl (Allison Young from Palmdale, CA), yet it's not explained how or why.
"The theme of humans transcending their corporeal bodies by downloading their consciousness into computers or robotic bodies has been a staple of the genre (today philosophers talk about this same theme in terms of "posthumanism" or "transhumanism")."
"We truly extend ourselves into the various technologies we use in our thought processes...whether you are surfing the internet, embroiled in a role-playing game, or typing an email, the computer-driven activities you engage in can be understood as extended components of your mind at work. Your thoughts and experiences are themselves partly constituted by the computational processes in the PC."

Is John Connor fated to be the leader of the human resistance or can he refuse? If the resistance can prevent Skynet's existence then John does not have to fulfill his messiah role. TSCC picked up on this quite a bit in its first season. The book discusses this in relation to Social contract theory.
"John Connor, like any other member of society, would be obligated to answer the call to leadership affirmatively."
"Being a human being existing in the world in a meaningful way (rather than, say, in a comatose or pathological state) requires that we confront moral claims made by others upon us and that we make moral claims upon others."

And to this end, the issue of time and time travel. How does the young John Connor keep from messing with the plans of the older John Connor? In TSCC Cameron treats teenage John as if he was not the same person as "Future John". She makes a distinction between the two of them as if they were separate people. And maybe they are. Who was John Connor's father, really?
"John Connor's original father had to be someone other than Kyle Reese. By changing the past Kyle seems to become the only father of John, but Kyle would never have been able to travel back in time unless there was a first father other than Kyle Reese. So even if this first father was "wiped out of existence" (whatever that means), he still had to exist for a time... in order to make Kyle Reese's trip back in time possible."
"He (Connor) realizes that it was, is, and will be his fate to train himself to become the future John Connor who will lead the future human insurrection. The future protects the past so it can continue being the future."

I found myself thinking about these essays over and again. I was really impressed with the breadth of topics covered by the authors. Not that I completely understood everything that was theorized or agreed with everything that was said, but it continues to percolate around in my gray matter and if that is the intent of the authors (I think it is) then they were successful.

I love reading cultural and philosophical analysis about pop culture. It really opens you up to thinking about a movie or book differently, and you see new nuances on the next rewatch or reread. Terminator and Philosophy looks both fascinating and fun.

Thanks for stopping by Andrea. It was fun and I intend to read another in the Blackwell series. Probably next year - most likely LOST and Philosophy: The Island Has Its Reasons, though it doesn't have the star rating Terminator and Philosophy has. I still have two seasons of LOST to watch.

#78 and #80 - The Blackwell series sounds fun. I'll definitely have to check out LOST and Philosophy: The Island Has Its Reasons. And I just looked and there's a Mad Men one as well.

That looks like an excellent series! I'm putting the HP one on the wishlist - hope it's as well-written as this was.

-81 Kerri, I'll be looking forward to your thoughts on the LOST edition.

-82 Eva, The HP one interests me as well.

Heads-up: after some looking around, I saw that there was a previous version of the HP one that doesn't cover all the books - look for The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy rather than Harry Potter and Philosophy.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Ever since Grace was attacked by wolves as a girl she has been particularly conscious of their presence in the woods behind her house. She remembers the one with yellow eyes who protected her from the rest of the pack and she still sees it from time to time. Now a classmate has been killed in a suspected wolf attack and it is open season in Mercy Falls. Grace comes home one afternoon to find a boy on her deck, gun shot and bleeding. A boy with yellow eyes. A boy she knows once risked himself for her and she can do no less for him now.

After finding Twilight to be a disappointment, I was a little hesitant to begin another YA paranormal romance. Shiver had some good buzz so I decided to take the chance. Even though Stiefvater committed my worst pet peeve when it comes to YA fiction (completely and utterly inept or absent adults), I found the rest of the package sufficient enough to enjoy the ride. She uses alternating narrators to great effect. I particularly enjoyed the lyricism of Sam's passages and the snippets of Rilke poetry. I also liked her unique take on werewolves.

I've been avoiding Shiver because so many people compared it to Twilight, but maybe I'll give it a try.

>86 andreablythe: I've been doing the same thing. But I have heard good things about Shiver.

Thanks for stopping by Andrea and Rachel - if angsty YA romances are your thing, I'd encourage you to try Shiver. I liked it so much better than Twilight. I don't see why there's so much comparison between the two, I didn't think the werewolves or the plot were anything alike.

Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo
There's a uneasy alliance between the Amish and the "English" in Painter's Mill, Ohio and Kate Burkholder, Chief of Police, straddles the line pretty well. Kate was raised Amish but a trauma in her childhood led her to walk away from the church. Now she's trying to stop The Slaughterhouse Killer, who has been dumping mutilated women all around town. Is he Amish? Is he "English"? And why does Kate fear she might be connected to him somehow? The town council calls in other state investigators to help out. Men who don't know the community, who make Kate's job even more complicated. Especially Detective John Tomasetti, a man as troubled as Kate is, who sees through her like a pane of glass.

Another cold-weather thriller. I seem to be lucking out on these lately. This was my first experience with Linda Castillo and I enjoyed the ride! The killings were just detailed enough to give you a healthy revulsion to the killer but not gory enough to make you walk away from the book. And whenever things got a little too heavy, there was always Tomasetti as a distraction. The only thing that bothered me was the constant asides to explain acronyms. "VICAP was the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program..." "BCI or the Bureau of Criminal Investigation..." That got old fast and really stalled the pacing. I'm looking forward to the next in the series!

Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson

A woman looking for the truth about her past. An elderly actress losing more than just her lines. A lady with a badge and a maternal instinct run wild. A darn good dog. And two private detectives named Jackson.

There's a lot to keep up with in this latest installment from Atkinson. Her novels always make me feel disorientated at first, like I've entered the periphery of a labyrinth and only after I've stumbled around for awhile do the passages begin to make sense, coming together more easily until the ending. I didn't like this one as much as previous installments but I am still interested enough to want to know what happens with Brodie.

The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis

When I first read a review for The Silver Pigs I thought Roman Noir - What is that like? Now that I've read it I think Roman Noir - Yes, exactly! It's The Maltese Falcon dressed up in togas. A stunningly creative take on the classic hardboiled genre. And it works. There's the rough-around-the-edges investigator, his buddy on the force, some seedy gladiator thugs, beautiful noble women who lead to trouble and some silver ingots that everyone wants to get their hands on. I loved it and I immediately wanted more. I will not, however, listen to the next in the series on audiobook. Each character is referred to by two or three names and I sometimes became confused over how many people were in the scene and occasionally at who did what. So, it's back to the written page for the next in the series.

I enjoyed reading your thoughts on The Silver Pigs. I enjoyed it too, though maybe not quite as much as you did, and I still don't completely get why a couple of my co-workers (whose literary tastes coincide with mine for the most part) are absolutely crazy about this series. I suppose I'll just have to read more. They've assured me that the series just gets better and better with each subsequent book.

I really like The Silver Pigs, too. I've read a fair bit of the series now -- I read a bunch of them in a row until I burned out. It may be time to get back to it. BTW, I think you're right about a paper version being easier to follow.

Your review of Sworn to Silence has really tempted me -- I have mixed feelings about serial killer books, but you've made this one sound very intriguing!

Roman Noir?? I'm sold - on the wishlist it goes!

It does sound intriguing. I guess I can add The Silver Pigs to the wishlist as well.

Hey guys, thanks for stopping by!
Eva and Dave, I hope you enjoy The Silver Pigs.
@Dejah_Thoris, I know what you mean. Let me know what you think of Sworn to Silence.

Two Sides of the Moon: Our Story of the Cold War Space Race by David Scott and Alexei Leonov

Two Sides of the Moon is a dual memoir of Astronaut David Scott, seventh man to walk on the moon (Gemini 8, Apollo 9, Apollo 15), and Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, first man to walk in space (Voskhod 2, Apollo-Soyuz). Their stories are basket-weaved together creating a truly engaging 360-degree look at the Space Race between the USA and USSR. Click on these links to see short Youtubes of these missions.

Each recounted their early love of flying, their candidate selection, national pride and enthusiasm for doing something never before tried. Both men lost several friends. Scott was close with the (original) Gemini 9 and Apollo 1 crews and Leonov was the one called to identify Yuri Garagin, his best friend, after a MiG accident. Each address the ways these deaths affected their programs and of their frustrations with management.

Both men talk of trying to follow the 'other side' as close as possible, although Leonov had an easier time of it because he was able to read LIFE magazine articles about the astronauts. The USSR wasn't quite as forthcoming about their own people. And they recount how at international forums, such as the Paris air show, astronauts and cosmonauts would occasionally meet and sit down with each other, even when instructed not to by their superiors. They enjoyed being with other men who had had the same experiences, lived similar lives, even when they didn't speak the same language.

Leonov and Scott nearly perished on missions. During his EVA, Leonov's suit expanded and he had trouble fitting back into his capsule. Scott was aboard Gemini 8 with Neil Armstrong and had to abort their mission due to a stuck handstick, which kept the capsule in a constant left-hand roll. Both men express how important they believed the Space Race to be in proving their own national ideology and both went up in space again.

Scott and Leonov met a few times during the planning stages for the Apollo-Soyuz joint mission even though only Leonov flew it. Both truly felt that the future of spaceflight would be accomplished together and were disappointed when relations between the USA and USSR broke down. Each took prestigious positions in their respective programs but eventually left for jobs in the private sector.

To see how their lives paralleled each other made really interesting reading. This might just be my favorite Space Race book yet.

Two Sides of the Moon does sound good. WL! & I was interested in reading your review of Started Early, Took My Dog. That's such a great title, but I'm not sure I need another series to get hooked on!

->98 cammykitty:
Sorry to provide another nudge, but it's not a series to miss - Jackson Brodie is very funny!

Er, okay. It's Wishlisted now!

Sorry, didn't mean to sound like you had no option. :) Like we don't get enough book-bullets as it is...!

roman noir? - I'm intrigued!

two sides of the moon also sounds good

Katie, if you do attempt the Jackson Brodie series, I'd recommend you start at Case Histories so you have a good introduction to the characters.

Thanks for dropping in Eva and psutto. It's nice to have company on a cold day like this when I'm huddled inside.

I agree with Victoria, you really have to begin with Case Histories (which is amazing) to avoid not being able to figure out what is going on at all.

Two sides of the Moon sounds tempting.

I liked Sworn to Silence pretty well. I liked the 2nd one in that series much less -- I thought it was way too graphic and sensational, but I seem to be in the minority of reviewers on that score.

Thanks for the warning tymfos.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

I like YA dystopias and I was particularly interested in this one because the author is from the area where I currently live. But I'm sorry to say this wasn't a winner with me. I listened to it in audiobook format and I was not particularly impressed with the narrator. But the story itself grated on my nerves too.

This setting is much like the movie The Village in a lot of ways, except that in this forest there are zombies. I like zombie tales too, so that wasn't the problem. What I disliked the most was the protagonist, Mary. When the plot is not driven by the undead beasties, it is fueled by Mary's own despair and regret and a choice between contentment and something she believes will bring her true happiness and hope. Some might agree with her or sympathize with her, but not me. I felt she was truly selfish and I just couldn't wait to get to the end and be rid of her.

So, fair warning: it's not a feel-good book. And don't ever, ever read it on Valentine's Day!

Congrats on lots of great reads so far! I was excited to see your thoughts on Terminator and Philosophy - that's one I definitely want to read. Also adding The Silver Pigs - could have added more, but trying to raise the bar for book bullets, if you know what I mean...

>107 VictoriaPL:
Huh. The Forest of Hands and Teeth is one of my favorite zombie reads. I don't remember Mary being overly dark, but it's been a while since I've read it.

>78 VictoriaPL: - Your review of Terminator and Philosophy has made me very interested in this series! Especially this book! I love all that philosophical stuff. :)

>89 VictoriaPL: - Sworn to Silence was really great and I loved the next book, Pray for Silence just as much. I'm hoping there are/will be more. Need to follow up on that.....

I had to agree with you about Ryan's book. I have a hard time seeing any romance in zombies. Shuffle and moan, shuffle and moan.

>111 mamzel:
Then, you haven't read Breathers: A Zombie's Lament, in which two zombies fall in love.

>112 andreablythe: I've been curious about Breathers.

>113 VictoriaPL: It's a good one. Very witty.

I wasn't a huge fan of The Forest of Hands and Teeth either...the character just annoyed me. But to be fair, I think she was purposely written as a selfish character--because that became a development in the second book of the trilogy, which is about her daughter.

112> I did read Breathers. They weren't very attractive in the beginning, were they?

>116 mamzel:. lol. No, they weren't. At least I wouldn't date them.

Have you read Generation Dead by Daniel Waters? There were all levels of zombies in that book but the discrimination and racist (?) actions against undead were evident. Interesting twist.

The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice

Reuben Golding accepts an assignment to write about a historic house in Mendocino County, CA. The estate includes property with some of the oldest redwood forest in the area. It's beautiful and primal and it calls strongly to Reuben. He stays overnight and is savagely attacked but astounds everyone by making a miraculous recovery. He is stronger than before, more full of life and filled with a restless need to wander at night.

Anne Rice returns to horror writing with her take on the werewolf. It feels like classic Rice, her own unique take on the legend, and it reminded me of The Queen of the Damned in a lot of ways. It didn't make my heart pound but it filled my craving for something with fangs.

I read just the opener of The Forest of Hands and Teeth. I was getting ready for a talk on YA. It didn't pull me back to it though. I think "shuffle and moan" says it for me. Zombies never did a lot for me.

Case Histories it is, and I know you weren't making me read a book. Only Library Thing has the power to make me read a book anymore!

@cammykitty, a talk on YA? You've got me curious now!

It was for a SF&F convention, so I grabbed everything that was new at the library, ran out of time so read first three chapters of a TON of books. My favorite of that year was The Reformed Vampire Support Group which hasn't gotten a lot of press. That one was funny, rather than ghoulish, & I'm positive that the werewolf in it had ADHD.

110 It looks like there is a third in that Castillo series, published in 2011, Breaking Silence.

123 Thanks @tymfos! I'll have to check that one out eventually.

You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming

Less than a year since the death of his wife, OO7 is drinking too much, being far too lazy and has lost the competency needed in a double-O. On a gamble, M "promotes" Bond to a diplomatic post, rechristens him 7777, and sends him off to the Land of the Rising Sun. While making a deal with Tiger Tanaka, Bond agrees to infiltrate the Garden of Death and to dispatch Dr. Shatterhand, the man responsible for hundreds of Japanese deaths. It's an 'impossible' mission, the kind that will either break Bond out of his despair or kill him all together.

It's been a long time since I've seen Sean Connery in the movie adaptation, which was fine with me, I wanted to come to the novel fresh. I was disappointed in On Her Majesty's Secret Service so I was hoping this episode would return to the top-notch adventure I enjoyed in Dr. No and Live and Let Die. I am so glad to report that Fleming did not let me down! He continues to dole out little tidbits of Bond's past and makes the character interesting in unexpected ways. And I don't want to give out any spoilers, but the reveal of the 'Big Bad' was very satisfying too.

The Affair: a Reacher novel by Lee Child

The Jack Reacher series has been recommended to me several times by both LT and Amazon. Last year I read a review of The Affair which said it had a lot about Reacher's background in it and I thought it might be a good place to start.

I chose the audiobook format and did not regret it one bit. I like hardboiled fiction, which is probably why the series was recommended, and the narrator seemed to be doing his best impression of Garrison Keillor's Guy Noir. I can still hear it in my head...

It was a cop car. I could tell by the shape and the size and I could make out the silhouette of a light bar on the roof. At first I thought it was Pelligrino out on patrol but when the car got closer it killed its lights and I saw a woman behind the wheel. And Mississippi suddenly got a lot more interesting.

So, it had that going for it. The story followed most of the conventions, so I was pleased that there were no surprises. I generally like the anti-hero, a man with his own moral code, but I couldn't get on board with some of the things Reacher did. And the intricately detailed, blow-by-blow descriptions of everything, from the fight scenes to the sex scenes sometimes wore me a little thin. I probably will not continue with the series.

I did a bad thing...I ended up reading the entirety of The Garden Intrigue today! I didn't have too much on my plate today, and I just sort of got sucked in! I just wanted to forewarn you that my review's going up, and to say I'm sorry for jumping the gun! I hope you're enjoying the book. I have a few quibbles, as always, but I mostly liked it.

Wow! That's a lot to get through in one day! Thanks for the warning. I'll try to hurry so we can discuss.

Please don't hurry! I feel bad for barreling through it so quickly -- I don't want to rush you!

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Reading for the honorable Dickens bicentennial, I had great expectations for Great Expectations. I found the beginning and the ending parts fairly readable but the middle London section sometimes left me in a fog. Either from the antiquated customs and manners or from the British slang, or both, I had trouble following. I did enjoy Dicken's characters, my favorites being Joe, Wemmick and the Aged P.

The Cool Cottontail by John Ball

A man is found dead in the pool of a nudist resort but he wasn't drowned and, although nude, he wasn't a resident. Detective Virgil Tibbs must find out who the 'cottontail' is and how and why he was killed. As usual, Tibbs finds himself up against a tidal wave of racist remarks but also makes fast friends with the nudists, who are used to very similar bigotry.

Whenever I read John Ball's work, I'm feel almost ashamed to be a Caucasian. That doesn't seem to happen to me when reading civil war material, but it does with the Virgil Tibbs series. These books feel very much of their time. Tibbs is so by-the-book, straight-laced and up-tight. I wonder what he's like with all his defenses down. I'm not sure if I'll keep reading in the series or not.

"Virgil!" Linda stopped and looked at him, and he was afraid of what she might say. "Why can't all men be like you?"
In his whole lifetime no one had ever said such a thing to him before. He dropped his head as his throat went tight and dry. He forgot the attractive girl who stood nude before him; he forgot the others who were there, and remembered only that in one fleeting fragment of time he had been judged as a man and had not been found wanting."

The Garden Intrigue by Lauren Willig

Augustus Whittlesby isn't a poet, but like many of the Pink Carnation's agents, he affects a cover in order to gain intelligence. Now the lady herself has personally tasked Augustus with working on a piece of theater with Ms. Emma Delagardie, who is close with Bonaparte's family. This party week will be the role for a lifetime, for if he can play the part correctly, Augustus will gain access to the plans for the Emperor's newest weapon.

So this is Pink Carnation book.... nine. Had to think there for a moment! I was not extremely thrilled with either The Temptation of the Night Jasmine or The Betrayal of the Blood Lily but I felt the series returned to good form with this one, it's a solid entry. I really liked Augustus and I wanted to know more about him. I don't think Willig gave him quite enough history or depth, which is a shame. All in all though, the book was the romantic romp I read Willig for and I'm looking forward to her next.

Totally agree re: Augustus! I thought he could have been a really great character, but Willig didn't develop him that much. Instead it was all about giving him over-the-top poetry to declaim at the top of his lungs. Which was funny the first couple of times, but I definitely think he should have been fleshed out more.

I definitely liked the book overall, though. As you know, it sucked me in! :)

Catching up a few weeks worth of posts here!

>97 VictoriaPL: Wonderful review of the Scott/Leonov book! Not the kind of stuff I usually go for, but you make it sound excellent.

>111 mamzel:+112+116+117 Sometimes four short posts are all it takes. Breathers goes on my list, and thanks for the giggles.

>119 VictoriaPL: It didn't make my heart pound but it filled my craving for something with fangs. I know all about those...

>130 VictoriaPL: That's a very nice looking edition of Great Expectations. (No, I haven't read it. I haven't read anything by Dickens. So I stick to commenting covers).

Christina, think we'll get more of Jane in the next book? I really want "her" book.

Anders! Good to see you. Thanks for dropping by.

>130 VictoriaPL: & 134
I read Great Expectations a long time ago. I remember liking it for the most part (I love the Ethan Hawke/Gwyneth Paltrow movie version), but I always hated the way the MC treated Joe. I also loved the prisoner character.

You're right about the Willig cover. What happened to the imaginative covers of the previous books?

@ 135 -- I hope we get Jane's book soon too! Although I kind of think it would be a great book to end the series with, based on the centrality of her character to the overarching plot.

>136 andreablythe: Hey Andrea! I haven't seen the Hawke/Paltrow film. Is it a faithful adaptation?

>137 RidgewayGirl: Kay, Glad I'm not the only one to think so.

>138 christina_reads: Christina - That's true!

I enjoyed your review of You Only Live Twice. You've reminded me that I have a bunch of old Bond novels somewhere in the house that I really should reread one day!

>139 VictoriaPL:
Well, it follows the story fairly well, but it's not 100% faithful. It's set in the modern era (2000s?), which actually works surprisingly well for the story.

Thanks so much to those of you who have asked about me. I'm three weeks into a new job and have several more weeks of training to go. I used to do the lion's share of my LTing from work, so that is why I have been so scarce around here. I'm trying to remember where I left off in my reviews. Will probably be brief while I try to catch up.


Milk and Honey by Faye Kellerman
Detective Peter Decker tries to help an old war buddy who claims he's innocent of rape while also solving a domestic killing at a honey bee farm. Rina Lazarus works to decide if she wants to stay in New York with her family or if her relationship with Pete is strong enough to move back to Los Angeles.
I was of two minds with this one. The family who ran the honey farm was so screwed up, I could have cared less about what happened there. However, the back story with Peter and war was quite dramatic and held my interest. Peter and Rina work though some serious knots in their relationship in this one. I like that Kellerman makes them realistic and explores weaknesses in their character.


Night Passage by Robert B. Parker
After ruining his marriage and his position at the LAPD, Jesse Stone accepts the job of Police Chief of Paradise, Massachusetts. Even through his alcoholic haze, Jesse sees that this small town is full of corruption. It will take all he has to put things to right, not just for Paradise but personally too.
I have watched all of the made-for-TV Jesse Stone adaptions and I knew they had condensed and cut the story as needed for filming. The problem is, I really like watching Tom Selleck work and I ended up prefering the movie much better than the written material. If I had read the book first, would I have liked it better? Hard to say. I do like Parker's style and if I need a hardboiled fix, I'll consider picking up another in the series.


Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult
Wolf researcher Luke Warren suffers a grave head injury in an auto accident and his two children are at odds when it comes to leaving him in a coma state or turning off the machines.
I've been fan of Jodi Picoult for years. I really enjoy how she writes from multiple viewpoints, making the telling an emotional rollercoaster, whatever the subject. And they are never light. I guess this one was tough for me because I have experienced a similar situation. I did attend a reading Jodi gave of Lone Wolf and the research she did into wolves was really fascinating. She actually had women up on stage howling like a pack of wolves. It was fantastic. If you get the chance to go, I'd encourage it.


Open Season by C. J. Box
Game warden Joe Pickett discovers that a gruesome murder is just the beginning of his nightmare. There's a larger conspiracy going on regarding the killing of animals, human and otherwise, in his woods and regardless of the professional and personal risk, Joe must put an end to it.
I kept receiving suggestions for this book, I believe because of my high ratings of William Kent Krueger's Cork O'Connor series. I can see some similarities but I didn't like Pickett anywhere near as much as Cork. I don't want to give away anything, but what Pickett discovered after all this digging felt so much like a MacGuffin. I know they're necessary in fiction, but they shouldn't feel so blatant.


A Change of Heart: a memoir by Claire Sylvia
The true story of Claire's heart/lung transplant and the behavioral and psychological changes she experienced. I've seen multiple news segments about transplant recipients taking on some behaviors of their donor and I wanted to read more about it. I didn't really care for the many segments where Claire detailed her dreams or her relationships, but when the story focused specifically on the transplant process itself or her feelings about it, it was interesting. I'd like to read more on the subject.


The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
Calamity has changed the world drastically. In Bangkok scientists work to revive fruit and vegetable genomes that can survive disease. Factories try to restore power to a country thrown back into the dark ages of cook-fires. Ministries struggle for dominance over what little government they control. And Emiko, a manufactured play-thing, searches to find the humanity in herself.
The world-building in this novel is really top-notch. I so very much enjoyed that aspect of it. The political stuff, not so much. I also liked Emiko but I must say that, as a woman, I found several of her scenes difficult. The abuse she suffers is very detailed, so be forewarned.


The Deep Zone by James Tabor
Injured soldiers in Afghanistan are infected by a flesh-eating organism that is resistant to known antibiotics. Having been transferred state-side for treatment, now the entire USA is in danger. The only drug which shows promise is made from an organism found in the deepest cave on earth. A team sets out on an expedition to bring back enough material to stop the epidemic but earth's most hazardous terrain is not the only threat they face.
I received this book through LT's Early Reviewer program. I requested it because it sounds in the same vein as one of my favorite cave-thrillers, The Descent by Jeff Long. I love to read and watch films about mountains and caves, fiction or not, they make a great setting. Tabor's detailed writing helps to firmly ground The Deep Zone in its surroundings but I found it difficult to go with him in the conspiracy aspect to the story. I do feel that government conspiracies are real, however in fiction they can be a hard sell. I didn't quite buy Tabor's offering but I did enjoy the ride. And there's something to say for that. I hope to see some of these characters again on a new adventure.


Cut to the Heart by Ava Dianne Day
A fictionalized telling of Clara Barton (of Red Cross fame), and her work on the front lines of the Civil War in South Carolina. Clara finds herself in love with a married soldier and discovers that the war isn't the only evil that threatens the Gullah people of the Lowcountry.
I felt there was a little too much going on here and I think the book as a whole suffered for it. The war, the nursing and the romance would have been enough material but the addition of the 'sadist predator' portions felt garish and jarring.

Great to see you posting, Victoria. Hope you are enjoying the new job.

Congratulations on the new job, Victoria. You've been doing some great reading!

Congrats and best wishes for the new job. Hope things go well there for you.

Thanks everyone.

Glad to hear the new job is working out! Good luck with it.

Congrats on the job! Hopefully once you're done with training, you'll find more time for LT. :)

Hope you're enjoying the new job!!

I'm enjoying Kellerman's series as well - looking forward to continuing with Day of Atonement in April.

You're Next by Greg Hurwitz

Kids growing up in the system don't have it easy and Michael and Shep develop a tight brotherly bond. Mike becomes a successful developer and has a fine living with his wife and daughter. But Mike's past catches up to him in a dangerous way and Shep, who became a career criminal, must step in and repay a favor earned long ago.

I had a difficult time getting into the story. I don't think the daughter was consistently written. At some points she seemed too old and at others too young. But near the middle the plot really took off and I was on-board from there. It's a thriller with a lot of heart to it, so if sentimental stuff turns you off, you might want to take a pass. I did enjoy this one and will likely pick up the next from Hurwitz too.

Hmmm, was it as good as The Crime Writer?

I don't think it is. The Crime Writer is my favorite Hurwitz.

Hi Victoria, just thought I would let you know that I have finally gotten around to The Holy Road and I'm going to start it later this evening. I know RL is keeping you busy right now but I hope you are getting some reading time in.

I can start The Holy Road tomorrow. Looking forward to it!

just thought I'd stop by to say that I'm still plugging away at "Hedgehog" too.

Good to know I'm not alone, thanks Betty.

I'm be interested to hear your insights about Packing for Mars, as you're reading more about the space program whereas I might've read a book on it once, or twice.

I've read the first chapter and I'm finding it fascinating.

Rocket Men by Craig Nelson is the other space-related book I own.

Hey Linda!
Packing is very fascinating! I'm enjoying it.

Hi Victoria, I finished The Holy Road today and my final feelings were pretty much as we discussed. An emotional read, but not as personally appealing as Dances With Wolves was.

Still enjoying the Mary Roach book. I've finished 7 chapters so about 40 percent in?

Anyway, some of the science is over my head but the splats and gross parts are interesting.

This is not a book for me to read in a couple of big gulps. A chapter or maybe two at a time is fine.

I know I'm a sicko, but splats and gross parts have me interested. I've heard her books are funny and educational. Must give her a try.

#161 Icky, too, Judy. For instance, I'm now reading about how the astronauts don't bathe and how long it takes til maximum stink.

Lots of things I'd never thought about before, re space exploration. Well, I did always wonder how they showered.

Judy, hope to finish off Road this weekend!

Linda, I agree, a chapter or so at a time on Packing is working well for me. I find myself thinking about the book at the oddest times, but I think that's normal for one of hers.

Finished it!! Excellent book. Now I want to read more by Roach, as well as more about space travel.

Hi Linda, I finished it today as well (review coming soon). It was excellent.

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach

Mary Roach is an audacious body science writer. She isn't afraid to ask the questions you wouldn't - even though you're dying to know the answer - and then kindly reports back, giving you all the juicy tidbits. This technique has gained her many fans, myself included. I was really excited to get my hands on Packing for Mars because although I've read dozens of books about the space program, astronauts are trained to hold things pretty close to the vest. I wanted to see what kind of inside dirt Roach was able to dig up.

Although Mars is in the title, the book generally covers the Apollo, Gemini, Skylab, Mir, Shuttle and ISS programs too. Basically it's about the mammalian body in orbit, regardless of nationality or even species. She covers a pretty broad spectrum of topics, including the mental aspects of isolation and confinement. But she really brings her forte to bear in the chapters on space sickness (and it's opposite, Earth sickness), body odor, eliminating in space, "low emission" space food and sex in orbit. I chastised myself for finding her potty humor so entertaining, being an adult and all, but it truly was I'm-so-breathless-I'm-snorting funny.

What I also love about Roach is that she takes you unexpected places. For instance, the chapter on space food mentioned a Roman Catholic taking the Host and some wine on board. This isn't all that interesting in itself but then Roach tells of the difficulties Muslim astronauts face in performing their prayers because they can't logistically face Mecca, bow or pray every ninety minutes when the sun "rises" and "sets". I found her asides very thought-provoking and they provided a nice counter-balance to some of her more banal passages.

Packing for Mars is a delightful field trip to a place few of us ever go. So pack a bag and you might just learn a few things along the way.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

To be honest, I struggled with Hedgehog, especially at the beginning. Around page 80 I began to like it better but it never became a page-turner for me. I guess I failed to identify with any of the characters. I didn't get the concierge jokes because I've never known a concierge and I'm not entirely sure what a concierge does. I also didn't identify much with the suicidal tween or the other building occupants. In many places the book made me feel culturally deficient. I didn't get much of the humor. That said, I was able to identify with the feeling of being an outsider. A recluse. And I enjoyed the inevitable transition from cocooned caterpillar into butterfly. The blossoming was beautiful, even if painfully slow.

The Devil's Bed by William Kent Krueger

President Dixon is battling for reelection but his personal life is the real war-zone. The First Lady has retreated to her family's compound in Minnesota where her father, a former vice-president, is in bad health. Dixon needs Kate's popularity to help his campaign but he also truly mourns the distance between them. Secret Service agent Bo Thorsen is assigned to protect Kate and feels himself falling for her. It's a common problem with bodyguards and he knows he must keep his mind on a credible threat that's recently been discovered. It's a danger that might cost Bo his life as well as his heart.

Last year I read several Wiliam Kent Krueger books. I fell in love with his descriptions of the wild places and I fell in and out of love with his main character, Cork O'Connor. I didn't like where Cork was going so I decided to quit that series and give one of Krueger's stand-alone books a go. As a thriller The Devil's Bed is not bad. It's definitely a Krueger book. The majesty of the environment, the capable protector with a strong moral code, it's there. I enjoyed Bo, I liked being back in Krueger's world, but I think it's time to walk away. I can't really put my finger on why, just a sense that it's time to move on.

>166 VictoriaPL:,
I love Roach's work, especially Stiff, so I'm really excited to pick up Packing for Mars. (If only my TBR list wasn't so long!)

Hope you enjoy it Andrea!

Curious what turned you away from the Cork O'Connor series. I've enjoyed four of them.

Loved your review of Packing for Mars. I've added it to my wishlist.

Sorry about Kreuger, but it's not like you don't have anything to read!

That's a great Packing for Mars review. I hadn't realized that she dealt with anything beyond the basest body "ew gross" stuff -- that book just went from interesting to enticing.

Packing for Mars is good light fare when you need a breather. Hope you all enjoy it.

171 @tymfos, I was still enjoying Krueger four books in too. It was actually around book 10 or so that I gave up. I think it was Red Knife that did me in but I didn't enjoy Heaven's Keep or Northwest Angle either. I do believe an author has to grow a series and I do think Krueger put effort into that but I didn't like where he took Cork.

I have to say Packing for Mars sounds intriguing. I have Stiff somewhere in the TBR pile and really wnat to get to it. Must push it up the hill...

Must. Read. Mary. Roach. (Also).

Good review of Packing for Mars Victoria but for now I will continue to dodge the Mary Roach book bullets...... I have decided I really need to be in the right frame of mind to read her books. Struggling with The Elegance of the Hedgehog seems to be the norm for most readers, including myself.

I definitely see what you mean about The Elegance of the Hedgehog. It seems like I ultimately enjoyed it more than you did, but I had many of the same thoughts about the pacing and characters!

Anders, I think you would enjoy her.

Hey Lori & Christina, glad I wasn't the only one who struggled with Hedgehog.

The Burglar in the Library by Lawrence Block

"Those shelves are chock-full of books, and I don't think the Eglantines trucked them in by the pound to make a decorating statement, I think they've been there forever."
"And somewhere, tucked away on some high shelf--"
"The Big Sleep," I said. "Signed by Raymond Chandler, and inscribed to Dashiell Hammett. Sitting there, just waiting to be found."

Bernie Rhodenbarr, bookseller and gentleman thief, can't stop thinking about one particular association copy of The Big Sleep. At auction it would be worth thousands but it's currently lost in the enormous library of a New England manor house turned inn. Bernie's weekend hunt starts off promising until the place becomes snow-bound, the phone lines go out and bodies start appearing with regularity. Will the murders be just the distraction Bernie needs to cover his own crimes or will his nightly prowls make him the main suspect?

I found Block's The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart to be a real treat and I looked towards The Burglar in the Library to be more of the same. I was particularly interested in the Christie-esque setup and how that would mix with the Chandler/Hammett angle. I haven't read much of Christie but thought such a mixture might inspire me to read her more. The truth be known.... I didn't like it. At all. The best friend, Carolyn, grated on my nerves with each new page. "What do you think, Bern? What does it mean, Bern? Is that important, Bern?" It seemed her only reason for existing was exposition. It was so obvious and I resented it mightly. I think I'm pretty much done with this series...

The Slave by Isaac Bashevis Singer

"His name was Jacob also; he too had lost a beloved wife, the daughter of an idolater, among strangers; Sarah too was buried by the way and had left him a son. Like the biblical Jacob, he was crossing the river, bearing only a staff, pursued by another Esau. Everything remained the same: the ancient love, the ancient grief. Perhaps four thousand years would again pass; somewhere, at another river, another Jacob would walk mourning another Rachel. Or who knew, perhaps it was always the same Jacob and the same Rachel. Well, but the Redemption has to come. All of this can't last forever.
Jacob lifted his gaze: Lead, God, lead. It is thy world."

The Cossacks killed Jacob's wife and children and placed him into captivity. He finds himself in love with a woman who brings him bread and the war between his flesh and his faith, which does not allow such pairing, are a daily endurance. His faith is all the slave has to call his own and, lost in a land of pagans, Jacob clings to it hard. Does he trust his God to bring him through this captivity? Does he believe his faith will sustain him if being an abused cow-herd is all there is for the rest of his years?

I was surprised at how fast of a read The Slave turned out to be. Jewish/Gentile relationships are a subject I find myself coming back to and even though that's a big part of the book, it's not the entirety. I really felt myself going on this journey of faith with Jacob. I'll have to look for more of Singer.

Blood Red Road by Moira Young

"I look up at the sky. The first stars is out. An the moon. Every night it creeps along in the sky, closer and closer to where it will be at midsummer. There ain't nuthin gonna stop it.
We're in a race, the moon an me. An it's a race I cain't afford to lose."

One day men come for Saba's brother, Lugh. She doesn't know where they've taken him but she follows as best she can, for her twin means everything to her. It is only later that she learns he is to be used in a ritual and there's a deadline on her search. Saba herself is caught by nefarious people and forced to fight for entertainment and profit. She somehow makes friends with a ragtag bunch who vow to escape and to help her find Lugh before it's too late.

I really enjoy the current dystopian trend in YA books. There's so much creativity and great characterization to be found in the genre right now. I loved following Saba on her journey to adulthood. My favorite character was Jack, the love interest, but he is really a huge rip-off of Han Solo. My least favorite thing about the novel was the dialect and how it was spelled out - drove me a little nuts - but the story was good enough to let it ride.

>183 VictoriaPL:

You almost had me at a huge rip-off of Han Solo, but unlike you, there is only so much dystopian YA I can stand! Because of your review, I'll remember Blood Red Road the next time I'm in the mood. Thanks!

Sixteen in Nome by Max Brand

When friendship turns to hatred, two men will brawl over just about anything: a woman or even a sled dog. And so it is with Hugh Massey and Arnie Calmont. Nome, Alaska just isn't big enough to contain their dislike of each other. Young Joe May rides along as the two men nearly kill each other across the frozen land and then join together to hunt a former companion, a king of dogs, that captured the heart of these lost souls.

Sixteen in Nome was copyrighted back in 1930 and it feels just like one of those dime-store frontier tales but perhaps with a little more heart. It's a fast read because the action hardly stops and it was just the kind of one-night vacation I needed.

So pleased you enjoyed The Slave, I'm also keen to read more of his work, but so far have only managed one of his short stories in a New Yorker fiction podcast. Eventually I'll get to his The Family Moskat.
I also enjoyed Blood Red Road once I got used to the dialogue. I found the short sentences increased the pace of the narrative as it also did in The Knife of Never Letting Go. I'm also having fun reading all the current dystopian YAs.

The Road to Jerusalem by Jan Gullou

A few years ago I acquired a Swedish sister-in-law and the family went nuts for anything Swedish. We rented Arn: The Knight Templar and I found it interesting to compare with Kingdom of Heaven, which has a few similarities.

The Road to Jerusalem is the first in Gullou's Crusades trilogy, so it doesn't encompass everything the film covered, but it was nice to have more of Arn's background. Arn Magnusson starts out a bit like the biblical figure of Samuel, in that to fulfill a promise to God, he's given over to the church as a young boy. The monks teach Arn many disciplines and he grows up to be a well educated young man. He is, however, very naive and unaware of the baser side of human nature. The brothers send him out into the world so that he can learn about humanity and be better informed before giving his life over to the church. Arn is involved in the political maneuverings of his clan but a petty revenge places him back at the mercy of the church. The brothers decide that Arn must redeem himself by the sword and send the young man to fight for the holy city of Jerusalem.

The book stops rather suddenly and it makes me want to read the second in the series just to see how Arn matures and turns out. He's certainly a very noble character and one I can admire.

Wow, lots of good books here since I was last able to stop by. Sixteen in Nome sounds fun, and I've always loved Isaac Bashevis Singer's folktales, Zlateh the Goat etc. They are beautifully written and funny - not like his adult books which are beautifully written and sad.

Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History by Ben Mezrich

This is the story of how Thad Roberts lost his freaking mind over a women he had known less than a month. They say that love addles the brain but here is actual proof. As Ben Mezrich tells it, Thad was nearly a demi-god among mere interns. A triple major in physics, geology and anthropology, he learned Russian, Japanese and Chinese and had a 'nearly' photographic memory. He went on dinosaur digs, road charity bike rides, had his pilot's license and arranged outings for scuba diving, cliff diving and sky diving. During his time at Johnson Space Center he put in time at the lunar lab, snuck aboard one of the shuttle simulator test runs and worked as a dive assistant in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab. To lay it out, the young man was well on the way to achieving his dream of becoming an astronaut.

So what happened? Thad met a pretty girl. His wife was beautiful too, a model, but this girl unhinged something in Thad and he felt reckless around her. He decided to literally give her the moon. Thad, his new girlfriend and his BFF stole a safe from NASA which contained moon rocks. Not very big ones, indeed some were mostly dust, but Thad had in his possession samples from every Apollo mission. It was an unparalleled private collection at that point, as owning moon rocks is illegal. But Thad didn't just stop at owning, he tried to sell, and that's where things went bad.

So, did I enjoy the book? No. I resented the way Mezrich puffed up Thad. His descriptions of the man were entirely too grandiose and mythic. The truth is that Thad was a gifted individual but he also had deep insecurities from his childhood and those wounds made him sometimes act out. I did learn a few things about moon rocks though I do think there was room to incorporate more. I've always wanted to visit JSC and reading about it just pushed it up a few notches on my bucket list.

So glad to find someone who agrees with me about Sex on the Moon. Several members of my book club really enjoyed it and found it quite funny. Makes me question their judgement! It was not particularly enjoyable and ultimately just made me mad that I had wasted time reading about someone so ridiculous. Thankfully it was a library book and not something I had purchased or else I would have been more annoyed.

Hi Victoria, my brother just passed on the Jan Gullou trilogy which I am looking forward to getting to eventually. I will have to let him know there is a movie, as I know he will want to track it down!

Blood Red Road looks interesting. I'll have to keep it in mind.

Sixteen in Nome doesn't grip me, but I love Alaska (my family is from Anchorage). If you liked the setting, you might try The Curious Eat Themselves, which is a murder mystery set in Alaska, in and around the islands of Juno, I believe. I don't read mysteries very often, but I remember enjoying that one.

@LittleTaiko, I know exactly what you mean. I am also very glad I borrowed it from the library!

@DeltaQueen50, definitely see the movie!

@andreablythe, thanks for the recommendation!

The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean

"I've been in love with Titus Oates for quite a while now - which is ridiculous, since he's been dead for ninety years. But look at it this way. In ninety years I'll be dead too, and then the age difference won't matter."

Uncle Victor has been preparing Sym for a trip to The Ice all her life. Countless books and videos have made her an expert in Antarctica. A misfit teenager, Sym has developed an imaginary friend inside her head - Titus Oates - a man who was along with Scott during his fatal expedition. This strange connection, obsession, hallucination, might just keep Sym alive when her trip to The Ice goes very, very wrong.

I began reading about Antarctica on a lark when I picked up Byrd's wonderfully lyric book, Alone, back in 2009. Last year I finally got around to The Worst Journey in the World and read about Scott. Both of those books were non-fiction but it was enough for the recommendation engine to bring The White Darkness to my attention. It's a clever setup, this girl who is channeling Oates. I've seen him eulogized as a tragic, heroic figure but here the witty repartee helps humanize him. Their relationship is fun, though in my opinion it comes off better in the beginning than towards the end. I'm not sure I would have kept with the story if I had not had the background reading, but one reason I did stick with it was McCaughrean's lovely prose.

"God sketched Antarctica, then erased most of it again, in the hope a better idea would strike Him. At the center is a blank whiteness where the planet isn't finished. It's the address for Nowhere.... That empty, featureless plateau, rising up and up to high-altitude nothingness with no feature fixing its center - it mesmerized me. The idea of it took me in thrall. It was so empty, so blank, so clean, so dead. Surely if I was ever to set down there, even I might finally exist. Surely, in this Continent of Nothingness, anything - anyone - had to be hugely alive by comparison!"

Deliver Us from Evil by Robin Caroll

There's a federal witness ready to help bring down a Tennessee child-prostitution ring, he's just too weak to do so without a heart transplant. US Marshall Roark Holland is assigned to escort the heart on the flight from North Carolina to the hospital where the former money-man lies near death. This racket is very well-connected and very profitable and the US Marshall service isn't taking any chances. But there's little they can do against the blizzard settling in over the Great Smoky Mountains. Or even the hand of God Himself, who shows He also has plans in motion.

I don't know that I've ever read a Christian Romantic Suspense novel before but the blurb on this one had several angles that caught my attention. The 'faith' elements didn't bother me, I think I could have done Christian Suspense or Christian Romance but all three together just didn't work out. I felt the author reaching to pull it all in and that lessened my enjoyment of the story. Sometimes the language was annoyingly repetitive - one passage used the word 'attraction' over and over again. And the timing was wonky. Some of the action scenes flew by with hardly any details at all but a description of one kiss took over a page, in slo-mo like the movies. So, kudos to Caroll for an ambitious plot but the execution wasn't my cup of tea.

>195 VictoriaPL: It took me awhile to get into it when I read it, but I liked the local setting so much that I forgave a lot of the problems with the novel.

@thornton37814, I loved the setting too. I went to school in that area and it was nice to "visit".

I've never read anything by Singer, but it sounds like I need to add him to the list. And the Gullou book sounds good.

Frost (Great Plains Fiction) by Nicole Luiken

"I caught the tooth fairy," Johnny repeated patiently. "And Santa Claus. And the Easter Bunny. Then I'd tell Evan that they weren't real. I was a brat," Johnny said without inflection. "When Mom told Evan about Jack Frost, I said I'd catch him too. Mom just laughed. She said no one could catch Jack Frost." Another pause.
"So you stayed up that night?" Kathy prompted. She had the strange feeling Johnny was trying to tell her something, but she didn't understand what.
"So I stayed up that night," Johnny agreed, face expressionless. "And I caught him - Jack Frost. Or rather he caught me."

Johnny Van Der Zee seems to have it all. He's handsome, popular and everyone around town knows an NHL scout will make him an offer soon. But what they don't know is that Johnny is frozen inside, captive to the icy grip of Jack Frost. Even though Jack's power has diminished with global warming, in Iqaluit he's still powerful enough to work on this one boy. Johnny is going to help make the world a much colder place - a place where Jack will reign once more.

Nicole Luiken is one of my favorite YA authors. She hits you sometimes in an unexpected place and that's why I continue to read her. Frost is quite a short tale but so detailed and imaginative that images keep floating through my mind. I wish she would write more.

Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology edited by Bruce Sterling

"Certain central themes spring up repeatedly in cyberpunk. The theme of body invasion: prosthetic limbs, implanted circuitry, cosmetic surgery, genetic alteration. The even more powerful theme of mind invasion: brain-computer interfaces, artificial intelligence, neurochemistry - techniques radically redefining the nature of humanity, the nature of self."

Although some of the information in Sterling's introduction went over my head, I do happen to agree with him regarding the genre's focus on the human condition. I think that's what I like so much about it. I still remember my first cyberpunk story, Think Like a Dinosaur by James Patrick Kelly, and how it hooked me from that very first page. I was drawn to this collection because Kelly has a story in it but there are several other well-knowns like William Gibson and Greg Bear too.

I enjoyed the wide variety of stories captured here - each was completely different from the others and yet still tonally similar. There are augmented soldiers, techno rockers, time-traveling historians and space-bound cosmonauts but I was particularly impressed to find surprises like gargoyles and merfolk in the mix.

If you like sci-fi, particularly cyberpunk, don't miss Mirrorshades!

Oooo! I love The White Darkness. I'm glad you read it. Creepy uncle!

The Man Who Heard Voices: Or, How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career on a Fairy Tale by Michael Bamberger

I can tell you why I like M. Night Shyamalan's films. Like many people, I enjoy his plot twists but there's also the way he says important things with simple words, his big thematic statements and his beautiful framing techniques. His vision and his aesthetics appeal to me but it's hard to say you know a person from that alone.

I was quite excited to begin the book but less than so to find that it centers around the filming of Lady in the Water. Lady is not my favorite Night film, though it's not my least favorite either (I like to pretend The Happening never happened). Knowing that Night had been a direct source for the book, I hoped that it would be more of a straight biography of the man than just a chronicle of two years of his life.

What did I learn about Night? Well, there are the basics, such as the M stands for Manoj and that the Y in his last name should be ignored, it's properly pronounced SHA-ma-lon. But now I also know that he has insecurities and doubts and that he makes the same mistakes the rest of us do. That just like most artists, he's willing to take risks and he constantly struggles between the need for the approval of his audience and the desire to keep personal integrity in his expression. That as a director he can be driven and bossy - it's his job to be - but also be patient and generous.

I was disappointed that Bamberger did not spend more time with details about Night's childhood and early life. But it's possible that Night didn't want the book to go there, that he kept some things back in the name of privacy. There's a lot in here not about Night. Sometimes I grew impatient with all the little asides about actors and other industry people. I know Bamberger was using them as a sounding board to discuss Night, and I do find movie-making an interesting subject in itself, but sometimes I felt the pacing was off.

All in all, a decent diversion but I'd rather watch a Shyamalan film instead.

I've got The White Darkness on the TBR. Sounds good so maybe I'll pick it up for my next Antarctic read. Oates is an interesting character - you might be interested in Revise the World, my review below. AFAIK it's available only in e-format, and Amazon has it at http://www.amazon.com/Revise-the-World-ebook/dp/B002VWLLYO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&am...

My review:
1912: Titus Oates, an actual member of Scott's doomed South Pole Expedition, is dying of starvation and gangrene and walks into the blizzard to die and give his comrades a better chance to survive.

2045: Titus is revived by scientists attempting to prove the efficacy of time-travel without altering the past. Oates' body was never found in Antarctica, and knowing this, the scientists have traveled back to snatch him before he dies in the blizzard. The reason for the time-travel experiment? - to determine if a faster-than-light, time-traveling drive is safe for use in space travel. The specifications for the drive have been received from a distant planet, and modern society would like to visit the alien civilization and return to report to Earth within the span of only a few years.

Titus awakens into a world he cannot comprehend. The language is the same, but usage and terminology for all the intervening years renders most sentences unintelligible. Constant and instant communication, medical miracles (his rotting limbs have all been cloned and replaced), total equality of race, gender and orientation, and scientific marvels, all are a challenge to his notions of reality, propriety, and his place in life. Much of the books is concerned with his struggles to find trust and purpose again. His rescuers fear for his sanity, and there are many times he must readjust his judgments and attitudes lest he succumb. At one point he tries to find a way to return to the past and die as was meant. He falls in love with one of his doctors, makes friends and some enemies, revolts and runs, tries again, watches his lover sail off in space for a years-long mission to the distant planet, decides to try again to be an explorer and meaningful member of society. The last third of the book takes place 8 years later, with Titus almost fully integrated into 21st century life and embarking on a final huge adventure.

Titus is a fascinating character, an Edwardian gentleman adjusting to an egalitarian, space-age, consensus-ruled society. The author has researched the realities of early 20th century Antarctic exploration, and her imagining of a far future life for one of them is creative and realistic, with natural dialogue. The 500 pages go by quickly, and the last 100 are almost guaranteed to be read in one sitting. Highly recommended!

That one sounds interesting. Thanks!

Coffinman: the Journal of a Buddhist Mortician by Shinmon Aoki

I always find Japanese cinema to be an adventure because most of the time I am unprepared for where a movie is going to take me. And that was the case when I rented Departures. It's the story of man, desperate for a job, who answers a cryptic ad and ends up employed as a coffinman. It's not really a mortician as we think of it, as there is no embalming done before cremation, just a ritualistic washing and dressing of the body and perhaps arrangement of the hair or application of some simple makeup. This is all done within view of the attending family - which sounds quite odd when compared to our Western culture - but is shown to be quite dignified and even beautiful in its own way. The film conveys how much peace the coffinman is able to instill during the ceremony by showing honor and respect to their loved one.

I was quite excited to read this book because the differences in Eastern and Western funeral practices is quite interesting to me but, to tell the truth, there's very little here in common with the film. There's not much plot or biographical information in Coffinman. He does speak briefly of the stigma he endured after beginning his work with the dead, and gives a few instances of very messy experiences, but after that he launches into long essays about death, dying and finding peace. I found some of it interesting. He talks about how modern society pushes to prolong life for as long as possible, often causing the dying to suffer - how are they supposed to accept their passing, to make peace with death, if all we do is tell them to fight it to the very last minute? I could go there with him, especially when he spoke about our innate fear of death and the unknown. But mostly towards the last half it was all talk of the Light of Buddha and being reborn - which is where I turned off.

So, if you come to Coffinman expecting a novelization of Departures, be forewarned. If you are interested in a discussion on cultural approaches to death and dying, then I think you'll enjoy Coffinman much more.

NEW THREAD!

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