VictoriaPL's 12-12 reading (part two)

Welcome to thread #2 - the first was taking too long to load!

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: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History by Ben Mezrich (5.12.2012)
Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon by Buzz Aldrin with Ken Abraham (6.10.2012)
Live from Cape Canaveral by Jay Barbree (7.14.2012)
Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo by Nicholas de Monchaux (8.19.2012)
Marooned by Martin Caidin (8.25.2012)
Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon by Craig Nelson (10.16.2012)
Failure is not an Option by Gene Kranz (10.27.2012)
Falling to Earth: An Apollo 15 Astronaut's Journey to the Moon by Al Worden (11.6.2012)

LEFT TO GO
Dragonfly: NASA and the Crisis Aboard MIR

♫ 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)
Christine Falls by Benjamin Black (5.29.2012)
Mary, Queen of France by Jean Plaidy (6.22.2012)
The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson (6.29.2012)
Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion and Betrayal by Mal Peet (7.3.2012)
What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman (9.18.2012)

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)
Big Fish: a Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace (6.9.2012)
Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard (8.27.2012)
Heat Rises by Richard Castle (10.22.2012)
To Have and Have Not by Earnest Hemingway (11.3.2012)
The Colorado Kid by Stephen King (11.10.2012)
SeinLanguage by Jerry Seinfeld (11.10.2012)
Supernatural: Night Terror by John Passarella (11.10.2012)

♫ 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)
The Third Gate by Lincoln Child (6.23.2012) ♫
Criminal by Karin Slaughter (7.12.2012)
Available Dark by Elizabeth Hand (7.16.2012)
Kill You Twice by Chelsea Cain (8.14.2012)
Full Disclosure by Dee Henderson (8.17.2012)
Trickster's Point by William Kent Krueger (11.11.2012) ♫

LEFT TO GO
The Black Count by Tom Reiss
Low Pressure by Sandra Brown

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)
The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan inspired by @RidgewayGirl (6/16/2012)
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman inspired by @DorsVenabili (7.8.2012)
Midwinter of the Spirit by Phil Rickman inspired by @tymfos (7.14.2012)
The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe inspired by @majkia (7.15.2012)
The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney inspired by @RidgewayGirl (8.5.2012)
Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres inspired by @RidgewayGirl (9.7.2012)

♫ 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)
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (6.22.2012)
Possession by A.S. Byatt w/ @AnneDC (9.23.2012)
The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf w/ @RidgewayGirl (11.4.2012)

♫ 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) ♫ ✤
Picture Me Dead by Heather Graham (6.30.2012)
Postcards from No Man's Land by Aidan Chambers (7.25.2012)
Sanibel Flats by Randy Wayne White (8.7.2012)
Strange Candy by Laurell K. Hamilton (8.24.2012)
The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn (10.30.2012)

♫ 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) ♫
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (6.6.2012) ♫
The Unremarkable Heart and Other Stories by Karin Slaughter (6.30.2012) ♫
Death Without Company by Craig Johnson (7.29.2012) ♫
The People of the Black Circle by Robert E. Howard (8.10.2012) ♫

LEFT TO GO
Unholy Night by Seth Grahame-Smith

♫ 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) ✪
Deep Gold by Jay Amberg (5.28.2012)
Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life by Terry Brooks (6.6.2012)
Blackout by Connie Willis (10.10.2012)
Death Comes to Pemberly by P.D.James (10.20.2012)

♫ 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)
Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott (6.2.2012)
Topics About Which I Know Nothing by Patrick Ness (6.15.2012)
The End of Everything by Megan Abbott (9.2.2012)
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (9.16.2012)
Peaches for Father Francis by Joanne Harris (10.13.2012)
The Hunter from the Woods by Robert McCammon (10.19.2012)

♫ 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)
Bruiser by Neal Shusterman (6.20.2012)
Holes by Louis Sachar (7.7.2012)
My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgewick (7.23.2012)
UnWholly by Neal Shusterman (9.28.2012)

♫ 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)
Terminator Hunt by Aaron Allston (5.31.2012)
Terminator Dreams by Aaron Allston (6.9.2012)
Terminator Salvation: The Official Movie Novelization by Alan Dean Foster (6.18.2012)
Terminator Salvation: Cold War by Greg Cox (7.7.2012)
T2: Infiltrator by S.M. Stirling (7.21.2012)
T2: Rising Storm by S.M. Stirling (7.28.2012)
T2: The Future War by S.M. Stirling (7.29.2012)
Terminator 2 Judgement Day: an Illustrated Screenplay by James Cameron and William Wisher (10.20.2012)
Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology (10.28.2012)

CATEGORY FULL

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

Love your photos

Just dropping by to say "hi" on your new thread. I had several threads yesterday that were taking way too long to load, but I honestly can't tell whether it's the thread or if it's the Internet at my dad's house. It's been far too slow most of the time.

Deep Gold by Jay Amberg

"You aren't looking at the big picture, at the international situation," Grey said. "You don't understand the Soviets the way we do."
Jones clenched his fist, the scar bright white, and answered, "To 'ell with the international situation. The Edinburgh is the salvage of the damn century. And nobody, Russian or American, is going to stop me from bringing up that gold."

1942. The British ship Edinburgh agrees to ferry tons of Russian gold to the Americans as payment in war-debt but a Nazi torpedo sends her beneath the waves of the Arctic Ocean. Fifty years later, the three governments agree to raise the treasure and a crew comprised of British, American, Russian and Germans head once more to her watery grave. As the gold is brought up and battleships circle closer, conspiracies begin to fly and relations fall apart. Who will end up with 200 million in gold?

I love Amberg's adventure-thrillers. The Brits sounds like bloody Brits, the Russians are the crafty foxes they're supposed to be and the brass-balled Americans do their thing. It's just pitch-perfect and pure adrenaline. Like Clancy, but easier to keep straight. I could not put Deep Gold down, it kept me entranced the entire time. More, please!

New thread noted. :)

Hola Victoria! Great progress so far!

Christine Falls by Benjamin Black

The trouble all began with the body of Christine Falls. Although she had recently given birth, Quirke could not find out what had become of her child. Not that it was his job, as a pathologist, but having been an orphan himself, he's particularly tender in that regard. Could it really be that she's connected to the family that took him in as a child? Quirke suddenly finds himself besieged by hired thugs and buried in family secrets. Secrets that color how he thinks of himself and everyone around him.

There are so many reviews of this book, I'll keep it short: I loved this book.
Dark and angst-ridden, it is right up my alley. For some reason I kept thinking of Kate Atkinson while reading it, all the way her characters are connected, but I like Black even better in that regard. I also kept thinking of Wuthering Heights, but I'm not going to explain why, no need to spoil the surprise. I'll be looking for the next in this series.

>14 cammykitty:, Thanks Katie. I tried to pick photos I liked, especially if I'm going to be looking at them all year long.

>15 thornton37814:. Hi back at you Lori! This new thread is loading much faster for me. I did take out a lot of my 'candidate' touchstones though, so that may have had something to do with it.

>17 andreablythe:. Hey Andrea, thanks for stopping by.

>18 LauraBrook: Thanks Laura! Trying to keep the categories even but the group & tandem read category seems to be filling up fast.

Hi Victoria: I'm so glad that you liked Christine Falls!

Me, too! I always worry when you pick up one of my favorites, because our tastes are so different. Glad you liked morose old Quirke.

Hey Lisa & Kay! We three agree on a good percentage of our common reads, but I understand what you mean. No pressure, really. I consider myself in excellent company no matter what I think of the book!

Terminator Hunt by Aaron Allston

30 years post-Judgment Day and the human Resistance continues on but intelligence has brought a troubling briefing to John Connor. It's not that men are showing an interest in his daughter, Kyla, for he knows that - like her mother and grandmother - she's quite capable of taking care of herself. No, it seems Skynet is preparing to send back another T-X to eradicate John's younger incarnation. The machines must have new intelligence of their own. Knowing that if Skynet were to find his current location it would send that T-X for him, he takes the calculated risk. The Resistance goes on the offensive - to lay a trap for its most formidable opponent and to capture and reprogram her or, if necessary, to destroy her outright.

I have not been very impressed with the majority of Terminator books out on the market, but I love the franchise so much I just keep trying. I actually enjoyed this one quite a bit. This is an older John Connor and he's a little more comfortable in his skin, a lot less angry then we've seen in movie incarnations. I like the addition of Kyla, she's fun, and I would read a book with her as the lead if Allston were to write one. I also enjoyed the Resistance personnel and the T-X too, it was a good balance of prey and predator all around.

Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott

The corridor, filled with girls - she saw suddenly how it appeared to him. How it was like the grandest candy counter in the finest department store in town. A candy counter packed fat with brassy blond nougats and licorice-whip brunettes and auburn twists of taffy with round cinnamon-button cheeks, honey-faced brickle with sweet dimpled legs powder sweet as marshmallow, jellied lips of every color, with mouths red and glossy and waiting for him. He need only drop his pennies on the counter and take his pick. And pick and pick. Candy Man.

I've got to hand it to Megan Abbott, she really can say something when she gets going. I rarely seek a 'different level' when reading fiction - which is what annoyed me so much about my college lit classes - but with this book I couldn't help but think about women of that time and their limited stature in society. I could almost hear my women's-lit professor in my head. I didn't like the book as much as Queenpin but I personally think it's always hard to top your first exposure to a really good thing. Abbott's always good for when you feel like a little dirty Noir.

Megan Abbott is fantastic! Her new book, Dare Me, is due out at the end of July.

Just catching up with your new thread! Christine Falls sounds really good. I've added it to my wishlist.

Hi Victoria: your description of Bury Me Deep is making me want to re-read it!

Kay, thanks for the reminder about Dare Me I'm on it!

Now I'm totally digging Bury Me Deep. (Please, don't tumble on top of me TBR list. Please.)

It's my 5th Thingaversary! I've never celebrated one before, but five seems like a solid occasion to do something special. Will have to ponder this...

You get 6 books (5 for each year and 1 to grow on). I love it as my excuse to buy books at that time of the year!

Happy Thingaversary!

Happy Thingaversary from me too!

Take Thursday morning off and go to the book sale?

Happy Thingaversary!

>31 thornton37814: Six books might break the bank this month. Maybe one.
>34 RidgewayGirl: I wish I could!

Thanks everyone!

I have Christine Falls on Mt. TBR and I'm happy to hear more good words about it. I do worry about your Wuthering Heights-comment, though - that one is not a favorite of mine! Are they similar or is it something little??

Happy Thingaversary!!

Happy Thingaversary!

Happy Thingaversary, Victoria. Mine's coming up this month too, only you have a year more than I do.

Happy Thingaversary!

Happy Thingaversary! I'm another one with a June Thingaversary. My fourth is next week. I already did my book buying since I'll be at a conference out of town next week.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

I was curious about all the hub-bub around Henrietta and her cells and decided to give the book a try. I don't read a lot of non-fiction but it's a personal goal to read more. The book is really of two minds - the science of cell culture and the personal stories of the Lacks family and of their interaction with Ms. Skloot during the researching of this book. The Lacks passages I found engaging. The science passages, not so much, but still sometimes interesting. I must admit that I fell asleep while listening to the audiobook. On four separate occasions. The reader is talented, I think it may just be that science is not my forte. But, while awake, I did learn several eye-raising facts about cell culture. I think it has benefited human kind. I think liberties are taken in field of medicine, but they're also taken in other aspects of our daily lives too. It's not a book that got me riled up about human rights but I will think twice the next time I'm required to have a piece of my body removed!

Thanks for the Thingaversary well-wishes. Who knew so many of us started LT in June?

Congratulations on your Thingaversary, my five year is coming up next month. I think I will combine it with my birthday and double up on the books hee hee!

Also, I found the Henrietta Lacks story to be fascinating, and you know I hardly read any non-fiction at all. It was amazing to me how far we've come with medical research.

Thanks for your review of Henrietta Lacks. I will get to it this year - the science part already fascinates me so happy to learn you found the Lacks family stories interesting. I plan to read the physical book - not listen to the audiobook - so hopefully I won't fall asleep reading it!

Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life by Terry Brooks

I don't read much fantasy these days, but when I was younger I enjoyed many books by Terry Brooks. Even today I list The Elfstones of Shannara as one of my favorites in the genre. So when I saw that he had a book of writing advice, I thought it would be worth my time to see what the man had to say.

I did learn some interesting things. For instance, his second book was declared unsalvageable by Lester del Rey and the book he wrote afterwards - Elfstones - is the favorite of his readers. I found it encouraging that someone could rise from unpublishable to best-of-your-career. But besides that, I didn't learn anything about writing from reading this slim volume. No lightbulbs going off, no great inspiration, not even a good mantra to whip me up in writing frenzy. The magic didn't work for me this time.

Happy Thingaversary! Another good review of Henrietta Lacks which is still on my wishlist and probably I'll get round to it next year

Happy Thingaversary!

Terminator Dreams by Aaron Allston

Danny Avila knows that the programming work he does for General Brewster is stressful, but lately he hasn't been able to catch much sleep at all. It's the nightmares. Soldier-machines, much more advanced than the prototypes he works on, are killing everyone. And the city looks like a nuclear bomb went off or something. Every night it's the same thing almost as if, when he sleeps, Danny crosses over into a different reality. There's no way this could be the future...
Daniel Avila is tired. Reprogramming captured Terminators for John Connor is rewarding work, but he's getting to be an old man. The only peace he has is at night when he closes his eyes. He dreams of the fresh-squeezed orange juice prepared by his mother at breakfast time and enjoying the California sunshine with the woman he loves. It seems so real, just like he has stepped back into the past...

The Terminator franchise is famous for messing around with time-travel paradoxes, but adding the whole communicating-with-the-past-like-Frequency is just great fun. This book shares many characters and locales with Terminator Hunt and I was glad to see that. It's clear that Allston has invested a lot of time creating this little reality and I'm enjoying the payoff. Specialized genre fiction can be a throw-away read sometimes but Allston crafts his tale with love and it has more meat and more heart in it than it should. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

Big Fish: a Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace

It's been awhile since I watched the movie made from Big Fish but it's visuals were so striking, once I saw the book at the sale, I had to take it home. It's an odd kind of book. There are tall tales and joke-telling, but at its core it's the story of a father and son dealing with the father's impending death. Two men who never really knew each other and want to, before time runs out.
Tall tales were never my thing, luckily these are brief enough that they never turned me off. The jokes made me laugh, maybe I'm just that gullible. But the father-son tale made me melancholy, perhaps due to my own experiences during my father's passing. It reminds me very much of a funeral where you say some serious things, you end up laughing at funny stories too, and then feel conflicted, and are comforted by the presence of family and friends. The book is a lot like that.

"I think," I say after a while, waiting for the right words to come, "that if a man could be said to be loved by his son, then I think that man could be considered great."
For this is the only power I have, to bestow upon my father the mantle of greatness, a thing he sought in the wider world, but one that, in a surprise turn of events, was here at home all along.

Happy Thingaversary!

Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon by Buzz Aldrin with Ken Abraham

"The transition from 'astronaut preparing to accomplish the next big thing' to 'astronaut telling about the last big thing' did not come easily to me."

"While on the surface of the moon, I had taken in the pervasive gray-ash barrenness all around, with the Earth hanging off in space like a tiny blue-green orb, and had called it 'magnificent desolation'. Now those words seemed to describe my own inner turmoil as I thought about the days ahead."

It's not uncommon for great men to self-destruct, to act-out, the news is full of examples. I had never really heard about Buzz Aldrin, the alcoholic, or Buzz Aldrin the depressive. Apparently I haven't been paying attention. But Aldrin is more than candid in this telling, describing the days he couldn't get through without a bottle. The times he couldn't bring himself to crawl out of one of his 'blue funks'. His affairs and girlfriends. His therapy doctors, his AA meetings, it goes on. I was expecting more of a general biography but instead stumbled upon this great cathartic airing of dirty laundry. And then the last third turned into this long epistle about his third wife and how she saved. his. life. He gave us more of her biographical data then his own. Terribly disappointing.

Great review of Big Fish. I haven't read it, but remember the movie. I remember not really knowing what to think about the movie, and you put it into words for me. Very much like an odd funeral.

I've got the Terry Brooks book in a box somewhere. Someday, I'll get to it, but perhaps I'll hit some of the other writing books first.

Love the review of Big Fish. I saw the movie, too and was curious about the book. I am a fan of tall tales, so it sounds like a good match for me.

The terminator book also looks fun. :)

Thanks Katie and Andrea, Big Fish is a tiny book - it doesn't take long to read.

The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan

Horseshoe Falls. The Whirlpool. Tom Cole learned to understand the Niagara River from his legendary grandfather, Fergus. He can read it, hear it, sense its mood. Tom loves the river and he loves Bess Heath, but sometimes those two things are at odds. As the river changes, so too Bess and Tom's relationship changes. Like all forces of nature, something has to give.

Much like the powerful Niagara, this book just swept me along. It's one of those books that you inhabit while you're reading it - it stays with you. I loved that the river was just as much a character as any of the people. I loved the vintage photographs that were peppered throughout. I've never had the pleasure to see Niagara with my own eyes but it's definitely on the bucket list now. The book only falls short of a perfect five because I disliked the ending - I'm sure many people thought it was suitable but I was hoping for something different.

Enticing review of The Day the Falls Stood Still. Vintage photos sounds cool. Too bad about the end. :( I just went to the book page, and there's a big spoiler in the tag list. I think I know why you disliked the end.

*sigh* Don't you hate it when tags give away a spoiler?

I'm glad you liked this one. We agree on another book!

Great review of The Day the Falls Stood Still Victoria. Spoilers in tags are annoying.... I can usually avoid reading reviews on the book page but tags... well that is a different matter.

Your review of The Day the Falls Stood Still has convinced me that I'll probably like it...yet I'm a bit concerned about the ending now! I will NOT go to the book page so as to avoid the spoliery tags.

Son't worry about the ending. It isn't one of those endings that is just tacked on to finish the book in a hurry.

Bruiser by Neal Shusterman

"Who did this to you?"
He pointed to one discoloration on his shoulder."This is your father's. When he fell on the basketball court. This is Tennyson's from lacrosse." And then another. "This is yours; I'm not sure from where."
But I knew...
Then he took my hand and pressed it firmly to the center of his chest until I could feel his heart beating against my palm.
"And this..." he said "...this is your parents' divorce."

Brewster Rawlins has a difficult life. His uncle doesn't earn much money, so he doesn't have the nice things that most other kids take for granted. He doesn't do sports. He doesn't get close to people, at least he tries not to. But it's not just because they make fun of his hair or his clothes. When Brew gets close, he's liable to get hurt. Knowing Bruiser can change your life.

Shusterman always thrills me with his originality. Even if it's feeling a little "too-YA" for me, I'm taken in by his creativity. Bruiser is a unique twist on that sci-fi workhorse, the empath. I liked the different viewpoints each character provided. Didn't love the ending, but that's kind of a tradition with me and Shusterman's books. It's probably just me.

I'm a big fan of Shusterman, too. I recommend him the students who ask for something different.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Wyatt sits down amid the files, an apple in his hand. "Cromwell, suppose you'd been away from England for seven years? If you'd been like a knight in a story, lying under an enchantment? You would look around you and wonder, who are they, these people?"

Finally finished! I saw a few episodes of The Tudors, so when all the buzz about Wolf Hall started up, I thought, why not? I am not a history buff but between the show and the book I feel like I'm beginning to piece a few things together. I can't say that I admire how any of the principals in the king's Great Matter accorded themselves, but then, I'm not very proud of the morals of many of our Presidents either.

The book was a lot of talk. It would have been nice for a little more action - like the first chapter. I didn't really care for how it ended, or rather, stopped. I probably will not be up for the sequel but that's not say I didn't enjoy Wolf Hall. I liked the manner in which it was written. I liked the subtle things Mantel did with her descriptions and with her dialogue. So witty. She definitely keeps you on your toes as a reader.

Mary, Queen of France by Jean Plaidy

This one has been lingering on my TBR pile and I thought piggy-backing it on to Wolf Hall would be an excellent idea. It's a different view of Henry, certainly, and I know I am supposed to admire Mary for her fortitude and her courage in standing up for herself and taking charge of her own life, but the book really didn't grip me. I think part of it was fatigue coming off Wolf Hall. I can honestly say I'm not sure I would have liked it more at a different time though, just one of those things.

The Third Gate by Lincoln Child

Legendary archeologist Porter Stone believes he has finally found of the tomb of King Narmer, a crypt rumored to not only hold the two crowns of Egypt but also the key to navigating the after life. The curses laid down by Narmer's priests are brutal and odd things have been happening at the site. Stone hires Jeremy Logan, who has some experience with the unexplained and the occult, to be on hand when they breach Narmer's final resting place. There is none better than Stone - and he will have his prize at any cost.

Whenever I want big-stakes, big-scale adventure, I can depend on Lincoln Child to deliver. This is a classic mummy tale given Child's modern techno-twist. I loved it.

The Third Gate sounds like a nice, quick change of pace. I still haven't read a mummy story. ???

The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson

The pork sausage began to sizzle. He approached the boxes and began going through them in a methodical fashion, top row first, left to right. "Walt, we need to go over a few things." This had a ominous tone to it. "There was a time when this particular lifestyle had its place, the grieving widower valiantly sallying forth through a sea of depression and cardboard. This gave way to the eccentric lawman era, but now, Walt my friend, you are just a slob."
I hugged my coffee cup a little closer and straightened my robe. "I'm a lovable slob."

Sheriff Walt Longmire has had a few tough years since his wife passed away. He's drifting a little, drinking too much, and there hasn't been much work to keep him busy save that rape case of the Indian girl. Henry Standing Bear, Walt's long-time friend, tries to help him by motivating him to fix up his trailer, encouraging him to date women again and decide if he's going to run for re-election. Walt seems to be doing well, that is, until someone starts killing the white boys who didn't get enough jail time for their dirty deed. It will take both Walt and Henry to puzzle out who has motive, means and opportunity.

I've been meaning to get to this one since last year. I believe the recommendation engine brought it my attention because I liked Krueger's Cork O'Connor books and Johnson's Longmire series looks to have a few commonalities. When I saw a gorgeously-shot promo for A&E's Longmire, I knew the time had come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4AtK8hlMew

I really enjoyed this one. The characters were so well written. They have such nice chemistry and inter-play between them, Johnson did a great job of capturing their humanity. And humor. It's just such a fun book and a satisfying mystery too. It doesn't get a full five-stars because I didn't completely buy the perpetrator and because Vic was just so foul-mouthed. I love her protege relationship with Walt, but I cringed every time she had dialogue. Nevertheless, I'll be reading more in this series.

The Unremarkable Heart and Other Stories by Karin Slaughter

I've been waiting patiently (for me anyway) for Slaughter's newest book due out next week but I saw my library had an audiobook of some of her short stories and decided they would help hold me over. I was a little caught off guard by how incredibly dark these stories are. Even though I've heard Slaughter speak in person and know she has a wicked sense of humor, I was still surprised. They are also very Southern in tone. I'm not sure if someone not exposed to Southern culture will grasp the more subtle jabs. This collection will not rank among my favorite of her works, but at least the completist in me is happy I can cross them off the list.

Picture Me Dead by Heather Graham

Ashley Montague is more than halfway through the Miami-Dade police academy and she's happy with her decision to become a cop. She's known cops all her life, they often frequent her uncle's bar and treat her like family, though the newest badge to appear rankles Ash the wrong way. Detective Jack Dilessio has been haunted since the death of his lady-partner five years ago. Some say Jake and Nancy were closer than partners and his continuing obsession to prove that her death was murder doesn't help quash the rumors. Ashley becomes involved with a highway accident investigation which may be more than it seems and strangely, it links up to Jake's favorite past-time. As they work to solve the case, sparks begin to fly between the almost-rookie and the senior detective.

This romantic-suspense caught my eye the other day after seeing a review here on LT. I liked Ashley and I liked Jake and I liked the two of them together. What I didn't care for was the case itself - it failed to hold my interest. The red herring was just annoying when it was revealed to be a red herring. The end was too sugar-sweet. Not sure I'll be reading more of Graham.

The Third Gate sounds interesting.

The Cold Dish has been on the wishlist for a while. Looks like I'll have to get around to actually picking it up one of these days.

Your summary of Picture Me Dead caught my eye. Is it part of a series, or can it be read as a stand-alone? I don't want to commit to a super-long series if I can help it!

@hailelib, if you like thrillers by Child/Preston or say, Michael Crichton, then you'll probably enjoy The Third Gate.

Hey Wolfy, Yes, you should make time for The Cold Dish. I can't wait to read the next in the series.

Hi Christina! Glad to see you around. Picture Me Dead is listed in Graham's "Suspense" series but the books list different characters. The characters in Picture Me Dead aren't linked to any other books so, I'm not sure what makes it a series. I think it's a stand alone or can be read as a stand alone.

Nice reviews! I'll probably get to Wolf Hall eventually, because I'd like to read all of the Booker winners. The Cold Dish sounds like one for the wishlist as well.

Yes, good reviews! Thanks for the warning on Picture Me Dead. Promising start, but it doesn't sound like my cuppa.

Hi Victoria, that's a great review of The Cold Dish. I am a big fan of Walt Longmire, although so far I have only read the first two of the series. I am recording the TV show and one of these days I will sit down and have a marathon!

Thanks Judy! Maybe if I catch up we can read one together? I can't wait to see the TV series. Let me know what you think of it.

That sounds like a good idea, Victoria. You just have one to read to catch up, but no hurry. Just let me know when you are ready to read number three.

I liked The Cold Dish a lot too. I've already got book 2 on hold at the library. That part in the blizzard was just amazing.

Hi Judy - Great! I'll let you know.

Cindy - you are right, the blizzard was my favorite part.

Tamar: a Novel of Espionage, Passion and Betrayal by Mal Peet

"The thing about Nazis," Ruud said, "is that they're paranoid, but they never see what's right under their noses. If they did, Hitler wouldn't wear that bloody silly little moustache."

Tamar is a novel featuring two different Tamars in two different times: A girl living in London and her namesake grandfather, a SOE agent who operated in Nazi-occupied Holland. Young Tamar always thought she knew the man she grew up with but after his death she goes on a journey of discovery. Who is Tamar really and what was the tension between him and his radio operator, Dart? What happened to them during the war and why would it affect her now?

I have a particular fondness for WWII YA books. This one is very good and I can see why it was awarded the Carnegie medal. The war-time sections don't seem particularly YA at all and I was pleased with that. Peet has done a wonderful job of capturing the flavor of living under the Nazis, that feeling of paranoia and claustrophobia and contrasts that nicely with the freedom the younger Tamar has. I'll likely go back to this one at some point just to enjoy those things that always pop out during a second reading.

Terminator Salvation: Cold War by Greg Cox

"Connor?" Ivanov interrupted. "Do we know this Connor?"
The name meant nothing to Losenko. He raised a finger to his lips...
"With respect, Captain, why are we wasting time with such nonsense?" He snorted derisively. "Skynet? Terminators? This isn't even good propaganda. It's science fiction." He shook his head. "Do they take us for fools?"

Terminator Salvation: Cold War is aptly named. Taking place before the events in the film, it shows an American and Russian military that are once again at odds. Safe under the water in their submarine, Losenko and his crew only know that, without provocation, America launched the nukes that slaughtered their families in Mother Russia. Through their radio they hear that an American, General Ashdown, has invited the remaining armed forces of the world to a summit. He wants to discuss the new global threat - the machines. But can these soldiers put aside their old grievances, pool their resources and, instead of fighting each other, fight together before they're all obliterated from the face of the earth?

I grew up in the 70s and 80s, when the cold war between the USA and the USSR was fodder for so many books, tv shows and movies that I still enjoy it as a plot device. Even though I've read quite a bit of Terminator fiction, nearly all of it has been focused solely in the USA. It was nice to broaden the spectrum a little. It's not a page-turner and it's highly forgettable but it was my entertainment for a few evenings anyway.

You're really doing well with this challenge! You've done some great reviews.

(and may I offer very belated Thingaversary greetings. I'm way behind on a lot of threads!)

Thanks Terri. I'm behind on threads too.

Criminal by Karin Slaughter

"Listen to me," she ordered.
But he didn't want to. He didn't want to know what she had to say.
The parole board had met. They had let Will's father out of prison.

I have been addicted to the Will Trent series ever since LT sent me an Early Reviewer copy of Broken. Will is such a fascinating character and even though there are big events for him in Criminal, he doesn't feel like the main character. In fact, this episode is very much Amanda's book, in the way that Fallen was Faith's book. Amanda Wagner has never been my favorite. I think she's a difficult character to love and here, through many flashbacks, we find out why that is so - mainly, carrying the burden of being her father's daughter and struggling for acceptance and respect at work. We learn that Amanda is much more important in Will's story than just being his boss. So, that part was interesting, but I didn't find myself enjoying the flashbacks themselves. Parts of this book were difficult to read as a woman and I'm sure Slaughter wrote it that way on purpose to draw attention to the conditions of the time. I mostly enjoyed the modern-day sections where Slaughter reveals huge chunks of Will's history. After parceling out scraps to us in past books, this one feels almost like a gluttony. And the ending - it's quite a jaw-dropper. Enjoy!

Hi Victoria!

I just finished Criminal a few minutes ago. The ending is just as you described a jaw-dropper. Wow!

As much as I love the interaction between Sara and Will, there's that part of me that hopes the next book is the one where Sara and Lena have a showdown over their unfinished business!

Zipped over to Bookmooch and snagged #1. Just what I need - another series.

Hi Betty! Yes, the danger of hanging around LT!

Available Dark by Elizabeth Hand

I had not read the blurb summarizing the plot of Available Dark so I was surprised to find it is a sequel to Generation Loss. Yes, I do trust Liz enough to delve into her novels blind but I also know from experience that there's no preparing for the rabbit hole I usually find myself in.

So, we return to the world of pill-popping, punk photog Cass Neary, who is still under suspicion for the way she left things in Maine and is looking to skip town. A fan affords her just the opportunity when he offers to pay a substantial fee for Cass to go to Helsinki and authenticate some one-of-a-kind photos. They are, like her work, on the morbid side and she is instantly captivated by them. It seems the long, bleak Scandinavian winters and the old pagan ways combine to create quite a dark place, in more ways than one. A darkness that threatens to envelop Cass, possibly extinguish her light forever.

i have always loved Liz Hand novels. They're part hippie and part punk and all atmosphere and mood. Like Alice in her Wonderland, I find myself lost in the adventure and never sure at the end which was real and which was imagined. She's so evocative and resonate that sometimes it takes a few days to shake off the cloak her book has thrown over me. This one is a solid entry in her cannon - not my favorite but definitely not at the bottom of the pile either.

Elizabeth Hand -- I had forgotten about her. Glad you enjoyed the book.

The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe

He reached for something inside his jacket. Instantly my sword came out and at his throat again. "Slow, buddy," I warned. "No hurry now."
"Okay, okay," he said easily. With two fingers, he withdrew a tightly rolled parchment, sealed with wax. "I'm just the messenger."
I recognized the seal, and blood pounded in my ears as I broke it...The message was short and, like all the best messages, left the reader with only one course of action. I rolled it up and stuck it in my bags.
"I ought to say no," I told the young solider... I gestured towards the moonlit road ahead. "Lead on, then, Mr. Anders."
"Sir Michael", he corrected with another grin. "But you can call me Mike."

And so Baron Edward LaCrosse of Arentia is on the case. His old pal Phil, that's King Philip actually, needs his help in the worst way and he can't say no. Maybe it's because Eddie feels guilty about how he left things when Phil's sister was killed. Maybe it's because the new Queen looks vaguely familiar to him. Eddie knows deep down that something's not right in the kingdom. No amount of gold is going to cover his expenses this time, this case is going to require some of his own blood.

Last month, fellow 12-12er @majkia wrote "Private dick with sword. How can that go wrong!" I was instantly intrigued. Noir mixed with fantasy, would that work? It does! It's kings and castles meets gangsters and dames. It's all that you love about both genres, together. Bledsoe really has something here. I could not tear myself away, it was a one-sitting-read. Can't wait 'til the next.

>91 RidgewayGirl:. Kay, I actually thought of you while reading Available Dark because of your love of Scandinavian Crime novels, but I'd hate to start you in on book two of a series. I don't think you'd absolutely need book one though if you want to give it a try.

I am tempted...

The Sword-Edged Blonde is already on my wishlist because of majkia's review. Nice to get a second opinion though. I should also consider adding Generation Loss as Elizabeth Hand's contribution in Stories was one I actually liked quite a lot. Will be good to give one of her novels a try and that might be the place to start.

Oh my, how did I miss previous references to the noir/fantasy hybrid? I definitely need to check that out!

I'm not familiar with Elizabeth Hand's writing, but your review has intrigued me. I may add this series to my list!

Great review of Available Dark. I've heard Hand writes great female characters, even older ones. I've got one of her books on my shelves, but haven't gotten to it for years. Must fix that!

Midwinter of the Spirit by Phil Rickman

They're not poltergeists, they're volatiles. It's not possession, it's squatting. It isn't an exorcism, it's Deliverance.
Parish priest Merrily Watkins has been appointed as Deliverance consultant by the new Bishop and she's not sure she's up for the job. It's a bold statement putting a young, attractive woman in such a role and Merrily understands Church politics. What really weighs on her heart is whether she's strong enough to face true evil, even when she finds it within the walls of her own cathedral.

I wasn't prepared for the length of this book and when the librarian plopped it down on the counter I was a bit surprised. Rickman takes his time laying the ground work, building the burn, but like a lot of thrillers once it picks up steam it goes quickly on from there. Frankly, I found the beginning creepier than the end. Towards the middle it just stopped working for me.

Live from Cape Canaveral by Jay Barbree

Some individuals are lucky enough to be present at the genesis of something special and such is the case with Jay Barbree. He was a young journalist when he first filed a report on Sputnik and his world changed that very night. He moved to Cocoa Beach and began to transmit radio reports from the Cape for NBC News.

Barbree tells it all. Snatches of unguarded conversations overheard in the men's room. The day he and Alan Shepard took cover under the same pylon while a tower rocket off a Redstone spectacularly blew itself up over their heads. He remembers the night Gus Grissom begged him to go national with the story that Apollo was not safe and not ready to fly and his intense horror a few days later when his friend died in that very capsule. The Christmas evening he spent covering Apollo 8 and had dinner at a coffee shop counter with John Glenn. The glory of the moon landings. The hope he felt during the Apollo-Soyuz program. The lean times when he had to take a newspaper job to cover his bills because Apollo was over and the Shuttle was not yet flying. His awe at seeing Columbia lift off for the first time. His outrage over seeing both the Columbia and Challenger destroyed due to bad decisions. The heart attack he suffered while jogging on the beach which didn't end his life, but did end his candidacy for Journalist in Space program.

Yes, Barbree saw a lot of history. He's billed as the only reporter to cover every mission flown by astronauts. I wasn't quite swept away by his telling and I think it's mostly a stylistic thing. He is a man of his generation and I grew up in a much younger time - reporting has changed a lot. What I did take from Barbree is his incredible optimism. He believes there is a future in space. That we are going back to the moon and someday, to Mars. All of his years, the friends he lost, the politics that he saw played out, have not tarnished the shine on his sheer joy at the endeavor of space exploration. He wants to be around to report on America's next launch and I sure hope he is.

Oh man, couldn't the editor have had the author chop down the middle! It would go on my WL if it wasn't for that length thing you mention.

Frankly, I found the beginning creepier than the end. Towards the middle it just stopped working for me.

I think I had the same kind of reaction to that one. I noted great atmosphere . . . very creepy in the beginning . . . but not quite sure what to make of the story. It did keep me turning pages, but didn't leave me satisfied with how the whole thing played out in the end. It was just too much.

Live from Cape Canveral sounds so interesting - great review!

>102 tymfos: @tymfos - yes, exactly.

>103 LauraBrook: Thanks Laura, I'm enjoying my Space Race category.



My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick

Peter and his father, Tomas, work in the forest surrounding the village Chust. Tomas is a haunted man, he drinks most of their earnings away and young Peter shoulders the heavy burden of making their living off selling cut wood. It's only after the village succumbs to hysteria and Peter sees the dead walking that he understands why Tomas drinks so much. And only Tomas' secret can save them now.

I didn't know if I was ready to tackle another YA vampire book. They seem to be all the rage these days and that isn't always a good thing. I had heard some good buzz about this one. It does capture the vintage vampire village lore quite well. (Say that three times fast!) I liked that flavor about it, it just didn't have enough edge for me. I wanted more from it and I think I'm expecting too much, being a YA book. I don't think I'll continue with the series.

Postcards from No Man's Land by Aidan Chambers

Jacob Todd has always been a bit in love with Anne Frank. When his grandmother is unable to travel to Amsterdam to attend a WWII anniversary memorial, he willingly goes in her place. What waits for Todd is more than he could have ever imagined. The truth about his grandfather's actions and what happened with the Dutch family who hid him from the Germans. The telling of the tale, and the people who tell it, unsettle Jacob deeply and he must discover how to move forward.

Yes, another YA WWII book for my collection, I do enjoy them. The historic tale was much as I imagined it would be. The book was sprinkled with several Dutch phrases which I found interesting, nice local color. The modern part of the story was more than I bargained for. A little preachy, I thought, about 'free love' and how unnecessary the institution of marriage is. I wouldn't recommend it for young teens.

Death Without Company by Craig Johnson

Sheriff Walt Longmire visits Lucian for their weekly chess game and finds an elderly woman deceased. Not an unusual event at the Durant Home for Assisted Living, but at the former-lawman's insistence, Walt agrees to do a little digging. It isn't long before he and his friends are nearly killed while uncovering the truth about who she was and what she did so long ago.

I am falling hard for this series. I like Longmire, I love Henry Standing Bear and I'm even warming to Victoria, though I'd love to wash her mouth out. There is a great dynamic within this cast of characters and I'm excited to watch Johnson flesh them all out. I love the tone although its hard to nail down - a modern western with Indians, but no livestock or maybe a detective noir without the city. Whatever it is, it's good.

Thanks for the review of Postcards from No Man's Land. I've seen the book before and thought it seemed interesting, but preachy doesn't sit well with me or the average teen. I'll read it if it falls in my lap, but won't go looking for it.

Haven't been posting reviews lately... need to catch up.

Met with @RidgewayGirl and @thornton37814 today *waves* and after lunch we attended a bag sale for a local literacy group. Got a few gifts and lots of fodder for my paperbackswap account and a few for Mount TBR, all for $10. Like I have room for these on my TBR...

The Dark Horse by Craig Johnson
The Moonlit Earth by Christopher Rice
Blind Fall by Christopher Rice
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
Sympathy Between Humans by Jodi Compton
The Bridge by Lisa Tawn Bergren
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Angelology by Danielle Trussoni
Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks
The Painter from Shanghai by Jennifer Cody Epstein
Interred with Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell

Nice haul! I really liked The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society when I read it a couple of years ago. Interred with Their Bones has been in my TBR stash for quite a while. I keep meaning to read it but other books keep getting in its way!

You were much more restrained in your book acquisitions today than I was! Do I dare post my list?

How fun!!! I'm sure the literacy people were rubbing their hands together with glee when they saw you three walking in. & Ridgeway, of course you must post your list!

You said that you had picked up a lot for Paperback Swap, but I didn't realize how much of your bag must have been for it until I saw the size of what you posted compared to what I posted!

Carrie, we missed you. Would love to read Interred With Their Bones with you any time - no rush.

Kay, post your list, pretty please.

Lori, yes, I rarely find a whole bag just for my TBR so if I see things to swap I snatch them up. I got a few things for my brother-in-law too. He lives overseas and books in English are so expensive for him to buy.

Some of the things I got will probably languish in my TBR pile for awhile while I read others in the series ahead of them and while I get other books off the TBR pile.

Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo by Nicholas de Monchaux

A man on the moon: one of the most iconic photographs in history. But you don't really see the man himself, do you? What you see is the spacesuit he wears. That suit is a wonderment of engineering and chemical design. Nylon, Lycra, Nomex, Neoprene, Mylar, Dacron, Kapton and Teflon made it possible to survive the rigors of the lunar environment but the truth is that men were able to walk around on the lunar surface because women knew how to sew.

When engineers and designers first went about creating a spacesuit they naturally looked at other garments for inhospitable environments - the hard deep-dive suits of the ocean and the pressure garments worn by fighter pilots. There began the two schools of thought: hard or soft? Is the spacesuit clothing that a man wears, or a container for the man within? There were many designs from many companies - the pictures in this book are really wonderful to browse - but, as we know from photos and videos, the soft suit won out.

It wasn't that soft was ultimately the best design. Cloth was prone to ballooning and was more susceptible to corrosives and micrometeors but it was the constraints of the rocket that would launch the mission into orbit that made the final decision. Weight and space in the capsule were really at a premium. Soft suits collapse and weigh less, so they were the final choice. ILC won the bid and they came through for NASA. Oh, that's International Latex Corporation - maker of Playtex bras and girdles. That's correct, women who made lingerie handmade the garments that kept the Apollo astronauts alive in the vacuum of space.

What I find amazing is that an agency that demanded so much redundancy for it's hardware went with a manufacturing process that really hinged on a few individuals. Parts of these suits were sewn on one or two specialized machines and only a few seamstresses had the skill and the knack to get them correct. In a time when all the astronauts, managers and engineers were male, this was a process in the female domain.

Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo does showcase a great story but it does not utilize a traditional narrative structure. It's a rabbit-warren of a book, each chapter a topic that may or may not discuss the spacesuit directly but all come together in a mosaic to give you the flavor of its genesis. Honestly, I did lose my patience with it a time or two but ultimately I'm glad I stuck it out. It's uncovering facets of the space race story, such as this, that continue to make it interesting even today.

Excellent book haul - congrats on making Mt. TBR even more perilous! :)

@115 - very interesting, some of those nuts who think no-one ever went to the moon use many fallacious arguments but one relevant to this book is that a spacesuit was impossible to make in the 60's....

>108 VictoriaPL:
What a tasty bookstack! :D

And great review of Spacesuit. I'm fascinated by the science of space travel, so I'll have to check that one out.

Great bookh haul!

Farewell Neil.

Marooned by Martin Caidin

"What news have you?"
"It is as we expected, General. It seems we were correct all the time. There is no question but that the American cosmonaut is experiencing serious difficulties."

Major Dick Pruett has lost count of how many orbits his capsule has made. It doesn't really matter now. He will only go down in history as the astronaut who didn't come home. His retrorockets failed and, even powered down into 'chimp mode', he doesn't have enough oxygen to last until his orbit decays naturally. NASA has given him some cock-eyed plan to shoot a Gemini up as a lifeboat but, who are they kidding, that bird ain't nowhere near ready to fly. But Dick swears he can see a capsule outside his window and that sucker was definitely not made in the USA.

In his book, Live from Cape Canaveral, Jay Barbree names Marooned as the impetus behind the Apollo-Soyuz program. First published in 1964, just after the conclusion of the Mercury program, it was very timely. A film of the book followed in 1969, four months after Apollo 11.

Caidin's aeronautic expertise really comes through, there are many technical passages and jargon sprinkled throughout. I found Pruett's background story captivating but I did find myself skimming some passages on the Vostok just to get back to the story. And I can see how the story, especially when it was first published, would have started some really interesting conversations. Could one spacecraft overtake another? And what would the Russians have done with a highly knowledgeable astronaut?

Marooned really puts me back in the Space Race mindset and I enjoyed it.

Strange Candy by Laurell K. Hamilton

It has been nearly a decade since I've read an LKH book. She just got too bizarre for me. But I confess to a love of her debut novel, Nightseer, and I've often wished she would write a sequel to it. Apparently there are Nightseer fans more tenacious than I and Hamilton actually mentions them in her acknowledgements. I am glad they persisted because among the stories in this collection she has included several in the Nightseer world. It's a nice fun collection. Most of these stories are older, before she had made it big, and are lighter in tone. A Lust of Cupids is actually my favorite of the bunch. This is old-school Hamilton and I enjoyed spending time with her again.

Still waiting for your Kill You Twice review...

Hi Victoria, haven't seen you around for awhile, I hope all is well.

ETA: I see you are around on the threads, just not been here for awhile. Did I miss a new thread?

Hey Judy! You are so kind to ask after me. Yes, I'm good - just got a little overwhelmed with RL for awhile. Working my way back to "normal" but I am so far behind on reviews I don't even know where to start.

Glad everything's ok, Victoria. Don't sweat the reviews, maybe just do a series of mini-reviews - one line about each book would do nicely.

What Judy said. ;-)

Just nice to have you back!

Adding my amen to above posts!

Thanks guys! Here is a quick catch-up...


Kill You Twice by Chelsea Cain
Always enjoy being back in the world of Archie and Gretchen. I knew Cain was really giving us 'the goods' this time with the reveal of Gretchen's past. And of course, Susan is wonderful to have in there to ground the whole thing in reality. I think she's the most real character of them all. I thought there were a few too many reveals in the plot and that made it feel a little cheap. But true-to-form, I can't wait to read the next.


Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard
By way of introduction, I only read this because Christian Bale's performance in the film was so good. Did I enjoy the book? Not terribly. It seemed to drag on endlessly just as, I'm sure, it felt to the internees in those camps. What did strike me is sometimes Ballard would paint a word picture in my head that was, at the same time, both beautiful and grotesque. I will never eat Spam ever again.


The End of Everything by Megan Abbott
I really enjoy Abbott's noir. This book was quite different from that, and I didn't like it as much. That may not have anything to do with the writing, but my emotional involvement with the tale. It was full of such bittersweet moments between Evie's father, his oldest daughter Dusty and Evie's BFF, Lizzie. I was a huge Daddy's girl myself and it brought back so many feelings.


Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
I couldn't fit this in my film category, because although I'm aware of it, I haven't yet sat down to watch it. I picked this one up at a sale when @RidgewayGirl encouraged me to try it. I have to say, when I had labored through 150 pages and Corelli had yet to appear, I built up a little grudge against de Bernieres. But, when Corelli finally appeared, I liked the character a lot. It's really a book full of character pieces and I think that was my problem with it. I became so involved in keeping track of everybody, I would lose the larger plot.


Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Gone Girl, the "it" book of the season. After waiting not-so-patiently, I finally got a copy from the library... and devoured it. Seriously, I haven't gone through many books this year as quickly as this one. I was a little worried after I didn't love her second offering Dark Places but Flynn is back in top form here. She really pulls the rug out from you about halfway though, but in a good way. It's great when you can't anticipate the rollercoaster an author is taking you on. The only negative for me was the ending, I disliked how it resolved and I can't say why, sorry, I try not to do spoilers.


What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman
I've heard quite a bit about Lippman so I decided to try her out. This one has good reviews but it wasn't a winner for me. The question of identity, the long-ago child abduction, the modern-day mystery, it just didn't work for me. It was very interesting reading this so close to The End of Everything. I'm not adverse to trying Lippman again.


Possession by A.S. Byatt
Picked this on up at a bag sale, it sounded interesting. Read in tandem with @AnneDC *waves*. At times the poetry passages became too long to hold my attention and I skipped a few. I liked the letters, though, and that's something because I'm generally not a fan of epistolary novels. Literary mysteries are fun though, and this one was much more genteel than say, The Dumas Club. I figured out some of the plot and that was a little disappointing. The scene setting settled around me like a fog and I felt lost in the book for several days after completion.


UnWholly by Neal Shusterman
This is the sequel to Shusterman's much discussed Unwind. I really dislike the current trend of making YA books into trilogies. I don't think Shusterman intended to do so, but it's kind of like George Lucas being unable to walk away from Star Wars - he just keeps fiddling with it. This one has that you're-stuck-in-the-middle-so-you-won't-get-a-resolution feeling about it that can be such a buzz-kill in trilogies. I need closure. Shusterman did do some interesting stuff, especially with person-hood - as he did with the Everlost books - but it was not enough to keep me engaged. I'm not sure I'll be back for the last one.

Glad to see you back, Victoria.

Lots of good reading!! I've been looking at Empire of the Sun too because of the film, but I think I'll skip it. :) I have Gone Girl on the wishlist and quite a few people have mentioned the ending but not said anything direct for fear of spoiling - getting anxious to getting to it to see what it's all about.

Yes, glad to have you back. I had the same reaction to Possession that you had. I wanted to like it more, but it was so poetic that the pacing was approaching zero. I love her short stories though. Pace isn't an issue then. You just kick back and enjoy her prose and the thick mood she creates.

Good to see your review on Gone Girl. I'm somewhere in the 900s on the waiting list at the library. Hopefully I won't get my rash to the "in" book before I can get a copy of it.

Hey Victoria: Good to see you back! Nice synopsis of your reading too. I was obsessed with Gone Girl when I was reading it, and when I got to the end it was like, what the heck?

Victoria, have you seen the movie version of Possession? I liked it, although if I remember correctly, a lot of things were cut (presumably for time).

Lots of interesting books there. I have Corelli's Mandolin on my shelf; good to know about how long it takes for him to show up. A friend keeps offering my Gone Girl but I haven't had a chance to accept her offer yet. Still working on what I already have.

135 Christina, No, I haven't. I'll have to add it to my Netflix queue. Thanks!

I haven't seen the movie version of Possession, but I would suggest avoiding the movie version of Corelli's Mandolin at all costs!

Kay - Really? Not a Nick Cage fan?

I will continue to patiently wait for Gone Girl to be available at my library. So sorry to hear about Unwholly. I might have to get it for my library anyway.

I go back and forth on Mr Cage. He was perfect in Valley Girl and Raising Arizona, but you can't deny he's made his fair share of stinkers. For every Moonstruck there's at least two Con Airs or Corelli's Mandolin.

But I will give that he commits everything to every film he makes. Unlike Mr John Cusack, who taught me never to see a movie based only on an actor's presence therein.

Which Cusack film left a bad taste in your mouth? I'm dying of curiosity.

Serendipity. We'd gone all the way into Munich to the cinema that showed films in English and I was bitterly disappointed. What a poorly written and badly acted film that was! Generally, I like heavy eye-liner on a guy, but even that was not enough to distract me.

That's one I've missed. Thanks for that image!

I think the worst thing that ever happened to Nicolas Cage was his winning of the Oscar. He was then launched into leading man status and was in every action film going. He's much better at the quirky, strange parts as in Raising Arizonia, Matchstick Man, and Wild At Heart.

ETA: Whoops, I originally came here to say it's great to see you posting, Victoria, and I love these short capsule reviews.

I'm a big John Cusack fan -- in some things. RG, I agree that "Serendipity" is pretty bad, but I absolutely love "Grosse Pointe Blank." You win some, you lose some. :)

Besides not watching much TV, I don't get to a lot of movies either. However, I do like John Cusack. He's a big Cubs fan and I've seen him, sometimes close up, at Wrigley Field.

Thanks Judy.

I like Cusack too, but I "grew up" during the 80s so I thought it was a requirement. I think the last film I saw him in was Martian Child.

Blackout by Connie Willis

WWII. London. Time Travel. Should have loved it but didn't.
I was frustrated with our band of historians - they weren't doing much besides lamenting the pitfalls of their own technology and the rescue that isn't coming. I understand they're meant to observe and instructed not to act for fear of influence, but still. Why should these characters be interesting to me? It is only part one of the tale, the warm-up perhaps, but I'm not really inspired to continue on to part two. I would probably enjoy a film adaption of it though. I'm much more forgiving when grand cinematography and a pretty/handsome face are available.

Blackout looks like one I can happily avoid so I will. Glad to see you posting Victoria!

I was a bit disappointed with Bellwether so I'm glad to see your comments on Blackout. I'd be annoyed by a historian just watching it happen too - and it's sort of territory Star Trek already covered. Not London, but time travel to WWII.

Good to know our habit of disagreeing isn't going to end anytime soon!

LOL - I don't think we need to worry there, Kay. But keep in mind, we did agree on The Book Thief

And The Children of Men, Chelsea Cain and Queenpin. They are the exceptions that prove the rule.

Really enjoying Rocket Men. Less interested in the history of rocket building than I am in the actual Apollo 11 mission though.

I got chills when I read the speech that Nixon would've given had Armstrong and Aldrin not returned from the moon.

Linda - I am hoping to make real headway on Rocket Men now that I have finished Peaches (which has to go back to the library ASAP). Speaking of...


Peaches for Father Francis by Joanne Harris

Scrying with chocolate is an uncertain business, closer to dreams than to truth, more likely to throw up fantasies than anything that I can use. It flutters like dark confetti, each piece an ephemeral fragment, gleaming for a second and then going out like a blown spark. For a moment I think I see Roux; then I recognize Reynaud, walking, head lowered, by the Tannes. Reynaud as a vagrant, unshaven and pale, carrying a rucksack with a broken leather strap. What does it mean? Why Reynaud?

If you were paying attention, you might have gathered that Peaches is a sequel to Chocolat - it's the third in the series. Actually, I think it fits nicely as a direct sequel, as if The Girl with the Lollipop Shoes had never been put to paper. And although Lollipop is okay, I believe Peaches is a superior work.

It is so nice to be back in Lansquenet again, with all the familiar faces and plenty of new ones too. And Vianne, wading in and stirring the pot in her own magical way. I always love Harris' knack for small villages - how everyone changes and doesn't at the same time. If Chocolat was Vianne's book, Peaches is Reynaud's. I never thought I would feel such affection for him, but he's grown on me.

Peaches for Father Francis arrived at the library last week. I'll have to catch up before I read it, but it's on my radar.

I've heard mixed reviews of Willis' more serious books. Though I did really enjoy her lighter hearted books (Bellweather and All About Emily), I probably won't pick up Blackout any time soon.

Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon by Craig Nelson

"Feeling weightless...it's...a feeling of pride, of healthy solitude, of dignified freedom from everything that's dirty, sticky. You think well, you move well, without sweat, without difficulty, as if the biblical curse 'In the sweat of thy face and in sorrow' no longer exists. As if you've been born again... You can love the earth with all the love in the world; returning is regret, is sorrow."
- Wally Schirra

Obstensibly a biopic about the three astronauts who flew the Apollo 11 mission, Rocket Men actually casts a much larger net. With a field-trip into the history of rockets and a historical perspective on the Space Race in general, there are times you wonder if Nelson is ever going to talk about Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins at all. Not that I didn't find these passages interesting, I did, but I just wasn't expecting them.

Nelson freely quotes large passages from dozens of individuals throughout the book but sometimes his own clever scene-setting shines through.

These were the MOCRs, Mission Operations Control Rooms, where Mission Control did its work, modern caves of industrious silence, blinding fluorescence, and the reverberant odors of pizza, smoldering ashtrays, burned-to-the-bowl coffee, and greasy Mexican takeout.

I've read several books on the Space Race and seeing it linked to the Cold War is nothing new, but I was impressed by the way Nelson laid down the groundwork to explain the how and why. He sums it up so nicely:

Perhaps the most important reason for going to the Moon, then, is that the Space Race kept the Cold War cold.

There is quite a discussion about Sputnik, a good backgrounder on the fear and speculation of what Russia could do during those fly-overs that drove our side of the Race. And even though some would not agree with it, I thought this quote was a really interesting perspective.

"The Soviet Union, in the eyes of the world, had suddenly become a genuine superpower, not just a backward and brutish empire to be feared because of its sheer size, territorial ambitions, and aggressive technology, but a true and equal rival of the United States, a beacon of progress that deserved respect for it's technological prowess and forward thinking. Moscow, for once, held the high moral ground to this new phase of the contest, because Sputnik, as opposed to Hiroshima, could be touted as a purely peaceful and scientific achievement." Sputnik historian Matthew Brzezinski

I also learned that quite early on, President Kennedy had asked Khruschev to end the Space Race and instead launch joint missions between the USA and USSR. He asked more than once, actually. Nelson makes a good point:

If Kennedy had indeed served out his terms as president, would he have ultimately succeeded in ending the Space Race, which after his death, would be run, in great measure, in his name, and on behalf of his legacy.

Nelson also uses snips of interviews and remembrances to humanize the three men, to let their quirks show through and chip away at the "gloss" that was shellacked on them by the press at the time.

"I remember one day picking up a copy of Life magazine with a story on us in it...I remember reading the story and thinking, 'if only it was like that.' Here were all the happy contented wives and children smiling out from happy backyards with husbands standing proudly by. Well, the fact is that the husband probably flew halfway across the country to pose for the picture, the kids were half-strangers to him.... My kids had been forced to reconcile...the father they saw on television with the one they saw at home... often inattentive, tired, and asleep on the den sofa by nine o'clock." - Buzz Aldrin

And then Nelson gives us nearly a blow-by-blow of the Apollo 11 mission. There are some really interesting moments here.

"We'd watched hundreds of landings in simulation, and they're very real, and on this particular one, the real one, Buzz Aldrin called out 'We've got dust now' and we'd never heard that before. You know, it's one of those, 'Oh, this is the real thing, isn't it. My God, this is the real thing." -Jack Garman

I enjoyed Rocket Men and I'd definitely recommend it for anyone wanting perspective on the Space Race or just interested in the Apollo program. Enjoy!

Rocket Man looks good! The whole space program is really fascinating to me, so I'm sure I'll enjoy it. :)

Thanks for stopping by Andrea, I hope you enjoy it. I also enjoyed Lost Moon and encourage you to try that one as well.

I could've done without all that rocket science history from Nelson, too. A bit was necesssary, particularly as to how some of the Nazi scientists ended up coming here and some to the Soviet Union.

I thought he did a nice job of putting the space race into a political context.

I did too Linda, and that I enjoyed the political section really surprised me! Thanks again for recommending it!

The Hunter from the Woods by Robert McCammon

Sometimes at night, when he could sleep, he awakened with a start to feel the wolf coming out. Just sliding out of him, first the rippling bands of hair and then the searing pain of bones reforming. The smell of his own animal in his nostrils. His mouth in agony, his gums starting to be ripped apart, the taste of blood from new fangs. He always slammed the soul cage and locked it before he went too far...but the wolf was always there, and it always yearned to break free.
Life aboard a freighter was not suitable for lycanthropes.

Of Robert McCammon's works, there are only a handful that I've read more than once. And when asked my very favorite, the answer comes easy: The Wolf's Hour. Michael Gallatin, lover of women and slayer of Nazis - Her Majesty's lycanthrope is a difficult character to forget. But now The Wolf's Hour has a challenger because McCammon has written a new volume featuring Gallatin.

The Hunter from the Woods showcases six episodes in Gallatin's life. From youth to grizzled elder, we see how the years and the lifestyle have formed the man... and the wolf. I chewed through these so quickly but I couldn't stop myself from devouring the lot. Of the six, the one I enjoyed the least was The Wolf and the Eagle, it just didn't hold me rapt. But that was more than made up for by The Room at the Bottom of the Stairs and Death of a Hunter. Those are masterpieces - well paced, well written and well worth the wait. Like one of Gallatin's companions, I am left not sated but only wanting more.

Looks like I'll have to add at least The Wolf's Hour to my wishlist. Not heard of it before so thanks for bringing it to my attention.

I'm surprised to hear that Wolfy. Let me know what you think of it.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day: The Book of the Film: an Illustrated Screenplay
by James Cameron and William Wisher

The techs move aside and suddenly John Connor is standing beside him. Connor...their grim messiah...He fixes Reese with an intense gaze. There is so much he wants to say, but cannot bring himself to. Finally Reese speaks.
REESE: Did you know I'd be the one who volunteered?
Connor nods.
CONNOR: I've always known.

There is a man in his forties playing with two small children nearby. He turns. It is John Connor.
SARAH (V.O.): John fights the war differently than it was foretold. Here, on the battlefield of the Senate, the weapons are common sense...and hope.

You don't recall those scenes from Terminator 2? That's because they were cut - Terminated - you might say. The face-to-face between Reese and Connor was never filmed but Sarah watching her grandchildren and their father, the Senator, was and this book has the pictures to prove it.

The Judgement Day script went through seven drafts, additions and revisions. Here you can find what ideas never made it to film, what characters were combined and what dialogue was ad-libbed on set. Additionally there are over 500 film stills and storyboards illustrating the facing text, though most are in black-and-white. But what I found particularly interesting were the 'production notes' which detailed the evolution of a scene and often contain the kind of trivia fans love to discover. Question: do you know how many hands the T-1000 has while pursuing the SWAT van in the helicopter? I'll wait why you slo-mo the DVD...

Yes, interesting, huh? I also enjoyed James Cameron's introduction. Like a man who's about to pull back the curtain and show you the goods, he's really candid about the writing process.
"I hate writing. It is the most tedious, solitary, terrifying part of making of a film. It is the moment when the creative die is cast, although it will take months, maybe years, and millions of dollars to find out if the throw was lucky... The problem is that when you're writing, you can't think of that awesome responsibility or you won't ever get a single word down on paper. You have to divorce yourself mentally from the director-self which will be sweating months later under the yoke your writer-self is creating. And to take responsibility for the financial success of a multi-million dollar project at that fragile stage of creation is the death of art... With a kind of abandon, I pre-absolve myself from the responsibility of creating stunts and special effects in the real world, and plunge into the story as if I am writing a novel, rather than a screenplay which is only a means to an end.

So if you are looking for a Terminator fix, or are just a student of story-craft, you might want to give this one a try.

Death Comes to Pemberly by P.D. James

"So you are saying on oath that you found the body of Captain Denny with a bloodstained Mr. Wickham leaning over him and saying, not once but twice, that he was responsible for his friend's murder."
And now the silence was longer. Darcy felt himself for the first time like a baited animal. At last he said "Those are the facts, sir."

Once again I have dipped my toes into some Austenesque fiction and it was not some kind of paranormal monster mashup with zombies or vampires. Yes, it is Death Comes to Pemberly, a most genteel sequel put forth by the respectable Ms. James. This was actually my second attempt to get through the volume, and though I did finish it, it was due to determination and not because it held my attention throughout. In fact, the prologue was my favorite part - James can summarize Austen beautifully but when she switched from backstory to her own plot, I felt a distinct difference. What did I not like? I needed more spark, more depth from these characters - they were too sedate. I know, I know, Austen is all about propriety and manners but the lady was also very funny and I didn't sense much humor here to wash it all down with. Ah well.

Sorry about that, Victoria. I guess a few vampires might have helped that one.

I know a couple of ardent James fans and they were not taken with Death Comes to Pemberly either., One one them felt let down by the book.... kind of like you mention in your review. Suffice to say, I am not in a rush to try the book out for myself. I am thankful to have LT members like yourself try out some of these books first!

Yeah, I wasn't a fan of Death Comes to Pemberley either, even though I love Austen and I love mysteries. I think my problem with the book is that it wasn't a good Austen spinoff (no real interactions between Lizzy and Darcy, for one thing!), and it wasn't a good mystery either. Just boring, boring, boring, in my opinion.

Agreeing with the above about Death Comes to Pemberley - I found it entertaining to read it for the style-mixes, but it wasn't a great read in any way. @RidgewayGirl is right - adding a few vampires might not have been a bad idea. :)

The Wolf's Hour is definitely going on my list, as well as The Hunter from the Woods. They both look great.

The Terminator 2 book sounds fascinating, too. I love behind the scenes looks.

It's nice to know I'm not alone on Pemberly.

Andrea, enjoy the McCammon.



Heat Rises by Richard Castle

Even a priest found dead in a dominatrix's sex dungeon seems like nothing out of the ordinary for Detective Nikki Heat. But it's the ones you never see coming that get you, and this case sends ripples right through the precinct and all the way to 1 Police Plaza. Heat's really in trouble this time and it's up to her boyfriend, writer/journalist Jameson Rook to save the day.

Can I be honest? As a fan, it's sometimes difficult reconciling the differences between the show and the novels. I have to keep reminding myself that this is not a continuation of the show, it's the story Castle embellishes. I particularly didn't enjoy book #2 and even putting myself in the right head space did not help that one in my estimation. I was hesitant to pick up book #3. But, I am happy to say, this one really felt like the series. The one-liners were there and they sounded just like Castle. I don't know if they switched writers or what - but I am happy for the change. I'm even looking forward to book #4.

Rook asked, "Did you really stab him with an icicle?" When she nodded, he said, "Please, tell me you said 'Freeze,' because that would be only perfect."

Victoria - I've seen a couple of good reviews for Mansfield with Monsters here in the local press, you might like to check it out.
I'm not going to bother with Death comes to Pemberley, don't think I've seen anyone really take to it.

I agree with all the other posters regarding Death Comes to Pemberley. It was such a disappointment and a bit dull.

Failure is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond by Gene Kranz

If you've seen the movie Apollo 13 you might remember the actor Ed Harris, who portrayed Flight Director Gene Kranz. Kranz is mostly known for his leadership during the Apollo 13 crisis but he was also running the show when the Apollo 11 astronauts first landed on the moon. Kranz earned his position in Mission Control early on in the Mercury program, having written most of the original mission procedures from scratch. It was a difficult job to do because to develop these he had to first understand what actions had to be done during the mission, why they were necessary, which order they had to be accomplished in and what impact each had on the program overall.

Kranz was mentored by Chris Kraft, famous for stating "I am Flight. And Flight is God." Kranz recounts early episodes in the MCC - power squabbles between flight controllers, astronauts and vendors - that could have been dangerous to the missions underway. He made me understand why Kraft would lay down such a hard line; that when possibly-fatal, split-second decisions had to made, there was no room for vacillation. Discipline was very important for flight controllers. They had to be clear on the plan and they had to execute without delay.

Once spaceflights were long enough to require that the consoles be staffed 24/7, flight controllers were divvied up into shifts. Kranz was known as 'White Flight', Kraft was Red and John Hodge was Blue. When the astronauts were awake and performing tasks (the "execute" portion of the day), Kraft's Red team was in charge. White team then would come on duty, see the astronauts to sleep, make reports about which tasks were completed and how many consumables were used that day. Then Blue team would digest all that, make a flight plan for the next day and wake the crew up. It was a stable, dependable support system that worked throughout Gemini and Apollo.

During the Apollo 13 situation, Kranz made it clear that everyone working the problems had to absolutely believe they were getting the astronauts home alive. It was vitally important that they have that confidence and that they projected that confidence to the press, to their families and to the world. Kranz had the conviction, the courage and the drive needed to motivate and lead his team through those dark hours.

Reading Kranz's recollections of his time in The Trench during the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs showed me the machinery behind the accomplishment of planting the American flag on the Moon. It was hard work - not every one at NASA could bunnyhop in the moondust - some had a lot of paper to push around. Those men at the consoles were just as important to the task as the astronauts who rode the rockets.


Kranz left, Harris right

That one sounds really, really interesting. (sigh) I guess that's another one to add to the list! ;)

I'm adding this one to the wishlist when I get into my non-fiction mood (it doesn't happen even close to often enough, though!) - sounds fascinating!

Yup another for the WL

Ditto.

Wow, visitors!
Sorry I have been AWOL from the thread, the j-o-b has been really tough. The plant that supplies most of my orders is in NJ, so it's been awful since Sandy came through. Nothing, of course, like the real hell the people who live there are experiencing, but very stressful, to say the least.
I hope you all enjoy the book!

The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn

Theodora Lestrange finds herself an imposition on her sister and brother-in-law after her grandfather's death. At a friend's invitation, Theodora travels to Transylvania and takes up residence in a dark and crumbling castle in the heart of the Carpathians. There, Theodora is set to be at Cosmina's side as she weds the Count Andrei Dragulescu. A happy occasion, if only Theodora herself didn't feel so powerfully attracted to the man. She writes her stories all day long and spends the long evening hours with the Count - a routine she could happily follow the rest of her days. Everything is fine until she finds her serving maid dead on the flagstones with blood at her throat. Are the tales she's heard around the village true - or just the imaginings of storytellers like herself?

So, this toothy tale was my Halloween pick. Haven't not read any of Raybourn before, I wasn't sure what to expect. At first it felt a little like Jane Austen but gradually transitioned into more of Anne Rice. It was a nice bit of candy - a little bit of sweetness and a lovely gothic flavor.

To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway

Most long-timers in our Challenge group know that I'm a Bogey fan. One of my favorite Bogart films is To Have and Have Not. It took me awhile to talk myself into the source material for the movie because I am no fan of Hemingway. But I was curious... and it turns out, I still am... at why the movie executives ever felt they needed to give this book a film credit. There's a Captain Harry Morgan and his boat and a rummy named Eddy. That's about it. Everything else in the film is Hollywood. Those rewrites really set me up for disappointment in this book. In the film Harry Morgan is an okay guy and you like him - there is nothing to like about the man on the page. He subsidizes his sport-fishing living by running liquor between FL and Cuba. And when he can't run liquor, he moves illegals. He's a selfish man who is not above stealing, lying and cold-blooded murder. Quite possibly Hemingway met a Harry Morgan in a bar and after sharing a bottle with him used the inspiration - but he's not a man I would ever care to know. The first quarter of the novel was readable but gradually it became less and less so - large portions near the end were just rambling. I was glad to see the last page.

I am a rather haphazard visitor and have found myself with time today to catch up on some threads. Joining the posters already commenting that the Kranz book looks good. I have only read one Raybourn so far and wasn't exactly in the mood for it at the time but this one might appeal to me.

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf

I have discovered an unconscious thread of child abduction running through my challenge this year - with The End of Everything, What the Dead Know and now in The Weight of Silence. Unfortunately Gudenkauf's offering does not hold up to Abbott and Lippman. And none of the three approaches Judas Child by Carol O'Connell, but I digress...

Actually, I was stalling because I don't have very much to say about Weight. There was too much going on - not just the kidnapping but the mutism, the alcoholism, the old flame - even the baddie was glaringly obvious. Like an over-seasoned dish, this story could not be enjoyed. Pass this one on by and have a second helping of dessert instead.

Seinlanguage by Jerry Seinfeld

The soda commercial people - where do they get this enthusiasm? Have you seen them? "We have soda, we have soda, we have soda!" Jumping, laughing, flying through the air. It's a can of soda.
Have you ever been sitting there watching TV and you're drinking the exact same product that they're advertising right there on TV? And they're spiking volleyballs, jet skiing, girls in bikinis. And you're sitting there, "Maybe I'm putting too much ice in mine. I'm not getting that effect."

My friend just had a baby. There's so much pressure to see this baby. Every time I talk to them, they say "You have got to see the baby. When are you coming to see the baby? See the baby. See the baby."
Nobody ever wants you to come over and see their grandfather. "You gotta see him. He's sooo cute. A hundred and sixty-eight pounds, four ounces. I love when they're this age. He's a thousand months. You know the mid-eighties is such a good time for grandpeople. You've got to see him. He went to the bathroom by himself today."

So, if you've seen Seinfeld, you'll realize this little book is filled with short blurbs from Jerry, which are the routines that close out the episodes. Like much comedy, some of it is too dated to be funny and others are so universal as to always be good for a laugh. I wanted a light, quick read and I enjoyed much of what was in here. I smiled quite a bit but honestly, nothing was gut-busting funny. I think some of the magic of a stand-up routine is the visual, the face-to-face chemistry, and a few of these would likely be a lot funnier if delivered in person.

The Colorado Kid by Stephen King

I first read The Colorado Kid six years ago. I came back to it now because I've been watching the Syfy Channel's Haven and I wanted to read the source material again. I couldn't remember a thing about it except for the Teague brothers. Well, I was very disappointed, so if you're thinking about doing the same, I can spare you the trouble. The TV show is its own creation. And I must say, besides the Maine-isms, it's not very King-ish stuff. Unlike his horror stories: The Shining or It or Carrie or Salem's Lot, there's no particular scene or character that really gets down into your psyche, King's usual playground. I would only recommend The Colorado Kid to completists.

Falling to Earth: An Apollo 15 Astronaut's Journey to the Moon by Al Worden and Francis French

Decades later, I am still angry. Upset at myself and others. It seemed like an insignificant thing at the time, when I was concentrating on flying and science preparations for the mission. But eventually it overwhelmed all the good work that we did and ruined my career.

Al Worden was a poor Michigan farm boy who became the first astronaut to perform a deep-space spacewalk. As command module pilot for Apollo 15, he spent six days orbiting the Moon all alone and performed dozens of science experiments during that time. Worden gives us details of the experience of weightlessness, how he feared he would make a fool of himself when he stepped on to that aircraft carrier because he had forgotten how to use his legs. In just two weeks his brain had rewired itself - even days after his return to Earth, he would push off a table with his hand and expect to move around the room. But Worden also tells of another experience few others have had - that of a disgraced astronaut.

Early astronauts were granted several perks - deals for Corvettes, contracts with LIFE and low, low mortgage rates. Business men were falling over themselves to be associated with NASA and the astronauts themselves were keen to supplement their military-grade pay. Flight crews were approached with opportunities to pack small things into their 'personal preference kit' (their luggage so to speak) that could be sold later. Personal objects taken up on flights were all vetted and approved by Deke Slayton, director of flight operations, and he tried to allow the men as much latitude as possible. It was after the Apollo 15 mission that the Senate decided to look into the issue of 'flown objects' becoming available on the collector's market. It wasn't that this crew was the first to try to make a buck off souvenirs, it wasn't that they tried to sneak things on-board their capsule without permission, it was just bad timing. NASA was a boy's club - but the boys at the top knew when to cut their losses - and Worden was sacrificed.

Even then, Worden does not lose himself in his bad fortune - this book is no pity party. He found a corner of aerospace to keep his hand in. He remarried. He ran for Congress. And many years later, he found the grace to raise money for an astronaut scholarship program - which ironically has him working closely with NASA. Falling is an interesting journey told in an engaging manner. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to those interested in spaceflight memoirs.

Trickster's Point by William Kent Krueger

Krueger's Cork O'Connor series has been a mixed bag for me. I loved the early books but I've disliked everything since Heaven's Keep. I decided to give Trickster's Point a try and I'm glad I did. This one has several episodes from his school years that were nice to fit into the puzzle that is Cork. I now have hope for the next one...

I haven't gotten that far with the Cork O'Connor mysteries. Good to know there are a few duds but it gets better. A little more backstory on Cork sounds like it would be a good thing.

A shame about Colorado kid, still saves me a book bullet :)

You couldn't stay away, could you?

Nope. Cork is a guilty pleasure for me.

I had The Weight of Silence on my list of books to read, but a look at it at the library made me doubtful for some reason . . . your review decided it. Off the list!

Falling to Earth sounds interesting but I'm sure I'd get all indignant that he was treated so unfairly. Not sure I want the annoyance factor.

Cork is a favorite for me, too. Not that far along, but glad there's at least one good one in the later books, too.

Glad to hear Trickster's Point is a good one. I need to read another in that series because I enjoyed the first I read.

>191 cammykitty: Katie - I always like backstory on Cork.

>192 clfisha: Claire - are you a Haven watcher or just a Stephen King fan?

>195 tymfos: Teri - Glad that Weight came off your list - life is too short. That leaves time for you to enjoy more of Cork!

>196 thornton37814: Lori - Enjoy the Cork O'Connor series. I tried to string them out, piecemeal throughout last year.

Join me on my third thread for.... the final countdown!