Jim53's reading in 2013

Starting a new year with great intentions: to read better books and do a better job of reflecting on them. First up is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which looks very interesting. It's about a woman whose cancer cells, harvested by doctors at Johns Hopkins, have played a huge role in medicine, in research but also in issues of informed consent and related topics. I'll finish it before my meetup group discusses it on the 8th.

Jim, I think there might be a discussion thread on that book here in the GD. Clammy has a link to all the threads on the main page at the top. It might be fun for you to read it before your group meets, or after. :) It's never too late to comment on the book discussion pages here, either. I'm sure everyone would like to know your thoughts on the book after you read it. I haven't read it myself, but a lot of our members did.

Glad you have a reading thread again!

I loved The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. :) It had an interesting mixture of personal story and science which made it very approachable to non-scientists.

*lurking, starring*

http://www.librarything.com/topic/114899

http://www.librarything.com/topic/114900

Looking forward to your thoughts too, about your reads this year as well as The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I enjoyed it but ended up with mixed feelings, not about the book itself but about the benefits to science vs the rights of the donors.

Thanks to all for your comments, and especially to Clam for the links. We went to see Lincoln last night, so I'm thinking about that more than the book at the moment, but I have to get back to Henrietta and finish her story in the next couple of days. I've gotten to where Rebecca is running around with Deborah, which I'm finding more engaging than the previous section.

Finished Henrietta last night. Really interesting story, and I'm glad I read it. I haven't written a review because I don't think I have much to say that hasn't already been said. To me the key question is how I would feel if I were Henrietta, or if I were her child. As a person from whom cells would be taken, if asked for my consent to having them used for research, I would insist on being able to get as much information as I wanted about the research and its goals and methods. I'm just annoying that way. And if I had a problem with the research or its goals, I would absolutely want to be able to say, destroy my cells. Do not use them in this way.

On the financial aspect, I think the consent form for use of my cells (or organs, or whatever), should enable me to indicate that if commercial use is made of the results of this research, I either do or do not waive any claim to any financial benefit. In the case of the Lacks family, where no such provisions were in place, should they receive some payment? My heart says of course they should, since someone is reaping the benefits provided by their mother's cells, and they are in need. But who, exactly, should be required to give them something? Skloot doesn't really get into who made how much money from the HeLa cells, so there isn't enough info to say. And the fact that they can't afford health insurance is a problem unto itself, not even related to HeLa, but perhaps I shouldn't go there.

I thought the author succeeded in avoiding preaching to the reader about the "right answer" of what should be done. Leaving this for the thoughtful reader to ponder is one of the strengths of the book. Her depiction of her interactions with Deborah and her family was also well done. She does a good job of telling the stories of the relatives without judging them. My initial impression was that she had done a great job of mixing the different types of information, but I found the third quarter of the book slowing down quite a bit, before she and Deborah got together and got into investigating things. Overall the book is well organized. I'm not sure if the list of persons was really needed, but it didn't hurt anything. The author did a nice job of documenting her assertions while retaining a story-telling tone rather than sounding like a textbook. This is the best book I've read so far this year!

I'm also being affected by the fallout from this story: I'm trying to investigate a problem with my father-in-law's health insurance, and because of HIPAA, I have to jump through all sorts of hoops to get the various parties to talk to me. No fun, but I'm glad that some other arbitrary person can't call in and get his information.

"I haven't written a review because I don't think I have much to say that hasn't already been said."

There's always space for a new voice, you can't fill up the internet. What you've posted up above would make a fine review! - and it will be able to be read by everyone interested in the book, rather than just those who are following your thread here!

#9 - I was thinking the same thing, that post is an excellent review!

I know what you mean, Jim, about a book which has numerous reviews already. I will spend less time introducing the book if that is the case and more time explaining my reactions/thoughts about the book. Mostly so I remember down the road when I can't remember what I thought! I spend a bit more time on a review if a book has 10 or fewer reviews.

I enjoyed reading that book, too. I especially was impressed at the lengths to which the author went to get the story, and to develop a trusting relationship with the family involved. Goodness knows, they had not previous experience which would lead them to be trusting.

It is one of those weird ironic tragedies that they do not have the resources to afford health insurance. I think one of the medical institutions involved could just provide that.

I am following you, Jim, because you like Kay and to see what you make of those other mysteries if you pursue them. (lurked before anyway).

For a non-review, you did a pretty good job of saying what you thought about the book. I used to not bother adding a review if there were already a ton there but had it pointed out that those with similar tastes to mine may find it more helpful than a review from someone they don't know so now I just add my comments regardless.

Thanks for your comments and encouragement. I have copied my comments into a review as suggested. MrsLee's point about it helping me to remember the book was crucial. I've looked at a couple of books that I've read and wondered, which one was that? So having a review, even though it might not add a lot to the prior discussion, seems like a good idea.

I've just started a re-read of The Last Unicorn for the Green Dragon's January group read. It's been a long time since I read it--I still have my 95 (hmmm, I don't have a cent sign on my laptop!) Ballantine edition. Should be fun to revisit after all these years. I'm also reading The Choirboys, because Katy Munger has raved about Wambaugh's characters. And then there's ... and ... and ...!

Seeing as you went to the trouble, only seems fair to award a thumb for your review. I have The Choirboys and a couple of other Wambaugh's on the tbr shelves so looking forward to seeing what you think on that one.

I had forgotten about The Choirboys. I remember friends at shool having read it and boasting about if. I had to check the book page to confirm it was the same book. I must keep an eye out for a copy.

pgmcc, I wouldn't bother. The Choirboys seems exactly like the sort of thing that schoolboys might brag about reading, at a certain point. It's vulgar and puerile, with only some instances of mild entertainment to compensate. It's a collection of stories about police officers, and the misadventures they get into. Some of the characters are rather well drawn, but to no point that I can see. I might finish it just to see if there's some jewel hidden near the end, and so that I can tell someone I tried it, but at this point it has fallen behind a couple of other reads.

In addition to The Last Unicorn, I'm reading Benny Carter: A Life in American Music. Carter is one of my favorite musicians, and this book was a milestone in jazz scholarship. Lots of interesting details about the music business and the effects of race relations between the world wars. Nicely written and a fascinating subject.

Wolfy, thanks for the vote. Reminds me that I need to look for opportunities to vote for others' reviews.

#17 Jim53

Thank you, Jim, for saving me a bob or two.

Peter

Finished The Last Unicorn last night. Thoughts in the group read spoiler thread.

The Benny Carter book is a bit heavy for reading in bed, so I'm reading one or two pieces each evening from 27 Views of Durham, which was a Christmas gift. It's a collection of brief essays, poems, and even a couple of stories about this interesting place where we've lived for several years now. The first few have been interesting and/or funny.

ETA: I found a copy of Dunnett's Rum Affair online today, so that will get into the queue pretty quickly. Based on Janny's comments and sample, I'm eager to check it out.

I finally got my copy of The Last Unicorn so hopefully I'll start soon. *avoids looking at SPOILER thread*

For anyone who might be interested, I started a thread on Guy Kay because of all the conversation about him in Janny's thread. Please come join!

I liked your musing about The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Medical research is so woven with ethical and regulatory concerns nowadays that it's easy to forget why we have to have them or how we'd feel if ours were the cells being used. I had some discussion about this with a friend just last weekend whose medical history is as chequered as mine is. However, she works inside the medical/pharma community and has a completely different view of how to manage the process than I have as a layperson and as a patient.

I finished Benny Carter: A Life in American Music. Loved it! Berger does a great job of making scholarship easy to read. Very interesting look at jazz and the music business, with the primary focus on one of my favorites. Hmmm... that's two excellent nonfiction books this month, which is unusual since I generally prefer fiction. Maybe that will change if I keep finding these great nonfiction books.

Heh - a challenge. Shall we egg you on? (re, additional interesting nonfiction titles?)

Egg away! I've also been peeking at The Library at Night, based on Athabasca's description. The language is quite lovely. Some of my next few titles are dictated by my reading groups: Proof Positive, Proud Shoes, and The Yellow Birds. And of course The Rum Affair, which is en route, and maybe a quick re-read of The Lathe of Heaven for the February group read, and who knows what else. I'm following the principles of agile software development, which say that priorities can be changed at regular intervals based on input from customers and stakeholders. In terms of my reading, it just means I can change my mind at any time ;-)

#26I'm following the principles of agile software development

Excellent. It's the way forward.

So, if you time box the reading of a book does that mean you give up on it if you have not finished it during the iteration?

;)

#27 - *wipes coffee off the screen*

Sorry. Don't let me interrupt you.

*shakes head*

Hee hee. "As a reader, I want to finish my book within this iteration, so that I can start another." 10-20 books a year are typically for monthly book clubs, so they're definitely time-boxed. For the rest, I either:

accumulate debt
classify the book as a multi-sprint epic
exercise my prerogative to lengthen the slog, er, sprint

Once in a great while I give up on a book, but usually I just postpone it till I have finished another more urgent user story. Fortunately I have a very tolerant project manager.

#29 I thought you might do a moscow prioritisation of which pages to read.

Finished and reviewed Proof Positive. We saw the worst crimes being committed and didn't have to solve them along with the protagonists. Somewhat interesting in that there was not a single central star figure, but more of an ensemble cast. Didn't inspire me to run out and look for more.

#30 afraid I'm still a waterfall guy once I'm inside the book.

Also read Dilbert: Seven Years of Highly Defective People, as a palate cleanser before I start whatever comes next. It stands out a bit among the Dilbert collections because of Adams's comments on the origins of the characters, how well some story lines didn't work, etc.

About half way through The Yellow Birds. We know that one character doesn't survive, and the narrator hints at something unusual having happened. Pretty smooth going so far, in spite of the depressing topic (Afghan war). Some nice language and images.

Finished The Yellow Birds and wrote a brief review. The context is the war in Iraq, not Afghanistan as I mistakenly posted earlier. Chapters alternate between the in-country experience and the first-person narrator's post-return issues. Despite the grim content, I found it an engaging read because of the language and good sensory details. Looking forward to the discussion in my meetup group.

Dunnett's Rum Affair arrived today so I'll be getting to that soon.

I'll be curious, watching to see how you make out with Rum Affair.

I've been reading Nevada Barr's High Country a little bit at a time during lunch at work. Getting near the end, I brought it home and finished it this evening. I found the national park setting interesting, and a lot of the details about employment there. Anna Pigeon is an investigator for the park service, who goes undercover in Yosemite after four resident workers disappear and cannot be found. The story twists and turns and stays pretty interesting. It's harder to appreciate it after reading in many small chunks. Fairly average overall.

Trying to see if I can create a view visible to others that will show my reading for the year. Someone who feels like testing, please tell me if this link seems to work.

Took me straight to your catalogue page for the "read 2013" tag. Good idea.

#35 - I think "fairly average overall" was my rating for it, too.

Several chapters into Rum Affair. Just came out of the cave with the champagne. Something about the way in which Victoria was described caught my eye, but no sign of a gold tooth. Johnson is an intriguing character; will we run into anything for which he isn't prepared?

Thanks, Sylvia!

The series is young, yet. ;)

Oh goody, the copy of Louise Penny's A Trick of the Light that I found cheap on eBay has arrived. Number seven in the Gamache/Three Pines series. Into the queue it goes.

Finished Dunnett's Rum Affair and wrote a review. Shades of, oops, I can't say the name, for fear of spoiling the story. I know at least one other person (jillmwo) has been reading it too; maybe it would be worth a spoilerific conversation after she's done. I liked several things about it. I've just started a slow re-read of The Lathe of Heaven for the GD group read while I decide what else to start or finish next.

Oh, do make a spoiler thread for Rum Affair I will join in with pleasure - it has such a startling twist it would be awful to spoil it, I agree.

Set up the spoiler thread! I'll play.

The spoiler thread for Run Affair is here. I'm making virtual popcorn. Invite your friends!

Finished my re-read of The Lathe of Heaven. Lots of interesting ideas. I'll save mine for the spoiler thread when it opens.

Also wrapped up 27 Views of Durham. Some repetition among the essays, but several very interesting points of view. Review coming Real Soon Now. There wee several mentions of Pauli Murray, and I'm turning to her next.

Still working on Proud Shoes. It's interesting, but a bit of a slog in the middle section. Hope to finish tonight.

Finally finished digesting and reviewing Proud Shoes. I was surprised not to have found any other reviews here on LT. I found some of it frustrating, but overall it was a very worthwhile read. I'll have to find another source for more details of her adult life.

Stayed up late last night to read Carolina Moon. I had picked it up at a library bag sale, and I moved it to the top of the pile after winning her Life after Life from ER in January. I found some of it intriguing, but I guessed a lot of the connections and revelations before the end. Lots of characters, some drawn pretty well, and entertaining looks back at recent years.

Been sick for a couple of days, which is one way to get back to reading, I guess. Just finished The Dragon Man, a police procedural set in Australia. Not great, not bad. Interesting in that he shows us more of the personal lives of some of the police than some books I've read.

Also zigged and zagged through Safari Survivor, one of those "Twisted Journeys" volumes where the reader, presumably a middle schooler or older elementary school student, makes choices that determine the path taken through the book. Written by my sister and her husband. Didn't know they were so bloodthirsty--I died several ignominious deaths by choosing the irresponsible paths. Fortunately I had lost consciousness through dehydration before the flesh-eating ants finished me off.

Started A Trick of the Light, one of Louise Penny's Three Pines/Armand Gamache mysteries. Off to a very promising start.

But how will Alexis ever get back from Paris? Will Rick and Kate have to go there next week?

Safari Survivor sounds great! I think my 8yo would love it :oD

I wish I'd had time to read Lathe of Heaven with this month's group read. It looks like it has a lot of interesting concepts, like you suggest. :)

Away for a few days to visit the Parental Units, as our kids used to call us. Nice un-rushed visit. Had time to finish A Trick of the Light and I just posted my review. Penny's series is similar to Julia Spencer-Fleming's Miller's Kill series, in that there are continuing characters about whom we come to care. This one wasn't great as a solve-it-yourself mystery, because the solution depended on information that the detectives pulled together near the end, but the ongoing story lines are intriguing. Second mystery that I've read this year that uses Alcoholics Anonymous; the other was one of Julie Smith's New Orleans capers. Penny's style is improving; she's definitely becoming a favorite. Wish she'd participate in ER!

My January ER book, Jill McCorkle's Life after Life, appeared while we were gone, so I'll start that this evening.

Thanks for stopping by, Sandragon and Hibernator! I've been enjoying lurking in your threads.

Enjoying McCorkle so far. Didn't realize it had been 17 years since her last book. She's another of the zillion writers in nearby Hillsborough.

Cute line from Life after Life: Mom, her youngest son, Paul, had said years ago, please fart just once so we know you aren't an alien.

Finished Life after Life several days ago, but had trouble getting my thoughts together. Finally completed my review today, even though I don't think it really captures the book. I gave it four stars because of the well drawn characters. Ironically, I finished it while visiting my father-in-law in his nursing home.

Now, after reading several books for ER or clubs, I get to pick one just for fun. I decided on Thursday Next: First among Sequels. I'll tell my wife about it tonight.

Finished First among Sequels. Great fun, 4 1/2 stars. Fforde applies an extra layer of postmodernist self-reference and does to himself what he originally did to Charlotte Bronte. He describes the genres floating in the great Nothing; do the Thursday Next books lie somewhere connecting mystery, fantasy, humor, postmodernism, and who knows what else?

I've been reading stories in The Great Frustration from time to time since receiving it as a gift. Many of the stories are a nice blend of humor and intriguing ideas. I read the last one tonight. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but for a form I don't read a lot (I prefer book-length novels, as a rule), I found it pretty enjoyable.

I picked up three small volumes by Ruth Rendell at a library sale. Started with Make Death Love Me. A bank manager likes to take money from the safe and fondle it on his lunch hour. One day, while he does so, two thieves rob the bank and kidnap the sole teller. The manager escapes unnoticed with the money he had out.

We don't see anyone working to solve the crime; instead we follow the two inept robbers, stuck with the teller, holed up with no idea what to do, and the manager, starting a new life under an assumed name. Events proceed to a rather predictable conclusion.

I know Rendell is very well regarded, but this one did nothing for me. I finished it only because of her reputation. The next one is short stories featuring Reg Wexford; maybe I'll like that better.

Finally getting around to reading Rebecca. Almost to the point where they're having the dress ball. Very atmospheric; lots of mysterious things to wonder about. I keep wanting to smack the narrator (figuratively, of course) (do we ever learn her first name?) and tell her if she's worried about something, ask someone instead of imagining the worst. I assume we'll eventually have to figure out what happened to Rebecca, but the characters don't seem to be worrying about it yet. Interesting to meet Mrs. Danvers, after seeing her evil clones in Jasper Fforde.

#60 Is this part of a conspiracy to get me to read Rebecca?

Wanting to smack her is a common reaction, and no, you never will know her name. Terrific book though. du Maurier is a favorite.

#61, hee hee, no, Peter, just a coincidence, if such things exist. I still vote for Alfie Bester. If you like TSMD, you could try his other classic, The Demolished Man.

PS I just peeked at what we should borrow from each other, which I've just discovered recently and is quite fun. I often find a book that I've read or have in the garage and forgot to put into my library. I remember when I was working at NCSU in the late 70s and everyone was reading Garp. It's an interesting mix of stupid and hilarious. You might consider it for a future trip.

I remember loving Rebecca. It was a very long time ago, but yes, intense atmosphere, creepy mood, lurking mystery . . . delicious. And I was totally not expecting the ending. I hope nothing spoils it for you.

Actually, I think I may prefer My Cousin, Rachel to Rebecca, but they are both indicative of a woman who mastered the craft of creating tales of ambivalence and and mystery.

For the record, I liked Bester's The Stars My Destiny. It certainly kept my attention!

#63 Jim, Garp is one I am on a promise to read for a friend. He has told me that if I don't like it we can no longer be friends.

No pressure!

The Stars My Destiny will be my sample for Bester. The Demolished Man will be next.

Last night I got to the point in Rebecca where the large boat is beached (reefed?) and the diver discovers the smaller boat with the skeleton in it. Maxim tells Number Two that he shot Rebecca, but I don't believe him, not yet anyway.

#63 I just had a look at the "what we should borrow" lists as well, and like yourself, I found books that I have obviously not catalogued, e.g. Endymion.

By the way, the same friend who TOLD me to read Garp recently recommended Little, Big, a recommendation that was independently repeated by another friend within the week. I see it on the list of what I must borrow from you, so have you read it and what do you think of it?

I was told that if I have managed to read House of Leaves then I should be interested in reading Little, Big.

I've never read Rebecca, nor any other Daphne du Maurier book. Just one more author that I always tell myself to read and then never get around to! :( It'll happen someday though!

Rebecca has been on my to read list for a long time. Some years ago I remember watching a tv series where a group of celebs tried to persuade folks to read their favorite book - someone suggested Rebecca and let slip what seemed to me to be a very significant (maybe the significant) plot development and I've been waiting until I forgot it to give it a go. The good news is that despite racking my brain his evening, it turns out I cannot remember the spoiler and it looks like the book is back on the cards!

I tried Little, Big a long time ago and found it a little too sixties-ish or something; I don't remember very clearly. A lot of people really like it, so I imagine I'll try it again one of these days, although lately I've been adding so many books to my reading list that I'll probably never come up for air.

#71 I did a few rough calculations earlier in the year and concluded my library contains approximately 99 years of reading material for me to get through. I found this reassuring.

:-)

I read Little, big a few years ago and found it heavy going. I got rid of my copy upon finishing. Yet it has stayed in my mind haunting me since then, and I've had to acquire another copy because I want to reread it. (Don't you just hate that?!) I guess my advice is to borrow it and see what you think.

#73 Thank you for the tip.

I have been looking on-line for available copies and it is farily expensive. If I see it going cheap in a second-hand bookshop I will pick it up. Otherwise it will be on the long finger.

Been away for a while, traveling for work, then quite sick for a bit, and recently with a big deadline at work. Finally coming up for air, at least a bit.

I finished Rebecca and must see of there is a discussion thread. I have a variety of comments and questions for others who have read it. The last eighty pages or so flew by in a rush compared to the earlier parts of the book.

I started my early review book, TransAtlantic, while I was sick and had a lot of trouble with it. I had very high hopes because I really liked much of Let the Great World Spin. I'll have to come back to it. While I was miserable I couldn't face anything else new, so I read Tigana yet again, as well as some of my favorite parts of The Book of the New Sun, and that kept me going.

I just finished Sister by Rosamund Lupton, which I liked quite a bit, and added my review to the dozens that are already there. Excellent mix of mystery and family drama. I'll be discussing it with my library group tomorrow night. Then it's time to try TransAtlantic again, I guess, although I also picked up a copy of The Beautiful Mystery last week and am eager to jump in there too.

Glad you're back, and well Jim. If there isn't a Rebecca thread, start one. I don't remember there ever being a thread here in the GD.

Finally completed TransAtlantic and wrote a review. I liked it a lot, although some of the sections worked better for me than others. One thing he did a lot was to use sentence fragments as he described someone's thoughts or experience. This worked very well for me and enabled him to keep these passages moving well. I'm not sure it was quite as good as Let the Great World Spin, but I definitely wasn't disappointed.

Work and family issues are still kicking my butt, so I'll probably go with something light or even a re-read next.

Started Curse of the Spellmans, an extremely silly mystery, which is nowhere near good writing but seems to be about what I need right now.

I worked in a company where one of the partners was called Spellman. He was not a nice person. I could see the title Curse of the Spellmans fitting perfectly in that company.

These Spellmans are sort of nice, I think, although not all there. I didn't have any trouble sticking with the book; the nearly humorous, episodic story that didn't challenge me at all was about all I could manage. Now back to the question of what next? Has anyone read Humboldt's Gift? For some reason it was waving at me when we unpacked all the books from the garage a week ago. Also considering several others, including The Beautiful Mystery and A Bed by the Window.

I decided to go with a couple of re-reads before I tackle anything new. For no reason that I can explain, other than seeing it mentioned here somewhere, I pulled out Ender's Game. I hadn't read it in a long time, although i remembered most of it pretty clearly. One thing that came through very clearly this time was the extent to which Ender is a puppet, manipulated by the military to serve their ends. He doesn't really agree with their end-justifies-the-means approach, and he is perceptive enough to let it change his life. (assignment: compare and contrast Ender and Severian as characters unwittingly controlled by others...)

I also zipped through Dragonsinger. In general, I'm unimpressed with the Pern books, but this one for some reason strikes a chord. It can be helpful when I'm down. Something about the girl who is brilliant but unsure of herself strikes a chord of some sort.

Now I'm part way through The Moving Toyshop. The tone is entertaining; seems more like a giant joke than a real mystery. But we'll see.

Edmund Crispin writes very broad, farcical humor. Just roll with it. Bits of it are very, very funny.

Absolutely right, Jill. He starts off with a serious-sounding situation and once Fen gets involved, all heck breaks loose. I looked on imdb because I couldn't believe noone has made a movie of this. I see it was done as an episode of a series, but never a feature film. Wouldn't it be a riot? Crispin makes sure that we don't take it too seriously. He doesn't bother making the two men spend any time looking for the shop owner--he just has her overhear them in a pub and introduce herself. Efficiency! And Fen kills time by thinking about giving Crispin new titles for books.

This was my first one of his books. Four stars. I'll have another. Anyone have a recommendation for or against any of this others? Does the order matter?

I see that there's a group read of Till We Have Faces for May, so I started looking back at that today. I read it a million years ago and remembered bits and pieces. Almost right away, old Jack displays his usual sledgehammer subtlety by having the tutor ask Orual what the baby's name would be in Greek. Can't trust those readers to make the obvious connection! Assuming I decide to stick with it, I'll put any further comments into that discussion thread.

>83 Jim53:: I liked Buried for pleasure better than The moving toyshop; they're the only two I've read so far. They are fun, though I think Fen would be an exhausting person to spend time with!

Thanks, Sakerfalcon. I'll keep an eye out for it.

I tried to read House of Stone for my meetup group but just couldn't get into it. So I went for some comfort food of sorts with the latest Kenzie-Gennaro mystery from Dennis Lehane, Moonlight Mile. Interesting to see P&A with a kid, not to mention "Uncle Bubba." This one wasn't quite as good as some of the earlier ones, but still grabbed my attention and held on to it, as all of his books seem to do. 3 1/2 stars.

Wow, I've been away for a while, partially because I was having a tough time pulling together my thoughts for reviews. Since I've been here I've finished several reads:

Moonlight Mile: A recent addition t Lehane's Kenzie/Gennaro series. It was good to see Patrick and Angie again. They're married and have a daughter. When the aunt of the girl whom they found in Gone, Baby, Gone tells them that she's gone again and begs for their assistance, how could they resist? Some interesting twists and surprises. Motivated me to find a copy of Gone, Baby, Gone, which I'm reading now. 3.5 stars.

The Hidden Law: found this one in the library sale rack at my father-in-law's retirement community. Interesting story of a gay Hispanic lawyer in Los Angeles, solving a mystery while dealing with big issues in his personal life. Fourth in a series, although I didn't realize it while reading, and I don't think I missed a lot by reading out of order. 3.5 stars.

The Changeling Sea: another re-read featuring a teen-aged girl who is more gifted than she realizes. Hmm. McKillip does a nice job drawing from various fairy tales and giving us some likeable characters. If you like her stuff but haven't read this one, check it out. 4 stars.

The Beautiful Mystery: Louise Penny's eighth Gamache mystery is not set in Three Pines; it's set in a secluded monastery where a monk has been murdered. I thought about writing a much longer review, but ended up just capturing a few basics of the story. I really enjoyed seeing the bliss at the beginning of the book, and I was horrified by parts of the conclusion. Penny definitely subscribes to the "keep piling problems onto your characters" school. Her writing improves with each volume. So close, but not quite five stars. 4.5 stars, and my 250th review--a nice round number.

The Blogger's Survival Guide: an Early Reviewer PDF file about lots of different aspects of setting up your own blog, making it attractive, keeping it legal, using it to make money. Seems quite comprehensive; I felt as if I should try all the steps to verify it, but I'm not ready to do that. 3 stars.

Before starting Gone, Baby, Gone I read about 80 pages of One of Our Thursdays Is Missing. He has some entertaining things to tell us about the Bookworld and how it works, but there's nothing of much interest going on. The Thursday who's narrating, the written Thursday as opposed to the real Thursday, who of course is also written but is one fewer remove from our reality--anyway, the one telling the story just isn't cutting it. The title is all too true: without the real Thursday we're like dodos without marshmallows. I might get back to it in a bit, but so far it was definitely disappointing.

Finished my re-read of Gone, Baby, Gone. It goes on and on, and then on some more. The twists were interesting, and the story as a whole is well constructed, but it sure does take a long time to begin seeing what really happened, and to deal with the repercussions of everyone's actions. I had a lot of sympathy for Angie's point of view, and I think her final action was appropriate, even though it was kinda painful.

Since then I've been reading John Scalzi's collection of entries from his blog. The book is Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded and it's great stuff. I liked Old Man's War when I read it several years ago, and I'm finding this one fascinating. He's a clear thinker and interested in a wide variety of things, and I happen to agree with a lot of his positions on things. The entries end in 2008, so there's nothing terribly current. I'm just starting to look at the blog itself at http://whatever.scalzi.com/.

Scalzi's book is great fun, with two- to five-page entries giving his witty, sometimes serious views on random topics. I'm leaving the last third for occasional reading in a very small room.

I've started The Anteater of Death--couldn't resist the title when I saw it in the library. Nothing too sophisticated, but very easy going, and good enough to keep going. Young woman from a wealthy family, divorced, horrifies her mother by working as a zookeeper because she loves it.

Finished The Anteater of Death but haven't reviewed it yet. She pulls together a lot of different threads and story lines, which keeps it from getting dull. Three or Three and a half stars. Now reading Quaker Witness, in which our new sleuth is a sixty-something widow who's the clerk of Cambridge, Mass, Friends meeting.

Finished Quaker Witness. The story is nice but the writing put me off. Completed brief reviews of it and Anteater.

Started Guy Kay's latest, River of Stars. It's not grabbing me at the beginning, but his track record is so good that I'd keep going regardless. I almost hurt myself picking it up--630 pages.

The man doesn't do short books. I can't make up my mind whether they are long because that's his favored approach or if it's because publishers have told authors that they want longer titles for the fantasy market. (Once upon a time, everything had to be a trilogy...)

He really likes to start numerous stories and eventually bring them together. I'm on chapter five and working on the fourth separate story. He loves to leave each one with a cliffhanger while starting a new one. He has long been infatuated with his own cleverness, and this is one of the ways he inflicts it on us. In spite of this, I somehow can't resist reading everything he writes.

This one has a little more than usual of the philosophical musings about how small incidents (or big ones) mark turning points in our lives. I hope that will ease up as the stories progress.

Further into River of Stars. We've come back to a few characters, who I assume will be our main focus. The connections among the stories aren't being made yet.

Drove over to Raleigh this evening to hear John Scalzi at Quail Ridge Books. About what I expected: pretty cool, kinda geeky. Still excited to tell stories about his daughter. He did a couple of readings, including one from his upcoming second collection of blog entries. I'm still enjoying the first collection, Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded, but it's kind of dated (ends in 2008), so the new one will presumably be more current.

Scalzi sounds like an interesting person to go see. I have a hard time keeping up with blogs, but I could probably handle them gathered in one lump. I'm tempted to give it a try. I really like his sci fi though. I just found out The Human Division, latest in the Old Man's War series, is out and I've requested it from the library.

Yeah, one of the things he read last night was from The Human Division. I liked Old Man's War pretty well, but I wasn't impressed with The Ghost Brigades and haven't kept up. Military isn't really my thing. I might go back and try some again at some point. I look at his blog occasionally, although lately it has a lot of entries about the tour he's doing. He does make a point of featuring other writers in his "The Big Idea" posts, including, recently, Durhamite Mur Lafferty, whom I must try now.

Military isn't really my thing either, but I like the humour and silliness, and I get distracted by the tech and the issues around cloning. Not the aliens, though. I find Scalzi doesn't do very interesting aliens.

Finally finished and reviewed River of Stars. It has some of Kay's usual virtues--he puts interesting characters into difficult situations--but my goodness he goes on and on. Speaking of going on and on, I finished it right before leaving for a long weekend with my sweetie to celebrate her putting up with me for 35 years. At one point we looked at each other and said, how the heck did that happen?

Now reading Olive Kitteridge, which is a nice change of pace. Just received a new ER title, Night Film, and finally got Wheat Belly from the library. I was originally #65 on the waiting list. So lots to read in the next little bit.

#100 Jim, congratulations on the 35 years. Have a fantastic weekend.

Thanks very much, Peter. We had a wonderful time visiting Colonial Williamsburg. My wife had never been there and I hadn't since college (trying to revive a relationship with my high-school girlfriend, who went to Mary and William--definitely an exercise in futility). We saw the archaeological work at Jamestown and had a lovely sunset cruise out of Yorktown. Glad to be home again, though.

Finished Olive Kitteridge. Very interesting approach, a series of short stories about the residents of a town; Olive plays a central role in some and is more of an observer or touchstone in others. Strout does a great job of making us revisit our picture of Olive as we see her through different lenses. I'll post a review soon, but I need to digest a bit more first.

Speaking of digesting, I'm just starting Wheat Belly.

Hi Jim, I have from time to time checked in on Scalzi's 'Whatever' blog and really enjoyed it, I just don't have time to read and post all the places I'd like to - including here sometimes. Communicating is time consuming! I used to try keeping up with Tad Williams and Orson Scott Card's sites, there just isn't enough hours in the day.

I have both River of Stars and The Human Division on my to read list.

Thanks for stopping in, Jim. I see you're almost neighbors with my granddaughter--she was born at Vassar Bros. You're exactly right about there not being time to keep up with everything! It's so easy to get online and look up a couple of hours later and say, "Oops."

I have to take Wheat Belly back to the library. Haven't finished it, but I find his arguments very convincing, so I'm going wheatless and will look for a copy of my own. We'll see if it helps.

I've started my ER novel, Night Film. Odd mixture of noirish atmosphere and absurdity. And way too many italics. You need to trust us to understand how these people are talking, Ms. P.

New thoughts about what I missed in River of Stars: (1) there are no interesting "bad guys." The Mongolian horde is quite faceless; they're a threat for a while but ultimately not very interesting. (2) I suspect the Chinese culture is more conducive to the excessive reflections of the characters. While we see a certain amount of "what if" thinking in Tigana, Arbonne, and Lions, the pace doesn't allow for as much rumination. I wonder if Kay chose the Chinese setting for these last two books because it suits his desire to ensure that his characters don't have a single clever thought that we don't hear.

Finally finished Night Film and wrote a review. It's an impressive bit of writing--she maintains a pretty strong atmosphere over a lot of pages. When her characterizations catch up to her settings, she'll be a wonderful writer.

Oh fudgesicles. My incredibly insightful review of Night Film didn't stick. I had to replace it with a more pedestrian one. Since completing it I've started All the King's Men for my meetup group. His descriptions are, shall we say, extremely thorough. I've been reading other, lighter fare at the same time, including a couple of ten-centers that I picked up at the same time as ATKM: Clyde: the Walt Frazier Story by the hoopster and a co-author is rather dreary, nowhere near as interesting as several other basketball books I've read, and Daybreak, Joan Baez's autobiography up to 1966 is mildly interesting, but of course her life got much more interesting after that. I also read Easy Prey, one of the Lucas Davenport mysteries by John Sandford, which was pretty good. Haven't managed a review yet for that one.

That is frustrating. I've done the same thing, poured my heart and soul into a review, or at least my guts, then lost it and written a very basic one. I used to use Lazarus to resurrect lost things, but have never installed it on my new computer for some reason.

108, 109: That is a frustrating experience. That's why I draft all my reviews in a .txt file (not Word, because the formatting doesn't carry over) and save as I go along. Not only did I learn the save principle a long time ago, the hard way, but I rarely complete a review in one shot. Sometimes they take weeks.

Summary of the first half of the year: 35 total books. more than I expected.

6 nonfiction, 29 fiction
3 Early Reviewers books
5 for my two library groups (I've been being much more selective, not reading all of them)

1 fabulous five-star book
5 wonderful 4.5-star books
9 very good four-star books
12 enjoyable 3.5-star books
... and a few others

The second half is off to a less exciting start, but I've accumulated a list of TBRs that will no doubt include some winners.

Please don't keep us in suspense! Which was the five star read?

The fiver was Benny Carter : A Life in American Music. A very enjoyable and informative, wide-ranging read. See my review (the only one) for details. Two of the 4.5s were the last two Louise Pennys. The whole list is right here.

Hmmm. I can see the appeal, but I've yet to see the wow of the Louise Penny mysteries. But as I've read them, I can see them getting better book by book, so now I'm really looking forward to getting to the newest ones.

Yeah, I've been enjoying the more recent ones quite a bit, although as someone else mentioned, the Gamache adoration is a bit much.

Currently reading Murphy's Law by Rhys Bowen. It reads like a YA story, although that wasn't what I was expecting. Has anyone else read her stuff? Is it all like this?

Finished Murphy's Law and wrote a review. Engaging but not special. Nearing the end of All the King's Men.

Picked up a couple of new books that will leap to the front of the queue: Gorky Park, for the July group read, and The Black Mountain, because of Julia's recommendation of Rex Stout.

I really enjoy Rex Stout too. He is one of my top three mystery authors, more for the fun of the stories and characters than for anything else.

117: Have you read any Nero Wolfe before? If not, you might want to start with a different selection. That one is anomalous in several ways.

Thanks for the warning, Meredy. I read The Doorbell Rang several years ago, and enjoyed it. I'll probably read others as well, now that I've been reminded of Stout. The reason I "chose" The Black Mountain is that it was sitting on top of a remainder pile in a grocery store on the day after I had seen Julia's post about Stout. I'll keep in mind that it isn't typical.

Thanks for stopping by, MrsLee! Who are the two others? I see several other mystery authors listed among your favorites.

Finally finished All the King's Men last night and wrote a brief review. There's an awful lot more going on than Willie's story. Jack Burden is a great narrator and shows us a lot of the development of his thinking about history, morality, and personal choices.

Getting ready to start Gorky Park for the Green Dragon group read. It's one of those books that I've seen and heard of for years, and thought about reading, but I needed a nudge to pick it up.

Dorothy L. Sayers
Rex Stout
Ellis Peters
Laurie R. King (Russell & Holmes series)

Oops! I sneaked another one in there, and to be honest, I might add Margaret Frazer. These are all on my top shelf and books I keep to reread. In fact I'm rereading some of the Sayers right now. Most other mystery novels I read and then pass on, enjoying the experience, but feeling no need to repeat it. Some others I've kept on my shelf because I might want to read them again someday, or loan them out, are A. Conan Doyle, G.K. Chesterton, Christopher Fowler, Alan Bradley and one by Josephine Tey.

By the way, I agree with Meredy, The Black Mountain is wonderful for the completely different way you get to see Wolfe, very atypical. There may be a bit of background of relationships you are missing, but I'm betting it will be fine on its own, too. Another of my favorites is Too Many Cooks. Again, Wolfe is somewhat out of his element. I think I love those because we see his weaknesses more, and yet he triumphs, if only to get back to his nice home.

120, 121: Stout is very good about filling in essentials so you can pick up anywhere, without burdening the knowledgeable reader with a ton of repetitive detail.

I came to The Black Mountain after having read quite a number of the standard-formula Nero Wolfes, with the detective sticking to his house and his routine and Archie Goodwin handling the legwork. The breaking of the supposedly fixed pattern was dramatic in itself, and the deep background on Wolfe was a revelation. I think a lot of the pleasure of the series would have been lost if I'd known so much all along. So that was my thinking.

But there's no reason why you can't enjoy a different experience of it. In the end we all read the same things differently.

That sounds as if it might really be a good reason to read a couple more Nero Wolfes before The Black Mountain. I think I can make that sacrifice.

Jim, it is great to see that there are still people in this world who are willing to suffer for their art.
:-)

Now you're making me think about going back and doing the Nero Wolfes all over again. It's been about 40 years. I remember the setting, the main characters, the style, the atmosphere, and even Wolfe's daily routine and the color of his pajamas...but not the particulars of plots and solutions. That might be like visiting my old playground. I think Fer-de-Lance was the first.

Fifty pages into Gorky Park. It's a bit bleak, but Renko looks as if he's going to be pretty interesting. I keep seeing Charles Haid in my mind, but I hope I'll get past that.

Meredy, Fer-de-Lance was the first, and ever so slightly not "right." But still an amazing beginning considering.

>126 Jim53:: I finished it - will post my thoughts on the Spoiler thread. I thought the depiction of everyday life in Soviet-era Moscow was brilliant.

Finished Gorky Park and participating in the spoiler thread. Not too much action there yet, so come visit!

Started Kate Wilhelm's The Hamlet Trap. First of her Liedl/Mieklejohn mysteries that I've tried. I liked the Bobby Holloway series quite well, as well as some of her SF.

Finished The Hamlet Trap and wrote the first review of it on LT. I enjoyed the characters a lot and gave it four stars, which is a bit higher than others seemed to be rating it. Wilhelm writes nicely and gives us some interesting history to go along with the current drama. I see my public library has more of this series, so I'll be sure to check them out (so to speak) after some higher-priority reads.

Not sure what's up next; maybe a Rex Stout.

Read The League of Frightened Gentlemen and was quite unimpressed. Two and a half stars for this one. Archie's narration is occasionally entertaining but can't carry a twisted, artificial-feeling story. Wolfe is particularly unappealing in this one.

Started Hardware by Linda Barnes to see what she does with the computer angle. Carlotta promises to be an interesting character, although she's not there yet. We'll see.

TLoFG was not one of my favorites, either.

131: I really enjoyed the Carlotta Carlyle series, up to a point. I started reading them for the back-home feel of the Cambridge and Boston settings and continued because I enjoyed Carlotta as a character and the stories were good. Hardware is the sixth in the series, and they do develop over time.

Besides Carlotta, I liked most of the secondary characters. But I found her "little sister" Paolina incredibly annoying, and the more so as time went on. Finally when I got to one that focused on her, I just stopped because I couldn't stand any more of her.

Thanks for stopping by y'all!

#132 MrsLee, yeah, I'll probably try another one from the library before I buy any more of these.

#133 Meredy, I finished Hardware and liked it pretty well. Carlotta got to be pretty interesting, and I don't think I missed too much by jumping in in the middle. I might want to go check out an earlier one at some point, especially if it tells about her and Mooney. One thing that surprised me was that she didn't seem to have a nickname: "Carlotta" is a mouthful. I knew a Carlotta in college who was known as Lotta. I guess there isn't a "standard" shortening. There was a fair amount of moral ambiguity in the story, which I liked. Paolina wouldn't have to change much to reach extremely annoying.

After Hardware I read the first Travis McGee, The Deep Blue Goodbye. I've run across several PI types who could have been cloned from McGee; one that came to mind a lot as I read was Jake Winkman, the narrator and protagonist of Don Von Elsner's series of bridge-related mysteries. Seems like these guys tend to narrate their own stories; it would be much tougher to present a guy like this in third person. It was fun, but it didn't make me want to run out and grab some more.

I decided that was enough mysteries for a bit, so I've started Wallace Stegner's Crossing to Safety. I've never read him before and so far I'm quite impressed.

134: There's story development on Mooney and Sam over the series. I found both of them appealing and could see how Carlotta was drawn to both.

I read Crossing to Safety last year and found it very moving. His characters have unusual depth and complexity, and the history of the relationship between the two couples was as credible as it was extraordinary. I gave the book five stars, and that's rare for me.

Still working on Crossing to Safety. Lots of folks have commented on other threads how much they like it. So far it's looking like the best fiction I've read this year. I'm taking it slow and enjoying looking at how he does things. Meredy, you're right about the characters.

That title has been on my radar for the longest time and yet I've never read any of Wallace Stegner. (Hard to make any intelligent remark on a book when that's the case, but maybe I'll be better about moving it up the TBR pile if everyone around me is praising it!)

Reading Stegner is like reading poetry, only it's prose. Taking him slow is the best way. I haven't read that particular one, but I love the two I have read. The man knows how to use his language.

I loved Crossing to Safety. It seemed that the characters became more themselves as they went along. The writing was truly lovely. Best fiction I've read this year. Review coming Real Soon Now*

After loving CtS, I recommended a Stegner novel for my meetup group. We agreed on the Pulitzer winner Angle of Repose. After seeing that it was almost 600 pages, I was relieved that there weren't enough copies to in the library to use it.

I read The Crossing Places for my library mystery group. The protagonist is an overweight female archaeologist who is a pretty good thinker. The author tries to give us a strong sense of place but IMNAAHO doesn't manage it. I'll be interested to hear the discussion.

* Work has been kicking my butt lately and I haven't mustered the time and energy to keep up with this reading journal or with reviewing books. It's more fun to peek at others' threads. I hope to be back to "normal" in a couple of weeks, after finishing a large project. Looking forward to seeing Louise Penny when she visits the triangle in a couple of weeks.

Neglected to mention that before reading The Crossing Places I did a re-read of local author John Hart's The Last Child. What a wonderful book--one of my all-time favorites. Also read Goodbye Mr. Chips, which was cute but unexceptional. I did like the way he handled the ending.

I read the first half of Hugh Laurie's The Gun Seller and just couldn't justify continuing. As a novelist, he's one of my favorite actors. Just started HPR's The Other Woman; she does a great job of ratcheting up the tension quickly and keeping it going. Not sure that's what I need at the moment but it's too much fun to put down.

140: Jim, I only made it to page 13. I enjoy Hugh Laurie as an actor too, on both sides of the Atlantic, but I'll look to others for literary entertainment.

I didn't care much for Goodbye Mr Chips myself, but I have a real fondness for James Hilton's other work, Lost Horizon, which I first read as a high school freshman. It is certainly dated by modern standards but I have kept my copy on a shelf in my bedroom for occasional revisits.

Don't pay the ransom, I've escaped!

That's what I tell my wife when I call to apologize for being late back from something, and it seems appropriate for my recent absence here. I've (mostly) finished the large game of whack-a-mole that was my most recent project at work and am more or less returning to normal. I'll have to do some catching up on reviewing my last few books, although I made a start just now with a quick review of How the Light Gets In, which was one of my favorite reads of this year. My wife and went over to Raleigh to see Penny speak last week; she was quite entertaining and even a bit inspirational. Now I'm eagerly awaiting Julia Spencer-Fleming's latest; I had hoped it would be in this month's ER selection, but maybe next month.

Meredy and Jill, thanks for stopping by! We'll have better fare in the coming weeks.

Let's see... I did read a few books in the last month. What the heck were they? Oh yeah...

I started Sonia Sotomayor's autobiography, My Beloved World, but I couldn't sustain my interest and gave up on it. I might go back to it at some point, on the theory that I just wasn't in a good place for that type of book, but it's not a high priority.

I read Georgette Heyer's Duplicate Death as part of my quest for mysteries that use the game of bridge. As has been the case with many of these books, the bridge is simply a setting and no use is made of the game itself. In the list of her works in the front of the book, the titles are divided into romances and thrillers, with DD listed as the latter. Somehow I was able to contain my excitement. A few of the characters were entertainingly drawn, but with little depth. I did enjoy Hemingway, the investigator. Three stars.

I quite enjoyed Hank Ryan's The Other Woman. Definitely a step up from her Charlie McNally books. Her protagonist this time has just been fired from her network news job for refusing to reveal a source, and is desperate to catch on with the local paper. Ryan starts out with the tension high and keeps it that way. I considered giving it four and a half stars, because the characters were strong and the pacing nicely done, but I stuck with just four because the style was occasionally clunky, and I didn't need to hear quite so many of Jane's musings about the attractiveness of various guys. I have placed a hold on the sequel, which DPL has on order.

More to come.

I can't start another novel yet after finishing How the Light Gets In. It's still resonating and bouncing around my mind. So I'm looking at End Back Pain Forever, in hope of learning some effective new exercises.

You know the Agatha Christie mystery Cards on the Table has bridge as a key element of the resolution? (Ooh for the days when they included floor plans, various diagrams and bridge score cards as part of a normal mystery novel...)

Yes, Jill, thanks. CotT is close to the best I've found so far in terms of actually using the game. I started the first of Matthew Granovetter's three, and it was beating me over the head with his bridge axioms, as if he'd written a bridge textbook and then decided to stick in a story. I'll probably get back to it eventually. Don Von Elsner's Jake Winkman series is the most fun I've had with any of these, and CotT would be next. I've got a list I'm keeping an eye out for, but if any of you scurvy dogs or winsome wenches (*what* is this site doing to my typing today?!) know of others, I'll be delighted to hear of them. Gotta run out now, but later I'll try to make a query that will mash the bridge and mystery tags from my library.

I just started The End of Your Life Book Club for my meetup group. I had seen it mentioned here before and had it on my list. Right away he talks about Crossing to Safety, one of my top reads from this year. He provides a mild spoiler for it; I hope he won't be doing that for all the books I've yet to read!

I've been reading Zombies of the Gene Pool, Sharyn McCrumb's follow-up to Bimbos of the Death Sun, in very short chunks during breaks at work. Finally finished it off yesterday. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as Bimbos, but there were some entertaining looks at fandom. One character doesn't know where his SO came up with the name "Frodo" for her cat. This seems like the sort of thing that would be tougher to do in a more recent setting, not just because of the LotR movies, but because it's a bit harder to evade the miasma of pop culture in which we swim.

I finished The End of Your Life Book Club and enjoyed it pretty well. I looked through the list at the end and saw that I had read about 15 of the listed works, and I have a few more on hand. I also noted a couple that I will look for based on his description of reading them. I was a bit surprised that they seemed not to have chosen any stinkers; both Will and his Mom seemed to enjoy all the books that they read. She faced the end of her life with a courage and attitude that I hope to emulate when my time comes.

I don't think he provides a lot of deep insight into the books that they discussed. He relates things about the books that they enjoyed, and how they related to themes that were important in his Mom's life.

I was in the mood for a "plain old mystery," so I started Goodnight, Irene last night. I had picked it up over the summer because I was considering a workshop that the author was to lead. I decided against the workshop for other reasons, and I'm finally getting around to reading the book. I'm a few chapters in and enjoying it pretty well so far.

Thanks to jillmwo for mentioning Ursula LeGuin's Wild Girls recently. I found a pristine copy cheap on eBay and it arrived yesterday. That jumps immediately to the top of Mount TBR.

I always find anything Ursula K. LeGuin writes worth reading, fiction and otherwise.

That's been my experience too, Peter, although I found some of her more recent fiction less appealing, such as Four Ways to Forgiveness.

I started the current LeGuin with the essay, which was kinda snarky but nothing special, and the interview, which was kinda fun. I went back and looked at a few of her essays in The Language of the Night and noticed some similar themes.

Finished Goodnight Irene and enjoyed it pretty well. Another reporter getting involved in crime solving. I've read several of those this year.

I thoroughly enjoyed Language of the Night, but agree that The Wild Girls probably doesn't match it in overall tone. On the other hand, I like the title story.

My library came through with The Wrong Girl, the follow-up to Hank Phillippi Ryan's The Other Woman. I picked it up and devoured it in a few days and posted a review. She uses very short chapters to good effect, keeping the pot simmering. Jane and Jake are well drawn and enjoyable. Four stars. I'll be keeping an eye out for more of these.

I finished all the pieces of The Wild Girls Plus and posted a review. I found the essay and the poems pretty unexceptional, and the interview entertaining but not inspiring. The title novella is well conceived and a bit disturbing. She manages to control her earnestness and let the story tell itself for the most part.

Read The Elegance of the Hedgehog for my meetup group. I enjoyed it quite a bit: there are two female narrators, a fifty-something widow and a twelve-year-old girl. Both are extremely bright, and both feel quite ill at ease in the world. We learn how they adopt their worldviews and approaches to living, and what happens when a friendly foreigner exposes their hidden virtues. Four stars.

I'm part way into Iron Lake, the first in a series of mysteries featuring Cork O'Connor, an Irish/Ojibwe former sheriff of a Minnesota town. It's off to an interesting start; I get the feeling that nobody is completely or solely who he or she appears to be.

Stayed up late last night to finish Iron Lake, shortly after Gomes's dinger. The book has some strengths, including his complicated family situation and the weather, and weaknesses, primarily in the writing. Next I think it's time to re-read One Was a Soldier in prep for Julia's next. My efforts to secure an ARC failed, so I think I'm actually going to buy it. I was quite disappointed that it didn't show up on Early Reviewers as they had said it would. So it goes. I also picked up Tilt-a-Whirl at the library today, so that will come soon too.

Hoping someone here can make a suggestion: for my library reading group, I'm supposed to read one of the Ian Rutledge mysteries by Charles Todd. I'm told that it's not crucial to read them in order. Any suggestions? I also asked this over in Crime, etc.

Any of the first three will do! I liked A Test of Wills, but kept comparing Rutledge to Wimsey and Hamish to Bunter. I think Wings of Fire is actually more of a stand-alone success. Much later in the series, I thought A Cold Treachery was pretty good.

Thanks, Jill! My library has a couple of those, so I ought to be able to snag one in the next couple of days.

I've started One Was a Soldier and am enjoying it pretty well. I remember finding the chronology confusing on the first read, and watching out for that is helping, although I still think it's a flaw in the book. But it's been a long time since I had a Clare and Russ fix, so this is good.

I'm also reading The Nine Tailors slowly at the office for the November group read.

Still working on One Was a Soldier. She's following the advice of those who tell authors to keep piling problems on their characters. Almost too gloomy. Not even the entertaining sexual banter of a priest can lift the clouds.

Been extremely busy these last few weeks. Finished my re-read of One Was a Soldier, and bought a copy of the next Clare-Russ book, Through the Evil Days. Things have changed substantially (spoilers for previous books in the series!!): Instead of resisting their feelings, our protagonists are now married, and (did I mention spoilers?) Clare has a bun in the oven, which got there before the wedding. Her bishop is asking her to resign, at the same time that the town council is considering a proposal to do away with the town police (i.e., Russ's job) and depend on the state police. So some pretty heavy stuff is in the air as they go on a delayed honeymoon. While they're at a rustic ice-fishing shack, a horrible winter storm hits, stranding them and cutting communications. Meanwhile Knox and Flynn are pursuing a kidnapping that might involve a meth farm. Fun stuff all around. I actually liked it pretty well, once I adjusted to the different relationship that the principals now have.

Also read Tilt-a-Whirl after seeing a lot of good press about it in various reading threads. I didn't warm up to Ceepak at all; his primary MO seems to e to let others make erroneous assumptions and not correct them. The present-tense narration worked better here than it has in some cases, because it's delivered by a younger character who admires those he's describing, so it comes out as pretty colloquial. There's a somewhat Lehanian twist near the end, which introduces an "Ewww!" factor. Not sure I liked any of the characters well enough to come back for more. Those who have read the next volume: do things stay pretty much the same?

Gave up on The Nine Tailors. It required more patience than I have time for lately.

Read The Elegance of the Hedgehog for my meetup group. Back soon with more comments on that.

I really enjoyed The Elegance of the Hedgehog but I could understand some people wanting to throw it across the room.

Yeah, there was something in Hedgehog to annoy any taste, but I enjoyed the book quite a bit. The two main female characters were pretty interesting. I wondered how the concierge had become the way she was. The explanation was a bit facile, but it didn't really bother me. I could have done without Kant and Colombe's thesis, although for all I know they might have contained subtle hints into the meaning of the story. There were a few places where I wondered about the translation, but on the whole it flowed pretty nicely. I wasn't entirely happy with the ending, but what else could she do, really?

I finished a couple of brief novels this week. I wasn't crazy about The Buddha in the Attic, which had no individual characters and felt to me like a documentary rather than a novel. Today I finished The Ocean at the End of the Lane, which I loved. Gaiman establishes a wonderful tone right from the beginning and keeps it up nicely. There are echoes of so many other stories, like the three beings in Madeleine L'Engle's time series, and The Folk of the Air.

#164 Yes, Jim, I found the philosophical discourse a bit tiring, but did not let it annoy me. On the whole I enjoyed The Elegance of the Hedgehog. I felt it was very existential with defeat being snatched from the jaws of success. As you say, any other ending would have been difficult.

162-165: I enjoyed the writing in The Elegance of the Hedgehog and the voices and interplay of the principial characters, but the ending infuriated me because it introduced an unnatural/supernatural element that had absolutely no basis or precedent up to that point in the novel. It was an impossible ending in the "real" world of the novel. As far as I'm concerned, the author cheated.

The novel did send me off on a quest for the films of Ozu, with which I was unfamiliar. I haven't yet found the one described in the book, containing the scene with the camellia--was it?--in the stone wall, but it's been an interesting exploration all the same.

I finished Thirteen Diamonds by Alan Cook. I hadn't realized that it was self-published. As is the case with most of these bridge-related mysteries, the bridge component is disappointing. I did enjoy some of the senior citizens--it's set in a retirement community--although this was another example of a nosy older woman who butts in everywhere and nobody ever tells her to go away.

Meredy, it occurred to me to look into those films, but I'm not much of a fan of arty ones that make me think, which it sounded as if those would be.

167: Yup, they would be. I made it a matter of determined self-education, and I have to admit that it took me a little while. They're not going to be to everyone's taste. I wouldn't blame anyone who didn't care to make the effort to bridge the cultural gap.

I'm with Meredy on Elegance. I was enjoying it just fine until I hit the ending. Bleah.

* Spoilers for The Elegance of the Hedgehog *

I didn't really like the ending, but how else would you end it? Happily-ever-after would be a terrible fit for the rest of the story. Having Renee retreat into her shell would be a very pessimistic conclusion. I suppose she could end with a hint of small steps in a hopeful direction, but would that be enough to change Paloma's resolve?

Currently reading The Cuckoo's Calling. Strike reminds me a bit of Quirke from Christine Falls, another "first novel" by a famous author in pseudonym.

170: The events might have unfolded the same, but how they were reported (and by whom) is what tipped it over for me. The character who described the conclusion was not in a position to see and report on it. That loss of anchor in the so-called real world is what I call cheating.

Very good point about how and by whom the closing events were reported. I was so focused on what was happening that I didn't even notice that.

Finished The Cuckoo's Calling. Pretty nice mystery. Interesting PI, well drawn characters. I guessed early and was wrong. She left enough threads hanging to lead to an interesting sequel. Four stars.

Also read Last Dance, by local writers Joyce and Jim Lavene. Not terribly impressed: pretty flat characters, cliched plot, easy to guess. Two and a half stars. I read this one because they're featured at the upcoming Cape Fear Crime Festival. Anybody ever been to that?

For a change of pace I tackled Best Friends Forever. My wife is a bit of a Weiner fan, and it had a potentially interesting theme of revisiting high-school traumas. I was pretty underwhelmed. The characters aren't too bad, but the style is uninteresting and I just couldn't get all that excited about it.

Also read Katy Munger's latest, Angel Among Us, the fourth in the Dead Detective series. I wrote a review of this one because there weren't any. I haven't had the energy to write many reviews lately. Fun but not fantastic.

Just received my November ER book, The Book of Jonah, and will start it tomorrow. Still wondering if I'll receive my October book.

Decided I'd better go back and read Jonah in the Bible, because I realized that I was probably missing some references. The main one I remember is, in the words of Sportin' Life,

"He made his home in
That fish's abDOmen"

I know Jonah was sent to preach to some city, but I don't recall the rest, so that's my next task.

*Spoiler alert*

The city was Nineveh. God's orders. And he didn't want to go. So he got on a ship going the other way. Big storms came up, and the sailors figured somebody on board was being punished for something. When they found out that Jonah was on the run from God, they pitched him overboard to calm the storm. The whale swallowed him, and he lived inside it for three days, until he repented, whereupon the whale tossed him up on the shore of Nineveh. And so he went and carried out God's command after all.

At least, that's the Sunday school version of the book of Jonah that I remember.

2nd half:

He still didn't want to go. When he got there, he preached that God would destroy the city unless they repented. They did, he got mad that they did and that God didn't destroy them. Went outside the city to pout where God used the hot sun and a vine to teach him about mercy and God's perspective.

Thanks, Meredy and DrN. I read the story (all four chapters!) last night. It was amusing how Jonah was annoyed that God didn't smite the Ninevehans after all. Possibly presaging the shift from the OT to the new? It did seem that the point was more Jonah's need to expand his view beyond his own experience than anything else.

Interesting how quickly the people of Nineveh accepted his prophecy and repented. Probably intended as a contrast to how the Israelites were responding to other prophets, and a device necessary to provoke Jonah's selfish response, so that God can help him see the bigger picture.

Now I'm ready to resume the new version.

I love the vine part. :) I can identify with Jonah, when I'm being honest with myself. ;) Just call me Miss Contrary and Miss Reluctant.

I'm enjoying The Book of Jonah, but it's going rather slowly. Partly because he's very thorough, partly because there are so many other things to do.

I had to get a dental crown this week, which involved a good bit of waiting at the dentist's office. At least I no longer have to go for a second visit. While there I re-read much of The Folk of the Air, which has a fair amount of silliness but also some pretty transcendent moments.

During our holiday travels I finished The Book of Jonah and wrote a review. It was one of the better ER books I've gotten over the years.

Also read Scott Peck's A Bed by the Window. There's a pretty good story in there, and some thematically interesting material, but the writing is pretty awful.

Currently reading Scoop. I've never read any Waugh and have heard that he's quite funny. So far it's mostly pretty silly.

Also started my Christmas gift, The Principle of Restricted Talent, which features stories about a bridge-playing computer named Chthonic. Instructive and quite entertaining.

Hope everyone is having enjoyable holidays! We got my parents and all thirteen offspring/spice/fiancee together to celebrate my dad's 90th birthday, and it was great to see everyone.

Jim, I had to read that Peck book for a book group a few years back. Oddly enough all of the women in the group disliked it, but the men enjoyed it.

Finished up a book I'd been peeking at occasionally, Eddie Kantar's Take Your Tricks, in preparation for re-starting duplicate bridge this week. Still enjoying The Principle of Restricted Talent, but taking it more slowly. The Good Lord Bird finally came throug at the library so that will be my first book of the new year.

Finished 2013 with 74 books read, with exactly half (37) having a mystery component. Only eight from the F/SF pile, which is probably the smallest number in twenty years (although I did a few bedtime re-reads that I didn't record). Ten non-fiction, 64 fiction. Here's the complete list for the curious.

On to next year. Best wishes to all for a fun evening tonight and a great 2014!