The Jaydit Reader

#3 (?) 2012

2012-02-04T14:26:00.001-08:00

The Sausage Maker's Daughters by A.G.S. Johnson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I thought this book would be another take on KING LEAR....likeA Thousand Acres..a literate, "moving" take.....Not so...Shakespearian this is not....in tone or telling

Kip Czermanski was the eternal Black Sheep in her family of Breck Blonde sisters...and the strict Catholicism...Needless to say Kip was short and dark haired...Kip was the trouble maker..the wild child...the Counter Culture rabble rouser who loved to terrorize her family by indulging in such "nonsense" as anti-war activities..Feminist terrorism...never mind that she was blamed for the death of her mother...the "sainted mother" who died from complications of Kip's birth

A fact that older sister Sibely never let's Kip forget

This story starts where Kip is languishing in jail...charged with the murder of her brother-in-law...Sybel's husband...Kip's lover from her college days. The final straw for JJ Czwermanski..The Sausage King's...youngest daughter (herself a bother and,now, an Adulteress to boot)

Talk about family dysfunction.....this book is a Big Ass soap opera

Sisters pointing fingers and pulling their own hair

There is also a whiff of the AFTER SCHOOL SPECIALS....as far as the Counterculture aspect.....a "preachy teachy" tone (which leads me to think the Author didn't live through this era)

I tend to avoid books that deal with the 1960s-early 1970s...because I lived that era...the Anti-War/Feminist Movements...because my issues, within those Movements, were "class" related....I saw that most of the Movement Radicals were Trust Fund babies...dressed as Lumberjacks..driving snazzy sports cars.....kinda made me sour

That BS being said....I thought this book was a "guilty pleasure"....oddly compelling..if only for the fact that the "least" of the Czermanski sisters....ended up a murderess

Recommended to those who enjoy their Family Dramas as "soap opera"....and never really lived through the Counterculture of the 60s-70s

3 Stars

**this was a Net Galley**

View all my reviews

#2 (2012)

2012-01-30T12:01:00.001-08:00

Property by Valerie Martin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The year is 1828

.....a sugar plantation in Louisiana, where Slavery is in flower for both the slaves and slave owners

The Slave Owners see “slave rebellions” around every corner..as they should, since their entire way of life is dependent on the labor of their “lowly blacks”.....and, our “heroine” Manon Gaudet, is no exception...though she is but the wife of a boorish “Massa”, Manon is not stupid...just crippled by her social status (she is “chattel” to her husband, as much as his slaves) and her relationship to Sarah (her personal slave..and her husband’s mistress..mother to his bastard children)

This is not a pretty story....and Manon’s situation isn’t new (how many women do you know who resent their husband’s cheating...but, merely, seethe...rather than kick the bastard out??)...but I admire Ms Martin’s delivery here..

The story is told in Manon’s “cold” voice...full of anger and frustration... I actually felt sorry for her

Sarah?......had a taste of Freedom....was captured and returned

I find the last pages painfully ironic...where Manon is “dumbfounded” by certain aspects of Sarah’s oh-so-short Freedom

Recommended

4 Stars

View all my reviews

#1 (2012)

2012-01-22T14:25:00.000-08:00

The Quiet Twin by Dan Vyleta

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

...captures the paranoia endemic to society in Vienna..October 1939

What begins as an investigation into the killing of a neighbor's dog.....leads one Doctor Beer into the darker aspects of the lives of his neighbors. The diversity of social classes living in one apartment complex...surrounding a courtyard..

In this time and place...everyone had secrets..and would kill to keep them

Doctor Beer treats a young woman with sexual issues...a neighbor across the courtyard is caring for a "mentally defective" sister....the little girl, around the way...the humpbacked child...deals with an alcoholic father (and keeps a groundhog as a "pet")....and Doctor Beer has homosexual issues of his own....and the official, Nazi-endorsed "spy" is always On Duty

This is where I stop....if you're curious...seek out this book...it is a Wonder

4 1/2 Stars

***this was a Net Galley***

#25 (2011)

2012-01-15T11:58:00.000-08:00

Pure by Julianna Baggott

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After the Apocalypse (here, quaintly termed THE DETONATIONS) society was divided into those inside THE DOME (the "Pures", the perfect ones, the "hope" for the future) and those outside (the wretches, the ailing, the magnificently disfigured)

Pressia and Partridge are two young people trying to escape their Fate...Partridge from inside THE DOME..where everything isn't as "perfect" as it seems..and Pressia from outside...where life is Hell no matter how hard one squints

Given that they both face the same Fate...conscription into the Military, where they will, literally, be turned into Super Soldiers or, failing that, be killed....Flight is the only option

When these two meet (and compare notes) an Apocalypse of another sort ensues..which makes for a great read

No spoilers here...just say that these young people have lived under a dark cloud of lies..regarding Family

This would be a great book for Book Club reads...if only to discuss the whole issue of "purity" as it concerns race and class....and Governmental control of the people...and lies, again

I think this is so much more than a YA title...and recommend it to anyone who favors Dystopian fiction...and doesn't mind being smacked in the face by fine writing...Ms Baggott did a grand job here..and i love her for it

4 Stars...well deserved

**This was a Net Galley**

View all my reviews

#22 (2011)

2012-01-14T08:52:00.000-08:00

Ashes to Dust by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thirty years after the volcanic eruption on Heimaey (the only populated island of Iceland's Westman Archipelago) the archeologists excavating the homes that had been buried in ash.....discovered three corpses and a discrete head, in the basement of a house belonging to one Markus Magnusson. Mr Magnusson enlists the help of his attorney, Thora Gudmundsdottir, whose lot in life seems to be the defense of eccentric clients. Markus, already a suspect in the death of a childhood friend, is also a master of the Tall Tale...and the one he spins is full of family secrets and/or outright lies..

Needless to say this story is complex..full of the aforementioned secrets and lies...fear of social stigma...sexual perversion and inadequacy...the whole boiling stew that makes for a good murder story. And it is that...with just enough of Thora's personal life thrown in to make the reader aware her life outside murder, mayhem and the Law...

However, I found the comparison to Steig Larsson's MILLENIUM TRILOGY a little off putting. I saw more of P D James' Adam Dalgliesh, and that series of police procedurals, visible here...Liz Salander is nowhere to be found in this book (though Thora's PA is a bit of a Goth Girl)....and the thrills are kept to a dull roar. Our Thora may no be glamourous, but she's a decent detective/lawyer

Recommended for mystery buffs and those who enjoy their ScandiCrime with more brains than brawn.

I haven't read any other of Ms Sigurdardottir's work, so I don't know how this book compares to her other titles

4 Stars

**This was a Net Galley**

#24 (2011)

2012-01-07T16:02:00.001-08:00

Unraveling Isobel by Eileen Cook

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Isobel's life starts to unravel after her Mom marries a man she met Online....and continues after "the family" moves to Step Dad's "estate" on some godforskaen island off the coast of Washington state. Add a hunky, but Untouchable step brother..and you have the makings for some serious Teen Angst (with a side of Paranormal, after the dead step sister begins visiting, and raising questions about the deaths of her and her mother)

All of which would be unbearable, and probably unreadable...except for Isobel's edgy sarcasm and native Good Sense...and an honest fear of Mental Illness/Instability. Her natural father , the schizophrenic artist, is both a source of fear and regret...a heavy burden for any seventeen year old to bear..

That being said, I see this as a story, not so much of Isobel unraveling, as the fabric of her life being shredded by forces, and people, beyond her control..That she survives with her sense of humor intact can be chalked up to moxie...and her keen eye for people...who to trust..who to ignore.

The best Coming-of-Age stories don't preach...they let the character live their lives and work things out for themselves...mistakes and all. This is one of the best I've read in quite a while....I hope there are many Isobels out there.

3 Stars

****This was from Simon & Schuster Galley Grab****

#18

2011-12-16T08:55:00.000-08:00

The Dressmaker: A Novel by Kate Alcott

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When Tess Collins walked away from a thankless housemaid job in Cherbourg...in 1912....and simultaneously found employment as a maid on the soon-to-be sailing Titanic ocean liner...little did she know that History would become a major part of her life

Given that the hearings, post "sinking", are a major part of this story, the actual trials are secondary to the social aspects....even the newly minted Suffragette Movement is given a back seat to the development of Tess' story, and character (such as it is)

Torn between two "lovers", neither of whose characters are particularly memorable...apprenticed to the wealthy, capricious and egocentric Lady Duff Gordon...couturiere to other wealthy people.....befriended by the sprited journalist, Pinky.....our Tess is on the way to becoming an American Girl...full of hopes, dreams, and ambition, never allowing opportunism to become a "fault"

Of all the characters in the book (and there are many..some who actually existed, like the Unsinkable Molly Brown ....entrepreneur extraordinaire) Pinky rang truest for me...because she had definite goals and aspirations..and opinions to which she gave some thought

Most of the story is window dressing for Tess, the budding Designer, the Dressmaker of the title...and her journey in the New World. I thought it was a pleasant read..the Romance angle was not overwrought, but neither was it all that romantic...the political aspects were toned down to "entertainment" scale...and Tess' relationship to Lady Duff Gordon reminded me of a recent novel/movie along the same lines. Sad to say I have read/seen neither..This is, after all, a "woman's book"....by it's nature it can't afford to be too "deep"

Which is not to say I didn't enjoy the story. I just wish it had had more meat on its bones and less description of the trappings of wealth and luxury, which in the end meant very little as the Titanic slowly sank into those ice cold waters

3stars

*****This was a Net Galley*****

#17

2011-11-29T09:52:00.001-08:00

Budapest Noir by Vilmos Kondor

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In 1930's Budapest, a young woman dressed as a prostitute, is found dead in an alley. In her purse is a Jewish prayer book

Budapest, in 1936, was no place for a Jew, or an inquisitive newspaper editor, as Zsigmund Gordon soon discovers, once he begins his own investigation of the "non crime"

A knowledge of Hungarian history isn't necessary, to understand the story herein, but it helps.....the narrative itself fills a lot of blanks...but the story itself is pretty basic. A coffee factor's daughter blows the cover of her "Aryan" family, by falling in love with a Rabbinical student...at a time when everyone, in Europe, was falling over to court the Nazis. Said daughter finds herself in the position of a Prostitute and "Artist's Model".....gets herself murdered...and Father does not know "best".

While not a Thriller in the James Ellroy mode....I see this more in Simenon's Inspector Maigret territory...more brains than brawn..though there is violence here..none of it gratuitous. Zsigmund Gordon is just a journalist...doing his job....risking life/limb/family.....It was the times, you know...

I liked this book for it's understated tone....it's "slow burn"...Recommended to those who like their Noir with a European, not Euro Trash, flavour.

4 STARS

*****this was a Net Galley*****

#16

2011-11-06T10:25:00.000-08:00

Call Me Princess by Sara Blaedel

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A young woman is brutally raped in her own home and Detective Inspector Louise Rick is given the case. Subsequent investigation reveals the fact that the young woman met her assailant at an online dating website.

The perils of Online Dating are the focus of this story. The ubiquity of the phenomenon and the supposed anonymity of the participants.

I found this to be a good mystery, story wise....but the entire tone of the book was a bit dry, and bloodless. Something I'll chalk up to it being a translation. I did not find it as compelling as Stieg Larsson's work...to which it's been compared. ScandiCrime has become one of the darlings in publishing, lately....and any work containing potential "thrills" seems to be fair game. a pity, that..since this book is pretty low key. The addition of glimpses into Rick"s rocky personal life was a good touch....lacking sentimentality, they, again, proved that high stress jobs wreck havoc on romance.

There were enough plot twists in the story to keep it moving...some good insights into the feeding frenzy of the "tabloid" publishing mentality....and the fact that every job situation has its pompous dead weight.

I did enjoy this book, and would like to read more of Ms Blaedel's work. Recommended, but don't expect heart-stopping thrills...Louise Rick is no Liz Salander...but she works hard and gets the job done.

(3 Stars)

#19

2011-11-05T16:17:00.000-07:00

The Witch's Ladder by Dana Donovan

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

If you're not already "into" Paranormal Lit....you might want to take a pass on this one..

Nancy Drew & The Hardy Boys do Paranormal??? This clueless bunch of psychics could barely organize lunch...never mind the murder of one of their own...who embodies the "soul of all evil" (my quotes..not the author's)

The narrative bounces between snippets of "lectures" on all this paranormal....and trendy, Hip dialogue...a bit disconcerting. All of the stereotypes are here....as well as the funky fogs and spontaneous tornadoes/earthquakes/water spouts. There is grisly murder, complete with evisceration....."tribal" jealousy....a gambling jones....and a stalwart Policeman/convert.

I don't mean to make a complete hash of this book. It is not my genre-of-choice...but I was in the mood for "fluff" and I don't do romance...The plot was strong enough that it held my interest...but, I am a born skeptic. Things that "go bump in the night" probably do so for a very good reason...I like my Mysteries without the "hocus pocus". I will say, reading this book gave my Laugh muscles a workout!

Recommended to the already-converted...others, beware

(2 Stars)

#15

2011-10-09T17:00:00.001-07:00

The Book of Lies by Mary Horlock

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The feral nature of adolescent girls and the vagaries of history...set on the Isle of Guernsey.

The lies told by the Rozier family during the Nazi Occupation in WWII resound down the years to impact on fifteen year old Cat Rozier

Cat the brain, the outcast, becomes fast friends with Nicolette, the new girl in town...The lovely and wild Nicolette. they become inseparable.....partying, drinking, hooking up with the local boys. All the while Nicolette alternates her friendship with taunts and bullying. A personal betrayal ends in murder...and Cat lays the blame on her family's history of lies and betrayal

Interspersed within this tale of "teens gone wrong" is Cat's father's account of the Nazi Occupation and the part played by his older brother as a collaborator.....and the disclosure of other family secrets

Hence, this BOOK OF LIES penned by Cat...History does repeat itself..and adolescent girls, by their nature and hormones, are not innocent.

I liked this book. I read it back-to-back with LIGHT FROM A DISTANT STAR by Mary McGarry Morris ...another story of a teenage girl in crisis...although that child didn't resort to murder. In this case, the girls were none of them very likable, but the interweaving of family history, secrets and lies...made the whole ghastly, central Act a little more justified....but just a little

Recommended...but only to those who don't see teenage girls as angels...to those who see the blood still on the lip

4 Stars

***This was a Net Galley***

#14

2011-10-09T16:09:00.001-07:00

Light from a Distant Star: A Novel by Mary McGarry Morris

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The summer of Nellie Peck's thirteenth year is fraught with peril, and the impending vagaries of adulthood.

The family hardware business is failing, and dad (Benjamin) is busy writing a history of the town, while the family finances go haywire. Mom has to go back to work to pay the bills which leads to stressful family situations. Half-sister Ruth embarks on a search for her birth father, and little brother Henry becomes Nellie's responsibility. In an effort to toughen him up, she resorts to an old WWI hand-to-hand combat manual. Add cantankerous Grandpa, keeper of the town junkyard, and his hired man, Max, the loner.....and the stage is just about set for trouble.

When the Peck's tenant, Dolly is found dead.....all eyes turn toward Max..it doesn't help that she was a stripper by trade. However, Nellie knows that max is innocent....she even knows the identity of the real killer. Or does she? And how is she going to tell her "truth" and convince everyone when it would mean accusing an upstanding pillar of the community..the very person able to save her family from financial ruin? Oh, the quandary.....oh, the lack of credibility.

I've been a fan of Mary McGarry Morris' work for quite some time....and this, her take on To Kill a Mockingbird is, in my opinion, a success. While her prose is not as elegant as Harper Lee's..the story is set in the present day, where elegance is not a requirement...Nellie Peck is not Scout Finch, but Scout didn't have the media and Pop culture distractions that are part of Nellie's life. Nellie's dilemma is part and parcel of adolescence itself...the lack of credibility we all feel when on the verge of adulthood.

Maybe life was easier in the 1950s...but when Nellie eventually has her say, she does so with heart...even though the outcome is not victorious....most of the characters do survive and live their lives. Not perfectly.

Recommended.....4 Stars

***This was a Net Galley***

Noir.....

2011-09-19T14:12:00.001-07:00

Fun and Games by Duane Swierczynski

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A high-speed chase down the Hollywood Hills.....and, you're the girl at the wheel of the car. No brakes? The car has brakes and, neither does this story

B-movie actress Lane Madden is next on the list of THE ACCIDENT PEOPLE.

Have you ever wondered what becomes of screenwriters and film techncians....when their careers are over...or, they've fallen out of favor....Scripted "accidents".....posed "hits"???

Lane is next on The List.....through various nefarious events (exploding gas mains and biotoxic weaponry) our girl does not end up well.....she dies...nuff said

Did i mention Charlie Hardie??? The erstwhile hero of this book...the first of a series???

Charlie.....a former cop living off the guilt of the death of his former partner?

I love Mr Swiercznyski's work....since i read The Blonde.....though i can't spell his name for shit.....the fact that he writes for Marvel Comics makes this particular book a must!

This book is a Quentin Tarantino movie..on paper....a literary Graphic Novel....fast-paced with no apologies

I'm posting this review because I love the author's work.....i loved this book and recommend it to anyone who likes Noir fiction.....i can't wait for the second book

****this was an ER book from Library Thing***

Justice

2011-08-31T11:44:00.000-07:00

Nairobi Heat by Mukoma wa Ngugi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What could have been a decent, if unexciting murder mystery.....rapidly turned into a well written thriller. Set mainly in Nairobi, Kenya....we find our protagonist Ishmael, a Detective from Madison, Wisconsin (!), on the case of a young white woman...Identity Unknown....whose body was found on the doorstep of a prominent University professor. Not just any professor, though...Joshua Hakizimana being a famous hero of the Rwandan Genocide

Life in Nairobi proves a bit tricky, as Ishmael discovers after being summoned by a mysterious phone call. In the company of the enigmatic O...a local detective-of-sorts, and the sensuous spoken-word performer, Muddy.....Ishmael discovers the corrupt underbelly of Global Humanitarianism....and the lingering aftertaste of Mass Murder...

Ambiguity abounds, here....and for a while, no one is who he seems to be..but Wa Ngugi gives the reader a taste of the Real Africa...an the people surviving in the wake of a national horror.

While this is not a novel of detection, per se..it is a novel about justice...swift and unrelenting...where the Bad Guys do pay....and the Good Guys??? Endure.

This is a review of a Net Galley

4 Stars (****)

Color Online: 2011 YA/MG POC Releases

2011-08-11T06:24:00.000-07:00

I saw this list the other day and thought it was pretty awesome...enjoy!

Color Online: 2011 YA/MG POC Releases

Noirella

2011-07-31T09:26:00.000-07:00

Every Shallow Cut by Tom Piccirilli

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book Review "on the fly":

A dark "Noirella"....a meditation on personal and professional failure....Marriage gone bust...Career permanently on the rocks (save the twist)

Our nameless hero is homeward bound, reluctantly....after a failed marriage and a career-gone-stagnant...in the company of his bulldog Churchill

Lots of pent up rage, accompanied by a case of Hypergraphia....you know this guy is circling the drain.

At first, I would have called this a Stephen King type Road Novel....given his penchant for exposing the Hell that writers endure to serve their craft...on second thought..the only Horror here, is our protagonist's dilemma, being so out of touch with what is generally perceived as Reality...yet being so in touch with his own pain and frustration (if that makes any sense) that his vision is blurred, to say the least....

After a corner beat-down, he acquires a gun...Homeless and raging...he's homeward bound to a brother who probably doesn't want him around any way

If this seems depressing...it's nothing compared to the short sharp ending....which i won't give up...let's just say "suicide or the highway"

This book packs a wallop in 175 pages...not for the fain if heart...

The only other book i have read by Mr Piccirilli...is A Choir of Ill Children...which was more of a Southern Gothic...and a lot creepier

I give this book 4 Stars...because it smacked me upside the head with its wit, heart, violence,and craft

This was a Net Galley....

Electric

2011-07-20T14:08:00.000-07:00

The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors by Michele Young-Stone

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

More NOTES, as it were:

Lightning streaks in the sky, running parallel until they finally converge, in the distance/future

Two lives.....Becca Burke and Buckley Pitank...two kids trying to grow up with dysfunctional families and the odd lightning strike

Becca: with a love-struck alcoholic mother and a philandering father...still very much a Daddy’s girl...struck by lightning, the first time at age 8. Of course, no one believed her, because she wasn’t dead

Buckley: with an overweight, loving mother...a hard-hearted Grandma...and, later, an abusive stepfather...the Preacher Man-of-God.....after his mother takes them both away from all that, he still thinks he’s unworthy of love and takes his own mental beatings...Mom is killed by a lightning strike...Buckley pens an eponymous Handbook

Becca reads the book, they meet but don’t fall in love. Young adulthood is a bitch...Buckley finally gets his own Lightning Strike and all ends well, more or less, in hospital

Life is messy and painful, with occasional flashes of bliss.....clear and sharp as lightning bolts and just as fatal

I know i’ve given up a bit of the story here, but that isn’t what carried me....in this case it was the prose...the words. For a first novel this one is a joy...takes a while to get started but is worth the effort. Ms Young-Stone is, in fact, a lightning strike survivor...i’d like to think that “bolt” contributed to her talent.....the fluidity of these words...

Highly recommended

4 Stars (****)

*This was from Net Galley*

Conundrum or Dilemma?

2011-07-04T12:54:00.000-07:00

Hester: A Novel by Paula Reed

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A woman returns to London, after a sojourn in The Colonies, with her precocious, and wealthy, 8-year-old daughter. After settling in with old friends, she finds herself in the midst of the political machinations of Oliver Cromwell's England.....due to a certain "gift" of "seeing into the hearts of men".....her ability to spot lies and treason, while retaining her womanly propriety..While employed as such a Judge, she meets a hunky Sir John, who is playing both ends against the middle, politically. He's also pretty much of a libertine...Life continues...Cromwell "falls" and dies. The precocious daughter matures into a "boy crazy" drama queen, ultimately landing an "impossible" match.....marriage-wise. she hies of to Germany, pregnant but "in love"....satisfied to be a "kept woman" all her life..Mother returns to The Colonies....the site of her own past "sins"

This would be a pretty good Historical Romance, for those who fancy such, if not for the overt reference to The Scarlet Letter and the character of HESTER PRYNNE.

For one thing, any woman in possession of such a 'gift", as mentioned above, would more than likely have been condemned as a Witch and dispatched without qualms, or a trial. She would never have been given a seat in Oliver's STAR CHAMBER.

The back alley skulking betwixt her and Sir John probably did occur, but people made an art of Discretion in those days.....being Puritans and all

The intrusion of modern attitudes towards boys/men and sex were pretty un-subtle and annoying

I had a difficult time making a connection between Ms Reed's Hester, and Nathaniel Hawthorne's original...though I haven't read the original SCARLET LETTER in years, I seem to recall that Hester as being more of a slow burn.

With all of the historical detail present in this book, I am surprised at the anomalies I have mentioned. I found them to be rather jarring.....and a distraction from the story Ms Reed was trying to tell..Maybe that's my fault....but if the book had just been titled HESTER without the reference..i think it would have "gone down" easier

My rating:
4 stars for the story
3 stars for the delivery
3 1/2 stars total

* I got this book through the Library Thing EARLY REVIEWERS program*

Fluff-#1

2011-06-26T08:22:00.000-07:00

Identity Crisis by Debbi Mack

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Just another Chick Dick book...in this case, though, she's an attorney with a Nancy Drew streak....a decent amount of moxie..a married boyfriend....and a temperamental automobile. The story is set in and around Baltimore...old CHARM CITY herself.

This little tale of identity theft and murder-most-foul (with a back story of High School hijinks gone wrong, and the revenge that followed) was a sweet respite from heavier fare. Nothing earth shaking, mind you...but it flowed smoothly, without too much Romantic mush (though the ending tends toward SAPPY CITY)...a few car chases...a little gun play...a scar-faced Mafioso...put it squarely in Chick Dick territory. It reminded me of Sue Grafton's KINSEY MILLHONE/Alphabet series....in the character of Sam mcRae, that is..

My version of "fluff"...rates 3 stars..

*this was an ePub version...i read it on my NOOK)

Look Out, Sam's on the Case...

2011-06-05T13:05:00.000-07:00

Judgment Calls by Alafair Burke

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

One more in a long line of novels featuring a female PI/cop/lawyer...this is the first of a series, and the author's first novel. It possesses all the necessary elements: a smart, savvy protagonist(ess)....a semi-hunky love interest/foil.....a corrupt DA...some honest cops....and less-than -brilliant criminals. Ms Burke drew on her own experience in the legal profession, here.....the characters seem more 'believable" as a result.

We have here a teenage prostitution ring....an earlier death-penalty case that is "on the rocks"since those incarcerated for the crime could well be "innocent" of the crime.....several degrees of Bad Guys, from the seriously psychotic to the merely confused....and DAs playing both ends against the middle.

The book dragged in spots due to over explanation of the trial process/police procedure....but Ms Burke (daughter of James Lee) at least kept the "lectures" in the character's voice...less hectoring. Alafair has her Daddy's gift for dialogue and fast pacing....i look forward to reading her other offerings.

As I said, this is the first of a series featuring Samantha Kincaid...there is another series starring Ellie Hatcher, which joys I have yet to sample...Books like this are my idea of "fluff" and I recommend it to anyone who likes sassy, smart women in somewhat tough situations....anyone who likes the work of Sue Grafton and Laura Lippmann. Ms Burke is one writer to keep an eye on

3 Stars (***)

View all my reviews

We Are Family???

2011-06-01T04:46:00.000-07:00

So Many Ways to Begin by Jon McGregor

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

David Carter - Curator of a local museum; obsessive collector and archivist of his own life

........until a senile relative reveals a long-buried family secret. Then David's life slips out of orbit. So begins his own personal Reconstruction..and his coming to terms with the fact that his life has not been what it seemed....that he isn't who he thought he was. so begins his search for "self".

Add to this a wife with bipolar disorder and its attendant strains...troubles in the workplace both personal and professional.....a daughter turned rebellious...and David's own batch of demons and weaknesses..and you have a heartbreaker of a story.

The author has an engaging style that moves the story along without undue sentimentality or "drama"...The ending could have been "tighter", but that's a minor quibble..and seems perfectly correct, in hindsight. The book has a definite British feel to it...."brave stoicism" with hysteria and rage lying just below the surface.

I liked the way McGregor portrayed David's situation as his life spiraled downwards- the confusion, frustration and anger so well-contained....only bursting forth at intervals..then receding quietly..until the next time. McGregor also writes about sex between married people in a healthily realistic fashion- no "throbbing" or "heaving" here...just "the way it is" in all its glory...the blessed "routine" of it all.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys intelligent Soap Opera......who enjoys a good story, well told, without a patent "happy ending"...who is still "searching for self" (though maybe not this thoroughly)......I say give this one a try...

4 Stars (****)

Way To Go, Ohio

2011-05-23T15:33:00.000-07:00

Summer Of Shadows: A Murder, a Pennant Race, and the Twilight Of the Best Location in the Nation by Jonathan Knight

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Summer of 1954......three stories

:The Cleveland Indians battled their arch-rivals...The New York Yankees...for the Pennant....only to lose the World Series to....The New York Giants

:Marilyn Sheppard was found, brutally murdered, in the home she shared with her husband...the charismatic "Dr Sam'...the prime suspect....His subsequent trial thrilled the nation

:The seeds of economic failure were being sown....thereby turning THE BEST LOCATION IN THE NATION into THE MISTAKE BY THE LAKE

I have to admit the the Baseball "play by play" lingo left me cold...i am not, and have never been, a Sports Fan.....but, the manner in which these Ball Games were presented....was enjoyable.....even to a curmudgeon like me...and made this book an enjoyable read..

Sam Sheppard's second trial....in 1966, i do remember (i was born in 1951...the events of 1954, i don't recall first hand).....it was big news in Akron, Ohio (my home town)...and still resonated, albeit a bit weakly, in 1969, when I left home for college...but my Dad did send me the newspaper clippings...when the Cuyahoga River caught fire in June '69....sowing those Seeds of Failure, i mentioned before..

I recommend this book to Sports Fans (who will understand the lingo)...Ohio History buffs....and any one who enjoys a good story, well told.....Mr Knight is the best Historian, in that respect....

4 stars

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Relief, Indeed!

2011-04-20T15:15:00.000-07:00

The Sweet Relief of Missing Children by Sarah Braunstein

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Five stories going back and forth through time.....ending, or focusing, on the disappearance of 12-year old Leonora Coulter...deemed a "good" girl by her family and friends...a girl who got caught in a 'twist of fate"

Five sets of characters who interact with each other in unexpected ways throughout the book.

Awkward, damaged people going through life with enough "baggage" to down an airplane.

Small town life...the flip side of Bucolic

The awkward style of this book bothered, and distracted, me...until i realized it was perfect for these characters...most of whom are searching for reinvention...seeking acceptance, and comfort, and a sense of identity. The surprising ways in which they interact and separate remind me of broken glass on the sidewalk....that, in spite of the separateness of the pieces, the whole splintered mess, in fact, forms a weird kind of Whole

This wasn't an easy read and these people are not lovable......the atmosphere was desperate, claustrophobic, and strange....In an odd way I like it, and respect Ms Braunstein for letting her characters speak in their own tongues...

*this was an ARC from Library Thing Early Readers*

3 stars

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Is Dinner Ready?

2011-04-02T13:07:00.000-07:00

One Bite Won't Kill You by Ann Hodgman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is one of my "Reviews-on-the-Fly"....Be Warned:

I became aware of this book through some Childrens Catalogue (to remain nameless because I can't remember) where it was tucked in the last pages.

Now that i own my copy...I was looking at it, the other night...and figured it needed a review

Ann Hodgman is a wonderful comedienne "on the page"...and Roz Chast is...well..."i swoon" at her talent..

The book itself is full of recipes...some good..some bland. BUT...this book is geared toward parents with kids who are "picky eaters"......an alien life form, when I was a kid. I ate what was served...or creeped downstairs after dark for a bowl of cereal...UNTIL i learned how to cook....for my own self ( and after my Mom went AWOL). Ms Hodgman does a bang up job in the Introduction....explaining the world of "Kids & Food"...i skipped that...no kids here...Her Afterword WHY NONE OF THIS MATTERS....matters....read it.

The recipes:

BROC BAKE-page220- is seriously fine...be sure to use Fresh Broccoli

PERFECT BROILED CHICKEN-page68- is just that

BREAKFAST "ZA-page 29- is so good..and a good reason to keep Crescent Roll Dough "in the house'

I recommend this to anyone who has to feed kids every day..if only for the humor element....and to anyone who loves to cook...and can tweak otherwise pedestrian recipes

4 Stars

ALPHABET CITY

2011-03-03T12:06:00.000-08:00

Lost Lustre: A New York Memoir by Joshua Karlen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I didn't know what to expect when I received this book from Library Thing's EARLY REVIEWERS program......what I got was a small gem.

Josh Karlen grew up on Avenue C in New York City...where the tenements burned and their charred skeletons remained "standing"...where beatings by other kids were a daily part of life...where despair pretty much ruled his world. Along came the Punk Rock/Club scene of the 1970s-early 1980s, where he , at least, had an outlet for his pent-up aggression...Punk Rock in its Flower....until it morphed into the citywide gentrification that folks now call "normal"

This book is part personal history and a cultural history of a time and place(s) that no longer exist...the title chapter is the history of New York Punk writ small and personal. Heartbreaking, tragic, hubristic and gaudy....yet full of a strange kind of hope. As is the entire book. This history is written as the map of Mr Karlen's environs, as he inhabited them, then...and as he remembers them now....written without sensationalism or self-pity. From the Greek diners to the smelly Punk Clubs....the SRO hotels and St Marks place with its trash and vaudeville. Through grammar school to Music & Art (from which he flunked out) to the Amazon jungle....it's all here. One man's search for his true home.

A prosaic undertaking, to be sure...as we have all made that journey. But this particular trek is set down in a literate, clear-eyed prose that made the reading a pure delight. I am grateful to have found this book, since New York City was a kind of "dream city" for me when I was growing up in Akron, Ohio...I was a little old for the Punk scene when it hit....but I certainly loved the energy and rawness of the music. This book shows some of that scene's flip side...which the music rags never did. In the end, it's a story full of hope. I recommend it to anyone who is still searching for his/her true "place of belonging".

4 stars (****)

Great Book..Shitty Review

2011-02-04T14:14:00.000-08:00

The Stray Sod Country by Patrick McCabe

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

READING NOTES:

>1958....Cullymore, Ireland. SPUTNIK is in orbit and the village is in turmoil. A Parish Priest beset with Paranoia and Guilt...Housewives with thoughts of Murder...a Teddy Boy come home hoping to regain the Lass He Once Loved....the World in between the Serious 1950s...on the cusp of the Wild & Wooly 1960s....Satan pulls the strings.....

The position of "remote artificer" ..be that Satan or God...or collective Conscience??? I haven't decided on any guilty party..But, Satan can't exist without God....If Satan is the Puppetmaster here..God lurks in the wings..and vice versa....Given the Time..1958...on the cusp...between the staid 1950s and the potential unknown of the 1960s, it's a crapshhot....

Culleymore, Ireland is the perfect place for Old Scratch to insinuate himself into the lives of "normal" folk...a seriously paranoid parish Priest what carries a load of Past Guilt.....erstwhile housewives, one who has murderous night time thoughts.....the "hated" local hermit..the SCAPEGOAT...

The FETCH...what gives access to THE STRAY SOD COUNTRY...where we all go when life becomes a bit "too much....Is OLD SCRATCH the one who pulls the strings, here?.or is it the fact that Times are Changing?

Patrick Mc Cabe is not LACE CURTAIN Irish..as a writer...His books include violence, cruelty, and madness....but i own 4 of them...If you want to start reading them...do so with [The Butcher Boy]

i give this book 4 1/2 stars

* i know this review sucks...but i can never give a decent review to a book i seriously love*

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT...and then some

2010-12-11T10:31:00.000-08:00

More Home Cooking: A Writer Returns to the Kitchen by Laurie Colwin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I first read this book, and its companion Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen in 1997. This time around I devoured it in one sitting...and it is still a satisfying read.

Food writing as it should be..true Kitchen Table talk...full of stories, anecdotes, hints, tips, victories and flops. The recipes? some work...some don't

The favor Ms Colwin did for me was mentioning Taste of Country Cooking by the inimitable Edna Lewis...which title I recommend to anyone interested in "American" cookery...besides that, Ms Lewis is one hell of a storyteller.

MORE HOME COOKING has a chapter on what to eat whilst suffering JET LAG....the bugbear of our times. Her chapter on feeding children is a gem since she does not focus so much on the "dos and donts" as she does on the "exciting the palate" of those who are not jaded..Her chapter on Lentil Soup left me with a serious craving...and are those drool spots on the page(s)???

I love this book. It's a pity Ms Colwin died so young...we lost a good Foodie....and a Good Woman to boot.

4 Stars

HISTORY

2010-12-06T13:29:00.001-08:00

The Convent: A Novel by Panos Karnezis

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An isolated convent in the Spanish sierra...home to 6 nuns of varying ages, whose lives are devoted to God, reflection and solitude....Everything changes the day that a baby is found, in a padded suitcase, on the front steps.

Everything changes..the world comes to the convent in an emotional sense, at least. Jealousy, cruelty, zealotry, pride...make for a heady, deadly mix..The MOTHER SUPERIOR is at the center of the storm, having kept her own secret for many years. ....in the misguided belief that the orphaned child is the expiation of her own past sin...she delves into madness and shame...wherein the story becomes itself. Too many tales of this ilk become tacky..this one does not

This book is not a religious screed, nor is it a tabloid expose...it is a story of 6 women living isolated lives whose world is suddenly shattered from without...how each one deals with this new "truth". This book won't set the world on fire..but may give a reader food for thought...regarding the sanctity of the Church..and the price it exacts from its "sons & daughters"

3 Stars

YURK!

2010-11-30T11:21:00.000-08:00

Flesh Wound by Jon Say

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Oh, Man....what we have here is a contemporary Male Fantasy loosely disguised as a "thriller". Studly ex-Homicide Cop literally runs into the car of a high-priced Fetish Call Girl..."Love" follows like mould spores...with acts of domination, humiiiation, boot licking....but no penetration.Except off-the-clock..the Cop and the Call Girl...

Somewhere in between the thinly veiled "talks" on relationship dynamics and the role of private erotic fantasies..there is a tale of financial chicanery...investment bank mergers.the sale of T-Bills to the Chinese...the success of which hinges on satisfying the sexual desires of one lone Chinese diplomat.....throw into the mix a horny SEC regulator...a snidely State Department agent, or two....one confused/bitter ex-wife...gorgeous, athletic strippers..and two adorable 4-year-old girls.....adds up to one glorious Mess

I received this book through Library Thing's Member Giveaway...otherwise I never would have read..I give it 2 Stars...the reading was slowed due to the fact that too much information was crammed into the dialogue....making for undue distraction. The Characters were of the Cartoon variety....PLAYBOY without the Wit....too much "stud" in the Hero...too much perfection" in the Heroine.

This was a cheap, easy read...if you're looking for erotic thrills, go elsewhere...no THRILL this.

View all my reviews

History

2010-11-19T10:05:00.000-08:00

The Gendarme by Mark Mustian

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

*I received this book through Library Thing Early Reviewers*

Emmett Conn/Ahmet Khan, in the last days of his life, is haunted by dreams of a horrible time in his past...his time spent as a gendarme, herding Armenians from Turkey to Syria (the ARMENIAN GENOCIDE 1915-1923).During this time he met a young woman with eyes of two different colors....named Araxie...whose memory haunts him still. the fact that he loved her and abandoned her.

At the end of his life, Emmett/Ahmet, a naturalized US citizen, has time to reflect on his past, since he is dying of a brain tumor. Having suffered memory loss, after surviving the battle of Gallipoli and the subsequent airlift to England (having been mis-identified as a British soldier), he knows well the vagaries of memory/reminiscence. How much of what he "recalls" is real? How much is the residue of recorded history? How much is "merely" guilt? this is where the story goes deep. Emmett's dreams are fraught with horror and violence...and regret. He sets himself the "task" of confronting them....and damn the consequences.

I don't often read "war novels" and am not fond of the stories that tout the "triumph of the human spirit". Too often those books spiral into screeds of accusation and whining...writ Large. This book, on the other hand, is writ small...in scope. Small enough to fit into a dying man's heart and brain....into a man trying to make sense of old horrors, loves, and regrets. The ending is a "stunner" and I won't give it away. Suffice to say, Ahmet dies with a modicum of peace.

I recommend this lovely heartbreak of a book to anyone who likes prose gracefully written...who prefers history confined to the heart rather than the Headlines

4 Stars

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Fearless

2010-11-19T08:24:00.000-08:00

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

......and lo! the title is appropriate! Ms Hamilton's work is surely one of my guilty pleasures...at least the first four Anita Blake titles, before the "stories" devolved into what I call WALMART PORN-cheesy enough to not offend the sensibilities of the average "Christian" housewife...with just enough "hard sex" to raise the reader's temperature....puhleez! How many descriptions of exotic blow jobs can one read before the eyes start rolling and laughter rules the day? Or is that just me?

Someone, or some thing, is killing the Master Vampires in St. Louis. Anita Blake, who raises the dead and slays vampires for a living, is on the case, albeit unwillingly. A gal can be bitten, stabbed,thrown against walls, and attacked by were-rats only so often before she concedes defeat, right? From Vampire Strip Clubs to a Hellish circus......dungeons to cemetaries....the hunt is on. In the company of a seductive, boyish stripper (who is also a vampire junkie), an armed, amoral yet dependable hit man....various cops, colleagues and, yes, vampires (plus a zombie or two)...Anita has her work cut out...She raises a few dead folks...slays a few "bad" vamps, including the Baddest One of All....infiltrates the Church of Eternal Life (don't ask)...and comes out in, more or less, one piece. A few busted ribs, one more grave to visit, and the mysterious Jean-Claude...who "made" her what she never wanted to be. Not too high a price, or is it?

The series begins here....which, to my mins, is THE place to start, where the story ruled and the sex was peripheral. These books won't give Anne Rice any competition, and Bram Stoker still rules the roost.

3 Stars for a wild, sexy walk on the wild side..with just enough violence and gore to satisfy the little bloodsucker in each of us!

View all my reviews

The Inscrutable East

2010-10-24T14:15:00.000-07:00

Out by Natsuo Kirino

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

HEADS-UP:

my reading notes for this book were as long as the book itself....what I post here is what i posted to another LT friend (not in OUR group) but, it might work...until i figure out something better.

# 26

Out by Natsuo Kirino

4.5 stars

This is one of the best books I've read in quite some time...Ms. Kirino has a knack for getting inside her character's heads....thereby getting inside the reader's head...so we all go to Hell together (no Yellow Brick Road)

my notes for this book are as long as the Effing book...if i write a review it will have to hit me very quickly...Read the damned thing...and squirm with pleasure...Ms Kirino is a rare bird...she can write a Thriller that Thrills...and make one think...that "it can happen here"

Four women working dead-end jobs...living in dead-end relationships...One woman murders her abusive husband....from there it's a slippery slide into the Tokyo Underworld....

Ms Kirino is a kill-hell writer....made this reader feel as if she was living the story. I have known women in this situation..in that case, real life, there was no murder...But who knows what lurks in the heart?

Not for the squeamish, faint-of-heart, or those who are only comfortable with "nice" books. This one rocks...and will leave you thinking about many things....that maybe aren't on your Agenda. I have two more of Ms Kirino's books...look forward to the "pleasure" of her company....

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CHICAGO, Not so Toddlin' (1968)

2010-08-26T09:07:00.000-07:00

Jackson Park by Charlotte Carter

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Set in Chicago after the Martin Luther King assassination...after the subsequent riots...the story features a Black family (of sorts..by necessity) caught up in a series of events born in the old Chicago political system and reared in the Black Power movement of the late 1960s. How these pieces fall together..and some lives fall apart...makes a good "mystery" but a better mini-History lesson writ bloody but not screamingly LARGE.

Ms Carter also wrote the NANETTE HAYES Trilogy:

Rhode Island Red,Coq Au Vin, &Drumsticks....all three sexy, sassy, and real (do i detect a Chicken theme?) Funky Butt chic, to be sure! Go, seek them out...

WOT????

2010-08-18T14:22:00.000-07:00

Mallory's Oracle by Carol O'Connell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Am re-reading MALLORY'S ORACLE by Carol O'Connell...the first of the MALLORY series. I had forgotten what a good book this is....great plot, well-developed characters..the whole thing...Kathleen Mallory is an early, American version of Lisbeth Salander (GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO)...another Wild Child, computer hacker extraordinaire...Ms Mallory dresses better, and lives in NYC...but under the skin they are the same....amoral to a fault, in the cause of their version of Justice.... (

Another PLUM

2010-08-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

....where Stephanie & Lula stumble upon a deli-robbery....except..Stephie sees the perp

Stephanie loses another vehicle...and stands to lose her life

one more trip into GANGLAND..and Miss Plum might stumble onto something UGLY..

Keystone Kops here...in North Jersey

the horror of modern-day life....sifted through Ms Evanovich's wondrous EYE$

3 Stars

Another PLUM

2010-08-08T11:35:00.000-07:00

To the Nines by Janet Evanovich

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

To the Nines

concerns a Role-Playing computer game gone Homicidal...a villain of the "Creepy-in-his-Innocence"variety...deadly but Soft

Family Dramas are a must...Love Hangovers...more Exploding Vehicles

Lula-on-a-Meat Diet

Keystone Kops antics

Ranger or Morelli..The HOT MAN debate

serious 3 Stars

THREE PLUMS...One (of three)

2010-08-07T22:30:00.000-07:00

Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've been a fan of Janet Evanovich and her STEPHANIE PLUM series since the first title One for the Money was published. If anyone is interested, that's the place to start.

Lately, I've revisited this part of Jersey....beginning withHard Eight

in Stephanie Plum's world..the events herein are not surprising. Bond Enforcement is a Job...brings into play various criminal "masterminds" who don't want to "pay the price" for their obsessions. A Psychotic military Game-Player loses his nut when a "trophy" goes missing...Mother-and-Daughter try to go Underground

Stephanie spends a lot of time face-down...trying to apprehend Bail skips.

Vehicles blow up

A Psychotic man-in-Rabbit Suit messes with everyone's heads

Stephie's LOVE LIFE sucks

Did I mention Albert Kloughn??

serious 3 Stars here!!

Meet Me At The Side Show

2010-07-27T16:20:00.002-07:00

The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno: A Novel by Ellen Bryson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

These are my "reading notes"

They will not make any sense...but, what the hell..

Here Goes

>Nights at the Circus is referenced here...Take note!

>"Freaks" from the inside..."inside" as in Prison..or in Safety

>Before P T Barnum became the Circus impresario we all know and love... he was the owner/operator of the AMERICAN MUSEUM....home to freaks and geeks of several persuassions....through tableaux and individual performance

>BARTHOLOMNEW FORTUNO...THE THINNEST MAN IN THE WORLD....our protagonist...thinks his physical abnormality is a "gift"

> Heirarchy within the museum residents..is "over the top"...adolescent to a fault...gossip...insecurity

>Enter IELL...THE BEARDED LADY....a sensuous, gifted, 'other"....Love arrives....Barhtolomew is unprepared...he wants to woo her...save her..."Love is a rose..the thorns ate toxic"....watch out! The lady has more secrets than her beard!!

>This is a story from the "other" side...where the Freaks look at us..Shit, I lost this post...and We are Them....vice versa...and their vision is very clear.

>Bartholomew's Transformation?? becoming "normal"...and remembering why he became an Oddity..in the first place...His world crashes...but he survives..the beauty of this story..Love nearly killed him...then he started to EAT...

I loved this story...told from the "inside" of the Side Show world....Ms Bryson mentions Nights at the Circus...and i heartily recommend

This "review" makes no sense at all..I make no apologies...go somewhere else for intelligence

WHAT'LL I DO???

2010-07-11T09:44:00.000-07:00

Sumner Island by Michael Cormier

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ghost-Hunting at the Smythe, a luxury hotel/resort located on Sumner Island, off the coast of Maine. The very same Smythe where Maria Boudreau, "America's Princess" in the last century's Golden Age, met an untimely and violent end in 1924....eighty years before this story takes place. Mitchell Lambert, history professor at Fowler College, made his literary mark with a popular biography of Miss Boudreau. Mr Lambert is a tad obsessed with our Maria...some would call it LOVE. The ghost hunt is the result of several sightings of Boudreaus's ghost..by people not in love with her. Psychics, bystanders,and a cranky, psychotic spirit plus a Wise Old Man with a personal stake in the story's outcome...all make for a fine cast of characters.

Paranormal Romance is not my genre of choice but I did enjoy this book. Mr Cormier is a crackerjack story teller, and a decent stylist. the prose had "flow" and only hit a few bumps toward the end, when all the paranormal "Bells & Whistles" flew thick and fast...a bit much, in my opinion. All the "massed spirits of the long dead", the phenomenal thunder storm with attendant lightning strikes/fires..and the sudden lack of oxygen...left me a little breathless..and impatient for the story's end. The malevolent spirit was so, indeed..then came across as a petulant frat boy with a murderous streak.. Mitch Lambert was a bit "soft" as a character..too moony by half, but maybe Academics are like that now. In my day, they just drank too much and tried to charm the pants off college girls..Oh well. Small complaints, when all is said and done. the ending was..well...paranormal. Love does endure through the ages...

I liked the book,in spite of the "flaws" which are not such...just my quibbles. This is a good summer read if you like your novels not-too-heavy..but not floating off into the air. The period detail was good..be it present day or late-Victorian past. This is not Paranormal of the Heaving Bosom variety, rather it's more cerebral....unto the slightly obsessive. The Passion here is of the hopeful sort. Good food-for-thought that won't give you a headache, or set you to yawning.

This is a review of an ARC.

3 Stars

DUPPY CONQUEROR (with apologies to Bob Marley)

2010-06-04T10:26:00.000-07:00

Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
These are Notes....rather than a fluid review. Be warned!

:Aliens, not extraterrestrial.Cultural. Aliens in their own lands, their experiences as Outsiders while living in the Inner city. The OTHER SIDE, as it were.

:TORONTO-in-the-Future. The privileged and monied classes fled the city, threw up barricades and roadblocks in their wake....left the inner City to fester and rot....left it in the hands of posses/criminal gangs, and the desperate disenfranchised. Until the need arose for body parts/organs...the wealthy needed organ transplants..and the state run Pig Farms were rife with disease (and dis-ease)..... here is where the Posses enter..Oh, the horror!

:Three generations of Afro-Caribbean "seer" women have made a life for themselves amidst the city's ruins..a life of grief, secrets, lies...Herb Lore and ancient ritual...Obeah...Santeria..."the spirits"

:The Two Worlds collide (sometimes literally) in a tale that incorporates both Zombies and organ transplants...a future that contains ancient ritual amidst Urban Decay...A Future that could be "just around the corner"..and, in this case, actually works as story.

:I liked the book for its unique perspective and "take" on Aliens/Alienation. The women characters were strong..to a fault, at times...whereby they couldn't recognize their Strength until it was almost too late. It always took a harrowing crisis to bring on a 'Wake Up Call"..there were plenty of crises. I could have done without the "mushy-mushy" love story...but Ti-Jeanne, the young woman at the forefront of the story, needed it..needed to get through it..to find her own SELF..In the end she was still learning..still "seeking". This is not a New Age tome..more "old as the hills"...no easy answers..no smooth closure. Plenty violence and blood..evil duppy...sadness beyond the grave. As I said, i liked this book..it won the WARNER ASPECT FIRST NOVEL CONTEST back in the day..and as a debut novel...is pretty damned good. Never set the world on fire..but I think it would make a great Graphic Novel. Ms Hopkinson's prose is that sensuous...one can see the action and smell the decay of the dying city. I own the follow-up title Midnight Robber...it's waiting "in the wings". Will get to it toot-sweet, oui.

3 1/2 Stars......

Growing Up is Hard to Do

2010-05-18T08:34:00.000-07:00

The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Pia Kolvenbach is known as "the girl whose grandmother's head exploded" in a freak accident at the Advent Dinner table. Advent Candle met Aqua Net hairspray...the rest was "history", with which Pia has to live every day. When young girls start to disappear, Pia and her trusty sidekick, StinkStefan, are "on the case". Two pariahs, and the avuncular storyteller Herr Schiller, explore the history of their village, Bad Munstereifel, through folk tales and gossip. Eventually, the dark side of the town begins to show itself, and Pia begins to learn the hard lesson, that people are not always what they seem to be.

I thought this was more a novel of manners, customs, and small town life- not unlike The Little Friend by Donna Tartt. The Thriller/Mystery angle took a back seat to the Town itself...The missing/"vanished" girls were a vital part of the story, but more so as a part of Pia's coming-of-age. The pacing of the story was slow until the last 1/3 of the book. The ending seemed a bit rushed to me, but in hindsight i think it was right, since the leisurely pace of the first 2/3 was good preparation for an ending that wasn't lurid, yet still kept the pages turning.

Pia Kolvenbach was not a precocious child, by any means. She was witty, a bit of a smart aleck, but all told she was just a kid,trying to deal with a situation where even the adults seemed to be at a loss. Curious, selfish, petulant and persistant, she carried this tale on noble 10-year-old shoulders, and lived to tell it years later.

I enjoyed the book and gave it the rating I did , for being both a coming-of-age story..and a mystery about Life itself, as we grow into it. Recommended.

This is a review of an ARC.

3 Stars (***)

Pulp Lovers Unite! There is Hope for the Future!

2010-05-07T05:49:00.000-07:00

The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril: A Novel by Paul Malmont

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A debut novel that casts the rivalry between two of pulp fiction's legendary writers...Walter Gibson (THE SHADOW) and Lester Dent (DOC SAVAGE)into an AMAZING STORY in its own right.

My own experience of the Pulps is limited to a collection of radio broadcasts of THE SHADOW from the 1930s and 1940s...on cassette tape. These tapes are rather fragile now (though I purchased them in the 1980s..i played them a lot) I still get a shiver when I hear that LAUGH..and the stories ain't half bad. I also recall seeing the Pulp Detective Magazines when I was a kid..the covers were a hoot...Scantily clad ladies a-languishing in "terror" whilst the square-jawed "dicks" let loose with their big "guns"...Jeesh ! Titillation sublime! And the stories were fun reading...

This story, as crafted by Mr Malmont has all the blood, cruelty, fear and vengeance of the old pulps..with a touch...just a touch...of Modern Day savvy. The courageous heroes, damsels in distress (with heaving bosoms and snappy repartee), evil villains, secret identities,are joined by global schemes, deadly superweapons (the Death Cloud of the title), and hideous deaths...which gives this tale a decidedly Modern twist (ouch!)..Full of outrageous lies that are all too true, this story also reminds one that these two fellows, Gibson and Dent, were writers working on deadline, even when they were facing the end of the world.

Where does real end and pulp begin? Maybe THE SHADOW is the only one to answer that. According to the end of this novel, he might just have more to say..another volume to add to his oeuvre....some day...

4 Stars (****)

STRESS-FREE TECHNOLOGY!!!

2010-04-15T08:57:00.000-07:00

Digitally Daunted: The Consumer's Guide to Taking Control of the Technology in Your Life by Sean Westcott

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I requested this title from LIBRARY THING's Early Reviewers program, because I was looking for a Consumer Guide to all the Techie Toys out there. I'm glad I got this one.

Who knew that a common sense approach would work in a Consumer guide of this sort? Not I. The language is clear, and concise. The "Geekspeak", when it shows up, is explained in a non-condescending manner. I did not read this book cover-to-cover, as I would a novel...probably because the plot is pretty thin. However, the Table of Contents is detailed enough that an Index is unnecessary. It's easy enough to find what one is after...and then some. My focus was on Computers and Digital Cameras, both of which I own. I learned quite a lot of The Basics....and even some not-so General Info. The chapters on Cell Phones and Televisions were interesting..but I still don't want one of the former...and I've been without Network TV since everything went Digital. I learned a lot that I had not known..especially the bits on HI-DEF TV. I still don't understand why anyone would want a camera on her phone..but this book won't answer that question..it does explain Cell Phone Bills/Features/Networks so that even I understood.

This is not a Bells-and-Whistles Guide..it is Basic and well-written. I'm glad I have it..and plan to share with other non-Techies I know.

4 Stars (****)

Period Comedy..A Good One

2010-03-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

Unnatural Fire: A Countess Ashby De LA Zouche Mystery by Fidelis Morgan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A former mistress of King Charles II, fallen on hard times, is forced to become a hack for a local Scandal Sheet,,in cahoots with her former Maid...they are given a "case" to follow a supposedly Errant Husband..and
The Games Begin..

And here is where i give my Warning:
This book is a wonderful Comedy of Manners..a Satire..Slapstick Glorious...surrounding a not-bad Mystery...Ms Morgan is an expert in Restoration Comedy..and it shows...I loved this book for the Comedy (I needed a good laugh)..but the Mystery isn't/wasn't bad

Don't be mislead by the Mystery Tag...read this book if you enjoy a good story..if you like good period pieces..if you are CURIOUS...you will not be disappointed.

One More "Rave" Review

2010-03-15T11:20:00.000-07:00

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Intrepid journalist, recently indicted on a Libel charge, is approached by the aging/ailing Head of a noted/notorious Family of Industry..to solve the "mystery" of his Granddaughter's 40-year-old Murder...Let the Games begin.

Mikael Blomkvist is, in fact, an intrepid journalist...albeit on the moody/sexy/nerdy side...which leads him down many a garden path, and through many a bedroom door. LOTHARIO seems to be his second name..distracting to a point...

The VANGERs....give "family values" a bad name..turning said values on their head with a few slaps, punches, whip strokes, and cigarette burns. These people are not Nice, but neither are they truly repulsive. No Borgias here...just wealthy people too accustomed to getting their own way. Poor Grandpops Henrik is both clueless regarding the foibles of the Rest..and all too aware. Which gives his concern regarding dear Harriet's 'murder" an odd flavor..Murder? Disappearance? It seems that he's the only one to care..about anything other than himself. But his approach to Blomkvist...and the whole Family History assignment, is a smokescreen...for the destruction of a dishonest Financier (this part of the book..the Very End..was the best)...Harriet? yes, well......

I'm not squeamish regarding violent subject matter..but one can read only so much about torture/rape..before it becomes laughable...The "villain" in this case (Martin the Pathetic) was merely his father's son (Gottfried the Insane)...and Harriet (the little sister) would have paid if not for.......
but enough of the Vangers..

I love Liz(abeth) Salander..the anorexic, tattooed girl of the title. Wunderkind researcher, consummate computer hacker...Little-Girl-With-A Heart-Of-Ice...She's the only one who emerges from this book with a "clue" and a plan....to destroy those who have tried to marginalize/"destroy" her. The result of a Horrid Childhood, Liz doesn't let that stop her in her quest for Justice...I wish her well on her journey...she can stay with me any time...

4 Stars (****)

ET & Philosophy...

2010-02-23T09:55:00.000-08:00

Oom by D.J. Webber

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
A boy (Joe Hills) and an Alien (Oom, from the planet Llevro) meet on a drought-ridden farm in the Australian Outback. Oom is in exile from his home planet, come to Earth to commune with those of a Higher Order (than humans? Blue Whales, maybe?) Joe Hills is a curious boy..intrigued by the Big Questions of life..which makes him an Exile, of sorts. Together they find water to save the Hills' farm from foreclosure..and dastardly neighbors. This could be characterized as "ET-with-Philosophy", since it touches on issues such as Multiculturalism, Save The Whales, "Is there life beyond Earth?"..the Big Questions..dealt with in a timely, non-patronizing manner.

Of course there are Caricatures...and a cameo by a pair of "Scully & Mulder" wannbes. George W Bush shows up at his manic, Patriotic "best"...but the whales steal the show..seriously. Who knew that they were the wiser species on this Earth? Not I.

I had my doubts about this book, at first, but came away with a good read. The presentation of ideas was clever and non-didactic. Might just give the YA audience some food-for-thought. My only quibble was the Editing. Could have been tighter...reined in the story's rambling a bit more.

All in all, a good, thought-provoking story. Won't set the world on fire but can start a slow-burn, nonetheless.

Paleontology..anyone?

2010-02-21T15:54:00.001-08:00

Threshold by Caitlín R. Kiernan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
"First off, this is not Horror of the Splatter Sort...Paleontological??? Yep...this story is Ages Old yet as contemporary as...yesterday...Ms Kiernan is a trained Paleontologist..so her premise of "some old horror/monster" is not far-fetched..but the story is FETCHING with teeth to spare...read this, and her novel SILK..you won't be disappointed..but you might not sleep so easy, for a few nights, either...

bon chance
Jude" ( )

Something Different

2010-02-05T09:59:00.000-08:00

Grace After Midnight: A Memoir by Felicia Pearson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
First off, the title caught my interest...GRACE AFTER MIDNIGHT is not GIRLZ IN THE 'HOOD....it speaks of deeper, stiller waters...Ms Pearson grew up in the 'hood, and by a simple twist of Fate..found a way out...through TV...through the HBO series THE WIRE....through Michael K Williams, who was a member of that show's excellent cast. By essentially playing herself, Snoop (in real life) was able to quit The Life (Thug, drug dealer) and enter the world.

Born a 3-lb, cross-eyed crack baby in East Baltimore...Ms Pearson was a GIRL IN THE 'HOOD....on the stoop...on the corners..in the alleys...in court..and in Jessup (the Women's Penitentiary) at age 15. This is her story, told in her words, in her rhythm...no excuses, no Sugar Coat.

I don't usually read celebrity Bios..especially those written by the under-30 set...but, as i said, this one reached out to me. I am an unreconsructed fan of THE WIRE...and lament its passing (but all good things should end when it's their time)....it's glorious triumphs and imperfections..The character of SNOOP..with her raspy voice...her Corner Boy threads..her nail gun and bucket of quicklime.was an especial favorite...hell, i wanted to bring her home..to liven up the town where i live...

This book will never win a prize in the white world..but i thought it was a compelling read....not "fluff" , or just a voyeuristic peek at a lifestyle i'll never live. Ms Pearson lived THE LIFE and then turned it around..into something better for herself....through Luck, or Fate, or Grace...one.

4 Stars

Cozy...but a Good Mystery..in spite of itself

2010-02-04T07:29:00.000-08:00

Still Life by Louise Penny

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
"Still", indeed..but more like "still waters" It took about 120 pages before this book "kicked in"...I was focusing on the townspeople of Three Pines, and not enjoying their company very much...too many neuroses in the air. Somewhere around page 117, however, something 'clicked" and i began to focus on the investigative team, headed by Inspector Gamache..plenty of neuroses there, but at least those people had a job to do..a plan

i don't usually like COZY mysteries...too often they are heavy on the 'cozy" angle..and the "mystery" gets short shrift...but Ms Penny is very good at pacing her story...and dealing out the Clues in a timely, if tame, fashion. I figured out the Perp's identity early on, which did not detract from reading the actual End-of-Story..

Flawed characters trying to live decent lives, often in spite of themselves...and the Police who step in to clean up the messes when things go terribly awry

I have the second book in the series...waiting in the wings....maybe i'll actually read it

3 Stars

Wasting So Many Words On A Book I Disliked???????

2010-01-25T12:07:00.000-08:00

Kill Dress by John Young

My rating: 1 of 5 stars
KILL DRESS...is killing me..no mean feat for such a short book (70 pages)

I know that many people have a burning desire to write novels..i also know that most of those people have neither the skill nor the talent to pull it off. I also know how important is the Editor's job in any Publishing foray.
This poor book displays a serious lack of editing..and not much Skill...evidenced by a lack of "Paring Down"..Mr Young should heed the adage "less is more' regarding description...and the constant repetition..of action...was distracting, to say the least

this would have made a good short story (pared down by half) in whatever passes for Pulp Magazines, nowadays.

which brings me to the STORY itself...that of a glam/sexy dress with the ability to so confuzzle men that they will kill to possess the wearer...SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS gone Naughty, Nasty, & Vengeful....Girls just want to have fun and get back at the Dogs/Insensitive men in their little lives.....woot woot.....and i didn't mention the Voodoo overtones..or the shrill Feminist "we have the right to dress as we choose..if men can't take it...that's their problem" 11th hour angle......or the Serial Killer lurking in the wings.

too much here..none of it developed..A short book that should have been shorter........Run, don't walk, from it's spell
View all my reviews >>

To repeat: BRAIN CANDY ALERT!

2010-01-23T06:52:00.000-08:00

The Green and the Gray by Timothy Zahn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Brain Candy Alert!

First, take two alien peoples (Greens & Grays), living seriously underground in NYC for decades who are about to re-stage the Armageddon of their collective past. The only way to Stop The War? The sacrifice of a 12-year-old girl (Melantha Green)....but wait, not everyone favors this move so the girl is abdu.....spirited away at the 11th hour....leaving many unhappy folks, some bent on Revenge

Next, take one Yuppie couple with a creaky marriage, on the way home from a tense "night out"...who are handed said girl at gunpoint and told to "Take her. Protect her"...and the games begin. Because everyone and his brother is on the lookout for the non-sacrificial lamb.

With all this potential for Urban mayhem....let's not forget the NYPD....enter Detective Fierenzo.

Then add some car chases, convoluted subway rides, Hammerguns, Shrieks that can be deadly....at least two abductions..a country idyll that is anything but...allusions to Greek and Norse Mythology....A Romeo & Juliet angle that's "oh so sweet"...Evil Meanies...treachery in the ranks...and an ending that seemed a bit tame to me....Peace is Declared and God Bless Us Everyone...Like i said...Brain Candy!!

I have not read anything else by Mr Zahn, but i get the impression that this was a departure for him, from Hard Sci-Fi..I found the Hard angles herein a bit far-fetched...thought this one was more a Police Procedural with Alien overtones. Since it was published in 2004..the shadow of 9/11 was ever-present..but did not detract from a pleasantly wild ride.

Brain Candy
4 Stars

Why Bother???

2010-01-19T11:39:00.001-08:00

Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott

My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I wish i could give a serious review of this book....alas! i cannot

5 Stars for the Story Premise....Isaac Newton's career at Cambridge University....as a Mathematician & an Alchemist....such Potential!

2 Stars for the actual delivery...i disliked the Narrator/Narrative Device...bloodless/soulless to a fault...

My apologies for the mess that showed up here yesterday. I had a friend posting my Review, but she copied from my Rough Notes, instead...there will be a coherent Review...as soon as...again, i am sorry for the "drivel"

Romance Lite....anyone?

2010-01-02T10:47:00.000-08:00

Reasons by Tracy Fabre

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Romance/Romance Lite is not my Genre of choice, but i received a copy of this book from the Author...i owe a review..

Our protagonist, Delphi Brent, survived a hit-and-run accident at age 17...ten years later she is set to visit old family friends before starting a new job.However...the facts of the accident have been a close-kept family secret..and the family she is visiting?...one of the sons was driving the fatal car. Here comes a Summer to Remember!!! All goes fairly well until Delphi develops a serious Jones for the younger surviving son, Tam (the actual younger son perished in the same Accident).....and stumbles upon said Fatal Car, shrouded in a barn....i know, Soap Opera City....right? Right..but Delphi is a spunky gal with a sassy mouth and the requisite angst of anyone trying to forge ahead in life. I just wish she hadn't been such a Mush-Head toward Tam....but then, i'm no romantic...

I liked the character in this book....no real Caricatures and nary a Devil or Angel in the mix...the Spirituality was more Human than Godly..and if Jesus was present he was probably waiting in the wings to see how the story played out.

If Romance is your thing..this might be for you. The story does not devolve into Soft Core Porn.....but neither is it Message-ridden. since i try to read outside of my own Genre Boxes at least once a year..i have to say i enjoyed this without going into sugar-shock...and my gorlfriends who Do like Romance are already asking to borrow the book. Go figure...it's a good story with believable characters....nuff said

3 Stars (i liked it)

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010

2009-12-31T09:25:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of Good-Time Girls everywhere:

glitter-graphics.com

Just Another Love TKO....

2009-12-28T05:52:00.000-08:00

Queenpin by Megan Abbott

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Once again, i met up with Ms Abbott...and was TKOd right out of the box....but it didn't hurt, not one bit. The narrative tension...the period detail..the cold-as-ice women and wastrel men...the broken bones...the blood..the mayhem...the "heat"....are all here in spades. Three times lucky, i guess.

A crash course in Grifting 101, under the tutelage of the legendary Gloria Denton, leaves our wide-eyed heroine bewitched, bothered, and bewildered...and craving the ever-elusive MORE. Things go seriously awry when Miss Wide Eyes falls hard for a rotten, unlucky (but gorgeous) gambler. In an effort to save his sorry ass and pay off his Vig...a plot is hatched to relieve La Denton of some cash...bloody murder follows. After our girl's wounds heal she decides to turn heel...turn her coat...and rat the Queenpin out to the coppers....more bloody death follows, toot-sweet. The newly freed Bird hies off to greener pastures..only to meet a Character from the recent past, who offers her the chance of a lifetime..the chance to become a Queenpin, herself...talk about Fate. what kind of Luck is that?

5 Stars (oh, hell, make it a double)

My Old Hometown

2009-12-26T12:05:00.000-08:00

Gum-Dipped: A Daughter Remembers Rubber Town by Joyce Dyer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Frustrating? Annoying? You Bet.....

This is Joyce Dyer's heartfelt (at times Slavish) tribute to her father..Thomas Coyne....and His slavish devotion to Firestone Tire & Rubber Company (Akron, Ohio) and Harvey S Firestone, Sr

Thomas Coyne was a COMPANY MAN..through and through...he believed that Firestone Tire & Rubber..and Harvey Firestone would care for him & his family for life...unfortunately, that was not the case...RUBBER left Akron in the 1970s..and left Thomas Coyne behind

I was born and raised in Akron, Ohio..my father spent his entire working life at Firestone Tire & Rubber Company..but he was NOT a Company Man..we did Not live in Firestone Park..and my Dad always said that Harvey Firestone Sr was "a crook" and a Robber Baron..

Ms Dyer, in spite of her slavish devotion to her Father, eventually presented a clear-eyed picture of the man..and his blind trust in a Company that let him, and so many others, down..in a shameful way

this was a tough read for me..Ms Dyer and i grew up in different circumstances..different "classes"...and my father retired as a Systems Analyst..but "got out" when he could in the late 70s...but i felt for her in reading this book. Her dad bought the Company Line totally..and he paid dearly...and so did she, in a way. I envy her close relationship with her father..to a point.

i won't recommend this book..unless someone grew up in Akron, when it was the Rubber Capitol of The World...but it is a heartbreaker of a book..the tale of Industry's control of a city..but it's disregard of its workers...and the price everyone paid..

4 Stars

Favorite Author/Series

2009-12-18T23:37:00.000-08:00

A Place of Hiding by Elizabeth George

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Supposing that one has not read Elizabeth George's LYNLEY/HAVERS series of mysteries..this is not really the place to start(that would be A GREAT DELIVERANCE...the first)..but it's not bad.....the entire series is well worth the time spent navigating intricate plotlines (watch out for the Twists in the road); flawed, if at times exasperating characters (just like real people); and the woeful aftermath of a Criminal Act (sadness and rue, anyone?).

I want to call this particular title "The Flip Side of THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL SOCIETY" (which book i have NOT read)...since it is set on the Isle of Guernsey and, in part, deals with the Nazi Occupation of said island.....not a quaint story in this case..

a thoroughly enjoyable read...but i am a serious GEORGE fan

**** (4 Stars)

What's a fella to do????

2009-12-15T09:20:00.000-08:00

The Midnight Band of Mercy by Michael Blaine

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
What begins as a simple, lurid tale of Catricide soon develops into one of greed, Eugenics, and the slaughter of another group of Innocents.

Max Greengrass, a stringer for the NEW YORK HERALD, is paid by the column-inch..so everything has "story-potential" in his eyes....and his pocketbook. When he stumbles, literally, upon a tableau of dead cats, one drunken evening, he sees only the number of paragraphs to be eked out for a story...unbeknownst to him, however, is the fact that this Story could be the the Big One..to make his career or end his life....

1890s NYC..Tammany hall in its grand corruption...swank lawyers playing both sides of the courtroom. Clergyman Reformers having it both ways with Sin & Salvation, while the city's poorest pay the tab...The Hudson Dusters and their Gangland ilk provide "color".....a sexy radical Settlement House nurse and a dedicated, Bluestocking photographer provide the "love interest' in Max's life....when he's not being throttled by street Arabs..or The Herald's City Editor..

A vibrant cast of characters and a plot "ripped from the headlines" make this a fast-paced, enjoyable read....and you just might learn some History in the process.

**** (4 Stars)

What If...........????

2009-12-05T07:38:00.000-08:00

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
"What if, among those falsely accused during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, there had been a few actual witches?"...That is the premise of this historical novel, and Ms Howe delivers a good story...with a few flaws. Aside from a couple of characters who border on Caricature (the New Age Mom, the Evil Mentor), a didactic tone (at the beginning of the book i felt as if i were back in college, sitting through another History lecture), and the whole mystical, "blue-ball-of-energy" pyrotechnic display (Comic Book, anyone?)...this story of a missing Spell book works...or maybe because of these very things.

Ms Howe's scholarship is impeccable, but i felt her protagonist suffered for it. Poor Connie Goodwin was at sea in her own story, at times..bogged down by details and her own angst..with little room to move....Given the fact that both the author and main character have a Salem Legacy..i will carp no more.

Academic ambition, shaky ethics, the burden of History and Family are all here...this was an enjoyable read, all-in-all....One may not think of Witches in the same "olde wayes" again

The Forest.....or??????????

2009-11-28T14:46:00.001-08:00

In the Woods by Tana French

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
a cracking good Police Procedural...complete with Moody Detectives...a Cold Case that will not die...a truly dastardly Psychopathic (Twisted?) Sister......angst, ennui, political machinations..the whole gamut...but more than that, i saw it as a bittersweet meditation on the fleeting innocence of childhood, the uncertainty of memory, and the fragility of the nuclear Family.......

Exquisitely plotted and paced, this is one amazing book...auspicious for a debut

View all my reviews >>

The Coup of Coups (Couscous?)

2009-11-27T09:41:00.000-08:00

Cages by Dave McKean

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
the best of the best of the best....even if you don't "like" Graphic Novels..this is a Masterpiece. Art/Creativity/Censorship..it's all here...Black & White and Color

The Help?

2009-11-14T08:11:00.000-08:00

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
One in a line of Southern novels featuring "spunky" women....in this case, two black maids and a white college girl, returned home with "no prospects" (i. e. without a husband in sight). What sets this story apart from the rest is the project in which these three engage themselves....the truth about the lives of "colored" maids....THE HELP, as it were. a bold venture in 1962..in Jackson, Mississippi. A bold venture well told, with a minimum of hand-wringing, and only the requisite Stereotyping....The author is a dab hand at storytelling. I liked the characters who deserved such, and pitied the rest. This book won't set the world on fire, but is an enjoyable read..that left me thinking, again, about the destructive roles that Racism and Fear play in our lives..to this day.

..........and yet...Another

The Night Battles by M.F. Bloxam

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A pre-Christian fertility cult is alive and well in modern-day Valparuta, Sicily. The "Benandanti" still do battle with the "Melandanti"...in Night Battles..to ensure the success of the Harvest. I am in no way equipped to discuss the historical aspects of this book...so i point my finger in the direction of a title mentioned by the Author herself The Night Battles: Witches and Agrarian Cults in the sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries by Carlo Ginzburg....there is also a Website for this book.....http://thenightbattles.com....

the Paranormal aspect of this book? Not the Laurell K Hamilton variety..no hunky weres and vamps..herein you will find Folklore still liviing..lying close to the living bones...herein you will also find two seriously flawed characters (the Romance angle, if you will)
............Joan: a failed American academic, trying to come to terms with her trashed career, her own past, her mother's death, her childhood in Sicily, to which she's returned in a last ditch effort at meaningful work

............Chiesa....the Man-of-Mystery...the Archivist of Valparuta....at whose behest Joan has landed in this Sicilian backwater.....Chiesa..a man with more secrets than is healthy for anyone to bear...is he, or is he not an actual Benandanti? or is he a flunky for the local Mafia (which no one names directly)?

who is using who(m) here? to what ends? the mutual obsession precludes any Romance-of-the- Doomed...in other words...HOLD THE HANKIES...neither of these people is likeable...too many sharp edges...Joan's tendency to ramble is annoying....but this trait works to the Author's purpose....which is to make a strange and compelling novel...one of the more Unusual i have read in the past year..and i am a Fool for the Unusual

4 Stars (and i look forward to the author's next effort..whenever)

View all my reviews >>

WELCOME TO HELL

2009-08-21T11:14:00.000-07:00

THE GLISTER
John Burnside
Doubleday/Nan A Talese
2008

This is not horror of the Stephen King variety (though i have nothing against SK)....rather it is cerebral....almost to a fault..meaning one can get lost in the atmosphere, both of the writing itself, and the setting of the story....to the point that one forgets that not much is actually happening,,,,that being said.

An abandonded chemical plant still awash in toxins...becomes the refuge of disaffected youth in the town that once depended on it..the town itself dying from civic apathy, cultural decline..the vestiges of corporate greed...severe ennui...and various odd cancers

Every year or so a boy from the local school has gone missing in the local Poisoned Woods. The local policeman, aware of the fact that these have actually been deaths..ritual killings......is also aware of the means by which they have been covered up...and suffers the usual pangs of guilt.A group of local youth decides to take matters into their own hands...or at least bring someone to Justice....with disastrous results..after a particularly violent bit of Avenging, one of the boys, Leonard, teams up with a fellow denizen of The Bad Place...and all hell proceeds to break loose in ways brutal, pathetic, and Biblical..ritual killing and an Infernal Machine.complete the steps to Oblivion

Imagine being a witness to your own death? Imagine that you are but one in a chain? Imagine being aware of these facts at the one moment when it is too late for that awareness to matter?

this was one of the best books i have read in a long while
5 Stars

*this is a review of an ARC*

AW SHUCKS!

2009-08-01T05:12:00.000-07:00

Just want to thank everyone who has stopped by and posted comments lately. I am amazed that anyone, besides myself, is interested in these reviews....no, seriously. So again, a big thank you to my "visitors"..I have one review...in the works...and a couple more "books on tap" to be read..and far more coming into the house than are "necessary".....shelf space is becoming a serious problem...ahem.

Oh, well...enough of this. I must go to read...

And You Think Your Job Is Difficult...

2009-07-24T10:44:00.000-07:00

MISTRESS OF THE ART OF DEATH
Ariana Franklin
G P Putnam’s Sons
2007
280 pages

“Name of the Rose” crossed with “Silence of the Lambs”???? Whichever, the premise is as old as Time. Someone is savagely murdering children, and Someone Else has to discover who and, more importantly, why.

In this case, the year is 1157 AD, the city is Cambridge, England during the reign of Henry II,who is held,to this day, responsible for the death and subsequent canonization of Thomas a Becket..Someone is murdering English children and the Jews are being blames..the same Jews who fill the coffers of the realm..the eternally scapegoated Jews....enter Simon of Naples, himself a Jew and well-known “fixer”; his erstwhile sidekick, Adelia Vesuvia Aguilar, a “mistress of the art of death”, and a Physician to boot..which fact, if widely known, could condemn her as a Witch in the society of Cambridge...throw in a Saracen bodyguard and watch them enter the story among a troupe of pilgrims returning from Canterbury with relics, sickness, and a murderer in tow...so the story begins.

and what a story! i was impressed with Ms Franklin’s scholarship regarding the historical aspects of this tale...its Politics and mores. her portrayal of everyday life and death was a joy to read. her characters were actually Characters and not dialogue-spouting cutouts. my only qualm was the intrusion of a Romantic Aspect..which sells books, i know. But Adelia was subject to self-doubt on her best days...once she encountered the Studly Rowly she went all soft and girly and nearly lost her head.....but that’s a minor quibble, given the strength of the rest of the book. i had no problem with the rather savage end of the SICKLY NUN...and the MURDERER got his just desserts as well

I’m not sure i want to read the sequel(s) in the series but i strongly recommend this first foray....4 stars at least

Rock n Roll..in Novel Form?

2009-06-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

DARK SIDE OF THE MORGUE: A Spike Berenger Rock n Roll Hit
RAYMOND BENSON
A Leisure Book/Dorchester Publishing
305 pages
March 2009

Someone is killing Progressive Rock musicians in Chicago-one by one. Only thing is, the sole suspect is a ghost. Enter the intrepid ROCKIN’ SECURITY team, summoned from NYC at the behest of a potential victim. Considering the fact that Chicago never had a Progressive Rock movement, this story is a bit of a stretch from Jump Street. Given that the dead musicians-and Spike Berenger, head of said ROCKIN’ SECURITY- are all past the prime of life...the novel creaks along with a certain charm..and an equally certain annoyance factor.

i found the plot intriguing- the psychological deterioration of rock musicians is always so...However, the amount of information imparted-most of it fictitious-was done so, i thought, in a didactic fashion that hampered the characters’ portrayal...i thought
Spike Berenger lacked a certain “charm” because he was too busy spouting “old history”....and he tried awfully hard to play a Tough Guy...

other than that, i thought it was an enjoyable book. i don’t usually read Rock n Roll novels, which tend to be either overly sentimental or painfully HIP..this one skirted the pitfalls, but barely.. i read the entire book in order to find out how Mr Benson handled the ending..not bad. i have recommended this title to people who already like the Genre..no one has complained yet

i still can’t figure, though, if this story is “....just another brick in the wall”...or not?

AMERICAN RUST by Philipp Meyer

2009-06-18T23:47:00.001-07:00

American Rust
Philipp Meyer
343 pages
Spiegel & Grau (ARC)
2009

Two young men from a dying Pennsylvania steel mill town are involved in a murder and its aftermath.....their desire to leave a hometown that offers no future...the ties of friendship and family that both strengthen and strangle..guilt and innocence, both in a legal and social sense...intensely dramatic...at times, the characters’ interior monologues seem to go on forever but there is a method to the madness.

i find the comparisons to Steinbeck a bit premature, but i see a lot of potential in Mr. Meyer’s debut novel...shades of Pete Dexter (PARIS TROUT) and Russell Banks (RULE OF THE BONE) are strong

this was not an easy read for me since i live not far from Western Pennsylvania...and if you swap Coal Mines for Steel Mills you do have the area where i live..in the late 70s-80s when the coal mines started to close. the characters in this book could be my neighbors and their grandsons..the voices in this book rang true for me, albeit painfully. i enjoyed this book and look forward to Mr Meyer’s next effort

this is a review of an ARC....

I Return...bearing a Review

2009-05-25T08:52:00.000-07:00

THREE MINUTES ON LOVE
Roccie Hill
274 pages
2008
The Permanent Press

this is a review of an ARC:

I tend to avoid books set in the 60s-70s like the Plague. I lived through the Era and bear no Sentimentality toward it

This book is different. Granted, it's the story of Rosie Kettle and David Wilderspin-a Photographer and Musician, respectively-set against the backdrop of wretched excess that was the Southern California music scene in the 70s...but the backdrop stays that way. This is the story of two talented people trying to "make it" and make a life against the odds...of their own temperaments and the "business' of Art.

From the giddy, erotic beginnings of Love..to the Growing pains of Marriage...to the loss of a child....the story unfolds, crumbles, but does not die. the music scene is still full of excess and greed but money is tighter..Artists still battle their demons daily. Rosie Kettle's voice rings true here...from a whisper to a scream.

I liked this book..it gave me much food for thought...Roccie Hill knows her stuff..but more than that, she knows her heart. i still avoid books set in the 60s & 70s, though.

Dead

2009-05-12T17:31:00.000-07:00

Dead is Dead.....and will be...for a while, here

Sorry/Sari

J

Lost in the Amazon

2009-03-21T07:52:00.000-07:00

THE LOST CITY OF Z: A TALE OF DEADLY OBSESSION IN THE AMAZON
David Grann
Doubleday
2008
372 pages*

“Surprise!!! i liked this book...mostly for the conversational style, so non-pedantic. i read the ARC* so did not have benefit of the Maps and footnotes of the Hardcover.. a ripsnorting tale of obsession and the drive to go Beyond one's comfortable niche in life..Percy Fawcett was a Man's Man in his day...drove himself, and others, to the limit in his explorations of the Amazon..in search of the fabled city of El Dorado..his Lost City of Z...needless to say he disappeared during that last trek in 1925....his whereabouts begat a whole new school of explorers...those who went in search of Lost Predecessors.....can you imagine a time when there were still empty spaces on World Maps?”

Daphne Du Maurier-Storyteller

2009-03-12T08:59:00.000-07:00

MY COUSIN RACHEL
Daphne Du Maurier
Dell Publishing 1985
348 pages

DID SHE OR DIDN'T SHE: THE AMBIGUOUS ASHLEYS

Ambiguous being the operative word here...this odd love story never ceases to amaze me. Du Maurier builds the tale slowly, sometimes too much so...Young Philip Ashley was raised by his bachelor Uncle Ambrose who, in his later years was bidden to Winter in the Southern Climes for his health..On one jaunt to Italy Ambrose met a Cousin...Rachel...then came marriage...then came Death for Ambrose..then came a maelstrom of emotions for young Philip. Rage, Jealousy, Curiosity.....Rachel appears in England, all demure with cast down eyes and folded hands...Phliip is soon smitten as only a young man, unused to the company of women, can be....Tension mounts from here on...Ambrose left Rachel penniless on his death..Philip sets out to Make Things Right...suffering a Brain Fever in the process...much loving care and copious amounts of the herbal Tisane ensue...Laburnum seeds (highly toxic to men and horses) appear...Philip resolves to have done with the hussy and her spendthrift ways, if he can only prove her guilty of Ambrose's ....MURDER.....A hush falls over the crowd...No proof is found...rather Rachel has vowed to return her ill-gotten inheritance and hie back to italy...too late, she wandered down the wrong garden path...fell to her death...Phlip is awash in guilt......the curtain falls....ah, Drama.

Did she, or didn't she???

Technology Abounds!

2009-03-07T11:06:00.000-08:00

Not that anyone cares..but i just ordered a KINDLE from Amazon....too many eBooks out there that interest me. Anyone have opinions-good or bad-i am all, uh Ears!!!!

TWO MURDERS.....COUNT 'EM.....TWO

2009-03-07T07:15:00.000-08:00

WHOSE BODY?
Dorothy L Sayers
Harper & Brothers
1923

THERESE RAQUIN
Emile Zola
Oxford University Press
1998

Two murders, and Murder from two different perspectives, literary-wise...one title a jolly spot of entertainment (with minimun grue) the other...well let's just say it's dark...

Whose Body?-

A Corpse-in-the-Bathtub mystery..to be sure...but also the introduction to the Whimsey of Lord Peter (without the "h"?), a person of Title with a penchant for Detecting. In attendance be his Mum the Stalwart yet dotty Duchess...a typically ineffective copper...a scholarly Police..a truly vicious yet pathetic psychopathic villain...and the intrepid manservant Bunter, who could run the entire show by himself...but it would not be his Place to do so.

Interspersed with the witticism and drollery is Dorothy Sayers' not inconsiderable knowledge of Detection and Forensics...but one must pay attention...clues be buried in the quips and a red herring shows up...or not....i forget.

Sayers & Lord Peter began a distinguished partnership with this title...it's not the best of the lot but serves as an introduction not to be sneezed at...Carry on they did”

Therese Raquin

“a deliciously morbid Anatomy of a Murder....and the Murderers themselves.....lust, its gratification and what came after.......suspicion, hatred, and ultimately the madness of guilt in it various guises.....19th century Paris..the "lower classes". atmospheric to the point that the reader can feel these walls closing in on herself as well..i can't say it was an easy read but i won't soon forget it.”

i don't think i'll attempt to review such disparate books in the near future...trying to come up with reviews that worked, and worked together..was a pain....

Existentialist Victoriana....you bet

2009-02-07T14:09:00.000-08:00

THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN
John Fowles
Little, Brown & Company
1969

i give this all the points available....an intriguing take on Ye Olde Victorian Novel....viewed through the lens of the 20th century....romantic triangle....wimpy hero......innocent heroine....Mystery woman...the literary layers peel away..like an onion..revealing existential angst (in spades)....and the terminally unsatisfied/questing Male....Read This Book....

hopefully i will post a more intelligent review..later...but, you never know.

Ice and Snow...Oh No!

2009-02-01T09:43:00.000-08:00

It's been a hell of a week here...with the rain/ice/snow mix..thankfully my Electricity held...but the cold was numbing (thank God for firewood)...my reading has slowed down some but i have a few books in the offing...hope all has been well with anyone who reads this..if not, my prayers are with...

JAL

More Caffeine, Please

2009-01-23T16:51:00.000-08:00

THE COFFEE TRADER
David Liss
Random House
2003
390 pages

Set in 17th century Amsterdam, this book concerns itself with on Miguel Lienzo, a Portugese Jewish commodities trader....In an attempt to rebuild his fortune and reputation, Miguel goes into partnership with a comely Dutch widow in a scheme to corner the market on some new-fangled thing called Coffee...and the games begin...Financial skulduggery, personal vendettas, comely lasses in doorways, and the ruling body of the Jewish community, all conspire to thwart Miguel at every turn. but he is his own worst enemy

i was disappointed in this book, more for its pacing than anything...with a wealth of historical information and obviously thorough research...the “story” started to drag about halfway through..and , while i finished the book it was a chore..too bad, that because the ending is very good...given that no character herein was very appealing...none was repulsive...in the end Miguel may have recovered his position...but he lost much more..... not his self-confidence, however.

Love and Marriage

2009-01-21T10:55:00.000-08:00

ON CHESIL BEACH
Ian McEwan
211 pages
2007
Nan A Talese/Doubleday

a heartbreaker of a book that takes place in 1962....on the wedding night of Edward & Florence...1962, which was still pretty much "the 50s" as far as social/sexual mores....fears, disgust, hubris, hope, denial.....how two lives were changed forever (?) by words not spoken...i didn't think i would even Like this book, but i was seriously moved by the sadness underlying the story..and i wonder which is better (if that is the word) the sexual attitudes of today, when people start boning each other as soon as they are able(or so it would seem)..or the attitudes of the 50s-early 60s...when the whole business was a mystery and a mishmash of old wive's tales and serious misinformation.....i don't know

I want to thank everyone who has posted a comment on this Baby Blog....and all my Followers..i think you're nuts, but what the hell.

An Award....no.....

2009-01-14T11:50:00.000-08:00

I was notified that i won some kind of award through http://beckyworkman.blogspot.com for my baby Blog....as a blog worth watching..okay, i said....it's taking me a while to get this thing off the ground , as it were...but i soldier on...thanks for the vote of confidence..now i need to find other blogs to pass this gift to...hmmmm...

Black/White...and all the shades of Grey

2009-01-04T17:51:00.000-08:00

BLACK GIRL/WHITE GIRL
Joyce Carol Oates
272 pages
Ecco Press/Harper Collins
2006
Contrary to what the title implies, i did not see this book as being primarily concerned with Race/Racism (although both are endemic to our society and cannot be disregarded). i saw it as a story about the search for identity....the forging of..through the minefield of one's family dynamic..two young women, one black...on white..roommates at an exclusive women's college in PA 1975...both ill-prepared for the experience

MINETTE(Black Girl): surly, "unattractive", aloof..."She doesn't act Black"...unprepared academically for the school,which she attends as a Merit Scholar...her accusations of Racist Harrassment/Harrassment in General, begin early on and escalate as academic struggles become worse and her mental state deteriorates..the daughter of a prominent Black Minister in Washington D C ..Minette comes from a conservative home.....her constant references to Jesus as her only, ultimate "savior" become frightening...could anyone have saved Minette from the fire that killed her?

GENNA (White Girl: forcefully outgoing yet painfully introverted...through her "upbringing" by Radical Chic parents (her father a prominent Civil Rights lawyer, whose character is oddly one-dimensional) she has learned Tolerance to the point of self-denial...feels it to be her Duty to protect Minette (from whom, i wondered..folks like herself?)..the book eventually turns into a Father/Daughter tango...with Minette as unwitting catalyst..or maybe the "idea" of Minette..Genna begins to forge her own identity only after ratting her Father out to the Feds..after which she becomes surly, aloof, and separate from what she "should" be....in later years...after Minette's death...Genna spends an inordinate amount of time compiling a "text without a title"...an investigation into the death of Minette, her college roommate.....

as in most of JCOates' work, Obsession plays a large part...which makes for a claustrophobic atmosphere and severely neurotic characters...given the time in which this book is set...mid-1970s..i think the tone was perfect.....i also think this is a fine exposition of the Shades of Grey we all deal with in becoming Ourselves...this is also a puzzling, frustrating read...too many clues offered...red herrings...and, ultimately questions...i liked this book.

So Sorry

2008-10-12T09:35:00.000-07:00

i am the biggest TEASE of all..but this blog is on hold for a bit longer..i have reviews in the wings..give me a while ( as if anyone is watching!)..this will happen, probably once the snow flies..for now, read the novels of Megan Abbott...Noir with a twist so bad it hurts...

Postponement Blues

2008-10-03T17:05:00.000-07:00

I was wanting to get this thing up and running...but will be busy for the next day or so....Blog must Wait! Nice Blog!

Hello There V1.0

2008-10-02T11:09:00.000-07:00

i am so new here, it is scary...give me time, and i hope i can deliver....two reviews to follow(whatever Yellow Brick Road) as soon as i figure out how this freaking thing works...