Hey, it's 2020 and I'm 69 years old. Don't expect any book reviews since I was soured from a few Book Sites that stank like hell...oy

Another Wonder

Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

****First off..forget Formatting...this one is Free Form, all the way***


5 Stars: This book held my interest for over a month (I'm a slow reader, okay!)....like Gravity's Rainbow it's about Everything..and No One Thing, and it's never boring...Then there's the Wordplay..the lovely English language the most versatile of toys. Mr Robbins spins that top for all it's worth..in his hands it's worth a lot. Zany, crazy, surreal..the gang's all here, with pathos and sincerity in tow.


Art, and its carry-on baggage: I came to this book after reading The Goldfinch and didn't expect to find another book that dealt with Art. While Ms Tartt's book dealt with ART (writ large, and full of meaning, however misguided) Mr Robbins' book dealt with Art as a process (thanks to Ellen Cherry Charles!) full of foibles and failures. I don't know which book I prefer.



The whole megillah in the Middle East: Oy..from suicide bombers to Palestinian massacres....nothing has changed since this book was published (1990) and I don't want to get into the political side of things...Israelis and Palestinians have been killing each other since Isaac and Ishmael..and nothing will change any time soon..This book takes it all the way back to Jezebel (no "hussy")....and Salome's Dance of the Seven Veils (of Self-Deception)..which I never figured out the specifics...guess you'll have to read the book!


Five inanimate objects on a road trip across the USA (sans Chevrolet)...bound for Armageddon, er, Jerusalem. The "Third Temple" is coming, soon....don't be square...be there...


**in spite of this travesty of a review...I did love this book, and Tom Robbins, the author...don't shy away from the "weird" aspect..that's what fuels his novels**

5 Stars...all the way

Old Review...read this book in 2005

I Love My Smith and Wesson: A Novel by David Bowker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Speaking of Terror, here's an underworld Thriller featuring an aptly named RAWHEAD (I wondered when BLOODY BONES would make an appearance...since they are sort of gruesome twins, in Appalachian Folklore)

This tale is gruesome, violent and very Goth-ic....with a touch of Rancid Victorian Romance....and some shit about a demonic "Elemental Power"...a Spirit of Darkness..

This book has all the elements of basic LA Noir, transplanted to the squalor of Manchester, UK.....Pithy, deadpan prose, with streaks of "purple"....a parade of piquant scumbags...and cringe-inducing violence......

In 2005, i couldn't wait for his next book

4 Stars...and then some

The Goldfinch.....my albatross

I love Donna Tartt's writing...her first two novels are Favorites, of mine This last....THE GOLDFINCH..has thrown me six ways to Sunday I love the prose.....luminous, as always....I love the Story line....I wish people would not have slapped the "Dickensian" adjective, on this book. Of course it has an intricate plot, and lots of "quirky" characters...but, somehow, i find a huge hole, in the story. I can't connect with the characters, and the emotion that is an integral part of Theo's "story". Unlike some reviewers..i don't feel "maternal" where Theo is concerned.....he was bounced around the world, from the age of 13.....his criminal activity was no surprise.....i'm surprised he never saw through Boris....and his "angles" I haven't finished the book, yet......lord help me, when i do

One Review of my 2013 reads

Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While this is a wonderful Old School horror story, it goes much deeper than mere werewolves

Frank Nichols is a haunted man.....Haunted by his memories of the First World War.....Haunted by an incident perpetrated by his Great Grandfather, after the Civil War.....Guilt-ridden by his relationship with his "not yet" wife (Adultery was a Big Deal, back in the 1920s-1930s). This man is fated for some bad shit..

I never saw this book as a Werewolf story...although i love the Good Ones

I'm going out on a limb, here...

I think this is a story about Guilt, Regret, and Fear

Frank Nichols was an Academic who fell in Lust with a colleague's wife...he inherited a house in Whitbrow, Georgia (a welcome escape from his Academic failure, in Chicago) and headed South, to start a new life....and write a book about the family Black Sheep......and THOSE ACROSS THE RIVER


****I lost my original review......bear with me****


No matter how Black the Sheep....Frank Nichols was caught in his own Vortex, unable to change the past, and uncertain of his future.....from that point, Werewolves would have been a blessing, although they walked in Human Skin...when times were difficult

This is one of the saddest books i have read, lately.....and I highly recommend it to anyone, who likes to step beyond Genres

Hello, again

I'm going to give Library Thing another chance, provided i can keep my old Stalker at bay...and avoid the witchy, bitchy women who used Friendship, in a form of Ultimatum...Time will tell.

Sayonara

I have severed my ties with Library Thing, for several reasons (most of them boring). Hence, my reviews will be posted here, primarily...and on Good Reads and Shelfari. Amazon, if i'm feeling brave. Any other places that I can find...i'll post here.

A Roller Coaster Ride that....plummets

First Drop by Zoë Sharp
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Charlotte/Charlie Fox, a 26 year old, ex-military Sharpshooter...on her first job as a personal bodyguard. Her charge is one Trey Penzler, a typical sullen teenager with more "attitude" than sense. His father, Keith, is a computer programmer "whiz kid" who developed a program that, supposedly,predicts stock market trends, which makes it a "golden goose" for every living greedy soul. Reason enough to kill?? I would think.

This is the Fourth entry in the Charlie Fox series, and the first set in the USA...this time in Florida....Daytona Beach...during Spring Break...with all of the expected focus on Youth Culture, clothes, attitude, and slang. Never mind the Spring Nationals-the World's Most Famous Sound Off...the Olympics of Car Audio competition. Much noise...."sound and fury", while Charlie and her charge are running for their lives from every law enforcement agency in Florida. Much gunplay and a high body count give Charlie some qualms...

About halfway through, this book turned YA....when the clothes, attitude, and slang took over..and became a distraction, and i began to question the "logic" of the story.

Why would an ex-military sharpshooter/bodyguard.....with serious villains on her tail...surround herself with a bunch of "yo" teenagers, dye her hair pink, adopt an "affected" American voice...and expect to stay under cover? Seems to me that would be a sure way to get dead..

Aside from that quibble, I liked the story...at least its potential. I like Charlie Fox, no shrinking violet. She's a killer with a heart, and beats herself up about her past, like most of us

If you want to meet Charlie Fox, like i did...check out Ms Sharp's entry in the anthologyA Hell of a Woman: An Anthology of Female Noir...I want to read the first three books in this series...and own the next two, after this one.....First Drop might have something to do with roller coasters....but this book was a bit short on thrills

I give it 4 Stars for story line.....2 Stars for distraction.....levels out to

3 Stars

The Resurrection and the Light (a different colour, at least)

I've been gone for a while....just became weary of Reading/Reviewing. Am slowly returning and will post a review of FIRST DROP by Zoe Sharp, as soon as I polish the edges.. Is any one out there? ;-}

Long time, no see

I haven't posted a Book Review...in dog years. I got tired of keeping up with Net Galley...and writing book reviews is too much "work", for now. If i can't knock out a review in 5 minutes, it will be "overworked"..and useless I'm taking a break...and will read books from all the freaking "shelves" in my house Stay Tuned..or not.. Later

#13...2012

Ill Will by J.M. Redmann
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

ILL WILL by J M Redmann


#7 in the “Micky Knight” series......

Micky Knight is a Lesbian PI...a “dyke dick”....and, this time around, she’s tackling the Health Care System......post Hurricane Katrina....in the shambles of New Orleans

Besides dealing with shady Contractors...she’s dealing with shady Health Care Providers....Snake Oil salesmen of the first water, who have “science” as a back up..

The thing is, Micky’s lover is a Doctor....with a recent Cancer diagnosis....I think you see where this is going...Micky has to fight for what’s right...and, fight for the Love of her Life....Lesbianism ain’t easy...even in The Big Easy!!...especially in this case..with Evil Doctors and HIT MEN on the loose

My first Micky Knight was THE INTERSECTION OF LAW & DESIRE....from there i was hooked!

There is much emotionalism here....as there would be, if your lover was ill....get over it...they’re women...Jeesh

Read the series....J M Redmann/Micky Knight Rock!!!

View all my reviews

#18...2012

Only One Life by Sara Blædel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The very idea of Honor Killings...that the recalcitrant actions of one person could lead another family member to commit murder......boggles the mind. Even though our society seems to have lost all concept of Shame and/or Honor...the thought of Murder for Honor makes me blench. Not to mention the fact that, according to this book, most Honor Killings are perpetrated my members of the Extended Family...those living outside the country where the Killing took place..

All of which is Nice & Good.......except , in the case of this book, Honor Killings are a matter of Police Procedural...and Journalistic Hubris


.....and so it goes

Louise Rick is caught up in another Honor Killing case, after being.sourced out to the town of Holbaek...where a Jordanian immigrant girl’s battered corpse is discovered...awash in a cold sea. Enter Dicta Moller....dead girl’s best friend (and aspiring Model....she’s got the Looks)..the Linchpin of this story.....

Be Warned: Teen Angst abides in this story (in a rather Wooden manner)....as does Rape-by-a Family-Member

After much back&forth.....with Samra’s family (the Jordanian girl)....and the whole Honor Killing thing....and Dicta (Teenage Slut).....I was left with a “let down” feeling...mainly because the whole tone of the Narrative is dry-as-dust (but, I’ll chalk that up to the translation)...or full of excess characters (Camilla-the-Journalist was present..to remind the reader of the previous novel....CALL ME PRINCESS..????)....and the fact that Samra's murder had nothing to do with Honor Killing...just Family Hubris.....and teenage ambition

The denouement wasn’t unexpected..just Slow on Arrival..

My second read by Sara Blaedel......it was better than CALL ME PRINCESS....but still too busy, in ways that didn’t keep the story moving.....

I like this woman’s stories...just wish they had more life..in the translation

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

View all my reviews

#15......2012

City of Women by David R. Gillham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

1943 Berlin becomes the setting for a real tear jerker of a Soap Opera....Sex is everywhere, both the rough sort and the solo...but no one is happy. Sigrid is busy with her dead end job and Life with Mother-in-Law..while hubby is fighting on the Eastern Front. She makes the acquaintance of a little snippet, who works as a Mother's Helper in their Apartment Building...who subsequently involves Sigrid in the Savory business of hiding Jews from the Nazis...Sigrid drowns her sorrows in Sex....first with a nasty Jew (with a nasty history)...then with a suave, yet crippled, soldier man. No one is happy, or satisfied....

I would have enjoyed the story more if Sigrid had had more "character"...all of her whingeing became tedious...and her air of martyrdom rang false

However, as a Beach Read for the Depressive Set..this wasn't half bad

3 Stars

***this was a Net Galley***

#17......2012

Quarantine by John Smolens
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

What happens when a viral epidemic strikes a seaport in Massachusetts.....1796? the social, political, and economic aspects...

some characters are "Dickensian", in that they are caricatures...but the story doesn't suffer for their existence (perish the phony "French" though)

Very atmospheric....i could almost smell the salt-tinged sea air.....and the smudge pots from the Pest House

Sometimes too much "nobility" in these savages (I mean, the constables rip off the apothecaries, and then try to sell the much needed drugs back, to the doctors...through a Third party...Sounds downright Contemporary to me)

In no way an Earth Shaker..this is a good story, well told. The Authors' Note at the end gives the book's provenance...and that's a good story as well


*****this review could change/improve*****

**this was a Net Galley**

#8.....2012

The Technologists by Matthew Pearl
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


One fine day, when the compasses on all the ships in Boston Harbor went haywire......and a while later, all the glass (on Bank Street) melted.....it became obvious that “something was up”, and not just the sky

it’s 1868...shortly after the Civil War

The first class of THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY is about to graduate....and all Hell breaks loose!!

Fear and Ignorance among the general populace......The Hardy Boys meet Harry Potter (meet The Technologists)....Harum scarum pyrotechnics.....corporate greed.....Creationists.....Richy rich Harvard Boys....and one lone female with the brains to attend MIT, albeit sub rosa (“in the basement”)


I loved this book......for the fact that, while it is Historical in content...and I’m sure the research is/was flawless.....but more so, because it was such a damned “fun” read

I haven’t read anything else by Mr Pearl...though The Dante Club has been lurking hereabouts for quite a while, and i do want to read it, now

Recommended for those who won’t be nitpickers or Grouchy Guses.....who want a good story that also makes one think a bit...about our own attitude toward technology/innovation...and Education/Intellectualism....the more things change, they really do stay the same

4 Stars

**This was a Net Galley**

#11....2012 Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

...is a tour de force of storytelling!!

Young computer hackers plying their trade in an unnamed Middle Eastern Police State...risking life, limb, and motherboards...all in the name of Freedom. Then....this book appears...an ancient tome that wasn't supposed to exist. The Thousand and One Days (as opposed to The Thousand and One Nights)....full of odd tales...or metaphors. Or, is the book really a complex computer program that recognizes individuals...without the aid of ISPs or code names? I'll never know what else to say about this one...except WOW! Go...get a copy when it's published....you'll be sitting open-mouthed. like I was!! (

***this was a Net Galley***

#10....2012 Grave Mercy by R.L. LaFevers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

On the one hand...lords and ladies and "palace intrigue"...a beleagured Princess...skeevy schemes...all the stuff of good fairy tales. On the other hand...a "religious order" that trains female assassins..(Sisters of Death!). I know, it sounds Ho-Hum, but...this gal can write! The story (14th century Brittany and the constant war against France) is exceptionally well told and the characters...while "characters"..are all too human. Seek out this gem...read it! (I'll be buying a copy when it's published...that's how much I liked it)

***this was a Net Galley***

#7.....2012 The Trade by Thomas Kirkwood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Young, Eastern European women are promised jobs, and a chance for a better life, only to see those promises crushed when they are auctioned off and sold into sexual slavery...Welcome to the Natasha Trade...a multi-million dollar, world wide business....set up to satisfy the "esoteric" tastes of wealthy men...Asian, American, Arab, Russian.....mostly Westerners, who have the $$$

One Natasha escaped....and built a better life with a husband and child...until her former "master" found her....killed her husband and framed her for the murder.....now, with her daughter's whereabouts unknown...life is pretty much over for Kristyna

After a daring escape from the courthouse, during her sentencing hearing (an escape involving a body-double, no less)...and a series of evasive maneuvers by sea....our Kristyna ends up back in Europe, hell-bound for Slovenia...bent on revenge, and finding her daughter. Hot on her tail are two FBI agents, bent on capturing her and returning her to the USA....after that, the story gets complicated

Did I mention, one of the the Slovenian bad guys seemed to be an reincarnation of the Mad Monk, Rasputin...complete with a "church" and a "doctrine" of Redemption that would creep out anyone. A cold blooded but "smart as a whip" sociopath...

Car chases, role playing, "slave auctions" by the light of oil barrel fires....all the elements of a decent thriller are here..along with pointed social commentary. The story ain't pretty, there is plenty of violence...but the scared little girl is finally reunited with her mother and they live...

Except, the Natasha Trade is still thriving...young women are still desperate..throughout the world

I thought this was a good Thriller..a bit heavy-handed, at times. The FBI agents were a bit much in the "macho" vein...as Tough Guys...but, they spoke in complete sentences and had legitimate gripes about their lame assed Superiors...Ultimately they were brave and saved one woman and her daughter...I recommend this book, it was a pleasant surprise

***this was a Net Galley***

3 Stars

#6 2012

The Pleasure Dial by Jeremy Edwards

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Oh my lord, what a delight, is this book!

This peek-a-boo into the world of 1930s radio...when Radio was King...has it all. Frazzled comedy writers, egotistical radio Stars, a nymphomaniacal daughter, pansexuality,and men who wear Fedoras!

Artie Plask leaves New York, after spending too much time looking up a mannequin's skirt, for a lucrative job writing for one Sid Huffy...Radio Star/King of Comedy...Once in the City of Angels, our boy Artie meets a bunch of characters that blow his mind..and other body parts..The lovely Elyse (daughter of Sid) who can't seem to keep her clothes on....Sid, himself...the Star-of-the-day...with a serious flair for comedy (too bad he yearns for Drama)....and Mariel, the true Star of this story...writer extraordinaire...the girl-with-the-feather...the wittiest of them all

And Sex....of which there is a plethora. Lubricious, lively, and louche...Fun sex, not Porn (sex-for-profit)..although these folks profit greatly by all their exertion/exercise. The dialogue improves, and this reader felt the temperature rise..a Good thing

There is a story here...and believable characters. Women who like sex, in all its permutations, but still have a job....and think with their brains (they leave their pussies for pleasure, and know the difference). Men who are more than their "tools"...who care about life, and their job, and women

Old time radio was no different than today's Media...Professional jealousy...Pompous asshole writers...Money issues..This story has all of that, with a touch of Innocence

Recommended to anyone who enjoys sex-on-the-page...in good fun with a touch of innocence...and a decent story, to boot

4 Stars

*** I received this from GoodReads***

#5 2012

The Lola Quartet by Emily St. John Mandel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Four friends form a jazz band in High School, the eponymous Lola Quartet....add one more (the drummer's step sister/trumpet player's girlfriend) and you have the cast of characters playing in this story

You also have a pregnancy-kept-secret, a runaway, a theft of mucho $$$$ from a meth dealer, a ruined journalist, and a cold-blooded murder. Oh my!

Gavin and Anne were High School sweethearts, until Anne became pregnant, and decided to run away with Daniel (because he had a place to run to in Utah)....Anne spends a lot of time in turmoil, wondering if the baby will look half-Japanese, like Gavin, or Cocoa brown, like Daniel...Anna slept around a bit. Once the baby is born all pink and shiny, Daniel splits...and Anna steals over $100,000 from her crazy Meth dealer landlord....so begins her Life on the Lam....Meanwhile, 10 years on, Gavin's successful career as a journalist tanks miserably once he's caught faking stories...he has to return home to Florida to work for his sister, foreclosing properties....Jack the erstwhile Boy Genius is a Vicodin addict who spends his days reading books about jazz arcana...Daniel is an embittered police detective with a trashed marriage, two kids, and no life...Sasha the drummer spends her days hiding from reality..her nights working at a roadside diner..her spare moments devising a plan to save Anna from that hellhound Meth dealer..

The death of High School dreams...the harsh bite of reality...the way people we once thought we knew, can change into monsters...the way we accept all of this as "just life" but still keep an eye peeled over one shoulder...that's what this book is about. It's no "mystery" any more than life itself

While not earth shattering, I thought this was a good story, well told...it made me consider some of my youthful indiscretions...and what the fallout would have been, if i'd stayed in touch with people from college...and if anything would have survived from those friendships, besides regret

Recommended

4 Stars

***This was a Net Galley***