March 2018 Reads

Mar	17	Manhattan Mayhem	Mary Higgins Clark, editor
	18	Red Right Hand	Chris Holm
	19	The Dry	Jane Harper
	20	The Night Hour	Alice McDermott
	21	Night Tremors	Matt Coyle
	22	Gone World	Tom Sweterlitsch

I love NYC, and the short story collection Manhattan Mayhem was right up my alley.  From Wall Street to Harlem, each story covers a part of Manhattan.  Many famous and soon to be famous authors contributed to this collection.

Last year I read Holm's debut novel, The Killing Kind, and I was hooked. His writing is crisp and you don't want to stop reading.  You'll love Red Right Hand.

The Dry is another great debut novel, tightly woven and compelling. It was hard to put down and might want to keep a jug of water nearby.

I loved Gone World. The writing is lyrical and so good; NCIS and time travel are involved.  At once futuristic and hard-boiled. It takes you to another world and back again. (I paraphrased Stewart O'Nan for the last two sentences.)

What are you reading?

November and December 2012 Reads

Good resolutions, all.

November

95 Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
 96 Assassin's Code by Jonathan Maberry
 97 The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
 98 A Simple Plan by Scott Smith
 99 Talking to the Dead by Harry Bingham

December

100 Down River by John Hart
 101 The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards by Kristopher Jansma
 102 A Working Theory of Love by Scott Hutchins
 103 The Black Box by Michael Connelly
 104 Fobbit by David Abrams
 105 With or Without You by Domenica Ruta
 106 The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout
 107 Killer Instinct by Zoe Sharp
 108 Muscle for the Wing by Daniel Woodrell

Two books on this list are outstanding.  Talking to the Dead by Harry Bingham and With or Without You by Domenica Ruta.  I almost didn't read Talking to the Dead, I'm not into the YA zombie/vampire thing, and the title just put me off.  I'm really glad I read it.  I think this will be the next series for readers who loved The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, maybe Hunger Games fans will dive into it, too.  This is a well written mystery/procedural. It takes place in Wales and features rookie cop with  a most unusual talents.

With or Without You is a memior by Domenica Ruta.  It's a mother-daughter tale that was hard to put down.  The mom, Kathi is an absolutely horrible mother; addict, pusher, brilliant degenerate.  It's being published on 2/26/2013.  Read it, you won't be sorry.

Great, as usual was Michael Connelly's The Black Box.  In fact, I think this is the best Harry Bosch tale, ever.  Like all great writers, Connelly just gets better with experience.  Daniel Woodrell writes terrific noir and Muscle for the Wing was great.

Maybe not great, but good solid reads are Assassin's Code by Maberry, A Simple Plan by Smith, Down River by Hart, The Burgess Boys by Strout and Killer Instinct by Sharp.

I seldom say anything negative about a book, here on the blog.  If it's a book I don't like, I just don't say anything.  Today, I'm breaking my rule.  A neighbor loaned me The Poinsonwood Bible, by Kingsolver.  I really didn't like this book.  It takes place in Africa, and is full of Anti-American attitude; and the father is the story was so stupid, I found it very off-putting.  I also read Fobbit by Abrams, and didn't like it.   I'm just not a fan of satire, we don't need another Catch-22.

What are you reading?

October 2012 Reads

82 Grace Grows by Shelle Sumners
83 Nemesis by Jo Nesbo
84 Love Anthony by Lisa Genova
85 The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
86 Mad River by John Sandford
87 Panorama City by Antoine Wilson
88 The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
89 The Lost Coast by Barry Eisler
90 Paris is a Bitch by Barry Eisler
91 The Safe Man by Michael Connelly
92 Mulholland Drive by Michael Connelly
93 Visiting Tom by Michael Perry
94 The Racketeer by John Grisham

Many wonderful books this month.  I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite.  The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, was great.  As I read, I also told the story to Bob.  We read entirely different things, but he found the story intriguing, too.

I already did a review of The End of Your Life Book Club.  It's a knockout memoir.  You can read the review here.  The title sounds maudlin, the book is not.

Visiting Tom is another memoir about life in rural Wisconsin.  The author Michael Perry is also a singer/songwriter, and I heard his voice as I read the book.  It's a wonderful read.

Each of Lisa Genova's novels deals with "brain matters".  Still Alice was about early onset Alzheimer's disease, and Left Neglected dealt with losing awareness of everything on the left side.   Love Anthony deals with autism.  Like her other books, this one is brilliant.

This was a good month for reading favorite authors.  John Grisham, John Sandford and Jo Nesbo did not disappoint.  While my husband was in the hospital last week I read 4 novellas, on my nook, by favorites Barry Eisler and Michael Connelly.

What are you reading?

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

It's been a year and a half since I've done a "normal" book review; but I couldn't just put this book on my reading list, and say "be sure to read it".  First of all, Mary Anne is a great woman and a wonderful mother.  She's the role model for motherhood, I wish I'd had.  As you can guess from the title, someone is dying, and it's Mary Anne.  She's developed pancreatic cancer and at diagnosis, she's been given 3 to 6 months to live.

Second, this is a book about books, the book club is what they do while she's waiting to die. She's given 3-6 months, she takes over 2 years. That's the spirit of the book, don't give up, just go do stuff. Will is one of her sons and the two of them read and talk about books while waiting.  Waiting for doctors, waiting for chemo, waiting for results.  While Mary Anne is waiting to die, she reads, she travels, she organizes and she fund-raises.  So much to do, so little time.  I loved this book.

What are you reading?

September 2012 Reads

source

This falls under the "better late than never" category of post.  Sorry for being so late.

75 The Low Road by Chris Womersley
76 The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
77 Little Wolves by Thomas Maltman
78 The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano by Sonia Manzano
79 Phantom by Jo Nesbo
80 Shadows in the Smoke by Tony Broadbent
81 Buddy by Brian McGrory

All of these were great reads, and I hope you read them all.

The Low Road is about two men, who couldn't be more different, both at extremely low points in their lives  who are thrown together, and stay together, to survive.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is charming.  Harold, recently retired and a bit hen-picked, embarks on a unexpected journey.  He just sets of walking, with the goal of visiting his old friend, who is dying.  It's a wonderful journey, not to be missed.

Little Wolves is Mid-Western, noir at its best.

I've fallen in love with Jo Nesbo's writing and Phantom, did not disappoint.  Scandinavian police procedural at its best.  If you haven't read Nesbo, you're going to love Harry Hole, the detective in these novels.

Shadows in the Smoke, is the first novel I've read in the Smoke series by Broadbent.  These stories are about London's underbelly, right after WWII.  Very interesting, very entertaining and a very good read..

What are you reading?

August 2012 Reads

69 Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon
70 Cogan's Trade byGeorge V. Higgins
71 The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman
72 The Absent One by Jussi Akler-Olsen
73 The Odds by Stewart O'Nan
74 The Bartender's Tale Ivan Doig

I can't remember the last time I only read six books in a month!  (I just checked the book list I've kept since 2005, one time January 2010, I only read five.)

I read Cogan's Trade by Higgins, because there's going to be a movie based on it.  I wasn't disappointed, it was a good read.  The movie will be titled "Killing Them Softly", starring Brad Pitt.

Two fabulous recommendations this month are The Light Between Oceans, a great debut, and The Bartender's Tale.  Ivan Doig is one of my favorite authors: The Bartender's Tale is fiction, but it reads like a memior.  Loved The Light Between Oceans, can't wait for more books by Stedman.

Stewart O'Nan didn't disappoint, the The Odds.  It's a great read about one mans' struggle to save his marriage.

I read many Scandinavian authors; I like their different world-view.  The absent One is a Danish police procedural, and it's a great read.

Telegraph Avenue by Chabon is seems huge, at 480 pages.  It is huge it's about race, class, gender, and generation lines, showing how they continue to define us even as they're crossed.  A good read.

What are you reading?

July 2012 Reads

57  City of Women by David R. Gillham
58  Breed by Chase Novak
59  Hit Me by Lawrence Block
60  It's Fine By Me by Per Petterson
61  The Stonecutter by Camilla Läckberg
62  Canada by Richard Ford
63  What We Saw at Night by Jacquelyn Mitchard
64  The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
65  Sucide Run by Michael Connelly
66  The Preacher by Camilla Läckberg
67  The King of Lies by John Hart
68  Deep Down by  Lee by Child

I read four really great novels this month.  City of Women is fabulous debut novel dealing with Nazi Germany.  I read The Stonecutter by Camilla Läckberg, and could hardly put it down.  It's a police procedural, Swedish style.  I loved it so much I downloaded her previous book, The Preacher, to take on my trip.  I was not disappointed.  The King of Lies is a legal thriller.  I hadn't read John Hart before, but I really loved this book; Hart has written three additional novels, and I'm sure I'll be reading them, soon.

Two of my reads this month were exclusively e-books.  Sucide Run is a collection of Harry Bosch stories; as usual, with Connelly, it was a great read.  Deep Down is a short story featuring Jack Reacher, before he retired.  It was also great.

Horror stories are not my usual read, but I like to read debut novels.  I am really glad I read Breed.  It was outstanding.  I highly recommend it.  The ARC had an endorsement from Stephen King!

On of my favorite fiction assassins is Keller, Lawrence Block's character in the Hit Man series.  The latest installment did not disappoint.  I love Keller.

What are you reading?

June 2012 Reads

Igor Shin Moromisato, "A girl reading a book by the Rive Reine" pin

48   Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James
49   What It Was by George Pelecanos
50   Fifty Shades Darker by E.L. James
51   Live By Night by Dennis Lehane
52   A Wanted Man by Lee Child
53   The Devil in Silver by Victor La Valle
54   212 by Alafair Burke
55   The Inside Ring by Mike Lawson
56   Sutton by J. R. Moehringer

In my previous post, I already told what I thought of the Fifty Shades trilogy.  In short, read them.  This month I was lucky enough to read three of my favorite authors, George Pelecanos, Dennis Lehane and Lee Child.  I've devoured everything they've written.  If you haven't read them, you should.  Pelecanos' books are all stand alone fiction, set in Washington DC.  Lehane, has a five book series, but everything else is stand alone, all set in Boston.  Child's novels are all about one character and they're set all over the US.

I read two ARC's that I received at the BEA.  Sutton, is Moehringers' first fiction.  He's a Pulitzer Prize winning newspaperman and his writing is tight and easy to read.  I loved his memoir, The Tender Bar.  Read it, too.  Sutton is the fictionalized account of the life of Willie Sutton, the famous bank robber.  Willie Sutton wrote two memoirs, that disagreed with each other, they were fiction, too.  Moehringer did his research and wrote a very interesting novel.

The Devil in Silver by Victor La Valle, is a very unusual story.  The main character, Pepper, is admitted to a psych ward for a 72 hour evaluation, because the arresting officers are too lazy to do their paperwork.  The story deals with Peppers' trials and tribulations while there,  they were eye-opening, to me.  His stay is 20 times longer than planned.  This is from the publisher, Random House,  "The Devil in Silver brilliantly brings together the compelling themes that spark all of Victor LaValle’s radiant fiction: faith, race, class, madness, and our relationship with the unseen and the uncanny. More than that, it’s a thrillingly suspenseful work of literary horror about friendship, love, and the courage to slay our own demons."

One of the ways I discover new to me authors, is taking advantage of Free Fridays from Nook.  Each Friday they offer a free book to download.  If it looks interesting, I download it.  Two of the authors from this month were Free Friday discoveries.  Make Larson and Alafair Burke.  Larson writes good political fiction and Burke writes good police procedurals.  Both worth reading.

What are you reading?

May 2012 Reads

 

37 Ballistic by Mark Greaney
38 Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon
39 Bellwether Revivals by Benjamin Wood
40 The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
41 The Lost Saints of Tennessee by Amy Franklin Willis
42 The Kissing List by Stephanie Reents
43 Whiplash River by Lou Berney
44 Comeback Love by Peter Golden
45 Chomp by Carl Hiaasen
46 I Am Forbidden by Anouk Markovits
47 The Strangler by William Landry

Many great reads this month.  I loved The Dog Stars by Peter Heller and The Lost Saints of Tennessee by Amy Franklin Willis.  Both were debut novels.  It's so hard to get published, these days, I'm usually delighted to read a fantastic first novel.  I highly recommend both novels.

Chomp by Carl Hiaasen is a quick read, targeting middle-schoolers.  It's really a wonderful story, for anyone over 10 years old.

Wife 22 is a perfect summer read.  It's an intriguing story of an unhappy wife and how far her husband will go to save their marriage.

I Am Forbidden, was an eye-opener.  Very few novels let outsiders into the insular world of Hasidic Judaism.  Great writing, I learned a lot, I'm sure glad I don't have to live in this world.

Ballistic and Whiplash River are very different novels, but they're both exciting and you won't be sorry you picked them up.

What are you reading?

April 2012 Reads

pin, source

28  Soft Target by Stephen Hunter
29  The Coldest Night by Robert Olmstead
30  The Orphanmaster by Jean Zimmerman
31  American Assassin by Vince Flynn
32  Calico Joe by John Grisham
33  Girl Gone by Gillian Flynn
34  A Chance In The World by Steve Pemberton
35  The Tarnished Eye by Judith Guest
36  A Good American by Alex George

Update ~ When I posted this earlier, I was in a hurry and didn't even take the time to tell my blog readers what I thought of the books I read in April.  Now, that I've had time to slow down I want to say that every book from last month was fabulous, not one book that I had to slog thru.  Some of my favorite authors Hunter, Grisham, Olmstead and Vince Flynn, turned in great reads, as usual.

I have to add a "new" Flynn to my favorites, Gillian Flynn.  Her thriller Girl Gone was hard to put down.  Bob and I have different taste in books, but I keep telling him what was happening, and he really couldn't wait for the next "report".

A Chance In The World, is one of the most touching/uplifting memoirs I've read in a long time.  Talk about taking lemons and making lemonade.

The Orphanmaster is a historical mystery that takes place in the 1600's in NYC.  Zimmerman's research for writing this novel was great.  I felt very involved with the story, and I even recognized some of the streets.  They're still there in lower Manhattan.

What are you reading?

March 2012 Reads

March Reads

19 There's a (slight) chance I might be going to hell by Laurie Notaro
20 Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan
21 The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
22 Heart of the Hunter by Deon Meyer
23 Cell 8 by Roslund & Hellstrom
24 The Paris Directive by Gerald Jay
25 The Widow's Daughter by Nicholas Edlin
26 Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
27 By the Iowa Sea by Joe Blair

Have you read The Idiot Girls Action and Adventure Club by Laurie Notaro?  You should, I read it years ago, in fact most of the booksellers at my store did.  And we all just about died laughing.  Based on that experience, I bought her novel There's a (slight) chance I might be going to hell,  It did not disappoint.  I love Notaro!

Half-Blood Blues, was well written and very worth reading.  It explores what it meant to be Black during the start of Nazi-ism, in Germany.  Dark subject matter, lightened a bit because it centers around Jazz and musicians.

Heart of the Hunter, was a fun "boy" read, full of action, motorcycles and adventure that takes place in South Africa, and neighboring countries.  The book was hard to put down, I breezed thru 400 pages.

Cell 8 by Roslund & Hellstrom, the cop and criminal writing partners is another can't put down read.  The death penalty  is the topic and the story leaps back and forth between Ohio and Sweden. It is an engaging story and you turn each page waiting to see what comes next.

The Paris Directive, will be published in June.  I think it's a must read.  A ruthless hitman botches a job, for the first time in his career.  A renown Paris detective, currently living in the small town where the murders take place leaps into action.  There's also an American connection.  It's all good, and it's a good read.

By the Iowa Sea, was the only memoir I read this month.  It's the candid story of a man loosing his way in his marriage and life, and finding his way back.  I really loved this book, of course having motorcycles involved didn't hurt, and I had to find out about the Iowa Sea, didn't I?

Fifty Shades of Grey, I bet you haven't missed the hoopla about this book.  It's been billed the Twilight series for grown ups, you know, adult soft-porn.  I decided to read it because I always want to know what's going on in the book world and words are just words.  First the comparison with Twilight, there is no comparison with the writing.  E.L. James can actually write.  I think the editors could have done a better job, but since it was first published in chapter by chapter format, according to my daughter's review, that you can read here.
Carrie says in her review:  "Fair warning, the story is not for the conservative minded, buttoned down, or reserved person.  So, if you are not shy about sex and erotica, I highly recommend these books – go read them!"  And I concur.

I'm not sure who reads my review/recommendations, but I know I have 23 followers on this blog.  Just to see if anyone has read to the end, I'm going to have a give away.

Leave a comment telling me what's on you nightstand to read, and tell me if you read physical books, use an e-reader, and which one, or do you read both books and e-reader?

The give away is for your choice of the books I've read this month, so tell me your choice, too.  I'll pick a winner, via Random Number Generator, on 4/15.

What are you reading?

February 2012 Reads

8    Three Weeks in December by Audrey Schulman
9    A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash
10  The Red Book by Deborah Copaken Kogan
11  Wild Thing by Josh Bazell
12  The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Phillipp Sendker
13  Cripple Creek by James Sallis
14  Arcadia by Lauren Groff
15  Mission Flats by William Landry
16  Salt River by James Sallis
17  The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins
18  The Shadow Patrol by Alex Berenson

I found the debut, A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash, to be a riveting beautifully written novel.  


I loved, loved loved The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Phillipp Sendker.  It's a wonderful romantic novel that spans five generations.  It was very hard to put down.  


I've been on a James Sallis kick lately.  The two I read this month were great.  


I read The Friends of Eddie Coyle by Higgins, one of my favorite authors, Dennis Lehane has written a new forward.  This was a down and dirty novel about the underworld.  It doesn't try to glamorize being a crook.  It's very well written, but I understand that it's really Higgins only success.


I've read all of Alex Berenson's novels featuring John Wells.  They are exciting stories dealing with the CIA and our wars.  They're well written and I'm hoping for more.

What are you reading?

January 2012 Reads

via

1  Another Bullshit Night In Suck City by Nick Flynn
2  Shelter Me by Juliette Fay
3  Blue Monday by Nicci French
4  The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
5  The Street Sweeper by Elliot Perlman
6  Our Man In The Dark by Rashad Harrison
7  The Cove by Ron Rash

A slow month for reading, but I loved several of these books.  Another Bullshit Night In Suck City, was a great memoir.  Imagine having a dad who's a homeless addict.  Nick Flynn is a great writer and poet, I highly recommend you dive into his memoir.

I love John Green!  There, I've said it.  He's considered a YA author, because his characters are teens; but his writing is for everyone.   The Fault in Our Stars deals with young people living their lives to the fullest, even though they have be diagnosed with terminal diseases  Sounds grim, but it's a great read.

The Street Sweeper is the first time I've read Elliot Perlman.  He's a fabulous storyteller.  This novel deals with both the Holocaust and the Civil Rights Movement.  The subjects are not "uppers", for sure, but I love this book.  Most of my Tai Chi students are readers, so I'm going to pass this one around the class.  The bottom line, according to Perlman, and I agree, is we're all the same, and we're all connected.

Our Man In The Dark, also deals with the Civil Rights Movement.  It's historical fiction and a great debut novel.

After reading two fairly "heavy" novels, I was ready for something lighter.  I tried The Cove, and while I loved the story, it didn't qualify as light.  Set in Appalachia during WWI, it deals with small minds and a tragic love story.  Ron Rash is a wonderful writer, and I highly recommend this read.

What are you reading?