December 2013 Reads

97	Monument Road	Charlie Quimby
98	Dead Eye	Mark Greaney
99	After I'm Gone	Laura Lippman
100	Rules for Becoming a Legend	Timothy S. Lane
101	On Target	Mark Greaney
102	Ballistic	Mark Greaney
103	Third Strike	Zoë Sharp

December was a slow reading month for me.  I'm actually reading less, since I stopped working at Barnes and Noble, go figure, but I'm sewing more quilts.  Sewing is one activity that I can't double dip with a book!

This year I tuned into The Gray Man in a series by Mark Greaney.  This month I read three of his books, and they're all very good.  Court Gentry is the main character, he's an ex-CIA assassin, and being hunted by his former employers.  He's been called the Bourne for the new century, and I concur.  All the installments in this series are heart-stopping good.  I've read them in order but it's probably not necessary.

Another good series is the Charley Fox books by Zoë Sharp.  Fox is ex British military, she left the service under a cloud, after she was brutally attacked by four of her fellow soldiers.  She was blamed, rather than the perpetrators.  I'm three books into this series and lovin' it.

Most likely Monument Road by Charlie Quimby is my favorite book on this list.  Even though I'm a West Coast gal, I'm a Westerner, too.  This debut novel is part modern western and part mystery.  The characters are true and the writing is heart-breaking.  Can you tell, I loved it.  Quimby has been compared to Kent Haruf, one of my favorite authors, and I agree.

Laura Lippman, is a best-selling author, but this is the first time I've read her.  After I'm Gone was a great read, and a great mystery.  The plot had a lot of twist and turns and kept me interested for the entire 350+ pages.  I'll read Lippman again.

The first book I finished this month was Monument Road by Charley Quimby.  Right after I finished it a fellow ex-bookseller contacted me for a book rec, she wanted good solid fiction, no mystery and no sci-fi.  This book was on the short list I gave her and I told her it was my favorite on the list.  Monument Road is a fantastic debut novel, it's full of rich characters and exquisite language.  I loved the entire book and held it to my chest and hugged it when it ended.  It was perfect.

What are you reading?

November 2013 Reads

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87	Visitation Street	Ivy Pochoda
88	The Free	Willy Vlantin
89	The Alligator Man	James Sheehan
90	The Widow Waltz	Sally Koslow
91	Lost Lake	Sarah Addison Allen
92	Countdown City	Ben H. Winters
93	Sea of Hooks	Lindsay Hill
94	The Boy Detective	Roger Rosenblatt
95	The Dark Road to Mercy	Wiley Cash
96	The Weight of Blood	Laura McHugh

November was a very good month for reading.  Visitation Street is not a typical thriller or who-done-it; it's an urban opera, with grit, magic, poetry and pain.  An all together satisfying read.

The Widow Waltz is not my normal cup of tea.  I'm glad I cracked this novel open and followed the mystery of the Waltz family and their disappearing fortune.  Kaslow has written an absorbing look at trust and illusion in a marriage.

Lost Lake is a great read.  It right up there with Allen's first book, Garden Spells.  Its a beautifully written haunting story full of secret longings and everyday magic.

Countdown City is the second installation of The Last Policeman series by Winters.  America and the rest of the world's off kilter, morally and ethically, because an asteroid is set to strike and change our world as we know it.  This installment takes place 3 months before the strike is to happen.  I highly recommend this series and can't wait for the third installment.

The Dark Road to Mercy by Wiley Cash is outstanding.  His first novel A Land More Kind Than Home, left me a true fan, I'm pretty sure I will read every book he every writes.  The Dark Road to Mercy did not disappoint.  Two young girls are suddenly orphaned in rural North Carolina, and this is their story.  Read it you'll love it.

The Weight of Blood is a fantastic debut novel.  McHugh is now on my list of must read authors.  I'm going to quote a better writer that I, regarding this novel.  “Laura McHugh’s vivid and enthralling The Weight of Blood centers on a mother and daughter in a seemingly benign yet deeply horrifying small town. It kept me on the edge of my seat from the first page to the last.”—Vanessa Diffenbaugh, author of The Language of Flowers

What are you reading?

October 2013 Reads

81	Close My Eyes	Sophie McKenzie
82	Under The Wide and Starry Sky	Nancy Horan
83	How To Love	Katie Cotugno
84	Foreign Gods Inc.	Okey Ndibe
85	Jewelweed	David Rhodes
86	Ghostman	Roger Hobbs

I don't know where the time went in October, certainly not much went to reading.

I hadn't read Nancy Horan, previously, fictionalized biographies are not my thing.  I decided to give Under the Wide and Starry Sky a try, and I loved it.  It's well written and very worth reading.  The story is very complex about two strong willed and very different people who fall in love.  It'll be published in January, 2014, put it on your to read list.

How To Love by debut author Katie Cotugno, was a wonderful read.  It's geared for YA, but an intelligent YA.  If you love John Green, you'll love this book, too.

Sometimes a book comes into the house, and I hug it,and say, "This is gonna be a great book."  That's what I did with Jewelweed, and I was right!  I loved Rhodes previous book Driftless, and I couldn't wait to dive into Jewelweed.  I wasn't disappointed. It's about challenge, change and redemption involving a great cast of characters.  The story takes place in the same area as Driftless, the south western part of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, one of my favorite parts of our country.

Ghostman by Roger Hobbs was a fun read.  Sometimes you have to have some fun, and this cops and robbers tale was great.  It's not really cops and robbers as much as robbers and a fixer, trying to make things right.

What are you reading?

September 2013 Reads

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Sep	70	Death of a Nightingale	Lene Kaaberbol & Agnete Friis
	71	The Return	Michael Gruber
	72	Man Alive	Mary Kay Zuravleff
	73	Plain Song	Wright Morris
	74	Accidents Happen	Louise Millar
	75	Queen Sugar	Natalie Baszile
	76	Necessary Lies	Diane Chamberlain
	77	Human Remains	Elizabeth Haynes
	78	Strong Rain Falling	Jon Land
	79	A Dangerous Fiction	Barbara Rogan
	80	Rivers	Michael Farris Smith

Another good month of reading.  Eleven books completed, two started and cast into the donation pile.
I'd be very hard pressed to pick a favorite this month.  My three way tie would by Rivers, The Return and Strong Rain Falling.

I don't purchase a lot of books, only two of this month's reads, the rest arrive in the post from the publishers.  One of the books I purchased this month is Rivers by Smith.  This is a debut fiction and I loved it.  Here's an example of Smith's writing.  "It had been raining for weeks. Maybe months. He had forgotten the last day that it hadn't rained, when the storms gave way to the pale blue of the Gulf sky, when the birds flew and the clouds were white and sunshine glistened across the drenched land."   To further convince you to read Rivers, this is what James Lee Burke had do say about Micheal Farris Smith: “Every once in a while an author comes along who’s in love with art and the written language and image and literary experiment and the complexity of his characters and the great mysteries that lie just on the other side of the physical world, writers like William Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy and Annie Proulx. You can add Michael Farris Smith’s name to the list.”

The Return by Gruber and Strong Rain Falling by Land were both action packed thrillers and both crossed the border into Mexico.  I swear, as I was reading The Return, I could hear the voices of the characters.  I love when that happens.  I think both The Return and Strong Rain Falling should be candidates for movies.  Strong Rain Falling is the most recent of a series, but I haven't read any of the prior installments, but I think I will.

 Man Alive by Zuravleff is a smart, warm and funny family tale.  Families are strange and the Lerner's get even stranger when the head of the family gets struck by lightening.  This is a novel that you need to pay attention to, it's not a light read, but it's a very good read.

Queen Sugar is outstanding.  I loved every word, Baszile is a great wordsmith.  Now, I'm going to quote. "Penguin has a rich tradition of publishing strong Southern debut fiction—from Sue Monk Kidd to Kathryn Stockett to Beth Hoffman. In Queen Sugar, we now have a debut from the African American point of view. Stirring in its storytelling of one woman against the odds and intimate in its exploration of the complexities of contemporary southern life, Queen Sugar is an unforgettable tale of endurance and hope."  Queen Sugar will be published in Feb. 2014, put it on your list.

A Dangerous Fiction by Rogan is an intriguing mystery, set in the publishing world.  It was a fun read, and I recommend it.

What are you reading?

August 2013 Reads

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58	Silent Wife	A.S.A. Harrison
59	If You Were Here	Alafair Burke
60	The Wrong Girl	Hank Phillippi Ryan
61	Fin & Lady	Cathleen Schine
62	Shine Shine Shine	Lydia Netzer
63	The Ocean at the End of the Lane	Neil Gaiman
64	The Tilted World	Tom Franklin & Beth Ann Fennely
65	The Last Policeman	Ben H. Winters
66	Accused	Lisa Scottoline
67	Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-Cream Float	Kerry Hudson
	Before He Stole My Ma
68	The Bone Season	Smantha Shannon
69	A Foreign Country	Charles Cummings

This month started out with a bang.  The Silent Wife is the best summer read of 2013, it's been compared to Girl Gone, and I agree.  I don't agree with murdering your husband, after all I've been married over 49 years and have never resorted to murder; but I could disagree with it, in this story!

If You Were Here is another great summer-ish read.  It's a tightly plotted story of friendship, lies, and betrayal.  Not "light" reading, but suspenseful and fun.

The Wrong Girl really got to me.  It's about birth parents searching for their relinquished babies and adoptees searching for their birth parents; what could be more wonderful?  Jane, a reporter, discovers a evil scheme involving matching birth parents with adoptees, not necessarily correct matches, and making money from it!

Fin & Lady is bound to become a book club favorite.  It's a  clever story of NYC in the swinging '60's.  A young boy, Fin, is orphaned.  His guardian is his half sister, Lady.  Fin is 11, Lady is 24 and Fin hasn't seen her in 6 years.  Fin & Lady is a wise, clever, tenderly delivered novel about learning the ways of the world.  I absolutely loved this story and didn't want it to end.

Shine Shine Shine is another fabulous debut novel.  The story is about two quirky people who knew since they were children that there could be no one else.  Sunny is an only child, born bald, and Maxon is the youngest of four boys, autistic, brilliant and bullied.  Sunny is pregnant with their second child when Maxon needs to go to the Moon!  The writing is poetic and utterly original.  Netzer took ten years to write this story, here's hoping she produces her next novel in much less time!

I think The Bone Season will be the "next" Hunger Games.  I really loved the Hunger Games trilogy, so did Bob, and millions of other readers.  I loved The Bone Season, even more.  It's more "grown-up" and the writing is terrific.

Two others were great reads, one, The Last Policeman, a detective/mystery; the other A Foreign Country, an espionage thriller are the type of novels I'd read every time, if all these other fabulous books weren't in the way.

As I implied, this was a great month for reading.

What are you reading?

July 2013 Reads

50	Songs of Willow Frost	Jamie Ford
51	Let Him Go	Larry Watson
52	Dirty Love	Andre Dubus III
53	And The Mountains Echoed	Khaled Hosseini
54	The Eye of God	James Rollins
55	Into The Dark	Rick Mofina
56	Night Film	Marisha Pessl
57	Golden Boy	Abigail Tarttelin

I read 8 books this month and only really loved one of them.  I started two other novels and stopped at 50 and 80 pages, just couldn't continue.  Books by my favorite authors didn't make the short list of the "loved" books.  It was a surprising month.

Golden Boy is the debut novel from Abigail Tarttelin.  Max Walker is a golden boy. Attractive, intelligent, and athletic, he’s the perfect son, the perfect friend, a wonderful big brother and the perfect crush for the girls in his school.  Everyone loves him.  Max has a secret that sets him apart from everyone, he's intersex.  The novel is beautifully written and very hard to put down.  Tarttelin deals with a difficult subject and the circumstances of the story with care and insight.

What are you reading?

June 2013 Reads

Do you ever feel like this?  pin purchase

June	42	The Double	George Pelecanos
	43	Strip	Thomas Perry
	44	The Son	Philipp Meyer
	45	Duplex	Kathryn Davis
	46	Stupid Fast	Geoff Herbach
	47	Someone Else's Love Story	Joshilyn Jackson
	48	Norwegian by Night	Derek B. Miller
	49	Silver Star	Jeannette Walls

Lots of great books this month.  I did start and cast aside two books; I made it 1/3 of the way thru each, then decided not to waste my time.  It's rare for me to do that.

On to the good ones!  A couple of months ago, I read The Boyfriend by Thomas Perry, this month I read Strip.  Perry can write!  These are great police procedurals, they're hard to put down and they have a great twists!

Stupid Fast is a YA, geared toward boys.  I don't read many YA's, I think I avoid them because they're geared toward airheads, females, and fantasy freaks.  I am female, but not an airhead or fantasy freak.  Stupid Fast was a good insightful read about what it's like to be a boy, coming of age in the current time.

Someone Else's Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson is a Southern tale.  It's funny and charming; a all around good read.  I highly recommend it.

Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller is a debut novel.  I really loved it but find it hard to nail down a description, so I'm going to steal one.  From Kirkus Reviews:  "An unusual hybrid: part memory novel, part police procedural, part sociopolitical tract, and part existential meditation."  Read it!

Silver Star by Jeannette Walls, is another must read.  It's a coming of age story about two sisters searching for family.  Their mom isn't much of a mom and when she goes AWOL, they travel from California to Virginia, alone, searching for their only relative.  If you've read The Glass Castle and Half Broke Horses, you know Walls can really write.  You won't be disappointed if you pick this one up.

What are you reading?

May 2013 Reads

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May	34	The Boyfriend	Thomas Perry
	35	Norwood	Charles Portis
	36	Loyalty	Ingrid Thoft
	37	A Constellation of Vital Phenomena	Anthony Marra
	38	The Weight of a Human Heart	Ryan O'Neill
	39	The Interestings	Meg Wolitzer
	40	The Grifters	Jim Thompson
	41	Just Kids	Patti Smith

The Boyfriend is the first time I've read Thomas Perry; it won’t be the last. The Boyfriend is a police procedural, the main character, Jack Till is retired LAPD. In case you don’t know, my husband is retired LAPD! Great story, great writing; what more can we ask for? 

Loyalty by Ingrid Thoft is a great debut novel. The main character is a female PI, Fina; she’s the only non-attorney in her family, and she “gets” to do the scutwork for the family law firm. Thoft was a lot of fun to read, I hope she doesn't fall into the trap of other writers in this genre, of writing the same book, over and over. 

The next two books are brilliant, each in its way. The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer follows a group of friends from their mid-teens until they are in their fifties, no easy feat. I think Entertainment Weekly says it as well any I could, “The Interestings secures Wolitzer's place among the best novelists of her generation. . . . She's every bit as literary as Franzen or Eugenides. But the very human moments in her work hit you harder than the big ideas. This isn't women's fiction. It's everyone's." 

I overheard an author say that Just Kids by Patti Smith was the best book he'd ever read; so I read it, too. I proudly place Just Kids on my list of all-time favorite books. This memoir covers her early years, and how her life intertwines with the life of Robert Mapplethorpe. In case you don’t know, Patti Smith is one of the first punk-rockers and Mapplethorpe was a world famous photographer. Smith’s writing is brilliant. I hope you’ll love it, too. What are you reading?

April 2013 Reads

Reason #53 is me, 100% of the time.

Nine books read in April; all good, but only one was a great read.

Apr	25	The Retribution	Val McDermid
	26	The Wicked Girls	Alex Marwood
	27	The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls	Anton Disclafani
	28	Benediction	Kent Haruf
	29	The Dinner	Herman Koch
	30	The Famous and the Dead	T. Jefferson Parker
	31	The Smart One	Jennifer Close
	32	Letters from Skye	Jessica Brockmole
	33	Fly Away	Kristin Hannah

My secret is I never go very far into a book that doesn't grab me.  The one great book this month is Benediction by Kent Haruf.  Haruf isn't a prolific author, he's written five novels, all published since 1984.  All of his novels are outstanding, they all take place in the north eastern corner of Colorado.  Please take the time to read them, you won't be sorry.

What are you reading?

January 2013 Reads

1	The Woman Who Died A Lot	Jasper Fforde
2	Patient Zero	Johathan Maberry
3	The Hope Factory	Lavanya Sankaran
4	Hard Knocks	Zoe Sharp
5	We Sinners	Hanna Pylvainen
6	Ratline	Stuart Neville
7	Tenth of December	George Saunders
8	Skinner	Charlie Huston

January was a great reading month for me.  First, I must admit I LOVE Charlie Huston.  He's a great writer. He's most recognized as a crime writer, but I think he can write anything.  I think he's comperable to LaCarre, King and Stephenson; all great writers, whatever they write.  Skinner isn't being published until July, put it on your list and get it as soon as it comes out.  You're welcome.

Every other book on my January list, except two, is well worth reading.  If you run into Patient Zero, Hope Factory, Hard Knocks or Ratline,  snatch them up and dive right in.  The two I can't wholeheartedly recommend are We Sinners and Tenth of December.  Both were well written, but not my cup of tea.  If you loved them, let me know.  OK?

What are you reading?