I'm continuing to catch up on some of the mysteries I've been meaning to read for a few years. This one is part of Braun's cat tales from Pickax, UP, Michigan from 2002 and is a short, quick read for lovers of her character, Jim Quilleran, and his super cats, Koko and Yum Yum. Those who prefer his librarian friend, Polly Duncan, will be slightly disappointed in this novel because Polly and one of her crones is away on a grand tour of the eastern U.S.
Jim decides to take his own vacation at a nearby resort, the Nutcracker Inn, which experiences a plethera of murders while Jim is in residence. Of course, Koko and Jim solve the who done it and save the reputation of the inn.
For those who love this series, "The Cat Who Went Up the Creek" will be standard, entertaining fare. Others may want to pass it up for more substantial and recent works.
Liz Nichols
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
"Dewey The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World" by Vicki Myron
Dewey is a legend among library cats. In the world of library cats he reigns as the all-time champ because of the special characteristics that set him apart from all others. He consistently greeted every patron. He seemed to understand the needs and emotional state of everyone who came in, so he comforted the ones who needed his attention, and he stayed away from the ones who could not relate to him well.
Dewey arrived as a cast off someone threw into the Spencer, IA Public Library bookdrop on the coldest day of the year in January 1988. He was probably 2 months old and half frozen. Vicki Myron, Spencer Public Library Librarian, and her staff, nursed him back to health and gave him a home. For 19 years the regal Mr. Dewey reigned over the Spencer Public Library. He became a fixture not only of the library, but a symbol of the determination and will of the whole community. He became famous world-wide. Film companies from as far away as Japan came to tell his story.
When Dewey was felled by a tumor at age 19 the library received thousands of messages of sympathy from all over the world.
The book documents a remarkable series of stories about the life and times of Dewey the cat and his role within the community. While the book is about the cat, it also documents the relationship between a beloved pet and his caretaker, and her relationship with the community and her family.
It is a heartwarming, charming story in the tradition of "Marley and Me" (which I saw in the movie theater this weekend.) I highly recommend it to all cat lovers and library lovers.
Liz Nichols
Dewey arrived as a cast off someone threw into the Spencer, IA Public Library bookdrop on the coldest day of the year in January 1988. He was probably 2 months old and half frozen. Vicki Myron, Spencer Public Library Librarian, and her staff, nursed him back to health and gave him a home. For 19 years the regal Mr. Dewey reigned over the Spencer Public Library. He became a fixture not only of the library, but a symbol of the determination and will of the whole community. He became famous world-wide. Film companies from as far away as Japan came to tell his story.
When Dewey was felled by a tumor at age 19 the library received thousands of messages of sympathy from all over the world.
The book documents a remarkable series of stories about the life and times of Dewey the cat and his role within the community. While the book is about the cat, it also documents the relationship between a beloved pet and his caretaker, and her relationship with the community and her family.
It is a heartwarming, charming story in the tradition of "Marley and Me" (which I saw in the movie theater this weekend.) I highly recommend it to all cat lovers and library lovers.
Liz Nichols
Sunday, December 21, 2008
"The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" by David Wroblewski
For a first novel, this one is a doozie.
Like all great novels this one can be read on many different levels. It can be read again and again and each time the reader can take away a new insight or follow a different character or motif through the book. "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" will become one of the cherished classics that will be read by generations to come; it is timeless.
This is much more than a story about a boy and his relationship with his family and his dogs. Certainly it is that, for one of the major themes is the coming of age story that leads Edgar to go off on his own and live off the land with a pack of his dogs. This is also the story of a post war couple trying to make it in a small family business. It is a Cane and Abel story of two brothers who have very different personalities, motives and very real jealousies that poison the lives of everyone around them. This is a dog story that delves very deeply into the behavior and training of dogs. It dissects the different personality types of both dogs and people and explores both human and human-canine relationships on both the conscious and subconscious level.
"The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" is a tragedy with several flawed characters (including the boy, Edgar). There is no insipid, contrived happy ending here.
There are a few thematic elements that require the reader to suspend belief. For example, the Alpha dog, Forte, if taken literally, must be at least 25 years old by the end of the book, and yet he still seems to be going strong. That's a bit of a stretch for any dog, let alone a ferrel one. Still, when looked at metaphorically, Forte is more like the Biblical patriarch of the Sawtelle dogs, and is therefore symbolic and ageless.
"The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" is a masterpiece of American literature and is as worthy of a permanent place on home and library bookshelves as the works of our finest authors. I know this first novel was a long time coming, and I hope that David Wroblewski, who lives in Colorado, has many more great stories in him.
Liz Nichols
Like all great novels this one can be read on many different levels. It can be read again and again and each time the reader can take away a new insight or follow a different character or motif through the book. "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" will become one of the cherished classics that will be read by generations to come; it is timeless.
This is much more than a story about a boy and his relationship with his family and his dogs. Certainly it is that, for one of the major themes is the coming of age story that leads Edgar to go off on his own and live off the land with a pack of his dogs. This is also the story of a post war couple trying to make it in a small family business. It is a Cane and Abel story of two brothers who have very different personalities, motives and very real jealousies that poison the lives of everyone around them. This is a dog story that delves very deeply into the behavior and training of dogs. It dissects the different personality types of both dogs and people and explores both human and human-canine relationships on both the conscious and subconscious level.
"The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" is a tragedy with several flawed characters (including the boy, Edgar). There is no insipid, contrived happy ending here.
There are a few thematic elements that require the reader to suspend belief. For example, the Alpha dog, Forte, if taken literally, must be at least 25 years old by the end of the book, and yet he still seems to be going strong. That's a bit of a stretch for any dog, let alone a ferrel one. Still, when looked at metaphorically, Forte is more like the Biblical patriarch of the Sawtelle dogs, and is therefore symbolic and ageless.
"The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" is a masterpiece of American literature and is as worthy of a permanent place on home and library bookshelves as the works of our finest authors. I know this first novel was a long time coming, and I hope that David Wroblewski, who lives in Colorado, has many more great stories in him.
Liz Nichols
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
"Just Jane" by Nancy Moser
This is Moser's very well researched and well written bio-fiction about Jane Austen.
I had seen and enjoyed the movie, "Becoming Jane" and wanted to compare stories, essentially. "Becoming Jane" concentrates almost exclusively on Jane Austen's early love interest in Tom Lefroy, the Irish cousin of the Austen's Lefroy neighbors. The movie contends that this was a major love interest and that Jane very nearly ran off to marry Lefroy. The book, although just as much fiction as the movie, seems to be better grounded in reality and contends that this was just an unrequited infatuation that Jane fairly quickly got over.
The book contends that Jane actually received two marriage proposals, from Edward Bridges and Harris Bigg-Wither, and that she actually accepted Harris' proposal over one night until she thought better of it in the morning.
While Jane knew of at least one successful woman author who was also married, it was very much the exception for any woman to have any kind of career following marriage beyond motherhood. Jane's books were always her children. She took them everywhere with her and her ability to work on them depended very much on her mood and happiness with her living situation. Her years in Bath were unhappy and they were not productive from a writing stand-point.
"Just Jane" provides an insightful glimpse into the life of one of the 19th century's most brilliant authors pieced together from the letters that remain from the author, and some of the biographies about her.
I highly recomment "Just Jane" to all Austen lovers, and 19th century English literature readers.
Liz Nichols
I had seen and enjoyed the movie, "Becoming Jane" and wanted to compare stories, essentially. "Becoming Jane" concentrates almost exclusively on Jane Austen's early love interest in Tom Lefroy, the Irish cousin of the Austen's Lefroy neighbors. The movie contends that this was a major love interest and that Jane very nearly ran off to marry Lefroy. The book, although just as much fiction as the movie, seems to be better grounded in reality and contends that this was just an unrequited infatuation that Jane fairly quickly got over.
The book contends that Jane actually received two marriage proposals, from Edward Bridges and Harris Bigg-Wither, and that she actually accepted Harris' proposal over one night until she thought better of it in the morning.
While Jane knew of at least one successful woman author who was also married, it was very much the exception for any woman to have any kind of career following marriage beyond motherhood. Jane's books were always her children. She took them everywhere with her and her ability to work on them depended very much on her mood and happiness with her living situation. Her years in Bath were unhappy and they were not productive from a writing stand-point.
"Just Jane" provides an insightful glimpse into the life of one of the 19th century's most brilliant authors pieced together from the letters that remain from the author, and some of the biographies about her.
I highly recomment "Just Jane" to all Austen lovers, and 19th century English literature readers.
Liz Nichols
Thursday, November 27, 2008
"Rough Justice" by Lisa Scottoline
I found this Scottoline classic on a shelf at the Iowa City Public Library reserved for staff favorite picks. This is a good choice for lovers of mysteries and thrillers. It's classic Scottoline.
This story has a little different twist because the gals of Rosato and Associates law firm are not the star players. Instead, the firm has been hired to assist a world-famous lawyer, Marta Richter in the defense of a wealthy businessman who is accused of deliberately killing a homeless man. The defendant confesses his guilt to Richter just after the jury retires to determine its verdict. Of course, Richter can't reveal the confession because of attorney-client privilege. She has to find new evidence and make it known in a way that will not cast a doubt on herself or Rosato.
The killer is able to wreak havoc even behind bars to make sure no one who might cross him remains alive. His confession not only puts Richter in danger, but lands one of the Rosato associates in the hospital. Just when it appears that all is lost, a new twist brings a surprising end to this tale.
Liz Nichols
This story has a little different twist because the gals of Rosato and Associates law firm are not the star players. Instead, the firm has been hired to assist a world-famous lawyer, Marta Richter in the defense of a wealthy businessman who is accused of deliberately killing a homeless man. The defendant confesses his guilt to Richter just after the jury retires to determine its verdict. Of course, Richter can't reveal the confession because of attorney-client privilege. She has to find new evidence and make it known in a way that will not cast a doubt on herself or Rosato.
The killer is able to wreak havoc even behind bars to make sure no one who might cross him remains alive. His confession not only puts Richter in danger, but lands one of the Rosato associates in the hospital. Just when it appears that all is lost, a new twist brings a surprising end to this tale.
Liz Nichols
Monday, November 17, 2008
Rick Raddatz' GoBrevity is Live
I've just checked out Rick Raddatz' new business book briefing membership site. It's great for those of us who have a ton of business books on our "to be read" list, but never get around to it.
Each week Rick will review a top business book and summarize it, giving its particular value to small businesses and especially Internet businesses. If you're in the IM niche, or are a small business owner, this will by far be the most time-and cost-effective way of your picking up a lesson each week that can be applied directly to your business. Here's the link: http://goBrevity.com/SmallBusiness/?x=1967074
Rick knows what he is talking about. He started in big business, Microsoft, I believe, and ventured out on his own several years ago. Since that time he's forged a lucrative business relationship with Armand Morin and Alex Mandossian to create some of the most useful software products around-- Instantteleseminar being one of the most current successes. Rick is also a frequent speaker at major Internet marketing and small business seminars, and someone who is trying to help small businesses prosper by gaining access to capital through his Xiosoft business program. He also has a business membership club in the ownership of a Colorado ski lodge that can be used for small business seminars, or just for member owners to use to unwind.
Rick is offering his new membership site, called Brevity, at a low charter membership price, and is also offering an affiliate program that will share 95% of the profit in commissions to affiliate members. This is an extraordinary opportunity, and, really, a no-brainer, for any small business person who needs to stay abreast of the latest thinking out there, but doesn't have the time to do it themselves. Rick promises to deliver business briefs that are entertaining and edifying, and he's just the one to deliver on that promise!
Check it out at: http://goBrevity.com/SmallBusiness/?x=1967074.
You can sign up for a free sample issue.
Liz Nichols
Each week Rick will review a top business book and summarize it, giving its particular value to small businesses and especially Internet businesses. If you're in the IM niche, or are a small business owner, this will by far be the most time-and cost-effective way of your picking up a lesson each week that can be applied directly to your business. Here's the link: http://goBrevity.com/SmallBusiness/?x=1967074
Rick knows what he is talking about. He started in big business, Microsoft, I believe, and ventured out on his own several years ago. Since that time he's forged a lucrative business relationship with Armand Morin and Alex Mandossian to create some of the most useful software products around-- Instantteleseminar being one of the most current successes. Rick is also a frequent speaker at major Internet marketing and small business seminars, and someone who is trying to help small businesses prosper by gaining access to capital through his Xiosoft business program. He also has a business membership club in the ownership of a Colorado ski lodge that can be used for small business seminars, or just for member owners to use to unwind.
Rick is offering his new membership site, called Brevity, at a low charter membership price, and is also offering an affiliate program that will share 95% of the profit in commissions to affiliate members. This is an extraordinary opportunity, and, really, a no-brainer, for any small business person who needs to stay abreast of the latest thinking out there, but doesn't have the time to do it themselves. Rick promises to deliver business briefs that are entertaining and edifying, and he's just the one to deliver on that promise!
Check it out at: http://goBrevity.com/SmallBusiness/?x=1967074.
You can sign up for a free sample issue.
Liz Nichols
Sunday, November 16, 2008
"Ghost at Work" by Carolyn Hart
The prolific author of the Death on Demand series is at it again with a new mystery maven, this one a heavenly spirit named Bailey Ruth Raeburn. There is promise at the end that Bailey Ruth may be back for more delightful and frequently funny mysteries.
The premise is that Bailey Ruth, a member of the heavenly Department of Good Intentions, is sent to earth to rescue of a second cousin in her hometown of Adelaide, Oklahoma. Through a series of bodily appearances and ghostly disappearances Bailey manages to figure out who killed the vestry president and attempted to frame the Episcopalian parish priest and his wife. Every time Bailey reveals herself she incurs the disapproval of her heavenly supervisor, Wiggins.
I'm looking forward to meeting Bailey again. Through Carolyn Hart's masterful skill she spins a good tale.
Liz Nichols
The premise is that Bailey Ruth, a member of the heavenly Department of Good Intentions, is sent to earth to rescue of a second cousin in her hometown of Adelaide, Oklahoma. Through a series of bodily appearances and ghostly disappearances Bailey manages to figure out who killed the vestry president and attempted to frame the Episcopalian parish priest and his wife. Every time Bailey reveals herself she incurs the disapproval of her heavenly supervisor, Wiggins.
I'm looking forward to meeting Bailey again. Through Carolyn Hart's masterful skill she spins a good tale.
Liz Nichols
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
"Alone" by Lisa Gardner
I've been pulling books off my shelves that I acquired via the Mystery Book Club a few years ago and hadn't gotten around to reading.
One of these thrillers is "Alone" by Lisa Gardner, published in 2005. This mystery pairs a likable Massachusetts SWAT team member, Bobby Dodge, and a less likable socialite, Catherine Gagnon, who was the survivor of a horrendous abduction and rape as a child 25 years before. What Bobby needs to find out is whether Gagnon intentionally loured him into shooting her husband during a domestic incident, and whether Catherine is responsible for her own 4 year old son's chronic illness. When people surrounding Catherine start being murdered it becomes clear that Bobby, Catherine and her young son, Nathan, are targets.
As I read this suspense novel my own community has been gripped by the murder and attempted murder of two young boys. Their mother is accused of the crime and, reportedly, even she can't really identify why she did it. It is clear that children who face trauma of this type need a tremendous amount of psychological counseling and lots of support by family and friends for years in order to grow up feeling secure and in charge of their own future.
Dodge and Gagnon both suffered abuse and parental loss as children, and both showed the emotional scars into adulthood. With professional help, both managed to recover some semblance of normalcy, and the book does in that respect have a "happy" ending.
This book is not for the faint-hearted. There is a considerable amount of gore and multiple gruesome deaths in this book. It is an interesting psychological thriller, and one that is hard to put down once started.
Liz Nichols
One of these thrillers is "Alone" by Lisa Gardner, published in 2005. This mystery pairs a likable Massachusetts SWAT team member, Bobby Dodge, and a less likable socialite, Catherine Gagnon, who was the survivor of a horrendous abduction and rape as a child 25 years before. What Bobby needs to find out is whether Gagnon intentionally loured him into shooting her husband during a domestic incident, and whether Catherine is responsible for her own 4 year old son's chronic illness. When people surrounding Catherine start being murdered it becomes clear that Bobby, Catherine and her young son, Nathan, are targets.
As I read this suspense novel my own community has been gripped by the murder and attempted murder of two young boys. Their mother is accused of the crime and, reportedly, even she can't really identify why she did it. It is clear that children who face trauma of this type need a tremendous amount of psychological counseling and lots of support by family and friends for years in order to grow up feeling secure and in charge of their own future.
Dodge and Gagnon both suffered abuse and parental loss as children, and both showed the emotional scars into adulthood. With professional help, both managed to recover some semblance of normalcy, and the book does in that respect have a "happy" ending.
This book is not for the faint-hearted. There is a considerable amount of gore and multiple gruesome deaths in this book. It is an interesting psychological thriller, and one that is hard to put down once started.
Liz Nichols
"The Broker" by John Grisham
I have never been a heavy Grisham reader. I could never get into the mindset of his characters. "The Broker" is no different in that I find it hard to really feel sympathetic to the main character, "The Broker," Joel Backman. Backman was pardoned by an outgoing president under questionable circumstances. He had been a party to an abortive sale of surveillance satellite control secrets which got the Pakestani programmers who designed the program killed, and anyone who knew about the program assassinated as well. Backman found it expedient to plead guilty rather than to be next on the hit list.
The CIA set him up to be gunned down when it lobbied the President for the pardon, then took Backman into the Witness Protection Program in Bologna, Italy only to abandon him to would-be assassins from Israel, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia just for the sport of finding out who desired to get at the still-missing satellite program.
The book plods a bit during the long sequences when Backman in the disguise of a Canadian-Italian business man, Marco Lazzeri, is trying to learn Italian. The travelogue about northern Italy that is part and parcel of the book, however, is interesting and carries one along as the main character tries to find a way out of his mess.
With the help of a beautiful Italian tutor and travel guide, he manages to save his skin, at least for the time-being.
I liked the book; I just wish I liked the main character better.
Liz Nichols
The CIA set him up to be gunned down when it lobbied the President for the pardon, then took Backman into the Witness Protection Program in Bologna, Italy only to abandon him to would-be assassins from Israel, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia just for the sport of finding out who desired to get at the still-missing satellite program.
The book plods a bit during the long sequences when Backman in the disguise of a Canadian-Italian business man, Marco Lazzeri, is trying to learn Italian. The travelogue about northern Italy that is part and parcel of the book, however, is interesting and carries one along as the main character tries to find a way out of his mess.
With the help of a beautiful Italian tutor and travel guide, he manages to save his skin, at least for the time-being.
I liked the book; I just wish I liked the main character better.
Liz Nichols
Monday, October 27, 2008
"The Front" by Patricia Cornwell
This recent novel by Cornwell is fairly light weight compared to her Scarpetta crime scene investigation novels. She uses the same characters as those in "At Risk," D. A. Monique Lamont, and her assistant, Win Garano.
On first meeting, I can't say that I find these two as compelling as Kay Scarpetta and her staff. Lamont is the bright, but extremely self-serving D.A. of Middlesex County, headquartered in Cambridge, MA. Win Garano is an up-and-coming investigator who's heart is often in the right place, but his head tells him that he needs to stick close to his boss to prosper. This dual nature makes Win a fairly complex character, but weak in some respects. It cuts down on the respect he commands from others, and from the readers of his story.
In this story Win is shipped off to Watertown, a smaller community in the county to work on a case. He has to work with the crime lab set up by a coalition of the smaller communities in order to rely less on the over-booked state crime lab, and the CSI in that lab, named Stump. In the process they solve a 40 year old mystery and also help to clean up some of the current wave of crime in the small community of Watertown.
This is a fast read, and, hey, it's Cornwell, so it is certainly very well written. Just wish I liked the characters better. Maybe they'll grow on me over later books.
Liz Nichols
On first meeting, I can't say that I find these two as compelling as Kay Scarpetta and her staff. Lamont is the bright, but extremely self-serving D.A. of Middlesex County, headquartered in Cambridge, MA. Win Garano is an up-and-coming investigator who's heart is often in the right place, but his head tells him that he needs to stick close to his boss to prosper. This dual nature makes Win a fairly complex character, but weak in some respects. It cuts down on the respect he commands from others, and from the readers of his story.
In this story Win is shipped off to Watertown, a smaller community in the county to work on a case. He has to work with the crime lab set up by a coalition of the smaller communities in order to rely less on the over-booked state crime lab, and the CSI in that lab, named Stump. In the process they solve a 40 year old mystery and also help to clean up some of the current wave of crime in the small community of Watertown.
This is a fast read, and, hey, it's Cornwell, so it is certainly very well written. Just wish I liked the characters better. Maybe they'll grow on me over later books.
Liz Nichols
Sunday, October 26, 2008
"Thanksgiving" by Janet Evanovich
As we move into a holiday season that is filled with a lot of gloom and doom on the economic front, it is refreshing to read something that is just light and happy fun, the romance by Janet Evanovich, "Thanksgiving."
The setting is beautiful and historic Williamsburg where a young pediatrician, Patrick Hunter, has come to set up his practice. He meets a potter and part-time Williamsburg tour ticket-taker, Megan Murphy, who is house sitting at a relative's farmhouse near Williamsburg. They suddenly are given charge of an infant named, Timmy, who is left by one of the doctor's patients for a couple of weeks. The romance evolves over the unlikely activity of mutually taking care of this infant, an activity that most parents recognize as a romance killer.
To make matters even more precarious for the romance, both sets of parents and his siblings show up for Thanksgiving dinner. Fortunately, both sides give their blessing to the couple, and, after a few ups and downs, fights and angst, the two make their final plans to get married at Christmas.
It's a fun read and I recommend the book to those who like Evanovich's breezy style, lovers of the Williamsburg setting, and romance readers.
Liz Nichols
The setting is beautiful and historic Williamsburg where a young pediatrician, Patrick Hunter, has come to set up his practice. He meets a potter and part-time Williamsburg tour ticket-taker, Megan Murphy, who is house sitting at a relative's farmhouse near Williamsburg. They suddenly are given charge of an infant named, Timmy, who is left by one of the doctor's patients for a couple of weeks. The romance evolves over the unlikely activity of mutually taking care of this infant, an activity that most parents recognize as a romance killer.
To make matters even more precarious for the romance, both sets of parents and his siblings show up for Thanksgiving dinner. Fortunately, both sides give their blessing to the couple, and, after a few ups and downs, fights and angst, the two make their final plans to get married at Christmas.
It's a fun read and I recommend the book to those who like Evanovich's breezy style, lovers of the Williamsburg setting, and romance readers.
Liz Nichols
Friday, October 17, 2008
"A Long Way Gone," by Ishmael Beah
Beah's book is a memoir of this young African's years as a boy soldier in Sierra Leone. It is a brutal, sad tale of how children are exploited and dehumanized in order to become canon fodder for adults who have political or greed-related ambitions in so many third world countries today. It is also an inspiring tale of redemption for a fraction of the more fortunate children who are able to be rehabilitated.
Beah's tale starts out in the gold mining region of Sierra Leone where he and his brother grew up living with his father. At the age of 12 rebel forces attacked his town, burned down all the homes and attacked the people. Many were killed, while a few boys were pressed into service. Ishmael, his brother and several friends managed to escape and started a very long journey walking towards the coast and away from the fighting.
Everywhere they went they were treated with suspicion, since so many boys had been recruited to be rebels. They were just stray refugees trying to get away from the fighting. A couple of times they were brought before tribal chiefs and were very nearly executed as spies.
After months of travel by foot and occasional stops in friendly villages, they reached what they hoped was a peaceful community when they were captured by army forces and pressed into service. The process of brutalizing the boys, plying them with drugs so they would act in robotic fashion, and the unspeakable acts of violence that they were forced to commit make this book a difficult, but very powerful read.
Eventually, Ishmael and several other boys are mustered out of the military by a UNICEF inspector, and given a second chance to be children at a school for rehabilitated war orphans in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Eventually, Ishmael is repatriated with his uncle's family on the outskirts of the city. Ishmael is chosen to go to New York City to attend a conference on child soldiers and meets the woman who will eventually bring him to the U.S. permanently and adopt him.
Before the happy ending, though, is more fighting, this time, within Freetown, which sets the boy to fleeing again several months after he returns to Sierra Leone. A harrowing journey to Guinea leads eventually to a chance to contact his benefactress in New York City and a new life.
The memoir is a remarkable piece of writing for someone who spoke primarily Krio, an old slave version of English brought to Sierra Leone by the black colonists from America who settled the land in the late 1700s. Ishmael was able to complete his high school education in New York once he emigrated, and then attended Oberlin College in Ohio.
He is still a very young man, in his late 20s, and is working in the field of humanitarian relief.
This book was chosen as the One Community, One Book selection for this year in Iowa City, and it has been a very inspirational, and thought-provoking choice.
Liz Nichols
Beah's tale starts out in the gold mining region of Sierra Leone where he and his brother grew up living with his father. At the age of 12 rebel forces attacked his town, burned down all the homes and attacked the people. Many were killed, while a few boys were pressed into service. Ishmael, his brother and several friends managed to escape and started a very long journey walking towards the coast and away from the fighting.
Everywhere they went they were treated with suspicion, since so many boys had been recruited to be rebels. They were just stray refugees trying to get away from the fighting. A couple of times they were brought before tribal chiefs and were very nearly executed as spies.
After months of travel by foot and occasional stops in friendly villages, they reached what they hoped was a peaceful community when they were captured by army forces and pressed into service. The process of brutalizing the boys, plying them with drugs so they would act in robotic fashion, and the unspeakable acts of violence that they were forced to commit make this book a difficult, but very powerful read.
Eventually, Ishmael and several other boys are mustered out of the military by a UNICEF inspector, and given a second chance to be children at a school for rehabilitated war orphans in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Eventually, Ishmael is repatriated with his uncle's family on the outskirts of the city. Ishmael is chosen to go to New York City to attend a conference on child soldiers and meets the woman who will eventually bring him to the U.S. permanently and adopt him.
Before the happy ending, though, is more fighting, this time, within Freetown, which sets the boy to fleeing again several months after he returns to Sierra Leone. A harrowing journey to Guinea leads eventually to a chance to contact his benefactress in New York City and a new life.
The memoir is a remarkable piece of writing for someone who spoke primarily Krio, an old slave version of English brought to Sierra Leone by the black colonists from America who settled the land in the late 1700s. Ishmael was able to complete his high school education in New York once he emigrated, and then attended Oberlin College in Ohio.
He is still a very young man, in his late 20s, and is working in the field of humanitarian relief.
This book was chosen as the One Community, One Book selection for this year in Iowa City, and it has been a very inspirational, and thought-provoking choice.
Liz Nichols
Friday, October 3, 2008
"The Black Dove" by Steve Hockensmith
For those who like mysteries with an American wild west twist, "The Black Dove" may be just your read. The author incorporates some important historical insights about the Asian slave trade in the United States and the way young Chinese girls were sold by their families or tricked into coming to the U.S. and then made to work in Chinatown brothels or sold into marriage in San Francisco and other big cities.
The story takes place in San Francisco in the 1890s where cowpokes turned PIs, Otto and Gustav Amlingmeyer, team up with former Union Pacific PI, Diana Corvus, to figure out who killed Gee Woo Chan and where the brothel slave, Hok Gup (the Black Dove) has gone.
At times the plot feels like a Keystone Cops chase. At times it reminds me of a Chinese version of the movie "The Streets of New York." At times it feels like a melodrama. That is probably intentional, since the narrator, Otto Amlingmeyer is a budding dime novelist and gets good news about the publication of one of his stories toward the end of the book.
I look forward to reading more about the Amlingmeyer brothers and hope they team up again with the intrepid Diana.
Liz Nichols
The story takes place in San Francisco in the 1890s where cowpokes turned PIs, Otto and Gustav Amlingmeyer, team up with former Union Pacific PI, Diana Corvus, to figure out who killed Gee Woo Chan and where the brothel slave, Hok Gup (the Black Dove) has gone.
At times the plot feels like a Keystone Cops chase. At times it reminds me of a Chinese version of the movie "The Streets of New York." At times it feels like a melodrama. That is probably intentional, since the narrator, Otto Amlingmeyer is a budding dime novelist and gets good news about the publication of one of his stories toward the end of the book.
I look forward to reading more about the Amlingmeyer brothers and hope they team up again with the intrepid Diana.
Liz Nichols
Monday, September 22, 2008
"River Ghosts" by B.R. Robb
B. R. Robb is the pseudonym for attorney, Bruce Steinberg of Chicago. He has one previous novel, "The Widow's Son," which won a first novel grand prize in Milwaukee in 2000.
"River Ghosts," is a masterpiece. It should be receiving critical acclaim for its author, whom I hope will write again much sooner than in eight more years. It has the same kind of psychological impact that "Lovely Bones" had and it should be getting the same kind of attention.
This is a police thriller and a commentary on racial prejudice in America, which is portrayed as still very much alive and well.
We are confronted with the release of a supposedly reformed Neo-Nazi who had been convicted of the murder of a racially mixed couple sixteen years prior in a smallish Midwestern city. He was convicted on the eye-witness testimony of the young son of the couple, who grew up to become a police officer in his home town. Understandably, the cop, Richard's sleep is regularly disturbed by images of his parents' murders and the man who committed the crime, whom he saw from his hiding place under a table.
This taught and beautifully written story uncovers how DNA evidence could have been manipulated to acquit a guilty man and how the young police officer and his partner managed to prove it.
Hopefully, that's not giving away too much of the plot. I believe anyone who reads this book will find it refreshingly literary. I know I did after a summer of reading good, but mostly formulaic mysteries by well known authors.
Yes, there is still a literary muse at work in new fiction!
Liz Nichols
"River Ghosts," is a masterpiece. It should be receiving critical acclaim for its author, whom I hope will write again much sooner than in eight more years. It has the same kind of psychological impact that "Lovely Bones" had and it should be getting the same kind of attention.
This is a police thriller and a commentary on racial prejudice in America, which is portrayed as still very much alive and well.
We are confronted with the release of a supposedly reformed Neo-Nazi who had been convicted of the murder of a racially mixed couple sixteen years prior in a smallish Midwestern city. He was convicted on the eye-witness testimony of the young son of the couple, who grew up to become a police officer in his home town. Understandably, the cop, Richard's sleep is regularly disturbed by images of his parents' murders and the man who committed the crime, whom he saw from his hiding place under a table.
This taught and beautifully written story uncovers how DNA evidence could have been manipulated to acquit a guilty man and how the young police officer and his partner managed to prove it.
Hopefully, that's not giving away too much of the plot. I believe anyone who reads this book will find it refreshingly literary. I know I did after a summer of reading good, but mostly formulaic mysteries by well known authors.
Yes, there is still a literary muse at work in new fiction!
Liz Nichols
Friday, September 5, 2008
Susan Wittig Albert's "Nightshade"
At first it was difficult to get in to the China Bayles mystery, "Nightshade," because this is the third of a trilogy. It continues "Bleeding Hearts" and "Spanish Dagger," both of which were about the death of China's father. The third book tracks the way China and her husband, Mike McQuaid, sleuth out her dad's killer.
China is a former assistant DA, who has become a shop owner in the hill country outlying Austin, TX. China's character has always bothered me a bit because I personally do not know any shop owner or restauranteer who can break away from the business long enough to solve a murder mystery. One has to suspend reality long enough to appreciate the plot.
While I found the information about the Nightshade family of plants-- including the tomato, tomatillo, chili pepper, potato, eggplant, petunia and tobacco, not to mention the other deadly varieties, I didn't really get how it tied in with the plot. Well, there is one character crucial to solving the case who raises tomatillos. I kept expecting someone to get poisoned.
No such luck. People got blown up, run over and shot in this one.
Still, it's a fast read and it kept my attention throughout, even though I never quite got into the characters or the plot.
I've read other China Bayles mysteries before, and I'm sure I'll pick them up again. I just don't think I'll go out of my way to go back to the two previous titles in the trilogy. I got the picture from the third one.
One thumb up.
Liz Nichols
China is a former assistant DA, who has become a shop owner in the hill country outlying Austin, TX. China's character has always bothered me a bit because I personally do not know any shop owner or restauranteer who can break away from the business long enough to solve a murder mystery. One has to suspend reality long enough to appreciate the plot.
While I found the information about the Nightshade family of plants-- including the tomato, tomatillo, chili pepper, potato, eggplant, petunia and tobacco, not to mention the other deadly varieties, I didn't really get how it tied in with the plot. Well, there is one character crucial to solving the case who raises tomatillos. I kept expecting someone to get poisoned.
No such luck. People got blown up, run over and shot in this one.
Still, it's a fast read and it kept my attention throughout, even though I never quite got into the characters or the plot.
I've read other China Bayles mysteries before, and I'm sure I'll pick them up again. I just don't think I'll go out of my way to go back to the two previous titles in the trilogy. I got the picture from the third one.
One thumb up.
Liz Nichols
"The Box" by Marc Levinson
In doing a group of articles on containerization for a client, I had the pleasure to read Marc Levinson's "The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger."
For a very dry topic this is a very exciting book. It is one of those non-fiction creations that tells a story in a dramatic way. It's a page turner. You want to keep reading in order to find out how the heck the world could come together on standardizing something as complex as international, intermodal shipping.
The book brings to life some mid-20th century innovators whose achievements serve as powerful examples for us and for our children. "The Box" documents a recipe for creating large-scale change.
Great piece of social history.
Liz Nichols
For a very dry topic this is a very exciting book. It is one of those non-fiction creations that tells a story in a dramatic way. It's a page turner. You want to keep reading in order to find out how the heck the world could come together on standardizing something as complex as international, intermodal shipping.
The book brings to life some mid-20th century innovators whose achievements serve as powerful examples for us and for our children. "The Box" documents a recipe for creating large-scale change.
Great piece of social history.
Liz Nichols
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Susan Conant's "All Shots, A Dog Lover's Mystery"
This was not the best read of the summer. I do appreciate all the information I did not previously know about malamutes, and learning that that breed and Alaskan huskies are not the same thing was of some interest.
There is lots of non-fiction information in this book for dog lovers.
As mysteries go, however, I found this one confusing. There were just too many Holly Winters in the book. That's all part of the plot. The heroine's name is Holly Winter, and there are two more Holly Winter characters involved. It seems like someone is trying to steal the heroine's identity until she finds out there are others with her name. I haven't gone back to verify this, but with all the Holly Winter characters running around (or lying in the morgue) it felt like the author was changing voices all the time. Perhaps that's what led to the confusion.
At any rate, I just couldn't get into this one, unlike some of her previous Dog Lover's Mystery titles. Perhaps the series is growing stale.
Conant also has a new series for cat lovers and another mystery series for "gourmet girls."
Liz Nichols
There is lots of non-fiction information in this book for dog lovers.
As mysteries go, however, I found this one confusing. There were just too many Holly Winters in the book. That's all part of the plot. The heroine's name is Holly Winter, and there are two more Holly Winter characters involved. It seems like someone is trying to steal the heroine's identity until she finds out there are others with her name. I haven't gone back to verify this, but with all the Holly Winter characters running around (or lying in the morgue) it felt like the author was changing voices all the time. Perhaps that's what led to the confusion.
At any rate, I just couldn't get into this one, unlike some of her previous Dog Lover's Mystery titles. Perhaps the series is growing stale.
Conant also has a new series for cat lovers and another mystery series for "gourmet girls."
Liz Nichols
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Patricia Cornwell's "Book of the Dead"
Cornwell is one of the most enduring and reliable mystery writers on the face of the earth. The fact that she has been a police forensics professional and knows that subject from the inside out gives readers a real picture into the procedure of finding a killer-- not the pretend picture that we get from the crime scene investigation shows on TV.
"Book of the Dead" does not disappoint. Dr. Kay Scarpetta, her niece, Lucy, and the other cast of characters that have surrounded this super CSI for years have their hands on the latest devices to detect composition and origins for grains of sand left on the victims' bodies and latent blood left at the crime scenes. Crime scenes in this book span the globe from Rome to Charleston, SC to Hilton Head where the reader gets to soak up a sense of place as well as a sense of character.
To add some additional drama to the book, there is trouble in the lives of Scarpetta and her cohorts. Secretary, Rose, is down with a mysterious persistent cough, Lucy is disappearing for days at a time, and Pete has a new girl friend who is definitely a bad influence. Scarpetta and Benton are alternatively hot and cold, though all is well with their relationship in the end.
The team has settled in to Charleston to run a private lab. Things are going well in terms of business. There are plenty of cities and counties around the world that need the expertise of Scarpetta's private forensic lab. The problem is that her team has not entirely settled in. Scarpetta is not entirely trusted by the natives either.
This is a great addition to Cornwell's list of Scarpetta forensic mysteries, and is sure to please Cornwell's fans.
Liz Nichols
"Book of the Dead" does not disappoint. Dr. Kay Scarpetta, her niece, Lucy, and the other cast of characters that have surrounded this super CSI for years have their hands on the latest devices to detect composition and origins for grains of sand left on the victims' bodies and latent blood left at the crime scenes. Crime scenes in this book span the globe from Rome to Charleston, SC to Hilton Head where the reader gets to soak up a sense of place as well as a sense of character.
To add some additional drama to the book, there is trouble in the lives of Scarpetta and her cohorts. Secretary, Rose, is down with a mysterious persistent cough, Lucy is disappearing for days at a time, and Pete has a new girl friend who is definitely a bad influence. Scarpetta and Benton are alternatively hot and cold, though all is well with their relationship in the end.
The team has settled in to Charleston to run a private lab. Things are going well in terms of business. There are plenty of cities and counties around the world that need the expertise of Scarpetta's private forensic lab. The problem is that her team has not entirely settled in. Scarpetta is not entirely trusted by the natives either.
This is a great addition to Cornwell's list of Scarpetta forensic mysteries, and is sure to please Cornwell's fans.
Liz Nichols
Saturday, August 16, 2008
"The Serpent's Tale" by Ariana Franklin
"The Serpent's Tale" is an absorbing historical mystery set it 12th century England around the story of Eleanor of Aquitaine's rebellion against her husband, Henry II. There are many accurate historical details in the book, and the Franklin has the social context of women in that society pegged right.
The heroine, Adelia Aquilar, is in secret a medical doctor who has been trained to forensic work, a "doctor of the dead" as she calls it. She was transplanted to England in the wake of Henry II's crusade, along with her Islamic servant, Mansur, who must pretend to be the doctor because of the low tolerance of women in professions during that time. If left on her own, she would have been considered a witch. Adelia's lover is one of Henry's knights, who has been rewarded for his loyalty with a bishopric- Rowley, Bishop of St. Albans. Together they have a baby girl.
The mystery revolves around finding the killer of Rosamund, Henry II's consort, and to determine if there is a tie between that murder and the death of a young lord who loses his life on his way to elope with a young woman who is being educated at the Godstow Convent.
Franklin does a masterful job of drawing interesting characterizations that are multi-dimensional. Even the villains are complex and worthy of consideration as to why they are the way they are. The details about how people lived in medieval times are accurate and interesting.
Two thumbs up for "The Serpent's Tale."
Liz Nichols
The heroine, Adelia Aquilar, is in secret a medical doctor who has been trained to forensic work, a "doctor of the dead" as she calls it. She was transplanted to England in the wake of Henry II's crusade, along with her Islamic servant, Mansur, who must pretend to be the doctor because of the low tolerance of women in professions during that time. If left on her own, she would have been considered a witch. Adelia's lover is one of Henry's knights, who has been rewarded for his loyalty with a bishopric- Rowley, Bishop of St. Albans. Together they have a baby girl.
The mystery revolves around finding the killer of Rosamund, Henry II's consort, and to determine if there is a tie between that murder and the death of a young lord who loses his life on his way to elope with a young woman who is being educated at the Godstow Convent.
Franklin does a masterful job of drawing interesting characterizations that are multi-dimensional. Even the villains are complex and worthy of consideration as to why they are the way they are. The details about how people lived in medieval times are accurate and interesting.
Two thumbs up for "The Serpent's Tale."
Liz Nichols
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Goodbye to Bookwise
I am saddened that Bookwise has decided to merge into another company. What I found so attractive about Bookwise is it fed my passions for reading and writing all in one affiliate-based company. The writing aspect of Bookwise is also being pulled out and saved under a different company name. I will have to see if that will be worth joining stand-alone from the online book aspect.
I'm undecided about the new company. It seems more oriented to lifelong learning, similar to Success University, but it is more expensive than Success University. I have so many other opportunities for lifelong learning that I don't know that I want to pay almost $80 per month for the privilege of learning from Brian Tracy and the like. Been there; done that.
What I want to do is manage a great online bookstore. What I think I'll need to do is to focus this blog increasingly on Amazon.com, or on the independent bookseller site I also belong to.
I also plan to create another book review blog specifically on current mysteries. I'll give a shout out when I have that one up and running.
Liz Nichols
I'm undecided about the new company. It seems more oriented to lifelong learning, similar to Success University, but it is more expensive than Success University. I have so many other opportunities for lifelong learning that I don't know that I want to pay almost $80 per month for the privilege of learning from Brian Tracy and the like. Been there; done that.
What I want to do is manage a great online bookstore. What I think I'll need to do is to focus this blog increasingly on Amazon.com, or on the independent bookseller site I also belong to.
I also plan to create another book review blog specifically on current mysteries. I'll give a shout out when I have that one up and running.
Liz Nichols
Monday, August 4, 2008
Janet Evanovich's "Fearless Fourteen"
It's another home run for crimestopper, Stephanie Plum, in the wacky "Fearless Fourteen." She manages to find Loretta, a kidnap victim and catches the kidnapper who is looking for information leading to a hidden robbery treasure. The kidnapper seems to be everywhere and able to stop every plan to circumvent his plan to recover the treasure. When Stephanie is able to figure out how the kidnapper is getting all his information, she easily unravels the mystery.
In the meantime, the plot takes a lot of twists and turns through the lives of a bunch of wacky characters, including a teen video addict nicknamed Zook and his gamer buddies, a stalker named Gary who makes weird predictions about the health and welfare of an aging country rock star who is visiting Trenton. All these extra characters make Stephanie and her male buddies, Morelli and Ranger, look pretty normal.
This may be the most inventive and wacky of all Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books and gets an A plus on my list of summer reads.
Liz Nichols
In the meantime, the plot takes a lot of twists and turns through the lives of a bunch of wacky characters, including a teen video addict nicknamed Zook and his gamer buddies, a stalker named Gary who makes weird predictions about the health and welfare of an aging country rock star who is visiting Trenton. All these extra characters make Stephanie and her male buddies, Morelli and Ranger, look pretty normal.
This may be the most inventive and wacky of all Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books and gets an A plus on my list of summer reads.
Liz Nichols
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Mildred Kalish's "Little Heathens"
I like social history. That was actually my major field of study during my college years. While I was growing up everyone thought I would have been best suited to have lived during the wagon train era in the 1840s, or as a member of the "Little House" family.
Mildred Kalish has documented her childhood during the depression years on a farm and in a small town in northeast Iowa. That's an era in American social history that has not been over-explored, and I think it is a pivotal era. The depression shaped the values of those who grew up in that period. I could see so many traits familiar from my mother and her Iowa family roots in so many of the stories that Kalish tells.
Kalish recounts family stories about thrift, using everything without any waste, family closeness, discipline, modesty, the farm work ethic, social life and entertainment, pets that very probably will end up on the dining room table some day, one room school house education, and the list of interesting topics goes on and on.
This is a well written memoir that is devoid of sentimentality and is highly descriptive. When you are done reading you'll hold the Urmy family in admiration and have a much better understanding of the Iowa farm experience in the 1930s.
Liz Nichols
Mildred Kalish has documented her childhood during the depression years on a farm and in a small town in northeast Iowa. That's an era in American social history that has not been over-explored, and I think it is a pivotal era. The depression shaped the values of those who grew up in that period. I could see so many traits familiar from my mother and her Iowa family roots in so many of the stories that Kalish tells.
Kalish recounts family stories about thrift, using everything without any waste, family closeness, discipline, modesty, the farm work ethic, social life and entertainment, pets that very probably will end up on the dining room table some day, one room school house education, and the list of interesting topics goes on and on.
This is a well written memoir that is devoid of sentimentality and is highly descriptive. When you are done reading you'll hold the Urmy family in admiration and have a much better understanding of the Iowa farm experience in the 1930s.
Liz Nichols
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Don Piper's "90 Minutes in Heaven"
This is certainly my most serious read of the summer.
Piper, with the assistance of Cecil Murphey, recounts the story of how he died in a car crash in January 1989 and was brought back to life 90 minutes later through the prayers of a pastor who stopped to see if he could give any assistance at the crash site. For at least the first 90 minutes after the crash there was no indication of a pulse, and it seemed to EMTs unlikely that Piper's body was without serious trauma to the chest and head. At least one arm and one leg were missing their long bones, and there was extreme loss of blood. The EMT's merely awaited a coroner to pronounce Piper dead before they could move him.
And yet, when the minister began to pray and sing with his hand on the shoulder of the apparently departed, all of a sudden the dead man began to sing along. Piper had a strong sensation of someone holding his hand, which would have been a physical impossibility given the position of his body in the mangled car. Piper later attributed that hand to being an angel on the scene.
Piper does not mince words in any aspect of this book. He describes in detail his experience with the greeting party of deceased friends and relatives who met him at the gates of heaven, the sights and sounds that he experienced that were beyond anything he could describe adequately in words. He talks frankly about the excruciating pain experienced in the healing process, which included 11 months in a contraption screwed directly into his leg to help regrow the missing bone. He suffered months of depression, something that subsided only after he was counseled by a colleague to accept the kindnesses and support of the people who came to help him out. He was hard on himself, and he hard on other people, at least until he better understood why God brought him back.
The story has been read by millions of people around the world. I dare say it has converted many into believers. The question it does not answer is, what about similar stories from people who are not believers? Are they false or mis-guided, or are they signs of God's abiding grace and inclusiveness?
I do not know the answer to the question of what experiences non-believers have in comparison to those Piper experienced. I do know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is some form of after-life. When my mother was close to death with pneumonia she saw a shrouded figure whom she recognized as one of her deceased brothers. He told her that it was not her time to go, and she lived. She now knows that she has a guardian angel and who it is.
Within an hour of my dad's death my brother-in-law in Wisconsin and my cousin in San Francisco, and I had all experienced freak car accidents that in timing and nature would have astronomical odds if they were not all tied to my dad's death. I believe that some heavenly announcer was alerting us, or possibly my dad's soul.
"90 Minutes in Heaven" is necessary reading for all Christian believers, and for anyone looking for answers about the here-after.
Liz Nichols
Piper, with the assistance of Cecil Murphey, recounts the story of how he died in a car crash in January 1989 and was brought back to life 90 minutes later through the prayers of a pastor who stopped to see if he could give any assistance at the crash site. For at least the first 90 minutes after the crash there was no indication of a pulse, and it seemed to EMTs unlikely that Piper's body was without serious trauma to the chest and head. At least one arm and one leg were missing their long bones, and there was extreme loss of blood. The EMT's merely awaited a coroner to pronounce Piper dead before they could move him.
And yet, when the minister began to pray and sing with his hand on the shoulder of the apparently departed, all of a sudden the dead man began to sing along. Piper had a strong sensation of someone holding his hand, which would have been a physical impossibility given the position of his body in the mangled car. Piper later attributed that hand to being an angel on the scene.
Piper does not mince words in any aspect of this book. He describes in detail his experience with the greeting party of deceased friends and relatives who met him at the gates of heaven, the sights and sounds that he experienced that were beyond anything he could describe adequately in words. He talks frankly about the excruciating pain experienced in the healing process, which included 11 months in a contraption screwed directly into his leg to help regrow the missing bone. He suffered months of depression, something that subsided only after he was counseled by a colleague to accept the kindnesses and support of the people who came to help him out. He was hard on himself, and he hard on other people, at least until he better understood why God brought him back.
The story has been read by millions of people around the world. I dare say it has converted many into believers. The question it does not answer is, what about similar stories from people who are not believers? Are they false or mis-guided, or are they signs of God's abiding grace and inclusiveness?
I do not know the answer to the question of what experiences non-believers have in comparison to those Piper experienced. I do know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is some form of after-life. When my mother was close to death with pneumonia she saw a shrouded figure whom she recognized as one of her deceased brothers. He told her that it was not her time to go, and she lived. She now knows that she has a guardian angel and who it is.
Within an hour of my dad's death my brother-in-law in Wisconsin and my cousin in San Francisco, and I had all experienced freak car accidents that in timing and nature would have astronomical odds if they were not all tied to my dad's death. I believe that some heavenly announcer was alerting us, or possibly my dad's soul.
"90 Minutes in Heaven" is necessary reading for all Christian believers, and for anyone looking for answers about the here-after.
Liz Nichols
Friday, July 25, 2008
"Frill Kill" by Laura Childs
Childs is the author of the Tea Shop Mysteries series and the Scrapbooking Mysteries series. This title is the 5th the the latter series.
The setting is New Orleans following Katrina. The heroines are a couple of women entrepreneurs in the French Quarter, Carmela Bertrand and Ava Grieux. Carmela, the about-to-be-ex-wife of a prominent banker, owns a scrapbooking shop, while Ava owns the Juju Voodoo Shop.
Halloween festivities cast into motion the killing of a local model in the alley behind Carmela's shop. I have to admit that I didn't guess the murderer until just before that person is revealed near the end of the book. In the mean time there were several suspects that had to be eliminated.
I felt that the plot was weak and confusing. For such an atmospheric place I did not feel that the author made the most of the setting. I never really identified with the two main characters or particularly cared what happened to them. I found my mind constantly wandering and thinking about things other than the book, so I basically just skimmed the whole thing.
While I plan to go back and read some of the earlier ones in this and the Tea Shop Mysteries, I can't say that this was more than a "ho-hum" read.
Liz Nichols
The setting is New Orleans following Katrina. The heroines are a couple of women entrepreneurs in the French Quarter, Carmela Bertrand and Ava Grieux. Carmela, the about-to-be-ex-wife of a prominent banker, owns a scrapbooking shop, while Ava owns the Juju Voodoo Shop.
Halloween festivities cast into motion the killing of a local model in the alley behind Carmela's shop. I have to admit that I didn't guess the murderer until just before that person is revealed near the end of the book. In the mean time there were several suspects that had to be eliminated.
I felt that the plot was weak and confusing. For such an atmospheric place I did not feel that the author made the most of the setting. I never really identified with the two main characters or particularly cared what happened to them. I found my mind constantly wandering and thinking about things other than the book, so I basically just skimmed the whole thing.
While I plan to go back and read some of the earlier ones in this and the Tea Shop Mysteries, I can't say that this was more than a "ho-hum" read.
Liz Nichols
Saturday, July 19, 2008
"Quicksand" by Iris Johansen
I believe Johansen's new novel has set a record as the third fastest 340 page read after the first two in the Harry Potter series. After sampling the first dozen pages yesterday I polished the whole thing off in one sitting today.
The book was so absorbing and so well crafted that I'd get to the end of a chapter, resolve to put it down to do something else, and be too interested in what happened next to put it down. I swear I'm walking around as if my legs won't move now after spending some 8 hours straight at it.
This is an "Eve Duncan Forensic Thriller." Eve Duncan lost her daughter to a serial killer several years before and embarked on a career as a forensic artist partly in an effort to find her own daughter's body and to stop the killer from taking other people's children.
I like the fact that the author delves deeply into the minds of the heroine, her police investigator lover and room mate, Joe Quinn, and the killer himself. I like that the plot is full of action, twists and turns and interesting settings. The scenes take us from rural Atlanta, where Eve and Joe live, to a forest in rural Illinois, to a national forest in Georgia and to the Okefenokee swamp, so there are a variety of richly described settings to take in.
The murders described are horrific, and they are described to some extent from the point of view of the child victims themselves, through the words of a psychic and the words of Eve's dead daughter. In this respect, the book reminds me of "Lovely Bones," but expanded to cover a number of settings and killings.
The plot takes a nice twist at the end and leaves the reader knowing that the next book in this series will contain new and different psychic revelations in the quest to discover how Eve's daughter, Bonnie was killed and where her remains are located. No doubt a new killer suspect will be revealed.
The book was so absorbing and so well crafted that I'd get to the end of a chapter, resolve to put it down to do something else, and be too interested in what happened next to put it down. I swear I'm walking around as if my legs won't move now after spending some 8 hours straight at it.
This is an "Eve Duncan Forensic Thriller." Eve Duncan lost her daughter to a serial killer several years before and embarked on a career as a forensic artist partly in an effort to find her own daughter's body and to stop the killer from taking other people's children.
I like the fact that the author delves deeply into the minds of the heroine, her police investigator lover and room mate, Joe Quinn, and the killer himself. I like that the plot is full of action, twists and turns and interesting settings. The scenes take us from rural Atlanta, where Eve and Joe live, to a forest in rural Illinois, to a national forest in Georgia and to the Okefenokee swamp, so there are a variety of richly described settings to take in.
The murders described are horrific, and they are described to some extent from the point of view of the child victims themselves, through the words of a psychic and the words of Eve's dead daughter. In this respect, the book reminds me of "Lovely Bones," but expanded to cover a number of settings and killings.
The plot takes a nice twist at the end and leaves the reader knowing that the next book in this series will contain new and different psychic revelations in the quest to discover how Eve's daughter, Bonnie was killed and where her remains are located. No doubt a new killer suspect will be revealed.
"Why Mermaids Sing" by C.S. Harris
I had not previously read anything by C.S. Harris, but mysteries set in Regency period England are generally my cup of tea, and this one kept my attention throughout. This is Harris' third in her Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery series. The other two are "What Angels Fear" and "When Gods Die." I plan on going back to read those in order to learn more about the Viscount sleuth and his forbidden liaison with a London actress.
The mystery to be solved is who is murdering the sons of several seemingly unrelated members of the nobility and the gentry in and around London and the Kent countryside. The first order of business is to discover a connection in the clues, which turns out to be a poem by John Donne called "Go and Catch a Falling Star." Symbols from that poem end up stuffed in the mouths of the unlucky victims.
The second part of the mystery is to determine the connection between all of the victims. Were the boys all at school together? Is there some connection between the fathers or the mothers? St. Cyr finally solves that part of the puzzle, something I won't reveal here.
The subplot is the romance between St. Cyr and his paramour, Kat Boleyn, an Irish woman who has made her mark on the London stage. Kat is hiding a secret that she fears will ruin her relationship with the Viscount. The Viscount, once he discovers what that secret is, feels that marrying his lover is the only way to keep her safe from a ruthless lynchpin to the royal throne, Lord Jarvis. There are some surprising twists and turns to the romance, just as there are to the murder investigation.
The characters are compelling, the plot absorbing, if on occasion a bit melodramatic, and the historical details interesting.
I give "Why Mermaids Sing" a thumbs up for those who like Regency period mysteries and romances.
Liz Nichols
The mystery to be solved is who is murdering the sons of several seemingly unrelated members of the nobility and the gentry in and around London and the Kent countryside. The first order of business is to discover a connection in the clues, which turns out to be a poem by John Donne called "Go and Catch a Falling Star." Symbols from that poem end up stuffed in the mouths of the unlucky victims.
The second part of the mystery is to determine the connection between all of the victims. Were the boys all at school together? Is there some connection between the fathers or the mothers? St. Cyr finally solves that part of the puzzle, something I won't reveal here.
The subplot is the romance between St. Cyr and his paramour, Kat Boleyn, an Irish woman who has made her mark on the London stage. Kat is hiding a secret that she fears will ruin her relationship with the Viscount. The Viscount, once he discovers what that secret is, feels that marrying his lover is the only way to keep her safe from a ruthless lynchpin to the royal throne, Lord Jarvis. There are some surprising twists and turns to the romance, just as there are to the murder investigation.
The characters are compelling, the plot absorbing, if on occasion a bit melodramatic, and the historical details interesting.
I give "Why Mermaids Sing" a thumbs up for those who like Regency period mysteries and romances.
Liz Nichols
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Janet Evanovich's "Wife for Hire"
When I went in to the Iowa City Public Library for my regular reading fix I discovered that the "New Fiction" shelves included a reprint of a 1990 standby by Janet Evanvich, her romance, "Wife for Hire."
This is much more than the usual lusty busty. Evanovich is careful to finely detail a whole town full of quirky and memorable characters. Maggie Toone accepts a six month "job" as the fake wife of an apple orchard farmer, Hank Mallone, and moves from her town in New Jersey to Skogen, Vermont, to take up her duties. She believes this part time wife role will leave plenty of time to write a book based on the diaries of her Aunt Kitty, a famous New Jersey Madam. Hank's housekeeper, Elsie Hawkins, is constantly adding to hilarity by keeping everyone in line by wit or force.
Maggie, Hank and Elsie find themselves fending off intruders who go after the diaries for some mysterious reason. Meanwhile, Maggie finds herself alternatively fending Hank off and inviting him in.
There are a number of laugh out loud scenes in "Wife for Hire," as is typical in an Evanovich book.
Liz Nichols
This is much more than the usual lusty busty. Evanovich is careful to finely detail a whole town full of quirky and memorable characters. Maggie Toone accepts a six month "job" as the fake wife of an apple orchard farmer, Hank Mallone, and moves from her town in New Jersey to Skogen, Vermont, to take up her duties. She believes this part time wife role will leave plenty of time to write a book based on the diaries of her Aunt Kitty, a famous New Jersey Madam. Hank's housekeeper, Elsie Hawkins, is constantly adding to hilarity by keeping everyone in line by wit or force.
Maggie, Hank and Elsie find themselves fending off intruders who go after the diaries for some mysterious reason. Meanwhile, Maggie finds herself alternatively fending Hank off and inviting him in.
There are a number of laugh out loud scenes in "Wife for Hire," as is typical in an Evanovich book.
Liz Nichols
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Janet Evanovich's "Plum Lucky"
I spent a pleasant afternoon reading Janet Evanovich's zany "Plum Lucky."
This is the shortest of the Stephanie Plum series. A self-styled leprechaun steals a million dollars from a Trenton mobster. The money is subsequently picked up by Stephanie's grandmother, who promptly buys an RV, hires a driver/body guard, and heads for Atlantic City with the leprechaun hot in pursuit.
Rangerman's Diesel is after the fake Irish imp. Since Stephanie has promised her mother that she'll round up Grandma, she goes with Diesel to Atlantic City to find her grandmother, the thief and the money.
As usual, there are a number of hilarious, if highly improbable, scenarios as the group figure out how to earn enough money to pay off the ransom for grandma and a horse (don't ask...)
For the umptyninth time Stephanie's car is destroyed during a shoot-out with the bad guys. That seems to be a signature piece of every Stephanie Plum book.
It is refreshing, in a way, that this time Stephanie is paired with Diesel, who seems to offer little attraction to Stephanie. We get to concentrate on pure action and hyjinx rather than on Stephanie's angst over whether Morelli or Ranger will be her main squeeze.
Liz Nichols
This is the shortest of the Stephanie Plum series. A self-styled leprechaun steals a million dollars from a Trenton mobster. The money is subsequently picked up by Stephanie's grandmother, who promptly buys an RV, hires a driver/body guard, and heads for Atlantic City with the leprechaun hot in pursuit.
Rangerman's Diesel is after the fake Irish imp. Since Stephanie has promised her mother that she'll round up Grandma, she goes with Diesel to Atlantic City to find her grandmother, the thief and the money.
As usual, there are a number of hilarious, if highly improbable, scenarios as the group figure out how to earn enough money to pay off the ransom for grandma and a horse (don't ask...)
For the umptyninth time Stephanie's car is destroyed during a shoot-out with the bad guys. That seems to be a signature piece of every Stephanie Plum book.
It is refreshing, in a way, that this time Stephanie is paired with Diesel, who seems to offer little attraction to Stephanie. We get to concentrate on pure action and hyjinx rather than on Stephanie's angst over whether Morelli or Ranger will be her main squeeze.
Liz Nichols
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Carolyn Hart's "Death Walked In"
This is 18th in Carolyn G. Hart's "Death on Demand" series featuring Annie and Max Darling of Broward's Island, SC.
In this thriller, Max and Annie find moving into the island's historic Franklin House a bit more nerve-wracking than a move might ordinarily imply. Their newly restored antebellum mansion is said to be the location where a local resident buried a treasure-trove of double-eagle coins. That resident met an untimely death at the hands of the person who actually stole the coins.
The plot revolves around discovering which of several murder suspects actually committed the crime, and hair-raising attempts to keep the house safe from break-ins from those who are either guilty of the murder or just treasure-hunting. A hired hand helps with the guard duties, and a neighbor family is suspected of an inside job in the coin theft.
Perhaps because this crime-fighting couple have been around several years, Hart does not spend a lot of time finely honing the personalities of her main characters. The friends and family members who usually liven up the Death on Demand books are on a cruise and, for the most part, out of the picture. Hart does bring the setting to life fairly well. Broward's Island comes across with the usual sultry charm of a low country setting filled with antebellum houses, shady country lanes, and close-knit, closed-mouthed communities.
This is not my favorite Carolyn Hart offering, but on a sultry summer afternoon, it makes a quick, satisfying read.
Liz Nichols
In this thriller, Max and Annie find moving into the island's historic Franklin House a bit more nerve-wracking than a move might ordinarily imply. Their newly restored antebellum mansion is said to be the location where a local resident buried a treasure-trove of double-eagle coins. That resident met an untimely death at the hands of the person who actually stole the coins.
The plot revolves around discovering which of several murder suspects actually committed the crime, and hair-raising attempts to keep the house safe from break-ins from those who are either guilty of the murder or just treasure-hunting. A hired hand helps with the guard duties, and a neighbor family is suspected of an inside job in the coin theft.
Perhaps because this crime-fighting couple have been around several years, Hart does not spend a lot of time finely honing the personalities of her main characters. The friends and family members who usually liven up the Death on Demand books are on a cruise and, for the most part, out of the picture. Hart does bring the setting to life fairly well. Broward's Island comes across with the usual sultry charm of a low country setting filled with antebellum houses, shady country lanes, and close-knit, closed-mouthed communities.
This is not my favorite Carolyn Hart offering, but on a sultry summer afternoon, it makes a quick, satisfying read.
Liz Nichols
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Diane Mott Davidson's "Dark Tort"
I rarely read a mystery twice. What's the point? You already know "who done it?"
There are a few mystery authors whom I read for the pure joy of the fluid way they write, or because the characters are absorbing.
Diane Mott Davidson's series about caterer, Goldy Schultz is such a series. Goldy has become an old friend. It's as if she were a friend from college or high school I get together with a couple times a year. It is easy to pick up the conversation, just as if we talked just the day before. That's how I define a lifetime friend-- someone with whom the conversation never stops even when you don't see them but once or twice a year.
I care about Goldy, her family and friends. They could be my family and friends. Davidson's books are written in first person and everything is seen through Goldy's eyes. The plots are so thick and the characters so numerous that it would be easy to get lost or forget exactly how she resolves a given mystery. That's why rereading Davidson's novels are just as enjoyable the second time around.
The second helping of "Dark Tort" was no exception. This time I watched the interplay between the characters a little more-- the various partners and staff of the H & J law firm and their wives; the interplay between the Claggetts and the Ellises, the relationship between Nora Ellis and her father, Uriah Southerland, the things that the victim, Dusty Routt, had to say in her journal about various members of the firm, her former boyfriend, the famous artist and chef, Charlie Baker, and the mysterious "Other Mr. O."
I didn't do any better at guessing the killer the second time than the first, but I did enjoy paying attention to the details more the second time.
Anything by Diane Mott Davidson comes highly recommended to any mystery reader, and especially to fans of women sleuths.
Liz Nichols
There are a few mystery authors whom I read for the pure joy of the fluid way they write, or because the characters are absorbing.
Diane Mott Davidson's series about caterer, Goldy Schultz is such a series. Goldy has become an old friend. It's as if she were a friend from college or high school I get together with a couple times a year. It is easy to pick up the conversation, just as if we talked just the day before. That's how I define a lifetime friend-- someone with whom the conversation never stops even when you don't see them but once or twice a year.
I care about Goldy, her family and friends. They could be my family and friends. Davidson's books are written in first person and everything is seen through Goldy's eyes. The plots are so thick and the characters so numerous that it would be easy to get lost or forget exactly how she resolves a given mystery. That's why rereading Davidson's novels are just as enjoyable the second time around.
The second helping of "Dark Tort" was no exception. This time I watched the interplay between the characters a little more-- the various partners and staff of the H & J law firm and their wives; the interplay between the Claggetts and the Ellises, the relationship between Nora Ellis and her father, Uriah Southerland, the things that the victim, Dusty Routt, had to say in her journal about various members of the firm, her former boyfriend, the famous artist and chef, Charlie Baker, and the mysterious "Other Mr. O."
I didn't do any better at guessing the killer the second time than the first, but I did enjoy paying attention to the details more the second time.
Anything by Diane Mott Davidson comes highly recommended to any mystery reader, and especially to fans of women sleuths.
Liz Nichols
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
James Patterson's "3rd Degree"
I'm catching up on some mysteries I've had on my bookshelf for a few years.
The latest read was James Patterson's "3rd Degree," one of the books in the Women's Murder Club series. I got mildly interested in this series when a version appeared on TV this past year. The TV show, as usual, does not do the book justice. The characters are far more complex and interesting when explored in book form because there is so much more time to go over details in a book than in a television script.
In this particular title Lieutenant Lindsey Boxer of the San Francisco PD Homicide Squad literally runs into a bombing while on her Sunday jog around the neighborhood and uncovers a terrorist plot that is over 40 years in the making. She partners with a charming executive from Homeland Security, solves the serial killings with him and begins a long distance romance.
In addition to domestic terrorism we explore domestic abuse and the importance of developing strong friendship bonds to maintaining a satisfying life.
Patterson's books are particularly good for the ADD reader, and the reader who can only slip a few minutes of reading into the day. Each chapter covers one short scene or train of thought and is only two or three pages long. This way one can read for 5 minutes at a time and still feel as if something is accomplished.
Patterson is not my favorite mystery writer by a long stretch, but he does get the job done in an entertaining way that leaves one glued to the book. There are twists and turns that keep the plot from being predictable. Recommended
Liz Nichols
The latest read was James Patterson's "3rd Degree," one of the books in the Women's Murder Club series. I got mildly interested in this series when a version appeared on TV this past year. The TV show, as usual, does not do the book justice. The characters are far more complex and interesting when explored in book form because there is so much more time to go over details in a book than in a television script.
In this particular title Lieutenant Lindsey Boxer of the San Francisco PD Homicide Squad literally runs into a bombing while on her Sunday jog around the neighborhood and uncovers a terrorist plot that is over 40 years in the making. She partners with a charming executive from Homeland Security, solves the serial killings with him and begins a long distance romance.
In addition to domestic terrorism we explore domestic abuse and the importance of developing strong friendship bonds to maintaining a satisfying life.
Patterson's books are particularly good for the ADD reader, and the reader who can only slip a few minutes of reading into the day. Each chapter covers one short scene or train of thought and is only two or three pages long. This way one can read for 5 minutes at a time and still feel as if something is accomplished.
Patterson is not my favorite mystery writer by a long stretch, but he does get the job done in an entertaining way that leaves one glued to the book. There are twists and turns that keep the plot from being predictable. Recommended
Liz Nichols
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
John Saul's "Black Creek Crossing"
I'm not a big fan of gothic novels. In fact, I'm surprised that I'm such a fan of the Harry Potter series. That fondness of things Potter is due mostly to the ingenious twists and turns of the plot, and J.K. Rowling's fantastic writing style that carries the reader along entranced.
John Saul's style is not anything like J.K. Rowling's, though the story is one of teenage witchcraft, bullying and child abuse. These were all themes explored in the Harry Potter series also. The treatment of these topics under Saul's pen, however, are raw, real and will be painful to anyone who has ever suffered at the hands of a parent or a peer. Saul's style is a stark and journalistic as Rowling's is fantastic and literary. It is hard to feel empathy for any of the characters, even the teen hero and heroine, unlike Harry Potter and his chums.
Mostly the plot is predictable, rather like a teenage scary movie. There is an ironic twist in the last chapter that I liked. You know by the ending that the haunted house at Black Creek Crossing will go on for all time wreaking havoc on anyone who attempts to live there.
While this book is really not my cup of tea, it will be an enjoyable summertime read for those who like Gothic fiction or teenage scary movie plots. For whom this description fits, enjoy!
Liz Nichols
John Saul's style is not anything like J.K. Rowling's, though the story is one of teenage witchcraft, bullying and child abuse. These were all themes explored in the Harry Potter series also. The treatment of these topics under Saul's pen, however, are raw, real and will be painful to anyone who has ever suffered at the hands of a parent or a peer. Saul's style is a stark and journalistic as Rowling's is fantastic and literary. It is hard to feel empathy for any of the characters, even the teen hero and heroine, unlike Harry Potter and his chums.
Mostly the plot is predictable, rather like a teenage scary movie. There is an ironic twist in the last chapter that I liked. You know by the ending that the haunted house at Black Creek Crossing will go on for all time wreaking havoc on anyone who attempts to live there.
While this book is really not my cup of tea, it will be an enjoyable summertime read for those who like Gothic fiction or teenage scary movie plots. For whom this description fits, enjoy!
Liz Nichols
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Bookwise 2.0: A Review
I have been a Bookwise affiliate since May 2007. I have enjoyed the social network and the team spirit, and the excellent marketing advice passed on to our team by some of our leaders (including Paulie Sabol, Donna Fox and BobtheTeacher.)
Those who choose to build a business using at least the old Bookwise formula were going to build a business quite slowly, except for those on the top of the 5x7 matrix. The people who started out when the system first came up in January 2007 and stuck with it are now doing very well.
The Bookwise model and matured, and stabilized. People have more choice of what level of monthly involvement is best for them. Business Builders get advanced training and an additional level of commissions. Affiliates earn on one matrix level and get fast start bonuses, plus a classic book that should be in every marketers' library. If you want to buy books beyond the preselected work, you do that at a discount from the vast array of books available at an average of 37% discount. Preferred customers pay the same as an affiliate each month, except that they get their selection of books from the online store and do not get any of the marketing tools or commissions.
Serious business builders and associates now have a lot of extra tools to help grow the preferred customer and affiliate base. There is a new party plan called "Rich Women Rich Desserts" that takes the message of Bookwise into the home, much like Tupperware or Pampered Chef. I am looking forward to having some of my friends host these parties just as soon as I get the training to be able to moderate them. There is also a blog/book journal built right into the back office so affiliates can easily post their own current comments and book reviews right from the back office. I love this feature!
The Bookwise Bookstore is now very comparable to the other large online bookstores with over a million titles to select from. There are lots of helps to select a good read, such as the New York Times bestseller lists and reviews. The discounts are comparable to the other sites as well.
In short, if you love books and would like to build a business around books, I highly recommend Bookwise.
Liz Nichols
Those who choose to build a business using at least the old Bookwise formula were going to build a business quite slowly, except for those on the top of the 5x7 matrix. The people who started out when the system first came up in January 2007 and stuck with it are now doing very well.
The Bookwise model and matured, and stabilized. People have more choice of what level of monthly involvement is best for them. Business Builders get advanced training and an additional level of commissions. Affiliates earn on one matrix level and get fast start bonuses, plus a classic book that should be in every marketers' library. If you want to buy books beyond the preselected work, you do that at a discount from the vast array of books available at an average of 37% discount. Preferred customers pay the same as an affiliate each month, except that they get their selection of books from the online store and do not get any of the marketing tools or commissions.
Serious business builders and associates now have a lot of extra tools to help grow the preferred customer and affiliate base. There is a new party plan called "Rich Women Rich Desserts" that takes the message of Bookwise into the home, much like Tupperware or Pampered Chef. I am looking forward to having some of my friends host these parties just as soon as I get the training to be able to moderate them. There is also a blog/book journal built right into the back office so affiliates can easily post their own current comments and book reviews right from the back office. I love this feature!
The Bookwise Bookstore is now very comparable to the other large online bookstores with over a million titles to select from. There are lots of helps to select a good read, such as the New York Times bestseller lists and reviews. The discounts are comparable to the other sites as well.
In short, if you love books and would like to build a business around books, I highly recommend Bookwise.
Liz Nichols
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Paperbackswap: A Unique Book Club
Are your bookshelves teeming with books that you have read and don't plan to read again? Well, there are several things you can do with them, the newest of which is to join Paperbackswap. More about that in a minute.
In the past, my favorite way of disposing of used books was to donate them to a local public library. I know one in Cedar Rapids, Iowa that just lost 2/3 of its collection in the Great Flood of 2008. I know they are accepting donations. My own public library, the Iowa City Public Library, was luckier and avoided any flood damage. However, the Friends of the Library operate a bookstore in the new library and are always looking for good used books.
You can sell them in a yard sale. I perused several yesterday in our neighborhood. Books were generally going for 50 cents a pop. The paperbacks were definitely going faster than the hardbacks. You can set up a used book store online, or join Amazon.com as an affiliate and sell your leftover books there.
There's a new and unique swap 'n shop on the Internet. Check out Paperbackswap. This community of book lovers has a database of over 2.2 million books available for swap. The only cost is that the person sending the book on pays for shipping. At an average cost of $2.30 or so per book, that's probably less than it costs to drive downtown, pay for parking and library fines at my favorite public institution. (I suspect, though, that this will merely allow me to get rid of more of my books a little faster and cause me to read more. NOTHING will take the place of my trips to the public library every few days. I may haul fewer titles to the Friends of the Library booksale, although I'll certainly reserve some for that source of easy book disposal.)
I decided to give Paperbackswap.com a try. I added the ISBN numbers of a few of my used book stock and got an immediate match for two of the titles I was offering, "The Way Things Work Now" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns." I send the two out within a few days via mail, and I'll get two of my choice in return. If you add 10 or more to the stock of available books, then you are eligible for two books without a swap. The system will spit out the address wrapper for the person who wants the book, and will even print the postage online if the book is under 13 ounces.
You can tell your friends about Paperbackswap and get referral credits. (Remember to list me as your referrer when you sign on. My email is myworldwords@yahoo.com.) There are banners to put on your blog. There's a buddy list and and journal for posting your book reviews and lots of other cool web 2.0 features.
By the way, you can send and receive more than paperbacks. There are hardbacks, and there are also links to sister sites that swap CDs and DVDs.
Have fun and happy swapping!
Liz Nichols
ednenterprises(at)gmail.com
In the past, my favorite way of disposing of used books was to donate them to a local public library. I know one in Cedar Rapids, Iowa that just lost 2/3 of its collection in the Great Flood of 2008. I know they are accepting donations. My own public library, the Iowa City Public Library, was luckier and avoided any flood damage. However, the Friends of the Library operate a bookstore in the new library and are always looking for good used books.
You can sell them in a yard sale. I perused several yesterday in our neighborhood. Books were generally going for 50 cents a pop. The paperbacks were definitely going faster than the hardbacks. You can set up a used book store online, or join Amazon.com as an affiliate and sell your leftover books there.
There's a new and unique swap 'n shop on the Internet. Check out Paperbackswap. This community of book lovers has a database of over 2.2 million books available for swap. The only cost is that the person sending the book on pays for shipping. At an average cost of $2.30 or so per book, that's probably less than it costs to drive downtown, pay for parking and library fines at my favorite public institution. (I suspect, though, that this will merely allow me to get rid of more of my books a little faster and cause me to read more. NOTHING will take the place of my trips to the public library every few days. I may haul fewer titles to the Friends of the Library booksale, although I'll certainly reserve some for that source of easy book disposal.)
I decided to give Paperbackswap.com a try. I added the ISBN numbers of a few of my used book stock and got an immediate match for two of the titles I was offering, "The Way Things Work Now" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns." I send the two out within a few days via mail, and I'll get two of my choice in return. If you add 10 or more to the stock of available books, then you are eligible for two books without a swap. The system will spit out the address wrapper for the person who wants the book, and will even print the postage online if the book is under 13 ounces.
You can tell your friends about Paperbackswap and get referral credits. (Remember to list me as your referrer when you sign on. My email is myworldwords@yahoo.com.) There are banners to put on your blog. There's a buddy list and and journal for posting your book reviews and lots of other cool web 2.0 features.
By the way, you can send and receive more than paperbacks. There are hardbacks, and there are also links to sister sites that swap CDs and DVDs.
Have fun and happy swapping!
Liz Nichols
ednenterprises(at)gmail.com
Scottoline's "Lady Killer"
I just completed Lisa Scottoline's "Lady Killer." Scottoline is a very consistent writer in the crime-fighting genre.
In this book is the first in five years to reinstate her character, Mary DiNunzio, associate attorney in the office of Bennie Rosato, in Philadelphia. Scottoline says that Mary's father reminds her of her own. Since her father died shortly after her last DiNunzio book she put this fictional family aside until the pain of her own dad's death subsided a little.
Mary DiNunzio is a south Philly girl who made good. The pisanos from the neighborhood alternatively love her and hate her alternatively, depending on who she is defending and how well she does at settling impossible neighborhood feuds. She's a rainmaker for her law firm, but what comes down is often damaging like hail, and sometimes comes down too fast like flood waters.
In "Lady Killers" DiNunzio is defending a high school friend who has been abused by her boyfriend, a guy with connections to the Mob. DiNunzio dated the same guy in high school. Through most of the book both Trish and Bobby, the friend and her boyfriend have disappeared and DiNunzio has vowed to track them down and save her friend. She is torn between loyalty to the neighborhood and old friends, and her boss, who wants her to settle down and help with high profile cases.
This was a fast and good read. I didn't identify with the heroine as much as I often do in mysteries with strong female lead characters, but then, I didn't grow up in South Philly. The story seemed believable to me-- something right out of "48 Hours," so it felt like I was following a real crime investigation that had its share of eccentrics thrown in for comic relief. I look forward to the next Mary DiNunzio book, and hopefully we won't have to wait 5 years for it.
Liz Nichols
ednenterprises(at)gmail.com
In this book is the first in five years to reinstate her character, Mary DiNunzio, associate attorney in the office of Bennie Rosato, in Philadelphia. Scottoline says that Mary's father reminds her of her own. Since her father died shortly after her last DiNunzio book she put this fictional family aside until the pain of her own dad's death subsided a little.
Mary DiNunzio is a south Philly girl who made good. The pisanos from the neighborhood alternatively love her and hate her alternatively, depending on who she is defending and how well she does at settling impossible neighborhood feuds. She's a rainmaker for her law firm, but what comes down is often damaging like hail, and sometimes comes down too fast like flood waters.
In "Lady Killers" DiNunzio is defending a high school friend who has been abused by her boyfriend, a guy with connections to the Mob. DiNunzio dated the same guy in high school. Through most of the book both Trish and Bobby, the friend and her boyfriend have disappeared and DiNunzio has vowed to track them down and save her friend. She is torn between loyalty to the neighborhood and old friends, and her boss, who wants her to settle down and help with high profile cases.
This was a fast and good read. I didn't identify with the heroine as much as I often do in mysteries with strong female lead characters, but then, I didn't grow up in South Philly. The story seemed believable to me-- something right out of "48 Hours," so it felt like I was following a real crime investigation that had its share of eccentrics thrown in for comic relief. I look forward to the next Mary DiNunzio book, and hopefully we won't have to wait 5 years for it.
Liz Nichols
ednenterprises(at)gmail.com
Saturday, June 14, 2008
The Importance of Libraries
Earlier this week, the Cedar Rapids Public Library slipped under water. Certainly anything in the basement or first floor is now a muddy mess because of the rampaging Cedar River.
Now, in Iowa City, the University of Iowa Library is in dire danger of being flooded by the raging Iowa River. About 100 people were down sandbagging in front of the library, or helping to move books inside from the basement and first levels. I am headed down to help out there also. Both the Library and the University's computer center are endangered. The University power station just started taking water. Hancher Auditorium is also endangered, as is the Memorial Union, the new Art Center, and many other University buildings look like they will go.
Got to go.
Liz Nichols
Now, in Iowa City, the University of Iowa Library is in dire danger of being flooded by the raging Iowa River. About 100 people were down sandbagging in front of the library, or helping to move books inside from the basement and first levels. I am headed down to help out there also. Both the Library and the University's computer center are endangered. The University power station just started taking water. Hancher Auditorium is also endangered, as is the Memorial Union, the new Art Center, and many other University buildings look like they will go.
Got to go.
Liz Nichols
Days of Atonement by Michael Gregorio
Michael Gregorio is a pseudonym for Michael G. Jacob and Daniela De Gregorio, who write historical mysteries from their home in Spoleto, Italy. They also teach English and philosophy respectively. This is their second novel, "Days of Atonement."
Those who like European history during the Napoleonic era, particularly those who like sprinkling historical fiction with mystery, will love this very well written novel. The plot: three children are brutally killed in the French occupied Prussian town of Lotingen and their mother is missing. Their father is stationed miles away at a renegade Prussian outpost. Where is the mother and who killed the kids?
Local magistrate, Hanno Stiffeniis, is teamed with French inspector, Serge Lavedrine, to solve the mystery. Hanno's wife, Hanna, plays a key role in solving the mystery.
The historical details are, I believe, very accurate. The best aspect of the book, however, is how effectively the psychological impact of the French invasion and the deep rooted cultural differences between Prussians and French, as well as between Prussians and the native Jewish population are explored in this book. The animosities literally jump off the page as many of these cultural themes are woven into the plot. By the same token, the way the main characters are able to put aside their natural distrust of each other to solve this murder as a team shows and extraordinary insight into how cultural differences can be overcome.
I look forward to the next book by this pair.
Liz Nichols
Iowa City
Those who like European history during the Napoleonic era, particularly those who like sprinkling historical fiction with mystery, will love this very well written novel. The plot: three children are brutally killed in the French occupied Prussian town of Lotingen and their mother is missing. Their father is stationed miles away at a renegade Prussian outpost. Where is the mother and who killed the kids?
Local magistrate, Hanno Stiffeniis, is teamed with French inspector, Serge Lavedrine, to solve the mystery. Hanno's wife, Hanna, plays a key role in solving the mystery.
The historical details are, I believe, very accurate. The best aspect of the book, however, is how effectively the psychological impact of the French invasion and the deep rooted cultural differences between Prussians and French, as well as between Prussians and the native Jewish population are explored in this book. The animosities literally jump off the page as many of these cultural themes are woven into the plot. By the same token, the way the main characters are able to put aside their natural distrust of each other to solve this murder as a team shows and extraordinary insight into how cultural differences can be overcome.
I look forward to the next book by this pair.
Liz Nichols
Iowa City
Saturday, March 29, 2008
"Sanctuary Hill" by Kathryn R. Wall
This is the first time I've delved into a Bay Tanner Mystery by Kathryn Wall. In fact, I can't recall reading a Wall mystery before, and I can't understand how I've missed her. I enjoy her characters, her settings and her writing style, so I'm headed for the shelves to locate her previous titles.
The setting is Hilton Head and Beaufort, South Carolina, where Bay Tanner is a sometime private investigator. She finds herself trying to solve the mysteries of a runaway wife and the origins of a dead newborn. Solving these two mysteries takes the readers into the secretive black community of Sanctuary Hill, into the languid life of an Old South plantation, into the tourist community of modern day Hilton Head, and into the coastal boating community along the shores of northern Florida and Georgia.
This series is well worth going back to catch up on the life and times of Bay Tanner.
Liz Nichols
The setting is Hilton Head and Beaufort, South Carolina, where Bay Tanner is a sometime private investigator. She finds herself trying to solve the mysteries of a runaway wife and the origins of a dead newborn. Solving these two mysteries takes the readers into the secretive black community of Sanctuary Hill, into the languid life of an Old South plantation, into the tourist community of modern day Hilton Head, and into the coastal boating community along the shores of northern Florida and Georgia.
This series is well worth going back to catch up on the life and times of Bay Tanner.
Liz Nichols
Rhys Bowen's "Her Royal Spyness"
When I got home from Florida I made a beeline for my favorite book spot, the Iowa City Public Library. That's where I am even as I type as I still substitute at the Childrens Room desk several years after I retired from my permanent job here.
I'm back to my old familiar territory in another way. Back to the mystery shelves for finding my usual weekly reading fare.
I really enjoyed "Her Royal Spyness." It's a cozy in a very drafty castle, so to speak. Bowen's new heroine is Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, daughter of the Duke of Glen Garry and Rannoch and 30 something in line for the throne. Georgie's brother is the heir of the minor Scottish dukedom, and like many royals during the Great Depression era, he can't afford to keep the castle heated or pay his younger sister a stipend. She decides to go-it alone in London, camping out at the family's city digs without a maid, a butler or a sou to her name. This is Georgie's maiden voyage as a sleuth, and a very endearing one she is.
It's amusing to see how she solves her financial problems by covertly opening a city house air-out service for those members of the aristocracy who are coming back to the city for a rendezvous, shopping spree or for "the season." Of course, Georgie must avoid being recognized because it just wouldn't do for an aristocratic 22 year old woman to hold a real job, even if they are living on canned beans.
Along the way we meet a number of colorful figures who can be expected to grace later books in this series-- an Irish playboy named Darcy O'Mara with a good heart and an obvious love interest in Georgie; Georgie's stuffy brother and sister-in-law, Binky and Fig; and Georgie's plucky maternal grandfather, the retired police officer.
I'm looking forward to enjoying this new series as much, or more, than Bowen's venerable Constable Evans series.
Liz Nichols
I'm back to my old familiar territory in another way. Back to the mystery shelves for finding my usual weekly reading fare.
I really enjoyed "Her Royal Spyness." It's a cozy in a very drafty castle, so to speak. Bowen's new heroine is Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, daughter of the Duke of Glen Garry and Rannoch and 30 something in line for the throne. Georgie's brother is the heir of the minor Scottish dukedom, and like many royals during the Great Depression era, he can't afford to keep the castle heated or pay his younger sister a stipend. She decides to go-it alone in London, camping out at the family's city digs without a maid, a butler or a sou to her name. This is Georgie's maiden voyage as a sleuth, and a very endearing one she is.
It's amusing to see how she solves her financial problems by covertly opening a city house air-out service for those members of the aristocracy who are coming back to the city for a rendezvous, shopping spree or for "the season." Of course, Georgie must avoid being recognized because it just wouldn't do for an aristocratic 22 year old woman to hold a real job, even if they are living on canned beans.
Along the way we meet a number of colorful figures who can be expected to grace later books in this series-- an Irish playboy named Darcy O'Mara with a good heart and an obvious love interest in Georgie; Georgie's stuffy brother and sister-in-law, Binky and Fig; and Georgie's plucky maternal grandfather, the retired police officer.
I'm looking forward to enjoying this new series as much, or more, than Bowen's venerable Constable Evans series.
Liz Nichols
My Winter Reading
I spent mid-January through mid-March in Cape Coral, Florida attending to business. The atmosphere was not conducive to reading all the books I brought along from my home in Iowa City. It was not a working vacation; it was more like work...
Most of my winter reading has been accomplished in the two weeks since I returned to Iowa. I'm back to my book a week routine.
I just posted a review of the book I finished in Florida, Metaxas' "Amazing Grace," posted by accident at my other blog. You can see it at: http://liznichols.blogspot.com.
Liz Nichols
Most of my winter reading has been accomplished in the two weeks since I returned to Iowa. I'm back to my book a week routine.
I just posted a review of the book I finished in Florida, Metaxas' "Amazing Grace," posted by accident at my other blog. You can see it at: http://liznichols.blogspot.com.
Liz Nichols
Sunday, January 6, 2008
"From Cubicle Slave to the Next Internet Millionaire"
As an internet marketer and a fan of a number of TV reality shows I was a regular each week this fall in watching Joel Comm's Next Internet Millionaire online reality show. I had my favorites-- the kind, giving Nico Pisani, who has a talent for direct sales; video king, Charles Trippy, and Internet marketing newbie, Jaime Luchuck, among them.
One of the semi-finalists, and the ultimate winner of the contest, Jaime Luchuck, used as her joint venture with Joel Comm creation of this book, a record of her notes from the 12 Internet experts who taught the participants everything that they needed to know to become powerhouses on the net, the the inside scoop on the experience and the cast members involved in The Next Internet Millionaire TV show. It's remarkable that using a fast writing method Luchuck was able to write, publish and create the marketing plan for this book in less than 3 months.
The book will primarily be of interest to the people who dug the show. It also serves as a teaser for those who aspire to leaving the cubicle for the Internet marketer lifestyle and want some tips on how to do it. Those looking for the goods from the likes of Mark Joyner, Armand Morin, Rich Schefren, Mike Filsaime, and others will only get a taste of their presentations. In order to get the full goods, you need to order Joel Comm's Internet School Room video series at:
http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=693377
You can order Jaime's book through Bookwise, or you can go to Amazon.com to order this book. Here's the Amazon link:
Liz Nichols
liz@desperatemarketer.com
One of the semi-finalists, and the ultimate winner of the contest, Jaime Luchuck, used as her joint venture with Joel Comm creation of this book, a record of her notes from the 12 Internet experts who taught the participants everything that they needed to know to become powerhouses on the net, the the inside scoop on the experience and the cast members involved in The Next Internet Millionaire TV show. It's remarkable that using a fast writing method Luchuck was able to write, publish and create the marketing plan for this book in less than 3 months.
The book will primarily be of interest to the people who dug the show. It also serves as a teaser for those who aspire to leaving the cubicle for the Internet marketer lifestyle and want some tips on how to do it. Those looking for the goods from the likes of Mark Joyner, Armand Morin, Rich Schefren, Mike Filsaime, and others will only get a taste of their presentations. In order to get the full goods, you need to order Joel Comm's Internet School Room video series at:
http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=693377
You can order Jaime's book through Bookwise, or you can go to Amazon.com to order this book. Here's the Amazon link:
Liz Nichols
liz@desperatemarketer.com
"A Widow's Curse" by Phillip DePoy
This is the first time I have encountered a Fever Devilin mystery by Edgar Award winning author, Phillip DePoy.
The hero has an unusual profession-- he's a folklorist who has moved back to the mountains of northern Georgia after being let go from his university position in Atlanta. He's a bit of a curmudgeon, but he has a right to be somewhat bitter after being turned lose from academia. He makes an interesting character to use to explore the folkways and people of northern Georgia because he sees his friends and neighbors through an educated and sophisticated set of eyes that are also still filled with the childlike wonder of a boy who remembers growing up in a close-knit, isolated community.
I won't reveal much of the plot, but it involves treasures that Fever's great grandfather bought at auction in the 1940s and sold to help fund Fever's college education in the 1970s, a Welsh minted silver coin, a portrait of an aristocratic woman who lived in the area in the 1800s and came to a sad ending, and an artifact that holds a Cherokee curse.
DePoy uses very rich and descriptive language that just pops off the page with colorful images. It is so refreshing to read a mystery with such great literary qualities. You get that literary descriptiveness right from the first sentence: "What was left of the Barnsley estate rose into view at the hilltop. A full moon made the mansion skeletal, something from a grotesque animal more than remains of an antebellum home; a vision to match the story of its curse." Now, who wouldn't want to keep reading when introduced to a mystery that way?
You can buy a copy by joining Bookwise and going to the bookstore. As an associate you'll get around a 42% discount on books ordered beyond your monthly autoship title. I highly recommend Bookwise membership for anyone who buys one or more book per month. You'll have the full Baker and Taylor book distribution service at your disposal in placing your book and AV orders. You'll also generate commissions for the people you bring in to Bookwise. Join us here.
Liz Nichols
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