The First Rule by Robert Crais
Joe Pike is back and tough as ever. With the help of Elvis Cole, they take care of business. Robert Crais never fails to delight with his fast paced stories. If you want to kill a few hours on an action packed book, this is the one!
Before You Know Kindness by Chris Bohjalian
Bohjalian is a master of the internal psychological novel where most of the action takes place within rather than between characters. He tells his story from various perspectives lending layer upon layer of complexity and human drama. His focus seems to be on developing each character as the story unfolds. It takes patience to read this book but it is well worth the time.
Trouble by Kate Christensen
I grew weary of this book long before I finished it and dreaded resuming the read. I am not sure what the author was after with this book but I found it pedantic, tangential, and way too focused on the internal dialogue of the main character. Who cares what she eats for breakfast or that she has a good pee? It does have sexually explicit love scenes but I did not find them erotic. There seems to be an underlying theme of guilt to the story. Women who leave their husbands or have affairs with younger men end up in trouble. I can just picture a Catholic nun wacking the characters with a ruler. I am sure that Christensen deserved to win the 2008 Pen/Faulkner Award for another book but certainly not this one.
The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott
Kelly O’Connor McNees has written an engaging historical novel about the author of Little Women. While the book stands solidly on it’s own, the reader can only appreciate the underlying themes in the book if he or she is familiar with Little Women. McNees based this portrait of Alcott on whatever historical documents she could find about the author. What a surprise to learn that being raised in a Transcendentalist household is not as idealistic as portrayed in Little Women. Mr Alcott was an extremist in his own way going so far as to subject his family to poverty because it would compromise his principles to work. He once had the family living in a commune which failed. He even, for a time, avoided planting tubers for fear of disturbing earthworms. Mrs. Alcott did not entirely support her husband’s beliefs, questioning the sacrifice behind them. She experienced periods of depression related to the choices she made in life. The reader learns that Alcott was pressured by her publisher to give Little Women a happy ending with Jo marrying the German professor. Alcott’s ending was not so happy yet it was her choice to remain unmarried and free. This book is a wonderful companion to Little Women filling in the historical and emotional context of its author and her real life. I highly recommend it.
Miss You Most Of All – Elizabeth Bass
I think this would be a terrific book for a Texas bookstore. The story is set in Texas so locals and tourists alike will enjoy the vernacular expressions. As a Texan myself, it made me smile. Picking up this book was like reading a short hand I have known all my life.
The cover and title don’t do the book justice. It is not as poignant and sentimental as the cover and title make it seem. Instead the book is a quirky portrait of the characters at Sassy Spinster Farm run by two sisters in the fictional East Texas town of Sweetgum. Rue is the backbone and hostess of the farm while her snarky sister Laura offends others regularly. The sisters run a CSA and host guests who want a back-to-the-farm experience. Between the guest’s extended family and farm hands, there is much drama and hilarious conflict. It s a true Texas romp. -Crow
This book will be available to the public May 2010
Eternal on the Water – J. Monninger
The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long.
The author lets the reader know the tragic end of the story on the first page. Boy meets girl and they both fall in love. Girls lets boy know that her time on earth is limited. Boy signs on. What follows is an overly idyllic and somewhat sappy love story. Reality is completely suspended.
The setting is on and around the Allagash River in Maine, a place the author lovingly appreciates. Our heroine is an expert in corvids, crows and ravens. The mythology of these creatures becomes an indelible part of her character. The heroine eclipses her love interest who seems on dimensional and idealistically accommodating. The author’s best character is a group to which the heroine belongs, the Chungamunga Girls – an outward band type program for terminally ill girls. Between ritual, ceremony, and downright fun, the girls learn to honor the life they have, however capitated.
The author may have made the mistake of assuming one tragedy per book is sufficient to the reader. Therefore, he sanitized the remainder of the story to the point it is unrecognizable as real life!
Crow
Lives by JJ McMoon – June 1st 2010
I received this book and I didn’t think much of it. One day I forgot the book I was reading and picked up Lives. I am so glad I did. It grabbed me from the start and would not let go. I really enjoyed it, and you know me, if I didn’t like it I would let you know. JJ McMoon is a rising star!!
“A prom queen turned lot lizard. A floundering jock. A devil-worshipping rock star. An assassin and the FBI agent tracking him. A jilted girlfriend and a telepathic psychopath. Coincidence is bringing them all together, but for what purpose? Hailed as “Stand by Me” for the new millennium, “Lives” will leave you questioning your own coincidences for a long time to come.”
Angelology by Danielle Trussoni
A thrilling epic about an ancient clash reignited in the present time – Between a hidden society and heaven’s darkest creatures.
It’s a book that will make you think about all you know regarding angels.
Available March 2010 – Movie to follow directed by Marc Forster (The Kite Runner, Quantum of Solace)
Percy Jackson & The Olympians by Rick Riordan
This series has been out for quite a few years, and is directed towards the 11 to 16 year old crowd, which makes you wonder what an old man like me is doing reading it. Well, my 15 year old daughter just loved the series and has been after me to read them for a long time. I finally gave in and to my great surprise had a blast reading books 1, 2, and 3. The stories were great and I gained an education on Greek mythology. My only problem was I couldn’t seem to stop reading them. When I grow up I want to be just like Percy Jackson, with a splash of Ares.
Now working on book 4 and 5 which I expect will be more of the same, great stories and a delight to read. If you have not read this series, DO IT NOW!
www.percyjacksonbooks.com
The Bricklayer by Noah Boyd 1/26/2010
This is a wonderful thriller that I couldn’t put down. The character Steve Vail is the kind of guy you want to ensure you’re on the right side of. His answer to FBI bureaucracy is to ignore it and do what he has to do to solve the case.
Someone gives you a dangerous puzzle to solve, one that may kill you or someone else, and you’re about to fail. . . . And there is no other option. No one who can help. No one but the Bricklayer.
This book comes out 1/26/2010 – Don’t miss it