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04:24 am
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Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
This book on CD of essays was pretty funny. It's read by the author.
You get to hear stories of his life and about the people in it. He doesn't spare himself from ridicule either.
My favorite essay was probably "Six to Eight Black Men." It's about the Santa tradition in the Netherlands. Evidently St Nicolas there has helpers, but no one knows quite how many.
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05:28 pm
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Chibi Vampire by Yuna Kagesaki
This manga is about a vampire who works backwards and her family who are "normal" vampires. By backwards I mean that instead of taking blood from people, she gives blood to her victims. She picks people who look tired and gives them blood. This urge comes upon her only about every month.
Vsmpires in this universe feel the need for blood only from a specific type of person. For instance her mother likes the blood of liars.
So this was a cute girly manga and it kept me interested throughout the story.
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08:13 am
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Fortune's Folly by Deva Fagan
This is a children's book. It's almost a rewriting of the fairy tale of the Shoemaker and the Elves, but not really. Not at all.
The shoemaker in question is Fortunata's father. When his wife dies, he is positive the fairies have left him and the shoes he makes turn ugly and ill-fitting.
Eventually, they need to leave town. This is because Fortunata has alienated a Captain in the army and they are running away from him. While on their trip, their donkey is stolen by Ubaldo and company. And the 2 end up joining in the band. Fortunata learns to tell fortunes. Dad keeps making bad shoes. Ubaldo is a very mean man and hits anyone who bugs him.
They eventually make their way to a town called Domo after a number of adventures. Fortunata is required to tell the prince's fortune and then to go with him to make sure it all comes true. Meanwhile, her father is held ransom in the castle in case the fortune doesn't.
This is a quick read (as many kids' books are). I liked it. Fortunata was a real person with real troubles to me. Even though she's almost 18 she doesn't have the teen angst I've been getting so tired of. I think that's because she's always struggling and the time this takes place is in the past, in another world.
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08:05 am
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Gasa-Gasa Girl by Naomi Hirahara
This is the second in a series of mysteries. The sleuth is an aging Japanese American gardener names Mas Arai. I reviewed the third book in the series earlier; it was called Snakeskin Shamisen.
This one takes place mostly in New York city with some forays into a more rural New York.
Also, gasa gasa means a person who is always on the go and can't sit still.
A murder takes place in the backyard of where Mas' son-in-law works, a house which the victim (and the board of directors) was trying to turn into a museum with a beautiful garden. They were trying to bring it back to the grandeur it once had many many years ago.
Mas, who doesn't talk very much, is very much trying to make up for mistakes he made in his daughter's life while also trying to solve the murder.
I really enjoyed this book. It didn't have the lure of taking palce near where I grew up, but it captivated me nonetheless.
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10:42 am
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Snakeskin Shamisen by Naomi Hirahara
In this mystery, Mas is trying to find out who killed a friend of a friend of his named Randy. Randy had just won a jackpot of half a million dollars. Also, a shamisen (Japanese guitar-like musical instrument) was broken, next to him in the parking lot where Randy was found dead.
Mas Arai is a Japanese American gardener. The action takes place in Southern California, mostly in Torrance. And I grew up there, so it was totally cool trying to figure out the places she was talking about - because she switched things around a little bit.
I thought Mas was a different sort of sleuth. First of all, he really didn't want to get involved. Second of all, he doesn't talk a lot. He's not good in either English or Japanese. He's a widower with strained relations with his daughter.
There are a lot of Japanese words in this book, although most or all are explained in the context.
I had fun reading this book. In fact, I'm reading another Mas Arai book now (Gasa Gasa Girl). The only problem I had was that the plot became quite complex and hard for em to follow. I wish there had been a dramatis personae too.
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08:18 am
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Death and the Lit Chick by G.M. Malliet
I had very low hopes for the quality of this book. I was very pleasantly surprised.
It's about a mystery writers convention in Scotland. A select few of the authors, 1 agent and 1 publisher and 1 detective are housed in Dalmorton Castle and bussed into the convention.
One of the select few is Kimberlee Kalder. She is the present golden girl of the publishing industry. She wrote a chick lit/mystery cross over and it's been selling like hotcakes.
Of course, she has a personality which abrades on every one.
It takes a long time for someone to be murdered, though it's easy to guess who it will be.
Detective Chief Inspector St. Just is the detective on the scene. He works with the local police to discover the murderer.
I liked the interplay between the characters in this novel. I liked St. Just; he was very human.
This book was not a chick lit book/mystery cross over. Most of the action takes place in the castle. I liked it because it was a breezy read without being too easy.
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07:34 pm
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The Blue Rose by Anthony Eglin
This is a murder mystery all about the discovery of a blue rose in Alex and Kate Sheppard's garden. Nobody's ever been able to make a blue rose, so the discovery is quite shocking. They arrange with a solicitor to have auction it off. He predicts they will be multi-millionaires.
Meanwhile, the rose is stolen and people start dying and other nefarious deeds take place.
I guessed part of the mystery early on so that was no fun. But the who dunnit part I didn't guess (or deduce).
This is sort of a thriller mystery as opposed to a cozy or a police procedural.
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07:28 pm
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1001 Cranes by Naomi Hirahara
This young adult book is geared towards middle schoolers, but I think adults will like it too.
It takes place in Gardena (near where I grew up!), with a 12 year old Japanese American girl as the protagonist. Her parents send her to live for the summer with her grandparents and auntie because the parents are breaking up. The grandparents own a florist shop which also makes crane displays for weddings.
This book is about Angela's coming to terms with her parents' breakup, and her grandparents' ways. It's about being Japanese American but really it's about the generation gap.
I had so much fun reading this book. I kept trying to identify places in Gardena. It was so close and yet so different from the experiences of the Japanese American friends i had growing up. It's a well written book; it doesn't condescend to the teens it's aimed at.
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07:23 pm
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How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier
Boy was this a fun read. It's a young adult book about a high school girl and her friends.
In this world most people have a fairy - a being which watches out for you in a particular way, using magic. For instance, Charlie, our heroine, has a parking fairy. Whenever she's in a car they find great parking. Her friend has a shopping fairy. She always finds great clothes marked way down. Another friend has a boys my age will like me fairy.
Therein lies the problem. Charlie hates her fairy because people take advantage of her for it. Fiorenze (with the boys ... fairy) hates hers. The boys follow her and make no end of trouble for her.
This is a story about the fairies, but mostly it's about teen friendship.
I really have good feelings for this book.
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08:50 am
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Now May You Weep by Deborah Crombie
This was a mostly sad book because it was about cheating on spouses and of course there was a murder.
The book begins with Gemma joining a friend and they got to Scotland on a cooking weekend. It turns out this friend is mainly going to find out if there's still any feelings with a boyfriend from a long time ago. Of course he gets murdered and she is implicated. Gemma feels she has to prove Hazel innocent to the local police. The local police won't let Gemma in on any of their information (she could be the murderer for all they know).
Duncan eventually joins the gang up in Scotland.
I enjoyed this book a lot, especially the part about the mystery in the past.
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07:44 pm
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Manna from Hades by Carola Dunn
This is a cozy mystery from the author of the Daisy Dalrymple series. This first in a series takes place in Cornwall, in Port Mabyn a fictitious town. The time period is not specified but it does take place in the late 1960s or early 1970s.
Eleanor is a retiree come home to Cornwall to settle after her husband died. She runs a thrift shop and lives above it. She gathers the donations while volunteers from the town actually man the store.
One night after going about the area for donations, she finds a briefcase in with the donations. (She often forgets to lock doors.) It has what she thinks is good paste jewelry in it. She puts it all in her safe and forgets about it for the night.
Obviously it's real jewelry that's been stolen. The next morning she finds a corpse in her stockroom.
Other characters in the book include the young-ish artist from next door, the vicar's wife who is the chief volunteer for the shop, and Eleanor's niece Megan who is in the police department (CID).
This was a good book, though not as engaging as the Daisy Dalrymple series.
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08:16 pm
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Leave the Grave Green by Deborah Crombie
This is a police procedural/cozy mystery. I know it's hard to do both, by Crombie does it. Mostly it's a police procedural. The cozy part comes from not getting a too detailed a description of the corpse(s) and because she's very good at the growth and characterization of the people involved.
This mystery takes place near enough to London that Gemma and Duncan - the Scotland Yard police - can commute mostly.
A man is found drowned in a Thames lock. He was estranged from his wife. He had gambling debts. And he had even more of a history than that. His parents-in-law are involved in the opera so we get a bit of that world thrown in.
I found the interaction of the characters more interesting than the mystery. This is what carries books for me. Duncan is the boss and Gemma the underling. In the book it's clear that there's some sort of confused zing between the two.
I got totally into this book. I loved it. I'm reading the series slowly since I discovered it. I'm not reading it in order, though, and I'm not confused (so far). Great stuff.
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07:49 pm
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Pemberley by the Sea by Abigail Reynolds
This book is a modern sort of retelling of the Pride and Prejudice story. It's missing Mr. Collins and Wickham and some of the other characters.
Cassie is a marine biologist who works on Cape Cod during the summers. She meets Calder Westing during a dance and gets a horrible impression of him. They do get together, fall apart, get together etc much more than Lizzie and Darcy do.
Some of the scenes are pretty neat, like when Cassie and Calder have sex in the sea during bio-luminescence. Everything is shining and twinkling and I got the idea of how magical it must have been.
At one point there is a book within a book and that part doesn't work very well, in my opinion. The book-within-a-book is supposed to be very well written and it doesn't come off that way. This was the only part I didn't like very much.
Overall, I really liked this novel. I got into it. There is one caveat: it's described as a modern Pride and Prejudice. There is so much that differs that it can be distracting. For example, I kept wondering when different characters would show up.
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07:41 pm
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Laughter of Dead Kings by Elizabeth Peters
This book on CD was read by Barbara Rosenblat and boy did she do a great job! She had to keep many people separate and also she had to mimic a number of different accents.
The story was great too.
This is the last Vicky Bliss novel. Vicky Bliss is a character Elizabeth Peters came up with before the Amelia Peabody mysteries. Vicky is a buxom 6' tall blond who works in a museum in Munich. She's also incredibly smart. She gets involved in adventures of the art and museum thievery type. Her boyfriend is English and, as of now, an ex-art thief.
This time out someone steals the mummy of King Tut out of his tomb. Vicky, her boss Schmidt and her boyfriend John are asked to find the culprit(s). They go through Germany, England, and Egypt looking for clues.
I always have high expectations of Elizabeth Peters and she doesn't disappoint in this mystery.
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07:38 pm
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The Family Fortune by Laurie Horowitz
This book is a rewrite of Jane Austen's Persuasion.
Jane Fortune (Miss Fortune) is our heroine who falls in love with Max a budding writer before the book starts. The book starts 15 years later after Jane's dead mother's friend convinces Jane not to follow Max to California. It can be hard in this book to follow who is who. But I did manage it.
Jane has been running the Fortune Family Foundation now for 15 years. It publishes short stories. It also gives one budding writer per year a rent free house to write in for a quarter or 6 months or something.
The Boston family has come into hard times. The family decides to winter in Palm Beach, Florida, except for Jane. She visits with her sister Winnie and her 2 sons. This is where she sees Max again.
In this book we see a lot of Jane's thoughts. The book is written in the first person, which I love. However, this book didn't use it to best advantage. We get too much of repetitive thoughts for me. I got that Jane is a spinster from the get go, I didn't need to read it throughout the book.
Jane's family are huge snobs. Trust me on this one.
That said, overall I enjoyed the book. I would go through stages where I loved reading it and I liked reading it.
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10:30 am
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Death of a Witch by M.C. Beaton
Yeah, my favorite author! This is a new Hamish Macbeth novel. These are cozy/police procedurals.
A woman moves into a house in Lochbubh and she is selling remedies to the locals. She's especially selling potions meant to enhance men loving, but the potions are toxic and the men are getting hurt.
Of course, she is murdered.
Hamish, in this book, gets to go out with a few women. One is a forensic scientist who eventually decides Hamish can go far (which we know scares him away), one is Priscilla Halburton-Smythe, his old lover, and the last is Elspeth the reporter and psychic. It's just great to watch how the women respond to one another.
I really enjoyed this episode. It had some different elements to it (namely all the women together and the murderer's motive), while keeping everything I like about Hamish stories.
Two thumbs up!
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10:21 am
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Fast Women by Jennifer Cruisie
This is not one of Cruisie's absolute best books. That said, I enjoyed most of it. The problem I had was with the characters - I couldn't keep them all straight. Especially Trevor, I just don't know where he came from and he turns out to be very important.
Fast Women is a romance/straight fiction book about 3 women. The main character has just gone through a divorce (he cheated on her with a younger woman) and is having a hard time getting over the fact. Another has a bad marriage and the last is in a bad relationship but won't leave him.
Nell, our heroine, needs a job so she applies as an office manager/secretary for a private detective firm. She gets the job and sparks fly between her and her boss Gabe. They can agree on nothing.
There's a sort of mystery here too. Nell discovers that the previous secretary, Lynnie, was embezzling from the firm. Meanwhile, the lawyers in this law firm is complaining of blackmail to the PI firm and I'm not sure whether or not Gabe and his partner Riley are supposed to try to find anything out about it. But they do. And there's a long, complicated story about this.
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10:49 am
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Water Like a Stone by Deborah Crombie
Wow, was this ever a good mystery. It's a combination police procedural and cozy in that the detectives are 2 Scotland Yard police but the reader isn't presented with a lot of gore.
Duncan and Gemma and their sons are going to Duncan's parents' home in Cheshire for the Christmas holiday. Duncan's sister is having troubles in her marriage and is working on Christmas Eve. She finds a mummified baby body in the barn where she's doing renovation work.
Cheshire (and Nantwich) where most of the story takes place is evidently criss-crossed with canals and these enter heavily into the story.
Crombie is a new author for me and I'll be reading more of her series.
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10:42 am
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Foundation by Mercedes Lackey
This is the first book in The Collegium Chronicles. I got totally into this book. I forgot it was the first book of a series. By then end when it was apparent the story was not going to resolve I started to feel gypped. Sigh.
Mags works in the mines with all the other kids he knows. They work dawn til dark in small chambers. Mags is quite good at finding "sparklies."
Then a man on a white horse comes and takes him away. This man is a Herald and is taking Mags away to be trained as one. Mags eventually comes to the big city and goes to school there. He has adventures. He makes a couple of friends. He is an all around good guy.
Things happen and the book ends abruptly. Of course that's part of the design. Lackey wants to leave you wanting more.
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10:31 am
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Godmother by Carolyn Turgeon
This book is a twisted Cinderella story - it says so right on the front cover.
We hear the story from the point of view of the fairy godmother who is out of grace with the elders of her race for botching the job. Lil, the godmother, spends her days in a bookstore shelving books and selling them and generally keeping the place nice for the owner.
She meets Veronica whom Lil is sure is the embodiment of Cinderella. And she gets her boss and Veronica to go on a blind date to a ball.
Meanwhile we get snippets of what happened at the first ball. Somehow it went horribly wrong. And it has something to do with Lil falling in love with Prince Charming.
This book was pretty good, especially at the beginning. However, I did find it to be quite repetitious after that. In fact, I bothered me so much that I started skimming and I'm afraid I didn't understand the ending too well. I got the gist of it, but I feel as though I'm missing something. Now that could be my fault, but it also could be the author's. I think she wanted the reader to be surprised by the ending and deliberately may have been a little cloudy about it.
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