Archive for January, 2008

Charm City

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

I picked up 5 of Laura Lippman's books at Goodwill last year. It turned out they were books 2-6 of a series, so I put them on the to-be-read pile until I could pick up the first one at the library. I eventually decided not to be so neurotic about ...

The Orchid Thief: A True Story About Beauty and Obsession

Sunday, January 27th, 2008

It's taken me years to get around to finally reading Susan Orlean's entertaining book, The Orchid Thief. Just reading the book, with it's fascinating cast of characters, made me paranoid about developing some sort of orchid obsession, and I really have no interest in them to start with. I ...

Not ready for prime time

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008

I've posted about books I've read recently, but not necessarily on the days they appear. I'm just trying to work the bugs out of the site. You really aren't supposed to be wandering around in here yet unless I asked you too, I'm still trying to get this part of ...

The Blood Books, Volume 1 (Blood Price and Blood Trail)

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008

The Blood Books, Volume I is a double feature under one cover. The main character is Vicki Nelson, an ex-detective in Toronto trying to come to terms with the loss of her job due to a disability. Vicki is losing her vision and has almost no night vision at all. ...

American Prometheus

Sunday, January 20th, 2008

Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin’s monumental biography American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer was published in 2005 and won the National Book Critic's Award for Biography, as well as sweeping accolades from historians. It took me two years to get around to reading it, but I ...

On What Grounds

Friday, January 18th, 2008

On What Grounds is the first in Cleo Coyle's Coffeehouse Mysteries. Carolyn Cosi returns to Greenwich Village to manage a coffeehouse. Murder and mayhem ensue. The first book in the series, which is all I've read so far, is a standard who-done-it interspersed with likeable characters, clever plotting, and enough ...

Living Dead in Dallas

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

Living Dead in Dallas is the 2nd volume in Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire Series. I think I liked it even better than the first, Dead Until Dark. I can't quite decide if these are romance novels for people who don't like romance novels, or horror novels for people who don't ...

Dead Until Dark

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

Dead Until Dark is the 1st volume in Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire Series. The series, and it's heroine - plucky mind-reading waitress Sookie Stackhouse, are every bit as endearing as fans claim. Vampires have come out of the coffin and Sookie falls for the first one to move into her ...