Fun New Detective Series – by Joanne Fluke

The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder is a fun book that came highly recommended, and free, from a friend. I don’t think I would have picked it up off the shelf, because I am ashamed to admit that I often base my book buying decisions on the cover art, and this one is sadly lacking.  It is a quick, easy read that is entertaining on a couple of levels.

I am still trying to decide if I liked the mystery or the included recipes best.  I really appreciate the main character, Hannah Swensen, as she is a strong, independent small business owner.  Hannah is not intimidating or overwhelming, and is therefore very believable as a main character from a small town.  Both the strong tie to the setting, Minnesota in this case, and the relationship between Hannah and her mother had me remembering my first Stephanie Plum mystery.  I haven’t tried any of the cookie recipes that were included throughout the book, but I do have plans to do so this weekend and will report back with pictures and a full review then.

For now, if you are looking for a cozy mystery to read at the beach or poolside, I would recommend this one for a quick and easy read.

Great Blog Reading

I have been blogging on and off for a little more than a year now, and while I enjoy it, it has been hard to find direction and a purpose.  I am guessing a big reason why that is true is that my life has mirrored the same for a while now.  I have a feeling that is all about to change a bit.  I am finding hidden passions and l am beginning to explore them and find that it is changing me.

Also, I am currently reading some great blogs that are impacting how I think and providing me some needed direction and I am getting ready even to set aside some solid goals for both life and my humble little blog.  I started reading the Get Rich Slowly blog, which lead me to reading about world domination over at Chris Guillebeau’s blog and so on and on it goes.  I want to read it all, and learn and grow and become something.

I encourage you today to go back to some of your favorite blogs for direction, connection, or encouragement.  The winds of change are blowing here in my fractured little corner of the world. . .what will they bring?!  I am not sure yet, but I am embracing the change!

Quick Money Saving Tip – CHEAP Books

I am sure everyone knows this already, but just in case you don’t, many thrift stores have CHEAP books for sale!  You can’t go get the latest titles probably. . .but you can get some great books for next to nothing.  I have been paying full price for books at Amazon, and at least half price for books at Alibris and used on Amazon, but last weekend I got my best deal yet.  At my local thrift store I got 7 books for $6.25!

My haul included several classics, a college literature book (preparing to homeschool my son), and two best sellers from a few years ago (one was a P.D. James book I have had on my “to read” list for a while now).  If your thrift store takes and sells books, in my humble opinion, it is worth a couple of hours to go sort through the pile.  This sure could get addictive!

Book Review – Innocent In Death by J. D. Robb

I love Nora Roberts, and I love murder mysteries, so it is no great surprise that I am now completely hooked on reading all of the books she has written as J. D. Robb.  I discovered her back in 200o and at that time I went through and read everything she had ever written, but I did not read any written under the Robb pseudonym.  A friend had this book on her desk the other day and I commented about loving Nora Roberts so she insisted I read this one.  I am glad I did, but my family will be missing me soon, as I have found another series that is nearly impossible to put down.

Innocent In Death is a who-done-it murder mystery with just enough romance thrown in to keep it interesting and personal.  I love Nora Roberts’ characters, especially the women; I always find her heroines strong, passionate and sincere.  I will admit that sometimes the plot is a bit predictable, but the story is usually told well enough that it is still fun to follow along.  I read to be entertained, and I always find entertaining characters in anything Roberts’ writes.  As I finish the last pages of this book, I am already searching Amazon and Paperback Swap for other books with Eve Dallas as the main character.

Book Review – How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

How I Live Now was not at all what I expected.  I guess I am not entirely sure what I expected after reading a short review of the book, but incest and run on sentences weren’t it.  The first thing that struck me as I began reading this book was how awkward it was to read paragraphs with no sentence breaks.  And while I did get used to this eventually, I am not sure that the technique was all that effective.

I guess the romance was intended to be exotic or something, but to me, it was just kind of creepy.  Perhaps it because my cousins are all much younger than me, but I really can’t even let my mind wander to falling in love with one of them.  I will have to read some other reviews I guess and then maybe see if I can get a clue somewhere from the author about what the intention here was.  I get that war is messed up and that it does things to people and that this is an exploration of possibilities. . .I just didn’t appreciate them I guess.

Overall, I am a bit disappointed in this YA book, but I understand why some people might like it.  Our teenage years are awkward and war is terrible and this combination of the two is one way to explore all of that.  I will try another Meg Rosoff bookh because I have heard such good things about her writing.  I wanted to get this posted before I surfed around a bit to see what others have written so you would get my initial reactions and not something someone else suggested.  I guess I missed this one. . .

Book Review – The Year of the Hangman by Gary Blackwood

As I was sitting in my office at work Friday afternoon, contemplating a weekend full of housework and errand running, I got a yucky gurgling feeling in my stomach and a dull ache began in my fingers.  By 5 pm, I was flat on my back with the flu, and feeling pretty darn miserable.  That was the only excuse I needed to put everything else on hold and have a mini reading marathon of my own.

One of the books I read this weekend was recommended to me by DD.  It was Gary Blackwood’s book which she had to read for her English class a few years back.  I had never read an alternate history book before (let alone heard of what the author called uchronia), but since I love historical fiction it seemed like a good choice.

The Year of the Hangman is a thought provoking book that dares to imagine how things may have progressed had the colonists not won the Revolutionary War.  George Washington is captured and most of the famous founding fathers are in hiding when the story opens.  There were many things I liked about this book, most of them where the characters.  I think for such a short book the author did a great job of creating characters that were real and that I cared for.  I especially liked both Ben Franklin and Benedict Arnold, but the fictional characters were also well done.  What I didn’t care for so much was the tone at the end of the book and the preachy feeling it took on.  I disagree with the author’s sentiment about war so I am sure that biased me a bit.

My favorite quote from the book is this:

I’ve learned that honor is not measured by words; it’s measured by deeds.

Overall, I did enjoy the book and read the whole thing in one sitting.  For those of you who are putting together lists for long challenges, I would recommend adding this one to that list.

Dewey’s Books Reading Challenge – List

I have spent a couple of days now going over the reviews at The Hidden Side of a Leaf and have my list set for the challenge.  I do however, reserve the right to change my mind at any moment for any reason.  Most likely, as I go back through the reviews I may just find other books that interest me more, but here is my first attempt at a list:

2003 – The Buffalo Soldier by Chris Bohjalian

2004 – The Inner Circle by T.C. Boyle but may change to The Lovely bones by Alice Sebold

2005 – Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood or Saturday by Ian McEwan

2006 – Outlander by Diana Gabaldon or March by Geraldine Brooks

2007 – The Pesthouse by Jim Crace

2008 -  How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

A New Book Challenge – Dewey’s Books

It’s strange this new world of blogs and authors.  But I have been visiting a site for a couple of years and just learned today that the author has passed away.  It leaves me feeling, funny, melancholy I would say.  I searched for the correct definition of the word “melancholy” before writing this post and stumbled upon Ode on Melancholy by John Keats once again.  I was struck by a couple of lines from the second stanza:

But when the melancholy fit shall fall . . .
Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,
Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave,
Or on the wealth of globèd peonies

How fitting then, that some of Dewey’s friends would host a challenge in her honor to read lasting words of beauty. I decided that I too needed to participate in this challenge and honor the memory of a wonderful blogger who indeed touched many with her posts.

I will post my list next week I think, but I will be reading one book from each of the 6 years that Dewey has archives of.  I would encourage any avid reader to join us as well, here is the challenge site.

Two Quick Book Reviews

Of the two books I finished in the past week, Dead Sleepby Greg Iles, a new author for me, was my favorite.  Dead Sleep is a murder mystery/thriller that did keep me guessing from the beginning to the very end.  I think it is hard to write a book about serial killers and multiple murders and not be too dark, but this book is serious about the subject without making you feel dirty and depressed. . .I like that.   I really enjoyed getting to know the main character and her family and felt that she had enough depth and reality to make her a great leading lady.  In short, I found this quite an enjoyable read for some cold winter days in the MidWest.

The second book that I read this past week, Dark Paradise by Tami Hoag, I enjoyed, but would not recommend as highly as I would Dead Sleep. My reason for this is that I found the language to be more offensive and the violence to be way over the top for a murder mysterty/thriller. I found this book to have some of the darkness that the television series Dexter has, and I don’t watch that show for that reason. I think the author could have written this book without it being quite so dark and horrible. I also felt that the book was longer than it needed to be and that there were too many substories that didn’t all add value to the larger plot. I plan to try one more book from this author before I decide not to read her again, but I will choose much more carefully this time.

Book Review – Booked to Die

Booked to Die (Cliff Janeway Novels) is my first John Dunning novel, and it won’t be the last. I am actually looking for a copy of his book Deadline now.  I wasn’t sure what to expect with Booked to Die, as I hadn’t heard of it or the author before, but when I read the synopsis over at Paperback Swap, I figured I may as well give it a chance. It is a mystery about a bookseller that combines two of my passsions, mysteries and books, which seemed worth a read.

The story line did keep me guessing a bit, but in the end, I did figure out who-done-it before the author revealed it. So I guess it is a bit predictable, however, I think it has enough twists and interesting turns to keep most readers interested. While it isn’t a complicated book, it is the perfect mystery for a blustery weekend in the Midwest when the roads are bad but there is plenty of coffee and soup to keep you toasty and happy.

And speaking of soup, if you are gearing up for a long weekend of reading, here is a link to an easy little recipe for homemade chicken soup over at Lifehacker.