Finally Friday Fun – Book Review

I picked up the book Deja Dead, by Kathy Reichs, because of its affiliation with one of my favorite TV shows; Bones on Fox. I had read that the book is not much like the show, and I will have to agree. Other than the main character’s name and the fact that she is a forensic anthropologist, there aren’t too many similarities.Having said that, I admit that I did like this book and I really liked the main character Temperance Brennan . I liked this original Tempe much better than her TV version. I find the made for TV Tempe a bit shallow, and pretty unbelievable.  I found the Tempe in the book, however, to be all too real. As with many really well done protagonists, this one comes complete with a fatal flaw that she realistically struggles with throughout the book. Not only does she possess this flaw, but I find that she struggles with it much the way I think a real person would.

If I have a complaint about this book, it would have to be the setting. I have only been to Canada once in my life and it was not Quebec that I visited, so it was very hard for me to relate to the scene the author setup. Luckily, much of this book takes place in the lab and in an apartment, so I was able to place Tempe in a more familiar place in my mind.

Let me also note that this book is not for the squeamish or faint of heart. It is a murder mystery, and actually, this particular book has to do with a serial killer and many of the scenes are pretty gruesome. I didn’t find the gore to be gratuitous in any way, and the story would have been much less real without it.

I find that in my two favorite pastimes, TV and reading, that I am looking for escape. I am not interested in real crimes, or reality TV . . . I want fiction baby. This book probably won’t win any awards, but then, not many of my favorite reads have. If you are looking for a CSI like read for a long winters day, this just may be your book.

Music Monday – Herbie Hancock

Today is the perfect day for Herbie Hancock.  It is cold and dreary outside, and I am in a fairly mellow mood today for a Monday.

I am a new fan and a new listener.  I have heard his older stuff (Cantaloupe Island) of course when I have listend to the jazz station here in Chicago, but this new CD, River: The Joni Letters, is one I think I can even get my teenagers to listen to and appreciate.  It helps that there are some familiar names here helping him out with vocals.  Tina Turner, Norah Jones and Corinne Bailey Rae to name a few are all featured on this album, and they are great.

I like to listen to new CDs while I work for a day or two and then once I have a feel for the songs, I like to blast the music in the car while I drive and just focus on the music and really hear it.  And while I am only on the first part of this process, I can already tell this is going to be a fast favorite.  This is the perfect music I think for reading, working, cooking or just sitting by the fire sipping wine after the kids are in bed.

Review – Disney on Ice

This weekend DD and I did something neither of us has done before.  We went to see a Disney Ice Show.  When the kids were little, there was never enough time or money to do this.  I was a bit afraid as I was buying our tickets that my DD would perhaps be too old and think I had gone off the deep end for taking her as a teenager.  I was also a bit afraid that the show would be too cheesy and we would both  end up hating me for having wasted a Saturday afternoon.

It was cheesy, the acting was horrible, but we had fun!  Disney’s High School Musical: The Ice Tour is what it is suposed to be, a cute ice show.  We liked the costumes, the skating, and the music.  Yeah to Disney for having the music be the original music from the movies.  It was basically a musical review of the first and second High School Musical Movies.  We had seen the first one on the Disney channel, and there too, the acting is horrible, but the music is good and the story is light and funny.

We paid $10 for a bucket of popcorn and $12.50 for an Icee in a souvenir cup, so if you do go to one of these shows, I recommend that you not buy anything there, but then again, isn’t that part of the fun?

Overall, we decided that we would definitely do this again, even if it was the Disney Princesses Show!  It was a great way to spend a very cold Saturday afternoon in Chicago.  Besides, a trip to the United Center is always fun.