MARCH READS

[rapa]

As Ogden Nash said:
"Indoors or out, no one relaxes in March,
that month of wind and taxes,
the wind will presently disappear,
the taxes last us all the year."

Are you ready for March Madness, Daylight Savings Time, St. Patrick's Day and Easter? They're a'comin'!!!

I'm currently reading Dean Koontz's latest book, ASHLEY BELL. In the beginning we learn that Bibi Blair, a fierce, funny dauntless young woman is told by her doctor that she has one year to live. She replies, "We'll see."
Take it from there!

What's on your plate for March?

[Slopok]

RABBIT! RABBIT! RABBIT!...Yea, I remembered again!

[Mandy Muffin]

I'll be leaving on a Western Caribbean cruise next week and have Kate Atkinson's "A God in Ruins," PS Duffy's" "The Cartographer of No Man's Land", Mitch Albom's "The First Call from Heaven," Anita Diamont's "The Last Days of Dogtown" to name a few.  I am taking my fully loaded Kindle Fire, which was an invaluable communications tool on the three week cruise I took last year. Of course, I'll check the ship's library for any top sellers available for a loan.  Last time around the library was nearly depleted as the Princess cruise ship was not staffing it any more and put the book borrowing on a trust or swap system. The preponderance of guests were reading E-books. This may be a change throughout the industry, so anyone going on a cruise might check to see if the ship they are taking is maintaining a staffed library.  

[Carolyn Tewell]

RAPA...I have ASHLEY BELL on hold...think I am #15 in line. I used to love Dean Koontz but then he started the Odd Thomas series and I stayed away.

Probably one of my most all time favorite books was "One Door Away From Heaven" ...he the Author?

Pass the Ginko!

[rapa]

Carolyn, that be him!!! Like you, I avoided the ODD THOMAS series.

[Jick]

Just finished Purity by Jonathan Franzen.  Someone here, can't remember who said they started it but didn't like it and didn't finish it.  I thought it was wonderful. Reminded me of early John Irving books like Garp and Owen Meany. One of he best constructed novels I've read in a long time.  If you don't like swearing or lewd scenes this book might not be for you though.

[Ioruach]

As I mentioned in a late February post, I was reading and enjoying The Guilty by David Baldacci.  I did finish it, and continued to enjoy it, except for the ending. Baldacci seemed to twist himself into contortions to make the story end the way it did. It seemed contrived, at least to me.

This morning I finished Playing with Fire by Tess Gerritsen This was not a Rizzoli & Isles novel, but a stand alone. While, on the surface, it was a thriller, it also touched on the history of how the holocaust dealt with the Jews in Italy.  Although the numbers were far fewer than in the other countries of Europe, the Jewish population there also suffered significant losses. I can highly recommend Playing with Fire on both levels.

[Carolyn Tewell]

MANDY...Meant to bounce in here to thank you for the notice about Pat Conroy had passed away. It really wasn't announced in my view until a late scroll across the screen for my evening news. USA TODAY had an article, photo and commentary a day or so later. I absolutely loved Beach Music. May check it out again to re-enjoy. In the meantime I put your link onto my iPhone so I can read his articles/blogs ongoing.

Haven't jumped in here of late since I am reading more Joseph Finder and James Grippando ...their older mysteries and a new one.

I do have a hard cover book that I haven't even opened yet THE TIME OF OUR LIVES by Peggy Noonan. I'm thinking I will have to buy the book just as I did with Charles Krauthammer's THE THINGS THAT MATTER. They just can't be absorbed in the 3 weeks Library time limit. No way to renew since holds lock them in. I do still work 4 days a week, have care and custody of 95 year old Mother in Law and active volunteer in Friends of the Library....

Some beach, somewhere?

[Ioruach]

I finished Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter this morning. Although I initially had some doubts, it quickly got better and then better yet. At first the Mississippi-speak, the language of rural Mississippi, got to me. But soon the rhythm of the language that Franklin uses so beautifully negates what initially seemed so foreign, at least to me. And you can’t help falling in love with the characters of Larry and Silas. For a while in the story I was worried about what the ending would bring. It looked so hopeless. But in the end, Tom Franklin made it all well.

Has anyone read Franklin's other books?

[Ioruach]

After returning Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter at the library, I didn't have anything special on my mind that I wanted to read. After browsing for a while, I decided to do something different. So I checked out paperbacks by three popular authors whose names I have seen on library shelves for years but never got around to reading their books. The three authors I grabbed (grabbed is about right, too) were C. J. Box, Clive Cussler and J. A. Jance. I started with Open Season by Box, his first Joe Picket novel. It hasn't done a lot for me yet, but I haven't gotten very far into it either.

Do any of you have any thoughts or suggestions about any of these three?

[Mandy Muffin]

I just finished a JA Jance novel, "Cold Betrayal" and liked it.  I have read others that take place in Arizona with a security agency that is the basis for her novel characters.  There are a few to choose from. 

[Carolyn Tewell]

Okay...we all know that I have an eccentric choice of books. For Fiction, I use Audiobooks which can infleuence the enjoyment of any book. Sometimes, enhances, sometimes ends up in the mud.

Here is what is on my HOLDS at the Library. All are Audiobooks:

John Lesceoart...The Fall
Jonathan Kellerman...Breakdown
C J BOX...Off the Grid
Linwood Barklay...Far From True
John Sanford...Extreme Prey
Stephan King...End of Watch
ROBOTHAM...Close Your Eyes
Greg Isles...The Bone Tree

Most of the time I read men. Most of the time I read mysteries. The "normal" female writers like JA Jance, JDRobb, Danielle Steel, Sandra Brown,Lisa Gardner, Janet Evanavich, Mary Higgens Clark, Sue Grafton...although I have read a few of their offerings...they just make me...ACK! Why? I have no clue?

If someone says one of these female writers has a MUST READ...how it changed their life, improved their understanding of the world...LOL...Then share.


That being said those books I have listed may end up in the "fawwwgetaboutit" box to be returned to library after 1 or 2 discs.

Why can't I like paragraphs about shoes, hair color, simple "chick stuff" like no knowing about cars rolling over and guns firing?

***shakes head***

Commentary about them ongoing!

[Slopok]

When I downloaded Crooked Letter another book was recommended,A Land More Kind Than Home, by Wiley Cash:

In his phenomenal debut novel—a mesmerizing literary thriller about the bond between two brothers and the evil they face in a small North Carolina town—author Wiley Cash displays a remarkable talent for lyrical, powerfully emotional storytelling. A Land More Kind than Home is a modern masterwork of Southern fiction, reminiscent of the writings of John Hart (Down River), Tom Franklin (Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter), Ron Rash (Serena), and Pete Dexter (Paris Trout)—one that is likely to be held in the same enduring esteem as such American classics as To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, and A Separate Peace. A brilliant evocation of a place, a heart-rending family story, a gripping and suspenseful mystery—with A Land More Kind than Home, a major American novelist enthusiastically announces his arrival.

It was well written and a 4 star on Amazon. I did read the entire book but it was the most depressing book I've read in a while, although it did remind me somewhat of To Kill A Mockingbird. After finishing the book, I had to find something light to purge the depression. I'm reading, Big Maria, by Johnny Shaw( $1.99 kindle). It started out a little gross but has gotten better, reminds me of Elmore Leonard:

Imagine Chuck Palahniuk and Don Winslow’s love child – and that would be ribald author Johnny Shaw. His novel Big Maria is a unfiltered, wild romp in which three men get one chance to find a lost gold mine; the only problem is the Big Maria Mine is right in the middle of a US Army artillery range.