Tuesday, May 31, 2016

The Bullet--#28 finished

Good story of a French Literature professor that finds out she has a bullet left in her neck area from when she was 3, when her parents were killed.  She was adopted but didn't know that either.  She is now 37 and what she believed was her life is thrown off kilter.  She starts investigating her parent's murder and her life keeps changing.  She does have surgery to remove the bullet too.  I read this in one day, mostly in the night & early evening.  Good read & good page turner.

I liked author's first book too.  Success on her first 2 books.  I will probably post at some point but in no hurry to do so at this point, I think around 20 WL on this book.

A Vast and Fiendish Plot--#27 finished

An interesting book about Confederate spies that came down from Canada and tried to start uprising or at least problems in the North.  The focus of the book is about an attempt to burn New York City and it goes on to show how really close they were to doing so.  I hadn't heard of any of this before so it is interesting to read about this side of the war.  Also author went into a lot of the background of how they got to Canada and other missions they were trying to run too.  At end of book, I think author spent a little too much time doing a "what if", almost like it was his way of justifying this as a book.  Still a good & interesting read.

There is 1 WL for this book so I will probably post soon & mail off if accepted.

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths of American History--#26 finished

This was the first book like this by the author, I read his 2nd book earlier this year.  This was written in the late '80s so no more modern stuff but still sort of interesting.  Like the other book, just seems a little too simple in some things.  Dismissing stuff in a paragraph or 2 that just seems like it deserves more.  Some of it is how the myth was phrased, maybe someone didn't invent something but the improved upon what someone else had done--okay.  Interesting to a point but nothing really special either.

I will post this on PBS, there is 1 copy on system now so maybe it moves or maybe it doesn't, no biggie either way.

A Wedding in December--#25 finished

I finished this book about a week ago and set it aside for a while to give some thought to it and just never got back to logging it in.  A group of high school boarding school east coast types get back together for basically the first time since high school about 30 years later.  Some have stayed in contact but most just went their own ways.  A group of guys & gals and some are reliving the high school feelings too.  The two getting married were HS sweethearts that broke up after HS and both married.  She married and then divorced and he married but didn't divorce until the sweethearts met up again and the relationship started back up.  Throw in a kind of mystery death of a should have been successful classmate and some prior unannounced happenings from that night and some things getting revealed, should have made this seem more exciting.  Really it just wasn't very exciting.  Didn't really care for the characters, just seemed too bland and there was an undercurrent about how a night of sex could fix things or maybe straighten your life out--something there, not really sure about it.  My favorite part of the book was probably the book one of them was writing--the book inside of a book.  It was just okay for me.  I have another book or two by author so I will probably try another one, just to see.

I will not bother posting it, there are already hundreds of copies on PBS.  This will go in my donate away pile, probably to the retirement home that I have given to in the past.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

White Palace--#24 finished

An interesting book about written in St Louis in the late 1980s when I first moved here for college.  It is a very much St Louis book, characters have a peculiar St Louis flavor to them--the West County well to do ad executive was married to an old money girl with parents in Ladue(I think) area.  He was Jewish and went to school at University High School with his buddies--also all Jewish(I think again). His young wife dies in a car accident and about a year later after not dating at all, meets up with an older hoosier type woman.  Hoosier was one of those not flattering words I heard a lot when I came here--not the hoosier of Indiana but a white trash type that was mostly found on the southside in St Louis or further south.  This lady is every bit of it--dropped out of high school, kinda fat, dirty--both upkeep & language, drinks & can hold her liquor, smokes & trashy sexy kind of way too.  The relationship is a train wreck for him except it breaks him out of his shell he was in since his wife died.  He is around 28 & new girlfriend is like 42.  Story and relationship is just a little too goofy or maybe just too unlikely--he keeps saying he loves her but the reader doesn't really get why.  The closest thing to it was she is similar to his mom, who still lives in the old and now changing neighborhood in U City.  Mom is also kind of a slob, which was probably why he was a neat freak.  Dad left when he was really young and he started taking care of mom as soon as he was old enough.  Now after wife died it is almost like he was looking for someone to take care of & found Nora, the older lady.

This book was made into a movie back then--late '80s or early '90s--filmed here in St Louis, I remember seeing the cars driving around Grand Ave doing filming back when I was in college.  Movie was ok, Susan Sarandon as Nora and James Spader as Max.

Oh well, not great read but certainly a keeper since St Louis based.  I will not be posting it on PBS, to the keeper shelf it goes.  Also this book is autographed, to a Pam, but I will still take it.

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Crunchy Cons--#23 finished

Author identifies as a conservative but out of what appears to be the mainstream conservative/Republican.  Lots of good stuff in here that applies as much today as it did 10 years ago when it came out.  Basically railing against our consumer society, our society that doesn't understand sacrifice or understanding limits.  Book gets a little too preachy at times, especially about homeschooling but 10 years ago that probably seemed a little unusual while today more accepted.  I see a lot of stuff/ideas in here that are me in many ways.  This being such an unusual election year already, I will look to see if Trump embodies any of this but I really doubt it.  It is depressing election year for me at least.  I will be looking through at which 3rd party candidate I want to support.  Oh well, good book that makes you think.

I will be keeping this book, not sure if will re-read but it is in unpostable shape & is good enough to keep rather than give away.

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

NYPD Red 3--#22 finished

This is another book finished in April but just logging in now.  Another fast paced action book, but as you can figure from the title, the 3rd in the series.  Also just an okay story.  There is relationship issues for people in the story but just seem way to forced to be believed.  Good for a quick read but that is about it.  I seem to remember liking book 1 & 2 much better so still hope but it has slipped to just okay land, as far as the series goes for me.

There is like 100 WL for the book so I will post at some point & mail off but sitting okay with credits right now so no big hurry to mail off yet.

Drone--#21finished

This book was finished back in April but computer problems kept me from getting it logged in till now.  This is a first book of a series for a new author, also his first book.  It is an interesting, fast paced read.  Some interesting concepts about drone usage.  Overall though story and characters were just okay.  Had to take too many leaps of faith to believe the story.  I did get the 2nd book in series so will try it out before deciding how long I want to stick with it.

I have posted it on PBS, only hardback copy so I expect it to move at some point.