Thursday, October 30, 2008

Friday Fill-Ins #96


--My favorite food seasoning is pepper (and not just black).

--Laughter is music to my ears.

--Lucky is being married to Denis.

--My job is something I take very seriously.

--Many people think I'm a bit strange.

--Our Christmas cards, hearing aid batteries and Duma Key were the last things I bought at the store. (Today, even. First time I've been in Costco in over a year. I send Denis in normally. He doesn't overspend or stop at the book tables!)

Happy Weekend, everyone! To join in this fun meme, or to see other folks' answers, click on the Friday Fill-Ins graphic at the top of this post.


Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Booking Through Thursday--Conditioning

Are you a spine breaker? Or a dog-earer? Do you expect to keep your books in pristine condition even after you have read them? Does watching other readers bend the cover all the way round make you flinch or squeal in pain?

If the book is not mine, I read it and give it back in the same condition it was in when it was handed to me. If it's mine, it can be an entirely different ball game. I do not break spines or dog-ear pages. Dog-earring is something my husband used to do until he found out it drove me nuts. I have a huge bookmark collection I've gathered over thirty years. There's no need for dog ears in this house! I make sure he has bookmarks; he makes sure he doesn't dog-ear. (For anyone who likes bookmarks but doesn't like the fact that they can fall out of a book easily, take a look at the link section on my left sidebar that's titled "It's All About BOOKS" and click on Magnetic Bookmarks. They're cheap and wonderful!)

In my high school and college days, I used to notate comments in the margins of my books and go to town with a highlighter. Now the only books I notate things in are cookbooks, and the only books I use an erasable highlighter on are reference books from which I get a lot of use. I don't do it to the fiction books I read. I have a folder on my computer for quotes, and I'll just add ones to it as I read. Especially now that I've joined Paperback Swap, I don't want to mail out books in which another reader has to wade through my own personal highway markers!

One thing I learned very quickly when I moved here to Phoenix is that some climates are not kind to books that are left out in a car. I think I only had two books disintegrate in my oven-like car before it became habit not to leave them in there!

I wouldn't say that my books are in pristine condition, but they are taken care of and loved. Do I flinch or scream in pain if I see someone else breaking spines or dog-earring or highlighting or notating in their books? No. Before you point out that I've already said that my husband dog-earring pages drove me nuts, I'll point first: those books are jointly owned by a non-dog-earrer. If a person has purchased a book and wants to break its spine, dog-ear it, write in it, or highlight page after page, that person has the perfect right to do so. I don't have a problem with it. I draw the line at wanton destruction--particularly if the miscreant does not own the book he is destroying.

If you'd like to see more answers to this fun meme, just click on the Booking Through Thursday graphic at the top of this post!


REVIEW: The Take


Title: The Take
Author: Graham Hurley
ISBN: 0752848070/Orion/387 pages
Protagonist: Detective Inspector Joe Faraday
Setting: present-day Portsmouth, England
Series: #2
Rating: A-

First Line: Another grey summer's day, spitting with rain.

DI Joe Faraday has come to terms with his deaf son growing up and moving to France to work and to live with a French woman. Joe's taking French lessons so he'll be able to converse with Valerie, and the lessons even seem to be improving his own social life. But while his personal life improves, it's the end of a grim week for the Portsmouth CID squad. One of Faraday's colleagues is killed in a head-on car crash; DC Paul Winter has been poleaxed with his own terrible news; a disgraced gynecologist is missing, and his caseload of maimed women is a suspect list from hell. To top it all off, Faraday's boss has his eye on bigger and better things and insists that Faraday lend a helping hand. It all reminds me of a t-shirt I once gave to a friend: "Some mornings, it's not worth chewing through the restraints."

I enjoyed the first book in the series, Turnstone, and The Take is even better. As a police procedural it's strong, giving the reader an excellent idea of the inner workings of a police station and the personal dynamics between various officers and departments. All the plot elements are intriguing, from the personal lives of Faraday and Winter, to the investigation of the colleague killed in the head-on collision, to the hunt for the gynecologist. The setting of Portsmouth is excellent, and I could easily picture it in my mind. (Google Earth can give you a marvelous view, too. If you've got it, type in "Portsmouth Harbour UK" and have a good look around!)

Hurley's characterizations are what puts this series a step above so many others. I enjoyed watching Faraday's mind work--not only on his caseload, but on his personal life as it took an unexpected lively turn. Having been a widower who concentrated on raising a deaf son, he's used to having no real social life. DC Paul Winter is another character who really stands out in the books. The only time the man is ever honest is when he's forced to be, and even then you can't really believe him. Those two characters alone are an excellent study in contrast.

If you're in the mood to start a new mystery series, you certainly can't go wrong with Graham Hurley!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

BookBrowse Quiz

I was led to the BookBrowse quiz by Matt. Here are my results:

Your responses showed you fitting into two different groups - the exacting reader and the eclectic reader.

The expression 'so many books, so little time!' sums up your life. You love books but you rarely have as much time to read as you'd like - so you're very particular about the books you choose.

You read for entertainment but also to expand your mind. You're open to new ideas and new writers, and are not wedded to a particular genre or limited range of authors.

The results seem to fit me rather well. Why don't you take the quiz and find out your own reading personality?


Walk in Beauty, Mr. Hillerman


Tony Hillerman, one of the great mystery writers, died Sunday. He wrote compelling mysteries featuring a people most readers didn't know until they picked up The Blessing Way or Skinwalkers and began reading of Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee--the Navajo...the Dineh. Hillerman described the land of the Navajo with a poet's eye, and as I read his books, my mind returned to the Land of Room Enough and Time Enough, to vistas that fill the mind and stretch the soul, to a people who have always made me feel welcome. Tony Hillerman lived in beauty, he brought us beauty, and now he walks in beauty.


After Reading Stephenie Meyer, This Quiz Seems Fitting for Halloween




You Are a Werewolf



You are moody and easily provoked.

You are highly loyal and protective of those you love.



While you can be intense at times, you are generally a laid back person.

But if a fight comes your way, you will fight 'til the death if necessary.



You seem normal to most people. No one understands how different you can be.

It's like a switch flips for you sometimes - and then you're a completely different creature.

Nothing New Under the Sun...

...or that's the way it feels sometimes. At a time when the economy seems bound and determined to plunge straight into the toilet, many libraries here in the huge Phoenix metropolitan area are seeing big increases in the numbers of people applying for library cards, coming to use computers, looking for books, magazines, and DVDs. Of course this increase is right in the face of those same libraries facing budget cuts. I'm sure all libraries across the country are in the same boat. You can read the Arizona Republic article in its entirety here.

Is there anything we as readers can do to help our libraries through this crunch? Do you have books in good condition that you know you aren't going to reread? Donate them to your library. (I am.) If they're not needed on the shelves, they can always help raise money when the library has a sale, as most do. One of the comments to the Republic article intrigued me. The commenter mentioned subscribing to your favorite magazines through the library. The library can place an automatic hold on them so you'll have the first chance to read them, and when you're finished, other patrons can enjoy the magazines, too. Sounds like a good plan to me.

Think about it for a bit. Libraries are one of our greatest resources. We're readers. Libraries are in trouble across the country. There are ways we can all help.


Tuesday Thingers--Legacy Libraries


This week's question: Legacy libraries. With which legacy libraries do you share books? Tell us a little about a couple of them and what you share.



I was aware of Legacy Libraries, but hadn't checked into the feature until someone actually showed me how to do it. (One of my Duh Moments.) It seems that I share quite a few books with quite a few famous people. With the size of Hemingway's library, it's going to be a miracle if a person does not share any books with him. No miracles here: I share the most with Hemingway--135. Since I am not a Hemingway fan, this fact doesn't exactly make my toes curl.

One that does make me smile is the fact that I share 80 books with one of the world's best storytellers, Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen)--anything from Charles Dickens to Sir Walter Scott to Daphne Du Maurier to Nicolai Gogol.

The other made my face light up: Carl Sandburg. I share 96 books with Sandburg--Dante, Bronte, Tolstoy, Faulkner, Steinbeck, Dickens, Hardy...all the way to some that are more obscure--Budge's Easy Lessons in Egyptian Hieroglyphics, Oliver LaFarge's Laughing Boy, and the one that made my day. Some of you may remember a previous TuesdayThingers post when I mentioned having books written by Dora Aydelotte, a woman who lived in my small farm town. Well, Sandburg had one of her books, too! So, a big Thank You to Marie for this week's question!

Want to see more answers to the TuesdayThingers meme? Just click on the graphic at the top of this post.


Sunday, October 26, 2008

Mailbox Monday: It's Better to Give AND Receive!


Another week has gone by? If you say so! Last week I had a good rummage through some of my books. I'm getting smarter in dealing with Paperback Swap. Before I list any books, I check each one to see how many are in the system. By doing that, I now have four grocery bags full of books that I'll be donating to the library. Of the books I listed, I went on a post office run Saturday after work and sent 17 on their way to new homes. I'm really getting into this. I'm listing some of my favorite authors, and when I see them snatched up so quickly...it's just a good feeling. I smile as I wrap each book for mailing, thinking of the pleasure that awaits the person who'll be receiving the book.


Okay...17 flew the coop. How many did I acquire last week? Nine. The first book in the following list was received through NPR's online book section. The other eight I received through Paperback Swap.

--To Catch the Lightning by Alan Cheuse, is a fictionalized account of the life and obsession of Edward Curtis, who in 1904 dedicated his life to recording a pictorial record of Native American tribes. I've always loved his photographs.

--Material Evidence by Bill Kirton is the first DCI Carston mystery set in a town outside of Aberdeen, Scotland. (I have a very soft spot for all things Scottish.)

--The Fugitive Wife by Peter C. Brown is about a woman who runs away from an abusive husband and winds up joining in the 1900 Klondike Gold Rush in Alaska. (I also have a soft spot for this time period AND old mining towns.)

--Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen by Bob Greene tells of the citizens of a small town in Nebraska who, at their own expense, set out to show true hospitality to the thousands of soldiers traveling by rail to training camps and theaters of battle during World War II.

--The Saturday Morning Murder by Batya Gur is the first of a mystery series set in Israel. I may be red, white and blue through and through and an Anglophile to boot, but I do like reading books set in other countries and cultures.

--The Patience of the Spider by Andrea Camilleri is another installment of one of my favorite mystery series featuring Inspector Montalbano who is his grumpy, brilliant self in Sicily.

--A Mind to Murder by P.D. James is the second Inspector Adam Dalgliesh mystery. I enjoyed the first one so much that it took no time at all for me to get my hands on the next in the series.

--A Rant of Ravens by Christine Goff is the first in the Birdwatcher's mystery series. I love birds, I love mysteries...I thought it wouldn't hurt to give this one a try.

--The Ghost and the Dead Man's Library by Alice Kimberly is the third in the Haunted Bookshop series. I enjoyed the first two, featuring a bookstore owner and the ghost of a 1940s private eye who was killed in her shop.

That's it! If you want to see what everyone else found in their mailboxes last week, just click on the mailbox graphic at the top of this post!





REVIEW: Specials


Title: Specials
Author: Scott Westerfeld
ISBN: 9781416947950/Simon & Schuster
Protagonist: teenager Tally Youngblood
Setting: a Southern California distopia, three hundred years in the future
Series: #3
Rating: A

First Line: The six hoverboards slipped among the trees with the lightning grace of playing cards thrown flat and spinning.

The world as we know it has disappeared. In its place are city states, each with its own rules. Tally Youngblood's city has decided that, at the age of sixteen, everyone becomes a surgically altered "pretty" and spends the next decade or so of their lives wondering what clothes to wear and which nightly parties to attend. At first, Tally bought into the entire pretty culture, but adventures in the previous books of this series have made her look at life differently. In this third installment, she has been surgically altered yet again to become a "special"--people with extra capabilities who work in a branch of the city government that seems quite a bit like military police. People recruited as specials have shown that they think "outside the box"--usually by escaping the city and trying to find those who live out in the "wild". Tally's greatest desire is to have Zane become a special, and to do that, he has to make an escape...with Tally shadowing his every move.

I have really been enjoying this series. In so many ways, Tally is a typical teenager, but there's something inside her that refuses to toe the party line, and her development and growth as a human being is what makes this series so special. Westerfeld has created a world that is very different from ours, but with just enough similarities to make the hairs on the back of my neck prickle. I have the next book in the series, Extras, on my TBR stack, and I'm looking forward to reading it.

If you're interested in reading Specials, be warned: it really should not be read as a standalone. Westerfeld has created an entire world, and for many of the things to make sense, you should start at the beginning with Uglies and then Pretties.



Library Memories: Making a Card Catalog from Scratch


Last Sunday I told you about the changes the larger library system wanted to make in our small village library. One of them didn't take: the Dewey decimal system. Yes, it is the standard, but it doesn't always fit the needs of each and every library. Ours was one that it didn't fit. However, one of the suggestions the Rolling Prairies library system made was taken up by Mom whole-heartedly: a card catalog listing each and every book we had in our library.

Fortunately an old wooden card catalog was found someplace. Mom stripped the paint and refinished it, and we moved things around in the library to give it pride of place (and easy access to all). We received a bulk shipment of cards, and Mom and I went to town. Those small cards were tricky to place in a typewriter, so most of them were written by hand. (Or should I say hands? Mom's and mine!) Fortunately we both had good legible handwriting. We made sure we both had plenty of Bic pens, and we got to work.

I have no idea of how many hours we spent setting up that catalog. Most of them were unpaid. Many a Friday and Saturday night saw us locking the outer door to the library and village hall at closing time, making sure the blind was lowered, and getting down to business. Armloads of books were brought up. We carefully notated the information from each book onto the card, as well as the book's location, and I reshelved the books. I put most of the cards into the drawers because I liked filing more than Mom, and I was fast. To this day, my hands still feel the writer's cramp and paper cuts!



Finally all the cards were in place and I think we both smiled whenever anyone walked up and opened one of the drawers to search. You may wonder why Mom fought the Dewey decimal system but didn't fight the card catalog. Little did I know it, but she had been putting plans in place that would make that new addition a very useful one indeed. What were her plans? That's a memory for next week!

[Next Sunday: Mom brings in a whole new section of books...and many, many new patrons.]



Saturday, October 25, 2008

REVIEW: Murder on Monday


Title: Murder on Monday
Author: Ann Purser
ISBN: 0425192970/Berkley Prime Crime
Protagonist: wife/mum/house cleaner Lois Meade
Setting: Long Farnden, a small English village, present-day
Series: #1
Rating: B-

First Line: In the damp, raw cold of a winter's evening the women sat in rows in Long Farnden village hall, not listening to an elderly Land Girl's memories of "Life on the Farm During the War."

Lois Meade was a bit of a rebel when she was a teenager. If someone told her to do something, she almost always went out of her way to do the exact opposite. Now she's happily married, and once the third child arrived, she decided to clean houses to earn some extra cash. When Gloria Hathaway is murdered in the Long Farnden village hall, Lois realizes that all the people she works for knew the murdered woman. Having recently had her application for Special Constable rejected, Lois doesn't exactly jump at the chance to help the police with their investigation, but as she cleans house after house, she can't help noticing things. Could one of her employers be a cold-blooded killer?

Ann Purser does an excellent job of delineating her characters. Lois is Every Woman. She's married to a likable bloke, one of her children is a typical teenager, and she works for a living. Although she takes pride in her work, her family comes first--and her family life doesn't always run smoothly. This first book in the series sets up the characters quite well, but I sussed the killer quite early. The book lacked any real suspense, the mystery seemed to drag a bit, and my interest flagged. I have ordered the next book in the series because I would like to see the "house" Purser builds from her foundation of characters.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Friday Fill-Ins #95




--Right now, I'm feeling stuffed.

--Financially secure is where I want to be.

--How does one calculate the square root of dark?

--Desire keeps me on track.

--Please don't whine. You'll only get in a world of hurt in this house.

--Nature fills me with joy. Especially when I have visitors to our house like this!

If you'd like to participate or see other responses to this fun meme, just click on the graphic at the top of this post!




Reading All Those Mysteries Has Paid Off!

Your result for The Literary Character Test...

Sherlock Holmes

Good, Epic, Side Thinker


Sherlock Holmes is the brilliant mastermind whose undoubted prowess in the field of forensics have entertained the world for decades. He is decidedly good in his actions, and his methodical thinking accents his ability, making him all the better at what he does. His ability to overcome any foe, and understand any crime is what makes him so well known, and it appears he will never fail.

Take The Literary Character Test at HelloQuizzy

Booking Through Thursday--Life Is Better When Shared


Name a favorite literary couple and tell me why they are a favorite. If you cannot choose just one, that is okay too. Name as many as you like–sometimes narrowing down a list can be extremely difficult and painful. Or maybe that’s just me.

It's definitely not just you. I refuse to choose one favorite book, how on earth could I choose just one favorite literary couple? I have to admit that I've been a bit distracted this morning. I had a young Cooper's Hawk at the birdbath in front of my office window. Why it chose to visit the middle of metropolitan Phoenix is anyone's guess. It's a gorgeous bird, so I'm glad it did! Anyway...here are my favorite "couples" who sprang to my fractured mind first:

--Jamie and Claire from Diana Gabaldon's epic Outlander series. It's a combination of two people from radically different time periods and loads of mutual attraction, humor, disagreements and experiences.

--Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James from Deborah Crombie's award-winning mystery series. Their relationship is spiced up a bit because they both work for Scotland Yard. Normally when I read mystery series, I do not want the two main leads falling in love with each other, but Crombie is doing such a marvelous job at developing the relationship that I can't resist.

--Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy from one of my all-time favorite books, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Two people from very different levels of society who are willfull in misunderstanding each other but ultimately willing to change and grow because they finally realize they're two sides of the same coin.

--Sir John Fielding, a blind magistrate of the Bow Street Court and the young boy, Jeremy Proctor, he takes into his household from Bruce Alexander's excellent mystery series. Orphaned Proctor is brought before Sir John on a trumped up charge of theft. Sir John gets to the truth of the matter and takes the young boy into his household, ostensibly to be his eyes on various murder cases. Their relationship grows into one of mutual respect, trust and love.

--Sarah Agnes Prine and Captain Jack Elliot of Nancy E. Turner's excellent These Is My Words, based on the life of Turner's great-grandmother. The way that Turner has Sarah slowly realizing that she's in love with Captain Jack is enchanting.

--Gabriel Du Pre and his Madelaine from Peter Bowen's excellent mystery series set in Montana. Du Pre and Madelaine are Metis Indians, and the lure of their relationship is based upon their culture and a life well-lived together.

--Granny Fox and her grandson Reddy from Thorton Burgess's animal stories for children. Wise, cranky Granny. Sly and slightly bumbling Reddy. They were my very first favorite couple!

If you'd like to see more answers to this excellent meme, just click on the graphic at the top of this post!



Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Ms. Anderson Decides What Others Read in Halsey, Oregon

From the looks of the article I read this morning, it seems like the witches got their broomsticks out early for Halloween. Or at least one of them did. Taffey Anderson of Halsey, Oregon discovered that her 13-year-old son had checked out a copy of The Book of Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley. She took a look, was not amused, and decided forthwith that neither she, her son, or anyone else with access to the public library was ever going to read that book again. Hopefully no one tells Ms. Anderson that there are several books in that particular series, since she's already informed all and sundry that, if the library replaces the book, she'll have someone else check it out and give it to her so she can add it to her bonfire. I don't want all the other Bunny books to wind up in her clutches, too.

What Ms. Anderson fails to realize--or to even care about--is that yes, she does have the right to choose what books she and her son read. However, she most emphatically does not have the right to tell anyone else what they can or cannot read. Take care of you and yours, Ms. Anderson. Leave the rest of us alone!


REVIEW: Baby Shark's High Plains Redemption


Title: Baby Shark's High Plains Redemption
Author: Robert Fate
ISBN: 9780979996023/Capital Crime Press
Protagonist: Kristin Van Dijk AKA Baby Shark
Setting: Texas and Oklahoma, 1957
Series: #3
Rating: B+

First Line: My headlights caught a weather-beaten sign.

When Baby Shark and her partner Otis Millett are hired to deliver the ransom for Savannah Smike, the piano-playing girlfriend of an Oklahoma bootlegger, they almost immediately discover that it's kill or be killed. They've gotten themselves smack dab in the middle of a feud between two rival bootlegging clans.

Author Robert Fate knows how to write a roller coaster of a plot that keeps the pages turning and keeps you concerned about the two main characters. The violence quota is high in these books, but I don't find it gratuitous. This third book in the series can be read as a standalone, but it would be better to start at the beginning with Baby Shark in order to understand why Kristin is the way that she is. The one thing that has concerned me with these books--the fact that Kristin tends to shoot first and not bother with questions--is addressed in this book in a way that is true to her character.

If you're in the mood for a book with lots of action, engaging characters and the flavor of Texas in the 1950's, you can't go wrong with Robert Fate's Baby Shark, and it looks as though the fourth book in the series is due out in May 2009. Good news indeed!


Monday, October 20, 2008

Tuesday Thingers: Are You a Serial Reader?


Today's question: Series. Do you collect any series? Do you read series books? Fantasy? Mystery? Science fiction? Religious? Other genre? Do you use the series feature in LT to help you find new books or figure out what you might be missing from a series?

Oh. My. Word. Do I read series books? I'm in the midst of reading so many series, I'll have to live to the ripe old age of 512 before I finish them all--that is, if the authors stop writing them at some point. The vast majority of the series books I read are mysteries--easily 98%. The only non-mystery series I read that I can think of right at the moment are Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series and Cynthia Harrod-Eagles' Morland (Dynasty) series. Okay. Now that I went to all the trouble to type that, I've remembered a couple more: Kage Baker's Sci-Fi "The Company" series and Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. (I'm holding off on reading Breaking Dawn. Not because I don't want the series to end, but because I overdosed on Edward's beauty. I'm one of those cranky women who distrust Pretty Boys.) I'm sure there are others, but they refuse to rise to the surface.

As for mysteries, I'll try to keep to the highlights: Peter Bowen's marvelous Gabriel Du Pré series, Craig Johnson's Sheriff Walt Longmire, Kate Ellis' Wesley Peterson, Deborah Crombie's Kincaid and James...oh, I give up! If you want to know, just take a look down the right sidebar of my blog! I think most character-driven readers (like myself) are going to gravitate to series reads because they give us the best opportunities to see our favorite characters grow...develop...change.

I have my catalog set to show books in series. I don't use LibraryThing to find more series books, however. I have other sources for that, and I use the excellent mystery website Stop, You're Killing Me! to help me keep reading them all in order.

If you want to read other responses to this fun meme, just click on the Tuesday Thingers graphic at the top of this post!


Biblioburro

It's almost as if the New York Times knew I'd just posted about my memories of the bookmobile and the small town library in which I grew up. Since I read about the pack horse librarians of Kentucky, I've been fascinated with the extremes to which people will go to bring books and the love of reading to others who live in very remote areas. Luis Soriano is my kind of hero. I'm sure after you read this article, you'll agree!


Sunday, October 19, 2008

It's.........MAILBOX MONDAY!


In keeping with my post last week, I'll start off by informing y'all that 18 of my books left my house and are winging their way to new readers. In their places, I have 9 new additions. Here's the list of newbies to Cathy's Cache:

--Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman, the first in the Tess Monaghan mystery series. Lippman just won a ton of awards at the most recent Boucheron, and I decided to see what all that fuss was about.

--Murder on Monday by Ann Purser, the first Lois Meade mystery. This is a new-to-me British author, and for some reason I have a good feeling about this book. Lois Meade is "a working-class mum who cleans houses for a living" in a small English village.

--Speak Daggers to Her by Rosemary Edghill, the first of the Bast mysteries centering around "a single white witch living in Manhattan, working as a freelance graphic designer". I don't always do well with woo-woo, but I had a good recommendation from a trusted source. We'll see!

--A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George, the first Inspector Lynley mystery. Like one of my favorite authors, Deborah Crombie, George is an American writing about the UK. I'm interested in seeing how she "stacks up" against Crombie.

--Say It With Poison by Ann Granger, the first Meredith and Markby mystery featuring a British consular officer.

--Bone Walker by Kathleen O'Neal Gear & W. Michael Gear, the third in their Anasazi mystery series. I read and enjoyed the first in the series, The Visitant, but this one's going to be on the TBR shelves percolating a bit until I obtain and read the second in the series. Yes, folks, 99.9% of the time, I insist on reading series in order. (The .1% is for when I screw up....)

--Cast in Stone by G.M. Ford, the second in the Leo Waterman mystery series. I read the first, Who in Hell is Wanda Fuca? and really enjoyed it (and loved the title). Leo is a P.I. in Seattle who often enlists the aid of local winos on his cases. Lots of humor and a great cast of characters.

--Dover One by Joyce Porter, the first in yet another new-to-me mystery series. Here is a blurb from the back of the book from the Manchester Evening News: " Meet Detective Chief Inspector Wilfred Dover. He's fat, lazy, a scrounger and the worst detective at Scotland Yard. But you will love him." Sounds like it has possibilities!

--Killing Floor by Lee Child, the first of the Jack Reacher mysteries. I keep hearing nothing but good about this series, and once again, Paperback Swap is allowing me to sample yet another new author and yet another new mystery series. At this rate, I'll have to do a Bella Swan in order to read all the books I want!

What appeared in your mailbox last week? Inquiring minds want to know! If you want to join this meme, just click on the mailbox graphic at the top of this post!




Mini-Review: Listen to the Mockingbird


Title: Listen to the Mockingbird
Author: Penny Rudolph
ISBN: 1894869737/Zumaya
Protagonist: Matty Summerhayes
Setting: New Mexico Territory, 1861
Rating: DNF

A woman who owns a horse ranch in New Mexico Territory? A mysterious past? Confederate soldiers riding up to her adobe? Dead bodies? This mystery had all the earmarks of something I would enjoy. After 63 pages, all I had was a headache. This time I think the reason for giving up was Reader Stupidity. Setting does have importance in the books that I read. Even if I've never been there, I like to have a good fix on where the book is taking place. I could never get a fix in Listen to the Mockingbird. Yes, I know that New Mexico Territory consisted of the present states of New Mexico and Arizona. Yes, I know that the southern half of the territory was often referred to as Arizona. I know where El Paso and Santa Fe are. With all that knowledge, you'd think I could figure out where Matty Summerhayes was. I couldn't. Add to the sense of being lost a total lack of involvement with any of the characters, and I just gave up. I got myself a cold bottle of green tea, an Excedrin, and wandered over to my TBR shelves. Sorry, Ms. Rudolph!


Tana French's Top Ten Mysteries



There's an article in the Guardian today in which Edgar Award-winning author Tana French talks about her ten favorite "maverick" mysteries. You can read the article in its entirety here.

I'm always a sucker for folks' Top Ten lists, and I don't know why. I usually disagree with them! Perhaps I'm an eternal optimist and believe that, one of these days, I'm going to find a list that is a perfect match for my own.

French doesn't do too badly in my estimation: P.D. James, Josephine Tey, Dennis Lehane.... If you're a mystery lover like me, take a look and see how well you agree (or don't) with French's list!




Saturday, October 18, 2008

REVIEW: Parnassus on Wheels


Title: Parnassus on Wheels
Author: Christopher Morley
ISBN: 1879923017/Booksellers House
Protagonist: middle-aged Helen McGill
Setting: New England around 1910
Rating: A+

First Line: I wonder if there isn't a lot of bunkum in higher education?

There are a few days when the world seems to hang still in a dreaming, sweet hush, at the very fulness of the fruit before the decline sets in. I have no words (like Andrew) to describe it, but every autumn for years I have noticed it. I remember that sometimes at the farm I used to lean over the wood pile for a moment just before supper to watch those purple October sunsets. I would hear the sharp ting of Andrew's little typewriter bell as he was working in his study. And then I would try to swallow down within me the beauty and wistfulness of it all, and run back to mash the potatoes.

Such is the life of forty-year-old Helen McGill, a woman who began her working life as a governess. For the past several years, she's been on a New England farm, taking care of her brother, Andrew, who's become a successful writer. Andrew's begun to vex the pudding out of Helen. Now that he's famous, he thinks nothing of packing a bag and taking off for weeks at a time, leaving her all the work on the farm. Helen's had enough. The day Roger Mifflin appears, rolling up the drive in a homemade book wagon pulled by a fat old horse, she panics. Mifflin wants to get out of the book trade and return to Brooklyn to write his own book. From reading her brother Andrew's books, Mifflin feels that he is just the person that will buy his "Parnassus on Wheels". Helen agrees whole-heartedly. In fact, she can already see Andrew loading up the wagon and disappearing for months (instead of weeks) at a time. In a move to forestall Andrew, Helen buys the wagon, all the contents, the horse and the dog for $400--the money she's been saving to buy a Ford.

But something else grabs hold of Helen. She's never had a vacation. She's never even had a tiny little adventure. Thinking that it would serve Andrew right if she took off on her own jaunt, she packs a bag, climbs into Parnassus the wagon, and Mifflin takes her out on the road to show her how to survive in the traveling book trade.

In 1917, Morley, a lowly editor of the Doubleday, Page & Company of Long Island, was miffed because he was refused a raise. He started writing Parnassus on Wheels during spare moments. The book was accepted, and the print run of 1500 sold out. Nice, but not spectacular. What this 130-page book did was launch him into fame as a writer in the early twentieth century. I can see why. I think I had a smile plastered on my face the entire time I read this book. Morley has a cast of brilliant characters, especially Helen, and the autumn in New England setting was so well done that I felt as though I had my own seat on the book wagon. The illustrations were a perfect counterpoint to the text. Even though some of the terminology may confuse readers who aren't familiar with that era, they should still find it a delightful story. Give it a try--I seriously doubt that you'll be disappointed!





Library Memories: The Bookmobile


Mom was having resounding success at increasing the circulation of books in the library. More and more people were signing up to have their very own library cards. It wasn't long before the library board wanted more, and they began pressuring her to join with the Rolling Prairie Library system so that our library would have regular visits from the bookmobile and the added resources of the much larger organization. Mom was all for the bookmobile and the resources, but she had her doubts about how well our small town library would mesh with Rolling Prairie. As for me, I was all for the change. I already had a library card for the Decatur Public Library, and anything that would give me access to more books without the necessity of Mom borrowing my grandparents' car was good to me.

But I knew that Mom always had a reason for everything she did in her job, her passion. She spoke with librarians in other small towns who'd joined the system. She wanted their firsthand knowledge of what to expect. Over and over she heard the same things. The access to a wider range of books was marvelous, but the larger system was very insistent on the smaller libraries changing to their way of doing things. For us, one of those "ways of doing things" would mean reverting to the Dewey decimal system--something that Mom had already proved did not work in our library. She told the board of her reservations. By this time, almost the entire library board was new. They were "young bloods" of the town. They were all readers. They shared Mom's passion. Mom had proved to them that she knew what she was doing, and after hearing her misgivings, the board told her to go ahead and join with Rolling Prairie--but to stand her ground whenever it came to a change that would not be in our library's (and our patrons') best interests.

At that time, the people in town weren't allowed on the bookmobile. Only Mom and I were allowed to climb aboard, and I don't know how I restrained myself to let Mom be the first one up the steps. I was so excited! We both knew the sort of books for which we were looking. I had been helping patrons choose books to read for quite some time, but Mom chose the adult books, and I chose the young adult and children's books. Needless to say, I took a look at everything inside the bookmobile and chose a few things for myself as well. I did feel very grown-up though at having the responsibility of choosing books that other people would want to check out and read.

While the paperwork was being dealt with, one of the ladies stepped down from the bookmobile and came into the library with me. She looked a bit like a June Cleaver clone in her cotton shirtwaist dress with the pastel flower print. All she was missing was her pillbox hat with the tasteful veil and a pair of gloves. She acted as though she were about to perform a White Glove Inspection. Mom and I kept the library clean at all times. We had expected this, but it hadn't taken any time at all for us to get ready because, as I said, we kept the place clean and organized. This lady looked at the desk and the chairs in front. I don't think she liked the fact that it was obvious people were welcome to sit and chat with the librarian. She slowly walked down one aisle, looking at the shelves on both sides. She took a close look at the children's section in back, at the table and chairs. She looked out the window at the thrilling view of the transformers and the siren. She walked slowly back up the other aisle, again looking at the books on both sides. I might have liked her if she hadn't been conducting her inspection by looking down her nose with her mouth screwed up like she'd just bitten into a sour persimmon. She definitely gave the impression that this little town library was beneath her.

It wasn't long before requests came to Mom almost demanding the changeover to the Dewey decimal system.

Five years later, when Mom and I moved out of state so we could both attend college, the Moweaqua Public Library still was not on the Dewey decimal system.

I know this installment doesn't put the Rolling Prairie Library system and one of their librarians in the best of lights. Unfortunately these things can and do happen. But all this happened over thirty years ago, and I know things have changed dramatically since then. As it was, they were responsible for bringing our small town a much wider range of reading material than we could afford on our budget, and for that I will always be thankful.

[Next Sunday: The Card Catalog]


REVIEW: A Field of Darkness


Title: A Field of Darkness
Author: Cornelia Read
ISBN: 9780446699495/Warner Books
Protagonist: journalist Madeline Dare
Setting: Syracuse and Long Island, New York in 1988
Series: #1
Rating: A-

First Lines: There are people who can be happy anywhere. I am not one of them.

Madeline Dare comes from Old Money in Long Island, New York. Money so old that none of it's left. Married to Dean, a railway worker and inventor who's gone for long periods of time, Madeline finds herself in the "mental dust bowl" of Syracuse, New York, writing puff pieces for the local newspaper. Then someone hands her a set of old dog tags that were found at a decades-old murder site. The name on the tags? That of her favorite cousin. Profoundly shocked, Madeline decides to do her own investigating to prove that her cousin couldn't possibly be the murderer.

I was hooked from the first two sentences. (Like Madeline, I am not a person who can be happy anywhere.) The more I read, the more I was hooked by her love for her husband, her views on anything from the rich and shameless to the environment, and her sarcasm. Following her investigation was painful, but mesmerizing. Madeline so obviously doesn't know what she's doing, and her stumbling and bumbling have dire consequences for others. I wasn't shocked at the outcome; as the clues were placed before me, I knew there could be no other. Regardless of my pain in reading about her "investigation", I couldn't put this book down. The setting, the time period, the characters all came to life for me in Read's debut.

Unlike many other books that I finish reading and wonder where the author got the background, there's no guesswork to A Field of Darkness. At the end of the book, Read very clearly states from where much of the background came: her own life. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this series, The Crazy School. I sincerely hope that Madeline will become a better investigator!


Thursday, October 16, 2008

Friday Fill-Ins #94


--Follow the yellow brick road.

--Books
are something I always take with me on vacation. (I pack them first!)

--To achieve your goals, you must suck it up and work hard.

--My middle name is something I'd like you to know about me. (Glenore)

--I have a brand-new pair of roller skates...you have a brand-new key.

--Hope
floats.


Want to read more? Just click on the graphic at the top of this post!


Wednesday, October 15, 2008

REVIEW: Cover Her Face


Title: Cover Her Face
Author: P.D. James
ISBN: 0743219570/Scribner
Protagonist: Detective Chief Inspector Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard
Setting: a country house outside London in the late 1950s
Series: #1
Rating: A

First Line: Exactly three months before the killing at Martingale Mrs. Maxie gave a dinner party.

Young housemaid Sally Jupp is found strangled behind a locked door in the Elizabethan manor house of Martingale, ancestral home to the Maxies. It is up to the brilliant Detective Chief Inspector Adam Dalgliesh to find her killer among a houseful of suspects, most of whom had good reason to dislike her.

I've heard a lot about P.D. James over the years, and since I'm having such a run of good luck with UK mystery writers, I finally decided to find out what all the fuss has been about.

It's been about some absolutely brilliant writing...in her very first book. Although the book was published in 1962, it does not feel dated. There are no needless descriptions of clothing, hair styles, shoes, car models, telephones, or kitchen appliances. When someone drives somewhere, you know they're traveling on a road in a vehicle, and that's it. Sounds rather sparse, but it's not. James focuses all her energies on the mystery and doesn't get bogged down in details that will only date the book for future generations of readers.

Chapter four is brilliant. In it Dalgliesh interviews all the suspects. The reader is allowed inside each person's head. One of them is the murderer, and yet James doesn't give away the person's identity. Only by careful reading was I able to piece together all the strategically placed clues to pare the list down to one person, and even then I wasn't sure until the very end.

Character-driven reader that I am, the only shortcoming I found was that James was so detached in her characterizations that I really didn't care one way or the other for any of the people in Cover Her Face. But the way she puts together a mystery--pure gold!

Booking Through Thursday--Patience Among the Shelves

What tomes are waiting patiently on your shelves?



I've kept up with my fiction reading over the years. Outside of my designated TBR shelves, there are extremely few fiction books I own that I haven't read. What I tend to buy and hoard for future years are history and biographies; books on subjects that I've been interested in for a long time. They sit on the long run of bookcases along the living room wall, and every time I walk past them, I smile. I know that Here Be Delight. Books on Arizona history. Books on medieval British history. Books on battles my grandfather fought in during World War II. Books on the Civil War and World War I. Books about famous ships. Biographies of intrepid Victorian female explorers in Africa and the Middle East. Biographies of writers like Edgar Allan Poe, Edith Wharton, Jean Rhys and Dorothy Parker. Biographies of pirates and kings and architects and courtesans and rebels. It's not unusual for me to have one of these books in my possession for a decade before I pick it up, read it, and savor each page. But pick them up and savor them I most certainly do.

Now that I think about it, I have no earthly clue why I seem to treat fiction like denim and non-fiction like silk. Both types of books are as essential to me as breathing.


Quote of the Day from P.D. James



Famed mystery writer P.D. James told a college audience that her career path was laid out early in life. "My parents had an inkling of what I might become when I was five years old. When they read me 'Humpty Dumpty', I asked, 'Was he pushed?'"


Tuesday, October 14, 2008

I Collect Bookshops!


Many people like to collect items during their travels: postcards, snow globes, spoons...you name it. I used to do that too, until I got a digital camera. Now most of my souvenirs are photographs, but I still try to pick up bookmarks in my travels. Cheap, light, and extremely portable. There's another thing that I collect: memorable bookshops, so it made me smile when I read this article about a family that does the same thing. In it Erin Gehan lists some of the memorable bookshops she and her family have discovered on their travels. Her list reminded me of a few of mine, some of which (very unfortunately) no longer exist in places like Water Street in Port Townsend, Washington, just off the beach in San Diego, California, Sam Weller's in Salt Lake City, Utah, and that old converted railway station--Barter Books--in Alnwick, Northumberland, England. The photo above is one I took at Barter Books. You can click on it to view it full size.

Do you make it a point to visit bookshops when you travel? What are some of your favorites that you've discovered?


State Bird...State Flower...State Book?


I wonder sometimes if it's possible to go too far. Each state in this country has a State Bird, a State Flower, a State Tree. (Arizona's are the cactus wren, the saguaro cactus blossom, and the yellow palo verde, respectively.) Now it seems that the Massachusetts state government is in a flap over designating the State Book. Some folks want the Massachusetts State Book to be Moby Dick. Others passionately disagree. Now...I could make a snarky remark here about the state of the economy and what these paid officials are choosing to spend their time on, but I won't. I like a good book discussion just as much as the next bookaholic. You can read the entire article here.

Of course, after reading that article, the first thing that popped into my head was: what would Arizona's state book be? If you're reading this and live in the US, which book would you nominate from your own state?


"I just want to be entertained!"


When some people read, they read to learn, to expand their horizons. When other people read, they read to escape their surroundings, to be entertained. In which camp do I belong? Both. (Why limit myself, eh?) I believe that you can read to learn and to be entertained. One doesn't necessarily exclude the other. But there are times that I like to pick up something light just to read and laugh. Robert Gray has a weekly column for Shelf Awareness called Fresh Eyes Now. This week's column is all about recommendations from booksellers for those times when you just want to be entertained. You can check it out here.




Monday, October 13, 2008

Tuesday Thingers--Early Reviewers


Today's question: Early Reviewers- do you participate? How many books (approximately) have you received through the program? Have you liked them generally? What's your favorite ER book? Do you participate in the discussion group on LT?

Yes, I've participated in the Early Reviewers Program since January 2008. During that time I've received four books, three of which I really enjoyed (with the fourth being so-so). Through reading various topics in the ER discussion group, I've seen that some folks request practically every book that's on offer, thinking that this is the best way to snag something. That's not a method or philosophy that I'd choose for myself. I don't want to receive just anything. My reading time is very precious to me, so I only request books that I think I will truly enjoy. (There have been a couple of months when I didn't request anything.) My favorite ER book has to be Ann Cleeves' White Nights, the second book in her Shetland Quartet. I have participated sporadically in the discussion group whenever I see a topic that piques my interest.

I have to credit LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program for making me realize that, yes--I, too, can receive free books, and it's also introduced me to the wonderful world of book bloggers!



Sunday, October 12, 2008

Mailbox Monday



Once again, all my acquisitions are from Paperback Swap. I have just under 3500 books here in my house. In previous weeks, all you've seen are the books coming in. Sooner or later, you're going to start wondering when I'll be floating a second loan to build another floor on this 1952 ranch house. So before I list the seven books I received last week, I'll just say that seven may've come in, but nine were sent to new homes! Here's the list from last week:

--The Becket Factor by Michael David Anthony. Anthony only wrote four books before his death. This is the first in his Canterbury Cathedral mystery series.

--The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard about murder in small town Kansas.

--Sepulchre by Kate Mosse. I really enjoyed her first book, Labyrinth, and this one also has strong female leads and dual narratives spanning centuries. This time, a deck of tarot cards is at the center of it all.

--Lonely Hearts by John Harvey. I really enjoyed Harvey's first Frank Elder mystery, Flesh & Bone, and I've heard nothing but good about his Charlie Resnick series, so I thought I'd give the first one a try.

--The Last Victim in Glen Ross by M.G. Kincaid, which is the first book in a new-to-me Scottish mystery series.

--A Dedicated Man by Peter Robinson, the second in the Inspector Banks mystery series.

--The Monkey's Raincoat by Robert Crais, the first Elvis Cole mystery.

Let's see...seven books, four of which are UK mystery series. Anyone see a pattern here?

To see what others got in their mailboxes, just click on the mailbox graphic!




A Reader's Artist: Deborah DeWit Marchant


It's almost impossible to believe that a month has gone by. It's already time to spotlight another wonderful piece of art by Deborah DeWit Marchant. Halloween is coming. This painting has a book, a cat, a raven and a full moon. Called Night Companions, it seems perfect for this season. If you're hooked and would like to invest in a book of Reader's Art like I did, consider buying a copy of Deborah's book, In the Presence of Books.


Library Memories: The Back Door


Last week, I described how Mom and I walked to the library, but there's always an alternate route. We could get there even quicker if we walked from the back door of the apartment to the back door of the library. This route usually meant that either (1) the weather was absolutely foul, or (2) Mom wanted to get some work done and not have anyone see us. Being a librarian was a part time position in our small farm town, but Mom had made promises to the library board, and that meant putting in unpaid time. The board received even more work gratis because I worked there and never got paid a cent until I turned sixteen. But in both our cases, it was a labor of love.

Mom had told the library board that she would make sure circulation increased dramatically if they coughed up the money for more shelves and more books. We had those brand new shelves and lots of those shelves were empty. The Village Hall and the Library were two of the busiest places in town when they were open, so it was almost impossible for us to get anything else done besides working with the patrons. We had no choice but to "sneak in" the back door during hours when the library was closed. The short path led right past all the transformers and other electrical equipment of the village "power station", which had a tendency to draw huge bolts of lightning when it stormed. High above our heads was the siren that went off faithfully at noon each day and when there was a fire. When it wasn't noon and that siren went off, everyone gravitated to the front window to watch all the volunteer firemen come running to the station next-door. And many's the time I was sitting in the back during a storm when lightning struck a few yards away. I'd jump so high that I swear there should still be a dent in the ceiling above the table!

One of the first things Mom did was get a new rolling bamboo shade for the front window. In the summer, the huge piece of plate glass seemed to act like a magnifying glass, and anyone sitting at the front desk would soon feel as if they were on a grill. With that blind rolled down completely over the window and only the very back bank of lights on, people couldn't tell that anyone was in there. We were free to work.

To this day, opening a box of books gives me a thrill that I simply cannot explain to another soul. The smell of new books, the feel of the covers, the excitement of being the first person to open each one, the infinite romance of possibility! If you've got the fever, you understand. If you don't, I can't help but feel a little sorry for you.

When a book shipment arrived, Mom would have it taken to the back room of the Town Hall. Then we'd come back later, move the boxes to the table in the back and start to work. We would take turns reading each title and verifying it against the invoice. Being a typical small child, I was in love with glue, so I had the task of attaching the book pocket to the inside of each book while Mom wrote out the card that would go inside. Then each dust jacket would be encased in a protective mylar cover. Each completed book would go in a separate genre pile. Sometimes the shipment would be so large that we'd have to stop and shelve the finished books before we could continue.

Very gradually, those huge gaps on those new shelves began to disappear (which meant that more jacks had to be put in the basement to hold the floor up). The books sat there, gleaming, like magnets for it seemed that the more books were put on the shelves, the more people came in to check them out. Mom knew everyone in town. She knew the people who were readers and knew the types of books they liked. But as more people heard about the library coming to life and came in to see what was available, Mom didn't always know their preferences. She always, always asked. She knew it was impossible to get every single person in the area inside that library as a patron, but I believe that that was actually her goal. She was passionate about reading, and wanted everyone to have the chance to share her passion.

As I grew up with her in that library, I learned more than just a passion for books and reading. I learned about invoices and inventory, patrons and preferences, hard work and the value of a strong work ethic. I learned that, if you have passion, your energy is boundless, your creativity crackles and sparks, and you just plain want to share it with everyone.

[Next Sunday: The Bookmobile]




Saturday, October 11, 2008

REVIEW: Heavy Words Lightly Thrown


Title: Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind the Rhyme
Author: Chris Roberts
ISBN: 1592401309/Gotham Books
Non-Fiction
Rating: B

First Line: It should come as no surprise that nursery rhymes are full of sex, death, and cruelty.

Chris Roberts often leads walking tours of London. Having his tour guide patter constantly besieged with questions gave him the idea for this book. Roberts' preface to the US edition talks a bit about the metamorphosis this book has taken, and he thanks Gotham Books for the idea of including a glossary for those Americans who, unlike me, don't have an in-house interpreter for Cockney rhyming slang and the like. (Fortunately I didn't have to avail myself of my interpreter while reading Heavy Words Lightly Thrown.)

Roberts took me on a journey through many of the familiar nursery rhymes of my childhood: Little Jack Horner, Old King Cole, Pop Goes the Weasel.... I knew the origins of some and was quite enlightened by others. To say that I'll never think of goosebumps the same way again would be an understatement! I quite enjoyed Roberts' humorous style and think anyone interested in literary history would as well.