DVD
The Lookout starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeff Daniels, Matthew Goode. I bought this? I don't remember this. Something about a lonely bank guard who gets schmoozed by a con man into helping rob the bank.
CD
New Favorite by Alison Krauss and Union Station. This isn't new but it was on the processing cart; it must have gotten a new label or something. That Krauss lady? I don't get it. She always had that weird over-achieving child prodigy vibe. I only remember seeing her twice at school, and one time was graduation.
Large Print
Summer Reading by Hilma Wolitzer. Three gals in a summer book club compare literary characters to themselves and get to know one another.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Author of Kite Runner - which a lot of people liked - with another novel set in Afghanistan.
In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien. This is an older book but was in a standing order plan I just signed up for. When I asked the saleslady on the phone why an older title was chosen she said, "I don't know why she picked that. Maybe because it was a re-release. She regrets it now. Everything else will be new."
Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak. Slightly estranged families, one in Istanbul and one in Arizona meet when the AZ daughter visits Turkey. A hidden family history gets exposed. I assume it has something to do with the Armenian pogroms. Good title though. Here are some other good titles: Butt Wars! The Final Conflict, Candy Girl: a year in the life of an unlikely stripper, Rotten: No Irish - No Blacks - No Dogs.
Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos. Old lady in Seattle meets young lady visiting Seattle. Both learn to love blah blah blah.
Large Print NonFiction
Kabul Beauty School: an American woman goes beyond the veil by Deborah Rodriguez. The book cover does not say much. I infer that Rodriguez opened a beauty school in Afghanistan after the killers-in-charge were kicked out.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Hodgepodge
DVD
We Are Marshall starring Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, Ian McShane, David Strathairn. The plane carrying the Marshall University football team crashes killing most of the coaches and players. New coach joins up and rebuilds program Take a drink each time McConaughey goes topless.
Fiction
Playing for Pizza by John Grisham. A third string NFL quarterback comes off the bench and delivers a spectacular losing performance late in a playoff game. The only football job he can get is in an Italian league.
Inspirational Fiction
The Parting by Beverly Lewis. Another series by Lewis, The Courtship of Nellie Fisher, set in an Amish community.
Mystery
Dead Heat by Dick Francis and Felix Francis. Horses and murder. We've got the large print edition too.
McCafferty's Nine by Elizabeth Gunn. A Jake Hines mystery set in Southeastern, MN. The inside cover says "mid-sized city" so I'm guessing Rochester, Red Wing or Winona.
An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris. Since a trailer park lightning strike when she was fifteen Harper Connelly has been able to locate graves. Now, she's hired to find a missing teen in North Carolina. Several other teens from the town have gone missing over the past five years and none were runaways.
We Are Marshall starring Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, Ian McShane, David Strathairn. The plane carrying the Marshall University football team crashes killing most of the coaches and players. New coach joins up and rebuilds program Take a drink each time McConaughey goes topless.
Fiction
Playing for Pizza by John Grisham. A third string NFL quarterback comes off the bench and delivers a spectacular losing performance late in a playoff game. The only football job he can get is in an Italian league.
Inspirational Fiction
The Parting by Beverly Lewis. Another series by Lewis, The Courtship of Nellie Fisher, set in an Amish community.
Mystery
Dead Heat by Dick Francis and Felix Francis. Horses and murder. We've got the large print edition too.
McCafferty's Nine by Elizabeth Gunn. A Jake Hines mystery set in Southeastern, MN. The inside cover says "mid-sized city" so I'm guessing Rochester, Red Wing or Winona.
An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris. Since a trailer park lightning strike when she was fifteen Harper Connelly has been able to locate graves. Now, she's hired to find a missing teen in North Carolina. Several other teens from the town have gone missing over the past five years and none were runaways.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
DVDs
DVDs
Heroes: Season One starring Ali Larter, Hayden Somebody and other names I cannot recall. Season one of the hit television program.
Year of the Dog starring Molly Shannon, Laura Dern, John C. Reilly, Peter Sarsgaard. Single dog-lover Peggy goes into a tailspin when her dog dies in this "charming and quirky comedy about the search for love." This received good reviews but the back cover blurbs are probably baloney.
House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects directed by Rod Zombie and starring Sheri Moon, Karen Black, Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, William Forsythe. Two DVD set of horror movies by musician turned film director Rod Zombie.
House of Games starring Joe Mantegna, Lindsay Crouse, Ricky Jay. David Mame's 1987 debut as a film director. Psychiatrist Margaret Ford has a patient with gambling problems. She agrees to help him in a poker game by reading the tells of the other players. But, things are not what they seem. This is a great movie with the misdirection and plot surprises that Mamet is good at.
Heroes: Season One starring Ali Larter, Hayden Somebody and other names I cannot recall. Season one of the hit television program.
Year of the Dog starring Molly Shannon, Laura Dern, John C. Reilly, Peter Sarsgaard. Single dog-lover Peggy goes into a tailspin when her dog dies in this "charming and quirky comedy about the search for love." This received good reviews but the back cover blurbs are probably baloney.
House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects directed by Rod Zombie and starring Sheri Moon, Karen Black, Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, William Forsythe. Two DVD set of horror movies by musician turned film director Rod Zombie.
House of Games starring Joe Mantegna, Lindsay Crouse, Ricky Jay. David Mame's 1987 debut as a film director. Psychiatrist Margaret Ford has a patient with gambling problems. She agrees to help him in a poker game by reading the tells of the other players. But, things are not what they seem. This is a great movie with the misdirection and plot surprises that Mamet is good at.
Bunch of Novels and a New Book About the Kennedys
Kennedy NonFiction (deserving of it's own genre)
Brothers: the hidden history of the Kennedy years by David Talbot. John and Bobby Kennedy's battles against the gung-ho, anti-commie hawks in Washington and Bobby's own suspicions about his brothers murder. Not exactly a conspiracy book, but covering the suspicions held by leaders themselves.
NonFiction
The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. "This book turns discipline into a positive, affirming experience by offering a collection of proven techniques that you can custom-tailor to your child's unique personality."
Large Print
Dead Heat by Dick Francis and Felix Francis. Some horse racing mystery. I presume Dick is going into partial retirement and handing the reins - pun intended - to Felix.
Fiction
Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay. I have read Lindsay's previous two Dexter novels and they are great. Dexter is a blood splatter analyst for the City of Miami PD but his true passion is torturing and killing pedophiles and murderers. Dexter is a charming sociopath who has everyone convinced he is an average and happy dude. But, he is just very self-aware and plotting. Lindsay takes the gruesome subject matter and injects a lot of humor into the story. Dexter narrates each story and his misunderstandings and misinterpretations of basic human behavior and relationships are interesting.
Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen. I've never read Gerritsen's books but she has a lot of fans. Dual narratives set in present day and 1830 Boston. In 1830 a poor medical student robs graves for cadavers. After a bloody campus murder he becomes a main suspect and starts his own investigation.
One-Way Ticket by William G. Tapply. Brady Coyne gets a late night call that his friend Dalton was severely beaten and in hospital. Coyne finds that Dalton was beaten for his son Robert's gambling debts to the Boston mob. When Coyne tries to interecede the mob boss holds Coyne responsible for his friend. But, what happens when Robert disappears...?
Brothers: the hidden history of the Kennedy years by David Talbot. John and Bobby Kennedy's battles against the gung-ho, anti-commie hawks in Washington and Bobby's own suspicions about his brothers murder. Not exactly a conspiracy book, but covering the suspicions held by leaders themselves.
NonFiction
The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. "This book turns discipline into a positive, affirming experience by offering a collection of proven techniques that you can custom-tailor to your child's unique personality."
Large Print
Dead Heat by Dick Francis and Felix Francis. Some horse racing mystery. I presume Dick is going into partial retirement and handing the reins - pun intended - to Felix.
Fiction
Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay. I have read Lindsay's previous two Dexter novels and they are great. Dexter is a blood splatter analyst for the City of Miami PD but his true passion is torturing and killing pedophiles and murderers. Dexter is a charming sociopath who has everyone convinced he is an average and happy dude. But, he is just very self-aware and plotting. Lindsay takes the gruesome subject matter and injects a lot of humor into the story. Dexter narrates each story and his misunderstandings and misinterpretations of basic human behavior and relationships are interesting.
Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen. I've never read Gerritsen's books but she has a lot of fans. Dual narratives set in present day and 1830 Boston. In 1830 a poor medical student robs graves for cadavers. After a bloody campus murder he becomes a main suspect and starts his own investigation.
One-Way Ticket by William G. Tapply. Brady Coyne gets a late night call that his friend Dalton was severely beaten and in hospital. Coyne finds that Dalton was beaten for his son Robert's gambling debts to the Boston mob. When Coyne tries to interecede the mob boss holds Coyne responsible for his friend. But, what happens when Robert disappears...?
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Novels, Large Print, NonFiction
Novels
You've Been Warned by James Patterson and Howard Roughan.
47th Samurai by Stephen Hunter. The return of Bob Lee Swagger. Swagger's father Earl survived Iwo Jima with the Medal of Honor and a dead Japanese officer's sword. The dead officer's son tracks the sword back to Bob and Bob travels to Japan to return the sword to the family. When the Japanese family is killed for the sword Bob Lee starts to look around.
Large Print
Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs. Remember that outrageous cover blurb on the regular print edition of this? It's missing on this one.
Lost Diary of Don Juan by Douglas Carlton Abrams. "This thrilling page-turner masterfully renders the voice of Don Juan, and intriguing figure - from his secret childhood in a convent to his life as a libertine and to his inescapable fall into the madness of love."
Road to Samarcand by Patrick O'Brien. Treasure hunt across the Gobi Desert and into the mountains of Tibet.
Sleeping Beauty Proposal by Sarah Strohmeyer. Thirty-six year old Genie expects a proposal from welthy Hugh. When Hugh proposes to the wrong girl Genie keeps up a facade that she is his fiancee.
NonFiction
15 Stars: Eisenhower, MacArthur, Marshall: three generals who saved the century by Stanley Weintraub. "The story of their interconnected lives opens a fascinating window onto some of the twentieth century's most crucial events, revealing the personalities behind the public images and showing much of a difference three men can make."
The War: an intimate history: 1941-1945. Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns. Print companion to Burns' upcoming multi-part documentary on the U.S. in World War Two. Lots of photos.
You've Been Warned by James Patterson and Howard Roughan.
47th Samurai by Stephen Hunter. The return of Bob Lee Swagger. Swagger's father Earl survived Iwo Jima with the Medal of Honor and a dead Japanese officer's sword. The dead officer's son tracks the sword back to Bob and Bob travels to Japan to return the sword to the family. When the Japanese family is killed for the sword Bob Lee starts to look around.
Large Print
Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs. Remember that outrageous cover blurb on the regular print edition of this? It's missing on this one.
Lost Diary of Don Juan by Douglas Carlton Abrams. "This thrilling page-turner masterfully renders the voice of Don Juan, and intriguing figure - from his secret childhood in a convent to his life as a libertine and to his inescapable fall into the madness of love."
Road to Samarcand by Patrick O'Brien. Treasure hunt across the Gobi Desert and into the mountains of Tibet.
Sleeping Beauty Proposal by Sarah Strohmeyer. Thirty-six year old Genie expects a proposal from welthy Hugh. When Hugh proposes to the wrong girl Genie keeps up a facade that she is his fiancee.
NonFiction
15 Stars: Eisenhower, MacArthur, Marshall: three generals who saved the century by Stanley Weintraub. "The story of their interconnected lives opens a fascinating window onto some of the twentieth century's most crucial events, revealing the personalities behind the public images and showing much of a difference three men can make."
The War: an intimate history: 1941-1945. Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns. Print companion to Burns' upcoming multi-part documentary on the U.S. in World War Two. Lots of photos.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)