Friday, April 18, 2008

2 CD, 2 DVD, 4 Fic., 6 NonFic, No Bill Crider

CDs

High School Musical Two. Okay, this isn't really new. It was on the processing shelf after getting a replacement case.

Now That's What I Call Music Volume 20 by various artists. Nuts. This is an older one that needed a new case too. We did get some new CDs in yesterday, they are awaiting processing.

DVD

Disney Rarities: celebrated shorts 1920s - 1960s. I bought this for the 1956 cartoon, In the Bag, where the Jellystone Park bears are assigned to pick up garbage.

Man with the Golden Arm and Suddenly starring Frank Sinatra. Two films on one disc. Suddenly is a presidential assassination movie that, according to the case, was delayed or pulled from distribution after the Kennedy assassination. I've heard the same thing about The Manchurian Candidate which also stars Sinatra.

Fiction

Price of Blood by Declan Hughes. Third in a mystery series set in Ireland and featuring the word "blood" in the title. I read the first novel Wrong Kind of Blood and it was okay, but did not enjoy it enough to try the second book, Color of Blood.

Hold Tight by Harlan Coben. Big name author dude.

Bathtub Admirals by Jeff Huber. Former Navy pilot Huber writes a scathingly satiric novel of life in the modern U.S. Navy.

Deep Dish by Mary Kay Andrews. Some food based novel judging by the cover and title.

NonFiction

Ten-Cent Plague: the great comic-book scare and how it changed America by David Hajdu. After WW2 and before television comic books were hugely popular with "garish, shameless, and often shocking content." The resulting backlash by parents, teachers, and all the usual complainers ruined all the fun.

The Physics of NASCAR: how to make steel + gas + rubber = speed by Diandra Leslie-Pelecky. Leslie-Pelecky teaches physics at UT-Dallas. But, strangely, she seems to retain a research group at Nebraska-Lincoln and is not listed on the faculty directory for UT's Physics Department.

Bill Mauldin: a life up front by Todd DePastino. A biography of the great Bill Maudlin. A Pulitzer Prize winner during WW2 at age 22 Mauldin continued as an editorial cartoonist and won a second Pulitzer several years later. A diminutive but determined dude.

In Nixon's Web: a year in the crosshairs of Watergate by L. Patrick Gray III, former Acting Director of the FBI. Nixon considered him a threat and threw him to the wolves (the press). Details his relationship with Mark Felt (Deep Throat).

Trigger Men: Shadow Team, Spider-Man, the Magnificent Bastards, and the American combat sniper by Hans Halberstad. Why not? We own all the other sniper books in the world. See HOGs in the Shadows, Illustrated Manual of Sniper Skills, Stalkers and Shooters, Shooter.

Why Mars and Venus Collide: improving relationships by understanding how men and women cope differently with stress by John Gray, Ph.D. Because people want to read it.

No Bill Crider

This is a test of my theory that Crider has a blog or google alert and checks out all the links he is sent. Crider did post an online mention of Ten-Cent Plague and someone did check out two of his books today so I'm not totally off the mark.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Parker Returns and a Ken Bruen

Fiction

Dirty Money by Richard Stark. Parker continues along in Northern New York. He's after the bank robbery loot he stole two books ago and left behind when the police dragnet closed in. Sure to be another great crime novel by Donald E. Westlake's long lasting pen name.

Cross by Ken Bruen. Irishman Jack has a history of bringing his trouble to everyone he loves. He offers to help a friend investigate the crucifixion murder in Galway.

Notorious by Michele Martinez. Martinez's legal thriller books have checked-out well. Melanie Vargas is prosecuting a rap star when his lawyer says the rapper has ties to a fugitive. Moments later the lawyer is killed and Melanie has to investigate his murder and still try her case.

Outlaw Demon Wails by Kim Harrison. Some sort of vampire hunter and sex novel.

Ghost War by Alex Berenson. John Wells returns to Afghanistan after penetratin al-Quaeda in The Faithful Spy. This time he finds a link among China, a North Korean spy mission, and a mole in the CIA.

Burn Zone by James O. Born. ATF agent Duarte is in New Orleans to bust a gun runner and marijuana importer. he stumbles across something worse than guns and drugs and into trouble.
Edit: I was checking our website statistics on Stat Counter and saw someone visited this page after searching for Born. So I clicked the "Came From" page of Google results and found this. It is an online radio program scheduled for April 23 with Born as a guest. Give it a listen, I won't.

Forgery of Venus by Michael Gruber. Chaz Wilmot's skill as a painter in the style of past Master brings little fame or money. He takes a restoration job that turns out to be a forgery attempt. Art dealer Werner Krebs becomes Wilmot's friend and starts to have oddd hallucinations of the past that more be more than hallucinations and might be visits to the past.

Truth Commissioner by David Park. A Northern Ireland truth commission investigates the years old disappearance of a fifteen year old boy, Connor. Neither the government of the IRA want anyone to know about Connor's forced espionage and his resulting death.

Invisible by Andrew Britton. Former commando and CIA agent Ryan Kelayer goes back to work after a group of climbers disappear on the India-Pakistan border. The resulting diplomatic tussle between India and Pakistan gets worse when the acting Secretary of State visits Islamabad to mediate and is ambushed and kidnapped.

Sepulchre by Kate Mosse. Strange happenings and connections between 1891 and 2007 in France.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Fantabulous Fiction

Fiction

The Forbidden by Beverly Lewis. Part two in the Courtship of Nellie Fisher series. Another Christian themed romance by Lewis set in Amish country.

Third Circle by Amanda Quick. Amanda Quick is Jayne Ann Krentz's pen name. Leona is after a family relic stolen years ago. Hypnotist Thaddeus is after the relic - a crystal - for it's power. Their true antagonist is Lord Delbridge has already killed two men for the crystal and needs it to gain entry into a secret society.

Santa Fe Dead by Stuart Woods. Santa Fe attorney Ed testifies against his wife. "With private detectives, hit men, double crosses, and billion-dollar-bank accounts involved, Ed calls in every favor and follows every lead, no matter where they take him. From the posh resorts of desert California and the lush wine country of Napa, to the New Mexico high country and the seedy hotels of Tijuana, Ed Eagle won't rest until he's discovered the truth about what Barbara is up to - and settled the score."

Quicksand by Iris Johansen. An Eve Duncan forensics thriller.

Whole Truth by David Baldacci. Legal thriller.

Large Print

Large Print

Iron Cowboy by Diana Palmer. Woman author? Cowboys? A horse on the cover? "Sweet-natured bookseller" female? Draw you own conclusions.

Mystic Horseman by Kathleen Eagle. Must I repeat myself?

Them: a novel by Nathan McCall. Black guy rents ramshackle house. White couple move in next door and black guy and neighbor lady develop friendship over backyard fence. "But fear and suspicion build and clashes ensue as more whites move into the neighborhood, changing the familar landscape."

Heart of Horses by Molly Gloss. What the heck? Where did all these horse books come from? Girl in 1917 gets hired for horse breaking job in Oregon.

Prepared for Rage by Dana Stabenow. A standalone novel separate from the Stabenow's Park Ranger series. AN FBI agent and Coast Guard officer are guarding the Florida coast before a NASA shuttle launch. Determined terrorist plans an attack from sea.

Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult. I ought to read one of these Picoult novels some day. She is very popular. Condemned murderer want sto donate his heart to the sister of his victim.

Dead Time by Stephen White. We have the regular print. Personally troubled psychologist is asked by ex-wife to find the woman hired to be ex-wife's surrogate mother.

Morning Light by Catherine Anderson. The cover is all purple with a big photo of a purple tulip. Oh, great! Another cowboy romance. What a surprise.