What to Read 6

Fiction




Defensive Handgunning by Glenn Rehberg.
Remote Control by Andy McNab.
Arkady Renko series by Martin Cruz Smith.

More Large Print - We've Got A Lot

Large Print

Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen. This has a weirdly convoluted summary on the cover that I am not going to try and translate.

Broken Window by Jeffrey Deaver. A killer is data-mining to find victims to rape and kill and then pins the crimes on innocent fall guys. Everything goes swimmingly for the scumbad until Lincoln Rhyme's cousin becomes one of the fall guys.

Twisted Creek by Jodi Thomas. Allie inherits a small town Texas cafe and brings her grandmother along as cook. Allie's bad luck starts to turn when some unlikely people become her friends.

Blood Trail by C.J. Box. Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett investigates the murder of an elk hunter who was hung and gutted like the game he was after.

River of Heaven by Lee Martin. Sam Brady has led a solitary life ever since his boyhood friend died on the railroad tracks in 1955. When Sam's brother returns after years of self-exile Sam starts to reveal details of that day in '55.

Mercy Street by Mariah Stewart. Four high school seniors go into the woods in Pennsylvania. Two are killed and the other two are missing. A private detective and local cop work together on a case that"meanders down a twisted path that leads to an old unsolved murder - and justice for a killer with a heart of stone."

Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan. "Stunning stories humanize the perils of poverty and violence so piercingly that few readers will feel they've ever encountered Africa so immediately."

Commoner by John Burnham Schwartz. Commoner Haruko marries the Crown Prince of Japan in 1959. Haruko is scorned by the Court and only respected because she will bear the Prince an heir. Thirty years and one nervous breakdown later Haruko persuades another commoner girl to accept her son's marriage proposal.

Here's the NonFiction I Was Too Lazy to Carry Out With the Fiction

NonFiction

Ghost: confessions of a counterterrorism agent by Fred Burton. Burton was a member of the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) counterterror team. The DSS protects embassies and diplomats around the world and Burton was on the edge edge of the fight against terrorists.
Several years ago, when I was considering cop jobs, working for the DSS seemed like a real neat job to me. You could travel all over, live overseas, and get free ammo. Then I saw that the pay was horrendous. I don't think I was qualified anyway; if I remember correctly they were looking for people with prior experience.

Fleeced: [big long wordy subtitle] by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann. "In this ahrd-hitting call to arms Dick Morris and Eileen McGann reveal the hundreds of ways American taxpayers are routinely fleeced - by our own government."

Me of Little Faith by Lewis Black. "In more than two dozen essays that investigate everything between how Christians and Jews celebrate their holidays, to the politics of faith, to people's individual search for transcendence, Black explores his unique odyssey through religion and belief...the inconsistencies and peculiarities of religion [that infuriate] Black."

Fish Without A Doubt: the cook's essential companion by Rick Moonen and Roy Finamore.

Rome 1960: the Olympics that changed the world by David Maraniss. I heard Maraniss speak at the WI Library Association meeting in Green Bay last fall and he spoke about doing the research for this in Rome. Should be a neat book.

Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder by Vincent Bugliosi. Zoinks! What a title! "Bugliosi presents a tight, meticulously researched legal case that puts George W. Bush on trial in an American courtroom for the murder of nearly 4,000 American soldiers fighting the war in Iraq."

When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris. Humorous true-life stories by Sedaris.

Fiction with Russian Thugs and Dr. Watson,

Fiction

Volk's Shadow by Brent Alexei "Volk" Volkovoy is beholden to two very different but equally dangerous men. One is a Russian Army general intent on personal wealth and political gain. The other is a Moscow crime lord. Both men are ruthless so it's a good thing "Volk" is so violent. VOlk is after a Faberge egg and evidence of atrocities from his old combat zone of Chechnya.

The Crimes of Dr. Watson by John H. Watson, M.D., edited by Duane Swierczynski. Dr. Watson is imprisoned for murder after Holmes' faked death in Switzerland. Holmes writes to the only man he can think to help free him, Philadelphia resident Colonel Harry Resmo. Watson's letter and included clues are found among Resmo's papers and Swizzlestickerinski presents the evidence for you to solve the crime.

AudioBooks on CD

AudioBooks

Not In the Flesh by Ruth Rendell. A truffle-hunting dog in in England digs up a body instead of a fungus. C.I. Wexford has to find out who was buried there and is surprised when a second body turns up.
The dog's owner should hire the dog out as a cadaver sniffing dog.

Nothing to Lose by Lee Child. Jack Reacher just wants a cup of coffee (like usual) in the middle-of-nowhere town named Despair. The locals are hostile (like usual) and Reacher gets in trouble (like usual). Reacher teams up wth a female cop (like usual) from the neighboring town named Hope. Reacher "goes up against a whole town...cracking open its terrifying agenda" (like usual).
You will read this and enjoy it (like usual) because (like usual) Child does a great job with his characters and story.

Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. The professorial exercise of "You are dying , what do you tell your students." becomes real for Pausch after he is diagnosed with terminal cancer. So, Rausch writes lecture, gets on television, writes a book, and doesn't die.
Just kidding. He still has cancer (in the later stages unfortunately) and the lecture Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams is supposed to be very inspiring and worth the attention it has received.

Queen of Babble Gets Hitched by Meg Cabot. A talkative woman gets married and hitchhikes through the countryside in her wedding dress. (Plot deduced from title and cover image.)

Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann B. Ross. Julia is freshly widowed and taking care of her husband Wesley's estate when Wesley's mistress shows up at the front door, announces dissatisfaction with Wesley's will, and deposits Wesley and the mistress's bastard child for Julia to care for. A comedy.

Plague Ship by Clive Cussler with Jack Du Brul. Who are we kidding? I have little doubt that Du Brul did all the heavy lifting here.
A spy ship comes across a cruise ship filled with dead people. The cruise ship sinks with one survivor and the spy ship captain is left to solve the mystery.

Sail by James Patterson and Howard Rougham. See my above comments about authorship.
A family in turmoil after hte father's death four years ago takes a sailing trip when disaster strikes and draws them together.

Large Print by Hannah the Page

Large Print

Swan Peak by James Lee Burke. Dave Robicheaux, his wife, and his friend Cletus go on vacation in Montana. I was unable to remember the wife's name and opened up the book to find it. I saw the word "she" and kept reading for a name. I found this instead, "She held his head between her breasts, then picked up his phallus, and placed it inside her."

Killer View by Ridley Pearson. Sun Valley Sheriff Walk Fleming and his team are searching for a missing skier when one of the team is shot dead. Another team member has disappeared.

Chasing Darkness by Robert Crais. Elivs Cole discovery of an exculpatory videotape got Lionel Byrd acquitted of murder. When Lionel is discovered dead by suicide with a photo album of dead women in his lap Cole wonders if his work led to the death of more women.

One of Those Malibu Nights by Elizabeth Adler. Some romantic suspense mystery set in Malibu.

New Stuff, 21 July 2008

DVD and CD

NonFic Donations

NonFiction

Monochrome Days: a firsthand account of one teenager's experience with depression by Cait Irwin.

Mind Race: a firsthand account of one teenager's experience with bipolar disorder by Patrick Jameson, PhD.

Eight Stories Up: an adolescent chooses hope over suicide by Dequincy A Lezine, PhD.

What You Must Think of Me: a firsthand account of one teenager's experience with social anxiety disorder by Emily Ford.

Chasing the High: a firsthand account of one young person's experience with substance abuse by Kule Keegan.

The Thought That Counts: a firsthand account of one teenager's experience with obsessive-compulsive disorder by Jared Douglas Kant.

Me, Myself, and Them: a firsthand account of one young person's experience with schizophrenia by Kurt Snyder.

The Whistle Didn't Blow Long Enough: a history of the Chicago and Lake Superior Railroad: shortest common carrier railroad in Wiscsonin by Robert Duerwachter.

Railroads of Southern and Southwest Wisconsin: development to decline by Daniel J. Lanz.

What to Read 5

What to Read 5.

Filmed in the basement storage room. With bad lighting and mumbling audio.



The Far Country by Nevil Shute.
The Cold Spot by Tom Piccirilli.

Crime Fiction and The Bible

Fiction

Wounded and the Slain by David Goodis. Another paperback from Hard Case Crime. A reprint from 1955. "Their marriage on teh rocks, James and Cora Bevan flew to Jamaica for a last chance at patching things up. But in the slulms of Kingston James found himself fighting for his life - while Cora found her own path to destruction, in the arms of another man."

Empty Ever After by Reed Farrel Coleman. Coleman has been awarded the Shamus, Barry, and Anthony awards for his novels. Coleman wrote the very good Hose Monkey under the pen name Tony Spinosa.

Demon of Dakar by Kjell Eriksson. Scandinavian noir and crime is quite rage these days. Swedish copper Ann Lindell and her assistants follow the clues from a trail of bodies back to the Dakar restaurant. Neither the restaurant owner and kitchen staff are above suspicion.

Yellow Medicine by Anthony Neil Smith. Fired from his Deputy job in Mississippi for "rule-bending and bribe-taking" Billy Lafitte lands on the tundra of rural Minnesota. Booze and girls occupy his spare time when a local band's girl bassist asks him to help out her boyfriend.
I've read several positive comments about this novel. The author is from Minnesota. I know some of you may take offense at that, but give him a try anyway. Besides, take pity on the guy, he works at Southwest MN State Univ. - he may as well be in Iowa.

Large Print

Dawn's Light by Terri Blackstock. Something about something.

NonFiction

Frommer's National Parks of the American West. Parks.

KJV Large Print Wide Margin Bible. Our last Large Print novel was a paperback and falling apart.

Miller's 20th Century Glass and Collector's Encyclopedia of Depression Glass. Donations made in memory of Frances Pirwitz by the Lake Mills Women's Club

Bruce Campbell! Futurama! Football!

DVD

Burn Notice: Season One starring BRUCE CAMPBELL and [important people]. Michael Westen (not played by Campbell) was fired and blacklisted from the spy community. He doubles as a private dick in Miami while trying to find out why.
The DVD case has him holding an older style Smith with the goofily squared trigger guard. But, the gun looks oddly photoshopped. Why is is that movie posters and DVD covers always have to add a gun to the cover? Gun equals action? If so why not have the actor pose with 0ne instead of clipping one in afterwards?

Giants: Road to XLII. Whoa...five discs worth football from last season. Games from Week 17 versus the Patriots, Wild Card Playoff versus the Buccaneers, Divisional Playoff versus the Cowboys, NFC Championship versus the Packers, Super Bowl XLII versus the Patriots.

Laurel and Hardy Collection starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Two discs with shorts and two feature films.

Beast with a Billion Backs starring Bender. "You'll gargle with fear!" The second feature length Futurama. Extras include David Cross eating popcorn, deleted scenes, storyboard, a brief history of Deathball.

Sheriff featuring Sheriff Ronald E. Hewitt of Brunswick County, North Carolina. Sheriff Hewitt works a "backwoods county" with crimes of murder, robbery, and lawn ornament theft. "At once brutal, bizarre, and funny, Sheriff employs the techniques of cinema verite: no interviews, no msic, no voice-overs. The result is an unexpected, intimate portrait of a complex man trying to do good in a bad world."

Vantage Point starring Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, others. The President is shot in Spain. Told from the vantage point (get it? vantage point?) of eight different characters.
Again, the cover has dudes - Quaid and Fox - and posing with pistols - Sigs. I remember reading that the Secret Service issues .357 Sig caliber. I'm not sure if that is correct though.

Mysteries

Mystery

Chasing Darkness by Robert Crais. The latest novel featuring Los Angeles private detective Elvis Cole.

Savage Night by Allan Guthrie. More trouble in Scotland. "Equal parts blood phobia and blood lust..Savage Night unfolds over six short blood-blind hours." A blood phobic guy is out for revenge while across town another guy is being blackmailed.

Reapers by John Connolly. Both Louis and his partner Angel are being targeted by Bliss, a Reaper. A Reaper is a killer's killer. When Louis and Angel disappear their friend Charlie, a Reaper in waiting, looks for them.

Gold Diggers by Tasmina Perry. Not a mystery. I'll have to fix this one. Sex with millionaires and billionaires in New York.

Dawn Patrol by Don Winslow. PI surfer in San Diego has a case. This is supposed to be really good, Booklist gave it a starred and highlighted review. That Crider fellow wrote about it. I didn't read his review because it looked like he would give the plot away.

Don't Tell A Soul by David Rosenfelt.

Vikings!!!

Vikings!!!

Wolf Sea by Robert Low. The Oathsworn, a viking band, await their leader Orm "to bring them back once more to wealth and warfare." When Orm's sword is stolen the band travel from Scandinavia to Constantinople, Greece, Jerusalem and back again to recapture it and wreak vengeance.

Everything Else

Ambush by Paul Carson. Thriller. Expatriot Dr. Scott Nolan is a successful doctor and well-known campaigner against illicit drugs in Ireland. When an assassination attempt on Nolan and the anti-drug Minister kills Nolan's wife Nolan teams with his policeman brother-in-law to catch the killers.

Winter Haven by Athol Dickson. Inspirational fiction. Vera's brother Siggy has been missing for thirteen years. His body is found washed ashore on the coast of Maine. But, Siggy body has not aged.

Summer Blowout by Claire Cook. Chick book. Bella breaks away from her family's chain of hair salons to start her own place.

Queen of Babble Gets Hitched by Meg Cabot. Chick book with continuing characters.

Killing Rommel by Steven Pressfield. Wartime Thriller. Commandos are sent into Egypt to kill German General Rommel during World War Two. Brilliantly realized historical accuracy that makes you feel you are there.

Steel Wave by Jeff Shaara. War book. Something to do with World War Two.

Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian. Oprah Style Chick Book. Family flees from fighting and Russians at end of World War Two.

Franchise Babe by Dan Jenkins. Humorous Novel. Eighteen years old blond Ginger is the next greatest thing that will put the LPGA on par with the PGA. But, someone is trying to have her killed. Journalist Jack Brannon gets in the middle of it.

Upside Down Inside Out by Monica McInerney. Chick Book. Guy and girl both travel to Australia for vacation. Both remake themselves with different identities. Guy and girl meet and how will their past (and real lives) come out without breaking them apart?

Boat by Nam Le. Serious Literature. Short stories set in Colombia, Iran, the U.S. and elsewhere.

Dirty Secrets Club by Meg Gardiner. Thriller Mystery. Murder-suicides by prominent San Francisco residents are investigated by forensic psychologist Jo Beckett.

Ex-Debutante by Linda Francis Lee. Chick Book. Carlisle ran away from Texas to be a divorce lawyer in Boston. Called back to Texas to help with her mother's latest divorce Carlisle finds herself salvaging the family's 100 year old Debutante Ball.

Finder by Colin Harrison. Suspense. Chinese lady on the run in New York City.

Death Angel by Linda Howard. Large Print Crime Novel.

More Fiction with Lawrence Block and James Lee Burke

Fiction

Tribute by Nora Roberts. This releases on July 8th. Former child actress Cilla returns to Viriginia to restore her maternal grandmother's home. Cilla's grandmother was a famous and decadent actress who died 30 years ago of a drug overdoes. Cilla finds a packet of letters in the house's attic showing that her grandmother may have been pregnant by a married man when she died. Was she murdered?

Silent Thunder by Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen. This releases on July 8th. I'm not sure what the deal with this is. Iris is alive but the copyright is by Roy and Johansen Publishing, LLP. Did Iris write any of this?
A Russian sub has been donated for public exhibition and marine architect Hannah is tasked to prepare it. Hannah finds a mysterious message right before a deadly assault on the sub. Hannah finds out why.

Swan Peak by James Lee Burke. This releases on July 8th. Dave Robicheaux is in Montana on vacation with his wife and his friend Clete. When two college students are found murdered nearby Dave gets involved. With: "a wealthy, vicious oil tycoon, his deformed brother and beautiful wife, a sexually deviant minister, an escaped con and former country music star, and a vigilante Texas gunbull out for blood."

Dust Devils by James Reasoner. "Redneck-noir thriller.. a mix of robbers, murderers, betrayals and death."

Hit and Run by Lawrence Block. Keller is very close to retirement. He has been working hard and saving his money. On a business trip to Iowa he is waiting to complete an assignment when the Governor is murdered. Keller sees his own face on television as the prime suspect. That's enough trouble for anyone but Keller makes his living as a hired killer. Now he is stuck in Iowa with no cash, no valid ID, and every cop on the lookout for him.

Large Print

TailSpin by Catherine Coulter.