Bounty of Books with Boxing, Blood, and "Watch You Bleed"

Fiction

Fifty-to-One by Charles Ardai. A guy decides to cash in on the pulp fiction market with a mob story by an 18 year old showgirl. Her supposed non-fiction story of a mob hit gets them on the wrong side of the wrong people.
Ardai writes good stuff.

A Promise for Spring by Kim Vogel Sawyer. Judging by the cover this is a Christian romance. Yep. English Gal Emmaline finally goes over to the U.S. after five years away from her fiance. But, will she want to stay on his Kansas sheep farm?
Set by the Solomon River in Kansas in the Northwest corner of Kansas.

Blood Sins by Kay Hooper. FBI agent recruits a young girl to be victim bait for a killer.

NonFiction

No-Man's Land: one man's odyssey through The Odyssey by Scott Huler. Middle-aged guy gets crisis induced philosophical notions of Odysseus and follows his path around the Mediterranean. Huler follows Odysseus' 20 year journey in six months from Troy to Ithaca.
Supposed to be very interesting and entertaining.

In Spite of Myself by Christopher Plummer. Big Secret Revealed: He's Canadian.
The stories of filming Sound of Music are really fun. Or so I've read.

Boxing for Beginners: a guide to competition and fitness by Billy Finegan with Courtney Clark. All the basics of a boxing workout and proper punching, blocking, ducking and slipping.

The Longest Trip Home by John Grogan. Dog guy writes memoir of childhood. Big Secret Revealed: he likes his parents.

Watch You Bleed: the saga of Guns N' Roses by Stephen Davis. You could say this band biography was well-timed to match the recent album release. Or, you could say that Davis lucked out the Chinese Democracy was released at all, let alone near his book's release date.
While on the topic, we have not yet gotten our copy of Chinese Democracy. Neither have the Chinese.

American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham. "An orphan who fought his way to the pinnacle of power, bending the nation to his will in the cause of democracy." There's a Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy joke in there somewhere. Keep looking, I couldn't find one.

Warlord: a life of Winston Churchill at war, 1874-1945 by Carlo D'Este. This is supposed to be a fantastic biography. That is saying something in a book world crowded by Churchill books.

O's Big Book of Happiness: the best of O, the Oprah Magazine by the editors. Big Secret Revealed: I won't read this.

What to Read 17

Two books to try.

Bill Mauldin: a life up front by Todd DePastino. Mauldin gained fame as a U.S. Army cartoonist during World War Two and won a Pulitzer prize in 1945, Mauldin continued as an an editorial cartoonist and newspaper columnist and was awarded a second Pulitzer in 1959. Book website is at http://www.billmauldinbiography.com/

Killing Floor by Lee Child. First book in the Jack Reacher series of novels. Reacher is a former military policeman traveling the US who gets involved in various troubles. Lee Child's website.

One Last Item Before Christmas Break

Music CD

Mamma Mia!: the movie soundtrack with [people]. I ended up ordering the "Deluxe Album with Bonus 'Behind the Scenes' DVD" for some reason. It comes with a booklet about the production filled with color photos.
Major chick movie.
EDIT: Pierce Brosnan was obviously hired for his acting ability, not his singing ability. However, Meryl Streep does sing well. Big surprise there, when doesn't she do well at something?
ANOTHER EDIT: I take that back. Streep does okay on some songs but not on others.