Friday, June 26, 2009

Just a Bunch of Books

Novels I Will Not Read

Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk. Foreign exchange student is actually a spy and saboteur sent to plan and execute a terrorist attack "that will bring this big dumb country and its fat dumb inhabitants to its knees."
I wonder how many spies and terrorists have come to the U.S. all charged-up to cause trouble and then, after staying awhile, said "Screw that," and joined the neighbors for a beer?

Patterns in the Sand by Sally Goldenbaum. "A Seaside Knitters Mystery." How exciting! A knitting mystery. There's nothing that says death and suspense like knitting.

A Rogue of My Own by Johanna Lindsey. Is this one of those romances where the wild, free-roaming dude is drawn into the arms of some broad who tames his ways? Johanna Lindsey lives in Maine. Lindsey sells tons of books but I wonder if any are ghost written. I'll also bet she has the bucks to have a pretty big house - but I'll also bet she wasted her money on couches and bathtubs instead of installing an indoor shooting range.

NonFiction For Paranoids and Casual Reading

If Your Kid Eats This Book, Everything Will Be Okay: how to know if your child's illness is really an emergency by Lara Zibners, MD.

Mental Floss Presents Be Amazing by Maggie Koerth-Baker. Learn to Leave you mark on history, Train a cat, win a duel, build a dynasty, sell a kidney on the black market, perform your own surgery.
The surgery section mentions Aron Ralston who had his arm crushed and stuck when rock climbing in Utah in 2003. After a few days Ralston cut his arm off to get out. My brother mentioned once about meeting or hearing about this guy before the accident and that basically Ralston was an idiot and bound to have something happen to him.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Three NonFic, Two Fic

Fiction

The Scoop by Fern Michaels. Daisy Multroon takes over an ice cream stand in rural Georgia from her aging great aunt. Daisy is retreating from a soured engagement in the big city and decides a change of pace is in order. Daisy promptly and disastrously finds out that running a small business in a small town is tougher than she thought; her experience as a Atlanta investment banker has not prepared her for teenage employees, unreliable suppliers, and the handsome building inspector, Bud. Sparks fly between Daisy and Bud and they are not sparks of love. Yet.

I made all that up.

Swimsuit by Maxine Paetro and James Patterson. Ex-cop reporter hunts Hawaii for missing supermodel.

NonFiction

Methland: the death and life of an American small town by Nick Reding. Reding researches Oelwin, IA whose depressed economy has become dependent on the meth trade.

Novelist and former Deputy Sheriff Donald Harstad is from NE Iowa. He had four or five good crime novels set in rural Iowa. What the heck has Harstad been doing? Maybe I should try and find the guy's phone number or email and ask him.

Not So Big Remodeling: tailoring your home for the way you really live by Sarah Susanka and Marc Vassallo. "With small thoughtful changes the home you live in can be the home you love."

The NFL Gameday Cookbook: 150 recipes to feed the hungriest fan from preseason to the Super Bowl by Ray Lampe.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

What to Read 26: Brent Hartinger

I had a phone interview with author Brent Hartinger about two of his novels, Geography Club and Order of the Poison Oak. But, the dang camera was accidentally turned off about 30 seconds into our conversation. I was too humiliated to try and re-schedule another phone call.


Lazy Greyhounds, A Couple Novels

DVD

The Mighty Celt starring Gillian Anderson and Robert Carlyle. Boy living with single mom in Ireland strikes deal with greyhound trainer to get to keep a dog if boy trains dog to win three races.
I bought this because it has greyhounds and Gillian Anderson.

Princess of Nebraska starring [people you do not know]. Pregnant Chinese student studying in Nebraska travels to San Francisco for, possibly, an abortion. Directed by Wayne Wang who does good stuff.

Journey to the Center of the Earth starring Brendan Fraser. People fall into the center of the Earth and overcome cgi produced obstacles.

Fiction

Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich. I think I read one of these books a long time ago. I don't know bupkis about the characters but have heard enough to make this prediction: Plum goes after a bail-jumper, Plum's grandmother acts crazy, Plum experiences sexual tension and romantic trouble, other bounty hunters both help and hinder.

The Memory Collector by Meg Gardiner. Jo calls herself a 'deadshrinker'. She is a forensic psychologist who helps determine the mental state of people before they died. She gets called to help with a guy who has lost his short term memory. While Jo helps the guy she discovers a link between the guy and a 'biological agent'.

Non Fiction

The Secrets of Happy Families: eight keys to building a lifetime of connection and contentment by Scott Haltzman, M.D.