Friday, November 11, 2011

Sewing Truthiness on Vacation with Stars Wars

NonFiction

Sweetwater's Simple Home by LIsa Burnett, Karla Eisenach and Susan Kendrick. "Sew something handmade for every room."

Made at Home: a guide to simple sewing by Lisa Stickley. Many pretty photographs. No models.

Handbag Designer 101 by Emily Blumenthal. Many photos and diagrams. No models.

The 100 Best Affordable Vacations by Jane Wooldridge and Larry Bleiberg. Eleven entries for Wisconsin. No models.

The Cheap Bastard's Guide to Los Angeles by Ashley Wren Collins. No photos. No models. No Wisconsin references.

Here Comes Trouble: stories from my life by Michael Moore. Black and white photos. No models. No index.

Remedy and Reaction: the peculiar American struggle over health care reform by Paul Starr. No models.

Soldier of the American Revolution: a visual reference by Denis Hambucken and Bill Payson. Many nice color photos with re-enactor guys. No models.

Steve McQueen: a biography by Marc Eliot. Black and white photos. No models.

And Nothing But the Truthiness: the rise (and further rise) of Stephen Colbert by Lisa Rogak. Black and white photos. One photo of Amy Sedaris (who is not a model).

Fiction

No Proper Lady by Isabel Cooper. Romance set in 1888 England with magic. Model on the cover.

Comic Book Novel

Star Wars: Knight Errant: volume one Aflame by John Jackson Miller. Human girl Jedi in Utah desert has a light saber. No models.

Books on CD

Blue Knights by Joan Didion. 4 CDs at 4.6 hours. No models.

Back of Beyond by C.J. Box. 9 CDs at 11 hours. No models.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

More More More

Fiction

Hotel Vendome by Danielle Steel.

The Territory by Tricia Fields. Small town Sheriff in West Texas is up against a Mexican drug cartel after killing one cartel hitman and arresting another.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I've read about this book before but do not recall what it is about. Something about a circus.

The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta. One day a bunch of people disappear. Poof! Some think this was the rapture. Others are not sure.

Zero Day by David Baldacci. Military investigator is in West Virginia helping a murder investigation.

The Outlaw Album by Raniel Woodrell. The latest collection of short stories by the master of rural crime stories.

Comic Book Novels

Blackest Night by Geoff Jones, Ivan Reis, Oclair Albert, Joe Prado. Green Lantern fights zombies.

Large Print In A Jumble

Leftovers by Tom Perrotta. Her Sister's Shadow by Katharine Britton. The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Secrets of Bella Terra by Christina Dodd.Plugged by Eoin Colfer.Christmas on Nutcracker Court by Judy Duarte.Cat's TablebyMicahelOndaathe.ALAwman'sChristmasby LindaLaelMiller.ShockWavebyJohnSandford.

Music on CD

Music on CD

Torches by Foster the People. Hip guys sing hip songs.



Duets II by Tony Bennett and others. I do not understand Lady Gaga's massive fanbase about her song singing.



Guitar Slinger by Vince Gill. Sings sings songs about guitars.



Stronger by Kelly Clarkson. Singing contest winner sings songs and sings a lousy cover of Patsy Cline.

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Swizzlestickerinski, Spillane, Repairman Jack

Fiction

Murder in Lascaux by Betsy Draine and Michael Hinden. Tourist is killed touring Lascoux caves at the same time as Nora and Toby. Nore and Toby are suspects. Nora and Toby have to solve the mystery. Nick and Toby like cooking.

Hell and Gone by Duane Swierczynski. I am way behind on reading this fella's books but he usually tells a fun and fast moving tale. Swizzlestickerinski was at Bouchercon and I listened to a comics panel he sat on.

Consummata by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins. Spillane wrote Delta Factor featuring Morgan the Raider in 1967. The novel was widely enjoyed but Spillane set aside this sequel and never got back to it. Spillane's collaborator Collins finished it. Still set in the '60s Morgan is out to recover money stolen from Cuban exiles in Miami.

Bad Moon Rising by Ed Gorman. More small town Iowa mystery with lawyer and PI Sam McCain. In 1968 McCain looks a murder at a hippie commune.

Prince of Ravenscar by Catherine Coulter. 1831 England with romance and murder as a young Lord's mother tries to marry him off.

Dark at the End by F. Paul Wilson. The last Repairman Jack novel. Wilson kills him off. Wilson is a good Joe. Wilson was at Bouchercon, too. One afternoon a local shooting instructor set up a simulator in a meeting room and was charging people to try it out. I wandered in to watch. Wilson and Zoe Sharp were there. Wilson was hanging out and watching and Zoe was instructing some gal. There was another author there, a British guy, but I cannot recall his name.

Already Gone by John Rector. Rector's third novel is a live wire that crackles with the intensity of a man with nothing left to lose.When two men attack Jake in a parking lot and cut off his finger, he tries to dismiss it as an unlucky case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But when events take a more sinister turn and Diane goes missing, Jake knows he can no longer hide from the truth.

Wedding Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini. I tried to contact Chiaverini's publisher about an author visit and never heard back. I heard or read that she speaks at a lot of quilting expositions.

Opposites Attract: Literary Fiction and Romance

Fiction

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. Guy from Racine writes a book about college baseball and the "hopes, anxieties, and secrets" of five people. Wait, maybe this guy is from Kenosha.

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. Novel about a gal who boards a subway train and travels into a parallel existence. Remember the trick to spell parallel? Two "l's" are needed for the parallel lines in the word. Remember the trick to spell spell? Spell spell with ll to spell spell while spelling.

Nightwoods by Charles Frazier. Bill Crider did not like this book very much and wrote that on his blog. A commenter on Crider's blog wrote,

You are a little copycat, having ripped off a couple of other ignorant "reviews" of this really fine novel. I have no trouble without the quotation marks. What a silly thing to get hung up on. This book is so wonderful, and most of my friends who have read it couldn't put it down. Haven't followed your comments before but it's a shame snide little comments might discourage anyone from picking up this great book. Oh, and as far as Night of the Hunter goes, how about both that and Nightwoods being grounded in fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel. You need a little lesson in literary and folk tale history before you write with an assumed authority you can't back up.


Letters From A Unknown Woman by Gerard Woodward (no relation). I'm listening to a John LeCarre novel that LeCarre narrates. LeCarre is a fantastic narrator. I kinda like typing LeCarre. LeCarre. LeCarre. LaCarre.

Always A Temptress by Eileen Dreyer. Military man has to kidnap Lady Kate Seaton to find out a scandal or something.

Riptide by Cherry Adair. Princess. Scavenger named Nick. Arrogant and handsome. Money invested. Treasure hunt. Series of attacks. Strength and courage.

The Return of Black Douglas by Elaine Coffman. "Could this warrior from the past hold the key to her future..." According to the cover illustration the past was rife with steroid abuse.

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Joe R. Lansdale, Green Arrow, Dexter

Fiction

The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, 2011 edited by Paula Guran. This has a Joe R. Lansdale story. A Neil Gaiman story. Other people.

City of Whispers by Marcia Muller. Muller is married to Bill Pronzini. When they are bored they throw rocks in San Francisco Bay.

Double Dexter by Jeff Lindsay. Lindsay used to go by Jeffry, not Jeff. I used to go by Gerard The Great, Master of All, Brilliant Sun of Knowledge, and Wickedest Wit of the Universe. [That name never caught on like I thought it would.]

Vacation by Matthew Costello. Nice cover illustration with a metal sink or shower drain covered in blood splatter and an all white background.

GLEE: foreign exchange by Sophia Lowell. Lee Goldberg had some neat things to say about the future of writing tie-in novels.

Green Arrow: into the woods by J.T. Krul. Guy with magic arrows fights evil. I think. I just flipped through and Arrow may just be a hero and not a superhero with powers and magic and such.

Non-Fiction Power Pack With Guns, Kennedy, Teen Libido, and Packers

NonFiction

Jack Kennedy: elusive hero by Chris Matthews. New biography by the Kennedy worshipper.

Bowie: Starman by Paul Trynka. New biography about the great David Bowie. Bowie started performing in 1962.

Portrait of a Monster by Lisa Pulitzer and Cole Thompson. Story of Dutchman Joran van der Sloot accused of murder in Peru and suspected of killing Natalee Holloway.

Tales From the Green Bay Packers Sideline by Chuck Carlson. "A collection of the greatest Packers stories ever told."

The Knitting Book by Frederica Patmore and Vikki Haffenden. Yarns, technique, stitches, patterns. A DK book so it has great photography and layout.

History of Britain and Ireland: the definitive visual guide edited by Pip Morgan. Vikings!

Dirty Little Secret: breaking the silence on teenage girls and promiscuity by Kerry Cohen. A tagline on the cover says: It's not about when girls are having sex. It's about why. This is a topic Megan Abbott sometimes touches on with her blog. Abbott's focus is more on an awakening knowledge and realizations of relationships and life. Dirty Little Secret is more about girls who use sex for love and attention.

Abbott will be in Muskego this weekend. I'm not sure if I want to drive over for the Friday night event. I cannot attend on Saturday.

New Mother's Guide to Breastfeeding by Joan Younger Meek. I suppose this can tie into the above book.

Golden Retriever by Sheila O'Brien Schimpf. A book about dogs.

Labrador Retriever by Terry Albert. A book about dogs.

Vegan Family Meals by Ann Gentry. A book about hippie food.

Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi by Anna Hrachovec. A book about small, knitted figures.

Gun Digest 2012 edited by Dan Shideler. A fantastic book about all the guns I cannot afford to purchase.

Three Movies, One TV Show

DVD

Meek's Cutoff starring Michelle Williams, Other People. A wagon train in 1845 is traveling the Oregon Trail. The trail master is an incompetent idiot.



Gossip Girl: the complete fourth season starring [people I never heard of]. Current teen sensations [I think] pretend to be rich, snotty people in New York {I think].



Horrible Bosses starring Big Name Actors. Three guys all have horrible bosses. Three guys decide to murder their bosses. Hilarity ensues.



The Trip starring Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Woody Allen. Two guys travel around England to review restaurants. Two guys argue while doing impersonations.