Four Books, Five Audio, and More Photo Critiques

Audiobooks on CD

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith. 18 hours on 15 CDs. J.K. Rowling writes another detective story with Cormoran Strike character. I listened to the first novel, it was good but long.

Guilty by David Baldacci. 12 hours on 10 CDs.  Another novel with an assassin.

See Me by Nicholas Sparks.  14.5 hours on 13 CDs. What are the chances I will ever willingly listen to one of these? 1 in 5,000? 1 in 10,000?

Crimson Shore by Preston and Child. 11 hours on 9 CDs. Douglas Preston and Lincold Child collaborate again. This is read by Rene Auberjonois. What Star Trek guy was he? Let me check... oh, yeah, he played Odo. I had completely forgotten he played Father Mulcahy in the film version of M*A*S*H.  Odo was a neat character.

Cross Justice by James Patterson Literary Industries Amalgamated. 9.5 hous on 8 CDs. Hey, Patterson wrote this one himself, no collaborator is listed. Oh wait, does he do the YA and children's novels on his own?

Fiction

The Bitter Season by Tami Hoag. I don't care about the plot. Let's critique author photos again.  Wow, The publisher hired a good photographer for Hoag's full, back-cover spread. The colors are great. Do authors ever figure, "Hey, I'm going to be here anyway and the photographer is already set-up. Why I don't I pay the photographer for a couple extra hours work and do some family shots?"

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout. Smaller photo on the inside cover. The photo is kinda small but it has too much light and blur for my tastes. The photo is well done, I just like Hoag's shot better.

Scandalous Behavior by Stuart Woods. No author photo, just a picture of Stuart Woods. Yes, that was a dig at Woods because I think he hires ghost writers. No, I have absolutely no proof.

The Girls She Left Behind by Sarah Graves.  I thought Graves lived in Kansas. Nope, she lives in Maine. Graves's author photo is by her husband. It is a wintertime outdoor snapshot. The splotch of dirt on the plastic book cover makes it look like Graves has a lopsided mustache. I'll clean that dirt off.

DVD and My Hurt Finger

DVD

Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation starring Tom Cruise and a bunch of other people. Tom Cruise has fawning journalists ask "Did you do your own stunts?"


Old DVDs

Bad Boys starring Martin Lawrence and Will Smith. Blech. This was a donation that I figured would go out.

Bad Boys II starring Martin Lawrence and Will Smith. Blech. This was a donation that I figured would go out.

Spy Game starring Robert Redord and Brad Pitt. Old guy teaches spying to young guy.  Another donation that could go out.

The Grudge 2 starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and other people. Some sort of horror flick. Another donation that could go out.

My Busted Finger

My finger was hyperextended a month or so ago. I was using a computer tablet as I walked on the treadmill in my basement. I fumbled the tablet, tried to grab it, and fell onto the treadmill. As I was falling I thought to myself that I should twist around, land on my side or back, and have the tread shove me off the back of the treadmill.Nope, I put out my hand onto the tread and the tread forced my hand down and bent it back.
Anyway. My finger was still swollen and hurting and I went to the doctor Monday They X-rayed my hand just to see if anything was wrong and I have a a small fracture. Not a big deal and I was told to buddy tape the fingers and avoid using the finger. My typing is much slower and filled with errros.