Friday, July 29, 2016

More Fiction Part 2 of 2 With a New Megan Abbott Novel.

Megan Abbott

You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott. Teen gymnast on the Olympic track involved in a murder.  For Abbott's last two novels I took frequent breaks because the tension and dread were too much for me to handle.

Fiction

Here's To Us by Elin Hilderbrand. Oooh, that other book from earlier this week was an older novel, The Island. This book is the new one. Something about people by the beach.

Falling: a love story by Jane Green. A romance? Author bio says Green has written sixteen NYT bestsellers. That's a lot.

Invincible Summer by Alice Adams. Close knit students graduate, grow older, and reunite.

This Must Be the Place by Maggie O'Farrell. Reclusive Americans living in rural Ireland are "disrupted by an unexpected discovery about a woman [the guy] lost touch with twenty years ago." O'Farrell has curly red hair that looks very nice.

Deadly Fate by Heather Graham. Another one of Graham's Krewe of Hunters novels. Graham's author photo is super fancy. She has also written over 100 novels. That's a lot of books.

Engaged in Death by Stephanie Blackmoore. Paperback mystery with food and cats and a fixer-upper house. Blackmoore lives in Missouri. You know who else lives in Missouri? Blackmoore's husband and son.

More Fiction Part 1 of 2

Fiction

Outfoxed by David Rosenfelt. Lawyer who spends as much time as possible with dogs has to help a client accused of murder. Rosenfelt lives in "Maine with twenty-five Golden Retrievers" and his wife. C'mon, man. That's crazy cat lady territory.

Murder on the Quai by Cara Black. I've intended to read of Black's books but have not done so.  This is Black's sixteenth novel which means I am a bit behind.  Plot: Parisian med student gets involved in her PI father's hunt for Nazi gold. Author bio says Black lives in San Francisco. Author photo says Black enjoys espresso in teeny-tiny cups.

White Bone by Ridley Pearson.  Guy hurries to Africa to find his ex-partner who was investigating missing AIDS aid money. Pearson lives in St. Louis and Hailey, ID. St. Louis? Do you think he attends the Noir at the Bar readings? There is one this Saturday.

Foreign Agent by Brad Thor. Cover image says "manly Shoot-em-up Terrorist Thriller". Dust jacket says, "CIA... SEAL... Russian Caucasus...  operative... kill as many Americans as it takes... clandestine... ambushed... informant... rogue player... deadlier... terror... White House..." Hey, Brad Thor has a full page author photo on the back cover. I don't think that's a sude jacket, but it's difficult to tell from the lighting.

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. Journalist voyages on an exclusive and expensive cruise ship. Journalist is sure a woman was thrown overboard but no one is missing.  Ware's author photo is black and white and it must have been cold out because she is wearing a long coat. Ware graduated from Manchester University. But not the one in Indiana. I'm pretty sure I looked up the UK one within the past year or two and I cannot recall why. Maybe I saw a job advert for the place and was daydreaming about living there.


Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Two Books and Audiobooks

NonFiction

The Elements of Pizza by Ken Forkish. One of the elements on page 111 is water. 1.5 cups worth of water.

Modern Potluck by Kristin Donnelly. Page 60 says "On using whole grain in salads." A few pages later there is a photo of a hand reaching down to a metal tub filled with ice and beer bottles. The beer bottles have a stylized B on the neck label so I figured, "Hey, I'm going to see what brewery that is." That was easy to do because I found a list of brewers and then checked to see where the author lived. She lives in Brooklyn, it's the Brooklyn Brewery.

Audiobooks on CD

The Silenced by Heather Graham. 8 CDs at 9.2 hours. Read by Phil Gigante, I think that guy does some good work.

Super Mind: how to boost performance and live a richer and happier life through transcendental meditation by Norman E. Rosenthal, M.D.  9 CDs at 11.5 hours. I suppose the subtitle tells the whole story, huh?

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah.  12 CDs at 14.8 hours. You know who likes Hannah's books? Lots of people. That's why she is popular.

Killer Year: stories to die for... edited by Lee Child.7 CDs at 8.5 hours.  Crime short stories by authors first published in 2007. Kind of an odd theme, but what the hey? Duane Swierczynski is in here. So is Ken Bruen. Ken Bruen? I that he had plenty of books before 2007. Let me check.. Yep, his fist book was in 1993.

Invincible by Diana Palmer. 8 CDs at 8 hours. Romance novel with a guy helping out a woman who saw a killer.

On Mystic Lake by Kristin Hannah. 9 CDs at 10.5 hours. More romance.

Killer, Dark, Guilty, Crimes. I sense a theme.

Fiction

Night and Day by Iris Johansen. Some woman is protecting a young girl from a serial killer. Or something.

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty. I'm not sure what this is about. Domestic drama or something. Moriarty is wearing a blue patterned top for her author photo. Isn't Moriarty a big deal? She needs a bigger author photo.

The Island by Elin Hildebrand. Wait a minute. I thought Hildebrand just had a new book a few months ago. Maybe I saw a prepub for this one.

Killer Look by Linda Fairstein.  Hey, it looks like  Fairstein has a new author photo and it's a nice one. Full page photo on the back cover and her watch says 4:16PM.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. Crouch used to attend Murder and Mayhem in Muskego (now Milwaukee). I'm not sure if he still does. I watched the first season of the TV show Wayward Pines that is based off his novels. I enjoyed the show but have not watched the second season yet.

Guilty Minds by Joseph Finder. The cover image says 'legal thriller' or 'government conspiracy'. Finder's author photo is him with a black outfit against a black background. His head look like it is floating in space.

Miss Jane by Brad Watson. Woman grows up in early 1900s Mississippi unable to have children. I grew up in 1970s Illinois and need to walk my dog.

NonFiction

Chin: the life and crimes of Mafia boss Vincent Gigante.

Monday, July 25, 2016

I was on vacation, here are some movies

DVD

In the Heart of the Sea starring [one of those Australian brothers]. Whaling ship has trouble.


Allegiant starring [heartthrobs]. Something about invading aliens.

The 5th Wave starring Chloe Grace Moritz. More invading aliens.


Orange is the New Black: season three staring [actors]. More prison stories.


The Family Fang starring Nicole Kidman, Jason Bateman, Christopher Wilken. Adult siblings deal with parents' death. Although the parents may have faked their deaths.


13 Hours starring John Krasinski, Max Martini. I enjoy Max Martini's work. Bang! Bang! K-Pow! Boom! Pow-pow-pow!


Bone Tomahawk starring Kurt Russel. Group of four men try to rescue a woman from cannibals. I saw this flick a couple weeks ago and really enjoyed it.


Finest Hours starring Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Eric Bana. Sea rescue.


Big Bang Theory: third season starring [people]. Sitcom jokes.