Media and One NonFiction I Missed

DVD

X-Files: I want to believe starring Gillian Anderson (who is still pretty hot) and Mulder. An FBI agent is abducted.

Lost: Season 4 starring That Good Looking Brunette. Lots of extras included.

AudioBook

Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell. 12 CDs for 15 hours and 14 minutes.

NonFiction

Eat This, Not That!: thousands of simple food swaps that can save you 10, 20, 30 pounds or more by David Zinczenko.

Guns, Baseball Cards, Juliana Hatfield and John Lennon Was a Jerk

Biography/Memoir

When I Grow Up by Juliana Hatfield. Hatfield had big success on the pop charts in the 1990s but then had a steady decline in sales. Years later, and now in her thirties, Hatfield was sitting on a dingy couch at a venue and wondered, "Why I am I still doing this?" and took more control of her career.
Hatfield played in Milwaukee on Wednesday evening. I emailed her publicity company a week before asking to do a video interview. The publicity gal, Bobbie, responded back saying she could arrange it. I thought, "Sweet!" Then I thought, "Dang. Now I have to drive to Milwaukee." Turns out I never got an interview. I received an apology from Bobbie on Thursday for not scheduling one.
I was both relieved and disappointed. Relieved I did not have to change my schedule and drive through new snowfall to Milwaukee. Disappointed because I think Hatfield would have been very interesting to talk to. Hatfield is also really good looking; I can write that because my wife never reads these posts.

One Soldier's War by Arkady Babchenko. Here are the facts: 18 year old Arkady is drafted out of college into the Russian Army. Suffering the traditional, brutal, and stupid hazing of the Russian Army Arkady gets little infantry training. Arkady is sent to Chechnya in both 1995 and 1999.
Here is another fact: Never go to Chechnya. Never, ever go to Chechnya. Don't fly over Chechnya. Don't even look at Chechnya on the map.

Bunny Tales: behind closed doors at the Playboy Mansion by Izabella St. James. St. James lived at the Playboy Mansion for two years and was one of Hefner's seven girlfriends. A "tell all story of life at the Playboy Mansion - the good, the bad, and the hard-to-believe."

John Lennon: the life by Philip Norman. I always thought Lennon sounded like and could be a major jerk. I am now vindicated. Norman had been working with Yoko Ono on this until Yoko canned him.

Maus by Art Spiegelman. Both I: my father bleeds history and II: and here my troubles began.

NonFiction

Knitting Noro: the magic of knitting with hand-dyed yarns by Jane Ellison.

U.S. Army Weapons Systems 2009 by the Department of the Army. Missiles, bombs, vehicles, communications.

How to Break a Terrorist: the U.S. interrogators who used brains, not brutality, to take down the deadliest man in Iraq by Matthew Alexander and John J. Bruning. Alexander found that, "with most prisoners, negotiation was possible and psychological manipulation stunningly effective."

Men, Love & Sex: the complete user's guide for women by David Zinczenko. "In this funny and fascinating guide for women, thousands of men confess what turns them on, what turns them off, and what turns 'for now' into 'forever'."

Complete Soapmaker: tips, techniques and recipes for luxurious handmade soaps by Norma Coney.

2009 Standard Catalogue of Baseball Cards edited by Don Fluckinger. I did not make that name up.

Koontz, Cornwell, Cussler and Crap from Stephenie Meyer

Young Adult

The Host by Stephenie Meyer. Extra Copy. Yes, I should read it to see what the big deal is. But, isn't the fact that fifteen year old girls love this book enough to scare anyone away?

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. See above.

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer. See above.

Fiction

Your Heart Belongs to Me by Dean Koontz. Some sort of thriller. I assume.

Enchanted Again: more erotic bedtime stories for women by Nancy Madore. Hubba hubba. Dang, no illustrations.
We have some other "erotic stories for gals" book, Empress's New Lingerie and Other Erotic Fairy Tales: bedtime stories for grownups by Hillary Rollins, that checked out okay so I bought this one too.

Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell. The cover has an illustration of a sheet of stainless steel perforated with four bullet holes and a smear of blood on one of them. 500 pages long.

Backup by Jim Butcher. A novelette from the Dresden Files. Harry Dresden's older brother Thomas works to help his brother out.

Large Print

Arctic Drift by Clive and Dirk Cussler. Dirk Pitt and company have adventures on the high seas and Arctic icebergs.

Leaving Whiskey Bend by Dorothy Garlock. Christian themed romance?

Pagan Stone Nora Roberts. Fantasy novel with adult women with "shared nightmares and random violence."

Home Repair with Who

Fiction

Fatal Fixer-Upper by Jennie Bentley. A themed paperback mystery. Like the books my wife is always reading except without vampires or recipes.

DVD

The Who at Kilburn:1977 starring Who. Both the 1977 concert - you'll recognize the footage - and a 1969 London concert.
The booklet smells funny.

I looked at the processing cart and said, "Where'd that [stuff] come from?"

Fiction

Arctic Drift by Clive and Dirk Cussler. I'm not sure what this is about. According to the cover illustration and a map on the inside someone finds a ship from the 1845 Franklin Expedition.

Crossroads by Belva Plain. Jealous woman and other woman and both their husbands are in conflict.

Dashing Through the Snow by Mary and Carol Higgins Clark. Christmas themed mystery in New Hampshire with a missing lottery ticket.

Princep's Fury by Jim Butcher. Fantasy novel.

Over Forty-Five Hours of Books

AudioBooks

Bones by Jonathan Kellerman. 12 hours on 10 CDs. Dead hookers in a bird marsh. One dead girl not a hooker and her "blue-blood employers are nowhere to be found."

Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly. 11 hours 22 minutes on 10 CDs. Mickey haller is back to work as a defense attorney and defending a famous Hollywood producer after the first lawyer was murdered. Harry Bosch investigates the dead lawyers murder and sets Haller up for bait.
Haller was in Lincoln Lawyer which I listened to and enjoyed.

Gate House by Nelson DeMille. 22 hours 14 minutes on 19 CDs. Some mob murder thing with an ex-wife and a guy returned from 10 years in London.

DVD

Stargate Continuum starring MacGyver, That Blond Girl, The Bald Black Guy, The Dude's Brother. Science and Fiction together at last!

Large Print

Just After Sunset by Stephen King. Horrifying short stories according to the back cover.

An overweight, alcoholic, degenerate gambling, former heroin and cocaine using, cigarette smoking, prostitute hiring, near death comic writes a book

NonFiction

Too Fat to Fish by Artie Lange. Contrary to this entry's title I like Artie. Artie is a funny guy with some amazing stories. So he wrote a book. Amazing stories. If you like this we also have Artie's "concert" video (shot in a bar) Artie Lange: it's the whiskey talkin' and his movie Beer League.

Fix-It and Forget-It Big Cookbook by Phyllis Pellman Good. 1400 slow cooker recipes.

Outliers: the story of success by Malcolm Gladwell. How much do environmental factors like family, birthplace, birth date and culture effect a person's success?

I should be happy about all the new things but I do have other work to do

Fiction

Paperbacks - All Sizes

Star Wars: Darth Bane: Rule of Two by Drew Karpyshyn. After the Sith War the last surviving Sith, Darth Bane, instituted the Rule of Two: all Sith must have an apprentice. Bane's apprentice Zannah has impressive powers. The only Jedi believing there are remaining Sith is out to stop Bane and Zannah.

I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert. Set in WI with punk band chick looking for her punk band mother who ran away years ago.

Sex Club by L.J. Sellers. A birth control clinic is bombed and a client turns up dead in a dumpster. One of the clinic's nurses, Kera, starts to investigate the victim's Bible group.

Gun Work by David J. Schow. Carl Ledbetter's wife has been kidnapped in Mexico. Unable to pay the million dollars demanded Carl calls for help from the deadly man whose life he once saved in Iraq.

A Hell of a Woman: an anthology of female noir edited by Megan Abbott. "Dark tales of lonely housewives, diner waitresses yearning for more, schoolgirls with dangerous ambitions, hustlers looking for one last score..." From Busted Flush Press, out of Houston, who sent us a bunch of bookmarks once.

Fourth Victim by Tony Spinosa. Spinosa is Reed Farrell Coleman. Heating oil business owners Joe and Bob, featured earlier in Hose Monkey, are facing a crime wave against heating oil businesses. Five heating oil truck drivers in Long Island have been robbed and murdered. One driver saved the life of Joe when they were both in the NYPD and Joe and Bob follow a confusing trail on the way to solving the murder.
Spinosa/Coleman writes some great stuff.

Hardcovers

Leaving Whiskey Behind by Dorothy Garlock. I like whiskey. I thought about picking up some Jamesons when I was at the Super Target in Fitchburg but decided since I have stuff at home already I did not bother.

The Archbishop of Andalusia by Andrew M. Greeley. A Blackie Ryan novel.

Salvation in Death by J.D. Robb. Murder in 2060 New York with a poisoned priest.

Cross Country by James Patterson. Who cares?

A Mercy by Toni Morrison. Are these books really any good? I know Morrison gets press and good reviews but is the story interesting. Let me rephrase that, would I enjoy the story?

Snake Dreams by James D. Doss. Murder and romance with Charlie Moon on the Ute Reservation.

Joker by Brian Azzarello. The Joker is being released from the Arkham Asylum and eager to regain his power as a crime lord.

Large Print

Heat Lightning by John Sandford. Detective Virgil Flowers gets a call about a dead body at a veterans memorial in Stillwater, MN. The victim is left in the same way as one a week ago and Flowers works to find the killer before there is another killing.

Rustler by Linda Lael Miller. Some cowboy romance with a reformed crook named Wyatt wooing, and getting wooed, by the prim Sarah who has a secret history of her own.

Wedding Belles by Haywood Smith. Lifelong friends aid one woman whose 28 year old daughter is marrying one of their high school classmates.

Fisherman's Bend by Linda Greenlaw. Jane Bunker left violent Miami for for the quiet life in Maine. But she still runs into murder and mayhem.

Grace by Richard Paul Evans. Young Eric finds Grace dumpster diving for food and lets her stay in the family tree house. Grace tells horrific stories of her home life but Eric's brother tells about Grace's hideout and she is sent back home.

So Long at the Fair by Christina Schwarz. Job decides whether to stay with his wife or leave for his mistress while vengeful events in 1963 start to come back to haunt him.

NonFiction

Outliers: the story of success by Malcolm Gladwell. "Why do some people succeed far more than others?"

The Price of Government: getting the results we need in an age of permanent fiscal crisis by David Osborne, and Peter Hutchinson. Budgeting and results in government.

DVDs with Ben Kingsley, Australian horror, prom dance horror, and Hellboy horror

DVD

Hellboy II starring Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, John Hurt. Hellboy and colleagues fight against [something] to...save humanity!
Ron Perlman may show up in a prequel to Bubba Ho-Tep entitled...Bubba Nosferatu!

Dance of the Dead starring [teenagers]. Oh, wow. This is a zombie movie. That must be why I bought it. Just hours before the prom high school students have to work together to stop the zombie hordes...attacking the town!

Wolf Creek starring [Australians]. Three hikers in Australia's outback return to their car to find it is dead. A passing truck stops and the Crocodile Dundee style driver offers a lift...to despair!

Last Legion starring Colin Firth and Ben Kingsley. Firth plays a general assigned the security of the young Caesar. When Rome is sacked Firth and friends flee by sea with the boy Caesar to England where they hope to find the last intact, and loyal, Roman legion. Firth rallies the troops and fights...for freedom!

Fiction with another one of those vampire/witch/werewolf paperbacks women read

Fiction

Bone Yard by Michelle Gagnon. FBI agents and serial killers. They go together like peas in a pod. This one has a mass grave on the Appalachian Trail with victims from several states.

No Rest for the Wiccan by Madelyn Alt. Witch Maggie deals with domestic crises, her love life, finding some ghosts, and solving a murder.
I bet the author stuck some recipes in there.

The First Quarry by Max Allan Collins. The one named hit man's beginning. A series started by Collins in 1976. Quarry infiltrates a college town to kill a professor.

Soul Patch by Reed Farrel Coleman. Former policeman and current PI Moe Prager runs a wine shop in a rich part of Manhattan but feels most comfortable anywhere but there. When an old cop friend kills himself Moe starts looking into what went on and follows a trail of corruption that began 35 years ago.
Coleman's Hose Monkey (written as Tony Spinosa) was really good. The previous book in this series, The James Deans, won a bunch of mystery awards.
I was planning to interview Coleman on video at Murder and Mayhem in Muskego but did not get the opportunity.

Fault Lines by Nancy Huston. Sol's mother thinks her is destined for greatness because his birthmarks match those of relatives going three generations back. "When Sol's family makes an unexpected trip to Germany, secrets begin to emerge about their history during World War II. It seems birthmarks are not all that's been passed down through the bloodlines."

The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. "Where tragedy confronts eternity." Mackenzie receives a letter, seemingly from God, telling her to revisit the Oregon mountain shack where he daughter was likely murdered four years ago.

Just After Sunset by Stephen King. I thought he was going to retire?

Whiskey Rebels by David Liss. Two former soldiers of the Revolutionary Army find themselves at odds after the war. One works for Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, who he hates. Another heads for Western Pennsylvania and distills whiskey.
This look good. You don't see many novels about the Whiskey Rebellion.

Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs. Snap judgement from the cover: literary chick book.

A Most Wanted Man by John LeCarre. A Russian in Germany is facing deportation. His German lawyer is intent on winning his case. Russian may be a Muslim terrorist and intelligence agencies start to swoop in to influence things.

Ritual by Mo Hayder. Police diver Flea Marley and Inspector Jack Caffery investigate an abduction after linking the victim to two hands found in the bay in Bristol, England. Their investigation takes them into the drug addicts, street kids, whores and immigrants of underground Bristol. Recent immigrants may have brought a nasty occult ceremony with them.

Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K. Hamilton. Considering Hamilton's previous book content the title is likely a double entendre.

Bodies Left Behind by Jeffrey Deaver. Wisconsin Deputy Brynn McKenzie leaves the dinner table to respond to a 911 hang-up call. The remote cabin hosts a bloody crime scene and Brynn and a survivor flee into the woods from a couple killers.

Into the Fire by Suzanne Brockman. I don't know. I'm tired of typing.

Large Print by One Pseudonym Lady, One Dead Lady, One Montana Guy and A Limey

Large Print

Salvation in Death by JD Robb. Father Flores drinks from the communion chalice and keels over. Father Flores was felled by felonious fellas who found facts of his fugitive past.

Eleventh Man by Ivan Doig. Snap judgement from cover: World War Two pilot of bomber crewman survives with guilt and goes him and woos a dead colleague's girl.

Murder Inside the Beltway by Margaret Truman. Yes, Margaret Truman was related to Harry S Truman. She was Truman's only child. Yes, she is dead. No, I do not know if her novels were ghost written or if this book was completed before her death.

A Most Wanted Man by John LeCarre. A Russian in Germany is facing deportation. His German lawyer is intent on winning his case. Russian may be a Muslim terrorist and intelligence agencies start to swoop in to influence things.

What to Read 14

Interview with author J.D. "Dusty" Rhoades at the Murder and Mayhem in Muskego writers conference held at the Mueskego, WI public library on 8 November 2008.

Rhoades's books include the Jack Keller series: Devil's Right Hand, Good Day in Hell, Devil's Right Hand. Rhoades's most recent is the thriller Breaking Cover. All titles are available from the Library.

What to Read 13

Discussion with author Anthony Neil Smith about Minnesota and Smith's latest novel Yellow Medicine. Filmed at the Muskego Public Library in Muskego, WI during the Murder and Mayhem in Muskego writers conference on Nov. 8, 2008.

Edited for time to keep under 10 minutes.

Made-up Stories

Mysteries

Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder by Gyles Brandreth. We already own Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance. That one checked out so I bought this one. Oscar Wilde is at a dinner party in 1892 with, among others, Bram Stoker and Arthur Conan Doyle. Wilde proposes the question, "Who would you most like to kill?" When one of people whose name was anonymously written down at the party is murdered Oscar and pals get to work.

Blood Alone by James R. Benn. Billy Boyle has landed in advance of the rest of the Allied invasion force on Sicily. With a concussion induced amnesia he cannot recall the true mission. You see, Boyle's mother got Billy a cushy staff job with Uncle Ike. Too bad Uncle Ike is General Eisenhower who decided to put Billy's detective skills to use.
If you like this one there is at least one more Boyle novel set in North Africa.

Twin Killing by Marshall Cook. Small town newspaper editor Monona Quinn rushes back to Iowa after her nephew is arrested for drug possession. Back home in Summersend, IA the locals start turning up dead. What a coincidence.

Santa Clawed by Rita Mae Brown. Some dead cat story. Or a cat with dead people. Or a cat writes about dead people. I'm not sure what the deal is with these.

Angel's Tip by Alafair Burke. Spring Breaker Chelsea hart stays late at a New York nightclub's VIP room and is found dead with her hair chopped off. NYPD detective Ellie Hatcher has a good case against a rich jerk but has suspicions based on previous deaths.
Burke gets around. I think she used to attorney-ize in Phoenix. Then she lawyerized in Portland, OR. Now she teaches legalizing in New York.

Fiction

Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse by Victor Gischler. Mortimer Tate leaves his mountain side cave after hiding out for nine years due to the fall of civilizaztion. He encounters cannibals, one eyed train conductors, hookers, would be cowboys, and searches for coffee.
For a fuller review see What to Read 10 or What to Read 12.

'Tis the Season by Lorna Landvik. Drunken socialite Caroline reaches out to her Norwegian former nanny and a dude ranch owner in Aridzona. Stories are exchanged and a Christmas reunion is planned.

Breaking Cover by JD Rhoades. Tony Wolf was assumed dead after his undercover assignment went bad and he took a biker gang's cash and ran. Now his self-imposed cover is blown and he has to defend himself.
A replacement for a copy that was doused. I interviewed Rhoades at the Murder and Mayhem in Muskego thing this past Saturday but do not have the video up yet.

Searching for Paradise in Parker, PA by Kris Radish. Some chick book. Judging by the cover and title this is a comedy.

Western

Grave For A Dead Gunfighter by Kent Cowell. Clint thought his father dead by Clint's own mistake. Ten years later Clint learns his father is alive and when Clint finds his father the man refuses Clint and his help against the carpetbaggers out to take the old man's land.

What to Read 12

Interview with Victor Gischler at the Murder and Mayhem in Muskego writers conference held at the Muskego Public Library in Muskego, WI.

Gischler's available books are: Gun Monkeys, Pistol Poets, Suicide Squeeze, Shotgun Opera, Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse. His Blogpocalypse website is at victorgischler.blogspot.com.

What to Read 11

Interview with author Chris Grabenstein at the Murder and Mayhem in Muskego writers conference hosted by the Muskego Public Library in Muskego, WI.

Grabenstein's novels include the John Ceepak series with Tilt-A-Whirl, Mad Mouse, Whack-A-Mole, Hell Hole. The Christopher Miller holiday-themed thriller series with Slay Ride and Hell for the Holidays. Horror novels for middle readers with The Crossroads.

World of Facts About Sex With The Packers

Fiction

Divine Justice by David Baldacci. John Carr assassinated the two men who ruined his life. Now the U.S. government is after him and the "Camel Club" is there to help.

A Good Woman by Danielle Steel. There is a heavily sepai toned photo of the Eiffel Tower on the cover.
I was visiting my parents over the weekend and The Old Man showed me a two page advert for this novel. I sneered.

A Christmas Grace by Anne Perry. A heartwarming and delightful story of Christmas and murder on the west coast of Ireland.

NonFiction

Green Bay Love Stories and Other Affairs by Sandy Sullivan. Sullivan was a 19 year old model in Milwaukee in 1961 when she started having lots of sex with lots of Packers players.

Darwin Awards: next evolution: chlorinating the gene pool by Wendy Northcutt. Because it is fun making fun of dead people and painful accidents.

Firefly's World of Facts by Russell Ash. A kind of World Records book. You used to read the Guinness book as a kid, right? Well it is still fun to look through this stuff. You'll find it in the kids' section in the basement.

Classic Country by Kathryn M. Ireland. Home design.
A donation by the great and mighty [Anonymous] family. Two small dogs on an outdoor couch in the cover photo.

Canadian Crooner

CDs

Closer: the best of Sarah McLachlan by Sarah McLachlan. There are many things I could say about this CD. But, I will keep my mouth shut.
I'll write them instead. Yuck. Ick. Boring. Beware the estrogen poisoning.

Five For Fiction

Mystery

Dying Fall by Sally Spencer. English police inspector Woodend finds a charred body in an abandoned cotton mill. Who would kill an old tramp by burning him to death?

Ghost at Work by Carolyn Hart. Bailey's current status as a ghost doesn't stop her from meddling with the living. Bailey attempts to help the local pastor's wife solve the mystery of a dead man on her porch.

Fiction

Burn Out by Marcia Muller. Sharon McCone leaves her busy private investigation firm for her mountain retreat so that she can reassess her life and career. I'm betting someone dies and McCone is in grave danger.

Bones by Jonathan Kellerman. Milo Sturgis and Alex Delaware work a case and shoot trap. Bodies are found in L.A.'s Bird Marsh.
It looks like Kellerman has continued to cut down on the make-up in his author photos.

Large Print

Rough Weather by Robert B. Parker.

What to Read 10

Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse by Victor Gischler.
Damn Near Dead: an anthology of geezer noir edited by Duane Swizzlestickerinski.
unSpun: finding facts in a world of disinformation by Brooks Jackson and Kathleen Hall Jamieson.