Friday, May 02, 2014

Forgotten Family Spy

Fiction

Hollow Girl by Reed Farrell Coleman.  Some Milwaukeean writes another mystery novel.  Moe Prager's fiancee died and Moe takes a missing person case.

Forgotten Seamstress by Liz Trenow.  One of those quitling, sewing, family mystery novels.  Try it out.

The Target by David Baldacci.  A shoot-em-up political thriller.  I think.

Casebook by Mona Simpson. A boy with separating parents spies on his parents.

An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris.  Novelization of the Dreyfus affair.  A guy who was confused Dreyfus was a spy finds evidence a spy still exits in the French government.

Ruby by Cynthia Bond. Girl flees 1950s East Texas for New York.  Has to return and then faces her past.  Joe R. Lansdale is from East Texas.  We have about 5,000 of his books here.

Iron Bound by Brendan Leach.  Comic book novel.  Small time street hoods in 1961 Newark.

Otherwise Engaged by Amanda Quick.  Romance.

Family Life by Akhil Sharma.  Immigrant Indian family in the U.S.

Chestnut Street by Maeve Binchy.  Short stories.

A Family Affair by Fern Michaels.  Romance, I suppose.

Minnesota Money Marine

NonFiction

Seams Unlikely: the inspiring true story of Nancy Zieman by Nancy Zieman and Marjorie L. Russell.  Lady from Beaver Dam makes sewing designs, starts a sewing business, starts a TV show, writes a book.

Easy Everyday Gluten-Free Cooking by Donna Washburn and Heather Butt.  Heh-heh, I wrote "butt".

Killer Kane: a Marine long-range recon Team Leader in Vietnam, 1967-1968 by Andrew R. Finlayson.  This looked neat because Finlayson used a lot of archival material to write the book.  Rather than rely on memory and conversation Finlayson used Official Command Chronologies, letters, and other documents.  As his Preface states, "I wanted to avoid the tendency of some writers to inject information that might be colored by fading memory or personal prejudice."

Busted: a tale of corruption and betrayal in the City of Brotherly Love by Wendy Ruderman and Barbara Laker.  Philadelphia newspaper reports discover a web of corruption in the police department.  They don't mention Duane Swierczynksi in the acknowledgments.  I don't know Swierczynski but I think he journalismed in Philadelphia.

The Book of Money: everything you need to know about how world finances work by Daniel Conaghan and Dan Smith.  Dull cover on the outside, lots of neat graphics and color on the inside.  This is a pretty neat book.

Minnesota and Wisconsin: month-by-month gardening by Melinda Myers.

Thursday, May 01, 2014

Six Paper, Five Plastic

Fiction

In Paradise by Peter Matthiessen.  Something about a observance at a Nazi death camp in 1996.


Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.  Do we have two copies of this?  Nope, I missed buying this when it initially came out.  I heard an audio edition of True Grit narrated by Tartt.  Tartt did well.

Love and Treasure by Ayelet Waldman.  Guy who was guarding Nazi loot in 1945 tasks his granddaughter to find a woman from the war.

The Collector by Nora Roberts.  Roberts has a new author photo but the photo is pixellated and rough. Someone screwed up the cover design.

By It's Cover by Donna Leon.  Venetian writes a novel about Venetian cop.

Music on Shiny, Thin Discs With Holes in the Center

Is There Anybody Out There? by A Great Big World.  People I've never heard of sing songs.


G I R L by Pharrell Williams.  Singer sings popular pop song.


LEGO Movie Soundtrack by [various artist].  Canadian twin singers sing song about awesomeness.


Aftershock by Motorhead.  Lemmie sings loud songs.


Symphonica by George Michael.  British singer sings rearranged pop songs.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Fiction and the Pulitzer for NonFiction

NonFiction

The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a forgotten genocide by Gary J. Bass. "A riveting history - the first full account - of the involvement of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger in teh 1971 atrocities in Bangladesh that led to war between India and Pakistan, shaped the fate of Asia, and left in their wake a host of major strategic consequences for the world today."

Fiction

Black-Eyed Blonde by Benjamin Black.  Irishman writes a Phillip Marlowe novel.

Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead.  San Diegoan writes novel about ballet dancers.

Last Days of California by Mary Miller.  Mississippian writes novel about family awaiting the rapture.

Miss Julia's Marvelous Makeover by Ann B. Ross.  North Carolinian writes novel about woman with a cousin.

Gemini by Carol Cassella.  Doctor from Washington writes novel about a doctor from Washington.

The Other Story by Taiana de Rosnay.  Parisian writes novel about novelist with family secrets.

Vintage by Susan Gloss.  Cheesehead in Madison writes novel about resale shop in Madison.

You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz.  New Jersey-ite writes novel about therapist who did not follow her own advice.