DVDs

DVD

Dead Man Down starring Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace, Terrence Howard.  Mob killer is blackmailed into committing a revenge murder.


The A-Team: Season Three starring Mr. T.  So, the A-Team is supposed to be so famous across the country but no one ever finds and arrests them?  Local police never seem to be on the lookout, it's only that MP guy who always arrives too late.


Regular Show: the complete first and second seasons starring Walking Gumball Machine, Raccoon, other weird stuff.  Kids cartoon with nonsense, silliness, etc.

Piccirilli, Steel, Burke, Brooks, So On, So Forth

Fiction

Last Whisper in the Dark by Tom Piccirilli.  Remember a year or so ago when Piccirilli had a big lump of brain cancer in his head?  Well, the cancer is gone, gone, gone.  The successful medical treatment is especially good for Piccirilli, and good for you because he wrote this book.  More crime family fiction and fracture on Long Island.  I'm currently reading some book of his printed in 2006.

Hunting Eve by Iris Johansen.  Gratuitous pistol and bare female midriff on the cover.

First Sight by Danielle Steel.  Does Steel write these anymore?  At four per year I wonder if she does an outline and hires out the rest of the job.

Care Homes are Murder by Mike Befeler.  Octogenarian is recently married and visiting Hawaii. Octogenarian always has murders to solve.  Octogenarian's memory illness means he forgets everything after he falls asleep.

Witch Wraith: Shannara's Dark Legacy by Terry Brooks.  This has a two page color foldout with artwork and a map.  Terry Brooks has no beard.  What kind of sci-fi/fantasy author has no beard?

White Princess by Philippa Gregory.  Historical fiction about the English monarchy.

Light of the World by James Lee Burke.  Novel by the father of bestselling author Alafair Burke.



Life After Life by Kate Atkinson.  A popular book that I was slow to order.

Large Print

Bomb Shell by Catherine Coulter.

Great Jobs for Everyone 50+ by Kerry Hannon.

Nonfiction

$100 Startup: reinvent the way you make a living, do what you love, and create a new future by Chris Guillebeau.

Polio Memoir and Wicked Big Faith

NonFiction

Limping Through Life: a farm boy's polio memoir by Jerry Apps.  Apps contracted polio when he was 12-years-old.  How that changed his life and led him to writing.  Page 73 says, "Pa bought me a bicycle so I could ride the four and a half miles to town and the four and a half miles back each day and he wouldn't have to drive me there and back."

Large Print

A Step of Faith by Richard Paul Evans.  Page 205 says, "Actually, I didn't quite make it to Pine Flat."

Something Wicked by Lisa Jackson with Nancy Bush.  Page 442 says, "He nodded gravely."

Big Sky Summer by Linda Lael Miller.  Page 37 says, "Snidely, standing close, thumped the back of Walker's right knee with his swinging tail, as if to remind him of the here and now."

Local Color - Rock Lake and Little Free Library

Rock Lake and Little Free Library

Little Free Library
Little Free Libraries were started a 2009.  They are small, usually freestanding boxes with a give one, take one philosophy.  This one is on Ray St. in Lake Mills.  I checked the map on the Little Free Library website and there are no official ones in NZ.











Rock Lake

Rock Lake is 1,371 acres.  The City has several public access points along the beach.  The most popular are Sandy Beach and Bartles Beach parks.  But, there are several smaller, and hidden away swim spots along the lakeside.

Off Hobbs St.








Private swim dock near the public swim spot.

Charlie Huston Returns

Fiction

Skinner by Charlie Huston.  I enjoy Huston's books but the book description on the dustjacket makes no sense.  Read it anyway.

Hidden Order by Brad Thor.  Secret government organization.  Assassination.  "Most dangerous chase ever to play on American soil."  Secret organization founded in 1700s.  So on, so forth.

Audiobooks on CD

Visiting Tom: a man, a highway, and the road to roughneck grace by Michal Perry.  7 CDs at 7.5 hours.  Michael Perry is a great performer and reads this himself.  Perry writes about his elderly neighbor whose farm was bisected by an interstate some decades before.  Perry also deals with the County's misguided plans for the road to Perry's own mini-farm.

Sovereign by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee.10 CDs at 12 hours.  SciFi with alive people and dead people.  The book description makes no sense.

Litte Green by Walter Mosley.  8 CDs at 10 hours.  An Easy Rawlins detective novel.  I have not read any of the Rawlins books in quite a while.  1967 Los Angeles has Easy looking for a missing young man who went missing after taking acid.

Silken Prey by John Sandford.  10 CDs at 12.5 hours.  Someone dies.

Jabber, Jabber, Jabber for 31.5 Hours

Audiobooks on CD

Fiction

One Heart to Win by Johanna Lindsey. 9 CDs at 10.5 hours.  Another shirtless cowboy carries around a saddle.  I had to carry the seven-year-old's bicycle last night.  The chain came off his bicycle and when I tried to put the chain back on the sprockets the mosquitoes were all over me.  I just carried the bike since we were a block from home.

Tuesday's Child by Fern Michaels.  8 CDs at 9 hours.  Lawyer helps client who is finally exonerated of murder after ten years in prison.  We (the ten-year-old as well) were swimming at Rock Lake.  No mosquitoes over the water but there was a honking big horse fly.


NonFiction

Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan.  5 CDs at 5.5 hours.  Comedian tells funny stories.  I need some goggles.  I was trying to swim for some exercise and cannot do the crawl with my eyes closed, I always swerve to one side or the other.

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg.  6 CDs at 6.5 hours.  Computer lady tells you how run a business. I've thought about going to the lake in the later evenings to swim but the mosquitoes were so thick at 7:30 PM that I'm not sure I want to try that.

Lutz's Bombshell Love for Unseen Affliction Panties

Fiction

The Last Word by Lisa Lutz.  Lutz was at last year's Murder and Mayhem in Muskego.  Lutz is an entertaining speaker.  I still have not read any of these humorous mysteries.  At least, I assume they are humorous.  I've never read one to know for certain.

Big Girl Panties by Stephanie Evanovich.  Big time athletic trainer offers to help out overweight, 32-year-old widow.  Romance ensues.

Bomb Shell by Catherine Coulter.  The book's back cover is Coulter's photo. She has bobbed, blond hair and a suede jacket.

Unseen by Karin Slaughter.  Slaughter's photo covers the back of her book too.  She also has blond hair but the photoshopping blurs everything except her head.

True Love by Jude Deveraux.  Another big author photo covering the back of the book.  Deveraux is in profile wearing some big coat.

Affliction by Laurell K. Hamilton.  Another vampire sex book.  Hamilton also covers the back of the book.  Photographed inside a concrete warehouse room, Hamilton is wearing above-the-knee, lace-up, black boots.  Sitting sideways in a director's chair with one leg pointed high at 45 degrees.

Musical Interlude

Jake Bugg

Local Color

Local Color


Lake Mills Cars and Coffee was yesterday morning, July 7.



One website lists the new McLaren MP4-12C at $240,000.



Triumph row.




Town and Country Days

Town and Country Days runs from Thursday through mid-day Sunday during the last weekend in June. The Parade is Saturday morning. Yet again I do not have photos of my participation in the Boy Scout dunk tank.  Yet again, I do not have photos of me mocking the people who are unable to dunk me. 

Kids who marched for the Library's entry.  Right after a short rain burst.


Some of the rides assembled on East Lake Street.

Many, Many Movies

DVD

The Butt Bible with Pauline Nordin.  Three DVDs of exercises.  Some of you may want to take this home just to watch it.



Breaking Bad: Fifth Season starring Brain Cranston, other people.  I've never watched this show.  I've been busy the past five years.



Quartet starring Professor Minerva McGonagall and Professor Albus Dumbledore (v.2).  Home for retired musicians has retired musicians living there.


Happy People: a year in the Taiga by Werner Herzog.  300 person village in Siberia is reachable only by boat and helicopter.



Beverly Lewis' The Confession starring Katie Leclerc, Cameron Dean Stewart, Sherry Stringfellow.  Woman adopted by Amish finds her wealthy 'Englisher' family and romance and drama ensue.



Stoker starring Nicole Kidman, Dermot Mulroney, Mia Wasikowska.   18-year-old girl's father dies and her unknown uncle moves in with girl and her crazy mother.



Beverly Lewis' The Shunning starring Danielle Panabaker and Sherry Stringfield.  Additional Amish Intrigue.  This flick and the other flick - listed above - seem to share characters.



Oz the Great and Powerful starring CGI.  James Franco walks through CGI, talks to CGI, and pretends to see CGI.



ID:A starring [Danish].  Woman wakes up in a French river with 2 million Euros.  Excitement, thrills, and Nordic nastiness ensue.



Curb Your Enthusiasm: the complete eighth season starring Larry David.  I've never watched this show.  I've been busy the past eight years.



Rectify starring [no names on cover].  Guy is released from death row after 19 years.  Difficult transition ensues as French subtitles follow him around.

Sanctified Bacon Orchard

Fiction

Sanctified and Chicken Fried by Joe R. Lansdale.  Short stories by the Sage of Nacogdoches.  Forward written by the Bill Crider.



Second Honeymoon by James Patterson and Howard Roughan.  A huge author photo of Patterson covers the whole back cover.  No photo of Roughan.

If You Were Here by Alafair Burke.  Dave Robicheaux's daughter writes best selling books.  I still have not gotten around to reading any of these.  Journalist investigating a story sees video of a friend who disappeared years before.

NonFiction

Bacon Nation: 125 irresistible recipes by Peter Kaminsky and Marie Rama.  Bacon is hip.  IN twenty years heart disease will be hip.

Large Print

Lemon Orchard by Luanne Rice.  Is this the audio book my wife listened to for her book club?  I'll never find out because my wife never reads this blog.

True Love by Jude Deveraux.  You know who else never reads this blog?  Bacon cooks.

Fiction From Fabulous Faust

Fiction

Fringe: the Zodiac paradox by Christa Faust.  Fabulous Faust fabricates fictional fun for Fringe fans.  Tie-in to the TV series.  It's 1971 and Walter Bishop's experiments with the subconscious unleash the Zodiac Killer.  I watched the movie Zodiac a couple months ago, it was good. 

NonFiction

Happily Ever After: a light-hearted guide to wedded bliss by Jane Fearly-Whittingstall.  Advice.

AudioBooks on CD

The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan.  17 hours on 14 CDs.  Novel about marriage and marriages that has had a lot of press.

Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell.  9.25 hours on 8 CDs.  Collection of eight stories.

The Heist by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg.  8.5 hours on 7 CDs.  Adventure and romance.  Read by some dude named Scott Brick.  That's a manly name isn't it?

Execution of Noa P. Singleton by Elizabeth L. Silver.  10 hours on 8 CDs.  Death Row murderer is offered legal help (and a sure commutation) from the victim's mother if the murderer tells what happened. 

Old Paperbacks

Donated paperbacks.  I'm not going to list them because the titles are older, we probably have hardcovers, and paperbacks are a browsing thing anyway.

Large Print

I'm not listing these either.  I don't want to.

Game of Mexican Gluten-Free Guns

NonFiction

Game of Thrones: the graphic novel: volume one by George R.R. Martin, Daniel Abraham and Tommy Patterson.  Part one of the comic book version.

Pati's Mexican Table: the secrets of real Mexican home cooking by Pati Jinich.  Goat meat.

Cooking for Your Gluten-Free Teen: everyday foods the whole family will love by Carlyn Berghoff, et al.  Yeah, I et al'ed all those people and their applesauce recipe.

Fast and Simple Gluten-Free by Gretchen F. Brown, R.D.  Ice cream, asparagus, chicken soup.

Dairy-Free and Gluten-Free Kitchen by Denise Jardine.  Some lady in the kids section downstairs just lectured her kids for wandering off.

Guns at Last Light: the war in Western Europe, 1944-1945 by Rick Atkinson.  Watch the BookTV interview at C-SPAN because they don't allow embedding.

Get the Guy: learn secrets of the male mind to find the man you want and the love you deserve by Matthew Hussey.  I want to read through this just to argue with the author.

AudioBook on CD

Crashed by Timothy Hallinan.  10.5 hours on 9 CDs.  Full time burglar is blackmailed into being a private detective for a Los Angeles mob boss.

Large Print

The Way Home by Katherine Spencer.  Continuation of a series by the dead author Thomas Kinkade.

Game of Thrones Comic Book

Fiction

Game of Thrones: the graphic novel: volume 2 by George R.R. Martin and Daniel Abraham and Tommy Patterson.  Aww, nuts.  This is volume two.  Volume one must not have come in yet.  This is the comic book version.  I have not watched the television program but I hear it has plenty of nudity.  I optimistically scanned through this.

Dead Inside by Victoria Houston.  Another mystery from the lady in Northern Wisconsin.  I'm currently reading a book set on Lake Superior's Northern Michigan shore. 

The Execution of Noa P. Singleton by Elizabeth L. Silver.  This book has been in the press a lot lately.  A convicted murderer on death row refuses to say what happened.  Even when the high-powered, politically-connected mother of the victim offers to get a commutation in return for the full story. 

Pines by Blake Crouch.  This won some sort of award.  Or was shortlisted for some sort of award.  Let me check the internets...oh, maybe not.  There will be some TV show version with Matt Dillon though. 

Crouch shows up at Murder and Mayhem in Muskego most every year but I've never spoken to him.  I prefer to stand around and wait for the coffee.  Then stand around and drink my coffee.  Then I walk around with my coffee looking to suck up to Victor Gischler.  Gischler is not scheduled for 2013.  Maybe I can walk around and suck up to Megan Abbott or Duane Swierczynski.

Sovereign by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee.  Third entry in the Book of Mortals series.  This series seems to be a different take on zombies or something.  The flyleaf descriptions on these books make no sense to me.

Scott Phillips and Sara Gran Arrive to Cure Your Summer Blues

Fiction

Rake by Scott Phillips.  American actor goes to Paris when his soap Opera hits big in France.  Much trouble ensues.  This novel released in France first.  Phillips made a book trailer.




Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway by Sara Gran.  Private Investigator Claire DeWitt follows the investigative philosopy of the enigmatic Jacques Silette and follows clues that mean nothing to anyone else.  Including you, the reader.  Good stuff.


The Heist by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg.  Hard driving FBI Special Agent is forced to team up with the con man she has been trying to arrest for years.  Drama, adventure, and romantic shenanigans ensue.

Goldberg has been promoting this like crazy.  I'm annoyed CBS nixed him from this interview.  I'm more interested in Goldberg's comments than Evanovich's, you can hear her anytime.  Try out Goldberg's King City.



Large Print

Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes.  I was reading the first few pages when the power was just out.

Silken Prey by John Sandford.  Minnesota murder.

Astronauts and Large Print

NonFiction

Astronaut Wives Club: a true story by Lily Koppel.  Lives of the astronauts wive in the 1950s through 1970s.  Page 142 says, "Someone kept a flow of coffee on the burner and the emptied the ashtray filled by the chain-smoking artiste."

Large Print

Comfort of Lies by Randy Susan Meyers.  Page 314 says, "He unbuttoned her shirt."

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini.  Page 159 says, "It weighed on me."

Benediction by Kent Haruf.  Page 10 says, "I'll call her."

A Delicate Truth by John Le Carre.  Page 329 says, "Toby did."

Zero Hour by Clive Cussler.  Page 283 says, "The flare only lasted another ten seconds, but Joe had also found a flashlight."

David the Page Went on a Processing Tear

Fiction

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan.  I hope this guy doesn't have a middle name beginning with K.  Big-time summer novel with lots of press. Comedy with "superrich, pedigreed Chinese families."  I expected Kwan to have gooped up, spiky hair in his author photo.  Nope.

Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes.  Time traveling serial killer hunts really smart young women.  A would be victim escapes and figures out what is happening.  Beukes does not have spiky hair either.  She lives in Cape Town, I wonder if she knows Roger Smith.  Smith has written some excellent novels.

9th Girl by Tami Hoag.  Serial killer murder mystery that starts in Minneapolis by an author that lives in Florida.

Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman.  178 pages?  Probably took Gaiman two days for the whole thing.  Gaiman used to live in Wisconsin.  Over near Minneapolis, I think.  Gaiman's hair is not spiky, it's just messy.

The Son by Philipp Meyer.  1849 Texas and a kid is kidnapped and raised by Comanches.  When the Indian Wars end the adult has no place to be.  Who was the real guy who was kidnapped and became a Comanche chief?    Or am I getting confused about Quanah Parker whose mother was kidnapped as a child and Quanah became a chief?

Revenge Wears Prada: the devil returns by Lauren Weisenberger.  Nice author photo but after looking at a website showing fashion photoshopping I am very suspicious.  Which is not fair to Weisenberger because even if the photo is all touched up it looks like she didn't need any.  Now I sound like a suck-up.

Flat Water Tuesday by Ron Irwin.  Competitive rowing at boarding school and the blue-collar kid with a rowing scholarship.  Hey!  Irwin also lives in Cape Town.  Maybe Irwin, Beueks and Smith should meet for coffee.

The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan.  Another big summer novel.  Sullivan lives in Brooklyn along with a boatload of other writers.  I think Megan Abbott lives there.

Sweet Salt Air by Barbara Delinsky.  Some novel.

Sparta by Roxana Robinson.  Iraq War veteran returns to New York state.  "Something has gone wrong, though things should be fine: he hasn't been shot or wounded; he's never had psychological troubles."

The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo.  More Norwegian crime to make author Anthony Neil Smith all giggly with anticipation.  Nesbo has a shaved head.  During winter I see dudes with shaved heads and without hats.  Man, during winter I wear a hat when I'm inside.  Heck, there are a couple guys around town who wear shorts in January.

Long War by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter.  Science Fiction with an impenetrable summary on the flyleaf. Pratchett and Baxter both live in England.  Pratchett and Baxter are both bald. 

Widow Waltz by Sally Koslow.  Rich Manhattan family finds out the attorney dad ran things on empty bank accounts.  Dad dies and family is in trouble.

What to Read 50: Joe R Lansdale

What to Read 50: Joe R Lansdale

Silver Monkey Girl

Fiction

The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls. Memoirist writes novel about the kind of stuff her memoir covered.

Trains and Lovers by Alexander McCall Smith.  Scotsman writes love stories themed on train settings.

Bad Monkey by Carl Hiassen.  King Kong?  Mighty Joe Young?  Clyde the orangutan?  Miami insanity with humor.

Earth Girl by Janet Edwards.  This looks like a Young Adult novel.  In 2788 only people with weak immune systems live on earth.  Teen girl fakes an ID to hang out with "norms".

One Heart to Win by Johanna Lindsey.  Cowboy who forgot how to button his shirt walks around with a saddle.

Zero Hour by Clive Cussler and Graham Brown.  Helicopter and speedboat get into a flaming shootout next to the Sydney Opera House.

Large Print

Apple Orchard by Susan Wiggs.

Fly Away by Kristin Hannah.

Seventh Victim by Mary Burton.

Perfect Ghost by Linda Barnes.

Perfect Timing by Catherine Anderson.

Shadow People by James Swain.  Hey, this isn't large print.  This was misclassified.

Seduction by M.J. Rose.

Unwritten by Charles Martin.  

Another Commentary on Author Photos

Fiction

Deeply Odd by Dean Koontz.  Sitting on outdoor sculpture with lots of hair.  No dogs this time.

Kill Room by Jeffery Deaver.  Bald.  Striped Shirt.  Indoor portrait with dark background.  Deaver is a good guy.  I emailed him a couple years ago to thank him for coming to Murder and Mayhem in Muskego and he responded saying thanks in return. Deaver had a very good short story about a mathematician turned policeman in the mystery story compilation Transgressions.

Classified by Fern Michaels.  Same photo of her on a couch with three dogs.  She does not look happy.  Her expression says, "Let's get this over with, I have books to write and dogs to walk."

Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham.  Graham was a big-time TV star so I expected a much bigger photo on the back to sell this.  She is sitting on outdoor furniture, bending forward to put her hands on her elevated knees.  Hoop earrings.

Dunedin Public Library "Geek to Chic" Fashion Show

They repeated this neat program in March.









Dig the hair.


Obligatory book display

Is This Blog Still Active?

Yes

Renovation Celebration on June 1st

This was a fairly low-key event.  I said a few things.  A representative of the Library Friends said a few things.  The City Administrator said a few things.  A Library Board member said a few things.  (My comments were the best.)

The broad in the pink shirt cut the cake for me.


That kid in the blue shirt kept asking if he could have more cake.



Cars and Coffee, June 2nd 

The "fancy car place" downtown hosts Cars and Coffee one Sunday a month.  You can buy coffee and Gelato at Sweet Lips Cafe. 

Ole Ford coupe.


Ferrari 330


Ferrari Dino GT


A little later in the morning, some cars had already left.




DVD

Golf's Grand Design: the history of American golf course architecture produced by PBS.  Some sort of golf show.