Past Pages

Persuasion

Sat, 05 Aug 2006 12:29:31 -0600

I've been trying to read the books coming up for discussion at the three local book groups, one of them had this listed for the July meeting which I didn't go to, mainly because I couldn't finish this book. I've gotten thru about 100 or so pages and it's just boring as can be, it's just like a Harlequin novel, except in a more flowery stilted style.

Am I missing something here? Is there some payoff if I keep reading? While it somehow get magically better? Or is this just not one of her better books?

I do like the movies of her books and other books from that period, brought to life by actors and with period costumes and sets, they're amazing to watch (and perhaps the condensation to two hours or so helps as well). Just boring as hell to read.

The Brooklyn Follies

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 12:17:06 -0600

My mom got this out of the library and I picked it up in her car when I had some time to kill before picking her up. It reminds me of John Irving's books, it's got that same kind of whimsical, almost fantasy, kind of style. But this is well grounded in the main character, Nathan Glass, dying, estranged from his daughter, moving back to Brooklyn on a whim and making a life out of bits and pieces while re-discovering long lost family. It made me laugh and cry and bashed me between the eyes when I least expected it.

The Virgin of Small Plains

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 08:40:17 -0600

It's a good book, parallels events from the main character's HS years with present day and builds up both interest in the characters and suspense in the plot at the same time. I used to read Nancy Pickard's book regularly when she was doing the series about the woman who ran a non-profit foundation in New England, then she moved on to a more humorous set of characters that I just couldn't get into. Her recent series about a non-fiction writer about killers (along the lines of Ann Rule) has been good but not as good as that first series.

This book, however, is as good as her first series, and I like seeing the then-and-now views of the different characters, who changed, who didn't, who grew up and took over their parents' jobs, lives, farms, who moved away and did different things. There's good humorous touches like the parrots crapping in the boots of someone they don't like and it's got a good small town feel to it. It also captures the sense of urgency and recklessness of youth, the ease of falling into crushes and obsessions and the self-centeredness, the "no-one else feels like this and my problems are huge, bigger than anything else in the world" absorption of teenagers.

Shoulder The Sky

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 16:12:31 -0600

I keep trying to read this second book of her World War I series but I keep returning it to the library unfinished. The first book in the series was slow and boring and dull and this one is somehow even more so. I guess I'll give up on this series and stick to her 19th century stuff set in England (I couldn't stand her book set in France in the 19th (18th?) century either).

Jar City

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 16:04:08 -0600

Written by an Icelandic author and set in Reykjavik, it's a bit slow and heavy at times, but still interesting enough, especially for the Icelandic atmosphere, culture and history. There's trivia, things like most Icelanders are known by their first names, they're listed in the phone book by their first names rather than their last names which is a patronymic - the father's name plus son or dottir. There's one character in the book who doesn't have a patronymic last name and the first/last name combination is gender neutral and it's never revealed whether the person is male or female which makes for an intriguing subplot. Other cultural/historical info includes the explanation of the title, "Jar City" and the DNA/genetic project being undertaken there to genetically identify all Icelanders.

Curiosity Killed The Cat Sitter

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 15:50:52 -0600

This is a delightful book, a terrific mix of grittiness and lightness, it works very well. All the characters get fleshed out well, even the incidental pet-sitting clients and their people too and the Florida Keys atmosphere adds a nice touch to the plot line. A very good first book for the author and I'm looking forward to her next one.

S is for Silence

Sat, 04 Feb 2006 22:39:15 -0600

An absolutely brilliant new episode in Kinsey Milhone's case files, a different narrative style and a fascinating case as well fleshed out with a slew of interesting characters. This one leads Kinsey away from home, not far but enough that we get little of her landlord and other chums in Santa Teresa but they're ably replaced by some new friends and the other suspects in her current case. Sue Grafton just keeps writing better and better books the further she gets down the alphabet. I'm dreading the day she gets to Z is for... (although I'm wondering what the full title will be!)

What I Tell You Three Times Is False

Sat, 04 Feb 2006 15:21:16 -0600

Written as if from an autobiographical viewpoint, Samuel Holt is also the hero of the book, an ex-cop turned stereotyped-actor who starred in a TV detective show, now solving crimes. This is the third book in the series, after One of Us Is Wrong and I Know a Trick Worth Two of That. There's also a fourth one, The Fourth Dimension Is Death. The books are unfortunately out of print but they're worth looking up in the library, good fast moving plots, a self-effacing hero with a decent sense of humor.

I see a rumor on Amazon that Samuel Holt is also Donald Westlake and my local library does link them together in their catalog, I think I'll check out some of Westlake's books too.

A Christmas Guest

Sat, 04 Feb 2006 13:14:20 -0600

This is by far the best of her Christmas series, focusing on Charlotte Pitt's curmudgeonly grandmama, it both incorporates a very good mystery as well as fleshing out and advancing the character. I'm interested to see if she turns up in any of the future Pitt novels now and how she is portrayed.

A Christmas Visitor

Sat, 04 Feb 2006 13:12:25 -0600

The second in her Christmas series, this one focuses on Henry Rathbone around the same time as the Monk series with his son, Oliver Rathbone. The plot line doesn't quite measure up to her usual work but the ending is interesting.

A Christmas Journey

Sat, 04 Feb 2006 13:08:14 -0600

The first of her Christmas books, this one illuminates the difficulty of travel in 19th century England while teaching a gentle moral lesson. It features Vespasia when she was younger, an interesting glimpse in the character we've seen only as an older matriachal figure for Thomas and Charlotte Pitt.

Shroud for a Nightingale

Sat, 04 Feb 2006 13:04:36 -0600

A good book, more focus on the school and the staff and students than on Dalgliesh but that works well here. For an American like me, it's an interesting glimpse in the hierachy of British nursing as well.

Blue Moon

Sat, 04 Feb 2006 12:57:32 -0600

John Morgan Wilson writes good books. Peter Duchin name-drops which does not make for a good book. By the end of the first chapter I was so sick of hearing who he hung out with and how he knew Jackie Kennedy and so on and so on, I was ready to throw up. Major disappointment for me, I'll stick to just John Morgan Wilson's solo writing from now on.

Death Trap

Sat, 04 Feb 2006 12:53:39 -0600

This one is wonderful, largely for the return of Alex Jensen but also for the change in narrative style which puts more focus on the ensemble than on Jessie. Definitely a good read as usual!

The Rogues' Game

Fri, 30 Dec 2005 21:44:23 -0600

This is an absolutely marvelous retro mystery, set after WWII, it captures not only the atmosphere of the post-war era but also the topsy-turvy effect of the oil boom in small-town Texas. It's a film-noirish grifter story with larger-than-life characters drawn beautifully by a modern writer. It's a shame that Humphrey Bogart or William Holden or some other wonderful 40s or 50s type movie star isn't around to play these characters in a film of this book. This is the first book by this author and I can't wait for his second one, due out next July 2006.