Latest Reads

I've been slacking on updating.

76. Strip Tease - Carl Hiaasen

Another great book, but I miss the Governor and Jim Tile. But at least it had Al Garcia.

77. Death du Jour - Kathy Reichs

I love Reichs' books, even if they make something inside of me recoil in horror.

Since I complain about Nora Roberts' books being 'formulaic', it's only fair to make a similar comment about Reichs' novels. Without fail, the heroine comes face to face with the criminal, (this is only a spoiler if you've not read *any* of her books - if you've read one, you know that the build up and the situation are varied enough to still surprise you) and finds herself in peril at books' end. But so far, the situations and the crimes have been varied, and horrifying, enough to keep me turning the pages with baited breath.

I've been working on Charlie Wilson's War in between these books. This is a fab book, just awesome - but it's taking me forever to read, because I am so into it I'm cross-referencing things and taking notes. I loved the one international relations class I took in college, and this book brings it all back and then some.

I also read a little over half of The Out-of-Sync Child. I've some suspicions that my older daughter has a few sensory issues, but I read enough of the book to know that, even if she does, she's not having serious issues - they're more like quirks. But it's a fascinating read, and it offers a ton of insight into children who have some degree of sensory processing dissonance, even very mild dissonance like my daughter displays.

Book #75

Drum roll, please ...

Book #75 is The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver.

Awesome, AWESOME book.

A tale of a Baptist preacher who takes his family into the Congo in 1959. (I absolutely hate the concept of missionary work - hate it. It's arrogance, narcissism and condescension in their highest forms.) The book traces their arrival, struggles and tragedies over the years - first as missionaries, then in their lives as they move on - some out of Africa, some still within.

What stays with me most of all is the (recent) history of the Congo/Zaire, the politics and the devastation of a once vital population by Europeans and Americans. I've developed a respect and admiration for the continent as a whole, and the people, that I never would have had without Kingsolver's novel. Like "A Long Way Gone", I think this of this book as required reading, especially for those who are ignorant of Africa's struggles.

1. The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman
2. The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman
3. The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman
4. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
5. Innocent in Death - J.D. Robb
6. Seven Up - Janet Evanovich
7. Hard Eight - Janet Evanovich
8. Unconditional Parenting - Alfie Kohn
9. To the Nines - Janet Evanovich
10. Tourist Season - Carl Hiaasen
11. The Secret Life of Bees - Sun Monk Kidd
12. Crazy Time: Surviving Divorce and Building a New Life - Abigail Trafford
13. Ten Big Ones - Janet Evanovich
14. Guilty Pleasures - Laurell K. Hamilton
15. The Ruby in the Smoke - Philip Pullman
16. Double Whammy - Carl Hiaasen
17. The Accidental Tourist - Anne Tyler
18. Blood Brothers - Nora Roberts
19. Eleven on Top - Janet Evanovich
20. The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing - Melissa Bank
21. Zlata's Diary - Zlata Filipovic
22. The Reading Group - Elizabeth Noble
23. Heartburn - Nora Ephron
24. The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls
25. Twelve Sharp - Janet Evanovich
26. Girl, Interrupted - Susanna Kaysen
27. Lean, Mean Thirteen - Janet Evanovich
28. Plum Lovin' - Janet Evanovich
29. The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-Time - Mark Haddon
30. Skinny Dip - Carl Hiaasen
31. Metro Girl - Janet Evanovich
32. Native Tongue - Carl Hiaasen
33. Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer
34. Morrigan's Cross - Nora Roberts
35. Dance of the Gods - Nora Roberts
36. Valley of Silence - Nora Roberts
37. Strangers in Death - JD Robb
38. The Mermaid Chair - Sue Monk Kidd
39. Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris
40. The Laughing Corpse - Laurell K. Hamilton
41. Flush - Carl Hiaasen
42. The Notebook - Nicholas Sparks
43. Bare Bones - Kathy Reichs
44. Sick Puppy - Carl Hiaasen
45. Plum Lucky - Janet Evanovich
46. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim - David Sedaris
47. Lucky You - Carl Hiaasen
48. Stormy Weather - Carl Hiaasen
49. Necessary Losses - Judith Viorst
50. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See
51. Holidays on Ice - David Sedaris
52. Blue Dahlia - Nora Roberts
53. Black Rose - Nora Roberts
54. Red Lily - Nora Roberts
55. The Little Book of Letting Go - Hugh Prather
56. Twilight - Stephanie Meyer
57. How to Survive the Loss of a Love - Peter McWilliams, Harold H. Bloomfield, and Melba Colgrove
58. New Moon - Stephanie Meyer
59. Mom's House, Dad's House - Isolina Ricci
60. Naked - David Sedaris
61. The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards
62. The Raw Shark Texts - Steven Hall
63. Wicked Nights - Nina Bangs
64. To Bed a Beauty - Nicole Jordan
65. Key of Light - Nora Roberts
66. Pictures of Hollis Woods - Patricia Reilly Giff
67. Ellen Foster - Kaye Gibbons
68. Key of Knowledge - Nora Roberts
69. Key of Valor - Nora Roberts
70. Auriel Rising - Elizabeth Redfern
71. Break No Bones - Kathy Reichs
72. Open House - Elizabeth Berg
73. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier - Ishmael Beah
74. Kafka's Soup - Mark Crick
75. The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver

A Long Way Gone

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73. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier - Ishmael Beah

What a powerful book.

You know this kind of stuff happens - young kids are forced into warfare and and experience horrors that few of us will ever see. But knowing, in some abstract way, that it happens is very different from reading a memoir of a boy who lived it.

It's heart-wrenching to imagine Beah's life: one day he's a happy-go-lucky 12 year old getting ready to perform with his friends in a talent show, and the next, he hears that rebels have attacked his home village of Mogbwemo, Sierra Leone. By the time he's 13, he's seen men, women and children murdered, cheated death himself and spent months on the run, hoding from the rebels. He is picked up by government forces and, after a brief period of safety and stability, turned into a soldier.

Beah's story is incredibly hard to read, but that difficulty makes it *necessary* to read.

http://www.alongwaygone.com/index.html
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Open House

72. Open House - Elizabeth Berg

I knew it was a book about divorce when I swapped for it, but man, it's a really accurate book about divorce.

Samantha Morrow is as blindsided by her divorce as I was by mine. The author describes the initial hours/days/weeks with poignant accuracy ... if I hadn't experienced it myself, I'd wonder if it was really that all-consuming and yet surreal.

While I did not go to Tiffany's and indulge in $12K worth of Limoges china, nor did I try to seduce my estranged husband, much of what Samantha felt and did was very familiar. I cheered for her successes, mourned her losses and cringed at some of her mis-steps. And when she, like every other book-about-divorce woman, had the chance to reclaim her previous life - I applauded her choice.

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1. The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman
2. The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman
3. The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman
4. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
5. Innocent in Death - J.D. Robb
6. Seven Up - Janet Evanovich
7. Hard Eight - Janet Evanovich
8. Unconditional Parenting - Alfie Kohn
9. To the Nines - Janet Evanovich
10. Tourist Season - Carl Hiaasen
11. The Secret Life of Bees - Sun Monk Kidd
12. Crazy Time: Surviving Divorce and Building a New Life - Abigail Trafford
13. Ten Big Ones - Janet Evanovich
14. Guilty Pleasures - Laurell K. Hamilton
15. The Ruby in the Smoke - Philip Pullman
16. Double Whammy - Carl Hiaasen
17. The Accidental Tourist - Anne Tyler
18. Blood Brothers - Nora Roberts
19. Eleven on Top - Janet Evanovich
20. The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing - Melissa Bank
21. Zlata's Diary - Zlata Filipovic
22. The Reading Group - Elizabeth Noble
23. Heartburn - Nora Ephron
24. The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls
25. Twelve Sharp - Janet Evanovich
26. Girl, Interrupted - Susanna Kaysen
27. Lean, Mean Thirteen - Janet Evanovich
28. Plum Lovin' - Janet Evanovich
29. The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-Time - Mark Haddon
30. Skinny Dip - Carl Hiaasen
31. Metro Girl - Janet Evanovich
32. Native Tongue - Carl Hiaasen
33. Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer
34. Morrigan's Cross - Nora Roberts
35. Dance of the Gods - Nora Roberts
36. Valley of Silence - Nora Roberts
37. Strangers in Death - JD Robb
38. The Mermaid Chair - Sue Monk Kidd
39. Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris
40. The Laughing Corpse - Laurell K. Hamilton
41. Flush - Carl Hiaasen
42. The Notebook - Nicholas Sparks
43. Bare Bones - Kathy Reichs
44. Sick Puppy - Carl Hiaasen
45. Plum Lucky - Janet Evanovich
46. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim - David Sedaris
47. Lucky You - Carl Hiaasen
48. Stormy Weather - Carl Hiaasen
49. Necessary Losses - Judith Viorst
50. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See
51. Holidays on Ice - David Sedaris
52. Blue Dahlia - Nora Roberts
53. Black Rose - Nora Roberts
54. Red Lily - Nora Roberts
55. The Little Book of Letting Go - Hugh Prather
56. Twilight - Stephanie Meyer
57. How to Survive the Loss of a Love - Peter McWilliams, Harold H. Bloomfield, and Melba Colgrove
58. New Moon - Stephanie Meyer
59. Mom's House, Dad's House - Isolina Ricci
60. Naked - David Sedaris
61. The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards
62. The Raw Shark Texts - Steven Hall
63. Wicked Nights - Nina Bangs
64. To Bed a Beauty - Nicole Jordan
65. Key of Light - Nora Roberts
66. Pictures of Hollis Woods - Patricia Reilly Giff
67. Ellen Foster - Kaye Gibbons
68. Key of Knowledge - Nora Roberts
69. Key of Valor - Nora Roberts
70. Auriel Rising - Elizabeth Redfern
71. Break No Bones - Kathy Reichs
72. Open House - Elizabeth Berg

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Break No Bones

71. Break No Bones - Kathy Reichs

I'd sworn off Kathy Reichs after reading her first book, Deja Dead - it was just too damn scary knowing that she based it on real stuff.

At some point in the past couple months, however, I recanted and read Bare Bones, and was thankful I'd not listened too hard to my "no, you'll be scared" voice. Now that I've read Break No Bones, I'm on a Kathy Reichs bandwagon, and hope to get through the other 8 books in the Temperance Brennan series before year's end.

I really enjoy the technical forensic jargon, and the whole idea of forensic anthropology. I also enjoy the character of Brennan, more so as she's written and less as she's portrayed on the TV show Bones. The written Brennan is no 'squint', but is instead a warm and driven woman with amazing empathy for the dead. She's smart, funny and savvy, solving crimes and somehow managing not to get killed by the psycho killer at novel's end.

The fact that Reichs' books have some basis in fact makes them that much more engrossing, and adds a certain level of enjoyment to the capture of the bad guy . It also makes this reader thankful that people like Reichs are so good at what they do.

Recent Reads

69. Key of Valor - Nora Roberts

The end of the Key trilogy. Like I said, predictable, and formulaic, but still enjoyable. Knowing how it will play out, overall, didn't really diminish my enjoyment of the series.

70. Auriel Rising - Elizabeth Redfern

A period book, set in the early 1600's - sort of historical fiction, in that the characters were folks like King James and Prince Henry, Sir Walter Raleigh, etc. But they are backdrops to politics and intrigue, as traitors plot to overthrow King James and install Prince Henry, and also to sever the treaty with Spain. Protestants versus Catholics, traitors versus loyalists, criminals and royalty, with sex, love and intrigue as the constant undercurrents.

I didn't think I enjoyed historical fiction, but I was engrossed in this book and had a hard time putting it down.

Updated List

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1. The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman
2. The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman
3. The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman
4. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
5. Innocent in Death - J.D. Robb
6. Seven Up - Janet Evanovich
7. Hard Eight - Janet Evanovich
8. Unconditional Parenting - Alfie Kohn
9. To the Nines - Janet Evanovich
10. Tourist Season - Carl Hiaasen
11. The Secret Life of Bees - Sun Monk Kidd
12. Crazy Time: Surviving Divorce and Building a New Life - Abigail Trafford
13. Ten Big Ones - Janet Evanovich
14. Guilty Pleasures - Laurell K. Hamilton
15. The Ruby in the Smoke - Philip Pullman
16. Double Whammy - Carl Hiaasen
17. The Accidental Tourist - Anne Tyler
18. Blood Brothers - Nora Roberts
19. Eleven on Top - Janet Evanovich
20. The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing - Melissa Bank
21. Zlata's Diary - Zlata Filipovic
22. The Reading Group - Elizabeth Noble
23. Heartburn - Nora Ephron
24. The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls
25. Twelve Sharp - Janet Evanovich
26. Girl, Interrupted - Susanna Kaysen
27. Lean, Mean Thirteen - Janet Evanovich
28. Plum Lovin' - Janet Evanovich
29. The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-Time - Mark Haddon
30. Skinny Dip - Carl Hiaasen
31. Metro Girl - Janet Evanovich
32. Native Tongue - Carl Hiaasen
33. Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer
34. Morrigan's Cross - Nora Roberts
35. Dance of the Gods - Nora Roberts
36. Valley of Silence - Nora Roberts
37. Strangers in Death - JD Robb
38. The Mermaid Chair - Sue Monk Kidd
39. Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris
40. The Laughing Corpse - Laurell K. Hamilton
41. Flush - Carl Hiaasen
42. The Notebook - Nicholas Sparks
43. Bare Bones - Kathy Reichs
44. Sick Puppy - Carl Hiaasen
45. Plum Lucky - Janet Evanovich
46. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim - David Sedaris
47. Lucky You - Carl Hiaasen
48. Stormy Weather - Carl Hiaasen
49. Necessary Losses - Judith Viorst
50. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See
51. Holidays on Ice - David Sedaris
52. Blue Dahlia - Nora Roberts
53. Black Rose - Nora Roberts
54. Red Lily - Nora Roberts
55. The Little Book of Letting Go - Hugh Prather
56. Twilight - Stephanie Meyer
57. How to Survive the Loss of a Love - Peter McWilliams, Harold H. Bloomfield, and Melba Colgrove
58. New Moon - Stephanie Meyer
59. Mom's House, Dad's House - Isolina Ricci
60. Naked - David Sedaris
61. The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards
62. The Raw Shark Texts - Steven Hall
63. Wicked Nights - Nina Bangs
64. To Bed a Beauty - Nicole Jordan
65. Key of Light - Nora Roberts
66. Pictures of Hollis Woods - Patricia Reilly Giff
67. Ellen Foster - Kaye Gibbons
68. Key of Knowledge - Nora Roberts
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