Books I've Read
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Notes From An Accidental Band Geek
As a former member of a high school marching band I enjoyed this story very much. It's the first band novel I've ever seen. I laughed when they assigned her to play the mellophone instead of her French horn. My GF in high school played the bells instead of her oboe. Can you imagine marching oboes?
Read:
10/2012
Swift Justice
Former U.S. Air Force OSI officer "Charlie" Swift has a PI business in Colorado. Her silent partner runs off with his personal trainer, and his wife decides to exercise her share of the partnership to become an investigator. Surprise mention of geocaching.
Read:
4/2011
The Missing Chums
I, of course, read all the Hardy Boys that had been published back when I was a kid, but they are fun to re-visit. I wonder about the differences between the original editions and the "modernized" ones. This one has transistor radios, which I'm sure were not around back in the 1928 original. In fact, I read that the original edition is rather different than the newer one.
Read:
3/2018
The Shortwave Mystery
Stolen stuffed animals, ham radio (on 2 meters?), Chet's new hobby of taxidermy, and industrial sabotage. I first read this back in the 60s, but this edition seems to be different than the one I read. No "Help Hudson", no beating the Lynx with an walkie-talkie antenna!
Read:
2/2010Read:
10/2018
Down And Out In The Magic Kingdom
Good story about "politics" in the Disney World a hundred or so years from now.
Read:
12/2022
Eastern Standard Tribe
An industrial saboteur ends up in the looney bin, but designs a better widget. Chapter 15 may be the shortest chapter I've ever seen!
Read:
9/2009
Little Brother
It only took me 60 pages to get the meaning of the title! Very techy story of teen in San Francisco arrested by the Dept. of Homeland Security after a terrorist bombing of the bridge. Too YA for our middle school library!
Words I Had To Look Up:
pizza...cold and clabbered (pg. 339) -- Of milk or cream : having thickened or curdled.
Quote:
Take it from someone who's read the Wikipedia entry:..." -- (pg. 90)
Read:
4/2009
Overclocked: Stories of the future present
Six pretty darn good stories. And to think I almost didn't check this book out!
I found the word "hoodies" disconcerting in the sort of Asimov sort of parody I,Robot, since Merriam-Webster says that word dates from 1992.
Words I Had To Look Up:
saisoneur (pg. 172) -- I got nothun'. "saison" is French for "season". Maybe it is someone who stays for a long time?
Read:
8/2009
Somone Comes To Town, Somone Leaves Town
Fantasy meets the internet. A great book, but I got a little mixed-up sometimes in the non-sequentially told story. I teared up a bit when Alan's mother died. A lot of sadness, a bit of joy. I don't get the title, though.
Words I Had To Look Up:
counting out a float (pg. 136) -- The sum of money added to a cash register at the beginning of a shift for change-making purposes and subtracted at the end of the shift.
craquelure (pg. 293) -- A network of fine cracks that may appear in applied paint over time for various reasons.
Quote:
"Look, I'm not trying to be cruel here, but you're generation-blind. The Internet is a great, but it's not the last great thing we'll ever invent. My pops was a mainframe guy, he thought PCs were toys. You're a PC guy, so you think my phone is a toy." (pg. 275) Wow, he's talking about ME!Library Quote:
To the librarian, this shelf-reading looked like your garden-variety screwing around, but what really made her nervous were Alan's excursions through the card catalogue, which required constant tending to replace the cards that errant patrons made unauthorized reorderings of. (pg. 71) Several other good library quotes on this page.Read:
8/2009Read:
7/2022
Last Bus To Wisdom
In 1951 a boy travels from Montana to Wisconsin to spend the summer with his aunt while his grandmother mends from an operation. Very good!
Read:
12/2016
The Whistling Season
Not something I would have picked myself, this was recommended to me. Good story of life on a homestead farm in 1909 Montana.
Read:
4/2016
Privateer
Book 2 of the Flight Engineer story.
Read:
5/2000
Atomic Lobster
More weird goings-on in Florida. Drugs, sex, violence, and some pretty darn funny stuff in between.
Quote:
Serge reminded the librarian of something. She glanced over at a communal lunatic reading area where the regular cast of homeless talked to themselves, played invisible card games, started unzipping their pants...
The librarian jumped up. "Henry!"
"Whoops. Forgot."
Read:
7/2008
Cadillac Beach
Serge Storms, #6. Serge wanders around looking for some jewels stolen several decades before. Possibly by his grandfather Sergio. Who seems a LOT like Serge! Story is told alternating between the 1960s and what ever the present time of the book is.
Quote:
Mrs. Lippowicz put her hands on her hips and looked sternly at her son. "Why can't you be more like your nice friend Serge?"
Serge turned to Lenny and grinned.Quote:
An empty plastic grocery bag from Publix billowed
out in the breeze and bounced across the street, a Florida tumbleweed.Read:
4/2024
Clownfish Blues
Serge Storms, #20. Serge takes on the Lottery.
Quote:
The reptile was hog-tied with rubber bands and hung from the handlebars of a Schwinn bicycle, joining five other similarly dangling reptiles all wondering how life had come to this.Quote:
I see a disco ball, I say, 'Go with God.'"Read:
5/2024
Coconut Cowboy
Serge Storm, #19. Serge buys a Harley. We learn about sinkholes, a donkey and a hippo, and small town machinations.
Read:
4/2024
Electric Barracuda
Serge several family surprises.
Words I Had To Look Up:
street platting (pg. 110) -- A plat is a map showing the street and layout of a town.
Everglades City (pg. 292) -- Segre tells the tale of the drugs raids in 1983. I thought he was confusing it with the Steinhatchee busts of 1973. I was wrong.
one thing that calms them [bees] down is smoke (pg. 335) -- But why? Wikipedia says it is not only because the bees engorge themselves with honey as a hive-defense mechanism (which I've heard of, from Kelly), but also because the smoke masks alarm pheromones that guard bees release.
Smallwood store (pg. 293) -- A historic building in Chokoloskee, Florida.
Quote:
Coleman kept trying buttons. "What about the manual?"
"I always throw manuals out. Life's too short."
"...(Recalculating. Drive point-seven)..." --(pg. 77)
Read:
8/2011
Florida Roadkill
Serge Storms #1. Well, I learned these books were not published in chronological order, as Sharon and Coleman get killed in this one.
Dry Tortugas has an appearance in this one!
Quote:
...Bambi's first steps.Quote:
"Hi, I'm Seymour," he said, "but friends call me Coleman."Quote:
"It's hot as hell in here," griped the bass player. "Why can't we practice with the door open?"
"I told you, because of the noise complaints from the airport!" said the singer.Quote:
"That's a new one," said Serge.Read:
4/2024
Gator A-Go-Go
Serge Storms, #12. It's Spring Break time in Florida!
Quote:
"I've completely rededicated myself to a life of nonviolence."Quote:
A groggy Coleman startled. Another jab with the pistol. A loud groan. Coleman's eye blinked and stared into the barrel of a huge gun. He grabbed his heart. "Thank God! I was having a nightmare I was out of dope."Quote:
"I'm amazed at the level of thought," said Serge. "And yet you still put your shoes on the wrong feet."
Coleman looked down. "There's a difference?"Read:
4/2024
Hammerhead Ranch Motel
Wierd goings-on in Florida, in the style of Hiassen.
Read:
12/2001
20 books displayed
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