Books I've Read
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Avalanche
I can't believe I don't have any other books by this author on The Big List! I've read several, and many of his stories in Outdoor Life. I enjoy his comedic outdoor adventures. This is a light mystery, taking place in Idaho, as far as I can tell, the second of the Sheriff Bo Tully series. Some editing boo-boos (A character is called by the wrong name; Bo visits a crime scene that he has already visited, yet asks directions to it.). Interesting characters, but not a lot of depth. I guess I said "light mystery", didn't I!
Smoke Quote:
"Those things are already killing me," Tully said. "I might as well smoke them myself."Read:
8/2007
The Blight Way
Sheriff Bo Tully investigates the murder of a man found on a fence. He meets Susan the medical examiner.
Smoke Quote:
He wondered how much they paid ambulance personnel these days, that they could afford to smoke. (pg. 73)
Library Quote:
"They all had ID of some kind, Bo. You count a library card as ID, don't you?"
"It's one of the best, Ernie."
Read:
8/2011
Remote Control
British agent Nick Stone tries to find out who BLOODILY murdered his friend in Washington, D.C.
Read:
3/2001
The Book Of Ralph
Hank recounts his inadvertent adventures with Ralph, who is quite the character. The shenanigans run from burglary to involvement in a murder.
The author seems to have confused CB "channels" with "stations", unless this is a Chicago thing. It certainly is not in the Big Dummy's Guide To CB Radio!
Quote:
"You see anything good?"
"What do you mean?"
"Cassette deck, turntables, ham radio?"
"Ham radio? What's a ham radio?? (pg. 98)
Quote:
"See!" she said. "It's always about you!"
I started for my bike, but I yelled behind me. "I'm me! Why shouldn't it be about me?" (pg. 158)
Read:
8/2009
Snow Treasure
A Norse boy named Peter leads the children of their village in transporting the town's gold from the bank to a fishing boat so the Nazis don't steal it. Written in 1942, interestingly. Recommended by Tiffany.
Read:
11/2009
Clear For Action!
Rousing story of young Jeff Robbins who signs on a cargo schooner just before the start of the War of 1812 and pressed-ganged into service on a British warship. Good stuff!
Words I Had To Look Up:
Right as a trivet (pg. 312) -- Initially "as steady as a trivet", implying stability. In the book, "right as rain" might have fit the sentence better, though.
Read:
10/2008
How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life
Abby inherits a chamberpot from her mother and takes it to The Antiques Roadshow. Pretty good, chicklit?
Words I Had To Look Up:
Madeleine -- A sweet scallop-shaped cake.Read:
7/2006
Christmas Cookie Murders
Lucy Stone lives in a small town in Maine and aggravates the local police by solving murders. Two recipes.
Read:
5/2001
The Apothecary
Janie's parents have to leave the U.S. for England in 1952 because of persecution by the government. Janie a little trouble adjusting, but then she meets an interesting boy. And THEN things get weird.
I enjoyed this story very much, and especially the observations on post-ware life in London.
I should have realized there was gonna be a sequel!
Read:
10/2013
Strength And Honor
Last book (#4) in the U.S.S. Merrimack series. Ties things up nicely.
Read:
2/2013
The Myriad
Tour of the Merrimack #1. The battleship is chasing down Hive, finds a unknown populated planet, some battle fought, the timeline is changed, black hole, blah blah.
Read:
2/2013
The Sagitarius Command
Book three of the U.S.S. Merrimack series. Gosh, I didn't care for the first book and here I am on the third one! Oddly, SPQR came up in conversation (on television they were showing The Robe), Cam translated it (High school Latin pays off again!), and now I find it on page 90, among pages. Whoops, I misspelled the title!
Read:
2/2013
Wolf Star
Tour of the Merrimack #2. Didn't care much for the last book, and here I am reading book two! Wept a bit at page 322. Now I gotta go walk to the library and get the next one.
Read:
2/2013
Cinder
A Cinderella story, except she's a cyborg, live in New Beijing a couple centuries in the future, and the Moon Queen is out to get her. Good story, sure to be a sequel.
Read:
3/2012
Cress
Book Three in the Lunar Chronicles. The continuing adventures of Cinder the Cyborg and her wacky gang of misfits. Iko is my favorite character, but I forget how she became the ship so I guess I'll have to read Scarlet again.
Read:
11/2014
Fairest : Levana's Story
How Levana got that way.
Read:
3/2014
Scarlet
Second book in The Lunar Chronicles. We meet Scarlet, who lives on a farm in France. Scarlet meets Wolf, who is a fighter. Eventually Scarlet meets Cinder. I enjoyed it very much.
Read:
5/2013
Winter
The last book in the Lunar Chronicles. 800+ pages. I think my favorite character in this volume is Iko.
Quote:
"Of course I understand sarcasm," she spat. "It's not like it's theoretical physics, is it?" -- pg. 373
Read:
11/2015
The Silent Patient
I guess this would be a psychological thriller, eh? I enjoyed reading it, and read it rather quickly. I LOVED the short chapters! Everyone should write short chapters! I was surprised by the ending.
Read:
9/2020
Kraken
A squid goes missing in London. Is it God? A bit dense for me, I think I lost the, what do you call it, "narrative thread", somewhere in the four hundreds, page-wise. Admirable writing with a lot of interesting ideas.
Read:
12/2013
20 books displayed
[M.W. - Maguire] [Maguire - Marsh] [Marshall - Mass] [Mass - McBain] [McBain - McCrumb] [McCrumb - McInerny] [Mcmanus - Miéville] [Miéville - Moody] [Moon - Morden] [Morden - Mullane] [Muller - Mysterious Press]