Books I've Read
Books Listed by Author
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Behemoth
Alek and Deryn (Mister Sharp) help the revolution in Istanbul (not Constantinople!). Deryn has romantic feelings towards Alek.
Read:
2/2011
Goliath
Last book in the Leviathan series. Deryn and Alek save the world, sort of, and kiss.
Read:
11/2012
Leviathan
Deryn Sharp disguises her girlish self as joins the British Air Service as a boy. Prince Alek goes on the run after his parents are assassinated in Serbia. Zeppelins, fabricated animals, steampunk. Book one of a trilogy.
Read:
9/2010
Uglies
Tally just can't wait until she turns 16 and become a Pretty in this future story of a Utopian world. First book in a trilogy.
Read:
12/2007
Exit Wounds
Orin Boyd goes undercover at the "Lucky 13th" to uncover corruption. 273 p.
Read:
9/2001
Sweet Deal
Jack MIlls, "Poster Cop", investigates several murders in Nassau County, New York.
QUOTE:
Claire was not a world-class martial artist, nor was she quick to fly off the handle, but she was good enough not to have to take guff from guys who used extra-hold mousse.Read:
8/2001
The Honor Farm
Officer Orin Boyd goes undercover at the special prison for police officers to find out about a suicide. Gritty.
QUOTE:
"What a terrible thing," said Orin, "to start our relationship off with a lie." (pg. 278)Read:
8/2001
Anarchaos
A science fiction story, previously published under the pseud. Curt Clark in 1967, of a ex-jailbird who goes to the chaotic anarchy planet of Anarchaos (get it?) to find out how and why his brother died.
Boo Boo:
pg. 5 "That the planet's orbit was almost precisely circular, so that there were no seasons here."Read:
6/2005
Baby, would I lie?
Country singer is accused of murder, magazine reporter is in Branson to do a story, so are the tabloid press. Very good.
Quote:
"Hel-lo, Bob," Binx said, as though heartily.Read:
12/2005
Bad News
Dortmunder once again doesn't get the big score as an Indian woman tries to get a share of a casino.
Read:
12/2004
Bank Shot
The Dortmunder gang steals a bank. Lots of cigarette humor. Very funny!
Read:
7/1998Read:
10/2023
Call Me A Cab
A book edited and published posthumously. A woman decides to take a cab from New York City to Los Angeles so she can have more time to decide about a proposal of marriage. Pretty darn funny with some very good quotes, two of which I shall share below.
Quote:
What a strange feeling, to drive along on a person's work of art.Quote:
..."Wait a minute."
Oh oh. I drank water and looked as innocent as possible. "Mmm?"
"You knew about the Holiday Inn."Read:
7/2023
Castle In The Air
Hard Case Crime has the most intriguing jacket illustration on this one. A woman holding a pistol, fashionably attired in bra and panty, with garters, which are not connected to any hose. In high heels. I'm not sure which character this represents, either.
Well, that's all I remember from this book!
Quote:
Speaking in Spanish, so that Manuel could understand her, Lida said, "Oh Manuel! I had given you up for dead"
"Even death could not keep me from my swan, my Lida,"said Manuel, who in his own language was some shucks.Read:
8/2023
Drowned Hopes
70-year-old Tom enlists his former cellmate Dortmunder, and the "gang", to help him retrieve a stash of loot that is now under a reservoir.
Words I Had To Look Up:
big sixteen-wheeler (pg. 218) -- I cannot visualize the wheel arrangement on that.
W.R. Burnett's Dark Hazard (pg. 268) -- A book Tom is reading on the train. It's about a man with a gambling problem. His racing dog is the title character. Edward G. Robinson was in the movie, in 1934.
Icepick, Long Island (pg. 293) -- Refers to the state mental hospital in Islip.
Toyota Chemistra (pg. 293) -- Huh, I don't remember that model.
bar of magnesium is welded (pg. 413) -- Turns out you CAN weld magnesium.
Pontiac Prix Fixe (pg. 418) -- What a minute...
Datsun S.E.X 69 (pg. 418) -- Now I think Westlake is having fun with us.
Smoke Quote:
Her left hand pretend-smoked, fiddling with an imaginary cigarette, flicking ghost ashes on the floor, something she hadn't done since just after she quit. (pg. 3)
Read:
7/2012
Get Real
Dortmunder and the gang are offered roles on a reality series about a gang doing a robbery.
Read:
9/2009Read:
10/2023
God Save The Mark
A guy who falls for every con-man's scheme inherits a tidy sum from his con-man uncle. Originally published in 1967. Not a great story, but hot a bad one either.
Read:
7/2004
Humans
God decides he is quite bored with humans and so sends the angel Ananayel to arrange for the humans to bring about their own destruction.
Words I Had To Look Up:
scrofulous fleas (pg. 123) --
milk and mell (pg. 156) -- It is explained in great detail two pages farther. It's honey.
mezuzahs (pg. 191) -- A small piece of parchment inscribed with biblical passages that is rolled up in a container and affixed by many Jewish households to their door frames in conformity with Jewish law and as a sign of their faith.
marplot (pg. 251) -- An officious meddler whose interference compromises the success of an undertaking.
vassalage (pg. 272) -- The condition of being a vassal.
schismatic (pg. 271) -- One who promotes or engages in schism.
hospodar (pg. 272) -- 1. A Slav. word meaning lord, master. 2. A title borne by the princes or governors of Moldavia and Wallachia before those countries were united as Rumania.
rustling claque (pg. 273) -- A group of persons hired to applaud at a performance.
quasistable (pg. 334) -- More often used with a hyphen between quasi and stable, a term formerly (before the discovery of charmed particles) used for elementary particles that cannot decay into other particles through strong interactions and that have lifetimes longer than 10-20 second. Also known as semistable elementary particle.
subsumed (pg. 337) -- To classify, include, or incorporate in a more comprehensive category or under a general principle.
Quote:
Like Hans Brinker himself, he could skate with aplomb over the occasional patch of thin ice, such as plant safety or disposal of contaminated wastes, awing and distracting the populace with the grace and assurance of his arabesques. (pg. 129) First Hans Brinker simile I've ever seen. Loved that book!
Read:
9/2010
Levine
Six stories about Detective Levine of the NYPD, who is rather concerned about his heart that skips beats. Very good stories, sad ending.
Read:
12/2005
Memory
Another Hard Case mystery. Dude gets into a fight when he is caught with another man's wife. In bed. Loses his memory.
The ending was happy (sorta)/sad.
Read:
8/2023
Money for nothing
Josh gets a check each month for seven years in the amount of one thousand dollars. He doesn't know who or why. Read again in 2010, THAT'S why it sounds familiar!
Read:
7/2006Read:
9/2010
20 books displayed
[Waldman - Weber] [Weber - Weir] [Weir - West] [Westerfeld - Westlake] [Westlake - Wiles] [Wiles - Wodehouse] [Wodehouse - Woods] [Wouk - Wroblewski]