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The First Ladies

Benedict, Marie
Co-author Victoria Christopher Murray. Novel about the friendship and work of Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary McLeod Bethune. I enjoyed it very much.

Read:

5/2024

The Martian Race

Benford, Gregory
I can't believe this is the first Benford book in the data base, I am certainly familiar with the name. Interesting story of first manned expedition to Mars.

Read:

9/2016

Foundryside

Bennett, Robert Jackson
Probably the first in a series, a young thief gets into a lot more trouble than she ever imagined. Clef the key was one of my favorite characters.

Read:

11/2018

Glory Be!

Benrey, Ron
With Janet Benrey. Glory, North Carolina #1. B&B owner Emma works with fellow church choir singer Rafe (who is deputy police chief) solve a possible murder in their small town. Cozy Christian Mystery Romances aren't really my thing, but this one was OK.

Quote:

"Yuck!"
"You have no idea! As I pushed the remains into the garbage disposal I prayed fervently, imploring God to ensure that my concoction did not injure Glory's waste treatment facility."

Read:

7/2023

Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil

Berendt, John
Non-fiction stories of Savannah, Georgia. I particularly thought the Conrad Aiken bench story was charming. Chablis the drag-queen is quite the character!!

Read:

2/2002

Vital Parts

Berger, Thomas
Reinhardt #3 in the series. Published in 1971, author of Little Big Man, I thought I would really like this. I just didn't get a lot of it, very clever writing though. A lot of the humor went over my head.

Quote:

L'Etable a Cochon. A restaurant.

Quote:

"...The true purpose of the space program is to abolish the orgasm, to cow the individual into impotence. How can he match the great, roaring, flaming ejaculation of the Saturn rocket?"

Quote:

Gen used to pretend to be Episcopalian for snob reasons, but wouldn't have known where to find the church. -- Heh.

Read:

12/2023

The Demolished Man

Bester, Alfred
Science Fiction/Crime novel from the early 50s, first Hugo award. "Jazzy" jargon was kind of irritating, but this was probably pretty hot stuff back then. Wikipedia artilce helped me to appreciate it a bit more. I like his "The Stars My Destination" more.

Read:

7/2007

GreensWord

Bingle, Donald J.
Three eco-nuts blow up a nuke to save the world, destroying Seattle and a mansion owned by a very Bill Gates-like parody. Some humour, but wiping out Seattle is kind of a bummer, dude.

Read:

7/2009

The Penderwicks

Birdsall, Jeanne
A charming story of a family on summer vacation. "Four sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting boy."

Read:

1/2016

The Seven Wonders Of Sassafras Springs

Birney, Betty G.
A boy finds out that his small town is more interesting than he thought. I liked this book a lot!

Read:

5/2015

The Big Loop

Bishop, Claire Huchet
Andre wants to race in the Tour de France. A pretty good book, with nice illustrations. Pub. in 1955.

Read:

11/2002

The Readers Of Broken Wheel Recommend

Bivald, Katarina
A woman travels from Sweden to a very small town in Iowa to visit her pen-pal. Turns out her friend just died. What now? Very excellent story, I just loved it!

Quote:

Why would anyone prefer banknotes to book? -- pg.288

Read:

12/2016

Trout Pool Paradox

Black, George
I KNOW I read this book, but for some reason it's not listed! It was published in 2004. History of three rivers in Connecticut and how they each developed differently. Really good! Non-fiction! Save the rivers!

Read:

2007

Tithe: A Mondern Faerie Tale

Black, Holly
Kaye finds she there is a reason she feels alienated, it's not just teen angst. Good story, too much cussing for middle school!

Read:

5/2012

Nothing's Sacred

Black, Louis
Comedian Louis Black recounts his life, mostly high school and college. With nifty pictures.

Read:

11/2013

Lorna Doone

Blackmore, R. D.
A Scottish romance, I guess. I'm forcing myself to read it because I like the cookies. Hope it comes in as handy on "Jeporady" as "My Antonia" by Cather did!! Update: Boy, this book is boring, I mean, written in dialect!! Can I cheat and read Masterplots? Update: I gave up trying to read it! Gave up 11/1998.

Read:

No date

The Shakespeare Stealer

Blackwood, Gary
Widge is conscripted to attend a performance at The Globe and copy down the text of the play, for a competitor, like. Stuff happens. Good story, I am looking forward to another in the series.

Read:

6/2014

A Drop Of The Hard Stuff

Block, Lawrence
Matt recounts an old case to Mick Ballou, about a childhood friend, Jack "High-Low" Ellery, who turned to crime.

You can certainly tell the difference between an excellent writer and an average writer, although I don't know how to describe it. Block is an excellent writer.

Words I Had To Look Up:

the house's standard lagniappe (pg. 107) -- A small gift given with a purchase to a customer.
terpin hydrate fog (pg. 135) -- An expectorant, commonly used to loosen mucus in the setting of acute or chronic bronchitis, and related conditions.

Read:

11/2011

All The Flowers Are Dying

Block, Lawrence
Matthew Scudder helps a friend find who her mysterious boyfriend is. Oh, and, surprise, there is a serial killer on the loose. Same guy?

Words I Had To Look Up:

more of a coriolanus. (pg. 264) -- Oh, man, I'm searching and searching, and then it hits me...it's a pun!!!

Quote:

...and she'd put on some cologne, a floral scent that blended imperfectly with the smell of cigarette smoke. (pg. 34)

Read:

7/2008

Burglars Can't Be Choosers

Block, Lawrence
I'm going back and reading the Bernie Rhodenbarr books that are in the Books I've Read database. This is the first of the series. He hasn't met Carolyn yet, and he doesn't have a cat. In fact, there is no book store yet! Good story!

Read:

7/2023
20 books displayed
[Abadzis - Addison] [Aiken - Alexander] [Alexie - Anderson] [Anderson - Asimov] [Asimov - Backman] [Backman - Baldree] [Balf - Barnard] [Barnard - Barnes] [Barnes - Barr] [Barr - Beanton] [Beanton - Beaton] [Beaton - Beaton] [Beaton - Bender] [Benedict - Block] [Block - Block] [Block - Bohjalian] [Bond - Bova] [Bowen - Briody] [Brodie - Buchanan] [Buck - Bujold] [Bujold - Cain] [Cain - Card] [Card - Carlson editor] [Carr - Chambers] [Chambers - Choldenko] [Clagett - Clearly] [Clements - Coel] [Cohen - Colfer] [Colfer - Collins] [Collins - Connelly] [Connelly - Constantine] [Constantine - Corder] [Corder - Cornwell] [Cornwell - Crais] [Crais - Crichton] [Crichton - Curtis] [Curtis - Dahl] [Dahl - Deaver] [Del Rey - Dixon] [Dixon - Dorsey] [Dorsey - Dozois] [Dozois - Dunning] [DuPrau - Elkins] [Ellms - Evanovich] [Evanovich - Fairstein] [Fairstein - Ferris] [Fforde - Flanagan] [Flanagan - Foer] [Follett - Fournier] [Fowler - Francis] [Francis - Francis] [Francis - Freedman] [Freedman - Gaiman] [Gaiman - Geist] [Geist - Goldberg] [Goldberg - Grafton] [Grafton - Grant] [Grant - Greer] [Greer - Grimes] [Grimes - Haddix] [Haddix - Hale] [Hale - Hallinan] [Hallinan - Harper] [Harris - Hebden] [Heinlein - Heinlein] [Heinlein - Henry] [Henry - Herriot] [Herriot - Hiaasen] [Hiaasen - Hillerman] [Hillerman - Hobb] [Hobbs - Horowitz] [Horowitz - Hulme] [Hunter - Jemisin] [Jemisin - Jones] [Jones - Kaminsky] [Kaminsky - Kelly] [Kelman - King] [King - Knight] [Knight - Kratman] [Kratman - Lansing] [Larson - Lebbon] [Leblanc - Lefcourt] [Lefcourt - Lescroart] [Lescroart - Link, editor] [Link, editor - Lovegrove] [Lovegrove - Luna] [Luna - Macleish] [Macleod - Mankell] [Manley - Martine] [Martine - Massey] [Matas - McCaffrey] [McCall Smith - McCrumb] [McCrumb - Meier] [Meloy - Miller] [Miller - Moon] [Moon - Mortimer] [Mortimer - Nance] [Nance - Niven] [Niven - Novik] [Novik - O'Brian] [O'Brian - Older] [Older - Paolini] [Paolini - Pargin] [Pargin - Parker] [Parker - Parker] [Parker - Pattou] [Paulsen - Pearson] [Pearson - Perry] [Peters - Pohl] [Pohl - Poyer] [Poyer - Pratchett] [Pratchett - Pratchett] [Pratchett - Pronzini] [Pronzini - Pynchon] [Pynchon - Raskin] [Raskin - Resnick] [Resnick - Riordan] [Riordan - Rollins] [Roosevelt - Rushdie] [Russell - Saberhagen] [Sachar - Scalzi] [Scalzi - Schmitz] [Schonborg - Scottoline] [Scottoline - Shames] [Shames - Shute] [Sijie - Smith] [Smith - Spector] [Spencer - Stark] [Stark - Stephenson] [Stephenson - Stroke] [Stroke - Strunk] [Sturgeon - Taylor] [Taylor - Townsend] [Tracy - Updale] [Urban - Van Name] [van Vogt - Walsh] [Walsh - Weber] [Weber - Wells] [Wells - Westerman] [Westerman - Westlake] [Westlake - Willis] [Willis - Wodehouse] [Wodehouse - Yates] [Yates - Zusak] 

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