Books I've Read
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Striptease
"Funny as hell.", "Hilarious..." say the blurbs. I was roused to laughter only five times. On pages 170, 287, 260, 364 and 414 of the paperback edition. Never the less, it was entertaining so I am going to try his other books.
QUOTE:
"This is a classy operation,... didn't you notice the napkins?" BONUS QUOTE:
...Shad...was... reading a large-print edition of The Plague by Albert Camus. The book made Shad feel slightly better about living in South Florida.Read:
2/2000
Tourist Season
A newspaper man comes up with a solution to the tourist problem in Florida.
QUOTE:
With a shift in economic fortunes Wilson had been forced to quit shooting heroin, so he'd turned to reading in his spare time.Read:
2/2000
Trap Line
A crawdad fisherman in Florida (imagine that!) has problems drug smugglers and the law.
Read:
11/2000
The Eyeball collector
Hector swears revenge on the man with one eye (and a big nose) who blackmails his father, causing him to die of a heart attack. Very good, now I have to read the rest of the related books!
Read:
12/2009
The Boy Who Followed Ripley
Ripley meets an American lad who has run away from home and ended up in France. My second Ripley book, I rather found this one better than the first.
Read:
12/2012
The Talented Mr. Ripley
I could only find this book in a collection "Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s". It was so ungodly LONG that I'm entering as a separate entry! Since the collection contained four other NOVELS, one can assume the print was rather tiny. It was. I didn't much care for this book, and do not intend to read any others in the Ripliad. There were 340-odd pages of, did I mention it, TINY, print? I didn't feel any sympathy for any of the characters. About eight pages from the end, just before Ripley boards the Hellenes, he mentions THREE murders. I only remember two. I'm sure I just missed the point of the sentence. Hadas recommended this book. I don't hold it against her, though, it just didn't work for me.
Words I Had To Look Up:
celeri remoulade -- a type of salad. (op cit, pg. 175)
faute de mieux -- for lack of something better. (ibid, pg 202)
Read:
6/2007
Hunting Badger
Chee and Leaphorn looks for three guys who robbed a casino.
Read:
1/2001
Shape-shifter
Joe Leaphorn investigates a rug that was supposed to have been burned a few years ago. Good story. I WAS confused when the gift box of cherries made their appearance on page 199. I cannot find any reference to it before that, and I LOOKED!!
Read:
2/2007
Sinister Pig
Bernie becomes a Customs agent. A satisfying story, but not overly complicated. Chee finally gets his stuff sorted out.
Read:
12/2003
Skeleton Man
Jim Chee goes into the Grand Canyon to search for diamonds from an airliner mid-air collision back in 1956. Dup entry under last name of Tony.
Read:
5/2005
The Fallen Man
Another good mystery set in the Navajo nation. I got a little confused though.
Read:
7/1998
The First Eagle
Jim Chee investigates a policeman's death, Joe Leaphorn searches for a missing fleacatcher. Curiously these come across as "clean air", while the Lovejoy books seem so dark.
Read:
2/1999
The Wailing Wind
Chee and a retired Leaphorn look for clues in a tragic story of a lost gold mine, murder, and a missing wife. Very good.
Read:
12/2002
Lost Horizon
The classic story of four people who end up in the remote valley in Tibet at the Shangri-La monastery. Non a lot of action, and I was depressed at the end. I wonder how the movie versions came out?
Words I Had To Look Up:
esplanade (pg. 17) -- A long stretch of open level ground (paved or grassy) for walking beside the seashore
quia impossibile est (pg. 19) -- From the Tertullian quote, which freely translates as "It is certain, because it is impossible."
cantonments (pg. 24) -- A temporary or semi-permanent military quarters.
laconic (pg. 34) -- Using or marked by the use of few words; terse or concise.
leitmotif (pg. 45) -- A melodic phrase that accompanies the reappearance of a person or situation. A dominant recurring theme.
inculcate (pg. 69) -- Teach and impress by frequent repetitions or admonitions.
iniquitous (pg. 75) -- Characterized by iniquity; wicked.
convolvulus (pg. 91) -- Any of a genus (Convolvulus) of erect, trailing, or twining herbs and shrubs of the morning-glory family.
chiaroscuro (pg. 119) -- Pictorial representation in terms of light and shade without regard to color.
illimitably (pg. 177) -- Incapable of being limited or bounded, measureless.
altiplano (pg. 177) -- A high plateau or plain.
Read:
3/2009
A Rage In Harlem
First published in 1957 as "For Love Of Imabelle", this gritty crime novel introduces us to Harlem police officers Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones.
Quote:
Exclamations in seven languages were heard -- No doubt!!Quote:
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child. -- I know that song, it's from Then Came Bronson!Read:
10/2023
Terminal Alliance
Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse #1. When the Krakau command crew is wiped out Marion “Mops” Adamopoulos, Lt. boss of the Shipboard Hygiene and Sanitation team, takes over. Fun read!
Quote:
"...Stick to the plan."
"Krakau make plans," snorted Wolf. "Humans barge in and kick ass."
"Of those two species," said Mops, "Which still has a functional civilization?"
Quote:
Cook had done a nice job of repairing the damage to his restaurant. He'd also added a new sign to the door: "NO BOMBS ALLOWED".Read:
10/2023
Evergreen
Novel about Japanese-Americans returning from the camps after the war. A mystery, a who-done-it.
Read:
8/2023
The Darkest Path
Set in the near future, a boy escapes from a military/cult group that has taken over several states and is poised to defeat the government.
Read:
12/2014
Daring Detectives
Eleven stories of crime and intrigue. I enjoyed meeting The Saint, Hercule Poirot, and Ellery Queen again. CONTENTS:
The Day the Children Vanished / Hugh Pentecost -- Through a Dead Man's Eye / Cornell Woolrich -- The Disappearance of Mrs. Davenheim / Agatha Christie -- Green Ice / Stuart Palmer -- The Grave Grass Quivers / MacKinlay Kanton -- The Case of the Irate Witness / Erle Stanley Gardner -- Adventure of the Grice-Paterson Curse / August Derleth -- The Headmaster / Michael Gilbert -- The Adventure of the Seven Black Cats / Ellery Queen -- The Wicked Cousin / Leslie Charteris -- The Footprint in the Sky / John Dickson Carr.
Words I Had To Look Up:
Dacoit -- A member of a robber band or gang in India or Myanmar (Burma).
Read:
11/2007
Assassin's Apprentice
Book I in the Farseer trilogy. Bastard son of a prince becomes an apprentice assassin, 'cause, what's a bastard to do? Good story, really felt the characters were real. Now I gotta find the second book!
Read:
5/2016
20 books displayed
[Abadzis - Akers, pseud.] [Akers, pseud. - Anderson] [Anderson - Arngrim] [Arnow - Avi] [Avi - Baen Publishing Enterprises] [Baker - Barnard] [Barnard - Barnes] [Barnes - Barr] [Barr - Beanton] [Beanton - Beaton] [Beaton - Beaton] [Beaton - Bennett] [Benrey - Block] [Block - Block] [Block - Bosch] [Bosch - Breslin] [Brillant - Bryson] [Bryson - Bujold] [Bujold - Butler] [Buzzell - Card] [Card - Carr] [Carrere - Chambers] [Charles - Clancy] [Clancy - Coben] [Coben - Cole] [Coleman - Collins] [Collins - Connelly] [Connelly - Connelly] [Connelly - Cook] [Cooper - Cornwell] [Cornwell - Crais] [Crais - Crichton] [Crichton - Curry] [Curry - Cussler] [Cussler - Davis] [Dean - Dionne] [Disilverio - Dowd] [Dowell - Duncan] [Duncan - Elkins] [Elkins - Evanovich] [Evanovich - Fairstein] [Fairstein - Ferris] [Ferris - Flanagan] [Flanagan - Follett] [Ford - Fox] [Francis - Francis] [Francis - Francis] [Francis - Freedman] [Frey - Gantos] [Garcia - Gidwitz] [Gidwitz - Gores] [Gores - Granger] [Granger - Greenleaf] [Greenleaf - Grimes] [Grisham - Haddix] [Haddix - Hall] [Hall - Hallinan] [Hallinan - Hassman] [Haugaard - Heinlein] [Heinlein - Heller] [Heller - Hepler] [Herbert - Hess] [Hess - Hiaasen] [Hiaasen - Hobb] [Hobb - Hoose] [Hopkinson - Huff] [Huff - James] [Jemisin - Jones] [Jones - Kaminsky] [Kaminsky - Kellog] [Kellog - King] [King - Klise] [Klise - Kowal] [Kraft - Lampman] [Landry - Lawrence] [Lawrence - Lee] [Lee - Lescroart] [Lescroart - Linsdau] [Linville - Lowry] [Lowry - Lynch] [Lynch - Magnuson] [Maguire - Marshall] [Martin - Mass] [Mass - McBain] [McBain - McCrumb] [McCrumb - Mcmanus] [McNab - Mikaelsen] [Mikaelsen - Moon] [Moon - Morressy] [Morris - Myers] [Myers - Nimmo] [Niven - Novik] [Novik - O'Brian] [O'Brian - Oppel] [Oppenheim - Paretsky] [Paretsky - Parker] [Parker - Parker] [Parker - Patterson] [Patterson - Paulsen] [Pavesi - Perez-Reverte] [Perez-Reverte - Piper] [Piper - Poyer] [Poyer - Pratchett] [Pratchett - Pratchett] [Pratchett - Pronzini] [Pronzini - Pynchon] [Pynchon - Reeves] [Reeves - Ringo] [Ringo - Rohmer] [Roll - Rucka] [Rucka - Rylant] [Saberhage - Scalzi] [Scalzi - Schweikher] [Science Fiction DAW 30th Anniversary - Scottoline] [Scottoline - Shapero] [Sharenow - Silverberg] [Silverberg - Smith] [Smith - Spinelli] [Spinelli - Stead] [Stead - Stewart] [Stockett - Stross] [Stross - Tapply] [Tapply - Thurber] [Thuy - Turtledove] [Turtledove - Van Draanen] [Van Draanen - Veglahn] [Villasenor - Weber] [Weber - Wells] [Wells - Westerfeld] [Westerman - Westlake] [Westlake - Willis] [Willis - Wodehouse] [Wodehouse - Yates] [Yates - Zusak]