Do you have a book you read in school that you swore was the worst book ever? Have you ever thought that maybe your teachers weren't out to torture you, and there may have been a method to their madness after all? Then the July Challenge is for you!

Details on the challenge can be found here...check it out, and join us!

( The List So Far )

12) The Body Farm by Patricia Cornwall.


( Synopis )

My Thoughts: This is the first Patricia Cornwell book that I've read but I can saftely say it won't be my last. I absloutly loved it. It was gripping and I loved her lead character.

13) Goodnight Irene by Jan Burke

( Synopis )

My Thoughts: Again I enjoyed the book. Any story that starts off with "He loved to watch fat ladies dance." and is a crime story is one you have to read I mean that line has to say it all. :-)

13 / 50 words. 26% done!

Death Message by Mark Billingham, 2007, 455 pages.

Genre: crime fiction, british
Basic Overview: It's Detective Inspector Tom Thorne's cellphone that starts it all when it receives the photo of a murder victim. And then another. Both of them are members of the same motorcycle gang. And then a third photo arrives on the cellphone - only this third one is the photo of a policeman. And he's still alive.
Personal Opinion: I thought that this particular book started off quite weakly. Not as taut as Billingham's usual beginnings, I was disappointed, but the book rallied about 70 pages in and the suspense mounted. Be that as it may, it's my least favourite of Billingham's, probably because of its very unconventional format. To tell you more I'd spoil the book - and despite the fact that it's my least favourite I do think that Billingham fans will still like it, I did - and his worst is a darned sight better than most people's best. Highly unusual ending that has left me feeling ethically twisted. Recommended but not a "go out there and buy it immediately" sort of recommendation.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

Unusually, I'd watched the TV series bsed on the book before reading the book itself, which may be why I actually thought the series was better in some ways. Don't get me wrong - the book version is good : I like the unusual premise of a serial killer who preys on other serial killers, and the series actually sticks pretty closely to the first half of the book in any case. But it seemed to me that the series just had that bit more room to develop the secondary characters and give them subtlety, and I rather missed that in the book. Nevertheless I enjoyed the book quite a lot and will be looking out for a copy of the sequel.

61. The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry which I heard about on LibraryThing and didn't even realize it was a best seller! Glad I read it. A thoughtful, interesting mystery with a twist at the end of family secrets, incest, and the bonding relationship between twins all taking place in modern day Salem. Great read. 4/5 Review

62. It Happened One Autumn by Lisa Kleypas I loved this steamy Victorian romance. Fun read, 2nd in The Wallflowers Series. Rich aristrocrat is irritated by brash American heiress, yet can't help falling for her. 4.5/5 Review

63. Lush Life by Richard Price A gritty crime detective novel set in the lower East Side of Manhattan. Fast paced, I really enjoyed it. 4/5 Review

63 / 100 books. 63% done!

66. A Prairie as Wide as the Sea - The Immigrant Diary of Ivy Weatherall, Milorie, Saskatchewan, 1926, by Sarah Ellis, 2001, 205 pages.
Genre: young adult, history
Brief Overview: This book is part of Scholastic Canada's "Dear Canada" series of books. Both of my daughters have really enjoyed them and we own several; I always read them as well. In diary format, we read about family life and history through the eyes of a young adult during some point in Canada's history. This book is written from the perspective of Ivy, an 11-year English immigrant to the Canadian prairies, where her family is looking for land to farm and for a prosperous future.
Personal Opinion: Although I was let down by the fact that no family members died in this story - these books generally kill off at least one family member - I enjoyed the book with that minor grievance. [I have come to expect the deaths as part of the normal course of these stories.] I learned many things I did not know about the settlement of the west, and found the voyage from England to Canada, and through Canada by boat and by train to be fascinating. Any Canadian out there with young daughters would do well to find these books for them.

67. Sleepyhead by Mark Billingham, 2001, 403 pages.
Genre: crime fiction
Brief Overview: Detective Tom Thorne of the London Police has his hands full with a killer who is trying NOT to kill, but to leave his victims barely alive - alive in a manner called "locked-in syndrome", where the victim can hear and feel, but not move the tiniest muscle. The man has been successful once, and now is killing many more women as it takes just the right touch to leave them paralysed forever.
Personal Opinion: Mark Billingham is my favourite crime writer; this is my favourite of his books. It's a re-read; I'm suffering from a particularly nasty depression so I've gone back to comfortable old books to help with fading concentration. An excellent and unique story line, believable characters, and just the right touch of humour added - Billingham was once a stand-up comic - kept this book fresh and exciting and the ending unexpected. Great read.

68. Lazybones by Mark Billingham, 2003, 406 pages.
Genre: crime fiction
Brief Overview: Once again Tom Thorne is busy as this time a killer is targeting men who have done prison time for rape. Killed in particularly nasty fashion, Thorne must battle with the public and even some of his fellow officers who believe that this killer may be doing society a favour.
Personal Opinion: For much of my personal opinion about Billingham's books, see the review above, but I would like to add that this book had the most shocking ending that I've read in years.

69. Palestine - The Special Edition by Joe Sacco, 2007, 285 pages, originally published individually from 1993-1995.
Genre: graphic novel, current events
Brief Overview: This excellent graphic novel is the tale of Sacco's own visit to Palestine, particularly the refugee camps on the West Bank and in Gaza. He depicts the suffering of the Palestinians very clearly, and is searingly honest about his own fears while travelling there, and about his own prejudices prior to his arrival.
Personal Opinion: I was absolutely blown away by this book. It has a LOT more text than one usually finds in a graphic novel, and was instructive, interesting, insightful, and gave me an entry into a world that I know regrettably little about. That's all I'm willing to say here for fear of reprisal, but if anyone wishes to discuss the book, replying to this post or sending me a message would be just fine.

Book 89: In the Woods.
Author: Tana French, 2007.
Genre: Crime Fiction. Murder Mystery.
Other Details: Hardback, 481 pages.

"There was a time when I believed I was the redeemed one, the boy borne safely home on the ebb of whatever freak tide carried Peter and Jamie away. Not any more. In ways too dark and crucial to be called metaphorical, I never left that wood."

Twelve-year old Adam Ryan and his two best friends played every day in the woods near to their homes. One evening the children didn't come home and the alarm was raised. When the searchers found Adam he was standing with his back against an oak tree, his shoes filled with blood and no memory at all of the events of that day. No trace of the other two children was ever found and Adam never recovered any of his memories. His parents sent him to boarding school in England and he eventually adopted his middle name, Rob, in order to keep his past a secret. Twenty years later he is a member of the Dublin murder squad partnered with feisty Cassie Maddox, who is also his best friend.

When the body of a Katy Devlin, a 12 year old girl, is found at an archaeological dig Rob and Cassie are assigned the case. Rob quickly realises that the dig is on the site of the woods where his friends disappeared. When links are discovered between this recent murder and the disappearances twenty years before, Rob feels compelled to keep quiet about his connection so that he can continue to work the case. His long-lost memories begin to stir and he and Cassie, who is in his confidence, hope they might also solve the 20-year old mystery of the woods as well as finding Katy's killer.

Tana French's début novel won the 2008 Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award for Best First Novel and it is it is easy to see why. It is well-written with engaging characterisations and a strong complex plot. She combines police procedural elements with those of a psychological thriller. Like fellow Dubliner John Connolly, French evokes an almost mythic sense of place, in this case an ancient wood and the secrets it conceals. She weaves in a few elements of Irish folklore that were very evocative for me.

I loved the book and feel it will be a good one to recommend to one of my reading groups as it is bound to generate fruitful discussion. I was so pleased to find that The Likeness, which carries on the story of some of the characters from In the Woods will be published next week in the UK.

Tana French's page on In the Woods.

Note: I didn't mention the aspects of the book that caused it to divide readers in their appraisal. However, this is mentioned in comments.

Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs (Crime, Thriller, Mystery)

From the back of the book:

A nine-year-old girl dies on her way to ballet class, caught in outlaw biker cross-fire. Violence is spilling on to the streets of Montreal and Dr Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist for the state, has to pick up the pieces.

She knows she shouldn't let emotion get in the way of her role as scientist, but when nine-year-old Emily's body is wheeled into the morgue she cannot help but react. Tempe's nephew, Kit, is mesmerized by motorcycles. Does he understand the dangers posed by the outlaw gangs?

An exhumation uncovers the bones of another innocent, hidden in a clandestine grave close to a biker headquarters. With her boss in the hospital and her sparing partner, Andrew Ryan, disturbingly unavailable, Tempe begins a perilous investigation into a lawless underworld of organized crime.

My thoughts:

Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs is an undeniable page turner, but it is ultimately dissatisfying and unbelievable. There are far too many groups of people doing far too much for this reader to be able to keep track of who's who and who's doing what, where and with whom: rival biker gangs across the world, Dr Brennen, her relatives scattered across North America, and her colleagues at the FBI, the lab and the police. It's enough to make this reader's head spin and makes for a lot of shallow, stereotypical characters.

As well as an over-abundance of characters, there are two other key problems with this book: Infohiding and Infodumping. Reichs has an irritating habit of not revealing things that the main POV character (Dr Brennan) knows or has just found out. This is a cheap way to heighten the suspense and necessitates the infodumping in penultimate chapter of the book, where Brennan and her colleague, Claudel, explain to each other who's who and who did what to whom, where and why. The plot is also littered with red-herrings, another cheap way of building tension, as are the cliff-hanger endings to each chapter.

At the end of the book, this reader was left wondering at the sanity of Dr Brennan. She is supposedly a well-educated woman, a professional, but she makes some stupid, stupid decisions and acts on impulse, putting herself and others at risk. She doesn't listen to advice from her more experienced colleagues, and yet she makes it through the story alive. This is the third book in the series and the third book in which Brennan and/or her relatives end up in life-threatening situations. Dr Brennan is a dangerous woman to be related to. Unbelievable. And how could she not figure out what was going on with Ryan? This reader did.

On the upside, Reichs excels at description. The settings are vividly rendered, and the details of the scientific techniques she employs are clear if not always necessary to further the plot. There are some touching moments, including one that moved this reader to tears - in a good way!

Fiction List (11/50)

First 50 Books | Books 51-58

59. Castle in the Air - Diana Wynne Jones

I read that one right after The Sandman: The Doll's House, because as much as I love that comic I need something fluffy and non-bloody afterwards. Castle in the Air is the sequel to Howl's Moving Castle. As my book list is already too long as it is right now, I didn't actually plan on buying it, but then I bought it nevertheless. Spur of the moment thing, and I didn't regret it. It's all fluffy and wacky and everything you need when you want to get cheered up a bit.

Castle in the Air starts off without Sophie and Howl even rougly in sight: Abdullah is a carpet merchant at the market of Zanzib. In his spare time he dreams of being a long lost prince, who has to live through many adventures and then meets a beautiful princess he instantly falls in love with. But when a mysterious stranger sells him a magic carpet, all his dreams come true. Unfortunately not only the good ones (meeting the princess of his dreams, who is even more beautiful in real life), but also the bad ones. The catch about the dreams-come-true business is that the uncomfortable part of them come true as well, that is the living-through-many-adventures. And, as it turns out, that is much more uncomfortable than in his dreams: After the princess gets kidnapped by a malicious djinn, her father the Sultan flungs him into his dungeons and after he has narrowly escaped this tragic fate, he has to go on a long and exhausting journey to rescue his love.

And where are Sophie and Howl in all that? Well, see for yourself if you want to know. I must admit that I was quite surprised. X) What I especially like about Diana Jones' novels is that the women are not only pretty trophies that need to get rescued and then put on a shelf to be admired, but that they actually contribute their share to the happy ending. Sophie is of course awesome beyond any discussion, but even Flower-in-the-Night (Abdullah's princess), who I didn't really like at first, gets to kick ass later. Ohhh. That book is so much win, but I don't want to give it all away here. I just sit in a corner, all on my own, and squeal with glee.

60. The Fairy Godmother - Mercedes Lackey

I think I saw this book somewhere here at 50bookchallenge and then I decided I would buy it. Another spur-of-the-moment purchase, and this time I regretted it the moment I had the book in my hands. I did see the cover at Amazon, but somehow I had hoped it would look better in real life, but that hope was rather vain. I realize that fantasy is a genre whose book covers are often rather a matter of taste, and I also know many English or American publishing houses don't set a high value on good-looking book designs, but someone during the whole publishing process must surely have realized that this cover gives you eye cancer? ... Anyone? No? ... Really? I mean, REALLY?! Don't call me shallow because bad book designs are a huge let-down for me. I love my books. I want them to look good on a shelf. I want to be able to look at them and think 'well, that was a nice read' and not 'oh my, that design really is fugly'.

But on to the story. Ella lives with her mean stepmother and her two spoilt daughters. They treat her like a servant, which is of course not nice, but in fairy tale land also means that a handsome prince soon will fall in love with her and rescue her from their clutches. Only that there was an accident: her prince is rather unsuitable, because he is only a child. This turns out as a blessing in disguise, because the fairy godmother of the kingdom takes her in as her apprentice. Now Ella learns to be a fairy godmother, which is by no means as easy as it sounds. There are a lot of creatures out there with whom she has to deal and who are quite a handful: various elves, godmothers-turned-evil, fairy tales-gone-wrong, and stubborn princes. Especially one very stubborn prince ... I think you know where this is headed. I knew too, hence read it with rather low expectations. The first part of the book is very entertaining, it describes how Ella gets to be the godmother's apprentice, what she learns there, her first steps into the magic world. I would have loved to learn more about that. The she meets the Stubborn Prince and decides to tame him, which is also quite funny, but then a plot is introduced to give the book an exciting finale. Unfortunately that plot is thin like paper and the exciting finale is lame and absolutely anti-climatic. I paid for twinkly fluff and not for badly written battles - cobbler, stick to your last!

61. One Step Behind - Henning Mankell

Oh dear, Mr Mankell. I don't know. I mean, I do know: You're a famous author and you're books are critically acclaimed. They're good books, really. But I'm not impressed. I am just not impressed. Sorry. Maybe it's because I like to read books like The Fairy Godmother at the moment, maybe I'm just not in the mood for broody, contemplative books about serial killers ( possible spoiler ). I don't know. I really don't know. I feel like I'm hugely unfair towards you, Mr Mankell. Maybe I should try and read you again in winter, when the weather matches your novels.

62. Interesting Times - Terry Pratchett

Why, it's Terry Pratchett - what else is there to say? You know I like his books. You know I like them very much. But even though I like his Discworld books, there is a ranking: First come his City Watch novels. I was a bit disappointed by the first one, but then it kept getting better and better. Then there are the Witches. Just because Granny Weatherwax is love. Then the Death Novels. I think Death is hilarious, but I like him more as minor character who pops up one or two times per novel instead of being the protagonist. And then, at the very end there are the wizard books. I admit I haven't read many of them up to now; it's because I thought The Light Phantastic and The Colour of Magic were kind of weird. But, having read all about the City Watch and the witches, I decided to give it a second try and I had a very good time with Interesting Times.

Rincewind appeals to schadenfreude more than any other of the Pratchett characters. There are always horrible things happening to him, and you're really sorry for him, but most of the time you think it's great fun. The book starts off with Rincewind being on an idyllic island, where he gets a tempting offer, but before he can even react he's teleported to the Unseen University. There has been a message from the Agatean Empire who ask for the Great Wizzard to be sent to them. And that's why Rincewind finds himself in the Agatean Empire, amidst of the quarrels (albeit very polite ones) about who is to succeed the dying emporer on his throne, and how the empire should be ruled in the future. Interesting Times is a very funny book (naturally), and as always I like the attitude towards life that is expressed there ("I know about people who talk about suffering for the common good. It's never bloody them! When you hear a man shouting 'Forward, brave comrades!' you'll see he's the one behind the bloody big rock and the one wearing the only really arrow-proof helmet!").

Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs.

Another Temperance Brennan novel. I think they're getting better, in terms of infodumping - there was much less of it this time and the plot was more convoluted and interesting.  Reichs' habit of ending a chapter on an important and mysterious telephone call is becoming a tad overdone and, while I'm as keen on conservation as anyone, I'm not sure that the last chapter of a detective novel is the best place to have a soapbx rant about it, but on the whole an enjoyable read.

Book 56: Fearless Fourteen
Author: Janet Evanovich
Genre: Chicklit, Crime Fiction, Humor
Summary: New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum finds herself saddled with the teenage son of Loretta Rizzi, her latest skip, at the start of that latest entry in Evanovich's bestselling series. When Mario "Zook" Rizzi and his obsession with the online role-playing game "Minionfire" become too much for Stephanie to handle, the pair camp out at Trenton cop Joe Morelli's house. Stephanie also takes a job with the mysterious Ranger, helping him "babysit" Brenda, a fading music star in town for a concert. After Loretta is kidnapped, Stephanie and Morelli discover that to ensure Loretta's safety, they'll have to find the $9 million that disappeared after a bank robbery committed by Loretta's recently paroled brother, Dom. A mild-mannered stalker and the upcoming nuptials of Stephanie's colleague Lula to Ranger's right-hand man, Tank, add to the crazy fun.
My Rating: 9/10
( My thoughts: )

Book 57: Oryx and Crake
Author: Margaret Atwood
Genre: Fiction, Sci-fi
Summary: As the story opens, the narrator, who calls himself Snowman, is sleeping in a tree, wearing a dirty old bedsheet, mourning the loss of his beautiful and beloved Oryx and his best friend Crake, and slowly starving to death. In a world in which science-based corporations have recently taken mankind on an uncontrolled genetic-engineering ride, he now searches for supplies in a wasteland. Insects proliferate and pigoons and wolvogs ravage the Pleeblands, where ordinary people once lived, and the Compounds that sheltered the extraordinary. As he tries to piece together what has taken place, the narrative shifts to decades earlier. How did everything fall apart so quickly? Why is Snowman left with nothing but his bizarre memories -- alone except for the more-than-perfect, green-eyed Children of Crake, who think of him as a kind of monster? He explores the answers to these questions on the double journey he takes -- into his own past and back to Crake's high-tech bubble dome, where the Paradice Project unfolded and the world came to grief.
My Rating: 9/10
( My thoughts: )

Book 58: Full Frontal Feminism
Author: Jessica Valenti
Genre: Feminist, Non-fiction
Summary: Feminism isn't dead. It just isn't very cool anymore. Enter Full Frontal Feminism, a book that embodies the forward-looking messages that author Jessica Valenti propagates on her popular website, Feministing.com. Covering a range of topics, including pop culture, health, reproductive rights, violence, education, relationships, and more, Valenti provides young women a primer on why feminism matters.
My Rating: 8/10
( My thoughts: )

Book 59: Daisy Miller
Author: Henry James
Genre: Classic, Fiction
Summary: The young Daisy Miller an American on holiday, with her mother on the shores of Switzerland's Lac Leman, is one of James's most vivid and tragic characters. Daisy's friendship with an American gentleman, Mr. Winterbourne, and her subsequent infatuation with a passionate but impoverished Italian bring to life the great Jamesian themes of Americans abroad, innocence versus experience, and the grip of fate.
My Rating: 7/10
( My thoughts: )

Book 60: Eden Close
Author: Anita Shreve
Genre: Fiction, Romance
Summary: Andrew, in his mid-thirties, returns to his hometown to attend his mother's funeral. Planning to remain only a few days, he is drawn into the tragic legacy of the beautiful girl next door, Eden Close. An adopted child, Eden has learned to avoid the mother who did not want her and to please the father who did. She also aimed to please Andrew and his friends, first by being one of the boys and later by seducing them. Then one hot night Andrew was awakened by gunshots and piercing screams from the next farm: Mr. Close had been killed and Eden, blinded. Now, seventeen years later, Andrew begins to uncover the grisly story -- to unravel the layers of thwarted love between the husband, wife, and tormented girl. And as the truth about Eden's past comes to light, so too does Andrew's strange and binding attachment to her reveal itself.
My Rating: 7/10
( My thoughts: )

60 / 74 books. 81% done!

( The List, the whole list and nothing but the list, )

I have completed the challenge I set myself on November 12 last year, and I have to admit I am feeling a little smug. However, I do seem to have fallen behind in my reviews, and as such I had too many to fit in a single post. As a result I have broken them down into smaller chunks in my own journal, and will (if this is acceptable) post links to them from here. Because I have finished my challenge, I am going to continue counting, to see how many I acheive in a full year, but I am also challenging myself to read all of the Nora Roberts in Death Series as well. Hopefully I can also finish them by 11/11/08.

Book Reviews 121 - 126.
Book Reviews 127 - 132.
Book Reviews 133 - 138.
Book Reviews 139 - 146.5
Book Reviews 147 - 152.5

Entry two. I've started reading again which is always good (found some books that I like)

( The List So Far )

7) The Missing by Chris Moony- (Tag line) The woman missing for five years. The Crime Scene Investigator who finds her. And the serial killer who wants them both dead… I enjoyed this book. It's in the crime genre which I think I'm starting to like 5/5

8) White Tiger by Kylie Chan- (Tag line) When 28-year-old Emma Donahoe becomes a nanny to John Chen’s daughter, Simone, she does not expect to be drawn into a world of martial arts, magic, and extreme danger, where both gods and demons can exist in the mortal world. This is what started me back in the fantsy I read it all last week and it was brilliant book 1 5/5

9) Red Phoniex by Kylie Chan-(Tag line with the above on the book) Now a powerful race of demons has been created to hunt her and her family from Hong Kong to Europe. And she and Simone have become targets - pawns to be used in a deadly celestial power play. I just finished this today and again it was brilliant. 5/5

Next on the list:

10) Blue Dragon by Kylie Chan

9 / 50 books. 18% done!

Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

From the back of the book:

Business has been slow lately for Harry Dresden. Okay, business has been dead. Not undead - just dead. You would think Chicago would have a little more action for the only professional wizard in the phone book. But lately, Harry hasn't been able to dredge up any kind of work - magical or mundane.

Just when it looks like he can't afford his next meal, a murder comes along that requires his particular brand of supernatural expertise. A brutally mutilated corpse. Strange looking paw prints. A full moon.

Take three guesses. And the first two don't count...

My thoughts:

Ok, so I'm hooked. This is hokum, but it's good hokum. Butcher's writing is still a bit dodgy in places, and Harry Dreseden is still a chauvinist (although he does get called on it by the female characters), but even though I knew who the real bad guys were (I've just watched the TV series) the story still kept me reading to the very end. I'm not sure why I liked this book as much as I did. The romance/sex was rather contrived and emotionless, there was a little too much exposition in places, and the female lead was a little shallow, but the action scenes were great: fast and furious. I guess it is just pure escapism and good fun.

Fiction List (8/50)

1st to Die by James Patterson

From the back of the book:

As the only woman homicide inspector in San Fransisco, Lindsay Boxer has to be tough. But nothing has prepared her for the honeymoon murders.

A brutal maniac begins a killing spree - slaughtering newlywed couples - and Lindsay takes on the case. She is sickened by the deaths, but her determination to bring the murderer to justice is threatened by a personal tragedy. So she turns to Claire, a coroner, Cindy, a journalist, and Jill, an attorney, for help with both crises: and the Women's Murder Club is born.

My thoughts:

This is typical James Patterson. It's been a few years since I have read any of his books, but this took me right back to the Alex Cross novels, which was okay: I wasn't expecting anything different. 1st to Die is a well-paced page-turner, however, I did find a few things problematic: the gruesome descriptions of the crimes seemed unnecessarily gruesome, the inclusion of a reporter in the WMC seemed unlikely, and the characters seemed a little shallow. Also, the prologue is written in the present tense, and is clearly set at the end of the events of the novel, with the protagonist looking back, but we never return to that, rather crucial, point in time, at the end of the book, as I would have expected to. Perhaps that will be the opening of the second book. I'm not sure that I'll read that one though. Patterson's books become all much of a muchness after a while, which is why it has taken me six years to get around to reading this book!

Fiction List (7/50)

Book 81: Have Mercy on Us All.
Author: Fred Vargas, 2001. Translated from the French by David Bellos. 2003.
Genre: Crime. Police thriller.
Other Details: 321 pages.

I decided to investigate Fred Vargas' writings after learning she was an archaeologist and historian as well as a writer of acclaimed police thrillers in France. As with the Henning Mankell books these have quite a different pace than the American crime thrillers I tend to devour. There was quite a long build-up before the first murder and again, like the Mankell books, a more realistic feel to the police procedures recounted.

The story opens with a former sailor, Joss Le Guern, reviving a family tradition by establishing himself as a town crier in a Paris district. However, he finds that among the innocuous messages and advertisements placed anonymously in his box are a series of cryptic and ominous notes. His landlord thinks he recognises them as quotes from medieval texts and begins to investigate. At the same time Chief Inspector Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg is approached by a distressed woman who tells him that all the doors in her apartment building, except one, have been marked with a large inverted “4” in black ink with the inscription “CLT.” Adamsberg discovers that other buildings in the city have also been marked with this distinctive sign. Both the messages and the signs are discovered to link to the Black Death. Is it a bio-terrorist threat? Then when a body is found with rat flea bites and blackened flesh panic soon breaks out across the city.

This had quite a Gothic feel and Vargas' background as a medievalist working with records of the Plague brought an authenticity to the storyline. There was quite a bit of interesting information about breakouts of the Plague in history and about the disease as it still exists today. While the slow pace of the opening threw me a little, I soon appreciated the time Vargas had taken in establishing her characters and setting before the action started. Shall I be reading more of Vargas? Well I checked the next in her Adamsberg series out of the library as soon as I returned this one.

Book 82: From Bones to Ashes.
Author: Kathy Reichs, 2007.
Genre: Forensic Crime Thriller.
Pages: 451 pages.

This is the 10th and final book to date in the Temperance Brennan series of forensic thrillers. I should have savoured the experience but once I started reading it I was hooked completely and could hardly put it down.

The story opens with Tempe recalling parts of her childhood and a friendship she had with an Arcadian girl, who summered annually in North Carolina. One day her friend mysteriously disappeared and the aunt and uncle with whom she stayed refused to give any details of why Evangeline and her younger sister had left. Tempe and her own sister, Harry, tried for some time to track down their friends but eventually gave up. In the present day Tempe is asked by a colleague to look at the skeleton of a teenage girl from the same area of New Brunswick where Evangeline lived. As she does so Tempe finds herself haunted by memories and begins to wonder if these could be the bones of her friend. At the same time she is asked by her on-again, off-again lover Detective Andrew Ryan, to help out on a series of cold cases involving the disappearances and possible murders of teenage girls. As usual in these books, there are interested parties who do not want these cases investigated.

There is some quite dark and disturbing material in this novel and Reichs doesn't spare the details. I found it compulsive reading and felt it was one of her best. I especially enjoyed the touches of humour that Reichs brought such as Tempe's thoughts drifting during a briefing as to what the flavour of the last doughnut in a bag might be and whether she could help herself to it and her interaction with her cat, Birdie. Small details among the dark drama of the book but I find them pleasing as I did the struggles Adamsberg had in the Vargas' book with recalling all the names of the detectives working under him in his newish assignment. It makes the characters more accessible to have these little quirks.

Storm Front by Jim Butcher (Fantasy, Mystery, Magic, Thriller, Magical Thriller, Crime)

From the back of the book:

Harry Dresden is the best at what he does - and not just because he's the only one who does it. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal capabilities, they come to him for answers. Because the everyday world is not as 'everyday' as it seems. It's actually full of strange and supernatural things - and most of them don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a - well, whatever it is the police are having trouble with this time.

There's just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's black magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mago knows Harry's name. And that's when things start to get . . . interesting.

Magic. It can get a guy killed.

My thoughts.

This is a book of two halves, the first of which made me want to hurl the whole thing at the wall! Littered with 'said bookisms' and adverb abuse, the exposition is about as subtle as a brick and the protagonist, Harry Dresden, comes across as a chauvinistic cliché. When I reached the middle of the book, I seriously thought about not finishing it, but I'm glad I persevered as the second half is of a completely different stripe. The second half is where all the action takes place, and Jim Butcher it seems, is great at action. Despite a preponderance of the past progressive, the descriptions are vivid and convincing, punchy and fast-paced. I didn't want to put it down. The humour became drier (and funnier) and, as I found out more about Dresden and saw him tested by more than just lack of money, my sympathy for him increased immeasurably, warts and all. The plot worked for me; the mix of the modern world with the arcane was fresh and exciting - a new take on old ideas.

I've just ordered the sequel as I would really like to how Butcher's writing changes and whether or not Harry changes too. I hope the whole of the second book is as good as the second half of the first.

Next book: 1st to Die by James Patterson.

Fiction list

6 / 50 books. 12% done!

If you think that murder mysteries need vicars or tortuous plots, where the last chapter reveals all then put the kettle and I’ll finish before you come back. But if you are open to Chandler film-noir stories please stay as this review is for you.

The context is an alternative future where the 1st world war ended early so the Ottoman Empire is modernised rather then dismembered. Aristocrats still have political and social power within a liberal monarchy. Think of Jordan being the norm throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

This is by way of back-story as real focus is the arrival from an American Jail, of Asref Bey in El Iskandryia(Alexandria in our timeline) summoned by his Aunt who is a mover and shaker in the local politics to marry a cousin he has never met. His refusal and the death of his Aunt soon have him fighting for his life in a world he struggles to understand. Intertwined with this story are flashbacks to why he is confused about his past and future.

The story is plot not character driven but the setting makes for freshness to a familiar story. Given my interest in history and politics, I found it difficult to see why this society has more advanced technology then our timeline but that’s a Geek thing.

Anyway, the kettle is boiled and the tea-tray is on the way so let's go before we have to find out what Professor Plum did in the Library. And if you have not read it, go and do it now!

Please feel free to visit my 50 word stories

Probably nobody but me will care about this (and quite right too) but I'll explain just in case anyone thinks my ability to count has gone haywire :-)

I started the challenge last year on 4th July (because I'm an impatient old bat) but I thought it would be a good idea to align my reading year with the calendar year at some point. So I've been keeping two lists, one of the books I've read since 4th July 2007 and one of those since 1st January 2008. Obviously these lists overlap somewhat :-)

Now that I've reached the end of the July-July reading year, the rest of this years books will go on to the 2008 list. Confused? Good. Me too :-)

And now for the latest three, numbered for the 2008 list.!

29. Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs  (detective fiction)

Not as good as previous books in this series. The plot seemed disjointed and confused and the characters and their motivations wer sometimes rather sketchy.

30. The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer (historical, romance)

I'm not a big reader in the romance genre, but Heyer is one of my major exceptions. Comfort reading at its best. Not one of her more enthralling books, but still well worth a look.

31. Harold by Catherine Cookson (fiction)

Can you tell I've been on holiday ? Again, Cookson isn't my usual cup of tea, but I like her books about Maisie and her family, although Maisie is more of a Mary Sue than ever in this one.

Wow, I haven't posted in a long time. Here's my (rather long) list.

1001 Books:

15. Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson. 1168 pages.
This book blew my mind, in a good way. Of all the books I've actually enjoyed reading, I think this was the most difficult to get through. It also seemed to take forever, and not just because of the length. There's so much going on that it's hard to wrap your mind around it. Plus, I was a math major in college, and even though all the cryptography stuff was way over my head, I still tried to figure out what they were doing, which made the going even slower.

16. The Shining, Stephen King. 683 pages.
This was the first book by King that I've ever read. Honestly, I only read it because it was on the 1001 Books list; I'm not a huge fan of the horror genre. I liked it more than I thought I would, but I still don't think I'll read any more books by him. I can see his talent; but, really, the genre's just not for me.

17. The Thin Man, Dashiell Hammett. 223 pages.
Ah, the legendary Nick and Nora Charles. Honestly, they weren't as great as I've heard them built up to be. I am curious to see the movie, though, to see if they come off better on screen. Still an enjoyable, quick read, though.

Other Books

20. Drums of Autumn, Diana Gabaldon. 1088 pages.
Not as good as the first three, but still a good read. I hear that the fifth book is the worst in the series, but it picks up again with the sixth. Now that I'm back in the United States with access to a library with a large selection of English-language books, I'm hoping that I can finish the series this summer. Well, the books that have been published already, that is.

21. Twilight, Stephanie Meyer. 544 pages.
22. New Moon, Stephanie Meyer. 608 pages.
23. Eclipse, Stephanie Meyer. 640 pages.
I finally broke down and read this series, partially because my cousin was begging me, and partially to see what all the hype was about. I'll give her credit, Meyer has a knack for coming up with engaging plots. Unfortunately, her writing and characterization skills don't live up to her plotting skill. The book, especially the dialogue, was poorly written. And the characters were not very fleshed out, and when they were, they were disturbing - and not in a good way. Bella seems to exist just to get into trouble and have the men in her life tell her what to do. Her main ambition in life is to die. Edward is possessive, controlling, and borderline abusive, if not crossing the line into being actually abusive. (Girls: if your boyfriend kidnaps you to ensure that you don't see one of your friends, get out of the relationship ASAP. That is NOT a good thing.) I liked Jacob more, but he really wasn't much better. In my opinion, Bella should drop both of them, go to college, find a normal boyfriend, and try to live a normal life. It truly pains me that there are so many young girls out there who want to be like Bella and who want a boyfriend like Edward. Bella's no role model, and she and Edward do not have a healthy relationship.

24. Coraline, Neil Gaiman. 194 pages.
Wow, Gaiman's kids' books really are a lot creepier than his adult books. A really quick, but thoroughly enjoyable read.

25. The 158-Pound Marriage, John Irving. 255 pages.
This book is about wrestling and swingers. There's not really a whole lot else to say about it. I didn't particularly like or dislike it.

1001 Books:
17/25 - 68%

Total Books:
42/75 - 56%

Total Pages:
18,720/22,500 - 83.2%

Days Passed:
191/366 - 52.2%

Serenity: Those Left Behind by Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews & Will Conrad (Graphic novel, science fiction, crime)

From the back of the book:

Here's how it is - in a universe filled with hearts and minds as cold as the reaches of space, one small Firefly-class starship named Serenity takes its ragtag crew of mercenaries, outlaws and fugitives in search of a job, any job, that'll earn them enough cash to afford that most elusive commodity - peace.

Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, unveils a previously unknown chapter in the lives of his favourite band of space brigands in this prequel to the Serenity feature film - the blockbuster follow-up to Whedon's hit TV show Firefly.

My thoughts:

This was my first graphic novel; I only bought it because I am a Firefly/Serenity fan. I found reading it rather awkward: I wasn't sure whether to look at the pictures before reading the dialogue, or read the dialogue before looking at the pictures. I think maybe I'm too old to be able to appreciate the graphic novel properly. I found this one rather confusing. I suppose if I persevered I would become familiar with the conventions and they would become easier to follow. Having said all that, I did enjoy the story told here although there were no great surprises. It seemed very Firefly, and fitted well with canon. The dialogue was convincing and the artwork, mesmerising, however, it didn't engage me as well as either a TV episode or prose would have done. There was nothing to get my heart racing. It was far too static.

I'll keep this on my shelf as it is so very pretty to look at. I am tempted to write a fanfic based on the plot of this graphic novel. I find it so much easier and so much more engaging to read prose.

Fiction list

4 / 50 books. 8% done!

Next book: Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot

Cop Hater and The Mugger by Ed McBain (1956)

When I come to think of it, I don't read a lot of police procedurals, but I've heard great things about Ed McBain's '87th Precinct' novels; so, when I saw this omnibus of the first two in a discount bookshop, I thought I'd give it a go. And... well, I'm not sure. McBain's prose (especially his descriptive passages) can be excellent; it's the mysteries themselves that I'm undecided about.

The titles of the two novels sum up their plots: in the first, someone is shooting officers of the 87th Precinct dead; in the second, a purse-snatcher is at large -- one who goes too far, leaving a woman dead. The solutions to these mysteries are fine; it's just that they seemed to me to be solved almost entirely in the last few pages... Reading that back, it sounds a really naive complaint (because aren't most mysteries like that?); but that was my reaction when I'd finished -- that one minute we were nowhere near cracking the case, and the next minute it was all solved, without enough sense of build-up. Perhaps I'm not appreciating how the police procedural genre works; perhaps the later 87th Precinct novels (of which there are over fifty) are different -- I don't know.

One thing that did strike me about these novels was how contemporary they seemed. I've read two other books this year that date from the 1950s (I am Legend and The Broken Sword); and I didn't have to keep reminding myself that they were fifty years old, as I did with these books of McBain's. Not that I could mistake them for contemporary works -- things like the street slang used made sure of that -- but there was often just a little jarring moment of realisation all the same. Since McBain continued to write 87th Precinct novels into the present decade, I'm curious to know whether the setting remained in the 1950s, or whether it mirrored the passing of time.