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Showing posts from December, 2006

Year End

I love top ten lists... other people's not mine. Creating a year end list should be filled w/ happy memories good times spent reading enjoyable books. In short it ain't. Anyway Chris Grabenstein - Tilt A Whirl and Mad Mouse Michael McGarrity - The Big Gamble Sean Doolitle - Dirt and Rain Dogs Will Staeger - Painkiller Adrian McKinty - Hidden River Maureen Jennings - Night Child Mark Billingham - Lazybones As I may never read all the books in my to be read pile, my New Year's resolution should be to read all of the books I buy in a calendar year. I also need to keep better track of the books I read in a year so that this time next year this process is not so arduous.

Shelves

My too be read pile is over a hundred books. I actually stopped counting. This may be thrilling to some, but it depresses me. I have un-read books as far back as 2001. My newest book is Doolittle's The Cleanup. There are ten other books I would have liked to buy, but that is besides the point. My oldest..... well..... I have been back building Ferringo and Jefferson Parker so they don't actually count. I have C.J. Box's Open Season from 2001. It is a series I always wanted to read, but well I didn't. I think 2001 was around the time when I decided that I could not afford to pick up any new authors. I was reading Connelly, Crais, Burke, Lehane, Mosely, etc. Money was tight and I could not afford the 2-3 times a month I had to lay out $20+. I have made this promise a few dozen times since w/ varying degrees of success. Oh, I am putting up shelves in the attic. A minor victory at this point would be to bring it under 100 books.... but with open shelf space that aint gon

40% Off Coupon + Rain Dogs

I had a 40% off coupon from Borders and I had every intention of getting Duane S's The Blonde. But stupid Christmas meant that I could not get Duane S's The Blonde and instead bought KM a photo book . Oh, well Finished Sean Doolittle's Rain Dogs late last week. Enjoyed it greatly. It falls into the Crime Fiction genre, but this book, much like his first, was about characters who are really caught at a cross roads in their life. Either you move past your troubled history or fall back into a life that can only lead to your destruction. Doolittle's character's having varying degrees of success transitioning out of their destructive behavior. The front cover of the book contains a blurb from Dennis Lehane . I find this very appropriate because it appears that Dennis is about to leave the crime genre behind (...for good?) in his oft-delayed Boston epic. It is appropriate because I feel like Sean will do the same at some point. All crime fiction needs a dead body,

Recent Purchases

About a week ago I managed to get in on Dunn and Powell Books latest sale. About 25% of the list was 30% off, the rest of 50% off. I ordered 6 books. One was not available. James Lee Burke's In the Electric Mist of Confederate Dead. They wanted $10 for it and at 50% off it is a great deal. Even at $10 it was a great deal, so not real surprised that it was gone. I wished that D&P updated the list , but minor quibble. The books showed up today. Nothing like a package on the porch when you come home from work. So...... The Dry White Tear by Stephen F. Wilcox. Some bumps to the DJ that I wish were not there cuz I know I could probably get a better copy else where for not much more but I'm ok with it Next, The Dark Room by Minette Walters. Black DJ means any scuffs come through like it was dragged on ground by your two year old. Again cheap so no biggie there. I got Pacific Beat by T. Jefferson Parker and The Horse Latitudes by Robert Ferrigno. Pacific Beat has a previous

Guard Changing

Have I mentioned that I am a big Clive Cussler fan? Well good old Clive and his factious hero Dirk Pitt have mad another appearance. The latest in a long series of books dating back to the 70's is Treasure of Khan. Bit of an uninspired title there, but I can over look that. The book previous to this was Black Wind, which was the first to feature Clive's son, Dirk Cussler as co-author. That book also featured a shift from the dependable and steel plated Dirk to a couple of new faces. Introduced at the dead end of Vahalla Rising, Dirk discovers he has two fully-grown children, named Dirk Jr. and Summer. Hazah for the shopkeeper! The series can now continue once Clive decides to put down his pen. I think father and son have found a graceful way for these adventure novels to continue w/o straining credibility. Dirk Cussler can borrow the form his father set w/o having to continue his father's main creation Dirk Pitt. One imagines that Dirk will..... if he is not already doing

...and on occassion I kill people.

I suggest you all watch Dexter . The great Michael C. Hall from the truly great Six Feet Under plays the lead, Dexter. Think Hannibal Lecter w/o the annoying Euro/New England accent and the consistently patronizing tone. Of course the accent is more Anthony Hopkins, than Thomas Harris. Good stuff. It is on Showtime. KM and I on-demanded two episodes tonight.

Jury Duty

Sat all day for Jury Duty here in Rochester. Murder 2. Ugh. Would have served if asked. Glad I did not. I read Pistol Poets for one day last week. I was in a bad mood and have not picked it back up. I brought Sean Doolittle's third book, Rain Dogs . I figured I could read it while I killed time waiting to be picked. I killed 125 pages. Good writing, it was easy. Plus, the paperback fit in my coat. Victor's book did not. I'd link to Victor's site, but I think it is MIA. I think I am going to split off the food stuff into another blog. I might call it Bun Meet Bun. How is that for a play on words. Yeah pretty crappy.