56. Emperor: The Gods of War: A Novel of Julius Caesar...Conn Iggulden
A nice ending to an interesting series. I wish he had gone more into the Cleopatra story. And even though I knew how it was going to end, it was still sad.
Quote:
Iggulden (Emporer: The Field of Swords) saves the best for last in the fourth and final novel of his well-received Emperor series, following the life of Julius Caesar. Caesar's story is a familiar one, but Iggulden writes it convincingly as a thriller: the novel begins in 49 B.C., when Caesar and his legions-fresh from their conquests in Gaul and Britain-cross the Rubicon and race toward Rome to confront his enemies. It ends five years later on the Ides of March with his assassination. Along the way, there's a civil war to be fought and won, a romantic encounter with the young Egyptian queen Cleopatra and a triumphant return to Rome where a cowed Senate names him Dictator for Life and Unconquered God. But Caesar's enemies-including his friend Marcus Brutus-plot his assassination for subverting the Republican government. Despite Caesar's larger-than-life historical reputation, Iggulden humanizes his hero and juxtaposes his bloodlust in battle and ruthless ambition in politics with an unexpected tenderness in his personal relations. Taking a rather large dose of literary license, Iggulden strays too far from the historical record, but his expert plotting, supple prose and fast-paced action will keep readers riveted until the end.
57. Hunger Games...Suzanne Collins
Really good! I can't wait to read the next two.
Quote:
In a not-too-distant future, the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss's young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining district's female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart, Peeta, the son of the town baker who seems to have all the fighting skills of a lump of bread dough, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives. Collins's characters are completely realistic and sympathetic as they form alliances and friendships in the face of overwhelming odds; the plot is tense, dramatic, and engrossing.
58. The Last Olympian...Rick Riordan
I thought this was a great series. I'm waiting for his new series to start; it looks good, too.
Quote:
All year the half-bloods have been preparing for battle against the Titans, knowing the odds of victory are grim. Kronos's army is stronger than ever, and with every god and half-blood he recruits, the evil Titan's power only grows. While the Olympians struggle to contain the rampaging monster Typhon, Kronos begins his advance on New York City, where Mount Olympus stands virtually unguarded. Now it's up to Percy Jackson and an army of young demigods to stop the Lord of Time.
In this momentous final book in the New York Times best-selling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the long-awaited prophecy surrounding Percy's sixteenth birthday unfolds. And as the battle for Western civilization rages on the streets of Manhattan, Percy faces a terrifying suspicion that he may be fighting against his own fate.
59. The Unit...Ninni Holmqvist
This was a good book, but really sad. I was surprised at the choice she made at the end; I was expecting something different.
Quote:
One day in early spring, Dorrit Weger is checked into the Second Reserve Bank Unit for biological material. She is promised a nicely furnished apartment inside the Unit, where she will make new friends, enjoy the state of the art recreation facilities, and live the few remaining days of her life in comfort with people who are just like her. Here, women over the age of fifty and men over sixty–single, childless, and without jobs in progressive industries–are sequestered for their final few years; they are considered outsiders. In the Unit they are expected to contribute themselves for drug and psychological testing, and ultimately donate their organs, little by little, until the final donation. Despite the ruthless nature of this practice, the ethos of this near-future society and the Unit is to take care of others, and Dorrit finds herself living under very pleasant conditions: well-housed, well-fed, and well-attended. She is resigned to her fate and discovers her days there to be rather consoling and peaceful. But when she meets a man inside the Unit and falls in love, the extraordinary becomes a reality and life suddenly turns unbearable. Dorrit is faced with compliance or escape, and…well, then what?
The Unit is a gripping exploration of a society in the throes of an experiment, in which the “dispensable” ones are convinced under gentle coercion of the importance of sacrificing for the “necessary” ones. Ninni Holmqvist has created a debut novel of humor, sorrow, and rage about love, the close bonds of friendship, and about a cynical, utilitarian way of thinking disguised as care.
60. In the Dark...Richard Laymon
Another good one, but I didn't like the way it ended. There were so many crazy loose-ends in the story that didn't get tied up. I was more interested in some of those than the main plot.
Quote:
Donnerville librarian Jane Kerry receives an envelope containing a 50-dollar bill and a note instructing her to "look homeward, angel" and signed "MOG (Master of Games)." So begins The Game—pushing Jane into crazy, immoral, and criminal actions. When she tries to quit, MOG has other ideas.
Monday, August 15, 2011
April ~ 2010
49. The Face of Deception...Iris Johansen
Neat twist on this one. This is supposed to be the start of a series, so I will have to look more of them up.
Quote:
After losing her beloved child to a serial killer, forensic sculptor Eve Duncan survives by focusing on her career. The best in her field at rebuilding faces from bare skull bones, Eve specializes in identifying missing children. When billionaire John Logan requests her help in identifying an adult skull, Eve--already swamped with work--tells Logan that she isn't interested. But when he volunteers to donate a large sum of money to a charity for missing children in exchange for her time, Eve reluctantly agrees. Logan neglects to tell her that there are powerful, desperate people who are determined to keep the skull's true identity a secret at any cost. Eve's gut instincts tell her that Logan is holding back vital information: Does the billionaire really believe that he's uncovered new insight into the Kennedy assassination? Or does the skull tie him to a mysterious murder? Eve's wildest guesses don't even come close to the stunning truth that she discovers when she at last studies the restored face. Now she and Logan have proof of a dark secret that could get them killed. And it will take all of their combined cunning and sheer nerve to survive.
50. The Darkest Evening of the Year...Dean Koontz
I wasn't prepared for the supernatural slant in the story, but it fit.
Quote:
Amy Redwing, the survivor of a horrifying marriage, establishes Golden Heart to rescue golden retrievers, rehabilitate the abused ones and find forever homes. A supernatural chain of events ensues after Amy and her architect boyfriend, Brian McCarthy, rescue Nickie during a violent intervention in a family dispute. Soon the pair are on a mission that leads to a transformative confrontation with a number of ugly characters—Gunther Schloss, a frustrated aspiring novelist turned killer-for-hire; Moonglow, a psychobitch in the Mommie Dearest league; and Moonglow's lover, Harrow, a self-obsessed sicko.
51. Princess Academy...Shannon Hale
Cute, quick YA book. Sometimes I wish I had a daughter to share these kinds of books with.
Quote:
The thought of being a princess never occurred to the girls living on Mount Eskel. Most plan to work in the quarry like the generations before them. When it is announced that the prince will choose a bride from their village, 14-year-old Miri, who thinks she is being kept from working in the quarry because of her small stature, believes that this is her opportunity to prove her worth to her father. All eligible females are sent off to attend a special academy where they face many challenges and hardships as they are forced to adapt to the cultured life of a lowlander. First, strict Tutor Olana denies a visit home. Then, they are cut off from their village by heavy winter snowstorms. As their isolation increases, competition builds among them. The story is much like the mountains, with plenty of suspenseful moments that peak and fall, building into the next intense event. Miri discovers much about herself, including a special talent called quarry speak, a silent way to communicate. She uses this ability in many ways, most importantly to save herself and the other girls from harm. Each girl's story is brought to a satisfying conclusion, but this is not a fluffy, predictable fairy tale, even though it has wonderful moments of humor. Instead, Hale weaves an intricate, multilayered story about families, relationships, education, and the place we call home.
52. Gladiator...Dewey Gram
Another book based on a movie, but this one was much better than Max Collins.
Quote:
Once a great hero of the Roman Empire, General Maximus Meridas has led a lifetime of battle in loyal service to his emperor. But when the emperor's jealous heir, Commodus, murders his way to the throne, he forces Maximus into exile and savagely slaughters his family. Captured and sold into slavery, Maximus is forced to learn a new type of warfare - as a gladiator.
53. Emperor: The Gates of Rome...Conn Iggulden
Quote:
English writer Iggulden's first novel is the story of two young boys-Gaius and Marcus, raised as brothers though one is illegitimate-as they grow to adulthood in Rome two millennia ago. At that time, the republic was beginning to fall apart, a collapse that would result in the civil wars that brought the emperors to power. It was a time of turmoil, chaos, revolutions, casual violence, and savage brutality, and Iggulden's descriptions of the culture and environment are vivid. Although covering a period unknown to most lay readers, Emperor is a surprisingly fast and often exciting read. Iggulden admits to taking some liberties with history, and his masking the identities of Gaius and Marcus is unnecessary and distracting. While the real identity of Marcus (Et tu, Brute?) may be a puzzle, readers with a fair knowledge of Roman history will quickly identify Gaius (think of the Ides of March).
54. Emperor: The Death of Kings: A Novel of Julius Caesar...Conn Iggulden
Quote:
After what was in effect a preamble—Emperor: The Gates of Rome (2003)—Julius Caesar takes center stage in this second fast-moving, action-oriented installment in Iggulden's projected four-book retelling of the Roman emperor's saga. Julius, a rising young officer assigned to the Roman-controlled northern coast of Africa, distinguishes himself in a bloody raid on the fortress of Mytilene only to have his transport ship captured by pirates. He and the crew are thrown into the hold to rot while awaiting a ransom that will likely ruin his young family back in Rome. After the ransom arrives, Julius gathers his loyal men and marches along the coast, impressing the locals (pirate collaborators all) into military service. He makes good on his bloody promise to wipe out the pirates, then takes his forces to Greece, where, at long odds, he defeats old king Mithridates, who is leading an insurrection that threatens Roman rule in all of Greece. Julius returns to Rome victorious and rich—only to find that the corruption and thuglike violence at the heart of the Republic has come near to destroying those he holds dear, including his wife and small daughter.
55. Emperor: The Field of Swords: A Novel of Julius Caesar...Conn Iggulden
Quote:
The third (after Emperor: The Gates of Rome and Emperor: The Death of Kings) of four projected volumes in the much-praised fiction series based on the life and times of Julius Caesar, this sweeping epic resumes the narrative in Spain where young Julius is fantasizing about the conquests of Alexander the Great. After four prosperous years with the Tenth Legion in Spain, Julius has discovered gold and decides to return to Rome with his loyal general, Brutus. There, rich with Spanish loot, Julius enters into an alliance with Pompey, a popular and autocratic military leader, and his older, wealthy co-consul, Crassus. Sponsored by this pair of influential and unscrupulous politicians, Julius is elected consul and assumes charge of an expedition to Gaul with full powers to take spoils and rule his conquests in the name of Rome. His eventual victory over Vercingetorix is only postponed by a daring side campaign in Britain. The novel ends as Julius receives word that Pompey plans to have him slain, and Julius, Brutus and Mark Antony prepare to march on Rome, leaving avid readers athirst to read the final volume.
A nice series on Julius Caesar. Finishing up the last one now.
Neat twist on this one. This is supposed to be the start of a series, so I will have to look more of them up.
Quote:
After losing her beloved child to a serial killer, forensic sculptor Eve Duncan survives by focusing on her career. The best in her field at rebuilding faces from bare skull bones, Eve specializes in identifying missing children. When billionaire John Logan requests her help in identifying an adult skull, Eve--already swamped with work--tells Logan that she isn't interested. But when he volunteers to donate a large sum of money to a charity for missing children in exchange for her time, Eve reluctantly agrees. Logan neglects to tell her that there are powerful, desperate people who are determined to keep the skull's true identity a secret at any cost. Eve's gut instincts tell her that Logan is holding back vital information: Does the billionaire really believe that he's uncovered new insight into the Kennedy assassination? Or does the skull tie him to a mysterious murder? Eve's wildest guesses don't even come close to the stunning truth that she discovers when she at last studies the restored face. Now she and Logan have proof of a dark secret that could get them killed. And it will take all of their combined cunning and sheer nerve to survive.
50. The Darkest Evening of the Year...Dean Koontz
I wasn't prepared for the supernatural slant in the story, but it fit.
Quote:
Amy Redwing, the survivor of a horrifying marriage, establishes Golden Heart to rescue golden retrievers, rehabilitate the abused ones and find forever homes. A supernatural chain of events ensues after Amy and her architect boyfriend, Brian McCarthy, rescue Nickie during a violent intervention in a family dispute. Soon the pair are on a mission that leads to a transformative confrontation with a number of ugly characters—Gunther Schloss, a frustrated aspiring novelist turned killer-for-hire; Moonglow, a psychobitch in the Mommie Dearest league; and Moonglow's lover, Harrow, a self-obsessed sicko.
51. Princess Academy...Shannon Hale
Cute, quick YA book. Sometimes I wish I had a daughter to share these kinds of books with.
Quote:
The thought of being a princess never occurred to the girls living on Mount Eskel. Most plan to work in the quarry like the generations before them. When it is announced that the prince will choose a bride from their village, 14-year-old Miri, who thinks she is being kept from working in the quarry because of her small stature, believes that this is her opportunity to prove her worth to her father. All eligible females are sent off to attend a special academy where they face many challenges and hardships as they are forced to adapt to the cultured life of a lowlander. First, strict Tutor Olana denies a visit home. Then, they are cut off from their village by heavy winter snowstorms. As their isolation increases, competition builds among them. The story is much like the mountains, with plenty of suspenseful moments that peak and fall, building into the next intense event. Miri discovers much about herself, including a special talent called quarry speak, a silent way to communicate. She uses this ability in many ways, most importantly to save herself and the other girls from harm. Each girl's story is brought to a satisfying conclusion, but this is not a fluffy, predictable fairy tale, even though it has wonderful moments of humor. Instead, Hale weaves an intricate, multilayered story about families, relationships, education, and the place we call home.
52. Gladiator...Dewey Gram
Another book based on a movie, but this one was much better than Max Collins.
Quote:
Once a great hero of the Roman Empire, General Maximus Meridas has led a lifetime of battle in loyal service to his emperor. But when the emperor's jealous heir, Commodus, murders his way to the throne, he forces Maximus into exile and savagely slaughters his family. Captured and sold into slavery, Maximus is forced to learn a new type of warfare - as a gladiator.
53. Emperor: The Gates of Rome...Conn Iggulden
Quote:
English writer Iggulden's first novel is the story of two young boys-Gaius and Marcus, raised as brothers though one is illegitimate-as they grow to adulthood in Rome two millennia ago. At that time, the republic was beginning to fall apart, a collapse that would result in the civil wars that brought the emperors to power. It was a time of turmoil, chaos, revolutions, casual violence, and savage brutality, and Iggulden's descriptions of the culture and environment are vivid. Although covering a period unknown to most lay readers, Emperor is a surprisingly fast and often exciting read. Iggulden admits to taking some liberties with history, and his masking the identities of Gaius and Marcus is unnecessary and distracting. While the real identity of Marcus (Et tu, Brute?) may be a puzzle, readers with a fair knowledge of Roman history will quickly identify Gaius (think of the Ides of March).
54. Emperor: The Death of Kings: A Novel of Julius Caesar...Conn Iggulden
Quote:
After what was in effect a preamble—Emperor: The Gates of Rome (2003)—Julius Caesar takes center stage in this second fast-moving, action-oriented installment in Iggulden's projected four-book retelling of the Roman emperor's saga. Julius, a rising young officer assigned to the Roman-controlled northern coast of Africa, distinguishes himself in a bloody raid on the fortress of Mytilene only to have his transport ship captured by pirates. He and the crew are thrown into the hold to rot while awaiting a ransom that will likely ruin his young family back in Rome. After the ransom arrives, Julius gathers his loyal men and marches along the coast, impressing the locals (pirate collaborators all) into military service. He makes good on his bloody promise to wipe out the pirates, then takes his forces to Greece, where, at long odds, he defeats old king Mithridates, who is leading an insurrection that threatens Roman rule in all of Greece. Julius returns to Rome victorious and rich—only to find that the corruption and thuglike violence at the heart of the Republic has come near to destroying those he holds dear, including his wife and small daughter.
55. Emperor: The Field of Swords: A Novel of Julius Caesar...Conn Iggulden
Quote:
The third (after Emperor: The Gates of Rome and Emperor: The Death of Kings) of four projected volumes in the much-praised fiction series based on the life and times of Julius Caesar, this sweeping epic resumes the narrative in Spain where young Julius is fantasizing about the conquests of Alexander the Great. After four prosperous years with the Tenth Legion in Spain, Julius has discovered gold and decides to return to Rome with his loyal general, Brutus. There, rich with Spanish loot, Julius enters into an alliance with Pompey, a popular and autocratic military leader, and his older, wealthy co-consul, Crassus. Sponsored by this pair of influential and unscrupulous politicians, Julius is elected consul and assumes charge of an expedition to Gaul with full powers to take spoils and rule his conquests in the name of Rome. His eventual victory over Vercingetorix is only postponed by a daring side campaign in Britain. The novel ends as Julius receives word that Pompey plans to have him slain, and Julius, Brutus and Mark Antony prepare to march on Rome, leaving avid readers athirst to read the final volume.
A nice series on Julius Caesar. Finishing up the last one now.
March ~ 2010
29. Lover Revealed...JR Ward
30. Lover Enshrined...JR Ward
31. Lover Unbound...JR Ward
32. Lover Avenged...JR Ward
33. Father Mine...JR Ward
Finished up the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. It was fairly good. I'll probably keep reading when new ones come out.
34. Diary of a Wimpy Kid...Jeff Kinney
My older son, Turtle, is loving this series and I promised I would read them. It's cute. The kind of dry, sarcastic humor my son likes.
35. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules...Jeff Kinney
36. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw...Jeff Kinney
37. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days...Jeff Kinney
I finished the rest of the series for Turtle. At least now I'll be one up on him when he tries to copy stuff out of the books.
38. The Mummy...Max Allan Collins
39. The Mummy Returns...Max Allan Collins
40. The Scorpion King...Max Allan Collins
41. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor...Max Allan Collins
These books were written based on the screenplays, so they were fairly accurate to the movies. The writing was blah, though. It was like he had to use every cliche in the book. I doubt I will read anymore of his books.
42. Nation...Terry Pratchett
Quote:
Worlds are destroyed and cultures collide when a tsunami hits islands in a vast ocean much like the Pacific. Mau, a boy on his way back home from his initiation period and ready for the ritual that will make him a man, is the only one of his people, the Nation, to survive. Ermintrude, a girl from somewhere like Britain in a time like the 19th century, is on her way to meet her father, the governor of the Mothering Sunday islands. She is the sole survivor of her ship (or so she thinks), which is wrecked on Mau's island. She reinvents herself as Daphne, and uses her wits and practical sense to help the straggling refugees from nearby islands who start arriving. When raiders land on the island, they are led by a mutineer from the wrecked ship, and Mau must use all of his ingenuity to outsmart him. Then, just as readers are settling in to thinking that all will be well in the new world that Daphne and Mau are helping to build, Pratchett turns the story on its head. The main characters are engaging and interesting, and are the perfect medium for the author's sly humor.
I liked this book. I thought it was going to be more sci-fi-like, but it was set in a parallel world that is almost the same as ours.
43. The Lightning Thief...Rick Riordan
44. The Sea of Monsters...Rick Riordan
45. The Titan's Curse...Rick Riordan
46. The Battle of the Labyrinth...Rick Riordan
I can't believe I waited so long to read this series! I'm still waiting to get the last book, but I had to go ahead and read the first four. I can't wait until his new series starts in May.
47. The Compound...S.A. Bodeen
Quote:
Eli, the 15-year-old son of a billionaire techno-preneur, has spent the last six years with his family in the massive underground shelter his father has built, knowing that nuclear war has destroyed the world he knows—and killed his grandmother and his twin brother, who couldn't reach the compound in time. With nine years to go before the air outside will be safe to breathe again, the food supply shows signs of running out, but Eli's father has a solution—provided they jettison all morals and ethics. Repulsed and already suspicious, Eli begins investigating his father's claims, and sets up a family death match against a man who grows increasingly irrational and sinister but no less powerful. As far-fetched as the premise may be, Bodeen keeps Eli's actions true to life and uses clues planted fairly and in plain sight. The audience will feel the pressure closing in on them as they, like the characters, race through hairpin turns in the plot toward a breathless climax.
This was a great YA novel. I kind of figured out the twist before the end, but I still enjoyed it.
48. Altar of Eden...James Rollins
Quote:
Following the fall of Baghdad, two Iraqi boys stumble upon armed men looting the city zoo. The floodgates have been opened for the smuggling of hundreds of exotic birds, mammals, and reptiles to Western nations, but this crime hides a deeper secret. Amid a hail of bullets, a concealed underground weapons lab is ransacked—and something even more horrific is set free.
Seven years later, Louisiana state veterinarian Lorna Polk stumbles upon a fishing trawler shipwrecked on a barrier island. The crew is missing or dead, but the boat holds a frightening cargo: a caged group of exotic animals, clearly part of a black market smuggling ring.
Yet, something is wrong with these beasts, disturbing deformities that make no sense: a parrot with no feathers, a pair of Capuchin monkeys conjoined at the hip, a jaguar cub with the dentition of a saber-toothed tiger. They also all share one uncanny trait—a disturbingly heightened intelligence.
To uncover the truth about the origin of this strange cargo and the terrorist threat it poses, Lorna must team up with a man who shares a dark and bloody past with her and is now an agent with the U.S. Border Patrol, Jack Menard.
Together, the two must hunt for a beast that escaped the shipwreck while uncovering a mystery tied to fractal science and genetic engineering, all to expose a horrifying secret that traces back to humankind's earliest roots.
But can Lorna stop what is about to be born upon the altar of Eden before it threatens not only the world but also the very foundation of what it means to be human?
I love James Rollins! He reminds me of Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston in that they write books that have situations in them that just border on reality. Things that are just far enough out there that they might actually happen.
30. Lover Enshrined...JR Ward
31. Lover Unbound...JR Ward
32. Lover Avenged...JR Ward
33. Father Mine...JR Ward
Finished up the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. It was fairly good. I'll probably keep reading when new ones come out.
34. Diary of a Wimpy Kid...Jeff Kinney
My older son, Turtle, is loving this series and I promised I would read them. It's cute. The kind of dry, sarcastic humor my son likes.
35. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules...Jeff Kinney
36. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw...Jeff Kinney
37. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days...Jeff Kinney
I finished the rest of the series for Turtle. At least now I'll be one up on him when he tries to copy stuff out of the books.
38. The Mummy...Max Allan Collins
39. The Mummy Returns...Max Allan Collins
40. The Scorpion King...Max Allan Collins
41. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor...Max Allan Collins
These books were written based on the screenplays, so they were fairly accurate to the movies. The writing was blah, though. It was like he had to use every cliche in the book. I doubt I will read anymore of his books.
42. Nation...Terry Pratchett
Quote:
Worlds are destroyed and cultures collide when a tsunami hits islands in a vast ocean much like the Pacific. Mau, a boy on his way back home from his initiation period and ready for the ritual that will make him a man, is the only one of his people, the Nation, to survive. Ermintrude, a girl from somewhere like Britain in a time like the 19th century, is on her way to meet her father, the governor of the Mothering Sunday islands. She is the sole survivor of her ship (or so she thinks), which is wrecked on Mau's island. She reinvents herself as Daphne, and uses her wits and practical sense to help the straggling refugees from nearby islands who start arriving. When raiders land on the island, they are led by a mutineer from the wrecked ship, and Mau must use all of his ingenuity to outsmart him. Then, just as readers are settling in to thinking that all will be well in the new world that Daphne and Mau are helping to build, Pratchett turns the story on its head. The main characters are engaging and interesting, and are the perfect medium for the author's sly humor.
I liked this book. I thought it was going to be more sci-fi-like, but it was set in a parallel world that is almost the same as ours.
43. The Lightning Thief...Rick Riordan
44. The Sea of Monsters...Rick Riordan
45. The Titan's Curse...Rick Riordan
46. The Battle of the Labyrinth...Rick Riordan
I can't believe I waited so long to read this series! I'm still waiting to get the last book, but I had to go ahead and read the first four. I can't wait until his new series starts in May.
47. The Compound...S.A. Bodeen
Quote:
Eli, the 15-year-old son of a billionaire techno-preneur, has spent the last six years with his family in the massive underground shelter his father has built, knowing that nuclear war has destroyed the world he knows—and killed his grandmother and his twin brother, who couldn't reach the compound in time. With nine years to go before the air outside will be safe to breathe again, the food supply shows signs of running out, but Eli's father has a solution—provided they jettison all morals and ethics. Repulsed and already suspicious, Eli begins investigating his father's claims, and sets up a family death match against a man who grows increasingly irrational and sinister but no less powerful. As far-fetched as the premise may be, Bodeen keeps Eli's actions true to life and uses clues planted fairly and in plain sight. The audience will feel the pressure closing in on them as they, like the characters, race through hairpin turns in the plot toward a breathless climax.
This was a great YA novel. I kind of figured out the twist before the end, but I still enjoyed it.
48. Altar of Eden...James Rollins
Quote:
Following the fall of Baghdad, two Iraqi boys stumble upon armed men looting the city zoo. The floodgates have been opened for the smuggling of hundreds of exotic birds, mammals, and reptiles to Western nations, but this crime hides a deeper secret. Amid a hail of bullets, a concealed underground weapons lab is ransacked—and something even more horrific is set free.
Seven years later, Louisiana state veterinarian Lorna Polk stumbles upon a fishing trawler shipwrecked on a barrier island. The crew is missing or dead, but the boat holds a frightening cargo: a caged group of exotic animals, clearly part of a black market smuggling ring.
Yet, something is wrong with these beasts, disturbing deformities that make no sense: a parrot with no feathers, a pair of Capuchin monkeys conjoined at the hip, a jaguar cub with the dentition of a saber-toothed tiger. They also all share one uncanny trait—a disturbingly heightened intelligence.
To uncover the truth about the origin of this strange cargo and the terrorist threat it poses, Lorna must team up with a man who shares a dark and bloody past with her and is now an agent with the U.S. Border Patrol, Jack Menard.
Together, the two must hunt for a beast that escaped the shipwreck while uncovering a mystery tied to fractal science and genetic engineering, all to expose a horrifying secret that traces back to humankind's earliest roots.
But can Lorna stop what is about to be born upon the altar of Eden before it threatens not only the world but also the very foundation of what it means to be human?
I love James Rollins! He reminds me of Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston in that they write books that have situations in them that just border on reality. Things that are just far enough out there that they might actually happen.
February ~ 2010
14. Bones of Betrayal...Jefferson Bass
This one had a lot of interesting historical info in it (in addition to all the cool anthropology stuff.) I had never really read anything about the Manhatten Project and it was very enlightening. Can't wait for the next in this series (March!)
Quote:
The latest Body Farm novel finds forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton looking into an unusual death. A man’s body is pulled out of a swimming pool in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The autopsy reveals that he appears to have died after ingesting a highly radioactive pellet. When Brockton discovers that the victim was a key player in the Manhattan Project—that, in fact, he designed a reactor that was instrumental in the creation of the first atomic bomb more than 60 years ago—he realizes that to solve the crime, he must penetrate the secrets-laden history of the Manhattan Project itself. This series, written by forensic anthropologist Bass (the creator of the real Body Farm in Tennessee) and Jefferson, just keeps getting better. The latest installment features both the most compelling story and the best portrayal yet of Brockton, who has completed the transition from fictional representation of coauthor Bass to fully realized protagonist. Expect bigger and better things from this point on.
15. Death's Acre...Dr. Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson
This is a non-fiction book that goes into lots more depth about the Body Farm.
Quote:
In this memoir, Bass, a premier forensic anthropologist, recounts how a life spent studying dead bodies led to the creation of "The Anthropolgy Research Facility" (aka the Body Farm), a plot of land near the University of Tennessee Medical Center where Bass and his colleagues monitor the decomposition of human corpses in various environments. The book is structured around the 1981 creation of the Body Farm, and the early chapters focus on some of Bass's trickier cases to demonstrate his need for more information about the science of forensics. The later chapters take a closer look at how the scientific analysis of Body Farm corpses has helped Bass and other anthropologists solve some of the toughest and most bizarre cases of their distinguished careers. Though professional and conscientious when describing the medical facts of each case, Bass, writing with journalist Jefferson, proves to be a witty storyteller with a welcome sense of humor. He also does a nice job balancing accounts of death and decomposition with decidedly not-so-morbid tidbits from his personal life. Furthermore, the poignancy of how he reacts to the deaths of his first two wives reflects the compassion he feels for the dead and their surviving family members he encounters in his working life. Bass may deal with the dead, but he has a lust for life that comes across in his writing.
16. Beyond the Body Farm...Dr. Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson
The second non-fiction book by the authors.
Quote:
A pioneer in forensic anthropology, Dr. Bill Bass created the world's first laboratory dedicated to the study of human decomposition—three acres on a hillside in Tennessee where human bodies are left to the elements. His research has revolutionized forensic science, but during a career that has spanned half a century, Bass and his work have ranged far beyond the gates of the "Body Farm."
In this riveting book, the renowned bone sleuth explores the rise of modern forensic science and takes readers deep into the real world of crime scene investigation. Beyond the Body Farm is an extraordinary journey through some of the most fascinating investigations of Dr. Bass's career—and a remarkable look at the high-tech science used to crack the most perplexing cases.
17. 206 Bones...Kathy Reichs
I liked this book, but it wasn't as good as some of her earlier ones.
Quote:
At the start of bestseller Reichs's outstanding 12th thriller to feature Dr. Temperance Brennan (after Devil Bones), Brennan finds herself bound and injured in an underground tomb. In flashbacks, Reichs fills in the how and why of the forensic anthropologist's deadly predicament. When Brennan and Andrew Ryan of the Sûreté du Québec arrive in Chicago on business, she's accused of botching the autopsy of Rose Jurmain, a Canadian heiress. Knowing only that an anonymous caller instigated the investigation, Brennan is determined to uncover who's out to sabotage her. Back in her Montreal lab, Brennan soon realizes that not only is Jurmain's death possibly linked to the brutal murders of other elderly women but that whoever is out to tarnish her reputation refuses to back off. With her usual blend of cutting-edge forensic science and a stubborn, compelling heroine, Reichs manages to juggle several story lines without losing an ounce of momentum.
18. My First Year as a Lawyer...edited by Mark Simenhoff
19. NextGen Librarians...Rachel Singer Gordon
20. Real People Working in Law...Blythe Camenson
21. The Patron Saint of Liars...Ann Patchett
I liked the storyline, but I didn't like the ending. There was no real resolution; the book just ended.
Quote:
Unanticipated pregnancy makes liars out of young women, this thoughtful first novel shows, as they try to rationalize, explain, and accept what is happening to them. When she arrives at St. Elizabeth's, a home for pregnant girls in Habit, Kentucky, Rose Clinton seems as evasive and deceptive as the other unwed mothers. But Rose is different: she has a husband whom she has deserted. Unlike most St. Elizabeth's visitors, she neither gives up her baby nor leaves the home, staying on as cook while her daughter grows up among expectant mothers fantasizing that they, too, might keep their infants. The reader learns from Rose how she came to St. Elizabeth's, but it is her doting husband and rebellious daughter who reveal her motives and helpless need for freedom. Together, the three create a complex character study of a woman driven by forces she can neither understand nor control.
22. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War...Max Brooks
Wow, this book was awesome! For some reason, I thought it was a comedy, so I had been putting off reading it. It is definitely not a comedy! They never say why (just that it started in China), but zombies start rising and killing and infecting people all over the world. This sets off a mass war called World War Z. This book is a series of interviews and essays years later from people who survived the war.
Quote:
Brooks, the author of the determinedly straight-faced parody The Zombie Survival Guide (2003), returns in all seriousness to the zombie theme for his second outing, a future history in the style of Theodore Judson's Fitzpatrick's War. Brooks tells the story of the world's desperate battle against the zombie threat with a series of first-person accounts "as told to the author" by various characters around the world. A Chinese doctor encounters one of the earliest zombie cases at a time when the Chinese government is ruthlessly suppressing any information about the outbreak that will soon spread across the globe. The tale then follows the outbreak via testimony of smugglers, intelligence officials, military personnel and many others who struggle to defeat the zombie menace. Despite its implausible premise and choppy delivery, the novel is surprisingly hard to put down. The subtle, and not so subtle, jabs at various contemporary politicians and policies are an added bonus.
22. Forest of Hands and Teeth...Carrie Ryan
This book was a quick read...I wanted to finish it in one sitting. The only problem is the ending; you only find out what happened to the main character. You don't learn what happens to the rest of the surviving group. I did read that there is going to be a sequel, so hopefully the author can tie up all the loose ends she left in this book.
Quote:
Mary knows little about the past and why the world now contains two types of people: those in her village and the undead outside the fence, who prey upon the flesh of the living. The Sisters protect their village and provide for the continuance of the human race. After her mother is bitten and joins the Unconsecrated, Mary is sent to the Sisters to be prepared for marriage to her friend Harry. But then the fences are breached and the life she has known is gone forever. Mary; Harry; Travis, whom Mary loves but who is betrothed to her best friend; her brother and his wife; and an orphaned boy set out into the unknown to search for safety, answers to their questions, and a reason to go on living.
23. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo...Stieg Larsson
This book took a little while to get into. I didn't really care about all the finacial journalism stuff in the beginning. Once things started rolling on the mystery part, it was really good. I'm definitely getting the next book in this trilogy.
Quote:
Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo.
24. Unwind...Neal Shusterman
I totally recommend this book! I read it yesterday and I ended up thinking about it all night. What is scary is that I can totally see something like this happening. In fact, it is already happening in other parts of the world, although, I imagine (hope) it is more adults than children.
Quote:
In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would "unwind" them. Connor's parents want to be rid of him because he's a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family's strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, they can't be harmed -- but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away.
This isn't the best summary. Basically, in order to appease both sides of the second Civil War (pro-life and pro-choice), the law has been made that you can't have an abortion while you are pregnant. You can, however, choose to have a late abortion when your child reaches age thirteen. From ages 13-18, a parent can choose to have their child "unwound." This is where the child is harvested for body parts. They don't call it killing the child because 99.44% of the body is used for transplants, so "technically" the child is still living.
25. Dead(ish)...Naomi Kramer
Not worth the time it took to read it. Thank goodness it was free. It was a good idea, but the author just couldn't deliver.
Quote:
Linda's had a bad day. First her boyfriend killed her. Then she woke up, still on this boring plane of existence, and with an odd obsession about her missing body. Mike won't tell her what he did with her body, and she can't find the stupid thing herself. There's only one thing she can do - torment the bastard until he coughs up the information.
26. Dark Lover...J.R. Ward
27. Lover Eternal...J.R. Ward
28. Lover Awakened...J.R. Ward
This one had a lot of interesting historical info in it (in addition to all the cool anthropology stuff.) I had never really read anything about the Manhatten Project and it was very enlightening. Can't wait for the next in this series (March!)
Quote:
The latest Body Farm novel finds forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton looking into an unusual death. A man’s body is pulled out of a swimming pool in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The autopsy reveals that he appears to have died after ingesting a highly radioactive pellet. When Brockton discovers that the victim was a key player in the Manhattan Project—that, in fact, he designed a reactor that was instrumental in the creation of the first atomic bomb more than 60 years ago—he realizes that to solve the crime, he must penetrate the secrets-laden history of the Manhattan Project itself. This series, written by forensic anthropologist Bass (the creator of the real Body Farm in Tennessee) and Jefferson, just keeps getting better. The latest installment features both the most compelling story and the best portrayal yet of Brockton, who has completed the transition from fictional representation of coauthor Bass to fully realized protagonist. Expect bigger and better things from this point on.
15. Death's Acre...Dr. Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson
This is a non-fiction book that goes into lots more depth about the Body Farm.
Quote:
In this memoir, Bass, a premier forensic anthropologist, recounts how a life spent studying dead bodies led to the creation of "The Anthropolgy Research Facility" (aka the Body Farm), a plot of land near the University of Tennessee Medical Center where Bass and his colleagues monitor the decomposition of human corpses in various environments. The book is structured around the 1981 creation of the Body Farm, and the early chapters focus on some of Bass's trickier cases to demonstrate his need for more information about the science of forensics. The later chapters take a closer look at how the scientific analysis of Body Farm corpses has helped Bass and other anthropologists solve some of the toughest and most bizarre cases of their distinguished careers. Though professional and conscientious when describing the medical facts of each case, Bass, writing with journalist Jefferson, proves to be a witty storyteller with a welcome sense of humor. He also does a nice job balancing accounts of death and decomposition with decidedly not-so-morbid tidbits from his personal life. Furthermore, the poignancy of how he reacts to the deaths of his first two wives reflects the compassion he feels for the dead and their surviving family members he encounters in his working life. Bass may deal with the dead, but he has a lust for life that comes across in his writing.
16. Beyond the Body Farm...Dr. Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson
The second non-fiction book by the authors.
Quote:
A pioneer in forensic anthropology, Dr. Bill Bass created the world's first laboratory dedicated to the study of human decomposition—three acres on a hillside in Tennessee where human bodies are left to the elements. His research has revolutionized forensic science, but during a career that has spanned half a century, Bass and his work have ranged far beyond the gates of the "Body Farm."
In this riveting book, the renowned bone sleuth explores the rise of modern forensic science and takes readers deep into the real world of crime scene investigation. Beyond the Body Farm is an extraordinary journey through some of the most fascinating investigations of Dr. Bass's career—and a remarkable look at the high-tech science used to crack the most perplexing cases.
17. 206 Bones...Kathy Reichs
I liked this book, but it wasn't as good as some of her earlier ones.
Quote:
At the start of bestseller Reichs's outstanding 12th thriller to feature Dr. Temperance Brennan (after Devil Bones), Brennan finds herself bound and injured in an underground tomb. In flashbacks, Reichs fills in the how and why of the forensic anthropologist's deadly predicament. When Brennan and Andrew Ryan of the Sûreté du Québec arrive in Chicago on business, she's accused of botching the autopsy of Rose Jurmain, a Canadian heiress. Knowing only that an anonymous caller instigated the investigation, Brennan is determined to uncover who's out to sabotage her. Back in her Montreal lab, Brennan soon realizes that not only is Jurmain's death possibly linked to the brutal murders of other elderly women but that whoever is out to tarnish her reputation refuses to back off. With her usual blend of cutting-edge forensic science and a stubborn, compelling heroine, Reichs manages to juggle several story lines without losing an ounce of momentum.
18. My First Year as a Lawyer...edited by Mark Simenhoff
19. NextGen Librarians...Rachel Singer Gordon
20. Real People Working in Law...Blythe Camenson
21. The Patron Saint of Liars...Ann Patchett
I liked the storyline, but I didn't like the ending. There was no real resolution; the book just ended.
Quote:
Unanticipated pregnancy makes liars out of young women, this thoughtful first novel shows, as they try to rationalize, explain, and accept what is happening to them. When she arrives at St. Elizabeth's, a home for pregnant girls in Habit, Kentucky, Rose Clinton seems as evasive and deceptive as the other unwed mothers. But Rose is different: she has a husband whom she has deserted. Unlike most St. Elizabeth's visitors, she neither gives up her baby nor leaves the home, staying on as cook while her daughter grows up among expectant mothers fantasizing that they, too, might keep their infants. The reader learns from Rose how she came to St. Elizabeth's, but it is her doting husband and rebellious daughter who reveal her motives and helpless need for freedom. Together, the three create a complex character study of a woman driven by forces she can neither understand nor control.
22. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War...Max Brooks
Wow, this book was awesome! For some reason, I thought it was a comedy, so I had been putting off reading it. It is definitely not a comedy! They never say why (just that it started in China), but zombies start rising and killing and infecting people all over the world. This sets off a mass war called World War Z. This book is a series of interviews and essays years later from people who survived the war.
Quote:
Brooks, the author of the determinedly straight-faced parody The Zombie Survival Guide (2003), returns in all seriousness to the zombie theme for his second outing, a future history in the style of Theodore Judson's Fitzpatrick's War. Brooks tells the story of the world's desperate battle against the zombie threat with a series of first-person accounts "as told to the author" by various characters around the world. A Chinese doctor encounters one of the earliest zombie cases at a time when the Chinese government is ruthlessly suppressing any information about the outbreak that will soon spread across the globe. The tale then follows the outbreak via testimony of smugglers, intelligence officials, military personnel and many others who struggle to defeat the zombie menace. Despite its implausible premise and choppy delivery, the novel is surprisingly hard to put down. The subtle, and not so subtle, jabs at various contemporary politicians and policies are an added bonus.
22. Forest of Hands and Teeth...Carrie Ryan
This book was a quick read...I wanted to finish it in one sitting. The only problem is the ending; you only find out what happened to the main character. You don't learn what happens to the rest of the surviving group. I did read that there is going to be a sequel, so hopefully the author can tie up all the loose ends she left in this book.
Quote:
Mary knows little about the past and why the world now contains two types of people: those in her village and the undead outside the fence, who prey upon the flesh of the living. The Sisters protect their village and provide for the continuance of the human race. After her mother is bitten and joins the Unconsecrated, Mary is sent to the Sisters to be prepared for marriage to her friend Harry. But then the fences are breached and the life she has known is gone forever. Mary; Harry; Travis, whom Mary loves but who is betrothed to her best friend; her brother and his wife; and an orphaned boy set out into the unknown to search for safety, answers to their questions, and a reason to go on living.
23. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo...Stieg Larsson
This book took a little while to get into. I didn't really care about all the finacial journalism stuff in the beginning. Once things started rolling on the mystery part, it was really good. I'm definitely getting the next book in this trilogy.
Quote:
Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo.
24. Unwind...Neal Shusterman
I totally recommend this book! I read it yesterday and I ended up thinking about it all night. What is scary is that I can totally see something like this happening. In fact, it is already happening in other parts of the world, although, I imagine (hope) it is more adults than children.
Quote:
In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would "unwind" them. Connor's parents want to be rid of him because he's a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family's strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, they can't be harmed -- but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away.
This isn't the best summary. Basically, in order to appease both sides of the second Civil War (pro-life and pro-choice), the law has been made that you can't have an abortion while you are pregnant. You can, however, choose to have a late abortion when your child reaches age thirteen. From ages 13-18, a parent can choose to have their child "unwound." This is where the child is harvested for body parts. They don't call it killing the child because 99.44% of the body is used for transplants, so "technically" the child is still living.
25. Dead(ish)...Naomi Kramer
Not worth the time it took to read it. Thank goodness it was free. It was a good idea, but the author just couldn't deliver.
Quote:
Linda's had a bad day. First her boyfriend killed her. Then she woke up, still on this boring plane of existence, and with an odd obsession about her missing body. Mike won't tell her what he did with her body, and she can't find the stupid thing herself. There's only one thing she can do - torment the bastard until he coughs up the information.
26. Dark Lover...J.R. Ward
27. Lover Eternal...J.R. Ward
28. Lover Awakened...J.R. Ward
January ~ 2010
1. Carved in Bone...Jefferson Bass
Very cool mystery! It is a fiction book, but it is based on a real place - the Body Farm is a place at the University of Tennesse where people study the effects of human decomposition that can help law enforcement agencies ID bodies and solve murders. Really interesting stuff!
2. Divine Misdemeanors...Laurell K. Hamilton
The newest in her Merry Gentry series. I think these last few books have been so much better. Less sex, more story.
3. Hunting Season...Nevada Barr
4. Liberty Falling...Nevada Barr
5. High Country...Nevada Barr
Just some more books in the Anna Pigeon series. Anna is an NPS Ranger who solves crimes at various National Parks around the country. Really fun series!
6. American Gods...Neil Gaiman
Quote:
Shadow gets out of prison early when his wife is killed in a car crash. At a loss, he takes up with a mysterious character called Wednesday, who is much more than he appears. In fact, Wednesday is an old god, once known as Odin the All-father, who is roaming America rounding up his forgotten fellows in preparation for an epic battle against the upstart deities of the Internet, credit cards, television, and all that is wired. Shadow agrees to help Wednesday, and they whirl through a psycho-spiritual storm that becomes all too real in its manifestations. For instance, Shadow's dead wife Laura keeps showing up, and not just as a ghost--the difficulty of their continuing relationship is by turns grim and darkly funny, just like the rest of the book. Armed only with some coin tricks and a sense of purpose, Shadow travels through, around, and underneath the visible surface of things, digging up all the powerful myths Americans brought with them in their journeys to this land as well as the ones that were already here.
I had been putting off reading this book, but I really wish I hadn't! It was great! It took a couple of chapters to fully understand what was going on, but after that I didn't want to put it down. Really neat twist at the end that I didn't see coming.
7. Winter Study...Nevada Barr
8. Borderline...Nevada Barr
More Anna Pigeon books! I was kind of sad to finally read the last book in this series. I really hope Barr writes some more. I loved the characters she comes up with!
9. Library Careers...Deborah Sommer
I plan on applying for my MLIS next year, so I thought I'd get some research in now.
10. Flesh and Bone...Jefferson Bass
Quote:
Anthropologist Dr. Bill Brockton founded Tennessee's world-famous Body Farm—a small piece of land where corpses are left to decay in order to gain important forensic information. Now, in the wake of a shocking crime in nearby Chattanooga, he's called upon by Jess Carter—the rising star of the state's medical examiners—to help her unravel a murderous puzzle. But after re-creating the death scene at the Body Farm, Brockton discovers his career, reputation, and life are in dire jeopardy when a second, unexplained corpse appears in the grisly setting. Accused of a horrific crime—transformed overnight from a respected professor to a hated and feared pariah—Bill Brockton will need every ounce of his formidable forensic skills to escape the ingeniously woven net that's tightening around him . . . and to prove the seemingly impossible: his own innocence.
11. The Devil's Bones...Jefferson Bass
Quote:
Two cases occupy Dr. Bass's fictional alter ego, Dr. Bill Brockton—the death of Mary Latham, a 47-year-old Knoxville native, whose charred remains were found in a burned-out car, and a disreputable Georgia crematorium that simply dumped bodies on its grounds. These probes soon take a backseat to a cat-and-mouse game with the doctor's arch nemesis, Garland Hamilton, who tried to frame him for murder in Flesh and Bone. When Hamilton escapes from incarceration before going to trial, Brockton must keep looking over his shoulder.
Really interesting books. Even though they are fiction, they are co-written by Dr. Bill Bass who founded The Body Farm in Tennessee, so a lot of the details are real. Forensic anthropology is one of the dreams I gave up when I married a military man, so these were a little glimpse of what might have been.
12. Shutter Island...Dennis Lehane
Quote:
It's 1954, and U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule arrive at a small island in Massachusetts' Outer Harbor. It is home to Ashcliffe Hospital, a federal institution for the criminally insane, and one of the patients has escaped. Although the two men are new partners, they have already developed a wry, jocular relationship while also swapping personal, painful details. Daniels' lost his much-loved wife two years prior in a fire, while Aule requested a transfer out of Seattle after being harassed over his personal relationship with a Japanese American woman. After interviewing the hospital's medical personnel, both men have the feeling they are being stonewalled, especially by the director, who seems to alternate between a cold authoritarianism and a sudden and sweeping compassion. When the island is hit by gale-force winds and Aule disappears, Daniels must go it alone, beset by the fear that he has been fed psychotropic drugs and the belief that the hospital is performing radical brain surgery as part of a secret-ops program.
There is a new movie coming out based on this book that J (the hubby) wants to see, so I needed to read it first. So glad I did! This was a fascinating book. There are so many twists in it. I certainly didn't see the ending coming!
13. The Foretelling...Alice Hoffman
Quote:
"Some stories are born out of misery and ashes and blood and terror": Hoffman's fourth novel for young adults, told in spare, lyrical vignettes, is one of these. In an all-female tribe of warriors, who kill all male babies and reproduce through sex with prisoners of war, the daughter of the fierce queen yearns for her mother's approval. Burdened by stigma (Rain was "born in sorrow" after the queen's rape) and by dark prophecies, the girl finds comfort in honing her battle skills and in developing friendships with other outsiders. After her mother dies bearing her second child, it falls to Rain to determine the future of her community.
This was a nice, short YA novel. Good, strong female characters. I think I will look for more books by Alice Hoffman.
Very cool mystery! It is a fiction book, but it is based on a real place - the Body Farm is a place at the University of Tennesse where people study the effects of human decomposition that can help law enforcement agencies ID bodies and solve murders. Really interesting stuff!
2. Divine Misdemeanors...Laurell K. Hamilton
The newest in her Merry Gentry series. I think these last few books have been so much better. Less sex, more story.
3. Hunting Season...Nevada Barr
4. Liberty Falling...Nevada Barr
5. High Country...Nevada Barr
Just some more books in the Anna Pigeon series. Anna is an NPS Ranger who solves crimes at various National Parks around the country. Really fun series!
6. American Gods...Neil Gaiman
Quote:
Shadow gets out of prison early when his wife is killed in a car crash. At a loss, he takes up with a mysterious character called Wednesday, who is much more than he appears. In fact, Wednesday is an old god, once known as Odin the All-father, who is roaming America rounding up his forgotten fellows in preparation for an epic battle against the upstart deities of the Internet, credit cards, television, and all that is wired. Shadow agrees to help Wednesday, and they whirl through a psycho-spiritual storm that becomes all too real in its manifestations. For instance, Shadow's dead wife Laura keeps showing up, and not just as a ghost--the difficulty of their continuing relationship is by turns grim and darkly funny, just like the rest of the book. Armed only with some coin tricks and a sense of purpose, Shadow travels through, around, and underneath the visible surface of things, digging up all the powerful myths Americans brought with them in their journeys to this land as well as the ones that were already here.
I had been putting off reading this book, but I really wish I hadn't! It was great! It took a couple of chapters to fully understand what was going on, but after that I didn't want to put it down. Really neat twist at the end that I didn't see coming.
7. Winter Study...Nevada Barr
8. Borderline...Nevada Barr
More Anna Pigeon books! I was kind of sad to finally read the last book in this series. I really hope Barr writes some more. I loved the characters she comes up with!
9. Library Careers...Deborah Sommer
I plan on applying for my MLIS next year, so I thought I'd get some research in now.
10. Flesh and Bone...Jefferson Bass
Quote:
Anthropologist Dr. Bill Brockton founded Tennessee's world-famous Body Farm—a small piece of land where corpses are left to decay in order to gain important forensic information. Now, in the wake of a shocking crime in nearby Chattanooga, he's called upon by Jess Carter—the rising star of the state's medical examiners—to help her unravel a murderous puzzle. But after re-creating the death scene at the Body Farm, Brockton discovers his career, reputation, and life are in dire jeopardy when a second, unexplained corpse appears in the grisly setting. Accused of a horrific crime—transformed overnight from a respected professor to a hated and feared pariah—Bill Brockton will need every ounce of his formidable forensic skills to escape the ingeniously woven net that's tightening around him . . . and to prove the seemingly impossible: his own innocence.
11. The Devil's Bones...Jefferson Bass
Quote:
Two cases occupy Dr. Bass's fictional alter ego, Dr. Bill Brockton—the death of Mary Latham, a 47-year-old Knoxville native, whose charred remains were found in a burned-out car, and a disreputable Georgia crematorium that simply dumped bodies on its grounds. These probes soon take a backseat to a cat-and-mouse game with the doctor's arch nemesis, Garland Hamilton, who tried to frame him for murder in Flesh and Bone. When Hamilton escapes from incarceration before going to trial, Brockton must keep looking over his shoulder.
Really interesting books. Even though they are fiction, they are co-written by Dr. Bill Bass who founded The Body Farm in Tennessee, so a lot of the details are real. Forensic anthropology is one of the dreams I gave up when I married a military man, so these were a little glimpse of what might have been.
12. Shutter Island...Dennis Lehane
Quote:
It's 1954, and U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule arrive at a small island in Massachusetts' Outer Harbor. It is home to Ashcliffe Hospital, a federal institution for the criminally insane, and one of the patients has escaped. Although the two men are new partners, they have already developed a wry, jocular relationship while also swapping personal, painful details. Daniels' lost his much-loved wife two years prior in a fire, while Aule requested a transfer out of Seattle after being harassed over his personal relationship with a Japanese American woman. After interviewing the hospital's medical personnel, both men have the feeling they are being stonewalled, especially by the director, who seems to alternate between a cold authoritarianism and a sudden and sweeping compassion. When the island is hit by gale-force winds and Aule disappears, Daniels must go it alone, beset by the fear that he has been fed psychotropic drugs and the belief that the hospital is performing radical brain surgery as part of a secret-ops program.
There is a new movie coming out based on this book that J (the hubby) wants to see, so I needed to read it first. So glad I did! This was a fascinating book. There are so many twists in it. I certainly didn't see the ending coming!
13. The Foretelling...Alice Hoffman
Quote:
"Some stories are born out of misery and ashes and blood and terror": Hoffman's fourth novel for young adults, told in spare, lyrical vignettes, is one of these. In an all-female tribe of warriors, who kill all male babies and reproduce through sex with prisoners of war, the daughter of the fierce queen yearns for her mother's approval. Burdened by stigma (Rain was "born in sorrow" after the queen's rape) and by dark prophecies, the girl finds comfort in honing her battle skills and in developing friendships with other outsiders. After her mother dies bearing her second child, it falls to Rain to determine the future of her community.
This was a nice, short YA novel. Good, strong female characters. I think I will look for more books by Alice Hoffman.
November ~ 2009
130. Never After...Laurell K. Hamilton, Yasmine Galenorn, Marjorie Liu, and Sharon Shinn
131. Demon Mistress...Yasmine Galenorn
131. Demon Mistress...Yasmine Galenorn
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