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New Website

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Zombies: A Field Guide

From Goodreads:In the myths, legends, and folklore of many peoples, the returning, physical dead play a significant role, whether they are the zombies of Haiti or the draugr of Scandinavia. But what are the origins of an actual bodily return from the grave? Does it come from something deep within our psyche, or is there some truth to it? In Zombies, Bob Curran explores how some of these beliefs may have arisen and the truths that lay behind them, examining myths from all around the world and from ancient times including Sumerian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Celtic. Curran traces the evolution of belief in the walking cadaver from its early inception in religious ideology to the "Resurrections" and cataleptics of 18th century Europe, from prehistoric tale to Arthurian romance. Zombies even examines the notion of the "living dead" in the world today???entities such as the "living mummies" of Japan

My Review: When I first got this book I thought I was getting a  Zombie Field Guide that explains the zombies we know in the movies and books. What I actually got was a history most of it concerning religious history of what people have thought about people returning from the dead.

I tried to put aside my misgivings and focus on what the book was and not what I thought it was. If you are looking for explanations of what people thought was the reason for some people seemly coming back from the dead then this book is for you. It covers the classic Haitian Zombie, how people in the Middle Ages thought that the dead could come back either with evil intent or just to be around family. It also goes into detail about the Body Snatchers in Victorian England. Once I adjusted my thinking I did find these bits of history somewhat fascinating. I just wish the book had been more aptly titled.

While reading this book I could see how we got the rise of the modern zombie that is shown in movies and books.I also learned that even in cultures far from us like the middle east or the far east each had their own versions of what constituted a zombie. I had never thought outside of these paragrams before so it was interesting to see that cultures that did not really cross also had stories and myths related to the dead coming back in what ever form they may. Some believed they came back in Corporal form and some believed it was a more spiritual form. Some came back with evil intent on their minds and some just wanted to be around loved ones.

There is a verity of cultures studied here so one gets a good sense of what each time period and each part of the world believed.

Aside from the misnomer of a name if you like zombies and want a historical and religious history of them then this book is for you.

Bout of Books Goals

 

 

 

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 13th and runs through Sunday, August 19th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 5.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. -From the Bout of Books 5.0 team

Time Devoted to Reading

I will be reading all week.

My Goals

• To read seven books

Books to Read

Updates

Monday
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Total number of books I've read:
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Tuesday
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Wednesday
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Thursday
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Friday
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Saturday
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Sunday
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*Goal post template provided by Bout of Books

Ready Player One

From GoodReads:

It's the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.
Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.
And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune--and remarkable power--to whoever can unlock them.
For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday's riddles are based in the pop culture he loved--that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday's icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes's oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.
And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.
Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt--among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life--and love--in the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.
A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?

My Review: Being a geek I loved this book! I know I cant be the only one who read about immersion rigs wished that we had them RIGHT NOW to play World of Warcraft with. That would be the unltimate trip.

This book was so full of geekdom that I squealed with joy at each reference. It took me down memory lane to the 80’s and 90’s. It made me wistful for the time I DID play Dungeons and Dragons the old fashioned way.

This book is written to resemble a game. You have a quest, bad guys even some power ups. Reading what was happening was like watching a real live game. I have never read this sort of book before and it thrilled me.

The charterers were believable. It wasn’t to hard to make the leap into what the world in the book was like. Cline did excellent world building. From the world running out of fossil fuel to the widespread poverty and the new kind of ghetto’s it felt 100 percent real.

There are twist and turns in this book that will keep you on your toes. There was one point when I thought all was lost but the end redeemed itself.

It is also about good in evil in a uncertain world.In the quest we find that some people will do anything to win, including murder.

I would recommend this book to all the geeks in the world. Especially if you grew up in the 80’s and 90’s

Born On a Blue Day

From Goodreads:

One of the world's fifty living autistic savants is the first and only to tell his compelling and inspiring life story - and explain how his incredible mind works.
This unique first-person account offers a window into the mind of a high-functioning, 27-year-old British autistic savant with Asperger's syndrome. Tammet's ability to think abstractly, deviate from routine, and empathize, interact and communicate with others is impaired, yet he's capable of incredible feats of memorization and mental calculation. Besides being able to effortlessly multiply and divide huge sums in his head with the speed and accuracy of a computer, Tammet, the subject of the 2005 documentary Brainman, learned Icelandic in a single week and recited the number pi up to the 22,514th digit, breaking the European record. He also experiences synesthesia, an unusual neurological syndrome that enables him to experience numbers and words as "shapes, colors, textures and motions." Tammet traces his life from a frustrating, withdrawn childhood and adolescence to his adult achievements, which include teaching in Lithuania, achieving financial independence with an educational Web site and sustaining a long-term romantic relationship. As one of only about 50 people living today with synesthesia and autism, Tammet's condition is intriguing to researchers; his ability to express himself clearly and with a surprisingly engaging tone (given his symptoms) makes for an account that will intrigue others as well

My Review: This is a book that was recommended to me by a friend. I had heard of Daniel Tammet but did not realize he had a book out so needless to say I was curious to read this book.

Daniel is a high functioning autistic savant. He is one of only 50 living savants in the world and the only one that can explain his thought processes. This makes him remarkable in more ways than one.

This book is his autobiography and in it he details his life growing up knowing that he was different but not knowing how. He tells us how difficult school was and how he had a hard time connecting with other children.

The book was dry but nevertheless I found it a fascinating account of how he explained how his brain works. He has Synthesia which allows him to visualize numbers and letters as images. These images helps him memorize to such a degree that he broke England's record for reciting the most digits in the number PI.

He can also learn languages in just a week. He explains how for a TV program they asked him to learn Icelandic in just four days. After conversing in Icelandic for four days he was able to give an interview all in Icelandic. The way he learned it was amazing.  I wish I could do that. I struggled to learn French.

This a rare account into the mind of an autistic savant. No other savant can communicate such details to us.

This is a book I think everyone should read if just for the educational opportunities it affords.

ElectroBoy

From Goodreads:

Electroboy is an emotionally frenzied memoir that reveals with kaleidoscopic intensity the terrifying world of manic depression. For years Andy Behrman hid his raging mania behind a larger-than-life personality. He sought a high wherever he could find one and changed jobs the way some people change outfits: filmmaker, PR agent, art dealer, stripper-whatever made him feel like a cartoon character, invincible and bright. Misdiagnosed by psychiatrists and psychotherapists for years, his condition exacted a terrible price: out-of-control euphoric highs and tornadolike rages of depression that put his life in jeopardy.
Ignoring his crescendoing illness, Behrman struggled to keep up appearances, clinging to the golden-boy image he had cultivated in his youth. But when he turned to art forgery, he found himself the subject of a scandal lapped up by the New York media, then incarcerated, then under house arrest. And for the first time the golden boy didn’t have a ready escape hatch from his unraveling life. Ingesting handfuls of antidepressants and tranquilizers and feeling his mind lose traction, he opted for the last resort: electroshock therapy.
At once hilarious and harrowing, Electroboy paints a mesmerizing portrait of a man held hostage by his in-satiable desire to consume. Along the way, it shows us the New York that never sleeps: a world of strip clubs, after-hours dives, and twenty-four-hour coffee shops, whose cheap seductions offer comfort to the city’s lonely souls. This unforgettable memoir is a unique contribution to the literature of mental illness and introduces a writer whose energy may well keep you up all night.

My Review: I have a confession to make. I myself have bipolar and discover the gem of a book when I was first diagnosed. I went to the library and asked to check out books related to bipolar and this is one of those they gave me. This is also one of my favorite memoirs related to bipolar disorder. This is also on my yearly re- read list

This book brings a lot of comfort to me I read it to know that I am not alone. That some one else went through worse than I did and survived and is now functional.

I feel it is important to have books such as these to know what bipolar really is like. The doctors fail to explain in depth what it is and there is so much misinformation out there related to bipolar. It is important to have as accurate information as possible.

One reason I like this book is that he conveys what happened to him in a humors light. There are so many doom and gloom tales of mental illness that it is refreshing to have one that is downright funny. I laughed all thorough this book.

He tells about his journey with medicines and their side effects. The meds did not work well for him so he and his doctor decided to try electro shock therapy. That’s is how he got his name. He explains how he his memory was affected and how he lived through the side effects. This is an honest portrayal of what electro shock therapy is like. There is no glamorizing here. In fact there is no glamorizing in any of this book. This is a raw gritty account of what bipolar is.It expresses the manic highs and the lows and the rage that comes with it.

Overall I feel this is a must read book. even if you don’t have bipolar you can get enjoyment out of this book and learn about it at the same time.

Procrastination Equation

From Goodreads:

The world's leading expert on procrastination uses his groundbreaking research to offer understanding on a matter that bedevils us all. Writing with humour, humanity and solid scientific information reminiscent of Stumbling on Happiness and Freakonomics, Piers Steel explains why we knowingly and willingly put off a course of action despite recognizing we'll be worse off for it.
For those who surf the Web instead of finishing overdue assignments, who always say diets start tomorrow, who stay up late watching TV to put off going to sleep, The Procrastination Equation explains why we do what we do — or in this case don't — and why in Western societies we're in the midst of an escalating procrastination epidemic.
Dr. Piers Steel takes on the myths and misunderstandings behind procrastination and motivation — showing us how procrastination affects our lives, health, careers and happiness and what we can do about it. With accessible prose and the benefits of new scientific research, he provides insight into why we procrastinate even though the result is that we are less happy, healthy, even wealthy. Who procrastinates and why? How many ways, big and small, do we procrastinate? How can we stop doing it? The reasons are part cultural, part psychological, part biological. And, with a million new ways to distract ourselves in the digitized world — all of which feed on our built-in impulsiveness — more of us are potentially damaging ourselves by putting things off. But Steel not only analyzes the factors that weigh us down but the things that motivate us — including understanding the value of procrastination.

My Review: I admit I was skeptical when first reading this book. You see, I have this huge problem with procrastination. I have read other books on this topic and the all spouted some theory or such that did not really resonate with me. Not so with this book. I was pleasantly surprised when I started reading this book and recognized myself in the examples. This book is supposedly based on real scientific theory. I did not check the sources but everything made sense.

The author explains the three profiles of procrastinators.He explains in detail why we procrastinate. then he gives us a way to beat that procrastination. For example he says that people work harder the closer they get to a deadline. I know I Procrastinate on this blog so I made a schedule to give myself a “deadline “ for book reviews. I am just now putting this into practice so we shall see how well it works. He also said that people work better with schedules. So I also implemented that into my plan.

The book was easy to read and very accessible. There were not many jargon words. If there were he explains in detail what he means.

I would recommended this book to anyone interested in seeking happiness (improving procrastination is on that list) and anyone who wants a sound book on improving efficiency.

Sunday Salon

                                     

I was reading a book on Procrastion because well I procrastinate a lot. This book had some really good ideas. One was to schedule a set time to do everything. I thought I practice that by scheduling to write all my posts on Saturday. I find it hard to get in the writing and reviewing mood everyday but once I start writing my reviews I could do it for hours so hopefully this will help me be more consistent with when I review books. I also thought of keeping book notes on ever note to help me remember what I read during the week. We shall see how well this pans out.

Speaking of writing, I read The Artist Way last summer and one of the things that it said to do was to write morning pages of 750 words every morning. I have started doing that again. I am hoping it will help jump start my creativity. Since I cant exactly read my own hand writing I decided to use Penzu.com to write them in. So far I am loving it. I can also type faster than I write so this helps keep up the flow of words writing that the morning pages are supposed to be.

Also I never scheduled before when to read books but I was having so many e books from the library that expires that it was getting frustrating so I decided to make a schedule in Google Calendars of when e books expires. So far this has helped me add some needed structure to my reading.

I have also discovered my new music obsession, The Vitamin Quartet. They are a classical music group that covers todays most popular songs in the classical music content. So you have Lady GaGa but in a classical way. It is wonderful music to write to. I listen to them for hours on Spotify.

I also came across this website IDreamBooks. It is like a Rotten Tomatoes for books. I like it. It helps me see which book I really want to read next. It gives you the top critics review for each book. They cover all genres.

Since I am back in my own apartment and I have my medicine and all. I am going to start trying to read a book a day. We will see how it goes this week. I read Tolstoy and the Purple Chair and thought it was a good idea. I just want to see if I can do it.

That’s all for today. I am going to be spending the rest of today reading Zombies: A Field Guide and drinking Iced coffee. Have a good Sunday everyone!

Sunday Salon

                         

It has been as hot as I ever experienced here in America this week. I haven't felt temps this hot since I was an aide worker in Africa. I stayed inside where it was nice and cool thanks to the AC.

You would think that I would have gotten a lot of reading done. Well you would be wrong. I received my meds on Tuesday so I had my med for ADHD/Bipolar but maybe Strattera is the kind of medicine that has to build up in the brain before it works well.

I am also using the Podomoro technique to help build up my concentration. I use a mix of Getting things done and this to keep on top of things. I haven't really been diligent about implementing it so I am starting today so I will be ready when school starts up again.

Also I cant seem to find a comfy reading spot in my parents house. In my apt I have a Lazy Boy Chair that I sit and read in but not here.Also the most comfy spot I have found the couch in the living room is not so ideal after my step father gets home from work and turns the TV on. I cant read with the TV on so that an issue also. I am going back to my apt in Ohio on Friday so we shall see if that impacts my reading.

Since here in the hills of KY the library is terrible I have been using the e book Library in Ohio where I live. I found out you can only put ten items at a time on hold. The physical Library you can check or put 75 items on hold so I am not sure why there is a discrepancy there.

At the moment I am reading Eletroboy which is a memoir of mania that occurs in bipolar disorder which I have. I read these types of books to know that I am not alone. It helps. I am hoping to finish my re read today then I will start on Discovery of Witches. Lets hope that this week is a better reading week then last week.

The Sunday Salon

                                     

 

I had a great idea for a Sunday Salon post but promptly forgot it. This led me to investigate note taking services and I came across Evernote. I downloaded it to my phone and computer so that when I have another great idea I can just jot it down and Evernote will save it for me.

I had an embarrassing low reading count for June. I ran out of my Stratrattera (ADHD med) and couldn’t focus to save my life. I got a friend to go check my mailbox in Ohio (I am on vacation at my parents in KY) and guess what? Even though I told them to forward my mail until July the PO proved incapable of doing that. Luckily my friend was nice enough to mail my meds to me and I should get them tomorrow. So July should be a happy reading month for me.

The only book I have read this week is Jo Nesbo The Leopard. It was as awesome as the Snowman. I cant wait to read ALL of Jo Nebo’s work.

The Sunday Salon

                          

 

It has been an interesting week and not in a good way either. Imaginary people started talking in my brain (I know they are not real and I have bipolar) so I called the dr for an emergency appointment. They increased my meds and now I walk around in a Geodon induced haze. Thankfully the voices have stopped so I can focus on my reading. It is not easy reading when you are hearing things not there. In that respect I did not get a lot of reading done so I am STILL reading The Leopard by Jo Nesbo. Nesbo novels take on a more eerie quality while you are reading it doped up. I am hoping to finish it today.

I got 4 new books from the library to download on my nook. I always seem to get the books faster than I expect but at least I have plenty of reading material!

This week I reviewed

The Snowman

On her Own

Daughter of Smoke and Bones

Go check them out and leave a comment!

I am going to go and turn the AC up high and get me some plenty of Mio Energy drink and finish reading The Leopard.

Have a happy Sunday!! What are YOU reading?

The Snowman

From Goodreads:

Internationally acclaimed crime writer Jo Nesbø’s antihero police investigator, Harry Hole, is back: in a bone-chilling thriller that will take Hole to the brink of insanity.
Oslo in November. The first snow of the season has fallen. A boy named Jonas wakes in the night to find his mother gone. Out his window, in the cold moonlight, he sees the snowman that inexplicably appeared in the yard earlier in the day. Around its neck is his mother’s pink scarf.
Hole suspects a link between a menacing letter he’s received and the disappearance of Jonas’s mother—and of perhaps a dozen other women, all of whom went missing on the day of a first snowfall. As his investigation deepens, something else emerges: he is becoming a pawn in an increasingly terrifying game whose rules are devised—and constantly revised—by the killer.
Fiercely suspenseful, its characters brilliantly realized, its atmosphere permeated with evil, The Snowman is the electrifying work of one of the best crime writers of our time

My Review: This book blew me away. I first read it on recommendation from Unfinished Person. I have to admit that I hate reading a series out of order but I did not know that it was a seris until I looked it up online. Plus it is what my library had as an ebook. I looked it up and my library has the physical books of the whole series so you know what I am going to read when I get back to Ohio.

Anyways There is this serial killer loose and Harry Hole is trying to catch him. The killer leaves a snowman in front of the house that he plans to abduct and to kill the woman. (I will never look at a snowman the same again). The snowman is symbolic as you will find out when you read the story.Harry Hole and his team go to great lengths to catch the killer which is Norway's first serial killer.  The twist and turns are such that you will never guess who the killer is before Harry does.  There are some books that proclaim themselves thriller and mystery but this one blows all other books out of the water. Nesbo even makes the Milimum Trilogy look tame.

The reader will find themselves connecting with Harry as he hunts down the killer. You will feel his frustrations and triumphs. There will be times when you think you figured out the killer only to find that it was not the killer at all.

I hesitate to say this is a stand a lone novel because there is some back story that if you haven't read all the books in order you will be left out. You can read it alone but u will miss some of the nuance of the story. I recommend reading the series in order.

This is a book (series) that I recommend everyone to read. You will not be disappointed.

On Her Own

From GoodReads:Barbara Zook was devastated when her husband David was killed. Will she be able to raise their four young boys and manage her beloved David's harness store on her own? When harness maker Paul Hilty arrives in Webster County, Missouri, he finds himself agreeing to help run Barbara's shop. Things are going fairly well until widower Bishop John Frey comes a-courting Barbara, and Paul's jealousy takes everyone by surprise. Will Paul try to beat out the competition or end up hightailing it back to Pennsylvania? Will Barbara marry for love or be forced to enter into a marriage of convenience?

My Review: This is a romance set in the Amish Community and with a Christian bent.

I felt sorry for Barbara  when a much older bishop started trying to court her. I did not blame her for resisting his advances. I also got mad when he stated that he wanted her so she could give him more kids. The whole thing reeked of being taken advantage of. Like all things in this kind of book though things worked out. The bishop decided he liked a woman his own age better and so ended up with her. Barbra who resisted Paul (who was her own age) advances. All she wants to do is raise her kids and work in her harness shop.

She is weak from giving birth so she accepts Paul’s help. The book goes on about how he tries to win her heart and how both wrestle with their feelings for each other then finally they end up together.

I have to admit. I felt like whacking Barbara over the head and telling her to spill her guts to Paul. I mean what's the worst that can happen? Then again I am not Amish so maybe I am missing something here. Maybe in Amish culture a woman cant be as forward with a man. While reading I did get frustrated. Other than that the book was ok. If you like romance and/or Christian books you will like this book.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

From Goodreads:

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.
In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.
Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.
When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

My Review: This book is soooooo good! At first while you are reading it it builds up to the final climax and what a climax it is. It gives the story about Karou and how she goes to art classes and what she does with her everyday friends.

The plot is believable. I could connect with the characters and feel empathy toward them. I felt like I was walking down the street of Prague with Karou. I felt that I was her best friend and that she was sharing her life with me. At first it seems to be an ordinary life expect for the part where she works for otherworldly creatures.

Karou often wonders where she came from but no one will tell her. The reader is left wondering this also. It seems she has no parents as she was raised by a creature by the name of Brimstone. She tries to find out more about herself and what Brimstone does and what he needs with all of the teeth that he collects.

Then she meets an angel who is not like the traditional angel but rather a species from another world and she is left wondering more than ever who she is.

The reader knows no more than Karou does. It is not until the end of the book that we find out the whole truth. I cant say more than that as I don’t want to spoil the plot but when I read the last page I was like noooooooo I have to WAIT until the next book comes out?! It wont come out until November but this is one book I will be preordering.

This is a book that has something for everybody. Mystery, romance and intrigue and I am sure we all wonder where we come from and who we are at some point. So don’t miss out, read this book!

It’s Monday What are You Reading

                                

This week I have discovered Jo Nesbo. I first heard of him through Unfinished Person.  Lets just say not since I discovered Anne Rice have I fallen in love with an author. I went online and checked my library e books and found his two latest novels. I devoured The Snowman. I am now reading The Leopard. 

I I have to admit I do not like to read books out of order. When I return from my vacation I will go to the library and get all of his books and read them all in order.

The Right Guard

This book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review.

From Goodreads:

Over one million military weapons and equipment are missing from the U.S. military inventories across the country. Who is stealing the weapons and why? CIA operative Eric Brent, and his revolutionary light weapon invention, is used by CIA to flush out a secretive, "phantom" group hostile to a wildly spending, intrusive U.S. Administration that threatens to destroy the American economy and shrink individual freedoms.
Hamlet takes you through the twists and turns of the secretive world of intelligence as the undercover assignment goes astray. Eric exposes a far-reaching and well-planned movement and an event that could alter the United States forever. Strained loyalties arise as the "phantom" group appeals to Eric and his superiors. At the height of his infiltration, a former lover, Jill, reenters his life and places them both in danger. Loyal forces within the intelligence community struggle to learn who is involved and organize counter-moves yet stay undetected. Each question ends in surprise as personal and professional conflicts for Eric arise. He is forced to reach back into his high-ranking father’s Nazi Germany past... to solicit help.
The year is 1978, yet The Right Guard resembles the present state of the political and economic climate of the U.S. and a possible, eerie scenario and outcome.
The Right Guard is an exercise in gripping, fast-paced realism that keeps the reader mesmerized through the eyes of those who live in the intelligence world.

My Review: I have to admit it took me longer to get into this book than usual. The laying out of the story felt tedious and the newspaper clippings that head each chapter drew me out of the story. I know it was to add realism to the story but it did the opposite to me.

What gained my interest is when the story started moving along and when the love interest between Eric and Jill started heating up. Most love interests to me feel forced but this one felt authentic given the circumstances.  There is one thing about danger and love that really gets me. I don’t want to give any plot points away but I kind of wish that it was more fleshed out.

The second half of the book when things start really moving along is a fascinating look into the intelligence life. It was interesting to see how Eric penetrated the Right Guard and how he lived undercover. I kept expecting him to get his cover blown but it does not happen. Witch in this case is a good thing.

Even though the book is set in the 70’s it does not feel dated at all. It feels like something that can happen today.  Actually while reading the book the scenes were so real that I felt that with todays political climate maybe it could happen soon. Or maybe something like this did happen but we the public is unaware of it. That’s how well the author wrote this story.

I fell in love with Jill when she first appeared in the story. I felt like whatever she did is something that I would have done were I in her shoes. I also loved Eric. As I have stated before it was fascinating reading how he worked and I was so happy when he and Jill got together.

If you like reading about political stuff and suspense and thrillers then you will enjoy this book.

The Sunday Salon

This past week has been seen glorious summer weather so I set up the deck stuff yesterday. Of course it dropped ten degrees when I did so. Oh well, that’s how it goes right?

Last week I finished reading The Right Guard. I liked it ok. A full review will be up tomorrow. So check back.

Today I am going to start with Creativity by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. He wrote the book Flow and I am interested in learning his theories about creativity. Maybe it will help me tap into my own creativity more.

Today is going to spent outside reading. While I am far from my goal of reading a book a day, I have to admit that I do enjoy having all this free time to read and blog.

I have gotten into Scandinavian Crime Fiction. I think it is one of my favorite genres now. Do you Have any recommendations of books that I should read?

Happy Sunday everyone! What are you reading today

Taste Of Salt

From Goodreads:Josie Henderson loves the water and is fulfilled by her position as the only senior-level black scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. In building this impressive life for herself, she has tried to shed the one thing she cannot: her family back in landlocked Cleveland. Her adored brother, Tick, was her childhood ally as they watched their drinking father push away all the love that his wife and children were trying to give him. Now Tick himself has been coming apart and demands to be heard.
Weaving four voices into a beautiful tapestry, Southgate charts the lives of the Hendersons from the parents’ first charmed meeting to Josie’s realization that the ways of the human heart are more complex than anything seen under a microscope

 

My Review: I admit that I picked up this book because it has Cleveland Ohio as a setting. I live near there so I was curious how the author would describe it and incorporate it into the story.

The city is like a character in the story. The author describes it spot on. The two main themes of this book is alcoholism and adultery.

The plot is authentic and believable. The characters draw you in and while they are messing up their lives you still root for them because you want everything to turn out OK. While I like happy endings as much as the next person, I also like authentic endings. In real life a sistuation does not always lead to a perfect resolved ending. This is the case for this book. It ends like such a situation would happen in real life.

The writing itself was beautiful. The rich detailed settings makes you feel as if you are really there. You can almost smell the ocean and see the streets of Cleveland while reading this book.

The 6th Target

From Goodreads:

When a horrifying attack leaves one of the four members of the Women's Murder Club struggling for her life, the others fight to keep a madman behind bars before anyone else is hurt.
And Lindsay Boxer and her new partner in the San Francisco police department run flat-out to stop a series of kidnappings that has electrified the city: children are being plucked off the streets together with their nannies--but the kidnappers aren't demanding ransom. Amid uncertainty and rising panic, Lindsay juggles the possibility of a new love with an unsolvable investigation, and the knowledge that one member of the club could be on the brink of death.
And just when everything appears momentarily under control, the case takes a terrifying turn, putting an entire city in lethal danger. Lindsay must make a choice she never dreamed she'd face--with no certainty that either outcome has more than a prayer of success.

My Review: I subscribe to several crime book blogs and I have always wanted to try the genre. A friend had this book so I borrowed it. I must say I like it better than I thought I would. This branching out this year is paying off I am discovering so many new books and genres.

This is the 6th book in the Women Murder Club series. This book can stand alone. There don’t seem to be any back story that the reader needs to know.

The main character Lindsay Boxer is a detective and she is attempting to solve several violent crimes. There are times I am rooting for her then there are times when she seems obnoxious and I hope she gets shot. Although I feel for her when she is having a hard time solving the crimes and comes up with a bunch of dead ends.

Then there is the lawyer Yuki. I hated her I thought she was so obnoxious that I was hoping she lose the case where a man shot 6 people because the voices in his head told him to. And she did lose so me and the author must have felt the same way. Throughout the whole book every time it was her turn to tell her story I would go into a rage. I know it is a fictional character but still that how obnoxious she was.

I was impressed at how well the author had done his homework on mental illness and the side effects on medication and how a person acts on it. He mentions Risperdal and I took it and it really did sedate me and other people. I would sleep for 10 to 14 hours when I took it. Although I have qualms about using a mental illness as a cover for violent crime. I feel it gives us all a bad name. I have the illness mentioned in the book and I have never had the urge to start shooting random people. To each his own I guess. I just wish that there was a disclaimer that states that violence of that magnitude is rare. Other than that and Yuki’s part of the story I felt this was a good story with good believable plot lines and good dialogue. If you like crime fiction be sure to check this book out!