Dead Matter by Anton Strout

Belle Weather by Celia Rivenbark

Belle Weather: Sunny With a Chance of Scattered Hissy Fits. This was a reread. I just couldn't help it, it makes me laugh. I've seen it written that you should "think Dave Barry with a female point of view." I think that should have been "with a southern female's point of view." She speaks on matters that many of us can relate to. My favorite book of hers is "Stop Dressing Your Six-Year-Old Like a Skank: A Slightly Tarneshed Southern Belle's Words of Wisdom. I'm out to get another of her books, probably "You Can't Drink All Day Unless You Start In the Morning."

Quote: Who can fail to mist at Fergie's anthem, 'My humps, my humps, my lovely lady lumps.' Hummm. 'My lunch, my lunch, I swear it's coming up.'

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Celia

The Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin

I enjoyed this one nearly as much as the first one, The Mistress of the Art of Death. In this book, Adelia did not use her skills as a mistress of the art of death, but her powers of observation and keen intelligence were in play. I liked the sense of time and place, medieval England. She captures the atmosphere of life during this time, especially for women and for the underclass who were at the mercy those above them.The mystery was not as engaging and the second half of the book seemed to drag a little. Even so, I liked it a lot. Now looking for the third in the series!

Excerpt

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Reading guide

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The Devil's Punchbowl by Greg Iles

I listened to this book and found it to be quite a gripping thriller. The good guys were good and the bad guys were BAD. Some of the scenes were a tad too gritty for me. Had I been reading this I would have probably skipped a few of those pages. This is, of course, the third in Iles' Penn Cage series. I'll probably go get the first two.

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Review in the Dallas Morning News
Greg Iles

Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich

I couldn't wait to read this, the latest Stephanie Plum adventure. I really needed it after the last two books I read. It was funny, entertaining and outrageous. As usual. It was fun to ride along with Stephanie, Lula and Connie as they contemplated throwing stink bombs into a really bad guy's house to rescue Vinnie. There is potential for lots of change in the next book with everything that happened here. Plus she still has me guessing: Ranger or Morelli?

Quotes: "I'm wearing four-inch slut shoes. I can't kick a door down in slut shoes. It isn't done. You need boots to kick a door down. Everyone knows that."

"Vinnie lived in a large yellow-and-white colonial in Pennington. It looked like a house a normal person would own, but it belonged to Vinnie."

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About Janet

Nineteen Miniutes by Judy Picoult

I cried off and on all the way through this tragic story. I know it is one that will remain with me. Besides thoroughly delving both sides of the shootings of students by another student that had been bullied nearly all his school career the author inserted as many incidentally sad elements as she could come up with and write in. Suicide, death of a family pet, abortion, abusive relationships, the death of a child/sibling (not related to the shootings), unconnected/distant parents, Yikes! It was all too much for me. It will be a while before I attempt another book by this author. I'm not saying it wasn't good, it was. Just not my cup of tea at this time. It left me feeling hopeless. The "twist" at the end didn't work for me, it didn't feel right for the character.


Quote: "When you don't fit in you become superhuman. You can feel everyone else's eyes on you, stuck like Velcro. You can hear a whisper about you from a mile away. You can disappear even though it still looks like you are standing right there. You can scream and nobody hears a sound. You become the mutant who fell in the vat of acid, the joker who can't remove his mask, the bionic man who's missing all his limbs and none of his heart. You are the thing that used to be normal, but that was so long ago you can't even remember what it was like."


Interview with Picoult
Excerpt

City of Thieves by David Benioff

I found this novel, set during the WWII Blockade of Leningrad, to be a compelling read. I could not put it down. The picture it draws of the lives the people had to lead during that time was chilling. It is a war story and a coming of age story with a little romance. There is humor and horror of war told from the view of the 17 year old main character. I recommend this book.

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Excerpt
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