Dakota by Martha Grines

Book Description: In this stunning sequel to Grimes's beloved Biting the Moon, young Andi Oliver is an amnesiac and drifter who awoke in a Santa Fe bed and breakfast with a man's belongings tossed about the room. Adopting a name from the initials on her backpack, Andi moves from one waitress job to the next, from Idaho to North Dakota. It is in Dakota that she is hired at Klavan's, a massive pig farming facility that specializes in the dark art of modern livestock management. As Andi begins to uncover the truth about Klavan's and a slaughterhouse called Big Sun, two men are on her trail, one a gunman hired to kill her, another who has followed her across three states demanding something from her forgotten past. Dakota signals the return of one of Martha Grimes's most indelible heroines, a smart and troubled young woman who, though she doesn't know her own identity, knows right from wrong. Set against the breathtakingly expansive backdrop of the American plains, Dakota will reward Grimes's legion of fans as well as attracting new readers.

Quote from the book: "Before you hate something you should try to understand it."

Why this book, you might ask: I was in one of the used book stores I frequent looking for a book on CD. I found this one, it looked nearly new and sounded good so I got it.

My Thoughts: I enjoyed listening to this book on CD. The voice of Renee Raudman is easy on the ear. Having said that the main point of this novel very depressing. It exposes how the meat-handling businesses are run. Graphically in places. (I've read about this and it is awful, something should be done about the way the animals are treated. The truth is hardly touched upon in this book.) I had empathy for Andi until she stated that the meat industry is more abhorrent than the holocaust. As the author is a long time Vegan (as is my father) and animal rights advocate I had to wonder if this is how she feels. I will be looking into this just for my own information. I had trouble with Andi after that.

I wondered and kept on wondering "who is Andi?" Very few clues to this question were given.
This story ended as it had begun with Audi walking down the road. This wasn't listed as a YA novel but it felt like one at times.

Mixed feelings again. I want to know who Andi is, but I don't agree with her on some things. I have already ordered the first book in this series, so I will read it.

Links:
Martha Grimes website.

Audio CD
Publisher: Penguin Audio; Unabridged edition (February 12, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0143143018
ISBN-13: 978-0143143017

animal welfare, mystery

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson

Product Description:.From one of the most beloved and bestselling authors in the English language, a vivid, nostalgic and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the middle of the United States in the middle of the last century. A book that delivers on the promise that it is “laugh-out-loud funny.” Some say that the first hints that Bill Bryson was not of Planet Earth came from his discovery, at the age of six, of a woollen jersey of rare fineness. Across the moth-holed chest was a golden thunderbolt. It may have looked like an old college football sweater, but young Bryson knew better. It was obviously the Sacred Jersey of Zap, and proved that he had been placed with this innocuous family in the middle of America to fly, become invisible, shoot guns out of people’s hands from a distance, and wear his underpants over his jeans in the manner of Superman. Bill Bryson’s first travel book opened with the immortal line, “I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to.” In this hilarious new memoir, he travels back to explore the kid he once was and the weird and wonderful world of 1950s America. He modestly claims that this is a book about not very much: about being small and getting much larger slowly. But for the rest of us, it is a laugh-out-loud book that will speak volumes – especially to anyone who has ever been young.

My Thoughts: This is the first book of Bryson's that I've read and I love it. Well, actually I listened to it on my iPod and thoroughly enjoyed hearing to the author read it himself. It was well written and funny. It made me laugh and brought back memories. I grew up in the same time period and vividly remember ducking under my little school desk in California to practice a safety drill in the event of an atomic bomb blast, wondering "What difference will this make?" I listened to his telling of this twice before moving on. What a hoot! Not only does he bring back favorite childhood memories he touches on darker aspects of the era such as the fight for Civil Rights, the atomic bomb, and the Bay of Pigs. I think this will be enjoyed by anyone, not just baby boomers. Go get it and read it!

Challenges:

100+ Reading Challenge

RYOB Challenge

Audiobook Challenge

5x4 Personal Reading Challenge

Read Around the States Challenge

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Publisher Comments:Born mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life with his parents on their farm in remote northern Wisconsin. For generations, the Sawtelles have raised and trained a fictional breed of dog whose thoughtful companionship is epitomized by Almondine, Edgar's lifelong friend and ally. But with the unexpected return of Claude, Edgar's paternal uncle, turmoil consumes the Sawtelles' once peaceful home. When Edgar's father dies suddenly, Claude insinuates himself into the life of the farm — and into Edgar's mother's affections.
Grief-stricken and bewildered, Edgar tries to prove Claude played a role in his father's death, but his plan backfires — spectacularly. Forced to flee into the vast wilderness lying beyond the farm, Edgar comes of age in the wild, fighting for his survival and that of the three yearling dogs who follow him. But his need to face his father's murderer and his devotion to the Sawtelle dogs turn Edgar ever homeward.

My thoughts: This book is breath taking, the characters developed so they were friends, it was stunning, extraordinary, beautiful. The development of the dogs and their awareness sparked my imagination and caused me to look at my dogs in a new light. There was evil, betrayal, love, trust, friendship, & mourning. There was even a little of the supernatural. I loved this book all the way till the end then I wanted to cry and throw it across the room. My heart crashed and burned with the barn. How can a book that is so wonderful end so badly?

See and interview of the author on the Today show.

Read an interview with the author here and here.

Read about the real Hachiko here.

Swan Peak by James Lee Burke

From the Back of the Book: James Lee Burke's new novel, Swan Peak, finds Detective Robicheaux far from his New Iberia roots, attempting to relax in the untouched wilderness of rural Montana. He, his wife, and his buddy Clete Purcell have retreated to stay at an old friend's ranch, hoping to spend their days fishing and enjoying their distance from the harsh, gritty landscape of Louisiana post-Katrina.But the serenity is soon shattered when two college students are found brutally murdered in the hills behind where the Robicheauxs and Purcell are staying. They quickly find themselves involved in a twisted and dangerous mystery involving a wealthy, vicious oil tycoon, his deformed brother and beautiful wife, a sexually deviant minister, an escaped con and former country music star, and a vigilante Texas gunbull out for blood. At the center of the storm is Clete, who cannot shake the feeling that he is being haunted by the ghosts from his past -- namely Sally Dio, the mob boss he'd sabotaged and killed years before.In this expertly drawn, gripping story, Burke deftly weaves intricate, engaging plot lines and original, compelling characters with his uniquely graceful prose. He transcends genre yet again in the latest thrilling addition to his New York Times bestselling series.

My Thoughts: I have long been a James Lee Burke/Dave Robicheaux fan. This book was a great read, keeping me on the edge of my seat as the characters and their stories collided. As usual, Burke can turn a phrase that sparks the imignation, makes you sigh for the beauty of it, or makes you think of things in a whole new light. Learning more about Clete was interesting.He is always there, Dave's steady friend, but this story gives you come more info on thier connections and why they depend on each other so mech. All that and a great murder mystery too. What's not to love!

Blue Heaven by C. J. Box

From the book cover: A twelve-year-old girl and her younger brother go on the run in the woods of North Idaho, pursued by four men they have just watched commit murder—four men who know exactly who William and Annie are, and who know exactly where their desperate mother is waiting for news of her children’s fate. Retired cops from Los Angeles, the killers easily persuade the inexperienced sheriff to let them lead the search for the missing children.
William and Annie’s unexpected savior comes in the form of an old-school rancher teetering on the brink of foreclosure. But as one man against four who will stop at nothing to silence their witnesses, Jess Rawlins needs allies, and he knows that one word to the wrong person could seal the fate of the children or their mother. In a town where most of the ranches like his have turned into acres of ranchettes populated by strangers, finding someone to trust won’t be easy.
With true-to-life, unforgettable characters and a ticking clock plot that spans just over 48 hours in real time, C.J. Box has created a thriller that delves into issues close to the heart: the ruthless power of greed over broken ideals, the healing power of community where unlikely heroes find themselves at the crossroads of duty and courage, and the truth about what constitutes a family. In a setting whose awesome beauty is threatened by those who want a piece of it, BLUE HEAVEN delivers twists and turns until its last breathtaking page.

My Thoughts: I wanted to read this because I like the Joe Pickett novels by C. J. Box. I was not disapointed. This kept me on the edge of my seat with action through out. I loved Jess, the rancher. Box used good v evil to write a suspenseful story. His characters show that the bad guys weren’t always evil and the good guys aren’t always perfect . The end was bittersweet, just about had me in tears.

The Walking by Bentley Little

Publishers Weekly
The overwhelming sense of doom with which Little (The Revelation) imbues his newest novel is so palpable it seems to rise from the book like mist. Flowing seamlessly between time and place (from the present-day hassles of HMOs to the once-uncharted territory of the American West), the Bram Stoker Award- winning author's ability to transfix his audience while relinquishing scant details about the foreboding evil is superb. Private investigator Miles Huerdeen is on a mission to find a link between the victims in a bizarre nationwide string of deaths dating back decades, his own recurring nightmares and an elderly client's prophetic handwritten list of dead men's names. Miles's world is suddenly turned upside down when he discovers his own father--who suffered a fatal stroke--purposefully striding around his bedroom, naked except for a pair of cowboy boots, having scared off his "God-Fearing Christian" nurse. Miles's obsession with his father's transformation into a zombie leads him to the families of other dead "walkers" and on a supernatural journey into the Arizona desert. Readers will gladly suspend disbelief for Little's deft touch for the terrifying, as he slowly reveals a shocking connection between the mindless army of reanimated corpses and their ultimate destination, Wolf Canyon, formerly a government-sponsored witch colony, where a vengeful resident's evil powers have yet to be fully unleashed. If booksellers are on their toes, they'll tell readers that Stephen King, a big fan of Little's work, was reading another book by this author at the time of his infamous accident. This novel has the potential to be a major sleeper in the horror category.

My Thoughts: Little is one of my favorite authors of horror fiction. He didn't disapoint! This may seem to you, from the reviews, to be another walking dead novel. It's not. Little weaves two stories together to form the greater picture of a small remote town haunted by it's past. I found it to be a great read.

The Year of the Hyenas by Brad Geagley

From the Cover: Year of the Hyenas is a brilliant, original, and unique murder mystery, set in ancient Egypt at the height of that kingdom's glory and power. It is at once a strikingly insightful portrait of a mysterious, complex, and sophisticated society, reminiscent of Norman Mailer's Ancient Evenings in its wonderful detail and feel for the past, and a fast-paced detective story that reads like the best of twenty-first-century thrillers.
From the oldest known court transcripts in history, Egyptologists have long known about the mysterious death of Ramses III, involving intrigue, ambition, greed, and crimes of passion on a huge, though hidden, scale. In Year of the Hyenas, Brad Geagley takes this event -- a struggle that nearly brought ancient Egypt to its knees -- as the backdrop for a story that is every bit as captivating as the distant civilization it resurrects.
At the heart of the novel is Semerket, the so-called Clerk of Investigations and Secrets, a detective half-paralyzed by problems of his own, with a reputation for heavy drinking and tactless behavior toward the great, the powerful, and the holy, a kind of Sam Spade of the ancient world, deeply (and dangerously) addicted to the truth. Hard-bitten, deeply flawed, he is retained by the authorities to investigate what is considered an insignificant murder of an elderly, insignificant Theban priestess. They fail to inform him, however, that they don't expect him to solve the case. In fact, they don't want him to.

My Thoughts: I didn't enjoy this one as much as I thought I would since I've been reading novels in this vane lately. With that said, the novel kept my attention and pulled me along. I enjoyed the sense of time and place the author skillfullly wound his story through. I plan to get the next in the series to read. Even though Semerket put me off by some of his actions, I still want to know what becomes of him and his wife. This was a  good historical fiction novel.

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Mercedes (Mercy) Thompson is a mechanic who owns her own garage and a shape shifter that changes into a coyote. Her neighbor, Adam, Is the Alpha of the local werewolf pack. She was raised by werewolves so she knows more about them than she does her own nature.

She takes on a young werewolf as a helper in the garage and the mystery starts. Soon Adam is attacked in his own home and his daughter kidnapped. Mercy gets there just in time to save his life and takes him to the pack that raised her for help. With the help and hindrance of many types of supernatural beings, a little romance, and a lot of action the story comes to a satisfactory ending.

I enjoyed book even though I thought I was off this genre for awhile. I am looking forward to getting the next book in this series.

3.5

Fearless Fourteen By Janet Evanovich

What can I say, I love these Stephanie Plum novels! They always make me laugh out loud. I pick them up and toss them in the buggy (shopping cart) without reading the synopsis. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

See here for an excerpt from Fearless fourteen.

5

Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig

CC library book

I enjoyed this companion piece to Gone With the Wind.

I have loved Rhett for years and enjoyed McCaig's fleshing out of the young Rhett. I liked the ending of this novel, but thought that the Scarlett character was a bit out of character. If you are a GWTW fan you will like this story and the new characters created, especially Rosemary, Rhett's sister.

4

The Cat Dancers by P.T. Deutermann

I've read two other P.T. Deutermann novels and liked them and was glad to find that I was not disappointed in the two I read this week. This is part of a series that features Lt. Cam Richter, a Lt. in the Manceford County Sheriff's Office in North Carolina.

The book open with a man dangling down a cliff fact trying to get a close up picture of a mountain lion in her den, at great personal risk. It then goes to a robbery of a mini mart in which two bad guys kill the owner as well as a soccer mom and her child. At the trial these two are let go on a technicality. Soon a video is sent showing the execution of one of the killers. It is followed by a video of the second one being executed. Cam is soon headed into the back country of the Great Smoky Mountains on the trail of both a group of vigilante killers and the elusive Eastern mountain lion.

This was a terrific thriller, very had to put down.

4

Cat Pay the Devil by Shirley Rousseau Murphy

Cat Pay the Devil is the 12th book in the Joe Grey mystery/fantasy series. I've read all but one and intend to do soon.

Molena Point, California, on the Pacific coast, is not a place where most escaped federal prisoners would hole up. Cage Jones, a federal prisoner, escapes and does just that. He is out for revenge against a resident of that town, Wilma Getz,

his ex probation officer, who testified against him. He also thinks she has stolen a hidden fortune from him.

This is where the fantasy part of the mystery comes in. Wilma's cat, Dulcie learns of of his escape and fears for Wilma. Joe Grey, her cat friend, is puzzling over over two murders and doesn't pay attention to Dulcie's fear until Dulcie finds Cage in Wilma's house ransacking it and Wilma is reported missing.

Along with Kit, the three indomitable felines, paw-in-hand with the unsuspecting cops—and with special powers known by only a few select humans—help untangle Jones' agenda and the brutal murders. I think this is one of Murphy's most suspenseful books. It is an imaginative trip into the hidden lives of felines—the cats named above, and a band of feral friends, as they help solve the mysteries.

4

Open Season by C.J. Box

C.J. Box won the Anthony Award for Best First Mystery Novel with this book.

Open Season is the first of the Joe Pickett series but the second of the series I've read. I liked them both. Originally I gave this series a try because I liked Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon series so much, each being set in a different National Park. the first Joe Pickett book I read was Free Fire which was set in Yellowstone.

In Open Season Joe finds himself game warden in the Twelve Sleep area of Wyoming. When a poacher whom he tangled with the year before turns up dead on his wood pile with a cooler that had had some kind of live animals in it, Joe has a mystery. A mystery that threatens him, his job, and his family.

The poacher was obviously coming to see him. Riding horesback to the poacher's camp Joe finds the poacher's partners dead in their tent and two of Joe's closest friends acting strange.

In this book Box visits the controversial Endangered Species Act which this story is wrapped around.

I loved his descriptions of the area. I liked the character of Joe. He is a good guy that tries to do everything by the book but he is not perfect. He is a family man that loves his wife and kids. I did not like the description of the treatment of the endangered animals. It was harsh and I suppose realistic. I will be reading more of this series.

This is a book about a game warden, so be aware that it talks about hunting and other related subjects.
4

The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

library book

This book was very well written but I feel that I missed out on a lot not being Jewish or being familiar with Yiddish. I had to stop a lot and look up references and words through out the story.

I found it interesting that Chabon created this alternate history setting for his characters. One one hand this was a detective story with the good guys investigating a murder at a flea bag hotel. On the other hand it was an alternative history story of a people fighting for a homeland.

As serious as the story was I really enjoyed the play on words and funny phrases the author included.

Go here for a plot summary. I'm afraid I can't do it without giving too much away, so the choice is yours!

3

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Visit here for a plot summary.

I enjoyed this story, but was disappointed that Pheobe, though the center of the story, was not featured much as a character.

3

The Bluest Eye

"Each night Pecola prayed for blue eyes.In her eleven years, no one had ever noticed Pecola. But with blue eyes, she thought, everything would be different. She would be so pretty that her parents would stop fighting. Her father would stop drinking. Her brother would stop running away. If only she could be beautiful.If only people would look at her."
(Back Cover)


Read here why Toni Morrison thinks The Bluest Eye is a book for everyone.

It was a good, thought provoking book that was tragic not only for the character of Pecola but as a statement for the world we live in. 5

Bitsys Bait and BBQ by Pamela Morsi

This is a cute light romance. I enjoyed it and think you will too. It takes place in the Ozarks. I once lived there, so know how beautiful it is.

Emma has always taken care of her younger sister. Katy's divorce sends her and her young son back to live with Emma who had been planning to go back to school. Not wanting to be a further burden to Emma Katy uses her settlement money to purchase a bed-and-breakfast, off the internet, sight unseen, in the Ozarks. It turns out to be a bait and barbeque business in small town of Warbler Lake. Emma moves there with Katy and they become a part of the community. Soon Katy's awful mother-in-law and ex-husband come to take her son away from her. This is a sweet, amusing story with a happy ending.