The Unnatural Inquirer

This is book eight of the Nightside series. Private investigator John Taylor is hired by the Unnatural Inquirer to find and bring back a special DVD knows as "The Afterlife Recording". The Inquirer paid a fortune to Pen Donavon for the DVD that is said to show there is life after death but before they can lay hands on it, both Donavon and the disk disappear. The Inquirer has offered Taylor one million pounds to trace and deliver the DVD to their office, but only if he will work with Bettie Divine, a half-demon reporter. There are plenty of other creatures seeking the DVD as well, including the Collector, Kid Cthulhu and the Removal Man. Luckily for John he was able to aquire a divice at the begining of the book that helped out.

I enjoyed this addition to the Nightside series, but I would like to see more of John's powers.

Here is the Nightside series in order:

1. Something from the Nightside

2. Agents of Light and Darkness

3. Nightingale's Lament

4. Hex and the City

5. Paths Not Taken

6. Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth

7. Hell to Pay

3

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Read a plot summary and review I found at Amazon here.

This is said to be one of the greatest novels of all time . I was somewhat hesitant to tackle this book, but am now glad I did if for no other reason than that it is a classic. I found it tedious in places but plowed own through and finished it.

3 (533 pages)

Classic, crime

Dark Watch by Clive Cussler

library book

I really enjoyed listening to this book. It is the first I've read in this series.It was read by Scott Brick, who did a fantastic job.

Juan Cabrillo and the people of his Corporation, accept a job finding and stopping a piracy ring in Asian waters. In their disguised ship, the Oregon, they pretend to be in trouble hoping to lure in the pirates. They sink the pirate ship and manage to save a large container that had been on the deck. It was full of bodies. People destined to a life of slavery. They also find a survivor on a ship that had been attacked by the pirates and was now submerged.

In an action packed adventure that leads to Russia, Juan and his people solve these crimes and others.

4

The House of Sand and Fog By Andre Dubus III

library book
Warning: Spoiler.

Massoud Amir Behrani, a former colonel exiled from Iran after a political uprising is now a trash collector and convenience store clerk. Kathy Nicolo, a former drug addict whose husband left her, has been wrongfully evicted from her home by the county.
Behrani buys the house at auction and plans to renovate and resell it for for a large profit. Kathy moves out and he moves his family in. Kathy meets Deputy Lester Burdon, and they become close while they work to get Kathy's house back. She hires a lawyer but is not successful. In the eyes of the law, the Behranis legally own the house.

Drunk and depressed, Kathy goes to her former home and attempts to kill herself twice, first trying to shoot herself and secondly overdosing on pills. The Behranis manage to stop her both times and they put her in a bedroom to sleep it off. Lester arrives, thinks the family has hurt Kathy, and locks the Behranis in their bathroom at gunpoint until they agree to sell the house back to Kathy. The Behranis finally agree to sell it back and Lester takes them to the county office. Massoud’s son gets a hold of Lester's gun and is shot by the deputies that that arrive on the scene. When Massoud finds out that his son is dead, he is overcome with grief and rage at both Lester and Kathy. He returns to the house, finds Kathy, strangles her and leaves her for dead. He then suffocates his wife, who was asleep in the bedroom. he puts on his old uniform and suffocates himself.

Kathy and Lester are imprisoned and awaiting trial at the end of the book.

How do I feel about this book? Good question. On one level I found it to be a very good read. On another level I was angered by the stupidity of the county and Lester V. Burdon. It was sad.
4

Oprah's Book Club, literature, tragedy

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 Outlaw Demon Wails by Kim Harrison

CC library book

This is the sixth book in the Rachel Morgan series.

This book starts right out with the demon action in the very first chapter. Rachel and her mother are shopping for Halloween costumes and talismans when the demon Al appears, destroys the shop, and nearly kills Rachel. Somebody is summoning him and setting him after Rachel. Suddenly, not only is Rachel in danger, but everyone she loves and cares about are too.

In this story Rachel learns that Ceri is pregnant -- and to keep her baby and the elf race healthy, they need a sample of ancient elf tissue from the ever-after. As a journey to the ever-after might help her defeat Al she agrees to go with Trent. Jenks sneaks a ride with Rachel and is the only one who can get the sample.

This is a story of ongoing revelations: Rachel learns of her true nature, how her father died, who her bio-dad is, the father of Ceri's baby, Keasley's true identity. She did not, however, findout who killed Kisten.

In the end she is forced to make another deal with Al to protect her friends and family.

I enjoyed this book, the humor Harrison slipped in was great. Rachel's character grew and matured. I can't wait for the next installment.

If you like Sci/Fi Fantasy I give it a 4. (464 pages)

The Sunday Wife by Cassandra King

I read this book because I read The Same Sweet Girls by Cassandra King and loved it. I did like it, but not nearly as much as The Same Sweet Girls. It seemed to drone on and on in places in places.

Dean Lynch is unhappily married to a Methodist minister, Ben Lynch. In the first pages, Dean is alone and moving to a trailer in a small town on the Gulf Coast where nobody will think to look for her. Then we are returned to an earlier time, when Dean and Ben are arriving at their new church in Florida. Ben is ambitious and not sure that his wife (who, he keeps reminding her, came from a white trash background) is going to behave well enough for him to achieve his ambitions in the Methodist Church. Dean is quickly makes friends with Augusta Holderfield, who Ben is anxious to bring back to his church. But Augusta is emotional and unstable, and Ben quickly begins to disapprove of her and her growing influence on Dean. Through her friendship with the Holderfields, Dean begins to blossom. Tragedy strikes and Dean finds herself sad but free. I think that Ben's character is too resolutely awful. The author makes the religious people in the book a awful and portrays the people who are basing their lives on the occult as the "wise" ones.

I also think the book was a bit too long. There were whole descriptive paragraphs that did little to add to the story that could have been removed, like the antique napkins getting used to mop up spilled coffee by a one-scene-only character. I ended up skimming and skipping pages.
2.5

Reckless Abandon by Stuart Woods

In this book the main character is Stone Barrington, an ex-cop-turned-lawyer. He is helping Holly Barker find a killer Trini Rodriguez, who is hiding in NYC. Holly had faced this guy in the book "Blood Orchids" and thought he was out for good. Now Trini is in the protection of the FBI as a witness.

I didn't really like this book much. It wasn't a very long book, but still managed to ramble in places. I couldn't believe that the main characters were thrown in a basement room by mobsters and proceeded to have sex and go to sleep. Please. He then talked the bad guys out of killing them with a little name dropping. Stone had already talked Trini out of killing them once by saying that everyone would know who did it. Trini left them and went straight to his safd house and killed an FBI agent. I guess he thought no one would know he did that.

I hate to give it a 2, I know this series is popular, but I probably won't try another. Did you read it and like it? 2

A Superior Death by Nevada Barr

This was the second Anna Piegon book written by Nevada Barr, but the last one I read. I have enjoyed all these books and look forward to the newest edition to the series.

Anna is a park ranger and in each book she is assigned to a different National Park. In this book she is transferred Isle Royale National Park in Michigan. Two scuba-diving tourists exploring an old, early 1900s wreck find the body of Denny Castle, who died on his honeymoon night. Anna wonders about the disappearance of Donna Butkus, wife of fellow ranger Scotty Butkus. As Anna investigates the murder and disappearance she comes into contact with several memorable characters. Anna gets herself into a situation near the end of the story that totally creeps me out. Barr explores some socially taboo territory in this book.

All in all I enjoyed this book, but liked the later books better. 4

The Canterville ghost by Oscar Wilde

This was first published in 1887. I found it to be really funny and enjoyed it immensely.

The story begins when Hiram B. Otis and his family move into Canterville Chase, despite warnings from Lord Canterville that the house is haunted. The family includes Mr. and Mrs. Otis, their son Washington, their daughter Virginia, and twin boys. In the beginning, not one member of the Otis family believes in ghosts, but soon they hear and see him. But nothing the ghost does scares the Otises. He thinks of his haunting senarios as if they were characters to act in a play. for instance he plays The Headless Earl, The Strangled Babe, andThe Blood-Sucker of Bexley Moor, all of which have been successful of scaring people in the past. However it doesn't work with this family. For example upon hearing the clanking noises in the hallway, Mr. Otis gives the ghost Tammany Rising Sun Lubricator to oil his chains. The twins play tricks on him and upset him badly. The story is funny and the ending is warm and sweet.

This is a short book, a novella, and is worth a try if you haven't already read it. 4

Blasphemy by Douglas Preston

I listened to this one this weekend on my iPod while I was painting and redoing the little bathroom.

This is the story of a group of researchers at the new US government financed $40 billion particle accelerator called isabella, located on an Arizona reservation leased from the Navajos. They are there to recreate conditions just after the Big Bang. When the accelerator fails to get on-line as quickly as expected, the Feds send in Wyman Ford under cover to investigate. He finds that the group is covering up a glitch. The book moves really fast.

I didn't like that once again christians are written in as idiots and this time as murdering idiots. I'm going to have to read up on Douglas Prestion to see what he believes about God. Does he think science is God? 3 to 4

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