Buncha books - issue 7

Before we get into this post, I want to say that FINALLY my new motherboard arrived and my husband put it in, but now in true husband fashion, he is deciding whether or not to also, while he has the computer open on the workbench, install some fancy tape drive, a decision which, if the past is any indicator, could delay my getting to use my computer for another two weeks or so. My husband suffers from a lack of decision making ability. But YAY it's here, so SOMETIME in the not too distant future I will once again have access to my photos, which I will IMMEDIATELY back up to another computer, and I will be able to post my November, December and first part of January synopses.

Moving on...

I need to pump out some of these "Buncha books" posts so that I can pack up the already read piles on my bedroom floor and put them in my attic to be brought out again when my dream of an in-home library becomes a reality, which could possibly be when one or more of my children move out and I take over a bedroom (or two) for that purpose. So to that end, at some point in the last six months or so I read A Disorder Peculiar to the Country by Ken Kalfus. This novel has a very interesting premise: A husband and wife have reached a point in their marriage where they truly despise one another. Enter the 9/11 tragedy. The husband is heading to a meeting in the World Trade Center (WTC) and the wife is heading to Newark to catch a flight. Planes hit the WTC. The wife thinks her husband was at a meeting there, but he ran late and wasn't there when the planes hit. The husband thinks his wife is on one of the hijacked planes that crashed, but something had happened at work that made the trip unnecessary, so she didn't go. Both of them rejoice in the other's demise, but then they arrive home to bitter disappointment that the other has not perished after all. And it goes from there. I was disappointed in this book. With such an potentially awesome premise, I felt that it fell flat. I did enjoy the dark bitter humor interspersed throughout, and there were some scenes that made me laugh aloud, but overall I just thought it was okay. So I award it 3 1/2 picklebottoms.


There are a few of you wondering which camp I'll join when it comes to The Road by Cormac McCarthey. Because I am a rock star and my opinion MATTERS. Will I stand with lonely Shauna who loves it (by the way, Shauna, when I was reading it, everyone I ran into loved it, so you have that) or will I join the swelling ranks of haters? Well, when it comes to The Road, I'm middle of it. The Road. Get it? *collective groan* OK, lame. I'm the master of lame jokes. If they can even be called jokes, which I'm thinking is a stretch on this one, so let's pretend it never happened and move on. This novel was about a man and his son, who are traveling south on foot in a post-apocalyptic time, scavenging for food and clothing items and trying to avoid other people who may or may not pose a threat. Amazingly, the boy seems to maintain his childlike innocence and idealism throughout, even when faced with the grimmest of lives, though there are a few glimpses into the fact that, like most children, he knows more about what's going on than one would assume from his words and actions. I thought the book was stark and gray. Everything in it was stark and gray. Reading it made me feel stark and gray. Desolate. And yet, the fact that McCarthy was able to convey that grayness in the simple language he used was impressive. It took me about a third of the book to get into it, but then I liked it. I didn't LOVE it, but I'm firmly in the liked it pretty well camp. The ending felt unsatisfactory to me, but I don't think a satisfactory ending would have been true to the novel. Basically, I was left with an "okay, but NOW what?" kind of feeling, which I think may have been the point. Or one of them, anyway. So Shauna, while I don't quite get all the hype surrounding this book, I am leaning more toward your camp than the haters'. I thought it was a good and compelling book. 4 picklebottoms.


Third Degree by Greg Iles takes place over the span of a single day. Laurel Shields' awakens to find that her husband had apparently stayed up all night desperately looking for something. She then discovers she is pregnant, but is it her husband's child or that of the man with whom an affair had recently ended? When she decides to leave work early, she arrives home to find her husband is still there. The nightmare begins. I enjoyed this book. The main characters were all too human in that their actions would lead one to question their morality, yet one could also see why they made the poor decisions they did, making them all sympathetic to the reader. There really wasn't a good-guy, bad-guy thing going on here, just a human thing, where everyone was both good and bad and had to reconcile those parts of themselves while dealing with the fallout from the bad. Overall a good, edge-of-your-seat read. 4 picklebottoms.


The Serial Killers Club by Jeff Povey has what I think is a great premise: a support group slash club for serial killers. A problem, of course, is screening members. The club solves this by allowing members through invite only, publishing the invitations in personal ads. Unfortunately, one day a man is attacked and, in the process of defending himself, kills his attacker, who turns out to be a serial killer known as Grandson-of-Barney and who has one of the personal ads in his wallet. The man takes over the identity of his would-be killer and joins the serial killers club. A detective figures out what is going on and between the two of them they hatch a plot to eliminate the serial killers. It all sounds good, right? Like it would be a good read, right? WRONG. All of the characters are despicable with not a single redeeming quality between them. I don't know why I even finished the book, but I did. What a waste of my time. Don't bother. 2 picklebottoms, and it only got those because I managed to finish it.


Next by Michael Crichton posed a problem for me before I even read it: it came in multiple color schemes. Which to choose, which to choose... I ended up with lime green with purple lettering. Basically this novel centers on genetic research and experimentation and what is morally acceptable versus what may or may not actually be done. There is a bird that helps a boy with his homework and multi-lingual talking monkeys. There is a potential cure for addictions and overall juvenile behavior. I have always enjoyed genetics and so I usually enjoy novels with genetic experimentation as a component. This was no exception. I enjoyed it. BUT, I enjoyed other Crichton books much more, so compared to his own work, I thought this was sub-par. Overall, though, it was good. 4 picklebottoms.


I have fairly recently discovered Nelson DeMille as an author I really enjoy. I currently have two of his novels awaiting review, so I will cover Plum Island today. Plum Island is an island off the coast of New York state that houses a federal research facility dedicated to the study of animal diseases in the same way that the CDC in Atlanta is dedicated to the study of human diseases. When two of the island's scientists, a husband and wife, are killed, detective John Corey abandons his lazy days of recuperation at his uncle's beach house to try to solve the murders. Surely, the crime is linked to the island and the couple's research. Or is it? I continue to enjoy the lovable rogue that is John Corey, particularly his sense of humor, so this novel was a pleasure to read. Nelson DeMille is quickly becoming an author for whom I scan the bargain tables at my local bookstores (which is where I get most of my books) and the library sales (where I got two bags full of books this past weekend for $8.50). 4 picklebottoms.


Lastly in this issue of Buncha Books is T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton. I have followed the heroine, Kinsey Millhone, from her first adventure in "A" is for Alibi, and have really enjoyed all of the novels. I think I could be Kinsey Millhone, since I have her fashion sense and hairstyle, or her complete lack of both those things. Also, we are the same age and I'm damn good with a pistol. Or was last time I shot one, which has been at least 15 years or so ago, so you might want to get behind me if I ever try to shoot one again. You know, just sayin'. Anyway, this novel involves one of Kinsey's neighbors, a crotchety old man who falls and needs companion care. Kinsey tracks down the man's daughter, who finds someone and asks Kinsey to do a quick background check. The woman seems to pass muster and is hired. Kinsey takes an immediate dislike to the woman and feels that she is mistreating the old man, for which Kinsey feels responsible, since she cleared the woman for hiring. So she begins to investigate more deeply and uncovers some interesting and disturbing information. This book was on par with the rest of the alphabet mysteries, meaning I enjoyed it and it earns 4 picklebottoms.


The rating system can be found here.

It's that time again

I don't like when this happens on a weekend, since so many of you only do the blog thing during the week, but there's just no help for it. I finished Third Degree by Greg Iles, so it is time for you to select what you think I should read next. Since it is the weekend, I will leave the poll up through Monday night so those of you who are solely weekday bloggers can vote and thus enter the BONUS giveaway. Yes, once again, I have more than one copy of a book.

I had to re-stack my three to-be-read towers of books, since they were about to topple, and while doing so, I discovered that I had a brand-new hardcover copy of the book I had just finished, Third Degree by Greg Iles. Sorry, you don't get that one. But you CAN win the slightly used paperback copy that I just finished. It really is like new; I'm very easy on books. So go vote over on the right for the book you think I should read next and leave me a comment if you want to be entered in the giveaway. I'll let you know the winner on Tuesday. The randomly selected books from which to choose this time are:

The Rosary Girls by Richard Montanari,

The Wish List by Eoin Colfer,

The Hunt Club by John Lescroart,

Four to Score by Janet Evanovich and

The Expected One by Kathleen McGowan.

While I am waiting for the results, I am going to read The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I know a lot of you DESPISED, HATED and LOATHED that book; Shelly's review is here. Because of that, I had pretty much decided not to bother with it. But then Shauna said she LOVED it, and because she seems to like some of the same stuff I do, I began to think that maybe I would like it too, despite the fact that Tess also likes some of the same stuff I do, and she was one of the ones who DESPISED, HATED and LOATHED it. Then when a single copy of it appeared on a shelf in front of me on sale and I flipped through it to see that it didn't look like a book that would take an eon to get through, which if it were horrible would render it unfinishable, I went ahead and bought it. So since it may never win a vote (unless it does so on the merits of misery loves company), I'll go ahead and read it over this weekend while I wait for your votes.

Buncha books - issue 6

First of all, COME ON PEOPLE, a five-way tie? Fine, I'll just randomly select... Third Degree by Greg Iles to read next.

Normally, in a "Buncha books" issue, I try to cover at least 6 books. I don't know if I'll get to that many today, but I'll do as many as I can. I'm going to start with The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall. It's been a long time since I read this novel, so I hope I remember everything correctly. I'm having a difficult time trying to formulate into words how to describe this novel. Bizarre, yet strangely compelling, it is about a man, Eric Sanderson, who wakes up one day and can't remember anything, but he gets notes of direction from himself, as this is apparently not the first time he has woken up with no memory. Turns out his memory loss is due to a conceptual shark that feeds on thoughts and memories. Something has made Eric a target of this shark and he goes on the run to avoid it while simultaneously trying to find the person responsible for its creation and determine how to destroy it. He takes with him his cat, Ian, and along the way he meets Scout, who, as part of the Un-Space Exploration Committee, is trying to find the shark that is after Eric. I did mention bizarre, didn't I? This novel is ultimately about the power of language (I think, anyway) and I enjoyed the little extras that were thrown in. There was lots of word play, beginning right at the title (Raw Shark Texts = Rorschach Test). The evil mastermind behind the conceptual fish is Mycroft Ward (Microsoft Word). There is even a flip book contained within the pages of the novel. The novel ends in a "Moby Dick"-type standoff, but I'll leave it to you to read for the outcome. I think this is a novel that you'll either find intriguing or you'll hate with an undying passion and you may hate me for telling you that I found it intriguing and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys things that screw with your mind. This book certainly will. Four picklebottoms.


Next I'll cover The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain. This novel is about a young girl, CeeCee Wilkes, who is coerced into getting involved in a kidnapping plot as the guard of the victim, who is the governor's wife. She didn't realize that the victim was pregnant, and during the night, the woman goes into labor and has a baby. She then hemorrhages and dies. CeeCee goes on the run with the baby. The novel is about her life, the life of the baby and what happens when the truth is exposed. I really enjoyed this book. When my mom was in town, I gave it to her to read and she read it in two days. Four picklebottoms.


The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a novel about the life of a man, Amir, who grew up in Afghanistan and his father's servant's son, Hassan, who grew up with him. As boys they were the best of friends whose favorite activity was running kites. During a kite running competition, something occurs that changes everything. Amir cannot forget his cowardice in the face of the unspeakable event and his feelings of guilt haunt him, even after he and his father flee Afghanistan to America. Eventually he goes back to Afghanistan, where he just might find redemption. This book is amazing. The author uses very simple language, nothing flowery at all, and manages to convey incredible depth of feeling. I highly recommend this novel. 4 1/2 picklebottoms.


Now, though I have a blue million books in the pile to be reviewed, it's only fair that I cover the ones you selected for me to read recently, so I will now review the two you've selected for me so far.

The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst is a somewhat odd novel. Linguistics professor Paul Iverson receives a phone call while at work from the police. His wife, Lexy, has died due to a fall from the apple tree in their backyard. The only witness to the accident was their dog, Lorelei. Paul becomes obsessed with teaching the dog to speak so she can tell him what happened. I won't tell you whether or not he was successful, or if he figures out what led to his wife's fall. I will tell you that it is a pretty interesting, though strange, novel. There were a few unbelievable coincidences, like Lorelei's origins, but given that this is fiction, I guess I can suspend my disbelief in that case. I've read some mixed reviews on this book, and to be honest, I think my opinion is a bit mixed as well. Overall, though, it was a pretty decent read. I'll give it 3 1/2 picklebottoms.


And finally, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. I love novels written from the point of view of someone with a mental disorder, and this was no exception. This novel was about a man, Charlie Gordon, who was born mentally retarded. A method to increase intelligence is developed, and after testing it on several mice, a mouse named Algernon being the most successful, the treatment is going to be tried on a human, Charlie Gordon. The novel covers, from Charlie's point of view, the changes that take place in his life following the treatment. Does the treatment work? If so, how well and does it "stick"? The novel is heartbreaking, yet hopeful, as is what he learns about himself and others. Four picklebottoms.