Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Brian Bouldrey Returns to Jackson


Jackson native Brian Bouldrey will be signing his book "Honorable Bandit: A Walk Across Corsica" on Saturday, September 6, 2008 at 1 PM at Sugar & Spice at 156 W. Michigan Avenue.

"Brian traveled to the island of Corsica, with its wine-dark Mediterranean waters, powdered-sugsr beach sand, sumptuous cuisine, and fine wine. And then he walked away from all of them.

Bouldrey strapped on a backpack and walked across Napoleon's native land with the same spirit many choose to dance or drink: to celebrate, to mourn, to think, to avoid thinking, to recall, to ignore, to escape, and to arrive."

House of Sand and Fog (1999)


Sometimes it takes me a long time to get around to reading a particular title even though everyone else is praising it to the skies. This was one of those books. I didn't even have any idea what it was about but the first few pages created a heavy sense of dread that enveloped me. Author Andre Dubus III is so skilled that he keeps you reading even when you fear the worst. I finished the book at 3:00 am!

Basically the story is about how things can go wrong between people who don't or can't communicate or understand each other. Bureaucracy and red tape elicit emotions that are unsolvable leaving citizens to cope with the problems it creates.

Kathy Nicolo's house in California was inherited from her father. It is auctioned off for taxes that were wrongly assessed against it, but she is helpless to stop the process and the house is purchased for very little money by an Iranian family. That family has been struggling to maintain its social standing in a new country and the house could be their salvation.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Atonement (2001)

I bought the trade paperback edition of this book on an impulse the last time I was in my local independent bookstore. I had wanted to see the movie and never got around to it.

Have you ever noticed it is sometimes hard to change your rhythm of reading? If you have just finished a thriller, a novel can be hard to relax into. I had that initial concern with Atonement, but it didn't last long. Once I was seduced by the lush details and became involved in the lives of the Tallis family, I couldn't put the book down. There isn't a false step in the plotting and execution of this memorable story.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

The Blood Ballad (2008)

Rett MacPherson has written a Tori O'Shea mystery almost every year since 1997 and I have read all eleven. A friend recommended them and handed me a paperback copy, which I accepted reluctantly. Little did I know that I would be hooked quickly by these 'guilty pleasures' and that I would be compelled to pre-order each new title on Amazon. Imagine!

I just finished The Blood Ballad and it delivered all the elements that make me a devoted reader of this 'cozy' mystery series. There is always an historical/genealogical slant for Tori to solve. The small town Missouri characters are charming and because Tori is a Mom as well as running the local history museum, there are lots of wonderful details about the other things going on in her life.

1. Family Skeletons (1997)
2. A Veiled Antiquity (1998)
3. A Comedy of Heirs (1999)
4. A Misty Mourning (2000)
5. Killing Cousins (2002)
6. Blood Relations (2003)
7. In Sheep's Clothing (2004)
8. Thicker Than Water (2005)
9. Dead Man Running (2006)
10. Died in the Wool (2007)
11. The Blood Ballad (2008)

Monday, July 7, 2008

Baen Free Library - Science Fiction

"Baen Books is now making available — for free — a number of its science fiction titles in electronic format. We're calling it the Baen Free Library. Anyone who wishes can read these titles online — no conditions, no strings attached. (Later we may ask for an extremely simple, name & email only, registration. ) Or, if you prefer, you can download the books in one of several formats. Again, with no conditions or strings attached. (URLs to sites which offer the readers for these format are also listed.)"

These are not unpublished manuscripts and Eric Flint has been doing this since 2000. There are titles by Andre Norton, Lois McMaster Bujold, Larry Nivin, and Fred Saberhagen to mention some of the names I recognize.