Sunday Wrap-Up

Sunday Wrap-Up, April 10, 2011

Wowzers … another week gone by! I really wish I knew where the time was going. Especially since I saw a friend on Facebook who said that she and her husband had been married for 6 months the other day and I realized that next month it will be 4 years for Nathan and I. I was like, really? FOUR YEARS! Where on earth has that time gone?! I only wish I knew. Anyways, that’s totally beyond the point of this post. I had a really good week here at the blog. Here’s what happened:

I also posted two reviews:

And I am happy to say that we ARE getting a fence! And NOT chain link! We are going to go with the black aluminum that looks like wrought iron. It’s actually cheaper than the vinyl style (but still a lot more than the chain link, but it’s in the budget! … after a slight stretch of it, lol!) I am really excited to finally be getting a fence, we’ve been talking about it for the two years that we’ve had Buster, but it just never worked out for us until now. So we’re super happy. PLUS! I am happy to say that in 42 days I will be cruising my way to Alaska for our first BIG vacation together! We are super excited!! The countdown is definitely on for that! Hope everyone has a really good week 🙂

3/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Dismas Hardy, Fiction, L, RATING, Read in 2011, READING CHALLENGES 2011, SERIES

2011.18 REVIEW – The Vig by John Lescroart

The Vig
by John Lescroart

Copyright: 1990
Pages: 376
Rating: 3/5
Read: April 4– 8, 2011
Challenge:  TBR Dare
Yearly Count: 18
Format: Print

First Line: At 2:15 on a Wednesday afternoon in late September, Dismas Hardy sat on the customer side of the bar at the Little Shamrock and worked the corners of his dart flights with a very fine emery board.

Blurb: Down-and-out lawyer Rusty Ingraham left behind a murdered woman and a houseboat splattered with blood. All the evidence said Ingraham was in San Francisco Bay. Dead. But a friend of Ingraham’s, former cop and prosecutor Dismas Hardy, isn’t so sure. And Hardy has to find out, because a stone-cold killer, now paroled, once threatened to kill Ingraham and Dismas Hardy both. Now, to save his own skin, Dismas must face down liars and killers on both sides of the law. From mob foot soldiers to brokenhearted lovers to renegade cops, a dozen lives are tied to the fate of Rusty Ingraham – and the payback has only just begun…

Review: Whoever edited this book should be fired. Immediately. I can’t even begin to tell you how many different grammatical errors I spotted in this book. And I also had trouble with the amount of different characters that were presented in this book. I found myself not remembering who was who. However, that didn’t change my overall opinion of the book itself. I read the first book in this series, Dead Irish, almost three years ago. So it was really like starting the series all over again since I didn’t remember much from the first book. But that was okay, I still enjoyed this book. It actually stands well on its own. The mystery aspect of it was interesting, but it was not a really big surprise. I liked this book, but I think I now realize why after reading my review from the first book as to why I’m just now picking this book up, it wasn’t specatular, just good.

DNF Books, SERIES

2011 DNF #2 – Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell

Faceless Killers
by Henning Mankell

Copyright: 1991
Pages: 359
Format: Print

Blurb: On a cold night in a remote Swedish farmhouse, an elderly farmer is bludgeoned to death, and his wife is left to die with a noose around her neck. The only other clue the police have is one that they wish they didn’t: the dying woman’s last word is “foreign.” In the first riveting installment in the internationally bestselling Wallander series, police inspector Kurt Wallander doggedly investigates the horrible crime, as he contends with his own demons and tries to keep the public outcry for vengeance against an already reviled immigrant community at bay.

I picked this book up based solely on the recommendation of many fellow readers on the Yahoo reading group MostlyBooks. It sounded like it was right up my alley. But the fact of the matter is that it wasn’t a very good book in my opinion. I never warmed up to the main character, Kurt Wallander, I didn’t find him to be a very likable fellow. In fact, I didn’t think that any of the characters were very well developed. I gave this book 150 pages before I finally had to put it aside. It just wasn’t to my liking.

4/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, R, RATING, Read in 2011, Review Book

2011.14 REVIEW – Deed So by Katharine A. Russell

Deed So
by Katharine A. Russell

Copyright: 2010
Pages: 428
Rating: 4/5
Read: March 18 – 22, 2011
Challenge: None
Yearly Count: 14
Format: Print

First Line: I was a waitress for Christ.

Blurb: A young girl struggles to understand a tightening web of racial and generational tensions during the turbulent 1960s in the astonishing new novel, Deed So by Katharine Russell. All twelve-year-old Haddie Bashford wants is to leave the closed-minded world of Wicomico Corners behind, in the hopes that a brighter future awaits elsewhere. But when she witnesses the brutal killing of a black teen, Haddie finds her family embroiled in turmoil fraught with racial tensions. Tempers flare as the case goes to trial, but things are about to get even hotter when an arsonist suddenly begins to terrorize the town. Can Haddie help save her town, and herself?

From page 12:

Several ‘deed so’s could be heard bubbling from the congregation. One pew over, Miss Thelma sighed and shifted her fan to her other hand, causing a momentary disturbance in the airflow. Reverend Harrison smiled and nodded. “but remember, down here, when we say ‘deed so, what we mean is we recognize the truth.”

Review: I received this book to review for the Pump Up Your Book blog tour. I must start out by saying that just about any book that has the words “1960s” and “racial tensions” in its description is going to immediately attract me. I was a history major in college, and I had two favorite areas of study: the Civil War and the Civil Rights eras. So when this book was originally pitched to me, I snatched it up based on the description. I must state that while I enjoyed this book thoroughly, it was not at all what I was expecting. The storyline revolves around Haddie, a twelve-year-old girl who seems much wiser than her short 12 years. Haddie sees a lot of different things during the time in which this book is set: she witnesses her best friend (whom she secretly crushes on) go off to Vietnam a boy and come home a changed man, and she is very aware of what is going on around her as far as the racial tensions, especially when she is a witness to a murder and a subsequent murder trial witness. I only had one real problem with Haddie’s character: she was not entirely believable as a 12-year-old girl. Sure, he had the dreams and beliefs of a child, but she had the mind and thoughtfulness of a much older young woman. I had trouble believing that a 12-year-old girl could really see things the way she did. Most adults would not have caught on to some of the things Haddie did. I had a slight problem with that. Other than that, I felt the book was really well written. Although this was a 400+ page book, it was a quick and enjoyable read. I was slightly disappointed that there wasn’t more mention of outside issues that were going on in the 1960s, mainly because to really set the mood of the book in line with the turbulent decade, things needed to be more real. Sure, Wicomico Corners was in the North and it was a little more isolated, but I think that it could have been more believable if other issues had been addressed. At one point a field trip to Washington D.C. is taken and an incident happens with a black boy on the bus: things like that really happened. And there were descriptions of the demonstrators who showed up to protest the trial as well as a brief mention of a sit-in at a local restaurant. I felt as if the author had included a few more episodes like that sprinkled throughout the book then it would have better captured the mood of the decade, because while they were mentioned, they didn’t seem to be really addressed by the characters. They were mentioned and Haddie’s character and her two friends, Sarah Jane and Elise sometimes questioned the adults as to what was going on, but really there could have been more elaborating on those issues. Overall, I did enjoy this book. I just felt as if the blurb on the back of the book really overstated what the story was about.

Book vs. Movie

Book vs. Movie: The Lincoln Lawyer

I am a fanatic about wanting to see the movie AFTER I read the book it is based upon. Sometimes this does not always work out. Sometimes I have read the book years before. Sometimes the book doesn’t interest me when it comes out, but I see the movie anyway. Sometimes I don’t even know that it was based upon a book. However, my experience with The Lincoln Lawyer was completely different. I had had the book on my shelf for about 6 months in anticipation of the movie. For whatever reason, I waited until the last moment to read it. To be completely honest, I even contemplated not reading the book at all because Michael Connelly is not one of my absolute favorite authors, he’s just someone who I read occasionally. Let me just say that if you read my review you know that the book absolutely blew me away. It was a 500 page book that I devoured in 4 days. I could hardly stand to put it down. After I finished the book, I told my husband we could go see the movie over the weekend. Then I started to kick around the idea of not wanting to see the movie because I knew I would be disappointed.

So now that I have seen the movie, was I disappointed? No, not really. However, the book was so much better. There were just little intricacies that the movie couldn’t even begin to showcase that the book included. There were a few subtle differences, but for the most part, the screenplay was very consistent with the book. As I stated in my review, I really did think that the casting was really good as far as the characters were concerned. There was one cast member that I wasn’t completely sold on as to the casting job: Josh Lucas as Ted Minton, the prosecutor. I’m not sure who I would have put in that role, but based on the description of Minton’s character in the book, I would have chosen someone who was younger than Lucas (not that Lucas is old, just older than I would have thought right for the description of the character). I am not a huge Matthew McConaughey because more of his recent movies have been silly (and I am not a fan of silly movies), but I really like it when he takes on a more serious role (see We Are Marshall, A Time to Kill). And let me just say that Ryan Phillippe as Louise Roulet was perfect! So what does this all boil down to? The book is better. Not that the movie is bad, because it’s a really good movie. It’s just that once you’ve read the book you can really see the differences between the book and the movie, and unfortunately the book wins out as far as which is better. I would highly recommend the book AND the movie 🙂

Mailbox Monday, Meme

Mailbox Monday, April 4, 2011

Mailbox Mondays

Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with April’s spot being at Passages to the Past.

Another full mailbox with the final two PBS Box-of-Books packages I had come in. I’m very tempted to put my account on hold because there’s no way I can keep up anymore ….. but that wouldn’t be very much fun 🙂 Anyways, here’s what I got:

     The Cold War is over. And chaos is setting in. The new President of Russia is trying to create a new democratic regime. But there are strong elements within the country that are trying to stop him: the ruthless Russian mafia, the right wing nationalists, and those nefarious forces that will do whatever it takes to return Russia to the days of the Czar. Op-Center, the newly founded but highly successful crisis management team, begins a race against the clock and against the hardliners. Their task is made even more difficult by the discovery of a Russian counterpart … but this one’s controlled by those same repressive hardliners. Two rival Op-Centers, virtual mirror images of each other. But if this mirror cracks, it’ll be much more than seven years bad luck.

     Fighting for their lives aboard the hijacked submarine, ship superintendent Amy Russell and Commander Darius McCann have only one hope for survival. With the lives of millions at stake, they must play a dangerous game of cat and mouse, where capture would mean certain death. On land, Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Connelly and Commander Bruce Dunn are working to learn the details of the hijacking in time to stop the attack. As mass hysteria paralyzes New York City, the two investigators uncover a trail of secrets as dangerous as the silent weapon aimed at the heart of America.

     She lies in a pool of her own blood. More blood decorates one wall in macabre finger paintings. The victim is a fortune teller from the Little Saigon community of Westminster, California – a seemingly random murder. Detective Seven Bushard wonders cynically if she saw it coming. When local artist Gia Moon shows up at the precinct claiming to have had visions of another murder yet to happen, Seven doesn’t buy it. Some say Gia’s paintings give a glimpse into the next world, but all Seven knows is cold, hard evidence. But when per prediction comes true, his investigation becomes a hunt for a serial killer. But Gia is not all that she seems. A link to her past points to a lunatic whose desire to complete a bizarre collection has become an obsession. Now, Seven is locked in a game of greed and murder with a woman he can’t entirely trust, and a killer who will silence anyone who gets in the way.

     It is 1982. In the Vatican, priestly vultures gather around the dying Pope, whispering the names of possible successors. In a forgotten monastery on Ireland’s gale swept coast, a dangerous document is hidden, waiting to be claimed. And in a family chapel in Princeton, New Jersey, a nun is murdered at her prayers. Sister Valentine was an outspoken activist, a thorn in the Church’s side. When her brother, lawyer Ben Driskill, realizes the Church will never investigate her death, he sets out to find the murderer himself – and uncovers an explosive secret. The assassini. An age-old brotherhood of killers. Once they were hired by princes of the Church to protect it in dangerous times. But whose orders do they now obey?

     Shadow is the Secret Service code name for First Daughter Nora Hartson. And when White House lawyer Michael Garrick begins dating the irresistible Nora, he’s instantly spellbound, just like everyone else in her world. Then, late one night, the two witness something they were never meant to see. Now, in a world where everyone watches your ever move, Michael is suddenly ensnared in someone’s secret agenda. Trusting no one, not even Nora, he finds himself fighting for his innocence – and, ultimately, his life.

     Charlie and Oliver Caruso are brothers working at an ultra-exclusive private bank when they’re faced with an offer they can’t refuse – three million dollars in an abandoned account no one even knows exists. Almost as soon as they take the cash, a friend is killed and the bank, the Secret Service, and a female P.I. are closing in. Now the Caruso brothers are on the run and about to uncover an explosive secret that will test their trust and forever change their lives.

     Grace Hart seemed to have it all: a bright, beautiful daughter, a successful career as a judge, and a lovely home in an Ohio suburb. But beneath the placid veneer, darker truths lie waiting. Her fifteen-year-old, Jessica, is teetering on the cusp of drugs and delinquency. And someone is stalking the troubled teenager. Someone who has already violated their home and stolen their peace of mind. Now the police are involved, Grace is relieved – and worried. Is Jessica in danger from a drug dealer who wants to silence her? Detective Tony Marino is on the case. He’s too close for comfort, asking disturbing questions, probing into her long-buried past, igniting feelings Grace has tried to suppress. In Tony’s strong arms, Grace finds comfort, protection – passion – as he tries to shield them from the evil lurking just beyond their door…

     When the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court dies unexpectedly, the lame-duck president is only too happy to appoint his successor, a well-liked and respected decorated Vietnam veteran – who will be the first black chief justice in U.S. history. But one of the most conservative justices on the court feels that the position should have been his, and he is hell-bent on claiming it no matter who gets in the way … or how dishonorable and shameful his tactics. As nomination-ending scandals brew in Washington, former judge Tim Quinn races to uncover the real truth. He believes in the nominee’s innocence, but his report must prove it to the SEnate Judiciary Committee – before it is too late.

     As the city sizzles under the early summer sun, New York chief assistant D.A. Butch Karp and his family are happily vacationing on Long Island’s north shore. Their reverie changes to horror when they learn that their beachfront neighbors, Rose and Ralph “Red” Heeney – a coal miners’ union leader – have been brutally murdered back hom in tiny McCullensburg, West Virginia. Irresistable force meets immovable object when the governor appoints Karp special prosecutor to bring justice to the corrupt rural town, its ruthless union boss, and his band of violent henchmen. Now, Karp finds himself not only searching for the killers, but fighting to protect his own family from an evil that runs as deep as the mines that fuel it.

Sunday Wrap-Up

Sunday Wrap-Up, April 3, 2011

Another week has gone by. I really wish I knew where these weeks were going because they just keep flying by me. Anyways, overall it was a good week. I am very happy to share that Wichita State won the 2011 NIT Championship – they are in the MVC Conference (which is the conference that my SIU Salukis are in) and I love to see fellow conference teams do well in the post-season.

I posted two reviews:

It was a good week here on the blog as far as what I posted.

We finally got our taxes prepared last week (nothing like last minute, right?) We’re getting good refunds from both state and federal …. so Buster gets a fence this year 🙂 Buster was going to get a fence either way, but this just helps us pay for it. Unfortunately, our budget really doesn’t line up with the type of fence we’re wanting. We would like to be able to get the vinyl style of fencing, but we have more of a chain link budget. It’s just for the dog and if we sank all the money into the vinyl fence it wouldn’t be like we would recover the price when we sold the house, so chain link is probably what we will be getting – unless something changes between now and when we talk to somebody who knows about fencing. Other than that nothing else has been going on. I guess until next week….

Monthly Wrap Up

March 2011 Monthly Wrap-Up

March was another good month for me. I can’t believe that the first quarter of 2011 is already over! It has flown by! Overall, I’ve had a good first quarter reading wise. I’ve also decided to step away from accepting books for review from publishers/authors/publicists. This is actually a great relief for me. And let me just add that I think this was the BEST month reading-wise I’ve had in a VERY long time!!! Anyways, here’s what my reading looked like in March:

Visually:

Statistically:

  • Books Read: 6
  • Pages Read: 2,387
  • Rating Breakdown:
    • 5/5 – 4
    • 4/5 – 2
  • New Authors: 3
  • Fiction: 6
  • Non-Fiction: 0
  • Favorite For the Month: The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
  • Least Favorite For the Month: Although I enjoyed all of these books, Blood of My Brother by James LePore was my least-liked book for the month
  • Number of Books I Acquired This Month: *ducking head in shame*: 43
  • Number of Books I Sent to New Homes This Month: *smiling from ear-to-ear, because this number is higher than the amount of books coming in*: 48
Quarterly Update, Reading Statistics, SERIES

Reading Update – First Quarter, 2011

I usually only post a mid-year and end of the year reading update. But this year I decided that I wanted to try and do it quarterly, that way it wouldn’t be too overwhelming for me to put together. So what I want to concentrate on is a slight breakdown of my overall reading for the first quarter and then I also want to update where I stand on my series reading.

  • Challenge Status:
    • Criminal Plots Reading Challenge (3/6 books read – 50% completed)
    • Mystery & Suspense Reading Challenge (12/12 books read – 100% completed)
    • Take a Chance Challenge 3 (1/10 books read – 10% completed)
    • The TBR Dare (14/20 books read – 70% completed)
    • TwentyEleven Challenge (2/20 books read – 10% completed)
    • What’s in a Name 4 Challenge (2/6 books read – 33% completed)
  • Finished: 16
  • Abandoned: 1
  • Fiction: 16
  • Non-Fiction: 0
  • New-to-Me-Author: 4
  • Female Authors: 4
  • Male Authors: 7
  • Books in a Series: 10
  • Review Books: 2
  • Books I Own: 16
  • Library Books: 0

——————————————————————————————————————-
Series That I Started This Quarter:

Series That I Caught Up With This Quarter:

Series That I Worked On This Quarter:

Books That I Read That Are Part of a Series, but Picked Up in the Middle of the Series This Quarter: