Month: September 2011

Miscellaneous Ramblings

When to Admit You Have a Problem……

Tara

Okay, let’s face it. Most of us book bloggers are *crazy* about books. Anyone who sees my Mailbox Monday posts can attest that I’m really book crazy. This year I implemented something new on the blog … a “Books Acquired in 2011” page. I’ve kept it up-to-date over the past 8 months and I have to admit that I am ashamed at the state of it. There are wayyyyy too many books on there that have the designation “Traded without reading”. That means that I took in wayyyyyyy too many books that I actually didn’t need or want. Pitiful, if you ask me. Of course it balances out a little bit because as I was trading away those books I didn’t want I was able to bring more in 🙂 See that vicious cycle that I’m stuck in? So I wanted to sit down and take stock of just how many books came into my house the first 8 months of the year, how many I have read and reviewed here, and how many were traded without reading. So here goes:

  • Total amount of books brought in January – August, 2011: 153
  • Number of books that I have read out of the 153 books brought in: 20
  • Number of books that I have traded without reading of the 153 books brought in: 23
  • Number of books that I DNF’ed of the 153 books brought in: 2

Wow. Now tell me that’s not pitiful! 153 books brought into my house in the first 8 months of 2011. If I keep going like that (which I know I will …. I’m not likely to stop!) it’s going to become a problem. Haha. I mean, I have a big house …. but eventually this will catch up with me 🙂

So in case you’re curious, my OCD compelled me to make an even further breakdown of the books that I brought into the house. Here’s that information:

  • January: 9 books brought in; 1 read; 2 traded without reading
  • February: 17 books brought in; 5 read; 0 traded without reading
  • March: 39 books brought in; 1 read; 16 traded without reading; 1 DNF’ed
  • April: 7 books brought in; 1 read; 2 traded without reading
  • May: 8 books brought in; 3 read; 0 traded without reading
  • June: 14 books brought in; 4 read; 0 traded without reading; 1 DNF’ed
  • July: 34 books brought in; 3 read; 3 traded without reading
  • August: 25 books brough in; 2 read; 0 traded without reading

Now, as you can see … March, July and August were bad months in terms of how many books I brought into this house. I’m going to excuse July because that is my birthday month 🙂 … but the other two, well I really don’t have an excuse. Oh what the heck, I really don’t have any excuse … other than obsession.

And you know my OCD wouldn’t let me stop there. I had to find out where I was getting all these books:

  • Purchased new: 5
  • PBS Point: 17
  • Bookmooch Point: 11
  • Grandmother: 17
  • Library Book Sale: 13
  • MysteryBookSwap Yahoo group: 7
  • Big Box trade with Carol: 10
  • Won from a blogger: 1
  • Review Book: 7
  • PBS Box-of-Books: 65

Well, it doesn’t take a genius to find out where the problem is. That terrible little thing called Paperbackswap’s Box-of-Books program. But I’m definitely not going to be cancelling my subscription to that. Hehe. Now I am pleased to see that I have only purchased 5 new books this year. That’s great in my opinion!

I will definitely be posting another post like this at the end of the year to take a final count of how many books came into the house. Now I’m off to read … a book that has been sitting on my shelf for quite some time, I need to move some of those out of here so I can have more space 🙂

Mailbox Monday, Meme

Mailbox Monday, September 5, 2011

Tara

Mailbox Mondays

Mailbox Monday is on tour, with August’s location being at Amused by Books.

Another slim mailbox, but a good one. Here’s what I got:

From Bookmooch:

 Now for the first time in one captivating volume, here are the first three mysteries featuring J.A. Jance’s most popular and enduring character, Seattle homicide detective Jonas Piedmont Beaumont. It’s a trio of tales steeped in the atmosphere of the Pacific Northwest that is sure to remind everyone that Jance is a master of modern suspense fiction. In Until Proven Guilty, Beaumont finds himself investigating the murder of a five-year-old girl. But his own obsession and demons could prove dangerous companions in a murky world of blind faith and religious fanaticism as he discovers that he himself is the target of a twisted passion … and a love that can kill. In Injustice for All Beaumont’s well-earned vacation becomes a waking nightmare as he’s forced to comfort a beautiful blonde after she discovers a dead body on a Washington beach. Suddenly a lethal brew of lust, madness, and politics threatens to drag the dedicated Seattle cop into the path of a killer whose dark hunger is rapidly becoming an obsession. And in Trial by Fury a naked, dead body is  found lying in a Dumpster. What’s most shocking is the manner in which the man died – he was lynched. The victim, a high school coach, has left behind a very pregnant wife with a very dangerous secret. And a sixth sense developed over twenty years on the job tells Beaumont that this investigation is going to the lethal extremes of passion, lies, and hatred.

From Paperbackswap:

 A rash of horrifying crimes rips through the city, throwing it into complete chaos and terrorizing everyone living there. Immediately it becomes clear that they are the work not of an amateur but of a calculating, efficient, and deadly mastermind. The city calls on Detective Michael Bennett, pulling him away from a seaside retreat with his ten adopted children, their beloved nanny, Mary Catherine, and his grandfather. Not only does it tear apart their vacation, it leaves the entire family open to attack. Bennett enlists the help of a former colleague, FBI agent Emily Parker. As his affection for Emily grows into something stronger, his relationship with Mary Catherine takes an unexpected turn. All too soon, another appalling crime leads Bennett to a shocking discovery that exposes the killer’s pattern and the earth-shattering enormity of his plan.

Sunday Wrap-Up

Sunday Wrap-Up, September 4, 2011

Tara

Ugh. It has been one terrible week. On Tuesday evening we noticed that our air conditioning upstairs wasn’t cooling. I woke up at 3am on Wednesday drenched in sweat, it was 85 degrees in our upstairs. Needless to say, I stayed home from work waiting on the air conditioning dude to come out. He shows up at 9:30 and checks some thing and says, “I think you’re compressor is going out … they usually run $2500.” Say WHAT?! You’re going to tell me that I can buy an entirely new unit for about $5000, but this one PART is going to cost me HALF of that? Puh-lease! I just don’t think so. Then he tells me that we can buy what he called a dry unit for $3200-3500. Okay. Maybe that’s how we’ll go, I thought. Considering our house is only 7 years old, I would not have ever imagined our air conditioning would die this early. And let’s not even talk about the fact that we have a cheap ass brand that is no longer even in business. I don’t really want to even describe my feelings on that. Luckily, we have two units, so our downstairs was comfortable – unfortunately all of our bedrooms and showers are upstairs, so it really didn’t help us all that much. But at least we were cool while sleeping on the couch for two nights. So he comes back a little later on that afternoon and asks if he can go up in our attic, he wanted to check one more thing. Sure, no problem. Up he goes … by this time it’s sweltering up there, I felt so bad for him. (Naturally this happened on the week that it was 100 degrees here in western Kentucky … not last week when it was 80). He comes back down and says that there are some wires that have melted together and that that for sure is causing the problem, and oh yeah, by the way, you’re lucky your house never caught on fire because of those wires. Yeah, that was a good thing to be told. Ugh. So he makes a phone call and finds out that a local supply store has the piece that we need to replace the melted wiring. He will be back the next day to change it out. Well, something happened and he couldn’t come back on Thursday. So it was another night on the couch for us. Then Friday morning my husband stayed home and waited for him. He shows up and in 30 minutes had the wiring changed out and turned our unit back on. *Drum roll please* ….. we have air conditioning again! There’s no telling how much added pressure that caused on our compressor and based on the fact that it’s probably not in the best shape anyway, we will probably be replacing the thing in the near future. I just hope it’s not this  year, we’ve had enough expenses this year … we really don’t need that too. So that’s my week in a nutshell. It was hell. And it makes me wonder why I wanted to be a homeowner. *End rant*

Okay, so now that I’m off my soap box, I will quickly recap what went on here at the blog since last week:

  • I shared my mailbox. It’s been a lot more controlled the past few weeks, but I still can’t seem to make a dent in my TBR piles….
  • I also answered the Musing Mondays question, something that I hadn’t done all year.
  • I wrapped up my August reading
  • I talked about Polyjuice Potion in the 3rd mini-challenge for the Harry Potter Read-a-Long

And I posted two reviews:

  1. Portrait of a Monster: Joran van der Sloot, a Murder in Peru, and the Natalee Holloway Mystery by Lisa Pulitzer & Cole Thompson
  2. Private by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

So there it is. That’s what you missed last week at the blog. Right now I’ve just started reading a review book, We’re Not Leaving, a non-fiction book about the first responders’ experiences in the minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years after 9/11. And stay tuned because I’m feeling a giveaway of that book 🙂

4/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, Jack Morgan, P, RATING, Read in 2011

2011.50 REVIEW – Private by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

Tara

Private
by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

Copyright: 2010
Pages: 363
Rating: 4/5
Read: Sept. 1– Sept. 3, 2011
Challenge: No challenge
Yearly Count: 50
Format: Print
Source: Personal Copy

Blurb: Former Marine Jack Morgan runs Private, a renowned global investigation company. It is where you go when you need maximum force and maximum discretion. Jack is already deep into the investigation of a multimillion-dollar NFL gambling scandal and the unsolved slayings of eighteen schoolgirls, when a horrific case hits close to home: His best friend’s wife, Jack’s former lover, has been slain. It nearly pushes him over the edge – until he pushes back and devotes all of Private’s resources to tracking down her killer. But Jack doesn’t have to play by the rules. As he closes in on the murderer, he must choose between revenge and justice – even as a workplace love affair threatens to blow the roof off his plans.

Review: Okay, so I will be the first to admit, I am a James Patterson fan. His books are always such mindless, easy reads for me. I can devour them in a couple of days. He’s got some great characters, even better villains and interesting storylines. I also know that people either love him or hate him. And I’m not stupid, I can only imagine that Maxine Paetro wrote 90-95% of this book. I know a lot of people have negative feelings toward him and the way that he constantly seems to have a new book out every month. Honestly, I’m okay with all of that stuff. I don’t really care, I’m not all that invested in who writes the books or who gets the money from my purchases (because let’s be honest, I don’t actually buy a lot of the books I read anyway, most of my books are either acquired used, given to me by my grandmother, or from the library).

But that whole line of thinking could be another post in itself. Personally, I liked this book a lot. I am very intrigued by Jack Morgan’s character. He’s definitely got some baggage and one heck of an evil twin. A former Marine, he saw some nasty stuff in combat and is dealing with some issues surrounding what he experienced. His father was in prison before he died. His mother died during the trial. And as I mentioned, he’s got a seriously wicked twin brother who has just as many problems as Jack does. At one point in the book Jack finally has to face what his memory has been blocking out from his time in combat. That revelation makes him seem to see things a little bit differently in regards to his personal life.

My one complaint with this whole book was that there were so many different storylines going on, I had trouble keeping them straight. There was the Schoolgirl investigation, the NFL gambling scandal and Jack’s best friend’s wife (who was Jack’s former lover) got murdered. Between unraveling those three separate cases, the reader also learns more about Jack and his family dysfunction and a little bit about what Jack went through in combat. It was really a lot to keep straight in 363 pages.

However, although the book was a little over-filled with the three separate investigations, I thought that it was a well written book. It kept me entertained and eagerly anticipating the next book in this new series. I’m very anxious to see what happens between Jack and Justine as well as what Jack’s twin brother will do next. Oh, and let’s also not forget that Jack has gotten somewhat involved with the Mob. Sounds intriguing, right?

Harry Potter, Read-a-Long

HP Read-a-Long Post #3

Tara

Okay, so I’m a few days late posting my response. Oops. Having successfully finished reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, here’s the discussion question:

If you could drink Polyjuice Potion and turn into anyone, living, dead, or even fictional, who would it be?

Okay first of all, I cringe just thinking about what’s actually in the potion and having to actually consume it. *Yuck* I suppose if I could get past that tiny little detail, there are three people on my list, two real, one fiction.

  1. Jackie Kennedy. I would love to walk in Jackie Kennedy’s shoes for a few hours. In the pictures and videos that I have seen of her she has always seemed so regal. The whole idea of the Kennedy family and the whole Camelot aspect of the family … yeah, the Kennedy’s in the 1960s were like royalty in the United States. I would love to experience her life for a little bit.
  2. Princess Diana. Come on, she was a Princess! Real royalty! And she was loved by soooooo many people! She was beautiful, shy, and did I mention royalty? I think I could be princess for a day 🙂 And if I can’t have that, I would definitely go with whoever Prince Harry is dating at the moment – he’s so hot!
  3. Neville Longbottom. This might seem like an odd choice at first, but seriously. That dude was awesome in my opinion. He’s your typical dork who ends up being a cool dude. On a side note, I’d also like to be Matthew Lewis’s (the guy who played Neville in the movies) girlfriend for a day … I crush on him just a little bit 🙂

So there’s my answers. I’m definitely looking forward to getting into book #3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

4/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Nonfiction, P, RATING, Read in 2011, T

2011.49 REVIEW – Portrait of a Monster by Lisa Pulitzer & Cole Thompson

Tara

Portrait of a Monster: Joran van der Sloot, a Murder in Peru, and the Natalee Holloway Mystery
by Lisa Pulitzer & Cole Thompson

Copyright: 2011
Pages: 267
Rating: 45
Read: Aug 28– Sept. 1, 2011
Challenge: No challenge
Yearly Count: 49
Format: Print
Source: Library Book

Blurb: In May 2005, Natalee Holloway disappeared from a high school trip to Aruba. Five years to the day later, twenty-one-year-old Stephany Flores was reported missing in Lima, Peru. Implicated in both crimes was one young man: Joran van der Sloot. A twenty-three-year-old Dutchman, Van der Sloot has become the subject of intense scrutiny by the media and the public in the years since 2005. He was arrested and detained by Aruban authorities in connection with the Holloway disappearance, only to be released after questioning. In 2008, during a Dutch sting operation, he admitted to being present for Holloway’s death – but later recanted his statement. In 2010, on the five-year anniversary of her disappearance, a young business student in Peru named Stephany Flores disappeared, only to be found dead three days later in a hotel room – registered to Van der Sloot. He was arrested for the murder and confessed, but he later claimed he was coerced. This is the first book to offer a probing look at the man tied to two of the most sensational cases of the decades. Portrait of a Monster offers an unflinching look into the workings of fan international manhunt and a chilling portrait of an alleged killer.

Review: I should preface this review with the fact that this will not read like my normal reviews. The subject matter at hand speaks to me in a way I can’t describe. I am of the opinion that Joran van der Sloot is a murderer. If you disagree with this, I am sorry but we will have to agree to disagree. I will not argue my opinion of Joran in the comment section and should I be attacked for my personal opinion regarding Mr. Van der Sloot (as I have been in previous reviews of other true crime books), I will delete any comments of that nature and will close the comment section completely.

I used to be a true crime junkie. I was obsessed with CourtTV and wouldn’t miss a single night of Nancy Grace’s show. I remember the Natalee Holloway case very well. I was in college at the time and was just in shock and awe at the entire situation. I honestly couldn’t believe that so many parents had allowed their children to go to a foreign country with so few chaperones. My parents would have never allowed it for me. Then I couldn’t believe how incredibly stupid and naive Natalee and her friends seemed to be. I understand that they were drinking, but where was the buddy system? They were in a foreign country, they were young, they were drinking, they should have never let Natalee go off by herself with a stranger. Or even if they couldn’t have stopped her, they should have immediately reported it to one of the chaperones. But once I took one look at Joran van der Sloot, I understood. He looked just like them. He looked like your average teenager. He was tall and good looking, he certainly would have caught my attention. He didn’t look evil. But then again … looks can be deceiving.

Fast forward five years. By this time I’m out of college and happily married. Then I hear on the news a name I remembered all too well: Joran van der Sloot. I absolutely could not believe that he was making the news again in connection with a young woman. But this time he made a big mistake: there was a body. Stephany Flores was another beautiful young woman who just happened to have the unfortunate luck of meeting Joran van der Sloot. Needless to say, I’ve always been intrigued by Joran van der Sloot and the Natalee Holloway case. But I really couldn’t believe it when he made the news a second time. He had seemingly fallen of the face of the planet, I always assumed he had moved on and dropped out of sight. Boy was I wrong.

This book was immediately intriguing to me just because of my fascination with Van der Sloot. In alternating chapters, the authors describe what unfolded in the Holloway and Flores cases. There were a lot of interesting tidbits included about Joran that I had no previous knowledge about. Some of the information that I had heard in the media was in direct conflict with what was reported in this book, so some serious questions have arisen in my mind as to certain aspects of both cases. I think I would have preferred this book to include a little more psychological analysis into the mind of Joran than what was included. They brought up numerous points that could have been explored, but this book didn’t examine those. To me, the lack of serious psychological analysis definitely makes the title of this book seem deceiving. To use the term “Portrait” and after reading the blurb, I was expecting more of a psychological book than what this turned out to be. Now, that in no way means that I didn’t like this book. I certainly did. And I definitely feel as if the authors offer a very good look into the two cases and how they unfolded. But seriously, Joran van der Sloot was the last person to be seen with two young women in presumably their last few hours of life, separated by five years to the day … you can’t tell me that there’s not something to that. Dates are important to people, and I think that the authors really could have explored that aspect of these two cases. Maybe someone else will sometime down the road; I definitely feel as if it would be interesting to analyze the psychology regarding the dates. Either way, it definitely makes me wonder what would happen if Joran van der Sloot was out of prison on May 30, 2015.

I will end this by saying that as I was in the middle of writing this review, I saw a tweet from Vinnie Politan (@VinniePolitan) that Joran van der Sloot has been officially charged with the murder and robbery of Stephany Flores in Peru.

Maybe Peru will finally get it right and we won’t have to hear about Mr. Van der Sloot and any other young women.