This morning I heard the phrase, “her two perfect teeth,” describing the surgically enhanced and improved trophy wife of an entertainment executive. Which made no sense at all to me and, frankly distracted me from what he went on to read.
Two minutes or so later, it hit me that what the narrator had actually said was actually, “too-perfect teeth” (punctuation is a guess). Which is actually fitting for the context.
So, here’s what happened here in December, 2017. Good way (generally speaking) to end the year! (I’ll get to the 2017 as a whole thing later today, I hope)
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
||
|
Nothin’, nada, zip, zilch . . . been awhile since I’ve done that!
How was your month?
We all know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover (yet, publishing companies spend big bucks on cover design/art). But, the opening sentence(s)/paragraph(s) are fair game. So, when I stumble on a good opening (or remember one and pull it off the shelves), I’ll throw it up here. Dare you not to read the rest of the book.
On the whole, we’re a murderous race.
According to Genesis, it took as few as four people to make the planet too crowded to stand, and the first murder was a fratricide. Genesis says that in a fit of jealous rage, the very first child born to mortal parents, Cain, snapped and popped the first metaphorical cap in another human being. The attack was a bloody, brutal, violent, reprehensible killing. Cain’s brother Abel probably never saw it coming.
As I opened the door to my apartment, I was filled with a sense of empathic sympathy and intuitive understanding.
For freaking Cain.
from Dead Beat by Jim Butcher
I had a pretty good month, it seems. I gave out a whole lot of 4 Stars — which means I read/talked about a whole lot of good books. Good way to spend the penultimate month of 2017.
Here’s what happened here in November.
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
How was your month?
as the title implies, I’m in the middle of this book, so this is not a review, just some thoughts mid-way through.
—–
Ali Dalglish, the best criminal profiler this side of Will Graham or Tony Hill, with a Tarantino twist is back. She’s not an amateur like she was in In the Still, and has a couple of more cases under her belt.
Then she’s called in to help with what seems like a lay-up of a case. Which is the biggest signal to a reader that this will be horrible — and boy howdy, this is. I’m at 49% and this is already one of the darkest, most twisted books I’ve ever read. And somehow, don’t ask me how, Chadwick has me loving this — I’m not getting a kick out of the depravity, mind you — but Ali and her interaction with her team and everyone else, I just can’t get enough of. But man . . . this book will eradicate any lingering suspicions you might have had about the reality and force of human depravity.
Actually, that reminds me: I could use a lot more of Marlene (Ali’s friend/assistant/Watson-y figure).
At this point, I’m sort of rooting for the killer — at least who Chadwick is making us think is the killer. The victims/intended victims thus far could be the primary antagonists in a book from just about every other crime series. I’m pretty sure I’ve figured out one of the mysteries — I’m fully prepared to be proven wrong, though.
Anyway, I’ll finish this tomorrow, so you can expect to see a full post early next week. But you should really read this book — and its predecessor, if you haven’t yet. I practically guarantee that you’ll love it.
October’s been a frustrating month for me, and I’m glad to put it behind me. Almost everything took a day or more longer than I thought it would to read, I had a hard time writing a few posts (don’t ask me why), and like I mentioned yesterday, I got knocked out by a stupid cold for a few days. On the other hand, looking back at this post, I read some pretty cool books — and when I can focus on that, this is a pretty fun hobby. And If I can accomplish most of what I want to in November, this’ll be a much happier post next month.
But enough of that, here’s what happened here in October.
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 (again, not the book’s fault — my problem) |
|
|
|
|
How was your month?
My numbers were a little off — which surprised me, really, I thought I had some busy weeks. But, oh well, I seemed to really like almost everything (average rating of 3.99 this month). Maybe I’m getting soft. Or I’m just reading a lot of good books.
Anyway, here’s what happened here in September.
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Not sure yet, at least |
|
|
How was your month?
The end of the month snuck up on me, I kept wondering why I saw all these August Wrap-Up posts Thursday night, and then I looked at the calendar. So I paused my other post and got this assembled (frankly, that worked out pretty well for me, I just didn’t have the energy to finish the other post). Turns out that August was a pretty good month — I liked everything I read, most things I liked a lot.
Anyway, here’s what happened here in August.
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
| (still deciding) | (still deciding) |
|
|
|
How was your month?
I didn’t finish nearly as much as I’d intended to this month — every book I’ve read over the last couple of weeks has taken me at least 1 more day than I’d estimated/planned. There are two books I was supposed to read and write about in July that I haven’t started yet — whoops.
Still, I read a lot of pretty good stuff this month, and that’s the important thing, right?
So, here’s what happened here in July.
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
||
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
How was your month?
Two years ago, we were all hyped-up about the release of Go Set a Watchman — I just stumbled onto something I wrote just before the release and got to thinking about the book. I was — and remain — very mixed about it. There are some people who’ve refused to read it because of the way it was released — and I sort of wish I was one of those. But my greed for more Harper Lee got the better of me.
Anyway, I was too busy to come up with anything fresh, so I thought I’d take another look at this, see if anyone else had some memories about this (then) much-anticipated release?
Doing my weekly grocery shopping today, I noticed that some eager-beaver stockperson had put out Go Set a Watchman already. Now, I don’t normally buy food and books at the same place — but, c’mon! A day early, a few bucks off, how could I not?
Well, pretty easily, it turns out. The sales system wouldn’t let me purchase the book. It kept saying, “Do Not Sell.” The clerk tried every trick she knew, the manager who was innocently passing by only to get roped into helping her did, too. I asked, “Is it maybe because the book is being released tomorrow?” Light bulbs went off over their heads — yeah, that was it. Probably. It was as good a guess as any.
So, I thanked them for their efforts and went away with just the food I was supposed to get.
Still, having it in my cart — in my hot little hands got me thinking for a minute. More than a minute, actually. I don’t remember the last time I thought that much about a book before I actually, you know, read it. This was the literary equivalent to being a ticket holder to The Phantom Menace pre-release showing (yup, I had one, and I missed the show — don’t ask, it’s a long, embarrassing story with the punchline of me buying two sets of tickets to that letdown). As formative as the book was for me (and many), there’s just as many ways this could go wrong as…well, The Phantom Menace. Except, this time we’re all braced for it not being that good.
Right? I mean, no one expects another To Kill a Mockingbird, do they? It’s mostly a question of how big a let down is this going to be. Are we going to end up wishing that Lee had been dead for a few decades before this saw the light of day, so she wouldn’t have to witness the backlash? Or is it just going to be mildly disappointing? A “close, but no cigar” kind of thing.
But with it there in my shopping cart, I started to wonder. . . Dare I hope? Is there a chance that it’s actually good? After all of us wishing for decades that she’d put out a body of work as good/almost as good as Mockingbird, but resigned to reality — are we now going to be lamenting anew her small literary output?
I know reviews are starting to come in — I’ve managed to avoid them all so far (but it’s getting harder). I never bother with preview chapters of anything — they’re never enough. So all of this may be moot — I don’t know, and probably won’t until sometime Wednesday at this rate. But, I gotta tell ya, I’m nervous — with just a hint of eager anticipation.
What about you? Are you going to read it? Are you going to jump on it, or take a wait and see approach? Do you expect a big disappointment?
Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén
