January LaVoy - The Irresponsible Reader

Yeah, I have a daunting TBR stack, but I also have too many books on my “To Write About” pile, and it’s bugging me. So, I’m cutting myself some slack, and am clearing the deck of everything from 2019 and before that I haven’t made time for. This was painful to do, I was looking forward to writing about most of these, but I’m just not going to get to them–and the 2020 books are starting to pile up, too. So, in 144 characters or less, here’s me cutting myself some slack.

(Click on the cover for an official site with more info)

	Rivers of London, Volume 4: Detective Stories by Andrew Cartmel, Ben Aaronovitch, Lee Sullivan Brief flashbacks showing what Peter et al. get up to between novels/comic series. A fun idea, well executed. Would enjoy another one like this.
	Rivers of London Volume 5: Cry Fox by Andrew Cartmel, Ben Aaronovitch, Lee Sullivan This was a lot of fun, and showed a new side of a cool recurring character.
	Rivers of London: Action At A Distance by Andrew Cartmel, Ben Aaronovitch, Brian Williamson, Stefani Renne A serial killer hunt and Nightingale backstory. Great combo.(some nice Molly material, too)
	Geerhardus Vos: Reformed Biblical Theologian, Confessional Presbyterian by Danny E. Olinger A biography and a discussion of his Vos’ major works. This was an excellent way to gear up for my 2019 Vos reading. Inspirational stuff.
	The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes, Kirby Heyborne (Narrator) A light Urban Fantasy about misfit monsters. Enjoyable enough to come back for more.
	Open Season by C. J. Box, David Chandler (Narrator) Series Debut about a WY Game Warden with a nose for mystery. Loved the dual POVs (Pickett, his daughter). Addicting.
	Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m a Supervillain by Richard Roberts, Emily Woo Zeller (Narrator) A cute story about kids of super-heroes/super-villains trying to get started in the biz without their parents’ involvement. Went on longer than it needed to, but fun enough to try volume 2.
	Dragon Bones by Patricia Briggs, Joe Manganiello (Narrator) Manganiello is a great choice for narrator. Nice little stand-alone fantasy story. Great dragons.
	Savage Run by C. J. Box, David Chandler (Narrator) Almost as good as the first Pickett novel. Mrs. Pickett gets to shine here, too. I’m so glad I finally got to this series.
	Inkheart by Cornelia Funke, Lynn Redgrave (Narrator) Gets a bit redundant, but I loved the concept. Better than the movie (which I kind of liked), but still could’ve been better.
	Undeath and Taxes by Drew Hayes, Kirby Heyborne (Narrator) A little better than the first volume, an enjoyable way to spend a few hours.
	Dragon Blood by Patricia Briggs, Joe Manganiello (Narrator) OK, so Dragon Bones wasn’t a stand-alone. Could’ve been, but it was nice to get a little more with these characters/this world. Still, give me a Briggs Urban Fantasy above this.
	The Imputation of the Active Obedience of Christ in the Westminster Standards by Alan D. Strange I love this series. Strange packs so much material into this tiny package. Excellent stuff.
	Badlands by C. J. Box, January LaVoy (Narrator) Cassie takes over The Highway series and moves to a new Oil Town in North Dakota. Midwest Winter, Drugs, Murder, Corruption and Too Much Money wreak havoc on her first week on the job.
	Zombie Spaceship Wasteland: A Book by Patton Oswalt (Audiobook) The memoir chapters are nice, the comedic bits are odd (and funny). An interesting look at Oswalt.
	No Sweat: How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime of Fitness by Michelle Segar, Ph.D. A great way to look at keeping (or getting) yourself motivated to exercise.

The House of Secrets

by Brad Meltzer, Tod Goldberg, Scott Brick (Narrator), January LaVoy(Narrator)

Unabridged Audiobook, 10 hrs, 14 min.
Hachette Audio, 2016
Read: September 22 – 28, 2016

I’ve appreciated the work of Meltzer (comics only, haven’t tried a novel) and Tod Goldberg in the past, so I was intrigued by the idea of them working together, but the book itself just didn’t seem like my cup of tea. Then I heard them interviewed on The Writers Panel podcast and I changed my mind (give it a listen, it’s fun).

Boy was that a mistake. Mostly.

So, the host of a Ripley’s Believe it or Not-esque show all about the crazy conspiracies, hidden stories, and unexplained throughout history is about to retire but is killed in an auto accident. His son and daughter are in the car with him — Junior survives with minor bumps and bruises, Hazel is seriously injured and suffers a traumatic brain injury. She pretty much forgets who she is.

She starts investigating her own background and starts finding questions about her father and his show — there seems to be more than just a TV show afoot. And…yeah, I just can’t care enough to do more than this, I’ve already spent more time on this than I wanted to.

It was a fun, potboiler-y book that was entertaining enough to justify the ten hours — and then the ending, the explanation for everything, and the denouement were horrible. Not just disappointing, but worse. It really made me mad.

I typically like Scott Brick’s narration — but something about the approach he used this time just didn’t work for me. I can’t put my finger on why — maybe it was a bit too aggressive sounding? Like I said, I really don’t know. I did find LaVoy’s work interesting and engaging, however. Maybe it was the contrast between the two that left Brick’s performance wanting (I don’t think so, but it’s a thought that occurs).

As frustrating as I found the story (eventually beyond frustrating), it was an entertaining, gripping book. Structurally sound, moved along at a good pace — everything you want in escapist fiction. But man . . . the ending (and really all of it, therefore, as it is a mystery) was plain ol’ bad. The first 9-ish (maybe 8-ish) hours were good enough that I can’t rate this too low (but man, the ending made me want to).

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Tag: January LaVoy

Clearing the Deck: Tweet-length thoughts about books I can’t find time to write about

The House of Secrets (Audiobook) by Brad Meltzer, Tod Goldberg, Scott Brick, January LaVoy

The House of Secrets