JANUARY BOOKS

I've decided that each month I should give a brief summary of the books I read that month as an overview of what I might recommend.

Power Play by Joseph Finder -- (first book I've read by this author) I might classify it as a corporate suspense novel; story of a corporate retreat at a hunting lodge where the company VIPs are taken hostage and saved by the low man on the totem pole. Really enjoyed!

Light in Shadow by Jayne Ann Krentz -- Romantic suspense; woman with hidden identity can sense emotions in the walls of a building and gets involved in a murder case. Good.

Truth or Dare by Jayne Ann Krentz -- Romantic suspense; follow-up novel to Light in Shadow. Not nearly as good.

Pandora's Daughter by Iris Johansen -- Romantic supernatural suspense; strange concept of a woman coming into her psychic powers being chased by crazed drug lord and killer. Usually like this author's books, but this one was a little too out there.

Protect and Defend by Vince Flynn -- Patriotic political thriller; Mitch Rapp is back and dangerous as ever! I love this series of books--makes you really wonder what is going on in our government.

Scarlet by Stephen R. Lawhead -- Historical fiction; Old Welsh retelling of Robin Hood--this is Book 2 and focuses on the character of Will Scarlet. Better than Book 1 (Hood)--loved it!

Stone Cold by David Baldacci -- (see previous review)

Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-hunting Soccer Mom by Julie Kenner-- I picked this one up for fun to try out! The writing is not high quality, but the concept of the book is fun. Okay.

Welcome to 2008

It is the start of a new year, and I am pledging to make a few changes in my life. I want to do a better job of keeping this blog updated for a start. I would also like to read fewer books (yes, I really said that!), and I would like to read better quality books. I love my junk books, but, like junk food, I need in indulge in fewer of them. I've already got seven books under my belt for the new year but only one I feel the need to comment on.

David Baldacci's books are fun, but I must say that I have especially enjoyed his "Camel Club" series. In 2005 Baldacci wrote The Camel Club about a group of 4 Washington D.C. misfits who witness a murder and are drawn into political intrigue. The suspense is well written, and the story is great, but it is the group of characters that make this more than your average thriller. Caleb Shaw the librarian, Milton Farb the computer genius, Reuben Rhodes the blue-collar worker and Viet Nam vet, and "Oliver Stone" the man with no past make a mismatched group, whose stated goal is to learn the truth. Together with Secret Service Agent Alex Ford, they find out the truth in their own way.

Baldacci followed The Camel Club with The Collectors (2006) in which we meet Annabelle Conroy, a con artist with a vendetta who becomes an honorary member of the Camel Club. In 2007 he published Stone Cold, which I just finished. Stone Cold features two main stories; Annabelle has conned her mother's murderer, casino owner Jerry Bagger, out of 40 million dollars, and he will stop at nothing to get it back. In the second story, people from Oliver's past are turning up dead, and the killer will turn to focus on Oliver next. His secrets will need be unburied in order to have a chance to save himself.

Baldacci is great at creating surprising characters. The calculating killer in this book considers himself a loving family man who is a great father. Oliver carries a sign in Washington demanding the truth, but his personal secrets are the deepest of all. I truly enjoy these characters and believe these books to be superior political suspense stories. On the other hand, I just read Baldacci's other most recent book Simple Genius and did not care for it much. To me there is a difference between suspending belief a little for a story and something being absolutely ridiculous. The Camel Club stories are worth suspending some belief for.

Still Too Busy to Read

As you can see, I still haven't had much time in the past month to read, and I doubt I'll have much time to read before the new year. I fit in a few books--the literary equivalent of fast food--but wasn't overly excited about them. I usually enjoy the romantic suspense of Jayne Ann Krentz and Heather Graham, and "Falling Awake" and "The Seance" were probably above average. I enjoy the paranormal aspect Heather Graham used--it makes the book a little cheesy but more fun.

I have been looking forward to "Simple Genius" by David Baldacci, but it let me down. It was too crazy. When I read political suspense fiction, I like to think that it might happen, even if it is highly unlikely. When I think that there is no way it could happen, it crosses the line into the ridiculous.

Too Busy to Read

I haven't forgotten that I have a book blog--I've just been busy helping other people add to their own libraries. I chaired the Scholastic Book Fair at our elementary school this week. I love doing it, but it is an exhausting job. It involves endurance, patience, and a loud voice. I can tell you that the hot books were "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney, " "Ark Angel" by Anthony Horowitz, and "The Dangerous Book for Boys" by Conn and Hal Iggulden.

I managed to fit in two books in the past three weeks. "Force of Nature" by Suzanne Brockmann was the typical romantic suspense novel except for two things--it included two romances and one was a gay male romance. I enjoy Brockmann's storylines but often avoid her books due to the bad language, but I decided to give her books another go. I was surprised that this book spent equal time on a heterosexual romance and a homosexual romance. I was repulsed and fascinated at the same time. The two romances were portrayed in a very similar way except for the amount of explicitness. I think it will probably be a long time before I try one of her books again.

"The First Commandment" by Brad Thor fit into the patriotic American spy thriller genre. The main character of the series--Scot Harvath--is the rugged American version of James Bond (without the tongue-in-cheek humor), rescuing our country from the big, bad terrorists. I enjoy these books, but Scot Harvath is sometimes just too good to be true, getting out of bad situations with too much ease. They are fun, simplified versions of Tom Clancy, but I think that Vince Flynn is a much better author in this genre.

"Hood"

Robin Hood is one of my favorite legends, so I was happy to find this take on his story. Stephen R. Lawhead sets his version of Robin Hood in the 1100's in Wales. (In his comments, Lawhead makes his case for this being a more accurate version of the story than the English Sherwood Forest version we are all familiar with.) I found this book a little slow, but the story of how Bran ap Brychan was driven to the forest by the loss of his kingdom was fascinating. There is a slightly supernatural aspect to how Bran becomes "the Hood," wearing a black cape that resembles a raven.

This is the first book in a trilogy, which is a good thing because Bran barely becomes the Raven King before the book ends. "Scarlet," the second book in the trilogy came out last month, and I will certainly be reading it soon to find out what happens to Bran.

"The Wilde Women"

I debated about whether or not to post a review on this book, but I laughed so hard reading it that I couldn't resist! Paula Wall's "The Wilde Women" is the most enjoyable book I have read in a long time. Living in Depression-era Five Points, Tennessee, Pearl and Kat Wilde are sexy and self-confident but share the family curse of falling for the wrong men. When one day Pearl catches her sister Kat wearing Pearl's favorite pair of shoes and her fiance, Pearl leaves town for three years and then comes back with a vengeance. Her return has an effect on every person in town, and we hear all their stories.

This book is primarily about the relationships between men and women, wives and husbands, lovers and want-to-be lovers. It is also about sex--although there is very little sex that actually happens in the book. The author's slyly insightful comments about male-female relationships are hilarious, as are the colorful characters who reside this southern town. I loved the people of Five Points and couldn't wait to find out more about them.

Usually I don't discuss books with David that I am reading because he just isn't interested. With this book, he kept wanting to know what I was laughing about. Then I would read him lines from the book and get him laughing. This book is not graphic, but it is "racy"--the type of book where you might think, "I can't believe she just said that!" I loved the humor, the twisting plot, and the outrageousness of the characters.

"Grave Sight" & "Grave Surprise"

A Halloween treat for me! I just discovered that Charlaine Harris (author of the Sookie Stackhouse vampire books that I like) has another recent series of books--just strange enough to be fun at this time of year.

Harper Connelley and her step-brother, Tolliver Lang, spend their time traveling around the country looking for bodies--yes, that's Harper's job. When Harper was 15 years old, she was struck by lightening. She is left with a few lingering side effects--one of those being the ability to find the dead. When she knows where the body is, she can sense the cause of death and sometimes the name of the person. Her brother manages her career, and they travel together to earn a living. Strange, I know, but the books remind me of one of my favorite TV shows, "Supernatural."

The mysteries that Harper and Tolliver solve are fairly typical and not particularly gory (thank goodness), but the supernatural aspect is what interests me. I tend to like quirky stories--what can I say?