false 11 220 189 true 5696129 read 3 true 1899363 currently-reading 23 true 1899362 to-read 5 true 2213540 unfinished 100 false 5171009 feb-08-thru-jan-09 94 false 5171246 feb-09-thru-jan-10 61 false 4056775 read-non-fiction 33 false 2283689 read-mysteries 20 false 3250096 read-scifi 14 false 3250149 read-science 10 false 5971607 to-read-jalna-books 9 false 4965858 to-read-sacketts 8 false 4965856 read-sacketts 6 false 5971709 read-jalna-books 1 false 2187636 my-next-mysteries http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78847170 Rosebud: the Story of Orson Welles (Hardcover) by David Thomson
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63702286 to: Devil in a Blue Dress (Easy Rawlins Mysteries) by Walter Mosley
bookshelves: feb-09-thru-jan-10, read-mysteries
I've been waiting for an introduction to Easy Rawlins, and this, the first story, finally turned up at my nearby library branch. There's a certain African-American authenticity about the post-WWII world where this ex-soldier lives (although how would I know?), and a brand of blood and mayhem that is a bit different from other 1940s L.A. crime stories. I will look for more. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78416195 to: That Old Cape Magic (Hardcover) by Richard Russo
bookshelves: feb-09-thru-jan-10
Russo has his own kind of magic that keeps me enchanted to the very last page. This story has tragic moments and missed opportunities, but Jack Griffin finally comes to terms, a bit, with his past and himself.

In some way - not that he's imitative - Russo's novels remind me of the early ones of John Irving, with people I root for and truly like, vivid settings I appreciate, a storyline that is clever and touched with reality, and an ending that is satisfying without artificial tidiness. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78069690 Love Song to the Plains (Paperback) by Mari Sandoz
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77983190 to: Treasure Island (Great Illustrated Classics) by Robert Louis Stevenson
bookshelves: feb-09-thru-jan-10
Recently I attended a fabulous production of a play version of Treasure Island and felt compelled to read the classic, which has been on my shelf since I was a kid but probably remained unread for all those many decades. It's a rousing, well-written adventure but too full of sea-faring terms for a midwestern landlubber like me. RLS's characters are standard action figures, even jim the young narrator, but I forgive him that because of his vivid inn, island, and seascape and the thrill of the adventure. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77536380 to: The Light Fantastic (Discworld, #2) by Terry Pratchett
bookshelves: feb-09-thru-jan-10, read-scifi
Pratchett's works are more fantasy than science fiction. I don't usually indulge in the former category, but Pratchett makes me sometimes laugh out loud, which is rare in my reading life. The comparison with Douglas Adams is obvious but apt.

Discworld #1 didn't have much of a conclusion, forcing the reader into the next volume, a tactic I somewhat resent. It was worth the read however, and I appreciate The Light Fantastic's wrap-up -- of sorts. Twoflower the tourist seems to have gone home, and Rincewind is presumably going back to wizard school after his series of completely unlikely adventures. A hoot, all in all. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25716779 to: The Grave Maurice (Hardcover) by Martha Grimes
bookshelves: feb-08-thru-jan-09, read-mysteries
Not the best of Martha Grimes. I hope she hasn't gone toward the "churning them out" method. But even the best are allowed the occasional slip, and Richard Jury and company still have my interest. This one just dropped down one star. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67882610 to: Whiteoak Brothers (Whiteoaks of Jalna, Book 6) by Mazo De La Roche
bookshelves: feb-09-thru-jan-10, read-jalna-books
Jalna #6 involved a gold mine investment scam, and all the Whiteoaks but Renny fell into it. This kind of risky sure thing makes me nervous, and that major part of the plot plus a brief piece about a lamb slaughter rather put me off. In addition, de la Roche scattered her story line among most of the Whiteoaks, a large and hardy bunch by this time and thus a bit clumsy to include without sudden shifts here and there. Still it's well worth the read, especially if one is determined, as I am, to imbibe the entire chronicle. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67882552 to: Whiteoak Heritage (Whiteoaks of Jalna, Book 5) by Mazo De La Roche
bookshelves: feb-09-thru-jan-10, read-jalna-books
Jalna #5 chronicles Renny's return from WWI and his reinstatement as head of the Whiteoaks, with his older sister and four younger brothers as well as the older generation of uncles and the irrepressible Adeline, his grandmother, to which add sister Meg's former love and his daughter, Eden's "older woman" and her tenants, and horses, dogs, and some ancillary characters. Canada is getting crowded, but it's all a pleasant, nicely written and plotted read.

De La Roche discusses hardly at all WWI, but perhaps Canada didn't fell its effects as much, or perhaps it just didn't fit her story. But that's okay; it's a series of novels, not a history. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76796702 to: Bullet for a Star (Hardcover) by Stuart M. Kaminsky
bookshelves: feb-09-thru-jan-10, read-mysteries
This is really detective-lite. It's Hollywood in the 1940s, very stagey with cute references to, for instance, The Maltese Falcon and cameos by such names as Edward G. Robinson and Jack Warner - and they are little more than names. The plot isn't even that interesting. But it's quite a bit of fun and certainly easy reading. ]]>