dec 2013 - sandi

[Sandi]

Happy New Year to everyone! Here are my December reads:

Top Read

Prince of Thieves
Chuck Hogan
An excellent dark and gritty character driven crime drama. All of the criminal jobs depicted in the book seemed feasible, the Charlestown setting added to the realism of the story, and the ending of the book was particularly well done.

Good Reads

A Coffin for Dimitrios
Eric Ambler
While this is considered a classic of the spy genre and I have enjoyed the author's work before (especially Epitaph for a Spy) I had a hard time finishing this book. The writing style, which was pretty much flashbacks and info dumping, just did not engage me. I did think the overall plot was interesting and found the details of criminal activity in Europe between the wars fascinating though so the book was not a total loss.

Snow Crash
Neal Stephenson
This science fiction novel had so much going on that, at times, it was hard to know what was happening. It mixed Sumerian language, religion, computers, and a number of other things (some of which I sure I did not catch). The two lead characters though were quite well drawn and the narration of this audio by Jonathan Davis highlighted the humor and kept the plot moving at a brisk pace.

Way Past Legal
Norman Green
While the plot was perhaps a bit on the thin side the characters, first person voice, and Maine seacoast locales made this another enjoyable read by this author.

The Crazy School: A Madeline Dare Mystery
I thought this was much better than the first book in this series though the plotting of the actual mystery was still the main negative. I decided to listen to this on audio since the narrator, Hillary Huber, has the kind of cynical world weary though snarky voice that really fit the main character.

The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy
Bill Simmons
The author's highly opinionated take on the greatest players in NBA history etc. Like most of his work, far too long with many juvenile rambling asides. I did enjoy his views on the players and their place in the history of hoops though and thought his pyramid scheme for rating them was quite well thought out.

OK Read

Skin Tight
Carl Hiaasen
I have enjoyed Hiaasen's work in the past but this book did not do much for me. The humor seemed forced and I did not much care about the whole plastic surgery or investigative tabloid TV angles. One bright spot was the narration which was done by George Wilson who is one of my favorites.

[Dan in AZ]

Lots of variety for the month.

[Carol/Bonadie]

I was thinking the same thing as I read your list!

[Ann]

Sandi: great month! I will check out Snow Crash I've been in a science fiction mood lately.
It is so true that a spot on narrator can really engage you with a character!
Sandi wrote: " I decided to listen to this on audio since the narrator, Hillary Huber, has the kind of cynical world weary though snarky voice that really fit the main character."