Dan's February Readds

[Dan in AZ]

1. Thr Reversal, Michael Connelly. Haller and Bosch. Bosch seems to be a little different personality when teamed with Haller.

2. Fall of Giants, Ken Follett. Historical fiction covering 1912 to 1924 in England, U.S., Russia and Germany. Labor movement, WWI and women's sufferage are part of the story. BFB and 1st in a trilogy.

3. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson. As good as advertised. I only wish I knew more about Sweden because that could only increase the enjoyment. Lacking basic knowledge of Sweden is kind of like reading O.O.O.

4. The Rackets, Thomas Kelly. Teamsters local is focus of the book. Very well done.

5. First Degree, David Rosenfelt. Pretty far-out plot, but the story worked and I like the characters.

6. The Sleeping Dragon, Miyuki Miyabe. Popular Japanese writer, but I think the book suffered a lot in translation. Some of the dialog was painful.

3.

[Marcy]

Dan, what did you think of Fall of Giants? I liked the big historical perspective, but became annoyed at the many coincidences which were needed to keep the characters somewhat related.

[Susie]

I still need to read The Reversal. Did you enjoy it Dan?

[Barry]

The Rackets was a surprise for me. I got it as a loan from one of my 'swappers' and enjoyed the book.
My feeling on Bosch in The Reversal was that Connelly was making amends for the over the top performance in 9 Dragons. This seems to be an ongoing trend.

[Melodie]

I like Rosenfelt's Andy Carpenter books and the characters are what do it for me, too!

[Dan in AZ]

Marcy wrote: "Dan, what did you think of Fall of Giants? I liked the big historical perspective, but became annoyed at the many coincidences which were needed to keep the characters somewhat related."

I agree that some of the coincidences were a stretch, Marcy, but unless the story was told in separate pieces connected only by history, I'm not sure how else you could go about it. While the politics leading up to WWI dragged a little, overall I rated the book highly and will read the rest of the trilogy.

[Dan in AZ]

Susie in KS wrote: "I still need to read The Reversal. Did you enjoy it Dan?"

Hard not to enjoy Michael Connelly, Susie. Haller is a much lighter character than Bosch (even Harry lightens up a little when he's in the Haller book), and as Harry gets a little long in the tooth, I see Haller as Connelly's next main character. That said, I don't think Connelly takes Haller as seriously as he did Bosch evidenced by the upcoming movie based on the Reversal. He never sold the rights to Bosch.

[Dan in AZ]

Melodie wrote: "I like Rosenfelt's Andy Carpenter books and the characters are what do it for me, too!"

Yeah, Mel, the Carpenter series is an easy read about someone who doesn't take himself too seriously. It's a good one to slip in between some of the harder edged plots and characters.

[Ann]

Dan - good month! I agree with you that Harry is different around Mickey, in an interesting way. It seems to add a dimension to Harry we haven't seen before, as well as his relationship with Maddie does as well. I can't remember what Connelly might have said last year when he was here about selling the Haller book vs. not selling Harry's to date. That could change with The Reversal, if they make that into a movie!

Daniel wrote: "1. The Reversal, Michael Connelly. Haller and Bosch. Bosch seems to be a little different personality when teamed with Haller."

[Cathy]

Marcy wrote: "Dan, what did you think of Fall of Giants? I liked the big historical perspective, but became annoyed at the many coincidences which were needed to keep the characters somewhat related."

Not Dan...but I liked it a lot....I wish I had waited until the other two books were written to read it.

[Cathy]

Barry wrote: "My feeling on Bosch in The Reversal was that Connelly was making amends for the over the top performance in 9 Dragons. This seems to be an ongoing trend.

..."

It's a lot to make up for too.