Friday, December 18, 2009

“Survivor in Death” by JD Robb (Nora Roberts)


“Survivor in Death” by JD Robb (Nora Roberts)
2005, GP Putnam’s Sons
ISBN: 0-399-15208-3

Sometimes you are just in the mood for hard, fast and thrilling. That’s what I can always count on when I pick up a book where Nora Roberts is writing as JD Robb.

A family is murdered in their beds. One was missed. Nixie is the daughter and she had invited her best friend in the world, Linnie, over for a sleep over. But, Nixie wanted an orange fizzy and Linnie didn’t want to get up. Nixie went by herself to the kitchen and that was when her world changed forevermore.

Murder was done to all the members of her family and to her best friend. Gone. Blood everywhere. Done in minutes. But, they didn’t see her. They weren’t looking for her. They took out the father, the mother, the housekeeper, the son and the daughter. Except the daughter was hiding, covered with her mother’s blood and instead her best friend had been murdered in her place.

Detective Eve Dallas takes the case and is sworn to both protect Nixie until the murderers are apprehended and find her a place to be in the world. Somehow it all got very personal as memories of the damage done to this family and to this small survivor of madness reminds both Dallas and her husband Roarke of the injustice they also experienced as children.

You get to see yet another side of Dallas, the people on the New York Police Force she works with and a tantalizing glimpse into the near future combined with tough crime fighting that will have you on the edge of your seat.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

“San Francisco – Then and Now” by Eric Kos, Dennis Evanosky and Karl Mondon


“San Francisco – Then and Now” by Eric Kos, Dennis Evanosky and Karl Mondon
2009, Thunder Bay Press
ISBN: 978-1-60710-003-4

I don’t know about you, but I love looking at before and after pictures. Before she lost weight and after. Before the bathroom was remodeled and after. How about history? In “San Francisco – Then and Now” we have an opportunity to look at scenes from earlier days and then on each opposing page of the book, and from the exact same perspectives, the same scene as it is in 2009.

Eric Kos, Dennis Evanosky and photographer Karl Mondon have teamed up for yet another gorgeous book. This one, as the name suggests, is about San Francisco, one of America’s most famous cities.

Evanosky and Kos combed dusty halls and library archives for the historical pictures used in the book. From an original collection of over 300 historical pictures, many not seen in years, the 70 used in this book were chosen. Karl Mondon, a life-long San Francisco native, helped to identify the locations of the old pictures and then tromped about the city of San Francisco to take the incredibly sharp and beautiful up-to-date pictures. The perspectives demanded that he climb atop the San Francisco Bay Bridge and the Ferry Building.

Each set of pictures in the book is accompanied by “Then and Now” stories. Who lived there then and who lives there now. How the sites have changed in years gone by and how some have remained the same.

It’s always fun to learn of a story behind the story. And here's a secret: have a look at the pictures of Alcatraz on pages 24 and 25. That's Evanosky and Kos standing next to the cells.

Even people who have lived in San Francisco their whole lives will find something new to learn about their historic city. “San Francisco – Then and Now” can serve as a good-will ambassador to the rest of the world for years to come.

Good job guys!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

“The Geometry of Sisters” by Luanne Rice


“The Geometry of Sisters” by Luanne Rice
2009, Bantam Books
ISBN: 978-0-553-80513-0

Our library has a book bin outside the front door and in the dead of night people come to leave their orphan books. On my trip to the library the day I checked out “The Geometry of Sisters” I stopped by the box and saw an old textbook of beginning geometry. Geometry was one of my favorite subjects in high school and it had been a long time since I’d done anything with it. I had a yen to explore the world of numbers and angles again.

Then, wouldn’t you know I go inside the library and in the new book section, “The Geometry of Sisters” practically screams my name. Psychic stuff is funny that way. Anyway, I checked out the book and haven’t been able to put it down.

This is a really terrific book. I’ve read other things by Luanne Rice and I do like the way she tells a story. I was not disappointed with this one.
It has to do with the close ties between sisters and how secrets can tear apart relationships and families. How we react to things and do the only thing we can do and we can manage to really mess things up. And, it’s how to fix things too.

I loved the geometry part and was able to slide back in time to where I also got lost in the infinity, the logical sense, the oneness of numbers. I’m looking forward to that old beat up text book too. “Introductory Geometry – An Informal Approach” by James R. Smart.

Friday, December 4, 2009

“Under the Done” by Stephen King


“Under the Done” by Stephen King
2009, Scribner
ISBN: 978-1-4391-4850-1

“Under the Dome” by Stephen King is 1,074 pages long. I weighed it after my wrists started hurting and I had to put on my wrist splints. It is 3.8 pounds. It doesn’t feel like 3.8 pounds. It feels like it weighs about 7 pounds. Now, for the first time in my life I have a better perspective where I can appreciate small losses of weight when I step on the scale in the morning.

Okay, to the book. I absolutely loved it. I positively, absolutely loved it. If you’ve never read a Stephen King book in your life before you will love it. If you are already a Stephen King fan you will know what to expect: horror that seeps out of everyday life.

There are always so many ways to tell a story and I love the way Stephen King does it. It’s like being able to swim underwater for long periods of time. As a writer I can appreciate it not being able to do it myself very well. It’s the ability to give bones to a character and to relationships. To take the time (thus a very long book) to paint for the person reading the book an exact picture of what is going on.

Yet, there is always that underlying talent of King’s where he says to himself, “But, what if?”

Remember when you were a kid and examined a bunch of busy ants? Remember when you and your friend sat there with a magnifying glass and smoked them? When did you start feeling remorse for having done that dirty deed? If ever? Did doing that cruel thing as a child help to develop the upstanding, moral character you are now? Or, do you still kill ants? Personally, I haven’t felt much lately when I squash them as they send their scouts into my kitchen. Now, I’m going to have to do a re-think on the matter. That much really unsettled my breakfast.

I’m not giving anything away here, am I? Okay, the Dome comes down on a small town in Maine one day. Nobody can get in and nobody can get out. Nobody can see it either. People get cut in half as it comes down. People crash into it. Animals do too. So do the birds. Picture this: You’ve got a really bad-ass politician running the town. This is perfect for a grab for power.

There’s a whole lot more to it. I don’t want to tell you the whole thing here. I’m just saying you will enjoy this story. You will probably call upon some unsettling memories you have too. It’s a win-win situation any way you look at it. Enjoyment of a horror story and a little introspective look into your own business.

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