Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Knots and Crosses

Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin
Mystery


This is a ghoulish type of mystery. A series of girls have been abducted in Edinburgh. It all revolves around John Rebus. Rebus is a no nonsense kind of guy. He drinks too much, smokes too much and seems to be on the outside looking in at the police department. His brother is a drug pusher and he doesn't even know? He was a member of the elite SAS and now he suffers from hallucinations. What do all these abductions have to do with him and his series of crank letters?

Favourite Character: John Rebus. He is simply an average man with problems. I love his imperfections.
Least Favourite Character: Jim Stevens. He is a slime-ball reporter. I have never liked reporters and for me he epitomizes them. One who follows the stories he is given never thinking for himself
Favourite Part of the Book: The ending. I can't say more without spoiling it
Least Favourite part of the book: The affair with the lady he met at his brother's show. UGH
What as missing: A little more explanation about the crank letters would have been nice


Rating:

(3.5/5)

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Blogging Chicks!

We are now sharing our blog with all of the other blogging chicks out there! Click on the image to see who else is blogging, or check it out on our side bar!

Sunday, November 26, 2006

What's been going on with Ace and Hoser???

We haven't fallen off the face of the earth, trust me. I have been super busy with school - finals start in just over 1 week. Currently I've been reading The Bone Woman by Clea Koff (you can see my mom's review of the book here and The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket. Two very different books you can see! I think it may take a while for me to finish either, but as soon as exams are finished, provided Christmas doesn't get in the way, I should get a lot of reading done!

My mom has been wrapped up in a huge mystery book consisting of 3 novels. It's called The Casebook of Constance and Charlie by Kate Wilhelm. Look for her review on that soon -- err, below!!

The Casebook of Constance and Charlie by Kate Wilhelm

The Casebook of Constance and Charlie by Kate Wilhelm
Mystery


This book is an omnibus of three books, The Hamlet Trap, Smart House and Seven Kinds of Death.
I love this duo detective team. Constance and Charlie communicate silently; they are so in tune with each other. C&C get inside the heads of their suspects like no other team. I will review the stories in order of preference

The Hamlet Trap
A neat story based on a murder at a small town playhouse. This story brings together jealousies and secrets. Slowly but surely C&C unravel the threads and wind up with a really good twist.

Smart House
This story is about a house where the computer does everything. The inventor has sunk all of his company's funds in the house and then winds up dead. Everyone wanted him dead but they all have alibis. Could the house have killed him? A very neat concept and well thought out. The only nit was that I had to read the final pages a few times to work it out as my concentration level must have been low

Seven Kinds of Death
This was definitely not my fvourite. I had a real hard time getting into the story but once I did It really went fast. An artist's colony is the scene this time. This case featured Constance a little more and was a bit more otherworldly. Still a good mystery



Rating:

(4.0/5)

Friday, November 17, 2006

Dancing in my Nuddy Pants by Louise Rennison

Dancing in my Nuddy Pants by Louise Rennison
Teen


This is book 4 in the Georgia Nicholson series. I don't know what it is about book #4 in series, but they always seem to be the worst in the series (except maybe Harry Potter, book #4 was one of the better ones). It wasn't as funny as the previous three had been. My favourite character is Libby, and I found that she wasn't in it as much as she was in the previous books, which could be part of the reason. As entertaining as it is to read about Georgia, I don't know how her friends and family stands her!! She seems like a horrible friend (because she doesn't seem to care), and she's constantly making fun of her parents. Ok, so I do that too lol I'm still pulling for Dave the Laugh! Georgia and he seem to be more on the same level than Georgia and Robbie.


Rating:

(3.5/5)

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

The Red Hat Club

The Red Hat Club by Haywood Smith
Woman's Fiction


I like Hen Lit. This was an enjoyable read. Five ladies are part of a group who grew up together in the Southern US. They help each other and along the way discover they are strong independant females. The lengths they go to to find the hidden assets and wrong-doing of one of the group's husbands is amazing
Most Liked Character: Linda. I identified with Linda. She seems to be the voice of reason at times.
Least Liked Character: SuSu. I just don't understand why the group keeps on putting up with her. Her lateness and self-absorbtion would drive me nuts
Best Part of the Book: When the group confronts Diane's husband with their evidence. Also the description of a car being driven in reverse for 5 miles is downright funny.
Worst Part of the Book: Although some of the traditions are good, they are too restrictive for the gossipy nature of the group
What was Missing: any seriousness. This book was just fluff


Rating:

(3.0/5)

Monday, November 13, 2006

A Drink Before the War

A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane
Mystery


This book is a violent and gory mystery. Warning there are plenty of detailed descriptions of violence and torture.
Best Liked Character: Patrick Kenzie. I liked his free-wheeling way of dealing with people. I also liked his teasing quips.
Least liked Character: Socia. A gang leader who pimped out his own son while he was very young.
Best Part of the Book: The end when Patrick and Angela 'get' everyone while sort of maintaining their dignity and not getting killed.
Least Favourite Part of the Book: The beginning. I thought the book started a little slow. Like why would I really care about a politician having sex with a black man
What was Missing: Lehane really never detailed out how Patrick was weathly enough to drive a posh car and own Armani suits. He said he had saved but on a PI's salary?

This book is also about abuse. Physical abuse of children, wives and gang members, emotional abuse and abuse of those in power


Rating:

(4.0/5)

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Naked in Death by J.D. Robb

Naked in Death by J.D. Robb
Mystery


So starts the first book in a billion book series! I have to be honest, I was kind of hoping I wasn't going to enjoy this book so that I wouldn't have to read the next 20 or so books in the series. But, I did enjoy it, so now I'm stuck in a huge series! Thankfully I started this at book one (for once!). Naked in Death is a mystery starring Eve Dallas, a tourmented cop with so many issues from her past it's unbelievable. The book takes place in 2050 or something like that, so it's a somewhat futuristic setting. Robb keeps throwing in little bits about what she predicts the future to be like, which is quite interesting. I noticed she hinted at the fact that Quebec had seperated from Canada (let's hope that never happens).
Dallas sets out to find a serial killers of prostitutes (which is now a legal trade) and runs into Roarke, a smooth-operating billionaire. They, of course, get it on. But there was just absolutely no chemistry for me between the two of them. In comparison to other detectives in other books, it was completely lacking chemistry. Hopefully they kick it up a notch in the next book.
The mystery itself was pretty good. I had a hunch on who had done it, but when they arrested someone else for it, I thought that I was just completely wrong! Turns out I wasn't, as I later found out! Overall, not a bad book. I'll keep reading the series until I get tired of it.


Rating:

(4/5)

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Birthday Books!

I got a pretty good haul of books for my birthday! Here's what I walked away with, in no particular order:

Eleanor Rigby by Douglas Coupland I got this book from Bree! I'm a huge Douglas Coupland fan and I hadn't yet read this book. Now it's sitting on my shelf waiting for me!

Basket Case by Carl Hiaasen Another book from Bree. I haven't read any Hiaasen books before, but I hear they are quite off the wall.

The Falls by Ian Rankin This is #12 in the Inspector Rebus series. Ok, I haven't started book 1 yet so it may take me a while to get to this, but it's nice knowing it's there :)

The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket Book #8, it's going in my PC.

The Carnivorous Carnival Book #9, going right beside the above book.

Then he Ate my Boy Entrancers by Louise Rennison #6 in the Georgia Nicolson series. They're always a hoot!

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield I had my eye on this book since it came out. It sounds very interesting, and this may sound weird, but it's a really nice looking book.

The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid One of my favourite mystery writers! I think I've read all the others in the series except this one, which is the first one!

Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk Ok so I've never read a Palahniuk, yet I seem to have almost every single one of his books right now because they all sound so interesting!

The History and Siege of Lisbon by Jose Saramago Saramago wrote Blindness, one of my favourite books, so I'm opening up my bookcase to other works written by him.

Bury the Lead by David Rosenfelt A book that had been on my wishlist for over 2 years! It felt good to cross this one off!

Also, I had bought myself an Accounting book so I can maybe pass my exam next weekend LOL

Friday, November 10, 2006

The Tenth Circle

The Tenth Circle by JodiPicoult
Fiction


Jodi Picoult books are always books about moral issues; this book is no exception.

Best liked Character:Trixie. She is one mixed-up kid. That is totally understanable as she is only 14 and still trying to figure the world out. Having said that she is totally right about being raped no matter what else happened.Kudos to her for understanding that. It also in my opinion took a lot of guts to run away to Alaska
Least Liked Character: I don't have one
Best part of the Story: The twist at the end was cool. I do not know what I would have done if I was in the same situation. I felt that all the characters were victims. No one was immune to the events.
Worst Part of the Story: The graphic novel. I am not a lover of graphic novels. i understood the Dante thing but it got a little too symbolic for me. The drawing was pretty amazing.
What was missing: What was Laura's reaction after Seth told her his news. Picoult did not elaborate on this. Also Trixie's night with Willie was glossed over and I felt not really dealt with


Rating:

(4.0/5)

Monday, November 06, 2006

The Bone Woman by Clea Koff
Non-Fiction


I thought that this book was extremely interesting. The author is a forensic anthropologist. She describes her work in Rwanda, Bosnia and Croatia. Sometimes it is extremely gory and you can feel the death. From Africa to Europe mass murder is prosecuted by the UN Tribunal. Koff describes the process of gathering the evidence in order to catch these madmen. It is only a job but at times she displays the emotional side of the work. For every body in that mass grave there is or was a relative wanting to hear about the person's disappearance.

I think the most introspective part of the book happened in the Afterword where she hypothesized that there are no ethnic wars only economic wars.


Rating:

(4.0/5)

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Little Boy Blue - Ed Dee

Little Boy Blue by Ed Dee
Mystery (audiobook)


I listened to this abridged audiobook in the car to and from university. It's a story about a guy that gets shot during a robbery at the JFK airport in New York. The cops first think he's in the wrong place at the wrong time, wearing the wrong jacket - his grandfather's old police overcoat. Of course, police in novels are always wrong on what they first suspect!
There are mob connections in this story and I was getting worried there that it was going to become another one of those mob books. Thank goodness it didn't. It pulled in Irish ties (and potential IRA members), which gave it that additional twist needed to take it away from the traditional New York mobster story. It was easy to guess "whodunit", but there was a great twist at the end that was totally unexpected!
The reader was fabulous! He pulled off New York mobster without sounding too stereotypical, and he also did a great Irish accent.


Rating:

(3.5/5)

Friday, November 03, 2006

Brick Lane

Brick Lane by Monica Ali
Fiction



This was a slow and boring book. I am one of those who has to finish what I start so I did
Best Liked Character: Nazeen. She does learn about herself and does finally stand up for herself. Maybe I am from such a different culture I just couldn't relate
Worst Liked Character: Chanu, Nazeen's husband. He basically bought her like a piece of property. The part that made me the maddest was when he had his children turn the pages of his book. What complete laziness
Best Part of the Book: Not much. It moved far too slow for me
Worst Part of the Book: The affair with Karin. I did not see what this did but just subjugate Nazeen to another man
What was missing: any action


Rating:

(2.5/5)