Skull

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A work in progress. Oil on canvas.

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Damn, Nature, you dead.

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This bat smells terrible and also is dead.

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Center of Gravity by Laura McNeill

Category: 50 Books

centerofgravity

Her whole life, Ava Carson has been sure of one thing: she doesn’t measure up to her mother’s expectations. So when Mitchell Carson sweeps into her life with his adorable son, the ready-made family seems like a dream come true. In the blink of an eye, she’s married, has a new baby, and life is grand.

Or is it?

I usually read Scandi-crime and non-fiction, so I gave this domestic suspense genre a try. Whoa. I was not expecting this level of stress and anxiety from a book about a failed marriage. Actually, you can’t even call it a failed marriage because that would imply that you’d see the end coming, and that’s not the case. Here we have Ava living a good life with a happy family, and then one day, KA-BOOM, her husband wants a divorce AND the kids.

As the book goes on, the husband, Mitchell, gets more controlling and, I believe the medical term is bonkers. Yes, let’s go with bonkers.

The oldest son, Jack, is THE BEST character. I love how the author captured his earnestness and his want to fix everything. It was so nice to read a child character that was fully developed and not a Plot Device Child.

This is a fast-paced book, and no kidding, while I was reading it my stomach was in knots because I was so concerned about the children. When I would put the book down to go make dinner or whatnot I’d say to it, “You are stressing me out!” and “This better end well!” and “SO HELP ME IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO JACK I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU.”
You know, just, regular things you say (yell) at books.

If you like suspense put this book in your face.

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Tags: fiction, Laura McNeill

Madeline Kahn: Being the Music, A Life by William V. Madison

Category: 50 Books

	Madeline Kahn has always been one of my favorite actresses. I mean, she’s a total package. This biography was researched very well, and you can tell the author loves his subject. The whole thing has a melancholy feel to it, and so it wasn’t exactly an entertaining read, but it was a good read. It seems that Madeline Kahn was never quite satisfied with her acting/roles, and she didn’t understand why people thought she was funny. That part alone is heartbreaking. It’s a good book and many of Madeline’s costars and directors supply some good insight into her life.

Madeline Kahn has always been one of my favorite actresses. I mean, she’s a total package. This biography was researched very well, and you can tell the author loves his subject. The whole thing has a melancholy feel to it, and so it wasn’t exactly an entertaining read, but it was a good read. It seems that Madeline Kahn was never quite satisfied with her acting/roles, and she didn’t understand why people thought she was funny. That part alone is heartbreaking.

It’s a good book and many of Madeline’s costars and directors supply some good insight into her life.

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Library txts

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This dollar is me

Category: dribblings

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From Bruges With Love by Pieter Aspe

Category: 50 Books

frombrugeswithlove I loved the first two books in the Inspector Van In series, and I thought I’d go ahead and give this one a try. These are older mystery books, first published in the ’90s (I think, perhaps the earlier one are from the ’80s?), but they’re just now being translated into English and sent over here. When I started this one I had no idea that I was reading the 33rd book in the series! (33?! HOW?)
It doesn’t matter that I jumped so far ahead in the series because even though the relationship between Public Prosecutor Hannelore Martens and Inspector Pieter Van In has changed since the first books, the relationship doesn’t get in the way of the mystery itself. In fact, their relationship is really cute. And Van In’s right-hand man, Guido Versavel, is still helping to solve the mystery. I love their banter.

The mystery in this one is: they find a body. Super rich people and Important Government People are involved. Once again Van In has to take down some bigwigs using some unconventional means.

The mystery is great. I love that Aspe can write a mystery where you know all the bad guys, you know the whodunit, but you still don’t know why, and the why is what is driving you to keep reading. I read a ton of mysteries, but I do not read many that lay out all the players like that and STILL manage to tell a compelling story.

My only complaint is that Van In seems to find so much time to drink ice cold Belgian beer, and I’m completely jealous.

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Tags: Pieter Aspe