January’s books

Category: 50 Books

1. Gone, Baby, Gone by Dennis Lehane

This is the first Dennis Lehane book I’ve read, and I think I’ll read a couple more. The main characters in this book are two P.I.s a male and female. Apparently in the book before this one they “hooked up” as they say. So I was a little behind in parts because they would talk about a murder that had happened in the first book. I’m not sure what the first book is called. I’ll find out at the library.

This was a really good book though. Even if I was missing some of the stuff because I hadn’t read the previous one. It’s about a little girl who is kidnapped, and about the P.I.s and cops who try to find her. It’s a very good whodunit. You won’t guess who did it. I didn’t, anyway. But maybe you’re smarter than me. Of course you are.

Anyway, it’s a page turner, and I thought the ending was well done. It’s a happy ending, but it’s not a happy ending. I would recommend this to anyone who likes mysteries.

2. The Cove by Catherine Coulter

I needed to start a new series and this was recommended by my library pal, Jan. This is the first book in Ms. Coulter’s FBI Thriller series. The only thing I’m a little leary of is that Ms. Coulter’s other books are romances. And I’m not talking mere love stories here. I’m talking about books with titles like The Countess, The Wild Baron, and The Wyndham Legacycomplete with terrible cover art. I know, don’t judge a book by it’s terrible cover art and all.

(I know I’m spoiled with good design because I know LBC and she’s so great at it that it’s just not even fair to the rest of the world. And when I see shitty book covers (daily at the ‘brary) I get so mad at the injustice of it (even if it’s probably a shitty book too) because still, someone wrote that book. They took time to write it. They probably even love the characters they created. That book they’ve written…it’s like a part of them that they’re giving to the rest of the world. And then some publishing company puts a cheap, shitty cover on it. I wonder if the authors ever get a choice. and if they do… then imagine all the shit they turn down! And I think, “Damn, do NONE of these authors have a pal like LBC?” It’s sad for them and it’s sad for us; for until they do get their own LBC we’re all stuck with the shitty cover art with the raised metallic letters. feh)

This book wasn’t much of an “FBI Thriller” as it was an Action Love Story. It was about a lady who’s blamed for killing her horrible, abusive father. She’s “on the lam” as they say, and the FBI is after her as is a doctor from a mental institution that she escaped from. She wasn’t really crazy…they just…try to make her think she’s crazy. She runs off and ends up in Oregon (I think) at her aunt’s house in The Cove which is a creepy little town where everything is picture-perfect.

The Handsome FBI Agent finds her in The Cove and immediately he’s all, “Don’t worry I believe you You didn’t kill anyone No you aren’t crazy I love you.” And then the action follows all, “My dead father called me on the phone! I’m not crazy!” and people in The Cove start dying. There’s a lot of junk that goes on in this book and it really got redundant. It should have been about 75 to 100 pages less than it was. I’m going to try the other books in the series because Jan told me that the first two books are kinda meh, but that it really gets good in the third one. This one gets 4 Cansecos.

3. Blood Dreams by Kay Hooper

Okay, we all know I’m a sucker for Hooper’s SCU/Bishop series. And I was SO EXCITED when I found out a new one was coming out. This one, however, was SO DISAPPOINTING. And sure it’s the same formulaic doodah that she always writes: Psychic investigator needs to solve a mystery and fall in love BOTH AT THE SAME TIME. But this time it’s like she didn’t even try to make the love story interesting NOR the solving of the crime. The love story was all, “Why did you leave for ten years?”

“I just left. I had things…”

“Why did you come back?”

“my sister needed me.”

“Was that the only reason?”

“I don’t…Look, I’m busy trying to solve a crime.”

“So am I. Let me help you with your psychic dreams…like how we used to do.”

“No! It’s too dangerous! I’ve gotta go.”

And on and on over and over. and the crime solving was also more of the same,

“Have we solved the crime yet?”

“No, we need more clues. Anyone?”

“We’ll have to wait for him to slip up and make a mistake.”

“There’s been another murder.”

“Let’s investigate.”

“Any of you psychics getting anything? no? Then I guess we could sit around and talk about how we haven’t got any clues and how we’ll have to wait for him to make a mistake.”

This book ended in such a way that really it wasn’t an ending and she’s leaving it WAY THE HELL open I guess for the next book. Which I say I won’t read, but you know I totally will. But if it sucks like this one I will swear off her books for good just like I did with Cornwell’s Scarpetta series back in 2005.

4. The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell

Ah, the first nonfiction of the year.

I have a feeling that this will influence the rest of the nonfiction I read this year… or at least the next 6 months. Ms. Vowell is a fan of American history. I’ve never really been a big fan and in fact, in college I took the least amount of American History allowed and then proceeded to take class after class of British history to the point of the professor asking me if I was a history major. Of course I wasn’t. I was just a nerd in history nerd heaven.

I think the reason I’m not fond of my own country’s history is that I feel the need to apologize to the world for our history. I feel guilty about it. But I shouldn’t. My family wasn’t a wealthy land-owning family with slaves. I come from poor people, like, Pennsylvania Dutch and all that. What shame should I have? I dunno, still American history always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But after reading this book I feel like I should get reacquainted with my country’s history. And actually I started doing that earlier in the month when I was going through the old local newspaper clippings, and reading up on the women’s suffrage movement. And when I think of Women’s Rights I never think about it being American history, but I guess really, it totally is.

Anyway, this is a neat book, and it’s short and sweet.

Leave a Comment | Permalink

Tags: , , , ,

1.27.08

Category: dribblings

still no news on the crushed deck/insurance debacle.

i went by the old house to check on things the other day and SOMEONE HAS STOLEN MY CITY GARBAGE CAN. i called the city and asked if maybe they had picked up the can since it was not being used. 6 transfers later a lady tells me that no, they haven’t picked up my can. so yes, it’s been stolen. that’s just awesome isn’t it? what kind of dickless hobo steals a trashcan?

 

*****

the other day i received a tiny envelope in the mail. if you’re a girl you know this means one of three things:

invite to a wedding shower
invite to a baby shower
thank you card

lucky me it was a thank you card. (i can’t afford any presents right now. we just had christmas and this tax season has hm, how can i put this… cornholed us. we need to have a baby.) it was from my credit union. it was a sweet thank you from the ladies at the bank. oh yeah! i had forgotten about that!

several weeks ago the credit union workers were on strike. a certain friend of ours (i will not name names, as even though i disagree with said friend i still love and appreciate said friend) made a HUGE deal about it. friend was all, “how dare they! what have THEY got to complain about?! blah blah blah bank rant blah.” i grew up in a goodyear family. and my pops was a union man. so i grew up with union talk and strikes and no paychecks for weeks and lots of hamburger helper. so, while i have no idea what the ladies at the credit union were striking for, i said more power to them for fighting for what they believed was fair, AND it would be a cold day in hell before i crossed the picket line.

it’s hard to write checks when you havent’ made a deposit because you won’t cross a picket line. so another credit union in town said that the patrons of our credit union could use theirs and it wouldn’t be considered crossing the line. i don’t even know how that’s possible. and i didn’t really trust it. and luckily, i didn’t have to because the strike lasted maybe a week? i can’t really remember.

one day i was on my way to the grocery store and i drove past the strikers and if you honked they would cheer. well, it’s all bank tellers, right? so it’s all women. (well it is!) and when people would honk it sounded like a Monkees concert or something with all the ladies cheering. so i honked and went on to the store. i think i was buying party food for some kind of party/girls night. the store is not far from the bank so you could still hear the ladies cheering, you just couldn’t see them. and it was funny watching people come out of the store all, “what the hell? are the Beatles getting off a plane somewhere?”

so i’m at the store buying party food, right? and i see some pre-cut trays with apple slices and cheddar cubes and things like that. and best off all they were on sale! like, $4. and it was a ton of fruit. and so i buy them for the party. so then i come out of the store all, “what the- are they filming girls gone wild?” no, wait. strikers. and i remember dad saying once that the strike line was always cold and you could only eat so many donuts before you never wanted to see another donut again. i guess people would bring them lots of donuts or something. so i wondered if anyone had given donuts to the girls. and i figured that would be a bad idea because you know how girls are, “oh no, i couldn’t possibly eat a delicious fresh-baked donut.” so anyway i thought, “i wonder what you should give girl strikers. probably fruit. that way they couldn’t bitch about- oh. oh no. please Lord, it’s my fruit. for the party! no! i only had $10! and it’s not like i can get more money cos the bitches are in my way! NOOOOOooooo! oh all right.” and i was regretting having to call laura later on and say, “hey, i bought fruit for the party and God made me give it to the strikers.” even though i know laura would understand.

so i pulled over to the strikers and i gave them my sack of pre-sliced fruit. the ladies came up all, “oh, she brought us food. what is it?” and the lady with the sack said, “ohmygosh! it’s FRUIT!” and they all cheered. for fruit. i guess it’s true about the donuts. and two of the ladies gave me hugs and one of them yelled out, “hey! what’s your name?” and i turned to say, “jaimie.” but one of the other tellers said, “that’s jaimie pickle.” and i was flabbergasted. i thought maybe we went to school together or something. i asked her how she knew my name and she said i come through her line all the time. thing is, i go to the drive through. so that was weird. maybe she recognized my jeep with the loud motor and fading paint. i dunno.

a couple weeks later i had to go in the bank because i had to re-order checks and one of the ladies said, “hey, that’s jaimie pickle! she’s the one who brought us fruit!” and the girls were all, “oh thank you! we ate it all! we even dropped one of the trays and the fruit spilled out on the grass and we STILL ate it! thank you thank you!”

so the next time God tells you to give your party fruit to the ladies at the bank you should probably do it. especially if you want to feel like an effin’ rockstar at the bank.

Leave a Comment | Permalink

1.20.08

Category: dribblings

we haven’t caught the thief yet. it’s really ruining my mood.

i’m in love with www.books.google.com

i can’t tell you how many books i’ve started to read. i love old books. the way people used to write 100 years ago… it’s neat. everything they said sounds so pretty. even if it’s something horrible like how women should have no rights. The book i’m reading on The Google right now is The History of Prostitution. This book was written in 1895, something like four years after the Jack the Ripper murders stopped… but i searched the book and there’s no mention of Jack the Ripper. And i was all, “gosh, i wonder why? that was probably a big deal back then.” then it hit me, duh jaimie, you nit. back then Jack the Ripper wasn’t history…it was news. so i have to remember to wear my time-machine hat when i read these old books.

anyway, i love love LOVE books.google.com, and i find myself getting lost in book searches. IT IS SO MUCH NERDY FUN I CAN HARDLY CONTAIN MYSELF.

Leave a Comment | Permalink

Tags: ,

1.15.08

Category: dribblings

in other news: we’ve a book thief at the ‘brary. this jerkhole had stolen more than a dozen books. i’ve no idea who’s doing it and it’s really ticking me off. they are stealing stuff like Koontz, Feehan, Laymon, and other weirdos, so i guess i should be happy that they aren’t stealing anything “good” like classics or judy blume or harry potter or god forbid, nonfiction.

still, i’m mad as hell about it. i think of all the mysteries i read and puzzles i solve and now here’s some bozo stealing books right under my nose. i don’t have any suspects. there’s not a single person i can think of who goes to the back of the ‘brary and hangs out long enough to rip off barcodes and targets and whatall. maybe it’s more than one person. maybe it’s some kind of bibliogang what steals books for kicks. like i said, they’re not getting anything good…it’s just the pissing me off that bothers me.

and what kind of impotent, low-life, sexually dysfunctional, vomit eating cretin steals from a library? THE BOOKS ARE FREE. how many times do you read a dean koontz book? once. and then you pass it on to someone else. you don’t need those books on your bookshelves. the library lends you those books FOR FREE, and when you’re done you bring them back and they let you have NEW ONES… which are also FREE. and you don’t have to clutter up your house with the shitty books you read.

so i figure it’s either some kind of klepto who can’t help his or herself, or it’s a douchebag we’ve pissed off somehow by either not letting them checkout something (because they owe us more than $3.00) or we’ve revoked their computer privileges because they were caught bypassing our system or looking up the dirty pictures. or i guess it could be some sweet old lady. you can never tell with oldsters.

**********
a conversation on sunday:

“i haven’t had a drink in days.”

“yeah right.”

“no seriously, it’s been days.”

“no it hasn’t.”

“yes it has…like, it’s been since tuesday.”

“you liar! what about friday?!”

“i didn’t drink on friday.”

“yes you did! i was WITH YOU. we played video games? remember? you were the one with the whiskey in her diet coke?”

“oh! oh yeah. heh, i forgot about that.”

“yeah, cos you’re an alcoholic.”

“oh shut up with the pot calling the kettle- oh hey, you know what? on thursday i had some red wine.”

“see? alkie.”

“shut it. it seemed like it had been longer than just two days.”

“maybe you should go to a meeting.”

“maybe you should shut your Face Off starring Nicholas Cage and John Travolta.”

Leave a Comment | Permalink

Tags: ,

The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell

Category: 50 Books

4. The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell

Ah, the first nonfiction of the year.

I have a feeling that this will influence the rest of the nonfiction I read this year… or at least the next 6 months. Ms. Vowell is a fan of American history. I’ve never really been a big fan and in fact, in college I took the least amount of American History allowed and then proceeded to take class after class of British history to the point of the professor asking me if I was a history major. Of course I wasn’t. I was just a nerd in history nerd heaven.

I think the reason I’m not fond of my own country’s history is that I feel the need to apologize to the world for our history. I feel guilty about it. But I shouldn’t. My family wasn’t a wealthy land-owning family with slaves. I come from poor people, like, Pennsylvania Dutch and all that. What shame should I have? I dunno, still American history always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But after reading this book I feel like I should get reacquainted with my country’s history. And actually I started doing that earlier in the month when I was going through the old local newspaper clippings, and reading up on the women’s suffrage movement. And when I think of Women’s Rights I never think about it being American history, but I guess really, it totally is.

Anyway, this is a neat book, and it’s short and sweet.

 

 

Leave a Comment | Permalink

Tags: , ,

Blood Dreams by Kay Hooper

Category: 50 Books

3. Blood Dreams by Kay Hooper

Okay, we all know I’m a sucker for Hooper’s SCU/Bishop series. And I was SO EXCITED when I found out a new one was coming out. This one, however, was SO DISAPPOINTING. And sure it’s the same formulaic doodah that she always writes: Psychic investigator needs to solve a mystery and fall in love BOTH AT THE SAME TIME. But this time it’s like she didn’t even try to make the love story interesting NOR the solving of the crime. The love story was all, “Why did you leave for ten years?”

“I just left. I had things…”

“Why did you come back?”

“my sister needed me.”

“Was that the only reason?”

“I don’t…Look, I’m busy trying to solve a crime.”

“So am I. Let me help you with your psychic dreams…like how we used to do.”

“No! It’s too dangerous! I’ve gotta go.”

And on and on over and over. and the crime solving was also more of the same,

“Have we solved the crime yet?”

“No, we need more clues. Anyone?”

“We’ll have to wait for him to slip up and make a mistake.”

“There’s been another murder.”

“Let’s investigate.”

“Any of you psychics getting anything? no? Then I guess we could sit around and talk about how we haven’t got any clues and how we’ll have to wait for him to make a mistake.”

This book ended in such a way that really it wasn’t an ending and she’s leaving it WAY THE HELL open I guess for the next book. Which I say I won’t read, but you know I totally will. But if it sucks like this one I will swear off her books for good just like I did with Cornwell’s Scarpetta series back in 2005.

 

Leave a Comment | Permalink

Tags: ,

The Cove by Catherine Coulter

Category: 50 Books

 

2. The Cove by Catherine Coulter

I needed to start a new series and this was recommended by my library pal, Jan. This is the first book in Ms. Coulter’s FBI Thriller series. The only thing I’m a little leary of is that Ms. Coulter’s other books are romances. And I’m not talking mere love stories here. I’m talking about books with titles like The Countess, The Wild Baron, and The Wyndham Legacycomplete with terrible cover art. I know, don’t judge a book by it’s terrible cover art and all.

(I know I’m spoiled with good design because I know LBC and she’s so great at it that it’s just not even fair to the rest of the world. And when I see shitty book covers (daily at the ‘brary) I get so mad at the injustice of it (even if it’s probably a shitty book too) because still, someone wrote that book. They took time to write it. They probably even love the characters they created. That book they’ve written…it’s like a part of them that they’re giving to the rest of the world. And then some publishing company puts a cheap, shitty cover on it. I wonder if the authors ever get a choice. and if they do… then imagine all the shit they turn down! And I think, “Damn, do NONE of these authors have a pal like LBC?” It’s sad for them and it’s sad for us; for until they do get their own LBC we’re all stuck with the shitty cover art with the raised metallic letters. feh)

This book wasn’t much of an “FBI Thriller” as it was an Action Love Story. It was about a lady who’s blamed for killing her horrible, abusive father. She’s “on the lam” as they say, and the FBI is after her as is a doctor from a mental institution that she escaped from. She wasn’t really crazy…they just…try to make her think she’s crazy. She runs off and ends up in Oregon (I think) at her aunt’s house in The Cove which is a creepy little town where everything is picture-perfect.

The Handsome FBI Agent finds her in The Cove and immediately he’s all, “Don’t worry I believe you You didn’t kill anyone No you aren’t crazy I love you.” And then the action follows all, “My dead father called me on the phone! I’m not crazy!” and people in The Cove start dying. There’s a lot of junk that goes on in this book and it really got redundant. It should have been about 75 to 100 pages less than it was. I’m going to try the other books in the series because Jan told me that the first two books are kinda meh, but that it really gets good in the third one. This one gets 4 Cansecos.

 

Leave a Comment | Permalink

Tags: ,

Gone, Baby, Gone by Dennis Lehane

Category: 50 Books

1. Gone, Baby, Gone by Dennis Lehane

This is the first Dennis Lehane book I’ve read, and I think I’ll read a couple more. The main characters in this book are two P.I.s a male and female. Apparently in the book before this one they “hooked up” as they say. So I was a little behind in parts because they would talk about a murder that had happened in the first book. I’m not sure what the first book is called. I’ll find out at the library.

This was a really good book though. Even if I was missing some of the stuff because I hadn’t read the previous one. It’s about a little girl who is kidnapped, and about the P.I.s and cops who try to find her. It’s a very good whodunit. You won’t guess who did it. I didn’t, anyway. But maybe you’re smarter than me. Of course you are.

Anyway, it’s a page turner, and I thought the ending was well done. It’s a happy ending, but it’s not a happy ending. I would recommend this to anyone who likes mysteries.

Leave a Comment | Permalink

Tags: ,

1.05.08

Category: dribblings

happy new year, you guys! 5 days in and i’ve already finished reading my first book of the year. honestly, i started it last year, but i only got 30 pages or so into the book. so i’m totally counting that on this year’s total. oh yes, i am.

movies i’ve seen recently include: Dreamgirls, Walk Hard, Quiz Show, Fun With Dick and Jane, and Silent Movie. most of those are kinda old; especially Silent Movie. but really, Mel Brooks’ movies are timeless. Dreamgirls was actually “all that”. it was SO entertaining. Walk Hard was funnier than i thought it would be. plus we had the theater all to ourselves…which is always nice. it’s like, “welcome to fleegan cinemas.”

Quiz Show further proves that John Turturro is one of THE BEST character actors of all time.

i keep catching these not too old movies on the encore channels. ps, encore, YOU ARE SHOWING TOMBSTONE WAY TOO MUCH. we all love that movie, yes, but i don’t need to see it twice a day for two months. no, i don’t. no really. REALLY.

Leave a Comment | Permalink

Tags:

12.30.07

Category: dribblings

will i get my 52nd book read before the new year? well, seeing as how i’m only 30 pages in i’d say, “doubtful!” still, i’m WAY excited that i read 50 books BEFORE december. especially since i spent most of october – december knitting a blanket and a couple of scarves. if there was a way to knit and read at the same time, believe you me, there would be no stopping me from completely wasting time. but what an efficient waste of time that would be.

something else i’ve been obsessed with lately is the bound excerpts of the first 30 years of the Gadsden Times. we have them at the library. they are VERY entertaining to read mostly because the way they talked and wrote back then (late 1800s) was very different than today. not only do they use MUCH bigger words (words that i’m not even sure exist) but the paper was also very, VERY snarky…yet in a polite way. for example, one of the articles was about how some people put some kind of obstuction on the train tracks. the train hit the whatever-it-was and no one was hurt. the last sentence of the article made no sense it said something like, “the people who obstructed the train should move to another climate.”

wha?

i asked one of the other librarians to look at the article and she too was all, “what’s with the last line?”

she asked if i thought it meant they should go up north. because this was less than 10 years after the civil war. and you know, it was probably in insult to tell someone they should move up north.

i told her it sounded more like a really polite, “go to hell” to me.

after reading some more of these articles i’ve stumbled onto a really neat story. in fact, if i wasn’t lazy i could probably write a whole book about this lady. give me some time to type what i’ve found, and i think you’ll see what i mean. i don’t have the whole story yet because i was researching this at work and we had to close and it’s a reference book and i couldn’t take it. and it’s crazy cos i’m at this point where i’m all, “BUT WHAT HAPPENED?! what happened to the lady?” like i say, give me a bit to type this up. it’s AWESOME.

Leave a Comment | Permalink

Tags:

← Previous Page — Next Page →