Review: A Letter of Mary by Laurie R. King

I purchased this book at Borders, before its untimely demise. I was in the process of collecting all the titles in King's Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series and this one and the previous Monstrous Regiment of Women were purchased at about the same time.

In this installment, a friend of Russell and Holmes comes from the Middle East, bearing gifts. Dorothy Ruskin, an amateur archeologist, brings Mary a beautiful Italian puzzle box which contained a papyrus purported to contain a message from Mary Magdalene. When Ms. Ruskin is killed in a suspicious car accident before she can return to her dig in the Middle East, Russell and Holmes take it upon themselves to solve the mystery of her demise.

I wasn't thrilled with this book. The series is going quickly downhill for me. I was a huge fan of the first book, The Beekeeper's Apprentice, but less so with the last installment, and even less so with this one. There just wasn't enough action for me in this book. I wanted to see Russell and Holmes get into and out of more scrapes than they did, do more detecting. I don't know. There just seemed to be a lot of boring undercover stuff and then a conclusion about what happened. We didn't get to SEE them solve the case. I didn't like that. And I wanted to hear more about the letter from Mary Magdalene. I kind of wanted Russell to devote more time to investigating it. It seemed like that story line sort of trailed off. Maybe it will be picked back up in the future?? Anyway, I'd give this one three and a half out of five Whatevers. I didn't hate it; in fact, I did think it was pretty good. I just hope the next book has a little more to offer, otherwise I might not make it through the rest of the series.

2011-17

Review: Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey

I received a copy of Sandman Slim from LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.  Of course, by now I'm officially a Late Reviewer, as I think I was supposed to review this a couple of YEARS ago.  But anyway!

The book is about Stark, a magician whose friends banished him to Hell eleven years ago, then killed his girlfriend.  He's returned from Hell to seek out and kill Mason, the leader of the magical group responsible for Alice's death.  While in Hell, Stark perfected his killing abilities, returning to Earth stronger, faster, and more lethal than when he left.  So killing Mason should be relatively easy...right?

Wrong.  A host of demons, angels, and anti-angels stand between Stark and his quarry.  The book details Stark's attempts to seek out and kill Mason and how he overcomes the hurdles that stand in the way.

The novel definitely falls into the urban fantasy category.  I'm going to be sexist here and say it's a very MALE book.  While reading, I kept thinking that the voice was similar to what would exist if Stephen King and Anthony Bourdain had a baby.  Teenage boys would probably love this book, but I enjoyed it as well.  If you're not into blood and gore, cursing, or anti-religious themes, this would not be the book for you.  As none of those things particularly bother me, I didn't have any issues with the content.  My copy was an Advance Readers' Edition and, as such, was riddled with typos.  I hope those were corrected before the final edition was published.  They were a bit distracting for me, but I'm a grammar stickler like that.  The story, however, kept my interest fairly well.

I'd give the book three and a half out of five Whatevers.  If there were a sequel, and it feels like there might be, I'd probably check it out.  I enjoyed the character of Stark, and I would like to get to know some of the secondary characters better (Doc Kinski, Candy, Allegra, Vidocq).  Recommended for those with strong stomachs who enjoy hard-core urban fantasy.

2011-16

Review: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Who hasn't read The Great Gatsby?  This was not my first read of the now-classic Great American Novel.  I first encountered Daisy, Tom, Gatsby, and Nick Carraway during my sophomore year of high school.  The copy I read this time around was one I'd Mooched a few years ago.  While I don't remember actively disliking the book when I was in high school, it was one of those books that you read because you HAD to, not because you WANTED to, so it always had that sense of the mandatory attached to it.

This time, though, I simply wanted to see if my reactions to the book were the same as those I had when I was a teenager.  And, of course, they were not.  I remember being rather disgusted by the behavior of most of the characters of the novel when I first read it.  Daisy and Jordan and Tom and, to a certain extent even Gatsby, reflected the callousness of the rich that came to kind of characterize the way I eventually saw most wealthy people.  I was honestly physically sick to my stomach when I first read the book.  This time around, though, I didn't have the same visceral reaction to the characters or their flippant superficiality.  Some of that could be due to the naivete in my 16-year-old self that no longer exists in my 24-year-old self.  During this reading, I found myself liking, even feeling sorry for, Gatsby, that tragic figure born of the Jazz Age.  I'm not sure, however, whether to view him as a victim of the vicissitudes of the First World War or as a cunning puppeteer, making his fortune by manipulating the desires of Americans during the Roaring 20's.

I think I liked The Great Gatsby better this time around.  I'm not quite sure why.  Experience with the way of the world is certainly part of it.  But I'd give this book four out of five Whatevers.  I'm glad I re-read it.  I'm going to keep it around and read it again in another 15 years or so to see if anything changes between now and then!

2011-15

Calling It a Day

Okay, Read-a-Thoners.  I'm done.  I can't keep my eyes open anymore.  I'm proud of myself for making it longer than I did last time (or the time before).  There is always the possibility that I will get up early tomorrow for another hour or two of reading before the RAT is over.  But in case I don't, here are my final stats for this evening:

Title of book(s) read since last update: The Fiery Cross, All You magazine, and Bookmarks magazine; started The Great Gatsby

Number of books read since you started:  one book, two magazines, part of another book

Pages read since last update:  22

Running total of pages read since you started: 486

Amount of time spent reading since last update: 60 minutes

Running total of time spent reading since you started: 610 minutes

Mini-challenges completed: Introduction meme

Other participants you’ve visited: Amanda @ Simpler Pastimes; Anna @ Her Stardust Soul; Bookish Hobbit

What I've eaten/drunk: a Diet Mt. Diew, a few pizza-flavored Pringles, some Chewy Lemonheads; a handful of olives, cheese sticks and marinara, a bottle of water; Blazin' Buffalo and Ranch Doritos (specially purchased for the RAT), some jellybeans, a Cherry Coke; beef stew for lunch, cookies, bottle of water; some more olives, Diet Mt. Dew; jalapeno poppers, a bottle of water
 
Good luck to anyone still reading.  I'm going to crash!

In the Midst of Hour Seventeen

Well, I've made it farther than I have in my last couple of Read-a-Thons.  Plowing through that Cherry Coke really helped me fight off the fatigue.  Here's how it's going so far:

Title of book(s) read since last update: The Fiery Cross, All You magazine, and Bookmarks magazine


Number of books read since you started: two and a half

Pages read since last update:  17

Running total of pages read since you started: 464

Amount of time spent reading since last update:  90 minutes

Running total of time spent reading since you started:  550 minutes

Mini-challenges completed: Introduction meme

Other participants you’ve visited:  Amanda @ Simpler Pastimes; Anna @ Her Stardust Soul; Bookish Hobbit

What I've eaten/drunk: a Diet Mt. Diew, a few pizza-flavored Pringles, some Chewy Lemonheads; a handful of olives, cheese sticks and marinara, a bottle of water; Blazin' Buffalo and Ranch Doritos (specially purchased for the RAT), some jellybeans, a Cherry Coke; beef stew for lunch, cookies, bottle of water; some more olives, Diet Mt. Dew; jalapeno poppers, a bottle of water, a Cherry Coke; some toast, a bottle of water

Carbo loading with toast to give myself more energy and drinking water to stay hydrated!  Good luck to everyone still in it!!!

Heading into Hour FIFTEEN!

Holy crap, Hour Fifteen!  I'm still reading, but getting a little tired.  Consuming some Cherry Coke now to try to keep awake.

Title of book(s) read since last update:  The Fiery Cross, All You magazine, and Bookmarks magazine
Number of books read since you started:  two and a half

Pages read since last update:  32

Running total of pages read since you started: 447

Amount of time spent reading since last update: 120 minutes

Running total of time spent reading since you started: 460 minutes

Mini-challenges completed: Introduction meme

Other participants you’ve visited: None, yet.

What I've eaten/drunk: a Diet Mt. Diew, a few pizza-flavored Pringles, some Chewy Lemonheads; a handful of olives, cheese sticks and marinara, a bottle of water; Blazin' Buffalo and Ranch Doritos (specially purchased for the RAT), some jellybeans, a Cherry Coke; beef stew for lunch, cookies, bottle of water; some more olives, Diet Mt. Dew; jalapeno poppers, a bottle of water, a Cherry Coke;


Let's see how long I can hang in there!  Hopefully, I'll get my second wind after this soda!

Halfway There!

Title of book(s) read since last update: The Fiery Cross; and All You magazine; and Bookmarks magazine

Number of books read since you started: two (if you count a magazine, and I DO!)

Pages read since last update: 134 (magazine pages)

Running total of pages read since you started:  415

Amount of time spent reading since last update: 120 minutes

Running total of time spent reading since you started: 665 minutes

Mini-challenges completed: Introduction meme

Other participants you’ve visited: None, yet.

What I've eaten/drunk: a Diet Mt. Dew, a few pizza-flavored Pringles, some Chewy Lemonheads; a handful of olives, cheese sticks and marinara, a bottle of water; Blazin' Buffalo and Ranch Doritos (specially purchased for the RAT), some jellybeans, a Cherry Coke; beef stew for lunch, cookies, bottle of water; some more olives, Diet Mt. Dew;
 
I blew through my magazine in no time, so now it's on to the Bookmarks that I got in today's mail!  After that, if I'm still conscious, I'll be starting The Great Gatsby, which I haven't read since high school.