The Bookaholic

I’ve been reading a lot.  These are just the ones I can remember reading since my last post.

Storm Front by Jim Butcher

Spending by Mary Gordon

Tips for Your Home Office by Meredith Gould

Irish Whiskey by Andrew M. Greeley

Irish Mist by Andrew M. Greeley

Irish Eyes by Andrew M. Greeley

Irish Stew by Andrew M. Greeley

The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines

Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb

Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb

Ergonomic Living: How to create a user-friendly home and office by Gordon Inkeles

How to Plan Perfect Kitchens by Kathleen M. Kiely

The Telling by Ursula K. LeGuin

Through Wolf’s Eyes by Jane Lindskold

Wolf’s Head, Wolf’s Heart by Jane Lindskold

The Dragon of Despair by Jane Lindskold

Wolf Captured by Jane Lindskold

The New Smart Approach to Kitchen Design by Susan Maney

Gone, But Not Forgotten by Phillip Margolin

Body Count by P. D. Martin

Shadow of Power by Steve Martini

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

New Moon by Stephanie Meyer

Darkness Falls by Kyle Mills

Perspective Made Easy by Ernest R. Norling

The Last Victim by Kevin O’Brien

Scarecrow by Matthew Reilly

Wool Pets by Lauri Sharp and Kevin Sharp

Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder

Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder

Zen Brushwork by Tanchu Terayama, Thomas Judge and John Stevens

Monkeewrench by P. J. Tracy

Live Bait by P. J. Tracy

Dead Run by P. J. Tracy

Snow Blind by P. J. Tracy

Abstract and Colour Techniques in Painting by Rolina van Vliet

Critical Conditions by Stephen White

Embracing Encaustic by Linda Womack

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Again, it’s not that I haven’t been reading… I just haven’t been writing about reading.

This is a fabulous graphic novel that I received as a holiday gift. It’s an autobiographical story of Marjane Satrapi’s life in Iran and abroad during the Islamic Revolution. It’s refreshingly honest, and gives a clear glimpse of the Iranian culture both before and after Ayatollah Khomeini came to power. (The book is also the basis for the 2007 movie of the same name, which is now on my list of movies to see.)

I’ve never been a huge fan of graphic novels, but this book is so good it’s now on my short list of favorite biographies. I highly recommend it to everyone… especially anyone interested in a gaining a better understanding of Middle Eastern culture.

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I discovered this author while browsing through the recommendations on Booksfree.  Based on all the books I’ve ever rented from them, they thought I might like Snyder’s books.

They were 100% correct.

The story seems rather ordinary… a theme that’s been done time and again in the fantasy genre.

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve.  As a food taster, she’ll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace — and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting.  Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she’s can’t control.  Her life is threatened again and choices must be made.  But this time the outcomes aren’t so clear.

In the hands of a less-skilled storyteller, this particular story probably would have been… nice.  But Snyder is adept, and kept me turning pages long after I should have gone off to sleep.

If you like the fantasy genre, this is another book I’d highly recommend.

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This book was recommended by my fabulous step-mother-in-law.  I had no idea what it was about when I put it in my Booksfree queue.  I’m delighted to report that it’s well worth reading!

To say that it’s about a 90-something year old man living in a nursing home and reminiscing about his days with the circle would be the bare truth.  And honestly, I probably wouldn’t have picked this book up based on the description… or even the slightly more interesting blurb on the back cover.  After all… how interesting can a circus be?

I’ll admit that I was wrong.  Gruen has created a rich and charming cast of characters in this novel, and has made circus life a three-dimensional tapestry.  Telling the story as flashback memories of an old man brilliant.  The juxtaposition of his current life in the nursing home and the freedom he had in the circus make the story’s ending the only possible one that would be satisfying.

I highly recommend this book!

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This is the latest book in the adventures of Joanne Baldwin, Weather Warden.  As usual, Joanne gets herself into more trouble that the average person.  Of course, since she’s once of the top Wardens around, she’s not exactly the average person.

This time around, Joanne gets to save the world from some very bad people who are trying to destroy the Djinn, the Wardens and, oh what the heck, how about the entire planet?  It turns out that one of her friends is one of the very bad people.  I didn’t see that one coming.

Ah… and despite some major opposition from Ashan, Joanne and David actually get married.

Ok, so now I just need to know when the next one is being published.

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Like most of Grisham’s novels, this one involves lawyers and judges.  I know… I’m surprised, too.  And like all of Grisham’s other novels, this one is well-written, quite readable, and presents a tense story line pitting good against evil.  I’m not surprised by any of that, quite frankly.

Actually, it’s typical Grisham.  If you like Grisham, you’ll probably like this one.  Oh, except for the ending.  That sucked.  I don’t really need fiction to reflect reality quite so perfectly.

One thing I admire about Grisham is his ability to create truly loathsome characters.  There were one or two in here I just wanted to rip off the pages and throttle.  These were well-balanced by the folks you’d want to socialize with, and the semi-clueless naif.

Yep, Grisham sure is good at characterizations.  But darn… is a happy ending too much to ask?

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The latest from Kay Hooper in her Bishop / Special Crimes Unit collection is the first book of a new trilogy.

Bishop and his people work for the FBI hunting really bad guys.  The twist is that Bishop and his people are all psychic.  In some ways, this gives them an advantage over the bad guys.  There are clairvoyants who can see what’s going to happen and mediums who talk to the dead.  The telepaths certainly have an advantage in the communications department, especially where cell coverage is spotty.

But even with the advantages psychics have, they still need to do old fashioned police work… and that’s the fun part!  I like Hooper’s books… well, most of them.  She does write romance novels which aren’t as interesting to me as the detective novels.

The next book in this series comes out this month… and I’ll be searching for it.

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You’d think that after taking a 16-week class and reading a half dozen books on the subject in those 16 week, I’d be done with the topic of Buddhism for a while.  Oh no, not so.

I borrowed this book from a friend a couple of months ago (thanks, Kiran!) and finally finished reading it.  Although it might seem to be a dry, unreadable book from the length of time it took to finish it, that is completely not true.  (Life got in the way, darn it all!)

Kogen Mizuno one of Japan’s leading scholars of Buddhism, and he writes with an engaging and very readable style.  While there was very little in the book that I hadn’t already learned in my 16-week course, it was a delight to once again read about the origins of the Buddhist faith.  I highly recommend this book to anyone even the slightest bit interested in the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha.

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When I told One Spirit book club to go ahead and send this one to me, I’m not sure what I thought it was all about.  As it turns out, it’s a nice little motivational book about building new habits.

Most of this is either common sense or I’ve heard it said in slightly different ways by therapists, friends who seem to have their lives put together, other authors, or the multitude of personal growth and development teachers I’ve encountered over the years.  That doesn’t make it a bad thing!  Sometimes you have to hear a thing a thousand times for you can say, “Oh!  I get it!”

The time of year for resolutions is swiftly approaching, and this would be a nice book to pick up if you just can’t stick to your resolutions.

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This is the first book I’ve read by Robert Parker.  It was a recommendation from Booksfree based on some of the other books I’ve rented from them.

I’m not sure exactly why, but I’m utterly delighted with Parker’s style of writing.  The dialog seems more real than many of the authors I’ve read lately.  Someone ought to tell other authors what Parker has discovered… real people don’t always talk in complete sentences.  No, seriously… they don’t.

In this book, we have a murder mystery.  I seem to read a lot of those.  There’s a dead girl… who is she?  Who killed her?  There are interesting interpersonal relationships… Jesse, our hero, still dates his ex-wife.  He dates other women, too.  He drinks too much, he plays softball, and he seems like a basically good guy.

In the end, the killer confesses after only a small amount of police intimidation.

I’ll be adding more of Parker’s books to my Booksfree queue.

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