Hi, all,

Last month's reading:

1. FOURTEEN, The Murder Of David Stukel, Bill O'Connell. This book details an old murder of a fourteen year old boy by two other 14 year olds. It's non-fiction, and the part about the actual crime is short, maybe a couple of chapters. The rest is about interviews with a bunch of people associated with the criminals, including law enforcement officials, judges and attorneys, friends of the victim, and the perpetrators and their later associations, wives and kids. O'Connell was a friend of the victim in high school and went on to become an editor for the Chicago Tribune. This book took on a personal note, because not only did it happen in my hometown of Joliet, the family of David Stukel had lived on the same street I lived on until I was about 5. My mom grew up with his dad, and my dad worked with his dad, and I've been told that David used to come down and play with me, though I have no memory of that. David was killed in 1968; he was 14 and I was 8 and we had moved three years or so earlier. The crime made no sense, if any of them ever do. But this one made even less sense than most. It was a gripping read for me. I could hardly put it down. I don't read a lot of true crime stuff, but this one certainly held my interest. I can't say I enjoyed it; who could enjoy stuff like this...but if you're interested in true crime, I would recommend it.

2. THE WANNOSHAY CYCLE, Michael Jasper. I posted a review about this book in a separate journal entry. I don't have much to add to that, except that I really enjoyed it, and thought it was a better depiction of aliens than I've read in a while. I'd give it an 8.5, maybe even a 9 of 10.

3. THE SKELETON MAN, Tony Hillerman. A very good Jim Chee mystery, where Cowboy Dashee's relation is accused of a crime, because he tried to pawn a diamond that was worth big bucks. Chee and his new bride, Bernie Manuelito are enlisted to help prove that the man didn't do what he was accused of. But others are on the trail of that diamond, and it seems that Dashee's relative's account of how he came to be in its possession might just be accurate, fantastic as it seems. Another very good Navajo mystery from Hillerman. (I'm currently working on THE SHAPE SHIFTER by Hillerman, the latest in the series.) I give it 8.5 of 10.

4. BAIT AND SWITCH, Barbara Ehrenreich. A book about the author's undercover assignment to try to get a job in corporate America, and the industry that has sprung up around trying to help people do just that - resume services, career counseling, networking, etc etc. At some point I got sorta bored with the book, but her commentary at the end was sobering. Not rated.

5. THE END OF ETERNITY, Isaac Asimov. This is a reread but it's been a long time since I read it. I recalled it being one of my favorite Asimov books years ago, and after rereading it, I think it stands up. It's a really interesting take on time travel; "Eternals" are able to step outside of time and influence it, and they do so liberally, making tons of small changes to avert disasters and suffering for humanity. But are they doing humanity a favor by their actions? Andrew Harlan is an Eternal who finds love with a woman of the 400 something'th century, and who, it turns out, has the power to save Eternity or end it for all time. The "why" and "how" of it are quite interesting. Asimov has always been up there with King in my favorite author pantheon, and this book reinforces why for me. I give it an 8.5 just because of its dated style, but I liked the story more than that, probably.

I did individual blog entries on FOURTEEN, THE END OF ETERNITY, and Michael Jasper's THE WANNOSHAY CYCLE.

I THINK that was it for February.

Scott