Books and other stuff I feel like discussing
By education and experience - Accountant with a specialty in taxation. Formerly a CPA (license has lapsed). Masters degree in law of taxation from University of Denver. Now retired. Part time work during baseball season as receptionist & switchboard operator for the Colorado Rockies. This gig feeds my soul in ways I have trouble articulating. One daughter, and four grandchildren. I share the house with two cats; a big goof of a cat called Grinch (named as a joke for his easy going "whatever" disposition); and Lady, a shelter adoptee with a regal bearing and sweet little soprano voice. I would be very bereft if it ever becomes necessary to keep house without a cat.
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Books Update
THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD Zora Neale Hurston
One of my book discussion groups chose this, and it kicked off a lively discussion, enhanced when the only African American person who attends regularly began to share her memories of listening to her parents and grandparents talk about their experiences growing up in the South. Strangely enough, I didn’t know that Hurston’s book dates from the Harlem Renaissance. Somewhere along the line I had gotten the mistaken impression that it was a fairly recent “chick lit” type of book. Needless to say, I was wrong, and I enjoyed learning about this classic of American letters.
DeKOK AND MURDER ON BLOOD MOUNTAIN A C Baantjer
One of my favorite series is this one – written by former Amsterdam cop Baantjer and featuring eccentric Inspector DeKok, his long suffering partner, and the inspector’s ancient but serviceable Volkswagen. In this entry, DeKok investigates a type of life insurance scam which ensnares a series of defenseless street people and eventually takes the Dutch cops to Belgium.
DOWN INTO DARKNESS David Lawrence
London cop Stella Mooney and her staff investigate a string of murders which baffle them at first. Mooney’s persistence eventually leads to a popular video game, and the cops realize that someone is acting out the scenarios of the game in real life. The poignant observations of two small children eventually provide the insight the cops need. Protagonists like Stella Mooney don’t come along often enough, and I am always eager to read the next book in Lawrence’s series when it appears.
T IS FOR TRESPASS Sue Grafton
I think I will always pick up Grafton’s latest entry. The quality has varied in the last seven or eight books, but I still find a lot to enjoy. In this one, an elderly neighbor of Kinsey Milhone’s is being preyed upon by an opportunistic household helper. In a departure from her earlier style of story telling, Grafton includes chapters from the point of view of the criminal.
SALAMANDER COTTON Richard Kunzmann
I read this one for a review assignment for CRIMESPREE Magazine. The author is South African, and the action is set there. A horrific murder opens the action, and the author begins to move back in time to varying earlier periods in the recent history of South Africa. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and think the author is deserving of a US reputation. We’ll see how his readership develops.
DEATH SONG Michael McGarrity
Perhaps because he introduced himself to me at Washington DC Bouchercon, coupled with his setting his books in the American Southwest, I’ve always had a special interest in McGarrity’s books. His protagonist Kevin Kerney, is a cop in the Santa Fe, New Mexico area, but the action often involves the entire state. In this latest, a local cop and his wife are murdered within hours of each other, in separate locations, and the murderer moves on to others connected to the pair, staying one grisly step ahead of the investigating cops. Kerney’s wife and two sons are important parts of the story, and McGarrity does a nice job of balancing the personal and professional lives of his characters.
THINGS FALL APART Chinua Achebe
Another book discussion group choice, and an introduction to another widely known and well respected book which I was unfamiliar with. The Nigerian author relates the dramatic changes in village life at the opening of the 20th century, when British missionaries came to live and work in rural areas.
SALT RIVER James Sallis
Sallis is probably one of the best authors working today, and probably one which many readers have not heard of. His books are almost novellas, spare, tightly plotted, with intriguing characters and settings. SALT RIVER continues a series featuring a cop in a small Tennessee town. The mystery of an out of control car, a visit from a wandering friend, and the enigmatic goal of two drifters coincide with poignant results.
A PALE HORSE Charles Todd
Inspector Ian Rutledge is sent by his London superiors to report on the presence (or absence) of an important figure being watched by Scotland Yard. At about the same time, a group of young boys comes across a grisly scene in a Yorkshire churchyard – a dead body leans against a wall, wearing a gas mask. It’s probably no surprise that the dead man and the watched man are part of the same set of events. In this series set in small English villages and towns just after WW I, Todd portrays the aftermath of war – both for the main character and for those he meets as he investigates.
AGENT ZIG ZAG Ben McIntyre
The only non fiction in this bunch – Eddie Chapman was a WW II spy for the British against the Germans, and also a spy for the Germans against the British. Recruited from an Isle of Jersey prison as the war began, he used his natural criminal mind and con man instincts to stay alive as he played a deadly game of burning his candle at both ends. Working from recently declassified MI-5 archives, McIntyre tells a fascinating story of a petty criminal who, when war threatened his country found a solid motive to serve – and ending up feeding his love of adventure at the same time. With the ingenious assistance of his British handlers, he carried off the sabotage planned by the Germans, with no actual damage and none of the enemy the wiser
ANGUS, THONGS, AND FULL FRONTAL SNOGGING Louise Rennison
One of my library based book discussion groups often chooses young adult titles, and we always enjoy them. This one is a humorous diary of a girl in her early teens, coping with parents, potential boy friends, a rogue cat, and a tentative education in “snogging.” What my generation called “getting to first base.”
That’s it for this update!
One of my book discussion groups chose this, and it kicked off a lively discussion, enhanced when the only African American person who attends regularly began to share her memories of listening to her parents and grandparents talk about their experiences growing up in the South. Strangely enough, I didn’t know that Hurston’s book dates from the Harlem Renaissance. Somewhere along the line I had gotten the mistaken impression that it was a fairly recent “chick lit” type of book. Needless to say, I was wrong, and I enjoyed learning about this classic of American letters.
DeKOK AND MURDER ON BLOOD MOUNTAIN A C Baantjer
One of my favorite series is this one – written by former Amsterdam cop Baantjer and featuring eccentric Inspector DeKok, his long suffering partner, and the inspector’s ancient but serviceable Volkswagen. In this entry, DeKok investigates a type of life insurance scam which ensnares a series of defenseless street people and eventually takes the Dutch cops to Belgium.
DOWN INTO DARKNESS David Lawrence
London cop Stella Mooney and her staff investigate a string of murders which baffle them at first. Mooney’s persistence eventually leads to a popular video game, and the cops realize that someone is acting out the scenarios of the game in real life. The poignant observations of two small children eventually provide the insight the cops need. Protagonists like Stella Mooney don’t come along often enough, and I am always eager to read the next book in Lawrence’s series when it appears.
T IS FOR TRESPASS Sue Grafton
I think I will always pick up Grafton’s latest entry. The quality has varied in the last seven or eight books, but I still find a lot to enjoy. In this one, an elderly neighbor of Kinsey Milhone’s is being preyed upon by an opportunistic household helper. In a departure from her earlier style of story telling, Grafton includes chapters from the point of view of the criminal.
SALAMANDER COTTON Richard Kunzmann
I read this one for a review assignment for CRIMESPREE Magazine. The author is South African, and the action is set there. A horrific murder opens the action, and the author begins to move back in time to varying earlier periods in the recent history of South Africa. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and think the author is deserving of a US reputation. We’ll see how his readership develops.
DEATH SONG Michael McGarrity
Perhaps because he introduced himself to me at Washington DC Bouchercon, coupled with his setting his books in the American Southwest, I’ve always had a special interest in McGarrity’s books. His protagonist Kevin Kerney, is a cop in the Santa Fe, New Mexico area, but the action often involves the entire state. In this latest, a local cop and his wife are murdered within hours of each other, in separate locations, and the murderer moves on to others connected to the pair, staying one grisly step ahead of the investigating cops. Kerney’s wife and two sons are important parts of the story, and McGarrity does a nice job of balancing the personal and professional lives of his characters.
THINGS FALL APART Chinua Achebe
Another book discussion group choice, and an introduction to another widely known and well respected book which I was unfamiliar with. The Nigerian author relates the dramatic changes in village life at the opening of the 20th century, when British missionaries came to live and work in rural areas.
SALT RIVER James Sallis
Sallis is probably one of the best authors working today, and probably one which many readers have not heard of. His books are almost novellas, spare, tightly plotted, with intriguing characters and settings. SALT RIVER continues a series featuring a cop in a small Tennessee town. The mystery of an out of control car, a visit from a wandering friend, and the enigmatic goal of two drifters coincide with poignant results.
A PALE HORSE Charles Todd
Inspector Ian Rutledge is sent by his London superiors to report on the presence (or absence) of an important figure being watched by Scotland Yard. At about the same time, a group of young boys comes across a grisly scene in a Yorkshire churchyard – a dead body leans against a wall, wearing a gas mask. It’s probably no surprise that the dead man and the watched man are part of the same set of events. In this series set in small English villages and towns just after WW I, Todd portrays the aftermath of war – both for the main character and for those he meets as he investigates.
AGENT ZIG ZAG Ben McIntyre
The only non fiction in this bunch – Eddie Chapman was a WW II spy for the British against the Germans, and also a spy for the Germans against the British. Recruited from an Isle of Jersey prison as the war began, he used his natural criminal mind and con man instincts to stay alive as he played a deadly game of burning his candle at both ends. Working from recently declassified MI-5 archives, McIntyre tells a fascinating story of a petty criminal who, when war threatened his country found a solid motive to serve – and ending up feeding his love of adventure at the same time. With the ingenious assistance of his British handlers, he carried off the sabotage planned by the Germans, with no actual damage and none of the enemy the wiser
ANGUS, THONGS, AND FULL FRONTAL SNOGGING Louise Rennison
One of my library based book discussion groups often chooses young adult titles, and we always enjoy them. This one is a humorous diary of a girl in her early teens, coping with parents, potential boy friends, a rogue cat, and a tentative education in “snogging.” What my generation called “getting to first base.”
That’s it for this update!
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