Don't forget, folks. Mark your calendars for the release of the following books in May/June. Click the link for each title to read my thoughts; if they spark your fancy, then make sure to put a hold on them at the library, download them on audio, or buy the book from your favorite independent bookseller.

Today, May 29, 2012

So Far Away, by Meg Mitchell Moore is a coming of age tale set in Boston, combining the lives of three women at different points in their lives. One woman is about to retire, a teenager suffers from the results of her parents' divorce and school bullying, and an Irish maid's diary from the turn of the century is found in a basement. What a compelling and fraught with anxiety story.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn! The first two lines of my review are "Oh, my GAWD, Gillian Flynn can write. I am not kidding." A twisted story that is so engaging that you will not be able to put it down. The perfect couple moves from New York to a small town in Missouri, and the wife suddenly disappears with no trace. The search to find the wife reveals layers upon layers of dark secrets and the husband becomes the only suspect for her disappearance. and is vilified in the court of public opinion. This is one sick and twisted story and I promise you will have a hard time not wanting to find every excuse to get some quiet time to read it.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

The Age of Miracles, by Karen Thompson Walker is a quietly and beautifully told story of a young girl's coming-of-age when the world is about to end. When the reliable spinning of the earth on its axis begins to slow down, the subsequent effects of the "slowing" begin to take its toll, both physically and emotionally on society. Each day is a questioning step towards the potential end of existence, but the world tries to maintain order in spite of the obvious results. It's a frantically quiet book, and one that has been optioned for a film.

Oh, heck YEAH, I'm joining Trish's readalong for Stephen King's The Stand. This will be perfect for The Stephen King Project that Kathleen and I are hosting this year. The Stand is a book I wanted to read this year anyway, and I thought I'd be reading it more in the fall, but hey, if there are going to be a bunch of folks reading it around the same time, then sign me up!

There are two versions of this book, with Stephen King expanding on the story in 1990. I'm going with that "uncut" version for this readalong and I am stoked. I've heard that this is *the* book to read if you want to read Stephen King.

Here are Trish's basics for the readalong:

• When: June 1st through July 27th
• Where: Post your sign up by clicking here. Post midway through the book will go up July 1st, wrap-up will go July 27th. (If you are reading the original version, you should be at Chapter 38 for the midway check-in. If you are reading the "uncut" version, you should be at Chapter 48 for the midway check-in.)
• How: However you want. Original (shorter) version, Uncut version, Audio version.

Standalong Get to Know You

1. What makes you want to read The Stand? It's one I've always wanted to read, but my enthusiasm ramped up even more so since Kathleen and I started The Stephen King Project this year. I've heard it's the book to read!
2. Describe your preconceived notions of The Stand? It's insanely huge, it's going to consume my life, and I am so READY.
3. What was the last scary(ish) book you read or movie you saw? I love, LOVE scary books and movies. The last really scary book I read was another Stephen King book, 'Salem's Lot. That one had me looking over my shoulder.
4. Which version of the book will you be reading? I'll probably do a combo of the hardback from the library or ebook version.
5. What are your previous experiences with Stephen King? I've been reading a number of his works this year because of The Project, so I feel I've been getting a good education on his writing style. Which I LOVE.
6. Anything else you'd like to add (bonus points for being extra random). Stephen King is the MAN.

So why not join? Let's have fun with Stephen King over the summer!

"I know where I stand now," he said, looking with friendly eyes from one of the police-detectives to the other. "I'm sorry I got up on my hind legs, but you birds coming in and trying to put the work on me made me nervous. Having Miles knocked off bothered me, and then you birds cracking foxy. That's all right now, though, now that I know what you're up to."

Nothing says good ole Americana like Dashiell Hammett's 1920s detective novel The Maltese Falcon.

Tough Sam Spade never knew how it all would unfold when the beautiful and mysterious Miss Wonderley walked into his detective agency asking for help to find her sister. When his fellow detective and business partner Miles Archer decides to follow a man Miss Wonderley identifies as the reason for her sister's disappearance, Spade never realizes that the case he takes would result in his partner's murder and a chase for an historical artifact that carries a legend centuries old.

This is just how I like my rainy day weekends. With shady characters like Gutman and Cairo, it's only Sam Spade and his code of honor, along with his tough-talking, level-setting secretary Effie who will always keep him on the straight and narrow. Dashiell Hammett's story is slick and savvy old-time detective noir and I loved every moment of it. This is what later novels of tired and smart detective stories are based on, and the formula that Hammett creates will remain timeless. After all, who doesn't love a good story of figuring out how to get the prized treasure and falling in love, all while never once breaking any ethics? I know I sure love it.

When I took a deeper dive into Dashiell Hammett's history, I found that he's just as interesting as the stories and characters he invented. After he dropped out of school at fourteen-years-old, he worked a variety of jobs before he got a job at the world-famous detective agency, Pinkerton's. Serving in both World Wars, Hammett began to write about sleuthing and was one of the major players who set the foundation for great mysteries. I mean, when you think about it, before there was some dude named Dan Brown, Dashiell Hammett was already crafting the art of true detection and legendary treasures. Sounds pretty good to me, and I think I might stick with this time period a little while longer.

I'm all about picking up The Thin Man next. Dashiell Hammett has just the right way to sweep me up into another time and place.

"We begin well, sir," the fat man purred, turning with a proffered glass in his hand. "I distrust a man that says when. If he's got to be careful not to drink too much it's because he's not to be trusted when he does."

Publisher: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, Vintage Books, a division of Random House
Release Date: 1929
Pages: 217

FTC Disclosure: Straight off my shelf, personal copy.


About the Author

Dashiell Hammett is the famous American author of classic detective noir novels The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man. Serving in both World War I and II, Hammett continued his writing and eventually died in 1961.

Well, another week starts and I'll be in Atlanta Monday through Wednesday. This trip is strictly work, so I'll have limited reading time. You know how it is, in work meetings all day long and you head back to the hotel to catch up on work emails. Ugh.

Anyway, I'm really digging my two whole months with no review commitments. After reading American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century, I was hit with the pre-war bug and now I'm reading:

• The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. Which I am loving. Sam Spade is the original bad-a$#, I must admit.
• Exodus by Leon Uris will be next. I've flipped through this but wrote it off as a book my grandparents would read (not sure why that would matter). Suffice it to say I read the first few pages and I'm hooked. So, that'll be next.
• After that? I think I might stick with books written from 1900 to 1960. It's fun to read the way we all used to chit-chat with each other. So much so that my husband and I looked up slang from the 1940s and started calling each other "angel cake" all day, and then kept saying to each other when we wanted to head to a restaurant and eat a lot "let's grab the percolator and make tracks. I could bash." Not like we were rolling in beans, but you understand what I'm saying.

See ya cats next week.