Monday, January 31, 2011

John Lawton

Read A Lily in the Field by John Lawton, 2010, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Started reading it in paper from the library and then bought the Kindle version to finish it. Reading etext is becoming comfortable. I am now listening to Blue Rhondo in my car and like that format as well. Enjoyable books. I've ordered the first few of his books from ABE Books. They were cheap but the postage was not! I like this writer's sense of humour, mix of characters, the era he is writing about - WWII and the 50's leading into the 60's.

I'm nearly finished Annabel by Kathleen Winter, 2010. It's good. Hard to read about a character that nobody will tell the truth to, but it's a good book. What a nightmare it would be to be born a hermaphrodite.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Finished listening to Ireland: a Novel by Frank Delaney, 2008. A very long book but easy to attend to, many different stories woven into a sort of main story line. He's a bit full of himself, this author, but he does write well and read well.

Enjoyed reading Dog Tags, by the dog-loving author David Rosenfelt, 2010. Entertaining mystery, not very deep but the dogs are good and the characters are likable enough.

In the middle of Matter with Morris, by David Bergen, 2010 and am not sure what I think of it. I'll finish it but it isn't great. Good writing but the main character is a pain so his reflections on life after the death of his son are not that interesting.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Oogy

How could I have forgotten to post Oogy: The Dog Only a Family Could Love by Larry Levin, 2010? It's a good book. About a great dog. Well written.

from Amazon.ca
"In 2002, Larry Levin and his twin sons, Dan and Noah, took their terminally ill cat to the Ardmore Animal Hospital outside Philadelphia to have the beloved pet put to sleep. What would begin as a terrible day suddenly got brighter as the ugliest dog they had ever seen--one who was missing an ear and had half his face covered in scar tissue--ran up to them and captured their hearts. The dog had been used as bait for fighting dogs when he was just a few months old. He had been thrown in a cage and left to die until the police rescued him and the staff at Ardmore Animal Hospital saved his life. The Levins, whose sons are themselves adopted, were unable to resist Oogy's charms, and decided to take him home."

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Ireland and mysteries

Finished Started Early, Took my Dog, Kate Atkinson's latest, and liked it very much. The mystery is really in the background, the characters make the book. She ends with my favorite Dickinson poem, Hope. The title is from another of her poems.

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Read Mark Bilingham's latest as well, and liked it. From the Dead, 2010. Glad I read most of these before the TV series because my Thorne and TV's Thorne are not the same. It's a good mystery.

In the car, listening to Frank Delaney, 20087, Ireland: a novel, a rambling book of stories told by a story teller. It's good though, and the author is reading it and reading it well. This book is better listened to I think.

I am mostly finished and very much liking Ryan Knighton's latest book, C'mon Papa: Dispatches from a Dad in the Dark, 2010. He writes well, about becoming a new father as a blind person. It's a page turner - a good continuation of Cockyed. I hope he keeps writing.