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february books roundup
Mar. 2nd, 2014 01:36 amFEBRUARY BOOKS
6. Dead Lions, Mick Herron, Thriller. The second "Slow Horses" tale. The gang is back, minus the dead ones, and with a couple new Horses added. They find out about an actual threat on the nation, and have to saddle up (see what I did there) to save the day. Or is it an actual threat? Totally enjoyable. Love Mick Herron's style. I want there to already be about 15 of these so I can binge on them for a couple of months. But no. There are only the two.
7. West Coast Crime Wave, anthology, Crime. Collection of short stories from west coast crime writers. Very good. Nick Mamatas is in there, which is why I picked it up, but a lot of the stories were good enough that I looked up their catalogs and might start reading a couple of them. That's what you hope for from an anthology, right? Plus it was on sale for $0.99, so that's awesome! Good job, lads and ladies.
8. Cockroaches, Jo Nesbo, Crime. The second Harry Hole mystery. Did I already mention in the last review that his last name is pronounced Hoh-leh, like holy? I have read all the later ones and I guess the translator didn't spell that out in those, because I've been calling him Harry Hole in my head. But now it's like it's a HOLE new guy. Sigh. Anyway, in book 1 Harry, the Norwegian, went to Australia to solve a crime (as you do). In book #2 Harry, the Norwegian, goes to Thailand to solve a crime. I guess it took a while for Nesbo to realize that Norway was plenty exotic for his readers! Harry doesn't drink in this one, except at the beginning and the end and in both cases he's a blackout wreck of a man. There is child murder and molestation and pornography and grownup murder and violence and Harry gets handcuffed to a swimming pool drain and thrown out of a second-story window, but he manages to work it all out. Kinda.
9. I'm a Stranger Here Myself, Bill Bryson, Essay. Everyone in the world has read Bill Bryson but me. My pal Jenn has been trying to get me to read him for years, and I just wasn't in the mood. I decided this month I needed laughing. And I laughed. In this collection, Bill has just returned to America after 15 years in the UK. He has to relearn everything about US living. It is funny. Sometimes it is the tiniest bit tedious, but mostly it is funny.
10. Takedown Twenty, Janet Evanovich, Audio, Crime. So, honestly, I've already read this book, maybe five times before. Not this specific one, of course, but really they're all the same. Stephanie Plum is still juggling her relationships with hot cop Joe Morelli and hotter security services guy Ranger. She's still being a bounty hunter with her ridiculous ex-'ho friend Lula. She's still dragging grandma Mazur to funerals and bingo. She's still got Rex, who has got to be the longest-living hamster in the history of the universe. And this time there's a giraffe named Kevin, some mafia guys, some dead old ladies in dumpsters, a dapper 80 year old lothario, and several attempts on Stephanie's life, plus a Joe's grandmother giving Stephanie the evil eye again. No cars were killed, however, just kinda wounded. So that seems like a tiny maturing, kinda. But seriously, Stephanie, girlfriend, you are in a RUT and you need to CHOOSE.
Anyway, I prefer these in audio to written, and the reader is quite good. Perfect for listening to while cleaning the kitchen.
11. Divergent, Veronica Roth, Young Adult. In her 16th year, Beatrice has to make a choice. What faction will she join and live with for the rest of her life? She was born into Abnegation (selfless), but she also has proficiency towards the Erudite (smart) and the Dauntless (brave). She feels that she isn't selfless enough to remain in Abnegation, and she's been taught to mistrust the Erudite, so Dauntless becomes her choice. The Dauntless faction is the group that protects the city, so she renames herself Tris and begins initiation and training. Only some initiates make the cut, and if they don't, they become "factionless" and have no standing in society. Will Tris make it? She has a secret, and it's a dangerous one.
OK, so it's very Hunger Games dystopian young adult fighting fare. Not bad, though. I guess there's a movie coming out soon. Makes perfect sense. Lots of jumping off of trains and looking at crumbling city buildings, I'm sure.
12. Insurgent, Veronica Roth, Young Adult. Raging war, dead friends, dead family. Tris is sad, angry, hurt, wounded, and fighting with her boyfriend over how to save the world. There's a huge secret that people have died trying to announce, but other people don't want the secret let out and are willing to kill lots of men, women and children to protect it.
I wasn't that impressed with the huge secret, to be honest. SPOILER: it's not space aliens, damn it. At least this wasn't practically a whole book of sulking and being depressed, like, say, Hunger Games book 2? whichever.
6. Dead Lions, Mick Herron, Thriller. The second "Slow Horses" tale. The gang is back, minus the dead ones, and with a couple new Horses added. They find out about an actual threat on the nation, and have to saddle up (see what I did there) to save the day. Or is it an actual threat? Totally enjoyable. Love Mick Herron's style. I want there to already be about 15 of these so I can binge on them for a couple of months. But no. There are only the two.
7. West Coast Crime Wave, anthology, Crime. Collection of short stories from west coast crime writers. Very good. Nick Mamatas is in there, which is why I picked it up, but a lot of the stories were good enough that I looked up their catalogs and might start reading a couple of them. That's what you hope for from an anthology, right? Plus it was on sale for $0.99, so that's awesome! Good job, lads and ladies.
8. Cockroaches, Jo Nesbo, Crime. The second Harry Hole mystery. Did I already mention in the last review that his last name is pronounced Hoh-leh, like holy? I have read all the later ones and I guess the translator didn't spell that out in those, because I've been calling him Harry Hole in my head. But now it's like it's a HOLE new guy. Sigh. Anyway, in book 1 Harry, the Norwegian, went to Australia to solve a crime (as you do). In book #2 Harry, the Norwegian, goes to Thailand to solve a crime. I guess it took a while for Nesbo to realize that Norway was plenty exotic for his readers! Harry doesn't drink in this one, except at the beginning and the end and in both cases he's a blackout wreck of a man. There is child murder and molestation and pornography and grownup murder and violence and Harry gets handcuffed to a swimming pool drain and thrown out of a second-story window, but he manages to work it all out. Kinda.
9. I'm a Stranger Here Myself, Bill Bryson, Essay. Everyone in the world has read Bill Bryson but me. My pal Jenn has been trying to get me to read him for years, and I just wasn't in the mood. I decided this month I needed laughing. And I laughed. In this collection, Bill has just returned to America after 15 years in the UK. He has to relearn everything about US living. It is funny. Sometimes it is the tiniest bit tedious, but mostly it is funny.
10. Takedown Twenty, Janet Evanovich, Audio, Crime. So, honestly, I've already read this book, maybe five times before. Not this specific one, of course, but really they're all the same. Stephanie Plum is still juggling her relationships with hot cop Joe Morelli and hotter security services guy Ranger. She's still being a bounty hunter with her ridiculous ex-'ho friend Lula. She's still dragging grandma Mazur to funerals and bingo. She's still got Rex, who has got to be the longest-living hamster in the history of the universe. And this time there's a giraffe named Kevin, some mafia guys, some dead old ladies in dumpsters, a dapper 80 year old lothario, and several attempts on Stephanie's life, plus a Joe's grandmother giving Stephanie the evil eye again. No cars were killed, however, just kinda wounded. So that seems like a tiny maturing, kinda. But seriously, Stephanie, girlfriend, you are in a RUT and you need to CHOOSE.
Anyway, I prefer these in audio to written, and the reader is quite good. Perfect for listening to while cleaning the kitchen.
11. Divergent, Veronica Roth, Young Adult. In her 16th year, Beatrice has to make a choice. What faction will she join and live with for the rest of her life? She was born into Abnegation (selfless), but she also has proficiency towards the Erudite (smart) and the Dauntless (brave). She feels that she isn't selfless enough to remain in Abnegation, and she's been taught to mistrust the Erudite, so Dauntless becomes her choice. The Dauntless faction is the group that protects the city, so she renames herself Tris and begins initiation and training. Only some initiates make the cut, and if they don't, they become "factionless" and have no standing in society. Will Tris make it? She has a secret, and it's a dangerous one.
OK, so it's very Hunger Games dystopian young adult fighting fare. Not bad, though. I guess there's a movie coming out soon. Makes perfect sense. Lots of jumping off of trains and looking at crumbling city buildings, I'm sure.
12. Insurgent, Veronica Roth, Young Adult. Raging war, dead friends, dead family. Tris is sad, angry, hurt, wounded, and fighting with her boyfriend over how to save the world. There's a huge secret that people have died trying to announce, but other people don't want the secret let out and are willing to kill lots of men, women and children to protect it.
I wasn't that impressed with the huge secret, to be honest. SPOILER: it's not space aliens, damn it. At least this wasn't practically a whole book of sulking and being depressed, like, say, Hunger Games book 2? whichever.
