Thursday Thirteen: Recent Reads

1. The King of Lies, about which I already raved.
2. All Mortal Flesh by Julia Spencer-Fleming.  There are only a few books in this series, but each one is better than the last, and this one is stunning in every sense of the word.
3. Counterplay, the latest installment in the Butch Karp/Marlene Ciampi series by Robert K. Tanenbaum.  It's not up to his usual standard, but does have a helluva twist at the end.
4. One Mississippi by Mark Childress is beautful and heartbreaking, with a dead-on sense of time and place.  I especially love the way he wove music into the book, as the music he used was the soundtrack of my high-school days.
5. I Gave You My Heart But You Sold it Online by Dixie Cash is every bit as fun as the name implies.  I'd go on a road trip with Debbie Sue and Edwina (or Dixie) any day of the week!
6. The last installment in Gillian Roberts' Amanda Pepper series, All's Well That Ends.  Amanda is a very witty wise-ass, and I'm sad to see her go.
7. Hundred Dollar Baby by Robert B. Parker.  The Spenser books are like candy to me; I don't even know if they're any good, just that I love them.  This one resurrects a character from two earlier books, but with a much less happy resolution.
8. Short Straw by Stuart Woods.  More candy!  Woods has several series but the main character in this one has only appeared in one other book.
9. The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult was not my favorite of her books.  I didn't really care about any of the characters and I wondered why I was continuing to read it.  Or maybe I just haven't forgiven her for My Sister's Keeper yet.
10. Rage by Jonathan Kellerman.  His Alex Delaware series is a long-time favorite, though I am about at the point where they are  just too depressing.  This one was, too.
11. The Garden of Eden and Other Criminal Delights by Faye Kellerman, a nice mixture of short fiction and essays.  Don't tell Jonathan, but I like Faye better (at least this week).
12. The Hollywood Issue of Vanity Fair, with some great articles and a fabulous photo spread by Annie Liebovitz that's shot in classic film noir style.
13. I'm still working on The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.  I usually love memoirs, and this one is very well-written, but I'm struggling to finish it.  I'm thinking it's not her, though; maybe right now I just need light and frothy.

Comments

[Jennifer]

Well, I for one am shocked. SHOCKED, I tell you. We have similar tastest in books. Can you IMAGINE?

I've fallen behind in my Alex Delaware reading and just picked 'The Murder Book' off of my shelves last night. Started it once a couple of years ago and just couldn't do it. Last night, I made it to Chapter 15 before I crashed.

I've got a couple of books that will be PERFECT for you. Right now. But you'll only get the titles from me in person. In fact, you might even get the books from me face to face.

[Peg]

TL, I loved The Glass Castle, but you're right, not exactly light and frothy. Well worth finishing at some point, however. I passed it around my office and everyone liked it.

[colleen]

1. Restaurant place mats in Cedar Key. 2. Tourist Guides. 3. Interperative Trail Signs. 4. Maps.

[Deana]

I swear I don't know any of these other than the first one that we've already discussed.

I am trying to get into The Thirteenth Tale. It is so interesting if only I could set aside some read time. It is a rainy day here and a great afternoon for reading but I felt the need to visit blog friends instead. Blogging has cut into my reading time!

[Karen]

Jennifer sent me. I hope you are not toooo grumpy today, although it is certainly understandable!

[meno]

jennifer sent me too, to say welcome home or good luck or hi or something like that. I love the Julia Spencer-Fleming books. I am eagerly waiting for this one to come out in paperback as i am too cheap to buy it in hardback.

[Laurie]

Yeah, late again with the comments.

You seem to be a more prolific reader of fiction that I am these days, so I'm happy to get these recommendations. I read just non-fiction for my classes so long that I am greedily devouring fiction again, particularly Diana Gabaldon and Anne Tyler. I need light and airy right now. Mysteries work for me, too, so I'm going to jot these down and take the list to the used book store and library the next times I go. I used to be a J. Kellerman fan too - I stopped reading him for the same reason - depressing. Dixie Cash sounds good just for the titles I saw on Amazon.