And Now, Good Reads.

My friend Mary in Ohio sent me a link.   It is called Good Reads (www.goodreads.com) and I am enjoying it so far. It seems to be like the Friendster of book lovers.  Check it out and sign up. It’s easy.

The concept of Good Reads is simple. It is connected to Amazon, and you can search for books you have read, books you want to read and books you are currently reading.  You can separate them into several bookshelves (so far I have a mystery shelf) and if you want you can add a review of the book to help you remember what you have read.  You can also add friends to your profile and you are attached to the friends and can see what they are reading!  You can look at lists of popular titles and find new people and check out what kinds of books they read.  It is great fun for the book lover. I have just started and am building my bookshelf and trying to think of the books that I have read and how I would rate them. It seems to be easier with the books I have just finished. 

If you decide to join let me know! Then I can add you as a friend and we can share our favorites.  I am about to log back on and add some more favorites to my bookshelf.

Tomorrow I leave for my mothers so I might not get the chance to blog.  She does have the internet so we shall see. It all depends on my motivation.  My sister has already lost her job.  I think this time she lasted a month? Who knows.

I promise to drive carefully and see you all soon.

Malaise

 I have been feeling a general sense of depression this week. Not sure where it is coming from.  Just feeling out of sorts and sort of disconnected from things.   Maybe I am just feeling a little bit lonely.  I definately am feeling blue.  I am sure it will pass.

I just read today that one of my favorite shows, Rosemary and Thyme, has been cancelled.  I am watching season three on Netflix this week and it was the last season produced.   The article I read even said that the final two episodes were never aired.   I hope Felicity Kendall and Pam Ferris can get together and make a reunion movie.  I guess it was not doing that well in its native England.  I really enjoy the series. It is about two gardeners who always seem to stumble upon a dead body.  The gardening theme is fun and the show always has them working on lovely gardens full of bright colors. The gardens always look really lovely by the end of the episode but you have to push the corpses away.  I am thinking of purchasing the series to own on DVD.  After all, it IS only three seasons.  Oh for the days of quality television! 

One more day at work and then I leave for my mothers.  I talked to her on the phone the other night and she is doing well and my sister still has maintained her full time job and we will see how long this lasts.  My mom is excited that I will be up there for Easter.   Easter is not really a holiday I celebrate.  I am not very religious.  I don’t think that it is that I don’t believe in God, it’s more that the thought of going somewhere where I have to interact with so many people frightens me. I tend to be somewhat reclusive.  Chris doesn’t seem to mind. He likes going to church and rings handbells and everything.  My mother has made reservations at a nice restaraunt for Easter dinner and that should be something nice.  Probably get the traditional ham.   I guess with all that I have been through in my life, it just isn’t really necessary to do holidays anymore.  I really can’t get into all that pretense of happy families and perfect little holidays.   I would rather make my regular days as good as I can make them.  I don’t want to set myself up and then be disapointed.  By not having a holiday, I don’t really miss anything. 

There I go again.  All maudlin.  I hope I can get over this. I really do.  Mabye tomorrow will find me more upbeat.

Mika!

Payday!

And a successful trip to Barnes and Noble for some music.  This is the video for Mika’s Love Today. The album just came out in the states and I just picked it up. It is beyond awesome!  And so much fun!  It really makes me happy just listening to it!

I also picked up the Kaiser Chiefs  – Yours Truly Angry Mob and the new Amy Winehouse album. Once you get the song for Rehab in your head you can’t get it out.  And I won’t go to rehab either, Amy!

I love pop music. And British pop music is the BEST!

Now, back to a novel about an Irish pathologist/alcoholic.   Have a musical day!

Happy Monday

Not much happening here.  Still reading Death Comes for the Fat Man. Am about halfway through now.  Have quite a pile stacking up. Some of the highlights that I hope to get to next week are:

Christine Falls by Benjamin Black

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

The Blackest Bird by Joel Rose

What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman

Looking Good Dead by Peter James

There are a few others on the list but I hope to get one or two read next week when I visit my mother in Edinboro.  Just a relaxing week off and hopefully just being able to sleep in and get some reading done. Not sure which two I am going to lug up there with me, you will just have to be surprised by the reviews when I get them done!

Other than that it had been a slow week in Baltimore. Chris and I went out for a white pizza tonight.  It was good, but needed something (like sauce)…  but I guess that would negate the fact that it was a white pizza!  I am really looking forward to a week off and hope the week goes quickly so I can get on the road on Saturday.  I am sure I will fill you all in on the highlights of my trip. I might not be able to blog frequently while there and may take a week off from blogging all together.  I need a week to just shut the computer off. 

Anyway. Hope you are all having a grand night!

Death comes for the fat man

Hi

Just a quick update.  I am frantically reading as per usual. I have scads of books to get through and not enough time to get to them all!  

I am a bit concerned because I just started Death Comes For The Fat Man by Reginald Hill.  It is the latest in the Dalziel and Pascoe series (titled Death of Dalziel in the UK)  I am a bit concerned at the title.  I really hope Hill is not going to kill of Andy Dalziel!  The books would not be the same without him!  (and you can’t have a Dalziel and Pascoe novel without Dalziel! )  I have just started and so far there has been a tremendous explosion in an Arab run video store and both Dalziel and Pascoe have been injured.  Not looking good for the fat man.  I am a tremendous fan of the series and was anxious to start this one. I will fill you in on my progress tomorrow.

I finised the Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard today.  It is set in a small town in Kansas where an unidentified young woman was found naked out in the snow.  Years later the crime is still unsolved and there rose up a folk legend that the “virgin” can cure the sick when they visit her gravesite.   Abby, now a landscaper in her thirties, is upset because on the night of the murder her boyfriend Mitch left town without a word and has contacted nobody since.  Their friend Rex is now the town sheriff and Abby is intent on reopening the case.  And it seems that some people involved may actually have known the identity of the dead woman.  It is a suspense thriller that really gets you involved and really does have a suprise ending. Very well written and a very good read.  Do try it!

It is one of the six books up for the Edgar as I have mentioned.  I have read five of them so far and really am unable to decide which book I would choose as the winner. I guess I will just have to wait until April to find out.  I am leaning toward the Janissary Tree, previously reviewed. There was alot of work that went into the novel and the author really seemed to capture the time and place.   But all of the nominees have been good. I have one more to try and track down and I will have read all six of them! At the rate I am reading it should be done in no time!

Well, back to the printed page!

Shopaholic and Baby

And, on a side note,  while reading other things I have been listening intently to Shopaholic and Baby by Sophie Kinsella.  I have been quite a fan of the shopaholic series, starting with Confessions of a Shopaholic and leading up to Shopaholic and Sister.  Shopaholic and Sister was the weakest of the books in my opinion, but Shopaholic and Baby is definitely finding Kinsella back on form.

I like to listen to the shopaholic titles on audio in my car. They are written in first person and tell the story of Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood) and her marriage to husband look.  She is from London and the actress that reads them does a marvelous job with the characters and really brings the title to life. Becky is married to Luke who runs a PR firm.  And she loves spending money.

One thing that is making her crazy in the latest book is the fact that her husband does not want to know the sex of the baby.  She feels she has to know in order to purchase the right colored items.  So she tries her hardest to determine the sex without her husband knowing. The other problem she faces is that she has to get rid of her obstetrician in order to go see Venetia Carter,obstetrician to the stars.  Venetia promises to do a water birth with lotus flowers and thai massage.  And Becky almost gets to meet a Bond girl!  She finally convinces hubby to see Venetia, only to later learn that Luke and Venetia were old flames and she begins to fear that the flame has been rekindled.

There are some serioulsy funny returning characters in the novel, like the American designer that Becky discovers in the second book.    Becky has a job as a buyer for a failing department store and needs the designers help in order to save it.   All the time she is growing bigger and starting to waddle and takes great pains to look glamorous through it all.

I definitely recommend starting with the first book if you are planning on reading the series.   You will get to see how Becky meets Luke, the fun of the wedding and the revelation that Becky has  a long lost sister.  It is definitely a series to pick you up if you are feeling blue and you always know that somehow Becky will come out on top even through all her mishaps.

I am reading a much more tense novel called the Virgin of Small Plains that I hope to talk about this weekend.  It is by Nancy Pickard and is terrific so far, if you like suspense novels.  I know the old blog has become literary of late, but I can’t help it. Reading is what I do!

Sight Unseen

I am well into the novel Sight Unseen by Robert Goddard. I expect I will finish it tonight.  I think I had mentioned Goddard before on the blog. He is a British writer that has just recently been published in the U.S.  Every few months another one of his novels come out.  I put them on reserve at the library and can’t put them down.

Sight Unseen is just such a novel. It centers around David Umber, a scholar, who was waiting at a cafe one day and sees a tragedy unfolding.  A nanny with three children approaches when suddenly the youngest child is grabbed and spirited away in a van.  The middle child, rushing to the scene, is hit by the van and killed.

Umber gets to know the nanny and they eventually marry.  But the scars of the past run deep and the woman can’t get over what had happened. Their relationship falls apart and they separate.  Months later she dies in an accident (or an attempt at her own life).   Umber is left again to pick up the pieces.

But now it is present day and Umber gets contacted by a man named Sharp who is a retired police investigator who worked the case.  He received an anonymous letter stating that the case was never solved and should have been. Sharp wants nothing more than to get to the bottom of the case and as it turns out, maybe Umbers wife did not commit suicide after all. Perhaps she was murdered.

What follows is an edge of your seat thriller.  Sharp and Umber start to question people involved in the case again and everybody has something to hide.  Is it possible they are getting too close?  Exactly what did Umber’s wife know, and what really did happen to the two year old that went missing over twenty years ago?

Goddard has a great style and turns out a great page turner. In fact, I have about sixty pages to go so I have to cut you off now and get back to it.  But if you are looking for a quick read with lots of plot twists, Goddard is your man!

And now, tattoos.

This is just a post on tattoos and why people get them.  If you have a tattoo please respond! I really would like to know!

Two questions that I have are as follows:

1. Why get a tattoo somewhere that you cannot see, such as your back?  You must know that it is there but you would never get to see it!  If I were spending all that money for a tattoo I would at least like to look at it.  I think I will stick to buying artwork for my home. Then I can see it all that I want!

2. What happens if you get tired of having something permanently etched on your body?  My tastes change, and some things that I used to like I don’t like anymore.  For example, what if I am nuts for Garfield in my twenties and decided to get a tattoo of the little cat on my forearm.  Then, when I turn 40 I start to think that I don’t really like  him all that much and then I have to get it removed.  I mean, I guess you always can get them removed.

Did you notice that sometimes when a person gets older, the tattoo begins to stretch or wobble and looks misshapen? Just a thought.  And Chris says that you have to be careful because when you get a tattoo you cannot perspire in that location on your skin.  So if you cover your body in tattoos it is not the healthiest thing you can do.

I know that I could never get a tattoo because I could not sit for that legnth of time while it was happening.  And I can’t really think of anything that I would want tattooed on my skin.

Oh, and I don’t have anything against tattoos and think that some people have some really interesting ones! I am just curious as to why you decided that you wanted this permanent moniker to carry with you, always.

That and I couldn’t think of anything else I wanted to talk about today. So, discuss among yourself!

Alice Faye

Just to let you know of a new DVD set that is available.

The Alice Faye collection is out and it delivers!  I was so happy to find it on Amazon.  You know I love nothing more than an old musical and Alice Faye is one of my favorites!  This collection includes:

Lillian Russell (with Don Ameche and Henry Fonda)

That Night In Rio (also with Don Ameche and Carmen Miranda)

The Gang’s All Here (with Carmen Miranda)

On the Avenue (with Dick Powell)

Chris thought it was funny how many of the Alice Faye musicals all had the same cast and I had to explain to him all about the Hollywood Studio system and  how it worked.  That’s why you see so many Alice Faye and Betty Grable movies also featuring Carmen Miranda.

The Gang’s All Here is a good film but for the strange Busby Berkeley ending.   It is a strange number called the Polka Dot Polka with all sorts of glowing rings and disembodied heads floating around the screen.  There was a time in Hollywood when they made these strange endings with heads floating all about the screen! I don’t know what that is all about!

I think my favorite is Lillian Russell.  It is a biopic of the Broadway singer and has the best plot as well as some good songs. It is a black and white film and the costumes are marvelous.  Don Ameche got second billing but was hardly in the film at all and Henry Fonda really does a nice job as the man who loved Lillian from afar and never gave up on her. Definitely one worth seeing.

The only one I haven’t watched yet is On the Avenue. That is up for tomorrow night.  I shall be singing all week at this rate! 

Have pleasant musical dreams!

The Janissary Tree

Hi folks!

Just a short post today.  I am reading the Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin and I am finding it to be very good.  I have set a short goal for myself.  Every year they have the Edgar Allen Poe awards for the best mystery novel.  This year, six novels have been nominated and I am slowly working my way through the list.  The others I have read were the Dead Hour by Denise Mina, Gentlemen and Player by Joanne Harris and the Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard.  I have two and a half to go!  I am looking forward to discovering who this year’s winner will be!

I would love to describe the Janissary Tree and I hope to be able to tell you a little bit about it without confusing you.  The novel is set in 1820 in Instanbul during the Ottoman empire.  Apparently there were a group of soldiers called Janissaries and they helped protect Turkey but eventually they came into too much power and the Sultan had to wipe them out. They had adopted a large tree in Istanbul to be their symbol, but during the siege many of the Janissaries were hung from the tree or left underneath it.

The book centers around an investigator name Yashim.  Yashim is a eunuch and it seems that during that time period there were many of them roaming around.  Eunuchs were the only men allowed in the palace to talk to the harem, men and women were not allowed to interact at all.  There were also these male eunuch dancers that dressed like women and catered to the men that they danced for. 

Yashim is called in to work for the sultan.  It seems a young wife of the sultan was strangled and some jewelry was taken. Because he is a eunuch, he is able to go into the palace to investigate.   Another problem has cropped up and four officers of the army have gone missing and have begun to turn up dead.  Throughout the investigation he begins to find a connection to the Janissaries and that is the tie in to the title of the book.

I am really enjoying the novel.  I know nothing about that period in history and I get a little bit confused when they begin to talk about the state of Poland and Russia at that time (which also might have something to do with the plot)  but the novel moves seamlessly and is engaging enough that I want to spend time with it to discover the who in the whodunnit! I really do like a novel to teach me something and I think this novel is able to do so. The author, Goodwin, has also written non fiction works on the subject so it seems he is really knowledgeable about the period.  So fascinating.

So if you are looking for something good to read that you can really get into and spend a little more time with, try the Janissary Tree.   And let me know what you think!