Author Topic: Book Review Corner Vol. 7  (Read 17363 times)

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Offline duh

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Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« on: Jan 28, 2013, 10:58:25 AM »
Thanks Jenn, I appreciate your looking into it for me. 


Offline bayou girl

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #1 on: Jan 28, 2013, 08:43:42 PM »
Thanks, Dianna.  I couldn't remember.  She's a good writer and I've enjoyed all her works.

Tammy, Silent Girl is a good one by Tess Gerritson, Ice Cold is hit and miss. It is good over all, but has odd parts to it.  Body Double is good, and will make slogging through The Surgeon worth it (barely).  I did enjoy Body Double.  The Bone Garden is probably her best work.  That is the one that got me started reading her.  The apprentice is ok.  A lot of it is borrowed from the Surgeon, but it doesn't have the ick factor of the surgeon.  At least I didn't think so.  parts of it were good.  there are others i haven't read or don't remember.
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Offline duh

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #2 on: Jan 28, 2013, 09:55:26 PM »
along with the surgeon I checked out the apprentice and the sinner.  I think I maybe returning them and trying the ones you liked.

Offline bayou girl

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #3 on: Jan 28, 2013, 11:03:23 PM »
the apprentice was ok.  not terrific, but ok.  read body double before you read the apprentice, it will make more sense. at least it did to me, i don't know if they are in that order or not though.
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Offline bayou girl

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #4 on: Jan 28, 2013, 11:03:39 PM »
but the bone garden is best.
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Offline duh

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #5 on: Jan 30, 2013, 03:09:41 PM »
Today I came home with an Amanda Quick that I hadn't read yet.  I'm determined to get through the Surgeon before I start it otherwise I'll never finish it. 

Thanks for the heads up about the order.  That different than how they were written so I would have had them out of order for what reads best.   

Offline bestofour

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #6 on: Jan 30, 2013, 07:49:08 PM »
Are these are murder mysteries?  Is the Surgeon just bloody and gruesome or is it the writing?

Offline bayou girl

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #7 on: Jan 31, 2013, 12:13:13 AM »
yes they are murder mysteries, and the surgeon is sadistic.  that's the best word for it.  they get the bad guy, but it is very intense while they are getting him.
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Offline bestofour

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #8 on: Mar 15, 2013, 06:31:32 PM »
I'm going to two book clubs now.  In one we just finished The Light Between Oceans - pretty good.  And last night I met with the other too discuss The Master Butcher's Signing Club - really good.  The best thing about my new club is that we meet at upscale restaurants in Charlotte. I found out that I've forgotten what great tasting food tastes like.  Until last night I thought the trout at Cracker Barrel was good. 

Offline bayou girl

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #9 on: Mar 15, 2013, 10:13:00 PM »
sheri, the trout at cracker barrel is good.  but upscale restaurants can be good too.

i am almost done with sue grafton's "kinsey and me".  i thought it would be more like her other books, but it is actually a collection of short stories and i am enjoying it.  in between sections (there are 3) it has brief chapters on how she started writing and how she developed kinsey.

when i finish that, i'm going to try janet evonavich's wicked business.

i also just finished "darkly dreaming dexter" that the tv series is based on.  at least i think i read somewhere (before i read the book) that there is a tv series by that name inspired by the book.  it is was interesting, and had a unique spin on crime in society.
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Offline bestofour

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #10 on: Mar 23, 2013, 10:48:07 PM »
I just finished Blackberry Winter by Sarah Jio for my fancy book club.  One of the women had already read it and LOVED it.  Yuck.  It reminds me of a romance novel which I do not like at all.  I hope the food will be good at the next meeting to make up for this book.

Offline bayou girl

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #11 on: Mar 24, 2013, 01:39:47 PM »
i'm not a fan of straight romance either sheri.  i love julie garwood's mysteries, which have a romance side to them (although they have a couple of graphic sex scenes so if you are offended, don't read her), but i hate her romance books.  just can't get into them.  go figure!

i did read janet evanovich's wicked business, that was good. and i will find the rest of the books in that series (diesel & lizzy).  i'm not so thrilled with her stephanie plum books.  they are ok, just not as good as the others.
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Offline bestofour

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #12 on: Apr 08, 2013, 07:25:32 PM »
graphic sex I like.  It's the romance I can't stand.

Offline bayou girl

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #13 on: Apr 08, 2013, 07:27:48 PM »
then you would like about half of julie garwood's work.  she does romances and mysteries.  i didn't like the romances.  but mysteries are well written, and the sex is incidental, but she's pretty graphic with it.  usually only one or two passages though.
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Offline bayou girl

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #14 on: Apr 22, 2013, 10:12:45 PM »
i just finished the fisherman's shoes.  it was a good book, although, from what i heard, the movie was better.  the book just kind of finished leaving a few things hanging.  but i did like the central character.

now i am reading "i'd like to apologize to every teacher i ever had" by tony danza.  i definitely recommend it.  it is non-fiction, but well written, and i'm over half way through it and just started it this morning. it is a good read.
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Offline bayou girl

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #15 on: May 03, 2013, 09:47:02 PM »
i finished "thinking in pictures" by temple gardin.  a very good read.  it's non-fiction, but not quite auto-biographical either.  i think y'all would like it. 
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Offline bayou girl

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #16 on: May 03, 2013, 10:04:43 PM »
i finished "thinking in pictures" by temple gardin.  a very good read.  it's non-fiction, but not quite auto-biographical either.  i think y'all would like it. 
not temple gardin, but temple grandin. sorry about that.
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Offline bayou girl

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #17 on: May 20, 2013, 09:36:09 PM »
i finished "mercy" by julie garwood, and i would say that it is one of her best to date.  i love how she takes different locations, and makes it feel like you can actually picture the place.  like i said about the sex, some of it is fairly graphic, but not obscene, and incidental to the story line.

i finished "crossing over" by john edward.  i really enjoyed it but i can't tell you exactly what i liked about it.  i guess that it was well written, and in my opinion, explained who/what he is/does better than the tv show did.  i don't know if the show is still on, i haven't looked for it ever, just stumbled on it a time or two.  but if you read the book, it makes the show seem less "hokey".

now i am reading "we bought a zoo".  i got it because folks were telling me how good the movie is, and i'm not much of a movie person.  so today at work, i was comparing notes with rayne (my boss) and it turns out that the movie and the book are almost (not quite) like 2 different stories about similar people, but not the same people.  that was odd to me.

anyway, that's my reading update from the weekend.
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Offline bestofour

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #18 on: May 20, 2013, 10:32:28 PM »
I think I'll try Mercy.  Sounds interesting.

I just finished The Know It All about a man who read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica.  It was ok but I won't read it again.  It's for one of my book clubs.

My other club is reading Major Pettigrews Last Stand.  I checked it out on my Kindle but haven't started it.

I checked out Doc Martin series 2 and 4 and watched them all this weekend.  I've got series 5 on hold.  I wish I could find Death in Paradise with Ben Miller and The Cafe.  The UK puts out more interesting shows I think.

Offline bayou girl

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #19 on: May 20, 2013, 10:55:31 PM »
we carry a lot of british shows at our library.  and there is almost always a wait list for them.
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Offline duh

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #20 on: May 21, 2013, 09:09:50 AM »
I haven't figured out how to get the dvd to play well with the box so I haven't really looked at what we have. 

I've been trying to read but just can't get into it lately. 

Offline bestofour

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #21 on: May 21, 2013, 10:39:26 AM »
Jen, does your library carry The Cafe or Death in Paradise?  I can't even find them in a Redbox.

Offline bayou girl

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #22 on: May 21, 2013, 10:58:16 AM »
sheri, i will look when i go to work tomorrow.
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Offline bayou girl

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #23 on: May 30, 2013, 11:44:59 PM »
well, i started this last night and closed the page before i even posted, so i'll try again.

most of the fiction i read is suspense/mystery.  i really like julie garwood's mystery/suspense novels, even if they are sort of predictable (the girl always gets the man or the other way around) but i like how she does her plots.  there are enough twists and turns to keep you going.  just don't try to read her romances.  ick.  she does usually have one or two graphic sex scenes per book, but they fit the story line and aren't there just because "sex sells".

iris johansen is good, i've read a couple of hers, i have a favorite but can't remember the name right now.

palindrome by stuart woods.

for laughs, anything by joan hess.  i love all her books, and hope she continues to write for a very long time.  they are all "mysteries" but they are laugh out loud type giggles.  very clean as well.  no language to speak of.

margaret daley does some nice romantic suspense/mysteries, but her actual romances aren't as bad as julie garwood's.  a little sappy, but not bad.

for cooking mysteries, joanna fluke's "hannah swensen" series, and diane mott davidson's "goldie bear catering" series are great.  and have good recipes in them.

anything by laura childs is going to be good, but those are easy, light reading.  they also have recipes in them, or scrap booking tips, or...

for more intense mysteries, "jefferson bass" who is actually a pair of men right a good series called the "body farm", carol o'connell's "mallory" series is very good.  odd but good.  i don't believe they have any sex or language.  and definitely no romance.  tess gerritsen's rizollie & isles series is ok, but some of it is a bit intense for me.

for "modern classics" john macdonald's travis mcgee series (mysteries) and dick francis are good.  they are pre-cell phone, but not in the era of agatha christie/sherlock holmes.  i quit reading them because i was able to imagine all too well the things they described, and wasn't sleeping well.  and a more recent, heart thumping, i had to quit reading author is patricia cornwell.  i can't read her either, she keeps me awake at night.  but she's good.

there is a couple of quilting series that i'll have to look up the name of the authors on.  they come with a quilt pattern and i really like them.  easy reads, but not too easy.  they are engaging but not heart thumping.  again, mysteries.

if you like reading regional mystery/police/court procedures, margaret maron's deborah knott series is good.  and funny.  it is set in north carolina.

for the non-fiction that i've read and enjoyed lately, temple grandin's "thinking in pictures", tony danza's "i'd like to apologize to every teacher i've ever had", and "we bought a zoo" by ben mee were all good.  i wasn't as impressed by the fisherman's shoes, mostly because it left the end hanging.  if you watched the movie "we bought a zoo" i warn you, the book is nothing like the movie.  it is almost as if there were 2 different stories, with similar plots.

for kids' books, the two i've enjoyed most lately are "i'd like to eat a child" (no clue on the author) about a baby crocodile who decides he won't eat "real food" because he thinks that he is old enough to eat a child.  the child tickles his belly and tosses him back in the river.  but it is a cute story and jackson loved it.  the other one i like was "the kissing hand".  i didn't get around to reading that to the kids, but i liked it.

oh, and a non-fiction that i really enjoyed was "tim and casper go to church".  no matter where you stand on religion, it is a good read and very eye opening.
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Offline bayou girl

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Re: Book Review Corner Vol. 7
« Reply #24 on: May 31, 2013, 06:33:43 PM »
next series that i am really enjoying is frederick ramsay's "ike schwartz".  the first is artscape and the most recent is scone island.  you don't have to read them in order, but it does help.  i read scone island first because it came across my desk first and it sounded interesting.  i've been happy with artscape and the next one that i'm reading now.
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