101

I just finished Ian McEwan's "Solar." I found it a bit hard to follow and it seemed to drag in places. Michael Beard is a Nobel Prize winning physicist whose best work is 20 years behind him. He's married five times and always the womanizer even though he's short, fat and bald. His fifth marriage is rocked by his wife's infidelity which is something new for him so when he discovers that his wife has taken a second lover who is a co-worker of his he takes advantage of a freak accident to end his marriage and reinvigorate his career. The novel is full of greed and self-deception.

No big celebration for the new year. Just an early dinner out and then home to the regular Friday programming on television. My supply of goodies from the amazon box is quickly dwindling. I either need a raise or a second job to support my addiction.

100

Well, I was hoping for a better read for my 100th for the year but unfortunately it was David Guterson's "The Country Ahead of Us, The Country Behind." When I asked for it I was hoping for one of his novels and didn't realize it was a collection of short stories. I hate short stories and these were terrible. I still have a couple of days and two of those are work days so it's possible that there will be 101 before 2011.

99

Pretty sure this is the 99th book for the year. Kathryn Stockett's "The Help" is an excellent novel about Mississippi in early 1960's. The story is about two black maids and a white woman who was raised on a plantation. The white woman is fresh out of college and wants to use her journalistic skills. A hint from an editor in NY gets her interested in making a difference. She starts by telling what it's like to be a black maid to a white family so she needs to interview the maids. Not an easy assignment. In fact, very dangerous for all of them.

Number 98

I had a really boring day at work and it enabled me to read Erica Eisdorfer's "The Wet Nurse's Tale." I thought it would be an historical novel but it was just a story about a wet nurse in a Victorian time. Her mother had been one and due to her infidelity with the master of the Great House, she became pregnant and in her hour of need she became a wet nurse, also. Sarah Rose is a promiscuous, lovable, plump and scheming woman. Her second venture into infidelity gets her child kidnapped and she goes on a quest to find and get him back at whatever it takes. Very enjoyable read. If I've counted correctly, this is my 98th novel for the year. Pretty sure I can read two more before 2011.

Still can't believe it's Christmas Eve and tomorrow the house will be filled with kids and grandkids. Sure hope I didn't forget anybody and that I have enough food.

Little Bee

Another gem from my amazon purchase is Chris Cleave's "Little Bee." Definitely worth reading. Not even sure how to discuss it without ruining it. Two women meet on a beach in Nigeria. One on holiday and one running for her life. The later's story is one of horror and she and her sister are the last survivors of their village with a story to tell that the big oil companies don't want told. The former makes a sacrifice for her that saves her life, but is it enough. Two years later their paths cross again, but this time in England.

Didn't get much accomplished yesterday, since we ended up having a late lunch with my stepdaughter and that lasted till 5:30 pm which totally shot our day. Hubby is out again today trying to get the last of what we need before I get home from work. I even ran out of wrapping paper. Haven't done that in probably 40 plus years.

Another new author

In my amazon goodies I also had a book by Lorrie Moore titled "A Gate at the Stairs." Not sure if I will ever purposely read her again but it was thoughtful read which covered everything from religion, war, class and race. Tassie Keltjin, the daughter of a gentleman farmer, has come to a university town as a student. When at twenty she takes a job as a part-time nanny for a glamourous and mysterious family, she finds herself drawn deeper into their world and forever changed.

On the countdown to Christmas. Off tomorrow and planning on getting some cooking done and maybe a little cleaning. Still not sure who's coming. Would have been nice to know before we invested in all the food.

New Find

I got a pleasant box of goodies from Amazon.com yesterday and it was very timely. I grabbed "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" by Jamie Ford and spent a nice evening and most of today reading a wonderful story of an unpleasant time in America's history. The interment of the Japanese during WWII. A young Henry meets Keiko at the all white school they both have won scholarships to in Seattle. He's of Chinese descent and she's American born but of Japanese descent. Not a good mix if you're from China which Henry's father was and he's always badmouthing the Japanese. A friendship is forged and then the interment takes place. Promises are made and letters are exchanged but eventually disappear. Almost felt like I was reading a Nicolas Sparks novel. I will be watching for more from this author.

Hill Towns

It's been awhile since I read an Anne Rivers Siddons book and I thoroughly enjoyed "Hill Towns." Catherine Galliard hasn't left her mountain home in Tennessee in 30 years. Her phobia has kept her prisoner to the town. After receiving help from her pychiatric friend, she's able to make plans with her husband to travel to Italy. Along with 2 other couples they make the journey. They soon feel themselves being pulled in separate directions, and their marriage begins to unravel. The carefree journey becomes a test of their relationship.

Freebie

Read another H. Rider Haggard. This one was a sequel to "She." It was "Ayesha, the Return of She." This time we left Africa and ended up in India in Leo's and Holly's search for Ayesha. It's been about 18 years since she was killed (or at least that is what they thought) and they've been on their quest ever since. Leo has a dream and in it he sees a mountain with a light and it leads them to India and another long dangerous journey. Interesting read and the end of the mystery of She, I think. This one was not in my 1001 books to read before I die but like his others it was free on Kindle.

Almost finished with the Christmas shopping. Waiting for deliveries from the online purchases to come rolling in. Hopefully they will all arrive safe and sound. A trip to the toy store for the great grandchildren was an experience I haven't had in while. I'm finishing my second day of work out of seven straight and only getting Thursday off this week before Christmas. I'll be doing my last minute cleaning and cooking since I'm working Christmas eve. Crappy retail hours!

The worst

I've read some rotten books in my time but William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying" was the pits. I pulled it off my shelf figuring I'd get some more of my classic author's read and I sure hope he wrote better than this or I don't see why his works are still around. You take a southern family and Mom is dying and one of the sons is building her casket in the yard outside her window and two of the others are off trying to earn a couple of bucks even though poor old Mom will probably be dead till they get back and Mom's asked Dad to drag her body back to where she was from so there the adventures starts. I know that was a run on sentence but the whole book was a run on book. From what I gather they drag her body on what should have been a two day trip but because there's been flooding and bridges are out, she ends up spending 9 days in the July heat on the road with her family watching over her. Buzzards are following! Sad to say that this book was apparently rewritten because Faulkner's original had so many typos and other problems. They shouldn't have bothered.

Love some history

Got to read some historical fiction. Philippa Gregory did a fine job with her latest "The Red Queen." Lots of wars and backstabbing behavior in the mid 1400's when Henry Tudor was trying to get on the throne to bring the Red Roses back to England. In this novel his Mother, Margaret Beaufort, was married off at the age of 12 to her first husband and father of Henry. She didn't get to raise him since she was widowed early and given a new husband while her son was kept by his uncle in Wales. Several attempts were made to get him to the throne and it wasn't until he was 28 that he was successful. Love that time period and love those Tudors.

Hoping to get a little sleep tonight. Acid reflux has hit hard and after only a hour or so of sleep I was brutally awakened by an attack. Usually I can make it till 4 o'clock before I wake up but this time it was 1:00. I'll be falling asleep at work tomorrow if I don't fall back to sleep soon.

Soul Intent

This is the sequel to "Soul Identity" by Dennis Batchelder. Still the same concept of identifying souls in the future but this one took the reader into the past to search for missing gold from a member. Half the book was spent in the 1946 after WWII. The missing gold was from a well known Nazi and it got more interesting after that.

Another freeby from Kindle

I read "Soul Identity" by Dennis Batchelder. Never heard of him before but I was at work and needed a new book so there it was. Not bad even if it was a bit farfetched. Basis was a group called Soul Identity that believed in the return of your soul which could be identified through your eyes. They would be the keepers of your wealth until your return which would be once again identified through the eyes. The organization had been in existence for 2600 years. Scott is a security guy who is hired by the organization to find out why Soul Identity is going under. Someone is destroying them and he has to find out how. Interesting to think that you don't have to leave your inheritance to anyone but yourself and that when you return in another life you can claim it. Hmmmmmmmmmmm! There's a sequel so soon there will be more about the group.

Can't get in the groove for Christmas. Here I sit with so few days off till then and I just can't get motivated. The house needs to be cleaned and the tree needs to be put up but it's not happening. Blah!

Blah

Finished the Patricia Cornwell's "Port Mortuary." It was about 500 pages and the last 250 were a fairly good read. Thought I would die of boredom and confusion through the first half of the book. I thought with her last book that she had gotten herself back on track with her characters and this book showed promise since she was back to writing in the first person again. Wrong! I was so confused. She opened with her being at Dover AFB and being a Colonel in the Air Force. In all my reading of her novels, I've never once remember her mentioning that she's in the reserves and that she'd served. If you weren't familiar with her characters you would have thrown the book down after the first couple of chapters. No explanation as to what was going on and why. First half was just conversation between Scarpetta and her niece and then Scarpetta and her husband. 250 pages of dialog that left me so bewildered! It finally picked up and was okay for the rest of the book but it still could have been so much better. Come on Patricia! Get with it! We know you can do better.

Another Haggard

I started a Patricia Cornwell novel but while at work I delved into another Henry Rider Haggard novel. "She" is another of the "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die." Once more it's set in Africa and the characters are on a mission to find and kill the woman that originally killed their ancestor. That ancestor died 2000 years ago. Eternal life? Have to read it to find out. Another free book from Kindle.

I'm half way through Cornwell's book so hopefully I'll finish it soon. It's not that good.

Old author; new sequel

Kathy Reichs is a favorite of mine and she's decided to join in with the likes of James Patterson and John Grisham and write a series geared for teens. Her new one is "Virals" and it's a few teenagers that get themselves into a few mysteries that ends up nearly getting them killed. One of the pack is Tory Brennan and she's the great niece of Kathy Reichs' main character in her usual series. Of course if you're writing for teens you have to throw in a little weird "powers" or it's not going to happen. This group have a new twist on their abilities.

Off to Africa

Not really, but I just finished another Henry Rider Haggard novel. This one was "King Solomon's Mines." Once more it was based in Africa with Allan Quartermain and his aides venturing into uncharted reaches of the center of the continent to discover the infamous King Solomon's Mines, a repository of a legendarily huge treasure. The journey is full of peril and excitement. Including a tribal war with the Kukuanas who were ruled by King Twala and the witch Gagool. To top it off it was a free download from Kindle and it fulfills another of my "1001 Books to Read Before I Die."

Thank God for the postman

More books have come. I preordered a bunch of my favorite authors who just happened to have their books coming out this fall and the books have been arriving in a timely manner. The latest was Steve Berry's "The Emperor's Tomb." This time his character Cotton Malone (former agent turned book seller) is called in to help a friend rescue a child that has been stolen in China. For once Cotton's used book store did not get blown up or shot up in one of his adventures. He first heads to Belguim from his home in Denmark and then to China with death and destruction all the way. Great read! This is my 84th book so far this year. Beat out my 70 from last year in a big way. Don't think I'm going to make it to 100. That would be impossible with things like Christmas shopping and decorating taking priority this coming month.

Managed to get two days off in a row at work and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. One down and one to go. Even managed to get back to my new job one day this week and got a little extra reading time done. Already part way through "King Solomon's Mines" which is another of the 1001 books to read before I die!! It's another Kindle book so it's on my iPhone and easy to carry with me.