#87

I can't believe it took me 17 days to read this latest novel. It's not that it wasn't good....it just was a very slow read. "The Surrendered" by Chang-Rae Lee started in Korea during the war and ended probably at the turn of the century. Flash backs kept occurring and one minute June was a young orphan in Korea and the next she was a woman in her late 40's dying of cancer but on a quest to find her estranged son in Italy. She enlists her ex-husband to help find the son he didn't know he had. I'm so glad to be finished with it!

Had another short visit from my Colorado friend and her son. They came yesterday early afternoon and left this morning. Her mother passed away last week so she's back in Virginia trying to settle the estate. The tragedy is giving us more chances to visit.

Christmas shopping is pretty much done. Not much under the tree but I did it pretty much in an hour or two. Wrapping took longer than buying. Still wishing I didn't have to bother but it's coming whether I want it or not.

I was scheduled to work 10 days but I didn't make it the 10th. I had stomach distress and knew that if I tried to work and couldn't get someone to cover me in time, there would have been "clean up in aisle one" at the store. I took Friday off and was scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. Now I work 4 and am off for 6 over Christmas. I'm sure I'll pay the price for those 6 days off.

#86

Finished the latest James Patterson novel, "Kill Alex Cross." It is a sequel that Patterson still writes on his own. This was one of his best. The plot was two fold. Alex Cross was called to help when the President's children were kidnapped from their private school. At the same time terrorist activities were taking place in Washington. At first it was thought that the two were connected. The two stories ran simultaneously and created a good read. Scary because it could happen.

Picked up my new iPhone 4S tonight. It was great until I came home and connected it to my iTunes and suddenly it was my iPhone 4 all over again. Everything I downloaded as far as apps turned my new phone into my old one. Now I have to restore the 4S and figure out how to keep my apps. Always something.

#85

Got the latest book by Clive Cussler and his author du jour. "Devil's Gate" was a Kurt Austin sequel and was filled with lots of adventure. A whacky ruler of Sierra Leone has decided to take over the world with his latest weapon. Using electro magnetic pulse he will disable whatever he aims at. Of course Kurt and his sidekick, Joe, are caught up in the whole mess. He'll save the world, as usual. Fun read.

#84

Don't know how I missed this novel by Mary Higgins Clark and her daughter Carol. I've been reading her forever and somehow I missed this little story. "The Christmas Thief" is very typical of the Higgins Clarks. Short, non-gory, non-sexual, and no filthy language. How refreshing! Just a cute little mystery about a missing Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and a con man. That's all you get!!

Got just a few days till Thanksgiving and haven't even shopped yet. Better get my butt in gear and get that turkey and stuffing stuff. That's my contribution to this year's big doings. I'd really just like to stay home in bed with the covers over my head. Same for Christmas. I'm officially cancelling it!

#83

Finished a novel by Ariana Franklin titled "Grave Goods." It was a sequel to another novel that I've read by her and I'd forgotten about it. It took a while for me to get into the story but in the end it was okay. Set in the late 1100's, it sent the heroine on a mission by Henry II to find out if the bodies discovered at a monastary were that of King Arthur. Henry hopes the bones are Arthur's so he can put down the Celtic rebellion for good. The heroine is Adelia Aguilar and she's the Mistress of Death. Trained by her father in medicine; she has to hide her abilities and pretend to be the assistant of an mid eastern companion. She not only proves the skeleton to not be Arthur but finds the answer to numerous mysteries.

#82

I don't think I'm going to make it to 100 books this year but I guess I'm doing okay. John Grisham's "The Litigators" was an excellent read. He never disappoints. David Zinc is a small fish in the pond of 600 lawyers working for a big firm and making $300K a year but has no life. International finance is not doing it for him. One day he snaps, gets drunk and finds himself in a two man boutique law office of ambulance chasers and decides that this is what he wants. The spiral down is when one partner decides to take on a big drug company in a mass tort suite for people who are supposedly dying from a cholestoral medication. No one at the new firm has ever tried a federal case and David has never tried any case. The whole story is great!

#81

After five days without power and a night in a motel, we finally got power back. Since my Grisham novel was locked in my locker at work and I finished the last book, I grabbed another off my pile that I picked up either in NYC or Borders and got hooked on it. Antoinette van Heugten's "Saving Max" is a great read. It was as good as a Grisham novel with great twists and turns. I figured out pretty early in the novel who done it and why but that was okay. It was a great read. Max is a 15 year old autistic child whose mother is a lawyer in NYC. She's trying to do what is best for him and that is to have him checked out at the best pychiatric clinic in the country. That would be Maitland in the mid west. She jeopardizes her job to take him there and suddenly they are both involved in a battle to save Max's life. Now I must read the Grisham novel before I forget what I've already read.