This is not the James Lee Burke novel for the uninitiated. It’s complicated, obtuse, and mystical. I’m deep in the series, reading them in order, and I generally liked this one. I found my mind wandering at times, but there were several riveting passages.
Sprawling Agatha Christie mystery that some classify in the spy thriller genre. It doesn’t include any of her regulars (Poirot, Marple, Tommy and Tupence). Fun read.
The second book in the Adam Dalgliesh series by P.D. James. Oh, I’ll read all of these at some point. This one takes place in a psychiatric hospital and you get to know all of the key players as the clues are released. Nice ending.
This is the first in the Adam Dalgliesh mysteries by P. D. James. Gail has been a fan for decades so I thought I’d crack one open and see what the big deal is. This is a post-WWII murder mystery that takes place on an estate in the English countryside. The local police don’t appear to be to handle it so DCI Adam Dalgliesh (that’s Detective Chief Inspector for those unfamiliar with British police ranks) from Scotland Yard is called in.
The last book I was read was The Art of Racing in the Rain, so I’m on kind of a The Art Of… streak. Both books were similar in that they used with the artistic side of sports as a background for stories about human relationships. Now that’s a genre I can get behind!
This book is narrated by a dog and the reader is the only one who can hear him. When I think about it, the narrator can only be heard by the reader in most books, unless written in first person, so I guess it’s not that weird. But this book was written in first dog (vs first person, get it?), so the dog narrator has the chance to interact with story versus just narrating, but only the reader can hear his voice since dogs can’t talk. Once I gave it some thought, I realized how slick this was.
What? Huh? Cool! Those were some of my mixed reactions to this dark, modern day, Irish crime novel by a guy named Ken Bruen. It’s book number one in the Jack Taylor series. I always start with book number one, if I can help it, as you probably know by now.
This book was written by Hugh Laurie, the dude who played House, which I’ve never seen. I’m familiar with his work though from Sense and Sensibility, where he nailed it, albeit in just a small part. He’s an actor, comedian, and a musician, so he covers all the angles, which probably means it should not come as a surprise that this book combines thriller aspects and humor aspects. In fact, it’s almost overly humorous at times, so much so that it could take away from the thriller aspect.
This is an amazing story. The story transcends any era or actors or medium. I’ve seen both movies and now I’ve read the book, and they’re all great. The book, of course, is the most compelling because it really puts you inside the head of the main character better than any movie can. Mattie Ross, the fourteen year old girl out to avenge her father’s death, is one of the great characters of our time.
My mom read this book a few years ago and loved it so it’s been on my list of books to read. I grabbed it at a half price sale at Open Books in June while searching for summer reading. It’s a fictional love story rooted in certain facts about an affair Frank Lloyd Wright had late in his career. The story is about the woman, Mamah Borthwick Cheney, mostly.