Janet Evanovich: Hot Six (Rating: 8)

I just finished reading Hot Six another extremely enjoyable Stephanie Plum novel from Janet Evanovich.

The usual cast and crew are back again, but this time there is a quite unusual twist: the FTA—that's bounty-hunter-speak for "Failure To Appear", as in for a court date—that Stephanie's boss/cousin (Vinnie Plum, owner of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds) wants her to bring in this time is no other than fellow bounty hunter (or should we say bounty-hunter extraordinaire) Ricardo Carlos Manoso—AKA Ranger.

It wouldn't be giving anything away to say that Stephanie is not the best bounty hunter there ever was—she sucks at it actually—but she's very lucky so she usually succeeds at bringing in her FTAs.

Ranger, on the other hand, is everything Stephanie isn't. And Vinnie wants Stephanie, of all people, to bring him in! You just know this has got to be good!

In addition to the usual crew, Stephanie has a few more folks in her life during this book: a dog named Bob (who she begins watching for a Trenton cop who never comes back for him) and a kind-hearted druggie named Mooner.

Oh, yeah, and did I mention that Grandma Mazur moves in with Stephanie as well?

Four dead cars later I have to say: these books just keep getting more enjoyable!

Addendum (April 16, 2007)—I forgot, I had a really funny quote from this book I wanted to share:

For as long as I can remember, every Sunday morning, my mother went to church and stopped at the bakery on the way home. Every Sunday morning my mother bought jelly doughnuts. Nothing but jelly doughnuts. It was like taking communion. I'm a Catholic by birth, but in my own personal religion, the Trinity will forever be the Father, the Son, and the Holy Jelly Doughnut.

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Rudy Rucker: Software [Rating: 6]

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have had Rudy Rucker's book Software on my bookshelf forever.

Well shortly after writing that post I pulled it down from there, dusted it off, and read it (I just finished).

The book takes place in the year 2020, and the main character is a retired computer scientist named Cobb Anderson. At the beginning of the book, Cobb is in dread of his "second-hand" heart giving out (and with good reason: he cannot afford another). Then a robot double contacts him with a plan to get him to the Moon, where he will be given immortality—the robot community's "thank you" from enabling them to evolve freewill.

Along the way Cobb pairs up with a young druggie—who has legally changed his name from Stanley Hilary Mooney to Sta-Hi Mooney—and gets him to accompany him to the moon. There the duo find themselves in the midst of a robotic civil war that threatens to seriously affect humanity.

All in all, I'd have to say it was an enjoyable read, but there were parts of it I thought could be better. The ending in particular left a bit to be desired, to the point that if I didn't already have the next book—Wetware—on order I would probably not read it.

On the other hand, what disappointed me about the ending simply might be prelude to some really good stuff, so I am willing to give Wetware a chance.

For some enjoyable reading of a binary kind, take a look at Rudy Rucker's blog sometime!

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Tom Mccarthy: Remainder (Rating: 8)

I just finished reading Remainder by Tom Mccarthy.

I really enjoyed this book for the most part. It is well written. It is easy to read. The main character is very complex and interesting. The premise is even more interesting than the main character. And it is a fairly strange book. (Not Running with Scissors strange, but strange enough!)

So, as a matter of course, what isn't to love?

This book—which is told in the first person—begins with the main character (I don't recall him ever revealing his name, nor do I remember him ever being referred to by name), telling us about this horrible accident he has been in. Or, rather, with him telling us what he can about the accident. Which isn't much. Between the amnesia he has been left with regarding the actual event, and the terms of the legal settlement that left him eight and a half million pounds richer, he pretty much is left with succinctly summing up the incident as "It involved something falling from the sky."

He then goes on to explain what his life is like at the time he gets the news that they—you know, them—have agreed pay up: the accident has really messed him up physically, and after what sounds like an enormous amount of physical therapy he is really able to get around quite well (the phrase "is really able to get around quite well" here meaning "is only able to navigate from place to place by giving thought to what every joint, muscle, and bone needs to do in just about every part of his body to get him there, in a way that you, I, and anyone you know probably will never have to!")

Sounds like fun, no? No!

Anyway, hrmm, 8.5 million pounds. Thats better than $16,000,000 at today's exchange rate! You could do quite a lot with that kind of money, but at first he doesn't know what to do with it. Then, one day it all comes to him.

Then things get really interesting . . . .

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Lemony Snicket: The End (Rating: 8)

I have just finished reading The End, the final book in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and I must say that it was definitely worth the wait.

Not only did this book take me in unexpected directions, but the final word of the book was exceptionally pleasing in that it proved what I suspected for a while now to be correct (a word which here means "causing me to gloat mercilessly).

If you have read the rest of this series, I have no doubt you'll read this one too, but if you haven't started this series my recommendation is that you can't go very wrong starting at The Bad Beginning and reading them all through to The End!

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Janet Evanovich: High Five (Rating: 8)

I just finished reading High Five by Janet Evanovich (quite probably the best Stephanie Plum novel to this point in the series).

This time around the story does not center upon the fugitive Stephanie is trying to bring in (the word trying here meaning "trying, but not succeeding as easily as you'd think").

Instead, this story hits a little closer to home when her Uncle Fred disappears and the family asks her to snoop around to find him.

This book is filled with the usual cast of unusual characters that make these books so much fun to read: Stephanie's parents, Grandma Mazur, Lula, Joe Morelli, Ricardo Carlos Manoso (AKA: Ranger), Rex (the real man in her life), Vinnie Plum, Carl Costanza, and the ever-expected "soon to be scrap metal" (a phrase which here means "cars that get too close to Stephanie").

Yep! They're all here, ready to take you on a wild ride.

(Not that kind of wild ride! Get your mind out of the gutter! Okay—Joe & Ranger are probably thinking along those lines, but . . . oh . . . never mind!)

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Lemony Snicket: The Penultimate Peril (Rating: 8)

I just finished reading The Penultimate Peril, Book 12 of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.

I must say I was quite impressed, though I'd be hard pressed to say why.

Perhaps it has to do with the word penultimate showing up in the title. I just gotta love a book with that in the title. (We all have words we're more fond of than others; penultimate is such a word for myself.)

Perhaps it is a matter of getting close to the end of the series, close to seeing how the Beaudelaire Orphans are going to triumph over their nemesis, and getting close to finding out the answers the all the mysteries and what it is all about.

Obviously I not sure just what it is, but what I do know is that I'm more than ready to read the last book in the series. I expect to enjoy it immensely.

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Lemony Snicket: The Grim Grotto (Rating: 6)

Hrmm, a word which here means "Not as good as I'd been hoping!"

Well, obviously I just finished reading The Grim Grotto, Book 11 in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.

And, just as obviously—a phrase which here means "you'd have to be dimmer than Count Olaf not to realize this"—I was underwhelmed.

My best guess is that Mr. Snicket finally read his contract and learned that he gets paid by the word, for he surely padded this book with too many of them.

Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against long books, but I don't like it when too many of these words are the same words, or variations thereof.

Arguably, the purpose of this could be said to be a humorous attempt at preventing you from reading about the awful things that occur to the Beaudelaire orphans in this book.

Perhaps this is true, but not only has the device been done exceedingly in this series so far, but this book takes the ploy to new depths, a phrase which herein means "has made this overused technique excruciatingly annoying, and has really ticked me off!"

By the same token, the same could be said of my overuse of Snicket's more amusing (IMHO) technique, the use of the "which here means" to clarify what a word means (or what he—or in this case I—mean it to mean).

Which brings up another thing, a note for the parents of older children (say, oh, I don't know, ten and above?): read these books first—if you must—to screen them for content that is acceptable in your household, then turn the books loose on your kids, if for no other reason than to teach them some vocabulary.

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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (Rating: 9)

I just finished reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, by Mark Haddon.

It is a remarkable story—a phrase which here means "definitely worth reading for the times in the future when you will look back fondly upon the time spent with this book".

It is the story of a fifteen year old autistic boy in England, named Christopher Boone, who finds the dead body of Wellington (his neighbor's dog) in his neighbor's yard.

After initially being questioned for the dog's murder, Christopher decides that he will, like his hero Sherlock Holmes, investigate the crime and identify the murderer.

Along the way to solving the mystery, Christopher stumbles upon other mysteries, significantly more personal and closer to home, and finds himself making his way, alone, on a journey to London.

I don't know what I thought I knew about autism before reading this book (and, honestly, I probably tried not to think about it at all). I really did not know too much about it though (and unless you need to know about it I'd guess most people choose not to).

But I will say that I really was surprised by how smart Christopher is. And brave—and by saying this I'm talking specifically about Christopher's character, Christopher's fears, and how he takes this journey to London in spite of these fears.

(It is possible, I suppose, that Christopher's fears are typical for an autistic, but I am, as I said, quite ignorant about it.)

And, I will be doing some research, purely for self-edification, into this condition.

Oh yes, and if you like remarkable stories (as I define the phrase above) then I would be remiss—a word which here means "falling down on the job of recommending the best reading material that the whole-wide-world of books has to offer"—in failing to suggest that you read Audrey Niffenegger's remarkable novel, The Time Traveler's Wife.

This is another of those books that I often look back on reading with great fondness in the year and a half since I read it.

It makes me very glad that I occasionally read books chosen for my wife's book club—as both of these were!

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Janet Evanovich: Four To Score (Rating: 8)

I just finished Four To Score by Janet Evanovich, a Stephanie Plum novel.

I must admit to being a bit unenthusiastic for most of this book, but by the end I was glad I stuck with it. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Evanovich knows how to get a laugh.

I'm a bit bummed though—I had a really funny quote involving Stephanie's loss of two things of value to her (the result of two different acts of arson) in one day (and yes, of course one of them was a car), but I can't find it at all now.

And she—finally—did the dirty deed! Good for her!

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E. B. White: Charlotte's Web (Rating: 9)

I finished reading Charlotte's Webto my son Riley last night. It is no wonder that this book is a classic!

This is the first time I've read him a book of this length; we read a chapter, more or less, at bedtime each night for the last several weeks.

Not that I haven't wanted to read a book this long to him, but he just turned six in January and is only now showing an interest in an ongoing story.

(This is a huge step up from the days when he wanted the same book read every night for a week or two on end!)

It also reminds me of my favorite story about my mother:

This will shock anyone who knows me, but I must not have always been a fan of books. In fact, I really wasn't at all interested in school around the time I was in second or third grade. I was doing so badly that year that I was going to be held back if I didn't go to summer school.

My mother decided, and off to summer school I went.

After lunch each day, the teacher would read a chapter from one of Jerry West's Happy Hollisters book (a series of mystery books for kids). I loved the stories, and was always very impatient to know what would happen next.

I must have said something to my mother about this because—even though we had very little money when I was growing up—she somehow managed to find enough to start buying me a Happy Hollisters book every month so I could read them for myself (and not have to wait to find out how it was going to turn out).

Because she did this, I really developed a love for reading and, for the rest of my young life—and often as an adult—I could usually be found with my nose in a book . . .

(The preceding is adapted from a memorial tribute I wrote about my mother for Julie (my wife), so she could put it into the first volume of the scrapbooks that she's doing for Riley.)

So? The point?

Well, first off, I'd have to say that I sincerely hope that Riley also acquires the reading bug the way Julie and I have (and thanks to the wonderful teacher he has at kindergarten—and without overly belittling the impact Julie and I are having on him as well—I think he's well on the way).

Secondly, I guess we have my mother to thank for this blog's raison d'être.

Thanks, Mom!

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Lemony Snicket: The Slippery Slope (Rating: 7)

I just finished reading The Slippery Slope, Book 10 of Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events".

True to the series to this point, the book was quite entertaining in its amusing & quirky way. It is nice to see the characters in these books developing.

I must say I am now eagerly looking forward to finishing the series and seeing how the Baudelaire orphan's triumph over Count Olaf in the end.

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Janet Evanovich: Three To Get Deadly (Rating: 8)

I've finished Three To Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich (another Stephanie Plum novel, as well as another enjoyable read).

These books are great for a laugh, if nothing else (yes, among other things, this means Stephanie has lost yet another car!)

I highly recommend these books.

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Lemony Snicket: The Carnivorous Carnival (Rating: 7)

I finished reading The Carnivorous Carnival, Book 9 of Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events".

This is, once again, a tale most entertaining.

I can particularly recommend this book, if only for Chapter 5. It is definitely worth reading for that alone!

So, of course, I'm off to pick up book 10!

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Janet Evanovich: Two For The Dough (Rating: 8 out of 10)

I finished reading Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich and, once again, I had a real good time, definitely better than the time had by the protagonist. Poor Stephanie Plum! Evanovich really puts her through some rough times. Well, at least she almost had sex this time; she actually got so far as getting almost naked for it but — alas — it simply didn't happen! Maybe next time.

One thing I'll say for Evanovich, she does create interesting, colorful, and fully developed characters.

She's also funny as hell (which, honestly, is a dumb phrase when you think about it; make it funny as anything, instead!)

This book wasn't rated any higher for the same reason that the previous book wasn't.

Oh, yeah, and there is a new Stephanie Plum novel out — a "A Stephanie Plum Between-the-Numbers Novel", they're calling it — called Plum Lovin' that I'll have to get around to reading when I'm all caught up with the numbered books.

Here is what Amazon has to say about it:

Watch your back Look both ways Because love is in the air And that means big trouble! Mysterious men have a way of showing up in Stephanie Plum's apartment. When the shadowy Diesel appears, he has a task for Stephanie -- and he's not taking no for an answer. Annie Hart is a "relationship expert" who is wanted for armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. Stephanie needs to find her, fast. Diesel knows where she is. So they make a deal: He'll help her get Annie if Stephanie plays matchmaker to several of Annie's most difficult clients. But someone wants to find Annie even more than Diesel and Stephanie. Someone with a nasty temper. And someone with "unmentionable" skills. Does Diesel know more that he's saying about Annie Hart? Does Diesel have secrets he's keeping from Stephanie and the two men in her life -- Ranger and Morelli? With Stephanie Plum in over her head, things are sure to get a little dicey and a little explosive, Jersey style!

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Kidder & Oppenheim: The Intellectual Devotional (Rating: 10 out of 10)

I used a gift card I got for Christmas to purchase The Intellectual Devotional: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Roam Confidently with the Cultured Class, by David Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim. This little book has one year's worth of daily readings taken from seven different fields of knowledge (history, music, visual arts, religion, literature, science, and philosophy).

 I love this book!

So far I've read about:

• The Alphabet (history)
• Ulysses (literature)
• Lascaux Cave Paintings (visual arts)
• Cloning (science)
• The Basics (music)
• Appearance and Reality (philosophy)
• Torah (religion)
• Hammurabi's Code of Laws (history)
• Ernest Hemingway (literature)
• Bust of Nefertiti (visual arts)
• Eratosthenes (science)
• Melody (music)

I've come to the conclusion—after reading yesterday's entry—that my nickname quite possibly ought to be Beta, or at least that is what might have been if I'd have lived in Greece at the time of Eratosthenes. Like Eratosthenes, I have so many interests, many would consider me to be a dabbler. Or, to use what was one my father's favorite phrases, I am a jack of all trades, master of none.

I see, after the final entry for the year, that we'll be seeing "The Intellectual Devotional, Volume II" (at the end of this year, I'd guess).

Translation: I've started working on next year's Christmas Wish List!

Oh, and there is a companion web site for the book, including a blog, a forum, and other fun stuff.

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Janet Evanovich: One For The Money (Rating: 8 out of 10)

I finished reading Janet Evanovich's first Stephanie Plum novel, One for the Money a couple of days ago and I must say I was quite pleasantly surprised (more on that in a bit). In short though, I had a great time with it.

So what did I like about it? For starters, I really love mysteries. And I love to laugh. Evanovich excels at writing mysteries that make you laugh. Let me give you some idea what I'm talking about. The opening lines of this book are:

There are some men who enter a woman's life and screw it up forever. Joseph Morelli did this to me — not forever, but periodically.

As for being pleasantly surprised, well, I guess was somewhat skeptical about reading this book to begin with. I only read it because Julie, AKA "The Missus", has been gently pestering me to read them. I've had to live with her laying in bed beside me every time a new Stephanie Plum novel came out, laughing out loud at some of it.

This is a woman who rarely lets out so much as a chuckle when we're watching TV or even a really funny movie.

Plus, most of her talk with Kendra (her "Stephanie Plum Pal") is filled with talk about whether Stephanie needs to be with Ranger or Joe. Now I am not — admittedly — an overly macho guy, but this was a bit off-putting to me.

On the other hand, there were bits I was looking forward to reading about, such as Grandma Mazur, or the destruction of one or more cars.

For, it seems, poor Stephanie has an extremely hard time keeping a vehicle. One must figure that Evanovich must either love cars passionately, or (my guess) hate them to the core of her being. In this book the car Stephanie is driving at the beginning of the story doesn't last and she winds up driving another that has, to put it mildly, problems. Most notably, a massive oil leak. For example, when Stephanie (while following someone) thinks:

I prayed he wasn't going far. I only had a case and a half of oil in the backseat.

she means it!

What else did I like? Well, the characters are very colorful and interesting. The mystery itself was satisfying. And, oh yes, did I mention it was laugh out loud funny?

What didn't I like? (AKA, why didn't I rate this book higher than an eight?) Well, it isn't so much that I disliked anything so much as, as is the case with most mysteries, it really is only a good way to pass time.

There's nothing here that I'm going to muse over for days, questioning the meaning of my life, or actually perceive any personal growth.

To put it another way, this book is at the shallower end of the literary pool, fairly close to the kiddie end of things (but NOT in content or language; if your ten year old tries to read this book, take it away!)

That said, this is definitely worthy of a read.

And, so far, so is the next book, Two for the Dough.

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