Category Archives: Readin’

Mystery: Just One Look, by Harlan Coben

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Since this month’s challenge is back to short stories, I find myself breaking it up a bit with short&sweet mystery novels. I know, right? Bizarre.

Anyways….I was reading for the next Myron Bolitar book but couldn’t find it on my way to the airport, so had to settle for a non-Myron Bolitar, the first stand-alone Coben I’ve read.

I liked some of the characters, I liked the “figuring it out” stuff. But I thought the main mystery was both too convoluted and too improbable to really work. Too many moving parts. Still kept you intrigued…but like an badly plotted action movie that wows you while you’re IN IT, but is too easy to pick apart afterward.

Mystery: Fade Away and Back Spin, both by Harlan Coben

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Books 3 and 4 in the Myron Bolitar series (1, 2). Still enjoying these.

In some ways, Win’s character makes these much more violent than your average mystery (is that why I like them?). And the ongoing confusion of the Jessica situation also adds an intensity. But I’m not sure why temptation always has to be a part of it. The come-back scenario in Fade Away was really bittersweet.

Fiction: The Death of Virgil, by Hermann Broch

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The April challenge book. Certainly the toughest read so far, for both Dad and me.

The language is rich, gorgeous and elegaic; much like reading Virgil himself (or Homer. or Ovid). It’s dreamy and powerful and image-full. But…

Part 1: Interesting. Lovely imagery and prose. Nice.

Part 2: Interminable. Almost the death of ME, let alone Virgil. Sentences so long, you can’t remember where they began or if anything has even happened in them. And what? Did he just suggest burning the Aeneid? WHAT?!?!

Part 3: Hey, there’s some stuff happening again! Still a very high-toned literary experience, but now the drama with Octavian really pulls things along. Some very neat imagery, the landscape arising out of nothing (much easier to do in film than in prose). His yearning is so strong, you can really feel it. [According to Dad the slave boy and Plotia play a very similar role here to that of Jessica Lange in “All That Jazz.” I was then castigated for not having seen that recently enough to be able to agree (or not). p.s. just between you, world wide web, and me, I’m not even sure I’ve ever seen it all the way through!] Really enjoyable.

Part 4: Ugh, we’re back to part 2-like process again. Dad: “It’s like 2001 the Space Odyssey. At first it’s kinda cool and then after a while you just get really, really bored.” Me: Hard to know what’s happening here, when he’s actually dead, what is dream sequence vs. reality vs. post-mortem? (And in this part, hard to care. If this was written like Part 3, I’d be all over it!)

Glad to have read it, but certainly never going to need to read it again. Definitely a challenge.

Fiction: The Monsters of Templeton, by Lauren Groff

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Bought this one in an airport due at least partly to its paper-cut-out looking cover (Yo, Chicken, you would LOVE it, have you seen it????) and its Stephen King blurb.

Definitely fits into that “damaged girl comes home, solves mystery” genre (like Sharp Objects but a little less dark).

I have some misgivings: some of the characters made me a little crazy; I’m not sure the historical stuff ever really found its way IN to the story / didn’t quite coalesce; and there’s at least one character who I, and I would assume many readers feel this way, still have outstanding concerns about as the book ends.

But I liked the tone, I liked the focus on academia, the almost, but not quite, high-browed literariness of it. And I loved the contrast between the unmonstrousness of the actual monster and the metaphoricness of the Monsters of the title. Some stuff really well done. Very textured and tactile.

Fiction: Belong to Me, by Marisa de los Santos

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The second in a (somewhat loose) series about Cornelia (and, now, Teo). I liked the first book, but didn’t love it. I LOVED this one.

Less Claire in this book, although still importantly part of it. Dev was a great character, scenes with him really shone.

Easy, natural conversational tone that just sucked me right in, I could barely put it down. Laughed with it, cried with it. Ouch. Friendships, families, what makes them, what breaks them. Many similar themes to the earlier book. But, in my opinion, much better written and handled.

Definitely a step up.

Recommended.

Mystery: “Drop Shot” by Harlan Coben

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And another little break…

The second in the Myron Bolitar series. The fact that Myron is a sports agent and lawyer rather than your more typical PI or retired cop/military just soooo works for me in these books. But of course Win is my favorite character (Joe Pike but without conscience? Or questionable conscience?). I did figure out one part of the mystery a lot earlier than Myron, and not sure if I like being the one to figure it out, I am happy when the book fools me to the end sometimes. Still very enjoyable.

Mystery: “The Watchman” by Robert Crais

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Taking a little break from the “big” book I am reading [I’ll do a “currently” post soon]…

Subtitled “A Joe Pike Novel” which makes me hope (HOPEHOPE) that implies an entire series focused on Pike.

I thought the Elvis Cole books were draggin’ a little, getting too caught up in Elvis’ personal life and not enough focus on the mysteries. This was a refreshing change; Pike is such an engimatic dude. The only comparable character for me is Jack Reacher and I would actually run off with Pike first if given the choice.

He’s fierce and fearless and smart and determined and crazy ass cool. I keep warning my dad I am soooo tempted to get matching deltoid arrows…

Mystery: “The Murder at the Vicarage” by Agatha Christie

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Another English language pickup in Kyoto, I was really getting desperate for reading material there at the end. (And you know I had to save something for the plane!)

The first Miss Marple, when she’s just annoying as hell and only one person in the story even seems to realize that although annoying, she’s probably right. (You know, versus later on, when she’s still as annoying but people heed her advice because of her track record.)

Nonfiction: “Let’s Talk About Love; A Journey to the End of Taste” by Carl Wilson

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Part of the 33 1/3 series (details here or here).

There is much more to this book than you might think. Truly a philosophical treatise on not just Celine and her music (and importance or not); but on personal taste, crowd reaction, social commentary… The level of research was pretty impressive and the combination of sarcasm and thoughtfulness had a nice smooth tone. Doesn’t make me anymore interested in listening to Dion’s music, but that’s not really the point.