The Author’s Toolkit, by Mary Embree

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Finished 6-18-08, non-fiction, rating 1.5/5, pub. 2000

This is a slight book that claims it is “a step-by-step guide to writing a book”, however if that is what you are looking for then this is not the book for you.  This is a book for someone who have zero knowledge of how a book gets published.  This is not a book to help you through the process of writing a book.  The second chapter on Researching is full of obvious suggestions like; use the internet, libraries, encyclopedias, almanacs, magazines, dictionaries, etc.  So, if you do not realize that the internet is there to help you, this is the book for you.

I could go on about some of the nuggets of wisdom contained in this book (“write from the heart” “show don’t tell”  or on letters to publishers “the print should be sharp and dark enough to read easily”), but I won’t.  The only chapter I found of any interest was Chapter 6 about Copyrights.  Also, I see that there is a revised edition that has 60 more pages.  I cannot say that I have any hope these extra pages will be helpful, but it’s possible.  Since I have nothing else to add except more complaints I think I’ll stop here.  If you are serious about writing and publishing a book, read Stephen King’s On Writing or even Walter Mosely’s This Year You Write Your Novel.

Phantom Prey, by John Sandford

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Cover ImageFinished 6-16-08, rating 3/5, fiction, pub. 2008

Cop turned investigator, Lucas Davenport, is back in his 18th novel.  This time he’s investigating the Goth scene after a wealthy young woman who fancies herself Goth goes missing.  The mother of the missing girl is friends with Weather, Lucas’s wife, and she leans on Lucas to find her daughter. 

Almost as soon as Lucas begins, three more Goths are killed with little time between.  And when Lucas is shot, he knows that he is onto something big.  There was also a secondary investigation involving a bad man named Siggy and his pregnant girlfriend, Heather.  It was this secondary story that I liked the most.

I’m a big fan of this series, but this one was not one of my favorites.  It was good, but it didn’t draw me in as quickly as it usually does.  And there a distracting amount of colons used in the book.  I know that seems weird, but if you read it let me know if you saw it too.  And the story with Del and Cheryl was a little predictable.  I highly recommend the series and I always think it’s better if you start a series at the beginning (which would be Rules of Prey).

Pepper Pike, by Les Roberts

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Cover ImageFinished 6-12-08, rating 3.5/5, mystery, pub. 1988

 “Cleveland is a pretty good place to live, I guess, if you don’t mind the weather.”    Chapter 4

This is the first in the Milan Jacovich mystery series.  Milan is an ex-cop and current private investigator.  He is called one night to play body guard for 12 hours, only when he arrives, there is no body to guard.  The next morning he is contacted by the wife of the missing man and Milan is hired to find him.

Milan is forced to come in close contact with the rich of the CEOs and politicians to the powerful of the mob.  He is shot at and beaten up and in the end, shoots someone too.  Where is the mysterious Richard and is he still alive?  While trying to answer this question, Milan finds himself dating Richard’s ex-mistress and getting kicked out of the Chagrin Valley.

This book is wonderful in its depiction of Cleveland.  There are so few books that are set in this city and is the perfect backdrop for this gritty detective.  It’s nice to feel at home as you sit down to read.  I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Les Roberts Book Signing

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Jean and LesThis is Jean and Les.

Last night I met my friend, Jean, at Joseph-Beth in Legacy Village to hear and meet author Les Roberts.  It was a standing room only crowd. Les has lived in Cleveland since 1990 and has written a series of mysteries featuring detective, Milan Jacovich and the city of Cleveland.  I must admit that I have never read any of his books, so I bought the first one in the series last night.  I’ve enjoyed the first two chapters, but more on that in a later post.

A few interesting tidbits…All the characters in his book are based on someone he knows or has seen.  He warned those of us who where there that we might end up in one of his future books!  The name of the detective is really a dentist in the Cleveland area.  This is his first Milan book in six years, but the last one is being made into a movie with Les as an executive producer.  He plans to have over 90% of the movie shot in Cleveland which brought a huge round of applause from the crowd.  When asked who he would like to play Milan he answered, Robert Mitchum, which could be a problem since he is deceased and unavailable.

He will be signing books in downown Cleveland at the Galleria on Friday from 11:30-1:30 and an Saturday from 1-2 at Borders.  His website, www.lesroberts.com has lots of fun facts and news.

A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck

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Cover ImageFinished 6-8-09, rating 4/5, young adult, pub. 1972

“But when you kill pigs for a living, you can’t always smell like Sunday morning.   You just smell like hard work.”                      Chapter 2

I finished this last night about midnight and it was a two tissue book.  I know many read it as kids, but not me.  I had no idea what to expect or else I may not have read it, but I’m better off because I did.  Maybe it hit me harder because I was already a little bummed after Jason and I watched the movie We Are Marshall last night.  It was a good movie, but not one to leave you happier than when you started.  Anyway…

Rob is a twelve year old Shaker living on a Vermont farm.  This book chronicles that year of his life as he grew into a man.  Rob’s life consisted mainly of his farming chores and school.  He was the last child left at home and he was the only one left to help his dad.  His story was exciting and heartbreaking.  Rob birthed a calf and received a brand new pig, Pinky, for payment.  Pinky and Rob became inseparable.  Rob had many life lessons that year and they were all touching  and some (three in particular) moved me to tears.

Being a city girl, these are a few of the things I learned about farm life.  Pigs and cows cannot live next to each other.  If you need to top your chocolate cake with nutmeats, kill a gray squirrel and take the chewed nutmeats out of his belly and toast them before putting them on your cake.  Weaseling a dog is barbaric.  There are more, but these were the ones that stuck, although I did gain a greater appreciation for farmers.

This is based on the life of the author growing up as a boy in Vermont and if you haven’t read it you should.  It will take you back to a simpler time when 13 year old boys were forced to become men.  It will make you smile and it will break your heart.

Alternate Titles

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Thanks for playing!  I’ve got a new one coming soon 🙂

Here’s how to play…Identify the correct title of these classics. Leave a comment with the # and the answer and I’ll cross it off the list. No Googling, that’s cheating and no fun! If you know them all, please don’t guess every one, maybe five max?

Example-The Hearing and the Rage is really The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner

1. Creature Cropland  Jason, Animal Farm by Orwell

2. Along the Avenue Golda, On the Road by Kerouac

3. The Orb Also Climbs Jill, The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway

4. The Era of Virtuousness Golda, The Age of Innocence by Wharton

5. The Craft of Conflict  Jill, The Art of War by Sun-Tzu

6. Fearless Fresh Cosmos Janet, Brave New World by Huxley

7. Demise of a Clerk, Jason, Death of a Salesman by Miller

8. In Frigid Kin  Janet, In Cold Blood by Capote

9. The Saintly Farce Mark, The Divine Comedy by Dante

10. Departed with the Draft Janet, Gone With the Wind by Mitchell

 

Skinny Dip, by Carl Hiaasen

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Cover ImageFinished 6-7-08, rating 3.5/5, fiction, pub. 2004

“At the stroke of eleven on a cool April night, a woman named Joey Perrone went overboard from a luxury deck of the cruise liner M.M. Sun Duchess.  Plunging toward the dark Atlantic, Joey was too dumbfounded to panic.

I married an asshole, she thought, knifing headfirst into the waves.”   –First three sentences of the book

Chaz throws his wife over the side of the cruise ship that they happen to be on to celebrate their 2nd wedding anniversary.  He has planned and thinks that he has done everything right, the perfect crime.  Only Joey is rescued by ex-cop, Mick.  Revenge is sweet and Joey, instead of going to the police decides to play dead and drive her husband crazy.

Chaz has no redeeming qualities, except in bed, but even that skill has abandoned him after he kills Joey.  He is also a man on the take and his benefactor gets nervous and sends a bodyguard named Tool.  The detective on the case knows something is wrong, but can’t prove anything.  Chaz slowly unravels and tries to commit another murder and then one after that. 

I enjoyed this very much.  It was fun and zany and had all of the crazy characters you’d expect from Hiaasen.  I only wish Joey had more depth.  Tool was the character with the most growth and that was  an interesting choice for Hiaasen to make.  Not a bad one, just a little unexpected.  This is my second Hiassen novel and while I preferred the first one this one is good too.

Daily Book Reading

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“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.  The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”      -Mark Twain

There is a website for those of you who think you do not have time to read.  Visit www.dailylit.com and choose from a wide range of books.  The site will email you a small portion of the book each day that takes less than five minutes to read.  Many of the books are free, although some of them do cost money.  I decided to try it with a short classic, The Prince.  I signed up yesterday and it took me one minute.  Really.  If you feel like reading more you can request the next installment be emailed to you immediately.  It’s largest categories are classics, contemporaries and romance, but there are many more.  Take a look and tell me what book you chose to start reading today.

Dark Of The Moon, by John Sandford

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Cover ImageFinished audio on 6-4-08, rating 3/5, fiction, pub. 2007

This is a fast paced mystery featuring BCA officer Virgil Flowers from Sandford’s popular Prey series.  Virgil is sent to investigate a murder in the small town of Bluestem, Minnesota and while there more dead bodies pile up.  Virgil is old friends with the sheriff, Stryker, and in bed with Stryker’s sister, Joan, within a few days.  Virgil doesn’t know who to trust or who to believe and he must wade through a whole town of suspects.

Virgil had occasional check-ins with Lucas Davenport from the Prey novels, but I much prefer Virgil as a secondary character in those novels.  Jason and I listened to this on our way to and from Atlantic City and we were both laughing by the last cd because Virgil had not eliminated a single suspect in the the first 8 cds!  The story kept moving and I enjoyed the reader a lot, but this is only an average thriller.  Read the Prey series for great reading.

Red Leaves, by Paullina Simons

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Cover ImageFinished 5-30-08, rating 4/5, fiction, pub. 1996

“This world isn’t a black amoral hole where your actions have no meaning, and where nothing you do matters.  Did you ever think of the people you hurt?”

“They weren’t strong.  I didn’t ask them to be hurt.”                                Chapter 9

 This book has been on my bookshelf for so long that I can’t even remember why I picked it up in the first place.  There is a two paragraph blurb on the back that did not do the book justice and, in fact, seems to misrepresent the book itself.  So, with that said, I LOVED this book and encourage you to put it on your reading list.

Kristina, Conni, Albert, and Jim were a foursome since freshman year at Dartmouth.  They were seniors now and the fractured friendships were showing signs of wear.  Kristina and Jim were having problems and Conni was convinced that Albert was sleeping with Kristina.  Kristina just wants to start over with a clean slate and thinks maybe meeting detective Spencer O’Malley is her chance.  This description only covers the first fourth of the book or so, but to say more would ruin it.

The layers of mystery and intrigue are perfectly done.  I was so wrapped up in Kristina, Spencer, and the murder that I couldn’t put it down.  The players in this drama were so full of themselves and it was fascinating to see the character flaws that led them to do questionable things.  Only Spencer remains seemingly untouched by the dark side of human nature.

If you love mystery and drama with all the trimmings of money, greed, envy and love, you will love this book.  Highly recommended.