Lisa reads: Writing Out the Notes by Bob Hallett
I picked up Writing Out The Notes: Life in Great Big Sea
Entries Tagged as 'Lisa Reads'
Lisa reads: Concrete Operational by Richard Galbraith
Concrete Operational is a collaborative media project — a novel, art book and music cd — wrapped up in a fascinating package, each complementing the others. It’s interesting and ambitious, with a sci-fi novel about a future world gone mad, plus art and music focusing on themes from the book (love, madness, anger). I also have a limited edition, numbered box set, provided by the author, that I am giving away to one lucky winner. There is a link to the contest at the end of this review. [Read more →]
Lisa reads: Pray for Silence by Linda Castillo
Painters Mill is a small town in Ohio with a large Amish population. In Pray for Silence
Lisa reads: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
Back in the late 1700’s-early 1800’s, Japan was closed to the world around them. It was illegal for a Japanese citizen to leave Japan. It was illegal for foreign citizens to enter Japan, except under the most strictly monitored conditions. But countries around the world understood that Japan would be a lucrative market and trading partner, if only they could break through those barriers. The Dutch East Indies Company (the VOC in Dutch) maintained a trading post in Deijma and fought hard to keep lines of communication open with Japan — and to keep their greedy European enemies away. In The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, a young Dutch clerk hopes to make his fortune — and return home to marry his beloved Anna — but his scruples get in the way. It is a lovely, poetic book full of tragedy and hardship and great honor. [Read more →]
Lisa reads: The Fall by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan
It started back in March, 2009 — my first column for When Falls the Coliseum, and my review of The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. I have been waiting all those long months for the follow-up, The Fall and boy, was this worth the wait. When they get around to making a movie about this trilogy, I will be first in line for my ticket. [Read more →]
Lisa reads: Under the Poppy by Kathe Koja
Under the Poppy is a story of workplace romance and intrigue — that is, if your workplace happens to be a Belgian brothel in the 1870s and your coworkers are whores, mutes and puppets. It’s a complicated arrangement: Decca and Rupert own a brothel. Decca is in love with Rupert. Rupert is in love with Decca’s brother, Istvan, a traveling performer with a chest full of very naughty puppets. There is a lot of back-story amongst the three of them, everyone has secrets, and no one is telling the whole truth. In the end, it may be up to the puppets, the mecs, to tell the story. [Read more →]
Lisa reads: The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai
The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai by Ruiyan Xu is all about isolation and communication. Li Jing is a Chinese businessman with a beautiful wife and son, a successful investment company, family and friends. But in one tragic instant, he finds himself cut off from everything. A gas leak, an explosion, and a flying sheet of glass change his world forever. [Read more →]
Lisa reads: Angels, Vampires and Douche Bags by Carla Collins
I have to admit that I requested this book based on the title. Angels, Vampires and Douche Bags is a title with a lot of potential. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations.
The book separates the people in our lives into three categories. Angels are the people who love you and take care of you. Vampires are the people who are sexy and seductive but ultimately bad for you, and Douche Bags are the people who make your life more difficult. Things can also be in these categories. The whole prospect is kind of muddled and unfocused. It just didn’t quite work. [Read more →]
Lisa reads: Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir
This book really took me back to my heavy metal roots. I was a fan in high-school and college, saw a lot of head-banging bands play live, and still have the hard rock/alternative stations programmed in the car radio. Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir is a look behind the scenes at how a scrawny kid from La Mesa, California became a rock and roll god. It’s full of great backstage stories and plenty of gritty truth about how Dave Mustaine got to where he is today. It’s a must-read for heavy metals fans. [Read more →]
Lisa reads: The Rule of Nine by Steve Martini
If you wanted to completely change the face of American politics, what would you do? If you had nothing left to lose, what risks would you take? In Steve Martini’s The Rule of Nine, one character decides on a dramatic plan to change the political scene for decades to come. The Old Weatherman is dying — he has nothing left to lose, a fortune at his disposal, and an idea so crazy that it’s not on anybody’s radar. The Rule of Nine is a great twisty, exciting, political thriller. [Read more →]
Lisa reads: Rock & Roll Diner: Menus and Music by Sharon O’Connor
The other day, as I was browsing my cookbook shelf, looking for something that didn’t actually require cooking, it occurred to me that I have a lot of books there that deserve a review. I’m a big fan of cookbooks — I like serious, gourmet recipes, ethnic choices, theme cookbooks — all kinds of cookbooks!
Rock & Roll Diner (Menus and Music) by Sharon O’Connor is an older book, but diner food is always in style. The cookbook came as a box set with diner music! Mustang Sally, Blueberry Hill, and Where Did Our Love Go? all remind me of those little jukeboxes you find on diner tables. The only problem: it’s a cassette tape. I don’t even own a tape player anymore. [Read more →]
Lisa reads: Proust’s Overcoat by Lorenza Foschini
Proust’s Overcoat: The True Story of One Man’s Passion for All Things Proust
Lisa reads: Refuge on Crescent Hill by Melanie Dobson
Sometimes, a book is not at all what you expected it to be. You pick up a novel for the mystery but get sucked into the romance along the way, or a piece of historical fiction turns out to be more educational than any college textbook. Of course, this can also be disappointing, as in the case of Refuge on Crescent Hill by Melanie Dobson. The blurb didn’t mention that this was Christian fiction, which is usually a red flag for me. I am sure there are some great writers in the genre, but in everything I have run into so far, the plot is far less important than the moral the writer wants to convey. In this case, we have the seed of a good story that never really blossoms into a great book. [Read more →]
Lisa reads: The Killing of Mindi Quintana by Jeffrey A. Cohen
The Killing of Mindi Quintana presents a scenario we see in the newspapers every day: a murder has occurred, and the press is far more concerned with the murderer than the victim. The accused gets to make his or her case to the press; he turns up on Larry King or Oprah, interviews present them in the best possible light and reporters are willing to kiss up to a killer for a chance at an exclusive or a book deal. Defense attorneys use the media to try their case before the accused ever sets foot in a courtroom and district attorneys use high-profile cases to launch political careers. Lost in all this is the victim; if they are mentioned at all, it is only when some lurid detail from their past is dredged. But what if someone decided they weren’t going to play the game? That’s the case study Jeffrey A. Cohen presents in his first novel. [Read more →]
Lisa reads: Angel and Apostle by Deborah Noyes
Angel and Apostle takes up the story of Hester Prynne and her illegitimate daughter, Pearl, and fills in the gaps left in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. At the end of the earlier novel, Hester and Pearl leave Boston and no one knows of their whereabouts. Years later, Hester returns to Boston alone, still wearing her scarlet A. There are occasional letters from Pearl, who is married and living in Europe, and Hester lives out the remainder of her life alone. Such a cheerful story, and one that infuriated all my budding feminist sensibilities as a teenager. Why did Hester bear her burden alone? Why didn’t she publicly declaim them — the man who dishonored her and the husband who abandoned her? I’ve still got no satisfactory answers to those questions, but Deborah Noyes has given us the tale of Pearl’s childhood and marriage. [Read more →]
Lisa reads: Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen
In Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen, an unhappy woman makes an impulsive decision that leads to tragedy. Stranded, cold and in danger, she has plenty of time to contemplate the choices that lead her here. Pretty standard stuff, really, as far as mysteries go. Luckily, Ice Cold has a handful of plot twists that keep the story moving along. Good beach reading, when you need to cool off a little. [Read more →]
Lisa reads: The Bucolic Plague by Josh Kilmer-Purcell
I love a good memoir! I tend not to enjoy celebrity memoirs as much as I do those books written by relatively ordinary folks who have lived really interesting lives. I’ve reviewed a number of them over the last few years, but The Bucolic Plague is by far the funniest — from the title, which would have made me pick it up all on its own, to Josh’s thanks to Martha Stewart in the Acknowledgments. I started out marking funny passages that I might want to share in this review, but the book quickly became a forest of pink and green Post-It flags.
The names of some characters have been changed, and some are composites of various people, experiences and conversations I had then. If you think that’s unfair, you’ve obviously never lived in a small town and written a memoir about your neighbors.
Lisa reads: The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno by Ellen Bryson
What makes someone a freak?
It’s the question at the heart of The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno by Ellen Bryson. The story revolves around P.T. Barnum’s American Museum and the “freaks” who entertained the masses there. There were midgets and fat ladies, savages from exotic lands, musclemen and other oddities. But what made them freaks, and what would they choose, if they could choose another fate? [Read more →]
Lisa reads: The Dark End of the Street edited by Jonathan Santlofer and S.J. Rozan
The premise behind The Dark End of the Street is simple:
When we proposed this book to writers from both banks of the stream dividing crime writing and literary writing, we thought we had a particularly alluring idea. Write your heart out on the twin subjects of sex and crime. Define each however you want, take any approach you like. What writer could resist?
The result is a terrific collection of stories from some of my favorite writers. Editor S.J. Rozan (author of one of my favorite mystery series), introduces the collection and provides a particularly chilling story, “Daybreak”, near the end of the volume. Great writers and great writing are the rule here, and there is a little something for everyone. [Read more →]
Lisa reads: Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Little Bee is the sort of book I find hard to review. I want everyone to read this book — I want to tell you enough to encourage you to run out and put this on your wishlist. What I don’t want to do is spoil the story, and if I tell you too much, I will. The story at the heart of this amazing book is revealed slowly, piece by piece, a word here, a hint there. There is a certain build-up to the story that could be easily derailed and I don’t want to do anything to take away from your enjoyment. Author Chris Cleave has crafted a novel that literally took my breath away — confrontations that were like physical blows and passages that burned in my chest and made it hard to breathe — and I want you to enjoy the build-up as much as I did. [Read more →]
