Book Review: Italian Lessons

Italian Lessons by Peter Pezzelli
Jeanne introduced me to this author with Every Sunday and I think I have now read all of his books except Villa Mirabella. I am thinking I will have to go back, now, and read Every Sunday again, since it has been awhile.

The ending of this book is the best, because it shows how people act when the chips are down. The beginning is a little slow, but the characters act like real people and not characters being manipulated in a book.

I also like the description of how emotions affect other parts of the characters’ lives.

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Book Review: Déjà Dead

Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs

I have so many quilt and craft books to review that sometimes I just flee to a good a murder mystery. This was an interesting book to read. It is the first in the series about forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. I have been a long time fan of the TV show, Bones, and finally decided to read the book that was the seed of the show.

This Temperance Brennan is very different from the TV show’s Temperance Brennan, who seems slightly towards the Aspberger’s range. The TV show’s Temperance Brennan also has Booth. This book’s Temperance Brennan has a lot of feelings, definitely feels the social impact of being around other people, is not the boss and makes bad decisions. In short, she is human while the TV Temperance Brennan is vastly different.

Once I settled into that difference, I was impressed by the intelligence that the book’s Temperance Brennan showed, because it reminded me that a person doesn’t have to have Aspberger’s to be highly intelligent. The book is well written and has a good storyline. It was interesting to visit the early 1990s with no cell phones and email availability through universities only.

Like Terri Thayer‘s writing, some of the end parts go too fast and need to be read again. I get that feeling of NEEDING to know what is going to happen and skipping through so fast I miss the details, so I can’t really blame Kathy Reichs.

The other thing I liked about this book is that the author did not pander to the lowest common denominator. This is a book that smart people can sink their teeth into.

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A Librarian’s Life?

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Via:Master-Degree-Online.com

I guess it is one view.

Book Review: Starting Over

Starting Over by Robin Pilcher

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was ok. I liked it because it has elements of Rosamunde Pilcher‘s writing in it. The characters are similar, but the sentences are not as carefully constructed and the descriptions tended to make my mind wander. I liked the story and thought the ending was a good one – not a typical and expected fiction ending.

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Book Review: PS I Love You by Cecilia Ahern

PS, I Love You by Cecelia Ahern
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I missed seeing the movie, but I didn’t hear flattering reviews of it. I loved this book about an Irish woman whose husband dies. It centers on her, but you get a flavor of how the other people in their lives feel about his loss as well. It was very sad. I think that the author represented the grief of the wife very well. I liked the hook in the story of the wife being given tasks to keep her going and think that would be a good thing for to think about if we found ourselves in the same situation. The story was set in Ireland and I thought that was a good location.

2010 review: I read this book again and noticed some other things that I really liked. First, there wasn’t a lot of explicit sex yet the book was still very effective in creating an air of vibrant young people going through their lives, which includes the opposite sex, and trying to deal with something that they are ill equipped to understand and move through. This is poignantly expressed towards the end at the Christmas Ball where people, who live around the corner and have not spoken to her since the funeral, approach Holly and want to further express their sorrow. It is a good reminder when someone in your set dies to not let contact lie; that your friend needs you.

Second, Daniel falls into the awesome male character category with Henry from Between Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson. He is not pushy, doesn’t mind talking about feelings, is a good companion, but also real in his need for companionship and the decision he makes at the end of the book.

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Commercials for Idiots

I felt like watching TV today, but also felt like working on my project. I had found some Bones episodes online (thanks Fox) and clicked through to watch. It was great having the episodes show on my computer while I did other things. The problem was the commercials. I understand the “need” for commercials, but I don’t understand the need for the same commercial over and over. This is what happened with the 5 Bones episodes that I watched. The same commercial showed twice or three times throughout the episodes. THE SAME EXACT COMMERCIALS. Not only did the repetiveness make me want to scream, it also made me never want to go to the sponsor and give them any of my money.

To make matters worse, the commercial was simplistic and made it seem like the sponsor was introducing new technology when they weren’t. I have been using that same technology through a different vendor for at least a year.

Message to Fox and sponsor: If you are going to force us to watch commercials, please make them funny or intelligent or at least vary them so we don’t want to scream. The repetitiveness does you no favors. And your ad agency should be chastised for suggesting such a strategy.

Oh, and while you are at it, what happened to Dr. Brennan? She is more wooden and socially inept than she was last season. Not nice. Do not like it.

Book Review: Mennonite in a Little Black Dress

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this immediately after reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I really noticed the difference in writing styles, leaving aside the difference in genres, of course, and found it an interesting switch. As I progressed in Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, I found the writing style to be a little frantic. The style improved as the book went on. I thought the book was interesting and I enjoyed it, but I did think there were some weird things. One was the history of the Mennonites towards the end of the book. I enjoyed that section, but thought it was kind of tacked on to the end. I would have preferred an Epilogue that kind of wrapped up her life after several months. Is she still dating Soren?

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Blog Accessibility

The point seems to be to help people who use alternative methods for accessing the web, but the advice is good for any web or blog designer.

clipped from blogaccessibility.com The 7 Sins of Inaccessible Blogs

Librarian Gets Interviewed

I hope you all have already had the chance to listen to this interview with Kee Malesky. I love it that NPR loves their librarians. Not only do they do interviews, but thank them at the end of shows. AWESOME!

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Book Review: The God of the Hive

The God of the Hive by Laurie R. King
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I liked this book better than the previous book, The Language of Bees. The “two books as one story” concept, however, did not work for me, simply, I think, because they were not released at the same time. Once I got my hands on this book, some time since I read the previous book had passed. I had forgotten some of the story and much of the detail from The Language of Bees. This book seemed obtuse, and unnecessarily complicated to me. I really enjoyed The Beekeeper’s Apprentice and, especially, Locked Rooms, but am worried that Laurie R. King is using some gimmicks to sell books. Alternatively, perhaps she is mimicking Sir Arthur Conan Doyle‘s style rather than developing her style further.

I was very glad to see Mycroft show up in Chapter 60. What a relief! The story began to make more sense and I could see the resolution coming once he was back in the saddle.

I did enjoy the character of Robert Goodman. I am glad his body wasn’t found, because that means he may show up again. I didn’t understand the Peter James West character. He was spooky and dangerous, that was clear, but to what end?

I really hope Ms. King gets back to the style of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice.

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