The Fourth Hand by John Irving

Started: 11/21/09
Finished: 12/3/09
Year: 2001
Pages: 381
Genre: Literature
Grade: B
Reason for reading: grabbed it off the TBR pile
Blurb (from back cover): "While reporting a story from India, New York journalist Patrick Wallingford inadvertently becomes his own headline when his left hand is eaten by a lion. In Boston, a renowned surgeon eagerly awaits the opportunity to perform the nation's first hand transplant. But what if the donor's widow demands visitation rights with the hand? In answering this unexpected question, John Irving has written a novel that is by turns brilliantly comic and emotional moving, offering a penetrating look at the power of second chances and the will to change."
Opinion: A slightly different book from John Irving. Still very touching and well written.

The Cat Who Smelled a Rat by Lilian Jackson Braun

Started: 11/15/09
Finished: 11/21/09
Year: 2001
Pages: 229
Genre: mystery
Grade: C
Reason for reading: TBR pile
Blurb (from book jacket): "The Big One is on its way, and none too soon for the residents of an unusually arid Moose County, who are becoming increasingly anxious about wildfires as they await the first snowstorm of the season. A Citizens' Fire Watch is formed, and volunteers go out on shifts to patrol areas of concern, particularly the old minesites, which have been rumored to contain subterranean fires deep within. When a volunteer is murdered near the Big B minesite, which had been set ablaze, the people of Pickax realize they are dealing with both an arsonist and a killer. And Koko, Siamese cat extraordinaire and owner of journalist James Quilleran, knows even more than that, as evidenced by his suspicious scrutiny of an antique pitcher, a batik of robins, and an old-fashioned glove box.
"The string of catastrophes continues as a local builder dies in an apparent accident, and it's up to Qwillerian & Co. to trap the rat who's behind it all."
Opinion: An average quick read. Very similar to the other Cat Who series of books.

The Black Hand by Chris Blatchford

Started: 11/4/09
Finished: 11/15/09
Year: 2008
Pages:366
Genre: True Crime
Grade: B+
Reason for reading: review for MyShelf
Blurb (from back cover): "Rene 'Boxer' Enriquez grew up in East L.A., where gang fights and drive-by shootings were everyday occurrences fueled by rage, drugs, and alcohol. Sent to prison at nineteen, he was recruited by La Eme, the near-mythic Mexican Mafia, arguably the most well-armed and dangerous gang in Amrican history. A young man without fear who would kill without hesitation, Enriquez's loyalty and iron will drove him quickly up the ranks, from mob enfocer to the upper echelons, where he would rule for nearly two decades. Seeking respect, he devoted his life to a bloody cause, only to find betrayal and disillusionment."
Opinion: More biographical than true crime. A very good read if you want an insider's look at a well developed gang. For a more complete review, please check out MyShelf.com in the upcoming months.

Miss Julia Takes Over by Ann B. Ross

Started: 10/30/09
Finished: 11/4/09
Year: 2001
Pages: 236
Genre: mystery
Grade: C
Reason for reading: grabbed it off the TBR pile
Blurb (from book jacket): "The Southern belle befriends the high-heeled mamma and becomes frantic when Hazel Marie disappears after a dinner date with a church fund-raiser who, in Miss Julia's opinion, wears his short too tight: 'nobody can be that upright and pious without trouble going on underneath.' Since the sheriff won't help her, Miss Julia takes matters into her own hands. With Little Lloyd in tow, she finds herself tracking Hazel Marie across North Carolina. From a most ungenteel display of fisticuffas to a hair-raising car chase, Miss Julia stands strong and forges ahead. Because...if Miss Julia doesn't take care of things, who will?"
Opinion: Slightly better, more entertaining quick read

Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann B. Ross

Started: 10/25/09
Finished: 10/30/09
Year: 1999
Pages: 198
Genre: Mystery
Grade: C
Reason for reading: Grabbed it off the TBR shelf
Blurb (from book jacket): A proper lady of a certain age, Miss Julia Springer's quiet existence is interrupted when a close 'friend' of her deceased husband shows up at her doorstep with none other than Wesley Lloyd Springer's illegitimate son. Hazel Marie Puckett, with 'heels too high, a dress too short, and hair too yellow,' announces that since the two-timing man left her penniless, she's leaving Little Lloyd in Miss Julia's good Christian care. Now Miss Julia cuts loose and speaks her mind as the boy and his randy mother bring scandal and rollicking adventure into her life-especially since Hazel Marie is the target of a hilarious misguided kidnap plot!"
Opinion: Well, it was a quick read but Miss Julia's character pisses me off sometimes with her naivity. Pretty good mystery however.

Death Message by Mark Billingham

Started: 10/13/09
Finished: 10/25/09
Year: 2009
Pages: 458
Genre: Mystery
Grade: B
Reason for reading: Review for MyShelf.com
Blurb (from book jacket): "Delivering the 'death message.' That's what cops call those harrowing moments when they must tell someone that a loved one has been killed. Now Detective Investigator Tom Thorne is receiving messages of his own: photographs of murder victims sent to his cell phone.
"Who are the victims? Who is sending the photographs? And why is he sending them to Tom Thorne? The answer likes in the detective investigator's past, with a man he had once sent to prison for life. But even behind bars, the most dangerous psychopath Thorne has ever faced is still a master of manipulating others to do his dirty work for him. And Thorne must act fast because the photos keep on coming, and the killer's next target is someone the detective investigator knows very well...."
Opinion: Not as good as Sleepyhead but still a good read.

Stupid White Men by Michael Moore

Started: 10/7/09
Finished: 10/13/09
Year: 2001
Pages: 277
Genre: Humor/Political
Grade: B
Reason for reading: grabbed off the TBR pile
Blurb: Basically Michael Moore's look at the men that run this country
Opinion: I've enjoyed Moore's movies and thought that the book would be interesting. And it was. I was happy to see that Moore not only made fun at the Republicans but the Democrats as well.

The Hunted by Brian Haig

Started: 9/24/09
Finished: 10/7/09
Year: 2009
Pages: 453
Genre: Thriller
Grade: B
Reason for reading: review for MyShelf.com
Blurb (from book jacket): "It's 1991, The Soviet Union has just collapsed, and a new democratic government is beginning to emerge. Alex Konevitch, who was thrown out of Moscow University in 1987 for indulging his entrepreneurial spirit, is now worth $300 million and is a major financial supporter of the new govenrment. In a country where greed and corruption run rampant and wealth is stolen, not earned, he is on track to become both Russia's wealthiest man-and a huge target.
"Then top executives in his company start getting brutally murdered one by one, and Alex makes a critical mistake: he hires the former deputy director of the KGB to handle his corporate security. Kidnapped, beaten, and forced to relinquish his business and his fortune by those hired to protect him, Alex manages to escape to the United States with his wife, only to be accused by his own government of stealing millions from his business.
"With a contract out on his life and the FBI hot on his trail, Alex is the number one most-wanted fugitive in Russia. He is a man on the run with no country to call home. And he must elude the bounty on his head and prove his innocence...if he is ever to build a new life for himself and his family."
Opinion: This was an interesting read and I'm not a fan of books that deal with the KGB and Russian politics. The title very properly fits the story. For a more complete review, please check out MyShelf.com in the upcoming months.

Just After Sunset by Stephen King

Started: 9/19/09
Finished: 9/23/09
Year: 2008
Pages: 367
Genre: Short Stories: horror
Grade: B
Reason for reading: borrowed book from mother
Blurb (from book jacket): "Stephen King-who has written more than fifty books, dozens of number one New York Times best-sellers, and many unforgettable movies-delivers an astonishing collection of short stories, his first since Everything's Eventual six years ago. As guest editor of the bestselling Best American Short Stories 2007. King spent over a year reading hundreds of stories. His renewed passion for the form is evident on every page of Just After Sunset. The stories in this collection have appeared in The New Yorker, Playboy, McSweeney's, The Paris Review, Esquire, and other publications.
"Who but Stephen King would turn a Port-O-San into a slimy birth canal, or a roadside honky-tonk into a place for endless love? A book salesman with a grievance might pick up a mute hitchhiker, not knowing the silent man in the passenger seat listens altogheter too well. Or an execise routine on a stationary bicycle, begun to reduce bad cholesterol, might take its rider on a captivating-and then terrifying-journey . Set on a remote key in Florida, 'The Gingerbread Girl' is a riverting tale featuring a young woman as vulnerable-and resourceful-as Audrey Hepburn's character in Wait Until Dark. In 'Ayana,' a blind girl works a miracle with a kiss and the touch of her hand. For King, the line between the living and the dead is often blurry, and the seams that hold our reality intact might tear apart at any momemnt. In one of the longer stories here, 'N.," which recently broke new ground when it was adapted as a graphic digital entertainment, a psychiatric patient's irrational thinking might create an apocalyptic threat in the Maine countryside...or keep the world from falling victim to it."
Opinion: I've always enjoyed King's short stories and this collection is just as good as his others. Some stories will stick with me for a while.

Man in the Middle by Brian Haig

Started: 8/31/09
Finished: 9/19/09
Year: 2007
Pages: 647
Genre: Suspense
Grade: B+
Reason for reading: review for MyShelf.com
Blurb (from back cover): "For newly promoted Army Lieutenant Colonel Sean Drummond, his latest assignment seems simple enough: find out if the demise of an influential defense official was murder or suicide. But the case soon leads Drummond and Bian Tran, the attractive Army Military Police officer investigating the death, into the labryinthine channels of American intelligence an the war in Irag-not to mention the shadowy motives of his so-called colleagues. What Drummond uncovers will make him question everything he believes in. And force him to ask: Are my loyalities to my superiors or to the American soldiers battling for their lives?"
Opinion: This was better than I thought it was going to be. Solid book. For a more complete review, please check out MyShelf.com

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

Started: 8/24/09
Finished: 8/30/09
Year: 1996
Pages: 272
Genre: Chick Lit
Grade: B-
Reason for reading: grabbed off the TBR pile
Blurb (from book jacket): "Bridget Jones's Diary charts a devastatingly self-aware, hilarious year in the life of a thirty-something Singleton. Here is the compulsively readable, laugh-out-loud daily chronical of her permanent, doomed quest for self-improvement-a year in which she resolves to: reduce the circumference of each thigh by 1.5 inches, visit the gym three times a week not merely to buy a sandwich , form a functional relationshp with a responsible adult, and not fall for any of the following: misogynists, megalomaniacs, people with girlfriends or wives, emotional fuckwits, alcoholics, workaholics, chauvinists, or perverts. And to learn to program the VCR.
"Over the course of the year Bridget loses a total of 72 pounds but gains a total of 74. She remains, however, optimistic. Caught between her Singleton friend (who are all convinced they will end up dying alone and found three weeks later half-eaten by an Alsatian), the Smug Marrieds (whose dinner parties offer ever-new opportunities for humiliation), and crazed parental attempts to marry her off to a rich divorce in a diamond-patterned sweater, Bridget struggles to keep her life on an even keel-or at least afloat. Whenever her plans meet with disaster, as they invariable do, she manages to pick herself up, go out on the town, and tell herself it will be all right in the morning, when life will definitely be different this time and totally alcohol, calorie, and preverted-fuckwitted-misogynist free."
Opinion: A quick and fun read. Now I can go watch the movies.

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Started: 8/11/09
Finished: 8/24/09
Year: 2006
Pages: 334
Genre: Memoir
Grade: B+
Reason for reading: friend gave it to me
Blurb (from back cover): "In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want-husband, country home, successful career-but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion. This wise and raptuous book is the story of how she left behind all these outwards marks of success, and of what she found in their place. Following a divorce and a crushing depression. Gilbert set out to examine three different aspects of her nature, set against the backdrop of three different cultures: pleasere in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldy enjoyment and divine transcendence."
Opinion: I enjoyed the writing style of Elizabeth Gilbert-just the right amount of sarcasm and humor mixed with the seriousness of one's life. I'll definitely be picking up more of her books.

Hot Six by Janet Evanovich

Started: 8/7/09
Finished: 8/11/09
Year: 2000
Pages: 270
Genre: Mystery
Grade: B
Reason for reading: grabbed it off the TBR pile
Blurb (from book jacket): "Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum and Trenton vice cop Joe Morelli join forces to find the madman killer who shot and barbecued the youngest son of international black-market arms dealer Alexander Ramos.
"Carlos Manoso, street name Ranger, is caught on video just minutes before the crime occurs. He's at the scene, he's with the victim, and he's the number-one suspect. Manoso is former special forces turned soldier of fortune. He has a blue-chip stock portfolio and no known address. He moves in mysterious circles. He's Stephanie's mentor-the man who taught her everything she knows about fugitive apprehension. And he's more than her friend.
"Now he's the hunted and Stephanie's the hunter, and it's time for her to test her skills against the master. But if she does catch him...what then? Can she bring herself to turn him in?
"Plus there are other things keeping Stephanie awake at night. Her maternal grandmother has set up houskeeping in Stephanie's apartment, a homicidal maniac has selected Stephanie as his next victim, her love life is in the toilet, she's adopted a dog with an eating disorder, and she can't button the top snap of her Levi's.
Opinion: Been a while since I read one of Evanovich's books. A fun and easy read.

Alive by Piers Paul Read

Started: 7/31/09
Finished: 8/7/09
Year: 1974
Pages: 352
Genre: Non-fiction
Grade: B+
Reason for reading: grabbed it off the TBR pile
Blurb (from book jacket): "Lost in the vast snowy wastes of the high Andes...all offical rescue efforts abandoned...no food...inadequate clothing for sub-zero temperatures...no mefical supplies to ease the suffering of the dying. So began a terrible ordeal for the young men and women who, on October 12, 1972, had set out from Uruguay in high spirits for a series of rugby matches in Chile. Their chartered airplane had enterd a cloudbank, lost altitude in a series of downdrafts, and crashed into a mountain peak.
"The Fairchild had carried five crewmen anf forty passengers. Some were killed instantly. But those who survived clung to life with extrsordinary tenacity and ingenuity. They formed themselves into an ordered society, distributing tasks according to individual skills and degrees of physical fitness. Leaders emerged who had never been leaders before.
"Realizing that what little chance they had to live lay in their own hands, they planned their escape. Rather than die of starvation, they made a difficult decision: they would use the bodies of their dead companions for food. They were still to endure unexpected and terrible hardships, and one unforseen tragedy almost overwhelmed them with despair. Yet they refused to be demoralize, and their determination to save themselves increased by sheer strength of will."
Opinion: I had heard about parts of this story growing up-mostly about the consumption of human flesh. An amazing story of survival in one of the most harshest territories out there in the world.

Pawing Through the Past by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown

Started: 7/19/09
Finished: 7/30/09
Year: 2000
Pages: 275
Genre: Mystery
Grade: B
Reason for reading: grabbed it off the TBR pile
Blurb (from book jacket): "Emotions are running high around tiny Crozet, VA, among the Class of 1980, as plans get under way for the upcoming twentieth high school reunion. There's nothing like a reunion to stir up memories, rivalries, and insecurities. It's even put Crozet's normally placid postmistress, Mary Minor 'Harry' Haristeen, who's on the organizing committee, on edge, as she wonders if everythng will come together on time.
"Still, when each member of the class receives an anonymous letter edged in the Crozet High School colors that reads 'You'll never get old,' Harry takes it as a compliment. Others think it's a joke. But even blitzed out on fresh catnip, Mrs. Murphy senses a much more sinister meaning.
"And the sly tiger cat is soon proven right...when divinely handsome Charlies Ashcraft, the class womanizer, turns up dead with a bullet between his eyes. At first folks around Crozet figure that when a man is sleeping with other men's wives, trouble is sure to follow. But when another threatening note to the members of the Class of 1980 is followed by the murder of a second classmate, it becomes all too clear that someone is determined to spoil this reunion...someone who has waited twenty years to take bitter revenge.
"What could have happened so long ago to trigger such rage? While Harry, whose high school memories consist of football games and first love, tries to make sense of the crimes, it's up to Mrs. Murphy, her feline pal Pewter, and the corgi Tee Tucker to try to sniff out the truth. Yet when ugly rumors surface and Harry herself has a brush with violence, Mrs. Murphy is the first to realize that in the killer's mind, Harry's been chosen Most Likely to Die. And now, unless the daring tiger cat and her animal pals can stop a relentless killer, Crozet's High's twentieth reunion may very well be Harry Haristeen's last..."
Opinion: It's been a while since I had read one of these mysteries. They are entertaining and a good read.

The Cat Who Went into the Closet by Lilian Jackson Braun

Started: 7/18/09
Finished: 7/19/09
Year: 1993
Pages: 235
Genre: mystery
Grade: C
Reason for reading: grabbed off the TBR pile
Blurb (from book jacket): "The mansion on Goodwinter Boulevard is more than a retreat for crime writer Jim Qwilleran-it is the scene of another delightful Cat Who...mystery.
"Qwill rents the Gage mansion in Pickax, and soon after moving in, he and Koko discover fifteen closets jammed with several generations' worth of junk. Koko, of course, is on the case, and what he discovers will shock Pickax and Moose County. What connection could obsolete currency, canceled checks, and an old bankbook have with mail clippers, foot powder, and a man's argyle sock? Something is definitely brewing in Pickax. But what starts out as junk turns into something else.
"The action begins when Qwill decides to simulate a newscast covering the great fire of 1869. An infamous even in Moose County, this fire burned half of the county to the ground. Now Qwill is about to put Pickax back on the map with a discovery that will uncover long-buried secrets of the Gage family.
"While enjoying a new life in Florida, the mansion's former occupant, Euphonia Gage, apparently committed suicide. But why would someone as happy and full of life as Euphonia kill herself? And what is the connection between the Gage famiy and dead potato farmer Gil Inchpot-who is found in the snow with a bullet hole in his head?
"Can Qwill and the cats get to the bottom of this mystery before the winter yields another dead body?"
Opinion: A quick read but not a lot of twists and turns that I like in a mystery.

Ghost Hunting by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson

Started: 7/15/09
Finished: 7/18/09
Year: 2007
Pages: 273
Genre: Non-fiction: Ghost hunting
Grade: A
Reason for reading: fan of the show
Blurb (from back cover): "The Atlantic Parnanormal Society, also known as T.A.P.S., is the brainchild of two plumbers by day, paranormal investigators by night: Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson. Their hair-raising investigations, fueled by their unique abilites and a healthy does of scientific method, have made them the subject of a hit TV Show: The SCI-FI Channel's Ghost Hunters.
"Now their experiences are in print for the first time, as Jason and Grant recount for us, with the help of veteran author Michael Jan Friedman, the stories from some of their most memorable investigations. The men and women of T.A.P.S. pursue ghosts and other supernatural phenomena with the most sophisticated scientific equipment available-from thermal-imaging cameras to electromagnetic-field recorders to digital thermometers-and the results may suprise you."
Opinion: A great companion guide to the show. Some cases were done before the SCI-FI show. A great and quick read.

The Cat Who Saw Stars by Lilian Jackson Braun

Started: 7/11/09
Finished: 7/15/09
Year: 1998
Pages: 227
Genre: Mystery
Grade: B-
Reason for reading: grabbed off the TBR pile
Blurb (from book jacket): "Qwilleran, Koko, and Yum Yum are hoping for a peaceful month of July spent sitting on the porch of their cabin by a lake in Mooseville. It's not so far from home-but far enough away from the hustle and bustle of Pickax that Quill figures he might actually find some peace and quiet.
"When rumors begin to circulate that UFOs are responsible for the disappearance of a stray backpacker, whose body is later discovered on the lakeshore, Quill finds it difficult to maintain 'vacation' mode.
"Then, of course, there's the knitting craze, which is attracting some very unlikely members of the community, and some highly innovative plans for this year's Fourth of July parade, and a dog-cart race. Yet all of this is just par for the course in slightly out-of-whack Moose County...
"Things become downright eerie when Koko begins to pass hours on the porch in the dark, watching the sky for stars-or something. And as the inexplicable goings-on get stranger and stranger, Qwill starts to wonder who or what is in fact responsible, if not extraterrestrial visitors."
Opinion: An average read. Onto the next one.

Deadly Angel by Fred Rosen

Started: 7/6/09
Finished: 7/11/09
Year: 2009
Pages: 223
Genre: True Crime
Grade: B-
Reason for reading: Review for MyShelf.com
Blurb (from back cover): "Mechele Hughes came to Wasilla, Alaska (pop. 4200), looking for a new life and easy money. As an exotic dancer at the Great Alaskan Bush Company in nearby Anchorage, she was soon earning thousands a night-and getting expensive gifts from admiring male clients. Three in particular fell under her spell. Each claimed to be engaged to her...and they all lived with her together in the same house. But in May 1996, the bullet-ridden body of Kent 'T.T.' Leppink, a local fisherman and one of her fiances, was discovered in a wooded area ninety miles away-possibly slain by suitor number two, John Carlin III, at the stripper's urging.
"Ten years would elapse before the arrests and trials of Mechele Hughes Linehan and John Carlin III. Was the real Mechele a murderess, a ruthless sexual manipulator as the prosecution claimed, killing for insurance money-or the loving wife and mother she had since become, dedicated to children, animals, and charitable causes?"
Opinion: An interesting story but is was evident that not a lot of first hand interviews were received-author also makes a note of that. For a more complete review, please check out MyShelf.com in the upcoming months.

Hanging Time by Leslie Glass

Started: 6/29/09
Finished: 7/6/09
Year: 1995
Pages: 413
Genre: Mystery
Grade: B
Reason for reading: grabbed it off the TBR pile
Blurb (from back cover): "In an expensive boutique on New York's Upper West Side, a young salesgirl is persuaded to open the door to her death.
"In the chaos of a police station, ambition and sexual politics raise the stakes of solving a vicious crime.
"In his office, a famed psychoanalyst hears a sister's tale of emotional terrorism and madness.
"For April Woo and Jason Frank, suspense fiction's most engrossing detective team, the clock is ticking on another brutal killing."
Opinion: A strong mystery that hints at the conclusion.