2 today!

Brought in two, although I swear I listed to one side as I was walking. The heavier, and worse offender, was Mr. Christopher Jones, and his Full Dark House, which I actually rather enjoyed. It's a mystery that is set mainly during the Blitz, but opens in contemporary London as an aging detective reflects on his first case with his long-time partner, when he joins a department devoted to solving "unusual" crimes - that is, anything ranging from seemingly paranormal to aggravatingly unsolvable to politically inconvenient for other branches. The book is clever, and while the more "colorful" detective of the pair is a bit too familiar (he's odd, socially awkward, open to thinking out of the box, so to speak, and making brilliant leaps of deduction no ordinary mortals can follow - ring a bell? Several?), overall the characters were appealing and believable. I feel like this is a set up for a series (or maybe an installment in a series) but I don't know. But I would definitely consider reading another book by the author. I think, in fact, I picked up the book because I heard about one Jones recently released, and it wasn't in the library or something, so I just picked the earliest one they did have by him and figured I'd give it a try. Plus, I liked the title.

The other book was Games to Play After Dark, Sarah Gardner Borden. MEH. Boy and girl meet, they get married, they get bored, they get into rough (ish?) sex, they have kids, they get bored again, they get violent without the sex. Honestly, I think the writing itself was pretty good, but the story really never captivated me. Not all that much sex, considering what I just wrote (and the back blurb "...the games they play after dark are far from routine"), but of course, one of them did pop up when I was on the bus to work. The bus that is never crowded, but that day was, and I had people squeezed on either side of me and I just thought, "nope, shut the book, this is awkward." And then I kind of forgot about it. I think it took me months to read the book, because I kept putting it down and then being like "oh, right, that thing. Must finish that." But when I was actually reading it, the tone and pacing were really nice, and SGB has an eye for detail and a talent for great descriptions. Very sensual, actually, which at least makes sense with what I think she was going for here.

So depressing...

Looking at the ginormous stacks of books on my floor, forget on my desk (and coffee table, and bed-side table...) this morning. I didn't have the heart to write about them all, much less lug them all in - for whatever reason, I seem to have been on a fat, hardcover kick recently - so I figured maybe one at a time? So I don't forever curve my spine? And the lucky winner was S. J. Parris' Sacrilege. I picked it because it wasn't SUPER heavy (I actually made lunch this morning, which is great, but it was already weighing down my bag) and because I wasn't a huge fan so I don't have much to say. It's like the others in the Giordano Bruno mystery series - fine, but nothing special, more or less forgettable.

Seriously, the library is killing me

They keep asking for books back that I am stockpiling for when my apartment becomes a nuclear bunker, lol...

Among those they called back this week: Kathy Reichs, Flash and Bone - don't even really remember what it's about (other than the obvious, forensic pathologist solves a crime, although I know this was one of the ones set in the South, vs. Canada...I think), and I had to dig it out of the pile on my desk (yep, the pile magically grew again). And, Jesus - I JUST got the title reference. I think I had been thinking it was like, flash-bangs, those stun-grenade thingies...but it's clearly like "flesh & bones." Sh*t, I feel stupid now.

They also called back The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty, which I KNEW was going to happen, since it's been all over the place and super publicized, so I figured some one was going to be requesting it sooner or later. So it's good that when I got it I read it right away.

Lauren Groff!

Ugh. So, I finally got Arcadia, and sped through it, and loved it, and didn't write about it because I wanted to take my time and really think about what I was going to say, and now the library wants it back. So...yeah, Arcadia, by Lauren Groff - amazing.

Printing books...

I've been so intrigued by these machines ever since the Harvard Bookstore got one (http://www.harvard.com/clubs_services/books_on_demand/). Obviously it's cool authors can print their own works, but I love that you can create bound copies of out-of-copyright stuff - there are so many awesome old books out there!

The Antidote to e-Books

Self-publishing has been made easier since the Espresso Book Machine by On Demand Books made its debut in 2006.

 

New York Times

More good books

Just quickly read Sarah's Key, by Tatiana de Rosnay, and The Buddha in the Attic, by Julie Otsuka.
Both were very good, although in different ways; more later, hopefully, but for now I want to just get the titles down before I forget (since the library made me give them back, so I power-read them over the long weekend).