Jo and I took advantage of some sunny weather (It's been blowy and rainy for the past few days) and did a couple of hours of yard work. Our strip of fencing out front got blown over some time in the past few days but it's being held up by a bunch of flowering bushes for the time being. So we wanted to clean up and shore it up for the time being. Still more to do but we got a start on it anyway. I also had a good run his morning, weather was perfect and by the time I finished the sun was starting to peek over the horizon.
Tomorrow I'll do my September Reading summary. Right now I'm going to update some new books, my last books finished in September and my next in line. I'll continue with my look at Women Authors in a future post.
New Books
"A world with no hunger,
no disease, no war, no misery: humanity has conquered all those things,
and has even conquered death. Now Scythes are the only ones who can end
life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the
population under control.
Citra and Rowan are chosen to
apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must
master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure
could mean losing their own."
"Kathy, Ruth and Tommy were pupils at Hailsham - an idyllic establishment situated deep in the English countryside. The children there were tenderly sheltered from the outside world, brought up to believe they were special, and that their personal welfare was crucial. But for what reason were they really there? It is only years later that Kathy, now aged 31, finally allows herself to yield to the pull of memory. What unfolds is the haunting story of how Kathy, Ruth and Tommy, slowly come to face the truth about their seemingly happy childhoods - and about their futures. Never Let Me Go is a uniquely moving novel, charged throughout with a sense of the fragility of our lives."
"Three epic Tank Girl stories, collected in one digest-sized volume!
Tank Girl's back with a bang - and a helluva spine - in this Booga's-pouched-sized collection of three insane adventures!"
"It’s 2004. DEA agent
Art Keller has been fighting the war on drugs for thirty years in a
blood feud against Adán Barrera, the head of El Federación, the world’s
most powerful cartel, and the man who brutally murdered Keller’s
partner. Finally putting Barrera away cost Keller dearly—the woman he
loves, the beliefs he cherishes, the life he wants to lead.
Then
Barrera gets out, determined to rebuild the empire that Keller
shattered. Unwilling to live in a world with Barrera in it, Keller goes
on a ten-year odyssey to take him down. His obsession with justice—or is
it revenge?—becomes a ruthless struggle that stretches from the cities,
mountains, and deserts of Mexico to Washington’s corridors of power to
the streets of Berlin and Barcelona.
Keller fights his personal battle against the devastated backdrop of Mexico’s drug war, a conflict of unprecedented scale and viciousness, as cartels vie for power and he comes to the final reckoning with Barrera—and himself—that he always knew must happen."
"After three years in the wilderness, hard-boiled reporter Gerry Conway is back at his desk at the Glasgow Tribune. But three years is a long time on newspapers and things have changed - readers are dwindling, budgets are tightening, and the Trib's
once rigorous standards are slipping. Once the paper's star reporter,
Conway now plays second fiddle to his former protege, crime reporter
Martin Moir.
But when Moir goes AWOL as a big story breaks,
Conway is dispatched to cover a gangland shooting. And when Moir's body
turns up in a flooded quarry, Conway is drawn deeper into the city's
criminal underworld as he looks for the truth about his colleague's
death. Braving the hostility of gangsters, ambitious politicians and his
own newspaper bosses, Conway discovers he still has what it takes to
break a big story. But this is a story not everyone wants to hear as the
city prepares to host the Commonwealth Games and the country gears up
for a make-or-break referendum on independence."
"Robert Forester is a fundamentally decent man who attracts trouble like a magnet, and when he begins watching the domestic simplicity of Jenny's life through her window, the deceptive calm of suburban Pennsylvania is shattered."
Just Finished
"The Silver Mistress is the 7th book in the Modesty Blaise thriller / adventure series by Peter O'Donnell. As per the other six books I've enjoyed so far, it was entertaining, filled with action and ultimately satisfying.
Modesty is on vacation at a chalet in southern France. She has invited Sir Gerald Tarrant to spend a week relaxing with her after his attendance at a NATO Intelligence Chief's summit. The relationship between the two is a sort of father / daughter. On his way to the chalet, Tarrant's driver betrays him and Tarrant is taken hostage by a dangerous group of villains. A mountain climber, Quinn, who had suffered a fall, sees the kidnapping. The kidnapping is set up to make it seem that Tarrant is killed in a car crash.
Modesty begins to suspect that maybe Tarrant is still alive and this sets in place a series of actions that will lead to a confrontation between Modesty and her business partner Willie Garvin and the villains in a Chateau in the mountains. They are some of the most dastardly people that Modesty has fought so far, especially the super combat man, Mr. Sexton.
As always, it's entertaining and my liking of Modesty and Willie increases with each story. The story progresses methodically, with trips to Macao and then to France. Willie and Modesty are an amazing pair, larger than life in many ways, with their own personal telepathic communication. In a world full of Bonds, it's nice to have a strong, independent woman as the lead in this series. (3.5 stars)"
"Locke & Key, Vol. 4: Keys to the Kingdom is the 4th book in an excellent graphic novel series by Joe Hill. I've enjoyed everyone so far and look forward to seeing how it all ties up in the last two books.
The story moves along from month to month as the Locke family kids, Bode, Ty and Kinsey begin to explore the keys with their friends, with sometimes disastrous consequences. They also begin to close in on who Zack really is, maybe not such a friend as Kinsey thinks. The story jumps around somewhat from incident to incident as each chapter represents a separate month and seemingly untied events. (They do actually make sense).
It's scary, sometimes violent and just pure entertainment. Such a concept. What the different keys do is always fascinating. There was humor as well. I particularly liked the first chapter with a sort of Calvin and Hobbes like animation. My favorite character is definitely Bode; wise beyond his years. I liked Rufus too although his story is so sad.
Such a scary ending as well. Now I have to order Book 5. Great series, one of my favorite graphic novels in a long -time. (4 stars)"
Currently Reading
"Entranced and terrified, the reader of The Other
is swept up in the life of a Connecticut country town in the
thirties—and in the fearful mysteries that slowly darken and overwhelm
it.
Originally published in 1971, The Other is one of the
most influential horror novels ever written. Its impeccable recreation
of small-town life and its skillful handling of the theme of personality
transference between thirteen-year-old twins led to widespread critical
acclaim for the novel, which was successfully filmed from Thomas
Tryon's own screenplay."
Next post will be my September Reading Summary. Enjoy the rest of your week.
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