Allie's 37 - 41
Well I've surpassed my total for last year, though I'm not sure I'll be able to read 9 more before the end of the year - we'll see!
Book 37: I've Heard That Song Before by Mary Higgins Clark
This is a fictional take-off on the Martha Moxley / Michael Skakel case, sort of combined with the movie Sabrina. It follows a woman who grows up to marry the rich heir of the family her father worked for as a landscape architect. Her husband has always been the chief suspect in the murder of his girlfriend when he was in college, though no charges were ever laid. Shortly after they get married, however, new evidence emerges and she spends the novel trying to prove his innocence. Entertaining enough - pretty easy to guess the resolution, however.
Book 38: Lust, Loathing, and a Little Lip Gloss by Kyra Davis
The fourth and latest book in the Sophie Katz mystery series, which I am now officially on board with. It's fun, with good mysteries, and the characters have now been developed sufficiently to make them more likable than they were in the earlier books. This one finds Sophie buying a house, with the stipulation that she join a spiritualist society - bit oddball and unrealisitc, but it makes for a good story.
Book 39: Wednesday Night Witches by Lee Nichols
This is sort of a chick-lit version of The Witches of Eastwick. It intrigued me because I was really enjoying the new show Eastwick (which has since been cancelled so I think I was the only one!) Three women on an isolated New England island become friends and discover they have certain powers, which they then have to use to stop the resurgence of a demon. This story is interwoven with romances for the three of them, and lots of girl power martini nights, etc. Not a bad read, but it didn't quite live up to my expectations. I would prefer they keep producing Eastwick! :(
Book 40: Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
I assigned a paper on CR for the course I am currently teaching, but had only briefly skimmed it before doing so. Finally had to really read it this week, and if you have never read one of the James Bond novels, let me tell you they are pretty horrifying! As my friend suggested, Bond is basically a sociopath, and the representation of women got my feminist spidey-sense operating on overdrive. Still, there was something sort of strangely compelling and addictive about the whole thing - I may give some of the later Bond books a try, as CR is often believed to be among the weakest.
Book 41: The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys
This was a stocking stuffer novel a year or two ago, the kind of thing Santa finds and instantly thinks of me. It's the story of a group of Land Girls and Canadian servicemen who are stationed together on a requisitioned British estate during WWII. It apparently won all sorts of literary awards in Canada, and so there was a way in which it was a little too obviously "good" fiction, and kind of wrapped up in it's own virtue. Still, while a little slow in places, and with a bit too much description and imagery about flowers and gardens, it was generally an enjoyable enough read.
Book 37: I've Heard That Song Before by Mary Higgins Clark
This is a fictional take-off on the Martha Moxley / Michael Skakel case, sort of combined with the movie Sabrina. It follows a woman who grows up to marry the rich heir of the family her father worked for as a landscape architect. Her husband has always been the chief suspect in the murder of his girlfriend when he was in college, though no charges were ever laid. Shortly after they get married, however, new evidence emerges and she spends the novel trying to prove his innocence. Entertaining enough - pretty easy to guess the resolution, however.
Book 38: Lust, Loathing, and a Little Lip Gloss by Kyra Davis
The fourth and latest book in the Sophie Katz mystery series, which I am now officially on board with. It's fun, with good mysteries, and the characters have now been developed sufficiently to make them more likable than they were in the earlier books. This one finds Sophie buying a house, with the stipulation that she join a spiritualist society - bit oddball and unrealisitc, but it makes for a good story.
Book 39: Wednesday Night Witches by Lee Nichols
This is sort of a chick-lit version of The Witches of Eastwick. It intrigued me because I was really enjoying the new show Eastwick (which has since been cancelled so I think I was the only one!) Three women on an isolated New England island become friends and discover they have certain powers, which they then have to use to stop the resurgence of a demon. This story is interwoven with romances for the three of them, and lots of girl power martini nights, etc. Not a bad read, but it didn't quite live up to my expectations. I would prefer they keep producing Eastwick! :(
Book 40: Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
I assigned a paper on CR for the course I am currently teaching, but had only briefly skimmed it before doing so. Finally had to really read it this week, and if you have never read one of the James Bond novels, let me tell you they are pretty horrifying! As my friend suggested, Bond is basically a sociopath, and the representation of women got my feminist spidey-sense operating on overdrive. Still, there was something sort of strangely compelling and addictive about the whole thing - I may give some of the later Bond books a try, as CR is often believed to be among the weakest.
Book 41: The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys
This was a stocking stuffer novel a year or two ago, the kind of thing Santa finds and instantly thinks of me. It's the story of a group of Land Girls and Canadian servicemen who are stationed together on a requisitioned British estate during WWII. It apparently won all sorts of literary awards in Canada, and so there was a way in which it was a little too obviously "good" fiction, and kind of wrapped up in it's own virtue. Still, while a little slow in places, and with a bit too much description and imagery about flowers and gardens, it was generally an enjoyable enough read.