First for 2009
Oh, when will I find a Tony Hillerman I haven't read before??
I began the new year reading for relaxation, and picked up the next book, Talking God, and quickly realized that once again I'd already read it, and once again I couldn't remember the plot. Officers Leaphorn and Chee are worrying at a case from two different angles, unbeknownst to each other. They take vacations, and each follows their end of things to Washington, DC, again unbeknownst to each other, and there they meet and crack the case, keeping what would have been big body count down to just a half dozen or so.
As usual with Hillerman the body count was too high, the plot too complex to be believable (and therefore memorable), but the characters (especially the sociopathic white guy, a Hillerman specialty) are engaging and the pages turn very nicely. I also found two paragraphs to use in teaching students how to put significant detail into their descriptions.
I had assumed that I'd read the next volume, Coyote Waits, but I just looked it over, and now I'm not sure. Dang. After that, though, I'm pretty sure...
CBsIP: The Chess Garden, Brooks Hansen
Peter the Great, Robert K. Massie
Dancing Naked, William Tenn
The Year's Best Science Fiction, Seventeenth Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed.
Fighting Techniques of the Medieval World: AD 500 - AD 1500 : Equipment, Combat Skills, And Tactics, Matthew Bennett