The Girl Who Stopped Swimming and Other Stories

It arrived today ~ my copy of The Girl Who Stopped Swimming! I'm so excited to have gotten it and can't wait to start reading it this weekend. Tonight, though, I'm going to finish up The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which is, so far, amazing!

Funny story, but true: I tried to read Oscar Wao (as an audiobook) about six, seven months ago. I got less than a full disc in and loathed it! So I turned it off, intending never to listen to it again. If it had been a regular printed books, I'd have surely given it away, but, instead, I just left it, ignored, on my iPod (only because I don't know how to delete stuff manually). Well, anyway, a couple of nights ago, I was bored with what I was reading. To be honest, I didn't feel like reading much of anything. When I get edgy and out-of-sorts like that, I sometimes play a few games of Shanghai, which is a mah jong computer game, while listening to an audiobook. I just happened to click on Oscar Wao and wham! I was struck almost instantly in love with it!

That's how it goes sometimes ~ it's my mood at the time I start a book and not the worth of the book itself. Which is why I never (or seldom) get rid of books I've not been able to read, unless of course the writing is completely execrable, in which case out with the rubbish it goes.

Which reminds me of a couple of well-written, well-reviewed books I've put aside in the past that I should perhaps dig out of whatever box they are in and try again. One in particular I'm thinking about is The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. Has anyone read it and liked it? No, I'm serious, really. If you did like it, I'd love to know it and, if you'd care to comment, why you liked it. Because when I tried it a few years ago, I could not bring myself to read past page 100, even though it was for a book club I belonged to at the time.

Well, The Corrections may be something I look into again. Tonight, it's Oscar Wao, and tomorrow, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming. Yes, life is good!

New Falco novel: Alexandria!

UK Cover vs. US Cover - which one do you like best? I'm tending toward the British version because it's so much more, well, Falco-esque. You know, amusing and just a little risque. So, what do you think?

I am so excited! I just tumbled to the fact that Alexandria, a new Marcus Didius Falco mystery, is either already out or due out momentarily. Soon, I'll be able to revel in the company of my favorite detective of the ancient Roman world. Ah, life is good.

Plot Summary from the Official Website of Lindsey Davis:

My challenge here was to write a book set in ancient Egypt that would have no pharaohs, few pyramids, no respect for sacred cats, hardly any details of mummification rites, no duck hunts on the Nile, no peasants, no shadoufs and no Archimedes' screws.

Mission accomplished: Falco, Helena and their immediate family, including Aulus, go to Roman Egypt to see more of the Seven Wonders of the World. Uncle Fulvius and Cassius, later joined by Pa, are up to some pensioners' scam, getting in the way, while Falco looks into high academic culture at the Great Library. This is home to all the knowledge of the world - though when the corpses start appearing in the customary odd circumstances, it takes more than great minds to understand Who Did It. The academic world festers while management dithers, diplomats dose, undertakers fib and businessmen diddle. The Pharos is shrouded in mist and the Pyramids lost in a sandstorm. A sinister wind blows up out of the desert, adding to the hot air even before the arsonist sets things alight. Fortunately a mad inventor is on hand – and Falco just happens to know how his most useful invention works...

This is the one with the crocodile.

Flipping Out

From www.Borders: "Nora Bannister is a bestselling mystery novelist who buys run-down houses in Los Angeles. While her business partners turn the house into a showpiece, Nora makes it the scene of a grisly murder in her House To Die For series."

This is the first Lomax & Biggs mystery I've read, but it won't be the last. It's set in L.A. in the days before the real estate bubble burst, and opens with five LAPD detectives playing poker on a houseboat owned by one of them. The next morning, one of the cop's wives is found murdered, and Lomax & Briggs are assigned to the case. Though they work it hard and are top homicide detectives, they can find neither rhyme nor reason for the murder. Then a second cop's wife is found murdered in the same way, and it turns out both victims were partner in the house-flipping scheme. The stakes are raised even higher ~ since Biggs' own wife is one of the partners of the house-flipping consortium.

This is not deep like your P.D. James or even Michael Connelly. Rather, it's light and humorous ~ more like a Janet Evanovich or early Robert Crais. The plot is somewhat outrageous and pretty involved, but Karp manages to keep it from being too convoluted to comprehend by his clear, concise writing style. The chapters are short, and the action moves quickly, making it a fast read. The dialogue was true to life, and I found myself chuckling in amused appreciation several times.

The only thing that troubled me a bit was the almost banal treatment of the deaths of the women. These weren't scum whose deaths seem no great loss, such as those who often end up murdered in the Stephanie Plum mysteries, or strangers to the reader like many victims in P.D. James' mysteries. Although we never "meet" some of them until they are already dead, we get to know them through what is said about them prior to their deaths by their husbands and friends, and the banter between the detectives and others involved in the investigation seems a bit more callous than I like to think homicide cops are.

All in all, though, I enjoyed the novel and recommend it without hesitation.

The Hand of Isis

I wanted to read The Hand of Isis because I love historical fiction, but it was with some trepidation that I actually began reading it. I mean, I've read a lot of historical fiction about this period ~ from a YA novel read in my youth to McCullough's version and many in between. To be honest, I thought it might turn into just another rehash of the tawdry life and love affairs of Cleopatra. Plus, I'm not a fan of first-person novels. What a pleasant surprise, then, to find The Hand of Isis was really good ~ well-written, with fully developed, interesting characters, and a detailed and historically accurate plot that brought the politics, time period, and Alexandria to life. Plus, I really liked the element of mysticism that was introduced.

This story of three sisters facing the world and their fates together, was charming even as it was tragic. Being myself the eldest of four sisters, I especially liked the closeness and the acceptance of each others' strengths and weaknesses displayed by the three sisters: Cleopatra, Iras, and Charmian. Charmian, the narrator, was easy to like, flaws and all. I did find the seminal scene with Agrippa a bit unrealistic considering Charmian's generally kindly nature, but without a huge misunderstanding like that he wouldn't be as likely to turn out as he did. I also found Dion and Emrys wonderfully realized, and the relationship between the two of them and Charmian was beautiful. Cleopatra, at least in the beginning, was well-realized and surprisingly likeable. Later on, I thought what she did with Marcus Antonius went pretty much against her nature as earlier described, although I imagine it's possible that the tragedy she experienced on her way back to Egypt from Rome effected her in such a way that her later actions are more believable. I'm afraid I didn't get much of a feeling for Iras, which is a shame, as she was a strong, memorable character yet I felt she wasn't as fully developed as the others.

I admit that it took me awhile to get to the point where the novel grabbed me; although I enjoyed it from the beginning, it didn't hook me until about page 200. Then, I couldn't put it down and read the last 282 pages in one big gulp.

As one LT reviewer has noted, being written from an Egyptian point of view rather than a Roman one was refreshing and made some of the Egyptians' behavior much more comprehensible. I also found the juxtaposition of Eastern and Western philosophies well done, and thought the supernatural aspects a wonderful touch. I also liked the portrayal of Isis, a goddess with three aspects. Finally, there were some pretty raunchy sex scenes. I didn't have a problem with them, although I didn't find them all that necessary. I tend to skim over most sex scenes anyway.

Only regret is that I didn't read Black Ships first, although I'm told it's not necessary, just that it might have added to my enjoyment. All in all, The Hand of Isis rocks, and I highly recommend it to everyone who enjoys historical fiction, strong female (and male) characters, and legendary times brought to life.

I'm so far behind, I may never catch up!

I've really enjoyed the books I've gotten to review, at least the ones I've had a chance to read so far, and I've also enjoyed reviewing them, at least the ones...well, you get the picture. Unfortunately, my life over the past few weeks has been crazier than usual, what with a major plumbing problem which included a large jagged hold in the living room ceiling and a sopping wet carpet, removal of the unexpectedly asbestos-containing "popcorn coating" on the aforesaid ceiling, and a copper repiping job. Anyway, I'm still dealing with the fallout of that mess (repairing the walls and ceiling, including patching, plastering and painting, as well as getting the final approval of the job by the city's building inspector).

What's that's meant as far as my blog is concerned is that I haven't had much time to read, much less review, the many books that I have been sent by wonderful authors, publishers, and others, or to interview the authors I have lined up to have as guests on my blog.

So, this is my abject apology for slacking off lately and my promise to get started again just as soon as this nightmare is over.

In case you're wondering, the books for which I owe a review are: Brideshead Revisited, The Italian Lover, The Brass Verdict, The Hand of Isis, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, Fault Line, and Nine Lords of the Night. The first three have already been read, the fourth I'm reading now, and the last three are on the TBR pile.