What an interesting novel! I have just finished Ian McEwan’s Saturday (on audiobook), a slow and powerful exploration of 24 hours in the life of an English neurosurgeon. But it’s full of flashbacks, so the reader gets much more than… Read More ›
Books
A Cry for Self-Help
As a mystery combined with a satire on newage human-potential groups, Jaqueline Girdner’s A Cry for Self-Help is occasionally amusing. But there are too many nearly indistinguishable characters, far too many stereotypes, and almost no plot. Don’t bother reading it.
Dennis Lehane
Do you want to meet Dennis Lehane, the well-known author of eight novels, including Mystic River (made into a 2003 movie directed by Clint Eastwood) and Gone Baby Gone (made into an soon-to-be-released movie directed by Ben Affleck)? Aside from… Read More ›
Cold Moon
Just finished reading Jeffery Deaver’s Cold Moon. Like the rest of his Lincoln Rhyme series, this novel is full of surprise turns. At many points, just when you’re finally sure that you understand what’s going on, there’s some new twist… Read More ›
Hackers and Painters
You should definitely read Paul Graham’s highly opinionated book, the one with the unlikely title of Hackers and Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age. But the first thing you have to know, if you’re not a computer geek, is… Read More ›
Ruth Rendell: Thirteen Steps Down
“The doyenne of the crime writing world” is Mystery Ink’s description of Ruth Rendell. I’ve long been a fan of her fiction, not only her traditional detective series featuring Inspector Wexford but also her psychological crime novels. By this point… Read More ›
S is for Silence
Let’s see. This must be the 19th book in Sue Grafton’s alphabet series. So it must be also be the 19th that I’ve read, since of course I’ve read them all in order — mostly because they’ve been published that… Read More ›
McCall Smith in Germany
In several previous posts, I have written about the first five novels in Alexander McCall Smith’s Botswana series, featuring Precious Ramotswe, as well as the first novel in his Edinburgh series, featuring Isabel Dalhousie. Now I’ve read all three in… Read More ›
McCall Smith in Botswana
In a much earlier post, I discussed Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, the first in a series of mystery novels taking place in Botswana. In the intervening months I have subsequently read the next four in the… Read More ›
Jasper Fforde
I have recently read Jasper Fforde’s first three Thursday Next novels: The Eyre Affair (2002), Lost in a Good Book (2003), and The Well of Lost Plots (Feb. 2004). Where do I begin in describing this offbeat series? One reader… Read More ›
School Days
I just finished listening to Robert Parker’s School Days on audiobook. This must be the 75th novel in the Spenser series…no, wait, let me look it up…ah, it only feels like the 75th, it’s actually the 34th. So, with that… Read More ›
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
I often find that I’m in the midst of reading two books at once, especially if one is fiction and one is non-fiction. That’s what happened to me recently, finishing both Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner,… Read More ›
Freakonomics
Just finished reading Freakonomics, the much-discussed popularization of applied statistics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, economist and writer respectively. Although Levitt won the Nobel Prize for Economics, this best-seller really is about “applied statistics” rather than economics…. Read More ›
To the Power of Three
Just finished listening to Laura Lippman’s To the Power of Three on audiobook. This post-Columbine mystery presents a school shooting that’s partly predictable but mostly not so, starting with the fact that the shooter is a girl and concluding with… Read More ›
The Sunday Philosophy Club
Just finished reading The Sunday Philosophy Club, by Alexander McCall Smith. This quirky mystery isn’t for everybody, as it’s more an exploration of applied philosophy than a mystery novel. Complete with an explicit reference to Sissela Bok’s Lying, it creates… Read More ›
By a Spider's Thread
Just finished listening to By a spider’s thread, by Laura Lippman, on audiobook. Although it poses as a detective novel or mystery novel — or at least is so positioned by its publisher, Avon — it doesn’t really fit the… Read More ›
Tilt-A-Whirl
I’m almost done reading Tilt-A-Whirl, by Chris Grabenstein. With a few pages left to go, I confidently recommend this novel enthusiastically. The character who narrates the story in the first person is a young, part-time cop in a summer-tourist community… Read More ›
The Plot to Save Socrates
Just finished The Plot to Save Socrates, by Paul Levinson, an intriguing but ultimately unsatisfying science-fiction novel. In many ways it’s in the classic time-travel genre, with the usual issues about preventing paradox and taking future knowledge back to an… Read More ›
Toast
Just finished reading Nigel Slater’s memoir, Toast. Don’t bother.
The Murder Room
Just finished listening to the audio CD version of The Murder Room, by P.D. James. It makes an interesting contrast to the Greg Bear novel that I discussed in yesterday’s post. (No, I don’t find it confusing to listen to… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 