Books
“Cockroaches” by Jo Nesbo
Copyright 1998 by Jo Nesbo. Translation copyright 2013 by Dan Bartlett. Published by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc, New York. A (faint) silver lining to a miserable day in 2 ERs was that I read the last 200 pages of this book. This is the second of a series of books by … Continue reading
“Finding My Father’s War” by Walter J. Eldridge
Copyright 2004 by Walter J Eldridge. Published by PageFree Publishing, Inc, Oswego MI. Disclaimer: the author is a fraternity brother. I have had this book in my to-be-read pile for over a year and, frankly, was dreading it a bit. I thought it would be a dry recounting of World War II history. Instead it … Continue reading
“Florida Roadkill” by Tim Dorsey
Copyright 1999 by Tim Dorsey. Published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, New York. About halfway through this book I thought “This is like reading an updated version of It;s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, but with everyone high on drugs and lots of killing – not just one guy ‘kicking the … Continue reading
TX1 wrapup
Well, it is a few days late but here is the wrapup for TX1. By the numbers… 10 days, 9 nights, 2,551 miles of travel over 7 hops (about 365 miles per hop). I didn’t track expenses as this was mostly on Ooma’s dime. Highlights: The wedding of Peter and Ashley in Austin. This was … Continue reading
“ZOO” by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
Copyright 2014 by James Patterson. Published by Grand Central Publishing, New York. Yes, another book where James Patterson slapped his name on someone else’s work. This time the actual writer is Michael Ledwidge. You can tell that Patterson didn’t write this one because it is science fiction and Patterson doesn’t do science fiction. I won’t … Continue reading
The IBPA Ben Franklin Awards
Ooma and I traveled to Orlando this past weekend. It was partly just a weekend getaway, but the raison d’etre for the trip was the IBPA Ben Franklin Awards. I was, in effect, a “proxy finalist” as I was representing David Benjamin and Last Kid Books. Fat Vinny’s Forbidden Love was nominated in the “best … Continue reading
“Fat Vinny’s Forbidden Love” by David Benjamin
Copyright 2021 by David Benjamin. Published by Last Kid Books, Madison WI. First, the usual disclaimer: David Benjamin is one of my oldest and best friends. Also, this book is nominated for a “best comedy book” award by the Independent Book Publishers Association and, if it wins, I will be accepting the award in his … Continue reading
“Violets are Blue” by James Patterson
Copyright 2001 by James Patterson. Published by Warner Books, Inc., New York. This is not so much of a review as a rant. WTF is wrong with James Patterson? Why is he a popular author? If you recall I characterized his “Sunday at Tiffany’s” as “dreck.” This, too, is dreck. But this time he can’t … Continue reading
“The Promise” by Robert Crais
Copyright 2015 by Robert Crais. Published by G.P. Putnam & Sons, New York. Robert Crais spins some good yarns. His most popular books are those featuring Elvis Cole, the self-proclaimed “world’s greatest detective” and Joe Pike who defies a simple description. Maybe “mysterious mercenary?” He is an iconoclast, for sure, and has amazing skills at … Continue reading
“Make Me” by Lee Child
Copyright 2015 by Lee Child. Published by Dell, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. This is #20 in the series of books by Lee Child featuring Jack Reacher, the footloose one-man police force. I don’t think there is such a thing as a bad Reacher book; they range from Good to Great. … Continue reading