Year of Reading Dangerously; Sons of Anarchy: Bratva; The Rosie Effect

Andy Miller's "The Year of Reading Dangerously" was fun, it made me laugh out loud. Miller was always a big reader, but after having a child he found he was reading less and less for the pure pleasure of it. He decided to spend a year reading some books he'd always meant to, books he had often lied about reading. He chose some interesting ones, that's for sure. Some are on my permanent "to read" list. One day I'll get to it :)

I'm a big fan of the show "Sons of Anarchy" (although the series finale--yeesh). I wasn't expecting much, these books written about TV shows or movies are rarely terribly good. It wasn't bad. Trinity, Jax's half-sister has gotten involved in a Russian Bratva, or brotherhood. Maureen calls from Ireland to ask Jax to send her home, so he goes off to Nevada to look for him. Oleg, the Russian guy, is involved in a gun running scheme and there's all sorts of shoot outs and other nastiness.

Grame Simsion's "The Rosie Project" was such an adorable book, I couldn't wait to read the sequel, "The Rosie Effect". Rosie and Don are living in New York, Don is teaching at Columbia and Rosie is getting her MD and PhD there, when she learns she is pregnant. Through a series of hilarious misunderstandings due to Don's lack of understanding social cues, Rosie determines Don is not going to be a good father and decides to move back to Australia. Don doesn't want her to go, but he agrees with her that he probably wouldn't be a great dad. Luckily they have a good group of friends who are able to make them both realize just how good Don will be as a dad, and that they belong together. It was very sweet.

Lovely, Dark and Deep; Pronto

I'm not a big fan of short stories, but I do love Joyce Carol Oates, and this collection of stories was quite good. The last one, "Patricide", was almost a novella and really stood out as one of the best stories in the book. They were all pretty good though.

After reading "Raylan" by Elmore Leonard I was eager for more Raylan stories, so I read "Pronto", which is the first book featuring US Marshal Givens. Harry runs a successful sports book in South Miami for Jimmy Cap and he's being set up to take a fall, Jimmy's been told Harry's been skimming. Harry kills a guy Jimmy sends after him and takes off for Italy while under Raylan's protection. This is the second time Harry's run off and made Raylan look the fool, and Raylan isn't too pleased about it, so he goes off to Italy to bring him back. Lots of black humor and Southern charm, I enjoyed it.

Walking Dead: Descent; I'm With the Band

The residents of Woodbury are still picking up the pieces after the Governor's betrayal, and Lilly Caul is their defacto leader. They go on a dangerous rescue mission to save some survivors trapped in a church, and bring them back to Woodbury. Their leader, a preacher named Jeremiah, is charismatic and charming. Everyone likes him except for Bob, who takes it upon himself to do some detective work and discovers Jeremiah is planning to murder the whole town Jerry Jones style. The residents manage for the most part to survive, but not before Jeremiah and his crazy crew blow up the wall, and the walkers take over Woodbury. Now they'll have to find somewhere else to go...

"I'm With the Band" by Pamela Des Barres is the story of a young girl in the heyday of rock n' roll. Pamela was the ultimate groupie who got in to see every big band and slept with most everyone she could, from Jimmy Page to Mick Jagger and on and on. It sounds like she had more fun than any one person should be allowed to, but hey, good on her. It was an interesting look at how it used to be. She got to be onstage with some of the hugest bands in the world, very lucky girl. And she lived to tell about it, even luckier.

Raylan

I've never actually seen the TV show "Justified", although it looks pretty good, I'm sure I'll end up watching it eventually. I read "Raylan" by Elmore Leonard, and I really enjoyed the character of Raylan Givens, a U.S. Marshal who seems to always get his man, or in the case of this book, woman. It started out with a disgruntled transplant nurse taking kidneys from unsuspecting victims and ended with a poker playing college girl named Jackie Nevada. It was fun and a quick read.

Horrorstor

"Horrorstor" by Grady Hendrix was a fun sort of horror book. Set in an IKEA type furniture store called Orsk, employees are noticing that merchandise is getting damaged in the night, the morning crew is finding things ruined. Manager Basil asks Amy and Ruth Anne to work with him overnight to see if they can catch the culprit. While Ruth Anne and Basil buy into the store's retail culture, Amy just wants out, hating the job, but since she needs the money she agrees to stay. It turns out the store was built on the grounds of a prison that was flooded a century before, and none of the inmates bodies were ever found. It was rumored that the inmates were tortured by the warden, and sure enough, once the store goes dark the Warden comes out to collect his latest penitents. It was pretty cheesy but I liked the setting.

Ruth's Journey; The Scarlett Letters; You Can't Make This Up; Vicious; Digging for Richard III

I really liked "Rhett Butler's People" by Donald McCaig, so I had high hopes for this additional sequel to GWTW, "Ruth's Journey". It was the story of Mammy, named Ruth by McCaig. She was a child in Haiti, rescued by Solange Fornier, Ellen O'Hara's mother and brought to Savannah. Ruth is Solange's faithful companion through three husbands and as many children. I don't know, it didn't do much for me.

Continuing on the GWTW theme, "The Scarlett Letters" by John Wiley Jr. is a collection of Margaret Mitchell's correspondence, particularly in the years following the publication of GWTW, after she sold the movie rights. No wonder the woman never had time to write another book, all she did was spend all her time answering letters from rabid fans who thought she was personally in charge of the movie. Good grief, I felt sorry for her. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, though. Mitchell had a fun sense of humor that shines through in her letters, and seemed like a very classy lady. It's too bad she died so young and so tragically.

We all know I love football, and I love Sunday Night Football. Al Michaels always seemed like a cool guy and a good announcer. He's spent his whole life in sportscasting, so he had a lot of fun stories about how it's changed over the years.

Finally, the last PLL book. Supposedly. I've heard this before. Sara Shepard wraps up her series in a rather predictable happy ending. The girls are on trial for the murder of Ali, despite there being no dead body. Emily fakes her own death and heads to Florida, finds Ali alive and well and gets the authorities to bring her back to Pennsylvania, where Aria, Hanna, and Spencer have been found guilty of murder and sentenced to prison. Now that Ali is alive they are released and free to go on with their happy lives: Hanna has married Mike and they're living the good life in New York, Hanna in fashion design school. Aria is making money hand over fist as an artist, Spencer is taking a gap year before going to Princeton, working at a pro bono law firm, and Emily is relaxing in California, learning to surf. Happy endings for everyone but Ali!

And finally, Mike Pitts' interesting look at the dig for King Richard III, how it came about and the amazing luck and circumstances that made finding the king's body possible. It was fascinating and I'm so excited that he's been found. I'm planning to visit England so I can pay my  respects in person one day soon, hopefully. I must admit, hearing how brutally he met his end made me cry a bit. Such a terrible end for a noble man who has been much maligned in death. RIP, King Richard.

The Curse of the Holy Pail; Christopher's Diary: Secrets of Foxworth Hall; Fables Vol. 20: Camelot; Choose Your Own Autobiography

Sue Ann Jafarian's second Odelia Grey mystery, "Curse of the Holy Pail", was pretty good. An old client of Odelia's law firm, Sterling Price, has recently acquired a much sought after collectible item: a one of a kind lunchbox worth big bucks. Sterling is murdered and the lunchbox goes missing. Was it the gold digging ex-fiancee who was having an affair with Sterling's son Kyle? Was it Karla, Sterling's power hungry daughter, who was eager to take over her dad's company? Or was it Willie Proctor, the lunchbox's last owner, who faked his own death in order to escape the curse of the lunchbox? Odelia's got a lot of suspects to choose from in this one, and it was a lot of fun.

I have a weak spot for V.C. Andrews. I know, it's not her writing anymore, and it hasn't been for about 30 years, but I still read them, especially something like this, which is about the original first series. "Christopher's Diary: Secrets of Foxworth Hall" takes us back to Virginia. Kristin Masterworth, a distant cousin of the Foxworths, finds a diary on the site of Foxworth Hall, which is being torn down and rebuilt for a new investor. Kristin starts reading Christopher Dolllanganger's diary, one of the kids who was originally locked in the attic for almost four years. The diary has a strange pull on Kristin, and she finds herself neglecting the world around her to keep reading Christopher's story. It was cheesy as hell, but how can I pass up an opportunity to hear about the attic from Christopher's point of view?

Bill Willingham continues his Fables in Volume 20: Camelot. Rose Red is building a new Round Table and calls upon brave fables scattered all over the world to join her. Meanwhile, Snow White is still trying to get Bigby back. All the shattered glass has been reassembled, but there's one piece missing, and it's been hidden by Nurse Spratt. But why? Honestly, I don't even care anymore, but it's like hell, I've followed this series this long, I have to keep going.

I've always like Neil Patrick Harris. I mean, come on, who didn't love Doogie Howser? And I really liked him in HIMYM. Although I did recently watch "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" and started questioning life. Good grief, that movie was dumb, but NPH was pretty funny in it. At any rate, "Choose Your Own Autobiography" was a fun way to tell his story, in that old "Choose Your Own Adventure" book format, and who didn't love those books as a kid? I know I did. He actually led a fairly normal life, all things considered, he's just been incredibly lucky, hardworking, and talented. Good for him.