Stop in the Name of Pants; Love is a Many Trousered Thing; Startled by His Furry Shorts...

For some reason this time of year I always want to reread some old favorites. Last December it was Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series. The year before, it was the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This year, it's going to be Janet Evanovich and Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicolson series. Over the last week I reread 8 of the 9 books (just skipping the first one: I've reread them in reverse order, don't ask me why). It's such a funny, funny series, and I hope that Rennison has more of Dave the Laugh and Georgia together in book 10. I'm looking forward to it! Obviously I will reread all of these again; I think I did in July when the latest one came out. My favorite one is "Away Laughing on a Fast Camel", when Dave duffs up Mark Big Gob for insulting Georgia. Although the camping scene at the end of "Love is a Many Trousered Thing" is absolutely hilarious. I made the mistake of reading "On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God" at the dentist's office this morning and couldn't control my laughter. The other people in the waiting room no doubt thought I was insane. I dare anyone to read them and not laugh out loud.
#9 "Stop in the Name of Pants"
#8 "Love is a Many Trousered Thing"
#7 "Startled By His Furry Shorts"
#6 "Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers"
#5 "Away Laughing on a Fast Camel"
#4 "Dancing in My Nuddy Pants"
#3 "Knocked Out By My Nunga-Nungas"
#2 "On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God"

Smart Women Finish Rich; High Five; Seven Up

"Smart Women Finish Rich" by David Bach wasn't nearly as helpful as I'd hoped it would be. All of the advice he gives for investing and saving I already do. Maybe I'm already smart, so I'll finish rich :-) Somehow I doubt it: I've never felt smart a minute in my life. We'll see when I get to the end, I guess. I definitely won't ever read it again, although it only took, like, two hours, so at least it wasn't a total waste of precious time.
In the mood for some hilarity, so I reread two Janet Evanovichs's "High Five" and "Seven Up". Both were pretty funny, and I enjoyed the much needed laughs. In "High Five" Stephanie is looking for her Uncle Fred, who has disappeared, and Benito Ramirez, the crazy guy from the first book, has been paroled and keeps showing up. She also somehow manages to screw up not one but two cars Ranger lends her: his Porsche gets blown up and his BMW gets stolen. I'll definitely reread it; I've read it, like, six times now. "Seven Up" involves Steph's problems trying to catch an elderly FTA, her grandma getting kidnapped, and her sister, Valerie, moving back to Jersey after being deserted by her husband. The best parts are when things heat up with Ranger. Oooh! I'll definitely reread this one again, too.

Runaway Dolls; Masquerade

"The Runaway Dolls" by Ann M. Martin is the third in her children's series on the dolls that are alive and have lots of adventures when the humans aren't looking. They're pretty cute, and this one was fun, if a bit long. If I were ten I would have loved it. I'll probably read it again someday; once in awhile I'm in the mood for nostalgia.
"Masquerade" by Melissa de la Cruz is her second in the Blue Bloods series, about the snobby teen vampires in New York. It was pretty good; I enjoyed it. To be honest, all I really want to do is reread "Twilight", but since I just reread it two weeks ago, I'm using all my strength not to do it again and so I thought it might help if I read something somewhat similiar. It didn't, but I tried. I'll probably read this one again.

What Would Kinky Do?

Kinky Friedman's latest, "What Would Kinky Do?" was disappointing. Normally his nonfiction humor makes me laugh, but this one seemed like he just recycled a whole bunch of his old essays into a book. There was no cohesion, and he repeated himself a lot. Very sad. I really wanted to laugh. I probably won't ever read it again.

The Hour I First Believed; Twilight; New Moon; Eclipse; Breaking Dawn

I've been eagerly anticipating Wally Lamb's latest (took 9 years!) "The Hour I First Believed". I was sadly disappointed. He threw every miserable thing that could possibly happen to one person at this guy, and just kept going. It dealt with Columbine, Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, etc. There were so many little side stories going on that I had a hard time figuring out what story he was trying to tell. Just way too much. Plus, I hate to say it, but I'm just not entertained by authors who have nothing better to do in their fiction than complain about the President. I wish more authors would lay off already. We get it, we get it. Make me laugh, make me cry, but don't make me feel like I'm at the Democratic National Convention (or the Republican National Convention, either, for that matter. Although I haven't really run across a fiction author that does that). I probably won't ever read this one again, which is too bad, 'cause I went and bought the hardcover. Shoulda borrowed it from the library!
So then, before I went to see the movie "Twilight" (which was pretty awesome, BTW. I just wish they would have included some of the more humorous exchanges from the book in the movie, but all and all they did a good job and I thought the casting was fabulous. Since they'll have more of a budget for "New Moon" maybe they can make it longer and include more) I wanted to reread the book, and I ended up spending several days rereading the whole series, which was great. I picked up on all the stuff I missed the first time around because I was so anxious to get to what happened next! I think "Eclipse" is still my favorite. The scene when Bella, Edward, and Jacob are camping in the woods before the big vampire fight, and Edward and Jacob are sniping at each other is priceless. I know I'll definitely read all of these again, probably in six more months or so.

Just After Sunset; Ring of Truth; Your Heart Belongs to Me

A couple of really good ones over the last few days. First, Stephen King's latest collection of short stories, "Just After Sunset". Quite a few really good ones in here, and I'm not usually the biggest fan of short stories. But SK's are usually good. My fave was "A Very Tight Place", involving revenge between ultra-wealthy neighbors and a reinforced port a potty. 'Nough said. It was so deliciously gross, it reminded me of some of King's early great works, like "IT". I will definitely be reading this one again.
"Ring of Truth" by Nancy Pickard was the second in her series about true crime writer Marie. I liked this one better than the first one. Marie has written about a minister who is on death row for murdering his wife. He is a strong anti-death penalty advocate, and before his arrest was working hard to secure a release or reduction of sentence of a man named Steve, who was convicted of raping and murdering a teenage girl. Turns out Steve was innocent, and so was Bob, the minister. Bob was willing to sacrifice himself for the cause. He wanted to be executed and afterwards have it discovered that he was innocent all along, so people would be horrified over the death penalty. I know it sounds strange and convoluted, but it was actually pretty logical in the end. I probably won't ever read it again, but it was worth it the first time.
Dean Koontz's latest, "Your Heart Belongs to Me" really surprised me. I thought I had it all figured out and knew where he was going with it, but I was wrong (which happens all the time, so I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised). I liked it: wealthy Ryan Perry discovers he needs a heart transplant due to a rare genetic heart condition. His severe paranoia leads him to see things that don't really exist and suspect the people closest to him of terrible things. He does get a transplant, and afterwards a woman who looks suspiciously like the donor shows up, tormenting him, saying she wants her heart back. It was creepy and his message was well taken. I'll probably read it again someday. It was a fun quick read.

Boys Will Be Boys; The Story of Edgar Sawtelle; The Whole Truth

"Boys Will Be Boys" by Jeff Pearlman was an expose on the Dallas Cowboys dynasty of the 90s. Let me say this up front: I hate the Cowboys. Always have. They're arrogant. That being said, they were an extremely interesting team back then. Sex, drugs, and rock n' roll doesn't even begin to cover their exploits. Pearlman told of players taking limos to practice, transporting hookers to the Super Bowl, and of one player who had the audacity to show up to court ordered rehab with an entourage. Yikes. It was pretty good. I probably won't ever read it again, but it was pretty interesting.
"The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" by David Wroblewski has been getting good buzz over the last few months since it was published, so I was eager to read it. It had a good plot: Edgar was born without the power of speech although he hears just fine. His parents breed and train dogs, and Edgar has a special talent with them, as well as a close connection to Almondine, who has been with him since birth. Critics have called it a modern day "Hamlet", since at the heart of the story is the murder of Edgar's father by his uncle, who then moves into his mother's affections. Edgar knows his uncle is guilty, he just has to find a way to prove it. The characters were interesting and the writing was good, I just didn't like the book. I can't put my finger on why I don't, I just didn't. I probably won't ever read it again.
"The Whole Truth" by Nancy Pickard was a fairly decent mystery set in Florida. Marie is a true crime writer who is covering the case of Ray Raintree, who murdered a little deaf girl. Raintree manages to escape after being found guilty in court, and Marie learns that he was actually abducted as a child himself and meets his family, who has been wondering for 22 years what had happened to him. It was pretty good, but I probably won't ever read it again. The suspense just wasn't there.
On a sad note, Michael Crichton passed away a few days ago. I was a fan of his. It just saddens me to see everyone online arguing about how he lost them as fans because of his controversial book refuting global warming "State of Fear". My question is this: what is wrong with questioning the status quo? How are we ever supposed to foster intelligent debate on a subject if anyone who believes differently is dismissed out of hand as a crackpot or a nut? I thought America was all about respecting other people's opinions, even if you don't agree with them. I try to do that everyday. I wish other people would try to as well. If you didn't like his writing, then fine, but don't attack his personal beliefs, or mine either, for that matter. I won't attack yours. Okay, I said my piece, and I feel better :-)