Johnny Cash

I do love Johnny Cash, and this was a nice pictorial/biography about the Man in Black. No really new information, since I read Hilburn's masterful biography, but it was nice to see pictures, especially family photos.

Gone With the Wind

"Gone With the Wind" was the first grown up book I ever read, I was 9 years old and it took me three weeks to get through it. I didn't understand a lot of it, but I loved watching the movie with my mom (those clothes!), so I was determined to love the book as well. I've read it a bunch of times, maybe not as many as "Lonesome Dove", but it's pretty close (I caught part of the movie on TV at Thanksgiving a few weeks ago, which prompted this reread). As a teen/young adult I, like a lot of people, imagined what would have happened if Mitchell had written a sequel. Of course Scarlett and Rhett would have gotten back together. Of course they would have lived happily ever after (btw, I hated "Scarlett" by Alexandra Ripley. It was *terrible*). But reading it again now, almost the age Rhett was at the end of the book, I think differently. Scarlett was a terrible person. She treated the people that loved her so badly. I believe Rhett when he says he doesn't love her anymore. I understand how he feels. I loved someone so hard for 8 years of my life, and while it took awhile, eventually it was like a switch flipped and I no longer felt anything for him. I think I know exactly how Rhett felt at the end, after loving her so hard and wishing and hoping she'd return his love some day, and then finally he just gave up and the switch flipped. I hope Rhett found happiness after leaving Scarlett, and I hope Scarlett went back to Tara (not Ireland!) and learned to be a grown up.

The Case of the Stuttering Bishop; Look Alive Twenty-Five

I know, I haven't reread any Perry Masons in awhile, but I woke up super early the other day and didn't feel like reading any of the approximately 5,000 books I have checked out, so I finished a Perry Mason I started months ago and almost finished but set aside when I got busy. Perry is visited by a man claiming to be a bishop who is looking for a young woman who was adopted. Her biological grandfather is very wealthy, and is being hoodwinked by an impostor posing as his granddaughter. The bishop wants the real granddaughter to get the inheritance that's coming to her. 

Janet Evanovich's latest Stephanie Plum "Look Alive Twenty-Five" was all right, not as good as some of the others that have come out recently. Vince orders Stephanie and Lulu to go work at a deli he inherited when a man he posted bond for skipped. Rather than sell the deli, he decides to keep it and have them run it, see if he can make a profit. Of course Stephanie and Lulu are just as terrible at running a deli as you can imagine, and it's compounded by the fact that the managers keep disappearing under mysterious circumstances, leaving behind only a shoe. Stephanie has the brilliant idea of setting herself up as bait to be kidnapped so she can solve the mystery. The ending was a cliffhanger, and actually pretty good.

Charlesgate Confidential; Marilla of Green Gables

A couple of books that couldn't have been more different, yet they were both really fun. First up: a Hard Case Crime by Scott Von Doviak called "Charlesgate Confidential". The novel flipped back and forth through time: 1946, 1986, and 2014. Back in 1946, the Charlesgate in Boston was a rundown former luxury hotel that was full of working girls and criminals. Danny T ran an illegal card game on the 8th floor, and one night it gets hit. Danny tracks down the guys that pulled the job and forces them to help him rob a nearby art museum. Jake and Shane help him do the job, then kill him and take off with the artwork. They hide the art at the Charlesgate, and then Shane is arrested before they can go back and retrieve it. Jake skips town for awhile but comes back to take the fall so his brother doesn't get the chair. In 1986, the Charlesgate is a dorm for Emerson College. Tommy lives there with his buddies and is writing a series for the school paper about the Charlesgate when he's approached by Shane, recently paroled with a doozy of a story about hidden artwork. And in 2014, the Charlesgate is a luxury condominium complex. The artwork was never found, so criminals are still after it. It was a super fun story with lots of great twists and turns.

It's no secret I love me some Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Marilla mentioned in the first book that she and Gilbert Blythe's father, John, were sweethearts when they were kids and much to Anne's (and mine, and Sarah McCoy's) dismay, she refuses to elaborate. This is Sarah's idea of what happened when Marilla was a young lady, and it was quite good. I thought she did a nice job of making Marilla interesting without straying too far from the foundation Montgomery laid. Marilla's mother died when she was thirteen, leaving her to care for Green Gables, her older brother Matthew and their father. Marilla took that responsibility very seriously, and despite being in love with John they quarrel and she breaks things off with him. It was a sweet story that made me cry in a few spots (and also made me want to reread the Anne series, but good grief, I seriously don't have time right now! I still haven't finished rereading Perry Mason!).

Mycroft and Sherlock; Rare Books Uncovered

I really enjoyed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's first book, "Mycroft Holmes", and this one did not disappoint. Mycroft is struggling to raise his younger brother, Sherlock. Sherlock is almost nineteen and difficult, refusing to stay at school and study, intent on forging his own path in life. Mycroft is worried for his safety, but of course Sherlock is oblivious to his cares. Sherlock was quite fun in this book, it's funny to imagine him as a young man. One of the young orphan boys Mycroft's friend Douglas takes care of has died, full of puncture wounds. Sherlock dives right into the case and nearly dies. It was great fun, I really enjoyed it.

Another really fun one, "Rare Books Uncovered" by Rebecca Rago Barry. I could read stories like this all day long. Sometimes rare books are found in the most incredible places: attics, garage sales, in other books. She talked about some famous book scouts, like Larry McMurtry, who combed the country looking for rare books. It sounds like so much fun, driving around, visiting used books stores and garage sales, finding neat treasures. She was careful to emphasis how unlikely it is, but it's still fun to contemplate.

Walking Dead Vol. 30: New World Order; An Easy Death

Volume 30 of the "Walking Dead" picks up where 29 left off: Michonne, Eugene, and a group of Rick's survivors are headed for the settlement where Stephanie lives (Stephanie being the woman Eugene spoke to over the radio). It's the largest group of survivors in one place that any of them had ever seen. They meet the woman in charge, Pamela, who calls herself the Governor (uh oh). Michonne has a major reunion (no spoilers, I promise, but it was really good). Pamela decides she wants to meet Rick, so they head back to the settlement so the two can have a chat. It's an uneasy meeting: Rick doesn't like the way Pamela's settlement is run. It's based on how the world was before the zombie apocalypse, so if you were a high power, wealthy individual in the old world, you get the biggest house, nicest things, etc. Rick feels a new world is in order, with more equality. So we'll see how that all plays out.

Charlaine Harris is back with what seems to be a new series. It's an alternative history, imagining if President Franklin Roosevelt had been assassinated and the United States fell apart. The Russians took the west coast, the British took the east coast, the South became "Dixie", and Mexico took back most of Texas. What's left merged with Oklahoma to become Texoma, and that's where Gunnie Rose lives. Lizbeth by birth, she's a gunnie by trade: a hired gun who escorts people and good across the dangerous borders. She's hired by two Russian wizards to help her track down a man in Mexico. Things go all kinds of wrong, but it was super interesting and lots of fun. I'm looking forward to more of her adventures!

Dracul; We Sold Our Souls; The Plantagenets

Dacre Stoker is Bram Stoker's great grand-nephew. I read his previous book, "Dracula the Undead", and enjoyed it, and this one was even better. Stoker argues that Bram's "Dracula" was meant to be a warning, fictionalized non-fiction, and his publishers refused to publish the first 100 or so pages, in which Bram discusses the strange things that happened in his childhood with his nanny. It was fascinating. This book tells that story. Bram is a young, sickly child on the brink of death who is miraculously healed by his nanny, who then disappears. Years later, Bram's sister swears she saw the nanny in Paris, and Bram admits he dreams of her often. Adult Bram is in perfect health and a star athlete at college. He and his sister and their older brother, who is a doctor with a sick wife, go off on a search to find the nanny and discover the truth about what really happened to Bram as a child.

Grady Hendrix is always fun, and I really enjoyed "We Sold Our Souls". Former guitarist for a metal group named Durt Wurk, Kris is a broken soul working at a hotel when she hears about her former bandmate, Terry, and his wildly successful post-Durt Wurk band, Koffin, putting on a farewell tour. Kris is determined to confront Terry and find out what happened the night Durt Wurk broke up. It was a lot of fun, although he got a bit musically technical for me. I like listening to music, but I don't understand what makes good music good :)

And finally, Dan Jones' hefty tome about the Plantagenet dynasty, which ruled England for 250 years before the Lancasters usurped the throne and started the whole Wars of the Roses mess. Starting with Henry II, he went through every Plantagenet king until Richard II. It was very lively, he made it interesting.