The Millionaire and The Bard: Henry Folger's Obsessive Hunt for Shakespeare's First Folio

Today's post is on The Millionaire and The Bard: Henry Folger's Obsessive Hunt for Shakespeare's First Folio by Andrea Mays. It is 350 pages long including notes and is published by Simon & Schuster. The cover is blue with the title partiality covering a picture of Shakespeare. The intended reader is someone likes history and Shakespeare. There is no sex, no language, and no violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- Today it is the most valuable book in the world. Recently one sold for over five million dollars. It is the book that rescued the name of William Shakespeare and half of his plays from oblivion. The Millionaire and the Bard tells the miraculous and romantic story of the making of the First Folio, and of the American industrialist whose thrilling pursuit of the book became a lifelong obsession.
When Shakespeare died in 1616 half of his plays died with him. No one—not even their author—believed that his writings would last, that he was a genius, or that future generations would celebrate him as the greatest author in the history of the English language. By the time of his death his plays were rarely performed, eighteen of them had never been published, and the rest existed only in bastardized forms that did not stay true to his original language.
Seven years later, in 1623, Shakespeare’s business partners, companions, and fellow actors, John Heminges and Henry Condell, gathered copies of the plays and manuscripts, edited and published thirty-six of them. This massive book, the First Folio, was intended as a memorial to their deceased friend. They could not have known that it would become one of the most important books ever published in the English language, nor that it would become a fetish object for collectors.
The Millionaire and the Bard is a literary detective story, the tale of two mysterious men—a brilliant author and his obsessive collector—separated by space and time. It is a tale of two cities—Elizabethan and Jacobean London and Gilded Age New York. It is a chronicle of two worlds—of art and commerce—that unfolded an ocean and three centuries apart. And it is the thrilling tale of the luminous book that saved the name of William Shakespeare “to the last syllable of recorded time.” 

Review- At times a very interesting account of Shakespeare and one man obsession and at times very dry. Over all I liked this book. It was interesting to read about the rare book world. I, like many others, love Shakespeare and am very glad that he was not lost to time and back luck. Henry Folger was an interesting man with an interesting obsession. But at time Mays gets too into some of the minutiae of the deals or the books themselves. In the middle there a lot of lists about the books themselves and it did make my eyes cross. Fortunately that does not happen much. The writing is good, the research was solid, and the notes added to the overall narrative. I want to visit the Folger Shakespeare Library so much now.


I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.

Ouran High School Host Club volume 7

Today's post is on Ouran High School Host Club volume 7 by Bisco Hatori. It is 200 pages long and is published by Shojo Beat. The cover has Haruhi and the twins. As it is the seventh in the long running series you need to have read the first six to understand the story. The intended reader is someone who likes shojo manga, over-the-top comedy, and good characters. There is no language, no sex, and no violence in this volume. The story is told from Haruhi's perspective. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Hunny's little brother, Chika, pays a visit to the Host Club--and immediately starts attacking Hunny, using all his martial-arts prowess against his older brother! Chika seems to be the absolute opposite of his sweets-loving, Bun-Bun-toting sibling, but why is he so angry with Hunny? The Host Club is determined to find out the cause...

Review- In this volume we learn about Hunny's family life. As the eldest son Hunny is expected to be very 'manly' and not be cute or like cute things. So Hunny before Tamaki and the Host Club was lonely and sad. But his younger brother, who is that way naturally, just does not undrstand why his older brother likes this cute things.  Over-the-top like normal but with some character development for both Hunny and Mori. Mori's younger brother sticks with Hunny's brother, so Haruhi learns about how their family works. Of course Tamaki makes himself look ridiculous but that is normal for him.

I give this volume a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this manga with my own money.

Dreamer's Pool

Today's post is on Dreamer's Pool by Juliet Marillier. It is the first in her Blackthorn & Grim series. It is 434 pages long and is published by ROC. The cover is a beautiful oil painting of the one of side characters going into the Dreamer's Pool. The intended reader is someone who likes historical fantasy, excellent writing, and  excellent world building. There is some language, implied sex, and violence in this book. The story is told from one of three of the main character's perspective changing from chapter to chapter. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- In exchange for help escaping her long and wrongful imprisonment, embittered magical healer Blackthorn has vowed to set aside her bid for vengeance against the man who destroyed all that she once held dear. Followed by a former prison mate, a silent hulk of a man named Grim, she travels north to Dalriada. There she'll live on the fringe of a mysterious forest, duty bound for seven years to assist anyone who asks for her help. Oran, crown prince of Dalriada, has waited anxiously for the arrival of his future bride, Lady Flidais. He knows her only from a portrait and sweetly poetic correspondence that have convinced him Flidais is his destined true love. But Oran discovers letters can lie. For although his intended exactly resembles her portrait, her brutality upon arrival proves she is nothing like the sensitive woman of the letters.
With the strategic marriage imminent, Oran sees no way out of his dilemma. Word has spread that Blackthorn possesses a remarkable gift for solving knotty problems, so the prince asks her for help. To save Oran from his treacherous nuptials, Blackthorn and Grim will need all their resources: courage, ingenuity, leaps of deduction, and more than a little magic.

Review-  What a beautifully written book this is. It is truly an exercise in exquisite style. Marillier is a craftswoman and it shows. From the opening line the world building is some of the best I have ever read. Mariellier takes a view of ancient Ireland and makes it as magical as I would want it to be. Blackthorn and Grim are both good characters. They have some serious flaws that make them more real and more understandable. Blackthorn wants revenge to the point of madness but I am still not sure what is driving Grim. He wants to forget something but cannot. I look forward to getting to know him better. Together they work for the good of the community around them. Not because they are good themselves but because that is the only way that Blackthorn will see justice done. The magic is very subtle, it is not everywhere and very clear but if you look for it you will see it. I cannot wait to read the second novel.

I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library. 

Pacific: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers

Today's post is on Pacific: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers by Simon Winchester.  It is 480 pages long and is published by HarperCollins. The cover is a beautiful mix of pictures and art work of the pacific ocean. The intended reader likes history, grand stories, and good research. There is no language, no sex, and no violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book-
Following his acclaimed Atlantic and The Men Who United the States, New York Times bestselling author Simon Winchester offers an enthralling biography of the Pacific Ocean and its role in the modern world, exploring our relationship with this imposing force of nature.
As the Mediterranean shaped the classical world, and the Atlantic connected Europe to the New World, the Pacific Ocean defines our tomorrow. With China on the rise, so, too, are the American cities of the West coast, including Seattle, San Francisco, and the long cluster of towns down the Silicon Valley.
Today, the Pacific is ascendant. Its geological history has long transformed us—tremendous
earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis—but its human history, from a Western perspective, is quite young, beginning with Magellan’s sixteenth-century circumnavigation. It is a natural wonder whose most fascinating history is currently being made.
In telling the story of the Pacific, Simon Winchester takes us from the Bering Strait to Cape Horn, the Yangtze River to the Panama Canal, and to the many small islands and archipelagos that lie in between. He observes the fall of a dictator in Manila, visits aboriginals in northern Queensland, and is jailed in Tierra del Fuego, the land at the end of the world. His journey encompasses a trip down the Alaska Highway, a stop at the isolated Pitcairn Islands, a trek across South Korea and a glimpse of its mysterious northern neighbor.
Winchester’s personal experience is vast and his storytelling second to none. And his historical understanding of the region is formidable, making Pacific a paean to this magnificent sea of beauty, myth, and imagination that is transforming our lives.

Review- An interesting look of the recent history of the Pacific ocean. Winchester starts in 1950 and goes to present day talking about the ten most important things that he thinks has happened in and to the ocean. The one problem I had was that Winchester goes into a little too much detail at parts.Winchester is a good writer with good research skills but I want his editor to help him get it under control. When Winchester is writing about history or the cultures around the pacific, I really enjoyed this book. But when he got into the very detailed math and science formulas he lost me. I have a science background but it was just not as interesting as narrative parts of the book. The research notes are good adding more detail and giving more information if you wanted to. In spite of needing a little less detail it was a good and interesting read.

I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I was given a copy of this book by HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review.

Ouran High School Host Club volume 6

Today's post is on Ouran High School Host Club volume 6 by Bisco Hatori. It is 208 pages long and is published by Shojo Beat. The cover has Haruhi and Kyoya on it. As it is the sixth in the long running series you need to have read the first five to understand the story. There is no sex, no language, and no violence in this book. The intended reader likes shojo romance, over-the-top comedy, and good characters. The story is told from Haruhi's  perspective. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- The school festival opens at Ouran, and the Host Club members are busy entertaining the visiting parents. Teasing his son is a favorite pastime of Tamaki's doting father, the school chairman, but Tamaki's grandmother is cut from a a very different cloth She despises and shuns Tamaki, banning him from the main Souh Mansion. It's now time for Kyoya to take action with the Host Club to helptheir favored leader out.

Review- The school festival is something that Japanese schools do for fun and of course it is over the top at Ouran. Kyoya is not just trying to help Tamaki but to continue moving forward to his goal of running the family business. As he is the youngest son, he is not really in line to do that, but it is what he wants to do and Kyoya is very ambitious. Haruhi learns that Tamaki is a bastard. When his father, who was married but childless, met Tamaki's mother they had an affair. Tamaki is his father's only child and heir but his grandmother does like that. She buys him from his mother then still treats him badly. So Kyoya and the Host Club want to protect Tamaki and Haruhi gets pulled into that too. Even with some serious moments, this is still a comedy manga.

I give this volume a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this book with my own money.

Hell to Pay

Today's post is on Hell to Pay by Matthew Hughes. It is the last in his To Hell and Back series. It is 332 pages long and is published by Angry Robot. The cover is again in comic book panel form with the hero at the top and other scenes from the plot on it. The intended reader is someone who has read the first two. There is some language, talk of sex, and violence in this book. The story is told from the third person close of the characters moving from one to another as the story progresses. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Meet Chesney Arnsthruther: once a mild-mannered insurance actuary, now a full-time crime-fighting superhero.
Meet Xaphan: wise-cracking demon and the source of (almost) all of Chesney's powers.
Meet Arthur Wrigley, a modest yet charming older gentleman whose nasty little hobby is fleecing innocent widows. Meets Simon Magus, ancient mystic from Biblical times now very much enamoured of Vegas, baby.
And pray you never meet the Chikkckikk, a proud and ancient race of, well, warrior dinosaurs, from the universe that God made then rejected before He started monkeying around with this one. What the hell is going on, this is definitely the third book in the wondrous To Hell & Back saga.

Review- This is the weakest of the trilogy. The first one was so funny then the second was not bad but not as funny and this one was not funny at all. Everything that I really liked about the first book is just gone in this one. The funny conminterary about religion, superheros, and the why of the world is just tossed out the window. Instead we get Dues Ex in this one. Nothing is what the characters or we the readers thought it was. In the end God makes Chesney into a little god for reasons that I just do not get. Because God is all powerful in this world, he could have just remade the opening scene in the first book and everything would have been fixed. Instead we get Dues Ex'ed. I hate that so much. I still love the first book. It is still funny and interesting but the other two were just really disappointing to me.

I give this book a Three out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this book with my own money.

Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day's Black Heroes, at Home and at War

Today's post is on Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day's Black Heroes, at Home and at War by Linda Hervieux. It is 368 pages long including notes and published by HarperCollins. The cover is a picture of Normandy beach with soldiers on it and three balloons in the background. The intended reader is someone interested in World War 2, history, and African Americans. There is language, no sex, and violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- The injustices of 1940s Jim Crow America are brought to life in this extraordinary blend of military and social history—a story that pays tribute to the valor of an all-black battalion whose crucial contributions at D-Day have gone unrecognized to this day.
In the early hours of June 6, 1944, the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, a unit of African-American soldiers, landed on the beaches of France. Their orders were to man a curtain of armed balloons meant to deter enemy aircraft. One member of the 320th would be nominated for the Medal of Honor, an award he would never receive. The nation’s highest decoration was not given to black soldiers in World War II.
Drawing on newly uncovered military records and dozens of original interviews with surviving members of the 320th and their families, Linda Hervieux tells the story of these heroic men charged with an extraordinary mission, whose contributions to one of the most celebrated events in modern history have been overlooked. Members of the 320th—Wilson Monk, a jack-of-all-trades from Atlantic City; Henry Parham, the son of sharecroppers from rural Virginia; William Dabney, an eager 17-year-old from Roanoke, Virginia; Samuel Mattison, a charming romantic from Columbus, Ohio—and thousands of other African Americans were sent abroad to fight for liberties denied them at home. In England and Europe, these soldiers discovered freedom they had not known in a homeland that treated them as second-class citizens—experiences they carried back to America, fueling the budding civil rights movement.
In telling the story of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, Hervieux offers a vivid account of the tension between racial politics and national service in wartime America, and a moving narrative of human bravery and perseverance in the face of injustice.

Review- Hervieux brings the story of African Americans in American war to the front with this book. That is a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. It is good because she gives a good overview of the service that African Americans have done for America. But it is bad because it over shadows the story of these soldiers in WW2. When Haerieux is giving the story of the men that she interviews I really enjoyed this book but she including a thirty-five page account about the history of ballooning I did not. When she talked about what Monk and Parham and Mattison and the other soldiers had to deal with during their daily lives and during the war itself, it was moving and made me angry. But Herieux has too many tangents. She goes too many places. I wanted more from the interviews she had with the men but we only really get one. That said when she is on target, this is a very moving and interesting book. I want Herieux to write more but I want her to be concise.

I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I was given a copy of this book by HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review.

Leviathan

Today's post is on Leviathan by Jack Campbell. It is the fifth in his The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier series. It is 336 pages long and is published by Ace. The cover is action shot of the fighting in space. The intended reader is someone who likes science fiction, military science fiction, and space operas. There is no language, no sex, and some violence in this book. The story is told from the third person perspective of the main character. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Two Syndicate World star systems have fallen prey to a mysterious fleet of warships—a fleet controlled entirely by artificial intelligence—that is now targeting Alliance space. The warships are no mystery to Geary. They were developed by his government to ensure security, but malfunctioned. If the Syndics learn the truth, the war with the Alliance will resume with a vengeance.
As the government attempts to conceal the existence of the A.I. warships—and its role in their creation—Geary pursues them, treading a fine line between mutiny and obedience. But it soon becomes clear that his fleet is no match for the firepower of the machine-piloted armada.
With the help of the Dancer species of aliens, Geary has tracked the A.I. ships to their secret base in the supposedly mythical Unity Alternate star system where his fleet, the last hope of the Alliance’s future, will end the conflict at any cost…

Review- I have never read Campbell before but I really liked this world and book. I was thrown into the deep end with the story but Campbell quickly helped me to understand what going on. The universe he creates is fun and feels very real. Campbell does his science homework and I found myself very interested in learning more in real life about some of the theories that he talks about. That said the combat is very slow, like it would be in reality. Campbell gives a good story but does not let reality slow things down. The plot is about the government being dumb and the people who have to clean that up. I liked all the characters I met and when one of them died I was moved.

I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I was given a copy of this book by Ace/ROC in exchange for an honest review.

Ouran High School Host Club volume 5

Today's post is on Ouran High School Host Club volume 5 by Bisco Hatori. The cover has Haruhi and Tamaki on it both in white. It is 176 pages long and is published by Shojo Beat. As it is the fifth in the long series you need to have read the first four to understand the story. The intended reader likes over-the-top humor, light romance, and good writing. There is no sex, no language, and no violence in this book. The story is told from Haruhi's perspective. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Haruhi's top ranking falls and she is in jeopardy of losing her scholarship at Ouran. Each member of the Host Club scrambles to become her tutor, but Haruhi picks a female student, Ayame, to help her. Haruhi's time is now spent with Ayame, who can't stand Tamaki. Can Tamaki charm his way into Ayame's good graces so the Host Club can spend time with their favorite member?

Review- The blurb is the first story. The rest of the book is about their summer break. The boys follow Haruhi and all the over-the-top comedy ensues. But the twins are the ones that the story really focus' on. The trouble that is caused does bring out the best in the twins but Tamaki gives up something important about Huruhi. Normally I dislike heroes in romance because they are not really nice but Tamaki is. He is very nice and really kind to everyone. In fact that is what got him in trouble in the first story in this volume. He was being himself before anyone knew what he was like. So he was Tamaki to Ayame and she thought it meant more than it did. So she thinks that he is very shallow but they work it out. Tamaki apologizes and then Ayame goes about trying to him better. Poor Tamaki will get himself into trouble no matter what he tries.

I give this volume Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this book with own money.

Red Queen

Today’s post is on Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. It is the first in her Red Queen series. It is 383 pages long and is published by Harper Teen. The cover is silver with an upside-down crown with red blood dripping off it. The intended reader is someone who likes young adult, dystopian stories, and fast pots. There is no sex, some mild language, and lots of violence in this book.  The story is told from the first person perspective of the main character. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- Mare Barrow’s world is divided by blood- those with red and those with silver. Mare and her family are lowly Reds, destined to serve the Silver elite whose supernatural abilities make them nearly gods. Mare steals what she can to help her family survive, but when her best friend is conscripted into the army she gambles everything to win his freedom. A twist of fate leads her to the royal palace itself, where, in front of the king and all his nobles, she discovers a power of her own- an ability she didn’t know she had. Except… her blood is red.
To hide this impossibility, the king forces her into the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks her new position to aid the Scarlet Guard- the leaders of a Red rebellion. Her actions put into motion a deadly and violent dance, pitting prince against prince- and Mare again her own heart.
From debut author Victoria Avyard comes a lush, vivid fantasy where loyalty and desire can tear you apart and the only certainty is betrayal. 

Review- I wanted to like to this book so much. The world sounded so interesting, the cover is so beautiful, and the writing is not bad. But it was just okay. I cannot tell you why this book just did not grab me. It is not bad per say but it just is not great. There is something just not there to make this book great. All the characters are fine, the plot is fine, but something is missing. Other than talk about the beautiful cover from this book I cannot think of anything to say about it. I did like the mutant powers that the characters have. Those were fun and different. But somewhere the plot, the characters, the action, everything just falls flat. I am pretty bummed about that.

I give this book a Three out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my library.

Poisoned: Chicago 1907, A Corrupt System, An Accused Killer, and The Crusade to Save Him

Today's post is on Poisoned: Chicago 1907, A Corrupt System, An Accused Killer, and The Crusade to Save Him by Steve Shukis. It is 334 pages long with notes, etc. and it s published by Title Town Publishing. The cover has defendant on it looking into the camera. The intended reader is someone who likes true crime, history, and good writing. There is no language, no sex, and no violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- A gripping tale of murder, sorcery, and criminal justice in turn-of-the-century Chicago, Poisoned is the fascinating true story (1907) of a mysterious Bohemian fortune teller charged with murdering a half-dozen people by slowly poisoning them with arsenic. Poisoned details the horrific murders, and the incredible events that followed Herman Billik's conviction: last second reprieves; legal battles carried all the way to the Supreme Court; frenzied mass demonstrations; corpses secretly exhumed in the middle of the night; and the revelation that key witnesses lied under oath. The case affected political campaigns, involved a Chicago Mayor, and featured an eventual showdown in the race for Governor of Illinois between two of the story's central figures. Indeed, if it were not true, no one would ever believe it.

Review- This book is the reason we have police reform. The police are so dirty that almost hang an innocent man five times. At it is Billik spends nine years in prison for a crime he did not commit.  With court transcripts that add so much to the account and that makes it worse. The writing in this book is very strong. Shukis does good research and he does not pull any punches. He takes you from the day the police where called in all the way to the end of those involves lives. Shukis gives an interesting overview of the events without telling the reader what to think. In the beginning of the book I thought that maybe Bullik had done it, at the middle I did not think that Billik was guilty but I did not know who I thought was and by the end of the book I had a very different idea about the whole case. Shukis does a great job and I look forward to reading whatever he does next.

I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.

Chapelwood

Today's post is on Chapelwood by Cherie Priest. It is the second her in Borden Dispatches. It is 434 pages long and is published by ROC. The cover has Lizzie on facing a beautiful night sky. The intended reader is someone who has read the first one, likes Lovecraftian horror, and excellent writing. The story is told from first person perspective of the characters moving from one to the next. There is no sex, some language, and some violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Birmingham, Alabama is infested with malevolence. Prejudice and hatred have consumed the minds and hearts of its populace. A murderer, unimaginatively named “Harry the Hacker” by the press, has been carving up citizens with a hatchet. And from the church known as Chapelwood, an unholy gospel is being spread by a sect that worships dark gods from beyond the heavens.
This darkness calls to Lizzie Borden. It is reminiscent of an evil she had dared hoped was extinguished. The parishioners of Chapelwood plan to sacrifice a young woman to summon beings never meant to share reality with humanity. An apocalypse will follow in their wake which will scorch the earth of all life.
Unless she stops it…

Review- I loved Maplecroft and I loved this one too. The style is the same so it is easy to fall right back into this world. Thirty years have passed since the first book. Lizzie and the inspector Simon Wolf are the main characters in this volume. But I like the new characters that we meet, like Ruth, over the course of the story. I really hope that there is at least one more book in this series. This is a little slower in my opinion than the first one but I love the setting, the characters, and the excellent writing so much that I did not really mind. But once the story gets going it goes downhill fast. Once everything is in place there is only one way it could go. The ending is good but it left me wanting more and so I really, really hope that Ms. Priest has at least one more story in this world.

I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I was given this book by ACE/ROC publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Ouran High School Host Club Volume 4

Today's post is on Ouran High School Host Club Volume 4 by Bisco Hatori. It is 184 pages long and is published by Shojo Beat Manga. As it is the fourth in the long running series you need to have read the first three to get the story. The cover has Honey and Mori on it looking cool. The intended reader is someone who has read the first three, likes over the top humor, and good characters. There is no sex, no language, and no violence in this book. The story is told from Haruhi's perspective. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Curious about Haruhi's standard of living, the Host Club members barge into her personal life by paying her a visit at home. While the guys do their utmost to be polite, everything they do seems to backfire, especially for poor Tamaki! On top of it all, he trips and lands on top of Haruhi- just in time for her cross-dressing father to catch them in a compromising position...

Review- Haruhi's father is a bit of a problem for me. Not because he is a cross-dresser but because he is unreasonable in how he treats Tamaki and he does not listen to Haruhi. He just rolls over them both and that just annoys me. I wanted to slap him for not listening to Haruhi and then for being a jackass to Tamaki. But other than that another funny volume. The Alice in Wonderland story is pretty funny but Haruhi just does not play along. But the real treat is Honey and Mori get the center stage for some good character development.

I give this volume a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this book with my own money.

Day Shift

Today's post is on Day Shift by Charlaine Harris. It is the second in her Midnight, Texas series. It is 320 pages long and is published by Ace Books. The cover is another scene of the one road in Midnight with the new hotel on it. The intended reader is has read the first one, likes mystery and urban fantasy. There is no language, no sex, and mild violence in this book. The story is told from the third person perspective of the character's moving from one to the next as the story goes on. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- There is no such thing as bad publicity, except in Midnight, Texas, where the residents like to keep to themselves. Even in a town full of secretive people, Olivia Charity is an enigma. She lives with the vampire Lemuel, but no one knows what she does; they only know that she’s beautiful and dangerous.
Psychic Manfred Bernardo finds out just how dangerous when he goes on a working weekend to Dallas and sees Olivia there with a couple who are both found dead the next day. To make matters worse, one of Manfred’s regular — and very wealthy — clients dies during a reading.
Manfred returns from Dallas embroiled in scandal and hounded by the press. He turns to Olivia for help; somehow he knows that the mysterious Olivia can get things back to normal. As normal as things get in Midnight...

Review- Another interesting mystery in a urban fantasy lite world. Manfred gets involved in a murder just by bad luck. Whatever is really going on with Olivia is interesting but ultimately unimportant to the overall story. Add in some oddness going around the town itself and you have a pretty nice story. Again Harris makes the town of Midnight a character too and I really like that. She is very invested in the setting itself and I think that it brings something very special to the narrative. Again I did not guess who the killer was until the reveal. I am looking forward to how this trilogy is going to end. I think there is so much that Harris could do with this setting and characters. Good read.

I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I was given this book by Ace/ROC books in exchange for an honest review.

The Art of Memoir

Today's nonfiction post is on The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr. It is 256 pages long and is published by HarperCollins. The cover is white with the title in red and black. The intended reader is someone who wants to learn more about writing memoirs and writing in general. There is descriptions of sex, violence, and lots of language in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the jacket- Credited with sparking the current memoir explosion, Mary Karr’s The Liars’ Club spent more than a year at the top of the New York Times list. She followed with two other smash bestsellers: Cherry and Lit, which were critical hits as well.
For thirty years Karr has also taught the form, winning graduate teaching prizes for her highly selective seminar at Syracuse, where she mentored such future hit authors as Cheryl Strayed, Keith Gessen, and Koren Zailckas. In The Art of Memoir, she synthesizes her expertise as professor and therapy patient, writer and spiritual seeker, recovered alcoholic and “black belt sinner,” providing a unique window into the mechanics and art of the form that is as irreverent, insightful, and entertaining as her own work in the genre.
Anchored by excerpts from her favorite memoirs and anecdotes from fellow writers’ experience, The Art of Memoir lays bare Karr’s own process. (Plus all those inside stories about how she dealt with family and friends get told— and the dark spaces in her own skull probed in depth.) As she breaks down the key elements of great literary memoir, she breaks open our concepts of memory and identity, and illuminates the cathartic power of reflecting on the past; anybody with an inner life or complicated history, whether writer or reader, will relate.
Joining such classics as Stephen King’s On Writing and Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, The Art of Memoir is an elegant and accessible exploration of one of today’s most popular literary forms—a tour de force from an accomplished master pulling back the curtain on her craft.

Review- When Karr is writing about writing I really liked this book but when she moves to everything else in this book it gets really boring. I do understand wanting to examine the works of other writers and what they do right. But that is about 75% of the book and it gets really boring. Karr does give some good writing exercises but those are few and far between. It was hard to not skim large parts of this book. I did enjoy when Karr was talking about the struggles with what to write, how accurate her memory is, and dealing with the real people that she is writing about.

I give this book a Two out of Five stars.  I was given this book by HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review.