Well, I haven’t had a book review in quite a long time and in the past couple of weeks I’ve actually finished 5 books. I’m sure that’s some sort of record for me. I’m normally about 3 a month or so. Since today is the first day of work, I figured I would tempt you with a book review in case I have to come home and flop into bed.

The first one is Thunderstruck by Erik Larson. This is a solid 4 stars. Not quite as compelling as The Devil in the White City also by Larson, but very interesting. It is based on the second most infamous murder in England and the Marconi machine. While his writing can get tedious because he includes ever detail he can find, Larson does have exceptional story telling skills in which he can bring you right into the story. His style is to do parallel stores in the time frame and seeing how they cross paths. So you have to pay attention, but it’s well worth it.

Stalking Ivory by Suzanne Arruda is a second book in the Jade Del Cameron series. I love this series. It’s mystery set right after WWI in Africa. Jade was a ambulance driver in WWI on the front lines in France. After the war ended she was offered a job with the Traveller to write stories and take pictures. She is an adventure woman before her time and the writing is fantastic. If I could see anyone in a movie series or if anyone needs to be in a movie – it’s Jade Del Cameron. In this book she is photographing elephants and comes across poaching, among other things. It was a bit hard to listen to as elephants are by far my favorite. I am smitten with their gentle largess. I think I said before how my first memory is of seeing an elephant and feeding it peanuts. Love, love, love this series – definitely 5 stars.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield was a slow start. I listened to this one, so I just plugged in and did other things, but if I would’ve read this one – I would not have probably made it to the point that you get sucked in. It meanders along for a while and for the most part I didn’t like any of the characters. I wasn’t attached to any of them until about 3/4 of the way through at which point you get the twist – finally I felt like the roller coaster reached the top and wham. If you can make it to that point then you will probably enjoy this book. It gets rave reviews, so it may just be me – but I prefer tales that suck you in and spit you out like a wild ride – so try this one out and let me know what you think.

Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris is a second in the Harper Connelly series. Harper our main character gets hit by lightening and starts to travel around finding dead bodies. She is able to find them by the vibration and tell the cause of death. She is hired by a skeptic and finds a body in a cemetery that shouldn’t be there to an old case she worked on. These are not as compelling as Harris’ other work – the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Series, which is supposed to be a pilot sometime in the future, but they are good in their own right. Where Sookie is vivacious with a natural gift, I see Harper with a little cloud over her head because this is a gift imparted to her by the lightening strike. I do have to say it’s entertaining though.

Last but not least – You Suck: A Love Story by Christopher Moore. This is the second of his novels that I listened too and I wasn’t disappointed. They are fun and funky with a super normal twist. In this book the minion of the vamps – Abby Normal is a riot and if you get a chance to listen – the reader did an awesome job with her voice. Several times it was laugh out loud funny. If you haven’t read a Dirty Job by Moore that one is a must read. One fun writing tool he uses is to use characters from other books – makes me want go back and read all his work and see who pops up. When I listened to the interview with Christopher Moore at the end of You Suck it is actually a sequel to a novel he had written 10 years ago called Blood Sucking Fiends. However, I didn’t know this before hand and it stood on it’s own just fine.

Well folks – good reading or listening to in my case.

~ Madame Purl