Tag Archives: Friday Finds

Tuesday’s Meme Things: The allure of crime in any language

Posted on August 11, 2009 by unfinishedperson | 7 Comments

I participate each Tuesday in book blogging meme activities:

First up, It’s Tuesday … Where are You as hosted by raidergirl3:

Today, I’m playing second fiddle to the world’s greatest detective, Hercule Poirot, as he attempts to find the murderer of George Alfred St. Vincent Marsh, fourth Baron Edgware (Thirteen at Dinner by Agatha Christie).

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, with the rules pretty simple: Grab your current read, open to a random page, share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page, BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!), and then share the author too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! (I confess that this isn’t random this week as I picked out a couple of sentences that really struck me as I was reading.)

The lovely Lady Edgware she does not know history or geography, or the classics sans doute. The name of Lao Tse would suggest to her a prize Pekingese dog, the name of Moliere a maison de coutere.

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library-loot friday-finds

Next up, I’m doing together both Library Loot hosted by Eva and Marg and Friday Finds also hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. The first focuses on books that you’ve checked out from the library; the second, books that you’ve come across that you want to read.

The author whose book this time again that I picked up from the library is Michael Connelly; the book, The Brass Verdict:

The book is Connelly’s 14th in the Harry Bosch series and also has the character of Mickey Haller who was featured first in The Lincoln Lawyer. In October, Connelly will release the 15th in the Bosch series: Nine Dragons.

For this week’s Friday Finds, I actually found two authors through bloggers, one from The Sunday Salon, the other from the It’s Tuesday Where Are You? group.

In each case, the two books mentioned are the second in a series by that author, meaning the stickler I am for reading a series in order, I will have to go back and find the first one in each case.

The first book and author I encountered, thanks to brenzi0408, was:

The second book and author I encountered, thanks to tanabata, was:

Both coincidentally are Swedish novelists, with Larsson having passed away in 2004 from a heart attack and Mankell still alive and kicking as of this post.

The Larsson book also is being made into a movie due out in September. Click here for a trailer.

I already have checked our local library for a copy of the first Larsson book and while they have the second one, they don’t seem to have the first one. As for Mankell, I only found one copy on interlibrary loan. I have a feeling that it might be a while before I get to these.

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Last but not least is this week’s Weekly Geeks, with this week’s idea at least partially coming from Bookworm Kristen. The other part is from Chris of book-a-rama. To read both parts, visit the post here.

Because I’ve already taken up a lot of space here with the other meme-related activities, I’m going to stick with the first part, which to paraphrase is why do I keep reading about the same detectives? For me, the two that most readily come to mind are Harry Bosch and Hercule Poirot.

For me, it’s simple: I like to see the development of the character. For example, in the case of Bosch, we learn of his back story as a soldier in Vietnam right from the start in the first novel and then later learn of his loves, from an ex-FBI agent for a wife to a current FBI agent for an on- and off-again lover. In Poirot’s case, it’s not only the development of the character, but his constant sense of humor and the prism through which he looks at the world. I guess sometimes I wish I had the intuitiveness that he has.

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Posted in Books, Weekly Geeks

Tagged Books, Friday Finds, It's Tuesday, Library Loot, mystery, Teaser Tuesday, Weekly Geeks, where are you?

Tuesday’s Meme Things: Riding around L.A. in a Lincoln with the tunes cranked up

Posted on August 4, 2009 by unfinishedperson | 10 Comments

I participate each Tuesday in book blogging meme activities:

First up, It’s Tuesday … Where are You as hosted by raidergirl3:

Today, I’m a defense lawyer in a Lincoln on the streets of L.A. on what I hope is “the franchise case” for me and I’m still tracking down the world’s Third Most Wanted Criminal. In the first case, my name is Mickey Haller (in The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly). In the second case, my name is Thursday Next and the world’s Third Most Wanted Criminal is Archeron Hades and is about to pluck Jane Eyre from the pages of her novel in The Eyre Affair (Jasper Fforde).

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I went to Four Green Fields and ordered a Guinness but quickly escalated to vodka over ice. I didn’t think there was any sense in delaying things.

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library-loot friday-finds

The author this time again is Michael Connelly; the book, the aforementioned The Lincoln Lawyer:

The book is the Connelly’s 16th and, though not part of the Harry Bosch series, he was in one of the Bosch novels earlier, The Black Ice, and will be in the next one, the 14th in the series: The Brass Verdict, so I thought it good to be acquainted with the main character of Mickey Haller. In October, Connelly will release the 15th in the Bosch series: Nine Dragons.

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Last but not least is this week’s Weekly Geeks, which is posted by Ashley from Complete and Unabridged.

Your challenge this week is to come up with at least one song-book match. It could remind you of a theme from the book, a specific part of the plot, or even one of the characters (a sort of theme song, if you will). Be sure to include samples of the lyrics and the reason why that song reminds you of that book. If you can provide a link to a recording of the song so that other geeks can hear it that would be great as well. (One good place to look for links is last.fm, there are others, too.)

I sort of cheated on this one as I looked through titles of books I read last year and then saw which ones might remind me of songs.

First, up The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. I thought of Chris DeBurgh’s “Lady in Red,” because of who was behind The Scarlet Pimpernel. However, then surfing Youtube for a Scarlet Pimpernel song, I came across this classic Blackadder clip:

Next, World War Z by Max Brooks, which naturally reminded me of The Hooters’ “All You Zombies.”

While searching for a song to go with The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie, I came across this strange ditty:

To end on a somewhat classier note, here’s a two-fer to go with The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie:

First, Johnny Cash w/ “Blue Train”:

And then John Coltrane w/ “Blue Train”:

Okay, actually one last one to go along with the book I’m currently reading:

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Posted in Books, Mind, Weekly Geeks

Tagged Books, Friday Finds, It's Tuesday, Library Loot, Michael Connelly, Teaser Tuesday, Weekly Geeks, where are you?

Tuesday’s Meme Things: England, England and the rest of the world

Posted on July 14, 2009 by unfinishedperson | 15 Comments

I participate each Tuesday in book blogging meme activities:

First up, It’s Tuesday … Where are You as hosted by raidergirl3:

This Tuesday, I’m in St. Mary Mead in England with Miss Marple investigating her first case, The Murder at The Vicarage, as presented by, who else, Agatha Christie. I’m reading this as part of the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge hosted by Kerrie from Mysteries in Paradise.

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Hawe’s appearance distressed me very much. His hands were shaking and his face kept twitching nervously.

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library-loot friday-finds

Next up, I’m combining Library Loot hosted by Eva and Marg and Friday Finds also hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. The first focuses on books that you’ve checked out from the library; the second, books that you’ve come across that you want to read. This one, though, is a bit of a cheat this week as the two books aren’t from the library but ones I bought from a local bookstore.

Blogger Jenn Thorson of Of Cabbages and Kings, recommended this series (of which these are No. 2 and No. 3 of 5) to me when she and another blogger, Kathy Frederick of The Junk Drawer, were visiting my wife and I earlier this summer. The only problem is that while the first of the series, The Eyre Affair, was available at the bookstore, it was a brand new paperback and was $15. The others were used and much less. So I’m going to wait until the owners can see if they get me a copy in the next couple of weeks for only a few bucks. I have plenty to read in the meantime, including a host of Agatha Christie.

For more on Fforde, visit his website.

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Last but not least is this week’s Weekly Geeks, which asks us to tell about our globetrotting via books.

Are you a global reader? How many countries have you “visited” in your reading? What are your favorite places or cultures to read about? Can you recommend particularly good books about certain regions, countries or continents? How do you find out about books from other countries? What countries would you like to read that you haven’t yet?

No. Not many. England? No. I don’t. I’m a xenophobe. And last but not least, I prefer to be insular.

Okay, seriously, though:

create your own visited country map
or check our Venice travel guide

Okay, I guess I am pretty insulated, in that I’ve only visited 16 countries or 7 percent of the world’s countries, according to this map. So revised answers: No. 16. The U.S., in particular The South. Anything by William Faulker and Flannery O’Connor. Book bloggers. All the ones from which I haven’t read yet.

I guess I can’t sing this song, at least, not with much conviction, can I?

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Posted in Books, Mind, Weekly Geeks

Tagged Books, Friday Finds, Library Loot, Teaser Tuesdays, Tuesday\'s Meme Things

Tuesday Meme Things: Summertime is the right time for crime…

Posted on July 8, 2009 by unfinishedperson | 10 Comments

Back to our regularly scheduled program, where I participate each Tuesday (this week Wednesday because of a busy day yesterday) in book blogging meme activities:

It’s Tuesday … Where are You as hosted by raidergirl3:

This Tuesday, I’m still with private detective Harry Bosch as I was last week, but with him in Los Angeles a different book on a different case in The Closers. Bosch is back with the LAPD with former partner Kiz Rider and he’s on a mission of closing unsolved cases. First case: a 1988 case where a 16-year-old girl, who disappeared from her home, was later found dead of a gunshot wound to the chest.

I also am in Brooklyn with Parker in The Outfit, a Parker novel by Richard Stark, a pseudonym of Donald E. Westlake. Even though he has a new face, The Outfit, the mob, has found him and still want him dead, but he’s turning the tables and going after them with heist after heist.

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, with the rules pretty simple: Grab your current read, open to a random page, share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page, BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!), and then share the author too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Like last week, I’m going to cheat slightly. Instead of a random page, I’m going to share the opening lines of the Parker novel I’m reading:

When the woman screamed, Parker awoke and rolled off the bed. He heard the plop of a silencer behind him as he rolled and the bullet punched the pillow where his head had been.

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library-loot friday-finds

Since I got quite a load of loot (and here) from the library last week, this week I only have two books:

Look Again by Lisa Scottoline, which I thought I’d never get. I was put on a waiting list a month or two ago and now finally it is here.
Murder at Hazelmoor by Agatha Christie, which is an unexpected find.

How so? Last week I mentioned getting four by Agatha Christie: Murder at the Vicarage, Peril at End House, Thirteen at Dinner and Murder on the Orient Express. I also mentioned how I had to order The Sittaford Mystery, which chronologically comes between the first two mentioned, through interlibrary loan and would have to await reading them in order for the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge in which I am participating.

On my Challenges page, I had listed all the Christie books in order, but unlike with some other titles, I neglected to add the alternate title for The Sittaford Mystery: Murder at Hazelmoor. Luckily, Sandy, one of the librarians at the Green Free Library in Wellsboro, Pa. (our library caught my error and found the book in the Green Free’s own collection. Sandy was nice enough to attach this note from information she found online:

The Sittaford Mystery is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1931 under the title of The Murder of Hazelmoor and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on September 7 of the same year under Christie’s original title. It is the first Christie novel to be given a different title for the US Market.

The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shilling and sixpence.

Whew! Now I can get back to reading her novels in order. Thanks, Sandy.

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Last but not least is this week’s Weekly Geeks, brought to us this by Wendy of Caribousmom, where this week’s “task” is, to paraphrase Wendy, to talk about the Fourth of July and summertime reading.

As I already gave away in the title of this post, “summertime is the time for crime” for me with my reading. Of course, I guess I should add that I read mostly crime novels year-round, one only has to look at my reading last year and so far this year to see that. In addition to continuing the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge this summer, I also am undertaking my own personal challenge to read all of the Harry Bosch novels written by Michael Connelly. I am on No. 11 of 14 written so far with a 14th, Nine Dragons, to come out this October. Besides Christie and Connelly, I am especially looking forward to getting the Scottoline book from the library today. Mentioning that, I think I need to go…

RIGHT NOW.