October part 1

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING REGINALD HILL

Product Description
The second book in the Dalziel and Pascoe series sends the two mismatched Yorkshire policemen among university students-a group for which Andy Dalziel has no great love. In fact, when he hears a dead body has been found on the grounds of Holm Coultram College, he thinks of it as a rather good start. This is 1971, and the police force does not enjoy the warmest of relations with the Ivory Tower. Nevertheless, Dalziel takes himself to college, where the single corpse is followed by another and then another, until even Dalziel is forced to admit that someone is going after the academic community with rather excessive zeal. As the investigation grows more complex, help arrives from some unexpected corners, Dalziel's callow young sergeant proves surprisingly insightful, and everyone involved gets some useful education.

Written in 1971 it still stands up. I'll keep going with this series and watch the changes.

THE COMPLAINTS: IAN RANKIN

Summary
Nobody likes The Complaints - they're the cops who investigate other cops. Complaints and Conduct Department, to give them their full title, but known colloquially as 'The Dark Side', or simply 'The Complaints'. It's where Malcolm Fox works. He's just had a result, and should be feeling good about himself. But he's a man with problems of his own. He has an increasingly frail father in a care home and a sister who persists in an abusive relationship - something which Malcolm cannot seem to do anything about.
But, in the midst of an aggressive Edinburgh winter, the reluctant Fox is given a new task. There's a cop called Jamie Breck, and he's dirty. The problem is, no one can prove it. But as Fox takes on the job, he learns that there's more to Breck than anyone thinks. This knowledge will prove dangerous, especially when a vicious murder intervenes far too close to home for Fox's

Oh no. Now I have to wait for the next Rankin. If you liked Rebus you'll like Fox.

BOMBPROOF: MICHAEL ROBOTHAM

Product Description
Sami Macbeth is not a master criminal. He's not even a minor one. He's not a jewel thief. He's not a safe-cracker. He's not an expert in explosives. Sami plays guitar and wants to be a rock god but keeps getting side-tracked by unforeseen circumstances.
Fifty-four hours ago Sami was released from prison. Thirty-six hours ago he slept with the woman of his dreams at the Savoy. An hour ago his train blew up. Now he's carrying a rucksack through London's West End and has turned himself into the most wanted terrorist in the country.
Fast, funny, hip and violent, Bombproof is a non-stop adventure full of unforgettable characters and a heart-warming hero - Sami Macbeth - a man with the uncanny ability to turn a desperate situation into a hopeless one.

Always nice to find a Michael Robotham novel. If you haven't read any of his works start at the first and move along to this one.

3 books

More October - month end tally

FEDERATIONS : edited by JOSEPH ADAMS

Product Description
Edited by John Joseph Adams, editor of Wastelands and The Living Dead. From Star Trek to Star Wars, from Dune to Foundation, science fiction has a rich history of exploring the idea of vast intergalactic societies, and the challenges facing those living in or trying to manage such societies. The stories in Federations will continue that tradition, and herein you will find a mix of all-new, original fiction, alongside selected reprints from authors whose work exemplifies what interstellar SF is capable of, including Lois McMaster Bujold, Orson Scott Card, Anne McCaffrey, George R.R. Martin, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Alastair Reynolds, Robert J. Sawyer, Robert Silverberg and Harry Turtledove. Additional authors: Alan Dean Foster, Kevin J. Anderson, Doug Beason, John C. Wright, Allen Steele, James Alan Gardner, Catherynne M. Valente

I read a good 2/3 of this collection. Short stories are not my favourite reading but this collection featured many of the authors I like and the stories chosen were quite good.

SEAWEED ON ICE: STANLEY EVANS

Product Description
Coast Salish street cop Silas Seaweed has his hands full. An elderly Jewish immigrant has disappeared. An old blind woman has been murdered. Valuable art stolen from German Jews during the Second World War has begun to show up for sale in Victoria's auction houses, and the word on the street is that collectors are planning to loot a priceless aboriginal archaeological site.

Another find from the newspaper reviews of Canadian mystery writers. This is the second in the series, the library does not have the first. Short, enjoyable and fun remembering all the streets we walked and places we visited in Victoria in 2008.

SEAWEED UNDER WATER: STANLEY EVANS

Coast Salish investigator Silas Seaweed is back in another suspenseful pageturner. What begins as a missingperson investigation takes a nasty turn when party girl Jane Colby is found drowned, strangulation marks around her neck. Silas soon discovers that some of Jane's friends would benefit by her death. Tackling the case with his usual intelligence, wit and compassion, he sets out to find Jane's killer. His search leads him to a dangerous family with disturbing secrets.

RETURN OF THE CRIMSON GUARD: IAN ESSLEMONT

Product Description
This is the second epic fantasy novel from the co-creator of the Steven Erikson world of Malaz.
The return of the mercenary company the Crimson Guard could not have come at a worse time for the Malazan Empire. Driven by constant warfare, weakened by betrayal and rivalries, many see the grip of Empress Laseen beginning to weaken as conquered kingdoms and principalities test their old independence.
Into this gathering civil war on Quon Tali, the Empire’s homeland comes the Guard. And with their return comes the memory of their hundred-year-old vow — undying opposition to the existence of the Empire. Yet rivalries and betrayals stalk the Guard as well; elements of its elite, the Avowed, scheme to open paths to even greater power, and ancient potent entities, Ascendants, also lend a hand exploiting all sides to further their own arcane ends.

Still hooked on the whole Malazan story so I'll continue reading until they get boring.

HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY: AUDREY NIFFENEGGER

Product Description
Another brilliant, original and moving novel from the author of The Time Traveler’s Wife.
Julia and Valentina Poole are normal American teenagers — normal, at least, for identical “mirror” twins who have no interest in college or jobs or possibly anything outside their cozy suburban home. But everything changes when they receive notice that an aunt whom they didn’t know existed has died and left them her amazing flat in a building by Highgate Cemetery in London. They feel that at last their own lives can begin … but they have no idea that they’ve been summoned into a tangle of fraying lives, from the OCD-suffering crossword setter who lives above them to their aunt’s mysterious and elusive lover who lives below them, and even to their aunt herself, who never got over her estrangement from the mother of the girls — her own twin — and who can’t even seem to quite leave her flat….

At times I wanted to rush because I really did want to see how it all ended but I managed to hold myself back. This is a good one!

5 books
Month end - 8
To date - 99

Movies:
Nausicaa anime
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time anime
My Neighbor Totoro anime
Whispers of the Heart anime
The Brothers Bloom .... the best con movie ever

Last for September

THE MARRIAGE HEARSE: KATE ELLIS

Product Description
When Kirsten Harbourn is found strangled and naked on her wedding day, DI Wesley Peterson makes some alarming discoveries. Kirsten was being pursued by an obsessed stalker and she had dark secrets her doting fiance, Peter, knew nothing about. But Kirsten's wasn't the only wedding planned to take place that July day in South Devon. At Morbay register office a terrified young girl makes her wedding vows. And a few days later her bridegroom is found dead in a seedy seaside hotel. As Wesley investigates he suspects that his death and his bride's subsequent disappearance might be linked to Kirsten's murder. Meanwhile the skeleton of a young female is found buried in a farmer's field - a field that once belonged to the family of Ralph Strong, an Elizabethan playwright whose play, "The Fair Wife of Padua" is to be performed for the first time in four hundred years. Is this bloodthirsty play a confession to a murder committed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1? Or does it tell another story, one that might cast light on recent mysteries?

Last title my library has so this finishes the series for me.

TEST OF WILLS: CHARLES TODD

From Library Journal
Inspector Ian Rutledge, a British veteran of the Great War secretly still suffering from shell-shock, returns to his Scotland Yard job in hopes of exorcizing his private demons. However, a devious higher-up has learned of his Achilles heel and gets Ian assigned to a potentially explosive and career-damaging case,a murder involving a decorated war hero, a beautiful ward, and a shell-shocked witness. Strong, elegant prose; detailed surroundings; and sound plotting characterize this debut historical.

A new series found. Well plotted, good characters. I have the next one on reserve.

TILL THERE WAS YOU: LYNN KURLAND

Product Description
Zachary Smith is finished with high-maintenance women, impossible clients, and paranormal adventures. But when he walks through a doorway into a different century—and meets Mary de Piaget—he knows his life isn't going to turn out quite the way he planned.

One of the few "romance" novels I still read. I like the time travel aspect and I like the intertwining of main families throughout the series.

books:3

MOVIES:
State of Play... oh hum. The BBC mini series it based itself on was far superior in acting and story development.

Duplicity .. Julia Roberts, Clive Owen. Oh dear. Thankfully we got it free.

Xmen Origins Wolverine ... mindless fun.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button .. a tad long but better than I had expected from the previews

Lost In Austin ... delightful.


Month End: 13
To date : 91

Just one

DANCING BACKWARDS: SALLEY VICKERS

By     Prudence Patts  (London, UK)
This is a brilliantly written story of Violet (Vi) Hetherington and a serious life error she made as a young woman, which is recalled as she crosses the ocean to visit the friend she betrayed. The novel unfolds in characteristic Vickers' style - spare, dry, acutely observed and often very funny,as well as poignant and frequently painful. The back story takes place in the sixties, when as a shy young student, convinced of her own insignificance, Vi meets Edwin, her teacher of literature who encourages her to write and they become firm friends. But another friend of Edwin arrives, a serpent in this garden of Eden, and the resulting catastrophe causes Vi to leave her life as a sucessful poet and settle for a safe but drab marriage. We feel both for the young, inexperienced Vi and her older, more melancholy self, whose shrewd eye appraises her fellow passengers but who also becomes, if unwillingly at first, engaged in their lives. Oh, and she learns to dance, which she is surprisingly good at, which leads to another plot theme. What is so enjoyable about this, as with all Vickers's novels, is that her acute observations and insights are never at the expense of her characters, or her readers. She has a wise and compassionate view of humanity, as befits her psychological background, but she is also huge fun. A great book to take on holiday as well as a serious novel.

A wonderful story, a powerful read.   I loved every page.

1 book

Goodbye Torin and the Valor series

HEART OF VALOR: TANYA HUFF

From Publishers Weekly
The fast-paced third military SF novel in Huff's Confederation series (after Valor's Choice and The Better Part of Valor) examines how an interplanetary confederation might unite several distinctive species into an effective military organization despite widely differing physiologies, customs and mores. Marine Gunnery Sgt. Torin Kerr, recovering from injuries suffered in a first contact situation, accompanies a recruit platoon into the Crucible, a training planet where they apply their lessons in a realistic live-fire exercise against robotic drones. While the exercise is underway, the drones begin acting aggressively, without regard to fail-safes or their programming. Has the platoon come under attack by the mysterious Others, or is this related to the alien escape pod that everybody has forgotten exists except for Torin, her lover and an obnoxious reporter? The intriguing and well-designed aliens and intricate plotting keep the reader guessing.

The adventure continues. I like the link between stories and by reading them so close together I haven't lost track. Didn't feel the other characters were as strong in this tale but Torin remains her wonderful self.

THE MERRY MISOGYNIST : COLIN COTTERILL

In poverty-stricken 1978 Laos, a man with a truck from the city was “somebody,” a catch for even the prettiest village virgin. The corpse of one of these bucolic beauties turns up in Dr. Siri’s morgue and his curiosity is piqued. The victim was tied to a tree and strangled but she had not, as the doctor had expected, been raped, although her flesh had been torn. And though the victim had clear, pale skin over most of her body, her hands and feet were gnarled, callused, and blistered.
On a trip to the hinterlands, Siri discovers that the beautiful female corpse bound to a tree has already risen to the status of a rural myth. This has happened many times before. He sets out to investigate this unprecedented phenomenon—a serial killer in peaceful Buddhist Laos—only to discover when he has identified the murderer that not only pretty maidens are at risk. Seventy-three-year-old coroners can be victims, too.

Having stumbled on this series several years back I look forward to each new installment. Mystery readers should check them out but read in order to get the full context of the characters and historical background.

THE SKELETON ROOM: KATE ELLIS

Product Description
When workmen converting former girls' boarding school, Chadleigh Hall, into a luxury hotel discover a skeleton in a sealed room, DI Wesley Peterson and his boss, Gerry Heffernan are called in to investigate. But within minutes they have a second suspicious death on their hands: a team of marine archaeologists working on a nearby shipwreck have dragged a woman's body from the sea. And it becomes clear that her death was no accident. The dead woman's husband may be linked with a brutal robbery of computer equipment but Wesley soon discovers that the victim had secrets of her own. As he investigates Chadleigh Hall's past and the woman's violent death, both trails lead in surprising directions and matters are further complicated when a man wanted for a murder in London appears on the scene, a man who may know more about Wesley's cases than he admits.

I think this series might do better with more time between readings. I'm getting a little jaded. Only one left at our library so I will read it and just wait to see if I come across the rest.

VALOR"S TRIAL: TANYA HUFF

Product Description
The "rousing military adventure" (Locus) continues with a brand new Valor novel.

Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr is a Confederation Marine's marine. She's survived more deadly encounters-and kept more of her officers and enlistees alive-than anyone in the Corps. Unexpectedly pulled from battle, Torin finds herself in an underground POW camp that shouldn't exist, where her fellow marine prisoners seem to have lost all will to escape. Now, Torin must fight her way not only out of the prison but also past the growing compulsion to sit down and give up-not realizing that her escape could mean the end of the war.

OH NO is this the end? I am going to miss Torin, her quick wit and raised eyebrow. I will miss the dialogue, the aliens, the marines even the annoying reporter. I just wish she hadn't used gray.

4 books

Some great, some good and a so-so

VALOR'S CHOICE: TANYA HUFF

Book Description
In the distant future, humans and several other races have been granted membership in the Confederation--at a price. They must act as soldier/protectors of the far more civilized races who have long since turned away from war.

What a great character Huff has given us in Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr. I loved this book and congratulated myself on bringing home all four in the series so I could continue the adventure. Great story, great characters, fantastic dialogue and writing. I haven't had as much fun with a science fiction military series ranking this one above Weber's Honor Harrington series for pace and enjoyability.

THE BETTER PART OF VALOR

From Library Journal
When Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr makes the mistake of speaking her mind to a superior officer, she finds herself tagged for a special mission for the interplanetary Confederation to act as protector to a scientific exploratory team assigned to investigate an enormous derelict spaceship. Along with her crew and her charges, Kerr soon finds herself in the midst of danger and faced with a mystery that takes all her courage and ingenuity to solve. This sequel to Valor's Choice, featuring a gutsy, fast-thinking female space-marine protagonist, establishes veteran fantasy author Huff as an accomplished spinner of high-tech military-sf adventure

Torin's adventures continue at the same fast pace in a worth sequel. I love this Confederation world Huff has devised with it's different 'old' and 'new' races all well thought out and described. I just know I am going to be a little sad when I get to the end of the series but I am certainly enjoying it page by page.

NAAMAH'S KISS : JACQUELINE CAREY

Product Description
Once there were great magicians born to the Maghuin Dhonn; the folk of the Brown Bear, the oldest tribe in Alba. But generations ago, the greatest of them all broke a sacred oath sworn in the name of all his people. Now, only small gifts remain to them. Through her lineage, Moirin possesses such gifts - the ability to summon the twilight and conceal herself, and the skill to coax plants to grow.
Moirin has a secret, too. From childhood onward, she senses the presence of unfamiliar gods in her life; the bright lady, and the man with a seedling cupped in his palm. Raised in the wilderness by her reclusive mother, it isn't until she comes of age that Moirin learns how illustrious, if mixed, her heritage is. The great granddaughter of Alais the Wise, child of the Maghuin Donn, and a cousin of the Cruarch of Alba, Moirin learns her father was a D'Angeline priest dedicated to serving Naamah, goddess of desire.

Unless I have nothing else to read I don't think I will bother with this series. It was OK but I am getting tired of the same old same old sex bits, that don't really add anything to the story as far as I'm concerned.

SANTA OLIVIA: JACQUELINE CAREY

Publishers Weekly
Departing from epic fantasy (Kushiel's Dart, etc.), Carey sets this powerful near-future tale in Outpost 12, a small town trapped in a "buffer zone" shielding Texas from pandemic-stricken Mexico. Two half-siblings chafing under General Argyle's military rule make very different plans to beat the status quo. Tom, the son of a soldier, lives at the gym, where he trains in boxing and hopes to win his freedom from the town by defeating the general's boxing champion. Loup, who has inherited her escaped father's oddly engineered genes, joins a group of church wards called the Santitos, a tight gang of vigilantes who masquerade as the local saint, Santa Olivia. Carey's fans will enjoy meeting another strong, fearless heroine with special powers, while new readers will appreciate the tight focus that intensifies the depth of character and emotion.

I found it a quick read. Not A totally original storyline but decent enough plot and characters. I must be getting old because I find myself flipping past the sex scenes and will admit to finding same sex sex becoming just a trademark piece for the author....Oh gee, lets spice it up a notch.

THE BLOOD PIT: KATE ELLIS

Product Description
Never has DI Wesley Peterson witnessed such a bizarre crime scene. The victim, Charles Marrick, has been murdered, his body drained of blood. Described by those who knew him as 'evil', it seems that Wesley isn't going to have any shortage of suspects until a popular local vet is murdered in an identical fashion...and a third body is discovered many miles away. And when Wesley's archaeologist friend, Neil Watson, starts getting disturbing anonymous letters written in gory detail about macabre events at a medieval abbey which Neil fears are being sent by the killer Wesley is looking for Wesley wonders whether there could be a connection between all these deaths and Neil's letters.

Out of published order so some of the personal storyline for Peterson was a surprise but not a hindrance to the plot. I will read all the books I can locate at the library but won't worry about any missed.

5 books

Month End - August

THE BONE GARDEN: KATE ELLIS

From Booklist
Past and present come together in Detective Sergeant Wesley Peterson's latest case. In the course of restoring the gardens at historic Earlsacre Hall, three skeletons are uncovered. The bones appear to be centuries old, but they hold an interest for Peterson, whose degree is in archaeology. But despite the attraction of the skeletons, Peterson has more pressing concerns. A decomposing body with multiple stab wounds is found at a local campsite, and shortly afterward, the body of a local lawyer is discovered, his head bashed in by a cricket bat. Peterson's intuition tells him the two murders are connected, and he also suspects a link with Earlsacre, but he has no evidence to back up his hunches.

I finally get into sequence only to find the library does not own the next one and jumps some of the later ones as well. Pity, but I will read the ones they have. Not tired of them yet.

1 book
..........................

Month End :13

To Date : 78

Movies:
The Soloist - DVD .. I had my doubts about a film about a homeless man playing classical music after seeing the trailers but the film itself delivered much much more. Solid acting, good story line and not at all preachy.

The Hurt Locker -- theatre .. loved it. The hand held camera shake bothered me a little but the story and the character portrayal was intense enough to make up for it.

Race to Witch Mountain - DVD .. Entertaining fun with some good lines. It always amazes my how good an actor The Rock is.

Caprica -- DVD .. Seeing as I followed B Galactica on TV I figured I should see this. Not bad. Could turn into an interesting series,

Fast and Furious --DVD .. Lots of cars, lots of crashes. Mindless entertainment but don't watch the extras on making of. Ruins all the stunts.

I Could Never Be Your Woman--DVD .. Got it from the library only because I like Michelle Pfeiffer. Lots of laughs thanks to a decent script. Hubby didn't cringe in horror so not totally a chickflick.


The International--DVD .. Again one that was better than the trailers led me to believe. Fantastic use of architecture, colours and cinematography. Finally a thriller without the lead actors having an affair. Smart script. Directed by Tom Tykwer.