Teaser from A Fatal Grace

by Carol9 Comments
Gamache's job was to collect the evidence, but also to collect the emotions. And the only way he knew to do that was to get to know the people. To watch and listen. To pay attention, and the best way to do that was in a deceptively casual way in a deceptively casual setting. Like the bistro. (Tuesday Teaser from A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny.)...
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Review: “Ceiling” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

by Carol8 Comments
I'm developing a true appreciation of short stories. I've only started reading them regularly in the last year or so. I don't feel as connected to the characters of as invested in them as I do with a novel, but each phrase, each action because so much more important in a short piece. I jumped at the chance to review The Best American Short Stories 2011. "Ceiling" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is the first selection in the anthology. Obinze is the main character in "Ceiling." He's a married man living in Lagos, Nigeria. He's one of those guys that has it all, beautiful wife and child, nice house, money, fancy car, but he's just not content. He was tired. It was not a physical fatigue—he used his treadmill regularly and felt better than he had in years—but a draining lassitude that numbed the margins of his mind. His feelings are brought home to him by an e-mail from his college sweetheart, the one who...
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Monday morning

by Carol12 Comments
It was actually a little cooler around here this past week, pleasant, and even some rain. It was kind of nice to be back on my regular schedule for a week. I did receive a few books over the last couple of weeks. Mailbox Monday is taking a blog tour. This month’s host is Staci at Life in the Thumb. If Jack's in Love by Stephen Wetta (from Putnam) Hidden in Paris by Corine Gantz (a win from My Love Affair with Books. Thanks Misha!) Between the Thames and the Tiber by Ted Riccardi (from Open Road Media via NetGalley) Three Sisters by Helen Smith (a win from Her Book Self. Thanks Lisa!) I'm looking forward to reading them. I know I always say that, but I always mean it. Something about every book I receives attracts me, whether I end up actually liking the book or not. It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Here's what I wrote about last...
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Review: The Curse of Scattershale Gulch by Camille LaGuire

by Carol5 Comments
I've said it before: Mick and Casey are my favorite fictional couple I've met this year. They're a young married couple in the Old West, gunslingers who tend to caught up in mysteries that need solving. Mick and Casey are riding with the stage coach just for the day. I was lucky. I had a partner - my wife Casey - working with me and watching my back. She was females, and what some might term "just a slip of a girl," bu I wouldn't dare call her that. She was a sharpshooter and otherwise mean as a wet cat. Couldn't think of anybody I'd rather have watching my back and I sure enjoyed watching hers. Turns out though that the regular messenger is dead. Mick doesn't take the gob of going on with the stagecoach, but he and Casey hear about the curse of Scattershale Gulch in the saloon. There's a stretch of road where people have a tendency to have accidents...
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