Scattershot by Bill Pronzini

by Carol1 Comment
Nameless is having a really bad week. Three cases, all of which should be quick, easy money, go awry, landing him in the hot seat. And, to top it off, thing are not going great with his girlfriend. I don't really have much to say about the book, even though I definitely enjoyed it. It's a quick story and I love how Nameless manages to solve the crimes. All three are basically locked room mysteries and getting to the answers take both seeing the clues and having that flash of insight. I also appreciated that even though we do have three mysteries, they're actually unrelated. Too often in mysteries, everything conveniently ties together; here they don't, which feels  more realistic to me. I could have done without the moping about the girlfriend. I'm pretty sure that his pressuring her was not helping their relationship. This is the first full-length Nameless story I've read, so I'm not sure how it compares to others, but...
Read More

Thursday’s Tale: The Jaguar and the Little Skunk

by Carol1 Comment
I have a sad little skunk story from South America today. Once there was a gentleman jaguar and a lady skunk. Mrs. Skunk had a son, who was baptized by Mr. Jaguar, so Mrs. Skunk became his comadre (godmother). And as Mr. Jaguar had baptized the little skunk, he was Mrs. Skunk's compadre (godfather). Mr. Jaguar decided to go looking for food and came to Mrs. Skunk's house. He told her that he wanted to take his godson with him so he could learn to hung. Mrs. Skunk was reluctant, but the little skunk begged her to go, so she relented and little skunk and Mr. Jaguar set off, walking toward the river. When they got to the river, Mr. Jaguar told the little skunk that he was going to sharpen his knife, and proceeded to sharpen his claws. He told little skunk to be on guard, because the jaguar was going to sleep. When little skunk saw the animals with the big...
Read More

Readers’ Workouts – 7/18

by Carol6 Comments
I'm sorry I'm posting a day late. We were at the lake over the weekend with little to no internet and yesterday just got away from me. I missed my step goal this week, but barely. I think kayaking and fishing should count as more steps than they do.   This week: Saturday - Walk with the dog, Fishing Sunday - Kayaking, Fishing Monday - Walk to the bank I had never been kayaking before; it was fun. These are a few photos my brother-in-law took. Meal ideas: Pork tenderloin with kiwi pineapple salsa (I posted a photo on my instagram.) Mexican corn salad with black beans Teriyaki broccoli and mushrooms Carolina barbecue pork tenderloin with apple slaw Fried mushroom sub Year Fitness Goals: - Lose weight. Goal - Lose 26 lbs. - Run 2 5ks, 1 10K and 1 half. Completed - 1 10K; 1 5K - Hit my weekly step goal (56,000 steps) for 48 weeks. Weeks completed: 22 How was your week? Readers’ Workouts is hosted by Joy at Joy’s Book Blog....
Read More

The Last of August by Brittany Cavallaro

by Carol5 Comments
To be honest, I don't really have much to say about this one. I enjoyed the first in the series, maybe partly because of the novelty but also because it was fun for the most part. This time around the Watson and Holmes were both a little more annoying and we didn't get to spend much time with the characters I liked. Maybe overall is was a little too full of YA drama for a mystery for me. Yes, you're angry and jealous and whiny - I'm tired of hearing about it. Yes, you have a variety of issues, few of which are your fault, but you should definitely see a therapist. Can we get back to the mystery? But then the mystery's a bit disappointing. And I hated the ending. The thing is, I really want to like this series. Since it's only a trilogy, I'll probably borrow the last from the library when it comes out and hope it makes up for...
Read More