Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

by CarolNo Comments
Starter Villain is just fun, from beginning to end. Charlie is down on his luck. He's divorced, living in a house his half-siblings want to sell, and working as a substitute teacher. All he wants to do is buy the pub downtown, but he has no money and can't get a loan. Then his estranged uncle dies and leaves him his business - parking garages/ villainous empire. Suddenly he's the owner of a top-secret lair (under a volcano, naturally), though the "sinister mission control room" is somewhat lacking. And now some people are pressuring him to join the Lombardy Convocation, a group of supervillainous villains who just happen to be having their annual meeting. This story is laugh-out-loud funny. Charlie is in over his head but has some good guidance, including from his cat, Hera (who I adore by the way). Turns out villany is much more corporate than one would have thought. In addition to explosions, Bond-style bad guys, and...
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This Body’s Not Big Enough for Both of Us by Edgar Cantero

This Body’s Not Big Enough for Both of Us by Edgar Cantero

by CarolNo Comments
Loved, loved, loved This Body's Not Big Enough for Both of Us. In San Francisco, there’s a dingy little office that bears the names of A. Kimrean and Z. Kimrean Private Eyes, but anyone who walks into the office will be surprised to see one androgynous person sitting there, and nowhere near enough space for a second detective. Adrian and Zooey Kimrean are brother and sister, conjoined twins, who share the same whole body and brain. Adrian is all logic and little emotion, able to jump to deductions like Sherlock Holmes; Zooey is wild, carefree, and a bit of a nymphomaniac. Together they make an excellent team, when they aren’t trying to figure out a way to push the other one out of consciousness so that only one can be in control… but what siblings don’t have their little squabbles? So, we've got a Private Investigator who is hired by the SFPD to stop a gang war and get an undercover...
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Something Fresh by P. G. Wodehouse

Something Fresh by P. G. Wodehouse

by Carol7 Comments
I've read several of Wodehouse's Jeeves and Bertie books, but Something Fresh is the first of his Blandings Castle series I've picked up. It was funny and light-hearted and just a nice break. Lord Emsworth, owner of Blandings Castle, accidentally stole a valuable scarab from his son's fiancée's father, a millionaire American. Our two main characters, Ashe Marson and Joan Valentine, are headed to Blandings Castle for a house party, both trying to retrieve the scarab and receive the reward. They both are impersonating servants, so we see a lot of what is happening downstairs. Ashe and Joan have a lot in common even though they have only recently met; they are both writers, both live in the same building, both could use a new direction, something fresh. In the meantime, Lord Emsworth son may or may not be a spot of trouble over a former crush. Now that he is engaged, those letters he wrote to another woman may cost...
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‘Twas the Nightcap Before Christmas by Katie Blackburn

‘Twas the Nightcap Before Christmas by Katie Blackburn

by Carol5 Comments
"'Twas the nightcap before Christmas That caused mischief and mayhem and Mom wearing stockings when she should have been filling them..." Cute, little alcohol-soaked adult take on 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. Mom and dad drink way too much and have a lot of fun on Christmas eve, but get very little actually done. Happily Santa shows up after they're out for the night and saves the day. Definitely for adults, but fun. It would be a nice Christmas gift for parents with a sense of humor. I received it in a Secret Santa gift and had to read it almost immediately. The bright colors, the fact that it's a take on a familiar poem, make it pretty irresistible....
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Told After Supper by Jerome K. Jerome

by CarolNo Comments
Apparently telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve was a tradition in England. This is a funny little book. I found it because I was looking for Christmassy ghost stories for a Thursday's Tale post, but this is more of a parody of ghost stories. "Christmas Eve is the ghosts' great gala night. On Christmas Eve they hold their annual fete. On Christmas Eve everybody in Ghostland who IS anybody—or rather, speaking of ghosts, one should say, I suppose, every nobody who IS any nobody—comes out to show himself or herself, to see and to be seen, to promenade about and display their winding-sheets and grave-clothes to each other, to criticise one another's style, and sneer at one another's complexion." The narrator tells us that it is Christmas Eve at his Uncle John's house. Gathered together are of the narrator, old Dr Scrubbles, the local curate, Mr Samuel Coombes, Teddy Biffles and Uncle John. At the party goes on and they more of the...
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