The Terra-Cotta Dog by Andrea Camilleri

by CarolNo Comments
I've been reading the Commissario Montalbano out-of-order over the last few years. I enjoy them but not enough to go out of my way to read them. Most I've picked up on audio from the library when they've been available. I like Montalbano. He's amusing in a crass way. He's as interested in literature and food as he is catching criminals. He can be philosophical one moment and wise-cracking the next. He cynical, but also has a soft side. He can be tough as nails, but the idea of a promotion or talking in front of the media terrifies him. This time around we've got two things going. There's a Mafia gun situation and the mystery of the two people killed 50 years ago. I like that both get solved. The current mystery needs to be dealt with, but the older one captures Montalbano's imagination. The secondary characters are well-developed, even those that end up dead. The mysteries were well done. The present day situation had well-placed...
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The Janus Affair by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris

by Carol7 Comments
First off, The Janus Affair overall was better than the first in the series for me. I liked the suffragette connection and I thought the gadgets and machines were cooler this time around. It's a funner book. Braun and Books are a great team. I enjoy their interactions. They are both witty and have wonderful comebacks and one-liners. They make me smile. There's some sexual tension, but the romance touches don't overpower the story. However, the introduction of Eliza's old flame leads to one of my quibbles. While his presence pushed Books to look a little more at his feelings for Eliza, I could have done without him. I almost quit partway through. There were two male secondary characters, one being Eliza's old friend and the other a fellow Ministry worker, who I just didn't enjoy. They were jerks, and not integral enough to the story to make up for the amount of time spent on them. I really just strongly disliked...
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The Bughouse Affair by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini

by Carol4 Comments
I expected to really enjoy this one. I'm a sucker for historical mysteries and pair a couple of sleuths with a maybe Sherlock Holmes- ti should have been right up my alley. Turned out it was just kind of meh. Sabina and Quincannon were a little bland. To be honest, it's a few days after i read the book and I can't really think of anything particularly interesting about either. She's a widow. He's a bit full of himself. They're both clever enough, but I guess I don't feel like we really got to know them, or maybe there's nothing much to know. Then there's the Sherlock, who may actually be him but may not. i don't understand shy he was there, if this is a series focussed on the otehr two, the authors should have just left him out. He didn't add much to the story, besides being annoying. I assume he'll show up in later books in the series,...
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Sounds Like Me: My Life (So Far) in Song by Sara Bareilles

by Carol5 Comments
I enjoy Sara Bareilles' songs. I just do. They make me want to sing along, which is why I picked this audio up from the library. Sara reads this collection of 8 essays and sing pieces of a few of her songs along the way. It's like talking to an old friend. She's honest and lets us see parts of her life. She shares her insecurities, her struggles with body image, her struggles as a beginning songwriter. I think listening to the audio was the way to go though, rather than reading it in print. You can tell that she really cares about people and is thrilled when her songs connect to people, inspires people, let people know that they're not alone. She's very affirming of others, especially young women. I love how she doesn't take herself too seriously though. She keeps the tone light throughout and I enjoyed the different tones she uses when she laughs at herself. It's a fun...
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Phoenix Rising by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris

by Carol3 Comments
Phoenix Rising was fun, but not quite good enough to hold my attention the whole time - like I found myself at the gym watching the captions on HGTV instead of listening to the story. I think it's a problem with the attitude of the book. It's steampunk. Books is an archivist; Braun is kind of a female James Bond. They embark on solving a mystery that drove one of their colleagues literally insane. There are huge mechamen and an enemy intent on destroying England maybe - not sure. There's an orgy and an escape from the dungeon. It's absurd and would be amusing, if it felt like the story knew how silly it was, instead it seems to take itself seriously. Now, I listened to the audio, so I don't know if that's just the way the narration seemed and I would have found the whole think more tongue in cheek had I been reading it in print. I like...
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All the Old Knives by Olen Steinhauer

by Carol1 Comment
I listened to the audio version of All the Old Knives, which I think may have been a mistake. The plot is interesting: former lovers, Celia a former spy, Henry still in the game, meet for dinner. Henry's goal is to put to rest once and for all a case from years ago that involved a plane hijacking, or at least that's what he tells us his goal is- he doesn't tell Celia that when she agrees to meet him. Of course, she has her own reasons for coming to the restaurant. The story takes place during this one meal, but we go back and forth in time to the hijacking. the book alternates between Henry and Celia's viewpoints, with a different narrator for each. Most of the time, switches in viewpoint and time period don't bother me, but I think the two narrators made this one tough. Celia's "voice" threw me out of the story every time. She just didn't sound like...
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