Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1) Review

If you're just starting the Dresden series, don't judge it by the first two books. While they are definitely enjoyable, they don't measure up to the next few in the series. (I've only read the first 5, so far. But I'm well and truly hooked.)Get more detail about Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1).

The Devil's Casino: Friendship, Betrayal, and the High Stakes Games Played Inside Lehman Brothers

The book provides an excellent insight into the personalities and relationships that formed and ultimately destroyed a premier American company. It reads like a novel, but these events actually happened. The book makes one ask, how does so much power and money transfer to people who are as flawed as the rest of us and why do we continue to belive them?Get more detail about The Devil's Casino: Friendship, Betrayal, and the High Stakes Games Played Inside Lehman Brothers.

Where To Buy The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag: A Flavia de Luce Mystery

I wasn't sure I'd like this book based on what I read in the descriptions but it was a real delight. The main character has an interesting perspective on her world and is a charmer to boot. I will go back and read the first in the series and will eagerly look for the next one.Get more detail about The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag: A Flavia de Luce Mystery.

Shop For Tea Time for the Traditionally Built: The New No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Novel

Smith treats the ladies of the No. 1 Detective Agency with gentle humor and great respect. I look forward to each new book in the series. This, as the others was a joy to read.Get more detail about Tea Time for the Traditionally Built: The New No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Novel.

Order The Lacuna

Kingsolver traces the evolution of a misfit character, Harrison Shepherd, who seems orphaned even when living with his bohemian mother. A keen observer of others, displaced from both home and country, he uses his isolation as a listening post. The characters who touch his life are marvelously drawn and often historically and artistically significant like Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Trotsky. In painting Harrison's life, Kingsolver creates a panoramic mosaic of post-revolutionary Mexico in all its idealism and messy reality.
When Harrison returns to the U.S. during World War II, we get the equivalent of a WPA mural of a country gung-ho for sacrifice and solidarity. But post-war, the society turns into a cubist collage of fear and paranoia as McCarthy's House Un-American Activities committee investigates any who dare to think America is less than perfect.
I found the creeping dissolution of civil liberties and privacy--as well as the hostility to innovation and criticism--scarily relevant to the situation in the U.S. today. Seized by fear of external enemies, the U.S. locked up Japanese, Germans, and Italians (even though long-time, loyal citizens) during the war (shades of ethnic profiling), then proceeded to invade the lives of suspected dissenters and free thinkers (called Commies) after the war.
Harrison is the center of interest and point of view who brings all these sweeping social issues into focus. I enjoyed the book's beautiful literary style, character portrayal, and finely tuned ear for dialogue as much as its never heavy-handed message of the need to protect individual liberties. It made me think about yesterday and today: the parallels and pitfalls. It made me care about this brave man who caused no harm in his quest for a family and truth-telling.
The title, Lacuna, refers to a hole that hides bones of our ancestors. The author exposes the dirt and the skeletons of the past, leaving it up to the reader to view them as compost from which something new may sprout or merely dust and detritus. Bravo, Barbara Kingsolver, and thank you!Get more detail about The Lacuna.

Buy Under the Dome: A Novel

Much of this book is typical Stephen King. He picks a small town and describes the zany/quirky/benevolent/malevolent cast of characters that live there. He describes the way they interact, how they help and hurt each other, and gives some great examples of the good and evil things that people can do to one another. In this way, Under the Dome reminds me a lot of another King book, Needful Things. [Note, though, that the main internal antagonist in this book, selectman Jim Rennie, can't hold a candle to Leland Gaunt.]

Very shortly after the book begins, describing the town of Chester's Mill, a huge dome comes down over the town, instantly separating the townsfolk from the rest of the world. Under the Dome describes two parallel stories:

-their struggle to get by and manage their daily lives in this new environment. Things like breathing, shopping, eating, flushing the toilet, and more are all changed instantly and permanently.

-their struggle to understand the dome, where it came from, and to find a way out of their situation if they can.

To me, Under the Dome handles the first story brilliantly, and the second in a much less satisfying way. Not just the end "resolution" of the book but the whole origin story of the dome. I will concede that after 1,000 plus pages, there is no easy way to end this story, but the end almost seemed like a cop-out.

Maybe, in the end, the best thing about Under the Dome is that it helped clarify what kind of Stephen King fan I am. My favorites (Needful Things, Eyes of the Dragon, even The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon) are more about storytelling than horror. And so it is that I like the storytelling in UtD more than the horror.

PS> I know that the hardcover book comes with an amazing map of Chester's Mill. If this is available to Kindle readers, I never figured out how and where.Get more detail about Under the Dome: A Novel.

Purchase Tempted

A horrible series with alot of filler words .Could be condensed to a short story .Rediculous dialogue.Get more detail about Tempted.