Shots Fired by C.J. Box

I've been reading C.J. Box's novels about a Wyoming game warden named Joe Pickett for years, but I have to say I really enjoyed Shots Fired, a collection of short stories. The title story is the last story in the book, and even though I liked it, I liked several other stories even better.

A couple that really stood out were The End of Jim and Ezra and Pronghorns of the Third Reich. Box introduced each short story at the beginning of the book, and I made a point of reading each introduction before reading the story. 

To introduce "Jim and Ezra" the author said that a bookseller encouraged him to write a historical novel based on these two characters. I'd read it!

For Pronghorns of the Third Reich, Box used an actual photograph as inspiration for the story, which is included at the end of the short story. But as he says, no looking ahead at the photo. Very cool!

C.J. Box generally writes about Wyoming, but I've read another of his standalone novels Three Weeks to Say Goodbye that was just as good. It was set mostly in Denver. Since I lived there most of my adult life, it's always fun to read about familiar locales.

Do you like reading all of an authors' books? I have lots to catch up on of the Joe Pickett novels!

Book Read:  Shots Fired

Author:  C.J. Box

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

I read Life After Life by Kate Atkinson recently and found it puzzling and wonderful! This novel deals with the life (lives) of Ursula Todd. I was puzzled throughout by the many chances the author gives Ursula to live. In the beginning, Ursula dies in childbirth. Her next life allows her to live a bit longer, and then longer still. Each previous life is in the back of poor Ursula's mind, bits here and there, as if she has been there before because of course, she has. 

This review on Amazon sums up the Atkinson's writing in Life After Life so well:

"Yes, many themes do permeate the story of Ursula Todd - everything from Plato's "Everything changes and nothing remains still," Buddhist principles of fate and reincarnation, Nietzsche's "amor fati" (Love of Fate), to Jungian explanations of "déjà vu," "synchronicity" and "collective unconsciousness," and that's just to name a few - but what really makes this novel stand out, what really makes it so amazing is how lightly, even unassumingly, and yet so impeccably Kate Atkinson treats such sophisticated and intellectual subject matter."

If you've read any of Kate Atkinson's novels you know what a stellar writer she is. If not, you're in for a treat!

Book Read:  Life After Life

Author:  Kate Atkinson

Dedication by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

I was so happy with the ending of this book! I enjoyed reading it but toward the end, I have to say, I had my doubts. Not one to give away spoilers, I won't say a word but if you like good chick lit, you'll like this one.

One of my favorite parts (well, it's minor but it made me smile and say, "Yes, I did that!) is when one of the characters borrows her mother's black cashmere sweater but it has a tiny hole in it. She gets a Sharpie and writes on herself where the hole is so it won't show. We used to do this before having holes in our jeans was cool. 

I'd only other novel of theirs I'd read was The Nanny Diaries, which was great. This one was just as good. And I found out that they have several other novels just waiting for me to read. Yay! 


Book Read:  Dedication
Author:  Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

Beautiful Lies by Clare Clark and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Okay, for whatever reason I didn't post about reading Beautiful Lies by Clare Clark when I finally finished reading it. In fact, the book is mostly forgotten. The book was interesting but too damn long (and not that interesting, I guess. Not to me.). 

I agree with a review I read where the reviewer said something like "if they'd cut out the smoking parts, the book would have been a quarter as long." Seriously. The main character smoked. A lot.

 At 481 pages, this book took me more than 2 weeks to finish.  Way too long and uninteresting.

Book Read: Beautiful Lies

Author:  Clare Clark

ISBN:  978-0-15-101467-5

 
And then I picked up Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn to read. Wow! What a difference! I'd been hearing about Gone Girl for months but didn't really know anything about it. I could guess from the title that it was about a girl (woman) who was missing.

Yessir, it is. And so much more! This is the best book I've read in ages. Run to the store, the library, wherever you can find it and start reading Gone Girl. It's captivating and thrilling!

At 411 pages, I read this book in 3 days. Fabulous!

Book Read:  Gone Girl

Author: Gillian Flynn

ISBN:  978-0-307-58836-4

The Bride's House by Sandra Dallas

After I finished my last book, I realized I didn't have another book picked out to read. A friend had sent me The Bride's House by Sandra Dallas so I picked it up and started reading it. This book is divided into three parts, and the first part was by far the best, in my opinion. 

Three generations of women are covered, one in each of the book's parts. The first part covered Nealie Bent, a 17-year-old girl who had run away from an abusive father, in 1881. She rode the train from Hannibal, Missouri to Denver, Colorado then on another 40 miles to Georgetown, a small mining town in the mountains. 


Since I'd lived in Colorado and had been to Georgetown numerous times, the historical look at the small, quaint town was intriguing. And the story of Nealie was a good one. I also liked the descriptions about the house and the town.

Then part two and part three came along. Not so intriguing. These other two women, Pearl and Susan, Nealie's daughter and granddaughter, didn't hold up like Nealie did. Oh well. This was an okay story. If you love romances, this is probably the book for you. It's not a genre I'm found of. 

I did like reading Dallas's novel Tallgrass. Have you read any of Sandra Dallas's books? Do you have a favorite?

Book Read: The Bride's House

Author:  Sandra Dallas

ISBN:  978-1-250-00827-5

Secrets of Eden by Chris Bohjalian

I stayed up late last night to finish reading Secrets of Eden. This novel centered around the deaths of a rural Vermont couple, Alice and George Hayward. It was pretty clear that George had killed his wife Alice, but did George kill himself? And if not, who killed George? Turns out, no, the autopsy showed that George didn't kill himself.

I knew how the story was going to end from a few innocent lines in the book that just had to be a clue to the big mystery unfolding--otherwise they didn't fit. And yep, even though I didn't have the details worked out in my head, I had picked up on the right person who killed George.

This book is certainly worth reading. And from Chris Bohjalian's Facebook page:

Mark your calendars or set your Tivo: "Secrets of Eden," the movie, premiers on Lifetime on November 21 starring John Stamos and Lili Taylor. Director is Tawnia McKiernan. Producer is Craig Anderson.

Nice! Can't wait to watch this one. Have you read Secrets of Eden? How about these other New England authors?

Book Read: Secrets of Eden

Author: Chris Bohjalian

ISBN: 978-0-307-39497-2

The Postcard Killers by James Patterson and Liza Marklund

The Postcard Killers by James Patterson and Liza Marklund was classic Patterson, which is to say, the same old, same old. The story was interesting enough, I guess. I mean, I finished it, but I certainly didn't have the feeling of "oh, I can't wait to start reading it again."

Maybe it's just that I'm tired to James Patterson's writing. Here are my main gripes with James Patterson in general:

-  When a co-author is listed along with his name, I wonder if he even wrote a word of the book or did he discuss a plot with someone, that person wrote the book and the publisher slapped his name on there to sell books?

-  What is up with the 2-page "chapters"? I mean, I've done typesetting, desktop publishing, editing. This is such a blatant padding technique that his books would probably be about one-third the size if that little technique wasn't used.


-  Does he pull a plot out of a hat to reuse? His books all seem the same, at least the last few I've read.

Maybe I've just outgrown James Patterson's writing. What do you think? Are you a fan of James Patterson? Were you ever?

Book Read:  The Postcard Killers
Author:  James Patterson and Liza Marklund
ISBN:  978-0-316-08951-7