Tom's Life Bits

• An Odyssey FIT bookclub June 2020 notes

• First 5 years of book club reads
• Leave Only Footprints James bookclub May 2023
• Dragon Teeth Discussion Sept 2023
• Thousand Pieces of Gold Oct 2023
• Braiding Sweetgrass Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Dec 2023
• Jan-Apr 2024 James Museum Book Club books
• Big Burn by Timothy Egan Feb 2024
• Doc by Mary Doria Russell April 2024
• Windfall by Erika Bolstad
• Saving Yellowstone by Megan Kate Nelson July 2024
• Murder on the Red River by Marcie Rendon Aug 2024
• Ballad of Love and Glory by Reyna Grande Sept 2024
• Astoria Nov 2024
• James by Percival Everett Dec 2024
• Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters April 2025

• Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer
• Braiding Sweetgrass (html)
• Prevention Myths, Dr Ford Brewer
• Prevention Myths, Dr Brewer (html)
• Undo It, Dean & Anne Ornish
• Undo It, Ornish (html)

• 100 Notable books celebrating 100 years of Siimon & Schuster
• Sarasota Herald story about 100 notable books Feb 11, 2024
• simon_schuster_100_books Feb 2024

My list of reads. I started listing these in reverse chronological order but have not switched it all over yet. In 2010 I changed my rating scale to 0-10 instead of 0-5.

beginning 2023: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18agLVN1Mrqyra-iWdVV8eLIDyu8rY0ZGDq1ddKWh_SQ/edit#gid=0

beginning 2009: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h5MHegGhY-iFdXx2GoFUzH6HsjeD8oUlDbYVqnoR51s/edit

171. Illegal Gardener
Sara Alexi
December 2015
Another tale in the Greek series narrative. This was actually the first in the series. An illegal gets a job working for an Englishwoman. He works hard and borrows her computer after work to learn programming and web design. When he is rounded up by authorities one night while sleeping in a barn he is taken to a jail in Athens. The woman spends a lot of time looking for him and when found she arranges for an attorney, some paperwork to get a Visa and lines up some web design jobs for him. He eventually becomes successful and goes back to his wife and village in Pakistan an honored person. He continues to keep in touch with the English woman via email and they all lived happily ever after.
TGstars 8 Quite a good feel good book. Sara Alexi does a good job picturing the countryside for her readers. I enjoyed it and would like to read more of the Greek series.

170. Atomic Times
Michael Harris
November 2015
Fascinating story about the life of a year on Enitewok in the South Pacific witnessing H Bomb tests. It was shocking to see how careless the government was with these weapons of mass destruction. They ariel dropped the first one on the wrong island surprising the men witnessing the blast since they thought their back were to the explosion. Wrong, what a shock. Life on the island is otherwise boring and there are no woman here so it's really boring. The writer is glad to get off, is worried about having been exposed to all the radiation of the tests. his girlfriend left him while on the island, an event that happened to several others as well. One of them even became gay which was pretty radical for the 1950s. There wasn't much of a story here but the eyewitness accounts of early atomic history are fascinating.
TGstars 5 Author is good at writing up the events. As it stands this isn't a story but is more like reading a blog, thus I didn't rate it very high. The author is a good writer however. He lacked material other than documenting the bomb blasts.

169.Go Set a Watchman
Harper Lee
September 2015
This was the successor to Kill a Mockingbird and was somewhat of a shocker. I liked the story, it is much later in time and find that Atticus belonged to the KKK. Scout had been living in NY and was more worldly and came back to visit her home town and her Father Atticus Finch in Maycomb, Alabama. She is horrified her Father is not a god. She has grown up! This was a pretty good read, I like the brilliant writing.
TGstars 9
Outstanding writing, a good story and definitely for those of us who have read Mockingbird, even if it was 50 years ago (my case).

168.First Class to NY
AJ Harmon
September 2015
I really liked this book until it had a non ending. I found out at the end you have o buy the next book in the series to find out the ending. This was a Kindle freebie but I feel ripped off. Series books are fine but each should have an ending. The story: A naïve Portland, OR widow treats herself to the trip of a lifetime. She flies First Class to NY and stays at the Waldorf. On the plane she meets a rich playboy who eventually she gets together with. He doesn't want a relationship, she has only ever had one man in her life but gives herself to him. They fall in love but some miscommunications have her returning to NY at the end of her 2 weeks and he remorseful that she has left because he's in love. The book has no ending since you have to buy the next book to find out what happened.
TGstars 1 Good writing, nice story, a tiny bit of suspense, lots of good sex but the non ending left me pissed off.

167. Life is a Trip
Judith Fein
May 2015
I read this prior to our trip to Europe. It was great in that it taught me how to travel and be a traveller rather than a tourist. She immerses herself into the people wherever she can when she travels. She travels not only to see a place but to experience the culture. Her writing is inspirational and uplifting. I got stoked up reading her adventures, ready to want to accumulate adventures of my own. I need to read more by this writer.
TGstars 8 Inspirational read from a wonderful travel writer. She's funny, informative and a wild traveler, leaving much to chance on her journeys to see how it comes out.

166.Buck Stops Here
Harry Truman
April 2015
Excellent story of the history of the US by President Truman. He's a plain speaking ordinary thinking guy who has opinions about everything and everyone. It's fun reading about US History from the revolution to his hate of Eisenhower. I learned a lot of History I should have known about the revolution and other US events but this was either a first time learning or a review. I enjoyed it.
TGstars 10 Wonderful review of US History complete with commentary and opinion by Harry Truman.

165.At Any Price
Brenna Aubrey
Jan 2015
A woman who is a gamer and writes a blog about games is a Virgin. She decides to auction her virginity. Adam, a handsome CEO of a gaming company wins the auction but doesn't take her virginity after several opportunities. she decides he is stalling and doesn't want his money although it would her with her Mother's cancer bills and her college loans. Worse, she wants to go to med school. He eventually takes her virginity, they love each other but she isn't sure of him. He tries to follow her but work keeps getting in the way.
TGstars 4 I got into this story and liked the characters but the contrived drama left me not liking it. What's worse, there are 2 more books to get to the end. No thanks.

164.The Hostage Bargain
Annika Martin
Dec 2014
A woman hates her boss who owns the bank she works in as a teller. When the bank is robbed she cooperates with the bandits and even points out the bank owners bag of diamonds stored in the vault. They take her hostage where she wants to join the robbers as their getaway drive. To make her prove she will do what they say they make her take her panties off then expose herself. This leads to sex play in the car and then an orgy in the hotel. Other guys come after them who are not the cops, they narrowly escape the hotel. They hole up in another luxury hotel planning their next job of a bank owned by the same Wisconsin owner. Lots more sex and the second robbery takes place.
The other bad guys chase them down and capture Melinda and one of them, locking them in a box. They have sex in the box then are freed by their partners who had escaped. She ends up joining the guys, never going home again.
TGstars 2 Intriguing story but the focus seems to be on the sex. I like a good sex scene but this is ridiculous. The writing is good but the construction weaving sex with the story is poor. Too much sex and sex details.

163.The Mistletoe Promise
Richard Paul Evans
Dec 2014
I absolutely loved this book. Evans really draws you in from the first paragraph. A lonely girl, Elise, signs a contract with a lawyer in her building for companionship. He needs a date for holiday parties, with no strings attached and no sex, no commitment. Along the way we learn Elise was married to a loser and then we learn she accidentally killed her child by forgetting she was in the backseat of the car in the summer sun at work. Nicholas is too good to be true. Good looking and rich, he treats her like a princess while he himself is a perfect gentleman. We later find Nicholas has his own demon. When 16 he got drunk and drove a car down a hill with 3 other kids in it and ran over a family in a crosswalk, killing 3 out of 4 members. He went to jail for this.
Through trials and parties in which each of their covers seemed to be almost revealed we learn that Nicholas was the asst prosecutor who interviewed Elise when she first was accused of the death of her daughter. Elise also learns of the drunk driving conviction of Nicholas from her crappy ex husband Dan. She confronts Nicholas and after separation for weeks and misery for both of them they come together and find they really love each other. Nicholas proposes, they get married and live happily ever after.
TGstars 10 Absolutely loved it. Even though the story is a bit sappy I love the writing, the story, the characters and everything about the type of people they are. Evans does a good job with values in a nice story. I want more of this type.

162.The Art of Becoming Homeless
Sara Alexi
Nov 2014
This was a delightful read as part of the free Amazon books. When complete I found this was book 5 of the Greek Series. I definitely want to go back to book #1 which is titled the Illegal Gardener. An English woman lawyer is stranded on a Greek island by a ship strike. He meets Dino, a young man half her age who teaches her to be laid back and accept things the Greek way. He graduated college and wnet to work in England but hated it. He went to work everyday with no joy and only making enough to support his crummy apartment. The sky was always gray and everybody scrambled around working. He came back to the sunny Greek life where jobs are not plentiful and wages are even lower but his life is happy. Michelle soon learns to adapt to the Greek way and eventually quits her job in England to stay in Greece.
TGstars 8 This turned out to be a good travelogue for the Greek Islands and the Greek way of life. No sex, no violence and not much of a story but good descriptive content of sun drenched islands and colorful architecture.

162.Wyatt in Wichita
John Shirley
Nov 2014
Wyatt is a good guy who is not always in synch with the law. While young he did some jail time for cattle swindling but all through his youth it's apparent that he always stood for doing the right thing whether it was legal or not. He's my kind of guy! Most surprising is his involvement with brothels, even marrying one of the working ladies. He remains true to her throughout his adventures in chasing down the bad guys or getting trapped in seemingly impossible situations.
TGstars 8 I didn't know much about Wyatt Earp. this book is sem-historical and served to fill in a lot of the details. It's well written and is an interesting read.

161.Decline and Fall of IBM
Robert Cringley
Oct 2014
This was a very negative view of IBM outlining how much trouble they are in. The perspective seems to come from the consulting and service side of the business which is half the company. He's not knowledgable enough to write this but it was an interesting perspective since i do agree with some of his writing. It was a disappointment in that half of the book is readers comments.
TGstars 3 This is only half a book and it's mostly negative but there is some truth to the negativity. I didn't think it was a great book.

160.On the Road
Jack Keroac
Sept 2014

159.Low Tide Bikini
Lyla Dune
Sept 2014
Started this on the plane back from Orange County. I enjoyed the story very much. Sam has to abandon the hosue she was sitting at the beach when a British Lacrosse star buys it. He's a James Bond type and all the woman are falling all over him. Sam wants nothing to do whith him but they share the house until she can move out. She knows his type and is down on all men in general after some bad experiences. In the end he proposes, she accepts and they live happily every after.
TGstars 8 It held my interest throughout. i especially liked the NC beach part of the story. Good writing and good character development. A little bit of explicit sex but not too bad, I've read much worse. This read was enjoyable.

158.The Show
John Heldt
Sept 2014
It was pretty cool to find out what happened to Grace after the Mine. I bought this book after getting part one for free. Grace was the love of Joel's life. Turns out she followed a trail of unlikely clues and then followed him into the mine and ended up in 2002 where she married him. But it didn't end there. One day they went to a movie and she stepped into the ladies room where she was transported back to 1918 and meets her parents to be. The adventre is about her trying to get back and also save her parents from tragedy. Eventually she gets back, brings her parents and they all live happily ever after. The book seemed draggy at times.
TGstars 5 So so sequel to the mine. It was slow going at times, many characters that weren't really relevant to the story. I liked it for the happy ending but not the useless stuff in between.

157.The Mine
John Heldt
Sept 2014
This is a time travel story. Joel and his buddies are riding in the country when they see an old abandoned gold mine. Joel decides to go into the mine so he peels off some boards stopping him. His buddies stay outside. A planetary alignment is occurring today, so while Joel walks into the mine with his flashlight he sees a glowing room. He enters but runs when he sees a rattle snake. Walking out of the mine the surroundings look strange. The McMansions are no longer there and the old boards covering the entrance are gone. His friend is gone too. He starts walking and eventually is picked up by a Buick dealer owner testing out a brand new 1941 Buick.
Joel eventually discovers he has been transported back in time 60 years to just before the start of WWII.
He hops a freight and ends up in a town where he befriends a few people who take him in. He gets a job with mr Carter as a furniture salesman and gets lots of money making sports bets because he knows the outcome of all the major sporting events.
Eventually Grace enters into the picture, a girl he falls in love with. She breaks her engagement to be with Joel who poses as a cowboy from Montana. The story takes place in Washington and Oregon, mostly Seattle.
He learns of another planetary alignment and decides to go back to year 2000. He writes a letter to Grace explaining all and gives her Japanese friend a large sum of money since he knows what is in store for Japanese Americans the day before Pearl Harbor.
Back home his friend is waiting at the cave and has only waited for half an hour. Meanwhile Grace reads the letter and unknown to us until later she follows.
Joel looks up the Japanese friend who is now 80 to find how she made out. He found the money he left helped her put her husband through law school and made a difference. The surprise ending was the lady introduced him to a friend from long ago, Grace who is still 20 because she followed him in the time machine cave. They all lived happily after.
TGstars 10+ The writing is simple, the story captivating. I loved the historical descriptions leading up to Pearl Harbor and the newspaper headlines of the day. This is a new writer for me but I certainly am going to find more of his books. This was an outstanding read.

156.City
Dean Koontz
Sept 2014
This is my first Dean Koontz book and I liked it. His writing is incredibly descriptive, probably the best I have seen of any contemporary writer. The story itself was very slow and an incredibly slow read. I finished it on the plane to Orange County so I was a captive reader. This is the story of little Jonah who lives with is Mother after the Dad abandoned them. He is a musical talent. Along the way we meet a host of characters including Mr Yomiaoko who lives upstairs and becomes a friend. Malcolm is a sax player friend his age across the street who has a 17 year old sister. The sister takes the boys downtown to learn about art - she is versed in the art and the artists. Lots of descriptive text her about the Nightingdale and also a Vermeer painting. Good stuff. On a return trip downtown they explore architecture and while admiring a bank lobby the place is held up and two bombs go off, killing the 17 year old sister. Jonah is crippled but he recognizes his Dad as one of the robbers. The story continues with the hard times of Jonah and his Mom and all the community support. In the end the robbers return to exact revenge on Jonah for identifying them but Grandpa thwarts them with his baseball bat and sends them all to prison. Jonah becomes incredibly successful as a song writer, his Japanese friend dies of cancer and leaves untold wealth to the boy. He owned the nightclub his mother sang in as well as the tailor factory that everyone thought he worked in as a tailor. Wonderful story.
TGstars 9.5 Fantastic writing, heartwarming story but quite long. It makes me want to read more Koontz.

155.Finding Me
Michelle Knight
July 2014
Details the account of Michelle, the first girl who was kidnapped by Ariel Castro in Castro and held for 12 years. In detail she tells about the unbelievable horrors of being starved, forced to be naked for 3 months in the winter and constantly raped twice a day by Castro, a uy she nicknamed the dude in the book because she didn't want to give him any glory. Towards the end we learn of the other two girls kidnapped and chained in the same house and forced to endure the same treatment. This was a surprisingly compelling read. I didn;t think it would have any attention holding power.
TGstars 8.5 It's a fast read but it's certainly not literature. The descriptions are commonplace and barely proper english, mostly because Michelle has a 7th grade education. The story comes out interesting nonetheless. I liked it.

154.Walking on Water
Richard Paul Evans
June 2014
This is the last book of the Walk series. It was a fine conclusion to the series but I didn't enjoy the book as much as some of the others in the series. We resume the journey at the Florida/GA border where he gets word his Dad had a heart attack. This part of the story is good. We learn his Dad was a frugal accountant and is a millionaire. I chuckled when his Dad said millionaires don;t have big depreciating cars and mortgages to the roof top. i immediately thought of the Guenthers. His Dad then dies and the book spends 26 chapters covering Family history. Uggh! It was worth it though. His friend Falene comes to town for the funeral. She's a model in NY and getting married. Later he flies to the GA-FL border and resumes the walk. It has made me want to visit Gatorland in St Augustine. Interestingly he stayed at the same Comfort Inn on Commonwelath in Jacksonville that I have stayed in including eating at the Wendys in front of the place. The rest of the trip is not very memorable in contrast to other books in the series. It ends on the beach in Key West where his Dad instructs him to open a letter. The letter says this is the spot Dad proposed to Mom and enclosed is a seashell he used as the engagement ring. He requested that the shell get thrown back into the ocean. He does so and turns around to find Falene there. She did not get married, she loves Alan instead. Alan proposes and they get married and the story ends.
TGstars 8 Nice conclusion to a good story but the book lacks the adventure of the walk from the earlier books of the series. I like Evans books in general, I'm a fan.

153.A Rare Vintage
Delancey Stewart
June 2014
This is a pretty nice free download from Amazon. A young girl who is a wine expert gets a position at a Napa winery and drives cross country to work in a winery. When she gets there she finds the winery is going under. She loans the owner money to repair a fermenting tank pump and bottle the current crop. With her help they make some amazing blends that win first place in a tasting competition putting the winery on the map. They fall in love after of course a few twists and turns in the romance including the guy wanting to avoid the girl because she essentially is an employee. They overcome all that and have great sex and finally ending months later with a marriage proposal as could be expected in a romance. No violence, lots of love and a few explicit sex scenes make this a fun romance. I liked the blending terms and names of the varietals used in the bledning. The author seems to know what she's talking about.
TGstars 6This was an easy read, finished it on the plane to LAX to visit Paige. It may be a little too simplistic to be great literature but is good summer reading material.

152.Escorted
Claire Kent
May 2014
Lori is a 26 year old virgin. she is a highly successful romance author but has never had the time for a relationship with bona fide sex. She hires gigolo Anders to teach her about sex and giving blow jobs. This is an unlikely premise of the story but it has lots and lots of sex scenes. I didn't know there were so many ways to describe a sex scene but this author is incredibly good at writing them different each time. In the end, Anders retires from being a Gigolo to pursue a PHD in Archaeology, highly unlikely but lets suspend reality a minute. Anders falls for his former client Lori and vice versa. in the end he proposes marriage in the epilogue and they supposedly live happily ever after.
TGstars 9 This writer is quite good, even if the story is a little lame and not the least bit believable. It's a nice story as a fantasy and if you like sex scenes, this one is over the top in quantity and quality.

151.Ritual Sins
Anne Stuart
April 2014
Not a bad free book. It has a lot of characters but held my interest over the course of a plane trip. Rachel is on the trail of who took her inheritance. Her mother joined a cult, was diagnosed with cancer and died while bequeathing her 2 million dollars to the cult. She meets Luke who she hates because as far as she is concerned, he is a con artist. She eventually has some pretty hot sex with Luke and they both fall for each other and seek one another out but not before they bring down a plot by a few who plan to poison the cult, kill Luke and run off with all the assets. Lots of sex in the end, none in the first half of the book.
TGstars 6 This was a pretty decent read, interesting, good writing but complicated by the number of characters and sub plots.

150.Long Way Home: On the Trail of Steinbeck's America
Bill Barich
Feb 2014
Long winded disappointing journey across America. This author is not Steinbeck. Worse, he was more into finding out about politics in many small towns but he lives in Ireland. He's not a very good political commentator either. The coolest part of this book was the fact I was reading it as our plane flew over these towns on the way to So Calif for Christa's baby shower.
TGstars 2 Long winded, boring and definitely not Steinbeck even though he claims to have followed Steinbecks trail. Steinbeck had a camper, not a rental car, and was accompanied by his dog Chrlie and is a much better writer.

149.Lawful Escort
Tina Folsom
Jan 2014
A quick read as a free book from Amazon. It was surprisingly good. A lawyer agrees to go on a date as an escort in place of her roommate Holly who is ill. She has incredible mind blowing sex with the client who has only hired her to go to a party and keep other woman at bay. He has fallen for her, she for him and the rest of the book is about denial and wanting to get back together.
TGstars 8 Nice story that held my interest. The author is a good story teller even though this the Romance genre where they always live happily ever after.

148.Travels with Charley
John Steinbeck
Dec 2013
This is a trip across America by John Steinbeck in search of the real America in 1960. He visits 40 states in the truck Rocinante, named after Don Quixote's horse. Charley is his Full size French poodle who is almost human as Steinbeck interprets Charlies feelings about various things. He meets various people, stays in various off the beaten path places and does a lot of camping. I loved this story and the style of travel writing. It has made me want to do more auto traveling to tour the upper midwest and upper West. As I'm writing this I recognized that a lot of the same technique was taken by Evans Walk Series that I read last month. Still waiting for the final book in the walk but I loved them as well.
TGstars 8 Well crafted travelogue with Charley the poodle and also a good exploration of the culture of America.

147.Shiver
Karen Robards
Nov 2013
Samantha is a single mother driving a tow truck at night to make ends meet. She stumbles on Daniel in a gangland crime ditched in the trunk of a BMW she's out to repossess. The bad guys get both of them but they escape. It turns out he;s a government agent, she thinks he's a criminal turned states evidence in the criminal protection program. They gangsters get close many times and finally they break in to the safe house due to a double agent. They escape of course, fall in love and live happily ever after.
TGstars 8 It's so nice to read Karen Robards again.

146.First Kiss
Ann Marie Frohoff
Oct 2013
Ally is coming of age, soon to enter High school when she dsicovers the boy next door, a rocker named Jake. He's adored by the girls in school, she's intimidated but they fall in love. her parents ban her from seeing him but she sneaks over, they eventually get caught in a drug sting. horrible writing, not even any sex.

TGstars 0 Horrible writing, probably written at the High School level or worse. Even the story is poorly crafted.

145.The Cabin, Chloe's Story
Natalie Stark
Oct 2013
Chloe is a neglected wife who has not had sex with her husband because he's too busy with work. She fantasizes having many explicit affairs with men she sees. One guy opposite her on the train, she dreams of meeting him in the washroom and having hot sex. Another time she fantasizes being with some guy next door to her when staying in a hotel on the way to the cabin. At the Cabin, which she rented as a getaway for her and her husband, he doesn't want to be there. He has work to do which is due Monday and is not interested in her. A couple from a website “Bed Swappers” shows up which we later find was secretely arranged by Chloe. First the man beds down Chloe secretly in a cabin next door and has a night of passionate sex with her, satisfying her over and over. In the meantime, Ben her husband is tied up by Jess in the dark and she orally arouses him to the brink of orgasm. When she turns the lights on and unties him he is pissed off it wasn't his wife. Jess lies seductively on the bed nude waving her stuff at him. Ben relents and jumps her bones having bone deep sex. The couple leave and Ben finds Chloe and makes up with her. He told her he is going to quit his job. This is too simple for an ending and pretty poor.
TGstars 2 Not much of a story, poorly written, but lots of explicit sex.

144.The Longest Ride
Nicholas Sparks
Oct 2013
This is another winner by Sparks. A college girl from NJ attending Wake Forest meets a Bull Rider from outisde Greensoro. He rescued her from an abusive boyfriend and they fall in love. He lives in a house on his Mother's ranch and is riding bulls risking his life because the Mother will lose the ranch. One day they rescue a car they saw down a ravine. The old man, Ira, lost his wife Ruth 9 years ago. Together they amassed a billion dollar fortune in valuable paintings. when the old man dies Luke and Sophia attend the auction. Nobody bid on the first painting, an amateur painting of Ruth bu their foster child. When Luke feels sorry and bids $500 and wins it the auction is halted. Ira's secret will states that the entire collection will go to the buyer of the painting of Ruth. Luke gets all the artwork. Luke proposes to Sophia, he rescues the ranch and they all love happily ever after.
TGstars 10 Outstanding, heartwarming story telling in all aspects of a modern romance. Sparks has come through again with a winner.

143.The Cabin, Mia's Story
Natalie Stark
Oct 2013
Natalie was in an affair and was discovered by nuns in a convent and beaten with a whip. She meets Nathan and hangs with him for years keeping her secret. He adores her, she doesn't love him. They get married but she doesn't allow him to go near her on the wedding night or first night of the honeymoon. During a storm she gets separated from Nathan on their honeymoon and she meets a priest who was the one she originally had the affair with and they go at it in the honeymoon cabin. She's going to tell Nathan the marriage is off.
TGstars 3 Explicit sex but poorly written. Not a bad story.

142.The Road to Grace
Richard Paul Evans
Sept 2013
Alan is being pursued by Pamela, Mother of his late wife. She practically dies crossing the plains without water or food pursuing him. Finally he rescues her and finds all she seeks is forgiveness. He relents and forgives her. Then he learns about forgiveness from a Polish holocaust survivor who has forgiven his captors who murdered his mother, father and sister. This book covers Alan's journey from South Dakota down into St Louis, Missouri.
Road to Grace Synopsis

TGstars 9 Another nice story from Evans although I don't consider it as good as the previous volume of the 4 part walk series.

141.Miles To Go
Richard Paul Evans
Aug 2013
Miles to Go synopsis
Alan wakes in the hospital not knowing what happened. He is sore all over. A couple of hunters had stopped the attack and even shot one of the gang members who dies. While Alan is recovering he meets the woman he helped by changing her flat tire. She is a police dispatcher and ends up taking Alan into her home for his rehab. Her name is Angel and is hiding a secret of her own. He helps Angel find her way in the world by doing good deeds, hosting her landlord in a Thanksgiving dinner. He was lonely and old but thrilled at the dinner. Later he dies suddenly and leaves all to Angel whose name is really Nicole.
TGstars 10This is an emotional ride and I loved every minute of it. I'm going on to the next book.

140.The Walk
Richard Paul Evans
Aug 2013
The Walk Synopsis
Alan Christoffersen cares for his wife McKale while she was recovering from falling off her horse. In the meantime his partner stole all his clients from his advertising business then his wife died from an infection. His house gets foreclosed, his business is gone and his wife is dead so Alan thinks he has nothing t olive for. He decides to walk as far as he can from Seattle. On a map he decides his goal will be Key West. The book is about this walk and where he camps, what he eats and who he meets. He helped a lady change a flat tire. At the end of the book he is attacked, stabbed and robbed by a gang outside of Spokane.
TGstars 9 I love every word in this christian novel. It has a good feeling and good moral story. The read is easy but well crafted.

139.Homecoming
Janet Wellington
August 2013
This is a Wisconsin Romance story. It does a nice job of presenting small town life in Faythe, Wisconsin where everybody knows everybody. Jake is an upwardly mobile Chicago ad exec who was in London on business when his Aunt Tillie died. She left him half her Victorian house if he returns to Faythe for 3 months. the other half is deeded to his HS girlfriend who is now a divorcee and was caregiver to Tillie in her final months. The two start out frosty but soom the sparks fly as Jake gets accustomed to Faythe again. He even visits his abusive father who is now in a home for dementia patients. Jake has an emergency meeting in Chicago to address a foundation. Cory goes with him and is awed by the life Jake lives. A penthouse with a staff to manage his luxury apartment, a high level exec in a charity he started for kids. Later Cory and Jake have to care for two young kids who mother just died. Jake is great with kids. At the end of the term, 90 days, Jake stays to marry Cory and permanently adopt the kids and they all lived happily ever after. I loved this story. It was compelling, nothing too bad happened and it had a happy ending. Good stuff.
TGstars 8 It held my interest, had a little bit of sex but not too much and contained a nice heart warming story. Good reading. I'll be on the lookout for more by this author.

138.On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes
Alexandra Horowitz
July 2013
This was pretty slow reading but by the end I appreciated the author's perspective in simple walks and how her eyes were opened by walking with an expert in various disciplines. She walked with a baby, geologist, entomologist, artist, blind person, historian, sound person, etc. Interesting.
TGstars 8 Slow reading but pretty interesting. I gained a new perspective on seeing the world from different point of views.

137.The Last Madam
Christine Wiltz
June 2013
I disliked this book. It's nothing but a statement of facts and dates with no real story to hold my interest. I stopped reading it about half way through.
She is a madam who employs girls in brothels in New Orleans. We learn about the police raids, the free and easy times especially during prohibition and about the French Quarter history but there is no story to hold interest.
TGstars 1 Terrible. No story, a bunch of facts and dates one after the other.

136.Friends With Partial Benefits
Luke Young
June 2013
This is mainly Jillian's story. She is a romance writer and recently divorced. She caught her husband cheating. Her experience with men since has been a bit of a disaster. Jillian's son Rob and his best friend Brian end up coming home from college on their spring break. Brian and Jillian end up spending some time together during that time. There is a mutual attraction, yet they don't want to act on it. They have so much in common and are a really great match. She is his best friends mother. He is her son's best friend. Not the ideal situation for a romance. Brian is hung up on Natalie someone he had started a relationship with at college. Getting to know Jillian has given him more of a perspective into what he really wants out of a relationship. You can say that Jillian has really introduced him to what could be. The funny thing is the age difference between them is the last thing they worry about. It's Rob Jillian's son, he is so clueless to what has transpired between them. Rob is too caught up in his relationship with his girlfriend Laura to notice.

TGstars 9 This was an easy read, funny at times and erotic other times. It has you rooting for the characters. this is getting into it.

135.Hot on Her Trail
Sable Hunter
June 2013
Very nice book about Jessie, a poor girl who has agreed to be a surrogate for a rich couple. Virgin jessie learns she was impregnated with the wrong sperm. She runs away from the abusive couple who paid for her to have the baby since they want her to have an abortion. She ends up in the barn of jacob, a handsome cowboy who is also rich and single. Jessie doesn't want to cause any problems but ends up falling in love with jacob who wines her and dines her and eventually has explosive sex with her
Jacobs brothers think Jessie is after his money but eventually they come around when she is kidnapped by the abusive former employer who paid for the impregnating. He tries to rape her but is impotent. In the end Jacob finds her and saves the day and they all lived happily ever after.
TGstars 9 Loved it. It held my interest, had lots of hot sex, sometimes too much, and a happy ending.Good read.

134.Cape May Diamond
Larry Enright
June 2013
Very nice book about Tom, a pardoned draft dodger in 1975 who gravitates to Cape may after his jail sentence. Cape May is decaying and boarded up. The mob is movingin and Tom has some run ins with them as he tries to help his aunt and uncle run the Dew Drop Inn. Really nice story, it kept me interested. No sex, no violence, just a nice story.
TGstars 6 Pretty nice reading about 1975 Cape May and the referendums up North to get gambling at the shore. There is corruption, the mob, dirty politicians and police.

133.Suite Encounters: Hotel Sex Stories
Rachel Kramer Bussel
May 2013
Book of short stories by different authors about hotel desk workers, vacationers, honeymooners, etc.
All of the stories involve sex in one form or another either the desk clerk ignoring what's going on but joining in one night or the female concierge arranging kinky parties for high rolling guests.
TGstars 3 Most of the stories are goor derotic romps, some of them ever are fully developed stories. Literature it's not.

132.The Fast Diet
Michael Mosley
April 2013
Excellent diet book. I'm not into a lot of the trendy diets but this one made a lot of sense from a medical standpoint, is not too dangerous to your health and purportedly leads to weight loss. It's only 3 chapters unfortunately. The gist of the medical info is in chapter 1. Chapter 2 has case studies and chapter 3 is all recipes. That's it, a 3 chapter book but I like it anyway.
TGstars 9 This book states it's case pretty well. the writing is clear, concise and made sense to me. I think this guy is on to something with the diet. It seems easy if it works.

131.The Coincidence of Calli and Kayden
Jessica Sorensen
March 2013
This is the story of two abused teenagers who now are in college and emotionally scarred. Kayden is a football star who was continuously beat up by his father. As football star he has his share of girls including the tramp Daisy but he is not emotionally involved with any of them. Calli meanwhile had something horrible happen to her at 12 years old. We learn about the act and the perpetrator little by little. It turns out she was raped by her brother. This turned her inward and anti social acting weird. The two find each other and confide in each other, eventually allowing full trust which leads to slowly building sex. In the end Kayden refuses the abuse by his father and stands up to him leading to a very violent physical attack between father and son. The father ends up stabbing Kayden and leaves him dying and helpless in a pool of blood. Calli finds him a day later barely alive and the story ends.
TGstars 8 Good writing, emotional involvement, nice mild sex scenes. I felt for the characters. Wish it ended better but it seemed to either be a no ending or a setup for a follow up book.

130.Ice
Linda Howard
Feb 2013
The Sheriffs Son, Gabriel McQueen, is sent to a distant neighbors house to check on her before a huge ice storm in Maine. The girl's home was invaded by 2 meth heads who are bumbling idiots. After the male, Darwin, attempts to rape her, the heroine fashions an escape out a second story window using tied together bed sheets. At this point the ice storm is going strong and Gabe, the sheriffs Son arrives on foot because his truck couldn't make it up the icy road. He rescues Lolly but is pursued by the druggies who have guns. In a fight Gabe manages to kill Darwin but the woman of the pair escapes. They make it back to the now powerless cabin to warm up and have to strip off all their clothes and stand together in the hot shower to prevent frost bite. After a while they warm up and their nudity gets the best of them as they make love in the shower.
TGstars 6 Short read, well done, but I wish it had more. The protagonist here is the ice storm.

129.Strength in what Remains
Tracey Kidder
Feb 2013
We follow the footsteps of Deo as his life is uprooted. He was a medical student in Rhwanda when war broke out and subsequent genocide began. The Tutsi's and Hutus were at odds with each other and large groups of militia killed thousands of people mercilessly because they were one tribe or the other. Deo leaves Rwanda and ends up in NY homeless with $200 in his pocket. Through determination, perserverance and the lucky stumbleing into some very kind people, Deo graduated from Columbia and went back to help his people build a free clinic. The tale is harrowing and so sad when we read what happened to his friends and family as they are subjected to inhumane treatment, torture and in some cases death.

TGstars 6 It's a great story but long read for me. You can't shorten it much without reducing the impact but it was not my cup of tea.

128.The Last Victim
Karen Robards
Jan 2013
Robards is back to her usual story telling with suspense and danger. Dr Stone is an expert on Serial Killers, having witnessed her best friend get slaughtered when she was a little girl. Now she has the ability to see the spirits of the victims. While working in a prison, a client who is a psychopath murder gets stabbed and dies before her. His ghost, Michael Gallagher, comes back to visit her. In the meantime she has joined forces with the FBI to help them with a serial killer and gets kidnapped by the murderer along with a young teenager who is his latest victim. The guy has her tied up and confronts her with a knife but her ghost, Ghallager, manages to save her from getting stabbed and frees her. The suspense continues as she is hunted by the killer in the woods while her FBI peers also look for her. During the story she develops a relationship with Michael Gallagher and even has hot sex with him one night. It's left to the reader whether this was a dream or how it took place since the ghost walks through objects and can not affect the physical world.
TGstars 8 Interesting and suspenseful. Nice to get back to a Karen Robards story. The reading is good, story is a page turner although here it didn't quite end.

127.Killing Kennedy
Bill Oreilly
Dec 2012
This was a good historic account of the Kennedy white house and the phonies that they were. Jack Kennedy is a Harvard playboy and professional screw up who gets elected president and mismanages the military and the country. His sex life is detailed as well. Kennedy had sex once a day with various women, Jackie slept in a separate bedroom and left the White House on weekends so Jack could play. The Kennedys were evil. There is a lot of interesting detail we learn such as the scuffle between Dallas police and the Secret Service over possession of the body.
TGstars 8 Great read, easy and interesting.

126.Killing Lincoln
Bill Oreilly
Dec 2012
What a good and interesting read of the civil war and all the events leading up to Lincoln's assasination. I did not know much civil war history so this book was a good filler of that piece of the puzzle. Previously ?I knew nothing about John Wilkes Booth. The assassination was a conspiracy, something I never knew.
TGstars 8 Interesting factual historic description.

125.The Timekeeper
Mitch Albom
Dec 2012
This is about a guy who was the first to learn to track time. He becomes the mythical Father Time who comes back to Modern Times to help two seemingly different people. A young girl is distraught and wants no more time on Earth so attempts suicide. A millionaire wants more time so he arranges to be cryogencially frozen. Father Time interceds and shows them their future, both cases distasteful. They both repent their ways and live happily ever after.
TGstars 8 Good read, nice moral story, a little too short at times but nevertheless OK.

124.Map Of Bones
James Rollins
Nov 2012
I spent a lot of time slogging through this complicated book with an even more complicated plot. I don't believe too much in the hocus pocus mysticism and ancient spirits type of crap so the book did nothing to me. It kept twisting and turning but in the end I'm still not sure who the good guy and the bad guy is. I doubt if I will read anymore novels by this guy.
TGstars 4 I'm not willing to suspend belief for this novel. The changes of plot and twists and turns were interesting but it took over the book as if this were the goal - to see how many times things could get turned around.

123.No Dress Required
Cari Quinn
Aug 2012
This was a cute but sexy story about Nellie who gets carjacked on new Years Eve. The crook got her car and her things which consisted of her New Years party dress and purse with cherished pics of her now gone Grandmother. She had intended to seduce her best friends brother Jake with the sexy dress. She grew up with him. Jake is 6 years older and always treated her as a young pest who hung around with his sister. A pest that is until she became a woman with all the requisite curves. On the heels of a bad breakup he is forced to drive Nellie to his sisters house in a snowstorm on New Years Eve to tell any people who didn't get the word that the party is off because of the weather. Nell and Jake watch the ball drop on TV then start their own fireworks and have mind numbing sex many times throughout the house alone in the woods on a country road, isolated from the world by snow. They profess love for each other and all ends well.
TGstars 8 I would give it more because it was a darned good read but it's not literature. It was also quite short at 50 pages which meant I read it in a day. Nice read.

122.Devil in the White City
Eric Larson
Aug 2012
Fantastic historically accurate account of the building of the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1892 also called the Columbian Exposition on the anniversary of the christopher Columbus discovery. This book had everything, meetings about the fair, planning it, hiring the brilliant minds of Burnham and Olmstead who envisioned it and the trials and tribulations of putting together this massive effort. The fair gave us the Midway, Ferris Wheel, AC electricity, cracker Jacks, shredded Wheat and a ton of other household names. I learned a lot about Burnham and Chicago architecture soon to be taken up by Frank Lloyd Wright in his footsteps. Many other important events, things and people are brought to light by this book. Wow, I was breathless at the scope.
TGstars 9 This is a one of a kind historical novel. Well written, well researched and put togther as an interesting story. Loved it!

121.Paris in The 20th Century
Jules Verne
July 2012
Very perceptive. Jules Verne wrote this in 1860 and was making predictions about 1960. He got the electricity and Paris Metro correct in concept but not technique. He presumed the trains would be propelled by compressed air. In 1960, Art is frownee upon and technology is revered. I wish!
TGstars 7 Verne does a great job predicting what life would be like in 1960's Paris The writing is awesome, the political undertones is not.

120.A Time To Love
Barbara Cameron
July 2012
From the Library Journal:
While reporting on the effects of war on children, journalist Jeannie King is injured by a car bomb. Returning to her Amish grandmother's home in Lancaster County, PA, to recuperate, Jeannie is glad for the comfort she is given but is anxious to return to the life she has made for herself. Then she reconnects with her childhood crush, Matthew Bontrager. Is his love enough to keep her there? VERDICT Cameron (An Amish Christmas), winner of the first Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award, has written a fine example of Amish fiction with likable characters and even pacing. For fans of Kathleen Fuller, Wanda E. Brunstetter, and Beverly Lewis.
TGstars 8 Nice book. Amish Romance book is a nice feel good book with a little bit of intrigue.

119.Creep
Megan Hart
June 2012
Dr Sheila Tao is a sex addict and teaches psychology at Puget Sound University. She has an affair with one of the Graduate Assistants, Ethan Wolfe, assigned to her. When she gets engaged to a nice guy, Morris, she breaks off the affair with Ethan. Ethan takes it hard and ends up kidnapping her and locking her in his basement. There she discovers the embalmed bodies of many women who disappeared over the years, all embedded in the walls of the basement. Morris hires a private detective to search for his fiance, Sheila. It turns out the killer is really Abby, Ethans girlfriend who gets away at the end. this sets us up for a sequel.
TGstars 8 Pretty Good. This was a Free Friday Nook book. Pacing was great although I'm not really into the Horror genre.

118.Dirty
Megan Hart
May 2012
I read this because it was by Megan Hart, an author I recently discovered and liked. Not to be. This book thrived on graphic sex which is always nice but it seemed to be the focus of the book which wasn't too interesting after a while.
Elle is a hardworking young executive who has countless encounters with men but refuses to get involved with anything serious. When she finally meets Dan, he loves her and expresses it in many ways. She ends up dumping him but we soon find what her problem is. Her older brother raped her from ages 15 to 18 and when she found him with his wrists slashed in the bathtub she did not call 911. She let him bleed to death but now has remorse over it and refuses to fall in love with any man.
Throughout the story she has multiple encounters including a three way with Dan and a guy they picked up in a restaurant. Dan thought she would like the three way sex. Despite all that he tries to do for her, she ends up dumping him.
In the end Dan finds her again and they seem to try making a go of it after Dan learns her full story. The End
TGstars 3 It went nowhere but the sex was plentiful in many ways with many partners. Not believable and not erotic, it seemed like one graphic description after another with an ocassional sprinkling of the story.

117.An Indecent Proposition
Carol Marinelli
May 2012
This was another short read that I liked. Charlotte works for Nicos as his PA, a sort of girl Friday. Nicos wants to buy a point on the Greek island of Xanos where he lives to complete his beach ownership but Zander won't deal with him. Zander turns out to be his twin who is jealous because he thought their Mother sacrificed Zander in favor of Nicos. Zander was tossed out on the street and became a billionaire. Charlotte has a night with Zander who then publicly tells everybody about her legs being wrapped around his last night. Charlotte is mortified and gets angry with Zander. Over the course of the next few days Zander discovers he misses her and is in love for the first time ever but knows how badly he blew it with Charlotte. Eventually Charlotte finds the twins mother and the truth comes out about her choices. All is well, Nicos gets his land, Charlotte marries Zander and they end up with her pregnant with twins.
TGstars 9 Sappy stuff but I liked it. I was engrossed in this easy read which will never be literature but is pure entertainment.

116.Indecent Experiment
Megan Hart
May 2012
Two college students agree to an experiment for 4 days for $1,000. Each day they progressively become more acquainted, i.e. Day 1 - hold hands, Day 2 - kiss, Day 3- hug, Day 4 - touch. They report their observations in writing at the conclusion of each session. They are not matched as to what each wants in a partner. this is where it gets interesting. As they become more acquainted and intimate they start wanting each other and in the end at the conclusion of the week they end up actually wanting each other and having sex. For example in the beginning Matt writes he wants a girl with 38DD boobs but Melissa is a flat chested A. He ends up liking her flat chest at the end when they are naked and having sex.
TGstars: 9 This story was short and sweet, a fun read with a happy ending.

115.Friends with Benefits
Kelly Jamieson
May 2012
Kerri and Mitch are fiends but not lovers. One niight their emotions got in the way and they had sex. Kerri was in heaven but Mitch has an aversion to marriage. Kerri wants nothing more than a successful business, a husband and family. This causes conflict and at one point the relationship is off because of the marriage stumbling block. Mitch misses Kerri and reconsiders, they get back together and they all lived happily ever after.
TGstars: 8 This was a good quick read, very predictable but nonetheless enjoyable. It was easy and short! Wouldn't mind reading another Kelly Jamieson romance.

114.Steve Jobs
Walter Isaacson
April 2012
This covers the life of Steve Jobs from early years as an adopted son to a loving working class family who gave him everything. He seemed to love them in return. His Father taught him many lessons about quality in woodworking and building things. Later in college, Steve meets up with Woz and the two start Apple. Although Woz is the engineer, I'm convinced that Apple would not be here today if it wasn't for Jobs.
The book does a nice job of chronicaling his influence at Next, Apple and Pixar. His intense and unwavering focus led to things like successful animations where Disney did not have a hit in 10 years, the melding together of hardware, software and music rights for the iPod where Sony was a disaster area, showing the world how to do an iPad after Microsoft had failed with their stylus oriented product and finally putting together computers,music players and phones in the iPhone
TGstars: 8 Well done biography but a little long. I learned a lot of stuff about Jobs and his journey, facts that I never knew. It's also inspirational as a guide to accept only the best, never compromise.

113.50 Shades of Gray
EL James
March 2012
Lots of sex, fairly good writing, the current rage of the talk show circuit. I got drawn into this by the sample chapters but after a while the story grew flat. An ultra handsome, well cultured young billionaire falls in love with a college senior who is awkward, unsure of herself and inexperienced. Besides taking her virginity and giving her her first kiss, he introduces her to his world of S&M in a red room in his mansion. I'm not into this stuff and of course neither is she but she slowly changes him over the course of this book. The books end up with them parting after he spanks her 6 times which really hurt her even though she agreed to it. This is only part 1 of their 3 part story. I'll wait a while before I read the rest.

TGstars: 6 I was drawn in by this author by reading 2 sample chapters online. It's good but then goes flat, the same old thing page after page although I kept reading to see if this was going anywhere.

112.20000 Leagues Under the Seas
Jules Verne
March 2012
This was an interesting read. I did it because it was a classic and mentioned in Valhalla Rising. Capt Nemo's sub the Nautilus was last seen at the end of the book in the Norwegian Maelstrom and shows up in a cave on the Hudson in Valhalla Rising by Cussler. Since I never read 20,000 leagues I decided it was about time. What a treat. The only thing I didn't like was the long boring descriptions of fish under the ocean but the Science Fiction detail of the workings of the Nautilus along with the adventures of this boat made it a pretty good read. I'm glad I did it.
There are a lot of unfamiliar words in the book. IT was great to have the Nook for this since I can easily look up words. For example, the covering of the third attempt at a Transoceanic cable was the bark and hemp from a Brazilian tree. I would not have known the meaning of this word that Verne just tosses out there. He does this with many items - a new word just appears that I've never seen before.
TGstars: 8 My first Jules Verne and not my last. The detail is exquisite, the descriptions amazing. He was ahead of his time. I thought the read was going to be quaint and dated but was pleasantly surprised by a highly engrossing time.

111.Valhalla Rising
Clive Cussler
March 2012
This was a Viking and Captain Nemo adventure. An underground oil cartel is tying up US reserves and working at getting public opinion against imported oil. In order to emphasize this point they have a disaster planned for NY where they will ram a few million gallons of LNG on a super tanker into the docks at the World Trade Center. Dirk saves the day and as part of the adventure he discovers a cave with Captain Nemos original submarine from the turn of the 19th century, years before the age of submarine travel.
The book starts with multiple historical events which are all neatly tied together at the conclusion.
TGstars:7 Another good one. Love Dirk, Giordano and the cast of characters. Getting to know personalities.

110.Sahara
Clive Cussler
Feb 2012
My first Clive Cussler and I loved it. Dirk Pitt is pursuing the cause of a red tide coming from the Niger river thast will sap all the oxygen off earth in a matter of weeks. He traces it to the rogue government of Mali in the Sahara where the corrupt general leading the country is in cahoots with a corrupt business man storing radioactive and toxic waste underground. Dirk is captured several times and manages to escape each time. He's the modern day James Bond only smarter. In the end the slaves in an underground gold mine are saved, the crooked government is overthrown and they all live happily ever after. Pitt also got the girl, Dr Eva who was captured in Mali and forced to work in the gold mine Pitt freed.
TGstars:7 Really liked the adventures of Pitt. Of course, I'm a big James Bond fan.

109.Are you there Vodka? It's Me Chelsea.
Chelsea Handler
Jan 2012
This is a collection of tales of the humurous and at times outrageous Chelsea as she recounts her life from about age 9 though boyfriends, girlfriends, one night stands and her family. She has a knack for humor. The book is a little racy as she talks about several dates with a guy and “now it's penetration time”. The book doesn't really go anywhere and the stories are disjoint but the attraction is her humor and humorous descriptions of the events in her life.
TGstars:5 Funny book of life tales as told by a talented comedian. I laughed at a lot of the circumstances and one liners. Chelsea is funny although this can't be considered high brow literature although it's an entertaining read.

108.Cast Member Confidential
Chris Mitchell
Jan 2012
I enjoyed reading this although the writing was not that great. I'm not so sure the story is believable. The guy is having girlfriend troubles in LA and his Mother is dying of cancer so he escapes to Orlando and gets a job as a photographer in Animal kingdom at Disneyworld. We learn about how a lot of the employees or cast members are gay while sex, drugs and outlandish parties are the norm. He thinks a lot of himself praising his photography in comparison to other Disneyworld photographers. I like the scene where one of the characters, Dale of Chip and Dale kept putting her tail in his crotch. Because Dale was so short and small he presumed it was a female. They later step into an employee area and she removes the costume head and says “I want to fuck you”. They go at it earning him membership in the SOP (Sex on Property) club. He later meets a girl he falls in love with, Calico. I like the scene where Calico takes him to Epcot and she leads him into an employee passageway and up some stairs to a private deck to watch the fireworks show. They make love on the deck during the fireworks. The story ends when he goes to Calico's apartment, lets himself in and finds her having sex with another guy. He leaves Disney, goes home and his mother is magically cured of cancer. Not a great story but an interesting read.
TGstars:5 Interesting behind the scenes look at Disneyworld if not very believable. The writing is not very great and story is poor. Lots of heterosexual sex, drugs and gay activity.

107.11/23/62
Stephen King
Dec 2011
This was an excellent book. The writing, character and story development was some of the best. I especially liked the nostalgia aspect of going back to 1958. He ends up falling in love with Sadie which screws up his plans of intercepting the assassination of Kennedy. This book made me want to read more of Stephen king.
TGstars:9 Loved the writing, the descriptive phrasing and the story development. Character development was excellent as well. The premise of the story was lame but I accepted that.

106.Best of Me
Nicholas Sparks
Nov 2011
In 1984 in Oriental, NC Amanda and Dawson grew up on different sides of town but fell deeply in love. Her parents didn't want any part of bad boy Dawson and when she went away to Duke they parted. Dawson never married but Amanda was stuck in a loveless marriage with 3 kids and a doctor husband she didn't love anymore. When Tuck Hostetler dies they both are summoned back to Oriental. Tuck had mentored them both but was now gone. They stayed in his old place and Nick Sparks implies they made love but it turns out they didn't. Also, Dawon's cousins Ted and abee want to kill him for a beating they received by Dawson years ago. In the end Amanda goes home where her 20 year old has been in a bad accident picking up her drunk husband. Back in Oriental, Dawson gets shot in a bar and dies. He's an organ donor. His heart is used for a transplant to guess who? Yes, Amanda's Son. The End.

TGstars:9 A different type of Nicholas Sparks. It kept me interested to see how it would resolve itself. This was a very nice read.

106.Christmas to Remember
Thomas Kinkade
Nov 2011
People of Cape Light get ready to celebrate Christmas but Lillian is bed ridden by a fall. Cared for by her Grandaughter Sara, Lillian recalls 1955 and marrying Oliver Warwick. Lillian recalls the errors of her past and eventually the Grandaughter Sara agrees to a Winter Wedding but elopes then wants a celebration in her grandmother's old Victorian house that needs much preparation. Hard to follow because it keeps jumping back and forth between present day and 1955.

TGstars:7 An OK story that's heartwarming and nice all around. This is one of those feel good stories well written with scenic descriptions that read like a Kinkade painting.

105.Voyeur
Lacey Alexander
Oct 2011
Erotic and sexy porn I read as a Kindle book. A writer is suffering from writers block so gets away from Seattle to a cabin at Vail. A web cam on a computer in the cabin is monitored by the owner in malibu. Laura at first is accidentally topless in front of the cam because it's 2 am and she thought no one would see. The owner texts Laura that he saw her and wants to see more at 10 that night. He overnights some sexy clothes and a vibrator. She is shocked but after some wine decides to go through with it. Next day Braden shows up in her bedroom and they make love day and night as he brings her out of her shyness. He even arranges for a three way with his friend Tommy. I didn't care for this but kept reading. Laura thrives on sex and finishes her book returning to Seattle. After over 6 months Braden contacts her and she admits her love for him. He flies to Seattle and they have more sex before he asks her to join him in Malibu forever which she agrees to.
TGstars:5 Too much sex, a lame story but interesting nonetheless. I was compelled to read it although it certainly was not literature and after a while the excess of sex was boring reading.

104. Exposure
Therese Fowler
Aug 2011
TGstars:3 I didn't care for this story. The writing is OK but I don't like bad things to happen to people, especially these two kids.

103. New Moon Rising
Eugenia Price
July 2011
Nice story tracing the life of Horace Gould from the death of his Mother in Savannah to his leaving St Simons to work in New Orleans on a riverboat as a purser, a not honorable job. He returns to St Simons to help his Fathers Cotton plantation which is run by his sister Mary. In the meantime he befriends a Mother - Daughter and runs their plantation too as well as his brother's cotton plantation. His brothers wife went back to MA and his brother has no interest int he farm. Horace marries Deborah and when Debbie inherits money, Horace buys his brother's farm for their own. The Civil War breaks out, Horace returns as a wounded soldier. All the lands of the barrier islands have been given to the Negroes. When Horace visits St Simons he is almost shot as a trespasser. He escapes at night and as he passes a field he sees the sliver of the moon and has hopes for the future, the title of the book “A New Moon Rising”.

TGstars:10 I like this one even better than the previous one I read. “The Lighthouse”. Outstanding weaving of a story from historical notes and journals.

102. Lighthouse
Eugenia Price
June 2011
This is a good read about James Gould and his lifelong dream to build a lighthouse on St Simons Island. He is hard working as we follow his career from Western MA to Bangor, ME. When his brother Horace woos and eventually marries his fiance Jessie, James escapes to the South. He marries Janie of Charleston and builds a successful saw mill business in St Marys FL on the GA border. When Indians start scalping whites and burning homes they barely escape and make it North, eventually settling on St simons where James finds a lighthouse has not been built because nobody could be found who knew how to build one. He shows his plans and after a while, the govt accepts him and he builds his lighthouse as well as building his family as he lives in the Lightkeeper cottage and then into a larger home he built. It ends with Jane contracting Pneumonia while in Savannah and dying without James by her side.
TGstars:10 Excellent story development of this “historical fiction” genre. The characters are real, the story was derived from journals and writings found by the author. She does a magnificent job weaving the story of James and his dream.

101. Burn
Linda Howard
May 2011
A girl, Jenner, who is rich via the lottery is kidnapped while on a charity cruise. The kidnappers need her cabin which is next to a person of interest, Frank Larkin, who they have under surveillance. Her kidnapper and team leader is named Cael. She becomes a thorn in his side but soon falls for him and he for her. While off ship snorkeling in a private cove they kiss, she jumps on him standing in the water and wraps her legs around him. He puts a hand inside her bikini pants and finds a target causing her to have an orgasm. the relationship changes from then on. In the end the bad guy has detonated a series of bombs on the ship but Cael and Jenner and his team evacuate a lot of the ship just in time before the whole thing burns saving a few hundred.
TGstars:2 I expected better of Linda Howard. Not great writing, pretty intricate but not believable plot. Not much sex which is unusual for a romance.

100. The Best Laid Plans
Lynn Schnurnberger
March 2011
An out of work on air journalist and a housewife whose husband was laid off along with their tax accountant decide to go into business as an escort agency. They have friends over 40 and the attorney guy knows guys with money who would love to pay to have a high class older woman for a night. Everything is going well until the journalist's blog is discovered by the NY Post and they decide to investigate. They spring into action to close the agency. She tells her husband what they have been up to they kiss and make up. Promising story but plot turned out to be underdeveloped and lame.
TGstars:3 Needs better story development although there is some original material here. Author tries to be a comedian which she is not. It took a long time to get into this book.

99. The Four Corners of the sky
Michael Malone
Feb 2011
Annie is left at her lesbian Aunts when is she is 7 years old. Her father is a drifter and con man. Her Aunt Sam and a friend, Clark raise the little girl to where she graduates from Annapolis and is a hot shot pilot in the navy. She's getting divorced from another pilot who is a creep, Brad. As a young woman her father tries to contact her again. It's about a gold statue he stole from Cuba and gangsters, the government, Miami Police and everybody else are after. Annie goes to meet her Father in a thunderstorm to St Louis only because she want to learn the identity of her Mother. Her Father slipped out so she borrows a jet and flies to Miami only to get caught up in romance with the cop who is chasing her Dad. She agrees to pilot a seaplane to Cuba to retrieve some jewels that belong to the statue and are in a bank safe. She briefly sees her Dad on the other side of the street in Cuba but he slips away. For the ending, fast forward 8 years to a cemetery at Clark's grave. Annie's little girl, 8 year old Samantha, is running around. She's married to the Miami cop, ex husband Brad is chasing a model and her Dad, she has heard, is living in Mexico with his con artist partner, splitting the million dollars they conned for the gold statue.
TGstars:10 One of the best reads in a long time. At 550 pages this was an incredible read. I will look for more by Mr Malone.

98. The Switch
Sandra Brown
Jan 2011
Pretty nice Romance and mystery once again crafted by Sandra Brown. I like her writing style although this book didn't have much sex going on. Twins swap to escort an astronaut. Melina escorts celebrities but Gilian who is engaged wanted to do something different. It ends up Gilian and the astronaut have sex and a nice evening. Later she is murdered by a supposedly deranged technician from the fertility clinic she was inseminated at today. Chief Hart, the astronaut is at first blamed. Twin Melina makes contact with him and together they start uncovering clues leading them to Brother Gilbert who has been swapping sperm and kidnapping the babies to create a super race in his temple/camp in New Mexico. Melina ditches Chief who is part native American and confronts Brother Gilbert single handedly at the temple. Chief musters a posse of Native Americans who manage to get into the compound, save Melina who it turns out is really Gilian. it was Melina who was killed. The book ends with Chief hart deep inside Gilian in an erotic ending to this page turner with the surprise ending.
TGstars:8 Very nice but long read, 550 pages in the pocket edition. I was engrossed and liked the surprise ending. A satisfying read.

97. Seven Year Switch
Claire Cook
Nov 2010
Jill Murray is left on her own with a three year old. With no money and no husband she makes it on her own working for a travel agency. Seven years later when she finally meets a guy, Billy, her husband Seth shows up again. She's not ready to accept him back because she and Anastasia her daughter have found a life of their own but Anastasia willingly wants her Dad. Jill has a great night of sex with Seth just before going away on a Girl Friend Getaway to Costa Rica while Seth stays home watching Anastasia. Girl Friend Getaway is the name of her agency. During a phone call home to Anastasia she finds her ex had a woman over. That does it for Jill who changes her life and now willingly accepts Billy into her life. the last chapter is a passport to the next chapter and it has 7 simple steps that could serve as a life guide from Self to Satisfaction. This was a satisfying book to put me in the spirit of renewal and a new year. Tonight is New Years Eve and we're going out in a few hours.
TGstars:8 I really liked it. Nice simple writing style, lots of side info about travel and destinations. A worthwhile author whom I'll seek out some more.

96. Safe Haven
Nicholas Sparks
Nov 2010
This was a little different. an abused wife, Katie, runs away from Dorchester, MA to Southport, NC and moves into a little cabin at the end of a gravel driveway. There is a house next door with a woman named Jo who becomes friends with Katie. Katie's husband is an alcoholic detective who gets fired and comes looking for her, delusional into thinking he did everything for her and she is selfish and ran off. We find her name is really Erin. She meets a nice widow, Alex, who is a shopkeeper with two kids. They do everything together except sleep together. Kevin eventually discovers Katie's whereabouts and in a drunken rage burns her house down and beats her up when she escapes the flames with the two kids. In the end we find Jo doesn't exist but seems to be the spirit Carli Jo, the former wife. She wrote a letter for her husband's next wife to only be opened by the new wife. Alex doesn't know the contents but follows his dying wife's wishes. Pretty long story but nice to read.
TGstars:8 I obviously liked it. I'm not into this spirit and ghost stuff that Nicholas dug up for the story but the writing style is easy to read, the descriptive narrative is good and the characters are great. I can get into their mindset with his writing.

95. Star Island
Carl Hiaasen
Oct 2010
An oddball classic Hiaasen yarn involving pop stars with no talent but record tours overdosing, partying and having sex with everyone in sight. There is also a fat paparazzi and a James Bond type Oddjob named Chemo who serves as the straight bodyguard and a double for the star who gets kidnapped by the paparazzi guy. I enjoyed reading it but couldn't help but think that I was getting tired of the classic Hiaasen tales with loners on some key serving as the hero and bad guy real estate developers who were crooked politicians.
TGstars:6 It was a nice read but I think I will lay off the Carl Hiassen formula template for a while. The venue is too predictable, the stories too outrageous. Of course they're not believable. This is a case where it's the journey, not the outcome.

94. First Sight
Nicholas Sparks
Sep 2010
This was a nice story of a NY journalist Jeremy meeting Boone Creek, NC Lacey and getting her pregnant but deciding to marry her. We are lead through the lovers life in Boone Creek and all the small town NC oddities while Lacy and Jeremy plan a lighthouse beach wedding. The writing is quite good like all Sparks books. I got into the story quite qickly as a number of subplots and issues arose including the possibility that Laceys baby might be deformed as they monitored an unattached amino thread during the sonograms every 2 weeks. i was not prepared for the ending where perfectly healthy normal and young Lacey dies after the childbirth due to amino fluid being pushed into her lungs. What a tear jerker. In the end Jeremy goes to the cemetery with his now 4 year old daughter at night to visit Mommys grave. They see the lights of the spirits in the fog near the gravestone which was one of his reasons for coming to Boone Creek in the first place as an investigative journalist.
TGstars:8 I really liked it. The twists and turns of the plot kept me engaged, the trials and tribulations of Jeremy and Lacey resulted in a better appreciation of their lives and what each was going through from their viewpoint. It was the typical Cosmopolitan NYC man vs the educated country bumpkin but he got to see what was wrong with his city life. Nice story development, a good read but I expect nothing less from Nicholas Sparks.

93. The Wedding
Nicholas Sparks
June 2010
Wilson wants to make up for his missed anniversary and in general for his dereliction of duty as a Father. His children are now grown and he has gotten further from his wife but he still loves her. Daughter Anna announces she's getting married this weekend. The mother gets involved and wants the daughter to have the wedding she never had when she and Wilson married. Wilson calls in some favors and landscapes and refurbishes and old home owned by his wife Jane's surviving parent, Noah. As a side story, Noah is in a nursing hoome and is seen daily feeding a lone swan who he believes is the spirit of his deceased wife. When the wedding approaches the Swan disappears causing Noah to be in despair. In the final chapter we learn Wilson really planned the whole wedding to be for his wife, the daughter was in on it and not getting married. The Swan appears at the wedding on the nearby river and wife Jane is totally surprised that it is she and not daughter Anna getting married. I generally enjoyed the story but the ending was too much fantasy for me. It is one of Spark's better books, it had me totally engrossed. The Swan showing up at the end was very predictable. The ending was not predictable and I thought it was a cop out and not very believable. I knocked my rating down because of this.
TGstars:7 Nice writing in a totally engrossing story. I really got into the characters, places and descriptive text but the ending could have been better. I didn't for one minute believe that Wilson did this much planning and effort to renew his wedding vows and further that his daughter Anna was in on the scam even to the extent of shopping for wedding dresses with her Mother Jane. Sorry, this strayed too far from reality.

92. Rainwater
Sandra Brown
March 2010
A woman during the dustbowl runs a boarding house with mostly woman boarders and a black cook. Mr Rainwater is brought to her place by a doctor friend to live out his final days. During the depression, shanty towns and local red necks fought. Ella is hard working and poor but she sends leftover food from the boarding house to Shanty Town. Mr Rainwater is involved in the rights of the Shanty town people. Prejudice results in the hanging of Brother Calvin the town black preacher. Ella has a passionate relationship with Mr Rainwater and goes to the funeral with him and her autistic child, Solly. After the funeral when she goes alone to the outhouse with Solly behind the church she almost raped by local redneck Conrad but she knees him and her little boy accidentally kills him by splitting his head open with a rock. Mr Rainwater acts like the guilty party, is arrested but dies before his trial. in the epilogue a couple is visiting an antique dealer. We find the owner is the son of the union between Rainwater and Ella, that she became wealthy after the depression inheriting Mr Rainwaters cotton lands which she manages and builds textile mills in Texas.
TGstars:8 Loved it. This is a different Sandra Brown book. It's historical, nice and a lot of it reminded me of the Grapes of Wrath.

91. Last Song
Nicholas Sparks
Jan 2010
This is an outstanding read that I listened to as an audio book on the drive to Sarasota and ended up ordering it for my re-reading. This is an absolutely fabulous book, story, characters and novel. I want to read it again reconstructing how the writer is able to introduce all his many many characters. He also injects a good dose of religion and bible into the story but it doesn't detract or get in the way.
TGstars: 10 The best Nicholas Sparks I have read. I loved the engrossing story, the characters, and the very involved and intricate story with a nice plot. This is Nicholas sparks at his best.

90. Fair Maiden
Joyce Carol Oates
Jan 2010
Katya is 16 years old and works as a Nanny in the summer at the Jersey Shore near Cape May. Her Mother is a drunk and whore, her father a gambler who left the family years ago. She meets kind old Marcus Kidder who is rich, a composer and artist. She agrees to pose for him and in a series of progressive dares she ends up posing nude. She thinks he put something in her drink and raped her. We never find out if it's a drug induced fantasy or is it real. She tells her cousin who is a hood who just got out of prison. The cousin takes her to a deserted area and has sex with her in which she doesn't participate emotionally. After the sex he decides to get revenge on Marcus by staging a home invasion and beating the old guy up in a robbery attempt. Marcus recovers and forgives her but in a strange ceremony she is invited back to his bed in a wedding nuptial where they share champagne toasts and he takes pills and dies. She has previously signed a pre-nup with him but we are left to infer what this whole thing is about as she lies nude next to him and he passes away. Weird.
TGstars: 4 Excellent writing, weird story. I thought I knew where it was going and then was completely surprised. I'm not sure this was a good ending.

89. To Trust a stranger
Karen robards
Nov 2009
Poor Julie is unhappily married to a guy who doesn't love her. It turns out her husband is connected to organized crime. In the meantime he hired one of his pro assasins to get rid of her because divorce is not good for the mob. Too much snooping into finances by lawyers which may expose something. She is saved by a private, Mac McQuarry, who she runs into while he was undercover as a transexual, Debbie. Thinking he's gay, she ends up falling for him when he rescues her and they have incredible sex. When she finds the truth she thinks she was duped but mac insisted he never lied to her. In the meantime several more hits are tried upon her and then shhe is eventually kidnapped and Mac is tied up by some crooked cops wo arrest him. All ends well in the woods at night net to a lake when Mac saves her but gets shot and she ends up saving him until the cops who are not dirty show up.
TGstars: 5 Karen at her best. This has all her elements of style, page turning adventure, a hot blistering sexcapade, a story that doesn't resolve itself until the end. Great stuff!!!

88. Inside the Brain of Larry and Sergy
Richard Brandt
Oct 2009
The author did an amazing job of documenting the saga of Larry and Sergy and all they did right in setting Google sailing on course from the beginning to now. This is not an authorized biography so it's amazing to me the breadth of knowledge contained in this work. IT reads well and is not boring, sometimes even funny as he tells tale after tale of all these guys and Google CEO Schmidt have gone through and why they are doing it.

TGstars: 4 Excellent documentary, nicely written and readable.

87. Hotel Riviera
Elizabeth Adler
Oct 2009
Thinking she has achieved her dreams when she becomes the owner of a promising hotel after a whirlwind wedding, chef Lola Laforêt finds her happiness shattered when her husband abandons her.

I really liked this book. I want to visit the French Riviera after reading the second book set on the Cote D'Azur by Elizabeth Adler.

The chapters are short, the writing is easy and the story is compelling. she spends a little too much time describing clothing and dress but I love her descriptions of the environment. The hills, bays, mountains, windy roads, fragrances and weather of the St Tropez area. The story is pretty good - a woman spends years building an old hotel into something special on the French Riviera. It's sort of like a bed and breakfast with a small collection of esoteric couples and singles who's personalities all meld into the main story. Lola's husband Patrick has disappeared. She goes on managing the hotel but then finds her husband signed away the hotel to a billionaire as a gambling debt. The billionaire now wants the property so he can build a castle for his beautiful Russian model wife. The story gets resolved too easily. The Russian model tries to do away with Lola by forcing her off the road but instead drives off a cliff. The husband is also killed trying to save Lola from the Russian. The billionaire gives up claim to the hotel and silently sails away. Lola's love interest proposes marriage. They all live happily ever after.

TGstars: 5 Outstanding!!! I like this new writer I discovered. Her descriptions of the sun drenched French coast resonate with me.

86. There's Something About St Tropez
Elizabeth Adler
Oct 2009
A library new book which means a 7 day read and I finished 400 pages in 6 days. Elizabeth Adler is a great descriptive writer. I feel Like I'm in south France in St Tropez with all her wonderful descriptions of the architecture, streets, people, crowds, scents, sights and weather. The story revolves around mac and sunny who are engaged and off to a weeks vacation in St Tropez in a rented villa. They find that the villa has been rented to several people in a real estate scam. The couples get together at a nearby hotel, the hotel of dreams and the adventure begins. What an adventure it is involving tracing the rental scam, an art theft, ghosts in the rented villa, La Violetta and a Russian mobster out to kill his ex wife who is one of the people taking refuge in the Hotel of Dreams with the others who by now have called themselves the misfits. This is a long, convoluted story with many, many facets. The chapters are short. They are only 2 or 3 pages each which I came to really like. The downside is there is no sex at all but the story is so compelling and descriptions of Southern France so complete that I feel I am there. The immersion is complete. What a great story teller, I'm going to read more by this author. Thank you Ms Adler for a good read. It's too bad I finished it in a week.

TGstars: 5 Excellent!!! Fantastic descriptive narrative weaving a story set in the beaches and towns around St Tropez.

85. Who's been Sleeping in My Bed?
Gemma Bruce (Shelly Freydont)
Sept 2009
A book of 3 short Stories by a writer who claims the name Gemma Bruce is his/her alter ego. all three stories revolve around a woman's detective agency, Women-Tech.

1. Wicked Widow. Nana is staking out the same millionaire that Damon Connely is. She ends up in bed with Damon and teams up with him staking out the mega crook millionaire. There's a pretty erotic search where they search each other for weapons.
2. Man with a Past. Cab was her lover but ran out after being accused of murder. 10 years later he's back and wants her help in solving the murder.
3. Love Bites. This was my favorite. A sister hires the agency to find who killed her sister. They suspect the ultra rich Ben Michaelson but Delia has doubts after spending a night with him. Delia is later mugged and almost killed but defends herself and is rescued by Ben. She realizes who the perpetrator is, it's the bag woman outside the penthouse who pretended to be the sister to set up Ben because he would get accused of a second murder. The story satisfies and is very erotic with lots of hot scenes.

TGstars: 4 Quite good, very hot and erotic. Nice romance type mystery.

84. Bozo Sapiens
Michael and Elaine Kaplan
Sept 2009
A book of wisdom written in a highly detailed and technical manner. A lot of the stuff in here is true but that doesn't make the book read any better. At times I liked it, other times it was pretty dry stuff.

TGstars: 3 Slow reading but detailed about the stupidity of the human condition. How humans sometimes lack all logic.

83. A Kiss Remembered
Sandra Brown
Sept 2009
This is a thin book which is why I got it out of the library. A housewife returns to school after divorce. Her professor is a guy who kissed her suddenly 10 years ago. She was frightened and ran away but now things are different. She's no longer a little school girl, he remembers her and the kiss. After some give and take he proposes and she accepts. They all live happily ever after.

TGstars: 3 A quick read. Lot's of sex, little plot, she has her man now will she marry him?

82. Tuesdays with Morrie
Mitch Album
May-Aug 2009
This was an audio book that I listened to on a Florida drive then picked it up again a few months later. It's about a student coming back to visit his dying professor. The professor dispenses some nice advice about the meaning of life and what it all means. Philosphy about how to live your life, not pursue money or career, find good friends. I liked the book, it's quite well done although I won't give it 5 stars.

TGstars: 4 Good story telling by Mitch Albom on the meaning of life.

81. Lunch at the Picadilly
Clyde Edgerton
Aug 2009
Life in a nursing home is boring. Story of several characters inside and nephew Carl outside the home. The conversations are extremely funny and so true. Old people are really stupid, it's really a shame. One of them steals a car and takes her friends shopping, running lights and doing all kinds of old people stunts. Clyde Edgerton is really tuned in to all the behavior, it's amazing. I got to feel I was there. The title refers to the nephew Carl taking his aunt and a bunch of residents to the Picadilly cafeteria for fried chicken.

TGstars: 3 Nice believable and funny story. It wasn't a page turner but it contained the classical Edgerton wonderful story telling.

80. The Bible Salesman
Clyde Edgerton
July 2009
This is a delightful if slightly unbelievable story about Henry Dapier and his coming of age. He's slightly gullible as he gets recruited by a car theft gang who tells him they're with the FBI and he's not to tell anybody. After many robberies which includes one murder for a car jack and then the murder of a doctor, Henry figures the scam out and manages to get away. The cops don't believe him and have different explanations for the robberies and murders so Henry is free to marry a soul mate he met at a fruit stand along the adventure. Maureen is the first girl he ever kissed, first girl for sex and then eventually they get married and honeymoon on a NC island you can only reach by ferry. She's a good old girl who knows how to throw a cast net and fish for drum just like Henry. A match made in heaven. Throughout the story we are treated to Henry's other job of selling bibles he gets for free from societies up North wanting to spread the word. Lots of bible phrases throughout the story and even a comparison at the end with the Chicago Bible, a more modern translation.

TGstars: 4 Edgerton is a good story writer, especially about Southern fiction which I love. The chapters are labeled by year but not chronologically. They jump all over the place and at times it's hard to figure out where we are in Henry's life or in US History including WWII and the depression.

79. Daddys Girl
Lisa Scottoline
July 2009
Nat is a law professor at Pennsylvania University. She gets caught in a prison riot while teaching a class at the prison. A dying guard tells her “Tell my wife, it's under the floor” as his dying words. She visits the wife but the tables turn as they find the wife shot after her visit and she is arrested as a suspect plus drugs are found in her car and around the wife's body implicating her further. Her Father and Family are rich construction people, Greco Construction in Delaware. She flees to figure out what to do. She returns and sets her car on fire and rolls it down the hill into a propane tank outside the prison. This allows her to sneak up to the prison to help expose a ring of corrupt prison guards.

TGstars: 4 Easy read, engrossing, ever changing plot.

78. Standoff
Sandra Brown
April 2009
A TV journalist is going on vacation to meet up with her boyfriend for a week of RnR. In the meantime an influential millionaire reports his daughter kidnapped by the daughters boyfriend. We later find the girl is pregnant. The couple hold up a convenience store where our reporter just happens to be. during the robbery the girls wter breaks and she bends over in pain going into labor, thus the robbery turns into a hostage situation of the customers who were in the store.

TGstars: 3 Short but easy read. Enjoyable but not too memorable. I read most of it coming back from Reno. Nice compelling story.

77. Richochet
Sandra Brown
Mar 2009
I really got into this book. A judge with a trophy wife is involved with a progessional gangster who gets the judge to throw cases. Everytime there is a credible witness to convict the gangster, Robert Savich, the witness meets an untimely death. Detective Duncan Hester and his partner Dee Dee are after the gangster guy but along the way Duncan falls for the judges wife and has sex with her just before she disappears over the Savannah River bridge. It's presumed she murdered a private investigator on the bridge in his car and then took her own life by jumping. duncan finds her, shacks up with her in a family beach house and plots to get the crooked judge and the gangster. There are many twists and turns making this a real page turner to see how it's going to come out. I loved it and had a hard time putting it down.
TGstars: 4 A page turner. The writing was easy to read, maybe I was in the mood for this kind of book. This book held my attention for several nights. I couldn't wait to get back into it.

76. What I Talk About When I Talk about Running
Hiraku Murakami
Mar 2009
An interesting rambling essay on running which is much more than about running. The author draws parallels between preparing for running and for life or for writing a novel. It was a short fun read. It was not like any of is other works. There was no fantasy or otherwise weird situations, simply about running marathons and other races.
TGstars: 3 Fun and easy philosophical approach to life, writing and running.

75. In the Miso Soup
Ryu Murakami
Feb 2009
No relation to Hiraku Murakami, this book tries to write in the same style with weird characters and evener stranger circumstances. I didn't care for the subject matter of a murderer going about murdering even more people. This book had too much blood and guts for my taste. An American, Frank, hires a Japanese guide for a sex tour of Tokyo. The guide isn't really licensed as such, he just knows English and Japanese and took out an ad in a newspaper. Frank hires him and Frank is very weird. Strange looking, overweight and later it turns out he kills some people in a bar, than pulls the shutter down closing the bar. They then wander about looking for hookers.
TGstars: 2 Bad subject, not my cup of tea, the writing is not too bad even though translated from Japanese.

74. Guilty
Karen Robards
Feb 2009
Slow in the beginning but becomes a page turner as attorney Kate has a troublesome past which confronts her when a courtroom shooting thrusts her into the limelight as she is taken hostage and later emerges supposedly having killed the criminal holding her. In actuality it was a childhood friend who has a long criminal record who did the killing and let Kate take the credit. Kate owes him o first be quiet about a robbery and murder she was involved in when they were young. Enter hero cop Tom who has sex with Kate and doesn't believe her story about escaping as a hostage by shooting the bad guy. Kate's son Ben is kidnapped by the mob in the end and believe it or not, the story is resolved in 5 pages!!!!! I guess once again Karen Robards ran out of paper so ended the story. I liked it anyway.
TGstars: 4 It was a page turner but I wish the author didn't resolve everything in 5 pages at the end of the book.

73. Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck
Oct 2008
The classic but I never read it until now. Incredibly descriptive account of dust bowl migrant farmers in the depression era. Okies as they were known by Californians packed everything they had into run down old trucks and made their way across the desert and mountains to the promised land. When they got there the promised land turned out to be corrupt and prejudiced against them for coming over poor, dirty and hungry. The classic class struggle is portrayed by Steinbeck as people who have been in California for a generation are resentful of the newcomers and treat them awfully. Wages are low or jobs non existent, the people live in squalor but somehow survive.
TGstars: 5 for fantastic descriptive writing that is almost poetry.

72. Witness
Sandra Brown
Aug 2008

This was a slow start but after a while it got pretty interesting. A woman takes a job as the public defender in a SC town run by a good old boy network. She soon discovers that these good old boys perform their own brand of justice murdering people and worse, her husband and Father in Law are at the center of this. She first tries to inform the FBI but finds out the local FBI office is in on it. She later gets the US Marshalls from a different district involved who try to protect her but her Father in Laws reach is long. Her ex husband and Father in Law break out of jail in an attempt to track her down and kill her and take the baby. Pretty good adventure at this point - she of course falls in love with the agent assigned to protect her, they have sex many times even though he is injured. In the end they all live happily after.

TGstars: 3 for good writing, good character development, OK conclusion, not a spectacular read

71. Seduction by Design
Sandra Brown
July 2008

I picked this up in the library because the author had written 60 books, 40 of which made the NY Times bestseller list. I don't think this is one of them. The writing seems to be acceptable - clear, not overly prosaic, interesting. Story development is a little lacking. Hailey is customer relations at Serendepity, an amusement park. She responds to a ruckus where a little girl locked herself in a ladys room while her Father is storming around outside beligerently. It turns out the girl got bitten by a bee on her breast and was embarassed. The guy is owner of the park and soon he has designs on Hailey. Hailey acts as the girls Mother, replacing the Mother who died. The development of the relationship is unbelievable. It turns out Hailey is a Virgin, having rejected men since growing up as an ugly child to a prettier sister. None of this makes sense in the believability department but I persisted to the end. I can't understand how this author can be a best seller so I may have to give her another chance.

TGstars: 2 for OK writing, poor character development, poor conclusion

70. Lucky You
Carl Hiassen
July 2008

A woman wins $14 million dollars in the Florida lottery and the ticket is stolen by two goons who won the other $14 million dollars. They want to form a militia to stop the UN from invading from Bahama. In the meantime a journalist from Miami comes to Grange to check out the lottery winner and ends up helping the woman, having sex with her and participating in a bizarre chase across the Florida Keys.

TGstars: 3 for characteristic Hiassen humor, bizarre story. Would have scored it higher except for the unbelievability factor.

69. Intimate Strangers
Juliette Meade
June 2008

A couple from England swap houses with a couple from NC. Oliver from England has always been unfaithful but this time his wife Maggie jumps into bed with Edward, the single guy next door before they leave for America. In the meantime, Christy from Charlotte NC becomes the perfect host in England and is the prettiest girl in the English countryside (not hard to do in England). When Oliver returns to England for a business trip, Christy becomes infatuated with him and jumps into bed with him. They end up carrying on an affair as she rejects her husband Gabe. Oliver and Christy end up getting married, Maggie ends up living with Edward in NC, not returning to England. Gabe devotes himself to his work but seems to have an assistant who is a wife substitute since she tends to his office needs and will vacation in Italy with him next year. This book was more about the journey than the story. We become immersed in the lives of the large cast of principals but the story doesn't have a satisfactory conclusion and leaves more questions than answers. This was a book I picked up at Island Reef and had a hard time getting into, but once on a cross country trip to Tulsa I had no choice. I ended up liking the read but it's not clear whether I would seek out another Juliette Meade book.
TGstars: 3 for nice journey, great character development, poor conclusion

From Library Journal

Christy and Gabe McCarthy appear to be the perfect couple. They live in Oak Ridge, an antebellum North Carolina residence; maintain a beach home; dote upon their only child; and live the upscale life that is featured in Southern Living. Maggie and Oliver Callahan live in a 19th-century family manse in Wiltshire, England, have two children, and fight often due to Oliver's infidelities and Maggie's unfulfilled career aspirations. When the two families switch homes for summer vacations, their lives become entangled, and the fault lines in the two marriages widen. Christy falls for Oliver, Maggie has an intimate liaison with friend and neighbor Edward, and Gabe is stunned and aghast. In her debut American novel, Mead smartly explores the saga of modern relationships gone astray but provides a neat and tidy finish for those who love happy endings. For popular fiction collections.

68. The World Without Us
Alan Weisman
May 2008

Mildly interesting environmental book. The premise is how long will our man made systems survive on earth if we were suddenly to disappear. Examined are things like the Panama Canal, the Chunnel, nuclear reactors, skyscrapers, NY subways and a host of other man made engineering achievements. Some of it was fascinating such as the Panama Canal and how it was built and maintained and some of it lacks basic science knowledge. Overall it was a disappointment even though Time Magazine named it one of the top 10 books of 2007.
TGstars: 2 for it being less than I thought and the authors lack of basic science knowledge

67. Losing It
Valerie Bertanelli
Apr2008

Autobiography with a surprisingly frank discussion of growing up on “One Day at a Time”, marrying a rocker (Van Halen) for 20 years and the decades long battle with weight. This is no holds barred - Valerie admits to drug use, sex, extra marital affairs and lots of other juicy tidbits. Her proudest accomplishment is son Wolfie who now is playing in his Dad's rock band. I don't have much hope for him in that environment. Valerie talks about doing drugs on “one Day” but how Mac got all the blame as the bad girl. Mac was also thinner than Valerie so she had a problem comparing her body type to Mac. Covered is her first sexual experience in High School (so she could wear tampons) to a fling, while married, to someone she met on the set in Japan and finally ending in love with “Tom”, a guy with 4 kids she's now living with. In between we hear about a guy she met in the Kabala Center in Hollywood and who she finally seduced. She was horny but he ended up not wanting her.
TGstars: 2 for interesting story, surprisingly not badly written

66. Lincoln Highway
Michael Wallis and Michael S. Williamson.
Mar2008

This is a coffee table book I read about in Parade. A best selling writer and a Pulitzer prize winning photographer retrace the steps of the Lincoln Highway from Times Square to San Francisco. I scanned some of the old NY and NJ photographs of diners and theaters for my collection. This was a library book - not worth buying.
Library Summary: A tribute to the American transcontinental highway built in 1913 evaluates its historic and cultural relevance as well as current efforts to repair its key segments. TGstars: 1 for some interesting pictures, glad it was a library book and not purchased

65. Grande Expectations
Karen Blumenthal
Jan2008

Pretty good insight into what moves price on the stock exchange. The author spends a year tracing the ups and downs of Starbuck's stock. We see marketing attempts, expansion, buying and selling of the stock, buybacks, splits and lots of other inside action. A pretty good read for stock aficionados.

64. Think Big and Kick Ass
Donald Trump & Bill Zenker
Dec2007

Donald is in his usual form talking about how great he is and why. There are a few good lessons here such as being bold and shooting for the top or the best. His co author has a few good chapters explaining how he made the Learning Annex a top education company.

63. Unknown \\unknown Nov 2007

Birthday book

62. Norwegian Wood (1987)
Haruki Murakami
Sept 2007

This is another delightfully bizarre tale of a love triangle. Two guys and a girl but the girls husband dies tragically so Naoko, the girl, leaves town and ends up in a mental facility far away in the mountains. Watabe, the guy, travels to see her but can only see her in the company of her guitar playing friend Reiko. Meanwhile back at home in Tokyo he falls in love with Midori but won't consumate their relationship because he says it wouldn't be honorable towards Naoko. Soon Naoko committs suicide and Reiko gets out to visit where she's much older than Watabe but moves in for a while with her guitar and has sex with him but he can't forget the love of Naoko.

from Amazon: Murakami tells a bittersweet coming-of-age story, reminiscent of J.R. Salamanca's classic 1964 novel, LilithAthe tale of a young man's involvement with a schizophrenic girl. A successful, 37-year-old businessman, Toru Watanabe, hears a version of the Beatles' Norwegian Wood, and the music transports him back 18 years to his college days. His best friend, Kizuki, inexplicably commits suicide, after which Toru becomes first enamored, then involved with Kizuki's girlfriend, Naoko. But Naoko is a very troubled young woman; her brilliant older sister has also committed suicide, and though sweet and desperate for happiness, she often becomes untethered. She eventually enters a convalescent home for disturbed people, and when Toru visits her, he meets her roommate, an older musician named Reiko, who's had a long history of mental instability. The three become fast friends. Toru makes a commitment to Naoko, but back at college he encounters Midori, a vibrant, outgoing young woman. As he falls in love with her, Toru realizes he cannot continue his relationship with Naoko, whose sanity is fast deteriorating. Though the solution to his problem comes too easily, Murakami tells a subtle, charming, profound and very sexy story of young love bound for tragedy.

61. After the Quake (2007)
Haruki Murakami
Sept 2007

This is a series of short stories, 6 in all, after the Japanese Kobe earthquake.

• ufo in kushiro
  

A man's wife leaves and leaves a note she's never coming back. They divorce, he takes a week off from work where a friend asks him to deliver a package to Kushiro where his sister will meet him at the airport to take the package and arrange for an overnight room in a hotel. HE decides to stay a week in Kushiro and ends up in bed with a girl who's friends with.

From Amazon: In “UFO in Kushiro” the horrors of the quake inspire a woman to leave her perfectly respectable and loving husband, Komura, because “you have nothing inside you that you can give me.” Komura then has a surreal experience that more or less confirms his wife's assessment.

• Landscape with flatiron
  

A teenage girl and a middle-aged man share a hobby of making beach bonfires

• all god's children can dance
  

Yoshiya seems like a decent enough fellow. He might enjoy drinking too much, but he gets along with his coworkers and he has a string of girlfriends who like the way he dances. He is also the son of God. Or at least this is what he is told by his mother who was “saved” by a member of new religion group when she was going to commit suicide after becoming pregnant with Yoshiya after following her doctor/lover's contraceptive methods perfectly. Not believing that he is the son of God, Yoshiya eventually spots a man who looks like an older version of the man his mother slept with almost three decades before. One day pursues this man and he finds…

• thailand
  

From Amazon: The theme of nothingness is revisited in the powerful “Thailand,” in which a female doctor who is on vacation in Thailand and very bitter after a divorce, encounters a mysterious old woman who tells her “There is a stone inside your body…. You must get rid of the stone. Otherwise, after you die and are cremated, only the stone will remain.”

5. super frog saves Tokyo

In “Super-Frog Saves Tokyo”, a loan-collector teams up with a man-sized frog to fight an enormous worm that threatens to destroy Tokyo.

6. honey pie

From Amazon: In “Honey Pie,” Junpei, a gentle, caring man, loses his would-be sweetheart, Sayoko, when his aggressive best friend, Takatsuki, marries her. They have a child, Sala. He remains close friends with them and becomes even closer after they divorce, but still cannot bring himself to declare his love for Sayoko. Sala is traumatized by the quake and Junpei concocts a wonderful allegorical tale to ease her hurt and give himself the courage to reveal his love for Sayoko.

reader review: Probably the sappiest short story that Murakami has ever penned, however, it is also quite effective in tugging on the heart strings. A trio in college: Junpei, Sayoko, and Takatsuki spent all of there time with each other eating out, going to movies, drinking beer, and sharing notes. Brought together by the outgoing Takatsuki, Sayoko and Junpei generally went along with what Takatsuki wanted to do. Also, although Junpei loved Sayoko, and it seemed Sayoko loved him as well, he was afraid to express his feelings, and Takatsuki beat him to the punch and asked Sayoko to marry him. Although his world almost crumbled around hi, Junpei endured to become a moderately successful short story writer. Now Sayoko and Takatsuki are divorced and Sayoko lives alone with her daughter Sala. Can Junpei finally tell the woman he loves his true feelings?

60. Obsession (2007)
Karen Robards
Sept 2007

What a mess. FBI agent Nick goes undercover to solve his sisters murder. Katherine is in her townhouse in Alexandria with her girlfriend Lisa when men break in looking for a safe she doesn't know is there, put there by her boyfriedn, CAI agent Ed Barnes. Lisa gets killed as Katherine escapes by jumping through the glass of the laundry room door. We later find that Katherine is not really Katherine but a double who has been hypnotized to believe she's Katherine so the FBI can get Ed Barnes who is corrupt. Katherine and Nick have a romance going but not before some harrowing escapes and confusing action sequences. Messy and not very believable. How could a person be programmed to fill in for someone else and even the boyfriend of the girl who's substituting for not know???

59. After Dark (2007)
Haruki Murakami
Aug 2007

This was a new release from Eva so it was a 7 day loan. The action of the book takes place over the course of one evneing. The Chapter titles are even in hours and minutes. It starts at something like 11:56 PM - a few minutes before midnight and continues until around 6:42 AM. Rather than detail the novella, I copied the following text from Amazon:

Taking place over seven hours of a Tokyo night, it intercuts three loosely related stories, linked by Murakami's signature magical-realist absurd coincidences. When amateur trombonist and soon-to-be law student Tetsuya Takahashi walks into a late-night Denny's, he espies Mari Asai, 19, sitting by herself, and proceeds to talk himself back into her acquaintance. Tetsuya was once interested in plain Mari's gorgeous older sister, Eri, whom he courted, sort of, two summers previously. Murakami then cuts to Eri, asleep in what turns out to be some sort of menacing netherworld. Tetsuya leaves for overnight band practice, but soon a large, 30ish woman, Kaoru, comes into Denny's asking for Mari: Mari speaks Chinese, and Kaoru needs to speak to the Chinese prostitute who has just been badly beaten up in the nearby “love hotel” Kaoru manages. Murakami's omniscient looks at the lives of the sleeping Eri and the prostitute's assailant, a salaryman named Shirakawa, are sheer padding, but the probing, wonderfully improvisational dialogues Mari has with Tetsuya, Kaoru and a hotel worker named Korogi sustain the book until the ambiguous, mostly upbeat dénouement.

58. Sputnik Sweetheart (2002)
Haruki Murakami
Aug 2007

Had to return to Sarasota to find this book which I accidentally left down there. This is a bizarre tail. A guy is in love with a young girl writer but she thinks he's only a friend. She reveals she loves a woman but the woman doesn't know it. The older woman, Miu, offers the young girl, Sumire, a job as personal assistant. They go off to a greek island on business where Sumire disappears. The guy is summoned to help find Sumire. He's unsuccessful and as to return to Japan because he's a teacher and school starts in a few days. It ends by Sumire calling saying she's back. The end. The reader is left hanging. Where has she been? What she has been up to? Is she OK? Did she go somewhere to find herself?

For completeness, here's the text from the Amazon description: Murakami's seventh novel to be translated into English is a short, enigmatic chronicle of unrequited desire involving three acquaintances the narrator, a 24-year-old Tokyo schoolteacher; his friend Sumire, an erratic, dreamy writer who idolizes Jack Kerouac; and Miu, a beautiful married businesswoman with a secret in her past so harrowing it has turned her hair snowy white. When Sumire abandons her writing for life as an assistant to Miu and later disappears while the two are vacationing on a Greek island, the narrator/teacher travels across the world to help find her. Once on the island, he discovers Sumire has written two stories: one explaining the extent of her longing for Miu; the second revealing the secret from Miu's past that bleached her hair and prevents her from getting close to anyone. All of the characters suffer from bouts of existential despair, and in the end, back in Tokyo, having lost both of his potential saviors and deciding to end a loveless affair with a student's mother, the narrator laments his loneliness. Though the story is almost stark in its simplicity more like Murakami's romantic Norwegian Wood than his surreal Wind-Up Bird Chronicles the careful intimacy of the protagonists' conversation and their tightly controlled passion for each other make this slim book worthwhile. Like a Zen koan, Murakami's tale of the search for human connection asks only questions, offers no answers and must be meditated upon to provide meaning. (Apr. 30)Forecast: Long the secret delight of connoisseurs, Murakami has been steadily and quietly acquiring a wider readership. His latest offering breaks no new ground but is packaged in a striking manner and should attract a few newcomers.

57. Cover of Night
Linda Howard
July 2007

This was an audio book I listened to on a Florida trip. Cate owns a bed and breakfast and is suspicious when one of her guests disappears. She teams up with a strange handyman from a neighboring town and defends her town which is being taken over by thugs. This is too unbelievable of a story - they cut off the power and phone lines and overrun the town but are driven back in a good old fashioned shoot out.

56. Superstition
Karen Robards
June 2007

This started a little slowly for me. I tried reading it on the California Zephyr but was distracted by the window scenery. The book also starts with some seances which are not my thing. While investigating the 15 year old murder of Tara Mitchell on Pawleys Island 15 years ago, Nicky, a TV reporter, has her mother Leonora do a psychic reading on live TV. Meantime, Karen, one of the shows reporters is killed outside in the driveway after the shows airing. Nicky was almost killed as well. She starts an on the air investigation of the killer. Another woman, Marsha, is killed then Nicky's pregnant sister Livvy is almost killed. Nicky starts after the killer in earnest, befriended and making love with the police chief Joe on the way.

I liked the story and the captivating plot. When I was getting close to the end and there still was no resolution I was convinced it was going to end in one sentence and htey all lived happily after. Not so. There was a turn of events in the end before they all lived happily ever after, Karen Robards excels at Romance writing but she's not very good in the who dnnit category. Her ending happen too quickly and get sewn up in one neat tidy ending. This was my only complaint about this book.

55. South of the Border, West of the Sun (1999)
Haruki Murakami
April 2007

I loved the writing of this - so poetic and descriptive. It contains something I haven't seen from Murakami - sex scenes. The premise is he fell in love when he was 12 years old and then through the course of high school and college he didn't see Shimimato again.5 years later she stops into the bar he owns and they spend hours talking - picking up where they left off. He agrees to go with her to the Sea of Japan the next day by plane. They walk down a lonely path along a river leading to the sea where she dumps the ashes of her babay. She doesn't explain but said she would some day. The only problem is Hajime has a wife, Yukako back home but is willing to throw it all away for his love. She disappears again and he thinks he's a fool for wanting to give it all up. He's not unhappy with his life - he loves his wife and kids. The girlfriend appears again and they spend an evening in a summer house he owns and see each other naked for the first time. They make endless love. When they get back she disppears again seemingly for good. End of story.

54. Dance, Dance, Dance (1995)
Haruki Murakami
March 2007

Another bizarre story. The protagonist goes back to the Hotel Dolphin but it's not there, replaced by a new luxury hotel which took it's name. From there he meets a clairvoyant 13 year old and somehow becomes her guardian when her mother abandons her. He tries to find the old Hotel Dolphin because it will lead him to a former flame, Kiki. In the meantime he falls in love with the hotel desk clerk, Yukimoysha. In the end he returns to the hotel and makes love to Yukimosha for the first time and pledges his love to her forever. During the course of the novel he and Yukimoysha enter a floor of the hotel on and off which is totally dark and moldy and slimey inhabited by a non human form only known as the Sheep Man who seems to be harmless but advises our protagonist to Dance through life which gives us the book title. Very surreal but poetic writing by Murakami.

53. Nature Girl
Carl Hiassen
Jan 2007
I listened to this audiobook driving to Florida. A Seminole Indian has a tourist die while on his air boat touring the everglades. Thinking he will be blamed, he hides out in the 10,000 islands. Meanwhile a woman has a run in with a telemarketer from Texas who tries to sell her swamp land in the Everglades so she lures him to Florida with his girlfriend to the swamp land where she's trying to start an eco tour business. All these characters meet on the 10,000 islands including some college girls from a college party. The college girl falls for the Seminole, they have sex and depart when all are rescued by the Coast Guard.

52. Hoot
Carl Hiassen
Jan 2007
This was a fun short book to read about developers wanting to develop a lot in Coconut Grove occupied by burrowing owls. It's like a Disney story in that a bunch of high school kids are involved in a series of pranks such as stealing the seats from the bulldozers, painting the windows of a patrol car black while the guard cop fell asleep, etc. Overall it's a nice story.

51. A Lady of the West
Linda Howard
Dec 2006

Pretty good story about the Sarrats and how they lost their ranch after the Mexican American war. The boys vow to get the ranch back after seeing their parents murdered by the evil McLain. McLain purchases a proper lady bride from Georgia who comes to New Mexico with her cousin and sister and are beautiful white woman, proper, pretty and cultured. McLain is proud of his wife but still visits whores instead of sleeping with Victoria. The Sarrat brothers, Jake and Ben, take over the ranch with 60 other riders and Jake marries Victoria 2 days later and begins a passionate affair with Victoria until she gets pregnant. Jake doesn't believe the baby is his and trouble ensues. His brother Ben is trying to put the make on cousin Emma while sister Claire is making love regularly with the ranch foreman. In the end Claire is killed by a stallion, Emma marries Ben and the ranch is attacked by one of McLains men with 50 others who burn the house down. Victoria has her baby at the end of all this turmoil - they look forward to rebuilding their lives and living happily ever after.

50. Dear John

1. Nicholas Sparks
   

Dec 2006 audiobook

We listened to this on our trip back from Sarasota. It's about a young man from Wilmington who falls in love with a college girl who's a “good girl”. He goes off to Iraq but they carry on a love affair via letters over the next year. Then Sept 11 happens and he re-enlists instead of settling down with her. She marries someone else but after a few years he stops by and visits her in the mountains because he got leave to go to his fathers funeral. It was the girl, Susannah, who got John to know his father better and understand the mans social problems. When Susannah's husband is diagnosed with cancer, John sells his dads coin collection which he inherited and gives the money to a trust fund for the mans treatment. He gets well and lives happily ever after with Susannah. John is left on the outside looking in. There's a sequel here.

49. Basket Case
- Carl Hiaasen
Nov 2006

Started as an audio book on Apex to Sarasota drive. Finished it by taking the printed book out of the Gulf Gate library. It's about an old rock musiciian killed on a scub divingtrip in the bahamas. His new CD is on a hard drive found in a false bottom of a scuba tank and the killer wants the drive. Jack Taggart, the hero, has an affair with his boss Emma who gets kidnapped. After a boat rendevouz in the middle of Lake Okechobee to trade the hard drive for Emma there is a chase and shootout until the crooks topple their airboat. The killer was the singers wife who wanted the song for her own.

48.Kafka on shore (2005)
- Haruki Murakami
Oct 2006

A young boy drops out of school and begins a very strange journey looking for his mother and the meaning of life. He gets a job in a library in another Japanese city. He meets a strange girl on the bus who takes him in for a while and masturbates him but won't let him touch her. He mets a shemale that had a sex change and also has sex with an apparition which he thinks is the library head mistress. In a parallel story even weirder, A guy give up his truck driving to go around with this guy who can't read but can talk to cats. They find an entrance stone which opens and even more weird things happen.

47. Wind Up Bird chronicles (1998)
- Haruki Murakami
Aug 2005

A weird book. A guy living with his wife Kumiko is unemployed and out looking for his wife Kumiko;'s cat. One day Kumiko leaves him - we don't know why. Various people wander in and out - 2 psychic sisters, the 16 year old down the alley, a speechless guy named Cinnamon and his Mother Basil or some other name of a spice. He spends time at the bottom of a dried out well thinking and dreaming. Some of the story is his implausible dreams. We learn of WWI atrocities and strange rooms he enters from the bottom of the well. In addition we meet his weird brother in law who is also mystical and powerful

46 Skin Tight
- Carl Hiaasen
Mar 2005

45. Skinny Dip
- Carl Hiassen
Jan 2005

A woman who is an excellent ex college swimmer is thrown overboard one dark and rainy night. She manages to grab hold of a bail of marijuana which was floating in the sea and passes out clinging to it. Mick Stranahan, a recluse former detective, rescues her and brings her to his shack on an island where they eventually make love. In the meantime, Mick helps her track down what her husband is up to. It turns out he's a biologist faking reports on nitrate levels in the everglades and being paid off by one of the rich farmers whose land the runoff is coming from. They get the evidence they need to convict the farmer and the husband and a bunch of corrupt officials. Mick stays single and lets her go back to her own life. Mick appeared in an earlier Hiassen novel which I dug up at the library for my next read. This was a great detective story with a little bit of mystery and a little bit of romance set against the Florida Everglades and the topical environment. Started this book by listening to it on the drive down to Florida and on the flight back stopped into the Eva Perry library and picked up the printed version. It was a 7 day title because it was still new.

44. Beachcomber
- Karen Robards
Jan 2005

Two FBI guys stake out a womans rented beach cottage on Ocracoke because she has mob ties. Her family is mob related but she is trying to go straight with her own career until she finds her fiance is still mob related. She breaks ties with him and goes to Ocracoke to deliver a package after which she is promised to be left alone by the mob. Meantime a serial killer is kidnapping young females and tieing them up in a dungeon in the area. Of course our mob girl falls in love with the FBI guy but discovers the room full of monitoring equipment in his beach house next door - all of it watching her. There is some hot sex on the beach as they try to escape the serial killer. I really liked this thriller with twists and turns - of course it has the good Karen Robards writing and romance.

43. Bait
- Karen Robards
Dec 2004

This is a 7 day library rental and has almost 400 pages so it was a concentrated read. Somebody tried to kill Maddie in her hotel room while she was in New Orleans trying to win a dog food account for her new advertising agency. Another Maddie in the same hotel was killed. The FBI is called in and of course she falls for McCabe who is assigned to the case. Also going on is a serial killer who keeps calling McCabe and tormenting him while killing the victims. Each victim is killed before McCabe gets there. The killer appears to be going after Maddie now. Tensions are raised when McCabe discovers Maddie's Dad was involved with the mob. She eventually is dazed with a stun gun and kidnapped by the mob wanting her Dad's strongbox of info. she manages to escape while rescuing McCabe who also was captured. They make it out and live happily ever after clearing up everything. The killer was an ex FBI agent who was getting back at McCabe but this same guy was also involved with Maddie's Dads mob involvement.

42. The Five People You meet in Heaven
- Mitch Albom
Sep 2004

A very very nice read. This book was heartwarming and loving as “Eddie” a boardwalk park maintenance worker encounters 5 people from his past after he dies trying to save a little girl on one of the carnival rides. I loved this book it was so well done, so refreshing and original.

41. Dead and Buried
- Corey Mitchell
Sep 2004

Read about this on amazon so got it out of the library. Not my type of book although it's well written. It documents rape, torture and murder on the Calif coast - not exactly my cup of tea.

40. Writing About Your Life
- William Zinsner
Sep 2004

Cleverly written autobiography purporting showing how to write a memoir but instead it's about this authors life. He tells how to not document every little thing but instead tell a few stories. The problem with the book is the author is an air bag - nothing very interesting in his stories. Boring, boring, boring.

39. Perfect Day
- Richard Evans
Sep 2004

A fantastic book for anyone needing to set their life priorities in order. I loved it. Richard Evans is the master at spiritual storytelling. Richard Harlan is married to allyson with a child Carson. He gets layed off from his job selling commercials at a radio station. his wife works to support them and he installs sprinkler heads to bring in money but he writes his long desired novel in the extra time he now has. The novel, the Perfect Day, is about the last days of his wife's father and the father- daughter relationship. It's a runaway success - he becomes famous and rich but leaves his wife and spends all his time on tour. Enter Michael, an angel, who seems to know everything about him. He tells Richard he only has until New Years Day to live. Richard starts trying to get the love of his family back and finds he has always loved his wife and child. In the end he finds Michael was not really an angel but a wannabe author who hacked his computer to get life details. The ploy works and he lives happily ever after with Allyson and Carson.

38 Shameless Exploitation
- Paul Newman, Hotchkiss
June 2004

Paul Newmans rise to fame and the founding of the hole in the wall camps. All profits go towards the kids camps. He writes with humor and makes it interesting even though it's a dry topic. Some of it is not truth, some of it intentionally stretches the truth but one thing is clear - Newman believes in himself and in his company and in his way of doing things.

37. Three Weeks with My Brother
- Nicholas & Micah Sparks
May 2004

I really enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down. Nick Sparks

weaves his memoirs with a three week journey exploring the world with his brother. They went from Guatemala to Peru down to Chile and Easter Island then Australia, Cambodia, India and Norway. These are the countries I remember but some of the cities had strange names I never heard of before. Sparks is a skilled story teller relating his growing up with older brother and younger sister and how the family interacted over the years up to and including the death of their parents and then the sister Dana leaving just brother Micah and Nicholas. Along the way we hear about the kids and wives, Micahs easy going bachelor lifestyle and Nicks deadline oriented always trying to get things done life. The boys are a version of the ugly American, having no respect for tribal rituals, customs or objects. This was the only part of the book I didn't like.

36. Whispera at Midnight
- Karen Robards
March 2004

Back to Karen Robards - she's an easy read. Started reading this on vacation in Sarasota while Bozo ball was playing. Carly returns to her hometown with plans to convert her grandmothers home into a B&B. Newly divorced she moves there with her divorced friend and soon meet the man who took her virginity on prom night. Matt is now the sheriff of Benton and she still has the hots for him. Someone is trying to kill Carly and the Sheriff goes overboard fully protecting her and even having her move into his house with his 3 sisters to keep an eye on her. Passion and lust soon consume them and when Carly is kidnapped by the bad guy the pursuit gets into high gear. All ends well with a marriage proposal from Matt and they lived happily ever after… thus ends another Karen Robards romance. I actually finished this in May after the Nicholas Sparks book. I guess I wasn't in the mood for reading but am now.

35. East of Eden
- John Steinbeck
September 2003 - Jan 2004

This is a big book and I spent lots of days reading it and also lots of days where it sat on the shelf.

34. Girl in Hyacinth Blue
- Susan Vreeland published 1999
Aug 2003

This is about a previously unknown Vermeer painting that shows up at a private boys school after the death of a faculty member. There are only 35 know Vermeer paintings, this is the 36th. It was seized by the Nazi's in WWII - the story is actually a sequence of short stories which go backward in time tracing the provenance of this painting finally ending up in Vermeers studio painting this picture. I had a hard time reading it because of the period names for people and also the Dutch place names were confusing. The book specializes in the feelings evoked by a piece of art rather than any kind of character development. For example one chapter starts with a baby discovered in a boat during a flood. Along with the baby is the painting wrapped up and a note to use the painting to care for the child. In the next chapter as a separate short story we learn how the baby was conceived and why he was set afloat by his father.

The author is good in prose and descriptions, for example this paragraph evoking both time and place:

“Saskia opened the back shutters and looked out the upstairs south window early the second morning after the flood. Their farmhouse was an island apart from the world. Vapors of varying gray made the neighboring four farmhouses indistinct, yet there was a shine on the water like the polished pewter of her mother's kitchen back home. Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so, she thought. But it wasn't so. And the cow would have to stay upstairs with them until it was so, however long that was, stay upstairs messing the floor and taking up half the room”

33. Wild Orchids
- Jude Devereaux
Aug 2003
Ford is a successful writer who decides to move to Cole Corner in the NC mountains because of a story he heard about the devil and a woman killed years ago by a pressing or buried under stones placed by a group of people. Ford hires an assistant much younger than he, Jackie, who moves to the town with him. It turns out Jackie lived in the town and the lady killed was her aunt and furthermore, Jackie was witness to the murder when she was a little girl. The end finds us meeting the devil and finally Ford jumping into bed with Jackie in the final chapter. I liked this book although it wasn't the typical Jude Devereaux romance. I don't know what it was - nice character development, nice story development, hardly a story though.

32. Almost Forever
- Linda Howard
June 2003
Claire is an introverted shy secretary getting over a divorce from a husband who didn't pay much attention to her. Max arrives to get information from Claire as part of a corporate takeover of the company she works for. Men like Max usually ignore wallflowers like Claire so she is enamored of him. After the takeover he disappears but finds he really loves her. They go to his home in Scotland to get married and live happily ever after.

31. Temptation
- Jude Devereaux
May 2003
Temperance is a turn of the century womans libber finding destitute woman in NYC and finding them homes and jobs. Her life changes when her mother remarries and the new husband now controls her inheritance. He, Angus, tells Temperence that if she wants her inheritance back she is to go to Scotland and find his brother a wife. The brother, McLeir, is a real man living among sheep in a rundown castle that Temperance as the housekeeper starts cleaning and restoring. Temperence falls for him eventually after they have sex on the mountaintop. He has to get married before his 35th birthday to keep his inheritance, the mountain , land and castle. Temperence plans his wedding to

a gold digging childhood sweetheart but it gets aborted as he races Temperence to the altar on a fast horse. She refuses the vows and returns to NYC. Two years later he returns to her in NY and finds she had a kid but doesn't know he's the father. When all is straightened out they get married and live happily ever after.

30. Eternity
- Jude Devereaux
May 2003
Carrie and her friends are running a mail order bride agency after the civil war when she falls in love with a photo of joshua and his 2 kids seeking a woman to cook, clean and help with the farm. The wealthy Carrie heads out West after marrying Joshua by proxy. He is disappointed because she's rich, pretty, elegant, sophisticated and knows nothing about cooking, cleaning and farming. He wants to send her home on the next stage which is in a week. She tries but he ends up dropping her off 7 days later at the stage depot and leaves. She finds the stage isn't coming this week so instead starts a business catering to rich woman because of her fashion experience as a consumer. Josh doesn't know about this. When he and the kids come to town in 6 weeks they are surprised and glad she didn't leave. After dealing with Joshua's evil brother and finding he's still married to Nora the first wife all ends well when her brother Ring comes to town and straightens everything up. Joshua and Carrie get married and live happily ever after.

29. Under the Mulberry Tree
- Jude Devereaux
March 2003
Bailey is married to a billionaire and has everything but her life takes a turn when he dies in a plane crash and leaves her only a 10 acre farm in Virginia and his fortune to his two siblings. Bailey doesn't challenge the will because she was only 17 when she married him and didn't have her mothers permission so the marriage isn't legal. An architect, Matt moves into a few rooms of her house and with his help she tracks down the fact that the two siblings aren't really related but arranged for the plane to run out of fuel killing Jimmie her husband. She finds Jimmies mother in a nursing home in Atlanta and discovers there was permission for the marriage and thus it was legal. She marries Matt, the siblings go to prison for life and she arranges for the billions of dollars of companies to become employee owned over a 10 year period. The book is named for the Mulberry tree towering over house out the back door. She was starting up a fruit preserves company with Mulberry Tree in the company name.

28. Walking after Midnight
- Karen Robards
Feb 2003
After being away from Karen Robards for a while it was nice to reading one of her novels again. This was a great one - it really held my interest. Summer owns a cleaning service and is cleaning a funeral home one night because her staff didn't show up and this is one of her good customers. Suddenly one of the bodies on a table moves and then grabs her and bolts out the door while others are in pursuit. They grab a van and take off - the van has bodies in it and as we find out later, the bodies have drug money smuggled in them. Customs doesn't inspect coffins very well so Colombian drug trade flourishes. Elise treks around with Steve Calhoun who she later falls in love with, having hot sex in the mountains. Steve is a disgraced cop and had an affair with his best friends wife Dee Dee who is now dead and is a ghost in this story. They lead the bad guys to the hidden van and money. The bad guys get caught and Steve marries Summer.

27. An Angel for Emily
- Jude Devereaux
Feb 2003
Emily runs into Michael in her car. She finds out Michael is her guardian angel who was sent here to take care of an unknown evil that's threatening her. Together they find what the evil is but not before Michael violates all angel rules and has sex with Emily in a night of passion. In the end, the evil turns out to be some guys who want to get rid of her because she stands in the way of an inheritance - she is kidnapped by them and about to be killed when Michael shows up to save the day but when the bad guys attempt to shoot Michael, Emily jumps in front of the bullet. She and Michael live (?) happily ever after.

26. Wild
- Lori Foster
Feb 2003
After reading two chapters that did not hold my interest I returned this book to the library.

25. Mr Perfect
- Linda Howard
Feb 2003
4 lady friends make up a list of their ideal man. The list gets out into the public and on nationwide TV - the list is controversial because it includes as one of the requirements the size of a mans equipment. Someone starts killing the ladies and it turns into a mystery story but there isn't much mystery because we know who the killer is - a fellow employee who is female but raised as a male by her mother. The ladies don't know who the killer is but the reader does. The end is exciting because the killer is trying to break down a fence to kill some more while the police are on the way including Jaine's lover, policeman Sam Donovan.

24. Christmas Box
- Richard Paul Evans
Jan 2003
A couple moves into an old Victorian with their young daughter. Instead of rent they are earning their keep by cleaning and cooking for an elderly lady. While making room for some of their stuff in the attic they come across a carved box with Nativity on it. It's assumed to be a Christmas box but instead it actually contains letters that appear to be love letters. The man in this story owns his own business, he and his wife moved from Southern Calif corporate life to Utah to start a formal wear business. The needs of the business stop the man from spending much time with his daughter. The elderly lady fills in by reading stories to the girl and in general being a granny to her. Just before the lady passes away they learn of the ladies deceased daughter and the letters in the box were to the daughter.

23. Strangers In the Night
Jan 2003 Three Short Stories
Linda Howard
1. Lake of Dreams A woman has been dreaming of the same lover for many years at a lake that she finally goes to and meets him for real. He has been having the same dreams too. They find each other and make love and live happily ever after.

2. Blue Moon The sheriff of a town is frustrated by full moons and a blue moon in particular because the town acts up. He follows up on a report that one' of the residents is going to cause trouble up river with a woman purported to be a witch. He's stranded there over night in a storm and falls in love.

3. White Out Hope is left in a cabin in a blizzard. She's a young widow living with her Father. Her father is called away and she's left to care for the place in the storm. A stranger arrives unconscious from exposure to the storm. She cares for him and falls in love. The stranger may be an escaped prisoner or he may be a wounded deputy - she's not sure. All is resolved happily ever after.

Here's an interesting scan from this book: White Out partial

22. Now You See Her
- Linda Howard
Jan 2003
An artist falls in love with the rich landlord of the gallery she exhibits in. She's clairvoyant and starts painting crime scenes in her sleep then suffering unbelievable chills the next day. The landlord, Ross, keeps her warm. When Ross's wife is murdered, Sweeneys life is in danger because she started painting the murder scene but not the murderers face yet.

21. Carousel
- Richard Paul Evans
Read Jan 2003
A law student, Michael, working at a nursing home secretly marries a med student. Faye is in med school in Baltimore while

he's left in Utah at Weber college. Their marriage is on the rocks because she's pregnant after their only night together! She befriends a down and out waitress and cares for the waitress

daughter while she comforts a friend whose grandfather dies in the nursing home.

20 Last Promise
- Richard Paul Evans
Read Dec 2002

A man hears a story pool side of Eliana trapped in an abusive marriage with a small son in a villa in Tuscany. Another American, Ross Story, rents an apartment in the villa. Ross is escaping America and works in Italy as a tour guide of the art museum. Ross poses for Eliana who paints his portrait. During this closeness they have dinner and fall in love. There's lots of conflict from her jealous abusive and also unfaithful husband Marizzio.

19. Lovely Bones
- Alice Seybold
Read Dec 2002
This was a Good Morning America book club presentation. I decided to give it a try and wasn't disappointed. 14 year old Susie is raped and murdered on her way from school. The story is from her perspective in heaven as she watches her grieving family and classmates live their life and struggle with the search for her killer.

18. Open Season

- Linda Howard
Dec 2002
A spinster librarian turns 34 and decides to change her life - she wants a husband and family. The local police chief falls for her, an underage girl smuggling ring involving the mayor targets her because she may have witnessed the murder of one of the ring members. A little sex, lots of page turning toward the end as the story gets good.

17. Rescue
- Nicholas Sparks
Read Dec 2002
Taylor is a volunteer firemen, Denise is a single mother living in his town with her little boy Kyle.

16. Nights in Rodanthe
- Nicholas Sparks
Read Dec 2002
Paul and Adrienne meet one weekend in Rodanthe. She's watching the Inn, he's a surgeon but on business about a lawsuit. They part in love - he leaves the country for a year in Ecuador to get to know his son. He dies there.

15. Girl With Pearl Earring
Tracy Chevalier
Read Nov 2002
A poor girl becomes a maid for the painter Vermeer and recounts some of her masters paintings and his ways as well as life and hardships of the 16th century.

14. Return to Provence
Peter Mayle
Oct 2002
Return to the South of France.

13. A year in Provence
- Peter Mayle
Sept 2002 A year of life in South France.

12. Celebration
Douglas Frantz
Sept 2002
Life in the Disney town outside of Orlando by a NY Times journalist who moved there with his family to see what it was like.

11. Wait until Dark
Karen Robards
Read Jan 2002
Synopsis: Short story where a girl was helping her sister dispose of critters at night in the mountains of Tennessee and runs into a drug drop. One of the druggies helps her escape from the others who are shooting at them. They have a dramatic river adventure escaping the bad guys and just before a falls make it to land and find a hunting cabin which they use to make love. The bad guys discover them and break in but are foiled by the law. They part ways but months later when singing in her band with her sister the guy returns with a new pair of Ostrich boots she had to give up in the river escape.

Next story is about a small town that women from the librarians reading group are being murdered. A college professor checks into her mothers bed and breakfast to research Appalachian folk lore. She falls in love, they find the murderer but not before she is captured and almost killed.

10. Nobodys Angel
Karen Robards
Read: Jan 2002
Synopsis: A ministers daughter buys a bound man at auction in Beaufort in the 1800's. He turns out to be educated and strong but has never done manual labor let alone farm work. She falls in love with him and gives up hr virginity but he runs off. She finds him in Charleston going back to England. She accompanies him and discovers he's a marquis who his evil family tried to get rid of by having him sent as a prisoner to the new world. The resolve the family issues and get married returning to live on the South Carolina farm.

9. Paradise County
Karen Robards
Read: Nov 2001
Synopsis: Alex inherits a bankrupt horse farm after her fathers suicide. She is a Philly professional woman also raising her precocious 15 year old sister, Neely. She stays at the farm for 3 weeks and falls in love with the horse trainer, Joe. There is a predator spying on her who secretly lives in the basement of the mansion. He keeps woman entrapped in the coal bin for his pleasure. He installs TV cameras to spy on Alex and her sister and arranges for a kidnapping of them. He turns out to be owner of the Dixie Hotel where he wired all the rooms with TV cameras and spied on Alex and Neely while they stayed there one night.

8. Heartbreaker
Karen Robards
Read: Nov 2001
Lynn agrees to chaperon her teenage daughter Rory in the Utah wilds on a camping trip. They go over a cliff and are rescued by Jess, one of the outfitters. They're now separated from the group and meet up with a cult in the woods where they escape by kayak and through a cave where nuclear terrorism is the name of the game. Lynn and Jess make it in a cave while escaping.

7. Hunters Moon
Karen Robards
read Nov 2001

Investigator Will catches Molly taking a burlap bag full of cash he was using on a stake out of horse race fixing. he gets Molly to work for him in exchange for not arresting her. Of course they fall in love while solving the race fixing mystery.

6. One Summer
Karen Robards
read: Nov 2001

Johnny Harris is home from prison and is given a job by schoolteacher and hardware store owner Rachel Grant who doesn't believe he did it. The town is shocked by this no good back from prison and worse hanging around with Rachel.

5. Senators Wife
Karen Robards
Read: Oct 2001
Synopsis: An attractive woman is married to a Senator as a trophy. She's always doing things wrong for the Senators constituents. The Senator gets shot and she messses around with one of the PR guys that's supposed to improve her image.

4. Ghost Moon
Karen Robards
Read Oct 2001
Olivia returns to her childhood home in Louisiana where she causes her grandfather, Big Johns, heart attack. A predator is preying on little girls and her 8 year old daughter, Sara. Her step cousin Seth is the love interest here.

3. Midnight Hour
Karen Robards
read: Oct 2001
Synopsis: Grace Hart is a judge with a wild Daughter Jessica. Somebody is after them, detective Tony Marino moves in to help and things heat up with him around.

2. Scandalous
Karen Robards
read: Sep 2001
Gabby learns her half brother the Lord of Wyckan was killed on his plantation in Ceylon. This is bad for her because she and her 2 sisters are now penniless. They go to London anyway not telling about their half brother in hopes her sister can have a proper introduction to Society. The love interest here is a guy pretending to be her brother Marcus which causes a scandal with brother and sister rumored to be romantically involved.

1. Wild Orchids
Karen Robards
Aug 2001
Synopsis: A schoolteacher is hijacked in her rental car in Cancun by Max, a guy she thinks is a scoundrel but later turns out to be with DEA. They crash land in the jungle and fight off a band of drug smugglers until rescued by the CIA.