A Few Book Review-lets

 

by Mary Saums

 

How's your spring reading going? The pretty weather now means more outside time, but you know how it is. We book addicts always find a way to sneak in some reading.

 

First, some self-help in three sentences or less:

 

 

 

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo is more of a YA autobiography than the hardcore change-y tidy thing I expected. Best suited to young people who go ahead and organize Mom and Dad's private drawers and throw out their favorite clothes without asking permission.

 

 

 

Organize & Create Discipline: An A-Z Guide To An Organized Existence shows how the author fine-tuned his OCD habits into systems that anyone can use to create a peaceful, well-organized life. I like his emphasis on using technology, with good specifics on how to truly clear out the paper and keep everything easy to find and under control.

 

 

 

 

Getting Rid Of It: Eliminate the Clutter in Your Life by Warren and Betsy Talbot is another excellent book with the focus on how to get rid of EVERYTHING. They're experts on this - they decided to sell ALL their possessions to travel for several years, and even now own only what each can carry in one pack.

 

 

 

 

How To Disappear by Frank M. Ahearn & Eileen C. Horan is a guide for you or your fictional characters who might need to get invisible. The authors are experienced skip-tracers who show you the sneaky things undesirables use to get your private information. Published in 2010, so not completely up-to-date technology-wise, but an excellent reference for low-tech dirty tricks.

 

 

 

Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland is a fascinating story of how Bryan Sykes, famous geneticist and author of The Seven Daughters of Eve, tests DNA throughout the British Isles and creates a "map" of its inhabitants' deep ancestry. Loved it.

 

 

 

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks is an old favorite, another wonderful group of real-life stories from the eminent doctor. Here he deals with patients with perceptual difficulties, some unable to distinguish what were once familiar objects, like the poor man in the title, and some who suddenly become frightened by their own limbs.

 

And now, for my Fave Fiction of the Month:

 

 

WHO BURIES THE DEAD by C.S. Harris

 

Oh YEAH, baby! That's right, I'm still mad about this series. This is #10 in the annals of Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, who is still dashing, intelligent, complicated, passionate, honorable, strong-minded, and damned good-looking. All that aside, I think I know now why I love these books. It's because C. S. Harris knows how to put the reader into the scene. The world around the characters is in motion. We hear and feel what the characters are experiencing, see the busy backdrop of London. That's the big thing, I think. Also, each character has his/her own past and viewpoint. Throughout the series, politics are intertwined with everyday life, and of course with the criminal activity surrounding each murder investigation. I highly recommend these books as a Top Re-read Series.

 

What have YOU been reading lately? Anything that knocked your socks off? :)

 

Comments

[Elaine Viets]

Mary, once again thank you for an amazing series of reviews. I will definitely get the CS Harris book. I just finished John Verdon's thriller "Peter Pan Must Die." Fast paced and fun to read, but not for cozy lovers.

[Marcia Talley]

Frank Aherne gave a talk to the Chessie chapter on Sisters in Crime and he was awesome. I used his tips to inform my short story, Home Movies, in Baltimore Noir.

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

You always have such wonderful choices! Thank you!

[Mary S.]

Thank you, ladies.

Elaine, at first, I read several books out of order, but then went back and read them in order. There are so many surprises that carry through the series that I'd recommend starting from the beginning with What Angels Fear. Either way, they're excellent!

[Charlaine Harris]

I just read a book I remembered my mother had when she was a child, an Elsie Dinsmore book. Elsie was the most pious child you ever met, and all families are devoted and devout or they become so. I had not read this particular entry before (Elsie and the Raymonds) and to my appalled horror, it was both virulently anti-Mormon and also anti-Catholic. Wow, have the times changed in children's reading. Your book choices sound much more satisfying.

[Mary S.]

Oh my goodness! Yeah, that kind of stuff can kick you right out of a good reading mood. :)

I just pre-ordered Day Shift at Audible.com. Yay! I hope there will be many more in the Midnight series.