January 18, 2017January 17, 2017 by admin

Book 3 (of 52) – Killing Ruby Rose

Killing Ruby Rose – Jessie Humphries

Every month, Amazon offers its Prime customers a free Kindle ebook, which is how I ended up the owner of this lovely title. Killing Ruby Rose tells the tale of Ruby Rose, a precocious high school student who, following the death of her father, is forced to kill criminals that her DA mother has, for one reason or another, let slip through the justice system. She needs to figure out who is setting her up while trying to keep her friends safe and find out the secret her mother is keeping from her. If it sounds a bit convoluted, that’s because it is.

There’s a decent enough story buried in here somewhere, but it gets overwhelmed by badness that drags things down. For example, Ruby worries that she’s about to be arrested for the “murders” she’s committed, despite them not being murders and her being legally in the clear. Once the other characters start calling her out on her illogical approach, you have to wonder why the author continued to hammer home the wrong point.

I obviously have no intention to continue on with the Ruby Rose series. Hopefully, for those that do, the author learns to tighten up her game.

January 3, 2017December 31, 2016 by admin

52 Books in 52 Weeks – 2017 Edition

52/52
A Bloody Storm, Amazon, Christmas, Harry Potter, iPad, Kindle, Richard Castle
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A new year is once again upon us, and it is time to start year eight of the goal to read a book a week for the entire year, totaling 52 books in 52 weeks. In year one, I only made it to 8 books. Year two doubled that total. Year three used graphic novels to improve once again, finishing with 24. Year four was the first where I dropped from the year before, only finishing 18 books, which was well short of the ultimate goal. Three years ago, I bounced back to finish with 23 books. Two years ago, I had my best year since starting this challenge, not to mention my best reading year ever, finishing with 31 books. Last year, I matched that high point in total books, though far surpassing it in total pages read thanks to reading the entire Harry Potter series.

I’m going to give it another go this year. I’ve got a few new books loaded in the Kindle app on my iPad, plus a few new purchases from Amazon, not to mention birthday and Christmas presents, so I’ve got a good pile to start with. As a reminder, the rules I am using are:

You can count a book as read as long as you have completed the book in 2017 and at least 50% of that reading takes place in 2017
Any book counts as long as you’re not embarrassed to count it.
Poetry collections do indeed count.
Re-reading a book is okay as long as it isn’t done this year. (Reading Twilight twice in 2010 only counts as 1 read)
Audiobooks also count.

My first book of the year looks like it will be A Bloody Storm, the third part of Richard Castle’s Derrick Storm novellas. All told, 2017 should be another good year.

September 14, 2016September 12, 2016 by admin

2016 Emmy Awards – Comedy

With the Emmy Awards scheduled for Sunday night, here are my predictions for the awards for Comedy shows. I most likely have seen most of these shows, so, unlike my annual Oscar predictions, I will not mostly be going on gut feel and word of mouth, but will have a somewhat informed decision.

Outstanding Comedy

Black-ish

Master of None

Modern Family

Silicon Valley

Transparent

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Veep

Veep won last year and would seem to be a good choice to repeat, so I’ll go with that.

Outstanding Actress In A Comedy

Ellie Kemper, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep

Laurie Metcalf, Getting On

Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish

Amy Schumer, Inside Amy Schumer

Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie

Julia Louis-Dreyfus won this award the past three years, and I see no reason why she won’t repeat again this year.

Outstanding Actor In A Comedy

Anthony Anderson, Black-ish

Aziz Ansari, Master of None

Will Forte, The Last Man on Earth

William H. Macy, Shameless

Thomas Middleditch, Silicon Valley

Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent

Jeffrey Tambor brought home the award last year for his gender-bending role on Amazon’s hit series. My guess is that Aziz Ansari rides the same wave of good feelings to take home the trophy for his Netflix series.

Continue reading →

July 6, 2016July 5, 2016 by admin

Book 16 (of 52) – Daddy, Stop Talking!

Daddy, Stop Talking! & Other Things My Kids Want But Won’t Be Getting – Adam Carolla

The latest output from Adam Carolla, ostensibly a parenting book with advice given to his children, made its way onto my Kindle app recently thanks to a sale at Amazon. Daddy, Stop Talking! is, once again, basically a transcript of rants from Carolla’s daily podcast transcribed for people who apparently need to read what they have already heard. It was the same issue that I had with his previous book back in 2014, the lack of new content.

But, as I said 2 years ago, if the price of daily entertainment in the form of a free daily podcast is occasionally buying a book, especially when it comes in under $3, then it is a small price to pay. If his first two books ever show up on special, I’ll probably splurge on them as well. And have the same complaints.

January 4, 2016December 31, 2015 by jim

52 Books in 52 Weeks – 2016 Edition

A new year is once again upon us, and it is time to start year seven of the goal to read a book a week for the entire year, totaling 52 books in 52 weeks. In year one, I only made it to 8 books. Year two doubled that total. Year three used graphic novels to improve once again, finishing with 24. Year four was the first where I dropped from the year before, only finishing 18 books, which was well short of the ultimate goal. Two years ago, I bounced back to finish with 23 books. Last year, I had my best year since starting this challenge, not to mention my best reading year ever, finishing with 31 books.

You can count a book as read as long as you have completed the book in 2016 and at least 50% of that reading takes place in 2016
Any book counts as long as you’re not embarrassed to count it.
Poetry collections do indeed count.
Re-reading a book is okay as long as it isn’t done this year. (Reading Twilight twice in 2010 only counts as 1 read)
Audiobooks also count.

My first book of the year looks like it will be Pudge, a biography of Carlton Fisk. All told, 2016 should be another good year.

December 14, 2015December 13, 2015 by admin

Book 27 (of 52) – The Vanished Man

The Vanished Man – Jeffery Deaver

For the first time in 7 years, I returned to the universe of Lincoln Rhyme, the quadriplegic forensic consultant introduced by Jeffery Deaver in 1997’s The Bone Collector. The Vanished Man is both the fifth in the series and the fifth entry I’ve read. In it, Rhyme and his crew deal with an illusionist using magic to kill while leading the police on a wild goose chase in regards to his ultimate endgame.

I’ve always enjoyed Deaver’s work, but never quite enough to pay full price for it. Other than The Bone Collector, which I read in paperback around the time the movie was released, his other works were either remaindered hard covers, which were bought for about 1/4 the original price, or, in the case of this book, an ebook had as part of Amazon’s daily deal.

Due to the nature of the protagonist, there are many twists and turns in this novel. One could almost say too many, as they kept coming even after the mystery was wrapped up. That said, it was entertaining and has got me interested enough to think about picking up more of the series.

October 13, 2015October 11, 2015 by admin

Book 22 (of 52) – Supreme Justice

Supreme Justice – Max Allan Collins

A while back, Amazon had a special on the Kindle version of Supreme Justice by Max Allan Collins. I had never read any of his work before, but have been sitting on his graphic novel, Road to Perdition, for years now, so I decided to take a chance and purchase this novel. And I’m glad I did.

In the not-so-distant future, Supreme Justice tells the story of a former Secret Service agent brought in to join an FBI task force when multiple conservative Supreme Court justices are murdered in an effort to change the court’s makeup with a liberal President in office. Working with a new partner, he must figure out who is planning these attacks, especially once his daughter is kidnapped to get him off the case.

Collins put together a pretty tight story here, one I was surprised to have enjoyed as much as I did. It looks like the beginning of a new series, with the second installment due out next month, so I may just have to check it out, assuming I can find it for a good deal.

September 16, 2015September 14, 2015 by admin