Archive for December, 2009

Buh-Bye 2009!

This is one of those years when I have to say, “Thank heavens it’s over”.  There were some bright spots, chiefly the return to Virginia of my daughter and grandson, who had been living in Michigan the past several years, but 2009 really has not been a good year in many ways.  Most personal to [...]

December 31, 2009   Posted in: Tales of a Bookseller  4 Comments

Review: Magic Burns

Ilona Andrews is one of my favorite contemporary fantasy authors because she’s taken a lot of time with her world-building and her characters develop instead of devolving. Add to that, every few pages I am laughing at some snarky remark one of her characters makes, and you have a winning combination to keep my attention.
This [...]

December 30, 2009  Tags: ,   Posted in: Full Reviews  No Comments

Wild Mood Swings

Steven Rigolosi, a resident of Northern New Jersey, is the author of the Tales from the Back Page mystery/suspense series.  Each book takes a quirky advertisement on the back page of a New York City newspaper as its starting point, exploring who placed the ad and why, as well as who responded and what happened [...]

December 29, 2009   Posted in: Guest Blogs  One Comment

Review: Entombed

Entombed
Linda Fairstein
Simon & Schuster Audio, 2005
ISBN 0743538455
Abridged Audio Book
Read by Blair Brown
Manhattan sex crimes prosecutor Alexandra Cooper and her detective partners, Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, are involved in the case of the Silk Stocking serial rapist.  At the same time, workers have uncovered a body entombed behind a wall of a brownstone being torn [...]

December 28, 2009  Tags: ,   Posted in: My Reviews  One Comment

Review: The Lost Symbol

The Lost Symbol
Dan Brown
Random House Audio
ISBN 0739319175
Unabridged Audio Book
Read by Paul Michael
There have been countless reviews of this book, including synopses, so I’ll confine myself to my reactions rather than spitting out another synopsis.
Is Dan Brown a great writer?  No, but I enjoyed The Da Vinci Code (also read by Paul Michael) from the standpoint [...]

December 26, 2009  Tags: ,   Posted in: My Reviews  2 Comments

A Christmas Hope

May Christmas for you and your family and
friends be all that you could wish for.

December 24, 2009   Posted in: Tales of a Bookseller  No Comments

Review: Magic Bites

Ilona Andrews is one of my favorite contemporary fantasy authors because she’s taken a lot of time with her world-building and her characters develop instead of devolving. Add to that, every few pages I am laughing at some snarky remark one of her characters makes, and you have a winning combination to keep my attention.
This [...]

December 23, 2009  Tags: ,   Posted in: Full Reviews  No Comments

The Weather Outside…

The snowstorm this weekend was epic and beautiful.  I had 12 inches on top of my grill, considerably less than some areas to the north of Richmond, but still pretty much unheard of for this area in December.  When I was a kid, a white Christmas happened occasionally but not in great depths and has [...]

December 22, 2009   Posted in: Tales of a Bookseller  No Comments

Review: I Can See You

I Can See You
Karen Rose
Grand Central Publishing, 2009
ISBN 0446538345
Hardcover (ARC)
Shadowland: “Sometimes you want to go where no one knows your nameâ€
Eve Wilson is a graduate student studying psychology who also tends bar at Sal’s, a favorite hangout for police officers. She is a survivor of a life threatening attack that has left her not only [...]

December 21, 2009  Tags:   Posted in: Full Reviews  No Comments

A New Life for Some Great Shelves

One of the hardest things about closing the store was watching our beautiful solid oak shelving leave, a little bit at a time, knowing most of it would never do service in a bookstore again.  It was physically painful, almost as much as watching the books go.  Then, one day in mid-November, I got an [...]

December 20, 2009   Posted in: Tales of a Bookseller  One Comment