The Book Count 2022

[Drunk Monk]

tg FTW!

[Greg]

Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir by Linnie Marsh Wolfe

There had to be a Muir biography some time. This one seems to be the Ur-text for much of the information I've come across. There's is a lot of "Great Man" theory in this book and sometimes the prose gets a little purple about Muir's accomplishments but there is a lot of good information in the book. The overview of his life is very clear if not in great depth. I received new information about Muir's time in the Yosemite Valley working for JM Hutchings. There was great information about his extensive travels to Alaska and around the world. Plenty of information I did not know about like his long friendship with the head of the Union Pacific, Edward Henry Harriman.

What helps this book is that it was written in 1945. Wolfe was able to interview Muir's daughters and other people that actually knew him. There are plenty of letters from Muir and others to fill out the text but not an abundance of them to clog the narrative.

This is a really good primer on Muir. I will stand by this until shown the error of my ways.

[Greg]

A Parliament of Bodies by Marshall Ryan Maresca

Might be time to start a thread for just the Maresca books. He has four different trilogies going about different aspects of Maradaine society. I was reading one about a kid at the university for magic in Maradaine who wants to be superhero and I just got bored. Then I started reading this series about the Maradaine constabulary which is a police procedural set in the same fantasy city as the university. The town is just on the cusp of the industrial age. The series concerns the partnership between former spy turned inspector Satrine and her magic wielding partner Minox. Only Minox has never been trained in magic use and doesn't belong to one of the the regular magic circles he needs to guide him.

For two books they've been fighting the corruption in the constabulary force in Maradaine. This book opens with a gruesome murder or potential murder in the parliament. People are tied to machines that will kill them unless the traps are broken or decoded. All very implausible but enjoyable. Think the Saw movie franchise. Minox is also under investigation to see if he should remain a police inspector because of his magic use. Lots of threads going on as Minox and Satrine try to find out who set up the trap in Parliament, who is kidnapping kids all over town and deal with the investigation into Minox. Plus a whole bunch of other subplots.

The books finally grew on me. I can't wait to see the next book in the series plus I'm going off to read the other trilogies/series set in the city

[Greg]

The Holt Ally Crew by Marshall Ryan Maresca

Another story set in the streets of Maradaine.  One night Holt ally burns to the ground and everyone in this poor neighborhood is left homeless. Two brothers who in their youth were thieves must go back to their illegal ways to earn enough money to pay their mounting debts. Along the way they find out the fire was arson and someone wants the Holt Ally property for a different project. The brothers put together an Ocean's 11 style crew to go after the guy.

Yep. It's a caper project. Once again, Maradaine society is full of corruption and it's up to the good guys to do something about it. There are a few other wrinkles, like one of the brothers is an undiagnosed berserker. There are some romantic entanglements. But it's mostly about the big caper.

[Greg]

Lady Henterman's Wardrobe by Marshall Ryan Maresca

Yep. Still more Maradeine stories. The Holder alley crew goes after Lord Henterman who they think burned down their homes. Asti comes across an old nemesis. Mila forms a street gang. Double crosses abound. Verci gets to build more gadgets. I'm enjoying these books more as more of the story unfolds. Bits of the other books are starting to appear in this series for instance they made reference to the murder at the Parliament. Also The Thorn, a Batman analog but a wizard, makes an appearance who was in the first trilogy of which I believe I only read the first book. Now, I'm going to have to read those books again.

One book in this trilogy left to go.

[Greg]

The Fenmere Job by Marshall Ryan Maresca

The Holder Alley crew finally gets to the bottom (not really) of who burned down their homes. After the last book, the whole gang tries to settle down into careers they were given as a payment for shutting up about the last job. But drugs are being shipped into the area and Asti feels the need to stop them with help of the Thorn. The Thorn is the hero from another Madeirne City books series. It's like a superhero team-up. There are a lot of shenanigans. People get kidnapped. Big battles occur. Asti continues to moon after the Barkeep at Kimber. Verci fights with his wife about keeping safe. Double crosses. It's all very adventureriffic!

There is one more trilogy to read but I'm holding off now as the library doesn't carry them. Maresca has a bunch more novels planned in the ongoing adventures of Maradeine.

[Greg]

The Match by Harlen Coben

A solid junk-food book. Reads fast. Lots of silly plot. It is the sequel to Boy in the Woods which I didn't realize until I was a couple of chapters in. I felt like I had already read this book. I probably could re-read Boy in the Woods cause I only vaguely remember it.

It was an enjoyable diversion. There was a bit of an ax to grind in there about social media, reality TV, and what people will do for fame.

The plot revolves around Wilde the boy left in the woods trying to find his family. He does a DNA search on one of those family websites and comes up with a partial match. This starts a long chain of events. He also gets another match with a man who has disappeared.

A good quick fun read. But I'm not going to remember the story in a couple of months.

[Greg]

Roses and Rot by Kat Howard

A very Seanan McGuire-esque tale of two sisters who get selected to go to an artist retreat. Both sisters had a terrible childhood at the hands of their manipulative and abusive mother. But strange things are afoot at the retreat and all is not as it seems as the sisters are pitted against each other to see who will earn the ultimate prize from the retreat.

The book was very reminiscent of the style of The Wayward Doors sequences. Since Imogen, the eldest sister, is a writer there are a lot of digressions about writing and fairy tales. There are forays in to what it means to be a writer or the special daughter. 

Enjoyable if you enjoy modern fairy tales.

[Greg]

Everywhere that Mary Went by Lisa Scottoline

Everywhere that Mary Went is a dumb book. Mary DiNunzio is lawyer for one of the top three law firms in Philadelphia and she is looking to make partner. She starts receiving sort of threatening notes at work so she thinks her life is in danger. She's a recent widower and that colors a lot of her thinking. The whole story stumbles from one event to the next with no clear direction of trying to solve the case. Mary whines a lot, too and doesn't seem all that bright and the people around her don't seem that bright either.

The book is from 1993 so there are a lot technology things that are weird for instance her decision to bet her first answering machine and figuring out how to work it. That's not the fault of the writer. It was fresh when she wrote it.

And there are the weird romance novel aspect to it as well. She finds the best, most thoughtful lover, but he might be the killer. The whole book struck me as off.

[Greg]

Final Appeal by Lisa Scottoline
Wait a second, Greg, didn't you dislike the first Scottoline book? Yes. Then why read another? Well, it was two books in one volume. I sort of felt compelled. Yes, life is too short to read bad books. And yet, here I am.

At least Final Appeal was so much better than Wherever Mary Went, right. Nope. Just as bad. But I finished it. I'm a closer. No steak knives for me.

The mysteries are dumb. When you get to the big reveal, all I could think was that is dumb. The motivation for the crime? Dumb. The plotting? Dumb. And yet, it won the Edgar Award for Best Mystery Fiction. I think the only thing that was mildly interesting in the book was Antonin Scalia gets name checked because one of the law clerks desperately wants to go work for him. This need to be a Supreme Court Justice Law Clerk plays a big role in the story.

I still have one more Scottoline book in the TBR pile from the library. We'll see how desperate I get.

[Greg]

An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard

Magic and Magic users in New York City. The Unseen World of magic users in New York is basically composed of various families who all can use magic. But the magic comes at a price. And the Turning has come where all the different magic houses compete against each other to establish the order of supremacy of houses. Magic duels are fought between House Champions. The biggest surprise of the Turning is the unknown Champion for an upstart house. Sydney appears out of nowhere to take up the role of champion for a new house and everyone wants to know where she gets so much power especially when the magic for all the users appears to be fading or inconsistent.

My biggest question from the book is what do these magic users do with all this magic except fight duels every twenty years or so. They just seem to have and do some parlor tricks with it. There is also one spooky house where all the magic emanates from but the price for that magic is high. Sydney is out to make people pay for her mistreatment in the past and maybe establish her own house.

There is also a murderer running around as well.

It was fun while I was reading it looking at all these different characters and situations but the story doesn't hold up well under scrutiny. I also get the feeling this might not be the last book in this series.

[Greg]

Running From the Law by Lisa Scottoline

Here is the blurb from me for the next book: Not as awful as the first two.

Rita Morrone is defending Federal Justice Fiske from a sexual harassment suit when the women accusing the judge winds up dead. Complications appear left and right. Morrone is a much better character than the two previous lawyers. She seems to have intelligence and won't put up with crap from anyone. She fights with her father. She's on the outs with her long time lover. She has problems at work. And she now has to solve a murder/ which is far outside of her skill set. A lot of the steps to finding the killer are dumb. The resolution comes completely out of left field and the reason for the murder is silly. But I still enjoyed this more than the previous two Scottoline. It could be she's getting better at writing.

[Greg]

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

A light and fluffy quick read about an alternate universe Earth where we take care of Kaiju. It's the pandemic themed monster novel. It's full of pop cultural quips and most of the characters sound the same. Also the gender of the main character is never given so you get to decide for yourself the character's gender. 

There's a lot of sameness to the book. It takes a while for things to happen. The big event at the end is very confusing or I missed something in the description but there is a lot of running around to press the button so something can happen.

The book passed the time.

[Drunk Monk]

I heard about this book and thought the notion of Kaiju preservation was funny. Didn't know about the gender thing - that's amusing - was it written in first person then?

[Greg]

Nope. The main character is always referred to without use of pronouns. The Character's name is Jamie.

Not a lot of plot to the book. I wanted more.