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maribouGiotto's Hand, by Ian Pears
Part of a series of art history mysteries featuring an art theft detective, Flavia, and her paramour, the English art dealer/sometime art history prof Jonathan. It's not that this one was bad - it was quite serviceable - but some of the others in the series, and some of Pears' other novels, are simply brilliant. And this one is just good, so it suffers by comparison.
(204/250)
Come Like Shadows, by Welwyn Wilton Katz
Absolutely engrossing Canadian YA fantasy that mixes up the Stratford Shakespeare Festival with a retelling of Macbeth. This book was perfect airport reading.
(205/250)
The Hobbit, by JRR Tolkien (unabridged audio) (reread)
I have read and/or listened to this story so many times that I could practically recite large portions of it. Total comfort food for me. Actually, I wore out my CDs! But luckily they appear to be Skip-Doctor-fixable.
(206/250)
Shadow on the Glass, by Ian Irvine
Acceptable high fantasy. I'll probably read the other books in the trilogy eventually, but I'm not rushing out to find them. While I did enjoy this by the end, it was just ... too dry. Things shouldn't read dusty. Unfortunate, because there were a lot of neat bits.
(207/250)
Galveston, by Sean Stewart
Just brilliant. Readable and smart and the amazon reviewer who compared Stewart's books to icebergs with most of their psychological weight under the surface was spot-on. Stewart is a writer I hoard, and dole out to myself in small doses. It was also very satisfying to read this book near salt water - added to the ambiance.
(208/250)
Death on Black Dragon River, by Christopher West
Quite an adequate mystery, set in modernish China, that somehow failed to win me over. It was well-done and ought to have pushed my happy buttons; I'm really not sure why it didn't and would be more than willing to give the author another try.
(209/250)
A Cook's Tour, by Anthony Bourdain
Gonzo food writing that managed to be both exciting and easy to pick up and put down. Fun, though perhaps only if you don't mind being sporadically irritated by your narrator.
(210/250)
Thursday Next: First Among Sequels, by Jasper Fforde
Inspired, thoroughly readable nonsense is what I expect from Jasper Fforde, and this latest Thursday Next book delivered admirably. If Edward Lear wrote modern novels, they might read like this.
(211/250)
Punisher, by Garth Ennis and Matt Dillon
I am lazy and I can't find a link for what I read, but: it was the Ennis/Dillon Punisher run of the 1990s, all in one volume, and it was a thing of beauty. Well, a thing of beauty if you like wisecracking ultra-violent comic books with a heart of gold, anyway.
(212/250)
Fables 7: Arabian Nights (and Days), by Bill Willingham et al
Bee-oootiful. And I love how things just keep getting more and more complicated without becoming impenetrable. So much love for this series.
(213/250)
Deadly Appearances, by Gail Bowen
Mystery set in Saskatchewan and featuring a speechwriter for an unnamed progressive Canadian political party whose identiy should be obvious to any Canadians reading the books. And it was SHINY. And the next 2 are even more shiny and YAY how did I never hear about this author before???
(214/250)
A Life in Secrets, by Sarah Helm
Totally absorbing biography of a woman who led an extraordinary life, focused on her efforts to discover the fates of British SOE agents lost to the Nazis in Vichy France. Helm has done a bang-up job of bringing Atkins back to life in a fair and thorough way.
(215/250)
