Lawrence Block

Last night, I read a short story from Lawrence Block called "Keller's Double Dribble." I hadn't heard of Block before, but he sounds like and author I'd like to get to know more of. He's created a hit man named Keller, who collects stamps. It's a pretty interesting situation. I mean, a stamp collecting hitman is in itself funny, but the way he got involved in stamp collecting is even funnier. He knew his career was winding down, so he took up a hobby, but now he's become so infacuated with his hobby, he can't afford to stop killing because of all the money he's spent on stamps. The short story was a great read and look foward to reading some of his other work like HIT MAN, HIT LIST, and HIT PARADE.

Best American Mystery Stories 2007

I was happy to find out Carl Hiaasen had edited last year's Best American Mystery Stories. He's one of my favorite authors and was thrilled to read what he thought was good literature. The first story, Chris Adrian's "Stab" was such an interesting read. It is told from an eight year old boy's point of view. The boy also has Autism, which adds an interesting element to the story because he doesn't talk. He hasn't talked since his twin brother died, which would make a great story, but Adrian adds one of the main character's classmates who just happens to enjoy stabbing animals. Great bone-chilling story. Creeped me out just like the best of Stephen King's best work.

Review of BLEED by Laurie Faria Stolarz

I did not like this book much at all. To me, this book was basically teen porn, which made me uncomfortable reading at times. There was a lot of sex in this book, which normally I'm all for, but concidering these characters were still in their teens, it made me feel like a perv.

Stolarz does address some issues some teens deal with every day like rape, cutting, and loss of virginity, but the overall plot was weak. Characters were flat.

Review- The Best American Short Stories 2001

It took me a while to finish, but I read through the whole thing. Twenty stories that Barbara Kingslover thought were the best of 2001, and I didn't disagree with her. The highlight for me was Roy Parvin's BETTY HUTTON. The opening line is "He was a big man who looked like trouble."

Parvin grabbed my attention with that. The story is basically about a man known as Gibbs who has spent much of his life in prison, but when he gets out wants to change his life. To do this he tries to actually make two wrongs turn into a right. He steals money and a car from his girlfriend in order to make a new life for himself in Montana. I don't want to spoil the story for those of you who may want to read this.

Some other short stories that were awesome are: "Servants of the Map" by Andrea Barrett, "Labors of the Heart" by Claire Davis, "After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town" by Ha Jin, "Rug Weaver" by Barbara Klein Moss, and "My Mother's Garden" by Katherine Shonk.

I only didn't care for two stories in this collection.

Back from Alabama

The family and I were in Alabama for about two weeks visiting family. We had a great time, but it was such a busy two weeks that I didn't get to read too much. I did finish a rather lengthy book, THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2001 edited by Barbara Kingslover. I really enjoyed this collection, so many quality short stories. There were only two that I didn't care for, which out of twenty wasn't too bad. I'm thinking I should read a couple short novels if I'm going to get my twenty books in. It ain't looking good to be honest. I might have to settle for 15.

Another Book in the Books

I finished HERO TYPE last night by Barry Lyga. I really liked it and recommend it, but can't say more than that because we're loading up the car, getting ready to drive to Alabama

Bama Bound

I'll be leaving for Alabama tomorrow and won't be able to blog for a little over two weeks. I'm hoping to finish three book while I'm there, but who knows. Wish me luck. I'll be driving with two small children pretty much straight through, stopping only for food, play, and bathroom visits.

Montana

What's up with Montana? It seems over the last couple months, I've been running into tons of books and authors that have connections to Montana. The final straw was a book my daughter and I randomly picked up at the library and found out the author lives in Montana. There must be some kind of writing revolution going on in Montana.

Fourth of July

The Fourth of July weekend has really made it difficult to get my reading in. We've just been so busy since Thursday. I know my loyal fans are jonesing for a new review and are hoping I get to my 20 books, so I'll make sure I get my stuff together.

Short Stories

I am all over these short stories featured in the Best American Short Stories Series. I am reading through the 2001 edition right now. I've read portions of the 2007, 2005, and 2003 editions and have been introduced to some incredible authors that are not right at the front of all the bookstores. In my opinion, the authors at the front of the stores, James Patterson, Nora Roberts, and Stephen King, do not write as well as some of the authors I've read in these collections like E.L. Doctorow, Andrea Barrett, and Rick Bass. I'll be raving about these stories all summer, but I just wanted to give props to these writers that really should be the bestselling authors, which some are, but are not appreciated by the book-buying public like they should. If you haven't read any of these yet, I encourage you to do so. You might want to start with the 2007 edition edited by Stephen King. King picked out some truly memorable reads.

Review- THE MIST

I thought THE MIST was just an average read. I love King, but this is more of the same from him. Creepy thing, could be mist, zombies, vampires, aliens, or whatever else you can name, invades a small town and kills people. I get the fact that this was written during the 80s when nuclear power was more prevalant, and this is King's warning on that subject, but all in all, I think THE MIST missed the mark. I never really got into it. There were a few creepy parts that made me shiver, but that was it. Not even close to being his best. Give me THE STAND or THE DEAD ZONE any day. If you've never read King before, don't start with this one.