Toby called me in the afternoon telling me that she was having problems using the online check-in procedure for Northwest Airlines.  She said that she was swamped and I agreed to look into getting us checked in.  A little sleuthing turned up the fact that we couldn’t check-in online because we had a fare difference of $460 *per ticket* that must be paid before check-in.  I called Toby and she said that when she had made the flight changes that the reservation agent had assured her that there were no additional charges.  She said, "I’ll take care of it". 

20 minutes later she called me back and said that I should now be able to use the online check-in system.  While she was in the process of telling me that she would leave in about 10 minutes to pick me up, she started screaming like crazy.  Really loud.  LIKE REALLY REALLY REALLY LOUD.  After a full minute of screaming, I was finally able to make out "AAAAAAAAAAHHHH THERE IS A MOUSE IN THE SINK AAAAAAAAAAHHHH HE’S TRYING TO JUMP OUT. AAAAAAAAAAHHHH I’ll call you back." Click.

So here I sit, wondering if my wife was eaten by the mouse in the sink.  How come the vermin show up only when she is by herself?

The Merchant of Death (Pendragon Series #1) by D. J. MacHale

2.5 stars – Merchant of Death is the first in the Pendragon series. This was a mostly forgettable novel. The interesting part of the book was that it was told through the main character’s journal writings and his best friend’s actions while reading the journal. Format – Electronic download from LAPL played at fast speed.

Nightlife: A Novel by Thomas Perry

4 stars – Nightlife is another fantastic novel from Thomas Perry. He is one of my favorite authors. This book is suspenseful and thrilling. It started off with a bang (literally) and ended well. Along the way I was on the edge of my seat hanging on every word. The only bummer : I have yet to find Perry’s work as audiobooks. Format – hardcover from Ventura County library.

Isaac Asimov Presents Agent of Byzantium (Isaac Asimov Presents Series) by Harry Turtledove

3 stars – Harry Turtledove writes great historical fiction. I have read a number of other books by this author, and while Agent of Byzantium was not my favorite, it was quite enjoyable. The fun thing about historical fiction is that it is fiction. This book’s main character basically makes most of the major discoveries of the middle ages: gunpowder, using cowpox as small pox innoculations, telescopes, etc. Format – hardcover from Ventura County library.

***************** Stinkers: ******************

Close to Home: A Novel of Suspense by Peter Robinson

1 star – slow moving, disjointed narative, also had a weird psuedo-pedophilia subplot throughout most of the story. I finished this book thinking that it was just not that great. Format : Audiobook at fast speed (but not fast enough)

The Snake Tattoo (Carlotta Carlyle) by Linda Barnes

0.5 stars – A good book in the vein of Kinsey Milhone or Stephanie Plum up until the final 10-15 minutes. The ending involved incest and was totally unexpected. Unlike the previous book, where I was on my guard that ‘if it got worse, it stops’, I was totally unprepared for the ending. And it makes me mad which is why it gets a lower rating than the above book. Format : Audiobook at fast speed.

Micah (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Book 13) by Laurell K. Hamilton

0 stars – I didn’t realize this was #13 in a series. The premise is that this woman is a federal marshall, certified vampire executioner and zombie re-animator. It sounded like it could be interesting. It wasn’t. I listened to about 1/2 hour of the protagonist whining and complaining and over-analyzing everything. I couldn’t take it. After I quit the book, I looked it up on Amazon and the first 4 reviews were 1 star (the lowest on Amazon). LAME. Format : Audiobook at fast speed.

Sarah: Women of Genesis by Orson Scott Card

1.5 stars / I like historical fiction. I like the idea of embellishing on known facts to create a fuller story. But I like my historical fiction to add to the story, not change it. Some of the issues I had with the plot points were addressed by the author in the afterword, but some were not. THe afterword was also revealing in that the author states that some of the information on Abraham’s early life came from ‘The Pearl of Great Price’ a sacred Mormon text. One thing that really irritated me is that in this novel Abraham was of priestly lineage from Noah through his father Terah. But Terah is clearly identified in the book of Joshua as an idolator. Anyway, this book was written from Sarah’s point of view and thus contained lots of mushy introspection and emotional exploration. I found myself wanting to fast-forward in more than a couple of spots. When I told Toby about this, she lit up and said that she would like to listen. Chicks. Format : Electronic download from LAPL played at fast speed (but not fast enough).

Brotherhood of War 08: The Aviators (Brotherhood of War) by W. E. B. Griffin

3 stars / Only a couple of books left in ‘The Brotherhood of War’ series. This is book 8, and I intentionally skipped book 7 because I read on Amazon that the series originally ended with book 7 (“The Generals”) and that 8, 9, 10 were written as prequels in the time between book 6 and 7. I don’t know what happened, but some of the characters had been promoted and stuff. It was a little confusing. This book was probably my least favorite so far because the author didn’t focus on the main characters of the series. Format : Tape from Ventura County Library. Current Listening : The Merchant of Death (Pendragon Series #1) by D.J. MacHale Current Reading : Nightlife: A Novel by Thomas Perry

Code to Zero by Ken Follett

2.5 / 5 – This book was told in flash back about the early space program and an amnesiac scientist. Format : Electronic download from Netlibrary played at fast speed.

Secret Sanction by Brian Haig

3.5 / 5 – This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and I intend to search out more. The main character is an Army JAG lawyer sent to Kosovo to investigate a massacre allegedly committed by Army Green Berets. The main character is irreverent and very funny. Format : Electronic download from LAPL played at fast speed.

Between Hell and Texas by Ralph Cotton

3.5 / 5 – Book #2 in the ‘Fastest Gun Alive’ series. This book is the reason that I started doing these book reviews. I had read the first book, Gunman’s Song and knew that there were more that I wanted to read. However, I forgot the title and author, and kept thinking it was Gunslinger something, and so I couldn’t find anymore books by this author. I decided that I wanted to keep track of the books I read so that I could get other books that I liked. Eventually, I just browsed through all the books with g-u-n in the title and got the author. It was worth the effort. This book is an excellent follow up to the first. Format : Electronic download from NetLibrary played at fast speed. Current listening : Sarah: Women of Genesis by Orson Scott Card and Brotherhood of War 07: The New Breed (Brotherhood of War) by W.E.B. Griffin.

The Art of the Steal: How to Protect Yourself and Your Business from Fraud, America’s #1 Crime by Frank W. Abagnale

3/5 : This was a very informative book. The chapter on embezzlement should be required reading for every business owner, especially the small business owner. The author makes the point that small business owners are more at risk from fraud than larger companies because there is less ability to absorb losses. Format : Electronic download from LAPL.org played at fast speed.

The Camel Club by David Baldacci

4/5 : A book that Toby had checked out from the library, I just picked it up because there was some (rare) spare time. I have read other stuff by this author, and he didn’t disappoint this time around. Format : Hardcover from Carpinteria library.

The Rough Riders, by Theodore Roosevelt

3 / 5 – This memoir was written in 1899 about 1 year after the events described. It was interesting to listen to how little emphasis was placed on an action that later became part of American lore. I guess it had not been built up to legend status by the time T.R. wrote the book. Format : electronic download from Netlibrary played at fast speed.

Unforgiving Sun by Ray Malone

3.5 / 5 – An M.D. is injured in the Arizona desert after his horse dies in a rockslide. The story of what he does to survive. 2 interesting notes. First, I could not find this book at Amazon.com ! I don’t have any idea why not. Second, the protagonist is an avowed atheist at the beginning of the book, but at the end he believes that God saved him. At the end, his belief in God culminates in his seeking out how to become an active member at the local church. Maybe his local church is a Bible teaching church and he will come to a saving knowledge of God?? Who knows, but was a pleasant story thread to witness his progression. Format : electronic download from Netlibrary played at fast speed.

Magic Kingdom for Sale–Sold! (Magic Kingdom of Landover) by Terry Brooks

3/5 – This book’s premise intrigued me – a man buys the kingship of a fairy land. The first few chapters were fantastic. My enthusiasm was tempered a bit as the story included heavy handed moralizing on protecting the environment, but it was still a good read (listen). Format : electronic download from LAPL played at fast speed.

Garden of Beasts : A Novel of Berlin 1936 (Deaver, Jeffrey) by Jeffery Deaver

5/5 – This is one of my top 5 audiobooks ever. ( The Christmas Train is another, but that is another review.) I originally listened to this as a book on CD (BOCD) a couple of years ago. I was excited to find it available from Netlibrary for electronic download. As I automatically do after download, I re-recorded it at ‘fast speed’ (an increase of 40%) and began listening. This is the only book that I have listened to that I wanted to ‘savor’ the story, so I switched from fast speed to normal speed to finish the book. It was even better the second time around. Highly recommended. Note on the author: Jeffrey Deaver is most famous for the Lincoln Rhyme novels such as The Bone Collector (A Lincoln Rhyme Novel) which was turned into a movie with Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie in 1999 ). I have listened to a couple of Lincoln Rhyme novels and I didn’t care for them so much. However, every non-Lincoln Rhyme novel by Jeffrey Deaver has been great. One such is The Blue Nowhere: A Novel. When searching for books by this author it is hard to ‘weed out’ the Lincoln Rhyme novels, so if you know of any others, please pass that info along.
Format : electronic download from Netlibrary, played at normal speed.

Twisted: The Collected Stories of Jeffery Deaver by Jeffery Deaver

3.5/5 – I listened to about 2/3 of this book straight through on a work day. I would have been better off listening to a couple of stories, changing to something else and then coming back to this anthology.
Format : audiobook download from Netlibrary played at fast speed.

The Witch’s Boy by Michael Gruber

3.0/5 – The main story is somewhat tedious because the main character is despicable and spoiled rotten. (He was worse than the boy in The Giving Tree ) However, this story is redeemed (and gains an extra rating point) by the fact that the author weaves in classic fairy tales, but with a twist. Example, Cinderella is an ungrateful wench who is never appreciative of her step-mother’s kindness. Cinderella lives in a fantasy world and maintains that she *must* be married to a prince. No matter how many gowns her step-mother makes for her, Cinderella is never statisfied. Also, nothing is ever clean enough, and she is constantly scrubbing out the hearth.
Format : audiobook downloaded from Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) played at fast speed.

Sharpe’s Prey: Richard Sharpe and the Expedition to Denmark, 1807 by Bernard Cornwell

3.5/5 – Book 5 or 6 of a series that has something like 20 novels in it. I am trying to read them in chronological order (the author wrote some prequels). Some of this series are available as electronic downloads, but not the entire series. I missed the one immediately previous to this, but each novel stands on its own and I enjoy this author is a great deal.
Format : book on tape (BOT) from Santa Barabara Library system. Like I said, I am trying to listen to the entire series in order, and some of the books are only available on tape.