The Gordonston Ladies Dog Walking Club by Duncan Whitehead

29Nov. Kindle.

DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. It is an utter waste of electrons. So - why did I read it all the way through? I think it was just a sort of horrified fascination, like people slowing down to see an accident on the highway. It couldn't really be as bad as it seemed, could it? Yes, it could. I toyed with the idea that the whole thing was some sort of elaborate hoax. One might think that events so improbable, implausible, impossible would at least be laughable, but they weren't. Everyone in the neighborhood has hired a hitman from the same mysterious international agency? Hitler survived his suicide and escaped to Argentina? They had sex eight times in four hours without chemical assistance? She had breast augmentation surgery and was displaying her new boobs a couple of hours later?

It ought to have been funny, but it was boring. Stilted language, paucity of dialog, characters that never even manage to achieve two dimensions, lengthy pedantic description of pointless activity, no continuity of plot.

He repeats his lengthy prologue word for word at the end. Possibly to stretch the mess out to an acceptable page length? I suppose his idea was to make the "mystery" who the murder victim was to be rather than who did it, but he totally failed to justify the choice of victim. Then he epi'd at seriously excessive length - even if someone actually cared about his characters by that point, they couldn't have cared that much. Of course, he had to - because he hadn't developed his supposed plot throughout. "Oh yeah, they don't know all this secret stuff ---"

I have read and commented here on a number of books which I did not like, but most of them I was willing to concede could appeal to someone whose tastes in reading were different from mine. I even read a rather poorly done book by a friend of a friend which at least had the merit of potential. With this one, I finally concluded that the glowing reviews must have been written by the author's mother. If this is the work of an inept fifteen-year-old, he needs to read a lot more before he tries to write again. And read good stuff, not formula crap. Self-publication makes it far too easy.

I sincerely hope that this rant does not encourage anyone to encourage this writer by purchasing his book to see if it can possibly be all that bad.

Somewhere Safe With Somebody Good by Jan Karon

28Nov. Kindle. Book Club.

This book is very nice. You keep thinking that something dire - or exciting - is going to happen, but it never does. I read the first one of these a number of years ago. I loved the opening in which (as I recall) the rather stiff new Episcopal priest in the village of Mitford is assaulted, accosted, and adopted by a large unkempt dog eventually named Barnabas - no doubt for some Biblical reason which I have totally forgotten. This is the tenth (or twelfth) of the Mitford or Father Tim books and Barnabas is still in there, although he is now frequently referred to as "the old gentleman."

The action (so to speak) only covers a few months, so if that is a pattern, I suppose it is reasonable that Barnabas is still kicking around. So - here is a series in which the dog doesn't die. I suppose I should like it better for that reason alone. Still, not much happens - and it is all so very, very nice.

If I have a serious complaint, it would be that she never lets a character go. The village is going to sink to overpopulation since no one ever leaves. The actual problem with the writing is that she continually makes reference to events from previous volumes in the series which leaves the less than devoted reader occasionally wondering if she (the reader) skipped a page or two. My other problem was with the number of sections that began without making it clear who is thinking or talking or (rarely) doing whatever. Possibly some of that is "Kindle artifact" - but not all, I think.

Still, I did not have to force myself to read it, and managed to get teary over a couple of the more sentimental passages. "Consider it done."

Imago by Octavia Butler

24Nov. Kindle.

Another of Lilith's children. This one has taken a biological leap which is ahead of the Oankali program and there is division in the Oankali ranks between those who want to keep things properly on track and those who believe in the new breed.

Adulthood Rites by Octavia Butler

21Nov. Kindle.

The single volume trilogy is titled Lilith's Brood. This story follows one of Lilith's first generation offspring. The biological son of Lilith and Nikanj and one of the original group resettled on earth and murdered by some of the human "resisters."

Dawn by Octavia Butler

20Nov. Kindle.

Many years ago I read a short story by Butler that totally grossed me out. I think Jack Williamson assigned it in the course I took from him. Sometime later I read and reread Kindred and was completely caught up in it. Why I never went on to read more of her work may be a product of the ambivalence resulting from two such disparate experiences with her writing. This was on the November "100 Kindle books under $4" list, so I got it for me on my second annual birthday shopping spree on Amazon.

The blurb informed me that it was the first of a trilogy, but I hedged my bets and just got the first one. After a few chapters, I bought the rest.

The aliens rescued the survivors of a completely human global holocaust. What comes next is the uncomfortable part. They renew their own species by mixing their genetic heritage with that of new species that they encounter and creating essentially new lifeforms. Humanity as we know it would cease to exist.

Amazingly, the sympathetic characters are the aliens. Butler has created a species which is destroying "us" but they are the ones the reader roots for.

Lilith is the person selected by the Oankali to lead the first group of humans back to earth. She accepts their "deal" but intends to use the return to earth to encourage her people to cooperate until the get "home" then do their best to escape. Only later she discovers that that is anticipated - and the only way humans can reproduce is through their Oankali partners. Still - the most likeable and sympathetic characters are the Oankali.

Silks by Dick and Felix Francis

15Nov. Kindle.

Geoffrey Mason is a barrister (I think that's the right one: barristers go to court, soliciters do everything else - all of which falls under the title lawyer over here). He is an amateur jockey, inevitably nicknamed "Perry" in the jockey's changing room.

He unsuccessfully defends a monster who intimidates his way out of his well-deserved prison sentence and comes back for a little revenge.

This is the "and" that I read when it first came out. I remember being reasonably pleased with it in spite of my bias against "ands." On rereading, I agree with myself. The characters are well-crafted in the Francis mode and the mystery moves right along with sufficient action to fulfill expectations.

The King's Hounds by Martin Jensen

14Nov. Kindle.

Yet another period in ancient history to become the setting for a series of murder mysteries. King Cnut and Angles and Saxons and what all. The detective team consists of a wandering ex-monk who peddles the art of illumination which he learned in the monastery and a young ex-nobleman whose father chose the wrong side. Good fun.

Jensen actually wrote this in Danish. I have learned to be wary of translations, but this is excellent.

David Starr, Space Ranger by Isaac Asimov (Paul French)

10Nov. Paper.

Someone who is using my bathroom for the time being was reading this and I picked it up. I haven't read the Lucky Starr books in many, many years. What fun. Early YA SF was definitely a thing of its own. I should probably do a considered comparison to the Heinlein juvies, but I won't - not here, not now anyway.

Dead Heat Dick and Felix Francis

8Nov. Kindle.

Max is a chef who falls for a violist who is suing him. What's not to like? Except, perhaps, the quantity of time that Max spends writhing in jealousy of Viola. This is only resolved when Caroline chooses her viola as her weapon of choice to rescue Max from the bad guy. Seems like an odd choice to me. Seems to me that my viola IN its case would make a better bludgeon than out of it.

Under Orders by Dick Francis

6Nov. Kindle.

The last of the Dick Francis books. There follows a string of Dick and Felix Francis books - Felix is his son. I read one of those some time ago and was generally favorably impressed. Those are followed by a several "Dick Francis's ..." by Felix Francis.

Francis elected to go out with a bang, though. This is another Sid Halley book - the last, I imagine. After all, in this one the angst-ridden Halley a) comes to terms with his hostile ex-wife Jenny and b) gets married to a Dutch supermodel (okay, she really isn't a supermodel; she is a biochemist or some such super-scientist who looks like a supermodel). Not only that - the model and the ex-wife become good friends. Hard to top.

The Healing of America by TR Reid

31Oct. Paper.

This is probably my most unsettling read in an extremely long time. I have been aware for quite some years that the American "system" for health care was screwed up, but I had no idea how screwed up it is.

The author takes his sore shoulder (the result of an athletics injury in high school or college) on the road and examines health care around the world. The kick-off incident was the death of a young woman from lupus. Bad stuff, unquestionably, but well-understood, and manageable. She had the poor judgment to be diagnosed between the time she "outgrew" her parent's insurance and getting insurance on a job. Bingo! A pre-existing condition - and she is uninsurable and dies of something that with treatment permits patients to live a normal life-span productively.

The US is undeniably the richest country in the world and spends a greater portion of its income on health care than any other country in the world. It also has the highest infant mortality rate among the nineteen richest nations in the world. It is also the only industrialized nation in the world which does not have some form of universal health care. Millions of US citizens were not covered by any form of health insurance at the time of writing a few years ago. I'm afraid that the Affordable Health Care act will fall to the true perversity in this country - its political system - before we can even assess whether or not it would do the job. Reid continually refers to universal health care as a moral choice made by nations. It reminds me of a story my father used to tell which compared two philosophies of government - one which would put a fence at the top of the cliff, and one which would park an ambulance at the bottom.

BTW - the author's bad shoulder. The only treatment that he found which helped (short of the surgical replacement of his shoulder, which his American doctor recommended and most international physicians felt was both extreme and unlikely to restore complete function) was a course of massage and meditation which was prescribed in India.

The Brethren by H. Rider Haggard

24Oct. Kindle.

Two noble knights - brothers, of course - are both deeply in love with the same fair maiden. This set against the background of the crusades. Thank goodness, the fair maiden is not the Victorian fainting away at the sight of blood type. She is kidnapped by minions of the great Saracen chief, Saladin, and the brethren pursue her through all sorts of extremely improbable adventures until at last she must declare her preference for one of the brothers.

Lightning Bug by Donald Harington

18Oct. Kindle.

A Staymore story - perhaps even the first Staymore story, which would make the one I tried to read some time ago a "prequel." It is told from the point of view of a young boy, Donnie (Dawnie, in Arkansan), who may or may not be Harington himself. The boy is fascinated by Latha Bourne, a woman that he as a five-year-old passionately loves, and he tells her story through his adoration and jealousy.

The Red Box by Rex Stout

15Oct. Kindle.

Someone has the audacity to murder a man in Wolfe's very own office - in his presence. And the victim gasps with his dying breath that Wolfe must find the red box which holds the critical documents.

The Rubber Band by Rex Stout

10Oct. Kindle.

A pact made in the gold fields of Montana (I think it was Montana - I really need to start doing this more promptly). The payoff for rescuing someone from the hangman's noose is postponed for nearly fifty years and the survivors of the pact would like a share of the loot.

Second Wind by Dick Francis

7Oct. Kindle.

The hero this time is a meteorologist (boy, does that word look funny - but it is right, I looked it up). He and his buddy have an opportunity to go fly into a hurricane - and uncover a convoluted crooked scheme. And encounter a rather convoluted attempt to murder them. And, as in Come to Grief, his good friend turns out to be less than he thought.

Field of Thirteen by Dick Francis

5Oct. Kindle.

Short stories were simply not his strong suit. Persuasive characters are, to me, the mark of Francis's work and short stories simply don't allow enough development for them to be interesting.

Blackboard Jungle by Evan Hunter

2Oct. Paper.

A classic, I don't read them much. A young idealistic teacher takes on the hard realities of teaching English in a trade school in the forties.

10 Lb Penalty by Dick Francis

1Oct. Kindle

We meet the hero as a seventeen-year old who is fired by the trainer for whom he rides. The stated reasons are that he isn't very good and never will be - and that he is known to use illegal drugs. The first is deeply painful because he suspects that it is true, and the second is infuriating because it is completely untrue. Curiously, a limo hired by his single father is waiting out front for him.

It seems that Dad is entering politics and wants his son at his side to prove that he is a family man. His wife died in childbirth and Dad has remained affectionate but somewhat distant. Now young Benedict becomes his father's bodyguard as well as his campaign companion as someone is out to kill him.

Necessity's Child by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

29Sept. Kindle.

The next generation of Korval is establishing their presence on and reforming the chaotic "politics" of Surebleak. The principal character is Nova's young son Sil Vor, inevitably called Silver by the natives of Surebleak.

Killer's Payoff by Ed McBain

25Sept. Kindle.

Now, a couple of months later, I don't remember a thing about this book except that the new hero, Cotton Hawes, is becoming extremely annoying. This may account for the fact that I haven't read another of them in the intervening weeks.

House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones

24Sept. Kindle.

This is the third of the Howl's Moving Castle series. It is more fun than the second, but not as much as the first.