Happy Holidays

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Why is it so hard to upload pictures?

I will admit, I have not been using this blog a lot.

Some of the changes here are great, but why is it so hard to upload and insert pictures into my post?

And the help menu is useless, because I keep getting an error message!

Too frustrating!

It’s decided: I’m not smart enough to up load pictures on this blog.

You can see my snow pics at my other blog, Gran Speaks.

Holy cats!

I did it.

Now I have to go rest, because I feel like I’ve just given birth.

The Pagan Stone

The Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
After reading “Black Boxes,” I need to read something a bit lighter.

But wait, this book is about demons!

Yeah, fiction!

It’s the last book in the Sign of Seven Trilogy, and a lighter read for me.

Thank goodness.

Reading a Nora Roberts book, for me, is like watching a comical movie.

Light, maybe a tad predictable, but satisfying when my old brain need something light to read.

View all my reviews.

Black Boxes, by Caroline Smailes

Black Boxes by Caroline Smailes

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is a very good book, but I found it a hard read.

I have struggled with depression, off and on, for about 13 years. There were times I found this book impossible to read, because it reminded me of my own life in many ways.

This is a realistic, at times bitterly harsh, story about a breakdown.

It’s very well written, interesting, and painful. Caroline Smailes invites us into the subconscious of a young woman who is falling apart.

View all my reviews.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Have a happy Thanksgiving!

If you celebrate Thanksgiving.

Paying attention to my health is working, because I’m doing much better, and hope to be blogging here again soon.

“Dark of the Moon”

Dark of the Moon by John Sandford

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I think this is a very good book.

But.

I have read every one of Sanford’s Lucas Davenport “Prey” novels at least once, some two or three times.

This book frustrated me a bit, right smack in the middle, as Davenport’s Detective Virgil Flowers tries to solve a string of murders in a small town.

The story of a local preacher, introduced as an possible suspect, takes center stage, and now we’ve got the DEA involved, and there’s this huge shootout, and I almost gave up.

Almost.

I’ve always enjoyed the Virgil Flowers character in the “Prey” books, and he proves to have the right stuff to solve murders. And his boss, Lucas Davenport, enters the story frequently, giving Flowers hell as only Davenport can do.

I’m wondering if Sandford needs to fine tune the Flowers character a bit, to give the detective everyone calls “that fucking Flowers” the hero status of Lucas Davenport.

As a character, Davenport is a brilliantly flawed human being who acts decisively in his job and trips up too much in his personal life. Davenport is a sexy bastard, but you want to kick him right in the nuts when he screws up. You love him and hate him at the same time.

In this book, Flowers is just an average Joe who is a good cop. There’s no edge to Flowers, not yet.

But John Sandford is a skilled storyteller, and I have high hopes for the next Virgil Flowers whodunit.

View all my reviews.

My review of “A Darker Place”

A Darker Place by Laurie R. King

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I would like to rate this book between 3.5 and 5, but Goodreads won’t let me do that.

Anne Waverly is a professor of religion, and in her spare time, she infiltrates cults for the FBI. Anne is qualified to do this work, because years ago she was a member of a cult.

I liked this book for many reasons:

–Anne is a middle-aged woman with creaky, hurting bones, and a past filled with mistakes, just like me!

–Unlike me, Anne’s husband and daughter were killed, years before this story starts, and Anne feels guilty.

–Anne is one tough woman, and she uses her intellect to figure out what’s going in this cult.

A good storyteller takes the reader by the hand and whispers, “Come walk with me, I’m going to take you down this path, to the end of my story.”

The reader is smug now, because the end of the story is so clear, so obvious.

And then, the reader finishes the last page.

The reader turns a few pages more, mutters, “This can’t be it, the book can’t be done.”

But it is, and the reader finally realizes she’s been had.

Again.

I LOVE it when that happens.

Good book.

View all my reviews.

At it again

Buying books.

Nothing racy.

It’s me,after all.

I have three books coming to my house, via mail:

• Salvation in Death. Nora Roberts, writing as J.D. Robb, has just released a new Eve Dallas mystery. The year is 2060, and New York City homicide detective Eve Dallas is on another case.
• Macbeth No Fear Shakespeare. This one speaks for itself.
• Black Boxes, by Caroline Smailes.

I will be finishing A Darker Place, written by Laurie R. King, this weekend (and at last).

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Checking in

Taking life slower seems to be working for me, because I have a lot more energy, and a blood pressure medication has helped me a lot.

I’ve been in bed every night at eight or nine, but I jump out of bed with a new vigor every morning.

My reading pace has slowed considerably, but I hope this changes soon. I’m finishing up a good Laurie R. King book right now. I had a copy from the library, but I couldn’t finish it by the time it was due back.

So I bought the paperback book.

Look for my review when I’m done.

Have a safe and Happy Halloween.

Photo credit.

Taking life a bit slower

I’m taking life a bit easier these days, and will only be blogging at Gran Speaks for now.

I’m okay, just getting used to a new medication, and taking care of myself.

Cheers.