Books I've Read This Week (June 23)

Is it Friday already? After being out of commission part of the week, it doesn't feel like it's time to again take stock of the Books I've Read This Week. Let's see if I did any better than last week.

I have to admit to returning three books to the library unread this week: A Crack in the Edge of the World by Simon Winchester, The Rebels of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd, and James Patterson's The 5th Horseman (which I was complaining about earlier). I just ran out of steam with Simon's books, I guess, and I never felt like getting into a Rutherford book. I'm more into mysteries than historical fiction right now, but I'll read those two later, never you fear. So on to the books I did read. And it's not all Kinsey Millhone adventures, though there are plenty of those too.

I started out the week with the most recent Temperance Brennan mystery, Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs. Jumping on Dan Brown's coattails, Cross Bones blends the usual forensic anthropology and murder mystery with conspiracy theories and alternate histories of Jesus and his family. Tempe and Ryan head to Israel on the trail of bones and, yes, more bones. There was some interesting DNA science involved in trying to match sets of bones with each other according to mitochondrial DNA which is passed down through the mother. But I didn't enjoy this particular book as much as some of her others. Perhaps it was a little too much out of Tempe's usual environment.

Next were a set of two books by a new author for me, Peter Abrahams. I found the second, Behind the Curtain, on the new book shelf a while back and when I checked the stacks to see if my library had the first, Down the Rabbit Hole, I saw several other titles by him. So I was really hoping to like his writing because there's nothing better than discovering a new author who's written a lot.

Down the Rabbit Hole introduces us to 13-year-old Ingrid Levin-Hill, her football-playing older brother and their hometown of Echo Falls, somewhere in New England. Ingrid hates her name and secretly calls herself Griddie (which I personally think is even worse). She plays soccer, acts with the local drama group and, like any good sleuth, sticks her nose in where it doesn't belong. Following the teachings of her hero, Sherlock Holmes, she gets her culprit in the end and on the way interacts with some great interesting characters like her ornery grandpa, her new dog, and the sympathetic chief of police. I was excited to read more about Ingrid and her companions in the second book that was equally entertaining. These two books are good examples of why you shouldn't shun books just because they're classified as Young Adult.

By the time I was done with Ingrid, "K" is for Killer had arrived at the library so I could read Kinsey stories the rest of the week. I'm just now starting "P" is for Peril and only have three more after that, so I'm starting to mourn already. Last night while I was reading "N" is for Noose, I accompanied Kinsey on her travels around the state of California with my newly downloaded Google Earth. She lives in fictitious Santa Teresa which is based on the real-life Santa Barbara and Sue Grafton includes real towns and highways in her descriptions. I loved that you could see Santa Barbara fogged in!

Unread books on my shelf at home:
Sleep, Pale Sister, Joanne Harris
The Fan, Peter Abrahams
"Q" is for Quarry through "S" is for Silence, Sue Grafton
The Memory of Whiteness, Kim Stanley Robinson
Moving is Murder, Sara Rosett
Site Unseen, Dana Cameron
One Grave Too Many, Beverly Connor
His Majesty's Dragon, Naomi Novik
Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind, Ann B. Ross

Books on hold at the library:
Virgin Earth, Philippa Gregory (in transit, I'm giving up. Eliz, can I borrow yours?)
Micah, Laurell K. Hamilton (9 of 24 holds)
Darcy & Elizabeth: Days & Nights at Pemberly, Linda Berdoll (2 of 7 holds)
Danse Macabre, Laurell K. Hamilton (5 of 16 holds)
Miss Julia Takes Over, Ann B. Ross (ready for pickup)
The Art of Detection, Laurie R. King (17 of 20 holds)
Dark Tort, Diane Mott Davidson (38 of 38 holds)
Miss Zukas and the Library Murders, Jo Dereske (1 of 1 holds)
Miss Zukas and the Island Murders, Jo Dereske (in transit)
Don of the Dead, Casey Daniels (in transit)

So, I think I accomplished quite a bit even with losing a couple days of being too sick to even read. I'm going to miss Kinsey when I'm done with "S" is for Silence but I'm looking forward to exploring the collection of new mystery authors awaiting me on my shelf. Maybe I'll even find one who will become a new favorite. I might tell you next week on BIRTW. Happy Reading!