An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris

One of the series that I'm hoping to get caught up on this year is the Harper Connelly series by Charlaine Harris.  Over my Christmas vacation I read An Ice Cold Grave (Harper Connelly Mysteries, No. 3) which only leaves me one more- Grave Secret (Harper Connelly Mysteries, Book 4)- before I can check one item off my list.  (Am I the only one who peppers my list with easy wins like this?) I was nervous about the direction that the series was heading at the end of book three, but Harris manages to pull off exactly what I was fearful of without totally creeping me out. (If you've read the book you totally know what I refer to!)

So what's the series about? Harper was struck by lightning as a teen and ever since then has been able to located dead bodies. While this seems like a bit of a parlour trick, Harper has built up a reputation and a earns a living locating bodies for police departments and grieving relatives. She is able to "see" a person's last moments as well and can tell how a person died. As you can imagine there is some skepticism around this and she has to continually prove herself to not be a fraud.

And what is this one about, specifically? Harper has been called to a small town where high school boys have been disappearing for the last 5 or 6 years. The old sheriff refused to believe it was foul play, but the new sheriff knows some one is taking the boys and wants answers. Harper finds the bodies and then discovers some horrible secrets.  Of course this leads to a threat against Harper herself as more and more people get involved.

Harris does a great job making Harper and her partner Tolliver into believable people.  I find them to be a little bit too anti-social and sometimes that is wearing on the reader, but otherwise they are great characters.  I don't see any shades of the Sookie Stackhouse series in the books but they have the same consistent, strong storylines.  They are a bit formulaic, you always know there will be suspicion cast on Harper and Tolliver, but my experience is that all mysteries are a bit predictable.  I'd recommend them as a nice alternative to the vampires and werewolves that populate most of the paranormal world.

You can find Charlaine Harris online here.
I also enjoy reading her blog entries, where she is in the habit of recommending other great books.


An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris
Berkley
2008
288 pages





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So, What's for lunch today?

You know how when you return to the office/twitter/facebook after lunch everyone wants to know what you ate?

And how everyone else's lunch seems so much yummier/healthier/more creative/more frugal than yours?

Is that just me?

I love to talk about lunch  because it's not usually a big production. It's the way you use up leftovers and the little ideas for casual eating that I love.

So what did I do? I made a blog. It's called "So, What's for lunch today?"  I invited a dozen or so people to join me to get us started.  We've been posting for 4 or 5 days now, and I'm already finding great ideas.  Stop by, say hello, and if you want to join us drop me a line at bookslistslife at gmail dot com and I'll send you an invite.  I think it's gonna be a lot of fun.





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1. The Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs

The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A. J. Jacobs falls squarely into that category of memoirs/ non-fiction that I like best.  I've seen the term "stunt memoir" used to perfectly describe this type of book and would definitely apply it to this one. Jacobs has decided to follow ALL of the rules in the Bible as literally as possible (bet you couldn't figure that out from the title). He spends the first 9 months of his year with the Old Testament before finishing up in the New.

What did I think? Well, I enjoyed it and I went looking for Jacob's other books, but it took me a very long time to finish it up, I'm talking Months.  I'd put it down and walk away and there was nothing about it that compelled me to pick it back up.

Jacobs spends  a lot of time talking about how this experiment has changed his view of religion and I think that was the most interesting part, to me. He starts off the book as a non-believer of Jewish descent, but as the book goes on he has moments of pure belief. He is as startled by this as you would expect and I enjoyed his honestly.   In addition to deciphering the rules on his own, he consults with quite a few other religious scholars and the differing view on things is also quite interesting. Overall a good book, but not one of my favorites for the year.


How do you feel about "stunt memoirs"? Do you have a favorite? Do you prefer straight biographies? Do you think that writers can be completely honest when they know they are doing a trick for a book? Or do you think they probably fudge a bit to sound better? (Hello, James Frey.)

If you're interested in other books about personal religious experience, I also read and enjoyed:

Rapture Ready!: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture by Daniel Radosh (my review)
The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew-- Three Women Search for Understanding by Idliby, Oliver and Warner (my review)
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert (pre-blog)

Girl Meets God: On the Path to a Spiritual Life by Lauren Winner (also pre-blog)


You can find AJ Jacobs online here, but it doesn't look like he updates very often.


The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs
Simon & Schuster
2008
416 pages

PS. I decided to number my 2010 reads in the subject line of the post. I like the idea that I'll be able to tell at a glance where I am. 



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The Sunday Salon for January 17th

Happy Sunday everyone!  I've managed to pawn the Pirate off on a friend (tho in my defense, I did invite her son here, it just turned out this way!) and Mike is gone for the day so it's just me and the Buggy for a while. We're watching a little Yo Gabba Gabba and I'm planning to do a little reading soon.

I've been trying to catch the blog up for 2009, and I think I only have one more review left to write (and two more for 2010!) I've scheduled them out of the next couple of weeks, but I'm happy to almost caught up.  One thing I forgot to do at the end of December was to list the books I added in December to my Books to Read list, so here it is, a few weeks late. Have you read any of these?

See You in a Hundred Years: Discover One Young Family's Search for a Simpler Life . . . Four Seasons of Living in the Year 1900 by Logan Ward- Jill at Fizzy Thoughts
How It Ends by Laura Wiess- Leila at bookshelves of doom
Born On A Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant by Daniel Tammet- Amanda at The Zen Leaf
The Actor and the Housewife: A Novel by Shannon Hale- Janssen at Everyday Reading
Two Parties, One Tux, and a Very Short Film about The Grapes of Wrath by Steven Goldman- Jennie at Bibliofile
Dishwasher: One Man's Quest to Wash Dishes in All Fifty States (P.S.) by Pete Jordan- Stephanie at Open Mind, Insert Book
The Sweethearts' Knitting Club (Avon Romance) by Lori Wilde
When It Happens by Susane Colasanti- Stephanie at Open Mind, Insert Book
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud- Rebecca Reads

I've finished up 3 books so far in 2010 and am well on my way to a fourth. I'm having a hard time settling in with any one book, so have been drawn into re-reading a bit, but it's still enjoyable.




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Craft Hope for Haiti

Looking for a way to help with the devastation in Haiti?

I found the perfect way at Craft Hope.   I'm going to steal their words, because I couldn't say it better.

Craft Hope community, it is time to Craft Hope for Haiti. The devastation in Haiti is catastrophic and we can help. At the encouragement of many people we will be opening a Craft Hope Etsy shop to benefit Doctors Without Borders. We are growing by leaps and bounds and as needs arise we will rise up to meet them.

The Craft Hope Etsy shop will allow crafters to donate products and allow folks to purchase them. With 100% of the proceeds going to charity. Having seen, firsthand, the beautiful items you have created I know this can be one awesome charity shop. The dresses, sock monkeys, quilts, blankets, beanies, etc. that you have all created are incredible. I know many of you even have your own Etsy shop where you sell you’re items. This is a call for all things handmade. If you can make it, we will sell it to benefit Doctors Without Borders. If you have a handmade item you’d like to donate, please read the guidelines below.
Many people have asked how they can support Craft Hope and it’s charities if they can’t sew, knit, craft. Well, this is the way. You can shop in the Craft Hope Etsy shop, get a beautifully handmade item, and rest assured that the proceeds from your purchase will go to charity. It’s that simple.

I donated two of my wallets this morning (they don't appear yet) but feel free to stop by and shop the lovely items that other crafters have already donated.

If you are interested in donating an item, you can find instructions at this link.






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Random Friday, first in 2010

I haven't remembered to do a Random Friday in over a month! Did anyone notice?

See the baby playing Rock Band? 

A friend of mine is looking for examples of blogs that turned into books. We all know about Julie and Julia. I love Orangette (A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table), there is Pioneer Woman and Soule Mama. Dooce has a couple of books now. Who else?


REALLY dislike the new(ish) thing on some (all?) Wordpress blogs that requires me to click the link to confirm that I want to subscribe to comments.


I was just sitting here thinking about how much I wanted to see the ocean, and how very far away the ocean is. And then I remembered- we leave for Hawaii in one month! Any great tips on visiting Kauai?

Mike bought me a new coffeemaker. It's a teeny little thing, but it has a timer. It is AWESOME to wake up to fresh, hot coffee. (The Mr. Coffee DRX5 4-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker, Black if you're in the market. $20!)

2010 is starting off huge for us, I'm full of expectations of an awesome year. I'm excited to see how this year turns out. How are you feeling about 2010?  Do you start every year with a sense of hope or is it just another day/week/month?




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Delurker Day 2010!

Ok, here's your chance to say anything you want. Do you lurk? Are you a regular commentor? Tell me something you just learned or your favorite lunch or how excited you are that American Idol is back or just say hi. Go on, do it.




I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks.

The MacKade Brothers by Nora Roberts, briefly.

After I enjoyed Vision in White (The Bride Quartet, Book 1) and Bed of Roses (The Bride Quartet, Book 2) so much last month, I went on a short Nora Roberts reading spree.  I read an excellent review of Heart Of Devin Mackade (Heartbreakers, The Mackade Brothers) on Katidom and decided that that would be an excellent series to pick up. Originally published in the mid-nineties, they were reprinted last year and I was able to get all four in the series from Paperbackswap without waiting.

The MacKade brothers had a reputation for trouble but it's a dozen or so years later and they've all settled down to be outstanding adults.  They are all successful in their chosen fields- business owner, lawyer, sheriff and farmer- and (of course) handsome as they come.  Roberts matches them all with strong independent women and while the men are fairly similar to each other, the women are unique. There are a few ghosts in the series (literally) but they aren't a big part of the plot and nothing hinges on you believing in  magic.  As I've said before, she has a way with families and friends that makes reading her connected books a real pleasure. This set reminded me a good bit of her Chesapeake Bay Series, so much that I had to dig my copies of those out of storage. If you're a fan of Nora Roberts, this is a good set to pick up.

They should be read in the following order:
Return Of Rafe Mackade (Heartbreakers) (The Mackade Brothers)
Pride Of Jared Mackade (The Mackade Brothers/)
Available in one volume as:
The MacKade Brothers: Rafe And Jared: The Return Of Rafe MacKadeThe Pride Of Jared MacKade


Heart Of Devin Mackade (Heartbreakers, The Mackade Brothers)
Fall Of Shane Mackade (The Mackade Brothers)
Available in one volume as:
The MacKade Brothers: Devin and Shane: The Heart Of Devin MacKadeThe Fall Of Shane MacKade


My favorite of the bunch was probably Devin, with Rafe a close second.

You can visit Nora Robert's online here.




I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks.

Making the Grades by Todd Farley

As a parent, one of the things that I think a lot about is school and the quality of my kid's education. The Pirate will be starting school this fall (THIS FALL!!!) and while I think the elementary schools in this area are ok, I have definitely heard horror stories about testing and grades and failing schools. In a conversation somewhere online (please don't ask where) I saw mention of the book Making the Grades: My Misadventures in the Standardized Testing Industry by Todd Farley.  It seemed like this would be a great way to find more out about how standardized testing was done and I requested it from the library.

Farley found his way into the field by chance. A local scoring center was hiring and it was a steady, indoor, good paying job, with no requirements so he took it. Over the next dozen years or so he worked his way up the ladder eventually writing tests and training without any real ambition to do so.  Farley eventually quit working in the industry to write his book, which exposes some of the behind the scene stuff.

As it turns out, while the questions asked are standard, the people scoring the tests aren't standard at all. They come from every background and every level of ambition and motivation, and every level of education. They might be high school grads or they might be marking time until law school. They might be hungover all morning and tipsy all afternoon. They might not speak English. Additionally,  all the scorers from any one question live in the same geographic location, so if your questions were scored in Iowa, you can expect the scorers to know Iowa slang and not be familiar with what a second grader in New Orleans might say.


It seems as though each question would have a standard "correct" answer, but this is not true. One of his examples is of a question that asks students to draw a picture of a bicycle safety rule, having just read a section explaining the rules. Students got one point for a correct drawing and zero points for an incorrect one. Seems clear, right? But what if the student drew a picture of a kid on a bike wearing a helmet but NOT holding the handlebars? Do they get the point for the helmet? What about the no hands thing?  Any answer on any question could have multiple similar answers that the individual scorer was responsible to judging for correctness.  Every effort is made to standardize the scorers responses, but because we are all human it is a near impossible task.

The book itself if full of example after example of how the system has very little to do with what the kids know as well as examples of how administrators think when designing the tests. It was a fascinating book, if a little bit poorly edited. By the end of it I felt that it was a little long for a full length book and could have been edited down to a long article, but I'm still glad I picked it up.  Did it help me to make any decisions about the state of my own children's education? No, but it does lend some weight to how seriously I take the reported scores of local schools.

How do you feel about standardized testing? Are you a fan of NCLB? Do you think that a schools score accurately reflects what the teachers teach the kids? Does the very idea of teaching to the test make you want to homeschool your children? What has been your experience with testing?


Making the Grades by Todd Farley
Polipoint Press
2009
272 pages




I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks.