Our Hearts Are Restless

How many books are on your "I've been meaning to read that" list?  This one has been at the top of my list for at least a year, and it took me until this week.  Luckily, I'd packed it in my emergency reading kit! The Watson Chronicles by Ann Lewis "Holmes turned the platter, inspecting the plum pudding as he would a cadaver at a crime scene." It's challenge enough for a writer to find his or her own voice; it's even harder for an author to match her voice to another's.  Especially when you get into the nerdy world of Sherlock Holmes fans, which is a cult with an obsession rivaling that of Trekkies. In The Watson Chronicles , sequel to her earlier work Murder in the Vatican , Ann succeeds in matching style and voice to Arthur Conan Doyle's originals, while bringing a fresh perspective to the beloved character of Watson. Perhaps my best part of The Watson Chronicles  is Ann's ability to reach past Sherlock's ven...

Hello y'all! I thought I'd still do a quick shelf spotlight, even though this weekend has been insane. Since I'll be living in Ann Arbor, I've started to find ways to cope with the long drives home to Indy. On a test run down to my grandmother's house this week, I discovered to my surprise that audio books do indeed have a place in my life. I've been resistant to the idea for a long time, because I could never find an occasion where I wanted to listen to a book rather than just sit there and read it myself.  But while I'm used to driving now, I just get bored in the car.  After a while my own head gets dull, the radio is irritating, and music only keeps me functioning for so long. Hence, audio books! Thank heavens for a tablet and Martha's multimedia port. I'm picking lighter reads so I don't risk distraction, so at the moment I'm working my way through a set of children's stories by Terry Pratchett.  Next up is the Chronicles ...

Welcome to this week's Shelf Spotlight!  This is a drastic genre switch from my last few posts, but that means you're getting a good feel of what's on my bookshelves.  (Of which I need more.) This week, I'm working my way through a manga series.  I'm not usually the biggest fan of manga, but if I find one that I like, I'm not opposed to it.  A good friend lent me his complete collector's edition set of Death Note , a mystery-thriller manga that seems to be one of the most popular, at least in the United States.  I'm trying to finish the books before I move, and I'm smack in the middle of one of the most complicated murder-mystery plots I've discovered yet. When an highly intelligent, bored young man receives the power of the death gods...what will it do to him? There are a few drawbacks because as usually happens with manga, Death Note was originally published as a serial or at least as a dozen smaller manga, so the plot structure ge...

Welcome to this week's Shelf Spotlight!  I've had the fun of reading a series by a brand-new British author, Corinna Turner .  Chesterton Press had me proofreading the American editions, which was a lovely privilege.  When she gave me the first one, I meant to finish it by the end of the week deadline.  As it happened, I was a bit of an insomniac that night, couldn't put the book down, and stayed up until 4 in the morning to finish the proof!  The books are somewhat comparable to a Catholic take on the dystopian world of The Hunger Games and a young adult thriller version of Robert Hugh Benson's Lord of the World .  The characters are compelling and the story gripping; the stream-of-consciousness style is occasionally off-putting but easy to ignore once the plot begins to move quickly.  I have to admit, I've always had a love for the Elizabethan Catholic recusants.  Corinna's books draw heavily on that heritage, and do so well.  ...

Do you ever go to the library with an empty bag and fill it to the brim?  If you're anything like me, sinking yourself in a stack of favorite authors is how life becomes manageable!  Books are an addiction, and don't ever, ever take me to Readers Anonymous. So, welcome to my new blog series!  I'll share an author or book at the end of the week, as often as I can.  This won't be a full book review, but just a quick highlight on who/what I'm reading at the moment. TERRY PRATCHETT Recently, I've gotten my mom hooked on Terry Pratchett, a British comic fantasy author I fell in love with after reading Going Postal .  His books take place in a universe named Discworld, and follow a number of different characters in intersecting mini-series.  Pratchett is absolutely brilliant with his words, almost like a fantasy P. G. Wodehouse.  Some of his books are better than others, and occasionally his humour gets a bit crude, but overall he's a hystericall...