Alex Delaware

First new book of the year complete:  Guilt, by Jonathan Kellerman.  Kellerman writes the Alex Delaware series.  Guilt is the 28th in the series, which started in 1985 (and does not track chronologically).  Alex Delaware is a retired psychologist who has been recruited by LA police detective Miles Sturgis to aid in understanding and finding perpetrators of crimes.  (Delaware was able to retire at an incredibly young age due to stock market sales.)

Guilt starts with the finding of some old bones.  This is the kick-off to an old story, while some bones found a few days later are a new story.  Sorting it all out through psychological insights and good-old fashioned detective work gives us time to visit with our old friends Alex and Miles, and it is old friends that they have become through the years.

I like Kellerman's work in that he does not seem to get stuck in a PC view of the world, and I always get new insights from his books.

Frannie in Pieces

How can you not be drawn in by a book that begins:

Do you know what it says on a tube of toothpate? In small print? you have to read the small print because they never tell you anything scary in large print. Large print is what they want you to see. Here's what the large print says: FOR BEST RESULTS, SQUEEZE TUBE FROM THE BOTTOM AND FLATTEN AS YOU GO UP. But the important stuff is small. Tiny. If more than used for brusing is accidentally swallowed, get medical help or contact a Poison Control Center right away.
You can die from toothpaste.

Now, if you've never read your toothpaste, you may not have seen this. It is there. Go ahead and check, if you wish.

The author is Delia Ephron, sister to Nora. She has created a lovely story of Frannie, who found her father dead one day. Frannie has much to deal with, but eventually the pieces begin to fit. It's a good read for teenagers, or for those who love teenagers.

And Now the Last Day of Vacation

. . . and it's very quiet. I'm spending this morning on my front porch, reading Life's a Beach, by Claire Cook. It's a cool morning, but the porch is warm. The kitties are asleep, Sierra out on the porch with me, Snuzzles on his pad by the door. Every ten pages or so I go do a minor chore. I'm on the second load of wash. I probably still would have been in bed, but I could hear farmer Donny, who works the fields across from me, making hay in the hay field.

Okay, just finished the book. I had ordered it from Amazon because:

1. Any chick lit book with the word Beach in it grabs my attention.
2. It was touted as a good summer read.
3. It was by Claire Cook, who wrote the book Must Love Dogs, which was made into a 2005 movie starring John Cusack and Diane Lane. I liked the movie.

The book was the third I've read this week. I'm glad I saved it for last. It's about a 41-year-old sister and an almost 50-year-old sister, and how life works. It's a great book for those who don't have "perfectly planned" lives. I identified with the younger sister and there were some good points about "not deciding" is deciding. So if I appear more decisive in the future . . . nah, that's not going to happen.

School's Out Forever

I just finished James Patterson's Maximum Ride, School's Out Forever. Patterson is incredibly prolific, and I've always been amazed by the number of voices he can create. (I've also been amazed by all of his co-writers, but that's a different story.) In the Maximum Ride books he aptly handles the voice of a 14-year-old female genetically altered with avian characteristics. (And throws in a mutant talking dog, just for good measure.)

This is book two in a (perhaps) three-book series. Will Max save the world? Will she save herself? Where does genetic experimenting lead? What is good? What is evil? Stay tuned.