Sunday, June 17, 2012

Diary of a Small Fish

 
Speaking of free books, one I read recently is Diary of a Small Fish by Pete Morin.  I probably shouldn't have started out with that introduction, because that makes it sound like the free part is what is important.  (Which it wasn't, but it WAS a nice bonus.)  And really, what I want to tell you is that it was a terrific story. 

I like a good legal mystery, and as a lawyer I'm easily annoyed when courtroom or other legal things are portrayed badly or inaccurately.  So I'm more inclined to try a new legal story if the author is a lawyer or judge or someone who should know how things actually work.  This author, Pete Morin, actually does.

This story takes a lot of twists and turns.  Paul Forte, a former Massachusetts state legislator, is indicted by a federal grand jury for hosting lobbyists at his golf club and accepting invitations to theirs.  But a flimsy indictment suggests a prosecutorial vendetta, and Paul can't understand why.  As he unravels the net of political intrigue around him, Morin takes readers into the world of politics and grand juries and even the etiquette of golf. 

It's a good debut novel, with some different twists, a complex plot, and solid writing.  I'll look forward to this author's next novel.  If you're in the mood for something a bit different from the usual courtroom drama, try this one.  (And if you have a Kindle, it's free right now!)


Friday, June 15, 2012

I Love Michael Gallagher

No, that's not the title of a book.  It's my declaration to the world of how utterly, totally grateful I am to this fellow.  Why, you ask?

Every day, our beloved Michael Gallagher trolls the pages of Amazon.com in search of free books for the Kindle.  And every day, he posts links to five or six free books on his blog, Free Kindle Books and Tips.  It's amazing, really, what a service Michael (may I call you Michael? Since we're so close?) provides to those of us Kindle-owning readers. 

If you own a Kindle, you'll want to check this out.  I've downloaded quite a few free books, thanks to Michael.  Did I mention that he only lists ones that show 4 or 5 stars on Amazon?  So he's not only helpful but he's discriminating, too.  I'll confess that a few I've read have been duds, and I've learned once I follow the link from Michael's blog to the Amazon page to a) verify that it's free; and b) look at who publishes it and c) see if there are reviews or comments from any magazines, known authors, or anyone else with credibility.  It's the self-published ones I've learned to watch out for.  That and the "Christian fiction" -- but of course, your tastes may differ and you may be hunting for Christian fiction.

But, as an avid library user, I pull books off of the shelves to try all of the time when I've never heard of the author.  So this isn't any different... except I have the fun of knowing that in one small, neat Kindley package, I have scads of reading material of all types.

Thank you, dear Michael.   



Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Best Staged Plans


I know, I know, I've been dreadful about writing book reviews.  I've been dreadful about blogging in general.  But this week I'm having a lovely, restful vacation and one of my goals (aside from doing a lot of reading) is to get some book reviews up.

So, here's the book I read yesterday as I sat outside on the deck in the sunshine: Best Staged Plans by Claire Cook.  It was the perfect vacation read, to my mind:  entertaining, not too complex, reflective on some things with touches of humor.  You might know Claire Cook from "Must Love Dogs" which got turned into a movie (where John Cusack had virtually no romantic chemistry with Diane Lane but oh, well...)

At any rate, in "Best Staged Plans," narrator Sandra Sullivan stages homes for a living but is having a difficult time getting her husband to make progress on the plans they made to sell their home so they can start their post-children, newly-free life phase.  Sandra wonders whether she'd be better off single in the second phase of her life, and while she contemplates this question, she heads off for a property staging job in Atlanta.  She gets to know her new son in law, helps her best friend through a romantic mess, and contemplates how to stage her own life. 

I suppose this book will appeal to middle aged women, and I must say that I related to Sandra's mid-life crisis musings.  Where do I go next?  What am I now?  Who ARE these people I'm sharing my life with? Whether it resonates personally or not, Sandra's voice is funny and charming and many musings on family life will entertain.  I especially liked her thoughts about the art of "assembling" (as opposed to cooking ) which she does by fancifying premade meals from Trader Joe's and hiding the packages. 

It was a good vacation novel.  I'd rate it 3.5 stars out of 5.