Skulls and Coffee

Sometimes, the right book at the right time appears in your life. If you're lucky it opens or reopens those gaping soul wounds you're wrestling with and gives you the balm needed to heal.

"You don't pass or fail at being a person, dear."

Those words, on page 175 left me a sobbing mess this evening. The right words at the right time. I just really needed to hear that I'm not failing at life despite all other evidence. Thank you Mr Gaiman.
 
So, how am I suppose to review this book? The small, beautiful book that I absolutely have to buy a copy of to refer to when needed? Do I quote the many quotes that struck me-marked by torn Post-It notes to copy down before returning the book to the library?
 
This book isn't a full blown adult novel like American Gods. It's closer to The Graveyard Book in size and scope. This one is deeper-in essence it looks like a pond but it's really an ocean. 
 
I feel blessed to have read this. I am not going to gush and I'm not going to implore you to pick this up. It simply is the right book at the right time for me. And I'm going to just bask in the glow for a bit.

This was last month's book club selection. Due to the weather we decided to discuss this and this months pick on the same day. I pick this up, read a couple of pages, wrinkle my nose in disgust, and sit it down. Lather, rinse, repeat.

This was described as a funny, fluffy read. Maybe I'm just uber-sensitive instead of my more normal super-sensitive but I didn't find the fun or fluffy. I found it painful. Poor dude, looking for love while not seeing anything but black and white. His lack of ability to discern shades of gray is like describing the opposite of me-I see too much gray.

I kept trying to finish this-but man this book is hurting me in ways I can't describe. So it's onto the next book club book. Which is to be read in a day and a half. Oy.

This was last month's book club selection. Due to the weather we decided to discuss this and this months pick on the same day. I pick this up, read a couple of pages, wrinkle my nose in disgust, and sit it down. Lather, rinse, repeat.

This was described as a funny, fluffy read. Maybe I'm just uber-sensitive instead of my more normal super-sensitive but I didn't find the fun or fluffy. I found it painful. Poor dude, looking for love while not seeing anything but black and white. His lack of ability to discern shades of gray is like describing the opposite of me-I see too much gray.

I kept trying to finish this-but man this book is hurting me in ways I can't describe. So it's onto the next book club book. Which is to be read in a day and a half. Oy.

I won this copy through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers Program and Putnam Publishing. Thanks LT and Putnam!
 
So, with all that said, let's talk about the books. This is book three in the Windermere/Stevens mystery series. Windermere is FBI stationed in the Twin Cities and Stevens in Minnesota BAC (state agent). The trick is getting a case that both can work on-although being a state agent gives Stevens the entire state to find a case to work with Windermere.
 
Again, Laukkaken writes about crime that could occur in todays world. With the ability and tech smarts, a guy creates a website that takes on murder for hire. Complete with brainwashed ex-soldiers to do the murders. Makes you wonder if this exists and we just don't know it yet.
 
So, this comes out in March and I just have to recommend that if you're interested you've got some time to read the first two. If you're into mystery and thrillers this is definitely one author to keep tabs on.

I won this copy through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers Program and Putnam Publishing. Thanks LT and Putnam!
 
So, with all that said, let's talk about the books. This is book three in the Windermere/Stevens mystery series. Windermere is FBI stationed in the Twin Cities and Stevens in Minnesota BAC (state agent). The trick is getting a case that both can work on-although being a state agent gives Stevens the entire state to find a case to work with Windermere.
 
Again, Laukkaken writes about crime that could occur in todays world. With the ability and tech smarts, a guy creates a website that takes on murder for hire. Complete with brainwashed ex-soldiers to do the murders. Makes you wonder if this exists and we just don't know it yet.
 
So, this comes out in March and I just have to recommend that if you're interested you've got some time to read the first two. If you're into mystery and thrillers this is definitely one author to keep tabs on.

It feels like forever since I read the first book and was trying to remember what had led to this book's beginning. Once I started getting into the book, though, it all came rushing back. While I was remembering "Miss P," however, it took forever to really get this book going.

I don't want to give much away. I will say, that I am not a huge fan of books that require stops in a dozen cities with danger and thrills. So when I discovered this was that type of book I was not as enthusiastic. However, Riggs pulls this off and I really enjoyed the book when it started going. Once the book started going, it was fun, adventurous book with plenty of surprises and a set-up for book three.

It's definitely one of those books where I don't want to give too much away and thus don't have much to say. If you enjoyed the first book, you'll want to pick this up. If you haven't read the first one, go read it and then enjoy this one!

It feels like forever since I read the first book and was trying to remember what had led to this book's beginning. Once I started getting into the book, though, it all came rushing back. While I was remembering "Miss P," however, it took forever to really get this book going.

I don't want to give much away. I will say, that I am not a huge fan of books that require stops in a dozen cities with danger and thrills. So when I discovered this was that type of book I was not as enthusiastic. However, Riggs pulls this off and I really enjoyed the book when it started going. Once the book started going, it was fun, adventurous book with plenty of surprises and a set-up for book three.

It's definitely one of those books where I don't want to give too much away and thus don't have much to say. If you enjoyed the first book, you'll want to pick this up. If you haven't read the first one, go read it and then enjoy this one!

I have a coworker who knew I was reading this and when I mentioned I was done with the book he asked me how I liked it. "It was good; but..." I said and he smiled and agreed. 
 
There are places where the book is fantastic, haunting, and extremely well written. The words mesmerize and the text flows. You are placed in a this odd place of sorta following the Grim Reaper as he collects souls and becomes enamored with Liesel. The ending you're flipping pages determined to find out what happens-to Liesel, her parents, Max, and Rudy.
 
Then there's the middle. I can't begin to imagine how to tell this tale in the middle of WWII in Germany and yet make life somewhat normal. This is a story of Liesel and her young teen years. There's air raids, rations, and the lack of books but there's growing up, dealing with bullies, secrets, and pettiness of those years. How do you make the story compelling without much happening and yet everything happening?
 
Well, Zusak sorta figures that. However, the middle is where I got bogged down and was moving at glacier speed. 
 
So, would I recommend it? If you've heard about the book and are interested, give it a shot. I can't jump up and down and say it's fantastic but it's a really solid, well written book. Overall, I am glad I picked it up and stayed with it to the end.

I have a coworker who knew I was reading this and when I mentioned I was done with the book he asked me how I liked it. "It was good; but..." I said and he smiled and agreed. 
 
There are places where the book is fantastic, haunting, and extremely well written. The words mesmerize and the text flows. You are placed in a this odd place of sorta following the Grim Reaper as he collects souls and becomes enamored with Liesel. The ending you're flipping pages determined to find out what happens-to Liesel, her parents, Max, and Rudy.
 
Then there's the middle. I can't begin to imagine how to tell this tale in the middle of WWII in Germany and yet make life somewhat normal. This is a story of Liesel and her young teen years. There's air raids, rations, and the lack of books but there's growing up, dealing with bullies, secrets, and pettiness of those years. How do you make the story compelling without much happening and yet everything happening?
 
Well, Zusak sorta figures that. However, the middle is where I got bogged down and was moving at glacier speed. 
 
So, would I recommend it? If you've heard about the book and are interested, give it a shot. I can't jump up and down and say it's fantastic but it's a really solid, well written book. Overall, I am glad I picked it up and stayed with it to the end.

This should be right up my alley and I was excited this was the book club read this month. However, with club tomorrow and I'm only 100 pages into, well-I'm not going to finish.

I found the book slow, extremely detailed, and doesn't provided much to get me into or keep into the book. I'm might have kept plodding at this since I'm thinking it will pick up. After a week though, I'm rather over it.

First book of the year was a failure. Hopefully this isn't a trend.

This should be right up my alley and I was excited this was the book club read this month. However, with club tomorrow and I'm only 100 pages into, well-I'm not going to finish.

I found the book slow, extremely detailed, and doesn't provided much to get me into or keep into the book. I'm might have kept plodding at this since I'm thinking it will pick up. After a week though, I'm rather over it.

First book of the year was a failure. Hopefully this isn't a trend.

Dennis Walsh came from a large Irish family of mostly criminal intent. While Dennis became a lawyer, his brother Chris ended up in the sordid LA underbelly and eventually becoming a meth-head. Until Chris was found in a Van Nuys, CA storage unit.

In that storage unit, his body was found stuffed in a sealed plastic trash drum. Cops searched his roommates apartment and found copious amounts of blood and tissue. However, the real story here is of the Walsh family.

Robert Walsh was an interesting gentlemen. Cleveland detective in the early 1950's with potential to rise higher in the ranks, instead he walks away and engages in a life crime associating with mobsters.

He and his wife raise five boys and two girls in California. Of the five boys, Dennis continued formal education and became a lawyer. The other boys were involved in various criminal enterprises.

When Chris was found, Dennis hadn't talked to his brother in a while. Despite that, Dennis made it a point to track down those that were responsible for his brother's death.

The book is written by Dennis and for a lawyer he does a great job of keeping the book interesting and not too legal. He explains legal proceedings and the tight rope he walked without getting too simple.

Overall, a solid true crime story and recommend for those who enjoy the genre.

Dennis Walsh came from a large Irish family of mostly criminal intent. While Dennis became a lawyer, his brother Chris ended up in the sordid LA underbelly and eventually becoming a meth-head. Until Chris was found in a Van Nuys, CA storage unit.

In that storage unit, his body was found stuffed in a sealed plastic trash drum. Cops searched his roommates apartment and found copious amounts of blood and tissue. However, the real story here is of the Walsh family.

Robert Walsh was an interesting gentlemen. Cleveland detective in the early 1950's with potential to rise higher in the ranks, instead he walks away and engages in a life crime associating with mobsters.

He and his wife raise five boys and two girls in California. Of the five boys, Dennis continued formal education and became a lawyer. The other boys were involved in various criminal enterprises.

When Chris was found, Dennis hadn't talked to his brother in a while. Despite that, Dennis made it a point to track down those that were responsible for his brother's death.

The book is written by Dennis and for a lawyer he does a great job of keeping the book interesting and not too legal. He explains legal proceedings and the tight rope he walked without getting too simple.

Overall, a solid true crime story and recommend for those who enjoy the genre.

The writing is fantastic, the story an old one, and the book is a quick read.

Homeschooling, fundamentalist Christian Robert Hale aka Papa Pilgrim takes his family off to New Mexico. There he builds a cabin, tends sheep and goats, steals as needed, and beats his family.

After the town and neighbors turn against him he takes himself and family off to Alaska. To the small town of McCarthy which felt like an end-of-the-road middle-of-the-wilderness escape. There, Pilgrim and his musically inclined brood made friends, pissed off the National Park Service, pissed of neighbors, and eventually the kids left.

Pilgrim is one example of the crazy cult-like father figure who could easily have escalated his hatred of the NPS into a Ruby Ridge like standoff. Instead, Pilgrim brought himself down when his kids eventually told of what when on in the family home.

If you enjoy extremely dysfunctional families, cult like families, or stories of surviving in Alaska bush, then I would recommend this.

The writing is fantastic, the story an old one, and the book is a quick read.

Homeschooling, fundamentalist Christian Robert Hale aka Papa Pilgrim takes his family off to New Mexico. There he builds a cabin, tends sheep and goats, steals as needed, and beats his family.

After the town and neighbors turn against him he takes himself and family off to Alaska. To the small town of McCarthy which felt like an end-of-the-road middle-of-the-wilderness escape. There, Pilgrim and his musically inclined brood made friends, pissed off the National Park Service, pissed of neighbors, and eventually the kids left.

Pilgrim is one example of the crazy cult-like father figure who could easily have escalated his hatred of the NPS into a Ruby Ridge like standoff. Instead, Pilgrim brought himself down when his kids eventually told of what when on in the family home.

If you enjoy extremely dysfunctional families, cult like families, or stories of surviving in Alaska bush, then I would recommend this.

This felt like a halfway book in a series where things are shifting and changing. Doesn't make it a bad book-I did finish it in just 24 hours. It focuses more on Clare and Russ than on the mystery.

Just a few quick thoughts:

Harley Knox's past life is explained and bites her in the butt.
We get more of Kevin Flynn's personal life and then we say goodbye.
The sheriff's department is capable of being run without Russ.
Clare and Russ need a good blow out argument in this book.

Good book-if you've enjoyed the rest of the series, you'll love this one.