D is for Deadbeat 4.0

 This is book number 4 (out of 26) in the Kinsey Millhone series by Sue Grafton. Of course I had to read this, you couldn't eat a sandwich but not the cheese! This book has 320 pages. 

I wonder when they will start to make these book movies? I would really like to see how they would portray some of the actors and scenes. Until they do I have about 20 more books to go! Onto E is for Evidence and F is for Fugitive. Thank you Becca for letting me borrow these and the ones that follow!

"He called himself Alvin Limardo, and the job he had for Kinsey was cut-and-dried: locate a kid who'd done him a favor and pass on a check for $25,000. It was only later, after he'd stiffed her for her retainer, that Kinsey found out his name was Daggett. John Daggett. Ex-con. Inveterate liar. Chronic drunk. And dead. The cops called it an accident—death by drowning. Kinsey wasn't so sure.

Kinsey soon realizes that Daggett had an awful lot of enemies. There's the daughter who grew up with a cheating drunk for a father, and the wife who's become a religious nut in response to an intolerable marriage. There's the lady who thought she was Mrs. Daggett—and has the bruises to prove it—only to discover the legal Mrs. D. And there are the drug dealers out $25,000. The families of the five people John Daggett killed, victims of his wild, drunken driving. The D.A. called it vehicular manslaughter and put him away for two years. The families called it murder and had very good reason to want John Daggett dead." - synopses from Barnes and Noble.

Everything is Wrong with Me 4.0

I go through phases when I read, you know, one month you read romance, the next mystery then for some reason you throw in a classic or a biography.

When choosing a book I hate that saying, "You can't judge a book by it's cover." Um, yes you can... and everyone does. The cover of this one grabbed my attention, soon followed by the title. Everyone feels this way one day in their lives.

Jason Mulgrew doesn't have as bad as problems as some people that I have read about but reading about his "problems" made me feel a little better about my "problems". His story is both relatable and humorous with a touch of seriousness.

If you like the show Sunny in Philadelphia, you'll like this book.

This book has 214 pages.

"Mulgrew tells stories of his childhood, many of the memories supplied by his Mom and Dad. Mulgrew uses footnotes as funny asides at the bottom of the pages to further explain the insanity. One of the funniest stories involves Mulgrew's scheme to sell fireworks not only to make some money, but to move up on the coolness scale. It's a genius idea, making good money until Mulgrew's partner, his pal David, decides to stop at home for a Lunchable and gets caught by his mom. It's the age-old story: a great career derailed by a Lunchable.
The book is filled with usual guy stuff- guns, alcohol, trucks, girls, running from the cops. Its universality is its appeal, along with Mulgrew's genial style of conversational writing. It will make a funny audiobook.
The best story of the book happens after Mulgrew has finally turned in his manuscript for the book after missing many deadlines. His father says to him, "Did I ever tell you how I was arrested for attempted murder?" The story that follows is fabulous, and it fits that his dad wouldn't tell him until the book was done." - synopses from Barnes and Noble.

You can also find Jason Mulgrew on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.

Kinsey Millhone Series by Sue Grafton 4.0

I started to read this series purely by accident... I had seen the books with the large letters on them before but didn't read them. So, while I was in Hastings I decided to start reading K is for Killer and it was great! Little did I know the story would make more sense if you actually read the books in alphabet order. Therefore, after reading K I went back and started at A is for Alibi and so on. I believe that Mrs. Grafton is now working on the letter W. This series has 22 books thus far, each contains between 350-400 pages.

Through each of the books you follow a private investigator named Kinsey Millhone. With a strong will and tough exterior Kinsey solves her crimes with the help of some witty characters.

 

The following is a synopses' are from Barnes and Noble. 

A is for Alibi

"When Laurence Fife was murdered, few mourned his passing. A prominent divorce attorney with a reputation for single-minded ruthlessness on behalf of his clients, Fife was also rumored to be a dedicated philanderer. Plenty of people in the picturesque southern California town of Santa Teresa had a reason to want him dead. Including, thought the cops, his young and beautiful wife, Nikki. With motive, access, and opportunity, Nikki was their number-one suspect. The jury thought so, too.

Eight years later and out on parole, Niki Fife hires Kinsey Millhone to find out who really killed her late husband. A trail that is eight years cold. A trail that reaches out to enfold a bitter, wealthy, and foul-mouthed old woman and a young boy, born deaf, whose memory cannot be trusted. The trail twists with Millhone following every turn until it finally twists back on itself and she finds herself face-to-face with a killer cunning enough to get away with murder."

 B is Burglar

"Beverly Danziger looked like an expensive, carefully wrapped package from a good but conservative shop. It was a nervousness out of all proportion to the problem she placed before Kinsey Millhone. There was an absent sister. A will to be settled—a matter of only a few thousand dollars. Mrs. Danziger did not look as if she needed a few thousand dollars. And she didn't seem like someone longing for a family reunion. Millhone took the job. It looked routine.

Elaine Boldt's wrappings were a good deal flashier than her sister's, but they signaled the same thing: The lady had money. A rich widow in her early forties, she owned a condo in Boca Raton and another in Santa Teresa. According to the manager of the California building, she was last seen draped in her $12,000 lynx coat heading for Boca Raton. According to the manager of the Florida building, she never got there. But someone else had and she was camping out illegally in Mrs. Boldt's apartment. The job was beginning to seem a bit less routine.

A house destroyed by arson. A brutally murdered a woman. A missing lynx coat. And more murder. As Millhone digs deeper into the case, she finds herself in a nightmarish hall of mirrors in which reality is distorted by illusion and nothing—except danger—is quite what it seems."

C is for Corpse

"He was young-maybe twenty or so-and he must once have been a good-looking kid. Kinsey could see that. But now his body was covered in scars, his face half-collapsed. It saddened Kinsey and made her curious. She could see he was in a lot of pain. But for three weeks, as Kinsey'd watched him doggedly working out at the local gym, putting himself through a grueling exercise routine, he never spoke.

Then one Monday morning when there was no one else in the gym, Bobby Callahan approached her. His story was hard to credit: a murderous assault by a tailgating car on a lonely rural road, a roadside smash into a canyon 400 feet below, his Porsche a bare ruin, his best friend dead. The doctors had managed to put his body back together again-sort of. His mother's money had seen to that. What they couldn't fix was his mind, couldn't restore the huge chunks of memory wiped out by the crash. Bobby knew someone had tried to kill him, but he didn't know why. He knew he had the key to something that made him dangerous to the killer, but he didn't know what it was. And he sensed that someone was still out there, ready to pounce at the first sign his memory was coming back.

He'd been to the cops, but they'd shrugged off his story. His family thought he had a screw loose. But he was scared-scared to death. He wanted to hire Kinsey. His case didn't have a whole lot going for it, but he was hard to resist: young, brave, hurt. She took him on. And three days later, Bobby Callahan was dead. Kinsey Millhone never welshed a deal. She'd been hired to stop a killing. Now she'd find the killer."

This is a good easy to read series. I shall return for another review after I have a few more under my belt! *Don't worry I'll add the synopses for K when I get to it in alphabetical order :)

The Help 4

I chose to read this book because I saw a preview for the movie. As is one of my rules, you must always (at least try) read the book before seeing the movie!
Kathryn Stockett writes from multiple different perspectives in this book and it made me wonder what type of person I would have been if I had grown up in the south in the mid 1900's. I would like to believe I would have been like Skeeter trying to change the world for the better. This book contain 544 pages.

"Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.


Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.
Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed." Synopses from Barnes and Noble.

As stated before this book was made into a movie in 2011. Earned a 76% liking from critics and 90% liking from audience. "The Help stars Emma Stone as Skeeter, Viola Davis as Aibileen and Octavia Spencer as Minny-three very different, extraordinary women in Mississippi during the 1960s, who build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project that breaks societal rules and puts them all at risk." -Rotten Tomatoes.

Child Called It series 5.0

Working as a teacher I believe that if you are a parent or your job deals with children, you should have to read this book. The A Child Called It series is a true story of a child who literally has to survive to live everyday. The challenges thrown at him are harsh and unbelievable. I cried, cringed and smiled as I read this series.

There are 3 books in this series, each contains about 250 pages. The books are:
A Child Called It (1)
The Lost Child (2)
A Man Named Dave (3)

"This book chronicles the unforgettable account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. It is the story of Dave Pelzer, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games--games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer a boy, but an "it."

Dave's bed was an old army cot in the basement, and his clothes were torn and raunchy. When his mother allowed him the luxury of food, it was nothing more than spoiled scraps that even the dogs refused to eat. The outside world knew nothing of his living nightmare. He had nothing or no one to turn to, but his dreams kept him alive--dreams of someone taking care of him, loving him and calling him their son." Synopses from Barnes and Noble.

Dave Pelzer is a best selling author as well as an inspirational speaker. You can keep tabs on him by following him on Facebook or Twitter. He has written 4 other books regarding challenges that children/teens face and how they effect their lives.

$h!t My Dad Says 5.0

This is a memorable memoir full of comedy and love that I came across while staring at the bookshelves at Hastings. I am very glad that I bought it and would recommend it to everyone to read. Very straight forward fatherly advice that will make you pee your pants or at least chuckle.

Justin Halper has been a magazine editor and you can now follow him along with millions of others on his Twitter account @shitmydadsays. It was this Twitter account that lead him to a book and TV show.

"After being dumped by his longtime girlfriend, twenty-eight-year-old Justin Halpern found himself living at home with his seventy-three-year-old dad. Sam Halpern, who is "like Socrates, but angrier, and with worse hair," has never minced words, and when Justin moved back home, he began to record all the ridiculous things his dad said to him:

"That woman was sexy. . . . Out of your league? Son, let women figure out why they won't screw you. Don't do it for them."

"Do people your age know how to comb their hair? It looks like two squirrels crawled on their heads and started fucking."" Synopses from Barnes and Noble.

This book was turned into a TV series with one season from 2010 to 2011, staring William Shatner, Jonathan Sadowski and Nicole Sullivan. I need to find this series and watch it, I would love to see how Shatner plays the role.

Hunger Games Series 4.7

I started reading this series as it became popular. There are three books to this series, each book has about 350 pages.
The books are:
The Hunger Games (1)
Catching Fire (2)
The Mockingjay (3)


Suzanne Collins takes us on an adventure where once you turn 12 your life really could become survivial of the fitest. In a district where hunting is a crime and everyone lives in poverty, you may have the chance to win the Hunger Games and save not only your family but your district too.

This series was very interesting as I have heard many different reviews. It does contain violence, that become more descriptive throughout the books. There is romance too! The end of the second book left me thinking, "WHAT?!" and I had to buy the third book as the library wait was up to 23 people infront of me. The ending is somewhat surprising.



"Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don't live to see the morning? In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival." Synopses from Barnes and Noble.

This series is being made into movies. The first book, The Hunger Games comes out MARCH 23,2012. I will definately be watching it! Staring Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth (Miley Cyrus' beau), Stanley Tucci, Woody Harrelson and Elizabeth Banks.

Ember Series 3.5

I started reading this series after subbing in a 7th grade English class. This series is a quick read. Each book is about 300 pages.

This series has 4 books:
The City of Ember (1)
The People of Sparks (2)
The Prophet of Yonwood (3)
The Diamond of Darkhold (4)

Jeanne DuPrau takes you on a journey of a city and it's people after the world ends and begins again.

Made me think of all the little things we take for granted. What would we teach our children for the future if the world was ending? What would become important when money, jewelry and cars holds no value.

"The city of Ember was built as a last refuge for the human race. Two hundred years later, the great lamps that light the city are beginning to flicker.

In the year 241, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions. When Lina finds part of an ancient message, she’s sure it holds a secret that will save the city. She and her friend Doon must decipher the message before the lights go out on Ember forever!" Synopses from Barnes and Noble.

The first book was also made into a movie in 2008 staring Bill Murray and Martin Landau. With a 53% ratting on Rotten Tomatoes. I am now in search of the movie!

Book Reviews for 2012

I have been asked to give reviews of the books I have read by some friends. As my goal is to read at least 12 books every calendar year, and I am on book number 14 I guess I can take a quick break and give some reviews. After all there is nothing more rewarding than sharing a good book with friends! I will be rating books on a scale of 1-5, 5 being a must read book! Stay tuned for my first review!