December

Hey girls,

I'm waiting for a couple more picks for 2007 and then I will post the completed list of books for next year.

To top of this year we have:

1. Innside Nantucket, by Frank Gilbreth;
2. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, by Victor Hugo;
3. My Friend Flicka, by Mary O'Hara; and
4. The Family Nobody Wanted, by Helen Doss.

As a reminder - Innside Nantucket & The Family Nobody Wanted are hard to come by. I think our library has both (or one of them...I can't remember) so I should be good. We'll see if I can get the copies. I think I should be able to read all four books in December. November was a wash-out for me. I HAVE read the Foundation trilogy by Asimov before and would recommend it. Esp. if you want to broaden your horizons for science fiction. Maybe Rose will post something about it to give more info? (hint, hint, wink, wink) And I'm almost finished with A Morbid Taste for Bones. After reading everyone's comments on that I'm anxious to get to the end. It's been fun.

Here's to finishing off the year nicely! This'll be interesting....

Hank the Cowdog

I had a delightful time re-reading this book. It has been some years since I've followed the adventures of Hank the Cowdog. I received my copy of a first edition back in 1985 from the Great Grandmother who first discovered Hank and passed along the joys to me.

If you haven't read Hank yet, I hope that you'll give him a shot. He is, basically, a dog version of Barney Fife from the Andy Griffith Show. Hank is the narrator of the story and thinks he's pretty hot stuff. He is self entitled the Head of Ranch Security. No one else on the ranch seems to think as much of him and most find him to be a bit of an annoying goof. Hank never catches on. You can almost imagine Barney scurrying about trying to load his one bullet into his gun. If you like Don Knotts, I think you'll like Hank.

If you get a chance, John Erickson did all the voice work for the books on tape. I would HIGHLY recommend you listening to at least one book on tape to get a flavor for the voices/personalities that Erickson gives his characters. If you have a long car ride ahead of you, these tapes are excellent entertainment. My brother and I loved listening to them as I was growing up. Erickson does a fabulous job and adds songs which are hilarious -- kinda like Silly Songs With Larry (only better).

If nothing else, you'll at least get a whiff of my sense of humor by reading a Hank book (or two or twenty). Which could be scary. But hopefully enjoyable.

A Morbid Taste for Bones

Edith Pargeter, writing under the nom-de-crime of Ellis Peters, has once again crafted a suspenseful mystery full of humor and insight into human nature. Her stories of Brother Cadfael and his fellow brothers of the cowl give one a rare view into the workings of the medieval mind and a curious and often turbulent time in the history of England. She writes with a zest for the curious, laughable, and often all-too-human quirks that even the holiest of monks can display, and an interesting view of the miracles and prayers to saints that were a central part of medieval worship.
I appreciate that she writes with both a respect and reverence for the historical church, while still offering glimpses of the common foibles of human men of God. She creates characters who often highlight the dangers of ecclesiastical pride, and targets the pitfalls of those who used the blind beliefs of the uneducated as a key to amassing their own personal influence and power.
Her treatment of the Welsh passions and culture, so foreign to Cadfael's fellow monks, showed a clear understanding of the wisdom of Welsh culture, and the reason the Welsh church avoided many of the faults of its English counterpart.
I loved the name Sioned, and wish I knew how to pronounce it. I do know that the Welsh 'd' is pronounced as a 'th' sound.
The plot of Cadfael to use Sioned and her Welsh beauty to spellbind a gullible priest was a fitting end to a great mystery. All in all, an enjoyable book.

To Review

Hey ho there girls,

I'm a few days late on posting an updated list (no apologies to offer at this time) but here we go for the month of November. Wish me luck and I'll wish you guys luck! Two more months and we've completed our year! Hard to believe, eh?

November:

1. Foundation, by Isaac Asimov;
2. A Morbid Taste for Bones, Ellis Peters;
3. Absolution by Murder, by Peter Tremayne;
4. Hank the Cowdog, by John Erickson

Happy Reading!