Mon 25 Jan 2010
Monday Mini Reviews
Posted by admin under books read
1 Comment
Got a bit of a backlog here, but I’ve been busy, busy, busy!
The Light Fantastic is the 2nd in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. This book picks up where the first (The Color of Magic) left off, with Rincewind’s and Two Flower’s adventure. I thought this one was funnier than the first, and I’ve heard they get even better. I have Sourcery (the 3rd in the series – I know you don’t have to read them in order, but I’m anal like that) sitting on my nightstand to read soon. My reading “plan” (read: obsessive list-making) has been a bit thrown off lately due to receiving 3 Library Thing Early Reviewer copies in the space of a week, plus trying to get in some work-related reading.
I received The Bad Book Affair by Ian Sansom as a Library Thing Early Reviewer. This book is part of the Mobile Library Mystery series, but as a mystery it is very disappointing. I was more than 100 pages into the (368-page) book before the mystery appeared, and even then it didn’t play a large part in the book. The book was more about the main character, Israel Armstrong’s, depression over a break-up and turning 30. That said, the book made me chuckle more than once, and I did enjoy the characters. It just wasn’t what I expected.
I received Spinning Forward by Terri DuLong as a Library Thing Early Reviewer, also. This isn’t the type of book I typically read, but I did very much enjoy it. I found the dialogue to be a bit stilted and the Southern dialect to be unrealistic. Maybe it’s regional, but I don’t know very many people who use “it sure nuff is” or call people Miss So’n'So as often as Ms. DuLong inserted those two Southernisms into conversation. However, as she lives in Florida and I don’t, I could be wrong! The plot is very predictable, but that’s ok. The relationships between the characters were very well-done. I particularly enjoyed the Blue Moon scene near the end, and, as a knitter, I enjoyed the knitting references, too. I will pass this one on to my mom, who I think will really enjoy it, and I have already recommended it as a choice for her book club.





Thank you for your review of Spinning Forward. I’m glad you did “very much enjoy it” and even more so, since it’s not the type of book you generally read. So a double thank you to you!
And I do believe the southern dialect is regional, because I don’t hear it in all parts of Florida. However, in our very small town of Cedar Key with fifth generation locals, yes, everybody is referred to as “Miss So and So” or “Mr.” Having come from the Boston area originally, it took me awhile to get used to this. Even our Town Clerk is referred to as “Miss Frances” and our mayor is “Miss Sue.”
I also wanted to deeply thank you for recommending my novel for your mother’s book club. I really appreciate this! And I do hope perhaps they’ll email me if they read it. I’d be more than happy to send them autographed bookplates to attach.
All the best to you,
Terri DuLong
SPINNING FORWARD released by Kensington Publishers Oct. 27, 2009
Book #2 in the Cedar Key Series and Christmas Novella with Fern Michaels headlining the anthology to be released November 2010
http://www.terridulong.com
http://www.islandwriter.net