Gargoyle Blues and Lots of Books

A couple of photos of the Notre Dame Cathedral, from a walk on 4 August. Look at that blue sky and sunshine.

I love these gargoyles. One of these days I'm going to climb up all the stairs so that I can get a lot closer to some of these guys, but it has to be after the tourist hordes have died down.

I'm feeling blurgy with the PMS blues. That's PMT for the Brits out there, not quite sure what it would be called (other than misery) in other parts of the world. I'll really be whining once the cramps hit in a couple of days. Think I need to make some chocolatey treats to prepare.

I'm on a reading tear these days. I'm terrible, once I get into a book I don't want to do anything else but read that book. And then another book and another one. Arg. Not that I get any less discriminating. I started (but didn't finish) Carved in Bone by Jefferson Bass, a forensic pathology mystery co-written by the doctor who founded The Body Farm. Interesting stuff in there, but I'll read the non-fiction book rather than get endless stories being told by one of the characters to other poorly drawn characters while waiting for some convincing action to happen. And that kiss between the geezer and the grad student? icky icky icky. Skip it.

Martin Cruz Smith's Wolves Eat Dogs was excellent, tho depressing. It's an Arkady Renko police procedural, this time taking place mostly near Chernobyl. I hate to think how much in this novel is true. 4 out of 5 stars.

Traitor to the Blood by Barb and J.C. Hendee is the fourth book in their noble dead series. It's a swords and sorceries fantasy with vampires. Gotta say it's getting really old. Yes, things did change in the book, characters deepened, but I still feel like it's going nowhere. I liked the initial concept, but bored now. I won't be buying any more, but when I'm back in the land of libraries I may get it. 2.5 out of 5.

Unshapely Things by Mark Del Franko reminded me of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. That's a series I kinda like but kinda don't. I find Dresden irritating. I never buy the novels but if I come across them in the library I read them. Unshapely Things is an urban fantasy with a druid--who's lost most of his powers--investigating supernatural crimes that may be leading up to something bigger. Enjoyable and I'm going to get the sequel. 3.75 out of 5. You can read the first chapter at the author's website.

[Angie, the book takes place in Boston so at least the author isn't doing horrible things to Chicago. I think you'd like this one. And the next one, maybe.]

Now the book that I completely and totally loved is Already Dead by Charlie Huston. Reading the reviews, you see lots of references to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Mickey Spillane, Raymond Chandler and Quentin Tarantino. Not far off the mark. Of course it would have to be Phillip Marlow playing both Buffy AND Angel (the hero is a vampire) combined into one and there wouldn't be any Scoobie Gang. You got vampires and zombies and a beaten down investigator just trying to solve the case, save the girl, and survive. Not necessarily in that order. Highly recommended. 5 out of 5.

By the way, this is the first book in a projected series of five. You can read an excerpt of the novel at the author's website.

It helps that Already Dead combines my two favorite genres, but it's also very well written and paced. In my mind anyway. I was reading a blog post the other day in which someone wrote about how much she hated Harry Potter. She found the writing itself terrible and the whole thing very sexist. (Harry Potter, not Hermione Potter). Anyway, the reviewer was reading a work of real literature at the time (Viginia Woolf). Everybody has got different taste, that's for sure. I bet she'd hate all the books that I love and I know I wouldn't read Virginia Woolf unless locked in an empty room with nothing else to do for a month.