Man, it was cold and rainy today. I think snow might have been warmer than that rain, because you can at least brush snow off. Rain this cold just soaks you and chills you to the bone.
I think the icy cold rain contributed to the true stench of the big football game today. Both OSU and UM stank, with OSU stinking a bit less (unfortunately).
Ah well. The big game comes once a year, and when your team stinks, what can you do other than endure it and take a hot relaxing bubble bath during the endless second half?
Well, I've been fitting in some reading in between naps the last few days...
Thunderbird Falls by C. E. Murphy is the middle book in the Walker Papers, a three book urban fantasy series that began with Urban Shaman. Joanne Walker is a Seattle police officer, and a Native American shaman with great healing powers. (She is half Irish and half Cherokee). In this book, after her spirit guide (a coyote) vanishes, Joanne accidentally releases demons into Seattle. As the big show down looms, Joanne realizes that she really does not know enough about her powers...enjoyable, and Joanne is a very likable character, despite (or perhaps because of) her flaws.
Coyote Dreams by C. E. Murphy is the third book in The Walker Papers. Officers for the Seattle police force are going to sleep and not waking up, as they are in some sort of inexplicable coma. Since there is no physical cause, police officer and shaman Joanne Walker thinks that magic might be the cause. She must find a way to wake up those asleep, and protect those who are awake. But in order to defeat the cause, Joanne must face her deepest secrets and her most hidden feelings - and must find a way to also face those feelings in the waking world, even those of having a huge crush on an unobtainable man.
Dragon's Fire by Todd Mccaffrey and Anne McCaffrey and Dragonsblood by Todd McCaffrey are being lumped into one entry, as they are simply not very good books. Some of the earlier Dragonriders of Pern book written solely by Anne, are among the classics of science fiction. This is largely because of the deep characterizations and the joy in detailing life on the planet Pern, whether in those humans who live with dragons, or those who live in the Harper Hall, making music and teaching a world. Well, those deeply developed characters and that joy is all gone now, leaving a shallow cardboard shell of a once vibrant world. Flat cardboard characters, lame recycled plot elements, and clumsy retconning are the hallmarks of these books. I will give the new author one more chance with the upcoming Dragon Harper, but if it does not get any better, I will go back to such classics as Dragon Flight and pretend these books do not exist.
Ship of Ghosts by James D. Hornfischer is a history book of the Pacific Theater in World War II. It tells the rather grim and depressing story of the USS Houston, an American warship who was sunk off of Java in a great battle, and whose surviving crew was enslaved to make railroads in Burma. It is a story of both courage and cruelty.
Murder on Astor Place is the first book in the Gaslight Mysteries by Victoria Thompson. It is set in about the year 1900 in New York City. Sarah is a midwife serving woman of all social classes. Frank Malloy is a rare uncorrupted police detective. This odd couple investigates the murder of a well born young pregnant girl in Greenwich Village, despite the fact that her scandal fearing family does not want the case investigated. Both Sarah and Frank are very likable and the mystery itself is very interesting. Really promising start to a series!
Guess Who's Coming to Die by Patricia Sprinkle is one of the Thoroughly Southern Mystery series. This one is set in small southern town, so you have to try to figure out who is related to who, and how, and how all of the characters know each other and why they interact in the ways that they do. (Ah, small town life!) You have to understand all of that to get full worth out of the plot...in this, a woman who is a judge, small business owner, wife, mother, and grandmother is the sleuth. When she is invited to join the investment group of women of the local aristocracy, she finds a murdered woman (also a member of the club) in the ladies' room. The rest of the book deals with her attempts to discover who did the dirty deed and why. You have to know all of the genetic relationships for generations, who has been or is sleeping with who, and why some women do or do not get along in their various social clubs in order to follow the judge in her investigation...
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