I use the term sequel loosely, as I’m referring to books that are stand-alone but have recurring characters. Or those books whose secondary characters become the primary characters in another book. You don’t actually miss out on too much by reading them out of order, though there are times when things happen and a period of disorientation occurs. For example, when I read Patricia Cornwell’s books, I did not initially pay attention to the order and read one where the man she loved was presumed dead, but was actually alive and hiding in a form of self-inflicted exile (it’s been a while since I read them, so I can’t remember the details). I knew the character from earlier books, but all the romance had been skipped because I had missed those particular books. But the story itself wasn’t lost on me. I was able to catch on fairly quickly and I still enjoyed the book.

In the world of romance, though, I try to read the books in order. I’m not sure why that is, but I’m almost obsessive about it. I search the internet for lists, especially if they’re not listed in series order on the author’s website (some authors just list them alphabetically, or by order of publication).

I like the series books better.  I love the new characters, but I get giddy when one of my favorite authors publishes a book with related characters from a book I already loved. That is not to say that I think all characters need to have their own books; some secondary characters just wouldn’t work as primaries. The more I thought about this, though, the more I realized that I write what I love to read. I don’t plan it that way, it just comes out. For example, I prefer dialogue to a lot of narrative, and thus have found a lot of places in Gemini that need more detail in terms of setting, clothing, physical descriptions…

Another way I write what I like in other books is that I started writing Gemini and the secondary characters began to demand they have their own books. Libra is Thomas and Anne’s story, and they conveniently insulted a vengeful character in Gemini, which sets up their story well. Sagittarius will be the third book, but I’m still ironing out the details of that one. All I know so far is that it will be Andrew’s story with an Italian Contessa.

I’ve just realized that I have yet to get to my point with this post. My initial thought was: do you enjoy the sequels or do you prefer books to be completely new and original?

“Yan na kurso mong ‘yan, walang katahimikan. Kung saan ang kaguluhan, ang masaker-an, dun ka.”

Father blurted out Thursday night over the news, as the remains of the Maguindanao massacre victims were exhumed from where they had been cold-bloodedly buried by God-knows-who. Now I know who’s to blame for my paranoiac tendencies. So paranoia runs in the blood.

He kept spitting those words out while his attention occasionally drifted to me, engaged in a book review, to the television screen. I looked at him nonchalantly for a second and went back to work. What’s the big deal, anyway? So I am taking up journalism, but I’m just on my second year, for crying out loud mi padre! Nothing to worry about yet. I’m not even sure if I’ll be a full-fledged journalist after, say, six years. How can you ascertain that I won’t be an out-of-school youth or a single mother the next year or the year after the next?

So the killing, it’s perverse, no sane man would not condemn it. (And no doubt the minds of the perpetrators are more perverse.) But danger is part of the fieldwork, if not the untimely death. All we can do now is appeal to the good nature of the government to take action immediately and to the crime operatives to handle the corpses with care.

Simply gruesome. (Photo source: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/)

Hell, what if someone’s still breathing under that heap of rubble and gets crushed by the backhoe? Kidding. But I’m pretty sure Dr. Kay Scarpetta would be very mad had she been able to witness how they’re distorting the evidences. I’ve had enough of Cornwell’s Scarpetta novels that I can practice forensic pathology right at this moment. Boo.

However, these are mere words, and to borrow what Jeffren had said way back, mere words mean nothing. It’s darned easy to denounce a thing with words. But the truth is that, the monstrosity of the massacre has not yet sunken deep within me. True, I am a journalism student, but now, everything is in a limbo. We’ll cross the bridge, Father, when we get there.

How cliché.

I did something yesterday that I absolutely hate: I said goodbye to old friends.

I had been building up to it for a while, trying to prepare myself emotionally. Over several days I had gone through and caressed all of them, trying to decide which I would keep and which would be gone from my home. Finally, I decided I was ready.

Light tan bankers box, emptied of hanging file folders containing remnants of two semesters of my graduate school career. (Which I saved. Never know when I might need, for instance, my notes from a family theory course from the early 2000s.) Okay, I said to myself, only what will fit in this box. Any that do not fit in the box will go back on the shelf.

I had made a stack, a tall tower on the floor that reached up to counter height. A few were books that had been given to me as gifts, but that turned out to be not my cup of tea. Two taboos broken here: never say goodbye to a book and never return a gift. Yet those went in the bankers box fairly easily. A few were books that I had bought, tried several times to read, but never managed to finish. (One, We Who Are Dark, I put back on the shelf. Didn’t I just read a review of that book that brought up an interesting aspect that I had not considered? Maybe it was worth a third try.) These, too, went from the tower to the box.

"Fillmore St. Marcus Books." PPR_Scribe

There were three titles making up the tower that were duplicates of ones still on my shelves. I don’t know why I kept these multiple copies. Perhaps I thought I might one day open up my own book store? The Women of Brewster Place and John Henry Days duplicates went in the box. I imagine some bored teenager who had just seen the film version picking up my copy of Gloria Naylor’s first novel and becoming transformed. I imagine someone in the bookstore searching the fiction section looking for a book by some author whose last name starts with W—Richard Wright, maybe, or Thomas Wolfe—not finding it, but happening upon my copy of Colson Whitehead’s book and deciding to give it a go….

But I put the Breaking Ice anthology duplicate back on the shelf. That copy was one I had bought when it first came out. Around the same time I had just begun dating the now-spouse. He had given me a copy of the book too, which he had signed and wrote a very nice note on the inside cover. For years the two copies sat on my shelf: the one that I bought and the one that I had been given. Without both red spines on my shelf, how would I remember the story behind them, the story of one of the earliest and most meaningful romantic gestures from the man I love?

Several Patricia Cornwell books from her Scarpetta series went in the box. As much as I love the doctor’s hunt for clues from the dead, I consume the books like cotton candy and there is no reason to hold onto them after I have read them. Plus, I figured they are ever popular and should fetch a high price as the sell-back counter. The three José Saramago books I own owned went in the box. Blindness had been my first and favorite. It disquieted me for days after I finished the last sentence. I experience mind tremors still, today, when I think of it. I have avoided the movie version because I love so dearly that feeling I got from the book and fear that the movie will be a huge let down. If I were filming that movie I’d just have audio and a white screen. I’m guessing that’s not what the actual movie’s director did.

The book and its siblings (The Cave and The Double) went in the box. Someone else should get the chance to love them.

A Mercy went in the box. Then out of the box. Then back in the box. Now it sits on my bedside table. My promise to Ms. Morrison is that I either re-read the book within the next two months, or I give the book away to someone else to read and enjoy. I additionally promise to do a review on this blog of the novel, based on my second reading of it. I will have to have the book in order to re-read and blog it, right? So I guess you could say the bankers box, then, was A Mercy-less.

None of my textbooks went in the box. Not a one. On the spot I made up a rule that only in the process of major residential moves will I say goodbye to textbooks. My last big move I got rid of dozens. It is not yet time to get rid of more. Not sure why this decision was elevated to “rule status,” but I am comfortable with it. It has a ring of seriousness and formality about it. It stands.

In the end, that still left a very full bankers box of books. There were a couple of odd gaps left in the box, so I stuffed a couple of pulp paperbacks in the spaces. The box was heavy. That is as it should be. Before anyone gets rid of a shelf full of books, she should feel the literal weight of such a serious decision. It should be a little painful. The cardboard cutout handles of the bankers box should bore into her fingers, leaving a reddish mark for the next 40 minutes. She should get a back spasm from lifting the boxed books into and out of the passenger car seat. Her thighs should ache from where the box repeatedly bumped them on the long walk from the parking lot to the store.

My daughters went with me to say goodbye to my books. They were fascinated by the new (to them) process. Their reaction reminded me how infrequently I do this kind of purging, and I promised myself to do it more. Maybe…one book out for every two books in? Something like that. Maybe keep a fresh, empty bankers box in the junk room or in my home office labeled with thick black permanent marker “TO BE SOLD”? Maybe.

My daughters assumed we were going to be wealthy from the sale. I think they were imagining riches like those that awaited Alladin in the cave. They excitedly pulled my jacket sleeve when they heard the bookstore clerk call my name over the loudspeaker, indicating he was ready to give me my offer after inspecting my collection of volumes. Calm down, I said to my daughters. I’m guessing it will only be about $20.00.

At the counter the clerk gave me the verdict: $25.00.

Before I even left the store I saw my copy of The Scarpetta Factor on the shelf in the new titles section. I had to restrain myself from buying the book back. The three of us bought books that totaled a little over $7.00. I left the store, then, with almost 18 extra dollars and two new, lovingly used books. And, I guess, I also left the store with the satisfaction of knowing that now others will now get to experience the joy of discovering books that once sat on my shelves.

And an empty bankers box.

*Image: Marcus Book Store, 1712 Fillmore St., San Francisco

Although many argue that there’s a lack of women authors acknowledged in the literary world, I’m consistently surprised, impressed and intrigued by the women protagonists kicking ass in the mystery and thriller genre, written well by authors of both genders.

From the talented hand of Sue Grafton, private investigator Kinsey Millhone has had many bestselling mysteries and is starring in Grafton’s 21st, U IS FOR UNDERTOW out 12/1/09.  There’s also V.I. Warshawski written by Sara Paretsky, the Women’s Murder Club series from James Patterson, and I’ve also discovered many strong female characters on both sides of the law in John Sandford’s titles.  I’ve found the mystery genre is especially generous with women in important roles (CERTAIN PREY, my favorite Sandford title, features a hit-woman) instead of simply being the victim.

Kay Scarpetta?

One of the most iconic and recognizable female characters is Kay Scarpetta, penned by the renowned Patricia Cornwell.  Cornwell’s latest, THE SCARPETTA FACTOR, hit the NYT bestseller at #2 (behind only Dan Brown).  For those rare readers unfamiliar with the series I urge you to give them a try (and I have found they’re not necessary to read in order); not only are they tantalizing and smart mysteries but you’ll want to be ahead of the media storm when, drumroll please, Angelina Jolie appears on the big screen as Kay Scarpetta (watch Cornwell share this information on Good Morning America).

Because I enjoy Scarpetta’s character, when shopping for a new mystery I found the following quote from James Patterson:

“Karen Vail is as compelling a character as any created by Patricia Cornwell, or yours truly…”

I bit it hook, line and sinker and proudly walked away from the register clutching THE 7th VICTIM by Alan Jacobson in my hands.

Some may say my standards were set too high by the Cornwell quote, but whatever the reason my disappointment was genuine.  Karen Vail is supposedly a profiler (comparable to Benton), so I find it either too far fetched, or just doubt her skills, that she would be completely clueless as to the background of her own immediate family.  Additionally, I understand we as readers are supposed to connect with “flawed characters” – but she was too unrelatable.

Also, I enjoy mysteries with some clues to keep the pages turning and not just assumptions, hints and lucky guessing.  This book offered very little to the reader by way of the serial killings taking place and seemed to focus much more on the personal life and happenings of Karen Vail.

Bottom Line: Scarpetta gets a blackberry in her latest, and while SCARPETTA FACTOR may not be my favorite Cornwell title, it’s worth reading.  While I suggest avoiding THE 7TH VICTIM for reading purposes, I think the book is very high quality as it’s been keeping my big heavy window open for the last three weeks with hardly a divet in the board of this repurposed hardcover.

**Mark your calendars to join me this Tuesday, November 24, as I guest blog about mysteries (and working on some of the biggest names in the genre) on Meritious Mysteries! **

Here’s what I missed or ignored yesterday in my Saturday Book Review Round-Up. To start off, what’s Sunday without some controversy?

Shlomo Sand, a professor of modern history has caused quite a controversy in Israel with his book, The Invention of the Jewish People. It’s now in English. I’m sure you’ll never hear about this book again:

His book, first published in Hebrew, has caused widespread outrage in his native land. But it represents, at the very least, a formidable polemic against claims that Israel has a moral right to define itself as an explicitly and exclusively Jewish society, in which non-Jews, such as Palestino-Israelis, are culturally and politically marginalised.

He disputes the claim that Israel existed for thousands of years as a nation. This, he says, relies chiefly on a ­willingness to suppose that the Old Testament story is broadly valid, in defiance of archeological and other ­historical evidence. He refuses to believe that a unified Jewish nation occupied Canaan in the era of David and ­Solomon, or that the flight from Egypt occurred as described. The Old Testament “is not a narrative that can instruct us about the time it describes” — centuries before it was written — “but is instead an ­impressive didactic theological discourse”.

He rejects the assertion, dependent on the testimony of the 1st-century Hellenised Jewish historian Josephus, that Jews were forcibly deported from Jerusalem after the fall of the Temple. Rome behaved savagely to defeated rebels, but never expelled whole populations, not least because it required their services.

Here’s The New York Times Book Review podcast featuring David Carr with Harold Evans.

Yann Martel

The best fact of the week came from the mouth of the great Spanish novelist Javier Marías, talking at London’s South Bank Centre to celebrate the completion of his trilogy Your Face Tomorrow. His novels are 15 per cent shorter than the Spanish version when translated into English, 30 per cent longer when translated into German.

I miss you!

I’ve been reading all sorts of good books lately and haven’t even had the chance to update my spreadsheet (nerd alert) and have been trying to keep track via my cell phone.  I owe you reviews for the following, which are the books I felt most strongly about one way or another:

KNIT THE SEASON (Kate Jacobs)

(though check out some great KNIT THE SEASON reviews and interviews with Kate Jacobs at Nat’s Book, Like, and Sinker and Susan’s Suko’s Notebook)

CERTAIN PREY, WICKED PREY, ROUGH COUNTRY (John Sandford)

LITTLE WOMEN (Louisa May Alcott)

HIGH FIDELITY, JULIET, NAKED (Nick Hornby)

BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG ASS (Jen Lancaster)

DRESS YOUR FAMILY IN CORDUROY AND DENIM (David Sedaris)

And I stayed up way too late last night reading THE SCARPETTA FACTOR (Patricia Cornwell)

So you see, it’s not actually that I’m not reading, I just haven’t been reviewing.  I’ll do my best to rectify this situation shortly… but most likely after the weekend, as it should be a busy one!

In the meantime, I hope you’re enjoying the season as much as I am.  It’s my first time witnessing the leaves turning in NYC and it’s a glorious sight!

Love,

Lydia

Yup, you get 2 for 1 today!!

Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell

I was so excited when I first read Patricia Cornwell’s books.  The first 7 or so were great.  But then they started sucking.  And I found Kathy Reichs, who is 20 million times more talented. 

However, my mom has continued to read her and I was at loose ends for a book and yada yada yada, I ended up reading this one and the next. 

Neither of these changed my mind about Cornwell.  The book of the dead refers to the morgue book, which only Scarpetta is to log bodies and such.  However, it’s mentioned once and quickly forgotten.  Then there is the character of Lucious Meddicks.  Introduced, then disappears.  Lucy has turned into a one-note character. 

A dud on every level.

From Amazon:

Dear Patricia Cornwell,
I wrote you a letter back in 2005 after you released Trace. I was, quite frankly, worried about the direction that you were taking poor Kay Scarpetta. And I must say that The Book of the Dead has not done anything to set my worries to rest.
I’ll start with the things that I liked. I read once that you should always open a critique with things that you like. I liked that you let Scarpetta finally make fun of herself for some of the conspiracies which she imagines are aimed in her direction. It beggared the imagination that absolutely everybody was out to get the poor woman. In this book, many people were *not* out to get her. And that was a refreshing change. And for that I give you an extra star.
But, oh dear, the rest of the book…
First of all, shock schlock is one of the most virulent diseases of modern airplane novels. The world doesn’t need another entry in the race to find The Most Sadistic Serial Killer Ever. Just say no. Please work with a nice straightforward killing, and solve it! I realize that this sounds terribly retro. However, I am tired of seeing writers burn their creativity in an effort to imagine a string of ever more icky things to do with eye sockets and bath tubs.
Second, you failed to get my disbelief to suspend. Too many coincidences. Too many links between all the characters and killings. Too much. Way too much. My disbelief actually didn’t even levitate, let alone suspend. Honestly, I think that you ought to have a serious chat with your editor on this point. That is the person who should get paid to warn you that you have broken your plot. And you should listen to them if they do make warnings like that.
Last but not least, Dr. Self. Drop her. Drop this thread. Drop this character. I repeat the "oh dear, oh dear" when it comes to Dr. Self. She is not readable. She is not interesting. She is not anything. Let poor Kay settle down in Charleston without any more outside fuss than her already tangled relationships provide.
Actually, that brings me to a suggestion. Once upon a time, detective novels did this quaint thing where the world around them featured as a character in the work. The novelists used the local color and the detective became a vehicle through which the reader could explore the world. You seemed as though you kind of were starting to get at this with Bull. That was good, but then you got distracted. You wandered off and forgot about him. It was sad. Why don’t you try that the next time?
I keep reading your books, largely because I still have a strong affection for Kay from back in the day. I also kind of like that you are one of the few mystery writers who allows your character change, and doesn’t keep them encased in a plot-like amber. Please don’t make me regret liking you for that, okay?

Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell

So now Scarpetta and Benton are married.  But not happily – duh!!  We couldn’t have these tortured souls be happy.   That would ruin everything!!  Lucy’s character sucks once again.  The characters don’t make sense. 

From Amazon:

All of a sudden, Scarpetta has gone from what seems to be a struggling, independent pathology "consultant" in South Carolina, bereft of an official position and attacked by Gorilla Marino, to a highly successful, MARRIED, Massachusetts Chief Medical Examiner, CNN reporter, and – oh, yes – professor at CUNY (yes, there is such a place as John Jay College of Criminal Justice, in case anyone cares). All in the course of less than a year! Is there an installment I missed?
Frankly, I found this book deadly dull. After 135 pages (out of almost 600!), I still didn’t know what was going on. I knew who the serial killer was from the moment he walked onto the page, and I have frankly grown extremely tired of Cornwell’s dropping every acronym out there (and, of course, explaining what it means to all and sundry – who in heaven’s name doesn’t know what an ISP is at this point?), even though it breaks up the flow of her writing and has nothing to do with the plot line or story.
Scarpetta’s (and Cornwell’s) moral rectitude verges on the santimonious, Lucy is as unsympathetic a character as ever, Benton remains a self-conscious jerk, the novel’s other chracters are not well fleshed-out as unique individuals. Only Marino is once again quasi-interesting.
Why did I finish this book? Well, the library lends books for three weeks! And it took me nearly that long to finally slam it shut. I guess I keep hoping that her novels will rise to her early writing again (I don’t agree with some other reviewers that she’s anywhere near her early best). But at some point, disappointment will trump curiosity.

I stayed up too late last night finishing a book. Both Mrs. Poolman and I read for pleasure, she more than I. Mrs. P can knock of a standard paperback book in a single off day.

The book I was reading, The Time Traveler’s Wife, was not my typical fare. I tend to lean more towards action fiction and historical non-fiction. I enjoy authors like John Sandford, James Patterson, W.E.B. Griffin, Tom Clancy, Vince Flynn, John Grisham and Patricia Cornwell. I also have a spot in my heart for Andrew Greely. On the non-fiction side, I consume history, especially military history. And if it flies and shoots, I’m all over it.

All of that is just a way of setting up that I really enjoyed The Time Traveler’s Wife. I have always been intrigued with the fictional treatments of time travel, starting with HG Wells’ The Time Machine and working on up through Michael Crichton’s Timeline (another really outstanding time-travel book, by the way). Before reading it,  I suspected The Time Traveler’s Wife was a literary version of a “chick flick.” You know what I mean – a movie that deals mostly with relationships and emotions and one of the endearing characters dies at the end, usually of a long lingering illness. (See Steel Magnolias, Terms of Endearment, Fried Green Tomatoes, and others.) While The Time Traveler’s Wife does have many of those characteristics (I won’t spoil it by being more specific.) those are balanced out by the fact that it is still an interesting, well written story that moves along.

The story is about Henry and Clare. Henry has a genetic abnormality that causes him to involuntarily travel in time. One moment he is here, and the next, he is stark naked in another place and time. The author, Audrey Niffengger, avoids the cliché of many time-travel authors by not inserting her  character into any historical settings. This is not a story in which the protagonist performs any great or historical acts. Henry’s time travels are much more personal.

Very early on, Henry and Clare meet. Clare is a stranger to Henry, but Clare has known Henry all her life. An older Henry was repeatedly transported back in time to Clare’s childhood. So when they meet, Henry is Clare’s long-time visitor and friend, while Henry has yet to meet Clare in his “real life.” The book develops their relationship, more or less following the chronological pace of Henry’s “real life.” There are lots of adventures and a couple of mysteries.

All told, it was a good book and I’m really glad I read it. It is definitely worth the effort. We didn’t see the movie when it was at the theaters. I’m looking forward to it’s release on DVD in a few months.

You would think that author, Patricia Cornwell would be leaping over a New Moon, that Angelina Jolie wants to collaborate with her to bring her book series about her crime-solving character, Kay Scarpetta to life for the big screen.

Today however, Patricia Cornwell has other matters on her mind. Like accusing her accountant, for evaporating $40 million of her writing fortune since 2005. Cornwell earns $10 million a year as a writer. Shwing!

Cornwell’s federal lawsuit against Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP, detailed on The Daily Beast. makes for some interesting reading to say the least. She’s a tad loopy, but wealthy people can be as a part of building an elaborate defense mechanism system around them from the threat of potential robbers. Even a newomer as Hollywood hot as Angie is not excused from this scrutinizing lens. So Cornwell is all good.

Let’s hope girlfriend gets her mullah back, as it is robbing her creative energy as a writer, having to fight this case. And how can Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s Plan B film company negotiate about the Kay Scarpetta book series with Cornwell when all she can talk about is her lost fortune?

Not cool for Jolie fans who want to see her step in Scarpetta’s shoes asap on the big screen. The world will just have to wait a little, while the two divas negotiate a fair deal between them. 

No wonder why Angie has gone all Gucci on us in Hollywood all of a sudden with director Ridley Scott. Good luck to Patricia in her quest to get her money back. $40 million gone? Cornwell may have been Maddoffed big time!

[Jolie-Pitt Images, courtesy of the Examiner]

Now you may remember the other week I mentioned that I was going to have one of my book sort outs and I did. I actually, and it amazed me and everyone who knows me, managed to donate a quite impressive 76 book to charity! So now the books I have had for well over a year and just dont really think I will read have all gone to lovely new homes and will be raising some money for charity. I thought the process would be painful and though in parts it was tough it has also left me feeling much better with a slightly less bookish weight on my shoulders.

Not only was I wanting to sort out what I was going to pass on, I was also looking at what I was keeping and rearranging my priorities in terms of reading. One of which was to hunt down all of the books that I as yet have not read and I thought fell into the ‘Modern Sensation’ catagory for my Sensation Season. I found I had quite a few some of which you had recommended to me.

• The Widow’s Secret – Brian Thompson
• The Journal of Dora Damage – Belinda Starling
• The Tiger in the Well – Philip Pullman
• Kept – D.J Taylor
• Misfortune – Wesley Stace
• Classic Victorian Ghost Stories – Various
• The Evil Seed – Joanna Harris
• Martha Peake – Patrick McGrath
• The Girl on the Landing – Paul Torday
• The Mist in the Mirror – Susan Hill
• Portrait of a Killer – Patricia Cornwell
• Ghost Stories – M.R. James
• The Apple – Michael Faber
• Underground London – Stephen Smith
• The Magician – W. Somerset Maugham
• Fixing Shadows – Susan Barrett
• Fingersmith – Sarah Waters
• Silent in the Grave – Deanna Raybourn
• The Meaning of Night – Michael Cox
• The Glass of Time – Michael Cox
• Instruments of Darkness – Michael Cox

Phew there was quite a few. I should maybe mention that some of these books arent technically ‘Modern Sensation’ reads but are either set in that period or in the case of a few of them are non-fiction which will set the atmosphere even more so for me. I think I may get so lost in the 1880’s I may never return, I am loving it though. So which ones of thses have you delved into? Am I still missing any?

Of course the sort out was now about two weeks ago. I did impose a ban on book buying on myself. I must mention before I go further that I could happily have taen all 76 books and bought another 76 from my favourite charity shop however both times I went they were closed for lunch though let me in to drop my bags off (it took three trips in one weekend) and so I couldnt buy anymore. I have since though somewhat fallen off the wagon, though not as badly as I could have and now, and this is very true, I only buy books if I have a very valid reason. Such as…

• Twilight – William Gay (because have a) been meaning to read it for ages and b) it fits into the Modern Sensation reads perfectly what with grave robbing and swapping, mayhem and mystery)
• Miss Garnet’s Angel – Salley Vickers (a favourite of Kimbofo’s and an author I have been meaning to read, I have just swapped to reading this instead of Cover Her Face which I started and know I will love but not just now, if I love this will be kicking myself I missed her at Wimbledon Bookfest)
• Water for Elephants – Sara Gruen (a book I kept seeing everywhere in Tel Aviv for some random reason and then Jackie recommended it and so thought why not?)
• The Other Side of You – Salley Vickers (for the same reason as Miss Garnett’s Angel)
• Marley & Me – John Grogan (have always secretly wanted to read it and thought it was possibly trash, but so many of you recommended it after my sad reads post I had to get it)
• The Unbearable Lightness of Scones – Alexander McCall Smith (I am very, very keen to read all of his work and though this is in the Scotland Street series I struggled with am hoping this gives me the umph to read more of that series)
• Three Cups of Tea – Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Pelin (simply because Amazon has been recommending this as my top recommendation for three months – have they got me spot on?)
• The Lost Book of Salem – Katherine Howe (a rash buy I wont deny but one about Salem and the witches, I think I will love this)
• The Beacon – Susan Hill (a favourite author and a book I have been meaning to get for ages and ages and then got from £10 to £2 bargain, I will be buying her new book instantly full price just so you know)
• White Is For Witching - Helen Oyeyemi (have wanted it since it came out and an author have been meaning to read, matches the Sensation Season just and was in a half price charity shop that called me the other day… was the only book I bought in that shop and on that day… I was impressed)

So thats the latest books. Which of these have you read and which ones would you like to give a whirl? Do you like posts where readers share there latest hauls of books? I know I love reading them, its a mixture of book addict, desiring recommendations, sharing thoughts and just being a plain nosey parker! If you do like these posts you may want to pop here as this is the secret stash I bought over a week or so (and have even had to hide the post) leading up to the great autum arranging and modern sensation hunt! Can’t wait for all your thoughts on these and my modern sensation reading.

Vou postar essas informações antes das dicas dos parques mas – deixem as compras para os últimos dias!!!!  Só depois de pagar tudo que é necessário – é que podemos contabilizar o que poderemos gastar em compras.

E, nesse ponto, deixem o supermercado Wal-mart por último.

Deve ser visitada a Ross Dress for Less (loja de roupas de marcas famosas que vende coleções antigas – muito frequentada por brasileiros e muito confusa para se achar as boas pedidas – é uma guerra!).

Wii

Os outlets de Orlando são famosos, nem preciso falar – entre eles, elegemos o Florida Mall para nossa primeira tarde/noite de compras, porque, além de muito legal, fica ao lado da Best-Buy – loja de letrônicos e games. 

Best-buy - comprem o Wii (US$199,00) e o Wii-fit (acessórios do Nintendo Wii para exercícios físicos e prática de variados esportes), além do Rock Band dos Beatles – vão se arrepender se não comprarem!

Rock Band dos Beatles

No Florida Mall, um outlet da rede Simon Malls, não deixem de dar uma passadinha da M&M´s World – loja dos chocolates M&M, super colorida e divertida.

Assim que chegarem, procurem o Guest Services (Atendimento ao cliente) e peguem o folheto (booklet) de descontos das lojas – alguns valem a pena.

Lá também tem uma loja só de artigos com cara de cariocas (RIO), uma loja de roupas só em preto e branco (White House & Black Market), a famosa Apple Store, a J. C. Penny, a Saks e uma loja de sabonetes artesanais que são o must – comprem as bombas de sabonete para banheira.   Tem uma loja de bijouterias e outros artigos só de bolinhas – a Polka Dotz.

cremes da Victoria´s Secret

Também no Florida Mall tem uma filial da Victoria´s Secret, loja de lyngerie e perfumaria feminina que é o sonho de consumo de 11 entre 10 mulheres. 

Aproveitem as ofertas de perfumes da Macy´s, em época de liquidação – uma caixa Trésor, da Lâncome, com colônia de 100ml + perfume miniatura + sabonete líquido + creme para o corpo = US$ 90,00 – mais barato que o perfume sozinho, na FreeShop.  Além disso, quem compra 2 produtos Clarins, ganha uma necessaire com 4 mini produtos pra tratamento da pele – eu ganhei para a pele seca – Imperdível, principalmente em se tratando de Clarins!

mapa do Florida Mall

Fomos em outra noite, ao Prime Outlet (antigo Beltz) – shopping horizontal e aberto – tipo nosso Downtown.  Neste, não deixem de ir às lojas Armani Exchange, Lacoste, Calvin Klein e Nike – grandes pechinchas em marcas famosas.

No Walmart, enlouqueçam com as coisinhas do dia-a-dia – artigos de perfumaria, drogaria, toilette, papelaria, eletrônicos, comidinhas – os livros são baratíssimos e por mais tijolões que sejam, são inacreditavelmente leves.  Comprei o último do Dan Brown (The Lost Symbol), o último da Patrícia Cornwell (Scarpetta) e o primeiro da nova trilogia da Stephanie Meyer (The host), de Crepúsculo.

Foi lá no Walmart que eu achei os salgadinhos que tanto amo – os Combos – pretzels recheados de queijo cheddar.  Esperei 18 anos para comê-los novamente e trouxe muitos, muitos, para casa.  Sabem onde encontrei mais deles?  Na lojinha de conveniência do nosso hotel da área dos parques da Universal – o Confort Inn Universal Area.  Onde menos se espera, até que enfim…

Farozonen är ännu en skrämmande och fascinerande bok av Patricia Cornwell. Win Garano, en erfaren FBI-agent sätts på ett 20 år gammalt mordfall, men fallet är inte så ofarligt att ha att göra med som man skulle kunna tro.
En otroligt spännande bok som definitivt förtjänar att läsas. Förbered dig på att bli obehaglig till mods och känna rysningar längs ryggraden många gånger innan du har läst ut den här kriminalromanen.

Just nu bara 63:- inkl. porto.

Now this blog post has been hidden away because I am ashamed of the amount of books that had been bought since I last told you I had got quite an excessive amount and before I did the great Autumn Clearout. You will probably be aware of this as I have sent you here from another more recent post and will have explained there. So what on earth have I recently bought and brought into Savidge Towers to add to the never ending supply of books? Well…

• Diary of a Provincial Lady – E.M Delafield (I blame Elaine for this purchase completely after she raved about it)
• Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day – Winifred Watson (which I was awarded from Paperback Reader)
• Shalimar the Clown – Salman Rushdie
• Dear Everybody – Michael Kimball (Lizzy this one is your fault for making me buy)
• The American Way of Death Revisited – Jessica Mitford
• Diary of an Ordinary Woman – Margaret Forster
• English Passengers – Matthew Kneale (I blame my Gran for this one)
• The Far Cry – Emma Smith
• The Slap – Christos Tsiolkas (Jackie this one is all down to you and you are to blame)
• Vanishing Point – Patricia Wentworth
• At Risk – Patricia Cornwell (free from the office)
• Nightingale Wood – Stella Gibbons
• The Widow and Her Hero – Thomas Keneally (Juxtabook this one is all your fault)
• Foreign Affairs – Alison Lurie
• The Colour – Rose Tremain
• The 2.5 Pillars of Wisdom – Alexander McCall Smith
• Moral Disorder – Margaret Atwood
• The Robber Bride – Margaret Atwood (a book I lent and never got back)

You can also see I have passed on blame to those who deserve it and thanks to those who sent me books etc. And if that wasnt enough there is also…

• Equator – Miguel Sousa Tavares (from Bloomsbury)
• Pretty Monsters – Kelly Link (from Canongate and Kimbofo has raved about)
• The People’s Train – Thomas Keneally (from the people at Sceptre)
• Sunset Oasis – Bahaa Taher (from Sceptre)
• Serena - Ron Rash (from Canongate)
• The Death of Bunny Munro – Nick Cave (from Canongate also raved about by Kimbofo)
• Falling Slowly – Anita Brookner
• The Beckoning Lady – Margery Allingham
• The Bay of Angels – Anita Brookner
• From Doon With Death – Ruth Rendell (her first as must read in order)
• Late Comers – Anita Brookner
• The Life of Charlotte Bronte – Elizabeth Gaskell

I can’t justify it and I shan’t it just is what it is ha! At least I didnt buy all of them and I do blame some of you out there fully for some of the oens I did buy!  Which of these delights have you read or have been meaning to read?

Standing inside the train bound for Pureza, feet apart for sustaining balance, eyes looking out the window, mind wandering elsewhere. Phone suddenly rang and vibrated. Received a text message from a Patetik friend. It read:

…Potek.Wla c emp0y*.

Emitted a little laugh of disgust. Should have seen it coming. Should have stayed in bed until the drowsiness brought about by a 5-hour sleep fades into nothingness. Emitted a little laugh of disgust once more, along with a heavy sigh and a tsk. Should have stayed at home.

Wednesdays are supposed to be rest days. But since freakin’ *Prof Ethics doesn’t give a damn as to whether his students needed rest, he had scheduled a make-up class complete with blush-on, eyeliner, mascara, foundation, etc. for today… and then saying that he won’t make it, leaving the class hanging.

Sat with friends and classmates at the second floor lobby. Talked about the final requirements for Public Info and Campaigns, and cursed Prof  to his last atom, despite the fact that the department fuckaculty room is a good five steps from where we’re sitting. Left the school after an hour or so.  Upon knowing that  Maui had stumbled upon E. M. Forster’s book Maurice (that book she’d been  looking for in various bookstores for quite a while now)  yesterday at Booksale in Shopwise Cubao, decided to tag along with her to the aforesaid place for yet another book raid.

At the LRT Pureza station platform, we saw train number 12 custom-painted or custom-coated, well whatever, with what seemed like a gigantic teaser of the movie 2012 with the daunting WE WERE WARNED | THIS IS HOW THE WORLD WILL END. Maui was apparently thrilled at the sight of it, she had texted me early that morning that she wanted to ride that train. But it had already passed us by. So we hunkered down the platform, after the passing of two trains more,  the 2012 one came back and we hopped in.

Dropped off to Gateway Cineplex first to accompany Maui in buying Tita Elen, her mother, a ticket to Michael Jackson’s This Is It. She’s one big fanatic, needless to say. And after a series of twists and turns, there loomed the glass doors of Booksale. A grin made its way all over my face.

Scoured shelf after shelf, section by section. Hoping that some stray and affordable Sheldon would pop before my eyes. Unluckily, no Sheldon showed up. Ended up buying two Cornwell hardbounds – Blow Fly, and Cause of Death – both of them Scarpetta novels of course, and The Great Jessica Zafra’s sourcebook of pithy statements – Monty Python’s Flying Circus: All The Words Volume 1. Good finds at cheap prices. What more can one say. Whilst Maui bought two books, one was Adam and Steve, and another one which title I forgot, and placed a copy of Brokeback Mountain for reservation. Yes, Booksale is open for reservations, but only for two days from that day, quite a good discovery. Oops, forget that I ever mentioned that. Have also met Joy, Maui’s friend, one certified bibliophile too.

On Saturday, will surely go back to  Cubao, at Gateway Cineplex 10 in particular, for I-Witness DocuFest. Can hardly wait.

]]> http://mgwrites.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/afterthought/ Tue, 06 Oct 2009 02:39:30 +0000 MG http://mgwrites.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/afterthought/

Symptomatic by Danzy Senna

I tried to explain to her what I loved about my work: The sense I got disappearing into somebody else’s story. Of watching and not being seen. Then and only then do the secrets reveal themselves to you.

- Symptomatic by Danzy Senna

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So after the typhoon attacks that left Pasig, Rizal and Marikina inundated with truckloads of garbage and maddening mud, classes resume in the slightly-affected areas in the metro.

School seemed unscathed, its stifling ambiance still apparent and fashionista-wannabes consistent. Only that they were fewer in number yesterday. Perhaps some volunteered in the repacking and distribution of relief goods, marooned in a chest-deep flood, or simply hadn’t gotten around to convincing themselves in going to school, assuming that the professors would be considerate since The Great Flood practically devastated most of the places from which their students come from. This is merely stating the obvious, I know.  It’s never easy for a nocturnal being to summon her writing-nerve amid the broad daylight.

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So Monday, after Phil Lit, Jobe, Maui and I had gone to Cubao and raided Fully Booked and Booksale in search of good books. I bought a Scarpetta novel of Patricia Cornwell (The Last Precinct) and Symptomatic by Danzy Senna. Unfortunately, Jobe really had to go home that time so Maui and I were the only ones left to raid Powerbooks in Megamall. From there, we had agreed to meet up with someone that goes by the name of Jonell Estillore at Shang Cineplex and watched a Korean film entitled Driving with My Wife’s Lover (if my memory serves me right) starring SuperMannix 2000 and Keanu Reeves’ Korean twin… no, Maui and I made that up. And we would have liked it had SM 2000 and KR’s twin been together in the end. In the movie, KR’s twin insisted that there’s no adultery in this world, only love. I beg to disagree – there’s no love in this world, only self-interest.

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Final exams are drawing near. And quoting Maui, Nangangamoy-GC sa COC. Endure the stench and all, we shall make it through.

Patrícia Cornwell

Eu confesso – sou viciada nos livros da Patrícia Cornwell – em especial, os da chamada: 

SCARPETTA´S series – atualmente, 17 livros cuja heroína é uma dedicada médica legista forense – Kay Scarpetta, que tenta resolver crimes através da autópsia (ou seria necrópsia?) dos corpos das vítimas.   O enredo da história não irá focar-se num livro, em particular, mas sim no conceito da personagem.  O filme pretende entrar na mesma linha de obras como o «Silêncio dos Inocentes» de Jonathan Demme e «Seven» de David Fincher.

E, babem: Angelina Jolie está cotadíssima para viver Kay no cinema em filme da FOX, a ser lançado ano que vem. 

Seguem as sinopses de cada livro – recomendo a leitura na ordem abaixo, pois as estórias, embora diferentes, têm como pano de fundo, a vida de Kay e de seus familiares e amigos.  Se não seguir a ordem, você vai ficar meio perdido – vá por mim.

Post-morten – 1990 – É um homem metódico, disciplinado, bárbaro: mata por prazer. As pistas até ele se perdem pelas ruas. A doutora Kay Scarpetta, médica-legista, examina as vítimas, mulheres que não podem lhe dizer nada a não ser pelos vestígios que trazem no corpo. E no corpo delas há um brilho produzido por alguma substância química. Qual? A doutora Scarpetta precisa descobrir logo, se quiser evitar a próxima vítima. E precisa conviver com a contradição: usa em suas autópsias os recursos mais avançados da ciência e da tecnologia, mas esse aparato se destina a penetrar em mentes tão perturbadas que parecem aquém de toda humanidade. Em outro plano, precisa lidar ainda com o fato de que alguém próximo, mas interessado em destruir sua carreira, está sabotando a investigação.

Corpo de delito (Body of Evidence) – 1991 – Logo após o cruel assassinato de sua filha adotiva, um escritor famoso é assassinado. Sua irmã morre em circunstâncias igualmente misteriosas. Quem cometeu os crimes? Por que os cometeu? Essas são as perguntas que levam a médica-legista Kay Scarpetta a seguir as poucas pistas deixadas pelo criminoso. Além das provas que consegue colher nos corpos levados ao necrotério, sai a campo com o chefe de polícia Pete Marino e com o agente do FBI Benton Wesley na tentativa de solucionar o caso. As mais variadas hipóteses vão sendo sucessivamente abandonadas. Nada parece dar conta de todas as circunstâncias. Um dia, porém, a dra. Scarpetta recebe a visita de um desequilibrado mental que afirma ser capaz de enxergar a alma de um criminoso… 

 All that remains – 1992 – Fred e Deborah, jovens, lindos e saudáveis, estão desaparecidos. O pânico toma conta da cidade de Richmond, Virginia. Será que o casalzinho teve o mesmo fim que os outros quatro jovens casais desaparecidos anteriormente? A idéia é aterrorizante, pois nos outros casos as vítimas foram achadas, meses depois, em estado avançado de decomposição. E todos na mesma região florestal, ao redor de um centro de treinamento da CIA.  Suspeitos, até mesmo dentro das forças da lei, pululam como cadáveres abandonados nesse sinistro e labiríntico quebra-cabeças onde vamos encontrar, mais uma vez, a dra. Kay Scarpetta, médica legista e a mais intrigante protagonista já surgida no gênero policial moderno. AINDA NÃO TENHO – QUEM TIVER E DESEJAR ME VENDER, ACEITO.

Desumano e degradante – 2000 – Em Richmond, os dias que precedem o Natal são curtos e cinzentos. Em 13 de dezembro, um homem é executado na cadeira elétrica, culpado pela mutilação de uma jovem apresentadora de TV. No mesmo dia, um garoto de treze anos é encontrado também mutilado. Dias depois, um novo crime assusta a cidade. Fala-se em bruxaria. Algo terrível parece estar à solta. Os fatos descobertos pela dra. Kay Scarpetta, legista-chefe do estado de Virginia, apontam para uma solução absurda. Mortos não cometem crimes.  

Lavoura de corpos – 1994 - Escândalo e terror na Carolina do Norte. Na pacata cidadezinha de Black Mountain, a casa dos Steiner é invadida e a pequena Emily, 11 anos, raptada. Dias depois, seu corpo é encontrado mutilado. Seria outra atrocidade praticada pelo serial killer Temple Gault? A médica-legista Kay Scarpetta, da equipe de investigações, conhece muito bem o estilo do psicopata. Tão bem que chega a questionar a autoria do crime. A solução desse caso misterioso está em suas mãos femininas: Kay usa da psicologia e da análise fria dos acontecimentos para combater o mal e chegar à justiça, mesmo que tenha de partir para a ação. Repleto de suspense, este livro de Patricia Cornwell adota um ritmo acelerado para resolver o caso, que vai se complicando a cada página.

Cemitério dos indigentes – 1995 - É possível existir algo além do horror? Para Temple Brooks Gault o horror não é o fim, mas o começo. Assassino por natureza, Gault é também um manipulador, e tem estilo próprio. Suas vítimas carregam literalmente na carne a sua assinatura. É Natal em Nova York. Há neve e alegria por toda parte. O ruído das festas não sabe dos sons assustadores que abafa; a luz das lojas e árvores enfeitadas não percebe as sombras que cria. Ninguém ouve o tiro disparado no coração do Central Park, ninguém vê o corpo, mutilado e nu, num dos milhares de bancos da imensa praça branca. Quando a dra. Kay Scarpetta, médica-legista, examina o cadáver – os cortes cruéis no corpo inteiro e o furo preciso na têmpora -, ela tem certeza de que o Mal está de volta. E, dessa vez, Temple Brooks Gault, o serial killer que invadiu sua vida, foi muito além do horror que se poderia esperar dele. 

Causa-mortis – 1996 – Quando a dra. Kay Scarpetta estendeu mais um de seus cadáveres na mesa para fazer uma autópsia, mal imaginava a magnitude do caso que tinha nas mãos. Desta vez, Patricia Cornwell enredou sua heroína numa trama que testará toda a sua capacidade diante de um perigo novo e ainda mais inusitado do que os anteriores. Com sangue até os cotovelos, a dra. Kay Scarpetta- junto com a sobrinha-prodígio Lucy, hacker do FBI, o chefe e amante Benton Wesley e o eterno parceiro, o tira boca-suja Pete Marino- vê-se às voltas com um crime que é só o fio de uma meada. 

Contágio criminoso – 1997 – Um cadáver é encontrado no meio do lixo, num aterro sanitário da Virgínia. Detalhes como a amputação habilidosa da cabeça e dos membros lembram casos que a dra. Kay Scarpetta examinou na Irlanda, onde esteve recentemente para pronunciar uma série de conferências. As vítimas, ali, eram de várias raças e idade estimada entre dezoito e trinta e cinco anos; em nenhum dos casos a cabeça foi encontrada. A investigação se tornará um verdadeiro inferno, um jogo macabro em que o assassino fará contato pela Internet e assinará as mensagens com um apelido adequado – Deadoc – Doutor Morte. Na tela do computador da médica-legista surgirão imagens nauseantes – fotos tiradas por Deadoc para mostrar até que ponto é dotado da mais alta competência para o assassinato.

 Foco inicial – 1998 – Patricia Cornwell traz neste livro uma trama onde uma assassina psicopata enreda a médica Kay Scarpetta e seu parceiro Pete Marino na investigação de uma série de crimes com características idênticas. Ao lado de seu inseparável parceiro Pete Marino, Kay Scarpetta tem à sua frente um quebra-cabeça feito de crimes aterrorizantes e de cartas cheias de jogos de palavras.

Alerta negro – 1999 - Uma história de terror parece brotar do corpo em estado de decomposição encontrado num contêiner, no porto de Richmond. Indícios ligam o cadáver ao crime organizado. Mais especificamente, a uma máfia instalada na França, de atuação internacional e profunda influência junto a governantes e outros poderosos. A autópsia realizada pela médica-legista Kay Scarpetta indica que o assassino – conhecido como “loup-garou” – só pode ser um lobisomem; mutila pessoas e deixa no local dos crimes cabelos humanos, finos e longos. A sombra do lobisomem paira sobre a história, e a doutora Scarpetta começa a suspeitar que esta será sua primeira aventura sobrenatural. - 1o  LIVRO DA TRILOGIA “LOUP-GAROU”

A última delegacia – 2000 - A trama se inicia imediatamente após os episódios finais de Alerta negro, quando a dra. Scarpetta é atacada em casa pelo criminoso Jean-Baptiste Chandonne – um francês cuja família chefia um cartel internacional do crime e que sofre de uma doença congênita que provoca o crescimento exagerado de pêlos do corpo, razão pela qual ele próprio se denomina Lobisomem.  Em decorrência do ataque, Scarpetta é obrigada a se mudar para a casa de uma amiga de longa data. Mas perde o chão ao ser acusada de um dos assassinatos cometidos por Chandonne, o criminoso que a atacara. Sozinha, impedida de viver em sua casa e principal suspeita em um crime hediondo, a dra. Scarpetta vive os piores dias de sua carreira e de sua vida. 2o  LIVRO DA TRILOGIA “LOUP-GAROU”

Mosca varejeira – 2003 - Três anos depois dos acontecimentos narrados em A última delegacia, Kay Scarpetta trocou a Virgínia por uma tranqüila praia na Flórida, de onde continua a prestar consultoria. Tentando reerguer a vida profissional, Scarpetta recebe uma carta de Jean-Baptiste Chandonne, o Lobisomem. O homem que tentou matá-la e que se encontra no corredor da morte, à espera da execução, está disposto a revelar segredos importantes de sua família criminosa. Em troca, Scarpetta deverá lhe aplicar a injeção letal.  Enquanto tenta adivinhar as verdadeiras intenções do assassino, Scarpetta, a sobrinha Lucy e o detetive Pete Marino rumam para Baton Rouge, onde está ocorrendo uma série de estranhos desaparecimentos de mulheres. Envolvendo-se na investigação, Scarpetta inicia uma exaustiva caçada ao responsável pelos crimes, numa jornada que lhe revelará alguns segredos cuidadosamente guardados por seus entes mais queridos.  3o  LIVRO DA TRILOGIA “LOUP-GAROU”

Vestígio – 2004 - Cinco anos depois de ser sumariamente afastada de seu emprego como legista-chefe da Virgínia, Kay Scarpetta volta a Richmond atendendo ao pedido de seu sucessor para um caso difícil Gilly Paulsson, uma garota de catorze anos, foi encontrada morta em sua cama. Ao chegar ao seu antigo quartel- general, logo percebe que deveria ter recusado o trabalho. Seu sucessor é um tipo esquivo e incompetente, seu antigo escritório está sendo demolido, e as manobras políticas tecidas ao fundo dos acontecimentos ameaçam engoli-la de vez. 

Predador – 2005 – Em sua mais nova aventura, a médica-legista Kay Scarpetta se depara com uma série de eventos aparentemente desconexos, mas que vão culminar em um dos casos mais bizarros que já viu, expondo pistas preciosas sobre o funcionamento da mente de um psicopata.  No momento em que a história começa, Scarpetta e seus parceiros — o psicólogo Benton Wesley, o amargurado investigador Pete Marino e a brilhante e instável investigadora Lucy — trabalham na Academia Forense da Flórida, entidade envolvida num projeto secreto chamado Predador, que investiga aspectos fisiológicos e possíveis motivações de psicopatas condenados. Um desses objetos de estudos é Basil Jenrette, cuja trajetória cheia de lacunas pode conduzir à identidade do assassino da loja de artigos de Natal.  Como é costumeiro nos livros de Cornwell, as investigações se apoiam tanto em insights psicológicos quanto num detalhado instrumental técnico, que envolve balística, medicina legal, exames de dna e recursos de alta tecnologia. Mas não há como separar desse aparato o fator humano: Scarpetta, Marino, Benton, Lucy e todos os que cruzam seus caminhos — uma misteriosa sedutora, uma psicóloga que dá conselhos num programa de tevê, um médico ambicioso da Academia, um falso fiscal do departamento de agricultura — precisam enfrentar também seus próprios fantasmas, escondidos e revelados em casos amorosos, lembranças perturbadoras, episódios de inveja e traição.  Nessa jornada de onde ninguém retornará sem marcas, descrita numa prosa elegante mesmo quando trata do horror mais cru, é como se as palavras de Scarpetta fossem dirigidas não a outro personagem, mas ao leitor: “Você não está apenas olhando para o abismo, você está instalando luzes e um elevador dentro dele”.

Book of the dead – 2007 – AINDA NÃO LANÇADO NO BRASIL – The “book of the dead” is the morgue log, the ledger in which all cases are entered by hand. For Kay Scarpetta, however, it is about to have a new meaning.  Fresh from her bruising battle with a psychopath in Florida, Scarpetta decides it’s time for a change of pace-not only personally and professionally, but geographically. Moving to the historic city of Charleston, South Carolina, she opens a unique private forensic pathology practice, one in which she and her colleagues-including Pete Marino and her niece, Lucy-offer expert crime-scene investigation and autopsies to communities that lack local access to competent death investigation and modern technology. It seems like an ideal situation, until the new battles start-with local politicians, with entrenched interests, with someone whose covert attempts at sabotage are clearly meant to run her out of town. And that’s even before the murders and other violent deaths begin.  A young man from a well-known family jumps off a water tower. A woman is found ritualistically murdered in her multi-million-dollar beach home. The body of an abused young boy is discovered dumped in a desolate marsh. Meanwhile, in distant New England, problems with a prominent patient at a Harvard-affiliated psychiatric hospital begin to hint at interconnections that are as hard to imagine as they are horrible.  Scarpetta has dealt with many brutal and unusual crimes before, but never a string of them as baffling, or as terrifying, as the ones that face her now. Before she is through, that book of the dead will contain many names-and the pen may be poised to write her own.  

Scarpetta – 2008 – AINDA NÃO LANÇADO NO BRASIL (mas eu já tenho!!!) – Leaving behind her private forensic pathology practice in Charleston, South Carolina, Kay Scarpetta accepts an assignment in New York City, where the NYPD has asked her to examine an injured man on Bellevue Hospital’s psychiatric prison ward. The handcuffed and chained patient, Oscar Bane, has specifically asked for her, and when she literally has her gloved hands on him, he begins to talk—and the story he has to tell turns out to be one of the most bizarre she has ever heard.  The injuries, he says, were sustained in the course of a murder . . . that he did not commit. Is Bane a criminally insane stalker who has fixed on Scarpetta? Or is his paranoid tale true, and it is he who is being spied on, followed and stalked by the actual killer? The one thing Scarpetta knows for certain is that a woman has been tortured and murdered—and more violent deaths will follow. Gradually, an inexplicable and horrifying truth emerges: Whoever is committing the crimes knows where his prey is at all times. Is it a person, a government? And what is the connection between the victims.  In the days that follow, Scarpetta; her forensic psychologist husband, Benton Wesley; and her niece, Lucy, who has recently formed her own forensic computer investigation firm in New York, will undertake a harrowing chase through cyberspace and the all-too-real streets of the city—an odyssey that will take them at once to places they never knew, and much, much too close to home.

The Scarpetta´s Factor – 2009 – AINDA NÃO LANÇADO NO BRASIL (mas já em pré-venda nos EUA) – It is the week before Christmas. A tanking economy has prompted Dr. Kay Scarpetta—despite her busy schedule and her continuing work as the senior forensic analyst for CNN—to offer her services pro bono to New York City’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In no time at all, her increased visibility seems to precipitate a string of unexpected and unsettling events. She is asked live on the air about the sensational case of Hannah Starr, who has vanished and is presumed dead. Moments later during the same telecast she receives a startling call—in from a former psychiatrist patient of Benton Wesley’s. When she returns after the show to the apartment where she and Benton live, she finds an ominous package—possibly a bomb—waiting for her at the front desk. Soon the apparent threat on Scarpetta’s life finds her embroiled in a surreal plot that includes a famous actor accused of an unthinkable sex crime and the disappearance of a beautiful millionaires with whom Lucy seems to have shared a secret past. Scarpetta’s CNN producer wants her to launch a TV show called The Scarpetta Factor. Given the bizarre events already in play, she fears that her growing fame will generate the illusion that she has a “special factor,” a mythical ability to solve all her cases. She wonders if she will end up like other TV personalities: her own stereotype.

Além desses, Kay Scarpetta pode ser apreciada através de um livro de culinária que reúne as receitas que a médica legista oferece aos leitores em vários de seus livros: 

Food to die for – 2002 – Kay Scarpetta, loves to unwind in the kitchen. Book after book finds her tapping into her Italian heritage to create delicious meals for herself and her friends.  Brimming with full-color photographs and inspired by dozens of food scenes in Kay’s kitchen and favorite restaurants, Food to Die For is a cookbook tailor-made for Scarpetta fans. Among the criminally good recipes:

*Miami-Style Chili with Beer (Restos mortais – All That Remains)

* Grilled Grouper with Butter and Key Lime Juice (Desumano e degradante – Cruel and Unusual)

* Jack Daniel’s Chocolate Pecan Pie (Lavoura de corpos – The Body Farm)

* Lasagna with Marinara Sauce and Porcini Mushrooms (Causa-mortis – Cause of Death)

* Bev’s Lump Crab Cakes (Contágio criminoso – Unnatural Exposure)

* Kay’s Grilled Pizza with Sausage, Pepperoni, and Three Cheeses (Alerta negro – Black Notice) – Gente, eu estava lendo esse livro no ônibus, voltando do trabalho – na hora em que Kay preparava a pizza, eu quase que podia sentir o aroma dos ingredientes – não esperei nem chegar em casa – saltei e comprei uma pizza para matar a vontade, tal a força de sua narrativa.

E TEM MAIS: Retrato de um assassino – 2002 - Narra as investigações que a escritora fez para descobrir a identidade de Jack, o estripador, que no final do século XIX aterrorizou a cidade de Londres com uma série de bárbaros assassinatos cometidos contra prostitutas. Patricia Cornwell se propõe a solucionar um dos maiores mistérios do mundo do crime – descobrir a verdadeira identidade de Jack, o Estripador. Utilizando técnicas modernas de investigação, a autora concluiu que o Jack era o pintor inglês Walter Sickert. Retrato de um Assassino analisa as circunstâncias dos crimes e reconstrói o ambiente em que viviam as prostitutas londrinas mortas pelo serial killer.

Patrícia Cornwell também escreveu outros livros policiais, como as séries, menos cotadas:

ANDY BRAZIL – Hornets Nest (1997), Southern Cross (1999) e Isle of Dogs (2001) e WIN GARANO – At Risk (2006) e The Front (2008)

It has been 10 full days since I’ve updated and for the record, I would like to blame work for my laziness.  However, I picked up the new Patricia Cornwell book, Scarpetta, yesterday and there is nothing that will stop me from devouring it tonight. NOTHING.  Even if I am reading it during commercials of the GaTech/Clemson game (Go Jackets!).   I’ve heard mixed reviews on the book already and most of the critics cite a lack of development and a dull plot so I’m very interested to see if I like it.  I’ve been reading Patricia Cornwell since High School and, over the years, feel like I have really gotten to know her main character, Kay Scarpetta.  Loyal readers have been through a lot with her so I really hope that I don’t find this installment dull.  I have a feeling that, even if it is dull, I will still enjoy reading about her just because.  I’ll have a review up soon and this will be my first book for RIP.  If anyone else has read it already I would love to know what you thought of it!  Any other Patricia Cornwell fans out there?

Für eine Lesekatze, wie ich eine bin, gibt es nichts schöneres als durch Buchhandlungen zu streifen und nach neuen und unbekannten Büchern zu schauen. Heute war auch wieder so ein Tag und ich habe auch einige Bücher erstanden:

Patricia Cornwell – Gefahr
Mary Bond – Und plötzlich war es Liebe
Chris Manby – Liebe kommt oft unverhofft
Julianne Bedford – Diese eine große Liebe

Und all die schönen Bücher waren Mängelexemplare.  

Não conhecia nada sobre a Patrícia Cornwell. Cheguei até o livro devido a ter lido em algum site, não me lembro qual, que ele constava como um dos “melhores livros do ano”. Tomado a curiosidade, pesquisei um pouco sobre a autora e vi o quanto ela é consagrado em um estilo que na literatura me chama muita atenção: um thriller repleto de mistérios.

Ao pegar para o ler o livro, sabia que não haveria apresentação detalhada sobre os personagens, devido a estarem presentes em outras obras da autora (aliás, ao que parece, sua força é baseada na criação desses personagens, que lhe renderam boa parte de seu repertório). Ainda que preparado a essa ausência de informação, não tem incomodo. Prontamente dá para se situar bem com as personagens: Kay Scarpetta, a protagonista respeitadíssima em sua especialidade, Benton Wesley, seu parceiro que no caso é muito subaproveitado a trama, a sobrinha de Kay – Lucy – uma lésbica afortunada que possui uma empresa de investigação e Marino, policial carrancudo que acompanha Kay em suas investigações.

Ou seja, durante toda a obra, não teremos problemas em relação aos personagens, pois são bem simples e delimitados. Sobra, portanto, força para a trama. Falsa impressão. De tão descritiva que Cornwell é, jamais a trama consegue propriamente decolar. A sinopse básica de investigação da morte suspeita de uma garotinha, jamais decola. Sobram descrições simplistas e desinteressantes de cores, objetos e outros detalhes que preenchem o livro de um vazio imensurável; o inócuo, nesse caso, parece repleto.

Outros detalhes causam ainda problema. Parece que Vestígio não é um livro planejado e as informações começam a se perder pelo caminho. O personagem Marcos, substituto de Kay, começa como uma praga, até ser gentilmente colocado de lado e todo o início do livro jogado fora. Pra que abrir tanto espaço, prometer tanto por um personagem, para que ele seja atirado da trama abruptadamente? Essa é uma das razões que destroem o livro: recheia alguns aspectos, que com o tempo, demonstram-se invariavelmente inúteis. Inclui nesse bolo, todos os capítulos em que Ben aparece, até o derradeiro final.

Ao final das contas, o livro é muito dispensável. Certamente, Patrícia Cornwell deve ter um talento, mas nessa ocasião, teve a infelicidade de seguir caminhos tortuosos que não enchem os olhos e não encantam. Os momentos mais eletrizantes da obra, são sonolentos;- na a resolução de todos os acontecimentos são novidades, e a interligação dos fatos é forçado e sem graça. Aliás, tem uma das ameaças mais dóceis que já vi;- fora ainda todas as coisas que perdem-se no caminho.

TÍTULO ORIGINAL: TRACE
ENCADERNAÇÃO: Brochura | Formato: 13 x 21 | 444 págs.
ANO DA OBRA/COPYRIGHT: 2004
ANO EDIÇÃO: 2008
AUTOR: Patricia Cornwell
TRADUTOR: Otacilio Nunes

COTAÇÃO

YEY!

It’s been days since I have typed anything!>.<

How many days have passed already?

…

I can’t remember…i^.^

I’ve been pretty busy with school work. Reports, research, mid terms, quizzes! gah! And it has only been the 1st half of the semester!

I’m VERY sure that after the mid term examination week, I’ll be busy again..O_o

Then, there’s the net connection problem. For a week, our internet connection has been on/off/on/off/on/off!!

When ever I got the chance, I sleep.

+++

Yesterday, my mom and I went to watch the she liked. Before going home, we passed by a book store.  We bought a book entitled “Protrait of a Killer (Jack the Ripper Case Closed”. It was written by Patricia Cornwell.

I started reading the book this morning and so far, I liked it.

Next time I’ll share what was written at the book’s jacket.

For now, I’m off to dream land.

Klappentext:
Win Garano, Ermittler bei der Massachusetts State Police, soll einen nie gelösten Mordfall, der nun 20 Jahre zurückliegt, mit modernster DNA-Analyse neu aufrollen. Seine Chefin, die Bezirksstaatsanwältin, erhofft sich von der Aufklärung Rückenwind für ihren Wahlkampf um das Gouverneursamt. Seltsam nur, dass sie Garano nicht einmal die Polizeiakte zu diesem Fall zur Verfügung stellen kann. Und noch viel seltsamer ist die Drohung, die Garano kurze Zeit später erhält. Als er seine Chefin zur Rede stellen will, kommt er gerade noch rechtzeitig, um ihr das Leben zu retten…

Inhalt:
Win Garano arbeitet als Polizist bei der Polizei von Massachusetts. Eigentlich sollte er seine Zeit bei einer Weiterbildung in Knoxville/Tennessee verbringen, aber seine eigenwillige Chefin Lamont, die Bezirksstaatsanwältin von Massachusetts, beordert ihn zurück nach Boston um ihn nur mitzuteilen, dass er einen 20 Jahre alten Mordfall in Tennessee aufklären soll, da es für sie Publicity verspricht, wenn er dies schafft. Win Garano, stinksauer über Lamont, fährt zu ihrer Wohnung um sie zur Rede zu stellen, und findet sie in einer lebensgefährlichen Situation vor. Was geht hier vor und wieso muss ausgerechnet er, mit so einer Chefin herumschlagen? Und wieso ist die Akte nicht auffindbar. Je länger er sich mit Syke, einer Kollegin aus Tennessee, um den alten Fall kümmert um so merkwürdiger verhalten sich die Menschen.

Meinung:
Dies war mein erster Patricia Cornwell Roman. Ich sage Roman, weil nicht wirklich Spannung auf kam. Die Geschichte plätschert vor sich hin und eine Spannung kommt bis zum Ende hin nicht auf. Auch ist die gesamte Story nicht ganz durchschaubar und manches bleibt einfach unklar.
Gut gefallen haben mir hingegen die Charaktere der Handlung. Vor allem der Ermittler Win Garano kommt sehr sympathisch herüber, sei es im Umgang mit seiner Großmutter oder mit der Hündin “Miss Dog”, oder seiner Nachbarin Suzie. Hingegen wurde mir die Figur Lamont nie sympathisch. Sie sehr schön dargestellt mit ihrer Arroganz und Hinterlist, aber einen positiven Aspekt habe ich bei ihr nie gefunden.
Und wäre nicht  die gute Zeichnung der Charaktere und die kurzweilige Unterhaltung für einen Abend gewesen, würde das Buch wesentlich schlechter abschneiden. So ist es ein Buch für zwischendurch, nicht mehr und nicht weniger.

Buchinfo:
Patricia Cornwell: Gefahr (At Risk)
Taschenbuch 190 Seiten
Goldmann 2008
ISBN-13: 978-3442462742

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

The Scarpetta Factor by Patricia Cornwell

Publication Date: October 20, 2009

Product description: It is the week before Christmas. A tanking economy has prompted Dr. Kay Scarpetta—despite her busy schedule and her continuing work as the senior forensic analyst for CNN—to offer her services pro bono to New York City’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In no time at all, her increased visibility seems to precipitate a string of unexpected and unsettling events. She is asked live on the air about the sensational case of Hannah Starr, who has vanished and is presumed dead. Moments later during the same telecast she receives a startling call—in from a former psychiatrist patient of Benton Wesley’s. When she returns after the show to the apartment where she and Benton live, she finds an ominous package—possibly a bomb—waiting for her at the front desk. Soon the apparent threat on Scarpetta’s life finds her embroiled in a surreal plot that includes a famous actor accused of an unthinkable sex crime and the disappearance of a beautiful millionaires with whom Lucy seems to have shared a secret past.

Scarpetta’s CNN producer wants her to launch a TV show called The Scarpetta Factor. Given the bizarre events already in play, she fears that her growing fame will generate the illusion that she has a “special factor,” a mythical ability to solve all her cases. She wonders if she will end up like other TV personalities: her own stereotype.

The Scarpetta Factor, the seventeenth in the series, finds the familiar cast of characters together again in New York. Marino is working for the NYPD; Benton Wesley uses his forensic psychological expertise at Kirby and Bellevue; and Lucy continues to dazzle with her expertise in forensic computer investigations as she works yet another case with NY prosecutor Jaime Berger.

As some of you may know I am pretty obsessed with Patricia Cornwell and in particular I love her character Kay Scarpetta.  Kay is a brilliant, tough, and insightful woman who sometimes lets her guard down to allow readers in to her personal life.  Patricia Cornwell is famous for putting everything into her work that she possibly can.  When you read her books and are confronted with graphic medical and forensic terminology, you can be sure that Cornwell knows what she is talking about.  Her meticulous research and attention to factual detail have awarded Cornwell a brilliant reputation and she often consults for top ranking forensic schools and associations.

Recently the Kay Scarpetta novels have taken quite a turn, especially for those of us who have read all of her previous books and have been fans for many years.  For so long the original gang of Scarpetta, her partner Marino, her love interest Benton, and her niece Lucy have been steady but in the past few books things have really been turned upside down with some major rifts between these main characters.  It’s especially hard because fans have come to love many of the characters who have ended up hurting Kay in one way or another.

While Cornwell has certainly given fans a bit of a twist to work with, I am excited to see how she develops these characters in their new lives.  The old gang was so strong that one wonders if Kay will hold the same interest as she did before or if her story is beginning to fizzle out.  Will the divide make the characters crash and burn?

If you have never read anything by Patricia Cornwell, I highly encourage you to pick up her first Scarpetta novel, Postmortem.  It’s an amazing book and I dare you to read it the whole way through without immediately getting attached to the people and details that have become Cornwell’s calling card.

We have some news to share about the Fall doings at Simple Pleasures…

 First the BOOKS-

Answering customer request ( as we always try to do) , we are filling out our Jim Butcher & James Patterson sections. The Butcher section is just about complete ( that’s the Dresden Series as well as his Codex Alera series) We are also trying to fill in all the requests for everything James Patterson, and that’s some tall order- let me tell you. From what i understand Patterson is cranking out a whopping sixteen books this year- yes, you heard it right  – 16 ! We’re going to do our best to keep up, and keep our Simple Pleasures readers happy

September is Crime , Mystery & Intrigue Month at Simple Pleasures, and to highlight that we’re showcasing two authors that fit that bill. John Wills was here on September 12th signing copies of his books ” Chicago Warriors” and the newest ” Gripped By Fear” . We had a good time hosting him, and the crime scene tape was only a fun prop.

This Saturday we’ll be hosting  Meredith Cole who will be meeting fans & signing copies of her novel ” Posed For Murder” .

Posed For Murder

The central character in this novel Lydia McKenzie will also be featured in a sequel that’s coming our in early 2010, so maybe we can get Meredith to give us some advance tidbits about the new one as well…

 In October we will see the release of a a bunch of great new books, David Baldacci will be releasing ” True Blue”

Synopsis below from DavidBaldacci.com:

A high-profile murder in the nation’s capital collides with the dark side of national security in True Blue. “Mace” Perry, a firebrand D.C. cop, lost everything after she was kidnapped, framed and jailed. Now she’s free and working with lawyer Roy Kingman to investigate the Washington homicide. Release date: October 27, 2009

Also, for those fans of the  Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris , or you spent the last 2 summers getting hooked on HBO’s “Trueblood”  and want something to hold you over or ( like me) you want to read the books even more than watch the series, Penguin is releasing a box set of the first 8 books. It features the True Blood outer packing and the original cover art

Sookie Stackhouse Box Set

 Cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse is no typical Southern belle. She can read minds. And she’s got a thing for vampires. Which, in a town like Bon Temps, Louisiana, means she’ll have to watch her back—and neck…

Includes:
Dead Until Dark
Living Dead in Dallas
Club Dead
Dead to the World
Dead as a Doornail
Definitely Dead
All Together Dead
From Dead to Worse

For those of you who have been anxiously awaiting Patrica Cornwell’s next Kay  Scarpetta novel, wait no longer! Okay, you have to wait a little longer- but if you would like a personally autographed , first edition copy of her newest Scarpetta come into Simple Pleasures and pick up one ! We will have a limited number of these special copies, so get them while they last !

And of course no New Release List would be complete without the news that we have “The Lost Symbol” in stock .

Special Events:

During the Month of October- in addition to our ongoing “Fall Into Books Raffle” , ( which is a great chance to win some fun prizes!) we are doing a special promotion called

Bodacious Women.

This promotion serves two purposes- 1) It showcases books written by and/or about women who have led or are leading extraordinary lives. These women are trailblazers, innovators, or have overcome insurmountable odds to emerge triumphant. They are or were in their own ways – BODACIOUS!

In celebration of them and in acknowledgment of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we will choose & recommend selected titles and when one of these titles ( that will be identified by a pink ribbon) is purchased 5% of the proceeds will go to local area Breast Cancer Research.  That’s the second purpose , and one we feel is just as  worthy as the first.

We will be posting more about this later, of course. In concert with this promotion we will be hosting women authors who have written books that are part of our chosen titles all through the month of  October . More about that later too…

It’s shaping up to be a very busy Fall, and I didn’t even get to November yet… or our special Halloween Day signing, and all the accompanying fun that will go along with that!

But … more later 

Posed For Murder