in my own little world of books

This week's Booking through Thursday...

There was a widely bruited-about statistic reported last week, stating that 1 in 4 Americans did not read a single book last year. Clearly, we don’t fall into that category, but . . . how many of our friends do? Do you have friends/family who read as much as you do? Or are you the only person you know who has a serious reading habit?

I was one of the people who found this statistic surprising. Almost everyone I know is a fairly avid reader. (Of course, I should probably admit that I don't actually know that many people!)

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I'm a wee bit behind in my reviews...well, because I hate writing them so much. Because, well, I'm simply not good at it. But I guess I've procrastinated long enough, as tomorrow is the last day to get up this month's Non-Fiction Five.



I finished up And The Band Played On, by Randy Shilts, last week. I'm having a hard time putting into words how I felt about this book. It's not the kind of book that you feel you can say you "enjoyed"...if you know what I mean. But it was a wonderful, powerful story, and I'm definitely glad that I read it.

The subtitle, "Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic," gives one a feel for what the book is about. Randy Shilts tells the story of the early years of the AIDS epidemic in fascinating detail. In fact, as Rich said to me as I was just starting the book, "He probably could have adequately told the story in half the pages." And I would have to agree with that...the story might have adequately been told in less than the 600+ pages of this book. But I don't believe "adequate" was Shilts' goal. He told the complete, uncut version of this real-life drama.

It was a heart-breaking book. At times, I was brought to tears by the overwhelming sadness of it all, and at times, I found myself feeling so angry that I was brought to tears of another form. Somehow AIDS managed to bring out the worst of humankind's failings...indifference, greed, callousness, bigotry, egomania. And sometimes even more damage was done "with good intentions". That's not to say that there were no heroes in the fight to identify and battle this new disease. This book also told their stories.

I can't say that I would recommend this book to everyone. Don't get me wrong...I think it's a wonderful book. For one thing, as I mentioned earlier, it is a long, exhaustive telling of the story. And for another, there are parts that are probably a bit too graphic for some people. (It is not graphic for purposes of sensationalism, but simply for truth's sake.) I would, however, definitely recommend the movie to everyone. The movie obviously leaves much out, but it is very well-done.

One last note, it goes without saying, that I wish Randy Shilts was still alive today. But, on a selfish note, I have to say that I wish he were here to write the sequel to And The Band Played On. The book ends in 1988, but we all know the story of AIDS does not.




I also finished Lethal Practice, by Peter Clement last week. Another one down for the Medical Mystery Madness Reading Challenge. This is the best one I've read for this challenge so far. Still not among the best of this genre that I've read in my lifetime, but really not a bad book at all.

The general story follows the chief of emergency medicine in a Buffalo, NY hospital. He has a true sociopath working for him...he just doesn't know it. But said sociopath fears disclosure, and all kinds of nastiness follow.

A fairly quick read. Was a nice change a pace from the heaviness of my non-fiction choice.




On a final note for the day, I guess it's time for me to concede defeat in Southern Reading Challenge. Tomorrow night it will come to its official end. And I am only half-way through my final selection, A Time to Kill, by John Grisham. (A book I am enjoying immensely, by the way.) I feel bad that I won't finish "in time"...but I will finish. And I have to say a big "Thank You" to Maggie for hosting this challenge. It not only gave me an "excuse" to read To Kill A Mockingbird again, it introduced me to The Secret Life of Bees, which touched my heart (and I doubt I ever would have read if not for this challenge).

on the book front...

I haven't played Booking Through Thursday for a while. Though I still loved reading the answers of others, I just didn't have much of interest to contribute. Still don't, but I missed playing, so here I am back at it.

This week's question:

"Who’s the worst fictional villain you can think of? As in, the one you hate the most, find the most evil, are happiest to see defeated? Not the cardboard, two-dimensional variety, but the most deliciously-written, most entertaining, best villain? Not necessarily the most “evil,” so much as the best-conceived on the part of the author…oh, you know what I mean!"

This is such a fabulous question, isn't it? But a tough one! There's lots of evil dudes out there between the pages of books. I'm going to go with Randall Flagg from The Stand (Stephen King). He pops to mind, probably because this is one of my all-time favorite books. But evil he most certainly is. And just to be difficult, I'm going to throw in another...Capricorn from Inkheart (Cornelia Funke), because I found him so creepily original.




And now on to other book ramblings...

I finished my second book for the Medical Mystery Madness Reading Challenge. This book, Terminal Condition, by David Shobin, was much more what I was hoping for! (I was rather disappointed in my first choice.) Shobin is a new author to me, but I will probably eventually search out more of his books...if I can ever find time between all these challenges, that is. Terminal Condition was a fast-paced, suspenseful ride. Very reminiscent of Robin Cook or Michael Palmer. In fact, at one point it was almost a little too reminiscent of a scene from Cook's Coma. But the scene worked none-the-less, even if it was eerily familiar.

The basic storyline involves the discovery of new wonder-drug, which can dramatically help people with severe dementia. But as can be predicted before this discovery is even made public, greed muscles its way into the story, and all kinds of evil monkey-business ensue.

I do have one small complaint...it's not really that big of a deal, but it was a tad annoying at times. David Shobin is a physician, as many of these medical thriller books, are. But while most of these authors seem to grasp that their audience will be far broader than the medical community, Shobin sometimes seemed to forget this. Take for example, this sentence, "The copper-jacketed slug transected the right carotid and chipped off the transverse process of C-3 before exiting the upper trapezius muscle." Sure, I understood what he was saying, but come on...

And there was one other thing I just have to mention, because it made me laugh. I even had to interrupt Rich's reading to tell him about it. The mafia plays a role in this book, and in the page where we are first introduced to these characters, we meet Vinnie, Vito, Salvatore, Anthony, Joey, and Dominic. Just made me giggle...I mean couldn't there just once be a mob guy named Tim or Dave or Bob. Okay, forgive my silliness...I just found it amusing for some weird reason.

And with that I am off to go fix the monkeys some breakfast. Then I can't wait to read what other "villians" made the cut.

first one down

Finished up my first book for the Medical Mystery Madness reading challenge last week. I've loved medical thriller books for many a year...probably starting 20+ years ago when I first started reading books by Robin Cook. But it's been a while since I've read one, so Debi's challenge sounded especially fun.

I'm sorry to say that my first book was a bit of a disappointment. I read Angel of Mercy by Andrew Neiderman. It's really not that it was a horrible book...it just wasn't a great book. Part of the problem may have been that it just wasn't what I expected. It wasn't really a medical thriller as much as it was a mystery with a medical component.

Angel of Mercy centers on a nurse and her sister. Loving, caring, and warped. This book definitely has it's fair share of quirky characters. But not quirky in the charming sense. As the book nears its end, a major twist is thrown in. But I'm afraid it was a twist you could see coming from a mile away.

On the positive side, I really liked the character of Frank, the aging cop who is being thrust into retirement because of medical issues. His feelings about this sudden turn of events and his relationships and interactions with his family have a very realistic feel (while much of the book simply doesn't).

Anyway, while I did enjoy this book in some respects, I would have to say that there are much better books out there for this challenge. Hopefully my other choices will be among them.

it's madness, I tell you, madness

Yes, I seem to be caught in it! What is wrong with me?!! Why can't I stop joining these challenges?!!

But I'm telling you, this one sounded too good to resist. Debi is hosting the Medical Mystery Madness reading challenge. I love medical thrillers! But despite the fact that I have several sitting on my shelves, I haven't read any lately. So this is my chance, right? Besides, it doesn't start until June 1 first and I should a lot of my other challenge books read by then (yeah...right!). O.K., maybe it's just time to face the fact that I'm a compulsive joiner.

Anyway, here is the list I've come up with for the challenge...

Fatal by Michael Palmer
The Cobra Event by Richard Preston
Angel of Mercy by Andrew Neiderman
Terminal Condition by David Shobin
Lethal Practice by Peter Clement

(Might add more later, as I have at least another ten medical thrillers over on my "unread" bookcase. But for now, I don't want to overdo it.)