enjoying Lee Child

Posted on January 6, 2011 by pagesofjulia

From Merriam-Webster Online:

un·put·down·able
adj \ˌən-ˌpu̇t-ˈdȧun-ə-bəl\
: unable to be set aside : riveting
First Known Use of UNPUTDOWNABLE: 1947

Lee Child, like Michael Connelly, defines “unputdownable” for me. I surface from these books gasping for air. I guess any really “good” book (any that YOU really like) is unputdownable in a way. But Child and Connelly both create such gripping plots! I love their bad-boy characters (even when they are a bit of a caricature, ahem Jack Reacher) and I just can’t wait to read what craziness they’re going to undertake next. I love it! Reacher is liable to do such nonsense, so off-the-cuff. And the plot surprises, and the people we learn to care about – I just can’t put these books down. I’m always in danger of staying up all night on a work night, or not hearing what the Husband just said.

My current selection, Running Blind by Lee Child, has a new-to-me twist to it: Reacher is temporarily settled, in house he inherited, with a settled girlfriend, both in New York. This is my 3rd in the Reacher series, and he’s normally got a toothbrush in his pocket at a maximum. (Sometimes he loses his toothbrush.) He’s a real bad-a$$ but has a good heart; one usually has to twist his arm but he does end up taking on problems that only sort of involve him, on the side of Right. In Running Blind, his girlfriend is the arm that gets twisted. So, girlfriends can be a liability.

Reacher is a retired MP (military policeman) and it’s this connection that gets him. Women from his military past are being murdered in a most unusual fashion, and the FBI (of all people! apparently the Bureau and the MP do NOT get along) need his help. I won’t say too much more, but Reacher does his usual busting of heads and other appendages. He’s unstoppable, a little bit of a superhero (thus my caricature comment), a small giant with big muscles, and skills in both hand-to-hand combat and gunplay that require a little suspension of disbelief. It’s definitely brain candy but I find it great fun, and there’s still a murder mystery going on too. In fact, the FBI in this case includes some profilers, and you might have noticed that I have an enthusiasm for them (thus my love of Criminal Minds on television and my interest in this book, also here). So, there’s some whodunit involved in the brain candy as well. Just my style!

Thank you Lee Child for the unputdownable book of the week. Think I’ll keep seeking his out.

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Challenge: What’s In a Name 4

Posted on January 4, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Well I’m just thrilled to have found this. What’s In a Name is hosted by Beth Fish Reads, and it works like this:

Between January 1 and December 31, 2011, read one book in each of the following categories:

  1. A book with a number in the title: First to Die, Seven Up, Thirteen Reasons Why
  2. A book with jewelry or a gem in the title: Diamond Ruby, Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Opal Deception
  3. A book with a size in the title: Wide Sargasso Sea, Small Wars, Little Bee
  4. A book with travel or movement in the title: Dead Witch Walking, Crawling with Zombies, Time Traveler’s Wife
  5. A book with evil in the title: Bad Marie, Fallen, Wicked Lovely
  6. A book with a life stage in the title: No Country for Old Men, Brideshead Revisited, Bog Child

The book titles are just suggestions, you can read whatever book you want to fit the category.

A whole year to do it? I’m in. What fun. In fact, ahem, I daresay my current read, Running Blind, will work for category 4 above, so there you go!

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