October is winding down but we still have Halloween to look forward to. This year it's on a Saturday and it will be the first one for my Granddaughter, although I don't know how much of it she'll understand - she's only 6 months old.
As I mentioned last month, my days are heavily invested in babysitting so my reading time has been cut back. It's mostly at night now but I did manage to squeeze in a few chapters during the baby's nap time.
Series
Worst Case - James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge ($9.99/$.50, copyright 2010, 320 pages, Paperback)
This is another book from the Patterson Factory and an addition to his Michael Bennett series. Detective Bennett, along with FBI Agent Emily Parker, must try to figure out who is abducting New York's wealthiest people's children and, more importantly, why. The pressure is amped up after the first two turn up dead. The Patterson short-punchy-chapters approach works well here, moving the story along quickly and the authors do a good job of covering a lot of New York's neighborhoods. There is also a fair amount of humor in this one and, of course, the obligatory family scenes with Bennett's 10 kids. I enjoyed it.
Non-fiction
In Cold Blood - Truman Capote ($15.00/$.50, copyright 1965, 343 pages, Trade Paperback)
As True Crime novels go, it doesn't get much better then this. The root of this work is a ghastly crime committed in 1959. Two recently released convicts - Dick Hickock and Perry Smith - seeking a fortune that did not exist, invade the Clutter family home in Holcomb, Kansas. They tie up the four family members present and then, deciding to leave no witnesses, kill them with shotguns. It takes some time for the perpetrators to be identified, then tracked down. While that was happening, Capote went there and immersed himself. He looked at how the townspeople reacted. He looked at the investigation that led to the capture of the suspects. He looked in depth at the criminals. It took him 6 years to complete this book and it was worth it. I enjoyed it.
(NOTE: I did read several other books this month but, since they were Picture Books for my Granddaughter, I decided to leave them off the list. When she's old enough to sit through a chapter or 2 of "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland" I'll start to include those.)
Well, the Holiday Season starts at the end of the month and we're going to have to gear up for that. I hope I can find some time to do some shopping. Maybe I'll get my Granddaughter some books.
Keep Reading!
