Series
Inferno - Dan Brown ($9.99/$.50, copyright 2013, 611 pages, Paperback)
I enjoyed "Angels and Demons" and thought that "The DaVinci Code" was pretty good so I was looking forward to reading this. Robert Langdon - our hero - wakes up in the hospital, with no idea where he is. Within minutes of awakening in the hospital, the chase is on. An assassin tries to kill him but Langdon escapes, joined by an attractive young female doctor, Sienna, he met two minutes before. They spend the first half of this book being pursued by various factions in black clothes driving black cars with blacked out windows. They find hidden passages, overcome locked doors, hide behind sculptures and paintings, outrun helicopter tracking drones, discover ancient caverns and on and on and on, always on the brink of being captured but always managing to make it in the nick of time as pages are taken up describing various paintings, sculptures, fountains, passageways, artists, Florentine history, and lots and lots and lots of Dante's Inferno. It's all overblown and, in my opinion, there's way too much time spent on Florentine history. I finished it but I wouldn't recommend it.
Miscellaneous
Deadwood - Pete Dexter ($14.00/$.50, copyright 1986, 365 pages, Trade Paperback)
I'm a child of the '50's and grew up watching Westerns on TV so I love when I come across anything like this. Deadwood is really everything a Western ought to be: a character-centric story full of dirt, killing, heartbreak, misery, drunkenness, and simple moments. I picked it up because it mentioned Wild Bill Hickock in the blurbs and Dexter spends a portion of the book dealing with Hicock's death but he also dedicates portions of the book to Colorado Charley Utter, Calamity Jane, Al Swearengen, and others. Calamity Jane, in particular, is shown as a drunken mess but also an extremely tender woman who cares for the sick during an outbreak of smallpox, and the complexity and inconsistency of her character make her one of the most magnetic in the book. I enjoyed it.
Totals
I haven't read as much this year, Largely because my Granddaughter has taken up more of my time and I've had some health issues to deal with. Still, I don't think the numbers are bad.
Miscellaneous - 18 books, $135.15 cover price, $18.73 actual price
Series - 8 books, $68.94 cover price, $12,22 actual price
Off The Shelf - 4 books, $27.89 cover price, $27.89 actual price
This year's totals:
30 books, $231.98 cover price, $58.84 actual price.
Seven years totals are:
294 books, $2,984.89 cover price, $298.49.
I'm in the middle of a new book now and I hope you are, too.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Next up, December so ....
Keep reading.
