Empire by Orson Scott Card read by Rudnicki

19 Years of Reviews

Archives: October 2004 Thu Oct 21, 2004 Trace by Patricia Cornwell read by Kate Reading "Let's start the day with a reminder of our boundaries, Henry." Indeed. But some boundaries are more forgettable than others... Consider, for example, the boundaries between Scarpetta and Marino... Posted by: admin on Oct 21, 04 | 5:11Archives October 2004

A sweet, adorable, clever story about a beautiful and beautifully mannered ex Miss Alabama who has decided to jump in the river. Maggie has made a list of pros and cons and the pros have won out. For months, Maggie makes preparations for the day. She has donated all herI Still Dream About You by Fannie Flagg read by Fannie Flagg

Two women, one girl. One steals identities, one leaves identities behind her. Zosie de l'Alba is the bad witch with red lollipop shoes, who befriends the good witch, draws the entire neighborhood into her chocolate shop, and seduces an adolescent girl. The Girl With No Shadow by Joanne Harris

"It was no longer about the money, it was that innocent people had died." This insincere, formulaic, unremarkable thought is thought yet again by Hilary the victim in the 68th Chapter of this disappointing 'thriller'. Another poor and pretty mother, another psychopath, another Asperbergers child. Who cares?Everything to Lose by Andrew Gross read by Tavia Gilbert

Jesus Mary and Joseph in Rocksburg, Pa. Heartflipping. Smile wrenching. Honestagawd. Self-conscious, thoughtful, slightly misaligned human being, good son, and Detective Sergeant Acting Chief, Rocksburg Police, Rugs [”because some people think they can walk all over me”] Carlucci, falls in love while investigating death of sociopath baseball legend. Utter-fuckingly wonderful.BRUSHBACK by K.C. Constantine :: Lloyd James

"Your cigar fell down. You told me how good it was and how all the women liked your big cigar. We hardly started smoking and your cigar fell down." It is Havana radio. The whores are called hinateras, jockeys, to describe the way a girl might ride a pig.Havana Bay by Martin Cruz Smith read by Frank Muller

There is no question that there is a story here, about an otherwise nice city and an otherwise nice cop who is married to a rather understanding Englishwoman. But it is not a story about the city and the cop and the Englishwoman in the 1960s. It is not enough toToo Many Murders by Colleen McCullough read by Charles Leggett

It is not obvious that what happens to English in L.A. is natural, because what is natural in California is not natural anywhere else. But if nature is not local, what is? What localizes language? Why does Hollywood Nate understand another cop who asks him whether an Indian girl isHollywood Moon by Joseph Wambaugh

Food, sex, and Rome. Delicious words string together bodies of edible women and edible animals and recipes of both until it seems uncivilized to separate eating and coupling.The Food of Love::Anthony Capella :: Rocco Sisto

The voice is soft, delicate, unfinished. It tells a story about Noelle, a "human resources" admin with an infamous British great aunt whose estate she has just inherited. Long ago, her past had mixed with her aunt's and her aunt's paintings -- but for years they had not communicated.Painting the Moon by Traci Borum

Solid, sensible text hulled out of an old, heavy earth: The farmer was a tense willowy man with a German name and a head as bald as a rock. and The farmer's wife was fine cook and a generous woman. Meals, too, are solid and heavy and bald: boiled ham,Thunder Bay by William Kent Krueger read by Buck Schirner

Who is this the multi tempered red-headed irish blooded vixen who drives mild-mannered priests and gentle men toward madness and reproduction... appearing over and again in Greeley's work-- ( Sister? Aunt? Teacher? Mother?) GET the nabridged narration by JONATHAN MAROSZ(!) and see how the girl on roof saves the Pope with aWhite Smoke by Andrew Greeley read by Jonathan Marosz

The crisp precise language of the story irons out an implicit California-Palo Alto class structure, in addition to a real plot! A hairy doctor found dead in a $400 hotel room... a husband.Circle of Wives by Alice Laplant

Has anyone else noticed a spectacular and embarrassing silliness among the old guard of East Coast scribblers? As though they were trying to write comic books, and couldn't figure out how to convert text into images? Gone are the wry, dry, street talk, the inside cracks of persons, cities, institutions.Capture by Robert Tanenbaum read by Charles Leggett

Even if you buy all your clothes at Walmart's, even if you never finished high-school and you still collect Happy Meal toys, even if your little girl never saw her father, who thinned out after a while, like smoke, you can still write a recipe book. Then someone with Aids,Going to Bend by Diane Hammond read by Hilary Huber