Hemingway Archives > recordedbookreview.com

There should be and will be a measure of a good writer, which is the number of words it takes for the reader to be INSIDE the story. Up, up and away. Peter Robinson: 10. Kristin Hannah/Hannah Kristin: 25. Ernest Hemingway: 4.

19 Years of Reviews

For those of you who have been reading or not reading Koontz lately, it may not be obvious that there are two Koontzes: the early Koontz and the late Koontz. Like the early Heidegger and the late Heidegger. The distinction should open the door to hours and hours and hoursThe Door to December by Dean Koontz read by George Guidall

Utterly charming tale of British advertising executive fed up with the petty hysteria of bosses, clients and ex-wives. He quits. He drives to the south of France, meets a beautiful real estate agent, and opens a hotel. But things are not so simple...Hotel Pastis by Peter Mayle read by John Franklyn-Robbins

"Don't make any major changes in the first year" ... they say at AA. Matt Scudder has five or six weeks not to decide what he's going to do about Jan, a girl he sees Saturday night and Sunday morning ... "Some people say not to make any major changes forA Drop of the Hard Stuff by Lawrence Block read by Tom Stechschulte

Despite a perfect narrator, with a perfect Italian pronunciation of pithy Italian sayings, the mystery lacks a singularly compelling plot, indeed any plot. Disappointing because the author has a lot to say. .... Murder in Tranquility Park by J.D. Griffo

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

Good idea, poorly executed.Stone Cold by David Baldacci. Read by Ron McLarty

This mystery series will fascinate those who fancy antiques, collectors and others who are obsessed with old, rare, useless or lovable objects. An antiques picker married to an agoraphobic chef, Jeff Talbot lives in a Victorian dollhouse in Seattle and uses his ex-FBI skills to solve curious homicides. Death is a Cabaret by Deborah Morgan

"You know how Thais are: totally fair minded Buddhists until their personal income is threatened." For we farang, the improbability of Thailand is as good as fiction. Where else would one find a dejected pot-smoking homicide detective and his long-haired assistant, a "Kathoey transsexual who has not yet scraped together theThe Godfather of Kathmandu by John Burdett read by Stephen Hogan

As Marcus Aurelius would say, there are good mixtures and bad mixtures. Consider: A man, a dog, a Ford Explorer. An American, a surfboard, a wave. Or: an experiment, a scientist, the DOD. Good or bad? Koontz doesn't say. But incredible the speed with which we move to position ourselves behind the good, or theSeize the Night by Dean Koontz read by Keith Szarabajka

Good mystery full of thoroughly unlovable characters. Homeless hearthless ones: kitchenless characters. Unemployed clerk comes back to poor Florida town to find half-dead aunt. She putts about in the Florida panhandle asking questions and discovering bad neighbors and bad morals. Riptide by Michaela Thompson

A cross between a painter, an MFA student, and a woman finds herself attached to charming, untrustworthy male artists and thence to the forgery of a stolen Degas. In between whining about herself and her lacks, she tells us about several famous forgers and shows us how they workedThe Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro read by Xe Sands

There are very few perfect beginnings to a story. Beginnings which move through images at the same rate as they move through text, rolling into a plot detectibly, sensibly, unhurriedly. A boy, for example, making the rounds on his bicycle, delivering the daily papers: ...At Colonel and Mrs Easterbrook's,A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie

How is it that Anna Jacobs always swaddles you into a world that feels cozy and safe and hopeful? Here is another story about a working woman who wants to retire but puts it off until she is at the edge of the world and has to fight her way backChanging Lara by Anna Jacobs

Ethically demented, seriously ambitious police detective brutalizes innocent, unthinking little boy. Heartwrenching. A must for prosecutors.The Rag and Bone Trade by Robert Cormier

Quiet, patient, relentless intelligence spills over the pages of this story about a girl geek, a journalist, a news magazine devoted to the critique of corrupt Swedish institutions, and an odd assemblage of Stockholm's thugs, bureaucrats, intellectuals, and cops. None are verbose. Men and women think. Thinking happens withoutThe Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larson read by Simon Vance

Tag: Hemingway

The Measure