Some Christmas books currently free on Kindle. If you don't have a kindle, you can still download them and read on your pc or phone with the free Kindle app. Please note that prices were all free when I posted - sometimes these change without warning, so grab 'em while they're hot.


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Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
Book on Amazon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jeannette Walls continues to trace the story of her dysfunctional family. This book starts with her grandmother's childhood, and details the no-nonsense strong woman she became. Though this is classified as fiction (mostly because it's written first person in the grandmother's voice, I believe), the events and stories are very believable and the narrative voice is strong, if not likable. Lily Casey Smith is very practical, too practical to give in to her emotions- but there are a few places where her tough outer shell cracks and you can see some of her softer moments. It also details her daughter Rosemary (Jeannette's mother)'s childhood, and how she grew up to marry a hard drinking nomad. The details of their life, and their children's lives, can be found in The Glass Castle which I read a few years back. Enjoyable book that makes me wonder about the roots of my own family's dysfunction.

Two Cents Plain: My Brooklyn Boyhood by Martin Lemelmen
Book on Amazon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A truly stunning graphic novel with excellent black and white drawings, photographs, and collages. The narrative is very personal and it's easy to feel like a part of the Lemelmen family as you read about their struggles in Brooklyn. Martin's parents are Holocaust survivors, and when they make a life for themselves and have a family in America, there are still some Old World customs they can't quite leave behind them. And around them, America is changing - the neighborhood that started out a friendly place when they first opened a candy store there becomes a place where racial tensions and crime run rampant.

Mr. Monk in Trouble by Lee Goldberg
Book on Amazon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This solid offering in the Monk series has Mr. Monk and his intrepid assistant Natalie traveling to a California gold mining town called Trouble to investigate the murder of a former San Fransisco cop. While there, they discover the story of one of Monk's ancestors - Artemis Monk, an assayer and meticulous murder solver of the gold rush era. They also discover the mystery of a train robbery that's never been solved. Mr. Monk, never one to leave anything unsolved, sets about solving both cases. I loved that the book included the diary of Artemis Monk's assistant, so the reader got to enjoy essentially two mystery stories in one. Well done. I'm looking forward to the next Monk story. Recommended for Monk fans and mystery fans alike.

Note! This is my 50th book read and reviewed this year. And this is the second time I've had to adjust my Goodreads reading goal. I'd originally started out thinking I'd read 40 books in a year, then upped it to 50. Now I'm going to see if I can make it to 60 before the year ends.

You can find all these great titles and more at Dandelion Studios.


Troll Brothers Gruuf
A Tunnels & Trolls fan comic written by Rick Silva and Illustrated by Gynn Stella. Eight-page b/w minicomic.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In this take on a classic story, a demon lord wanting to cross a troll bridge learns that no matter how important you think you are, sometimes it's best to just pay the toll. The dialog and illustrations are great - I really enjoyed the troll brothers and would love to see them appear in another story.

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It's hard for me to express exactly how much the writing of Kurt Vonnegut means to me. It's more than just the actual writings themselves, which are very good. Mr. Vonnegut wrote novels, short stories, and essays that were brilliant. But more than that, I discovered his work at a critical time in my life. I was about 15 or 16 years old and attending Catholic school, working in the school's library during my lunch hour to fill my community service requirement without having to waste my summer doing it. In the process of shelving books, I came across Breakfast of the Champions and skimmed through it. In it, along with the text, were scribbles by the author - including an asterisk along with a caption about this is what an asshole looks like.



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book 3

Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
Book on Amazonhttp://www.amazon.com/Writing-Down-Bones-Freeing-Writer/dp/0877733759
My Rating: 3 of 5 stars

A zen-like approach to writing, as outlined by Natalie Goldberg. Part instruction manual, part memoir. An interesting read, but nothing I hadn't heard before - might be good advice to a beginning, especially a timid new writer. There were a few exercises presented, which I wrote down for future use - but definitely something to take out of the library as opposed to buy, because you'll only really get one read out of it- and if you've been writing a while, it won't tell you anything you don't already know.


book 4

Send in the Idiots - stories from the other side of autism - by Kamaran Nazeer
Book on Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Send-Idiots-Stories-Other-Autism/dp/1582346194
My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

From the ages of 4-7, the author was in a school program for autistic children. As an adult, he tracks down the other children from his class and sees where their lives have taken them. One is a professional speech writer. One is a scientist, who speaks through his puppets. One is a bike messenger boy. One committed suicide. He also talks to the teachers involved with the program too. Along the way you get a lot of insight into the autistic mind, and into the lives of people who fall somewhere on the spectrum. I'd recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn more about autism, from the perspective of adults who live with it.

Some folks on my friends list have been doing the read 100 books in 2011 meme that's going around. I want to participate too, but I think it would be too stressful for me to try for a finite amount of books. Instead my personal challenge is going to be to keep track of how many books I do read, and write a review or reaction to each one.

I'd appreciate any recommendations you have! I like to read non-fiction books about history, anthropology, or various interesting topics - I like literary fiction, short stories, poetry, mysteries and historical fiction. I haven't read a lot of sci-fi or fantasy, but I'm willing to try more.

I'm not crazy about chick lit or romances, but I'll read one once in a while just for a quick amusement if it's actually got some point of interest to it and isn't entirely formulaic.

I'd also like for someone to explain to me how a site like goodreads or library thing works. I've considered using one of them to keep track, but they've been kind of confusing to me. I've also tried facebook aps, and now that facebook has changed their layout it's hard for me to find where the aps are and everything so that's hard to keep up with too. So if you have organizing suggestions, would apprecite it.

Here's my current to-read list (some from previous recomendations):
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
(author) C.j. Cherryh
Maus
A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City: A Diary
The Virgin Suicides
Trumpet: A Novel by Jackie Kay
Suits Me: The Double Life of Billy Tipton by Diane Middlebrook
After the Funeral: The Posthumous Adventures of Famous Corpses by Edwin Murphy
Auntie Mame / Around the World with Auntie Mame / Uncle Mame
Kristin Cashore - Fire
Kristin Cashore - Graceling
Vicki Pettersson -- the signs of the zodiac series
Karen Moning [this straddles the romance section] - the fever series
Maria Snyder [also straddles romance] - the study series
Jasper Fforde - both the Thursday Next series and the Nursery Crimes series