Three- Inch Teeth is the 24th book in the Joe Pickett series from C.J.Box, It is also the 23rd book I have read in the series. The only book in the series I haven’t read is Cold Wind. (Note to self read Cold Wind this year!). As a long-time fan of the series, while Three- Inch Teeth is one of his best books, it is for me one of the most disturbing.
I really started to explore jazz more in 2014. Prior to that time I had a few favorites I listened to regularly. Those artists included mostly Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith and occasionally Freddie Hubbard and McCoy TYner. When I set out to expand my jazz listening I would review both the Jazz Charts at both the Roots Music Report and JazzWeek. Additionally, I would review the Jazz Birthday Page at All About Jazz.
Ok so after having read only two books in all of March, I finished my second book for April yesterday! The two books I’ve finished are Goodbye Girl by James Grippando and Innercise: The New Science to Unlock Your Brain’s Hidden Potential by John Assaraf. Goodbye Girl is the 18th book in Grippando’s Jack Swyteck series. While Innercise is a self-help book.
The Last Ranger is the second book I’ve written by Peter Heller. The River was the first of Heller’s books I read back in 2020. In a year where I read 56 books (thanks to the pandemic,) it was one of the best books I read. So I was looking forward to reading The Last Ranger. I must admit that I found it a little slow going in the beginning and and actually set it aside and started reading James Grippando’s latest Goodbye Girl. However, I went back to it as the library due date for the book approached, uh it’s today! Anyway, I’m glad I returned.
Midnight Creed is the 8th book in Alex Kava’s Ryder Creed series The series was a spin-off of Kava’s Maggie O’Dell series. Since Maggie and her FBI colleagues are an intricate part of the Ryder Creed series, I’m going to call this book book 19 in the Maggie O’Dell has targeted homeless people up and down the east coast. While Ryder and his dogs are searching for a missing boy. Additionally, Ryder and his staff are awaiting a shipment of K9s that were left behind when our troops left Afghanistan. Read More
So on Friday January 12 I finished reading my second book for 2024, John Scalzi’s Starter Villain. It is the ninth book by Scalzi on my Goodreads shelves. I began reading Scalzi’s books in 2008. The first book I read was Old Man’s War. that book among the others in the Old Man’s War series may still be my favorites written by Scalzi.
The hero of the book, well maybe not a hero, let’s just say main character of the book is Charlie Fister. Charlie is a divorced ex-newspaper journalist. Who is now a substitute teacher living with his cat. A house his siblings want to sell. All Charlie wants is to buy and run a pub downtown. But the cost is astronomical and his only collateral for a bank loan is the house he lives in, which his estranged siblings want to sell!
Then his estranged Uncle Jake dies and leaves Charlie his business. Charlie realizes he may be in trouble, when he’s asked to represent the family at his uncle’s memorial service. At the service, first it was the message sent on a vase of flowers. The message See You in Hell” During the visitation, one guest checks Jake’s pulse another tries to stab him! It seems his uncle was not too popular. “
When Charlie is whisked away to his uncle’s island (I won’t tell you why) he learns Uncle is a “villain”. Additionally, the people who were out to get Jake are out to get his heir, i.e. Charlie. Can Charlie survive??
Starter Villain is the ninth book written by John Scalzi I have read. While I enjoy his hard science a little more I also enjoy his other books.I thought The Kaiju Preservation Society was a great read. The book was nominated for a Goodreads Award as Best Science Fiction book of the year so others liked it, too. It finished as the 8th most popular book.
Starter Villain reminds me a lot of The Kaiju Preservation, Jamie Gray is stuck as a dead-end driver for food delivery apps until she becomes involved with the Society. Cuarlie on the other hand is an ex-journalist stuck working as a substitute teacher. Both are characters that you can root for as they both face formidable opponents.
John Scalzi’s sense of humor always comes out in his characters and it certainly does in Charlie Fister. It certainly is one of the aspects of Scalzi’s books I love.
Even though I keep waiting for something big to happen in Starter Villain, overall i was satisfied with the surprising final twist at the end. Actually, the more I think about the book the more I realize that I really liked the book.
In 2023 Starter Villain was also nominated for the best science fiction book at Goodreads. This time Scalzi’s book finished fourth in the voting. So check it out.
Links for the Further Exploration of the Books of John Scalzi
So over the last few years, I’ve drifted away from my musical roots. Between the 1975 and 2014 I listened to primarily music that falls broadly under the umbrella of Americana. I listened to Folk, Blues, bluegrass and Texas music. After about 2014, my musical listening shifted and I found myself listening to more Jazz and New Age with some Prog Rock thrown in the mix. It seemed every time I looked at the Roots Music Report Chart or New Releases Now, I never saw music from the Americana artists I listened to. The only Americana I continued to listen to regularly was Blues.
However, today’s Roots Music Folk Chart contained new albums from some of my favorites! So let’s what new Americana music I can put into my music rotation.
So the other day I wrote a out one of the two songs that have been in my music rotation this month, Albert Cummings‘ latest album Strong. The other album is Mike Zito‘s new album Life is Hard. Like Cummings Zito has been a favorite of mine for many years a now. I started listening to his music back around 2010 in when I heard his album Pearl. I think that his last two albums, 2021 Blues for the Southside Live and Life is Hard have been the best of his career.
