Merry Christmas, Alex Cross by James Patterson

Merry Christmas, Alex Cross by James Patterson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I haven't been a regular reader of James Patterson for a while now. There was no real reason I dropped off...I think my interests had changed. I'll read him but he is not a must read for me. I picked this up at the library yesterday looking for something to hold me over.

This felt like leftovers from other works and an effort to wrap up some loose ends...ends I really wasn't in on so the resolution kind of left me flat.

And while I didn't pick up the large print version, the font was noticeably larger than other books I've read recently, making this slim work seem even more slight.

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The Cephalopod Coffeehouse - February

While cleaning my side of the bedroom recently, I stumbled over a whole slew of books that I had been loaned at one time or another.  Our host, The Armchair Squid, let me borrow this ages ago...

This is the "true" story of the birth of the comic book and the comic book industry in America.  I've read the fictionalized account, "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" by Michael Chabon, at one point and struggled to finish it.  My comic book data base tells me I have 53 comics written by the author, Gerard Jones...mostly early 1990s Justice League books.

I did enjoy this more than Kavalier and Clay and really liked some of the insight, but found myself, at times, wanting more.  I understand that so much of this story may be lost to history, but the book is filled with so many off-hand phrases like "We will never really know..." and "We can only speculate on...", I often found myself pulled out of the story.

I don't read much non-fiction but this did whet my appetite for the other comic book related books that have been published in the last few years.

School is out this week so I am on vacation.  One of my vacation goals was to start reading another book.  I exceeded my goal because I actually started AND finished a novel in the last few days.

I enjoy the escapism of the Mitch Rapp series.  I haven't read one of the books in a while.  They end up on my GoodReads shelf entitled "Credulity Straining Action."

The series took an interesting turn, in that Rapp was given a head injury in this novel.  It allowed Flynn to do a few different things with Rapp.

What I didn't know until I went to GoodReads to add that I had read this was that Vince Flynn died last June.  Apparently he left behind another Mitch Rapp novel.  I've read most but will make an effort to fill in the gaps...

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What is The Cephalopod Coffeehouse, you ask?

The idea is simple: on the last Friday of each month, post about the best book you've finished over the past month while visiting other bloggers doing the same.  In this way, we'll all have the opportunity to share our thoughts with other enthusiastic readers. 

Why not check out some of the other folks who are writing about what they read this month?

1.	The Armchair Squid	2.	Scouring Monk
3.	Trisha @ WORD STUFF	4.	Wishbone Soup Cures Everything
5.	The Random Book Review	6.	Words Incorporated
7.	StrangePegs -- The Casual Vacancy	8.	Read, Write, Repeat
9.	Mockity Mock Mock	10.	I Think: Therefore, I Yam

Another Book From Last Week

Me...Jane by Patrick McDonnell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I picked this up based on the strength of author Patrick McDonnell's other works. I wasn't disappointed. While one of my kids read it first and "spoiled" Jane's identity, the book still packed a nice little punch!

This would be a book to help spark the fancy of any little girl who is on the cusp of embracing non-traditional "girl roles" in the realm of science and environmentalism.

Major kudos to the author for including the subject's actual drawings from her youth!

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What I Read Today

Monkey with a Tool Belt by Chris Monroe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book has been on my "to read" list for over a year. I am not sure why I added it to the list but I am glad I did.

This is an tale in the on-going adventures of Chico Bon-Bon, a monkey with a tool belt.

I found the illustrations to be very humorous. Monroe does an excellent job of conveying Chico's moods even in his relatively simple illustrations.

I enjoyed the preposterousness of Chico's plan and the deatils ad humor in the illustration describing the items in Chico's tool belt.

There were several pages that had an internal rhyming structure that worked for me but there was a slight jarring when moving away from those pages.

I am not sure if I will continue with the series but this was a charming entry that I really enjoyed.

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