Bienvenue Baton Rouge Readers!

Monday, September 6, 2010

This Body of Death-Elizabeth George

This was a great book, especially if you enjoy mysteries. I always thought George only wrote historical ficition mysteries but this was set in current times. It's about 700 pages and I read it in two days! Granted, I have time on my hands, but still ;) Anyway, what real...ly stood out for me about this book was its character development. George does such a great job of presenting the characters in this book that you actually have an image of them as well as an opinion of whether theyre' likeable or not. AND, I'm not going to give the story away but in addition to the mystery, the novel deals with the issues of redemption and how do you change the past or CAN you??

Bloodline-Kate Cary

A rewrite/sequel to the classic Dracula story. Interesting take on what happened next to the original Dracula characters--not badly written, but typical of its genre. Easy, light reading

Lucy-Laurence Gonzales

Plot: Child is born that is a genetic experiment that is part human and part bonobo, our closet primate relative. There are parts of this book that rather stretch believability--surprisingly,NOT the genetic part of it as that is scientifically possible, but some of t...he events. However, it is still a good read and an interesting take on presenting our current society through the eyes of someone who grew up not of it, for example, americans' rampant consumerism mentality, and also how embedded our society is in religious concepts whether we believe it or not and how we define our own humanity and the consideration we give non-human mammals.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Louisiana Interest

Savage Lands--Clare Clark
Historical fiction. Depiction of Louisiana before even New Orleans was an established city, so it's roughly the mid to late 1600's. Based on a factual event of when the King of France ordered representatives to send over young girls/women to be wives and companions of the men who had settled here, largely the French Acadiennes from Canada. Story is told mostly through the eyes of one of the women sent here. Has interesting details about life in the swamps--it will REALLY make you appreciative of the efforts it took to civilize the land here for normal habitation--and our relations with the native tribes from here up to about Illinois.


Island Beneath the Sea--Isabel Allende
Mostly historically accurate depiction of relatons b/t slave masters/overseers and slaves in the Antilles (modern day Haiti) and then their immigration to New Orleans. I'd give it 3 out of 4 stars

Haunted Ground--Erin Hart

Contemporary Irish murder mystery. Very well-written and interesting. Liked it so much I went straight back to the library to see if they had any of her other books. A murder mystery based on discovery of a 'bog body'-a real phenomenon that is archaelogically very important