Books Archives - Page 2 of 36 - Renaissance Granddad's Explorations.....

Archive by category "Books" (Page 2)

Beach Wedding – Michael Ledwidge

So for whatever reason I have never read a book written by Janes Patterson. As a result, I never discovered author Michael Ledwidge until I checked out Stop at Nothing book #1 in his Michael Gannon series from my library in July of 2021. It was great! I quickly quickly followed it up in August with book #2 in the series Run for Cover. Then I had to wait until January 2023 until book 3 Hard to Break was released. During that time Ledwidge had released a standalone novel Beach Wedding, which I put off reading until last month, when it became the seventh book I’ve read in 2024. Anyway, here is what I’ve missed out on by not reading Ledwidge’s work until now! Read More

Midnight Creed (Ryder Creed # 8) -Alex Kava (Book 8 of 2024)

Midnight Creed - Alex Kava one my my 2024 Reads

Midnight Creed (Ryder Creed (#8) (Maggie O’Dell World #19) Alex Kava

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.

Soon another boy goes missing (one that Ryders’s coworker Jason knows well) and Ryder and his team sets off on a frantic search to find the boy.

Meanwhile the serial killer Maggie’s chasing is headed to Florida! Will the two cases collide!

My Thoughts on Midnight Creed

I have been reading books by Alex Kava since her first Maggie O’Dell book A Perfect Evil. I have enjoyed everyone of them.m Each case Maggie faced through the first 11 books has been slightly different. Maggie has faced not only serial killers a, but serial arsonists, and a potential mall bomber. In addition to electrocuted teenagers and deadly pathogens.

Kava introduced Ryder Creed in her 2015 release Breaking Creed. Ryder an ex-marine turned K9 search-and-rescue dog trainer. Along with his partner they rescue dogs and trainer them to become search-and-rescue dogs. Through the first seven books in the series Maggie and Ryder’s relationship has developed. In book 7 they revealed their love for one another but they still live separately. Maggie cant’ leave Quantico and the FBI and Ryder can’t leave his dogs.

But back to Midnight Creed. Once again Kava provides a well-paced character driven treat. In addition to Maggie and Ryder the supporting characters Jason and Ryder’s sister Brodie have become key characters in the series. Well, Brodie has been a key character in the series since the beginning of the series. However, readers just met her in the most recent books. Where was she?

Midnight Creed can be read without having read the whole series. However, I bet you’ll want to go back aand read the rest of the series after reading it! So check it out!

Links for the Further Exploration of the Books of Alex Kava Read More

Starter Villain – John Scalzi – AnotherWinner for Scalzi

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??

Thoughts on Starter Villain

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 Read More

Those Empty Eyes – Charlie Donlea and Thoughts About Authors

So I know us avid readers all have favorite authors. Those authors who you go right out and find and read their latest novel as soon as it is released, For me those authors include; James Lee Burke, C.J.Box and Karin Slaughter. You can see a complete list on this post – . You also have a set of authors whose books you really, really like but you may not get around to reading their books until after you’ve finished the new books from that top list. I myself have many authors that fall into that group. One of those authors is Charlie Donlea. Read More

Proposed December Reads from Favorite Authors- Go!

UPDATE:December has come and gone and I read only two and a half books of the ones pictured above. The two I finished were Tides of Fire by James Rollins and Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane. The half was Starter Villain by John Scalzi!

So yesterday I wrote that I would like to read four to five more books before the end of 2023. The above picture shows the five books I currently have check out of the library. These are my proposed reads for December. The order in which I am going to read them is bottom to top. I have read books written by all of the authors. So let’s take and look at the books and authors for these Dcember Reads!

Tides of Fire – James Rollins

Tides of Fire is the 17th book in the Sigma Force series from James Rollins. In total I have read 21 books by Rollins and I am ashamed to say the only Sigma Force book from Rollins I haven’t read is the first book in the series Sandstorm. Oh, and I haven’t read the two short stories he’s written.

If you like action adventure novels with science truth blended with science fiction from Rollins you’ll love his books!

From Goodreads about Tides of Fire
=&0=&

Marcie Rendon – Girl Gone Missing After a Quick Catching Up

Let’s Catch Up……..

Ok so here we go again, you don’t know it but I have made several attempts to get back to writing this blog. All of them are still in the draft stages!

A myriad of reasons have colluded to keep me from posting. First, I’ve had an eye problem that has resulted in visits to several doctors. A visit to an ophthalmologist which led to a visit to a retina specialist. From there I went back to a cardiologist, as well as, my family doctor for various tests. None of the testing has revealed a cause for the problem. I do know now though that my heart is good with no blockages anywhere. The next step is a visit to a neuro-ophthalmologist.

The second impact on my blogging is more pleasant, however, it’s been more life changing. In February my daughter had a baby girl. Subsequently my wife, who was ready for retirement, took the plunge and did it. The result is that we are now babysitting four to five days a week from 7:00 am to 4:45. And even though there are two of us, it’s still tiring! With that said, we wouldn’t change it for the world! Emma is just a marvelous baby!

After three months, I am just getting settled into a schedule so i can re-start full workouts and running. Additionally,I am starting to read more! After reading only 3 books in September and 2 in October, I have read four books in November Whoo-hoo! After finishing Girl Gone Missing yesterday I have read 41 books in 2023. However, that leaves me 9 books behind the pace I need to be at to reach my goal of 55 for the year. Hopefully, I can read four or five books before the end of the year.

And Move Forward,,,,,

My Last Read – Girl Gone Missing (Cash Blackbear #2) – Marcie Rendon Read More

Catching up, Moving Forward with Proposed Reads

Catching Up

OK so it’s been so long since I’ve posted on this site on a consistent basis that I feel I need to introduce myself again! My name is Edward K.Karn or EKKarn, or “a sixties man” on Instagram. That Instagram user name may need to be updated to ” a seventies man” as I left my sixties a couple of years ago and on October 1st I will turn 72! However, I still do love those “Sixties” what a wild time they were!

Anyway I am avid reader and over the last 30 plus years I have read an average of 40-60 books a year. Additionally, I have listened to and collected a wide variety of music. Throughout most of those years,I listened to primarily Folk, Americana and Blues. Over the last several years I have added Jazz, New Age and even some Progressive rock to my music library. Finally, over those years, I have worked hard to turn back or at least slow down my biological clock, through both diet and exercise.

I originally named this blog “Karnucopia” because it is like a cornucopia of stuff I like and do! Now though, I’ve decided to call it “Looking Back, Moving Forward“, As such what I plan to do is look back a the books I’ve read (You can check out Ten Authors Who Ignited My Reading here ) and the music I’ve listened to over the years. . And while I have loved many authors and musicians, I still am moving forward looking for new authors and new musicians!

Moving Forward with July and August Proposed Reads

Currently I’m reading Steve Berry’s latest book The Last Kingdom. Through the years I’ve read several of Berry’s books. However, I should have read more of them. Currently, six of them are sitting on my unread bookshelves, Boo Me! Anyway, here are the other six books I have checked out of the library, for my July and August reading!

July and August Proposed Reads from top to bottom:

Independence Square -Martin Cruz Smith

Goodreads – Amazon

This is book #10 in Martin Cruz Smith’s Arkady Renko series. I read Gorky Park book # 1 in the series in 1982, when it was a current bestseller!

My excuse for not having read another until now is the books have been published 3 to 6 years apart. Long enough for my ADHD brain to forget about them. With that said I am looking forward to readin g this one and maybe others in the series!

The Girl By the Bridge – Arnaldur Indridason (Konrad #2)

Goodreads – Amazon

The Girl By the Bridge is book# 2 in Arnaldur’s Konrad series. I finished the first book in the series The Darkness Knows in June of this year. It was reallly good so I’m excited about trading this one. I have read all but one book in Indridason’s previous series featuring Detective Erlendur a great series! ( Note to self read Black Skies book #10)

The 9th Man – Steve Berry and Grant Blackwood. Read More

Storm Watch (Joe Pickett #23). – C.J.Box

So far I have finished two books this month. The first Blind Justice was my first visit to the world of Detective Sargent Aector McAvoy from David Mark. While the second Storm Watch was my 22nd visit to the world of C.J.Box‘s Joe Pickett.

I first met Joe Pickett and his family in 2003, when I read Savage Run the second book in the series. I soon read the Open Season book one in the series and I’ve only missed one book in the series! You can check out more here

Storm Watch (Joe Picket #23) -C.J. Box

Storm Watch begins with Joe performing his typical Game Warden duties. Joe receives a call regarding an elk cow that has been hit by a car and Joe responses and track the elk far into the mountains. After finding the elk Joe finds a mysterious building, when he explores it further he finds it is filled with a ton of computers. Oh, there is also a dead body stuck halfway in a window! Soon Joe is called by the Governor and told not to investigate the murder.

Meanwhile, Joe’s friend Nate Romanowski is approached by an ex-black ops operator to join an anti-government group that’s planning some big action.

So can Joe and Nate stay out of trouble? Are the murder and Nate’s request the join the Sovereign Nation group connected?

Bottom Line

I was somewhat disappointed with Shadows Reel (book 22) in the series. I just didn’t think it was one of Box’s best. However, I do think he redeemed himself with this one! The only thing that didn’t happen was Joe’s truck finished the book unscathed!

Links for the Further Explorations of the Books of C.J.Box Read More

Noir and Girl, Forgotten Recent Reads Part 1

Noir and Girl,Forgotten are the 43rd and 44th books I have read in 2022. Both were written by authors who are among my favorites. Cristopher Moore wrote Noir and Karin -Slaughrer penned Girl, Forgotten. Since Noir is book 43 I’ll write about it in Part 1…..

Noir

Through the years I have read and enjoyed many of Christopher Moore’s books.Typically, I find them extremely funny and Noir is just that…. From Moore’s website…

The absurdly outrageous, sarcastically satiric, and always entertaining New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore returns in finest madcap form with this zany noir set on the mean streets of post-World War II San Francisco, and featuring a diverse cast of characters, including a hapless bartender; his Chinese sidekick; a doll with sharp angles and dangerous curves; a tight-lipped Air Force general; a wisecracking waif; Petey, a black mamba; and many more. Read More

The Bottom Line

The Bottom Line is Noir deserves between around 4.5 thumbs ups. What the plot lacks, the setting and characters and Moore’s quick wit more than make up for, leaving me laughing and happy! But don’t just take my word for it here’s what some others say about Noir….

Moore is a master of metaphor and a sultan of simile. . . .It takes an author of remarkable talents to keep a profitably urinating snake, a dame named for a dairy product, and a slimy extraterrestrial all running through a narrative.”
– Washington Independent Review of Books Read More

Category: Books

Beach Wedding – Michael Ledwidge