7-17-11 Con Ed by Matthew Klein - Fiction

5 - A superb con man story with twists that will end up surprising you in the end. With detailed explanations of various cons, Klein draws you in so you feel like a part of the crew. Kip Largo, an ex confidence man who is trying to live legit, is approached by the wife of one of the richest men in America. She wants to leave him and needs to take some of his money with her. But she signed a prenup. Can Kip help her? He turns down the job but then his son shows up on his doorstep asking for money because he owes a gambling debt to the Russian mob. So begins a story full of interesting characters and information that will keep you guessing until the last page.

7-16-11 Lost Echoes by Joe R. Lansdale - Fiction

4 - I really enjoyed this book about a man who has a strange ability: he can see past events when he is triggered by sound. It's hard to explain, but it's a neat facet in this story. The ability started when Harry was little after he had contracted the mumps. He tries to avoid it as he grows up because not only does he see events, he feels all the emotions attached to them and most events are violent. He becomes a drunk until one night when he helps out another drunk who also turned to drinking to escape. Together they work to master their pain and heal themselves. Then the girl next door from Harry's past asks for his help and needs him to use his ability. This is a really good murder mystery with a supernatural twist to it.

7-13-11 My Korean Deli by Ben Ryder Howe - Non-Fiction

3 - This was a pretty average story about a man whose family decides to buy a deli in Brooklyn. There is some culture clash since he is a WASP that married into a Korean family, but nothing over the top or unexpected. How they learn the neighborhood and the characters in the neighborhood is interesting and sometimes amusing. I guess if you're interested in the convenience store business this may appeal to you.

7-11-11 Sugar Skull by Denise Hamilton - Fiction

4 - This was a great mystery. Eve Diamond is a reporter for the LA Times and she gets embroiled in a story that involves politics, cultural traditions, and street kids. Eve is a great character and Hamilton's descriptions of the streets, foods, and events through LA really bring the city to life. The mystery itself is well done and winds through so many different class and cultural levels and yet ties together very well at the end. I'm going to look up her first Eve Diamond novel and check that one out soon.

7-6-11 An Exaltation of Larks by Robert Reed - Fiction

2 - I didn't get it. I'll flat out say it. This book was kind of interesting and I finished it because I figured I'd get it by the end but, no. FYI - The turtles are the eternal beings and they are screwing with the past and giving everyone a chance to relive their existence once. I don't know, the characters were interesting and the story was pretty good but I got lost somewhere in the discussion of the time continuum and the ability to keep living out life and then returning to start over in 15 month intervals. Time travel stuff does have a tendency to confuse me when you get past the simple "Back to the Future" explanations but I just feel like I really didn't get this.

6-29-11 Rework by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson- Non-Fiction

5 - I loved this business book simply because I could see so many of the companies I've worked for described in it. Fried and Hansson founded a software company that makes a profit and defies all the traditional business rules and they've put their beliefs and wisdom on these pages for everyone to see. Micromanaging is out. So are meetings, business plans, 80 hour weeks, and resumes. Even though they contradict all the standard business wisdom, they continue to be successful and after reading this book you'll see why. I think that anyone in business, from the mail boy to the CEO should read this and consider ways that they too can trim responsibly and become more productive without creating a business full of zombies.

6-26-11 Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland - Fiction

4 - This is a trippy look at the end of the world and what if you could do it all over again. It's 1979: Karen is 18 and has just had sex with her boyfriend for the first time and has her whole promising life ahead of her. Then she falls into a coma and sleeps for the next 17 years. While she is sleeping, her daughter is born and her friends and boyfriend go on to live interesting and mostly active lives. She wakes up in a completely different world and has some news to share: the end of the world is coming. It's interesting to see how her friends have gotten along without her and how her daughter, raised mostly by her parents, reacts to her awakening. Plus the weirdness of her revelations and the subsequent events makes this an interesting read.