Mr. Mercedes – Stephen King

I absolutely loved this book! I can honestly say this is one of my favorites by Stephen King. I have not read all of his stories, but I have read most of them. I still think my all-time favorite of his is “From a Buick 8”. Have you read it? If not, you need to go to your local library and check it out (pun intended)! From what I understand, this is not the only story we will be seeing involving Bill Hodges. That makes me a very happy reader!

photo courtesy of www.liljas-library.com
photo courtesy of http://www.liljas-library.com

Bill Hodges is a retired detective, not coping well with sitting at home. When the perp (perk if you’ve read the story) decides to send him a letter, it gives Bill a new sense of purpose. This is one that he cannot let go, nor turn over to his former partner.

He goes back over everything he did involving this case, and the things he ignored that he shouldn’t have. You get to see Bill come to terms with the mistakes he has made, both at work and in his personal life. He tries to right the wrongs, when he can.

Brady Hartsfield (the jacket sleeve said Brady Hartfield, the spelling error surprised me. On the sleeve? Really?) is a brilliant mind from a troubled childhood. Still living at home with his alcoholic mother, he works two jobs while planning his next big kill.

Bill has two unlikely people working with him, which makes this story even more interesting. It is full of suspense, mystery, and even a few laugh out loud moments. I was literally holding my breath more than once while reading this! There were a couple spots where Mr. King mentioned two of his previous books; it fit right in with the story and was a nice touch.

If you haven’t read this, I highly recommend it. If you have, I would love to hear what you thought about it!

Stephen King Image

Library of the World’s Best Mystery and Detective Stories – Part 2

Worlds_Best_Mystery__Detective_Image

PIERRE MILLE

Pierre Mille Image

The Miracle of Zobéide – When a Christian and a Muslim cannot agree on the power of God, one offers a challenge to the other. Is it really God at work, first making the turtle called Zobeide larger, and then smaller until she disappears all together? Or is it a splendid trick and the Christian never catches on? This is a great short story that will stop and make you think; about the power of influence, and the strength of one determined to defend his beliefs, in a clever, non-criminal way.

VILLIERS DE L’ISLE ADAM

 Auguste Villiers de I'Isle-Adam Image

The Torture by Hope – A man condemned because he refuses to renounce his religion sees the opportunity to escape on the eve prior to his (and 43 others) scheduled execution. His escape does not go as planned, and one might even suspect the opportunity to escape was intentionally provided, just to torture one by hope.

EMILE ERCKMANN- ALEXANDRE CHATRAIN

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The Owl’s Ear -A man, appearing to be a hobo, bum, vagabond, is arrested for no good reason other than he refused to tell the town constable what he was doing in that deep, dark cistern.

Full of despair in prison for only part of a night, the hobo hanged himself. Only later would the cousin of the constable discover the true meaning of what the hobo was doing. Out of anger at such a brilliant life and mind cut short, he refused to tell the constable the truth, or ever visit him again.

The Invisible Eye – What I would consider a bit long for a short story, this one was definitely a bit strange and disturbing. What appeared to be a haunted room at the local Inn was capable of driving each of its guests to hang themselves from the outside crossbeam before morning light. A painter who lived across the street seemed to be the only one to take notice of the local hag, called Fledermausse. Being convinced it was her driving these victims to suicide, the painter kept a close eye on her, until he saw the opportunity to even the score, and stop the curse. He was able to give the hag a taste of her own medicine, which was the last taste of anything she would ever have again.

The Waters of Death – a quick read about a cavern of mineral water that seems to have healing powers; yet after skeletons of various animals, and humans, are purged from the cavern, no one dares drink or swim there again. Except for one unlucky soul. I found this story okay enough, but more boring than what I had previously read.

There are a few more stories in this book, and I will share those that I find of interest. There are a couple I have read that are not worth mentioning, but all-in-all, I am pretty happy with this book!

Library of the World’s Best Mystery and Detective Stories – Edited by Julian Hawthorne

One of my favorite things about older stories, especially short stories, is that there is always a lesson in morals. Sometimes it is obvious, and sometimes you never see it coming. But either way, they are fun to read, and you are more than likely to learn something while you are at it!

I will be highlighting some of these great short stories included in this book over the next couple of days. I hope you enjoy the reviews as much as I enjoyed the stories!

HENRI RENÉ ALBERT GUY DE MAUPASSANT (1850-93)

The Necklace – A charming twist on a story of trying to deceive. A woman loses her friend’s diamond necklace. Instead of being honest, her husband and herself buy another one, and spend the next ten years living in poverty as they struggle to pay off the loan. Finally feeling free by having the loan paid off, Mrs. Loisel tells the friend of the burden they had carried for 10 years.

Her friend tells her the diamond necklace she lost was paste, and only worth mere change compared to what they spent on the replacement necklace.

The Necklace book cover

An Uncomfortable Bed – A man, fearing he is going to be the victim of the pranks of his friends on an overnight stay, decides to sleep elsewhere for his own safety. In doing so; he manages to set himself up for a thing exactly as he was trying to avoid.

Ghosts – Not so much a ghost story, as it is a story about how some people will go to great measures to swindle others out of financial or material gains that they have no right to.

The Confession – 2 sisters devoted to each other spend their lives unmarried, living together, rather than have one of them be alone. The great sacrifice made by one sister becomes even more apparent when the other has a death-bed confession to make.

The Horla, or Modern Ghosts – The final short story by Maupassant, it is a journey of psychosis, particularly the author’s own. Is this story true, partly true, or strictly a great dream out of the mind of this great writer? You will have to read it to decide for yourself.

Guy de Maupassant Image

Per his biography page, he did suffer from psychosis brought on by syphilis he contracted as a child. He attempted suicide by cutting his throat with a knife, and was committed to a hospital where he later died.

Don’t Miss Out On This Free Book by Caryl McAdoo!

Another fantastic story by Caryl McAdoo, Hope Reborn is a Texas Romance set in the mid 1850’s. I read this story and really enjoyed it, and if you like historical novels, romance novels (clean romance novels!), or just a story that will make you feel good, you should give this one a try!

Hope Reborn-Caryl McAdoo

You can’t beat free, and once you get a taste of one of Caryl’s stories, you will be wanting more! Stop by tomorrow for my review of this book!

Get your copy from Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Hope+Reborn+Caryl+McAdoo and be sure to let me know how you enjoyed the story!

Any Day I Get To Read Is A Day Where I Achieved Something Positive!

After a Thursday I would rather forget, and a Friday spent at home that I was not happy about, I managed to get motivated and get some things done around my house.

Yesterday we had a Winter Storm Warning starting at 11 am and I seriously considered leaving work to beat the storm, since I had to stop and get cat food and milk. Against my better judgment, I stayed for my whole day, and left work at 3pm. By now we had 50 mph winds, white-outs, and as I was cleaning my car off to leave work, my driver’s side wiper broke off my car. Already frozen after 4 minutes outside (wind chills were about -15) I was in the parking lot, cussing up a storm, holding my windshield wiper in my hand.

I am in Muskegon. It is a blessing being this close to the lake in the Summer, and a curse in the Winter.
I am in Muskegon. It is a blessing being this close to the lake in the Summer, and a curse in the Winter.

I found someone who was able to zip tie it onto the arm, and scared out of my mind, I began my treacherous journey home. I was afraid to leave the wipers running for fear it would break off while I was driving, so I would turn them on when I absolutely could not see anything, which was basically like leaving them on non-stop.

I got to the nearest auto parts place about 30 minutes later, and half-way to my home. I bought a new set of wipers, but they could not put them on for me. He really wanted to help me out, but it was against company policy. So by now I am in tears, frustrated, stressed, and angry. I get back in my car and continue my journey heading home, still knowing I have got to stop and get milk and cat food.

After that horrible journey home, I just needed to hug Benny!
After that horrible journey home, I just needed to hug Benny!

After an hour and a half, I made it home. I can get home from work in less than 15 minutes on a warm day. So after only working 4 days in this new year, I had to use a vacation day for today. I would not be able to get my new wipers put on before today, and I was pretty sure my car would be snowed in anyhow (it was).

So after avoiding doing anything for the majority of the morning, including getting out of bed, I figured I had better get some use out of the day. After doing some cleaning and organizing, I was able to finally begin reading Mr. Mercedes, by Stephen King. I am not very far into it, but I am loving it so far. I have read mixed reviews about this story for the past few weeks, but until I get further into it, I will not have a good idea of what I really think about it.

photo courtesy of www.liljas-library.com
photo courtesy of http://www.liljas-library.com

So my chores are done; unfortunately for my girls, who have had school closed for the last two days, I cannot say the same 🙂 I am making a big pot of spaghetti and garlic bread, and then I have nothing to do the rest of the night except continuing to read Stephen King!

If you are under a Winter Weather Warning yourself, I wish you warmth, comfort, and a great story to keep you busy!

The Books of my Childhood That I Could Not Get Enough Of! (Still Can’t)

One of the joys of having children, or nieces and nephews, friends with kids, neighbors with kids, or just knowing young kids, is that you get to introduce them to the stories you loved when you were young. I may or may not have used my kids as an excuse to go back and read all of my favorites, over and again. There were numerous trips to the library, and I have bookshelves full of stories I can pick up whenever I want a quick read to take me back to my childhood.

These stories are timeless; at least to me. I wish I could remember the first book I ever read that put me on the path of loving books. It does not matter now, but I would love to read it again.

This is certainly not like any cover I had growing up!

The first series I recall reading was “The Boxcar Children“. Gertrude Chandler Warner wrote the first 19 stories in this series, but there are now over 130 titles! I am positive I have not read any of them written beyond Mrs. Warner’s stories, and am unsure at this point if I would want to go back and read further into the series when she did not write them. The series has its own website, and you can visit it here: http://www.boxcarchildren.com/content.cfm/boxcar-children-books

Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators” by Robert Arthur is another series that I have read over-and-over again. I have not had the time to do it lately, but I would often go to the library and check out as many of these books as they would let me, and spend my weekend reading them for the umpteenth time!

From The Screaming Clock cover, courtesy of http://www.threeinvestigatorsbooks.com/
From The Screaming Clock cover, courtesy of http://www.threeinvestigatorsbooks.com/

There is a website dedicated to collectors and fans of these books, with a lot of other great information, including forums. If you enjoyed these books as well, be sure to visit the site here: http://www.threeinvestigatorsbooks.com/

If you loved The Three Investigators stories, you must have read “Encyclopedia Brown” as well. Donald J. Sobol had every young reader wanting to be the neighborhood detective. A fun series to read, for those of us who could just not figure out the solution, you could always find it in the back of the book. I know I had several “A-ha” moments reading these stories.

The covers on the books I read did not look like this!
The covers on the books I read did not look like this!

I have to admit that I never read the Narnia series of books by C.S. Lewis until I was an adult. I have no idea how that ever happened, but it is truly one of my favorite sets of books to read. I was fortunate enough to get to read Harry Potter right along with my girls, and J.K. Rowling is probably as responsible as I am for the fact that I have 4 daughters who truly love reading.

What books did you read as a child, and do you ever go back and read them now?