vel veeter – Page 125 – Cannonball Read 17

All that Remains – Patricia Cornwell (1992)

All that Remains by Patricia Cornwell

March 2, 2021 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

Pairs are getting murdered or at least disappeared in the wilds east of Richmond, and Kay Scarpetta starts having to look for consistencies and commonalities in otherwise seemingly unconnected crimes. When the daughter of a well-known political figure (a rising star in the Republican party) goes missing along with her boyfriend, and when that disappearance may or may not have anything to do with a local CIA training facility, we add the legal and criminal intrigue of previous books to the political ones here. It’s […]

Bold as Love – Gwyneth Jones (2001)

Bold as Love by Gwyneth Jones

February 24, 2021 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

This is a book that’s equally fascinating and original, as it is chaotic and frustrating. We are in some kind of future, and in the UK (or whatever it is by this point) and a series of worldwide coups are happening and in order to stave off such a fate for the UK, the prime minister installs a rock band as a kind of pseudo-government, and of course this leads to chaos. I read through this book and found myself both really interested in the […]

Kindred – Octavia Butler (1979)

Kindred by Octavia Butler

February 24, 2021 by vel veeter 2 Comments

This is the fourth time I think I’ve read this book, not counting reading the graphic novel a few years back (which I thought was mostly unnecessary). What stands out to me now reading the book again in 2021 is a few shifts in my personal appreciation for the book, and knowing a little more about Butler’s career. Specifically to the last point, this was the very first novel of Butler’s I’d read. I followed it with Parable of the Sower and Parable of the […]

Five Little Pigs – Agatha Christie (1942)

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie

February 24, 2021 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

Somehow, and I know I know it counts short stories, plays, and collection, this is the 25th Hercule Poirot novel and it’s only 1942. In a recent article I read, and thinking about her second Tommy and Tuppence novel N or M?, there’s a clear sense (outside of the text) that Christie was getting somewhat frustrated with Poirot by this time. In this story, we have an old murder that was satisfactorily solved, according to the police and others. An artist was killed, his wife […]

Animal Farm – George Orwell (1945)

Animal Farm by George Orwell

February 23, 2021 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

This is one of those books that I’ve read about a dozen times. So much so that I’ve listened to this specific audiobook edition (by Ralph Cosham) three or four times. It was also one of the first “adult books” (such as it is for adults — Hint: It is, as far as I’m concerned) I read in whole, and read in one go. The book is also the subject of a lot of limiting criticism about what it’s an allegory for. He calls it […]

Mycroft Holmes – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse (2015)

Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse

February 23, 2021 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

I don’t generally like the Sherlock Holmes pastiche. Sometimes it’s solid or good enough, but most of the time, there’s something missing. I tend to find this true of any kind of pastiche writing, especially when it’s mystery writers, but with Sherlock Holmes, there’s so much of it, and so much of it is bad. It’s obviously either novel or off-kilter or something about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar writing this book, and of course, it’s endlessly endearing that he would be so much of a Holmes fan […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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