Books - wonderful ways to travel in time or place or custom. Wonderful ways to find excitement, peace, knowledge - whatever you may be searching. Books offer topics of conversation, relaxation and knowledge.

One of my children is in the military and has to travel quite a bit. He told me one way he found to pass the time and to keep up/catch up on educational issues was to "listen" to books as he traveled. I decided to try it. It's GREAT! Something else that happened about the time I decided to make reading a bigger part of my life again was book club discussions on Oprah's show. At one time I had read all of the books she had listed, the ones that are on audiotape (I have fallen a little behind but will catch up).

Besides Oprah's show, I find my selections in a number of ways. Friends will sometimes tell me about books they are reading. I will get on our local libray site (we have one of the best library systems in the country - they won a prize for being the best last year) and look up books by authors I like. I will get on Amazon.com to browse new selections also to look up information about books I already have in mind. I am peculiar I guess in that I like only unabridged books (I feel like I am missing something if I read abridged - guess I am a nosey person?) But if the book is reported to be exceptionally good and I can't find it unabridged I will submit to abridged.

There are several companies that produce audiotapes. As I describe the books I will mention the company and the information I have on each tape. The graphic beside each book is a representation of something that is in the story.

I will be adding books as I go so I will put them in alphabetical order by author. You will be able to click on the first letter of the last name of the author to get to those reviews.

In the summer time our public library has a "summer reading program". Children read a certain number of books and receive a prize for the most books read. Well, they have a summer reading club for adults this year so on a lark I joined it. It is kind of fun being in a "contest" for how many books you can read in a given time.

A   B   C   D   E   F   G  H  I  J  K  L   M   N   O  P   Q  R   S   T   U   V   W   X   Y   Z

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende

This is one of the choices from Oprah's Book Club. The book was read by Blair Brown.

This is one of the books I had trouble putting down. It was really good and got better as you went along. It is about an English family living in Chile. It moves to California during the gold rush. The author describes so many wonderful things about that period and place in time. Scenery, food, clothing, peoples way of living. It was exciting and informative. The California scenery was so beautiful (as it still is). This is a must read if you like historical fiction about the west in the 1800s.

Wish You Well by David Baldacci

The book was read by Norma Lana and is published by Time Warner Audio Books.

Louisa Mae Cardinal's father was a writer and it appears she will follow in his footsteps. While returning from a picnic there was a terrible accident and Louisa's father was killed; her mother was in catatonic shock and could not take care of her and her brother so they were sent to live with their great grandmother in the mountains of Virginia. It was a very rugged life but Louisa came to love the mountains even with the hard, hard work. They ran a small farm which fed them all year around. She met many people that she came to love. When the great grandmother has a stroke it looks like Louisa and her brother will be in trouble again.

The book was read by George Guidall

Jason Archer fakes his own death in a plane crash. HIs wife along with FBI agent Lee Sawyer discovers the truth behind Jason's disappearance. Jason had managed to send an encoded computer e-mail to his wife that became the clue to solve the mystery. .

Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy

This author wrote one of the books in Oprah's Book Club although not this particular book was on the list. The book was read by Kate Binchy and is published by Chivers Audio Books, Windsor Bridge Road, Bath BA2 3AX .

This book is about a girl in Ireland and covers her life from the time she was a child. People are added to her life as she grows until she has a "small circle of friends". It follows this group of friends through troubles and good times into to a college life in Dublin, Ireland. The main character is named Eve and includes her family and many friends both male and female.

I like the Irish accent of the reader. It helped to make me feel as though I was there. There were also many descriptions that made me believe in my minds eye that I was there, in Ireland. There were descriptions of the country side, clothing, meals and the interiors of homes and buildings. One word that interested me was "et". It was used where we would use the word ate. And it brought back a very old memory of one of my aunts (on the Irish side of my family) using that term all through my life. Now, after all these years, maybe I can see where her use of that word came from.

The Judgement by D.W. Buffa

The book was read by Dennis Predovic and is published by Time Warner Audio Books.

Judge Calvin Jeffries was murdered. Attorney Joseph Antonelli was impressed by the judge early in his career and has a long on going relationship of sorts with him. Joe ends up defending a person who is accused of murdering another judge in much the same way. Slowly it begins to look like the two murders have something in common. An old girlfriend comes back into Joes life as all this investigation and trials go on. There is an interesting twist to what happens in their relationship too.

The book was read by Robert Lawrence and is published by Brilliance Audio Books, Inc., P.O. Box 887, Grand Haven, MI 49417.

L.A. police detective Shane Scully is being investigated by internal affairs (the tin collectors) for killing his partner. It becomes plain that he is being set up in a plot of corruption and conspiracy. This corruption goes high up in the department. At the same time he has taken on the care of a young teenager for an informer who has helped the police department in the past.

River, Cross My Heart by Breena Clarke

This is one of the choices from Oprah's Book Club. The book was read by the author. For more information on it contact Time Warner Bookmark.

This is a story about a young girl who drowns and how that affects the whole community. It takes place in Georgetown around 1925. What I found interesting were the many descriptions of life in that era. Descriptions of picnics, of transportation, of sights and sounds and social thinking of that era. I learned a new word from this book - haint. You may want to look it up if you don't know what it means.

A Darkness More than Night by Michael Connelly

The reader for this book is Richard M. Davidson. It is published by Time Warner Audiobooks which is a division of Time Warner Trade Publishing, 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

I have read several of Michael Connelly book. They all have held my interest more than so me I have read. This one was kind of ironic in that one of the main characters of several of Connelly's other book is being investigated for a crime by a retired FBI agent Terry McCaleb. Terry had had a heart transplant and is now running a charter service off Catalina Island. He was asked by an old partner to help on this investigation. One quote I like that appeared in the book is "For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction".

Family Values by K.C. Constantine

The reader for this book is Lloyd James. It is published by Books on Tape, P.O. Box 7900, Newport Beach, CA 92658.

Mario (Balzic) is driving his wife crazy in his retirement until he gets an offer to do a job for the state attorney's office. He will be investigating the circumstances of a murder that had taken place 17 years before. The investigation leads to some evidence of a small town police cheif's crimes. In the end the evidence proves that a man being held for the crime was innocent..

The Last Precinct by Patricia Cornwell

The reader for this book is Kate Reading. It is published by Putnam Berkley Audio a member of Penguin Putnam, Inc, 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014.

Check amazon.com or Books on Tape for more information or if you wish to add it to your library.

I believe this makes the last of Patricia Cornwell's book I have to read to have read all of them to date. I like her style and her characters.

The Last Precinct follows another of Patricia Cornwell's wonderful novels, Black Notice. Kay Scarpetta is Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner. She becomes a suspect in a criminal investigation. A brother of one of the people she had to do an autopsy on trys to kill her and in her own defense she nearly kills him and must go on trial. The criminal investigation extends to New York City. A female assistant district attorney is brought into the case and Scarpetta must make what she knows as fact known to her. The characters of her neice and the police lieutent are also in this story as they were in several of the past novels.

The Countess by Catherine Coulter

This is not one of the normal types of books I read. It is a Gothic Romance. When I am waiting for one of the books I have on reserve (which is the way I like to do it) to come in, I will go into the library and select a book off the shelf. In most of the books I have read if the book isn't one I have great interest in reading and may not be the subject matter I am most interested in, I have found that I like the way the author has put together words - description of weather conditions, of peoples expressions, of clothing and houses. On with more of a description of this particular book The reader is Mary Peiffer. It was released on audiotape in 1999. The producer is Books on Tape, P.O. Box 7920, Newport Beach, CA 92658.

The story is about Andrea Jameson. She is young and rich and owns a Dandie Denmont terrior, named George (like her already - she has a cute little puppey of whom she takes marvelous care). Andrea agrees to marry an older widowed earl who promises her all she could want without the obey part. Then she meets the earl's nephew and decides that she has made a very bad mistake. She soon realizes that someone is trying to kill her. Which of her two loves will try to save her?

The reader is Denica Fairman. It is a Chivers Sound Library Southern Scene. Evangeline de Beauchamps must spy against England to save her father. She has to sway the Duke of Portsmouth, a distant relative, to hire her as nanny to his son. She claims she is as an experienced widow. He didn't dream that she could be working for the traitor the Duke is attempting to catch for murdering one of his friends.

The Demolition Angel by Robert Crais