The books

I read several book blogs, and I'm always anxious to get good recommendations. I love reading, and I've always wondered just how much I read each year. I thought I would try to keep track of every book I read this year, to see what the grand total ends up being. I also plan to note any rereads. Books I read for work won't count, because I rarely read the whole book through in that case. Usually I just skim and check the index, but if I do read the whole thing, I'll put it down. If I start a book and then don't finish it, because I get bored or I hate it or I lose it (take that in any sense you like), I'll make a note of that too, for scientific purposes, of course. I don't know that I'll write a whole lot about each book, but I might do so as the mood takes me.

So here's how it's going so far for 2006:
1. The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
2. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
I'd heard lots of good things about this series, and had read and enjoyed another of Smith's books (Portuguese Irregular Verbs), so when I finally got to the Half Price Bookstore over vacation, I decided to seek them out. Luckily the store had the first two in the series. I really liked them both, particularly the first one. The characters are engaging, and the setting (Botswana) was fascinating. I really feel like reading more about the country, which I'm ashamed to say I knew very little about. But Smith really gives me a feel for the place. I don't know if the real Botswana is anything like the fictional place presented here, but this world felt real. Sometimes the political / social digressions seemed a little heavy-handed, particularly in book 2, but overall it was a thoroughly pleasant read. I'll definitely be checking out the rest of the series to follow the continuing adventures of Precious Ramotswe, one of the most charming detectives I've run across in a while.

3. Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father by Jane Jensen
I loved this computer game and its two sequels. They were fun and challenging, and the stories were just the sort of thing I like -- mystery and supernatural suspense. It didn't hurt that the lead character was voiced by Tim Curry. Basically Gabriel Knight has to solve a series of voodoo-inspired murders while at the same time revealing the truth about his family's mysterious pass. The book, a novelization of the game, follows the plot exactly. I think much of the dialogue is the same, or at least it felt that way. You do get more insight on Gabriel's thoughts and motivations throughout the book, which really makes him less of a jerk than he came across in the game. The love story, too, is a little more fleshed out, and the dream sequences are made much more intelligible, since now we get Jensen's (the game's designer) interpretation rather than my own (I was close, but it's good to see what the author was thinking). Overall it was a fun and quick read. Since the GK franchise seems to be dead in the water, I hope she'll turn to writing -- I'd pick up one of her books if I saw it on a shelf.
On a side note, the novel and game are set in New Orleans (pre-Katrina, of course), and it was simultaneously comforting and heartbreaking to read about the city as it once was, knowing what I now know.

4. Locked Rooms by Laurie R. King
I came across the series a few years ago, based on the recommendation of a writer whose work I really enjoyed. I figured if she liked these books,they had to be pretty good. They are. The story of Sherlock Holmes and his wife Mary Russell (that's right, his wife) and their crime-solving adventures could easily turn into some kind of fanfiction nightmare. But Mary Russell is no Mary Sue, even if she is pretty, intelligent, and married to our hero. She's human, just like King's Holmes, and though she's the main character in all the books in this series, it's in this volume that we really get to delve into her past and her personality, discovering the truth about her past and the ways in which it shaped her. This volume also brings Russell and Holmes to San Francisco, a city that seems to be dear to King's heart (her other books are all set in SF or the Pacific Northwest in general), and this book gives her a chance to write about the fascinating history of this amazing place. I knew a little bit about San Francisco and it's history, particularly the 1906 earthquake and fire, and from what I can tell, King is spot-on. There's also lots of interesting information about the relationship between Chinese immigrants and the white population that I hadn't ever really thought of before. It's a good mystery and a good historical novel. I wonder, though, where the series might go next. Mary Russell's past and her issues with it informed much of the first book, and while they didn't get mentioned much in the following volumes, they really defined her personality. The revelations she has in this book would be truly life-changing, and I hope that they'll be followed through in the next book. King is good, though, and I have no doubt she'll deliver.