I guess I took a break from writing about my reading, but I didn't stop reading! After finishing And Their Children After Them, I read a mystery I'd borrowed from one of my coworkers, and then a recent book by Alice Hoffman, The Red Garden. The mystery was a quick read, but not that well written. The Red Garden was very good, and thanks to Word of the Day I now know it to be a Roman-Fleuve, or a river novel, which is an appropriate metaphor for the kind of book it is, the story of a family over the years. In the case of The Red Garden, it's over centuries. As with Alice Hoffman's other books, there was a bit of the supernatural thrown in (always explainable so that you're never quite sure). It was a very interesting book, touching on a few encounters with famous people such as Johnny Appleseed. It was not as good as some of Hoffman's other books I've read, but I would nevertheless recommend it.
Following that book, I tried to read a mystery by Faye Kellerman, Stalker, but found it to be unreadable. There was simply too much talking! Lots of unneeded dialogue that simply served to slow things down, something an author should never do in a mystery novel. So I got rid of it and bought the second in the series by Swedish author Stieg Larsson, The Girl Who Played with Fire, which was 100% better. This is a very good series of novels, although there is a lot of violence and sex. Too bad the author died; he had a great career ahead of him as a mystery novelist.
I'll let you know how things turn out with that one!
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