Friday, November 27, 2009

The Professional by Robert Parker



Mike and I went to see a movie yesterday--and discovered that most of the Cedar Valley had the same idea. So, we headed to the WPL to pick up a few DVDs to enjoy together, and a few books on CD for me to listen to while I grade papers. However,
when I saw Robert Parker's latest novel on the Express Book Shelf, I had to grab it! The latest book in the Spenser series, The Professional offers many of the same characters and themes as in previous stories--Spenser's longtime girlfriend Susan Silverman, his good friend Hawk, and his former colleagues in the Boston P. D. Quirk and Belson. There is plenty of clever dialogue, good food, and debate about some of the big questions in life about love and respect, monogamy, motivation, and relationships.

In The Professional, Spenser gets hired by a group of women who are all being blackmailed by a scoundrel--all of them had affairs with a man named Gary. All of them are married to much older men and do not want their husbands to find out about their affairs. As usual, things are more complicated than they seem, and as Spenser investigates to find what the four women have in common, he discovers they are all members of an exclusive health club.

The Professional is a good read; Robert Parker has a way of hooking me into the story so effortlessly. He is a master of prose--funny, insightful, easy to read, enjoyable. I sat down to read a chapter last night and about a hundred and fifty pages later, realized that I needed to go to bed. Today I finished it off--and not to give anything anyway, it was worth it!

You can find The Professional on the Express Check out display: I promise to return it promptly. However, if you have not read any of the other Spenser novels, you can find many of them in the Mystery section as well as the large print area.

See Cherie's video Review of The Professional on YouTube!

c 2009, Waterloo Public Library

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Reading Books on my new I-Phone

I was very skeptical, but curious about the Kindle, Amazon's hot device to read books electronically. Then, several weeks ago, I found myself downloading a hot new application for my I-Phone, when a friend recommended Stanza, a program for reading books on the I-Phone.

I read a book by one of my favorite authors--Lee Child, with his series of books about Jack Reacher, former military policeman. I was astonished at how easy it was to use, and how I quickly "forgot" I was reading a book on a small screen. When I came to end of the "page," I just tapped on the lower right hand screen and the "page" seemed to turn itself to the next one.

It was even possible to read at night in the car (while Mike was driving); I found that I could adjust the brightness of the screen or change the background altogether.
All in all, it was an enjoyable and disconcerting experience all at once.

However, how much easier was it that I had checked this book out from the WPL and read it some time last year? Would I have been as engaged if it were not one of my favorite authors and series?




c Waterloo Public Library 2009