The NIGHTMARYS by Dan Poblocki 325 pages

You can tell be the title that the author hopes to scare the pants off of you. Two seventh graders, Timothy and Abigail unite to try to break an ancient family curse involving a powerful stolen, jawbone and an old children's mystery book. When they take a class field trip to a museum strange stuff happens. Both Timothy and Abigail are haunted by their greatest fears. Luckily, Abigail's grandmother is a big help at fighting their foes. I didn't find this to be a quick read -- rather mildly suspenseful.

Divergent by Veronica Roth 487 pages

Alert to fans of Hunger Games: This first novel by Veronica Roth is pretty impressive. Set in a futuristic Chicago (!!), society is divided into five factions that embody a virtue: honesty, selflessness, peaceful, intelligence and bravery. The year one reaches 16, he or she chooses which faction to pledge to. Beatrice, reluctantly turns her back on her parent's factionAbnegation (selflessness), and chooses Dauntless (brave) when she learns that she is Divergent (a rare breed that has strengths in more than one faction. Her brother surprises her and their parents by choosing Erudite (intelligence). She must survive a rigorous training / testing phase to be accepted. She survives a lot of hits during training and afterwards. She is attracted to one of the two trainers, Four. My intro does not do this book justice. It has the quick dramatic action, tests of courage and strong characters as The Hunger Game. I sure hope that a sequel is in the works.

Back of Beyond by C J Box 9780312385745

Cody Hoyt is a recovering alcoholic and a good detective. When his mentor and AA sponsor, Hank is killed Cody refuses to accept the accidental death verdict. Especially since it would mean that Hank had fallen off the wagon and died drunk. As he digs further, he suspects that the murderer has joined a back to nature horseback riding vacation group. A group that includes his estranged son and his ex-wife's fiancee. There are several likely suspects in the group. Even the camp leader seems highly suspicious. There are several "hits" in this book and a likable young heroine. I have not read many Western mysteries, but this is one I'm buying for my Western lovin' dad. I listened to the audio version, read by Holter Graham and it was mighty entertaining. 4 spur rating

Just my type

Just my type: a book about fonts / Simon Garfield 356 pgs.

Simon Garfield has a way with words...and with fonts...and with type faces.  This is a great bit of history, gossip and stories about fonts, their origins and their uses.  The bibliography also includes YouTube favorites that should not be missed.  Another book that is very quotable and many parts got read out loud.  Who would have thought that a book about fonts could be so fun?  (no that is not a typo). 

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The Art of Fielding

The Art of Fielding / Chad Harbach 512 pgs.

This is one great book with interesting characters and a lot of baseball action.  I recently read Moneyball that talked about analyzing player stats to come up with a better team based on facts, not gut feel and here is a book where a main character molds team mates by using facts instead of gut feel.  But really, this is Henry's story.  He is a small town guy who is a decent player who gets "discovered" by Mike Schwartz, his future team mate at a small college in WI.  Mike takes Henry under his wing and works him into a star.  Then a tragedy makes Henry doubt his ability and he starts messing up enough to push him from his pedestal.  Also enter the college president, his daughter, Henry's room mate, and a cast of other minor characters and players.  This is the first book by the author and I'm already looking forward to the next.

Great to pair with Moneyball / Michael Lewis but with the literary feel and great character development, I would also recommend it if you enjoy authors like Pete Dexter or Stephen McCauley

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Buried Dreams

Buried Dreams by Tim Cahill 353 pp.

The full title of this book is Buried Dreams: Inside The Mind of a Serial Killer. Tim Cahill effectively writes from the point of view of John Wayne Gacy, in his own way. The book is written from a third-person perspective, but is often interjected with Gacy's own thoughts and comments about whatever is being discussed, due to Cahill drawing on interviews with the Killer Clown to write the book. Cahill walks the reader through every step of Gacy's life and each one of his 29 killings in detail, which is often gruesome and occasionally hard to get through without a few winces. Probably the hardest thing about the novel is reading about Gacy's life when he wasn't actively killing, instead blending in with society with ease. Cahill shows the love Gacy had for his community, and vice-versa, which can make the book a bit hard to get through and will probably put you on edge for a while. The book is scary, though not in a Stephen King or Dean Koontz way. The book is scary in the sense that Gacy, a monster in every sense of the word, was able to so easily conceal his killings and hide his evil habits from society. The book is not light reading, and I definitely do not recommend reading it at night, but for anyone interested in true crime, this book should not be missed. The amazing use of Gacy's own thoughts really give you the idea that you are speaking to the man himself, instead of reading a book about him. Overall, I enjoyed the book, though it drags for a stretch in the middle when nothing is happening in Gacy's life other than killing and Cahill jumps from murder to murder without touching on anything else. The first and last thirds of the book are excellent, though, and even the middle section can be pushed through in a few days with some perseverance. Four stars out of five.

Additional reading: Defending A Monster by Sam L. Amirante 

Rules of Civility

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles  335 pp.

I think I've found the first book to go on my "best of 2012" list. Most of the action takes place in a flashback to Manhattan in 1938, the tail end of the Great Depression. Katey Content (accent on the second syllable) and her boarding house roommate, Evie Ross meet the handsome young banker, Theodore "Tinker" Grey at club on New Year's Eve. That fortuitous meeting changes the lives of all three, for the good and the bad. When Tinker and Eve leave for Europe, Katey leaves her secretarial pool job for one at a small publishing house where she meets and socializes with more of the wealthy New York set. Eventually she lands a position with a new magazine at Condé Nast, she learns the truth about Tinker, and Evie disappears. This book is well written, has interesting characters, and enough twists in the plot to keep the reader involved. The book is appended with George Washington's "Rules of Civility" from which the novel gets its title.

Queen of the Darkness/Anne Bishop

Queen of the Darkness by Anne Bishop (Black Jewels Trilogy book 3); dark fantasy, horror, romance; 448 pages

Finishing my reread of this series is always a little bittersweet. The ending is an emotional roller coaster worthy of any great soap opera, and it always leaves me wanting more. Unfortunately, the spin-off books set in this same world never pack quite the same punch. Read this with a box of tissues close at hand.

The cartoon introduction to economics

The cartoon introduction to economics: volume two: macroeconomics  by Grady Klein and Yoram Bauman 240 pgs.

Wonderful second edition that focuses on macroeconomics instead of microeconomics (macro was always my favorite).  Less math in this volume so it should be more attractive to the masses.  If you can't remember much from your college econ class, this is a good refresher.

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War Horse

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo  176 pp.

This short book is the basis for Broadway play and the movie nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. The story is told from the point of view of a half-Thoroughbred horse named Joey. It begins with the horse being sold at auction to a farmer and then befriended by the farmer's son, Albert. Eventually he is sold to a captain in the British cavalry for service in World War I. His war experiences include making and losing friends--both horse and human, surviving battles, and eventually pulling wagons and weapons for both sides of the conflict. Joey learns about the pointlessness of war and wonders if he will ever see his friend, Albert, again. Now I can go see the movie.