Creeping Ivy / Natasha Cooper - Natasha Cooper writes very dense, very psychologically tense mysteries. this one was about the kidnapping of a small child, and how it affects her family and those around them, as each falls under suspicion. Cooper writes her characters very well, capturing the subtleties in people's motivations. i will work my way through this series, but they're tense enough that i can't inhale them like i do a lot of books.
Bleachers / John Grisham - this is a small novel from Grisham about a small town football coach's death. i thought it captured how football can enrapture a small Southern town well. nice characters, decent ending, nice read. not mindblowing literature or anything, but a good bus book.
The Dark Tower / Stephen King - there are some horrible reviews on Amazon and elsewhere for this books, which is a pity. it wasn't perfect, but it was lovely, and like i said when i finished it, i'm not sure how else King could have ended the series. the book made me cry in places. i'm sad that the journey is done, but i'm satisfied with how it ended.
Lucifer's hammer / by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle - Niven and Pournelle write about what happens when a large comet hits the earth. i greatly enjoy disaster fiction, and thought this one was quite good. it's a massive book. quite a bit of the book is concerned with the leadup to the event, as opposed to the aftereffects, and that was as interesting to read about as the parts about the survival. if you're into disaster or survivalistic fiction, you'll want to read this.
The professor and the madman : a tale of murder, insanity, and the making of the Oxford English dictionary / Simon Winchester - eh. the subject matter - the story of the putting together of the Oxford English Dictionary - was interesting, particularly for someone like me who'd never really contemplated a time before dictionaries. one of the main contribitors to the OED was a patient in a mental institution, and this is the story of the dictionary and his contributions. however, Winchester couldn't decide if this was going to be a book about a dictionary or mental illness, and the book suffered for it.
"R" is for ricochet / Sue Grafton - this is one mystery series that is on its 18th book and doesn't manage to feel cookie-cutterish, which is one of the things i like about Grafton. Kinsey may be stuck in 1980-something, but she grows as a character, as do those around her. it was a very nice romp, and i found myself really caring what would happen to the protagonists at the end. if you've read the rest of this series, you'll want to read this one. but you already knew that.
i'm at 62 books for the year.