First Up

Yesterday I finished Me, Myself and Why? (#1 - I've decided to keep track of how many books I read in this first year by numbering them.) the first book in a new trilogy by MaryJanice Davidson.  I've been a fan of her vampire series featuring Betsy Taylor because they are irreverent and funny.  This new book introduces an FBI agent with Multiple Personality Disorder.  The story constantly switches between her three distinct personalities in pursuit of a serial killer.  I can't say I enjoyed this one as much, but I do think the series has potential, and I will undoubtedly read the next two installments.  Maybe by then I'll have a better handle on what is going on.  I couldn't complete this week without mentioning the two other books I've read so far:  The Doomsday Key (#2) by James Rollins and Women Food and God (#3) by Geneen Roth.
Our local library system puts on an amazing event each January called Bookmania!.  It features over two dozen authors speaking solo or on panels over the course of one Saturday.  Last year my husband and I were excited to go and hear Steve Berry, one of our favorites.  On the program, he was paired with James Rollins talking about his latest thriller Altar of Eden.  Neither of us had ever read any of his books.  The hour these two authors and friends spent together on the stage was one of the most entertaining book events I have ever been to.  Needless to say, we started reading his books.  Rollins does write stand alone books, but he also has a series of novels about The Sigma Force, a US super secret agency of special forces operatives recruited and trained in various branches of science to aid them in their work.  The Doomsday Key is the latest offering in this series (although Devil Colony is about to be released - already have a hold on it at the library!).  Rollins' thrillers contain enough science to make it work as the kernel of a crisis and to prompt reading beyond the books themselves.  High body count, but you have to love a novel that wrecks part of the Coliseum, the Svalbard Seed Bank ( http://www.croptrust.org/main/arctic.php?itemid=211 )and Clairveaux Abbey all in the same book.  A page turning read that gives you something to think about.

I believe I was number 92 on the hold list for Women Food And God at my library.  I finally got it this week.  Do yourself a favor and if you're inclined to pick up this book, turn immediately to the last page.  That's the whole book, and more than Ms. Roth includes in the 200+ pages of Eastern philosophy and workshop anecdotes (ones she's both attended and led) leading up to these common sense recommendations.  I fail to see why this book is so popular, but perhaps it's an example of the saying "Common sense isn't common."