Read Your Name challenge

Read Your Name Challenge runs 1 Jan-31 Dec 2009:  Using your name or any name you like, read books with first title letters that spell out your name; I’m using SCOTT so I can read some fun books that I want to be sure and get to this year.

• Snakewater Affair, Liz Adair
• Captain’s Blood, William Shatner
• Onion John, John Krumgold (Newbery Award)
• The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith
• The Quilter’s Apprentice, Jennifer Chiaverini

Snakewater Affair, by Liz Adair:  This is the third book in this series that involves a small-town deputy sheriff in Nevada.  He’s an affable guy with a perky wife who has a lot of common sense.  They are LDS and the books are filled with references.  Spider gets involved in solving mysteries in each novel and in this one he gets to travel to Washington and make a little extra money.  They have been barely hanging on since the mines closed and he had to take the law enforcement gig.  They are engaging characters, although sometimes he’s a little slow on the uptake when investigating.  Great writing? No.  Fun, quick stories? Yes.

Star Trek: Captain’s Blood, by William Shatner:  This is the second volume in the Totality trilogy.  I enjoy the Trek novels by Shatner because even though he has well-known Trek co-authors, he has an original voice.  His books stray from Trek canon by having Captain Kirk still alive through a strange regeneration process, but the rest of the books follow canon by intersecting with “real” events that have happened on film or in other books.  This story takes place after “Star Trek: Nemesis” and involves the Romulans and Remans.  It is a story in itself, but sets the stage for the final encounter between humanity and the Peace of the Totality that will destroy the galaxy.  Can’t wait to find out if we survive!

Onion John, John Krumgold: This was a coming-of-age story but also a cautionary tale.  Is it right to help someone so he can become less like himself and more like you?  Can a person be truly happy if he loses his identity to the larger society?  I liked the basic premise but found that the writing style irritated me, so it wasn’t one of my favorites.

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith: I finally got around to reading this book and I really liked it.  It was a quiet, gentle book with some excitement and mystery thrown in.  The main character is a wise and thoughtful woman and very engaging.  I will be reading more of this series next year as the first volume was very fun.

The Quilter’s Apprentice, by Jennifer Chiaverini: I have been interested in this series and wanted to try it since I’ve started quilting.  The young couple in the book start work for an elderly woman trying to get her estate ready to sell.  They become friends and the owner, Sylvia, begins to teach Sarah how to quilt.  During the process, she tells stories of life during WWII and how she came to leave the estate.  The characters develop during the book and change in interesting ways, and I liked all the discussion of quilt blocks and their history.  I liked the book and will read some more of this series.