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The Story of B
$18.00
Having read (and loved) both of the other books in the Ishmael trilogy countless times before i found a copy of Story of B, I was disappointed by the way this book presents "Ishmael's" ideas. While the two books about Ishmael presented ideas about culture, this book borders on religious propaganda. That is unfortunate, because many of the ideas unique to this book are wonderful, and i found the "animist" concept a great conclusion to ideas i had been fostering for several years. It is too bad Quinn chose to focus on the religious-ness of this message, rather than simply it's relationship to sustainable "leaver" culture. Nonetheless, it is interesting to see a picture of what one of the Ishmael-trained teachers might be like. I will certainly read this story several more times, just as i will continue to read the other two books over and over again.

Keurig B40 Elite Gourmet Single-Cup Home-Brewing System
$119.99
We purchased our Keurig about a month ago and love it! It's easy to use and very quick. There is a little testing involved to get the strength you desire with the different sizes.

The Professional (Spenser)
$26.95
"Why are you doing this?" "Hell if I know."

These words appear in the text of the latest Spenser novel when one thug asks the hero why he's on a case, and the same feeling pervades the reader who works to the end of the story.

In this tale Spenser is hired by a group of women who are being blackmailed by a professional gigolo who has the goods on them. They want Spenser to make him stop. Unlike most Spenser stories which are straight forward this one seems to cover a lot of time as various parties drift in and out of Spenser's door looking for help. He says he is sick of the people but he keeps going. For some reason Spenser likes the gigolo, who earns his living by a betrayal of love, in effect something Spenser's world is based on, but does so on his own terms. But this is not enough for the grief that keeps Spenser involved in what is politely, a circle jerk of infidelity.

Since Spenser has, in earlier books, had no problem walking away from clients who irritate him; "I'm going to file you under life's too short." "What does that mean?" "It means I don't want to work for you." It makes no sense, unless you see this as Parker needed to churn out another book to keep the rent paid.

Parker's writing style is getting very lazy. His dialogue is as snappy as ever but his verbiage is...limited. Everyone `said.' He said, she said, he said, he said, he said. Everyone `said.' No one seems to declare or claim or observe or utter or anything except "said." It is lazy and as a college professor Parker should recognize it as such. Certainly he would give poor grades to a student with such a poorly displayed vocabulary.

Far worse is his plotting. Parker has been writing these novels since the 1970's and it must be hard to come up with new plots, so sometimes he `borrows' ideas from the news. "School Daze" was clearly Spenser investigates the Columbine massacre. Another book was "Spenser discovers Enron" with the names and locations changed and "Pot Shot" was pretty obviously "Spenser does the magnificent seven." If well executed you don't really mind. It can be fun but in "The professional' it's just lame. I won't give a spoiler for what piece of early 20th century literature Parker is borrowing from but once you realize it, you know exactly who done it, why and how it will all come out.

I like Spenser books and accept that some are better than others and others are obviously, helped out, but within the world parker made, this book makes no sense and does not even try to explain why Spenser goes through the motions. Add onto it a sense the author was getting very lazy when he penned it and didn't care enough to fix his problems and you will be angry you spent money on this.

B. MAKOWSKY Lites Olympia Cross-Body,Kiwi,one size
$138.00