From The Perspective Of The Ant
From The Perspective Of The Ant
Plus a short book review of The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly
Have you ever seen the Honey, I Shrunk The Kids movie? As you may be able to tell, one of the parents shrunk the kids … down to the size of an ant. This ant is imaginatively given the name of Antie, not to be confused with Auntie as in Auntie Anne’s pretzels. And everyone knows just how wonderful those pretzels are. Yum.
Just for the record, I dislike ants, especially fire ants. But these ants in the movie are good ants. The aforementioned Antie dies saving the shrunken kids. If memory serves me correctly, there is also a part where they are almost stepped on by a giant foot.
I recently understood how these shrunken kids felt when a Giant Foot attempted to squash me. That’s a big G and a big F. Proper noun. This Giant Foot is named Amazon, and if you have an Amazon Prime account, then you know that they recently started charging $2.99 extra per month for the privilege of using their television and movie streaming service. Of course, someone decided to sue them. (In this case, I think rightfully so. It was a total breach of contract.)
That’s not to say I’m not going to pay the upcharge. Watching commercials is so 2005.
My solution to this issue was to stop buying anything on Amazon. As a writer, I have a love/hate/mostly hate relationship with Amazon. On one hand, it’s great that I can now self-publish a book if I wanted to. In your face, Stephen King! I can also buy anything I want, whenever I want, and I don’t have to deal with salty Karens or even saltier cashiers, who would probably demand a tip if that was socially acceptable forced.
On other hand, it’s Amazon a Giant Foot.
I managed to make it until yesterday, when I wanted to buy a recipe book that I checked out of the library. (Yes, even people who make recipes like recipe books. I even have an entire bookshelf dedicated to sewing!)
To make myself feel better, I bought it used from another library, or some outfit claiming to be a library to sucker me into buying books to make myself feel better.
I know I’m not going to make any dent in that Giant Foot, but at least I’m a fire ant.
The Promos
This newsletter, I am promoting Spirit on the Range, which is a cowboy romance. I don’t normally promote romances because I don’t write in that genre, but I do love a romance. (Ha! Get it!) Anyway, cowboys are cool. Not that I ever met one.
Backwoods Montana trader Kyle Michaelson knows how to walk a lonely road, but Red Hart Ranch is a seasonal favourite to call a temporary home. But the cowboy turned loner isn’t headed up the range for just good food and company. He can’t get wild child mountain girl Sienna Andrews out of his mind, and a short trip means seeing more of the girl who understands that talking is about more than conversation and that saying nothing can form a bond.
A Short Book Review of The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly
Soon one of Southern California's biggest moguls comes calling [on Bosch’s cellphone]. The reclusive billionaire is nearing the end of his life and is haunted by one regret. When he was young, he had a relationship with a Mexican girl, his great love. But soon after becoming pregnant, she disappeared. Did she have the baby? And if so, what happened to it?
I give this 4 out of 5 stars.
The first thing is that it’s much different than Season 1 of Bosch: Legacy, most notably because Maddie isn’t really a part of the book. (See my in-depth synopsis of Season 1.) Also, Harry solves the mystery because he’s still a detective, albeit not with the LAPD, whereas Maddie solved it in the tv series.
Oh, and Honey (not the Honey in I Shrunk The Kids)? She’s actually The Lincoln Lawyer. I don’t mean she drives around in the back of a Lincoln. I mean that Mickey is the lawyer in the Bosch series.
With that out of the way, this book had appropriate action scenes, but most of it was Harry trying to solve two different (and unrelated) cases. This story a really sad ending.
I deducted a star because a lot of this book was expositionary-style detective work. It’s like Mr. Connelly went on strike from the actual good stuff in writing (like setting scenes, dialogue, characterization) and decided to put a to-do list called “Harry’s Murder Solving List.” Parts of it was interesting, and even exciting. But other parts were dull. If his name wasn’t Michael Connelly, I would have probably put the book down.
Happenings
I published several posts these past two weeks. :) The recipe site is coming along great! Have a gander if you would like. Since I was little late for my Valentine’s Day post, I thought I would do St. Patrick’s Day sooner.
I'm a huge fan of Michael Connelly as a novelist and of the original Bosch series. But I had to stop watching Bosch:Legacy very quickly because we were supposed to believe that Maddie was a street cop who could chase and catch a criminal and then wrestle him down.