Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in cooperbee's LiveJournal:

[ << Previous 20 ]

Wednesday, March 8th, 2006
5:28 am	6 - Completed 03/06/06 The Penultimate Peril Book the Twelfth Lemony Snicket Regardless of how they pass their time while at a hotel, the three siblings will be sure to take in all the interesting sights and sounds -- and write them down -- just in case this episode turns out to be the darkest yet in a series of unfortunate events. 5 - Completed 02/24/06 White Ghost Girls Alice Greenway "Summer 1967. The turmoil of Mao's Cultural Revolution is spilling over into Hong Kong as war rages in nearby Vietnam. White Ghost Girls is the story of Frankie and Kate, two American sisters living in a foreign land in a chaotic time. With their war-photographer father off in Vietnam, Marianne, their beautiful but remote mother, keeps the family in Hong Kong, frightened of losing her husband to a mistress or to the addiction of war itself." "Although bound together by living overseas, the sisters could not be more different - Frankie pulses with rebellion and risk, while Kate's the watchful one, all eyes and ears. Marianne spends her days painting watercolors of the lush surroundings, leaving the girls largely unsupervised, while their Chinese amah, Ah Bing, does her best to look after them. One day in a market, the girls decide to run off - with tragic results." "Immersed in the heat and color of late-1960s Hong Kong, a city shimmering between sea and sky, it is a world of fishermen, junks, and unexplained bodies floating up in the sea of plotting rebels, temple gods, and ghosts." In this novel, the girls tumble into their teenage years against an extraordinary backdrop both sensuous and dangerous. This tale of sacrifice and solidarity gleams with the kind of intense, complicated love that exists only between sisters. 4 - Completed 02/20/06 5th Horseman James Patterson An angel of death is stalking the halls of a San Francisco hospital. Recuperating patients on the verge of release are suddenly stricken and die. Nobody can identify the cause -- or the culprit. In their most gripping case yet, James Patterson's Women's Murder Club convenes to track down a killer who hides among healers. A powerful hospital and courtroom thriller. 3 - Completed 02/13/06 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini Despite their class differences, Amir, the son of a wealthy businessman, and Hassan, his devoted sidekick and the son of Amir's household servant, play together, cause mischief together, and compete in the annual kite-fighting tournament -- Amir flying the kite, and Hassan running down the kites they fell. But one day, Amir betrays Hassan, and his betrayal grows increasingly devastating as their tale continues. Amir will spend much of his life coming to terms with his initial and subsequent acts of cowardice, and finally seek to make reparations. Hosseini's depiction of the cruelty children suffer at the hands of their "friends" will break your heart. And his descriptions of Afghanistan both before and after the war will haunt readers long after they've read the last page. The Kite Runner is a stunning reminder that the dark hearts of adults are made, step-by-step, by the hatred they learn as children, and that all it takes for evil to triumph is for a good man to stand back and do nothing. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
5:26 am	6 - Completed 03/06/06 The Penultimate Peril Book the Twelfth Lemony Snicket5</b> - Completed 02/24/06 White Ghost Girls Alice Greenway4</b> - Completed 02/20/06 5th Horseman James Patterson An angel of death is stalking the halls of a San Francisco hospital. Recuperating patients on the verge of release are suddenly stricken and die. Nobody can identify the cause -- or the culprit. In their most gripping case yet, James Patterson's Women's Murder Club convenes to track down a killer who hides among healers. A powerful hospital and courtroom thriller. 3 - Completed 02/13/06 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini Despite their class differences, Amir, the son of a wealthy businessman, and Hassan, his devoted sidekick and the son of Amir's household servant, play together, cause mischief together, and compete in the annual kite-fighting tournament -- Amir flying the kite, and Hassan running down the kites they fell. But one day, Amir betrays Hassan, and his betrayal grows increasingly devastating as their tale continues. Amir will spend much of his life coming to terms with his initial and subsequent acts of cowardice, and finally seek to make reparations. Hosseini's depiction of the cruelty children suffer at the hands of their "friends" will break your heart. And his descriptions of Afghanistan both before and after the war will haunt readers long after they've read the last page. The Kite Runner is a stunning reminder that the dark hearts of adults are made, step-by-step, by the hatred they learn as children, and that all it takes for evil to triumph is for a good man to stand back and do nothing. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 17th, 2006
3:04 am	2 - Completed 01/15/06 The Cat Who Dropped A Bombshell Lilian Jackson Braun While the town of Pickax is swept up in its sesquicentennial celebrations, Koko has developed a strange new hobby: He drops himself from balconies, occasionally landing in the oddest of places. When a young man comes to visit his wealthy relatives, Koko plummets straight onto his head! Meanwhile, a hurricane is brewing, and the visitor's family members soon fall deathly ill. Qwill has his work cut out for him as Pickax-as foreshadowed by Koko-is about to be hit by a bombshell. 1 - Completed 01/04/06 My Life Bill Clinton (Comment on this)
Monday, December 19th, 2005
3:32 am	41 - Completed 12/16/05 To the Power of Three Laura Lippman Three longtime friends alone in a girls' bathroom on the last day of high school: Kat, the beautiful brainiac; Josie, the star athlete; and Perri, the drama queen. One shot dead, one in a coma, the other seriously wounded. What transpired between the self-proclaimed divas of the school: and what deep, dark secret is the one conscious survivor hiding? The three girls, who have been inseparable since the third grade, had "trumped the system" and built a friendship that transcended the confines of their high school's cliques. Pledged to take care of each other and do good deeds in the world whenever possible, the girls had quickly become the luminaries of their Baltimore County school. Kat Hartigan was the beloved Stanford-bound homecoming queen. Josie Patel was headed to Maryland on a gymnastics scholarship. Perri Kahn had accepted a theatre scholarship to Northwestern. With everything to live for, what had possessed one of them to try to kill the other two, then herself? When Homicide Sergeant Harold Lenhardt begins to investigate the seemingly clear-cut case, he finds much more than he ever bargained for… (Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 30th, 2005
2:26 am	40 - Completed 11/29/05 Mary, Mary James Patterson FBI agent Alex Cross is on vacation when he gets a call from the Director. An actress has been shot outside her home in Beverly Hills. Afterward, an editor for the Los Angeles Times receives an e-mail recounting the murder in shocking detail, signed Mary Smith. Her calling card: 39 - Completed 09/30/05 Talking to Dragons: The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Book Four Patricia C. Wrede (Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 27th, 2005
7:15 am	38 - Completed 09/24/05 Calling on Dragons: The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Book Three Patricia C. Wrede (Comment on this)
Monday, September 19th, 2005
7:51 am	37 - Completed 09/18/05 Searching for Dragons: The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Book Two Patricia C. Wrede 36 - Completed 09/16/05 Dealing with Dragons: The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Book One Patricia C. Wrede 35 - Completed 09/08/05 High Crimes Joseph Finder Claire Heller Chapman has the perfect life. She's a star Harvard Law School professor and high-powered attorney. Her second husband, Tom Chapman, is a charismatic and successful money manager who adores her and her six-year-old daughter. But then one day a random burglary at their beautiful Boston home triggers a chain of events that turns their world upside down. A police investigation reveals the chilling fact that Tom is not who he says he is. Once he had a different name—even a different face. Suddenly this stranger, her husband, is put on trial for a crime he insists he didin't commit—an unspeakable atrocity that happened thriteen years ago. Now Claire must lay her reputation on the line to defend him in a top secret court martial where all the evidence is classified, the rules are unlike any she has ever known—and the real stakes are higher than Claire or anyone else can possibly suspect. 34 - The Big Over Easy Jasper Forde It's Easter in Reading-a bad time for eggs-and no one can remember the last sunny day. Ovoid D-class nursery celebrity Humpty Dumpty, minor baronet, lover of women, ex-convict, and former millionaire philanthropist, is found shattered to death beneath a wall in a shabby area of town. Yes, the big egg is down. All those brittle pieces sitting in the morgue point to foul play. SPRATT and his new partner, SERGEANT MARY MARY, search through Humpty's sordid and secretive past in hopes of finding the key to his death. Immersed in a case that reaches into the highest echelons of Reading society and business, SPRATT is walking the tightrope of his career. Before long JACK and MARY find themselves grappling with a sinister plot involving cross-border money laundering, bullion smuggling, problems with beanstalks, Titans seeking asylum, and the cut-and-thrust world of international chiropody. And on top of all that, the Jellyman is coming to town.... (Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 9th, 2005
12:52 am	33 - Completed 08/09/05 The Curious Incident of The Don In The Night-time Mark Haddon Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a mathematically-gifted, autistic fifteen-year-old boy, decides to investigate the murder of a neighbor's dog and uncovers secret information about his mother. 32 - Completed 08/05/05 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets JK Rowling In this sequel to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry's back for his second year at Hogwarts, where the infamous Chamber of Secrets has been opened for the first time in 50 years. The monster that is unleashed is literally petrifying Hogwarts students (turning them into stone, that is), and who is the primary suspect? Harry Potter himself. Add to this some enormous spiders, a Deathday Party, a ghost named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls' bathroom, and lots and lots of suspense, and you'll soon find yourself engrossed in another terrific tale in which magic does exist and good eventually triumphs over evil. 31 - Completed 08/03/05 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone JK Rowling Orphaned as a baby, Harry Potter has spent 11 awful years living with his mean aunt, uncle, and cousin Dudley. But everything changes for Harry when an owl delivers a mysterious letter inviting him to attend a school for wizards. At this special school, Harry finds friends, aerial sports, and magic in everything from classes to meals, as well as a great destiny that's been waiting for him...if Harry can survive the encounter. (Comment on this)
Monday, August 1st, 2005
5:38 am	31 - Completed 08/01/05 Lifeguard James Patterson For lifeguard Nick Kelley, things are almost too perfect. He spends his days eying bikini blondes at a posh Florida resort and shares his nights with Tess, his gorgeous girlfriend. To make matters even better, his buddies have offered to cut him a seemingly risk-free role in a painting heist that will make them all millionaires. Then bang, bang, bang, it all explodes: Tess is brutally murdered and all his co-conspirators are massacred, leaving guess who as the leading suspect? (Comment on this)
Friday, July 1st, 2005
5:05 am	30 - Completed 06/30/05 Eleven On Top Janet Evanovich New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum stumbles out of the gate due to some forced humor, but she eventually hits her usual entertaining stride in a tale that includes exploding cars, volatile wedding preparations and heated romantic entanglements. Stephanie decides to quit her job and seek less dangerous work after receiving a couple of disquieting notes. But the notes turn to threats and attacks, and she learns that her ineptitude is not confined to bounty hunting but transfers well to a succession of low-paying, sometimes humiliating jobs. After taking on Stephanie's previous duties, sidekick Lula naturally calls on Stephanie to lend a hand so that her bounty hunting travails continue unabated. Foul-mouthed Lula proves to have some pretty brutal ideas about how to bring 'em back. (Comment on this)
Monday, June 27th, 2005
2:14 am	29 - Completed 06/26/05 The Washingtonienne Jessica Cutler When Jacqueline Turner's fiancée gives her two days to move out of his apartment, she has no choice but to leave New York City and crash with her best friend in Washington, DC. (She can't be expected to keep herself in cute clothes while paying New York City rent, after all.) She needs a new, exciting life-not to mention real employment. Where better to get a fresh start than the nation's capital? Alas, DC turns out to be a lot more buttoned-up and toned down than she'd hoped. It's a town where a girl has to make her own excitement-and Jacqueline Turner is just the woman for the job. From the married presidential appointee who gives her cash after each tryst, to the lascivious Georgetown lawyer who parades her around like something out of Pretty Woman, Jackie's roster of paramours grows so complicated her friends ask her to start a blog so they can keep up. But in a small town like Washington, the line between private and public blurs very easily. Just as one of her beaux takes a lead in the race for her heart, Jackie realizes this blog idea may be more than she bargained for.... Deliciously gossipy and impossible to put down, The Washingtonienne is every bit as outrageously scandalous as the real-life exploits that inspired it. In May, 2004, 26-year-old Jessica Cutler was thrust into the public eye when the on-line diary she kept for her friends exploded into Washington's scandale du jour. Immediately fired from her job as mail girl in the office of Senator Mike DeWine (for "unacceptable use of Senate computers"), (Comment on this)
Friday, May 20th, 2005
1:57 am	28 - Completed 05/19/05 Silent Prey John Sanford This streamlined thriller is a rematch for Minneapolis homicide cop Lucas Davenport and the insane killer he caught in Sandford's earlier slasher novel, Eyes of Prey. After psychotic pathologist Dr. Mike Bekker escapes from a New York courthouse and begins a killing spree, NYPD Lt. Lily Rothenberg asks Davenport, her former lover, to come to Manhattan and help the investigation. Despite Bekker's ruined face (courtesy of an enraged Davenport), the killer eludes capture and the bodies keep piling up, each with the eyelids cut off so that Bekker could photograph his victims as they died. Rothenberg gives Davenport an additional, undercover assignment--to ferret out the ``Robin Hoods,'' a clandestine police vigilante group responsible for perhaps three dozen deaths, one of which was that of a fellow cop who might have been onto them. Paired with possible Robin Hood Det. Barbara Fell, Davenport taunts Bekker in the media, hoping to goad him into a mistake, but the grisly murders continue. As the momentum gathers, readers will speed through the surprise twists and confrontations of the last chapters While awaiting trial, Lindsay escapes to the beautiful town of Half Moon Bay, but the peaceful community there is reeling from a string of unspeakable murders. Working with her friends in the Women’s Murder Club, Lindsay finds a link between these killings and a case she worked on years before--an unsolved murder that has haunted her ever since. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 11th, 2005
4:32 am	27 - Completed 05/10/05 4th of July James Patterson Maxine Paetro After losing one of its own, Lindsay Boxer and the Women’s Murder Club make a courageous return for their fourth and most chilling case ever--one that could easily be their last. A young girl is killed in crossfire after a routine arrest goes terribly wrong, and Lt. Lindsay Boxer has to defend herself against a charge of police brutality. In a landmark trial that transfixes the nation, Lindsay fights to save her career and her sanity. While awaiting trial, Lindsay escapes to the beautiful town of Half Moon Bay, but the peaceful community there is reeling from a string of unspeakable murders. Working with her friends in the Women’s Murder Club, Lindsay finds a link between these killings and a case she worked on years before--an unsolved murder that has haunted her ever since. As summer comes into full swing, Lindsay battles for her life on two fronts: before a judge and jury as her trial comes to a climax, and facing unknown adversaries who will do anything to keep her from the truth about the killings--including killing again. It all comes to a head before the big annual 4th of July celebration on the waterfront at Half Moon Bay. (Comment on this)
Monday, May 9th, 2005
1:42 am	26 - Completed 05/09/05 Artemis Fowl - The Opal Deception Eoin Colfer Criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl is back...and so is his brilliant and dangerous enemy, Opal Koboi. At the start of the 4th adventure in the series, Artemis has no memory of the fairy people and has returned to his unlawful ways. He is preparing to steal a famous painting from a German bank, having no idea that his old rival, Opal, has escaped from prison and is exacting her revenge on all those who put here there, including Artemis. Meanwhile in the Lower Elements, Opal has planted a trap for Captain Holly Short and Commander Root of the LEPrecon fairy police. Although Holly is framed for a heinous crime she did not commit, her only concern is Artemis's safety. Can Holly prove the accusations false? Has Artemis finally been outsmarted, faced with a world he does not believe in? (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 28th, 2005
6:49 am	25 - Completed 04/28/05 Septimus Heap Book One - Magyk Angie Sage The 7th son of the 7th son, aptly named Septimus Heap, is stolen the night he is born by a midwife who pronounces him dead. That same night, the baby's father, Silas Heap, comes across a bundle in the snow containing a newborn girl with violet eyes. The Heaps take this helpless newborn into their home, name her Jenna, and raise her as their own. But who is this mysterious baby girl, and what really happened to their beloved son, Septimus? The first part of this enthralling new series leads you on a fantastic journey filled with quirky characters, clever charms, potions and spells, and a yearning to uncover the mystery at the heart of this story...who is Septimus Heap? (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 21st, 2005
6:25 am	24 - Completed 04/21/05 A Stroke of Midnight Laurell K. Hamilton Solving a double homicide, avoiding assassins and coping with growing, sometimes uncontrollable, power keep faerie private detective Princess Meredith NicEssus (aka Meredith Gentry) busy in the fourth and strongest entry in Hamilton's adult fairy tale series (after 2004's Seduced by Moonlight). When someone murders a fey and a reporter during a press conference inside the Unseelie's headquarters, Merry calls in the cops to assist (and inadvertently involves the FBI as well). But once on magical turf, human police face challenges and dangers of which the princess was unaware. Meanwhile, Merry lives up to the five fertility deities in her lineage and lustily fulfills her royal duty of mating with sidhe males and making sex beyond mere human comprehension. As Merry matures, the meaning of all the sex and magic comes into more effective focus, as does Hamilton's underlying mythos of the restoration of the faerie race's true power. The absence of complicated politics results in a more palatable plot than in previous volumes. By the end, the Unseelie court seems to be tiring of Merry's super-sadistic Aunt Andais, the Queen of Air and Darkness (as are, most likely, many readers). The queen's son and Merry's rival for the throne, Prince Cel, looms as an even greater, more corrupt menace to her future. Faeries, fornication and forensics fuse for yet another darkly fantastic tale (Comment on this)
Friday, April 8th, 2005
1:16 am	23 - Completed 04/07/05 The Midnight Club James Patterson John Stefanovich, a tough New York cop, has one mission in life—to nab Alexandre St. Germain, the most treacherous and powerful member of the Midnight Club—a secret international society whose membership is limited to an elite group of ruthless crime czars, all of whom are "respectable" businessmen. Blasted by St. Germain's shotgun, Stef is left in a wheelchair, but no less determined. With the help of a beautiful journalist and a Harlem cop, Stef is determined to crack the Midnight Club. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 4th, 2005
1:46 am	22 - Completed 04/01/05 The Grim Grotto: Book The Eleventh A Series of Unfortunate Events Lemony Snicket Continuing the saga of the Baudelaire orphans and their quest to locate the sugar bowl, The Grim Grotto follows the three children aboard the Queequeg submarine, which is piloted by VFD "allies" Captain Widdershins and his stepdaughter Fiona. While the Queequeg might seem like a safe haven at first, the orphans' luck quickly turns sour after they search the Grim Grotto for the bowl and return with Sunny's life in mortal danger. Of course, Count Olaf and his scheming cohorts don't make things any easier -- especially concerning Fiona -- but thankfully, smart thinking restores Sunny's health and a Volunteer Factual Dispatch yields a shocking surprise. (Comment on this)
Thursday, March 31st, 2005
7:26 am	21 - Completed 03/29/05 The Slippery Slope: Book the Tenth A Series of Unfortunate Events Lemony Snicket Picking up where Book the Ninth left off, Violet and Klaus are stuck in the rolling caravan and are desperate to rescue their sister, Sunny. Thankfully, they roll to safety by the skin of their sad teeth, but little do they realize that their trek into the Mortmain Mountains will bring them face to face with a horde of stinging snow gnats, a group of bizarre snow scouts, and eventually Count Olaf himself. But Snicket's installment isn't as hopeless as it may sound -- there are many juicy hints inside as to the mystery of V.F.D., the fate of the Baudelaire parents, and even how Snicket himself fits into the whole series (Comment on this)
Friday, March 25th, 2005
5:18 am	20 - Completed 03/25/05 The Wrath of Mulgarth Spiderwick Chronicles Book 5 Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi The Wrath of Mulgarath by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, concludes as Jared, Mallory and Simon square off against an evil ogre who has kidnapped their mother. They enlist help of a brownie, hobgoblin and more in their quest to reunite their family. (Comment on this)