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Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore

Nate is a veteran whale researcher who is getting depressed by the realization that he is never going to meet his goal of cracking the code of humpback whale song. His crew consists of an underwater photographer, a volunteer intern who no one has ever heard of, and a fake Rastafarian. His world is turned upside one day when he sees a whale with the words BITE ME written on his tail flukes.

I read this before but I didn’t remember it. I like the first half of this book with the mystery of BITE ME whale. But I don’t like the second half when the mystery is answered. It didn’t hold my interest. The answer is completely original (believe me, whatever you think the answer may be – you are wrong) but it seemed to drag.

City of Glass and City of Fallen Angelsby Cassandra Clare

These are books three and four of her Mortal Instruments series. I’m not a huge fan. There are times when I read YA that I find myself thinking, “Are you people just stupid?” and then I remember that the characters are 16 so yes, they probably are. That’s one of the problems of reading teen books as a grownup.

Bump and Run by Mike Lupica

Jack Malloy works for a casino in Las Vegas. He’s the guy you talk to if you are a high roller and need a favor. He can get anything done. When his father dies and leaves him half of an NFL team though, he learns that not everything is easy to fix. The team finally has a shot at the Super Bowl but his siblings hate him, the team president and coach think he is an incompetent drifter, and the media thinks he’s a joke. He has one season to prove himself before the other owners vote on whether or not he can keep his team.

Even if you aren’t a football fan you could enjoy this book. The characters are great. There is the star player who goes to London (“to see Big Ben and the Louvre”) during a contract holdout, the quarterback who may nor may not be throwing games, the gamblers who will do anything to have a winning team, and the team owners who constantly try to one-up each other. It is a funny, fast paced read.

Tough Sh*t: Life Advice from a Fat, Lazy Slob Who Did Good by Kevin Smith

This is partially a memoir and partially an inspirational book about “if I could do it, so could you.” If you’ve seen any of Kevin Smith’s Q & As you’ve heard most of the stories in this book – meeting his wife, directing Bruce Willis, getting thrown off a Southwest Airlines flight for being fat. He sums up his last 20 years directing movies and looks ahead to where he wants to go with his podcast empire.