Recently in Books Category

Yesterday Amazon released the Kindle for iPhone app to the Applications store. This free app allows iPhone/iPod touch owners to purchase/read Kindle books on their iPhone, regardless of whether they own a Kindle. (I don't own a Kindle yet). It took only a minute before I was reading one of my favorite Star Trek Next Generation novels, the much maligned A Hard Rain. The formatting was excellent although currently restricted to portrait only (doesn't seem to notice if I turn my iPhone on its side) which is fine for me, as that's the way I prefer to read ebooks anyway. My only real wish, was that it had a search feature (so I could search inside the book I was reading) - maybe on the next version.

Kudos to Amazon for opening up the Kindle store to other readers. Oh, and as for my plans to purchase a Kindle? Yep, still planning on ordering one for its readability in bright sunlight and because I don't necessarily want to read ebooks on my cell phone when I'm sitting at home.

I just found a great new free app from readdle.com for my iPhone. The Complete works of Shakespeare, provided in conjunction with PlayShakespeare.com. I know a lot of these are available via Google Books, but hey, this app is free and has an intuitive interface. I had a couple of the plays on my iPhone via eReader, but this is most, if not all, of his works. And did I mention it is free?

I remember the first time I heard of Tony Hillerman. It was in a Cultural Anthropology class while I attended university. My professor, who had spent most of his career studying Native American cultures of the Southwest, kept raving about the latest novel he was reading. It was a mystery novel set in the American Southwest and the protagonists were Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn, two Navajo Tribal Policemen. This professor was a big Tony Hillerman fan, and he mentioned how rich the author's descriptions were, not just of the region, which played an integral part of the story, but also of the Native American cultures. This intrigued me. Many mystery novels are so wrapped up in plot twists and suspense, they tend to shortchange the reader on characterization or setting. The first book I read, was not the first of his novels, but The Fallen Man.

I was drawn to the opening pages which took place at Shiprock. I finished the novel and then went to the library searching for every other Hillerman book I could find. Of course, many of those were checked out, so it was onto used bookstores and regular bookstores. Until I'd read them all. Naturally I was very sad today when I read the article on the BBC News page reporting that Tony Hillerman had died.

If you enjoy mysteries, ones that have rich characters in a setting so well described that you feel you've been there, try one of Tony Hillerman's novels. And for an added bonus, take a trip to the Southwest and experience some of the landscape and culture for yourself. One of these days I hope to scan in some of the photographs I've taken on vacations in New Mexico and on a road trip we took through New Mexico and Arizona.

I haven’t read the book yet, (I am such a slacker) but if you’re a fan of the book The Davinci Code or just a person who loves puzzles, Google has a 24 day DaVinci code challenge going. (Link)

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