Hello everyone! How’s everyone doing with the holidays quickly approaching? I know that I totally over committed myself and still have presents to make. Wish me luck!

So on tap for this week:

I’m going to really dive into The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier. Read a few pages of this already and it looks to be interesting.

Going to hopefully finish up Packing for Mars by Mary Roach while I do some Christmas crafting.

Mini Review:

I finished Storm Front by Jim Butcher this morning. I’m definitely going to read more books in this series (most of which is conveniently sitting on my bookshelf thanks to the fiancee) .

This is Jim Butcher’s first book in his Harry Dresden series. Harry Dresden is a slightly down on his luck wizard who advertises his service in a private investigator manner. This is no way a lucrative business for him. He struggles to pay the bills and fields frequent prank calls and the occasional are you serious questions to his proclaimed wizardry. He supplements his income from a few consulting jobs from the police. Our story opens with him getting a call from a potential costumer setting up a meeting for later in the day and then immediately getting a call for a police consultation. Being hard up for money Dresden accepts both and is put on a time crunch to fulfill both obligations. He heads to the crime scene to do his police consultation and finds a gruesome murder scene. Obviously done with magic, but to figure out how, he will have to delve into some black magic that could get him in to more trouble than it’s worth. After a mishap on his rush back to his office to get to his second meeting on time ( I’ll let you find that out on your own) he meets with a wife who wants Dresden to find her missing husband. Not really Dresden’s thing, but she’s willing to pay money up front, she seems a bit cautious and knowledgeable about wizards, so maybe there is something there.

This is pretty much the opening to our story. It continues with everything that is possible to go wrong does. You kind of have to feel sorry for Dresden he can’t seem to catch a break. I really enjoyed seeing two of my favorite genres, who done it mystery and fantasy, mixed together. This isn’t your psychic medium finding clues to the murder. This is spells, fairies, trolls, etc. causing havoc in the normal world and Dresden is just trying to control it. A quick read and definitely worth a try if you are interested in crime and fantasy.