I read Stieg Larsson's trilogoy, I enjoyed it. I am now reading Three Seconds by Roslund & Hellstrom, they are swedish authors. It is a great book. One of the authors was an award winning journalist and the other was a criminal.

I just finished the latest Kim Harrison Rachael Morgan series "Pale Hunter", it was FFT and I can't wait for more!! In addition to finding out that she has some Hollows-centric short stories i've missed, I also found out that she may have at least one other pen name (nom de plume I guess you'd say) so I can't wait to see what those are like. Until I get all that figured out…I'm reading the newest Night Huntress release from Jeniene Frost. I've got the next two Charlaine Harris "True Blood" projects on pre order and can't wait for those. All is good in Monk's reading room!

****quick edit…."Kim Harrison" is actually her pen name real name is Dawn Cook, apparently.*****

I'm finally reading "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and am hoping it picks up very soon, i'm about 15 (roughly) pages in…not feeling it yet. Hopefully sooner then later. I've got a very little patience for books that dawdle. It's a flippin' miracle that I made it through ANY Tom Clancy books w/all his jumping around between plot lines.

(sighs heavily)

I have finished the first HP and am now reading the second one, Chamber of Secrets. So far, so good. Love seeing how the names of things are spelled, makes it more real for me somehow. Also, the character development is so much more detailed in the books vs. the movies.

I have finished the first HP and am now reading the second one, Chamber of Secrets. So far, so good. Love seeing how the names of things are spelled, makes it more real for me somehow. Also, the character development is so much more detailed in the books vs. the movies.

I would say CoS was one of the darker books in the series…so much so that when the movie itself came out they tried to warn parents of small children that perhaps this was something that should be viewed by the parents first to make sure their kids could handle it…sadly I'm so cynical that this could be interpreted as an ingenious ploy to sell more tickets.

I read a lot of books, but I strongly recommend the one I am re-reading now: "The Gift of Fear" by Gavin de Becker. It's worthwhile for men, too, but every woman should read it.

GdB is probably America's top expert on violent behavior. He had plenty of chances to learn from a young age since violence was constant in his childhood and he has used what he learned to help other people not become victims of violence. He knows his stuff and is tops in his field.

In his book, the author stresses recognizing threats and protecting yourself, mostly by using your own intuition. He says that you should never ignore your inner instincts because you know something and just don't consciously realize it yet. Fear is a gift to let us know that we are in danger and we should listen to it instead of ignoring it or talking ourselves out of it.

He teaches the ways to recognize danger and who is a potential threat. He lays out the techniques predators use and the signals they send. He also points out the things that we women do that put us at risk and give the predator an "in". He doesn't blame women at all, just points out the pitfalls of being too "nice". Better to be rude than dead, basically.

I'm reading it again because I just ordered copies for my nieces. Can't recommend this book enough. It could save your life.

Just a quick couple of notes here. I'm finally finding the groove on the "Girl W/The Dragon Tattoo" book and am diggin' it. Reading the latest Rolling Stone Magazine (w/Howard Stern on the cover) and it's pretty good. The Stern Interview is okay, but the articles on Simon Pegg/Nick Frost's latest project (Paul) AND the article on the two stoners from Miami becoming Arms dealers is really interesting….haven't read RS since they changed the design of the magazine but it was decent…..

I just want to throw my two cents in here about book stores while it's still fresh in my mind. As everyone knows, the internet is really creating problems for the retail world (or as they say "brick and mortar" stores). I was disappointed by the closure of my local B&N store, but not suprised. People running around wringing their hands because the stores are closing down….I was trying to save myself a few $$$ in gas money so I called the "local" B&N to find out if they had a few things I was looking for. I called 3x in a half hour and after navigating an really ANNOYING phone tree was hung up on all 3x. The phone just started ringing, was picked up, I could hear the stores' music playing briefly then promptly hung up upon w/out even talking to anyone. So, to say my bean was already steamed when I got to the store would be accurate. I guess the main question I want to ask is, how on earth do these stores stay open if everyone is sitting there reading their books of interest essentially cover to cover? Then you got the school kids setting up shop in there doing homework….did i miss a memo or something??? It's called a book "STORE" not the public library. I used to work in book stores as a younger man and would wander the store straightening up, filing and helping customers. The customer service was a joke since I couldn't find anyone on the floor. There was a woman attempting to sell "the nook" which i guess is their version of the kindle, when I walked up to her kiosk she looked down her nose at me like she had stepped in a doggie danish. She promptly told me that she was unable to assist me as she had to remain at her post and waved off dismissively to a far corner of the store, that I should check "in that direction". I already had an arm full of books I had wanted to purchase, but I promptly put them down on her desk, took the magazine walked up to stand in line to pay. They'd just lost a $70 sale and were now getting a $5 one instead. I wanted to show some support and wound up longing for Amazon. Oh Amazon, how could I abandon thee? God forbid you work in retail and have to actually wait on a customer, such arrogance, stupidity and laziness is what's destroying our nation slowly but surely.

Monk, I feel your pain. I want to shop with locals, I really, really do, but like you say the staff is so often either completely uninterested in helping or so completely clueless that I end up walking out in frustration.

The sole exception to this are AT&T stores. They are always helpful and knowledgeable. I am a complete luddite, as you all know by now, and often have to go in for embarrassingly stupid things (okay, seriously stupid things) but they always treat me with courtesy and respect and go way beyond their role as sales people to help me even though there is generally no money in it for them. My blackberry crapped out on me a few months ago (just as I was heading to Ky to be with my grandmother at the hospital ICU, of course) and I was not yet due for an upgrade, but they worked with me and got me a new phone ASAP, and for a very minimal charge. I also had a great experience at the JC Penney catalogue desk recently. Other than that, nothing good to report other than some excellent waitresses and waiters.

I sometimes think that Americans are dumbing down at an alarming rate. Dark times indeed.

Just a quick couple of notes here. I'm finally finding the groove on the "Girl W/The Dragon Tattoo" book and am diggin' it. Reading the latest Rolling Stone Magazine (w/Howard Stern on the cover) and it's pretty good. The Stern Interview is okay, but the articles on Simon Pegg/Nick Frost's latest project (Paul) AND the article on the two stoners from Miami becoming Arms dealers is really interesting….haven't read RS since they changed the design of the magazine but it was decent…..

I just want to throw my two cents in here about book stores while it's still fresh in my mind. As everyone knows, the internet is really creating problems for the retail world (or as they say "brick and mortar" stores). I was disappointed by the closure of my local B&N store, but not suprised. People running around wringing their hands because the stores are closing down….I was trying to save myself a few $$$ in gas money so I called the "local" B&N to find out if they had a few things I was looking for. I called 3x in a half hour and after navigating an really ANNOYING phone tree was hung up on all 3x. The phone just started ringing, was picked up, I could hear the stores' music playing briefly then promptly hung up upon w/out even talking to anyone. So, to say my bean was already steamed when I got to the store would be accurate. I guess the main question I want to ask is, how on earth do these stores stay open if everyone is sitting there reading their books of interest essentially cover to cover? Then you got the school kids setting up shop in there doing homework….did i miss a memo or something??? It's called a book "STORE" not the public library. I used to work in book stores as a younger man and would wander the store straightening up, filing and helping customers. The customer service was a joke since I couldn't find anyone on the floor. There was a woman attempting to sell "the nook" which i guess is their version of the kindle, when I walked up to her kiosk she looked down her nose at me like she had stepped in a doggie danish. She promptly told me that she was unable to assist me as she had to remain at her post and waved off dismissively to a far corner of the store, that I should check "in that direction". I already had an arm full of books I had wanted to purchase, but I promptly put them down on her desk, took the magazine walked up to stand in line to pay. They'd just lost a $70 sale and were now getting a $5 one instead. I wanted to show some support and wound up longing for Amazon. Oh Amazon, how could I abandon thee? God forbid you work in retail and have to actually wait on a customer, such arrogance, stupidity and laziness is what's destroying our nation slowly but surely.

In response to the evolution of the book store, I think it is strange that they created this lounge around and read all day environment. Not conducive to sales at all! For this probably is what brought on their demise. Half their product line ends up in the clearance bin because of snot or coffee stains and the other half is read for free, not a very good business model to be sure!

As far as the customer service decline, it is sad. When we receive good service nowadays it is such a pleasant surprise. Which means that the expected norm is mediocre(sp?) at best. I work on the front lines with the customer on a daily basis and so I know how difficult the public can be. I actually had a young man come to see me and as we were chatting he said "oh, so you're a Masshole?" (a derogatory term for some one from Massachusetts). Not a very polite thing to say to someone you just met but I allowed it lead me down a path to where by the end of the transaction we were both ragging on the Yankees and he even allowed me a free swat for calling me the "M" word. He started out trying to insult me and I know if my coworker was waiting on him she would have taken it in another direction which would have ended up in a complaint against our department. Oh such a fine line we must tread when trying to assist John Q. Public!

I'm reading "People of the Lie". The psychiatrist who wrote it wants "evil" to be a mental health diagnosis the same way that other personality disorders are. His point is that you have to name something correctly in order to have any hope of healing it.

The cases studies he lists are horrifying and fascinating all at the same time. For example, a young man came to him after he stole a car and wrecked it. It turns out that his parents had just given him a Christmas gift: the same gun that his older brother had killed himself with a few months before. His parents couldn't see anything wrong with that, despite the fact that their living son was obviously just as depressed as the son who committed suicide had been. Their reasoning was that it was a very generous gift and that any boy would love to have his own rifle. They didn't see or refused to see that giving that particular gun to this boy was pretty much saying to the kid to go do like your brother and kill yourself. Wow. Fortunately, the boy didn't kill himself and stole the car as a "help me" gesture. Poor kid.

There is a tv show called something like "Most Evil". It is similar but the expert studies cases and then places different offenders on a scale depending on how heinous the act, the motive, etc. Interesting show but I don't know if it still on. KK, what is the name of the psychiatrist that wrote "People of the Lie"? Maybe it is the same man.