One (or two...or three...) and Done

I have read many authors - once.  I have also read many authors a few times before I decided I was done.  Here are some of both:

John Grisham - Way back when, I read The Firm.  I absolutely loved it - until the last 30 pages.  I figured that anybody who could write such a good story, and then screw up the ending, was not for me.  I said never again.  I actually caved a bit and, much later, read 2 of his novellas.  I enjoyed them.  But I have never read any other of his legal mysteries.  That puts me in the bottom .00000001% of novel-reading Americans.  So be it.
Steven Frey - Shadow Account.  It was so-so and not worth a 2nd read.
Tim Green (ex NFL-er) - Exact Revenge.  See Frey, Steven.
Randy Wayne White - Doc Ford series.  I read, I think, 3 of them.  Then I was done.
Alexander McCall Smith - 1st Ladies Detective Agency.  I actually read about 7 of them before I was done.  They're about, not surprisingly, a woman's detective agency, in Botswana.  All of them were of equal quality.  I have no complaints.  I was just tired of reading them.
David McCullough - 1776.  I love history.  In fact, I was a history major in college (that did me a lot of good!).  Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres.  What I discovered in reading 1776 is that I don't actually like reading real history.  I guess I was done with it after college.  When I was reading this, I thought that I was being punished for some undisclosed transgression (a plausible theory).
Jim Butcher - The Dresden Files.  This is a very popular series about a wizard in Chicago.  It's got fantasy elements to go along with real-life Chicago.  In fact, they made a TV series about it on the sci-fi channel.  I ready, probably, 4 of these.  They're well written and very creative.  I guess my problem was that I have a truncated attention span.  To paraphrase Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinny:  "I'm done with this guy, too".
Martina Cole - Maura's Game.  This is about a British mob family written by a Brit.  It was decent, but I like my books to have the American president's speech rather than the king's speech.  I don't want my s's and z's to be mixed up.  Actually, I have nothing against it.  I just didn't like it well enough to read a 2nd one.
John Connelly - Josh, Lauren, and I read a fantasy novel of his called The Book of Lost Things.  We all 3 enjoyed it a lot.  In fact, Lauren, Joni, and I went to see him and liked him.  Then I read one of his mysteries, Every Dead Thing, and didn't like it at all.  Bye-bye, John.
Gregory McGuire - Wicked.  He's written several books that are take-offs on the Wizard of Oz.  I didn't much like it at all.  I, of course, loved the musical Wicked (who didn't?) but thought the book was boring and strange.
Arturo Perez-Reverte - The Club Dumas.  I know he's a pretty popular international author.  The book was a little bit too intellectual for me (some might say that Winnie the Pooh is a little too intellectual for me).  I wouldn't not recommend it (double negative Gail, Jen, Roseann? - so sue me).  I think there are definitely people who would like his writing style.  I just happen not to be one of them.
Steven Pressfield - Gates of Fire.  His books are all chapters of pseudo-historical events from a long time ago - millenia even.  This one was an episode about the war between Sparta and the Persians.  They made a movie about it called 300, in which 300 Spartans held of 20,000 Persians - give or take thousands.  The book is interesting and well-written. It's just a little too much work for me.  I know that Steve F. is a big fan.  I can see why he, and others, would be.
Alan Bradley - The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.  This takes place in England.  The protagonist/detective is an 11-year old girl.  It's cute.  I was not sorry to read one - and only one.
Cara Black - Murder in the Marais.  The private detective in this series (she's written 11) is half-French, half-American.  All of the stories take place in Paris.  Joni and I went to the Los Gatos Public Library to see her.  In fact, we got to talk to her for about 10 minutes before the formal presentation - just the 3 of us.  It was very cool.  Unfortunately, the book was just fair.  Sorry, Cara.  I liked you, but not that much.

Coming author events:  Abraham Verghese, of Cutting for Stone fame, is coming to Dominican College this Wednesday, the 27th, at 7:00.  Joni and I are going with Phil and Donna, and, maybe, Rich and Leslie.  I will report to you about the event in my next blog.