The Case of the Buried Clock, by Erle Stanley Gardner

• TItle:  The Case of the Buried Clock
• Author:  Erle Stanley Gardner
• Borrowed from colleague at work
• Started:  4/13/2013
• FInished:  4/29/2012

 
My first Perry Mason book.  A coworker brought this in and suggested I might like it, she was right.  Not the best mystery or legal drama, but that doesn't matter.  Perry Mason, in this WW2 era thriller is great.  Easy to understand why these were adapted to TV and became such a hit.  I doubt if I'll seek these books out, but if I stumble upon some at used book stores I will definitely pick them up.

Casino Royale, by Ian Fleming

• Title:  Casino Royale
• Author:  Ian Fleming
• Borrowed from Amazon.com (via Kindle Lending Library)
• Started:  4/7/2013
• Finished:  4/111/2013

 
Over the years I've read 3 or 4 of the Bond books, but they were just random finds at the library or a book store.  So when I noticed Amazon now has the Bond books available for free through their Kindle lending library (you are limited to just one book a month though) I figured I would read them all in order.
 
I knew, from the earlier Bond books, that this was not the Bond of the movies but rather a darker, more introspective Bond.  Well those earlier books were just that, and so was Casino Royale.  But the Bond in CR was also such a pompus jerk (maybe that's why I like him so much). 
 
Seriously, check out this passage of Bond ordering his signature drink (not the one you're expecting):
 

"A dry martini," [Bond] said. "One. In a deep champagne goblet."

"Oui, monsieur."

"Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?"

"Certainly, monsieur." The barman seemed pleased with the idea.

"Gosh, that's certainly a drink," said Leiter.

Bond laughed. "When I'm...er...concentrating," he explained, "I never have more than one drink before dinner. But I do like that one to be large and very strong and very cold and very well-made. I hate small portions of anything, particularly when they taste bad. This drink's my own invention. I'm going to patent it when I can think of a good name."

(from this Wikipedia entry)

Imagine going to a bar on the old Vegas strip today and trying that (in the book, the Casino Royale is a past-its-prime spot) and telling the bartender how to make a jumbo martini.  You'd be lucky not to get an extra 2 parts saliva in your drink.
 
CR was a fun book, a good intro to Bond and the combo of luck and skill he has as a spy.  I'm going to persevere and read them all, in order, with the aid of the local library so I'm not stuck reading just one book a month.

One for the Money, by Janet Evanovich

• Title:  One for the Money
• Author:  Janet Evanovich
• Borrowed from Office Take One Leave One Library
• Started:  March 20, 2013
• Finished:  March 30, 2013

 
A coworker is a big fan of this Plum series and brings in the books to our office take one leave one library.  I picked this one up on his recommendation, but wasn't a huge fan.  The book wasn't bad, but I just couldn't get into the characters and really kept reading just so I could see how much was changed from the recent movie based on this book.  I won't be bothering with the rest of the series.