I was not a huge fan of the first book, but the concept was interesting and some times a series gets better with each book. This may not be the case here. While it is not as forehead smacking dimwitted as the first, it is has it’s moments of unbeleiveablity. How can Dexter be so attractive that women throw themselves at him, and such a good pretender of being human that he can be oblivous when women like him? The only woman who was not attracted to him has been his foster sister, and I kind of think it might be only a matter of time. I also dislike how every person who is his foe ends up dead or out of commission. Are they going to introduce a new character to be “on to him” every book? This is not only frustrating but it shows that the author is completely incapable of developing any character or relationship longer than a few pages.

I had the pleasure of reading The $64 Tomato by William Alexander this week. It was a very quick read and enjoyable. Basically, it is the story of a man who buys a run down house with a huge yard. He has always gardened and took this as an opportunity to really delve into it. He hires a couple to design and build a huge garden at quite a price. The resulting garden is massive but not without it’s problems. For some reason the designer said that the terraces had to be rectangular and for some reason the author believed her. As a result, the garden didn’t quite have the feel he was going for. Actually, it seemed to be a running theme that the author hired people who either had a lackadaisical attitude towards work or just plain bizarre. He also seemed to have a hard time being forceful or direct with the people he hired (at great financial cost) which to me seemed an odd way for an adult to behave. For someone who was so into his house/garden, he didn’t seem to do much research before say, cutting down the pipes for the irrigation system to make them more attractive or whole rectangular terrace thing.

That being said, the book was fairly well written and entertaining. I find many house/garden memoirs to be poorly written or dull, possibly because the authors are not trained writers. While some of his phrasing was awkward, he kept a brisk pace and gave enough details to keep you interested with out overwhelming you with minutiae. He broke up the gardening stories with little glimpses into his family life which were, for the most part, interesting. His wife and children had a completely different approach to gardening, more casual, less obsessive than he did. Which isn’t to say they were entirely disinterested. His daughter haughtily informed him at one point that corn is really only good when it is cooked minutes after it was picked.

One thing I found odd about the book was how vague the time line was. At the end of the book it was clear that his children and wife were much older than they were when they first moved in. I can understand that adding a lot of dates can quickly date a book but I would have liked to have know how much time passed between events. For example, how long did he have the vegetable garden before planting the trees? What event happened when? The book made it seem that events took place over a fairly short period of time fairly recently but I get the impression that it really takes place over a span of 5-10 years.

This book didn’t give tips or much in the way of facts but it was good to read of someone else’s experience gardening, especially one what wasn’t always successful. The gimmick of the $64 tomato was a cute one (he added up all of the costs associated with the garden and figured out the per tomato cost) but I am not sure if he is right in saying that people don’t vegetable garden to save money or that if they do, they are unsuccessful. If you are sensible about gardening and aren’t trying to plant a small scale farm, I think it can be cheaper than buying produce. Fresh, organic vegetables are expensive and even if I only get a few tomatoes a plant, I only spent $1 on the actual plant and about $2 on soil. Still cheaper than Whole Foods and they taste better.

Despite some of my questions, the book really was fun to read, quick and entertaining. I think it would make a good gift for a gardener or a welcome diversion on a trip.

Excellent idea (serial killer who kills only other serial killers and who works for the police) but poorly executed. Some times the characters did things that seemed out of character or just stupid. For example, Dexter’s sister wonders how he knows so much about serial killers and instead of telling her that he learned it in say, training for his job (which would totally make sense) he tries to avoid the question. Why? If he is a sociopath who pretends to be “human” than he should be able to deflect questions that simple! Frustrating. I am looking forward to the series, Dexter, on Showtime this Fall, though. Maybe that will have better writing.

I really didn’t like this at all. The dialogue seemed fake and the acting was wooden at best.

I really enjoyed this but parts of it reminded me too much of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. A more fleshed out story but the whole “incident” and friends ignoring/being nasty to friends things was really similar.

Really poorly written. I don’t think the authors knew how to write a nonfiction book.

It just was poorly written.

Dee Dee Ramone became a rapper!!

i love this author.

nothing new at all. it’s the same way i have made cakes for years.