Books

19) A Kiss Before The Apocalypse by Thomas E. Sniegoski - I picked this up as a bag-filler when I got my haul from New Street, figuring that it would be amusing if nothing else because, dude, the title. Not to mention that it's based on the concept of an angel who chose to come to earth and live as a human, who decides to become a PI, who is a big old fan-boy about film noir and Dashiell Hammett... It proved way better than I expected and way more charming. While the plot wasn't much in the way of ground-breaking (I have seen The Prophecy, you know), the characters were interesting, the writing was pretty solid, and it just had some lovely hooks to it. I loved Remy's dog, silly puppy. I love the fact that he was married and devoted to his wife and they treated each other like equals even though she knew. There was love in this book but it was not a romance; the love was in the right place, the heart, and not driving things along.

20) The Museum at Purgatory by Nick Bantock - As all of his work, it was visually stunning, heavy on the detail, and elaborately organized. It's a bit more complicated and esoteric, though, so it made for thick-going. I still enjoyed it.