OK...finished with the Sue Graton Kinsey Millhone series to date. Wow...she just keeps getting better and better! The first few didn't have enough character relationship development but the last few certainly did! I loved how she split the 2 parallel stories in S is for Silence so that the reader knew what went on during the July 4th weekend of '52 even though Grafton never gave away the mystery.
Anyhoo...I can't believe I now have to wait until DECEMBER of 2009 for the next installment! Haven't her other novels all been released in the summer?
Thoughts on 'X':
X is for Xylophone -- a mystery about how a woman in her 50s became deaf with a xylophone being played 12" from her ear...oh wait...that would be V is for Vibraphone....hmmm
X is for X-ray -- a mystery about deliberate overradiation for some reasons of vengeance or greed. Then Grafton can again show her misconception of the levels of the nursing profession (I have to admit, that irked me. There's a LOT of nurses out there, I'm sure that it can't be too hard for Grafton to find one to do a little basic research)
For the record, there are LPNs and LVNs -- they are both the same level, both licensed. They are used interchangeably. One is Licensed Practical Nurse, one is Licensed Vocational Nurse.
My grandmother was one such nurse, her educational background was from a hospital-based program (now defunct) and she graduated in her late 40s.
RNs with AD -- that's an RN who graduated from a 2 year community college. Generally, it takes longer to get this degree because of the waiting list to get into the program. They take the standard licensing test that all the other RNs do. My mother is one such nurse. She graduated sometime around the age of 46.
Then there are the 3 year RNs with a diploma. That's what I have. My background is a hospital-based program (now defunct) taking the same licensing test that other RNs take.
Then the 4 year BSN programs. This is a Bachelor of SCIENCE in NURSING. I've never heard of a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Nursing. And one would never say that they have an RN on top of a BA in Nursing. For someone who graduated from a 4 year program, a BSN is sufficient, a BSN RN is redundant. There might be a few who first graduated from a 3 year program and then did the RN to BSN program who would say that they are an RN BSN. But that's not the norm.
Sorry...it just bugs me...that Grafton thinks there is a BA in Nursing and that somehow an RN is on top of that. That misconception was in an earlier novel...T is for Trespass had a character who is an LVN going into a Master's program. Well...maybe if it was an accelerated Master's program.
haha...I won't even bore you with the CERNs, the APRNs and the Master's. Then there are those who have a doctorate in Nursing, which would make that person a Dr. Nurse.
Enough on that. I did enjoy the series and kept waiting to check out the names of new characters. Jonah Robb (what a wuss!) cute name....do you know what famous author has the pseudonym J.D. Robb? Or how about Carl Dietz? What not-as-famous author has the pseudonym Dietz? hint: She's a mystery writer. In one of the early books, a character was introduced as Stackhouse. Hmmm...what famous series has a protagonist named Sookie Stackhouse?
For something really deep and insightful, try reading:
http://www.crimetime.co.uk/features/susanrowland.html
and for a really, really fabulous blog on books, try bookbinge
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You read all those books in the past several weeks? Wow! No wonder I haven't seen you here in a while.
ReplyDeleteYou really picked up on some flaws. They got right past me (although I knew the bachelor degree for nursing was in science. My sister, the S'ter had her BSN (from, Uiversity of Delaware), then she got her masters (from Wayne State University in Michigan).
WAH!!!! I have to wait until DECEMBER???? Well, one of the kids is definitely buying that book for me for Christmas this year. I cannot wait for it to show up in paperback.
I read (or heard) somewhere that Y and Z was finished and has been for some time.
As for those psuedonyms, none of them ring a bell for me.
Joanie, You've never heard of the J.D. Robb Eve Dallas series? It's written by Nora Roberts and is set in the year 2050...or thereabout...might be 2058. So...it's far enough into the future to be the future but yet not so far that society would be totally different. This is the ....In Death series. There are 30 installments with the next one coming out this month. One technical issue bugs me about that series...Nora Roberts spends of lot of ink in more than one book on the Kevlar vest and why Eve hates to wear them. They are heavy, they are bulky, they are hot. But...I know that MIT is very, very close to creating a bullet-proof vest using nanotechnology. The molecules orientation realigns creating an impervious surface so that bullets can't penetrate. These should be on the market soon...well before the year 2050. With all the resources for research Roberts' has at her disposal, you'd think she'd know that!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, yes...I've read all the Millhone books. U is for Undertow is slated for December '09, which means you won't see the paperback until at least Christmas '10. I wouldn't be able to wait! Luckily Sam's club will have the hardcover at about 55% of the list price on the Tuesday after the release date.
oh...one more comment about Millhone...in
ReplyDeleteS is for Silence Grafton mentions that the ambulance drivers arrive with the pulse ox equipment. I'm not so sure about that. 1987 is really early for any ambulance to carry a pulse ox about.
Lynne
(hey...where did you think I was? Of course I was reading the series! Couldn't think of writing until the series was finished)