The Eclectic Reader

2011-12-31T14:07:00.000-07:00

TopDragon Awards 2011

Well folks, even though I don't actively blog about reading books anymore, I thought I'd post my best of 2011 list for you. As a reminder, most of these books weren't published in 2011; in fact, I read very few "current" books (other than Advanced Reading Copies). I went through a big change with my reading habits this year, having begun a new job on January 2nd which requires that I commute for over an hour to work each way. That means two whole hours of audio book pleasure every weekday. I also began reading quite a bit on my new Nook Color e-reader so, all told, I had a record reading year (see stats at the end of this post). I pick my winners for these awards based simply on how much I enjoyed them, not how well they were written or how much the reading community likes them. So...drumroll please...here they are:

Best Fact

Titan—The Life of John D. Rockefeller

Ron Chernow

Best Classic

The Haunted Bookshop

Christopher Morley

Best Historical

The Pillars of the Earth

Ken Follett

Best Mystery

Naked Heat

Richard Castle

Best Adventure/Thriller

Point of Impact

Stephen Hunter

Best Western

Matagorda

Louis L’Amour

Best General Fiction

Hearts in Atlantis

Stephen King

Best Young Adult Novel/Story

The Amber Spyglass

Philip Pullman

Best Horror

Heart-Shaped Box

Joe Hill

Best Science Fiction

Ready Player One

Ernest Cline

Best Fantasy

Mistborn

Brandon Sanderson

Best Short Story Collection

Shadows From the Past

Harlan Ellison

Graphic Novel

No Future For You

Joss Whedon

Sleeper Award

Halfway to the Grave

Jeaniene Frost

And the TopDragon Award for the Best Overall Book read in 2011 goes to....

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Runner-ups: The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Of course it is very difficult to pick winners so here are Honorable Mention winners, and all highly recommended for your reading pleasure:

Decision Points—George W. Bush

Lad: A Dog—Albert Payson Terhune

Rise to Rebellion/Glorious Cause—Jeff Shaara

Only Time Will Tell—Jeffrey Archer

Blue Horizon—Wilbur Smith

True Evil—Greg Isles

Nightfall/Wildfire—Nelson DeMille

Still Life With Crows—D. Preston/L. Child

Coup D’Etat—Ben Coes

Hour Game—David Baldacci

Kiss the Girls—James Patterson

Blaze—Stephen King

Gateways—F. Paul Wilson

Strange Affair/Spring-Heeled Jack-Mark Hodder

Something Rotten-Jasper Fford

The Drawing of the Three-Stephen King

The Ghost King-RA Salvatore

Hounded-Kevin Hearne

For those that really just have to know everything about me...here are my reading stats for the year:

Total Books Read = 135

(+ 10 Graphic Novels)

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Total e-books = 23

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Total Audio Books = 25

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Total Pages Read = 54,638

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Total Short Stories/novellas/essays = 53

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Pages per Day = 149.7

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Books per Week = 2.6

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And as one last reminder, if you'd care to follow my reviews on these books and pretty much all of the books I read, look for me on www.Goodreads.com

(specifically, here: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4209082-benjamin-thomas )

That's All Folks

2011-01-16T16:37:00.000-07:00

This is the last blog entry I will be posting here. I have mixed feelings about this blogging experience but at least I feel I have given it a good try for two complete years. I never really intended to attract a following, but I had hoped the follower list would gradually increase. It seems there is very little interest in the blogosphere for what I offer. I do very much appreciate the occasional comment I have received, most especially from "Captain D" my friend from across the sea. I will continue to follow his blogs with interest.

The New Year has brought a new full-time job for me. Coupling that with increased responsibilities at home leaves me with fewer hours than seem to be available. Something had to give and since I would rather read than write about reading, I've decided to relegate this blog to the virtual dust piles of history. I plan to maintain my current minimal presence on "Goodreads" but that will have to suffice.

Thanks for your support,

Ben Thomas

The Target

2011-01-04T20:22:00.000-07:00

In the interest of full disclosure, the author of this book sent me a free signed copy in return for a review.

The Target, written by first time author Bill Bowen offers a unique perspective on the modern day terrorist/thriller novel. Whereas MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) worked fairly well during the Cold War in keeping the superpowers from attacking each other, could that same idea work with today's terrorism?

The plot of this novel surrounds Mike Curran, an ex-soldier now living in Chicago working in financial markets. When a terrorist dirty bomb attack on Union Station injures and ultimately kills his wife, Mike comes up with an idea to turn the tide on the terrorists by making a similar attack, or at least demonstrating the possibility of such an attack on that which is most sacred to them: Mecca. Mike hopes when they see how terrorism can work both ways, it will be an effective detterent.

The concept of the novel is unique, at least in my experience. The author is very knowledgeable about current events and, indeed, wields an impressive resume that lends credence to what he is talking about. The plot is pretty well constructed but I felt the characters need a bit more work. Mr Bowen falls into the rookie trap of having a lot to say, so much so that several scenes of dialogue turn into lectures...valuable information for the reader to have but not presented realistically. Some of this information could have been handled a little better and could have served to flesh out the characters more at the same time. He does a great job of showing just how easily such a terrorist attack could occur though. Very believable, even disturbingly so.

Overall, this is a solid first novel; very readable and offering some thought provoking concepts, especially when it comes to deterrence, or the lack thereof when it comes to dealing with terrorism and nuclear weapons.

2010 Annual Awards

2010-12-31T13:27:00.000-07:00

As I stated last year, picking winners is very difficult for me because I tend to like most of what I read and its hard to pick my favorites. I've found that as I get older I am starting to get pickier about what I read, often going with familiar authors that I can pretty much count on. Even when they deteriorate I'll tend to stick with them. However, I still do force myself to read new stuff with the inevitable result that I find new authors that soon become old favorites.

As a reminder, I pick my winners based on how much I enjoyed the overall reading experience, not based on how well written it may be or how other critics, friends or the overall blogosphere may feel about a particular entry.

So without further ado, here are the winners for 2010:


                                                                  Best Nonfiction:
                                            Eisenhower, Soldier and President
                                                           by Stephen E. Ambrose

                                                               Best Classic Fiction:
                                             The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
                                                                 by C.S. Lewis

                                                             Best Historical Fiction:
                                                            Speaks the Nightbird
                                                           by Robert McCammon

                                                                   Best Mystery:
                                                              The Last Templar
                                                                by Michael Jecks

                                                                 Best Adventure:
                                                                  The Sculpter
                                                              by Gregory Funaro

                                                             Best Western Fiction:
                                                                        Fallon
                                                               by Louis L'Amour

                                                             Best General Fiction:
                                                The Book of Air and Shadows
                                                              by Michael Gruber

                                                         Best Young Adult Novel:
                                                        The Little White Horse
                                                            by Elizabeth Goudge

                                                                   Best Horror:
                                         The Haunted Air (Repairman Jack #6)
                                                             by F. Paul Wilson

                                                             Best Science Fiction:
                                      On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington #1)
                                                             by David Weber

                                                               Best Fantasy:
                                                The Authurian Saga (4 books)
                                                            by Mary Stewart

                                                             Best Short Story:
                                                  The Wisdom of Solomon
                                                           by Jeffrey Archer

                                          Sleeper Award: (Unexpected Success)
                                                           Power Down
                                                             by Ben Coes
                                   ---------------------------------------------

                                     Grand Award Winner:
                                          Speaks the Nightbird
                                                  by Robert McCammon

                                                             Runner up:
                                                     New York, A Novel
                                                    by Edward Rutherford
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A few notes on my reading year: I read 109 books this year, and listened to 2 audio books. That equals over 39,000 pages (not counting audio books of course).

Happy New Year to all!

Empire of Ivory

2010-12-29T08:22:00.000-07:00

Empire of Ivory is the fourth in the "Temeraire" series of fantasy books by Naomi Novik. This series explores an alternate Earth during the Napoleonic era where dragons exist and, indeed, fight in the war, serving as mounts for soldiers sort of like an Air Force. This is a vastly intriguing concept for me and I have had such high hopes for this series that I bought all five books (so far) at one time. But it is telling that while I read the first three books in short order, it has been nearly two years since that time and my deciding to give book 4 a try.

I enjoyed the first book quite a bit but, unfortunately, each one since then has gone downhill. Perhaps it is because the concept was new and interesting in the beginning with a lot to explore, most especially the relationships between humans and dragons. But in subsequent novels the dragons have become characters so anthropomorphic that their dragon nature becomes somewhat secondary. We are left with an historical novel in the Napoleonic era that is much less fantastical and much more historical and so therefore must rise to that paradigm. The author seems more concerned with examining the plight of dragon's rights (think "human rights" for dragons) than in the more fantasy elements that this series is crying out for.

I must say that the historical aspects of these novels are obviously very well researched. The books are also well written in that they read like something Jane Austin would have written. In this volume, a deadly disease of some kind is wiping out the dragons and so Temeraire and Lawrence travel to South Africa to find a cure. Having recently been to South Africa I found these parts intriguing and I think Ms Novik captured the ambience there very well. But for me, my measure of interest in any novel can be measured by how much I'm glued to the page vs. how much time I catch my mind wandering off thinking about other things. My mind wandered off a lot during this one. So much so that if it were not for the cliffhanger ending I doubt I would ever pick up the fifth book. Even so, that might be difficult for me.

Fans of literary fantasy or fans of Napoleonic history may do better with this series than I have. Just don't expect a Patrick O'Brian meets "Dragonriders of Pern" novel.

The Vandemark Mummy

2010-12-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

How's this for an excuse for falling behind on my blog entries? My dog ate my internet cable. It's true. On Christmas Eve our whole family was curled up in front of the TV watching a video ("The Muppet Christmas Carol" if you must know). We had let our dog outside and kinda forgot about her so she seized the opportunity to do some digging, discovering our buried internet cable and its delectable plastic coating. The result was no internet service or cable TV until today, four days later. It's not good to have your cable service go out during the Christmas holiday as the appointments for repair are pretty far out.

So anyway, I actually completed reading The Vandemark Mummy by Cynthia Voigt several days ago but couldn't post this until today. This is a book recommended for ages 10-14 and is yet another one my kids read during their home schooling years. The writing is well done; the author has won a Newbery medal and a Newbery Honors award for other works. The plot concerns a father and his two children who have just moved to Maine from the west coast in order for the father to take up duties as curator of the museum at Vandemark College. The mother had an excellent job back home so, apparently, had decided to remain behind. Obviously this issue crops up from time to time as we go through the story and we get the kid's perspectives on a possible divorce in the future.

The main storyline concerns a mummy which disappears after having been bequeathed to the college. Since the father in the story is curator for the museum, guess who is on the hook to get it back? But since this is a book for youngsters, it is indeed the youngsters who solve the case, putting the grownups and police to shame and maneuvering through some dangerous thrills along the way. Lots of time is spent examining the kids' outlook on life in this new place, making friends (or not), and what will happen to their parent's marriage. There is some good history here, bringing to light that not all mummies were ancient Egyptian mummies. There is also some good, thought-provoking, coming of age stuff that makes this a bit meatier than many books for similar aged readers. I was disappointed that the ending did not contain a resolution to the parent's situation but perhaps it is more indicative of real life this way.

Another blog tomorrow and never fear, the much anticipated annual awards reveal is coming very soon as well. Cheers.

Cripple Creek

2010-12-23T09:52:00.000-07:00

Cripple Creek by Douglas Hirt is billed as a "Western" but now that I've read it I tend to see it more as an historical novel. I suppose all westerns are, in essence, historical novels but in my mind they tend to be more or less confined to the years immediately after the Civil War and on up to the end of the 1880s or so. And they tend to be about cattle drives, the Indian wars, frontier justice and the like, usually with one main hero. Cripple Creek is not really about any of those things but rather about the birth and first six years of the boomtown of Cripple Creek, Colorado.

My family has lived in Colorado Springs off and on for about 17 years, depending on where my military assignments have led us and we've decided to make it our home now that I've retired from my military career. I've known the town of Cripple Creek, nestled up in the mountains to the west, as one of several historic towns in Colorado to be allowed limited gambling. I've always known it had begun as a silver mining town but didn't know the real history of the place. So when I saw this book at the used bookstore I just had to grab it.

The novel itself is an easy read but is a very good novelization of the area in the early 1890s. There are several main characters but chief among them is Casey Daniels, a mining engineer who runs afoul of one of the prominent mine owners of the region. There are quite a few story lines that interact among the many characters, lending a bit of a soap opera feel to the story but what I enjoyed the most was the large numbers of real historical figures. Some play major roles in the novel, including Winfield Scott Stratton, the "Three Jims", and of course, Bob Womack, the first man to discover the riches underneath the mountain. Many historical novels would stop there but in this one every major mine owner, hotel operator, saloon proprietor and whore house madam that plays a role in the story is a genuine historical figure. It was fun to see their names as well as the landmarks and relate them to some of the prominent street names and public buildings that exist today in Colorado Springs.

It occurs to me that while all of these familiar character names makes this a fun novel for me to read, it may have the opposite effect on those who do not live here or know the surrounding area. I noticed several times where we meet people for very brief moments and who have very little impact on the story, almost as if the author just wanted to make sure they made an appearance. That could be a problem for some. But overall I thought it was a nice story, albeit somewhat predictable. The characters were also a bit two dimensional and seemed to come straight out of central casting but something about this novel drew me to it and I definitely wanted to keep on reading, even past my bedtime.

Sphere

2010-12-16T09:24:00.000-07:00

This is another of my "December reads," that is, books that have been sitting around on my shelves for years, just waiting for a chance to be read. Michael Crichton is one of those authors that, for me, always has a good premise for a plot but sometimes falls short in the execution. Sphere definitely falls within those parameters.

This is an alien contact novel; at least it would appear so at the beginning. A major discovery has been found in the South Pacific, about 1000 feet below the surface of the ocean. It appears to be an alien artifact, perhaps even a spaceship of some kind. Since the author was a doctor himself he often uses scientific protagonists and this time it is a psychologist. As such we do get a little different perspective on the other characters as he examines their motivations along with their actions. Refreshing, really. The plot is written in typical Crichton style, a scientific scenario that deteriorates into horror, much like Jurassic Park. The main problem I had with this one was the lack of resolution to the Sphere itself. We get a lot of speculation and theory on its origins and we certainly get the impact of it being disturbed by the investigators (thus the horror aspects of the novel) but we get no resolution on where it really came from or what it truly is.

All in all I enjoyed reading this book and will continue to read the remaining Crichton books on my shelf although it’s quite possible they will wait until next December.

Writing the Blockbuster Novel

2010-12-13T14:57:00.000-07:00

About 20 years ago, I began to work more seriously toward a lifelong goal: to write and publish a novel. I invested in subscriptions to "Writer's Digest" and bought quite a few books on how to write novels, how to publish them, etc. I read many of them in those first few months, enough to get a good grasp on the ins and outs, but always realizing that this would be a continuous learning experience. Now, 20 years later, I've read the last book that I bought from those days. Writing the Blockbuster Novel by Albert Zuckerman is not for the absolute beginner but rather for those that have a fairly good grasp of how to write and how to publish.

Al Zuckerman is a very successful literary agent who has worked with some of the biggest name authors extant. He uses five major works as examples in this book: The Godfather (Mario Puzo), The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough), Gone With the Wind (Margaret Mitchell), The Man from St Petersburg (Ken Follett), and Garden of Lies (Eileen Goudge). I have read three of these books and so found the material easily relevant. Much of the book is written as a sort of textbook and I do recommend reading these five books first in order to get the most out of this one, especially the Ken Follett book. Of special interest to me was seeing how The Man From St Petersburg changed from first draft to subsequent drafts. I certainly know how writing a novel can be lots and lots of downright hard work but this really brings that point home.

Obviously, this book is not for every writer. If you are interested in writing short stories, or aspire to the smaller, more intimate books, children's books, etc, then this one can still be read just for expanding your knowledge and insight of publishing, marketing, or even some of the basic chores of writing like outlining or re-writing. However, if you are looking for the big commercial success, then this one is ideal. Zuckerman lays out his value criteria: "high stakes; larger-than-life characters; a strong dramatic question; a high concept; a farfetched plot premise; intense emotional involvement between several point-of-view characters; and an exotic and interesting setting."

Overall, I thought the book was well done even though I no longer see myself as writing hugely commercially successful fiction. In fact, this book helped me to focus my own writing efforts; just what I had hoped for when I first opened it up.

The Little White Horse

2010-12-11T13:16:00.001-07:00

Continuing my December policy of reading books that have been on my TBR shelves forever, I picked up The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge. This one was one of my wife's books that she brought to the marriage 25 years ago and judging by the cover would be a young adult fantasy novel that would appeal to girls. But it was on the shelves...so I had to read it sometime...

Once again, I'm glad I did. My impressions were correct in that I think it would appeal to young teenage girls, mostly due to the protagonist being a 13 year old inquisitive orphan girl who moves from London to a beautiful castle in England's West Country of a century ago. But it has appeal for cantankerous middle-aged men as well if my experience is any indication. There are wonders of all kinds in this little novel, marvelously described scenery and creative characters with mysteries of all sorts. There is a history in this new place and the residents of the castle and nearby village all seem to have secrets that need sorting out in order to put right the mistakes of the past. This is, in essence, a fairy tale and a well-told tale it is. It is, in fact, a classic story first published in 1946 and has been a favorite for many young people through the years. J.K. Rowling has stated that this book was her favorite as a child, and it's easy to see why. Seldom will you see a book with so many 5-star reviews on Amazon or other review sites.
If you're looking for a nice little book with a happily-ever-after feel, this is a great choice.

Follow the River

2010-12-08T13:47:00.000-07:00

Do you ever experience times when it's just hard to get into beginning your next read? I usually never have that problem but rather the opposite: difficult to choose what to read because I really want to start a bunch of different books. Anyway, I had difficulties after completing the last novel. Perhaps I was just very emotionally engaged with it but whatever the reason, I just wasn't looking forward to making a selection. This also probably has to do with my "December policy." I try to use the month of December every year to read some of those books that have been on my shelves forever but I just haven't gotten around to actually reading them. Of course there is usually a reason why they are on the December list, usually because I've read others buy that author with mediocre results. This time I actually started a fantasy novel (which will remain nameless) which was the 8th in a series...and I realized I just didn't want to invest the time in it. The other books in that series were OK but as I get older I'm really not looking for just "OK" anymore.

So I turned to Follow the River by James Alexander Thom. This one had been on my TBR shelves for over 10 years. I had never read this author before and the only reason it sat there was because I just always had higher priorities for my historical fiction reading. But, boy am I glad I finally picked it up! This is the novelization of the true story of the Mary Ingles, and young frontier wife in 1755 who was kidnapped by Shawnee Indians in Virginia. After several months of captivity she escaped and made her way back home (over 1000 miles) by following the Ohio River. The first part of the novel was fine but not extraordinary. It wasn't until Mary had escaped and together with her co-escapee, an older German woman named Gretel, began to experience the true hardships of survival that the novel really shines. The author really gets into the realities of what survival would be like with only a tomahawk and a couple of blankets. As they make their way further down the river and face utter starvation, I became fascinated with the story. Such an incredible journey and a testament to the strength of the human spirit. Even though I knew Mary would somehow make it home (it is a matter of actual history after all) I did not know if Gretel would survive or if Mary's husband would be there when she finally made it. And just how Mary, herself, survived was simply fascinating.

This is why I like my December policy. I uncover gems that have been waiting there patiently all along. I plan on investigating Mr. Thom's other historical novels now but I doubt they will remain on my TBR shelves for so long.

The Impaler

2010-12-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

The Impaler is the second book by Gregory Funaro and is a prequel of sorts to The Sculptor, which I was privileged to read and review earlier this year. I say, "prequel" merely because it takes place about three years prior to the events of The Sculptor and features FBI agent Sam Markham. But otherwise this is very much a stand-alone book and the reader does not need to read one to appreciate the other.

Wow, what a novel! I've read thrillers of all sorts for over 10 years and have learned to spot the winners from the also-rans. Gregory Funaro writes winners and this one is truly a gem in this crowded field. The plot concerns the above mentioned FBI agent and his journey to catch a serial killer. Sounds like a million other plots out there but that is just about all that is "normal" about this novel. It's not your typical thriller plot of "killer commits crime; sleuth spends two thirds of novel finding clues; sleuth closes in on killer; sleuth catches/kills killer after nearly blowing it." Instead this is a very intricate plot with multiple layers to the main characters and is not at all predictable.

And it's an absolute page turner. I finished the last 200 pages in one sitting because I just had to keep going.

I think what truly sets this novel apart is the depth of characterization the author brings to the bad guy. In his first novel, The Sculptor, Mr. Funaro does an incredible job with developing the bad guy character but in this one, he truly goes above and beyond. We get to experience the Impaler's very life from childhood to present day from his point of view and, indeed, he almost becomes a protagonist himself. And this is one baaad dude. For a reader to feel like they understand him and his motivations, despite his nature, (like I did) is a great feat for a writer to pull off.

I will say that this novel is not for the faint of heart. There are lots of bloody, violent scenes, horrifying even in their detail but it is absolutely necessary to portray the events realistically. The pacing of the book is awesome; a lot happens but the furious pace is interspersed with excellent back-story building and scene setting. Much as I thought his first novel was fantastic for a new author, this one proves Gregory Funaro deserves to stand with the great writers of the genre. This book is due to be published in the US in February 2011.

The Haunted Air

2010-11-28T09:12:00.000-07:00

I always know I'm in for a good read when I pick up a "Repairman Jack" novel. The Haunted Air by F. Paul Wilson is the 6th in the series about a guy who lives in present day New York City and specializes in fixing things for people, especially things that no one else can fix. Just about any job is doable if approached the right way. Jack lives off the grid: no Social Security Number, no bank accounts, no tax returns, numerous aliases and a great sense of handing out his own brand of justice.

One of the things I love about this series is that it combines several of my favorite genres. These novels are sort of mystery/thriller novels with a good dose of detective sleuthing thrown in and as we go along, more and more horror as well. Each book in the series has a stand-alone situation (or situations) for Jack to help with but there is also an overall arc that ties them all together. The author combines these Repairman Jack novels (of which he has stated there will be 15 in all) with his other works in the "Adversary Cycle" to form an overall "hidden history of the world." Readers certainly need not read all of his works to appreciate each individual novel and, in fact, according to the author's website, even if you did read every word of his numerous works, they have just barely scratched the surface of this hidden history.

This novel continues that bigger story arc in fine style as we really start getting into the back story of "The Otherness". This is the science-fiction/horror aspect of what is happening in the background and is just absolutely fascinating to me. Jack has been told that nothing in his life is coincidence and we really see that played out in this novel. Seemingly unrelated jobs of helping a couple of brothers who run a fake psychic/spiritualist operation to watching another client's brother for three evenings in a row to keep him from harm are, in fact, intimately connected. This novel has everything packed in, from fake spiritualists to real ghosts, from fisticuffs to gunplay, from ritual sacrifices to Jack's girlfriend really getting into the action. And oh yes, she may be pregnant which plays with Jack's conscience...will he be able to continue living off the grid if he is to become a father?

Great characters, great plotting, great mysteries and intrigue, and a killer "universe" make Repairman Jack one of the greatest series I've ever read, especially the further along I travel on this road.

The Last Templar

2010-11-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

For some time now, I've been looking for a new mystery series to begin. I've often seen Michael Jecks' medieval series on the bookstore shelves but I never saw the first one so I kept putting it off. But then a couple of weeks ago I saw The Last Templar at the store and so I used my free coupon and snatched it up.

Right up front I will say I enjoyed reading this book, despite some "first book" flaws. I wish it had had a better editor but I will be reading additional books in the series as I understand they get better and better and there are at least 20 books in the series now. I also like the fact that the author himself has earned a reputation for helping new authors to get published, perhaps having learned some lessons himself along the way.

Among the positive aspects of the novel was the writing style, an easy flowing narrative that captured the era of the 11th century without forcing the reader through a bunch of "thees' and "thous" (if that is even the appropriate verbiage for that time.) I liked the main two characters although much of this volume seemed to be setting up the rest of the series so consequently they both need to be filled out better. Among the not-so-good aspects was the author's inconsistent use of point-of-view. The novel is all third person and about 90% is from one of the two main character's viewpoint. But occasionally we jump to omniscient POV and get the thoughts from other characters. The mystery aspects itself was fine, nothing elaborate, but since the sleuths in this story do not have modern forensic tools, etc., they are forced to rely on what their eyes tell them and use their brains to logically make conclusions...a rather refreshing change of pace.

So I'm glad I finally began this series and am looking forward to the next entry.

The Scarlet Letter

2010-11-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

What can I say about this one? The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is often held up as one of the finest examples of classic American literature ever. It's also probably one of the most hated pieces of literature of all time as well due to the fact that it is so often assigned to American High School students, who mostly are not in the mood for such reading material. I seem to have had a somewhat different High School English experience and was never assigned this book to read. And so, once again, when my children were assigned the book to read, we got our own copy and now I, too, have completed it.

I think when one reads a "classic" novel at age 16 or 17 it is quite naturally a different experience than when reading it at 48. Still, when I read a novel, whether or not it is classic or just published last week, I read them the same way and look for the same sorts of things to satisfy my reading tastes. That is not to say that I expect them to read the same. Of course not. I value the era in which the novel was written. Thus I don't flinch at the use of the "n" word in Huckleberry Finn.

So overall, for me, this was a rather mediocre reading experience. I can appreciate Nathaniel Hawthorne's command of the language but it seems to me that he shows off when he writes. I thought much the same when I read The House of Seven Gables. The prose does describe a scene very well but its overabundance gets in the way of the story. The story itself is pretty straight forward by today's standards and yet still retains a hint of mystery and intrigue. So I'm glad I finally read this one but I'm looking forward to a bit more modern story telling in my next few choices.

Metagame

2010-11-19T14:41:00.000-07:00

Metagame by first time author, Sam Landstrom is a cyber-punk style of science-fiction novel that is utterly original in style and scope. Essentially, it is about a futuristic society where life itself is one humongous game. Points earned equate to currency so the better player you are, the richer and more powerful you are. Top scorers are eligible for immortality.

Kudos to Mr. Landstrom for creating this world. He has obviously spent a lot of time and energy extrapolating mankind's current trends and motives into a possible future. This is a world that seems entirely plausible as well as disturbing. It is a very different world than we have now and so to bring the reader into it is a daunting task. We jump right into it and, at first, it's a bit of a shock. Lots of new words and slang terms and lifestyles to get used to very quickly. It was almost information overload for me but I stuck with it and soon became a part of it. The best way for me to describe this world and its style is to imagine a cross between the weird science/religion of the Matrix movies and almost any movie by Tim Burton with Johnny Depp in it. It's a strange journey to take but certainly an interesting one.

The problem I had is that the author is forced to spend so much of the book on building this new world for us that he has a lot less room to craft the actual story and build satisfying characters. He still manages to do a fairly good job at that but I felt the plot itself suffered the most. The vast majority of the book is about playing the game...sort of the normal mode for these characters but it isn't until the last 40 pages or so that the stakes become high enough to make a difference and I found I actually cared about what would happen next.

Sam Landstrom has certainly demonstrated some nice raw talent here for world building and setting the scenery; I feel confident he will only get better at the story telling aspect.

The System of the World

2010-11-17T12:50:00.000-07:00

After nearly three long years of reading these books by Neal Stephenson I have finally completed the final volume. The System of the World contains the final three novels in his huge Baroque Cycle a “project” read that I began back in 2008. This volume contains these three novels: Solomon's Gold, Currency, and The System of the World. All told there are nearly 3000 pages of historical fiction, historical fact, irreverent humor, and a bit of science fiction thrown in.

I don't have too much to say about the story itself as there is just so much here. Lots of main characters and hundreds of lesser characters, combined with a verbose hi-brow style of writing make these books a viable read only for those who really want to tackle a challenge. Neal Stephenson is one incredibly intelligent human being and he allows his intellect to permeate his prose to such an extent that large parts of these books are almost unreadable. I plowed through them as a "project." That is, I work on them in between other reading with the ultimate goal of just getting through them. I am also a completist and so refused to give up on these books even though I see by reviews that many others did indeed given up on them. I didn't start out planning these as a project but after I got through about 100 pages of the first one, I decided I just couldn't read them in the normal fashion. I would have dumped them. I must say I'm happy that I made it through them but, at the same time, I won't be taking them with me to that proverbial deserted island.

The Wicked Day

2010-11-15T12:42:00.000-07:00

The Wicked Day is the fourth and final book in Mary Stewart's "Arthurian Saga". It's sort of interesting that the first three books are referred to as "The Merlin Trilogy" but when the fourth book is added it becomes "The Arthurian Saga". This time, Ms Stewart applies her considerable talents to the story of Mordred, telling the entire story from his birth, through his growing up, and to its inevitable conclusion.

This has to be one of the most difficult things to do in fiction writing. Take a well established character in one of the most well-known and oft-written epic stories in history, forever acknowledged as the villain of the piece, and craft a story with him as the protagonist. Marion Zimmer Bradley did something very similar in The Mists of Avalon but even then, the character of Morgan isn't, I believe, as universally hated as is Mordred. But I must say, Ms Stewart pulls it off in fine style.

As the protagonist, Mordred's story is told from his point of view and is thus sympathetic towards that point of view. He comes across as a very sympathetic character; I kept pulling for him even as I knew what the ending had to be. In fact, Mordred is well liked, even loved by most of the other characters, and it isn't until near the end that his point of view starts to diverge from Arthur's. There is no "evil" nature to this man; what might be construed as ambition seems very naturally to have arisen from his mother, Morgause, Arthur's half sister and most definitely the real villain in Mary Stewart's saga. And even in the end, it is a mistake, a misunderstanding of what is really happening that leads to Mordred's and Arthur's final battle. I found it very interesting to read the appendix and the Author's note at the end of the book where the "real" legend is briefly retold from the actual text of both Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the King's of England and Sir Thomas Mallory's Le Morte D'Arthur. Apparently, Mordred was not originally presented as a villainous person; that arose later as countless retellings diffused the original versions.

I am very pleased to have read this set of four books. I had always heard that they were among the very best of the modern versions of the Arthurian/Merlin tales and am happy to add my agreement.

Call Me Puke

2010-11-12T13:09:00.000-07:00

What a title! For a blog post or a book, that's gotta be one that grabs your attention. Call Me Puke, A Life on the Dirt Circuit is an autobiography by Mark Sieve, better known as "Puke" of the "Puke & Snot" comedy duo seen nationwide, mostly at Renaissance festivals. My family and I love to go the Ren Faires and have been to several in the US, Germany and England. But it wasn't until a couple of years ago, in 2008, when we visited the Colorado Renaissance festival near Larkspur for about the fourth time that we actually saw the Puke & Snot show. Unfortunately, later that year, Joe Kudla, who played "Snot" passed away, only a couple of weeks after we had seen the show. This year, my wife and kids went back to the festival and saw Puke & Snot once again, with a new "Snot" in play. They were lucky to have been a bit early to the show and lo and behold, Mark "Puke" Sieve sat down next to them and starting shooting the breeze. As a souvenir, because I couldn't attend, they brought home this book as a gift for me, autographed by the author. Cool!

This is a great little autobiography and, not surprisingly, won the Midwest Book Award. Mr. Sieve does not tell his life story in direct chronological order but rather mixes it with other, themed vignettes. He does a great job of being humble (but not overly so like some autobiographies that just make you want to...well, puke). We get to experience his life, from his early days working in his parents’ cinema, to his potential major league baseball career, and through his early days as a public school teacher. But always there was his love for performing comedy and getting the audience to laugh. Together with his partner, Joe, they carried the Puke & Snot show for about 35 years, usually on the "Dirt Circuit" as he calls it but elsewhere too...even Disney. Along the way they've met and worked with some memorable characters including some you've heard of like Penn & Teller who got their start in similar circumstances. Mr. Sieve writes from a very personal point of view and it's never more heartbreaking than when he serves tribute to his long time partner.

Highly recommended.

Djibouti

2010-11-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

Djibouti is Elmore Leonard's most recent published novel. I've read four previous books by Mr. Leonard but all of them were from his early days when he wrote Westerns. I also listened to an audio book last year which was more of a crime thriller set in the 1930s. This book is the first I've read of his that is set in the present day even though that is what he is primarily known for. In point of fact, I have a long way to go if I want to read all of this author's output, this being the 44th book he has written and published.

Elmore Leonard is a master of dialog. He has said that if a piece of dialog sounds like writing, then he re-writes it. It naturally follows that his characters are incredibly real as well. They really do leap off the page, much like you are watching a movie instead of reading a book. This is all true in Djibouti, as well, with the main character, Dara Barr, a young but successful documentary film maker, becoming interested in all of the news reports a couple of years ago about the pirates off the coast of Somalia preying on merchant ships. Together with her 72-year old camera man, they set off to Djibouti to document the activities of the pirates. It isn't long, however, until they get mixed up with al-Qaeda terrorists.

Mr. Leonard reportedly writes his novels from the characters' point-of-view...but he makes up the plot as he goes along. That usually works just fine but in this case, unfortunately, it doesn't. The story meanders all over the place, albeit with great characters. The thriller aspect of the plot is diminished considerably because many of the scenes are of the two lead characters reviewing footage of film they shot earlier. So we lose the danger factor...they obviously survived in order to be viewing the tape. I also thought their reactions to be too subtle to be real. Several instances where they've just witnessed a man shot to death (in one case five men shot and killed) are greeted with nonchalance. They are cool customers but they seemed a little too cool.

Still, I do tend to be hard on writers that I think are very good writers so please take my comments with a grain of salt. Elmore Leonard's style is right up there with the great ones and it's hard to go wrong with one of his novels.

The Lost Symbol

2010-11-06T18:25:00.001-06:00

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown is...well...how should I explain this. Perhaps if I start at the beginning of my Dan Brown experiences. I was mostly a Sci-Fi/fantasy reader growing up and then got hooked on historical fiction at about the same time I entered college. I added other genres like mysteries, horror, etc. as I went along but never really got around to thrillers for a long time. I ignored The DaVinci Code when it first became a huge success, mostly for the same reason I had avoided thrillers (and straight fiction). You see I had read mostly for escapism (or studying textbooks and such) and the last thing I wanted was to read about people living in today's times and in today's world.

But finally my mother (who mostly likes mysteries and semi-romances by authors like JD Robb and Danielle Steele) convinced me to read The DaVinci Code. I finally cracked under the strain and guess what? I ate it up. I don't recall ever reading such a page-turner before. I liked the puzzles, I liked the action sequences, and I liked the conspiracy stuff. I'm also not Catholic so I wasn't offended. Right away I turned to Angels and Demons and loved that too. These were my first "thriller" novels I had ever read and they even won my best-of-the-year awards. Later on I read the other two previous books by Dan Brown and also read several novels by my mom's other favorite, James Patterson. (These were the earlier Cross books and before he started "writing" 13 books per year). A funny thing started to happen. Both the Dan Brown books and the James Patterson books became less and less enjoyable, the more I read. Of course I was reading the Dan Brown books backwards from the way they were published so perhaps that explained it. In the years since then I have started to read many a thriller, from a wide variety of authors and I've learned far more about the genre.

Enter Dan Brown's latest novel, The Lost Symbol. I was a little worried right from the beginning because the title seemed rather uninspired. Couldn't they have come up with something better than "The Lost Symbol?" I waited until the paperback because A) I don't have room in my house for hardbacks and B) I'm a cheapskate. I’m also patient and not one to rush out and read it from the library if there's a good chance I'll be adding it to my own library in the future.

To sum up my feelings on this novel in one word: disappointing. It wasn't crap, or slush, or a total waste of time. It wasn't really amateurish in the truest sense of that word. But I did feel the plot was waaay too contrived. And clumsy. Most of the narrative seemed to be an excuse to stick in more trivia of the kind made famous by his previous two works. The characters were flat and even the hero, Robert Langdon spent most of the book being the victim of the action and not driving it at all. And the book was too long. I don't mind lengthy reads but this one could have been at least a third shorter with no real loss to the actual story.

Despite all of that, it had some good moments. I did keep turning the pages to see what would happen next even though I frequently winced at the end of many chapters when the POV character gasped at some huge new revelation, only to have to wait for three more chapters from other POV characters to see what had been discovered. The treadmill of discovery was everlasting.

So will I read Dan Brown's next book? Yep. There's still something about them, perhaps a nostalgia that takes me back to my first thriller that did, after all, launch my interest in an entire genre. It's easy to be a critic, especially with an author that is phenomenally successful.

Radigan

2010-10-30T15:20:00.000-06:00

Radigan is the 66th Louis L'Amour book I've read, my number one author if you count by number of books read but only number 6 if you count by the number of pages read. This is another fairly average length L'Amour paperback novel, coming in at 154 pages. Obviously, you can tell I like this author and I read his novels periodically but this time I chose to read one because they serve as great "comfort" reads for me. I received some bad news yesterday and was feeling pretty low. I didn't want to do any of my normal hobbies and I didn't even want to read. That's certainly a rare occurrence for me. But I had to do something to fill the hours so I gave reading a try and L'Amour was just the ticket.

I've remarked before about how I read these novels for the fun of them. Not for any great literary accomplishments or for what anybody else may think of them. There's a certain honesty about them and it sure beats listening to the radio which is constantly playing campaign ads right now.

Tom Radigan is a former ranger and now owns a small cattle ranch in northern New Mexico territory. Along comes Angelina Foley with an outfit of gunfighters, 3000 head of cattle and what she claims is a deed to Radigan's land. Radigan knows the deed is phony but despite his attempts to tell her so, a full-on range war begins. Now you might expect some sort of boiler-plate western plot to take over with Radigan falling for the girl and living happily ever after but that is just not the case. I won't spoil it for you but this is a fine western story with gunfights, fist fights, wilderness survival (in deep winter snows), and more. The ending came abruptly and I would have liked to have a little more filled out with the final moments of the plot but overall, this was a great one.

And yes, I do feel better now, thanks for asking.

Night Chills

2010-10-28T17:30:00.000-06:00

Night Chills by Dean Koontz, was one of the books given to me by a co-worker who knew I "liked to read". As I've mentioned before on this blog, Dean Koontz is mostly a hit-or-miss author for me but I tend to like his earlier works better, probably because they are usually more of a straight forward horror story than his later work.

This novel is a bit dated, having been written in the 1970s and concerns the phenomenon of subliminal advertising, taken to the extreme where it can actually be used for mind control. Three people of varying backgrounds and motivations get together to coordinate an experiment on an isolated "company town" where the small, controlled population is subjected to the experimental technique. If the experiment works, the three stand to become all powerful (and all rich). The title of the book comes from the side effect that the experimentees get: night chills similar to flu-like symptoms.

The book was a quick read, and a page-turner. The bad guys, particularly the main inventor of the mind control technique, were far more developed than the good guys who fight back, making it a bit difficult to root for them. And, I must say, there is some pretty extreme graphic sexual scenes in this novel, mostly having to do with the main inventor abusing his new found power to get back at women for all of the grief he suffered in his youth.

In summary, not a bad Koontz novel, but not ranking at the top either.

England, The Autobiography

2010-10-26T10:15:00.001-06:00

This is a book that my wife picked up for me several years ago during her first visit to England. I was still active duty Air Force and stationed in Germany and was unable to get away for that trip although was fortunate enough to be able to go the next year.

This book, England, The Autobiography, edited by John Lewis-Stemple, is a collection of first-hand accounts of English history written by English men and women from all walks of life, some famous and some not. As such, most of the accounts are quite interesting, while others are less so. They are presented chronologically, beginning at 55 BC with an account written by Julius Caesar of his invasion and traversing history all the way to its publication date in 2005 with an account of "England Wins Ashes, the Oval, London." In between there are a hundred or so sketches summarizing 2000 years of English history, from those that were there.

I found most of these sketches to be very interesting, whether it's from the point of view of a Saxon warrior at the Battle of Maldon in 991, or about the Peasants' Revolt in 1381, or a piece by Winston Churchill during WWII, or The Beatles in Performance at the Cavern Club in Liverpool in 1961 by none other than Brian Epstein. Taken all together, these sketches provide a nice overview of English history for somebody who is already at least partially familiar with that history. If this is the first book ever picked up on the subject I don't think it would go very far in educating somebody about it...it's just too little detail about too many events, and each event is only addressed once, often by somebody who has a strong bias one way or the other. But as a companion book to a library of history, this is a fascinating read and makes me want to search out other such books for other countries/cultures.

The Eternal Savage

2010-10-24T17:52:00.000-06:00

No, this is not about my son, who has come home from college for the weekend. Rather it is the name of a stand-alone book by Edgar Rice Burroughs, most famous for his pulp-era science fiction series such as John Carter of Mars, Pelucidar, the Venus series, and, of course Tarzan. My database reveals that this is the 32nd book I've read by this author, making him my 5th most read author. Of course, most of those books (all of them?) are fairly thin paperbacks at around 175-225 pages each. I read most of these books when I was a teenager, helping to launch my interest in Science Fiction, even though there really is very little "science" in them.

I acquired this book recently, spotting it at the used book store in the library where I frequently find older novels from "my" authors. It's been years since I've read an ERB and I was hoping it would stand the test of time, as in my own maturity. I've been afraid to re-read any of these books for fear they would fail that test. I'm sorry to report that The Eternal Savage didn't exactly relieve those fears for me. It had a hokey plot, in my opinion, about a caveman-era fellow named Nu, Son of Nu. He is in love and trying his darndest to win the hand of Nat-Ul as his mate. While hunting the most ferocious beast of the age, an earthquake strikes, causing a cave-in, trapping Nu inside. Cut to "present" day where an American girl, Victoria Custer, has gone to Africa to visit the Greystoke ranch (Tarzan, for the uninformed). It turns out that Nu has awoken in these modern times and spies Victoria, and thinking her to be his very own love, Nat-Ul. Another earthquake sends those two back to the Stone Age where Victoria turns out to be that same Nat-Ul. All of that just serves to set the stage for most of the book that follows. Much perilous adventure insues finally culminating in one final unexplained time-travel scene.

Of course, I don't expect great literature from these books but rather I expect pulp fiction which is what I got. It did remind me of lots of what I read in those teenage years but it didn't serve to keep me turning page after page. Rather it felt like a chore to plow through the predictable action sequences and jaw-dropping incredulity at the time-travel plot machinations. But still...there's enough nostalgia-related story telling here to make me plunk down my 75 cents if I see another ERB at the library book store.

Speaks the Nightbird

2010-10-20T17:54:00.000-06:00

I am new to the author, Robert McCammon, but he came highly recommended from another blog I follow so I thought it worthwhile to give him a shot. The results? Speaks the Nightbird will be a very strong competitor for my best-of-the-year list and now that I think about it, will probably make my best-of-all time reading list.

Yes, it's that good.

This is an historical novel set in the Carolina territory in 1699. Mathew Corbett is a clerk to a magistrate (judge) based in Charles Town and together they travel to the village of Fount Royal where the magistrate must have a trial for a reputed witch. Of course, the townspeople all firmly believe the witch is guilty and there is no need for a trial, and indeed, the evidence is damning. In fact there are even eye witnesses to her devilish acts. What follows is a rather complicated and intriguing mystery in which we watch our protagonist uncover the truth of the matter, using his keen powers of observation and deductive reasoning much like Sherlock Holmes would do. But there is far more to this novel than the mystery for this author has mastered the arts of setting, pacing, characterization, and plot. The book is a rather large one, coming in at 792 over-sized paperback pages, and yet it did not seem like a "long" book. I kept wanting to read and then read some more, cutting short some of my other well-loved hobbies (and sleep) just to get more reading time in. And thankfully, there are two more novels featuring Mathew Corbett following this one. Delightful!

"I Really Didn't Say Everything I Said"

2010-10-17T10:17:00.000-06:00

I'm not really sure which is the title and which is the subtitle of The Yogi Book by Yogi Berra. But that really doesn't matter in the big scheme of things. This is a little book that takes about 10 minutes to read, one of those you might find near the checkout counter of a large book store chain. But it is filled with the delightful sayings of Yogi Berra, Hall of Fame catcher with the NY Yankees, Manager, and coach. Yogi goes through each one of his famous one-liners and cites the origin and the circumstances in which it "just came out." The sayings and explanations are accompanied by photographs of Yogi with some of the best know baseball players of his era, as well as friends, family members, childhood playmates, etc., many of them from his family's personal collection.

Who could forget great lines like these: "It ain't over 'till it's over"; "I wish I had an answer to that because I'm tired of answering that question"; "If I didn't wake up I'd still be sleeping"; "90% of the game is half mental"; or my favorite, when asked for directions, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." Contrary to the subtitle, "I really didn't say everything I said," these are all legitimate quotes by Mr. Berra himself. Every one has an origin although a couple of them he doesn't remember saying but admits that he probably did.

A fun book for all, but as Yogi would say (and did) "If you can't imitate him, don't copy him."

Elfshadow

2010-10-12T13:31:00.000-06:00

I chose to read Elfshadow, the second in a long "open-universe" series about the secret organization for good known as "The Harpers" in the "Forgotten Realms" fantasy setting, because I was looking for a good old fashioned, easy-to-read, but not dumbed down fantasy novel. This one really fit the bill and I'm pleased to say it's been one of my favorite reads of the year so far. It is also noteworthy that this book is not just a part of the Harpers series but is also the first book in a stand-alone trilogy called, "Songs and Swords." Methinks the three books' popularity as Harper's books spawned a re-publish as the trilogy.

These books were published almost 20 years ago, back in the big TSR days of tie-in novels to the D&D game system. These sorts of books launched the careers of several well-known fantasy authors today, including RA Salvatore, Troy Denning, and Elaine Cunningham, the author of this book. The story surrounds Arilyn Moonblade, a half-elf "assassin" who works as a Harper agent. She is suspected of assassinating several members of the Harper association, mostly because of her proximity to all of their murders. She is accompanied by a fledgling-wizard and bard named Danilo Thann who plays the part of a dandy but in reality is an accomplished mage and is trying to determine Arilyn's guilt or innocence. What follows is largely a mystery story interspersed with dangerous moments and good action sequences. There are lots of characters introduced as the pair makes their journey in and around Waterdeep, but you don't have to be a "Forgotten Realms" aficionado to understand what's going on. And if you’ve ever played the computer game, “Baldur’s Gate”, you’ll really appreciate the area. The plot is pretty well thought out and definitely kept my attention. It's really hard to believe that this is the author's first novel. She has acknowledged mistakes with it but I can't point to any myself and she has gone on to write a couple of sequels. I will definitely read them because I really like these characters.

Gallow's Thief

2010-10-08T17:01:00.000-06:00

Gallows Thief is the 13th book I've read by Bernard Cornwell and, surprisingly, I've never read one from the Sharpe series for which he is most well known. I rank his "Winter King" trilogy among the best of Arthurian literature and I am rarely disappointed with his work.

This book was a bit of a genre mix. I picked it up thinking historical novel and indeed it is, taking place in 1817, shortly after the events of Waterloo. In fact, the protagonist, Rider Sandman, was an officer in that battle but now finds himself in London, unemployed and in need of some coin. He is contracted by the Home Secretary and former Prime Minister, Henry Addington to investigate the accuracy of a guilty murder verdict for one Charles Corday, an apprentice painter now locked up in Newgate prison awaiting the hangman's noose. It seems the Queen herself is interested in the matter and has doubts that Mr. Corday is the actual murderer. So yes, the novel is set in 1817 London but it is largely a detective/mystery novel. And a fine one it is. Sandman's investigation is conducted over a seven day stretch and, as the book cover says, "takes him from the bowels of Newgate to the scented drawing rooms of the ruthless and powerful, and into the darkest shadows of the filthy, bustling city." A very nice read.

Someday, I'm going to have to get around to those Sharpe novels...

Peter and the Secret of Rundoon

2010-10-04T11:28:00.000-06:00

I just love going back to this Peter Pan series by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. Peter and the Secret of Rundoon is the third book in what I think is a 4-book series that is a prequel to the events in the classic Peter Pan story by J.M. Barrie. As popular as these books are, however, I can see there being more of them still to come.

Essentially, this series describes Peter's back story. Things like how he is able to fly, how he meets the people who will become Wendy's parents, how he develops relationships with the Indians of Mollusk Island, and the mermaids there, etc. We also learn about the back stories of other major characters such as Captain Hook, as well as how shadows work, and most importantly, what is the origin of "Starstuff", that strange substance that makes things fly.

But what's really great about these books, is that they are clearly in the YA market but they certainly do not simplify or otherwise dumb down the plot. This is fast paced, exciting adventure story telling with lots of edge-of-your-seat thrills but also with a good dose of characterization. The language style is pleasant to read and the plot is full of imagination. Just what a good book needs!

The King of Torts

2010-09-30T10:43:00.000-06:00

The King of Torts is the 10th book I've read by John Grisham. I suppose that makes him one of "my" authors although he has his share of let downs. Ever since I read The Firm years ago, I've looked for that magic once more but so far they've always seemed to fall a tad short.

I'm still not exactly what to make of this one. It is one of the better ones of Mr. Grisham's works that I've read, despite the nit picking that I'm about to do. It's a page turner for sure and I kept reading way past my bed time. That has to be a good sign right? Mr. Grisham does have a way of writing page turners; his language is for the common man, his chapters are fairly short so it's easy to think, "just one more chapter." * * SPOILER ALERT ** Sorry about this spoiler but its difficult to discuss this work without it. This novel could easily be classified as a tragedy in that we watch young attorney Clay Carter rise from a humble life in the Public Defender’s Office in Washington DC to become the newest "King of Torts", suing huge drug companies and others on behalf of wronged victims...only to have his empire crash and burn around him at the end. * * END SPOILER * *

As I said, it's a page turner but I do have some issues with the novel. The characters (particularly the protagonist) didn't always respond and behave the way I expected based on the first third of the book. In other words, I had come to know him pretty well through the various scenes and see how he reacts to events. But occasionally he does things completely out of character, yanking me right out of the narrative. Coupled with that, a couple of times I felt like the author was not treating me, the reader, with respect. I'm not a lawyer but in the course of the novel, we get a good dose of what tort litigation is all about and how it works, at least for a layman's perspective. But when a technique served well in the first part of the book, and the protagonist was well satisfied with the results, he tried it again and for no apparent reason it didn't fly the next time. It's as if the author ignored the investment the readers would make with the characters in order to make sure the plot worked as he wanted. As an example, there is one crucial court drama happening in the background during the final third of the book. * * SPOILER ALERT ** It's crucial to the plot and to what happens to our protagonist. We, the reader, along with the protagonist are led down the path of just how great it's going for our side, how amazingly the lawyer is skewering the opponent’s expert witnesses, how the jury is eating it up, and when the jury comes back with the verdict...we lose. That's it. No explanation. I know you can just never really tell with a jury but it seemed contrived by the author to disrespect the reader in order to get the ending he wanted. * * END SPOILER * *

Yes, I am being hard on Mr. Grisham. But I'm sure his bestselling book sales will withstand my criticism just fine. And I expect a lot from him. The book was still fun to read and I'll keep reading him (I have at least 3 more on my shelves). But I'm still hoping for that great one.

The Last Enchantment

2010-09-26T10:17:00.000-06:00

This third book of Mary Stewart's "Merlin Trilogy", The Last Enchantment has proven to be my favorite of the set. I tend to judge the books I read by the style of book it is and how well it meets my expectations for the genre. For example, a really good adventure/thriller novel makes me want to keep reading faster and faster to get to the, hopefully, satisfying conclusion. A good mystery may make me read a bit slower to make sure I'm not missing some vital clue along the way. The Last Enchantment was one of those fantasy novels that made me want to really take my time, just to savor the story itself, relishing not only in the classic Arthurian mythos that I love but also in the writing style of Mary Stewart. And I did take my time, nearly a whole week for just one novel!

I enjoyed the first two books in this trilogy quite a bit but this one was one notch better still. Both of the preceding novels were fine on their own but, I think, served largely to set the stage for this third volume. We start with Arthur just having been proclaimed King after Uther's death, and get to watch him through Merlin's eyes as he grows into his role. All of the pageantry of the Arthurian legends comes to the fold here but not always as we are used to seeing it. The author's note at the end explains how she used many historical texts as well as the original Arthurian works by Mallory (Morte d'Arthur) to keep to the more authentic legend. Merlin, of course, takes center stage in these novels, telling the story from his first person POV. Ms Stewart does a masterful job of keeping him honest, showing his foibles along with his genius. Not much in the way of description of battles is to be found here; Arthur is often away leading one battle or another but that is all done off stage. Rather the book concentrates more on the relationships of those around Merlin himself such as Nimue, his student/lover/wife and ultimate successor. Other prominent characters such as Morgan, Morgause, Lot, Bedwyn and a host of allied kings and queens all make their appearance.

This trilogy is among the best fantasy I've read and will take an honored place on my shelves. There is another follow-on book still to go, The Wicked Day, which details the events surrounding Arthur and Mordred and while technically is part of this "Arthurian Saga" by Stewart, it is not part of the Merlin trilogy.

Stars & Stripes Triumphant

2010-09-20T15:29:00.000-06:00

This is the third and final entry in Harry Harrison's alternate history trilogy set during the 1860's. The first book, of course, set up the notion of the American Civil War being interrupted by a British attack on New Orleans, leading to the Americans re-uniting against a new common foe. Having successfully defended itself, the US follows up in the second book by diverting another British attack through Mexico, aimed at the American's soft underbelly by assisting the Irish to gain their independence. With a threat so close to her own homeland, the British have to pull back their resources from Mexico to defend its own shores. Now comes the third book.

This time around it very much seemed as if the author had a bone to pick with the British. He writes his British characters with, at best, unenlightened military minds, and at worst, as absolute buffoons. The Americans can do no wrong, militarily or politically. They use advancements in technology to great advantage and every battle in the entire book goes exactly as planned, leaving the British generals, admirals, and political leaders, (and especially Queen Victoria), to blunder about, dithering about how dare the British Empire be subjected to this. General Sherman takes center stage in this third book, leaving Abraham Lincoln to be just a kindly old uncle figure. Generals Grant and Lee and Admiral Farragut all participate in the invasion of England but they remain mostly offstage. Invasion of England? That's right. In response to the British Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston's inexplicable decision to plunder American cargo ships, Lincoln decides to put an end to this once and for all. I won't provide spoilers but let's just say that I can't imagine any British citizen today reading this and enjoying it. General Sherman's battle strategy is well laid out and makes lots of sense but it does rely on his enemies to do everything exactly as he suspects...which they do, of course. There is never any real doubt as to how it will all end, especially given the title of the book.

Having said all that, the book is an easy read...

Sandstorm

2010-09-17T10:51:00.000-06:00

Sandstorm is the fifth book I've read by James Rollins. It's a stand-alone adventure novel although it does set up the "Sigma Force" novels featuring the recurring character Commander Gray Pierce. James Rollins writes in a page-turning style, mixing action sequences with exotic locations and cutting-edge technology. Sandstorm is no exception as we follow a good mix of characters, including Painter Crowe, the future director of Sigma Force, traveling from London to the Arabian Peninsula in search of the lost city of Ubar. Along the way we get to experience the British Museum in London and several archeological sites such as the Crypt of Nabi Imran, the Tomb of Ayoub (Job from the Bible), and the town of Shisur. We also get to learn more about anti-matter, buckyballs (having to do with ball lightning), molten glass, and one hellacious sandstorm.

I find reading James Rollins books to be the closest thing to an Indiana Jones movie I've yet to experience. In fact, he was even selected to adapt the screenplay from the last movie into book form. I found this book to be an interesting read although at over 550 pages, it did seem about 75 pages too long. The author is adept at bringing his characters to the edge of a cliff and then finding creative ways to push them off but it seemed to happen a bit too much in this one. The bad guy character, a female, was competent, which I like in a bad guy, and displayed some truly evil aspects, but somehow was not all she could be. Pretty good characterization for this kind of book, and a sort of love triangle aspect that worked nicely.

Onr other note: my copy is a limited edition mass market paperback and came with a hard "lenticular" front cover, giving it a 3D effect. I suppose that looks nice in a book store and might well entice a customer to pick it up, but it makes for difficult reading/handling, especially in the first few chapters. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I prefer to stick to the regular paper covers.

So, a good novel overall with just some minor annoyances. Definitely a worthwhile read and will keep me reading James Rollins in the future.

Frankenstein's Monster

2010-09-11T13:38:00.001-06:00

Imagine if you were given the task of writing the sequel to Frankenstein, one of the all-time great classics. You'd want to do several things to make sure and get it right: 1) you would need to develop a great plot that is loyal to the original and is "necessary" in order for the book to have any value to the reader, 2) you would need to provide the right style of writing, the right "voice" so that it would meld well with the original, sounding much like Mary Shelley's voice, and 3) not have the whole thing sound too classic because you don't want today's readers to be bored...it would still need a fairly quick pace to keep the reader interested. On top of all of that you would still need to do all of the things that make for a good novel; i.e. great multi-dimensional characterization, interesting settings, involved plot, etc etc.

Sound impossible? Perhaps, but Susan Heyboer O'Keefe has done remarkably well in writing Frankenstein's Monster. Especially when one considers this is her first effort for the adult market, having only published children's books before. I took a look at her website and found her to be a real hoot; I suppose you'd have to be in order to tackle this particular novel. Most of the book is told as diary entries from the monster himself. It takes place ten years after the end of the first novel but we learn everything about what happened after the first one ends. There is more than just plot and action here as the monster struggles with his very nature, trying to find his place in the world. He takes quite a journey as he is pursued by Walton who has vowed to his friend Victor Frankenstein to finish off the monster. Along the way he encounters several intriguing new characters and plenty of horrifying and desperate moments.

I felt like I was taking a chance when I began reading this one but feel very happy with the results. Highly recommended.

This novel will be published in the US in October 2010.

Running the Books

2010-09-08T10:32:00.000-06:00

Running the Books, by Avi Steinberg is subtitled, "The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian". On the surface, it's an interesting look at how the author spent two years as a librarian in one of Boston's prisons. Avi Steinberg was an obituary writer and had no previous training or experience as a librarian. He answered a want ad and the next thing he knew he had landed an interview.

But this book is about far more than that. It is a poignant examination of people. Not just any people, but the sort of people that are in prison as well as the guards, the prison staff, and the author himself.

I was attracted to this book for two main reasons: 1) I like books and anything to do with them, and 2) I am always up for learning about aspects of life that I've never personally encountered. Prison life has long been an enigma for me and although I enjoyed watching "Prison Break" on TV I assumed that wasn't normal prison life. Parts of this book are humorous, parts sad, and parts downright disturbing but I think the author really gets down to the nitty gritty of how the people interact, especially with him. We see the ugliness of prison politics, how the author himself tries to do the right thing only to get caught up in it himself. We see a wide variety of inmate personalities, and dive in deep to see a handful of them up close. I won't go into details so as not to provide spoilers but rest assured many of the inmates’ stories are tragic. Along the way, we learn about the author's own life experiences both inside the prison library and outside. One can't help but to wonder how we, the readers, would handle some of the situations he encounters and how they would affect us and our outlook on life.

This one will be on sale in the US in October 2010.

An Age of Extremes 1880-1917

2010-09-05T11:24:00.002-06:00

Book 8 of Joy Hakim's "A History of US", An Age of Extremes is another fine entry in the 10-volume young adult US history set. Even though I like to consider myself quite knowledgeable about history in general and US history in particular, I always uncover new facts when I read these books. Moreover, I gain greater insight on the happenings of the era because of the excellent presentation. I love all of the interesting sidebars, pictures, and diagrams that are included.

This volume covers numerous topics from 1880 to the beginnings of World War I such as the rise of industry, the politics of business vs. government, and inventions galore. We get nice summaries of the major players of the day: tycoons such as Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie, or JP Morgan; Presidents like Grant, Hayes, Taft, Teddy Roosevelt and Wilson; and other prominent people who impacted US history like John Roebling, Frank Lloyd Wright, John Muir, William Jennings Bryan, and the Wright Brothers. Of special interest to me, because I like reading about the history of books, were nice summary biographies of L. Frank Baum, the author of the Wizard of Oz books, as well as the Muckrakers like Ida Tarbell and Upton Sinclair, not to mention Sam McClure and his stable of writers: Jack London, Rudyard Kipling, Stephen Crane, and Willa Cather. We bought this set of books for use in our kids' homeschooling effort and they are perfect for that purpose as they bring the history to life. Highly recommended.

Grave Surprise

2010-09-04T13:42:00.000-06:00

Grave Surprise is the second in a series by Charlaine Harris, best known for the Sookie Stackhouse books which are the source material for the HBO TV series "True Blood". Earlier this year I read Grave Sight and while that book was OK, it did not make me rush to read the next in the series. But since I had it on my shelf anyway, (a freebie from the Alaska cruise ship a couple of years ago), I went ahead and gave the series another shot.

This second book was far more enjoyable than the first for some reason. I suspect it is because the major characters have already been established and the author could get on with a more complex plot. These books are about Harper Connelly, a young lady who, after having been struck by lightning at the age of 15, can now use psychic abilities to find dead bodies. If she gets close, she can identify the remains and often tell how they died, even if the body is still underground, like in a graveyard. She is financially compensated for this service, a fact Harper makes no apologies for as it's her way of making a living. This concept makes for an interesting setting for a good mystery and this second book provides just that. I enjoyed the main characters being fleshed out a little more and was especially interested in what is sure to become a multi-novel story arc involving the relationship between Harper and her stepbrother Tolliver who acts as her manager. Before I read this one, I had not planned to read any more of the series but now I am just interested enough to keep on going.

Blog Improvements

2010-09-01T14:45:00.000-06:00

Some of you may have noticed the new look to this blog. (Not just the oragami Yoda to the left). I've tried to spruce it up some with a new background and style.

I've also finally found the time to add a couple of indexes that I've long wanted to do. So now over on the right hand side of the screen you'll find a listing of direct links to my entries based on genre and type. These are ordered by frequency so "fantasy" and "historical fiction" lead the list. Then below that is a list that provides a direct link to all of the authors that I have blogged about. These links should take you right to whatever you may be interested in, making it much easier to search the site.

Thanks for the ongoing support as I improve the blog.

May your reading journeys be pleasant.

Fallon

2010-08-31T09:14:00.001-06:00

Fallon is the 4th book written by Louis L'Amour that I have read this year. Normally, that's about my max for L'Amour each year because I have other westerns on my “To Be Read” shelf by other authors. But I'm plum out (that's a little western expression there) and only have L'Amour books there now. That's OK though if they're as good as Fallon.

This book is the 65th L'Amour book I've read. That tells me I read a lot of books, or else I'm just getting old. A little of both I suspect. Ever since I fell in love with the Sackett family in my teen years, I’ve been reading L’Amour westerns (as well as a few of his non-western adventure stories). Fallon was first published in 1963 and tells the tale of a drifter who is part con artist, part fraud, but mostly a good guy. It is shortly after the Civil War is over and he cons his way into establishing the new town of Red Horse, based on rumors of a gold strike nearby (rumors started by Fallon, himself, of course). Instead of skedaddling to San Francisco like he planned, using the money from a dry claim he sold to an unsuspecting fellow, he finds himself coming to care about the little town and its people who, in turn, rely on him for leadership against the roughnecks in the neighborhood. This is a fine story, with a few unexpected plot twists to keep it interesting. The ending is satisfying and even humorous. Yet again, I am happy to see a "formula" western by L'Amour not be so formula-driven after all. I would rank this one in his top 10...and if you don't count the Sackett novels it would be in his top five.

Journey Into the Void

2010-08-29T10:05:00.001-06:00

Sometimes I wonder why the book titles I read could double for the state of our society today...

er...nevermind...

Journey Into the Void is the third and final book of the "Sovereign Stone" fantasy trilogy by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman. As I mentioned when I wrote about the second book, this trilogy is not part of the Dragonlance milieu but somewhat similar in that it is set in a D&D style world.

SPOILER ALERT: I don't normally do this but it sums up my feelings for the series so I have to mention it. I quite enjoyed the first book of the trilogy, especially the character of Gareth, the whipping boy, even though he ended up supporting the man who would become the great evil of the series. He, himself, committed all sort of evil acts and I guess I was hoping he would redeem himself at the end. He did put in an appearance but was not what I had hoped for, leaving the heroes of books 2 and 3 to save the day. Oh well. END SPOILER.

All in all this was a pretty good fantasy trilogy, especially if you enjoy the traditional fantasy setting. There are orcs and dwarves and elves and humans but they aren't always exactly as you might stereotypically expect those races to be. There are also some other creative races and sub races that all interact upon the stage. A fairly large cast of characters could have been confusing but I think the authors handled them well to avoid that. I also appreciated the magic system in use here, with the Dominion Lords and their magical armor. This won't go down as my all time favorite series but there is a lot to like about this set.

The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World

2010-08-26T13:18:00.000-06:00

This is the book I've been reading lately during my mornings. It's actually my daughter's book, purchased during our June trip to Florida, and she found it so fascinating that I just had to read it too. I was skeptical at first because I fancy myself a pretty knowledgeable Disney World visitor, having been to the park at least 5 times in the past 20 years.

I've also read several Walt Disney biographies as well as related books and seen documentaries about how the parks were built, etc. So I just didn't think there was too much more for me to learn. But I was very pleasantly surprised. This book, The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World, by Susan Veness is packed full of little known information, much of it in plain view if you visit the park, if you only knew what you were looking at. Almost every ride/attraction has hidden meaning. Everything is done on purpose so if you see a name on a window of one of the upstairs "offices" along Main Street, this book will tell you it's one of the original imagineers that designed it. At Star Tours in Disney's Hollywood Studios, you may hear a page for "Egroeg Sacul" which is "George Lucas" spelled backwards. This book is packed with such tidbits.

The book is divided into 4 sections, one for each of the major parts of Walt Disney World. Each section also includes a timeline from the moment it was conceptualized through now (2010) and lists all of the changes that happened along the way. Since I've been so many times it was nice to remember some of the stuff that is no longer there. But it was also nice to see how the imagineers incorporated a now defunct attraction into an existing one. And finally, it was very interesting to read about ideas that didn't make it...and why. For example there were plans at the Japan pavilion in EPCOT's World Showcase for a "Mt Fuji Rollercoaster" but it was nixed by the sponsor, Kodak, so as not to promote rival Fuji Film.

And tons more like that. The amazing thing about this book was that I'm not sure it's available at Disney World itself. We bought our copy at Borders just before we got on the plane so that makes me wonder if Disney doesn’t really want all of this Hidden Magic widely known. But if that is the case, I can't see why because this book is very flattering towards Disney and would seem to be a nice companion for the visitors.

The Terminal Man

2010-08-22T14:23:00.002-06:00

The Terminal Man is the 10th Michael Crichton novel I've read and has actually been on my self for many years. I was hoping for a quick, technological based thriller and that's exactly what I got. It's one of Crichton's early works, published in 1972. As in all of his earlier novels, he includes state-of-the-art technology, this time revolving around what computers can do in assisting brain-damaged patients. The technology is spot-on...for 1971. Reading about dime-sized microchips can jar today's reader right out of the story but for its day, this novel was cutting edge.

The novel itself was an interesting read, despite the tech time warp. In essence, it is a thriller, about a brain damaged patient who undergoes surgery to have electrodes implanted at key nodes to combat stimuli that would otherwise lead to violent behavior. It is interesting to note that the patient himself also suffers from a phobia of computers taking over the world. So when the electrodes fail to work properly, he feels he himself is becoming more computer-like. Crichton throws in some pop-philosophy as well, and since he has a medical background, his medical explanations sound plausible. The ending was predictable of course; even the patient, after he escapes from the hospital, says there's only one way for this to end.

Overall, a nice quick read. If you can get past the dated technology, it's worth the time.

The Bridge in the Clouds

2010-08-20T09:30:00.002-06:00

I've finally completed the fourth and final book in William Corlett's "The Magician's House Quartet." It took me quite a while to get around to this last book because, quite frankly, I just wasn't all that excited to get to it. Yes, I wanted to wrap up the plot, and The Bridge in the Clouds did do that. But I just grew weary of the whininess of the three children in the series. Also, the author likes to try to draw out the suspense with the old trick of delaying the "what's going on here" part of the plot. Many many times during these novels, the kids have an opportunity to gain more information to help solidify the overall plot, only to be interrupted and not gain the insight they (and the reader) were striving for. I can handle that in moderation but here it became predictable; so much so that as soon as some enlightenment was imminent, I knew somehow it wouldn't be revealed.

So by the end of the four books, I just wanted it over with, not really caring about the characters. The final scenes tried to explain it all at once with an unsatisfying result. Granted, I am not the intended audience for these books as they are Young Adult. And perhaps I am spoiled by so recently reading a Narnia book. But still, well...I'm happy to be finished with the series.

Treason

2010-08-16T14:10:00.002-06:00

Treason is a part of David Nevin's "The American Story, 1800-1860" historical novel series and takes place from the fall of 1803 through the late summer of 1807. This basically equates to the end of Thomas Jefferson's first term and his entire second term. These were important years in the history of the United States, a timeframe that included the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark expedition, and the election of James Madison.

The novel is essentially about Aaron Burr although we experience this era through the eyes of many characters, most especially Dolly Madison. At the beginning of the novel Burr is Vice President but completely marginalized by the Jefferson administration. In those days the man who came in second in the election became the vice president, not the best recipe for a cooperative management effort. Burr is prominent in New York but when he returns there to run once again for political office, he is badly beaten. His personality is one that demands satisfaction and when he becomes convinced that Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury at that time, is responsible for his defeat, Burr finds an excuse to blow an insult out of proportion and challenge Hamilton to a duel.

This is an oft-visited episode in US history. Most people know of Burr's duel with (and victory over) Hamilton but far fewer know what Burr was up to after that. None of what follows in the novel, concedes the author, is perfectly factual as Burr never admitted to it. But based on the historical record, it seems highly probable that Burr conceived of and attempted to carry out a plan to take advantage of the newly completed Louisiana Purchase by creating a whole new country. He planned to exploit New Orleans's desire to remain "French", raise an army, convince the leadership of the Western states such as Ohio, Tennessee, and Kentucky to succeed from the union and attack Mexico, using their gold to finance the new country. They would then become strong allies of Britain/Canada and limit the US to an east coast-only country, much less of a threat to the continent. This would also set up the possibility for the industrial New England states to separate from the agrarian slave-friendly South, a concept favored by Northern governors at the time.

An intriguing concept, but of course it never happened. I was amazed to read about it though and see just how widespread the whole thing was, involving a number of governors, senators, and other prominent people. It failed for a number of reasons, chiefly, that his co-conspirator, General James Wilkinson, lost his nerve and tried to pin it all on Burr. But James and Dolly Madison also uncovered the plot and convinced Jefferson to act to prevent such treason.

The book itself was intriguing albeit a bit slow in places. The author's style is to use actual historical figures as his main characters, not a fictional person who is affected by history's great events, like many historical novelists do. This requires extraordinary research, of course, not only to get the facts right on where people were when, but also to know them well enough to extrapolate how they would react to events. I think the author does this very well indeed.

I've read 4 of the 5 books in this series, missing only Meriwether so far. Mr. Nevin plans more of these novels, but the last one was published in 2005 and so I have to wonder if there will be more.

The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane

2010-08-13T17:03:00.001-06:00

As always, I read a short story between each novel. This time around it's been Robert E. Howard's The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, a complete collection of all the Solomon Kane stories in one volume. Robert E. Howard, of course, is best known as the creator of Conan, but he was a prolific author during his short life, creating several other notable protagonists.

Del Rey has re-published the works of Robert E. Howard in beautiful trade paperback sets that include his complete works. They leave them un-edited, just as Mr. Howard wrote them and include unpublished story fragments, poems, etc. They are also nicely illustrated and really draw the reader back to the era in which they were first published, the era of the pulp magazines like Weird Tales.

As for Solomon Kane...“He was . . . a strange blending of Puritan and Cavalier, with a touch of the ancient philosopher, and more than a touch of the pagan. . . . A hunger in his soul drove him on and on, an urge to right all wrongs, protect all weaker things. . . . Wayward and restless as the wind, he was consistent in only one respect—he was true to his ideals of justice and right. Such was Solomon Kane.” A great character from the pulp era indeed.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

2010-08-10T09:34:00.001-06:00

Ah, the Chronicles of Narnia. I've approached these classic works with the reverence they are due; that is I read them slowly over time. It's almost as if I feel that when I complete them all, there will be none remaining. Of course there is such a thing as re-reading (and I do that once in a while) but there is only one "first time" to read anything.

I've been reading them in order, having read The Magician's Nephew about 15 years ago. Ever since then it's been about one every three years or so. Usually there is some sort of impetus to remind me it's time for another. Lately it's been because a movie version is about to come out and so I want to make certain I read that book before I see the film. A couple of weeks ago I saw that there is a new Narnia movie about to hit the streets on the Dawn Treader so I quickly brought my guns to bear.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis is another classic. I believe it to be the last one which includes the Pevensie children, although only Edmund and Lucy this time. But it also introduces their cousin Eustace who, as I understand, will play a major role in the last two books of the series as well. Those three characters along with Caspian and a fantastic supporting cast have great adventures on the ship, Dawn Treader. Having so recently read C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters, I found even more examples of witty satire in this book, probably more than I would have if I wasn't looking for it.

So at my present rate, I will complete the Chronicles of Narnia after only two more volumes...sometime in 2016.

The Cat Who Smelled a Rat

2010-08-07T20:35:00.002-06:00

Here are some stats: The Cat Who Smelled a Rat is the 20th book I've read by Lilian Jackson Braun. My database tells me that equates to 5,054 pages, all about Jim Qwilleran, his two Siamese cats, and life in a small town just south of the Canadian border. That puts this author 9th on my list of most read authors if measured by number of books read but because they are not thick books, she only ranks 25th if measured but total pages read. Did I ever mention I was sort of anal when it comes to my books? Still that's a lot of time spent in Moose County and the town of Pickax (as well as the first three books before Jim moved up to "400 miles north of everywhere.")

These books are probably classified as "cozy" mysteries. In my mind that means the mystery element is a little more simplistic than you might otherwise find. In fact, when I read these books, it's much more about the character interaction, the quirkiness of the townsfolk, and how they react to various events, whether it is to serious things like murder or natural disasters or to less serious things like a new restaurant opening or a newcomer to town.

Always a pleasant read even if a quick one. Can't always be reading mind-bending science fiction or in-depth historical fiction. Cheers.

The Sleeping Beauty

2010-08-05T11:41:00.001-06:00

The Sleeping Beauty is the fifth book in a fantasy series, "Tales from the Five Hundred Kingdoms" by Mercedes Lackey. I received an advanced reader's copy for review so, against my better judgment, I read this one without having read the previous four books in the series. The cover blurbs made it sound like you can read these in any order and I have to say that is, indeed, the case. The book stands alone just fine. This is also my very first Mercedes Lackey novel. I read a lot of fantasy books but somehow her books always seemed to be slanted towards a female audience and so I just always seemed to find other books to read. The cover of this one makes it look like a romance novel.

As you can probably guess, this is another of those "mixed-up fairy tale" stories. The titular character, Rosalind (Rosa) is protected by a Godmother (Lilly) from the Tradition, i.e. that force that tends to lead all fairy tales in a certain direction. Since Rosa doesn't want to follow Tradition and just marry any ol' prince that comes along to kiss her awake, she and her Godmother scheme to thwart Tradition and end up happily ever after anyway.

Most of the book revolves around a huge contest to determine the best prince to marry Rosa and become King but that is sandwiched between various adventures. We get to see charcters from other fairy tales, some that take part in the story (The Seven Dwarves) and others that are merely referenced (Puss n' Boots, the Frog Prince, etc). This is a nice clean book, a bit too whimsical in some sections for my taste but surprisingly clever in others. The author remarks in the preface that she had fun writing it and that seems evident as you read it. I was a little disappointed in the characterization; there just wasn't enough build-up to get to know the characters before they were thrust into danger near the beginning. Rosa seemed a little flat but I did like Siegfried, one of the princes competing for her hand. The plot was pretty straightforward but there were a couple of surprises near the end that I didn't see coming and satisfactory as well.

If you like these sort of "mixed-up fairly tales" then this one is worth a try, although I would probably wait for the paperback or download to a Kindle.

Castles of Colorado

2010-08-04T15:14:00.001-06:00

I've been fortunate in my life to have been able to travel over large parts of the world, particularly in Europe, and I've seen a lot of castles. As a child/young adult I played games like D&D and I've always loved historical fiction and fantasy and other genres where castles play a role. So it was with some skepticism that I began to read Castles of Colorado, by Ann Westerberg. After all, surely there are no real castles here in the state I call home.

The subtitle of the book is "Scandals, Hauntings, and Tales of the Past," and I suppose that was my first clue about how this book would read. It is sort of a "coffee-table" book in that most people probably just pick it up in passing and glance through the pictures. I like to read my books however so when my wife and daughter brought this home after their tour of "Miramont" in Colorado Springs, I couldn't just let it sit there.

I have to say the book looks gorgeous. Lots of glossy full color pictures in perfect weather conditions amidst beautiful scenery. Of course I was right to be skeptical though. There are no real castles, at least by my definition, in Colorado. The author shows some good solid research though in providing a good summary of each of the places she displays within the book. Most are estates of one form or another but reading the history of each one was fun. I preferred that part to the "This room can seat 75 guests and overlooks the lawn and three tiers of trout ponds..." parts. I'm not much of a HG TV fan either. Each "castle" is covered as a tour, and then depicts the history of the dwelling as well as any scandals or purported hauntings of the property. There is also a section on "castles" that are no longer around.

All in all it was an interesting book, even if I don't consider a vast estate to be a castle just because it has decorative turrets and a round tower as part of the architecture.

Power Down

2010-08-02T10:17:00.003-06:00

I don't expect too much from new thiller authors. It just seems like these novels are so often churned out by formula and tend to concentrate on page-turning action at the expense of proper plotting, characterization, setting, etc. Even some of the old "pros" succomb to this. But Ben Coes has written an absolutely terrific action-thriller novel.

Does it have action? Definitely! Is it a page-turner? You bet. But it also has near flawless plotting that builds the suspense and lets the reader know the characters, truly caring what happens to them. There are edge-of-your seat chase scenes, but they are balanced with a realistic plot that is extremely plausible in our current age. It combines the horror of terrorism (and the body count is quite high) with the financial markets, and with the US infrastructure power systems as targets. The idea of a terrorist group of a different stripe and with different motivations is a welcome change to the landscape of thriller fiction. The author has certainly done his homework, whether it comes to off shore oil platforms, electricity grids, or the ins and outs of hedge funds. And the character of Dewey Andreas, former Army Ranger and Delta, has all the makings of a new Jack Reacher, Mitch Rapp, or Dirk Pitt.

This novel will be available in the US in October 2010. It's complete in this one volume but the epilogue clearly leaves room for sequels. If so, I will be among the first in line!

Guardians of the Lost

2010-07-29T09:21:00.001-06:00

No, I'm not referring to my role as parent to two college students. Rather, the title of this entry, Guardians of the Lost, is the second novel in a fantasy trilogy, the "Soverign Stone Trilogy" by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. These authors will probably forever be known for their authorship of the original "Dragonlance" novels set in the D&D universe and while those books are the best of any other Dragonlance novels I've read, it's a shame that most readers won't look beyond that. Most will assume this team only writes one way and may, in fact, put them in the dreaded formula writers category.

But not so fast. The "Soverign Stone trilogy" is at least the fourth set of novels that they've written outside the Dragonlance setting, mostly very well received, and I have to say, this trilogy is darned good. This second novel in the set takes place 200 years after the first one ended and thus there are many changes. But of course this is fantasy and so several of the characters in the first novel show up here as well, particularly the bad guys. Second novels in trilogies tend to suffer in my opinion, from having to bridge the two "real" stories that actually happen in most trilogies. Of course there are exceptions (Godfather II, and The Empire Strikes Back) but generally, I tend to want to get through the second book just so I can read the third. But this time was different, as the book served to flesh out the entire world that we encountered in the first. I also noticed that the authors threw in a lot of characters this time, sprinkling in new ones all along the way. But it's not confusing at all since we get to spend a little time with the new ones as we go along. This is well done and I am totally intrigued to see what happens next. Which of these characters will have major roles in the conclusion? Well done! This moves the third book further forward on my To-Be-Read list.

The Screwtape Letters

2010-07-26T15:23:00.002-06:00

This is another one of those books that we used for homeschooling our children. I'm not sure they ever read it but it was in my house...and I have this thing about a book in my house that I haven't read...so I read it.

The Screwtape Letters was written by C.S. Lewis and therefore of immediate interest to me. I've always enjoyed his Narnia books so even though I knew this one wasn't a "fantasy" per se, I knew his writing ability would be well able to hold my attention. This book is a series of letters from Screwtape, a devil of some repute, to his nephew, Wormwood, a novice demon in charge of securing the damnation of a normal young man. These letters are among the very best satire I have ever read. By having Screwtape advise his nephew on how to be a better demon, CS Lewis is actually pointing out the shortfalls of our own society. I think perhaps his comments are even more apropos to our society today than when he wrote them in the early 1940s. For example, when commenting on the educational system, the demons push for a dumbed down system in order to avoid any children being left behind. Of course that leads to mediocre results for everybody, a truly "dumbed down" system. Sound familiar?

Anyway, there are no sword fights or daring escapes, or other assorted thrills so if that's what you are looking for in a good read then best to skip this one. However, if you want a fairly short book to read that gives you a lot to think about and yet be entertaining at the same time, you could certainly do worse than this one.

Stars and Stripes in Peril

2010-07-22T13:43:00.002-06:00

I've enjoyed quite a few alternate history novels, including some by Harry Turtledove as well as S.M. Stirling. But many times I've been disappointed as well, because, no matter how interesting the hook is, no matter what tiny thing may happen to change history and launch a cool plot, it still comes down to good writing. A good novel still has to be a good story with well developed characters, etc.

This novel, Stars & Stripes in Peril is the second in the "Stars and Stripes" trilogy by Harry Harrison. This is an alternate history novel set in the Civil War era, with all the major US and Confederate historical figures interacting. In the first book, the "hook" was that Queen Victoria's husband did not live long enough to convince her not to enter the American Civil War on the Southern side...so the British did indeed enter the conflict. However, they attacked the wrong target, hitting Biloxi instead of New Orleans to stop Grant, and so the South teamed up with the North to fight a common foe. Now in this second book, the war with Britain is over but Queen Victoria isn't finished. The US forces take the war to Great Britain, fighting for the freedom of Ireland this time.

I enjoyed reading this one, mostly because it was fairly simple and straight forward. The plot was interesting and the author has thrown in lots of historical tidbits. I like seeing people like Lincoln, Grant, and Sherman, working alongside Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and others in cooperation. That part was cool but, the overall characterization was lacking. I found them to be pretty flat, and one dimensional. The major historical characters always seemed to think the same and even used the same phrases. The non-historical characters came off a little better. But that was OK. I did appreciate the American's use of technology here, particularly the next generation of ironclads as well as an improved version of the Gatling gun. I have one more to read in this trilogy and I will definitely do so.

The Book of Air and Shadows

2010-07-18T15:27:00.001-06:00

I confess. I'm not a big fan of "literary" fiction. I often find it pretentious, the author trying to sound smart, or conversely, trying to make the reader feel stupid or at least uneducated. Either goal, of course, makes for a poor author but I'm convinced they're out there and they're supported by similarly pretentious editors and publishers.

Nevertheless, I keep trying them in an effort to prove myself wrong. Surely there are authors that write masterfully in the English language while at the same time, can tell a darn fine story. Well, I've found one in Michael Gruber. The Book of Air and Shadows is a fantastic fictional story, a thriller of sorts involving the discovery of a long lost unknown Shakespeare play. The book has all of the elements I love including a fascinating plot, intrigue galore, cool settings, and complete characterization. But, this is truely a "literary" novel in that Mr Gruber has produced a genuine work of art. He does not stoop to the devices of lesser (although perhaps best selling) literary authors such as I refered to in the first paragraph. He does not use a large word where a smaller one will do just fine, merely for the sake of using a larger word. He doesn't lose the reader in a maze of prose, forcing them to re-read sections to try and figure out what the author is trying to say. This book is not boring in any sense but rather vibrant. It's like the difference between a black and white photograph and full color.

This novel is one of the best I've read all year. I checked out Mr Gruber's website and paid special attention to one of his essays, "Writing Life: A Short Guide". I often look up authors of books I enjoy, attempting to glean tips on how to improve my own writing and Mr Gruber summarizes much of what I've read elsewhere. For example, most authors say a good writer is first, a good reader. Mr Gruber puts it this way: "Read both stuff you like and difficult stuff that people you respect have told you is great." That's what I try to do and the main reason I read what are considered to be the great classics as well as those books that are classified as "literary" novels. Thank-you Michael Gruber for a great book, and the will to keep trying those other "literary" books.

Monster Hunter International

2010-07-14T13:02:00.004-06:00

Boy, if you've ever wanted to read an all-out action book, I've found one for you. Monster Hunter International is about an ordinary guy, an accountant no less, who finds himself having to fight a werewolf on the very first page. The fact that the werewolf is his condescending boss makes it all the sweeter when he finally defeats him after a bloody battle. As a result, MHI (Monster Hunter Int'l) recruits our ordinary guy and trains him to go after vampires, ghouls, wights, gargoyles and assorted demons. There are lots of lengthy, bloody battles here, lots and lots of gunplay, more battles, more guns, and...well, you get the idea. I found reading this book to be akin to playing a video game or watching a Robert Romero zombie movie. Pretty cool stuff. And, believe it or not, the characters were pretty well fleshed out as well.

The only negative thing I have to say about the book is that there a few plot contrivances. In other words, it almost seemed the author wrote himself into a corner, an impossible situation, and had to resort to a trick to get out of it. I won't spell it out any more for fear of spoilers but...does anybody remember the first Superman movie with Christopher Reeves?

And, like a video game, the horrific nature of the monsters made them seem impossible to kill...and yet it happened...and then the next monster was even worse...and yet the MHI teams triumphed...etc. Our hero gets mauled and mangled so badly he couldn't have been much more than a walking road rash and yet there he is fighting hard in the next scene. Good escapist summer reading. Nothing wrong with that. The end sets up a sequel or three and I suspect Hollywood and/or computer game design companies are on the move.

Blood and Thunder

2010-07-09T09:22:00.001-06:00

I've completed another of my "morning reads". For the uninitiated, these are books that I used to read during the half hour or so before leaving for work in the morning, usually taking a month or more to complete. However, now that I am unemployed, I still use the early morning hours (when it's nice and quiet) to work on these books.

Blood and Thunder, subtitled, "The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West", was written by Hampton Sides and was an important book for me. You see, I grew up in the Southwestern US, namely New Mexico, and have since lived all over the western US including California, Utah, and Colorado, also spending lots of time in Nevada, Arizona, and Texas. And yet, I have long felt my historical education of the region has been aquired in bits and pieces only with no real handle on how it all fit together. I was first attracted to this book by the great cover art and the subject of Kit Carson since I had always wanted to read about his life. But this book turned out to be about quite a bit more than just Kit Carson's life.

Don't get me wrong, Kit Carson's life and deeds are incredible. He seems to have been everywhere in the West, at most of the important events, often effecting them in astounding ways. We read of John Charles Fremont and his Pathfinder expeditions, with Kit Carson as his guide. We follow the Civil War events in New Mexico (a good followup to the set of four novels I read last year by P.G. Nagle), as well as learn about General Stephen Watts Kearny, the conquerer of the West. And through it all is the plight of the Navajo Indians, and their leaders. These events and characters just scratch the surface of what this book covers. I highly recommend this book to anybody interested in a good all-around discussion of the history of the American South West.

The High Graders

2010-07-06T17:35:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I read my last western novel so I chose The High Graders by Louis L'Amour, my 64th book by this author. In fact, with the completion of this book, I have now read more Louis L'Amour books than books by any other author. Number 2 only has 63...

A "High Grader" for those that are not aware, is somebody who steals the high quality, rich ore from a mine. This book is quite a bit different from the usual L'Amour novel in that it features quite a few major characters as well as a rather complicated plot. I felt a bit like I was watching a chess match as the various players jockeyed about the pages. Even though this is a typically short western novel (184 paperback pages in my copy) there were times when it seemed to drag. Probably because there were too many characters to get to really know any of them, I rank this one in the bottom half of L'Amour's work.

Dark Life

2010-07-04T15:24:00.002-06:00

I continue as a member of Amazon.com's "Vine" program whereby, due to the extremely high quality of my reviews (or perhaps just a random drawing), I am granted the opportunity to get a couple of free books every month, usually ARCs, or Advanced Reading Copies, in exchange for a review. Sometimes I get other products besides books, even electronics (I keep hoping for an Apple iPad or something really cool) but I do it mostly because I like getting free stuff.

But usually I get books and often I am pleasantly surprised but what turns out to be a good read. This time I thought I'd go for a young adult one and so took a chance on new author, Kat Falls. Very glad I did because "Dark Life" was a very enjoyable reading experience. Those who want to read my review can click here: Dark Life. Don't forget to vote that it was helpful :)

This one was such a nice experience that I will likely choose more YA titles in the future.

The Hollow Hills

2010-07-01T17:38:00.001-06:00

I had been reading The Hollow Hills by Mary Stewart, the second book in her acclaimed Arthurian saga so I decided I would take it along on my trip to my son's 2-day college orientation. It was a good choice as it certainly gave me something to do during the down times in the evening. I had hoped to have more down time between lectures to read on it but there wasn't too much time. Instead I skipped a couple of whole sessions on such intriguing subjects as how to handle the stress of your child leaving for college. I think my wife and I have that under control...thus a bit more reading time.

The only bad thing about bringing this book along on the trip was that it's a great looking trade paperback and I had hoped to keep it looking nice for my bookshelf. I almost made it...except for a leaky water bottle on the very last session. Not too bad though, only a small section at the bottom of the last 20 pages or so now has that water/wrinkle look.

The book itself was mostly very good. A few sections dragged a bit. I've read quite a few versions of the Arthurian legend including those by TH White, Bernard Cornwell, and Stephen R. Lawhead. Still on my shelf is Jack Whyte's huge 8 volume set which probably won't get read for at least 5 more years. I like Ms Stewart's take on it though, fairly straight-forward story with lots of political intrigue. Merlin is her narrator which is as it should be in my opinion. Who else really knows everything that is going on here? Looking forward to number three in the series, later this year.

Back in the Saddle Again

2010-06-27T10:32:00.005-06:00

Ok, so I kinda missed my blog...

I've decided to take up the reins again but this time in a little different fashion. I still need to devote spare time to writing and to my on-line bookstore so I'll be taking less time with each of the entries on this blog. It was starting to feel like a chore before, sort of like doing a term paper for a high school english class. I always had this need to write up my review just as soon as I completed reading a book.

The other thing I noticed after doing this blog as a book review blog for over a year was that it was deeply effecting how and what I chose to read. As I read your comments and as I followed other book blogs, I started to choose books that would be agreeable to other people more so than books that I really wanted to read. Strange, huh? Moreover, I found myself forming opinions about what I read based on how I felt others would want me to feel. In essence, I was lying to myself...and reading became less enjoyable.

So now what? Why not just drop it all together?

Dunno. I guess I really do miss it. So I'll try again but this time, I won't be doing a book review blog. I'll be writing about what I read and perhaps put in a very short blurb about whether or not I liked it...and who knows what else. And if anybody out there would like to discuss anything, I'll be happy to give you my two cents.

Just to catch up since my last entry, here's what I've read since then (sorted by genre):

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum
New York, the Novel by Edward Rutherford
Fatally Flaky (Goldy the Caterer #15) by Diane Mott Davidson
Transfer of Power (Mitch Rapp #1) by Vince Flynn
Hosts (Repairman Jack #5) by F. Paul Wilson
The Pirate Devlin by Mark Keating
Hondo by Louis L'Amour
The Street Lawyer by John Grisham
The Tunnel Behind the Waterfall (Magician's House Quartet #3) by William Corlett
The Policy by Bentley Little
The Woods are Dark by Richard Laymon
Stars and Stripes Forever by Harry Harrison
The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century edited by H. Turtledove and M. Greenberg
Island in the Sea of Time by S.M. Stirling
The Crystal Cave (The Arthurian Saga #1) by Mary Stewart
Well of Darkness (The Soverign Stone Trilogy #1) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
The Puppy Handbook by Sara John

So now we're all caught up. As for what I'm reading now, stay tuned for the next blog entry. That won't be for a couple of days because I'm going out of town to attend my son's college orientation session.

By the way, the picture at the top is "Abigail" our new puppy. We call her Abby most of the time. She's a "Sheepadoodle" which is a cross between an Old English Sheepdog and a Standard Poodle. She'll be pretty big when she grows up but for now, we're enjoying her playful puppiness.

Hiatus

2010-04-26T14:22:00.000-06:00

Well, dear readers, I've decided to give this blog a rest, at least for a while. I've very much enjoyed the experience, getting it launched, planning projects for it, and learning from it. I've especially enjoyed your kind comments. However, for the past two months, my life has undergone some major changes and I find the demands on my time seem only to grow. As most of you know I've launched an on-line book store which is working out pretty well but I also want to spend more time concentrating on my writing. I'm not getting any younger so somewhere, somehow, I need to prioritize my activities. As much as I enjoy sharing information with you about what I'm reading, I think I've reached the limits of that endeavor so I will take some time away from it.

Of course, I'll still be reading...that will never end for me. I just won't be blogging about it. So for those who faithfully follow this blog and provide the occassional comment I am deeply appreciative. I will continue to peruse those blogs I've been following so will no doubt connect with you there. And who knows? I may return sooner rather then later.

So long, and take care.

Glory in the Name

2010-04-23T14:49:00.004-06:00

James L. Nelson is one of "my" authors. By that I mean I'll read anything and everything he writes as it's sure to be a great read. I can't honestly say that about all of the authors on the "my authors" list at the side of my blog page but with James L. Nelson, I've now read 9 of his books and they have all been fantastic experiences; he's never let me down. I even read his web page and get fascinated by his maritime expertise and how he translates that into fiction and nonfiction alike. I have yet to try any of his nonfiction works but have no doubt that I will in due course. As a long-time lover of nautical fiction, I tend to compare everything to the Horatio Hornblower series. While that is certainly good, entertaining nautical fiction, and has transcended to the rank of "classic" literature, I enjoy Mr Nelson's novels more.

Glory in the Name is the first of Mr Nelson's "Bowater" series. This is the story of Lieutenant Samuel Bowater, US Navy, at the outbreak of the US Civil War. He reluctantly resigns his commission in order to fight on the side of the Confederacy. Unfortunately, the Southern cause is long on heart and desire but short on resources, and the Confederate Navy is a perfect example with very few ships and fewer naval officers. Bowater gains his first command of a modified tugboat, which he proceeds to mount guns upon, turning it into a sort of gunboat. This is an exciting time in naval warfare as the switch from sail to steam and to ironclads is happening fast. The resulting sea battles are strange events indeed. Bowater has several adventures, culminating in the Battle of New Orleans.

The story is a good one, with fleshed out characters, interesting personalities, and complicated relationships. The realtionship between Bowater and his chief engineer, for example, is a wonderful mix of two people who dislike, even despise each other, and yet have a profound respect for each other. The build up from a crew of strangers to one of comrades in arms is natural and fun to read. The action/battle sequences are fascinating in their historical accuracy but also really intense. It takes a great writer to write scenes from history where you already know the outcome, and yet as you're reading it, the result does not seem inevitable. I have read a lot about the Civil War, both fiction and nonfiction, and yet the naval parts are mostly reduced to the USS Monitor/CSS Virginia (ne Merrimack) battle and the Battle of New Orleans (from Farragut's point of view). But this novel really brought home the scale of such Civil War naval battles as well as the almost hopeless situation of the CS Navy, such as it was. This novel is a great example of how to place a really good human story against an historically accurate backdrop. We learn from the history without feeling lectured and we live the lives of the characters as they face great hardship and unbearable pain of tragic loss.

This is the first of a series, with Thieves of Mercy being the second, published in 2005. Since then Mr Nelson seems to have concentrated more on his nonfiction work and I wonder how long it might be before he returns to his fiction. Hopefully, not long. Meanwhile I will be looking to purchase more of his stuff.

Larry Niven wrote "Leviathan", the next story in The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century. I've read several of his science fiction novels, including the "Ringworld" series but he's not one of my favorites. I really like his ideas and settings but his story telling just doesn't jive with me for some reason. This story is no exception. It's about answering the "what if" question of what if when you go back in time, you not only travel through time but you also travel to a different time path. Here the protagonist (in our future) goes hunting for a Leviathan or extinct sperm whale as the largest creature ever on earth. Not worth the time to read even though this was a short one.

Next up: William Corlett's The Tunnel Behind the Waterfall, the third book of the "Magician's House Quartet"

The Sculptor

2010-04-17T14:34:00.002-06:00

I've been holding off reading The Sculptor by Gregory Funaro for over a month now but felt compelled to give it a go, mainly because the author sent me a free autographed copy in return for a review on Amazon.com. So I owed it to him for one thing. But that's not why I was avoiding it. You see, I knew it was about a serial killer and I just didn't want to get bogged down in a novel that was, well, a downer. I enjoyed the last book I read so much that I wanted to keep the roll going.

Well, let me tell you, this did the trick. I very much enjoyed this novel, and not because the author gave me a free autographed copy. In fact, I'm usually tougher on those than others. This novel, did indeed revolve around a serial killer, but what a great character he turned out to be. As I've said many times on this blog, I like my bad guys to be great characters. The Sculptor, who uses his victims to re-create Michelangelo's greatest statues, is not only evil, twisted, etc. but he is also a fully formed character. As the plot of the novel unfolds we get bits and pieces of his history that makes his complete story a compelling one and even a bit sympathetic. The protagonists of the story, Dr Cathy Hildebrant and Special Agent Sam Markham of the FBI are also fully developed charcters but I think they end up taking a back seat to the Sculptor himself.

The plot moved along nicely, the pacing was spot on, and the settings were realistic. I was on the edge of my seat waiting for the next development. I also enjoyed learning about Michelangelo without feeling like I was being lectured. My only criticism is a minor one...about the romantic subplot between the two protagonists. This seemed quite predictable, right from the beginning, but I suppose we readers needed it to counter balance the action/suspense portions. Frankly, it is hard to believe this is Mr Funaro's first published novel. It reads as good as or better than many of the top mystery/thriller writers today. I understand there is more coming from this author and I will look for them in the future.

"Rainbird" is a very cool time travel story, written by R.A. Lafferty, early in his career and published again in The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century. He has a rather uniqie style which often ignores the typical "rules" of writing. This story starts in the past, 1785 to be precise, and we get to watch the life of Higgston Rainbird, a small time inventor who, near the end of his life invents a "retrogressor." He is chagrined to realize he has run out of time in his life before he could get to invent all the things he really wanted to get around to. So he goes back in time, meets himself at a young age and gives himself all kinds of shortcuts for how to get more done during his life time. No worries about time paradox here! So now he lives a full life of amazing inventions including most everything we have today, even space travel to the Moon and Mars...all prior to 1850. But once again, he goes back to speak to his younger self and tries to improve even more...only this time he doesn't listen to himself. The result: he is now just a small time inventor once again...and no retrogressor. Cool story.

Next up, James Nelson's Glory in the Name.

The Alchemist

2010-04-12T16:51:00.003-06:00

Most of the time I already know what the next 4 or 5 books I'll be reading are. I just sort of plan things that way. But this time I decided to just see what popped off my shelves. Interestingly, it was The Alchemist, by Donna Boyd. I had purchased this book several years ago when I needed just one more book to hit the Amazon free shipping threshold. It looked good on the web page and it looked good on my shelf but my fantasy fiction tends towards series and thus a stand-alone book such as this one often gets forgotten. So this was my opportunity.

And it was a fabulous read! The premise is that a charismatic man enters a therapist's office in New York City after having committed one of the most hi-vis murders in history. But he claims he is not of our modern era, instead he is an immortal, born into ancient Egypt and going by the name "Han". He proceeds to tell her the story of his long life, and indeed, this is the vast majority of the novel. Han was a student of the House of Ra, where the secrets of magic and science, alchemy and engineering are learned. Along with his two best friends and co-students, Akan (a boy) and Nefar (a girl), they discover that the power than can jointly wield has unsurpassed potential. They discover the secrets of immortality and though they know they have the power to be gods, they desire to use their power to bring about a better world. But of course when you have three such great friends, that tends to be one too many, particularly when one is of the opposite sex. Their ideal world never comes to be because of their inability to resist their own power, jealousies, rivalries, and thick-headed stubbornness.

The plot was filled with intrigue and open-ended possibilities. I had no clue as to how it would turn out; I just knew I wanted to know what happened next. That for me is the mark of a great read. Ms Boyd used a style in her story telling which is very picturesque, almost poetic even, that was very refreshing. That sort of thing has turned me off before but this time it was absolutely the right way to go. It made Han’s story even more believable because it was like this man really had lived through several centuries, really had been near the seat of power in different cultures, etc. Han has a “voice” here like few other novels I’ve read. Interestingly, Ms Boyd writes under several different pseudonyms, presumably for different genres or sub genres, including romance and I can see that influence here in this work. If there is one thing I wished for in this book it would be for more of the historical eras to be fleshed out. Instead of skipping 2,000 years, I would have loved to read about Han’s adventures during that time…but then I suppose the real story would have gotten lost in the sheer size of such a novel (or series). Anyway, this book was a very pleasant surprise; perhaps I should consider more random acts of reading in the future.

“The Man Who Came Early,” was the next entry in The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century. Written by Poul Anderson, another of the great science fiction writers of the “Golden Age” I was a little worried about this one. I had struggled through a novel of his many years ago when I was too young to grasp it’s concepts and thus I found it simply boring. I’m glad I’ve had an opportunity to revise my opinion of him now because this story is probably the best of the batch so far. This time the story begins in the past, in Iceland, and a time traveler from present day, who happens to be a US Army soldier/engineer assigned to Reykjavik base in Iceland appears, having been struck by lightning in his time. No other explanation of time travel is attempted which lets the story happen. Despite the soldier’s assumption that his knowledge and experience would lead him to greatly contribute to the local society of the past, he soon discovers that he is almost helpless. The story is at once comical, intriguing, educational (Mr Anderson certainly did his homework on that era in Iceland), and sad. This one’s a keeper.

Next up: The Sculpter by newcomer, Gregory Funaro.

The Grays

2010-04-09T18:28:00.001-06:00

The Grays, by Whitley Strieber, is another one of the books that I picked up for "free" during my Alaska cruise last year, purhcased with my free cruise ship allowance. I bought 6 or 8 books that way and this one was the last one I picked up, not certain I would really be interested in it. According to the cover blurbs, it would be about aliens that are already here living among us, a subject that just doesn't normally get me excited.

Perhaps that is the main cause of my mediocre reaction to the novel. The story itself involves a husband and wife who were abducted early in their lives and prepared to reproduce, creating a super-gifted child who would then become the lynchpin between the humans and the aliens. Meanwhile a young female Air Force officer is plucked from her job in procurement and, due to her amazing ESP powers, is placed with the sole alien that is still alive in captivity. Yes, the government knows all about the "Grays" as the aliens are called, going back to President Truman, the first president to meet one. The novel is mostly a science fiction tale but there are large elements of horror in it, as well as some thriller-like adventure especially at the end during the climactic scenes between the aliens and the different factions of humans.

The novel was OK, even pretty interesting for the first half, the half that is more devoted to developing the ideas and the characters of the story. But then the action-thriller stuff picked up and I found myself hoping the end would arrive sooner. Parts of the book downright offended me, especially the conspiracy theory parts with the government (actually surprising because I like a good conspiracy story) because it just made the other people look foolish. And it is obvious that Mr Strieber knows very little about how the US Air Force works. He throws in a few terms here and there to make it sound good but, really, it sounds like he's picked it up from TV. His Air Force characters are either corrupted by power or just plain fools.

As usual I did some research on the author after I had completed the book. He has an interesting past, including what he claims was his own close encounter/abduction with aliens. He used that material to write his most successful book to date: Communion. Prior to that he had written horror novels. Reportedly, The Grays ties in greatly with that abduction work. Regardless, if alien abduction stories are your bag then you may want to check this out, otherwise I'd look elsewhere.

"A Gun for Dinosaur" was the next story in The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century. Following on the heals of another dinosaur hunting yarn, this one, written by the much loved L. Sprague De Camp, spends very little time and words on the actual mechanisms and theory of time travel but instead concentrates on the story itself. Once again we have a company that specializes in taking hunting expeditions back to the age of dinosaurs but this time we get the story from the guide himself and it's a nice style. The author uses just one storyteller's words, not the preson who he's telling it to. Sort of like hearing one side of a telephone conversation but you can still get the gist of the entire thing. Anyway, I really liked this one even though it didn't turn out quite like I expected.

Next up: I'm not really sure this time. I usually have these things planned but this time I will let my eye travel over the shelves of still-to-be-read books and see what pops.

The Cat Who Saw Stars

2010-04-04T11:58:00.001-06:00

The Cat Who Saw Stars, by Lilian Jackson Braun is the 18th of the series I have read to date. It's numbered 21 in the series but, generally, this isn't the sort of series where you have to read them in order and I'm not letting the fact that I'm missing a few titles keep me from getting on with it. The first few, yes, where the general timeline of what is going on is important to understand but by this point they are pretty much stand-alone stories with just a few references to what might have happened in the past. And to tell the truth, every time I run across such a reference, I can't remember if that was one I read about or not.

Regardless, these books are hardly the height of literary mystery and regular readers of this blog will know I read them more for the setting and the characters than for the riddle of the mystery itself. The town of Pickax in the county of Mooseville has such a rich texture of interesting characters that it's always fun to go back and visit. This novel find the protagonist Jim Qwilleran, move to his beach house in Mooseville, on the shores of a huge lake (although it is never stated exactly where these novels take place, it is generally thought to be in Northern Michigan and now we find ourselves on the shores of Lake Superior). Mr "Q" plans for a 4 week vacation there but a series of circumstances leads him to cut it short after only two. As usual, Mr Q visits friends, gathers stories for his twice-weekly column in the Pickax newspaper, performs community functions, and pays attention to his cat's odd behavior which is always a predictor of criminal activities somewhere. This time the cat (Koko) finds a missing backpacker's body buried in the sand along the beach and he manages to push postcards off a shelf which contain important clues pertaining to a boat "accident" that the locals have chalked up to alien abduction. Sounds quirky eh?

It is and it isn't. I was disappointed in this one as are many other fans of the series. Ms Braun's age is not listed anywhere but she has to be getting on in years and many have speculated that this one was written by a ghost writer. Indeed, much of the phrasing seems off and the plot felt flat to me. The mystery elements seemed almost unrelated to the real story and Koko's clues were just plain uninteresting. I really didn't care who dunnit and I wasn't even sure there had been a crime committed until the end. And even then, Mr Q and his cats didn't solve it but rather were told what happened by a bit character within which the criminal had confided. Odd. But I'll keep at these novels because, at this moment I still have 6 more on my shelf still to be read (hopefully not written by ghost writers).

"Death Ship," by Richard Matheson was the next short story in The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century. I know Mr Matheson more as a horror/science fiction author ("I am Legend") than pure sci-fi and, indeed, this story demonstrates that very nicely. Here we have a space capsule sometime in our future carrying three astronauts who are researching planets suitable for human habitation when they come across a crashed capsule just like theirs and containing the dead bodies of...themselves. How they deal with this and speculate on possibly having traveled through time to see their own futures and, most particularly, how they try and prevent what might be their fates, is nice subtle horror writing.

Next up: The Grays by Whitley Strieber.

On the Grid

2010-04-02T09:21:00.003-06:00

This morning I woke up early to get some quality time on the internet as well as check out how many books I sold last night from my on-line bookstore, only to find out it wasn't working (the internet, that is). That seems to be happening more and more to us in our household, requiring us to re-boot our LAN/router doo-hickey and hope it starts working again. But while I waited, I went ahead and finished up the reading of Scott Huler's On the Grid. The subtitle of this book (due to be published/available in May 2010), is "A Plot of Land, an Average Neighborhood, and the Systems That Make Our World Work."

I think of myself as a pretty average suburban home owner who takes the city's infrastructure for granted. I assume that when I turn on the water faucet, fresh, clean water will come out, and I assume that when I put something down the garbage disposal, it will get chopped up into tiny pieces and go whereever it is that it goes and all will be well in the world. I don't really understand how these systems work, but, unlike most folks, perhaps, I have at least been curious. So when I got the chance to review this book, I was only too happy to give it a crack.

Mr Huler lives in Raleigh, North Carolina and uses his house and city as launching pads to discover how our central infrastructure systems really work. He takes us through such systems as storm water drains, sewage systems, the power grids, transportation systems, and communications systems (including the internet). He follows one element of the infrastructure back to its source or destination. Along the way he talks with experts in that system such as engineers, sanitation experts, gas company employees, etc. If nothing else, this book certainly shines the light on the critical roles these people play in all of our lives. But he doesn't stop there. Each chapter also goes into detail on the history of each of the systems, beginning at its source whether it was ancient Rome, prehistoric man, or Benjamin Franklin. The author does a good job at tying it all together and I did come away from this book with a greater understanding of what all of those poles, iron plates, and utility boxes in my neighborhood are really for. But really, the book just scratches the surface. It does demonstrate just how massively complex our infrastructure is and there is no way somebody can get a thorough understanding of these systems from just one book. My only negative comment is that the cover states the book is "mesmerizing and often hilarious." It was interesting, but hardly "mesmerizing" and I found very little of it to be mildly humorous, much less "hilarious." This is more of a straight informational book, not a Dave Barry collection of essays.

And I still don't understand how my internet/router doo-hickey system really works.

I also read a classic short story, the next in The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century, "A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury. This was one of the first stories ever written to extrapolate an event changed in the past to its corresponding resulted change in the present day...sort of a butterfly effect. In this story which starts in the year 2055, a hunter/tourist pays a time travel company to go back in time to hunt a T-Rex. The hunter panics at the sight of the T-Rex, strays off the "path", accidentally steps on a butterfly, and when he returns to the present day, sees the vast, far-reaching results. This is a pretty typical time-travel story but was quite original back when it was first published.

Next up: The Cat Who Saw Stars, by Lilian Jackson Braun.

Beyond the Shadows

2010-03-30T11:39:00.004-06:00

Last night I was able to finish up Beyond the Shadows by Brent Weeks, the concluding volume in the "Night Angel" trilogy of fantasy novels. Mr Weeks continues to be a major new talent in the fantasy genre in my opinion, but I felt this one to be a step below the second and two steps below the first...if that makes sense.

The first book of the trilogy, The Way of Shadows, was extremely good; a well-constructed novel that left me breathless with anticipation for the next two books. I think what I like about it was the way the protagonist began as just a young boy in the worst of circumstances and through a series of circumstances, luck, and plain hard work, rose to become a master of his profession (assassination). Along the way he grew as a character, coming to question the very morality of what he was doing, even though his targets ("deaders") deserved it. The second book continued and he grew in strength and power until now we reach the third book...and it seemed like the author needed to re-invent where he was going with the trilogy. The crux of the problem, I think, is that his protagonist has grown too powerful and has few vulnerabilities left. How can you raise suspense with the reader when the hero can fight better than anybody, has powers like invisibility, fast healing, and, oh yes, he's immortal. Every time he dies he is resurrected.

So here we are in the third book with an un-killable protagonist. He does discover that there are dire consequences to his resurrections...every time he comes back, somebody else, an innocent, dies. And usually its somebody he knows. OK, that's a problem so now he has to be careful. Most of the novel takes place at a larger scale than the first two books; i.e. we now learn far more about the world, itself, the major powers, and the ever-present power struggle itself. The battles are no longer one-on-one (or one against 100) but rather on a more epic scale of armies battling one another. Some of the minor characters from book 2 are fleshed out more now but I didn't really care about them as they seemed extraneous somehow. I wanted to see what was happening with the major characters. And several times the pacing of the action was interrupted with lengthy descriptive passages that just served to ruin the flow. I'm being hard on Mr Weeks here because the first book really showed what awesome talent he has. In fact, I suspect the pacing issues may have arisen from editor/publisher requirements on length. This volume is long as it is at almost 700 pages but I suspect if given free rein, the author would have given us a more complete experience. Still, having said all that, I still look forward to more of this author's work.

The next short story in The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century was "I'm Scared," by Jack Finney, best known probably for writing the original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" story. As with much speculative fiction of the 1950's, the emphasis is not so much on technological explanations or scientific theories but rather on mood and setting. The story is told in the first person POV, as the protagonist tells how he has come across a theory that as time goes on, there are more and more instances of time anomolies occurring. He gives several examples such as a lady who is visited by a stray dog for several days and then two years later becomes the owner of that same dog as a pup. Another example involves a man from the turn of the century (~1900) that appears in the middle of a busy street in the present day and, bewildered, gets run over by a cab. His conclusion is interesting: as time goes on we are more and more interested in escaping our current lives (yearning for the good ol days, back when life was worth living, etc) that the result is more and more disruption in the flow of time. Where this leads is speculation at best but I wonder what Mr Finney would think about that same concept now in 2010, when even more of us wish for a simpler time...

Next up, On The Grid, by Scott Huler.

Eisenhower, Soldier and President

2010-03-26T16:09:00.001-06:00

Every time I take a trip somewhere, I always buy a book to add to my library. As often as possible I try to get a book about the area I am visiting. About a year ago I took a trip to Washington DC for about the 12th time but since I've seen just about every tourist attraction there is to see there, I decided I would finally visit that which I had been putting off all this time...the Pentagon. I had never been all that excited about the Pentagon; when you get right down to it it's just one of the world's largest office buildings. But I did go, and while I was there, I saw a hallway tribute to Eisenhower and thus, the book, Eisenhower, Soldier and President by Stephen E. Ambrose, came into my possession. I also chose it because I thought it might be a good companion volume to the major biography I read last year, American Ceasar, by William Manchester, a biography of Douglas MacArthur. Since I knew Eisenhower served as MacArthur's exec officer in the Phillipines, I was curious if there would be a different point of view presented.

Mr Ambrose is known as one of the great US historians, having written some 20 books, several of which have become quite well known. Among them is a comprehensive 2-volume work on Eisenhower as well as this one which is a consolidation of those two volumes. In my view Mr Ambrose does a good job of presenting Eisenhower's faults along with his positive traits, his failures as well as his triumphs. Undoubtedly Eisenhower was a great general and as the primary architect of Operation Overlord (D-Day invasion), he deserves the accolades of his military accomplishments. But what I really like about a well-done biography is to see the early years, the childhood influences which led to the way the subject reacts to experiences in adult life. Mr Ambrose provides that for us here, taking the little boy from Abilene Kansas all the way to the Presidency. Unfortunately, my hopes for the tie-in to MacArthur's Phillipine experiences were dashed as that realtionship was glossed over almost completely. I suppose a biographer needs to keep to his subject and not let other notable figures of the time take over.

Most of the book deals with the Eisenhower presidency, a time in the 50's that most knowledgeable people refer to as the age of missed opportunities and Eisenhower himself as the "do-nothing president." While Mr Ambrose does point out Eisenhower's penchant for stearing down the middle of the road, pushing off any responsibility in dealing with the racial divides of the country, and unwilling to deal with McCarthyism in any definitive way, he also spends time on the positive things such as keeping the budget in balance, establishing the Interstate Highway System, and keeping the peace for his entire 8 years as president.

Along the way we do get to witness some great moments in history and meet the towering figures of the time such as Montgomery, Churchill, DeGaul, Stalin, Truman, Nixon, McCarthy, and his own family of Maime and son David. I came away from this book with a much greater appreciation for the era of the 50's (I've never studied much from that decade) as well as a better understanding of how all of that led us to the 60's. Mr Ambrose, I know, came under fire several years ago for plagarism (something about quotes not used correctly) but this book does not seem to ever be mentioned as a case of that. This biography still is known as the definitive Eisenhower biography and I, for one, appreciate it. I certainly have a much better understanding and "feel" for one of my nations true heroes while at the same time appreciate one of our more under-rated presidents.

Sure wish we had him now.

Covenant

2010-03-22T17:52:00.001-06:00

It's been difficult to fit quality reading time in since I retired from the Air Force last week. That seems odd...shouldn't I have more time now? Well...not when you consider my work at launching my on-line book store (which is coming along slowly but is a huge amount of fun) as well as trying to do a real job hunt/interviews, etc...

Nevertheless, I managed to find time to complete Covenant by John Everson, a horror novel and the debut novel from this author. The cover trumpets this book as a winner of the Bram Stoker Award and after reading it I can see why. This is a nice taught story, well told, and briskly paced. It's the story about a young 20-something reporter named Joe Kiernan who has moved from Chicago to the small coastal town of Terrel. It's not long before he discovers the deep dark secret that is haunting the town: for some reason people are dying (usually leaping to their deaths from the cliffs of Terrel's Peak) once each year on the exact same day. Joe gladly puts on his investigative reporter persona to escape his usual small town assignments and soon gets in over his head. He is a pragmatist, certain that there is some sort of serial killer on the loose but eventually he has to embrace the idea of a supernatural nature to the tragedies.

This book, I must say, is not for the squeamish. Particularly, in the second half of the book, as the supernatural stuff comes more and more into focus, there is lots of blood and gore and sex, sometimes all together. Everything is on stage and leaves very little to the imagination. You've been warned. I compare this book to the works of Richard Laymon although Laymon's plots tend to be more teenage sexual fantasy whereas this is hard core horror. There is a sequel out called, Sacrifice and I'll probably read that as well if it comes across my radar.

I also read another story in The Best Time Travel Short Stories of the 20th Century. "Time's Arrow" by the great Arthur C. Clark was a good solid entry in this collection, and is a story about some palentologists who are conducting a dig near some dinosaur tracks. Simultaneously, a team of physicists are at the cusp of discovering a way to look back in time and actually see what transpired at the scene rather than have to judge it by the fossil record. A great ending on this one...but I won't spoil it for you. I really like Clark as an author because he brings such solid credentials to his science fiction (degrees in physics and mathematics) allowing convincing science in his stories but not so convoluted that the reader gets lost.

Next up: Beyond the Shadows but Brent Weeks

Mistress of Rome

2010-03-17T17:24:00.000-06:00

I had a busy day today. Went to the dentist first thing in the morning and then I retired from the US Air Force after 20 years. It was a nice luncheon and one of my parting gifts was a bound copy of a novel I co-wrote about 10 years ago. Honestly it wasn't ready for publication; I actually abandoned it about three years ago as slop but still...it was pretty cool to see a book I wrote even if there is only one copy in the whole wide world.

While waiting for the dentist, I completed Mistress of Rome by newcomer, Kate Quinn. This one is scheduled to be on store shelves in April and I'm thinking with the right marketing and sales support, it might do pretty well. As a novel-reading experience it was a pretty fun ride. It's an historical novel, taking place during the reign of Emporer Domitian, the last of the Flavian dynasty in Rome. There are several major characters who all act as POV characters at different times but the main one is Thea, a Jewish slave girl who rises to the very heights of Roman society as the Emporer's mistress. Other major characters include a gladiator barbarian, and a spiteful heiress named Lepida Pollia. There is a good mix of fictional characters intermingled with historical persons but you'll have to look in the appendix to know which is which unless you're a Roman scholar.

Basically, the novel is a well-plotted soap opera of intrigue. There is plenty of blood spilled (not all in the gladiator arena), lust, conniving, backstabbing betrayals, assassination attempts, jealousy and old fashioned romance. The story itself really grabbed me and kept me turning the pages, wanting to find out what happened next and I found the characters to be multi-dimensional for the most part. I did have a bit of a problem with the constant switching back and forth among the POV characters as it wasn't always perfectly clear when the change happened. It can really throw the reader off kilter when they go from one first person POV paragraph to another, also in first person, but from a different character's persepective. Still, I really enjoyed this one and even though this novel is a complete stand-alone book, the "Historical Note" at the end hinted at a sequel to come. I'll be in line to read that if and when it happens.

I also managed to read the second short story in The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century, called "Time Locker" by Henry Kuttner. This one was from back in the so-called golden age of Science Fiction, copyright 1943. This is an era that is hard for me to appreciate because it's just so far back that the science is, from today's perspective, of the middle school variety. I can get past that though if the story is good but in reading this one, I just didn't get into it much. The idea is a "what-if" scenario. What if you could contain a time warp field inside an object, in this case an airport locker. Most of the story is a crime caper told in the fashion of the 1940's. I could just see somebody like Humphrey Bogart playing the lead role. The ending was a cute twist based on flawed science as we know it today and it coaxed a chuckle out of me but overall I was disappointed in this entry.

Next up: back to the horror genre with Covenent by John Everson.

The Bride Collector

2010-03-11T16:50:00.001-07:00

Ted Dekker's The Bride Collector is one of the better crime thriller novels I've read. To tell the truth I haven't read a whole lot of fictional books about serial killers and the chase to bring them to justice, preferring stories more like spy-thrillers or historical thrillers. But when the chance came to review an Advanced Readering Copy (ARC) of a Ted Dekker novel, I decided to give it a try.

Never having even opened a book written by Ted Dekker, I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew he had roots as a "Christian thriller" writer but I understand he has for several years now branched out into both fantasy and mainstream thrillers, the later usually featuring serial killer plots. This book is a taut, well written novel that really leads the reader along the plotline but also reaches into the very nature of good and evil. The main protagonist is FBI special agent Brad Raines who is faced with a serial killer situation. Somebody is kidnapping beautiful young women, draining their bodies of the blood, and hanging them on walls of abandoned barns and other places, with nothing but a bridal veil to wear. The reader is introduced early on to the killer, himself, allowing us inside his mind and motivations. Seems he is fulfilling God's plan for him by offering seven brides, culminating in the perfect bride for God.

Agent Raines, based on the psychotic nature of the killer, searches for clues in several Mental Health Facilities in the area and is drawn to one particular group of patients which includes a young woman by the name of "Paradise". Through her and her friends' eyes, we actually learn quite a bit about the nature of mental health care as we work our way through the novel. With Paradise's assistance, and some good old fashioned police work, Agent Raines is able to close in on the killer's identity. I won't go into further detail for fear of spoilers but I can honestly say it was a thrill ride. The pace of the novel is just right, building up the level of suspense as we near the climax and not letting go until the very end. Mr Dekker is not afraid to take the predictableness out of the plot and make this one an original idea. He also isn't afraid to to throw in emotional matters of life and faith and relationships, ultimately tying it all together in a very neat package. This will not be the last book I read by Mr Dekker!

The novel will be on store shelves in April.

I've also begun the next short story collection, "The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century", edited by Harry Turtledove and martin H. Greenberg. The first story, "Yesterday was Monday" was written by the late great science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon and is a delightful story about a regular guy named Harry who somehow goes to sleep on Monday night and wakes up in Wednesday. I say "in" Wednesday because he has somehow gotten off the track of normal time where all of us actors live our lives and stepped into the behind-the-scenes set-building that is going on for Wednesday. The characters there are trying to put the finishing touches on the scenery before the actors (that are still in Tuesday) arrive. Harry, trying to get back into the normal time flow makes a quick side-trip to "yesterday" which is Monday. and sees all of the workers there that are breaking down the old, used set. It's a pretty nice little story; I hope the others in this collection will be as interesting.

Next up, another Advanced Reading Copy, a historical novel by Kate Quinn called, Mistress of Rome.

Selling Used Books On-Line

2010-03-10T13:57:00.003-07:00

As mentioned briefly in recent blog posts, after 20 years, I am now in my last couple of weeks of my Air Force career. I have hopes for other career options but am choosing this opportunity to do something I've always wanted. Since I've loved books (and reading them) my entire life, I've long wanted to own my own book store. I've actually planned to do that for about 15 years now. But as the years passed and I got closer to that magic date when I would actually be able to achieve my dream, the more it was becoming elusive. It was at least 10 years ago that I discarded the idea of a traditional new book store. Afterall, it is darn near impossible to compete with the likes of Barnes & Noble and Borders.

My thoughts turned to a used book store and while that remains doable, I just don't relish the risk associated with the investment necessary for an actual storefront complete with leasing costs, employee costs, utilities, advertising, etc. Nor do I want to be tied down to such a full-time commitment. Besides all that I just don't have the funds available to start up such a venture. So a few years ago I turned to the idea of an on-line bookstore and have since refined it even further to selling used books on-line via Amazon.com and other venues. I've done some solid research on the topic and now feel ready to tackle the idea head-on. I've even managed to accumulate almost 4,000 books (now stacked in boxes in my basement) as my opening inventory.

For my final bit of research I bought three books written by people who have done just what I want to do and I've studied them carefully. The first one, On-Line Bookselling by Michael Mould I actually read over a year ago as my first piece of formal research and I found it to be excellent. He covers all of the details and since the author is a structural engineer by day (he runs his book business part time), he is very thorough and exacting in his techniques. He even includes a CD containing business tools like spreadsheets he uses for accounting, inventory, sales tarcking, etc. The second book, The Home-Based Bookstore, by Steve Weber appears to be the leader among books on this subject. I found it to also be excellent. Of course many of the tips and strategies were similar to the first book but there were enough different aspects to make it worth the cost. Finally, the third book, The Stay-at Home Mom's Secret Guide to Selling Used Books on Amazon, by Christine Miller was a less formal approach and probably not neccessary to my education. Her book was more fluff than substance. For example, she spends almost the first third of the book providing motivation for opening a store in the first place, no doubt aimed at other part-time non-business people to get them to realize it ain't that hard. But she does bring home some points that are worth pondering as I begin my venture, especially in the book scouting chapter.

All in all, these three books have provided me with enough information to get started with this project. All three have good reference sections loaded with websites for the tools I'll need to be efficient and productive. While I already know a lot about business processes (I have an MBA and have been a small business consultant) I now know a lot more about the particulars of what makes this niche-business tick. Hopefully, I'll be able to reduce those 4,000 books down to a more manageable level!

Next up: back to the Advanced Reader's Copies as I pursue another new author for me, Ted Dekker's The Bride Collector.

Cat O'Nine Tales

2010-03-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late getting this post up; I actually completed the last short story in Jeffrey Archer's Cat O'Nine Tales: And Other Stories back on Saturday. But I've been very busy working around the house as well as working on transitioning to my next phase of life after retirement from the US Air Force. Not as much time on the weekends as I hope for, but then there never has been.

I won't go into details of the stories in this collection because I've blurbed about them as I've completed them. Regular readers of this blog will know that I like to read one short story between each novel. This particular collection is by Jeffrey Archer, an author that is almost always a big hit for me and only occasionally misses, although it seems like his later works are suffering somewhat. He is an interesting character in his own right, having been elected to English Parliament at the young age of 29. He lost his first fortune as a victim of a fradulent investment scheme, and for a time was the owner of an art gallery. In 1999 he ran for mayor of London but ultimately withdrew when it came to light that he was facing a charge of perjury from a case in 1987. He was sentenced to four years in prison and it was from this time that he developed this book of short stories. All of the stories pertain to real people who got into trouble with the law (or managed to avoid it) in one form or another. Nine of the twelve stories were actually told to him by fellow prisoners while he was incarcerated and although Mr Archer clearly states that he embellished most of them somewhat, they are substantially true circumstances.

Mr Archer can flat-out tell a story. He obviously uses events in his own rather colorful life to come up with ideas; he has written many stories concerning political intrigue, art collecting, etc. A major theme of his, captured best in one of my favorite novels by any author, Kane and Able, deals with two people growing up in opposite worlds (rich-poor, famous-forgotten, etc) and how they come to interact. Many times it's about how ordinary people rise to extraordinary positions, many times only to fall again. Very often, his characters build elaborate schemes to foil the authorities. It's fascinating to me to read stories written by Mr Archer even before the very same thing happened to him. While he may haven fallen from grace in political circles, he continues to write extraordinary fiction, and always in a pleasant story-telling manner. He is one of the few authors I've read who can consistently pull off a twist ending without making the reader feel like a fool. I highly recommend you try his novels, especially Kane and Able, The President's Daughter, and As the Crow Flies. And, of course, any of his short story collections are wonderful.

The Door in the Tree

2010-03-05T09:10:00.002-07:00

I took a day off of work today and, of course, couldn't manage to sleep in nearly as much as I planned, so I took the opportunity to read the last 60 or so pages of The Door in the Tree, the second book of "The Magician's House Quartet" by William Corlett. The first book in the series, The Steps Up the Chimney, took place during Christmas and now we follow the adventures of the same three school children, William, Mary, and the youngest, Alice, during their spring vacation. They return to their Uncle Jack's Golden House at the edge of the forest, intent upon further discoveries involving the mysterious magician.

I found this book to be a step up from the first one. The children this time are much more tolerable, less whiney, and frankly, a bit smarter with how they deal with the unexplained. They meet an old woman who lives in the forest, Meg, who is a self-appointed guardian of nature. The major plot line involves her badger friends' plight at the hands of "badger baiters", a group of men who operate a nasty dog fighting ring where the viscious dogs fight the badgers. As in the first book, the children, after putting aside their propensity to disbelieve, are able to inhabit the bodies of certain animals of the forest, allowing them to further their adventures.

I thought the story itself was more compelling than the first volume in the series, especially the build up of the suspense, the mystery of the origins of the magician, and the central messages and themes the author brought out in the novel. There were still a few jarring scenes which seemed odd to be included; i.e. I'm not sure what the point was of the scene where Phoebe, Uncle Jack's girlfriend, breast feeds her baby in full view, an act that completely offends the children. There is no follow-on nor any sort of enlightenment or character growth there. But to his credit, the author does do a good job at dealing with anger and loss of temper among the characters. This seems to be an on-going theme of the series and should be helpful to parents who have to deal with that issue. He also delves into the idea that you can't rely on magic (or grownups) to solve your problems but must find courage within yourself to tackle life's difficult choices. He manages to involve these issues in the narrative without sounding preachy or talking down in any way to his target audience, the young readers.

I look forward to the final two volumes of this series as I hope to discover the secrets of the history behind the Golden House, the full nature of the magician, as well as the other animal friends that we've come to know.

Next up: Steve Weber's The Home-Based Bookstore, which I hope will be useful as I make a decision about doing just that in the near future.

The Successor

2010-03-03T17:53:00.002-07:00

I've completed my latest audio book, The Successor by Stephen Frey. Last year I listened to the first in this series starring Christian Gillette, a business mogul who becomes the leader of Everest Financial Capital, one of the largest private equity firms in existence. That first book was filled with the tension surrounding his rise to power, but also many thriller aspects such as attempts on his life by rival power seekers. It was a true "business thriller".

This book is the fourth book in the series and possibly the last. Mr Gillette has now been a powerful man of finance for many years now and in his mid 50's. He has successfully raised absurd amounts of money for his clients and shared the vast wealth with his partners. He has now been tapped by the US President to go to Cuba and, due to rumors of Fidel Castro's death, secure the future of American interests as Cuba joins the global marketplace. I found the plot to be disjointed, however, and I believe Mr Frey missed the mark this time.

The business aspects of this one were mostly non-existent, with the protagonist having turned over most of the responsibilities of running the firm to Ms Allison Wallace. Its very obvious from early on that Allison would become the "successor" as well as his love interest but it seemed Mr Gillette was the last one to figure it out. The thriller aspects of the novel were left to the very end, added, it almost seems, as an afterthought. The major meat of the novel instead focuses on Mr Gillete's mid-life crisis and his falling for a young 22-year old, who we readers figure out at the beginning is an actress, introduced in the very first scene. When the author discloses that "ah-ha" moment of who this 22-year old really is, I couldn't believe he expected me to not have figured that out long before.

I think the author had a trap to climb out of: he had a protagonist who, in the first three books had risen to such powerful heights that he had no more room for growth. I think he tried to refocus his goals and take him in a different direction but instead he ended up thrusting him into an improbable scenario and then didn't follow through with a believable plot. I am hopeful Mr Frey will put this series to rest and begin anew.

I won't be doing any more audio books for a while. I have reached the end of my Air Force career and will be retiring after 20 years of service. In fact, at this point I have only 8 more days of actual work and thus, not enough time to get an entire audio book completed during my commutes. While I have an ideal future planned that involves staying at home and working on my hobbies (reading, writing, watching movies, and playing computer games) my budget requires me to secure an actual income-producing job. If I manage to land one in this economy and still have a reasonable length of drive to and from work I will re-enter the audio book realm. Until that happens, I will miss them.

Wish me luck.

Pattern Recognition

2010-03-01T15:44:00.002-07:00

Every once in a while my reading choices take on a decidely different flavor. I feel like I need to try new things, especially authors that have great reputations. So I was at work late last week and for only the second time I can remember, I had forgotten to bring my reading material with me and so was "forced" to go to the store and pick something out. I seized the opportunity to try William Gibson's Pattern Recognition.

William Gibson, for those that don't know, is the patron saint of "cyperpunk" literature. Cyberpunk can be loosly defined as a combination of cybernetics and punk and has been described as "high tech meets low life". Usually his books are futuristic and definitely science fiction but this particular novel takes place in the present day (published in 2005). The protagonist is Cayce Pollard, an internet fanatic who works for various corporate clients who hire her to evaluate potential corporate logos due to her uncanny ability to discern their mass appeal. Her hobby is to find meaning and patterns in a mysterious collection of videos that are being broadcast on the net called "the footage". But her hobby and her work overlap when she is hired to find the source of the footage which leads her on a quest around the world.

I find this novel very hard to describe...almost as hard as it was to read it. I really worked hard to follow the plot and while I was impressed by the author's use of dialogue to convey his characters' inner thoughts, I just found it difficult to follow. The subject certainly ties in to today's young people (18-25) who seem to practically live on the internet and he captures their attitudes perfectly. But that alone does not make for a good story. They say Gibson writes for the intelligent reader; of this I have no doubt. But I tend to think of myself as pretty intelligent, and I certainly read a lot, but I just found myself wishing the book would hurry up and end. If I were less of a completist, I probably would have just tossed it aside. But I stuck with it and actually enjoyed the final 50 pages or so when the action/thriller elements took over. But unfortunately, by then, I really didn't care what happened to the characters. Not a good sign.

So will I read more books by this author? Doubtful. Am I glad I read this one? Yes because now I know his style and can more easily pass up his other works when I'm browsing the book store shelves. The only possibility that I can see right now is to try Neuromancer because it is such a definitive work in the science fiction genre. But still that's doubtful...

But by way of contrast, I followed that book with Jeffrey Archer's second-to-last entry in his Cat O'Nine Tales collection, called "The Commishioner". This story was a delightful entry, telling the story of a repentent ex-con who tries to pull one last scam and take advantage of a retiring police commishioner. He does not succeed but how the scam comes to light falls into the "truth is stranger than fiction" category.

Next up, the second in the Magician's House Quartet, "The Door in the Tree", a young adult novel by William Corlett.

Hanging Woman Creek

2010-02-24T11:37:00.000-07:00

No Matter how many times I read a Louis L'Amour book from my "to be read" pile (or shelves in my case) I seem to still have about 5 left to read. I'm beginning to think they are breeding. Nevertheless, I always seem to enjoy them and really tend to use them as breaks between larger novels. With over a hundred novels and short story collections published I am constantly amazed when I read one of his books and discover a whole new actual story and not just a repetition of something he's done before.

Hanging Woman Creek, is yet again an original western story. This is one of his shorter ones, coming in at exactly 150 pages in my copy. It's the story of Baranbus "Pronto" Pike who, for a change, is no gun fighter and not really much of a fist fighter either although he has found himself in many such scraps over the years. He meets up with Edie, a boxer, who also happens to be black, and together they look to survive a rugged Montana winter while making plans to start their own horse/cattle ranch. Edie teaches Pike the finer arts of boxing which come in handy at the end of the story. But they come across an old friend of Pike's who apparently, has gotten mixed up with the bad side of the law and before you know it, Pike and Edie are in the fight of their lives. As always with a L'Amour book, good triumphs over evil and there is a happy ending.

Pike is an unusual protagonist for L'Amour in that he is not the quiet, reserved gunfighter that we often see. The story is told from the first person perspective and it becomes obvious very soon in the story that Pike is not cut from the normal hero mold of so many westerns. That's probably what I like most about this book. The way in which the author weaves historical elements of life between the Little Big Horn and the Powder Rivers in 1885 with the action of cattle rustling, bar fights and, of course, a blossoming romance, makes for a great western read.

And I still have 5 more L'Amour titles to read...

"A Greek Tragedy" was the next title in Jeffrey Archer's short story collection, Cat O' Nine Tales. This one was very different, not a jail-related story at all but rather a true tragedy whereby a wonderful, much loved elderly man is in the wrong place at the wrong time and unknowingly sacrifices himself, saving several other lives. It is difficult to describe without giving away spoilers so I won't attempt it. Suffice it to say it was an enjoyable story but with a sad ending.

Next up: William Gibson's Pattern Recognition.

Shadow's Edge

2010-02-21T16:19:00.003-07:00

It's seems to have taken me longer than normal to complete the reading of Shadow's Edge by Brent Weeks. I actually began reading this second book in the "Night Angel" trilogy last week on Saturday as I drove to a neighboring state to visit my parents for the weekend. That may have lessened my reading time somewhat but mostly I blame the Winter Olympics. We're big Olympics viewers, especially the winter games, and this past week has seen the whole family gathered in the TV room for hours on end witnessing some of the best sports drama I've seen in quite a while. So, yes, my reading time suffered. This book is almost 650 pages long though so I don't really feel too bad.

The plot picks up right after the first book ended, with our hero, Kylar, now having decided to give up the "wetboy" (assassin) life in order to preserve his sanity and pursue a more normal life with his childhood sweetheart. But, of course, that won't be so simple, as another friend from his young days shows up and informs Kylar that Logan, the heir to the thrown is alive after all and imprisoned in a horrible place. Only a wetboy of Kylar's skills can get him out. Throw in to the mix the arch enemy and father of Kylar's major nemesis in book one, the "Godking" that is bent on conquering neighboring lands and we have the making of a great fantasy story. But that's not all as several intriguing subplots flesh out the story including that of Vi, a female wetboy of great talent but questionable loyalty.

I admit to being a bit scared to start reading this one. The first book in the trilogy, The Way of Shadows, was among my all time favorite fantasy novels and I dreaded what so often happens...a major let down where the second book serves merely as a bridge to get to the third and final climactic book. Not so this time. There were a few points where I thought the plot dragged or where one of the characters in a subplot wasn't properly fleshed out, but overall, this was a very good read. And I think the book can largely stand alone; i.e. it has its own beginning, middle, and end (as long as you ignore the last paragraph which serves to setup an intriguing third book). I'll get to that third book pretty soon, but after the Olympics are complete.

"The Alibi" was the next entry in Jeffrey Archer's Cat O'Nine Tales collection of short stories. This one was a letdown from previous stories. Just not much to it other than the criminal using conjugal visits to set-up his alibi for additional petty crimes. It was interesting the way it worked but perhaps I am getting too many of these stories to make them stand out anymore. Only a few left though so we'll see how it goes.

Next up: time for another Louis L'Amour western: Hanging Woman Creek. Shouldn't take me a whole week this time.

Grave Sight

2010-02-11T10:39:00.002-07:00

Grave Sight, by Charlaine Harris, is one of my "Dam" books. That sounds pretty strange so a bit of explanation is in order. The summer before last found me on a fantastic vacation trip to Alaska, my family the guests of my parents as they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. About half the trip was an overland scenic vacation by bus and train but the other half was a beautiful cruise to see the glaciers, whales, etc. While on the boat, we each had some extra "cruise $$" to spend as part of the overall cruise package. It was pretty cool to have "free" money to spend, even though we knew we had really already paid for the opportunity to spend that money. The only stipulation was that we had to spend it aboard ship. Well...I'm not all that big on most of the stuff they were selling on board but I did find one tiny rack of books in a small shop so I spent my $$ on buying one copy of just about everything they had, whether it looked interesting or not. Now as I think back, I can never remember the name of that cruise ship but it was something like "Rotterdam" or "Cramerdam" or "Ashtondam." I have to get out my free t-shirt to get the exact name. Usually, the only part I'm sure of is the "dam" part so ever since then I call these particular books my "dam" books.

So when I was looking for a mystery to read this week, I chose Grave Sight, one of the more interesting-looking "dam" books. Charlaine Harris is a prolific writer and seems to be coming out with a new novel every 3-4 months. She is most famous for her "Southern Vampire" series featuring Sookie Stackhouse. Unlike most readers of Grave Sight, I had never read a Sookie book so didn't have any preconceived notions of the author's style. Apparently many readers compare Harper Connelly, the heroine of the "Grave" books to Sookie. From my understanding, they are quite different characters and such comparisons should be avoided.

This is the first book of the series and as such serves primarily to introduce the reader to Harper as well as her step brother, Tolliver. Harper has a special ability that she acquired as a girl when she was struck by lightning: she can find dead people, sort of by honing in on them as if using a geiger counter. Not only can she find them but she can "see" how they died. Sounds like a cool way for a writer to develop a series of books, just as Ms Harris has done. In the main story, Harper and Tolliver travel to a small town in Arkansas to find a missing teenage girl. She does so but that only leads to further complications from the local townsfolk. The plot becomes a more traditional murder mystery as Harper and Tolliver delve into just what happened in that town.

The author seems to have a real knack for writing characters with troublesome backgrounds. In Harper's case, the lightning incident caused emotional trauma; she has an understandable phobia of thunderstorms and when added to her parents' irresponsibility (alcohol and drug abuse and sexual deviancy) she must now cope with a number of emotional challenges as she lives her day-to-day life. She disguises her emotional instability with a tough/self-confidant outer shell but when that breaks down she relies heavily on her step brother for support. When taken as a whole, this is an interesting pair of characters and I suspect the popularity of these books will continue to grow. Having said that, I found the overall novel to be enjoyable but not really awesome. The actual mystery seemed uninspired and the ultimate solution predictable. I do have the second book in this series as well (also a "Dam" book) so I will read that one before I determine if I will continue the series.

Another novel read, so that means another short story complete as well. "Charity Begins at Home" is my latest read in Jeffrey Archer's Cat O'Nine Tales collection and is another good one. This time the criminal is an intelligent, reserved man, who has lived an honest life for more than 50 years. But when presented with an opportunity to skim money from charitable donations, and launder the money through gambling, he can't resist the easy pickins. He even strategically gets caught and does 18 months in prison in order to throw off suspician of the greater crime. A delightful story to read as long as you are OK with an ending where the criminal gets away with it.

Next up: Shadow's Edge, the second novel in the "Night Angel" trilogy by Brent Weeks.