Books Read in 2008

[Pro A.]

I have made a goal to read about 100 books this year. Since I plan to be a writer, it is prudent that I read as much as possible. I was a bit of a slacker last year in reading and I am determined to right the ship this time. To that end, I'll log all the books I've read with a short review for each of them after I've finished. Furthermore, each book I am going to read will be a book I have not read before.

You are more than welcome to share the books you have read and completed, by the way. I encourage and welcome this. Let's expand the horizons a bit, shall we?

Let the games begin.

1. Trouble, Jesse Kellerman, 2007, *** (out of 4)

The younger Kellerman (son of Jonathan and Faye, both best-selling novelists) has shown a strong aptitude with his second novel, which is a Hitchcockian play on the idea of the Good Samaritan with a little David Lynch thrown in for good measure. Kellerman has a good ear for dialogue and he keeps the ball rolling for the most part. The story falters a bit with some of its peripheral characters, who aren't very interesting, and the final third is a bit overwrought, but he keeps the pace moving and it is definitely worth reading if you like off-beat mysteries. With time, Jesse will surpass both of his parents in the mystery genre.

[Ihsiin]

A hundred books; that's a book every three days and a bit.
Can you really enjoy literature at that pace?

[Pro A.]

I think so. I read a lot and there are some books that I can read in a single day because they're just designed that way. More literary works will probably take more like a week.

[Boggy700]

Personally, I don't believe the amount of books one reads is at all as important as the selection of books.
That and how much one understands and learns from reading said books.
Not that I doubt.. one.


I read more books than usual last year, which was some.
Three?

Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis and some short stories
The beauty is abundant.

Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness
Disappointing in comparison to the superb film, but it seems it's just me.

Hunter S.Thompson's Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas
Surprisingly as excitingly hyperkinetic as Terry Gilliam's film adaptation.
Now it's in my top three.

[Pro A.]

Yeah, and even if I don't get to 100, it'll still be a good rip through many authors and styles.

Good picks, Boggy. I liked Thompson's Campaign Trail book too, even though a lot of the specifics went over my head, but its still very funny in spots.

[woundingchaney]

so far:

Children of Hurin

Lost Tales (re-read)

[Pro A.]

Sorry for the lack of updates. Been busy.

2. More Twisted, Jeffery Deaver, ***

Deaver, with his second short story collection, proves my assertion that he's a better short-story writer than he is a novelist. His novelist are often overlong, boring, trite, and filled with a writer trying too hard to make everything work. His short stories are filled with Hitchcock and Twilight Zone-esque twists. His first two stories, Chapter and Verse and The Commuter, are a bit weak, but they quickly pick up in quality with sharp plotting, nasty characters, and delightfully fun twists. Not every story is a winner, but more than enough work to recommend this book, just released in paperback.

[OG_Monkey]

Huckleberry Finn

[Pro A.]

3. A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, Robert Olen Butler, **

This won the Pulitzer Prize why? This short story collection, written from a variety of Vietnamese viewpoints, shows their experiences living in New Orleans and in Vietnam. Many of them have been impacted by the war and by the culture shock of living in a country that had bombed them back to the Stone Age for a decade. Some of the stories are quite interesting because of the various viewpoints they juggle, but too many of them come off as meandering, pointless, and irritating. "The American Couple" the longest story at eighty pages, is by far the weakest because it tries to reveal things about soldiers who fought in the war, but never does anything to underline them. Stories like Mr. Green, The Trip Back, and Preparation stand out in this overall weak collection.

[Silent Warrior]

so far...

The Newman's Own Organics Guide to a Good Life

[Viper]

Sorry for the lack of updates. Been busy.

2. More Twisted, Jeffery Deaver, ***

Deaver, with his second short story collection, proves my assertion that he's a better short-story writer than he is a novelist. His novelist are often overlong, boring, trite, and filled with a writer trying too hard to make everything work. His short stories are filled with Hitchcock and Twilight Zone-esque twists. His first two stories, Chapter and Verse and The Commuter, are a bit weak, but they quickly pick up in quality with sharp plotting, nasty characters, and delightfully fun twists. Not every story is a winner, but more than enough work to recommend this book, just released in paperback.

I just finished that last December myself. The Poker Lesson had me hooked good. I think Twisted (volume 1) was better. Nocturne, Triangle, For Services Rendered, Eye to Eye, All the Worlds a Stage, etc....compelling reads.

Speaking of Deaver, I'm currently reading his latest title The Sleeping Doll. the protagonist is Kathryn Dance who was introduced in his last Lincoln Rhyme novel, the Cold Moon.

Try The Coffin Dancer, The Stone Monkey, Garden of Beasts and The Devils Teardrop. They won't have the problems you mentioned above.

[Pro A.]

I'll see if I can fit them in somewhere.

4. Saturday, Ian McEwan, **

This is the same guy who wrote Atonement? Huh. Guess that book drained his creative energy. Saturday is the tale of a man named Henry Perowne, a neurosurgeon, and we experience his life for one day. He has various encounters, including one with a thug, his senile mother, his family and he has deep thoughts and ruminations about his life and the world around him. Could be interesting material and the second and fourth sections of the book seem to have the right idea, but bland dialogue, overdescription, and a weak climax dampen the story overall. Joyce did it better.

[Pro A.]

5. Duma Key, Stephen King, ***1/2

King continues his spark of creative energy with his fifth novel since the Dark Tower fell in late 2004. This latest book, about disabled construction worker Edgar Freemantle, might be one of his more autobiographical and one of his more personal. After a terrible accident, Edgar heads to Florida to mentally recuperate and he starts painting, and his paintings have a strange connection with the island. King knows how to sell a story and he manages to keep the 600-page book in check for most of the proceedings. The middle third stumbles a bit, but recovers for a thrilling finale. Duma, along with 2006's Lisey's Story, belong squarely in the upper third of King's vast library.

[JasonXe]

You should read "green eggs in ham by Dr. Sues", its a masterpiece!! I should get started reading some books too. I got this Halo book that I'm half way through that I need to finish. Good luck on your book adventures mate!!

[OG_Monkey]

lmfao

[Pro A.]

6. How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Julia Alvarez, **1/2

My contemporary lit teacher sucks. That's 0-for-3. In this story, which is told in reverse chronological order (which works hit-or-miss) we see four girls fighting between their Dominican roots and their newfound American culture through various stages of their lives. This story would work better if it had any real conclusion, but it doesn't. Half of the stories are quite interesting, and they are scattered about, but the other half are either tedious, shallow, or both in some cases. Why couldn't my teacher have given us something really meaty like Cormac McCarthy? Now that would fuck these guys up.

[Pro A.]

7. Unknown Man #89, Elmore Leonard, ***

Old-school Leonard novel from the 70's has process server Jack Ryan finding himself in way over his head when he goes after a guy named Robert Leary, who has a giant bulls-eye on his back along with a history. Ryan encounters two shady Southerners, a black guy straight out of Shaft, and a woman with a serious drinking problem. Typical Leonard, but with less humor. The story takes a few strange twists without warning and the plot could have been better, but the razor-sharp dialogue and his hard-hitting prose show the master already showing fine form in his fifth or sixth crime novel.

[³¹¹]

Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass - Lewis Carroll
The Third Policeman - Flann O'Brien
1984 - George Orwell
Notes from the Underground - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Wind-up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami

[Greg]

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, awesome book and presents an interesting look into a so called utopia.

[masonite]

Brave New World should be read by everyone, as with Nineteen Eighty-Four. Both great satires.


So far for me:

Wilbur Smith - The Quest
The last of the Taita books (or so we're lead to believe) is a nice one, continues the story of Taita, and really gives a nice finish to the series. Much more enjoyable than the seventh scroll IMO, particularly since that book committed the cardinal sin for me - the author reerencing themselves/their own work.

Matthew Riley - Seven Ancient Wonders
A typical book from him, non stop action, and the first book in what he describes as his attempt at a LOTR style trilogy. Reads like a rambo movie, but at least each unbelievable escape is explained, and would probably survive an episode of mythbusters, if only just. As usual, and incredible amount of research is evident in the writing, which adds to the suspense. References the da vinci code, which is kind of ironic, because there are parts of the book that bring back shades of Dan Brown's blockbuster (you'll know what i mean when you read it). Unfortunately i made the mistake of reading the next book before this one, but it was still good fun nonetheless.

Matthew Riley - The Six Sacred Stones.
More well researched action, continues the story of seven ancient wonders, but more suspenseful this time (because i didn't already know what was going to happen). Still has one of the mst ANNOYING endings of all (not really and ending, more like someones has pressed the stop button in the middle of the movie) and now i have to wait 12 months (or however long it takes him to write it, cos he hasn't finished it yet apparently) for the next one to come out. Still good fun, but i'd like to see another scarecrow book.

Also read Hell Island by Matthew Riley, only a 100 page short story, and more of the same really.



Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials Trilogy (Northern lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass)
A great trilogy, definately surprised me in its complexity but his concise way of explaining everything that happens. Some parts were a bit brief - it feels in places as though he's missed out on some detail for the sake of keeping it within grasp of children, but still had a lot more violence (and adjectives to go with it) than i thought it would. The claims that hes the next Tolkein might be a bit rich, but he's not far off - the universe(s) that he's created are incredibly original, and the plot line would make Richard Dawkins incredibly happy (and the church somewhat less so). A great read.


Stephen King - Christine
A book thats been sitting in my book case for about 2 years, and i finally got around to reading it. And once i started what i thought was going to be a fairly unrealistic and silly book (a car that kills people) i couldn't put it down. As usual, King has an uncanny ability to take subjects that are completely unrealistic and somehow make them seem as natural as a heart attack. If you need your fiction to mirror real-life (or you don't like horror) you might not like this, but i find horror books a lot more appealing than movies (imagination is a lot more realistic and controlled than CG).


Douglas Adams & Mark Carwardine - Last Chance To See
More of a token read since i finally found a copy of the book here in australia, ive already read it as an illegal ebook and listened to it as a downloaded audio book hundreds of times, but i wanted to have the real thing. A great book, a cross between david attenborough and a comedy festival, Douglas demosntrates here more than anywhere else his unparallelled grasp of the medium of text, and is able to use it to convey his immeasurable wit incredibly effectively. One of my favourite books of all time, anyone who isn't a fan of nature docos will be after reading this.

[Pro A.]

8. The Bonesetter's Daughter, Amy Tan, **

And that's 0-for-4 in my English class. The story is about a middle-aged Chinese woman coming to terms with her mother, who has developed Alzheimer's. She has left behind her life story for her daughter to decipher, and that story bridges the middle part of the novel. What's especially interesting is that this part of the story is actually engaging with intrigue, romance, and a whirlwind pace told in the first-person. The other two parts, told in the third-person, lag and don't provide much interest. Backstory dominates the foreground, and that's a mistake.

[Pro A.]

9. Tripwire, Lee Child, ***

Child might be the best suspense writer in the game right now. He not only produces good stories, but the guy actually knows how to write and shows improvement during each outing (unlike, say, Patricia Cornwell). This is actually his third book (he has 11, all told) and involves his hero Jack Reacher getting involved in a complicated, convoluted scam in New York after being lured out of hiding in Florida. Tripwire goes in fits and starts for a while before hitting the gas for the slam-bang finale. Not his best book, but certainly a lot of fun. Hobie is one nasty customer for a villain.

[Pro A.]

10. Star Wars: Revelation, Karen Traviss, *1/2

Star Wars books have always been a guilty pleasure, but this current nine-book arc has been an absolute mess from start to finish. The eighth book, Revelation, serves as nothing more than one last transition point before the finale (which will be written by Troy Denning). I've lost track of what is happening in the story and who is fighting who. I hope something clarifying or satisfying happens in book 9, but I'm not holding my breath. Satisfying and clarifying moments have been very few and far between in this series, which acts as a slap in the face to the fifteen years of quality written before this.

[Silent Warrior]

Stephen King - Christine
A book thats been sitting in my book case for about 2 years, and i finally got around to reading it. And once i started what i thought was going to be a fairly unrealistic and silly book (a car that kills people) i couldn't put it down. As usual, King has an uncanny ability to take subjects that are completely unrealistic and somehow make them seem as natural as a heart attack. If you need your fiction to mirror real-life (or you don't like horror) you might not like this, but i find horror books a lot more appealing than movies (imagination is a lot more realistic and controlled than CG).

I have this book. Very good book. I also own the DVD too...

[masteratt]

omfgzorz, never thought I'll post in THIS thread.

Hitchcock Style
by Jean-Pierre Dufreigne

It was a good book, it had some interesting information about Hitch and his work but around 80% of it I would file as "trivial" while the other 20% was very helpful and interesting.

7/10.

[Silent Warrior]

books that i plan on reading this year are:

Natural Selection by David Freedman
The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
Your Inner Fish By Neil Shubin
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

[Ihsiin]

A couple (though only a couple) of the books I've read this year are:

- Nadja, by Andre Breton, to which I ascribe much credit for it's interesting content, though it comes across more as an abstract angle on surrealist theory than a bona fide piece of literature. None the less, it made me decide I quite like the attitudes and ideas professed in surrealism and has prompted me to by more of Breton's writings.

- Fight Club, by Chuck Thingy-Majig, of Guts fame (though perhaps it should be the other way 'round). Aside from anything else, what really appeals to me is the sort-of unreal atmosphere that is applied to the city, putting one in mind of one of those fantasy epics. In fact, it gives me an idea...
I give it very good out of ten.

[Pro A.]

I would have liked Christine better if he hadn't cheated and gone from first to third person. I think books should stay consistent in their POVs.

A few more reviews to come in the next three or four days.

[TrueVCU]

Completed: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Thematically somewhat reminiscent of Maus but with the Iranian revolution instead of the holocaust. For reasons I can't quite describe, it's just as compelling when the action moves from Marjane's childhood in Iran to her coming of age in Europe.

Chipping away at: Watchers by Dean Koontz
Surprisingly engaging despite what I've heard of the premise in particular and Koontz in general. Can't wait to finish.

Up Next: Settling Accounts - Drive to the East by Harry Turtledove
Been working on the timeline-191 alternate history series (which posits a world in which the south won the US Civil War) and I'm itching to continue the series.

[Gummy]

I think I might end up reading a lot about Karl Marx for my Philosophy class.
Should be fun.

[masonite]

I would have liked Christine better if he hadn't cheated and gone from first to third person. I think books should stay consistent in their POVs.

A few more reviews to come in the next three or four days.

Yeh, im not a huge fan of that either, i was expecting it to go back to 1st person in the last third of the book, but i guess going third person let the reader see things that would have been unknown otherwise. Also gave the reader an insight into the other characters' minds.

[OG_Monkey]

The Great Gatsby

[Pro A.]

11. The Faithful Spy, Alex Berenson, ***

In his first novel, Berenson makes a very good case as the heir apparent to the leader of the American spy writer (currently held by Littell and McCarry, both on the way out). His first book takes the idea of an American agent named John Wells working deep-cover in Al-Qaeda, and he is sent back home after several years to try and launch a deadly attack. Berenson keeps the suspense flowing with multiple storylines, both good and bad, leading to quite a frenzied finish. The story loses momentum in spots and Wells isn't complex enough to be totally convincing, but Berenson keeps everything going with a tremendous amount of skill. Berenson's no Le Carre, but he's pretty good.

[IEatFriedPikmin]

In Quiet Desperation, Marilyn Matis and Ty Mansfield, *** 1/2 out of 5

This book is aimed at Mormons struggling with same gender attractions and has 2 portions. The first portion, written by Marilyn Matis, is about her son who was gay and a devout Mormon and how they handled dealing with his struggle. Eventually he couldn't take the struggle anymore and committed suicide at the steps of his church in California. It's a good story, but confuses me a bit... I think this portion specifically helps members in our Church understand our struggle to find our place in the Mormon faith.

The 2nd portion is written by Ty Mansfield, whom I have met and visited with a few times... he happens to live like an hour and a half away. He is a gay Mormon and in the book he shares his perspective and testimony of our Church. He discusses how he deals with thoughts and makes several comparisons and references to scriptures and other Mormon doctrine. Many gay Mormons find this portion to be too deep and don't really enjoy it. I thought it was great though. I found it interesting that anyone could apply any struggle with same gender attraction... to a point at least.

2. Goodbye, I Love You by Carol Lynn Pearson, **** 1/2 out of 5

I recommend this book to anyone and everyone. It also deals with homosexuality within the Mormon church, but can be applied to everyone. It asks people to open their minds and learn about the issue at hand. The book put me in tears once I finished it last night. Here is a description from Amazon:
Poet and playwright Pearson here movingly recounts the difficulties and tragedies undergone by herself and her husband, a devout Utah Mormon couple. Although aware of Gerald's homosexual past, Carol had faith that marriage would overcome her husband's sexual preference. The shock of discovering, after eight years of apparent happiness and the birth of four children, that his inclination was still for males shook her belief in her own femaleness and the role of women. Moving to the more permissive atmosphere of San Francisco, they obtained a friendly divorce but remained very close as a family. When Gerald was stricken by AIDS, their love withstood this ultimate trial, providing support throughout his illness and the strength to face death with serenity.

The only problem I found with the book was that she put a little bit too much of a focus on womanhood.

Yah, I'm really into the gay Mormon books right now.

[Teh Roxor!]

So far this year, I've read Collapse by Jared Diamond, Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time by Michael Shermer, and I'm about half way through The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby. Oh, and Ruby By Example by Kevin Baird if that counts.

Collapse was pretty interesting, it was about how societies can collapse and provides examples of societies that both succeed and fail for different reasons. I'm really enjoying The Age of American Unreason.

[Pro A.]

12. Unless, Carol Shields, **

That's 0-for-5 in my class. The last novel by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author is a study of a writer struggling with life when her bright daughter becomes a street vagrant on the streets of Toronto, begging for money. Her insights into writing are interesting, but none of the characters are really sympathetic or interesting enough because Shields keeps going in so many different directions its hard to put together a cohesive arc. An 11th-hour revelation keeps this story from going lower in the ratings.

[Pro A.]

13. Bad Luck and Trouble, Lee Child, ***1/2

Child's 11th (and latest) Jack Reacher novel is one of his best. He brings the loner out of his element, working with a team of former MP's from a special investigations unit, looking into the murder of his comrade. Written in crisp, clear prose, Child brings this dense work flying for almost 500 pages without skipping a beat or missing a note--mostly. Some of his character motivation feels glossed over and it probably goes on for one act too many, but the ride is such a wonderful one. Can't wait for his new thriller in June.

[curryking1]

I read a book about chemistry. Organic and biological science. It wasn't that exciting. Lacked story, and depth, and was unnecessarily lengthy and complicated.

And it was expensive. Ok not really, but still... lameeeeeee.

But eh, it was worth it I guess :P

[Crow]

i bought a book called "The Five People You Meet In Heaven" looks really good

[Pro A.]

Mitch Albom, yes, the king of making people weep... or trying to.

14. The Patron Saint of Liars, Ann Patchett, **1/2

0 for 6 in the class. This book, using a shifting first-person narrative, tells the story of Rose, a woman with conflicting views, who runs away from her life in California while pregnant. She ends up in a small Southern town called Habit, which has a maternity ward run by Catholics. Rose's life changes and we see her life change over the next fifteen years through her POV, her eventual husband, and her daughter. Rose is too enigmatic and too cold to make us really care about what happens to her. An effective prologue almost elevates this book, but with such a cold protagonist it's really hard to feel much empathy.

[Crow]

the book is pretty good so far (see 2 posts up) started reading it on saturday and just over half way through, just bought Manhattan Is My Beat, i have some of Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme books (Coffin Dancer, Stone Monkey and The Vanished Man) so i though i would give this one a try, also bought The Book Thief and just this minute ordered Darkly Dreaming Dexter so i have plenty to read just now

[err_ok]

Star Wars - Tempest
Star Wars - Exile
Star Wars - Sacrifice
Star Wars - Inferno
Star Wars - Fury
Star Wars - Revelation

Ian Irvine - The Curse of the Chosen

... some other books i can't remember the title's of.

[chrismt]

Some of this has been completed in 2008 after prolonging the finishing of the books. I think all these were completed in the last month.

The Hunt for Red October
4/5
This novel had an atrocious amount of jargon that's incomprehensible for the most part, and was a bit boring until the last third where steam heavily picks up and it finished very strongly.

Year 4 - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
5/5
Lengthy and a really fun read, I breezed through this quickly even though it was ~700 pages. The quality was maintained throughout, and really tugs at your heart, more and more as time goes on.

Year 5 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
5/5
This was fairly slow but still enjoyable for 2/5ths of the book, but picks up quickly and had a satisfying ending.

Year 6 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
4.5/5
Everyone in this year seemed out-of-character and well horny for most of this, and it takes a good long time to getting to the climax which doesn't disappoint. I still have less than 50 pages to read though.

[Media]

Half-Blood Prince is my favorite of the last 4 books. My favorite of the first 3 is Azkaban.

So far, this year I haven't read a single novel outside of school curriculum. Other than some Nietzsche stuff, perhaps. I've been concentrating my literary focus (unintentionally) more towards poetry so far.

I've been dying for a good book to sink my teeth into for a good half a year now. I miss reading all the time like I used to.

[chrismt]

I just finished Half-Blood Prince, and the last part of it made up for anything and everything bad in what lead up to that point. It's now my favorite as well. Whatever I was talking about being the climax wasn't even close.

[Media]

Yeah. It culminates epicly, much unlike Deathly Hallows.

[chrismt]

Hey, don't say ANYTHING about the last one, I'm reading it now.

[Pro A.]

15. Nobody's Fool, Richard Russo, ****

I knew if I stuck around in that class long enough I'd get a book I'd like, and boy, did I ever. Russo's epic tale of life in small-town America in the 1980's is spot-on in every possible facet from the characterizations to the details of this upstate New York town. There is little we don't know about this world and by the end of the 550-page epic we feel like we're part of the town. Sully, the main character, is a sad sack and a loser with a great sense of humor as he tries to make good with what's left of his life. All of the characters are a hoot and then some. This is a world impossible not to believe, especially if you've grown up in this kind of town. While not perfect (the ending is a little soft) this book gets so much right it's impossible not to smile at the end. A true work of art.

[chrismt]

I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows a few days ago.

It was great. The entire novel was one long epic fight against the Death Eaters, and while there were a few lulls in the action, everything else was consistent and the entire series was wrapped up really well. I was very pleased with this read.

[Pro A.]

16. The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, Tobias Smollett, **1/2

This is a tough novel to judge. It's one of the earliest novels ever written, and as such, it is told in an epistolary format (letters). This makes it off-putting at first and it is quite dense, but there is some amusement to be had at this upper-class family and their journey across late-18th century England and Scotland. The title character is only a peripheral character, surprisingly, but that somewhat detracts because you'd expect someone whose name in the title to be heavily involved. Well, he isn't until the third act. Almost but not quite there.

[Pro A.]

17. The Whistling Season, Ivan Doig, **

Some very good passages and insightful astronomy lessons do not a great novel make. This story, set in 1909, focuses on Paul Milliron in Montana and how his life changes dramatically when his father hires a housekeeper. She brings along her brother Morris, who becomes the new teacher, and he has some big lessons. This seems like very good material for a solid melodrama, but Doig never brings everything to a serious resolution and there are still plenty of lingering questions afterward.

[Pro A.]

18. Invincible, Troy Denning, ***

And so the nine-book SW saga comes to a close. This is a surprisingly short book, clocking in at a little under 300 pages. Given how bloated the first eight books seemed, this is probably a good thing. The final battle between the new rebels and the evil Darth Caedus reaches a fever-pitch. More focus on character and on resolving this mess of a plot takes center-stage. Not everything is resolved, but Denning makes most of it work and he is able to salvage what was a very disappointing series all the way around.

[Pro A.]

19. Poison, Ed McBain, **

The master of the cop procedural visits the 87th Precinct yet again with a homicide done by nicotine poisoning. All signs point to the woman, Marilyn Hollis, who has a murky past and some interesting ideas about love and sex and to her other lovers. What's more, mainstay Carella's partner ends up falling in love with the woman, who is still a suspect. Implausible in a few respects, but the first half of the novel is quite riveting until McBain starts to run out of ways to keep the ball rolling and he turns the final third into a confessional of sorts. The twist at the end works, but is too poorly telegraphed to work as a payoff. Too short for any depth and it has one too many ridges on the edges, but it still works as a page-turner.

[Pro A.]

20. Devil May Care, Sebastian Faulks, ***

In honor of Ian Fleming's 100th birthday, the Bond people decided to have someone write a book that picked up where Octopussy (s. story collection) left off. That someone is noted literary writer Sebastian Faulks. He writes a story about drugs that goes from Europe to Asia and then back to Europe. He also has a villain with a monkey's paw for a hand (some disease or another). Faulks writes this as a Fleming imitation, and it isn't a bad imitation. He keeps the story going and he manages to keep the reader riveted. There are a few moments where the story stalls before picking right up again. If this were a Fleming novel, it would rank somewhere in the upper-half of the series.

[LiquidEagle]

I just finished reading the Watchmen, by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons, I figured it's worth posting that in here :-p

I'm late to the party in saying that it's amazing, but let me just say that The Watchmen is BRILLIANT! Just an amazing piece of work...

[masteratt]

I have been letting my friends do all the thinking for me lately, it sure is easier and after telling me which shows to watch, I also let them tell me which books to read so I've read the following (in a shorter time than I hoped I must say- They didn't last long):

The Lost Sea
by Bryan Lee O'Malley

I've enjoyed it, pretty nice and easy read and very enjoyable at parts.
It won't amaze you or get you thinking after reading it but then that's not what it's trying to do at all.

8/10.



Scott Pilgrim Volume 1, 2, 3 and 4
by Bryan Lee O'Malley

These were freakin' hilarious and the story, although pretty basic at the front (fight evil ex-boyfriends of the girl to get the girl) has lots of little bits in between that add substance to it.

I've enjoyed reading these too and read all of them in one sitting which was nice because they were enjoyable enough for me to do that but also not good because they didn't last long.

Still, a high 8/10 for this set and Volume 5 is out this summer I believe.

And this is the only real reasons anybody needs friends- So they can think for you and recommend you awesome stuff to enjoy while you sit ther going "yo, what else would I enjoy?".

[Pro A.]

21. Nothing to Lose, Lee Child, ***

Child's 12th Jack Reacher installment finds him in Colorado. He's been thrown out of a town called Despair, which doesn't take kindly to vagrants (which he is) or any stranger for that matter. Being the curious guy that he is, he starts nosing around, finding an ally in a cop from the nearby town of Hope. Not as engrossing as his last two installments, with a few strange character decisions along the way, but from a plot POV its going everything Child has delivered up to now and then some. #13 (tentatively called Gone Tomorrow) could not come soon enough. Child remains at the top (or close to it) in the thriller game.

[r33hash]

I just read "Snuff" by Chuck Palanhuik (sp?). Pretty much on par with "Rant", although maybe slightly better.

I've started reading "Running with Scissors" by Augusten Burroughs.

[LoveFrosty]

This year? Hrmmm. Well, ALOT of Harry Potter. I never read any of them before seeing the latest movie, and i decided that i would go ahead and start the books since i loved the movies so much.

I believe i read Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows all this year. The other three i read late 2007. The last two books i read within a span of about 2 weeks, and Hallows took me literally 4 days. Im a slow reader, so this is alot of reading. But, i enjoyed the entire series and every book immensely. The world that Rowling creates is deep and has a rich history that really is remarkable. There are the rare dull moments but they are typically between two exciting sections. Additionally, the opening chase scene in Deathly Hallows was one of the most frantic things i have ever read and i felt my heart beating fast. Awesome.


Now, onto Ender's Game.

[Media]

Just finished "Hocus Pocus" by Kurt Vonnegut.

Earlier in July I read "Slaughterhouse Five" by Vonnegut and "A Moveable Feast" by Hemmingway for summer reading.

I'm looking for some Kafka recommendations.

[Boggy700]

I'm looking for some Kafka recommendations.
I've only read 'Metamorphosis', and a bunch of short stories, and I'd recommend it all.
Almost all.
A lot of it.
'Metamorphosis' for sure.
I really like some of his wonderful short stories, and I'd suggest finding any collection of them to read.
Kafka does beautiful endings.
Other than that, I'm a Kafka noob.

I recently bought 'The Trial', but I'll get around to reading that after a different book.

[woundingchaney]

Just finished rereading Watchmen and The Silmarillion.

[LoveFrosty]

Finished Ender's Game a few days ago.

Holy shit, what a book! Easily one of my favorite books in a long time. Makes me want to read more by Orson Scott Card for sure. Might pick up Speaker for the Dead soon. The book is just such a great Sci-Fi novel and also delves into tactics and how not just zero-gravity combat but flight would completely change.

[LoveFrosty]

I just finished Catcher in the Rye for the first time. My friend reads it every year to "ground" himself, so i figured id give it a go. Truly, a unique read. VERY quirkey. Its just about this guy complaining about nearly everything, but he does it in such a great way just the same. Its an oldish book too, but really doesnt show its age that much because he doesnt add in alot of stuff that is only relevant then. It took me alot longer to read then i expected. Its a short book but it kinda drones a bit because it isnt very well paced and he goes off on long tangents so i could only read about 2-3 chapters before i started to fall asleep. Yet, its a unique read and if only a light read, its good.

[Pro A.]

Man, I've been bad with my updates. Yes, I have been reading and no, I won't read 100 books like I planned. Probably wishful thinking, but one must be ambitious with these sorts of things, shouldn't they? I'll update my new comments and get back at it.

22. The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett, **** (out of 4)

A marvelous, brilliant piece of pop fiction from spy writer Follett, who goes way outside his normal boundaries in creating a masterpiece about the trials and tribulations of 12th-13th century England. We have murder, romance, political and religious strife, and deep revelations, and that's just the first two parts. Follett is by no means a great prose writer, but he doesn't need to be. His brilliant handling of multiple storylines and his sincerity about his characters and the setting give him all the momentum he needs for a story that runs 1,000 pages in paperback. Even with such an enormous length, Follett makes the time pass by so easily you won't even believe it when you finish.

[Pro A.]

23. White Jazz, James Ellroy, ***1/2

The fourth novel of the L.A. Quartet (which includes The Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential) is a nightmarish vision of the late 50's with vicious, corrupt L.A. cop and lawyer Dave Klein finding himself getting sucked into a vortex with the mafia, corrupt narco cops, the Feds, and drug dealers all looking to eat him alive. What follows is what can only be described as... bizarre. Ellroy's staccato prose has never been tougher or more direct, but it also leads to near-incomprehensible portions. Even with the short prose, we get into Klein's corner and we feel for him, in large part because the people after him are even worse than he is.

[Pro A.]

24. Nocturne, Ed McBain, ***

Yet another police procedural from the 87th precinct. This one, involving an elderly woman's murder and the murder of a prostitute, uses the old trick of bringing two unrelated cases together. McBain makes it work in large part because the two cases are riveting. The novel does get off to a slow start and the characterizations aren't as sharp as they could be, but his excellent plotting and storytelling skills are on full display once again. Such a shame he is gone now. He knows how to put on a show with material that would be standard in lesser writers' hands.

[Pro A.]

25. The Night Gardener, George Pelecanos, ***1/2

Pelecanos, best known for his work on HBO's The Wire, makes a very compelling case as the best crime writer under the age of 50 with his haunting portrait of urban life in Washington D.C. A young boy is murdered and the case looks a lot like a series of murders committed over twenty years. Three cops (two former) get a second bite at the apple. Amazingly, this book is less about the murder and more about the characters. The murder seems to be peripheral to the character study Pelecanos is giving us. At first, it seems like Pelecanos is wasting our time, but by the end, you will see what he is really trying to do and it is nothing short of sensational. He shouldn't have written an epilogue to this book, but watching what he does and how he does it makes a second reading almost mandatory. Pelecanos and fellow Wire writer Dennis Lehane are truly at the top of the urban crime tree.

[Pro A.]

26. The English Assassin, Daniel Silva, **1/2

Silva's second novel with Israeli agent Gabriel Allon isn't as tightly-plotted or as engaging as his first, The Kill Artist. The novel involves Gabriel following the trail of a murdered Swiss Banker who had some secrets he was all too willing to reveal--and the people behind him would have none of that. This is all well and good, but the subplot with the English Assassin seems out of place and perfunctory. A few re-writes would have jettisoned that in a hurry and little would have been lost. The book goes along at a brisk pace for about 300 pages and then starts to stall in the final eighty. They say Silva's the young American Le Carre. I don't know if that's true, but based on his first two novels, he seems like a watered down version so far.

[Vishus]

books that i plan on reading this year are:

Natural Selection by David Freedman
The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
Your Inner Fish By Neil Shubin
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

Oh my! Now those are good choices. I'd like to recommend 'Infidel' by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

My recommendations to the first post:

Any book by Alan Moore (Any book is any book, not a title)
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind by Hiyao Miyazaki
'Howl's Moving Castle' and 'Castle in the Air' by Diana Wynne Jones

[Pro A.]

Some class readings I was subjected to.

27. My Antonia, Willa Cather, **1/2

An interesting, but largely ambiguous and indifferent look at life in early 20th Century America told through the eyes of Jim Burden as he grows up in Nebraska, where he meets the Bohemian immigrant girl Antonia. The story takes place over the span of thirty-odd years and bounces around several time frames before an ending that offers hope for the American Dream, no matter how elusive or uncertain it is. The narrator, Jim, is little more than a mindless cipher and that remains the middling point for a well-written, descriptive story that really does a good job of analyzing the social life of a world where everyone knows everything.

[Pro A.]

28. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck, ***

Steinbeck's most famous work is, as many people know, the story of a family migrating from Oklahoma to California in the hopes of finding work. Their travels parallel the Israelites crossing the desert and they endure many hardships and lessons about the life they think is out there as opposed to what really is out there. Steinbeck's excellent description and realistic dialogue are hampered by characters who seem too cast to type to make any real waves as three-dimensional people. Everyone in the family has the obvious role and Steinbeck does little to change it. His politics may offend some, but it will make you think and you might even feel some empathy and sympathy by the end, even with the bizarre final image the book offers.

[Pro A.]

29. Geek Love, Katherine Dunn, **

Geek Love is the story of a family of carnival geeks that have been created by two parents who intentionally mutated their children to give them special gifts. What unfolds is a parallel storyline told from the eyes of Oly, a young albino hunchback who finds herself in some very compromising situations in the past as her maniacal and egotistical brother Arty tries to become a religion unto himself and in the present as she sees a vindictive woman trying to turn normal people into freaks. The visuals are striking and original and it will leave you feeling uncomfortable, but the characters lack any real dimension. Post-modernism to an extreme, but some people will like that and they'll like the freak show.

[Pro A.]

30. Beloved, Toni Morrison, **1/2

Not sure why the NY Times named this the best book of the last 25 years. It is striking, powerful, and even moving, but that's only for the first two hundred pages. The final third of the novel doesn't really go anywhere and it seems to be a means to try and bring some kind of resolution to a very off-beat and unusual ghost story where a girl named Beloved comes out of the water one day to a mother and daughter living in Ohio in the 1870's. Not for the faint of heart and it is frustrating because Morrison keeps jumping back and forth to the past and present to try and explain what happened to Sethe and her young daughter during their escape from slavery.

[Pro A.]

31. The Painted Bird, Jerzy Kosinski, ***1/2

Kosinski's first novel is exceptionally brutal as he tells the account of a young boy who is victimized by the villagers of Poland who see him as a gypsy or worse during WWII. The horrifying and unsettling images are incredibly visceral and visual. It's made even worse by the unnamed narrator's very clinical, detached perspective. Eventually, the boy becomes the very thing he hated and it ends on a very dark, very bittersweet tone. Not for the faint of heart.

[Pro A.]

32. The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison, **

This odd-ball novel (Morrison's first) is about community life and ostracism in the 1940's in a predominantly black community. The novel, which opens with a Dick and Jane primer, focuses primarily on a little girl and her desire to be free of the community's veil they have placed on her and her family. That desire is inhabited on having blue eyes. The ostracism and the desire, inevitably, lead to something resembling a psych disorder (though not said in the novel). Interesting concept, but tepid and lacking any real direction until the very end sabotages the momentum.

[Pro A.]

33. Gain, Richard Powers, **1/2

Powers has obvious gifts in terms of prose and verbosity. His sentences and ideas about life and about the world we live in today are quite intriguing. His ability to tell a story and create convincing characters, however, are less successful. This novel, which works on parallel stories (one of which is a company history) revolves around a mother's cancer and the company that might have caused it. Powers gets the details of small-town Illinois right but has no real clue how to handle his characters, which feel like White Noise-lite half the time. The novel delivers quite a punch for the ending, but by then you might have lost your interest in what happens.

[Pro A.]

34. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer, **1/2

Foer is considered by some to be the top writer of this generation under the age of 40. He has some very obvious skills as a writer and his post 9/11 novel about a young, bright boy's attempts to find the genesis of a key his father (who died in 9/11) left behind. The novel goes back and forth through time, bringing us some perspective before trying in vain to tie it all together in the last sixty pages. Foer does that much, but it feels like a reach packed together with waaaay too much melodrama. The final twenty pages, arguably the most controversial, leave us with quite an original and stirring image. The rest of the novel is too bound up in its own presumed intelligence (note how many pages have only one sentence) to really tell us what Foer is really after.

[Pro A.]

35. Just After Sunset, Stephen King, ***

King's fifth short story collection is not his best, but it is always nice to see someone deliver a collection of tightly wound short stories that will get your heart pumping. Many of the stories have already been published, but getting them in a package is great. Most of the stories are good, with only a few misses (like The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates). The standouts include N., a novella about obsession and Mute, a Hitchcockian-esque story that starts with a confession and builds into the kind of story you might have seen on one of his shows. While not as good as his previous collections, it's better than nothing and well worth a few sleepless nights.

[Pro A.]

36. The Spanish Game, Charles Cumming, ***1/2

If it wasn't clear before, it is now. Charles Cumming is the best spy writer of this generation and the best since Le Carre. Not surprisingly, like Le Carre, he is a Brit and ex-MI6. His third novel (second to come to the States), a sequel to his claustrophobic, haunting first novel A Spy By Nature, marks the return of Alec Milius as he tries to live his life in exile in Madrid after botching a joint MI5/MI6 operation in the first novel. He is paranoid, scared, and his attempts to make a normal life could be described as a mockery. When an ETA member he met disappears, however, he finds himself pulled back into the game, hoping for a chance at redemption. Cumming's brisk, authoritative prose and strong characterizations make this a treat. You have to read the first novel to get a feel for the second and understand Milius. This is first-rate material that only sags somewhat in the first hundred pages as Cumming takes a little too long building the plot, but he makes it pay off like no other writer can. The Brits rule the spy genre and Cumming is the heir apparent to the throne once held by Deighton and Le Carre, who, in turn, took it from Ambler and Greene, two more Brits. With any luck, Cumming will get the attention he deserves in the States.