David Woodger
This one has been on my radar for a while and we were lucky to find it at the local library (in Sweden). This is the story of a sister (Kendra) and her younger brother (Seth) who are to spend a few weeks at their grandparents remote estate set deep in the woods. These two characters immediately endeared themselves to my kids as I read this book aloud to them. What Kendra and Seth soon discover is that their grandparents are the caretakers of a sanctuary for mythical creatures (faeries, naiads, satyrs, etc.) and it can be dangerous. The story moves along briskly and the kids are the best characters. My own kids often chuckled at their interactions. They were thrilled by the story too. We'll be reading book two in this five-book series next.
Haven't read King in twenty years, but I've ended that hiatus with this one. It was a good choice! I zipped through this exciting story. It was really fun. Now I'm thinking about possibly adding 11/22/63 to my TBR pile.
This is the second time I've read this. King is entertaining. Here's what I wrote the first time I read it (back in January, 2001)...
I've read about 16 of Stephen King's books and this one does two things. First, King briefly relates his early years and reveals some of the inspirations for several of his books. And secondly, he offers some straight-forward advice for neophyte writers hoping to get published. This is a breezy and entertaining read which I think might appeal even to those who have no desire to write themselves. King candidly admits that most books about writing are complete bullshit (his words) and endeavors to give advice with his own particular bias. He is also candid about his battles with alcoholism and drug abuse. He closes the book with a short bit on the accident in the summer of 1999 that almost killed him. (He was walking along a rural street in Maine when a man driving a blue Dodge van went off the road and slammed into King. The driver never saw him. He was busy trying to keep his dog's nose out of a cooler filled with meat.) Anyway, this was an always interesting and often funny book. Helpful too.
This is story about a young guy who runs off and serendipitously joins a Depression-era circus that travels by train. And I'm often a sucker for a good circus story. The young man, Jacob, is a veterinarian who hasn't yet become a licensed doctor (which is of little concern to the characters who run the Benzini Brothers circus). This is a richly detailed story with occasional dashes of excitement and romance, but dramatic throughout and it's essentially a fast, rewarding summer read. The story moves along briskly and the writing is of a quality that's so good you don't really notice it. Some great characters here, but Jacob is the best and most interesting.
Since I've returned from my self-imposed Science Book Club exile, I've been reading this book which I was planning on owning and reading anyway since Bill Bryson is awesome. I will read pretty much anything he has written and will be entertained. The human body is a great subject! So much fun stuff to learn about here. Here's one bit:
For years, Britain operated a research facility called the Common Cold Unit, but it closed in 1989 without ever finding a cure. It did, however, conduct some interesting experiments. In one, a volunteer was fitted with a device that leaked a thin fluid at his nostrils at the same rate a runny nose would. The volunteer then socialized with other volunteers, as if at a cocktail party. Unknown to any of them, the fluid contained a dye visible only under ultraviolet light. When that was switched on after they had been mingling for a while, the participants were astounded to discover that the dye was everywhere–on the hands, head, and upper body of every participant and on glasses, doorknobs, sofa cushions, bowls of nuts, you name it. The average adult touches his face sixteen times an hour, and each of those touches transferred the pretend pathogen from nose to snack bowl to innocent third party to doorknob to innocent fourth party and so on until pretty much everyone and everything bore a festive glow of imaginary snot.
Imagine an updated, classier version of the Scooby Doo gang minus the dog. Now cross that with the sensibility of David Lynch. This story continues the investigations of the Detective Club which we were introduced to in the first book, The Case of the Missing Men. But in this case, the story focuses largely on just two members of the club, when they're sent to a special school over their winter break. And the school is seriously weird, creepy, and alarming. It's another fun story set in the fictional town of Hobtown, Nova Scotia.
I abandoned this a little past halfway through. Just couldn't do it. It was way too boring and the characters were basically 50-something, drug-running, Irish thugs. They sitting around a Spanish ferry terminal hoping to run into the daughter of one of them. To say that not much happens is to be understating the fact. Their waiting around bemoaning their lot in life and being unpleasant is interspersed with flashbacks to them doing drugs, getting laid, and being unpleasant. I found it pointless.
Whether he's writing about traveling, the English language, or science, I find Bryson to be reliably entertaining, interesting, and knowledgable. Here he's writing about his boyhood, growing up in Des Moines, Iowa. This too was a fun, quick read. There's some surprising bits in here too as well as some historical asides. And the whole bit about his father's penchant for semi-nude late-nite-snacking was pretty funny. Recommended for any Bryson fan or 50's nostalgia buff.
This is an unusual tale told by a pet crow named S.T. He and his fellow house pet, a bloodhound named Dennis, get out of the house shortly after noticing something very wrong with their human owner, Big Jim. The eyeball falling out of Big Jim's head was their first clue something wasn't right. What follows is S.T.'s view of the zombie apocalypse currently happening in Seattle. It's only affecting the humans, or Mofo's as S.T. calls them. And although S.T. describes Dennis's intellect to be on par with boiled pudding, the two of them stick together because they are family (or as S.T. puts it: murder). It can get pretty funny and pretty weird. I thought the story was fairly interesting although it tended to go on a bit in places. S.T. is quite a character, though.
This thin book is simply a collection of monthly articles that Nick Hornby wrote for Believer magazine which detailed his books bought, books read and thoughts on the same. Hornby's an interesting, amusing guy but his selection of books leaves a LOT to be desired. He seems partial to obscure biographies and collections of letters. He accidentally discovered reading Dennis Lehane but that seems to be as close as he gets to popular fiction. He regards Charles Dickens as the best writer so I suspect the only cross-over we have in reading is Oliver Twist (the only Dickens I've read) and four of his own novels. He buys pretty obsessively, moreso than me, which is a relief of sorts.
Based in western Pennsylvania in 1997, Shannon Moss, a clandestine agent of the NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) is investigating a murder of a Navy SEAL's family. The SEAL was also an astronaut aboard the spaceship U.S.S. Libra, a ship assumed lost in “Deep Time.” Moss herself, seeks clues by traveling roughly 19 years into the future aboard these special ships seeking clues. When she returns, she returns to the same moment she left, but she's aged by however long she spent in the IFT (Inadmissable Future Trajectory) – she goes on multiple trips. This investigation turns up some very gory murder scenes, some serious violence, and some baffling weirdness caused by time-travel shenanigans. The story has some very cool SF ideas, but sometimes I found keeping track of who's who a little difficult. And wow, the author really puts his protagonist through the wringer. It's a bit bleak (an end-of-times scenario is also worked into the plot), but I was interested to see how it all plays out.
I gave this a good shot; read half of it. It was an interesting start. The title character is a Nigerian demi-god based in Lagos. An event known as the Falling has resulted in an infestation of gods wreaking havoc over the populace. And David Mogo, as a Godhunter, has the skills to deal with them. The pacing flags in several areas and there's several instances when local slang or patois is written in and I have no idea what people are talking about, or I can't understand what they're saying even given the context. That was annoying. It appears as though the book is also three consecutive novellas, though they're obviously linked. After the first ended, I was left thinking, okay, what's going on? In short, I decided to move on.
Fun little graphic novel that mixes horror and gentrification. Darla moves into a new building in a run-down part of the city called the “bottomyards.” And there's something weird going on in the building.
The “tyrant” magus Edrin Walker is back leading his coterie of the doomed into near certain death against a mind-controlling adversary up in the frozen rocky lands of the Clandholds. Being a “tyrant” means Walker is gifted with the ability to get into people's heads and alter their thoughts, read them, even control them if necessary. It's a skill that means he is feared and distrusted by many and doesn't have a lot of friends. He's a bit arrogant and crude to boot. But deep down you know he's not a complete tool. The parasitic adversary has marshalled altered clanfolk, magi, and daemons against Walker's coterie – (“coterie” is a word the author uses a LOT) – and it all makes for a fun, bloody, magic-infused battle. It's got a few surprises in it too.
So the title caught my eye, and judging this book by its cover, it looks like that was the thinking behind the cover design too. So the girl of the title is a sassy character named Teagan. She's a reluctant member of a shadowy government black-ops team that uses her PK (psychokinesis). And the story starts off with a fun action scene. But then immediately afterward the pace slows. Most of the story is at this slow pace. And way too much of the story is tedious inner monologues that didn't seem to belong or to help the story. This became quite a drag. I began skimming, something I rarely do. I finished the book while stuck on a bus with nothing else to read. Guess I got suckered by the book cover.
After an ancient cataclysm called the Rupture, the world has been split into “arks.” Ophelia is from the ark called Anima. She has the power to read the history of objects by touching them, and she can also travel through mirrors. But then, young Ophelia is set up in an impending marriage to Thorn from the icy cold ark called Pole. From there, Ophelia has to navigate a hostile court of a different clan, and figure out what's going on, and who she can trust. This is the first of four books in a best-selling series from France. I thought it had strong Alice in Wonderland vibes and while not chock-full of action, it kept me interested throughout the story.
This is a hard-boiled detective novel set in the 25th century. In this future, humans have a “cortical stack” implanted in their bodies into which their consciousness or Self is digitized. This Self can then be downloaded or “re-sleeved” into another body real, synthetic, or clone. Takeshi Kovacs, a specially trained soldier, finds himself re-sleeved into the body of a cop on Earth and tasked with a job he can't refuse. Centuries old Laurens Bancroft wants Kovacs to prove that he didn't commit suicide. (Bancroft has downloaded a back-up of his cortical stack into a clone. So he's only missing a few hours time from his last “sleeve.”) Thus begins an over-the-top shoot-em-up hunt for the facts which naturally uncover larger sinister plans at work. Some of this was interesting, some was entertaining. Some of this was also overly crude in language and the sex scenes had all the romance and eroticism of porn. That is to say, none. Along the way, Kovacs has virtual reality meetings with people, carries some jacked-up firepower, cuts off peoples heads, beds some dames, talks dirty, fights dirty, and generally leaves a trail of destruction. Some clever ideas, but I've read more entertaining stuff. And I could do without some of the crudeness. This book has been optioned to become a movie and would probably make a cool flick. But I don't think I'll be reading any more of Morgan's books.
This is a huge single-volume fantasy epic. It has a lot going for it, there are assassins, pirates, two kinds of dragons, conflicting religions, and sapphic romance (if you like that sorta thing – meh). But it's mostly about three main characters plus one not-as-interesting one. The most interesting characters are the women, Ead (a mage from the South on a secret mission in the North), and Tané, a young woman destined to be a dragonrider from the East. There's also a Queen without an heir, a witch, and a sisterhood of the title. There's a lot going on. There's an historic timeline in the back, lists of characters, and a glossary of terms.
I struggled a bit with this one. I thought there was too much description that was not essential to the story. And I put the book down multiple times, detouring with other reading. But then, around page 290, things started to get more interesting, and the middle of the book had a LOT more going on and I got much more invested in the story.
There's some cool surprises in store and an epic denouement. Overall, I thought it was fun but I wouldn't rave about it.
I remember this book being surprisingly funny in places and definitely unusual. It was interesting. Keith, the darts player, was a memorable character.
From the jacket copy: “It is New York City in 1939. Joe Kavalier, a young artist who has also been trained in the art of Houdini-esque escape, has just pulled off his greatest feat to date: smuggling himself out of Nazi-occupied Prague. He is looking to make big money, fast, so that he can bring his family to freedom. His cousin, Brooklyn's own Sammy Clay, is looking for a collaborator to create the heroes, stories, and art for the latest novelty to hit the American dreamscape: the comic book. Out of their fantasies, fears, and dreams, Joe and Sammy weave the legend of that unforgettable champion the Escapist. And inspired by the beautiful and elusive Rosa Saks, a woman who will be linked to both men by powerful ties of desire, love, and shame, they create the otherworldly mistress of the night, Luna Moth. As the shadow of Hitler falls across Europe and the world, the Golden Age of comic books has begun.”
This is a fantastic book. I was immediately pulled in after reading only a few pages. The fluid, dream-like writing gives the story and characters a vivid quality — I could picture the story like a movie in my mind. This book is rich in detail and tells an epic story. Brilliant writing. I've also read The Wonder Boys by this author which was also very good but this book is a big wow. I enjoyed it very much.
This is the second of the Killing Eve trilogy (the books that inspired the AMC show). Eve Pilastri is working for MI6 trying to track down a female assassin whose codename is Villanelle. Both characters are very fun. The story moves very quickly and ends up in some surprising places. Lots of killing and kinky sex hijinks. I devoured it like candy.
Neil Shubin is a paleontologist who delves briefly into the history of the human body by way of fossils and DNA evidence. Sure, I learned stuff... like how interconnected all the species really are; and that mammals have three bones in the inner ear while other species have fewer; and that there's a gene called Sonic hedgehog; and how to extract DNA using common household appliances and items you could easily buy in a store (a blender is involved and I'm easily reminded of the Bass-O-Matic). But, really this short book (just over 200 pages) was a bit of a slog to get through (although the explanations are clear enough). I've read other non-fiction that was much more compelling. But if you've an interest in fossils and DNA and where we came from, you might find this enlightening. But since this book deals with actual science, I definitely wouldn't recommend this book to Creationists. Though I suppose a Creationist wouldn't be picking up a title like this one in the first place. They're probably looking for something more along the lines of Your Inner Godliness: A Journey Into the Four Thousand Year History of the Human Body. But I digress.