David Woodger

Begins quickly with big sister Korede (the narrator) helping her little sister Ayoola deal with a dead body. Ayoola says her boyfriend attacked her although Ayoola has no marks or bruises and her boyfriend has her knife in his back. And, as Korede notes, he's the third one. Told in simple language and set in Nigeria (where the author is from) this story zips along super fast and it's a fun read.

This one is off the beaten path. It's aimed at middle graders, but can be thoroughly enjoyed by adults. It's the story of an unlikely Elfin emissary, Brangwain Spurge, on a mission to the Goblin kingdom. His counterpart is the goblin Archivist Werfel. The cultures clash in amusing fashion. Brangwain is also tasked to be a spy by the spymaster Ysoret Clivers. Clivers is an obsequious, silly, and casually cruel Elf. The story zips along and gives off strong fairytale and fable vibes in a satiric vein. Interspersed within the text, is a series of illustrated and wordless pages of illustrations which also help tell the tale (not just an accompaniment to the text). These illustrations are gorgeous (as is the book). It's a clever story and I read through it quickly.

In this fantasy world there's Spanners, Walkers, and another group I can't remember. The first have the ability to travel great distances in a moment, the second can travel backwards in time, and then return, and the third can walk through walls but no one does that in this book. Tobias is a Walker, and is tasked with going back farther than anyone has. The catch is, he'll age those years he travels, too. There's also some demons – creatures with abilities of their own. But for such a fat book, not that much happens beyond a couple of fights, torture, and a lot of babysitting a royal baby. I stuck it out because, well, I'd got pretty far in and kept hoping it would improve. I won't be reading the concluding second part.

This book was hilarious. High school geek and valedictorian Denis Cooverman veers from his speech to declare his love for head cheerleader Beth Cooper who he's been lusting after since 7th grade. It's news to her and as soon as his speech is over some crazy events are set into motion. This book had me trying to stifle giggles on the train (people were probably slowing inching away from me). It's a very fast read. I basically read it over the course of three days. It may possibly make it to the movies. Regardless, this was funny stuff.

Since book 2 in the trilogy had ramped up the story and given some of the other characters some interesting trajectories, I was keen to begin this last book in the trilogy right after finishing book 2. It didn't disappoint either. One thing is for sure in this book, some characters just refused to stay dead. I was racing through the end to see how everything played out. Fun mix of sorcery and action.

When I began this middle book in the trilogy I wasn't exactly drawn to the developing story. Our hero, Kylar, tries to renounce his job of master assassin – wetboy – to live a normal life with Elene, the scarred woman he's known since childhood. Of course you know things like that can't last but it takes a little while to start to turn. Meanwhile the Godking, Garoth Ursuul continues his evil ways as usurper to the kingdom of Cenaria. But then, as Kylar gets his mojo back, the story really kicks into gear and the pages fly by. Past the halfway point I was fully invested not only in Kylar's trajectory but several other supporting characters. This was an excellent middle book. I'm going straight to the final book to see what happens next.

I discovered this book in the pages of The New York Times Book Review, and after reading the review it went to the top of my “To Read Next” list. Little Children is a suburban drama about a bunch of couples with children who have various kinds of troubled marriages. And when a convicted child molester moves into town, their troubles get a little more complicated and scary. Many of the characters are likable sorts even when you watch them make some dumb choices with their lives. It all makes for some compelling reading. This was a book I kept eagerly going back to and I read the last 50 pages in a rush to see where they would all end up. Obviously, this book appeals to the married-with-children set, but I think those unencumbered would find this a good read as well. Naturally I read through this book thinking (on my high horse), “Thank God my marriage is nothing like yours!”

Excellent tale.

I read this to Luke (age 6) over a course of several evenings. He really enjoys being read to and every evening wanted me to read just one more chapter, but I think he, like me, was a little let down by the nearly uneventful denouement. Upon finishing he asked, “Is that the end?” “Yep,” I replied. And no more was said about the matter. Despereaux is a tiny mouse with big ears who takes it upon himself to rescue a princess. But he doesn't feature in the entire tale. It is also the tale of a rat and an abused serving girl. It's well-written but I didn't find it terribly exciting. Last night I checked out the trailer for the upcoming movie based on this book. It looks like much more fun. Not the comment you want to hear about a book.

Sancia is a thief in a city run by four powerful merchant fiefdoms. There's a form of industrialized magic being used to varying degree called scriving. This is the art of using coded sigils to imbue objects with commands that can override reality. Things get a bit nutty when Sancia steals an artifact of huge power – an artifact that speaks to her! This story was full of cool ideas, great action scenes, and fun characters. Just really well done. I'll be looking forward to the rest of this trilogy.

This popular book has been around for many years in over a dozen languages but it has only recently been translated to English. (The reason why is explained in the preface.) Mr. Gombrich originally published this book in Vienna in 1936. It is written for a younger audience which results in a clear, engaging narrative. There are 40 short chapters which include sections on: Ancient Greece and Egypt, the Roman Empire, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Jesus, Mohammed, the Middle Ages, the Crusades, Charlemagne, Martin Luther, Napoleon, and so forth up to World War I. Then in the final chapter, the author talks about his experiences during World War II and his hopes for peace. It is a fascinating book, covers a lot of ground, and made many areas of history much clearer for me to understand. I highly recommend it to anyone curious about world history.

It begins with a kidnapping and soon our hero wakes up in an alternate universe. Somewhere in the multiverse he needs to get back to his real family. There are few books I've read as fast as I plowed through this one. Looking for a propulsive thriller with a sci-fi twist? This is one I gobbled up as fast as I could. Wicked fun. I think it's getting the movie treatment soon. A perfect beach read / airport book.

I received this book as a gift and was instantly drawn into its bizarre compendium of esoterica. I proceeded to annoyingly read several of the nuggets within aloud. Cool stuff and ofttimes funny. Here's a few samples:

The band Aerosmith was stumped trying to find lyrics for what would become their hit song “Walk This Way” until they took a break and went to a screening of the movie Young Frankenstein, where they were inspired by the famous “walk this way” gag.

An award-winning adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood was withdrawn from a recommended reading list by the school board in Culver City, California, simply because the heroine had included a bottle of wine in the basket she brought to her grandmother.

Both women and men are most likely to have their first orgasm alone.

More than 20 million meteoroids enter Earth's atmosphere every day.

Spain literally means “the land of rabbits.”

Bethlehem, which is considered by Christians the birthplace of Jesus, was an early shrine of the pagan god Adonis. It was believed that this god suffered a cruel death, after which he descended into hell, rose again, and then ascended into heaven. Each year there was a great festival in commemoration of his resurrection.

I dig the Carroll weirdness. My 2nd Carroll book. Won't be my last.

Some weeks back I happened to catch the first two episodes of Killing Eve. But I did not want to shell out money to see the next episodes. Then I decided to track down the book the show is based on. (Turns out there are three books of which this is the first). Naturally it's a bit different than the show but this was serious fun. I zipped through it. There's multiple assassinations, a bunch of kinky sex, and two excellent characters in Villanelle and Eve. I want more.

This is the second in the Murderbot Diaries. All Systems Red is the first one and on the strength of that one, I decided I needed to read the whole series. (So far they're pretty short, about 150 pages each, but I understand the fifth one will be full length.) In this one, Murderbot takes on a consulting job as a way to view the scene where the original atrocity happened that inspired it to name itself Murderbot. Zipped through this in two days.

Found this book while browsing abroad last year. The title had caught my eye. As a blurb mentioned, it's sortuva cross between an Agatha Christie whodunit and Groundhog Day. But so much more than that. A man is reliving the same day in which Evelyn Hardcastle is murdered. To end the cycle, he must discover the murderer and prove it. But each day he's in the body of one of the houseguests at the crumbling old Blackheath mansion. And there are others racing to discover the murderer too. And another character who's busy killing off other guests. Twisty and very cool. This was a fun ride.

This was the final book in the Themis Files trilogy, a cool SF story that all began with finding a giant alien metal hand buried in the ground for thousands of years. (Eventually a huge alien robot is constructed and it gets crazier and bigger from there). I really enjoyed this story. It's told in a series of interviews, dialogue, and journal entries that just zips along. This may be the fastest I've zipped through a trilogy. And this last one was certainly interesting, but really it's the first two that are the most fun.

I loved the author's previous book, Stuff Matters, in which he, a materials scientist, gets into the interesting details on about eleven various solids. Now he's turned his eye towards liquids. In the course of a transatlantic flight, he discourses on several fluids ranging from kerosene, salt water, alcohol, glue, soap, ink, and so forth. Just endlessly fascinating. Both of these books I will probably re-read sometime.

Murderbot hops on another transport and lands itself in trouble again. On this third outing, Murderbot's patience is tested by more humans and one with a “pet” robot that really just needs a friend. Fun, fast, and exciting, just like the other ones. And many humorous asides too, just as I've learned to expect. Love this series.

This the first in a proposed series of five books, this story begins shortly after the complete destruction of a central city of learning. The setting is somewhat medieval with splashes of steampunk. In fact, the Isaak of the series name is an automaton who emerged intact from the city's destruction. There's a bunch of incomprehensible foofarraw about ancient times and lost knowledge thrown about and several strangely named characters charging about with different agendas (Rudolfo, Jin Li Tam, Sethbert, Neb, Petronus, to name a few). But I found the story to be severely lacking in suspense. The level of interest I sustained was barely enough to keep turning pages. One important character was this guy who seems to be eight steps ahead of everyone else, hatching plans within plans, and annoyingly obtuse about what his motives are. I didn't end up caring much about any of the characters. I'll pass on the rest of the series.

This is the fifth book I've read by this author. He's always fun. You might think from the title that this would be a dark novel, but no. It has all of the author's sense of humor throughout. Snappy dialogue, wacky situations, and many silly turns of phrase are within. It's set in 1947 San Francisco and stars a likable bartender named Sammy who falls for a pneumatic dame named Stilton (refered to by Sammy and his friends as the Cheese). It's a light read and includes a deadly snake, men in black, lesbian club owners, and an alien. To name a few.

Definitely one of the oddest books I've read. This book (which is categorized in the Horror genre) is about a lusty Santa Claus who carries on a highly libidinous affair with the Tooth Fairy. And to complicate things, Santa's exploits are making the Easter Bunny crazy with jealousy. The Easter Bunny is, of course, a giant rabbit with the ability to become invisible but his only paramour is a self-made model he's named Petunia, made from wire mesh and bunny excrement. Oh, and of course Mrs. Claus finds out and gets royally ticked. She enacts a memorable revenge. This book is like some bizarre dream dripping with explicit sex, gruesome scenes of gory horror, and a benevolent Santa who enjoys taking time out from his yearly rounds to indulge himself in hours of carnality with the twisted but curvaceous Tooth Fairy. It's kind of like a Penthouse letter mixed with Clive Barker and a fairy tale. It's hard to imagine upstanding citizens reading this book and not hurling it from them with a disgusted look. But there's also some cons to this book: it's a little overlong for such a simple plot and Mrs. Claus' actions aren't always in character. I would not recommend this book to anyone who's offended by graphic sex and violence or blasphemy. But if you're looking for something truly odd then this fits the bill.

I wanted to read this before the movie comes to Netflix on May 14. I remember first seeing the trailer for this movie over a year ago and thinking it looked really good. Well the book was great. Reading this in a week is fairly fast for me. Some really nice twists. It'll be fun to see how the movie does it.

Set one hundred years before the events of A Song of Ice and Fire, this is collection of three long stories featuring the almost seven-foot-tall hedge knight Dunk and his shaven-headed young squire, Egg. Super fast read and as fun as I would have guessed. Nice diversion, but I'm still waiting for The Winds of Winter.