kcs again in 2011

I may read more or less than 100 books, but my heart will always be here along with the other 100-book readers.

Happy Holidays to all!!

linky to my 2010 list

Welcome back, and you know we're not fussy about an actual goal. :)

Have a great holiday, too!

2011 goals include:

1) read 100+ books
2) read the following (which have gathered dust for too long on my TBR shelf) Revelation Space, Pandora's Star, A Fire Upon the Deep & A Game of Thrones
3) Read 4 by Dickens (I recently completed my very first Dickens Great Expectations, see review in my 2010 thread)
4) read new authors... Paulo Coelho & Paolo Bacigalupi; very confusing pair of authors since both have books titled The Alchemist (to be fair Bacigalupi's book isn't out until Feb 2011, but still...)
5) complete series of books by Patrick O'Brien (Aubrey-Maturin series) & Bernard Cornwell (Sharpe's Rifles series)

and.... don't know why touchstones don't work for Coelho & Cornwell... oh well

Revelation Space and A Fire upon the Deep are both excellent sf novels. A Game of Thrones is a superior fantasy, altho I felt the series declined in quality as each book grew fatter than the last... Not to mention the delay in the latest book of the series.

Coelho and Bacigalupi are an odd pair - one writes ersatz philosophical feel-good books; the other writes sf...

I'm starting A Game of Thrones in mid January sometime - I can't wait to see what you think about it, too!

1) Right Ho Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse; started the year with a light British comedy, accessible on the Kindle for free... the antics of Bertie Wooster & Jeeves make gentle fun of British aristocracy. Snappy dialogue and hilarious names abound.

#5>Just saw an HBO(?) series trailer for Game of Thrones, I think. Same story?

Yay Jeeves! I love those stories.

Yay Jeeves indeed! And as a newly-minted Kindle owner, I'm on the lookout for freebies!

@#7> CynWetzel, yes, the HBO series is based on the books. I'm looking forward to watching this. (The books are very, very good, with the only drawback being that the series is still unfinished!)

(Rumour is that the Game of Thrones series will never be finished. Sigh.)

Speaking of adaptations, the glorious Stephen Fry and equally glorious Hugh Laurie did a series "Jeeves and Wooster" many years ago, based on the Wodehouse books. I haven't seen them, but I wish I had! Very fun books, and Fry and Laurie are brilliant.

Jeeves and Wooster are available on Netflix (do you have Netflix in Australia?)... alas not streaming; you have to order the discs.

*link may require registration and login

I've started A Game of Thrones but won't give it full attention until I've finished Pandora's Star, another chunkster that I've been trying to read for 2 years... I'm through 350 pages of ~800. One needs a placemat for the characters in Hamilton's books.

Yeah, the HBO series is why I'm finally picking up the book - I've been threatened if I don't have them read before the series premieres. ;)

> 13 I read Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained a few years ago - by the time I was done, I felt like I'd been reading those books forever! Even now I'll sometimes sit down in a certain place eating a certain food (I read mostly at lunchtime) and get a very vivid memory of being in the middle of those books.

You're very right about keeping track of all the characters. I did like the payoff, and the second moved much faster after the first did all that work to lay out the world and characters, but holy cow!

#12> I think we may have something similar to Netflix, although not with all ISPs on board, or something. There are those DVD services that send you movies in the mail, which is brilliant, only they cost about double what I already spend (I only get out the occasional movie). So I'm just with the local video shop, borrowing the occasional movie. (I really do feel like a luddite, sometimes!)

2) Death at the Excelsior and Other Stories by P.G. Wodehouse; earlier stories, less refined I suppose, but I really liked the title story.

3) Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi; I hope Bacigalupi writes more stories in this world... I would definitely read them.

4) Carved in Bone by Jefferson Bass; this was a free kindle download for a short time over the Christmas break, and I took advantage of it. A pretty good story, written (or co-authored at least) by a real life forensic anthropologist, so the thrilling crime story was sprinkled with a number of technical forensic details... something I didn't mind, being a science geek, but perhaps a little too much detail for some. This was the first in a series of books set in eastern Tennessee/Knoxville's University of Tennessee and I look forward to picking up the next one.

5) The Rubber Band by Rex Stout; this is my favorite so far out of the three Nero Wolfe stories that I've read... the pace seems to pick up a bit and the story seems a bit more believable.

5b) Keller in Dallas by Lawrence Block; not a book, but rather a novella first published in a philately magazine, and then reprinted in the February issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. I read all of the Bernie Rhodenbarr and quite a few of the Matthew Scudder stories many years ago. Imagine my surprise and pleasure to find a new character to follow. Great story and a relatively inexpensive kindle download...

edited to add that I actually read the story on the Kindle as part of my EQMM subscription...

6) Stupid American History: Tales of Stupidity, Strangeness and Mythconceptions by Leland Gregory; this was a free download for the Kindle, and still ranks near the top in total downloads in the Amazon rankings. It's a pretty stupid book. There were a few interesting nuggets of information interspersed with stuff already widely known, or in some cases unbelievable. And since the author gives no citations, one is left to their own efforts verify some of the more 'stupid' tidbits. It was free however, so....

7) Jeeves and the Tie That Binds by P.G. Wodehouse; I didn't know when I picked up this book that it was Wodehouse's last Jeeves novel, written to commemorate his 90th birthday. It was a bit jarring to find Bertie and co. romping about rural England as if it were still the 20's/30's but with 70's language. Still an enjoyable story and too funny in spots.

8) Beka Cooper: Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce; this is a very good YA sequel to Terrier in which Beka (who is now 17) becomes sexually active, befriends a male homosexual (one of my favorite characters), and still catches the bad guy in the end. Filled with pagan gods and goddesses, talking animals (Pounce, the cat, is a god) and whirlwinds, ghosts... this story series must be a nightmare for those somewhat uptight (or beleaguered by the local christian parents associations) junior high librarians.

I loved it. And I won't hesitate to recommend it to my own children and students.

I keep meaning to pick up the Terrier series. I grew up on Alanna, but haven't read most of her more recent works.

9) Soul Identity by Dennis Batchelder; it was a free kindle book, so I'll be kind... lots of awkward dialogue and plotting, too many coincidences... but darn it, I liked some of the characters! I'll probably look at the sequel, if it's not expensive.

10) Quartered Safe Out Here by George MacDonald Fraser; WW II memoir from the British Burma campaign... an excellent account of this little known campaign. I did get a bit tired of the philosophizing about the modern soldier and modern campaigns in comparison to HIS war, but since he published in 2001 at the age of 76, I'll forgive him a little crankiness.

My cousins' late grandfather fought in the Burma Campaign. I have vague recollections of him frightening us with stories of living in the jungle and giant snakes big enough to swallow a man when we were wee lads. Recently my own interest in the Burma campaign was piqued by mentions about it in the book Alliance by Jonathan Fenby (touchstone not working). One of my goals this year is to read Forgotten Armies by Chris Bayly which focuses on the region.

I have the utmost admiration for the men (and women) who served in campaigns and conditions that we can barely imagine. Reading stories like Fraser's brings home the truth of how fortunate we are to have had ancestors willing to serve and fight in places like that.

Thanks for the two references... I'll look them up.

11) Casino Royale by Ian Fleming; OMG how much did I love this book! My first try at Bond fiction... I've always enjoyed the movies and knew that someday I'd read the books. They really aren't a bit like the movies... Bond is a far different character than portrayed by any of the movie actors. I look forward to a long satisfying relationship with the rest of the stories...

**there was a rather brutal torture scene described.. which is why I am fairly surprised that I liked the book so much. I put it down to knowing that Bond would come out all right in the end.

I've never read a Bond book, either, despite being a fan of the movies (and apparently there is another in the works yay!). I'm glad to hear that at least one of the books is worth it!

#28> "Bond is a far different character than portrayed by any of the movie actors."
Ah, but which one, if any, did you picture while reading? :D

>28 clif_hiker: kcs_hiker
Thanks for the review I have that book and several other Bond books but have kept putting off reading them thinking they'd be like the movies. I'll have to try and dig out Casino Royaleand give it a try.

I'm also worried that he's never going to finish the Game of Thrones series. I read them all last year though, and they are so, so good. I think I might be scarred if he never finishes the series. Even worse, if he finishes it badly.

Gosh, kcs, you and I may just agree to disagree about the Bond novels. I read Casino Royale mostly because it was a "1001" book and while I guess I'm glad I've read at least one Bond novel, I also swore I'd never (ever) read another. I thought it was horrible.

But I'm glad you enjoyed it - it's always great finding a new series of books to read!

Wookie, to be honest I was rather surprised that I enjoyed Casino Royale as much as I did. I expected to be put off by the inevitable tortuous efforts to keep track of who was double-crossing who (which is my general complaint about spy novels... and oddly what makes my dad love them so much). That wasn't a problem in THIS Bond story, it was pretty obvious from the beginning. I suspect that had I read this book 5 years in the past, or maybe 5 years in the future, I might not of enjoyed it quite so much.. perfect timing perhaps.

>#30 Cyn, I kept trying to picture Sean Connery (my favorite and the best Bond) and then Roger Moore, and even Daniel Craig... none of them really fit... although Craig wasn't bad in the actual Casino Royale movie.

This may sound a bit silly, but if Tommy Lee Jones had an english accent...

I hated the books. And Casino Royale is the worst one I've read so far. It has next to no plot: Bond plays Le Chiffre at cards, Bond wins, Le Chiffre kidnaps Bond and tortures him. All the rest is info-dumps. And Bond is a sexist, racist pig. Doesn't matter if that's what people were like in those days - and I dispute that they were as bad as Bond - it doesn't make it acceptable.

eh Ian don't hold back, tell us how you really feel ;-)

I'd welcome your opinion on Quartered Safe Out Here by George MacDonald Fraser (I know you've heard of him...of Flashman fame) . Fraser goes to some effort to defend Britain's involvement in the far east; quite racist as far as I could tell, and yet how can we argue that it's not acceptable?

I might have read a Flashman book many years ago. The only MacDonald Fraser I remember reading for certain was The Pyrates, which I vaguely recall as a good fun.

Racism isn't something that's acceptable at some times, and unacceptable at others. It's always unacceptable. True, attitudes have changed over the years, but accepting those past attitudes is effectively condoning them. Doesn't mean you should stop reading books that contain those attitudes, but you should at least take note of them and remark on them when discussing the book.

I tire of the incessant examination of literature for political correctness. I (try to) read for pleasure and escape, not to condemn peoples attitudes and beliefs.

That said, I'm a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to authors like Michael Crichton or Neal Asher (an author I've been meaning to read but haven't got around to yet) because of their political views/beliefs.

Ian Fleming, like Robert Heinlein (an author we've discussed before I think), Rudyard Kipling, Charles Dickens, John MacDonald, and countless others; wrote in their own time and place. Thank goodness that many of the negative aspects of that time and culture have improved... but I think that I am smart and clever enough to recognize the bad, and enjoy the good.

Else I shouldn't even be writing this.

edited to make one additional comment.. you stated that "Racism isn't something that's acceptable at some times, and unacceptable at others. It's always unacceptable." Sorry but that's just not true. Racism has certainly been acceptable throughout most of human history. Viewing and judging past cultures through today's lenses is unfair and counterproductive. When we simply point and say "bad" we miss all the nuances of WHY they held those views. Our loss in the end... unless we subscribe to the notion that we've somehow perfected culture and race/sex relations.

/rant off

I disagree. If in the past, people thought it was acceptable to be racist, and even tried to rationalise it using scientific bigotry, then that doesn't make it right, and it doesn't mean we have to accept it. We certainly shouldn't be excusing it.

But I didn't say we should ignore works which incorporate offensive sensibilities. And it's all very well saying readers can recognise the bad, but often all you see is uncritical admiration for something which certainly deserves to have its bad bits pointed out. The racism and sexism in Fleming spoiled the books for me. Mind you, so did the crude info-dumping. Heinlein's view I could never take seriously. And while I disagree completely with Asher's political views - especially his wrong-headed belief that climate change doesn't exist - he does leave it out of his books. I stopped reading them because I no longer liked them.

in the past, people didn't "think" it was acceptable to be racist... it just WAS. And while we shouldn't excuse it, we also shouldn't condemn them for beliefs that, in all likelihood had we been alive at that time, we would have shared.

we will have to agree to disagree, I think, on this point. Nice that we can have a rancor-free discussion about it though. ;-)

Yeah, well, when I see people uncritically admiring books which offend my artistic sensibilities, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised when they do the same to books that offend my moral and political sensibilities :-)

12) The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan; a somewhat ho-hum YA zombie novel filled with teen angst and emotion... just enough interesting world-building to lure me onto the next book in the series.

Phew, I missed the discussion with Ian above! Ian said what I was thinking, but I'm more forgiving of older cultures. Doesn't mean I have to believe/accept what they say, when I accept that *they* believed that other races/women are inferior.

To a certain extent, I can just roll my eyes and get on with the rest of the book. Ian Fleming crossed some line in the sand for me and I ended up finding it most unpleasant.

Ah, I had a couple of Bond quotes in my review: "These blithering women who thought they could do a man's work. Why the hell couldn't they stay at home and mind their pots and pans and stick to their frocks and gossip and leave men's work to the men." "Bond saw luck as a woman, to be softly wooed or brutally ravaged..."

Charming.

Sorry, I'm hoping I'm not kick starting the discussion again!!

I did want to say that The Forest of Hands and Teeth is an excellent title, but you're not the only person who has given it a ho-hum review. So I shall not be judging that one by its title/cover.

I'd heard good things about The Forest of Hands and Teeth. I picked up a copy on readitswapit.co.uk, so I guess I'll find out for myself.

I read The Forest of hands and Teeth last year and I think my overall impression was similar to that of kcs. It started off well and the world created was interesting, but then it sort of meandered on, with the protagonist growing ever more irritating before ending on a muted note where nothing is resolved. The initial world-building was solid enough for me to want to know more. The rest was fairly meh.

Interesting discussion regarding regressive attitudes in books. I recall we had a mini discussion on this when I read a Heinlein book last year. I think I would agree with wookie's position. Sometimes other things in the book are good enough for one to get past the retrogressive bits. I also think that regressive attitudes coming from characters can be more palatable than regressive attitudes coming as editorial commentary from the author.

re: Bond/Fleming et.al. I'm going to cut my losses and retreat on that issue. I've picked up the next in the series Live and Let Die. I'll inevitably read it a bit more critically.... and let you know ;-).

A few more thoughts on a Forest of Hands and Teeth, without revealing too much, I think I can safely say that I did not find the protagonist nearly so irritating as several of her companions, family members, or village elders and by the end of the story I was almost to the point of really liking her.

The author left a lot of unanswered questions (leaving plenty of room for sequels, of course), but several that felt like they might never be revisited. I look forward to our discussion after a couple of you have read the story...

I've read about 4 or 5 Bond books, and most aren't as bad as Casino Royale. Except for the info-dumping - that's bad in all of them. Moonraker isn't too bad - the first half is about contract bridge, the second half is about rockets.

I read Forest of Hands and Teeth awhile ago, and the sequel last fall. I pretty much agree with your description here. It is really fascinating as a /concept/, but the particulars of the story aren't terribly strong, and neither are the characters.

I'm sorry to say that I found the sequel (The Dead Tossed Waves) even less engaging and far more traditionally post-apoc.

All in all I liked the books well enough, but they fell short of what I hoped could be accomplished with such an interesting premise (and title!).

thank you Ian for the reference to 'info-dumping'... I confess to not being aware of some of the literary references, especially in regards to style, technique etc. I typed 'info-dump' into google and hit some great websites (beyond the inevitable wikipedia page); I think the most fun (and the one that killed an hour of time poking around on) was the TV Tropes site. Good stuff and certainly an eye opener when it comes to why I might not like certain authors/books.

When you read a lot of science fiction, you learn all about info-dumping. Or "exposition", to give it its posh name. You know, as in:

"As you know, Captain Bob, the hyperspace drive was invented in 2089 AD by Professor Smith, who was actually looking for a cheap source of energy..."

The above example is crude, but you see instances almost as bad in plenty of books. And not just sf. Like Fleming...

13) The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud; reread... not quite the same as listening to the amazing Simon Jones narrate it, but still very enjoyable.

#50> Oh, I've spent (aka "wasted") far too much time on TV Tropes. Excellent stuff in there, and you just keep on clicking from link to link to link...

#51> I'm thinking exposition is always tricky. I so often find the start of books hard as the author info-dumps on you, but once we're past that awkwardness, the rest of the book is (or can be) entertaining. Most awkward expositions I've read would be in general fiction, in setting up characters. Especially in chick-lit, where we get endless descriptions of how the heroine is drop dead gorgeous, but doesn't realise it, and how she loves books. Over it. So over it.

#52> Yay for Bartimaeus! Loved the series when I first read it, even if I wanted to slap that young adult protagonist on several occasions. The djini (sp?) was much more fun. :)

Ewww, yes, that chick-lit exposition drives me /nuts/. You have just put your finger on one of my problems with Soulless. I expect better of you, Victorian alternahistory urban fantasy!

I'm always in awe of an author who can world-build seamlessly. I think it is a very difficult skill.

speaking of chick-lit; I'm currently reading (and should finish today) Summer at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs. Why, you ask? erm... it was free?! And surprisingly it tops the kindle bestseller list... almost certainly because it was free.

Anyway, so far it's not bad really. She does do a bit more jumping back and forth in time than I generally like, but I like the premise and the setting. And thanks to our discussion, I'm noticing the 'info-dumping'. So far it hasn't detracted from the story...

hmmm I'm trying to be more aware of how I sound (both in writing and in talking), and it occurs to me that my last post might not have sounded right...maybe a little sexist, even??

if so I'm sorry; it's something I'm working on.

14) Summer at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs; ok yes it was a free download, and it was a romance novel. I liked it quite a lot, the settings were great and some of the characters were very well done (and some were not). If not for one or two short scenes/sentences I would give it to my 15-yo daughter to read. She would probably like it very much, and maybe I'm over protective, but "make her come until she screams" .... no I just won't do it. There was really only that one sentence in the whole book, and you've got to wonder why she thought it necessary. Still to be fair, it's not as bad as Diana Gabaldon's stuff...

I'll probably look up the sequels, although from their descriptions on Amazon, they aren't really sequels, just more of the same about different people in the town.

15) The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs; I may rethink my decision to reread this series from my childhood... I'm not really enjoying them much at all. The suspension of disbelief required, the improbability of the characters and their motivations. It makes one wonder why they were so popular in the first place.

#56> Nope, nothing at all even the slightest bit sexist being flagged by me.

Although I don't think I'll be rushing out to buy Summer at Willow Lake, romances have to be pretty exceptional to grab me. :)

#58> Oh, it's always rather sad when something from your childhood fails to live up to expectations as an adult. I'm contemplating reading some of the Half Magic (by Edward Eager) series to my kids, but am also rather petrified that they may not be half as delightful as I remember them...

lol @57 - My daughter isn't yet one and a half but I've been trying to picture myself in your position. At what point would I not be squeamish about handing a book with such a sentence to her? I'm sure it would be well past the age when she would read it without batting an eyelid!

hmm I never read any Burroughs and keep meaning to read Tarzan .. I am a bit nervous now!

#58 I always fancied reading those again. I read Princess of Mars about 10 years ago and was surprised how awful it was. But but but everyone's nekkid! That put a bit of a damper on my plans for a reread of the series. I also have all four of ERB's Carson of Venus books, which I've been meaning to read..

do read at least the first one Claire! Everyone should... ;-)

I enjoyed Tarzan very much as a boy (and reread it a few years ago with some of the same amazement I am experiencing now with the Mars series). Tarzan is much more of a cultural icon than John Carter...

16) Touching Darkness: Midnighters 2 by Scott Westerfeld; I love this series about a group of teenagers in an Oklahoman town that can experience a 'free' hour every night at midnight; I love the history and the lore that Westerfeld weaves into the story. I do wish he had picked other names than Jessica, Dess, and Melissa for his girl protagonists. All those esses!

I read these a year or two ago! They are a lot of fun. I've liked almost all the Westerfields I've picked up, in fact.

I've only read Westerfield's Leviathan, and it was a very good read. Been meaning to read more of his works, but I'll probably just continue with this series for the time being.

Have you read the Pretties series? I've read up through Specials and felt the quality is kind of dropping off, so I haven't been in a hurry to finish the series. I didn't know he had another series, although I did know about his stand-alones.

I did read the first three (were there more than three?) and really liked the world that Westerfeld built. Problem was that I didn't really like any of the characters...

The world-building in the Midnighters seems to be on a much smaller scale, and the characters are far more likable and fleshed out.

But that might just be me ;-)

17) Imaginary Jesus by Matt Mikalatos; cute and often insightful... I'm a fan of Brian McLaren's books and I see some of the same ideas presented here (although with a bit more humor and irreverence). Still... it fails to address some of the fundamental contradictions that I perceive in Christian theology. The 'real' Jesus that he eventually finds, how does he KNOW that it's not just another imaginary one?

18) Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming; "You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads!"

Mr. Big just doesn't get it... just shoooooot him, and it'll be done with! But no, an overly elaborate scheme to kill Bond and his girl friend just manages to give Bond a chance at escape... oh well you get the idea, everyone's seen the movies after all.

I didn't enjoy this one as much as I did Casino Royale. I won't speculate as to why...

@70 LOL I love that movie & that quote and completely agree with the sentiment ;) I do often feel watching a James Bond film (I have never read any) is always a slighty surreal experiance as it's now almost a parody of itself.

#70> I'm cracking up too, Austin Powers was such a fun spoof of the James Bond genre! (Tried to get Mr Bear interested in an evil petting zoo the other day, but he just looked at me funny.)

yeah!! Snow day at my house!

19) Blue Noon by Scott Westerfeld; the climax of the Midnighter's trilogy... wraps everything up satisfactorily... I guess. Was left a little bit disappointed with all of the explanations etc.

Love the snow day picture! Sydney's just had a record breaking heatwave; I'd swap with you in a second. :)

Sweltering here too - but can we have a temperature somewhere in the middle??

I imagine I will be missing the winter weather come July & August here too. I would settle for year-round 70's & 80's. Unfortunately those places are generally expensive to live.

20) The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho; metaphorical account of Coelho's own journey (quest) to become a writer. Fascinating and moving account... I enjoyed it very much.

21) Pandora's Star by Peter Hamilton; was tempted to to go running through the house high-fiving my wife, kids, and dogs after turning the last page... settled for a restrained fist-pump and quiet "yes!" however.

Where to start on this mammoth mountain of a book? It made me want to scream at times with the pointless pages of excruciating detail (is this an example of well-done info-dumping?), the endless characters, plots and sidestories; and yet the total immersion achieved by Hamilton.. I mean the guy has to be absolutely f-ing brilliant to even be able to conceive such a universe, let alone write two 1000-page books about it (or one 2000-page book split into two by his editors).

And, ahhh those fat, happy, stupid humans... couldn't see THAT coming 800 pages away could we?? But who or what exactly IS the Starflyer?

Sigh... ~sounds of rummaging about Mt TBR~ where's that sequel... I know I know A Game of Thrones, I promised to read you next... I'll get to you, I will...

Haha. It's an example of info-dumping, that's for sure, but not well-done. If you get to Game of Thrones, /there/ is a lot of world-building info that manages to not (or rarely) dump on you in lovely sorts of ways. Well-done info-dumping is info-dumping you don't even notice is happening. That is, it's not really info-dumping at all. I actually think Hamilton is a pretty bad dumper, and he's fortunate that his info is interesting enough to keep one reading through it.

I'm disappointed you won't be diving into Game of Thrones, but I understand needing to go directly to Judas Unchained - I'm happy to say that I found the second book moved much more quickly (I think I read it in less than half the time) and that at least a decent chunk of that info-dumping and all those characters pay off.

Good luck!

heh I'm able to multi-task... and read them BOTH at the same time... hope I don't overload/break something ;-)

re: A Game of Thrones; I have students (well ONE student mainly) who reads fantasy like crazy and is also clamoring for me to read the series. He reads all the time in class, and while I encourage students to work on subject matter, I don't really mind if they read... last year I noticed him reading Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind, a book and author I absolutely loath...I made some comment to that effect and he said "well give me something better to read". So I did. I wrote up a list of about 50 books off the top of my head that I considered to be better. He's probably read 40 of the 50 so far... and we've swapped and discussed books ever since.

Haha - I love finding students like that! You'd think that, being a librarian, I'd get to do it more often, but I work in an academic library, so it doesn't come up much. Once in awhile though I get to hand someone something or recommend something, and there's nothing quite like seeing them clamor for the sequel, or hearing them say they passed it around to all their friends before returning it.

I was one of those students who read in class all the time. My teachers brought it up at a Parent/Teacher conference once, and my parents asked if it was disrupting anything or if I wasn't getting my work done satisfactorily. As my teachers had to admit that I was getting everything done, I got to keep reading whenever I finished my math/reading/writing early.

I think the wonderful books I read in junior high are the reason I learned to complete work so quickly! I wanted to put away those stupid algebra problems and /read/!

22) Boneshaker by Cherie Priest; zombies, steampunk, contraptions & airships. What's not to like... pretty good story, great world-building, interesting characters. I'm looking forward to the next in the series Dreadnought after reading the in-between Clementine. I'm thinking of trying Bloodshot although I don't normally do vampire romancy stuff ...

23) Cold Skin by Albert Sánchez Piñol; Described as a sociological horror story... I suppose that's as good a definition as any other for this weird tragic tale. Loads of symbolism for those that like that sort of thing. I'm not sure I cared for the story, nor did I find it particularly horrifying. Whether that's due to my lack of imagination or my failure to identify with the characters...

I'm glad I read it... I'm just not sure what to make of it.

I wondered if the translation was a bit dodgy.. especially after I heard they cut bits out! I still it though, although its only horrific for beliefs about human nature ;) I liked the *mild spoiler* cyclical nature .. although the end hinted that things were different.

24) The Red Box by Rex Stout; either Stout is getting better as he goes, or I'm getting used to his style or something... this was the best Nero Wolfe so far! My mother was a huge fan of Nero Wolfe while I was growing up... and it's fun to see where she got some of her expressions from.. I just thought it was her!

25) 1776 by David McCullough; very good account of the first full year of the Revolutionary War. The true heroes (other than Washington of course) are Nathanael Greene and Henry Knox, with and supportive of Washington through the best and worst of times.

Ooh, I've been meaning to read that. I like McCullough's books a lot - they're thorough but still interesting.

this was the first McCullough that I had read... Truman looks quite good, and I've heard considerable praise for John Adams. I enjoyed the ease with which I could read the book... often when reading history I am forced to read in small chunks, having to set the book down and process... I was able to read 1776 in two sessions over two days... probably a record for me and a book on history.

I was left wanting more.. a sequel or something. Washington was still in pretty desperate straits, even after the resounding victories over Christmas break at Trenton.

26) The Ionian Mission by Patrick O'Brian; any fan of naval fiction cannot miss this excellent series of books. This is the 8th in the series and it just keeps getting better. The humor, the authenticity, the realism... these books deserve all the praise they receive!

27) The Man With Two Left Feet and other stories by P.G. Wodehouse; humorous, inspiring, entertaining... loved these stories, only one of which featured Jeeves and Bertie Wooster.

>91 clif_hiker:
I am almost finished with this book and so far it's been great.

28) Hit Man by Lawrence Block; first book in the Keller series, almost like a string of connected short stories. Very good stuff. But I'm a Block fan...

Mainly, when reading a story like this, it makes me very glad that I don't know anything important or work for anyone who does, and am not likely to make any powerful enemies. Like the burglar series, Block turns a criminal (in this case an assassin, which is considerably worse than mere burglary) into a sympathetic character.

28a) not really counting this book (although I will over in my 11 in 11 challenge) since it's a reread of a book I read last summer... The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I recently watched the last two movies in the series, and they made me want to read the books all over again...

I read more slowly and carefully this time, and a couple of things made me wonder about authors who write trilogies... do they know the ending of the last book before they start writing the first book? I can forgive Larsson since he died before publishing these stories.. but it almost seems as if he wrote the Dragon Tattoo before he fleshed out the whole back story for Lisbeth.

29) Billy Boyle by James R. Benn; a little uneven at times, but still a very entertaining military fiction novel. Billy Boyle is a young beat cop from Boston who, through family connections, finds himself attached to 'Uncle Ike's' staff in England, where he acts as a troubleshooter.... well, no spoilers here. Looking forward to reading more in the series set against events during WW II.

30) Spreading My Wings by Diana Barnato Walker; enjoyed the flying anecdotes and war stories... didn't really respond well to the wealth and privilege that afforded her so many opportunities and her seeming obliviousness to her privilege. Still... she was a remarkable woman who took full advantage of her opportunities.

To be fair, she started out in the 1930s. That's the way things were then, for all of them. Even Amy Johnson got to go to university, and not many women could say that then...

31) Hit List by Lawrence Block; more plot and characterization... but somehow less enjoyment on my part. Keller occasionally comes off as less than intelligent.. which makes him somehow less of a sympathetic character. I mean anyone can write a hitman/assassin character that is not quite right mentally...

32) It by Stephen King; I don't know that I've ever finished a Stephen King book that I really liked without feeling melancholy. This book was no exception. Although it was little more than a rewrite of The Stand with a mishmash of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings thrown in, I ended up loving the characters so much that I was sorry to see them go.

I can certainly understand some of the negative comments and reviews (SPOILER ALERT!!) ... the sexual scene near the end of the book was ... unusual... and a bit offputting, and not something that you would expect from a group of 11 year-olds.

Nonetheless, I'm guessing that this will go down as a King classic for me joining The Stand, Salem's Lot and Duma Key.

It is one of my favorites of his, too (the others are The Stand, Salem's Lot, all of the Dark Tower ones that I've read, and Four Past Midnight. And The Shining). I read the book for the first time back when I was 12 or so, and even then I found the scene you mention to be completely off. It just didn't fit.

I've been debating on whether to let (recommend would be a better word since he reads pretty much whatever he wants) my 12 yo son read it... the language and the sex make me a little hesitant but I don't want to be a naive parent.

Funny story - I was a naive 12 yo, and there were some phrases in the book that I didn't understand (mostly having to do with the word "blow"), and couldn't figure out from the context what they meant. So, reading It on a long car trip, I did what any curious youngster would do - asked my parents. Awkward silence. Then they explained. More awkward silence. The memory still makes me want to crawl under a rock and never come out. They handled it well, in retrospect, but there is no way that conversation wasn't going to embarrass me at that age. Or any age.

When I was 12, I thought the sex scenes were pretty boring (still do, actually) and skimmed them. The language was nothing new, and my parents made clear that what was acceptable in books was in no way acceptable for my behavior in real life. The cool parts were the kids' friendship, the scary clown monster, and the 1950s atmosphere and descriptions (he's so great at that). And the weird thing with the turtle.

That's a great story! Although if YOU were embarrassed think how your parents felt...

my wife and I are very fortunate to have pretty open lines of communication with our two kids (15 and 12, girl and boy) but I still cringe at certain movie scenes and TV shows... my son LOVES Big Bang Theory... and he hasn't asked yet about some of the sexual references. But he does know how to use google...

My eight year old is often still awake (in bed, but awake) when I'm trying to watch "Big Bang Theory". He's sat on the sofa with me a few times waiting for a good break so I can get him back to bed, but luckily it's never been one with too much sexual content! (And he thinks Sheldon is very dumb, which cracks me up.)

It's actually worse when he wanders past when something like "Bones" or "C.S.I" are on, I can assume most of the sex talk in BBT goes over his head; but it's harder to explain away a bloody corpse.

Quick use of the remote comes in handy, so long as you don't accidentally change the channel to something worse. :)

(Funnily enough, I don't actually watch Bones or CSI. I'm not sure why it so often seems to be on when he's wandering downstairs, complaining about not being able to get to sleep...)

33) Higher Education by Charles Sheffield; in the tradition of the Heinlein juveniles, this young adult adventure manages to trash the public education system and the judicial system. Certainly written with a libertarian slant (Varley did it again, and maybe better, with his Red Thunder series), I still enjoyed this boy makes good story.

Not to veer too far off the beaten track, I wonder if anyone would tackle the question of what exactly is wrong or bad about libertarianism. The only thing I'm coming up with is that it's a justification for those who are already rich to keep their wealth... and yet most of the obviously libertarian stories seem to be about people who start with very little advantage and somehow manage to make good through hard work.

It's deeply rooted in absolute selfishness and self-regard - ie, what's mine is mine and I'll kill anyone who tries to take it from me. As a political philosophy, I think it's uncivilised.

It is one of the few King's still on my 'must-read' list now that I've done The Shining and Salem's Lot. Not to say that I won't pick up more - I've liked all the King I've read save maybe Lisey's Story - but every time I see someone mention It, it's to sing its praises!

33a) The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larrson; even better the second time round.

We don't have libertarianism in Australia (or if we do, we have it by a different name, or it's just not as big as it is in the States). I do rather like iansales' comment above (As a political philosophy, I think it's uncivilised.), I laughed tea out of my nose. Seems quite the understatement, given the start of his comments. :)

I'm afraid I'm shockingly out of touch with modern politics. Reading the paper is a luxury I don't have time for anymore, it seems. (Reading a *book*, however...)

I was going to say we don't have any in the UK either but a quick google search proved me wrong... well you live and learn :) Personally I like a balanced, moderate life where we all help each other so from what I know (little) it's a bit too extreme for me. Human nature what it is, if we want a nice society a government needs to do checks and balances.

33b) yet another reread The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest; and yes the courtroom drama is still good!

a movie review: Beastly the movie, based on Beastly the book by Alex Flinn. I actually really liked the book. Avoid the movie. Can we say Stockholm Syndrome, kids? I won't spoil it for anyone (any more than I already have), and I will admit that my wife and daughter liked it. My daughter's boyfriend had no opinion... at least that he would voice in front of 'the parents'.

34) Death in Kashmir by M.M. Kaye; charming spy story set in romantic British-controlled Kashmir just after the end of WWII and just before Indian independence.

I tire of the touchstones not working for this title.

I've read all of those Death in... series, but I can't say I remember much about them.

the first one, at least, has a forgettable plot and characters.. her strengths seems to lie in the descriptions of place and time. I'll read the next in the series to see how it goes...

35) Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand; one cannot help but shed a tear for poor Roxanne who loved once and lost twice, and for Cyrano who met death on his own terms with PANACHE! I actually read this 30+ years ago and loved the story. I found it equally enjoyable this time around. I would very much like to see the play performed sometime...

36) Fluke or I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore; my first by Moore, and thoroughly enjoyable. Funny and poignant, although not altogether believable. This was the audible version of the book, and I enjoyed Bill Irwin's voices, especially Kona's faux Rasta accent...

37) Treason's Harbor by Patrick O'Brian; one of his weaker books IMO. Never did really figure out the title reference (although perhaps it has to do with the humongous cliffhanger at the end...). Still, lots of humor, and a desert trek with camels... what's not to like?

@115 I love the film (the Gerard Depardieu one) but I admit I have never read it.. do I have to be careful about dodgy translations?

hmm I don't know about translations Claire... I just downloaded the free Kindle version. It had a few formatting issues, but read just fine.

Thanks I will try Gutenburg and give it a go.

38) Hit Parade by Lawrence Block; third book in the series about the hit man John Keller. Written as a series of vignettes... some of which are very good, and of course, some not so good. His relationship with his handler, Dot, is progressing and provides most of the humor...

39) Flood by Stephen Baxter; well I was warned, both by individuals and by the mixed reviews. I found this apocalyptic story mostly depressing. The science was, apart from the wholly unbelievable cause (and here) of the flood, interesting and the one redeeming feature of the book IMO. There is a sequel... but I may wait a bit to look it up...

40) The Inventor (Fantasies of New Europa Series) by Morgan Karpiel; erm... a little embarrassed to admit reading this, although it was quite good. It fits the classification of steampunk erotica to a T. My embarrassment is tempered by the fact that I read all of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander which was really nothing more than 700 pages of historical fantasy erotica. And I like steampunk, so...

Interesting articles you've given us for Flood. It's reminding me of a BBC doco series screening here at the moment, called 'How Earth Made Us' (or something very similar). This week was on Fire (aka coal & oil & gas), but there was lots of interesting stuff on how coal was made, and how salt was important for oil being accessible, and salt of course came from ancient seas that are now far underground.

Of course, I don't think he was saying that they still have water now, it was the salt that meant that the rocks could slip apart and allow the oil to come up near the earth's surface. (I think. Mind's a bit vague by the time evening and TV watching roll around. And I'm usually tackling the crossword at the same time.)

I seem to have lost track of what I was saying. :) Need more sleep.

the gist of the idea, at least in this book (Flood), is that there are great oceans of water just roiling around somewhere in the mantle, waiting for something to 'open the spigot'...

as an amateur geologist (BS in Geology too many years ago), I'm unaware of any serious scientific evidence for that much (the story had the sea level rising some 8500 meters in about 50 years) water in 'liquid' form. H2O stored as hydrates or otherwise incorporated into the chemical structure of the mantle rocks/material maybe, but not just as liquid 'oceans'. Not to mention that water is essentially incompressible, so that releasing 8500 meters of water onto the surface means that there are 8500 meters worth of empty space where that water used to be... tectonically it's just not feasible. At least in my admittedly not-so-knowledgeable opinion.

As a premise for an apocalyptic flood story... it's great. Lots of writers have used scientifically questionable premises to end life on earth as we know it. S.M. Stirling wrote two whole series of books Dies the Fire & Island in the Sea of Time based on some 'event' that changed the laws of physics on Earth. I enjoyed those books a lot... and didn't worry too much about the actual science of the cause.

Not sure why this book bothered me so much...

41) O Pioneers! by Willa Cather; I'm not sure what it is that appeals to me about Willa Cather's writing... whether it's her gentleness or descriptiveness... nonetheless I really really like her stuff. This story is the beginning of her 'Prairie Trilogy' and describes life on the Nebraska frontier not far from where my father grew up, which makes it personally appealing and satisfying.

42) The First Wave by James R. Benn; second in the series... Billy Boyle travels to North Africa and goes ashore with the first wave... romance, French double-crosses, torture, Stuka bombing runs... another very good story from this author. I'm looking forward to the rest...

43) Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne; spoiled just a bit by figuring out well in advance, the 'trick' by which Mr. Fogg wins his wager... still a fun romp by one of the masters.

edited to add: no balloons!!

44) The Native Star by M.K. Hobsen; oh my! What a fascinating steampunk world! Zombies, Wicca, and Earth-based religion combine with just enough sardonic patriotism to make this an exciting and readable first novel with hanging threads to ensure that I will read the next in the series. My new favorite character --> Dreadnought Stanton! I give it 4 1/2 stars just because I got a bit tired of the bad guy REFUSING to die...

45) Your Day in the Barrel by Alan Furst; yes the guy who wrote all those WW II spy books had to have a first novel... in this case a drug dealer runs afoul of the CIA somehow. Not a terrific book, written about drugs and the drug culture of the late 60's and early 70's. Does have a nice happy ending though.

46) Hit and Run by Lawrence Block; final book in the Keller series and a very satisfying conclusion to his career as a paid assassin... but first he has to finish one final job, which of course turns out to be a setup... but no spoilers. A plot flaw or two really didn't detract from my enjoyment of this series.

on another note, I am almost halfway through A Game of Thrones and, as expected, am finding myself being slowly sucked into the world of the Starks & the Lannisters...

47) A Game of Thrones; not sure I can add anything to the praises sung to this story... I had goosebumps and tears in my eyes when I read the final pages... what a scene!! I'm on to A Clash of Kings, but I fear that, as too often happens, sequels fail to compare to the first.

48) Pacific Glory by P.T. Deutermann; a cross between Pearl Harbor:The Movie and The Caine Mutiny... intensely satisfying WW II Pacific theater action with some incredible action sequences... I've read most of Deutermann's stuff, this is one of his best.

49) The Far Side of the World by Patrick O'Brian; I don't understand why they chose this book to make a movie about; although the movie does not closely follow the events in the book, it still seems to me, to be one of O'Brian's weakest stories so far. Not that I didn't enjoy it.... it's just that shipwrecks and castaways... well, they just aren't Aubrey's style.

50) Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms,and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories by Simon Winchester; audible book, listened while driving to and fro to school... very enjoyable overall, especially the naval history and the biology and geography bits; it did tend to drag occasionally, but that may have been due to Winchester reading his own book more than anything else. Highly recommended for lovers of the oceans and oceanic history.

51) Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini; along with Treasure Island sets the standard for Caribbean pirate stories... establishes the role-types for the swashbuckling handsome pirate captain, and the villainous stupid governor/admiral/general who always has a beautiful daughter who falls for the pirate captain... loads of fun and an easy read!

Oh, I've had Captain Blood on my wishlist for a while!

52) Space Prison by Tom Godwin; advertised as a "science fiction thriller classic"... humph, I much prefer Edgar Rice Burroughs and Jack Williamson when it comes to my thrilling classic pulp science fiction. But still, had I read this book at the age of eight instead of The Legion of Space, I'm sure that I would regard it as a classic. $.99 for the Kindle... worth a look I think if you like this sort of thing.

53) Dark Matter: The Private Life of Sir Isaac Newton by Philip Kerr; Christopher Ellis plays Watson to Newton's Holmes, a touch of The Da Vinci Code; and some very 'risque' business between Ellis and Newton's niece.... not one of my favorites by Kerr, but a very good historical fiction story nonetheless.

54) The Final Storm by Jeff Shaara (no touchstones yet apparently); ARC copy; Yet another chapter of war written by one of the masters... Shaara captures the horror of one of the fiercest and costliest Pacific battles in WW II. He finishes the book with a dramatic tension building description of the dropping of the A-bomb, along with quite a bit of commentary on the ethics of whether to drop the bomb... coming down pretty squarely on the positive side. A nice addition to the Pacific theater genre.

> 131

I actually thought the books got much better for 2&3 - I can't remember if I liked Clash of Kings or Storm of Swords better, but both were improvements on Game, I think. I'm jealous that you have so much delightful Martin left to go!

hard to improve on TGoT, but as you say, now that he has his world built and the story set up.. he can develop his characters and let them play. Ordering Clash of Kings today for the Kindle... gotta stay ahead of the mini-series!

55) The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz; huh! A very interesting and compelling story.... but is it true? By my reckoning, Rawicz and his companions walked for 5 days without water in the Gobi Desert... stumbled upon an oasis; then walked for another 12 days without water... stumbled upon a muddy stream, walked another 9 days before finally leaving the desert. I'm pretty sure that what he describes is physically impossible, at least as described. Two of his companions died to be sure, but still...

Still a very enjoyable read, true or not, and a good look into the insanity of the Russian judicial/political system during WW II.

55a) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban another fun reread...

56) Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse; another amusing episode in the life of B. Wooster, Bertie avoids marriage, ends up spending the night in the local lockup, and provides ample opportunity for Jeeves to save the day yet again. Delightful as always.

I really want to read some Jeeves. I've heard nothing but good about them.

Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves was my very first Wodehouse novel. They're addictive.

57) Hollowland by Amanda Hocking; fairly standard teen-zombie end of the world novel... but pretty well done. Ms. Hocking self-publishes her stuff and has written a number of stories that have been well received. I'll look for the followup novels in this series for sure.

**edited to add: Ms. Hocking is actually a pretty nice story in the self-publishing world

I've got what are apparently the first two Jeeves books on my shelves now. (I bought the second, thinking it was the first, so went back and bought the first as well. :) Hopefully I'll get to them soon.

the Wodehouse novels are certainly a bit of a jumble, with all the omnibus editions, collected works, and republications under different names...

they read really quickly and you'll be snorting in no time...

58) The Diary of Mattie Spenser by Sandra Dallas; Wowee!! Amazing, infuriating, left me in tears... in the vein of Willa Cather, Mattie Spenser is a true frontier wife, making a home in miserable conditions fighting not only the weather and isolation, but her fellow humans. Racism, bigotry, a faithless husband... highly recommended!!

This is a reread of an old favorite, but one I haven't read for at least 10 years... so I'm going to count it towards my reading goal for 2011 (especially as at ~900 pages it also qualifies as a 'chunkster')

59) The Winds of War by Herman Wouk; along with War and Remembrance (which I will probably be unable to resist picking up later this year) these are absolutely the penultimate World War II historical fiction novels. There's little that I can add that hasn't already been said...

I will point out that the TV mini-series left me absolutely cold... almost certainly because of casting issues. Ally McGraw as Natalie Jastrow? McGraw was not even remotely in the ballpark (in my not so humble opinion). And Robert Mitchum as Victor 'Pug' Henry was all wrong. Henry was a short man, which was a substantial part of his character. Mitchum of course, is tall....

Anyhow, after wrestling my ~900 page hardback for about 150 pages, I gave it up and purchased the kindle version. Old favorites shouldn't make your hands and wrists hurt.

60) The Alto Wore Tweed by Mark Schweizer; I'm not sure where or how I came across this first book in the Liturgical Mysteries series... but I'm glad I did. It's a nice little cozy mystery set in small town North Carolina with the sleuth, Hayden Konig, doing double duty as the town police chief and the local Episcopal church music director. He also fancies himself a bit of an author in the Raymond Chandler vein...

The mystery is pretty light... but the workings of the church and the church choir are hilarious. A great value at $.99 for the Kindle.

ETA: went and looked and it seems I first heard of this series on Amazon's kindle discussion forum.

Abandoned: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand; here is the review I left over on Amazon (for which I expect to get roasted...)

I purchased the audio version of this book so as to listen to on the way back and forth to work (about an hours commute each day). As of today I am abandoning the story at about 60% complete. There are several reasons for this:

1) It's really starting to get boring. There's only so much you can say about the brutality of POW camps. Repetition leads to boredom leads to callousness. Louis got up.. The Bird beat him... Louis went to bed... The Bird beat him... Louis got up....etc etc. This AFTER pages on pages of description of life in Ofuna, which was AFTER pages on pages of descriptions of his cell and mistreatment on Kwajalein, which was AFTER about 100 pages of descriptions his 47 day ordeal in a raft. As I said, I have the audio version so perhaps this isn't as long or as big a part of the book as it seems when listening to it.
2) Some stories are somewhat unbelievable. One example is the one Louis describes about running a race against a Japanese athlete and how he somehow found the strength to come back and win the race. For which of course he got beaten. Since Louis' specialty was intermediate distances (the mile or longer), one assumes that this race was at least a mile long. This race supposedly occurred AFTER 47 days in a raft with little food or water, AFTER several weeks on Kwajalien with the described horrific conditions and AFTER several months in Ofuna with daily beatings, little food, and rampant disease. Forgive me if I doubt that any man in those conditions would be able to 'run' any distance, let alone win a race against an athlete not subject to those same conditions.
3) Finally... I can see where this story is going. I knew it when I read the reviews, but I hoped that it wouldn't be so blatant. Forgiveness is one thing... but this is more than unbelievable. A 92 year old man has just been convicted of being a brutal prison guard in Nazi Germany. Yet Isohuro Watanabe is forgiven and forgetten? (I'm speculating at this point since I haven't finished the book... but I did look up Watanabe, and it appears that he's never been arrested for his crimes, and the general consensus is that it wasn't his fault. Or something.) One wonders if there would be so many 5-star reviews if Billy Graham and Louis' conversion story were replaced with a different ending.

I may go back and finish the story later. I did enjoy the Olympics description and the stories of Louis' childhood. But the rest... not so much.

after a little more research, it seems that Watanabe was on a war crimes most wanted list until 1952, at which point he was released. He had fled to the mountains and hid out for the 7 years he was wanted... afterwards he became a successful insurance salesman and in some reports quite wealthy. Contrast this with the treatment received by John Demjanjuk. By at least some accounts, Demjanjuk has a much better defense:

"Demjanjuk maintains he was a victim of the Nazis — first wounded as a Soviet soldier fighting German forces, then captured and held as a prisoner of war under brutal conditions before joining the Vlasov Army, a force of anti-communist Soviet POWs and others was formed to fight with the Germans against the Soviets in the final months of the war."

As you might be able to tell... this is a bit of a hot-button issue with me...

61) The Baritone Wore Chiffon by Mark Schweizer; second in the humorous Liturgical Mystery series. Hungarian circus family intersects with Episcopal Lenten tradition... and a murder to boot. My favorite is the Clown Eucharist.

The Liturgical Mysteries seem very silly. I might have to keep my eye open for a copy. :)

Yours is the first poor review I've read for Unbroken - isn't it all based on documented fact? That may not make the repetition of the horrible scenes any less mind-numbing, but surely that would mean that, yes, he did run (and win) the race?

Interesting info on Demjanjuk. I confess i haven't been following the case at all. Today one of my students asked me if I thought his sentence was fair and without really knowing anything much about the case I said it seemed it was. Then I realized I was assuming that it was and I should maybe read up on the issue first. On hearing of the conviction what I was really thinking about was how good it would have been if OBL had stood trial.

>155 wookiebender: Yes Wookie, that the story is well researched and based on documented fact is a major selling point of the book. So either Louis is a superman, Louis was helped by God, or Louis (and the documented facts) are stretching the truth a bit.

The signals started pretty early pointing to which of the three possible hypotheses was going to be accepted (that and I read the back of the book)... and being the cynical, skeptical agnostic that I am...

I do not like seeing suffering and brutality exploited for commercial religious purposes. Thus my distaste.

Oh yeah... the Liturgical Mysteries are extremely silly... and especially if you have any kind of church background, extraordinarily funny.

ETA: I apologize for coming off as a bit blunt (or even rude), Wookie. I don't mean to.

>156 iftyzaidi: Ifty; I have mixed feelings about putting OBL on trial... first of all I'm not at all sure that there was sufficient evidence to pin the 9/11 bombings (or any of the others) on him. It's always difficult to trace the ultimate responsibility back to the big boss.. witness all the problems the FBI has had over the years with the Mafia, drug cartels etc. Secondly I wonder about the publicity such a trial would have received, and the subsequent unrest, rioting, etc. that would have likely occurred.

On the other hand, like you, I would like to have seen some kind of public justice done, rather than just executing him outright. We're supposed to be the good guys... but I think that's probably a road we've long since abandoned.

#157> Apology not necessary. (Even on re-reading, I'm failing to be shocked by - or even notice - your bluntness.)

62) Too Many Cooks by Rex Stout; meh... this story left me kind of cool. It IS set outside of Wolfe's normal environment, which is a plus, but the mystery itself wasn't really up to Stout's normal standards. Plus we get some of that darned racism/sexism that writers of that time seemed to incorporate. As always it didn't bother me a lot, but still it is a bit jarring...

63) Key Lime Blues: A Wes Darling Mystery by Mike Jastrzebski; another new author, low price for Amazon kindle being the draw. Mystery set in Key West, pretty standard stuff, protagonist is a young retired PI who moved to get away from his mother and 'the business'. Mom follows him south and... several murders later we figure out who's really the bad guy (it's one of the beautiful women who want to sleep with the protagonist of course). Still, the setting was nicely done, and I kinda liked the guy. He has a past that he has to deal with (a big part of the story), and he lives on a boat. Enough for me to check his next book...

64) finished Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand; liked the last third of the book better than the middle (which made me set it aside for a time in disgust). Still skeptical of some of the details... but I'll let it go.

65) The Contract Surgeon by Dan O'Brien; fictional account of the last days of Crazy Horse told through the eyes of Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy. I liked this book a lot, although it jumped around in time a bit. Crazy Horse was a tremendous leader and an amazing man. O'Brien comes down pretty squarely on the side of the white man not acting and dealing fairly with the Native Americans. The account of the campaign against the Cheyenne in the dead of winter will make you weep. On the other hand, the author also makes it pretty clear (and goes even further in his other book featuring McGillycuddy The Indian Agent) that the only chance Native Americans had to coexist with the white man was to adapt and change... something they were and have been unable (or unwilling) to do. Great historical fiction about a troubled time...

66) The Tenor Wore Tapshoes by Mark Schweizer; third in the Liturgical Mystery series and the best yet. His characters are maturing, the plot is tighter, humor... well the humor is still the best part of the stories.

67) The Indian Agent by Dan O'Brien; the second book written about Valentine McGillycuddy and his life on the plains. A powerful, moving book that dramatically illustrates the clash of cultures between the European Christians and the Native American Pagans. The story ends at Wounded Knee...

68) The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton; this was my first exposure to Father Brown and even though some of the stories just seemed to drift along, I enjoyed Father Brown's deductions and his interactions with Flambeau. Free for the Kindle... so I'll keep reading the further adventures...

69) The Information Officer by Mark Mills; this was an ARC copy... and a typo/misprint along about p.250 really confused me... didn't ruin the story or anything, just I was like.. WTH? Others have reviewed this book and claimed that the solution to the mystery was obvious pretty early. Not for me, the ending came as a surprise, although I have to say that I was more than ready for it. Good war story told in an exotic locale (Malta) and from a different perspective.

@165 I keep meaning to try the Father Brown books, I do like Chesterton.

70) The Time Hunters by Carl Ashmore; cute YA time travel story... maybe a bit too YA and/or cute for me. Still it was an easy read, and was inexpensive enough that I don't feel bad about purchasing it. 13 year old Becky and 10 year old Joe go to live with their quirky uncle... who of course is an inventor, and, well... some Greek mythology spices the story, the bad guy gets away to ensure sequels...

71) The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness; .... well... that wasn't very nice at all Mr. Ness! Guess I'll go dig up the next book RIGHT NOW! Sheesh.

Oh yeah, pretty good story, definitely no unnecessary infodumping here, since nobody knows what's really going on til the last hundred pages or so...

...and then the cliffhanger ending. :)

You'll also want book #3 to hand for when you finish book #2, it's a doozy of a cliffhanger again.

I have just ordered The Knife of Never Letting Go on a whim and now I am getting excited :) He has a gorgeous new book (A Monster Calls) out in the UK that I am eyeing up and thought I would try this first.

Yeah, definitely have the sequels to hand if you can!

72) That First Season by John Eisenberg; I don't read too many sports history books... and when I do read one I always wonder why I don't read more. This easy read chronicles Vince Lombardi's first season as the Green Bay Packers head coach (1959) where he turns a team that went 1-10-1 in 1958 into a 7-5 team mainly through discipline and hard work. Eisenberg alternates a game-by-game account with player biographys and I was gratified to recognize many of the names of the great players of that era... I was born in 1959 and spent the first ten years of my life on the east coast where football came in a close second to baseball. Of course, to football fans, the Packer legend and the players that made it are very recognizable... Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Ray Nitchzke, Forrest Gregg, Boyd Dowler, Max McGee, etc.

As I said, a pretty easy read, and recommended for anyone with an interest in that era of sports heroes.

73) The Soprano Wore Falsettos by Mark Schweizer; more adventures of Hayden Konig and his Raymond Chandler owned typewriter... I laughed so hard I cried at the church sequences. The novel within a novel wasn't as strong this time... but I'm not sure that it matters.

74) Consider Phlebas by Iain Banks; the first Culture story... pretty good story, kinda aimless at times, didn't really like any of the characters, GREAT world-building (universe-building??). Never did get the title reference.

75) The Reverse of the Medal by Patrick O'Brian; 11th in the series of adventures in the lives of Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin. Aubrey is hopeless once he sets foot on land, almost immediately falling afoul of the politics of the English justice system. Honestly, it's little wonder that so many naval officers and hands chose a life of piracy over 'honest' labor under that system. Great story, as usual...

Those Patrick Ness books are great aren't they?

76) Darkness on the Edge of Town by J. Carson Black; Laura Cardinal is a terrific combination of Harry Bosch (introspective, self-doubting...) and Joanna Brady (female detective, set in Arizona, always fighting against the male 'good old boy' system). I loved this first book in the series, it was well written, well paced and had a dynamic surprising ending. There are some flaws... lucky coincidences that make connections in the case, and I think the author lost track of who exactly was still alive and in the scene at least once... but that's editing, and this book was published by a new e-book publishing house, so I expect those aspects to get better. For $.99 I'll keep buying this author's stories.

back from camp yay! Managed to get a couple of books read...

77) Into the Storm by Taylor Anderson; WW II military fiction crossed with a parallel universe. A WW II Destroyer is transported into an alternate reality where dinosaurs didn't go extinct, and cat-monkeys (Lemurians) are the dominant mammal. Pretty good start to a series, intelligent velociraptors are the bad guys, and hints of other parallel universe travellers abound. I have the second book all queued up...

78) Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger; great setting, likeable and hateable characters... storyline was little forced. Too much sneaking back into crime scenes and being surprised by the bad guy sneaking back to the crime scene too (I didn't count, but I bet it happened 4-5 times). Still, another solid series introduction..

79) The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer; there is a great thread on the Amazon Kindle forums discussing some of the best overlooked public domain (free) books that people had read. No Dickens or Austen here... just books like Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu series which, while wildly racist, repetitive, and predictable, was also highly entertaining. If you have an e-reader, check out the thread I link above or you can go to a list I made on Amazon of the titles that I downloaded from that thread...

80) War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk; I first read this sequel to The Winds of War when I was maybe 20 years old. I've since reread it at least twice... and every time I do, I cannot help but think that these two books may have been the most influential books in my life. It's not the romance or the history or even the battle scenes and descriptions that get to me... it's Wouk's long scream of TRYING to understand and explain the horror of Nazi Germany and what they did (and the rest of the world allowed) to the Jews.

I could write a lot more, and I may later... but I recommend these books to anyone with an interest in WWII history.

Argh, I'm making a long list of books to download! I don't have a Kindle, but had a moment of budgetary insanity the other day and got an iPad. (So very, very, VERY shiny.) I'm mostly downloading free stuff (I'll be eating toasted cheese for months while I pay it off), and have been looking for exciting free stuff, especially since we're going on holidays in a week or two and I wanted to have some good reads lined up, but without having to heft around a sackful of books. (The kids also reckon that Treasure Island is much more fun when I read it to them from the iPad than from one of the dead tree editions I have in the house. Go figure.)

ah but with an Ipad you can do so many other things... a Kindle just reads books.

I've probably downloaded 250 free books in the last 6 months, which may be more than I will ever read and I can't keep up with adding them to my collections.

eta: oh and I LOVE toasted cheese ;-)

81) The Taliban Shuffle by Kim Barker; a foreign correspondent with the Chicago Tribune, Ms. Barker spends ~8 years covering politics and American involvement in Afghanistan and Pakistan. I'm mostly left with despair that the US will ever accomplish anything in this region... we continue to fail to learn from history, and thus are doomed to continue making the same stupid mistakes over and over. Barker also interweaves the decline of the newspaper industry over this time period as well... an issue that many overlook.

82) The Pony Rider Boys in the Rockies by Frank Gee Patchin; growing up I loved The Hardy Boys, Bronc Burnett, Biff Brewster etc.. sports and adventure type books for boys... Patchin has written a whole series of books about 4 boys traveling and adventuring in the west during the early part of the 1900's (they're in the public domain so they are free for e-readers). I would suggest that unless you're REALLY into these type of books, to not bother... cheesy dialogue, poor plotting, and an utter disregard for nature... the only thing missing is racism/sexism, and I have little doubt that that will show up in later books.

83) John Grisham has written ~20 novels about lawyers, both good and bad, and is tremendously popular. His books are always interesting and entertaining... but really there's only a couple that I reread every few years. The Testament is on my list for books everyone should read... but that is probably only true for me. The story is one of hope and redemption... Nate O'Riley is an attorney who has hit rock-bottom... alcohol, drugs, divorce, neglected children. He is sent to the Brazilian outback to find an heiress of a rather large fortune... after several brushes with death he finds her and... well I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

#182> ah but with an Ipad you can do so many other things...

I know, that's why I love it so much. I've got video on it (podcasts of various TV shows thanks to our fabulous national broadcaster!), endless games (I must play Fruit Ninja at least once a day, apparently), some music (have to strip my 8+ year old iPod and transfer all its songs over) and audio books, ridiculous quantities of free books, and it spends most of its time in my children's laps, freeing me up for reading dead tree editions of books. ;)

(I do jest, but it's a lifesaver for soccer mornings, as otherwise I have to put up with 45 minutes of Mr Bear complaining about the cold and being bored. And we're going away on holidays and are hoping for the video being a lifesaver on the long driving bits. And we're trying to source Harry Potter as an audiobook for them too...)

84) One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson; I was warned that the second novel featuring Jackson Brodie wasn't as good as the first... maybe so, but I still quite enjoyed it. Atkinson's convoluted style sort of wears you out by the end of the story, but everything comes together satisfactorily enough (although almost TOO coincidentally in this case). I'll definitely look for the rest of the series.

halfway through 2011... to date

84 books read
no series completed
read one book by Peter Hamilton and one by George R.R Martin (still need one by Alistair Reynolds and Vernor Vinge)

favorite book of the first half: The Contract Surgeon by Dan O'Brien
favorite new author: tie between William Kent Krueger and Mark Schweizer
interesting new female authors: Kate Atkinson and J. Carson Black

book most looking forward to reading in the second half of 2011: Robopocalypse and In the Garden of Beasts

will start a new thread...