drneutron's 2011 Reading Journal

I'd like a place where I can review less and journal more, if that makes sense. I'm going to post reviews on what I read, but also thoughts about why I read something, connections (sometimes inadvertent!) between what I read, that kind of thing. We'll see where it goes!

Personally I think the musings are much more interesting than the reviews, so rock on!

I agree 100% with Busifer on this.

Yay!

yes, it is unanimous!

I'll be reading, if I don't say anything, it just means I don't have anything to say, not that I'm not reading your thread. :)

I'll be watching too.

Welcome everyone! Glad to see some folks are interested.

So I've finished four books so far this year and work has calmed down enough for me to think straight. Here's my thoughts on what I've read so far.

I started the year with Atlantic: The Biography of an Ocean by Simon Winchester. I loved Krakatoa, so was pretty eager to get into this one as soon as I picked it up from the library. It didn't disappoint. Winchester treats the Atlantic Ocean as a living person from the perspective of growth and change in human influence on the ocean and by the ocean, and I think it works out really well. He shows how our attitudes have changed from viewing the Atlantic as the Great Ocean as barrier and threat to a place where teenagers make solo crossings without much consideration of the dangers. I think I still liek Krakatoa better, but not much better.

Next came The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey. It's a YA horror book that's a mix of Frankenstein, monster-hunters, Sherlock Holmes and Sanctuary, the SyFy channel series I've lately gotten interested in. Yancey uses a 19th century gothic style that I love, but can be somewhat repetitive at times. The story's gruesome and builds nicely in action to the climax. What was most interesting, though, was the characters. These are flawed heroes and Yancey uses the flaws to drive the story nicely. If you like horror, the series starts well and shows promise, but it is a bit gory at times.

I followed that with The Shimmer by David Morrell, the author of First Blood which introduced Rambo to the world. I'm familiar with Morrell's earlier spy thriller work, but this one was a bit different. It's still a thriller, but he uses a distinctly science fiction plot device as the centerpiece of the action. It works well and I have to admit I've gotten the bug to go back and reread his earlier stuff.

In parallel, I reread Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf as part of a group read. Heaney manages to invoke the spirit of the storyteller entertaining a group of warriors around a fire without reverting to a more formal, more (IMHO) stilted style that I've seen in other translations. This one's meant to be read aloud!

As I've written this, it occurred to me that all four of these books are about heroes. Winchester views the Atlantic Ocean as the "hero" of his story and even calls it a biography. Beowulf is Beowulf - and essentially what would today be a superhero. It's all about a hero and how he lives and dies. The Shimmer is about a man whose wife disappears and he becomes the hero that initially rescues her and then works with her to save themselves. The Monstrumologist is about a set of heroes hunting monsters, both in the physical world and figuratively in their personal past. As a collection these books go a long way to framing how we treat the hero myth and the different ways we express who heroes are. Or maybe I've read a bit too much of Joseph Campbell's books. :)

Interesting...I think your thinking/reading about heroes is a good thing; I don't believe it can be "a bit too much". I think understanding the human longing for heroes is one which sometimes gets us, collectively, in trouble. Wishing for Obama to be a hero....food for thought, eh?

oh, that was ackwardly put....not exactly what I meant. Rather than try to edit it, I'll rewrite.

I think understanding the human longing for heroes is important because this longing sometimes gets us, collectively, in trouble.

There I think that's better.

Glad you liked Atlantic:The Biography of an Ocean! I read it last month while on holiday, and also loved it. (Though it was a bit surreal reading about icebergs in an ambient temperature of about 40°C / 100°F!) Have also read Krakatoa -- suffice to say that that was a sufficient guarantee that I was happy to part with money for Atlantic; I would now happily look out any other Simon Winchesters I'm missing.

Nicely described, drneutron! You're a star!

Finished up An Honest President: The Life and Presidencies of Grover Cleveland by H. P. Jeffers yesterday, the latest in my US Presidents challenge. (By the way, this means I'm halfway through the Presidents at this point!) My review:

Only one of the US Presidents has ever won, lost, then won an election as President, and that's primarily what Grover Cleveland is remembered for. Part of that is because momentous struggles like the Great Depression or the Civil War didn't happen during his time. The Gilded Age was mostly a time of relative peace and it's not common to concentrate on that period during history classes, for instance. That's unfortunate, because during this time some particularly interesting social and economic issues were in play - the question of the gold standard for the dollar and the role of silver in the money supply, relations between Capital and Labor and the role of organized labor in the workplace, the use of Federal troops in responding to strikes of national effect such as the Pullman strike that crippled rail travel, relations with Britain and Spain and the tole of the Monroe Doctrine in US foreign policy. And that's just to name a few!

H. P. Jeffers shows in An Honest President: The Life and Presidencies of Grover Cleveland, a man who was scrupulously honest, outside the political machine of the day, and an able administrator. He tackled the big problems of the day, was mostly right, and was mostly able to make progress in solving some big problems. Yet Jeffers also shows a Cleveland that wasn't the inspiring leader others have been, especially as the nation went through a pretty severe economic downturn. In the end, the assessment of most historians seems to be that Cleveland is one of the "near-greats" in the presidential rankings.

An Honest President is a very readable biography of an interesting man. Jeffers certainly has a high opinion of Cleveland, almost to the point of excess. And that's my main concern about the book - whether Jeffers was able to maintain a good balance in writing about his subject. Certainly Cleveland deserves at least most of the good things said about him, but Jeffers seems to gloss over matters like Cleveland's opinions on race and race relations (which admittedly were the majority opinion of the time) or his conflicts with the press (Jeffers pretty much solely blames the press for this sorry state of affairs), It's not a reason to avoid the book, but a grain of salt seems merited here. I was also quite happy to see Jeffers' evaluation of the various, generally more scholarly, biographies of Cleveland that have been published over the years - the evaluations form a decent jumping-off point for further reading.

The challenge has been a good one. It turns out this is a great way to learn some US history and I'm developing a better appreciation for biography, which hasn't always been my favorite type of book. The main thing I'm learning is that the more things change, the more they stay the same. We're still arguing about the same big picture issues and our politicians are behaving much as they always have.

The latest - On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers

Here's my review:

One of my favorites from my college days, on Stranger Tides is supposed to be the basis for the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Honestly, I'm uncertain how. This a bigger story than a movie. There's voodoo, pirates, sea battles, romance, Blackbeard and the Fountain of Youth!

Tim Powers is one of the original steampunk writers. His The Anubis Gates is considered one of the classics. While this one isn't steam, it's definitely got the punk - piratepunk? That cynical but hopeful attitude Powers has is what makes his books for me.

I abandoned Anubis Gates mainly because I couldn't stand the main character. Can one appreciate these characters more, do you think?

#8 - Enjoyed that Seamus Heaney Beowulf as well. Does he write poetry himself, does anyone know?

#14 - The main character in this one is a lot like Will Turner, Orlando Bloom's character in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. In fact, if this were the first Pirates movie, all three of the main characters would have a part - Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, and Elizabeth Swann all have analogs in the book (though, the book came first).

#15 - Yep, he writes poetry. His latest collection is Human Chain, published in 2010. Wikipedia's got a good bibliography - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seamus_Heaney

The Half-Made World by Felix Gilman

Doesn't get much better than this for me. Gilman has taken a myths of the Old West - gunslingers, robber barons, railroad companies - and has turned them into real mythology. Yeah, I know that's an odd description, but bear with me. He's invented a world that's not our Old West, but something close. Here Agents of the Gun battle The Line for control of a newly created New World. Into this, a psychologist from the Old World is making her way to a hospital to treat mentally ill veterans. Along the way, she uncovers a secret that just might bring an end to the war - and the hidden powers behind The Gun and The Line.

The Half-Made World is most definitely steampunk - it's got the steam and the punk. It's a dark story set in a messy world with jaded and damaged characters. If it weren't for a couple of spots where I thought the plot dragged, this would have been a five-star for me. If you liked Perdido Street Station, you'll likely enjoy Gilman's book as well.

Sounds like an interesting read. I've still not read Perdido Street Station yet but I'll have to keep The Half-Made World in mind for when I do.

That, Perdido Street Station, and the recent one, The City and the City, are my favorite Mievilles. My interest is piqued now about The Half-Made World.

Blameless by Gail Carriger

The Parasol Protectorate series is pretty popular over on the 75 Book Challenge group, but I'm not sure how many in the Dragon have found 'em. Carriger's series is a mixture of steampunk elements, Victorian urban fantasy with vampires and werewolves, a bit of romance, and nicely done sense of humor.

Blameless continues the story of Alexia, a preternatural, or soulless, person - one who has the effect of canceling out the vampire or werewolf nature of others. This ability, of course, is very rare and leads to all sorts of trouble through the books. Describing the plot would be spoiler heavy, so I won't attempt that. Doesn't matter anyway - the books are implausible, don't take themselves too seriously, and are nice brain candy.

This series has been a nice intersection between my typical reading and the wife's. It's a bit more romance-y than I'd usually pick up, and she doesn't do all that much fantasy. We've enjoyed reading funny bits to each other and it's stretched us both out of our usual habits. Now if I could just get her interested in zombie movies...

This is most definitely a series that should be read in order - start with Soulless.

I'm currently reading Blameless. Yeah, it is a bit romancy but there's enough other stuff going on to make that not such a horrible thing.

Coming in a bit late to your thread drnewt, but I like your format and thoughts. I really enjoyed Simon Winchester's The Professor and the Madman as well as Krakatoa. I've been eyeing Atlantic: The Biography of an Ocean for awhile now, hoping it'll come into the store.

I just finished A Crack at the Edge of the World - also by Simon Winchester. Excellent. So wide in scope, with so many side trips, and yet always so readable and fascinating.

A Crack at the Edge of the World is definitely on my list! Sounds like a typical Winchester book.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

By far my favorite Gaiman book. I didn't much care for Stardust (although I *loved* the movie). I liked, but didn't love, American Gods. Neverwhere, though, was just the right combination of plot, character and Gaiman's great storytelling.

One thing Gaiman's good at is world-building. His London Below is simultaneously feels like Wonderland and something perfectly normal. It's dirty and dangerous and magical. And I'd love to visit!

Hey there, Dr Newt, as you are reading through the presidents, I thought of you when Barnes & Noble sent me this coupon. 40% off on books about presidents. :)

http://tinyurl.com/4b965e7

Very cool! Thanks!!

I have collected quite a few "steampunk" on my tbr piles but have yet to read any. You have certainly piqued my interest and Perdido Street Station and The Anubis Gates will now move closer to the top. I will also add The Half Made World to my wishlist. I like finding serendipitous connections among the books I'm reading. Since I'm engrossed in The Crimson Petal and the White I imagine that there will be connections between that world and those of steampunk. Have you read it? Am I reaching?

Enjoying your thread.

Kasey

Unfortunately, I haven't read The Crimson Petal and the White, although it does sound interesting from the blurb on the book page. There certainly could be some overlap, and I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on the subject after you've read the steampunk. Perhaps we can compare notes at some point!

Touched with Fire: Five Presidents and the Civil War Battles That Made Them by James M. Perry

I'm working my way through biographies of the Presidents for the US Presidents Challenge. Turns out that my public library doesn't have anything on Benjamin Harrison or the other Harrison either, what's up with that? So I picked up this one - Harrison was one of the five that served. Here's my review:


Five US Presidents served in the Civil War, starting with Grant through McKinley. All five were Republicans, all ended service as officers, all were Gilded Age Presidents with strong ties to the business world, two were assassinated. Perry's idea in Touched with Fire is that their individual experiences in the war not only gave them the exposure to voters and connections to win elections, but also formed their approaches to later life and governing. Maybe, but Perry really didn't make his case. The writing's good, and Perry tells a nice anecdote, but Perry's snarkiness sometimes distracts.

Generally, I thought Perry wrote a decent high level history, but the nature of his story limits how deep he can go into the lives of these men. Their experiences were fascinating, the war was horrific, but so many details had to be glossed over. As an appetizer, though, leading to deeper reading, it works just fine.

The book was decent enough, but I don't feel I really got much on Harrison out of it. I haven't decided whether to try harder to get more info right now. The bio of Grover Cleveland I recently read talked about Harrison a bit, and not favorably. So I think I'm going to push on to McKinley and Roosevelt.

I will be excited to see what you read on Roosevelt.

Yeah, that's going to be a tough choice. I may have to spend a couple of months on him. :)

Finished up two books today - The Hard Way and Red on Red. The first is the 10th Reacher novel by Lee Child, an action/thriller with some mystery, gunplay and, as usual for a Reacher book, a nice bit of vigilante justice. I've read the previous nine, so yeah, I'm a fan. Red on Red is a first novel by a former NYPD detective that purports to be "gritty" and "literary". it's supposed to be "highly anticipated". it's got some great blurbs.

Sorry. Red on Red is none of those things. It's boring. And stylistically, it's a mess. Lee Child, on the other hand, is fast and well-written. It's not "literary", but it is a lot of fun.

Fortunately, if I want literary and mystery and gritty, there's Dennis Lehane to fill the bill. I think I'll go read Mystic River.

Finished up an awesome ER today...

The Summer of Shadows: a Murder, a Pennant Race, and the Twilight of the Best Location in the Nation by Jonathan Knight

In 1954, Cleveland, Ohio, billed itself as the "Best Location in the Nation". Just a decade or so later the city became known as the "Mistake by the Lake" when changing times, a changing economy all fed a downhill slide to make Cleveland the butt of late night comedians' jokes, especially after the polluted river flowing through town caught fire. But back in 1954, things were still looking good. The Indians were playing great baseball - with the potential for actually beating the Yankees for the American League pennant after several near-miss years.

Then Dr. Sam Sheppard woke up to find his wife brutally murdered, with a wild story of one or more intruders that not only killed Marilyn, but also beat him when he chased these shadowy figures down the beach outside their house. What happens next defines the term "media circus", leading to Sheppard's arrest and trial for the murder while the Indians have one of the best seasons in baseball history leading to one of the worst World Series defeats ever.

These two competing stories dominated Cleveland in 1954, and Jonathan Knight does a marvelous job of telling the story of the summer. His baseball writing is spectacular and it's clear he knows the city well. His coverage of the Sheppard case was less detailed than I'd hoped. After all, this case is infamous for poor treatment of the accused doctor - if, of course, you believe he didn't do it. It's also one of those cases that never really got solved, theories abound as to who actually committed the horrible crime, and it's become part of American culture by inspiring (even if unintentionally) a TV series and movie. With more on Sheppard, this would have been darned near perfect. As it is, it's still a good book, although probably appreciated better by baseball fans.

William McKinley by Kevin Phillips

William McKinley is usually considered a middling US President - not in the top tier of presidents, but not at the bottom either. As one of the later Gilded Age administrations, McKinley and his cabinet are mostly remembered for events like the Spanish-American War in Cuba and the Philippines and for arguments over tariffs and the gold standard. He's considered by most historians to be fairly passive in leading by public opinion and to be the first president to use a modern approach to the press. And his assassination opened the door to Teddy Roosevelt and the Progressives.

In this volume of the American Presidents series, Kevin Phillips makes the case that McKinley should be considered a much stronger leader who began many of the initiatives later completed by Roosevelt and later Progressive administrations, and should be included in the second tier of presidents, well above where he usually falls in rankings today. If true, there's a disconnect in understanding McKinley, and I'm not sure I buy Phillips' reasoning. McKinley left very little in the way of personal papers and items normally considered direct sources. Phillips instead relies on writings by others around McKinley and some rather speculative interpretation of McKinley's words and deeds. Part of what most bothered me about Phillips' discussion is his speculation on what McKinley "would have done" had he not been assassinated in 1901. I suppose it's ok to do that, but it's a stretch.

Is McKinley the passive placeholder that Phillips put forth as other historians' opinions? Probably not. He was very popular, and did indeed seem to do some things that show a Progressive bent. Would he have brought about the kind of change that Roosevelt did? Should we view Teddy as a continuation of work begun by McKinley? Probably not. Teddy put his own mark on things and did things his own way. But the real McKinley is somewhere in the middle there as a mix of all these aspects. And almost certainly deserving of more respect than he often gets.

#34 - Nice, Jim. I read the whole thing through and I'm often too lazy to do that. You caught my interest. :)

The Informationist by Taylor Stevens

The Informationist is Taylor Stevens' first novel - a thriller with a kick-butt and interesting lead. Stevens has invented a complicated character in Vanessa Michael Munroe with a damaged past and a sold ethical code, even as it's a bit different from most people. Munroe is, of course, a typical action hero - she's superhumanly capable, survives immanent death in unlikely ways, and generally can kick any butt any place, any time. But this why we read action thriller. Realism need not apply...There will be inevitable comparisons with Stieg Larrson's Salander. Rest assured, the similarity is mostly superficial and Munroe is her own person. In fact, a better comparison would be Lee Child's Jack Reacher, although based on a sample of this one book, Stevens' work looks to be twistier than a typical Reacher book.

Thriller fans? Oh yeah, The Informationist works nicely. Others? If you don't mind a bit of violence and some vigilante justice in your stories, give it a try.

Vegas Knights by Matt Forbeck

Matt Forbeck's Vegas Knights purports to be "Ocean's Eleven meets Harry Potter". Um, no. Ok, it's got magic, except it's really some sort of quantum rearrangement that's only half-explained. If you're going to explain magic, explain it. Otherwise, treat it as magic. And one would think Ocean's Eleven would imply some sort of caper or con, but there's not much of that here.

Instead, Forbeck's written a middling young adult story of two naive college kids who go to Vegas on Spring Break to cheat the casinos using magic. Of course, the town is really run by magicians, not the Mob, so they fail miserably and wind up deep in a plot that might just end the world. It's a clever idea that turned out only mildly interesting, mainly because it was so very predictable. I can't really recommend it since there's so much other good stuff out there, but I imagine some would find it a good way to kill time on an airplane.

All the kerfluffle on RSI lately about the behavior on Pro/Con got me thinking about groups and individual behavior is moderated and corrected. By happenstance, I was reading The Baseball Codes - it's mostly about how professional baseball players are kept in check - for instance, a pitcher who gets too aggressive and hits a batter may find a team member gets hit in return. Next time around, that team member may take care of the problem before it escalates. I'm still thinking a bit about how this might apply to us... :)

Anyway, here's my review:

The Baseball Codes by Jason Turbow

So there are the rules of baseball to tell us how to play the game - anybody who wants to play needs to know the rules. But if you want to play professionally, you also need to know the unwritten rules, like never talk about a no-hitter in progress or you'll jinx it. Players get to learn the unwritten rules by trial and error as they're coming up through the ranks. You and I get to read The Baseball Code to find out the same thing.

Turbow's book is more than just the unwritten rules, though. The reality is that Major League Baseball is a closed organization where the players are expected to behave in certain ways driven by respect for their team mates, their opponents and the game itself. Those who don't are subject to correction - pitchers hit batters who showboat, infielders use hard tags against runners who bend the rules, and more. The point is to rein in someone who has crossed the line before the situation escalates and someone really gets hurt. So it turns out that The Baseball Code is also an interesting socialogical study of a self-policing group.

The Baseball Code will likely be of interest to baseball fans. It's got some great stories of brawls and cheating, tit-for-tat and all-out feuding. For the non-fan, i suspect it's more mildly interesting.

Good food for thought, drnewt. I like the idea of a group being smart enough, caring enough, and active enough to put a stop to destructive, anti-social behavior before someone gets really hurt.

#39 "a group being smart enough, etc" -- like the GD? ;)

Just like us! :)

I finished up two more over last weekend and on the 6-hour flight I had Monday to get to Los Angeles. (It was worth it, though. I got to tour SpaceX's facility where they build the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and the Dragon capsule that may be the main US supply capsule for the ISS in the near future!)

Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child

The 11th Jack Reacher book. It's got the usual action and a bit of mystery, Jack's unique outlook on the world and vigilante justice, and especially for this one, a reunion with Reacher's old Army unit to find out what happened to a few of their compatriots. It's violent as usual, and as usual, Reacher's superhumanly capable no matter the situation. That's what makes 'em fun, though.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

I loves me some steampunk, and this was a very good example. I've had it on the iPad for nearly a month and just hadn't gotten to it yet. Fortunately the plane ride was long enough that I could bang it out in one sitting, and I enjoyed every minute! I loved the concept and the characters and how Westerfeld played with the history of World War I. Now I need to pick up the next on the trilogy for my next long plane ride!

I love the Jack Reacher books! Did the illustrations for Leviathan come through on the iPad? (I don't have one). I thought they added a lot to the story.

They did, and were really good. I was a little surprised that they were fixed size, rather than scalable. It would have been nice if I could have expanded them. But they were good as they were.

Ah, glad to hear it. Particularly since I'm thinking about getting an iPad. :-)

Running the Books by Avi Steinberg

Steinberg is an Ivy League grad recently let go from a gig writing obituaries for the Boston Globe when he stumbles into a job running the library at a maximum-security prison in Boston. Running the Books is his memoir of the two years he spent at the job. His opening lines: "Pimps make the best librarians. Psycho killers, the worst."

Steinberg certainly talks about the dehumanizing aspects of prison and the lives that got these people there. But he's also honest about the prisoners themselves - both when they're trying to con him and also when when they're trying to better themselves. The most interesting part of the story for me was in how Steinberg came to view even seemingly innocuous interactions with the inmates in terms of picking a side, even when the interaction happened with those who had been released, outside the context of prison.

Both Leviathan and Running the Books sound sufficiently interesting to add to my Wishlist on Amazon.

Note: there may be spoilers below...

Progeny: The Children of the White Lions by R T Kaelin

First the review:

Kaelin's Progeny isn't ground-breaking fantasy. Most of the elements pulled together to make the story are familiar from other authors. For me, that's the appeal of Progeny - it's familiar territory done really well. Kaelin's obviously got a background in epic fantasy, and reminds me of both Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series and Raymond Feist's Magician: Apprentice/Master. His world is well-thought out and avoids one of my bugaboos with fantasy - there's a whole world here, not just a little corner where world-shaking events take place. The characters are well-fleshed out and quite solid, and Kaelin's got a decent sense of pacing and plot. He drew the threads of this widespread story together for a nicely dramatic conclusion. I just hope the sequel doesn't take too long to appear!

Highly recommended for fans of epic fantasy a la 1980s and 90s.

Then some comment:
- For those familiar with the term, this is a classic pigboy story, only it's brother and sister. It's well done, but it has been done before. Kaelin seems to be paying more attention to the prophecy aspects of the story than most, and that's refreshing. In Eddings' Begarion stories, the story was more about how events unfolded to make the prophecy come true; here the characters don't really see more than glimmers until things are wrapped up. It's a different spin, and one I like better.

- I had a bit of a minor quibble with the dialog by the younger characters, especially early in the story. In spots, they sounded to "modern" to me. This got me thinking about how other authors handle the problem. After all, it's unlikely these characters speak English, so presumably this is a "translation". So now the issue is how to "translate" the speech - does the author translate into more colloquial (and so more modern) speech? One could attempt to model the translation after older-sounding English to preserve the medieval feel of the fantasy world. I think Eddings swung too far into modern-sounding dialog, others stay too formal sounding. IMHO, Tad Williams got it just about right and Kaelin's pretty close except for some early scenes.

When you get round to it I found the next reacher book 61 hours to be quite a bit weaker than any of the previous ones. You might want to try it from the library before buying it. I haven't read the very latest Worth dying for yet, but skimming it in the bookshops it seems to continue the story from 61 in some respects.

Hey, drnewt, I'm glad that, on balance, you liked the White Lions start.

BTW, I finished reading The Zimmermann Telegram, just in time for my RL book group tonight. I think you would love it as it gives some glimpses into both Presidents Wilson, and Theodore Roosevelt. See my brief review here: http://www.librarything.com/work/43143/book/67857040

>49 reading_fox: reading fox Yes, Worth Dying For picks up right after 61 Hours and, for me, was another strong one.

Well, fortunately I'm reading all the Reacher books from the library... :) They are a bit up and down, I suppose. I haven't found one I didn't like, but some are definitely better than others. Thanks for the heads up on 61 Hours!

maggie - I most definitely enjoyed it and will be recommending it to folks! My comments are more musings than critique, which is why they didn't show up in my review. I'll have to check out The Zimmerman Telegram.

>48 drneutron:

Thanks for the feedback, drneutron. For the most part, I think it's spot on. More than anything, I'd love another crack at the first few chapters again, targeting both tone, style, and technique. If a national publisher were to ever pick it up, I'd give the whole thing another close pass or three. I think my approach has tightened up the more I write (take a look at the short stories and compare).

Funny that you picked up on Feist. I'd say it was me rediscovering Magician three years ago that was the first step in my entry into writing on my own. I loved following the world of Midkemia over dozens of books, and was inspired by the way we got to see characters at all different points in their lives. It made the world feel alive and tangible.

Also, your comment about 'tone' is appropriate, as well. Again, some of the early chapters I think I was still feeling my way around a bit. Even though I was well settled into tone and style by the end, somehow that never made it back into the beginning. Throughout the second book, it surely has, as well as in the short stories.

Again, I'd love another crack at them. I just need more great readers like you to take a chance on a self-published author like me and spread the word. Trust me - the reviews I've received here at GD has been some of the best, most spot-on feedback I've received. I won't lie, I love the five-star, "this book is awesome" that come in on places like Amazon, but to get a well-thought-out, concise, and critically accurate review from obvious fantasy fans is even better.

Thanks again!

Well, you'll get plenty of feedback from me... :)

I've been spreading the word amongst my friends. I really hope you get picked up by a publisher! When's the next installment available? :)

28. The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

Second in the Kingkiller Chronicles. It's as lush and captivating as the first. Waited a long time for this one, hope we don't have to wait as long for the next. But really - 1000 pages? Really?

29. American Zombie Gothic by Kyle William Bishop

American Zombie Gothic was born out of Kyle Bishop's doctoral thesis work attempting to understand the appeal of successive waves of zombie films and what they say about us. It's an interesting, if somewhat repetitive, look at our culture and how zombie movies both reflect that culture and act as an outlet for anxiety and fear of what our culture and the world does to us.

Bishop clearly knows his zombie movies, and I appreciated both the early history he provides of voodoo-based zombie movies and his in-depth discussion Romero's zombie story arc - especially the discussion of Romero's inspiration, which I hadn't thought about much. His Freudian psychoanalytic discussion? Not so much. Honestly, I don't buy into it, nor did the Hegelian or Marxist dialectic do much for me.

Nonetheless, American Gothic Zombie is a decent resource for zombie movies, and fans of Romero's work will probably enjoy thinking about his movies on a bit deeper level.

The Bishop book does sound interesting. Truth Be Told, I've often really, really wondered what the heck the whole zombie craze is about. I don't know why people become intrigued by dead walking evil beings. I am personally much more intrigued by people who have succeeded in being fully alive, successful, nice, loving etc. You know what I mean?

I think his basic message is right. The original voodoo zombie movies were made in the 30s and 40s, and reflected a lot of the state of race relations and fears during that time. This first wave of zombies didn't really make much of an impact.

George Romero's Night of the Living Dead is an extension of the 1950s Cold War era alien invader/apocalyptic/dystopia movies. In a lot of ways, it's a direct successor to Invasion of the Body Snatchers and such. So it offered a safe outlet for people to express fears of nuclear holocaust and Soviet/Communist takeover. Also, the images of cannabalistic zombies showed some of the same images folks saw on the nightly news coming out of Vietnam, so again, the movies allowed a safe expression of our fear. These zombie movies continued on into the 70s before dying out in the late 80s and early 90s. Bishop claims that this is because we began to view the world as a safer place given the economic and political times. Different kinds of anxieties and fears required different expression and the zombie was no longer useful as a means of expression.

The next wave of zombies started after 9/11, and Bishop sees them again as an expression of our fear of an unsafe world. Only now the violence can come from anyone, anywhere. So the movies became more comedic/satirical and more critical of social and political structure.

This all, of course, begs the question of why people watch or read scary things in the first place. Why do we like haunted houses at Halloween. Bishop starts from the assumption that people do these things because they satisfy a need in us - for a safe way to work through things that make us afraid, for a substitute for things that really scare us.

I've glossed over much of the discussion like how Dawn of the Dead is commentary on consumer culture. He's got some good points to make there as well.

Thanks for this summary, drnewt.

Did I ever tell you I have an irrational fear of newts.

No, I don't, just seemed like a funny thing to say.

BTW, I am still unpacking boxes and guess what I found! T.R. The Last Romantic by H.W. Brands. All 800 pages of it. The weight of the book reminds me why I bought a Kindle. Anyway, I'm going to try to dip into it from time to time and see if I can get "hooked". Copyright is 1997 so should be reasonably modern in its approach.

"More shall be revealed" (a saying we used often in our recovery meetings, back in the day)

Cool! When I was going through the list of books on TR at my library, Brands' book was reviewed pretty highly. I read him for one of the other presidents and thought he was quite good.

I've been meaning to start another thread on the whole zombie & vampire thing. My kids are still obsessed with zombies. LOL This book you read was just about zombie films, yes?

Yep, just about films.

Well, it sounds interesting. I've wondered at the obsession recently with zombies (like clam has, although my kids aren't particularly interested). It just struck me as an odd thing to have been revived in popular culture.

Think I'll start that thread now. Thanks for the inspiration, drn00t.

No prob! :)

Mystic River by Dennis Lehane

Lehane's one of my favorite mystery writers, but his stuff is so much more than mystery. Mystic River is no exception. The book's an exploration of how a singular event can drive the rest of a life, what it means to be a community, what happens when we marginalize someone, so much more.

The movie's not bad either!

#65

I agree that it was a good book, but I must admit that I got very angry when one sentence at the bottom of page 163 told me "who did it." For the entire rest of the book, I felt I was being pushed to come to the wrong conclusion.

Regardless, I agree with everything else you had to say about Mystic River; very good comments.

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris

So for my US Presidents Challenge, I'm up to Teddy Roosevelt - one of my favorite Presidents. I thought I knew a bit about him. Turns out, I had so much to learn! The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt is the first in a three volume set by Edmund Morris that gives us Teddy's story to the moment McKinley died and he became President. This is such good stuff I've decided to spend a little more time than usual on TR to finish out the three volumes!

Morris' biography rivals McCullough's work on John Adams, although perhaps that should be the other way around since this was originally published in 1979. Highly recommended for his portrait of TR as a person while nicely interweaving the political issues of the day.

oh, Jim, you are tempting me! But I have so many books lined up waiting for my attention... I just have to wait a while I guess. Does sound very good, though. Reminds me of the LBJ books by Robert Caro.

Well, it doesn't help that the three books are 800 pages apiece. That a lot of TR! :)

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Saw this one at the bookstore, read some friends' reviews on this and other groups, decided to pick it up. Unfortunately, it wasn't for me. I was hoping for a mix of thriller, action-adventure, fantasy, some romance. What I got was pretty much all romance and not much else. I wouldn't have minded that so much if the writing hadn't been so...well, average.

I've heard A Discovery of Witches described as Twilight for adults. Yeah, I get that vibe too. It also felt a bit like The Historian, except slower, if that's possible. Bottom line, I suspect I'm not the target audience, and others obviously like it, so read the reviews and make up your own mind instead of listening to me. :)

Nothing to Lose by Lee Child

12th in the Reacher series. I needed this one to clear the palate. So much so that I'm following up with Gone Tomorrow, the 13th!

A RL friend just finished A Discovery of Witches and she loved it. She recommended it to me and I will try it, but I'm not completely sold on it at this point.

I also have Leviathan on my TBR list, and, of course, I have added more since visiting your thread.

The Reacher series sounds interesting.

Reacher's fantastic if you don't mind a little violence and vigilante justice!

Violence and vigilante justice? Remember, I teach middle school! :)

I'll look for the first one!

#73 - it's not really a series as such, nothing that he does in one book makes very much difference to the next. There are a couple of exceptions, and he has aged a bit in the course of 13 books, but not much. I would have thought you could start pretty much anywhere in the series.

#70 - have these picked up the form again, I thought it was starting ot slip, and wasn't that impressed with 61 hours at all.

I'm in #13, Gone Tomorrow right now, so can't talk much about the more recent ones. While I've enjoyed them all, I thought the series slipped a little around book 8 or so, but 12 and 13 seem to have picked up again.

Done with Gone Tomorrow...

13th in the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child, and one of the best so far in the series. Reacher stumbles across a woman who commits suicide on a New York subway train. And with Reacher it's never simple - this is no ordinary suicide. The usual mayhem results...

I picked up The Guns of August for a business trip, am in the middle of it now. It's superb! Tuchman's telling of the lead-up and initial month of World War I is tragic and compelling.

Catching up on reading finished while on my latest business trip:

The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman

A very good history of the events leading up to and through the first month of World War I, August 1914. It's a tragic story where an immense human cost was paid because of national pride, hubris and naive military strategic thinking. Tuchman's got a great sense of phrase-turning; some of her pithy descriptions are delights. But ultimately, I wound up shaking my head over and over at the sheer stupidity of the leaders involved. Recommended, but the need to refer to military movements and Roman-numeralled unit identifiers may turn off some readers.

Naming Infinity: A True Story of Religious Mysticism and Mathematical Creativity by Loren Graham and Jean-Michel Kantor

From at least the days of the ancient Greek philosophers, mathematical and philosophical inquiry has gone hand in hand, especially where the infinite is involved. And infinities have always involved paradox. For instance, Zeno gave us the example of a fast runner trying to catch a tortoise. First the runner gets halfway to the tortoise, then gets halfway from that point to the tortoise, and so on. The runner can never catch the tortoise because he must make an infinite number of these "half-steps" to get to the tortoise. And yet in real life, runners catch tortoises quite easily. Trying to understand the nature of reality is a major effort in mathematical research - and set theory was developed in part to try to answer these questions. Georg Cantor developed an approach to explore the nature of mathematical infinities that was extended by the French mathematical community, but the reality-based nature of the French approach to mathematics prevented them from getting to what we would consider modern set theory. The French approach to philosophical thinking in the late 19th and early 20th century also struggled with the nature of the infinite in consistent ways; is infinity an ideal or can an infinity be made actual?

But in Moscow, a small group of young mathematicians discovered Cantor's work and came at it from an approach informed by their religious thinking. All were strongly aligned with the Russian Orthodox Church and a mystical approach known as "Name Worship" (sometimes even considered heretical by the church hierarchy). Name Worshipers recite prayers that recognize the names of God, and they consider that the prayers by naming God in some sense bring God into actuality. This difference in outlook from the French mathematical community led this group that became the Moscow School of Mathematics to develop descriptive set theory, an early version of modern set theory.

Naming Infinity is a nicely done history of this process of mathematical research. The set theory and Cantor's approach to infinities is well described at a level appropriate for a general audience. But the majority of the book isn't about the math. It's about the people doing the math. These are some fascinating people who lived through some difficult times, especially after the Soviet Union was established and through Stalin's reign. It's the story of competition between mathematical communities, between individuals within the Moscow School and the Soviet system, even between the Soviet government and the Russian Orthodox Church. It's a short book - about 200 pages of text - but there's a great history in it.

Your description makes even me want to read Naming Infinity! Sounds like something my husband would enjoy.

I agree, MrsLee. I might have to give that one a try, too.

The Way of the Wolf by E. E. Knight

Decent post-apocalyptic action-adventure featuring a genetically engineered guerilla fighter battling vampire aliens who have taken over the Earth. Yeah, it sounds cheesy, and in fact, it has its cheesy moments. But mostly it's a fun adventure useful for killing a coast-to-coast airplane ride.

I would have liked it better, though, if the basic premise wasn't so Stargate-like.

Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch

Also known as Rivers of London, it's one of the better urban fantasies I've read recently. Aaronovitch has a wry sense of humor, a great main character and quite a sense of world building. Recommended - now I need to get my hands on the sequel.

Ancient History: Evidence and Models by M. I. Finley

I'm not a historian - especially of ancient Greek or Roman eras - but I've got an amateur's interest in the subject. Finley's short book is a very nice discussion of the problems resulting from trying to present "the past as it really was", especially when most of our historical information comes from the surviving writings of ancient historians with a very different outlook on how do to history than modern historians. His discussion of the limitations of evidence, the inherent biases that creep into historical work no matter how hard we try not to let that happen, and the intersection between history and other disciplines led to a description of model-based research that I hadn't really thought about before. As an engineer, the idea of "testable" models, even if qualitative rather than quantitative, appeals to me. I'd like to see more of how this works.

Guardedly recommended. This is a technical work, and nonexperts may not follow everything that's said. Still, the ideas were interesting to think about.

Technical writing of history = not so much interesting for me, pass!

I had enough of that in college, lo, those many, many years ago.

Yeah, it was a bit more technical than I expected. But it was short, and I get the feeling that Finley is a bit of a curmudgeon in his field. :) So I stuck with it.

I get teased on a regular basis for reading textbooks for fun. Example: a buddy and I went on an overnight trip to do some fishing. When we got to the hotel, he settled down with a hunting magazine, I brought Gravitation and Cosmology. I haven't heard the end of *that* one yet!

I can imagine! Heavy book, eh, Jim? Got your head in the clouds, do you, son? Swinging on the Stars? Don't let the pull get you down!

Jerusalem 1913 by Amy Dockser Marcus

Jerusalem is one of those few places on Earth that seems never to be able to be at peace. Of course, it's not true - there have been plenty of times when there wasn't. But the times of conflict fill the histories of continents and at least three religions. Over the last hundred years, the modern Arab-Israeli conflict has become the latest of these. Amy Dockser Marcus, profoundly affected by her experiences in Jerusalem, examines how we got to the current state of affairs in Palestine by showing vignettes of the city in 1898 through the beginning of World War I.

Jerusalem 1913 isn't so much an depth study of the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict as it is a series of studies of the people and decisions made during the period of interest. Of special note is Dockser Marcus' ability to present how opportunities for peace were missed and how that decision-making both mirrored and led to today's situation.

Highly recommended.

I also enjoyed Midnight Riot and am looking forward to the sequel. I thought his world quite inventive and surprising! And I really really want to know more about Nightingale.

Choice of the Cat by E. E. Knight

Second in the Vampire Earth series, sequel to Way of the Wolf. As with the first, it's a rather pedestrian sf/alien vampire story that owes a lot to Stargate, but still manages to be a nice check-your-brain military post-apocalyptic story. There won't be any surprises here; the plot's completely predictable. But the action is well done, and the world-building is good enough to keep me interested.

DrNewt, it would really help me out if you would say "Cindy, you won't like this" at the end of every review. I have to stop adding to my TBR list! :)

I just lurk on by... averting my eyes.

*snicker*

My work here is done...until the next time...

Seriously, I'm starting The President's Vampire, a very good urban fantasy/action thriller involving a vampire agent acting on orders from the President to handle occult threats. You might as well put it and the first, Blood Oath on your list now. :)

*getting a pencil*

*grumbling*

*giving DrNewt the evil eye*

Blood Oath and The President's Vampire by Christopher Farnsworth

Nathaniel Cade is a vampire bound to serve the President of the United States. Zach Barrows, a former White House staffer, is his new liaison after being caught in a rather compromising position with the President's daughter. Together, they fight to protect the US against paranormal and occult threats.

Farnsworth's books are pretty good. He's got a decent sense of plot, and his characters are interesting. Best of all for me, he likes to tie his stories to traditional horror - Frankenstein's monster and Lovecraftian weird feature prominently in these two.

Highly recommended!

ETA: For clarification, these are action/adventure and political thrillers. The references to horror classics are more in the style of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series - nods within an original story, not an attempt to match style or redo the original.

*grabbing the pencil...again*

*grumbling...again*

*giving DrNewt the evil eye...again*

*smiling with the thought of more books to read*

Well, I had put this on the wishlist because of yours and readafew's recommendation, but I'm not too sure about the Lovecraft aspect so I've unwishlisted it. It sounded really good until you mentioned Lovecraft.

95 > While I gather he was referring to Lovecraft I think it was more as a wink and a nod to a horror writer than an attempt to copy a writing style or capture an ambiance of the authors stories. Kind of how Fforde does with the classics. Though since the Doc has read both he might be able to spread more light on the things that go bump in the night.

I must say that I think I enjoy watching the machinations within this thread quite a bit....

GeorgiaDawn seems to have it out for you, Doc. N. I'd keep an eye on her...

Yeah, I keep a close eye on here when she's in the neighborhood. :)

Farnsworth most definitely doesn't use a Loveraftian style - these are political thrillers and action/adventure all the way. They're more like Lee Child's Jack Reacher books with a touch of Hellboy and more political machinations. Fforde's style is a good analogy, and Farnsworth's books are fun for similar reasons - I enjoy reading along and picking out all the references back to other writers and stories.

I should have done a better job of describing the use of references in the second book back to the basic plot elements of Lovecraft's story, "The Shadow Over Innsmouth". There's also a few references to Miskatonic University, one of the staples of Lovecraft and writers that followed him in the Cthulhu mythos, and a reference to a particular location in the middle of the Pacific Ocean where certain elder beings are sleeping. The first book does something similar with the Frankenstein story.

(Possible spoiler)

There are hints from other books as well - a retired secret agent who battled a villain with steel teeth (Moonraker, anyone?) and saved the world numerous times shows up as a minor character. That one really got me!

ETA - I've put a note in my original comments on the books to clarify what I meant.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

There's not a whole lot I can add to the discussion on this one - it's got more than 150 reviews on LT alone - except to say that I loved it!

Henrietta Lacks developed a particularly fast-growing and invasive cervical cancer that killed her in 1951. Unbeknownst to her or her family, a sample of the tissue was taken by a researcher at Johns Hopkins Hospital where she was treated, and that sample turned out to be a line of "immortal" cells that formed the basis of a vast body of medical and biological research even to the present. In fact, it wasn't until a reporter from Rolling Stone magazine some twenty years later tracked down the source of the famous HeLa cells that Henrietta's family knew anything about it. Skloot's book touches on the cells and the research, but in reality is mostly about Henrietta and the reaction of her family to finding out about what had been done.

For me, the bigger lesson of the book is that different people see scientific research like this in so many different ways. The original researcher thought nothing of taking a small sample from Henrietta and freely distributing resulting cells to other researchers. Some saw the work as an opportunity to start businesses and market the cells. Henrietta's family fundamentally didn't understand what was happening to the cells and until Skloot connected them with a particular individual at Hopkins had no sense of even what a cell is. From their perspective, the system had taken advantage of their mother and them for profit and had cheated them of the credit and money due them from the research. It's a bit of a wakeup call for me to remember as I work as an engineer that I need to work very hard to explain to folks why e do what we do and why it's important.

Now that is a unique and interesting take on this book. I'm not surprised at your insight and compassion, however, Jim. I don't know very many scientists, but do think you are a rare bird. (Avis rara?)

edited for punctuation

I think that is crucial for NASA personnel and research scientists. If the "common" man understands why the research is important and what it can benefit, they are more likely to support funding, etc. All too often people see it a luxury.

That's one of the reasons NASA requires that every project spend a significant fraction of the project funding on education and public outreach (EPO). For Solar Probe, we'll spend about $10M working mainly with teachers, but also on informational products for the general public. We hold teacher workshops, fund curriculum development, all kinds of good stuff. I got to work with the EPO teacher workshops on our Pluto mission, and it was a blast!

Scott Pilgrim Boxed Set by Bryan Lee O'Malley

The son got me to read the set - these were pretty good. I guess since he's an English major I should learn to listen to him! The artwork is good, the plot interesting. I laughed at the gaming references, and I liked the coming-of-age story. I'm counting 'em as 1 book since I blew through them so fast.

Tale of the Thunderbolt by E. E. Knight

Third in the Vampire Earth series. In this one, David Valentine goes naval to find a secret weapon to use against the alien vampires. Ok, that sounds really cheesy, and it kinda is. But these have been pretty decent as far as vapid brain candy goes.

My son and I both liked Scott Pilgrim, too. If you haven't seen the movie, it's a fun one.

Haven't seen it yet, but the son is encouraging me to see it. It's on the Netflix queue. :)

61 Hours by Lee Child

Next-to-latest Jack Reacher book. As usual, its improbable, wildly over the top plot is nearly un-put-downable. In this one, Reacher stumbles across an international drug ring in a small town in South Dakota in the middle of winter.

And just to make my day start well, I discovered this morning that I failed to pick up the next book in the series from the library. Instead, I got the previous one *that I just read*. Hate it when that happens.

Love the Reacher series! When you get your hands on it, the next one, Worth Dying For, picks up right after this one, and is just as un-put-downable.

Yeah, that's the one I *thought* I was getting when I picked up Gone Tomorrow... :)

I bought the first Jack Reacher book. It's near the top of my TBR list.

Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris

Second in Morris' three-volume biography of Theodore Roosevelt - easily the most interesting US President for me. Theodore Rex concentrates on TR's presidency (in 550 pages, no less) and is pretty detailed. That's fine since he's discussing some really important topics like the intrigue leading up to the Panama Canal Treaty, TR's trust-busting and capital/labor relations, and the buildup of the US Navy to counter German and British influence in the Western Hemisphere, among others. Morris doesn't just talk about issues and politics, though. Roosevelt the man is the focus: his family, friends, political allies and enemies, his reaching pretty much the pinnacle of power and influence in the US, his walking away from it in 1908. We see TR as less the uber-man and more the man as he ages and mellows a bit.

Morris' writing is top-notch. I'm highly recommending the trilogy - even though I haven't gotten to the third yet, it's hard for me to imagine it fails after the first two succeed so well!

Oh, and yeah, the teddy bear story shows up in this volume. :)

I have got to get my courage up and get these books. I am sure I'll love them.

An aside: (forgive me if I've said this before) My high school was named after him and there were many, many references to him as we found our way through the four years there. Our teams were called alternately Teddies and Rough Riders. We all know the "Speak softly and carry a big stick" quote. I believe our Annual was called The Strenuous Life. So, obviously I've got an attachment to the big guy, even with his faults.

Cool!

The Last Gunfight by Jeff Guinn

Jeff Guinn, in The Last Gunfight, cuts through the myth-making to tell the true story of the fight between the Earps and Clantons that became to be known as the Gunfight at the OK Corral. In October 1881, Wyatt Earp, his brothers Virgil and Morgan, and friend Doc Holliday met Ike and Billy Clanton and two friends in one of the classic gunfights of the Old West. Modern myth - driven by spin-doctoring by survivors and the desire to sell an image of the Wild West - paints the conflict as upright lawmen against rustlers and outlaws. The reality is, of course, more complicated, and Guinn does a nice job of presenting it.

The Earps, especially Wyatt, used law enforcement as a way to get the respect he thought he deserved. He served time as Deputy Sheriff, with an eye on election in the top job. Virgil was Deputy Marshall and Tombstone police chief. But they weren't the upstanding citizens Wyatt wanted to be remembered as - gamblers and saloon keepers, even running a brothel at one point. The Clantons weren't the outlaws they've been portrayed either. Yes, they helped rustlers sell cattle stolen from ranchers in Mexico, and yes, Ike Clanton was a drunk and was looking to pick a fight. But mostly he was a poor farmer trying to get by, and the famous gunfight was really more an over-reaction by the Earps to a loud drunk who was on his way out of town. Oh, and the fight didn't even happen at the OK Corral - it was more an ambush in an alley behind the corral.

Guinn's book is pretty well written, and the story's fascinating. His concentration on the people involved really made the story come to life. Recommended!

Great retelling of the story, drnewt.

If I was adding more books.... oh, wait, I just did add more books .... sigh

I'm tempted. I'll admit that much.

oh, btw, I'm in chat.

Ok, I put The Last Gunfight and Theodore Rex on my wishlist. I would really like to read them both. My TBR piles are teetering. I'm hoping for no earthquakes, soon, as I would be buried in books. What a way to die!

I'm going to get The Last Gunfight as well. Sounds perfect for what I should be reading at the moment.

Concerning #77 Naming Infinity: I'm going to have to find this book. I have always wondered if we ever really touch anything because there is always another fraction to go as we get closer. A part of this idea for me is the mystery cloth and thread found in Ringworld by Larry Niven - if you remember, that's the thread that was so strong and so dangerous because it could cut whatever it ran into. So I started thinking that maybe something so sharp and thinner than that could actually go between cells in any material, like flesh, and therefore wouldn't do so much damage to the flesh in an operation. And I also wondered then do we ever get to touch things and are there always smaller and smaller particles, smaller and smaller forever on.

I used to work with many different kinds of engineers, so I asked them about this and they thought I was an idiot (as usual).

Anyway, I'm going to look for Naming Infinity, and I have saved #77 just so I can show people I'm not the only one! You have made my day :)

Cool! I enjoyed it, but got a bit of good-natured ribbing from a couple of colleagues for reading such "weird stuff" on our business trip. One did borrow it for a bit on the way home, though... :)

The Devil Colony by James Rollins

Latest in the Sigma Force series, and I think, the best yet. Rollins has a decently inventive conspiracy theory driving the plot, he's continuing to play with interesting characters, and appears to be leading up to a major conflict in the overarching storyline.

For those new to the series, Sigma Force is a group of scientist/soldiers working as the covert arm of DARPA, the US Defense Department's research branch. Having worked with DARPA folks in the past, it at first seemed silly to have a "covert arm" of this agency. But Rollins is pretty good at the scientist-saving-the-world adventure/thriller and the series has been consistently readable. Not that it's in any way believable, mind you, but that's part of the fun!

Recommended, but start from the beginning of the series.

Glad to hear that about The Devil Colony. I've only read the immediately previous book The Doomsday Key and thought it was pretty good. I will be reading that one next after I finish Soldier of Rome.

Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill

Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box was an outstanding first novel and a favorite when I read it a few years ago. He's got a heckuva way with the novel and short story. And now he's added the graphic novel to his bag of tricks with Locke & Key - the story of a family and the aftermath of the brutal murder of a father and husband. Of course, with Hill there's always more than a simple story, and so there's a seriously creepy house and an unearthly presence involved in what promises to be a really fine story line through the subsequent volumes.

Highly recommended for horror fans. Others, fair warning - it's violent and it's graphic.

I'll have to check that out. I thought Heart-Shaped Box was fantastic. There were points in that book where I actually had to put it down, and come back later.

I am reading Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child, thank you for introducing these books to me. The first part of the book where we meet the characters and Reacher is describing what he thinks the other guys are thinking is a lot like weaving plaid. I see all of these lines lengthening and converging and now the story is providing big blocks of colour and no time wasted. I like this kind of thing. It's a lot like watching Burn Notice on TV in which lessons are given for how to do the spy work.

Exactly! I hadn't thought of Burn Notice, but yeah, there's a lot of similarity. I'm glad you like 'em!

To the End of the Earth by Tom Avery

In 1909, Robert Peary led an expedition to the Arctic with the goal of becoming the first to reach the North Pole. After developing a system of resupply that allowed him to get a fresh team and dogs to a base camp with 100 miles of the Pole, he and Matthew Henson, along with four Inuit, did it. Of course, as soon as Peary got back, questions about Peary's record-keeping popped up and over the years, the belief that Peary cheated became conventional wisdom - mainly based on the idea that Peary just couldn't have covered territory as fast as he reported. Roll forward to 2005. Tom Avery, after a successful trek on foot to the South Pole, got the idea to duplicate Peary's trip to show that travel as fast as he reported is, in fact, possible. To The End of the Earth is the story of their expedition.

Avery's trip was certainly eventful, and at times downright horrifying. Avery and his team of four other explorers, 16 dogs and two sleds managed to beat Peary's time to the pole by 4 hours, lending credence to the idea that Peary did indeed make the journey he said he did - though not without a bit of controversy himself. It's an exciting story, one I was eager to read. Unfortunately, Avery's a much better explorer than writer. It's not that the book was bad, it's just that the main thing I got out of it was a sense of the size of Avery's ego. I know that it takes a strong personality to do the things explorers do, but it got to be a bit much. Avery adds a bit about Peary and the history of polar exploration. With more of this and a bit of toning down, To the End of the Earth could have been outstanding instead of just average.

Worth Dying For by Lee Child
Ok, so now I'm up to date on the Jack Reacher books, can't wait for the next! By now, it should be obvious that I'm a fan. :)

Locke & Key: Head Games by Joe Hill
Really good second volume to the graphic novel series by Joe Hill. It's got some very interesting artwork and the storyline keeps getting better and better.

Hotwire by Alex Kava
Deep in rural Nebraska, cows are turning up mutilated and teenagers are turning up dead, and Maggie O'Dell, FBI profiler, is dropped into the mystery. At the same time, kids in two different schools are turning up sick, and Maggie's new love interest is pulled into the investigation into the cause. Are these two mysteries related?

Hotwire, the ninth in Kava's Maggie O'Dell series, is a decent, but not great, mystery. The plot depends on some amazing coincidences and while we learn who's responsible, we never learn why. But it won't matter all that much to fans of the series - what's more of interest here are the characters and their lives. If you like this sort of story with an arc that extends across the series, I'd say there's a good chance you'd like Hotwire. But I also suspect that you'd want to start from the beginning of the series.

Locke & Key: Crown of Shadows by Joe Hill
Third volume in the series - and as good as ever!

I got Hotwire from ER. I've only read the 4th book before. Hopefully that won't be a problem. Was it any good? It's going to be a few weeks before I can get to it, going to be starting my May book today or tomorrow.

I haven't read any of the previous ones in the Maggie O'Dell series either and had no problem following the backstory. I enjoyed it - it's a quick story that moves right along equivalent to one of Robert Parker's Spenser books. Don't expect any out-of-the-box writing, but I enjoyed it and would pick up another if I came across it.

That's pretty much what I thought of the 4th book. Solid story but not exceptional enough to go looking for all the rest. Though I wouldn't pass them up if they came by.

Heartless by Gail Carriger

Fourth in the Parasol Protectorate series. As with many others here on LT, I enjoyed the wit, the story, the characters. Highly recommended series, but start with the first, Soulless.

High Bloods by John Farris

Sometime after World War II, a virus emerged out of southeast Asia that once a month changes the infected into a werewolf-like creature. Fast forward to modern day, Rawson is a detective in the ILC - an agency dealing with Lycan enforcement - and society is much different from our world. Now suddenly, a few werewolves have begun to change out of phase with the Moon, and the authorities are worried.

On the surface, this looks like a horror/urban fantasy book. In reality, it's not. It's a noir detective story and owes a lot to Chandler and Spillane. The werewolves lend a different spin on the basic structure, but all the classic elements are there: hard-bitten detective, beautiful women with a dangerous side, conspiracy among the powerful. Good stuff!

Watership Down by Richard Adams

Finished up this one for the group read. I haven't read it for years, and it was as good as the first time.

A Man of Numbers by Keith Devlin

Back in the 70s and early 80s, computers were these mysterious machines tended by a select few specialists. Then along came engineers who invented a much more efficient way to use computers through keyboards and mice and graphical user interfaces. But until people like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs came along to introduce this better way of computing to the masses, all these great improvements didn't make much difference.

So what does this have to do with Leonardo of Pisa, a mathematician also known as Fibonacci who lived at the beginning of the 13th century? Well, at the time, pretty much everybody in Europe used Roman numerals, crude techniques for calculation, and counting tables for business, engineering, navigation, and everyday life. The Arabs used an adaptation of an Indian system using ten numerals and arithmetic essentially that of modern day. It was a much more efficient system, but only those European scholars who knew Arabic or had access to a Latin translation of Arabic works knew anything about it. Leonardo, though, spent time in his youth with his father as representatives of the Pisano business community in north Africa, and while there learned about the Arabic system. He was quite a talented mathematician, and wrote a text codifying and explaining this new system that became a widely regarded work and led to the eventual growth of mathematical education in Europe.

A Man of Numbers is a small book, but one packed nicely with the delightful story of Leonardo and his time. Devlin spends time discussing the fascinating ramifications of the adoption of the Arabic system on commerce and education, nearly every aspect of life. He also takes on the question of Leonardo's influence on later writers of arithmetical and algebraic works. Of course, Devlin discusses the Fibonacci sequence as well, the one thing Leonardo is remembered for today, in spite of his wide ranging influence in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Highly recommended, even for non-mathematical people. There's a bit of math here, but it's all very well explained!

We all owe a great deal to Leonardo. Thanks!

Horns by Joe Hill

Well, there's 87 reviews on LT, so I'm not going to add much to the discussion. :) I really liked it, but didn't *love* it, and I'm trying to figure out why. On the one hand, it's a really inventive story with engaging characters. I liked Hill's nonlinear plotting and certainly didn't have a problem following the flashbacks. And I was really impressed by how the characters mostly weren't defined by the initial impressions Hill put out there, but wound up being deeper and more human than the somewhat stereotyped view he gave at the beginning. On the other hand, I didn't like as much his view of people as presented here. Maybe I'm an optimist, but I think many people aren't as dark as Hill wrote the characters in Horns.

It's most definitely a book worth reading. I highly recommend it.

Out of 87 reviews, yours would be the one I read. It always means more to me to read a review by someone I share things in common with, or at least know a little of their reading tastes.

Thanks! I enjoy posting comments that are useful to folks I have a connection with. :)

I agree. I find when I'm looking at a long list of reviews I usually scroll down to see if I recognize any of the reviewers' names. And as always, I find your opinions to be interesting and worthy of a read.

Dead Iron: Age of Steam by Devon Monk

Those who've read my threads a bit might have noticed I'm a bit of a steampunk fan. Dead Iron fits the bill pretty well, although it's not *just* steampunk - there's magic, lycanthropy, witchcraft and a bit of the Fey too. Oh, and it's a Western too!

I'm struggling with what to say that won't spoil things. Let's leave it with...

Highly recommended!

I read Horns not too long after it was available. I gave it three stars and and did find it interesting. I also found it dark and overall depressing. Maybe I should add my review to the list.

drneutron. I'm another steamer, so good to hear Dead Iron is good. I picked it up a couple of days ago, and now will move it up a bit in the mountain.

ETA: not enough caffeine input to spell rite yet.

:) I'm on my second cuppa of the morning...

Cindy - Horns was really dark for me too, mostly in his view of other people. I know he was playing with the temptation/sin thing, but wow, is nobody in the world good?

Kraken by China Mieville

I liked Perdido Street Station and I really liked The City and the City. So I *have* to like Mieville's riff on squid cults and competing apocalypses, right? Not so much. This one's a definite miss. The plot's a mess, the characters are incomprehensible, and the story's boring in the middle.

Definitely not Mieville's best work.

Lost at Sea By Bryan Lee O'Malley

Another graphic novel by the author of the more well-known Scott Pilgrim books. Lost at Sea is a more serious look at coming of age with a twist of strange. Not bad, but I liked Scott Pilgrim better.

I agree with both your reviews, drneutron. I've read all of the Mievilles except Iron Council, and you picked my two favorites. Like you, I thought Kraken was a mess and boring in the middle.

Likewise, Lost at Sea was interesting, but not as good as the terrific Scott Pilgrim.

Colonel Roosevelt by Edmund Morris

I finished up the third in Edmund Morris' excellent trilogy on Theodore Roosevelt while on a mini-vacation/trip to get the son back to college. As with the other volumes, the story's great, Morris' work is high quality, and the book's highly readable.

This volume concentrates on the years following Roosevelt's terms as President. TR followed big changes with adventures - his safari after leaving office and explored an unknown Brazilian river after losing in 1912 as a third-party candidate. It's one of my favorite thing about Teddy, and these passages were some of the best. Other sections on Teddy's political dealings, both to preserve his progressive ideals and to get Wilson to enter WWI to aid Britain and France - were less interesting, but mainly because Teddy was so ineffective in his attempts at influence, even as he was mostly wildly popular with the public. In the end, this is a book about a man past his prime, both physically and politically, and so has a measure of sadness to it.

The whole trilogy is highly recommended!

67. Fun and Games by Duane Swierczynski

68. Hell and Gone by Duane Swierczynski

(Below is review for Hell and Gone for ER program)

Charlie Hardie once worked with the Philadelphia police, cleaning up the town. But the bad guys killed his partner and his partner's family, and Charlie wound up house sitting and living a dead existence. Until he met an unexpected squatter at his latest job, kicking off a chain of events that nearly kills him while bringing him to the attention of a hidden organization that runs everything.

Ok, so here's the deal. What I just wrote happened in the first book, Fun and Games. In reality, this isn't a trilogy. It's a single book in three volumes, the last of which isn't quite out yet. Hell and Gone continues Charlie's story, and continues the devolution into weirdness.

Because, yeah, this is one *weird* story, and not in the Lovecraft sense. What starts as a fairly run of the mill suspense/thriller becomes in short order pretty strange, but strangely fascinating, I enjoyed it and am seriously interested to see where the story goes next!

You've got me intrigued, drneutron. I got a kick out of Fun and Games, and was looking forward to Hell and Gone - but I assumed it would be more of a standard thriller. Now you've got me wondering what the heck it is. This should be fun.

Heh. I'm trying not to give anything away...

:)

Another to add to the list. *sigh*

Nights of Villjamur by Mark Charan Newton

Ok, so if China Mieville is still alive, tell me how it is that Mark Charan Newton is channeling him? Nights of Villjamur is a fantasy/New Weird combo that's got a decadent Empire with a capital city facing the onset of an ice age, cultist magician/technologists, a murder mystery, political intrigue, and a punk feel. If you're a Mieville fan, though, the best part is that the writing's so very familiar, yet still a unique voice.

This one requires a bit of patience. It's not an action thriller. The plot builds deliberately , but by the end, it's quite satisfying.

The Cut by George Pelecanos

George Pelecanos, writer and producer of The Wire, certainly knows his way around an edgy, noir-ish crime story. In The Cut, he introduces Spero Lucas, a former Marine back from Iraq, who makes his living finding lost things for people. He's taken a new job that's led him deeper than he ever intended.

The Cut is a mostly well-written crime novel. It's not the most original story, but that's not detrimental since the writing's good. Pelecanos keeps the action moving, and Lucas is an interesting lead character. My two quibbles with the book are the lack of depth in most of the characters beyond Lucas and Pelecanos' obsessive need to prove he knows DC like the back of his hand. In the end, though, The Cut is a decent read, and a promising beginning to a new series.

The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas

Hmmm. Wow. It's hard to describe the book and it's hard to describe what I think of the book. It's got philosophical musings, interesting links to quantum physics, nifty conversations about deconstructionism - what else could a reader ask for? Oh, a plot? Yep. It's a bit of a conspiracy story. Good writing? Yep, got that too. Characters with depth? Most definitely.

I enjoyed it quite a lot, but honestly, I can see where The End of Mr Y might not be everyone's cuppa. I'll be looking into Thomas' PopCo soon, though.

City of Ruin by Mark Charan Newton

Second of Mark Charan Newton's Legends of the Red Sun, City of Ruin continues the story of a distant future (perhaps alternate?) Earth begun in Nights of Villjamur. The plot threads left at the end of the first book are nicely tied up and the story seems to be moving toward a very good ending as the series continues.Newton's got a good ear for dialog and his characters are superb, with real change and growth through the book. I just can't figure out how he channels China Mieville so well - he's got an independent voice, but I'm left with the same feeling for his writing as I get from Perdido Street Station.

Recommended, but start with the first.

J. R. R. Tolkien and J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, edited by Harold Bloom

Two small volumes part of Harold Bloom's Modern Critical Views and Modern Critical Interpretations series on authors and books. Both are collections of essays and excerpts from other books on Tolkien and LOTR.

This format isn't one I usually appreciate, but my library picked up copies and I thought I'd give Bloom a try. They were mixed bag, as is usual. Some of the works were quite good, others worth skipping.

I was curious to see that both volumes are from the 2009 timeframe, however the chapters selected were no later than 1984 or so. Surely there's been *some* worthy critical work done since the mid 80s. I wish Bloom had written at least some kind of description of why he chose the works he did.

I'm really looking forward to City of Ruin

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

First for me from @blackdogbooks Halloween Reading List for 2011. It's funny, quirky true crime with a boatload of odd characters. Where else will you find murder in a historic house as told by a con man lawyer, various high society snobs, a gender bending exotic dancer, etc, etc? It's deliciously full of gossip and behind-the-scenes looks at a small Southern city that doesn't seem to have changed much since Sherman's march to the sea.

1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft and Debs by James Chace

James Chace had an opportunity to tell a great story with his accounting of the Presidential election of 1912. Four very interesting men ran during a time when the US political landscape was changing and some very modern ideas were coming into play - things we take for granted today like an 8 hour workday, minimum wage, food and drug safety protections, regulation of businesses. After all, we had Taft and Teddy Roosevelt splitting the party, Wilson battling the Democratic party bosses, and the peak of the Socialist Party influence with Eugene Debs.

Unfortunately, Chace's retelling is only adequate. He's concise and moves the story along, but never seems to make the people come alive. I can't really recommend the book except to those studying the politics and political maneuvering of the era.

Full Dark, No Stars

One of the darkest King books I've read lately. It creeped me out every time I picked it up - mostly because he doesn't need vampires or demons or any monster to make these stories horrific. Ordinary people do that just fine.

Highly recommended! One of his best in ages.

Cabal by Clive Barker

It's been a while, but the re-read was well worth the time. Barker's one of my favorites and Cabal is right up there. Mac picked a good one for the Halloween list!

Pitch Dark by Steven Sidor

Pitch Dark promises to be a chase thriller, in which a woman named Vera is pursued into northern Minnesota by a mysterious gang. In reality, there's a strong, unexpected occult/supernatural component to the book. (Note, I don't consider this a spoiler since it's apparent from the first few pages.) Now, I like that sort of story, so I wasn't disappointed.

Steven Sidor put together a solid, but middle-of-the-road occult thriller. It's action-packed and rather gory, and the supernatural aspects can be a bit confusing at first. There's nothing terribly original here, but if you're a fan of this sort of story, give Pitch Dark a try.

Sanctus by Simon Toyne

Sanctus is a decently written religious thriller involving monks in a secretive order based in a mountain fortress in southern Turkey. As is usual with these sorts of books, the monks are hiding a secret that will shake Christianity to its core and destroy the Church if it gets out. So when a rogue monk commits a very visible suicide, a chain of events are kicked off that threatens to reveal the secret and the order must take action to stop things.

Toyne is pretty good with plotting and dialog, and his sense of pacing is quite good. All in all, I'd say this is a worthwhile example of the genre. My only caveat is that it's the first of a trilogy, and I hope it's not too long before volumes 2 and 3 are out!

The Secret Life of Pronouns by James W. Pennebaker

James Pennebaker, Chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas in Austin, has spent a long time studying how people use words. He and his students have gathered an impressive collection of studies on the relationships between word use and gender, personality, emotions, etc. The Secret Life of Pronouns is his popularization of the work.

Generally, I thought his ideas were interesting, though hardly Earth-shaking in scope or technique. The main method is through computerized word counts and a bit deeper analysis combined with standard techniques to match statistical patterns of use to various psychological and sociological characteristics. I struggled through the book with two issues:

- Pennebaker uses small percentage differences between word use by, for example, males and females to draw distinctions. From this, he makes some pretty serious claims - like being able to tell whether a person is male or female from a relatively small sample. I agree that he can probably tell with some statistical uncertainty, and I believe he certainly understands that his conclusions about the source of a writing sample are statistically based. But in his text, he states very definitively on more than a few occasions that he absolutely can distinguish details of the writing sample source. This is disingenuous and takes away from the book.

- The book doesn't give much real information about the statistics behind what he's claiming, nor does he ever really address issues associated with misinterpretation such as variations in an author's texts that are intended.

All in all, it's worth a read, but because of these two issues, I can't give it more than 3 stars.

Woodrow Wilson by John Milton Cooper Jr.

Wilson came to the Presidency as a result of the most unusual election of 1912 - the three-way race between Taft, Wilson and Roosevelt with the added sidelight of Eugene Debs running at the peak of the Socialist Party. He beat Teddy Roosevelt at his own Progressive game, and turned the Democrats to reform by bringing about changes that continue today. He tried to keep the nation out of a European war, then when he had no real choice, quickly got the nation turned around to raise an army and support the war effort. He tried to bring the about a League of Nations to bring peace and prevent war from happening again - to make World War I the war to end all wars. Yet he was most certainly a passive racist who could barely speak out against lynching. He couldn't bring himself to compromise to complete the work of the League of Nations. His decisions related to the resolution of the war may have directly led to the Second World War. And in the end, his stroke left us with an incapacitated President whose administration was carried by his wife and the Cabinet.

Cooper's book was well researched and gave a balanced view of a much-discussed man. Its best feature is its completeness - everything's in there. Unfortunately, it's also a bit of a slog to get through, at least until the end when discussing the aftereffects of Wilson's stroke. Guardedly recommended for its balanced coverage of a very interesting man.

You do read an interesting mix of books. Thanks for the thoughtful comments.

The Outlander by Gil Adamson

SOMEbody on the 75 Books Challenge, and hopefully that somebody will remind me, recommended The Outlander. Thank you. It was a superb read, one I've been needing for a bit.

While Ms Adamson doesn't have the same stylistic quirks as Cormac McCarthy - no quote marks on dialog, an insane disregard for punctuation - she does have a similar spirit and flare for storytelling. The Outlander is a great tale of the Canadian West and one woman's passage through it. The best part, though, is the sheer beauty of the language. Adamson's a poet, and it shows.

American Vampire, Vol 1
American Vampire, Vol 2 by Scott Snyder

Wow. A vampire tale where the monsters are monsters, and nobody sparkles. Great artwork, great storytelling - even a story be Stephen King, his first specifically written for graphic novel. Apparently Joe Hill's been teaching his dad some things. :) Probably for more mature audiences - The violence is graphic, and there's a bit of nudity.

I love love love American Vampire!

American Vampire seems like another series to add to the wishlist.

Have you found Locke & Key yet? It's written by Joe Hill, Stephen King's son - one of the best graphic novel series I've come across in a while.

Yeah, I'm aware of those. Just not had chance to pick any up yet. Still pretty much a novice when it comes to Graphic Novels.

Grand Pursuit by Sylvia Nasar

Bleah. I really liked A Beautiful Mind, so was looking forward to Grand Pursuit, Nasar's history of economic theory beginning with Dickens. She purports to cover the big ideas, but doesn't really talk about economics much. Instead, the book's more a sketch biography of the big names in the field - not at all what I wanted. While these are relatively interesting sketches, there's not much meat here.

Sorry, can't recommend it. :(

The Gates by John Connolly

Samuel Johnson and his dog Boswell are out a few days before Halloween trying to get a jump on getting some treats when he spies the neighbors raising a demon in their basement. This kicks off a series of events ostensibly leading to invasion by The Great Malevolence (yeah, the evil guy himself, complete with fire and brimstone) and the end of the world.

Now, I'd call this a horror book, but not a scary book. It's mostly a funny little thing with some laugh-out-loud moments. Samuel Johnson and Boswell? A boy named Bobby Goddard with his model rocket at Show and Tell? Physicists named Hilbert and Planck at CERN? Yeah, I loved this book. :)

Beats the heck out of the last one I read. Highly recommended!

I really liked The Outlander too, although one outcome for a character really annoyed me. I especially liked it because I didn't know what was going to happen, and also because the characters were interesting with some humour involved. I'll watch for Adamson in future.

I've been to Frank and seen the results of that occurrence. Unbelievable.

ETA I'm trying not to give anything away :

Until I read the book, I had no idea something like this had happened. I'd like to read more about the Frank event sometime.

The Outlander does sound good. That's a new one to me.

#172 There must be pictures on the web somewhere. When I stood there I couldn't get it into my head, I just couldn't. Just the size of the area is unbelievable without taking in the results of the thing. There's a view of the mountain here www.frankslide.com/faq.html . It's much more impressive when you stand down on the road at rock level.

Harbor by John Ajvide Lindqvist

First Lindqvist wrote one of my favorite vampire books, Let the Right One In. Then he wrote a nicely different zombie story in Handling the Undead. Now the "Swedish answer to Stephen King" (man, I hate that blurb...) has tackled the ghost story. As usual, though, Lindqvist has a unique spin on it, and it's fabulous! I do have to confess that I did have flashbacks to The Shining while reading this...not that the story was the same, but it was eerily the same spirit. No pun intended. :)

Highly recommended!

Superman: Red Son by Mark Millar

Suppose Superman had landed in Stalinist Soviet Union instead of Kansas back when he was a baby. How would the story have turned out? Mark Millar's Red Son is just that - an alternate history of an alternate history. :)

Ok, that part was a little weird. But once I got past the Escher-esque recursiveness, I quite enjoyed this version of the Superman story. It could have been a much more black and white, Communist vs Capitalist tale, but Millar kept things more complex and was able to re-interpret characters without making charicatures. And the artwork was outstanding!

Cartel by Sylvia Longmire

Sylvia Longmire has taken her experience in fighting the drug war and turned it into a nicely done exposition on Mexico, drug cartels,and the US response. That last bit is probably the most interesting part of Cartel - why we should care about the situation in Mexico and along the border and what we should do about it. I found her discussion of conditions in Mexico pretty informative; like many in the US, I hadn't thought about it much. Her actions sound pragmatic, and I can see that some of these things need to be done. The best part, though, is that I found her book remarkably apolitical in what is usually a very politically charged arena. Cartel is a book I'll recommend to folks who want a rational perspective on the drug war, its consequences and possible paths forward.

I confess Cartel does sound very interesting.... whoops, wrong touchstone...

So, it is Cartel: The Coming Invasion of Mexico's Drug Wars by Sylvia Longmire

Fixed! Thanks, maggs.

no problemo....

Got a bit of reading done over the last couple of days - it's been a nice stress relief!

The Dark at the End by F. Paul Wilson

Purports to be the last of the Repairman Jack novels (minus a prequel or two Wilson is working on and it's mostly true. Sometime next year we get a heavily reworked Nightworld to work the Repairman Jack story into the resolution of his Adversary cycle. It'll be interesting to see how he wraps all this up! If you're interested in the series, it's a bit of a hike but worth it. Fortunately both Wilson in his later books and LT have the sequence written out for both halves of the story.

Locke & Key: Keys to the Kingdom by Joe Hill

Continuation of an excellent graphic novel series. As usual, Joe Hill's writing is right on the money, but for me, the artwork was the star of this volume. Especially the nod to Bill Waterson in the first story. I did, however, find the story February less than successful - it was too disjointed and snapshot-y. I highly recommend the series, though, but fair warning that it's dark and violent.

The Affair by Lee Child

For all the Reacher Creatures out there, this one's probably what you're waiting for - the story of how Reacher left the Army. It's typical Reacher and typical Lee Child, so there's conspiracy and vigilante justice and misdirection all around. After 16 books, I'm happy to continue recommending these.

Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard

James Garfield is one of the least known US Presidents. He didn't want to be President, and was elected through a fluke of being caught between two powerful factions of the Republican Party as a compromise candidate. Before he ever really got started in his administration, a mentally ill Charles Guiteau, who thought God had told him to kill Garfield, shot him in the back.

But that's not what killed Garfield. The gunshot wound was bad, but others had survived worse. No major organs were hit, and the bleeding was brought under control pretty quickly. But US doctors, especially the one who forced his way in as Garfield's primary caregiver, didn't practice the antiseptic methods developed by Lister and widely practiced in Europe. The process of repeatedly trying to find the bullet introduced considerable contamination and eventual massive sepsis, the real cause of death after nearly three months of agony.

Millard wrote the excellent River of Doubt and now has turned her pen to Garfield's story, along with all the interesting people involved. Like Alexander Graham Bell, who was driven to invent a way to non-invasively find the bullet. And Lucretia Garfield, who spent her days caring for her husband while watching him waste away. plus, it was great to hear her speak

This is good one - highly recommended

The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler

My latest Scandicrime. The Hypnotist begins with a horrendous crime - the violent death of a family. Except one of the children lived, and a former psychologist/hypnotist with a scandalous past is brough in to help figure out what happens. That one thing leads to a horrific set of consequences that make for a terrific story. Yep, I liked it!
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Concepts of Particle Physics: Volume I by Kurt Gottfried and Victor Weisskopf

First volume in a two-volume set laying out the Standard Model of particle physics a la mid-Eighties understanding. This one's the basic ideas and phenomenology, while the second volume covers the mathematical theory. We're approaching 30 years down the road and much work has been done in the field since the book came out, but the first volume, at least, is still pretty good and pretty current. That might change if the news from CERN on the Higgs boson isn't what people expect!

The Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George

Margaret George spent lots of time and effort on research getting into Henry VIII's head, and boy, it paid off. She's written quite a good fictional autobiography of one of the most well-known (notorious?) kings of England. He executed 2 wives, put aside 2others, and separated the Church of England from control by the Pope to break one marriage before starting another. All in all his was a fascinating life, and Margaret George finds his voice wonderfully. Highly recommended.

Marysvale by Jared Southwick

John Casey is a young man with special abilities - he's especially quick and can read someone's soul. When he gets chased out of one town as a witch, he escapes by losing himself in a dark forest. But there are monsters in the forest, and somehow, they're linked to John's past, a past he only knows in dreams. And along the way, he just might find love.

Highly recommended!

Chew, volume 1 through Chew, volume 4 by John Layman

Tony Chu is a cibopath, meaning he picks up information from things he eats. After a worldwide Avian Flu pandemic, poultry is outlawed and Chu is recruited by the newly empowered FDA as an enforcement agent.

Yeah, it's as weird as it sounds. But the graphic novel is loads of fun. It's a great satire of detective/police procedurals, government agencies, and James Bond-esque spy stories. Plus the artwork is great. It's a bit grosser times, though. After all, Tony gets info by eating things - including pieces of dead bodies, etc.

I read The Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George several years ago and loved it.

I always add books to my list when I visit your thread.

Wait. Henry the Eighth was a woman?! Named Margaret?!

LOL

*snerk*

Deadline by Mira Grant

Mira Grant's Feed was a terrific political thriller set in a future where a viral zombie epidemic has radically altered society. In Deadline, the journalists of After The End Times news service poke deeper into how the government is handling the epidemic and manage to really tick off The Powers That Be. And now they're running for their lives.

If you liked the first, you need to read the second. The action's fast and furious, the conspiracy is deeper than ever, and the ending will keep you up at night to finish it. Deadline's not literary, but it sure is fun!

Warren G. Harding by John W. Dean

Arthur Schlesinger chose John Dean, President Nixon's White House counsel during the Watergate scandal, to write the biography of Warren Harding for the American Presidents series. An account of one of the most infamous, scandal-ridden administrations by one of the group caught up in the more recent scandal-ridden administrations. Really? Surprisingly enough, though, this is a good book! Dean has done the research - he's gone beyond the gossip and the overblown histories that have been published to source material released early in this decade - to put together a more accurate picture of a man known more for his tarred reputation than for his actual self.

Warren Harding was a second tier politician in the Ohio machine who was known for not making enemies of anybody. He traded on his good looks, inoffensive spirit and connections through his newspaper into first an Ohio legislature seat, then into the US Senate. In the Senate, he didn't really do much, but had a great reputation with other Senators. Then after Woodrow Wilson realized that he wasn't going to be able to run for a third term in 1920, Harding managed to use the same tactics to jump into the Republican nomination as a deadlock breaker, then into the Presidency itself. Harding loved to "bloviate" - flowery speeches in formal sounding language were his specialty - and actually brought the term into general use in the English language. He also liked his poker and his liquor, but not nearly as much as the House on K Street stories would later lead folks to believe.

Harding didn't accomplish much in the way of legislative agenda while in office. But he did pick some very good Cabinet members - Charles Evans Hughes and Herbert Hoover, for instance. These were able to get the country back on track economically after the war, and attempted to lead the world in naval disarmament. Unfortunately, he also selected Albert Fall at Interior and Harry Daugherty for Attorney General, leading to the Teapot Dome oil reserve scandal, and others. Just as multiple scandals were starting to come out, Harding died of a heart attack while on a trip to Alaska and the West Coast. The timing was perfect to allow the consequences of the scandals and investigations to completely color later historical evaluation of Harding.

If we can believe Dean, Harding was neither the corrupt politician he's often portrayed nor the clueless puppet that loved poker and women in smoked-filled back rooms. Yes, he had a long-term affair in his younger days. Yes, he made dome bad choices of friends. But he's also not the poster child for political corruption he was later made out to be. Dean's account is very good and is worth a look for those who want a more true picture of the man Warren Harding.

Fall of Cthulu Vol 1: The Fugue by Michael Alan Nelson

Graphic novel based on Lovecraft's Cthulu mythos. I had high hopes, but the graphic novel just didn't pan out for me. The artwork was so-so, and the story just didn't work. I think I'll pass on the rest...

The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson

Yet another reason to believe Sanderson is one of the best. His vision of the fantastic is unique - as proven by the Mistborn trilogy. The Alloy of Law is a follow-on to the trilogy set some 300 years in the future. The world has come a long way since the Mistborn days. Technology has advanced, and civilization has become something like the US in the late 19th century. A lawman from the Roughs has come to the city to inherit control of his clan after the death of his uncle. Except the city is rougher than the Roughs!

Very good fantasy, very good literature. Highly recommended, but you may want to read the Mistborn trilogy first!