drneutron's 2013 Challenge - Third Lap

Time for a new thread! As of today, 48 books with 3 in progress, so I'm looking at my usual 110-120 books for the year. Unless something changes and I get to pick up the pace!

Time for stats to start the new thread!

Total books so far: 48

Authors
Male: 39 (80%)
Female 10 (20%)

Living: 45 (94%)
Dead: 3 (6%)

Medium
Hardback: 18 (38%)
Paperback: 15 (31%)
eBook: 15 (31%)

Source
Public Library: 36 (75%)
My Library: 12 (25%)

ARC/ER: 4

Rereads: 2

In a Series: 28

Fiction: 33 (69%)
Nonfiction: 15 (31%)

Year of Publication
2013: 8
2012: 14
2011: 7
2010: 4

2008: 3
2007: 4
2006: 1

2001: 1

1998: 1

1995: 1

1991: 2
1990: 1

1921: 1

Country of Publication
US: 35
UK: 10
Sweden: 1
Iceland: 1
Spain: 1

Here's the list in roughly reverse chronological order. I'm trying to find a good way to export this from my library without having to retype everything. So far it's still a manual-ish process...

The Drunken Botanist
Deeply Odd (Odd Thomas)
The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel
Blackout (The Newsflesh Trilogy)
Ironhand (Stoneheart Trilogy)
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
The Twilight Prisoner (The Night Tourist, Book 2)
Whispers Under Ground
Necessary Evil (Milkweed Triptych)
Hallucinations
The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry
Stoneheart (Stoneheart Trilogy)
Moon Over Soho
The Night Tourist
Scarlet (The King Raven Trilogy, Book 2)
Mind's Eye: An Inspector Van Veeteren Mystery
Hood (The King Raven, Book 1)
Means of Ascent (The Years of Lyndon Johnson)
Heartstone: A Matthew Shardlake Tudor Mystery (Matthew Shardlake Mysteries)
Doc: A Novel
Ex-Heroes: A Novel
Ghost Burglar: The True Story of Bernard Welch: Master Thief, Ruthless Con Man, and Cold-Blooded Killer
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention
Hypothermia: A Thriller (Reykjavik Thriller)
Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians, and Activists
Batman and Philosophy: The Dark Knight of the Soul
The Rise of Ransom City
Revelation
The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City
American Elsewhere
Butch Cassidy: Beyond the Grave
Chew, Vol. 6: Space Cakes
Butch Cassidy: A Biography (Bison Book)
The Innocent Mage (Kingmaker, Kingbreaker)
Bad Glass
The Facade: Special Edition
Ash
Tales of Terror and Mystery
Foundation: The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors
The Map of the Sky: A Novel
A Sickness in the Family (Vertigo Crime)
The Path to Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 1)
Portlandtown: A Tale of the Oregon Wyldes
The Inexplicables (Clockwork Century)
Adrenaline (Sam Capra)
Midnight Riot
The True History of the Elephant Man

Can't you just cut and paste from the previous thread? Or do you not keep up a list at the top?

Good morning, Jim! Not that it is still morning there...but a lovely new thread!

Well, the previous thread only had 6 of the 48 in a list at the top, so I was looking for a way to not have to retype the remaining 42. I tried copying and pasting from Your Books, which worked fine except that lots of extraneous text got inserted and I had to put brackets around titles to make touchstones. I think it was faster than retyping, though.

Hi Jim, 48 books is good going at this stage, i think you will probably do about 130 for the year.

Hi doc! Seeing your stats made me realize I need to get caught up on mine.....

Jim is the Odd series continuing after Deeply Odd? I had the impression that it was going to be the last Odd book. Now I can't remember why I think that. I loved the first two, the third was good, but I did not like the direction of the fourth and fifth. What keeps me in it is Odd.

I have only read the first Odd book but I really liked it. I definitely want to get back to it at some point.

Loved your story of your great birthday. A dinner alone with a good book sounds like my kind of party! Anyway, happy belated birthday.

Hi Doc! Just got back from the Jungle after four days without internet and see I have a kabillion posts and threads to catch up on; so this is just a quick hello for the new thread and I will come back to comment properly soon!
Cheers,
Charles

Deeply Odd isn't the last, but Koontz is clearly headed for it. I suspect one, maybe two more books.

The series has definitely taken a turn. This one continues that direction, I think.

Had an interesting evening yesterday...

Mrsdrneutron and her mom were sitting on the front porch watching a rainstorm. They saw debris flying over a tree across the road, then a funnel form. We beat it to the basement for the duration.

It turns out a neighbor had a tornado hit his detached garage and obliterate it. Crap was scattered everywhere, including a 400 lb drum of gas that nobody's found yet. Nobody hurt, no houses damaged, though.

But we made the news!

Yowza!! That's much too close for comfort.

Wow! Scary that it was that close!

Yikes! I have only seen one or two funnel forms take shape in the prairies and that is more than enough first person experience for me! Glad to see that the storm missed your property, but feel sorry for the neighbor.

Out of curiosity, did you grab a book on your way into the basement to ride out the tornado, and if so, which one did you grab? I'm the type of person to head downstairs, sans book and pretty much anything else - water, cell phone, you name it - and over the course of the storm debate whether it is safe enough to venture above ground to retrieve some reading material, or anything I may suddenly feel is essential to have on hand! ;-)

Well, I grabbed the iPad, so had half a dozen books!

So glad you are all OK, Jim!

Jim - congratulations on your latest thread. The weather really is news in your neck of the woods. Glad to see that you're all ok and I hope the gas drum turns up soon (probably in Lisbon, Portugal not Lisbon, Maryland!)

> 16 - Good choice! ;-)

Glad you are all safe and sound.

Holy Moly! That's way too close for comfort. I sincerely hope that's the closest any of you get to a funnel.
I've read a couple of Odds, but they're not my favorite Koontzes. I really like the old ones best - Watchers, Twilight Eyes for two.

I've posted the meetup thread for the National Book Festival in DC!
http://www.librarything.com/topic/155277

While you we're posting here, I added my name to the wiki!

And today's my 6th Thingaversary!

Happy Thingaversary! (Why aren't you out buying books? It's required, you know?)

Happy Thingaversary Jim, what will you buy.

I just looked and I just passed 6 years as well. I started "cataloging" my reading back then after a job interviewer asked me what the last book I read was. He said that he kept a spreadsheet of what he read.

I started keeping a list in Excel and looking for an online version. I stumbled on Reader2. A decent site written by a Russian developer. I think its still around, but pretty much defunct. I forget exactly how I found LT, but once I tried it, it was worth enough to me to buy in to a lifetime membership (who wouldn't). Its indispensable now.

Keep Calm and Read On. (I know cliche :) )

Happy Thingaversary!

Happy Thingaversary, Jim!!

I don't know what I'll get to celebrate! Maybevsavevup for the Book Fest in September...

Happy Thingaversary Jim :)

Happy Thingaversary, Jim!

Glad you are safe and waiting to see what seven books you purchased for your 6th Thingaversary. :-)

Have a great weekend Jim and kindly spill the beans on what books you added!

49. Silvertongue by Charlie Fletcher

Third in the excellent YA trilogy that began with Stoneheart. Unusual world, good characters, lots of development, decent plot. All in all, a great choice for YA fantasy.

50. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

Joe's got good genes, I'll give him that. His voice is different from his dad's - in some ways I like his better than at least most mid-career and later Stephen King. But he's got the storytelling mojo. I couldn't put it down. Ok, I had to put it done to, you know, eat and stuff. but it was pretty captivating for me. Highly recommended!

Happy Thingaversary, Jim! My Thingaversary was on the 10th. I have both the book and the audio of NOS4A2, waiting in the wings. I was hoping to start it earlier this month but it looks like it won't work out. I really enjoyed his first 2 novels. I did get to meet him at an author's signing last month. Definitely a chip off the old block.
Looking forward to seeing you on Friday!

Yowzah Jim....What excitement to see the tornado up close!

I'm glad you and loved ones are fine.

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill is on my tbr pile.

Congratulations on reading so many books thus far this year.

>35 drneutron: My library just got NOS4A2 on audio so it's on my list!

Geez, Jim. Been busy with life & I've missed so much in your life.... A birthday, a tornado, a Thingaversary & tons of book bullets. I've added Boneshaker from a previous discussion. Tonight I've added Feed, Stoneheart, and NOS4A2. Wow, my TBR stacks are shaking right now!!

My work here is done... :)

Hi, Jim! Belated Thingaversary greetings! Zowie, that tornado was too close for comfort, glad you are OK.

NOS4A2, have been thinking about that one. . .

I want to read NOS4A2, as well. I had it once, but I think it was in the midst of my Sookie frenzy and I sent it back unread. Maybe soon.

I thank you for your suggestion and I purchased two, one for me and one for my daughter. I feel better already.

Hi Jim- Had a great Meet-up with you my friend. We will have to do it again. We are wrapping up our trip here and everything went perfectly. Hope you are enjoying your Sunday.

Agreed that NOS4A2 is much fun. Glad you liked it, Jim!

Mark - hope you made it home ok, and I'm glad you guys had a good time. Next time, Chicago!

More book bullets in your #49 & 59 books, Jim!

Mark & Jim in a DC bar! Another successful Meet-Up!

Cool!

Bier Baron! Excellent!

Love the photo Jim.

You guys look great :)

What Kath said. What could be better than beer and book talk?

Well, there were the hamburgers... :)

51. Duel with the Devil by Paul Collins

I sometimes think our media act as if sensational crimes are a new thing. In reality, there have always been these events that capture public attention. In New York of 1800, it was the murder of a young Quaker girl by a boarder at the house where she lived. And the public was ready to string him up. Except that Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr - two men that absolutely despised each other - teamed up for his defense and was able prove he didn't do it.

Paul Collins' new book is very good retelling of the story along with sidelights on New York of the day, Hamilton, Burr, and the world they lived in. Given the size of the city at the time, I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised by the interconnectedness of all the players in this drama, but I was, and Collins really brought it to life for me. Plus, he clears up the mystery in the end!

52. Travels in Elysium by William Azuski

Nope. If I could get away with a one-word review, that's what it would be. Nope, it's not written well. Nope, the characters aren't real or interesting. Nope, there's no discernible plot.

Azuski tries to literate, smart, mystical. What he is is boring. And blithely unmindful of the realities of volcanoes or archaeology. Don't bother.

Tim reviewed a book that way once. He just said .. No.

#55. One of the most useful reviews I've ever read.

I'm totally in favor of one-word reviews.

Unfortunately, it's an ER, so I had to come up with at least 24 more words. :)

and I have it to look forward to..... not...

Sorry to hear that.. the cover and description look enticing. Thanks for taking a hit for the team, Jim :)

Speaking of ER books, I daren't ask for any more. I have four? five? that I need to get read. This month I was focusing on the TIOLI challenge and am reading one book for each challenge. Next month I'm going to get caught up on all my ERs.

I'm all caught up now, except for a March book nobody's received yet. Which is good, since here are a couple his month that I'm really interested in getting.

Burr and Hamilton make for interesting reading. Still remember Gore Vidal's Burr which gave me many hours of pleasure reading and cross referencing with other historians.

You should probably check this one out. It's short and fun, not an extended historical work, so should be easy to fit in. Plus, Collins is a good writer.

NOS4A2 sounds great and its on my WL. I love everything by King but have only read one short story by Hill. The one I read was Throttle. Have you tried it? It was pretty "grab you by the throat" writing.

Haven't read that one yet. I'll have to track it down.

Duel with the Devil goes on the list!

I love your "nope" review. I think my current ER may deserve a similar evaluation . . . maybe not in the particulars you mentioned to get to 25 words, but definitely in the basic "nope."

Thanks! Sorry yours isn't working out either.

I am still waiting for my last one.. maybe that's a good thing?

mrsdrneutron and I got away for her birthday over the last few days - a couple of nights in a great B&B in Oxford, Maryland. The town's small and quiet, the inn sits right on an inlet of the Chesapeake Bay. Best part - sitting out on the lawn reading and watching the sailboats go by! Plus we took a kayak trip and saw some bald eagles and a bunch of osprey families with babies!

So I didn't take Master of the Senate. Because it's freakishly big, but I did start Outrage, the next in the Inspector Erlandur series I've been reading. Plus. I finished...

53. Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Yes, boys and girls, I finally got around to it. And it was everything I hoped for. Possibly because I got to read it in a couple of sessions sitting by the Bay. Possibly because, well, it's freakin' good. Either way, it's a new fave, and probable gift for my son who loves this sort of thing.

Yeah.. Mr P really is freakin' good

You've got a great list going there, Doc. I'm adding a few to the ol' TBR pile.

I was on a bit of a Jon Ronson tear myself, for a bit.

'Hope to lurk over here more often.

Glad you liked Mr. Penumbra's, Jim. Ditto.

Oh yay, I read Mr. Penumbra last year and really enjoyed it. Glad to see you did too!

72 Glad you had a nice getaway on the bay with mrsdrneutron.

I've got to get back to the Erlandur series. (Thanks for the reminder, Jim!)

Hi Jim- Glad you liked Mr. Penumbra. I was a fan too! I hope to FINALLY get to NOS4A2 later in the month. I also have Joyland waiting in the wings too!

Catching up on a few recently finished...

54. Outrage by Arnaldur Indridason

Next in the Inspector Erlandur series for me...except Erlandur isn't around, so his compatriots have to pick the slack for a case involving date rape and the murder of the rapist. One of the better of the series.

55. Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg

Very interesting mystery/thriller about a half-Greenlander expatriot in Copenhagen who just wants to know why a neighbor kid jumped off the roof of their building - when he was afraid of heights. Finding the answer is much deeper than Smilla ever expected and leads her back to Greenland.

Excellent picture of Greenlander culture and the effects of the modern world on a remote and mysterious place.

56. Master of the Senate by Robert A. Caro

Third in Caro's planned five volume biography of Lyndon Johnson. This one centers around Johnson's 12 years in the Senate - how he went from relatively unknown freshman Senator to the first Majority Leader to really control the Senate. And control it he did, by using all his tricks.

As with the previous, Caro's writing is top-notch. His first three chapters are one of the best histories of the Senate I've read. Caro shows LBJ as a complex person who seemed to truly care about the poor and underprivileged, but one who put that - and everything else about himself - into his driving ambition to be President. Once again, I find Caro's book superb, but LBJ a thoroughly distasteful man.

I read Smilla's Sense of Snow years ago and thoroughly enjoyed, which surprised me as it isn't something I would probably normally have read. I got it from my LT SantaThing that year, which is one of the things I love about that program: getting books you may not normally pick up yourself.

I loved Mr. Penumbra's bookstore -- fabulously entertaining.

Could we now see Smilla's Sense of Snow as the original Scandicrime novel, I wonder?

I think I was more underwhelmed by the latest Paul Collins book than you, Jim, although I agree he is fabulous on conveying a sense of atmosphere -- time and place. But it was too much like his last book, a Gilded Age reconstruction of a time/place/crime. So if you haven't read The Murder of the Century yet, I'd give it a couple of years to allow the memories of this one to fade. The other disappointment was that there was so little about the interaction between Burr and Hamilton. Oh well... My faves by Collins remain Sixpence House and his book about Shakespeare's first folio.

Haven't read The Murder of the Century yet, so maybe that's the difference between our thoughts on it. I do agree he could have done more with the Burr-Hamilton story. And yeah, I liked his First Folio book much more than this one!

This is what I had to say about Smilla's Sense of Snow: I had a hard time relating to Smilla - she's quite a cold fish - and the story creeped along yet I enjoyed reading about the culture of Greenlanders and Danes. It was very atmospheric.

I read it for an "Around the World in 80 Sleuths" challenge I'm still (slowly) working on.

Hi Jim!

#79 - You've reminded me to get back to the Erlandur series. I've only read the first, but I quite liked it.

I feel like Smilla's Sense of Snow was a movie too, but I remember nothing about it, so I could easily read the book without anything being spoiled.

Yep. Made in 1997, Julia Ormond played Smilla, Netflix has it!

First World Grievance: the WiFi at the state park where I'm camping has been down most of the day...

Spoiled, am I? :)

Hi Jim- I read Smilla's Sense of Snow way back in the early 90s. I remember it being very good. I can't remember the film version very well.
I am already about a 1/3 of the way through NOS4A2. What a perfect creep-fest. This one probably reminds me most of his Dad's work.
I also enjoyed the Last Policeman. Have you read it? If not, I think this one would be just your cuppa.

Haven't read it, but it's in my Wishlist. Maybe for the Halloween reading list...

86: First World Grievance: the WiFi at the state park where I'm camping has been down most of the day...
Well I hope the air conditioning has kept going.

:)

WiFi and A/C at campgrounds -- lol -- have both and can relate

WiFi and A/C are essentials when we're off camping - well, RVing. Which we are! We have another week before we head home.

57. Fathom by Cherie Priest

The water witch Arahab has waited and plotted for millennia to awaken the Leviathan, and thereby changing the world forever. And now, after a terrible murder by Bernice, she may have found the mortal who can accomplish the task. But there are other spirits, and Bernice's cousin Nia, who may be able to stop her.

Fathom is dark fantasy with a touch of weird. It's not her best, but it's a quite good tale. If you like your fantasy with a touch of the tragic, try this one.

58. The Assassins: a Radical Sect in Islam by Bernard Lewis

The name "assassin" for one who commits murder for political purposes or for hire came from a secretive Islamic sect in Syria led by the legendary Old Man of the Mountain. These men purportedly committed their murders - usually getting killed themselves - as an act of absolute obedience to their Master, and all sorts of stories about their conversion and training have been told.

In reality, the Assassins of Syria were part of the larger Ismaili branch of Islam - an extremist, almost Messianic sect that held sway mainly in Persia through Syria. These communities were mostly tribal, centered around mountain fortresses, and very missionary. So naturally they came into conflict with the mainstream Sunni and Shia communities. And given their minority status, one way they chose to exert power was to commit political murders.

Many of the stories told about the assassins were simply untrue. Lewis here sorts out their real history. I wish he had written less history and more culture - who were these people, what did they believe, and how did they live and die? Still, not a bad history.

59. The Eye of God by James Rollins

Latest in the Sigma Force novels. The characters are still interesting, but the science is getting more and more implausible as he goes. Fun, but not much more than brain candy.

I've only read Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Priest and really need to try something else by her. Any recommendations?

Well, her big sellers right now are Boneshaker and sequels. I'm infatuated with them - steampunk, zombies, airships, oh my. :) She also does an urban fantasy series you might like that starts with Bloodshot. mrsdrneutron and I both liked them.

We were camping (?) this weekend and lost power and therefore AC...it was tragic! LOL

#87 If NOS4A2 is the most like his dad's work I am even more excited to read it!

I think Bloodshot might be more up my alley. Steampunk has never really done it for me.

Is The Assassins: a Radical Sect in Islam as interesting as it sounds?

It's a bit dry, but a decent history. It's short, so doesn't require a big time investment.

Dry wasn't what I was expecting, but if it is a short book, it probably is worth the investment, thanks.

Camping... no longer on my list of Things I like :)
No wifi sounds dreadful.

most RV parks have wifi now. not all of them very good, mind, but usually it is there.

we are currently at a park without wifi (Florida State Park) down in a hollow without TV either. Still, we manage to connect using our cell phones.

Must get to Mr P soon! So many books, so little time!!!

If you seek out some books about the Crusades, they often talk about the Assassins, who were equal-opportunity loathers when it came to Saladin and "the Franks". For some reason, it has stuck in my mind that Amin Maalouf deals with them in The Crusades Through Arab Eyes. But even if I'm wrong, that is an excellent book, and not in the least dry...

60. The Return: A Novel by Michael Gruber

In The Return, Rick Marder has just recently found that he's got a Thing in his brain that could burst and kill him at any moment. So he decides to take off for Mexico where long ago he met his now deceased wife - to make some things right in his life before going on. Of course, Rick isn't just the mild-mannered book editor everyone knows. He's also a former in-country special ops type while in Vietnam, as well as lucky enough to have invested in Apple early on. So when the local drug gangs involve him in their war, he and his Army buddy Skelly have more than enough resources to take care of themselves.

Normally, this sort of thing would be right up my alley, and after the first couple of chapters I had high hopes. But frankly, it moves at a crawl. And while I expect thrillers of this sort to be wildly improbable, The Return is just too, too much so. I think Skelly could disappear for a bit, then show up with an Apollo moon capsule if needed.

Meh.

61. Equilateral by Ken Kalfus

Equilateral is a bit of a puzzle of a book. Ostensibly, it's about the obsession of a man in 1893 trying to communicate with the universe (or at least with Martians) by building a perfect equilateral triangle of enormous dimension in the Egyptian desert.

But it seems there's more here and I can't quite get it. The language is beautiful, and the characters are fascinating. And when I read it I couldn't help thinking that there's just no there there, if you know what I mean.

*drive by post, waves* How ya doin', doc?

Busy. We're going through an infinite number of reviews to get ready for a big NASA review in January. Nothin' better than sitting in a meeting room all day looking at slides that start "The spacecraft shall..."

But Friday we're heading to South Carolina to visit with the son at college at help him move to a new apartment!

Oh, what a snooze fest. You have my sympathies.

Just keep thinking of Friday. Sunshine, pizza and beer are on the way, right?

Well, knowing the son (I've raised him right!) it'll be decent Italian food with a good Belgian brew. :)

I think Skelly could disappear for a bit, then show up with an Apollo moon capsule if needed.

Too funny! I guess I can skip this one then!

Good luck with your reviews. I thought spaceships were always exciting but I guess not!

105> I read a book like that last year. AS you say, I suspend belief when reading, as thats the point, really. But in this dreadful, awful, very bad book.. written by a local author and picked up at a local book festival, left out ONLY the space capsule.

On the other hand, Equilateral sound intriguing...

Your books #60 and 61 sound like ones I definitely will skip! Thanks for the warning.

Well you're ahead of me now in Caro's LBJ biography--I need to get to Master of the Senate soon.

Been away helping the son move to a new apartment - and of course, no Internet while there, so waaaay behind. Anyway,

62. Raven Black by Ann Cleeves

Excellent start to a promising quartet. Great characters, great setting, great writing. G,ad I picked this one up at that little bookshop over on the Eastern Shore of Maryland!

#114 - just got the 4th Caro from the library...

Hi Jim- Just checking in with my beer-drinking buddy, (actually I am getting pretty thirsty, my friend!) Sorry the Gruber book was disappointing. That one sounded good. I really liked his last book.

Hmm. I wasn't too impressed with Raven Black. My mini-review: "It felt a little slow and plodding; however, it was interesting enough that I'll try the next book in the series. The murderer's motive didn't work for me either. There didn't seem to be enough emotion involved."

Because I didn't want to give away anything I forgot who the murderer was and what the motivation was though. LOL!

Morphie - It certainly wasn't the thriller advertised on the cover! :) But overall, it worked for me. Like the Simon Serailler series, I think I liked it for the characters more than the mystery.

Mark - we spent a long weekend with the son getting him moved into his new apartment in South Carolina. Internet wasn't hooked up yet, so my access to LT was limited. On the other hand, we had a great dinner and this excellent Pilsner!

Hi Jim! Great reading, and glad to see your meetup photo with Mark! Did they have any beer left after you guys were done? ;)

How was the Sweet Water Road Trip? The name sounds good at least.

Hi, drbrainiac, just stopping to say hello... that beer looks amazing, specially since here is somewhere between 85-95 degrees everyday for a week now.

Laura- Let me know if you ever get to the DC area and we can set up a meet-up at the Bier Baron for brews and burgers! GIven the number of taps they have, there's always plenty. :)

tiger - it was about the same in South Carolina, where my son goes to college. So the cold beer was just right!

Well, knowing the son (I've raised him right!) it'll be decent Italian food with a good Belgian brew. I had to laugh out loud at this!!!

I saw that you at least had a Sweet Water... did that meet your expectations well enough?

Yup. I had never had one and he suggested it. While he and I disagree a bit about the desireability of hoppiness, this one was a nicely done. Now if I could just get it here in Maryland... :)

I feel like I've seen Sweetwater around the DC area somewhere......unfortunately their website is down at the moment so I can't check their distribution area.

63. Flood by Stephen Baxter

Dystopian novel about survival after a cataclysmic flood over several decades. Baxter follows a set of characters as sea level rises to eventually cover all land. This gives him a chance to talk about global changes, but also about the good and bad of humanity as we react to the deadly challenges associated with extreme loss of land, food, technology...

Like many sf writers, Baxter is good at the global perspective, but his plot and characters slip into the unbelievable at times. Parts of the story were clearly there to give Baxter a platform from which to show world-wide events. Not bad, per se, but not great either.

64. Dreams of Terror and Death: the Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft by H. P. Lovecraft

A collection of his stories centering on dreams, dreaming, drugs and alchemy. Some of my favorites are here - like The Strange Case Of Charles Dexter Ward - but others are mere sketches and poetic prose, including some unpublished pieces.

#126 Flood will always make me think of Croatia. Both me and Mr SandDune read it when we on holiday there, and J (who was 9 at the time) was fascinated by the maps showing the rapidly reducing land area, so every time one of went to pick the book up we'd find he'd squirrelled it away somewhere to study the maps more carefully. And we had to have hugely detailed conversations about the practicalities of it all.

Hi, Jim! Glad you enjoyed Raven Black. I like that series a lot.

Flood sounds interesting. What a wonderful way to share a book with your family SandDune....thanks for sharing your memory!

Definitely a good story! Now I'm disappointed that my copy didn't have maps. :)

65. Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History by Yunte Huang

A short, not very in-depth, look at Charlie Chan, Earl Biggers (author of the Charlie Chan books), and the real-life Chinese-Hawaiian detective that inspired Biggers. It's an interesting look at Hawaii during a time I'm not very familiar with, but the sections dealing with the cultural impact of Charlie Chan through the books and subsequent movies - especially the role of "yellow-face" actors playing Asian parts - could have been deeper. Still, not a bad effort.

66. A Question of Identity by Susan Hill

Seventh (or so) Simon Serailler book. As with the others, there's mystery here, but the lives of those around Simon take focus. One of the better ones in the series, I think.

I have to get back to the Simon Serailler books. I keep saying that and not getting there..
I really like Susan Hill's writing..

I've had a very good weekend for reading thanks to a bit of rain and not too many chores...

67. Black Out by Lisa Unger

A young woman once under the thumb of a serial killer is now living with a new identity - but suppressed memories of her past are breaking through again...

Frankly, this was a freaky book. I was guessing the whole way through and had trouble putting it down. A literate, intelligent thriller rather than a typical thriller, it's made me want to go hunt up more of Unger's books.

68. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Yep, finally got my turn at a copy from the library. Not much to say other than Gaiman at his best! I loved it.

69. Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel by Andrew Graham-Dixon

A fascinating look at the meaning and structure of Michelangelo's famous frescoes. It's a quick read, but nicely informative. The chapters on Michelangelo's life were detailed enough to be adequate, but quite a bit more info is really needed. Of course,this would make the book much longer...

So glad you liked the Gaiman. I did, too!

Re: The Sistine Chapel...books like this make me curious. How do they know? Was Michelangelo given an agenda of sorts to fill? Or did someone lie there looking up and say I see a cloud that looks like a unicorn! ( so to speak). I always feel uneasy when art of any kind is taken apart and explained. Can anyone know what was in the artists heart and mind, and further... does it matter? Isn't art there to be what it is, and perhaps hold a different meaning for each one of us who experiences it?

I'm number 580 in line for The Ocean at the End of the Lane. There are 121 copies at the library. So I may get it in a couple months?

True, there's no written documentation of a plan, but there is organization to the work. For instance, there are nine main panels in the ceiling divided into three groups. The first group, starting over the altar, shows images from the creation story in Genesis - separating light from dark, creating the sun and moon, creating life. The next show three events from the story of Adam and Eve - creation of Adam (or as mrsdrneutron mentioned, the "pull my finger" painting!), creation of Eve, and the Fall and expulsion from Eden. The third group gives scenes from the story of Noah - the Flood, sacrifice after the Ark landed, Noah's drunkenness (closest to the exit).

There's also a vertical organization: the highest paintings are about God, the next level down shows scenes of salvation of the Jews from the Old Testament (David and Goliath, etc), then prophets and ancient oracles that foretold the coming of Jesus, then human ancestors of Jesus from the lineage given in the gospel of Matthew. Below these frescoes by other artists (that were pre-existing) that show scenes from Jesus' life and then the lives of saints.

So the overall idea seems to be that one standing at the altar, the most sacred part of the church sees a spatial representation of the creation, fall and salvation story throughout history as understood back then. That interpretation seems pretty solid given the written evidence that's available from that time. There are lots of other details and figures that show up that aren't nearly as clear. For example, why did he put nude figures holding what look like big bronze medallions around the edges of the main frescoes? Do they have meaning in the context of the overall story? Here's where the interpretation part gets pretty iffy, and to my mind pretty useless. Fortunately, the author of this book doesn't seem to hold with any of that, and points out the questions without trying to provide a lot of answers.

What was cool for me about the book was this global look at the work. While I've seen close-ups of the famous parts, I didn't know anything about the work as a whole, and Graham-Dixon did a great job of introducing it without slipping into guidebook mode or expounding unsupportable theories.

Morph - I hope you do. It's the first book I've sat down to read in a long while that I couldn't put down (except when on an airplane, I suppose!) and fortunately, I had time to devote to it.

Hi Jim- Just checking in! Hope the weekend went well and you got in plenty of R & R. Glad you enjoyed the new Gaiman. It is a gem.

I was fortunate enough to see the Sistine Chapel in its "muddy" state when I was young, Jim, and then more recently with my wife in its vibrant, cleaned-up state. I liked the latter much more. It's an amazing piece of work. Who today could successfully take on something that ambitious? You might enjoy Ross King's book, too, Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling, which gives you insight into the politics behind it and its day-to-day creation. Meanwhile, I may pick up Andrew Graham-Dixon's book to learn more about the painting itself.

Interesting Michelangelo book, Jim. There's a newish tome by Ross King about da Vinci and the Last Supper fresco that he created for the Sforzas in Milan that I'd recommend if you're looking for more along the same lines. It struck me as a nearly perfect balance between the art history and the history.

Hmm, I may have to check out Lisa Unger. I figured they were likely to be potboilers, as that is how they are marketed.

The Lisa Unger book sounds great. I have never tried any of her work but that one sounds like it would be a good one to start with.

That does sound good.. I'm pretty sure that I will never see it, but I can live with that. I have read something about The Last Supper, politics etc. Not that I can remember titles right now. ( hellish day, what's my name again? )

I have a hard time reading/ concentrating on a plane. I usually at least pretend to read, though...
to keep folks at bay. Very close quarters those plane.. Have you been to Space Camp lately?

:) we actually host a Space Camp here where I work where we bring in a batch of teenagers, then give 'em a mission to design. They work with engineers to develop a concept for a spacecraft and all its subsystems, the instruments and science measurements, trajectory, and even operations. I've had a chance to participate a couple of times, and it's a blast!

Sounds fun! And I bet it's more so when you're there :)

I added Blackout to my list, Jim. And I, too, need to get back to that Susan Hill series. (Maybe for September Series & Sequels?)

The Serailler books would be really good for September! Especially back-to-back.

Oooooh. Had to add Black Out to my wish list! :)

>143 drneutron: Just make sure they don't make friends with a robot named Jinx!

For several years, Mac (blackdogbooks) put together a Halloween reading list that was a pretty popular feature around here. Last year, Mac wasn't available, so I put a list together. Unfortunately, work is insane this year and I'd like to find another volunteer. Anybody interested in putting together a suggested reading list?

If not, we could treat this as the October theme and folks could report on their own selections.

I might be able to be convinced. It's not my usual genre but I'm great at research.

#149 I can try my hand as well, given that I have participated in all the Halloween reads put together by Mac and you.

Ack! I got the Message Board first, where Stephen volunteered! Piyush, I think your doing this next year would be awesome.

131:

Jim you should now go and read a real Earl Biggers Charlie Chan novel. The House without a key for example.

I think they're a lot of fun - very different from the movies and also very different from the guy who Biggers pointed to as the model for the character

Oh, I definitely plan to!

!!!! I just saw on the news that someone dropped some sort of missile or something in a parking lot in MAryland. Yikes. Like did it fall out of a truck or something??? sheesh~

So Stephen will be doing the Halloween Reads this year? I'm sure he will do a fantastic job.. will you be joining in?

Stephen has put up the Halloween thread, it can be found here

Maggs - apparently a National Guard pilot making practice runs over on the Eastern Shore inadvertently lost a practice bomb over a parking lot for a neighborhood bar. The bomb was no explosive, but produced a bunch of smoke. Plus, 33lbs of metal falling from a plane apparently makes quite a hole in a parking lot!

Piyush - excellent!

70. The Joshua Stone by James Barney

James Barney is the latest in a long line of techno-thriller/ancient mystery authors, inheriting quite a lot from James Rollins, Dan Brown, and others. The story in these sorts of books is usually pretty formulaic - outsider investigator stumbles across some ancient mystery recorded in a sacred text (usually the Bible), somehow this mystery links to cutting edge science with either a) the potential to destroy the world, b) the cure to all known disease, or c) free power for everybody. There has to be a secret organization to either control the new technology or keep the ancient mystery covered up.

The Joshua Stone sticks to the formula. Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing. James Rollins' Sigma Force books are both popular and pretty good reads, and a bit of brain candy is sometimes just what the doctor ordered. And The Joshua Stone is pretty good. There are a few spots where the book suffers from a bit of awkwardness - a lecture on basic (and wrong) physics to an audience of experienced scientists was an obvious "as you know, Bob" moment. But in his favor, Barney's heroes aren't the invulnerable, perfect marksman types one often sees from Rollins.

71. The Magician by Michael Scott

Sequel to The Alchemyst, this one continues the story of Twins who may be the key to keeping the Elders from returning to Earth and making slaves of all humanity. It's a well written, well plotted series with guest appearances from many figures from mythology. I'm enjoying the series!

I've read several Rollins books and I like him a lot! I am quite partial to many kinds of brain candy :)

I really loved Rollin's Map of Bones, finished only a few days ago. I'll take a look at The Joshua Stone as I enjoy that sort of science/thriller combination.

Oh, I am so heading over to check out the Halloween thread right now Jim! I was such a newbie to this group last year that I must have totally missed that!

72. Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life by Douglas T. Kenrick

Why we do what we do and believe what we believe has been the subject of lots of theorizing and experimenting by psychologists. We've had Freud and psychoanalysis, Skinner and behaviorism, Maslow's pyramid of needs...

Kenrick comes at the problem from an evolutionary psychology perspective. The mind is really composed of a group of "sub-minds" that have evolved to deal with specific contexts - how we deal with family vs strangers, religious thinking, etc. To him, everything can be explained as flowing from the need to reproduce and preserve our genes.

Some of what he says makes sense to me - especially as we deal with less thoughtful, more immediate contexts. But I had a harder time with higher functions. How does the need to reproduce bring us to create fantastic art, for instance? Why, to attract mates, of course! Nope, sorry, don't buy it. I do lots of stuff all day long that any connection with finding a mate is pretty tenuous - take reading,for example.

The book was actually an ok read, even if I didn't fully appreciate his theory. As a populizer of these ideas, Kenrick does pretty well. Unfortunately, the book was stuffed with details from his personal life used as explanatory text that got old quickly.

Hmmmm, sounds like an interesting premise that falls short. What made you pick this one to read now Jim? Just being curious... If it is too nosy of a question, just say so & I'll back off. :)

Bad day at work... :)

Seriously, I came across it on my library's Overdrive list and it caught my attention. Squirrel!

73. The Passage of Power by Robert A. Caro

Fourth in Caro's biography of Lyndon Johnson. Here he covers the years from the election win in 1960, when Johnson served as John Kennedy's Vice President, through the transition into 1964 after Kennedy's assassination.

Those following my thread have heard me say how much I like Caro's writing, but how much I dislike Johnson. Here's the firat volume where I felt Johnson showed real class and humanity in spite of his overwhelming desire to get and use power over people. Kennedy's men treated him horribly - he was on the ticket to balance the Northeast liberal Democrat, but once elected, was completely shut out of any involvement in the administration and was the butt of many, many jokes and gossip around those in power - and yet when the time came for someone to step up and guarantee a smooth transition in the middle of a chaotic situation - without knowing, for instance, if there was a wider plot by the Soviet Union to attack the US - he did it pretty well. Yep, he made mistakes like insensitivity to Bobby Kennedy that wasted an opportunity for reconciliation that might have avoided their later feud. But within seven weeks of the assassination, we had a functioning government, he had forced passage of several stalled bills in Congress that were priorities for Kennedy, and got us on the road to a 1964 Civil Rights law. Was he still a bastard? You bet. But having attained what he sought for so long, he was able to rise above that. We'll see how things turn out in the next one... :)

Highly recommended!

74. Blood Feud: The Hatfields and the McCoys: The Epic Story of Murder and Vengeance by Lisa Alther

Lisa Alther is a descendent - ok, a few times removed, so not a direct descendent - of some of the folks involved in the Hatfield-McCoy feud. So when she was at a family reunion and heard some of the stories, she got interested in learning more. What she found was a bit of a mess. There are few "prime sources" type books out there with interviews with participants, actual research, etc, but all are inconsistent and come at the story from a particular point of view. So understanding what happened in the classic American hillbilly feud wasn't easy.

Fortunately, she put together this little book that gives her best cut at the true sequence of events. Even better, she ties it into the times - many of the initial Hatfields and McCoys were involved in the Civil War and much of the bad feelings that caused the feud stemmed from that. Plus, she doesn't sugar coat any of the characters involved. The clan leaders of each side weren't nice people, and she doesn't pull punches. The best part of the book for me, though, was the section at the end where she talked about the impact of the feud on the participants' later lives and how the media really bent our understanding of the feud out of shape.

>73 mckait:. Those following my thread have heard me say how much I like Caro's writing, but how much I dislike Johnson.

I share your feelings about both Caro and Johnson. I think Caro's a brilliant biographer. What amazed me about this book was how absolutely sidelined Johnson was as a VP--and then how quickly he was able to recover and take over as president after the assassination. I'm not saying that I liked the guy, but a lesser man wouldn't have survived the Kennedy treatment. I think my favorite of the series is still Master of the Senate (1949-1960). LBJ had so much power in the Senate, and he knew how to use it. It's interesting to think "what might have been" had he been content to stay there.

I'm adding Blood Feud to my list -- and I know the local library has a copy, though it's checked out right now. Great review, Jim!

Blood Feud made it to my radar when it first came out. My great grandmother used to insist that we had a connection to the McCoys, but I never explored that. One way or the other, it is still on the lost. Thanks for the reminder..

:)

I'm not really into reading histories but Blood Feud does sound interesting.

I can't wait to get to Lyndon Johnson in my presidential challenge so I can read the Caro biographies. I am even excited that there are four of them! I must be a crazy bookaholic! Unfortunately, I am stuck in my French Revolution book and am determined not to move onto Andrew Jackson until I am done....only about 350 more pages to go! LOL

Which Jackson book are you going to read? I really liked American Lion.

Squirrel!!

Awesome! :)

National Book Festival Event Report:

- Introduced mrsdrneutron to the wonders of the commuter croissant sandwich at Corner Bakery on the way to the Shady Grove Metro station.

- Saw four author talks (Justin Cronin, Paolo Bacigalupi, Jennifer Holm with Matthew Holm, Taylor Branch, and Charles Wheelan). All very good.

- Picked up four books (Divergent, Insurgent, The Accursed, and Babymouse, Queen of the World!). Tried to see Veronica Roth too, but the tent was packed with fans and couldn't even get close!

- Had a short meet-n-greet at the Hirschorn Sculpture Garden, then dinner at Chinatown Express with folks. Zoe has pictures, I think.

All in all, a very good day!

I'm glad it was a good day for you, Jim. It's a great event.

Nicely done .....

Hope you enjoy Divergent and Insurgent. I did.

I'll let you know after mrsdrneutron finishes. :)

I hear you've finished #75, so a big CONGRATULATIONS!

74: My cousin is an editor for Lyons Press in NYC and was the editor for this book. I'm a bad relative because I haven't actually read it yet... still, glad you enjoyed it!

Rosy - well, pass on word for me that I thought it was well done!

Roni - Thanks!

75. The Passage by Justin Cronin

I thought I'd finish something else first, but after listening to Justin Cronin at the National Book Festival last weekend, I put everything aside and tore through the last 400 pages. He's an excellent speaker and I loved his telling of how he and his daughter came up with the story of a little girl who saved the world!

This one's a reread, so it wasn't surprising that I loved it - but I was surprised at how much it captivated me even though I knew what was going to happen. Cronin talked about how he planned the book (and the trilogy) to let him tell the characters' stories, and that aspect really popped out for me on rereading. Looking forward to The Twelve - and mrsdrneutron's reaction to The Passage!

Congratulations on hitting 75! (And I will pass your praise along!)

Congratulations on 75! I'm almost there.

Congrats on 75!

Congratulations, Jim! So there's going to be another book after 'The Twelve'? Interesting! (I suspect this is one of those pieces of book news that everyone knows but me.) I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

Thanks!

Yeah, at the book fest, Cronin mentioned that the whole trilogy will be about a million words... Yikes! :)

I liked The Twelve too but not as much as The Passage. I'm looking forward to the last book in the trilogy.

#172 Jim, the Andrew Jackson book I have is The Life of Andrew Jackson by Remini. I will look for American Lion as we'll.

I read The Passage but have not made it to The Twelve yet. I have heard mixed reviews of the latter.

Congratulations on the big #75, Jim!

Divergent keeps calling me and then it says NO NO NO! Such mixed messages, I don't know what to do.

Cob - Remini's pretty good, so I'll keep an eye out for your thoughts on the Jackson book.

Terri - thanks!

Kath - I'll let you know. So far Danita likes it!

Happy 75!

Thanks!

Hi Jim- That is a killer line-up for the National Book Festival! I would love to attend one of these years. How was Bacigalupi? I really like his books and have his new one nearby.
I was a big fan of the Passage and I am glad to hear it was just as good on a reread. I was very disappointed in the Twelve. I hope it works better for you.

Congrats on hitting 75! Yah!

Thanks :) I would love to hear how it goes over in your house...

It's always good to hit 75... and then take a breath and relax, because reaching goals is good. Even if you know you can do it, it's still good.

Mark - Paolo was a pretty good speaker. He's focused on producing good literature that kids will want to read. Admirable goal, but riled up a couple of teachers in the audience. :) And I keep hearing that people were disappointed in The Twelve, so my expectations are lowering and probably becoming more realistic.

huzzah for 75!

Well, Paolo's new YA is called Zombie Baseball Beatdown, so I could imagine the teachers revolting. Have you read Ship Breaker? It's a terrific dystopian YA book.

I haven't read Ship Breaker, but it's definitely on my list. Zombie Baseball Beatdown was definitely the one he was talking about!

76. Happy Hour in Hell by Tad Williams

Second in the Bobby Dollar urban fantasy/noir series. In this one, Bobby goes to Hell, literally, to rescue his demon girlfriend. Mostly it's good, but the characterization of Hell and the demonic minions got a little tedious at times. Not as good as the first, but ended well and leads in nicely to the next.

77. My Name is John Dee by Robin Wyatt Dunn

Apparently John Dee is an assassin and a magician working for "Hollywood". Apparently because John Dee is also insane, probably paranoid schizophrenic. So absolutely nothing about his story can be trusted.

My Name is John Dee is an odd book - frankly, weird. Not in the cool Lovecraftian way, but in the bat-shit crazy way, as in makes you want to go "what?" The story's nonlinear, the writing jumps all over the place, and I still have no idea what happened. On the other hand, it's probably a pretty good look at the way a schizophrenic sees the world.

This thing could have worked really well. I'm not opposed to a little crazy time. Some of my favorite books make your head spin around a few times. Something - and I still haven't figured out what - made this one just meh.

Note: this was an ER book.