AlferdPacker's better title for 2015

My list will have the following format:
Title, Author, whether it's new or a re-read, date completed.

1. Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher, new, completed 1/1/2015.
2. The Martian by Andy Weir, new, completed 1/1/2015.
3. Ghostwritten by David Mitchell, new, completed 1/8/2015.
4. Sleeping Late on Judgement Day by Tad Williams, new, completed 1/14/2015.
5. Inferno by Dan Brown, new, completed 1/21/2015.
6. The Immortal Prince by Jennifer Fallon, re-read, completed 1/23/2015.
7. The Gods of Amyrantha by Jennifer Fallon, new, completed 1/25/2015.
8. The Palace of Impossible Dreams by Jennifer Fallon, new, completed 1/26/2015.
9. The Chaos Crystal by Jennifer Fallon, new, completed, 1/27/2015.
10. Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, new, completed 1/27/2015.
11. Number9Dream by David Mitchell, new, completed 2/5/2015.
12. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, re-read, completed 2/8/2015.
13. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, new, completed 2/12/2015.
14. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach, new, completed 2/16/2015.
15. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan, new, completed 2/18/2015.
16. Good Company: A Tramp Life by Douglas Harper, new, completed. 2/18/2015.
17. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, re-read, completed 2/23/15.
18. Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson, re-read, completed 2/24/15.
19. Hero of the Ages by Brandon Sanderson, re-read, completed 2/26/15.
20. Tea With the Black Dragon by R.A. MacAvoy, new, completed 2/27/15.
21. Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore, new, completed 3/4/15.
22. Bite Me by Christopher Moore, new, completed 3/6/15.
23. Some Days You Get the Bear by Lawrence Block, re-read, completed 3/9/15.
24. War of the Flowers by Tad Williams, re-read, completed 3/13/15.
25. Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link, new, completed 3/13/15.
26. Shadowmarch by Tad Williams, new, completed 3/18/15.
27. Shadowplay by Tad Williams, new, completed 3/24/15.
28. Shadowrise by Tad Williams, new, completed 3/31/15.
29. Shadowheart by Tad Williams, new, completed 4/6/15.
30. Lolita by Vladumir Nabokov, new, completed 4/20/15.
31. The Mathematician's Shiva by Stuart Rojstaczer, new, completed 4/23/15.
32. Packing for Mars by Mary Roach, new, completed 4/27/15.
33. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, new, completed 5/21/15.
34. Wolf in White Van, by John Darnielle, new, completed 5/23/15.
35. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory, by Caitlin Doughty, new, completed 5/29/15.
36. A House Divided by Mark Gerzon, new, completed 6/11/15.
37. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, new completed 6/17/15.
38. Shards of Honor, by Lois Bujold, re-read, completed 6/23/15.
39. Barrayar, by Lois Bujold, re-read, completed 6/24/15.
40. The Warrior's Apprentice, by Lois Bujold, re-read, completed 6/25/15.
41. Memory, by Lois Bujold, re-read, completed 6/26/15.
42. Komarr, by Lois Bujold, re-read, completed 6/27/15.
43. A Civil Campaign, by Lois Bujold, re-read, completed 6/28/15.
44. Oath of Swords by David Weber, re-read, completed 6/29/158.
45. Diplomatic Immunity, by Lois Bujold, re-read, completed 6/30/15.
46. Still Life With Woodpecker by Tom Robbins, new, completed 7/7/15.

I'm going to try and keep things better organized this year. Last year's thread was a mess. The first post will be reserved for the list itself. Reviews and comments will be in posts following.

1. Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher

Dear Committee Members is the best book I've read so far this year. The story is told entirely through a series of letters of recommendation written by an English professor. He writes letters for his protege, his favorite students, his least favorite associates, and people he barely knows. Julie Schumacher uses these letters to sketch Prof. Fitger's history and character with remarkably few strokes. I'm not going to describe the narrative, there are plenty of reviews doing that already.

I will say this, I enjoyed the book immensely. It reads extremely quickly. I found myself saying, "Just one more letter" after every letter. There were moments where I laughed out loud in the restaurant while reading it. While definitely a comic book, there were moments that were truly touching without being heavy handed.

After finishing the book, I was left with two questions:
1) How much of the book is auto-biographical?

2) How many people posting reviews of the book actually knew the word "epistolary" before reading other reviews? Almost every review describes the book this way. It's accurate, but not vocabulary I would have expected from some of the reviewers.

2. The Martian by Andy Weir

In short, this was a very fun read that impressed me not at all. The story is engaging and the plot fun, but the characters were remarkably flat. The cast of characters is positively tiny, but they all manage to speak with the same voice. Were it not for the content of their remarks, I'd have a hard time telling any of the characters apart.

The main character is relentlessly cheerful in the face of his imminent demise. I've heard his log entries compared to Reddit posts, which feels accurate. The book treats the marrooning as a puzzle to be solved rather than a real problem. I never had any real sense of danger or threat while reading.

It is an entertaining read, but I don't feel like it deserves all of the praise it is getting. I try to let me opinion stand alone, but there has been so much buzz about this book in my various circles it's tough not to address it.

I think one reason this book is so popular is that the protaganist, Mark Watney, is designed to be the every-geek. He embodies the way readers like to think they would act if they were stranded on Mars. The book goes into some engineering detail, but never so deep that you can't think "I could do that." It appeals for the same reason Batman does, he's supposed to be an ordinary guy. With the same amount of money and dedication, that could be you.

Mark Watney is more like Spiderman if he didn't have to worry about being Peter Parker. Using his Engineer/Botany superpowers to solve crime, err... survive Mars, he always has a sarcastic quip or nerdy reference to make. There isn't any point where he thinks about being lonely or takes a moment to dwell on his impending death. He has all the emotional depth of a cardboard cut-out.

I don't want to make it sound like I didn't enjoy the book; I did. It isn't one I see myself rereading, but it was a fun way to kill the afternoon.

>2 AlferdPacker: - Dear Committee Members is on my TBR list. I'm a management professor and write a lot of recommendation letters as well, so I think that this book will hit home with me. Plus, your comment that this is "the best book I've read so far this year" made me laugh out loud.

Welcome back!

I think I'll add Dear Committee Members to my wishlist - it sounds right up my alley! And I have The Martian already on my shelves waiting for me...

>4 porch_reader: Still the best book of the year! I can't say how realistic the book actually is, but it felt pretty true.

>5 drneutron: Thank you!

3. Ghostwritten by David Mitchell

I'll be honest, I have no idea what this book was about. This is the first book by David Mitchell, who is famous for his interconnecting characters and plots. He starts that here with several characters whose lives and actions overlap, leading to an ending that surprised me.

This is the second book I've read by this author, the first being his most recent, The Bone Clocks. The Bone Clocks felt like a web, with multiple strands crossing and overlaing each other to create a structured whole. Ghostwritten felt more like a pile of cooked spaghetti. The noodles cross and twist haphazardly and in the end, you have a big lump of pasta. It's tasty, but isn't much to look at.

More careful reading may change my opinion of this book. I'm certain that there is a common theme in the characters and their stories, but there isn't a common plot. The theme appears to be why people act the way they do and how responsible they are for those actions. The book lacks a central plot or recurring characters however. We aren't following a plot or action across several characters and characters, once introduced, rarely return more than in the periphery.

I enjoyed the book while reading it. David Mitchell's prose flows well and his characters are engaging. The book ended and I was left wishing that things had resolved a little more completely. That may be a flaw in me, rather than the book.

4. Sleeping Late on Judgement Day by Tad Williams

I really enjoy Tad Williams books. I like his world building and I like his characters. This is the final book of the Bobby Dollar trilogy, which I have a hard time believing. I feel as though there could be so many more books and stories told with these characters and settings. This series is shorter and lighter than some of Tad Williams other offerings such as his Otherland or Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series. I don't enjoy those series less, but they're a bigger commitment when you want to get your Tad Willams on.

As for this book specifically, it was both great and a little annoying. Tad Williams did a very good job making characters in the first book memorable, so seeing them now is like recognizing an old friend. The characters introduced for the first time don't feel tacked on or retreads of existing or missing characters. They are distinct and unique. I enjoyed this more than Happy Hour in Hell. In Happy Hour in Hell, it feels like we're making progress through the plot, only to end exactly where we started. In Sleeping Late on Judgement Day, I felt like things actually happened. Concrete steps are made throughout the book to resolve the characters problems and move the story in a definite direction. This is where the annoying part happens. The central plot of the book wraps up, but the overarching series plot remains frustratingly unresolved and dangling.

Broadly speaking, the series feels a lot like the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher without blatantly ripping him off. I couldn't really get into the Iron Druid Chronicles by David Hearne for that reason. If I had to compare directly, I'd say that the Bobby Dollar trilogy feels roughly like books 6-10 of the Dresden files. The scope isn't purely local and you can sense titanic forces moving in the background. They're not fully visible in the book, but you know they're there and can't wait for them to be revealed. And yes, I compared three books by Tad Willams to five by Jim Butcher. This is because each of the Dresden books contains a complete story in itself that builds on the series plot. The Bobby Dollar books aren't meant to be read individually. Each book has an arc, but its subservient to the greater series.

5. Inferno by Dan Brown

The peril of saying you'll purchase and read any recommendation is that sometimes, you'll end up buying a book you're ashamed to own. Yes, I now own Dan Brown book.

To be completely fair, the book is not without merit. Dan Brown's style of writing keeps things moving at a breakneck pace. Chapters are short and invariably end with some sort of cliffhanger. This means that you'll only have to spend a few hours reading to get through the book. I'm probably being unfair. As you can tell, I'm not a fan of Dan Brown.

I find his writing hackneyed at best, and his habit of presenting his fictitious history as the truth irritates me. While the writing is still hackneyed, there is very little of the conspiracy theory theory of history that I'd expected. I assume this is because his conspiracy in Inferno is almost entirely modern. There's an entirely unnecessary insistence that the Corporation, (or whatever it's called) is real. Prefacing the book with this insistence does nothing but reinforce the though that Dan Brown is trying to sell people on the idea that his books are "based on real life".

Your books are in the fiction section, Dan. Get over it.

I'll have more to say tomorrow.

6. The Immortal Prince by Jennifer Fallon.
7. The Gods of Amyrantha by Jennifer Fallon.
8. The Palace of Impossible Dreams by Jennifer Fallon.
9. The Chaos Crystal by Jennifer Fallon.

Jennifer Fallon wrote one of my favorite series, the Second Sons Trilogy. The fact that her other books never reach that high water mark prevents her from being one of my favorite authors.

The Tide Lords Quartet is set in a world that hosts a few dozen immortals who periodically destroy civilization in their conflicts with each other. This understandably irritates the other denizens of the world, who set about trying to find a way to kill them.

That doesn't really do the series justice. It was a very fun read with believable and relatable characters. There were a few instances where we're told about character traits, rather than seeing them play out. There's one particular character who we're constantly told is evil personified. But we never actually see him do anything worse than any of the other characters we've already met.

That one of my only complaints is about a tertiary character probably means I shouldn't complain. I really enjoyed the series and read the whole thing over the course of a long weekend. It kept me engaged for all of the right reasons, unlike Dan Brown. Despite this, it isn't a series I can see reading often, the way I read the Vorkosigan Saga or the Dresden Files.

10. Train Dreams by Denis Johnson.

I'm not really sure how to describe this book. It isn't the type of thing I would normally reach for on the shelves.

This novella tells the story of a man living in the American West between 1880 and 1960. It isn't the story of a remarkable man or grand dreams. The protaganist lives a simple, unexceptional life of modest dreams and ambitions. Great things don't happen to him. There is no grand quest or goals to be achieved.

The novella feels like the story the protaganist would tell about his life if he were giving to sharing such things with strangers. It isn't told in chronological order or with an overarching theme. It flows naturally from moment to moment, reaching back and forward as necessary. If it isn't written in the speech of the protaganist, it conveys what he's feeling and seeing better than he'd be able to.

It really gives the feeling and sense of passing through this time period and the dramatic changes that took place. Because it isn't based on a specific, real, person I'm not sure if it is the reality of what it was like.

11. Number9Dream by David Mitchell

I don't think I read this with the depth and attention it deserved. Upon finishing the book, I realized that there was a lot more to it than I had credited it with. I read it as a pretty straight forward story, missing a lot of the symbolism and themes I finally saw in the last chapter. Despite this, I enjoyed it. David Mitchell's prose manages to pull me in and keep me engaged, even when I don't particularly care about the plot. I think it's because his characters are consistently engaging, even when only seen briefly.

12. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

Unlike some things, this book is not ineffable. It is entirely effable. Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett are both masters of world creation and a unique sense of humor. Working together, they create something wonderful. To say that it's greater than the sum of its parts implies that Good Omens is better than their individual work. This isn't true, but it is something uniquely it's own.

It's like a perfectly blended milkshake with strawberries and chocolate chunks. A very distinct taste with recognizable pieces of the ingredients.

For a book that is a ground level view of the war between Heaven and Hell, it's an entirely different kind of book than Sleeping Late on Judgement Day, which I reviewed earlier. (Reviewed might be a strong word.) It would be interesting to read a bunch of books with that as the premise. Doing a themed read would be a welcome change from my more usual author binges. Any suggestions?

13. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt.

This book was not at all what I expected from something shelved in the True Crime section. The true focus of the book is a specific place at a specific point in time. The crime doesn't happen until almost halfway through the book and is never really the point. The crime only illustrates and highlights the things we've already seen.

Reading, it became extremely difficult to remember that this wasn't a novel and was something that actually happened to the author. The characters are so striking and the setting so placid, it felt like characters moving across a painted backdrop. This might sound like a criticism. It isn't. The characters stand out in such stark relief from everything else it was hard for me to pay attention to anything else.

Static is actually a pretty good description of how Savannah is portrayed in the book. John Berendt describes a concerted effort to keep Savannah as much the same as possible. Changes are unwelcome and somewhat threatening.

>15 AlferdPacker: I went to Savannah before I read that book. On the tour, they kept pointing out places that were mentioned in "the book." Needless to say, I made it a priority to read "the book" when I got home. Anyone going to visit Savannah should definitely read it before they go there.

14. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach.

This book was fascinating. It feels more like a series of essays than a solid block of text on a subject. Each chapter has a particular theme and can be read separately, although I wouldn't recommend it.

Mary Roach covers a lot of topics that seem obvious in retrospect, but you don't spend a lot of time thinking about. Whether it's cadavers used as crash test dummies or the fact that plastic surgeons need some way to practice too.

The parts that stick with me the most a month later are her personal observations. Maggots eating rotten flesh sound like Rice Krispies in milk. Cadavers slump down in car seats.

I don't know that I'll buy her other books, but I'll definitely check them out from the library.

I'm really starting to fall behind in keeping up the commentary. Also, I appear to have broken my list in one of my more recent edits.

15. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan.

The best way for me to describe this book is as a bait and switch. It purported to be about or at least for, book lovers. It really isn't. There's nothing in here about the joy of reading or books. There's a beloved fantasy series from the protaganist, Clay's youth. But when he revisits the series, he listens to the audiobook. I don't have anything against audiobooks, but that's not really what the bibliophile in me wanted.

Clay works the night shift at a 24-hour bookstore where customers come and check-out mysterious tomes. Clay is intrigued. But does he actually read any of these volumes? No, he graphically models the books checked out. When he's trying to solve the mystery contained within the central book, does he actually read it? No, he has it scanned and uses Google's processing power.

And then there's the bait and switch of the central plot.

This might not be a bad book, but it presented itself dishonestly and as a result it irritated me.

16. Good Company: A Tramp Life by Douglas Harper, new, completed. 2/18/2015.

This was a fascinating book. It's a snapshot of a time and people that I don't think exist anymore. Maybe it does. This book talks about something so far removed from my personal experience that I wouldn't know. It takes them and makes it relatable though. The book evokes a feeling of time and place rather than being a dry recitation of facts. I read this for research purposes, but it was much more engaging than I anticipated.

17-19. Hero of the Ages Trilogy, by Brandon Sanderson

I've always felt that Brandon Sanderson was better at world and system creation than characters. The characters here are in bas-relief rather than cardboard cut-outs. They grow and change, I just never find them quite believable. I'm never quite sure how to rate this series. I enjoy it during the read, but after I'm done, I always feel let down.

21. Tea With the Black Dragon by R.A. MacAvoy

The best word for this book is pleasant. There's conflict and a villain, but what I remember most 3 months later is the relaxed feel of the characters interacting. Even when they're not together the main characters are influenced by each other and their perceptions of them. There's a sequel, but I'm not sure I want to read it. It might ruin my opinion of this story.