Books Read 2010

[Scuzz]

I am quickly re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows before the movie comes out...I am about 1/4 of the way through and am already surprised how much I had forgotten and I have already come to the conclusion that yes, there is plenty of material for two movies.

[Isgrimnur]

The Texas Rangers: Wearing the Cinco Peso, 1821-1900 by Mike Cox

From the first days of defending the settlers and Republic from Indians to dealing with Mexican bandits and revolutionary violence spilling over the River, this book has a lot of information about the Frontier Battalions and the trials that they went through, both on the range and trying to save their own existence from hostile politicians back East that hadn't seen an Indian in fifty years.

[Pyperkub]

Books Read in 2010:

U is for Undertow - Sue Grafton (meh - she's writing out the string I think)
The Black Company - Glen Cook
Shadows Linger - Glen Cook
The White Rose - Glen Cook
Shadow Games - Glen Cook
Dreams of Steel - Glen Cook
The Silver Spike - Glen Cook
Nine Dragons - Michael Connelly
Up in the Air - Walter Kirn (very different from the movie)
Bleak Seasons - Glenn Cook
She is the Darkness - Glenn Cook
Water Sleeps - Glenn Cook
Soldiers Live - Glenn Cook

For the black company books, I was kept interested throughout, but I felt after the first 3 books, it fell off. I'm not sure if that's because Croaker/the Narrators became too involved in strategizing or what. Maybe I just liked the idea of them fighting for the wrong side and then making it right, with vast things unknown and only hinted at. I also think the whole Deceivers/Khadi plot took too long to resolve, maybe the latter books needed to be more concise.

The Burning City - Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

I remember some of the great books by Niven & Pournelle. This isn't one of them. They've dropped off since they had to write the sequel to A Mote in God's eye. Of course, I'm subjecting myself to the sequel since I got them both from the library. This one's set in the "The Magic Goes Away" universe, but didn't have much of the creativity of that book.

Burning Tower - Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

Better than the Burning City, with a decent story involving the Aztec gods in the Southwest. Ultimately, these two novels are more like a travelogue of Niven & Pournelle in the Magic Goes Away universe. Fun, but not really memorable. They did leave room for a third.

Songs for a Teenage Nomad - Kim Culbertson

A friend of mine's first published book. An interesting tale of a teen girl who's been moved from town to town and stepfather to stepfather who lands in a town in CA and finds out why. A 'young adult book' with many echoes of Catcher in the Rye, and it's won some Young Adult fiction awards.

Baseball's Great Experiment (Jackie Robinson and his legacy) - Jules Tygiel

A look at segregation and integration in baseball. How baseball first ended up segregated, how Branch Rickey saw the future and orchestrated the beginnings of integration, how and why Jackie Robinson was chosen and what his experiences were like, and the story of those who followed Jackie. A very interesting look at baseball and america in the post war, jim crow era, and the struggle to integrate. I was surprised at the specifics of the experience under Jim Crow in different locales, as well as the exacerbating effect Brown v. Board of Education had.

Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman

I enjoyed this much more than American Gods. I think it's the Kipling-esque 'Just-so-Stories' feel to this tale, rather than the oppressive feel of 'gods'.

Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman
Coraline - Neil Gaiman
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman

Yeah, I've been on a bit of a Neil Gaiman kick this summer. Of the three, I think that the Graveyard book is the best. I think I've figured out what bugs me about his characters - he has a tough time giving them a soul. My hypothesis is that it has to do with his background in graphic novels, in that he relied on the artists to really bring out the characters that his words sketched out - I'm basing this more on the movies from his books Coraline and Stardust, as it seems to me that the movies have been better, because the characters get a better definition than the more spartan ones he creates in his novels. It also accounts for me liking Anansi Boys and the Graveyard Book more, as he kind of patterned his storytelling after Kipling - and it gave his characters a certain archetypal quality.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larsson
The Girl who played with Fire - Steig Larsson
The Girl who kicked the Hornet's Nest - Steig Larsson

A fun group of page turners. Enjoyed thoroughly.

The Pawn (Patrick Bowers Chronicles) - Steven James

A freebie from the Kindle store, this is a fun FBI thriller. Engaged me enough to buy the 2nd book in the series.

The Rook (Patrick Bowers Chronicles) - Steven James
The Knight (Patrick Bowers Chronicles) - Steven James
The Bishop (Patrick Bowers Chronicles) - Steven James

These weren't quite as good as The Pawn, but they were fun. The Pawn had one of the most disturbing opening scenes I've read.

The Gathering Storm - Brandon Sanderson/Robert Jordan

Sanderson does well, and is really pulling things together again. But with decent pacing, as I felt Jordan knew the end was coming and threw too much into his last book. I'm ready for the next book, hopefully it'll be on the Kindle soon.

The Reversal - Michael Connelly

Easily Connelly's worst book, IMHO. It feels like it's only half a book and the courtroom stuff is so stock that it fails to grip the reader. Bad enough that I'll probably wait for reviews on his next book, as he definitely seems to have gotten to the "I'm just churning these out for the money" phase of his career.

Relentless (Book 1 of Dominion trilogy) - Robin Parrish

Another Freebie from the Kindle Store. Interesting story, pedestrian writing. Probably won't be getting the rest of the books, unless they're free.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving

I picked this up from the free Kindle store, and it was ok, but dated. I was a bit too familiar with the story, and the pacing doesn't hold up after over a century. The picture he painted of the region was quite vivid however and I did enjoy that.

Update for Sleepy Hollow.

[Jeff V]

The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell

In book 5 of the Saxon Chronicles, our hero, Uhtred of Northumbria, is once again manipulated to do the bidding of Alfred the Great. Now an ancient man close to death (he is "well over 40"), Alfred is conspiring to obtain Uhtred's oath to serve his son, Edward, who he hopes will succeed him as king. Uhtred, still upset with himself for swearing an oath to Alfred in the first place, avoids this, but Alfred uses a back-door, Edwards sister, Aethelflaed, who Uhtred had sworn to protect.

In the midst of this political maneuvering of fealty, the Danes once again are getting ambitious, this time a chieftain called Haeston attempts to divide the strength of Wessex by enticing Northumbrian Danes to attack as well. A curious character in the form of a Frisian beauty named Skade, meanwhile, is playing her own games of treachery, self-interest, and proves as capable as any marauder when it comes to committing atrocities.

[noxiousdog]

quick update


read all of The Dresden Files. Anyone that reads this board should read them all. Highly entertaining.

[Semaj]

Books I rememeber reading recently:
Kill Everyone
The Golden Compass Trilogy
All of Harry Potter
Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy
Ansi Boys
Got Fight
Every Hand Revealed

I have a few more I have read this year for sure... I'll try to list em as I remember them or see em laying around

[Skinypupy]

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. This goes down with HHGTTG as one of the funniest books I've ever read. It's a completely ridiculous look at World War II through the eyes of a rebellious bomber pilot, and the writing is simply brilliant. I normally shy away from anything that has to do with war, but this one was by turns laugh-out-loud funny and incredibly poignant. 7 of 8 tentacles.

On a side note, is the movie (came out in the early 70's, iirc) any good?

[YellowKing]

On a side note, is the movie (came out in the early 70's, iirc) any good?

It's actually pretty good. We had to watch it in high school when we studied the novel and I remember being pleasantly surprised.

[Skinypupy]

On a side note, is the movie (came out in the early 70's, iirc) any good?

It's actually pretty good. We had to watch it in high school when we studied the novel and I remember being pleasantly surprised.

Amazing that we were actually able to read stuff like Catch-22 in high school. I can't imagine that it would ever get past the "OMG, THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!" crowd nowadays.

[Carpet_pissr]

Has anyone read the Kindle freebie "Sixty-One Nails" by Shevdon?

I blew through it, and while I enjoyed the first half of the book well enough (a little pulpy, like so much fantasy), I thought it fell apart at the end. Still in search of a AAA, modern fantasy author, one whose character lines don't make me cringe at how unbelievable they are. Only a few instances in this book (of cringing), but still, I am sure there are much better out there.

Without trying to give too much away, the setting is modern day London, in which a seemingly normal Joe finds out he is not like his fellow citizens. Magic is involved, and it's based on the fantasy theme of "there are still a few magical creatures in the modern world, they are just in hiding (though living amongst us)". Typical good vs evil plot with very little in the way of surprises, but a fun read I guess.

[Scuzz]

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. This goes down with HHGTTG as one of the funniest books I've ever read. It's a completely ridiculous look at World War II through the eyes of a rebellious bomber pilot, and the writing is simply brilliant. I normally shy away from anything that has to do with war, but this one was by turns laugh-out-loud funny and incredibly poignant. 7 of 8 tentacles.

On a side note, is the movie (came out in the early 70's, iirc) any good?

it is truly a movie that will make more sense if you have read the book......

[JonathanStrange]

Thanks to whoever mentioned JOHANNES CABAL.

In this uproarious and clever debut, it’s time to give the Devil his due.

Johannes Cabal, a brilliant scientist and notorious snob, is single-mindedly obsessed in heart and soul with raising the dead. Well, perhaps not soul... He hastily sold his years ago in order to learn the laws of necromancy. But now, tormented by a dark secret, he travels to the fiery pits of Hell to retrieve it. Satan, who is incredibly bored these days, proposes a little wager: Johannes has one year to persuade one hundred people to sign over their souls or he will be damned forever.

To make the bet even more interesting, Satan throws in that diabolical engine of deceit, seduction, and corruption known as a “traveling circus” to aid in the evil bidding. What better place exists to rob poor sad saps of their souls than the traveling carnivals historically run by hucksters and legendary con men?

With little time to lose, Johannes raises a motley crew from the dead and enlists his brother, Horst, a charismatic vampire (an unfortunate side effect of Johannes’s early experiments with necromancy), to be the carnival’s barker. On the road through the pastoral English countryside, this team of reprobates wields their black magic with masterful ease, resulting in mayhem at every turn.

Johannes may have the moral conscience of anthrax, but are his tricks sinful enough to beat the Devil at his own game? You’ll never guess, and that’s a promise!

Brilliantly written and wickedly funny, Johannes Cabal the Necromancer combines the chills and thrills of old-fashioned gothic tales like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the mischievous humor of Wicked, and the sophisticated charms of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and spins the Faustian legend into a fresh, irreverent, and irresistible new adventure.

I've read both the first and second books and greatly enjoyed both of them. How much did I enjoy them? I bought the hardcover editions of both!

[WYBaugh]

Thanks to whoever mentioned JOHANNES CABAL.

In this uproarious and clever debut, it’s time to give the Devil his due.

Johannes Cabal, a brilliant scientist and notorious snob, is single-mindedly obsessed in heart and soul with raising the dead. Well, perhaps not soul... He hastily sold his years ago in order to learn the laws of necromancy. But now, tormented by a dark secret, he travels to the fiery pits of Hell to retrieve it. Satan, who is incredibly bored these days, proposes a little wager: Johannes has one year to persuade one hundred people to sign over their souls or he will be damned forever.

To make the bet even more interesting, Satan throws in that diabolical engine of deceit, seduction, and corruption known as a “traveling circus” to aid in the evil bidding. What better place exists to rob poor sad saps of their souls than the traveling carnivals historically run by hucksters and legendary con men?

With little time to lose, Johannes raises a motley crew from the dead and enlists his brother, Horst, a charismatic vampire (an unfortunate side effect of Johannes’s early experiments with necromancy), to be the carnival’s barker. On the road through the pastoral English countryside, this team of reprobates wields their black magic with masterful ease, resulting in mayhem at every turn.

Johannes may have the moral conscience of anthrax, but are his tricks sinful enough to beat the Devil at his own game? You’ll never guess, and that’s a promise!

Brilliantly written and wickedly funny, Johannes Cabal the Necromancer combines the chills and thrills of old-fashioned gothic tales like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the mischievous humor of Wicked, and the sophisticated charms of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and spins the Faustian legend into a fresh, irreverent, and irresistible new adventure.

I've read both the first and second books and greatly enjoyed both of them. How much did I enjoy them? I bought the hardcover editions of both!

You are welcome sir! I need to listen to the second but for some reason they have a different reader so I wanted to give it some time inbetween listens.

Guess I'll do my updates:

Packing for Mars - I love the subject matter but did not like the authors writing style. Other people really like it so it must just be me.

Mogworld - Hmm....good for a first book? Interesting idea but really written too long.

[Jeff V]

The Time of Terror by Seth Hunter

The first volume of a planned trilogy, British documentary writer and director Seth Hunter introduces a new fictional hero set in the era that gave us Jack Aubrey, Horatio Hornblower, and Richard Sharpe. Nathanial Peake is the Master and Commander of the brig Nereus. The offspring of a retired admiral, we are introduced to Peake as he is doing duty assisting the revenue department chase smugglers around the English Channel following the French Revolution. When his ship is fired upon along the French coast, Peake believes he may have become the casus belli for a new war against what England considers to be a rogue, illegal government. Upon arriving at the Admiralty, however, he finds France had, in fact, formally declared war and hostilities were well underway.

Peake is offered a covert mission delivering a cargo to France in a recently captured American sloop under the guise of being an American trader. In the course of the mission, he is acquainted with several people working underground against the Terror; Robespierre's regime which seeks victims for the guillotine under the slightest pretext. Peake's introduction to Paris, for example, finds him captured by a mob and being dragged to his hanging for the crime of wearing a hat without a tricolor pin. He is, of course, rescued by those he came to find.

Peake has a surprising number of adventures, including 4 trips to Paris. Ala Aubrey, he achieves a stunning capture of a French frigate with his small ship. Ala Sharpe, he has a liaison with the widow of an outlawed aristocrat. Also like Sharpe, he becomes a favored tool of powerful historical figures. in this case, the brothers John and William Pitt. A side adventure has him chasing an American grain convoy and serving aboard the flag ship of Admiral Howe during the battle The Glorious First of June.

I think for all of the homages paid in this book, perhaps the greatest would be to Ian Fleming. Peake is less a military figure than he is an 18th century version of James Bond. Peake encounters many major historic figures during the terror: Robespierre, Georges Denton, Thomas Paine, Mary Wollenstonecraft just to name a few. The historical setting is quite authentic, and aside from Peake and his crew, Hunter limits the number of fictional characters introduced. Events are either a matter of the historic record, or plausibly extrapolated from available data. However, just like a Bond adventure, the sheer number of unlikely situations pushes the limits of a plausible tale. Perhaps Hunter will show a little more restraint in the next book, The Tide of War.

[Bad Demographic]

I saw Miyuke Miyabe's Brave Story at the bookstore and kept looking for it at the library. Turns out that, although they have it, the version they have is a manga. It's also an animated movie. I haven't looked at the manga nor seen the movie, but I did break down and buy the book.
Brave Story is the story of how eleven year-old Wataru Mitani tries to cope with the disintegration of his family when his father unexpectedly abandons them. A schoolmate makes it possible for Wataru to travel to the land of Vision where he must complete a series of quests to be able to change his destiny in the real world (and reunite his family in the real world). From the basic plot, you can see how this could be easily turned into a manga, an anime and a game.
This was a good book for young teens and pre-teens (the target audience, I think) but also not a bad book for an older audience. I enjoyed it more than either the "Golden Compass" series (too heavy-handedly anti-religion) or the "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" (too heavy-handedly Christian). It has elements that I consider typical of traditional Japanese children stories (examples of how one should behave), but what I really liked was that I felt its central theme was very close to the central theme of "Planescape: Torment", that is, "What can change the nature of a man?".

[Jaymann]

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks. Billed as a Harry Potter for adults, it certainly delivers on that level and much more. The magic system is well thought out and consistent, but my one niggling regret is that magic in the world is almost too prevalent - every noble of note has a "drafter" on the staff. Still, great start to The Lightbringer series and I will be there for the rest.

[JonathanStrange]

The hardcover Amazon price is pretty good too; just fyi.

[Carpet_pissr]

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks. Billed as a Harry Potter for adults, it certainly delivers on that level and much more.

Glad you mentioned that. I was just about to ask the group if Harry Potter would be a suitable read for an adult who loves fantasy? Or is it too juvenile? I glanced at a few reviews on Amazon and saw some people comparing the series to LOTR!? I would guess it leans more towards the Chronicles of Narnia since those were written primarily for young uns. Maybe in between the two?

[Pyperkub]

Books Read in 2010:

U is for Undertow - Sue Grafton (meh - she's writing out the string I think)
The Black Company - Glen Cook
Shadows Linger - Glen Cook
The White Rose - Glen Cook
Shadow Games - Glen Cook
Dreams of Steel - Glen Cook
The Silver Spike - Glen Cook
Nine Dragons - Michael Connelly
Up in the Air - Walter Kirn (very different from the movie)
Bleak Seasons - Glenn Cook
She is the Darkness - Glenn Cook
Water Sleeps - Glenn Cook
Soldiers Live - Glenn Cook

For the black company books, I was kept interested throughout, but I felt after the first 3 books, it fell off. I'm not sure if that's because Croaker/the Narrators became too involved in strategizing or what. Maybe I just liked the idea of them fighting for the wrong side and then making it right, with vast things unknown and only hinted at. I also think the whole Deceivers/Khadi plot took too long to resolve, maybe the latter books needed to be more concise.

The Burning City - Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

I remember some of the great books by Niven & Pournelle. This isn't one of them. They've dropped off since they had to write the sequel to A Mote in God's eye. Of course, I'm subjecting myself to the sequel since I got them both from the library. This one's set in the "The Magic Goes Away" universe, but didn't have much of the creativity of that book.

Burning Tower - Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

Better than the Burning City, with a decent story involving the Aztec gods in the Southwest. Ultimately, these two novels are more like a travelogue of Niven & Pournelle in the Magic Goes Away universe. Fun, but not really memorable. They did leave room for a third.

Songs for a Teenage Nomad - Kim Culbertson

A friend of mine's first published book. An interesting tale of a teen girl who's been moved from town to town and stepfather to stepfather who lands in a town in CA and finds out why. A 'young adult book' with many echoes of Catcher in the Rye, and it's won some Young Adult fiction awards.

Baseball's Great Experiment (Jackie Robinson and his legacy) - Jules Tygiel

A look at segregation and integration in baseball. How baseball first ended up segregated, how Branch Rickey saw the future and orchestrated the beginnings of integration, how and why Jackie Robinson was chosen and what his experiences were like, and the story of those who followed Jackie. A very interesting look at baseball and america in the post war, jim crow era, and the struggle to integrate. I was surprised at the specifics of the experience under Jim Crow in different locales, as well as the exacerbating effect Brown v. Board of Education had.

Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman

I enjoyed this much more than American Gods. I think it's the Kipling-esque 'Just-so-Stories' feel to this tale, rather than the oppressive feel of 'gods'.

Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman
Coraline - Neil Gaiman
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman

Yeah, I've been on a bit of a Neil Gaiman kick this summer. Of the three, I think that the Graveyard book is the best. I think I've figured out what bugs me about his characters - he has a tough time giving them a soul. My hypothesis is that it has to do with his background in graphic novels, in that he relied on the artists to really bring out the characters that his words sketched out - I'm basing this more on the movies from his books Coraline and Stardust, as it seems to me that the movies have been better, because the characters get a better definition than the more spartan ones he creates in his novels. It also accounts for me liking Anansi Boys and the Graveyard Book more, as he kind of patterned his storytelling after Kipling - and it gave his characters a certain archetypal quality.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larsson
The Girl who played with Fire - Steig Larsson
The Girl who kicked the Hornet's Nest - Steig Larsson

A fun group of page turners. Enjoyed thoroughly.

The Pawn (Patrick Bowers Chronicles) - Steven James

A freebie from the Kindle store, this is a fun FBI thriller. Engaged me enough to buy the 2nd book in the series.

The Rook (Patrick Bowers Chronicles) - Steven James
The Knight (Patrick Bowers Chronicles) - Steven James
The Bishop (Patrick Bowers Chronicles) - Steven James

These weren't quite as good as The Pawn, but they were fun. The Pawn had one of the most disturbing opening scenes I've read.

The Gathering Storm - Brandon Sanderson/Robert Jordan

Sanderson does well, and is really pulling things together again. But with decent pacing, as I felt Jordan knew the end was coming and threw too much into his last book. I'm ready for the next book, hopefully it'll be on the Kindle soon.

The Reversal - Michael Connelly

Easily Connelly's worst book, IMHO. It feels like it's only half a book and the courtroom stuff is so stock that it fails to grip the reader. Bad enough that I'll probably wait for reviews on his next book, as he definitely seems to have gotten to the "I'm just churning these out for the money" phase of his career.

Relentless (Book 1 of Dominion trilogy) - Robin Parrish

Another Freebie from the Kindle Store. Interesting story, pedestrian writing. Probably won't be getting the rest of the books, unless they're free.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving

I picked this up from the free Kindle store, and it was ok, but dated. I was a bit too familiar with the story, and the pacing doesn't hold up after over a century. The picture he painted of the region was quite vivid however and I did enjoy that.

The Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum

Part of the 14 (or 15) book collection of Baum's OZ books for .99 on Kindle. Very different from the Play/Movie. I remember as a child skipping this book when I read all of the OZ books, as I thought I knew it.

The Wonderful Land of OZ - L. Frank Baum

A fun tale of how the Scarecrow is evicted from the Emerald City. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the Gump.

The 7th Victim - Alan Jacobsen

Another freebie Kindle FBI thriller. Some good ideas and characters, but the serial killer's identity was a bit of a stretch, and other plot holes end up too neatly tied up.

Bump to add the last 3.

[Scuzz]

A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan....


A very good book. Basically a history of American involvement in Vietnam wrapped around a biography of American John Paul Vann, a military advisor and later a civilian advisor.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in why we lost in Vietnam and to anyone interested in similarities between Vietnam and what we are currently doing in the middle east.

4 1/2 * out of 5

My only gripe.......at the end of the book the author doesn't catch us up in a "Where are they now" sort of way. Whenever I read a book involving real people I always want to know what became of them.

[YellowKing]

Just finished the "Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone" series by Greg Keyes. Good series, though I'd have to put Keyes behind Brent Weeks, Joe Abercrombie, Scott Lynch and Brandon Sanderson on my "Favorite Fantasy Authors Not Named George R. R. Martin)" list.

[WYBaugh]

Finished Red Dwarf - Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers which is the first of four books (I think). I read the book years ago and decided to re-read/listen to the audio version. If you like Red Dwarf at all you'll love this. Chris Barrie does the narration and all of the characters voices perfectly. I didn't know that he does impersonations as a stand up comedian act. Very good story made better by the reading.

Starting on Johannes Cabal's second book.

[Jaymann]

A Bright and Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan....


A very good book. Basically a history of American involvement in Vietnam wrapped around a biography of American John Paul Vann, a military advisor and later a civilian advisor.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in why we lost in Vietnam and to anyone interested in similarities between Vietnam and what we are currently doing in the middle east.

4 1/2 * out of 5

My only gripe.......at the end of the book the author doesn't catch us up in a "Where are they now" sort of way. Whenever I read a book involving real people I always want to know what became of them.

I read this when it first came out, excellent book.

[Jeff V]

The Tide of War by Seth Hunter

Book two in the Nathan Peake series, this is a little closer to O'Brien's Aubrey in terms of action and theme. O'Brien, however, used the intrepid Captain Thomas Cochrane as a model, Peake appears to be an invention of Hunter. The amount of research that goes in to this book (and it's predecessor, A Time of Terror) is impressive; there are just those occasional moments of implausibility that seem to me as if the situation could be handled a little better.

In The Tide of War, Peake is rewarded for his clandestine services to the Pitts, receiving his promotion to Post Captain and assigned a shiny new frigate. Well, almost shiny new. And there's a bit of a complication -- the frigate is somewhere in the Caribbean. Oh, and his predecessor? The unlucky sot was found by some Spaniards floating with his throat cut. Peake is given the task of finding his ship, and then carrying out it's original mission of hunting down and eliminating a much larger French frigate that had been preying on commerce shipping in the area.

Once again, as "adviser," his American ally in France, Gilbert Imlay, was to accompany him. Imlay quickly disappears, but is active in the shadows behind the scene, ending up in the most unlikely of places. Meanwhile, Peake makes a local alliance with the Spanish, helping to defeat some Cajun rebels supplemented by French regulars. Weathering several storms (literally and figuratively), Peake manages to achieve his numerous, and sometimes conflicting, objectives. But he does not do so with grace -- a local official censures him for his conduct and decision, and the book ends before this (and several other threads) are resolved. Not a problem, since the third book will be forthcoming (the series was announced as a trilogy).

After the second book, the jury is still out as to whether Peake will become the next Hornblower or Aubrey. Hunter is taking a different approach developing the character, and bringing us to places and times untouched by the others. If you're looking for something more in this vein, Hunter definitely scratches the itch.

[lildrgn]

Finished The Snowman by Jo Nesbo today. Fantastic. If you're into the mystery thriller thing, with fantastic plots and a flawed main character, the Harry Hole books by Nesbo might be your thing. Harry Hole is my favorite new character in a long time, though he himself has been around since 1997.

[Scuzz]

Enders Game by Orson Scott Card



I read this because I had seen it recommended here or at OO. I enjoy sci-fi and this book reminds me somewhat of the Foundation series by Asimov. It has more thinking in it than action.....with the exception of a few face offs.

A good book. Didn't leave me dying to know more or continue reading the next 3 books of the series however.

3 1/2 of 5

Are the other three books any good?

[Isgrimnur]

Time of the Rangers: Texas Rangers: From 1900 to the Present

The continuation of the Texas Rangers from the calming of the border region to fighting gambling halls, enforcing Prohibition, being used as political muscle, de facto strikebreakers, the Waco standoff, the investigation of the Railroad Killer, and the future in the 21st century.

At times in this and the previous book, I wished for a bit more detail, but when you're surveying a century or more of an organization, it's hard to focus on more of the details and day to day life while spending time hitting the highlights.

The books don't whitewash the bad of the organization, including issues with racism, sexism, and abuses of power, but the book doesn't take these out and just beat the organization over the head with them. There's no doubt that the author is a fan of the Rangers, but the books are truly a decent survey of their history rather than just a love letter.

[Kasey Chang]

Just finished Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell

http://www.amazon.com/Scarpetta-Kay-Pat ... 0399155163" target="_blank

This is the first Scarpetta book I've read, so I guess I missed a lot of back story.

Kay Scarpetta may have encountered her strangest case yet. She was summoned to to a psychiatric hospital in a different city... A "little person" (dwarf) checked himself into the prison ward, claiming he was being tracked and remotely manipulated via radio waves by unknown party, and now his girlfriend (another little person) is dead, strangled. He claims he came to the door of his girlfriend, opened the door, a stranger attacked him and fled. He found his girlfriend, undressed, strangled in the bathroom, hands bound behind her back. And he will only talk to Dr. Benton (Scarpetta's husband), and CME Scarpetta. Is this person a killer? Or a paranoid delusional? Why does he think that Scarpetta would know about his dead girlfriend? And why is the MO repeated a few years back in 2 different cities?

The first few parts of the book is incredibly boring, and only the mystery of the "impossible crime" kept me going. There's a lot of mental thoughts that refers a lot to psychological states of the various characters and how they got that way. There's a lot of subtext that was inferred.

The book deals with contemporary technology quite well. Not quite CSI style, but there's quite a bit of modern internet jargon thrown in, like buffer overflow, site hack, full hard drive forensic reconstruction, and so on.

What I don't like is the ending. It's almost deus ex machina. I suspected the killer already, but I really don't like the ending and how it's resolved.

[SpaceLord]

The Autobiography of Mark FREAKING Twain is finally out, 100 years after his death

I'm going to start it this weekend. How could I resist?

[J.D.]

I'm just over 300 pages into Follett's Fall of Giants and it's unbelievably good. I still have another 650 pages or so to go but if it continues on as strong as the first third then this could rival Pillars of the Earth as my new favourite book, although this could be because I'm more interested in the World War I/II eras than the 12 century. Amazingly researched and beautifully written. And the best part is that it's the first part of a trilogy so there's lots more to come!

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to reading as Britain just declared war.

[Bad Demographic]

Enders Game by Orson Scott Card



I read this because I had seen it recommended here or at OO. I enjoy sci-fi and this book reminds me somewhat of the Foundation series by Asimov. It has more thinking in it than action.....with the exception of a few face offs.

A good book. Didn't leave me dying to know more or continue reading the next 3 books of the series however.

3 1/2 of 5

Are the other three books any good?

I'd skip to the Ender's Shadow series. I liked that better than the rest of the Ender books.

[Steron]

I made my goal! I know 12 books in a year is a pedestrian number to most of you but for me it's quite an accomplishment. Go me

[Scuzz]

2010

Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow

A Tale of Two Valleys by Alan Deutschman

The Underground Man by Ross McDonald

The Black Company:
Books of the North by Glen Cook

The Billionaire's Vinegar by Benjamin Wallace

Rome 1960 by David Marannis

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

Friday by Robert Heinlein

The Match by Mark Frost

Dreadnought by Robert Massie

The Black Company:
The Second Omnibus by Glen Cook

The First World War by Martin Gilbert

The Black Company:
The Third Omnibus by Glen Cook

Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling

Enders Game by Orson Scott Card

[rshetts2]

Enders Game by Orson Scott Card



I read this because I had seen it recommended here or at OO. I enjoy sci-fi and this book reminds me somewhat of the Foundation series by Asimov. It has more thinking in it than action.....with the exception of a few face offs.

A good book. Didn't leave me dying to know more or continue reading the next 3 books of the series however.

3 1/2 of 5

Are the other three books any good?

I'd skip to the Ender's Shadow series. I liked that better than the rest of the Ender books.

While Id agree that the Ebders Shadow books are more in line with Enders Game and are more accessible ( and more "mainstream" ) I feel skipping Speaker for the Dead would be a mistake. It is definitely different in tone than Enders Game and if you go into it expecting a continuation of the themes of Enders Game you will be disappointed. It is an excellent read in its own right though. In some ways I liked it better than any of the Ender books. It is different though and your milage may vary.

[lildrgn]

Finished The Reversal by Connelly. It was ok. Thought of it as Bosch Lite. Would like to see a darker Bosch in the future. Onto the next Kenzie/Gennaro book by Dennis Lehane, Moonlight Mile.

Though I just started MM, I had a quick nitpick:

Spoiler:

He referred to Fallout 4 for PS2. Us geeks know if there is a Fallout 4, it won't be for PS2. Then again, the narrator is someone who had he heard about Fallout 4 for PS3, could easily make the PS2 error.

I told you it was a nitpick.

[Jeff V]

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein

Once regarded as a seminal work of Science Fiction, Heinlein's masterpiece comes through as dated and is downright uncomfortable to read these days. Did people really act this way?

Part of the problem is Heinlein sets this in too near a future...and does not imagine the gigantic leaps technology has made in the interim. So we still have typewriters. TV is now "stereovision." We have hover cars, but we don't even have something as convenient as a mobile phone.

The rest of the problem lies in the misogyny displayed by the main characters. Women not only are in secondary roles, but are often told "get back in the kitchen where you belong" or something similar. Religious cults embodied free love -- this was probably the moment Heinlein became a dirty old man -- it was a common theme in most of his remaining works.

Once upon a time, there was an appealing message in this book -- about embracing an alien culture and putting aside our own sense of superiority to learn something from them (or him, in this case, there was but one "man from Mars." That message isn't at all dated...however, the delivery system is in urgent need of a tune-up. I wouldn't mind seeing a modernized version of this to restore some degree of plausibility. In the mean time, it might be a while before I go delving back in to retro-scifi, it is just often so tiresome if the entire mythos isn't created from whole cloth (see Dune).

I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmas by Lewis Black

I love Lewis Black. I seem to share the same view point with the angry, high-strung Jewish comic. I've watched his TV shows, his comedy specials, his appearances on The Daily Show. I've read his other books, loved them all.

But I don't love this one.

Part of the book is Black explaining his hate-hate relationship with the holidays. And only a small percentage is really about Christmas, mostly from the perspective of a young Jew growing up who only got to observe others celebrating. The funniest part was talking about his Thanksgiving holidays spent out of the country at pricey resorts -- only to have them ruined by people too rich for their own good bringing young children to spoil his trip (nobody despises children like Lewis Black). I thought his conclusion funny --that these people obviously are not paying too much in taxes. For much of the book, however, he is talking about friends who generously extend their welcome to him -- and he is appreciative, but attempts to spin humor here fail.

Nearly a quarter of the book is devoted to describing his experience on a USO tour to Iraq and Afghanistan. Black was too enamored with his fellow entertainers to really pull of anything funny here. He experienced moments of genuine terror for him (and probably many others) anyway. For someone who uses excessive vulgarity and wit to keep the world at bay, this section humanized the character of Lewis Black. I once admired him for being a grouchy old bastard with a chip on his shoulder -- now I'm not sure what to think. There is now much I know about the man that honestly tarnishes his caricature...and while I admire him for going public with some of his more intimate emotions; Black frequently puts forth a facade that is more contemptible than pitiable; although to his credit I don't think he cares which reaction we choose.

[Zarathud]

For someone who uses excessive vulgarity and wit to keep the world at bay, this section humanized the character of Lewis Black. I once admired him for being a grouchy old bastard with a chip on his shoulder -- now I'm not sure what to think. There is now much I know about the man that honestly tarnishes his caricature...and while I admire him for going public with some of his more intimate emotions; Black frequently puts forth a facade that is more contemptible than pitiable; although to his credit I don't think he cares which reaction we choose.

One time I attended a Lewis Black show, he told a story about visiting a "fuck" hut with his parents. When they opened the refridgerator, there was only strawberries and whipped cream.
Lewis' mom asked: "What's the whipped cream for?"
Lewis' 85-year old father replied: "My balls."
Hysterical and human, all in one. Hope that helps, Jeff V.

[Zarathud]

I might as well contribute. I've been reading the Black Library Warhammer books lately.

Malus Darkblade, Vols. 1 and 2, by Dan Abnett & Mike Lee -- Well done. Malus starts out as a pathetic one-dimensional character who ends up developing his characteristic of vile stubbornness into a deliciously dark anti-hero over the course of his possession by an ancient daeom who requires him to recover five artifacts within one year or forfeit his soul. The foreshadowing is well-done, but there's always another twist of the knife.

The Vampire Genevieve, by Jack Yeovil -- Awful. The collection is weak and it often puts the more interesting part of the story (and spoilers) in front of another story covering the same events that you've just read about. That damn Genevieve doesn't even appear in every story in more than a walk-through role, while other stories are just pointless. There are some good moments involving a playwright facing down evil during his plays, but it's mostly drek. I expect it's remarkable only because it predated some of the humane Vampire craze.

I'm currently reading the Von Carstein Trilogy by Steven Seville, and so far it has redeemed the Vampire genre for me. It's deliciously dark with the struggles of its Ubermensch vampires to spread the reign of the undead through the Empire.

[silverjon]

I'm reading Scott Sigler's "Triangle" books. Done Infected, more than halfway through Contagious. They're competently written, have decent characterization, and hit the right notes for the reactions he's going for. I like them but don't love them. I think they're a bit too self-consciously "cool" in the chapters without a character viewpoint. That might have come across differently in the podcast versions than it does in print.

On the weekend, I read Hell House by Richard Matheson. Now that is a horror novel. Nancy A. Collins contributed a prequel to the Matheson tribute anthology He Is Legend, which is also worth a read.

I'm also working my way through the Flight series of graphic anthologies. Visually, they're top-notch, but man do these young artists come up with some depressing and destructive stories to showcase their work.

[Kasey Chang]

Heinlein was good for his time as he was able to use sci-fi to explore some issues. However, most of his novels are downright horrifying given modern sensibilities.

His novel "Friday", about a girl who's sort of a supercourier around the galaxy? Started with a gang rape, except the girl's programmed to ENJOY it. Then for the big job, she was tricked into carrying... literally, a fetus, that's wanted around the galaxy, and once she "delivered", she's likely to be killed, so she escaped with the kid. The book was nominated for both Hugo and Nebula awards. Eeek.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_%28novel%29" target="_blank