On a baseball tear recently having finished *Imperfect *(Jim Abbot’s bio, Tim Brown co-wrote) and Vecsey’s Baseball(meh) Next up: Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, and Ty and The Babe.
Just finished two books: Arabella of Mars, and Dark Matter.
Arabella is a confection of a book. I almost put it down during the first chapter because of all the ridiculous made-up Martian words, but I’m glad I stuck it out. The characters are two-dimensional, most of the plot points are predictable, the politics is unsubtle and fairly anachronistic, nothing in the book is memorable–but it was a helluva fun read nonetheless, a swashbuckler set on a nineteenth-century interplanetary sailboat.
Dark Matter was much more serious, and I’m fine with having finished it, but it was just as predictable, up to the last act, and the last act IMO flubbed its landing. Specifically:
the protagonist has traveled through multiple alternate universes to arrive back with his family, only to find that dozens of alternate versions of himself have also arrived back in this universe to be with his family. Given the book’s ruminations on the infinite number of universes, the question isn’t why so many alts come back; the question is why so FEW come back? But he never even addresses that question.
It was entertaining enough, but I doubt I’ll remember it in six months.
Currently reading Three Years With the Rat. So far, mysterious and intriguing; we’ll see how it goes.
Oh man, that reminds me that I’ve had a hardback copy of The Yankee Years sitting on a shelf for quite some time now… :eek:
Actually, should have referred to the third and fourth titles as on deck and in the hole…:smack:
(referring to #61, that is)
Ah, thanks. I read the White book many years ago and had forgotten that.
Finished Corpse in a Gilded Cage, by Robert Barnard. Not one of his best, but not bad. I read it so fast because I was on hold trying to straighten out a bill for a long time.
Started His Majesty’s Dragon, by Naomi Novik.
Finished Noah Brooks’s Lincoln Observed, by a California journalist who became quite close to the President and might even have joined his staff in a second term. Some nice stories about Lincoln’s good humor and patience in dealing with the Cabinet, Congressional leaders and the endless waves of job-seekers.
Still digging Austin Grossman’s clever, well-written supervillain spoof Soon I Will Be Invincible.
I’m partway through a couple of books. The first is Scalzi’s “Collapsing Empire,” which is OK so far but I get the feeling that the first 80 pages have been prologue and stuff is about to start happening.
I’m also reading Crimes Against a Book Club, which I’m going to power through because a friend recommended it.
Left Hand of Dorkness, I’m bummed that you didn’t like “Dark Matter” better. I have a couple of long (very long) flights this weekend and that’s in my pile of plane reading material. Is it entertaining enough to help me get through 11 hours in coach?
I’m halfway through Into the Water and liking it, but today Gwendy’s Button Box arrived! What to do, what to do…I think I feel a “sick” day coming on…
I am!
After reading the book, I would not give it a ringing endorsement. It was okay. It was pretty predictable (which I can get over) and not great.
I also read the new Stephen King/Richard Chizmar book today. I didn’t love it either. I feel like they wrote it to get it out of their brain. Upon finishing I wasn’t sure what to make of it.
The other day I finished The Fix, book #3 in the Amos Decker series (by David Baldacci). 4/5 stars! I enjoy Baldacci’s writing and I’m a fan of this particular protagonist, plus I found the mystery compelling. And I’ll admit that I get a small kick out of both noticing the regional details and nitpicking some of the gov’t/intel community stuff. It was only released a month ago, but I found myself wishing that book #4 were available already. From Amazon:
*"Amos Decker witnesses a murder just outside FBI headquarters. A man shoots a woman execution-style on a crowded sidewalk, then turns the gun on himself. Even with Decker’s extraordinary powers of observation and deduction, the killing is baffling. Decker and his team can find absolutely no connection between the shooter–a family man with a successful consulting business–and his victim, a schoolteacher. Nor is there a hint of any possible motive for the attack.
Enter Harper Brown. An agent of the Defense Intelligence Agency, she orders Decker to back off the case. The murder is part of an open DIA investigation, one so classified that Decker and his team aren’t cleared for it. But they learn that the DIA believes solving the murder is now a matter of urgent national security. Critical information may have been leaked to a hostile government–or worse, an international terrorist group–and an attack may be imminent."*
I decided to stick with my “comfort food” legal/crime thrillers, and started John Grisham’s The Broker. I (almost) always love Grisham, but I rarely seek out his older books; someone here probably read/recommended it. 
While visiting Amazon to get the URLs for these books, I noticed that Dean Koontz has a new one coming out next month: The Silent Corner. I still like Koontz enough that normally I’d be willing to check it out, but it’s about a bunch of suicides (the protagonist is a suicide widow): I lost a good friend to suicide 9 months ago – he left behind a widow and two kids – and it’s too soon for me to read something like this. But I thought I’d mention it in case there are any other Koontz fans left. 
I got that notification, too! I’m saving it for next month’s vacation.
I’m not sure what to make of your review: aren’t *all *books written to get them out of the author’s brain? Do you mean that it seemed to make no point? (I’m still gonna read it myself, just curious about this reaction!)
Finished Into the Water, I did enjoy it despite a couple of loose ends. Tomorrow morning I expect to whip through Gwendy’s Button Box before work, it’s very short.
I think so. I’d give it three stars, a solid C+. And if someone loved it way more than I did, I could understand that; it just never really grabbed hold of me. Perfect for a long flight.
Recent reads:
Banquet of Lies, by Michelle Diener. A sort of mystery disguised as a romance novel, or vice versa. The mystery plot was pretty good, but the characters and romantic entanglements were lame and I never felt a sense of urgency at all.
Last Licks, the third book in the Sunny and Shadow cozy series by Claire Donally. Her plots are okay, but she doesn’t have a knack for characterization or dialogue, and cozies really need both. Instead, she has one mode of interaction between each pair of characters.
The Door in the Wall, by Marguerite de Angeli. Continuing my Newbery reads. Meh.
The Christie Curse, by Victoria Abbott. This was a very funny cozy with some fun characters and witty dialogue and narration. I’m not sure the plot made 100% sense, but I didn’t care too much.
Smoky the Cowhorse, by Will James. Another Newbery read. DNF.
The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan, by Kim Barker. The basis of the film “Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot,” which I found enjoyable. The book struck me as a muddled mess.
Irish Chain, by Earlene Fowler. Still enjoying this series, though I know that I should hate it because of the heroine’s dumbass behavior. Someday, I’ll have series regret. Like eating too much dessert.
The Tooth of Time, by Sue Henry. These remind me a bit of the Henrie O books, though without Hart’s skill at plotting.
I finished reading Persuasion by Jane Austen. I liked it a bit more than Pride and Prejudice and Emma and quite a lot more than Sense and Sensibility, probably because I thought it was funnier (the Elliot family has plenty of humorous foibles).
I messed up these quote tags…I am quoting Misnomer
I knew I was not expressing myself very well and hit submit anyway. I’m not sure I’ll do better, because I can’t really articulate it…
I feel like (without giving spoilers) there were little nods to the Dark Tower series that I thought would get fleshed out in the novella but never were. The authors set up an intriguing premise that I was enjoying and then just…kind of stopped writing without coming to (in my mind) any conclusion. Why did these things happen? I feel like I only read half a story.
(did that make any sense?)
Well, I read it this morning and now I understand Blisters’ review. It’s very much like a chapter of a longer story, only this is the chapter where nothing happens. King and Chizmar assembled all the ingredients, but they didn’t bake a cake. All we know is that they could have. Well, it was enjoyable to read anyway, and there is an odd encounter with **R.F. **My theory is that R.F. expected things to turn out differently, and we’re just being allowed to see that he doesn’t always get things to go his way.
I read The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas, a new YA novel that pivots around the shooting of Black unarmed teenager by a police officer, and it was moving and engaging. I think it might read as slightly simplistic to an adult who is already pretty well-versed in social justice issues, but it works as a starting point for teens looking to better understand some of the complex issues related to institutionalized racism. And it sounds really, really grave – and it definitely has these serious themes, but it’s not dry or brow-beating at all.
I’m currently reading Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo, by Sean Carroll, which is a general introduction to the genetic mechanisms of evolution. It’s definitely interesting, but there is A LOT of DNA. I am skimming a lot of the bio chem details, and I feel a little guilty about it. I feel like I’m getting a decent overview of the concepts, though.
Finished it. Good stuff! Thrilling adventure, pop culture commentary and just a bit of pathos. Anyone who likes The Incredibles or Mystery Men will get a big kick out of it.
Next up: The Broom of the System, the first novel by David Foster Wallace, which I’m not far into and have to say, so far, I’m not enjoying much. But I’ll give it my customary 50 pages, at least.
I started Lincoln’s Bodyguard by TJ Turner after winning the sequel on Goodreads. I’m having trouble getting into it. The main character is rather a whiny bitch and I can’t seem to work up much sympathy for his apathetic ass. I will continue to try to however…at least for a little while.
I finished The Odd Job Charlotte MacLeod, not one of her best sadly. Theconclusion was rather flat based on the build up and a bit too Deus ex Machina for my taste.
I am also nearly done with IceCrackerII and other Stories by Lindsay Buroker. I have to THANK the folks that recced the series on here. The series is hitting all my current yes buttons.