Finished The Dead Path a supernatural thriller.
Nicholas Close loses his wife in an odd accident and returns to his native Australia. There he discovers a pattern of murdered children and seeks to uncover the truth.
I enjoyed it well enough, but found the ending to be a little trite and (the final) page almost predictable.
Yes, I think the book would have been far better off without that epilogue.
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. It’s surprisingly good, actually.
I finished the** Lock Artist** and it was great. I now plan to check out some more of Steve Hamilton’s stuff.
I also reread **Dune **and plan to join the new thread on it. I originally read **Dune **in a high school Honors English class (yes, my teacher WAS that cool), so I had mentally labelled it as a “school book.” I was pleasantly surprised to find how action-packed it was.
I read Meg Cabot’s Abandon and was disappointed in it. She’s usually good for some light, fun teenaged angst. Usually with a supernatural element tossed in. But she really missed the mark here – bad ending, no chemistry between the male and female love interests and meandering plot.
I finished* Ready Player One*, and loved it! That was the most fun I’ve had with a book in a long time. I’m now reading Case Histories, which I’ve had on my shelf for a long time, but am now reading because I’m giving that series to my mother for Christmas. So far I’m fascinated.
Just finished The Fabric of the Cosmos, which was an astoundingly good book on modern physics for the non-physicist. Can anyone recommend a similar book on biology, especially on the nervous system and the brain? I imagine there’s been a lot of progress on understanding the brain since I was in high school.
This week I finished two books. The Birthing House by Christopher Ransom to begin with. I wasn’t a fan of the ending, but I didn’t hate it nearly as much as most people rating it on Amazon seemed to. If it hadn’t fallen apart at the end, it might have been pretty good.
And Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. I really wanted to love this book, but… well, it did teach me a valuable lesson: being “different” in way x,y, or z is not enough in the way of character development to satisfy readers. Only Jacob and Emma were fleshed out enough as characters to make you care about them. On the other hand, I love the fact that all the photos in the book (my favorite being the one captioned “This is Why”) were found photos. That’s an awesome motivation for a story.
I haven’t read Abandon, but I adored The Mediator series. Check that out if you haven’t given up on her yet. It’s one of the few series that ended on what I consider a picture perfect note.
I started today on Killing Floor, by Lee Child, the first in his Jack Reacher series. Not my usual fare, but recommended by the lone cashew, so I’ll give it a shot. So far, so good.
I’m currently reading 3 books, depending on my mood.
Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. I was hoping the final book would be out by now, but no such luck.
Deadtown by Nancy Hozner. So far it’s pretty good, bouncing between the present and the past to explain how Deadtown came to exist, and why there’s a bad ass demon who boils people from the inside out after the main character. Red Thunder by John Varley. Set in the near future, it’s a light sci fi tale of a space race between America and China to reach Mars.
Unfortunately I’m not in a reading mood right now, so I might read twenty pages between the 3 books in a week.
I am a fan, and I really liked the Dome, so my opinion might not be in sync with yours. I’m about half way through, I really like it.
I’m embarrased to say I’ve never read his 1986 book ‘It’, and I kind of wish I had read that first, since there are some loose tie-ins.
I did read – and I loved – The Mediator series and agree that the ending was exactly what it should have been.
Starting Murder at Deviation Junction by Andrew Martin, fourth in a series about a railroad detective in 1900s England. These books haven’t gotten much attention but I really like them.
Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife by Francine Prose turned out to be fairly good, although I think the author was a little blinded to the merits of approaches to the material other than her own. It was very interesting, regardless. I would recommend it to anyone who was greatly impacted by reading Anne Frank’s diary.
A disappointing book of short stories: Girls in White Dresses, by Jennifer Close. I thought this was vapid, 20-something women who are anxious about finding husbands.
But a terrific kid’s book: The Great Wall Of Lucy Wu, by Wendy Wan-Long Shang. This is a simple story about a Chinese-American sixth grader and her various trials and tribulations, and it’s wonderfully written and very engaging. I highly recommend for people looking for books for 8 - 11 year old readers.
Just finished *After the Apocalypse *by Maureen McHugh. It’s a collection of short stories. I enjoyed it greatly. Now I have a few magazines to catch up on.
Read Dickens’s Hard Times for the first time a few days ago. I enjoyed it, because I love Dickens and he makes me weepy, but it’s not what I’d consider one of his great works.
Reading some Dick Francis now, which makes me happy.
Finished Portnoy’s Complaint, by Philip Roth. Excellent, but certainly not for prudes.
Now for some more John Grisham. Next up: The Runaway Jury, another Elendil’s Heir recommendation.
Sorry not to have posted in this thread yet. It’s been a busy December for me so far.
As an avid Civil War history buff, I implore you not to waste your time on it. This review sums up my thinking: http://clevelandcivilwarroundtable.com/articles/comment/april1865.htm
Hey, great! Hope you love it.
pohjonen, I hope you have the chance to return to Toobin’s The Nine. One of the best books about the Supreme Court in a long time, I think, with a nice mix of law, history, politics and gossip.
AuntiePam, my book club read Fforde’s The Eyre Affair earlier this year, and although I liked it well enough, I can’t say I’m driven to read any more in the series.
I’ve set aside George R.R. Martin’s A Dance with Dragons for now, but fully intend to get back to it.
I just skimmed through Rick Marschall’s Bully!, a handsome, well-annotated collection of contemporary political cartoons about Theodore Roosevelt.
I also finished Boy Scouts of America: A Centennial History by Chuck Wills, a detailed, mostly even-handed look at the BSA’s ups and downs since its founding in 1910. Recommended for any Scout or former Scout, I’d say.
Finally finished The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco and found it … disappointing. I had really high hopes for it, since he was returning (sorta) to the territory he covered so well in Foucault’s Pendulum, but while it got off to a good start, it eventually became confusing and directionless. Almost a character study instead of a plot-driven narrative. It was difficult to finish.
On a positive note, during one of the lulls in reading The Prague Cemetery, I started on The Billionaire’s Vinegar based on recommendations here. I’m about a third of the way in and am really enjoying it so far.
Reading The White Devil by Justin Evans, a ghost story. About a fuckup American boy who gets sent to Harrow, where his strong resemblance to Byron is noted. Haunting ensues.
Yay! School’s been out for over a week so I’ve been able to actually read for fun.
I’ve finished Robopocalypse. It was a decent enough light read. Nothing that’ll change the world, although it has made me look at my electronics and think, “I’m onto you…”
I’m currently reading Deathless and I’m absolutely loving it. It’s the first book I’ve read in a long time where I’ve wanted to read and pay attention to every single word. I enjoy the book not just for the story but also the writing in and of itself.