I’m just now finishing this. I agree it’s not the best book ever, but (so far) I’m very impressed with how the author took a fairly overdone premise (the whole Mean Girls thing) and made it a page-turner.
The guy who spilled the premise with the title turns out to be Verne himself. Grrr…
The book is also interesting in that it features a couple of guys who end up crashed on the shore of a Pacific island and must lkearn to fend for themselves. They discover that there are animals on the island, including a completely inappropriate Grizzly Bear (not a polar bear, unfortunately). Then they find other inappropriate animals on the island, and eventually learn that they are victims of the machinations of others, and were meant to be crashed there…
I wonder if J.J. Abrams read this one?
True. That book and I were inseparable on Sunday!
I just finished A Clash of Kings and I’m a couple hundred pages into A Storm of Swords. I like the stories, but god, couldn’t an editor have told Martin to tighten things up here and there?
I’m also reading **Death Masks **by Jim Butcher. I’m a bit disappointed, after the first book the pacing picked up, but this one is dragging so far.
Recently finished:
The Devouring by Simon Holt. Anyone read this yet? The premise is interesting, and nothing I’ve come across before despite reading a lot of supernatural themed stories.
Dead In The Family (Sookie Stackhouse #10) by Charlaine Harris.
Yay, more Sookie & Eric! It covers several sorts of family situations, the one with Sookie’s little cousin being the most normal of them.
You might like his Dunk and Egg stories, set almost a century earlier. Shorter but just as full of Westerosian goodness: Tales of Dunk and Egg - Wikipedia
I really liked this trilogy, but thought the first book dragged a bit. It’s mostly character development, and while it was well done, I got really tired of hearing about Glokta’s aches and pains. I wasn’t sure about reading the other two until I got to the end of Blade, where the plot took off. The next two books are quite satisfying.
After dumping Anansi Boys, I started Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, historical (? - are the 40’s and 50’s historical?) about doctors in Ethiopia and America. There’s a lot of information in the book, but it’s presented in such a way that it doesn’t feel like a social studies textbook. Plus, there’s some humor.
So I finished Kraken last night. I’m still processing it, so I’m not sure if I’m in the Loved It or Really Loved It camp.
I’ve never really liked other books by Meiville. I tried reading Un Lun Dun and King Rat, but niether of them did anything for me. I don’t usually like “Urban Fantasy”, but this book is amazing.
For the first 80 or so pages, it’s a pretty cookie cutter fantasy with dueling cults, “knacking” and comically misfit paranormal cops. Then a package is delivered to the main character, and all hell breaks loose. I won’t describe the scene, but it sends the book into territory that is at once hilarious and terrifying.
So many ideas and brilliant little asides in this book. I can’t wait to read it again in a week or so, and pick up all the things I know I missed the first time around. Now I’m thinking of picking up The City and The City.
Finished Every Dead Thing by John Connolly. It was indeed much better than his YA book that I had read. I can’t recall (due to my poor memory) whether or not I knew going in that there was a supernatural undertone. It took me a little by surprise and at first put me off a little. In the end it wasn’t a bad read.
I’m reading The Making of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman. A fascinating narrative look directly inside the Culinary Institute of America. If you want to be chef or you just like to eat well this book is well worth your time.
My wife’s book club read a number of Ruhlman books, and thought The Soul of a Chef was the best of the food-related ones. I read his book House: A Memoir, about buying and rebuilding a grand old house in a Cleveland suburb, and it’s also very good.
I liked Tigana. I’ll have to pick up some more of Kay’s books.
I read Voltaire’s Candide, which led me to do some reading on Leibniz’s optimism. The book was mildly amusing, although I’m sure I’m missing a lot of the satire despite hitting Wikipedia. My favorite chapter was the one where Candide visits the Venetian nobleman Pococurante, who is contemptuous of and bored with all works of art, literature, music, science and philosophy.
Candide observes: “There must certainly be a pleasure in criticising everything, and in perceiving faults where others think they see beauties.”
“That is,” replied Martin, “there is a pleasure in having no pleasure.”
Reminds me of my grandmother.
Now I’m reading Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), by Tom Vanderbilt. It’s very interesting. Driving to work this morning I was a bit paranoid from reading this book, yet I still caught at least two instances where I took my eyes off the road. It amazes me that there aren’t more car crashes.
I finished The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachtman. It’s one of the best books I’ve read this year. The story follows several employees at a newspaper based in Rome, interspersed with the history of the paper’s founding. As I neared the end of the book, I had to read whilst walking to work because I couldn’t wait to see how Rachtman wrapped everything up.
I’m now reading The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings, soon to be released as a film starring George Clooney. It’s a good read, but unfortunately had to follow an exceptional one.
Completely devoured the aboveforementioned Change Your Brain/Change Your Life book.
Back from Laos. I did indeed finish Carl Hiaasen’s Lucky You, and it was very good, but have not yet started Henry James’ The Ambassadors. Probably will on Monday, as this looks to be a busy weekend for me.
Elendil’s Heir: I got a copy of Arthur Rex but it will be a little while before I want to tackle anything Arthurian. 
Read:
Alcatraz 1868-1963 by John Godwin ~ no idea where I picked this up but it was a decent if dated read.
Buffalo Bill Cody: The Man Behind the Legend by Robert A Carter ~ Highly recommended for a good solid retelling of Bill Cody’s life from tot to showman.
Assassin’s Quest (The Farseer Trilogy, Book 3) by Robin Hobb ~ finishing up with a bang. Not quite as good as the previous two books but not disappointing. But the cover. Ugh! What were they thinking?
Le Morte D’Arthur - Volume I by Thomas Malory ~ Slog slog slog. No interest in Volume 2!
Alive in Necropolis by Doug Dorst ~ decent little crime story involving ghostly characters however they take a bit of a backseat to the self-destructive main characters. I can’t say that I like how this author portrays women but I was introduced to some very interesting people from the early 1900s such as Lillie Coit, Ishi, Phineas Gage and Lincoln Beachey…none of whom I’ve ever heard of before and have added some books about them to my wishlist.
Godslayer: Volume II of The Sundering by Jacqueline Carey ~ A series that tells a Lord of the Rings-esque story from the POV of the ‘bad guys’. You know how it’s going to end but keep wishing for a different outcome.
Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach ~ Roach of “Stiff” fame takes on space travel! Very fun.
Reading:
The Bloody White Baron: The Extraordinary Story of the Russian Nobleman Who Became the Last Khan of Mongolia ~ need to get back on this one
The Escapement (Engineer Trilogy)
the poisoner’s handbook. fantastic read.
Picked up some books this weekend:
The Freedom Writer’s Diary by Erin Gruwell – hope to incorporate this into my hs classes
The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff – urban magic, but very mysterious…I kept having to backtrack and read to figure things out
and I’m in the middle of Tale of the Thunderbolt by E.E. Knight – third in the Vampire Earth series. Very not-sparkly vampires that nobody likes.
I read the new book in Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series, Tongues of Serpents. I was a little disappointed with it. It’s well-written, and the characters are still entertaining, but a lot of traipsing around in the middle of nowhere in Australia was kind of a let down after the excitement (Napoleon’s invasion of England) of the previous book.
I’m now reading the fourth entry in the Felix Castor series, Thicker Than Water, by Mike Carey. I think his writing is getting better with each book.
I’m finishing up “Flashman’s Lady” which I’ve liked so far - especially with Elspeth getting more than the usual few pages or so. The diary/sister’s footnotes are hilarious. That’s my lunchtime at work book. Doesn’t require a bunch of commitment and easy to put down but lightens my mood for the day.
I just bought a Kindle, so I loaded it up with a bunch of classics I mean to get to but didn’t feel like lugging around like “War and Peace” and “Bleak House”. I haven’t started those yet.
I am about 1/3 the way through “A Reliable Wife” by Robert Goolrick. So far it’s dark and has a strange style but I like it alot so far. I am always happy when I venture into a new author and am not immediately digusted by the poor writing.
I’m also reading “Las Vegas Chew Toy” by Laura Alton - it’s a Nanowrimo project that found a publisher. It’s cute, not really my style but it’s fun to read something set in Vegas.
I think you’ll find it worth the wait. Enjoy!