I read that in 1994, and all I remember is “this is weird. There’s something I’m not getting.” I’m aware of the comic strip; in fact, that’s why I was interested in the book. But man, either I missed something huge or it was just a giant middle finger to the reader.
I felt a little guilty about ditching The Birthing House so soon, but I’m enjoying reading all the bad reviews over at Goodreads now. Everyone complained about the sex!
Now I’m on the audio version of The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. Hasn’t really grabbed me, but it passes the driving-to-work time, and I don’t have to worry that she’ll pass out while masturbating and be unable to find out where the semen went…:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
Finished the book about Henrietta Lacks, and now about 3/4 of the way slogging through the final book in the Stieg Larsson trilogy.
Re-reading the Flashman series by George MacDonald Fraser. It’s worth re-reading. What a delightful romp it is. 
I also finished **“Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers”, **by Mary Roach. A macabre subject written with humor and respect. A very interesting read that I recommend.
Finished The Magnificent Ambersons while working the polls today and started Breathing Out the Ghost, recommended by koeeoaddi. I’m not too far in but I’m thinking it’s gonna be special. 
I am about halfway through *The Dakota Cipher *by William Dietrich. This is the fourth in the series featuring Ethan Gage, a young American expatriate, student of the new science of electricity (He studied under Benjamin Franklin), diplomat, adventurer, gambler, expert marksman and confidant of Napoleon Bonaparte and Thomas Jefferson, to mention a few.
Like the well-known General Sir Harry Flashman, Gage enjoys carnal adventures, although he is by no means the rogue or coward that Flashnman is. And, as in the Flashman novels, there is a great deal of actual history to be learned from Dietrich’s books,
I read David Malouf’s Ransom a few days ago. It’s a short read and maybe a little overly psychological, but some of the prose is arresting and detailed in that inspiring, intimidating way really good prose is. The book is Malouf’s version of an incident in The Iliad where King Priam of Troy decides to go out in person and speak with Achilles, who has killed Priam’s son Hector and won’t relinquish the body for burial. Malouf treats Priam’s decision as a shock to everyone, and maybe the first time the king has ever stepped out of the role Trojan society has created for him - the first time he puts ceremony aside to act on his own. He may even be rejecting the concept of fate and divinity. Most of the novel is made up of Priam’s journey to the Greek camp, accompanied by a mule cart driver named Somax. Somax is a regular guy and he’s easy to like. His descriptions of his late family are moving even though you don’t know anything about them outside of what he says. They feel like real memories.
That sounds amazing, that’s going right on my list.
I just finished Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan, which is a dark, DARK YA fantasy novel about, well, in a nutshell, surviving abuse and men turning into bears, and whether it’s better to live in a happy dream world or an unhappy real word. The writing was terrific, the tone was menacing and disturbing. There are some points on which I disagree with the author, but overall it was both depressing and thrilling.
Started Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin, historical fiction based on Alice Liddell (the Alice in Wonderland girl). I put this on my request list at the library, and in the meantime, have heard from a few people that it’s only meh. Oh well, it looks like a fairly quick read if nothing else.
Just skimmed Kai Wright’s Soldiers of Freedom, about blacks in the U.S. military since the Revolution, which I plucked off the shelf at the library. Lots of interesting pictures and photos, some minor factual errors, a heavy focus on Colin Powell in the last quarter of the book, and overall worth a read for military history or black history fans.
I finished The Wicker Man last night. I knew it was supposed to be a horror novel, but I had never seen either movie version, so it was totally new to me. It was well-written and intriguing throughout, and then the ending was incredibly moving. (I don’t want to say just what emotion I was feeling, in case it’s a spoiler for anyone who wants to read it). If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it, and whether you’ve read it or not, imdb says to stay as far as possible from the recent movie version.
The Red Pryamid a new series is starting by Rick Riordon.
He wrote the Percy Jackson series, which was great for introducing mythology to kids, but there was something lacking that I’ve never put my finger on it besides the blatant rip off of Harry Potter & his two friends and a school for demi gods. Actually, I think that was my entire problem with the matter the back of my mind was like, " Go find your own formula instead of taking easy street…" I liked the movie, it streamlined the clunkiness of the book nicely.
The Red Pyramid is introducing Ancient Egypt & their gods, so I am looking forward to this. I’m only in the first two chapters. It seems, refreshingly and interestingly, that the character - Carter Kane - is of mix race. Dad is black and mom was white. (Mom is dead.) He has a sister who is very white. So that is pretty cool. Maybe one day, there will be a best selling author who writes a fantastic story and the hero and heroine ( cause there must be one of each per story.) have gay parents and its no big deal. But, I digress.
I’ll be listening to it as an audiobook sometime soon. I gave the Percy Jackson series a miss, but my son liked it.
I got Stephen King’s Just After Sunset as an audio book for a long drive, and didn’t finish it. It just reinforces that I no longer care for Stephen King.
There was a book sale at my library. I picked up -
[ul][li]Heinlein’s The Number of the Beast - yawn. The characters spend an inordinate amount of time arguing about who is in charge of their four-person expedition, and then a whackload of passive-aggressive sabotage of whoever volunteers. [/li][li]The Mammoth Book of Pulp Fiction - short stories, some good and all hard-boiled fun.[/li][li]Pulp Action - more of the same, but modern. [/li][li]The Philosophy of Batman - not as good as I hoped. Too much Philosophy 101 and not enough actual exploration of the Bat-guy’s ideas. [/li][li]A boy’s book of sports-related stories from the 1920’s - good, naive fun.[/li][li]A collection of short stories from Astounding in tribute to Jown Campbell - very, very good.[/ul][/li]
Regards,
Shodan
Hah! I’ve gone up to page forty, and it’s exactly that. A little too dense for me at 85° outside. I’ll skip it for now. I’ve started something more weekend-heat compatible, The Legacy by F. Paul Wilson. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to make of Wilson and his apparent (but possibly fallaciously assumed) political views as in evidence in Repairman Jack, but the books are pretty good romps (I read The Tomb sometime in December, I think).
I’m a King fan who will buy whatever he publishes for the rest of his life, but yeah, there hasn’t been anything really good for about the last fifteen years.
The Ark - Boyd Morrison
Very reminiscent of Clive Cussler’s novels and an amazing first effort, looking forward to his second novel.
Almost finished with Breathing Out the Ghost – outstanding in every way, characters, writing, pacing – but the shoddy proofreading/editing makes me grrrr. “For all intensive purposes”? Typos, missing words, dropped quotation marks --and one long conversation that needed dialogue tags. I hope it’s fixed in a second printing – there should definitely be a second printing.
Next up is probably Penrod by Booth Tarkington.
I can’t believe “for all intensive purposes” made it into a published book!
The last book I read had an odd typeface, with periods that were so tiny that I sometimes missed the end of a sentence. And in the book I’m reading now there have been several dropped quotation marks. It completely pulls me out of the story.
I really liked my Kage Baker novel, so I just ordered the next few of that series. I also read the first of Elizabeth George’s Inspector Lynley mysteries. I liked it pretty well, so I’m going to borrow a box full of those from my mom the next time I visit her.
Now I’m in the middle of another Marcus Didius Falco book, One Virgin Too Many. Vestal Virgins and Sacred Geese; Vigiles and Cohorts; amphorae of wine and pickled fish; and a murder, of course. Great fun.
I find that bad editing can really take me out of a book and spoil it for me. I have stopped reading an author because I found his books poorly edited.