Just finished Layer Cake by JJ Connolly, which was excellent.
Currently reading Stieg Larsson’s The Girl Who Played With Fire. So far, it’s as good - if not better - than his first book, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
Next up: Angelology by Danielle Trussoni. I hear that dark angels are going to be The Next Big Thing. 
Just finished D.M. Giangreco’s Hell to Pay, about planning for the Allied invasion of Japan in 1945-47. I wrote a big high school history essay on Truman’s decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and have been interested in the issue ever since. Giangreco has done a lot of new research and makes a good case that either a conventional invasion or a blockade would’ve been far more costly in both American and Japanese lives than the bombings, awful as they were (a top Japanese admiral estimated in a postwar interview that Japan was prepared to lose 20 million men, women and children if it meant working out a treaty and not actually surrendering).
Is it worth getting if you’ve already read Richard Frank’s Downfall, or does it not add enough value? I really enjoyed Downfall, and Frank already made a very convincing case about the realities of a prospective invasion.
I’m anxious to hear what you think of this. I’m tempted.
I’m reading The Far Side of the World and trying to decide whether to take a break from Aubrey-Maturin for awhile. It’s hard though, because each book ends with somewhat of a cliffhanger. I’m glad I waited until they were all written before starting these. Plus, the nautical stuff has made its way into real life. A couple weeks ago I was at the car wash, hosing the frozen slush out of my wheel wells and thinking “No wonder the car won’t steer right – I’ve fouled the hull!”
I’m in a book club with my friends and we take turns picking something. Right now we’re on my pick King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa and I’m 200 pages into it and really like it.
I love colonial history but even for people who aren’t I think its very accessible.
I would recommend :
Peter F Hamilton’s 2 parter …Pandora’s Star and Judas Rising, or anything else he’s written if you’ve read those.
Steven Baxter’s “Exultant”
Kevin J. Anderson’s “Saga of the Seven Suns” - probably a little less dense than the other recommendations and it’s great fun …7 volumes worth -----it made my summer last year.
Hey, thanks! I’ve read Hamilton’s Night’s Dawn series, and I actually have copies of those two books in the house - my husband must have read them. I was looking for something slightly less dense than Hamilton. I do like his books, once I get past the first 10 chapters or so.
I’ve never read anything at all by Baxter, and the only thing I’ve read by Anderson is a couple of the Dune prequels, which I didn’t like very much.
I’ve started the *Warriors *collection of short stories. It’s a beautiful, fat hardback, but so far I’m not terribly impressed with the content. I don’t know why I look forward to these collections so much, because I don’t really care for short fiction. (Too little reward for my emotional investment in a set of characters.) Gabaldon’s Lord John story was okay. (I do like shorts with familiar characters.) Haldeman’s Forever-universe story was pretty insubstantial. I didn’t like Robin Hobb’s story at all. But I still have Saylor, Martin, Weber and Novik to go, so maybe some of those will wow me.
I haven’t read Downfall. Sounds like they might be complimentary books. Why not check out Giangreco’s table of contents, or read the first few chapters, and see if it’s different enough to keep going?
I finished my audiobook, The Absolutely True Adventures of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie. It was pretty good. Back in the days when I was driving my kids to school, we would listen to audiobooks together, and the whole time I listened to this one I kept thinking what a big hit it would have been. There were a lot of things to laugh at in this book, and also a lot of heavier stuff that would have sparked interesting conversations.
My next audiobook is a YA novel, Child X, by Lee Weatherly. The reader sounds like Hayley Mills on speed; fortunately, I like the accent, so I’m sure I’ll get used to it.
I’m starting Angelology today, so I’ll hopefully be able to let you know what I think of it pretty soon.
Recently finished:
I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley. Memoir-ish essays by someone who doesn’t have enough substance or style to have a decent memoir. There were a few amusing anecdotes, but mostly this was an overreach.
Avalon High, by Meg Cabot. Seriously, does Meg Cabot ever sleep? Cute fluffy story about Arthurian characters in a modern high school setting.
The Night Tourist, by Katherine Marsh. Neat concept for a kids book - exploring the secrets of New York City with ghosts, but a little wobbly in execution. This would probably be especially interesting for kids who are familiar with NYC landmarks, and enjoy history.
Finished The Magicians a book for which I have a mixed review - though now that I think about it, maybe mostly a negative review. It had potential, but for me did not live up to it.
Quentin, a socially awkward and brilliant young man dreams of the enchanted world of Fillory (a set of children’s books that I believe were meant to represent Narnia) and being able to do real magic. He is accepted into the Brakebills Academy and taught to be a real magician.
After graduation Quentin and his friends spend their lives wasted and drunk until they embark on an adventure to the real Fillory.
I waited and waited for a plot to develop and more than half way in the author finally obliged. He spent the first half in character development, but alas, really did little with that. Once the plot did develop it seemed like he rushed to conclude it. And then, in the end, I was left feeling pretty indifferent.
I can’t say I would recommend this to others.
Just finished two collections of Frank Cho’s Liberty Meadows comics, which are mildly amusing but very well-drawn. When I saw the dedication to Lynda Carter it all became clear - the luscious Brandy is clearly based on her.
I agree with this. The Magicians was recommended to me by my (otherwise reliable) bookseller, I finished it, but I didn’t at any point really like it, I don’t think. At a couple of points, I wanted to know how it would go on, and the big fight sort of was interesting. But I realized quite early on that I couldn’t care less about what happened to any of the characters – they were entirely unlikeable, and, if you forgive the pun, the book lacked magic. I mean for crying out loud, it’s a book about magic and places out of beloved children’s books being real, how much would it have taken to give me a sense of wonder? Quite a lot apparently…quite the most mundane book about magic powers I’ve ever read…
Luckily, I’ve found a lot of time for reading lately. Recently, I’ve finished:
Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World, by Donald Antrim. I was lured in by the interesting, Philip K. Dick-esque title, but didn’t like this book at all. It’s dark satire and the entire time I was reading, I felt like I wasn’t really getting it.
Hell House, by Richard Mattheson. A classic – perhaps THE classic – haunted house novel. I liked the book, although from my 2010 perspective, many things felt clichéd. I kept reminding myself that this book invented the clichés! The ending did strike me as a bit silly, especially because
Emerich Belasco’s big, evil, terrible secret was… that he was really short.
The Eyes of the Dragon, by Stephen King. A reread, while I was in search of something fun and familiar. Still a good adventure.
The Prestige, by Christopher Priest. I rarely say this, but the movie was better than the book.
Now I’m reading:
The Light Fantastic, by Terry Pratchett. I’d read the first Discworld novel a year ago and wasn’t terribly impressed. Not impressed enough to continue with the series, anyway. But some recent posts here made me decide to give the series a second try.
Quicksilver, by Neal Stephenson. The three books of the Baroque Cycle have been sitting on my shelf for some time. I’ve decided to finally try and tackle them. I feel like this will be a long project.
The only other book about which I think I can say that is Tom Clancy’s Patriot Games. The movie was much better.
I keep an ongoing list of movies I consider better than the books on which they were based. So far, it’s a very exclusive list:
I finished Jeff Shaara’s “To The Last Man” and am now about halfway through “Band of Brothers”, by Stephen Ambrose. Yeah, I’m in a war history rut.
I’ve seen the first two movies, and liked them both very much, but have only read the book for the second - and I agree with you. Someday I’ll see Stardust, and now I know I needn’t bother with the book - thanks!
Just finished If the Dead Rise Not by Philip Kerr. The latest in the Bernie Gunther series of “Berlin Noir” novels.
I’d say it was his best yet. This series just keeps getting better and better. A total treat for noir fans, it has the perfect reveal at the end - devestating, inevitable, and yet a series of total surprises (at least to me). I read the last chapter twice, to take it all in.
I highly recommend it for anyone interested in well-researched period hardboiled detective fiction.