I recently read The Fear Institute, third in the Johannes Cabal series by Jonathan L. Howard. I liked it a lot, hope Mr. Howard gives us more of these!
I’m finishing up The Big Book of Ghost Stories, edited by Otto Penzler, which is totally as advertised, a good solid offering. Next up, The Prophet, by Michael Koryta.
Also starting an audiobook version of The Kill Order, by James Dashner. It’s a prequel to the Maze Runner series.
Slowly making my way through I, Zombie by everyone’s favorite, Hugh Howey, author of the Wool series. A zombie story told from the perspective of the zombies, so far it is very depressing, very bleak, and very very gross. Howey writes so well, though, that I’m sticking with it to the end.
Giving Dashner another chance, hm? It’s on my “eh.. maybe get from the library” list.
I’m delving into Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho - I’ve seen parts of the movie & it’s finally piqued my curiosity enough to give it a try. It’s oddly compelling, if incredibly dated in its cultural references (intentionally so, I think). Bateman is already depicted as being off his rocker, but I don’t think he’s murdered anyone yet - at least not that’s been explicitly described. I doubt I’ll say I enjoyed this novel once I’m done - but then again, I don’t think you’re supposed to enjoy it.
Just now I saw a woman’s review summing up:* “Putting it bluntly: the scenes of women being raped, beaten, tortured and killed in this book are numerous, long, detailed, and presented with an absolute lack of empathy. For myself, this book made me feel as though I had been sexually assaulted. And while I appreciate the genius of such a book, that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”*
I’m curious what Doper women have to say about it.
But not fun? C’mon… what could beat visiting skunk museums and skunk art galleries, attending the skunk opera and ballet…
I’ve only really dabbled my toes in Deathless so far, but I’ll say this: It’s better than Insomnia!
Oh, Wicked Plants was an interesting little read. Not much depth–essentially a series of short entries (from a few sentences to a few pages) discussing each plant. I came away from this book convinced that the only possible way to be safe is to eat nothing but meat and avoid anything that even remotely looks like it might photosynthesize. :eek: These were indeed some truly wicked plants.
I couldn’t finish it either. I started out amused by the satire about chi-chi name brands but once the violence started…I had to give up when he described cutting across someone’s eyeball with a razor
I just finished Gone Girl. It was OK and I can see why it’s popular, but I preferred her Dark Places. Now I’m on a lighter read – Where’d You Go Bernadette. I keep trying to finish Joyce Carol Oates’s **Little Bird of Heaven **but get diverted by library books with due dates.
I just started Stephen King’s Under the Dome. It’s getting really good reviews so I’m looking forward to it. I don’t know much beyond the basic premise - a mysterious, transparent dome suddenly descends on a small New England town, trapping everyone beneath it like ants under a glass. I think King will focus more on the effects of the dome on the townspeople, rather than the dome itself - much like how in “The Mist” the mist and creatures were just devices to explore the dynamics of people forced to work together (or not) under extreme stress. Hmm, it just occurred to me that on the surface, these two stories have very similar premises. Well, I guess I’ll see if he has something different to say this time.
The book includes a map of the town, so I wonder if the layout will be important. From the looks of it, the dome has a radius of 4 miles, if that. I don’t know if it’s airtight or if it extends below the surface. Tunneling out would be my first solution, and I’m looking forward to King anticipating this and cleverly shutting that option off.
I’ve just finished The Cassandra Project by Jack McDevitt & Mike Resnick. It’s 2019, 50 years after the moon landings and some oddities about some earlier missions come to light. Not that the landings were fake, but that Armstrong wasn’t the first! It’s an enjoyable page turner but the final reveal is very weak*.
There’s also a glaring plot discontinuity that should have been caught (the note from the President early on saying ‘we need to talk’) that was ignored completely after that, even when they finally met. The Watergate tie-in was neat, though!
*aliens visited Earth 2000 years ago but we killed their ambassador! Groan!!
I just started Cry, the Beloved Country. A few times a year, I try to pick up a Very Important Book that I never read in school.
I just finished The Girl of Fire and Thorns, by Rae Carson. A diverting piece of YA fantasy. I especially liked that Elisa, the main character, isn’t the blonde, waifish Action Girl that fills so many pages in this genre. I mean, the author dared to make her heroine
I’m really pleased to see Louise Erdrich win the National Book Award with** Round House**. She’s been a consistently wonderful writer over many years, and she deserves the attention. I’ve seen this book described as a masterpiece, so I look forward to reading it.
