Long overdue, a Books Read update
Wow, So it's been nearly 7 months since I've posted to my list of books read. I've read a lot of books since then.... 21 books. That's going to make this a bit of a long post, except that I am collating all my reviews of Patrick O'Brian books, which feels like half the list. Oye. here we go.
Here's the list:
@The Forever War - This was apparently a groundbreaking work of SF when it was first released, so I've heard. It must be very much tied to its time, then, because reading it in 2012, I found it slow, dull, and preternaturally fixated on homosexuality, not as a fact of life, but as a carnival freakshow. In all, though, and homosexual fixation aside, I found the character aspect of the story to be lightly and inarticulately draped over a framework of describing the vast expanses of elapsed time when dealing with near-light speed travel and futuristic weaponry. In my mind, good sci-fi is a seamless blend of character, story, and an exploration of the effects of science and technology on the experience of humanity. In this case, I found the seams to be just a bit too apparent for enjoyment. Meh.
@Equal Rites, @Mort, and @Sourcery - As with my last books update so many months ago, I am working my way chronologically through Discworld, after having read so much of the Night's Watch series. And I think I am still in the section where Pratchett is finding his way and his voice. There's some cute stuff in here, and Mort was great, but I am feeling that I don't much care about the Wizards sub-series within the greater series. Meh.
@Kitty's Greatest Hits, and @Kitty Steals the Show - These were great. Kitty Steals the Show is the next novel in the Kitty Norville timeline, where Kitty winds up as the keynote speaker at an international conference on the supernatural in mainstream. The conference very much plays a backseat to some more of the vampires' Long Game, which so many books ago, I was trepidacious about how she'd handle it. I think she's walking a fine line between high drama of centuries long conflict between the vampires, and the visceral reactions Kitty is having as a) a werewolf which the vampires consider a lesser creature, and b) she learns more about the ways they are manipulating events behind the scenes, controlling lives and generations, for their own amusement. Kitty's Greatest Hits, on the other hand, is a short story collection. I loved this. It's a bunch of random stories set in Kitty's world, throughout history. It gives some backstory on Rick, we learn about zombies in her world (Voodoo, not Romero, zombies), how vampires affected the lines of Spanish successsion, and a few others as well. I love short story collections that are done well, and this one definitely was! Highly recommended if you like the Kitty Norville series, but as always, it helps a lot to read them in order.
@Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life - This came to me highly recommended. I lvoe Steve Martin's stand up, acting, and movie writing. I'd read one of his novels, and it was good, but not my bag. This autobiography/memoir was an interesting entity. It was mostly a recounting of his mental processes while he was struggling to find his niche as a comedian, with a small interwoven story of the women he'd fallen in love with along the way. Not by any means a tell-all or expose. More a sweet sentimental refresher to himself of how he got where he is. It was sweet, but not at all what I was expecting or led to believe it would be. If you want to know more about what made Steve Martin who he is, Recommended. Otherwise, Meh.
@Redshirts - I can not recommend this book heartily enough! Fabulous! Hysterical. Too short. The very end end of the book even felt abrupt, which was a shame, but the 3 codas made up for it admirably. If you have ever seen an episode of the original Star Trek TV show, or even just absorbed the cultural understanding of the camp silliness of the show and it's prediliction for killing Redshirts, you'll love this show. Enjoyment of Trek is not a prerequisite. Highly Recommended.
@Arctic Rising - Fun book! It's an exploration of international geopolitical power jockeying in the open sea lanes of the Artic Circle after global warming has melted enough of the ice for year-round travel. A fun, potboiler action piece that I thoroughly enjoyed for what it was. Recommended.
@Blackout - The 3rd, and presumably final, installment of Mira Grant's Newsflesh Trilogy. A fantastic read. If you read the series so far, you'll be devouring this regardless of what I say. If you haven't - why haven't you?! This is not your typical zombie horror story. It's incredibly well thought out, and an eerily realistic look at how people might cope with having to live in a zombie-infested world. I love this series! Highly Recommended!
@Treason's Harbour, @Far Side of the World, @The Reverse of the Medal, @Letter of Marque, @Thirteen Gun Salute, @The Nutmeg of Consolation, @Clarissa Oakes/The Truleove, @The Wine-Dark Sea, @The Yellow Admiral, and @The Hundred Days - What to say on these books? If you have read the Patrick O'Brian series, you don't need me to heap on the praises. If you haven't, don't start here, start with Master and Commander. Needless to say, I wish that Patrick Tull had narrated every book I'll ever want to read for the rest of my life before he had died. Each individual novel, of it's own merits, isn't really all that remarkable I suppose. But when you look at the series as a whole, and the overarching character development, it is astounding. That, and the ones that have Naval engagements are a lot of fun. Insanely Highly Recommended!
@The Time Traveller's Wife - The concept for this book was fantastic. It's like the Doctor and River Song, but without a TARDIS. An amazing concept for looking at 2 people who are madly in love, dealing with the trouble and trauma of one of them constantly flitting around the time-stream. The problem lies in the execution. The first third of the book is a great set up, but then the entire middle 50% is a long, meandering, pointless diversion. Whoever wrote it must never have had children. Also, it's far too set in the name-dropping erudite elitie socialist thinkers/painters/wine-and-cheese vein for me to follow parts of it. The ending was (I hope) deliberately telegraphed about 2/3 through, and the last third of the book was just a painful wait to get there. Overall, it was a decent read, if only for the first third. The rest was a slog, at times painful to get through. Slightly better than Meh, we'll call it OK.
So, that's it for now. More to come in a bit. There's only 1 complete Patrick O'Brian Aubrey-Maturin novel left for me (Blue at the Mizzen), but I've already got a few other novels in progress that I'm reading. So, it's not the end of the list for the year.
No worries,
Matt
Here's the list:
- A Wrinkle In Time, by Madeleine L'Engle
- Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, by Seth Grahame-Smith
- Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, by Joshua Foer
- The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, Read by Carolyn McCormick
- Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins, Read by Carolyn McCormick
- Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins, Read by Carolyn McCormick
- Kitty and the Silver Bullet, by Carrie Vaughn
- The Forgotten 500, by Gregory A. Freeman, read by Patrick Lawlor
- Blackout, by Connie Willis
- Master and Commander, by Patrick O'Brian, read by Patrick Tull
- 11/22/63, by Stephen King, Read by Craig Wasson
- Feed, by Mira Grant
- Deadline, by Mira Grant
- Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand, by Carrie Vaughn
- Kitty Raises Hell, by Carrie Vaughn
- Kitty's House of Horrors, by Carrie Vaughn
- The Leftovers, by Tom Perrotta, narrated by Dennis Boutsikaris
- All Clear, by Connie Willis
- Post Captain, by Patrick O'Brian, narrated by Patrick Tull
- H.M.S. Surprise, by Patrick O'Brian, narrated by Patrick Tull
- Crucible of Gold, by Naomi Novik
- Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, by Mary Roach, narrated by Sandra Burr
- Kitty Goes to War, by
- The Mauritius Command, by Patrick O'Brian, narrated by Patrick Tull
- Old Man's War, by
- The Color of Magic, by
- The Light Fantastic, by
- Desolation Island, by Patrick O'Brian, narrated by Simon Vance
- The Fortune of War, by Patrick O'Brian, narrated by Patrick Tull
- The Surgeon's Mate, by Patrick O'Brian, narrated by Patrick Tull
- Kitty's Big Trouble, by Carrie Vaughn
- The Ionian Mission, by Patrick O'Brian, narrated by Patrick Tull
- The Alloy of Law, by Brandon Sanderson, narrated by Michael Kramer
- The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
- Equal Rites, by Terry Pratchett
- Kitty's Greatest Hits, by Carrie Vaughn
- Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life, by Steve Martin, and narrated by Steve Martin
- Redshirts: A Novel With Three Codas, by John Scalzi
- Mort, by Terry Pratchett
- Arctic Rising, by Tobias S. Buckell
- Blackout, by Mira Grant
- Treason's Harbour, by Patrick O'Brian, narrated by Patrick Tull
- The Time Traveler's Wife, by , narrated by William Hope and Laurel Lefkow
- The Far Side of the World, by Patrick O'Brian
- The Reverse of the Medal, by Patrick O'Brian, Narrated by Simon Vance
- Letter of Marque, by Patrick O'Brian, Narrated by Simon Vance
- Thirteen Gun Salute, by Patrick O'Brian, narrated by Patrick Tull
- The Nutmeg of Consolation, by Patrick O'Brian, narrated by Patrick Tull
- Sourcery, by Terry Pratchett
- Kitty Steals the Show, by Carrie Vaughn
- Clarissa Oakes/The Truelove, by Patrick O'Brian
- The Wine-Dark Sea, by Patrick O'Brian, narrated by Patrick Tull
- The Yellow Admiral, by Patrick O'Brian, narrated by Patrick Tull
- The Hundred Days, by Patrick O'Brian, narrated by Simon Vance
- Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, by Joshua Foer
@The Forever War - This was apparently a groundbreaking work of SF when it was first released, so I've heard. It must be very much tied to its time, then, because reading it in 2012, I found it slow, dull, and preternaturally fixated on homosexuality, not as a fact of life, but as a carnival freakshow. In all, though, and homosexual fixation aside, I found the character aspect of the story to be lightly and inarticulately draped over a framework of describing the vast expanses of elapsed time when dealing with near-light speed travel and futuristic weaponry. In my mind, good sci-fi is a seamless blend of character, story, and an exploration of the effects of science and technology on the experience of humanity. In this case, I found the seams to be just a bit too apparent for enjoyment. Meh.
@Equal Rites, @Mort, and @Sourcery - As with my last books update so many months ago, I am working my way chronologically through Discworld, after having read so much of the Night's Watch series. And I think I am still in the section where Pratchett is finding his way and his voice. There's some cute stuff in here, and Mort was great, but I am feeling that I don't much care about the Wizards sub-series within the greater series. Meh.
@Kitty's Greatest Hits, and @Kitty Steals the Show - These were great. Kitty Steals the Show is the next novel in the Kitty Norville timeline, where Kitty winds up as the keynote speaker at an international conference on the supernatural in mainstream. The conference very much plays a backseat to some more of the vampires' Long Game, which so many books ago, I was trepidacious about how she'd handle it. I think she's walking a fine line between high drama of centuries long conflict between the vampires, and the visceral reactions Kitty is having as a) a werewolf which the vampires consider a lesser creature, and b) she learns more about the ways they are manipulating events behind the scenes, controlling lives and generations, for their own amusement. Kitty's Greatest Hits, on the other hand, is a short story collection. I loved this. It's a bunch of random stories set in Kitty's world, throughout history. It gives some backstory on Rick, we learn about zombies in her world (Voodoo, not Romero, zombies), how vampires affected the lines of Spanish successsion, and a few others as well. I love short story collections that are done well, and this one definitely was! Highly recommended if you like the Kitty Norville series, but as always, it helps a lot to read them in order.
@Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life - This came to me highly recommended. I lvoe Steve Martin's stand up, acting, and movie writing. I'd read one of his novels, and it was good, but not my bag. This autobiography/memoir was an interesting entity. It was mostly a recounting of his mental processes while he was struggling to find his niche as a comedian, with a small interwoven story of the women he'd fallen in love with along the way. Not by any means a tell-all or expose. More a sweet sentimental refresher to himself of how he got where he is. It was sweet, but not at all what I was expecting or led to believe it would be. If you want to know more about what made Steve Martin who he is, Recommended. Otherwise, Meh.
@Redshirts - I can not recommend this book heartily enough! Fabulous! Hysterical. Too short. The very end end of the book even felt abrupt, which was a shame, but the 3 codas made up for it admirably. If you have ever seen an episode of the original Star Trek TV show, or even just absorbed the cultural understanding of the camp silliness of the show and it's prediliction for killing Redshirts, you'll love this show. Enjoyment of Trek is not a prerequisite. Highly Recommended.
@Arctic Rising - Fun book! It's an exploration of international geopolitical power jockeying in the open sea lanes of the Artic Circle after global warming has melted enough of the ice for year-round travel. A fun, potboiler action piece that I thoroughly enjoyed for what it was. Recommended.
@Blackout - The 3rd, and presumably final, installment of Mira Grant's Newsflesh Trilogy. A fantastic read. If you read the series so far, you'll be devouring this regardless of what I say. If you haven't - why haven't you?! This is not your typical zombie horror story. It's incredibly well thought out, and an eerily realistic look at how people might cope with having to live in a zombie-infested world. I love this series! Highly Recommended!
@Treason's Harbour, @Far Side of the World, @The Reverse of the Medal, @Letter of Marque, @Thirteen Gun Salute, @The Nutmeg of Consolation, @Clarissa Oakes/The Truleove, @The Wine-Dark Sea, @The Yellow Admiral, and @The Hundred Days - What to say on these books? If you have read the Patrick O'Brian series, you don't need me to heap on the praises. If you haven't, don't start here, start with Master and Commander. Needless to say, I wish that Patrick Tull had narrated every book I'll ever want to read for the rest of my life before he had died. Each individual novel, of it's own merits, isn't really all that remarkable I suppose. But when you look at the series as a whole, and the overarching character development, it is astounding. That, and the ones that have Naval engagements are a lot of fun. Insanely Highly Recommended!
@The Time Traveller's Wife - The concept for this book was fantastic. It's like the Doctor and River Song, but without a TARDIS. An amazing concept for looking at 2 people who are madly in love, dealing with the trouble and trauma of one of them constantly flitting around the time-stream. The problem lies in the execution. The first third of the book is a great set up, but then the entire middle 50% is a long, meandering, pointless diversion. Whoever wrote it must never have had children. Also, it's far too set in the name-dropping erudite elitie socialist thinkers/painters/wine-and-cheese vein for me to follow parts of it. The ending was (I hope) deliberately telegraphed about 2/3 through, and the last third of the book was just a painful wait to get there. Overall, it was a decent read, if only for the first third. The rest was a slog, at times painful to get through. Slightly better than Meh, we'll call it OK.
So, that's it for now. More to come in a bit. There's only 1 complete Patrick O'Brian Aubrey-Maturin novel left for me (Blue at the Mizzen), but I've already got a few other novels in progress that I'm reading. So, it's not the end of the list for the year.
No worries,
Matt