Books you've read in 2008 (1 Viewer)

[Andy Sheets]

I just read Lincoln Child/Douglas Preston book called Riptide. It drew me in because the subject matter is intriguing to me, being about a fictionalized version of the Oak Island Water Pit. The actual writing is par for the course for these writers - nothing special but entertaining in that Michael Crichtonish way.

I've also been trying to catch up on reading some old pulp reprints I've been accumulating. Read a couple of Doc Savages and Shadows, and now I'm reading a Spider story. Love the Spider. Absolutely crazed writing. Whenever I read one I have this vision in my head of the author grinding his teeth and hammering feverishly on his typewriter while his fingers bleed, reddened eyes bugging out of his skull.

 

[Steve_Tk]

Wildfire - Neilson Demille

Term Limits, Transfer of Power, Third Option, Seperation of Power - Vince Flynn

When are we going to get some Mitch Rapp or John Corey movies?

 

[DavidJ]

I haven't read all of the Flynn novels, but I loved Transfer of Power. It seems perfect for a movie adaptation. I'm surprised that Rapp hasn't made it to the big screen. How are the others that you read? I've read one of them and I tried another (Third Option?), but did not get too far into it. I have Act of Treason in my "queue."

 

[Steve_Tk]

I'm enjoying them all. They really are not separate books though, as the first page of the next one picks up exactly where the previous one left off. So I can't stop now, have to read all eight, just a really long book. Transfer of Power was great, the Third Option was good too. Separation of Power was my least favorite so far, but it's like Clancy novels for me....even the weak ones are still fun. I've heard that in the next 4 one of them is the weakest of the series, but two are really great. I wouldn't read Act of Treason yet, just because each book builds on the previous, not only with characters, but also talks about previous events and would ruin previous novels for you if you were to go back and read them.


I read all four books by Demille with John Corey, I love that character. I made the mistake of reading Nightfall (3rd) before reading the Lion's Game (2nd), and it completely ruined the ending of the 2nd book for me because I had already had the foreshadowing of events.

 

[Andy Sheets]

I'm reading this thing called The Secret History of Star Wars right now. It's available for free online (http://secrethistoryofstarwars.com/T..._Star_Wars.pdf) and it's a fat piece of work (583 pages) that cobblers together info from various sources to chronicle the true development of all the Star Wars films, from the Journal of the Whills through the various script drafts and through the actual filmmaking, largely in order to counteract Lucas's bullshit machine that has reigned for the past 20 years or so. That's not to say it's a Lucas bashing work - I think it's quite evenhanded - but it's not like the guy has been remotely consistent regarding his development of the franchise

Not surprisingly for an e-book, there's some crude writing in it, but it's still very readable and accomplishes its goal. I knew some of this stuff beforehand but there's also a good chunk of information I'd never read about before.

 

[Jon_Are]

To update (ratings 0-4 stars):

The Pesthouse by Jim Crace: :star::star::star::star:

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer: :star::star::star:1/2

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini: :star::star::star::star:+

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams: :star::star:

No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy: :star::star::star::star:


Heading out to Border's now to find something new.

Jon

 

[DaveF]

Have you read Into Thin Air, by Krakauer? I loved it. I've not read anything else by him, though.

My wife and I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows this weekend. I've now read the series twice, and she's read it once. It took about a year to read the whole series aloud. While magic of reading Harry Potter for the first time isn't there, there's a new depth to a re-read, as I watch for the foreshadowing and connections that pull the overall story together.

And I enjoyed the epilogue!

 

[Jon_Are]

I have not, but maybe now I will

I just returned from Border's with two purchases:

Under and Alone: The True Story of the Undercover Agent Who Infiltrated America's Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang by William Queen

and

The Shack by William P. Young (no, it's not a bio of Shaquille O'Neal)

Jon

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Might be missing a few in between, but read:
Herzog by Saul Bellow. For the first half of the book or so, I could barely stand it -- Bellow tends to bog his stories down with his own intellectual ponderings as refracted through his protagonists' points of view. But I actually found Herzog's journey from near insanity to emotional independence very moving. I loved the pull that his kids had on him, the way he was more honest in his readings of people than it was really convenient for him to be, and the way he got the upper hand on his formidable ex-wife at the police station. My favorite thing about Bellow is that his works refuse to be anything but optimistic. He never leaves his characters as bad off as he found them. And in spite of my self, I really liked Moses Herzog.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie. I was at the Borders inside the international departures gates at Boston Logan a little over a week back, and was looking for The Murder of Roger Ackroyd per Holadem's suggestion. But they didn't have it, so I went with Hercule Poirot's first adventure instead. I really enjoyed the first person narrator, and the way she conveyed how daft Poirot thought the narrator was throught his retelling without having him be aware of it. I read the first third in Boston and the remainder in Dublin, severely jet lagged and 30+ hours without sleep. As such, I can't claim to have followed all the twists and turns with the evidence but I ended up liking it in spite of that.

Slam! by Nick Hornby. I picked this up at the bookstore in the entrance to the Dublin main terminal, and as such my copy is typeset with British punctuation which threw me off a bit. That being said, I really liked it. And even with the killer exchange rate, it still ended up being cheaper at £7.99 for the paperback instead of the outrageous $19.99 that Penguin charges for his softcovers here. The book was written for young adults, but other than the shorter length and larger typeset it reads very much like one of his adult novels. I'm currently transitioning from the world of academia back into the world of full-time employment, so a lot of the themes about manning up to adult responsibilities really resonated with me. A lot of people don't like his books because they meander and just sort of continue along but that always rang a lot truer to me than most of what's published today. A Long Way Down got the closest of any book I've read read to what it felt like when I was deeply depressed my entire freshman year of college, and how I came out of it. I never found myself suddenly a teen parent, thank God, but if I did I imagine it would feel something like this. He also does a good of playing out the class struggle at play between the adult parents of the two teenage parents. The Vonnegut-esque science fiction element was less successful, but didn't really detract anything either. My favorite part was the depiction of the teenage mother. The narrator is obviously bending over backwards in his retelling to keep up from siding with her, but he can't hide was a decent wonderful person she is in spite of everything. The conclusion I came to by the end of the book was that a baby could do a lot worse than these two for parents, even considered the situation.

 

[PatW]

Yeah, I finished the Silmarillion and it was just as difficult to get though as last time. Like you said though it did contain some interesting info. I found in order to get though it, I alternated with another book that's why it took me so long. I have the Book of Lost Tales but I'm not too keen on reading that now.

Currently I'm reading Time Patrol by Poul Anderson which is a collection of short stories plus one novel featuring the adventures of time traveler Manse Everard. I'm half way though. Interesting book.

 

[Joe D]

The White Rose by Glen Cook. Wonderful book, not as good as Shadows Linger, but still very intense.

The Cruel Wind omnibus by Glen Cook, contains the first 3 Dread Empire novels. I am lukewarm on this one, it feels like a 1000 page story crammed into 600 pages. Cook's choppy style which worked wonders for The Black Company is still not well developed in this series. The characters and story feels distant. However, Mocker is a great character.

The Fortress in Shadow omnibus by Glen cook, the two prequels for the Dread Empire novels. Now this was fantastic as well, much more focused and personal than the first 3 empire novels.

A Passage to Arms by Glen Cook. The cover says, "The Das Boot in Space" and this is a pretty accurate description. Fast paced, tense, and it feels real.

I guess what I like about Glen Cook's books and his characters is that he doesn't sugar coat anything, things are what they are and stuff happens.

I'm on to The Dragon Never Sleeps by Cook.


One book that I read a couple years ago that I can really recommend is Citizen Hughes by Michael Drosnin. I don't normally read non-fiction but this was fantastic.

The book kind of picks off where the Aviator film ended, namely after Howard Hughes moves into the Las Vegas hotel.

 

[Andy Sheets]

His secret is that he's a former Navy guy - his books are essentially military fiction with fantasy/sci-fi overlays (kind of like David Drake).

 

[Jon_Are]

To update (ratings 0-4 stars):

The Pesthouse by Jim Crace: :star::star::star::star:

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer: :star::star::star:1/2

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini: :star::star::star::star:+

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams: :star::star:

No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy: :star::star::star::star:

The Shack by William P. Young: Zero Stars

 

[DalekPhan1]

I just picked up two film/tv trivia books from Amazon titled ATTACK OF THE SCI-FI TRIVIA and FIREBREATHING FANTASY TRIVIA. Both were fun reads. I had a blast quizzing friends as well. I would reccomend these to fellow film geeks or just to buy as a gift.

 

[Joe D]

Going Postal by Terry Pratchett is the story of how one criminal is given a chance to redeem himself by taking over the dilapidated post office system.

This was my first Pratchett book and I must say it was darn impressive. The book was more entertaining and amusing than laugh out loud funny, but it was a lot of fun.

A nice light read.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Again, I feel like I'm missing a book or two, but read:
Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Invincible by Troy Denning. A mediocre end to a mediocre series that started out with far more promise than it ended with. Maybe the Lucas Licensing people should stay away from long, multi-author series from this point on. The series did create one new interesting character, but thanks to the events of this series she's pretty much garanteed to be screwed up her whole life. Star Wars books are comfort food for me, and Invincible wasn't tasty enough to earn its harsher spices. That said, I'm greatly looking forward to James Luceno's follow-up to this series: a stand-alone hardcover featuring Han, Leia and said new character. No epic struggle, no vast cast of characters, no bullshit.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. I figured this one out less than half-way through. Not everything out, mind you, not all the other mysteries obscuring the main mystery. But I was pretty sure who the murderer was pretty early on. Two things gave it away: first, an intimate knowledge of Christie's writing style from plowing through several other titles highlighted certain departures; second, the nature of the backcover quotes. When every review raves about how clever and unexpected a book is, I automatically count out the usual suspects. Having said all of that, it was a marvel to read. It's a hell of a juggling act she pulls off here, and as I tested my hypothesis at each turn I never once caught her cheating. Thanks for the recommendation, Holadem!

 

[Todd H]

Thanks for the link. I'm about 70 pages in and so far it's a fascinating read.

 

[PatW]

Time Patrol by Poul Anderson - Interesting read but it got tedious towards the end. Just too much similar themed stories.

Mary Mary by James Patterson - Was looking for a quick easy read and his books fit the bill. Not bad but not as interesting as some of his others.

Well of Darkness, Bk. #1 of the Sovereign Stone Trilogy By Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman - read this one when it first came out. Recently acquired the other two books in the trilogy. Re-reading the first book again to reacquaint myself with the story.

 

[Jon_Are]

To update (ratings 0-4 stars):

The Pesthouse by Jim Crace: :star::star::star::star: Suprised myself how drawn I was to this story. Similar to "The Road", and maybe better.

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer: :star::star::star:1/2 Entertaining and baffling; was disappointed in the film version.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini: :star::star::star::star:+ Spellbinding, heartbreaking, and surprisingly well-crafted.

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams: :star::star: My introduction to Adams. An occasional amusing passage, but it seems like he tries too hard to be 'out there'.

No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy: :star::star::star::star: Reads much like the movie script, but that's OK by me. I enjoy McCarthy's spare and unique writing style though many are turned off by it.

The Shack by William P. Young: Zero StarsThe fact that I even finished this ridiculous and clunky work is an indication not of its worth but of my own stubbornness. Considered abandoning it every 10 or so pages.

Under and Alone: The True Story of the Undercover Agent Who Infiltrated America's Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang by William Queen: :star::star::star::star: The long title pretty much explains it; a fascinating account of the goings-on deep inside an OMG, written by a guy who's got to be one of the bravest/craziest humans on earth. Highly recommended.

Jon

 

[DavidJ]

Just finished another Agatha Christie:

Murder in Mesopotamia

And I listened to another one (if that counts ):

Dead Man's Folly

They were both very entertaining.