Night Fall
Night Fall by Nelson DeMille
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I'm not sure how I ended up with this book on my list, but there it was. A nice easy read for the plane ride to Miami and back. Except it's mostly about a plane blowing up (TWA 800) and ends (spoiler!) with the planes crashing into the World Trade Center on 9/11.
For a book that was somewhat based on real events but entirely fictional, it wasn't bad. There's the element that I guess DeMille felt he had to put in that the TWA case may never be resolved to anyone's satisfaction, and they have to come to terms with that. But I still felt like I knew right where the story was going, just based on the time frame of the book. And sure enough, there it went, right smack into the buildings.
The Passage
The Passage by Justin Cronin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
At a glance, you might think this book is doomed. It's a vampire book, but the vampires are essentially infected with a virus. In other words, it's been done before (in my most recent memory with Guillermo Del Toro's The Strain). But man, does Justin Cronin pull it off and then some. It's not a short book by any measure, but the reason is what makes the book so good: the details. There's no mystery Patient Zero, we know where the virus came from and why. That sort of back story takes up the first 300 pages or so. And then we jump about 100 years forward to see what happens after the infected start to run out of victims, and that's where it gets really fascinating. You kind of have an idea of how things are going to go, all the way up to the end. But then there's a prologue. And yeah, you just have to read the last page. Love it.
Review: A Visit from the Goon Squad
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Not exactly a conventional novel, but not so far out there to be a turn off either. It ends up being a really interesting look at the ways all our lives intersect with one another. And yet, it also has a lot on traditional themes like redemption and longing. It even has a little sci-fi thrown in at the end. In short, it pretty much has a little bit for everyone. Go read it.
Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook
Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook by Anthony Bourdain
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Medium Raw ends up being more like a compilation of loosely related essays, but that's not really a surprise. What is a tad bit more surprising is Anthony Bourdain's slightly more conciliatory tone. He still criticizes plenty of people (pity the villains in the Heroes and Villains chapter), but also makes clear that he was angry while writing Kitchen Confidential, and that he's mellowed out a bit now.
Really though, you need to read this book for chapter 8: Lust. That would be the food porn chapter. I'm still drooling over that one.
The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes
The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I starting reading Sandman way back when I actually read comics and was fascinated. Not too long ago, I saw that they had compiled the series into a nice set of graphic novel type volumes, and put them on my list. Seriously, Neil Gaiman just amazes me with his imagination, and the art in every issue is amazing. You can't NOT give this five stars. Hopefully I will get around to the ensuing volumes soon.
Pirate Latitudes
Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
A bit of a genre switch from Crichton, but the book ends up being something like what you'd expect (minus the bad science?). Entertaining page turner beach read.
American Gods
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I'm sure whatever I would say about this book has already been said in the multiple awards it has won, etc. I guess sometimes it takes a foreigner (in this case, a Brit) to see what America really is all about. And then to overlay a great bit of fantasy storytelling. Well, let's just say Neil Gaiman is a fantastic storyteller.
Incarceron
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Very good YA sci-fi here, though I knock it down just a touch because I still didn't really understand the prison being alive bit. Otherwise, it was an enjoyable read, trying to piece together the connection between the characters and the two worlds they live in. Very imaginative in its setting though, which made it fun to read.
Logicomix
Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth by Apostolos Doxiadis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Did you know I was a math major in college? I wasn't necessarily interested in math problems as much as I was just good at getting the answers right. Logicomix delves into some difficult questions at the very root of mathematics, that stuff that I wasn't interested in, and makes it really interesting. And it's not just the fact that it's in graphic novel form, but that it's in a nice narrative form that puts you into the story. This effectively puts Bertrand Russell's life and pursuit of answers into a fine perspective, accessible to a LOT more people than would have ever been interested in the topic, including geeks like me who should have been interested in it in the first place. Tremendous.
The Art of Racing in the Rain
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I thought that the "dog as narrator" gimmick would end up bugging me after a while, but it actually did end up working well (even though it was strained for a big portion of the pivotal trial which did not allow dogs to be present of course). The thing that knocks it down a touch for me is the overwhelming sadness that pervaded the story and never let up. You are set up from the outset for the big sadness, but man, the sad moments just kept coming throughout the whole thing.
On the positive side, I now know that in Mongolia, they believe that dogs are reincarnated into men when their souls are ready, so that's uplifting anyway.
This book is the "All Fairfax Reads" selection for this summer, so if you're a neighbor, go get it!
Books
My Goodreads ListAmazon Wishlist
GSI Outdoors JavaGrind
