Brian http://the-ds.com/brian Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:34:17 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Night Fall http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/08/night-fall/ http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/08/night-fall/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:31:57 +0000 Brian http://the-ds.com/brian/?p=11895 Night FallNight 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.

]]> http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/08/night-fall/feed/ 0 The Passage http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/08/the-passage/ http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/08/the-passage/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:59:02 +0000 Brian http://the-ds.com/brian/?p=11337 The PassageThe 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.

]]> http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/08/the-passage/feed/ 0 Drie Fonteinen Oude Kriek http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/08/drie-fonteinen-oude-kriek/ http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/08/drie-fonteinen-oude-kriek/#comments Sun, 15 Aug 2010 01:36:18 +0000 Brian http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/08/drie-fonteinen-oude-kriek/ Bottled March 31, 2009. Watch your eyes! Nearly forgot to point away from my face while unscrewing the cage. Glanced off my forehead on the last twist. On to the beer...
Pours a great red color. Hazy looking through, big time. Actually got plenty of head and lacing in my tulip glass. Nice looking beer.
My first whiff while pouring I thought, "Uh oh. Smells like cough drops." Didn't get that after the initial surprise. More of a kind of funky aroma really.
But the taste, wow. Bang! Right on your tongue comes the tartness of those cherries. It's so sour you forget it's beer, and the cherriness has to fight to get through. I found if I held the beer in the middle of my tongue avoiding the sides where the sour taste buds reside helped a lot to get more out of the beer.
It might just be that I'm really into the sours right now, but yeah, I might have to go back and grab some more since I know they are in short supply.
Overall rating: 4.45 out of 5

]]> http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/08/drie-fonteinen-oude-kriek/feed/ 0 Review: A Visit from the Goon Squad http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/08/review-a-visit-from-the-goon-squad/ http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/08/review-a-visit-from-the-goon-squad/#comments Mon, 09 Aug 2010 13:02:08 +0000 Brian http://the-ds.com/brian/?p=9042 A Visit from the Goon SquadA 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.

]]> http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/08/review-a-visit-from-the-goon-squad/feed/ 0 Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/08/medium-raw-a-bloody-valentine-to-the-world-of-food-and-the-people-who-cook/ http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/08/medium-raw-a-bloody-valentine-to-the-world-of-food-and-the-people-who-cook/#comments Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:47:32 +0000 Brian http://the-ds.com/brian/?p=6982 Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who CookMedium 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.

]]> http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/08/medium-raw-a-bloody-valentine-to-the-world-of-food-and-the-people-who-cook/feed/ 0 Breaking out of a slump http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/07/breaking-out-of-a-slump/ http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/07/breaking-out-of-a-slump/#comments Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:00:32 +0000 Brian http://the-ds.com/brian/?p=2691 I have been in a bit of a slump lately. A couple of things not quite going right, unexpected expenses, stuff like that. But this weekend was pretty darned good, I have to say.
On Saturday, the kids and I went to a local park to go geocaching with some friends of mine. The kids were great the whole time, and didn't complain. They actually had a lot of fun, and were very good when we got home and discovered that we were covered in some sort of tiny bugs (ticks or chiggers, not sure which) that required laborious tweezer removal.
On Saturday night, Lisa and I went to the Eddie From Ohio concert at Wolf Trap. It was a fun date night away from the kids, even if it was still pretty dang hot. Did you know that they let you bring ANYTHING in to the show? Alcohol, coolers, food, whatever, they don't care. Somehow, I managed to scam samples of Fin du Monde (wonderful all around) and Ommegang Abbey Ale (I think the guy has had this for a while, so it's "aged" well: reminded me of these Vosges chocolates with goji berries we've had before).
And yesterday, the kids and I made our first ever FTF geocache! You can read all about it here.
I think it's safe to say I'm out of the slump now. It was a good weekend.

]]> http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/07/breaking-out-of-a-slump/feed/ 0 The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/07/the-sandman-preludes-and-nocturnes/ http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/07/the-sandman-preludes-and-nocturnes/#comments Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:26:40 +0000 Brian http://the-ds.com/brian/?p=2688 The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes (Volume 1)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.

]]> http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/07/the-sandman-preludes-and-nocturnes/feed/ 0 Pirate Latitudes http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/07/pirate-latitudes/ http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/07/pirate-latitudes/#comments Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:20:00 +0000 Brian http://the-ds.com/brian/?p=2685 Pirate LatitudesPirate 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.

]]> http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/07/pirate-latitudes/feed/ 0 Ommegang Biere de Mars http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/07/ommegang-biere-de-mars/ http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/07/ommegang-biere-de-mars/#comments Wed, 07 Jul 2010 19:37:31 +0000 Brian http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/07/ommegang-biere-de-mars/ Bright amber color with nice head poured into my tulip glass.
Sour aroma reminiscent of green apple.
Not nearly as tart on the tongue. Some initial tartness with some sweeter malt. But a whole lot o' funk in there as expected from a Brett beer.
Super clean finish, and quite drinkable as well.
Overall rating: 4.4

]]> http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/07/ommegang-biere-de-mars/feed/ 0 American Gods http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/07/american-gods/ http://the-ds.com/brian/2010/07/american-gods/#comments Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:07:29 +0000 Brian http://the-ds.com/brian/?p=2682 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.

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