Jason's bookshelf: all en-US Tue, 08 Apr 2025 08:48:26 -0700 60 Jason's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[The Man in the Iron Mask (Trilogie des Mousquetaires #3.3)]]> 441751 D'Artagnan, once invincible, meet their destinies.]]> 656 Alexandre Dumas 0192838423 Jason 5 3.87 The Man in the Iron Mask (Trilogie des Mousquetaires #3.3)
author: Alexandre Dumas
name: Jason
average rating: 3.87
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Paradise Lost & Paradise Regained]]> 43545462

Marked by Milton's characteristic erudition is a work epic both in scale and, notoriously, in ambition. For nearly 350 years it has held generation upon generation of scholars, students and readers in rapt attention and its profound influence can be seen in almost every corner of Western culture.]]> 134 John Milton 197499791X Jason 0 currently-reading 4.00 1667 Paradise Lost & Paradise Regained
author: John Milton
name: Jason
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1667
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Canterbury Tales: The First Fragment (Penguin Classics)]]> 387438 A selection of the best-loved and most frequently studied of The Canterbury Tales

This collection is the perfect introduction to one of the cornerstones of English literature. The General Prologue provides picturesque character sketches of the colorful band of pilgrims who gather at a London inn on their way to Canterbury. The nine tales chosen range from the noble Knight’s story of rivalry in love to the boastful and hypocritical Pardoner’s moral treatise, and from the exuberant Wife of Bath’s Arthurian legend to the Miller’s worldly, ribald farce. Incorporating every type of medieval narrative—bawdy anecdote, allegorical fable, and courtly romance—the tales selected here encompass the blend of universal human themes and individual personal detail that have enthralled readers for more than six hundred years.
@AprilFools Oh and the Wyfe of Bathe. Talk about a woman who likes to be perced to the roote.

From Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books in Twenty Tweets or Less]]> 304 Geoffrey Chaucer 0140434097 Jason 5 3.48 The Canterbury Tales: The First Fragment (Penguin Classics)
author: Geoffrey Chaucer
name: Jason
average rating: 3.48
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves:
review:

]]> Blitz (The Checquy Files, #3) 59362153
Until Pamela, the most sensible of them, suddenly breaks all the rules and brings down a Nazi bomber with her bare hands. The three resolve to tell no one about it, but they soon learn that a crew member is missing from the downed bomber. Charred corpses are discovered in nearby houses and it becomes apparent that the women have unwittingly unleashed a monster.

Through a city torn by the Blitz, the friends must hunt the enemy before he kills again. Their task will take them from the tunnels of the Underground to the halls of power, where they will discover the secrets that a secret organization must keep even from itself.

Today. Lynette Binns, a librarian with a husband and child, is a late recruit to the Checquy, having discovered only as an adult her ability to electrify everyday objects with her touch.

After completing her training, she is assigned to examine a string of brutal murders of London criminals and quickly realizes that all bear the unmistakable hallmark of her own unique power. Unable to provide an alibi and determined to prove her innocence, she flees, leaving behind her family to venture into the London underworld to find answers. But now she is prey, being tracked by her own frighteningly capable comrades.

As Lyn fights off powered thugs and her own vengeful colleagues, she will find that the solution to the murders and to the mystery of her own past lies in the events of World War II, and the covert actions of three young women during the Blitz.]]> 688 Daniel O'Malley 0316561533 Jason 0 currently-reading 4.21 2022 Blitz (The Checquy Files, #3)
author: Daniel O'Malley
name: Jason
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Vicomte de Bragelonne (Trilogie des Mousquetaires #3.1)]]> 369042 The Vicomte de Bragelonne opens an epic adventure which continues with Louise de La Valliere and reaches its climax in The Man in the Iron Mask. This new edition of the classic translation presents a key episode in the Musketeers saga, fully annotated and with an introduction by a leading Dumas scholar.]]> 768 Alexandre Dumas 0192834630 Jason 0 to-read 3.97 The Vicomte de Bragelonne (Trilogie des Mousquetaires #3.1)
author: Alexandre Dumas
name: Jason
average rating: 3.97
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Persepolis Rising (The Expanse, #7)]]> 34600958 The seventh novel in James S. A. Corey's New York Times bestselling Expanse series--now a major television series.

AN OLD ENEMY RETURNS

In the thousand-sun network of humanity's expansion, new colony worlds are struggling to find their way. Every new planet lives on a knife edge between collapse and wonder, and the crew of the aging gunship Rocinante have their hands more than full keeping the fragile peace.

In the vast space between Earth and Jupiter, the inner planets and belt have formed a tentative and uncertain alliance still haunted by a history of wars and prejudices. On the lost colony world of Laconia, a hidden enemy has a new vision for all of humanity and the power to enforce it.

New technologies clash with old as the history of human conflict returns to its ancient patterns of war and subjugation. But human nature is not the only enemy, and the forces being unleashed have their own price. A price that will change the shape of humanity -- and of the Rocinante -- unexpectedly and forever...]]> 560 James S.A. Corey Jason 0 currently-reading 4.50 2017 Persepolis Rising (The Expanse, #7)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Jason
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #1)]]> 45064996 A stunning tour de force filled with transcendent awe and wonder, Hyperion is a masterwork of science fiction that resonates with excitement and invention, the first volume in a remarkable epic by the multiple-award-winning author of The Hollow Man.

On the world called Hyperion, beyond the reach of galactic law, waits a creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.

On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope—and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.]]> 483 Dan Simmons Jason 0 currently-reading 4.38 1989 Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #1)
author: Dan Simmons
name: Jason
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1989
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> A God in the Shed 35445517 -Barnes & Noble Best Horror Books of 2017 Pick -Runner-up for the American Library Association's Horror Book of 2017 "One of the most enthralling novels I've read in the last ten years. Dubeau is a force to be reckoned with." —Jerry Smith, Fangoria Magazine and Blumhouse.com"This is the page-turner you’ve been looking for." —Barnes & NobleThe village of Saint-Ferdinand has all the trappings of a quiet farmhouses stretching from one main street, a small police precinct, a few diners and cafés, and a grocery store. Though if an out-of-towner stopped in, they would notice one unusual thing—a cemetery far too large and much too full for such a small town, lined with the victims of the Saint-Ferdinand Killer, who has eluded police for nearly two decades. It’s not until after Inspector Stephen Crowley finally catches the killer that the town discovers even darker forces are at play. When a dark spirit reveals itself to Venus McKenzie, one of Saint-Ferdinand's teenage residents, she learns that this creature's power has a long history with her town—and that the serial murders merely scratch the surface of a past burdened by evil secrets.]]> 359 J.-F. Dubeau 1942645368 Jason 0 currently-reading 3.56 2017 A God in the Shed
author: J.-F. Dubeau
name: Jason
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1)]]> 207037941 ASIN moved from less recent edition

An orphan’s life is harsh—and often short—in the mysterious island city of Camorr. But young Locke Lamora dodges death and slavery, becoming a thief under the tutelage of a gifted con artist. As leader of the band of light-fingered brothers known as the Gentleman Bastards, Locke is soon infamous, fooling even the underworld’s most feared ruler. But in the shadows lurks someone still more ambitious and deadly. Faced with a bloody coup that threatens to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the enemy at his own brutal game—or die trying.]]> 752 Scott Lynch Jason 0 currently-reading 4.40 2006 The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1)
author: Scott Lynch
name: Jason
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Light and Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page]]> 18947113 This “oral autobiographyâ€� of Jimmy Page, the intensely private mastermind behind Led Zeppelin—one of the most enduring bands in rock history—is the most complete and revelatory portrait of the legendary guitarist ever published.ĚýĚýĚýMore than 30 years after disbanding in 1980, Led Zeppelin continues to be celebrated for its artistic achievements, broad musical influence, and commercial success. The band's notorious exploits have been chronicled in bestselling books; yet none of the individual members of the band has penned a memoir nor cooperated to any degree with the press or a biographer.Ěý In Light & Shade, Jimmy Page, the band’s most reticent and inscrutable member, opens up to journalist Brad Tolinski, for the first time exploring his remarkable life and musical journey in great depth and intimate detail.ĚýĚýĚýBased on extensive interviews conducted with the guitarist/producer over the past 20 years, Light & Shade encompasses Page’s entire career, beginning with his early years as England’s top session guitarist when he worked with artists ranging from Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, and Burt Bacharach to the Kinks, The Who, and Eric Clapton.Ěý Page speaks frankly about his decadent yet immensely creative years in Led Zeppelin, his synergistic relationships with band members Robert Plant, John Bonham, and John Paul Jones, and his notable post-Zeppelin pursuits.Ěý While examining every major track recorded by Zeppelin, including “Stairway to Heaven,â€� “Whole Lotta Love,â€� and “Kashmir,â€� Page reflects on the band’s sensational tours, the filming of the concert movie The Song Remains the Same, his fascination with the occult, meeting Elvis Presley, and the making of the rock masterpiece Led Zeppelin IV, about which he offers a complete behind-the-scenes account. Additionally, the book is peppered with “sidebarâ€� chapters that include conversations between Page and other guitar greats, including his childhood friend Jeff Beck and hipster icon Jack White.ĚýĚýĚýThrough Page’s own words, Light and Shade presents an unprecedented first-person view of one of the most important musicians of our era.]]> 322 Brad Tolinski Jason 0 currently-reading 4.15 2012 Light and Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page
author: Brad Tolinski
name: Jason
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Eternal Mercenary (Casca, #1)]]> 55644912
The second, bigger one, was that Casey had been fighting for two thousand years, ever since that day on Golgotha when he put his lance into the side of the Man on the Cross.

“Soldier, you are content with what you are. Then that you shall remain until we meet again.�

So does Casca’s journey begin, a man who cannot die, does not age, and knows no skill but those of battle. He becomes The Eternal Mercenary.]]> 181 Barry Sadler 1630683329 Jason 0 currently-reading 4.51 1979 The Eternal Mercenary (Casca, #1)
author: Barry Sadler
name: Jason
average rating: 4.51
book published: 1979
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Anathem 6250159 981 Neal Stephenson 006147410X Jason 0 currently-reading 4.23 2008 Anathem
author: Neal Stephenson
name: Jason
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/26
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Greatest Hits 197796058
A mind that refused to be contained by something as rudimentary as genre, form, or even a particular label. A mind that created some of the most outrageous short stories and novellas of the science fiction, fantasy, and speculative genres � including “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream,� with its unhinged artificial intelligence bent on torturing what is left of humanity, and “Jeffty Is Five,� featuring a young boy’s mysterious, time-bending powers. A mind that passionately identified with the underdog, sometimes with disastrous results. A mind incandescent with fury, that saw storytelling as “a holy chore.�

Assembled by the Harlan and Susan Ellison Foundation, Greatest Hits is an overview of Ellison’s award-winning and highly acclaimed short stories � as well as the stories that Ellison himself most treasured. Featuring a preface by Ellison’s executor and friend J. Michael Straczynski, a foreword by award-winning and bestselling author Neil Gaiman, and an introduction by bestselling author Cassandra Khaw, this collection of short stories and novellas serves as a guide to a writer who left his mark on the twentieth century � and whose legacy is in your hands.]]> 468 Harlan Ellison 1454953373 Jason 0 to-read 4.11 2024 Greatest Hits
author: Harlan Ellison
name: Jason
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle]]> 36337550
There are eight days, and eight witnesses for you to inhabit.

We will only let you escape once you tell us the name of the killer.

Understood? Then let's begin . . .

Evelyn Hardcastle will die. Every day until Aiden Bishop can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others . . .

The most inventive debut of the year twists together a mystery of such unexpected creativity it will leave listeners guessing until the very last second.]]> 432 Stuart Turton Jason 2 3.78 2018 The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
author: Stuart Turton
name: Jason
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2024/10/25
date added: 2024/10/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories]]> 99300
Written from a feminist perspective, often focusing on the inferior status accorded to women by society, the tales include "turned," an ironic story with a startling twist, in which a husband seduces and impregnates a naĂŻve servant; "Cottagette," concerning the romance of a young artist and a man who's apparently too good to be true; "Mr. Peebles' Heart," a liberating tale of a fiftyish shopkeeper whose sister-in-law, a doctor, persuades him to take a solo trip to Europe, with revivifying results; "The Yellow Wallpaper"; and three other outstanding stories.

These charming tales are not only highly readable and full of humor and invention, but also offer ample food for thought about the social, economic, and personal relationship of men and women � and how they might be improved.

Collects:
—The Yellow Wallpaper
—Three Thanksgivings
—The Cottagette
—TłÜ°ů˛Ô±đ»ĺ
—Making a Change
—If I Were a Man
—Mr. Peebles' Heart]]> 129 Charlotte Perkins Gilman 0486298574 Jason 4 4.05 1892 The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories
author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman
name: Jason
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1892
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Twenty Years After (Trilogie des Mousquetaires #2)]]> 7184
Twenty Years After (1845), the sequel to The Three Musketeers, is a supreme creation of suspense and heroic adventure.

Two decades have passed since the musketeers triumphed over Cardinal Richelieu and Milady. Time has weakened their resolve, and dispersed their loyalties. But treasons and stratagems still cry out for justice: civil war endangers the throne of France, while in England Cromwell threatens to send Charles I to the scaffold. Dumas brings his immortal quartet out of retirement to cross swords with time, the malevolence of men, and the forces of history. But their greatest test is a titanic struggle with the son of Milady, who wears the face of Evil.]]> 845 Alexandre Dumas 0192838431 Jason 5 to-read 4.06 1845 Twenty Years After (Trilogie des Mousquetaires #2)
author: Alexandre Dumas
name: Jason
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1845
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Complete Sonnets and Poems]]> 42051 768 William Shakespeare 019281933X Jason 5 4.42 The Complete Sonnets and Poems
author: William Shakespeare
name: Jason
average rating: 4.42
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Silk Roads: A New History of the World]]> 25812847
Frankopan realigns our understanding of the world, pointing us eastward. It was on the Silk Roads that East and West first encountered each other through trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas, cultures and religions. From the rise and fall of empires to the spread of Buddhism and the advent of Christianity and Islam, right up to the great wars of the twentieth century—this book shows how the fate of the West has always been inextricably linked to the East.]]> 636 Peter Frankopan 1408839970 Jason 0 to-read 4.16 2015 The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
author: Peter Frankopan
name: Jason
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Tress of the Emerald Sea 60531406 #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson expands his Cosmere universe shared by The Stormlight Archive and Mistborn with a new standalone novel for everyone who loved The Princess Bride.

The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has been a simple one, with the simple pleasures of collecting cups brought by sailors from faraway lands and listening to stories told by her friend Charlie. But when his father takes him on a voyage to find a bride and disaster strikes, Tress must stow away on a ship and seek the Sorceress of the deadly Midnight Sea. Amid the spore oceans where pirates abound, can Tress leave her simple life behind and make her own place sailing a sea where a single drop of water can mean instant death?]]> 443 Brandon Sanderson Jason 2 This was basically a script for a Disney movie. It had glimmers of interesting elements here and there, but never really managed to become actually interesting. I doubt I’ll read any more Sanderson. His stuff clearly is not for me. ]]> 4.35 2023 Tress of the Emerald Sea
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Jason
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/07/26
date added: 2024/07/26
shelves:
review:
Another great big ball of ok.
This was basically a script for a Disney movie. It had glimmers of interesting elements here and there, but never really managed to become actually interesting. I doubt I’ll read any more Sanderson. His stuff clearly is not for me.
]]> <![CDATA[Shadow & Claw (The Book of the New Sun, #1-2)]]> 40992 The Shadow of the Torturer is the tale of young Severian, an apprentice in the Guild of Torturers on the world called Urth, exiled for committing the ultimate sin of his profession -- showing mercy toward his victim.

The Claw of the Conciliator continues the saga of Severian, banished from his home, as he undertakes a mythic quest to discover the awesome power of an ancient relic, and learn the truth about his hidden destiny.

The Book of the New Sun is unanimously acclaimed as Gene Wolfe's most remarkable work, hailed as "a masterpiece of science fantasy comparable in importance to the major works of Tolkien and Lewis" by Publishers Weekly, and "one of the most ambitious works of speculative fiction in the twentieth century" by The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Shadow & Claw brings together the first two books of the tetralogy in one volume.]]> 413 Gene Wolfe 0312890176 Jason 2 Meandering and pointless would be my summation. Much is made of the unreliability of the narrator. I never got past trying figure out what the hell the story was about. I never got to point where I could start thinking about whether it was reliable. It was just all over the freaking place.
I won’t be continuing on the next book. ]]> 4.07 1994 Shadow & Claw (The Book of the New Sun, #1-2)
author: Gene Wolfe
name: Jason
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1994
rating: 2
read at: 2024/07/15
date added: 2024/07/15
shelves:
review:
Man. I am on a roll. I feel like there aren’t any good books out there anymore. This is like the tenth book I’ve read that comes highly praised that I just did not like.
Meandering and pointless would be my summation. Much is made of the unreliability of the narrator. I never got past trying figure out what the hell the story was about. I never got to point where I could start thinking about whether it was reliable. It was just all over the freaking place.
I won’t be continuing on the next book.
]]> <![CDATA[The City of Brass (The Daevabad Trilogy, #1)]]> 32718027
But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass, a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.

In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.

After all, there is a reason they say be careful what you wish for...]]> 532 S.A. Chakraborty 0062678108 Jason 3 The superimposition of middle eastern folklore elements over the cliche “downtrodden child who is secretly a magical hero� is just not entirely successful in the end.
I really need to stop reading these kinds of books. The fantasy genre has become a place where I’m no longer welcome I think. ]]> 4.12 2017 The City of Brass (The Daevabad Trilogy, #1)
author: S.A. Chakraborty
name: Jason
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/06
date added: 2024/07/06
shelves:
review:
Not terrible. But suffers from a dismal undercurrent of the derivative.
The superimposition of middle eastern folklore elements over the cliche “downtrodden child who is secretly a magical hero� is just not entirely successful in the end.
I really need to stop reading these kinds of books. The fantasy genre has become a place where I’m no longer welcome I think.
]]> Ghostwritten 6819
A writer of pyrotechnic virtuosity and profound compassion, a mind to which nothing human is alien, David Mitchell spins genres, cultures, and ideas like gossamer threads around and through these nine linked stories. Many forces bind these lives, but at root all involve the same universal longing for connection and transcendence, an axis of commonality that leads in two directions—to creation and to destruction. In the end, as lives converge with a fearful symmetry, Ghostwritten comes full circle, to a point at which a familiar idea—that whether the planet is vast or small is merely a matter of perspective—strikes home with the force of a new revelation. It marks the debut novel of a writer with astonishing gifts.]]> 426 David Mitchell 0375724508 Jason 3 You are given enough information to know there are deeper connections between the stories, but they never really solidify into anything intelligible. At least at they didn’t for me. I got to the point where I couldn’t really enjoy the narrative because I was obsessively noting and considering all the minutiae in order to not miss anything important, which ironically I seem to totally have done.
And to be honest, I have no idea what happened at the end with that Quasar bit? Mitchell tends to go all fever dream and I had trouble following. And someone said something about a comet at the end? I missed that completely. Maybe Mitchell is too smart for me anymore. ]]> 4.06 1999 Ghostwritten
author: David Mitchell
name: Jason
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1999
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/24
date added: 2024/06/24
shelves:
review:
A good book. But frustrating. I constantly felt like I was missing something and that feeling increased proportionally with every passing chapter.
You are given enough information to know there are deeper connections between the stories, but they never really solidify into anything intelligible. At least at they didn’t for me. I got to the point where I couldn’t really enjoy the narrative because I was obsessively noting and considering all the minutiae in order to not miss anything important, which ironically I seem to totally have done.
And to be honest, I have no idea what happened at the end with that Quasar bit? Mitchell tends to go all fever dream and I had trouble following. And someone said something about a comet at the end? I missed that completely. Maybe Mitchell is too smart for me anymore.
]]> An Instance of the Fingerpost 15888
We are in England in the 1660s. Charles II has been restored to the throne following years of civil war and Cromwell's short-lived republic. Oxford is the intellectual seat of the country, a place of great scientific, religious, and political ferment. A fellow of New College is found dead in suspicious circumstances. A young woman is accused of his murder. We hear the story of the death from four witnesses: an Italian physician intent on claiming credit for the invention of blood transfusion; the son of an alleged Royalist traitor; a master cryptographer who has worked for both Cromwell and the king; and a renowned Oxford antiquarian. Each tells his own version of what happened. Only one reveals the extraordinary truth.

With rights sold for record-breaking sums around the world, An Instance of the Fingerpost is destined to become a major international publishing event. Deserving of comparison to the works of John Fowles and Umberto Eco, Iain Pears's novel is an ingenious tour de force: an utterly compelling historical mystery with a plot that twists and turns and keeps the reader guessing until the very last page.]]> 704 Iain Pears 1573227951 Jason 2 3.93 1997 An Instance of the Fingerpost
author: Iain Pears
name: Jason
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1997
rating: 2
read at: 2024/06/20
date added: 2024/06/20
shelves:
review:
Excellent idea for a book. Not for me.
]]> <![CDATA[Mordew (Cities of the Weft, #1)]]> 53438794
In the slums of the sea-battered city a young boy called Nathan Treeves lives with his parents, eking out a meagre existence by picking treasures from the Living Mud and the half-formed, short-lived creatures it spawns. Until one day his desperate mother sells him to the mysterious Master of Mordew.

The Master derives his magical power from feeding on the corpse of God. But Nathan, despite his fear and lowly station, has his own strength � and it is greater than the Master has ever known. Great enough to destroy everything the Master has built. If only Nathan can discover how to use it.

So it is that the Master begins to scheme against him � and Nathan has to fight his way through the betrayals, secrets, and vendettas of the city where God was murdered, and darkness reigns�

� WELCOME TO MORDEW � THE FIRST IN A MONUMENTAL NEW TRILOGY FROM THE WELLCOME BOOK PRIZE-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR, ALEX PHEBY]]> 617 Alex Pheby 1913111024 Jason 3 Meh. Characters were pretty flat. Story a little too unhinged. Maybe a bit too bleak with no justification. An enormous amount of lore (based on the ancillary materials) did not seem to make it into the book.
Story could have been tighter. Characters could have been more authentic. Contextual information could have been more included. And the pace of it seemed to really bog down at points.
]]> 3.58 2020 Mordew (Cities of the Weft, #1)
author: Alex Pheby
name: Jason
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/09
date added: 2024/06/09
shelves:
review:
In the end�.
Meh. Characters were pretty flat. Story a little too unhinged. Maybe a bit too bleak with no justification. An enormous amount of lore (based on the ancillary materials) did not seem to make it into the book.
Story could have been tighter. Characters could have been more authentic. Contextual information could have been more included. And the pace of it seemed to really bog down at points.

]]> Eminent Hipsters 18760283 A witty, candid, sharply written memoir by the cofounder of Steely DanIn his entertaining debut as an author, Donald Fagen—musician, songwriter, and cofounder of Steely Dan—reveals the cultural figures and currents that shaped his artistic sensibility, as well as offering a look at his college days and a hilarious account of life on the road. Fagen presents the “eminent hipsters� who spoke to him as he was growing up in a bland New Jersey suburb in the early 1960s; his colorful, mind-expanding years at Bard College, where he first met his musical partner Walter Becker; and the agonies and ecstasies of a recent cross-country tour with Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs. Acclaimed for his literate lyrics and complex arrangements as a musician, Fagen here proves himself a sophisticated writer with his own distinctive voice.]]> 177 Donald Fagen 1101638095 Jason 0 to-read 3.88 2013 Eminent Hipsters
author: Donald Fagen
name: Jason
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Bridge of Sighs 107821
Louis Charles (“Lucy�) Lynch has spent all his sixty years in upstate Thomaston, New York, married to the same woman, Sarah, for forty of them, their son now a grown man. Like his late, beloved father, Lucy is an optimist, though he’s had plenty of reasons not to be—chief among them his mother, still indomitably alive. Yet it was her shrewdness, combined with that Lynch optimism, that had propelled them years ago to the right side of the tracks and created an “empire� of convenience stores about to be passed on to the next generation.

Lucy and Sarah are also preparing for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Italy, where his oldest friend, a renowned painter, has exiled himself far from anything they’d known in childhood. In fact, the exact nature of their friendship is one of the many mysteries Lucy hopes to untangle in the “history� he’s writing of his hometown and family. And with his story interspersed with that of Noonan, the native son who’d fled so long ago, the destinies building up around both of them (and Sarah, too) are relentless, constantly surprising, and utterly revealing.

Bridge of Sighs is classic Russo, coursing with small-town rhythms and the claims of family, yet it is brilliantly enlarged by an expatriate whose motivations and experiences—often contrary, sometimes not—prove every bit as mesmerizing as they resonate through these richly different lives. Here is a town, as well as a world, defined by magnificent and nearly devastating contradictions.]]> 528 Richard Russo 0375414959 Jason 5 3.79 2007 Bridge of Sighs
author: Richard Russo
name: Jason
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/13
date added: 2024/05/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Babylon’s Ashes (The Expanse, #6)]]> 25877663 The sixth book in the New York Times bestselling Expanse series.

NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES

A revolution brewing for generations has begun in fire. It will end in blood.

The Free Navy - a violent group of Belters in black-market military ships - has crippled the Earth and begun a campaign of piracy and violence among the outer planets. The colony ships heading for the thousand new worlds on the far side of the alien ring gates are easy prey, and no single navy remains strong enough to protect them.

James Holden and his crew know the strengths and weaknesses of this new force better than anyone. Outnumbered and outgunned, the embattled remnants of the old political powers call on the Rocinante for a desperate mission to reach Medina Station at the heart of the gate network.

But the new alliances are as flawed as the old, and the struggle for power has only just begun. As the chaos grows, an alien mystery deepens. Pirate fleets, mutiny and betrayal may be the least of the Rocinante's problems. And in the uncanny spaces past the ring gates, the choices of a few damaged and desperate people may determine the fate of more than just humanity.

]]> 532 James S.A. Corey 0356504263 Jason 0 4.22 2016 Babylon’s Ashes (The Expanse, #6)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Jason
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/05
date added: 2024/05/05
shelves:
review:

]]> Hammer of the Gods 586516 408 Stephen Davis 0425182134 Jason 4 an absolute must read for zeppelin fans...]]> 3.86 1985 Hammer of the Gods
author: Stephen Davis
name: Jason
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1985
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/03
date added: 2024/05/03
shelves:
review:
when i finished this book i went right back to the beginning and read it over again...
an absolute must read for zeppelin fans...
]]> <![CDATA[When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin]]> 6445709 When Giants Walked the Earth is the full, enthralling story of Zep from the inside, written by a former associate of both Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. Rich and revealing, it bores into not only the disaster, addiction and death that haunted the band but also into the real relationship between Page and Plant, including how it was influenced by Page's interest in the occult. Comprehensive and yet intimately detailed, When Giants Walked the Earth literally gets into the principals' heads to bring to life both an unforgettable band and an unrepeatable slice of rock history.]]> 534 Mick Wall 1409103196 Jason 4 3.95 2008 When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin
author: Mick Wall
name: Jason
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/03
date added: 2024/05/03
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich]]> 17125 The only English translation authorized by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

First published in the Soviet journal Novy Mir in 1962, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich stands as a classic of contemporary literature. The story of labor-camp inmate Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, it graphically describes his struggle to maintain his dignity in the face of communist oppression. An unforgettable portrait of the entire world of Stalin's forced work camps, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is one of the most extraordinary literary documents to have emerged from the Soviet Union and confirms Solzhenitsyn's stature as "a literary genius whose talent matches that of Dosotevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy"--Harrison Salisbury

This unexpurgated 1991 translation by H. T. Willetts is the only authorized edition available, and fully captures the power and beauty of the original Russian.]]> 182 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Jason 0 to-read 3.98 1962 One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
author: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
name: Jason
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1962
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Hollow Ones 52594581 A horrific crime that defies ordinary explanation. A rookie FBI agent in dangerous, uncharted territory. An extraordinary hero for the ages.

Odessa Hardwicke's life is derailed when she's forced to turn her gun on her partner, Walt Leppo, a decorated FBI agent who turns suddenly, inexplicably violent while apprehending a rampaging murderer. The shooting, justified by self-defense, shakes the young FBI agent to her core. Devastated, Odessa is placed on desk leave pending a full investigation. But what most troubles Odessa isn't the tragedy itself-it's the shadowy presence she thought she saw fleeing the deceased agent's body after his death. Questioning her future with the FBI and her sanity, Hardwicke accepts a low-level assignment to clear out the belongings of a retired agent in the New York office. What she finds there will put her on the trail of a mysterious figure named John Silence, a man of enormous means who claims to have been alive for centuries, and who is either an unhinged lunatic, or humanity's best and only defense against unspeakable evil.]]> 326 Guillermo del Toro 1538761742 Jason 2 3.59 2020 The Hollow Ones
author: Guillermo del Toro
name: Jason
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2024/02/14
date added: 2024/02/14
shelves:
review:
A truly unremarkable book. I wish I could say I enjoyed it more.
]]> <![CDATA[Stiletto (The Checquy Files, #2)]]> 25695756
When secret organizations are forced to merge after years of enmity and bloodshed, only one person has the fearsome powers—and the bureaucratic finesse—to get the job done. Facing her greatest challenge yet, Rook Myfanwy Thomas must broker a deal between two bitter adversaries:

The Checquy—the centuries-old covert British organization that protects society from supernatural
threats, and�
The Grafters—a centuries-old supernatural threat.

But as bizarre attacks sweep London, threatening to sabotage negotiations, old hatreds flare. Surrounded by spies, only the Rook and two women, who absolutely hate each other, can seek out the culprits before they trigger a devastating otherworldly war.

STILETTO is a novel of preternatural diplomacy, paranoia, and snide remarks.]]> 583 Daniel O'Malley 0316228044 Jason 5 I've read several reviews of this book, which heaped no small amount of derision on it. I can't understand how that can be, other than to surmise that those people function under differing cognitive parameters than I do.
These books are extraordinary under any criteria. It seems to me if you don't like them, then you must not like books.

Just finished it for the second time in order to prepare for the third "Blitz". Brilliant. Amazing. I can't say enough about this book. I love his dialogue most I think. He has a very keen gift for witty, articulate, but not overly verbose, dialogue. I enjoy the hell out of that. And I do love his characters. Brilliant.]]> 4.10 2016 Stiletto (The Checquy Files, #2)
author: Daniel O'Malley
name: Jason
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/10
date added: 2024/02/10
shelves:
review:
It's amazing to me how we all seem to have entirely differently calibrated organs of appreciation.
I've read several reviews of this book, which heaped no small amount of derision on it. I can't understand how that can be, other than to surmise that those people function under differing cognitive parameters than I do.
These books are extraordinary under any criteria. It seems to me if you don't like them, then you must not like books.

Just finished it for the second time in order to prepare for the third "Blitz". Brilliant. Amazing. I can't say enough about this book. I love his dialogue most I think. He has a very keen gift for witty, articulate, but not overly verbose, dialogue. I enjoy the hell out of that. And I do love his characters. Brilliant.
]]> <![CDATA[The Wind Through the Keyhole (The Dark Tower, #4.5)]]> 12341557
Roland Deschain and his ka-tet�Jake, Susannah, Eddie, and Oy, the billy-bumbler—encounter a ferocious storm just after crossing the River Whye on their way to the Outer Baronies. As they shelter from the howling gale, Roland tells his friends not just one strange story but two . . . and in so doing, casts new light on his own troubled past.

In his early days as a gunslinger, in the guilt-ridden year following his mother’s death, Roland is sent by his father to investigate evidence of a murderous shape-shifter, a “skin-man� preying upon the population around Debaria. Roland takes charge of Bill Streeter, the brave but terrified boy who is the sole surviving witness to the beast’s most recent slaughter. Only a teenager himself, Roland calms the boy and prepares him for the following day’s trials by reciting a story from the Magic Tales of the Eld that his mother often read to him at bedtime. “A person’s never too old for stories,� Roland says to Bill. “Man and boy, girl and woman, never too old. We live for them.� And indeed, the tale that Roland unfolds, the legend of Tim Stoutheart, is a timeless treasure for all ages, a story that lives for us.

King began the Dark Tower series in 1974; it gained momentum in the 1980s; and he brought it to a thrilling conclusion when the last three novels were published in 2003 and 2004. The Wind Through the Keyhole is sure to fascinate avid fans of the Dark Tower epic. But this novel also stands on its own for all readers, an enchanting and haunting journey to Roland’s world and testimony to the power of Stephen King’s storytelling magic.

~from first edition jacket]]> 322 Stephen King Jason 2 I love some of his books and I loathe some of his books. The Dark Tower novels fall somewhere in between. He made up all this unbelievably cool shit in these books, and he leaves 90% of unexplored or unexplained. Directive 19? Northern Positronics? All the cool artifacts the characters come across. The cool old facilities. He drops a little hint about something amazing (Daria) then proceeds to write 5000 pages of boring.
These books could have been great. But they kind of suck. At least in my opinion they do. ]]> 4.12 2012 The Wind Through the Keyhole (The Dark Tower, #4.5)
author: Stephen King
name: Jason
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2012
rating: 2
read at: 2024/01/27
date added: 2024/01/27
shelves:
review:
Stephen King is one perverted, bent up, sideways personage.
I love some of his books and I loathe some of his books. The Dark Tower novels fall somewhere in between. He made up all this unbelievably cool shit in these books, and he leaves 90% of unexplored or unexplained. Directive 19? Northern Positronics? All the cool artifacts the characters come across. The cool old facilities. He drops a little hint about something amazing (Daria) then proceeds to write 5000 pages of boring.
These books could have been great. But they kind of suck. At least in my opinion they do.
]]> A Life of Emily Brontë 1561324 288 Edward Chithan 0631147519 Jason 0 3.78 1990 A Life of Emily Brontë
author: Edward Chithan
name: Jason
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at: 2024/01/21
date added: 2024/01/21
shelves:
review:

]]> The Brontës 763144 1003 Juliet Barker 0312134452 Jason 5 3.92 1994 The Brontës
author: Juliet Barker
name: Jason
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1994
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/21
date added: 2024/01/21
shelves:
review:

]]> Fairy Tale 60177373 Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes deep into the well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for their world or ours.

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. Then, when Charlie is seventeen, he meets Howard Bowditch, a recluse with a big dog in a big house at the top of a big hill. In the backyard is a locked shed from which strange sounds emerge, as if some creature is trying to escape. When Mr. Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie the house, a massive amount of gold, a cassette tape telling a story that is impossible to believe, and a responsibility far too massive for a boy to shoulder.

Because within the shed is a portal to another world—one whose denizens are in peril and whose monstrous leaders may destroy their own world, and ours. In this parallel universe, where two moons race across the sky, and the grand towers of a sprawling palace pierce the clouds, there are exiled princesses and princes who suffer horrific punishments; there are dungeons; there are games in which men and women must fight each other to the death for the amusement of the “Fair One.� And there is a magic sundial that can turn back time.

A story as old as myth, and as startling and iconic as the rest of King’s work, Fairy Tale is about an ordinary guy forced into the hero’s role by circumstance, and it is both spectacularly suspenseful and satisfying.]]> 607 Stephen King 1668002175 Jason 2 And nothing really happens until 250 pages in. In all that unreal estate King couldn't manage to develop a good set of characters?
Not a terrible book. But neither is it good. I find myself saying this a lot lately....]]> 4.05 2022 Fairy Tale
author: Stephen King
name: Jason
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2024/01/15
date added: 2024/01/15
shelves:
review:
This book is confusing. Not in terms of the content, but in terms of it's ontology. It's existence. It's actually being be a book. That exists... I would swear an amateur writer wrote this and King threw his name on it. Nothing about this book resembles King's writing. His strengths are clear. His characters live and breathe. Consider It, The Stand, Insomnia, recent works like The Institute, all have characters that are as real as you or me. King is excellent at that. That's not here. Charlie is flat. Bowditch is flat. The father? He's half-dimensional.
And nothing really happens until 250 pages in. In all that unreal estate King couldn't manage to develop a good set of characters?
Not a terrible book. But neither is it good. I find myself saying this a lot lately....
]]> <![CDATA[The Labyrinth of the Spirits (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books #4)]]> 37954156 In this unforgettable final volume of Ruiz Zafón’s cycle of novels set in the universe of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, beautiful and enigmatic Alicia Gris, with the help of the Sempere family, uncovers one of the most shocking conspiracies in all Spanish history.

Nine-year-old Alicia lost her parents during the Spanish Civil War when the Nacionales (the fascists) savagely bombed Barcelona in 1938. Twenty years later, she still carries the emotional and physical scars of that violent and terrifying time. Weary of her work as investigator for Spain’s secret police in Madrid, a job she has held for more than a decade, the twenty-nine-year old plans to move on. At the insistence of her boss, Leandro Montalvo, she remains to solve one last case: the mysterious disappearance of Spain’s Minister of Culture, Mauricio Valls.

With her partner, the intimidating policeman Juan Manuel Vargas, Alicia discovers a possible clue—a rare book by the author Victor Mataix hidden in Valls� office in his Madrid mansion. Valls was the director of the notorious Montjuic Prison in Barcelona during World War II where several writers were imprisoned, including David Martín and Victor Mataix. Traveling to Barcelona on the trail of these writers, Alicia and Vargas meet with several booksellers, including Juan Sempere, who knew her parents.

As Alicia and Vargas come closer to finding Valls, they uncover a tangled web of kidnappings and murders tied to the Franco regime, whose corruption is more widespread and horrifying than anyone imagined. Alicia’s courageous and uncompromising search for the truth puts her life in peril. Only with the help of a circle of devoted friends will she emerge from the dark labyrinths of Barcelona and its history into the light of the future.

In this haunting new novel, Carlos Ruiz ZafĂłn proves yet again that he is a masterful storyteller and pays homage to the world of books, to his ingenious creation of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, and to that magical bridge between literature and our lives.]]> 816 Carlos Ruiz ZafĂłn 1443457132 Jason 5 A powerful book. And one I'll need to read again. ]]> 4.48 2016 The Labyrinth of the Spirits (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books #4)
author: Carlos Ruiz ZafĂłn
name: Jason
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/01/03
shelves:
review:
An odd end to the series. And a peal of tragic thunder must reverberate across the clouded night sky. The Maestro has passed. I can't even hope to express the despair his passing produces in my soul. I loved his books, his music. And to think there won't be anymore.
A powerful book. And one I'll need to read again.
]]> The Bee Sting 62039166 From the author of Skippy Dies comes Paul Murray's The Bee Sting, an irresistibly funny, wise, and thought-provoking tour de force about family, fortune, and the struggle to be a good person when the world is falling apart.

The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under―but rather than face the music, he’s spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman. His wife Imelda is selling off her jewelry on eBay, while their teenage daughter Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge-drink her way through her final exams. And twelve-year-old PJ is putting the final touches to his grand plan to run away from home.

Where did it all go wrong? A patch of ice on the tarmac, a casual favor to a charming stranger, a bee caught beneath a bridal veil―can a single moment of bad luck change the direction of a life? And if the story has already been written―is there still time to find a happy ending?]]> 645 Paul Murray 0374600309 Jason 0 to-read 3.92 2023 The Bee Sting
author: Paul Murray
name: Jason
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Institute 43798285
In this most sinister of institutions, the director, Mrs. Sigsby, and her staff are ruthlessly dedicated to extracting from these children the force of their extranormal gifts. There are no scruples here. If you go along, you get tokens for the vending machines. If you don’t, punishment is brutal. As each new victim disappears to Back Half, Luke becomes more and more desperate to get out and get help. But no one has ever escaped from the Institute.

As psychically terrifying as Firestarter, and with the spectacular kid power of It, The Institute is Stephen King's gut-wrenchingly dramatic story of good versus evil in a world where the good guys don't always win.
--front flap]]> 561 Stephen King Jason 5 4.17 2019 The Institute
author: Stephen King
name: Jason
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/01/02
shelves:
review:

]]> Carrion Comfort 6631944 Stephen King


"Epic in scale and scope but intimately disturbing, CARRION COMFORT spans the ages to rewrite history and tug at the very fabric of reality. A nightmarish chronicle of predator and prey that will shatter your world view forever.Ěý A true classic." --Guillermo del Toro

"CARRION COMFORT is one of the scariest books ever written.Ěý Whenever I get the question asked Who's your favorite author? my answer is always Dan Simmons." --James Rollins

"One of the few major reinventions of the vampire concept, on a par with Jack Finney’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend, and Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot. --David Morrell
THE PAST...Ěý Caught behind the lines of Hitler’s Final Solution, Saul Laski is one of the multitudes destined to die in the notorious Chelmno extermination camp.Ěý Until he rises to meet his fate and finds himself face to face with an evil far older, and far greater, than the Nazi’s themselvesâ€�

THE PRESENT...Ěý Compelled by the encounter to survive at all costs, so begins a journey that for SaulĚýwill span decades and cross continents, plunging into the darkestĚýcorners of 20th century history to reveal a secret societyĚýof beings who may oftenĚýexistĚýbehind the world's most horrible and violent events.Ěý Killing from a distance, and by darkly manipulative proxy, they are people with the psychic ability to 'use' humans: read their minds, subjugate them to their wills, experience through their senses, feed off their emotions, force them to acts of unspeakable aggression.Ěý EachĚýyear, three of the most powerful of thisĚýhiddenĚýorderĚýmeet to discuss their ongoing campaign of induced bloodshed and deliberate destruction.Ěý But thisĚýreunion, something will go terribly wrong. Saul’s quest is about to reach its elusive object, drawing hunter and hunted alike into a struggle that will plumb the depths of mankind’s attraction to violence, and determine the future of the world itself…]]> 767 Dan Simmons 0312567073 Jason 5 i normally don't go for this sort of thing at all but simmons hooked me from the first page and didn't let go for a second...
highly, highly recommended...

Update:
Just re-read it. An amazing LOOOONG book. Loved it. ]]> 3.80 1989 Carrion Comfort
author: Dan Simmons
name: Jason
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1989
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/02
date added: 2024/01/02
shelves:
review:
a truly wonderful book...an epic adventure thriller...
i normally don't go for this sort of thing at all but simmons hooked me from the first page and didn't let go for a second...
highly, highly recommended...

Update:
Just re-read it. An amazing LOOOONG book. Loved it.
]]> The Gargoyle 6403116 A New York Times Bestseller


The Gargoyle: the mesmerizing story of one man's descent into personal hell and his quest for salvation.

On a dark road in the middle of the night, a car plunges into a ravine. The driver survives the crash, but his injuries confine him to a hospital burn unit. There the mysterious Marianne Engel, a sculptress of grotesques, enters his life. She insists they were lovers in medieval Germany, when he was a mercenary and she was a scribe in the monastery of Engelthal. As she spins the story of their past lives together, the man's disbelief falters; soon, even the impossible can no longer be dismissed.]]> 518 Andrew Davidson 0307388670 Jason 2 Not my usual fare.
It is a good book, but not one I would likely recommend to those who don't read and enjoy the romance genre. ]]> 3.94 2008 The Gargoyle
author: Andrew Davidson
name: Jason
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2008
rating: 2
read at: 2009/09/09
date added: 2023/12/29
shelves:
review:
A well crafted book, HOWEVER, this is essentially a romance novel.
Not my usual fare.
It is a good book, but not one I would likely recommend to those who don't read and enjoy the romance genre.
]]> Maxwell's Demon 59577163 352 Steven Hall 0802149219 Jason 2 Hall worked on this for how long?.... (...Insert Witcher grumble here...)
BUT.....
I loved The Raw Shark Texts. It's one of the top ten novels of all time in my estimation. So I am not going to do more than utter a second mild Witcher grumble and open the book.

Pg. 80.
Oh boy.... it may well be as I feared. When it takes a writer 14 years to bring a book to the market, that's almost always a very bad sign....
The premise is good. I like the idea so far... But the idea would take up 5 to 10 pages... Maybe...
The rest of the text is what?... Science paraphrase? Dreary is what it is. So far this book is 5% interesting and fun, and 95% dreary. And what's with these typographical leaf footnotes? Not seeing the point of those at all. We'll see how it goes from here.

Wow....
Perhaps I'm missing the point...
I have no idea at all what I just read. Entropy as your central metaphor?!.... Really?!.... This book is just a freaking mess as far as I can tell. What's it even about? I'm just slogging through it at this point, hoping the entropy will at least lead to a minimal level of narrative coherence.
This book is aggressive in its manic fury to make no sense.
Perhaps I'm missing the point. 14 years? Yikes man....

There are no characters really. The people occupying the story just seem to exist merely to transmit some lithomancy ridden eschatological framework regarding the bible?... or something?... The story itself is not a narrative in the standard sense, in that connected sequences follow one another to build significance and meaning. Sequences follow one another, but they they don't seem to be connected. It all just comes off as a bewildering pile of disorganized nonsense.

Again, maybe I missed it, but there was literally nothing about this book that I found intelligible. ]]> 3.73 2021 Maxwell's Demon
author: Steven Hall
name: Jason
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2023/12/10
date added: 2023/12/10
shelves:
review:
Finally getting to this. I'm a little nervous, being an avid fan of The Raw Shark Texts. The thing that disappointed me a little was, when I picked it up, it's short.... with wide margins.... and large type.... BOO.
Hall worked on this for how long?.... (...Insert Witcher grumble here...)
BUT.....
I loved The Raw Shark Texts. It's one of the top ten novels of all time in my estimation. So I am not going to do more than utter a second mild Witcher grumble and open the book.

Pg. 80.
Oh boy.... it may well be as I feared. When it takes a writer 14 years to bring a book to the market, that's almost always a very bad sign....
The premise is good. I like the idea so far... But the idea would take up 5 to 10 pages... Maybe...
The rest of the text is what?... Science paraphrase? Dreary is what it is. So far this book is 5% interesting and fun, and 95% dreary. And what's with these typographical leaf footnotes? Not seeing the point of those at all. We'll see how it goes from here.

Wow....
Perhaps I'm missing the point...
I have no idea at all what I just read. Entropy as your central metaphor?!.... Really?!.... This book is just a freaking mess as far as I can tell. What's it even about? I'm just slogging through it at this point, hoping the entropy will at least lead to a minimal level of narrative coherence.
This book is aggressive in its manic fury to make no sense.
Perhaps I'm missing the point. 14 years? Yikes man....

There are no characters really. The people occupying the story just seem to exist merely to transmit some lithomancy ridden eschatological framework regarding the bible?... or something?... The story itself is not a narrative in the standard sense, in that connected sequences follow one another to build significance and meaning. Sequences follow one another, but they they don't seem to be connected. It all just comes off as a bewildering pile of disorganized nonsense.

Again, maybe I missed it, but there was literally nothing about this book that I found intelligible.
]]> <![CDATA[Dido, Queen of Carthage: A Tragedy]]> 39986092 79 Christopher Marlowe 1407675796 Jason 3 3.50 1590 Dido, Queen of Carthage: A Tragedy
author: Christopher Marlowe
name: Jason
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1590
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/08
date added: 2023/12/08
shelves:
review:

]]> The Raw Shark Texts 43492396
But there may be more to the story, or it may be a different story altogether. As Eric begins to examine letters and papers left in the house by "the first Eric Sanderson," a staggeringly different explanation for what is happening to Eric emerges, and he and the reader embark on a quest to recover the truth and escape the remorseless predatory forces that threatens to devour him.

The Raw Shark Texts is a kaleidoscopic novel about the magnitude of love and the devastating effect of losing that love. It will dazzle you, it will move you, and will leave an indelible imprint like nothing you have read in a long time.]]> Steven Hall Jason 5 all-time-favorites I want to read it again. I also want Hall to write another book. Come on Steve!!

8/19/09 Update:
I found a copy of the UK version of this book in a used book store the other day and it prompted me to re-read it.
This book is so brilliant it's unbelievable. Reading it a second time brought out, in my mind anyway, what is really going on with this book. I'm truly amazed at Hall's performance here.

=================================================================

i was walking through barnes and noble, i have no idea what i was doing there HA!, and i saw this book...
the title grabbed my attention and i remembered having heard about it at one point or another in connection to danielewski's 'house of leaves'...i picked it up and started reading and haven't stopped...
it's not precisely the exhilarating thrill ride the reviews on the cover would have you believe, but it is extremely gripping and interesting...i can see how it would be compared to danielewski as it very much pokes at the fabric of existence to see how it tears...

the premise at first seems a little cliche, but the execution is quite original and highly imaginative...(i can't help but think this is the novel danielewski should have written after HOL...i still have no idea what he was trying to do with 'only revolutions'...)

this novel deals with a subject that i cannot decide what to do with...
i'm compelled to feel that it is a subject universal to everyone, yet i cannot escape the intimacy of the issue and how close it is to me...to the point where i cannot imagine anyone else really being able to relate to this subject in the same way i do...
yet here is this book...

the subject is that of the void....the gaping cavernous void that you must confront in life at one point or another in a very real way, and also in a very metaphorical way...often it seems ot me this confrontation ends as it did in my case, in a terror induced retreat to whatever safety i could locate...

the first introduction i had to this void was in the deep end of my cousin's swimming pool...as a child of 7 or 8, i was treading water over the deep end, perhaps a depth of 8 feet or so...and i was stricken with an acute awareness of the space underneath me...on some irrational level it deeply terrified me, knowing this space was under me and i didn't really know for certain what was lurking down there...i knew and understood the actual depth of the pool, that it ended a mere few feet below my flailing limbs, but this rational information did nothing to quell the mounting fear that assailed me as long as i stayed in the water...
there's was something horrifying about this space, this emptiness that somehow wasn't empty...
ever since i've had this strange awareness of that void...every so often i'd be reminded soomehow of its existence...
this book did more than remind me of it, it exemplified it...it exposes and explores the very void that i thought was peculiar to my personal neurosis...
this entire story could be said to involve this strange empty space, but there are two overt moments that i should use to discuss what i mean...
the main character eric doesn't care for snorkeling...neither would i...he talks about the occasion when he did go diving and describes the fear he felt when he looked out into the gaping blue bank expanse that represented the open ocean, and how it affected him to the point where he couldn't go back in the water again...
this moment is mirrored to stunning effect when later in the story eric falls in the water and the pages of the text go completely blank...sitting in my comfortable loft staring at those relentlessly blank pages brought my fear of the void rocketing right back to the front of my mind...

in the story, this void is intrinsically connected with eric's loss of memory and the consequent loss his identity...the void tantalizes him with the very real anxiety that he may not only never recover the absent parts of himself, but he may also lose everything he presently knows a second time...

there's more to this than a mere exploration of what identity is, how it functions, and what it means to lose it...i
it's about the strength and power that a concept can wield...
the void isn't a real, concrete place that i can go to and see for myself...but it's there, i can feel it, and more importantly i can feel its influence...conceptual stuctures have every bit as much power over us as any real world construct....

this book deals with this notion like no other text i've ever come across...in the end, it is a conceptual structure that provides for eric's salvation...but, it was yet another conceptual structure that threatened eric's life to begin with...they can go either way...they have the potency to save or destroy...

an incredible book...]]> 4.08 2007 The Raw Shark Texts
author: Steven Hall
name: Jason
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2008/06/22
date added: 2023/12/06
shelves: all-time-favorites
review:
3/29/11 update:
I want to read it again. I also want Hall to write another book. Come on Steve!!

8/19/09 Update:
I found a copy of the UK version of this book in a used book store the other day and it prompted me to re-read it.
This book is so brilliant it's unbelievable. Reading it a second time brought out, in my mind anyway, what is really going on with this book. I'm truly amazed at Hall's performance here.

=================================================================

i was walking through barnes and noble, i have no idea what i was doing there HA!, and i saw this book...
the title grabbed my attention and i remembered having heard about it at one point or another in connection to danielewski's 'house of leaves'...i picked it up and started reading and haven't stopped...
it's not precisely the exhilarating thrill ride the reviews on the cover would have you believe, but it is extremely gripping and interesting...i can see how it would be compared to danielewski as it very much pokes at the fabric of existence to see how it tears...

the premise at first seems a little cliche, but the execution is quite original and highly imaginative...(i can't help but think this is the novel danielewski should have written after HOL...i still have no idea what he was trying to do with 'only revolutions'...)

this novel deals with a subject that i cannot decide what to do with...
i'm compelled to feel that it is a subject universal to everyone, yet i cannot escape the intimacy of the issue and how close it is to me...to the point where i cannot imagine anyone else really being able to relate to this subject in the same way i do...
yet here is this book...

the subject is that of the void....the gaping cavernous void that you must confront in life at one point or another in a very real way, and also in a very metaphorical way...often it seems ot me this confrontation ends as it did in my case, in a terror induced retreat to whatever safety i could locate...

the first introduction i had to this void was in the deep end of my cousin's swimming pool...as a child of 7 or 8, i was treading water over the deep end, perhaps a depth of 8 feet or so...and i was stricken with an acute awareness of the space underneath me...on some irrational level it deeply terrified me, knowing this space was under me and i didn't really know for certain what was lurking down there...i knew and understood the actual depth of the pool, that it ended a mere few feet below my flailing limbs, but this rational information did nothing to quell the mounting fear that assailed me as long as i stayed in the water...
there's was something horrifying about this space, this emptiness that somehow wasn't empty...
ever since i've had this strange awareness of that void...every so often i'd be reminded soomehow of its existence...
this book did more than remind me of it, it exemplified it...it exposes and explores the very void that i thought was peculiar to my personal neurosis...
this entire story could be said to involve this strange empty space, but there are two overt moments that i should use to discuss what i mean...
the main character eric doesn't care for snorkeling...neither would i...he talks about the occasion when he did go diving and describes the fear he felt when he looked out into the gaping blue bank expanse that represented the open ocean, and how it affected him to the point where he couldn't go back in the water again...
this moment is mirrored to stunning effect when later in the story eric falls in the water and the pages of the text go completely blank...sitting in my comfortable loft staring at those relentlessly blank pages brought my fear of the void rocketing right back to the front of my mind...

in the story, this void is intrinsically connected with eric's loss of memory and the consequent loss his identity...the void tantalizes him with the very real anxiety that he may not only never recover the absent parts of himself, but he may also lose everything he presently knows a second time...

there's more to this than a mere exploration of what identity is, how it functions, and what it means to lose it...i
it's about the strength and power that a concept can wield...
the void isn't a real, concrete place that i can go to and see for myself...but it's there, i can feel it, and more importantly i can feel its influence...conceptual stuctures have every bit as much power over us as any real world construct....

this book deals with this notion like no other text i've ever come across...in the end, it is a conceptual structure that provides for eric's salvation...but, it was yet another conceptual structure that threatened eric's life to begin with...they can go either way...they have the potency to save or destroy...

an incredible book...
]]> <![CDATA[Nemesis Games (The Expanse, #5)]]> 22886612
A thousand worlds have opened, and the greatest land rush in human history has begun. As wave after wave of colonists leave, the power structures of the old solar system begin to buckle.

Ships are disappearing without a trace. Private armies are being secretly formed. The sole remaining protomolecule sample is stolen. Terrorist attacks previously considered impossible bring the inner planets to their knees. The sins of the past are returning to exact a terrible price.

And as a new human order is struggling to be born in blood and fire, James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante must struggle to survive and get back to the only home they have left.]]> 536 James S.A. Corey 031621759X Jason 5 I do have a few problems.
How the fuck did a handful of half-wits have the resources, the intelligence (both in terms of access to information and cognitive capacity), and the manpower to not only perform the most horrific act in the history of humanity, but to also simultaneously conduct surgical military ops across the entire solar system. So far, the Corey matrix has been nearly infallible in generating plausible authenticity. This is the first time in the series I've felt its lack.
If this series teaches us one thing it's that Humanity will eventually destroy itself and whatever else it can take with it, and more tragically, it will ultimately be accomplished by half-wits. Dullards too dense to see past hate and resentment.
It's a great book. The Corey organism deserves more recognition than I think it's received. But goddammit it's a bit wearisome to plunge forward through a rolling series of increasingly atrocious calamities.

Update after finishing:
They subtly addressed how the half-wits accomplished miraculous feats. It seems the next book will be more forthcoming regarding the nascence of the grand conflagration.
But in the end, another jaw dropping wonder of a book. Just amazing on every freaking level. When larger narratives inevitably split up the band to give them some solo adventures, these are often the bits in the story people find the least captivating. No to here. Even the most superfluous of the adventures, that of Mongo and Peaches, which had little to no impact on the larger narrative of even this book, was a page turning joy to read. The next one is in the mail and i can't wait to read it. ]]> 4.44 2015 Nemesis Games (The Expanse, #5)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Jason
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/06
date added: 2023/12/06
shelves:
review:
All of these books are great. Beyond great. As good as this type of story can get. But FUCK ME is this a relentlessly bleak fucking book!!!...... Grim does not begin to cover it.
I do have a few problems.
How the fuck did a handful of half-wits have the resources, the intelligence (both in terms of access to information and cognitive capacity), and the manpower to not only perform the most horrific act in the history of humanity, but to also simultaneously conduct surgical military ops across the entire solar system. So far, the Corey matrix has been nearly infallible in generating plausible authenticity. This is the first time in the series I've felt its lack.
If this series teaches us one thing it's that Humanity will eventually destroy itself and whatever else it can take with it, and more tragically, it will ultimately be accomplished by half-wits. Dullards too dense to see past hate and resentment.
It's a great book. The Corey organism deserves more recognition than I think it's received. But goddammit it's a bit wearisome to plunge forward through a rolling series of increasingly atrocious calamities.

Update after finishing:
They subtly addressed how the half-wits accomplished miraculous feats. It seems the next book will be more forthcoming regarding the nascence of the grand conflagration.
But in the end, another jaw dropping wonder of a book. Just amazing on every freaking level. When larger narratives inevitably split up the band to give them some solo adventures, these are often the bits in the story people find the least captivating. No to here. Even the most superfluous of the adventures, that of Mongo and Peaches, which had little to no impact on the larger narrative of even this book, was a page turning joy to read. The next one is in the mail and i can't wait to read it.
]]> <![CDATA[Jade Visions: The Life and Music of Scott LaFaro (North Texas Lives of Musician Series)]]> 6716491 Selected for "The Best of the Best" from University Presses, ALA Conference, 2010.
Winner of the 2010 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research in Jazz, 2010.
Ěý Jade Visions is the first biography of one of the twentieth century's most influential jazz musicians, bassist Scott LaFaro. Best known for his landmark recordings with Bill Evans, LaFaro played bass a mere seven years before his life and career were tragically cut short by an automobile accident when he was only 25 years old. Told by his sister, this book uniquely combines family history with insight into LaFaro's music by well-known jazz experts and musicians Gene Lees, Don Thompson, Jeff Campbell, Phil Palombi, Chuck Ralston, Barrie Kolstein, and Robert Wooley. Those interested in Bill Evans, the history of jazz, and the lives of working musicians of the time will appreciate this exploration of LaFaro’s life and music as well as the feeling they’ve been invited into the family circle as an intimate.]]> 352 Helene LaFaro-Fernandez 1574412736 Jason 0 to-read 4.11 2009 Jade Visions: The Life and Music of Scott LaFaro (North Texas Lives of Musician Series)
author: Helene LaFaro-Fernandez
name: Jason
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1)]]> 35068705
When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.

But surprises aren’t always good.

Because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at Sinegard. Targeted from the outset by rival classmates for her color, poverty, and gender, Rin discovers she possesses a lethal, unearthly power—an aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism. Exploring the depths of her gift with the help of a seemingly insane teacher and psychoactive substances, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive—and that mastering control over those powers could mean more than just surviving school.

For while the Nikara Empire is at peace, the Federation of Mugen still lurks across a narrow sea. The militarily advanced Federation occupied Nikan for decades after the First Poppy War, and only barely lost the continent in the Second. And while most of the people are complacent to go about their lives, a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away . . .

Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity . . . and that it may already be too late.]]> 545 R.F. Kuang 0062662597 Jason 2 Firstly, I've read this story at least 100 times. It's hopelessly derivative of all the standard fantasy fictional tropes; second, the characters are nearly completely flat, third, the dialogue is ridiculous, and lastly, the plots are juvenile.
This book is not terrible, but it's not good either. It's just not.
And if you think it is a good book, I do not think your wrong necessarily, you are just in a different relationship with books than I am.
I could get into the actual content of the story (the drug oriented magical system is very off putting given our Opioid problems) but there's little point in that. The book fails in larger fundamentals long before it gets to the content.
I'm not sure what to do at this point. I feel like I'm out of step with the Science Fiction/Fantasy community. This book was glorified in the review ecosystem with high praise. I don't understand that. Compare this book to something like N. K. Jemisin's "The Fifth Season" or Corey's "Leviathan Wakes" or Dan Simmons' "Carrion Comfort", you will readily see the point I'm making.
I guess it's really on me.
I'm picking up these books, Leigh Bardugo's "The Ninth Gate", Kingfisher's "The Hollow Places", Michaelides' "The Silent Patient", M. L. Rios's "When We Were Villians", and thinking they are books for mature readers. They are not.
Mature readers will have seen a good deal of what these books have to offer again and again, and will not be moved by the varying artifices as constructed.
For these long years I have made the habit of picking books up off the shelves at random based on nothing but the whim of the moment, and for many years was richly rewarded for doing so. Either the shelves have changed, or I have. Maybe both.]]> 4.16 2018 The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1)
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Jason
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2023/12/01
date added: 2023/12/01
shelves:
review:
I may have to take a very strident step back away from randomly selecting books off the shelves for awhile. This is the 5th or 6th book I've read that was just demonstrably, objectively, not a good book.
Firstly, I've read this story at least 100 times. It's hopelessly derivative of all the standard fantasy fictional tropes; second, the characters are nearly completely flat, third, the dialogue is ridiculous, and lastly, the plots are juvenile.
This book is not terrible, but it's not good either. It's just not.
And if you think it is a good book, I do not think your wrong necessarily, you are just in a different relationship with books than I am.
I could get into the actual content of the story (the drug oriented magical system is very off putting given our Opioid problems) but there's little point in that. The book fails in larger fundamentals long before it gets to the content.
I'm not sure what to do at this point. I feel like I'm out of step with the Science Fiction/Fantasy community. This book was glorified in the review ecosystem with high praise. I don't understand that. Compare this book to something like N. K. Jemisin's "The Fifth Season" or Corey's "Leviathan Wakes" or Dan Simmons' "Carrion Comfort", you will readily see the point I'm making.
I guess it's really on me.
I'm picking up these books, Leigh Bardugo's "The Ninth Gate", Kingfisher's "The Hollow Places", Michaelides' "The Silent Patient", M. L. Rios's "When We Were Villians", and thinking they are books for mature readers. They are not.
Mature readers will have seen a good deal of what these books have to offer again and again, and will not be moved by the varying artifices as constructed.
For these long years I have made the habit of picking books up off the shelves at random based on nothing but the whim of the moment, and for many years was richly rewarded for doing so. Either the shelves have changed, or I have. Maybe both.
]]> <![CDATA[Wuthering Heights: A Norton Critical Edition (Norton Critical Editions)]]> 41753985 � The first edition of the novel (1847), accompanied by a new preface and revised explanatory footnotes.
� Key excerpts from Emily Brontë’s diary papers and devoirs, along with thirteen of her sister Charlotte Brontë’s letters regarding publication of both the 1847 and 1850 editions, and Charlotte’s notes of introduction to the posthumous 1850 edition.
� Thirteen of Charlotte Brontë’s letters regarding the publication of both the 1847 and 1850 editions of Wuthering Heights, along with key excerpts from her diary and devoirs.
� Twenty-one of Emily’s poems, including the eighteen selected for publication by Charlotte with the 1850 edition and a further three poems new to this Fifth Norton Critical Edition.
� Thirteen reviews of both the 1847 and 1850 editions of the novel.
� Five major critical assessments of Wuthering Heights, three of them new to the Fifth Edition.
� A revised chronology and a selected bibliography.]]> 472 Emily Brontë 0393284999 Jason 5 3.79 1847 Wuthering Heights: A Norton Critical Edition (Norton Critical Editions)
author: Emily Brontë
name: Jason
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1847
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/28
date added: 2023/11/28
shelves:
review:

]]> The Complete Poems 13223 Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, as well as 200 works collected from various manuscript sources after her death in 1848.]]> 262 Emily Brontë 0231103476 Jason 5 4.17 1846 The Complete Poems
author: Emily Brontë
name: Jason
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1846
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/28
date added: 2023/11/28
shelves:
review:

]]> Reamde 10552338
For Richard, the game was the perfect opportunity to launder his aging hundred dollar bills and begin his own high-tech start up—a venture that has morphed into a Fortune 500 computer gaming group, Corporation 9592, with its own super successful online role-playing game, T’Rain. But the line between fantasy and reality becomes dangerously blurred when a young gold farmer accidently triggers a virtual war for dominance—and Richard is caught at the center.

In this edgy, 21st century tale, Neal Stephenson, one of the most ambitious and prophetic writers of our time, returns to the terrain of his cyberpunk masterpieces Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon, leading readers through the looking glass and into the dark heart of imagination.]]> 1044 Neal Stephenson 0061977969 Jason 5 That sounds like it should be clever... Re-re-re...
Not really though...
Over the course of time, due to my long abiding love of fantasy and high adventure, my attention has often been drawn to a great many books that have been written for the "YA" market. After reading more than a few of these popular novels, some good, some ok, some downright drivellian, I find I appreciate Stephenson for one primary element. His novels are for grown ups. No question. And as such they are very challenging for a variety of reasons; length, complexity, length, large casts of characters, length, technological sophistication, length, and then there's the undeniable intimidation factor associated with the goddamn LENGTH of these fucking books.
I find I appreciate these challenges as I get older. I love a good long book. And say what you will about them, Stephenson's books are without question good, and even more impossible to interrogate, long.
In regard to the story, the characters, the writing, where does one even begin? They're all fucking great. As far as themes, motifs, metaphors, narrative purpose, Jeez... all that just seems to fade into the background with Stephenson. He transcends literary criticism with the sheer volume and all encompassing vitality of his words. How would one delineate an overarching theme in a book like this that veers through cultures, locations, characters, politics, and narrative scenarios with relentless unstoppable tornadic ferocity? If you wanted to conduct an analysis of this book in any meaningful manageable way, you would have to break it up into sequences or look at specific characters. That would work. But would it really be worth the effort? Stephenson does not come off as a tremendously literary writer. He does not seem interested at all in the artful side of his craft. He wants to tell a realistic detailed thrill laden story, encompassing the authentic world around us, the genuine people that inhabit it, and the thoughts and motive forces that serve to drive the interactions between all of them. He's a one of a kind writer who almost could be classified as a journalist rather than a novelist. I freaking love the guy and feel so fortunate to be one of the few intrepid souls who are fiercely dedicated to his work.]]> 3.97 2011 Reamde
author: Neal Stephenson
name: Jason
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/28
date added: 2023/11/28
shelves:
review:
I'm re-reading Reamde.
That sounds like it should be clever... Re-re-re...
Not really though...
Over the course of time, due to my long abiding love of fantasy and high adventure, my attention has often been drawn to a great many books that have been written for the "YA" market. After reading more than a few of these popular novels, some good, some ok, some downright drivellian, I find I appreciate Stephenson for one primary element. His novels are for grown ups. No question. And as such they are very challenging for a variety of reasons; length, complexity, length, large casts of characters, length, technological sophistication, length, and then there's the undeniable intimidation factor associated with the goddamn LENGTH of these fucking books.
I find I appreciate these challenges as I get older. I love a good long book. And say what you will about them, Stephenson's books are without question good, and even more impossible to interrogate, long.
In regard to the story, the characters, the writing, where does one even begin? They're all fucking great. As far as themes, motifs, metaphors, narrative purpose, Jeez... all that just seems to fade into the background with Stephenson. He transcends literary criticism with the sheer volume and all encompassing vitality of his words. How would one delineate an overarching theme in a book like this that veers through cultures, locations, characters, politics, and narrative scenarios with relentless unstoppable tornadic ferocity? If you wanted to conduct an analysis of this book in any meaningful manageable way, you would have to break it up into sequences or look at specific characters. That would work. But would it really be worth the effort? Stephenson does not come off as a tremendously literary writer. He does not seem interested at all in the artful side of his craft. He wants to tell a realistic detailed thrill laden story, encompassing the authentic world around us, the genuine people that inhabit it, and the thoughts and motive forces that serve to drive the interactions between all of them. He's a one of a kind writer who almost could be classified as a journalist rather than a novelist. I freaking love the guy and feel so fortunate to be one of the few intrepid souls who are fiercely dedicated to his work.
]]> The Shipping News 7354
A vigorous, darkly comic, and at times magical portrait of the contemporary American family, The Shipping News shows why E. Annie Proulx is recognized as one of the most gifted and original writers in America today.
(back cover)]]> 337 Annie Proulx 0743225422 Jason 5 3.88 1993 The Shipping News
author: Annie Proulx
name: Jason
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1993
rating: 5
read at: 2010/08/15
date added: 2023/10/31
shelves:
review:
One of the best books I've ever read.
]]> <![CDATA[Deadhouse Gates (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #2)]]> 55401
Set in a brilliantly realized world ravaged by dark, uncontrollable magic, Deadhouse Gates is a novel of war, intrigue and betrayal confirms Steven Eirkson as a storyteller of breathtaking skill, imagination and originality--a new master of epic fantasy.]]> 604 Steven Erikson 0765310023 Jason 5 4.27 2000 Deadhouse Gates (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #2)
author: Steven Erikson
name: Jason
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/10/28
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Secret History of Jane Eyre: How Charlotte Brontë Wrote Her Masterpiece]]> 32191679 Jane Eyre, to conceal its authorship from her family, close friends, and the press? In The Secret History of Jane Eyre, John Pfordresher tells the enthralling story of Brontë’s compulsion to write her masterpiece and why she then turned around and vehemently disavowed it.


Few people know how quickly Brontë composed Jane Eyre. Nor do many know that she wrote it during a devastating and anxious period in her life. Thwarted in her passionate, secret, and forbidden love for a married man, she found herself living in a home suddenly imperiled by the fact that her father, a minister, the sole support of the family, was on the brink of blindness. After his hasty operation, as she nursed him in an isolated apartment kept dark to help him heal his eyes, Brontë began writing Jane Eyre, an invigorating romance that, despite her own fears and sorrows, gives voice to a powerfully rebellious and ultimately optimistic woman’s spirit.


The Secret History of Jane Eyre expands our understanding of both Jane Eyre and the inner life of its notoriously private author. Pfordresher connects the people Brontë knew and the events she lived to the characters and story in the novel, and he explores how her fecund imagination used her inner life to shape one of the world’s most popular novels.


By aligning his insights into Brontë’s life with the timeless characters, harrowing plot, and forbidden romance of Jane Eyre, Pfordresher reveals the remarkable parallels between one of literature’s most beloved heroines and her passionate creator, and arrives at a new understanding of Brontë’s brilliant, immersive genius.]]> 256 John Pfordresher 0393248879 Jason 1 Then read this introduction. You'll quickly realize you're dealing with a pure Bunyan. An asymmetrical donut. An absolute blufharden-ghemeisner.
Poorly researched, poorly reasoned, hastily scribed blufharden-ness throughout.
Although it is worth reading, if only to sharpen one's acumen on the evaluation of soft versus hard scholarship.
Otherwise it's Buttered Sausage; where's it come from; what it does; why is it doing what it's doing; get it out of my face... ]]> 3.25 2017 The Secret History of Jane Eyre: How Charlotte Brontë Wrote Her Masterpiece
author: John Pfordresher
name: Jason
average rating: 3.25
book published: 2017
rating: 1
read at: 2023/10/06
date added: 2023/10/06
shelves:
review:
Read anything written about Charlotte Bronte.
Then read this introduction. You'll quickly realize you're dealing with a pure Bunyan. An asymmetrical donut. An absolute blufharden-ghemeisner.
Poorly researched, poorly reasoned, hastily scribed blufharden-ness throughout.
Although it is worth reading, if only to sharpen one's acumen on the evaluation of soft versus hard scholarship.
Otherwise it's Buttered Sausage; where's it come from; what it does; why is it doing what it's doing; get it out of my face...
]]> <![CDATA[Patrick BrontĂ«: Father of Genius]]> 3503736 The Life of Charlotte BrontĂ« would have us believe. Born into poverty in Ireland, he won a scholarship to St. John's College, Cambridge, and was ordained into the Church of England. He was perpetual curate of Haworth in Yorkshire forĚý41 years, bringing up four children, founding a school, and campaigning for a proper water supply. Although often portrayed as a somewhat fobidding figure, he was an opponent of capital punishment and the Poor Law Amendment Act, a supporter of limited Catholic emancipation, and a writer of poetry. This is the first serious biography of Patrick BrontĂ«Ěýfor more than 40Ěýyears.]]> 284 Dudley Green 1845886259 Jason 5 4.29 2008 Patrick BrontĂ«: Father of Genius
author: Dudley Green
name: Jason
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/06
date added: 2023/10/06
shelves:
review:

]]> The Life of Charlotte Brontë 31171 The Life of Charlotte Bronte (1857) is a pioneering biography of one great Victorian woman novelist by another. Gaskell was a friend of Bronte's and, having been invited to write the official life, determined to both tell the truth and honor her friend. This edition collates all three previous editions, as well as the manuscript, offering fuller information about the process of writing and a more detailed explanation of the text than any previous edition.]]> 587 Elizabeth Gaskell 0192838059 Jason 1 3.83 1857 The Life of Charlotte Brontë
author: Elizabeth Gaskell
name: Jason
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1857
rating: 1
read at: 2023/10/06
date added: 2023/10/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Brontë Family, Vol. 1 of 2 with special reference to Patrick Branwell Brontë]]> 20438312 220 Francis A. Leyland Jason 4 3.89 2010 The Brontë Family, Vol. 1 of 2 with special reference to Patrick Branwell Brontë
author: Francis A. Leyland
name: Jason
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/06
date added: 2023/10/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Brontë Family, Vol. 2 of 2 with special reference to Patrick Branwell Brontë]]> 20438311 214 Francis A. Leyland Jason 4 3.67 2010 The Brontë Family, Vol. 2 of 2 with special reference to Patrick Branwell Brontë
author: Francis A. Leyland
name: Jason
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/06
date added: 2023/10/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot, #1)]]> 52843028
A refugee of the Great War, Poirot has settled in England near Styles Court, the country estate of his wealthy benefactor, the elderly Emily Inglethorp. When Emily is poisoned and the authorities are baffled, Poirot puts his prodigious sleuthing skills to work. Suspects are plentiful, including the victim’s much younger husband, her resentful stepsons, her longtime hired companion, a young family friend working as a nurse, and a London specialist on poisons who just happens to be visiting the nearby village.

All of them have secrets they are desperate to keep, but none can outwit Poirot as he navigates the ingenious red herrings and plot twists that contribute to Agatha Christie's well-deserved reputation as the queen of mystery.]]> 174 Agatha Christie 1734452595 Jason 4 4.06 1920 The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot, #1)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Jason
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1920
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/29
date added: 2023/09/29
shelves:
review:

]]> Babel 57945316 From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a historical fantasy epic that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British Empire

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver-working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as the arcane craft serves the Empire's quest for colonization.

For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide . . .

Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?]]> 544 R.F. Kuang 0063021420 Jason 0 to-read 4.17 2022 Babel
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Jason
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Hollow Places 50892288 A young woman discovers a strange portal in her uncle’s house, leading to madness and terror in this gripping new novel.

Pray they are hungry.

Kara finds these words in the mysterious bunker that she’s discovered behind a hole in the wall of her uncle’s house. Freshly divorced and living back at home, Kara now becomes obsessed with these cryptic words and starts exploring the peculiar bunker—only to discover that it holds portals to countless alternate realities. But these places are haunted by creatures that seem to hear thoughts…and the more you fear them, the stronger they become.]]> 341 T. Kingfisher 1534451129 Jason 2 This story is something I would expect from a somewhat creative high school student. It's precocious, fun, light, and extremely amateur. This is the second book I've picked up at random at the book store that has been very disappointing. "Ordinary Monsters" was the first.
And I have to lay the blame squarely on the blurbsters on the cover. Publishers Weekly. Cherie Priest. Chuck Wendigo. Freaking shame on all of you for crap-weasling your way through these blurbs.
This book does not suck. But it's certainly not one I would recommend to anyone. ]]> 3.76 2020 The Hollow Places
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Jason
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2023/09/20
shelves:
review:
This is what passes for a good book these days?
This story is something I would expect from a somewhat creative high school student. It's precocious, fun, light, and extremely amateur. This is the second book I've picked up at random at the book store that has been very disappointing. "Ordinary Monsters" was the first.
And I have to lay the blame squarely on the blurbsters on the cover. Publishers Weekly. Cherie Priest. Chuck Wendigo. Freaking shame on all of you for crap-weasling your way through these blurbs.
This book does not suck. But it's certainly not one I would recommend to anyone.
]]> Cibola Burn (The Expanse, #4) 18656030 The fourth novel in James S.A. Corey’s New York Times bestselling Expanse series

The gates have opened the way to thousands of habitable planets, and the land rush has begun. Settlers stream out from humanity's home planets in a vast, poorly controlled flood, landing on a new world. Among them, the Rocinante, haunted by the vast, posthuman network of the protomolecule as they investigate what destroyed the great intergalactic society that built the gates and the protomolecule.

But Holden and his crew must also contend with the growing tensions between the settlers and the company which owns the official claim to the planet. Both sides will stop at nothing to defend what's theirs, but soon a terrible disease strikes and only Holden - with help from the ghostly Detective Miller - can find the cure.]]> 581 James S.A. Corey Jason 5 4.18 2014 Cibola Burn (The Expanse, #4)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Jason
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/08/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Abaddon’s Gate (The Expanse, #3)]]> 16131032
For generations, the solar system - Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt - was humanity's great frontier. Until now. The alien artefact working through its program under the clouds of Venus has emerged to build a massive structure outside the orbit of Uranus: a gate that leads into a starless dark.

Jim Holden and the crew of the Rocinante are part of a vast flotilla of scientific and military ships going out to examine the artefact. But behind the scenes, a complex plot is unfolding, with the destruction of Holden at its core. As the emissaries of the human race try to find whether the gate is an opportunity or a threat, the greatest danger is the one they brought with them.]]> 539 James S.A. Corey Jason 5 4.26 2013 Abaddon’s Gate (The Expanse, #3)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Jason
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/08/15
shelves:
review:

]]> Fall; or, Dodge in Hell 41824495 The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Seveneves, Anathem, Reamde, and Cryptonomicon returns with a wildly inventive and entertaining science fiction thriller�Paradise Lost by way of Phillip K. Dick—that unfolds in the near future, in parallel worlds.

In his youth, Richard “Dodge� Forthrast founded Corporation 9592, a gaming company that made him a multibillionaire. Now in his middle years, Dodge appreciates his comfortable, unencumbered life, managing his myriad business interests, and spending time with his beloved niece Zula and her young daughter, Sophia.

One beautiful autumn day, while he undergoes a routine medical procedure, something goes irrevocably wrong. Dodge is pronounced brain dead and put on life support, leaving his stunned family and close friends with difficult decisions. Long ago, when a much younger Dodge drew up his will, he directed that his body be given to a cryonics company now owned by enigmatic tech entrepreneur Elmo Shepherd. Legally bound to follow the directive despite their misgivings, Dodge’s family has his brain scanned and its data structures uploaded and stored in the cloud, until it can eventually be revived.

In the coming years, technology allows Dodge’s brain to be turned back on. It is an achievement that is nothing less than the disruption of death itself. An eternal afterlife—the Bitworld—is created, in which humans continue to exist as digital souls.

But this brave new immortal world is not the Utopia it might first seem . . .

Fall, or Dodge in Hell is pure, unadulterated fun: a grand drama of analog and digital, man and machine, angels and demons, gods and followers, the finite and the eternal. In this exhilarating epic, Neal Stephenson raises profound existential questions and touches on the revolutionary breakthroughs that are transforming our future. Combining the technological, philosophical, and spiritual in one grand myth, he delivers a mind-blowing speculative literary saga for the modern age.

]]> 883 Neal Stephenson 006245871X Jason 0 to-read 3.55 2019 Fall; or, Dodge in Hell
author: Neal Stephenson
name: Jason
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ordinary Monsters (The Talents Trilogy, #1)]]> 58725025
What follows is a story of wonder and betrayal, from the gaslit streets of London, and the wooden theaters of Meiji-era Tokyo, to an eerie estate outside Edinburgh where other children with gifts--like Komako, a witch-child and twister of dust, and Ribs, a girl who cloaks herself in invisibility--are forced to combat the forces that threaten their safety. There, the world of the dead and the world of the living threaten to collide. With this new found family, Komako, Marlowe, Charlie, Ribs, and the rest of the Talents discover the truth about their abilities. And as secrets within the Institute unfurl, a new question arises: What truly defines a monster?

Riveting in its scope, exquisitely written, Ordinary Monsters presents a catastrophic vision of the Victorian world--and of the gifted, broken children who must save it.]]> 672 J.M. Miro 1250833663 Jason 2 This is all fine and good if the story is strong enough to override the clichés. So far, this one is not.
The back of the book has a statement:
"Charles Dickens meets Joss Whedon in Miro's otherworldly Netflix-binge-like novel." Credited to the Washington Post, not to the journalist who penned it.
I agree with that notion in part. The Whedon bit is obvious. As is the Dickens, but not in the way the reviewer or the author would have us think. Whedon is undoubtedly a fine writer, however he is given to his own peculiar set of narrative patterns. Who knows if he would ever have grown beyond them, given his career has imploded, exploded, polyploded into little Whedon bits. I guess the guy was a massive gonad. It's a shame that people who are so good at things can be such ramrods.
This story is at best derivative of Whedon's patterns, and at worst a blatant pattern snatch. You could be fooled into thinking Miro was a Nome de Plume of Whedon, but the dialogue is not nearly good enough. Nor are the characters. There is no charm here unfortunately. And Whedon could layer on the charm like spackle. As far as the Dickens bit goes, it is largely the same. Dickensian patterns have been aped to achieve a narrative end, but the strength and maturity of Dickens is not here. This is how Whedon and Dickens would write if they both had suffered lead poisoning as children.
I was, as I very often am, attracted to this novel by the title, the graphic design, and the heft of it. Not the finest well honed criteria for choosing novels, but it has worked wildly well for me in general. I could list a great many books chosen under these circumstances that now hold permanent residency in my soul.
The premise of super powered children and the academy/institute that seeks them out is relentlessly cliched and boring at this point. The Umbrella Academy and The Checquy Files represent all that ever needs to be said on this subject. Please no more.]]> 3.75 2022 Ordinary Monsters (The Talents Trilogy, #1)
author: J.M. Miro
name: Jason
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2023/08/13
date added: 2023/08/13
shelves:
review:
At page 71 I was already doing mighty battle with the derivative hordes contained within these pages. This book is like a motif collage of popular young adult story ideas: Super powered children. A shadowy academy/institute searching them out for shadowy purposes. The anti-feminine strong female lead. An (overwrought) High Gothic atmosphere. The shadowy pseudo-villainous figure pursuing the children for shadowy purposes.
This is all fine and good if the story is strong enough to override the clichés. So far, this one is not.
The back of the book has a statement:
"Charles Dickens meets Joss Whedon in Miro's otherworldly Netflix-binge-like novel." Credited to the Washington Post, not to the journalist who penned it.
I agree with that notion in part. The Whedon bit is obvious. As is the Dickens, but not in the way the reviewer or the author would have us think. Whedon is undoubtedly a fine writer, however he is given to his own peculiar set of narrative patterns. Who knows if he would ever have grown beyond them, given his career has imploded, exploded, polyploded into little Whedon bits. I guess the guy was a massive gonad. It's a shame that people who are so good at things can be such ramrods.
This story is at best derivative of Whedon's patterns, and at worst a blatant pattern snatch. You could be fooled into thinking Miro was a Nome de Plume of Whedon, but the dialogue is not nearly good enough. Nor are the characters. There is no charm here unfortunately. And Whedon could layer on the charm like spackle. As far as the Dickens bit goes, it is largely the same. Dickensian patterns have been aped to achieve a narrative end, but the strength and maturity of Dickens is not here. This is how Whedon and Dickens would write if they both had suffered lead poisoning as children.
I was, as I very often am, attracted to this novel by the title, the graphic design, and the heft of it. Not the finest well honed criteria for choosing novels, but it has worked wildly well for me in general. I could list a great many books chosen under these circumstances that now hold permanent residency in my soul.
The premise of super powered children and the academy/institute that seeks them out is relentlessly cliched and boring at this point. The Umbrella Academy and The Checquy Files represent all that ever needs to be said on this subject. Please no more.
]]> <![CDATA[The Witching Hour (Lives of the Mayfair Witches, #1)]]> 119089 Alternate cover edition located here.

On the veranda of a great New Orleans house, now faded, a mute and fragile woman sits rocking. And the witching hour begins ...

Demonstrating once again her gift for spellbinding storytelling and the creation of legend, Anne Rice makes real for us a great dynasty of witches --- a family given to poetry and incest, to murder and philosophy, a family that over the ages is itself haunted by a powerful, dangerous, and seductive being. A hypnotic novel of witchcraft and the occult across four centuries. The Witching Hour could only have been written by the spellbinding bestselling author of The Vampire Chronicles.]]> 1038 Anne Rice Jason 5 3.95 1990 The Witching Hour (Lives of the Mayfair Witches, #1)
author: Anne Rice
name: Jason
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1990
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/12
date added: 2023/08/12
shelves:
review:

]]> Midnight's Children 605573
Saleem Sinai is born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the very moment of India's independence. Greeted by fireworks displays, cheering crowds, and Prime Minister Nehru himself, Saleem grows up to learn the ominous consequences of this coincidence. His every act is mirrored and magnified in events that sway the course of national affairs; his health and well-being are inextricably bound to those of his nation; his life is inseparable, at times indistinguishable, from the history of his country. Perhaps most remarkable are the telepathic powers linking him with India's 1,000 other "midnight's children," all born in that initial hour and endowed with magical gifts. This novel is at once a fascinating family saga and an astonishing evocation of a vast land and its people, a brilliant incarnation of the universal human comedy. Twenty-five years after its publication, Midnight's Children stands apart as both an epochal work of fiction and a brilliant performance by one of the great literary voices of our time.]]> 533 Salman Rushdie Jason 0 to-read 3.94 1981 Midnight's Children
author: Salman Rushdie
name: Jason
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1981
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Year of Wonders 4965
Through Anna's eyes we follow the story of the fateful year of 1666, as she and her fellow villagers confront the spread of disease and superstition.

As death reaches into every household and villagers turn from prayers to murderous witch-hunting, Anna must find the strength to confront the disintegration of her community and the lure of illicit love.

As she struggles to survive and grow, a year of catastrophe becomes instead annus mirabilis, a "year of wonders."

Inspired by the true story of Eyam, a village in the rugged hill country of England, Year of Wonders is a richly detailed evocation of a singular moment in history. ]]> 304 Geraldine Brooks 0142001430 Jason 5 4.00 2001 Year of Wonders
author: Geraldine Brooks
name: Jason
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at: 2010/01/24
date added: 2023/07/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Mansion (The Snopes Trilogy, #3)]]> 863338 The Mansion completes Faulkner’s great trilogy of the Snopes family in the mythical county of Yoknapatawpha, Mississippi, which also includes The Hamlet and The Town. Beginning with the murder of Jack Houston, and ending with the murder of Flem Snopes, it traces the downfall of this indomitable post-bellum family, who managed to seize control of the town of Jefferson within a generation.]]> 448 William Faulkner 0394702824 Jason 0 to-read 4.14 The Mansion (The Snopes Trilogy, #3)
author: William Faulkner
name: Jason
average rating: 4.14
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Caliban's War (Expanse, #2) 18142735
In the vast wilderness of space, James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante have been keeping the peace for the Outer Planets Alliance. When they agree to help a scientist search war-torn Ganymede for a missing child, the future of humanity rests on whether a single ship can prevent an alien invasion that may have already begun . . .]]> 583 James S.A. Corey Jason 5 4.50 2012 Caliban's War (Expanse, #2)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Jason
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/04
date added: 2023/01/04
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse, #1)]]> 8855321
Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, the Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for—and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to the Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations—and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.]]> 592 James S.A. Corey 1841499889 Jason 5 4.30 2011 Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse, #1)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Jason
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/12/03
shelves:
review:
Awesome. Loved it. Hard to believe they made it into a TV series that wasn't a total smash hit. I never watched it. But I'm glad I read the book. Enjoyed every page. I'm in for the next volume.
]]> <![CDATA[The Silkworm (Cormoran Strike, #2)]]> 18214414 Private investigator Cormoran Strike returns in a new mystery from Robert Galbraith, author of the #1 international bestseller The Cuckoo's Calling.

When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, Mrs. Quine just thinks her husband has gone off by himself for a few days—as he has done before—and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.

But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realizes. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were to be published, it would ruin lives—meaning that there are a lot of people who might want him silenced.

When Quine is found brutally murdered under bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any Strike has encountered before...]]> 464 Robert Galbraith 0316206873 Jason 4 4.02 2014 The Silkworm (Cormoran Strike, #2)
author: Robert Galbraith
name: Jason
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/11/01
shelves:
review:
It was OK. I enjoyed it. It was not as good as I thought it would be.
]]> The Silent Patient 40097951
Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.]]> 336 Alex Michaelides 1250301696 Jason 2 4.17 2019 The Silent Patient
author: Alex Michaelides
name: Jason
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2022/07/09
date added: 2022/07/09
shelves:
review:
I’ve been having bad luck with random picks lately. I didn’t like the last book in read and I did not like this one. Boo. Boring. Turgid. Derivative of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Silly plot twist. And in the end, why did he kill her? What was the point of that? Why go through the whole thing? Why seek her out to “treat� her? Lame.
]]> <![CDATA[The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (37 plays, 160 sonnets and 5 Poetry Books With Active Table of Contents)]]> 31935106
The Comedies of William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night's Dream
All's Well That Ends Well
As You Like It
Love’s Labour ’s Lost
Measure for Measure
Much Ado About Nothing
The Comedy of Errors
The Merchant of Venice
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Taming of the Shrew
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Twelfth Night; or, What you will

The Romances of William Shakespeare

Cymbeline
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
The Tempest
The Winter's Tale

The Tragedies of William Shakespeare

King Lear
Romeo and Juliet
The History of Troilus and Cressida
The Life and Death of Julius Caesar
The Life of Timon of Athens
The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra
The Tragedy of Coriolanus
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
The Tragedy of Macbeth
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice
Titus Andronicus

The Histories of William Shakespeare

The Life and Death of King John
The Life and Death of King Richard the Second
The Tragedy of King Richard the Third
The first part of King Henry the Fourth
The second part of King Henry the Fourth
The Life of King Henry V
The first part of King Henry the Sixth
The second part of King Henry the Sixth
The third part of King Henry the Sixth
The Life of King Henry the Eighth

The Poetical Works of William Shakespeare

The Sonnets
Sonnets to Sundry Notes of Music
A Lover's Complaint
The Rape of Lucrece
Venus and Adonis
The Phoenix and the Turtle
The Passionate Pilgrim]]> 93 William Shakespeare 882284176X Jason 0 to-read 4.46 1623 The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (37 plays, 160 sonnets and 5 Poetry Books With Active Table of Contents)
author: William Shakespeare
name: Jason
average rating: 4.46
book published: 1623
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/07/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Wolf (Under the Northern Sky, #1)]]> 35838138 The Wolf is a thrilling, savagely visceral, politically nuanced, and unexpectedly wry exploration of power - and how far one will go to defend it.

Violence and death have come to the land under the Northern Sky.

The Anakim dwell in the desolate forests and mountains beyond the black river, the land under the Northern Sky. Their ancient ways are forged in Unthank silver and carved in the grey stone of their heartland, their lives measured out in the turning of centuries, not years.

By contrast, the Sutherners live in the moment, their vitality much more immediate and ephemeral than their Anakim neighbors. Fragile is the peace that has existed between these very different races - and that peace is shattered when the Suthern armies flood the lands to the north. These two races revive their age-old hatred and fear of each other. Within the maelstrom of war, two leaders will rise to lead their people to victory.

Only one will succeed.]]> 465 Leo Carew 031652137X Jason 3 Am I at a place in my life where I do not want to read a book set in a (chronologically very distant) fictionalized pseudo-European past, where the characters repeatedly use a word like “protégé”�.?
Nope. I just don’t.
The next two books in the series will unfortunately remain unread ]]> 3.86 2018 The Wolf (Under the Northern Sky, #1)
author: Leo Carew
name: Jason
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2022/07/03
date added: 2022/07/03
shelves:
review:
I probably would have loved this book as a teenager. But it suffers from the same issue as a great many other fantasy stories; it’s been written already. Like 1000 times. Predictable, interchangeable characters, plot lines, settings, historicity, and worst of all, dialogue.
Am I at a place in my life where I do not want to read a book set in a (chronologically very distant) fictionalized pseudo-European past, where the characters repeatedly use a word like “protégé”�.?
Nope. I just don’t.
The next two books in the series will unfortunately remain unread
]]> Whereabouts 58735026
We follow her to the pool she frequents, and to the train station that leads to her mother, who is mired in her own solitude after her husband’s untimely death. Among those who appear on this woman’s path are colleagues with whom she feels ill at ease, casual acquaintances, and “him,� a shadow who both consoles and unsettles her. Until one day at the sea, both overwhelmed and replenished by the sun’s vital heat, her perspective will abruptly change.
Ěý
This is the first novel Lahiri has written in Italian and translated into English. The reader will find the qualities that make Lahiri’s work so beloved: deep intelligence and feeling, richly textured physical and emotional landscapes, and a poetics of dislocation. But Whereabouts, brimming with the impulse to cross barriers, also signals a bold shift of style and sensibility. By grafting herself onto a new literary language, Lahiri has pushed herself to a new level of artistic achievement.]]> 176 Jhumpa Lahiri 0593312082 Jason 1 3.89 2018 Whereabouts
author: Jhumpa Lahiri
name: Jason
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2018
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2022/06/27
shelves:
review:
I hate it when writers I love publish what is essentially an essay as a novel. This is very very short. Sold at the price of a novel? Boo.
]]> 1Q84 (1Q84, #1-3) 10357575 The year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo.

A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver’s enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 —“Q is for â€question mark.â€� A world that bears a question.â€� Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo takes on a suspect ghostwriting project. He becomes so wrapped up with the work and its unusual author that, soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled.

As Aomame’s and Tengo’s narratives converge over the course of this single year, we learn of the profound and tangled connections that bind them ever closer: a beautiful, dyslexic teenage girl with a unique vision; a mysterious religious cult that instigated a shoot-out with the metropolitan police; a reclusive, wealthy dowager who runs a shelter for abused women; a hideously ugly private investigator; a mild-mannered yet ruthlessly efficient bodyguard; and a peculiarly insistent television-fee collector.

A love story, a mystery, a fantasy, a novel of self-discovery, a dystopia to rival George Orwell’s � 1Q84 is Haruki Murakami’s most ambitious undertaking yet: an instant best seller in his native Japan, and a tremendous feat of imagination from one of our most revered contemporary writers.]]> 944 Haruki Murakami 0307593312 Jason 5 3.94 2009 1Q84 (1Q84, #1-3)
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Jason
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2022/06/15
date added: 2022/06/15
shelves:
review:
A fantastic book. Loved it. So imaginative. Pure enjoyment.
]]> <![CDATA[The City of Mist: Stories (The Cemetery of Forgotten)]]> 57644063 Return to the mythical Barcelona library known as the Cemetery of Forgotten Books in this posthumous collection of stories from the New York Times bestselling author of The Shadow of the Wind and The Labyrinth of the Spirits.

Bestselling author Carlos Ruiz ZafĂłn conceived of this collection of stories as an appreciation to the countless readers who joined him on the extraordinary journey that began with The Shadow of the Wind. Comprising eleven stories, most of them never before published in English, The City of Mist offers the reader compelling characters, unique situations, and a gothic atmosphere reminiscent of his beloved Cemetery of Forgotten Books quartet.

The stories are mysterious, imbued with a sense of menace, and told with the warmth, wit, and humor of ZafĂłn's inimitable voice. A boy decides to become a writer when he discovers that his creative gifts capture the attentions of an aloof young beauty who has stolen his heart. A labyrinth maker flees Constantinople to a plague-ridden Barcelona, with plans for building a library impervious to the destruction of time. A strange gentleman tempts Cervantes to write a book like no other, each page of which could prolong the life of the woman he loves. And a brilliant Catalan architect named Antoni GaudĂ­ reluctantly agrees to cross the ocean to New York, a voyage that will determine the fate of an unfinished masterpiece.

Imaginative and beguiling, these and other stories in The City of Mist summon up the mesmerizing magic of their brilliant creator and invite us to come dream along with him.]]> 160 Carlos Ruiz ZafĂłn 0063118106 Jason 4 4.11 2020 The City of Mist: Stories (The Cemetery of Forgotten)
author: Carlos Ruiz ZafĂłn
name: Jason
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2022/05/14
date added: 2022/05/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time #1)]]> 59695557
Moiraine Damodred arrives in Emond’s Field on a quest to find the one prophesized to stand against The Dark One, a malicious entity sowing the seeds of chaos and destruction. When a vicious band of half-men, half beasts invade the village seeking their master’s enemy, Moiraine persuades Rand al’Thor and his friends to leave their home and enter a larger unimaginable world filled with dangers waiting in the shadows and in the light.]]> 753 Robert Jordan Jason 2 unfinished-limbo Sorry to the people who love this. But I’m more inclined to read N. K. Jemesin or Stephen Erickson. Writers who have a unique voice. ]]> 4.49 1990 The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time #1)
author: Robert Jordan
name: Jason
average rating: 4.49
book published: 1990
rating: 2
read at: 2021/12/16
date added: 2022/02/10
shelves: unfinished-limbo
review:
Terrible. Hated it. I’m sure I would have liked it just fine 40 years ago when I hadn’t read 100 other stories just like it, but better.
Sorry to the people who love this. But I’m more inclined to read N. K. Jemesin or Stephen Erickson. Writers who have a unique voice.
]]> <![CDATA[The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark]]> 17349
Casting a wide net through history and culture, Sagan examines and authoritatively debunks such celebrated fallacies of the past as witchcraft, faith healing, demons, and UFOs. And yet, disturbingly, in today's so-called information age, pseudoscience is burgeoning with stories of alien abduction, channeling past lives, and communal hallucinations commanding growing attention and respect. As Sagan demonstrates with lucid eloquence, the siren song of unreason is not just a cultural wrong turn but a dangerous plunge into darkness that threatens our most basic freedoms.]]> 459 Carl Sagan 0345409469 Jason 0 to-read 4.28 1995 The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
author: Carl Sagan
name: Jason
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Crossings 56268818 A sparkling debut. Landragin's seductive literary romp shines as a celebration of the act of storytelling. --Publishers Weekly

Romance, mystery, history, and magical invention dance across centuries in an impressive debut novel. --Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

Deft writing seduces the reader in a complex tale of pursuit, denial, and retribution moving from past to future. Highly recommended. --Library Journal (Starred Review)

Alex Landragin's Crossings is an unforgettable and explosive genre-bending debut--a novel in three parts, designed to be read in two different directions, spanning a hundred and fifty years and seven lifetimes.

On the brink of the Nazi occupation of Paris, a German-Jewish bookbinder stumbles across a manuscript called Crossings. It has three narratives, each as unlikely as the next. And the narratives can be read one of two ways: either straight through or according to an alternate chapter sequence.

The first story in Crossings is a never-before-seen ghost story by the poet Charles Baudelaire, penned for an illiterate girl. Next is a noir romance about an exiled man, modeled on Walter Benjamin, whose recurring nightmares are cured when he falls in love with a storyteller who draws him into a dangerous intrigue of rare manuscripts, police corruption, and literary societies. Finally, there are the fantastical memoirs of a woman-turned-monarch whose singular life has spanned seven generations.

With each new chapter, the stunning connections between these seemingly disparate people grow clearer and more extraordinary. Crossings is an unforgettable adventure full of love, longing and empathy.]]> 384 Alex Landragin 1250796725 Jason 3 As an idea I think it’s interesting: That you can read a book in an alternate pagination and get a different story. But that really didn’t happen here. All Landragin did was alternate between chapters in the three sections. If that’s the order you want the story told in, then tell it that way. The only reason an author would want to pull a stunt like this is if there is genuine reward to the reader for reading the text both ways. There is not.
So respect given for the idea, derision heaped for blowing the execution.
The story itself is good-ish. I thought it was very disjointed and more difficult to follow than necessary at times, but that could be laid at my feet as a reader.
At the end, I did feel a few dangling plot elements pretty keenly. Who was the Baroness? Who killed her? (I mean, we know it was Joubert, but what were the circumstances, who is Joubert now, and where is Madeleine? Why hasn’t she been able to stop Joubert?) Why was the Baroness having the manuscript rebound? Where did she get it? All the elements of the present that were only hinted at in the preface really should have been explored. Maybe these questions were addressed at some point and I failed to catch them, but I would have liked to see this book greatly expanded, where the manuscript plot represents the first part, and the circumstances of the present are dealt with in the second.
This could have been a sincerely compelling history/world/culture encompassing epic story. But we get this tiny piece of it in a gimmicky structure that brings nothing of interest to the table.
This is a swing and a miss for me. Too bad.]]> 3.88 2020 Crossings
author: Alex Landragin
name: Jason
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2021/11/26
date added: 2021/11/26
shelves:
review:
This is not a bad story at all. For the most part, I rather liked it. I’m forced to downgrade the rating from 4 to 3 because I DID NOT like the gimmick reading order.
As an idea I think it’s interesting: That you can read a book in an alternate pagination and get a different story. But that really didn’t happen here. All Landragin did was alternate between chapters in the three sections. If that’s the order you want the story told in, then tell it that way. The only reason an author would want to pull a stunt like this is if there is genuine reward to the reader for reading the text both ways. There is not.
So respect given for the idea, derision heaped for blowing the execution.
The story itself is good-ish. I thought it was very disjointed and more difficult to follow than necessary at times, but that could be laid at my feet as a reader.
At the end, I did feel a few dangling plot elements pretty keenly. Who was the Baroness? Who killed her? (I mean, we know it was Joubert, but what were the circumstances, who is Joubert now, and where is Madeleine? Why hasn’t she been able to stop Joubert?) Why was the Baroness having the manuscript rebound? Where did she get it? All the elements of the present that were only hinted at in the preface really should have been explored. Maybe these questions were addressed at some point and I failed to catch them, but I would have liked to see this book greatly expanded, where the manuscript plot represents the first part, and the circumstances of the present are dealt with in the second.
This could have been a sincerely compelling history/world/culture encompassing epic story. But we get this tiny piece of it in a gimmicky structure that brings nothing of interest to the table.
This is a swing and a miss for me. Too bad.
]]> <![CDATA[House of Chains (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #4)]]> 55398 An alternate cover edition can be found here.

In Northern Genabackis, a raiding party of savage tribal warriors descends from the mountains into the southern flatlands. Their intention is to wreak havoc amongst the despised lowlanders, but for the one named Karsa Orlong it marks the beginning of what will prove to be an extraordinary destiny.
Some years later, it is the aftermath of the Chain of Dogs. Tavore, the Adjunct to the Empress, has arrived in the last remaining Malazan stronghold of Seven Cities. New to command, she must hone twelve thousand soldiers, mostly raw recruits but for a handful of veterans of Coltaine's legendary march, into a force capable of challenging the massed hordes of Sha'ik's Whirlwind who lie in wait in the heart of the Holy Desert.
But waiting is never easy. The seer's warlords are locked into a power struggle that threatens the very soul of the rebellion, while Sha'ik herself suffers, haunted by the knowledge of her nemesis: her own sister, Tavore.
And so begins this awesome new chapter in Steven Erikson's acclaimed Malazan Book of the Fallen.]]> 1015 Steven Erikson 0765348810 Jason 0 to-read 4.33 2002 House of Chains (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #4)
author: Steven Erikson
name: Jason
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at: 2020/03/29
date added: 2021/11/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Man of Means 18687138 224 P.G. Wodehouse Jason 0 to-read 4.12 1914 A Man of Means
author: P.G. Wodehouse
name: Jason
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1914
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Lost Estate 983730 The Lost Estate is Robin Buss's translation of Henri Alain-Fournier's poignant study of lost love, Le Grand Meaulnes. This Penguin Classics edition also contains an introduction by Adam Gopnik.

When Meaulnes first arrives at the local school in Sologne, everyone is captivated by his good looks, daring and charisma. But when Meaulnes disappears for several days, and returns with tales of a strange party at a mysterious house - and his love for the beautiful girl hidden within it, Yvonne de Galais - his life has been changed forever. In his restless search for his Lost Estate and the happiness he found there, Meaulnes, observed by his loyal friend Francois, may risk losing everything he ever had. Poised between youthful admiration and adult resignation, Alain-Fournier's compelling narrator carries the reader through this evocative and unbearably poignant portrayal of desperate friendship and vanished adolescence.

Robin Buss's translation of Le Grand Meaulnes sensitively and accurately renders Alain-Fournier's poetically charged, expressive and deceptively simple style. In his introduction, New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik discusses the life of Alain-Fournier, who was killed in the First World War after writing this, his only novel.

I read it for the first time when I was seventeen and loved every page. I find its depiction of a golden time and place just as poignant now as I did then
Nick Hornby]]> 227 Henri Alain-Fournier 0141441895 Jason 0 to-read 3.72 1913 The Lost Estate
author: Henri Alain-Fournier
name: Jason
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1913
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower, #3)]]> 28335914 (School Library Journal).

Several months have passed since The Drawing of the Three, and in The Waste Lands, Roland’s two new tet-mates have become trained gunslingers. Eddie Dean has given up heroin, and Odetta’s two selves have joined, becoming the stronger and more balanced personality of Susannah Dean. But Roland altered ka by saving the life of Jake Chambers, a boy who—in Roland’s world—has already died. Now Roland and Jake exist in different worlds, but they are joined by the same madness: the paradox of double memories. Roland, Susannah, and Eddie must draw Jake into Mid-World and then follow the Path of the Beam all the way to the Dark Tower. There are new evils…new dangers to threaten Roland’s little band in the devastated city of Lud and the surrounding wastelands, as well as horrific confrontations with Blaine the Mono, the piratical Gasher, and the frightening Tick-Tock Man.

The Dark Tower Series continues to show Stephen King as a master of his craft. What lands, what peoples has he visited that are so unreachable to us except in the pages of his incredible books? Now Roland’s strange odyssey continues. The Waste Lands follows The Gunslinger and The Drawing of the Three as the third volume in what may be the most extraordinary and imaginative cycle of tales in the English language.]]> 721 Stephen King Jason 5 4.43 1991 The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower, #3)
author: Stephen King
name: Jason
average rating: 4.43
book published: 1991
rating: 5
read at: 2021/03/14
date added: 2021/03/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, #2)]]> 5094
Here he links forces with the defiant young Eddie Dean and the beautiful, brilliant, and brave Odetta Holmes, in a savage struggle against underworld evil and otherworldly enemies.

Once again, Stephen King has masterfully interwoven dark, evocative fantasy and icy realism.]]> 463 Stephen King 0451210859 Jason 4 4.23 1987 The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, #2)
author: Stephen King
name: Jason
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1987
rating: 4
read at: 2015/02/12
date added: 2021/03/11
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, #1)]]> 43615
He is a haunting figure, a loner on a spellbinding journey into good and evil. In his desolate world, which frighteningly mirrors our own, Roland pursues The Man in Black, encounters an alluring woman named Alice, and begins a friendship with the Kid from Earth called Jake. Both grippingly realistic and eerily dreamlike, The Gunslinger leaves readers eagerly awaiting the next chapter.]]> 231 Stephen King 1501143514 Jason 5 3.95 1982 The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, #1)
author: Stephen King
name: Jason
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1982
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/03/08
shelves:
review:

]]> The Liar 791000
"The spirits of Oscar Wilde and Evelyn Waugh glower benignly over this very funny first novel . . . An ingenious plot filled with surprises and glittering with hilarious, often indecent inventions."�The New York Times Book Review

"Transforms the sophomoric into the sophisticated."�Los Angeles Times ]]> 280 Stephen Fry 156947012X Jason 0 to-read 3.56 1991 The Liar
author: Stephen Fry
name: Jason
average rating: 3.56
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/02/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Moon and Sixpence 18921595 184 W. Somerset Maugham Jason 0 4.31 1919 Moon and Sixpence
author: W. Somerset Maugham
name: Jason
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1919
rating: 0
read at: 2021/02/14
date added: 2021/02/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bauchelain and Korbal Broach (The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, #1-3)]]> 6616579
Contents:
Blood Follows (2002)
The Healthy Dead (2004)
The Lees of Laughter's End (2007)]]> 316 Steven Erikson 0765324229 Jason 5 3.99 2009 Bauchelain and Korbal Broach (The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, #1-3)
author: Steven Erikson
name: Jason
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/04/03
shelves:
review:

]]> Jetlag: Five Graphic Novellas 60430 90 Batia Kolton 1592641555 Jason 0 to-read 3.63 1998 Jetlag: Five Graphic Novellas
author: Batia Kolton
name: Jason
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/02/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth, #3)]]> 31817749
The Moon will soon return. Whether this heralds the destruction of humankind or something worse will depend on two women.

Essun has inherited the power of Alabaster Tenring. With it, she hopes to find her daughter Nassun and forge a world in which every orogene child can grow up safe.

For Nassun, her mother's mastery of the Obelisk Gate comes too late. She has seen the evil of the world, and accepted what her mother will not admit: that sometimes what is corrupt cannot be cleansed, only destroyed.

The remarkable conclusion to the post-apocalyptic and highly acclaimed trilogy that began with the multi-award-nominated The Fifth Season.]]> 416 N.K. Jemisin Jason 5 4.32 2017 The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth, #3)
author: N.K. Jemisin
name: Jason
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/01/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Memories of Ice (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #3)]]> 175983 925 Steven Erikson 0765348802 Jason 5 4.46 2001 Memories of Ice (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #3)
author: Steven Erikson
name: Jason
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/01/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Senlin Ascends (The Books of Babel, #1)]]> 35271523
Soon after arriving for his honeymoon at the Tower, the mild-mannered headmaster of a small village school, Thomas Senlin, gets separated from his wife, Marya, in the overwhelming swarm of tourists, residents, and miscreants.

Senlin is determined to find Marya, but to do so he'll have to navigate madhouses, ballrooms, and burlesque theaters. He must survive betrayal, assassins, and the long guns of a flying fortress. But if he hopes to find his wife, he will have to do more than just endure.

This quiet man of letters must become a man of action.

The first book in the stunning and strange debut fantasy series that's receiving major praise from some of fantasy's biggest authors such as Mark Lawrence and Django Wexler.]]> 448 Josiah Bancroft 0316517917 Jason 3 4.08 2013 Senlin Ascends (The Books of Babel, #1)
author: Josiah Bancroft
name: Jason
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2020/01/26
date added: 2020/01/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Executed (Extracted Trilogy, #2)]]> 34037955 The team of heroes extracted from their timelines to stop the impending apocalypse didn’t think they needed a leader.

But they’ve got one anyway.

With their mission in tatters, Miri has been called in to steady the ship. And to focus them on their assignment: preventing the end of the world.

The problem is, the world doesn’t know it’s in danger. With governments pursuing them relentlessly, attempting to steal the time-travel device to use for their own ends, the heroes are on the run—fighting for survival in a world they’re supposed to save.

Meanwhile, Miri has motives of her own. And when the existence of a second device is discovered, the team’s mission and their lives are in mortal danger�

]]> 398 R.R. Haywood 1477828818 Jason 5 Even better than the first book

I'm still sick. These books are good medicine. I enjoyed the hell out of this story. I especially like the Doctor. I imagine him being played by the guy who played the doctor in Fringe. Haywood is a fine writer. I will certainly finish this series and will read more of his work. ]]> 4.37 2017 Executed (Extracted Trilogy, #2)
author: R.R. Haywood
name: Jason
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2019/10/14
date added: 2019/10/14
shelves:
review:
Even better than the first book

I'm still sick. These books are good medicine. I enjoyed the hell out of this story. I especially like the Doctor. I imagine him being played by the guy who played the doctor in Fringe. Haywood is a fine writer. I will certainly finish this series and will read more of his work.
]]> <![CDATA[Extracted (Extracted Trilogy, #1)]]> 31578285
A desperate plan is formed. Recruit three heroes, ordinary humans capable of extraordinary things, and change the future.

Safa Patel is an elite police officer, on duty when Downing Street comes under terrorist attack. As armed men storm through the breach, she dispatches them all.

'Mad' Harry Madden is a legend of the Second World War. Not only did he complete an impossible mission—to plant charges on a heavily defended submarine base—but he also escaped with his life.

Ben Ryder is just an insurance investigator. But as a young man he witnessed a gang assaulting a woman and her child. He went to their rescue, and killed all five.

Can these three heroes, extracted from their timelines at the point of death, save the world?]]> 400 R.R. Haywood 1503996867 Jason 5 Loved it

Great story. I've been sick for a long time. Stories like this are perfect for escaping from reality. Great character development, good attention to detail, lots of plausible action. I particularly liked the extraction of Dr. Watson. Really well done. ]]> 3.96 2017 Extracted (Extracted Trilogy, #1)
author: R.R. Haywood
name: Jason
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2019/10/13
date added: 2019/10/13
shelves:
review:
Loved it

Great story. I've been sick for a long time. Stories like this are perfect for escaping from reality. Great character development, good attention to detail, lots of plausible action. I particularly liked the extraction of Dr. Watson. Really well done.
]]> Under the Dome 6320534
When food, electricity and water run short, the normal rules of society are changed. A new and more sinister social order develops, Dale Barbara, a young Iraq veteran, teams up with a handful of intrepid citizens to fight against the corruption that is sweeping through the town and to try to discover the source of the Dome before it is too late...]]> 1074 Stephen King 1439148503 Jason 2 And even though this story mirrors the comic series 'Girls' by the Luna brothers to a very high degree, I though I'd give it a go.
King's longer books have always seemed more successful to me. 'Insomnia', 'The Tommyknockers', 'It' (except the end), and 'The Stand' were quite good books.

Well, my long held instincts were solid.
It's not boring or anything, and it isn't bad, unless you don't dig the violence thing, but it's a Stephen King book to the core.
His books just aren't for me anymore. ]]> 3.92 2009 Under the Dome
author: Stephen King
name: Jason
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2009
rating: 2
read at: 2009/11/17
date added: 2019/07/28
shelves:
review:
I haven't read a Stephen King book in many years.
And even though this story mirrors the comic series 'Girls' by the Luna brothers to a very high degree, I though I'd give it a go.
King's longer books have always seemed more successful to me. 'Insomnia', 'The Tommyknockers', 'It' (except the end), and 'The Stand' were quite good books.

Well, my long held instincts were solid.
It's not boring or anything, and it isn't bad, unless you don't dig the violence thing, but it's a Stephen King book to the core.
His books just aren't for me anymore.
]]> Dust (Silo, #3) 17855756 In a time when secrets and lies were the foundations of life, someone has discovered the truth. And they are going to tell.

Jules knows what her predecessors created. She knows they are the reason life has to be lived in this way.

And she won't stand for it.

But Jules no longer has supporters. And there is far more to fear than the toxic world beyond her walls.

A poison is growing from within Silo 18.

One that cannot be stopped.

Unless Silo 1 step in.]]> 458 Hugh Howey 1490904387 Jason 5 4.19 2013 Dust (Silo, #3)
author: Hugh Howey
name: Jason
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/07/21
shelves:
review:

]]> Shift (Silo, #2) 17306293 579 Hugh Howey Jason 5 4.12 2013 Shift (Silo, #2)
author: Hugh Howey
name: Jason
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/07/17
shelves:
review:

]]> Wool Omnibus (Silo, #1) 13453029
The first Wool story was released as a standalone short in July of 2011. Due to reviewer demand, the rest of the story was released over the next six months.

This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.

Alternate cover for B0071XO8RA]]> 509 Hugh Howey Jason 0 4.22 2012 Wool Omnibus (Silo, #1)
author: Hugh Howey
name: Jason
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/07/12
shelves:
review:

]]> Dune (Dune, #1) 39776179
Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of Paul Atreides—who would become known as Muad’Dib—and of a great family’s ambition to bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.

A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.]]> 704 Frank Herbert 0441013597 Jason 0 4.23 1965 Dune (Dune, #1)
author: Frank Herbert
name: Jason
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1965
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/07/12
shelves:
review:

]]>