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Another favorite for 2008

I've got to admit that since I've joined Library Thing, I've bought several books I would not have considered buying before if I'd simply stumbled upon them in a bookshop, and I've bought books I'd never heard of because I live in the back hole of civilization.

Because of Library Thing, I bought The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. It is a wonderful book about a 12 year old boy coming to grips with the death of his mother and the inclusion of a stepmother and half brother into his family by withdrawing into a fantastical world. The blurb on the back of the book says it all:

High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness. Angry and alone, he takes refuge in his imagination and soon finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld. While he family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled into a world that is a strange reflection of his won -- populated by heroes and monsters and ruled by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book, The Book of Lost Things.

The two best books I've read so far this year

Things have been boring

Nothing much is going on. I've managed to make a nice dent in my TBR pile. Unfortunately, as soon as I finish a book I seem to replace it with at least two more.

I'm currently reading a book called "Too Big To Miss" by Sue Ann Jaffarian about a large sized woman sleuth who looks into the apparent suicide of a friend. I've only read the first three chapters but I suspect I will buy the rest of the books about Odelia Grey. I have so completely identified with the character it's truly frightening. Not only do we share a love of cheesecake and Thin Mints (or whatever those Girl Scout cookies are called), but we also have cats (one in her case, several in mine) who've moved in with us because they wanted to. And there's the sense of humor and the way of looking at the world.

Or maybe it's just finally there's a character I can actually relate to.




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Now playing: Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
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My TBR pile

Just felt like sharing . . .



This is the portion of my to be read pile on my desk where I can keep an eye on it.



And this is the portion of my pile stacked next to my desk where I can trip over it in the dark when I make my way to the bathroom in the middle of the night.


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Now playing: Three Dog Night - One
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BBC News | Entertainment | Author Lessing wins Nobel honour

Windows Vista Plain and Simple

by Jerry Joyce and Marianne Moon.

This book is not for Dummies or for Idiots. This book is for people who've never seen a computer and are probably hard pressed to even spell the word. If this book were any plainer and simpler, it would be in baby-speak. For an absolute newbie to the Windows environment, this book would probably be heaven sent. For those of us who've been using Windows since the Devil was in diapers, this is baby-speak.

The Most Significant SF & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years, 1953-2002

I stumbled across this list here. Like the poster of that article, I had to see how many of them I had read. I'm also not sure what qualifies these books - especially a couple of them - as 'significant'.

I've bolded the ones I've read and added comments where I felt the need.

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien (I can see why this one would be 'significant' by just about any definition, but, honestly, the book bored me silly. It's been nearly 30 years since I read it and I just can't bring myself to pick it up again.)

2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov (Asimov is one of my favorite authors and is one of the first SF authors I read when I finally got into SF over 30 years ago. I remember nothing about these books except that I liked them when I read them.)

3. Dune, Frank Herbert

4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein (This is one of those books that everyone bows to as the greatest thing ever written. I thought it was crap when I read it 20 odd years ago.)

5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin

6. Neuromancer, William Gibson

7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke

8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick

9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley

10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (This is my favorite Bradbury. As a biblioholic, a time without books just terrifies me. I've read this one several times.)

11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe (I loved these books when I read them. I only know of one other friend who has read them and enjoyed these books as much as I did. Both of us are female. All of the males I know who have tried to read these books have not liked them.)

12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.

13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov

14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras

15. Cities in Flight, James Blish

16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett

17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison

18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison

19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester

20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany

21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey

22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card

23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson (I tried to read these books. I managed to finish the first one but couldn't bear the second. I don't have a high tolerance for whining self-obsession and that's all Covenant seemed to do.)

24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman

25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl

26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling

27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson

29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice

30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin (I have this book but I haven't read it yet.)

31. Little, Big, John Crowley (I also have this book in my TBR pile waiting to be read.)

32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny

33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick

34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement

35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon

36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith

37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute

38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke

39. Ringworld, Larry Niven

40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys

41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien

42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut

43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson

44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner

45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester

46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein

47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock

48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks (I'm not sure how or why this one could ever be considered 'significant'. I suppose it could qualify as best marketed derivative drivel of a classic.)

49. Timescape, Gregory Benford

50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

50.33% of the books read - .33% for the first of the Covenant books since I didn't actually finish the series - and two more of the books in my TBR pile. Not bad.

The Book of Atrix Wolfe

by Patricia A. McKillip

Another wonderful book by Patricia A. McKillip. This one is a wonder of language, the way she puts words together to form sentences to make thoughts to tell the story. She paints pictures without rambling on incessantly. In my opinion, Ms. McKillip is probably one of the best fantasy authors writing today. There is nothing typical about her stories and they are not derivative of those fantasy authors who spawned the lot of fantasy we get all to often these days.

This book is the story of a mage who, in pain and horror, creates a horror to stave off an even worse one.

The Wilding

by C. S. Friedman

I finished this book back on the 9th. The story takes place in the same 'universe' as Ms. Friedman's first book, In Conquest Born, although several generations later. I wish I could unreservedly recommend the book, but I read it while I was suffering from reader's block so my opinion is tinged with quite a bit of indifference. When I started it, I was very much looking forward to reading it but that malaise I call reader's block settled on me just a few chapters in. I should have put the book down and done something other than read, but I kept plugging away at it. I'm fairly certain it's not a bad book because I actually did finish it. It also had fewer proofing errors than the last few DAW books I've read.

Ombria in Shadow

by Patricia A. McKillip

This is the second book I finished while my personal Blogger fiasco was going on. Anyone who reads Ms. McKillip knows the kind of fantasy she writes. Her stories always seem very dark though they ofter have bright(ish) endings. This one is about what happens when light and shadow overlap. This is only the third McKillip book I've read, but I have become a huge fan. I enjoy her non-traditional style of fantasy with its darker tone.

A Trust Betrayed

by Candace Robb

I finished the book during the time I was having Blogger problems. This book starts a new series for Ms. Robb based on the character of Margaret of Perth set in 13th century Scotland. The book is classified as a mystery, but I really didn't find it to be much of one. I thought it more a political and historical set up for this new series. Nonetheless, I thought it was a quick, light, entertaining read espcially if you are a history buff. In an afterward, Ms. Robb includes some information I found interesting - William Wallace did not support Robert Bruce but the reigning King of Scotland, John Balliol.

Saturday with the best friend

My best friend came up for the weekend. Friday we had dinner at my favorite local steakhouse, did laundry, and watched the Star Gate: SG1 season premier. I hadn't a clue what was going on since I hadn't watched any of the last season and I'm not really an SG1 watcher in general.

Saturday we had breakfast at my favorite local restaurant to have breakfast at and then we drove to that Barnes & Noble I always go to to have a cuppa at Starbuck's and shop for books. I can never go into a B & N without buying books. Sometimes I do more damage to my finances than others. Yesterday I lucked out - five hardback books for $45. I bought -

King Arthur and the Grail Quest, by John Matthews
Monday Mourning, by Kathy Reichs
Put a Lid on It , by Donald E. Westlake
A Spy for the redeemer, by Candace Robb, and last but not least,
Dungeon, Fire, & Sword: The Knights Templar in the Crusades, by John J. Robinson.

I talked my best friend into buying The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and she bought one of *those* books she always buys for herself. I don't even know what the title is or what it's about.

After B & N, we drove over the overpass to the mall and walked around till we were ready to drop. Mostly we looked at purses even though neither of us was in need of a new one. They've redone the food court at the mall. It's no longer as large or full of diverse selections as it was. After walking ourselves silly, we really wanted a drink and a pretzel but there were no pretzels to be had. So we went driving in search of someplace we could get something to snack on that didn't involve sweets. Wound up exploring a bit of the area and settled on going to the Cracker Barrel for Stewart's root beer and onion rings. My best friend bought a very pretty multi-blue quilted bag she found there.

Refreshed, we drove down to the outlet mall and wandered through the little remainder bookshop they have there. The only thing I picked up there was a $5 copy of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. After digging around that shop, we went on the great bathroom scavenger hunt. None of the stores in the outlet mall have public restrooms and the public restrooms at the mall were taped off with yellow tape and traffic cones. We wound up at a Whataburger where we also bought drinks to refresh us on the drive home.

And then we drove home but we didn't actually go home. We went to the movies. Saw The Terminal because it was one we could still get into without missing anything, especially the previews. A movie just isn't a movie if you miss the previews. After a day of shopping, The Terminal was the perfect movie to watch - light-hearted and pointless and mindless and feel-good. We enjoyed it very muchly.

Finally, there was home to wrestle with the kittens and wind down before bed.

Little Bitty Lies

by Mary Kay Andrews

It was a light, frothy read about the trouble you can get into when a shallow man leaves a deep woman in the lurch.

The House of Seven Mabels

by Jill Churchill

This is a Jane Jeffry mystery. It was a very quick, light, fun read. I actually figured out who did it and why before the what even happened, and I can honestly say it wasn't the butler.

The Lovely Bones

by Alice Sebold

I enjoyed the book tremendously. I found the point of view refreshing. It was a story of longing and loss and love and forgiveness and change.

DAW 30th Anniversary Anthologies

I've finished both the Science Fiction and Fantasy anthologies. Both were a mixed bag regarding the quality of the stories. Both, unfortunately, were, if not quite rife, certainly overburdened with proofreading / editing errors. The last several DAW books I've read seemed to suffer that problem.

In the Fantasy Anthology, there were three stories I particularly liked for no better reason than they suited the mood I was in when I was reading them. They are by no means the only good ones in the book, but they were the ones I felt a resonance with. Ending and Beginning, by Jennifer Roberson, is set in her new world about which she is currently penning her first novel. I also enjoyed A Perfect Day in Valdemar by Larry Dixon. In and of itself the story was excellent, but even if it hadn't been, this is one of those stories where the end would justify the means. And lastly, I enjoyed Lynn Abbey's It's About Squirrels . . .. It's an urban fantasy involving Florida, pallbearer squirrels, and a crashed hard drive. What more could you want in a story?

The Science Fiction Anthology had four stories I liked for the same reasons as I liked the fantasy stories. It almost goes without saying that I liked C. J. Cherryh's The Sandman, the Tinman, and the BettyB. I don't think I've ever read anything by Ms. Cherryh that I didn't like. I was very pleasantly surprised by Timothy Zahn's The Big Picture. Unfortunately, I associated Timothy Zahn with writing professional Star Wars fan fiction (none of which I have ever read) so I was expecting something . . . well . . . bad. I am very happy to realize Mr. Zahn is really a very good writer. Like the Valdemar story in the Fantasy Anthology, Tad Williams' Not With a Whimper, Either is an excellent story (my favorite in the book, in fact), but the end truly does justify the means. And lastly, but not leastly, I liked Downtime by C. S. Friedman. That story adds new dimension to the alienation of parents and children. It was very creepy.

The Dream of Scipio

. . . by Iain Pears.

I finally finished reading the book. Is it good? That's a hard question to answer. I finished it. Is it bad? That's easier to answer. No, it isn't. It required more thought than I wanted to invest when I started it but I'm glad I finished it. The book produced a quote that I now use in my signature at Shadowmarch:

"The evil done by men of goodwill is the worst of all."