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2014 Books Read For Forum Members

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  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    16) The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder by Charles Greaber - Done

    It's hard to decide which is scarier:
     - the ease at which Charles Cullen - "The Angel of Death" - committed his crimes,
    - the ease at which he slipped through the health care systems cracks to carry his deeds out at so many different hospitals
    - his continuing hiring at said locations despite a known history of suicidal mental and emotional illnesses
    - the bureaucracy that did more to protect it's own interests and by extension - Cullen  rather than identify him as a health hazard and prevent him from killing others
    - the stumbling investigation into Cullen's history thoroughly handcuffed by said bureaucracy
    - or the total tally of Cullen's victims will never be known - could be anywhere from 40 to 400.

    Fact is truly stranger than fiction.

    17) The GoldFinch by Donna Tartt - now reading
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    edited July 2014
    18) Skin Game: Book 15 of The Dresden Series by Jim Butcher - done

    Amazing how this series, fifteen books in now, shows no signs of flagging. I loved this latest instalment and devoured it in two days.

    So many great characters!

    Butters!!!!!!

    Back to reading The GoldFinch until I pick up River of Souls by Robert McCammon from the library tonight.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    19) River of Souls by Robert McCammon - reading (boy what a slim volume!)
  • BevVincentBevVincent
    Yes, quite short by comparison with the others.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    19) River of Souls by Robert McCammon - done

    This book truly represents the midway point of McCammon's planned 10 book series.  It's the tipping point or fulcrum in the series coming in at a relatively slim 257 pages when compared to the rest of the books in the series.

    Loved the story concept and I can forgive the somewhat clunky concluding chapters because it leaves Matthew Corbett in such a precarious position.  Hope new character Magnus Muldoon continues to a major player in the upcoming books and dear, oh dear how will his friends - especially Berry - react to the news of Corbett's supposed demise?

    It is going to be a killer wait for book 6.

    McCammon is one of my favorite writers and along with Stephen King and Jim Butcher this has been a helluva of a great summer for reading! 

    Back to reading The Goldfinch.
  • BevVincentBevVincent
    I wasn't fond of Matthew's "solution" to the duel to the death. It seemed ludicrous to me.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    edited July 2014
    Agreed.  Book had clunky opening and closing chapters but I love where it left Matthew.  Big expectations for book 6.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    edited August 2014
    20) The Hunter From The Woods by Robert McCammon - done

    Arrrrgghhhh!

    This is the second book in a row now that I have read from McCammon that ends on a cliffhanger. No fault of McCammon's as the last Matthew Corbett book - River of Souls & this one were written years apart.

    So much fun hanging with lycnathrope Michael Gallatin again in The Hunter From The Woods again. Gallatin represents McCammon at his WWII pulpy best! This book is a string of short stories and novellas that map out Gallatin's life after the event's of 1989's - The Wolf's Hour. Filled with the cost of the harsh life of possessing a unique talent at a terrible time in history, Gallatin pays the price over the course of his life emotionally and physically.

    McCammon's long term love may be currently reserved for Matthew Corbett but I hope he can make room for Gallatin from time to time like he did with this collection of stories.  It's too great a concept to not explore further.

  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    edited September 2014
    2014 Hugo Winners Reads

    Short Story

    21) The Water That Falls On You From Nowhere by John Chu 

    A unique coming out story using the metaphor of the bigger the lie you tell, the wetter you will become.  A soft SF story about a hard decision.  Liked this one a lot.

    Novelette

    22) The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal

    Based on the Rip Off anthology where the writer had to start their story with the first line of a famous novel. Mary chose the Wizard Of Oz and it is a lovely story about an aged couple, one an astronaut and the other the physicist. The astronaut, who spearheaded the first Mars Landing, is given an opportunity to go back into space.  Something she wants to do desperately.  The catch is she will never see her husband again.  This is a gentle and moving tale.  The Dorothy element detracts from the story for me but the power of the writing about the couple's relationship wins out big time.

    Novella

    23) Equoid by Charles Stross

    Is a new story in an ongoing series of Laundry stories about a London based Lovecraftian secret agent bureaucratic dark comedy that deals with unicorns.  But these unicorns are deadly different than the My Pony type that most think about.

    This one is laced with horrific bits laced with black humour.  A mix that rarely works for me as the humour often fails to compensate for the undermining of the tension. Equoid's forward momentum is constantly broken up by government missives and very well written Lovecraftian letters.

    Not my cup of tea.

    Novel

    24) Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie

    The first in a trilogy this story is set in the far future where a leader has made many copies of themselves and somewhere down the line an ideological split has occurred between them.  This threatens to spill out and plunge the known universe into chaos.

    The protagonist of the book is the only remaining component of a destroyed ship's AI known as Ancillary Esk One. At one time part of a larger consciousness, her mission now is to hunt down and kill all the copies of the leader.  Hobbled by being a single individual and manipulated by the leader this is no easy task.

    The big wrinkle with this book is that actions are gender based which makes determining the true gender of characters difficult.  After a while you give up as you come to the realization that is of no import.  Which may be the author's intent.  An ambitious and risky venture because it distances the reader from the characters for a large portion of the book until that discovery is made.

    I enjoyed it and look forward to reading the continuing story of Breq Mianaai.

    NB - except for the novel, all pieces of fiction can be found on the Tor website to be read.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    25) The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

    A fun, whimsical tale with a dash of horror and non cloying ending. The Ocean At The End Of The Lane is the bar I measure Gaiman books against and this one falls a bit short of it.

    Definitely a worthy read and a splendid time for all that pick it up.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    edited September 2014
    26) American Elsewhere  by Robert Bennet Jackson

    This was an interesting book.  Bennett definitely has writing jobs and the concept of this story is an interesting one.  Enjoyed the scope and reveals of it but felt the pacing of the book was off.  In my opinion the story would have been served if it was 100 pages shorter.  There's a lot of stuff with secondary characters that is not needed as none of it is integral to the main story.

    There was more than enough on display here for me to definitely want to read other works by Bennett - which is the best measure of a book a writer can hope for.

    Back to reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    er that should be writing chops in the second sentence.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    edited October 2014
    27) The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - good, could have great.

    Books with an unreliable narrator often provide the most thought provoking and engrossing experiences for readers. We must sift through the story trying to ascertain how events probably really unfolded.

    The Goldfinch mixes the post-traumatic stress of a horrible event for a young boy and how it affects him through out his entire life. This is married with a painting he carries around with him for life - sometimes physically but always mentally. It is his anchor and without it he probably would have successfully committed suicide. The Goldfinch painting is also a device that allows for dissertations on art, our perception of it, art's ability to endure, and our fleeting participation in it's endurance as we fade away and someone else steps in to take our place.

    These dissertations are the book's greatest strengths and it's biggest weakness. Individually they are engrossing. Collectively they eventually bog the book down to the point where this reader felt like he was wading through the last 100 or so pages knowing what was going to happen and waiting for the writer to catch up.

    The book's other strength is it's characters - especially Hobie and Boris. Setting wise the book is strong too but some trimming here could have been done as well. Especially in the areas of Hobie's furniture restoration processes.

    I'm glad I read the book but this one could have used some serious trimming. Cut it down by 100 pages and it would have been brilliant. Instead, because of it's flabbiness it overstays itself and recedes to become good.

    The one core element that really stood out for me was the cruel maxim that we very often become the very thing we despise. That is not fiction but a sad fact.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    edited October 2014
    28) The Puzzle Box by Edge Publishing

    This is a 4 story anthology built around a McGuffin which happens to a mysterious puzzle box which is a some form of hyper Rubik's Cube:


    Ryan McFadden's story won this years  Canadian Prix Aurora Award for best English short story.

    McFadden's was the darkest of the 4 tales and my favorite. It is impressive the range of stories here from comedy all the way to horror.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    29) Superheroes Anonymous by Lexie Dunne

    Full disclosure - the author and I are virtual acquaintances having done a Fringe podcast together for a couple of years. At the time she was already writing and the first time I read something by her, I knew she was destined to hit the big time. So is this review influenced by all of that?  Hell yeah! But when somebody is this talented it makes it easy to extol the virtues of her work.

    First time author Lexie Dunne comes out of the gate swinging with this genre bending tale of Hostage Girl aka Gail Godwin who is on her way to becoming whom exactly?

    An obvious apostle of the Jim Butcher school of sharing the protagonist's worse day(s) with the readers, Lexi puts her gal Gail through the ringer right up to the final pages of the cliffhanger ending.

    The book starts out as a screwball comedy - echoes of those Tracy/Hepburn movies throughout - with misunderstood relationships and superhero conventions skewerings aplenty. As the story unfolds and Gail finds herself drawn into the world of superheroes; things sneakily ramp up on the serious side of things and end with a big emotional wallop!

    Lexie juggles dialogue, character, themes, and action sequences with equal aplomb. I read it in a day.

    Book lands November 18th with the sequel scheduled for next year.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    30) Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes - bit underwhelmed by this one.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    edited November 2014
    31) These Are The Voyages: TOS Season One by Marc Cushman

    There have been more than a few books written about the production of the original Star Trek - I went through several copies of Stephen E. Whitfield's - The Making Of Star Trek during my youth -  but this beyond a doubt is the most in depth one yet. Using original production memos from the series this is a warts and all chronicle of the first season of the series. The book covers all season one episodes. This is the first book in decades where I learned new things about the series including Roddenberry's infidelities amongst many other things.  The show's episodes were in a constant of rewrite because the writers were often writing blind not having any episodes to work off from and their naivete as to what the show's budget could afford. Production Manager Bob Justman's memos are priceless,

    Highly recommended for Trek fans and/or those interested in how a TV series is made.

    Two more books for the subsequent seasons detail the further trials and tribbulations of the second and third seasons.  

    Both volumes are on my TBR pile.


    32) Bird Box by Josh Malerman

    Strong, tight story.

    Very reminiscent of stories like The Day of The Triffids or The Monsters Are Out On Maple Street.

    Quite enjoyed it.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    edited November 2014
    33) Dark Screams: Volume One - Edited by Brian James Freeman and Richard Chizmar

    Features short stories by Stephen King, Kelley Armstrong, Bill Pronzini, Simon Clark, and Ramsey Campbell.

    Strong start to the series especially King's Weeds and Armstrong's deliciously twist - The Price You Pay
  • BevVincentBevVincent
    This is on my soon-TBR stack.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    edited November 2014
    34) Revival by Stephen King

    Unsettling book.

    Finishes strong. 

    I found the early parts painful to get through. That was due to how close it echoed my early years. Even more it pulled hard at the wounds me and my family endured during my mom's futile and painful two year battle with cancer.


  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    edited December 2014
    35) Replay by Ken Grimwood.

    Intriguing and unique twist on time travel. Inspirational, fun, and poignant without being cloying.

    Worth tracking down.

  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    36) The Trouble With Tribbles - The Making of - David Gerrold

    I read the paperback of this when it first came out and just recently picked up the ebook edition.

    It's still a fascinating read into the original Star Trek's favorite episodes. Always intrigues me to see how a story idea evolves from the first pitch to the final product.

    Gerrold's writing style makes it both a fun and educational read.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    edited December 2014
    Picked up a NanoWriMo Story Humble Bundle and have been working through that. It was an excellent offering of 12 ebooks of varying length.  Most deal with various aspects of writing be it the craft or the business. 

    Here are the ones I have read so far:

    37) Drawing On The Power of Resonance by David Farland
    38) Million Dollar Outlines by David Farland
    39) Million Dollar Productivity by Kevin Anderson
    40) Million Dollar Professionalism by Kevin Anderson and Rebecca Moesta
    41) Killing The Top Sacred Cows Of Publishing by Dean Wesley Smith
    42) The Pursuit of Perfection by Kristine Rusch

    One of the books deals with the evolution of a short story from first draft to final edition. It comes from the Writing Excuses podcast team of Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Brown, and Howard Tayler. The book includes a story from each of them plus some podcast transcripts as they help each other brainstorm their stories.

    43) Shadows Beneath by Brandon Sanderson

    Worth the price of the entire bundle in itself.

    The value of this bundle has been fantastic. Yes there are pieces of advice that have been repeated ad nauseum but there have also been some new things that I have learned.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    Sneaking in one more!

    44) War Cry - A Dresden Files graphic novel
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