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Books read in 2016 - For Board Members

Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
edited January 2016 in Free for all
1) 11/22/63 - Stephen King

- second read in prep for upcoming Hulu miniseries this Feb.  
- even better the second time and one of King's best books in recent years.
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Comments

  • BevVincentBevVincent
    I watched the miniseries last weekend -- it's really good.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    Excellent!
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    edited January 2016
    2)  Cinco de Mayo by 
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    3) The Death House by Sarah Pinborough

    You were definitely right about this book, Bev. Fantastic. Joyous and heart breaking.

    This one stands wonderfully on the shoulders of other works like Lord of the Flies.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    4) Ancillary Sword by Anne Leckie

    Well, well.

    Anne Leckie has continued to take this unique series on an unique path. After the hard military SF edge of the first one this installment is much more a character study and setup piece for bigger things to come.

    It works because Breq is such an unique character with such a distinctive voice and Leckie makes not only Breq but all the other ancillary - Ha! pun intended - characters equally interesting.

    Looking forward to the concluding book - Ancillary Mercy - which I'm reading now.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    5) Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie

    A fine finish to the trilogy done in a most surprising way.  Really liked the character of Breq. The conceit of a society where gender is ignored and everyone is referred to by feminine identifiers really brings about a unique reader point of reference. You have to rely on subtle hints and character interaction to determine who is what sex. And even then you are never totally sure.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    6) Quantum Night by Robert J. Sawyer

    The timeliness of this book is prescient given current world events. Any book that makes you take a long look at yourself is one definitely worth reading. 

    Quantum Night is chock full of ideas about the human psyche and how we perceive ourselves. There are too many ideas for one book to explore them fully. Quantum Night easily has enough material to fill a trilogy if not a series. This overflowing cornucopia is the book's strength and weakness as the characters and narrative strain to support them all.

    If this turns out to be Rob Sawyer's last book - it is a worthy one indeed.


    7) The Best American SF and Fantasy of 2015 - edited by JJ Adams and Joe Hill

    A mixed bag and far more uneven than unexpected for a best of collection.

    The stand out story is by Kelly Link - I Can See Right Through You
  • BevVincentBevVincent
    Kelly Link was just a finalist for a Pulitzer for her collection -- she didn't win, but still a high honor.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    Indeed!  Wonderful for her to so considered.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    8) The City & The City by China Mieville

    Tale of two cities that merge intermittently via thinnie type rips. To interact with the other city is to commit Breach - the most severest of crimes.

    It's a murder mystery wrapped in SF trappings. An idea story more than a character one that comes off feeling dry.  Well written and if you are into social/political allegories this one will be right up your alley.  Or is it their alley?

  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    edited May 2016
    9) All Things Cease to Appear  by 

    Helluva of a book. Grim with a blinding sliver of optimism at the end. Written in a distinct interleaving non-linear style without dialogue attribution, will probably be offputting to some but damn this is a rare book where your heart goes out to so many characters.

    An impressive piece of writing.

    I am in awe of Brundage has accomplished here.

    10) Batman:The Killing Joke by Alan Moore & Brian Bolland
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    edited May 2016
    11) The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne

    An invaluable editing tool in helping writers map out their story and pinpoint weaknesses and/or opportunities for improvment. Also a great reference for writing genre and understanding their conventions and obligatory scenes.

    The Story Grid podcast is also worth listening to as Coyne walks a new writer through the process of writing and editing his first novel.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    12) The Fireman by Joe Hill

    With each subsequent novel, Joe Hill continues his ascent up the literary ladder. Sort of his version of The Stand but very tightly focused on a specific group of characters. Hill has that wonderful writing talent that makes his characters, warts and all, come alive for the reader making you care for them.

    Top notch stuff!
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    edited June 2016
    13) The Girl With All The Gifts by Mike Carey

    Interesting twist on the post-apocalypse/zombie genre. Has the same tones as The Last Of Us videogame.

    On deck, The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    edited June 2016
    14) The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin

    Whew! 

    Cronin didn't just stick the landing, he nailed it and drove it deep into our hearts. 

    After the wonderful first novel and then the frustrating narrative tack taken with the unnessarily chrononoligically crippled second book - that relayed events better told in a linear fashion IMO - the final state of this series was up in the air pending the third book.  

    Thankfully and joyfully, Cronin delivers a third book where the breaks from the forward thrust of the narrative, enhance instead of detract. Never in The City Of Mirrors was there a moment where I longed to get back to the main story. Something that occurred far too frequently in the second book.

    The strength of Cronin's writing - throughout this series - is his ability to craft complex, flawed, and oh so wonderfully human characters. This is one of those exceptional series where you feel for all the characters, be they the main or supporting ones.

    Cronin's second biggest draw for me is his ability to tie individual personal moments to large scale events. An amazing talent, all the more so, because like all true gifts, he makes it look so easy.

    This is a story about history and legends and people and about how all three intermingle. It is also a story that delivers on its promises and allows the reader the satisfaction of having all three made known to the characters in the story.

    Mostly it's a story about people. A story about love.

    On deck - End of Watch by Stephen King. Wow - what a wonderful streak of books I have been reading!
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    edited June 2016
    15) End of Watch by Stephen King

    End of Watch is one of King's smoothest books akin to a very aged Scotch. So satisfying. Not only is this one slick puppy it is as tightly crafted as a Swiss watch with genre conventions so seamlessly woven into the characters you never notice them until after the revealing moments.

    When I opened the book, I saw no words. I fell into a shared experience.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    edited June 2016
    16) Nobody Wants To Read Your Shit by Stephen Pressfield

    Pressfield relates in his no-nonsense manner the challenges writers face in getting their work read and dispels the main fallacy of new writers that if they write anything, everyone will want to read it.

    More ancedotal than practical but still worth a read.

    An excellent practical guide to help writers and how to find weaknesses in their stories - Shawn Coyne's - The Story Grid is highly recommended.


  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    edited July 2016
    17) Freedom of the Mask - Book #6 in the Matthew Corbett series - by Robert McCammon

    This is one helluva of a page turner with Corbett in London going through hell, finding his friends there, and then forced to leave them behind.

    The intrigue and action rarely abate and McCammon teases the possibility of joyful reunions throughout the bulk of the story only to masterfully turn them into heart breaking ones. 

    Freedom of the Mask is populated with great characters - heroic, evil, and those forced to make hard choices to survive. 

    Corbett is put through the grinder in this one and is left allied with his arch-nemesis to undertake a desperate mission.

    The stakes were high in this one and are set higher for book seven and Corbett is poised to sink even lower as he becomes the very thing he detests.

    A rousing adventure. Bring on the next book! 
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    18) Disappearance at Devil's Rock by Paul G. Tremblay

    19) The War Of Art by Stephen Pressfield - inspirational book about the Resistance and how not it drags down our creative spark but how we live. The Rocky of motivational books.
  • BevVincentBevVincent
    What did you think of Devil's Rock? I had a couple of issues with it.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    edited July 2016
    Same. 

    Story focused on the wrong characters - should have been about the boys. That's who I wanted to spend my time with.

    The device of the journal entries while meant to be more engrossing were totally offputting because of the near illegible font used. Plus they were used to tell the most important of the story instead of showing us.

    A failed experiment and disappointing after the brilliance of A Head Full of Ghosts - which delivered a surprise upper cut at the end. The two books do share a similiar trait in that the last few chapters are the most engrossing and revelatory. But the difference between the two lies in the journey taken to get there. In Ghosts the journey was told through the eyes of the right characters. Not so in Devil's Rock.
  • BevVincentBevVincent
    The bit about the mother reading the transcripts toward the end was the part that really bugged me. It was so static. I also didn't fully buy into the boys going into a murderous frenzy either. A beating, maybe, but it went so far beyond that.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    Yes and that leap was even harder to take because their behaviour at the beginning of the book does not match up with the reveal after. They were too calm and collected.
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    20) The Troop by Nick Cutter

    King gave this one a plug. It was Ok but a little too on the nose for me at times. Certainly gross enough. A cross between Carrie and Dreamcatcher in terms of style and content respectively.
  • BevVincentBevVincent
    I wasn't bowled over by this one, either -- here's my review from a couple of years ago:

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