Fiction
The Guardians
Author: Andrew Pyper
Medium: Regular book
Completed: Currently reading
Rating: No rating
Comments: No comments.
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The Dark Tower 4.5: The Wind Through The Keyhole
Author: Stephen King
Medium: Regular book
Completed: 29-May-12
Rating: 5/6
Comments: I love King, though the Dark Tower series was never my favourite. This, however, is just a fun book. Only King could pull off having his characters pull off to the side, then weave a story within a story that Roland tells. The man’s a genius.
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Dweller
Author: Jeff Strand
Medium: Regular book
Completed: 28-May-12
Rating: 3/6
Comments: Overall a good premise, but while we see the protagonist from the age of 8 to 65, his voice never seems to change and it’s hard to drum up sympathy for a main character who is so stupid at times. I almost would have liked to have seen this story from the monster’s point of view. This is my second Strand book and, like Laymon, I’m not seeing the attraction. Maybe it’s me.
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One
Author: Blair Carter
Medium: ebook (Advance Reader Copy)
Completed: 22-May-12
Rating: 4/6
Comments: Love love love the premise. With some judicious editing, this thing’s gonna smoke.
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Pressure
Author: Jeff Strand
Medium: Regular book
Completed: 30-Apr-12
Rating: 3/6
Comments: Just a whole bunch of meh.
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Troilus and Cressida
Author: William Shakespeare
Medium: Audiobook
Completed: 18-Apr-12
Rating: 4/6
Comments: Interesting insertion into the Trojan War story.
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Sam Truman Mysteries 02: The Last Invasion
Author: Brandon Zuern
Medium: ebook (Advance Reader Copy)
Completed: 07-Apr-12
Rating: 5/6
Comments: Read the semi-edited second adventure. Absolutely fun romp. Excited when this one gets released May 15.
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Southern Gods
Author: John Horner Jacobs
Medium: Audiobook
Completed: 13-Apr-12
Rating: 5/6
Comments: Lovecraftian horror crossed with the Robert Johnson myth? Jacobs doesn’t hold back. Loved it.
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Twelfth Night
Author: William Shakespeare
Medium: Audiobook
Completed: 31-Mar-12
Rating: 4/6
Comments: An interesting romp. Starting to see a common theme of women posing as men in Shakespeare’s stuff…
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Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
Author: William Shakespeare
Medium: Audiobook
Completed: 25-Mar-12
Rating: 5/6
Comments: Absolutely brilliant. And now I can see clearly the parts David Wroblewski borrowed for his equally brilliant The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.
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Nightface
Author: Lydia Peever
Medium: ebook
Completed: 28-Apr-12
Rating: 5/6
Comments: Just for sheer imagination alone, this book is worth it. Peever takes vampires in a totally different direction you’ve never seen before.
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Smokey Barrett 01: Shadow Man
Author: Cody McFadyen
Medium: Audiobook
Completed: 22-Mar-12
Rating: 3/6
Comments: This was a damn frustrating book to read. It was almost as though it was written by two different authors. One, very good, with an unwavering eye toward the horrors a psychopathic mind can create, as well as some heartbreakingly tender scenes. Then there was the other hack writer who couldn’t write dialogue to save his life, had one character use the term “honeylove” way too much, and telegraphed the identity of the villain way too soon. I’ll try at least one more to see if it improves.
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Blood & Groom
Author: Jill Edmondson
Medium: Regular Book
Completed: 19-Mar-12
Rating: 4/6
Comments: I’m giving it a four more for the fact that “cozy” mysteries ain’t my style. Sasha Jackson is definitely an interesting character and Edmondson’s done a good job of surrounding her with interesting characters. The plot and the pacing were also well done. As for the ending, I actually had to Google a key plot point involving a bra to find out it actually could happen, but I just didn’t buy it at the time. If you’re into mysteries, however, this is a good one to pick up.
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The Merry Wives of Windsor
Author: William Shakespeare
Medium: Audiobook
Completed: 12-Mar-12
Rating: 3/6
Comments: Meh.
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As You Like It
Author: William Shakespeare
Medium: Audiobook
Completed: 29-Feb-12
Rating: 4/6
Comments: Waaaaay too many lovelorn relationships here. Got a kick out of the mildly homosexual undertones through the story due to the gender reversal of Rosalind/Ganymede.
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Nightmare at 20000 Feet
Author: Richard Matheson
Medium: Audiobook
Completed: 26-Feb-12
Rating: 5/6
Comments: If you haven’t read Matheson, you’re missing out. Going through these stories, mostly published throughout the 1950s, you see the debt Stephen King owes (and publicly acknowledges) to Matheson. While his longer works are very good, Matheson’s short fiction is frequently brilliant.
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The Bottoms
Author: Joe R. Lansdale
Medium: Regular book
Completed: 27-Feb-12
Rating: 6/6
Comments: Lansdale has never disappointed me, however this book absolutely blew me a away. At its heart, it’s a murder mystery, but it’s so much more than that. Easily the best book I’ve read this year, and I expect that to hold until the end of the year. Do yourself a favour and read this book.
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Much Ado About Nothing
Author: William Shakespeare
Medium: Audiobook
Completed: 12-Feb-12
Rating: 4/6
Comments: Weird one. Starts out almost as a rom-com, with amazing wordplay, then goes dark, then finishes up happily ever after. Not one of my favourites.
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Bleed
Author: Ed Kurtz
Medium: ebook
Completed: 11-Feb-12
Rating: 5/6
Comments: Three words: Gwyn is ferocious. Okay, three more: Read the blog
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Julius Caesar
Author: William Shakespeare
Medium: Audiobook
Completed: 05-Feb-12
Rating: 6/6
Comments: It’s Shakespeare. Of course it’s brilliant.
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John “Mummer” Stillman Mystery 01: Mummer’s the Word
Author: Pat Flewwelling
Medium: ebook (Advance Reader Copy)
Completed: 4-Feb-12
Rating: 5/6
Comments: A fun little mystery novel featuring a PI that has no tongue and virtually no luck to speak of. Absolutely enjoyable!
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Sam Truman Mysteries 01: Catch My Killer
Author: Ed Kurtz
Medium: ebook (Advance Reader Copy)
Completed: 20-Jan-12
Rating: 5/6
Comments: Absolute fun romp! You just wait til this puppy’s released! It’s a blast!Update: It’s now released! Order it here.
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A Werewolf Tale 02: Overwinter
Author: David Wellington
Medium: Regular book
Completed: 19-Jan-12
Rating: 5/6
Comments: Much better than Frostbite (the first novel in the series). And it all takes place in Canada!
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The Fourth Realm Trilogy 03: The Golden City
Author: John Twelve Hawks
Medium: Audiobook
Completed: 31-Jan-12
Rating: 2/6
Comments: Crap ending to the trilogy. Kinda saw that coming.
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The Fourth Realm Trilogy 02: The Dark River
Author: John Twelve Hawks
Medium: Audiobook
Completed: 16-Jan-12
Rating: 3/6
Comments: Felt drawn out at times and doesn’t resolve anything.
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The Fourth Realm Trilogy 01: The Traveler
Author: John Twelve Hawks
Medium: Audiobook
Completed: 31-Dec-11
Rating: 4/6
Comments: Gets a little New-Agey at times, but not a bad start.
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Non-Fiction
The Elegant Universe
Author: Brian Greene
Medium: Audiobook
Completed: 14-May-12
Rating: 5/6
Comments: Though the going gets a little crazy-tough at the end, this is likely the best book I’ve ever read taking on the challenging topic of Universal String Theory.
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Billy Joel: The Life & Times of an Angry Young Man
Author: Hank Bordowitz
Medium: Regular book
Completed: 14-Apr-12
Rating: 4/6
Comments: Solid overview of Joel’s life and career. Gets a little gushy at times and has an annoying habit of repeating quotes, but mostly fair and balanced.
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Your Inner Fish
Author: Neil Shubin
Medium: Audiobook
Completed: 28-Mar-12
Rating: 4/6
Comments: Not exactly what I was expecting, but a fun book on our evolutionary past.
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The Writing Fairy’s Guide to Calling Yourself a Writer
Author: Dorothea Helms
Medium: Regular book
Completed: 21-Mar-12
Rating: 4/6
Comments: Not the “life changing” book it was purported to be, but a good message. Basically, 98 pages to convince you to ignore all negativity both internally and externally and get your ass in a chair and write. Good message, but not earth-shaking.
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The Making of a Story
Author: Alice LaPlante
Medium: Regular book
Completed: Currently reading
Rating: No rating
Comments: No comments.
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The Guinea Pig Diaries
Author: A.J. Jacobs
Medium: Regular book
Completed: 14-Mar-12
Rating: 5/6
Comments: I love this guy. The things he tries are absolutely hilarious, though I couldn’t imagine being married to him. My only complaint with this book was that the experiments were only a month long. He shines in the longer duration experiments.
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The Eagles
Author: Andrew Vaughan
Medium: Regular book
Completed: 01-Mar-12
Rating: 4/6
Comments: On one hand, it’s a nicely laid out coffee-table book that neatly encapsulates the history of country rock and the formation of one of the biggest bands of all time. On the other hand, it’s so simperingly nice and non-confrontational that it’s irritating to read at times.
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Bias
Author: Bernard Goldberg
Medium: Audio book
Completed: 24-Mar-12
Rating: 4/6
Comments: Interesting book. Gets a little high and mighty at times, gets a little preachy at times, and feels a bit like payback to Dan Rather, but overall, some fascinating insights.
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Writing For Comics
Author: Alan Moore
Medium: Regular book
Completed: 29-Feb-12
Rating: 3/6
Comments: It’s obvious Moore wrote this quite a while back (1985) before he became the crotchety old bugger his is now. There’s a hint of the cynicism to come, but it’s not full-blown. As for the book, while it has some interesting thinking points, overall, not very helpful. Definitely not his best work.
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The Demon in the Freezer
Author: Richard Preston
Medium: Audiobook
Completed: 10-Feb-12
Rating: 2/6
Comments: What’s the scariest disease in the world? AIDS? Ebola? Anthrax? Black Plague? Nope. Smallpox. This book was able to communicate that, but other than the theme, this book was a freaking jumbled mess.
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John Lennon: Life is What Happens
Author: John M. Borack
Medium: Regular book
Completed: 08-Jan-12
Rating: 4/6
Comments: Basic rehash of the Beatles’ & Lennon’s history, but some great photos and memorabilia displayed.
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Paul McCartney: A Life
Author: Peter Ames Carlin
Medium: Regular book
Completed: 6-Jan-12
Rating: 5/6
Comments: Seems like a balanced view. Shows the man’s genius and his control freak tendencies.
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Comics/Graphic Novels
30 Days of Night: Night Again
Author/Artist: Joe R. Lansdale & Sam Kieth
Medium: Graphic Novel
Completed: 01-Apr-12
Rating: 4/6
Comments: Funny enough, I absolutely love both Lansdale and Kieth, but this one never came together for me. Seemed rushed from a story perspective and Kieth’s art, sometimes sketchy and always quirky, was too much of both this time.
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Freakangels 06
Author/Artist: Warren Ellis & Paul Duffield
Medium: Graphic Novel
Completed: 15-Mar-12
Rating: 5/6
Comments: The first couple of volumes were only okay, but man, did this thing pick up speed toward the end. Fantastic conclusion to the series.
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Chew 04: Flambe
Author/Artist: John Laymon & Rob Guillory
Medium: Graphic Novel
Completed: 14-Mar-12
Rating: 5/6
Comments: This series just keeps getting better and better as the characters gain more depth and the world continues to build. I also love the quirky manner in which the stories are delivered. Great series.
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The Walking Dead, Volume 15: We Find Ourselves
Author/Artist: Robert Kirkland & Charlie Adlard
Medium: Graphic Novel
Completed: 04-Mar-12
Rating: 5/6
Comments: What a brilliant, brilliant series. If anyone out there thinks comics are for kids, pick up the first trade of this series, it’ll change your mind. The 15th collection doesn’t disappoint, picking up the pieces from the action of the 14th volume. The brilliance of this comes from Kirkland’s evolution of the characters. The humans are the real Walking Dead, not the zombies, who only appear on 17 of the 132 pages of this story.
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The Boys, Volume 09: The Big Ride
Author/Artists: Garth Ennis, Russ Braun, John McCrea, Darick Robertson
Medium: Graphic Novel
Completed: 04-Mar-12
Rating: 4/6
Comments: Garth Ennis is a vile man. This is why I love his writing so much, and The Boys just kicks all kinds of ass. Having said that, this wasn’t the strongest entry in the series, though it was necessary to understand some of the backstory in the world of Vought American.
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Transmetropolitan 06: Gouge Away
Author/Artist: Warren Ellis & Darick Robertson
Medium: Graphic Novel
Completed: 12-Feb-12
Rating: 5/6
Comments: Spider Jerusalem is one of the best fictional writers ever created. Warren Ellis is one of the best fiction writers ever created.
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The Crow: Special Edition
Author/Artist: James O’Barr
Medium: Graphic Novel
Completed: 9-Jan-12
Rating: 6/6
Comments: Brilliant. Frightening. Scary. Beautiful.
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A History of Violence
Author/Artist: John Wagner & Vince Locke
Medium: Graphic Novel
Completed: 6-Jan-12
Rating: 5/6
Comments: Great story, but drawn out a bit and gets a little over the top toward the end. One of the few times I think the movie improved on the story.
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Eclectic mix! And Shakespeare on audiobook, I hadn’t thought of that! Maybe I’ll finish the ones I didn’t read in college on long roadtrips
I never appreciated Shakespeare until I got the audio versions, the way Shakespeare was meant to be experienced (well, assuming you don’t get to actually view all the plays).
Good point. He has so much more impact when hearing his words actually spoken aloud.