1-24-09 Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell - Fiction

5 - It's the "Sopranos" set in a hospital written by the people who do "Scrubs". The Doctor used to be a mob hitman who's now in the Witness Protection Program and he suddenly has a patient who knows who he is. So in the midst of running around trying to do his job, he is also trying to keep the mob guy alive because the mob guy decided to be smart and do an "in the event of my death" call to keep the hitman from whacking him. Mind you, the mob guy has a terminal disease and is in the hospital to undergo a surgery that has a 50% survival rate. Yup, smart. 'Beat the Reaper' is funny, full of action, and, while maybe not completely medically accurate (according to the author), makes you think twice about going to the hospital.

1-21-09 A Darkness Forged In Fire by Chris Evans - Fiction

4 - The first in a new fantasy series, Darkness adds a freshness to the genre. You have the good, the bad, the good that was tainted to be predisposed to be bad, and the bad that was originally good intentions. Then you have the trees and nature which are also good, bad, or tainted. The characters are interesting, a lot of them being more than they appear, and their personalities grow as a new curse/bond becomes apparent. You have a naive prince, military brotherhood, and politics out the wazoo. I look forward to the next book.

1-16-09 A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray - Fiction

3 - It's a Gothic novel for teens. I'm personally not a big fan of Gothic novels, so it was just OK. The story itself is good and interesting: a young girl discovers she has magic in her blood and is now being sought by both good and evil. She shares her secret and magic with her friends and they learn of two girls years before who also had magic. It's set in a finishing school in 1890's England (see, Gothic). The story is interesting enough that I'll continue the series, but not with my usual eagerness.

1-14-09 Antarktos Rising by Jeremy Robinson - Fiction

Holy Crap! What a thrill ride! First, I must thank Stan of Variance Publishing for recommending this book to me. He wasn't joking when he said it would be the best $7.99 I would spend this year. Imagine "The Day After Tomorrow" + "Jurassic Park" x "Indiana Jones" + "Rambo" x the bible. That's this book. The Earth's crust has gone through a massive shift and Antarctica has thawed. I figured this would just be a novel of scientific discovery, you know, adventure with extinct creatures, but boy was I wrong. The population that survived the shift is now too large for the available habitable land. To prevent all out nuclear annihilation, the leaders of the new governments have agreed to a race. Whichever three countries make it to the center of the new Antarctica first will divide the continent for themselves. If you love adventure, military, scientific, or religious fiction, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

11-12-09 Nose Down, Eyes Up by Merrill Merkoe - Fiction

4 - I just love the voices Merkoe gives the dogs. Maybe it's not original to have dogs speaking to humans, but her dogs have personalities you can stick to different breeds. The main character in this book is Gil, a divorcee in his late forties who's constantly fighting with his 22 year old self. He finds he can hear his dogs, which is ironic since his girlfriend is an "animal whisperer" who can't hear dogs and is always so wrong in her interpretations. Jimmy, Gil's alpha dog, goes through an identity crisis when he discovers he was adopted, is not Gil's biological son, and will not one day lose most of his hair, walk on two legs, or drive a car. Nose Down, Eyes Up is for all pet lovers, a funny and touching adventure about owning animals and how they become family.

1-11-09 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - Fiction

5 - Basically this is a horror story for book lovers. It is illegal to own or read books. Firemen don't save your home, they burn your books, inside or outside, with or without you. The world has turned into a bunch of drooling idiots who are captivated by TV and are waiting for war. Everything is supposed to be shiny and happy. But for book lovers, people who love rhyme and meter, emotion and metaphor, there is no where to go but the wilderness outside the cities. And their only job, their only purpose, is to remember. Remember poems, books of the bible, novels, so that one day, when the war is over and the world starts over again, they can share their knowledge and maybe, just maybe, their favorite tales can be put into book form again to be shared with everyone.

1-10-09 Pirate by Ted Bell - Fiction

4 - As my dad has said, there haven't been any really good espionage thrillers since the Cold War ended. Ted Bell, however, may be breaking that trend. Pirate is not another book about terrorists, it is a thriller that pulls in the current geopolitical climate and the potential for another period of cold war. Lord Alexander Hawke is a fun character, a little over the top, who's adventures and toys are reminiscent of Bond with a little bit of Rambo thrown in. A very good thriller. Dad, you should really try this one.

1-5-09 Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher - Non-Fiction

5 - Carrie Fisher is funny. Considering some of the things she's lived through, that's amazing enough, but she can also write like she's having a conversation with you. Carrie leads us through the highlights of her life and her family with humor and blunt honesty. Starting from when she was a little girl, Carrie shares family history, stories of what it was like to grow up the child of two huge stars, and her forays into the show-biz world and the drugs that went with it. She finds and shares humor in every situation. A very funny and touching read.

1-4-09 Hell to Pay by Simon R Green - Fiction

4 - Thankfully, it's business as usual (or unusual) in the Nightside. The war with Lilith is over and now, since she killed off all the Authorities, the fight for control of the Nightside has begun. Green has created a world within the world that is creepy, scary, twisted, and utterly fascinating. Kinda like looking at a car wreck. It's ugly, it's horrible, but you can't look away. Plus, his characters are really one of a kind. Come, join us as tourists in the Nightside. It will be a trip you will never forget.

1-3-09 Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth by Simon R. Green - Fiction

5 - War has finally come to the Nightside. Just when I was starting to tire of the struggle between John Taylor and his mother Lilith, the long awaited war breaks out in all Green's twisted glory. This novel brings together all the odd, strange, and scary characters we've been introduced to and slams them into the fight of their lives (or deaths in some cases). An incredible ride, Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth reintroduces the reader to the eternal possibilities that exist in the Nightside.

1-2-09 Lake Wobegon Summer 1956 by Garrison Keillor - Fiction

3 - This is a pleasant, smooth, easy read. If you like the stories from Lake Wobegon on Prairie Home Companion, you'll enjoy this book. The story is full of the subtle and self-depreciating humor that is familiar in that segment. Told by Gary, a 14 year old boy, the story focuses on his family who are Sanctified Brethren and also a little strange. Gary has a crush on his 17 year old cousin, Kate, who is a bit rebellious. He also reads a magazine called 'High School Orgies' and admits that he has a dirty mind. His Grandpa and Jesus sit in heaven and comment on his behavior. And he is a writer who has an affinity for writing stories in which dogs can talk. Yup, definitely a Garrison Keillor type of story.

12-31-08 Untamed by P.C. and Kristin Cast - Fiction

5 - This series has captured me. The characters are so well written that the story seems to just flow through them not around them. Zoey Redbird, different from the beginning of her time at the House of Night, discovers the reason she was chosen by the goddess Nyx: she is meant to save the world. Already stressed about her love life, her friends turning on her, and the knowledge that there is a completely new kind of vampire, Zoey struggles to keep Aphrodite's new vision of death and destruction from coming true. The Casts pull from Cherokee legend to add even more depth to the story and leave the reader with such a cliffhanger that all you want to do is start counting down on a calender to the release of their next book. (Hunted in March 2009)

12-31-08 Inkheart by Cornelia Funke - Fiction

3 - It was OK. (I know I'll get bashed for this) This story feels very long and wasn't quite what I was expecting from the description and what I'd heard about it. I figured it would have a little more action, but the pacing was almost plodding. However, Funke can write emotions and make them feel tangible. The love between father and daughter is a palpable thing which was surprising to me. It's unusual to find that strength of emotion in a book; usually it is just understood or inferred from behavior or dialogue but Funke makes it real. The story itself runs very slowly and does not begin with Mo (the father) making book characters come alive. That has already happened and this story is about dealing with the consequences. I probably won't read the rest of the series, but overall it was OK.