1-23-12 Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper by Robert Bloch - Fiction

4 - This is a collection of short stories, screenplays, and novellas that Robert Bloch wrote featuring Jack the Ripper. And, wow, some are just a bit twisted. Jack does not always come out on top and Bloch played off the various theories about who Jack really was and why he disappeared. The only story I didn't read was was the Star Trek screenplay because it was published as a screenplay and I find those a little tough to actually read. He also has a spectacular short essay at the end discussing why someone who killed very few people is so well known when the student who was responsible for World War II is virtually unknown. (See, I read this and I've forgotten his name already!) And if you are trying to figure out where you've heard the name Robert Bloch before, he wrote a little story called Psycho.

9-2-11 Replay by Ken Grimwood - Fiction

5 - Thanks to Inez for recommending this one! What if you could live your life over again? And again. And again. Jeff Winston has a heart attack in his office at age 43 and wakes up 25 again in his college dorm room. He uses some of his future knowledge to make a lot of money and lives out this new life until he has a heart attack at 43. And wakes up a little bit older but still in college. And he does it again each time having a heart attack at 43 and each time waking up a little bit older but still replaying his life. Each time he makes different decisions and discovers along the way that he is not the only one living his life over again. He tries to make sense of the science of what is happening to him and fears where he will end up as he keeps coming back closer and closer to the time of his heart attack. This book picks up and goes and is enthralling.

7-6-11 An Exaltation of Larks by Robert Reed - Fiction

2 - I didn't get it. I'll flat out say it. This book was kind of interesting and I finished it because I figured I'd get it by the end but, no. FYI - The turtles are the eternal beings and they are screwing with the past and giving everyone a chance to relive their existence once. I don't know, the characters were interesting and the story was pretty good but I got lost somewhere in the discussion of the time continuum and the ability to keep living out life and then returning to start over in 15 month intervals. Time travel stuff does have a tendency to confuse me when you get past the simple "Back to the Future" explanations but I just feel like I really didn't get this.

6-26-11 Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland - Fiction

4 - This is a trippy look at the end of the world and what if you could do it all over again. It's 1979: Karen is 18 and has just had sex with her boyfriend for the first time and has her whole promising life ahead of her. Then she falls into a coma and sleeps for the next 17 years. While she is sleeping, her daughter is born and her friends and boyfriend go on to live interesting and mostly active lives. She wakes up in a completely different world and has some news to share: the end of the world is coming. It's interesting to see how her friends have gotten along without her and how her daughter, raised mostly by her parents, reacts to her awakening. Plus the weirdness of her revelations and the subsequent events makes this an interesting read.

4-17-11 Blue and Gold by K.J. Parker - Fiction

4 - This is a strange little novella that is narrated by the greatest alchemist alive, Solonius. He's conceited, clever, conniving, and funny in turns and starts the story by telling a bartender that he figured out how to turn base metal into gold and killed his wife, all just that morning. It's a short read but so intriguing that you can't stop, no matter how absurd the story gets. It is a story full of twists as well since Solonius keeps telling slightly different versions of events throughout the book to different characters and even the reader. Pick this up if you want something quick with the twists and turns of a good thriller.

5-6-10 The Host by Stephenie Meyer - Fiction

5 - This is a re-read so check out the previous review.

3-25-10 Thinner Than Thou by Kit Reed - Fiction

3 - You think negative body image is a problem now? Read this book as find out just how bad it can get. Body perfection is the religion the Thinner Than Thou creating a multi-billion dollar industry that makes today's industry look like a start up. Face lifts, tummy tucks, liposuction, and stringent dieting are practically required to survive in this world not to mention having a constant fear of being cited by the Fashion Police. Eating disorders are dealt with by a group of psuedo-nuns called the Dedicated Sisters and, ruling over the thin empire, is Reverend Earl. Porn is no longer about women and men of bodily perfection having sex, it's about obese men and women eating. I kept having awful flashbacks to the movie "Feed" which, while very good, is gag inducing in the way food and weight are viewed as erotica. This book hits quite close to home in that it doesn't take a huge stretch of the imagination to see our society heading down this road.

1-8-10 Quantico by Greg Bear – Fiction

4 – You’ll probably find this in the Sci-Fi section but it is a fabulous bioterrorism thriller.  Set in the near future, Quantico follows the FBI as they attempt to track down a potential global anthrax threat.  This book is fast paced and follows two investigations with converging storylines combining veteran FBI agents with rookies and some very interesting technology.  A very scary and very possible story turned into a very enjoyable thriller.

5-2-09 The Host by Stephenie Meyer - Fiction

5 - I've figured out why I love Meyer's books so much. She focuses on the humanity of her characters regardless of the species. She did it in the Twilight series and she does it again here. The Host is a story of alien invasion a la the Body Snatchers. Souls, a parasitic species, are inserted into human hosts. The human inside usually just disappears and the soul lives on in the body with the humans memories for guidance. But Wanderer is inserted into Melanie Stryder who is too stubborn and willful to just fade away. So begins this incredible story that really does explore what it means to be human and what it means to love. I do look forward to enjoying many more Stephenie Meyer books.

3-13-09 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick - Fiction

4 - This really is a good book and varies subtly from the movie. Of course that's if I'm remembering the movie correctly; it's been a while. Dick focuses on the preciousness of life in all forms and differentiates humans from androids with one trait: empathy. Androids have no understanding or emotion toward life itself, just an ingrained and evolved sense of survival. Yet they have learned to fit into a human society in the best manner possible but can never quite seem "right". A very interesting look at humanity.

3-6-09 Quantum Prophecy 2: The Gathering by Michael Carroll - Fiction

5 - This series is very promising! The characters are becoming well rounded and new characters are introduced. The story line flows extremely well. The new teen superheroes are outed and their parents are outed as well. To escape the circus their life has become they return to the United States and are taken to a secret facility where they meet other teen superhumans and continue training. But there is a mole and soon the secret facility is not so secret anymore and comes under governmental control. some of their number are lost and new alliances are made. I'm eager for the next book, due sometime in May.

2-18-09 Broken Angel by Sigmund Brouwer - Fiction

3 - In the future, Appalachia secedes from the United States and becomes a theocracy. that portion of this story is good. Brouwer makes that world believable. The actual story though, eh. I figured out what the plot twist was very early on and spent most of the book waiting for the main character to catch on. A father has made plans for his daughter to escape to the outside so she can have surgery to remove her deformity and can live outside of the theocracy that would stone her for it. Blah, blah, blah, he's captured and she has to go on alone following the instructions he's left for her. She knows she's different and that she has to hide it but she doesn't know why. Blah, blah, blah, they're reunited and she escapes. The end. There, now you don't have to read it.

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.

11-21-08 The Awakening by Michael Carroll - Fiction

4 - This is classed as Young Reader (9-12), but I'd put it into Teen. Action packed, The Awakening starts in a world where there used to be superheroes and supervillains until 10 years prior when they all disappeared except for three, two brothers and their sister. But now, two young boys discover the truth: their parents were once superheroes, but had lost their powers. AND the boys aren't having growing pains, they're developing their powers that were genetically passed down. A little bit of swearing and a more adult feel than I was expecting in a Young Reader book. I am definitely intrigued and am eager to continue the series.

10-17-08 The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - Fiction

5 - It's Battle Royale with more heart! It's The Long Walk with more action! It's The Hunger Games, an exciting read that leaves you with the tantalizing sentence "End of Book One" on the last page. Selected by the Reaping, 24 boys and girls are placed in an outdoor arena and are expected to fight to the death until there is only one survivor. They battle each other, the elements, and themselves. Kids being forced to outlast on another isn't a new theme (see the previously mentioned titles), but Collins ratchets up the tension by making the trial not only about survival, but also about government and audience approval. This title falls into my Highly Recommended list. Go! Read it now!

7-6-08 Everfree by Nick Sagan - Fiction

3 - This book is a nice wrap up to the trilogy, but is nothing spectacular. The super-human children are now adults and attempt to create a Utopia of humankind to better the world that was destroyed. Because only the wealthy and powerful were able to be frozen at the height of the Black Ep, egos and entitlement begin to twist the effort. The super-humans attempt a genetic solution to the worst of man's nature but find he can be tinkered with only so much in an attempt to improve the species. Sagan drives home the point that man is his own downfall.

7-3-08 The Host by Stephenie Meyer - Fiction

5 - Meyer's first foray into adult scifi is a winner. The descriptions I had seen made The Host seem like it was going to be campy and corny, but it was a beautiful look at humanity. the earth has been invaded by a parasitic species who use us as hosts to live their lives. Some humans have evaded capture and implantation and some host personalities have fought back against the "souls" once implantation has occurred. Meyer, already successful for the teen Twilight series, shows that she is a force to be reckoned with in adult books as well.

6-5-08 Archangel by Sharon Shinn - Fiction

5 - This is one of those great crossover books that can be used to introduce a reluctant reader to a new genre. If you like romances, I dare you to try this scifi/fantasy and not like it. Shinn writes wonderful stories drawing the reader in and introducing characters the reader actually cares about. Try this book and if you like it, she has written four more books about Samaria.

2-20-08 The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes - Fiction

2 - This book started out great: weird characters, a strange murder, the hint of not-quite-right. And then it turned into the Energizer bunny - it just kept going and going and going. By the end of the book, the great conclusion !SEMI-SPOILER! is that the two murders at the beginning meant nothing and were only used to draw the main character, and the reader, into the mess that was the main storyline. Blah. The most interesting characters, The Prefects (which I couldn't help but picture as Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum which actually made them creepier), were only in maybe the last 50 pages. I just was not happy with this book at all.

1-27-08 Jenna Starborn by Sharon Shinn - Fiction

2 - I can't believe it, but I did not like this book. I found it dull and slow with characters I just couldn't get invested in. The story of Jenna, a manufactured human who was neglected by her commissioner, Jenna Starborn follows this incredibly normal and well adjusted young woman on her journey through life. Perhaps if you liked Jane Eyre you would like this book as it is a re-imagining of that tale, but for me it is a true disappointment from Shinn.