Jun 2nd 10
Posted by David in Books
Tagged:Books, fun, series
Summer is upon us and with that comes a fall back from my youth: summer reading.
From the photo, I will be reading the Farseer trilogy from Robin Hobb, the first Warriors series , and the Hunger Games series. Missing in the photo are the first Warriors book (on loan) and the third Hunger games book(due out August).
After I finish my current read I will be reading either The Girl Who Played With Fire or In The Woods, and then start on summer reading.
Up first will be The Farseer trilogy followed by The Warriors. The Hunger Games will be last so that I will be reading them when the third book is released.
Now, you may notice the simplier reading level here. You are right, they are absolutly light fare. And thank goodness! Summer is for relaxing!
I may throw in a graphic novel or three along the way.
Also – way behind on publishing book reviews. I have four to write and will be finishing up my current read very soon.
May 10th 10
Posted by David in Books
Tagged:book review
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
So diving back into the recommended by my son set find me reading another in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. This one is equally as funny as the first with the same cast of characters and middle school antics.
What I like about these books is that all the “urban legends” from that age are there. Sure – it is ALL of them . It is like you took all the things that happened in school to you and your siblings and put them all in one book. Nice.
These are super fast reads, but I keep laughing out loud at them. The art is still fun. Sure, basic lines and blocks, but it is supposed to be drawn by our hero Greg.
Good stuff. There are two more in the series, with book 5 slated for later this year. I bet they bring it out at the same time as the DVD release of the movie.
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May 9th 10
Posted by David in Books
Tagged:book review, boring, historical fiction
The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Here is a book that I should really like. Almost no reason I should not. I mean it was almost tailored for my likes. Egypt – good. Time travel treated as fantasy verses science – I am down with that. Historical fiction and characters used fictitiously – another one for the win column. And it has won a couple awards.
And you know what – I found the book almost unreadable. This book took me forever to get through. The very frustrating part that kept me going was the list above and me constantly saying to myself “But I have to like this!” .
Tim Powers
The book started great. Out of the gates, first night, eighty pages consumed. I thought to myself “Great – 4 or 5 more nights and this will be done. What a fun ride”. Then the train came off the tracks. The momentum was weird, the characters started all being grey. I never thought the bad guy was bad, I never thought the good guy a hero, or even really the good guy, just the guy we read about. I mean, I guess in reality everyone has shades of both good and evil. Of course, this is a fantastical, magic infused, time-travel book. I want a hero and a bad guy. The chapters’ pacing was rough and I constantly was flicking head looking for how many more pages. I finally got to the end when I was frustrated enough with the book and wanted it done. I sat down and barreled through it. And truthfully, the book found the first few chapters again and the ending was delightful, slightly surprising and worked. Too bad the middle 2/3 of the book was full of such “rough seas”.
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May 8th 10
Posted by David in geocache
Tagged:garfield, geocache
We have been geocaching since January 1, when we went out and snagged our first find. Since then, we have found 80 more. We are shooting for over 200 by years end.
Today, we went in whole hog and hid our first cache. The cache was name GARFIELD! after Jon yelling at the cat. Reason? The cache is hidden in Garfield Park, which is on Garfield Ave.
It was hidden and published today. Two people have found it as of this post. They went out at night with flash lights to get the first time find on it. Very cool.
We already have another one ready to go. Brian hooked us up with a ammo can and supplies to do a full on “big cache”. I think we may try putting a disposable camera in that one. Who knows.
UPDATE
Cache has been removed. The park we placed it in is a small park surrounded by homes. One cacher had the cops called on him! Too many think this is their back yard! Lesson learned.
May 5th 10
Posted by David in Audiobooks
Tagged:audiobook, stephen king
Duma Key by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Some time ago I finished the unabridged audiobook of Duma Key. I must admit, I really enjoyed this one.
I am have become a fan of later day King. Many find his lack of monsters (Cell aside) to be off putting. I like the more literary King and found this book to be very good.
Edgar Freemantle is an owner of a construction company who has suffered a massive injury which resulted in the loss of his right arm and months and months of rehabilitation. This loss, and his anger from it, results in he and his wife separating. Edgar takes his therapists advise and moves to Florida, Duma Key to be precise. On Duma Key he lives in a large house he names “Big Pink”. The whole of the key has six houses on it, all owned by one woman, Elizabeth Eastlake, and elderly woman who lives down the beach. Under the advice of his therapist he decides to try his hand at painting, something he had left behind in his youth. He begins to work and discovers that he is creating works far beyond his capability, he is “unbottling” and soon it is an obsession. This leads to a series of revelations about the past, and about his future.
Stephen King
The writing in this book reminds me of both Lisey’s Story and Bag of Bones. There is a tale of a person and love, be it lost or taken, and the after effects. The plot starts off almost slowly, but I would rather say folksy. We do not have any real action until a good half way through the book, but the emotional and character build to this point is very rich. The ending was full of action, though it was similar to Bag of Bones in my opinion.
John Slattery does the narration, and at first, I was not thrilled with his read. It felt meter-wise like Stephen King doing the reading. I am not a big fan of King reading his own books. He is nasally. But Slattery grew on me. Quite a bit. His everyman delivery really helped define the characters and his slight voice inflections were super consistent through out.
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