Mahsdad's (Jeff) 2014 75 Book Challenge (Part 3)

Welcome to page the third. If you're new, my name is Jeff. I live in Southern California. I'm an avid reader (obviously, why else would I be doing this :) ), but I also enjoy photography, hiking and playing games and hanging out with my family. Book-wise, I have a pretty eclectic taste in what I read and I hope to give you not so much reviews but my impressions about what I read.

What you will find here is mostly my rambling, way too many (according to some :) ) Wishlist and TBR pile temptations and a smattering of my photography.

My 2013 Reading Thread

To start things off, here's a photo of my son that I took a couple years ago.

2014 Statistics

Owned - 7
Bought 2014 - 4
Free/Found - 2
Library - 2
Gift - 4
Audio - 13
eBook - 3

May
35. Daemon - Daniel Suarez (AUDIO)

April
34. Acts of God - Ellen Gilchrist
33. Summerland - Michael Chabon
32. Sunnyside - Glen David Gold (AUDIOI)
31. A Brief History of the Dead - Kevin Brockmeier
30. Burning Girls - Veronica Schanoes (EBOOK)
29. Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere - Julie Lamana
28. Robopocalypse - Daniel H. Wilson (AUDIO)
27. The Light Fantastic - Terry Pratchett

March
26. The Corpse Exhibition - Hassan Blasim
25. Divergent - Veronica Roth
24. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer (AUDIO)
23. A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby
22. Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A. Heinlein (AUDIO)
21. Human Division - John Scalzi
20. On a Pale Horse - Piers Anthony (AUDIO)
19. 11/22/63 - Stephen King

February
18. 2001: A Space Oddyssey - Arthur C. Clarke (AUDIO)
17. Will Grayson, Will Grayson - John Green, David Levithan
16. Make Room, Make Room - Harry Harrison (EBOOK)
15. Abandon - Meg Cabot (AUDIO)
14. Men and Cartoons - Jonathan Lethem
13. Junky - William S. Burroughs (AUDIO)
12. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers (AUDIO)

January
11. Lexicon - Max Barry (AUDIO)
10. Train - Pete Dexter
9. Rocket Science - Jay Lake
8. Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester (AUDIO)
7. Carrie - Stephen King
6. Tales of Beedle the Bard - J. K. Rowling (Michael Read)
5. NOS4A2 - Joe Hill (AUDIO)
4. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien (Family Read)
3. Every Day - David Levithan
2. Dead Pig Collector - Warren Ellis (EBOOK)
1. The Last Dragonslayer - Jasper Fforde

Currently Reading

The Travels and Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen - Rudolf Erich Raspe - S: 1/5/14
Brisingr - Christopher Paolini (Michael Read)- S: 1/12/14
The Math Book - Clifford Pickover - S: 2/9/14
Wakulla Springs - Andy Duncan (EBOOK) - S: 4/9/14
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail - Cheryl Strayed - S: 4/24/14
The Woman Who Died A Lot - Jasper Fforde - S: 4/29/14

TBR Additions

January
Botany of Desire - Michael Pollan - Free (YMCA)
The Mote in God's Eye - Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle - Free (YMCA)
The Courious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon - BN
Dragon Riders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey - Library Book Sale
The Kept - James Scott - Library Book Sale
Lexicon - Max Barry (AUDIO) - Free (Library Borrow)
Summerland - Michael Chabon - Library Book Sale
Out on Blue Six - Ian McDonald - Paperback Swap
Men and Cartoons - Jonathan Lethem - Brownbag Books
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers (AUDIO)- Humble Bundle
Abandon - Meg Cabot (AUDIO) - Humble Bundle
Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy (AUDIO) - Humble Bundle
Found - Margaret Peterson Haddix (AUDIO) - Humble Bundle - DNF
Junky - William S. Burroughs (AUDIO) - Humble Bundle
On a Pale Horse - Piers Anthony (AUDIO) - Humble Bundle
Stolen - Lucy Christopher (AUDIO) - Humble Bundle - DNF
The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie (AUDIO) - Humble Bundle - DNF
True Grit - Charles Portis (AUDIO) - Humble Bundle
Vampirates : Demons of the Ocean - Justin Somper (AUDIO) - Humble Bundle
The Orange Eats Creeps - Grace Krilanovich (AUDIO) - Humble Bundle
Seal Team Six - Howard Wasdin - Free (YMCA)
2014 Cambellian Anthology - Various (EBOOK) - Free DRM free download
A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby - Free (YMCA)

February
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood - Free (YMCA)
One Day - David Nicholls - Free (YMCA)
A Brief History of the Dead - Kevin Brockmeier - RD
Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere - Julie T. Lamana - Early Review LT

March
Paper Towns - John Green - Target
Lives of Tao - Wesley Chu - Barnes & Noble
Human Division - John Scalzi - Barnes & Noble
Burning Girls - Veronica Schanoes - Free - Amazon Kindle
Wakulla Springs - Andy Duncan - Free - Amazon Kindle
Big Rock Candy Mountain - Wallace Stegner - Free YMCA
Divergent - Veronica Roth - Walmart
The Corpse Exhibition = Hassan Blasim - Library
Sunnyside - Glenn David Gold (AUDIO) - Library
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer (AUDIO) - Library
Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague - Geraldine Brooks - Free YMCA
Robopocalypse - Daniel H. Willson (AUDIO) - Library

April
Beasts of No Nation - Uzodinma Iweala - Amazon
Just One Damned Thing After Another - Jodi Taylor - Kindle (RD's suggestion)
A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway - Free YMCA
Acts of God - Ellen Gilchrist - Free Early Review

Wishlist Additions

January
Hang Wire - Adam Christopher
On Such a Full Sea - Chang-rae Lee
Shovel Ready -Adam Sternbergh
The Land Across - Gene Wolfe
Wake - Lisa McMann
Luminaries - Eleanor Catton
The Kept - James Scott
A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby
Dark Places - Gillian Flynn
Wild - Lori Foster
Maze Runner - James Dasher
The Giver - Lois Lowry
The Hundred-Foot Journey - Richard C. Morais
Divergent - Veronica Roth
Rocket Science - Jay Lake
The Visionist - Rachal Urquhart
Fooling Houdini - Alex Stone
A Highly Unlikely Scenario - Rachel Cantor
Shaman - Kim Stanley Robinson
Stone Spring - Stephen Baxter
State of Wonder - Ann Patchett
Death Comes for the Archbishop - Willa Cather
More Than This - Patrick Ness
Out on Blue Six - Ian McDonald
Logan's Run - William Nolan
Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
High-Rise - J.G. Ballard
What Makes This Book So Great - Jo Walton
The First True Lie - Marina Mander
Crapalachia - Scott McClanahan
Steelheart - Brandon Sanderson (For Michael - he got it from school)
A Brief History of the Dead - Kevin Brockmeier
Paris Trout - Pete Dexter
Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend - Matthew Dicks

February
An Unnecessary Woman - Rabih Alameddine
Terms of Enlistment - Marko Kloos
Praying Drunk - Kyle Minor
Last Days of California - Mary Miller
Annihilation - Jeff Vandermeer
The Heart Does Not Grow Back - Fred Venturini
Veronica - Nicholas Christopher
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - Helen Simonson
Strange Bodies - Marcel Theroux
The Martian - Andy Weir
Go: A Novel - John Clellon Holmes
The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope - Rhonda Riley
Defenders - Will McIntosh
Love Minus Eighty - Will McIntosh
This Bloody Mary is the Last Thing I Own - Jonathan Rendall
Round Ireland with a Fridge - Tony Hawks
The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green - Joshua Braff
The Enormous Room - e.e.cummings
This Blinding Absence of Light - Tahar Ben Jelloun
The Last Summer of Reason - Tahar Djaout
The Mezzanine - Nicholson Baker
Three Princes - Ramona Wheeler

March
Black Moon- Kenneth Calhoun
Notes from the Internet Apocalypse - Wayne Gladstone
Helmut Saves the World - Matt Sheehan
Honor Among Thieves: Star Wars (Empire and Rebellion - James S. A. Corey
Floating Boy and the Girl Who Couldn't Fly - P.T. Jones
Dead Americans and Other Stories - Ben Peek
The Age of Miracles - Karen Thompson Walker
Hill William - Scott McClanahan
Birds of a Lesser Paradise - Megan Mayhew Bergman
The Child Thief - Brom
Sunnyside - Glen David Gold
Matterhorn - Karl Marlantes
Extreme Dentistry - Hugh A.D. Spencer
Beasts of no Nation - Uzodinma Iweala
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August - Claire North

April
Redeployment - Phil Klay
The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
Behind the Beautiful Forevers - Katherine Boo
The Intern's Handbook - Shane Kuhn
Love and Math - Edward Frenkel
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
Afterparty - Daryl Gregory
The Loving Dead - Amelie Beamer
Other Worlds, Better Lives - Howard Waldrop

And since its Friday, my new thread topper is my image for my Foto Friday sharing, that I know all of you look forward to with baited breath (*snicker*).

Happy Friday All!

We seem to be pacing each other well in both threads and books. :)

You are correct sir. Its amazing, I checked last years stats and I am pretty much 2 month ahead of where I was then. Didn't get to 20 until May. I think I might just hit 75 this year.

Notice your last book was Cherie Priest. I've had Boneshaker on my list for a long time. Gotta make time for it.

Happy New Thread, Jeff! I do, in fact eagerly await Foto Fridays chez Mahsdad, and this one's no exception - wonderful!

Since we are all about all things Literary, there's this week's Crash Course - Literature (ep 202), where John discusses Oedipus

http://youtu.be/Cj7R36s4dbM

>9 scaifea: Thanx Amber. Sometimes these threads can seem like we are just yelling out into the void. Its nice to know someone is listening.

20. On a Pale Horse - Piers Anthony (AUDIO) - A very interesting fantasy take on Heaven and Hell and the office of Death. The main character, Zane, is about to kill himself, gets startled and kills Death instead. In the manner of the Highlander (there can be only one), killing death means that you have to take up his office. Death isn't a being, its an office. Zane, as Death, now has to harvest the souls of the departing where there isn't a clear idea if they will go to Heaven or Hell. He has his Pale Horse, Mortis to assist him in getting to the next "client". Mortis can appear as a horse, or a car, or a boat if need be. The story is reads like a Superhero origin story, with the requisite damsel in distress and super evil villain (in this case the Devil himself).

A really fun read that I enjoyed a lot. It apparently spawned 7 more books in the Incarnations of Immortality series. Just what I need, more books on my Wishlist.

S: 2/26/14 F: 3/7/14 (10 Days)

Yeah, I remember those. I should do a reread sometime!

And yeah, you should dive into Boneshaker! :)

Okay, now I undestand why I hadn't seen you all day. Saw the Goodreads post onto FB and came looking.

Never got into Piers Anthony, with the exception of Orn which I liked as a feral youff. They could finally make a movie out of it, with today's special effects.

Cheers for a happy weekend

>14 richardderus: Regarding Anthony, me neither. He was always one of those I knew of and thought I should read, but never did. On a Pale Horse was part of the Humble Bundle I bought a couple months ago. 11 audiobooks for $10 (what I paid). I'll probably end up reading 5 or 6 out of the 11, the rest meh. But it was for a good cause, so no harm no foul.

Watching Sherlock for the 2nd time with my wife. Still just about the best thing I've seen on TV

Congratulations on a well deserved third thread, Jeff. It is great to see a few more guys coming to the fore.
We now hold 10 places in the top 40 most active threads.

Happy new thread, Jeff!

Thanx Diana

Thanx Paul, I've enjoyed putting myself out there and being more conversational on my thread, treating it more like a blog (almost like Twitter) than just a list of the books I read. Its been fun.

And adding books to my WL and TBR piles. Its all about that.

To that end, there's been a lot of praise heaped up on Birds of a Lesser Paradise over on Mark's (msf59) thread. So I just got to add it to the list.

Got my ER "prize" for February, today in the mail. It is Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere by Julie T. Lamana.

When I saw the book and read the description (10 yr old girl surviving Katrina), I was intrigued, thought maybe something like Beasts of the Southern Wild. Then after Loranne told me I won, I looked closer and saw that its aimed at 8-12 yr old's and I thought, Oh No, its going to be a little paperback that was about 50 pages long with big fonts.

Pleasantly surprized that its over 300 pages long and looks like a regular novel. I'm sure the vocabulary is more in the elementary ballpark, but I'm now looking forward to reading it. I'm going to have my 13 yr old read it too.

I will, of course, let you all know what we think of it after we do.

>20 mahsdad: Oh, that sounds pretty interesting - I can't wait to hear what you think of it!

Forgot to share this the other day, but since I'm going to have another tonight. Please enjoy a picture of a tasty IPA that, if you're a hop-head and you see it...BUY IT!

HOP-pocalypse HA!

In case you thought I'd forgotten about your wishlist, here's a list of some of the most toothsome SFnal goodies expected in March!

You can thank me later.

I can thank you now, for not posting the link :)

Ah...but I did! The blue type. G'wan g'wan clickity-click you know you wanna

Damn my eyes. I swear it wasn't there. But in my slight defense, it was purple, cause I already saw it :)

Bunch I had already seen. Adam Christopher, The End is Nigh seems interesting. Black Moon has been getting a ton of press lately. It was reviewed in the LA Times this past Sunday

Oh drat! I was hoping to load a few more items on the TBR.

I can relate with quite a few of these.

30 signs you like books more than people...
http://thoughtcatalog.com/ella-ceron/2014/01/30-signs-you-like-books-more-than-y...

I read Nebula-nominated novella WAKULLA SPRINGS and gave the Tor.com original a good going-over.

Lots to think about, said in lush prose, and plotted beautifully. Since I'm not counting it towards my goals, it lives on my blog.

Very cool. I started reading Burning Girls first (from that freebie post the other day). Springs is next on my eBook agenda

I've got Burning Girls queued up for nexts.

The last 30 pages are the longest.

Just found a Amazon giftcard from Christmas. Oooo, what to get, what to get #booknerdproblems

My gosh what a bonanza! My issue would be not spending MORE than the giftcard's value. At which I would be rubbish.

Well of course I've got to make sure I order enough to get the free shipping. Its only for $15, so go for something new and "buy" one, or dig back and look for paperbacks and get several. This will consume my day :).

Who wanted to work anyway?

21. Human Division - John Scalzi - Set in Scalzi's Old Man's War universe, this is a "novel" that is based on 13 stories that he released last year as individual ebooks. I, of course, waited for the dead tree version. These stories show more of the political side a universe populated with alien species that are for the most part more advanced than us. It follows a team of diplomats and their encounters with different races. Their exploits gives you a peak into the larger conflicts between the CDF, Earth (who they are at odds with) and the Conclave (think United Nations but with aliens). If you aren't familiar with OMW, then blah, blah, blah, I know. If you are and you like the series, then this is a must read.

I enjoyed reading these stories and thought, hmmm, here is the first 13 episodes of a new SyFy series (ala Battlestar Galactica), who knows.

S: 3/2/14 F: 3/13/14 (12 Days)

Syfy is so bad at supporting series that, if they ordered all 13 to script they'd film five and cancel the show. Maybe FX? And in any case, I'll betcha everyone waits until Redshirts sinks or swims.

*sigh*

Oh I totally agree. With all the other "alternative" markets opening up for original programming (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon), there's hope for good stuff outside of the networks.

I wish more companies would produce stuff in the BBC mold (like Sherlock). Insanely good writing and people will flock to you. Unfortunately I think TV in the US is geared to getting a show to 100 episodes so it can be syndicated.

Haven't heard any new specifics on Redshirts, I remain cautiously optimistic

Happy Foto Friday everyone.



Took this one at White Point Beach in San Pedro right before the end of the year.

>40 mahsdad: Other than the fact that the production team goes under the business banner "In Cahoots" and that it's a limited series, I got nothin' either.

>41 mahsdad: Cool!

Nice pic!

Everything you wanted to know about Hamlet but were afraid to ask. Okay not really, but it is Crash Course Literature Ep. 3. Hamlet Part 1, Green's overview and fun analysis of the source material for the Lion King.

http://youtu.be/My14mZa-eq8

Today's the day for book-type stuff in my YT subscription feed. Here's (what Buzzfeed calls) Insane facts about your favorite authors. I wouldn't exactly call them insane, but they are interesting.

http://youtu.be/0mY5GacB_b8

Happy new thread, Jeff, and love the little birdies in #41.

Nothing says "have a good evening" like a bacon jalapeño popper quiche.

Thanx for stopping by Julia.

>47 richardderus: If you had just said "Bacon jalapeno popper quiche", I would be meh, maybe not. But seeing is believing. Looks darn tasty.

Went to the library this afternoon. Stocking my supply of audiobooks for the commute.

Sunnyside - Glenn David Gold. A novel about Charlie Chaplin, American Capitalism and the beginnings of the culture of celebrity. Just added this to my WL last week.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer. Young boy deals with death of his father during 9/11. Usually I like to read the book first, but I did see the Tom Hanks/Sandra Bullock movie of this a while ago.

Time to get ripping. 10 CDs for one, 19 for the other.

Also got The Corpse Exhibition by Hassan Blasim. A series of short stories about the Iraq War, written by an Iraqi. I added this to my WL last month, but I can't for the life of me remember where I heard about it.

Just figured out you can edit/change the tags on your books in bulk. Who knew. Probably everyone, but me. :)

Yeah me for fixing spelling errors and duplicate tags (but for capitalization).

Ah its the little things that make me happy.

ETA: Derp, speaking of spelling errors. Its knew, not know.

Jeff, Thanks for these lovely images. It is great to see sunshiny images when it is cold, grey and dreary in my neck of the woods of NE Pennsylvania.

Batch edits are The Bomb. As a cataloging tool, LT is the best out there!

22. Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A. Heinlein (AUDIO) - Do you grok? Maybe I don't. This is Heinlein's classic story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human raised on Mars by Martians come to earth. Its a fish out of water story, a Messiah story, a treatise on Heinlein's libertarian political views. I've read this 3 or 4 times over the years and I guess as I get old and older, I find that I don't connect with the story like I did when I was younger.

I'm glad I read it, but I don't think I will read it again.

S: 3/2/14 F: 3/13/14 (11 Days)

>53 mahsdad: Ain't that the sad, sad truth. Older eyes don't look at things the same way.

Scored another from the YMCA. Year of Wonder : Novel of the Plague - Geraldine Brooks. Want to read it just on that title alone. Plus she's a Pulitzer winner with March

"When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated mountain village, a housemaid named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer"

I really need to take some books over there. I'm really upside down on the give to take ratio.

Audiobooks - Going to put this out there to anyone following me. As I'm sure you've figured out, if you seen my booklists, I "read" a lot of audiobooks. I want to share.

If you see any that interest you and you want a copy, I have the means to share them with you. PM me what you want, and if I still have it (anything I've read recently I'm sure I do) and I'll put it in my Box account and share the link with you.

I can't ear-read. It turns into "blah blah blah" and *snooorrre* in about 15 minutes. Ya know...come to think of it...television does the same thing to me.

Hmmm

I can only ear-read (I like that, change approved) in the car or when I'm on the treadmill at the gym. I have an 80 mile round-trip commute. The audio books (and podcasts) keep me from going all road-ragey.

And I thank the kind, beneficent Universe yet again that I don't live in Car Country anymore. *shudder* Four hundred miles A FUCKING WEEK just to get to a place I never wanted to be anyway.

Its a trade off. I enjoy what I do and the people I work with. I'm home for dinner every night. Only occasionally have to work extra putting out IT fires (figuratively). Last night being one of them. But in return, I get to hang out on LT and talk to fine folks like you and troll FB and Youtube more than I should.

2 jobs ago I was never home. I would fly out on Monday morning or Sunday evening, fly home Friday, at least 35 or 40 weeks a year. This was when my son was a toddler. Hated giving up the fringe benefits of airline travel, but that was unworkable.

Last job was in software sales, where I was probably driving less distance (to the office), but it was in Culver City and I was in the Valley WAY too often trying to come south on the 405 at 6pm on a Friday night. As long as the traffic is moving I'm okay. I"m an autopilot/cruise control type of driver.

Then an old friend called and made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

I had one job I liked in my life, and it was in Manhattan. Subways are gloriously easy commutes compared to cars. Crowding? Take it every time over traffic.

23. A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby - A former TV talk show host, single mom, teenager and a muscian all end up on the roof of Topper's House building on New Year's Eve. All intent on ending their lives. Instead they distract themselves and form a fast "friendship" that keeps them moving forward and examining the circumstances of their lives.

This is the second Hornby I've read (listened to the audio of High Fidelity a couple years ago). I enjoyed is prose and humor about a decidely non-humorous topic. One of the interesting style devices he uses (to both good and bad effect) was that he rotates around the 4 main characters such that each chapter is from a different persons point of view. Sometimes jumping ahead, sometimes giving a different perspective of what situation just occured. The only bad part for me was that sometimes I got lost on who was speaking (but then that could just be me). Recommended read.

S: 2/27/14 F: 3/18/14 (20 Days)

^I love my Belgiums!

Thanks for stopping by my thread and dropping off some beer. Always appreciated. Nice new thread here and I love the photo of your son. I could romp in the surf about now.
I love Hornby but haven't read A Long Way Down. I NEED to get to it. Try to track down High Fidelity and About a Boy. Both are excellent.

>62 mahsdad: Was this one of your YMCA books? Sounds like a good time. I like Hornby's book review/essays a lot.

>64 richardderus: It was. I had just put it on my list because I saw the trailer for the movie that's coming out soon. Pierce Bronson, Toni Collette, Aaron Paul and Imogen Poots (never heard of her, great name). If I can, I alway want to read the book of a movie coming out, even if I don't ultimately see the movie.

>63 msf59: Thanx for the Duvel, I've had that before and its quite tasty. Thanx too for making me remember that I had indeed read (ear read) High Fidelity a couple years ago. I think I have About a Boy on audio as well. Just watched the pilot of the "sit-com" they did that is loosely based on About a Boy. It was okay. Full judgement is reserved.

ETA - got my post #s mixed up. Oops

New addition to the WL. From boingboing a story about vampires, Mormanism, death and oral hygiene. Its a debut novel by Hugh A. D. Spencer called Extreme Dentistry

http://boingboing.net/2014/03/19/exclusive-chapter-1-of-hugh-a.html

From the article; "...explores the love and loss, terrible bosses, difficulties in getting good babysitters and those seedy centers of monstrous human and inactivity both human and inhuman - shopping malls."

Sounds fun, in a sick and twisted way. Which is nice.

Ha! Like it.

Here's Part 2 of John Green's discussion of Hamlet on Crash Course Literature.

http://youtu.be/nDCohlKUufs

Well hey, looky here, its Foto Friday time again. Please enjoy this imiage of an anemone I took out our local marine aquarium.

cooooooooooooolllllllllllllll

That picture is awesome. Makes me want to go scuba diving.

Ooh, that's beautiful! Have a good weekend, Jeff.

>69 mahsdad: Wow, Jeff - that looks like something that could have been made of porcelain.

Have a great weekend.

Beautiful photo, Jeff.

If you ever want to mix dentistry and science fiction, Prostho Plus by Piers Anthony is a hoot.

Great review on the Hornby book. I've got that one knocking around here somewhere. Need to advance that one further up Mt. TBR.

Am a big fan of Geraldine Brooks - liked Year of the Plague, and People of the Book even more. Looking forward to your thoughts!

Adam Christopher talking about his new book Burning Dark on John Scalzi's Big Idea blog. I've only read Empire State, but I got to get with the program and read the rest of his work.

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2014/03/25/the-big-idea-adam-christopher-4/

24. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer (AUDIO) - This is primarily the story of Oskar Schell, and how he deals with the the death of his father during 9/11. During the attacks he comes home and listens to messages from his father from the buildings as they are on fire. Needless to say, it affects him greatly. After his father's death Oskar finds a key and the name Black. He then goes on a quest to find the lock that is opened by the key, he feels that the key leads to something his Father left him to find. To do so, he tries to visit every person named Black in NYC. He has many fears and quirks that are almost OCD, most an offshoot of the trauma he experienced. One of my favorite lines in this regard is that whenever he is feeling anxious or depressed, he says he has "heavy boots", as if whatever he has to do makes his feet heavier and harder to move.

This is both a funny and tragic story. I could really feel the pain this young boy was feeling dealing with something that no child should have to deal with. Worth the time.

S: 3/17/14 F: 3/26/14 (10 Days)

Nice appreciative review, Jeff.

Thank you kind sir!

The new Foto is here! The new Foto is here! Happy Foto Friday Folks!



This is an image taken of the Vincent Thomas Bridge. It is the 4th longest suspension bridge in California

Oooh, lovely!

25. Divergent - Veronica Roth - Book 1 of the YA Dystopian series. My son read it and loved it. Wanted to read it before we saw the movie (or in CASE we saw the movie). I think its in the news enough to not have to describe the plot other than to say, in a post-apocalyptic world and smart intelligent young girl has to overcome obstacles and challenges to succeed and uncover a hidden cabal and plot to overthrow the status quo. Where have I heard that before?

Its still a good story and has some good twists on the formula (that is obviously working). We'll definitely be reading the rest of the series.

S: 3/20/14 F: 3/27/14 (8 Days)

Palm trees, blue skies, and a handsome bridge. The composition also makes me feel like I'm moving. Yay!

Oh Jeee-eee-eeeeffffffff...April's here!

Heh. Dodged a lot of bullets there my fine friend. A bunch that were maybes, Niven, Bova, Priest. But the only one I think I'll actively look for, and put on the list is...

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

Was out in Palm Springs this weekend at my MIL's place. Its too strong a word to call her a bit of a hoarder, but she definitely likes to collect stuff, especially books. The bulk of her stash is non-fiction and art books, which doesn't always interest me, but anytime we can come home with anything to reduce her inventory, is a good thing.

I brought back:

Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie. I wasn't too successful with Satanic Verses on audio, but I'll give this a try.
Atonement - Ian McEwan. I've always wanted to read this and now its in the pile
Einstein: A Life - Denis Brian. I wasn't going to bring it home, but my wife was psychically kicking me; "No take it home, take it home" So on the pile it goes. :)

She (the wife) also brought back a couple gigantic gardening books.

Always like free reads.

LOL on your comments on Divergent. Kids haven't heard as many plots as we have. But, ummm, I'm thinking they've heard that one lately. Anyway, seems like the kids are starting to discover the series and the ones that do, love it. Yeah! Anything that keeps them reading.

As for reading as kids On a Pale Horse! That brings memories back. I used to love Piers Anthony. I never finished that series though. I remember the scene where death goes to collect the atheist, but the atheist turns to dust and I think even runs out with the bath water, because that's what he believes should happen. Great scene. I think I got more serious minded for awhile and thought I was above all his horrible puns!

Thanx for swinging by Katie. I've starred your thread, so I'll start silently lurking over there as well. (I'm not much of a talker, but I'll probably chime in now and again with some well placed snark) :)

Crash Course Literature - Episode 4. John talks about Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. (part 1).

http://youtu.be/SyyrwoCec1k

Enjoy, or don't. No big whoop.

I now take you back to your regularly scheduled Monday...

26. Corpse Exhibition - Hassan Blasim - Wow, this was an interesting read. A collection of short stories by an Iraqi ex-pat living in Finland. From the publisher - Penquin :

The first major literary work about the Iraq War from an Iraqi perspective—by an explosive new voice hailed as “perhaps the best writer of Arabic fiction alive” (The Guardian)—The Corpse Exhibition shows us the war as we have never seen it before. Here is a world not only of soldiers and assassins, hostages and car bombers, refugees and terrorists, but also of madmen and prophets, angels and djinni, sorcerers and spirits.

Blending shocking realism with flights of fantasy, The Corpse Exhibition offers us a pageant of horrors, as haunting as the photos of Abu Ghraib and as difficult to look away from, but shot through with a gallows humor that yields an unflinching comedy of the macabre. Gripping and hallucinatory, this is a new kind of storytelling forged in the crucible of war.

Some of these stories border on SciFi, or a Twilight Zone episode. I'm sure there are things that I missed culturally, but that's okay, with very few exceptions, each story is excellent. From "Corpse Exhibition" about an insurgent group more interested in the aesthetic value of the display of their terrorist acts than who they kill, to "Madman of Freedom Square" where a town prospers when a pair of "angels" walk among them until war encroaches and takes it all way, to "That Inauspicious Smile", the most surreal of the lot, about a man trying to discover why he can't stop smiling.

Very Odd, Very Good Stuff.

S: 3/17/14 F: 3/30/14 (14 Days)

88 Lurkers always welcome. Snark even more so!

You hit me with a book bullet on The Corpse Exhibition. The title alone is... well odd enough to make me scratch my head. & I'm all for gallows humor.

>90 mahsdad: ...Iraqi ex-pat...Finland...*brain melt*

Nice selection brought back from MiL's place!

And, of course, you KNEW I wasn't going to let up on the book-bulleting, didn't you?

>91 cammykitty:, >92 richardderus: It certainly was one of those brain melting experiences. I forget were I first saw this, but the basic description that I posted above, hooked me. Then a couple weeks later, it was on the New Book shelf at the library. Couldn't pass it up.

>93 richardderus: Keep 'em coming, but maybe I've reached a saturation point. Nothing really reaches out and grabs me this month. Oh well, its not as if I don't already have 75,000 score of things to keep me entertained and jones for. ;)

Forgot, one of the books I already had on my list was All You Need is Kill, which is coming out in as a movie with Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt called Edge of Tomorrow. The trailer looks incredible. Out Starship Troopering Starship Troopers, but with Groundhog Day-like time loops.

"... all the shops have been smashed open, there was a whole bunch of people across the street helping themselves to musical instruments, can you believe that?"

"Yeah," said Rincewind, picking up a knife and testing its blade thoughtfully, "Luters, I expect"

Pratchett is f'n punny

>95 mahsdad: Once I dug in to the list, nothing really hollered to me either. I already own Dark Eden. I already knew about the few others I was interested in. *sigh* Not every month can be a doozy.

Just found out I'm getting Acts of God by Ellen Gilchrist from ER. Yippee, I'm on a roll, I think that's 2 in a row.

For your Foto Friday viewing enjoyment, and odd little picture that is the image I used for April in my photo calendar.

Hmm, some interesting smearing going on. It's water waves, right?

>96 mahsdad: Never fear Jeff; Midnight's Children is a zillion times superior to The Satanic Verses.

>100 mahsdad: Great photo as always.

Have a great weekend, buddy.

>101 drneutron: I'm with Jim, it's water over something interesting. Sandy tidepool?

>101 drneutron:, >103 richardderus: Its a hot tub. The light was hitting it just the right angle, plus, some of the bubbles and distortions are, I think, the hot water coming from the jets mixing with the slightly cooler water of the tub itself. Convection currents are cool. ;)

Here's Part 2 of Crash Course Literature's discussion of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

http://youtu.be/hRDjmyEvmBI

A hot tub! Never in a million years would I have guessed. That's why I love photography so much, it can tell the literal truth and still fool you. Makes looking at stuff more interesting.

I wanted to guess a pool since the water looks so clear and clean, but thought it might be a Caribbean beach.

27. The Light Fantastic - Terry Pratchett - This is the 3rd Discworld book I've read. The first 2 were later in the series. Light Fantastic is the second book he wrote in this world and I think it shows. It was good, but I was really tempted to put it down and walk away.

Discworld is a flat disc world (duh) that is supported on the backs of 4 elephants that are riding on an immense space turtle. His stories are full of puns, paradies and homages to all sorts of literary tropes and I do like the series. They're a fun read.

In this one, Discworld is being pulled towards a mysterious object that is affecting life on the disc, especially magic. The various wizard guilds are trying to save the world, but to do so, they must find one of the Eight Spells that is stuck in the head of a hapless sort of wizard named Rincewind. Who, as is the case in all good adventure stories, rises to be the hero that saves the day. He has a band of people that follow him, among them, is Cohan the Barbarian, and toothless, aging version of who you'd expect, and Luggage, a sentient container that follows Rincewind across time and space (think a cross between the Tardis and a pet rottweiler)

Not my favorite so far, but fun nonetheless

S: 11/30/13 F: 4/3/14 (125 Days)

28. Robopocalypse - Daniel H. Wilson (AUDIO) - Take World War Z + Terminator + a bit of I Robot and a dash of Maximum Overdrive (movie version of Stephen King's Trucks), and you've got Robopocalypse.

Told in the historical journal style of WWZ, this is the story of the "New War", the war of the robots and the plucky band of humans that fight to survive. It was a fun shoot-'em up sci-fi yarn.

S: 3/27/14 F: 4/4/14 (9 Days)

#27 Since I'm no fan of Pratchett's I'll skip it.

#28 Hmmm

Hmmmmmm

...maybe not...not now...hmmmm

Yeah RD, I think Pratchett is either black or white. Read Good Omens for the first time years ago, just started the Discworld last year when someone gave me one for Santathing. I'm still on the read it side.

As far as Robopocalypse is concerned, there are too many books to read to waffle. TBR it, or Don't, there is no maybe :) sarcasm font on Oh no, you must like everything I like, or I won't feel validated sarcasm font off

Have a good weekend!

You do too, and I think if the litmus test is "like it or you don't like me" I'll just avoid the possibility of problems and skip it.

*whew* dodged that bullet!

^ +1

>111 mahsdad: Jeff, I bought The Colour of Magic a couple of years ago but still haven't got round to starting the series. Does it matter which order you read them?

Jeff, the first two Discworld books were written as spoofs of specific fantasy books (in The Colour of Magic and fantasy tropes--wizards, Druids, New Agers, Conan, trolls, doomsday cults, etc. After these two books, which are, as you say, nothing all that special, Pratchett starts to find his legs and moves into the heart of Discworld and the characters we come to know and love. The Luggage is really the best part of the first two books. So, in short, don't judge Pratchett at large by this book.

>115 ronincats: Thanx Roni, I didn't know that about the first two books.

>114 PaulCranswick: Paul, I definitely think you don't have to read them in any particular order. The first one I read was #25 The Truth, about the newpaper industry (if you can believe it) and I really enjoyed it. The other one was #7 - Pyramids and it was pretty good as well. I'm sure after 40 novels there are bound to be some good ones and bad ones. Read on MacDuff...

29. Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere - Julie Lamana - I got this book from the Early Reviewer program. This book is aimed at the tweener set, but I think it is a book worthy of anyone's time.

Armani Curtis is a little girl living in the Lower Nines section of New Orleans with her Mom, Dad, Grandma, and her 3 siblings. All she is looking forward to is her 10th birthday party. But fate and Mother Nature intervenes. Her birthday is the day Hurricane Katrina blows in and with the resulting levee damage, wipes the Lower Nines off the map. You can really feel the heat and tension of the situation as Armani has to step up and keep her family together from the attic of their house to the Superdome to a refugee center.

Ultimately an excellent first novel, despite some loose ends and telegraphed conclusions. Still made me shed a happy tear at the end.

S: 3/30/14 F: 4/6/14 (8 Days)

Drop everything. Go to Ammy and download the *free* Kindle novel Just One Damned Thing After Another.

No, not tomorrow. Tonight. Believe me.

Kinda weird when the author of a book "likes" your review. Pretty sure Julie Lamana is on GR and liked my review of her book. Sure, the cynic in me knows that its just to get more exposure to her book and a reflex like. But my inner fanboy in me is as giddy as a little school girl. :)

30. Burning Girls - Veronica Schanoes (EBOOK) - Nominated for the 2014 Nebula Award for Best Novella. Its an old school fairy tale, think Fiddler on the Roof with a touch of American Gods wrapped up in a Twilight Zone episode. A young jewish girl in Poland is trained by her Grandmother to be a healer and witch in the 19th Century. She comes to America after the Cossacks over run her village. What also comes over to the new world is an old demon, that will prove hard to deal with.

A pretty good story that, about half-way thru, I was going to describe as being one just like a certain fairy tale we all know, but by the end, I knew that it WAS that that fairy tale. And in the end, like every good Twilight Zone episode, no good deed goes unpunished.

F: 4/8/14

Picked up a 40 yr old paperback copy of A Farewell to Arms at the Y tonight. Pages aren't too brittle, but very brown. When I get to it, hopefully, they'll stay together. On Mt. TBR it goes.

A Farewell to Arms! Goodness. You *do* enjoy pain, don't you.

I liked Burning Girls a good deal. Sounds as though you were more respectful than admiring...?

Farewell to Arms...Free is Free right? Not going to promise I'll ever get to it, or finish it when I do. You've got me a little bit scared ;)

Burning Girls, I liked it, but I don't think I loved it. Saw the twists coming a mile a way. I'm sure there is lots of literary merit in this (and most of the books that I read, quite frankly) that I missed, but as an enthusiastic clueless reader, I enjoyed it.

Reading Brief History of the Dead right now. About 50 pages in, liking it a lot. Thanx for sharing it with me.

Reading is about enjoyment, at least I think it is, unless one is doing it for a class. Happy to hear you're liking The Brief History of the Dead!

>121 mahsdad: After my last Hemingway read (for my RL book club), For Whom the Bell Tolls, I doubt I can, in my good conscience ever refer a Hemingway to anyone - though The Old Man and the Sea (my only other Hemingway read) wasn't so painful.

The 28 books you should read, if you want to... Not so much actual books, but the books you find in certain situations. Pretty interesting, IMHO.

http://www.themillions.com/2014/02/28-books-you-should-read-if-you-want-to.html

>119 mahsdad: Interesting to get the author's like on your review. Giddiness abounds!

>126 mahsdad: You should read books mentioned in other books.

Oh my heck YEAH!!

Happy Foto Friday (actually I'll put the pictures in the next post, a bit of explanation first). Over on Facebook, our dear Richard posted a link to an article about a very weird and ancient creature called the Hag Fish. (Oh look, here's the link : http://io9.com/were-only-just-starting-to-understand-the-miracle-of-h-1559126974....

One of the unique features of this creature is its ability to put out INCREDIBLE amounts of slime as a defense mechanism. They are both cool and disgusting all at the same time. I told him over there that that was a wonderful idea for FF, and here we are ;)

A couple years ago, we went on a boat trip to Catalina with the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, where along the way we would stop and the docents would pull up traps from the ocean floor and we would see what sort of creatures happened by. Urchins, Seastars, Octopus, etc. And plenty of the aforementioned hag fish. It was an excellent adventure.

So without further ado, prepare to be slimed...

Hag fish relaxing on the boat...



What that fish (probably a little over a foot long) can produce...

Here's a post from Huffington about the 20 books published in the 90's that are still great today. (BTW, I refuse to believe that the 90's were 20 years ago, so there :( )

A few in here that I've read, a few that will definitely go on the WL. Enjoy...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-graham-jones-/20-best-books-of-the-90s_b_5...

Embarrassed to say I've only read 2 of those books listed The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and The Golden Compass. I tried reading The Bastard out of Carolina but couldn't. It's a little on the brutal side.

Foto Friday!!! That goo! That's worthy of a Dr. Who monster.

Thanx Katie, the image isn't exactly the "artistic" lot I like to post here, but I couldn't resist.

With that list, I've read 4 Jurassic Park, The Things They Carried (very good just read that last year), American Psycho and Cryptonomicon (next to Snow Crash, my favorite Stephenson)

Goo is irresistible. The Things they Carried and Cryptonomicon have been on my WL for quite a while. Not 20 years though!

Hi Jeff, happy as a clam that Richard gave me your link.
Love the photos, the anemone almost looks like a ceramic sculpture. (Richard must have been extatic with all those tentacles)

And love that you made me look for the Piers Anthony and Robert Heinlein's books, which too my unending surprise, i had them tucked for "later"and promoted them to TBR.

Usually I do not go for reading fellow LT's reviews because they are too revealing. But I liked yours a lot, you just gave enough away to want me to read them, and still short enough to not bother me.
SF is a passion, although I haven't read good SF in awhile. Probably since 2 years ago, when I discovered David Drake's Northworld

I will now lurk in new waters (to keep going the nautical vibe you have ;) and stop by to see your thread more often :D.

>135 tigerlyly: Thanx for stopping buy Liliane! As far as my "reviews" are concerned, there are many more LT groupers who are much more eloquent than I when it comes to reviewing books. I'm crap at finding the larger meanings and subtle nuances of a story. I either like it or I don't (chances are if I finished it, I liked it) and I'm going to give you my off-the-cuff ramblings of what I thought. Glad you like them.

So I scrolled all the way down and missed the *shudder* hagfish. I really loved The Things They Carried and Cryptonomicon!

>137 richardderus: I'm proud of you. Now that its "read", you won't have to see it again. Unless you scroll up. Don't scroll up.

I no upgescrollen no how no way. No. NO HAGFISH.

I've only read three of those: The Things They Carried, All the Pretty Horses and Bastard Out of Carolina. Several others are on my wishlist, and others I have zero desire to read, like American Psycho.

That is some serious slime, Jeff! What did it smell like?

Slime smell? If I recall, not too much of a smell. Mostly the typical sea smell you experience with ocean water and fish. The slime is a protein of some sort that is EXTREMELY absorbent. Its mostly water

It looks like it would have a clean, oceany smell so that's good. I'm not sure why I'm so fascinated by it but I'd like to see one in person someday. The fish itself is exceedingly ugly, however, I must say.

hey Jeff,
I am little weird probably since I prefer my raw first impressions and emotions when I read a book than a deep analysis of somebody else.
After I read a book I am all about talking about it with somebody who read it too. Love arguing points and nuances and off-the -cuff ramblings after I make my own mind.
And when you have been addicted to books since you were 7, one's tastes are definitely off-the-cuff variety :P

I am dropping my own brand of virus on your thread, coffee and flowers. It seems is catching around the others I infected ;)

Okay, I just threw up a little bit in my mouth at that hagfish thing...

Interesting list, too. I have DFW's books on my shelves waiting for me and I will get to them eventually. I would never have thought to read his stuff until I met him, and he was such a wonderful person that I feel that I really must read him now.

I'm sorry Amber (and Richard), maybe I should have put the pix in the spoiler tag. I promise I'll post flowers next week.

I agree that once you meet an author (or artist, musician, etc) it makes it much more real. I can't say that I've personally met any authors, but social media has definitely kept certain people at the top of my watch list.

Ha! A spoiler tag wouldn't have worked for me, since I Must Click on All Spoliers. Sigh. Anyways, it's not your fault that I have issues with snot-like substances.

31. A Brief History of the Dead - Kevin Brockmeier - A profoundly interesting read. When you die, you go to live in the City, where you reside and go about your day-to-day life until no one on Earth remembers you. When there is no one left alive to remember you, you wink out of existence. The book alternates between life in the City and Laura Byrd, a wildlife expert working for Coca-Cola. Sent on an expedition to the Antarctic to research methods of using polar ice to manufacture soft drinks. As things progress, we find the City is emptying and Laura finds herself alone at the bottom of the world.

This story kinda went from the ridiculous to the sublime. Its both a post-apocalyptic survival story and a treatise on the afterlife and what an impact a single person can have. I fear I've said too much. Highly recommend.

S: 4/7/14 - F: 4/13/14 (7 Days)

Well said...the ridiculous to the sublime indeed. Good ending, too. Happy you enjoyed it!

>148 richardderus: The ending was what really got me. Most of the book was good, made me want to know more about what was happening in this world. There were lots of things/situations that were just mentioned in passing that made me want to know more. But then the last 2 chapters, wow. Made me think of Brainstorm, Natalie Wood's last film, about scientists developing a method of recording what happens at the last moment before and during death. With the book, I knew what had to happen, but not sure how.

Latest Crash Course - Literature. Today (or whenever the heck it came out) John is discussing Jane Eyre

http://youtu.be/Z8tqY8fX0Ec

Why the heck are so many people ticked at John Green?

People are ticked at him? Hmmm, I don't know. Maybe the purist fan-boys are mad about the publicity that the TFIOS movie is getting and is going to get in the next month. Maybe they think he's a sell out?

I think he's a good guy, and is one of those "famous" people that I want to be friends with in a completely non-stalkery way. Maybe I'm wrong and he's a complete jack-hole, but I'm not going to be swayed by the winds of public opinion. I still like his books (the couple I've read) and his videos.

"You can be famous and successful, but only on my terms" :)

Turns out it was some bogus tempest in a teapot about Hank saying hussy and whore someplace.

What a crock! It wasn't aimed at a *person*! Such nonsense.

I see, said the blind man as he pissed into the wind. Its all coming back to me. I think Hank's vid from last week was about What Boys look for in Girls. Haven't watched it yet.

Heh, my family's version of that was "I see, said the blind man to his deaf wife as he kissed the cow."

And then we take a turn down the Monty Python road...

...A nods as good as a wink to a blind bat...

...Say no more squire...

I bet she's a goer...

Does she like.....photography?...

Okay lets stop now, or we could just fill my thread with python quotes. Not that I mind...

Could get sclerotic, though. Best to pause.

In my family, it was "I see," said the blind man, as he picked up his hammer and saw.

Today's Vlogbrother's video. First half John talks about his experiences at the LA Times Book Fair, the 2nd half was getting to the MTV Movie awards.

He also talked about reading Behind the Beautiful Forevers for the Nerdfighter Book Club. Not sure about the book club itself, but the book he choose sounds really interesting.

http://youtu.be/w34pU9s_UVI

I'll throw my family's version in the mix: "I see," said the blind man to his deaf dog.

I'm intrigued by the Brockmeier. The hosts of the Books on the Nightstand podcast were just raving about his latest book, which is apparently a memoir of *shudder* seventh grade. Heaven help us! The book you read sounds much more my speed.

Happy Easter!

Thx Diana!

Happy Foto Friday. After last week's reaction (man, where does the time go), I thought I would mellow it out.

So for your viewing pleasure....a flower. Happy Easter!

Daylily! So pretty. I appreciate the absence of *shudder* hagfish *shudder*.

>117 mahsdad:
I'm glad you liked this book. It was a five star read for me!

Its Crash Course Literature Day as well.

Here's part 1 of an interesting sounding book that I had never heard of; Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. I'll leave it to John to describe the book fully, but I'll just say that it is (according to Wikipedia), the archetypal modern African novel.

http://youtu.be/w1Kw94qjdQA

I haven't pestered yinz with my endless Wishlist additions lately. Well let's end that. Here's what I've added in April so far.

Redeployment - short stories about soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan and what happens when they come back
The Goldfinch - on my Pulitzer bucket list it goes.
Behind the Beautiful Forevers - besides the great title, its a non-fiction about living in the "undercity" in Mumbai. Recommended by John Green
The Intern's Handbook - a retiring (at 25) assassin writes a handbook for his group who's assassin members are all interns at various corporations (providing great cover stories)
Love and Math - a quasi-autobiographical story of the inner complexity and beauty of math. The description gives the analogy what if art class only taught you how to paint a fence and never told you that Van Gogh or Picasso existed. What would you think of art?
Things Fall Apart - discussed in the Crash Course Literature episode for this week. Sounded interesting.

Happy Friday, Jeff! Thanks for the beautiful flower. A lily, I think?

Speaking of wishlist fatteners, go here. Many many yummys.

Man, what an interesting list. Some that I've already read, some that are already WL'd and a bunch that I have to look at more closely to add to the WL.

Thx.

Lovely lily photo, Jeff! I'm not a lily fan usually, but you make that one look so purty.

I read Things Fall Apart a few years ago and thought, "meh." I'm clearly in the minority about that one, though.

With the death of Gabriel Garcia Marquez recently, someone tweeted this link to Thomas Pynchon reviewing Love in the Time of Cholera. Trippy.

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/10/books/the-heart-s-eternal-vow.html

32. Sunnyside - Glen David Gold (AUDIO) - Got the audio of this book from the library. Its an historical fiction novel about the end of WWI and Charlie Chaplin's exploits in Hollywood during the early days of the studio system. Its a "point in time" type of story where the reader is presented with characters and stories that are kinda already in progress. The story consists of 3 loosely connected story lines; Charlie, where he is working on his film Sunnyside, a wannabe actor who gets sent to France in 1918 and another man sent to fight the Bolsheviks in Russia.

It was a pretty good read, not great, but good. I thought it was a bit of a stretch of the linking of the 3 stories. Maybe there's a deeper meaning that I just didn't get. There were a few twists and turns that surprised me. Also, since its a historical fiction story that mixes real characters and events with Gold's inventions, it will be interesting to compare real life to the story.

S: 4/6/14 - F: 4/21/14 (16 Days)

I saw on someone's thread a running tally of the books read by year. Thought that was interesting, I'm going to start doing that. I'll move it up top when I manage to get thread 4.

2014 - 3
2013 - 8
2012 - 6
2011 - 4
2009 - 2
2008 - 2
2007 - 1
2006 - 2
2005 - 4
2001 - 1
2000 - 1
1986 - 1

WL addition from the good folks at BoingBoing.

The book is Afterparty by Daryl Gregory.

Cory Doctorow gave the overview that made me want to put it on the list (http://boingboing.net/2014/04/22/afterparty-doped-up-technothr.html)

...From existentialism to theology to neuroethics, Afterparty is part philosophy exercise, part science fiction...

Sounds challenging, but interesting.

Hi Jeff,
I hope you had a great Easter with your family.




Every time I stop on your thread I add a new book to my wishlist/TBR. Which is extraordinary to me since I normally do not covet books to read from almost anybody here.
On the other hand is not great since my TBR has almost over 1000 books in it and growing it just makes me despairing.

Enjoy your morning :)

>178 tigerlyly: Sorry about that Liliane ;) I figure if I'm adding interesting sounding books to my WishList, might as well subject you all to them as well :)

thanx for stopping by

yeah, yeah... I can feel how brokenhearted you are about it :))

^ +1 (or whatever current Thread-speak we are using for Thumb's up) :)

"+1" won't go out of style, too efficient and succinct.

I like the +1. Took me a little minute to figure out what people meant with it, but it definitely gets the job done.

Good morning fellow Groupers, Happy Foto Friday, yet again.

This was taken at the Petersen Automotive Museum. A favorite spot in our family. Enjoy...

Love the photo Jeff! Happy Friday to you, too!

Cool rat!

You know I'm gearing up for the May "Make Jeff's Wishlist Scream" onslaught, don't you.

^+1

33. Summerland - Michael Chabon - This was a book sale purchase at the local library. Chabon is one of those authors that I'll buy their book, pretty much sight unseen. I hadn't heard of it, but the blurb on the back sold me.

...with a motley crew of creatures that includes everything from a Sasquatch to a werefox, Ethan struggles to defeat giants, bat-winged goblins and one of the toughest ball clubs in the realms of magic in order to save the Summerlands and ultimately, the world.

Pretty much targeted at the youth market, it was a delightful read. Baseball meets Ragnarok (or in this case ragged rock). Puns intended, cheesy good fun, with a unathletic boy (who recently lost his mother - of course, its printed by Disney) who has to rise above adversity to become the hero. Lots of mixed genres of gods and mythical creatures; there is a baseball scout named Chiron, from Greek mythology, the main baddy is from Native American lore, and we even get to see (thinly veiled) some of our favorite American Folklore characters.

Sure its your classic, mortal man has to go on a extraordinary quest to save the world, no real stretch. But I enjoyed it nonetheless.

S: 4/13/14 - F: 4/24/14 (12 Days)

A good tale well told, then. Yay!

again with this??I swore myself I will not add any more books to my wishlist... you are terrible :P

Love the yellow car... question: what is "Make Jeff's Wishlist Scream" ??

Well at least one was one I actually read.

Now as far as my WL is concerned, Mr Derus and I have been going back and forth all year posting lists and articles of upcoming books. Goading each other to add to our wishlists, or as I like to call it; "Mt. Oh my god I have too many books to read as it is".

Click book list links from him (or me for that matter) at your own peril :)

Here's Part 2 of Crash Course Literature's discussion of Things Fall Apart. The novel of post-colonial Africa.

http://youtu.be/oyvDYZ6hJNA

And let the screaming commence:

15 SFF Novels by WIMMIN coming out this year. Warning: I've added a comic book because she made it sound so good.

Dodged those bullets almost entirely...I know Kung Fu (I'm Neo).

Ann Leckie and Marie Brennan, I already have on my WL for the books previous to the ones mentioned in this list. No point in adding the sequels unless I read the first ones.

Not...not adding Lumberjanes?! No! For REALZ?

Nah. For as big a geek as I am, I never got into comic books. Better luck next time. Where's your SFSignals list? :)

Have a good weekend, if I don't see you here

and before you say it, I know this isn't a comic book, its a graphic novel. Same difference ;)

>188 mahsdad: Oh, I *loved* Summerland when I read it a few years back! That was BC, but I've recently purchased a copy for Charlie's shelves for when he gets a bit older.

>197 mahsdad: I think they *are* the same, believe me. I am no fan of the comic book!

34. Acts of God - Ellen Gilchrist - This was a ARC book I got thru LT's Early Reviewer group. It is a collection of 10 (even though the back cover says 11, I think I got gypped) stories where the characters go thru some tragedy (a lot of them centered around natural disasters; flood, tornado, hurricane) and come out on the other side better for the experience. The title, I think more refers to the tragedies that occur and less on the "lesson" that the characters learn from them.

A quick read that I enjoyed. A several of the stories had me on the verge of leaking water from my eyes. A couple stories I didn't really connect with, but the they were in the minority. To be honest, prior to reading it, it wouldn't have caught my eye in the bookstore. But after drawing the lucky straw with ER, I'm glad I read it.

S: 4/24/14 - F: 4/27/14 (4 Days)

Amazing to me she's still active at 79! In the Land of Dreamy Dreams was a favorite of one of my sisters, can't remember which one.

I had recognized the name when the ER book list came up, but I don't think I'd ever read anything of hers. My wife thought we had something that she had read, but we couldn't find it.

It was pretty good, not necessarily right in my wheelhouse, but I'm always game for horizon-broadening.

As a horizon-broadener of long standing, let me point you towards Voices of the South, an excellent series of books published by LSU. Gilchrist's first collection, In the Land of Dreamy Dreams, is there.

I've been meaning to read Summerland for years now--and PaperBackSwap had a copy just waiting for me!

May's SF List of Luscious as requested. John posted it tonight.

^ Hmmm, nothing jumps out at me at first glance. I'll have to keep perusing it, see if something strikes my fancy.

I was smitten by several, most remarkably the reissue omnibus of Andre Norton's novels. And the SF Gateway omnibuses (omnibi?) of E.C. Tubbs and Henry Kuttner. And American Neanderthal. And...

This is going to be a 2-fer week for pictures from Jeff (whether you like it or not). Its May 1st (Happy May Day, cause I guess that's a thing now ;) ). Here's the image I used for May in my calendar. Its one of the staircases at the Natural History Museum in LA.

I love the fact that the walls and stairs are travertine, that natural wonder of a stone!

Saturday is California Bookstore Day. I have no idea what that means, other than an excuse to find a good independent bookstore.

Here's the website : http://cabookstoreday.com/

I think I'm going go to Crafted in San Pedro, an old warehouse in the harbor that houses lots of different artists and crafters selling there wares. There is a kiosk from Brown Bag Books that usually has a bunch of good stuff.

Happy Foto Friday folks! (aren't alliterations always awesome! okay maybe that was too much :)

Today's image is my current fav of my son. It was taken at a local cafe, where we were having lunch. Sure the background is blown out and over exposed, but I like it.

I assume you saw me warbling on Facebook...?

That's a cool picture, Dad!

I'm always amazed that watches survive in the smartphone era.

Brown Bag Books! What a great name. Enjoy the day, whatever the heck it's supposed to be.

>212 richardderus: The poetry book? Nah, poetry just doesn't work for me. Sorry, I know I should like it, but, meh.

>208 mahsdad: Love this photo --the lines, the light, the color --- wonderful. Happy Friday!

>214 mahsdad: ...poetry...OH! The Small Press Book Review one, no no no, I meant DeNardo's May warblings.

^Couldn't find anything about DeNardo. When I go to your profile, the only post for today was the poetry one? Stupid FB, trying to play games with what it THINKS I want to look at. Just show me everything dammit. ;)

>213 richardderus: regarding watches. I love watches, though it is easy to just always look at your phone. I've been sporting a pocket watch for the last year or so after my favorite Seiko took a dirty nap and I can't be bothered to pay to get it fixed.

I have a collection of antique pocket watches that I should take pictures of and share. Love the old mechanisms.

I dunno about that. I called you out in the post an' ever'thin'!

It didn't show up on my feed until about 1:45. I saw it, but I haven't had time to read the whole article yet. Thx

>205 richardderus:
>206 mahsdad:
Wow, that is a LONG list of books! The anthologies of Andre Norton and E. E. (Doc) Smith don't attract me because I have the 60s eras printings of their work.

The new Elizabeth Moon is one I've been waiting for since her last in the series came out, and Seanan McGuire is another of my must-buy authors. Authors with books out that I usually buy, but will check the descriptions first, are Melissa Scott, Jo Walton, and Jane Lindskold. I'll also check out the Sarah Hoyt and Catherynne Valente.

So, Richard, your evil work is done here.

Jeff, our forecast is just like yours--can't wait for the May gray to show up.

One of my favorite beers - Simtra from Knee Deep Brewery. Its not for the faint of heart (11+% ABV). Really tasty.

>222 mahsdad: Now that looks like a beer to share, Jeff.

Have a great weekend mate but don't get too sozzled!

>223 PaulCranswick: Thanx for stopping by Paul. When it comes to beers, I'm more about quality rather than quantity, so just the one (which is probably closer to 3 when you factor in the ABV and the size of the bottle) will usually put me nicely right under sozzled. :)

Since you are already half way thru your weekend, hope it continues to be a good one.

California Bookstore Day or just a good excuse to buy books.

Here's my book haul from our one and only independent book seller in San Pedro (Brown Bag Books - www.brownbagbooks.biz)

For Me:
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena - Anthony Marra : Had this on my WL, can't remember why, probably one of those lists that RD dangled in front of my face ;)
Paris Trout - Pete Dexter : On my list and recommended by several groupers after I read Train
Confederates in the Attic - Tony Horwitz - Interesting sounding exploration into civl war reenactors and those for whom the war of Northern Aggression never ended.
American on Purpose - Craig Ferguson : Love his talkshow (tho I only ever watch clips on Youtube), its his memoirs. Sounded interesting

For my lovely bride (tho I'll probaby read these too):
The River King - Alice Hoffman
The Almost Moon - Alice Sebold
Dust : A History of the Small and the Invisible - Joseph Amato

These guys also take old books and turns them into journals (I love the one I got one for Christmas) and I got one for my Mom for Mother's Day. I'll share the picture of it when Flickr decides to work again.

Also, since my Thingaversary is in May, this may be considered my haul for that too, but I'll see if I can use that as an excuse later in the month to get more.

Also, since my Thingaversary is in May, this may be considered my haul for that too, but I'll see if I can use that as an excuse later in the month to get more.

bold +1

Here's the pictue (assuming Google/Picasa images work) of the journal I bought for my mother. Its too cute.